We discovered in therapy recently that I have a penchant for intense emotions. This is acted out in all sorts of ways - driving my gorgeous Mini faster than I have to, eating hot chilis and generally creating situations where stress and panic occur. Yesterday, at 12 noon New York time, I was on tenterhooks. Would I, sitting here at the tip of Africa , get on to the Ticketmaster website in time to buy tickets to the New Yorker Festival? I had reached fever pitch - my heart pumping the adrenalin around my veins as I hit the F5 refresh button repeatedly on the webpage so that I'd be in time. 

Psychotic pianist

I remember reading some time ago about my colleague, Marcus Brewster, who has successfully found ways to promote himself in the media. One such way, I remember, was inviting a Style writer to sit with him next to the phone as he bid for some Marilyn Monroe memorabilia. So this image came back to me yesterday as I kept striking my keyboard with more vooma than a psychotic Greig-playing pianist.. What would someone think if they saw me, I wondered. That is another thing I discuss in therapy... why is it that in moments of stress and excitement, I get lost in a thought tangent (I think this could be described as a Mandelbrot fractal - the thing of order that comes out of chaos - which was the only thing I understood of a highfalutin lecture on cybernetics I attended last week). Being more interested in Mandibles than Mandelbrots, I went off to eat immediately after securing my tickets.

This time next week I'll be leaving London for New York . Having secured table reservations at such notable eateries as Nobu, 21, Teany and Lotus, New York will be my oyster, steak, Thai chicken curry et al. The Heidelberg Tavern abuts the butt of Cool Runnings and the real (possibly only) reason for eating there is that the curry -- which is not only cheap but rather good -- is made by Mr Kavita himself.