When O’Singh gained his feet, he looked up and noticed that he and Dr Pratt had come to a stop below an electronic display board perched high up on the side of a towering mock-Gothic building.

‘Look here, Dr Pratt,’ he said, eagerly, brushing himself down. ‘Clues to the para-usual abound.’

Dr Pratt followed O’Singh’s gaze. The electronic display board flashed up alternately the current time and temperature. The latter reading read 1 degree Centigrade when in fact the day, a fine summer’s day, was approaching something more like 22.

‘It’s faulty,’ remarked Dr Pratt.

‘Or, it could be slow,’ posited O’Singh.

‘No, I make it that hour,’ said Dr Pratt, checking his watch against the time display.

‘It may be displaying the correct time of day, Dr Pratt, but the clock, by my estimations, could be roughly six months slow. Observe the temperature display – one degree. That was a temperature last recorded in January,’ said O’Singh.