‘This is Walter Pirbright.’ I clicked to an image of Walter, squinting at the sky. ‘His family have farmed the same eighty hectares for over two hundred years. Walter can tell you with 98 per cent accuracy if it is going to rain tomorrow, as well as what time and how hard. He could have told me that we’d have a white Christmas back in October. I know this, because he did. My viewers love Walter. I get engaged couples messaging to ask him what the weather’s going to be for their wedding. When we showed photographs of his new calves, the website was inundated. He’s inspired farmers across the region to adopt methods of sustainable farming, because they know he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to the earth beneath our feet and the air above our heads.’

I clicked on to the next slide.

‘This is Byron. He has a debilitating condition that means leaving the house just for an hour is a journey of epic proportions, so most days he stays at home, alone. But every month he plans a fantasy trip to a far-flung probably quite dangerous part of the world, and as part of that planning he asks me what the weather will be like. Since I’ve started including my answers in my broadcast, others have been getting in touch to suggest activities he might like to do while he’s there, local food and similar tips. Byron has stopped being an invisible part of the community, and now has people who care about him, who share a common interest, even if his is purely in his imagination. Some viewers have visited him in person, and started helping him get out and about.’

My next slide contained a whole array of different faces.

‘My vision is Mrs Lewinski, wondering if she needs to bring her patio pots in for the winter. It’s Barb and Mick, who, after debating whether they’d need a gazebo for their golden wedding anniversary party, got offered a discount from a local marquee company. It’s the local rock-climbing group, the ramblers and the sailors. It’s the village fair and the sports days and the street parties. It’s making the people who tune in know that they aren’t alone, because those day-to-day things that matter to them matter to me too.

‘Whatever the future of forecasting, I know that, for me, people are the heart of it. And that’s why they’ll watch BWM Today rather than click on to the weather app. Because people will always need people.’

There was a long silence. I scanned the room of blank faces, not daring to look at Baxter. At the moment that I thought I might just melt into a puddle of mortification right there on the antique rug, Lincoln muttered, ‘The rest of us might as well pack up and go home, then.’