The sky over Hyde Park was cornflower blue. Buttercups and daisies peppered the lawn and regal swans preened themselves around the edge of the reservoir. It looked like an idyllic children’s book illustration – the perfect place for a proposal. The whole No Hard Fillings gang had come back together to put Minnie’s plan into action. Minnie was dressed as a mermaid with a long sparkling green tail and a huge wig of tumbling red curls weaved through with glittery silver seaweed. She wore a sheer body suit on her top half with a coconut bra that clonked when she moved. She hadn’t planned on being a mermaid, but when she’d seen the choice of costumes, she’d decided this was her best bet. At least Leila would recognise her in this outfit.

Surprisingly, Fleur had come good on all her contacts. An animatronics specialist had brought them an array of singing animals from the last movie he had worked on, The Singing Sheep of Pontyre Creek. It was a bit sheep heavy for Minnie’s liking; Leila had not specifically mentioned sheep in her fantasy. She’d imagined singing woodland animals like they had in Disney cartoons, but no doubt Disney had sheep in there somewhere and Minnie wasn’t going to complain, especially when she saw the generator that had been brought down especially to power the singing sheep.

The costume contact of Fleur’s at the RSC had roped in half a dozen actors who loved the sound of the plan and the promise of a free picnic. A further thirty people had been rounded up through a crowd-sourcing campaign Fleur had set up online. Minnie wasn’t sure Fleur had been specific enough with the crowd-sourcing brief, because people were dressed as leprechauns, a pineapple and there was even a Tinky Winky and a Po lurking somewhere near the back.

Bev and Minnie had spent all of yesterday preparing the picnic to end all picnics. It had taken longer than Minnie planned because Bev wouldn’t let them buy any food that came in plastic packaging. She’d finally gone along to some rallies and was now evangelical in her quest for a plastic-free world.

Today, Bev was dressed in a fancy-dress costume she had made herself. The outfit comprised of a strange, short green dress that had been ripped around the bottom, some kind of pillow tied around her shoulders, a very unflattering wig that looked to be made from the fur of an old teddy bear (there was a suspiciously bear-like nose above one ear) and make-up that had been done in the dark with too much eyebrow pencil. Minnie couldn’t bring herself to ask which Disney character Bev was supposed to be, but she was assuming it was some kind of Hungry Caterpillar.

‘Great outfit by the way,’ she said, giving Bev a nod as she arrived with another hamper of food.