June 2016

June 30, 2016

Happy anniversary, Wade and Gale!
Did a three-mile run, followed by some wind sprints. I don’t usually run two days in a row, but I’ve lost focus on my training plan what with Lyra’s surgery. I’m not sure what to do about that — I can’t get back on track in time to complete it all before my 10km run next month.Lyra has become obsessed with a brand called Santoro, which makes stationery and other merchandise aimed squarely at young girls. She’s been drooling over it online, and is keen to be parted with her pocket money in order to get her hands on their pencil case, mechanical pencils and calendar.

It’s lovely but over-priced, and even though pocket money is hers to do with what she will, I baulked at the idea of her paying a bunch of postage on top of that. The other day, I noticed a little shop on the Archway Road had some of their stuff in the window, and I took her down there after school today.

They didn’t have exactly what she was after, but it satisfied the itch. Plus I picked up a birthday present for Lily and something to send Greta with her get well card.

Made a Polish dessert called blueberry mazurka to represent Poland. Very similar to date squares, but with a blueberry-vodka filling. Hadn’t occurred to me that you could make that kind of cake with anything other than dates. Opens up a whole world of tasty possibilities…

June 29, 2016

Another shitty day on this godforsaken, damp and miserable rock. Not that I’m still upset about the referendum result or anything… It’s hard to get out of the playground after drop-off what with all the people wanting to share their upset about the referendum — took almost half an hour today.Did a tempo run — 25 minutes fast, sandwiched between two slow miles. I don’t much like speed workouts, but they are the only way to actually get faster. It’s been raining so much that the trail was pretty mucky, but at least it was cool…

Spent a good hour drafting a letter to my MP this afternoon. Adam has written today as well — a far more measured and diplomatic piece than I ended up sending. To some extent, our concerns are different.

Plus, as a Labour party member I had some things I wanted to express about the car crash that is happening around leadership — at the very time we need them to be strong, united and effective.

Cheese byrek for dinner — a remake from last week, because I’d accidently left the egg out of the cheese filling, resulting in a soupy, unphotographable mess… Did Lyra’s bedtime and the swimming pick-up, then settled down to finish I Heard The Owl Call My Name, which we are doing for book group this month.

Well, we’re supposed to be doing it. Turns out it’s difficult to find in this country, and some of the group have had trouble getting hold of a copy. Seems strange that a book that seems such a classic of Canadian literature (though written by an American), isn’t available for Kindle…

June 28, 2016

Funny I should have said that about Wimbledon… On the radio this morning, some wag said, “With the kind of week England is having, I full anticipate these headlines: Tuesday, Andy Murray crashes out of Wimbledon; Wednesday, Stonehenge falls down; Thursday, James Bond revealed to be a Russian double agent; and Friday, tea discovered to be bad for you.”

Headed into the office with Adam, where I made pretty good progress on the paper. It’s much easier to work there, although there were four of us in today, and the other three spend a lot of time chatting…

Got back to Highgate in time to collect Lyra. In the most unlikely coincidence, her friend Greta up in Arran has had to have her appendix out today. I was chatting to her mum yesterday, about an hour before their medical drama kicked off…

Lyra made Greta a lovely card, then we did a really good session of piano practice. I’d just said she could relax for half an hour and watch an episode of Horrible Histories when Adam got home.

He was in a foul temper, and launched straight into Lyra over her clutter on the coffee table. When he started bitching that he hasn’t been signing up for football because it clashes with the girls’ swimming, I said that he shouldn’t let that stop him as he barely does pick-ups any more.

That was the spark that ignited a blazing row between us, with him bellowing that he does ALMOST ALL THE PICKUPS!!!! before storming off to play football. Once I’d fed the girls and finished the clearing up, I sat down and looked through the calendar and this journal. There some downtime when the pool was shut, and some holiday, but of the weeks the girls swam, I’ve done all but a handful of the swimming runs this year. So there…;-)

June 27, 2016

Took Lyra to school, then did a 10km run on the Parkland Walk. Bumped into my friend Katie, who was visiting from Arran for the weekend, which was a good excuse for a breather and a catch-up…;-)Very wet and mucky underfoot, but I’ve got good shoes for that. Very stable and pretty waterproof as well — I wouldn’t plant my foot in the middle of a puddle, but I don’t have to pick my way gingerly either.

I was expecting Adam to have left by the time I got home, but he ended up working at home today. Now that it happens so rarely, it’s like a little treat. Did some preparation for Ray’s internship next week, and managed to get our taxes sent off as well — four months early, get us!

Italian food this evening. I’d been planning to make spaghetti al limone, but a necessary reshuffle of meals in the light of first-round results, made it expedient to eat our Hungarian meal last night, which involved noodles, and I wasn’t keen on pasta two nights in a row.

Made a lovely asparagus risotto instead, from a recipe I haven’t used in years — probably since Nova started eating meals with us. They are both old enough to enjoy (or at least eat) things like asparagus risotto now — though Lyra was definitely less enthusiastic than Nova. She’s not a big fan of any risotto actually, disliking the idea of eating rice and cheese together.

