January 2022

January 31, 2022

Nova headed back to Spain this morning. She left the about 4:30am to make a 7:30 flight. I expected to wake up when she left but managed to sleep through the taxi arriving and taking her to Heathrow. She has a busy week ahead of her in Madrid: cleaning her old flat, moving across town to the new one, sorting keys, moving in, starting her job on Wednesday and doing paperwork for that…

Spent the bulk of my day finishing the beauty website redesign. It’s quite complex, especially as I’m doing the work on the live site, instead of a staging environment. Things are interconnected, pretty much every page of the site is affected, I’m dismantling the MemberZone and redistributing the protected content across the site, there are at least a dozen new pages, and new navigation. Most worrying, there are some things that can’t be tested until they are live. I’m being very rigorous and careful, but still…

Finally launched about 7pm. Had some dinner – mung bean, lime and spinach stew and steamed rice – then spent the evening testing, and making tweaks. To bed about 11pm. Adam was having one of his stomach episodes, which he thinks was triggered by a grain salad he bought for lunch. He was restless and noisy, up and down half the night, and I had a rotten sleep…:-(

January 30, 2022

Went for a run in the Woods first thing, then made a fry-up brunch. That will tide us over until Beulah’s birthday dinner at 500.

Did some work, and also spent a fair amount of time helping Lyra construct her sushi-shaped handbag for Textiles. Up to now, I’ve provided guidance and support – setting up the sewing machine and showing her how to use it, or discussing the best way to pad the body – but attaching the circular end pieces was a real challenge.

Her appliqué rice circles needed to be stitched onto a piece of thick cardboard and then secured to the body piece, turning a rectangle into a little duffel bag. I’ve been surprised at the lack of help from her teacher, but today discovered that they could choose any accessory they wanted. Lots of people are making scarves, or modifying store-bought berets and so on…

Adam headed off to pick up his mum around 7pm, and we were ready and waiting when he swung by to collect us at 7:30pm. We were the first to arrive, in time to greet her guests: Tony and Glynnis; Andrew and Sylvie; Simon and Mel; and Doron, Antonia and the kids.

We were on a long table, but some people move after their main courses so we managed to mingle a bit. Beulah had been very clear about no speeches, mention of her birthday, singing of songs, sparklers etc, but Adam mustered the courage to stand up and say a few words before leading us in a toast to her good health.

I was the designated driver, and by the time we piled into the car at 11pm, I pretty sure even Lyra had had more to drink than I had…

January 29, 2022

Feeling surprisingly okay given the amount of wine Rachel and I got through last night. This is a crazy social weekend: Thursday wine tasting, last night’s pub evening, Burns Night round ours tonight, and then Beulah’s birthday dinner with the extended family on Sunday. I’ve actually been dreading it a little bit…

Tessa is on holiday in Barbados, but some of us turned up for pilates anyway and Pete led the class. He did a good job – the main difference was the way she groups the exercises so you move from standing to lying on your back, then onto your front and then your sides or whatever. With Pete, we were up and down like yoyos and flopping around like fish. Felt better for it nevertheless…

Spent the afternoon working on the beauty site redesign. There’s not a lot of prep involved in a Burns Night supper, and aside from getting the haggis wrapped and steaming, I was fine getting started half an hour before Pete and Pasc arrived.

Peeled potatoes and swede, made beetroot and mackerel dip, set the table, found the Ode to a Haggis and we were ready. Lyra had pesto pasta in her bedroom, but joined us for dessert and games. Played Perudo (I won), then a doodling based game (I won that as well), then Dixit (Adam won that), then a few rounds of Werewolf before calling it a night.

Nova arrived from Madrid about 11:30pm – she’s making a flying weekend visit to attend the dinner tomorrow…

January 28, 2022

My turn to drive Lyra to school this morning. It was bloody cold, and we were lucky not to have to scrape the car. Nothing compared to most of Canada, but it’s what you’re used to…

Didn’t get down to work right away, as there were various house things requiring my attention. Managed to put in a good four hours on the beauty site. I’ve moved on to building the new pages and relocating video assets and podcasts.

I was very happy to call it a day when Richard and Rachel turned up. We had a table booked at the Red Lion. It was one of those occasions where being out for an evening with friends was exactly what I felt like doing.

