He looks straight at me and I feel scared. Maybe he knows I kept my phone in my bag.

‘This morning, I’m going to teach you survival skills.

‘Do you know what time of day it is by looking at the shadows? What time of night by looking at the stars? In the summer? In the autumn. Winter. Spring?

‘Do you know the difference between the sun and the moon? What they do? That’s why I’m called Le Temps. I understand the weather and time. You all know what climate change is?’ We nod. ‘I’ve noted changes over the years. How Mother Nature works. It’s all in here and in here.’ He thumps his bald head, his large chest. ‘Not in here.’ He pulls out his Chronophone.

‘When I was your age, I kept my brain in my phone. I didn’t even know my own number. Turn off my phone, I was a ruddy mess.’

To teach at Leap 2048 you have to pass a swearing test.

Though Le Temps is a witchcraft, I like the first half of the workshop because he makes us look at the sky and the clouds and the trees. It’s better than being indoors. One of the exercises, he makes us run in different directions for five minutes and we have to take mental note of landmarks like unusual trees, mushroom clusters, so we can find our way back. It’s a bit like Hansel and Gretel leaving a bread trail so they can find their way home, except we don’t leave lumps of bread.

We go in pairs and I go with Big Ben. There’s no longer a cordon across the steps up to the cow field. Without saying anything to each other, we run up the steps and back to the place we found Kwesi’s red hat. A minute later, Ama comes up behind us.

‘You’re supposed to be with GMT,’ I say. ‘You’ll get into trouble.’

She shrugs her shoulders. ‘I needed space. Is this the spot?’

We nod.

There’s nothing on the ground. Apart from that, it hasn’t changed from last time we were there. No footprints. No clues. Time to go back to the group.