December 2004

December 31, 2004

It’s the last day of the year… I had a strong impulse to clean up and clear out things, but Nova can make so much more mess and chaos than I could ever get on top of, that’s there’s not much point… I did a few loads of laundry, a pile of ironing, changed the beds, and cleared out the fridge…

The iPod arrived, so we had some fun playing with that. It’s hard to believe that something the size of a pack of cards is capable of holding our entire music collection…

Anne came over to “apologize for Katie’s behaviour”. Apparently, her older granddaughter Katie now has her boyfriend staying in our flat as well, without asking Anne’s or my permission first (I guess she knew what the answer would be). I thought I’d heard a male voice down there this morning…

We’d accepted an invitation to a New Year’s Eve party in Rebecca’s office building in Shoreditch. There was a creche arranged, with someone to watch over kids and it all seemed like a good idea until I started thinking about it. There was no way Nova was going to want to stay in a room with a group of kids ranging from three to thirteen until midnight. There was an option of settling her in an empty office on her inflatable, but that didn’t seem like such a great idea either…

In the end, we decided against the party — we took the monitor over to the Stillmans and went for dinner in the village. It was almost ten by this point, and it took a while to find somewhere open and still serving. I would have thought New Year’s Eve would be a big night for restuarants, but obviously not. Now that I think of it, I’ve never spent New Years Eve in a restaurant…

We ended up at Kiplings, where we had a curry and a bottle of chardonnay. Back to the Stillmans by 11:45, and saw the year in with them, drinking champagne and watching the London Eye fireworks on the telly. Poor Anne was looking very haggard — I hope she’ll still be with us this time next year…

December 30, 2004

I was awake again in the night… it’s a rare night that I get an unbroken sleep…

Nick and Jane were coming for lunch today. I was going to make turkey soup with the stock I’d boiled up, which was chilling in the downstairs fridge. Adam went down to get it, and returned with the unwelcome news that the freezer compartment had melted and filled the stock pot with meltwater. I thought about just giving it a bloody good boil, but eventually decided just to chuck it. Fortunately, I had enough stuff around to make kedgeree instead…

Went for walk on the Heath first. Nova insisted on bringing baby Zijada in her pushchair, which ensured that we proceeded at a pretty leisurely pace. Returned for the kedgeree which we ate with champagne, and Christmas baking for dessert. We’re making a real push on the baking at the moment — it would good to get it out of the house before the new year.

Once they’d gone I crashed on the couch for a nap. Made Nova a turkey sandwich for dinner, I didn’t feel like eating myself — my digestion still isn’t right. Once Nova was down, I spent some time practicing my guitar. It is really tricky getting your fingers positioned correctly on the strings — it seems like you really have to contort your hand to manage it…

Pasc came round to raid my wardrobe. She wants to add a little glamour to her New Year’s Eve outfit, and ended up borrowing my gold lamé cardie.

December 29, 2004

Adam and Pete went for a run this morning. I took Nova over to Pasc’s with her ‘bix, cheerios and raisins in tupperware, and she had her breakfast with Fay. When the guys returned, the four of us had breakfast together before we headed home.

Drove to Pad’s in Stoke Newington for lunch. Adam and Pad used to work together at Friends of the Earth, where he headed up their anti-nuclear energy campaign. Five years ago, he had a stress-induced breakdown. Since then he’s struggled with mental illness, and and hasn’t been in any shape to see people for the last couple of years. He’s started a new drug regime a few months back and seems to be putting his life back together, which is really good to see.

He’d prepared a great tapas lunch: olives, chillies stuffed with anchovies, chorizo cooked in red wine, grilled squid, potato tortilla, tiramisu, and Spanish cheese to finish. We got through a couple of bottles of wine, and had a good catch up. He’s pretty focussed on the experience he’s been through, which is understandable since he’s been too unwell to do much of anything for the past few years.

Headed home at dinner time, and made Nova some pasta. We didn’t need to eat anything ourselves — I was feeling a bit ill actually, I just hope it’s all that oily food, and not the vomiting sickness sweeping the neighbourhood…

The news from Asia gets worse and worse. The death toll climbs by thousands every day. About twenty British people have been confirmed dead, but given that there are hundreds more missing, that number is sure to climb. We made a donation to the relief effort, another drop in the bucket…

December 28, 2004

I went for a run this morning — nothing over ambitious, just a couple of miles round Highgate Woods to get back into the habit of it. Spent the morning at Rob and Jemima’s. Jemima’s ill now, and spent most of the visit in bed. The girls weren’t getting on very well either — Ruby loves the idea of getting Nova on a leash and leading her around like a dog, and Nova just doesn’t want to play that game. It’s been a point of contention in the past…

We spent some time playing with Rob’s iPod and decided that it might be the solution for our broken stereo problem and the legacy music we have on tape and vinyl. We ordered one from Bose when we got home. Spent the evening building up a spreadsheet of our existing music collection: the format, whether it’s available for download, and whether we’d replace it. We spent most of evening at it, although we still have a good number of unlabelled compilation tapes to listen to… A lot of those tapes go back to my university days or even earlier…

December 27, 2004

I couldn’t sleep last night for some reason… maybe because I dozed through so much of the Sherlock Holmes. I ended up listening to this ridiculous World Service serial in the middle of the night, about a Irish-Nigerian family living in West London. I must have dozed off eventually, because the next thing I remember is Nova peering down at me and telling me to “get up now, mommy!”

