July 2005

July 31, 2005

We’d planned to go Tanglewood, but unexpectedly rainy day. Started our day at Walmart instead, buy Nova some new knickers. She’s really getting through them these days…

Spent the day at Hancock Shaker Village, a sort of open air museum about the Shakers and their way of life. There were numerous original building you could walk through, often with volunteers demonstrating Shaker crafts like chair weaving or basketry, an enormous garden, and a barn full of cows, turkeys, geese and pgs. There was also a Discovery Centre where you could explore Shaker life. Nova was most interested in dressing up in the clothes and “milking” the life size cow, while I got stuck into the chair weaving.

Bought supplies at a farm stall on the way home and had a bed picnic of chips, salsa, carrots, fresh mozzarella, apples and blueberries for dinner.

July 30, 2005

I woke up complaining of “flu like” symptoms, which Adam dismissively attributed to last night’s bottle of Pinot Noir…;-) The room rates included breakfast, which we ate in the courtyard. We were joined by a group from Virginia, who were in town for their son’s wedding. They were very friendly, although they kept cracking 1776 jokes, in a Fawlty Towers “don’t mention the war” kind of a way, which Adam was completely oblivious to.Spent the afternoon at the Massachussets Museum of Modern Art, or Mass MOCA. North Adams is a little two-horse town, and seems an unlikely home for a cutting edge modern art complex. There are actually a lot of cultural centres in the Berkshires: Tanglewood (summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra); Jacob’s Pillow dance festival; and a couple of excellent private art galleries.

We thought about joining the tour, but Nova wasn’t into the idea. Plus, listening to a pretentious fine arts student, who was wearing a beret in the sweltering heat, pontificate about some amateurishing paintings from emerging (ie still ignored) Leipzig painters didn’t really appeal. There were some great exhibits though, particulary Becoming Animal, which explored the boundaries between animals and humans. My favourite pieces were:

• the bird library: an aviary filled with finches, and a collection of books arranged around a central tree
• the pig human: a disturbing humanoid pig nursing a litter with an unsettling expression on her face
• a collection of videos made my mounting tiny cameras on the heads of various animals — baby chick, tarantula, goat, dog — and filming the world through their eyes to challenge the anthropomorphism of your typical nature show
• a lifelike fawn in those metal leg braces polio victims used to wear

There was also an exhibit by a Chinese artist called something like Cai Guo Xiang that was very good. One piece was an arc of “exploding” Ford Tauruses, and another a series of tigers bristling with arrows. No idea what they were supposed to mean, but they were visually stunning.

We ate dinner in the hotel’s pan-Asian restaurant. I had bimbap; Adam ordered a big plate of sushi. Personally, I wouldn’t have ordered sushi so far from the sea, but it was very good quality. Nova’s chicken fried rice was the real winner, and so enormous we could have shared it between the three of us.

July 29, 2005

After breakfast (courtesy of Nova again) and thorough tick inspections — I think they are negative, but what do I know? — I got down to some major packing. Adam distracted Nova with a game of hide and seek. We’ve really enjoyed Cape Cod, and it felt a bit sad crossing the the Sagamore Bridge and leaving it behind.We negotiated the snarl of roads for Boston and Providence and all points in between, and found the highway for the Berkshires. As usual, we are heading from one farflung corner to another. I’m always drawn to the remote places. Adam and I had a holiday in Ireland in summer, and without really planning to ended up visiting Ireland’s southernmost, westernmost and northernmost point.

Ate lunch in the services on the Mass Turnpike, triggered by Nova announcing that she “really needed a poo!” By the time we’d exited, parked up, and got her installed in a cubicle, the moment had passed… It’s ironic how I’ve spent most of my life actively avoiding public restrooms, and now seem to spend hours hanging out in them. Ate lunch at the “Fresh Shack”, a fast food joint specialising in wraps. We had a weird salmon and rice wrap and a buffalo blue wrap (which was some sort of spicy chicken).

I set off on a quest for fresh fruit for dessert. After checking out about eight fast food concessions and a Quicky Mart, I’d nearly admitted defeat when I spotted some fruit artfully arranged as decoration. The cashier was amused when I asked if I could buy an apple, but showed enough initiative to sell me one for fifty cents. She likely just pocketed the money, as I’m pretty sure it wasn’t on the menu…

The fruit must have done it’s thing, because Nova had a successful poo stop just as we were coming off the turnpike in a nasty Texaco bathroom. I probably left it cleaner than I found it… Drove through the Berkshires to North Adams, and located our next hotel. The room was lovely, though a tight squeeze with Nova’s foldaway bed. There was a swimming pool, and Nova had a splash about, which she really enjoyed after spending the day in the car.

July 28, 2005

Nova made breakfast this morning. It was very sweet. She set the table, and laid out cereal, milk, fruit and apple juice. Afterward, Nova and I headed down to the motel beach to give Adam a little down time. Had fun making faces in the sand with seashells and pebbles for the eyes and mouth, and mops of seaweed for the hair and clothing. 

Adam was keen to go on the White Cedar swamp walk this morning. Why that name alone didn’t trigger an immediate “Are you fucking insane?” when Adam suggested it, shows that I’ve been away from home too long. At the very least, I should have insisted on head to toe clothing and a liberal dousing in DeepWoods Off. We were absolutely devoured by mosquitoes — I’m surprised they didn’t carry off a limb. Adam was particularly badly affected, which seemed like poetic justice. At one stage he had his own personal swarm of a good hundred mosquitoes. For some reason, they seemed to leave Nova alone…

On the way out, I noticed a sign I’d missed earlier. It was a tick warning sign, telling us that the area was a Lyme disease risk area. We’d managed to break all the advice and precautions, which were:

• wear long trousers tucked into socks
• spray yourself with tick repellent
• stay on the path

We stopped in at the tourist information book to find out more. Apparently, Cape Cod has the highest incidence of Lyme disease in the US. It not common, but not uncommon either. You need to carry out regular visual inspections for ticks, though deer ticks can be so small it’s not always possible to see them. Half the time you get a signature bite mark. According to the tourist info guy, any Cape Codder who develops flu-like symptoms automatically has a blood test for Lyme disease.

Spent the afternoon at Marconi beach. There were great breakers, and Adam did some body surfing while I ate yet more sand treats lovingly prepared by my girl. Carried out a full body tick search (negative) when we got home, then dressed for our final dinner in Provincetown.

