June 2004

June 30, 2004

Happy 2nd anniversary, Wade and Gale!
There was a Tube strike today, so I worked at home. I’ve been sinking into a depression for the last few days, and I’m afraid I wasn’t as productive as I should have been… Work is no picnic at the moment, with all the uncertainty the forthcoming merger has thrown up. I think I’m probably feeling bad about mom with Nova’s birthday on the horizon as well.

Nova and I were talking at dinner about mommies and daughters. “What’s my daughter’s name?” she asked. I told her that she didn’t have a daughter yet, but when she grew up and became a mommy, she would choose one. “My daughter’s name is Brilla,” she decided.

June 29, 2004

I bought a guitar this afternoon from a guitar shop on the Archway Road. I walk past the shop when I pick up Nova from nursery, and ever since I saw it in the window, it’s been calling to me, which is strange, since I don’t know how to play the guitar. I went in and asked the price last week, and decided that when I got my first fulltime paycheque I’d buy it. Now for guitar lessons…

Joined Dave for a birthday dinner in an Ethiopian restaurant in Tufnell Park called Lalibela. There were twelve of us. Ethiopian food is great for large groups — they set down huge plates covered in flat, spongy pancake-bread called injera in the middle of the table. The dishes — various “wots” and “tibs” — were arranged in little pots round the side. We spooned a mound of each into the middle of the bread, and scooped it up with other bits of bread. Pasc was babysitting for us, and by 11pm we were thinking it was time for us to be getting back. It turned out that we were the only ones with a babysitter to get home to. That doesn’t happen much these days…

June 28, 2004

Went for a run at the gym this evening. It’s my third day of running in a row, and I really didn’t feel like going Adam talked me into it, by suggesting that I just do the run, then skip my weights and cycling and have a sauna instead.

The TV screen in front of the running machine was tuned to Wimbledon, and I watched Tim Henman beat Phillippousis. The English are in the grip of their annual mass delusion that Tim Henman is actually capable Wimbledon. I realised that I’m actually starting to become English when I found myself thinking after the French Open that maybe Tim actually could do it this year. His first-round departure from the Nottingham grass tournament cured me of that misguided notion…

He hasn’t really seemed to show up for Wimbledon this year. I’ll be surprised if he gets past the unseeded challenger he’s playing next.

I was reading nursery rhymes with Nova today, and we did the one about what little girls and boys are made of. “What am I made of?” she asked. Before I could start in on an explanation of bones and muscles and skin, she announced, “Snow — I’m made of snow.”

June 27, 2004

Doron picked up Oliver after breakfast, and Adam and Nova headed off for church. I did a 3.5 mile double loop of Highgate Woods. I felt a bit stiff from yesterday’s long run (mainly my feet were tired), and took it gently, using the heart rate monitor to keep it nice and easy.

Stopped for lunch at Giraffe on the way home from the swimming pool. Giraffe is one of the few places we eat at that truly caters for kids, without being a “family restaurant”. Actually, it’s surprising to me how few restaurants manage it. You’d think it would be a win-win. Happy kids = happy parents = happy surrounding tables. And not that much is required:

• serve the kids promptly (if Nova’s happily eating, we don’t care if our food is another twenty minutes)
• serve their food at room temperature, so they can actually eat it
• serve their drinks in small glasses and bendy straws (the number of places that will bring a two-year-old a litre of juice in tall glasses with unbendy straws…)
• sell apple juice, not just orange juice

Made pasta this afternoon, which came out really well. It’s so much easier with helpers. Nova cranked the handle and Adam caught the emerging noodles, leaving me free to concentrate on feeding the dough in properly.

Cooked a beautiful pasta with meatballs for dinner. I thought Nova would really go for it, but she sat refusing to swallow her mouthful of food for about twenty minutes, until it started to dissolve and ooze out of the corners of her mouth. The whole meal degenerated into arguments and shouting and tears, and I ended up putting her straight to bed with no dinner or bedtime stories. I did give her a nice cuddle at the end, but felt awful about the whole scene for the rest of the evening.

June 26, 2004

Did a 14 mile run today. It was my first time carrying a water bottle. I don’t need it for the first 1:45:00, as my loop takes me past a few water fountains, but I’d planned to extend the run onto the West Heath for the last few miles.

