July 2010

July 31, 2010

Woken by shouts and laughter in the street six stories below. It was 6am, but there were loads of people still out and about, drinking and having fun. Lyra scampered in a bit later, talking about her bad dream with “three bad sheep”. Hadn’t realised it was possible to have a nightmare about sheep…She watched cartoons in German for an hour while we surfaced from our sleep. Grabbed our swimming things and headed to the Alhondiga swimming pool, where I did my forty laps. Four of the five swims I’ve done in the last ten days were quite unlikely to have happened at all, so I’m feeling pleased with myself. It gives me more motivation to keep it up and not lose what fitness I’ve gained.

Walking back to hotel, all the shops appeared to be closed, which seemed odd for 11am on a Saturday morning. Turns out it is St Ignatius Day in the Basque region. (I’ve discovered that both Ignatius Loyola and St Francis Xavier were Basque.) I packed our things while Adam went to collect the hire car. Took the girls across to the Guggenheim playground until Adam returned.

Ate lunch in the Guggenheim restaurant. Their excellent set menu of salmorejo, potato/mange tout soup, roast fish on cauliflower couscous, and rice cake with cinnamon cream and ice cream for 19 euros (including wine, water and bread) was a treat. Adam was driving so couldn’t do justice to the wine, but I made up the difference…;-)

Headed for our mountain retreat in Asturias, a three hour drive along the coast. Cut inland when we reached the Picos de Europa, passing through a number of little towns, before finally arriving in our little village.

We were puzzling over the cryptic instructions when the home owner found us and led us to the place. It turned out to be the opposite of my usual online booking experience. Far from a holiday cottage, we’ve ended up with a sprawling, three storey farmhouse. It’s also beautifully and comfortably done up — result!

Adam and Nova headed back to town for groceries, while Lyra and I unpacked. There’s a whole floor of the house that we’re unlikely to even use… Once I’d finished the unpacking (and discovered I’ve left Adam’s pyjamas in Bilbao) I put on a load of laundry. None of that expecting you to buy a box of laundry soap for your one week stay here — we’re well equipped with soap, salt, olive oil, clingfilm, toilet paper etc.

It’s pretty gray and misty in the Asturian mountains. Makes a change from the 30° heat on the coast. Hard to imagine clothes drying in this dampness…

Tomato and bacon pasta for dinner, with peaches and biscuits for dessert. Once the girls were in bed we watched an exceptionally lame movie called Street Fighter 2. Pretty sure it must be based on a video game — the plot was quite ridiculous, and the most unlikely characters turned out to be martial arts masters…

July 30, 2010

Aside from a little wake up by Lyra at 4:30am — “Where’s Nova?” she was calling, which got me out of bed in a big hurry. Turned out their beds are so big Lyra couldn’t see her. After that excitement, we all slept through until 8:30… 

Started my morning with a shower. “Do you want to share that little shower?” asked Lyra, poking her head around the wall. Of course I did…

Ate breakfast on the roof terrace overlooking the Guggenheim. It was buffet style, with whole tables dedicated to fruit and yogurts, meats and cheeses, olives and savories, breads, pastries and cakes… We certainly got our money’s worth on Nova, who ate about 10 euros of quality tuna alone.

Got a worrying phone call from Sara who’s looking after Harvey. He’s not been eating his food and is growing thin and lethrgic. We asked her to take him to the vet. Turns out we could either spend a few hundred pounds on investigative tests, or see how he gets on with a vitamin-enriched diet first. Given his age — he’s nearly 20 months, which is getting on for hamster — much as we love our Harvey, that seemed the most sensible option…

Ate a lunch of pinxtos in the new squaare. Sadly, the girls aren’t that into pinxtos, so they filled up on bread and dessert. Most of the tables around us were ordering delicious looking calamari, but I’m pretty sure the girls wouldn’t be much for calamari either…

Finished reading Hemingway’s ‘The Sun Also Rises’, which is mostly set in the Basque country. What a frustrating book — all the characters behaved so badly you just wanted to slap them. I’ve only ever read it in French (god knows why), which was a very different experience. I didn’t even realise Jake was impotent until most of the way through the novel and completely missed the parallel between bullfighting and all the guys fighting over Brett…

Fed the girls in a local bar then paseo’d back down to the old town, where we ate at the same bar in the square. Mixed salad, the calamari I’d been coveting at lunch, and salt cod in tomato sauce, washed down with a couple of beers. Friday night and loads of families and kids were out enjoying the evening. Lyra befriended a little girl called Alex, and they ran around together until it was time to go.

Walked back along the river, which was nice except for Lyra slipping in a pool of melted ice cream. Popped her straight in the bath when we got in. Nova now refuses to bathe with Lyra — she’s had enough pinching and kicking and bossing around. As it happens we have two Phillip Starck designed soaker tubs, so they each had their own…

I’ve been feeling out of sync with the rhythms of Bilbao (which I didn’t feel in San Sebastian). I did some reading about how the Spanish eat, and here’s what I found out:

• breakfast is 8-9am, and usually just coffee and a croissant √
• they have a little snack of tortilla or a sandwich about 11am X
• lunch is the main meal of the day — three courses eaten between 2-4 X
• time for some pinxtos between 7-9 √
• dinner is between 10 and midnight X

Don’t think that meal schedule would work for us, even on holiday…

July 29, 2010

We’d thought of going for a family swim this morning before packing up, but the girls were still asleep at 7am, so I went on my own. There were some amazingly fit middle-aged women in the changeroom this morning. Of the six of us – all over 40 – four looked like they could be professional athletes. You never see anyone that fit in England… Knocked off the 40 laps quite mechanically — actually the pool is 27m, so it works out as 1.1km…Tried to pack our belongings in fewer bags, so there would be less to keep track of. Consequently each bag is now heavier… Ate a final breakfast at our favourite bar, then returned to the flat to hand over the keys and get our damage deposit back.