Rachel and I always drink the NZ sauvignon blanc, usually splitting a bottle, and sometimes having an extra glass. This time we managed to get through two. I had the mussels starter for my main, which left room for extra wine I guess…;-)

January 27, 2022

Drove Lyra to the bus, meditated and got out for my postponed run. I wasn’t looking forward to this one, which might have been a factor. Three miles – a warm-up mile, a mile of wind sprints, and a cool-down mile. Speed workouts aren’t pleasant, but they have an impact. After a few weeks, I notice my default pace is faster – at least that’s happened before when I’ve followed a training plan.

It had gone 10:30am by the time I got down to work. Full bore on the beauty site, aside from a few bits and bobs that needed doing for other clients. Worked through to 6:45pm, hopped into some fancier duds, and caught a cab with Adam to a wine supper at Fredericks.

It was in the private dining room. Before we were seated, it felt quite crowded and I couldn’t avoid thinking about my chances of catching covid. (Knock wood…) The food was lovely, the wines – cava and riojas from the Cune winery – were delicious, and the speaker entertaining. Caught up with a few people between times. 

Ubered home with Kiran about 11pm…

January 26, 2022

Felt a bit meh today – blew off my meditating and delayed the next run on my training plan. Still in catch-up mode workwise. I have a big rebuild of the beauty site for the end of the month that I need to make progress on. It’s an opportunity to standardise things around headers, fonts and so on, which is good.

Spent a good chunk of the day rebuilding all the full width headers so they are consistent and perform better in terms of loading, and responsiveness on different devices.

Had a forum meeting this evening over Zoom. Managed to do a bit of cooking by turning off my camera and mic, so I could still listen. It meant we could eat promptly when the meeting ended at 8pm. Roast chicken thighs with onions and lemon, roasted new potatoes, red cabbage and broccoli. Actually, it was the meal I’d originally planned to make for Beulah’s birthday dinner, until it occurred to us that she wouldn’t want much after going out for lunch.

Watched an episode of Bojack, then Ozark, and then bed. I’ve recently started listening to a podcast I’m really enjoying called Smartless. It’s a three-hander, with Will Arnett (Bojack), Jason Bateman (Ozark) and Sean Hayes (Will & Grace, which I’ve never seen).

Nova has managed to find a flat in Madrid – a cute little studio in Lavapies, with a loft bed and a little balcony. She’s very chuffed. Next thing to tackle on Mt Brexshit is getting someone to employ her now she’s no longer an EU citizen…

January 25, 2022

Happy 90th birthday, Beulah!! I’m feeling pretty tired this morning, and had no interest in my scheduled three-mile speed workout. That’s going to slide by a couple of days while I get back on top of my other work.

Started with the architecture stuff I hadn’t managed to finish on Friday, then some fitness charity, updating an insurance graphic, and triaging my bulging inbox…

Called Beulah to sing “happy birthday”. She’s going out for lunch with Doron and Antonia, then coming round here for dinner. She’s not a big eater, and after a restaurant lunch it made sense to keep things light: Cobb salad and a lemon drizzle cake with raspberries.

Adam collected her for 7:30pm. She seemed very pleased with her cashmere shawl, and the meal. We had a nice evening together and Adam dropped her home at 10:45pm. She did have a nasty cold, which I hope doesn’t turn out to be something worse…

January 24, 2022

Full-on blue economy editing day. I’d expected to do some work on the weekend, resolution notwithstanding, but in the event I was too lazy and opted to socialise and binge on police procedurals instead…;-)

Started edit at 8am and barely came up for breath until 6:30pm. Overall, it’s in pretty good shape now and it’s Adam’s turn to wrestle the problematic waste chapter into submission.

I could have done without a 7pm client meeting for a Canadian insurance client, but it was fine. Adam and Lyra had made themselves pesto pasta by the time I turned off the computer. Fixed myself a plate of odds and ends, poured a glass of red wine, and watched something silly on the telly (a Harlan Coben thing) until I headed to bed at 11:30pm.

Adam was still doing battle with waste management, so I offered moral support from bed, clarifying comments I’d made in the document and acting as a sounding board until it was finally approaching good enough shape to send. My brain was still buzzing when we turned off the lights and it took a good hour to fall asleep…

January 23, 2022

Woke up pretty early. Time for coffee and the crossword, as well as prepping things for muffins before heading out for a run. Did four miles to Whitestone Pond and back. I’m building a long run, so deliberately ran a bit slow, but somehow I always drift back to same pace.

