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Daisy chains…
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“Knitting sucks!”
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Mum and her girls
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Blowin’ in the wind
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So much like her daddy…
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At Camber Sands…
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April 30, 2009Had an andrenalin hangover this morning and trouble switching gears to the family part of my week. I lurked on the email all morning, checking the response to the new designs and tracking the various bugs that kept popping up.Adam and I made a lunch time trip to the garden centre. I wanted to pick up some lobelia and veggie seedlings, and scope out raised vegetable bed options. They sell railway sleepers which look great, but would cost a bomb. Decking is an option as well, but I wonder how structurally stable it would turn out to be. Doing some weeding with Lyra this afternoon, she suddenly piped up, “Hate ground elder, mummy!” Made me laugh — I’m sure she’d heard me say that a few times in the last weeks… |
April 29, 2009So the site went live at 5pm this afternoon, after a few completely unnecessary, manufactured crises (I shall say no more…). We have done really well to pull this work off with the conditions we’ve had to work to — arbitrary revisions to approved designs, silly deadlines imposed for no reason… There are a number of glitches we’ve had no time to resolve, but it looks alright… |
April 28, 2009Met Adam for dinner at Maze, a Gordon Ramsay offshoot, after another mad day on the website. Head chef Jason Atherton (who has worked at El Bullí) has put together a menu of modern tapas — things like “marinated beetroot, Sairass cheese, pine nut and Cabernet Sauvignon dressing”. I didn’t have the brain power to put together the recommended number of courses myself after the stress of work, so we opted for the chef’s menu. Everything was very good, but nothing dazzled, though maybe that had more to do with the distracted mood I was in… Would definitely be happy to pay another visit… |
April 27, 2009We’re launching our “refreshed” website this week (basically the same content in a new wrapper, with a couple of new features for presenting it on the home page). It’s going to be a mad few days of testing and prioritising what absolutely must be right before we launch, and what we can discreetly fix behind the scenes once we’ve made our deadline… |
April 26, 2009London Marathon today. Watched the pre-race coverage and the start on telly, until the guilt got to me and I dragged by ass out of bed and went for a short run round Highgate Woods with Nova.I’m still apprehensive about doing my ankle again, but I’m keen to get a bit of running in before the Race for Life at the start of June. Felt much less guilty watching the rest of the event afterwards. I even got thinking that I’d like to apply for a place in next year’s event. I’m sure it’s a similar phenomenon to the weeks around Wimbledon each year when half of Britain swarms the local tennis courts… Adam took Nova to the Arsenal match with Etta and her dad, and I hung with Lyra. I had planned to roast a chicken, but weather was so unseasonably glorious that I opted for Margo’s crystal chicken instead. |
April 25, 2009Happy birthday, Kael — two today! Sundried tomato-feta dip/cherry-smoked oysters/olives Squid bruschetta with chilli jam, creme fraiche and rocket Scallops with squid ink linguine and tomato-tarragon sauce Green salad with vinaigrette Strawberries and lemon ice cream Ben’s very into his wine, so we gave him a heads-up on the menu. He brought an amazing bottle of Pinot Gris and lovely Sancerre. Nova who joined us for the pre-dinner drinks before bed later reported that Saskia “smells of posh taxis” (leather, maybe?) The food was well appreciated, and went marvellously with Ben’s wine. Sat around sipping Zubrowska until getting on for 1am… |
April 24, 2009Another glorious day… I had to do some baking first thing for Nova’s class bake sale. While the brownies cooked, I put together a little packed lunch for Lyra and me. Spread a blanket on the lawn and arranged our toys, books, sunscreen and food for a couple of hours hanging out.We’d just settled down when there was a muffled explosion from Lyra’s nappie. “Have you done a poo?” I asked. “No!” she lied unconvincingly. A quick sniff confirmed that she definitely had, so I picked her up and carried her indoors. Therein lay my mistake… Something in the way I was holding her maybe, squeezed her liquidy poo out the sides of her nappy, and by the time I plunked her down on our bed, my arm and legs were coated with it, as was her vest, teeshirt, hands, and duvet… I managed to clean that up eventually, then followed the trail back down the stairs, hall, patio… Even the lawn was bespattered… Took the girls swimming this afternoon, as Adam had an all day meeting it town. Great fun and such a relaxing way to spend an hour. Adam complains relentlessly about what an ordeal it is, but it certainly beats the housework/meal prep I generally do while they’re out. Ordered pizza for dinner and watched Nim’s Island, which was Nova’s pick. Good film as children’s movies go… |
