April 2011

April 30, 2011

Managed to do a run this morning. Now that I’ve got a little momentum going, I don’t want to lose it. When I headed off, Adam was dealing with the guy from the garage who’d come to take away our car for repair. They’ve left us a little Fiat Panda to use for the week they’ve got our car. They need to replace the passenger side door and repaint to ensure that it all matches.Got our passport photos taken at the former post office in the village. Those guys are such entrepreneurs. They were already running a terrific general store and stationers in their tiny little shop. When they lost their post office franchise, they used it as an opportunity to expand into the photography market. Great fun (not) trying to get Lyra to pose with her head straight, mouth closed, eyes open, shoulders square to camera…

Spent the afternoon in the garden, staking up raspberries, and digging in peat and manure. It’s been so unseasonably warm that we’re playing catch up, but whatever we manage to get in the ground will be a plus. Adam came out and helped me for a while — it was really nice to do some gardening with him. Felt like old times…

A successful family dinner — when they are nice, they are wonderful (and when they are bad, they are horrid). I’m serving up green salad on a regular basis — undressed for the girls. My ambition is to have them eating salad as a matter of course. Nova’s pretty much there already, Lyra has some distance to travel. She munched her way through a number of pieces of romaine without kicking off, which is a promising start.

Watching a French drama called ‘Spiral’ at the moment — gruesome and compelling stuff…

April 29, 2011

Royal wedding day. While most of the nation is glued to their tellies, we opted to head to Greenwich to see the Titanic exhibition at the O2 Centre. I would have been quite happy to stop in and watch it, but Adam thought it would make tedious TV, and preferred to wait for the edited version.Had a bit of a hair fight with Lyra this morning. She’s obsessed with her hair, and every morning involves a hair dressing session. Her instructions aren’t always that clear to understand. An example: “I want two long twisties down by back with a circle of hair on top.” I interpret as best I can, but she’s generally disappointed with the results. This morning, I hadn’t made it long enough…Sigh…

The Titanic exhibition was like the Marie Celeste. They couldn’t have been a dozen people in the whole place, which was great. One of the guides attached herself to Adam early on, and basically accompanied him and Nova through the whole exhibition. Lyra and I blitzed through it at a much faster pace, though the replica iceberg they encourage you to touch slowed her down for a stretch.

We exited through the giftshop, and ate lunch at a substandard Tex-Mex place called Armadillo. On our way back to the tube, we passed something that looked interesting. On an enormous paddling pool were four or five people thrashing about inside these plastic bubbles. The girls were keen to have a go, but the minimum age was 5 years old. “You’ll have to be five to do this, Lyra” I said. “How old are you?” “Five, of course!” she said.

April 28, 2011

So I’m officially an unemployed person for the first time in many years, surplus to requirements in the current climate, redundant… God I hate that word — it is so insulting, though some newspeak, mealy mouth term would be equally annoying I suppose…Took the girls to school, then did a little baking for this afternoon’s class cake sale. I doubled my foolproof brownie recipe, and managed to fuck it up somehow. They are too soft and undercooked on the bottom. Stuck them in the fridge to harden them up a bit before taking them up to the school.

Spent the afternoon with Lyra’s friend Alice and her mum Christine at the “Alice Palace” as we’ve dubbed their new house. Had some lunch and hung out chatting, pausing occasionally to break up squabbles.

Finished the form part of my three Canadian passport applications this evening — still need the photos and guarantor signatures. Once those have been submitted I need to do Nova’s British passport as well…

April 27, 2011

Today is officially my last day of work in the NHS — I have been on annual leave since 6 April… Not sure how I feel actually. I’m definitely glad not be in working there anymore, but pretty mixed about not having a job…Went for a run with Becky, a mum in Nova’s class and my hairdresser. I was a bit hesitant about going, as I haven’t been running much, but it’s always good to go with someone else. We did a couple of miles round the Heath to Kenwood, then used the park benches for arm exercises and sit-ups before running the last leg home.

Ate the last of the quiche for lunch, with a delicious apple-carrot-walnut salad that drew on my surfeit of walnuts. I’m enjoying cooking now I have more time to experiment and opportunity for spontaneity. And with most meals needing to feed the four of us, I’m trying out more new things with the girls instead of trotting out the safe standbys.

Started on the passport applications this evening. Nova, Lyra and I all need Canadian passports, and Nova’s British one is expiring soon as well. Multiple forms — joy…:-<

April 26, 2011

Made an overdue visit to the optometrist this morning. I’d called up to order another batch of contact lenses, which they refused to sell me until I’d had an eye examination and a contact lens check. All is well, in fact my vision is continuing to improve, and my next glasses prescription will be weaker. An unexpected little bonus to ageing…;-)Returned to find the car had been smashed — the passenger door was seriously dented. Someone had clearly reversed into it, likely from the driveway across the street. Luckily for us, they had the decency to leave a note with their phone number on the windscreen. Adam called the guy after I got home, and he’s going to make good the £650 of damage he’s inflicted…

Found the missing eggs in the garage this afternoon. I was looking in an old bag of Nova’s clothes I was saving for Lyra, when I discovered them stashed in a corner of the bag, partially nibbled. A mouse must have thought he’d hit the jackpot when he discovered our Easter treats.

