Would YOU 雇う a PA to the 星／主役にするs??They’ll find sold-out gifts (and 包む them) and even rustle up Nativity 衣装s. JANE FRYER says they’re 価値（がある） it - even at £40 an hour

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The very best part of the four hours I spent this week with glossy, shiny, silky, 最高の-posh エリート PA Polly Hadden-Paton was the moment I 手渡すd over a pair of 廃虚d red velvet Alexander McQueen 見本 shoes.

They’d been lying in shame in a plastic 捕らえる、獲得する under my desk for more than a year ― ever since they’d been chewed by a dog at my husband’s over the 最高の，を越す Seventies Brazilian-主題d birthday party.

They aren’t even 地雷. They belong to my favourite 隣人 who’d taken them off to perfect some 特に ambitious dance moves. But it was our party and our friend’s dog (who brings a Jack Russell to a fancy dress party?), so I felt responsible and 約束d to get them 直す／買収する，八百長をするd. And then didn’t.

That was 15 months ago. Another birthday has passed. Still the shoes languish. Every so often, I catch sight of them and feel sad and bad. And when I see my 隣人, they hang between us; a small invisible cloud of awkwardness.

But then I 手渡すd them over to Polly the PA ― and all that disappeared.

‘Stop! Oh my gosh!’ she gasps as she marvels at the savage teeth 示すs. And then 回復するs her composure. ‘Sure, sure, sure. Not a problem! Not a problem!’ she chirps, and 緊急に taps at her shiny laptop.

‘I’ve got this brilliant woman who does 捕らえる、獲得するs and shoes. She’ll be here at 11am. Don’t worry, she can sort anything.’

So can Polly. やめる literally, anything.

She can get your son into Eton, 借り切る／憲章 a 私的な jet, 調整する your house move and switch over your 法案s, stand in line for your new iPhone, do your Christmas shopping, 行き詰まり，妨げる tickets for sold-out shows, order your takeaway lunch, 除去する chewing gum from the crotch of your designer jumpsuit, ヘリコプター you off a mountain, 調書をとる／予約する Botox 任命s, get the chocolate off your sofa and rid your house of unwelcome ghosts (yes, really).

She’s not, you see, any old PA, though she does love to type an old-fashioned letter (‘If only I had time’).

No, she’s one of a new brand of 最高の-PAs who can solve any problem with a couple of taps of their beautifully manicured fingers.

Her （弁護士の）依頼人s 含む 首相 League footballers, rugby players, hedge 基金 経営者／支配人s, actors, pop 星／主役にするs, （イスラム圏での）首長s . . . and, now, busy working mums like me ― and you.

Because Polly now runs her own 商売／仕事, youneedapa.com, with fellow PA Vicky Silverthorn.

They met when they were both working for Lily Allen, (as you do), and 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 £40 an hour to 悩ますd mothers like me who wouldn’t dream of having, let alone be able to afford, our own PA, but have dispiriting ‘to do’ 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）s that never seem to get any shorter.

It was when they parted company with Lily (‘We’ve not seen her for ages,’ Polly says discretely) that they realised there was a whole world of 可能性のある （弁護士の）依頼人s out there desperate to 接近 their unrivalled 接触するs and ruthlessly organised brains.

A few days before we 会合，会う, we spoke on the phone a nd she asked me to send her a 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） (‘Not a “to do” 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） ― an 活動／戦闘 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）,’ she says. ‘It’s more “C’mon, yeah!” ’), told me nothing was too small, silly or shameful and that ‘everyone has different needs’.

At the end, she 約束d that, together, we would ‘征服する／打ち勝つ it all’ and I would feel ‘肉体的に はしけ, more mindful and relaxed’.

Wow! So I got started.

の上に my 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） went our lapsed house 保険, a shepherd’s outfit for my son’s Nativity show (a week late for rehearsals), the mountain of mending and 乾燥した，日照りの-きれいにする that’s been stuffed in the 底（に届く） of my wardrobe for months, three broken handbags, advice on the best place for レーザー hair 除去 and scraggy neck smoothing (without surgical 介入), turning up a pair of ‘new’ ジーンズs bought in June and our monumental moth problem.

I emailed all that, and 支援する she pinged: ‘最高の! Let me know if you think of anything else xxxxx.’

So I did. ‘Help choose new glasses. Sort out cat 保険. Worm tablets. Flea collar. Source a sold-out Hatchimal [this year’s 教団 kids’ Christmas 現在の], 調書をとる／予約する holiday flights to Menorca.

It was as if a blockage had been 除去するd. I couldn’t stop.

Each time her 返答 was so 上昇傾向 ― ‘Not a problem! Of course!’ ― that I became ever more ambitious.

‘（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する for four at the Chiltern Firehouse. Tickets to see 厳密に Come Dancing. A Glastonbury ticket for someone who’d 行方不明になるd the 最終期限 to 登録（する）.’

‘No problem!’ she chirped 支援する, and enquired about parking.

自然に, I’d run out of 会議 parking 許すs ― so の上に the 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） they went.

When we finally 会合，会う and she hops の上に a broken stool at my scuffed kitchen 反対する I feel both daunted by her posh swishy glossiness and embarrassed I’d 陳列する，発揮するd my horribly disorganised underbelly to a stranger.