Had leftover melton mowbray for breakfast. It’s funny — growing up in Canada, our unusual Christmas breakfast was explained as an English tradition that Grandma and Grandpa brought over from the old country. I’ve been living here eleven years now, and have yet to meet an English person who’s even heard of this tradition… I wondered whether Grandma and Grandpa missed eating a good pork pie, which are as common as hamburgers over here, and invented the tradition themselves to justify the trouble of making one. But the Internet, that treasure trove of arcane knowledge, set me straight. I found the following on a photography blog with accompanying images:

What do you have for breakfast on Christmas day?
When she was growing up PJ was served pork pie and pickle for breakfast on Christmas day. When she told me recently I thought it very strange behaviour. After a little research we discovered it is not unusual for local people to have this tradition. The home of the pork pie is Melton Mowbray, a town not too far from here in Leicestershire. This morning we adopted the tradition, and abandoned our porridge for a meaty breakfast.

By the sound of the responses, the tradition may well start spreading through the USA… Additional research reveals that mowbray pies are traditionally eaten with pickle (like Branston pickle), which has been modified to pickles in our family.

Nova got 101 Dalmations for Christmas, and we all been christened with new names. She’s Perdy, Adam is Pongo, Dave is Horace, and I’m Cruella… When Dave left this morning, Nova said, “It’s the end of Dave!”

The Stillman girls are still ensconced downstairs. They are being pretty cheeky actually… Instead of sleeping at our place and spending the day visiting with their grandparents, they pretty much hang out at our place, going next door only for meals.

Nova vomited all over the couch this afternoon. She said she wanted to lie down and watch television, and had been settled quietly for a while when she said she needed some meggies. It turned out she needed them to cover up a big puddle of vomit.

A major cleaning operation ensued: the couch cover, one of the silk cushions, baby Zijada, baby Jesus, and Nova’s clothes and hair were all involved. We got her settled in clean clothes with a basin, and she threw up three more times, eventually falling asleep with her head in the (clean) basin. I hope it’s something she ate and not the vomiting bug that has felled everyone in Ruby’s family… Nova ate (and kept down) some scrambled egg before bed, which was a good sign…

December 26, 2004

Turkey carcasses are so unappealing… It took me the best part of an hour to remove the rest of the meat from the bones and get it into the stock pot. Nova seemed a bit off today — maybe a post-Christmas slump after all the excitement of yesterday.

Adam took her off to feed the ducks in Waterlow Park with Rob, Jemima and Ruby, which gave me a chance to do the prep for tonight’s vegetarian Christmas dinner with Dave. I got the brussel/leek/carrot mix prepped and the horseradish dressing made, started the red cabbage sweating, and peeled another round of potatoes for mash. For most English people, Christmas seems to be about eating vegetables like sprouts and cabbage that they wouldn’t touch the rest of the year…

Dropped round Rob and Jemima’s for a slice of orange cake and a coffee. We were sitting there chatting away when Rob came back from checking his email. “There’s been an earthquake in Indonesia and Sri Lanka,” he said. “It sounds pretty serious.” “Indonesia and Sri Lanka…?” I thought. “They’re thousands of miles apart. He must mean India and Sri Lanka.”

Stopped by the Stillmans for a Christmas drink — a quick gin and tonic before returning home for our lunch. Pete, Pasc and kids and Jemima came round ours for drinks in the afternoon. Pasc and I got through an impressive quantity of wallbangers (they do go down very smoothly…) while the guys stuck with champagne. Today has reminded me of Boxing day in Prince George. We used to go visiting as a family around the neighbourhood: the Lundens, Furlans, Vukovics, Kennedys. I’m pretty sure Billy Morris used to have an open house on Boxing Day as well.

Dave showed up around 5pm, which rallied Nova’s spirits a bit. She’d been very clingy and contrary all afternoon, refusing the play with Fay, or watch the video that Sid had brought. Just as well probably, as it was the Prison of Azkaban… We exchanged gifts with Dave — we’d got him a bottle of Kalashnikov vodka, a pair of Japanese toe socks, and Nigel Slater’s autobiography Toast. He gave Nova a Maisie Christmas kit and another book, me the latest Nick Cave CD and a Carl Hiassen novel, and Adam a pair of hiking socks.

Once the others left I served dinner: the rest of Beulah’s tomato avocado slice for starters, nut wellingtons with veggie gravy and the above mentioned vegetables. Didn’t bother with dessert…

December 25, 2004

Merry Christmas all!
I was the first up as usual. I came upstairs sat with the tree for a while before snapping to and getting started on my Christmas tasks… Nova and Adam woke up about eight. She wanted to put on her Christmas dress before heading upstairs. She was thrilled to see her stocking filled, but very sweet as well. She went through it all carefully, saying “Oh, Santa gave me a hippopotamus! Oh, Santa gave me some stickers!” at each item. She was very pleased with her new doll and cot, but the big hit from Santa was definitely the singing pink winged unicorn.

We started on the presents next. We got her a talking Dora Explorer backpack, Anne and John gave her a little camp chair complete with drinks holder. There was the most beautiful dress and shoes from Margo and Aaron, a Polly Pocket from David, finger puppet mittens and sparkly hair ties from Greg and Wendy, a couple of books, a bright yellow fleece jacket from John and Jackie. The final present she opened was a lavender fairy castle from Grandpa Ed. It came with 56 screws and after our melton mowbray and champagne breakfast, Adam spent the rest of the morning assembling it.

Anne Stillman came by for a visit (I think she’d been banished from her own kitchen where her daughter-in-law was preparing their Christmas lunch). It set me back a bit on my own schedule, but I still managed to get the turkey washed, stuffed and in the oven by 1pm. I prepped all the vegetables as well: potatoes for mashing; squash and parsnips to roast; and corn; plus cranberry sauce and hard sauce for the Christmas pudding. Actually, in some ways, Christmas dinner is a relatively easy meal compared to some of the dinners we cook, once you get the beast in the oven.

