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| Trendy new skirt |
A tricky putt
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Reading to my dollies
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Another masterpiece
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| Water fountain |
Climbing frame
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Barbeque with Greg and Wendy
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| Up high |
The Belgium posse
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Nova and Rosie
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Watching the boys golf |
| August 31, 2003 We’re still feeling pretty exhausted from the marathon drive — those last few hours seem sort of dreamlike when I think back on them. Unbelievably, Nova woke up at 5:30am this morning. Poor Adam got up and hung out with her while I grabbed an extra hour’s sleep. Spent most of the morning unpacking. What with all the bedding from the Italian teachers who rented the place last week, there were six loads of laundry to do. Went to Waitrose to get some groceries in for the coming week. Spent the afternoon hanging out with Jemima and Ruby, which was more like it. I’m so glad I don’t have to go to work tomorrow… |
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| August 30, 2003 We’re home — but what a mammoth journey! We set off from Cnip at 5:30am, Nova cheerfully ensconced in the back seat with a banana, beaker of milk and the inevitable nursery rhyme CD to keep her sweet. Our ferry set off from Stornoway at 7:30am, and after a truly excreble breakfast that made BC Ferries’ “sunshine breakfast” look like haute cuisine, we plonked Nova in the soft playroom, with half a dozen other rambunctious toddlers. I took over the driving when we docked at Ullapool, and took us all the way to the outskirts of Perth. Stopped at Katie’s Cake Shop, just off the A9 where we polished off an embarrassing number of cakes: two huge scones with jam, a piece of banana bread, and a slice of malteser cake with a big pot of tea. We were debating whether to round things off with a piece of millionaire’s shortbread (shortbread, caramel and chocolate) and would probably have plumped for it, but Nova laid a big, smelly load in her nappy that needed urgent attention as it was starting to stink out the premises. Adam took over the driving, and we pushed on until just south of Preston. There’d been an accident on the M6, and traffic had come to a complete halt. We ate in a Burger King franchise situated in a walkway above the motorway, and the jam seemed to have cleared by the time we finished our meal. It was my turn to drive again. With in ten miles I was back in heavy traffic, and we crawled for the next half hour. We hadn’t decided how long we were going to keep going — just decided to play it by ear, depending on Nova and how tired we got. We swapped drivers again just before Birmingham, and Adam did the final leg of our marathon 17 hour, length-of-Britain road trip. Nova was a complete dream — she cheerfully munched her way through a big bag of ham and cheese sandwiches, sang along with her CD, and requested blasts of fresh air every now and then before nodding off about 9pm. Mars was low and bright red on the horizon as we ploughed on. apparently it’s the closest it’s been to earth for the last 60,000 years. We finally drew up in front of the house at 10:30 just in time for Adam’s favourite football show. Popped Nova in her little bed, dragged the bags out of the car into the hallway, and were tucked up by the time the theme tune started. |
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| August 29, 2003 Today’s our last day on Lewis. We took it easy in the morning, then went to Cliobh beach in the afternoon so Nova could have one last frolic. I traced four gigantic Teletubbies in the sand and she had a great time running back and forth exclaiming over them until they were all but obliterated. Once Nova was down, we packed up and loaded the car, and put together a lunch for tomorrow’s trip. I washed Nova’s shell collection and fitted them into a jar for safe transport home. We were in bed by 10:30, but I’ve been reading such a page turner of a book (The Resurrectionists by Michael Collins) that I stayed up past midnight finishing it off. |
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| August 28, 2003 Spent the day touring the adjoining island of Harris. I don’t enjoy the landscape as much as Lewis — it’s very hilly and rocky and can feel a bit claustrophobic. We stopped for lunch at yet another teashop in Tarbert (fresh tomato soup) then headed for the South Harris beaches. We picked up a pair of German hitchhikers who come to Harris for a bit of R&R after hiking the West Highland Way. We spent the afternoon together on yet another beautiful empty beach. Nova gathered shells until her bucket was full. After adding a shell, she’d look around, spy another one, and say, “Little bit more!” in a surprised tone of voice before scooping that one up as well. After settling Nova for the night, Mrs McLennan kindly babysat for us while we set off for the Bonaventure, a local French-Scottish restaurant where we enjoyed a lovely meal. We’ve been making really nice meals for ourselves but it’s always a treat having someone else do the cooking… I started with the hot smoked salmon with honey-chilli sauce while Adam braved the haggis crepe (he felt that it summed up the essence of a Scottish-French restaurant). My main course of sautéed scallops in a lemongrass cream sauce was fantastic, and Adam’s halibut was very nice as well. A very nice bottle of wine and a couple of puddings later we made our merry way home. The winding single track road across the hills was unlit, and you had to keep your eyes peeled for rabbits and sheep, but we made it home without incident. |
