March 2014

March 31, 2014

We’re all feeling pretty sluggish this morning. Even a one-hour change in the clocks takes some getting used to… I didn’t feel ready to face the other parents in the playground — fortunately Adam was around to do the school run.Not the bonding experience we were after when we organised those class drinks, at least from my point of view. I’m considering whether to issue a blanket apology by email to anyone I may have bored, lied to, or flirted with over the course of the evening, but it might jog people’s memories. My only hope is that everyone else was as drunk as me…

Logged a five mile run before breakfast. It wasn’t the glorious weather we had all weekend (and I was too hungover to take advantage of) but it was warm and dry, which makes a nice change. My mind is bubbling over with all the things I need to do before we head for Japan next week… Suddenly it’s right on top of us…

Put in some work on the Junxion website. There’s lots to do before we launch it on Wednesday. I have two other projects with pressing deadlines as well. It’s going to be a crazy week or so.

We’re pretty much out of food, so I did a Tesco run in the afternoon to use up some coupons they’ve sent us. It’s our best source of air miles as well — I wish Waitrose did those…

Finished the first Narnia book this evening, which Lyra really enjoyed. I’m impressed — the language is quite dense and old fashioned. It triggers interesting conversations, like the one we had on communism yesterday, and or tonight’s discussion about free will…

March 30, 2014

It’s Mothers Day in the UK this morning. The clocks went forward for daylight savings last night, and my family were all slumbering like bears when I woke. Got up and made the coffee and a batch of apple cinnamon muffins, while Adam sloped off to the village for a card and bunch of flowers.We had a table booked for brunch at Cote, but I didn’t really fancy it, as it feels like we’ve been eating out a lot lately. Decided to go for a walk on the Heath instead, followed by an ice cream.

I’m really scraping around for food at the moment, as I’m trying to keep the grocery purchasing to a minimum before we go to Japan. Lunch was takeaway samosas from the deli and half a leftover enchilada each. For dinner, I thawed a package of turkey escalopes, which I tonkatsu’d and served them with steamed Japanese rice and pickled ginger.

Did some Japanese itinerary planning in the afternoon. It’s looking like the Studio Ghibli Museum is going to be hard to get tickets to, but I’m sure we’ll manage. Also sent emails to a few Japanese friends. I wasn’t going to do that, but then thought, why not? Sent emails to Kaz (who spent a year living in Vancouver and even had Christmas with us in Prince George), Masao, and Steve — the guy I used to work for in Yokohama.

Lyra was keen to watch an animé movie after dinner — we settled on The Cat Returns, which is a good one and not too long. Had an interesting conversation with Lyra about communism at bedtime, which was triggered by something we read in our Narnia book. “It’s so interesting the way ideas can all connect together like a daisy chain,” Lyra observed.

March 29, 2014

I do not feel well… In spite of throwing up last night, I am still sick as a parrot. The ride home did for me — the minute I got out of the taxi I threw up on our forsythia hedge. Classy…;-) (Turns out I wasn’t the only one — Veronika threw up in one of her children’s board games…)I eventually tried to pull myself together and start the day, but standing up for any length of time just wasn’t an option. I somehow managed to organise a fry up for lunch, but was unable to eat it…

Moped on the sofa for most of the afternoon, doing the cryptic crossword. We sent the girls to the park on their own to enjoy the beautiful weather, which was quite exciting for them. Adam — who’s feeling slightly less unwell — managed a trip to the dump to dispose of the old Sky box, but we’re both feeling pretty diabolical.

There was no way I was cooking any more food today. Adam had the idea of ordering sushi for delivery. To my surprise, I managed to find some appetite for that… Afterwards, Adam headed off to Jackson’s Lane to see a show, and I settled down for my latest fix of True Detective. I am loving that show…

March 28, 2014

Spent the morning working on the new company website, which is about three months late in launching and still needs loads of work before it can go live.Broke off to meet Freddy & Beulah, and Doron & Antonia for lunch at 500 to celebrate Freddy’s birthday and their anniversary. They’re off to the Savoy Hotel for the night, which is where they spent their wedding night.

