Mark clearly displayed signs of anxiety to me. I’ve suffered from it, and people who’ve suffered from it can generally see it in others. I can clearly remember my head shaking when I had to give evidence in court as a young police officer. I was thinking everybody in the courtroom could see me in that state, which probably some of them could.
Chef Mark has appeared to me to be a bag of nerves at times, and I think a number of his mistakes culinary wise have been down to him not thinking straight, and then blind panicking, rather than any straightforward incompetence. That said, he has tried to big himself up when talking about his background in cooking, and then making a ridiculous mistake by saying that Michelin graded restaurants up to four stars, which then killed the credibility of what he said immediately before, straight away.
Being in the Police left me a complete bag of nerves, and I hated the job, which I forced myself to do for nearly seven years. If getting older brings you good things in life, it’s continued oxygen, and not forcing yourself to do things you don’t want to do any longer and make you ill. A great relief.
) and temperature seemed higher than some of the days in the so-called summer last year. Cat is flatly refusing to go out in the garden, though. His look of contempt when I opened the back door had to be seen to be believed.
