February 2016

February 29, 2016

Slept so deeply and well that I felt distinctly odd this morning… Lyra is feeling very hard done by about the fact it’s leap year, as it extends the wait for her birthday by a whole day…;-)
Adam’s first day in his new office in Haggerston. He’s very pleased to have made the move, and it feels like the right time to do it. It is further away than the shared workspace, and will mean less working from home, but that’s no bad thing either…

Went for my first run in a week — I’m just not motivated by or making time for running at the moment. I took it pretty easy (not wanting to do myself an injury0 and did feel better for it afterwards.

Got a start on the skunk cake I’m making for Lyra’s birthday tea tomorrow. They need at least six hours rest before serving, and a full day is even better. She hasn’t asked for a particular cake, but I’m pretty sure skunk will be a welcome surprise.

We had Lyra’s parent-teacher meeting this evening, which went pretty well. She is consistently near the top of the class in her school work, and is a popular and engaged student. What we always also hear is that she is too chatty, which causes her to miss instructions sometimes and is also distracts other students…

Christine had taken Lyra home after school, but when we collected her it turned out they hadn’t eaten yet. I was expecting her to be fed, and had to stretch a personal pepperoni pizza and couscous roasted cauliflower salad between four. “This is an unusual dinner,” Lyra commented.

Nova and I headed up to the school afterwards for the act one tech rehearsal. Nova is doing one of the follow spots again this year. Tried out my dwarf dances in the trick boots for the first time this evening. Managed to do my John Travolta moves without falling over or breaking the damn things.

Got home about 10pm and spent a couple of hours laying out the programme, which I’ve agreed take on again this year…

February 28, 2016

I’m not feeling very well this morning, and appear to have drunk more than I intended. I don’t like those situations where other people fill my glass. I never seem to learn — if it’s in front of me, I drink it…:-(Dragged myself upstairs to make pancake batter, as I’d promised the girls pancakes for breakfast. Adam did the actual cooking… and ate with them as well. I’m really not a pancake person…

Debbie and Dan arrived to collect Alex around noon. Minutes before they turned up, Alex managed to cut herself quite badly preparing fruit for a smoothie. Happily, her parents are cut from the same parenting cloth that we are, and took it well in their stride. “I was always chopping bits off my fingers trying to cook when I was your age,” Dan told her cheerfully.

Spent most of the afternoon up at the school for the “stagger-through” rehearsal, where you go through all the scenes from start to finish. It always takes an age, and as I am in scenes 1, 5, 6, 8, and 10, I needed to be there for the whole thing.

After Adam did his dance number, he took Lyra home and made nachos for dinner. By the time I got home, I didn’t fancy eating, and moved straight into our Sunday bath and bed routine, which — now that I’m so firmly in middle age territory — is one of the highlights of my week…;-)

February 27, 2016

Got up early and did a Tesco run to pick up supplies for Lyra’s party later today. Adam came too — we got two trolleys, divided the list in half, and met in the middle…Adam took Lyra to her Saturday activities, and even found time to take Nova to the post office to renew her passport while I focussed on party preparations — icing and decorating cupcakes, making a birthday poster and customised bunting and assembling party bag supplies.

Got to the church hall 45 minutes before the party was scheduled to start to meet Helen (our mad scientist/entertainer), arrange tables and do some decorating. Once the guests arrived, Helen took charge and kept them completely engaged for a good hour with various experiments, which included making their own slime.

We took a food break, then Helen gathered them up again to set off some explosions, which used up the rest of the time. Christine and I are both old pros at this sort of thing, but even so it was one of the least stressful birthdays I can remember hosting.

We had to hustle home afterwards to get ready for Adam’s aunt Stella’s surprise 80th birthday party in Bushey. Alex is staying over tonight, so we left Nova in charge of the sleepover and set off with Doron and Antonia.

Freddy and Beulah cried off at the last minute as they’d come down with colds, but the rest of Adam’s family was out in force. It was a pleasant enough evening, and the food was very nice, but it had been a long day and I was happy when we finally got home again and I could tumble into bed…

February 26, 2016

Adam headed off straight after breakfast, leaving me with our house guests. I didn’t my best to work, but it’s difficult when you have company, especially someone so chatty as Phil. I did manage to produce a belated formal party invite, which I emailed round…

It was almost noon by the time they got away and I got down to some proper work. Managed a couple of solid hours before I had to break off to pick up Lyra. Every Friday one of the classes holds a bake sale to raise money to buy classroom supplies. I don’t always buy something (to Lyra’s disappointment), but I had a couple of quid in my pocket so wandered over to the table while I was waiting for her to come out.

There is usually a certain amount of type-A uber-baking (“my Ophelia just loves homemade kumquat macarons so I always have a tin on hand”), lots of iced fairy cakes, and some hastily purchased packets of doughnuts and biscuits. I want none of these — what I’m after is clearly homemade, “normal” baked goods — brownies, chocolate chip cookies, flapjacks etc.