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| August 27, 2003 My memories of the haunting, elemental scenery of Lewis will always be accompanied by the incongruous soundtrack of nursery rhymes. Nova has pretty much commandeered the car CD player, in the same way she more or less owns the TV at home. It keeps her contented in her carseat though, and that’s worth a lot. She often sings along enthusiastically to the tracks, and at the end of each tune, she says, “Good song!” She can pick a lot of them out by the opening notes. “Weasel song!” she’ll yell or “Twinkle!” Whenever we dare to put on one of our songs she’ll say, “Not that one!” She’ll allow a bit of Johnny Cash from time to time, and I think she quite likes it when we duet along to “Jackson”. She even gave us a round of applause the other day… We visited the Black House Heritage Centre at Gearrannan this morning — a carefully restored crofters’ settlement. There was an interpreter/guide in one of the houses who explained how the crofters had lived and let me have a go at handweaving some Harris tweed. We had a long and fascinating discussion about the big pile of peat which was heaped up to dry in the garden. A few of the properties have been converted to self-catering properties, which would be an interesting experience. Had some lunch in the little cafe before moving on. I’ve really been getting into the soups they serve up at these little tearooms. These folk were serving something called vegetable broth, which turned out to be a delicious, thick yellow split pea based soup full of barley, bits of ham and hunks of vegetables. Stopped for a look at Dun Carloway broch on the way home. The sky was looking pretty ominous by this point, so we headed back to our cottage. As we were winding up the side of Loch Rog we saw a pair of golden eagles circling just above the road before settling not 15 feet from us. Apparently there are only two pairs on the island. Back at the ranch Mrs McLennan greeted us with a dozen little pancakes for our tea. (It’s one of the weird things about Britain that they consider pancakes to be something you eat cold and spread with butter and jam — no “hot cakes” for them…) Nova polished off three, which put a bit of a dent in her appetite for the leftover risotto we had for dinner. |
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August 26, 2003 Nova was reasonably content in the pack, and did a little walking on her own and only made mecarry her for ten minutes or so. In a few places there was evidence that a sheep had come a cropper — generally a pile of moldering wool with bones scattered about. Found a perfectly intact sheep’s skull… It was past 12:00 by the time we hit the half-way mark and Nova getting hungry, so we walked back along the highway with the aim of hitching a ride back to the car. There wasn’t much traffic… The first vehicle to pass was a middle-aged couple in a mini-van. The wife averted her face pretending not to see us, while the husband grinned and shook his head. I appreciate that when you ask people for a favour (such as a lift) you have to respect their absolute right to turn you down, but it was difficult to imagine why: they had plenty of room, the road only ran three more miles before ending so he was definitely going our way, we could hardly have looked dangerous. We didn’t have long to ponder before the next car stopped and cheerfully drove us the two miles back to our car. The local community centre runs a little cafe in the summer, and we stopped in for a bowl of soup and a sandwich. Nova had a great time playing with all the toys, and Adam and I took it in turns to visit the little museum. The Lewis chessmen were discovered by a cow on the beach below, and there was a display about that, as well as artefacts from the lives of the crofters who’ve scratched out a living on these islands for centuries. Nova fell asleep in the car on the way home, and we managed to transfer her upstairs to her room. Had a relaxing couple of hours reading while she slept. It was 5pm by the time we woke up, but it was beautifully sunny, so we decided to pop down to the beach. It was pretty windy though, and within a couple of minutes Nova turned on her heel and headed for the car saying, “No sea! All finished! Cnip house! Let’s go! Bring mommy!” (her longest ever sentence…) Made a lovely dinner tonight: salmon fillets with a whisky-cream sauce, boiled potatoes and broccoli. |
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August 25, 2003 She was pretty disappointed when we reached the summit and found a stone circle instead of the golden strand she’d been anticipating. The little sweetie made the made the best of things, scraping gravel off the path with her spade and tipping it into her bucket while we checked out the amazing stone circle. The stones aren’t as massive as Stonehenge but the whole site appears to be intact and the setting is unsurpassed. Stopped for a sandwich and a delicious scone in the cafe before continuing on with our tour of the island. Drove out to a little beach called Dail Mor so Nova could have a run around. It was glorious — a cloudless blue sky, aqua waves rolling onto the golden sand, and the whole place to ourselves. Nova immediately stripped off and had a wonderful time rolling about, splashing in the shallows, tumbling down the gentle slopes, examining rocks and shells and bits of seaweed. It was absolutely fantastic — one of the nicest afternoons we’ve ever spent. We let Nova play until she’d completely tired herself out and just lay quietly on the sand. I hoisted her up onto my shoulders and carried her back to the car. It was a bit of a job getting the sand out of her nooks and crannies… Drove on to Stornaway, the only town of any size (8000 people) on Lewis and Harris. Had a late lunch and bought a few groceries before heading back to Cnip. Made Nova some scrambled eggs for dinner, and once she was asleep Adam and I had a light supper of soup and oatcakes. What a great day! |
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| August 24, 2003 Nova was awake again in the night. From 3:00am to almost 4:30am she cried and complained while Adam and I took it in turn to cuddle and sing and rock and reassure her. At least she slept in until 9am… We were just finishing breakfast when Mrs McLennan came round with a message from Beulah that Kelowna was being evacuated because of a forest fire. There’s no mobile reception at the house but apparently if you climb the hill out back you can get reception from the top. Breakfasted on Mrs. McLennan’s eggs, pancakes, bacon and coffee made in an old style percolator. I was just thinking how comfortable the house was when I realised it reminded me of my parent’s home. Not the style of furnishings so much as the vintage and arrangement of things, and how it’s obvious that the McLennan’s have done a certain amount of the shelf building, carpet laying and curtain hanging themselves. Our bedroom ceiling has the exact same tiles as my childhood bedroom in Prince George, but it was the shower that really brought it home. They have rigged up some surgical tubing to connect the two taps to a shower head, but the shower head attaches to