With KB I was attending my first ever “pre-wake”. This comprised a formal presentation by my friend (the future corpse) followed by a reception for all her friends, family and former colleagues. While I listened to the friend speak, I identified that the terms “cave” and “roses” would probably come in handy when the time came to write the letter of condolence to her partner. I scribbled the keywords of the speech onto the red napkin then stuffed it into my handbag. Then the food was marched into the room, held high above the serving staff’s heads. It was a feast of enormous watermelons, twice the size of footballs.

Afterwards I sought out someone to share the journey home. There were no trains available so the best option was to share a taxi. It didn’t take too long to find another academic destined for Preston.