I went to see my accountant, he’s a specialist in insolvency.

When companies become insolvent my accountant steps into the shoes of the directors and tries to save the company from bankruptcy. He’s spent many years running pubs, restaurants, garages and shops for people who have either been outwitted by capitalism or completely atomised by it.

In his experience very few people runaway when faced with financial failure. But he does remember two stories. The first story concerns a man whose small, manufacturing business was failing. The man drove his car to the edge of the local reservoir and disappeared, leaving his wife to manage their financial difficulties. Six months later after the business had been saved, the man returned home. All that time he’d been living in a hut by the sea.

The second story, he said, makes him feel unbearably sad.