We ended up eating at Lucinda’s, a Mexican place. It wasn’t particularly child friendly, but Nova wasn’t particularly hungry so it worked out all right. Very good food and Dos Equis Dark. Emerged to the sight of a 73 year old trannie in a mini-dress singing Sinatra to an appreciative crowd. Adam bought a couple of shirts. There are great mens’ clothing shops in P-town. Not surprising, given all the “fashion conscious” guys who come to town each summer, boosting the population from 3,000 to 180,000. He also bought me a gorgeous black leather handbag. Very simple and elegant.

July 27, 2005

The day was cool and overcast, though still quite humid. After breakfast we drove up Cape to Hyannis to visit the Kennedy Museum. Unfortunately it was closed for renovations, although a partial exhibit had been relocated to a former restaurant. Mostly family photos and a huge family tree, which made it all to apparent how many of them had died young.Ate a sandwich lunch on the town hall lawn, and worked out a tricky sudoku puzzle. We’ve been completely caught up in the sudoku madness sweeping the UK. (I just googled “suduko madness sweeping the UK” and this is what came up…) I’ve been hearing about this great new puzzle, and picked up a book at the airport, thinking Nova would be more likely to let me do number puzzles than read my novel. Well, by the first one, I was hooked. Adam started hover round my shoulder wondering what it was all about, and within days he was as keen as me. Regular struggles over who’s turn it is to have the sudoku book…

Stopped off to play a round of mini golf on our way back to the Seagull. Adam got all competitive like he was playing the Masters or something, blaming the course when he finished two over par. Nova enjoyed herself, although she her instincts told her to whack the ball straight on rather than standing sideways to it.

By now the weather was looking really nice, so we blew past the old Seagull and headed out to Race Point beach. As it was the end of the day, we ducked the $15 charge. It was a gorgeous beach, with steep dunes as a backdrop. Did a bit of swimming, although Nova was more interested in her sand baking.

Ate dinner at an out of the way restaurant in Truro, called the Blacksmith Shop. I decided to go for the steamed lobster. It’s quite a selfish dinner — I got so absorbed in extracting lobster meat from all the various nooks and crannies that I completely ignored Adam and Nova for most of the meal. I started off using the implements provided — the little cracker thing and dental probe, but by the end, I was dismembering the shell with my bare hands, sucking and gnashing to get every shred of meat.

Fortunately the restaurant was filled with the most wonderful doll’s houses, which kept Nova happily distracted. The woman who owns the restaurant told us she’d made them for her five daughters when they were growing up. The attention to detail was amazing. In the shop/bakery, she’d reduced labels and made tiny packets of food. There was a family home, with a nursery, parlour, tiny piano, miniature hooked rugs on the floor… They were even wired with electricity so each room was lit up. Nova was entranced…

Sharing hotel rooms is working out okay. Once we tuck her in, Nova rolls over and goes straight to sleep. In fact, she’s been boasting about how quickly she can fall asleep. We read or watch TV, or wrestle with a sudoku before turning out the lights. She’s staying in her own bed too. I’ve been putting the plastic sheet on her bed, but so far no accidents. She’s growing up so fast…

July 26, 2005

The weather forecast doesn’t look that great for the rest of the week… Today might well be the last sunny day before the promised storm front arrives. We ate a breakfast of cereal, berries and juice in our room, which made a nice change to all that fine dining…Stopped in Provincetown to pick up a beach umbrella, then drove out ot Head of the Meadow beach. Cape Cod is lined with any number of gorgeous, golden sandy beaches. Putting any thought of Jaws from my mind (it was filmed about twenty miles away on Martha’s Vineyard), I waded into the sea with Nova. The water was still full of the seaweed stirred up in yesterday’s rough seas, which the locals refer to as “mung”.

Actually Nova wasn’t all that interested in swimming. Mostly, she wanted to feed us various sand concoctions she was baking up in her “oven”. In between sand cakes and sand pies, and occasional bites from sand fleas, we tried to relax and read our books. By 11am, it felt like about 90 degrees. Nova and I sat on the tide line, and let the waves slap into us, “Here comes a biggie!” Nova would shriek, as an enormous wave rolled in to knock us back.

It all came to an end when she caught a couple of waves in the face. I rinsed them out with bottled water, but she found it difficult to keep them open. We thought it was about time to head back to the motel.

Into P-Town, as they call it, for dinner. P-Town is a popular gay holiday resort, and as we ate, various transvestites paraded up and down the street promoting their cabaret shows. Nova was particularly taken by an enormous drag queen who was being peddled about in a rickshaw. “I love his feathery hat,” she said earnestly.

Bought myself a lovely new wallet as mine is falling to pieces, and a true crime book about the first murder in Truro in 30 years — Invisible Eden: Love and Death on Cape Cod.

July 25, 2005

Packing up, it seems we have acquired quite a bit of stuff… Caught a taxi back to the airport and picked up a hire car from Alamo. Stuffed all our luggage in the boot and set off for Cape Cod, air conditioner blasting, classic rock on the radio. I have a definite advantage over Adam when we play “beat the intro” in this country. All those old Bob Seger, John Cougar, Boston and Hall and Oates tunes that were the soundtrack to my misspent youth…;-)Stopped at Plymouth to view the famous rock. Maybe we caught the place on a bad day, with a hot wind sandblasting us, and most of the seafront parking taken up by sanitation vehicles hoovering up after a sewage spill, but I was pretty underwhelmed. The rock wasn’t much to write home about, and from what little I read it sounds highly dubious it’s the actual rock.

Ate lunch at the Lobster Shack: lobster roll, tuna salad roll, clam strip roll (basically sandwiches served in hotdog buns). Adam made the tactical error of order medium – instead of small – onion rings, and returned to the table with a teetering mound. I was feeling a bit embarrassed about the size of our lunch until I looked around. People were sitting down to the most unfeasibly large mountains of food: bowls of chowder (it was 90 degrees outside), mountains of fried clams, enormous haystacks of “freedom” fries…

While it’s not that far from Boston to Cape Cod, the roads are slow, and the traffic heavy. The place we’d rented was out at the tip in a town called North Truro. We arrived at the Seagull Motel, a little family owned joint with beach access, at about 3:30pm. It was a bit of a descent from the Nine Zero… “Does this hotel have an alligator?” Nova asked. While I thought it might be a possibility, I wondered why she was asking, until I realised she was talking about the “elevator”.

