It may be six weeks before England’s cricketers set off on a 10-week tour of the West Indies, but the decision to postpone the announcement of their squad until noon today remains baffling. David Graveney, the chairman of selectors, has blamed the fitness of key players and a couple of unresolved selectorial issues as the reason for the delay, but this move is neither positive nor decisive.
It is also difficult to work out what could have changed during the past 24 hours. I found this building, which is in Fashion Street, but initially the idea was to use it as a warehouse to store the timber I was importing.”It was very much a rag trade area and had been from day one, although it was the first time that white-collar English workers had started living there, alongside the Bengali community. The area was a bit neglected then so it was cheap to live and as a student, that is where I ended up. After my studies I went back to Amsterdam, but I missed the drive of London and couldn’t settle there, so I came back to Spitalfields By the time I returned, it was enormously changed.

I had started my company, Solid Floor, in Holland in 1990 and by 1997 had an office in Clerkenwell, so it was a convenient place as I could walk to work. Eekle Jan Bles is the founder of Solid Floor, which has showrooms in London and Scotland. The latest one opens in February in Paddington Street, London, W1

Eekle Jan Bles is the founder of Solid Floor, which has showrooms in London and Scotland. However that would have been far too easy! Everyone back at the office had a good laugh at my expense I didn’t live that one down for a while. The upside to this story was that I was fortunate enough to actually sell that property myself so I did eventually get the commission. If they had, my ordeal would have been cut short as I could have just passed the keys through the window and they could have unlocked the door from the outside.

My toil was all worth it in the end.”Alex Neil lettings: 020-7237 6767. I called the office on my mobile and everyone had a good laugh. As the youngest and newest member of the team, I was the butt of all the jokes, and I’d really got myself in it this time. My manager set off in his car to help me but there was horrendous traffic and he didn’t reach me until much later.”After a while of sitting on the balcony, waiting to see if someone might pass by and help me, I decided to take matters into my own hands and try to prise the lock apart.