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to leave work.”
     
    That sounds so sad; to have built something up and be struck down in your prime. Conversely, I am so pleased for Elisa, this is a dream job. “Well done you !” I scream back and Elisa tells me all about her interview and how ghastly it was.
     
    *****
     
    The concert is almost rained off due to problems with guests accessing the site. The ground is sodden and cars have churned up the mud so that some are now quite stuck. The car park attendants are all very helpful. It is quickly relayed to us that the start of the concert will be delayed by an hour, while they finalise a change to the parking arrangements and ensure everyone can get into the house. There are 20 or so acres of parkland and some are less waterlogged than others. This is a huge undertaking, which involves moving hundreds of cones and cars in really dreadful conditions. I’m quite pleased though, as we get parked up early and I have always wanted to see inside the Manor.
     
    Lymenton Manor is Jacobean in design, a Grade II listed building on the outskirts of Ashford in Kent. It’s renowned for having the most wonderfully ornate state rooms. The moment we walk in it feels warm and welcoming and has already been decorated with simple red, gold and crystal Christmas decorations. The smell of mulled wine, cinnamon and orange tempts us to make for the famously ornate tea rooms, for a hot drink and a slice of cake. It’s quite the opposite of Edmeade Hall, I think, as I tell Elisa about my experience of the wedding tour there. As we sit at a table for two, next to a huge fireplace, we see a sign which says that this room is where King William IV and Queen Adelaide dined in 1834 and that the Jacobean mantlepiece ‘includes a biblical scene showing the Angel stopping Abraham from sacrificing Isaac.’ “This is the kind of place I should have been born to live in,” chuckles Elisa. “Oh, it’s good to be in the warm.”
     
    “This would be a wonderful place for a wedding – in better weather of course! I wonder whether they do weddings here.”
     
    “They must do!” Says Elisa, “But I reckon it would be pretty expensive.”
     
    I ask the waitress as she clears our tea plates. She explains that the Manor’s function hall is being refurbished in readiness for opening for weddings next summer. Interestingly, it has already been granted a license for civil ceremonies in this very room. I start to feel excited. If Richard were here, he would be sensing a deal to be made right about now. I decide to take a brochure and show it to Richard tomorrow.
     
    After our tea and cake, we are called into the Ballroom to take our seats. The room’s ceiling is double height, with large ornate windows on one side of the room and a gallery opposite within which I presume is the VIP seating. I can see people seated in the gallery, they have plenty of room between their chairs and it looks like they are being served drinks. Probably champagne, I think.
     
    The seats – around 200 of them – are laid out theatre-style. Elisa and I make for seats as near to the front as possible. We manage to grab two together in the third row, so have a really good view of the stage area. There is a microphone, a drum kit and some speakers and monitors set up.
     
    A few minutes later, when everyone has taken their seats, the lights are dimmed and on walks Radio Power DJ Paul Wood. He welcomes the audience, warms us up with a few jokes about the weather and then introduces the first act. It’s Lewis Sheehan, a singer songwriter who I’ve always admired. He appears on stage and the sound mix is perfect. His voice is haunting. The audience becomes engrossed from the first few chords he strikes. You could hear a pin drop.
     
    I see a flash of light up and to one side. My eyes are drawn to the gallery. There it is again, a flash of light. Oh, it’s just the reflection of a spotlight hitting the waitress’s silver tray as she walks. She’s making her way along