Walked in on Nova scrubbing her toothpaste spit off the sink with her toothbrush. “Don’t do that!” I yelped. When she asked why, I pointed out that we used the sink for other things, like contact lens juice, shaving foam etc. Seeing the look on her face, I said, “Don’t worry, Nove, I do clean the sink.” “Yeah, when Carolyn’s coming!” she shot back…

We’ve got the internet back, at last… Just as well — today’s the last day to register for Olympics tickets. Adam has signed us up for twenty separate events. The way the system works, they award oversubscribed tickets by lottery, then automatically charge you for any tickets you are successful for before you even find out what they are. I think it’s designed to foster a sense of anxiety that you’ll actually get what you asked for, and relief when you only get one or two…

Adam has squeezed another £10 out of Virgin Media. It’s actually costing them £1 to provide us with internet service this month. Made a quiche for dinner from some pastry I needed to use quickly, thanks to an accidental deep freeze thaw. Made a classic quiche Lorraine, which to my surprise contains no cheese…

April 25, 2011

Happy fourth birthday, Kael!
Was going to go for a run this morning, but yesterday’s weeding/digging marathon has fucked my back. I don’t think compressing my vertebrae on a run would do it any favours at the moment…We’ve had an unfortunate mix-up with Pete and Pasc. A while back, I invited them for an Easter egg hunt and Sunday lunch, which they accepted — until they remembered they were double-booked. I said we should still get together on Monday, meaning meet up for a cup of tea or something. Pasc took it to mean that I would be cooking the roast lunch on Monday. Compromised on ham sandwiches in our garden after a little egg hunt for the kids in theirs.

Managed to do a “smash and grab” at garden centre and a surgical strike on Waitrose before we met up. Spent a leisurely afternoon shooting the breeze in our garden, and it was late afternoon by the time I got my plants in.

Dinner was grilled cod and a sort of dhal made with red lentils. Nova is starting to like curry flavours (as long as the food isn’t too spicy), which is an exciting development…

April 24, 2011

“What’s your job?” Lyra asked me during our morning cuddle. “My job is being your mummy,” I said. “It is now, but you used to have a better job,” she replied. Don’t know where she got that impression from — maybe because on the days I worked it did take precedence of being her mummy, unless there was a crisis of some kind?We’ve established an Easter tradition of where the girl(s) come upstairs first thing to find a big Easter egg and maybe a couple of nice treats arranged around their breakfast plate. After eating our hot cross buns (which Nova has an inexplicable aversion to), we go outside for an egg hunt. I’ve always ‘fessed up about the fact Adam or I hide the eggs, and that has been okay by Nova.

Now that Lyra’s weighing in with her views, there had to be a few changes… She was not buying the idea of us hiding the eggs, insisting that the bunny would have already done it. Adam discreetly sloped off and distributed eggs around the garden while I kept her entertained in bed. And he hid the big egg that I’d arranged by their breakfast plate in the living room.

I’d bought a few bags of foil covered eggs before we went on holiday, as I knew there wouldn’t be time to sort anything after we got home. I’d left them in a carrier bag in the garage. When I went to find them last night, a couple of the little mesh bags that should have had twenty little eggs in them were completely empty. My first suspicion was Pete and Pasc, who fed the cat while we were away, and are famous chocoholics. But they pled innocence. Apparently their cats eat a lot of chocolate, but I don’t see how Cleo could have got into the garage. Also the bag appeared untouched. It’s a mystery…

Spent much of the afternoon clearing the vegetable patch of endemic ground elder. I’m hoping to get some vegetables in the ground tomorrow. It would be satisfying to have a veggie garden again, especially now we’ve had the trees cut back. I want to make the most of all that extra sunlight.

I’m always amazed at the amount of broken glass I unearth when I dig back there. I suppose it’s a legacy of WW2. But given how often I’ve dug back there, I’m surprised there’s always more coming to the surface.

Dinner was roast ham, “smashed” potatoes and corn. I do make a great roast ham if I say so myself…

Our internet connection went down this morning, and Virgin predicts two days to get it working again. Adam has already got £10 compensation out of them for the inconvenience…

April 23, 2011

The girls headed down to breakfast on their own, while we packed our belongings. Came down to discover the happily loading up their little plates with all kinds of things. Left our bags at reception and caught the metro to the Grand Palais to see the Redon exhibition. What that man can’t do with pastels isn’t worth doing…Ate lunch at an Auvergnat bistro in the Marais. I was tempted to try the mysterious sounding pounti, but allowed the waiter to sell me the dish of the day, a seafood brochette. (Turns out pounti is a sort of meatloaf stuffed with prunes — I expect I would have enjoyed it).

Arrived at Gare du Nord with plenty of time to spare. Just as well, as they are always slow checking you in travelling this direction. The British appear to take their border checks much more seriously than the French. They have actually set up a second passport checking gate immediately after the French gate.

