The cheesy grin when getting on board, our furtive looks to make sure no one noticed as we nicked the napkin rings and our delight at saying in a very loud voice on the mobile from the lounge, "Oh yes, I'm just getting on Concorde." No one, least of all the staff who had seen it all before, was deceived. We were tolerated - mainly by those people for whom Concorde was part of their regular commute. When did you last look at your watch and think "I need to go to New York, but it will take too long I really don't have three extra hours to spare. I will have to take Concorde"? Now, it may come as a shock, but there really are such people in the world.

People for whom the extra 225 minutes make the difference between the deal and the dole. And it was for those people that Concorde was truly designed. I have a horrible truth to reveal: during its quarter of a century in service, Concorde was never intended for the likes of you and me Oh sure, many of us blagged our way on somehow. And Marks & Spencer closed at 312.5p, up 3p, ahead of the national rollout of its credit card, &more.Greene King frothed up 3.5p to 850p on hopes the warm weather led to bumper sales of cool beer.Thursday's £82m placing by Intermediate Capital, the buyout financiers, was starting to look as if it might have been underpriced after the company's shares surged again yesterday. The fundraising, which will pay down debt, was priced at 915p, but Intermediate Capital shares jumped 60p to 1,085p.Directors' dealings bolstered Faupel, the home furnishings maker, whose shares were up 0.75p to 24.75p on news that the chief executive, Lawrence Mead has spent £38,000 to take his holding over 8 per cent. And Mark Kay, executive director at ROK property solutions, bought 75,000 ROK shares, helping them recover 3.5p to 242p. International Brand Licensing, maker of Admiral sportswear and luggage, more than doubled in value yesterday ­ the shares went up 11.5p to 20p, giving the company a new market capitalisation of £6m. The reason? Wal-Mart-owned Asda has licensed the Admiral brand to become, effectively, its sports brand alongside the hugely successful George Asda fashion range..

Of course, lastminute is also seen as the stronger internet brand of the two and is more likely to attract the long-rumoured bid from a US giant.Investors, looking ahead to trading updates next week from a number of retailers, sent Mothercare shares to their best level in over a year. Up 13.5p to 227.5p, they reflect optimism for the turnaround strategy being implemented by Ben Gordon, the chief executive who joined from Disney. Carphone Warehouse, which updates the market on Wednesday, was up 5.25p to 125.75p in the belief it is benefiting from the mobile phone operators' price war. Word is the company has been able to raise room rates steeply in its New York hotels in recent weeks. The group's shares were pushed up 17p to 505p, and there was also a positive effect on Hilton, which rose 8.25p to 196.5p. The chairman of De Vere, though, was a seller of his hotel company's shares, which were unchanged at 385p Lord Daresbury sold 393,000 shares at 378.5p apiece. Dealers reported switching from ebookers into lastminute , following the disappointing trading news from ebookers on Thursday.