I’ve had a lot of compliments this week and as ever, you understand why — nobody is ever going say at an event that they couldn’t get who they wanted so here’s this guy instead, good luck. (Although I cherish having once been introduced as the finest writer available in our price bracket. God, I loved that.)

So anyway, it’s obviously very nice to hear great things said of you, although when they say it at the start you then rather have to live up to the billing. Consequently I can later on very easily dismiss the compliment as promotion or just the people being particularly nice, but in the moment it’s worrying. Challenging. Daunting.

Except one of the compliments this week was said straight, it was simple factual, and it was said to me practically in an aside while discussing many things. I was told I was a safe pair of hands.

It’s been days now and I can’t dismiss it, can’t excuse it away, and definitely can’t explain why I think that is a spectacular thing to say to someone.

Although I’m just after saying I can’t explain it and you know I’m going to try.

What they meant was that once I’d been booked, they could forget about me, knowing that this segment was covered. I’m not saying they mean they expect it to go brilliantly, but it won’t go wrong, there won’t be a problem. And in any project there are plenty of things going wrong so knowing one part is tied off is a relief. It’s a relief I recognise because I’ve been on both sides of this.

I get how good it is to know you simply don’t have to think about a certain part or a certain element. I know that, so I know what it meant for me to be that for someone, and I cherished it.

Plus I then did the event and of the three hosts producing it, none of them stayed in the room to watch me. You could take that as a bad thing, but it was absolutely the opposite. There was no need to watch, no need to look after me, and invariably there are other things on that day or other projects coming up that are problematic.

I took them leaving me there to be the same great compliment as the safe pair of hands line.

For once, I could really only be at this event for my segment of it so maybe they didn’t watch anyone’s, but you’re rotten for thinking of that and bursting my bubble.