Then, he had locked up an hour earlier than usual, his mind made up, his sense of unease stronger than ever.

They had spent the evening sorting out and packing, loading the car. His wife simply did as he asked, apparently untroubled. They were going to his family, and to see hers, she did not seem interested in asking why, she took life as it came, left decisions to him. It was the children who scarcely stopped asking questions, when, where, who, why, why, why, all the time they were putting their things into bags, why why why.

‘When are we coming back?’

He did not know. He had made no plans, just been sure that they must leave and trusted to his feelings.

The traffic became heavy as they hit the industrial Midlands, there was a twenty-minute delay at roadworks, it poured with rain, slowing everything down. The children squabbled. Wini was silent.

There was a long queue at the entrance to the service station where Wang filled up the car, before parking as close to the mall as he could. Another car slotted in beside him, making it difficult for them to get out without walking through puddles, but no one felt like complaining, they just ran through the rain. The place was busy but it swallowed up dozens and still looked quiet, and while his family went to the toilets, he found a table in the centre, opposite a sushi, a Caffè Nero, a McDonald’s, a Waitrose, a Chinese noodle bar. When he had first come south, there had been Granada all-day breakfasts and a W.H. Smith.

‘Better?’

It was, with hot food, hot chocolate, comics and sweets.

‘Why are we going?’

‘Because Grandpa and Nana need us, I told you.’

‘They’ve got lots of people all round, they don’t need us as well.’

‘That’s not respectful – you should be wanting to see them.’

‘I do.’

‘Yes, they give us loads of cakes and those fried sweets.’

‘Where are we going to sleep?’

‘Come,’ his father had said over the phone, ‘we can decide everything when you’re here. Just get in the car.’

He had told him a cut-down version of the story, not wanting to alarm his parents but needing to communicate the urgency of his need to come.

‘Your brother can have the children, you can be with us, anything to make you comfortable. Of course we will look after you – as if we would do anything else.’