the wall at about the height of your shoulder blades, just like the Prince George shower did. I think my dad probably attached it there when we were kids and never moved it even after my brothers hit six feet. (In this case, the ceiling above the shower is only half an inch above the top of my head, so it wouldn’t be possible to attach it any higher.) The sunny weather is still holding (“Och, it was the gales last week — never can tell in these islands. We had the hot weather too. Twenty five degrees it was! Too hot to sleep — terrrrrrible!” reported Mrs McLennan.) Getting restless after lunch, Nova hooked her bucket over her arm and said, “Going to the shops!” and walked out of the room. She returned saying, “Going to the beach!” and exited the other door. Back again, she announced, “Milk a cow!” Then, “Milk a pig! Milk a cat!!!” The little nut case… We returned to the local beach again in the afternoon. Adam and I had a dip, but Nova wasn’t feeling so brave today (she got soaked yesterday). Instead she collected shells and tumbled around on the sand. Made a mushroom-walnut risotto for dinner and we all ate together. Once Nova was down, we drove a couple of miles up the road to where there’s a mobile signal and called home. 30,000 people have been evacuated in Kelowna, including friends of my parents, and 200 homes have burned. The fire is on the south side of town and my parents’ house is in the north end, but they do have Knox Mountain right next to them which could catch fire. There’s a lot of smoke in the air, which hasn’t been helping mom’s health (she couldn’t talk when I called three days ago) and she’s feeling very weak, but was able to have a good chat. I felt less worried having talked to them. |
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| August 23, 2003 Nova had a restless night — it’s often the way when we share a room with her. The room came with a delicious breakfast. Nova had the ‘bix, Adam the fry up and I had the oatmeal. We were on the road by 8:30am for the half hour drive to the ferry. Mobile phone reception has been a bit hit-and-miss in the Highlands. As were we pulling into the ferry terminal we must have come into range, because the phone beeped to announce a phone message from Margo and Aaron, who are visiting mom and dad in Kelowna. We made the two hour crossing to Tarbert on the Isle of Harris, home of Harris tweed, hundreds and hundreds of sheep and not much else. Bought our last few groceries in the local shop then set off on the single lane road across the barren terrain. It is quite hilly — the road swooped and turned, and there was always the possibility of meeting another car (or a sheep) around a blind curve. Sheep seem to rule in these parts. Although there are fences round many of the fields, most of the sheep seem to be on the road and verges. (Perhaps it’s easier on the hooves…) I got to wondering if the fences were meant to keep sheep out instead of in. Maybe the sheep had fenced the people in, and only let them out when the sheep needed them to run an errand… Harris and Lewis are actually one island, joined by a narrow isthmus. The land flattened out a bit on Lewis, and allowed for a bit more of a view of rusty marshland dotted with little lakes stretching towards blue hills in the distance. We rounded Loch Rog Bog, then carried on up along the side of Loch Rog to Gallan Head, and the little settlement of Cnip (it’s hard to think of the right word to describe such a tiny collection of houses). Our landlady Mrs McLennan showed us about the half of their house we’ll be renting for the next week, and served us cakes and tea, She was very sweet with Nova, and had set up a darling little cot, but she’s a bit too big for it. My heart sank a bit when I saw all the bits of china she had on display on every surface. I hadn’t turned away for a minute before Nova had a doily on her head — “Starfish!” — and was clacking a little china cow and china panda together. After settling in, we hiked up the slope behind the house, and down to the glorious sandy beach below. Beautiful turquoise water, powdery white sand — who needs the Costa del Sol? |
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August 22, 2003 Marion the manageress gave us the damage deposit back on the spot — “Don’t normally do this,” she said. I suspect it’s because of the glimpse she caught through the door yesterday afternoon while Nova was having her dinner — beds made, everything orderly, a drop cloth under Nova’s chair to protect the carpet. Or maybe it was me asking her for tea towels yesterday morning. I think we impressed her as a nice, tidy family. We finally set off about 11:45am, and within 20 minutes we were clearing the suburbs, and skirting Loch Lomond. How we all turn into our parents! Every road trip we ever took as a family (and we took a lot) my mom would say, “Why don’t I make some nice sandwiches instead of buying some lunch?” This suggestion met with little enthusiasm in the back seat. (In my view, the only saving grace of road trips was the opportunity to eat at burger bars and other fast food joints.) Mom would butter bread and slap on the bologna and cheese slices using the glovebox door as a work surface, while we kids sulked because we’d blown off the William’s Lake Tastee-Freez. And now I’m the one handing out nice ham and cheese sandwiches as we zoom past Burger King. My parents (especially mom) were very big on scenery as well. “Look! An arete! <insert geological feature here>” mom would cry. “Mmmm,” I’d mumble, not looking up from the Archie comic I was reading for the nth time. It would take a moose or bear at least to tear my eyes from the page. One thing about my parents on road trips: they were surprisingly willing to stop at roadside attractions. Big slides, Flintstone villages, enchanted villages, sasquatch centres, those creepy little “zoos” with a couple of raccoons and a mangy marten in cage — we visited them all at one time or another. Odd, given dad’s general unwillingness to stop. You were well advised to start campaigning for a bathroom break at least a half an hour before you really needed one. Stopped at the Glencoe visitors’ centre for a pit stop and a cup of tea and whisky cake in the cafe. Nova dispatched a sticky toffee muffin and two boxes of apple juice. Nova made her usual exit — a loud “Bye bye, everybody!” accompanied by copious waving. Crossed over to Skye from the Kyle of Lochalsh and reached the Isles Inn in Portree after 6pm. It was 7pm by the time we’d settled in and made it to the restaurant for dinner. It was getting pretty late for Nova, and for a while it looked like she might have a meltdown in the dining room. I’d allowed her to bring her three teddies with her to dinner (having learned not to bother fighting irrelevant battles by now) and they kept her distracted until the food showed up. Our meals were both excellent: Adam had local salmon coated in pin oatmeal and fried and I had monkfish with coconut rice. Once we got Nova settled for the night, we took the monitor and went for a whisky in the raucous bar, before heading up to bed about 10:30pm. |
