EUROVISION CONTEST

Elena was Italian and, although she’d drawn Croatia in the office sweepstake, she still turned up on Eurovision day with the Italian flag painted on each of her fingernails, wearing an AC Milan football shirt, and carrying a plate of calzone. She took the song contest seriously. No way was she cheering for anyone but Italy.

All week she’d been trying to convince Graham – who had drawn Italy – to swap with her. Knowing how much she wanted it, Graham refused.

‘You really should,’ she said, pointing a perfect nail at his plate of frozen pizza, all limp and unappealing. ‘You couldn’t call that Italian anyway.’

He laughed. She might have accused him of offending her national pride with that pizza if he hadn’t then spent 10 minutes agreeing with her about the greatness of Italian football.

GRAHAM HAD AN EASY CHARM

‘Careful, you two,’ their supervisor said as she entered the office. ‘Anyone would think you were