But she and Vicky have seen it all. Houses 洪水ing with rubbish, 地位，任命する unopened for three years, 未払いの 法案s, stains of all sorts on 着せる／賦与するs, carpets, sofas, curtains. Men who can’t order their own takeaway lunches. People incapable of Christmas shopping.

They’ve 調書をとる／予約するd bikini waxes, 支援する, 解雇（する） and 割れ目 waxes and endless 任命s at STD clinics ― usually under their own 指名するs to 保護する bashful （弁護士の）依頼人s.

On paper, Polly must be the most 完全に 実験（する）d lady in London.

‘I’m just happy that everyone’s 存在 安全な,’ she says. ‘Everyone has their own needs.’ For me, she limbers up on a few 未払いの 法案s, the house 保険, a moth 予防 道具 and some ビタミンs recommended for me by a doctor to make me sleep better, be いっそう少なく tired and more efficient.

They’ve been on my ‘to do’ 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） for months. Along with new glasses ― one of my two pairs has only one arm and the other is so scratched I can barely see. I’ve been wearing my 接触する レンズs for so long each day that I’m 損失ing my 注目する，もくろむs.

But Polly’s here, so tick, tick, tick ― off the 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） they go. Along with the shepherd’s 衣装, the Hatchimal and pretty much everything else.

Next she 始める，決めるs me up on a website that takes a ビデオ of my 直面する and then pops hundreds of 事実上の pairs of specs on my slowly 回転／交替ing 直面する, to help me choose.

She prowls の中で my 非常に高い piles of papers like a lion on 惑星 Earth II ― pouncing when she finds an 未払いの paper 法案. ‘What’s this? How do you usually 支払う／賃金? Do you have a direct debit? Shall I 始める，決める one up 権利 away?’

She’s a machine. But so she should be. Most of this stuff she could do standing on her glossy 長，率いる with her beautifully manicured 手渡すs tied. Because she and Vicky are members of the PA SAS ― an 排除的, self-selecting club of about 100 エリート PAs.

The 最高の，を越す secret club’s been に例えるd to Jeeves and Wooster’s ‘club for gentlemen’s personal gentlemen’ and The Society of the Golden 重要なs ― the real life 網状組織 of 最高の，を越す hotel concierges.

In comes a problem; one email pinged out to club members usually solves it. A taxi for a （弁護士の）依頼人 filming in Outer Mongolia? Done. The 最新の sold-out handbag? Not a problem. They help each other out, 交換（する） 接触するs, 急襲する to the 救助（する） with a 私的な jet or tickets to Adele or the 動きやすい number for the best stain remover in London (Kareem, the 甘い-smelling saviour from Kynance 乾燥した，日照りの Cleaners in Kensington, if you’re 利益／興味d).

自然に, Polly can’t give the 指名する of the club because ‘everyone would want to join’, and becomes pink and flustery when I 調査する. But she will 確認する that members are both male and 女性（の） and have to be both 指名するd and seconded.

It’s astonishing how スピードを出す／記録につける-jammed our lives have become. How, week after week, month after month, some of us ― I know I’m not alone ― 令状 the same 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）s, then berate ourselves for failing to 活動／戦闘 them

We’re busy, we’re juggling, we feel like we’re going 一連の会議、交渉／完成する in circles, and an un-活動／戦闘d 活動／戦闘 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） just 追加するs to the 強調する／ストレス. Which is 推定では why, along with our きれいにする, アイロンをかけるing, gardening and DIY, more and more normal people like me are outsourcing their admin to people such as Polly.

‘It’s all about valuing your time,’ she says. ‘いつかs there are better uses for it than sitting on the phone to British Gas for an hour.’

Polly and Vicky spotted the gap and practise what they preach.

Vicky is 長，率いる of de-cluttering and so fastidious she used to hide mismatched plates at her childhood home when friends （機の）カム to stay.

Polly ‘adores’ admin ― her handbag 含む／封じ込めるs a label-製造者, 穴を開ける-puncher, sticky tape, scissors, さまざまな chargers and, occasionally, a shredder and portable printer.

At home, her own wardrobe is a colour-coded, season-sectioned 楽しみ. She lights up when talk turns to throwing things away ― ‘It gives me a sense of 救済. It makes me happy.’

So does 存在 busy. She’s on call 24/7 and never ever turns her phone off. When she pops to the loo in the night, she 調書をとる／予約するs flights, 取り消すs 未使用の gym 会員の地位s and tees up dog walkers.

It goes without 説 she has endless Christmas shopping spreadsheets, finished hers in November and has wrapped everything. Though she sheepishly 収容する／認めるs she’s yet to decorate the 小包s with stencils and 屈服するs.

Oh, the shame, Polly!

There are some things they’ll baulk at ― ‘anything rude or that might 害（を与える） someone’ ― and, rather surprisingly, thank-you letters.

‘I’d be happy to type a template, but I really think they should do it themselves,’ she explains.

It’s lovely having Polly tap-tap-（電話線からの）盗聴 through your backlog. Even nicer when every few minutes one or other of her SWAT team turns up to 素早い行動 away my broken or stained detritus ― Vanessa Jacobs, the 捕らえる、獲得する and shoe lady with her very white teeth and can-do 態度, and the fragrant man from Kynance, who says darkly: ‘You should see some of the things we get. We could 令状 a 調書をとる／予約する,’ and then 素早い行動s my mending and stains away with no について言及する of return date or cost.