GW and I sat up at the front of the minibus next to the driver – a 15 year-old blonde girl dressed in her pale blue school uniform. While I fiddled with my camera settings in an attempt to keep the body on “adult DLSR” (rather than switch to a white plastic child’s model), our driver chatted away at us incessantly. She hoped very much that we were enjoying our “holiday in Europe”, completely oblivious of our status as senior academics travelling on university business.

A warning light illuminated on the minibus dashboard to indicate an obstruction ahead. In the middle of the road about half a mile further on we encountered the child-driver’s gym teacher, his arms outstretched. He was furious with his pupil for sleeping with a dark-haired Olympic swimmer in the school swimming pool changing room. As punishment he had come to collect her and put her in detention.