February 2017

February 28, 2017

Pretty chilly this morning — we’re in for another cold snap apparently. March coming in like a lion, I suppose…Travelled into the office this morning after dropping Lyra at school. First time I’ve been in ages — the commute was just too painful when the Holloway Road was shut. They haven’t finished the reconfiguring the Archway roundabout yet, but traffic is flowing smoothly again.

I didn’t have any paid work to do for Adam, but we’d arranged to go for lunch with Shayla and her boyfriend John, who is visiting from Halifax. Spent the morning reviewing proposals for the new school website and making a 10th birthday card for Lyra.

Ate lunch at a cafe across the canal from our building. It was so chilly inside that most of the customers were wearing the blankets provided for summer evenings on the terrace.

Whipped up some pancake batter when I got home, and made pancakes for the girls and myself for Shrove Tuesday supper before heading up to the school for the Tech 2 rehearsal.

February 27, 2017

Lyra’s was pretty tired from her late night when I bustled her out of bed and up to gymnastics. After I sorted somebreakfast for the boys, they headed off to visit the Science museum and I had the place to myself for the first time in days.Spent the morning making my clock mask. First I shaped a nose piece out of a segment of egg carton, attached two movable clock hands to it, painted the whole thing black and attached elastic to it.

Next I cut out a cardboard ring to encircle my face, painted it white, stencilled some numbers on it and strung elastic on that. I think it will look pretty good, so long as it fits through the cut out hole in my clock.

The boys got back from their outing at 4pm, just as I was starting to get nervous for them. They flapped about packing and finally headed off by 4:30. (Though I did have to chase after Nick with his forgotten passport and e-ticket.)

Carred on into the village to collect something from the pharmacy. Coming home, I ran into Chris Nolan at the top of the path. Nick is a huge fan and was blown away by the fact that they live next door. He missed bumping right into him by about ten minutes…

Made broccoli beef for dinner then headed up to the school for the Tech-1 rehearsal. It was pretty shambolic — half the tech equipment didn’t seem to be working, but we muddled through. Nova was the only spotlight operator, until Lyra and Grace took control of the other one. They did a creditable job actually…

Home about 10pm, I thought briefly about watching a little telly but decided to be sensible and go straight to bed instead. It’s going to be a tiring week…

February 26, 2017

Made it to church with Lyra this morning. It was a quiet one — now that school offers have gone out, a lot of people don’t need to bother attending any more…It was gone 11am by the time we got home. I’d assumed Adam would have fed the boys (who were planning to spend the day visiting museums). When he asked me what we should have for breakfast, I went off on him a bit…

Spent over seven hours at the school doing the “stagger-through”, which is the first time we run the whole show from start to finish. I still don’t have the trick clock i’m going to be working with in the Haunted Hotel scene, which is starting to make me nervous.

When I was finally done, I met Adam and the kids for dinner at Strada. It was a nice evening — Nick is so lovely with Lyra, gives her a lot of time and treats her absolutely as an equal. She was absolutely basking in the attention…

February 25, 2017

Made muffins for breakfast. Although I managed to overcook them, the boys were both very complimentary — they certainly are appreciative of the food, and tuck away impressive quantities. Along with the muffins, they scoffed toasted bagels, big bowls of yogurt and several pieces of fruit. So different from feeding girls…
Nova took the boys to Camden Town after breakfast to check out the market. Adam had arranged tickets for a Crystal Palace match, so he met them there after ice skating.

On the way home, he stopped at an ice skating shop in Bounds Green and bought Lyra a proper pair of figure skates. Her previous pair weren’t cheap, but these cost twice as much.

You can see that the boot is much sturdier, and blade thicker, and the pick oriented differently. Her instructor had told us that the skates she was using weren’t suitable for the kind of things she is learning now.

In the meantime, I was getting things sorted for Lyra and Alice’s bowling birthday party. Met up with Christine about 3pm for our 3:30 slot. I’d reserved three lanes, which meant six bowlers per lane.

