And worse.

‘You know, two years ago we had a storm that caused the river to flood and brought down my chimney pots,’ Evelyn is telling me now as she sits at my kitchen table, nursing a mug of camomile tea and enjoying her captive audience.

I listen dutifully, thinking of how she must miss her school assemblies.

‘One minute they were there and the next they were in the road. Gladys at number three was unloading her shopping from her boot. Missed her by a whisker!’ Throwing her arms wide, Evelyn spills her tea down the front of her houndstooth gilet and tuts sharply.

‘Wow! Sounds intense.’ I pass her a piece of kitchen roll.

‘It was,’ she nods, putting down her mug and dabbing herself. ‘You should have heard the crash. Like a ton of bricks!’

‘Which I suppose it was,’ I say and she looks up with a flash of amusement.

‘Ah, very good. Very good,’ Evelyn nods, waggling a finger.

‘So anyway, about the calendar of events.’ I bring her back to the reason for our meeting today. ‘In terms of daily clubs and weekly classes, a lot of people in the village have made suggestions as to what they want from the hall.’

‘Zumba,’ says Evelyn definitively. ‘I trust that’s on the list.’

‘You’ll be pleased to know that’s scheduled for Monday,’ I say, referring to my ringbinder of papers.

‘With Ronaldo?’

‘With Ronaldo.’

Evelyn positively beams.

‘We’ve also got a whole host of children’s clubs and activities, drama classes, creative writing, yoga, a book group, film nights, guest speakers . . .’ Referring back to my files, I run down the list.

Coordinating it all had proved a challenge, even for someone like me who likes to organize and has bookshelves arranged by the colour of the books’ spines. The needs of the community are diverse, and everyone was excited about the hall reopening.

‘There’s something for everyone,’ I finish. ‘Plus I’ve also being doing a lot of research into what we can offer, in terms of special monthly and annual events, and there’s so much we can do – like having concerts or a music festival, for example.’

Opening up my laptop, I turn the screen towards her and begin enthusiastically showing her the PowerPoint presentation I’ve put together. Naomi had given me Danny’s number, and I picked his brain about booking bands and playing different venues and festivals.

‘The possibilities are endless. It’s such a great space and we could even hire the field behind. I spoke to the farmer and he’s agreeable . . . Honestly, the sky’s really the limit—’

I break off with excitement. Which makes me laugh as I think how Naomi recently pointed out that I’ve never actually been to a music festival. And no, getting ten-quid tickets to the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall didn’t count.

‘Alas, that doesn’t apply to our budget,’ says Evelyn.

I glance up from my screen to see her looking at me pragmatically.