Nova had a lovely day playing with her various toys, but by mid-afternoon we thought she’d benefit from some fresh air, so Adam took her out for a play in the back garden. Freddy and Beulah arrived about four. Beulah brought the starter — her tomato-avocado mousse (she doesn’t eat shellfish, so the traditional Horth family shrimp cocktail was out). She was a great help in the kitchen — mom would have thoroughly approved of the way she cleared up behind me as I worked. She showed me how to skim the fat off the gravy with the baster before I started my gravy, which improved it no end. My new potato ricer (as recommended by Margo) made a great improvement to my usually lumpy mash as well.

It’s a bit of a challenge getting all the food on the table reasonably hot, but we more or less pulled it off. We took a break after the main course to get Nova off to bed, then reconvened for pudding and hard sauce, chocolates, and blue cheese and a lovely bottle of port that Freddy had given us a few years back. Had a long tag-team phone call with the family in Prince George, who had gathered over at Greg and Wendy’s for Christmas breakfast. Freddy and Beulah headed off about 10pm. I’d hoped to watch A Christmas Carol this evening, but we were too sleepy, drunk and full, and went to bed instead.

December 24, 2004

Woke up at 4:45 this morning (sadly, not so unusual for me these days) and after trying and failing to go back to sleep I crept down to the garage and had a peek in my boxes. It reminded me of the Christmas mornings in my childhood when I’d get up at some ungodly hour (probably about an hour after my parents went to bed) and have a good rummage through my stockings and presents long before anyone else was up. I found a few things to bring upstairs: my African thumb piano, favourite chopsticks, Billy Bragg teeshirt, and Moosewood cookbook for starters…

Adam woke up early as well, and headed off to the butchers at 7am on the turkey run. Pasc dropped in for a visit and shared her turkey cooking technique with me. She butters a big piece of turkey foil, wraps the turkey in that, blasts it at high heat for an hour, then removes the foil, lowers the heat and bastes it until its brown. So there’s another turkey method to consider… Turkey cooking seems to be something people have very strong views about…

We had ham sandwiches for lunch, then I assembled a theatre emergency kit to cover all eventualities (water, three types of snack, a book, baby Jesus, spare Nova panties) before we headed into town to see The Snowman at the Peacock Theatre. Nova really enjoyed it, although two and a half hours is a challenge for a three year old no matter what they’re watching. She particularly loved the group dances, getting up in the aisle to join in, and when it snowed in the theatre she was absolutely delighted. A few minutes into it I realised that I seeing it from the parent’s perspective — when we saw it a few years ago I still identified with the kid although I was in my mid-thirties. This time my eyes kept being drawn to the mother in the background tidying up the boy’s room while he made his snowman outside.

We were out of our seats like a shot at the end to beat the toilet queues, and were just about to leave when we realised baby Jesus was no longer with us. I fought my way back through the tide of people and found him, wedged into the workings of her seat.

Headed straight to Jane and Gerry’s in Highbury where we had dinner and spent the evening. Their girls are lovely with Nova, and read her stories and played with her. They all climbed into bed together and Ray who’s nine, read The Night Before Christmas to Nova and Elsie. The four of us sang along to the mouse version of The Twelve Days of Christmas then Nova settled down for her sleep. We stayed until about 11, then bundled her up and headed home. It was a really nice time, except for the phonecall Jane received while we were there telling her that her dad Al had been admitted to hospital with pneumonia.

Resettled Nova then went straight to our work filling the stockings — with the pink winged unicorn sticking out of the top of Nova’s. I didn’t dare leave baby Jesus’ stocking empty, and shared some of Nova’s bounty with him. It was my last chance to brine the turkey, but I lost my nerve. I think I’ll practice it in the off-season first… To bed about 1:30am…

December 23, 2004

Heard an interesting story on the radio news this morning. There’s a pheasant in west Wales who’s taken to attacking the postman. Apparently he hides in waiting, then runs up and kicks him as he’s getting out of his mail van. It put me in mind of mom and dad’s pheasant who turned aggressive. I think he used to have a go at the mailman as well…

Received a parcel from John and Jackie today with a Christmas present for Nova. But the big excitement of the morning was the 27 boxes of Canadian content that were delivered this morning, having cleared customs. Good thing we had that garage clearout yesterday. I have a mad impulse to start tearing into them and reunite myself with my former life, but that’s probably not the most sensible approach…

Nova and I were getting a touch of cabin fever in the afternoon, and dropped in on Pete for a cup of tea. Fay was off on a play date somewhere, but I think Nova actually prefers it that way, as she gets unrestricted access to the toys. Pete was practically free associating — it was as if he hadn’t talked to anyone all day and couldn’t get the words out fast enough. He wasn’t making a lot of sense either — he’d start a story, then go off on a tangent, then get sidetracked explaining some minor detail on the tangent — after a while he even noticed it himself. He says it comes from living with Pasc and never getting more than 30 seconds at a time to talk before she cuts him off.

Cooked gammon in coca cola for dinner tonight. It’s a Nigella Lawson recipe that originates in the Southern States (quel surprise). Basically, you boil the gammon for a couple of hours in two litres of Coke, then finish it off in the oven with a molasses-mustard glace. I served it with corn and broccoli. Nova was in seventh heaven. She actually said, “Thank you mommy for cooking me this delicious dinner!”

I was examining my violin after dinner, which arrived in today’s shipment. It’s in need of repair — the sound post has become dislodged and there is some damage to the wood of the shoulder. Of course Nova was keen to have a go on it, and when I wouldn’t let her she went off and got the guitar instead. I held it upright for her so she could pluck the strings. She immediately launched into a song I’ve never heard before, singing “the good ship sailed on the ally ally oh on the last day of September.” It had three or four verses to it, and she sang them all clearly enough that I was able to join in when she performed it a second time. It always surprises me when she comes out with stuff that I had no idead she knew. She must associate it with the guitar — maybe Pat or Audrey plays one at school?