Some delicious-looking oatmeal raisin cookies caught my eye today. “Mr Holt made these!” said the mum who served me, Mr Holt is the 4th-year teacher for the opposite class who were hosting the bake sale. It struck me that in our twelve years and umpteen school bake sales, this is the first instance I’ve ever heard of a teacher contributing something to the sale…

Had a quick supper of cucumber sushi and miso soup before we headed off to the ENO to see the Magic Flute. It’s Nova’s second visit to the opera but the first for Lyra. I was concerned that she might find it long and boring, so had invested some time in watching video clips of the arias and animated versions of the story, which was definitely time well spent. It was a fabulous production, and she was entranced throughout. Nova on the other hand, took the Grandpa Ed approach, dozing through great swathes of it…;-)

February 25, 2016

Adam was up all night, finishing another report… which wasn’t great preparation for the team photoshoot we’d arranged for today. His employee Jane travelled up to Highgate to work with us from home today, and after settling in we started setting up the shoot.My brief was to try to match the look of the Vancouver office photos, which was achieved by positioning people in front of an internal glass wall. It was supposed to look officey but neutral, and use the reflector to eliminate unattractive facial shadows.

The weather wasn’t on our side, being overcast and gloomy, nor the fact that we were shooting in a private home, not an office, and have no internal glass walls. After turning the living room upside down, taking two hours and any number of test shots, this is what we managed. I think they’re pretty good:

Phil and Lilith arrived for an overnight stay in the late afternoon. They are paying a flying visit to London from Cortes Island to attend his father’s 80th birthday. Good to see them — it’s been years since I’ve seen Lilith, who’s grown up into a lovely young girl.

Made amatriciana for dinner, with a baguette and green salad. Adam had to scoot off to a dancing dad’s rehearsal, and I left before he was back. Mine went on for hours, and it was after 10pm by the time I got home. Found Adam struggling not to nod off while Phil chattered away. Sent Adam off to bed and sat up with Phil myself until around midnight.

Phil’s wife Sue is a Korean-Canadian friend of mine from university days, and he had a Korean joke that made me laugh:

Three guys go for dinner at a restaurant — a North Korean, a Japanese, and a South Korean. The waiter comes over to their table, and says: “Sorry, there’s no more beef.” The North Korean says, “What’s ‘beef’?” The Japanese says, “What’s ‘no more’?” And the South Korean says, “What’s ‘sorry’?”

February 24, 2016

Very busy day today… Wednesdays are our most full-on day, and that’s without panto rehearsals in the mix. Plus Adam has scheduled a few interviews for a paper we’re writing for a client.We had the big idea of Nova walking Lyra to swimming and waiting with her while we did our interview. One of us would then pick them up, and bring them home for dinner. In the event, we forgot to mention the plan to Nova, and blew off Lyra’s swimming entirely, which made everyone’s life easier.

Dwarfing it this evening — a long rehearsal made even longer by everyone having forgot pretty much everything we’d learned and agreed up to this point…

February 23, 2016

Off to a slow start this morning — I’m not sure why I’m feeling so tired… Adam was getting ready for a conference, while I got Lyra sorted and up to the school.

Came home and slumped on the sofa, intending to rest for half an hour or so before tackling the day. Ended up finishing my novel, Tender is the Night. I really liked it this time — I got so much more from it than when I read it as a teenager. It’s like it was a different book.

Spent almost two hours cleaning everyone’s mucky boots — what a nasty job, fed then family then headed off for a slummies dance rehearsal. I’ve missed a few due to clashes with my dwarf rehearsals, and was feeling a bit worried that I’d make (more of) a fool of myself when we go live in just over a week (eek!), but it finally seems to be sinking in…;-)

February 22, 2016

Lyra had a tummy ache in the night. She came through and woke me about 2am, and I was up with her for almost an hour and a half before I got her settled. I don’t think it was anything to worry about. She probably upset her digestion with too much eating out, and not enough fresh fruit and veg.Got her to drink some water, gave her some nurofen, fetched her a hot water bottle, and sat with her until she nodded off again. All of which left me feeling pretty tired up when the alarm went at 5:30am for my interview with a woman in Japan…

Lyra felt tired as well, but still keen to go to her gymnastics club. There was no way I felt like going for a run. Also I needed to head into town to pick up some handheld reflectors I’d reserved for some office portraits doing later this week. Took the opportunity to do a little shopping at Primark — Lyra’s birthday is fast approaching…

Adam stayed home from work today, though he spent pretty much the entire time I was around on the phone. He’s still not feeling great, and now has pain in his chest when he coughs. I think he’s either inflamed his pleura or else pulled a muscle. Either way he should probably go to the doctor to get his chest listened to.

