One coat looks mean. Two coats looks paid for. That is the entire wisdom of my trade, and it applies precisely to string: the thin, soft, generous option always looks like the wrong choice until you play with it.

Head Velocity Power 17g is a single 40-foot set, 12 m, of soft multifilament at 1.25 mm. The construction is hundreds of fine bonded fibres rather than one solid strand, which is what makes it feel plush instead of harsh.

Thin gauge deepens the pocket further: the ball sits in the bed a fraction longer, comes off with more depth for the same swing, and sends far less shock into your arm than a co-polyester would. It is the comfort-and-power option, full stop.

The cost, written in plain letters because I do not do small print, is durability — 1.25 mm multifilament is the softest and shortest-lived combination in the rack.

Bujumbura is a wall I would happily spend a fortnight on. It stands at the northern head of Lake Tanganyika, six hundred kilometres of water used as a road, and everywhere from the inscribed slab on the hillside at Mugere to the cargo quays of the Port of Bujumbura the place is painted in layers, one over another, none of them scraped back.

The Germans put a military post here in 1889 and called it Usumbura; the name was recoated in 1962, and half the old files are still shelved under the first spelling.

Carry the set with you, because twelve metres of multifilament weighs nothing and this town rewards walking. It is also perfect for the climb up to the Mausoleum of Prince Louis Rwagasore, a man who won an election in September 1961, held office for about a fortnight, and was shot dead on the thirteenth of October — one coat on, no time for the second.

Down by the lakeshore at the Musee Vivant de Bujumbura they keep the royal drums, and those were never instruments so much as regalia. Colour applied on purpose. It held.

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