July 2019

July 31, 2019

Despite the dubious weather, I was planning to go for a run, but I made the mistake of taking a quick look at my email while I had my coffee. Five hours later, I was still sitting there in my pyjamas wrestling with the Junxion home page.There’s a bit of functionality that they’d like to add to the page, but I can’t find anything in their theme to do it out of the box. I built something similar for my engineering client last year, but my effort to repurpose it for the Junxion site were a complete fail.

Packed it in about 4:30 — plenty of work for one day. I was so focused all day that I hadn’t thought about eating. Lyra was off at Portobello Market with her friend Lucy, so I didn’t have her prompting me and Adam is just as bad as I am.

She’s sleeping at Ellie’s tonight, and headed off about 6pm. Once Adam finished, we went for dinner at Del Parc. The car is getting its annual service today, so we caught an Uber down then walked/bussed back.

An excellent meal: bottle of Austral rioja and a series of tapas (bocconcini, Gordal olives marinated with orange and fennel, padron peppers, some charcuterie, spinach salad with golden raisins and pine nuts, chicken cooked with yogurt and pomegranate, grilled prawns in garlic, and a slice of cheesecake to finish).

July 30, 2019

Weather looked okay this morning and I thought maybe we were bucking the forecast, but about 10am the rain started and it was pretty miserable from then on.Put in a solid day on the new Junxion home page. This time I built it with Cornerstone, a front-end platform that comes with their theme. It took a while to get used to it, but once I did I liked it better than the editing tool I used yesterday.

Made fettuccine al burro for dinner with oven-baked nespole for dessert. Jane brought them from her garden when she visited on the weekend. I haven’t cooked nespole before, but found a recipe in the River Café cookbook where you halve them, sprinkle them with sugar, lemon juice and brandy and bake them in a low oven. Very nice…

July 29, 2019

My ankle was feeling hinky from all the Just Dance yesterday. Had to keep a close watch on it throughout my 3.5 mile run this morning. I probably should have strapped it, but managed the workout without doing it any further harm.Spent a good chunk of the day working on the Junxion home page. It’s built in WordPress, so familiar enough. The theme, plug-ins and development platform were all new to me, and it took a while to make much progress.

Broke off in the afternoon to take Lyra for a manicure in the village. We both went for white polish — hers are glowing white, mine are more pearly.

Dinner round Pete and Pasc’s this evening. Lyra ate upstairs in front of the telly, while we sat outside round their little garden table. Thai yellow seafood curry, which I taught Pete to make more than a decade ago, and they’ve served up nearly every time we’ve eaten there since.

Home about 11pm and straight to bed…

July 28, 2019

Took it pretty easy today… Lyra and I made muffins for breakfast, then spent an hour doing “Just Dance” routines while Adam was at his mums hauling stuff from the loft to the tip.Jane came round in the afternoon for a visit. Sat in the living room chatting and eating tea, toast and marmalade. After she left, I lay down “for a few minutes”, and woke again after two hours…

Leftovers for dinner eaten in front of a Netflix original film called Secret Obsession that Lyra was keen to watch. I quite enjoy a “made for TV” movie now and again, and this was entertaining while it lasted.

July 27, 2019

And just like that, normal summer service is resumed. Woke to the clatter of rain against the windows and a murky grey light seeping through the blinds. It was too wet to consider running, so I headed upstairs with my novel (A Brief History of Seven Killings) and cup of coffee and read for an hour.Adam ran Lyra and Oliver up to Beulah’s house to help her with some housework. Ollie was clearing boxes from the loft while Lyra continued her book dusting work that was suspended while the stomachache ran its course.

The rain finally let up around 11am. I laced up my shoes and set off to do a four mile run to Finsbury Park and back along the Parkland Walk. I overdressed slightly — it felt cool when I set off, but was actually pretty humid and I was slick with sweat by the time I finished.

Adam was back from his mum’s when I got back. Had a sandwich for lunch, then spent an hour cleaning the hoover, which had packed it in on Monday. The combination of all the plaster dust in the filters and the extreme heat proved too much for it.

Dinner round Kiran and Birgit’s tonight with Rob and Karen. Lovely food — peach and burrata salad with toasted hazelnuts, roast leg of lamb stuffed with apricots on pilau rice, and a cherry tart. The wine was excellent and flowed freely. By the time we left at 1am we’d had: champagne, a reisling, barolo, chateauneuf du pape, South African dessert wine and a whisky… Yikes…:-0

July 26, 2019

A little cooler today, which makes it easier to work. You’ll never catch me complaining about the heat — we get far too little of it on this rain-swept rock in the north Atlantic…Lyra’s feeling a bit better, which is encouraging, but still not well. We had a visit arranged with her old friend Lottie, who moved to Norway back in Year 1 when her parents split up . It’s been in the diary for ages, and I’d have felt bad cancelling.

