April 2021

April 30, 2021

Friday already… Up by 7am, got Lyra off to school, meditated, and at work by 9am. Chipping away at the PR site, which I think is looking pretty good. I expect I’ll get a dose of reality when I show it to Millie this afternoon…

Ate lunch with Adam — salad plates in anticipation of tonight’s takeaway (Nandos) and cocktails (G&Ts). Went for a walk on the Heath with Kate mid-afternoon – we must have seen ten people we knew, though oddly it wasn’t that busy.

The meeting with Millie was okay – she was mainly focused on the things she didn’t like, which is to be expected and has an irrational dislike for some really nice professional team photos that I’d used to build the About page. I assumed there was a big push to get something live (which is why I’ve been working ’til 11pm at night on it) but apparently she’s more concerned to get it just right than get it up there.

Had the second live Q&A for my course next. I’m already behind on my assignments, which made the conversation less relevant than it would have been, but it still feels really good to be investing in professional development the way this is forcing me to do.

Watched Love Story for movie night – Lyra’s choice. Man, that Ali McGraw character is annoying – I’d forgotten that. Though I do remember the Mad magazine piss take of it at the time, which was spot on…

April 29, 2021

No surprise that I slept badly – not much more than five hours in the end, and next to no deep sleep at all. Headachy and flat when I woke and took a while to summon the motivation to get out of bed. When I did, I changed into my running kit, sat in meditation for 20 minutes, then headed out for a run.

Did the four mile loop again, deliberately setting a slower pace and that worked out fine. I felt better for it – energized even – and the first part of my work day wasn’t too bad. Spent the morning finishing a draft of my current case study.

Had a massive energy slump after lunch, and would have loved to curl up for an afternoon nap, but that wasn’t on the cards. Put in some time on the PR website, did a small amend for my engineering client, and completed another module on my design course.

Lyra and Adam got the message about helping with dinner. I pulled out all the bits and bobs we could use to make tacos, Adam did a bunch of prep, then Lyra finished things off, and served. Much appreciated by me…

Worked on the PR site up until bedtime – it is finally starting to coalesce, which is a relief. I was able to switch my mind off tonight, and after reading a chapter of my new novel – On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous – by Ocean Vuong, I fell straight to sleep.

April 28, 2021

Glad it wasn’t a running day, because I didn’t feel up for that, but I wish I had managed to fit some kind of exercise in. Or at least some time outdoors…

Ran Lyra to the bus, did my meditating then got straight into work. It was a day notable for the many frustrations I encountered. Technical difficulties, IT issues, connectivity problems, mysterious WordPress font loading issues — you name it, it raised its gnarly head to impede my day.

I did manage to complete my first homework assignment a couple of days later than most of the eager beavers on my course. (Though of course there must be some people who haven’t done it yet and I wouldn’t know.) And I did finally launch the psychotherapy site — hurrah to that!

Broke off for a bit to make a batch of ratatouille for dinner. Adam and Lyra were both hanging out downstairs, neither of them deigning to surface until hunger drove them to at 8:30. It hacks me off that they never take the lead (or even help) me cook dinner unless press-ganged into it…

We watched an episode of The Good Place, but I was deep in the throes of my latest IT hell and couldn’t concentrate on it. Carried on working until 11pm and went to bed with my brain whirring…:-(

April 27, 2021

Good run this morning after meditating. I’ve decided to up my baseline distance to 4 miles – largely the same route as my 3.5 miles, with an extra half loop of the Woods tacked on the end. I planned to take it gently for the first go, and then improve my speed from there, but managed to run the whole thing at a pretty good pace.

Lots of back and forth on the psychotherapy site today, addressing little details that need sorting before it’s good to launch. I’m keen to get that work finished. I’m juggling too many active projects at the moment, I’m pretty much out of budget and it would be good to invoice it at the end of the month.

In the end, it didn’t finish today. The client has a new idea for the header image which will take a while for me to resolve…

Made a mac & cheese for Lyra’s dinner as Adam and I had a table booked at Hicce in Coal Drop Yard. Caught a cab down there for 6:30pm. There is no indoor service allowed yet, so we were on the terrace under a heated umbrella. It wasn’t overly warm, and I was glad enough we were eating early.

Hicce is one of those small plates places and a little up itself, but their location is fantastic and it was great to be out and about again. What we ate:

A sharing board with beer bread, hazelnut salami, goat cheese and mushroom terrine

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British asparagus, egg yolk, parmesan

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Tempura paneer, cauliflower, raisin, yogurt

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Sea bream ceviche, chicory, chilli, pink grapefruit

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Pork belly, fennel, shiitake, bonito

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Baby gem salad, kimchi

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Cardamom custard tart, apricots

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Chocolate cremeux, whisky cream, pine nuts, vanilla ice cream

We shared a carafe of PM&M muscadet, and then indulged ourselves with a glass each of dessert wine. Adam went for a banyul with his chocolate fest while I had a glass of moscatel. What a treat all round…:-)

April 26, 2021

And another work week begins… Definitely didn’t feel like running this morning, what with the wine and walking. Ran Lyra to the bus stop and did my meditation then got started on my work. This week I have another case study to write, the psychotherapy website to launch, and the branding/PR website to build (and ideally launch) as well.

