Her manner to Francesca was very unequal. Sometimes it had all the frankness of their early intimacy; at other times it was forbidding, and even petulant.

She removes only what the water ‘delivers’ to her – items she can see lying on the surface. Unlike some other mudlarks, she does not dig for finds.

The earthly author of my blood, / Whose youthful spirit, in me regenerate, / Doth with a twofold vigour lift me up.

… Adelaide, its vineyards, and beaches and a curious serenity. No probs, they’ll tell you all through Australia. No probs, she’ll be right. The dust in this happy-go-lucky land is not swept under the carpet, it just naturally collects there.