The journey went smoothly, and we arrived home on schedule. Made the girls a simple pasta dinner and unpacked, checked mail etc. It feels like real life starts now. At any rate, I was feeling a bit glum — maybe it was low blood sugar. Watched a few episodes of Modern Family to restore my sense of perspective…;-)

April 22, 2011

I’ve adjusted my impressions of the Confort Hotel. This is the kind of place we can afford when travelling with kids, and it’s completely okay. It is small, but Paris hotel rooms are always small. It’s clean enough, the bed is comfortable, and they serve a reasonable breakfast. It’s in a real working class neighbourhood too, which is quite interesting…Started the day with a visit to Notre Dame. We were aiming to join a free English-language tour, but arrived too late. We got turned around on those islands in the Seine, and ended up doing a big loop round to practically the same spot we emerged from the Metro. Hard to believe we’d managed to miss Notre Dame bloody Cathedral, but we did…

It was rammed, as ever, maybe a bit worse than usual for being good Friday. Shuffled around in a great herd, gawping at the stained glass and were eventually spat out into the spring sunshine.

Next stop, the Deportation Monument, built to honour people sent to death camps by the Nazis. It was free, but there was a lot of rigamarole involved in getting in, including a long speech about how you could and couldn’t use any photographs you might take, and how it might be too upsetting for children. Ended up leaving Nova outside sketching the cathedral while we paid our visit.

Walked across the river to the square in front of Hotel de Ville. I’d promised Lyra a carousel ride today, and we let them have three goes. Lyra has this pesky habit of lining up her next treat while still enjoying the current one. “Can I have a balloon?” she called as her horse swirled past. “No!” I said. “Why not?” she whined the next time she came by… Aarghhh…

Ate crepes for lunch in a cafe we like by the Pompidou, then went in to see some art. The exhibition in the children’s area wasn’t that good. Rode the escalators up to the top, and checked out another mediocre exhibition by a guy called Francois Morellet, who did things with neon tubes. Slightly better was the exhibition by Jean-Michel Othoniel, who made supersized necklaces. Fortunately, the permanent collection, which I’ve never actually seen, was excellent and well worth the price of admission.

Wandered through the Marais, stopping for a drink so we could use the wifi to find the Musee du Magie. I’m glad we did, as it was excellent, full of interesting artefacts, posters and carnival booths. A short magic show was included in the price of admission. Although it was in French, we had no trouble following it.

Ate dinner at Le Train Bleu in the Gare de Lyon. It’s somewhere I’ve long wanted to try, a holdover from the era when train travel was glamorous. We went for the set menu:

• saucisson pistaché à la Lyonnaise en brioche, sauce périgueux for me
• tartare de tomates, nage de tomates vertes, mozzarella di Buffala en émulsion, huile de basilic for Adam
• filet de bar plancha, purée d’artichauts, quelques pois gourmands arrosés d’une huile de curry et tomates séchées for me
• canard en trois recettes: confit en croustillant, en saucisse et magret rôti, palets de navet fondant for Adam
• glaces for me
• baba au rhum for Adam

The menu included a half bottle of wine each. We tried both the red and the white, and happily both were exceptionally good.

It wasn’t the sort of place to have a children’s menu. Children were invited to choose any main course, soft drink and ice cream for a reduced price. Noticing steak tartare (rare or seared) and chips on the menu, we ordered that, asking that the meat be cooked a little more. “It certainly won’t be well cooked,” the waiter informed us in French. And it wasn’t… Elaborately mixed and prepared tableside, I’m pretty sure they were served the usual seared version, ie. largely raw.

Nova ate most of hers obligingly; Lyra managed several bites of the enormous mound she was presented with. The waiter reported the chef’s approval at seeing kids eating real food to us, and when it was time for their ice cream, both girls were served an extra scoop…

April 21, 2011

Up by 7am gathering our belongings together. We headed off straight after breakfast, catching a ride to the station with Bernd. Caught the little commuter train into Mannheim without incident. There was some confusion finding the right platform and train times, but we got there in the end.We had four facing seats on the train for once, which made for an extra-pleasant journey. I love travelling by train, and actually seeing the country you are travelling through. You get a genuine sense of the distance and the landscape. I think it is better psychological preparation for your arrival, instead of randomness of air travel where you exist in suspended animation in a tin can a mile off the ground before landing.

In Paris, we had a brief encounter with our friend Lawrence and son Ben, who were heading for Heidelberg themselves. “Shouldn’t you be catching your train?” Adam said twice before they finally set off. We saw them break into a dash for the platform as we headed for the metro. (Turns out they missed their train, and had to spend an additional four hours in Paris plus pay a hefty charge… Ouch!)

Our hotel is nothing fancy, but adequate enough. After dropping off our bags, we picked up some picnic supplies and headed for the Jardin du Luxembourg. It was heaving with holiday weekend kids, but we eventually managed to secure a bench. Lyra insisted on going on all the over-seven equipment. She finally headed to the age-appropriate section, and promptly fell off a little wooden train, conking her head in the process.

