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On the waterfront
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Hostal
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Ramblin’ on the Ramblas
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Shopping
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New dress
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Spainwen
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Senorita Nova
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Los niños lindos
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El papa
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Knight Bus
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Dumbledore
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Nova and Rosie
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Lyra tries butterbeer
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London Aquarium
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Devlin and Kael
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Big Ben
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Elgin marble
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The Ritz
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Girl cousins
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Guardsmen
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Elgin marble
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Fashion…
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Cats
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Chilling
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Sunset
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Grumpy cat
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August 31, 2014Did a 12-mile run this morning. I followed my training plan insofar as I did miles six to eight faster than the other nine, but otherwise took it pretty conservatively. I was starting to lose my confidence about being able to run long distances, so it was good to tackle that concern.Found myself running among dripping wet pond-a-thon competitors at one stage. (We thought we might compete again this year, but just didn’t get organised to register a team.) Twice I was offered encouragement from the crowd –“Keep your motivation!” and “Great job — you’re almost done!” — which was a little weird, as I was a lot drier than everyone else, AND wearing headphones. But I smiled and gave a thumbs up each time. There are worse things in life than being mistaken for a biathlete…;-) Made Greek salad for lunch, then spent much of the afternoon tidying the girls’ room. Lyra’s purse has gone missing in the last few days. She’s certain she didn’t take it out of the house, so it’s probably just been tucked away somewhere unexpected. Didn’t manage to find it, but I did gather up three large bags of clothing and toys for Oxfam, so that’s something… Nova came down with a terrible headache right after lunch. I wondered if it had something to do with avoiding housework, until she threw up a couple of times. She even decided to cancel her sleepover with Shira, so she must be feeling pretty crappy, poor little mite. I left her the option of rescheduling for tomorrow if Shira can still make it. Sushi and miso soup for dinner, which we ate in front of the telly — an interesting documentary on the four murdered Romanov princesses. After that we watched an episode of the new Wallander — who appears to be developing early-onset Alzheimer’s — so that was an evening of feel-good telly… |
August 30, 2014By 8:30am David, Den and the kids were taxi-ing off to Heathrow, which made me sad…:-( Their departure feels like the end of the summer holidays. After breakfast, Adam took Nova to the uniform store to replace the gym kit she lost last year and then on to visit his mum.Beulah is still not feeling that great. From the surgeon’s point of view, the operation was a success, but she’s having a lot of stomach pain, and needs to see a specialist. Alex came round for a playdate. I set up a tent in the garden, which kept them entertained for a couple of hours. They cooked up a plan to go swimming with Nova at Archway pool. But it turns out that Alex’s family still paying rent on their old house which has access to a pool, so Adam dropped them round there instead. The three girls returned in time for dinner and a sleepover. To be honest, I wasn’t Alex’s parents trying to clear out their house, and it was a way we could help them. I made the little girls fish fingers and chips, then did a spinach potato curry for the rest of us. Andy Murray was playing some young Russian young gun at the US Open. He made more of a meal of it than he should have, but came through in four sets. To bed before midnight, still feeling a bit down. I always feel sad when I say goodbye to family. The house seems very quiet without those guys…:-( |
August 29, 2014David and I went for a six-mile run first this morning. It’s good challenge for me to run with him — it makes me I go that little bit faster than I would on my own… I had to scoot around when we got back to get the girls to the dentist on time. We made it, but at the expense of eating breakfast.Good news all around — no cavities, tartar or gingivitis. “Well done, mum!” the dentist said more than once. I picked up some gluten-free pasta at the Haelan Centre then headed over to Tesco for a big grocery shop. That managed to take an age, as did our stop at the petrol station. When I then got stuck in a traffic jam on Muswell Hill Road half a mile from home, I was fit to be tied. I’m afraid the girls may have learned some new vocabulary… After a late lunch, work started on the evening’sbirthday celebration preparations. I was banished to the bedroom, where I sipped a cocktail and caught up on work while the others toiled away. At 5:30, I was summoned upstairs, which was decorated with balloons and streamers. David had gone for a 1970s Prince George inspired menu: smoked oysters, cheese and crackers; beef stroganoff with poppyseed noodles, and a white cake with chocolate icing, hand decorated by the kids. I received a sheaf of birthday cards and a lovely Michael Kors wallet to go with my new bag. It was really very kind of them to spend the last day of their holiday this way, and really special for me to be able to celebrate the occasion (if a bit early) with some of my Canadian family…
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August 28, 2014There was just time for David and I to go for a three-mile run this morning before we needed to take over childcare responsibilities from Adam (who had a meeting) and Den and Ceinwen (who were going for a girl’s day out in London). Hung around the house for the morning then set off for Highgate Woods so the kids could let off steam in the playground.