They aren’t really friends anymore — too much time has gone by and they’ve only seen each other a handful of times since they were five — but Lottie’s dad is keen for her to catch up with old classmates when she visits him.

He collected Lyra at 1pm and dropped them at the cinema to see Toy Story 4. I had my pitch meeting, which went pretty well, then headed off to collect at 3pm. Grabbed some lunch at Wagamama before heading home. They immediately disappeared into Lyra’s room and I didn’t see them again until Rick turned up to collect at 6pm.

Another phone meeting — with Vancouver colleagues this time to discuss me updating the Junxion website homepage design. I didn’t have access to the backend of the site until just before the meeting, so I spent a couple of hours familiarising myself with their theme and plug-ins afterwards. It’s a bit old and clunky to work with, but I imagine I’ll get the hang of it…

Adam ordered some Indian food for dinner from that place in East Finchley, which we ate in front of an episode of Ray Donovan before heading to bed at 10:30…

July 25, 2019

Another sweltering night… It was 27°C at 6am when I got up and forecast to rise to 38°C by this evening.Did my stretching exercises before it got any hotter. Adam and I were planning to go for a swim at Park Road but he stayed up most of the night writing a blog post so that didn’t happen.

Lyra is still suffering from stomachache. I made her breakfast and she was just heading off to her grandmother’s when it worsened again. She called to cancel and climbed back in bed with an ice pack.

Eating seems to make it worse, which makes me wonder if a particular food might be causing the problem — lactose intolerance perhaps? I’ll cut the dairy out of her next few meals and see if that helps. Have also got her to start keeping a stomach ache diary.

Spent most of my working day prepping for a website pitch meeting I’m doing tomorrow. I was planning to attend their office and make a presentation, but late afternoon it was changed to a conference call, so that makes things easier.

Nobody felt like dinner — it’s too hot to eat. Finished watching Big Little Lies (good ending) before taking a cold shower and heading to bed.

July 24, 2019

Lyra woke me at 4am… She’s had a nagging stomachache for the past two days and what with that and the oppressive heat, she was finding it impossible to sleep.I settled her in the flat (the coolest room in the house) with a sheet instead of a duvet, and got her an ice pack for her stomach. We did fifteen minutes of controlled breathing to calm her and then I headed back to my bed.

I suspect it might be to do with puberty and the onset of her periods, but she’s always had issues with stomach pain, so it might be connected to that as well. Many children experience migraines in their stomach, and she is prone to migraines.

Didn’t manage to get enough sleep in the end, but still went for a three-mile run in the Woods. I wanted to go swimming with Adam, but he was racing the clock to prepare for a workshop and didn’t have time.

When I got back, I helped him right a heap of post-it notes he needed to prepare, which sped up the process.

Blocked together my Future of Insurance video from the storyboard that Kate prepared. I’m not happy with it by a long shot — too static and too many words, but it’s a start.

Lyra was invited to the cinema with Arthur, Walter and Saya — saw the new Lion King, which she said was very good.

Adam was out in the evening and Lyra not hungry. She had a bowl of cereal for dinner and I had some leftover chicken curry. Watched an episode of Big Little Lies before heading to bed at 10:30…

July 23, 2019

Happy 50th birthday, Denise! Lyra headed off bright and early for a morning’s work with Beulah dusting books. She was nervous about taking an unfamiliar bus route, but it all went fine.I waited until she had arrived safely before setting off for a two-mile run in the Woods. It was already stinking hot by 9am, and I returned very sweaty. Lyra got back at 1:30pm, £15 richer and another day’s work dusting books lined up for tomorrow.

Stuck her twice treated teeshirt in the laundry and it is practically white again — very satisfying. Spent the rest of the morning getting on top of house paperwork, and didn’t get down to client work until the afternoon.

