January 2016

January 31, 2016

Feeling a bit better today, though have decided not to eat until it’s completely sorted. I had trouble falling asleep last night I was feeling so blech, and it had gone 2:30am before I finally slept. So I was pretty dozy when poor Lyra came in complaining of a nightmare. (Damn you, Indiana Jones!) Her cough is still pretty bad when she’s lying down, so that did for the rest of my night’s sleep.Adam went off to play football first thing, then made a cooked breakfast for him and the girls. In contrast, I mooched around in my pjs until the afternoon, shunning all food.

I did do some Bahrain research, working out how to divide our time while we’re there. We’d planned to go to Oman for a few days, but now that the Bahrain Grand Prix is taking place while we’re there, that is going to take up at least two of our Bahrain days (not to mention a good chunk of our holiday budget) and I’m rethinking the Oman idea.

Lyra walked to her circus skills class by herself for the first time (though Adam popped by on his way somewhere to doublecheck that she’d made it). She went home with Alice afterwards, so the three of us could go to a show at Jackson’s Lane.

“The Best Thing” is part of the mime festival. In full mask and without words, the troupe tells the story of a young woman who got pregnant in the mid-sixties and was forced into giving the baby up for adoption. It was sad, funny and very moving.

Made tofu stir fry and rice for dinner. My stomach was gurgling away by this point, so I decided to brave it, and it digested just fine.

Lyra’s miserable cough is hanging on and zapping her energy. She was willing to go to bed early again tonight, where we read a good chapter of Lyra. Sunday is bath night. I’ve still got a truckload of Epsom salts left from that sugar detox that I’m working my way through. It’s a nice way to finish the week, and I always sleep like a log afterwards…

January 30, 2016

Woke up with heartburn of all things — I never get heartburn. I was expecting a hangover, but seem to have got off alright on that score. I’m thinking maybe I drank too much water, and interfered with my ability to digest that rich haggis.I had no appetite for breakfast or lunch, though I did fix something for the family when Lyra returned from her activities. Adam took her off to the Arsenal match in the afternoon, and I continued to have a very low energy day.

I finished my current novel — “The Secret Life of Bees” — which I adored, then started a crime thriller I’d downloaded onto my Kindle a few months back. There was no way I was cooking anything, so Adam ordered pizza when they got back.

I shouldn’t have eaten dinner either, but I was feeling a bit better, so I did. Within an hour I knew it was a mistake. My stomach is still in a bad way, completely refusing to digest my meal, which sat there in a heavy, greasy lump.

Watched Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom with Lyra, which might just be the worst movie I have ever seen…

January 29, 2016

It was Lyra’s Viking assembly this morning after drop-off. They’d put together a little five-minute drama about the Viking invasion of Britain, featuring such classic lines as “Yeah, we liked to pick a fight; But on the whole we were alright.”When it was over, there was time for a quick coffee with their new teacher (the previous woman having returned the Sheffield at Christmas suffering from homesickness) and a visit to the classroom.

Afterwards, Veronika gave me a lift to the tube station as I had some shopping to do in town. Stanfords for a Bahrain/Oman guide book, M&S for prosecco and Nova knickers, Boots for cough syrup, Neal’s Yard for cheese, and Monmouth for coffee.

It was well past lunch by the time I’d managed it all. Stopped at Kanada-ya for a quick bowl of noodles before catching the tube home. It was without doubt the best bowl of ramen I have ever had — and I’ve eaten a fair few good ones.

Got back to Highgate just in time to collect Lyra from school, and start the prep for our Burns Night supper. Actually, it’s quite an easy meal — I prepped the potatoes and swede, wrapped the monster haggis in foil and started it cooking in a low oven, made a smoked salmon dip to serve with the champagne, and that was about it…

Jane and Steve texted mid-afternoon to cancel. Apparently, she’s been sick all week. There seems to be a lot of it about, though I do wonder why they left it until a few hours before dinner to let me know…

The rest of the usual suspects were fighting fit, and we had a good evening. When it came time to read the “Ode to a Haggis”, Lyra stole the show with her stellar Scots accent. Once we finished the bubbles, I stuck with whisky, and lots of water.

In light of recent events, Paul played David Bowie instead of his usual Queen, and Pete and I caterwauled along to Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes and a couple of others I can no longer recall. It broke up about 1am and we were all cleaned up and in bed before 2am…

January 28, 2016

Lyra was keen to return to school this morning, mostly because she has a playdate arranged with Lily that she doesn’t want to miss…Did a three mile run plus sprints. It was difficult finding a route I wanted to run. With all the rain we’ve been having, Highgate Woods would be a bog. And the traffic was so awful along Spaniards Lane that I was stymied as to how to get home, as North Hill is still a mess as well with the road works.

