Back in Birmingham again, TPR, my father, and my little sister were picking through the contents that we had left three decades earlier in our old house in Northfield. Much of it was junk. This included a narrow skateboard with a moulded plastic single foot insert – an invention that (unsurprisingly) never gained widespread popularity.

While my sister identified a crammed bookcase that took her fancy, I gathered up all the blue cushions. Then I discovered a beautiful three quarter size mahogany secrétaire hidden behind a very ordinary set of shelves.

‘It’s OK. I don’t want a davenport for Christmas after all’ I called to TPR, who was laying paving slabs in the back garden. I told him that the desk met all my requirements. Now we just needed to book a van to to transport it home with all the items that we had salvaged from our old house.