July 2022

July 31, 2022

Adam played footie this morning. I briefly considered going for a run, but decided against as we had a tennis court booked for the afternoon.

It appears that Adam’s friend Richard who manages the Arsenal tickets has managed to mess up the rebooking and they have lost their seats. I doubt they’ll get them back – I’ve read some sob stories in that vein over the years. It can’t hurt that Richard is a high priced barrister, but wouldn’t hold my breath…

In the afternoon, Adam and the girls headed off to watch the women’s football final between the UK and Germany at Wembley. I would have quite liked to go as well, but didn’t want to expose myself to such a large crowd in the run up to our Canada trip.

Played tennis with Millie, then repaired to The Angel and watched the extra time over a (surprisingly good) non-alcoholic G&T. What a great result – 2-1 to the Lionesses. They were all very buzzed when they got back. Lyra straight to bed, having stayed up all night watching films with Olive. The three of us watched Good Fellas – I love that film.

July 30, 2022

Nova joined Adam and me on our pond swim this morning, followed by breakfast at Kalendar as per usual. Did a bit of grocery shopping and then home. I’m trying to buy the minimum amount of groceries possible in the lead up to our trip to Canada.

Lyra was working at the toy store, then met up with her friend Olive who’s sleeping over at ours tonight. I accompanied Adam on his weeklly visit to Beulah – it was good to see her. She’s doing pretty well, although she’s still too thin. She has ongoing digestive complaints, though multiple tests haven’t found anything.

Picked up more contact lenses and a few things we need, such as a big bag of cat crunchies to tide Cleo over while we’re away.

Chicken salad for dinner, with chocolate biscuits for dessert. The girls retreated to Lyra’s room to watch Harry Potter films, while we watched our Man in the High Castle upstairs. It’s an intricate plot but quite satisfying, and I’m enjoying the Vancouver settings as well.

July 29, 2022

So the neighbour to be has received planning permission for his building work. Fair enough – the extension was never the contentious part of the plan. What we object to is the massive excavation of the garden right to the edge of the property and the fact that he didn’t show it on his plans. I remain convinced that he’s manipulating the system to avoid the time and money to assess the work properly.

The party wall agreement is still being negotiated, and at least that will help specify how the walls of his sunken garden are built. His original idea was to build the walls with treated railway sleepers, but Carolyn’s surveyor didn’t think much of that. We’ll see…

Went for a three mile run before work. The weather was hot but I had quite a bit of zip in my legs and improved on Tuesday’s time by about a minute.

Mostly worked on the beauty week website and cleared a few other things that were hanging about. I like it when I tidy up those snaggy things on a Friday afternoon. Adam was out at his book group, and both the girls were busy so I had a quiet evening to myself…

July 28, 2022

Happy anniversary, David and Denise! Adam got home at 1am last night. He said he thought it was midnight but I was pretty sure it was later than that and checked the family stalker app. Turns out he’d fallen asleep on the tube and journeyed home via Mill Hill East.

Weeaded down for a swim before work. The water is a noticeably cooler 21.5°C and felt lovely and refreshing. On my second lap, I was strafed by the heron, which was pretty cool.

Bought coffee and pastries from Gail’s on the way home. The coffee situation has deteriorated around ours. We all love the Nespresso pods (which are recyclable), but Adam has switched to a local coffee company that does compostable pods (and mediocre coffee). It’s sucked all the fun out of the coffee machine for me.

I was just about to head upstairs when Cleo stalked into the bedroom and gave a terrible groan, a drawn out, deep “moohhRAAAOwww”. “What’s the matter, kitty?” I asked. She turned out her heel and headed to the bathroom, moaning all the way.

Stuck my head round the door to find a beautiful chocolate Siamese in repose under the sink like she owned the place. Bundled Cleo away, then picked up the intruder and carried her outside. She looked at me indignantly when I set her down on the forecourt.

It was a desultory sort of day – ticked off some bits and bobs that have been lurking on my to-do list, but barely billed a thing. Baked sourdough, cleared up some emails, did some overdue filing. I need the occasional day like this one.

Finished my Ian McEwan novel. I definitely enjoyed it more than Lyra did, though I never care that much about his characters. Just Adam and me for dinner. Lyra was babysitting again, and Nova was out with friends. Cheese and crudites in front of an episode of The Man in the High Castle.

