P and S had now settled into their new house and we were so honoured to have been invited over for lunch. I marvelled at the waterfall and lagoon that had been landscaped into their back garden. In the kitchen I offered to help with the food preparations, impressed at all the mod cons, and the beautiful bespoke blue porcelain (that would be replaced as “unfashionable” the year after next). I felt guilty that we had failed to invite P and S to our humble cellar for such a long time. As things turned out, I was also asked to stay the night, so I made myself useful in concocting a snack of fried onions, cottage cheese and tomatoes in a savoury biscuit shell. For some reason SC (now SL) was there too, but she wasn’t much use because she kept stepping outside for cigarette breaks.

TPR and I were waiting for KFS. We were sure that he had said 17:00, but it was almost 18:00 by the time that he arrived. He eventually turned up, but it was too late for me: I had to rush back to London.