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| August 21, 2003 Woke up to a gray, drizzly morning. From what I read in our guidebook, Glasgow has changed quite a bit since our last visit in 1991. There is a new modern art gallery, conference/exhibition centre, concert hall, regenerated up-scale shopping area, additional Charles Rennie Mackintosh houses open to the public, riverside walks along the Clyde… more than we could hope to pack into a day’s sightseeing with a two-year-old. After breakfast, we bundled up warmly and set off. It was raining too hard to consider walking, so we caught a leaky bus (drops of water dripping on my head and streaming out of the light fixture to my left) to the centre of town. Stopped for a coffee before tackling the Gallery of Modern Art. Nova gets really stimulated in art galleries, and tore around twanging the guard ropes, climbing on window sills, rearranging the rocks in one piece of art, hugging another (a greatcoat mounted on a wooden stand) before I could catch up with her. The staff were very laid back about it all, and seemed to enjoy her enthusiasm Stopped (or sheltered) for lunch in the atrium of the Princes’ Square Shopping Centre, “one of the most stylish and imaginative shopping centres in the country, hollowed out of the innards of a soft sandstone building — the interior all recherché Art Deco and ornate ironwork…” The long anticipated poop finally arrived when Nova was running around after lunch. I had to dash to a local shop for extra wipes so we could get her sorted out. Did a bit of clothes shopping for Adam then took the tube back to the apartment. For dinner Nova had a leftover ham and cheese sandwich from our journey north with some tomatoes, gherkins and cucumber slices on the side. Adam headed off to pick up an Indian takeaway while I finished Nova’s bedtime routine. We were just doing her Fimbles puzzle “one last time” when she lost her footing somehow and hit her face on the sharp edge of the coffee table. I scooped her up, blood pouring out of her mouth. She cried and cried, which helped me confirm that her teeth were still intact, but I couldn’t see where she’d cut herself. I finally settled her for the night after lots of extra cuddles and stories. Adam returned with the curry, and we ate our dinner with a bottle of white wine in front of the telly. |
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August 20, 2003 Except when she was sleeping, Nova ate all the way to Glasgow: a big ham and cheese sandwich, dozens of olives, a bag of animal crackers, Babybel cheeses, breadsticks, and cucumber slices washed down with beakers of water. I had visions of a massive nappy blowout as we were hurtling down the M6, but we made it without incident (and in great time — 6 1/2 hours). “Where’s your poop-poop, Nova?” I asked her as I changed her nappy before bed. “In my bum-bum,” she said seriously. We’ve rented a little apartment in the West End, next to the university, with a tiny kitchen, sitting room/bedroom, second bedroom and bathroom. Not particularly cheap, but then hotels never are. The manageress Marion has gone a bit over the top on air “fresheners”. Although it’s not a very big space, she felt ten of the nasty things were in order. Once Nova was asleep, we cooked up a pasta supper, and watched some telly before retreating shivering to our beds. Glasgow is bloody cold. Apparently it was scorching hot until this morning. When we first walked into the flat, the windows were wide open, and there was a fan blowing full blast. Oh well… Adam’s zeal to avoid the crowds may mean avoiding the sun as well. |
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| August 19, 2003 The last two day’s have been the usual hassle of getting ready — lists, packing, laundry, ironing, phone calls, gardening, shopping — with the additional task of preparing our house for the group of Italian school teachers who will be letting it for a week while we’re away. We’re bringing the computer, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to update while we’re away. So it may be ten days before you hear from me again… happy holidays! |
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| August 17, 2003 Didn’t get a great night’s sleep. Nova was restless — she’s getting a bit big for the travel cot, and kept waking up and needing settling. Felt a bit groggy in the morning, but nothing a cup of coffee and bacon sandwich couldn’t fix… Set off about noon, the car laden with clothes for Nova, marmalade and a clip-on bed side to keep Nova from falling out when we convert her cot to a bed. We’ve both got two weeks off work. Nova’s nursery is closed, otherwise we’d never take holiday at this time — too expensive, and everyone else is off as well. On the journey home we decided that the best strategy was to avoid flying, and to go somewhere remote in an effort to beat the crowds. We thought the island of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides fit the bill… Back home we arranged a week’s let of a cottage in Uig, the northwest corner of Lewis, booked ferrys, and hotel accommodation in Glasgow and on Skye to break up the journey. Planning to set off on Wednesday… |
