February 2009

February 28, 2009

Had Will and Sara round for dinner. I’m not really in a dinner party frame of mind, and I had trouble thinking of anything I wanted to cook. I’ve been feeling kind of low. I think Lyra’s impending birthday has turned my mind to thoughts of mum. It makes me so sad that she didn’t have more time with my girls — they would have adored one another…I haven’t really put much thought into her birthday celebrations tomorrow, other than picking up a couple of birthday presents, but inspiration struck late afternoon. Lyra is really into the film My Neighbour Totoro, so I decided to make her a Totoro-based card. My web search for a suitable image to work from led me to a knitting pattern for an adorable Totoro hat, and cupcakes with Totoro marzipan figures. Adam was dispatched to Muswell Hill for supplies, while I got started on dinner party prep.

It was a nice evening in the end. I kept the menu simple: feta cheese/sundried tomato dip, sausages with lentils and salami and a green salad, and a lime tart for dessert. Will and Sara are both architects, and once the food was cleared I put them to work making marzipan Totoros for the birthday cupcakes. Many hands made light work, and in half an hour we had an army of the little critters…

February 27, 2009

Didn’t get the run I’d hoped for in, but took Lyra on a “‘venture” to Kenwood after breakfast. She walked all the way to Kenwood House, which is about a mile, and not bad going for her little legs.Had a coffee and split a croissant in the cafe, and took a little ramble round the grounds before turning back. Lyra didn’t have the stamina for the return journey, which is nearly all uphill, and I carried her for long stretches of it. Get that upper body workout in!

February 26, 2009

Nova is going through a growth spurt at the moment, and is constantly hungry. She’s still one of the smaller girls in the class, but it’s difficult to judge how she really measures up, as she’s also one of the youngest.She’s getting big enough though that the nanny regularly mixes up our clothes, particularly socks, tights, and my smaller cardies, which is quite weird…

February 25, 2009

Went to Manchester for work today. Three members of my team are based there, and ideally I’d get up there a bit more, but it’s tricky with small children. Most people travel up after work the night before and stay in a hotel, but I always do it in a day, which makes for a long one…Adam was out playing football when I got in at 8pm. Eva had the baby down, but Nova still had piano, hamster and reading to do before she went to bed. It was 9:30 by the time we got through that lot, and I was too whacked to think about cooking dinner.

Ordered a pizza, cracked a beer and watched an episode of The Wire…

February 24, 2009

Managed to go for a run before work this morning. I’m surprised I didn’t feel worse after last night — maybe my efforts to get a bit of food down made the difference? Did the same route as the last two runs, and even knocked a bit of time off.Started the working day with a supplier meeting in London Bridge. Two suppliers actually, who are at an impasse around how to implement the new website designs. One of those frustrating situations where the truth is likely somewhere in the middle, but I don’t have enough technical knowledge to properly understand either side’s argument.

Adam was out at an Arsenal match this evening, so I had double bedtime duty when I got in. Nova’s homework on rainfall is overdue, and I had to search around on the web to find the weekly precipitation in north London for the weeks she forgot to take her measurements.

We were cleaning and feeding Harvey at the same time, and managed to lose him for a good ten minutes. I was pretty confident he was in the livingroom (and he was eventually located under the bookcase), but it was worrying not knowing where he was. He’s getting really fast, and seems more and more determined to get out of his cage and explore…

February 23, 2009

Went for a drink with my former manager Carol after work. (She provided interim cover for a few months until they recruited a permanent director). Got through far too much wine (especially considering it was a Monday), but it was an interesting evening. In vino veritas and all that…At least I remembered to eat a little something while we were knocking it back…

February 22, 2009

Went for a run this morning, my second of the week. I’m only doing two miles at the moment, just trying to reestablish the habit… 

Lyra’s latest verb is “hatting” — “Hatting!” she cries when she sees someone wearing a hat, which is my cue to dig out her sunhat so she can strike poses in it…

February 21, 2009

Got up with the girls first thing, and let Adam lie in a bit. I came down a couple of hours later to discover that he’d cracked first and tackled the rubbish tip the girls bedroom has become. Result…When Nova wet the bed at her grandparent’s house last week, she stashed her wet knickers between their sofa cushions for Beulah to discover yesterday. Nova was unable to shed any light on her reasons for doing this, but did write her grandmother a nice little note by way of apology:

Dear Grandbee and Grandpa Fred, Thank you for letting us come to yours to sleep. I liked it a lot. However, I am sorry I wet the bed and stuffed my wet knickers down the side of your furniture. Love Nova

