Mainly, I’m fielding calls from the press, asking for Jilly to write something, or for her thoughts on various subjects – anything to do with Gloucestershire, especially. She got a lot of calls about the writer Laurie Lee’s death a few weeks ago.I’ve never really been treated badly by anyone in this job. When you’re talking to people on the phone, tact is the paramount thing. You have to be courteous, and I think that if you are always nice to people they have a job being nasty to you. Some people continue to hassle me with requests that Jilly has said no to already, and it gets a bit awkward, but I don’t complain.

I know that there are lot of people who would love to jump into my shoes given the chance.The best thing about the job is Jilly herself I see her for about a third of the day. She’s there when I get in, and I go through the post with her. We’ll have a chat, and then she’ll give me various tasks for the day. But I don’t disturb her after she’s started working, unless it’s something important.The most important skill required to be a good PA is to be able to get on with things when people tell you to do them. Jilly doesn’t want to have to repeat things – she just wants to be able to ask something of me and know that it will be done.

You have to be able to work on your own initiative, have a good personality and a good telephone manner, and be easy-going and flexible. As far as I’m concerned, I think I’ve got the best job in the world.Interview by Scott Hughes. Hayley is moving to London next month where she plans to share a rented flat with friends. The move from her parents house in Frinton- on-Sea, Essex, will shrink her monthly commuting costs of pounds 320, though rent of around pounds 300 per month will soon make up for this

Living within her salary is no problem for Hayley.

“I tend to budget reasonably well, but I think I’ll have to tighten my belt a bit more when I move to London,” she says.
Hayley is keen to build up some savings. She now has pounds 700-pounds 800 in a Woolwich Building Society account, but this will be eaten up in the move, mostly on a deposit for a flat. She’s cautious about how much she will be able to save when she’s living in London, but thinks she may have about pounds 50 a month spare. “I want to know what’s the best way to make your money grow,” she says, “and I’m quite interested in stocks and shares.”Roddy Kohn, an independent financial adviser at Bristol-based IFA firm Kohn Cougar (Tel: 0117 946 6384), tells Hayley:”Despite Hayley’s enthusiasm to get her financial planning underway, she should do nothing at the moment about investing money or for her pension.