My eight-week web design course starts today, so I made time to look at this week’s modules in the afternoon. I’m feeling anxious about how I can possibly find time to do it justice with the amount of work I have on at the moment. And what I saw didn’t allay my concerns. There were five introductory modules to orient students in the course, as well as nine learning modules with homework…:-(

Lyra headed out with Sissy in the early evening to view the pink moon from Parliament Hill. Adam headed over to his mum’s for a visit, so I made dinner and ate on my own. I actually had a terrific view of the pink moon from the living room sofa, though my photos don’t do it justice.

When Adam got back from Beulah’s we watched the penultimate episode of Line of Duty. I’m pretty much over it, and don’t really know or care what’s going on anymore, whether there is a mysterious “H”, or who it might be…

April 25, 2021

Happy birthday, Kael — 14 years old today. It’s interesting how it seems completely reasonable that Lyra is 14, and yet hard to believe that Kael is that age as well. I haven’t seen him since he was eight years old, which is a big part of it no doubt.

Woke before 6am, and instead of lying about hoping to maybe fall back asleep I just got up and dressed and headed upstairs to read my novel. I think it’s a better course of action generally – I often wake far too early, and sometimes have spent three hours (or more!) lying awake in bed before starting my day.

Did a walk with Millie in Newham called The Line – which is billed as London’s first public art walk. Actually we only did two thirds of it as Millie isn’t ready to use public transport yet, and the route involves two stops on the DLR and the cable crossing over the Thames.

Took an uber to the Olympic Park and set off along the River Lea. It was a gorgeous day for it – bright blue sky, not too cool, not too busy. Stopped for a bagel at Three Mill Island and a piece of cake at Cody Dock, and caught another cab back home.

We had to go straight out again to Kiran and Birgit’s, where we’d been invited to drink wine in their garden. We were clearly pretty thirsty – despite it being a Sunday, we sank two and a half bottles before between us over a few hours.

Eggs and toast for dinner, bath and bed. What a lovely day!

April 24, 2021

I was committed to running this morning after blowing it off yesterday. Coffee, crossword, meditating, then headed out.

I wanted to do a long run, but was a bit constrained for time, as we were attending Paul Welling’s funeral (virtually) at 10:30am. Opted for laps of Highgate Woods rather than circumnavigating the Heath, which was my original plan. Deliberately slowed myself down, and managed a steady five miles.

Out of the shower, dressed and in front of the computer with a minute to spare. We weren’t on camera or anything — we were able to log in and watch the proceedings from a camera at the back of the crematorium. I didn’t know what the experience would be like, but found it to be pretty good overall.

The quality of the images could have been better, but the sound was good enough, and we both felt as if we’d “been there”. It strikes me that this might be something that would continue once we’re past Covid restrictions.

Shropshire is a long way to travel for a former neighbour’s funeral, but I definitely wanted to make the time to attend virtually.

Another virtual meet-up in the afternoon, this time for an online web design course I’m doing over the next eight weeks. It was the initial meet and greet over Zoom before things start properly on Monday. I’m a little anxious about making time for it in my already busy schedule, but having shelled out the money will help focus my attention I hope.

Spent a couple of hours in the garden clearing ground elder and brunnera from the raspberry bed. It’s a pointless task really – that cedar tree has pretty much destroyed any hope of growing anything – but I can’t completely give me. Unearthed the big rhubarb as well (the other two appear to have died), and gave it a good water.

Both Adam and Lyra were out, so I cracked a beer and watched a bit of telly until they got home. Kept it simple for dinner – cheese, crudités, cold cuts etc. Watched an episode of The Good Place and to bed.

April 23, 2021

Made it to the right side of 6 hours sleep for the first time in a week… Came across this depressing headine in my newsfeed the other day: Middle-aged people who sleep six hours or less a night may be more likely to develop dementia in their late 70s, a study found. Yay…

Instead of lolling about in bed listening to Rachel Maddow, I hopped up and got my meditation done before it was time to drop Lyra at the bus stop. I was in my running gear, but it was so chilly out I decided to wait a bit and work ended up intervening. Quel surprise…

Pete and Pasc came round for a morning coffee which injected a bit of variety into the day. Otherwise it was the usual work slog, meal prep, dishes, yada yada yada… Lyra spent the night at Lucia’s, so it was just Adam and me for takeaway — he opted for Indian food from Shahi Pakwan. He always goes for them while I’m more loyal to Kiplings.