At dinner time, I didn’t feel like eating, which was a big mistake. It was class drinks at a pub in Crouch End, and I got completely ratassed, to the extent I have patchy recollection of the last couple of hours…:-(

March 27, 2014

Went for a four mile run first thing, then headed off to meet Kiran about his architecture website. I’ve put in some good hours on it over the last week, and it has really come together. End game stuff now…Adam dropped me off as Simon is working on our car today — banging out a couple of dents and touching up the paintwork where it was scraped. Personally, I wouldn’t bother with a twelve-year-old car, but Adam likes to keep it nice. And it did look a lot better after he was finished.

March 26, 2014

Lyra’s school is closed for the teacher’s strike today, so after breakfast we headed into town for a girls’ day out. She was keen to go to the Natural History Museum, so we started with that.There was a horrendous queue to get in, but it shuffled along pretty quickly and once inside, the place can absorb a massive number of people. It’s such a beautiful building, and I love the level of detail. Every pillar and ceiling panel is carved or painted with animals and plants.

We started with the dinosaur exhibition, which suitably impressed Lyra, especially the life-size, animated T-Rex. Also checked out a room on nature illustration, the mammal halls and the gemstones before it was time for lunch.

After a burger at Byron we hopped on the tube to Piccadilly Circus. Lyra was keen to visit the M&M store, and I wanted to see how you could possibly devote a four-story emporium solely to M&Ms. By selling an enormous quantity of branded, overpriced toot. Lyra loved it, but it was the kind of place that brings me out in hives. Spent the whole time looking for the cheapest, least offensive item I could get away with buying her…

A final stop for bubble tea in Chinatown. There’s a lot of complexity around the ordering, but we muddled through. Another hurdle was getting the straw into the sealed glass. I felt nervous about just jabbing it in, imagining a hot jet of tea and tapioca balls hitting me in the eye, but it was fine.

Bubble tea is curiously satisfying — the temperature, the mix of textures, the taste. We both loved it…

Home in time for swimming, which we walked to as Simon had come back to buff the car or something. We were both feeling pretty buzzed by our great day out…

March 25, 2014

Headed into Kings Cross with Adam after dropping Lyra at school, and spent a day working at the Hub. It never feels like the best use of my time, what with all the commuting involved, but it is nice to get away from the distractions of the home environment.Put in a good couple of hours on the draft web text that I’m trying to write, then went for lunch at the pub next door. My plate of food was so small that it took my literally three bites to eat. Fortunately, Adam was kind enough to share some of his burger and chips with me, and we split a dessert as well…

March 23, 2014

Not feeling too bad this morning. A bit fragile, but it passed when I got up and about. Adam headed off to get Nova from her sleepover while I got Lyra ready to go running. We’re doing the Sports Relief mile in Waterlow Park this morning. The whole family signed up to do it, but we let Nova cry off because of her sore throat. She still has no voice… It sounds like the sleepover was good fun, and she doesn’t seem any worse for it…We got to the park just in time, and joined the tag end of the group setting off. Lyra managed to run the whole distance on what was a very hilly course. We were caught in a hailstorm on the way home. It was coming down so thick and fast that the pellets were stinging my skin. We ducked into Caffé Nero to wait it out. Rhw coffee and a pastry I ordered would have definitely undone any small benefits from the run.

Lucia came round for the afternoon while her mom sorted out her new work space. Made Mcmuffins for lunch, and kimchi meatloaf for dinner, toning down the heat so the girls would enjoy it too…

March 22, 2014

Got up early to make the girls muffins for breakfast before Shira headed off. Poor Nova’s been losing her voice since the school concert. It’s totally gone now, so there was no point in her going to drama.I went up to the school for another painting session — the yellow top coat today. I’d promised Lyra I’d buy some biscuits for her to share around with the other children when she turned up with Veronika. When I realised I’d forgotten my wallet, I asked Tyler’s mum if she could buy some for me. “Well that was pretty rude of you!” Lyra chided me when I explained what had happened. I’m pretty sure she wanted a sense of ownership over the biscuits so she could dole them out to the other kids…

In spite of her laryngitis, Nova was desperate to go to a surprise party and sleepover she’s been invited to this evening. I’m pretty sure it’s not a great idea but let her go anyway…