February 19, 2009

Another day, another outing… Took both girls to Kensington Gardens to meet up with Jane and Elsie. The excellent playground kept them happy for a couple of hours. Walked to the Serpentine cafe for some lunch, then checked out an exhibition in the gallery before heading home.By the time we got on the tube at South Ken, the girls had walked about three miles and were absolutely knackered. Lyra fell asleep on my lap and didn’t stir until we got home, three trains and a bus later…

February 18, 2009

Ewa took the girls to the Science Museum today. They met up with our old nanny Agata and her little girl and it sounds like they had a lovely day. Since leaving us Agata has continued to attend the Wednesday playgroup she used to take Lyra to, and she and Ewa have become friends…

February 17, 2009

Took the afternoon off work, and took Nova into town. My original plan was to do something cultural, but when I floated some ideas Nova nodded politely, then said shyly that “shopping for clothes can be fun too,” so that’s what we did.Nova put together a fabulous outfit for our outing — red dress, silver tights, black knitted shrug — and even put on some make-up. She loves wearing make-up and perfume for special occasions, and is always keen to put it on herself. She does a pretty nice job of it, though I’ve got a ways to go to convince her that “less is more”.

Started off at Hamleys, where I had a coupon to use up. Picked up birthday presents for her sister and cousins, and a couple of little things for her as well. Next we went to John Lewis where we bought Nova a new coat. She needs something a bit longer to wear with dresses and skirts. Found a nicely cut, wrap neck black one, that makes her look very elegant.

Next stop, the O2 Centre at the Angel, to see “The Secret of Moonacre”. Reasonably entertaining with a pretty good cast (Juliet was in it, and impressed Nova hugely with her burping skills). Had a bite to eat at the FBC on Upper Street before catching the bus home. A nice girly afternoon, and Nova is becoming such good company…

February 16, 2009

Half term week. We’d talked vaguely at one point about going skiing this half term, and the idea of a trip to Egypt was also floated but in the event we are doing nothing… I went to work, and the girls spent the day with Ewa…

February 15, 2009

How different morning time is without the kids… Although it is unfortunate we have a family of four staying in the flat this weekend, and got to listen to their kids squeaking and shrieking instead of our own…Drove over to pick them up about 10:30am. Sounds like it all went well (though we discovered later that Nova had wet the bed…)

Had my friend Cathy and her daughter Maya round for lunch. Cathy is an old friend I met when I was living in Japan. She now lives in Edmonton with her husband and thirteen year old daughter Maya. They’ve just arrived in London on a six month sabbatical so that Dave can write a book. They’ve opted to home school Maya while they’re here, which has a certain logic to it, though I think she might find it a bit frustrating not being around kids her own age for so long.

Dinner was pork roast cooked in milk with garlic mash and green beans. The milk reduced to delicious, rich, golden curds which we ate alongside as a sort of sauce…

February 14, 2009

Had our now traditional family Valentines Day breakfast — heart-shaped toast and jam, pink smoothie and chocolates. I bought the girls a little box of truffles each — “Mores! Mores!” Lyra exclaimed after each one, until she’d polished off the whole box.The truffles I made were quite nice, a little strong tasting perhaps. I think I’d go with a sweeter liqueur next time. We exchanged cards as well, and Nova gave Adam and me little Hama bead hearts she’d made with an M and a D in them.

For brunch we had eggs. I don’t like cooking eggs, maybe because I don’t really like eating them. At any rate, eggs and I don’t see eye to eye. I was trying to simultaneously fry the girls’ eggs and poach eggs for Adam and I in the microwave using a little plastic gizmo I’d recently picked up. I was just buttering the toast when the poaching eggs exploded, making a godawful mess…

When I finally got the food on the table, Lyra refused to eat a mouthful, and I completely lost it. I rampaged around the kitchen, slamming things into the dishwasher and ranting about what ingrates the family were, while they cowered in the livingroom.

It had been quite a stressful day, with relatives of Carolyn arriving to stay in the flat and needing to reorganise the livingroom before the piano was delivered. We’ve opted to move the desk downstairs, and put the piano in that corner by the window. It’s not the ideal spot, being close to an external wall and window, but the options were limited.

It was quite the adventure getting it up our twisting stairs. We’d done the measuring so knew it would fit, but it took some doing. It is great to have a piano in the house — I think I’m more excited about it than Nova is. It’s funny that I wouldn’t have considered spending the money on a piano for myself, but would happily spend it for a seven year old child.