Made another marketing video — this one a little promo for their conference in October. I’m quite enjoying the video work, though it would be great if I had better visual assets to use. Their photos are pretty mediocre…

Grilled a couple of steaks, chopped up a big romaine lettuce and made a batch of blue cheese dressing for dinner. Instead of red wine, we had a glass of Ricard. It’s hot enough in London that we could be in the south of France…

Went to the cinema with Jane this evening to see Midsommar. Pretty gruesome in places, and unintentionally funny in others, but entertaining overall. Dampens my enthusiam for a Scandinavian holiday somewhat, combined with the impression we’re getting of Bornholm from Pelle the Conquerer…😉

July 22, 2019

Monday marks the first official day of the holiday. To Lyra’s dismay, I’ve made an spreadsheet that captures all the things her school wants her to do over the summer break.Lyra insists that lots of kids won’t do it, but that’s a variant of the “would you jump off a cliff if all your friends did” line of argument in my book. Updated her art portfolio and read some of Wuthering Heights for today’s efforts. We’ll see how much she engages with it… not holding my breath…

Adam had an interview to be a trustee of Heart of the City this morning. I drove him to Archway so he’d be on time. Received a call from the UNEP client just as we were setting off. They have some emergency website updating — they are launching the updated Principles tomorrow and their new web person called in sick.

Unfortunately we’ve been paid for six hours of comms support we haven’t yet provided, so it’s not new money. Still, it’s no bad thing to come through for them in a pinch so they’ll think of us in future.

The work was more complex than the client suggested on the phone. It involved 19 pages of fiddly amends and took me over four hours.

When I finished mid-afternoon, I needed to shift gears to cooking dinner, as we’re having Beulah round. I had gazpacho in the fridge, and made a couple of salads and some albondigas to go with. Also baked bread rolls — Beulah gave us this curious fabric bread holder a while ago and I wanted to put it to use.

Adam headed off to collect her when he got back from work, and we sat down to eat about 7:30. It’s been a hot day so eating a bit later worked well. Beulah brought some leftover apricot frangipane tart for dessert, after which we played blackjack with poker chips until it was time for Adam to run her home.

I tidied up and went straight to bed. I’m trying to prioritise getting a good night’s sleep. Lyra’s white teeshirt is looking so much better that I’ve decided to repeat the treatment overnight.

July 21, 2019

Went for a three-mile run in the Woods this morning while Adam was off playing football. I was only going to do two as I’ve been a bit lax lately, but when I found I had plenty left in my legs and decided to do another loop.When Lyra was at Sissy’s yesterday she managed to get dog poop on her clothes. Donna put them straight in the wash and accidently dyed her favourite white teeshirt bright blue. She felt bad about it, and has given Lyra a £15 gift voucher from Brandy Melville to buy something new.

We headed over to Hampstead after lunch, where she spent the coupon and all her pocket money on a new skirt and a couple of teeshirts. I bought her a little something as well. Stopped for coffee (a turmeric latte in my case) before catching the 210 back home, Lyra in fine spirits from having that shopping itch scratched…;-)

I also bought a product to remove colour run, and am soaking the teeshirt in it overnight. It’s a pretty enough shade of blue, but it would be good to restore as much whiteness as I can.

Made a Burmese chicken curry for dinner and watched the first third of Pelle the Conqueror, which is set on Bornholm, where we are holidaying next month. Terrific film and beautifully shot, though the local population (at least the fictionalised 1850s version) are hardly selling the place…

July 20, 2019

Happy birthday, Wendy! We all lolled about in bed a bit this morning, just because we can. Plus it was too rainy to be tempted to go for a run, which was fine by me…Made a batch of blueberry muffins, and sorted out some financial stuff with Nova. She had a couple of unexpected expenses arise on her trip and needed a bit of money for that.

I’ve saved money for both girls since they were born, and now Nova is eighteen we need to figure out the best use for it. The current thinking is we’ll use it to top up her maintenance grant during her first year of uni. Though it would be great if she found a bit of paid work as well.

I could give her more, but I like the idea of her still having a lump sum of a few thousand pounds next summer, that she can spend on something more significant if she wants. If not, I can top up her maintenance grant again in her second year.

We have theatre tickets to see something at the Royal Court in Sloane Square. It’s a bit far away to leave Lyra on her own, but there’s no one around to babysit or arrange a sleepover with.

In the end, she went over to Sissy’s for dinner, and stayed until 9pm, so there wasn’t much time on her own. We caught the tube to the theatre early enough to nab a glass of rosé and a sausage roll for dinner.

The show was called The End of History and had David Morrissey in it, who’s always watchable. No intermission meant we were home before 10pm — the transit was sweet both ways.

July 19, 2019

Last day of school! It was a happy surprise to discover that Lyra didn’t need a packed lunch as school breaking up early. I drove her to the bus stop for possibly the last time ever as wel. Actually that hasn’t been the hassle I anticipated, as traffic is never a problem at that hour.After an early coffee with Bruce, we got him checked in online and dispatched to Heathrow in a taxi. Messed up my running schedule, and once again work and weather conspired against me. I wanted to finish my second video so i could send it to the client before setting out, at which point the heavens opened… Made myself a late breakfast instead…;-)

Lyra returned from school with Ellie in the early afternoon. They are Year 8 girls now — wow… They made some lunch and hung out for a bit until it was time for Ellie to go home.

