It was snowing – and I was clod in socks and sandals. My companion PM was worse off with bare feet.

We sat in the square planning our next move. It was early evening and PM needed to be in Norway for a meeting the next day. She planned to travel by train to Brighton, then catch two flights. This, it appeared, was the most efficient route.

PM revealed to me that she had taken up her academic work once more. She passed me a box in which I expected to find a journal paper. Instead I was surprised to discover that it contained a bag of boiled sweets.

Later I bumped into gypsy girl MT. Rather than reminisce about our school days we had a laugh about a shopping trip to Edinburgh’s Princes Street.