The consultant returns

Once you eliminate your number one problem, number two gets a promotion.

Matt’s online in Brighton. We start sketching out a revised commercial roadmap. Riveting.

It’s time to go to Gatwick to meet Steve. Between me and Oxford Circus tube are several thousand Trump demonstrators. I like a good demo, but today I’m committed to working for the man.

Ducking west, I skirt the happy horde, and travel in a dark, sweaty funk to Victoria and thence Gatwick. The shuttle whisks me to the north terminal, where I momentarily struggle to find arrivals.

Steve gets through passport control looking every inch the consultant. We scoot back to the south terminal and install ourselves in Weatherspoons. Much discussion and planning take place over a pint and a microwaved veggie curry. And then it’s time to get the train back to London.

At Victoria, I find a quiet table in the Grosvenor Hotel and make a sales call to Los Angeles. The tea is organic, but the water is cooling - still well worth the £4.50 for the impromptu office space.

Then it’s back to the flat, plan tomorrow’s journey to Sheffield, and meet Tim for a swift pint or two after work. He’s doing a “Secret Life of Farm Animals” series for the beeb. Sounds awful, but apparently very popular.