‘I try to talk about other things but most people just chat about work,’ Hot Danish said, referring to one of the post-work events he has to attend regularly. ‘One guy actually said he was glad to “touch base offline” as it was a more “holistic approach to taking an idea shower.”’
‘It sounds like he could do with taking a rain check on the next event,’ I replied.

Maybe it was the more serious nature of his work. My work is about lifestyle and my meetings generally consist of five minutes talking about work and the other 55 minutes talking about anything else. Never mind the post-work events.

This week I caught up with celeb florist Orlando Hamilton. I wanted to pick his brains – can’t he get Madonna to perform at the next WLL gig, damn it. During our shop talk he described blousy peonies as sluttish roses (now that’s my kind of flower), but we spent most of our catch-up walking from Electric to Ottolenghi because he insisted I try one of their fab brownies (and every few steps we’d bump into someone he knows).

HD and I have had a few cultural miscommunications, as we like to refer to them. He’s trying to tone down the sarcastic jokes which I find offensive and he’s started saying he wants to see me after, ‘What are your plans for this evening?’ I’m attempting to ask for clarification instead of flying off the handle.

Sarcasm doesn’t translate at all in some languages, so I couldn’t help but cringe when HD told me he recently arrived late to a post-work dinner and attempted to break the ice with the group of clients who included French and Japanese by saying, ‘I’m so hungover, I’m not even horny.’ Perhaps HD’s colleagues only stick to talking about work in his company.