Black bean and sweet potato tacos for dinner proved a surprisingly tasty meal of necessity — I’m running low on food supplies. I’ll try to recreate it again sometime soon and put it up on tenmorebites…

February 21, 2016

Another excellent night’s sleep — I’ve slept hours this weekend. I think we both need it, after all the broken nights brought about by Adam’s incessant coughing…Got down to breakfast a bit later today — no big rush to get out as we were more or less heading home. It’s been a good place to stay. Amesbury itself is nothing to shout about, but it was a great location for the things we wanted to do.

Paid a quick visit to Old Sarum — a ruined medieval castle built by William the Conqueror, and the original site of Salisbury Cathedral — before heading back to London.

Nova got lunch for her and her sister while Adam and I unpacked the car. Lyra headed straight up to panto rehearsal afterwards. I was enormously tired again, and dozed over the crossword for an hour, until I had rehearsal myself.

I’ve been feeling very unready for the slummy dance this year. But after today’s practice, I think I’ll feel OK about stooging around at the back — before now I wouldn’t have wanted to even be on the stage…

February 20, 2016

We were downstairs at 8am when breakfast started, as we wanted to catch the best of the day’s weather for our walk. Adam tucked away the full English to full his efforts, while I went for poached eggs on toast, wanting to form a view about the quality of the breakfast meats before committing myself. They have to be pretty damn good or I’d rather not know…The weather was forecast to be lousy, with a 70% chance of showers by 10am. In the event, we were luckier than that, and for most of our six-mile walk we had no rain at all. It was actually almost bright at the start, if muddy and none too warm.

We had a big flask of tea with us, and stopped a couple of times to warm ourselves and eat biscuits nicked from the room as well as the fudge the girls had badgered me into buying in Salisbury yesterday.

The weather turned squally for the last hour, and we were happy to duck into the pub we’d parked next to when we reached the end of the walk. Crowded round a little table by the fire with our drinks and crisps. It was so pleasant that we stayed on for lunch as well…

As we had no other plans for the afternoon, we headed back to the hotel and spent a few hours tackling the cryptic crossword puzzle and napping. Ate dinner at the local Indian next door, which was Tripadvisor’s number one place for Amesbury.

We weren’t particularly hungry, and kept that in mind when ordering, but ended up with too much food anyway. The place had its strengths, but wasn’t worth travelling much further for than we did. Not like the pub last night…

Straight to sleep when we got back to the room — I can’t keep my eyes open this weekend…

February 19, 2016

Our plan was to set off promptly at 8:30am, and in the end we were onlyhalf an hour off schedule. It was a lovely bright morning, though according to the forecast it was all going to go tits up by the afternoon.Veronika loaned me an audiobook called Stop The Train the other day. I haven’t had a chance to listen to it, so I loaded all six CDs into the car audio system. Had to spend about half an hour cleaning the disks first — it looked like Sania had been licking it while eating yogurt. It was worth the effort — the story was instantly engrossing, and the journey time flew past…

When Stonehenge finally came into view it was on the opposite side of the road than I remembered it being. I know they are doing a lot of work to change the access to it, so perhaps that has involved re-siting the road? Or maybe my memory is letting me down…

There is a new swish visitors’ centre now, and prices to match. Fortunately, we are members of English Heritage for a few more months, so it was free to us. Started with the exhibition showing how it might have built and some of the artefacts found in the area.

There is a collection of stone age houses to check out as well before catching the little shuttle bus that runs you up to the site. There was a considerable crowd of people there when we arrived, but strangely enough they all seemed to be standing in the same spot. The path wasn’t open all the way round the monument — too mucky I guess — but there was ample room to spread out a bit.

There are audioguides now (to help justify the steep entry fee), so we followed the path round as far as it went learning about the slaughter stone and sarcens and what have you. The girls couldn’t have been less interested, but it’s still important for them to see these sites.

Ate lunch in new cafeteria — which was nice enough if a bit pricey — before heading into Salisbury. Parked up and wandered along the river path to the cathedral. Salisbury Cathedral is one of my favourite places. I have a memory of being there with my brother David years ago, though I can’t figure out how that would have come about.

It might have been after he came over with mum and dad before we were married. They stayed only a weekend, but he stuck around for several more days. Anything pre-family journal increasing lost in the mists of time and fading memory…

Spent a good hour soaking up the interior of the cathedral before moving on to the Charter House, where one of the four surviving copies of the magna carta is on display. Although it’s more than 800 years old, the text is remarkably clear and readable (aside from the fact that it’s in Latin).

Picked up drinks and snacks from Tesco, then headed off to Amesbury where I’d booked a B&B for some down time. Ate dinner at a well reviewed pub about ten minutes’ drive from the B&B. When Adam booked, he was told there would be a children’s menu. That’s not the sort of thing we’d normally care about, but the prices were pretty steep and the menu short and very challenging for younger diners.

