It’s that time of year when I find myself wishing there was a 13th month to insert between October and November in order to cram in a few extra assignments and engagements and put other things off for a couple of weeks. For the purposes of this column, let’s call this much-needed new month Extember. As today would be the first day of this new month, I’d find myself breathing easier because I’d suddenly have an extra 30 days to get things done before I break for the Christmas holidays, and I’d have almost two full months to still be resident in that special demographic known as the thirties.

When I left you last week, I was in Chicago wrapping up a world tour with my colleagues Whitney and Joseph (they unfortunately weren’t with me for the whole tour), and we were marvelling how lovely it is doing business in Second City USA – save for the rather ridiculous traffic. People are genuinely friendly and interested in meetings, the food’s rather good (thoroughly enjoyed the restaurant Sepia). Unfortunately, without the month of Extember to look forward to, my mind was already in Istanbul before I touched down in the UK, and the two days back in London vanished in a flurry of meetings and a desk that resembled the Himalayas with its peaks of periodicals, books, gifts and paperwork.