July 27, 2022

Had a meeting with the two party wall surveyors first thing, which meant getting up an hour early to thoroughly clean the rooms they were going to be photographing for their report.

Carolyn’s guy arrived first – he is a terrible listener but seems a nice enough guy. He had heard nothing of the excavation plans which will require a whacking great party wall all along one side. It really pisses me off that the new neighbour can’t just be straight about his plans.

I was glad that Adam was around for the first bit, as there was a definite mansplainy “what could a woman possibly know about engineering/construction matters” vibe…

We left them on their own outside after awhile, but once they were indoors I trailed around with them. They photographed the flat, garage, and our bedroom, marking any signs of cracking or deterioration so that any impacts from the construction work can be identified.

Felt quite invasive, particularly when they took multiple photos inside our bedroom closet, or when the neighbour’s surveyor enumerated every crack, chip and signs of wear and tear into his dictaphone.

It took awhile to refocus on work after they’d finally gone. Eventually put in a few solid hours on the new edition of the beauty guide before breaking for a late lunch. Despite having a second coffee, I conked out straight after eating and slept for ninety minutes. I did get only four hours’ sleep last night…

Spag bol for dinner. Lyra is babysitting next door and Adam was out for the evening with Cara, a former UN client. Nova and I watched All That Jazz, one of my all time favourite films. To bed before 11pm…

July 26, 2022

Three-mile run in the Woods for the first time in a while. There’s just too many things I want to do with my time, and I’ve noticed that my commitment to Pond swimming is definitely impacting my running schedule. I remember dad saying after he retired that he couldn’t believe that he’d ever had time for work.

I like my job a lot, and find the work interesting, challenging and creative. It’s also great that I can do it from home and on my own schedule to a large extent. I’m wondering though whether I should be trying to scale back from working full-time?

I better be careful what I wish for. Freelance is a precarious lifestyle, and I’m aware that things could change pretty quickly, which is why it’s hard to turn down new work/clients. But if I could design things exactly as I want them, I’d be working three days a week not five.

July 25, 2022

I never feel like running the day after tennis. It’s funny how it doesn’t feel like exercise at the time, but the next day my legs and sometimes my arm feel like lead . Decided to go for a swim in the Ponds instead. It was cooler today and overcast, though the water was still at 24°C.

Drying off I noticed a cluster of little bruises on my left calf, that I have no memory of acquiring. Through research, I discovered that they are likely petiechae and caused by little capillaries leaking. They can be signs of things like leukemia, but I think it’s most likely caused by the tennis – one to keep an eye on though.

Had a handover meeting about beauty websites with my counterpart Ruth who is moving on to a new job at the end of the month. I’m sorry to see her go – we’ve worked well together…

Squeezed in some client work before a learning set with my Kings Fund cohort. We schedule three hours for them, but this one finished in a little more than two.

Lyra had Ellie round for a sleepover. Ordered Indian food from Kiplings then I watched It (the remake) with them. I thought it was surprisingly good and quite similar to Stranger Things – more horror, less sci fi…

July 24, 2022

Played tennis with Millie at 8am this morning. Our best session yet, and I really enjoyed playing when it was cooler. Millie likes to have a Sunday lie in though, so we’ll probably shift later next week…

In the afternoon, Adam, Nova and I headed into town to see an immersive Klimt exhibit. Adam bought four tickets long before Lyra got her Latitude invite. We talked about inviting another couple but didn’t sort anything, and decided to keep it to the three of us and swallow the cost of Lyra’s ticket.

We were running late for our time slot by the time Nova got back from watering, and decided to drive though we knew parking round Brick Lane would be difficult. I preferred it from a health angle as well – I’m very keen to avoid covid before our trip to Canada.

In the event, we found a decent parking spot and made our way up Brick Lane which was radiating like a furnace in the afternoon heat. It was a bit tricky to find the place, not least because the event had been cancelled. An unfortunate, apologetic girl was stationed in at the discreet entrance dealing with the punters who showed up. They had sent an email which Adam claimed not to have received, apparently a few people had said the same…

Sounds like we can apply for a refund, so that’s not a bad outcome and means we recoup the cost of Lyra’s ticket as well. Just glad we didn’t shlep down there on the tube, or waste a friends’ afternoon. Went for tacos and headed home again.