It was my first time trying a gel as well. The experience was so indescribably awful that I won’t even attempt to fully capture it in words. I have never tasted anything so vile… It was so bad that I didn’t even notice how much the water in my new bottle tasted of dish soap until my next walk break. My stomach cramped almost immediately, and I had to rush into the bushes alongside the busy Spaniards Road for an emergency pit stop…

There are a number of brands of gel on the market, and I’ll certainly be trying another one next time (or maybe I’ll just opt for one of those trial-size shampoo samples you get in magazines)…

Instead of running the West Heath loop as planned, I got lost, and spent a good half hour buggering around, trying to find Whitestone Pond, scrabbling up the sides of ravines and getting rained on. My average heart rate wasn’t that high in the end. I think it’s because my muscles were too sore and tired to run fast any more… Pretty cool to pass the half marathon milestone though.

At least I didn’t have to take to my bed afterward… an hour on the couch and I was well enough to start moving around again. Just as well — Oliver came after lunch for an overnight stay. He kicked off a bit when his parents left, but settled down very quickly, after I sedated him with snacks and television.

It was too wet to go to the park, so we packed the kids in the car and drove to Tesco/ClownTown. Adam volunteered to supervise the kids while I did the weekly shop. Tesco on Saturday is hellish (and such a different demographic to Waitrose). There was a young couple having a screaming match in the bakery aisle: “DON’T TALK TO ME LIKE THAT, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!!!” etc. In the cheese aisle, this incredibly stroppy midget was blocking access to the Parmesan. When I asked her if I could just get past, she acted like I’d mortally insulted her, and refused to move.

Then there was a two-year-old who repeatedly bashed his head on the handle of the trolley then howled about it — his face was all red and swollen as if it’s something he makes a habit of. But when I phoned Adam to confer on some shopping list detail, the volume of shrieking that greeted my ear made me glad of my oasis of relative tranquillity.

The kids had a nice time at dinner, laughing at each other’s jokes and silly chip eating. They had a great time in the bath as well, decorating each other with bubbles. And amazingly, there were no tears at bedtime — I did Nova, Adam did Ollie, and they were both tucked in and quiet by 7:45.

I already had a bottle of red wine breathing. We threw together a quick dinner, then relaxed for the rest of the evening watching football and Glastonbury on the telly.

June 25, 2004

I was late getting to work this morning because of a hangover. Adam’s… I could tell he was pretty drunk when he staggered in about 11:30 last night, but I haven’t seen him this hungover in years. I made him a big cup of coffee and a cold compress on his head, and left him to a day of Nova care.

I checked in with them a couple of times during the day. They’d headed to the playground about 11am, where he had the great good fortune to run into Alicia and Scarlett. He spent the afternoon lying on the grass nibbling their picnic, sunburning his newly shaved head and watching Alicia chased around with the little girls.

He was restored enough to cook a nice pasta for dinner. Watched the French crash out of the football to Greece before calling it a night.

June 24, 2004

Worked at home today. I’m getting into a bit of a routine…did some emails, read “A Bad Week for the Three Bears”, worked on a pdf for our annual conference, made snickerdoodle biscuits…

I called Dad this afternoon to tell him about the opera. He had some sad news — Gert Weddell has died unexpectedly of an aneurysm. On top of that, one of his Caregiver friends, Katherine, has also died. I met her when I was out in October, and she was only in her mid-fifties.

Adam was out this evening watching the England football match in a pub. I started watching the game at home, but when the England striker they’ve been comparing to Pele went off in with a broken toe at 27 minutes, I knew the writing was on the wall. It was inevitable that England were going to lose, and based on previous experience, to lose in the most drawn out, frustrating way possible. Sure enough, Portugal equalised in the ten minutes. Then England scored a goal that managed to be disallowed. They went down by a goal in the extra time, managed to equalise, then threw it away in the penalty shootout. I didn’t even bother watching those…

June 23, 2004

This morning, I slipped out of work for an hour or so to go to the Covent Garden opera house and buy a day ticket to see Gounod’s Faust. (Actually dad has offered to pay for my ticket.) I noticed it was coming when I bought the opera tickets for dad’s Christmas present. I thought, “I’ll definitely get tickets for that,” but when I went to buy some in February, it had already sold out. It turns out it’s a star-studded production, with Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu in the lead roles.