Had banana walnut muffins and a coffee with the girls when I got home. That’s the last two frozen bananas from the freezer. It’s been decades since we were out of frozen bananas – I unearthed one this morning that is probably from 2010…

Adam dropped Ellie home when he went to return the Arsenal season tickets and take a few things to the tip. He did go to the match today, with Lyra and Sara. Stayed home finished my BBC podcast series about Q-Anon and caught up on some work.

Swedish meatballs for dinner with an episode of Bojack. After that Adam and I watched the first episode of Ozark before bed. I watched the first two seasons a few years ago, but he hasn’t seen it, so I’m fine starting from the beginning. It gets pretty convoluted as I recall, so I’d probably be confused trying to pick it up again now.

January 22, 2022

Slept in until about 9am, which is good going for us. Adam took Lyra to get her second jab at Park Road. They are just about to do it at school, but the sooner the better I think. Especially with Johnson repealing all restrictions next week, despite numbers that are higher than when he imposed them in the first place.

Apparently, it’s all part of something the Tory party is calling “Operation Red Meat” – an attempt to change the media narrative from endless talk about “partygate” to something else. So far they’ve tried: scrapping the BBC license fee; using the military to capture asylum seekers in the English Channel and then ship them to Ghana for processing; a crackdown on tannoy announcements on trains and now this…

Went to Pilates on my own again. Adam was hoping to be well enough to join but he’s still taking painkillers daily for his ribs. I think Pilates is the last thing you want to do when your ribs are trying to knit themselves back together.

Helped Lyra with her sewing project in the afternoon – making a handbag that looks like a maki roll. She’s been given very little guidance – and isn’t working from a pattern or anything like that. My suggestions in that direction fell on stony ground. I set up the sewing machine, showed her how to use it, and left her to it.

Watched a BBC drama called Rules of the Game over the rest of the afternoon, which was reasonably entertaining. Ellie came round to hang with Lyra and ended up sleeping over. I made lamb stuffed flatbreads from my new Ottolenghi cookbook for dinner – nice, if a bit oily. The technique was a new one on me: the filling was folded into tortillas uncooked, and then slow-fried. I wasn’t convinced that the meat would cook through, but it was completely fine. To bed about 11pm…

January 21, 2022

Drove Lyra to school, then went for a 2.5 mile run in the Woods. It was incredibly cold and icy. I put an extra fleece layer under my wind cheater and was still absolutely chilled by the time I got home. Hot shower, and then to work with Adam on the blue economy editing before meeting with the client at noon to discuss our ideas for restructuring the chapter.

Did another hour or so on that before it was time to head down to Sara’s to work on the architecture site. There house was a welcome oasis of warmth after freezing me ass off at ours. Put in three hours or so on a new project page.

Broke off when Adam turned up. Had a round of negronis before heading up to the Bull for a meal. Lyra joined us for dessert. Home and in bed by 11pm.

January 20, 2022

Blew off this morning’s run, thinking I had a meeting with the beauty team at 10am. In fact it had been moved to 12pm, which I knew but forgot. Gave me time to review the project spec for an accounting website I’m starting for a Canadian firm next week, and to do some amends for the soil stabilisation people, now that they’ve finally paid my invoices.

Blue economy editing all afternoon – I’m feeling a bit concerned about that project, as one of the two chapters isn’t fit for purpose in my view. It’s not the writing that’s the problem, it’s the content. It’s been written by UN subject matter experts, and I don’t feel confident feeding that back to them without spending some time going through with Adam first.

He’s swamped this week as usual, and I haven’t been able to look at it with him. Spent a bit of time on it at 7:30 this evening, but our brains were a bit frazzled by then. Have scheduled in a couple of hours tomorrow, as well as a short meeting with client.

Made mapo tofu for dinner, and watched some Bojack before bed.

January 19, 2022

My turn to drive Lyra this morning. Since my running schedule is out of sync this week, I decided to go for a bit of a walk on the Heath while I was down there. Popped in my air pods and listen to a podcast that Kate recommended yesterday called The Coming Storm. It’s about how events that started during the Clinton presidency ultimately led to the Jan 6 assault on the Capitol. It ties in nicely with Impeachment, and interestingly both start with the suicide of Vince Foster, a friend of the Clintons who was being hounded by right-wing zealots looking for dirt.