Sat down in front of the Iceland v England match after dinner. I’d made a few jokes about Iceland winning, but secretly expected England would muddle through somehow. But like that effing referendum, it was not to be. The Europeans must be laughing out of their asses…

The Game of Thrones finale did not disappoint, and revived our spirits (at least mine). Nova couldn’t give a toss about football, and Adam is probably still in mourning, though he’s putting on a brave face. Well, there’s always Wimbledon to look forward to…;-)

June 26, 2016

This car crash of a Brexit continues to unfold… Woke to the news that shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn has been sacked after informing Corbyn he has no confidence in his ability to lead the Labour party effectively.I’ve thought about it a lot, and I’m coming round to the opinion that I agree. I’m a big supporter of Corbyn, and have a lot of respect for him as a person and a politician, but I don’t think he’s proving to be an effective leader of the Labour party.

The situation may improve over time, but we might be facing an election in a few months. I don’t think he’s the right person to lead them anywhere near victory…

Did a Waitrose run with Lyra and Adam. It was pretty quick with the three of us scampering about the aisles, and we were home again in no time…

Chicken paprikash and noodles for dinner to mark the Hungary-Belgium match. It was nice enough, but a little mild for both Adam and me who neded to spice our portions up with a generous sprinkling of Tabasco sauce…

June 25, 2016

Thought for this morning… Why does the government have to accept the non-legally binding verdict of what is essentially a show of hands? I know it’s “the will of the people” and all that, but a scary number of people don’t seem to know what it was they were even voting on.Most of parliament is opposed to the idea, practically every expert from the world of finance, politics, and law say it will have serious negative consequences for the UK. You’d think the government might feel a responsibility to protect the people from themselves. And 51.9% in favour is hardly a ringing endorsement of the idea. You’d would also think the gormless numpties would have set a higher threshold, like 60%…

A hard 10km run didn’t do much to work off my excess of emotion. I think I’d have to run a lot farther than that. Or maybe out to South Thanet, or wherever the rock is that racist fuckwit of a Farage crawled out from and slap him upside the head. That might help…;-)

Adam took Lyra to skating for the first time since her op. Sounds like it went well — she felt a bit behind her group but she’ll soon catch up. After lunch, they headed off to Camden so Lyra could introduce Adam to the joys of bubble tea. Nova travelled into town for the Pride parade, then carried on to drama, and I stayed home to bake my bread.

I was also making a kind of Swiss tart for tonight’s dinner. Having translated the recipe from French with Google Translator, I was making things up as I went along to some extent. Had a mini crisis when the filling breached the rim of the dough, but managed to fortify the edges with the dough I hadn’t thought I’d need…

The Switzerland-Poland game so finely balanced, I thought it might be prudent to make the Polish dish instead, and try the Swiss one another day. But in the end, Poland edged it and I managed to save my gateau de Vully, so it was all good.

It’s proving very hard to tear ourselves away from the news coverage. As Adam says, it feels like one of those scenes in a movie where they scroll through a bunch of ground-shaking headlines in a matter of minutes to show the world responding to some disaster. Except it’s not a movie… Nearly midnight by the time we made it to bed…

June 24, 2016

Managed a couple of hours of fitful sleep eventually…I’m feeling so sad about the outcome of this idiotic referendum, which should have never been held. When that nasty, racist fuckwit of a Farage launched into a premature victory speech I burst into tears…Eventually the dawn broke excellent and fair, as if the torrential rain of yesterday was some sort of portent…

Dropped Lyra at school, then set out with Adam for an appointment with Nova’s form tutor about a strategy to improve her grades in maths and science. She’s not failing or anything like that, but they aim pretty high at her school.

The tutor was a very nice woman, who made encouraging noises about Nova, listened carefully to everything we said, and talked of “bedding down what Nova has covered in year 10 by the end of the summer. It sounds like she’s told Nova a bunch of the same things I did, but it’s often better to hear from an external source.

Adam dropped me in Hampstead on the way home, where I rounded up some birthday presents for the raft of parties Lyra will be attending in the next couple of weeks.

I’m feeling so very sad, and I may be projecting here, but everyone else looks sad too and sort of dazed. So different to that May morning in 1997 when Labour won a general election for the first time in about twenty years. London, most cities and Scotland are definitely out of step with the rest of the country on this one…

Caught the bus home with just time for a bit of belated breakfast, then headed up to the school. Lyra is attending the twins’ birthday party on the Heath, and I told their dad I’d come along to ensure she doesn’t do anything too strenous.

Together, Julian and I walked seventeen rambunctious nine-year-olds through the village and down the private road to the park. Teasing, tears, fights, a hair snagging incident… but we made it in the end.

The ones who drove or took the bus had arrived already, but as we had the birthday boys, things didn’t get underway until we turned up. There were two young guys organising games and activities. I had a word with the leader about Lyra (she couldn’t do the tug of war, for example) then left them to get on with it.

Millie’s boyfriend David had brought a six-pack, and I was grateful for a beer. I hadn’t eaten enough to have a second one, but did so anyway. Everyone is feeling shocked, sad, angry… It was hard to talk about anything else…

There’s a prevailing sense that Britain has really fucked things up, especially for the younger generation, who won’t be able to work and study in Europe the way Adam’s generation could…

I had no interest in cooking, so we ordered a couple of pizzas for dinner. Spent the evening dividing my time between social media and watching the final episode of Blue Eyes — the Swedish drama about the rise of the far right. So depressing to think that it’s fucking happening here…:-(

June 23, 2016

Today’s the referendum on whether Britain should remain in the European Union. It seems like such a no-brainer to me, and I am angry that it was ever presented as a referendum at all…Went along to cast my ballot first thing, then headed out for a run. It’s been five days, and it was good to get out there. Our school was a polling station as usual, so Adam stayed with Lyra until I got back.

