Doing a salad, again
Happy sunny Sunday, everyone!
More salad this week (what can I say, I am a basic bitch all year round), but first, I’ve got something else to talk about.
I was on the way to the station last week to head down to Bristol for a friend’s super-secret surprise hen do (the biggest surprise aspect: the wedding was almost three years ago!), and, what can I say, I was feeling myself. I was wearing a gorgeous (and comfy!) red dress from Baukjen, a denim jacket, gold Superga sneakers, and I was ready for a weekend of fun. And then a guy in a hi-vis jacket looked me up and down and said ‘very nice’, before following me a few paces and saying it again, because I hadn’t responded. As harassment goes, it was tiny. He didn’t swear, he didn’t threaten to attack me, he didn’t come close to touching me. And yet it bothered me for the rest of the day and beyond. This morning I was digging through my drawer of sports kit to find light summer activewear that I wouldn’t boil in on my long run, but that also wouldn’t increase the likelihood I’d get catcalled (even though, as we all know, the cause of catcalling is not our outfits but rather ‘some dude who whistles ‘cause he has nothing to say’ but feels entitled to our time and attention.
Talking of dudes who feel entitled to our attention… Mr Johnson is (sort of) gone! I don’t have anything to say about him or his behaviour that hasn’t been said already, but I want to share something about the coverage that has made me surprisingly emotional.
Anchoring Sky News’ programming has been their Political Editor, Beth Rigby. I was in the gym on Wednesday night and saw her presenting from Downing Street in a fantastic purple suit. In this moment that’s all about asshat old Etonians acting like they can run the country no matter what the rest of us think, it was amazing to see her there. The core to it: she went to my high school (~15 years before me). My school didn’t really celebrate its alumni in the way that some do, and although we were told to aim high, it’s one thing being told that, and another to see someone who had the same education you did, literally treading the corridors of power.
The promised salad: ranch potato salad
After finishing this morning’s long run in the sunshine, all I wanted was potato salad. I found this recipe on my phone, and pulled the Condimaniac ranch dressing mix out of my cupboard. It was delicious, although not photogenic. (I made half the recipe, and used pepperoni instead of bacon. Highly recommend).
Something good…
I’m always working on my relationship with food, and really enjoyed this edition of Emiko Davies’ substack on what she’s learnt from living in Italy.
I will say this to anyone who asks: my New Statesman subscription is one of the best value parts of my media spend. Often I flick through the multi-page articles, picking up one or two nuggets about something I’m vaguely interested in, before moving on, but I loved Pippa Bailey’s piece about the Oxford English Dictionary, its history, and the team continually working on it. I would highly recommend checking it out.
Now I’m off to slap another layer of sun-cream on, and sit in the sun with a pre-mixed Pimm’s.
Have a lovely week!