From the Corinthian Roof Terrace at the Vauxhall End, they walked across the lawns of artificial turf to their seats in the Gods and watched the beginning of the end of a tumultuous Ashes series unfold in front of them at The Oval amid a clink of cutlery and the low murmur that is cricket’s signature tune.
All of London stretches out before you from up there, the tower blocks of the City away to the left, the Shard behind you, Archbishop Tenison’s School, where the letters on the wall are looking a little weathered, to the right and, far beyond the Pavilion End, the transmitter tower at Crystal Palace.