After I finished four draft “what do you think” videos for the insurance client, we maintain the family tradition of going for pizza on the last day of school. Franca Manca again this year. I really rate that place — the quality of food, service and the modest prices.

Watched an episode of Big Little Lies before bed.

July 18, 2019

Two days to go… Lyra had her sports day today at an athletic centre in Willesden. We were just heading out the door to drop her at the bus stop when I noticed a string of texts on my phone.Tanja was kindly offering a lift to sports day to Lyra, Ellie and Nina, but by the time I caught up with it, everything was in a muddle. Nina’s big sister wanted a lift too, which meant there was no place for Lyra and she’d have to travel to the unfamiliar sports centre on her own.

It all worked out in the end after a flurry of miscommunications, and I was spared the 7am drive to Gospel Oak. I’d changed into my running gear, but just as I was about to head out it began pouring with rain. By the time it cleared, I’d moved into my working day…:(

Spent an hour creating a template for an internal newsletter, and another couple of hours making a video marketing advert teaser for an insurance debate in October. Reasonably satisfied with the end result, and sent a link to my client to review.

Lyra went to Millie’s launch event for the British Beauty Council’s report into the the beauty industry’s contribution to the UK economy. I had a Festival meeting, and Adam decided to attend an ethical fashion event. So everyone was out for the evening pursuing our separate things.

Watched an episode of Big Little Lies before bed. Can’t make up my mind about that show. Heavy hitting cast (Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Meryl Streep), beautifully shot, well enough written, somewhat suspenseful but something about it just gets up my nose…

July 17, 2019

Only three more days of 6:15am wake-ups, early breakfasts, packed lunches and trips down the hill. Bring it on, I say…Headed up to St Michael’s at drop-off to meet Jess. We went for a long walk on Heath then back to hers for coffee. Home by 10:30am and down to work. I need to do some video marketing, and want to investigate the right tools for that. I’m trying out a couple of things — Videoshop and something called Typito (an online-based video editor).

It’s the final day of the bathroom work. Cedric finished the last touches about 5pm. It looks really smart — at least until I rehang that rubber ducky shower curtain that Carolyn bestowed upon us during her last visit.

Adam was playing football this evening in Colney Hatch. Got him to drop me at the supermarket, which is just across the North Circular, then collect me when he was done. The timing worked out about right.

Made a smoked salmon pasta dish when we got home. We were going to watch an episode of Catch 22, but Adam made “a quick call” to his mum, and by the time that was finished it was bedtime…

July 16, 2019

Dispatched Lyra as per usual then went for a run in the Woods for the first time in a week. Just two miles (as time was limited) but want to build it back into my morning routine, now my stint as a painter/decorator is behind me.
The guys are moving into the decorating phase at last. Only one day behind schedule, due to the decision to hide the pipe work. That was the right call — it looks so much better for it.

The council came by in the afternoon for a buiky waste collection — the white wall unit and desk from Lyra’s room. What with the bikes gone, it’s feeling pretty streamlined round here.

Finally sorted out the credit card payments on Basil’s art school website and did some video research for a series of video conference teasers I’m making. I’ve been invited to pitch on web work for the same company. I have some reservations, but Adam convinced me to go ahead. So now I’ve got a pitch meeting hanging over my head…

Bruce arrived in the afternoon to stay with us for a few days. He treated us to dinner at Carob Tree — kebabs and a nice bottle of rioja. He’s currently writing a musical about a legal case known as “the snail in the bottle” that set an important precedent around corporate liability.

He’s collaborating with a Langara College student who is setting his lyrics to music and played us the first two songs when we got back. I love the enthusiasm he brings to his creative projects.

To bed about 11pm. I’m reading a delightful book called The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim — one of Pasc’s.

July 15, 2019

Monday, Monday… I need to get back to my proper work again — I did next to nothing all last week and have a couple of deadlines looming…
We’ve decided to stop storing bicycles we never use, and found a charity that restores old bikes and gives them to refugees. Rather than mess up our car transporting the dirty, oily things, we decided we’d ride them to their premises in Stroud Green.

It was so exhilarating to be riding a bike for the first couple of minutes that I wondered why we were getting rid of them. Then my front wheel popped off when I was lifting it over a curb.

It has a quick release system that allows that to happen, but I didn’t feel confident it wouldn’t happen again unexpectedly, which dampened my enthusiasm.