For dinner, David and Denise picked up a selection of sausages from the butcher, which they served with mash and green beans. I made an onion tart to go with it, using buckwheat flour so that Denise could eat it. It was pretty good, if a bit dry… After that fare, I could barely keep my eyes open. I got Lyra to bed, then watched/dozed a few episodes of the Brady Bunch, which Ceinwen had never seen. In bed before 11pm, a rare event… |
August 27, 2014Hectic morning around here… Woke up just in time to scramble around ahead of the cleaner’s arrival. Had a thorough nitcombing session as well. The girls have been nit-free since the holidays started (surprise, surprise) and I have no idea where these latest buggers have come from. Plus the window cleaner came… At least the house is looking spotless.Just in time for David and Denise and co to return from Sidcup. It was pretty great to see everyone again. Those little boys are forces of nature but they do inject a lot of energy into the mix… Went for a pub dinner at the Bull. As it was Wings Wednesday — 16 wings for only £5 — we ordered a couple of plates. These guys aren’t your garden variety wings… They’re the Arnold Schwartzeneggers of the wing world, as opposed to those weedy little Steve Buscemi wings you normally get. Brought the leftovers back for tomorrow’s lunch… Afterwards, Adam and David headed off to the Arsenal v Besiktas match. We got the younger kids to bed then settled down for a quiet girls’ read in the livingroom. Very civilised… |
August 26, 2014Squeezed in a quick three-mile run this morning before I needed to take Lyra to the orthodontist. While it wasn’t as miserable out as yesterday, it was pretty drizzly and I was happy enough to call it quits after half an hour.Lyra’s orthodontist is in Crouch End, which can be a nightmare for parking. Adam decided to drop us off, park, then find a café where we could join him later, which took the stress out of the expedition. This is the first time Mr Patel has seen Lyra in eighteen months, and she has several more permanent teeth since her last visit. After examining her and some discussion (in which Lyra was an active participant), we decided to go for a retainer on her bottom teeth to encourage them to grow inwards. The main issue is a slight misalignment between her top and bottom jaw — while this might not be enough to resolve the problem, it seems worth a try. They made moulds of her teeth, took a series of photographs, and we’ll return in three weeks to have the retainer fitted. My little baby… |
August 25, 2014Torrential rain all day — your typical British Bank holiday Monday. Our girls headed over to Ruby and Rosa’s for the whole day. It’s really nice that they’ve rediscovered their friendship, and not that common to find families with the same age gap that we have.I’m still getting my ducks in a row, sorting, tidying, computer work… Finally spent a bit of time in the greenhouse, where my poor tomatoes and cucumbers are in shock at the abrupt change in temperature. Made salad rolls for lunch, and saved a couple for the girls who ate at Jemimas. They would be well cross to miss out on salad rolls. Dinner was butterbean soup and baking powder biscuits. I made some Grasmere gingerbread as well, something we’ve not had in a while… Started watching the Great British Bake-off this evening — always good fun, and some of the baking is truly impressive. We still have a couple of episodes to catch up before school starts. I know lots of the girls’ friends will be watching… |
August 24, 2014Went for a gentle three mile run first thing. After my week off, I had no appetite to jump right in with a long run. It’s surprising how quickly I lose the confidence that I can do it…Adam had breakfast meeting in town with some contact of a colleague in Vancouver. I’m still plowing through the laundry, but at least it’s not raining, so I can dry stuff outside… Lyra and Rosa got right back to their gardening project on the green. I’m not convinced that the sprout they’ve been soaking daily has come from the seeds they planted last week, but what do I know? I’m no botanist…;-) Nova did the ice bucket challenge this afternoon, which got Lyra’s knickers in a twist. First of all, Nova went with Adam’s footage for her video instead of Lyra’s, then she sulked until I agreed to pour a bucket of ice water over her head too. At dinner time, she was still too grumpy to help me make sushi, and flounced off in tears a couple of times. Eventually, I told her not to bother eating with us until she felt less miserable. She didn’t stay away long, as she couldn’t bear the thought of missing out on Japanese food, but she was still in a right mood at bedtime… Started watching Insomnia with Nova, but she didn’t like it at all and left us to it. Yet again, I was too tired to stay awake for the whole thing… |
August 23, 2014It’s great having four adults on the case when it’s time to leave a holiday home. Between us we got everyting packed up and tidied, scoured the place for anything we’d overlooked and prepared a packed lunch.David suggest we take the coast road to avoid the motorway toll, which was a fair enough idea — aside from the fact that it was the most windy, car sickness inducing road we’ve ever driven on. More than once one of the girls has vomited in the hire on the way to the airport, which is a supreme drag. Fortunately, both families made it back to El Prat without incident… Checked our bags, then ate a picnic lunch in the airport before going through customs. Much to the girl’s surprise, I was in a buying mood and allowed them to pick up a few things I would normally have instantly nixed. Adam was in a buying mood as well, and bought me a beautiful poppy red Michael Kors handbag, to replace my silver gray one which has started to fall apart. Our seats were scattered around the plane, and I ended up sitting on my own, while Denise sat with Lyra and Kael. Devlin hates missing out on anything Kael’s doing, so it was in the balance whether we could pull that one off, but we were far enough apart from each other, I don’t think he realised… Back at Stanstead, we went our separate ways after collecting the luggage. Their taxi took them to Sidcup, while we headed for Highgate. Unpacked immediately, ordered Indian food, and sat down together to watch a Harry Potter film. It was great to see the sets on screen after our trip to the studio last week, but I was too tired to stay awake for the whole thing… |
August 22, 2014Our last day in Spain…:-( Actually, it wasn’t the best day for a trip to the mountains. The unique, eye catching peaks were shrouded in cloud, and the celebrated views pretty limited. On the plus side, there were only crowds of tourists instead of hordes they must generally cope with. And it was pretty atmospheric with all that mist…
None of us were tempted by the cafeteria-style food on offer, snacking instead on cheese and honey samples offered by the vendors lining the road. Bought a bag of roasted hazelnuts and an ice cream cone each, and called it lunch. The stunningly beautiful basilica was almost deserted, and we sat quietly drinking it all in for ages…
By the time we emerged, the clouds had descended further and we were completely socked in.
