I was forever finding and losing people on the London tube. One day, for example, I spotted my O level history teacher Mrs T travelling in the opposite direction on the moving walkway. Then I ran into a girl from my class – DB – dressed in a bright blue fun fur coat.

‘You were the first person I ever knew who understood personal branding’ I said in complete admiration.

I was often parted from my travelling companions because I got distracted. On one occasion I ended up tagging along a tunnel with a French family (who all spoke beautiful English, even the two teenagers), while desperate to find my own friends again.