April 2013

April 30, 2013

This morning Nova walked down to the earlier bus stop to meet her friends — a good way of taking control of things. I dropped Lyra at her early gymnastics club. Half her class seems to be signed up now…”You’ve let your presentation slide, Andrea”, Nova said in that fake Australian accent she uses to critique all my food now. “I like the creamy mashed potato with the steamed cabbage, and when you add the crispy fried egg, it’s a lovely, lovely thing, but look at it — it’s all over the plate!”

Watched the first stage of the Masterchef finals tonight. It was satisfying to see it “live”, but the programme starts at 9pm, which isn’t great for a school night. We’ll save up the next two and watch them on Friday instead of movie night…

Earlier today, I had a conversation with Fran, whose son George is one of the four kids chosen for the language video. I hadn’t really thought about the possible implications of Nova going to a strange man’s house to film a video. And this evening, George’s dad called. John works as a cameraman for the BBC, so has lots of experience filming with children. He shared the email he’s written to the director, raising the things that all responsible parents would be concerned about. Good thing they’re on the case…

April 29, 2013

Nova missed the bus her friends were on this morning. She chased after it for a stop before returning home frustrated and in tears. She needs more control in that situation. Currently, Jess and Shira meet at an earlier stop, get on the first bus that comes along and then text Nova. Sometimes she isn’t at the stop on time, sometimes she’s already waiting but doesn’t get the text…Happy homemaker day… I baked biscuits, made bread, hoovered the house, did laundry, and sorted out the girls’ bedroom before it was time to pick up Lyra and take her to drama. Dropped her off, and returned home to watch a sneaky Masterchef with Nova, who was back from school.

We need to get through two episodes today before the start of the finals tomorrow. In this one, the Michelin-starred chef Marcus Wareing was judging a fine dining challenge. What an asshole that guy turned out to be. He reduced one guy to tears, and was savage to another, refusing to even taste his soufflé, which had fallen out of the mango shell he’d attempted to cook it in.

Nova helped me plate up our dinner of cumin lamb with fattoush salad. It looked pretty good, and both girls ate it happily enough, even though I’d dressed the salad. Ate our desserts in front of the second episode, where the contestants had to cook for a room of twelve food critics. There were a lot of assholes there as well…

Adam was out, so did the music/homework/bedtime shift. Nova’s video script has finally arrived, and filming is scheduled for this weekend…

April 28, 2013

Got a batch of apple cinnamon muffins well underway before I left for my long run. Aimed for a 12-minute mile pace, and chose a route I know is approximately five miles. The timing worked out about right, and I felt like I could have gone longer at the end.I’m a bit worried about overdoing it, but I don’t want to be too precious with myself either. A guy my age recently ran an ultramarathon across the Sahara Desert on two prosthetic legs — I should be able to manage a half marathon on my slightly hinky ankles…;-)

Family brunch at the Garfunkels. Beulah always does things so nicely, and the dining room table looked beautiful. We had bagels with lots of toppings, and there were four desserts on offer, including her incomparable sticky toffee pudding. I limited myself to two — and anyway poached pears have no calories at all…;-)

When the kids were playing table tennis upstairs, Lyra spied a fun fair in the park from the top window. We headed over there afterwards. Adam left to catch the tube into town for a meeting, and I went on a few rides with the kids before heading back home.

Double bill of Masterchef this evening. We want to get caught up before the finals this week. No one was feeling very hungry after our lovely brunch, so I made the kids some peanut butter and banana toast with a side of yogurt. Adam was out at the pub drinking beer and eating Thai snacks with some grateful friends of the Mclaughlin’s who’d borrowed our Arsenal memberships. Music lessons, homework, reading, bedtimes, yada yada yada…

April 27, 2013

One positive side effect of movie night is that the girls sleep in a little bit later. I had to wake Nova up at 8am so she could have a shower before her all day rehearsal at Jackson’s Lane. Her group will be performing their play this evening to a paying audience.Feeling strangely happy this morning, for no particular reason. It makes me aware that I haven’t felt “happy” for a while, or unhappy either, just generally pretty medium. I’ve been wondering if I’m feeling a bit abandoned by Adam, now that he’s so busy with his new job and seldom here. Which would be unfair, but may be true nevertheless…

Adam did some bike riding with Lyra on the parade ground while I got on with the endless round of general house stuff. It is a fulltime job running a house — I struggle to recall how I managed it when I was commuting to my stressful job three days a week. Not very well, most likely… I know Adam used to do more to help, or at least we used to fight about how he should do more to help…;-)

We also had a nanny, though aside from Simonia they didn’t much of a contribution to the housework. And we did have a cleaner at various points when the girls were small. I didn’t find that worked well for me — there always seemed to be too much cleaning of some things, and not enough of others, and you could never find the kitchen implements. I suppose I do a lot more gardening now too. I think maybe people just have a preferred level of busyness and will gravitate towards it by whatever means…

Made beautiful sandwiches for lunch — toasted sourdough with cream cheese, a layer of chives, smoked salmon, salmon roe and slices of hardboiled egg. Should have photographed them, they looked so nice.

Dinner was turkey chilli, which was also really good. There is really no need for ground beef in chilli — I’m perfectly happy with soya mince as well. There’s so much flavour coming from the spices and sauces that you can’t tell the difference anyway. Lyra had fun mashing up a creditable bowl of guacamole to serve alongside…

Freddy and Beulah met us at the theatre in time for the show. They had a pretty full house — mostly friends and family, I imagine, but there may have been some genuine punters as well. It was a good production with an effectively creepy atmosphere, though the script was a little weird. It’s based on a Norwegian novel called “The Ice Palace”, and I found it hard to identify with strange, misfit girl, though perhaps that was the point…? I found myself rewriting the script, turning it into a more conventional chiller…

April 26, 2013

Lyra and I carried on our conversation over breakfast. “If you cut me in half, I’d be dead,” I pointed out. “No, you’d be like the people in the Paralympics,” she explained. “An you could buy me some nice legs with the money,” I added. “Yeah, but not the metal ones, those are too weird,” Lyra said. “Or maybe you could have me half the time, like on odd days,” I suggested. “No, I like the Paralympics way better,” she decided.I went for my weekday run first thing, but had to stick close to home after that awaiting delivery of the new sink and Nova’s wellie boots. It was all sorted by noon, and I made my Waitrose run. Can’t seem to avoid spending a lot of money on groceries these days. A weekly shop is always north of £100 now…

Took advantage of Lyra’s playdate out to cook fish for dinner: seabass fillets with asparagus and a beurre blanc sauce and apple rhubarb crumble for dessert. Watched the animated film “A Cat’s Life” for movie night — worked for everyone…

April 25, 2013

Happy birthday Kael — 6 today! Managed to find a mutually convenient time for a trans-Atlantic call and had a little chat with the birthday boy before his breakfast. 

I’m getting used to my new “home alone” routine, and find I am quite liking it. Today, Adam was out all morning,, but returned in time for lunch. We spent some time choosing and ordering a new sink for the toilet. The current one has growing cracks both inside and out, and I have visions of it falling on someone’s foot one day. Probably mine, on the morning of the half marathon…;-)

Pesto pasta for everyone this evening — an easy meal is the way to go sometimes… Dessert was these little pretzel melt things I saw online. I think I overcooked them a bit. The chocolate caramels got a bit oozy, and I gave myself a nasty burn on the tip of my index finger from the molten caramel.

At bedtime, Nova confessed that she’d done badly on her physics test. In spite of all her revision, she only got 48% on it. She was feeling bad about it, especially as her friends Shira and Jessica both did quite well. I suggested that she talk to her teacher about where she went wrong and how she can improve things. One thing that didn’t occur to me when we chose not to tutor Nova for secondary school exams, is that all the studying and revision practice most other kids were getting would continue to benefit them after passing the entrance exams.