Turns out there wasn’t… and the staff’s attitude to the situation was pretty irritating. In my opinion, restaurants should be willing to accommodate their customers, within reason. It wasn’t like we were asking for amphibious-landing-craft-shaped chicken nuggets or something, just a half-sized plate of food that didn’t involve truffles or samphire and cost less than £15…

Got there in the end, though the whole drama left me feeling grumpy. Happily the food was fucking delicious, which improved my mood no end. Back by 10pm, and straight to sleep…

February 18, 2016

In spite of their late night, the little girls were up bright and early. I hate it when that happens… I got up and fed them some breakfast while Adam dozed. I think that Night Nurse really zonked him out…;-)Did an interval run — one mile slow, three times one mile fast with two minutes of slow in between, then a final mile slow, which added up to just under five and a half miles. I was happy starting at the slow pace recommended by my online trainer, but once I did the first fast mile, I found it very difficult to resume the slow pace.

I read somewhere that the biggest mistake people make when training for marathons and half marathons is not running their slow runs slowly enough. I’m sure I fall into that trap…

Alina stayed until three in the afternoon, so Basil could go to a job interview. He was recently made redundant from his main job, but seems to be getting a few interviews, so I expect something will turn up soon.

My day was spent getting us sorted for our trip to Wiltshire. It’s funny how organising short trips seem to require almost the same amount of hassle as longer ones. There’s always a point part way through the day when I thoroughly wish I’d never had the big idea of going away in the first place…

Lyra and Alina drew whiskers on their faces with a Sharpie pen, which were a bugger to get off at bedtime this evening. One of my nicknames for her is Squeaker — it’s going to be more appropriate than ever for the next couple of days…;-)

February 17, 2016

I had a waxing appointment first thing in the village. I’m been having a break from that sort of thing over the winter months, but with panto and our holiday in Bahrain looming, it was definitely time for action. Adam headed off to a meeting about the same time, and Nova has her audition, so Lyra was on her own for half an hour or so. She and I are both okay with that now…Popped into the cornershop for a couple of things for dinner. The shelves were looking pretty bare — it’s shutting down this weekend. The rent is just too punishing for him to carry on, and also the way people shop has changed, which has affected business.

When I asked Raj what he plans were, he said his first priority was settling things with the bank. He told me he’d spent all his pension trying to turn the business around. And as he lives in the flat over the store, he’s going to have to move house as well. Very sad…

Bought Adam some cough supplies at the pharmacist as well. He still has a terrible cough and hacks away fruitlessly until his lungs are flat. It’s worse at night, which is no picnic for me either…

Took Lyra ice skating afterwards. We’d arranged to meet Lyra’s friend Palak, but it turned out her classmates Saya and Margaux also there. The four of them hung out together, chatting mostly — I did far more skating than they did. Afterwards, Lyra went off with Saya’s mum for lunch at Wagamama then back to theirs to play for a few hours.

Sounds like Nova’s audition went well. There was a workshop in the morning to observe the applicants improvising and working in groups. She did her monologue after lunch. The examiner asked her to perform it again, the second time in a different style, which she hopes is a good thing. She finds out if she’s been accepted in April. Apparently, she was one of the youngest auditioning, and a number of the people she met had applied at least once before…

Made lasagne for dinner. “What are you making that for?” Lyra asked. “You never cook stuff like that…” Basil came round to drop off the Alina for a sleepover. They’d eaten earlier, but were easily persuaded to join us for lasagne. It was a big hit with everybody, and little Sania surprised us all by coming back for seconds.

They left about 8:30pm. I let Lyra and Alina watch Enchanted before bed. What with midnight feasts and so on well past eleven by the time they got to sleep…

February 16, 2016

Adam is still feeling terrible, but seems to be coughing a bit less, hope, hope… I can tell I slept better last night, which is a good indication. He headed off first thing to meet with the designers about a report that’s nearing the end of our involvement.Had a good run this morning. It was freezing cold and slippy underfoot at first, but I got used to it and picked up the pace as I went along. Had a quiet home day with Lyra — housework, music practice, and so on. Made grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch (mine with kimchi).

Helped Adam with some Hong Kong work this evening. That project is ver near completion as well, but the client is very demanding, determined to squeeze every last ounce out of him…

Got an email from an advertising agency today, seeking permission to use one of my images — fish rice broccoli bowl — in a feature they are writing for a client website. No money involved, but I’ll get a credit and link. Didn’t have to think very hard about that one…;-)

Made the Mexican quinoa bowl from Nova’s vegan cookbook for dinner tonight. Light yet filling, we all enjoyed it, though the cashew “cheese” was a little weird. No one who still ate cheese would ever consider it remotely cheese-like…

Nova has her audition with for the National Youth Theatre tomorrow. She’s belatedly getting her act together on rehearsing her monologue, and even downloaded and read the play. I saw it for the first time tonight. I thought it was pretty good. I had a couple of pointers for her, though what do I know. She’s had a lot more drama instruction than I ever have…

February 15, 2016

Today is the start of the half term proper. Nova crashed out in the flat after her full-on weekend of partying and had a proper lie in, but Lyra was up before 7am to climb into our bed. She and Adam hacked away in tandem on either side of me…

It’s a normal work week for Adam, which is always a challenge with the kids around. After lunch, I took Lyra off to the cinema to see the new Goosebumps movie. Good scary fun for the tweenie set — I would have enjoyed it at her age.

