By the time we returned to the compound – whoops, sorry, I mean the resort, David and Paul had established an ocean-side location in the shade of some tall, swaying coconut palms. I deliberately approached them quietly through the trees without revealing my presence, to make sure that they had already assembled this amazing wok. It weighed about eight tons, came in a custom-built aluminium box about fifty-eight feet wide by forty-nine feet deep and required the muscle of two or three elephants and the combined intelligence of master Mensa members to assemble it. But, of course, this was where Tim always came in; he is so eminently practical. In the middle of the desert, when you suddenly need, of all things, a jubilee clip, incredibly Tim will have one in his little box of tricks.
