Their stomachs satisfied but not bloated, Jomier and Judith return to her house. They kiss in the kitchen and then, while Judith goes up to her bedroom, Jomier fills a glass with water to wash down the capsule of Viagra. He goes upstairs. They make love. They lie back contented.

‘Are we going to start house-hunting?’ asks Jomier.

She raises her head and looks into his eyes ‘Do you really want to?’

‘Of course. Why not?’

‘Why not . . .’ She repeats his words as if there are a number of reasons why not. Has she been here before? With Alfredo? With Giles? Jomier grows drowsy. Judith switches off the light. They fall asleep.

Breakfast. Jomier’s breakfast during the week consists of muesli, toast, orange juice, and tea with a coffee chaser. Judith is puzzled why he needs to take caffeine in two different forms. She makes it clear that she would rather he took no caffeine at all. She thinks a lemon and ginger infusion would be enough. But she does not insist and on Thursday morning, after their midweek dates, Jomier has been able to eat his habitual breakfast in Judith’s kitchen. Weekends have proved to be trickier because Jomier, on Saturday and Sunday mornings, likes a traditional English breakfast of grilled bacon, tomato and fried, poached or scrambled egg. This has posed a problem for Judith. The smell of burning pig-flesh first thing in the morning makes her feel nauseous. Until now she has put up with it: grubs on hooks are also unsavoury but they are effective as bait when catching fish. But once the fish is caught? Jettison the bait. Jomier comes down on this second Saturday of the new year to a breakfast of muesli, toast, tea, coffee, a poached egg, grilled tomato and two slices of Waitrose’s best honey-roast ham.

Jomier is disappointed. There is something about a crisp rasher of smoked bacon which nothing can replace. Is it because it is forbidden to Muslims and Jews? A perk for Christians like keeping one’s foreskin? Or is it just the fatty, salty taste? Jomier puts a brave face on it. Love demands compromises, particularly at their age. What do things like bacon or a dribbly shower or guttural snuffling or mildly mauvaise haleine matter when one is in love? Moreover, Jomier does not want to raise peripheral issues like bacon when there are more important matters to be dealt with: settling up after the holiday in Venice and finding a house in Notting Hill.