I was thinking I’d have to go to a ticket tout, when I discovered that they sell 67 day tickets, first come, first served, from 10am sharp. When I got there at 9:30, the line was already half way down the side of the piazza. The man behind me, who bore an amazing resemblance to Inspector Morse, and was a regular day ticket purchaser, thought it would be touch and go for us. As it turned out I got the 65th ticket out of 67, and scooted back to the office.

I strolled down to Covent Garden again after work. My seat was along the side of the stall circle, but compensated for that by being very close to the action. I could clearly see the expressions on the singer’s faces, and had a great view of the orchestra as well. I think it is possibly the best thing I have ever seen on stage. The sets were fantastic, and I know all the arias so well. A particular highlight was the Walpurgis Night ballet. A troupe of ballerinas performed increasingly provocative and degrading moves, until they ended up in a massive orgy, with their tutus around their ears.

Although it was almost four hours long, the time just flew by. I caught sight of my Morse man across the stalls. I caught up with him at the exit, and we walked to the tube together. He’d loved it as well… It would have been wonderful to have seen it with dad…

June 22, 2004

Went to the gym this evening, although I didn’t feel like it at all. I find it really tough to get motivated for my mid-week runs. I use a heart rate monitor on my runs, and I’ve noticed that my heartbeat is quite a bit higher on evening runs than it is on the morning ones. Anyway, I did it. I can’t say I enjoyed it, but there is a real satisfaction that comes from completing a workout you could easily have skipped.

June 21, 2004

It’s our 7th anniversary today. When Adam produced a card this morning, Nova said, “Mommy got a invitation!” (We exchanged gifts on Saturday night after we got home. Adam gave me a beautiful pendant and pair of earrings, and I gave him the Lord of the Rings DVD boxed set. Spot the romantic in this relationship…)

Spent the evening in, watching England play Croatia in a crucial qualifying match. It looked bad for the first forty minutes, then England got it together. We had a kind of Asian-influenced prawn cocktail, mushroom risotto and vanilla caramel Haagen Daaz for our anniversary dinner, along with a 1997 Spanish red. Freddy and Beulah popped over with a set of bedding for the bed, in a rusty orange colour, designed to satisfy the copper anniversary specification.

I’ve been thinking about mom a lot today. How she travelled over to England for our wedding against doctor’s advice (and only two days after grandpa died). How she managed to participate in our wedding day, despite the pain she was in. How she completely stole the show at our service with her recitation of “The Owl and the Pussycat”. Friends still talk about that…

June 20, 2004

Happy Father’s Day, Adam and all assorted family fathers…

I got up at 7am when Nova started singing, and distracted her for half an hour before she insisted on waking up daddy. We gave Adam his card and gifts: a coffee table book on Glastonbury from Nova (who’s likely the next person is this family who’ll be going to Glastonbury), and a pair of khakis and two new teeshirts. We had breakfast together, then Adam and Nova went off and did the church thing while I went for my run.

I did the same double loop round Highgate Woods I did last week, and felt pretty good, considering the drinks I’d had last night. One thing about running in Highgate though — you are constantly going up and down hills. Mostly up, it seems… I guess it’s good practice for the marathon. I don’t remember Victoria being particularly hilly, but your perspective certainly changes once you’re travelling under your own steam.

Took Nova for a swim at the gym with Jemima and Ruby. The girls had a great time splashing about together, and shared a shower cubicle afterwards. The closed the door, and when I opened it to check on them after having my own shower, Ruby was busy shampooing Nova’s hair. It was pretty cute…

Nova did poop poop potty this afternoon! I don’t know if it has anything to do with the new approach…

Sunday afternoon of family phone calls. Wade phoned, then I called Dad to wish him happy Father’s Day, then he called me to wish us a happy anniversary, and I talked to Wendy as well…

I was reading Nova a book before bedtime. It’s a lovely little illustrated alphabet book, with detailed pictures of English wildlife. I was pretty shaky on some of the flowers myself, such as gentian and knapweed (I didn’t know that there’s a type, or phase, of rabbit called a leveret either…) Anyway, we were going along nicely, identifying robins and roses, and adding new vocabulary like dandelion and hedgehog, when we came to a picture of a squirrel. “What’s that?” I said. “A squirrel,” Nova said, then after a few seconds, “No, that’s not a squirrel! It’s a SHIT!” and laughed madly.