Lizzie and James came round for dinner this evening. We’d invited a few other couples, but various reasons it was just the four of us. James is a vegetarian — a proper, non-fish-eating one — so I made: broad bean purée, mushroom risotto, fennel chicory salad and a hazelnut cake. The cake was pretty dry and tasteless, but most Italian baking is like that so possibly it was meant to be that way…

March 21, 2014

Went for a four mile run in the woods before breakfast. The ground is all dried out underfoot now, which is a nice development. Bright but still pretty cold. My fingers were all white and dead by the time I got home…Got my hair cut and coloured this afternoon at the local place I now frequent. I’m still going with a half head of highlights, which breaks up the gray without looking like I’m trying to turn back the clock. I’m moved away from the blonde shades my hairdresser friend Becky used to favour, to something darker that feels more “me”.

Lyra went home with Alina after school for a sleepover so that Adam and I could take Nova and Shira to the X-Factor concert at the O2 Arena. Made a batch of kedgeree for dinner then headed off on the tube. In spite of some problems with the Jubilee Line, we made it in good time.

Settled into our seats with a couple of beer, and let the girls pretend they had no idea who the boring oldies sitting next to them were while they bopped away to Rough Copy, Tamera Foster and Sam Bailey…

While most of the grown-ups in the place were accompanying their tween-agers, there were a surprising number of adults who had actually purchased tickets for themselves. Home about 11:30. Left Nova and Shira to sort themselves out and headed to bed…

March 20, 2014

Happy birthday, Adam! 47 today… Turns out that one of the other principals in Adam’s company has the same birthday. A funny coincidence — or not… When I was in school, one of my teachers told us that in every class there are always two children with the same birthday. Since then, I’ve noticed that is pretty much always the case, even in surprisingly small groups… 

Managed to fit in a family birthday breakfast and gift opening before Nova left for school. It was only toast and coffee at 7am, but it was the only chance for the four of us to be together. today. The girls bought Adam some “products” when we were at Brent Cross on Sunday. I got him a hoodie, Star Wars teeshirt, cologne and new slippers.

Our broadband connection was on the fritz, which was a good excuse not to do much work. Went for an Indian meal in Islington — a restaurant Adam wanted to try that’s been getting great reviews. We had the place to ourselves. I don’t think Indian is a cuisine most British people think of at lunch time. Had a nice bottle of wine, and a tasty meal, splitting a gulub jamun for dessert.

Lyra had Alina round to play after school. I got them sorted out with dinner, then headed off to Nova’s school concert, leaving Adam to entertain a steady stream of visitors — Veronika, Pete and Pasc, his brother, his parents — who all popped in to wish him a happy birthday…

March 19, 2014

Dropped Lyra at gymnastics, then got busy with the preparations for Adam’s birthday tomorrow: wrapping presents, digging out the card I bought him in Canada last summer. I’m glad I remembered that — it’s a classic.Spent the rest of the day working. I’m pulling together a guide to writing for the web for one client, and drafting some text for a website about providing technical support to AIDS organisations. Feelling a bit daunted by that piece of work.

Alex came back to ours after school, and the girls got on really nicely. Did the usual back and forth to the swimming back and forth, and back and forth again. Watched an episode of Breaking Bad once the kids were sorted for the evening. Of such things is our life made…

March 18, 2014

To our collective horror, Nova took the iPad to school again — and amazingly brought it back home. When she first asked permission, we said only if she kept it locked it in her locker. Turns out she doesn’t use a padlock on her locker because “we don’t steal at my school, mum”. It would be lovely if that were true, but I doubt it somehow…On my run this morning, my legs felt drained of strength. It was an odd sensation. I thought about pulling up, but somehow I never want to do that once I’m out there. Things improved eventually, but it didn’t feel like a great run, so I was surprised that my half mile fasts were generally faster than 9mph, couldn’t sustain it into the seventh repeat, otherwise it would have been my fastest session by a significant margin.

Worked on one of my India projects, rebuilding a spreadsheet that had become corrupted somehow. I also baked bread, did three loads of laundry, changed the girls’ beds, nitcombed myself (four tiny ones), and made Grasmere gingerbread and a shepherds pie from the leftover lamb.