Dinner round Lawrence and Madonna’s house, prefaced with a meetig about the woodland Adam, Kiran and Lawrence are going to create together. Before putting in offers on a couple of suitable plots on the Somerset/Devon border, they wanted to affirm principles, and discuss how to end the partnership if people want out etc.

Moved onto dinner, which included an Italian nebbiolo wine tasting – very nice evening.

Lyra got back from Latitude around midnight. She had a great time – got on well with Alex, hung out with a few other people she knew and saw some great music… 

July 23, 2022

Happy birthday, Denise! Nova bailed on swimming this morning, so it was just Adam and me. The morning was a bit overcast, though it cleared while I was in the water. It was delightful, and I did three laps before heading for the showers.

Surprisingly, I’m finding the cold shower at the end almost the best part of the experience. It helps that I’ve already cooled mym core I think, because when I take a cold shower at home I’m not such a big fan…

Breakfast at Kalendar, as per our new routine. I stuck with my single egg Benedict, while Adam tried the pancakes. I’m not a pancake person, but these were pretty awesome.

Picked up some bits from the local shops – we’re making chicken thighs in sherry and tarragon for dinner, and I needed pearl onions and the sherry. Adam headed straight off to Pilates (which I didn’t fancy at all) then put in a bunch of work on his computer. I did a bunch of gardening, clearing the path to the greenhouse and pulling ground elder from the rockery. I managed to clear about half of it, and will try to do the remainder tomorrow.

Adam and Nova set off to visit Beulah about the time I came in. I finished my novel (meh), did more Spanish, then started cooking when Adam got back. Watched Dirty Dancing – always enjoyable – and to bed.

July 22, 2022

Muggy and cool today. Didn’t run (because I ran yesterday) and didn’t swim in the pond (because I’m swimming tomorrow). Pootled around with various personal things then got down to work about 9:30am.

Put in a chunk of time sorting out the scheduler for beauty week in September. Added a handful of events, formatted the template for event details, etc. Broke off for something to eat about 2pm, and read over my lunch break – Ian McEwan’s Enduring Love. Lyra borrowed a stack of his books from Antonia, and didn’t much enjoy them.

I have mixed reactions to his work – I’ve loved some of his novels (The Comfort of Strangers, Black Dogs, Nutshell) while others have left me cold (Amsterdam, Atonement, On Chesil Beach). So far, so good with this one, though I’m not that keen on any of the characters.

It was 8:30pm by the time Adam finished working and came upstairs. I didn’t feel like starting on dinner at that point, so we ordered pizzas and fixed a round of G&Ts while we waited for them to arrive. Finished watching Zodiac – pretty good – and to bed.

July 21, 2022

The weather is back to normal for the moment – such a relief… With no school duties to perform, I was able to do my Spanish, plan my work day and go for a run in the Woods, all by 10am.

Lyra was about to head off to Latitude with Alex and her mum – the ticket is their treat, which is extremely generous of them. I’m sure she’ll have a wonderful time, and the forecast looks perfect. Not too hot, maybe a bit of rain to keep the dust down, but otherwise glorious, temperate mid-twenties sunshine.

Did some updates to the Planet Positive Beauty Guide, which is being updated soon. I had to learn some tricky stuff to build the definition flip boxes in a css grid, so making the changes was a good refresher course. I also made some progress on build a project timeline for my engineering client, which is coming together nicely.

Alicia came by about 6:30pm and we had a glass of rosé and spent an hour updating the Festival site. Adam and I made dinner together afterwards – lamb burgers, salad, yogurt – and watched some of the film Zodiac. It was slow to get going and very long, and we both dozed off in the middle as per usual…

July 20, 2022

Happy birthday Wendy! Didn’t lose much heat over the night. It was above 20° when we woke at 6:30am. Sorted out my last school meal for the summer! Once Lyra was away, I woke up Nova and we headed down to the pond for a morning dip.

The water temperature was 24°C, which is pretty warm for the pond. There was a brood of little ducklings out on the water, closely guarded by their mum, who twice had to chase off a marauding seagull. Did three laps then headed home and made poached eggs for breakfast.

Finished last night’s film at lunch time, which we’d both dozed off in last night. There are so many good performances – Jack Nicholson, Tom Cruise, Kevin, Bacon, Kiefer Sutherland, Demi Moore – as well as actors who went on to have successful careers – Cuba Gooding Junior, Noah Wyle…

I was meant to have a meeting with Alicia at the end of the day, but she had heat exhaustion so we’ve rescheduled for tomorrow. Both the girls were out so I didn’t bother with dinner. When Adam got home we fixed some cold cuts and carried on with The Man in the High Castle.