June 19, 2004

Pretty tired this morning. Last night, I ended up tackling the huge mountain of ironing that’s accumulated over the past few weeks, which kept me busy until about 1am. Adam picked up where I left off, and ironed and watched football highlights ’til 2:30am. So that’s a big Friday night round here these days. Perhaps we should consider going in for extreme ironing…

I discovered that Ive been eating old PowerBars. The ones I’ve had to now have been pretty damn tough. I’d get jaw ache chewing my way through a whole one. I’ve been persevering with them because I see developing a taste for PowerBars as an integral part of my marathon training. I’ve recently bought a few more from a new shop, and the vanilla crisp ( “crisp” comes from the added sawdust) I had this morning was soft and chewy, and — aside from the the sawdust — pretty good. Or maybe it’s just my jaw muscles building up strength and endurance…;-)

When Nova did a poop on her bedroom floor this morning, we employed the same technique I tried earlier of getting her to help clean it up. Unfortunately a lot of it ended up on her sheepskin…

After lunch, I attempted to cut Nova’s hair, which has been getting a bit wispy and overgrown. She just wouldn’t keep her head still, so the results were a bit uneven, but she’s pleased with it. “I look beautiful!” she said happily, admiring her ragged Prince Valiant in the bedroom mirror.

Took Nova to the village fete in the afternoon. She was a bit overwhelmed by the crowds, although she did enjoy the carousel and had three rides on the little bus. She got to sit in a fire engine wearing a fire helmet as well, and had a little daisy chain painted on her wrist.

Everyone was there: Rob, Jemima and Ruby; Pete, Pasc, Sid and Fay; Jenny and Daniel; Tracy and Sam. Fay was decked out in an old lacy tablecloth that Pasc had turned into a dress, with rings on every finger, and she sat astride her motorcycle on the carousel, waving grandly to all the surrounding parents as if they were her adoring fans. She’s such a character…

Went out to J Sheekeys this evening to celebrate our seventh anniversary. We’d been for drinks at the Stillman’s earlier (two gin and tonics with half a teaspoon of tonic in them, tops) so there was no need for cocktails. I was tempted by practically everything on the menu.

After intense negotiation, we agreed to share the smoked anchovies with beetroot and horseradish, and scallops with bacon to start; red mullet with summer beans and salsa verde, and wild sea trout with steamed clams and samphire; and finished with raspberry trifle and the frozen Scandinavian berries with hot white chocolate sauce (I’ll definitely be trying that one at home).

The waiter recommended a very nice bottle of pinot blanc, and we had a glass of dessert wine as well. The service was impeccable, the food beautifully executed and refreshingly untrendy — it wasn’t served in teetering stacks half a foot high, and you could actually recognise the items you thought you’d ordered.

Continuing on our celebrity spotting roll, we spent the evening seated next to Neve Campbell. As always, she turned out to be smaller — and altogether “less” — in the flesh than on screen. She was out with three girlfriends, and sitting as close as we were (returning from the loos, I accidently sat on her handbag, and later she returned the favour and sat on mine), we heard most of their conversation. She seemed like a really nice, down-to-earth person, ate a healthy sized dinner with a few glasses of wine, and although there were ashtrays on the tables, politely checked with the waiter before lighting up. (So I got to inhale her secondhand smoke as well…:-))

As we were leaving, saying something about how my ears had pricked up when they started talking hockey, and ended up having a little chat about Canada.

June 18, 2004

No wonder babies are so happy. I spent my lunch hour commuting to Bond Street to do some shopping: the Disney Store for Nova’s birthday, and Adam’s Father’s Day and anniversary gifts. He’s been dropping Father’s Day hints like crazy this year. Actually dropping understates the case… He’s been bombarding me with explicit Father’s Day reminders. I did completely forget Father’s Day last year, and we don’t want that to happen again…;-)

Anyway, back to babies. On the journey back to the office, a woman got on with an eight-month old baby in a stroller. He had a huge, two-tooth grin, and I grinned right back at him, and started playing peekaboo with my book.