Caught a city bus to the main bus terminal, and boarded the coach to Bilbao. It all went as smooth as silk — the number 28 bus was waiting as we approached the stop, and the Bilbao coach left five minutes after we arrived. We were in Bilbao a full hour earlier than we’d estimated.

Caught the tram to our hotel. We’ve booked two interconnecting rooms with balconies. It’s all very lovely and spacious, designer bathrooms and funky furniture. No view of the Guggenheim — that was well out of our price range — but pretty damn swanky for us… Lyra wanted to change before we went out — “I need to wear something more exotic!” she said…

Ate a sandwich on the terrace outside the Guggeheim, in view of the wonderfully kitsch flower-covered Jeff Koons puppy. I hadn’t realised that it was on a world tour but liked it so much in Bilbao, that it decided to stay…

Spent the next few hours going round the museum. It’s an amazing space, though not so great for displaying art. While there are a few permanent pieces, but most of the space is given over to temporary exhibits. We got lucky with Anish Kapoor and Henri Rousseau. Lyra was particularly taken with Rousseau’s ‘Hungry Lion Attacks an Antelope’, and talked about it all evening. Kapoor’s intense colour pieces that blur the boundary between 2D and 3D were amazing, and we all enjoyed mucking around with his distorting mirrors…

Headed out about 8pm for some dinner. We were a bit unlucky — the first place we’d earmarked was closed, and the second was full. Ended up in a scruffy worker’s caff ( with beautiful 50s time warp decor) where the girls shared an order of sausage, egg and chips.

Walked down to the Alhondiga, the new Phillip Stark conversion of an abandoned wine warehouse. It’s an amazing space – you walk in and find yourself in an area that must be 100m square. There was an enormous video display of the sun suspended from the middle. And at one point, you could look up and see the glass bottom of the swimming pool 60 feet above us with people swimming back and forth in the pool.

The pool was what we were interested in so Adam went off to find out about admission and so on. That done, we headed up to the terrace bar for a glass of wine. Nova and Lyra were the only kids up there, and I couldn’t entirely relax while Lyra was waving her long stemmed crystal wine class around, but it was a pretty cool place to have a drink…

July 28, 2010

Ran the sea wall this morning, round to the aquarium and back. Lots of other joggers out and about, though the weather was muggy. The etiquette seems to be for joggers to share the cycle lanes and leave the seawall for walkers. Took me around 25 minutes, which I’ll call two miles at my current glacial pace.After a cafe breakfast we dropped by the tourist office to learn how to get to Bilbao tomorrow. Our next stop was the Miro exhibition. I was surprised by the beauty of some of the paintings, and the vivid colours. Nova bagged the audio guide, but I had my hands full keeping Lyra from touching the art anyway…

Adam’s final surfing lesson this afternoon. I think he’ll be glad when this ordeal is over… He has aching muscles and painful grazes on his knees, palms, and forearms from the fibreglass surfboard. Putting the aqueous calamine I brought in case came of chicken pox to good use…

It’s the first time it hasn’t been high tide when we were at the beach, and the waves were much more managable. I tried to address Lyra’s terror of the sea by taking her for a little paddle, but she wasn’t having any of it… She preferred digging in the sand. We dug the deepest hole my arm could reach — it came nearly up to Lyra’s shoulders when I lowered her into it.

The gentler waves were a help on the surfing front, and Adam managed to stand up on his surfboard at last. I’m impressed with him trying to learn to surf — it’s not an easy thing to do. My only experience of surfing was in Waikiki with some surf rat who tried to pick me up on the beach. I spent a frustrating half hour repeatedly struggling into a crouch, losing my balance and being smacked into the sand before deciding surfing wasn’t for me.

Made a strategic assault on the pinxto bars of the old town this evening. We were more ruthless about moving on as soon as we’d had our hit, which worked better. We also stopped for a girl’s meal in the middle, which kept them sweet:

Tapas bar	What we ordered	What it looked like
Hidalgo 56	morcilla volcano grilled stuffed squid vino blanco
Munto	squid ravioli tuna ham sandwiches vino blanco
Ganbara	anchovy pickles (the ‘gilda’) jamon croissants cider
La Mejillonera	patatas bravas steamed mussels txakoli wine
Fast food joint	fries chocolate cake ice lolly
La Cepa	gavilla vino blanco

Home by 10pm — Nova slept with me again tonight, as her bed is better for Adam’s back…

July 27, 2010

Breakfasted on fruit and yogurt in the flat, then walked round the seawall (another way San Sebastian reminds me of Vancouver) to the Aquarium. Recently opened, there are some innovative presentations:

• an electric blue spherical tank with a gentle current that wafted little white jelly fish about like they were on a very slow spin cycle in a washing machine
• a tunnel through their largest tank with sharks, skate, turtles, eel that felt like you were walking through water
• a highly magnified tank that made the crayfish look enormous

Ate a seafood lunch at a harbourside café afterwards — “mmm, fish!” — then walked along the beautiful La Concha beach promenade for a while before heading back to our flat.