Meditated, managed a couple of hours work, then had a meeting with our accountant Kyri, who came round to collect info and prepare our taxes. My earnings (and the hours I work) increased pretty sharply in 2020-21, so I’m going to brace myself for a big tax hike as well…

Wrestled with my Blue Economy text for most of the afternoon, aside from a meeting with my exercise charity. I was just about to shut down for the day, when an old client popped up with an issue with her contact form. We set it up using her gmail address, and something seems to have changed regarding gmail because she’s no longer receiving messages from it.

Spent a couple of hours testing and resolving that instead of making dinner. Adam ordered pizza, and we finally sat down to eat about 9pm. Bojack and bed…

January 18, 2022

Cold and foggy this morning. I did my sprint workout in Highgate Woods, which works okay so long as I stick to the main paths, and don’t venture into the area behind the playing field.

Lyra is off school today. She has a strange stomach pain that hurts when she moves. It started last night, and wasn’t any better this morning when we woke her. I don’t like the sound of it, and if she’s not feeling better tomorrow will definitely be calling the GP.

Despite exercising pretty hard, I was chilled by the time I got home. Had a long hot shower, dressed in multiple layers and wrapped myself in my electric lap blanket to work. Blue Economy editing, some beauty work, a late lunch, then headed out to meet Kate for a walk on the Heath.

We headed down the private road, up to Kite Hill and then down to the Ponds and back up to Highgate, which took about an hour. I still had an hour’s work in me when I got home, before shutting the laptop and fixing dinner – satay chicken thighs and slaw.

Lyra was feeling better and joined us upstairs. Finished season 3 of Bojack Horseman, then Adam and I knocked Impeachment on the head (though actually I dozed through the last half hour or so and will have to polish it off tomorrow…)

January 17, 2022

My legs and back are feeling pretty tired after yesterday’s excesses. I can feel that Pilates class in my abs as well. I’m definitely not running today. I can keep to my schedule fine if I shift my three runs to Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, as I’d like to get back on the Mon/Wed/Fri routine.

Meditated, did a little blitz of housework with Adam, and was about to get down to work when my replacement monitor arrived. Decided to put off starting until he was free to help me assemble it. Not that it’s complicated, but it’s better to have two people. It is so much better than the boat anchor I’ve been using for the last couple of years…

Made a beef phô for dinner, with a frostbitten steak I found in the deep freeze, some beansprouts getting past their sell-by date, elderly bunches of mint and coriander, and made zoodles instead of noodles to use up a couple of aging zucchini. It tasted better than it sounds… I should have had the stock at a full boil before pouring it over the veg and herbs, because there wasn’t enough heat in it to soften the zoodles sufficiently. Chocolate mousse for dessert…

Bojack, Impeachment and bed…

January 16, 2022

Finally got out and did Friday’s run – a three-mile “long run” at a slow pace. Wore my old shoes and ventured into the back half of Highgate Woods, which was extremely mucky. I’m feeling less precious about the new shoes, which are getting pretty mud-spattered now, so I don’t think I’ll worry about preserving them any more.

I’d been back for about ten minutes when my phone rang. It was Birgit wondering if we wanted to join them for a walk in the Chilterns. Had half an hour to shower, change, make a packed lunch, flask of tea etc before they arrived.

Headed out of London on the M40 towards Oxford, to an area we’ve walked with them before. Birgit drove and Kiran did the route planning, so I’m not entirely sure where we were – generally in the Turville, Fingest, Ibstone area.

Parked up, laced up our boots and headed off. Walked for an hour or so before eating lunch in a churchyard overlooking the valley. Looped round and down to Turville, where we stopped for a drink before wending our way back to the car.

It was dark by the time we got home. I was pretty beat and had a little doze before regrouping and sorting some food for Adam and Lyra. No one was particularly hungry, so we opted for crackers, cheese and crudités. Bojack, bath, bed…

January 15, 2022

Nova’s had a jab appointment first thing. Adam took her to health clinic in Park Road. It’s exactly four weeks since she contracted covid, which is the earliest they’ll vaccinate you post-illness.

I was going to go running, but opted to spend time with Nova before she flies back to Madrid this afternoon. Made a batch of blueberry muffins and had one last family meal together. Ended up leaving a bit before she did to go to Pilates.