That brought the fun to a howling end… Attempted to distract her with an ice cream, which worked until she dropped her scoop of chocolate ice cream into that nasty dust the French fill their parks with. Wiped it clean and shoved it back on again — what’s a little merde de chien…?

Walked down Boulevard St Michel, stopping for a drink in a café before catching the bus back to our neighbourhood. Ate a light meal in a local brasserie: salad for me, bread for Lyra, onion soup for Nova and a hamburger for Adam.

We booked adjoining rooms, thinking that might give us a little more space and flexibility in the evening. In the event, the girls spent most of the time crowding up our little one,. We might have been better off with a family room. Though I imagine everyone slept better once we’d turned out the lights…

April 20, 2011

Our second full day in Heidelberg, and more perfect weather to enjoy it. Came downstairs to another beautifully arranged breakfast table, and Mitsuko busy making French toast for everyone. 

We didn’t fancy venturing into town again after our exertions yesterday. Joshi was off school, so he and Nova hung out all morning, reading and playing board games.

Late morning we up the Heiligenberg again, by car this time (Adam driving). We visited Thingstatte, an abandoned Nazi amphitheatre. Goebbels planned to build 1000 “thingstattes”, where great rallies of German people could gather in nature to enjoy German folk entertainment, but only a handful ended up being built. It was a fascinating place.

Further up the hill was a ruined monastery, where the kids had a great time playing hide-and-seek in the ruins. After lunch in the the forest cafe, we headed back down again.

At 6pm, the babysitter Sandra arrived (a young woman in her twenties with a baby of her own). Left her with six lively kids, and headed out for the evening. She seemed up to the task… Over dinner in a local German place, Mitsuko told me how Sandra had recently adopted her baby. The mother was a junkie who was always going out and leaving her little girl with sitters (in Germany apparently the state pays for such babysitting). After months of this, Sandra applied for custody of the child and was granted it. Can’t see any of that happening in England…

After dinner we went to see an American jazz guitarist called Al di Meola. Not a style of music I’ve listened to much, but he was an amazing musician and I really enjoyed it. Wandered back to the car, stopping for a schnapps in a little bar, then cake and tea in another place. Home about midnight…

April 19, 2011

Happy anniversary mum and dad, it would have been your 49th this year…I love futons (or croutons as I used to call them) and had a very good night on the one we’re sleeping on in their study. All four girls are bunking down in Saya and Nana’s room — not sure how much rest they managed to get…

Came downstairs to a breakfast table spread with meats, cheese, wonderful German bread, jams, coffee, yogurt, cereals — amazing… Mitsuko always does things so nicely. All those sliced meats that I’d wrapped last night were carefully arranged again. Bernd and Joshi had already left, and the little girls headed off to kindergarten soon after.

It was a beautiful, clear-blue-sky day. Their street runs along the side of Heiligenberg, or Holy Mountain, and we struck off uphill. The plan was to travel west along higher ground until we hit the Schlagenweg, a twisty little path that would lead us down to the old bridge, where we could cross the river into town. Adam scarcely looked up from the map the whole time, but in spite of his diligence, we somehow managed to arrive hot and footsore about 50 yards from their front door an hour and a half later…

Headed the straightforward way into town down their road, then along the Philosophersweg, with great views over the river towards the town. Lyra griped the whole way about being tired, hot, bored, etc. The poor little thing had walked about two miles on the mountain before we even started our outing…

Ate lunch at a local brewery — asparagus salad for me (Heidelberg is asparagus central) and meatballs for Adam, and a large beer for us both. We’d planned to walk up to the castle, but I think the girls would have mutinied, so we admired it from below.

Instead, we strolled along the pedestrianized shopping street back to the new bridge, then caught a tram that returned us to their neighbourhood. I was looking for cotton stuffing, and finally settled on some cotton batting that will do. I’m knitting totoros, and want to leave a few for their kids when we go…

Another lovely dinner from Mitsuko. Octopus salad for a little starter, then asparagus with a sour cream herb sauce and bacon, an interesting broth with bits of chopped vegetable, then steak, rice and salad. Ice cream for dessert, making the girls’ third installment of the day.

Another challenging night getting four over-excited little girls to settle in one room. I keep expecting them to run out of steam, but it’s not happening yet…

April 18, 2011

The taxi arrived at 7:30am, which gave us enough time to make a packed lunch, and take care of last minute jobs like putting out the compost and garbage. It was all very smooth at St Pancras as usual, and we glided out of the station right on schedule.We changed trains in Paris. It was hot as we wended our way between Gare du Nord and Gare de l’Est on foot. We are travelling light, fortunately. The girls and I have daypacks, Adam has a big rucksack, and I have my handbag as well.

Alsace-Lorraine was flat and agricultural at first, before becoming more wooded and prettier. I must have missed the border when I was having a little snooze, because when I woke up the signs were in German.