Had 45 minutes of downtime before we had to set off for Adam’s second surfing lesson. I thought I’d better take the girls into the water this time, but fared no better than Nova did… The second wave knocked me off my feet — I dropped Lyra, fell on Nova, scrabbled around frantically trying to set the girls upright before the next wave came crashing in sending us all sprawling again… All with a packed front row audience of sunbathing Spaniards…

Lyra managed to find her feet first, and ran blindly screaming up the beach and threw herself on our towels. Nova and I trudged along behind, Nova whimpering and me radiating embarrassment.

Regrouped a little bit, then left the girls on the towels and went in by myself… Much easier to balance without your arms full of little girls. The waves are still powerful, but once you get past where they are breaking you can bob about quite happily. Swapped with Nova after ten minutes, and did some digging with Lyra.

I’d routinely look up every five minutes to check on Nova, and there she’d be frolicking in the waves… until the time she wasn’t… I scanned the shore in both directions, but there was no sign of her. It didn’t help that the water was packed with bathers. I knew she was probably fine, but felt really uneasy not having her in sight…

Prowled the shoreline for the next half hour looking for her. Lyra and I walked the beach twice end to end before I finally spotted her bobbing in the waves. Such a relief — I was getting increasingly anxious and picturing scenarios where she’d been clonked on the head by a surfboard and slipped unnoticed under the waves. Lyra was relieved as well — she’s now so terrified of waves that she’d shriek whenever a bit of seafoam touched our feet.

Back at the flat, I did a bit of research into local pinxto bars then headed out for a meal. The old quarter is famous for tapas bars, but our neighbourhood is no slouch either. We hit four bars in the end, finally getting home about 11pm with very two tired little girls:

Tapas bar	What we ordered	What it looked like
El Patio del Ramuntxo	jamon tortilla salt cod omelette jamon croquette vino blanco
Garbola	pinxto of shark: shark meat on sautéed potato w/carmelized onion and green peppercorns breaded scampi vino blanco
Bergara	ratatouille croquette txalupa (a mushroomy cheesy thing) vino blanco
El Lagar	salamorejo de cordoba grilled jalapenos panceta in sweet vinegar grilled octopus w/rocket vino blanco

July 26, 2010

We all had good, long, much needed sleeps… Started the morning with a visit to the local swimming pool, where we committed a few faux pas — we hadn’t realised that everyone in Spain needs a swim cap (even bald men); the lifeguards are surprisingly protective of their swim noodles, and I never did grasp the complexities of the various shower rooms. My Spanish only covers absolute basics — 1-10, hello, the bill, more beer etc. Actually, for any the difference it made, the signs appeared to be in Euskera anyway… Managed to do my forty laps, then Adam swam some while I played with the girls.Ate breakfast in a bar on the way home from the pool. I love these Spanish bars — Adam and I had little jamon sandwiches with our coffee, while the girls had hot chocolates and split a doughnut.

Happily the weather turned out to be much better than predicted on the weather website and the telly. According to last night’s weather forecast, the only rain cloud on the entire Iberian peninsula was squatting over San Sebastian…

Today’s expedition was climbing Mt Urgull. Visited the little castle/museum on top and enjoyed the picture postcard views over La Concha, the famous beach. Walked back down along “eat street”, which is lined with restaurants and tapas bars. Chose one I’d spotted in my guidebook, and enjoyed a beer and some tasty bites before heading back to our flat for a bit of down time.

Set out again before 4pm for Adam’s first surfing lesson. Left him at the surf shop and set up our towels on the strand. I’d intended to sunscreen the girls but they raced off to the sea before I got the chance… and were promptly flattened by an enormous wave. I saw Lyra’s little feet sticking up for an instant before they disappeared beneath the roiling foam. Dropped everything and raced down there to fish her out. She was laquered in sand from head to foot, coughing and sputtering, but no tears. She had absolutely no interest in the sea after that introduction…

She spent her the time playing with her bucket and spade instead, and befriending non-English speaking Spanish ladies. Nova was having a great time splashing in the surf. There were some pretty powerful waves crashing in, but she’s naturally cautious and I didn’t worry about her.

It was approaching high tide, and out of nowhere a rogue wave swept 15 feet further up the beach than any previous waves, soaking our towels and bag before I had a chance to react. We weren’t the only ones caught out. There was a mass retreat of sunbathers up the slope. Wrung the sopping towels out best I could, and spread them out to dry on the sand…

A battered and bruised Adam rejoined us, and we headed back to the flat via the grocery store. Made a tuna egg pasta and a big green salad for dinner. We’re all feeling bushed, and had no enthusiasm for an evening stroll. Got the girls down about 9pm. An hour later Nova delivered a note to us in the living room:

I’m hungry (oh, and I liked dinner), hot (okay, I’ll use my sheet), active (in BED of all places) and thirsty. Why did you say goodnight, when this is one of the worst I’ve had?

Nova

PS: Turn down your show. That music is a bit eerie.