April 23, 2009Feeling much more pain this morning, unsurprisingly…;-P I was thinking that I’d like to make more of that space — I don’t have the time or energy to devote it all to growing vegetables. I’m thinking one or two raised beds, a flat grass for the girls (our lawn is quite slopy), a little playhouse in the back corner maybe. Could be nice… |
April 22, 2009Had a surprise birthday party for Pasc round at Trish’s this evening. I was in charge of getting her there. I told her the three of us were going for a girls’ birthday drink, and picking up Trish on the way. Pasc was genuinely surprised and very touched.There were eight of us in total, mostly mums from the school but one old uni friend of Pasc’s as well. Knocked off a few bottles of champagne with the tomato bruschetta before heading down to dinner. Trish and I had talked about cooking an Indian meal for everyone, but in the end Trish had her staff do it, and why not? They served us grilled tuna steaks with garlicky mash, asparagus and a green salad, followed by an enormous berry pavlova. Much more wine followed, and I lost count of how often my glass was filled. Passed the evening talking nonsense too loudly, and was feeling no pain by the time I staggered in about 1:30am… |
April 21, 2009I am continually surprised by capacity of eggs to disappoint… Cooked perfectly, they are an absolute treat, but how often does one get a perfectly cooked egg? I certainly didn’t this morning. Tepid, slimy, slumping reproachfully on my piece of toast — what a lousy way to start the morning… |
April 20, 2009Back to work… ho hum… I’m definitely feeling a bit low on motivation for the day job at the moment…On the way home, I did a trawl of the Tottenham Court Road bookshops, looking for the Animorph novels Pasc had suggested I buy Sid for his birthday. After striking out at four shops, I discovered that they are about twenty years old and out of print. Ordered a couple of them secondhand on Amazon later that evening… Lyra’s just not sleeping at the moment. She’s very resistant to being put down for the night, and will often wake up three times before morning. Her voice is quite croaky too, but I’m not sure whether that’s from illness or from bellowing to wake us up in the middle of the night. Something’s not right with her, poor little poppet… |
April 19, 2009Mum and Dad’s anniversary today. It’s always feels a bit funny — nothing left to mark, but I gave dad a call anyway… He seems to be settling in well at Wade’s place, though it sounds like he’s spending most of his time driving around the province to attend trapshoots.The other night we were watching something on telly, and in order for them to be granted a divorce it was necessary for one partner to catch the other committing adultery. “That’s ridiculous!” Adam said, “do you think they really had to do that?” I said that I was pretty sure that mum had to do it to get her divorce from Herb in the 60’s, and I asked dad about it. Apparently he and mum arranged that he’d check into the McDonald Hotel with his girlfriend, and she and Irene McKenzie would show up at a pre-arranged time to “catch them”. Even then, dad said, the lawyer dragged his heels about pleading for the divorce, saying he didn’t have enough evidence or something… Before I was able to phone dad, we had to figure out why our phone no longer worked… There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with the handset itself, but the line was completely dead. After a half hour of trying various things and scratching our heads, I suggested giving Pete and Pasc a call. They’ve been looking after Harvey while we were in Devon. They didn’t know anything about the phone, but did mention Harvey escaped for half an hour twice during the week. It was an easy jump from there to following the phone line along behind the bookcase until we found the part where Harvey had chewed through the wire… |
