‘Some throat sweets, please, Herbert,’ he said.

‘Of course, sir,’ said Herbert. The Ragley chemist was always polite to the local law enforcement. He was also aware that Tom had taken the new teacher to the cinema. It was the talk of the village, mainly thanks to him.

‘And … maybe something for the weekend, sir?’ he added in a conspiratorial whisper.

‘Pardon?’

Herbert tapped the side of his nose. ‘Y’know, Sergeant. Might come in ’andy.’ He pointed up towards the boxes of Durex on the highest shelf.

Tom frowned and shook his head. ‘Just the throat sweets, please.’

Herbert knew when a potential sale had died a death and passed over a packet of Victory Vs.

After helping Mrs Gubbins, Lily decided to take a break and walked across the road to Doris Clutterbuck’s Tea Rooms. She was impressed with the genteel tidiness of the place. Small circular tables were covered with white tablecloths, a folded napkin had been placed under a dessert fork and next to a bowl of sugar with a silver spoon was a clean, shiny ash tray. A radio played in the background, as Doris thought it added a certain ambience to the tea-drinking experience.

She was served by the Saturday assistant, fourteen-year-old Nora Pratt. Nora was excited, but not about the bonfire. In her Girl magazine it said the first British singles chart was to appear next week and would list the most popular records. Nora loved music and dreamed of being a singer or an actress.

‘Just a light snack, please,’ said Lily.

‘Well, ah’m sowwy, Miss Bwiggs, there’s not much left,’ said Nora. ‘We’ve ’ad a wush on … but there’s a beetwoot salad an’ some fwesh bwead.’

Lily looked at the display cabinet. ‘Just tea and a cake, please, Nora.’

Nora returned with a large teapot, a china cup and saucer and a tea strainer. ‘Fweshly bwewed,’ she said enthusiastically, ‘an’ ’ere’s a Swiss woll.’

There was a pile of old magazines on the table next to Lily and she picked up a Woman’s Own and flicked through the pages. It looked expensive at 4½d, but there was a chance to win a guinea on the Letters page. Lily considered what she could buy with £1.1s – a huge sum. Then she read the winning letter and decided not to bother. A conscientious lady explained in detail how a broken button could be mended with sealing wax prior to making fresh holes with a needle. I’d rather buy a new button, thought Lily, and she sipped her tea while wafting away the cigarette and pipe smoke that drifted towards her. Everyone seemed to smoke and she wondered why she was different. It simply didn’t appeal to her.

Doris Clutterbuck was regaling a group of ladies at the counter with a story about watercress. She had just cooked it for the first time.