Being a fan of period dramas, the occasional flight of fancy and being just the right side of 60, Lyndall decided it was time to embark on a Grand Tour of Europe

There were a few minor differences between her and the original 18th-century aristocratic travellers. She isn’t a wealthy young gentlemen out to complete her education, acquire culture and return home suitably polished and marriageable. Nor did she have a tutor, valet, footman or bear-leader (the unfortunate soul paid to keep young aristocrats out of trouble) in tow.

She had a passport, comfortable shoes, a vague grasp of European history and a healthy appreciation of food and wine. What more could you need?

Well, Fatpap, for starters. He declined to join her, preferring almost anything to an organised river and Mediterranean cruise. The thought of being trapped on a floating hotel with set meal times, organised excursions and relentlessly cheerful holidaymakers was clearly his idea of hell.

She wished him well. He wished her good riddance.