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| August 16, 2003 Drove up to see Jules, Mary, Bella and baby Rollo in Suffolk this weekend. Got everything ready the night before, so we could get one of our famous early starts. When the alarm went off at 6:30am, I felt drugged I was so tired. It was really gloomy and grey out, and I said to Adam, “Wow, summer’s already ending — look at how dark it is this morning.” We had our showers and started dragging ourselves through the final few chores. At 7:30am I was just thinking to myself, “Nova’s having a bit of a lie in. We’ll have to wake her up soon,” when Adam noticed that the clock was an hour fast. I’d inadvertently changed the time when I set the alarm last night… Arrived in Suffolk by 9:30am (I drove) for croissants and coffee with Jules and Mary. Nova had a great day playing with all Bella’s wonderful toys: trampoline, swing set and slide, bikes and cars to ride, a beautiful Barbie house, a lifesize doll with stroller and high chair, a big stuffed rocking pony to ride… she was in heaven. Rollo has filled out so much since we saw him in June. It’s amazing how quickly babies change at that age. In the afternoon we went to a party/barbeque at some friends of Jules and Mary’s from Bella’s nursery. The hosts lived on a huge farm. There were about a hundred guests, and they’d set up an enormous bouncy castle for the kids — it was like four bouncy castles stuck together. In one of the outbuildings they’d set up a buffet and bar, and all afternoon platter after platter arrived from the barbeque: sausages, burgers, chicken, ribs, sardines, trout… There were tables on the lawn for people to sit and eat. Nova was pretty excited by the bouncy castle, as were all the kids. Most of the kids playing on it were a lot older than she was, and were throwing themselves about pretty roughly. Mary took charge of things and organised a session for the little ones. Nova completed the circuit again and again, hauling herself in at the back, navigating her way through two bouncy chambers, scaling a steep inflated slope that had rope net spread across to provide foot holds, then sliding down the other slide, plopping forward onto her face at the end. She was slower (and younger) than the rest of the other kids, but time and again her little head would appear at the top of the wall (“Mummy! Mummy!) and down she’d slide. We left about 8pm, just as the band was setting up, and headed back to their house to put the kids down. We didn’t need any dinner, and just had a relaxing evening visit before calling in a day at about midnight. |
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| August 15, 2003 Well, Adam’s course went really well — his students gave him a good evaluation, and the consultancy that found the work for him is going to try to line up other opportunities for him to present it. Which would be good — it was about 20 hours work (between the two of us) for £200, which isn’t a great hourly rate, but every time he presents it in future he’ll get some payback on that investment. |
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| August 14, 2003 Adam has been commissioned to teach a half day course on writing for the web tomorrow. As it’s my area of expertise and something I’ve written articles about, I agreed to help him prepare the course handouts and exercises. I put in a couple of good hours this afternoon while Nova was napping, but I couldn’t get much done when she was up and about. Adam’s also got a big deadline for the Body Shop looming, and it was 8:30pm before we got down to work (and 3:30am before we’d pulled it all together). Adam thought his last boss was a bit of a task master, but I think his current employer has much more unreasonable expectations… 😉 Looking for a quote on success to introduce one of the topics, we came across a couple that didn’t have the motivational ring we were looking for, but gave us a laugh (which takes some doing when you find yourself awake — and sober — at 3:00 in the morning): “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” ~Winston Churchill and “If at first you don’t succeed, failure may be your style.” ~Quentin Crisp |
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| August 13, 2003 Today was my last day in the office before our two-week break. There was the usual pile of last-minute stuff to get done, loose ends to tidy up etc. Fortunately August is a really slow month for the agency, so there wasn’t that feeling of walking away from a mountain of undone work. It’s funny though, no matter how wrapped I am in my job, the minute I leave that building work doesn’t cross my mind until the next time I walk through the door. |
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| August 12, 2003 Happy birthday, Greg! I went to the theatre with my friend Lorraine this evening. We had dinner at Mon Plaisir in Seven Dials first (pre-theatre menu) — smoked trout mousse, steamed fish in beurre blanc with peas, chocolate mousse, white wine — then on to the Duke of York on St Martin’s Lane to see After Mrs Rochester, the story of Jean Rhys’ life. I thought it was excellent. Lorraine wasn’t familiar with her work, and was a little confused as to why they kept weaving Jane Eyre into the story. Got home about 11pm. It felt strange not to see Nova for an entire day. We had breakfast together, but I was out of the house by 8am. According to Adam, she asked after me when she got home from nursery, but didn’t seem too bothered after that. |
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| August 11, 2003 I picked up my camera from the repair shop this morning. (Ever since Nova dragged it off a table and to smash onto a marble floor it’s been leaking light.) It’s an old manual Olympus that I’ve had for 18 years, but I’m still very attached to it. I keep meaning to get a digital camera, but never seem to get round to it… Speaking of things digital, we had Adam’s ex-colleague Dylan round for dinner this evening to assess our computing needs. It’s still incredibly hot (we did hit 100 degrees on Sunday (a new record) and the tube felt like 120 degrees this afternoon). I made up a few salads — tomato with mint and ginger, couscous with veggies and pine nuts, sweet potato with preserved lemon, cabbage and carrot in a spicy dressing — and we ate outside in the garden. After dinner we spent a couple of hours going over our home computing situation. Now that Adam is working from home it isn’t feasible to share a computer any more. I’d also like to be able to edit the videos we take, and a new laptop would that. I think we’ve identified what’s needed. The next thing is deciding how much we can afford to spend at the moment. At least it’s a legitimate business expense now that Adam’s self-employed. |