At dwarf dance rehearsal this evening I found out what had caused the problem. A convicted pedophile due in court that morning for sentencing committed suicide by jumping off the Archway Road bridge into rush-hour traffic.

January 27, 2016

Lyra hacked away all night, and was feeling pretty wretched at breakfast. I decided to keep her home from school. I’m pretty sure it’s only the second sick day she’s ever had. (Though I have gone up to the school to collect her twice — once for feeling sick and once for slicing her forehead open on the whiteboard.)

Poorly Lyra

Received a parcel from Margo and Aaron this afternoon — Lyra’s birthday present and a generous stash of their home smoked salmon. Very, very pleased with that!

No swimming for Lyra tonight with that nasty cough, so the three of us ate when Nova got back from drama rehearsal. Beef barley soup — good, rib-sticking winter fare on a cold January evening. I made an apple-pear crumble as well, mostly to use up some pears that were getting too soft.

Nova headed off to swim training, and I did some music practice with Lyra. She’s still feeling pretty rough and hasn’t done a single cartwheel all day — I don’t think that’s ever happened. She actually asked to go to bed early…

Gave me the opportunity read two chapters of Lyra — it’s getting really exciting now, as she’s about to set off for the north (though the rest of the expedition don’t know it yet).

Watched a fascinating documentary about the Scientologists called “Going Clear”. I had no idea what a cult it is — I just thought Scientology was a new-agey, touchy-feely, self-help kind of thing that Hollywood types are drawn to. What an eye-opener…

January 26, 2016

Had a meeting with my architect client this morning. She needs some updates to her website, plus is interested in me doing a day a month marketing work for her. Sounds intriguing, but I’d want to be confident I could deliver value for money. After discussing it with Adam, we decided it makes sense for me to pull a proposal together and see what it looks like when it’s all written down…The day started bright and sunny, but the weather turned in the afternoon. By school pick up, it was pretty nasty out there. Lyra returned home shivering, wet and miserable. She’s developed a heavy cough over the last couple of days — likely a version of the cold Nova’s finally managed to shrug off.

Tonight’s dinner was a bit of a fail…:-( I burnt the sweet potato fries while fussing with some over-complicated Ottolenghi meatballs that didn’t quite come off. Not every meal is going to be a home run…

Some logistical fancy footwork needed tonight to fit in Adam’s football, Nova’s swimming training, back-to-back dance rehearsals and Lyra’s bedtime. I did it in reverse, starting with the reading and leaving her to tuck herself in while I swung round to the pool to collect Nova and Evelyn.

Finished my novel, The Paris Wife, this evening — a fictionalised biography of Ernest Hemingway’s first marriage. It was beach reading really, but I quite enjoyed it…

January 25, 2016

Went for a long overdue run this morning after we got Lyra off to school. Six miles, nice and slow. I wasn’t expecting to run so far, but I kept modifying my route to avoid the hideous construction work currently being inflicted on the Heath (and encountering further pockets of devastation I hadn’t known of).There is a multi-million pound construction project underway to reduce the risk of flooding. Given the all-too-real flooding so much of the country is currently experiencing, it seems like madness to be spending money shoring up the highest point in London, but what do I know…

Dinner this evening was a compressed affair — oyakodon and miso soup — fitted into a fifteen minute slot after Lyra’s drama before Nova headed into the West End to see a show with her friend Shira, and I caught the tube to the Angel to see a film with Jane.

We saw Room, a screen adaptation of Emma Donohoe’s brilliant book. I thought they did a really good job of it. The balance of the story seemed different in terms of before/after, but they managed to convey five-year-old Joe’s understanding of the world really effectively.

Conversation with Nova at lunch yesterday:

Nova: “What’s that vegetable beside the cucumber?”
Me: “Kohlrabi.”
Nova: “You mean we’re actually eating kohlrabi now? You’re not just being ironic?”
Me: “Kohlrabi is in season!”
Nova: “[unpronouncable sound meant to convey ‘the things I have to put up with’]”

January 24, 2016

Adam brought me a coffee in bed this morning, and we had a mellow half hour tackling the crossword before starting our day. We have a system we like to follow:

• We go through the clues in order, spending only a minute on each one before moving on.
• If we get one, we still do the next clue on the list, instead of taking advantage of the letters we now know. That way we look at every clue and pick off the easy ones.
• Next we go through again, only looking at those clues where we have letters, and spending a bit more time on each one.
• Then we put it down and let it percolate until we have time to look at it again.
• It typically takes three sessions to complete the thing (or abandon it with a couple of stubborn clues unsolved).