We’d planned to snack on leftovers at home for dinner, but as we’d missed lunch we decided to stop in Villafranca to buy something a bit more substantial. We were crossing texts with David and Denise, who ended up eating dinner out. Back at the villa, I prepared a meal of tarragon chicken in a cream sauce, mashed potatoes, and runner beans, which made a welcome change from the week’s diet of cheese and saucisson… We polished off a couple of bottles of our cava when everyone was back, and the dessert wine we bought as well, for good measure. Less to carry home…;-) |
August 21, 2014David and I finally got it together to go for a run this morning. We drove into Sitges (which is dead easy, now that we know the way) parked up near the seafront. We ran just over three miles, following a beautiful route that took in a dozen beaches, the beautiful church, fancy hotels, elegant homes, not to mention great people watching opportunities…
We finally figured out how to get hot water out of our shower. Just as well… now that the temperature has dropped a few degrees, cold showers have lost all appeal. After lunch, our family went off to a tour of a local cava winery, Nadal. Our villa is on the edge of the Penedes wine district, which was too good an opportunity to miss. After a tour of the cellars and bottling plant, we got stuck into the wine tasting. We tried three types of cava and a dessert wine — all delicious — and ended up purchasing eight bottles.
We’d arranged to meet the others on the Sitges seafront for dinner. As we got there early, the girls changed into their swimsuits and had a little dip in the sea.
Ate dinner at a fancy old hotel on the main strip. We landed a prime table — great for people watching. Kael and Devlin acted up a bit at first, which was stressful for Denise and David, but things settled down eventually, The food was very nice, but it took too long to get everyone fed. I appreciate that the Spanish have a different idea about restaurant service, that’s it’s even considered rude to bring food too quickly, as if you’re trying to rush your customers out, but I’m pretty sure some of our order went astray… After leaving the restaurant, the kids had a little paddle in sea in by moonlight. Along the seafront, the fiesta was gearing up, with music floating on the air and flares going off by the church. Could have happily stayed, but it was time to get the little ones to bed…
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August 20, 2014Got a reasonably early start for our day trip to Barcelona, leaving the house about 8:30am. Drove into Sitges and parked up, then caught a local train, which takes about forty-five minutes.The younger kids were squabbling about this and that until David hit on the genius idea of silent golf. He provided a whispered commentary of each performer’s progress around the course, and the crowd’s wildly enthusiastic muted clapping. Started our sightseeing on Passeig de Gracia, where we checked out a couple of Gaudí buildings. Checked out the crazy queues as well, and decided that half our party was too young and disinterested to justify the significant entrance fees. Headed for the Ramblas instead, where we strolled along, absorbing the atmosphere. Devlin and Kael looked very natty in their matching hats, a pair of mini flaneurs… Would have loved to check out the food market, but couldn’t see it working for us. Instead we cut into the Barri Gotic, and found a little cafe with outdoor tables in a square in front of Picasso’s former art school. (I didn’t realise that when we sat down, but walking tours kept stopping by and pointing it out..)
We ordered a selection of tapas, which were consistently good, if not exceptional. Unfortunately, the wine which was thin and sour — glorified vinegar really. Concerned that Nova might not be allowed into the Sagrada Familia in her crop top and short skirt, we popped into American Apparel, and bought her a black crocheted dress she can wear over top. Very chic…
When we saw the eye-watering queue stretching around the Sagrada Famila, we were very glad to have booked ahead. We we ushered straight up to the entrance and inside, which was so beautiful tears it brought tears to my eyes. Spent twenty minutes watching an “informative” video about it in Spanish, only to discover they were showing the exact same thing in English just one niche over. Much more informative the second time round…;-) I learned how Gaudí had wanted to recreate the Bible in stone, and was reminded how he died after being knocked over by a tram. I hadn’t realised that no one recognised him at the hospital, and he was treated as a pauper… Afterwards, we did a bit of souvenir/gift shopping. David was keen to visit the Barcelona FC store, where the possible presents they chose for their housesitter soon morphed into presents for David… I bought Lyra a pair of spotted flamenco shoes and hair flower that she was very chuffed with, changing into them immediately…
Everyone was hungry and tired again, so we stopped at a little neighbourhood bar. It didn’t look like anything special — in fact, it had a horrible laminated “OK Paella” menu out front. We were just going to have a drink… until we saw their beautiful selection of bocadillas at the counter.