Downed a couple of G&Ts with our food, watched a couple of Call My Agents, and then to bed. Typical Friday night stuff…

April 22, 2021

Doron cried off on the Heath walk this morning, so I joined Adam instead. I was a beautiful morning for a walk, though pretty cold still. The skies are so clear these days that the temperature drops to almost zero at night. Parked up when we dropped Lyra at the bus, crossed the road and went for a 45-minute walk.

I’m never on the Heath this early. Even when I would run on the Heath, it was more like 9 or 10am by the time I was down by Parliament Hill Fields. It was an unaccustomed treat to see it so quiet. Found this little guy lying quietly in the middle of the path. I’m sure a dog will clear it away in no time. 

Although the photo doesn’t show it, there are two parakeets here working on this year’s nest:

Had a two-hour Festival meeting in the middle of the working day. I’ve come to dread these meetings, as there is a team member who creates a really bad atmosphere — touchy, passive-aggressive, rude. I’m not sure whether she was always this way, or whether online meetings through it into sharp relief.

One amusing side effect of doing this on Zoom is the various expressions on the other participants’ faces. There was a particularly humorous moment when she mentioned that she’d cancelled one of our flagship events and stood everyone down without consulting anyone that would have made a priceless screen grab.

Sausages, mash and green beans for dinner. Ate with Lyra, as Adam was in an evening meeting. I was feeling pretty flat and tired, and headed to bed just after 10pm…

April 21, 2021

Lyra is sick today with one of her stomach upsets. Poor little pumpkin, she’s been plagued by stomach aches for as long as I can remember. I’ve been to the doctor with her any number of times, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot to be done…

Slightly less bad sleep than I’ve been getting lately, which is something I guess… I felt rested enough for a run, and while it wasn’t my best time of late it wasn’t far off either. It’s definitely the case that if you want to run faster, you have to practice running faster. It doesn’t happen by accident…

Had a lovely, meeting-free day to tackle work in, though they never work out that way in practice. But mostly I was able to focus on actually doing work instead of talking about work. Ate lunch with Adam — egg salad (on sourdough for him, on spinach for me).

Made chickpea pasta soup for their summer — still one of Lyra’s favourites, and easy on the digestion — while I had a cheese plate and a glass of wine (one of my favourites!). The usual current telly rota — The Good Place followed by Call My Agent — and then to bed. Rock ‘n’ roll…

April 20, 2021

Feeling a little flat this morning. No real reason, just not feeling excited about the day ahead. Adam dropped Lyra at the bus then did his walk with Doron. I meditated for 20 minutes, then settled at my desk to triage emails and what needed doing first.

It was such a beautiful day, that I decided to take my laptop and second coffee to the garden and work there, which immediately brightened my mood. Unfortunately, Robert showed up within fifteen minutes, and trekked back and forth through our side passage to the Nolans about ten times. They are doing a load of new planting, so he had multiple plant pots to shift as well as his equipment.

When that was done, he wanted to talk to me about the state of our garden (not at all good) — some frost damage to a couple of herbs and ceanothus, invasive ground elder everywhere you look, and a patch of dead laurel that needs replacing in our back hedge.

By the time we’d covered all of that, and I’d had an unexpected half hour phone meeting with Kate, it was time to shift back indoors. Hey ho… at least I got some vitamin D…

Ate lunch with Adam, which made a nice change eggs florentine with smoked salmon and freshly baked sourdough. Had a fitness website meeting in the afternoon, another with my therapy client, then an IT issue to resolve on the beauty website.

Broke off at 6:30 to make dinner — an impromptu chicken chilli, without beans or tomatoes, that turned out surprisingly well. Our usual television viewing — The Good Place followed by Call My Agent, then bed. Life is rather dull and predictable these days, but what can you do?

On the positive side the Derek Chauvin verdict was returned — guilty on all three counts. I was hopeful that it would go this way, but wouldn’t have been amazed if he hadn’t been convicted either…

April 19, 2021

Happy anniversary to mum and dad — it would have been their 59th… Wade just happened to share this photograph that Christie Whitcomb sent him with me this morning. I imagine it was taken on a visit to their place in Nanaimo.

My sleep  has gone to the dogs again…:-( I thought I’d cracked it with the meditation at bedtime, but that effect seems to have worn off, or something else is coming into play. I’m lucky to make to 5am at the moment.

Meditated and set off for my run. I wasn’t expecting much of myself, but once I got going my legs felt pretty good, and so I pushed it a bit and ended up with a new personal best. Not breaking any land speed records here, but it’s good to feel that I’m improving.