Made a pearl barley risotto for dinner, which was a bit meh. I don’t think barley really work for risotto — it just doesn’t deliver the creamy cohesiveness you’re after…

February 14, 2016

Happy Valentines Day!
We had our usual family breakfast with little gifts and cards. Actually it wasn’t usual, being the first time that Nova wasn’t with us, which was a mini heartbreaker. She ate her Valentine’s Day breakfast with a group of girlfriends at the Cereal Killer Cafe in Camden. Shades of things to come…These are the cards I made:

What with it being half term, the season tickets that Adam shares were going unused. Adam jumped on them and the three of us headed off to the Arsenal-Leicester match.

Even in the middle of the day it was very cold, and I was grateful for all my layers. It was an exciting match, at least until the referee messed it up by sending off a Leicester player.

The ref had given Arsenal a couple of yellow cards just before half time, and the fans were screeching about his bias. It’s pretty fucking rich when you think about it — 60,000 foaming, rabid Arsenal fans aren’t biased at all when they insist that that incident that happened down the other end of the pitch WAS DEFINITELY A FOUL!, but that professionally trained referee who’s only inches away, now he’s definitely biased if the call goes against Arsenal.

Lyra was annoyed that I wasn’t just cheering wildly with everyone else. I did bite my tongue a bit but she could see right through my efforts to get with the programme, such as they were…

Nova texted at half time. In spite of me telling her we were going to the game, she’d forgotten to bring her keys and was now locked out. We have a two key holders in the neighbourhood, but they were both out.

She’d wanted some down time between parties, but instead ended up hanging out at Rob and Jemima’s for over an hour. Ruby wasn’t even there, and had to watch telly with Rosa until we got home.

Had time for a quick cup of tea together before Nova needed to get ready for Jess’s Valentine’s tea party. Adam dropped her at Shira’s so they could put the finishing touches on their outfits together.

Meanwhile, I decanted a good bottle of wine, and cooked a nice dinner for the three of us — steak, baked potato, mushrooms and green beans.

Once Lyra was tucked up for the night, we settled down to watch the final two episodes of Game of Thrones. Holy fuck — I did not see that coming… We are now on tenterhooks with the rest of the viewing public until the new series airs in April…

February 13, 2016

Lyra had her ice skating assessment this morning. She was worried about it, and convinced she wouldn’t pass. Her friend Palak is in the more advanced half of the class, and I knew Lyra was going to be upset if she got promoted to group six.Palak’s dad thought she also had some improving to do before she was ready to move up. In the event, Lyra passed and Palak didn’t, which was a bit awkward. They had a good long skate afterwards, which was possible as there’s no gymnastics this week.

Swung by the Primark in Wood Green afterwards to pick up some items for my slummy mummy costume. This is the look we’re aiming for:

In my dreams… I plan to lurk about at the back…

Our friend Claudia is in town from Milan, and we’d arranged to meet her for lunch in a Turkish restaurant. Adam dropped Lyra off before finding somewhere to park, and we were shown to a table. We sat there waiting for her for a good ten minutes — Adam had even joined us. It was only when he returned from the loos, that he noticed her seated behind a pillar…

The food was good as always, but the portions were crazy large. After such a hearty lunch and beer in the afternoon, there was nothing for it but lie about watching Game of Thrones…;-)

Nova was outraged when she discovered what we were doing, christening us “oathbreakers” in reference to Jamie Lannister’s sword. I broke off my viewing to drive Nova and her four friends who’d been primping for Iris and Evie’s party downstairs to Muswell Hill. There were all dressed as fairytale characters, and looked fab…

Adam and I had no need for dinner, but Lyra was feeling peckish by 6pm. It was a perfect opportunity to serve her the tin of Spaghetti Hoops she’d pestered me to buy. “I thought this was going to be my new favourite food…” she complained after a couple of bites. “That’s what they say in the adverts, but it’s disgusting!” That’s my girl…;-)

Carried on with the Game of Thrones marathon — it’s addictive stuff, and it had gone 1am by the time we called it a night. Only three episodes to go…

February 12, 2016

It’s cold this morning, the ground was thick with frost when we set out for school. All those premature daisies looking crisp and miserable…Yet another Friday that I didn’t stick to my ambition of going out and about in London. Actually, I didn’t fancy it with this weather. A run to Tesco was the height of my explorations today…

