Yesterday was an interesting day – very busy, tiring, but very interesting. Lyn and I need a new PA: Dan, for reasons I need not go into here, isn’t working out. So Lyn recently put an ad on Gumtree, and the result, I must say, was very surprising. I always had trouble recruiting new staff up north, but here, in a vast city where virtually everyone is looking for a job, it seems much easier. All thus week, Lyn kept me informed of the number of people coming to be interviewed: it kept going up and up. In the end, eight people were scheduled to come, but one dropped out at the last moment.

Yesterday, then, was rather hectic. At first, I was rather nervous, but Lyn and our Saturday PA Kasia kept everything in order. Kasia really impressed me yesterday, especially given we rather dropped her in it. We conducted four interviews – two were couples – each lasting about an hour. By the end, we were all knackered. I can’t give many details, but I must say we were very impressed by two of the candidates, one of whom recognised my books by Barthes. However, we haven’t made our final decision yet.

Interviewing, then, is an exhausting process. After it was over, we went to the local for a much needed drink. I reckon we earned it yesterday.