Didn’t find it that easy to get down to my client work, which is often the case when I work the weekend. Pootled around with house stuff, and starting my sourdough, tailoring the grocery order etc. Veronika came round for a cup of tea in the garden before school pick up. Really nice to see her — it’s been a few months…

Made the sweet potato and cauliflower tacos for dinner with coleslaw. Adam was presenting at a Social Venture Circle conference, so I ate with Lyra in front of The Good Place.  When Adam was finished, I watched an episode of Call My Agent with him, and then to bed…

April 18, 2021

Adam had to do a driving safety awareness course this morning, due to being caught speeding the last time he drove Nova to Bristol. The way it works now is if you get a ticket you pay a fine, but you can choose between getting points added to your licence or doing the two-hour course.

When it ended, he headed off to pick up his mum and drive her to see her friend Jennifer in East Sussex. It’s not actually that far from here — maybe 80 miles? — but it is a slow journey. You have to go across or around central London, crawl round the M25 to Sevenoaks, then take the A21. That part isn’t too bad, except for getting in and out of Tunbridge Wells, which is a real traffic black spot.

I did my meditating, then got stuck into the client work I never got round to yesterday. I’m rebuilding the art school website, as well as Millie’s branding website, and I have some stuff from my therapist website meeting on Friday that I haven’t got to yet.

I’m also migrating this website to WordPress, something that is long overdue…

Lyra and I made keto pancakes for brunch — nothing to write home about imho. The thing about keto versions of things like bread and pancakes is to remember that they are just the vaguest approximation of the original food. Sometimes they have their own merits — for example, cauliflower mash which I now prefer, as potatoes taste very starchy to me — but more often they are just the right shape, or similar in texture, or can contain things in a similar fashion…

Adam got back around 7pm in time for dinner — cottage pie and green beans. Afterwards, we helped Lyra do a covid test in preparation for her return to school tomorrow. Rather her than me…

Popped to the Gatehouse for a drink — a long time since we’ve done that. We sat in the back garden, which has been canopied and filled with standing heaters. If anything it was too warm… Felt both odd and incredibly normal to be out and about amongst people again.

Watched the latest episode of Line of Duty before bed. I’m enjoying it, but the storyline is just too convoluted. The show has been running for six seasons now with the same long arching drama slowly playing out. 

I can’t remember who was who from the early seasons, or how certain storylines resolved. I feel like I should go off and read a wikipedia entry on the whole thing, but there are only two episodes left now, so that feels a bit pointless…

April 17, 2021

Feeling much better rested this morning, and after we’d had coffee and finished the cryptic crossword, I hopped into my running clothes fully expecting to head out after meditating.

We’d just sat down when Adam’s mobile rang. It was Alison (a close family friend) calling to tell him that her mother Jennifer has stage four heart disease and is expected to die in the next few weeks.

Jeffrey and Jennifer are Adam’s god parents, and were a regular part of celebrations like Hannukah and Pesach. After Jeffrey died in 2013, Jennifer moved to Horam to be close to Alison, who is her only child.

Adam is going to drive Beulah down there tomorrow so she can have a final visit with Jennifer. Not strictly Covid-kosher, but hard to see who it’s going to hurt. Beulah is fully vaccinated, Covid is the last of Jennifer’s worries, Alison and Adam are half-vaccinated. I guess maybe Adam should not go into the house if he feels anxious.

Had a great run when I finally got out — the fastest time I’ve done for 3.5 miles in a couple of years. I’m sure the weight loss has helped, and also the ground being firmer — I don’t have to pick my way though a swamp any more.

Had Pasc round for a belated birthday visit in the afternoon — tea and leftover birthday cake in the garden — which was nice until it got too chilly. I’d intended to do some work today, but with one thing and another that hasn’t happened at all. Now that Adam is off all day tomorrow, I’m going to shift my working day to Sunday instead.

Just nibbled for dinner — cheese and veggie plate with a glass of red wine — and watched a couple of episodes of Call My Agent — we’re both loving that show…

April 16, 2021

What a wretched night’s sleep… At one point I thought it was only going to be four hours, but I managed to push it to five, which was something…

Didn’t much feel like running (I’ll aim to do that tomorrow) and didn’t even meditate before starting in on the computer migration. The file transfer had finished, but almost none of the software had come across — only the things that are standard with the operating system like Safari, iMovie, Photos etc.

My previous computer is ten years old, so it didn’t seem like a good idea to transfer things across. Instead, I downloaded them individually, paying for upgrades where necessary. It was all relatively smooth sailing aside, from Microsoft Office and the aforementioned Adobe Creative package.

When Adam got back from his morning swim, I pressured him to sort out Office for me. He’s always handled that for the household — this time it involved upgrading his Microsoft 365 subscription to a family package. It took a bit to sort the passwords out but I got there in the end.

I had a meeting with a client in Belsize Park at 1pm. I wasn’t sure if the new computer would be ready to go, but I decided it was. Adam ran me over in the car. We had lunch in a café (quinoa bowl) then headed back to her house to do some work on the website.

