When you used to work with the lottery millionaires who bought their winning ticket from your local Sainsbury, do you feel closer to the jackpot? Lynne Mortimer thinks not.

What does a lottery winner look like?

Not like me, sadly.

But at the news we had a big win in my home town, I set off for the Ipswich Waterfront determined not to feel jealous... although, of course, I am, in truth, fist-clenchingly, lip-bitingly, eye-wateringly jealous.

By the time I arrive at the The Last Anchor, a restaurant on the Ipswich Haven Marina, to meet the lucky recipients of £6,123,395, in my imagination I have already spent it for them.

Earlier, it had crossed my mind that my former colleagues here at the East Anglian Daily Times, Cathy and Richard Brown, were a good match for the details of the as yet unnamed lottery winners. But I put it to one side. There must surely be a lot of people who are retired, sail, and live in Ipswich.

The press release was handed out when I arrived and there, in the second paragraph, it said “The couple, Richard and Cathy Brown...”

First instincts said “hurray”, second said: “You realise, Lynne, that now you know someone who has won the lottery, the probability of you winning a substantial sum has diminished.”

It’s not true, I know. My probability of winning of winning is exactly the same as it has always been. In fact, it is now slightly better as the Browns were thoughtful enough to give a lottery ticket to everyone who came along for the press conference. It was for last night’s draw... so if I’m not at work this morning...

Richard and Cathy’s win, we learned, had brought their planned trip around the coast of Great Britain to an abrupt end after they had completed just 250 miles of the 2,500 mile voyage.

And yesterday they showed their skill as they sailed perfectly in to their reserved berth; no mean feat in front of a bank of television and press cameras.

Having previously covered the press conferences of two sets of lottery winners, one couple from Lowestoft and one couple from Haverhill who won more than £100m in the Euromillions draw, I always wondered how they might have changed over the few days since they became multimillionaires.

I can now confirm, at least in the case of Cathy and Richard Brown, that they don’t change. Their weathered tans, which remarkably withstood the perishing cold of Newcastle where they were moored when they found out they had won, are the same; their splendid senses of humour are the same.

They bought four lines for last Wednesday’s draw, says Cathy: “One of my lines won £10 and Richard’s won £6 million.”

What’s more, having both worked as journalists over many years, Cathy and Richard were charming and patient with the questions thrown at them by the media and generous with their answers.

So, all things considered, am I still envious, just a bit maybe?

Oh, yes.