Conscious he’s been busy much of the last two weekends, Adam did the church thing this morning, while I got my ducks in a row. I had thought of going for a run, but by the time I’d sorted out my sourdough starter, and a couple of other householdy things, the impulse had passed. Tomorrow for sure…

Nice lunch of salads, bread, sausage and cheese, with some of the luxury chocolate Adam received from his Swiss client:

Adam headed off to the Arsenal-Chelsea match, Nova took the tube to Finchley to hang out with her friend Clara, so it was Lyra and me for much of the afternoon. Made bread and marmalade, supervised music and homework, yada, yada, yada…

Garfunkel family dinner to mark Beulah’s 84th birthday at a little Italian place they like near their house. I drove up with the girls and Adam travelled by bus to join us. It was very loud, which made it difficult to converse with people. I can’t imagine poor Beulah heard a thing.

Enjoyed my starter of proscuitto and buffalo mozzarella, but the lamb steak I ordered for my main course was pretty bad. Tough, fatty, overcooked and doused in gravy. (WTF? Who puts gravy on lamb? They certainly didn’t mention that little culinary finesse on the menu.)

Seemed easier to eat it than complain, especially as we were Freddy’s guests. Note to self, stick to pasta and pizza at that place in future. Home about 9:30 — bit of telly, bath and bed…

January 23, 2016

With Adam away, the full brunt of the Lyra’s activities fell on me today. We were at the ice rink by 9:15 for her lesson. I haven’t seen her since early December, and was pretty impressed with how she’s coming on. They are working on crossovers, simple twirls and some quite complex backwards skating.

“Am I better at ice skating than you now, mum?” she asked on the drive home. “Just about,” I had to admit. Once she masters that twirl maneuvre she certainly will be…;-)

Had twenty minutes at home before we had to set off again for gymnastics. I’d intended to go for a run while she did her thing, but in the rush to get out of the house, I put on the wrong shoes. Plus I had to park illegally in order to drop her off, so I couldn’t have left the car anyway…:-(

Headed back home instead and carried on with my Making a Murderer binge. It’s riveting, and I was grateful when Nova offered to walk down and collect Lyra so I could finish the penultimate episode.

Knocked the last one off after lunch. It seems to me that a terrible miscarriage of justice has been perpetrated against those two men, but that’s not how the justice system of Wisconsin sees it.

You need to be careful about reaching conclusions on the basis of one documentary, which unavoidably will have a bias, but even so it seems there is plenty of room for reasonable doubt. Not to mention a couple of obvious alternate suspects that should be looked at.

Adam got back from Munich about 9:30, just as I was getting Lyra settled for the night. Sounds like he smashed it at his conference, which is good news — they’re his biggest client now that the adidas work has gone in house.

January 22, 2016

We’re flat out of groceries, but as there are also a few things I need to buy for the house, I decided to roll it all into a trip to Brent Cross. I hung around for a bit before setting off, as Adam is leaving for Germany at noon, not back until late tomorrow evening.Picked up the black jumper I was after on sale in Fenwicks, leggings for the girls from H&M, vitamins from Holland & Barrett, but had less success finding birthday presents for Oliver and Beulah — neither of whom are easy to shop for.

Lunch was a quick fish wrap at the Leon concession — nice enough, but nothing special.

Christine was collecting Lyra, so didn’t need to get back for 3:15. We’d arranged that she’d take the big girls to swimming and I’d pick them up afterwards, grabbing Lyra when I dropped Evelyn home.

As I haven’t driven to the Tufnell Park pool in ages, I decided to use the sat nav on my phone to navigate the route. I was a little surprised at how it estimated, but there’s a lot of traffic at that time of the evening.

All was going swimmingly until it told me to take a turn I wasn’t expecting. “OK,” I thought, “this must be an alternate route,” but it was quickly obvious that I was heading too far into town.

Pulled over at the first opportunity, just off the Caledonian Road, to get my bearings and figure out what was going on. Turns out there are two schools with the same name in north London, one of which has the swimming pool. They aren’t miles apart, but it was enough to make me fifteen minutes late for collecting the girls…:-(

I’ve started watching Making a Murderer on Netflix. There’s such a buzz around it at the moment, and I wanted to see what all the fuss is about. I was completely hooked from the first episode, and once Lyra was in bed, I poured myself a glass of wine and got stuck in. It was five and a half hours (and much too late) before I was able to tear myself away and go to bed…

January 21, 2016

This is what greeted me on the forecourt this morning:

I think it’s time to “let it go, let it go!” already, but Lyra won’t hear of it.

Spent the morning with Veronika. We shopped for food in Green Lanes, then returned to hers and cooked lunch together. Rice, sautéed courgettes, steamed carrots, and a sort of Greek salad, which she added a bunch of grated beetroot to, turning the feta a brilliant — slightly surreal — shade of pink. Delish…

Ate early this evening, as Adam was chairing a mayoral hustings event in Shoreditch. I policed homework, supervised music practice and did Lyra’s bedtime. We’re reading Phillip Pullman’s “The Northern Lights” and both really enjoying it.

