‘Yeah. Nice, isn’t it?’ It reminds me of my utility room at home. The exposed brick arch is industrial in a trendy way and it’s got bags of potential.

Moss is already walking away with his hands clasped behind his back. He’s taken a desultory look at the space on offer and now he’s standing in the entrance at the front of the shop looking out at the rain, rocking gently from his toes to his heels. He looks at David curiously. ‘You seem like a nice guy. I don’t know why Gigi says you’re boring.’

I cringe.

David laughs. ‘Gigi thinks life should be a permanent holiday,’ he says.

‘Listen to me, take my advice, never let a woman get bored,’ Moss says darkly. ‘You need to keep surprising them.’

‘Is that so?’

‘Surprise is the key to a happy marriage. How else would we have kept married for almost seventy years? See this? This is my application to the Queen’s anniversary office for a card of congratulations from Her Majesty herself.’ He takes a form out of his jacket pocket and shows it to David.

‘I didn’t know your name was Moses,’ David says.

‘You come to a country, you have to fit in,’ Moss says sternly. ‘We’re British now.’

Seventy years! Mind-boggling!

I hurry back out in the rain to get the rails from Cato, who’s looking in the rearview mirror and tugging on his wispy blond beard to encourage new growth while keeping a lookout for traffic wardens.

My last trip is for Dolly. I hoist her over my shoulder and Cato pulls away in the nick of time, saluting the traffic warden as he goes. In the yard I pass Moss, who tells me he’s on his way to get Hamed’s son to help him empty the shop.

Back in the unit I start fixing the rails together with my set of Allen keys. It’s a noisy business, what with the rails and David’s drilling.

David’s arranging the light boxes on the new shelves. He seems deep in thought, but that could just be because he’s busy.

By the time I’ve finished putting them together and unpacked the clothes, a couple of hours have gone by.

It’s finally stopped raining and I can see the lunchtime crowd gathering in Stables Yard: people eating fish and chips with vinegar, or trays of fragrant noodles. The street food vendors are veiled in steam and I feel some sudden trepidation. There were no food stalls near the alleyway.