By the time we’d done a bone rattling mile on the Parkland Walk and a stretch of busy London road, I was more than happy to see the last of my bike.

Walked to a 210 bus stop to make our way home. I got off at Archway and walked down to Chris Stevens to pick up a new towel rail, ceiling paint and a fresh roller.

Made lentil galettes for dinner — an Ottolenghi recipe I’ve been wanting to try. They were nice enough, but nothing to get excited about…

July 14, 2019

Adam stumbled in from the after-party at 6am… rather him than me… I slipped out of bed at 9am and left him to snore it off.
Finished reading Last Friends, the third book in the Old Filth trilogy. I wasn’t crazy about it, and won’t go out of my way to read the second. I’ve never liked Jane Gardam’s writing as much as others do. I find her mannered and annoying, like those other English women authors I’ve never got on with — Iris Murdoch, Doris Lessing, Margaret Drabble et al.

Put in a couple more hours on the garage project. I’m really pleased with where we are at — I think it’s the most organised it has ever been.

Lyra’s friend Iris came round to hang out for the afternoon. They hit on the idea of highlighting Lyra’s hair, and headed off to Muswell Hill for supplies. I left them to get on with it, and have to say they did a pretty good job.

Made a BLT for a late lunch, then applied myself to restoring our bedroom, which has been crammed full of everything I could move out of Lyra’s room.

Curry and rice for dinner, while we watched the first episode of George Clooney’s remake of Catch-22 — very good.

July 13, 2019

Spent all morning sorting out the garage. It is in a chaotic mess, made worse when I extracted the book case from against the wall and piled the contents all over and around Adam’s scooter.Adam went off to Homebase and returned with eight 64-litre stackable plastic boxes. For the first time ever, we had a mouse problem in the garage. They got into the food, but also chewed on clothes, papers, maps, camping equipment, and who knows what else. I’m scared to look in some of the boxes…

We worked methodically, from the bottom up, taking everything off a shelf and wiping it down, replacing missing brackets, sweeping away any evidence of mice, getting rid of some things then returning things neatly.

I didn’t think we’d use the eight storage boxes straightaway, but I was wrong about that. We easily filled them with: Nova’s papers, Lyra’s papers, art/craft supplies, programmes, old toys, big dolls, costumes, and albums/tapes.

Lyra had a crazy day today, which required a fair amount of chauffeuring around on Adam’s part: a violin lesson in the morning, Darling Society after lunch, a party at Iris’s house in Kensal Rise in the early evening…

After dropping Lyra and Lucia at the party, he headed for Finchley to collect Beulah. We taxied down to Doron’s party in Dartmouth Park, knowing that we weren’t going to be in a fit state to drive home afterwards.

We were among the first guests to arrive. Chatted with Adam’s cousins, Antonia’s sister Penny, and various friends of Doron’s I’ve got to know over the years. Lyra and Lucia were dropped off after Iris’s party and joined the festivities until I took them home at midnight.

July 12, 2019

Today was a race against the clock to get this project finished… I’ve decided that I will paint the ceiling. I’m dreading it and extra work is the last thing I need, but it is the right decision.Made a run to Buildbase with Rob to buy the paint, as well as some bit of plumbing that he needs to attach the toilet. I then put off starting on the ceiling by actually doing some client work.

Borrowed Rob’s long roller and got him to show me the technique before he left. It was less difficult than I’d expected, though very tough on the arms. Again, the work is made harder by having to work round large pieces of furniture…

Adam got home at 5pm today to lend a hand: he moved the white unit out, helped with the second coat on the ceiling, then built the desk and chair while finished the skirting, unmasked the walls, painted the door frame, moved things into position and restored Lyra’s belongings.

We didn’t attach the bookcase to the wall as our drill isn’t really up to the task (Rob can help with that tomorrow), but we did put it in situ. The room is really looking great!

We had a dinner reservation at Providores in Marylebone High Street at 8:45pm. Haven’t eaten there for years, though it’s a place I’ve always loved. When we heard it was closing at the end of July, Adam made a booking.

Had a great meal while waiting for Lyra’s coach to arrive back from France. The place was buzzing, and as the tables cleared it became apparent that most of them were personal friends or former colleagues of the chef Peter Gordon.

He circulated from table to table, hugging people and having a chat. “No doubt, he’ll come speak to us next,” I joked. Sure enough, he did, introducing himself and asking how we’d enjoyed the meal. A prime table had opened up near the window, and he had the waiter move us there to enjoy our dessert.

After settling the bill there was still time to spare before Lyra’s return. We hung out in the the little square outside her school. All the benches were occupied by shadowy groups of parents doing the same.

