Making small talk with strangers can be tough, especially if you’re a shy or introverted person. And then you have the added pressure of worrying about how you’re coming across – am I being polite enough? Did I laugh at the right time? Do they like me? It can all get a bit much.
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YOU loves: The Poetry Business School
Trend watch
Mind the gap: Gym kit
I’ve joined the Reform(er) party!
Don’t ever tell me I’m too old for my long hair
Travel: Boca Raton, Florida
Horoscopes
Caroline West-Meads
Slow-roasted 30 garlic cloves lamb shoulder
Golden fish soup
Roasted lemon, oregano and feta potatoes
Baklava cheesecake
Whole roast cabbage with spiced butter
Charred green beans, asparagus and almonds
Book offer: Greekish
‘I didn’t cook, so I kept books in the stove’
Cinnamon bun pudding
Eating out: Dorian, London W11
Drinks: Charlotte’s Easter reds
It’s a revelation, having a man as a friend. There is none of the angst of a romantic relationship. You are buoyed by another email, perhaps headed A Complete Unknown (a thread about the Bob Dylan biopic; him: ‘I’m glad you liked it. I don’t think I could have handled it if you emailed back saying it was rubbish’) or Black Doves, which I urge him to watch, adding the house Keira Knightley inhabits in the Netflix series is now up for sale for ‘not much’. He goes to my link, replying, ‘I suppose five million isn’t that much.’ But there is no problem if he doesn’t write, no wondering what he’s up to.