It was full-on but fun — artificial lights, deafening music, and sugar-charged kids tearing about like maniacs between their turns to bowl. Everyone seemed to have a great time, aside from Lily who managed to catch her finger in the ball return thing.

Got home a few minutes before the guys, and went straight into dinner mode. I made chicken dhania, a potato pea curry, naan and raita, with mango ice cream for dessert.

February 24, 2017

My friend Pat’s son Nick and his French exchange are arriving this afternoon to spend the weekend in London. Happy to have them — I haven’t seen Nick since we visited Edmonton a good five years ago. He’s almost eighteen now, and will have changed enormously, I’m sure…After a frenzy of housecleaning, I raced to the grocery store to stock up on provisions. I bought a bunch of food for the flat as well, so they can top up if the meals aren’t large enough for growing teenage boys.

I was cutting it fine getting back in time, but it turns out they were delayed by immigration. There are recent additional forms that parents need to complete for children under the age of 18 who are travelling alone. Some border official phoned Adam and grilled him about our relationship with Nick before he was allowed to enter the country.

They eventually made it to our place about 4pm. Nick has changed so much since we last saw him almost six years ago. He towers over me now and is quite the polished young gentleman. His friend Christopher, who is the same age as Nova, seems much younger in comparison.

Lyra’s friend Mia was round for a playdate, so I made a big batch of spaghetti and meatballs for the five kids. The boys headed straight out after dinner to hook up with Adam in the East End for a Jack the Ripper guided walk. I thought Nova might go with them, but she wanted to get a French essay out of the way…

February 23, 2017

Out of the house before 8am this morning for a hospital appointment in Fulham. It’s always such an unpleasant surprise to travel on the tube in rush hour. I so don’t miss having that in my life…Aside from the crush, the actual trek across London wasn’t so bad, and I made it to my appointment in good time.

I saw my third consultant in as many appointments, which is always a disappointment. I can understand that it’s probably more efficient for them not to link patients to particular doctors, but something must be lost in establishing a new relationship each time — not to mention differences in their interpretation and advice.

Apparently, I’ve lost a few kilos since August, which is good, but am not responding sufficiently to the hormone regime, which is bad. Went downstairs for some blood tests, and am going back again in four months to repeat them, and possibly adjust my regimen.

It’s incredibly windy today — Storm Doris is giving the UK a bashing. The trees along the Fulham Road were lashing like cats’ tails, and I kept a good eye on them as I retraced my steps.

I was just about to turn into the road that leads back to South Ken tube, when I noticed Bibendum in the distance. It was too early for oysters unfortunately, but I couldn’t resist going for a closer look (and a coffee) before heading home.

Our friend Steve had a book launch in Farringdon this evening. It clashed with Lyra’s gymnastics, which we solved by the whole family travelling to Kentish Town on the bus. After ensuring the girls were clear about how to walk to the Talacre, we headed back to the overground station.

Doris was still wreaking havoc, and with many trains and tubes disrupted there was rush-hour chaos. Booted out at Kings Cross, we managed to crowd onto a bus, but the traffic was so slow that we abandoned it and walked the last stretch.

The launch was in full swing by the time we arrived. Grabbed a glass of champagne and made it to the food table in time to partake of the remaining scraps of Parma ham and olives.

Stayed for Steve’s speech about his new book, Archidoodle City, then headed back to Highgate by cab so I could make it to rehearsal.

February 22, 2017

Had a meeting with new client about a website. He is in financial services, which doesn’t fall within my sweet spot, but I felt more confident after talking to him.There was just time for a bit of lunch before heading off to school to pick up Lyra and Lily. Made them chickpea pasta soup for dinner. I could tell that Lily didn’t love it, and I suppose it isn’t the kid-friendliest of meals, but what can you do? Her mother called last night and asked me to have her at short notice.

After swimming, I took Lyra up to the school for rehearsal. We were doing the clock/ghost scene this evening. Took the opportunity to give my ghost costume a trial run. I’m glad I did — the hood is way too large and prone to fall off when I run, and the sleeves slip too far up my arms when I raise them. Back to the sewing machine…;-)

February 21, 2017

Christine and I divide birthday party responsibilities between us, and this year it’s my turn to do the party bags. Made a trip to Tesco where I grabbed some groceries, but no joy on the cheap party bag toot front…We have a crazy weekend ahead, after which there is no let up. It’s straight into panto, then Adam’s big birthday with attendant celebrations, including a weekend away in Rome I need to do some planning for.