Debarked at Mannheim and changed to a local train that ran us into Heidelberg. It’s a pretty little university town on the river. Founded in the 1300s, it is the oldest university in Germany, and one of the oldest in Europe as well.

Caught a taxi to our friend’s house, which took us along streets lined with beautiful homes — Heidelberg seems a wealthy place. Bernd and Mitsuko’s house is lovely. Very modern, with balconies off every room, lots of wood. It’s spread over four floors, two of which they don’t appear to be using yet. Lyra and Nana disappeared off together immediately — we didn’t see them again for hours. Nova and Joshi were initially more shy with each other. They’ve known each other for years, but were never particular friends, and I think the girl/boy thing is getting to be more of an issue.

It was great to see Mitsuko — I’ve always really liked her. I’m not sure how happy she is to be living in Germany though. She’s Japanese and doesn’t speak much German, so that’s a barrier; plus she doesn’t drive which leaves her a bit stranded. But I think the biggest problem is that they haven’t set up a studio for her yet, so she has nowhere to paint.

She cooked us a lovely German meal: schnitzel for the kids, goulash, spatzle and sauerkraut for us. This was followed by a charcuterie course, a dense nut cake, and the Royal Wedding shortbread I’d brought as a gift. Apparently royal wedding big news here as well…

April 17, 2011

Another preparation day. The timing of this trip happens to coincide with I a raft of random things I need to do as well as my usual jobs. Transferring money, final details around work etc… 

Busy morning meeting with builders, witnessing wills for Pasc and her brother Tancred, seeing Adam B off for Canada… Our Adam went to the Arsenal match in the afternoon. I soldiered on, and by 11pm was in reasonably good shape…

April 16, 2011

Lists, lists, lists… I have a sheaf of lists to work through before we set off on our latest jaunt to Heidelberg and Paris…Headed to Waitrose first thing to buy food for the weekend and our train journey. We have Adam B here overnight, which always requires extra provisions. Also, we don’t get back to London until the Saturday evening before Easter, so I needed to get the essentials in for our Easter celebrations.

Also fitted in a meeting with Patricia to make the final decision about which photos to enlarge from her session with the girls last year.

Adam and girls to see a Finnish magician at Jacksons Lane — two out of three family members gave it a thumbs up. The magician has driven all the way from Finland for his weekend engagement in London in an enormously long, mirrored van. Adam has offered up our driveway for off-street parking, and it has been sitting outside since yesterday. Knowing it to be a magicians van, I find myself looking expectantly at it, waiting for it to do something…

Adam B arrived for his overnight stay. Made tacos for dinner — “These are the best tacos I’ve ever had!” he said enthusiastically, scoffing a sixth. He always says that about everything I make, bless him. “Don’t you have tacos at home?” I asked. Apparently, they have them all the time but his mum doesn’t make such nice fillings. Hope he’s not sharing these opinions with his mum back in Canada…

April 15, 2011

I dreamt that I had a geophysics job interview, for which I was woefully unprepared. I decided to blow it off, rather than make a fool of myself. It turned out that people had travelled from US and France to be on the interview panel, I felt incredibly guilty and cowardly. Lazy too, as I hadn’t even bothered to look at their website in preparation… Glad to wake up from that one…Had an ‘around the house’ day with Nova today. It’s been ages since it was just the two of us at home, and very nice it was too. Nova busied herself sewing felt costumes for her Sylvanian characters. I filled my new strawberry planter, pricked out the hollyhocks Lyra and I started from seed, and made a batch of chocolate shortbread…

We left a bit early to pick up Lyra from her tennis club. I could see the “Tennis Menace” as we’ve dubbed her, holding her racquet with both hands, and smashing balls back across the net towards her teacher. Our little Navratilova…

When I offered the girls the choice of mashed or boiled potatoes with their lamb chop, Nova requested roast potatoes. I started to explain that people don’t eat roast potatoes on a weekday, before wondering why not? So roast potatoes it was…

Pasc’s birthday today — took her round a little bag of goodies: a little tin for storing things, some chocolate shortbread, a knitted dishcloth and a potted lobelia.

April 14, 2011

Dropped Lyra at tennis, then took Nova to Brent Cross. She’s outgrown her school trainers, and I treated her to a new outfit as well: she chose grey “jeggings”, a madras-print shirt, RayBan style sunglasses and a very stylish denim blazer from Zara. I couldn’t leave Lyra out — she got her own pair of jeggings, a Hello Kitty teeshirt, a little pair of jaunty striped pumps, and sunglasses.Driving home along the North Circular, cars in the inside lane unexpectedly started changing into the middle lane where I was, and then ground to a halt. As we crept forward, thick clouds of black smoke could be seen rising from somewhere just ahead.

When the lights changed, a dozen cars crossed the intersection and I got a view of what was happening. There was a car on fire — flames and smoke were pouring from the hood. We were only a couple of car lengths away, and it was very worrying being stuck there until the light changed. On the telly, when cars burn like that people always run like crazy before being blown forward by the massive fireball when it explodes…

Lyra loved all her clothes, and changed into her new outfit immediately. At bedtime, we had a laugh about which pile to put the jeggings in — her jeans pile, or her leggings pile. “They have to go in both!” Lyra laughed, spreading them out carefully.