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| August 10, 2003 Nova’s always been very big on repetition. She loves to hear the same book or song over and over again (“The Wheels on the Bus”, known round these parts as “bus song” is on repeat on the stereo as I type…) Her current favourite story is one I made up about Blue Cow, a cartoon character she likes. It goes like this (and I quote verbatim”): One day Blue Cow was in the field with the other cows eating grass for breakfast. “I wonder what it would be like to have pancakes for breakfast?” she said. I think I’ll go to… (Nova) GRANDMA FERN’S HOUSE!… in… (Nova) CANADA!!!… and have some pancakes. So Blue Cow took the bus to Canada to Grandma Fern and Grandpa Ed’s house. They gave Blue Cow a big hug and a… (Nova) BIG KISS!!… ***Then Grandma Fern said, “How many pancakes do you want?” and Blue Cow said… (Nova) TWO PANCAKES! So Grandma Fern made two pancakes with butter and maple syrup, and cut them in squares, and Blue Cow ate them all up… (Nova) USING HER FORK!!! (repeat from *** as many times as necessary) Blue Cow was so full she had to lie on the couch and watch cartoons. When it was time to go home, Blue Cow gave Grandma Fern and Grandpa Ed and big hug and a big kiss and took the bus back to the field. The other cows said, “Where have you been?” Blue Cow said, “I’ve been to Grandma Fern’s house to have pancakes for breakfast.” The other cows said, “Everybody knows cows don’t eat pancakes for breakfast!” But we know they do… (Nova)END!!!! AGAIN!!!! Nova’s also very into nursery rhymes at the moment, which has led to discussions about who is a boy and who is a girl. I thought she had the concept down, but lately our conversations have gone like this:
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| August 9, 2003 The record-breaking heat wave continues… London may see 100 degrees today for the first time ever. After breakfast we went to the Crouch End lido (with about 500 other north Londoners). The water was a bit cold but it was great swimming outside. Had brunch at Banners, and then did a bit of shopping: veggies, a couple of CDs, more photo albums… We didn’t manage to get Nova down for a nap, and as the afternoon blazed on she was beside herself with crankiness. It was a bit cooler on the patio, and I sat her on the edge of the paddling pool and told her stories, and sponged her down until her mood improved. We were just getting dinner on the table when I looked over to see her squatting in the pool with that unmistakable look on her face. Before I could scoop her up she crapped right in the water. I plucked her out, and after failing to scoop out the poop with a gardening implement, carefully tipped the murky water down the drain, dragged the pool onto the lawn, and hosed it down. Nova watched the whole procedure with interest, and as I refilled her pool she very politely said, “Thank you, mummy!” — the little savage. |
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| August 8, 2003 The gods must be smiling on us, because the kids slept through until 7am… Adam was so pleased he whipped them up a pancake breakfast. They looked very cute sitting at the little table in their matching bibs forking little square of pancake into their mouths. Antonia came by to pick up Oliver about 9:30. She really appreciated our gesture and got a bit tearful thanking us. They’d had a great night, and really enjoyed the play. We’ll have to try to catch it… I had to write my regular web review column for the agency magazine. I would have done it in the week, but having two days off sick, I just didn’t get to it. Adam was supposed to take Nova off for a few hours so I could work, but he just didn’t get organised, and in the end I completed it between requests for stories, making lunch, to background accompaniment of children’s television and Adam’s business calls. I’ve always been able to concentrate well in noisy environments, but this was a challenge. I got pretty annoyed with Adam by mid-afternoon and we ended up fighting about it. We’ve realised that now that’s he’s working from home, the whole paid v household work thing needs to be renegotiated. When we were both commuting to work, I did all the cooking, most of the childcare, and the bigger share of household chores. Adam did the weekly grocery shop, more of the washing up, emptied the dishwasher, paid the bills, and took out the compost. Now that he’s self-employed, he also does most of the nursery drop-off/pick-up, but I’d like him to do more cooking as well, so that we could eat dinner as a family, instead of me tossing something together for Nova when I get home, and making a second meal for us after she’s gone to sleep. I think he should take more of a lead on household errands as well. I made him cross yesterday when I left him a list with a few things to do. From his point of view, he may be at home but he’s still working (which is true, and I respect that…) He did find time to go swimming with Eytan on Hampstead Heath though… Arrggghh… modern relationships… no doubt it would be easier to adopt the traditional breadwinner/homemaker arrangement, but the reality is, as working people we could both do with a stay-at-home wife… 😉 Anyway, after the fight Adam stormed off for a bit, but returned home with a lovely bunch of flowers so all is well again. Played with Nova on the patio (much cooler than the house) and cooked dinner on the barbeque. We attempted Greg and Wendy’s pork wraps, but we’re both such complete meat virgins that it didn’t turn out quite right. (We realised it was the first time either of us had cooked a piece of meat on a barbeque…) We were just about to sit down, we Nova started sobbing, “Hurt! Hurt!” I picked her up, and she clung to my neck, doubling her body up and crying. “Where does it hurt?” I asked. “Yes!” she shrieked. I took a different approach… “Do your teeth hurt?” “No!” “Does your tummy hurt?” “No!” (She’d eaten half a green crayon this afternoon, and we were worried I might do something nasty inside her.) I noticed her twisting her legs together, and on closer inspection discover that her tinkler was bright red and blistered. I think she may have scraped it up playing in her sandbox without her nappy, or perhaps something bit her. Giving her a little wash, coating it with cream, and putting on a nappy seemed to resolve the problem. |