She’s a couples therapist, and as a medical practitioner she was double vaccinated early on, plus her consulting space has been set up to be socially distanced and safe. She’s pretty much happy with the build itself, but there’s work to be done on the text, so we talked through that for an hour or so.

Walked home across the Heath, which took about 90 minutes. Didn’t feel much like working but forced myself to consolidate my notes before calling time. Actually, I’ll need to do some work this weekend — setting up the new computer took a big bite out of my working week.

Vodka tonics and a takeaway from Turquoise. We’d planned to watch a few episodes of Call My Agent, but we were both too tired and flaked out after one. In bed by 10:30pm.

I was saddened to see that the actress Helen McCrory has died of cancer, aged 52. They are a local couple (their two children went to Oliver and Marni’s school), and are now at Highgate School next door, so her illness is something we might have heard about, but that wasn’t the case. I’ve always really rated her as an actor, and from the tributes that are starting to come through, it sounds like she was an amazing person as well.

April 15, 2021

I had a very desk-based day, not venturing out of the house all day or doing anything besides work. In advance of my weekly content meeting with our marketing manager, I spent a chunk of time on the content audit for the new website. I ploughed through all the analytics for our current case studies, and then carried on doing the blog posts as well.

It’s a mammoth undertaking, and while repetitive and mindless work, it also requires concentration or you’ll make mistakes.  Once I was in the groove I found it hard to stop. The arrival of the online grocery delivery finally broke the spell. Lyra was out somewhere and Adam in a meeting, so I had to take receipt and distribute food between the upstairs and downstairs fridges and garage.

Throughout lockdown, I’ve been pretty good about keeping the pantry and freezer well stocked, but am now starting to think about running supplies down again. I had real concerns about food security around the pandemic and Brexit that so far haven’t played out thankfully. There have been issues with certain things at times — flour, brown sugar, cauliflower come to mind — but it wasn’t really an issue.

Made chicken thighs with broccoli and chorizo for dinner. Adam and I have started watching Call My Agent on Netflix, which we are both loving. Lyra was out with Lucia until early evening so we gave The Good Place a miss tonight…;-)

Started the data transfer from old to new computer this evening — it had been going four hours when we went to bed and there was still plenty to do. I’m more concerned about sorting out my software, which I’ll tackle tomorrow…

April 14, 2021

Started my morning with the usual meditation and then headed out for a run. Did my 3.5 miles to Ally Pally as per usual, but for some reason I seemed to be clipping along. I could tell that I was running pretty hard (for me) both from my breathing and also that feeling of wanting to quit that arises when I push myself.

Meditation has made me more curious about examining the physical sensations that arise with emotional states, and I now realise that when I’m running hard, the most unpleasant feeling is centred in my stomach, or maybe my diaphram and is a dull ache or low-level cramp.

Meditation has also taught me not to push away unpleasant feelings or emotions, but to be with them. So I said to myself, “it’s okay for my stomach to feel like this, it’s just a signal that I’m pushing myself a bit harder”, and carried on. It didn’t disappear but it helped disconnect the sensation from the urge to stop running if that makes sense…

Worked on a Jx case study for a chunk of the day. Another interesting Canadian project, it was about CityStudio London — a programme that connects local government and academia to provide post-secondary students with opportunities to work in and with the city on urban challenges.

Festival meeting with Alicia at the end of the day. We’d intended to sit in her garden but it was pretty chilly and in the end we sat socially distanced in her living room with the French doors wide open. The incidence of Covid is pretty low in London at the moment, and we’ve both had one vaccination, so it felt low risk, but we can’t get complacent either.

Made chicken kati rolls for dinner with a red onion salad and coriander-mint yogurt dipping sauce. Watched a couple of episodes of The Good Place, which is fine, but I’m not that wowed by. We’re into season 2 now, and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere…

April 13, 2021

Adam was off for his Heath walk with Doron this morning, so I meditated on my own then got down to work. It was a lovely bright morning, and I was tempted to go for a walk myself but decided it would be indulgent as I had a walking meeting at the end of the day with Kate. Also I wanted to be around while Nova was still here.

Got some admin off my plate, then helped her get herself organised. Packed up half a loaf of sourdough and decanted and bottled the kimchi. She’s taking some back to Bristol, so I taped, bubble-wrapped and triple-bagged it for her. Not the sort of thing you want leaking in your luggage…

We had an early lunch together, then she headed off to Paddington in an uber. Sad to see her go, but happy as well. She really likes her life in Bristol, and enough of her university experience has been compromised already. We’ll miss her though…

Had a meeting with my engineering client who I am chasing for website content. I’ve managed to get a case study signed off and am now trying to tee up a couple of news stories we can publish in the weeks ahead. They are just so busy that it’s hard even to find time to meet.

Met Kate at 5pm and did a little loop round Waterlow Park and then some of Highgate Village. She’s nursing a running injury so we took it easy compared to our usual Heath rambles. The pubs and restaurants have opened again for  outdoor service, so despite the cold there were tables full of people happily supping pints while bundled up like parcels.

