Oh, it has been such a grey little week! Or a grey long one, I can’t work it out. For a minute, I feel we limped back into post-Christmas life with a whiff of gentleness and maybe even positivity. That has been harder to find these past few days. The run-up to releasing a book is a strange, listless thing - all hurry-up-and-wait, a time when the right amount of busyness doesn’t entirely exist. See also: expecting a baby. I feel the double-whammy may have something to do with it.

I have started to be interviewed about Why Women Grow, which is always a very nice thing and you will be able to hear the results of soon. The diary is filling up with photoshoots and book-signings and events and it all sounds very glamorous but really I wish I could be better at enjoying it - savouring it, even - rather than just doing it. These are the deep, squishy uncomfortable feelings behind all the jazz hands on Instagram, I guess. Perhaps by writing it down I’m working on it. Until then, if you would like to pre-order Why Women Grow, that would be a fine thing indeed.

There have been glimmers from small places. Surprise voicenotes. Mid-afternoon phone calls from friends just to say “tbh, everything’s a bit meh, but let me tell you about this pannetone”. Late night swim club in the drizzle, after eating cheesy chips in the pub, before driving home over Tower Bridge feeling like you’re in Spice World. Sunrise from the water. Crying with laughter in a restaurant over a joke about Mary Berry.

I’ve also gathered a good basket of savourites this week. All good, tasty morsels. Among them: what to do with that cabbage that’s been hanging around from your veg box. Here’s to more light, and soon. ...