The date of the cycle club AGM was looming; this would be Nick’s first speech as secretary and he wanted to be well prepared. For the previous 5 weeks he’d thought of little else. He sat in front of the laptop night after night, typing a little and contemplating a lot; he wanted to get it right.

Gilles, the president, and Jacques, the treasurer came round to help; they approved of what he was going to say and helped correct our less than perfect French. Finally, it could be printed out.

Nick’s was the second speech of the meeting, so he got it out of the way early. He did brilliantly, with hardly a mispronunciation and afterwards everybody congratulated him; they obviously realised how difficult it had been, but he rose to the challenge and it was greatly appreciated.