Reading with Lyra at bedtime, the question of how much money a person was worth came up. “No amount of money is worth more than you,” I told her. “Not even a million pounds?” she asked. “No way,” I said, “would you give me up for a million pounds?” “Maybe…,” she said, before changing her mind. “Actually, I would keep half the money and give up half of you.” “Which half, top or bottom?” I asked. “I’d keep the top half,” she said. Good to know…;-)

April 24, 2013

Strapped my bothersome ankle for today’s run. It got a little hinky towards the end, and I was torn between pulling up and carrying on to see what difference the strapping might make. I opted to keep going, and it seemed okay afterwards…Built another raised bed this afternoon, one of the long ones that runs down the side of the wall we share with the Nolans. I built this in situ, which was trickier as the ground is grassy and uneven, but it would have been too awkward to move. It doesn’t sit flat, nor is the wall or fence remotely straight, but I think it’ll do the job.

Both girls were home late this afternoon. Nova has concert orchestra after school, and Lyra went home with Alex, then straight to swimming. I actually had time to get my fill of gardening today. It is truly an endless occupation…

Even had time for a half an hour on the sofa finishing my novel. I’ve been reading “This Book Will Change Your Life” by AM Homes, and I have really enjoyed it. Dinner was a sort of Vietnamese-style beef salad. I didn’t get the balance of the dressing quite right — I think I was a bit cautious with all the elements, trying to keep it suitable for the girls’ palate. I find all this Mastercheffing is making me more inclined to experiment…;-)

Speaking of Masterchef, the contestants faced a vicious palette test this evening. John prepared seafood wontons in a spiced prawn-veg reduction, which the contestants then attempted to reproduce. I wouldn’t have got far with that one, and none of the contestants were very good either…

April 23, 2013

Built my first two raised beds this morning — two square ones that will sit in front of the apple trees. It was surprisingly hard work to get it those big boards screwed together, and pretty heavy to move into place after it was built. I could have made them in situ, though the ground isn’t level, but I won’t stake them down until I see how all four beds look together.

I also dug out the ground for one of the long wall beds so it is a bit more level. I had the idea of moving the clumps of grass I cleared to an area where I want to encourage grass to grow. No idea whether it will work, but the pieces looked an awful lot like segments of turf, so I thought it was worth a try. Watered it in, now we’ll wait and see…

Worked through lunch and up until pick-up time. It was a pretty warm day, and Lyra was pink cheeked and sticky looking. Fixed us two glasses of lime cordial, which we drank on the balcony, then got stuck into making dinner: lemon risotto, green salad, and rhubarb compote (from the garden) with some coconut lime macaroons I whipped up using leftover egg whites.

Afterwards, Lyra and I started the seed potatoes in a big tub. I remember dad trying this one summer with car tires. He put one tire around your potatoes, and as the plants grew, he’d add another tire and more earth. Can’t remember how it turned out…

Dad also had a little vegetable garden along the side of the house for a while. Don’t remember much about that either, though I’d imagine it was likely a bit too shady, what with the big willow tree. Apparently, when I was born, my parents planted a rose bush, which they supported with a willow stake. The rose eventually failed, but the willow grew into that enormous tree that towered over the house…

April 22, 2013

Today is the first day that Adam has worked from home in weeks, which made a nice change. Even managed to squeeze in a trip to Jewson, our local timber merchants, to buy some wood for the raised beds. We’d done the measurements on the weekend, and figured out how to get the most out of the 4.8m lengths it is sold in.I was surprised when the guy delivered the sawed lengths to our car. I thought the pieces looked too short, but assumed it would look right in situ. Unfortunately, I was wrong about that. It turned out we’d done the measurements in a mixture of inches and centimetres, and most of the lengths were 40% short…:-(

Some of the lengths are usable, and others can be bracketed together, but an embarrassing return to Jewsons was unavoidable. Assuming responsibility for the cock-up, Adam made the trip of shame at the end of the day, returning with accurate lengths, which we’ve stored in the greenhouse for now.

Tony returned this afternoon to diagnose the problem with the toilet. It turns out that besides the push button not working, there is a hole is something called the bellows. “Wasn’t expecting that,” Tony said, “the button working when you blew in it was a bit of a red herring.” Quite — and I have no idea how that happened…:-) But anyway, it never would have happened if button wasn’t broken in the first place, so I felt no need to own up to our part in that…

If built a little brick wall in front of the hydrangea and bed at the bottom of the garden stairs to prevent the soil from sliding down onto the paving. I’m quite pleased with it, and may even extend it round the other side of the hydrangea if I can figure out what to do with the hose.

Made my roast dinner today. It was very good, and little Lyra was insanely into the roast new potatoes, which I did with olive oil and rosemary.

April 21, 2013

Woke Nova up early as she’s off to Chessington World of Adventure for Evelyn’s birthday. Packed a change of clothes in case she gets soaked on the water rides, though instead of a raincoat, I just chopped head and armholes in a bin bag. Much lighter and works better too…Brian and Danielle headed up to Liverpool this morning for another Chelsea match, so we can use their loo for the next couple of days. Tony’s coming back on Tuesday morning to sort the dodgy flush out.

Made banana walnut muffins with Lyra. They were tough and a bit dry — not enough banana or yogurt, or perhaps Lyra was too enthusiastic with the mixing…?

Did some research on using railway sleepers for raised beds. I got all enthusiastic until I saw how heavy they would be and also Adam calculated how much growing space would be covered by wood if we went with boards that thick…

Headed off to the garden centre to look at some, which sealed it. They would be too much for our space. Picked up some tomato plants, replacement thyme and lemon verbena for the ones that froze last month, as well as another hollyhock. My last one is looking all rusty…

I’m in the midst of cleaning the greenhouse windows, which is making quite a difference. I can’t believe never done it before. I’d planned to make a roast for dinner, but with both girls out until 6:30 it doesn’t make sense. Monday just won’t be meatless this week…

Had the bright idea of flushing the toilet with the bicycle pump. Worked nicely when I did it, but Adam got over enthusiastic about attaching the hose and when he pumped there was a loud pop in the cistern, which sounded ominous. We are now reduced to bucket flushing until Tony returns…

April 20, 2013

Wotjek arrived first thing to work on the shower room floor, installing the same marmoleum tiles that we’ve used in the toilet. It looked great when he had finished, and is much nicer having both floors the same as they are so close together. Also, the plastic flooring in the shower room was pretty nasty — somehow both slippery and sticky, and a horrible gray colour with dashes of pink and white…Something’s not quite right with the new flush for the toilet. It worked fine the first couple of times we used it, but has been getting steadily worse. It seems that the button on the wall isn’t sending enough pressure into the cistern to trigger a flush. We’ve discovered that blowing down the little hose connected to the flush works — at least it works when I do it, no one else in the family has sufficient lung power…

Made egg mcmuffins for lunch — a firm family favourite. Afterwards, Nova went off to give Lyra a “fairy makeover”. She returned twenty minutes later in a fancy dress and lots of glittery make-up. They were playing really well together, so we left them and headed off to Homebase. We were after the wood to build raised beds for the garden, but there was nothing suitable. All the timberyards are closed on Saturday afternoons, so it will have to wait.

Fed the girls pesto pasta for dinner, before we headed off to Rebecca and Robin’s for dinner. Shoreditch is rocking these days — a far cry from the dodgy shithole it was when Adam worked there twelve years ago. It’s still edgy, but in a funky way, not a scary way…

There were three dinner guests besides us — an older American woman (also called Robin) who is visiting them from France, and two of her UK based kids: daughter Charlie, who is an artist, and son Sam, a firefighter. It’s the first time I’ve been back to their flat since the new year’s eve party we took dad to. I’d forgotten what an amazing space it is.

