TPR kept a shop not far from the Edinburgh city bypass. It sold traditional toys.

One Christmas Eve I walked to the shop with KA. On the way I regaled her with tales of Queen Margaret College graduate MR, his Liverpudlian accent, and his girlfriend V.

When we arrived we found TPR on the phone to his friend Carl. He ended the call abruptly so we concluded that they must have been discussing a Christmas surprise for the pair of us.

A family of four was in the shop at the time. The toddler twins were very taken by the blue wooden-wheeled ducks.

Then KA looked out of the window and cried ‘Fire!’ A huge plume of black smoke was heading towards us – but it was only a steam engine tugging Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. (Perhaps this was our surprise?)