She’s such a funny little character…

July 25, 2010

Sleeping on trains always makes me think of James Bond. It seems glamorous and romantic on the big screen, but not so much in real life… It was pretty noisy as it lurched and clanked along, and the miserable little blanket they’d issued us didn’t encourage sleep either. I guess they needed to come up with something that no one in their right mind would nick. I actually quite liked my miniature square foam of a pillow…I was awake by 4am and stayed that way, worrying about work, house matters, money… It’s such a different experience travelling by ground — it allows a transition between where you’ve left and where you’re going…

As soon as it started to grow light, I slid up the blind and watched the scenery go by. We were in the French Basque region by this time — Bayonne, Biarritz, St Jean de Luz — places I travelled with John so many years ago…

Woke the girls at 7am, and breakfasted on leftover ryebread sandwiches and oranges. Disembarked at Hendaye on the Spanish border half an hour later, where we connected with a little commuter train that took us the forty minutes to San Sebastian.

It was pretty early on a Sunday morning for your average Spaniard to be up and about. In fact, nearly all the people we saw were coming home from a Saturday night out and obviously still drunk. The streets had that dishevelled “morning after the night before” look about them.

When the local cafe opened at 9am, we bought ourselves a bit of breakfast, then strapped on our backpacks and hoofed it to the centre of town. The flat we’ve rented wasn’t available until 3pm in the afternoon, but Adam got ahold of the guy and arranged for us to store our luggage there.

I felt much less conspicious without the rucksacks, and more mobile as well. Spent an hour on the drizzly beach, then headed to a bar we’d spotted for a tapas lunch. There was still some time to kill… We’d thought of seeing the Miro exhibition, but it was closed for siesta.

Wandered the streets of our neighbourhood until they finally allowed into the flat. It’s a lovely flat, clean, bright and spacious — more space than we actually need, but it was very difficult to find anything in San Sebastian in the summer months. The jazz festival that’s on this week wouldn’t have helped… We missed Patti Smith by a couple of days, and if we were up for it could see Elvis Costello and Kris Kristofferson this evening.

Decided against eating out — with Spain’s finest restaurant (Arzak) less than a five minute walk away we opted to dine on pot noodle, cheddar cheese and cucumber slices. Probalby couldn’t have got a reservation anyway…;-)

Headed out for an evening stroll afterwards. Listened to a bit of free jazz and ate ice creams as we walked the sea wall. San Sebastian reminds me of Vancouver in a some ways (though the buildings are much more beautiful) — the city centre beaches, and the of number of people out cycling and jogging. Very unusual for a European city. Adam has been inspired to try surfing! He’s arranged for surf lessons, starting tomorrow…

July 24, 2010

I was lulled into a sense of false complacency by the afternoon departure. I was buzzing around like a blue-assed fly all day, and was still finishing my final tasks when the taxi pulled up at 4pm.It didn’t help that I went for my swim first thing I guess. I’ve agreed to do the Hampstead Heath duathalon with Trish, Adam and Adam at the start of September, and I have no intention of disgracing myself again. It also didn’t help that Adam had been up all night and spent the whole day frantically finishing work before we left.

Got off to an inauspicious start… When Lyra slumped against me five minutes into the taxi ride to St Pancras, I realised with horror that I’d given her 2-4 times as much gravol as I should have. Called our GP friend Birgit, who assured us that it is practically impossible to overdose on anything sold over the counter.

Poor groggy Lyra obligingly woke up and shuffled into the station with her little pack. Nova’s carrying a hefty pack as well, and we were all glad to get on the Eurostar and stash it all for a few hours.

It funny what a non-event taking the Eurostar has become. I barely noticed when we went under the English Channel — I used to marvel at it, and stare out the window at nothing. Familiarity breeding contempt and all that…

Took the Metro across Paris with the usual lowlifes and ne’er do wells. I’m always so much more aware of that when I’m with the girls. At Gare Austerlitz we repaired to a sidewalk café for a drink. The girls scoffed desserts, and Adam treated himself to a serving of duck paté.

When it closed, we joined the shuffling queue for our sleeper train to Spain. There were loads of interrailling students about, reminding me of my misspent youth.

We had a nice enough little cabin with four berths. Got straight into pyjama, brushed our teeth and went to bed — it was already 11:30pm French time by this point. I was a little worried when the train lurched off that the girls would get motion sickness, but I think they were still so full of gravol they didn’t notice…

July 23, 2010

Happy birthday, Denise!
Planned to start my training runs this morning. Set off full of good intentions, but ankle went at the entrance to Kenwood, and I had to limp back home. I wasn’t expecting that — it was completely fine on my 10km the other day (the only part of me that was…) and I hadn’t even bothered to tape it. I wonder if the swimming might have wiggled something loose?It was another day of packing, cleaning, organising… Made a trip to Muswell Hill with Lyra for some essential travel purchases. Lyra’s best friend Alice has come out chicken pox this week. Am now prepared for that eventuality on holiday with piriton and aqueous calamine lotion.

