It's been a whirlwind few days what with one thing and another.
The visit to Downing Street turned out to be an extraordinary experience - terrifying, amazing and surreal, all in equal measure.
After finally settling on an outfit (went for a fairly safe grey dress in the end) got there ridiculously early and found myself getting some rather strange looks from security as I loitered near the main gates. Not quite sure whether they thought I was a terror suspect or, er, possibly touting my wares, but a quick wave of my invitation and I was through.
Entering Downing Street itself is rather like getting on a plane, with all the usual pre-flight rigmorole of X-ray machines and weapon checks etc (bizarrely, this all takes place in a portacabin). Getting into the spirit of the whole thing, I even began taking my shoes off at one point only to be informed by an amused security guard that this wasn't actually necessary.
Once out the portacabin, it's just a short stroll down the street and then, there in all its glory, is the door itself - all gleaming black paintwork, shiny brass and in the middle that legendary No.10.
Suddenly felt rather like a character in Love Actually, especially walking up the stairs passing all those famous photos of previous PMs. Was half expecting to run into Hugh Grant but instead it was the who's who of British editors that were waiting to greet me at the top of the stairs.
In fact, my courage almost failed me when I was confronted with the sea of namecards laid out on the table... Vogue, GQ, Grazia, Closer, Psychologies, Men's Health, NME etc... help.
Very nearly went straight back down again, but was rescued at key moment by the editor of Fabulous, Rachel Richardson, who kindly took me under her wing.
No sooner had we enjoyed a brief chat, and quaffed a rather nice glass of Chablis, and suddenly there was Gordon Brown himself.
As it happened, he seemed to know the editor of Tesco magazine, who was standing right next to me, and, bizarrely, found myself involved in a random conversation with the two of them about organ donation.
What struck me more than anything, and this came as something of a surpise, was how charismatic he is in real life - something that just doesn't come across on television - and also how likeable he is, too... I may not necessarily agree with all his policies, but I liked him all the same - he was funny, attentive and charming.
Anyway, was all poised to ask him what he loved most about Surrey when, alas, one of his aides arrived at his side summoning him downstairs to the cabinet rooms. Then, with an apologetic smile and a wave he was gone. I would learn later that this was actually the meeting about last week's cabinet re-shuffle...
Thankfully, and despite all my earlier anxieties, the rest of the evening passed off without disaster (thanks largely to Rachel, bless her, who looked after me the whole time).
Highlights included...
- Getting chatting to a member of staff who was wonderfully indiscreet and gave us a marvellous insight into life at No.10
- Using the same toilet that the Queen uses when she visits Downing Street (though said member of staff admitted that they replace the Carex with a more exclusive brand of handwash)
- Trying as many as possible of the vast array of canapes on offer - needless to say, they were mouthwateringly fabulous...
- Being given pretty much a free rein to wander round the house, which is almost tardis like in its proportions. In a speech later that evening, GB would joke that he and Sarah used to get lost when they first moved in and once walked into the broom cupboard instead of the breakfast room and frankly I'm not surpised
- Walking out the door to be greeted by a sea of flashbulbs (which was actually all the editors, cameras now returned, taking photos of each other in front of No.10) but you can pretend for a moment, can't you?
Finally, it was time to head back to leafy Surrey to catch a few hours sleep before trekking back up to London again at the crack of dawn for the country's first ever Regional Magazine Summit - but that's another story (more of which later)...