Season 2 has taken an unexpected sci-fi-ish turn, which makes sense given it was written by Phillip K Dick. Adam hasn’t seen a lot of the episodes, understandably finds it hard to follow and was dozing within ten minutes. Stopped about 11pm to help Lyra find camping equipment for her weekend at Latitude with her friend Alex, then to bed…

July 19, 2022

Adam left for work before I woke up. I’m pretty sure he was here last night, but wouldn’t swear to it. I have a vague memory of a half awake conversation…

Lyra was very keen not to go to school this morning – and don’t blame her – but she’s already missed last week with covid. She was pretty grumpy with me. Did our watering and some gardening when I got back from dropping her at the bus, then started the client work. By 10am it was already too hot to be upstairs. Tried keeping all the windows closed today on the theory that it was hotter outside than in.

There might be something to that, because I made it until 2pm before the internet melted – an improvement on yesterday. Hung out in the dark in my room, sweating despite the best efforts of our little fan, doing Spanish and sporadically working by tethering off my phone. It was hard to generate much enthusiasm, and the laptop got so hot it burned my legs.

Around 8pm I brought the fan upstairs and set it up in front of the router with a pile of freezer blocks arranged in front to help generate cooler air.  Made dinner – chicken caesar salad. We were just about to head to the balcony to eat when it started spitting with rain. The internet returned as well, so able to watch an episode of Community.

After Lyra left, Nova and I were just deciding on a film to watch when Adam got home. Ended up with A Few Good Men – such a classic. I do love a good courtroom drama.

July 18, 2022

Today’s meant to be the big one, heatwave wise. Adam set off before 7am to travel to work when still cool. I got Lyra fed, watered and to the bus stop by 7:30am. Surprisingly they are going ahead with school sports day. They’ve modified their plans, but still… 

Woke Nova up to do her watering before it got too hot, and gave our garden and outdoor pots a good soak as well. Worked outside until noon when the sun hits the patio table. I had the fan on the server all day, but it failed in the early afternoon. I tethered my phone and used it as a hotspot (after checking the fine print of my unlimited data plan).

Went for a walk with Kate to the pond for a did. I misread her text initially and thought we were meeting at 5:15 in Pond Square. She’s generally late, but after ten minutes I checked my phone and realised we’d agreed on 7:15. By the time 7 rolled around, she texted again to say she was wiped out and wanted to drive down.

Had to queue half an hour, but when we got in it was glorious…

Adam wasn’t home when I got back at 8;30pm, so ate with the girls – leftover jambalaya and a broccoli salad. Played Nova’s new card game. There’s a deck of cards numbered 1 through 100. Players have a hand (of 1 or more cards) and the game consists of laying them down in the correct numerical order without talking. We managed one card and two card hands okay, but it got tricky with three cards.

Watched an episode of High Castle and to bed before Adam got home.

July 17, 2022

Adam headed off to play in his Sunday football game, and I walked down with Nova to do the watering at Will and Sara’s. It’s a big job, especially in this hot weather. They are paying her £10 a day, and it’s definitely an hour’s work, with the walk there and back. I did the watering cans while she used the hose, and it took the pair of us more than half an hour.

We’d invited Beulah round for dinner, so both girls did covid tests. Nova was negative, and so was Lyra as far as I could tell. Adam thought he could see the faintest trace of a line, and on that basis Beulah opted to stay home and play it safe. Adam popped over to hers for a visit instead.

Played Shithead when he got back. Now that we’ve remembered how to play it properly, the games are much better. One thing in the rules that the loser (the shithead) can either deal the next round or do something nice for the group. The first time Adam fetched a round of ice waters, the second time he got bowls of nuts for a snack, and the third time let him off the hook…

Dinner was chicken caesar salad and a summer tiramisu of strawberries, lemony cream and ladyfingers, which we ate in the garden. The girls were keen to play more games, so we opted for a round of Articulate (they thrashed us) and another hand of Shithead.

Our internet keeps falling over with heat prostration. We booked a technician to come round, but after fanning it for an hour started up again. Watched an episode of The Man in the High Castle, dozing off in the middle.