Dinner started with olives, hummus and tzatziki with flatbread, followed by paella, which was served with a great Albarino. Roasted plums with cream for dessert. Sat at the table for hours talk and laughing, and seeking favour from their gloriously beautiful ragdoll cat Garfield, who bestowed brief spells of lap time on a select few lucky guests, including me…

It was 12:45 by the time we left, but there was a minicab rank on the side street, and we were home just after 1am…

April 19, 2013

Would have been mum and dad’s 51st anniversary today. Called dad for a catch up. He sounded well, and is preparing for the start of the trapshooting season with a couple of shoots already in his sights…;-)Tony arrived back this morning to finish the toilet installation. It’s looking good, though the box still needs some sort of top. He claims to have something left over from another job that he’ll bring next week. He hadn’t painted it either, but I had time to get two coats on before the girls came home.

Made a vegetable tajine with dates and apricots for dinner, which I served with lemon couscous. Roasted some chicken thighs as well, in case the tajine proved problematic, but I needn’t have worried. I think the girls both enjoyed revisiting those Moroccan flavours.

Brian and Danielle returned from Belgium this evening bearing chocolate, which provided a timely dessert for us to enjoy during movie night. Tonight’s film was “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time”, a Japanese manga film that everyone enjoyed. Both Adam and I were feeling pretty tired, and we all headed off to bed when it ended…

April 18, 2013

Spent a good chunk of time in the kitchen this morning, making a sourdough sponge and a batch raspberry ice cream. Wotjek arrived after lunch, and we headed off to the tile place in Muswell Hill to buy some flooring for the toilet and bathroom. I settled on marmoleum and chose an appropriate colour by comparing the samples to the scrap of carpet I’d brought with me.They didn’t have anything in stock, but was able to pay for a cab to drive it over from their warehouse in east London. It arrived within an hour and a half and Wotjeck got stuck in. He only managed the toilet floor today, but will be back on the weekend to do the bathroom. Looks great already…

A couple of weeks ago, an educational film maker approached Nova’s drama group, looking for teenagers to appear in a language video. Most of the kids auditioned, including Nova (although the club leader Bob had said she probably shouldn’t bother as the director was looking for fourteen year olds). Anyway, Nova ended up being one of the four kids chosen, and is going to spend a weekend filming the thing in May.

After Nova’s double music lesson with Anita, we had a quick family dinne of kitchree — an unappealing looking porridge of rice, mung beans, mushrooms and spinach. Lyra ploughed straight through her bowl in anticipation of the raspberry ice cream…

Sagra arrived to babysit while we were finishing off our dinner, and within ten minutes we were dashing off to theatre. We’d booked tickets to see James McAvoy play Macbeth at the Trafalgar Studios.

The show was late starting and eventually we were told that James had injured himself during the matinee and was receiving treatment. However, he was determined to go on, and eventually appeared wearing a hand brace and a little bandage on his head. It was a pretty violent production, and easy to see how injuries might occur… Great stuff!

April 17, 2013

Lyra brought her podling into school this morning, showing it off to her classmates like a proud parent with a new baby. It’s amazing how much excitement this particular stuffed toy is generating at the moment…Paid a visit to Homebase hoping to find a suitable container for growing potatoes, but couldn’t decide on anything. Carried on to Waitrose and did the weekly shop. When I got back in the car, it felt extremely warm and stuffy. “How did I manage to leave the heater on when the engine was off?” I wondered, until I realised it was just the heat of the sun. It’s been a long time since we’ve felt that in the UK…

By the time I had unpacked the groceries, it was pretty much time to pick up Lyra. Made sure I was early to compensate for yesterday’s performance. Pulled together a quick supper for the girls, as Nova had an evening rehearsal for her play, and Lyra had swimming. Adam made it back just in time to take her.

When Nova returned at 8pm, Adam and I headed out for dinner with his new at Trullo. His new colleague Peter is in town from India, and had suggested that we meet. He wasn’t quite what I expected — Adam is so wowed by him and he was never going to live up to that — but he seems a nice enough guy. There are some interesting similarities between his career path and Adam’s, including not completing an undergrad degree then returning to university for a masters.

The food was as good as ever — pasta, grilled sea bream, stracciatelli ice cream — though the service wasn’t quite up to the mark. Nice evening, all in all, and good to put a face to a name we’ve been hearing so much about…

April 16, 2013

Lyra’s first day of school, and the start of the summer term. As is traditional, she was determined to wear a light cotton school dress, in spite of the chilly weather. She also wanted to bring her podling, though after an urgent last minute text from Margaux, we delayed that until tomorrow…Tony the plumber turned up shortly after I got back. He’s replacing the toilet, which is on its last legs. He’s going to boxing in the new cistern, which will definitely look better.

We’re need to replace the lino too, and will try to get Wojtek round to do that between now and Friday. Our loo will be out of commission in the meantime, so we’ll need to use the downstairs one, which works because Brian and Danielle have left for Bruges for a few days, returning on Friday. The new toilet has arrived but hasn’t been plumbed in. I locked the door after Tony left, so the girls don’t pay an accidental visit in the night…

Lots to get caught up on around the house, and didn’t notice the time until it was 3:35, and I was late for picking up Lyra. The little sweetie was the only child there, and looking quite forlorn. “It was just Alice and me, and then even Christine came, and it was just me!” she said. “That’s never ever happened before, and I was worried that I was suppsed to go on a playdate or something and the other mommy forgot.”

I apologised for being late, and once she calmed down a bit, she observed, The way I felt when you were late is probably how Alice would feel if Christine was ever early. She would probably say, ‘What’s wrong, mummy? Why are you the first one here?’ and feel really nervous and scared about it, wouldn’t she?”

Adam was meant to be home by 4pm, but didn’t get back until 7pm in the end, leaving just enough time for him to hop into his football gear. I dropped him at the Mallinson, the swung round to Archway Video to drop off last week’s films and pick up some more.

I’d eaten with the girls already, and once we knocked the music practice we watched Masterchef together before bed…

April 15, 2013

Nova returned to school this morning. She seems to be half looking forward to it and half annoyed that none of her friends at other schools start until tomorrow. Adam B is stlll sacked out on the living room floor, but seems to be more himself today. He managed to eat weetabix with the girls before returning to his bed.Spent a nice morning pottering about with Lyra. We made meringues, cooked up some lavendar spray for her hair, and made a birthday card for Pasc. Banh mi sandwiches for lunch — Adam B assumed an upright position long enough to polish off one of those as well.

Left the pair of them together and headed into the village to buy Pasc a birthday present. Settled on a collection of Alice Munro short stories. We’d planned to go round as a family at 5:30 when Adam got back, but he didn’t arrive so it was girls only. Pasc was pleased with her book, and with the little meringue snack pack from Lyra.

Chickpea pasta soup for dinner, as well as toasted sourdough bruschetta with fresh mozzarella, marjoram and olive oil. Officially first bit of garden produce we’ve eaten this year…

On Masterchef this evening, not one of the contestants recognised (or had any idea how to make) either soda bread or seafood chowder. In each of the episodes so far, groups of five contestants face four challenges:

1. the invention test, where they cook a dish from a random array of ingredients
2. the palate test, where they taste a dish John has prepared, write down what they think it contains and then reproduce it as closely as possible
3. the restaurant test, where they work a shift in a high-end professional kitchen
4. the cooking test, where they prepare two courses of their own food for the judges to taste.

I know that I’d struggle most with the first challenge. I’m sure could make something from the ingredients, but it would be on the pedestrian side. I’m continually surprised at how they seem to struggle with the palate test, but then I do have at least ten years cooking experience on most of them.