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| August 7, 2003 Happy anniversary, Doron and Antonia! Adam and I were planning to go to the theatre tonight to see Vincent in Brixton, but when Doron called up yesterday asking if we could babysit for them so they could go out to celebrate their anniversary we felt kind of guilty turning them down and offered them the theatre tickets instead. Antonia came round and dropped off Oliver about 6pm. Britain is in the middle of a heat wave (35 degrees today) so I left the two kids playing in Nova’s paddling pool until almost 7pm. I made pesto pasta for dinner followed by homemade fairy cakes, and they both ate really well (Oliver is notoriously picky, although he’s a pretty hefty lad, so he must be getting his nutrients somewhere…). By the time they were finished it was almost 8pm, so we put them straight to bed. We had some cold potato soup I’d whipped up (potatoes and onions cooked until soft, lots of dill, seasoning and a tablespoon of sour cream, blended until smooth and chilled) and a spinach salad for dinner, and vegged out watching Law and Order. I’ve become quite a L&O fan of late. I think the format works really well, half police work, half courtroom drama, although they have to move events on at a pretty rapid clip to get through it all in an hour. The acting is very good, and the issues raised can be quite interesting. In the words of Dick Wolf, who created the series, “The first half is a murder mystery. The second half is a moral mystery.” Because Claudia is staying in the flat at the moment, we decided to put Oliver down in our bedroom, and test drive our new sofabed. When we did all that sofa shopping, I discovered that sofabeds come in two categories: occasional use and regular use. We opted for an occasional use (cheaper) one , and unfolded the sofa to find quite a crisp little mattress inside. I wouldn’t want it for my regular bed, but it turned out to be pretty comfortable. It’s a huge improvement on the previous sofabed, which had a 1×2 sadistically running under the mattress across the middle of your back. Oh, got the results of my progesterone bloodtest today — surprise, surprise, everything is completely normal… |
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| August 6, 2003 My computer mouse at work has started squeaking. When I roll it around on my mousepad it emits these little squeaks. It would be funny if it wasn’t so incredibly irritating. It’s one of those things, like a dripping tap, that intrudes on your consciousness until it is all that you can hear. I’ve taken the mouse apart, cleaned the heads with a paperclip, wiped the ball clean, and polished my mousemat, but none of it has made any difference. It’s “squeak, squeak, SQUEAK” whenever I work. An internet search on “squeaking computer mouse” turned up the following “help”:
You’ve gotta love the web… |
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| August 5, 2003 Didn’t go to work again today. It was one of those tricky calls trying to decide if you’re well enough. If you stay home you feel so good that you start feeling guilty about not going in, whereas if you go in the combination of an hour standing in an oven of a tube train and a day spent staring at a computer screen leaves you with a pounding headache and the feeling that you came back a day too soon. Dave’s Italian friend Claudia has arrived unexpectedly to stay in the flat for a couple of weeks. We barely had time to give it a quick dust and tidy between the phone call and her arrival on our doorstep. Sadly, it’s performing its “heartbreak hotel” function again, as Claudia has recently split from her partner of 13 years. (The number of post-break-up friends who’ve stayed with us while they found their feet is quite depressing.) It’s also a bit of a last-chance saloon, where people stay before they head off into the wild blue yonder, or return to from their adventures to decompress a bit before rejoining the rat race. She’ll be staying with us for two weeks. She was already an acquaintance of ours, and is very nice, so it’s no imposition. The money is always welcome as well… |
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| August 4, 2003 Felt too sick to go to work. Unfortunately, I did have to drag myself down to the Whittington for a blood test to check my progesterone level, but other than that, and seven loads of laundry, I spent the day lying listlessly on the bed while Adam beavered away upstairs, before leaving in the afternoon for a meeting at the Body Shop. He’s just lined up a 6 month project (2-3 days per week at an impressive day rate) shepherding the spring/summer 2004 catalogues for their four global commercial regions to publication. It’s great to line up a bread-and-butter job like that when you’re freelancing. Went round to Freddy and Beulah’s for a barbeque this evening. Nova was a bit out of sorts — she was very clingy, and it wasn’t that easy to settle her. I think she’s still getting over the trauma of the camping weekend. She’s been waking up in night, crying out things like “Upstairs!” and “Fimbles!” as if she’s been dreaming of a dreadful place where those things don’t exist… |
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| August 3, 2003 Nova slept pretty well from 7:30 to 5:30 the next morning and woke up full of cheer. Unfortunately, she’d worked herself into a horizontal position that cut across the two sleeping mats, and I wasn’t able to shift her. I ended up sleeping in a uncomfortably contorted position that left my neck and lower back aching. It was a blazing hot day, and by 9am too hot to stay in the tent. I dragged myself around the site feeling nauseated and weak. I wondered if I was coming down with whatever had afflicted Nova — it would have been hard to avoid it given the circumstances… I couldn’t face a full veggie breakfast at Henry’s Beard, and sipped a glass of apple juice while the rest of the group chowed down on eggs, bubble and squeak, beans, and grilled tomatoes. We bought Nova a beautiful sky blue elf dress. She was very pleased with it and attracted a lot of attention from the other festival goers.She had a few more goes on the swings (while I collapsed in a heap on the grass) before deciding to head for home. Adam had to do the rest of the packing up while I lay flat out in the big tent. Fortunately we managed to arrange to shift our gear on one of the horse drawn carts that were transporting people from the site (for a reasonable donation). It was a lot easier than walking the two miles to the car (in the 33 degree heat laden with bags and shepherding a wilful two year old along) but it was so bumpy that as soon as they dropped us off by the car I was down on my hands and knees sure I was going to be sick. The drive home went reasonably well — traffic wasn’t that bad for a summer Sunday. I hit the couch the minute we got in and didn’t move for the rest of the evening. Poor Adam did everything — Nova’s meal and bath, all the unpacking… We didn’t bother with dinner. There was no way I was eating anything, and I don’t think Adam had the energy to organise a meal for himself on top of everything else. |
