Editor of D&D’s Sunday Paper

HI SUMMER

One of my biggest fears as a child was being out to dinner and everyone else suddenly getting too full to order dessert. I cottoned on pretty quickly to the fact that adults will always pretend that cake is something that they are also excited for, only to make excuses of why they can't have it, when push comes to shove. “I couldn’t possibly fit it in,” says coward number one.“It was the bread that did me,” says whichever aunt I will resent forever. “[other weak reason]” chimes in someone else. I ate every main meal suspiciously, forecasting my betrayal. I surveyed appetites. I alerted the table of the nightly ice-cream specials. I eyed off everyone’s portions - raising my eyes quizzically, judgmentally, like a stage mother would. I eventually remedied this, to an extent, this by insisting that we order dessert AS we ordered dinner, to be safe. My parents, beaten down, exhausted, complied. It’s a wonder they took me anywhere, come to think of it. Anyway. If you thought this was going to be a newsletter about slowing down and enjoying the moment, trusting that dessert will come, it isn’t. This newsletter is about the fact that I haven’t changed at all: it's finally spring and all I can think about is summer. And I’m worried if I don’t make the plans - put my summer order in - now, my appetite will change by the time it comes, and none of it will happen. So here’s my (admittedly very premature) summer order:

I want floaty slips! Pineapple socks! I want short sleeved pyjamas with toucans on them! I want a purse that is also a cooler bag, for my snacks. I want palm tree slippers, for flair. I want a fruit bowl shaped like a bunch of bananas ! I want to roller-skate across hot pavement without falling over.

I wanna make all the ice cream in this book. (Strawberry and Elderflower! Kumquat Custard! Lemon Verbana! Mint Chip!). I want to eat it by the spoonful, from frosty stainless steel cups. I want to grow tomatoes, and eat them before that one heathen squirrel does. Chop them finely with lots of herbs and sumac for salads, and wash them down with orange wine. I want to take a road trip where everyone respects the Spotify queue, and stop at all the kitch hotels. If the bed isn’t shaped like a clam-shell I don’t care about it! I want to read under trees and next to pools! I want to erect a hammock, and read on that too. Want a good book? Milk Blood Heat. I didn’t think I loved short stories - like, at all. I live for the rhythm of a novel. But, my god! WOW. Each is so sticky and so fragrant and so raw. Twelve sucker-punches in a row. I read it in little bites, to take a break, to save some room for dessert.

SUNDAY UNIFORM SUGGESTIONS

LEISURE LETTER Nº10