Lyra was happy to her own thing for a change, which meant I was able to get some work done. Her friend Nina (who lives in our street) popped round, and the pair of them painted ponies and watched the Minion movie, which passed the afternoon.

After feeding my girls, I headed into town to meet Adam for our anniversary dinner. It’s been pouring with rain all afternoon — Biblical stuff at some points — and the transit system was in disarray. Occurs to me that this rotten weather can’t have helped get the vote out…:-(

Had trouble finding the restaurant in Piccadilly, and remembering the name slightly wrong, was unable to Google it. Plus Adam wasn’t answering his phone, being stuck on the tube himself.

Got there in the end, and set my mood to rights with a delicious cocktail. Sakenohana serves high-end Japanese food in very stylish surroundings. We were taking advantage of a fixed-price deal, which made it much more affordable. It was nice for the two of us to go out for a meal together — something we’ve fallen out of the habit of doing…

All that happy feeling was lost shortly after we sat down to watch the referendum results come in. In spite of an exit poll predicting that “remain” would win, it soon became apparent that it was heading the other way…

Stopped watching about 2:30am — it was just too depressing. Carried on listening to the radio in bed, hoping that something would come into play and make it alright, but no. What the fuck have they done…?

June 22, 2016

Lyra came in our room for a morning cuddle with me before school, something she still does pretty frequently. Perusing the books on Adam’s bedside table, she observed, “You know how dad said he was going to do more reading this year? There is DUST on his novel!” Made me laugh…

Made further progress on my working hours paper — finally starting to come together. What with half term and then the appendix thing, I’ve not been able to focus properly on it for a while…

Russian leftovers and a kladdkaka (sticky Swedish chocolate cake) for dinner. The cake was nice enough, although I slightly overcooked it. It was meant to be slightly squidgy and some of it was, but not enough of it…

Adam was out at backgammon this evening, so the swimming run fell to me again. I left Lyra on her own this time, which actually I do most weeks. It’s only for about fifteen or twenty minutes, and I’m never more than a few minutes away.

Beautiful pinky-red sky tonight as we were driving home. I’m loving these long evenings…

June 21, 2016

Happy 19th anniversary to us! Who’d a thunk it? 🙂
We were planning to go out tonight, but had change of plans as the logistics were getting too complicated. Rescheduled for Thursday instead…Lyra returned to school this morning. Her friends were very excited to see her, she was mobbed the minute we entered the playground. After briefing the teacher on what she should and shouldn’t do, I met adam at the bus stop so we could travel into the office together.

It was really nice to get some proper space and time to focus work again. I didn’t have many hours because of school pick up, but better than nothing…

Made Turkish pide and chopped salad for dinner. Freddy and Beulah came round with an anniversay present — a beautiful book of Japanese woodblock prints. It’s huge — a real coffee table number. It’s about a third of the size of our coffee table actually…

They ended up joining us for dinner, which was very pleasant aside from when Freddy had an alarming choking incident…

After eating, Adam headed out to an event at the school to muster support and involvement with the refugee crisis. It was meant to be an hour and a half, but he still wasn’t home when it was time for the swimming run.

Freddy and Beulah were still here, and even though Lyra was already in bed, they stayed until I got back. Feeling a little narked at Adam actually…

June 20, 2016

Decided to keep Lyra home from school for a couple more days. Now that her incision is uncovered, I can see that it hasn’t completed knitted together at one end. Also, it’s sports day on Tuesday, which she won’t be able to participate in, so it makes sense just to start back on Wednesday…Though the way it’s raining, it seemed possible they would have to cancel sports day anyway. And in fact an email to that effect came round this afternoon. So now she is going back tomorrow…

We’re having Ben round for Russian food (and the England v Slovakia match) this evening — did my cooking early so as to be able to photograph it without interfering with socialising or watching.

Made a big pot of borscht (which is always better for sitting awhile) and the delightfully named herring under a fur coat — a layered salad that involved herring (but no fur, thankfully).

Ben arrived bearing bagels he’d brought back from New York and the remainder of his mum’s 80th birthday cake. We settled down in front of the telly with our spread of Russian food and glasses of Russian lager. Unfortunately, the food was a lot better than the football…

“What did God actually do after he invented the world?” Lyra asked me at bedtime. “Has he done anything? It’s like every day is Sunday to him.” She should share that observation at Sunday school…:-)

June 19, 2016

Fatherless Day today… And no Adam around to provide focus and distraction…
I was about to leave for my morning run when there was an almighty crash in the girls room. I rushed in to find Lyra’s desk toppled over, stuff and broken glass everywhere.”What happened?” I asked. Turned out she was standing on it to chat to Nova on the top bunk, but saved herself from falling by clinging to the railing. Not a bright move, but at least she wasn’t hurt. The clean-up delayed me by about an hour though.

I flew straight into making an Ulster fry-up when I got back, using the bits and pieces left over from last weekend. Breakfast for two divided between three, but still too much for us to finish.

I let Nova cry off the cinema trip to see When Marnie Was There, the latest (and maybe last) Studio Ghibli film. Lyra and I both loved it. It was mysterious and very sad. I almost figured it out, but not quite… It’s based on an English novel of the same name. I’ll have to look that one up, and maybe read it with Lyra.