It’s funny to be reading a book where the main character is called Lyra — not often that happens. “Did you name me after her?” Lyra asked. “No,” I said, “but I think it was the first time I heard the name.” “Good — because she acts pretty bad!”

January 20, 2016

Another full-on day of working with Adam. It’s starting to feel like I have a job or something…;-) Put the final polish on his presentation and submitted it, plus edited another piece for the banking report on customer relationships in the digital age. Kind of interesting actually…We’re pretty low on food, but I didn’t have time to get to the shops, so we ended up going out for dinner. Tried a Greek-Cypriot place at the bottom of West Hill that Adam had heard good things about. It’s been there for years, but it had never particularly appealed.

The minute we walked in, I could tell we were onto a winner. The staff had that trick of making you feel like a valued regular from the off. The menu was enticing and the prices very reasonable. We ordered a couple of dips, fresh broad beans, grilled halloumi and kefte to start, all of which were delicious.

My grilled sea bream was a thing of beauty, and Adam loved his moussaka (though it was a bit rich for me). Nova’s fried calamari were perfectly cooked and not remotely greasy, but Lyra’s lamb souvlaki probably stole the show. They clearly have a proper charcoal grill in the kitchen, and someone who knows how to use it.

I was too full for dessert really, but was seduced into sharing a creme brulée with Adam, as well as my complementary baklava. It was the most I’ve eaten since Christmas, and I felt a bit uncomfortable the rest of the evening. If you’re going to overeat, at least the food was worth it…

January 19, 2016

Did a run first thing — four miles, plus some strides. Didn’t feel as full of energy as last week, but I do enjoy it when I push myself to run faster. It connects me to a feeling of being a child, and just running for the sheer, effortless pleasure of it. Not that running is effortless now, but travelling at that speed reminds me of when it was, if that makes sense…The cold weather continues, though the snow is long gone. The girls’ snowman is a forlorn sight, huddling miserably on the forecourt:

Had my first slummy mummy dance rehearsal this evening — we’re doing a version of Uptown Funk while dressed as 1970s prostitutes. Think mini skirts, bomber jackets, platform boots, boob tubes…

Actually, there is no way in hell I am doing that routine in a boob tube. They are a treacherous garment at the best of times, let alone when you are shaking your moneymaker in front of an auditorium of school children. Little Lucas and Isabella would be getting more than their money’s worth if that costume suggestion is allowed to go ahead…

January 18, 2016

Woke late, by which I mean after 7am… We can’t afford that on Mondays anymore what with early gymnastics. Managed to get Lyra there on time, but at the expense at getting sorted for a run, which of course then never happened…:-(On the plus side, I did some good work with Adam on the presentation he’s making to the sports federation in Munich this weekend — built the slide set and sourcing images.

Alice came back to ours after school for the gap before drama. She fell running down the path, skinning her chin and scraping her palms. I’ve always hated seeing the girls run down that path. I couldn’t even watch them do it when they were smaller…

Nova is volunteering with the drama class this term, as part of her Duke of Edinburgh award, which is really working for us. Instead of just doing the pick-up, she now takes Lyra as well.

Dinner was soup — chickpea pasta for the girls, kimchi jjigae for us — with iced buns for dessert. I wasn’t keen on the sound of them, but they were the last signature bake of my Great British Bake-off challenge.

Actually, they were surprisingly delicious. It’s been good to stretch myself with things like rough puff and hot water pastry. Made me realise that I lack confidence as a bakerm aside from bread…

Dwarf rehearsal this evening — we ran through all three scenes we’re in, though we’ve yet to rehearse our four songs. Got home at 9:03 to discover that Adam hadn’t bothered to put Lyra to bed. He says he “forgot”. I might just “forget” to do the housework and buy the groceries and cook the meals for a few days…;-)

Watched an episode of Game of Thrones with Nova. We’ve been letting that slide lately, and need to be ready for the new season in April. I also want to start watching Making a Murderer on Netflix, which has been getting amazing reviews…

January 17, 2016

Woke to find a quiet blanket of snow settled round the house. The trees were frosted with it, but you could just tell it wasn’t going to last. Lyra sensibly wasted no time in getting out there and scraping every available flake into a little snowman. She coerced her sister into joining her, though Nova’s enthusiasm for the project was limited.

There wasn’t much snow, but it was enough to put me off my run. Made a pot of coffee instead and spent an hour doing the cryptic crossword in bed with Adam. Rock ‘n’ roll…

Overall it was a hibernatey sort of a day. Finished watching And Then There Were None, did music practice with Lyra, and baked a leek and cheese tart for dinner. Adam and I both loved it, Lyra didn’t like it at all (mainly because she saw me adding the mustard to the custard I think), but Nova ate it with good appetite after her swim training session.

