I’d already complained heartily to anyone who would listen that I had had enough of travelling up and down the country. To Manchester and back by train twice on this particular day really was the limit. I would much rather stay put with ST and discuss happy memories of playing marbles in the yard at Hartburn Primary School back in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The other drawback of all this travel was the time it took to sort out expenses claims after each trip. Dozens of orange train and metro tickets dropped to the floor whenever I opened my purse. I was also concerned that the colleague who gave the impression that she would like to help me fill in all the forms really just wanted access to my bank statements so that she could discover TPR’s salary.