Watching this series, makes me want to try creating more of my own recipes — just get an idea, shop for it, and execute it without using a cook book. I’d also like to develop a sounder grounding of cooking techniques. For example, I have never made a ballotine, something two contestants have seen fit to do so far. And you can’t move for fondant potatoes and beurre blanc sauce, two other things I have yet to try…

April 14, 2013

Our family all slept in until 9am. Woke to find all this strange yellow stuff pouring through our windows. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen that. In my delicate condition, it felt like we were under assault…;-)Adam popped into the village, returning with enough pastries and baguettes for nine. All attempts to rouse Adam from his bed on the living room floor failed, and he was still lying there when people started turning up. The poor kid is still feeling rough — it’s no fun being sick in someone else’s house…

Besides the four of us, there was Brian, Danielle, Lucy and Elli from Morocco, and Adam here for coffee/breakfast. Elli stayed on to hang out with Nova afterwards, Adam headed off to Wembley with Brian and Danielle for the FA Cup semi-final, Adam B took to his bed, Lyra and I took to the garden.

Spring seems to have finally arrived. It’s gratifying to see how nice the bulbs we planted last autumn are looking. Those beds looked little different in October, but are so pretty and well tended now in comparison to the stretches I didn’t get to. Did some weeding around the raspberries and rhubarb, started some beetroot seeds as well.

I’m definitely going to put in some raised beds this year — two square ones in front of the apple trees and two longer ones along the wall we share with the Nolans. This will involve a certain amount of landscaping — levelling out the ground, moving some paving stones, shifting a large pile of compost and a mountain of rocks I’ve unearthed over the years — but I’m determined to do it.

The kids saw to their own lunch, leaving me free to work on through the afternoon. I came inside when it started to cool a bit, and threw together some dinner — meatloaf, potato-celeriac mash and peas. I fed the kids at 7pm, but waited until the footie fans were back to eat myself.

Brian and Danielle headed out to the Flask afterwards. He’s his father’s son, that boy…;-) We watched some University Challenge with Adam B, who’s definitely feeling perkier. I assumed that he’d be a big help on the music questions. While he did contribute a few good answers, he also suggested some obscure Hungarian composer instead of the more obvious Bela Bartok…;-)

April 13, 2013

Lyra went to her first Arsenal match today — she was pretty excited. She and Adam went with her friend Alex, Alex’s dad and sister. Happily, the weather isn’t too cold, though rain is probable, so she’s kitted out for that.Adam Boeker arrived in the afternoon en route to Manchester from Edmonton. He hung out with Nova and me for a bit, then headed downstairs for a nap. We watched the Kings Speech — she’s very taken with the film, being generally keen on historical stuff…

We’re out this evening, but I made something for Adam to eat: steamed rice, Vietnamese meatballs and a green bean salad. The poor kid’s not feeling great, and didn’t bring much appetite to it. Sometimes it’s hard to know where your stomach is at in the first 24 hours after a long flight.

Everyone got gussied up and we headed off to Freddy and Beulah’s joint 50th anniversary, and Freddy’s 80th birthday party. Back to the Anna Pavlova house in Golder’s Green, where we attended a bat mitzvah a couple of months ago.

The event started with champagne, canapes and chatting. There were about 50 friends and family invited to the event. As always, I was surprised at how Freddy and Beulah continue to produce friends I haven’t met in the 25 years that I’ve been with Adam. At their age, a number of their friends must be passing away, but they seem to keeping making new ones. Not something most people tend to do apparently, after the “children in primary school” years…

Our table for the sit-down meal included Jeffrey and Jennifer, as well as a couple whose hotel Freddy and Beulah stay at on the south coast. Lyra and Jeffrey had a grand time together, and Nova had a lengthy conversation with Anna from the hotel.

The food was delicious, and Adam’s speech, which he’d been feeling nervous about, went down pretty well. He got respectable laughs at the funny parts, and some clapping for the flattering bits. Earlier in the week, Adam and I were discussing the speech and Lyra asked what we were talking about. Adam said we were thinking of nice things to say about his parents. Lyra then said, “Grandbee’s is the only place where you get to eat three desserts!” Needless to say, he found a way to work that comment in.

Home about 11:30. I’d drunk too much white wine and was feeling a little woozy. Straight to bed for everybody…

April 12, 2013

It was a surprise to hear Brian and Danielle moving about at 8am. They popped upstairs with gifts from Jackie — teeshirts and leggings for the girls, and a beautiful pair of earrings for me. The girls were thrilled, and changed into their new kit immediately.

In spite of the weather — it was raining pretty hard — I decided to go for a run. Stuck to a pavement route, as both the Heath and the Woods would be a quagmire. Anyway, I’ve got to stop avoiding pavement and hills now I’m training for the half marathon. I’d feel like a hamster in a wheel if I tried to do all my workouts in Highgate Wood.

Last day of skating lessons. Adam wanted to come and see how the girls had got on. They were pleased he was coming, and I could see they tried their best. There has been some improvement over the week, but I want to keep up the momentum by skating a bit more regularly.

Left the girls with Christine when it was time to drop Adam at the tube. Back home, I served myself an indulgent lunch of curry leftovers.Not so much food, but pretty rich. I definitely notice a spike in my appetite on those days I run. Eggs and toast for the girls we they returned.

Nova is off on another sleepover this evening, at Sarah’s house this time. She diligently did her homework and music practice in the afternoon — she’s such a good kid. I baked lemon drizzle cake with Lyra, who did pretty much everything except weighing ingredients and lining the cake pan.

Did some knitting afterwards — what a pair of domestic goddesses. Princess Pearl and Queen Knit, Lyra calls us. (I assume she’s spelling that with a “K”…) Made beef broccoli in black bean sauce for dinner, which went down well with all three of us. Lyra was so focussed on getting some of that lemon drizzle cake, I could have fed her anything. It was good, but not as good as I remember mum’s being…

April 11, 2013

Happy birthday Aaron! Lyra came in at 7:30am for a cuddle. She’s taken her aborted sleepover pretty well. Sent her downstairs to wake up the downstairs pair and we finished off the second film.Lyra had watched first half hour with us last night, and there was only one scene where I felt obliged to cover her eyes. Not that was even very scary, just an image I didn’t want planted in her head. The final battle scene this morning didn’t bother her either. Vampires crumbling into fragments at high speed is so fantastical that it’s more silly than scary.

Christine swung round to pick up the three girls and take them to skating. I spent the time getting the flat ready for Brian McLaughlin who’s arriving this afternoon with his girlfriend Danielle. Don’t want a repeat of the Blaine Rowe moment.

Blaine was my high school French teacher who I hadn’t seen in 25 years when Carolyn arranged for him to stay with us on a trip to London. After settling him and his wife Anne downstairs, we invited them up for a glass of wine, during which he told me that our housekeeper hadn’t done a good enough job of preparing the flat for their stay, not realising that I’d done the cleaning myself (I hope). No idea what possessed him to say something so rude, given he was staying with us gratis for ten days, but it was actually pretty funny… .

Made celeriac soup and freshly baked sourdough bread for lunch. This batch turned out pretty well — I didn’t rush it, allowing the best part of two days for the dough to do the necessary rising. The kids certainly happy to have it again…

Adam was home for a couple of hours this afternoon, and was here when our guests arrived at 4pm. Lyra was very excited, she loves having company and was bouncing around like a pinball. After a cup of tea, they headed downstairs for a nap. Brian said they’d set an alarm, but we have long experience of jetlagged Canadians, and sent Lyra down to wake them half an hour after they’d planned to get up. Apparently, she hit them with pillows until they opened their eyes…

Ordered a big curry dinner from Kiplings, which we washed down with bottles of Cobra beer. Seemed to go down well with everybody…

April 10, 2013

Lyra’s podling arrived in the post first thing. She’s delerious with joy — there’s a real craze for those things in her class at the moment…I joined the girls for the public skating session after their lessons today. I love ice skating, and it was particularly enjoyable to be able to skate without holding a beginner’s hand for the first time in years. I checked in with the girls every few laps, but they were perfectly content skating around with their friends. Even got a chance to practice my crossing over and backwards skating.

