One line of the ledger
Four blondes, and four different hours of the day
Four blondes on the board and no two of them the same shade. Cindy is the lightest, long and wavy, tied back when the wind comes off the dock. Nancy is golden, Nora honey and Thea caramel. Their eyes run blue, blue, hazel and green. Past the colouring they have almost nothing in common, which is why this column is arranged by the hour each of them owns rather than by shade.
One starts in the afternoon, two are the early evening pair, and one waits for a flight to land. Find the hour that matches yours and the choice largely makes itself.
Blondes, as the ledger has it
Afternoon into early evening: Cindy
Cindy is twenty six, 168 cm, slim, blue eyed, and the only one of the four who genuinely prefers daylight. She will have checked the sunset time before she looks at a wine list. Her evenings run out of Chelsea across Greenwich and E14, and the Greenwich version wants three hours at £700, because the hill and a table have never once fitted inside two. Stargazing, long walks and second hand bookshops out of hours. Say roughly when the sun goes down that week and the start time works itself out.
The early table: Thea
Thea is twenty nine, 165 cm, curvy, green eyed, caramel haired, and she will argue about produce with anyone who gives her the opening. Late afternoon into the evening is her shape: three hours at £700 from about four o'clock, or £900 across four when supper is going to be a long one, which with her it usually is. She works Greenwich and the estate, cooks properly at home and treats a market stall as a debating society.
The long evening: Nancy
Nancy is thirty, 170 cm, curvy, golden blonde with blue eyes, and entirely finished with pretending to be in a hurry. Three hours at £700 covers the painted hall and a table by the water; four at £900 gives the walk afterwards room to run. She paints in watercolour, likes rivers and is comfortable with long silences, which is rarer and worth more than it sounds. Afternoon starts are possible with her, since the ceiling down there is not lit after hours.
The one who waits for a flight: Nora
Nora is twenty six, 166 cm, athletic, honey blonde with hazel eyes, and she swims in open water all year, including the months when that is plainly a bad idea. Her evenings sit furthest east, out at the docks and City Airport. Conference nights run short, so two hours at £500 is her common booking, with £700 across three when dinner is not going to be eaten standing up. Send a landing time and she works backwards from it.
Choosing between the four
The hour decides this page, not the shade. Cindy has the afternoon to herself. Thea and Nancy divide the early evening between them and work about ten minutes' walk from one another. Nora is the name when a flight number is doing your timing for you.
If the colouring matters more than the clock, auburn holds the three rarest shades here and brunettes is the longest column on the board. Two of these four, Nancy and Thea, appear again under curvaceous; Nora stands in toned and Cindy in slim and slender. Every figure is on rates and every booking runs through booking.
Send the room and the hour
Write the district, the time and the length of the booking. The desk answers with a name and an arrival window, and the evening is set.