April 13, 2011

Picked up Nova in time for us to attend Emily’s dance class. Unfortunately, Lyra didn’t enjoy it much. She didn’t understand the instructions Emily gave, and I think she was worried about making mistakes. There was another boy her age there — Jasper from her nursery class — who was shaking his booty for all he was worth, but Lyra just wasn’t buying in.She had a major meltdown on the way home. One of those tantrums that sweep in like a hurricane and seize possession of her until its blown itself out. I let poor Nova slope off to Fays so she didn’t have to put up with it…

By the time she’d finished screaming I was feeling pretty drained, and a lazy afternoon watching Monsters Inc on the sofa suited us both fine. At one point, Lyra slipped off the sofa and padded out of the room, returning a minute later with her Mr Bump cold pack. “For your sore ears what I hurt with yelling,” she said. Bless…

Headed into town at 6pm to meet my job share and three other team members for one last leaving dinner. Today is the last day of work for the last remaining team member standing. End of an era…

April 12, 2011

Full day of tennis for Lyra today. The weather is much colder, but I had limited success in getting Lyra to cover up. I managed to convince her to wear a hoodie at least, but she insisted on bare legs in the 10° weather. When I dropped her off, she was so keen to get started, she was barely able to look my direction when I explained where I was leaving her racquet and packed lunch.Dropped Nova round at Ettas for the day, then headed into town to meet my friend Lawrence for lunch. He’d suggested Chez Gerard — the original in Charlotte Street, which is famous for its steak-frites. His treat as well, which was so nice of him.

We started with half a dozen oysters, then split a chateaubriand with béarnaise sauce, frites and salad. Lemon tart for dessert. Dinner won’t be necessary this evening…;-)

April 11, 2011

Happy birthday, Aaron! Lyra had a morning at tennis club in Crouch End. Adam dropped her off and I headed into town for my final session with the counsellor. It felt a bit funny travelling on the tube with all those purposeful, gainfully employed people, at the time I would normally be heading into work…I never know what I’ll talk about when I arrive… and next thing I know she’s saying, “Well, there’s only five minutes left”. I’m glad I took advantage of the counselling offered — it has provided emotional support at a very difficult time, and was the only place I felt I could be completely honest about my feelings.

Nipped into Habitat on my way home. I want an outdoor storage box for the patio that can double as a corner seat. Found the right one if I had £500 pounds to spend on this particular item…

After one of those fridge lunches that Nova calls “odds and ends” Adam headed off. He’s working on site with a client most of this week. Headed into garden with Lyra and did some digging and watering. The weather is meant to be changing, with a cold front moving in…:-<

Fed the girls, then offered Ewa’s biscuits for dessert. “She may be gone, but the memory of her fine cooking is still with us!” Nova quipped.

For my dinner, I found a recipe on the Epicurious app I downloaded for my phone. It would never have occurred to me to combine these particular ingredients: soba noodles, parmesan cheese, asparagus, thinly sliced proscuitto, and a fried egg.

Pretty good, though not the amazing dish some of the reviews would have you believe. I’m always amazed when I read restaurant reviews and the gall of people who give something a rating after they change half the ingredients. An example from this recipe:

“…I didn’t have any soba, so I used whole wheat spaghetti; no asparagus, so I chopped up a bell pepper and some green onions; only a little proscuitto so I added some thickly cut bacon; and because I thought it might turn out a little bland toward the end, I dumped in a little fresh thyme. But I have to say I was impressed with the end product…”

April 10, 2011

First one up, as always… Which can be a curse, especially after a big night like that… Adam took great satisfaction in filling me in on my antics of last night, and the grief I gave him when he tried to put me to bed. I moped around in the downstairs sitting room, wondering how much of an apology I owed everyone, ’til people started trickling in. Turns out not much at all…I was the first guest to disappear from the dinner table, but not by much. Jane — the hostess with the mostest — also left the table, never to return. But not before spilling a glass of wine over the unfortunate dinner guest’s Paul Smith shirt, and confusing his wife with bizarre drunken remarks. Alicia staggered off to bed not long after, and Adam fell asleep at the dinner table…

“I’m sure they had a great time,” Alicia insisted, “or they wouldn’t have stayed so long.” Which sounded plausible… until Steve pointed out that they we’d all passed out by 10:30… I can only imagine what they must be saying to their friends right now…. I’m glad I don’t have to see them ever again. ..;-)

We eased slowly into the day with bacon sandwiches, lots of coffee, and slumping in deck chairs. Jane and Alicia roused themselves to do a little gardening, and Adam and I took our girls for a swim, but overall it was a pretty low energy day.

Left for home mid-afternoon, over Lyra’s loud protests — it is truly the house of fun for kids and adults alike…

April 9, 2011

I should have gone for a run, but was feeling too damn lazy…;-)After lunch we headed off to Steve and Jane’s new house in Great Missenden. I was very easy to get to — surprising that we haven’t made it up to visit them before now. They have bought an amazing architect-designed house by Peter Aldington.