December 22, 2004

Since starting school, Nova has insisted on wearing dresses every day. I can occasionally get her into a skirt under duress, but trousers are a thing of the past. Recently, I’ve tried implementing “trouser day”. We’ll decide that Monday is a dress day, Tuesday is a skirt day, and Wednesday will be trouser day.

Inevitably, she try to wriggle out of trouser day for one reason or another… which was what happened when Adam tried to impose trouser day this morning. Once that mini-crisis was dealt with, she had a good time playing with her stable and manger until it was time to go to Theresa’s.

Today was Christmas food day. I’d made my menu plan and shopping list and after lunch I went off to Waitrose and bought enough food to see us through to the new year I’d imagine: basics like bread, butter, eggs and orange juice, and treats like Galiano (for wallbangers), dates and mince pies.

Adam made two trips to the dump with stuff from the garage — the Canada boxes arrive tomorrow! The Stillman grandkids are back again. When Adam came back from the dump he had a moment of panic thinking the house was on fire, but it was just the steam from their marathon showers.

I made a salmon squash curry for dinner. I often fancy things like curry at Christmas — I think it’s the contrast to the big meat and potatoes meals you often have at this time of year.

December 21, 2004

Well, Nova wet the bed last night… Guess we’ll stick to the taking her for a wee when we go to bed plan for now…Jemima had organised a bunch of tickets to fairy school at the Mystical Fairy shop in Hampstead. We shared a taxi over, dropped the girls off, then went for a coffee at Starbucks. Of the six mums, all but Jemima and I were blondes, none of them natural. I’m noticing more and more women my age are becoming blondes…

Did some last-minute Christmas shopping: cheese, eggnog and olives from Rosslyn Deli; a paper nativity model; a gammon and some sausages from the butchers; and a nauseating singing pink unicorn that Nova and Ruby had oohed and aahed over when we arrived at the store. I wasn’t planning on buying it, but once Jemima did I could just picture the exclusion zone Ruby would maintain around hers when Nova came to play, and caved in.

There was a letter from dad waiting for us when we got back, with a Christmas card and generous cheque to buy Nova a present. I thought that Nova had enough presents already, and decided to make the fairy castle from dad. Ruby came over for a visit around dinner time. She’d been vomiting all afternoon, but was feeling a little better. The two girls sat quietly watching the Aristocats and eating dry cheerios.

Because I don’t have enough to do this holiday season, I need to take on additional projects like building a paper creche with 60+ fiddly pieces to fold and assemble. I’d thought it might be something I could do with Nova, but it was way too intricate for that. I got it about half done by bedtime…

December 20, 2004

Nova informed me that she was too sick to go to Theresa’s today, and when that didn’t wash she suggested that she couldn’t go because she was “too heavy”… I’m probably too sick (and too heavy) to go Christmas shopping, but didn’t have any choice in the matter…Took the tube to Euston, then walked through to Tottenham Court Road, via the good Waterstones. Bought a few gifts in Paperchase and Habitat, then took in Soho on my way to Selfridges. Picked up my last couple of gifts, then stopped for an extremely late lunch at the sushi bar in the food hall. I followed Adam’s inspired suggestion of a taxi home.

After Nova’s dinner we made a paper angel — a companion for the one we made earlier and a variation on the snowflake theme. She continued with the angel theme before bed. “Visit me angel!” she say, and I’d have to tell her how she’d give birth to a baby called Jesus, and she’d ride to Bethelem on a donkey and have the baby in a stable in the manger, and three wise men would come bearing gifts. “That’s right!” she said, and rode Bob her brontosaurus into her room to get ready for bed.

I did the rest of the wrapping, then heated up some soup for dinner. Went to bed with my Inspector Rebus novel about 10pm… Didn’t get far before my eyelids were drooping. We decided not to wake Nova up for a wee — she’s been dry for several nights now…

December 19, 2004

Tried not to thing of the lie-in Trevor and Marnie were undoubtedly having when I woke up at 7am this morning. I did the church thing with Nova today — Adam has a mountain of work to do on his adidas project at the moment. It was the family carol service, and in between the sermon and hymns we sang various carols. To my surprise, Nova knows three verses of Away in a Manger.I’m feeling sick again, not from last night’s festivities, but it does seem to have set my cold back. My resistance must be really low at the moment, I’ve got a hangnail on my index finger, and the thing has been swollen and painful for about five days.

Went round to Jemima and Ruby’s for a little visit. Ruby’s got the baby Jesus bug too, but she’s developed an interesting twist: she’s the bad baby Jesus, and goes around wreaking havoc. I left Nova there to play for a bit, and came home to do the wrapping. Went back to pick her up at bedtime all fed and washed and happy. I can see the point of play dates a bit more when you leave the kid and go off to do your own thing for a couple of hours. Even if you’re the one with the kids at your house, you can still get more down that if you’re the designated playmate.

Ate leftover risotto for dinner. We started watching an Arnold Schwartznegger movie, Commando. I fell asleep part way through (I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of his films all the way through), but Adam stuck it out. What a joke that he’s now governor of California. If they change the election laws, I have no doubt it will be President Schwartznegger one day…

December 18, 2004

I’m feeling a little better today, or perhaps I’m just trying to convince myself. I can’t be sick at Christmas. I seem to remember this happening last year… Adam made pancakes for Nova — neither of us felt like eating them, but she can manage a small batch on her own…;-)He was just setting off for his run with Pete when the first outpost of the Stillman family descended. Their eldest son Martin, his wife and three kids are over for Christmas this year, and we’ll be putting up the girls in the flat. We knew they were coming today, but were expecting them at 1pm, not 10:45… We hustled around moving Nova’s paddling pool and some broken chairs out of the place and sweeping dead leaves and spiders from the shower, while Anne fussed and flapped, saying: “You needn’t bother! I’m sure it’s fine!” etc

Went grocery shopping in the afternoon and picked up our Christmas tree. Adam did the lights this year — I discovered I’m a lot less perfectionist about it when I’m not arranging them myself. I did the decorations, and faced the annual “to tinsel or not to tinsel” dilemma — which lasted all over ten seconds… of course you need tinsel on a Christmas tree! While I agree that it looks a bit tacky in the daytime, you just don’t get that magical, glimmery effect at night without it. Actually, I think of all the kids I’m the one that sticks most closely to the old family tree: lots of birds, fairies, some balls, apples, single coloured lights (white or blue) and lots of tinsel. I only deviate in not wrapping it in the tinsel rope like mom and dad did.

