As a sign of my appreciation for his hard work, I gave the British electrician who works in my new flat a signed copy of The Fixer last week, apart from his regular fee. Today he returned to fix the lights on the terrace. Apparently he had been reading over the weekend. ‘I’ll be keeping my shirt on today’, was the first thing he said, a bit tensed. ‘I noticed you have Parkinson’s, but I didn’t realise you are gay as well!’