As well as the house, they have a swimming pool, Japanese-style carp pond, and extensive gardens. All very impressive, but clearly a lot of work to maintain as well…

I deliberately skipped the first round of drinks, opting for lemonade instead, but by 6pm we were all at the wine, Jane was having difficulty organising herself to cook dinner. I did a lot of the prep, which helped. They have a fabulous kitchen with lots of space for people to help, hang out etc.

After the kids had a swim, we served up a big tea of jacket potatoes and sausages for the seven of them (Alicia had arrived with her two by this point). I focussed on the vegetable curry. I focussed on the wine as well unfortunately — I had no idea how much anyone was drinking, but the bottles kept disappearing and an alarming rate. The curry becoming a logistical challenge as well, with too many cooks dipping in and out, raising the heat, lowering the heat, adding liquid, tossing in spices…

An added twist was the pending arrival of a couple that Steve had met on the train platform and invited for dinner. By the time they showed up, the five of us were roaring drunk. We managed to get dinner on the table somehow, though my memory gets a little patchy at this point. I remember eating something, and attempting conversation with the new guests, which must have been pretty incoherent. I stumbled off to settle Lyra half way through the meal, and apparently never came back…

April 8, 2011

Awoke in the middle of the night to the most horrible crunching sounds. I knew what it was going to be before we turned on the light… And sure enough, there was Cleo happily munching on a little mouse. The situation was too advanced to intervene — she finished her last mouthful and sashayed from the room. Adam scooped up that little green pod of innards she always leaves in a bit of tissue and tossed them in the bin…Nova announced today that she is considering switching to school dinners next term. Sods law — now that I have more time (and less money), she thinks it’s time to give the expensive school meals a try. She was less keen once I pointed out that would be the end of her bentos.

Changed all the beds this morning, a job I genuinely hate. I didn’t grow up with duvet covers, and have never mastered the art of changing one — let alone four. It was always sheets, blanket and bedspread for us growing up. Mum bought us “quilts” around the time I went to university. I recognise now that my “quilt” was actually meant to go inside a duvet cover, but we didn’t realise that. We just spread them uncovered on our beds…

Alina’s family came for a sleepover tonight. They are off to Germany tomorrow and are painting the flat of their apartment before they go. I made dinner for everyone — pork wraps on the barbeque, chips and salsa and Coronas. Basil headed off afterwards to finish the painting.

Once Veronika settled the girls she brought up her make-up bag and showed me all the tricks she’s learned working in theatre. She applied two styles of make-up to each side of her face. Both had the same amount of make-up, but one was very dramatic while the other looked completely fresh and natural, like she was wearing nothing at all…

Ewa baked biscuits with the girls on her last day. I have to say that they are not great — hard and dry, with bits of shrivelled orange zest in them. Sort of grainy too, like she used polenta instead of flour. Actually, they are in the Italian biscuit tradition, dry, hard, underflavoured. “Ewa may be gone, but the legacy of her cooking lives on…” Nova quipped.

April 7, 2011

Lyra is sick today…:-( She has that spaced out look that children get when they are ill. She was adamant about going to school, and also required me to wrestle her curls into a tiny little plait.She had perked up my the time I collected her from school, and we spent the afternoon in the garden. I pitched our 3-man tent on the lawn, and we spent ages in there telling stories and singing.

Comments from Lyra today: “I’m going to miss your pretty face when I fall asleep.” “Your hair is so beautiful like butterflies.” And “Love mama!” repeated regularly throughout the day, along with random little kisses. I think Nova feels more ambigious — there’s a definite loss of autonomy for her in having me around all the time…

April 6, 2011

My last day in the office — and my last in the NHS after twelve years… With my job share still sick, I was the last woman standing, and spent the day in a sea of empty desks once occupied by my team.Continued with my deleting programme — saved emails, sent emails either forwarded or double deleted; paper files through the shredder; drives erased. I’m not getting rid of anything that rightfully should be passed on, like the manual for the CMS or the hosting contract, but anything personal/optional goes.

Had both lunch and coffee out with friends, and before I knew it I was scrambing to write up my exit interview before it was time to leave. I had drafted it earlier this week, but hadn’t got round to typing it into the official form.

To my utter surprise, my director crossed the office to wish me goodbye. I’m pretty sure it is the first time she’s ever approached by desk in two and a half years. I’m also pretty sure that my friend and colleague Marian prompted her to do it.

I was chatting to Marian when she said, “Oh, Jane’s leaving — I need to have a quick word with her before she goes.” A few minutes later, there she was. It was a pretty awkward little exchange, but even so I’m glad she bothered to do it. I did mean editing a good line out of my exit interview though, in the section where I give my experience of my line manager. I was going to write: “Having not bothered to say ‘good morning’ to me for two and a half years, I consider it highly unlikely she will bother to say ‘goodbye’ when I leave the organisation.”

