My sister decided to get a job. First, however, she’d need some experience for her CV. How would I feel if she volunteered as my assistant over the summer? I agreed to take her on – so long as I could sort out the problems that I was experiencing with travel to work. I had a habit of putting the car into reverse and confusing everyone else on the road by driving backwards against the direction of traffic. This was both dangerous and tricky – especially when it came to identifying a parking space near campus.

Later my sister and I sat at my bedroom window of our childhood home and spied on the old folk now in residence.