The beach was blustery with big, foamy waves and the water full of seaweed, but on a calmer day it should be nice. Drove nto Provincetown to drop off laundry and buy groceries. Ate dinner out at a local hotel: I had Caesar salad with grilled scallops, Adam had crab legs and salad. Back in our room we discovered that TNT does back to back episodes of Law and Order on Mondays and Tuesdays, so that was us sorted…:-)

July 24, 2005

Had brunch in the hotel this morning — a bagel with smoked salmon and onion for Nova and me, and eggs Benedict for Adam — then spent the morning following the Freedom Trail, a (red brick or paint) line on the pavement that leads round the historic sites of Boston. We followed it from the Common, past the State House, various cemeteries, the Old School House, Old Meeting House, Fanieul Hall and Quincy Market, to Paul Revere’s house in the North End.Nova was losing enthusiam by this time, so we stopped off at a little playground, then headed to Maria’s Bakery, to satisfy Adam’s newly wakened enthusiasm for cannoli. After years of hearing the Sopranos go on about them every other episode, he finally tried one at dinner last night. Apparently, Maria makes the best cannoli in Boston. They certainly were extremely good. We also bought some black pepper crackers and cantucci with hazelnuts.

After an hour or so of room time, we set off again for the Prudential Tower. They have a self guided historic skyline walk on the 50th floor. You go around with a handheld device that points out various sites of interest down below. It was quite good, but hard to concentrate with Nova in tow.

Ate dinner tonight at Todd English’s Kingfish Hall in Quincy Market. Things got off to a bad start — they served Nova a glass of sour milk, and me an unsalted margarita, but the food itself was very good. Nova actually lasted through the whole meal, and didn’t get to sleep until about 9:30.

July 23, 2005

To the train to Somerville in the north of the city to have breakfast at the Rosebud Diner. In the picture in our guidebook, it looked like the perfect diner, lots of chrome, tile and neon. Adam and I had eggs and hash with a bottomless cup of coffee, and Nova had pancakes.Stopped in Cambridge afterward to have a look at Harvard. Harvard Yard felt instantly familiar, I guess from all the movies that are set there. There were some really striking buildings, particularly the Wegener Library and the arts building, which was designed by Le Corbusier. Apparently, it’s his only North American building.

Adam took Nova off for a bit, while I spent a delicious half hour in the Harvard Bookshop. Next we visited a camera shop where I bought a telephoto lens for the camera (at last!), and at a vintage adidas shop, where Adam bought a cap and Nova got a great pair of pink trainers.

Shopping is thirsty work, and we stopped for a drink before getting on the train. “What gluttons people are,” I thought eying up the enormous drinks everyone was buying, but it turned out those were the small size…

In the afternoon Adam and Nova headed off to the aquarium for some father-daughter time, and I went shopping for a bathing suit that wasn’t threadbare in the ass, and some more pink underwear to give me some more options when Nova gets me dressed in the morning. Ended up at Filenes Basement, a Boston legend for discount shopping. Found a great Anne Cole swimsuit ($22). I could feed a kind of madness descending, and found myself riffling racks of silk gowns — “Wow, only $80 bucks! I should buy two!”

I was ten minutes for our rendezvous at the duckling statues, but was still half an hour ahead of Adam and Nova. Another half hour or narrowly averted international incidents over access to Mrs Mallard. The number of people who are going home with snapshots of little Billy (and Nova), little Tran (and Nova) at the duckling statues…

Ate dinner in the hotel this evening. I had an amazing three-basil salad with almonds to start, seared scallops, and an apricot tart with olive oil ice cream. We’ve been sticking with California wines this holiday, as you don’t get much opportunity to drink them in the UK, and this evening’s choice was a Napa Valley viognier. Nova lasted through half the off-menu pasta the chef whipped up for her before crashing on the faux-suede banquette.

July 22, 2005

I’m surprised by how familiar the US feels. I guess when I’ve visited from Canada it’s the differences that are apparent, but after the UK it’s the similarities that I notice. I’m wondering if Boston, and perhaps New England, might actually have quite a Canadian feel. It occurs to me that I haven’t actually seen that much of the US:

• Washington
• Oregon
• California
• Idaho
• Montana
• Hawaii
• New Hampshire
• Maine
• Massachusetts
• New York City
• Hyder, Alaska

At breakfast this morning, I had the melon and berries, while Adam dispatched an outrageous order of French toast with caramelised banana, macadamia nuts and strawberries. Afterward, Nova and I headed off to the Science Museum by bus to take a duck boat tour. I bought our tickets then hung about in the foyer, avoiding the heat, which was already relentless. The museum wasn’t open yet, but we had fun faffing about in the photo booth…

Our duck boat guide was a retired shipyard riveter called Curly. He wore a large rivet around his neck, and every time he yelled, “Rivets!” we were instructed to quack like ducks. The first hour toured Boston streets, during which time I learned:

• John Kerry lives in Louisburg Square, though “he had wanted to change his address”
• JFK still hadn’t changed his driver’s licence from his Beacon Hill address when he was killed
• Most of Boston is reclaimed harbour, made by demolishing two large hills
• Boston had the first public school in the US, and the first public library and the first public park
• The Bunker Hill monument is built on the wrong hill
• The dome of the State House is covered in 15lb of gold leaf paint

All of which will come in handy some time, no doubt…

The next 45 minutes were spent churning up and down the Charles River. We drove down a steep ramp and launched with a wallowing splash. Once we’d cleared the canal, Curly let kids have a go “driving”. Nova was offered a souvenir photo of us as we clambered down the back ladder, and it was easier to part with $20 than pry it from her sweaty grip.

Adam was just finishing up when we got back. We had a quick lunch of tacos and chips at the Tequila Tacqueria round the corner, then headed to the Frog Pond, an enormous open air wading pool. Nova splashed around in there for a bit, then had another go in the playground before we returned to the Public Garden to find the duckling statues.

Nova was captivated by them, and would have sat on Mrs Mallard all afternoon if she could have. Whenever we coaxed her off to let another kid have a go, she’d say, “They won’t be very long, will they mum?” She’d loiter about, feeding Mrs Mallard “peanuts”, or strategically taking up pole position on Jack so she could leap back onto Mrs Mallard when she was vacated.

