A friend took me aside during a party this weekend. “Can I have a word?” she asked. “Those restaurant reviews you do...

“I thought they looked quite fun, and since I have a bit of spare time after the gym in the mornings and my girlie lunches, I was wondering if you would mind if I had a go...”

How I managed to refrain from spitting out my Bloody Mary and lodging the celery stick in her eye I don’t know. But instead I smiled politely, nodded and downed the rest of the jug in the corner in an effort to contain myself.

Why is it that some people think you just wake up one morning and lo and behold, get to host your own chat show/open your own restaurant/marry George Clooney?

Indeed, among a certain type (if you get my drift), I get asked it a lot.

“I read your review dahling,” they say. “And well, Johnny, you know he’s always supported my natural talents, so I’d like to do it if you’ll show me...”

Personally, I don’t mind showing anyone how to do it – after all, the job is an extraordinary privilege – but it does sometimes rankle with me that they think you just walk off the street and sit behind a desk marked ‘restaurant reviewer’.

Having said that, I’m equally guilty of thinking it must be wonderful – and not that difficult either – to host a show on antiques or anything involving couples and lie detector tests.

Thankfully, the truth is, we ALL do it.

I’d love to be a TV newsreader with my own make-up artist, a generous clothing allowance, capped teeth, and the simple ability to say: “...and now over to Peter Whippit outside Number 10.”

Or what about being a potter? I reckon I could knock out a few plates and bowls before Deal or No Deal at 4pm and still oversee the local PTA.

Or even be a novelist. You know, write something racy for the wives of lawyers and professors, sprinkle it liberally with a bit of Tupperware slap and tickle (‘my bosom heaved with desire and a few chicken fillets’), and surely Bob’s your uncle and Fanny’s your aunt?

I think we all wish we could be someone else, do something else and look like someone else because it does always look greener doesn’t it?

And we ever never think for a moment that there might be a downside. Hell, I’ll bet even Tom Cruise sometimes wishes he’d just settled for doing soaps.

But despite everything that I think looks: a. easy b. fun to do and c. gets paid by the bucketload, I consider myself – as I should do – outrageously blessed.

After all, when I was younger, I did once consider becoming an accountant...