With no apologies...

An American colleague of mine a long time ago remarked that in a business context he found it hilarious that all British meetings had ‘apologies’ as the first item on the agenda.

It was the regular standing item - apologies for absence - the official record of who was invited but was unable to attend but he found it amusing that we were so British that we apologised for something before we had even begun.

I often think of that conversation every time I’m tempted to apologise for something.

“I’m sorry I’m late”

“Sorry to keep you”

“Sorry for the delay in replying”

Using the word sorry in this context is often used as a conversational filler, and after following Elsie - the People Pleasing Therapist on Instagram I’ve started replacing it with alternatives:

“Thank you for waiting for me”

“Thank you for bearing with me”

So, with that in mind and with absolutely zero apologies this is a super short email this week from me. It’s half term, a short week after the bank holiday and with A level revision reaching it’s stressy peak I have very little headspace for anything coherent.

Instead I’m going to share this image with you - created when I realised that a recent day out had sparked off a whole colour theme in my head. The start of June signals all things pink apparently, so I decided to run with it and gather things around me that we were pink and that made me happy. Because why not?

The beginning of June is the start of a new journal for me, sticking with my trusty Leuchhturm 1917 but in a pastel pale pink which I fortuitously picked out a few weeks ago.

Peonies, ice cream and new stationery - sounds like a good start to the month to me.

I hope you had a gentle start to June too, and next week with the bulk of my son’s A levels behind us I’ll hopefully have the brain space for something a little more coherent.

Happy weekend.