Went for an Italian meal in the North End this evening. Nova managed half a glass of milk and a piece of bread and butter before crashing out on the banquette. I had the beefsteak tomato with blue cheese, spaghetti vongole, and limoncello sorbet. The waiter was so pleased when Adam ordered a proper espresso (“not that Starbucks crap”) that he didn’t charge him for it.

July 21, 2005

Nova slept until about 3am (8am London time…) I climbed into her bed to keep her from disturbing Adam. “That’s funny!” she said. “In London I get into your bed, but in Boston you get into my bed!” She seems to be at a stage where she is trying to make sense of the world by deriving rules… After trying unsuccessfully to settle her again, I flipped on the TV and scanned for cartoons. The only cartoons I could find was something called Adult Swim — occasionally the content would get a bit graphic, and I had to keep cutting away to infomercials for abdominal exercisers, bizarre kitchen utensils, and prescription medicines. It’s so different the way they advertise medicines over here, and I love the way they have to read out the disclaimers: “…an exciting new treatment for male pattern baldness. May cause sweating, palpitations, panic attacks, liver damage, and blindness. So ask your doctor about Foligaine!”We went down to breakfast at 6:30am, where we met Adam’s client, Frank, who seems like a lovely guy. Back in the room, we discovered that there have been more bombs in London, though thankfully this bunch didn’t go off. It was surreal to be watching it from the other side of the Atlantic…

Nova and I headed out for the day, but we’d only got about six blocks before she needed a poop and it seemed easiest to head back. Of course, by the time we got back to the room, the moment had passed… We set off for Boston Common again, and had just reached the playground when the moment returned. Found an only slightly disgusting public convenience half way across the Common… There seem to be a considerable number of vagrants in Boston, at least in the area we’re staying. They were generally very cheerful (which usually means alcoholics in my experience), and eager to chat with Nova, who always answered politely.

After an hour or so in the playground, we headed to the Public Garden to ride the swan boats, as featured in Make Way For Ducklings. Nova was thrilled with them, and recited the whole book to me from memory while we sat waiting for the boat ride to start. It was baking hot and humid, and after lunch in a child-friendly brew pub, we headed back to the room for a rest.

Set out again mid-afternoon for Faneuil Hall and Quincy (pronounced Quinzee) Market, two historical buildings that have been converted into a food/shopping area. Quincy Market is a temple to fast food — there must have been sixty different franchises, selling take-away everything: chowder, pizza, sushi, oysters on the half shell, Korean barbeque, baked beans, roast dinners… I bought Nova a cookie from one of the bakery places, but instead of the generous-but-manageable cookie I thought we’d chosen, we ended up with one the size of a frizbee.

Went out for dinner with the adidas team to a waterfront restaurant in the evening. Nova was adamant that she wasn’t too tired, and I assured them that she was a good little walker, but we ended up carrying a sleeping girl most of the way. I arranged a little bed on two chairs, and she slept through the whole meal. I had a terrific shrimp cocktail, with shrimp the size of… much larger shrimp… a salad, and a couple of pints of Sam Adams beer. Really nice evening…

July 20, 2005

Happy birthday, Wendy!
Nova’s last day of school. I was still packing furiously when Adam went off to pick her up at 11:15, and had to stall the waiting taxi driver until they returned. I’m sure other people don’t live this way…“What is an airport?” Nova asked brightly as we arrived at Heathrow. “It’s a place where you go to get on the airplane,” I said. “But why is it called an airport?” she countered. I had to think about that one for a bit… “Because before airplanes were invented people travelled to other countries by ship, and the place where ships go from is called a port, so when they invented airplanes they called the place where they go from an airport,” I said finally, quite pleased with myself. At least until she trumped me with “What is air?”…

Passing through the duty-free shopping, Nova spied an enormous Russian doll for sale at the Caviar House. On an impulse, I bought it for her, half hoping it might have caviar in one of the dolls, or maybe a mini-vodka — something for the whole family. Turned out it was just dolls, but it kept her happily occupied until it was time to board the plane. She was busily arranging the dolls in a row, when out of the blue she announced loudly, “Penises have black fuzz, you know mum.” Lots of muffled giggles at that one…

For some reason they made me take my shoes off before ripping my boarding pass. I’m so curious to know what makes them think I’m a likely shoe bomber/drug smuggler…

The flight itself wasn’t bad. Nova and I had a two-seater with Adam in front of us. Actually, there were advantages to the seating arrangement. It meant that one of us could have some real down time — when we’re on either side of her, she’s more than capable of distracting us both. Once again, I was glad I’d packed food. Nova turned her nose up at her heavily processed kiddy meal, preferring the ham and cheese sandwiches and mixed berries I’d brought.

Virgin has little TV screens in the back of each seat, and Nova spent much of the flight watching the kiddie channel, freeing me up to watch “Meet the Parents”. There were more recent films on offer, but I’m stressed enough when I fly without watching anything the least bit suspenseful or violent. Pablum or nothing for me… Nova was so well behaved that I managed to watch most of Father of the Bride with Steve Martin as well…

The Hotel Nine Zero, where adidas put us up, is gorgeous — a sleek, modern, boutique hotel in downtown Boston. Happily, a booking mix-up worked to our advantage. Instead of the one queen plus roll-away we’d been promised, they ended up putting us in an enormous room with two queen-size beds. While Nova and I unpacked, Adam got down to work. Once I’d settled her for the night, we ordered a Caesar salad and beer from room service. To bed about 9pm…

July 19, 2005

My last day in the office before Boston… We had scheduled a team building afternoon away from the office, which meant I had to compress all those inevitable last-minute tasks into a half day. Managed to get away by about 6:30pm…The usual frantic evening of getting ready: watering, cleaning, tidying, laundering, packing, phoning, lunch packing, bill paying and myriad other details. Sometimes it seems that holidays take so much effort that you’d be ahead of the game just staying home…

July 18, 2005

I was dismayed to discover that a Krispy Kreme franchise is opening next door to Holborn station, and that I’ll have to walk past it twice a day. I’d always been immune to the appeal of doughnuts, at least until I had my first Krispy Kreme two years ago…Dave came round for dinner this evening — he’s going to be house sitting while we are in Boston, and we needed to run through a few details. He made an effort to arrive early to spend some time with Nova, but she was in a funny mood, and refused to have anything to do with him, which was a shame. Made a basic spinach potato curry, rice and raita — using up odds and ends from the fridge.