It felt pretty strenuous today, but probably I’m  just out of practice. Definitely gave  my stomach muscles a good workout, and challenged my balance with a fiendish side plank series.

Adam was still en route back from Stansted when I got home. The house feels that little bit emptier without her. She’d hired her sister to clean her bedroom, which Lyra got onto straight away. Nova’s definitely an outlier in terms of tidiness in this family…

January 14, 2022

Nova’s penultimate day before returning to Spain. She’s heading back to a mountain of things to resolve: essays and exams; finding a new place to live; sorting out a visa extension; trying to find someone who wants to employ her enough to go through the hassle of sponsoring her. Fucking Brexit…

Spent the afternoon with my architecture client, launching another project. We’ve got the template about right now, and it’s definitely quicker and easier to update the pages.

Went for a family dinner at Thai place in Crouch End called Pattanca. I haven’t been keen on Thai food since we had a takeaway a while back that had some nasty mystery meat in it. This place was very popular, which was encouraging. All the tables were full, they were turning away people at the door, and there was a steady stream of delivery drivers. The food was all very good, aside from the pad thai which everyone agreed was too sweet.

The Djokovic decision came down while we were eating – he’s to be deported from Australia…

January 13, 2022

Full on work day… tried to clear my decks for other clients, then headed down to Sara’s to put in an afternoon on the architecture site. She likes having me come in, and there’s no doubt she has my undivided attention when I’m there.

Got another project page built and made some adjustments to the logo and dropdown menu. Had some back and forth about the link style for the text, which we didn’t get to the bottom of. She doesn’t want to use a contrasting colour for links, or to underline them or make them visually distinctive in any way…

Made lime-ginger chicken and slaw for dinner. Nova joined us for a few minutes then headed out to meet her friend Evie for a drink. Impeachment and bed…

January 12, 2022

My turn to do the school run, and to do the next run on my training plan. I decided against the Heath and returned home to meditate before setting out on my current 2.5 miles to Ally Pally. It didn’t seem that cold when I took Lyra, but I misjudged things and regretted not wearing an extra layer and my gloves.

Straight into a hot shower afterwards, staying in there until the circulation returned to my fingers and toes. Spent a couple of hours updating some graphics for my insurance client. They’ve recently been bought out by a much bigger outfit, so I imagine that work will be coming to an end. I support Kate, who is their freelance marketing consultant, but I expect the new group will have marketing people up the yazoo.

Nobody felt much like dinner this evening. I shelved my idea until tomorrow and went for cheese plates instead. Watched the next Impeachment – episode 6 and things are finally kicking off. We’ve certainly had time to form a terrible opinion of that Linda Tripp, what a nasty piece of work she was.

Stayed up to watch the news afterwards: Johnson’s snivelling apology for hosting a drinks party to which 100 people were invited during lockdown; Prince Andrew failing to wriggle out of the civil case against him for his Jeffrey Epstein antics; Djokovic’s lies about the timeline around his Covid exemption unravelling. Rather satisfying…

January 11, 2022

Managed to sleep in this morning as both Adam and I had turned off our alarms… It was his turn to drive Lyra, and I expect they still got there on time. She’s always there ahead of Ellie when I drop her, and says she usually waits five minutes for her to turn up.

Meditated and got down to work – architecture, beauty, insurance, exercise charity, United Nations… the usual cast of characters. Though I did get a call from a former client who needs a bit of maintenance/updating done on her site. And I have a new business meeting on Friday, not that I need any new business…

It is ridiculously cold in the house today. I couldn’t sit still for half an hour with getting seriously chilled, and moved downstairs in the afternoon work under the duvet. Note to self, break out the electric lap blanket…

I’d just started a Zoom meeting about neighbourhood forums when the Ocado guy arrived. None of the other three people in the house made a move to answer the door so I had to go. It’s our first grocery order since before Christmas – I’ve been running down stocks and popping into local shops to fill any gaps.

The guy had somehow punctured our milk and it had leaked into most of the bags. Had to wipe all the food down, clean the bags so they don’t reek by the time we return them with the next order, and mop the hall floor. Abandoned the meeting as a lost cause…

Lamb burgers, salad and garlic yogurt for dinner. Watched an episode of Impeachment before bed. Lyra’s not following that one, but Nova watches it with us. They have made such extensive use of prosthetics that I actually don’t recognise people like Clive Owen, Edie Falco, Sarah Paulson and Mira Sorvino until I discover from the credits that they are in it…

January 10, 2022

Over the Christmas break, Lyra talked about not taking the bus to school any more. She has been feeling less matey with Ellie, but primarily travelling by Tube would mean she could leave home at 7:45am instead of 7:15am.

