I’ve been so busy at work of late that it’s been hard to believe that the festive season is almost upon us. Until yesterday evening, that as, when I stumbled upon the choir from a most eminent girls’ school performing a medley of carols in their local railway station.

I happened to have a few minutes before my train, so paused to listen. Suddenly, a phone trilled. Not mine, dear readers, but that of a young lady in the front row of the choir. She stepped out of formation; spoke anxiously into the handset; returned shamefaced to her position. The supervising staff glared at her; she avoided their eyes.

I’ve never written a choirmaster story. I’m beginning to think that that’s an omission from my repertoire