While the underground staff felt for her, they explained that the entire underground system had been updated. They promised to try and see if there was anything they could do, but Margaret doubted that anything would happen.

But something did happen.

Bull writes: “In the New Year, Margaret McCollum sat on Embankment Station, on her way to work. And over the speakers she heard a familiar voice. The voice of a man she had loved so much, and never thought she’d hear again. ‘Mind the Gap’ said Oswald Laurence.

“Because it turned out a LOT of people at Embankment, within London Underground, within TfL and beyond had lost loved ones and wished they could hear them again. And they’d all realised that with luck, just this once, for one person, they might be able to make that happen.

“Archives were searched, old tapes found and restored. More people had worked to digitise them. Others had waded through the code of the announcement system to alter it while still more had sorted out the paperwork and got exemptions. And together they made Oswald talk again.

“And that is why today, even in 2019, if you go down to Embankment station in London, and sit on the northbound platform on Northern Line, you will here a COMPLETELY different voice say Mind the Gap to ANYWHERE else on the Underground. It’s Oswald. Merry Christmas everyone.”

Are you crying yet? We could absolutely see this being a sub plot in a Love Actually sequel.

This story of how strangers helped one woman’s grief proves Christmas spirit is real