January 16, 2016

Woke up before 7am, feeling full of zip. Hopped out of bed and made a batch of blueberry-bran muffins for the famdamly before heading off for a four mile run. According to my training plan, it was supposed to be done at my slow pace, but I had to keep reining myself in.

It was another frosty cold morning — the leaves underfoot etched with frost, and my breath coming in great clouds as I huffed along. Just enough time back home to shower and changed before it was time to take Lyra to gymnastics. We had to walk as Adam was using the car.

As I hadn’t been to this class before (it’s only her second time) I stayed and watched. I thought it was at a good level for her — she was definitely one of the stronger ones, but there were things that were new to her as well as equipment, like beams and bars, she hasn’t had a chance to use before.

Little miss bendy-back

Ruby came round to babysit Lyra in the evening, and Adam, Nova and I went to see a show at Jackson’s Lane. Part of the International Mime Festival, Oog is a one-man physical piece exploring the after-effects of violence on the human body and mind. I thought it was jaw-droppingly good:

January 15, 2016

Received a fabulous surprise parcel this afternoon from a woman who I swam with as a young girl. I hesitate to use the word “friend”, only because she was seventeen when I was eight, and I’m pretty sure I haven’t seen her in a good forty years.She sent me a Facebook request a couple of years ago, and we’ve had a couple of brief email exchanges since then. Which makes it all the more generous of her to send me such a lovely gift.

Headed down to Brixton to explore the market there. It was unexpectedly quick to get to — the Victoria Line is like that sometimes. I started on Electric Avenue — cheap clothes and electric goods, Jamaican and African food stores — and made my way to Brixton Village, which is a covered market.

There’s a more up-market vibe, and a fair amount of trendiness creeping in, but lots of great fish and veg stalls, and loads of cafes. Ate lunch at a Pakistani street food place — veggie samosa and chickpea curry, with a cup of masala chai.

Bought some avocados and limes for a fraction of what they would have cost “up North”. Had a good mooch round an African beauty emporium, which had several complete lines of hair products for curly children’s hair, and bought Lyra a great sounding product to try.

Tacos for dinner and “Hachi” for movie night. Nova has seen it before, Adam still hasn’t seen it (dozing through almost the whole thing), but Lyra and I blubbed like babies.

It’s an Americanisation of a true Japanese story about a loyal dog called Hachi, who would wait for his master outside Shibuya station each day. After the man died, the dog continued to come to meet his train every day for the next nine years! There is a famous statue to the dog outside Shibuya station, which we visited during our trip to Tokyo.

January 14, 2016

It seems that winter may have finally arrived… The temperature was hovering around zero when I set off on my run this morning — the ruts in the mud hard underfoot and ice glazing the puddles. Did four miles up to Whitestone Pond and back, then a series of strides to finish things off. It’s been too long since I’ve tried to run fast, even for twenty seconds…Showered and got stuck into another article for the banking report — this one on an interesting study they are participating in on quantifying the effect of compassion in the business world. I was just managing to wrestle it into submission when I had to break off to collect Lyra.

Her violin teacher had requested an additional lesson this week, in order to assess whether Lyra should take her grade one exam at the start of March. There was just time for an after-school snack and cup of tea before setting off to her place.

It was really interesting to observe the lesson, and it will be helpful for me when I work with her at home. In the end, we decided to go ahead with her exam. It will require some pretty diligent practice over the coming weeks, but I think she’s up to it.

Turkey burgers and sweet potato fries for dinner — using the rest of the buns from last week. I’d made the patties before heading out, and Nova did the fries when she got in from school, which was a big help.

Having finished Harry Potter (at last!), Lyra and I started reading The Northern Lights this evening, with her namesake, Lyra Belacqua.

Heard on the news this evening that Alan Rickman has died of cancer — also aged 69, like David Bowie…

January 13, 2016

I was planning to go for a run this morning, but decided to give my back another day’s recovery from the five-miler. Did my stretching instead, then got down to work.

Adam was working home today, which made for a companionable morning, the pair of us with our laptops side by side, tapping away at the dining room table. I wrote up another case study, then headed off to Waitrose to do the weekly shop.

The traffic on North Hill was terrible — they’ve started some major roadworks outside the doctor’s surgery that’s scheduled to last for seven weeks apparently.

Adam had a series of meetings in the afternoon and evening, so I ate with the girls, then headed off to panto rehearsal. We were supposed to be rehearsing the two main dwarf scenes, but only four of us showed up, which wasn’t ideal.