Trevor and Marnie came for dinner this evening. They arrived early enough to catch Nova awake, and while they missed they daily glitter snowflake fest, she was busily drawing portraits of the Christ family (is that the proper name?) and quickly dashed off a couple of likenesses of them. Dinner was nice: Wendy’s toasted almonds and olives, wild mushroom risotto, followed by halibut roasted with lemons, capers and rosemary. We’d just finished our main course when the lights went off. It seemed to be quite a local power outage — some of the houses in the close still had electricity. I rummaged around for some candles, and we ate our Christmas baking by candlelight. It was a good hour before the power was restored…

Angel Gabriel	Joseph	Baby Jesus	Mary

They headed off about 1:30am, and once we’d cleared up I went to bed and phoned Dad to hear how his surgery had gone. He sounded pretty good and we had a nice chat, but I was so tired I actually dozed off on the phone…

December 17, 2004

Feeling pretty rough this morning. That wretched cold seems to be back, or its cousin, with dry cough and ear infection the latest manifestations. Today is my last day in the office before the Christmas break, so I pretty much had to go in. Plus it was our team lunch. I got things more or less in order by 12:30 and we headed off to the Old Cheshire Cheese pub for a roast lunch. Susan, my job share, came in for it. Apparently, she’s planning to come back to work in April. I’m kind of looking forward to going back to three days a week actually, although full time does have its advantages.The lunch was fine — smoked salmon terrine, lamb shank, and chocolate bombe — but it was a slightly strained affair. Our new chief exec (the NICE guy) slashed the magazine his first day in post, so that’s Sue and Allison’s jobs gone, and there’s simmering warfare between two other colleagues. Nevertheless, when the bill came, they opted to carry on the festivities in the pub. I begged off –the smoke had my sinuses completely stuffed and went home to steam my head with eucalyptus salts.

There was the usual bustle of glitter snowflake making after dinner, the Nova headed off to bed, the baby Jesus (formerly known as Katya) nestled cosily in her little vegetable basket with a couple of meggies for warmth. She is completely obsessed with the baby Jesus at the moment. She’ll only answer to Mary and insists on wearing a kerchief (another meggie) from morning ’til night. Adam is Joseph, and I’ve been elevated to Angel Gabriel. When I was tucking her in tonight, I started my usual lines about how she’ll have a lovely sleep and pleasant dreams and how we love her very much. “No!” she corrected me, “Joseph and Angel Gabriel love me very much! I’m the best Mary that they could want!”

December 16, 2004

Nova had her first dry night in over a week. We took her for a wee when we went to bed, which probably made the difference. I’d made a doctor’s appointment at 9am for her so she could be checked for a bladder infection, and surreptitiously managed to collect a urine sample. The test came out clean, so that’s not what’s causing the bed wetting. I got him to take a look at my throat while I was there — it’s viral in his opinion, so there’s nothing to do but weather it out…Dropped by Nova’s old nursery to give them some uniforms she won’t be needing any more. All her old carers were there and they were thrilled to see her. They kept exclaiming over how much she’d grown.

I got Nova to school about 9:45, where the class Christmas party was well under way. She donned a paper hat and dove right in to the maelstrom, barely giving me a glance as I said goodbye. After class, Evelyn and her mom Christine came back to ours for a play date. The two girls seemed to get on reasonably well, and Christine is very nice, but it just went on and on and on. I mean how long are play dates supposed to last? Is there some etiquette with these things? They got here about 11:30, and personally I think two or two and a half hours is about right. But it was about three fifteen by the time they headed off…

I let her watch a little Nick Junior after they left, just to decompress, and to allow me to get some work done. I switched it off after a half hour, promising to turn it on for Dora Explorer at dinner time. But when we turned it on later, there was a message saying that the channel was unavailable and to try again later. Naturally, Nova didn’t understand why Dora wasn’t on. She thought it was some kind of TV rationing at first, and I finally convinced her that the TV was broken she cried, “Then fix it with glue and sticky tape!” She has ultimate faith in these two products…

I was supposed to go over to Jemima’s for a drink after the kids were down, but Adam was late home the Body Shop, and I wasn’t feeling very well, so I begged off. We ordered pizza for dinner and ate in front of the TV.

December 15, 2004

Went on another one of those management training courses this morning. This one was on managing sickness and absence. Basically, what to do if you suspect someone of malingering and how to avoid costly lawsuits against the agency.I took some baking into work today, an annual event. Everyone was suitably impressed — I actually got a round of applause. They were particularly taken with the butter tarts and nanaimo bars, neither of which are available over here.

Adam cooked a spaghetti carbonara for dinner tonight. When Nova came to the table she said, “I smell something… I think it’s the horrible smell of my dinner!” followed by, “I want something else…” Hard not to laugh, but don’t want to encourage that attitude… She managed a reasonable amount, coaxed along by a few blue cow stories.

