Christmas is a-coming. Apparently! It’s a funny old time of year for freelancers. I remember my first Christmas as a self-employed person, one of my clients was heading off to the staff “do” after our call and as I put the phone down I felt completely deflated. “Hang on a cotton-picking minute. When’s MY Christmas do? I’ve been robbed here! Where’s my turkey dinner, itchy jumper and excess of cheap house wine?” That first year, my non-existent Christmas party was on a par wit

As I once said to a colleague about another colleague having heard she'd resigned "I always thought it'd be the mussels that pushed her over the edge, and yet it was the queenies that did it". I'm not crazy, we worked for a shellfish company. Chucking your toys out of the pram because of an obscure mollusc or bi-valve was all in a day’s work at this place, my bête noir tended to be langoustine. I was the export sales department (yes, all of it!) and we used to export them li