April 18, 2009Our first wet day of the holiday, and even then it was just misting… We’ve been so lucky with the weather down here. There’s been some pretty lousy weather around the UK this week, but whenever we watched the news it seemed to be happening somewhere else.Adam took the girls out for breakfast so I could do the packing without any help from the anti-packer. Packed a big lunch for the trip home as well — it’s my firm conviction you can never have too much food on car journeys when kids are involved. We went for one last walk one, then clambered into the car for the drive home. Had a smooth run this time thankfully, with Lyra sleeping much of the way. Just had time to unpack — and for Adam to knock back a cup of tea in his lucky Arsenal mug –before it was time to head round to Will and Sara’s for the Arsenal match. They’ve subscribed to Setanta online, and we watched the match on their large computer screen. It may have been the video streaming or something innate to computer screens, but there was something reminiscent of a video game in the way the players looked and moved. Unfortunately, Adam’s lucky mug failed this time, and his team was roundly trounced… Ate the rest of the car lunch for dinner — none for me, and no plans to eat for the next week either…;-) |
April 17, 2009Our last full day in Devon. Headed into Tiverton (our nearest market town) for a disappointing walk along the Grand Western canal. There was an interesting history to this canal, which seems to have been a bit of a flop. It was originally part of an ambitious plan to link Bristol with the English Channel. But problems securing funding delayed the project so long that it was only viable a few years before it was superceded by the advent of the railway. I was surprised to discover that the canal is only 5 feet deep — you could walk along the bottom if you chose…Stopped to feed the girls a sandwich at the tea room before setting off. Most of the tables were arranged on the grass, but there was a covered area on the other side of the path with a few tables as well. Sort of a long, low outbuilding with one wall removed. At the shadiest table in the corner sat a man who couldn’t seem to take his eyes off Lyra as she ate and ran around on the grass. It was a bit creepy actually — if you were casting a paedophile, he’d fit the bill… Stopped at a little shop called Dane-T that was completely devoted to doll’s house supplies. Nova was in heaven, and had a great time choosing what to spend her pocket money on. She opted for a tiny, real mirror, a little broom, a set of books that could be arranged on a shelf, and a tiny little toy. |
April 16, 2009Drove to Exmouth after breakfast for a day at the seaside. The guidebook was quite dismissive of Exmouth, but I found it charming in that slightly dilapidated, English seaside resort town way. We parked up and unloaded our beach gear, then Adam went off to buy lunch. I set up the blanket with the girls and got stuck straight in to making sand castles. When Nova headed down to the shoreline to get some wet sand, Lyra toddled off after her… and promptly fell in the sea. I raced down the beach and fished her out. Her back was sopping and her boots full of water, but she took it in good stride. I dried her off and swapped her footwear and she was good as new… After the delights of the English seaside palled, we packed up and headed for the Sidmouth donkey sanctuary, stopping en route for a Devon cream tea. There are signs offering cream teas every hundred yards, but I had a vision of what I was after, and we eventually found the perfect place. We sat in the back garden of a lovely country farmhouse with a view over the fields, and ate fluffy, freshly baked scones, slathered in strawberry jam and the clotted cream so thick you could stand a spoon in it. The route home involved half an hour of hilly, winding B-roads, lanes really. Strange gurgles from the back seat, were followed by Lyra’s little voice saying, “I did a big cough, mummy!” Turned round to discover she’d thrown up all over herself. We’re old hands at car sickness incidents, and soon had her sorted out. Later at bedtime, Nova said to me, “I felt a little bit left out this afternoon when you were only paying attention to Lyra for throwing up in the car. And anyway, throwing up in the car is my special thing!” The madness of sibling rivalry… |
April 15, 2009Adam worked most of the night, and I was up with the girls a couple of hours after he came to bed. I took them for a walk after breakfast (and another viewing of the Lion King). I thought we’d branch out from walk one, but unfortunately I forgot the walk book…I had a rough idea of the route, and confirmed my instincts with another walker we met. “If you’re not afraid of horses, you can cut across the next field,” she said. There’s a gate on the far side that connects to a footpath that eventually leads back to the village.” Most of horses in the field were standing around aimlessly munching grass, so over the stile we went. There was one horse standing by the gate we needed to get through who was acting a bit odd, dancing around and whinnying anxiously but I was confident we could get past him alright. More worrying was the large white duck in the pond next to the gate. It grew increasingly agitated as we approached, sticking its chest out, beating its wings, stretching its neck forward and hooting aggressively. Its beak was open so widely I could see a ring of something that looked teeth at the top of its throat. I felt a bit silly being intimidated by a duck, but I didn’t like the look in its beady eye… Slunk past it eventually, and completed the rest of the walk without mishap. |