After an hour, it was time to head home for lunch. Made a big Greek salad with Nova’s help. All that Masterchef seems to be increasing her interest in cooking. Afterewards, she tackled her homework, and both girls put in a good session of room tidying, as there’s a double sleepover planned for later this evening with Evelyn and Alice.

Actually Alice is a bit dubious about the plan. Part of her wants to, but she’s always been pretty clingy and has never actually had a sleepover before. They arrived about 5:30 with their kit, and played for an hour before dinner. I made a sort of chinese marinade for some chicken thighs, then thickened the cooking juices with arrowroot to make a sauce. I served it with Japanese rice, steamed broccoli, and a sesame bean sprout salad.

Alice had a bit of a wobble before dinner and wanted to go home, but we cajoled her into eating first and had quite a merry time of it, with lots of giggling and jokes.

Christine popped back to pick her up by 7:30. “This is more of a go-home-over now,” Lyra said sourly. Settled down to watch the second and third Twilight movies, New Moon and Eclipse, with the big girls. I found the first one pretty dreary — essential scene setting, I guess — but the second one was much better. Adam didn’t think much of either of them — they definitely fall into the chick flick category.

Sent Nova and Evelyn off to bed at 11pm although the film wasn’t finished — there should be time to watch the rest in the morning before skating lessons.

April 9, 2013

Made baked oatmeal for breakfast, which was pretty nice especially once it cooled and lost that hot egg/milk taste. Back to Ally Pally for day two of skating lessons. Lyra was very cautious at first, remembering yesterday’s falls I imagine. She regained her confidence as the session went on, and by the time we finished she was whizzing around happily again. She got me to time her laps — the best she managed was 1:50.2. I’m sure she’ll improve on that over the week…Nova’s getting better as well. She was bumped from the second to the third group, which is more her speed. Instead of straggling along at the back, she is now one of the better ones. And the instructor noticed and immediately tackled her one-legged skating, or “scooting” as Adam calls it. Good luck with that…;-)

After a lunch of bagels and satsumas, we settled down to watch Mean Girls 2 — Lyra’s pick when we popped by the video store on the way home. (Sadly, Archway Video will be closing at the end of May. While I realise that the era of the DVD store is end, they still seem to do a roaring trade and I know we’ll certainly miss them…)

Tacos for dinner. Adam arrived in time to eat with us, which was a nice change. Both girls were keen to watch an episode of Masterchef, so once we’d done the dishes and music practicing, we settled down en famille in front of the telly.

I’m surprised by how much the kids enjoy this high-end cooking show, given that they don’t cook much and aren’t usually tempted by the food. They do get off on the competition/challenge element — “I’m really worried!” Lyra said, watching her current favourite Sophie attempting to extract her creamy leek suet puddings from their ramekins…

April 8, 2013

It was good to wake up in my own bed, though I certainly can’t complain about any of the Moroccan beds I slept in (showers, yes…) Even the camping mats were mighty comfortable…Adam was out the door and off to Evesham by 7am for a meeting. He took Nova’s mobile phone with him, and no doubt will be fielding pre-teen texts and novelty ringtones all day… Did more laundry and putting away and rustled up some breakfast for the girls. I’d frozen the milk before we left, and that’s been serving us nicely since our return.

The kids are signed up for skating lessons at Ally Pally all week. Evelyn, Tom and Alice are doing it as well, which works for everybody. They have a half hour lesson, then are free to join the two hour public skating session to practice what they’ve learnt.

Afterwards, I wanted to swing by Waitrose on the way home to pick up some essentials. The girls were giving me a lot of attitude from the backseat and ended up losing it with them — and not going to Waitrose either. Your classic lose-lose…

The girls’ very different natures revealed themselves in this conflict. Nova retreated into her bedroom in quiet tearfullness to wait for the storm to blow over. Lyra stomped upstairs, yelling all the while, “There IS food in the house! FINE! If you won’t make lunch, then I WILL!” She returned five minutes later with a large dinner plate bearing three large, unwashed carrots. “SEE! We can have CARROTS for lunch!” Which we did, accompanied by a bowl of stale Goldfish crackers…

Blood sugar restored, we were all friends again. Lyra was even mollified enough to want to reclaim the letter she’d found time to write while preparing lunch, but it’s definitely a keeper:

“Worst person evever in The Hole intiyer Worlb anb meenist in The Worlb”

Ended up going to Waitrose without the kids after all — no list, just a general supplies type shop. Made them pesto pasta fordinner. I waited to eat with Adam, until he called to revise his ETA from 7pm to 10pm. I cooked myself a little steak and steamed some asparagus. Very nice. Kitty thought so too — I noticed her stealing the trimmings from my plate when she thought I wasn’t looking…;-)

“The hands are the windows of the soul,” Nova said. “Actually, it’s the eyes that are meant to be the windows of the soul,” I said. “In that case, some people would be wise to invest in blinds,” Nova replied…

April 7, 2013

Arranged a wake-up call at quarter to six. Hopped out of bed and finished the last bits of packing. I’m surprised how easily everything still fits into our bags, considering that we have bought the pouffe, carpet, and other bits and pieces. We really did manage to pack pretty light on this occasion…Got the girls up and dressed, and headed downstairs for a quick breakfast. We were in the lobby by quarter to seven. The owner Julia and her son Linus are travelling back to Berlin this morning as well, so we shared a porter to the main square where two taxis were waiting.

The streets were quiet at this time of the morning, aside from a steady stream of joggers. At first, I thought they were all in one group, like a fitness club or something, but soon realised that nearly everyone on the street was at it. Young and old, women in bulky tracksuits and women in full length robes. Groups of men playing football, and elderly people doing calisthenics. One old gal was walking briskly along, clapping her hands above her head with every step. It was an unexpected site, no least because it was such a busy road, the North Circular of Marrakech.

When we reached the departure hall, Linus came running over to steer us to the best line. Just as well he did, within minutes of arriving there were a good fifty people behind us. He repeated the service in the passport queue as well — they are old hands at this stuff…

Stopped to buy water, which was quite a palaver. By the time that was done, it was time to board the plane. The flight to Casablanca was a little hopper flight, no more than half an hour in total. It was interesting to observe the razor sharp straightness of the main highway, and the unexpected patterns of the fields below, which were a collage of deep red and light green triangles, circles and curves.

Julia and Linus kept an eye on us during the transfer, which helped ensure we got through smoothly. Headed straight to the café for a sandwich and to pass the hours before our connecting flight. The international part of Casablanca airport is definitely much smarter than the domestic part, and smoke-free as well.

I spent some time trying to spend out last few dirhams in the shops, and ended up buying a bath scrubber (which I’ll use once my outer layer of skin grows back) and a wooden box of dice. On separate visits to the loo, both Adam and I noticed African travellers washing their feet in the sinks — haven’t seen that anywhere else…

We sat in groups of two on the plane, with the girls behind us. It’s probably a more sensible way to fil the plane than the three-one split across the aisle they assigned us on the flights out. Adam and I were seated with a trade journallist, who’d been attending a conference in Morocco. She was a pleasant enough woman, and she and Adam chatted away the whole time. It was too noisy for me to join in easily — I read my book and tried to doze. The girls pretty much took care of themselves. The journallist didn’t even realise we were travelling with kids until half way through the journey.

Our taxi was waiting, and opted for the Chiswick route home. I’ve noticed that taxi drivers have an increasing tendency to do that. Our cat was waiting as well, and actually seemed happy to see us for once.

The weather wasn’t as cold as I feared — it’s a whole 10 degrees today, though apparently it was snowing a few days ago. As usual, we flew straight at the unpacking, and were pretty much done by the time the pizzas arrived. The girls were keen to watch the Ottolenghi Moroccan episode again. It was very interesting to see the very places we’d been less than 24 hours ago…

April 6, 2013

Had a terrific night’s sleep, right up until breakfast time, which started from 9am — very civilized. It was warm enough today for it to be served on the roof terrace, and we sat at the same table that we had on our last visit.

