…AND WE FOUND ourselves in the old Anjou capital, Angers, in the Pays de la Loire, adrift in the wake of the Brexit referendum, midway through a French presidential election, turning left and right, hoping we wouldn’t be flattened crossing the road, sceptical of whoever was behind the wheel, try as we might to bid Great Britain adieu. My wife, two children and I.

It was Macron v the fascist Le Pen: high noon. This is no exaggeration, it’s just how it was; the French presidential election of 2017.