I agreed to take a photo of the huge group of people who had gate-crashed our party for their own celebrations. If only they could gather everyone together in the same room at the same time, this would be possible. While I waited for the group to assemble I took the opportunity to suggest to TPR that we convert the blue room into a sitting room by reinstating the fire-place.

Then I saw MLX – tall, dark, beautiful and ready to gather me into her arms. She admitted that she had already had two liaisons that evening, including a strategic encounter for the purposes of career progression with a woman called Juliet.

I hoped that MLX’s interest in me was genuine. Then, with barely a thought for her husband and her track record of other conquests, I acquiesced to her amorous advance.