Myself and a group of friends were running late for a reservation at a restaurant and were desperate for any kind of transport. Nothing was in sight. It was – in a very white, middle-class way – absolute hell.

Then, like a proud galleon emerging from Victorian fog, a taxi came into view. A single taxi with its availability light shining, heralding both shelter from the miserable rain and sweet, holy convenience.

We were excited.

We hailed the cab enthusiastically, shouting and waving our arms. It slowed down and pulled up to the curb…only to be intercepted by a plump woman in a tracksuit.

We were mortified; we had missed our very last chance to make our scheduled afternoon tea and we weren’t going to have cakes or sandwiches or cheese or champagne or tea or coffee and it was all going to be horrible. We hadn’t allowed enough time and now our whole afternoon was ruined and we’d wasted all this time.

But then something magical happened. The woman, after having had a chat to the taxi driver, moved away from the cab and walked away. It was ours for the taking.

As we moved to take our unexpected prize, a passerby informed us: “She’s, er… she’s been working this corner for five years.”

My first reaction to the news that the woman was a prostitute was, honestly, relief. I have never been happier to find out someone was a lady of the night. If she hadn’t have been a prostitute, we would’ve missed our afternoon tea.

And surely that’s the real tragedy.

I always seem to be rushing these days. We all are. Cars cut in front of other cars, businessmen run around corners, trains take off from platforms, final calls for flights are made, clocks are glanced at, lips are chewed, legs jiggle nervously. It’s a very fast-paced jungle out there and we are not very good at waiting.

I think I inherited my impatience from my dad. N Ballard is not a good waiter. Whenever he’s doing something, chances are he’s thinking about how he’s getting out of it and moving on to the next thing. He takes newspapers to the theatre to read before the show starts, he takes back ways to avoid traffic lights, he prepares excuses to leave family functions; I mean, this is a man who once said “I’ve got better things to do with my time than stick to speed limits”.