For months I had been trying to find an opportunity to teach the board game Catan to my neighbour KB and online friend KJD. Now, at last, they were both at my flat and eager to learn. Even my sister J wanted to join in, though on the condition that we did not keep score. As things turned out, however, we didn’t even manage to lay out the board, let alone play a game.

The first problem was that although we had plenty of Catan boxes, they were either empty or contained a version of the game that I did not know.

Then I was distracted into dealing with the two needy men in my life. I had to cajole my husband out of the house to ensure that he reached his golf tournament on time. Meanwhile my unnamed, super-fit, long-haired Viking lover sent me into a spin when he suddenly announced that he was off to the Caribbean for a month – without me.

When KJD reminded me that she had to leave for the 11:05 train to London, it was obvious that we were fated never to play this game together.