The German family with the creepy twins had bagged the other bench seat. No doubt it’s superior to ours in some way. The twins stared at us entire meal, nasty little things. The mum seems nice enough, and even greeted us in English as we passed their table.

Had a little relax after eating, finishing the Eric Ambler novel I’d found in the suite. I’ve never heard of Eric Ambler, but there were glowing tributes from the likes of Ian Fleming and Graham Greene on the cover. It was an excellent thriller about an attempted coup in 1950s Indonesia. Tempted to start another but know I won’t have time to read the whole thing.

Today’s excursion was a visit to the Majorelle Gardens. Cutting across the main square, we were accosted by various snake charmers, toy salesmen and monkey handlers, resulting in this situation:

As a surprise to the girls, decided to travel by caleche, “This is the best day I ever had! said Lyra when she was comfortably settled on the pink, velvet lined carriage seat and clopping along through the Marrakech traffic. The horses pretty skittish, but we made it without incident.

The Majorelle Gardens were created in the 1930s by a French artist called Jacques Majorelle. By the late 1970s, they had fallen into disrepair and were going to be bulldozed to make way for an apartment complex when Yves St Laurent bought them. He restored them to the state they are in today, and opened them to the public.

They are a major tourist attraction and were pretty crowded, but with so many soaring palms and other vertical plants, I spent much of my time looking up, above the crowds. Visited the excellent Berber museum as well, but decided against the pricey restaurant.

Caught a taxi back to town and ate panini sandwiches in a cheap café instead. Although the place was full of locals, we were the only tourists eating there. Interestingly, once we sat down, steady stream of Westerners felt emboldened to try it.

Did a bit of shopping on our way back to the riyad: preserved lemons, a belt for Adam, sandals for me, a snake charmers flute. Spent a relaxing hour hanging out, which included a very brief swim in the chilly plunge pool for the girls before it was time for our hammam.

The woman scrubbed Adam first, as he’d also booked a massage. After he went off, whole atmosphere in the little washing room changed. Nova and I were immediately instructed to take off our bra tops, but it wasn’t just that — the whole thing became a female experience.

The woman was very thorough — I’m pretty sure she was removing skin I actually need in some places. There is a strange intimacy in looking into someone’s eyes while they receive such personal services — it’s hard to explain….

Afterwards, Adam and I headed out to the square for an hour. I wanted to experience it at night, as well as do a last bit of shopping — the girls were interested in neither. We bought another snake charmer’s flute, and a beautiful silver tray.

The square was a scene of Saturday night craziness, with crowds of people gathered round storytellers and dancers, or packed into the dozens of restaurants crowding the centre. Billows of delicious cooking smoke rose into the darkening sky, and the restaurant touts tried to entice us, but we resisted their interesting food. Seemed to be lots of offal — sheep head featured large — mounds of fresh fish waiting to be grilled, great simmering vats of soup or stew…

Home in time for our riyad dinner. We ordered Moroccan this time, and to my surprise the girls also opted for that. The meal started with a velvety artichoke soup, followed by an array of salads. I loved them all, aside from the sweet pumpkin puree — the tomato-parsley, aubergine, and Moroccan slaw were all delicious. The chicken olive tajine was a big hit with everyone, as was the chocolate and vanilla ice cream. Had the dining room to ourselves this evening — the creepy German twins must be off disconcerting someone else.

Straight to bed afterwards, though I was a bit too full to sleep. We have an early start tomorrow…

April 5, 2013

Lousy night’s sleep for some reason… both of us were awake and chatting by 4am according to my phone. After a couple of hours of not falling back to sleep, we decided to get up and start organising our stuff.Adam phoned the riyad to arrange for our arrival, but it was too early to talk to anyone. We turned on the telly to confirm the time, but none of the world news channels were showing it. Adam’s call to the front desk was also inconclusive — mainly because he couldn’t understand the guy’s French. Woke the girls up and headed down for breakfast.

Although we lingered over our food, we didn’t see any of our group. Finally headed down to reception to see what was up, and discovered that my phone has switched to Moroccan time, probably because Adam was using it for local calls yesterday. So we missed saying goodbye to the rest of our group, which was disappointing, especially for Lyra. She’s going to miss her little travelling companions…

After checking out, we were disinclined to repeat the #1 bus experience, especially with our luggage. Most Marrakech taxis take only three people, so in the end, we flagged down two. The taxi I shared with Lyra had an abominable driver. The traffic in Marrakech is pretty wild, but it was clear that we were the cause of most of the chaos we encountered on the relatively short journey. The driver was an older guy, and I suspect he needed glasses…

We’d arranged for the riyad porter to meet us at the Cafe de France on the main square. From there, he led us on foot to the El Cadi, which was were we had thought, and as beautiful and welcoming as we remembered. Our suite wasn’t ready, so we spent some time relaxing over mint tea and beautiful pastries in the tranquil courtyard.

When it started to rain, we moved indoors to the lounge, which was full of beautiful furniture and Berber art. The owner Julia’s father was the German ambassador to Morocco, and purchased the seven houses that make up the riyad while he was based in Marrakech. After a while, Adam headed off to obtain his police report — obviously a slow process. We were well ensconced in the suite by the time he returned.

We took advantage for a break in the rain to venture out for some food. Headed back to main square — all roads seem to lead there eventually. We chose a little café with an enclosed balcony, and ordered up a round of tajines — give me a tajine over couscous any day…

It was pretty soggy out there, and we had to concentrate to avoid stepping in big puddles. And as well as dodging bikes and motor scooters, we also had to keep from getting sprayed. Opted to take a route through the main souks to the medrassa, inevitably acquiring new possessions as we went: kebab skewers, a set of teaspoons, a wallet for Adam, earrings for Nova.

We finally reached the medrassa with some unsolicited “help” from a local “guide”, who I’m nearly certain added a couple of unneccessary U-bends to the route to make it seem longer and more complicated. We definitely returned to the main drag we’d been on about 8ft past the one-eye wood carver in the striped jellabah, though no doubt there are plenty of those about…:-)

It was nearly closing time, and there was hardly anyone there. It was a wonderful opportunity to appreciate the beauty and tranquillity of the space. We took a long, swooping route back to the riyad through what was pretty much a slum, even by Marrakech standards. Didn’t feel intimidating or anything — in fact, seem pretty friendly.

We’d arranged for a simple pasta supper at the riyad. I’d had a hot bath and a large glass of red wine beforehand, so feeling pretty relaxed and happy not to venture out into the chaos of the medina again.

Because of the weather, dinner was served at a beautiful petal strewn table set in a dining room with soaring 20ft ceilings and a blazing fire in the tadelakht fireplace. Dinner was seafood spaghetti (slightly overcooked and underseasoned) and another half bottle of red. All very enjoyable, aside from the German family who were sharing the space with us.

The parents both had cartoonishly large chins and pugnacious jawlines that were a bit unsettling, but they couldn’t help that. It was their spooky twin girls who stared at us unblinkingly the whole time that got on my nerves. No doubt they communicating telepathically… “Look at how they eat their prawns, Gerte.” “Yes, isn’t it comical, Berte…”

April 4, 2013

Woke at 7am and experienced yet another Moroccan comedy shower experience — water on the walls, floor, ceiling, drying hand laundry — everywhere but me… The breakfast buffet was the the usual mix of savoury and sweet — the girls filled their plates with pieces of cake and mounds of olives. Who cares — we’re on holiday! There was a woman frying bread to order — they were quite nice when piping hot, but otherwise heavy and greasy…Afterwards, we travelled by tour bus into the centre of town for a guided tour with a guy called Abu. We started at the Koutobia mosque — unlike Turkey, Moroccan mosques are closed to non-Muslims — then made our way on foot to the Badia Palace, which is used by the prime minister not the royal family.