April 14, 2009Adam has brought work he needs to do this week, so after breakfast I took the girls for a walk so he could have a couple of hours to himself. We did “walk one” — as Nova refers to it — which is already a firm family favourite. Through the field with the horses, along the river, past the enormous oak, over the bridge, muck about on the climbing tree, and back along the lane…I kept an eye out for the lost hat and sure enough I found it just short of the pub, hung on a fence post. Stopped in at the little grocery store/café for provisions, and let Nova talk me into buying a tin of cream of chicken soup. My mum made soup occasionally, but we ate endless tins of soup — mushroom or tomato in particular — and lots of Cup-a-Soup as well, while for Nova tinned soup is a real novelty. Personally, I dislike the slimyness a lot of tinned soups have. I watered it down with milk to stretch one tin between four, and made grilled cheese sandwiches as well. Proper ones in the fry pan, not the Kraft slice on a piece of bread under the broiler that we had so often… After lunch, Adam took Lyra upstairs for a nap. I could hear her babbling away while he dozed no doubt. One plus of having her in a proper bed is that you can lie down to settle her, but of course the risk is you end up falling asleep, not her… Spaghetti for dinner, with Nova making the meatballs. After dinner we sat down and watched the Lion King. I can tell it’s going to be an instant favourite of Lyra’s. We’re considering ordering a copy on Amazon while we’re away to avoid major trauma when we leave it behind… |
April 13, 2009Dropped Dave at the train station after breakfast (he’s off to Scotland tonight to spend a few days with some of his other godchildren). Carried on to Croyde on the north coast of Devon. The scenery was absolutely stunning, but unfortunately it was too cold to stay outside for long. Huddled on Croyde beach eating our sandwiches and sipping coffee, then gave it up and switched to plan B, which involved spending a few hours (and too much money) at the Big Sheep, a sheep-based all-weather attraction near Bideford. Lots of lamb stroking, sheep feeding, puppy wrestling, and big slide riding…Nova wrote a letter to her friend Evelyn that channels her inner Jacqueline Wilson and sums up the holiday so far:
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April 12, 2009After a post-breakfast egg hunt in the front and back gardens, Adam set off after breakfast to pick up Dave. He’d caught a train to Tiverton Junction from his place in Exeter. It was shaping up to be a beautiful day, though though the long-range forecast for the week looks pretty bad…When they returned we set off for the Culmstock Beacon a few miles away, with Lyra on foot at first and then in her backpack when she tired. It was pretty straightforward, except where a farmer had illegally rigged up some electric fencing around his field to discourage walkers from exercising their right of way. And a terribly boggy patch where I sunk in mud up to my knees… The Culmstock Beacon dates from the 1600s, and is apparently the only remaining link in a chain of beacons built to pass along warning of a possible invasion by the Spanish. Unsurprisingly, there was a great view from up there, and we sat eating our sandwiches and admiring the Devon countryside spread before us like a patchwork quilt. Surprisingly, it was very muddy up there, with great puddles stretching across the path. Seemed unlikely in such high and rocky terrain. Made it down without further mishap, and stopped at the village for a pint. Lyra had fallen asleep in her pack, leaned her against the picnic table while we drank. Lyra had dropped Nova’s hat somewhere on the return leg. “I never liked that hat anyway, said Nova philosophically. Headed gome for mac and cheese. Nova made the white sauce — she’s offered to help me cook every night when we’re here. Looking forward to that — it’s something we seldom seem to do at home… I was knackered after all that walking and drinking, and fell asleep in front of the football. We’d planned to drop Dave back at the station so he could get the train to Exeter, but in the end he crashed on the couch. I was worried his famous snoring would mean a restless night for all of us (and the adjoining cottages on either side) but he was quiet as a mouse… |