July 16, 2022

Happy anniversary, Greg and Wendy! Nova is coming home this evening – exciting! Things to do to get organised for that, flat prep mainly…

Started our day with a walk to the ponds for a swim and then breakfast at Kalendar. I’m liking that new routine. Bought a few groceries for the weekend from the nice shops in Swains Lane. I do prefer choosing my groceries myself, though the online deliveries were an absolute lifesaver during the lockdowns, and it is definitely a time saver.

Richard and Rachel came round for dinner. I made the spanish fish stew we had with Eytan and Dina, along with bread and oven chips. It was nice but not as good as last time. I went with cod instead of monkfish, which didn’t remain in such nice discrete chunks. As I had no  almond flour, I  ground my own which didn’t thicken the stew as well. The clams were a good addition though.

They brought round a bottle of Cornish rock gin, which was pretty tasty. The Fevertree tonic played it’s part as well – it really is a lot nicer than Schweppes/generic tonic water. Adam had one drink then switched to non-alcoholic beer. He left for Heathrow at 10pm to collect Nova. I cleared everything up, then watched my High Castle show. I was fast asleep on the sofa when they got back – I’m liking it but it does have a soporific effect…

July 15, 2022

Happy birthday, Landyn! The listing page is coming together at last, and the filtering of the feeds is working smoothly. I think it looks pretty good.

Pulled together a new project page for the architect site – for a pool house in a barn that was never built. The drawings are beautiful, and it would be a shame not to put them to use.

Ellie came round to see Lyra. They started off by baking matcha and white chocolate cookies, which were pretty damn good. Next, they wanted me to play cards with them. Taught them my version of speed, and we had a go at playing shithead, but none of us remembered the rules properly, and we got into endless loops. Will have to refresh my memory on that one, as it’s a good game.

Ellie stayed for dinner and ended up sleeping over. Adam was at his bookclub, so the three of us had dinner together (and a round of Pimms for Friday night cocktail – I made theirs pretty weak.)

Continued with The Man in the High Castle, coming to bed when he got in at 12:30am.

July 14, 2022

Went for a nice swim in the Ponds to start my day. I’m enjoying that routine, and now I’ve shelled out for the six month pass, I’m determined to do the seventeen swims that ensures it pays for itself.

Lyra’s covid test today is so faint that you really have to be looking to see a second line at all. As far as I’m concerned, she’s fine to move back to her bedroom, meet with friends etc. She’s had such a soft time of it compared to Adam. If she hadn’t been doing work experience at a GP’s office, it’s unlikely she’d have done a test and would never have known she had covid at all.

Walked down to Sara’s in the afternoon for a meeting about her website and launching an instagram account for the practice. They are off on holiday this weekend, and the girls will do a week’s watering while they are away. She took me round the garden, pointing out which plants need special attention. There’s a lot to do, including watering the green roof on the shed – I expect with the walk to/from ours that it will take about an hour.

Took Jane out for a sixtieth birthday dinner at a Spanish place Picholine this evening. It’s in Nags Head, and  I weighed up the idea of walking but was running late and caught a bus.

I was sitting in the first seat after the middle doors, where there is only a bar/handrail in front of you. A middle-aged man got on at Archway. He had a few plastic bags with him, but at first glance you might have thought they contained groceries (and not all his worldly belongings).

He arranged the bags at his feet then leaned his bottom against the rail in front of me. The pressure stretched open a split in his tracksuit bottoms, treating me to an extensive close-up view of his chestnut brown ass. It was pretty funny, but sad as well. Opted to walk home…;-)

July 13, 2022

Managed to get out a bit earlier than usual for my three-mile run – it was still hot but not dreadful…

After my shower, I discovered that Adam had (who was the last to come in from the garden after the barbeque) had left dishes outside and had taken the food off the barbeque. My eggplant and the remaining lamb burger were utterly carbonised.

There was also a little posse of cooked snails glued to one side. They must have been hanging out there in the cool dark under the barbeque cover and got a nasty surprise when we fired it up…

Lyra is feeling totally, one hundred percent fine, but is showing a very faint positive on her covid test. I think if it was a regular school week, the current guidance is for her to come in. Given that she’s meant to be working in a GPs office, that isn’t an option.

I’m having an issue with my eye that I’m pretty sure is related to my new contact lens. A low-level irritation that builds until my eye is red and sore and I need to take the lens out. I’ve tested it by swapping the lens to the other eye and the problem started up there. 

