I took AM’s phone call just a few steps from where I last left her in the Betjeman Arms at St Pancras Station. We chatted amiably until my attention was distracted by the comings and goings of a group of smartly dressed people outside the Renaissance Hotel.

What were my Cousin SA and his girlfriend LB doing here? Who were these people that they were meeting? How had SA grown back a full head of hair?

AM was clearly unimpressed that I was no longer focussed on our call. When I resumed my conversation with her I discovered that the line had gone dead.