Adam returned about two minutes after got home. Fortunately Nova had wrapped his present, and both girls made cards. He obviously had nice weather at least some of the time (after the inevitable soaking on Friday), as his pate is looking pretty red. I suspect he forgot to pack his do-rag…;-)

Helped Nova’s with some homework to design a physics experiment on levers. To say she’s resistant to the beauty of physics is an understatement. “That’s mechanical advantage, see?” I said, demonstrating how much easier it was to raise a tealight when you pushed the pencil at the end instead of near the pivot.

“I don’t have to know that,” Nova replied. “I think you do — that’s the whole point of the experiment.” “No, I don’t,” Nova insisted. “Just because you don’t have to know something, you might still want to know it.” I countered. “Well, I don’t…”
End of conversation…

Adam and I made a run to the newish Russian deli at the bottom of North Hill in preparation for tomorrow’s dinner. They had a great selection, and we bought fish roe, beautiful salted salmon, beets, pickles and Russian beers.

Tonight was Albanian food: tarator (a cold yogurt and cucumber soup), cheese byrek (filo pastry things), and a chopped salad, with strawberries and ice cream for dessert.

We were watching the football highlights, which featured some great goals from past tournaments. “Oh my god! When was this?” Lyra cried. “1982,” Adam told her. “Their shorts are disgusting! Nova likes to wear short shorts and she wouldn’t even wear ones as short as that!”

Did more work on Adam’s contacts while he did a rare bedtime with Lyra. Ended up working until almost 1am — I need to do it on Adam’s computer, which he will need to use tomorrow…

June 18, 2016

I was planning to run this morning, but the weather was shitty as per usual, plus I’m trying to do this massive clean-up of Adam’s contacts database while he’s away.Optimistically I expected it might take a few hours, but it’s looking more like eight or ten. I thought I’d do a half hour before setting off, and was still sitting there in my running clothes amending email addresses three hours later…

Between us, we finished off the cherry bublanina for breakfast — those Czechs are onto something…;-) Millie dropped round with the class card, which had some very sweet messages. The verdict seems to be that the classroom is very quiet without Lyra.

We’d thought of going to to cinema at noon, but by the time Millie finally showed up it was too late. Lyra took it badly, but it was always going to be tight with Nova’s drama class at 3pm…

Took Lyra to Camden Town instead. Once we’d bought some American Apparel underwear as a father’s day present for Adam, we cruised the market stalls. Lyra bought a new teeshirt with her pocket money, then we went for bubble tea. She was looking pretty cool in her new leather jacket and motorcycle boots, and received two compliments from complete strangers.

Popped into Gap, where I bought her new outfit in the sales, then caught the bus home to make dinner. Austria today — schnitzel and boiled potatoes, which is a firm favourite with the girls. It’s the most I’ve seen Lyra eat in weeks…

We peeled off some of Lyra’s bandage for the first time this evening. We were going to remove it all, but we both lost our nerve when we saw how angry and raw it still looked. “I’m scared of myself!” Lyra said, looking at it.

Had a fight with Nova about her wanting to trek off to Harrow to rehearse drama with her group. I’d said she couldn’t go, as she’d been away for a week and it was father’s day tomorrow, among other things.

Also, I wanted her to go to the film with us, but she was determined to work with her friends online instead. She kept pushing me about it, before storming off, slamming the door and eventually going to bed without saying goodnight. I hate it when she does that (which I suppose is why she does it)…

June 17, 2016

Adam set off first thing for his walking weekend in the Lake District. When he asked me to think of things he needed to take, I suggested rain trousers. “Where are my rain trousers?” he asked. When I said I had no idea, and couldn’t drop what I was doing to search the house, he decided not to take them, thus guaranteeing himself a good soaking…We were going to visit Marli today, but Veronika is still feeling very fragile after all the stress around the surgery, so we didn’t. She dropped by briefly, and I gave her the rest of the cabbage rolls and a few little gifts for Marli…

Made something called cherry bublanina (or bubble cake), which proved to be excellent. I’ll be making that again, mos def…

“Why is kidnapping even a thing when there’s adoption?” Lyra asked me today, bless her innocent little heart. I told her that adoption can take a very long time, and sometimes people don’t want to wait, which is true.

Went to a dinner at the house of one of the “walking wives”, as we call ourselves. Nice enough evening, but really the main thing we have in common as a group is our husbands’ annual walking weekend. (Not that they have much in common themselves, aside from walking…)

Lynn has seven cats, a tortoise and two guinea pigs. Once I tell Lyra, she’ll be on my case to bring her round to meet them…

June 16, 2016

Lyra was on good form this morning. She didn’t have any pain medication at all yesterday, and says she’s almost back to normal. It’s getting harder and harder to keep her from doing gymnastics — she’s went to do something a dozen times, before remembering.Beulah came round to sit with her for a couple of hours while I went out. Left them playing Ludo and bantering away, and drove to Waitrose, where I did a good-sized shop that should take us well into next week.

Adam is off on his dad’s walking weekend tomorrow, but Nova will be home, so she can stay with Lyra if I go for a run or whatever. She gets back to the school after midnight. Jess’ mum will drop her home, but we’ll want to wait up to see her…

Jemima popped round for a cup of tea, after which I walked Lyra over to Lily’s for a playdate. It’s her first time out of the house, and she was really excited about it. I talked to her yet again about not doing anything strenuous, and then to Lily and her mum as well. It should be fine — I’m likely being over-cautious, but I’d hate for her to get a hernia or something after doing so well…

Made cabbage rolls for dinner to represent the Ukraine. They were never a favourite of mine, but I was pleasantly surprised by these, and would happily make them again.

