When he was walking through the woods, breathing in the old, familiar smells and passing through the dappled shading, he knew he had made the right decision. Today was going to be a special day. He did not know why, but it felt right. >There was no point in staying in the hotel room, over-preparing for the presentation late this afternoon. He knew it by heart, had rehearsed it to death and had made his colleagues think of as many comments and objections as they could during the dry run earlier in the week. This was where he was meant to be, he just didn’t know why.

He had been woken early by a bright shaft of light streaming in through a gap in the curtains. It promised a warm summer day, like the ones that lasted forever when he was a child. A strange feeling stole over him and he felt like a child again, excited at the thought of another long, sunny day spent roaming the housing estate and surrounding woods where he was staying with his grandmother. Except, of course, he wasn’t. He was twenty years away from there, although it was true that the estate was less than an hour from the hotel. He made up his mind, showered and dressed quickly and went downstairs for a hotel breakfast. There were no other guests in the breakfast room, so the staff served him quickly and efficiently. Soon after, he arrived by tube at Brixton and caught the bus to take him to All Saints’ Church, Upper Norwood.

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