The first question is short and sweet and it leaves David Thompson laughing but, really, it is the only place to start - how are we here, on a converted cruise ship, in Gibraltar Marina?
This is no ordinary setting, with country's imposing rock towering over us. But, as quickly becomes apparent, the job in which Thompson - the one-time Liverpool, Coventry and Blackburn midfielder - now finds himself is anything but ordinary.
Soon he will be roaring with laughter when telling a story that involves Glen Johnson, some liquid refreshment and a posse of angry taxi drivers but first we need some background on how and why he finds himself in Europe's most southern tip.