Dinner was spanakopita and tabbouleh, with coconut Nutella squares for dessert. I’m a big hater of Nutella, not least because of this image, but it does make for mighty tasty coconut squares:

Took Lyra to rehearsal with me. We’re working on the disappearing bed, clock/ghost scene, which is still worryingly patchy. It was nearly 10pm by the time we called it a night.

When I got back, I cracked a beer and dozed through the last third of yet another episode of Taboo. It is really quite tricky to follow when you miss random chunks of plot development the way I do…;-)

February 20, 2017

Monday’s early start went off reasonably well after a week off. Though I’d done so much work at the end of the week and over the weekend, felt I was owed a weekend day…;-)After kicking the house into rough order, I spent a couple of hours making my ghost costume. I’m pretty happy with it…I managed to give Nova a good fright when she came home. I cut it out without bothering to make a pattern, so it’s quite rough and ready. But that’s okay in a ghost costume, surely.

Having failed to do a grocery run today, I’m really scraping the bottom of the barrel foodwise. Managed to make a perfectly acceptable tofu and green bean noodle dish for dinner.

Up to the school to rehearse the opening scene — mainly the villager song and dance. That lead time that seemed so long in January is now feeling pretty imminent…

Adam and I are watching a BBC series called Taboo at the moment. It’s pretty good but I can’t seem to stay awake for an entire episode…

February 19, 2017

Our last day of the half term… I’d thought of taking Lyra to church this morning, but she was still in bed at 9:30, and I didn’t fancy the stress of getting up and out in less than ten minutes…I left Adam have a proper lie-in for once, and got up myself about 8:30 to launch my the rebuild of the architecture site. It took a couple of hours, but there were no major problems, thank god.

One niggle is the size of the rollover captions. They look smaller (and better) on the build version, but I can’t find anything in the code to explain it. Even ran one of those “compare these files” on the two stylesheets and there were no differences detected. Decided to let it slide — the site looks loads better overall…

On a roll, I also pulled together a content plan for plugging the last few gaps, then shut my computer and threw together the veggie soup I’d wanted Adam to make yesterday. Had that for lunch along with some freshly baked sourdough.

Panto rehearsals as per usual, after which I scrambled together a potato-pea curry from the back of the fridge. I need to get to the grocery store soon — it’s going to require some ingenuity to make Lyra’s packed lunch tomorrow…

February 18, 2017

A reprieve from Saturday morning ice skating this week. Note to self, must buy Lyra new ice skates before her lessons start up in a week’s time. It’s hard to see when that is going to happen, but we’ll do our best…I’d arranged to meet my old job share Tina for a coffee on Upper Street this morning. After working down to the wire to get a proposal out, Adam helpfully dropped me off.

We met outside her hairdressers and walked up the street to the Euphorium Bakery. When I noticed our car parked up, I just knew Adam was in Sefton looking at stupidly priced clothes we can’t afford. After twenty years, there are very few ways we surprise one another.

Minutes later, he walked into Euphorium to buy some bread and ended up joining us for coffee before heading home to make lunch with the girls. Spent another hour catching up then caught the bus home myself.

Had an early dinner of pasta amatriciana, then set off for Chiswick to check out the annual Magic Lantern festival. The drive was a bit fraught, and we got lost once, but it wouldn’t have been any picnic on public transport either.

The festival itself was very cool, if a bit kitschy, and packed with people. I think it’s the second year they’ve done it (at least it’s the second year I’m aware of it) and I had no idea it would be so popular.

Warmed ourselves with churros and chocolate sauce in the entertainment area before heading home again…

February 17, 2017

We’ve been spared the feeding of Pete and Pasc’s cats a few days early as they are back home already. They messed up their holiday arrangements, arriving at their cottage in the Lake District on Saturday to discover their booking started on Tuesday.When they eventually took possession, it was damp and uncomfortable, plus the weather was relentlessly miserable. They decided to cut their losses and head back south two days early.