I reminded her of it last week, but here we are still driving her to the bus stop. I started doing it after Ellie’s dad Chris died. They used to travel into town together, and it felt like something we could do to make the whole situation a little bit less awful.

I hadn’t expected it would continue after that school term, and Ellie now has her sister Rosie to travel in with, but Lyra is concerned that Ellie might take it personally if Lyra were to stop taking the bus.

Instead of dropping Lyra and heading home, I parked up and went for a run on the Heath. I’ve started a new training plan, and today’s workout was a warm-up, series of wind sprints, and a cool-down. The Woods aren’t ideal for this kind of running, what with the hills, mud, tree roots and so on.

Ran towards the mens’ pond until it was time to do the sprints, then turned round and worked my way back to the Lido. My cool-down was back along the running track and William Ellis. There was the most amazing sunrise breaking over the city, and I stopped a few times to take photos, or just to stand and stare.

Djokovic has had his medical exemption visa reinstated and is now able to enter Australia for the tournament. The Australian government has said they may decide to cancel his visa again on new grounds.

Meditated, then got down to work. My first priority was finishing the new project page for the architecture site. There was one image missing that they were meant to provide on Friday, but when I checked Dropbox to retrieve it, I discovered an entirely new page plan and directory structure of images.

I wasn’t best pleased as it invalidated most of the work I’d done on Friday, but after confirming they were happy to pay me to do it again, that’s what I spent the afternoon doing. Finished it at 6:30pm, and happily the second version of the page is noticeably better than the first.

Made jambalaya for dinner, which was a big hit with everyone. It’s been ages since I’ve made what used to be a regular midweek dinner. Watched an episode of Impeachment before bed. Monica Lewinsky is coming across as a sweet but dim, spoiled ninny, and that Linda Tripp as a real piece of work.

January 9, 2022

Slept better last night, and felt more energetic this morning as a result. Put in some time on this week’s crossword, then met Pete and Pasc for a long walk on the Heath. It was a beautiful, bright morning, but after the rain yesterday the ground was pretty boggy underfoot.

Made sourdough toasties with Brie, avocado and mango salsa, pretty much a repeat of the quesadillas from the other day. That mango salsa is even better after a couple of days in the fridge.

Helped Nova with her work for next door, sweeping/raking the forecourt, clearing away dead plants, weeding the bed around the rowan tree and the brickwork etc. She and Adam headed off to the garden centre to buy primroses and hardy cyclamen to brighten things up, but by the time they got back it was too late to plant them.

Adam went off to spend some time with his mum, and Nova retreated downstairs to work on her year abroad essay, which is due in the coming days and represents 5% of her mark for the year. Lyra and I watched a few episodes of Shameless, which are great fun.

Nobody felt like dinner, opting to make toast or graze as and when. Adam and I watched episode three of Impeachment when he got back. I half watched it, as I’d already seen it with Nova, but we’re all back on track now.

Stayed awake too late, checking updates from the Djokovic trial in Melbourne, which is just getting underway. The judge sounds pretty sympathetic to Djokovic…

January 8, 2022

Not feeling great this morning – the result of too much red wine… Slept in until 10am, which helped, but pretty sure it was gone 3am by the time we made it to bed.

The weather was horrible, which allayed any guilt I might have felt about exercising or going for a walk. Pilates started up today, but I had no interest in that either. Adam’s ribs are still too tender for him to consider Pilates for a couple more weeks.

I wasn’t hungry but Adam fancied a fry-up. He went off to get the necessary ingredients, and sorted it all with a bit of help from Nova. Millie had floated the idea of going dancing at the Boogaloo with her and Bryn tonight. It sounded like a grand idea yesterday, but I couldn’t have felt like less today. In any event, Adam nixed it on account of rib pain.

Met for dinner at St John instead. I wasn’t sure I’d want to drink anything, but managed a couple of glasses of white wine, along with my grilled sea bream and broccoli. Shared an apple-berry crumble with Adam for dessert. Home and to bed…

January 7, 2022

Drove Lyra, meditated, then did another 2.5 mile run to Ally Pally and back. My legs felt surprisingly heavy, and the time was a bit slower than my last couple of efforts.