Afterwards, we walked back to Passeig de Gracia and caught the train home again. Made a bit of food and spent a quiet evening in — aside from a run to the petrol station in Canyelles, which does a surprisingly good range of groceries and snacks… |
August 19, 2014The weather forecast is pretty mixed during our week in Spain, and certainly much cooler than I worried it might be. Having looked at what’s predicted for the next few days, we decided that today was the best morning to hit the beach in Sitges.Our villa does not provide beach towels, which gave us a good excuse to book sun loungers. Didn’t bother getting them for the kids, accurately predicting they’d spend all their time in the sea or playing in the sand.
Nova is a particular water baby — she’d be leaping in the waves all day if she could…
Around midday, we decided it was time for some food and shade. Adam and I wanted to try out a restaurant called La Masia that our friend Lawrence had recommended, so we hopped in our cars and headed over there. We sat everyone down at a large table in their trellised garden, but the little boys just weren’t in the right head space for that kind of environment. Denise could tell that it was going to be a fraught experience, and made a sensible decision to leave us to it and find somewhere that worked better for their family. Had a very pleasant lunch, starting with olives and the inevitable pan tomat. I noticed a number of tables being served a sort of “salami tree” — a gnarled piece of wood with several salamis hanging from it, which they cut slices from. I wish I’d noticed it on the menu when we placed our order. Next time… The food was great — Adam had sausages, I had squid, and the girls shared a sizzling pan of garlic chicken. After clearing our meals and commenting approvingly on how much chicken the kids had scoffed, the waitress returned with a beaker half full of amber liquid and a plate of cookies. The beaker had a long, thin spout that poured a thin trickle of liquid — but she’d brought no glasses. When I asked what we were meant to do with it, she appeared to suggest that we pour it directly from the spout into our mouths. Not easily done, but we persisted because the malvasia liquor it contained was so delicious. I didn’t notice any of the other tables engaging in this activity so maybe it was something they enjoyed getting tourists to do… We had planned ot go to the fiesta in Sant Pere de Ribes this evening, but David and co had ended up lunching there, and it didn’t makes sense to head back again, so we opted for a dinner in. Did little planning for the Barcelona trip tomorrow instead, booking our Sagrada Familia tickets online… |
August 18, 2014Fortunately Adam and Nova were able to fill me in on all the bits I can’t remember…:-( (And I was just saying a couple of days ago that the girls had never seen me drunk… Certainly can’t say that anymore…)
I was feeling pretty rough, though not as bad as I could have given I drank two bottles of red wine on a pretty much empty stomach. Moped around all day, alternating water, nurofen, coffee, nurofen, fruit, yogurt, nurofen, water, nurofen… David’s family headed off exploring in the afternoon, and Adam got it into his head to make a Spanish tortilla. I left them all to it, and slumped in the garden not reading my book — Christopher Brookmyre’s Pandemonium. I felt somewhat perkier after dinner — well enough to accompany David and Den on a walk round our neighbourhood. It’s pretty clear that this was a new development that was hit by the global recession. I imagine these were intended to be holiday homes for wealthy Barcelonans and Tarragonians, maybe expats. There are a number of half-built luxury villas with gaping windows, and occasional evidence of vandalism. Which might explain all the guard dogs, big nasty fuckers who would hide in the shrubberies and then make a crashing leap against their security gate for maximum effect. The few cats we saw looked both wary and depressed… Watched Sexy Beast before bed — no idea where I found the energy to stay up for that. What a great film — and so not the weather we are having here in Catalonia… |
August 17, 2014We can’t get shower to run hot in our family bathroom, but aside from that we are enjoying our villa very much. The pool is beautiful — cool but refreshing — just like the shower unfortunately…;-)
I think the owners have undersold how spacious it is. I’m pretty sure they didn’t mention the great pingpong table or sea view either… The owners had mentioned that there was a market in Canyelles every Sunday, so after breakfast we bundled into our cars and drove back into town. There were maybe a dozen stalls selling fresh fruit and vegetables, cheese, olives, wine, clothing, cookware… Had good fun browsing and supplementing our provisions. Nova picked up a cute bag and a sunhat, Lyra chose an acid yellow teeshirt with an unknown slogan in Catalan, and I bought a beautiful paella pan. Headed back to villa for lunch. We ate some bread and cheese, and cracked a bottle of wine. Then some more wine, and some more… The bottles seemed to be opening themselves…
Fortunately, Denise had the presence of mind to cook some dinner, and somebody put the kids to bed eventually, or maybe the kids put me to bed, I couldn’t tell you… |
August 16, 2014Managed to squeeze in a few hours sleep before our 5:45am departure… It was all going smoothly until we encountered an unexpected road closure on the North Circular. That got the old blood pumping! Fortunately taxi driver up to the challenge, and found an alternate route that still got us to Stansted in good time…We were confronted by the usual Ryanair chaos. It’s a genuine mystery to me how it can take so long to check people in after we’ve spent so much time entering our details online… Adam conked out the minute we took our seats, and stayed that way for the entire uneventful flight. Budget is clearly competing with Ryanair for most inefficient customer service. The line to collect our prebooked hire car took 1 and a 1/2 hours — the same length of time as the flight. I feel a letter of complaint coming on… At least David and Denise turned up just as Adam reached the front, so we wouldn’t have been leaving the airport any faster…
The drive to the villa was straightforward and we found the place without incident. The place is huge, and is really very nice. Website didn’t do it justice. Two bedrooms and a bathroom on each side, a big living room, dining room, kitchen and kind of atrium. All the bedrooms are pretty much the same, which is good. (We’ve shared places with other families before where one couple gets the master bedroom with en suite bathroom and private deck, and the other couple is in a windowless room with two single beds…) The garden is enormous as well, with lots of room for kids to mess about. For now, their first priority was getting into the swimming pool. Little Devlin was determined to swim like the bigger kids totally overlooking the fact he’s had only three swimming lessons. Twice, Denise leapt fully clothed into the pool to rescue him…
When everyone had enough swimming, we drove into our local village to do some shopping. Canyelles was not as billed — for one thing you can’t walk into town from the villa. For another, there were very few shops, all of which we closed, aside from the farmacia. Drove the few miles into Vilanova, a much larger place on the coast. Located the supermercato and did a big shop to see us through the first half of the week. The three younger kids sped around with little trolleys that they loaded with identical items. There were a few tears at the checkout before that was all resolved. Ate dinner back in Canyelles, at Casa de Ingrid — a charming blonde woman who treated the children like honoured guests. Went for the 20€ menu del dia — olives, saucisson, pan tomat, gazpacho, chicken with prunes, and fruit salad for me, paella for Nova and Ceinwen and pizza for the younger kids.