Unlike most of the population, I prefer to wear monthly contact lenses. They are better quality (which is a factor with my strong prescription), and seem a more environmentally friendly to me than all that plastic waste. They also cost a lot more per item than daily disposables, so I’ve called the optometrist and asked for a replacement.

Met Jess for a drink at the Red Lion at the end of the day. Ellie came round to visit with Lyra in the garden again, which is sweet of her. We started with an Aperol spritz followed by a glass of rosé. She called her girls to join her for a pub dinner, but that’s not an option for us with Lyra still quarantining.

I made her some pesto pasta when I got home. Started watching The Man in the High Castle (Adam is out at something or other).

July 12, 2022

There’s a heat wave building up, though apparently it isn’t actually here yet. The newspapers are full of dire predictions, and it even made by New York Times daily bulletin…

Walked down for a swim before starting work – the water temperature is up to 23 degrees. Did three laps instead of my usual two, cold shower and home.

Fixed some breakfast for Lyra and stuck a few soft drinks for the downstairs fridge so she can sort herself out instead of having to text me for everything. Took the opportunity to sort out her usual bedroom as well – stripped the bed and opened the windows wide to air it out. We need to have that room ready in case it makes sense for Nova to stay in there when she gets home from Madrid.

I thought it might be nice to have a barbeque – we could avoid heating the house further, plus we could eat with Lyra outside. It was a bit of a fiasco in the end. Adam didn’t get the briquettes going on time, and it was pretty late by the time we sat down. 

The food very good – lamb burgers, salad, yogurt, grilled courgettes. I put an aubergine on as well, which I plan to make into baba ganoush. Headed inside when it got twilighty and finished my novel Leaving the Atocha Station. Good but not great… I mostly bought it to read when I was in Madrid, but then forgot to take it with me. 

July 11, 2022

Hot, hot, hot… I left Lyra to sleep until 11am. She’s feeling pretty normal, with no symptoms to speak of. It’s so different when kids get covid.

Did house stuff and client work. The soil stabilisation client is being difficult. They haven’t engaged with any of the marketing statements, messaging documents, branding guidelines, content maps or screen grabs we’ve shared throughout the project, pushed for an early launch date, and now that we’re ready to hit publish they are questioning whether the look, feel and content are right.

They are also worried that there might be an IP issue with using case studies from when they traded under a different name. Which is what IP lawyers are for. No idea why they didn’t think to resolve this question when they decided to change the company name. Kate is beside herself…

In the afternoon, I had to decamp to the bedroom which is marginally cooler than upstairs, especially if we keep the blinds down. The Internet has been overheating the last two days, but for some reason it didn’t happen today…

Made a nice dinner. There was some cod that needed using and I panfried it before simmering it in a tahini sauce. Served it with pilau type rice and a chickpea chopped salad. Adam said he’d be home at 7:30 so worked to that. Eventually received a text from him at 8:30 saying it would more like 9pm. Took Lyra’s food down to her and ate on my own…

July 10, 2022

And it’s back with a vengeance… Didn’t opt to run as I was playing tennis with Millie in the afternoon. Ended up doing some gardening instead. The raspberry bed was in a state of total disrepair – I cleared out the worst of the ground elder and other weeds, and Adam helped me to reset the posts and guide wire that had been dragged down by wild hops. I could find only two canes, one of which has three raspberries on it…

Watched some of the Wimbledon mens final (Djokovic v Kyrgios) until it was time for me to head to the courts myself for 4pm. It was super hot, and we took care to drink lots of water and swap sides as one was a bit shadier.

Even so, I was a hot, sweating mess by the time we finished. I was really looking forward to a long, cold shower and our scheduled G&Ts with Richard and Rachel, but on the way home I got a text from Lyra announcing she’d tested positive for covid. She’d relocated to the flat immediately, but was feeling absolutely fine. She’d mainly done the test because she’d noticed a tickle in her throat and she’s meant to do a week’s work experience in a GP’s office from tomorrow.

Drinks were off, as R&R don’t want to risk reinfection. I did a test myself (negative), showered, then made snack-style dinners for everyone. Top Boy and bed.

I’ve been putting in a lot of time on my spanish this week, with the aim of winning my set in the diamond league. I’ve been completely gamed by the league competition and one of the only badges I haven’t won is for coming first in the diamond league. Usually there’s one person who takes off like a greyhound the first day and racks up 20,000 points, stitching it up straight away. But this week I was in with a bunch of reasonable folk and we were all proceeding at a similar pace, so I decided it was winnable.