Alice came back to ours after school. Christine’s mother has fallen ill, she was found unconscious yesterday evening, and has yet to wake up. It’s possibly another stroke or pneumonia, though she’s not responding to antibiotics as yet…

Made a Thai yellow seafood curry for dinner, which we ate in front of The Straight Story. “This film is making me very sad,” Lyra said after a bit. “Just the music makes me sad, and the actor looks like Grandpa Ed, and I think he’s going to die at the end.” A half hour on she piped up, “This film is pretty boring but I’m not bored. Weird…”

February 11, 2016

Felt a little stiff this morning after yesterday’s long run. And up a pound on the scales too… Feck…Charlotte came round for a playdate after school. I made them sausages and mash for tea, and listened to them chatting over their meal while washing up. Charlotte mentioned to Lyra that I’d complimented her on her table manners the last time she visited (probably a couple of years ago now). Makes you realise that it’s always worth paying a compliment when you have the chance. It often means more than you think to people.

Lyra wasn’t on great form, complaining mightily about the shape of the sausages. Charlotte was very diplomatic, assuring me that she loved the sausages, but that the kind Lyra likes are even better. Lyra felt a bit abashed and apologised for her behaviour afterwards…

Dwarf dance rehearsal tonight. Again, we are slowly getting there. At the end of the session, our choreographer videotaped our efforts so we could refer to it and improve. A good idea in theory, though I haven’t worked up the nerve to look at myself dwarf-rap-dancing yet. Might put me off the whole enterprise…;-)

February 10, 2016

I was in two minds about whether Lyra should go back to school this morning. In the end, I sent her in with a note explaining that she wasn’t feeling a hundred percent, and requesting that if she asked to come home the school should give me a call.Ran seven miles after drop off. I had the big idea of running on the Heath extension, thinking to avoid all the construction work. It was soggy as hell, and my new shoes are nowhere near as waterproof as their predecessors. I ended up squelching around a good mile or more — I’m amazed I didn’t end up with a crop of blisters…

When I collected Lyra, she informed me she had a terrible headache before lunch and showed the teacher her note, but that the teacher told her to hang on in there. To her horror, I headed back to the playground to speak to her teacher. I didn’t get upset with her or anything, but wanted to make it clear that I trusted Lyra’s judgement and meant what I’d said in the note (duh!).

I’ve been ravenous all day. I may have burned 900 calories running seven miles, but I’ve eaten double that to make up for it…;-)

Full-on dwarf rehearsal this evening. We’re slowly getting there, though there is still one scene that we have yet to rehearse. Back-up vocals only, but I’d like at least one chance to practice it before the show opens…

February 9, 2016

Lyra is still feeling pretty crap, and I decided to keep her home from school again today. It meant skipping my run, and changing a client meeting to be at our house — which then meant having to clean the house up before the client’s arrival, but it all worked out.Lyra spent the day mooching about in her jammies, and seemed better for it by this evening. The poor little thing is pretty low energy, and hasn’t done a cartwheel in over two weeks.

She made me laugh today when she said, “Mum, did you ever realise that soup is just a hot smoothie?”

It’s Shrove Tuesday, and I was planning to do something a crepe-like for dinner, maybe using sourdough starter. But I had a lot of work to do after my meeting, and ended up serving regular breakfast pancakes. That’s what mum always did, serving them with strawberries (frozen of course) and cream. I did mine with maple syrup and bacon…

February 8, 2016

Had coffee with my friend Wendy at Costa after dropping Lyra at gym. I’ve got out of sync with my book group. I couldn’t attend the last meeting because of panto rehearsal, and in my absence they’ve chosen another date I can’t do…:-(Took Lyra to the GP after school. Storm Imogen is still battering the UK, and I could barely keep my umbrella upright the wind was so fierce. I thought I was going to do a Mary Poppins a couple of times.

After taking Lyra’s history, the GP listened carefully to her chest, examined her throat and took her temperature. In her opinion, Lyra’s chest is clear and there is no need for antibiotics. Apparently, there are a number of nasty three-week viruses about…

A couple of months back Adam contributed to a kick starter John’s grand-daughter Katie was involved with called Beethoven for Humanity. The initiative raised sufficient funds to stage their concert of environment-themed classical music, including a lecture on climate change, and our contribution guaranteed us two tickets.

Unsurprisingly, Adam is now busy this evening, but came up with the idea of me taking John instead… We taxied to London Bridge together in awful rush-hour traffic to the venue. I was expecting rough and ready, but hazardous death trap building site was a better description. (Though I’m sure that was influenced by having a 95-year-old with mobility issues in tow.)

Not entirely though… the orchestra was short one violinist after a musician pitched headfirst down the rickety stairs this morning. John is nothing if not game, and after a slow and harrowing descent we made it to our seats.

It was a curious space, only recently converted from an underground car park. We were very close to the orchestra, which was in a sort of waist-high pit at our feet. I enjoyed the music, but it was also really interesting to observe them up close, especially when they weren’t playing.