Everything very good, including the wonderful velvety house red wine. Knocked back a couple of bottles no problem. When I was checking the bill, it didn’t seem to be included. Pointed it out to Ingrid, who told me that it was included in the fixed price menu. What a nice welcome to Spain! |
August 15, 2014Last day before we’re off to Spain for a week. Lots to do, and not much time to do it in, especially as we had prebooked tickets to visit the Harry Potter Studios in Watford with Shenda and her family.Set off after lunch, arriving with enough time a coffee before they got there. Lyra was very excited: “I’ve been wanting to come here for as long as I could say Harry Potter!” she told me. I was pretty pumped about it as well — and we weren’t disappointed. Walking into the Great Hall at Hogwarts was pretty special. I particularly loved all the sets — the boy’s bedroom, Gryffindor common room, Hagrid’s cottage — it was all there. It was very impressive how much effort went into the smallest details — things the camera may have lingered on for only a few minutes, or never even shown close up. I was also surprised at how much was mechanical as opposed to CGI — for example, the snake door guarding the Chamber of Secrets. All three girls had a go at flying a broomstick, though there is no photographic evidence of this, because neither Shenda or I was will to stump up £12 per for a souvenir photo… Got home about 7:30pm, and started tackling the hours of stuff to do still before we were ready. Made a quick spaghetti al limone for dinner — not what I fancied eating, but I was limited by our remaining groceries. Just once, I’d love to get a reasonable amount of sleep the night before we go on holiday… |
August 14, 2014Finally managed to squeeze in a run. I did a hard six miles, four of them fast. One mile came in at 9:15, which is good going for me…Nova is having a sleepover with Rosie at the house Shenda and Don have swapped for in Chiswick this evening. I’d thought of travelling in with her and maybe going to the Royal Academy, but I have a list as long as my arm of stuff to get ready for our Spanish trip. Plus, Lyra was moaning about the idea and would have been jealous when Nova went off without her. Nova felt confident she could do the journey on her own, so I decided to let her. They were having tea at the Wolesley, so Nova took the tube to Green Park, walked in and found them. Pretty cool… She also found Lyra’s sunhat, which she borrowed and lost when we were there last week. Also pretty cool… Instead, I took Lyra to Brent Cross to buy toiletries, a replacement sunhat, adapter, etc. Exciting, not… One high point, was Lyra getting a massage in one of those five minute booths, which she loved… Back home, we suddenly realised we didn’t have a sitter for Lyra. We had longstanding tickets to see a comedian at Jackson’s Lane, and had assumed Nova would be available. Fortunately Thea (Etta’s big sister) was around to fill in… Noel Fielding used to be in something called The Mighty Bhoosh. He’s developing his new act — it’s surreal comedy, and largely pretty gentle — generally silly not mean. I especially liked his piece on being a herbal tea bag and never getting picked. He wasn’t even sure what flavour he was, having been in the cupboard since the 80s… Watched Good Will Hunting when we got home. No doubt there’ll be a rash of Robin Williams films on the telly now. I’d forgotten how good that movie is. In fact, if you’d asked me, I would have said I didn’t much like it… |
August 13, 2014David’s family headed off for Paris this morning, leaving the house well before 7am. They were all looking pretty tired, but perhaps they’ll grab a little more rest on the Eurostar…Spent the morning sorting out the house and catching up on the kinds of things that just don’t get done when you’re busy enjoying yourself or hanging out with visitors. Nora came and worked her magic, and by noon the house was looking great. Ruby called Nova up out of the blue, and they spent most of the day hanging out. It’s really nice to seem them together — they were pretty tight as three-year-olds. Lyra got her nose out of joint when Nova left, but fortunately Rosa summoned her shortly after… I had an appointment to get my hair highlighted and cut — long overdue as always. I saw a new guy who, in spite of never having met me, had rather strong opinions about how my hair should look. Actually, I quite like that in a hairdresser. As a result, I’ve ended up somewhat darker, and with more layers than expected. I think it looks good — next time, he informed me, it will be even shorter with a full head of highlights… Met Don and Shenda for dinner in Notting Hill at a place called The Shed. It’s not somewhere I’ve been before, but I thought it would be right up Shenda’s alley. It was buzzy, intimate, informal, and served very good food and excellent prices (certainly for that neighbourhood). We had such a good evening we forgot to take a photo. It has been so good to catch up with them again — and to see Don (who I’ve always had an enormous soft spot for) after all these years… |
August 12, 2014Happy birthday, Greg! The three younger kids were quite complainy on the way down. It is a long walk, and everyone was getting hungry, but we made it eventually. Spread our blanket on the grass across from the playground, and had something to eat before the little ones raced off to play and have a dip in the pool. We’d just finished eating when the clouds broke, which immediately brought the temperature down by several degrees. Sheltered under an inadequate little canopy until the rain stopped, then headed home.