Pasc popped round to see the patient, bearing gifts and keen to hear the whole story. People have certainly been making a big fuss of our little girl, which is nice — it’s quite a big thing to have an open appendectomy…

June 15, 2016

Adam delayed his departure this morning so that I could go for a run. It’s probably okay to leave Lyra on her own for a bit, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing that for a couple more days…

Walking up the path, I realised that it’s the first time I’ve been outside (aside from collecting the milk or putting something in the bin) since Lyra came home from hospital.

I’ve missed three runs on my schedule, so did the one I was meant to do last Saturday — a slow three-miler with some sprints at the end. My legs felt great for the break, and I had to make an effort to slow myself down. I definitely felt a lot better for the exercise…

Lyra is feeling perkier herself, and aside from a bit of tentativeness in how she holds her body, is almost back to normal. Increasingly, she has to stop herself from doing the sort of stretches and gymnastic movements she used to do non-stop.

We tackled some homework her teacher has sent this morning, making an accurate 1/10th size drawing of herself. I took her measurements, which she then scaled down before carefully making her drawing on graph paper.

Grace popped round with her dad, to bring Lyra a party bag from the pony party she’s missing this weekend and a copy of Madeline, who also has her appendix out. On top of that, Lyra received gifts in the post from Greta and Ali today…

Tonight’s Slovakian potato pancakes were nothing to get excited about, though we all quite liked the sauerkraut with apples that accompanied it. Ended up watching it in front of France v Albania, which was a cracking match. Albania (very much the underdog) gave them a good challenge, but ultimately France sent them on their way…

June 14, 2016

I’m feeling very depressed this morning… A hangover from yesterday — which I was braced for — perhaps, or that blip in taking my hormones? It was all I could do to get myself out of bed…It didn’t help that Adam had set the alarm to go off at 6am. When I snarked about it, he said he thought he might go swimming, which he never does two days in a row. Yesterday, I thought I might go for a run this morning, but not at that hour, and by the time Adam was back from the pool, the moment had passed…

I attacked the housework instead, putting my annoyance and energy into that. Beulah helpfully offered to come and sit with Lyra for a couple of hours so I could do some grocery shopping. Nice of her, but it does mean I have to have the house up to standard before she arrives.

Veronika came round for a brief visit. She’s feeling post-traumatic in the wake of Marli’s surgery, which is completely understandable. Marli’s operation puts something like an early appendix operation into perspective — she’s had her sternum split in two so that her pulmonary artery could be bisected and reconstructed.

Cod with egg and butter sauce for the Iceland game. Took mercy on Lyra and made her some pesto pasta, though she did have a taste so she could contribute to the voting.

June 13, 2016

Happy birthday, Dad — you would have been 85 today…
Woke to Lyra yelling for me from her room. Adam had gone to swimming pool, and closed the bedroom door I’d left open overnight.I leapt up, thinking something serious might have happened, but it was nothing serious. Her throat is still bothering her a lot and she wanted to vent about it. (The thought that it would probably feel better for not yelling her head off occurred to me, but wouldn’t have been helpful to share at that stage…)

Brought her a spoonful of manuka honey, and whizzed up a cold smoothie for breakfast. With that exciting start, it was mid-afternoon before I remembered to take my gel…

Made an Irish barmbrack this afternoon. It was a challenge getting all the fruit and tea incorporated and I ended up adding a fair amount of extra flour to get it to work, resulting in a monster of a loaf.

In retrospect I should probably have divided the dough into two. It was really tasty, but I was still a bit cross with it, and scored it down. I’m sure it will be very nice toasted…

Clam chowder for dinner, in dad’s memory. Turned out pretty well, though not quite the same…

June 12, 2016

I slept surprisingly well on my little camp bed — as in, I actually managed to get a bit of sleep. A croupy baby was admitted in the middle of the night, and the mum by the window was a prodigious snorer, but with my ear plugs I managed to sleep for as much as an hour at a time…Got up at 6:30am when Lyra woke. Her colour is so much better this morning. I gave her some water and we chatted for a bit. Eventually she gingerly got out of bed and moved about a little.

She’s obviously in pain, but Lyra’s a tough little nut, and determined to get back on her feet. It’s the right attitude — in my experience, they don’t let you out of hospital until you are able to walk to the toilet unaided.

Adam turned about 8:30 with a big flask of coffee (bless his heart), bananas, the Sunday papers and a magazine for Lyra. Nova got away on her Seville trip on schedule, and will be in the air now…

The surgeon came round in the morning to discuss the how the operation went with us. It all sounds good, and he felt Lyra was fine to go home. We had to wait for the paediatrican to discharge us formally, which is never quick. Read the whole weekend paper, and then some, before he turned up…

Lyra was feeling better by the hour, and was pretty chipper so long as she didn’t think about all the things she’ll have to miss out on over the coming weeks. She enjoyed playing with the settings on her bed, and watched a couple of episodes of The Next Step on her personal telly.

Doron, Antonia and the kids popped in for a visit, which gave Lyra a lift (and a big chocolate bar). We were discharged just after lunch. While Adam headed off to get the car from Eytan’s, I walked down to the front with Lyra. It was a while before he turned up, but we didn’t mind. Even with the drizzle, it was nice to be out in the fresh air.

When we got home, I rearranged Lyra’s room, clearing her sidetable, finding her a water with a lid and straw, and placing her books and the ipad to hand. She’s meant to be on a soft diet for 24 hours — for her through as much as anything.