Nova and Lyra took the bus to Brent Cross for a spot of shopping. And to buy Lyra some new school shoes, grrr… Aside from the shoes, Lyra bought herself a very interesting teeshirt, composed of two teeshirts fused together.

Adam headed off after dinner to do a lease signing for one of the flats. While one tenant has left, the other two want to sign on for another year, and found a friend to share with them, so that was all very painless…:-)

February 16, 2017

Left the girls hanging out together when I went to a client meeting this morning. I doubt they even noticed I was gone. Made grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch when I got back (mine with kimchi, my new fave thing…)Spent much of the day rebuilding the architecture site — it pretty good by the time I’d finished. We also found time to finish the doodle art — it looks pretty good! Hung it on the girls’ bedroom room where it can be admired.

I fed the kids some dinner, and waited for Adam to come home so we could drive to Stoke Newington for dinner with Pad. There was some confusion about plans, and Adam ended up travelling there by public transport, and I grabbed a cab (which meant we could both drink).

I didn’t think the Mexican restaurant Pad chose was that great. Though they’ve only recently opened, so maybe they are still finding their feet. Wouldn’t be in a big hurry to try it out again…

February 15, 2017

Had a great sleep last night — it was almost 7:30 by the time I woke up. Lyra headed off to work with Adam today. She enjoys doing that on occasion — Shayla makes a fuss of her, and Adam will take her out for lunch.Nova has been advised to listen to French and Spanish daily to improve her ear. I had the idea of listening to the dubbed versions of some of our dvds. We tried Amelie first, but the French was too fast and colloquial. The dubbed version of Cinderella was much better.

Turns out it’s pretty random which films are dubbed in which languages. There are surprisingly few with French or Spanish — films are just as likely to list Hindi and Norwegian. There are quite a number in Icelandic…

February 14, 2017

In a break with tradition, I made French toast for Valentines breakfast this year. Chocolates, cards and little gifts — we celebrate everything in this family, like those raccoons in the Pompoko

film…

Mike Flynn’s resignation as National Security Advisor after he was shown to have suspicious contacts with the Russian government was an extra little Valentine’s gift. As was the gif of Justin Trudeau not letting Trump do that ridiculous hand yank thing he’s been inflicting on other politicians since taking office.

Lyra brought out Nova’s unfinished Doodleart the other day, and we’ve been working on it for the last few days. She has an ambition to finish it over the holidays, and I think it’s achievable.

After an hour she headed off with Charlotte’s mum to go ice skating, and Nova went to hang out with Shira and Jess and do Valentines things — baking and eating baking are high on the list, I think…;-)

Worked in the afternoon, then ventured out to get some provisions for Valentine’s dinner. I’d called around first trying to track down fresh baby clams. There were none in Muswell Hill or Crouch End, but the fishmonger in East Finchley had some. It’s such a pain in the ass parking round there that I decided to take the bus.

Prepped the chocolate fondants, then swung round to Charlotte’s to pick up Lyra. She’d already eaten, so it was just Adam and I for dinner. I’d deliberately kept the menu reasonably straightforward: parma ham, dates and goat cheese canapés, linguine al vongole, rocket salad with parmesan and toasted hazelnuts, and the aforementioned fondants.

Ended up baking them about two minutes too long — there wasn’t enough molten filling when you broke them open. I didn’t think the dariole moulds worked that well either — I’ll try them in ramekins next time…

The knee felt pretty good today. It’s still stiff going downstairs, but doesn’t feel so twangy and alarming any more. Iced it again before bed, and slept with it elevated on a pillow.

February 13, 2017

I got to hang out with Lyra today, which was nice. Adam was at the office and Nova headed out to rehearse her drama piece with some classmates. Lyra has a Valentine’s Day sewing project she wanted to finish. I joined her on the sofa, and made some heart pompom bookmarks for little gifts.Received a new business phone call out of the blue. I wasn’t prepared at all but think it went fine. He’s still interested enough that it’s worth me submitting a rough proposal for what I can do. Agreed to get it to him by the end of the week.