Showered, then got down to work. In person meetings in the afternoon – 90 minutes with my architecture clients, trying to get a new project page live, then over to see Millie about the navigation for the beauty site. Spent about an hour on it, then headed to the Woodman for a “stop the week” glass of red.

The news came through that Sidney Poitier had died just as we sat down. Millie was pretty bummed about it. Apparently he was a neighbour of hers growing up in Beverley Hills, and her first celebrity crush.

Took Nova, Lyra and Ellie to Turquoise for dinner, as Adam had his book group round for dinner. (They had Turquoise as well, ordered in.) Told the girls to fill their boots – mocktails, starters, kebabs, dessert, and a bottle of red for Nova and me to share.

I should have called it a night at that point, but ended up joining Adam and his mates upstairs for yet more red wine. Ended up being a late one…

January 6, 2022

And Christmas is a wrap…:-( It’s been a good  – if rather quiet – one. Had a coffee and meditated, then popped on my traditional Under Milkwood CD and started the dismantling. Down with the lights indoors and out, down with the stars and crocheted snowflakes, down with the Christmas stockings. Down with the Christmas wreath from the front door, and the Christmas cards from the dining room wall

Gathered all the Christmas knickknacks from shelves and surfaces, stripped the jade plant, discovered the elves in their final hiding places, unpicked the tinsel from the tree, removed the ornaments and unwound the lights. Loosened the screws in the tree stand, bodily wrestled the tree onto the patio, and gently tipped it off the balcony.

Located and humped the boxes upstairs, wrapped and packed all the ornaments, coiled and boxed the strings of lights, gathered up Christmas books, CDs and films, lugged them downstairs, and stowed them back on the garage shelves.

Three and a half hours of work and 11,000 steps later and that was Christmas over for another year…

Didn’t feel much like doing client work at this point, but I had a face-to-face meeting arranged with my architecture client so I shlepped off for that. Spent three hours there, then came home and fixed dinner for the family: brie-avocado quesadillas with mango salsa and a winter slaw. Finally finished the Christmas baking, aside from a small heel of Christmas cake and a few frozen shortbread.

January 5, 2022

Lyra’s first day back to school, which means going back to the hated alarm. Very privileged not to have to do that much of the time.

Drove her down to the bus stop, meditated, then went for a run – the 2.5 miles to to edge of Ally Pally and back. It’s very cold out and I  needed my gloves for sure. My fingers still get icy at first, but by the time I’m done they’re nice and warm.

Laundry, ironing, shower and to work by 11am. I want 2022 to be about reducing work stress and finding a better life balance. One of the ways I’m attempting to achieve this is by avoiding my phone in the morning until I start work, not starting until at least 10am, and stopping by 7pm. I’m also planning to keep at least one weekend day completely work (and maybe phone) free.

Spent time working on a new navigation structure for the beauty website. That thing has grown like topsy, and there is a mountain of members-only content that needs to be presented differently.  There was next to none when we introduced the membership scheme, and initially it made sense to organise it by content type – videos, podcasts etc., which makes no sense at all now…

Ate lunch with Adam, which is another thing we should aim to do more of when we are both working at home. Nova is continuing to tackle her character-building list of nasty cleaning jobs next door.

Cooked a dish from my new Ottolenghi cookbook for dinner: ground pork with eggplant, ginger, scallions and garlic. I was dubious about the steamed eggplant, but it was a delicate, silken revelation. Afterwards, Nova, Adam and I watched The Dead. 

January 4, 2022

Our first day back at work in 2022. I eased into it gently, starting my day with some meditation. Adam is in a horrible mood – his ribs are still painful, and he’s being vile with everyone. I’m sympathetic, having cracked my own ribs a few years back, but I finally lost my temper with him this morning after a particularly obnoxious bit of nastiness. He apologised, but despite the meditating, I’m still miffed.

The architect work wasn’t quite finished before the Christmas break so I mopped up some bits around that, and there are some IT issues outstanding for the beauty website, including a member who changed her email address and now can’t access premium content.

Nova is doing ten hours of cleaning work next door. The departing tenants did all the expected stuff, but Andy wants drains and shower heads disinfected, lights opened up and cleared of dead flies, oven, dishwasher and washing machine deep cleaned etc, as well as some gardening. To my knowledge, Nova has never cleaned anything properly in her entire life, but the money will be a motivator.