Didn’t eat it myself as I was meeting Jane at Wagamama’s. Saw the Wolf of Wall Street. I enjoyed it, and thought DiCaprio gave an impressive performance, but it was a good hour too long, imho. Unless the intention was to make the audience truly experience the mind-numbing, repetitive boredom of all that excessive partying. It’s based on the experiences of a real guy, so presumably it all happened…?

It was well past midnight by the time it ended, and there was a possibility I’d miss the last tube, but just made it. Adam waited up for me, bless him…

March 17, 2014

Monday, Monday, can’t trust that day,
Monday, Monday, sometimes it just turns out that way…

The lovely weather continues, hallelulah… Managed to find a little time to spend in the garden, doing some late pruning and clearing beds. Carolyn is visiting in a few weeks, and I’d like to move things on a bit before she comes. There’s certainly lots to do…

Harvested some of last year’s kale for another batch of caldo verde. Green soup for St Patricks Day, which I served with sourdough pancakes and lurid green cupcakes.

I’ve started watching Breaking Bad with Adam, going right back to the first episode. When the Skybox crashed, we lost most of our programmes, so there’s not much saved to watch at the moment. Also, the new box has about thirty times the storage space of the old one, and a catch-up on things you’ve missed facility, so we shouldn’t be a slave to it the way it sometimes felt like we were to the old one…

Nova is making a video about WWI for one of her classes, which involved taking the iPad into school today. The Adam, Lyra and I were all terrified that it was the last we’d ever see of it — that girl can lose things like no one’s business — but happily, it made it back home…

March 16, 2014

Ran 6.5 miles this morning. I’ve noticed that six,just doesn’t feel like a long run — more the top end of the medium run range. Hope to extend my loop into Highgate Woods next week…After breakfast, we hopped in the car and drove to the mounds for a walk. It was a gorgeous day, and the view was considerably clearer than the photos on the annotated panorama sign at the top of the first mound. I’m always struck by the interesting mix of people you encounter there. Actually saw a woman jogging in a burka, which was a first.

Went for lunch at Yo Sushi in Brent Cross afterwards. I wanted to go to Cafe Japan, but Nova reasonably enough didn’t fancy Golder’s Green after spending all week there. The conveyor belt is fun for the kids and there are lots of non-fish items, but the food just isn’t all that good.

Afterwards, we let the girls go off on their own for a spot of shopping. Adam and I bought a new bathmat and shower curtain (rock and roll!) and also looked at a dining room table, as ours is both decrepit and disfunctional.

Roasted a leg of lamb for dinner. Adam glued himself to the telly the minute we got home to watch the Arsenal match, post-match coverage and I don’t know what else. Helping me make rhubarb crumble, Lyra dumped all the crumble flour into the wet rhubarb. I rescued what I could, but the end result was quite claggy…

March 15, 2014

Adam set off after breakfast to meet our aspiring Labour candidate. She’d heard about him from a mutual acquaintance on the Board at Jackson’s Lane, and was hoping he’d get involved with her campaign. I was glad to hear that he turned her down — he’s got more than enough on…Lyra and I headed up to the school to help fix up the reading shed. We were painting the base coat this morning. It was a lovely day for it. I worked on the exterior, completing two sides of it myself. Most everybody else worked on the interior, which was definitely more sociable. quite liked having my own chunk to do, aside from when Lyra and Greta helped,

Poor Howard was getting “helped” by two-year-old Toren. He is such an amazingly patient man — I overheard a steady stream of conversation along the lines of: “Remember to wipe your brush, Toren. Not on your trousers, buddy! NOT on your teeshirt, silly! Remember to wipe your brush, Toren. See, it’s dripping on your shoes! Don’t put your hand on the wall, buddy, now it’s all painty, see? Remember to wipe your brush…” Yada yada yada…

Adam would have been a puddle of foaming rage and frustration after about thirty seconds of that, while Howard endured about six spells of “help” over the two hours we were there.