Took the kids round to Freddy and Beulah’s where they are spending the night. It’s the first time they’ve had them both over night. Went round to Rebecca’s flat in Shoreditch for dinner. She’d invited couples whose wedding she’d gone to and prepared a romantic menu: passionfruit bellinis, smoked salmon canapes, lobster, prawns, and pheasant for the main course. Really nice evening — home about 1:30am…

February 13, 2009

School was cancelled today for parent-teacher interviews. No surprises on the Nova front — she’s performing well in all subjects, gets on well with the other children, well-behaved in class…Took the girls grocery shopping afterwards. It’s always a big palaver getting Lyra into the shopping cart, and this time I just let her run around a bit first. To my surprise, the minute we reached the veggie section she went tearing off and came back with a bag of carrots. “Good girl!” I said, “now go get some broccoli.” She belted off and soon returned with that as well. By the time we cleared produce she’d also found green beans, red pepper, and a cucumber. She didn’t waste any time inspecting what she grabbed for quality, but it was a pretty impressive effort for a one year old.

Tried my hand at truffle making while Adam and the girls were at the swimming pool: melted chocolate, honey, strong coffee, honey liqueur and cocoa powder for dusting. Easy peasy…

February 12, 2009

So the Arts Council have decided to continue funding Jackson’s Lane for another year — well done, Adam! They came out with a bunch of self-justifying waffle for changing their mind. But I’m sure the last thing they wanted to see was a letter in the Guardian from twenty-five arts luminaries expressing their appalledness on the day of the meeting.The piano will be delivered this weekend — we put down the rest of the money this afternoon. Exciting, though stress-inducing as well. It’s a lot of cash, and where do you put the damn thing? Adam and I have always avoided owning large things, ready to pack up and go at a moment’s notice…

Lately, it feels like we’ve turned a corner familywise, what with the hamster in the diningroom, piano in the livingroom and little coat rack in the hall. Babies don’t really impose themselves on the living space the way older kids do…

February 11, 2009

Had our annual team away day, and it went really well. Although there’s a lot of uncertainty in the organisation and the wider economy, the team itself is feeling pretty well settled. There’s always room for improvement, and the group wasn’t backward about coming forward with the problems — and solutions. Actually, I think that’s a positive as well. People feel safe enough to speak up and invested enough to contribute.Adam got a letter published in the Guardian today. The Arts Council is intending to cut their funding to Jackson’s Lane (our local arts centre). Adam has recently joined the Board, and has been busying himself trying to get this decision reversed. Over the last few days he’s drafted a letter, managed to get it signed by about twenty-five local luvvies, and convince the letters editor to run a letter unrelated to any news story that appeared in the paper. It was a bit of a coup…

February 10, 2009

Went to the Everyman with Trish and Pasc this evening to see Revolutionary Road. I’d been prepared to be disappointed, but it was really good. I thought it was very true to the book, even improved on it maybe. I enjoyed the period details — late 50s America. I hadn’t realized how everybody still wore hats… Imagine being a hat maker in that era, with a family business going back generations maybe. For decades, no man (or woman for that matter) would consider leaving the house without their hat on. Then in the space of a few years, everyone stops wearing them…(Apparently JFK had something to do with this swift change of fashion. When he was inaugurated hatless in 1961, overnight hat-wearing seemed old fashioned and conservative. Or so the collective wisdom of the internet informs me…)

February 9, 2009

Nova’s been having nightmares lately. Often they seem to feature wild animals. In one, wolves were chasing her around Highgate Woods. In another, a huge snake and a crocodile were threatening her and Harvey.As bedtime nears, she starts worrying about it. One of the things I’ve tried is talking through the nightmare and giving it a funny/happy ending. Like Lyra Fern (who IS pretty scary!) chasing the wolf out of the park with its tail between its legs. Nova was in fits of giggles imagining that one…

“Sometimes it helps to think about bunny wallpaper,” Nova confided later. I suddenly remembered something from my childhood. When I was a little girl lying in bed with frightening or worrying thought, one of my coping strategies was to carefully cover over the upsetting scene with sunny yellow wallpaper. Even saying the words “yellow wallpaper” in my mind would help sometimes. Kind of interesting that the two of us have come up withthe same technique for taming scary thoughts…

February 8, 2009

Did a spot of piano shopping this morning (as you do…;-) ) Nova’s fast outgrowing the keyboard she does her piano practice on. The keys aren’t weighted for one thing (so it’s impossible to play louder or softer) and she’s getting to where she needs pedals.I’d originally thought of buying a higher-spec digital piano, but the price isn’t all that different to a second-hand real piano. There’s the hassle of moving it in (and finding the right spot for it in the house) but I think it would be better value for money.

