Jomier lives alone but does not lack contact with other human beings. He talks to someone almost every day – mostly on the telephone, and often people at the end of help lines, the human interface between huge corporations and their customers. Because Jomier is methodical and keeps precise accounts, he notices the slippage that takes place across the board – small increases in direct debits, discounts forgotten, interest unpaid, surreptitious charges, computer errors – always, Jomier notices, in favour of the provider. He spends much time listening to recorded voices, pressing buttons on his telephone, waiting to reach an operator, repeating yet again his name, his date of birth, his postcode, the first line of his address; grappling with security codes and passwords and account numbers prior to stating his case to a woman in Scotland or a man in Mumbai. The sums in themselves are not large: often the cost of the call – the numbers that begin 08 or 09 – cuts into any refund or recompense that Jomier may negotiate. Were Jomier still working as a barrister, it would not have been cost-effective for him to spend so much time talking to the utility companies and service providers. But he is now retired. His time has no pecuniary value whereas the utility companies are paying the wages of the woman in Scotland or the man in Mumbai. He is costing them more than they are recouping from him.

Jomier also talks to government agencies – in particular his local council. Jomier’s house was built on low-lying land and after heavy falls of rain the sewers back up and effluent rises through the drain in Jomier’s garden. Jomier telephones the council to complain: he is referred to Thames Water. He telephones Thames Water, who refer him back to the council. It seems that no one is responsible and nothing can be done but build a new super-sewer to run along the bottom of the Thames towards the North Sea. It will not be completed in Jomier’s lifetime. It may not solve the problem. And it may become redundant before it is built because of global warming. Jomier has found on a government website a map of the flood plains around London. If the world warms as predicted and the sea level rises, most of Hammersmith will be under water. Jomier’s house will be submerged in a lake of effluent. He will form part of the human detritus – boat people sailing for the shores of Holland Park.