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| August 2, 2003 Nova woke at 9am, and seemed to be feeling better. She drank quite a bit of water, and ate a few cream crackers and a hunk of banana. I have no idea what brought all that on, but it wasn’t pleasant. I had a wash under the cold water tap that served our corner of the field, which removed the smell of vomit cllinging to my face and hair, washed the pillow as best I could, wiped down the inside of the tent, and sluiced down the grass outside the tent door… Went onto the site for a cooked breakfast. I don’t know if it was the exhaustion, but mine didn’t sit all that well. Nova was still feeling pretty fragile, and it was a challenge to keep her under control. Adam had some lunch, but I didn’t feel like eating, and Nova wouldn’t touch anything but the chocolate on top of Adam’s flapjack.We finally gave up and headed back to the tent with her. Adam tried to settle Nova for a nap but, inevitably, he crashed out while she remained as lively as ever. Her behaviour over the afternoon became worse and worse, until she became so irritable that nothing would do. Michaela cooked some pasta for the two girls, but Nova was in such a state she didn’t eat much. We were all going to go for a meal, but by this point Nova was throwing herself around, screaming, “NOVA FALL DOWN!” and “MUMMY HUG!!” but when I’d pick her up she’d slap me away and fling herself to the ground again. In the end the rest of them went off without me. I wrestled Nova into her pajamas and spent over an hour trying to calm her down. She sobbed longer and harder than I thought physically possible, and a half an hour after she finally drifted off she was sobbing and hiccuping in her sleep. It was quite frightening actually… I did some packing up while I waited for the others to return, then went for some food and a bit of a wander round. It was 9:30pm by this point, and the atmosphere of the site was transformed. The darkness masked the mud, and splattered canvas tents were glowing from the candles and lanterns within. Many festival goers had dressed for the evening in outlandish hippy finery. There was live music in all the cafe tents and people sitting about drinking and relaxing. Festivals are quite magical at night. I wouldn’t have minded sitting for an hour or so listening to music with a soothing cup of chai, but I didn’t want to seem antisocial or have the others think that I was sulking or something. Bought a glass of milk to make Nova’s ‘bix in the morning, and headed back. The others had got a lovely fire going, and sat around drinking red wine and Souza tequila for the rest of the evening. |
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| August 1, 2003 It poured with rain all through the night. Fortunately we have a snug little tent, and escaped with only a bit of dampness where things were touching the edges. It was incredibly noisy though, with rain pelting on the flysheet, and the wind whipping and crackling the tents all around us. Nova woke up bright eyed at 5:30am. I managed to pacify her with rice crackers, a mug of ‘bix and raisins, a notebook to scribble in, but when she said, “Get out tent! Finish tent!! Done tent!!!” I realised we’d reached the limits of her patience. Dashing for Ben and Michaela’s tent through the stinging rain, I noticed that a number of flimsier gazebos and tents had actually been blown off their moorings. Hung about in their living space for a few hours until the rain finally let up. The site was a sea of mud. If wellies were nice to have yesterday, they were an absolute essential now. Not that everybody had them… There were lots of people struggling about with plastic bags tied over their shoes, and others who just gave up and went about barefoot. At least the camping fields weren’t muddy like they were at our last Glastonbury Festival. Nova was in pretty good spirits, and trudged along in her little wellies like a real trooper. Paid another visit to the hand-cranked swings, which she really enjoyed. She still piped up with a hopeful, “Home?” every once in a while though. She’s such a little homebody… Festival fashion has moved on in the few years since we’ve attended. There is still lots of flowing, hippie tie-dye gear, but there is a definite Lord of the Rings influenced looks as well. Lots of people in battered, wizard style hats that looked like they’d been woven out of bark or grass, or cowls that looked like the top half of a travelling cape. Fairy fashion was very big as well, and there were a number of people (young and old, male and female) sporting fairy dresses, skirts, or wings. There were a few topless women (again, age was no barrier) and plenty of naked children sploshing about happily in the mud. Checked out an children’s entertainment act we dubbed Stroppy the Clown. This woman was trying to train a group of 30 or so 3-6 year olds to perform a West Side Story inspired dance routine, with the all-too-predictable amount of success (ie, none whatsoever). She was getting quite snippy with the poor little things, and actually turned round at one point and told the watching parents that if they wanted to chat they should go outside… Not that anyone paid her any attention. It was all a bit over Nova’s head, but she seemed to enjoy it. The drummer let her play his bongos at the end, which she really enjoyed. Michaela cooked a pasta puttanesca for dinner. Nova ate well, and knocked back a few little fairy cakes Adam had bought from some little girls on the site. It took a while to settle her, but I managed it in the end. We got a camp fire going, and sat around talking until midnight. I was deep asleep when I was jolted awake my the sound of Nova retching. I managed to unzip the tent door, and stick her head out before she was violently sick. I cleaned her up with paper towel and wet wipes, gave her a drink of water and settled her back down. Within 20 minutes, she was sick again, this time managing to splash the pillow before I could stuff her outside. This continued until 6:30am, round after round of scooping her up, catching what vomit I could in my hand while unzipping the door, holding her over the grass to be sick, mopping up the tent, trying to limit her water intake to small sips, and settling her for fifteen minutes or so until it started up again… She was sick seven times in all, but was very brave, and didn’t complain or cry. She didn’t have a temperature, so I imagine it was a tummy bug picked up from something she touched or ate. Poor little mite… |
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