Abu was an excellent guide, and filled us in on all sorts of things i wouldn’t have thought to ask about, such as:

• why the little side streets are so sinuous (to do with the Islamic principle of strict fairness when children inherit property, which results in subdivision and need for new access routes to the main roads)
• why all the doors have nails in them (it’s not decoration, but to absorb mosture from the wood — as a bonus, the rusting smell deters mice)
• why Moroccan call storks “unhappy kings” (they tend to roost on crumbling palaces and kasbahs, and that their nests are so big because they return to and maintain the same one year after year)
• why Moroccans don’t make jam from their Seville oranges (life is bitter enough)
• why they don’t use chilli in their food (it isn’t helpful to sweat in such a dry climate)
• why the buildings in Marrakech are painted red, not white (even when it’s cloudy, the light is still so bright that the glare from white buildings would damage people’s eyes)

After a detailed tour of the plants in the palace grounds, we moved into the display rooms. Lots of beautiful carving, tilework and calligraphy, but never any images, which are prohibited in Islam. It’s interesting to think how different the rooms must appear to those who can read the writing. According to Abu, the writing in one room was essentially covered with public health messages and religious homilies. Like a room covered in — admittedly beautiful — needlepoint samplers…

From the palace, we headed to a Berber parmacy, where we were offered samples of musk, amber, orange blossom oil, saffron cream (Moroccan zovirax), nigella seeds (good for sinus trouble and snoring — tempted by that), before heading back to the main square. Marrakech is pretty intense compared to the other places we have been — noise, dust, smells, motocycles, crowds..

We tipped Abu and parted ways with Moha, then repaired to a cafe for lunch, where the prices were shockingly low compared to the other places we’ve eaten. A bowl of harira was 4 dirham (30p), while we have paid 30 dirham elsewhere.

Went our separate ways afterwards, with a plan to meet at 7pm for a farewell dinner. As it was nearby, we decided to walk the route to the Riyad El Cadi where we will stay from tomorrow. We were doing it from memory, but it spite of all the twists and turns, I’m pretty certain we found it. They don’t have a door sign so not completely sure…

Spent a couple of hours shopping in the souk. Our main goal was to find a pouffe for the livingroom. We spoke to a few merchants, who had differing views on merits of goat, camel and cow leather — and a wide range of prices too — before bargaining for one we are happy with. “You must be Berber!” the exasperated merchant said to Adam. Not the first (or the last) time we heard that. Ended up buying babouche slippers for the girls as well, and I’m pretty sure the guy recouped a bit of profit on those…

After Adam got his head shaved, we went to catch the local bus to the hotel. There was a bit of a scrum getting on, and a few minutes into the journey, Adam realised his pocket had been picked and his phone was missing.

Our planned relax at the hotel turned into a logistical challenge of insurance calls, conversations with Moha and attempts to get online to freeze/locate the phone. We would have been better off just staying in town…

Took a taxi back to main square where Adam had arranged to meet Moha so he could accompany him to the police station. Bumped into Kate and Tony who’d spent a busy afternoon in the souks. Went for tea where we reviewed all their purchases — the ill-advised knife in a beautiful scabard for Nathan (“I’m going to wire it shut,” Kate confided), stuffed camel toys, lanterns, chess set, and array of musical instruments. We were treated to a Taylor Swift duet from Bryony and Lyra while we sipped our mint tea — “We Are Never Ever Ever Getting Back Toether”, which is very likely true…

There was no Adam at the scheduled meet up — Moha had left him at the police station still waiting to be seen. Made our way to the special Berber restaurant he’d reserved. “What’s Berber food like?” someone asked. “Oh, couscous/tajine, tajine/couscous…” Moha repled.

It was too chilly to dine on the balcony, so we opted for a long table in the main restaurant. Started with glasses of fresh juice, then ordered from the set menu. My selection of briouats had just arrived when Adam turned up as well. My main was a specially cooked and seasoned beef tajine, which was delicious, followed by oranges and kiwi with cinnamon.

It was pretty late by the time we left, and the kids were flagging. Said brief goodbyes and presented a generous group tip to Moha in lobby. We won’t see Lucy, Maya and Elli tomorrow, as they have an early flight back to London. We plan to say proper goodbyes to the rest of the group tomorrow before they leave for Essaouira.

April 3, 2013

Up before 7am yet again. Tour-based holidays certainly keep you hopping… We’d been warned about the how long it might take for the shower to get warm, but I felt too guilty letting the water run in such an arid environment. So it was a nice, cold shower for me, and warm for Adam and Nova…Ate breakfast on a terrace with a fabulous view of old kasbah now lit up in the morning sun. A buffet of bread, butter, jam, olives, tomatoes, juice, coffee, and more fried bread things. The Moroccans certainly seem to like their fried bread…

When everyone was ready, we walked down in the Salty River valley, using a sandbag ford to cross to the foot of the kasbah. What a stroke of bad luck having a salty river in such an dry spot, Apparently, it’s salty because the water leaches minerals from the sand.

Moha led the tour this time, explaining the various plants — alfalfa, reeds, spinach — and how there are now three Berber tribes living in the kasbah. Made our way up to the top, which took about twenty minutes. The older girls kept track of the three little ones, and all seemed to be involved in some complicated fairy fantasy game.

There were great 360° views from the top, which we enjoyed before heading down, down, down, past the fossil stalls, the pyrogravure merchants, carpet salemen, jewellry stall. No time for shopping — just a quick tea and toilet break, then we were off again in the mini-buses.

Travelled along an crazily twisty road over the highest pass in Morocco, which offered amazing views over the mountains as well as stomach-dropping ones down the unguarded cliff face. When we stopped for a quick toilet break at the summit, we were nearly in the clouds. Although it was very cold, there was still a gauntlet of aggressive fossil sellers to run to reach the loos. I went in with a very sleepy Lyra, who was most unimpressed with the squat toilet. She somehow managed to fill her crocs with wee, so that was a fun cleaning job for me to tackle when we were on the move again… :-f

This is definitely donkey country — they were everywhere, on the roads, in the fields, lolling around in the little hamlets we passed through. There were endless fossil stands lining the road as well, and never anyone there. Are they actually expecting people to stop on a hair pin curve to buy a piece of quartz?

We passed a number of women with armloads of branches walking along the narrow shoulder, and kids dangerously thrusting bunches of herbs they’d picked along the roadside, just in case a driver was tempted to stop and buy…

I sat with Lyra for most of the way, coming up with various ways to keep her amused. We spent a long time playing the character guessing game, kept a running donkey tally, and did lots of singing. “You know,” Lyra observed, “Blondie looks really kind but actually has quite a mean singing voice.” True… We counted 67 donkeys by the time we reached Marrakech — I’m pretty sure there were more but I dozed off a bit towards the end…

It was nearly 5pm by the time we pulled up at the Hotel Amine in Gueliz, the new part of town. It’s a big, sprawling establishment, geared to tour groups, but the rooms are spacious and the grounds lush with tropical plants. There is a lovely poo as well, but it was too cold and windy for the kids to swim.

Moha left us to our own devices this evening. After some discussion, we made a joint decision to try a local pizzeria I found in our oldish guide book. Fortunately, it was still there making delicious, thin crust pizzas in its woodfired oven. Italian food made a change from couscous/tajine. It also made a pleasant change not to hear the other parents hounding their children to eat anything besides bread. (Although I guess technically pizza is bread…)

We have two non-adjoining rooms, which is fine, though I didn’t like the way the doors locked automatically. It felt a little weird not being able to pop in on the girls, or even to be certain they were in there. Solved that problem by holding on to both sets of keys.

