Good morning everyone,

Thank you Margo for the stellar guest editorship last week! I too was surprised by how long it took for a sports bra to be invented.

I'm sure you're excited to hear how skiing went for me, and I'm excited to tell you.

Firstly, the hanging out was – as I thought it might have been – pretty pretty excellent. Obviously it helps to have a great team on it (which I did), but I mean, I danced to both Sexyback and Lose Yourself in the same 72h period. It's not often you get an opportunity like that in the modern age! Please consider attending a work ski trip if, like me, you want to yell "This! Is like! Ibiza! But! For! Gryffindors!" at your boss at 2am.

PAR CONTRE. Know, that if you have not skied before, 36h later you will (again, like me) be yelling "Why! Am I! So! Shit at this!" at the sky while lying on your back in the snow (it is cold) with no actual clear plan for how to stand up other than a vague sense that your COO can probably deadlift you if needed.*

Those are some things to bear in mind. Do let me know if you have any further questions.

Time for links now. They are all going to be about quite gentle and relaxing things as that is what I need after last weekend.

Firstly, tea! Isn't tea nice, both the drink and the ritual. Here's a feminist history of tea rooms. The pull quote makes them sound sort of like the "gig economy" of their generation, there's loads of good stuff in the article as well:

In the early 1900s, tea rooms were the answer for single women who wanted some sort of career. They were well suited to widows or wives hoping to supplement family income, or teachers who wanted to continue working during the summer (many of them set up shop for only a few months in fashionable vacation spots).

https://daily.jstor.org/the-top-secret-feminist-history-of-tea-rooms/

Now time for some ART. Berthe Morisot was one of the original impressionists, and the only woman original impressionist, let's enjoy this self portrait together:

This is also a good book review and primer on her life. I really like how at the start of her career she used the access she had, as a woman, to hobbies and friends, to build a serious career:

'Berthe had taken the first step in a career pattern,' Ms. Higonnet notes, 'and she would under cover of family sociability continue cultivating professionals whose work she admired.' Morisot's 'cover' was, however, natural to her placement in life, so natural that she seems in no way ever to have compromised her integrity. Rather, her seriousness of purpose attracted serious support. Every photograph and every portrait of Morisot declares her intention to be true to herself.

https://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/03/books/a-first-impressionist.html

Finally, more pastels, this time musical rather than literal. I cannot stop listening to the The Japanese House album, am in fact listening to it now. Here's a highlight, but I strongly encourage you to listen to the whole thing six or seven times over the weekend:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEzYD4ZielY

Have a great weekend everyone, stay safe,

A xx.

*she can and did