“But my mother told me years ago that I could never be an actress if I couldn’t walk in heels.”Pike is very engaging and kind, and quite unlike many of her contemporaries. She hasn’t reached that stage where she finds it a kind of exquisite torture to give little vignettes of her life outside acting. She even tells me he is the reason she got dressed in the dark and reached for the silver stilettos this morning – “so impractical, that’s why I teamed them with my woolly tights,” she says cheerfully. They seemed such a good idea at the time.”Pike is relaxed and insouciant, and mentions the boyfriend all the time during our chat, although she doesn’t say his name (previous relationships frequently attracted diary-column attention). But perhaps it’s all for my benefit.Anyway, Rosamund and her boyfriend wanted Christmas dinner and never mind that it was now three in the morning “We had turkey burgers at the Waverly Diner,” she continues. “Unfortunately, I could still taste the fried onion rings when I woke up the next day.

“On Christmas Eve we ended up in a dive bar on East Houston Street and then it was Christmas Day and we were all sparkled up for a polished pony and trap ride round Central Park.” I can’t help feeling that the distinction between real life and fantasy here is blurred. You get this instant hit of something – the place just grabs your attention. I find it easier to read and to think and be inspired.”But she’s not seduced by the smart uptown gloss “I didn’t get New York the first time I don’t really get the skyscrapers. I love the change over when the skyscrapers give way to warehouses and factories and places where people live.

I like the jumble of buildings in SoHo and Chinatown.” fPike then proceeds to give me a description of her last Christmas in New York, which is worthy of Truman Capote’s heroine Holly Golightly. I am not very good at being in one place and having to be organised. I was thinking about this the other day and I realised there isn’t one thing that I do every week I don’t have any kind of routine. Do you have a routine?” she enquires forlornly.Pike’s sudden introspection is interrupted when I ask her if she is tempted to live in America “I could live in New York,” she replies “In fact I would love to live there I find it intensely exciting and relaxing. I love the fact that whatever mood you in, you will be taken out of it as soon as you step outside your door. But I find it easier and more relaxing to be constantly moving on.