I finally twigged that the person opposite was flirting with me and that this was my chance to offer an invitation back to my room. That said, I was aware some other young people at the bar were teasing my companion for investing any interest in me at all, most likely due to our age difference.

Would their actions determine whether or not the invitation would be accepted? My hesitation cost me the date when my companion wandered off with a bunch of contemporaries to a house party in a flooded street.

I now found myself all alone outside a florist disguised as an ordinary terraced house. As compensation for my disappointment, I bought some herbs potted in colourful child-sized Wellington boots.