This was a thought-provoking thread, and on page one I posted an account of something that finally worked out well for me. I'd be interested in other people's experiences, which is one motivator for me posting now.
At present, I'm faced with an admittedly small dilemma. A fellow I got to know a little, over a period of about a year (I'll call him Bill), helped me technically with a number of maintenance & repair tasks. We rebuilt my table saw, and including what I paid him & the needed part, that cost $100 (while replacement of the machine would have run at least $800). And he also helped me repair two other machines.
We worked here at my place and I have a lot of tools for such tasks, and Bill brought some of his tools with him. On the most recent tasks, we worked outside on the lawn. After the last job we did here, I could never find a somewhat specialized hammer (a 3-pound "single jack") that had been on the ground along with everything else we used, before we tidied up. I've suspected he took it with him, and it could have been a simple mistake because it's not uncommon for fellows like him or me to own one. But, of course, possibly he kept it deliberately. He was living on a very tight budget.
Well, the thing is, about 10 days ago, Bill drove himself to emergency at the closest hospital; he was then driven to the largest regional hospital, and from there Medi-vac'ed to the macro-region's main hospital... where he died. I've felt the loss of this guy, whom I liked a lot. But, what do I do? I feel that neither his woman partner (whom I know) nor his landlady from whom he rented rooms would be very understanding if at this time I wanted to rummage through Bill's things.
I suppose I should just forget about it.
