The notebook cover showed images of a town surounded by hills.

There was no snow and yet the mountains had a whitish sheen, a sort of assumed alabaster.

Smoke spiralled from many of the chimneys of the houses, the pottery and the blacksmith.

A big sign shouted “Bank of Sideways – Loans you never regret”.

A gate secured the only road in.

A tavern and a string discotheque (acoustic only) seemed the only places where sounds of life being lived seeped beyond their walls into the street.

Notably, everyone smiled, even at strangers.