Adam was waiting for me in the lobby, and we took the bus to the Angel. Saw a film with Matt Damon called The Adjustment Bureau (pretty good), then went on to dinner at Trullo, a neighbourhood place that’s been getting great reviews.

Had a really nice meal, aside from getting a little spiky fish bone stuck in my throat with my very last bite of food. Although it was small, it was also thick and sharp, like a little rose thorn. Water, bread and coughing all failed to dislodge it. While it was unpleasant, I didn’t think I was in any real danger. Couldn’t stop the scene from Amadeus, where Salieri’s dad chokes on his lunch and dies from popping into my mind.

Ewa was babysitting this evening — her last ever shift with us. Gave her a box of chocolates and a card and wished her well…

April 5, 2011

“Who’s eighty-eight?” Lyra asks on a regular basis.
“Phyllis is eighty-eight,” I always reply.
“Who’s forty-three?”
“Pasc is forty-three?”
“Who’s twenty-six?”
“I don’t know anyone who’s twenty-six?”
“Someone must be twenty-six, mum!”Another Lyra thing at the moment is to make the most random statements, followed by an “Am I right?” For example: “Owls don’t like swimming except in swimming pools. Am I right?” or “Princesses never wear trousers, even on muddy walks. Am I right?”

Had a bit of an adventure in the bedroom last night…;-) At about 2am I was awakened by a noise that went like this: jingle-jingle-THUMP; jingle-jingle-THUMP! “Adam,” I said, nudging him awake, “I think the cat’s up to something…”

We snapped on the light to discover Cleo tormenting a little mouse. She’d let it go, the poor thing would make a break for it, and then THUMP, she’d pounce again, purring the whole time like a sports car. Poor old Adam eventually captured the mouse and released it outside, to Cleo’s dismay. She views our bedroom as her killing field, and generally brings her captured prey in here…

April 4, 2011

My last week in the office, thank Christ… I can’t wait to put this place behind me. It takes such an effort of will power to get myself to work each day, and yet at the same time I don’t want the buggers to think that they’ve beaten me either…Went out for yet another leaving lunch to a local, Italian place. Food was nice enough, but overpriced. There was a business man dining with a junior female colleague seated behind us. Part way through our meal, they joined a conference call via his Blackberry. The reception mustn’t have been great, because he was speaking really loudly. I thought it was quite amusing that someone would have the gall to do that, but other diners were outraged. Being British, they wouldn’t actually say something to him, but attempted to convey their displeasure through scowling, harrumphing, tutting and eyerolling…

Lyra has been offered a place at the school next year. We were expecting she would, as we tick most of the selection criteria, and live so close, but it’s good to have it in writing. So that’s the end of our church attending ways…;-)

Tottenham Court Road Station is closed to the Northern Line for the next seven months. Another good reason to be quitting work…

April 3, 2011

Happy Mother’s Day to me! Got my lovely cards brought to me in bed, but it would have been a bit strange to eat breakfast in bed with guests in the house. I did get a lovely batch of blueberry muffins, courtesy of Adam and the girls.

Once Steve and Jane headed off, I spent the afternoon in the garden clearing the ground elder from my raspberries. Broke off for an afternoon stroll to Waterlow Park where we met up with Pete and Pasc. Poor Pasc is still feeling very groggy and weak — I’m glad she’s got a doctor’s appointment tomorrow, so they can check that everything is alright and her meds are at the right level etc. Surgery (and general anaesthetic) does really take it out of you…

April 2, 2011

Busy morning — run, clay class, groceries. Had a sudden craving for a hotdog while shopping, so I picked up a pack of German frankfurters and buns. Worryingly cheap food, I suppose because of its nastiness. Can’t do too much harm as a very occasional detour from the healthy eating highway…;-)Went to yoga class again. I’ve decided I really don’t like my yoga teacher, though I do like the class. Although what I like about it is that it doesn’t really challenge me very much… Hmmm…

Steve and Jane are staying overnight. Plan A had us staying at their place in Great Missenden, but when they called and cancelled a couple of days ago, unsurprisingly we were free to have them stay with us instead. Organised a sitter and spent the night at the Wrestlers with Paul and Alicia. The others were really knocking it back, but I wasn’t in the mood. Or maybe I was just tired — yoga can do that, even unchallenging yoga…

April 1, 2011

I remembered to say “rabbits”, which made me happy. Seems like a month I could use some good luck in…Dropped in on Pasc, who is recuperating from a heart operation. She has been experiencing atrial fibrillation and has had a procedure to burn around the misfiring muscle tissue in the heart wall. It was keyhole surgery, and she only spent one night in hospital. Even so, she’s feeling pretty weak and groggy from the anaesthetic and the host of drugs she’s on…

After ballet, Lyra and I went down to Alina’s. Veronika made beautiful German potatoes and roast tomatoes for lunch. Stayed until it was time to pick up Nova from her drama class and fix our dinner. Made a pork tenderlion, which I marinated in maple syrup and soy sauce before browning and finishing in the oven. Absolutely delicious…