‘I am a man of limited experience,’ he said, in a manner that I took to be satirical, ‘I feel at a loss with people who know the world. I have never even been to Brazzaville.’ He looked up quizzically, waiting to have this whimsy challenged. ‘A man must occupy himself with what he knows and lives among. I would suggest that there are far too many people hurrying around having everybody’s troubles at once. Yours must be a distressing occupation; rather useless.’