Getting John out of the venue was another nerve wracking experience — I’m not sure whether the assistance of eight-month pregnant Katie lessened or ramped up the tension. It was certainly a relief to get them both safely installed in our taxi home…

February 7, 2016

I didn’t manage to get up as early as I’d hoped, and no way I was going to be able to run and take Lyra to our usual church service. The solution was a shorter run and a later service.The 11:15 service is designed to be more kid friendly. There are no hymn books or bibles — instead any words the congregation needs are projected on a large screen.

At the start of the service, a large bowl of sweets was passed round the pews. We were instructed to take one but not eat it, as a physical prompt to a sermon about Lent. I noticed that the little guy in front of me took a fist full of candy, and chomped away throughout the sermon.

Lyra was feeling pretty ropey and didn’t want to do Sunday school. Instead she sat through the service with me. She took to bed when we got home for a two-hour nap.

She felt sufficiently well afterwards to go to her panto rehearsal. Just as well… she missed last week, and really needed to catch upif she’s going to be in it. Lily came back with her afterwards.

I was in full-on Chinese New Years cooking mode. We’re celebrating a day early because both Adam and I are out tomorrow evening.

Lily was very impressed with it all. “Your mum knows how to make dumplings?” she asked. “Of course,” Lyra said, then asked, “What are you having for Chinese New Year’s dinner?” “I don’t know,” Lily said.

“What are we having for Chinese New Years?” she asked her dad, when he picked her up. Sausages and mash, it turns out…

When everything was just about ready, I nipped downstairs to dress for dinner. Bad timing… as both the ribs and crispy duck were a teeny bit overdone, when Ireturned ten minutes later…:-(

We always have a nice time seeing in the Chinese New Year. The style of eating suits the kids. Tonight’s menu:

Sipping her tea with her pinkie properly extended, Lyra remarked, “It would be horrible if the queen lost her pinkie finger. She’d be like, ‘I am doing it!'”

February 6, 2016

Up early enough to make a batch of apple-cinnamon muffins before it was time for Lyra to head off to her skating lesson. We’ve eased up on the muffin eating a bit — there was a stretch when we made muffins every single weekend…The stormy weather has definitely landed. It was super windy all day, and the trees outside the house were lashing back and forth like windscreen wipers. The site of them reminded me I’d dreamed that the big tree in the back blew over onto the house.

There was a terrific bang, and we had no idea what happened… The air was thick with white choking dust. Rescue workers with head torches came up the stairs into the living room and said, “You have to get out of here now!” I picked my way blindly down the stairs and out the front door.

It was only when I was standing outside that I realised the girls weren’t there, and I hadn’t checked that they were being evacuated too. Crushing guilt and panic and then I woke up…

Salads for lunch — kisir, Greek salad, and a pretty beet-based salad from Finland called rosolli. Lucia came round to hang with Lyra in the afternoon. The two of them disappeared into Lyra’s room to give themselves makeovers and watch Netflix like a pair of teenagers.

Did some good food prep for our Chinese New Year’s dinner tomorrow. I’d already got the tea eggs started yesterday, but this afternoon I marinated the duck legs and the spare ribs for cooking tomorrow.

Adam and I left the girls to their own devices for an hour and headed over to the Park Road swimming pool to use their new steam room and sauna. Very welcome little indulgence on such a cold, blustery day.

Leftovers for dinner. Adam and I knocked the last of the haggis on the head, Nova had a portion of fish pie, and Lyra had Nova’s leftover pizza and a bit of salad. The pizza slice was so thin I rolled it up and called it pizza sushi…

Spent the evening in the pub with our friends Berndt and Mitsuko who are visiting from Heidelberg…

February 5, 2016

Very windy four mile run on the Heath this morning — there’s supposed to be a storm coming our way this weekend…I’ve been trying to make the effort to get out and about on Fridays, but just didn’t fancy it today. There’s always more than plenty to tackle at home…

Dinner at Pizza Express this evening, to use some 2-for-1 coupons we had that were expiring. Adam and I both went for their light pizza option, which is rolled extra thin, and then has the centre cut out and replaced with a tossed salad.

When they arrived, the pizza dough was so thin it was practically translucent. It was none too big either — while Nova’s regular pizza was overflowing the edges of her plate, ours fit comfortably inside. I polished it off in about six seconds, then filled up on wine…;-)

Put Lyra to bed a bit early when we got home. She’s still hacking away, and it’s really affecting her appetite and her energy levels. We read a chapter of Northern Lights, and discovered what the Gobblers are doing to the children in the far north. My Lyra was suitably horrified.