Went round to Anne and John’s for a drink, then ate dinner with the McGhee’s at Kiplings. I was tired out by the time we got home. Got the girls to bed and wasn’t far behind them… For once we’re not leaving at the crack of dawn, so I’ve got hours tomorrow to finish my holiday preparations…

July 22, 2010

Took Nova to her school gymnastics club this morning on the assumption that it was “watch week” only to discover that it was not on. Seemed silly to head back home again, so we went for a coffee and muffin in the village instead. Gave me a chance to buy her something to take for this afternoon’s school picnic as well…Another “getting ready for the holiday” kind of day. Popped out to buy a wedding present for Ewa who’s getting married while we are on holiday. Went for a swim in the afternoon — there’s no way I’m going into this duathalon thing as unprepared as that 10km run. Managed 1km, though it was a struggle… Actually, the first eight laps were the worst — once my arms realised that I wasn’t going to stop, they sort of fell into line…

Adam took Dougall to see some comedy at Jackson’s Lane this evening. I got Lyra to bed, settled the other three kids in front of a dvd, then went downstairs to drink whisky with Carolyn. Haven’t seen much of her this visit — it’s a different dynamic with four of them staying, than when she visits on her own…

July 21, 2010

My last day in the office before our holiday… I’m glad to be out of there, but feel bad for my team. They know there is an axe over all our heads — the only question is when it will fall. I know it won’t happen before our director comes back in mid-August, so just won’t think about it while I’m on holiday…Went for a work dinner at Cigala with Tina, Donna and a couple of suppliers. It is fast becoming one of my favourite restaurants, and didn’t disappoint this evening. When we all went for dinner last year the suppliers ended up picking up the tab, which is a public sector no-no. We said we’d get the next one, and that’s what we did. Really nice evening…

Adam and I have signed up to do the Hampstead Heath duathalon with Trish and her boyfriend Adam on 5 September. It’s a swimming/running event that involves running between the various swimming sites on the Heath, leaping into the water and knocking off a few hundred metres, leaping out and running to the next one. I must be mad…

July 20, 2010

Happy birthday, Wendy!
We called, but she was out getting her hair done, so chatted with Greg instead. My haircut caused quite a sensation at work today — my colleague Sue called me a ‘windswept sex bomb’ — result!As Adam was out for the evening, I made myself a nice salad with all the veg that Nova keeps bringing home from the school allotment — rocket, potatoes, beans and tomatoes. Followed that healthy option with a scope of the great blueberry ice cream I made the other day. Ground coriander was a unexpected (and delicious ingredient). To quote the recipe, “don’t worry about adding coriander to your ice cream — coriander has a particular affinity for blueberries”. I didn’t and it does…

July 19, 2010

Lyra’s “first day” of school! Called “stepping up” day, it’s the day every child in the school spends an hour in their next year’s classroom with their future teacher.Lyra was very excited, a woke up a couple of times wondering if it was time to go to school yet — “It’s still dark, honey,” I’d tell her and tuck her in again. What with Adam getting up and vomiting twice as well, it made for a pretty miserable night’s rest.

The anticipated moment finally arrived… Standing in line waiting for the doors to open, I got chatting to a man with an adorable little tousle-headed boy. “This is Charlie,” said his dad, “and what’s your name?” “Lyra!” said Lyra, “and I hate little boys!” sticking out her tongue to reinforce her point. Charming… The dad was stiff with me for the rest of the session, and will probably hold it against us for the next seven school years.

Lyra went through the various nursery activities — painting, water play, sand play, farm animals, toy kitchen, playground equipment — like a dose of salts. It was over before we knew it. There seem to be a nice bunch of kids and parents. Lots more parents who are new to the school than there were in Nova’s class. When she started only three kids who didn’t have older siblings in the school, and several of the families had just returned from holidaying together in Majorca, so the kids were already matey with each other. Even worse, she was the only only child in the class. It was confusing and upsetting for her when they started drawing pictures of their family…

July 18, 2010

A “getting ready for Spain” day — it’s only a week until we’re off… exciting! Adam returned Elsie to her parents after breakfast, then took the girls to church while I tackled the lists. Made a start on the packing, and knocked off a number of tasks like checking passports, paying bills that will come due while we’re away etc.Dinner was chickpea pasta soup, always a family favourite even in the summer sunshine. Adam’s not feeling very well… He suspects he picked up food poisoning from either the picnic or barbeque. He felt progressively worse as the evening went on, and was in bed with a basin by 9pm. Poor guy…

July 17, 2010

Spent the morning putting together a little scrapbook for Joshi on behalf of the class, as his family is moving to Heidelberg next month. Berndt and Mitsuko had arranged a farewell picnic for all their friends in Highgate Woods, which seemed a good time to give it to them. I’d asked everyone for photos from the five years Joshi has been at the school, and had the class teacher arrange for all the children to write him farewell messages, which I stuck into a little notebook.The weather looked iffy as we were setting out, but brightened over the afternoon. Nova wasn’t feeling very sociable — it was mostly the boys from her class and their parents who’d showed up, but she didn’t bother with the few girls either. Lyra was keen as ever to get stuck in. She raced off straightaway to join a group of little girls, mostly Japanese friends of Nana’s.

I presented the scrapbook to Berndt and Mitsuko, who were very touched. It did look pretty good, if I do say so myself. I hadn’t intended to drink this afternoon, but Mitsuko and Berndt were handing out cava when we arrived, then kept plying me with wine. What can you do…?

Headed home with the girls about 5pm. Adam had left an hour earlier to get his new computer sorted out. I thought he’d be back by 6pm, but it had gone 8pm by the time he returned. I’d fed the girls, and given their bedroom and the livingroom enough of a tidy before the babysitter arrived.

Tonight’s babystitter is Elsie, who only six months ago was having sleepovers with Nova. She is almost 13, and a very sensible girl. And we’re less than ten minutes away if we need to hurry back for any reason…

My new hair was a big hit at the class barbeque this evening. Wendy (the hostess) had called me in a panic at 8pm, worrying whether anyone would come, but there was a good turnout. Nice food too… Stuck to the G&Ts all evening. Home about midnight. Sounds like Elsie did a good job of her first ever babysitting assignment. Settled her on an inflatable mattress in the girls’ room and went straight to bed.