My Neal’s Yard cheese box arrived today, so I made pesto pasta for Adam and Lyra and had a cheese plate for dinner. Not my favourite selection ever — but there is a very nice goat’s cheese in the mix. More excitingly, my new computer arrived as well — two weeks earlier than predicted!

I’m a bit anxious about setting it up — both for the inevitable downtime, and also because I’m going to lose access to all my Adobe software that I’ll now have to pay for if I want to keep using it. I wouldn’t mind paying something, but it’s £50/month, which I can’t really justify. I may keep the old machine around as my Adobe machine, while I adapt to new ways of working…

April 12, 2021

I changed into my running clothes first thing when I got up, which is my way of ensuring my runs happen, but it was not to be. Managed to meditate, but work concerns were pressing in…

There’s an issue with the new womens’ fitness web pages I’m launching today that needed resolving, and Millie has a crisis with her branding website, that she wanted to discuss urgently.

I didn’t mind too much, what with the walk yesterday, and promised myself I’d get out for an hour at the end of the work day, which I managed to do. Though actually I ended up doing the final senior consultant interview with Adam as Mike had a conflicting meeting.

Sausages, mash and green beans for dinner — Nova’s last evening with us before she returns to Bristol tomorrow…:-( Started season two of The Good Place, which is okay if nothing to get excited about.

I read in the New York Times today that Britain has endured the longest, strictest lockdown of any country in the world — I think they said it was 175 days. Feels like it as well… It’s good to think of things opening up with the spring weather. Such a different story to what’s happening in much of Europe, Canada, and loads of places round the world where they haven’t vaccinated and are now getting walloped by variants.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from the pandemic experience, it’s to not predict what will happen next. Things are looking relatively positive in the UK right now, but new variants will develop, vaccines might not prove to be as potent or long-lasting as we hope, or something different may knock us back. Still, it’s nice to feel optimistic for a change…

April 11, 2021

Happy birthday Aaron and Marni! April 11 is Ruby’s birthday too. It’s funny how you end up knowing a few people with birthdays on the same day, while most days of the year are empty. Purely random, unless you hold with astrology I guess.

When I was in high school, a teacher told us that in every typical size school class it was likely that there would be two people with the same birthday. In that very class it happened to be me and another boy. It seemed unlikely, but we conducted a survey and it turned out to be true. I don’t recall if every class had a shared birthday, but the majority definitely did.

Went for a walk in the Chilterns with Kiran and Birgit this afternoon. They offered to drive, and given they are both double vaccinated it seemed reasonable. Usually when we go for a walk together, we either start or end at a country pub. We were a day early unfortunately — from tomorrow pubs and restaurants can start outdoor service again and non-essential shops reopen.

It was pretty cold (definitely single digits) — fine while we were moving, but nippy when we stopped at a viewpoint to eat our packed lunch. I’d brought hat, scarf and gloves, which I was glad of when it started snowing. Quite beautiful, with the flakes drifting against the trees and shrubs in bloom.

About seven miles in the end, and was happy to put my feet up and have a beer when we got home. Nova had requested beef tacos for dinner, which are relatively quick to whip up. Telly, bath and bed…

April 10, 2021

It’s the two-year anniversary of Freddy’s death today… Started our weekend with coffee in bed and the cryptic crossword as per usual. We were both pretty slow this morning, and we didn’t make much of an inroad.

Meditated then pretty much got down to work. The four day week wasn’t sufficient for all the stuff I have on at the moment. Finished content mapping the Junxion case studies, then put in a few hours on some text for the UN that they need on Monday morning.

Stopped for lunch (veggie soup and egg salad), then carried on with some stuff I’m doing for Millie. I had a fourth thing I wanted to get to, but ran out of steam.

Adam headed over to his mum’s for a jahrzeit, and I fixed supper — ginger-lime chicken and an Asian-style slaw. Finished of the first season of The Good Place, then after Lyra sloped off we watched the last of Schitt’s Creek as well. What a great finale to an excellent show. I’d happily start right back at the beginning tomorrow…

April 9, 2021

Pretty good sleep — having a good stretch with my sleep. I’d prefer it to last a bit longer, but the quality has definitely improved…

Meditated then went for my usual run — got a new pb by a little bit, which was satisfying, especially as I didn’t feel that I was pushing that hard.

On the walk back I listened to an amazing episode of the Obama-Springsteen podcast on their relationship with their fathers — I was in tears by the end of it. Highly recommend the whole series: Renegades: Born in the USA.

Breaking news came through that Prince Phillip has died this morning, aged 99. Interesting to see how that unfolds while we are still emerging from lockdown. There will undoubtedly be large crowds, but don’t expect the authorities will take the hardline approach they did when the women gathered recently in Clapham Common following the murder of Sarah Everard.