July 17, 2005

Surprisingly, my laziness and inertia around preparing for our pending holiday was not improved by eating and drinking myself into a stupor and staying up until the wee hours…;-)Adam was swamped with work, so after my weekly run with Pasc, I took Nova swimming, then stayed on afterwards for lunch in the gym cafe. It was a gorgeous sunny day, and when we got back we spread a blanket on the back lawn and sat outside eating ice lollies.

Adam took Nova off for a visit with his parents, and I finally turned my hand to a bit of holiday prep — mainly drafting a infeasibly long to-do list…

July 16, 2005

Another crack of dawn start courtesy of Nova, which resulted in a low energy kind of day. I faffed about ineffectually, sort of getting things ready for Boston. I tried to motivate myself by remembering that this weekend was the only clear time I had to get ready before we left, but it didn’t have much effect. (Last night, Ben was talking about a trip he has planned in a few weeks time, and the packing he has already started doing for it…)Spent ages playing Polly Pocket with Nova this afternoon. We set up a little boutique and arranged all the Polly clothes, shoes and accessories, and they various dolls came in and shopped for outfits. She loved it, especially when the girls would “fight” over a particular pair of shoes or skirt.

Adam took me out for dinner this evening to Rasoi Vineet Bhatia, one of London’s finest Indian restaurants. There was a range of menus — we decided against the “crustacean and champagne” menu on the grounds that we’d drunk enough champagne to float a yacht the other night at Gerry’s party, and that we’d be getting our fill of crustacea in New England in a few days time. There was also a la carte, a seven course taster menu or a nine course taster menu. We dithered briefly and insincerely before plumping for the nine courses, which were:

• grilled scallop with chilli mash
• morel mushroom kitchri with tomato basil ice cream
• spicy crab soup with crab cake
• lobster in chilli and ginger on a broccoli mash
• tamarind glazed quail with basil naan
• goats cheese and smoked salmon samosa with pear chutney
• lamb korma with rice cakes
• mango chocolate cup and mango lassi with coconut ice cream
• chocolate samosa with masala tea ice cream in a brandy snap basket

The food was exceptional. Bhatia experimented with serving hot and cold together, and came up with amazing combinations of flavours and textures. Presentation was a big part of the experience. The food was presesnted in a series of ingenious and sculptured crockery. As an example, the soup was served in a tiny magnetised cup that stuck out at a precarious angle from the slanted plate. Undoubtedly, one of the best meals I’ve had in ages. I’ve learned caution with regard to the wine matching option, and we chose a bottle of Huia New Zealand Gewurtztraminer to accompany the whole meal. Home about 1am, full and happy…

July 15, 2005

Isabella, a classmate of Nova’s, came back for a play date this afternoon. After the last couple of disastrous playdates, it was nice to have one that went so well. As soon as we got home, they immediately got into princess gear and got busy disembowelling Nova’s bedroom. After lunch, I brought out a couple of small gift boxes and bags of stick-on gemstones I’d bought earlier, and they spent an industrious half hour making “treasure boxes”.Adam took them off to Highgate Woods at about 3pm for a run-around, which gave me time to do some preparations for tonight’s dinner party. I caught up with them at the class picnic Hugo’s mum had organised. I thought it was going to be something quite informal, but it was a major undertaking, with about forty kids, an entertainer, food, party bags, souvenir photos, the whole lot…

Once Nova was down, I finished my dinner preparations. As I was cooking for Ben Schneider — who is an absolutely brilliant cook — I had put a fair amount of thought into what to serve. Applying Jemima’s philosophy of never competing with people’s strengths, I decided that rather than attempting some amazing, complicated dish, I’d compose a menu from family recipes.

I started with a canape based on something I’d eaten at Gerry’s launch yesterday — gravad lax salmon wrapped round large pitted green olives, and marinated in a kind of gremolata (lemon, coriander seeds, parsley, olive oil). Next was gazpacho with croutons and avocado, coquille St. Jacques, a lotus salad (a recipe of Brenda Horths for spinach salad with dried cranberries, blue cheese and a blackberry vinaigrette) and Wendy’s fruit pizza for dessert. Everything came off really well, except that I stupidly burned the rice a bit while faffing around with the scallops, and I introduced him to a few things he hadn’t tried before as well… The last time we had Ben round for dinner, he confessed that he almost never gets dinner invitations, as people are too intimidated to cook for him. I know how they feel, but we’ve had so many great meals round his house that it doesn’t seem right not to reciprocate…

July 14, 2005

Yesterday afternoon, I played this game with Nova on her Magic Draw pad. I’d write a word like cat, and she’d spell it out, then hat, pat, rat etc. I said to Adam after she was in bed how well she’s coming along with her reading. This morning, while I was making her breakfast, she got the Magic Draw out again, and started scribbling away. “What does this say, mummy?” she called. I came over to have a look, and there, printed very nicely was TUESDAY. “Nova, that’s amazing!” I said. She followed this with THURSDAY, FRIDAY and, less impressively, MOON. Adam and I were both gobsmacked. I had absolutely no idea that she could spell seven letter words… I don’t think her teachers do either. She got a little report card back the other day, and under Communication, Language and Literacy it says:

Nova has a sometimes astonishing vocabulary and really enjoys words, often repeating other people’s sentences and absorbing knowledge about language. She has become confident talking about experiences during whole class discussion and about objects she brings for “Show and Tell”. She loves listening to stories and is beginning to be interested in read, recognising some initial letters. She is beginning to write her name.
Read the whole report…

Nova had a playdate with Mira after school. I’d just dropped her off, and was heading home when the two minute silence for the victims of last week’s bombing began. All across London vehicles pulled to the side of the road, and everyone came out of their offices and homes to stand in the street. I joined a group of workmen standing in front of Highgate School. The stillness was eerie and very moving, and must have been something to experience in the centre of town.

On the vocabulary theme again, Nova has been calling me a “silly old renegade” all day long. No idea where that’s come from…

Went to the launch party for Gerry’s new PR agency this evening. It was a lovely warm evening, and the party had spilled out from the gallery where is was being held onto the pavements. It’s been years since I’ve stood around drinking on the streets of London, and it was pints of lager — not champagne — back then. There were canapes as well — very civilised…

July 13, 2005

At 6am, two little faces poked their heads round the door and clambered into bed with us. After a bit of a cuddle, we turned on the cartoons and left them to it. Adam finally bought a replacement printer for the one which broke a couple of months ago, and we used the time to get it set up.The girls ate breakfast so early, that there was a good hour before Jemima was expected. Nova received a little gardening kit for her birthday, with seeds, pots and compost for growing strawberries. Fortunately there were two little pots, so they each got to do one. You leave the pot in a plastic bag (which acts as a mini greenhouse I guess) until the seeds germinate.

