In the end, Bastien and Taylor go off in search of some sheets of corrugated metal, leaving me to be John’s assistant. It doesn’t take him long to get organised and we sift out the chunkier bits of wood into a separate pile.

‘Right, Fern, I’ll just grab that ladder and move it over here. Then, if you can get ready to pass me the hammer and some nails, we can make a start.’

He doesn’t seem at all fazed by the old, albeit stout-looking, ladder and in no time at all he’s pointing at pieces of wood for me to hand up to him.

‘We’ll soon have this frame sorted. If they can find eight sheets of something substantial, we can be done in time for dinner.’

‘Not bad for a painter and decorator, John,’ I reflect, looking up at him in awe.

He chuckles. ‘I lost me wife a few years back. Grand old soul she was, but she liked to keep me busy. Said I couldn’t get into any mischief if I always had a job to do. Renovated the whole house together, we did. Side by side. Then we built a summer house in the garden and a tree house for the grandkids. And, you know what, she was good with a drill that one. Not faint-hearted, for sure. Miss the old girl, every single day of my life. She made me the man I am.’

‘What a team you must have been, John. True soulmates.’

He nods. ‘She’s still with me. I sense her around me all the time. Keepin’ an eye, like.’ He winks at me.

We plough on and when the guys return, they’re carrying a large metal panel.

‘Lots more where these came from,’ Taylor confirms. ‘Shouldn’t take us long to carry them across.’

I help wherever I’m needed and there’s lot of banter. John is such a happy man, always joking. I’m not sure Bastien’s English is good enough to understand some of John’s more obscure cockney terms, but he laughs in all the right places.

Suddenly my phone begins to ring and it’s Aiden.

‘Sorry, guys, back in a minute. Aiden, can you hear me?’ I hurry outside and scramble up the grassy bank to get a better signal. There’s lots of static. ‘Aiden, can you hear me?’

‘Fer—’

‘Aiden.’

‘Fern. That’s better. Where are you?’

‘I was in a big barn down in a dip, but I’ve just clambered up a steep slope to get a better signal. More to the point, where are you?’

Wherever he is, there’s a lot of background noise but, thankfully, it sounds like general traffic.

‘We’ve stopped for gas on the outskirts of Adelaide. It’s just after midnight. Bit of an interesting journey, but everything is fine now.’