Lots of Jx work in the afternoon, around the content audit for the new website — took me up to gin o’clock. Lyra’s choice of takeaway — she went for Thai from the Blue Moon Cafe. I’m not a huge fan — Thai food generally tastes too sweet to me now, but at least I ordered better this time.

My pick for movie night — Little Miss Sunshine, which we all loved. I hadn’t remembered that the grandpa who died on the holiday was called Edwin, but moved past that pretty swiftly. We were all howling with laughter in the pageant performance — a classic cinema moment…

April 8, 2021

Adam headed off for an early walk with Doron on the Heath, so I meditated on my own this morning. I’m doing a course on mindful eating — the talks at the beginning are interesting, and the technique he has us following for the sitting is a thorough body scan from the tips of your toes to your scalp that takes about fifteen minutes to complete.

We haven’t explicitly connected it to mindful eating yet, but I expect the idea is that if you can be more aware of how your body is feeling, then it will help you to better understand why you are eating in a given moment.

Some engineering site work, as well as timeon a case study for the Jx website wrestling the notes from my interview into shape. At the end of the work day I hopped on a company call to do some persona work for the new website.

I’d hoped to fit in a walk before that meeting started but it didn’t happen, and it was time to start fixing dinner after it ended. Made lamb burgers with feta, Greek salad, and those slow-cooked green beans with tomatoes. I’m usually of the opinion that green beans should be cooked as briefly as possible, but these went down well with everyone.

Watched The Good Place with the girls as Adam was in an evening meeting. When Adam finished, he and Lyra changed places and we watched two episodes of Schitt’s Creek. Only a couple to go now…

April 7, 2021

Yet another pretty good sleep. I’m not getting any more hours, but what’s different is the amount of deep sleep I’m managing. Most of your deep sleep occurs comes in the first sleep cycle, and is key to how refreshed you feel in the morning.

I’m typically terrible at deep sleep (while Adam never gets enough REM). But since starting to using a sleep meditation to drop off (a suggestion from Margo) my deep sleeping has improved dramatically.

Meditated with Adam then headed out for a run — the usual Ally Pally 3.5 miler. Not feeling particularly motivated to build on this at the moment, but maybe that’ll change once the weather picks up and it’s more pleasant to spend time outdoors. It’s cold as fuck again today…

Found myself able to sit at my desk today…;-) Polished a project case study for the engineering website and batted that across, then put time in on the womens’ fitness website, getting it ready for their advertising push next week.

Salmon salad for lunch; chicken soup with kneidlach for dinner. Adam headed over to see Beulah afterwards. She’s been to see an osteopath about her back and seems to be feeling a bit better for it, which is good news.

In bed with my novel — this year’s Booker prize winner Shuggie Bain — by 10pm. What a depressing gloomfest it’s turning out to be, though beautifully written…

April 6, 2021

Surprising how little I felt like working after my restorative four-day weekend. You’d think I’d hit the decks raring to go, but that was not the case at all. I slept fine, so that wasn’t the issue — more a profound disinclination to meditate, exercise or sit in front of my computer.

But “I’m an adult now”, so I eventually corralled myself into order. Opted to work on the sofa rather than my desk, at least until after my lunch break with Nova (tricolore salad).

Had a content meeting with my engineering client to plan what news and case study posts we’ll try to get out this week, then spent some time updating and simplifying the content spreadsheet.

Stopped promptly at 5pm and went for a late afternoon walk on the Heath before doing dinner. It was just above zero and there were little snow flurries that would whip up from time to time.

Listened to a really interesting podcast about how emotions are made with a woman called Dr Lisa Feldman-Barrett. Her idea being that our brains construct emotions from sensory input (sight, sound, touch etc) to prime us to act a certain way. The way our brain wants us to act is based on past experience. Understanding this gives you a bit of latitude to change the narrative.

Made chicken thighs with roasted broccoli, red onion and chorizo — delicious. Lyra was at Lucia’s for dinner so we took the opportunity to watch a few episodes of Schitt’s Creek (she hasn’t joined us on that journey, though I’m sure she’d enjoy it).

April 5, 2021

Woke up about 4am, but managed to get back to sleep and made it until 8:30, which helped burn off the effects of last night’s wine. Didn’t fancy going for a run, but otherwise felt okay…

Had a fair amount of house bits and bobs to sort — laundry, ironing, cleaning up the patio area etc. Took the canvas seats off the deck chairs and popped them in the wash as well.

Both girls were out with friends for much of the day. Made eggs poached in tomato sauce for lunch, which we ate wrapped in tortillas. Spent a couple of hours setting up the household budget for next year, and updating it to track the money we’ve invested for the girls.