Made chicken curry, raita and naan for dinner, then watched Heathers for movie night. “Why is it rated 18?” Lyra asked. It’s been years since I saw it, and I couldn’t remember why. After fifteen minutes, it was obvious the rating was down to crude language and fleeting sex scenes. Oh well…

Once Lyra was in bed, Nova got busy baking Lyra a batch of chocolate chip biscuits for a Valentine’s gift. Spent half an hour icing my knee before bed — it’s been stiff and painful today…

February 12, 2017

Adam made the girls pancakes for breakfast this morning. Lyra had pressured me into buying Nutella yesterday, which is Charlotte’s favourite pancake topping. I must say, Lyra seems pretty keen on it as well. This image I shared with her the other day hasn’t dented her enthusiasmAfter Charlotte’s mum collected her, Lyra headed up to feed the cats. The idea is for Lyra to do the day feeds and have a play with the cats, and the three of us to divide up the evenings between us (at least that’s the theory). Nova did it yesterday, and it was my turn tonight…

February 11, 2017

We’ve agreed to feed Pete and Pasc’s cats twice a day this week while they are away in the Lake District. Made a sign to leave on the dining table to ensure we don’t forget. Not that such a thing has ever happened…;-)Adam and I did a quick Waitrose run in the afternoon in readiness for Lyra’s sleepover with Charlotte. I thought mac and cheese was a safe bet, and made chocolate raspberry ice cream for dessert. I thought that would be a safe bet too, but apparently Charlotte has a phobia about “all the little hairs on raspberries”.

We abandoned the livingroom to the kids and hung out in our bedroom, herding them into Lyra’s bedroom at 10pm. I served the midnight feast shortly after, and told them lights out at 11pm. It was definitely gone midnight before it was all quiet.

We knew because we were watching the last two episodes of Unforgotten. It was good, if a rip-off the “strangers on a train” idea. It stars Nicola Walker, who was a mum in Lyra’s class years back. Since we last saw her, she’s been putting together a solid body of work.

February 10, 2017

Had a terrible night’s sleep, which included a vivid dream about the Prince George house:

I’d driven there with dad and Patty. We parked in the Carmichael’s driveway and she hopped out and went inside. Our house had been significantly renovated, and now had a full second-storey and gingerbread trim. It looked different, but also recognisable, and was roughly painted a dark blue colour.

They’d obviously just finished the work — there were piles of building waste blocking the street and a big moving van outside. The new owner was having a lawn sale of all our stuff. It was very surreal seeing that. I bought mum’s old typewriter, though the case was missing, and a Chinese calendar with Josanne’s face on it.

We stood there watching while other people picked through our belongings — one guy bought a pair of green glass vases for $15. I discreetly pocketed a few of our things and but them in the trunk of the car.

I didn’t want them to know who we were. I was feeling a bit embarrassed by the whole situation, plus I was pretty sure that they would care. Dad was grumbling away that he should have done these renos when we lived there. “You sure should,” I said, “and this guy did it in about two weeks.”

We climbed back into the car and headed up McBride Crescent. Teenage Dave and Steve Ewers were standing in their driveway, goofing around with some friends, and I looked back to see if the Drexels were around as well.

I noticed a new street with a few houses on it running between the Moros and Lundens house, and couldn’t remember if it had always been there.

I remarked to dad that we were unlikely to ever return to Prince George again. “No, why would we?” he replied. “I’m certainly not coming by back in two weeks for that talk on… (I forget what it was).” “I thought that was this weekend! That’s the reason we drove all this way.” “Nope, it’s in two weeks,” dad said.

And then Nova woke me up before she headed off to Cambridge for school trip…
I had a nice outing planned myself — a half day at the Mayfair Hotel spa, and a Christmas gift from Adam. It’s the same hotel where we spent our wedding night (where I’ve been back only once since, ducking in to change baby Nova’s nappy in the lobby restrooms).