It was 12:30am by the time we reclaimed her and caught a taxi home. Despite her exhaustion, she was thrilled with the room and said over and over how much she loved it…

July 11, 2019

Another day, another marathon of painting/decorating… Necked a cup of coffee then finished the rest of the sanding. I wore goggles and a face mask this time, which helped — my eyes are gritty from yesterday, and I’m still blowing pink powder out of my nose.Continued with the wall painting and made a start on the skirting boards. The biggest challege with this project is not being to clear out the furniture. I’ve moved it away from the walls, but most of it won’t fit through the door.

With the chest of drawers for example, I’m working in a narrow alley no more than hip width. It’s a challenge to wield a roller or to paint a skirting board kneeling and twisting sideways and supporting your weight on one hand. It’s physically pretty tough…

Broke off at 2pm, chucked a dress over my head and headed off ot attend Tanja’s birthday drinks. I was half way through my glass of Pimms before I remembered that I hadn’t eaten today…

P&P’s cats hadn’t eaten either… I gave them a slapup mid-afternoon feed that will see them through until tomorrow. The great furry lumps are hardly wasting away…

Adam said he’d get home early to help, but in the event he was so late we had to make a mad rush to the theatre. I’d bought tickets ages ago to see Clive Owen in The Night of the Iguana, half thinking one of us might take Nova as she’s a big Tennessee Williams fan.

I know I wasn’t in the right frame of mind for it — hungry, tired, stressed and distracted — but I didn’t think much of it. Very strange story, set in an unfamiliar era (early 50s) and place (backwoods Mexico), with unfamiliar and unsympathetic characters. Hard to muster much empathy for Owen’s defrocked paedophile bipolar alcoholic priest.

Grabbed something to eat at Five Guys before heading home again. Did some more wall painting when I got in so everything had a first coat (aside from a few inaccessible bits behind the bunk bed that I won’t be able to reach until I shift the chest of drawers back into position.

It was past midnight when I was finally done. No sign of Cleo — we called and called for her, but she wouldn’t come. Eventually realised that Adam had locked the poor thing on the balcony when we went out for the evening…

July 10, 2019

Woke up at 4am angsting about the decorating work, but managed to fall asleep again for another hour…
First order of business was to plaster over the bonding with something called Easyfiller. Rob swears by it — apparently it’s much easier to work with sand than Polyfiller.

He showed me the technique using a plastering trowel and filling knife and left me to it. Once I’d covered everything, I left it to dry and prepped for my client meeting.

Kate and I did some storyboarding for the next construction video and talked through some ideas for using video on LinkedIn to generate interest for their conference in October.

Once she left, I popped up to feed P&P’s cats, scoffed some lunch, changed into my decorating clothes and soldiered on. Some of the filler was ready to sand (a nasty, dirty, dusty job), but the big areas will need to dry overnight.

Next I masked the room to protect the ceiling and trim, and handpainted the wall with the window and radiator and rollered the wall behind the chest of drawers. (At Rob’s suggestion, I first prepped the walls for painting by coating them with a layer of diluted PVA.)

It had gone 9pm by the time I did all that, and the light was too poor to continue. Plus my back had had enough. This decorating work is surprisingly physical. Sorted out my tools, tidied up the room, cracked a beer for dinner and called it a day…

July 9, 2019

Adam is working from home today. Had to have a frank discussion with Rob about money. We thought we’d agreed on the middle price, which involved shower pipes hidden in the wall and no overhead shower.There was miscommunication somewhere, and any burying of the pipes incurs the top labour cost, regardless of whether he attaches an overhead soaker shower.

When I saw how much work was involved in cutting through the wall I understood why it costs that much more. It’s going to be much nicer to do it this way, so definitely worth it.

Rob gave me some help with my bedroom decorating work, showing me how to repair cracks in the plaster by hammering them out, then filling with gypsum bonding. I need to leave that to dry overnight, then cover it with filler and sand it down before I can paint.

Washed the rest of the walls and skirting boards, and moved the big painting to the flat (again with Rob’s assistance). It’s definitely handy having him around while I’m doing the work.

Another run to Chris Stevens in the afternoon for tile adhesive and paint. Lyra has chosen a colour called blueberry white, a lovely shade of palest blue. It should work nicely against the bluer ceiling, which I’m not planning to paint. Got a brilliant white for the woodwork and trim.

Made a Japanese tofu curry for dinner watched a bit of Wimbledon. Ladies quarter finals day — we’ve attended on that day before…

Made a trip IKEA via P&Ps to top up the cats. I saw Darwin as usual, but Sooty has gone to ground since the first morning. I’m assuming she’s fine — and they are certainly chowing through enough wet food, crunchies, treat morsels and cat milk for two.

