Penny Black's insurance week

A cautionary tale reaches Penny about the dangers of playing with hot candle wax, or rather the embarrassment that can be caused by being covered in this quick-drying viscous liquid when dining with colleagues. For that is the sticky situation that befell Salient Solution's founder and managing director Clare Ryder, who while catching up over a Thai meal in the City found herself wearing a considerable amount of wax when a large candle's runny contents ended up being spilled over her top half. Apparently, should anyone now want a bust of Ms Ryder — literally — she now has a ready-made wax one at home. As to how she explained the gloop to the dry cleaners at her hotel, one will leave that to Ms Ryder to divulge.

Penny's colleagues were pleased to receive an invite this week to an event marking the continued success at Hastings Direct. The only problem was that the invite failed to give an actual date. When