Looks like there’s some risk I’ll be singing a verse of “Another Big Pile of Dust” (to the tune of “Another One Bites the Dust”) — the perils of showing up…

Adam and I polished of the last two episodes of The Bridge, along with the last of the krupnik (Polish honey liqueur), all in the spirit of “decluttering”…;-)

January 12, 2016

Forgot to mention that I ran 5 miles yesterday, which was maybe a bit foolhardy. I took it very gently. It was practically the slowest pace I’ve ever run at — at one point, I noticed that I was running with my mouth closed…Baked some loaves I had proofing overnight. The first one was perfect, but I ended up overcooking the second one, which was annoying. Actually, Ken Forkish — the guy who wrote the bread book Margo gave me for Christmas last year — recommends baking bread “to dark brown and ochre colors throughout the crust… to get a caramelized complexity of flavour that permeates subtly into the crumb of the bread.” So, that’s what I was trying to achieve…;-)

Did more writing work for Adam, who has a steady supply of case studies and pieces of editing for me to do, mostly shortening articles to fit the layout. I enjoy that sort of thing, and am good at it.

No swimming for the girls again this week, as the pool heater is still broken. It’s a shame, but it does make life easier…

January 11, 2016

Woke to the news that David Bowie has died of cancer, aged 69… I was very sorry to hear it, though there is nothing like an actual bereavement to cure you of excessive emotion at the death of musicians and film stars.Though I was a big Bowie fan in my younger days, I only saw him perform once — during his 1983 Serious Moonlight tour. I was studying at Laval in Quebec City for the summer, and my friend Susan and I managed to get tickets.

I can’t remember who the support band was, but I do know that we were front and centre by the time Bowie hit the stage. I wasn’t as keen on all new material, but he played loads of songs I loved and it was amazing to be only a few feet away from him for a couple of hours.

Keen to get backstage after the concert, Susan applied all her considerable charm to the security guard/roadie stationed in front of us. This netted us a few unused drinks beer from Bowie’s cooler — and an invite to join him (the roadie) and a friend, which we declined. Kept one of those beers for a few years afterwards though…

Adam I had tickets to see Warhorse in the West End this evening. Through a miscommunication — I’d wanted him to book it for a family Christmas outing — it was just the two of us.

I only recently read the book (since buying the tickets), or I wouldn’t have bothered. I thought it was the most tedious, flat, ludicrous story I’ve read in a very long time. I know that it’s a children’s book, but that’s no excuse for writing such dreck. I also know that Michael Morpurgo is held in high regard as an author — if War Horse is typical of his writing, why that is so is a baffling mystery.

Happily, the book and the play are two very different things. The director dropped the stupid device of narrating the story through the horse’s eye, and the lifesize puppets they used for the horses were astonishing. Within minutes, they were as real to me as the rest of the cast. They also rewrote some of the more idiotic parts of the story, though a better approach would have been to throw the whole book out and start again…

January 10, 2016

A little too much of a good thing…:-( I was feeling that champagne-white-red-sauternes combo when I woke this morning. No enthusiasm at all for another run, but did get it together to take Lyra to church.A few months ago, I hit on what I thought was a good way to encourage the girls to keep their room tidy. Before receiving their pocket money on Saturday, they had to give their room a thorough sorting — floor and surfaces clear, clothes put away, and so on.

It worked at first, but lately they have conflated day-to-day jobs — such as putting clothes in the laundry hamper, putting away their clean laundry, returning dirty dishes to the kitchen, making their beds etc — into one big clean-up for money, and not done the smallest thing all week long.

By Saturday, their bedroom floor was completely covered with dirty (and clean) clothes, crayons, toys, wrappers they’d lazily tossed on the floor instead of the bin. It smelled so bad in there, I feared I’d find a dead mouse when I cleaned under the bed.

We’ve now had a talk about expectations, which I hope will make a difference. Plus Lyra got no pocket money this week, and Nova got half of hers — thanks to volunteering to cook when my back seized up (and on one other occasion).

Watched the Sherlock Christmas special this evening. Lyra found it confusing and scary, but claimed to love it. Nova just found it confusing…

January 9, 2016

Felt so spry this morning I chanced a run on the Heath. Only two and a quarter miles at a gentle pace. I really concentrated on my form, ensuring I kept my abs engaged and landed my feet lightly. Made sure to have a good stretch after my shower. My back felt great all day, so — fingers crossed — that incident is behind me…

Lyra started her new gymnastics club at the Mallinson this morning, which was a great success and just the right level to be a challenge for her. The lesson is an hour long, which is better than the 35 minute session the school offers. Plus they have additional equipment, like the trampoline and beam she’s never had the chance to use.

Had dinner round Kiran and Birgit’s this evening. They’d spent Christmas in Kerala, which provided the inspiration for the menu: a prawn and fish moilee served with poppadoms, grilled sea trout with brown shrimp, potatoes and green beans, a cheese course and an apple tart.

As good as Birgit’s cooking always is, yet again Kiran’s wine cellar stole the show…

January 8, 2016

Further improvement on the back front… Aside from the loss of flexibility, it’s feeling better than it has in ages. Carried on with the massage and stretching routine, and if it’s good again tomorrow I’ll go for a gentle run.

