“What a coincidence, Struther Arnott was here just yesterday”, I commented to Brian Lang as he took a seat on the big green sofa in our sitting room. “I wonder what it is with retired principals of St Andrews University? Why are they so interested in coming round here?” Lang smiled back at me in response. I had never noticed before how much he resembled my father-in-law.

Lang followed me through to the kitchen when I left the sitting room to investigate the noise. There we found workmen busy emptying all the units, appliances and furniture into the hall. My colleagues MS and IH stood in front of the bare white kitchen walls with marker pens in their hands. I panicked. “It’s OK”, said TPR, “They’re going to paint us a nice mural. Then afterwards I’m going to install the Belling Compact Super Four electric cooker from our old house in Birmingham.”