MON 30TH AUG : CLIENT MEETING

So we pitch up at the client's make shift office: a golf course on the Conneticut / New York state borders. Yes, they've left town during the convention. I think: if something drastic did really happen to NYC do you think your business would really be running afterwards, any business actually. I also think about the pain of getting the train back into the city: half full of over excited protestors damp from their anxious sweat.

Anyway. We meet the marketing team and set out an agenda for the meeting with the CEO on Wednesday. The CEO's son has come up with a concept for a teeth whitening stick that brightens your smile and freshens your breath at the same time. 'Brilliant!' my partner screams. The son is 12 years old. We'll get some money for the work at last, which is good.

One by one they all try a sample of the new stick I decline. As the national sales woman delves her hand into the pot to get hers she says, 'It must be a cultural thing, right? Cleaning your teeth in front of everyone. Us Americans will do anything.'

She cracks the stick open and watches the ceremony of the nib filling with liquid. She puts it to her teeth as I address the next action on the agenda. There's no reply from everyone. I look up. Five people sit around me; their hands just shuffling up and down as they rub the mint flavor stick against their teeth. Their eyes are all glazed and a spittle of dribble hangs from each bottom lip.