I left her to relax, and went upstairs to make us something to eat — an Ulster fry, was just right after a heavy night (even one that didn’t involve drinking). It finished Adam off for a couple of hours. He had a lousy night’s sleep as well, what with getting Nova off on her trip. I also made some vanilla ice cream and raspberry jelly for Lyra to eat later…

I realised at bedtime that I’d forgotten to do my cream for the first time. Decided there wasn’t any point in doing it at that point — I’ll pick up again tomorrow…

June 11, 2016

Lyra didn’t look at all well when she got up this morning. She was moving very gingerly and had shocking dark circles under her eyes. She was upset about not going ice skating and particularly to her new gymnastics class, but she still had the pain in her stomach and wouldn’t want her to injure herself further.”She’s not right,” I said to Adam, and when eating a modest breakfast made her feel sick, we called 111. The pain is focussed on her lower left side now, which got us both wondering about appendicitis. After a call back from the out-of-hours GP, we decided to take her to A&E.

i’d been thinking along the same lines, and started remembering incidents like the vomiting at Charlotte’s party, or her talk of something that sounded like a hernia last week. Because of the incessant gymnastics, we all put it down to muscle strain.

A&E wasn’t particularly busy, and Lyra was triaged in about fifteen minutes. They immediately put a canula in her hand in case she was admitted for surgery, drew some blood and collected a urine sample. After that we waited for a consultation with a doctor, followed by a surgeon. In his view, there was an 80% chance it was appendicitis, and he ordered an ultrasound to try to confirm it.

Took a good hour to be seen… Adam had gone home by this point, and Lyra and I passed the time reading her novel, studying the wallpaper, and talking about what would happen if she had her appendix out.

Lyra has a habit of cracking her knuckles, which drives me crazy. “You can’t mind me cracking my knuckles if theres a good chance that I’m going to get my appendix out,” she said, cracking away…

The technician spent a long time examining Lyra’s organs, but was unable to find the appendix — not uncommon apparently, as it’s often hidden behind the bowel. He did detect enlarged lymph nodes in the area as well as unexplained fluid. In his opinion it was 50% likely to be appendicitis, and 50% likely to be adenitis (a swelling ofe lymph glands due to a viral infection).

That was good enough for the surgeons, and we were taken straight up to the ward after that. The surgeon and anaesthetist returned to talked Lyra through what was going to happen, said they’d be calling for her shortly, then… nothing.

It was about 3pm when we spoke to them — it had gone 6pm and hadn’t heard anything. Lyra was working herself into a state. Hungry, in pain, bored, and anxious, she kept asking, “Do you think they forgot about me?” and “Why did they lie to us?”

I spoke to our nurse and she called down to see what was going on. They claimed to be waiting on the results of a blood test, but within ten minutes someone arrived to wheel her down to surgical suite. I’m skeptical that would have happened so promptly if the nurse hadn’t checked for us…

In the anaesthesia room, Lyra was hooked her to monitors, given a blast of oxygen, then put under. The nurse said she would call when Lyra was ready to wake up so we went home for a bit. I saw Nova briefly before she headed out babysitting — she’s off to Seville in the middle of the night, so I won’t see her again until next Friday.

Threw together our planned meal of Glamorgan sausages, and watched the first have of the England v Russia match before the nurse called. We raced back there, and met our nurse Sophie, who was waiting outside to lead us to the recovery room.

They had kept Lyra asleep until I was there to wake her. I stroked her cheek and said her name until she stirred. Just barely conscious, she mumbled that she just wanted to sleep and closed her eyes again.

Back on the ward, she dozed for the next several hours, except when the nurse needed to wake to take some medicine, or start a drip for fluids. Adam left about 10pm — only one parent is allowed to stay overnight, plus one of us needed to get Nova to her school at 3am…

Lyra’s temperature continued to climb for a few hours after the surgery. Not terribly alarming, but something they needed to monitor. More worrying to me was her skin, which looked both waxen and blotchy. I was concerned she might be reacting badly to one of the drugs they’d given her.

Around midnight, Sophie set up a little cot at the end of Lyra’s bed and I settled down to sleep for a bit. The ward was uncomfortably warm, and pretty noisy. The earplugs I’d thought to bring, barely took the edge off it…

June 10, 2016

Went to a boxing class with Millie this morning. It was at a proper boxing club off Stroud Green Road. I was a bit nervous about it, not knowing what to expect and having a phobia about getting hit on the nose.When I was hemming and hawing, I said to Lyra,”What if I get hit?” Her advice? “Hit them back. Harder. That’s what I’d do!” I’m sure she would, too…;-)

To my surprise, I absolutely loved it, and was pretty good too. Millie told me afterwards that the instructor said to her, “Thanks for bringing someone so talented.” 🙂

To kick of the European football championships, I cooked up a Romanian feast for dinner (well, a spread of salads really)…;-)

Lyra’s not feeling very well — she thinks she pulled a muscle doing gymnastics last night, and her stomach is aching. I suggested a warm bath, which didn’t help at all — in fact, it seems to have made her worse…

June 9, 2016

Bumped into my friend Silvia on my run this morning. I was into my cool-down by this point and happy to stop for a chat…Made a trip to Waitrose to stock up on groceries to be ready to start in on the Euro 2016 cooking tomorrow. I’ve drawn up a menu plan that has me cooking only on the days that there are games scheduled. I’ll just feed whoever ends up being around and let those folks do the scoring. If I try to accommodate everyone’s schedules, I’ll still be Euro-cooking in September…