I also bought myself a new laptop! It’s a good year to do it as it will reduce my taxable income, plus I’ve had my current laptop since 2012 — which is a long time in computer life. It’s done great service, but it is getting a bit creaky now. Three weeks until delivery…

Made grilled salmon with sautéed zucchini, spinach and beansprouts in a miso broth for dinner. Schitt’s Creek, Line of Duty, and bed…

April 4, 2021

Happy Easter! Made it to 6am with only minor wake-ups, which is pretty good going. When I checked the FitBit, yet again I got a good solid chunk of deep sleep at the start of the night. Since I started falling asleep with a guided meditation, that’s pretty much been the case.

Adam called his mum to see if she was feeling better today. She certainly sounded better on the phone, but said her back is still bothering her a lot. Definitely not up for a visit.

Meditated then headed out for a morning walk. This is meant to be the best day of the weekend, which is why we chose it for the garden visit. By Tuesday, we’re meant to have snow or something…

Took the Tube to Camden (pretty sure the first time I’ve taken it in a year), then walked along Regent’s Canal to Caledonian Road where it enters the Islington tunnel. To my mind, this is the nicest stretch we’ve done so far — relatively wide, deep and peaceful with a number of interesting buildings I’d never seen lining the far side.

Caught a bus to Archway, picked up a few groceries, then made a Turkish brunch. Lyra was off with Margaux, but the three of us tucked in mightily.

Around 6:30pm, we sparked the fire pit and had a sushi evening with Richard and Rachel (and Luna) in the garden. It took a while to get the fire burning optimally, but eventually we had a good steady heat going, and even toasted marshmallows and s’mores. It made it feasible to sit outside until almost 11pm, which absolutely would not have been an option otherwise…

April 3, 2021

I thought Adam and I might go for a walk this morning after meditating, but he suggested a short run instead. I’d run yesterday, and usually prefer to have a rest day in between, but he can’t do more than two miles without his ileotibial band flaring up, so I thought why not?

Bumped into Richard on the path. We’d planned to have them round for sushi in the garden tonight, but the weather has turned so cold, that it didn’t seem the day for it. Going to shift it to tomorrow, which is meant to be better.

Did our two miles round the Woods, which felt fine. Not quite enough to warm up on such a cold morning, especially with an Arctic wind like a filleting knife. Turned the heat on the moment we got home and sat under a blanket with a hot drink until my temperature normalised.

Leftovers for lunch — Indian takeaway for Adam and Nova, old ratatouille and leftover noodles for me. No great shakes. Started a batch of chicken stock for chicken soup with kneidlach, then spent a stretch on the sofa with the weekend paper.

Adam called his mum to arrange for us all to visit tomorrow, but apparently she’s feeling very poorly. She went round to her friend Susie’s for a Pesach meal on Friday. Susie made some sort of fried matzoh dish with raisins, that Beulah thought was horrid (though she politely had two helpings). She’s felt sick ever since and had such a bad night that she took a sleeping pill…

For dinner, we roasted celeriac and kale, and panfried some pork medallions with Cajun spices and cracked a bottle of red — very nice. Little berry tartlets with a digestive biscuit base and cream filling for dessert. Watched a couple of Schitt’s Creek’s and then bed at 11pm.

April 2, 2021

Started my day with the usual Maddow/meditate/run routine. It was pretty chilly out there with a vicious wind blowing, and I had a good, long shower to warm up when I got home.

Although it’s Good Friday, I opted to work today at least until mid-afternoon. A lot of that time was spent sorting out my end-of-year invoicing and setting up my processes for the coming year.

I’ve had a very good year financially — expanded my client base considerably, and invoiced much more than I have in past years. I expect it to be an exception because of the pandemic, but hope to maintain some of this growth in 2021/22.

Nova’s turn to choose the takeaway and film — Kiplings curry and Dreamgirls. Ended up watching The Full Monty with our pre-dinner drinks. I haven’t seen that film since it came out, and forgotten how good it is. I went to see it in the cinema, and remember struggling to understand what the heck they were saying. No difficulties whatsoever on that score now — all plain as day…

April 1, 2021

Rabbits! I’m never sure when it actually applies… at 2am when I wake in the night, or should the sun be up, or does it start when I intend to get out of bed. Either way, I think I messed it up this month…

Meditated then got straight down to work. It hadn’t somehow dawned on me that we have a four-day weekend looming. I have a lot to get done before I can feel ready to take a break.

I’ve really been enjoying eating lunch with Nova while she’s around, but I felt too pressured to take a break today and fixed a snack plate to nibble on while I worked. Had an interview with Garth about the next Jx case study I’m writing, and a frustrating couple of hours trying to sort out an issue with the fitness website so that people can book online classes.

They have no money to pay for anything, so I was hoping I could use email to make a booking and also blind copy the teacher without sharing their email address. Turns out I can’t — which I could have foreseen if I’d thought it through more carefully…

Sausages, mash and green veg for dinner in front of The Good Place…