Had a mini Game of Thrones marathon to polish off the fourth series. Nova fell at the final hurdle, missing some pretty dramatic stuff. I’m onto them now, and accurately predicted two of the three characters who met their demise…

February 4, 2016

Lyra made me laugh this morning. “I wonder how Cleo can lick her paws without thinking ‘Wow, this is gross!'” she said. “‘No wonder I get hairballs…'”Lyra went home with Charlotte after school so I was spared the school run. But I did have to venture out into the traffic nightmare that is Highgate at the moment to collect her at 6pm.

On discovering various pieces of frozen fish in the freezer, I decided to take advantage of Lyra’s absence and make a fish pie for dinner. What a pain in the arse fish pie is…

It takes about three hours to prepare and uses every pot in the house. At least it’s tasty, especially with the lovely smoked salmon Margo and Aaron sent in place of the smoked haddock. But I know I would enjoy it much more if someone else had gone to the considerable effort of making it…

Tonight’s panto rehearsal cancelled due to the sickness of the choreographer. Fine by me — panto takes over a bit at this time of year…

February 3, 2016

Ran four miles this morning, opting for my Highgate Woods to Ally Pally route, in an attempt to avoid the worst of the traffic nightmare that is Highgate at the moment…In a complete dereliction of planning duties, the powers that be have permitted significant road works on North Hill, Southwood Lane, Archway roundabout and Spaniards Lane. There is also a years-long construction site at the top of West Hill that impacts traffic. In other words, all the roads in and out of Highgate, which is playing havoc with travel times, traffic and running routes.

Case in point… today’s trip to Tesco. I braved the contra flow on North Hill, but opted for the Brent Cross Tesco, in an attempt to avoid the Muswell Hill traffic nightmare. This should have been a good idea, except the traffic light at the top of the A1 was broken and cars were backed up a mile as they attempted to force their way into the endless stream of North Circular traffic.

The journey home was another nightmare, and I was wondering if I’d need to call someone to collect Lyra for me, but I squeaked home in just in time. When I first moved to London I was struck by how people used to bore on endlessly about driving routes, roadworks and traffic — now I’m just as bad. A bunch of us were ranting about it on Facebook this very morning…;-)

Violin practice this afternoon was a fiasco. Lyra developed another headache, and was too sick to play the violin or go to her swimming lesson. I’d like to cancel the violin lessons right now, and tell the teacher she is unwilling to practice and it is a complete waste of everyone’s time for her to continue with lessons or turn up for that wretched violin exam. I’m washing my hands of it…

Nova had an inset day and went off to Brick Lane with her friend Jess for the afternoon. She lightened the mood around here considerably when returned and showed me her new skirt.

Nova: Look at the skirt I bought! Isn’t it pretty?
Me: It’s very nice, but aren’t those marijuana leaves?
Nova: What!!! Why wouldn’t they just tell me there are marijuana leaves on your skirt!! Oh my god!! I am mortified…

Panto rehearsal this evening. Actually I had a partly clashing dance rehearsal as well, but I blew it off. I would have blown off the whole thing if I could — I was in a right mood…

Home about 9:15. Looked in on Lyra, who was sleepy but awake. “I’m really sorry we had a disagreement,” I told her. “That’s okay, mum. I was being disagreeable,” she said. So was I sweetheart, so was I…

February 2, 2016

Lyra woke with a migraine this morning. It hurt so much she was in tears, and before long she was feeling sick as well, poor little thing…Eventually she did throw up and felt better for it. Within half an hour she was pretty restored and I took her in to school only ten minutes late. I was wondering if I’d get a call to come pick her up, but she hung in there all day.

I decided against going running so as to be closer to home, and got stuck into baking some sourdough I had proving over night. I’d confidently say that it as the baked best bread I have ever made. I think I’ve been letting it to rise too much — to the 6 litre mark, while this batch rose to just over 4 litres.

Had it with bowls of sweet potato and carrot soup for dinner… delicious.

And this isn’t even the best one…!

We’re doing both swimming runs tonight as Christine is at the Arsenal game. I took Lyra with me to collect Evelyn and drop them at the pool. Adam was back from playing football in time to collect…

February 1, 2016

Rabbits! No early gymnastics for Lyra this morning… She had to get up even earlier for a before-school orthodontist appointment. It’s an annual check up to see how her bite is developing post-retainer. Apparently it is still good, although “shallow”…?I had a mountain of housework and laundry to tackle, having done next to nothing all weekend, what with my digestive woes. It doesn’t take long for things to descend into chaos around here when I am out of commission…

Collected Alice after school so that Nova could take both girls to drama. I had penne amatriciana waiting when they got back. Both Adam and I are trying to trim up a bit before we have to shake our moneymakers in front of half of Highgate.

We’re trying to achieve it through portion control, rather than eliminating whole food groups or alcohol (alcohol is a food group, right?) It’s tricky to make anything else work when you eat as a family, or have the range of social commitments we do.

Started watching the new series of The Good Wife this evening. It’s become a bit silly, as series can do when they go on too long and run out of ideas. How many ways can Alicia fall out with her firm, how many campaigns can Peter believably run for?