At IKEA, we headed made a beeline for the warehouse and grabbed our desk and chair. We spent more time in the checkout queue than the store. Everyone in front of us seemed to be buying housefuls of stuff — some people had two trolleys piled high…

July 8, 2019

Drove Lyra to the bus stop with her suitcase at 7:15am. I waited with Jess until the girls boarded. Pretty sure this is the first time we’ll been alone in the house without the girls for more than one night. Not sure how I feel about that…
The downstairs bathroom remodelling project is starting this morning. Rob and Cedric arrived promptly at 8am to start work. Today involved knocking off all the old tiles, tearing out the sink and toilet, and coating the walls with a layer of bonding.

I’ve decided to redecorate Lyra’s bedroom while she’s away, akin to what we did with the flat while Nova was in Nice a few years back. I’m a bit daunted by the tight timescales and volume of work involved. It won’t be as bad as when I painted the flat as there’s only one wall colour involve (not three), but it will be serious graft to get it done.

Made tuna chowder for dinner, which we had just enough time to scoff before Doron and Antonia arrived to collect us. We all headed over to Beulah’s — for an update on the probate process we assumed.

After serving coffee and cake, she gave each boy a generous cheque, stressing that this was her money and nothing to do with the will. She’s looking to avoid inheritance tax by making a gift of some of her money while alive. So long as she lives seven more years (knock wood), it will remain tax free.

Back home, we had a talk about it, eventually deciding that it makes sense to apply it to our interest only, buy-to-let mortgage. Despite overpaying monthly, we are still in a position where we have to find £100K in the next ten years to clear it. Beulah’s gift will certainly help with that…

July 7, 2019

It’s Lyra’s last day in London before she sets off on a little European jaunt herself. There is a Year 7 trip to Normandy at her school. It was over-subscribed these year so they drew names from a hat and Lyra was chosen.
She’s been feeling a little anxious because none of her main group of friends were chosen. But in the last couple of weeks she’s made friends with a girl called Lucy who is on the trip, and is feeling better about it now.

Adam helped her knock her packing on the head while I made bran muffins for breakfast. The last few batches have been a disappointment and these were the same — they just aren’t gaining and maintaining enough height. I wonder if we have a dud batch of baking powder?

The three of us went for a walk on Heath in the afternoon. Lyra grudgingly, but once we were out she enjoyed it. Popped round to to Jess’s for a visit on the way back. They returned from their week in Italy yesterday. We sat in garden with a bottle of wine while the girls mucked about.

Didn’t bother with dinner — a snack before bed was enough. Watched the last two episodes of Madame Secretary and knocked the latest series on the head at last…

July 6, 2019

There were two very tired twelve-year-olds this morning… I made pancakes at 10:30 when they emerged, and though they still looked pretty peaky, they were sufficiently fortified to set off for the Pride parade.I wondered if there were a bit young to attend unaccompanied, and also wanted to make sure that Ava’s parents hadn’t assumed I was taking them.

I texted her dad who was completely fine by the idea. (Ava’s parents are war correspondents who co-author books on terrorism, so their perception of a dangerous activity is going to be different to most over-protective north London parents.)

Made a trip to Chris Stevens for tiles, grout, adhesive, spacers etc. so the guys can start work on the downstairs bathroom tomorrow morning. I do love hardware stores — the sheer usefulness of everything in there is such a contrast to most other shops.

We had a very tired, grumpy (“I’m not tired!”) Lyra this evening. She wasn’t hungry either apparently. Told her to make avocado toast for supper if she changed her mind. Adam and I headed down to the Landseer to have a drink and catch up with Jane — not a late one…

July 5, 2019

Nova headed off for a month of interrailing round Europe this morning. Very excited for her — what a lovely thing to do — but we’ll certainly miss having her around…
Adam drove the girls to Stansted — they are starting off by flying to Venice and then making their way back by train.

When I was helping Nova with the last minute preparations, I commented that her room seemed rather smelly. “I don’t smell anything,” she said, and it’s true that you do get so you don’t notice the smell of a place (case in point, Prince George).

After she left, I stripped the bed, put on her dirty laundry and gave it a good airing, but the smell persisted. Thinking there might be a dead mouse under the bed or something rotting in the bins, I worked my way around the room until I discovered a tupperware box in the cupboard.

I couldn’t tell what was it was, but it certainly smelled rank. I gingerly unwrapped a mass of stained paper towel to discover a mound of stinky brown gravelly-looking stuff.