Home about 1pm. Threw together a quick lunch of scrambled eggs and bacon for everyone. I always forget that Lyra doesn’t like scrambled eggs. She picked at them glumly. Now that I think of it, I never liked them myself at her age. Still dont, really…

I’d bought Lyra a couple of packs of Match Attax football cards. When we went to add them to her binder, we discovered that someone had taken her two best cards — both Arsenal players. It must have happened when she took her book to school yesterday.

Naturally, Lyra was pretty bummed out by that. Adam tried to remedy things by buying her a couple more packs, but no Arsenal players in those either…:-(

March 14, 2014

Had Saya round for a playdate after school. The girls were a bit tetchy with each other — this can happen on a Friday playdate, when they are feeling tired after a full week of school. Saya is a very nice little girl, and obviously a smart little cookie.Her family is going to Japan this Easter as well — Saya is of Japanese-Nigerian ancestry — but her parents are taking the kids out of school to avoid the peak airfares. Easier to do when kids are small — we’d be crucified by Nova’s school if we tried anything like that…

Went to a book launch in Wood Green this evening for my friend Scott’s wife Leila. Reasonably enough, I thought she’d written a new book, but it turned out to be the UK release of a memoir she’d published in Canada seven years ago.

Although Scott is one of my oldest friends, I’d never met the current Mrs Steedman, and had to have her pointed out to me. The local Iraqi community was out in force (I’m pretty sure a good number of them were relatives). Leila read an excerpt to us describing the garden of her grandparent’s home, a place she has never visited, and knows about only from her aunt’s stories of their childhood. Lyra really enjoyed the reading — I could tell from the expression her face — and afterwards said she wished that she could visit that garden too.

The girls really enjoyed the nibbles as well — indiscriminately demolishing nuts, Bombay mix, Doritos, hummus and baklava. Jane and Elsie had also come along, and the six of us went for Turkish food on Green Lanes afterwards. Veronika had told me about the Gokyuzu Restaurant ages ago, but it has recently had a crazy surge in popularity. (Apparently it is currently ranked 2nd out of almost 11,000 restaurants in London by Trip Advisor or something…)

So there was a bit of a wait for a table, but it was worth it. The food was plentiful, delicious and extremely cheap. Veronika popped out to join us for a glass of wine — the place is practically at the end of her street…

March 13, 2014

Up at 5am for work webinar — daylight savings time starting in Canada made the timing even worse than usual. It was interesting enough and I did have things to contribute but held back. I’ve noticed that my questions are often disruptive, and tend to question first principles rather than seeking clarification or extrapolating on ideas, and I didn’t want to come across that way…Later that morning, I had a meeting with clients in India. The video link was good, but half the time it sounded like Niagara Falls was flowing in the background. Another quibble: Skype is amazing technology, but I do find the inevitably awful image of myself in the corner of the screen a major distraction…

Attended a wine tasting evening at the Highgate Golf Club, in support of an educational charity called KINOE. To our considerable surprise, our table (Lynne, Duncan, Helen Young and her man) finished fourth out of ten. This was in spite of being truly terrible at identifying wines in the blind tasting rounds. We were exceptionally good at identifying wine labels, which boosted our score…;-)

Bored with work at one point this afternoon, I made this little video of the various birthday cakes I’ve offered up to my girls over the years. Hardly things of beauty, but they were made with love…;-)

March 12, 2014

Misjudged the temperature when I headed off with Lyra at 7:45 this morning. I wore for a short-sleeved running top and was pretty much hypothermic by the time I got home.Our new Sky+ box arrived this afternoon — our old one died on Saturday night, deleting our accumulated programmes to watch along with it…:-( I decided to challenge that whole gender thing and connect and configure it myself. It all went pretty smoothly, if I say so myself.

Since the old box died, aside from that iCarly episode (which I bought on iTunes anyway), I haven’t watched any TV at all. Instead, I have read my new book group book already (Disobedient), started the new Malcolm Gladwell that Margo sent me, and made great strides with this week’s cryptic crossword.

Dinner was Marcella Hazan’s tomato butter sauce, which was delicious though I wasn’t as transported as many food bloggers seem to be. Started watching True Detective, and am blown away by how good it is…

March 11, 2014

I dreamed that I bumped into our landlady Carolyn unexpectedly on a road near our house. She couldn’t remember where the house was, and I remember feeling conflicted about whether to tell her…In spite of improvements to my running speed, I feel like I’m losing ground on the physical fitness front since I abandoned the half marathon training plan. I think I’m eating a too much bread as well. At any rate, my the scales seem pretty stuck about ten pounds north of my target weight.

