There are times when Jomier meets other human beings face-to-face. There is his doctor, his dentist, the barber and the postman. Inevitably his conversations with the doctor and the dentist are brief – with the doctor because he has a ten-minute slot in which to discuss deafness, cancer scares, prostate problems, vague aches and pains; with the dentist because his mouth is wide open and he cannot speak. The postman is friendly: Jomier likes postmen in general – humble loners – and this one in particular, who signs for things when he is out. But they meet only rarely – when Jomier is in and signs for a missive himself, or if Jomier happens to be coming or going when the postman is doing his rounds. They do not have much in common. Jomier listens to him talking about sport with an expression of feigned interest. He dare not admit that he has no interest in the kicking or hitting or carrying of large, small, round or spheroid-shaped balls. Jomier is afraid that were the postman to know this, he would decide that Jomier was a patronising git and dump important letters in a Hammersmith & Fulham refuse bin.

This leaves the barber, a Turkish Cypriot. Jomier does not like his hair to grow long and so spends half an hour each month with Nazim. Before the divorce, Jomier would have his hair washed and cut at Trumper’s in Mayfair. Thirty-five pounds would buy him a shampoo, a trim and the deference due to an English gentleman by a man who knew his place. His father had his hair cut at Trumper’s, so too many of the great and the good. But after the divorce Trumper’s was beyond his reach. Geographically. Financially. At Nazim’s barber’s shop off the Askew Road his hair is cut and washed for a third of the price; and instead of deference he has half an hour of Nazim on the state of the world, which Jomier in his reduced circumstances prefers.

Before he retired Jomier met other people in the course of his working day – the clerk at his chambers, his fellow barristers, court officials, solicitors, clients. Work forces us to interact with others. The retired have to make arrangements. They form book clubs. They give dinner parties. They have to pick up the telephone or send an email to suggest lunch.