At the bottom of West Hill, we popped the kids on a 214 bus under Ceinwen and Nova’s charge, leaving David, Den and I to have a peaceful walk home. Headed out to see Sinead O’Connor at the Roundhouse this evening with Dave,Denise, and my friend Jane. Ate at a little Thai place beforehand, which was surprisingly good — it definitely wasn’t the right evening to enjoy the Roundhouse’s rooftop beach. Our seats for the gig were all the way around to one side. I thought they’d be crap, but we actually ended up being quite close. Sinead dedicated the entire gig to Robin Williams, who has committed suicide today. I don’t know whether they were personal friends, but I know she has also dealt with mental health issues, so that could also have been the reason. She opened the show with John Grant’s Queen of Denmark — a song that I love. I’d forgotten how amazingly powerful her voice is. Aside from Nothing Compares to U (and a couple of others) I didn’t know most of the songs, but still enjoyed it very much. The kids were all awake when we got back… Nova and Ceinwen had obviously had a rough time controlling the boys, but once mummy was back they were more than ready to go to sleep… |
August 11, 2014Went for a run with David this morning. Plan A was to set off at 8am, but he needed a bit more time to get his ducks in a row. Did my usual six-mile loop, which in spite of yesterday’s rain, wasn’t too muddy.We’re reasonably compatible running partners. We started out a little faster than I would have done on my own, but I’m much more used to running hills than David is (unsurprising, given he lives in Saskatchewan), and that levelled things out somewhat. Had quick showers when we got back then set off for the London Aquarium. Started our journey with a ride on the 271 doubledecker bus, so the boys could experience that, then switched to the tube for the rest of the trip.
Ate lunch at Strada on the Southbank before tackling the Aquarium. The queues were crazy, and it was the best part of an hour before we finally clapped eyes on a fish.
At a different attraction, the crowds would have been overwhelming, but it was calm and dark and fish are very tranquil. The central shark tanks amazing, and it was a complete surprise to me to discover that they had penguins, having never made it to the top floor before… It’s a pain that Embankment station is closed at the moment, but we made our way home from Waterloo. Made amatriciana pasta for dinner, then watched a few episodes of Fawlty Towers, which Ceinwen had never seen. Lyra was feeling a bit unwell at bedtime. I think she’s probably dehydrated, so gave her glass of water and some Calpol for her headache. I stayed downstairs afterwards to see if she settled and ended up crashing out myself… |
August 10, 2014Hurricane Bertha reached the UK this morning, bringing driving rain and high winds, and flattening any possibility of doing a twelve-mile run. Instead, I got things sorted before David, Den and the boys arrived from Heathrow.They looked in pretty good form for a family who’d spent a sleepless night on an airplane, and it was wonderful to see their impressive weight loss in the flesh… Took the day pretty slow — uncomplicated meals, forays into the village for bits and pieces, an outing to a local pub to watch Arsenal beat Man City in the Community Shield. They were all in bed by 8:30, and I watched my usual Supernatural episode with Nova and Ceinwen. A horrible ghosty one set in an abandoned mental asylum. Given that the show is filmed in Vancouver, I’m nearly certain that it was set in the old Riverview asylum. Nova was very impressed to hear that I’d slept there for a week before it was shut down. In grade seven, we had a week-long class trip to Vancouver. For some reason, it was arranged for us to be accommodated there. I can’t remember if it coincided with the Easter holidays, but there were very few patients in residence. They were supposed to stay in a separate wing of the building, but not all of them did. A few residents wandered over to our wing until attendants tracked them down and guided them back. Funny to be reminded of that… |
August 9, 2014Didn’t feel much like doing my six-mile run this morning, but carried on as if I did, and it was okay. Lately I’ve been having a problem running as slowly as my trainer recommends, but that wasn’t an issue today… Stuck to that 11-minute-mile pace with no trouble at all…:-)We’d arranged to meet Shenda, Don and Dom at the British Museum, so after Lottle was picked up we headed out. Hit the must-sees — Rosetta stone, Neried monument, Elgin marbles, mummies — before the kids lost steam and we headed to Wagamama for lunch. Walked into Covent Garden afterwards, poking around in shops in Seven Dials before leaving the three big girls to shop on their own for an hour while we sloped off to the Lamb and Flag for a pint. It a great historic pub to show visitors — Dicken’s was a local and apparently it features in one of the novels, though I’m not sure which one.
