The TL;DR version is something like this: Philip’s wife turns out to be from the same town on the Wirral as I am (population 15,000; feels more like 150), went to the school where my mum was a teacher, where she was taught German by the woman who is now my cousin’s wife. What is more, her brother-in-law went to the same school as me, and was in the same French class as the elder brother of my first girlfriend, who also had the same first name as she does.