April 11, 2009Happy birthday, Aaron! Just as we were about to join the M5, there were flashing signs about an accident and major delays on the M5. Adam decided to go through the centre of Bristol to cut the corner. This was a major mistake in my opinion, though Adam might disagree… It took forever at any rate… The traffic crawled along at one mile an hour for ages, with Lyra screaming “OUT! PLEASE!!!” the whole time. Even worse, we compounded the error by missing the first turning back to the motorway. We had to take the longer route to join it at Weston Super Mare. The A-road we were stuck on was practically a parking lot. I was swearing I would never to go on another family holiday ever again, Adam was just swearing… Creeping along, we noticed a sign for a family fun day at a country pub. We all needed a break from our car hell by this point, so we pulled out of our twelve-mile tailback and headed for the pub. It was a lovely sunny afternoon, and they had set up two bouncy castles (“dancing playgrounds” in Lyra-speak) in the pub garden. Order a couple of beers and let the girls run riot for half an hour… The traffic was little improved after our time out, but we made it to the motorway eventually. It was a quick run after that, and we were parked up in the lane by our cottage within an hour. It’s an absolutely lovely little place with a thatched roof. It must be hundreds of years old — the floor slopes about twenty degrees between the front and back doors. A couple from London with two young kids bought it a few years ago. They divided it and now rent one half out. They’ve done it up beautifully, with none of that meanness you often get in rented accommodation (half a teabag, no salt nonsense…) There was a big basket of goodies including a loaf of homemade bread and eggs from their chickens, wine in the fridge, Easter eggs for the kids. The woman is a textile designer, and there are the most beautiful fabrics throughout the place. There is a wonderful view out the back of the Culm River, with the Blackdown Hills in the distance. Once we’d unpacked, we set off on a little walk along the river. We crossed it at a little bridge, then returned along a back lane to the village. Lyra is sleeping in a “big bed” for the first time. This can serve as a trial run for our Iceland trip, and perhaps even moving her out of her cot at home. It will be wonderful to be shot of the travel cot at last — they are such a hassle to lug around… |
April 10, 2009We’re off for a week in Devon tomorrow, which entails the usual military campaign level logistics and expediting. Took Lyra to the supermarket with me after breakfast. She’s very resistant to sitting in the trolley, so I let her push with I picked my items. I was distracted for a moment choosing egg noodles, and turned round to see Lyra propelling our trolley towards a towering display of wine bottles. “Aaagggh!” I yelled, hurling myself across the aisle, and managing to grab the trolley inches before it made contact. All that red wine and broken glass — it would have been complete carnage…Spent most of the day packing, cooking, cleaning, making lists and arrangements for the hamster… The amount of effort involved preparing for family holidays still amazes me. My mum had regular meltdowns getting the motorhome ready for family trips. I didn’t sympathise then, but I sure do now… Unfortunately Adam was little help — he has loads of work on at the moment, and some of it will be following us to Devon…:-( |
April 9, 2009I took Nova to her tennis camp this morning, and hung around a bit until they got started. While most of the kids were attempting little rallies, or bouncing the ball on their racquet or against the fence, Nova and another girl were energetically whacking a ball back and forth along the ground, scraping their tennis racquets across the asphalt with each swing. Maybe we should sign her up for golf next time…:-)Took a run to Costco to stock up on olives, weetabix and other essentials. The section where they usually have toys was full of camping and garden equipment like swing sets and paddling pools. A shame, as I have four kids’ birthday presents to buy this month… |
April 8, 2009I was buried under an avalanche of work today. That’s what happens when you lose your motivation for a whole day… It doesn’t help that I’m on holiday from now until the 20th, and have two enormous projects pending…Went for Pesach at Freddy and Beulah’s. The girls both wore their best dresses and looked lovely. There is generally an hour or so of readings and tasting little bits of horseradish and sprigs of parsley dipped in salt water before you get to the food, but Lyra put paid to all that. “Eat it, egg!” she kept hollering, pointing to the seder plate with the ceremonial egg, burnt bone, horseradish etc. Freddy sounded like an auctioneer as he raced through the blessings for the wine and unleavened bread. The meal itself started with hard-boiled eggs in salt water, which are no treat on the eye but surprisingly tasty. Both girls gobbled theirs down. Chicken soup with kneidlach followed, then a buffet of cold meats and salad, then chocolate mousse and lemon surprise for dessert. Home about 10:30pm… |