I had to keep doing Spanish exercises through the evening to maintain my place at the top, fending off the likes of Juan_Anton, Guillermo, AnaDona and Zero (it weirds me out how many people doing Spanish Duolingo appear to be Spanish). I was somewhat miffed not to receive the badge I thought I was inline for. Instead, I’ve qualified for the finals of some sort of “tournament”… Pah…

July 9, 2022

The hot weather has dropped back a bit, but it’s still nice… Adam and I walked down to the ponds for a swim about 8:30am. There was a decent queue at the Ladies Pond, and I was behind Adam getting out but it was worth the wait. The water itself was pretty empty, and it turns out they were down one lifeguard so had to restrict numbers.

Afterwards we went for breakfast at Kalendar again – a nice little tradition we’re establishing there. Lyra was out all afternoon working at the Toy Project, She got home about 5pm. No one felt hungry for dinner, so eventually we fixed a round of G&Ts and some snacks and watched Top Boy – gripping stuff…

July 8, 2022

Woke up a bit late and had to hop to it to get Lyra’s food sorted in time. Finally managed a run! It would have been a better morning for a swim actually. The European heat wave has managed to cross the channel and it’s going to be hot as stink today. The ponds have become crazy popular though, and I thought I’d just end up queueing so decided to run instead.

I was able to do three miles, though I wasn’t setting any land speed records. After a quick shower, I got down to  work on the soil stabilisation site. The new domain name has bedded down, but I’m still getting those wretched mixed media errors. This happens when a website has both http: and https: paths in the website structure. The problem URLs are often embedded in the database and tricky to root out. Eventually I went through the database table and picked them out by hand…

Adam has been stood down from jury duty – the barrister’s strike has done for it. The two of us went for lunch at the Red Lion. Clams and salad for me; Adam had the sea bass and we split a bowl of chips. One glass of rosé meant I was fine to carry on working when we got back.

I’m finally able to turn my attention to my other clients. Spent the afternoon building a new landing page for them on aesthetic regulation. Watched Cam Norrie’s match against Djokovic. Not being British, I haven’t warmed to him like the rest of the nation. Actually, he’s not British either, but a recent NZ import. Mainly I don’t like the way he never says anything gracious about his opponents after a match. Anyway, Djokovic had him on toast.

July 7, 2022

Super tired this morning after a shitty night’s sleep… Staggered upstairs and did my Lyra stuff, half intending to return to bed afterwards. By the time I got back downstairs Adam had opened all the blinds, made the bed etc so I opted to soldier on. I even put on running clothes thinking I might finally go for a run, but got stuck into soil stabilisation emails and it didn’t happen.

Adam headed off to jury duty and yet again was home by noon. Spent most of the afternoon resolving the soil stabilisation launch. Turns out pointing the DNS at the mail host was causing issues, and it took a while to untangle. Got it fully working by 7pm. We aren’t actually going live with the new pages yet, as there has been some last-minute client infighting about whether they can use the case studies with the disclaimer as written. Seems the kind of thing they might have agreed on and sorted before now, but hey ho…

The groceries came today, so I made spinach salad for dinner while the spinach was fresh. Watched a couple of episodes of Community with Lyra (mindless entertainment), then watched an episode of Top Boy. At least I did… Adam was dozing within ten minutes.

July 6, 2022

Big day work wise, pushing the soil stabilisation site over the line. I’m going to do the DNS switchover and launch tomorrow, which is a week ahead of the schedule we’ve been working to for the last few months.

It a big site for a single person to deliver – it would be great to have a junior to do the testing and minor page amends at this stage… It doesn’t help that they are pretty disorganised themselves, and don’t have a clear management structure, which complicates decision making.

Adam has been heading off to Colindale first thing every morning to do jury service. The first couple of days were cancelled due to the barrister’s strike and he was home by noon. Same thing happened again today…

I had a vague idea of going swimming with my mermaids, but could see that wasn’t going to happen…

We’re running really low on food, and I managed to do a quick grocery order before heading out to a committee meeting – our first one with this year’s intake. We’ve got a couple of new people on board who seem good. The meeting was held at Channing School, and they provided food and wine. There was lots left over, which we were encouraged to take home. Got a little box of nibbles that I can use for Lyra’s lunch tomorrow.