Went to a garden party at Ben’s this evening. He got lucky with the weather — Hurricane Bertha is scheduled to land in the UK today, but it held off until after midnight. Lots of grilled fish, salads, hummus, and a wonderful tart featuring figs from the tree we we sitting under… |
August 8, 2014Made blueberry muffins for breakfast. Maybe not the best choice to follow yesterday’s cakefest, but I had things in the fridge that needed using up before I hit the grocery store.Nova and Ceinwen headed off to Camden Town to hang out in the market, Adam set off for Heathrow, and I had Lyra to myself until mid-afternoon. Took her to Waitrose, where she is always an enormous help and makes the shopping go much faster. Though I do generally end up buying food items, magazines, Lego Movie DVDs etc that I wasn’t planning on purchasing…;-) Shenda and her family landed in London yesterday evening, and came round for dinner tonight. We have Lottie sleeping over too, so it was a full house, with ten for dinner. I decided to go Greek, making lamb burgers, pitta breads, Greek salad, tzatziki, lemon potatoes, corn on the cob and a pavlova for dessert. (Completely forgot that Shenda doesn’t care for lamb, they live in a Greek neighbourhood, and unfortunately they had hamburgers for lunch — but hey, they didn’t come for the food…) I got the prep pretty much out of the way before they arrived, which meant I was free to enjoy a welcome to-London G&T with them when they arrived. When the burgers were ready to eat, we gave the six kids the dining table and ate in the living room. Switched to wine at this point, which went down pretty smoothly, especially a bottle of gruner veltliner that Kiran brought for dinner a few months back — delicious stuff. They took a mini cab back to Chiswick about 11:30, leaving Rosie for a sleepover.
The three older girls slept in the flat, and Lyra and Lottie took the girls’ room. That pair are totally obsessed with an online game called Movie Star Planet. Barely heard a peep from them all evening…
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August 7, 2014
Girls’ day out today with Nova, Lyra and Ceinwen. Squeezed in a six-mile run first, even though I knew I’d probably be walking that distance as well.. I’d booked tickets for us to tour Buckingham Palace, so we caught the tube to Green Park. Unfortunately, that route brings you to the wrong side of the palace — at exactly the wrong time as well. Had to fight our way through throngs of tourists arriving to see the changing of the guard. Very hard for me to understand the fuss around that non-event…
Happily, I was much more impressed with the palace than on my previous visit. Perhaps they’ve improved the audioguide? There was also a temporary exhibition on royal childhood, which we all enjoyed.
I’d thought we might buy a snack and spend an hour in St James Park afterwards watching the pelicans, but the timing wasn’t right. Instead, we headed back to Piccadilly and grabbed a bite of lunch at Itsu. Afterwards, we moseyed along doing a bit of shopping: Hatchards, the new Cath Kidston shop, that churchyard market, Paperchase before rocking up at the Wolseley for afternoon tea.
I do love that place. Fancy without being formal, and the food is excellent, but above all, it’s the service that makes it special. We all went for the full meal deal — sandwiches, scones and cakes — and I added a well-deserved glass of champagne too.
On my trip to the loo, I found a little shoulder bag on the shelf behind the toilet. The thought crossed my mind to open it, but I decided that was just nosiness. What was I planning to do, look for picture ID, then search the restaurant for the owner? Instead, I handed it in to the maitre d’ before returning to our table.
As I told the girls about it, all the colour drained from Ceinwen’s face. “I think that was my bag!” she said. She hurried off to find the maitre d’, and sure enough it was. So my first instinct to look inside it was a good one after all…
Read a depressing news item today. The percentage of black cats ending up at the RSPCA has greatly increased in the last few years. Apparently, this is because they doesn’t photograph well, and make lousy subjects for cute cat videos and photos…
August 6, 2014
I’ve decided not to do the Wednesday runs in my training schedule – I’m pretty sure that my 50-year-old legs better off without them… Anyway, there was lots to do this morning. After breakfast, Adam headed off to the airport with the girls to pick up Ceinwen, and I did the tidying in advance of Nora’s arrival…
Ceinwen had told Adam that she was keen to have pub lunch while she was in London, so we decided to go to the Red Lion and Sun for fish and chips. I decided to risk a half-size order, and had no adverse effects…
Afterwards, the girls took Ceinwen for a tour round the village, while Adam and I polished off some work. I’d intended to get dinner sorted before Wotjek arrived to build new shelves, but I didn’t manage it, which was a hassle…
Cooked our banh mi meatballs on the barbeque, which wasn’t a complete success. Ceinwen is also a Supernatural fan, so after dinner we watched the dreaded Bug episode — not as disturbing as feared…;-)
August 5, 2014
Did a six mile run with strides before breakfast. I really want to get my work out of the way before the house guests start arriving, but it’s going to be a challenge. This is my last proper work day in August…
Rosa came round to play with Lyra this afternoon. Although the two girls are only eight months apart in age, they couldn’t be more different in size. Rosa is absolutely titchy while Lyra is growing by the day…
Hosted a little neighbourhood leaving do for our Joan this afternoon. It was Adam’s idea, and he promised to take the lead on organising it. In the event, he set out for a Jackson’s Lane meeting, and returned home only three minutes before the guest of honour arrived.
