Friday was lovely weather at the Old Rectory. Then, despite the weather forecast (hate when they get it wrong), it caved in and we had howling winds all weekend. The garage door almost blew off, so the hinges are damaged.

We had workmen here cutting up logs from the ancient beech tree, which was felled a few months ago. Hugo and I dug up the woodland path nearby, which has been in disarray since we bought the house. The idea is to create a scenic walk. It may take the rest of my life!

After living at Geoff’s parents’ house in Kent for a stint after our wedding, I was glad to relocate to our little house in Clapham. It had a garden the size of a handkerchief. Now we could concentrate on married life, entertaining friends, having fun and work.

Work: I worked the in the City, the Square Mile, the Midas mile, from the end of the 80s to roughly 1998, when money was being made faster and faster after the Big Bang in 1986, when the markets were deregulated. It was an exciting, heady time. You felt that you were part of something, BIG. You felt bigger. It was just an illusion. It was money being made in vast quantities that made you feel that way.

Interview for my first job (August, 1988): I walked into a conference room at Barlow, Lyde and Gilbert (now merged with Clyde & Co, my next employer) and there was this really young looking, blonde guy, Justin Codrai, not much taller than me, obviously not much older than me. He was the PARTNER interviewing me. He opened his mouth and he had the poshest voice!  More than Geoff’s, which is saying something. “Please take a seat.” He pulled the seat out for me, for strewth’s sake! He had impeccable manners. Kept on saying, “Many thanks.” It was the contrast between the baby looks and the old boy manners – totally threw me.

He asked what I knew about Lloyd’s, as the firm worked mainly for Lloyd’s. What I didn’t know was that Lloyd’s was a huge ‘market place’, where insurance is sold on the spot with Underwriters taking a part of the risk, like a slice of the cake, until there is 100% coverage. There is always the first Underwriter who takes the plunge, the Lead Underwriter on behalf of the Lead Syndicate (which when I worked in the city was comprised of individual investors like shareholders, but with UNLIMITED liability). I smiled and replied to the question, “Well, yes, of course, I’ve seen the banks around the place. They are very good…” In other words, I didn’t know a flipping thing about the question and had got it 100% wrong. Failed. It was a Bridget Jones moment. There would be many more to come.

Justin gave me the job. He was only in his early 30s. I was 26, but I got the job. Many years later I met him for lunch in a smart restaurant in Piccadilly, my shout, and I asked why he hired me when I was such an idiot. He said that he could tell I would try to learn, FAST.

Justin came across as a public school boy, but he had an unusual upbringing. His father had worked in what would become the United Arab Emirates, when it was still like in biblical times (1950s to mid-80s), before oil made it rich. Instead of going to Cornwall for holidays, he hared around the sand dunes in the Middle East like Lawrence of Arabia. There was no hierarchy in his team. He was classless, despite the accent.

Justin was earning the most money for the firm, as he had two prestigious and large pieces of litigation, with suits filed in London and Chicago. He had a maverick way of litigating, but with a genius mind, that was effective. Not long after I started working for him, he walked into my office one day and said, “How would you feel about a trip to Chicago with me?”

“Yes please!” I said.

So I was off to the Windy City, Chicago, one of my very favourite places.

Today I am going to hit the garden hard and apply weed and feed to the lawn and try to pick up all the twigs and sticks that the wind blew down.