July 16, 2010

Felt like I spent my day traisping up and down the Archway Road. My first trip was to Christine’s going away playdate for Mitsuko. The idea was for Alice, Lyra and Nana to have a little play together, but it didn’t really work out. Lyra and Alice are such fast friends, and Nana has always been clingy. She basically clung to her mum while Lyra and Alice caroused about.Headed home for lunch, then back to the Archway Road again for Lyra’s final ballet class. It was watch week, where all the parents stay and watch what their kids have been doing these last weeks. Faffing about apparently, in Lyra’s case. I think her intentions are good, but she’s missed a lot of the classes with her broken leg, and didn’t really get what they were supposed to be doing half the time. She’s also easily distracted, and wants a piece of any naughty behaviour that kicks off…

Back to the Archway Road in the afternoon to catch the tube. Had an appointment in the Angel to get my hair cut by my friend Becky. It occurs to me that I’ve never had my hair cut by someone who knows me before. I think it brings something to the cut you end up with — Becky knows the kind of person I am, what I do, how I dress etc, and took all that into account. She’s also extremely good at cutting hair.

Started by having a half head of highlights put in by their colourist. When Becky checked them, she wasn’t satisfied with how they turned out, and had the colourist back to do them again. That wouldn’t ordinarily happen either… Spent over three hours there in the end, but left looking — and feeling — a million bucks.

Becky and I split a taxi back to Highgate together. By new hair was a big hit with the family. Lyra thrilled to see me with a headful of curls like her, Nova thought I looked great, and Adam happy with it as well. My main instruction was never to comb my hair again (I think I can manage that). I also have a few “products ” to keep the curls nice and separate — curl cream, protein spray, and strong wax. Less sure I can manage all that… I should have taken a picture of it in all my salon glory, but I am “the morning after”:

Sardine spaghetti for dinner before watching “Burn After Reading” — great film…

July 15, 2010

Happy birthday, Landyn — 30 years old, wow!
Nova’s sports day this morning. Miserable weather for it — just about raining the whole time and windy too. I’d half expected it to be cancelled. The first half of the morning was devoted to activities like timed skipping and ball tossing. The kids were organised into groups of thirty or so, and every twenty minutes they’d change activities. Not much fun to watch — most of the time your child was standing in line, waiting for their go at throwing a foam javelin or whatever.Had a good talk to Hugh, and arranged to have my hair cut by one of the mums in Nova’s class tomorrow, so it wasn’t a complete waste of time. Once the races started it was much better. Nova was only in one — the egg and spoon — apparently she’s “not fast enough” for the proper races. Don’t know whether someone told her that or if that’s her own conclusion…

Adam, Lyra and I headed to Lauderdale house at 5pm to pick up Nova from her final art class and view the little exhibition they always have. Ate dinner in Pizza Express afterward. To my surprise, both girls were really good and ate up nicely. The only hitch was Nova feeling sick part way through the meal — for some reason, she always seems to feel sick in restaurants — no idea what that’s about…

July 14, 2010

There’s been a slight change of plans on the restructuring front… My manager had be planning to give me the heads up on how she’s planning to restructure our team before going off for a month’s holiday and leaving me to announce it and deal with the fallout. Given that fact my job is almost certain to be at risk, and that I haven’t had anything to do with planning the restructure, I’d told her I didn’t feel comfortable with that. She didn’t give much weight to my concerns, but after my discussion with the union rep yesterday she seems to have changed her mind…So it was kind of an anticlimactic day at work… Nova’s doing her grade one piano exam this afternoon, and I had originally planned to take her, but needed to be in the office for this restructuring meeting that then didn’t happen… Talked to Adam and Nova on the phone afterwards, and it sounds like it went pretty well.

Dinner out with my old line manager Lou, Tina and a couple of other work colleagues. Spent a certain amount of time hashing over the current office situation, but eventually moved on to more enjoyable topics…

July 13, 2010

Feeling very demotivated at work again… It’s hard to see the point of anything, when I know there’s a done-deal of a “consultation” about restructuring us waiting in the wings. I pretty sure I’ll be making some of my team redundant in the months ahead, the question is whether I’ll be doing it will being made redundant myself…

July 12, 2010

Took the day off work. I’m feeling absolutely drained — no energy at all…
I’m cross with myself for pushing it so hard yesterday, but I would have been cross if I didn’t run it too. Actually, I think I most cross about allowing myself to get so out of shape… 

Met my course colleague Joyce for a drink/dinner at the Old Dairy in Crouch End. Not a late one — she is a Baptist minister after all, and I needed an early night…

July 11, 2010

Today’s the day of the London 10km run. I really shouldn’t really be doing it, as I haven’t trained. I was intending to do it with my friend Jenny, but she cancelled yesterday, and by then I felt committed to see it through…Left the house about 7:45am, and took the tube into the West End. There were a few other runners getting on at Highgate, and a big crowd of us by the time we got to Charing Cross. Checked my bag, braved the queue for the loos, and headed to the starting point. With 25,000 runners, I was still a long way away back when I was brought to a halt by the thousands in front of me. Took a good half hour after the gun went before I crossed the starting line.

I started gently, but I just don’t have the conditioning for a 10km. I was fine for the first 5km, but I struggled the rest of the way. I made a decision to walk if my heart rate got over 160bpm. This meant walking a big chunk between 7 and 8 km, then again for most of Westminster Bridge, and another stretch up Victoria St.