That is until the shameless hussy next to me made a play for his attention by reaching out and tickling his toes. The woman standing next to her was making funny, goggle-eyed faces, trying to crowd in on the action. These are the same London commuters who wouldn’t lift their eyes from their newspapers if you were to spontaneously combust in front of them. It must be lovely to be greeted with such adoration wherever you go…

Adam went off to babysit for Pete and Pasc this evening, and I stayed in with Nova. It’s their 10th anniversary, and they’re going out for a meal somewhere. They’re going to return the favour tomorrow, when we leave Nova with them and go out for an anniversary dinner ourselves.

June 17, 2004

Worked at home today. While Nova is waiting for her Thursday nursery place it’s a matter of fitting work around her as best I can…

She played pretty quietly for most of the morning, and I made good progress on a document I’d brought home. I made us pita bread sandwiches for lunch. Nova had hummus and I had chicken salad. I gave her a spoonful of chicken salad to try, and while she wasn’t crazy about it, she ate a couple of spoonfuls. I could see she was thinking about something, and eventually she turned to me and said, “I eat magpie! I eat robin! I eat jay! I eat wren! I eat thrush!!!” (We’ve been reading a book with lots of different birds in it…)

I’m trying a new technique for dealing with Nova’s continuing refusal to poop in the potty or toilet. When she snuck off after fifteen minutes of potty sitting and crapped her pants, I said cheerfully, “OK, Nova, you can help mommy clean up the poop now.”

I got her to pull down her loaded panties, and wipe the poop off the inside of her legs and feet, clean up what fell on the floor, and shake her panties over the toilet. I even showed her how to handwash her panties in the sink. I was really pleasant about it all, and helped her with all the bits she couldn’t manage. I’m hoping that it will help her appreciate the implications of crapping in her pants instead of the toilet. We’ll see…

Took Nova over to Ruby’s to play in the afternoon, and ended up watching the England match with Jemima’s brother. England achieved the result they needed (3-0), but it wasn’t a very impressive performance, although an Englishman would have you believe otherwise…

Rosalind (our student lodger) came up for dinner. I threw something together from the fridge that turned out pretty well: grilled salmon fillets on a bed of rice and stirfry, topped with a coriander-coconut chutney I made a while back.

It turns out she’s a KGV/Duchess Park/UBC alumnus as well, although she’s now at U of T studying law. She’s in London in the summer doing an internship at an organisation that specialises in human rights law.

June 16, 2004

Met up with an old colleague for a drink this evening. VB was my manager when I worked at Dorling Kindersley Multimedia and we’d always got on well together. I hadn’t seen her in ages, when I bumped into her at the swimming pool back in January. It has taken us that long to turn “we should go for a drink sometime!” into a reality.

We met up at the Woodsman, a local pub next to Highgate Tube station. It was a lovely evening, and we were able to sit outside, drinking and catching up. There’s been a trend over the last five years or so for London pubs to offer Thai food in the evening, so we ordered a couple of curries and stayed on until 10pm. I love summer…

June 15, 2004

Feeling much better this morning. Went to work and then for my workout once I’d fed Nova her dinner — that’s my Tuesday routine these days. It helps to have my workouts so rigorously scheduled, that way I don’t really think about whether I want to go or not.I finally got my three mile run under 30 minutes, although my 5k is still 30:45. I’m aiming to get that under 30 minutes as well, then I’ll stop working on speed, and push my short runs up to four miles.

June 14, 2004

Not a great start to my second week of full-time work. I was up in the night feeling sick and wasn’t much better when morning rolled round… Dave had stayed over, so we all had breakfast together, and I eased my way into the day, getting into the office about 11am.

As is often the case, I felt a lot better sitting around home in my nightie, than I did commuting on the Tube. It’s just as well I came in though, as there were a couple of key meetings I’d forgotten about that I wouldn’t have wanted to miss.

