The whole place was very compact. A narrow door led off from the hall to a small bathroom, with another to the kitchen. He led me through that and on to the living room beyond. The piano was right up against the wall on the far side, blocking off much of the window.

The client pointed at the piano without looking up, his shoulders thrust forwards. I wondered if he was unable to speak, but then I remembered he was the one who’d made the phone call. His jogging bottoms and frayed hoodie with its sagging neck fitted him like a second skin, and I figured this had to be the outfit he wore all the time.

Last tuned who-knows-when, this upright piano had lost its black lustre, the top board and upper panel both dull and faded. Aside from sheet music, a crowd of other items fought for space on the top board – pencils, magazines, books, even a tennis ball – but it was reasonably clean of dust, suggesting the instrument was indeed in routine use.

‘I’ll go ahead and look at it,’ I said to the man, who still didn’t meet my eyes, and I laid my tuning case on the floor.

Opening the fallboard of the piano, I tested a key and couldn’t believe my ears. The note was way out of tune. The key next to it was off, too. And the next one along, and the one next to that, and indeed all the rest of them. A faltering, hesitant sound, muffled, making me nauseous as I listened – not a single note in its rightful place. This was going to be a tough job, I knew. I wondered if I was up to it.

‘I’m going to start now. It’ll take quite some time, so please just do whatever you like. I’ll call you if something comes up.’

The man didn’t react to any of this.

Normally at this point I’d ask what sort of sound the client was hoping for, but there was no time for that now. It looked as though I’d use up all my allotted time simply getting it back in tune.

I began by removing the clutter from the top board, opening it up, and removing the upper panel. It was terribly dusty inside. A yellowing sticker on the inside of the sideboard revealed that the piano had last been tuned fifteen years earlier.

Even so, I knew this piano hadn’t been abandoned. There was evidence it was being played, but it was hard to imagine, considering the state it was in.