The university reunion in Birmingham was a very dull affair, attracting only the quietest of my former classmates.

I eventually managed to persuade JG into a conversation. She spoke of her preference for the study of Latin and Greek over French. I challenged her when she mentioned her enthusiasm for Aristotle as the author of Henry IV. Didn’t she mean Shakespeare or Pirandello?

I told her that I was in the process of buying a shop in Stirchley. When she asked the reasons for this, I was at a loss to come up with a single one.