I was still feeling yucky when I got home, and didn’t fancy any dinner, but Adam made up a little plate and encouraged me to eat. Went to bed about 9pm. This has got to be more than a hangover…

June 13, 2004

Happy birthday dad!
Felt pretty lousy this morning. Because I blamed the wine, I was determined to go for my three and a half mile run anyway. It wasn’t much fun (spot the understatement) but I’m glad I did it. I have a belief that if I just do all the workouts scheduled between now and October the marathon will take care of itself.

After lunch we took Nova swimming at the gym. She’s doing so well with her water wings, and was paddling around the pool like crazy. I noticed that one of the wings was slightly deflated but it didn’t seem to make any difference. It occurs to me that that might be a good way to wean her off using water wings — just let more and more air out each week, until they aren’t keeping her afloat any more.

Bought party invitations at Woolworths on the way home. Nova has had her birthday list worked out for months now. While she’ll occasionally make an addition like cousin Ceinwen or Grandpa Ed, it’s been the same seven kids all along: Ruby, Fay, Zoe, Scarlett, Ben, Oliver. Just lately she’s started adding the baby as well. She labouring under the delusion that we are going to have a bouncy castle as well, which just isn’t a possibility with our slopy lawn…

Went over to Doron and Antonia’s in the afternoon for a family “meet the baby” tea with Adam’s mom, aunt Stella, and two cousins with their families. We had to leave about five, as Dave was coming round to watch the England-France game and have some supper. I threw together a couple of salads — it was too hot for anything else, besides I was still feeling so lousy that I was starting to suspect I might have come down with something.

It was a heartbreaker of a game, England went into extra time winning by a goal and ended up losing 2-1. At least it’s still the round robin stage of the competition.

June 12, 2004

Went for a twelve mile run this morning — my longest run ever. I was feeling a bit apprehensive, after having such a hard time with my ten mile run but it went really well. I didn’t get off as early as I’d planned, so it was a bit hotter than I would have liked, but I suppose I have to get used to running in those conditions. I deliberately kept it nice and slow. I started with two big loops around the main bit of Hampstead Heath, which takes about an 1:45:00, then added a loop up to Whitestone Pond and back.

Even though I felt a lot better than last week (I managed to bake biscuits with Nova when I got home), my energy really plunged after lunch, and I snuck off for an hour’s nap. This is really something new for me — I could count the afternoon naps I’ve ever had on one hand.

We had Trevor and Marni coming round for dinner, and had to nip out to do some grocery shopping once I got up again. We cooked quite a simple Italian meal: mixed bruschetta (tomato-basil, pesto; roast red pepper with mozzarella; rocket and Parmesan etc); orrechiette with broccoli, chilli and anchovy; and unbaked chocolate slice for dessert. Drank three bottles of wine as well… It’s funny — when Trevor and Marni moved here from Vancouver a couple of years ago they were very light drinkers, definitely not the kind of couple you’d get through three bottles of wine with. Living in London will do that to people…

June 11, 2004

Now that I’m working full time, Adam plans to spend Fridays at home with Nova. He called a couple of times to ask me about things, and once to tell me that Nova had turned to him and said, “thank you for loving me.” The beautiful little sweetie…

What a ghost town the office is on a Friday. I think I got a raw deal when Susan and I divvied up the work week. Most of the team went out for lunch and we didn’t see them for the rest of the day…

Went to the Phoenix with Pasc to see “I’m Not Scared”. Actually, I wasn’t that scared, although that was mostly because I’d read the book. Pasc spent a lot of time with her hands over her face.

June 10, 2004

I worked from home today. Nova’s Thursday nursery place is not confirmed until August, so I’ll have to work around her, and farm her out to friends until then. I went for a workout first thing, then hurried home so Adam could go to the Body Shop.

Sitting at the dinner table tonight, out of the blue Nova said, “Pan-ties! Nap-pies! Pull-ups! Pot-ty! Toi-let! Pee-pee! Poop-poop!” and laughed like a maniac. She got us to repeat it after her, making us say our part in unison. It’s probably something they did at nursery, using different words no doubt…

June 9, 2004

“Does my tummy have a name?” Nova asked me, at dinner tonight. “Yeah, Connie!” she said after a moment’s thought. Made me laugh…