After that we played “Contrary Mary”, a game based around a story that I read her sometimes about a little mouse who is very contrary. I’d say, “So, Contrary Ruby, what do you want for breakfast?” “Pizza!” she’d reply. “And Contrary Nova, what will you wear to school today?” “A swimsuit!” she’d yell. Good fun, and interesting to hear some of the things they came up with.

I went round to Jemima’s for a girl’s night in this evening: pitchers of Pimms, spinach salad, berries with ice cream, and lots of conversation. Home about 11:30…

July 12, 2005

Today was my first day on the Tube since the bombings. It felt a bit weird, and I had to push thoughts of how deep we were, and how close the walls of the tunnel were to the sides of the train from my mind a few times. The first crackle of an announcement gave the nerves a bit of a jangle as well…Meetings, meetings, meetings…
big meetings, small meetings… short meetings, long meetings… Five in total, which is more than any human being should expect to endure in a day. Now that I’m working at home one of my three days, the days in the office become so crowded, it seems impossible to get much actual work done.

Ruby came round for a sleepover this evening. Adam handled most of it, cooking dinner for the two girls, and intervening in disputes where needed. I got home in time for bed preparations and stories. I was surprised at how readily they went down. I was picturing an evening of upstairs forays and other cheekiness, but they both seemed to go straight to sleep, and when we listened outside the door at 8:15 it was quiet.

July 11, 2005

Another miserable night’s sleep…
Nova came into our room at 2am, and climbed into bed with us. Adam, who had been reading up on sleeping problems in our childcare book, launched into a reasoned explanation of why Nova should go back to her room. “But mummy, why can’t I come in your bed anymore?” she asked tearfully.I didn’t have the heart to evict her after that. And when I think of all the years David, Wade and I spent sleeping in mum and dad’s bed, it seems a case of what goes round, comes round. The main problem is that I don’t find it easy to get back to sleep once I’ve been woken up. Eventually, I moved down to the flat to see if that might help, but it was another hour or so before I fell asleep.

I felt dreadful when Adam woke up at 7. I got up, took some aspirin, and proceeded as if I was going to work, but the pounding headache and brain fog didn’t lift. In the end I called in sick and went back to bed. I wasn’t destined to sleep though, thanks to a steady stream of phone calls and other interruptions. I finally managed an hour’s nap in the late afternoon, then it was time to go get Nova.

July 10, 2005

Nova enjoys getting me dressed at the moment. She’s especially keen on picking out my underwear, and always opts for my pink knickers if they’re available. I have two pairs at the moment, and they are seeing pretty steady wear…We hung Nova’s bird feeder up on the balcony a couple of days ago, and the garden birds seem to have discovered it at last. Unfortunately, Nova rushes out to greet all newcomers, with predictable results. After Adam had taken her off to the swimming pool, a little fledgling tit landed. It hadn’t developed its markings yet, and was black, gray and white and all fluffy looking.

I had some party preparations to take care of, though sharing with another family certainly reduces the work load. We seem to have got the better end of the deal: we booked the community centre, did the party bag shopping, and bought the apple juice, paper plates and napkins; they are doing all the sandwiches, biscuits, assembling the party bags, and wrapping the pass the parcels. There was quite a bit of back and forth between the two households, and I got a peek at their professional looking house cake. The butterfly looks pretty amateur by comparison, but I’m glad I made the effort to do something a bit imaginative.

We headed off about 2:15, and had a frantic half hour arranging tables, blowing up balloons, setting up the adult bar etc. before the little guests started arriving. The party was quite a laid back, freeform affair for a four year old’s birthday party for twenty-five: the kids tore about in the playground outside, gathering at intervals for drinks, food and pass the parcel. The parents who stayed sat around drinking beer or glasses of wine and chatting. When the cake was served, the kids were equally happy with a piece of either. The little girl with allergies was really pleased that there was a cake she could eat for once, and her mother was really appreciative that we’d made the effort. All in all, I’d describe it a success…

July 9, 2005

Another lousy sleep… Nova came in at 2am again, although I had better luck repatriating her in her own room than I have lately. Went for my usual run with Pasc, but we were both wiped out, and only did one and a half laps instead of our usual two… She was at work Thursday and was evacuated from the tube at Embankment. She took the tube to work yesterday as well, and apparently so did everyone else. Her journey was the usual sardine can experience. It must have been on people’s minds, but I guess there’s nothing else one can do…Spent the morning playing with Nova. We played:

• marathon: we take turns tearing around the living/dining room while the other person commentates — “She’s rounding the armchair, good pace along the dining table, etc” — then a medal presentation
• cafe: Nova takes my order, then composes a meal for me out of coloured pens. For example, an order of cherry pie and ice cream gets you a red and white pen.
• NHS: Nova carries out various medical procedures on me while I gripe and moan about the state of medical care around this place. She has some rather singular ideas… she always announces I’ve been eating too many sweeties then extracts my tonsils with an alarming looking set of pincers; bangs away at my knee with the reflex hammer to knock off the blood; bandages my scar from the oven in France; takes my temperature then makes me lie down and drink water, and various other procedures.

I’ve decided to make a butterfly cake in an effort to keep up with the Stevens…;-) One of the girls in her class has serious allergies, and feeling guilty over neglecting to provide an alternative birthday class treat the other day, I decided to make a vegan birthday cake. The cake itself was no problem, but I ran aground with the icing…

Adam took Nova to the park while I wrestled with the icing. I ditched my first batch made with melted margarine and thickened with cornstarch, and tried again with Trex vegetable shortening, with lots of sugar, vanilla and some salt to introduce some flavour. I ended up with something passable, although it still has a slight greasiness to it in my opinion.

