< p>Being back in London last week was quite an eye opener! Not only did I spend more time in the City than I had for a while, but I actually met some supposed celebrities I had never heard of... Namely Amy Childs and Harry Derbidge from “The only way is Essex”! I have got to be honest, I had no idea who they were or what the program was until my wife and daughter put me straight, but I must say they were very nice people (if not a little intellectually challenged) and not at all what you would think given the publicity I have now read about them. Personally, I think Harry may be gay and Amy may have had some work done, but frankly, after what went on on Thursday night nothing would surprise me, especially given the fact I was the second mystery banker (mind the rhyming slang) that she has been seen with this year, she did have particularly large... hands as well!

  On a more serious note, I am happy to see a few more lenders in some of the specialist markets including bridging and commercial and that the underwriting has relaxed (a little). There were a number of transactions I witnessed that had generally  not gone through this year so far that I have now managed to get placed, which surprised me given the general economic conditions! I cannot speak highly enough of some people I work with but especially Julian Sampson from Wright and Wright in Guildford, who really excelled on some huge deals. Also included in my praises for the second week out of three are Aztec, a company who put themselves out for a mere mortal like myself and have asked for nothing back (apart from their fee). Not only are they nice people, but they do exactly what it says on the tin (Gill, put the 50 quid in the post).     Somebody else who I have been lucky enough to become friends with over the years is Martin Roberts from Homes Under the Hammer and he also very kindly spent time with some of my clients last week, who now think the sun shines out of ones bottom.     One thing I have not addressed is Mr Garrards vicious attack on my cricketing prowess. The man’s memory is so short following our last sporting meet at the EM solutions Golf day in 1945 (the last day anyone wrote a mortgage that made money) where he witnessed a drive of the first tee of epic proportions, but nevertheless he should have realised then that I did at least have some hand eye skills (I came nowhere that day with 42 points bloody bandits).     Anyway, have another good week and let me know if anything interesting is happening!