Suddenly a young businessman in a dark grey suit and with prematurely thinning hair approached Nick for a shoeshine. He took a seat and Nick got to work. Sometimes he found that customers were happy to chat, sometimes not. Nick didn’t mind either way, although he did enjoy a laugh and a joke at times. This guy was immediately on his mobile phone though, and stayed on it for the entire duration of the shoeshine. He seemed to be relating the events of a meeting to a colleague. The deal was clearly in the bag. Nick listened in, purely because there was little else to occupy his mind as he went through his practiced movements on the man’s black shoes.
When the job was done the man nodded and pressed a five pound note into Nick’s hand, before marching off still talking on the phone. Nick resum