Nova has pretty much taught herself to read. She was sitting down with one of those Dorling Kindersley style picture books, pointing at things and sounding out the words: “il – ahh — dd — irr, ladder!” etc. I wondered if maybe she was simulating reading by choosing things she already knew, but I tested her on gutter and caravan, and she was able to read those as well…

At bedtime tonight, when I said I’d do hugs and busy day, she said she wanted Adam to do it. When I asked her why, she said matter of factly, “because I don’t love you anymore. I used to love you, but now I love daddy.” I know she didn’t mean it, but it stung nevertheless…

July 8, 2005

Nova had an orientation with next year’s teacher this morning. Miss Tait seems really warm and easygoing, in contrast to the other reception teacher who has a reputation for yelling at the children. I don’t think Nova would have fared very well in that environment…Went for lunch at Sarah and Etta’s house. Unfortunately, I’ve chosen a mum even more laidback than me to be planning this joint party with someone even more laid back than I am. We worked out what still needed to be done over sandwiches, and drew up a list. We decided that we’d each get our own cake, so both girls could blow out their candles. “I’m thinking maybe I’ll make a monkey cake this year, or maybe a house” Sarah mused. She and her husband Will are both architects, and I can just imagine the Frank Lloyd Wright facsimile they’ll no doubt construct. I was thinking of making a circle myself, but will have to buck up my ideas a bit…

After lunch I headed off to Toys ‘R’ Us to buy party bag supplies, then onto Brent Cross to get Nova some new bedding. We thought that getting her some nice new bedding — fitted sheets that actually fit her mattress, a replacement for her lumpy old duvet (donated by Anne Stillman) that smells of wee, and a kid sized pillow might encourage her to sleep in her own bed. She was quite enthusiastic about her new bed, and it should keep her warmer at night…

July 7, 2005

London was bombed by terrorists this morning…
Adam had just headed off on his scooter, and I was listening to Radio 4 in the kitchen while I cleaned up the breakfast dishes. “There has been a power surge on the Underground and the whole network is suspended,” the newsreader said. “That’s the first time I’ve ever heard of that happening,” I thought. I listened to hear if there was more, but they went into a piece on the mating habits of badgers. It was niggling away at me, and I thought I’d just turn on the television, to see if there was anything more to it.I tuned on to the breaking news of a bombed bus in Tavistock Square. The reports were very confused — five bombs, then seven, then six; three buses involved… Although I was pretty sure Adam would be fine, I wanted to hear his voice. The phone lines were completely overloaded, and the mobile network seemed to be down. Eventually I got through and left a message on his work phone. I emailed family as well, so they’d be reassured we were alright when they heard the news in a few hours.

At the school gates, all the moms were comparing what they’d heard on the news and from friends and family who were at work. Back home, Nova commandeered the airwaves to watch her new Dora DVD, but the endless sirens streaming into town and the helicopters buzzing overhead made it clear it wasn’t an ordinary day. Or the steady stream of phone calls and email from family and friends checking that we were alright.

It was Nova’s final ballet class before summer holidays, and a little performance was planned. I was so distracted and scatterbrained, that although I brought both the camera and the video camera, I forgot the battery for the former and to charge the latter. I captured about three minutes of the performance before the battery died.

Next thing, my mobile phone went off with a dreadful squawk. It was Jemima, similarly distracted, forgetting that I had ballet before our play date. They came over minutes after we got home. Nova was concerned about her princess hat and considered hiding it from Ruby. Her fears were well founded, because within minutes of Ruby’s arrival she was campaigning for Nova to let her wear the hat and dress because “she hadn’t tried them yet.” I went downstairs to find Ruby some finery to wear and left them to it. Ten minutes later Ruby came clumping upstairs in the princess hat and shoes Nova had been wearing. It didn’t seem to cause too much friction, and they played together really nicely.

Adam no trouble getting home on his scooter. There were still no tubes or buses in central London, and most people ended up walking. We had crisps and a beer for dinner in front of the new– I’d made soup but didn’t even have the motivation to heat it up. I don’t think the whole thing has sunk in properly. Had it been Monday or Tuesday instead of today, there is every possibility that I would have been travelling between King’s Cross and Russell Square at approximately that time…

July 6, 2005

I worked from home today. I had a series of phone conferences organised, which required a bit of negotiation with Adam. I was feeling a bit guilty about us both working from home, until it struck me that it’s no different than being in the office, surrounded by a hundred other people I chat to, and have tea or lunch with. We both get on with our own work, and sit down together for lunch or a cup of tea.I made a cold soba noodle salad for dinner, which I christened chicken noodle mango tango to capture Nova’s imagination: soba noodles cooked and cooled, soy-sesame oil-sake dressing, shredded chicken, sesame seeds, and chunks of mango. I reserved the shredded mint and lime juice for the adult portions. Nova happily ate a good-sized serving of it, which is great — another meal we can all share.

Adam had spoken to Theresa about how we planned to pay her over the holidays, and apparently she was very upset about it. We have a contract with her that specifies two weeks paid holiday for her, plus the first two weeks paid when we go on holiday. Aside from that, we’ve agreed that a normal day’s work is 5.5 hours and that she’s paid an hourly rate of £5 an hour.

We first ran into problems when Nova started going for playdates after school. Theresa still expected to be paid the 5.5 hours even if she only worked, say 2, as she needs to have a consistent level of income. To address this reasonable concern, we offered to pay her the same amount each week, and track the hours she works. If she does less, we’d bank it for later, and if she does more we’d pay her for it. Theresa sees this as incredible nitpicking and stinginess on our part, and has more or less given us an ultimatum — pay her full time whether she works or not, or call it a day… I’m pretty clear about what I’d like to do, but it’ll take a bit of time to get new childcare arrangements in place.

July 5, 2005

My first day in the office for a week… There was an overwhelming number of emails waiting for me, and it took until noon to work my way through them. Tina and I had a long talk about how the job share is working, and where we can improve things. I think it’s a function of the days we work (I’m Monday to Wednesday; she spreads her hours over Tuesday to Friday) but I always feel like I’m reacting to work she’s initiated and don’t get enough opportunities to lead on things. I think it’s mostly because she writes a big handover mail on Friday of all the things that need dealing with, and I seem to spend most of my time coping with that.I worked until 6:30, then cam home for dinner with Adam — cauliflower Stilton soup, which is normally one of our winter dishes, but the weather is so chilly it was welcome. We were both exhausted, and in bed by 11pm.

