The plane crashed on attempting take-off at a Scottish airport. My sister J was amongst the passengers. She’d only been away for one night. Although she survived, in the chaos she lost all her belongings, including her ID, so had nothing to prove who she was for the forthcoming exams. She eventually returned home, retired to her bedroom, and declared that she would be taking a whole year off before sitting her A levels. In the short term she was devoting herself to the study of risk. Meanwhile I went back to my own room to organise my stamp collection.