Fourteen women between 25 and 29, and what the decade does

Twenty five

Laura, athletic and 169 cm, light brown and green eyed, will keep asking about your work until she has properly understood it. Milena, curvy and 175 cm, wears black to the waist and has no small talk whatever. Rosa, curvy and 160 cm, has chestnut curls and an enthusiasm that carries a whole table. Vanessa, slim and 173 cm, sandy brown, lets three hours pass without their ever seeming long.

Laura and Vanessa both keep to Notting Hill, Laura around a screening and Vanessa around a long dinner. Milena keeps to Sloane Square, and Rosa to the top of Bond Street.

Twenty six

Cindy, slim and 168 cm, is blonde, cool at first and unexpectedly funny afterwards. Nora, athletic and 166 cm, is honey blonde and wastes no words at all. Tina, athletic and 158 cm, is espresso brown, direct, and genuinely funny with it.

Cindy takes the later sitting on Sloane Square, Nora an early dinner on Park Lane, and Tina a dark dining room on Albemarle Street, often at short notice.

Twenty seven

Karolina, slim and 174 cm, is black haired, considered, and occasionally blunt. Michelle, curvy and 173 cm, is dark brown, warm and mischievous, and very good at getting a story out of somebody who arrived intending to say nothing. Samanta, slim and 174 cm, is dark brown, cool and exact and quietly funny.

Karolina starts at a viewing on Bond Street, Michelle at a long dinner in SW1, and Samanta in a Mayfair room she has never been able to make up her mind about.

Twenty eight and twenty nine

Liana, 28, slim and 167 cm, is chestnut brown, formal and dry and entirely unhurried. Patricia, 28, slim and 172 cm, is auburn brown, exacting and funny about it. Danielle, 29, curvy and 170 cm, is black haired and the most composed woman in the circle. Thea, 29, curvy and 165 cm, is caramel blonde and quietly observant.

Liana is found on Park Lane, Patricia in Belgravia, Danielle opposite Green Park, and Thea in the mews off Berkeley Square.

The subject each of them knows properly

Laura knows film, the older ones especially, and Nora knows how people manage their time. Karolina knows pictures and what a thing is worth, Samanta knows interiors, and Danielle knows why one grand room works and the one beside it does not. Liana and Thea both know food, Liana as something to be got right and Thea from cooking it from memory. Rosa knows every maker between Marylebone Lane and Wigmore Street. Michelle knows the gossip of Westminster, Patricia a wine list, Tina boxing, Vanessa the parks at the west end of town, Cindy a great many books, and Milena how people came to be where they are.

Choosing among fourteen

Let the evening decide it. A screening means Laura, a viewing Karolina, a room worth arguing about Samanta. For a long dinner, Liana, Vanessa or Michelle. For something quick at short notice, Tina; for an early finish, Nora; for a late one, Milena.

Either side of the band

The early twenties holds ten and the thirties holds four. The tariff does not move between them. The full pages are in the Salon and every length is printed at rates.