I texted Nova and this exchange ensued:

A: WTF is this?
N: That was when I took Jess’ weed to Knole — it was stinking up the room so I kept it there.
A: When I said room had shit smell why not produce it? Would have saved me time.
N: Didn’t make the connection as I couldn’t smell.
A: What is all the muddy brown stuff?
N: It was in an empty hot chocolate can.
A: Are you saying that this is skunk infused hot chocolate mix? Is that why the cocoa powder went missing?
N: It was cocoa powder from the flat.
A: What is all the brown crumbly shit?
N: Granola. With cocoa powder mixed in. It was smelling so put it in the can, filled it up with granola, then put it in the Tupperware.
A: Okay…
N: Love you?

The old “it’s not my weed/cigarettes/Playboy — I’m keeping it for a friend”. That’s an original one… 😉

In the afternoon, I had a learning set in Waterloo with with Kings’ Fund group, followed by a nice Italian meal at La Barca. Lyra’s friend Ava arrived for a sleepover while I was out — Adam took them to Franca Manca for pizza, and they were just getting ready for bed when I got home…

July 4, 2019

Happy 18th birthday, Nova! Wow — we’ve managed to grow an adult…;-)
Lyra got up early finishing her history project, and I was awake by 6am. Left it until 7am to wake up Nova (as she’s free from the tyranny of the alarm clock these days) trooped upstairs to open the presents.

New camera, a cardigan, lovely pearl earrings from Margo and Aaron, two tops from Lyra and a CD from Dave — Nova made out like a bandit.

Bread and jam for breakfast — we get a steady supply of part-used jam from flat guests that then lingers for months and years unless I make a point of using it…

Nova had invited Shira and Jess round for a birthday lunch in the garden. Initially, she was adamant she wanted to do everything herself, but when it came down to it, she was keen for me to help.

I ended up doing all the food — hummus, grilled halloumi, tomato bruschetta, French potato salad — while she went to the shops for a few groceries and a bottle of Pimms, which she is now of age to buy.

I also made a batch of brownies and served them one each with candles for Nova to blow out. When Beulah came round with her gift — a beautiful pearl necklace — she and Lyra had one as well.

Family dinner at Fredericks in Islington– just the right mixture of fancy and family-friendly for such a special occasion…

July 3, 2019

Spent a good chunk of my day making this 18th birthday card for Nova:

Got so involved in it that I completely forgot my client meeting. When the doorbell rang, I assumed it was the bathroom cabinets I’d ordered being delivered. I was a bit embarrassed to see Kate standing there.

Took her out for a coffee in the village and caught up on her weekend at Glastonbury. An acquaintance of ours acquired a catering spot at Glastonbury, and enlisted a bunch of Highgate mums to help with the cooking and serving. Sounds like it was hard work but good fun as well.

Spent some time helping Nova with her packing. My main contributions were to cut out half the clothes she was planning to bring, and order a few missing bits — thongs that can double as sandals, a bum bag, something else… Amazon Prime is certainly paying for itself these days…

Finished and printed the birthday card and wrapped the presents before bed. They aren’t big or many in number, but they are very nice indeed. I think she’ll be pleased…

July 2, 2019

I should have gone running this morning, but found I was lacking motivation… I feel like I’m losing steam on everything. I think it might be a reaction to the last few crazy-busy weeks…
Laundry, housework, and paper shuffling kept me busy for much of the day. Family dinner at Ishtar in Finchley this evening — a joint birthday dinner for Doron’s 50th and Nova’s 18th.

We’ve eaten there once before with Adam’s cousins, but haven’t been back since — the food was typical Turkish fare and nice enough. Not sure why we didn’t go to the Durum as per usual, but maybe Doron felt it was too soon since Freddy’s death to have a family occasion there…

July 1, 2019

Rabbits! And just like that, it’s July…
Given it was the start of a month, and a Monday you think I’d have come off the starting block this morning with energy and purpose, but it didn’t turn out to be that kind of a day…

I had a Festival post-mortem meeting this morning at 8:45 in Café Rouge. I approved of the idea but somehow it got bogged down in detail and then sidetracked with wrong-headed notions of how it should develop next year. All of which somehow took two and a half hours..

Popped in on Helen afterwards to collect a book for Adam, and that was another half hour I’m never getting back. Made myself a fruit salad for breakfast/lunch, and planned to get down to work.

But what with phone calls and conversation with Nova, various household chores and whatnot, I never managed to get to the things I actually needed to do, aside from ordering a pair of medicine cabinets for the flat bathroom redo.

Bibimbap for dinner, then finished Killing Eve this eve…