It’s becoming increasingly rare that me, mark and Luke are together. We’re all students of one stripe or another, each at different universities, so it’s often six months or a year between instances when we are together. They are both down for the weekend, and we are together in the house where we grew up.

They’re both musicians. Mark is quite a good pianist, as, it seems, is Luke. After we got in from a walk, this afternoon, Luke was tinkling on the piano, making up tunes and playing things from memory. He went through his favourites, and mine too, but he suddenly broke into a tune I have not heard in ages. Before my brothers left for uni, they sometimes played a duet together: Chopsticks, a quirky, happy melody, which has lots of room for embellishments. Luke was playing the higher notes, simply tinkling distractedly. Then, spontaneously, mark came and started to play the harmony, and the house was suddenly filled with a tune it had not heard in nigh on six years. It was quite beautiful.

These days, I am happier than ever, going to pub quizzes and partying most of the night with friends I would like to keep in touch with my whole life, yet that cannot beat the moment when mark and Luke played together once more. Beautiful.