I had an hour to enjoy the sauna and steam room before my full body massage, and tea in the hotel lobby arranged afterwards. Adam joined me for tea, then we caught the train home together.

I’ve been listening to a truly dreadful podcast from the CBC called Somebody Knows Something. It should be called Nobody Knows Anything — cold cases incompetently reported on in some of the worse prose I’ve had the misfortune to hear.

I’m actually listening in stunned disbelief at it’s badness, though it usually puts me straight to sleep. Somehow, I actually listened to most of episode 10, which was super crappy…

February 9, 2017

My knee is maybe a little bit better… It’s not too bad going upstairs now or on the straight, though downstairs still hard. Lyra went to and from school on her own, saving me two trips up and down the path.I was meant to meet with Alicia about getting her social media in gear but she cried off at last minute, so used the time to ice my knee instead.

The weather has turned very cold again, and is hovering around zero. I was chilly in the house all day despite the heating. It doesn’t help that I’m spending regular intervals sitting still with an ice pack on my leg.

Drove to gymnastics today instead of taking the bus. It was dark by the time we left, with sleety rain blowing directly into the windscreen. With the barrage of headlights from the oncoming rush hour traffic, visibility pretty bad.

And all the deathwish cyclists and motorbikes abruptly cutting in and out of their lanes… It was a pretty unpleasant journey, and I was relieved to park up without having clipped anyone. My hands were frozen into actual claws from gripping the icy steering wheel. Bought a cup of bad tea from the café, more as a handwarmer than something to drink.

Lentils and sausages for dinner. I’d made the lentils before we left, and had Nova turn the sausages on, so we could eat promptly. Headed up to the school for yet another rehearsal, to rehearse the closing dance this time. I’ve got it down pretty well, and with my new knee brace, I could more or less do the movements.

Watched an episode of No Offence with Adam when I got home, then straight to bed…

February 8, 2017

Adam is working from home today — a rare occurrence now. Spared me limping up to school with Lyra, though I did have to venture out for my leg waxing appointment in the village.

Clambering up onto the treatment bed, and shifting into various positions reminded me of being heavily pregnant — that need to think about how best to heave yourself onto your side without doing yourself an injury. That said, I’m definitely better than yesterday, which is good…

We had Lily back after school. I made meatballs in a Thai-style broth for dinner, which went down okay. Took Lily to the swimming pool with us as her mum was running late, then took Lyra up to the school for rehearsal as neither Adam or Nova were in.

She doesn’t mind at all — her friend Saya is up there most nights as her mum is painting backdrops and they hang out together. They even got to help with some of the painting themselves this evening.

“What do you and dad do for fun?” Lyra asked me on the way home. After I listed off the things we enjoy, she said, “You have the same hobbies as elderly people. Think about it! You like to talk, go for walks and watch television together…” Ouch!

February 7, 2017

Lyra has managed to lose her school shoes…:-( She changes into trainers and PE kit at sports club, and often doesn’t change back before drama, but she usually sticks her school uniform in her gym bag. Sent her off to school in her trainers, with stern instructions to track her shoes down during the day…My knee is completely fucked today. I can barely walk on it, and put in as much RICE time as possible. At least it gave me a chance to sort out the booking for Lyra’s bowling birthday party.

It was just Nova and me for dinner tonight (chicken tinga tacos) as Lyra was at Margaux’s house. When it was time to collect, I couldn’t face the hike through her winding estate. I brought Nova with me, and parked up while she trekked off to retrieve her. Thankfully, I was able to drive OK.

I did swimming drop-off, collecting Evelyn on the way then took Lyra with me to rehearsal. Adam said he’d pick the girls up, but his meeting ran late and he didn’t get there until quarter to ten (swimming ends at 9pm). So annoyed at him, and his lousy decision-making. He could have called Christine, or sent a taxi for them…

One piece of good news… we found Lyra’s gym bag in lost property. The bad news is her school shoes weren’t in it… Adam went back to the school to look through lost property some more. We found Lily’s shoes (which is nice for them) but no sign of Lyra’s. Someone else has gone home with them I guess…

February 6, 2017

Monday is Lyra’s long day at school/clubs. I’d thought of going into the office, but Adam only around forpart of the day and Shayla is on leave, so there didn’t seem much point…Anyway there is always plenty to do around here: housework, paperwork, work-work… Spent an hour on the phone to Google, sorting out an issue with the way a client’s business wasn’t appearing on their maps.