It was about 30°, which didn’t help, nor did the fact that they’d run out of water at the first three water stops. I did start in the last twenty percent, and I guess the runners ahead of us had grabbed it all, but the organisers should plan accordingly. We were reduced to scrabbling in the gutter for discarded half full water bottles…

I was glad when it was all over… Limped back to the drop off area (my knee had started to twinge), picked up my goodie bag and pack, and caught the tube home. My heart rate remained high for a good half hour afterwards, and my energy was low for the rest of the day.

Watched the World Cup final with the McGhees. It wasn’t a very good match — there was only one goal, the Dutch played like thugs, and I’m not a big fan of Spain, so it was hard to muster much enthusiam…

“Are poos and wees best friends?” Lyra asked when I took her to the loo before bed. Followed by, “Where do my wees and poos go when I flush the toilet? Will we ever see them again?”

July 10, 2010

Another scorcher — it was definitely in the 30s by lunchtime… It was actually too hot to spend much time outdoors…Adam is taking the girls on school campout this evening. We set up our old tent in the back garden to give it an airing, and helped them pack. At 5pm I drove them up to the school with their gear. Lyra seems the most excited of the three.

I ended up joining Dougall and his kids for dinner. They were barbequing sausages on our barbie, and I contributed some Salvadoran cabbage-carrot salad I’d made earlier today.

July 9, 2010

What a hot day… the car thermostat said 34° when I started it at noon. I had an appointment with the dental hygenist in Crouch End that ended up conflicting with Adam’s work call. I arranged to drop Lyra round Alice’s for a couple of hours. Plan A was that Christine would take the girls to ballet and I’d meet her there, but Alice was feeling under the weather, so that didn’t work out.That dental hygenist gave me a hell of a tooth scraping. Apparently I’m not brushing the back of my bottom front teeth properly. She had a high-tech hydroponic scouring device she employed with excruciating effect — what an unpleasant way to spend 45 minutes (and £45)…

Nova was off for a birthday sleepover at Etta’s and Carolyn is in Belfast for a couple of days visiting relatives. Invited Dougall and his two kids up for dinner — not so unmanageable as all eight of us sitting down for a meal.

Lyra is enchanted with 8-year-old Sasha who plays very nicely with her. After dinner we watch Howl’s Moving Castle — all except Adam who was asleep within 5 minutes… That’s the second time he’s slept through pretty much the whole film…

July 8, 2010

Out for dinner and a film with Jane this evening — Yo Sushi and Greenberg with Ben Stiller. Interesting to see him doing something other than his “Meet the Fockers” schtick.Carolyn has been busy in the garden since arriving. She’s cut off most of the choisia, a swathe of cotoneaster and a number of things in the herb garden. She’s a marvellous gardener, and I’m sure it will be the better for it, but it always gives me a sinking feeling when she does it. I don’t think I’m ruthless enough to ever be a good gardener…

July 7, 2010

Got the word today that there will be some restructuring of our team… I knew it was coming, so it’s not a shock. They’ve certainly taken their time sharing the news with us… In fact, it will be another week before we hear any of the details, but I have a pretty good idea of what’s coming…Sarah Butterworth’s hen night… We met at the Trafalgar Hotel, where we’d intended to drink on the roof terrace. It had been booked for a private party, so we drank in the main bar instead. Just as well — it was a damp and gloomy evening anyway…

Knocked off four or five bottles of champagne between ten of us, then headed up to Kettners for dinner. They’ve changed the menu since I’ve last eaten there — pretty sure I always used to order a pizza. Had a hamburger this time — good but too large… More wine, which meant I was pretty drunk by the time I rolled in at 1am…

July 6, 2010

Got a start on Nova’s thank you cards this morning before school. She drew a fabulous picture of a sorceress, which I scanned and printed into little cards:

Said our goodbyes to Greg and Wendy, who fly back to Canada today. With all that excitement before work, I didn’t have time to pack my lunch (or even eat breakfast…) Picked up a punnet strawberries from fruit guy at the station, and for lunch I bought an Indian coleslaw from a lunch place that has recently opened nearby. It was basically coleslaw with a curried-mayonnaise dressing and Bombay mix stirred through. I can see how it might work, but you’d have to eat it straightaway — my Bombay mix had lost its crunch…

Just time to grab a quick sandwich when I got home before it was time for Nova’s piano concert at the school. Two and a quarter hours of listening to other people’s children perform. Quite enjoyable actually — some of them are very good, and know a number of the kids by now.

Nova played her piece flawlessly and with a lot of sensitivity. There was a little buffet afterwards and a glass of wine. Home about 9:45 — spent a bit of time before bed getting the flat ready for the McGhee’s arrival tomorrow…

July 5, 2010

Late getting into work today, as we all slept in… I feel like I need a weekend after our crazy busy weekend. The tube didn’t help matters. A fire on the District Line has left the whole system in a state, and it was past 10am by the time I got in…Cooked a Thai yellow curry for Greg and Wendy’s last evening, and drank a few bottles of white wine as well. Ate it in front of an episode of Wallander, which suited everyone’s energy levels. Lemon ice cream and blueberries for dessert…

July 4, 2010

Happy birthday, Nova — my sweetie is 9 years old today!
Followed the family pattern of presents before breakfast — books, the Anne of Avonlea DVD, a lovely blouse and orange spotted skirt from Margo, money from Grandpa Ed and Greg and Wendy, and the iPod. She seems very happy with it, especially the little video camera. She even let Lyra do most of the unwrapping, which was generous of her.In the afternoon, Nova had tea with four of her friends at High Tea in the village. Adam took her up and arranged things with the waitress, then we left them to it. I returned an hour later to settle the bill. They seemed to be having a nice, high spirited time among the debris of pink lemonade and chocolate cake. Though Nova composed a little ditty about it later:

Here we are at High Tea,
We need a referee,
‘Cos Evelyn hates Mia,
And Fay hates all three!

