So I had fallen into a bit of a plot hole – suddenly from a slow build up, everything was happening too quickly – all the threads I had lain down were being grabbed up with a whole load of working up left out. I was feeling pretty down about the whole thing.

Then, that evening, before I went to my book group –  proudly named Queens Park Lowbrow, because we only occasionally get around to talking about the book – I went to the gym for a good long thrash on the treadmill and weights, followed by a swim in the pool. In the evening they switch off the main lights, so you are swimming in blue underwater lighting on an indigo tiled pool – very dreamy. I set my mind in gear to the work in progress, and found that, one by one, all my problems were solving themselves. I had to spend half an hour in the bar afterwards, scribbling in my notebook, for fear of forgetting what had come up. Next time I go, I think I’ll take the notebook into the gym. Can I find a waterproof moleskine for the pool?