The case of the compromised eggplant.

“Sorry, you’ll need to pause, my aubergines are on fire.”

And so, conversation three with Mark, our very own Planet Blogger, was temporarily put on hold.

But it was clear that our relationship had rapidly escalated from strangers to collaborators.

And that is at the heart of what we do really.

Not sneaky, snitchy war-time collaborators. I mean open-armed, open-minded sorting things out together collaboration.

But I’m, getting ahead of myself.

Mark and I met only a month or so ago, on an “It’s Lockdown we all need to help each other out…” website, brilliantly curated by Andrew Dobbie at Made Brave.

Mark was putting his lengthy experience up for grabs (for free), as a mentor, and I was simply looking to make connections to see how we could help each other out in these crazy times.

We ‘connected’ within, oooh, about 20 seconds, and agreed, with a minimum of fuss, to do some work together.

This is where a confession comes in.

I might be adept at sorting out my clients’ lives, messages and stories, but when it comes to my own…

(Mark calls it Cobbler’s Children Syndrome. And we all need a good syndrome to ponder on right now, don’t we?)

So, Mark quickly pinned Kate and I down, interrogated our past (warts and all — it took a while because it was a bit wartier than we realised) and helped shape our stories in such a way that, over the coming weeks, we’ll be able to engage more strongly with the people we already work with (our tribe) and people we’d like to work with (your tribes).

No hard sell. No special offers. No BS.

It’s made both Mark and I grateful. Neither of us were seeking a business transaction when our paths crossed.

We were both just curious, willing to share, to collaborate, and to care about other human beings out there in this very tough Covidial environment.

And now, his Melanzane alla Parmigiana is on fire.

Before you leave us, we have a gift. This is simply the best.