April 7, 2009During a lapse in my enthusiasm for working this afternoon, I realised I hadn’t noticed which novel won the Booker Prize last year. Not only had I not read the winning book (The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga), I hadn’t even heard of it. Scanning the list I was surprised at how few of the winning and shortlisted books I had read. “I probably read more North American stuff,” I thought to myself. But no, a scan of the Pulitzer list, and the Pen Faulkner, National Book Awards, Commonwealth Prize, Orange Prize, Costa Prize all pointed to the same conclusion. I just don’t read much award-winning fiction. Made a mini resolution to address that, starting with those prize-winning books I already own…Went to see a film with Gilda this evening. Unfortunately we made our choice by cinema rather than film and ended up seeing “The Boat That Rocked” which was a complete dog of a film. I tried to like it, partly because I felt responsible for inflicting it on Gilda, but it just wasn’t possible. There were a few laughs, but by and large it was predictable, corny, sentimental, anachronistic bullshit. It actually crossed my mind to write to Richard Curtis and ask for my £10 back. Nova’s doing tennis lessons this week at the Highgate Tennis club. This evening at dinner she reported that they will be having a tournament on Thursday. “I prefer to call it a torturement,” she said glumly. The main thing she seems to enjoy about tennis is spending her pocket money on chocolate bars and crisps at the subsidised canteen… |
April 5, 2009Another bad night followed by an early start… My watch is missing (according to Nova, Rollo was playing with it) but I didn’t need it to know that it was far too early to be waking up…Jules and Mary now live in an enormous four-storey (five if you count the cellar) town house in the centre of Bury, opposite the cathedral. It was Jules’ family home, and they bought it from his parents when they downsized. They’ve spent masses of time and money doing it up, and it’s lovely. It’s not the sort of house I could ever imagine living in, and I find it surreal to look at the massive antique dressers, chandeliers, expensively upholstered armchairs and realise that Jules and Mary own all this stuff… |
April 4, 2009A miserable four hours sleep before Lyra was awake and clamouring for cuddles. No one ever gets a decent sleep when we share a bedroom. Of course it’s partly our own fault for staying up to the early hours drinking and watching crap TV…;-)It was the Grand National this afternoon, and after breakfast we perused the list of forty horses running and chose two each. I always opt for horses with women trainers or owners as a way of choosing from a bewildering list. The kids all wanted to back the favourites, but Adam decided that they should spread their choices. Between the eight of us, we covered nearly half the field… After lunch the guys walked up to the bookies and bet a few quid on each of our horses to win or place. At 4pm we were all settled in front of the telly. After a couple of false starts, they were off. It’s always total confusion at first, but horses fell at each hurdle and eventually a few pulled ahead. A number of our choices seemed to be doing well, and amazingly over the last few furlongs Mon Mome — my 100/1 longshot — pulled ahead and thundered home to victory, earning my a tidy £120 on my £2 stake! Nova was most upset that one of the horses she’d wanted, won Bella a few pounds, but was somewhat cheered when I said I’d be spending my winnings on something for the whole family… |
April 3, 2009We’re spending the weekend at Jules and Mary’s in Suffolk. Even a short trip like that requires a fair amount of organising, and I spent most of the day at it… Lyra unhelpfully opted not to have a nap, but I ploughed through it all eventually and we set off about 8pm with the girls in their pyjamas.It was after 10pm by the time we arrived in Bury St Edmunds. Popped the girls straight to bed, and stayed up drinking wine (and watching Aussie poker on telly — Mary’s current passion) until 1am… |
April 2, 2009Went to my morning gym classes, then stopped in the cafe for a juice. Leafing through one of their magazines I came across an article about a woman whose daughter died when she was three from choking on a lychee. As great as her grief is her guilt and shame at not being with her daughter when she died — she was out having a dress fitted. Knocked back the rest of my juice and headed straight home… |
April 1, 2009Well, we’ve booked our summer holiday — this year we’ll be vacationing in Iceland… Not the most obvious holiday destination perhaps, but it’s somewhere I’ve always wanted to go, and one of the few places whose currency is even weaker than the pound at the moment. Actually, we quite like heading north in the summer — Finland, the Outer Hebrides, Canada… |