A scene from the livingroom carpet

Bit of a “meh” day. I’d wanted to go into town to pick up a couple of things and check out an exhibition, but I didn’t get myself organised until it was time was too tight to be back for school pick-up. Caught up with Game of Thrones instead…

Japanese curry for dinner and family movie night — “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. The plot was a bit complicated for Lyra, but everyone enjoyed it — even Nova who generally finds action movies “boring”. Actually it was Lyra who commented, “There is so much excitement in this film that it just feels ordinary now…”

January 7, 2016

Feeling much better this morning, backwise… I’m going to leave it a couple more days before running again, but I did some gentle yoga stretching type exercises. I’m noticeably less flexible than before the spasm — I can’t put on my socks without sitting on the bed, for example — but I am no longer in actual pain.Did another piece of editing for Adam on the banking report — responsible investing this time — before turning my attention to the house, meals, etc. We’re having turkey burgers for dinner this evening, and I decided to make the buns instead of buying them, as the quality is always so disappointing.

I followed a recipe for those brioche-style buns that you often get in high-end hamburger places. The dough was sticky — and a bit tricky — to work with, but the end result was terrific. Nova made a batch of sweet potato fries to go with them, which were excellent.

Back to the school for the read through of Act 2. More “I’m sooo sleepy!” type lines — I hope there’s opportunity to pimp the script a bit. This one is “out of the box” — usually someone from the school writes it and they are much funnier for it.

Got home at 9pm to discover that Adam and Nova had been watching Game of Thrones without me — the &%#&∞¢ so-and-so’s. Not best pleased…

January 6, 2016

Last night reminded me of being pregnant and having to wake up every time you wanted to shift position. At least it didn’t physically hurt when I was motionless. It was still completely in spasm though, and it took a while to figure out how to lever myself out of bed.Spent twenty minutes in Adam’s massage chair while I drank my coffee, which may have helped a bit. At any rate, once I had the house to myself I felt just about capable of tackling the undecorating. I took it very slowly — like a tai chi session — with controlled, gentle movements between tree and table.

I put on my new recording of Under Milkwood while I worked. It took me at least twice as long as it normally would have, but by the time I was finished my back thanked me for it.

The current research into managing back pain shows that keeping active helps a person recover more quickly than bed rest. The idea is to do as much as possible — some discomfort is inevitable, but you should avoid anything that causes significant pain.

I felt sufficiently restored to attend panto rehearsal this evening, where we were running through Act 1. This year’s show is Snow White and the Seven Dwarves — and I have been assigned the part of Snoozy, with several anodyne lines, such as: “It’s past my bedtime,” “She gives me nightmares!” and “I just woke up…” It’s all for a good cause…

Looking at the script, my appearances on stage should allow me to do the slummy mummies dance number (something based on Uptown Funk and yet to be choreographed), back health permitting…

January 5, 2016

Taped my ankle before going for a run this morning. It’s been problematic lately — sometimes it feels like it slips slightly out of alignment, and I feel a sharp sort of crick right inside the joint. Surprisingly, it’s not one with the ligament damage, but my formerly “good” left one.Although the ankle didn’t give me any trouble, I wasn’t satisfied with the effect of taping it. I felt it threw my running out slightly, plus I got two small blisters on the top of my foot along the edge of the tensor bandage.

On the positive side, it was a beautiful, crisp morning, with patches of low-lying mist still hovering on the Heath. It was so pretty I stopped and took a photo with my camera — something I never do…

Did a couple of hour’s work for Adam, editing a piece on responsible investment, scoffed some lunch, and made a trip to Waitrose. When I went to carry the grocery bags up the stairs, my lower bag protested loudly.

It’s been noticeably stiff for the last few weeks — which I attributed to too little exercise and too much lying around watching Game of Thrones — but this was something else entirely.

By the time I got the groceries away, it had gone into full spasm. It was all I could do to stagger up to the school to collect Lyra. She was very solicitous, and fetched me a hot water bottle.

I took a couple of ibuprofen, and knocked back a glass of wine (purely for its muscle relaxant properties). None of it made the slightest bit of difference. When it was time for dinner (which Nova made), I could barely stagger to the table.

I was feeling too grumpy and miserable to do anything (even watch TV) and was in bed by 10pm, dosed up with more ibuprofen…:-(

January 4, 2016

And the daily grind starts up again… With a few changes — for example, Lyra’s gymnastics club is on Mondays now that she’s finally been promoted to the year 4/5/6 group. She’s very pleased, and when she told me about it later, it does sound like it’s much more challenging.One of this year’s resolutions is to seek more regular paid work, even possibly taking a part-time job somewhere. To that end, I did four hour’s editing on the Scandi bank report today.

