A journalist, a new lunch box and the power of curiosity

As is my wont on many a morning, I wake early, wander upstairs to my rowing machine and spend seventeen minutes pulling away while wondering why anyone voluntarily does this sort of thing. I'm assured it's good for me. The hardest part isn't really the effort, it's the monotony. To fend off the boredom, I invested in a decent pair of headphones, and these days I usually row in the company of Simon Sinek, Steven Bartlett, Arthur Brooks or, of late, Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart on 'The Rest Is Politics'.

Before I get to my story, I’ll tell you that I’ve another treat for you that comes from one of my favourite design houses, Black & Blum, who I’ll return to shortly.

A few mornings ago, I was listening to Campbell & Stewart's interview with Steve Rosenberg, the BBC's Moscow correspondent. And here I'm going to admit something that, in the normal run of things, I might well have kept to myself. Somewhere along the line I'd begun to think not only of Putin as a problem, but of Russia itself. As though an entire nation had somehow become the enemy.

Listening to Rosenberg, who's has lived in Moscow for much of the last thirty years, and is married to a Russian woman, and clearly loves the country, he quietly dismantled that view.

If you read my piece last week about curiosity in relationships, this almost feels like its sequel.

Oddly enough though, what stayed with me afterwards wasn't really about Russia, nor even about journalism.

It was about a newspaper kiosk.

The story goes like this. For years Rosenberg bought his morning paper from the same kiosk in Moscow. It was run by a woman called Valentina. Over time they became friends. With her permission he began filming little conversations with her, sharing them online. Then, in 2022, she retired and returned to her hometown of Kursk, close to the Ukrainian border. They stayed in touch, but at some point recently she was diagnosed with cancer and understandably was finding life rather difficult.

For one moment the politics disappeared. Nobody was the enemy. They were simply two human beings.

Rosenberg said it gave him hope because it reminded him that beneath all the politics and conflict, ordinary human relationships still matter. He remains convinced that one day better relations between Russia and the West can be rebuilt. What impressed me most, though, wasn't his optimism. It was his curiosity.

Many journalists make a living out of expressing outrage. Rosenberg seems far more interested in understanding, than judging. Throughout the interview he tried to explain why many Russians see the world as they do, without excusing everything their government has done. That's not false balance. It's patient, thoughtful journalism, BBC reporting at its best. He makes it clear that trying to understand someone isn't the same thing as agreeing with them.

When I thought about it afterwards, I realised that what had moved me, wasn't so much that he'd written a song, although it has a lovely tune and the words are very moving. It was that, for a fleeting moment, people who usually spend their time criticising Britain simply paused and said, "A British journalist has written a song for a Russian lady who's ill."

For one brief moment, everybody forgot the labels. They just saw two people.

For reasons I can't entirely explain, that leaves me with a lump in my throat.

I’ve since realised that Steve Rosenberg hadn't really changed any facts. Russia was still Russia. He had simply encouraged me to look again. But what he had done, was to add a human element to it by including this story. A story that stopped me thinking generically about “the Russians”, and instead, turned them all into real human beings through his relationship with Valentina

Oddly enough, something similar happened to me a couple of years ago when someone's words led me to view something I thought I understood, in a new and different light.

But this was over something rather less important than international relations... it was a lunch box!

Black & Blum have been getting creative again

My chums at Black & Blum have added glass bodies to their now popular food prep boxes. But if I hark back to early 2023, Black & Blum introduced one of the cleverest products I'd seen in years. A stainless-steel food box that you can safely put in the microwave. What a brilliant idea, thin, light, ideal for taking your lunch to work in and then heating in the microwave if needed. However, they then sat there on the shelves, while I scratched my head wondering why the rest of the world wasn't nearly as excited as I was. It took a conversation with Black & Blum's MD, Nick Cornwell to realise I'd been selling the technology, when I should have been talking about the habit. These aren't really microwave-safe food boxes. They're a meal-prep system. When I'd taken in what Nick was telling me, I had another go at selling you the idea and that worked!

It was Nick painting a picture of how these unassuming boxes can, dare I say, 'revolutionise', the way you prepare, store, transport and consume your weekly lunch that really made me see their true qualities. Qualities, that vastly improved sales would suggest, we've also been able to communicate to you.

• They stack with lids on, and nest inside each other, lids off.

• Dishwasher, Oven, Air Fryer, Freezer and Microwave safe

• Compatible with the Stainless-Steel Meal Prep Box lids.

• Leak Proof & Airtight Vacuum-Sealed lids

The glass version has one obvious advantage over the metal versions. You can see what’s in them, without removing the lid. And that is not to be underestimated. The disadvantage is weight. And although borosilicate glass is tough, unlike metal, it’s not unbreakable. For me, the best combination of these two types is glass for storing leftovers in the fridge and stainless steel, for transporting your lunch to work.

There are four sizes of rectangular box in the glass versions, and these also come in either sets of the same size of box or one of each size sets as well.

My offer to you this week, when spending £20 or more on B+B food boxes get 20% off with code BB20 if shopping online, or tell us who you are if coming into Cobham or Reigate.

Final thought

So, Steve Rosenberg reminded me this week that labels can sometimes stop us seeing what's really in front of us. Whether it's a country, a neighbour or just a humble lunch box, it occasionally pays to look twice.

I've found that curiosity has a habit of rewarding us. Sometimes with a changed view. Sometimes with a new friendship (as it did with me the other day when I wandered over to chat to a chap who was parking his rather lovely Triumph TR6). Sometimes with a better way of storing yesterday's lasagne.

In most cases, a little curiosity usually makes life a degree or two richer.

I trust that you have a peaceful and pleasant weekend.

Warm regards,

Andrew