July 4, 2005

Happy birthday to our dear little Nova, who is four years old today!
Sod’s law, for once we actually slept in a bit and it was quarter to eight when Nova came in to wake us. As she led the way upstairs, she said, “I hope I get a princess hat in my presents…” She was thrilled with the one I bought her last week. There were also presents from Dad, Margo, Greg and Wendy, godfather Dave, and Anne and John. Knowing her taste, there were a few little dresses, a fairy skirt, nail polish and decals, books, a Dora DVD, some enormous plastic insects, and a pair of bird feeders.She was more into her cards this year. Dad sent her one with stickers and a picture to colour which she flew straight at. She was particular taken with her sparkly princess card, and kind of puzzled by the one I made of her and Dora. “But where did you buy it, mummy?” she asked. When I explained that I’d made it on the computer, she said, “But how did you take a picture of me and Dora?”

After dropping her off at school, I buzzed around like a blue assed fly, buying groceries, baking birthday cake, decorating the house, making salads for the family buffet dinner tonight.

After school we headed to Hampstead with Christine and Evelyn (and baby Tom). Weeks ago, I’d promised Nova that I’d buy her a new dress on her birthday. With her memory, there was no getting out of that promise, even though she’s pretty well sorted for new dresses. She chose a lovely flowery summer dress from Jigsaw, the we headed to Giraffe for lunch. The girls weren’t on their best behaviour, egging each other on to stand on the seats, climb under the table, and end every sentence with “poo poo” — eg, “Where’s the pink crayon, poo poo?!!” In recognition of the occasion, I let most of it go…

Headed to the Heath afterward for a run around. When it started spitting with rain, we caught the bus up West Hill. Nova was keen to get stuck into her new Dora dvd, but first we went round to Anne and Johns to thank them for the bird feeders. Anne gave Nova a lovely little handknit shawl to wear over her dress. She’d bought it in Greece years ago, and never quite known what to do with it.

Had all Adam’s family round for a buffet dinner and birthday cake. Pete, Pasc, kids and houseguests arrived with more presents, adding to the general chaos. Nova seemed a bit overwhelmed by it all… Beulah and Freddy had some lovely presents for her: a gorgeous embroidered Indian outfit, a flashing ring, a light sensitive bracelet and a wristwatch. What a lucky girl…!

July 3, 2005

Happy birthday, David!
Nova climbed in with us at some ungodly hour. At 6am I booted her out for refusing to lie quietly, and we all managed to sleep until 7:30. Nova and I made a batch of Margo’s muffins with raspberries that came out very nicely.Pasc bailed on our run this morning. I was tempted myself — it is really hot and muggy — but jogging partners are supposed to motivate – not demotivate — each other, and I decided to go. It’s harder when you’re not chatting to someone, and I’d been looking forward to hearing about the 40th birthday party they went to for one of the parents from Fay’s class they’ve made friends with. These people have so much money that they actually hired Sheryl Crow to play at the party. She was originally scheduled to play Live8 in Paris that weekend, but had to drop out due to “substantial logistical and personal challenges“…

Mom was in my dream last night. I’ve been seeing quite a bit of her in dreams lately. In last night’s dream, she was with a cast of people I’m feeling guilty about, including the colleague I recently made redundant, and Nova… It’s always good to see her, whatever the dream’s about…

Running on my own, I got thinking about how much I’d like to talk to mum about Nova and about being a mother. I felt very depressed around Nova’s birthday last year, and it seems to be sneaking up on me again.

Adam took Nova off to the swimming pool and farmer’s market while I mooched around the house. I made a pot of pasta and chickpeas for dinner, which was well received by Nova. “Mmmm, this soup is delicious, mum!” she said. She must have been tired from the swimming, because she pretty much put herself to bed at about 7pm. Maybe she was eager to get to sleep so it would be her birthday all the sooner.

Once she was down, I wrapped her presents from us and dad and ,ade her a card. Had to go round to Rob and Jemima’s to print it, as our printer has packed it in…

July 2, 2005

Stuck with the usual Saturday ritual of watching Dora Explorer in bed at 6:55, although pancakes seem to have gone by the wayside for now…Nova is getting into making cards at the moment. In preparation for Amy’s birthday party this morning, she went off and made a card all by herself. There was quite a jaunty looking cat on the front and inside she’d carefully printed “Nova and “Emu”, her best guess at spelling Amy.

While Adam dropped her off at the party, I headed to Upper Street to do a pre-birthday reconnaissance. I’m planning to take Nova shopping for a new dress on her birthday, and wanted to scout out possible locations/dresses before Monday. I stopped for a bowl of noodles at Wagamama, then caught the tube up to Hampstead. Junior Jigsaw has some really nice dresses, and nothing I actively don’t want to buy should she set her heart on it, so I think we’ll go there.

Adam and Nova picked me up at Whitestone Pond and we went to Costco to get some birthday party supplies: candies; juice boxes; Pringles etc. They have some very nice looking cakes, so that’s something to consider as well…

I’ve been feeling quite depressed the last few days, and have realised that Nova’s impending birthday is stirring up feelings about mum. It’ll be the second birthday of Nova’s that she’s not here for. Had a nice bath and climbed into bed with a glass of red wine to watch Law and Order…

July 1, 2005

We all said “Rabbits” this morning, including Nova, who pretty much ends up with us every night at the moment. On the plus side, she’s waking herself up to go to the loo in the night, so my laundry duties have eased up a bit…I got the extra couple of hours lie in this morning. Adam took Nova off upstairs and made her breakfast. She snuck back downstairs when he was distracted and woke me up by pressing her singing unicorn to my ear. “Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, how are you? (repeat) Thank you, thank you, I am fine, and I hope that you are too. Hello, hello…” Nova’s got a pair of invisible magic unicorns she rides, that she calls ??? and Laura.

Made a family outing to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Nova was very keen on the dresses in the fashion exhibit, and the replica of Michaelangelo’s David caught her eye as well: “Hey! He doesn’t have any clothes on!” she cried. After a couple of minutes examination, she added, “I think he’s a daddy…”

The reason for our visit, the Touch Me exhibition, exploring our underutilised sense of touch, was a big hit. Nova especially liked the part where stroking a group of plants made a computer generated garden grow on a massive screen. We spent at least half an hour playing with that…

It was the school fete this afternoon, and we headed over en famille about 6pm. There were bouncy castles and inflatable slides, a sausage-hamburger barbeque, face painting, a cake stand, a student band doing Oasis covers, and various fairground type games. Most of the kids in her class were there with their parents, and Nova tore about until about 7:30, when we took her home to bed.