Oud-Zuid, twenty-eight, and asked for by couples whose evening was fixed weeks ago along with the rest of the working week.

Some trips are planned to the hour, and the evening for two gets a line in the same document as the flights. That kind of booking suits her and she keeps to it. She works in English alone, which suits a couple with no appetite for a second language at the end of a long day. The district she starts from is quiet, the crossing is short, and a nine o'clock start means a nine o'clock start. An hour with one therapist between you is 360 euros, and she will say plainly that ninety minutes divides better between two people.

Marina decides which bookings she takes and may decline any of them; she sets the limits for what a session includes, says what they are, and may end a visit at any point, as the terms set out.