Went straight from the tea shop to Nova’s ballet show. I did her ballet bun (although one of the high-strung ballet mums that come out in force to help at these events will undoubtedly redo it).

Adam, Lyra, Greg and Wendy arrived in time to join the scrum for seats — second row this year — not too bad… Nova’s number — kind of a Morris dancing thing — was just before half time. with Lyra’s deteriorating behaviour it made sense to make our exit…

Simple supper of spaghetti al limone and fairy cakes. What a weekend…We decided to bring it to a formal close when Adam dozed off in front of the 10 o’clock news and spilled his cup of tea down my back…

July 3, 2010

Happy birthday, David!
What a full-on day… It was the school fair, which meant having the other class reps round after breakfast to assemble our hamper for the auction. Adam headed off with everybody to set up our “Beat the Goalie” stall, while I stayed home with Lyra and played in the paddling pool. (Nova and Fay arranged to go round together on their own.)Adam returned for lunch, and Lyra and I headed up after eating. Spent the afternoon there. Nova’s pretty much independent now — she occasionally sought me out when she wanted more money, but otherwise I barely saw her. Lyra hooked up with her friend Alice, and I mostly just trailed along behind in their wake, shelling out tickets for bouncy castle sessions, or plastic duck fishing challenges.

Home at 4pm, which allowed a me to have a brief rest before I had to take Lyra down to her ballet recital. Yanked her into her leotard and tutu, wrestled her unruly hair into a ballet bun, and headed down to Jackson’s Lane. Miss Julie whisked them straight off for a rehearsal, but there wasn’t quite enough time to return home. Anyway and didn’t really like the idea of leaving a three-year-old on her own with a bunch of strangers. Sat with Christine and a couple of other mums drinking Coronas. At one point, Miss Julie stuck her head out of the stage door and said shrilly, “Don’t worry, mums! Everything is fine — it’s all under control!!!” Well, that’s a relief we agreed, clinking our bottles of beer…

Lyra’s group were the second to perform. They fluttered on stage wearing butterfly wings and little antennae, looking remarkably cute. There was a certain amount of disarray and wandering about on stage, but audience loved it. Miss Julie has her drawbacks, but she does put an awful lot of effort into things like this.

Collected Lyra at half time interval and headed home. It was after 9pm by the time we got her into bed. Made dinner for Adam and I, Nova opted to join us as well. Composed a little poem to mark the occasion:

Now I’m nearly nine
I stay up late and dine,
On steak and beans and wine,
My sister, who’s a swine,
Is in her room — and mine
Which I think is just fine,
Now I’m nearly nine

Once, Nova was down I did the wrapping, finished my birthday card to her — an Anne of Green Gables theme this year, and headed off to bed myself…

July 2, 2010

Another broken night with Lyra, which meant we were all late waking up… It was one of Nova’s early starts, but she’s taking more charge of things herself these days, and sometimes gets her own breakfast, and does her own hair and teeth without being asked. She generally walks to school on Fridays with Fay as well.Lyra was grizzly all morning. It wasn’t easy to get things done, which was a bit frustrating, as we had Juliet and Hugh coming round for dinner this evening. I wanted the house to look somewhat less of a state, and needed to do some food prep as well.

I’d planned a relatively easy menu — cha ca sole, coconut rice and a mange tout salad, with strawberries and lemon ice cream for dessert. And one of those meals were most of the work is done up front, leaving you able to enjoy your guests. They exclaimed over the food — she is a great actress, and certainly had me convinced she thought it was delicious. The empty plate was a bit of a giveaway as well. And in spite of saying they would have to leave early, they stayed on until well past midnight. Really enjoyable evening…

July 1, 2010

Up and down with poor Lyra all night… In the morning she still had a temperature, though it was controllable with Nurofen. She was desperate not to miss our shopping trip, and convinced herself she was feeling fine.I arranged with Ewa to get to Brent Cross ahead of Lyra, which gave me time to pick up Nova’s birthday present (an electric blue ipod nano), and to do a recce of where we would buy the promised items: crocs, leggings, and a pencil case.

The handover was smooth, and the shopping was good fun. Aside from the agreed purchases, we also bought another pair of shoes, a couple of teeshirts and a sweet little dress.

Had a late lunch of leftover rice, and no appetite for dinner in this hot weather… Adam went next door for a catch-up 90th birthday drink with John. I was not surprised that he ended up staying for hours. I was just heading downstairs to bed when he came half cut.

When I opened the bedroom door, a little frog sprang half way across the floor, scaring the life out of me! I imagine the cat must have brought it in, but she can’t have hurt it, but it was certainly able to hop vigorously around the bedroom. I caught it once only to have it leap from my hands. Eventually Adam managed to nab the poor little guy and transfer it outside to the parade ground…