We just got back from Crewe. I know they say you should never get too close to your support staff, but to me, Esther is far more than one of my old personal assistants. While you’ll understand when I say that I want to keep the precise details of this afternoon between us, I just want to record that what happened this afternoon was long overdue. Seven years had passed and we had a lot of catching up: Esther still supports students at college; she told me that much has changed since I was there. At the same time, it seemed like only days had passed since we had last seen each other: Esther looked exactly as I remembered her, and she told me that I had barely changed too.

Our two hours flew by, and our long overdue meeting ended all too soon. Esther is one of my best friends, and I realised how much I missed her. We exchanged gifts, and I gave a copy of my thesis. After all, she put so much work into it, so it only seemed right. As I stepped out her front door, I made a promise to myself: before the year is over, Esther will have had a coffee with me in charlton park. That, too, is long overdue.