Inside they had to go through the rigmarole of exchanging their own shoes for the ones that you were supposed to wear to bowl in. Clio gave her shoe size and tried not to grimace as she handed over her sandals and was given a pair of red and blue bowling shoes in return. They were still warm from their last occupant and Clio realised in horror that she hadn’t brought any socks.

‘Here,’ said Leah as if she had read her mind. She handed her a balled-up pair of trainer socks. ‘I brought some spare, just in case.’

Clio felt herself blush. Leah must have realised that bowling wasn’t something that she did every day but in any event she was very grateful for her insight.

Once they were all appropriately shod, they headed to their lane, where Marlon took control of the scoreboard console.

‘Are we doing funny nicknames or actual names?’ he asked, his hands poised over the keyboard.

‘Funny ones,’ replied Noah at exactly the same moment as Leah said, ‘Actual.’

‘Let’s stick with actual,’ said Clio quickly. ‘This is complicated enough for us newbies.’

‘Can’t you bowl, Clio?’ asked Poppy.

Clio pulled a face and shook her head. ‘Not really. I’ve only been once.’

‘I’m dead good, aren’t I, Pops?’ said Noah, looking directly at his sister.

Poppy nodded encouragingly and then mouthed, ‘We’ve only been once as well,’ over his head.

Clio felt herself relax a little.

And so they began, going in age order, starting with Noah who refused to use the special guide to help him aim and so had to watch his ball run down the gully at the edge. Poppy fared a little better, managing to knock over five of the ten pins. Then it was Clio’s go. She selected a ball by colour, hoping that it was about the right weight, took aim and let it go. It trundled down to the bottom of the lane and gently nudged the pins, a couple of which wobbled and toppled over obligingly. At least she hadn’t disgraced herself entirely, Clio thought.

Next it was Leah’s turn. Clio could tell as soon as she hefted the ball in her hand that she had done this before.

‘Go, Mum!’ shouted Noah, and Leah swung her arm back and let go. The ball thundered down the lane and knocked down all the pins, which toppled over with a decisive clatter. Noah cheered and Marlon let out a slow wolf-whistle.

‘Someone’s done this before,’ he said.

Clio couldn’t decide if his voice contained a competitive edge or not, but she hoped that it didn’t. The last thing they needed was to fall out over something as trivial as ten-pin bowling.