December 14, 2004

I’ve instituted a new system at work for managing my unfeasible to-do list. First, I went through my top-level objectives and assigned each one a code: corp (corporate website); strat (strategies I write and maintain); man (line management) etc. There are eight in total. Next, I started a task list in Outlook (instead of writing things on post-it notes), starting each task with the appropriate code. Each day I print the active tasks out and prioritise five or six things I want to work on that day. I scan my email and jot down the quick and dirty things that need doing as well. At the end of the day, I spend five minutes updating the list and crossing off the things I’ve got done. I’m hoping it’ll help with remembering what I’ve achieved at quarterly review time as well.I finally got that bloody invitation to tender out the door. Now it’s a matter of fielding questions from agencies and getting the internal team organised to assess the tenders, shortlist and interview…

I picked up the first batch of photos I’ve had printed from the new camera. I’m pretty happy with them although I thought some of them looked a bit murky. Don’t know if that’s to do with the camera, or how I have it set, or the place I got it developed, or just the murky October weather…

I was supposed to go out with Jemima this evening, but she’s feeling too stressed by Christmas to enjoy herself and cried off. Just as well, because Adam was going round to babysit for Pete and Pasc, and we were going to settle Nova for a few hours there then transfer home later. Instead, I spent the evening finishing off the Christmas baking: nanaimo bars and butter tarts. Dad called just as I was finishing up, and had a bit of a visit. He has to go for a bronchoscopy on Friday to investigate a couple of spots on his lungs that turned up in an x-ray last month. Sounds quite an unpleasant procedure, but apparently it is day surgery, and he’ll be able to go home straight afterward, as long as he has someone to sit with him for a bit.

December 13, 2004

I’m trying to get an invitation to tender out for the web rationalisation project this week, and spent most of the day working on that. There are a lot of fiddly bits to get in order: the contract, letter of offer, terms of offer, requirement spec, covering letter, tender webpage, background documentation, yada, yada, yada… I didn’t manage to get it organised by the end of the day, but should wrap it up tomorrow.We finished writing Christmas cards this evening, which is pretty good going for us. (Now it’s just a matter of responding to all those people who we didn’t send cards to this year that send them to us…) I made the nut wellingtons we’re having on Boxing Day when Dave comes for his Christmas dinner with us. He’s a live-in carer at a residential home for people with learning difficulties and always works Christmas. I’m going to freeze them, and then just cook them straight from frozen on the day. No reason that shouldn’t work… famous last words…

December 12, 2004

Adam took Nova to church, but I was feeling too sick to go for a run in the gray drizzle. That smoky pub last night was a set back to my cold. My clothes reek of smoke as well…Did a little IQ research on the web, and discovered that they won big at the Classic Rock Society Awards this year, winning best bassist, best keyboard player, best track and best album (Dark Matter). The reviews on Amazon were pretty favourable as well…

Went to the farmer’s market for our weekly shop and sausage sandwich lunch. Ended up sharing a table with an interesting family: the husband is part of the niceism movement, which encourages people to treat each other a little better. He told us about their website, and gave us a handful of lapel pins. He wasn’t all talk either — he went and got a new cup and shared his little son’s hot chocolate with Nova. The kid seemed pretty used to that kind of stuff and didn’t even complain…;-)

Next stop was the St Michael’s Christmas fair. There were two rooms of stalls selling everything from bric-a-brac to Christmas puddings, handmade soaps, used books, old toys, raffles, beanbag tossing, and a big sausage roast in the courtyard. Nova bought a bag of decrepit plastic bits (the kind that I discreetly sweep into the bin every once in a while) for 40p. There was a Santa’s grotto as well, and she had a little sit with him, although she was too dumbstruck to answer any of his questions. (I noticed he wasn’t settling any of the kids on his lap — he had a little space to one side for them to sit — I guess you can’t be too careful these days…

We must have caught the festive spirit, because Adam came straight home and strung up the Christmas lights round the ground floor window. I set to roasting the freerange chicken I’d bought in the market. I see it as practice for the main event — my first ever solo turkey roasting. (It’s only my third ever chicken roasting, so I have a lot to learn…) Margo called for a chat, and happened to mention “brining” — a technique where you soak your turkey in a bucket of salt water overnight before cooking it. She swears by it…

December 11, 2004

Took Nova to see the Christmas panto at Jackson’s Lane community centre this morning. They are doing Puss in Boots this year. She was quite excited about the idea, and really enjoyed it at first, before moving through the inevitable stages of:

• over-excitement
• boredom
• fear
• whining
• bargaining
• acceptance
• false memory syndrome

“But I liked seeing Puss in Boots!” “Then why did you whine incessantly, refuse to sit on your seat, insist daddy go get you a snack, and announce loudly that it was ‘time to go now!‘ in the quiet bits?”

We were babysitterless again this evening, Sam having better ways to spend her time these days. So Adam stayed home with Nova and I went out to see my colleague Mike perform with his band IQ at the Mean Fiddler on Tottenham Court Road. I got there just as the show was starting, with one of those portentous synthy buildups and lots of coloured light sequences. IQ play progressive rock, along the lines of Genesis. Progressive rock may have had its day, but you wouldn’t have thought so in this crowd. There must have been a thousand people there, and they were more than fans, they seemed like groupies really. Middle aged men for the most part (it’s the first time I’ve felt young at a gig in a while) singing along to every word of the 25 minute songs in their IQ teeshirts. Some had props they held up for various songs, US flags and mysterious objects on sticks, and two women hoisted a big sign in front of Mike that said “We want to have your children”. Mike is the most unassuming guy in the world and the last person you’d see as a rock star, and he didn’t act any different on stage. He’s a mean guitarist as well, and writes most of the music they perform.