Banh mi for dinner — a big family fave. I had a tiny single meatball one to tide me over, as I was meeting Jane for drinks and tapas at El Parador. She had her day in court with Gerry over his attempt to renegotiate their divorce settlement. Things went very much in her favour, and what could have been a misery drink turned into a jolly celebration…:-)

June 8, 2016

It’s the second day of the Ethical Business conference. Adam went with our colleague Jane yesterday, and it’s my turn to attend. Adam went early, but I needed to get Lyra to school, and joined him half way through the keynote.Ended up walking to the tube station with a mum from Lyra’s class who I don’t know very well. I can’t remember how we got onto the subject of building projects in London, but I had a mini-rant about a redevelopment in Floral street that appalled me when I came across it a few months back. Turns out she’s on the architects leading on that project, which was awkward…:-(

The conference was very interesting. Adam was in heavy networking mode, and we didn’t spend much time together. I had a few conversations with people, but mostly just enjoyed the presentations. It’s good to do something like that once in a while…

Travelled home on the tube together afterwards. Bumped into a friend on the platform — it’s surprising how often that happens. I went straight home to make dinner, while Adam collected Lyra from an after-school club at Highgate Primary and took her straight to swimming.

Dinner made, I drove to the pool, collected them both and dropped Adam at his governor’s meeting. I thought I’d be heading back to the pool to pick up Nova and Evelyn from swim club, but Adam got back just in time…

June 7, 2016

Bit of contact lens drama with Nova yesterday… She had problems getting one of them in yesterday morning, and come evening more trouble getting it out. Turns out she hadn’t managed to put the lens in her eye at all, and all that poking and prodding her cornea made it sore…I oversaw her efforts today. Like anybody who’s not used to lenses, she has a natural inclination to avert her eye when her finger approaches, and kept jamming the lens against her eyelashes. We got there in the end… She’s off to the opticians after school to pick up her new glasses, and discuss contact lens options following this trial period

Keen to get back on track with my running programme, I decided to do today’s scheduled four miles plus wind sprints. My legs felt pretty heavy but I chugged around okay, except for the sprinting part. Couldn’t find much energy to put into that…

I’ve noticed that bread rises so much faster in this hot weather — too fast really, and was noticeably flabbier when it was time to bake. While these unusual summer-like conditions continue, I’ll try to do the rising in the fridge to recreate the normal climactic conditions in our house…;-)

Major thunderstorms this afternoon. I usually like that sort of thing, but since all of that drama on the continent, I’m feeling a bit wary. Lily came back to ours for a impromptu playdate. Made them fish fingers for dinner, which I unearthed from the back of the freezer. There much less specifically “kid-friendly” food here now…

Adam was out so I read to Lyra early and popped her in bed when it was time to collect Nova from swimming…

June 6, 2016

I was dead to the world when Lyra came in this morning, in the midst of such an intense dream it took me several minutes to surface…With some pretty strong encouragement/abuse from Adam, I eventually set off to do the eight mile run I’d dodged yesterday. I had a route in mind, but soon realised it would be too tempting to stop early. That Everest-like slope next to the Boogaloo would have done for me.

Instead, I ran the Park Walk, then did three laps round Finsbury Park before heading for home. I finished about half a mile from the end of the path, which meant a long cool-down, but that’s no bad thing…

Once I’d showered, dressed and so on, I sat down to my computer properly for the first time in days. The emails piling up, I’m dreadfully behind on the journal and food postings, not to mention my paid work…

Zaru soba — cold buckwheat noodles with seaweed and a dipping sauce — for dinner. To my surprise, the girls loved it. Owing to a mistranslation on the back of the noodle package, I ended up making enough for an army, but both girls are keen to have it as bentos tomorrow, so that works ok.

After we finished reading Anne of Green Gables, Lyra announced that she wants to read more of those kind of books — old fashioned ones — with me, as she can read modern books on her own. To that end, we then read Island of the Blue Dolphins, which we both loved. Next up, John Steinbeck’s The Red Pony, a copy I’ve had since my childhood that was once mum’s before that. Kind of special to be reading it with my daughter…

Tonight’s episode of GOT was much more exciting than the last one. But Nova is now reading so much fan theory material that we pretty much know what’s going to happen. In fact, I have a fan theory of my own — the Game of Thrones PR team is seeding the fan forums to whip the frenzy to a fine froth…

June 5, 2016

I was exhausted this morning after last night’s excitement. Adam made a rare trip to church with Lyra while I lay in bed trying to summon the enthusiasm to go for a run. It didn’t happen, and I blame that mosquito…;-) Anyway, it’s good for Adam to make the occasional church appearance. He really should be doing it more, given he’s their elected school governor.For brunch, I fried up last of the Muddy Boots meat, which I supplemented with baked beans for the girls. Afterwards, we watched Djokovic and Murray battle it out in the French final.

I thought Murray might stand a good chance this time. They haven’t got much of a track record on clay, and there was a lot of pressure on Djokovic to achieve the career grand slam, which I hoped would put him off a bit. Patently not… after dropping the first set, he whupped Murray’s ass…

The weather has turned nice after that ridiculous cold front. When I talked to Doron this morning, he told me that it was the same temperature on June 1st in London as it was on Christmas Day.