It’s Lyra’s last day before she returns  to school, and she spent the day putting in mega hours on her art and textiles coursework. Those portfolio GCSE subjects are a lot of work…

Adam was on a charm offensive by the evening, and turned up to help with dinner, as well as fixing me a Manhattan. That’s more like it… Chicken tinga tacos for dinner – we used to have those all the time, but they’ve fallen off the rotation. Funny how that happens. The blog is good for that – I can go back and rediscover old favourites.

Watched the first two episodes of Impeachment (about the Monica Lewinsky scandal), which looks promising.

January 3, 2022

Monday. Last day before back to the old grind. Went for a 2.5 mile run before I talked myself out of it. The more I’m in the habit, the less effort it takes to get out there. Definitely time to get back into a more healthful routine – I managed to pack on the best part of five pounds over Christmas.

Carried on with the clearing out, completing a second tranche and leaving about 130 items to go…

Nova back from Whitstable, sounds like they had a good time. She and Holly hung out for the afternoon before Holly left to catch the National Express coach back to Bristol.

Adam and I went shopping in Muswell Hill. We needed to refill our bulk dish soap container at Planet Organic. Left Adam to do that while I hit the shops for groceries.

Dinner was sausages and lentils, with a panettone bread and butter pudding for dessert. Ate at the table, which I going to try to do more regularly this year. It makes for a more enjoyable – and more appreciated – meal. There’s generally still time for telly afterwards if that’s what we want for the evening.

Our resolutions and predictions for the coming year:

Predictions:

• The Queen will die. (Ad, N, L)
• Boris Johnson will leave office. (All)
• David Attenborough will die. (N)
• There will be a fourth round of vaccinations. (All)
• England will make the quarter finals of the World Cup. (Ad)
• Justin Bieber and Hailey will divorce. (L, N)
• Kylie Jenner’s baby will have a weather name. (L)
• Arsenal will finish 5th (Ad), 6th (N), 9th (L).
• Biden will die. (Ad)
• Biden will reform the filibuster. (An)
• Maggie Smith will die. (L)
• Jimmy Carter will die. (An)
• Another actor from Glee will die. (L, N)

Resolutions:

• Go to bed earlier, sleep more. (An, Ad)
• Lose 14 lbs. (Ad)
• Don’t work on Sundays. (An)
• Work to core hours (10-7). (An)
• Stay on top of art/textiles portfolio work. (L)
• Cook more economically. (N)
• Invest more effort in my hair. (N)
• Learn to cook rice in a pot. (N)
• Learn how to poach an egg. (An)
• Wake up earlier before school. (L)
• Run 10 miles/week on average for the year. (An)
• Read 30 books in the year. (Ad)
• Get above 20/30 on a science test. (L)
• Be better at writing and calling friends. (N, An)

January 2, 2022

Adam headed off to play football this morning, returning with cracked (or at least bruised) ribs. That’s no fun at all – I injured my ribs when I fell on a run a few years back and I was miserable for a good few weeks while they healed.

He had a warm  bath, then moped about with an ice pack watching telly for much of the day. I went on a cleaning jag, tackling the laundry room which was in a state, and then giving the fridge a thorough clean as well.

Leftovers for dinner…

January 1, 2022

Happy New Years! I’m feeling cautiously optimistic about 2022, at least to the extent that it won’t be any worse than 2020 or 2021. Felt good enough to go for a run. It was almost noon by the time I got out there, but there’s nothing wrong with that. I definitely prefer to run early, but it’s better to run late than not run at all.

Millie was awarded an OBE in the New Year honours list. I knew in advance that she was up for it, but was sworn to secrecy. Updated her site today with a new logo and tasteful mention of the award.

Adam headed off to the Arsenal v ManCity match with Sara and Chad, Nova and Holly headed off to Whitstable for a couple of days at the seaside, leaving Lyra and me on our own. Made poached eggs, bacon and toast for lunch. Had a bit of a poaching pod fiasco, but was able to salvage enough from the pot to still call them poached eggs. That’s another resolution… learn to poach eggs properly…

Lazy afternoon reading, watching a bit of telly, snacking as and when. I’ll get with further on board with the new year, new me agenda tomorrow…;-)