I managed to locate my workmates, and after the gig we went along to the pub where the private end-of-tour party was. A number of the most hardcore fans I’d noticed on the floor came along as well, and it turns out a number of them were from Germany, Belgium, and Italy and had travelled over for the show. IQ actually have a Japanese tribute band, and they’d even travelled over and followed the tour round northern Europe. I don’t know how I’ll be able to manage Mike at work now I’ve discovered what a rock god he is…;-)

December 10, 2004

It was a nice change to work from home on a Friday instead of Thursday for once. I’m not hung over — I was still feeling too sick to drink much…I dropped Nova off at school, then went straight to Brent Cross for more bedding, pajamas, and tights. She’s been wetting the bed nearly every night since she got sick, and even with doing laundry every day, without a dryer it’s almost impossible to keep on top of the situation. I also bought a replacement pink feathered plastic crown for the one that broke, a couple of Christmas presents, and a few Waitrose groceries I wouldn’t be able to buy in the corner shop or farmer’s market. I picked up Nova and finished my shop at Raj’s. Apparently business is looking up a bit in the last couple of weeks. He now has a blown-up, laminated copy of our leaflet in the window and at the checkout.

Nova and I made gingerbread in the afternoon. Took a bit of negotiation to get to agree to gingerbread men instead of gingerbread stars… She wasn’t all that keen on the taste of the dough (usually she eats a good 10% of it in an endless series of “little tastes”). “I like it a little bit” she said diplomatically. Molasses is hard to get in the UK, so I use black treacle instead, which is stronger tasting.

December 9, 2004

My presentation at NICE went okay. The purpose of the meeting was to decide how we’ll establish a common intranet for April. I went through the approach we’d taken building the HDA intranet when we launched four and a half years ago, and pointing out what we’d learned.We’d somehow failed to arrange babysitting for the party tonight. (Sam has been a bit of a washout since her boyfriend appeared on the scene…) I was half inclined to just stay home and let Adam have his ironic suburban school mom Christmas experience without me, but Jemima decided not to go at the last minute, so I took Nova over there, pumped up her inflatable and settled her. We drove down thinking we could always leave the car if we drank too much, which I had no intention of doing.

The golf club was pretty much what you’d expect, and my skirt seemed to hit the right register. Some people were pretty dressed up — lots of little sparkly numbers, a few furs, a couple of men in dinner jackets. We all milled about mingling, talking school and covertly eying up each other’s dresses, until they called us to dinner. The tables were set for nine, which was awkward, as pretty much everyone was in couples but we managed to sort something out. Although we were sat to one side of the buffet, we managed to be the last table to go up at about 10pm. The food was a bit ravaged: there was chilli, chicken curry, green salad, coleslaw and hunks of cheddar cheese the size of packs of playing cards left, with mince pies and coffee for dessert. When the first couples hit the dance floor — a little patch of laminated floor set into the carpet — we said our goodbyes. Picked up a groggy Nova and shifted her over without too much trouble.

December 8, 2004

Went into work today. I’m not really well enough (it’s that day too soon that I always end up going in on and then regretting it…) Anyway, it’s the office Christmas party this evening, and you know how I hate to miss a party…;-) Plus, I’m making a presentation at NICE tomorrow on our intranet, which I haven’t done any work on yet. I arrived to discover that my direct report has been off sick as well, so there was a lot of catching up to do.Went out on my lunch break and bought a skirt in Leather Lane market for the St Michael’s School party tomorrow. It’s at the Highgate Golf Club, whose existence I’ve been completely unaware off the past ten years even though it’s walking distance from the house. I wouldn’t have bothered going, but Adam is quite keen. He thinks it’ll be a laugh one way or another, and wants to see the inside of the golf club as well. Anyway, the invitation specified “dress gorgeous” — and Jemima actually heard some moms referring to it as “the ball”. I started thinking I didn’t have anything partyish enough…

Usually I look at the clothes in Leather Lane and wonder “who in the world buys these things?” but today they seemed to fit the bill. I ended up buying an asymmetrical, deep purple flamencoish number for £10, which was either an inspired purchase or a moment of pre-menstrual madness…

I worked late kicking my presentation into shape, and got to the party after it had been going an hour or so. We were each issued with two drinks coupons, and I got through those and a couple more glasses of wine besides. It was a good enough time, although really, how much fun should you actually have at an office do… Home about 11:30pm…

December 7, 2004

I was home sick from work again today. Adam decided he was well enough to go in… mostly because he had tickets to an Arsenal game this evening, and he’d have to be in traction to miss one of those… I spent the morning in bed, then roused myself in the afternoon. I did a couple of errands in the village, and a few chores around home. I noticed there were copies of Adam’s leaflet in the window of the shop and on the counter as well.Picked up Nova at the usual time and made her dinner. Since Adam was out for the evening, we ate together: turkey burgers which finally used up the last of last year’s turkey… just in time for the arrival of this year’s beast..

December 6, 2004

Now I’m sick too… complete with sore throat, pounding headache and irritating dry cough. My throat was so sore in the night, it actually woke me up. Adam was feeling a bit better this morning. He took Nova to school, then swung by the shops for throat lozenges and ice cream, before climbing straight back into bed. We stayed there all morning, dozing, reading, watching home improvement shows. In one, they found a couple whose home just wasn’t selling, secretly videotaped potential buyers saying nasty things about the decor and furnishings, then helped them improve their propertyThe British are obsessed with their homes: buying them, renovating them, selling them… An Englishman’s home is his castle I guess…Adam had a physio appointment in the afternoon. After he headed off, I slept for half the afternoon too. Beulah had picked up Nova from school (her childminder had a choir concert) and Adam went off to get her at dinner time. I got out of bed and put on a reasonably good show for her benefit, then went straight back to bed the minute she was down for the night…

December 5, 2004

Nova was a bit better today. Her skin is still pretty blotchy and blemished, but the lumps seem to have gone down. Adam went for an early run with Pete, then took Nova to church.After they left, I went for a run myself. It was a perfect morning for running, and I decided to do my hour and a half loop. I took it pretty easy, doing it in ten minute segments. I was just leaving the Heath for the last mile home when I got this funny tugging feeling on the side of my right knee. I don’t need to learn that lesson again… I stopped running immediately and walked the rest of the way home. It felt pretty stiff coming down the steep path. I took a couple of ibuprofen and rested it for a while, and it didn’t seem to get any worse, fingers crossed…

Adam was sick as a parrot this afternoon. I made a restorative pot of soup from some leftover turkey lurking in the fridge from last Christmas. He just about managed a bowl, then took to bed for the rest of the day. Nova and I made star biscuits, and these vegetarian sausage rolls I sometimes make at this time of year, which uses chestnut stuffing for the filling.

