Nancy, straight from the open air pool

The Oasis on Endell Street is a heated open air pool in the middle of Covent Garden, and Nancy swims there most mornings, rain or shine, fifty lengths before the shops open. It explains a lot about her. Sunny, energetic and completely unbothered by the weather, she arrives at an evening with the glow of someone who has already had a good day and fully intends to have a good night.

Nancy is curvy and 170 cm tall, her golden blonde hair long and often still damp at the ends, her eyes a clear blue. She dresses in warm colours, bare shoulders in summer and a camel coat in winter, and she is thirty, so easygoing that plans simplify themselves: if the restaurant is full, she knows another one round the corner. English is her only language and laughter her second.

Road trips are her escape, the coast road in a hire car with the windows down, and sushi is her treat. Her ideal evening in the West End starts at a counter just off the Piazza, where she lets the chef decide everything, then a stroll through the market buildings after the crowds have gone, and a nightcap at your hotel on the Strand. A long work trip starts to feel like a short holiday in her company, and she remembers the name of every waiter who has ever been kind to her.

Home for Nancy is Covent Garden, a stroll from the Savoy end of the Strand. Midweek evenings are usually open; for a Friday or Saturday, ask Henrietta by Wednesday.