The girls decided to make biscuits this afternoon, so after finding all the ingredients, I left them to it. Returned to find them sitting on the kitchen floor, mixing bowl between them and cookie trays on their laps, rolling biscuits with their hands. I accept that our kitchen is short on counter space, but that just won’t do…

Adam cooked lamb chops for dinner, which we had with Costco slaw and corn on the cob. Delicious, but very messy, and all the napkins and placemats went straight into the laundry after only one use.

Girls back to school tomorrow — it’ll be good to get back into the groove…

June 4, 2016

Not enough sleep…:-( The little girls were up early, and needed feeding as Grace had to leave for her ballet class at 9am. I managed to summon the energy to go for a run — my first in a few days — and felt a bit better for it.Nova had an appointment in Finchley to replace the glasses she broke on her D of E expedition. She was also fitted for contact lenses, and given five days’ worth, so she can see how she gets on. I took the opportunity to get some groceries in from the Polish shop and Tesco.

Made a Thai chicken red curry with noodles for dinner. It was tasty, but there wasn’t enough of it. Watched the fifth Harry Potter film while we ate. It’s one of the better one, introduces the Ministry of Magic and the wider political situation in the wizarding world.

Took occasional breaks to eat the Bertie Botts every-flavour beans we bought the other day. They aren’t kidding about the flavours… As well as cherry, lemon sherbet and marshmallow, you get grass, dirt, sausage, earthworm, earwax and vomit.

The girls had eaten some for their midnight feast last night, and deliberately avoided the nasty ones, so the odds were dangerously high for our blind tasting:

Clockwise from top left: Earthworm, Ear Wax, Rotten Egg, Vomit

A bit of drama in the bedroom this evening…;-) Just after 1am, Adam woke me up yelling that I had to help him, as he had something in his ear. No idea what it was, but it was really loud and painful and he was pretty frantic.

After a bit of rushed research on the internet, we decided to try to float it out with water. No dice… In the absence of mineral oil, I tried olive oil next, figuring that might at least kill the little bastard.

Remembering the hydrogen pyroxide from my ear troubles in Bahrain, I gave Adam a good shot of that and left it to bubble away for several minutes. I was gingerly swabbing it out, when I noticed something on my finger. Gave me a bit of a fright, before I realised it was a very bedraggled mosquito — one of those enormous ones we’ve been seeing around this spring. I certainly wouldn’t have wanted that in my ear…

June 3, 2016

Adam worked from home today. He has lots to get back on top of things after a couple of days away, including his presentation for the conference we’re attending next week, which I’m helping with.Nova returned from her sleepover in time for lunch. Tricolore salad — just like being back in Rome…pah!

Worked until 6pm and managed to send the presentation to the organisers, then set off to Warner Brothers studio for our 6:30 tour, with the girls and Lyra’s friend Grace. The traffic was crap, but once past the North Circular it improved…

It was a pretty good idea to visit at the end of the day. Despite being half-term, it was less busy than our previous visit. It really is a terrific thing to do, and the girls all loved it. There were a couple of new attractions as well — you can go inside 4 Privet Drive and the Hogwarts Express now.

Adam and I were invited round to Will and Sara’s for a barbeque this evening. I ordered a pizza for the girls’ dinner as we were belting down the motorway home — it arrived a couple of minutes after we did. Left the little girls in Nova’s care and set straight out again.

I was drizzling by this point and poor Will was out in his dark, wet backyard attempting to grill things. As with all British barbies in my experience, it took forever to get the food on the table, at it was almost ten thirty by the time we sat down to eat. At least it was delicious — grilled sea bass, Muddy Boots burgers, and salads.

The two other couples were both nice, but having arrived earlier, they also left before we did. Sat aroundtalking until almost 2am… I’m going to be tired tomorrow. Though I sensibly stuck to white wine (aside from a nip of vodka at the end of the evening…)

June 2, 2016

The three of us all slept in a bit today — must have needed it. After making some eggs for breakfast, I sat down with Nova to do some math revision. That’s going to be a regular feature of life around here until she has that GCSE exam behind her…

Chickpea pasta soup for dinner. Nova headed over to Iris’s house for a sleepover, so once I got Lyra down I had the evening to myself. Adam wasn’t due home until about midnight.

I’m drinking very little these day, but indulged in a glass of white wine and finished my danish crime drama. Simple pleasures…

June 1, 2016

Forgot to say “rabbits” this morning. Not that I’m superstitious, but I’m always a bit disappointed when I miss my chance for a bit of extra luck…;-)The weather is slightly less bad today, which is good news for Nova’s outing to Brighton to celebrate Shira’s birthday. Adam headed out for a meeting, which meant I had to leave Lyra on her own while I did my run.

Felt pretty good — I’ve done lots of walking in the interim, and it’s good to mix things up a bit. I should probably do that more, but running is cheap and easy — like me! — and it’s a good fit.

Time for a quick shower before it was time to drop Lyra round Alice’s for a playdate. The plan was for them to do go bicycling on the Parkland walk. Although the weather is iffy, they decided to do it anyway.

Adam popped home briefly then set off for Switzerland — he’ll be back late tomorrow. Tackled some housework, which managed to use up all the time until I needed to go collect Lyra.

Sounds like the cycling went okay. She fell off at one point avoiding a dog or something, but otherwise a success. She’s just needs to do it more regularly and build up her confidence.

Korean beef for dinner — sort of an Asian version of my dad’s hamburger mince gravy. Nice enough… Started my menopause book — very interesting stuff. I’m learning lots, and identifying things I hadn’t even thought to connect to it.