I’m not sure what kind of work I’ll look for, but I’m pretty certain I no longer want to make WordPress websites. It may be committing more firmly to working with Adam, or doing web work public or charity sector organisation, or maybe something completely different… We shall see…

Got pretty experimental with our supper this evening: Moroccan couscous-stuffed squid tube and a romanesco salad. The girls were very good sports about it, though Nova did say “This is why we are always nervous about bringing friends home for dinner, mum,” — a bit unfair, I think…;-)

I’ll certainly try the stuffed squid again, but instead of couscous, I think I’ll go with rice (and maybe chorizo). The salad has potential too — I could see working up a really lovely Christmas dish based on those little romanesco florets:

January 3, 2016

Our last day of the holiday…:-(
I must say, it’s been a pretty relaxing one, though my liver and waistline might have preferred a few less parties. Still, that’s what resolutions are for…Adam made Nova and her guests a batch of pancakes, and I rousted them out of bed at 9:30, which left them just enough time to finish their final episode of series three before parents started arriving to collect.

Adam headed off to Euston to take receipt of Lyra mid-afternoon, and the rest of the day was devoted to realigning things in readiness for school/work tomorrow: packing pencil cases and gym bags, nitcombing and so on.

Finally had our sausage and lentil New Year’s supper — the first time we’ve eaten together as a family in 2016. Made sure to spend a while enjoying our beautiful tree and fairy lights — only two more nights and austere January will well and truly be here…

January 2, 2016

It’s definitely turned colder in the last couple of days — we’ll have to turn the heat back to “all day” if this continues…Went for a run with Nova — my first of 2016. Just two miles — with a couple of brief walking breaks for her to catch her breath. Like so many new runners, she tends to tear off a brisk pace for a few minutes, then run out of steam.

We were all set for a childless evening (ooh, the possibilities!) as I’d agreed Nova could sleepover at Clara’s, where they planned to watch series three of Downton Abbey.

At lunch time, she announced that it couldn’t happen at Clara’s because her grandmother was staying. “Could Clara sleep here instead?” she asked. “I guess so,” I said, “Is she one that’s vegetarian?” “Yes, and Iris doesn’t eat cheese.” “What does Iris have to do with it?” “She’s coming too.” “Oh, OK…” “Can we sleep in the living room?” “The three of you will be fine in the flat. “Well, Liz and Chloe are coming too…”

I agreed in the end, but the idea of rustling up a meal for so many impromptu and diverse diners was a step too far. We ordered pizzas (turns out Iris eats pizza cheese) and ceded the living room to them.

Headed out to the cinema to see “The Danish Girl”. Eddie Redmayne gives a stunning, Oscar-worthy performance as Einar Wegener, a pioneering transsexual, and the actress playing his wife was excellent as well.

The girls were going strong when we got home — episode six I think — but we encouraged them to go to bed by 12:30. They were so boisterous down there that I resorted to earplugs in order to fall asleep…

January 1, 2016

Not feeling too great this morning, but actually I was grateful it wasn’t worse… “Can I still say rabbits?” Lyra asked, when she came into our room. “I haven’t talked much this morning, at least not for me…”Adam headed out to pick up car while I got us organised for our walk in the Surrey Hills — a place called the Devil’s Punch Bowl. The roads were a pleasantly quiet surprise, even though we didn’t get the early start we’d hoped for.

It was a chilly, overcast day, but it started drizzling just as we arrived. It was so rammed in the little National Trust Café, that I preferred to take our sandwiches to go and chance our luck outside.

By the time we stopped to eat, the drizzle had become steady rain. There was no shelter and nothing to sit on, so we ate leaning against fence posts. “Well, isn’t this delightful… What a great way to see in the new year…” said Nova, munching morosely on her damp tuna sandwich.

We’d been walking on an asphalt path to this point, and I was considering retracing our steps and ending the misery, but decided instead to descend into the punch bowl itself. So glad we did — the walk immediately became much more scenic and interesting.

We were in the trees for a good stretch as well, which spared us the worst of the rain. The stiff climb to the “rim” was good exercise too.

We were a bit ahead of schedule to arrive at Debbie and Dan’s so we sat in the car finishing our picnic before setting off. Lyra is spending a couple of nights at their house.

We’d planned to pop in for a quick cup of tea, but they’d gone to all sorts of trouble on our account. We had Romanian homemade cheese and a slivovic-type drink, before sitting down to a meal of cold salads.

Set off for home about 7pm, taking the A3 into London. We crossed Wandsworth Bridge and made our way through town along the Embankment, past the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, along Pall Mall, through Admiralty Arch, around Trafalgar Square and up Charing Cross Road. Everything was decked with lights and very beautiful. These impressionistic, moving car photos do it no justice whatsoever. It’s an amazing thing to realise I live in London sometimes…