Fielding hops out of the car, hands her keys to the parking valet and clicks across the hotel's gleaming lobby. Oooh, goody, as her alter-ego, Bridget Jones, might say. Of course, for those who remain convinced that Fielding and her fictional creation are one and the same, it is somewhat bewildering that she should have swapped her maisonette in swinging Notting Hill for a house in chi-chi West Hollywood. Poor Bridget's addictions to Chardonnay and Silk Cut made her a national heroine in 33 countries. Here in squeaky-clean LA, however, there is a support group for every addiction.
Coffee is decaffeinated, milk is organic soya and everyone goes to bed early.
The ceiling fell in and I spent 12 weeks with a huge hole in the roof. She liked the warm weather and the fact that, owing to the time difference, people in Britain could telephone her only between certain hours. And that, she says, is why she never managed to write the script of the long-awaited film of Bridget Jones's Diary . I had to step back. Either you've got to be completely involved or not at all - you can't start complaining about things if you're not there, putting the work in.