It’s the first time we’ve seen any world news in several days. It seems that North Korea is threatening the USA with a nuclear strike. I’ve no idea how they can think that’s a winning strategy…

April 2, 2013

Up at 4:30am with the muezzin, followed by the dawn chorus, which isn’t a problem when you are asleep by 10pm. Oddly, both girls had minor sleeping bag wetting incidents to report — I blame the vervain tea before bed. Stuffed their damp clothes in a plastic bag — I’ll deal with it in Marrakech…There was more than enough to do packing everyone’s bags, eating breakfast, refilling water bottles, etc. It’s our first time on a group holiday, and it occurs to me that it’s not that dissimilar to my Kings Fund course. There are situations that require leadership (I assigned people to their tents yesterday), resource allocation (water), compromise and conflict resolution.

I’ve learned how each individual’s behaviour contributes to the group dynamic, and I feel that we’re playing our part in making this a good one. People are now sharing — childcare, water, handwash, gravol pills (definitely some self-interest coming into play there after the Bryony incident on day one…)

There are three other families in the group besides us: the Gaskells, the Cheethams of Gospel Oak (mum Lucy, Maya and Elli), and Chi (banking), Martin (banking), Tim (8) and Rachel (5). All very nice, but no one I expect we’ll keep in touch with after the holiday is over.Our cook prepared a big platter of fried doughnutty things for breakfast. Again, I surprised myself with an enthusiastic appetite for what is quite pedestrian food. And again we opted to share a minibus with the Cheethams. Nova and Elli are getting along nicely, and Lyra has four adults to shower her with attention.

The gravol did its job on the windy road, and we made it to the tea stop without incident. Since his childminding stint, Rachel has been quite taken with Adam and followed him around like a little puppy.

Lunch in Ouarzazate at a hotel restaurant. All seven kids immediately got stuck into a game of Uno, which they have played endlessly all week. It’s not a game I’m familiar with, but will definitely be buying a set after this trip. The food took too long to arrive, but was tasty enough — chicken brochettes, bread, olives, chips…

Our next stop was an enormous shopping emporium on the edge of town. The proprietor gave us a whistle stop tour of some of the many fascinating objects lining the walls, barely drawing breath in between: “Thisisformakingcouscous, thisisforchurningcamelmilk, theseareslaveanklebracelets, thisisamarriagehowdah…”

Upstairs, were we offered seats and served glasses of mint tea, while the proprietor laid out a series of rugs, of various patterns and materials before the hard sell began. They were beautiful, but I had no intention of buying a rug. Adam is good at bartering and quite enjoys it, so I left him to it. The upshot is we now have a rather lovely little rug suitable for hanging on the wall…

On to Atlas Film Studios after that. The government has invested in developing a film industry in southern Morocco, traditionally a relatively poor part of the country to reduce emigration to the big cities. We went on a half hour tour of set and props from films like Kundun, Jewel of the Nile and Return of the Mummy, plus lots of biblical epics I haven’t seen. It was all crumbling and decrepit, which was sort of fitting…

Back on bus, Lyra entertained us with a steady stream of pop songs — “she wears short skirts, I wear teeshirts”, “you’re everything I want and more, i’s written all over your fay-yay-yay-yay-yace” — while we travelled to Ait Benhaddou, where we were spending the night.

The kids were desperate for a swim, and the pool did the very inviting with its turqouise water and amazing view over the kasbah glowing in the late afternoon sun. But being unheated, and early April, and 6pm, it was pretty damn cold and within ten minutes they were scampering upstairs for warm showers.

Dinner was couscous/tajine, tajine/couscous, washed down with a pretty nice bottle of Moroccan red wine. When the bill came, we carefully worked out what each family owed, and after all that effort, it was less than a pound different to just splitting it four ways. As it was at lunch… Retired to our little rooms afterwards for yet another early night…

April 1, 2013

The wind really picked up in the night. The tent was flapping like crazy, and would probably have been in Mali by the morning, if we hadn’t been pinning it down. Calm again by the time I emerged from the tent at 7am…There were camels sprawled about everywhere, some with their necks stretched out straight along the sand. The drivers hobble one of their front legs when they are resting, though they can still stand in a flamingo-like fashion and move around too if the choose. When the drivers poured mounds of gravelly looking dates onto blankets, they all came hopping fast enough.

My skin is completely coated in a fine layer of sand — it feels like the surface of an emery board, and there is a little drift of sand in each of my ear. Moha is very strict about handwashing, which makes complete sense given the toilet facilities and the communal nature of the food. Outside the dining tent, there is a plastic basin and sand coated bar of soap and kettle of water. You put a few drops of water on your hands to moisten them, rub the sandy soap a bit, then rinse off into the basin before entering the tent.

There was porridge for breakfast this morning (which went down well with our pair), in addition to the usual bread, jam, instant coffee, hot chocolate, cream cheese, and chocolate spread. I suppose none of the food has been particularly delicious, but I’m bringing an enormous appetite for all of it. I do love being cooked for — it is a small (and rare) pleasures in my life…

After eating we packed up the tents and our bags. We are certainly travelling light compared to the rest of the group. One family left four bags to our one at the fixed camp, and still brought more for their night in the Sahara than we packed for the whole trip. And we still have too much ourselves…

There was a lot of discussion in Berber abuot which camel should carry who before we mounted. I think I definitely received an upgrade. I’ve got a nice soft blanket and a narrower camel — no chafing problems today…

I think Moha quite likes us. We’re the only ones in the group who speak any French with him or the locals we encounter. In fact, Moha told Adam that in the five years of being a guide, Adam is the first Englishman he’s met who can speak French at all. And I can see he appreciates the way the girls eat the food without any fuss. And the way that we show up on time for his daily briefings and scheduled departures. If that translates into a business-class camel ride upgrade, I’m happy to take it…;-)

The wind picked up again as well set off — that shesh is definitely coming into its own. I felt like Andrea of Arabia up there, swathed in blue cotton, squinting over the desert. The drivers set a relentless pace today, and we carried on for three hours, without a break, which is just a bit too long. I’ll definitely feel it tomorrow…

Tips for the camel guys, tips for the “bus” drivers, when they finallly deposited us back at the fixed camp. Arrived in time for a late lunch. I have to say that fixed camp is now looking pretty luxurious after our night in the Sahara. It’s all a question of perspective. “Home!” said Lyra, at the site of her stick-and-burlap hovel…

Cool showers, attempted handwashing of clothes, with marathon Uno tournaments and a long session in the “pool” for the kids used up the rest of the afternoon. Two days ago, we had the fixed camp to ourselves, but another group has now arrived. Also English, this group has slightly older kids — mainly boys — who behaved like maniacs, running through the camping areas, shouting, and holding massive splashing fights in the pool that left it filthy and half empty.

Our kids were feeling quite affronted, and finally Moha had a quiet word with their guide about reining them in a bit. It’s interesting how quickly tribes coalesce — although we’ve known our group all of three days, it was definitely an “us and them” situation.

I made a point of going over to chat with a few of the adults afterwards, who were quick to apologise for their offsprings’ behaviour (though not particularly quick to rein them in at the time…) They are off on a camel trek tomorrow, but won’t be camping in the desert overnight. Personally, I wouldn’t have wanted to miss out on that bit…

Went for a walk into village in the evening. Adam altruisticallly offered to stay back with all the kids, who’d regained control of the pool by this point. Bought some more water to travel with, and prevailed on Moha to take us somewhere to buy a few cold beers to have with dinner.

Our cook knocked himself out this evening, serving up a lovely chicken and olive tajine, great mounds of chips, and a vegetable soup (soup strengthens the heart according to Moha). The beer went down a treat, and after a couple of glasses of vervain tea (“sleepy tea”, Moha calls it), we were all ready for bed…

Attempted to read a bit of my “100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out a Window” book, which we are doing in book group, but I just couldn’t get into it. So far, book group means reading books I don’t much enjoy and wouldn’t have ever picked up…