We had a simple pasta dinner, a long bath and early bed.

December 4, 2004

Nova woke up covered in a fine rash. I’m pretty sure its a post-viral rash and not to be worried about, but more concerning were the large raised lumps on her wrists, ankles, calves and cheek. We called the doctor and after giving them a description of her symptoms, we were advised to take her down to the Whittington to see one of the duty doctors in the outpatient clinic. Had our pancake breakfast first, then set off.The lumps look dreadful, but Nova was so cheerful compared to the last few days I wasn’t that worried. She was very lively in the waiting room and had all waiting patients captivated with the various scenes she was acting out. “She should be an actress,” a Muslim woman said to me. Another one added, “She’s very clever!”

She was very good for the doctor, removing her teeshirt so he could see her rash, and commenting loudly on what he was doing: “He’s listening to my heart with a stethoscope! He’s checking my ears with an auroscope!” etc. “You must be a medical family,” he commented. He said he’d never seen anything like it, and wrote us a prescription for some hydrocortisone cream.

I filled the prescription in the local pharmacy while Adam and Nova went along to the Highgate Fair. Nothing much to get excited about: a few stalls of bric-a-brac, old paperbacks, and a cake stall, where we had a cup of tea and mince tart.

In the afternoon, Adam went off Christmas shopping, and Nova and I hung out watching Nick Junior, or Heroin Junior as we call it around here, she’s so addicted. I made us a cup of tea and we had a cuppa together eating biscuits. She’s getting so grown up…

We were going to my friend Lorraine’s wedding reception in the evening, and after dinner I started getting ready… with lots of help from Nova. She very much approved of my sparkly skirt and put a lot of effort into “helping” me with my hair…;-) Sam showed up in time to read Nova a bedtime story. She’d asked if her “friend” come come over while we were out — he’s visiting from Oxford. She made a great point of how they’d be doing preparation for her university interviews — “we’re going to discuss what’s epic about epic” she informed me primly.

The reception was at $ — a cocktail bar in Exmouth Market. There were quite a few colleagues from work, all from the research team. The first cocktail was free — I had a raspberry juice-champagne concoction — and there were waiters circulating with trays of canapes. Stood around chatting for a few hours, then headed home about 11:30. Texted Sam on the way, so as not to catch her and her boyfriend in the midst of a heated “discussion”.

December 3, 2004

Pretty knackered this morning, even though Nova wasn’t too rambunctious once she’d joined us. There was a birthday lunch at work, in a local Moroccan restaurant. We ended up staying about three hours and getting through far too much wine. All my colleagues sort of melted away when we got back to the office, so after clearing up a couple of things I followed suit.Had a quick dinner with Adam and Nova, then he was off to the Kingsley Place Residents’ Association meeting. The big issue on the agenda was whether we are in favour of a CPZ (permit parking basically) for the street. The guy who carried out the initial survey decided to ignore the opinions of residents who are renting in an attempt to skew the results to his preferred option. Adam was going to raise an objection to this, but it turned out to be against the group’s constitution — it is a residents association, not an owners association, after all… Adam managed to raise the corner store issue and hand out copies of the leaflet as well.

December 2, 2004

Home day today. I considered going for a run for about five seconds… Nova was adamant about going to school this morning. “I’m not too cold to go to school today!” she insisted. I dropped her off, then had a couple of hours to myself, catching up on a bit of work and generally getting things sorted.Went round to Jemima and Ruby’s for our weekly visit. Both the girls were a bit under the weather, and didn’t really interact all that much. That happens sometimes… Things improved after they’d had their “wiggly worms” and they had fun in the bath before it was time for Nova and I to head home.

It was the first evening Adam and I have had home together for what seems like ages. I cooked a simple supper of sausages and mash, and we split a beer. In bed pretty early, which was just as well, as Nova woke up about 2am wanting to sleep in our bed.

December 1, 2004

…In desperation, I finally dragged myself upstairs about 6:00am hoping to get a couple of hours sleep before Nova woke up again. It felt like I’d been asleep about five minutes when I was woken by a little voice saying, “It’s breakfast time mommy — and I need to blow my nose!” 7:30am…We decided Nova was too sick to go to school and Theresa’s. Adam stayed home with her in the morning, while I staggered off to work, and an important meeting I didn’t want to cancel. Got home about 1:00pm to spell him off. Nova was bundled up on the couch watching Nick Junior. I’d bought a few little treats: some oranges, bagels, and a can of Pringles. We lay cuddling and snacking on the couch until she finally dozed off about 4pm. I waited until she was fast asleep, then carefully extricated myself, and managed to have an hour’s nap myself before she woke up again, hot and cranky and clingy.

I fixed her some scrambled egg and toast for dinner, then ran her a bath. Adam got backin time to take over bath duties, and I headed off for a girls’ night with Pascale and three other St. Michael’s moms. We went to St. John in Archway, and had a really nice dinner. The only thing was the other four had really taken pains dressing up: there were up-dos, feather boas, heels, shrugs… I was in jeans, trainers, and an old gray jumper… oh well…

The food was great — I had the duck confit, and then we shared an amazing toffee-nut pavlova. Home about 11pm, dead on my feet.