I think it comes down to a problem with postcodes. The underlying software assigns the wrong postcode to their location. It was satisfying to finally get that stubborn little headache resolved.

Had a phone call with Shayla this afternoon. Some chitchat about what we’d done on the weekend led to this comment: “My parents are so ‘stay-at-home’ compared to you and Adam!” And here i’d thought we were two contemporaries swapping notes about our social lives…;-)

Did something worrying to my knee this afternoon. I was leaning over in a slightly awkward way to pick someone else’s crap off the floor and I felt it sort of pop. I could tell right away that it wasn’t good…

Made pork fried rice for dinner, with the leftover rib meat and broccoli in oyster sauce on the side. I ate with girls, and Adam still wasn’t back by the time I left for rehearsal. My knee was noticeably stiff going up the path, and I took it pretty easy in rehearsal. Working on the villager scene tonight, which definitely runs better without the kids in it.

Watched Homeland with Adam when I got home, though it’s too close to reality around the US government and muslims. At least it gave me a chance to ice and elevate my knee. Strictly speaking, it is a housework-related injury, I’ll bet it’s connected to that fall I took on the path the other day, or even to my recent spate of yoga…

February 5, 2017

I’d planned to take Lyra to church this morning, but what with last night’s party, it was a late start around here. I was just contemplating whether to blow it off when Lily’s mum texted, offering to take Lyra. Happy to take her up on that, and good to get an attendance in early in the month.Panto rehearsal in the afternoon. Both Adam and Lyra had dance practice, and I did my singing/dancing villager routine. Came home with reams of white semi-sheer fabric for making my ghost costume. I’ve got some ideas of how I want it to look, but not sure how I’ll go about it creating it yet…

Got into a bit of a fracas with Lyra this evening. She’s been quite rude and uncooperative the last couple of weeks. I let it ride for a bit, thinking maybe there was something upsetting her, but it’s become her default setting. When I raised the subject with her, I got more of the same attitude.”I don’t think I’m being rude, so there isn’t a problem…”

February 4, 2017

Went for a two-mile run while Adam took Lyra to her skating lesson. Brought her friend Palak back to ours afterwards. They’ve been friends for more than a year, but it’s her first visit to our house. She’s from a Hindu family, so I kept lunch vegetarian: soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. ( I noticed Palak joined Adam and me in opting for the fiery ketchup.)They girls did their faces, went on a shopping trip to the village, and made their own lip balm. Unlike the usual “mix-stuff-together-and-see-what-happens” way Lyra and her friends usually make home beauty products, Palak approached it like a little chemist, carefully heating Vaseline, coconut oil (and something else I believe) on the stove before decanting it into little pots. I’d happily use their lip balm myself, which isn’t something I’d normally say about the kids’ efforts in this direction.

California rolls for dinner, using supplies I’d planned to serve for Setsubun. Haven’t attempted inside-out maki for years — I’m a little rusty… Nova is babysitting at Grace’s tonight, leaving us babysitterless. She called around her friends, and rounded up Chloe to sit with Lyra so we could go the Lowenburgs house party.

It was a good enough party, with many of the usual suspects we encounter on the Highgate social circuit. Tons of food… I was glad we’d had a relatively small dinner, but I wouldn’t have eaten at all if I’d known.

It’s such a lottery with house parties — when some people say “food” they mean a bowl of crisps, while others mean lasagnes, two vats of curry, mounds of cold chicken, platters of asparagus, roasted vegetables, numerous salads, and a dessert bar.

I didn’t really fancy drinking, and just sipped a glass of white wine until it grew warm before switching to water. I was completely ok to drive home at midnight which was the time we’d agreed with Chloe.