I was not impressed (to put it mildly), especially as I couldn’t get to the shops to buy any food with the little girls in the house. I rooted around in the fridge and freezer. I managed to pull together some blini and mushroom piroshki left from Christmas, an old smoked mackerel to turn into paté, and half a tub of hummus that I served with carrot sticks.
About twenty neighbours showed up to send Joan off. She was very touched, and even got a bit tearful at one point. I don’t think she’s the kind of person people put themselves out for, which made me very glad I did it. Personally, I would be surprised if my neighbours of thirty years didn’t throw me a leaving drink.
After everyone left, I made a tray of nachos for dinner. Not the healthiest food week so far…
August 4, 2014
It all kicks off this week… Ceinwen arrives from Regina on Wednesday, my friend Shenda in town with her family from Thursday, and David, Denise and the boys arrive to stay on Saturday… Exciting!
I should be taking advantage of the last couple of clear days to work, but I’d promised to take Lyra and her friend Alice to see How to Tame Your Dragon 2. Needless to say didn’t have high hopes for it. Actually, it was surprisingly good, or at least not actively bad. I quite enjoyed it, and the girls loved it, which was the main thing.
Lyra all glammed up for her trip to the cinema
Dinner was a turmeric chicken recipe from the internet — very nice, I’ll be making that again. And adding it to Ten More Bites in due course… There’s bit of a queue of recipes waiting to get on the site, which is good. That way I don’t feel pressured to come up with something every day, and it can just carry on publishing itself while I’m in Spain as well…
August 3, 2014
Slept in later than I would have liked, given that I was doing a 12-mile run today — and it was 8:30 by the time I set off. Not too hot fortunately, but still it meant running on an empty stomach until nearly 11am, which was a drag…
My “trainer” advised me to practice my eating and drinking strategies on this run. I know I should, but I’m quite nervous of gels after some alarming experiences during my marathon training. I tried some energy beans last year, and they were okay, but I’m not completely happy with them either. Planned my route so I had access to water fountains for the second half, and it went okay.
What didn’t go okay was the GPS. It buggered up around three miles, and proceeded to give me the most ridiculous updates from that point onwards. I decided just to go by time and run for two hours and twenty minutes, which would be a a solid 11:40/mile pace. By the time I finished, it was claiming I’d done more than 28 miles, some of them at a 2:30 pace. I wish…;-)
Arrived home to find Adam hoovering(!) — not an everyday occurrence by any stretch of the imagination. No idea what got into him…;-)
Nova took Lyra swimming at Archway Pool in the afternoon, while we worked on the Heathrow text. It’s steadily coming together, but we’re a couple of days behind where we should be. Pretty much all the budget used up too…
Prawn malai curry for dinner. Delicious, delicate almost sweet with the coconut milk and spices like cinnamon and cloves, though there is no added sugar.
August 2, 2014
Five mile run this morning… I wanted to get out of the house early, but Tony was coming round to install the new cooker, and there were things to do to get readu for that before I could get away… I did a better job of going slow than I usually do. Not as slow as I wanted, but at least I kept my pace consistent at about 10:40/mile. When I felt myself speeding up, I’d picture little Lyra running alongside me and try to go at the pace I would run with her.
Tony was just sliding the new cooker into position when I got home. It looks great, and we were all feeling very pleased about it until I tried to open the door… The handle runs horizontally along the top of the door, so naturally we’d just assumed it would open down. In fact, it opens to the left… and hits the wall just before it is fully open, which makes it very difficult to get the oven racks out.
There was some discussion about cutting a groove into the wall to accommodate the handle, but that seems excessive… I’m a bit pissed about it, though it’s not really anyone’s fault. And on closer exploration, it is livable with. I’ll need to pull the cooker away from the wall a couple of inches and twist it a bit to rearrange the racks, but so be it…
Did a Tesco/Iranian grocer shop while Nova got her new glasses fitted. Sod’s law, she found her missing glasses this morning, having finally got round to emptying her school bag.
Pork wraps for dinner with a watermelon feta salad. Heathrow work in the evening until gone midnight…
August 1, 2014
Rabbits! Got off to a bit of a slow start, but Adam and I managed to put in some good work on Heathrow in between:
- dropping off and picking up Lyra in Muswell Hill
- watching her Frozen performance
- overseeing an electrical check on one of the flats
- taking delivery of the new cooker
- having Wojcek round to do some advance DIY before Paul turns up to install it tomorrow morning, and
- collecting Nova from work at Beauty Mart, where she was “paid” for her services with seven twelve-bag boxes of popcorn.
My joke when she called requesting the lift — “I won’t work for peanuts, but I will work for popcorn…”
It wasn’t feasible to cook dinner with Polish builders in our primitive kitchen, so we ordered pizzas for dinner and ate it in front of Mean Girls…
