The “oh shit” moment came when a client told me the cost of real estate debt had soared to 7.5% and was rising rapidly.

Spin class

Yet, incredibly, amid the doom and gloom, Soph and I got an email saying we’d been recommended to a massive company and would we like to pitch for their business. This would be bigger than any of our current clients multiplied by 100. We will be pitching against much, much bigger firms, but, of course, we will go for it. Pastis vs Goliath.

Meanwhile, our new client, the only one we’ve picked up in 12 months, seems to be the most ill-judged investor of all time. Having seen his previous company, providing flexible workspace, go bust during one of the Covid lockdowns, he launched his new company just weeks before Kwarteng’s “special fiscal operation”, which has put the kibosh on raising equity, raising debt and buying property. He is the best real estate downturn forecaster bar none.

Thank goodness, really, for next week’s trip to Munich for Expo Real for some respite from the Truss/Kwarteng axis of misery. For the first time, Ukraine will be represented with a stand in Munich, which is Kyiv’s twin city. Ukraine’s stand is called Rebuild Ukraine, which puts our own woes into perspective.

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