Wrote up a couple of new case studies for the company website. I can only take them so far — they need Adam to finish them off now. The poor guy’s so busy he doesn’t know whether he’s coming or going.

I took Lyra to the village to spend her pocket money after school. She bought a doughnut with shprinkles and a Match Attax football card collecting book. Take two on the Indian chicken dinner that was so apathetically received the other night. Everyone showed up with their appetite this evening…

I agreed to watch the iCarly in Japan episode with Lyra after dinner. When I signed up for that plan I didn’t realise that it was 90 minutes long… That’s a whole lot of iCarly to swallow in one go. I hadn’t realised that for all the years the girls have been watching iCarly, this is the very first time I have ever watched an episode. Actually, I would have happily kept it that way…;-)

March 10, 2014

Did a volunteer reading session in Lyra’s class this morning. I quite enjoy it, and it’s an interesting insight into how different children approach the challenge of learning to read.Bread baking day — I’m establishing a routine now. I start the sponge on Saturday, and feed it through the weekend. I shape the loaves on Sunday evening, leaving them to have a slow rise overnight in their bannetons the fridge. On Monday morning I bake them, and we have soup for dinner with fresh sourdough bread.

Nova lost her lunch today, the cute little lunch box I just bought her and the carrying bag, I know people complain how their kids losing things, but I’m confident she’s in a whole different league…

March 9, 2014

Happy 11th birthday, Liam! My back is feeling better today — still stiff, but not strained. Went for a gentle six mile run after my coffee. It was a beautiful, spring day, bright and warm. This meant that the Heath was an obstacle course of fair weather joggers, dog walkers, toddlers trying out their Christmas like-a-bikes…Carried on with the Japan hotel bookings this afternoon. I’m happy that Tokyo is all nailed down, but there’s still a way to go…

Adam took the girls to Muswell Hill to buy a birthday present for Evelyn’s go-karting party this afternoon. He did the drop-off (in Edmonton!) and Nova was returned by Amy’s mum a few hours later. Sounds like they had a good time…

Hung out with Lyra in the afternoon. Housework, cooking, and working on her thank-you cards. Made a dinner that no one particularly wanted for various reasons: Nova had eaten pizza at the party, Lyra wasn’t feeling well, Adam had been out for cake and coffee with a friend an hour earlier. Kind of pissed me off, which was maybe a bit unfair…

Our TV recorder/planner is still not working. Kind of annoying, but liberating as well…

Headed out to see John Grant at the Roundhouse — what a great gig. The guy only has about twenty songs from his solo phase and I know all of them. He did do a couple of songs from his Czar days and another one I didn’t recognise, which is possibly new. Great stuff…

March 8, 2014

I was about to set off for my run this morning, when I pulled a muscle in my back making Lyra’s bed. That’ll learn me to do housework…;-) Hung around in my running clothes for a bit hoping it would ease up, but it didn’t. Decided that it was better to rest it rather than risk making things worse.Lucia came round to play after breakfast, as her mum had to work at short notice. That pair always have a nice time together. They dressed up in “fashion” outfits and sang pop songs, and did lots of Minecraft as well. We were pretty low on food, but I managed to cobble a lunch together that included a pretty weird veggie rice soup. Lucia was very diplomatic about it…

After lunch, Adam took the girls to Maggie’s swimming party. He did the Waitrose while they were partying on down, returning a few hours later. Sounds like they had a great time. “I’m glad there were no boys invited,” Lyra said. “I would hate for them to see me in my bikini!”

Dinner was pork steaks marinated in lemon and rosemary, slow cooked fennel and Jersey Royal potatoes, served in two shifts. I fed the girls so that Nova could head off to Evelyn’s — they are going to the Channing disco together this evening.