Cooked a brace(?) of pheasants for dinner — pot roasting them with new potatoes, celery and sage. Not really my thing — I’m not much for game birds (or any game really) but it made a change from the usual family fare. And the kids (Lyra, Nova and Fay who stayed for dinner) were surprisingly open minded about it.

February 7, 2009

Went to my first-ever Pilates class this afternoon. I know it’s meant to be gentle exercise, but it didn’t feel like I was doing anything at all. In fact, any time I felt like I might be getting a bit of exercise the instructor would come round and adjust my position until the sensation passed.I asked her about it afterwards. Her response was that these introductory classes are all about learning to isolate the small “core” muscles and not letting the big muscle groups do any of the work. Apparently, once you can engage your core muscles, you intensify the exercise.

I’m willing to give it a bit more time, though it did remind me of the time I went for cranial osteopathy. My back was in spasm, and willing to give anything a try. The therapist spent half an hour gently brushing her fingertips behind my ears and pressing lightly at the base of my skull before relieving me of £40. My back did get better a couple of days later, but it was hard to see what cranial osteopathy had to do with it…

February 6, 2009

Went to the school panto this evening. This year’s production was “Peter Pan”, and I think it’s the best of the four we’ve seen. Of course, knowing half the cast adds to the experience, and there were a lot of amusing school in-jokes, but I honestly think anyone would have enjoyed it.Of course Highgate is a bit of a luvvy’s enclave. A number of the cast photos in the programme looked suspiciously like professional headshots, and the director, producer, script writer, lighting person and pianist are all professionals.

My favourite moment was the duet between the head mistress (retiring this year) and the head of the Board of governors. Based on “I Remember It Well”, it recapped her ten years at the school. It was a nice touch…

February 5, 2009

Went round to Trish’s for lunch today, which meant I didn’t get Lyra down to her nap until almost 2:30. As Adam was out at a meeting, I arranged for Pete to pick Nova up from school when he got Fay.I didn’t think anything of it when she didn’t come straight home, assuming she’d stopped off to play with Fay. So I was shocked (and mortified) to get a call from a woman I’ve never met telling me that Nova was standing alone in the frozen school playground 45 minutes after school let out.

Pete felt dreadful about it, and came round with a little gift for Nova to apologise. She was pretty cool about the whole thing actually — I think I’m more upset about it than she is…

Adam babysat for them this evening.”Don’t worry,” Adam said to them as they headed off, “I’ll take just as good care of your kids as you would of mine…” We tried to think what an equivalent breach of care would be. Perhaps locking Sid and Fay outdoors in the back garden and going off to the pub for forty-five minutes…

February 3, 2009

Well, the weatherman’s dire predictions didn’t come off… Although it’s too cold for the snow to melt, nothing new fell. The tube was pretty quiet — lots of people still opting to stay home perhaps (only half my team made it into the office).School was closed for a second day. According to the school website, lots of teachers were unable to get buses, which is surprising given there were only three bus routes in all of London. Pulled together a complicated series of arrangements for Nova with Fay and Ruby so that Lyra could stick to her usual Tuesday routine.

Bought Harvey one of those roller balls this afternoon. It took him a while to get the hang of it, but before long he was cruising around the livingroom, reversing neatly when he got stuck in a corner. We’ll have to be vigilant about keeping the stairway doors closed when he’s out and about. The thought of him pitching down those stairs in his little ball…

February 2, 2009

Woke up to a world of snow… It must have snowed all night — there’s more than six inches of snow on the balcony table. And it’s still falling, big, fluffy white flakes drifting lazily down, giving the world a slightly slo-mo feel.Lovely to gaze out the window at, not so lovely to contemplate getting to work through. Checked out the Transport for London website to discover that ALL the buses in London have been suspended, two tube lines are closed, the rest part suspended, trains not running, four of five London airports closed. Not a day for travelling then…

Once the nanny managed to battle her way to us (full points for effort) and take charge of the girls, I logged on to the work network. The system was running like a dog — overloaded with all the unscheduled home workers, but I managed to answer a few emails before it froze up completely. Losing one day isn’t a huge deal, but the snow is predicted to keep falling until Wednesday…