Catching the touch of wistfulness in her voice, I said, ‘Did you miss it, service life?’ She nodded. ‘Badly, at first. I was good at it, you see. That’s a shameful thing to admit, isn’t it? But I liked all the mucking about with boats. I liked the routines of it. I liked there being only one way to do things, only one sort of stocking, one sort of shoe, one sort of way to wear one’s hair.