When Adam got back from Brent Cross, I cooked our steaks and heated up the veggies. I suppose meals like this will become more the norm in the future, though I’ll keep trying to get us all round the table for meals. There are depressing statistics about how few families still do this. And how few even have a dining room table anymore…

Afterwards we watched an episode of Salamander and sank a bottle of wine. Our planner is on the fritz, so we watched it by connecting my computer to the telly…

March 7, 2014

My final physio session this morning. My back is definitely feeling a lot better, which is probably down to the physio, as I was in chronic pain for months before starting treatment. I’m doing my exercises only sporadically, but the main thing is that I’m far more aware of my posture and try to avoid jutting my neck out like a turtle… ;-)The bulging vertebrae has receded quite a bit and my neck strength is improving too. I could tell that the physio was quite pleased with where we’ve got to, after being a real gloomy gus…

Swung round to Patricia’s afterwards so she could shoot some headshots of Adam and I for the company website. They had a sign up on the kitchen wall that made me laugh:

I imagine most families could have that hanging on their walls. When I tried to come up with families that are possibly as genuinely as nice and normal as they appear, it was a pretty short list. Kiran and Birgit might be, and the Feeleys from my swimming days came to mind as well. A sum total of two from the last forty years…!

I got a half marathon place for the second time in a row(!), but my friend Lynne was unlucky again…:-( She may apply for a charity place, but hates the way you always end up hitting the same small group of friends for donations…

I didn’t make it to Waitrose today, but managed to pull together a tofu miso noodle soup for dinner, which we enjoyed in front of the season two finale of Sherlock…

March 6, 2014

Ran four miles after drop-off, then changed out of my running gear before dropping in on my friend Trisha for coffee. She broke her ankle skiing last week, and has had surgery to reconstruct her damaged ligaments and tendons.Spent the afternoon working on the architecture website, which is starting to come together. A few issues to resolve, then it’s all about the build. Lyra had gone back to Alina’s after school, which freed me up from doing the school run.

Lyra’s parent-teacher evening, which Adam was able to attend this time. She’s at one of the top students, but according to the teacher she seems to have hit a plateau in her progress, and he wondered how much she’s enjoying it…

Antonia was having birthday drinks at a local pub, which clashed with my book group. We read The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing this month. I didn’t particularly enjoy it, though I appreciate it was beautifully written. I couldn’t understand what motivated the characters and found them all pretty irritating…

March 5, 2014

Wednesday is our early morning –– both kids out of the house by 7:45am. It means I get to start on my own stuff a little more promptly than usual. That is, if I count laundry, tidying and hoovering as “my stuff”…I’m listening to lots of John Grant at the moment, in anticipation of the gig we’re going to on Sunday night. Looking forward to that. He’s one of my current crushes, music-wise…

March 4, 2014

Happy 16th birthday, Ceinwen! Where have those years disappeared to…?
For World Book Day at Nova’s school, she dressed as a citizen of the Capitol in the Hunger Games. Mainly an opportunity to pile on the eyeliner…Clocked my fastest ever run this morning — averaging 9:15mph over a four mile run. My latest plan is to do a couple of 10kms this summer, then another half marathon in the autumn (if I get a place). Adam unexpectedly working from home again — we at companiably tapping away at the dining room table all afternoon.

St Michaels Church threw a pancake party for the community this afternoon. I had my doubts, but Lyra was keen so we went along for an hour. It was pretty well organised, considering they’d invited about 1,000 people. Two I didn’t know — one I didn’t even recognise — approached to tell me how much they’d enjoyed my stewardness bit. One even asked if I was a real stewardess…

Made sourdough pancakes and sweet potato & carrot soup for dinner. Established the rule that all pancakes were savoury until the bowl of soup were emptied, after which there was maple syrup, apricot jam and whipped cream on offer. Never seen Lyra polish off a bowl of soup more quickly…;-)

I was feeling pretty wiped out, and was in bed by 11pm — not a usual occurrence with me. Nova and I were actually brushing our teeth at the same time. She’s always late to bed on her swimming nights.

One of Lyra’s friends had an asthma attack over the weekend, and spent a night in hospital. When I explained about asthma, she said, “Oh, I get that. I had it a couple of weeks ago, and it lasted for days where I just couldn’t get enough air to breathe.” News to me, which is a bit scary. I told her to definitely mention it the next time it happens!