Adam was still out when I got back, and Lyra was holed up in her room. Did a bit more work, watched some telly and to bed.

July 5, 2022

Headed down to the pond for a swim after getting Lyra sorted and out the door. Lynne and Helen were there so I did a couple of laps with them. I was just about to get out when a woman I vaguely recognised called my name. It was my friend Louise who I used to work with at Dorling Kindersley.

We were pretty good friends for a while – they came to our wedding, and we went on a walking holiday once – but I haven’t seen her in years. Did another lap and had a bit of a catch up – made vague plans to meet up soon for a drink with her and Eugene.

Most of my work day went on the soil stabilisation site. My Jx colleague was struggling with the Zoho newsletter software again, so I spent some time trying unsuccessfully to resolve the problem. Zoho is such a pig of a product – I struggle to understand how they stay in business…

I had tickets booked to see the Kusama exhibit at the Tate again, but couldn’t take the time off today. My boss is such an asshole…;-)

July 4, 2022

Happy 21st birthday, Nova! What a thing that is…!

I’m pretty sure this is the first birthday we’ve spent apart. Her friend Michael has traveled from Valencia to spend it with her, which is nice. Had a phone call at the start of the day, and she sounded pretty happy. Only two more weeks until she moves home from Madrid…

Spent a couple of hours doing my invoicing, an increasing pain in the ass. I’m more clinical about it now – I always send them out promptly at the start of the month, and don’t hold a tab for clients. This month’s totals ranged from £25 to £1500.

It was afternoon by the time I got them all formated and sent, and it was hard to switch gears and do work. There’s a lot to do on the soil stabilisation site still so I put in a few hours work on that and called it a day…

July 3, 2022

Happy birthday, David! Put in a few hours building a case studies section for the soil stabilisation site. It was fiddly to get right, but I came up with something I’m happy with, given the paucity of the content I was working with.

Met Millie at the tennis courts at 7pm. I was definitely better than last time, and Cole teased Millie that I was “kicking her ass” before leaving us to continue his one-man pub crawl of Highgate at the Duke’s Head. I can generally get the ball over the net and in the court, and I can hit it pretty hard, but I don’t have enough control over where it goes, which isn’t conducive to rallying.

I’d thought Adam was going to have dinner ready when I got back, but it was still a work in progress, so I helped push things over the line…

July 2, 2022

Lots of email back and forth with Carolyn at the moment over the planned developments next door. Sara came round a couple of nights ago to take a look, and she’s pretty certain that it is development work not simply landscaping, and that they need planning permission, and probably a basement impact assessment. She’s given us a list of points to raise, which I passed on to Carolyn (and to Jenny at 23).

Collected Rachel from her latest ingrown toenail surgery in Pond Square. She’s had a bitch of a time with that – it’s been going on a couple of months now.

Went for a walk with Millie on the Heath in the afternoon. She has a guy staying with her for a few days – the son of a friend from when she lived in LA. Cole is about thirty and seems a very nice, laid back guy. We did a big loop round the Heath, taking in the view from Kite Hill and then grabbed lunch in the Kenwood cafe.

Lyra was over in Acton hanging out with a girl called Lulu for the evening, along with Ellie and Lily. Lulu is a model, and when it’s “work experience” week later this month, she’s going out to Spain to do a photo shoot for Mango. It wasn’t a sleepover situation, but Tanja collected them, so Adam and I had a relaxing evening together.

July 1, 2022

Happy birthday, Canada!

I was just getting readygoing to go for a run when Veronika texted to invite me for coffee so ended up doing that instead. She drove down to Swains Lane, we had a catchup at Roni’s after which I walked home, so some exercise…

Set up the emails for the new soil stabilisation website. They are changing the domain name when they relaunch next week, and need new emails to match. Actually the email itself is staying with the current host, so my role was ensuring that the domain name servers point to the right place.

Everything seems to have gone fine, so the next stage is to actually get a website up at that address. The client feedback on the content is not forthcoming. They’ve moved the launch deadline forward a week, and its all “hurry come quick” but then they don’t review things…

Dinner at the Bull with Richard and Rachel. Two boys from Nova’s primary school class  – Gabriel and Cameron – are working there. The local pubs are full of kids we know – either drinking or serving, which takes a bit of getting used to…