Nova herself was home before 11:30, so we were actually paying the pair of them to hang out together. Lyra meant to be in bed at 9pm, but we found out it was more like quarter to eleven before Chloe got her down. Apparently Chloe told Nova “your little sister is very persuasive.” That’s one word for it…

February 3, 2017

Accidently set the radio for 6am (my wake-up time when I was happening Nova with her science revision). It’s the first time that I’ve tuned into the British news in a couple of weeks, aside from the odd Brexit story online. It was mildly surprising to remember that there is other stuff going on besides US politics.It’s Setsubun today, the day the Japanese mark the first day of spring. I remember celebrating it with when I lived in Japan — which involved throwing dried soybeans out the window and shouting “Demons out! Good luck in!” Since then, a custom has developed of eating uncut maki rolls while facing in the new year’s lucky direction.

I was planning to observe setsubon this year (we can use all the good luck we can get our hands on at the moment), but Lyra had gone back to Mia’s after school, and I knew she would be irked at missing sushi, so it was leftover soup and curry for dinner instead.

Had a heck of a time winkling her out of Mia’s house at pick up. She was quite rude when I tried to get her to stop playing a computer game so we could go. I’m getting more of that attitude all the time, and really don’t like it…>:-{

February 2, 2017

It was pretty wet underfoot on my morning run. I have “water resistant” shoes, but my feet still get soaked if I step in a puddle and splash water over the top of the shoe. I did the same run on Tuesday, and to my surprise, I was more than two minutes faster today.Had a meeting with my architect client afterwards. We’ve decided it makes sense torebuild the site with a different template. We’ve gone down a customising road that has created some difficulties, and it is starting to look like more trouble to repair and maintain it than to start again.

We went for lunch afterwards at the Red Lion and Sun. Fresh crab on toast, a glass of wine, and we split a chocolate-salted-caramel tart. She picked up the bill, insisting it was a belated Christmas lunch…

Lyra was out at Ava’s birthday party after school, creating an opportunity for the three of us to eat fish — yellow salmon and prawn thai curry in this case. At the last minute, I agreed to have Veronika’s three girls for a few hours so she could go to a lecture.

It was a shame Lyra wasn’t here to hang with them, and a little awkward too, given it was a class party that Alina wasn’t invited to. They are lovely, well-behaved kids and seemed happy enough to spend a quiet evenign in front of the telly watching a Disney film, drawing and reading. I made them popcorn and drinks and pretty much left them to it.

I had an argument with Nova this evening over the state of her bedroom (currently the flat). I’ve been after her to sort out her school books and papers for a week now (not to mention all the dirty clothes). She’s assured me a few times that she’d made good progress, sorted her books or whatever, and the next time I’d go in there it would be exactly the same or worse.

I said I found it really insulting when she told me she had done something I could plainly see she hadn’t, and accused her of acting like Donald Trump. Floods of tears ensued… I have no doubt I’ll be hearing about that ill-judged remark for years to come…

February 1, 2017

Rabbits! Forgot to say it when I got up to do physics with Nova — reflection and refraction this morning — but remembered to get Lyra to say it when I woke her an hour later.Baked bread and made celeriac soup to go with it, alongside the usual housework/work-work that fills most of my days. Fed Lyra first in time for swimming lesson, then Adam when he swung through, after which Nova and I ate before I headed for rehearsal.

I was disinclined to take Lyra with me tonight. She’d made a super pest of herself yesterday, actually hassling me from the wings while I was in the middle of rehearsing my scene to help with her spelling sentences.

However, the little monkey wrote a persuasive argument that swayed my decision at the last minute (and saved her from staying at home on her own while Nova was at swim practice). Her friend Saya was going to be there tonight while her mum painted scenery, and she swore she would be no trouble whatsoever.

Lyra made a funny observation on the way up: “I figured out what the difference is between the slummy mummies and the yummy mummies,” Lyra told me. “Yeah, what is it?” I asked. “Yummy mummies think they’re hot, and slummy mummies think they’re cool!” Ouch!

Applied to be an examinations invigilator at a local high school in May/June. Not sure what they are looking for, but seems an easy enough way to pick up a few extra quid…