March 3, 2014

Lots to catch up on after our crazy weekend… Multiple loads of laundry, heaps of housework, and my bread is a day behind schedule. Lots of web work to tackle as well. Adam’s at home today, so that’s a nice change…
At dinner time, Suzanne came round to babysit. We caught the tube to Waterloo to see Juliet Stevenson in Happy Days by Samuel Beckett. It’s essentially a two-hour solo performance, which she delivers while buried up to her chest in rubble. There is a second character, but he spends most of the time in a hole, tossing in the odd line and making two brief appearances.

Waited around afterwards and had a bit of a visit, between her signing autographs and catching up with other friends…

March 2, 2014

Lyra woke me up at 7am again…:-( Why does a girl with thirty new birthday presents and an iPad and a television need to see her mum first thing I nearly asked, but we had a lovely cuddle — so that’s worth waking up for.Another icy cold morning, but I laced up my running shoes and set off on my first run in the last few days. I did six miles easy round the edge of the Heath. It’s kind of nice being away from the pressure of that training schedule, but don’t want to get too lax either.

It’s Pete Franklyn’s birthday today, so we popped round with a little gift. Adam bought him a teeshirt that says, “I’m brilliant, everyone else is an arse”, which he thought was perfect for him, but not sure Pete agreed. Perhaps he thought Adam was an arse for buying it…;-)

Dropped Lyra off at Beatrix’s party at TopsyTurvy World, then did a bit of shopping. Nova was keen to go to Hobby Craft, picked up a couple of things from Wing Yip, then headed back to Brent Cross. Adam shopped for work shirts and I bought Nova a jean jacket, to stop her from wearing Lyra’s tiny one — with the cuffs ending at her elbows…

Made the birthday schnitzel for dinner this evening, with the most delicious Jersey Royal potatoes. I usually wonder what all the fuss is about Jersey Royals, but I’ve never eaten a more delectable boiled potato.

Talked to Wade and dad on the phone, then did the bedtime routine. Lyra and I are starting the Narnia series and have decided to read it in chronological order, beginning with The Magician’s Nephew.

Lyra found the first chapter so exciting that she claimed she’d be unable to sleep unless we read more. But her hectic weekend has left her pretty exhausted, and when I checked back ten minutes later she’d conked out…

March 1, 2014

Happy birthday, Lyra! Seven years old today. I can remember my seventh birthday — the first birthday that I do remember. I received a proper hairbrush and a book of Sara Teasdale poetry called Those Who Love (I was very attracted by the cover when I saw it at Woodwards), and I remember thinking how very grown up I was indeed…

Lyra woke me up on the dot of 7am, champing at the bit to open her birthday presents. She tore through them like a tornado, while I snapped the usual photos of one girl beaming happily while the other looks on grumpily. I think these two are particular classics of the genre:

Spent the morning on party preparations. I baked Victoria sponge cakes for the family gathering this evening, and iced the cupcakes. I used a piping bag, and think they came out pretty well.

We’d booked a trampolining party with Alice at the Sobel Centre, and invited all the girls in the class. There were four girls per trampoline, but only one was allowed on at a time.

These are not your backyard variety trampolines, but proper rope-strung ones. I gave one a try when the grown-ups got to have a go at the end. It was almost frightening how high you could bounce, and how fast. It gave you that dropping feeling in your stomach you get in a fast elevator.

After an hour we headed upstairs to the function room for food and cake. I’d blown up lots of balloons and relied on that for entertainment. Things got pretty raucous, and I was happy enough when it was finally time to leave.

My Victoria sponge cake looked pretty good as well. I’m definitely having a good day, cakewise. I’ve produced some pretty dodge ones over the years. Tasted pretty good, too — people came back for seconds at any rate…

Lyra made out like a bandit on the present front. Aside from the sequin art, Yoohoo leopard, walkie-talkies, slippers, and two new legging/teeshirt combos from us, she got:

• a lip balm from Nova
• a lovely dress from Margo
• a bathrobe from Pasc and Pete
• an Arsenal backpack and necklace charms from her grandparents
• and a heap of books and crafty things from her school friends.