March 2019

March 31, 2019

We are springing forward this morning, but it’s Mother’s Day in the UK so I happily lolled about in bed while Adam headed upstairs to make the coffee and a batch of blueberry bran muffins.Lyra slept over at Lucia’s last night, but he roused Nova and we had a nice breakfast. Lyra returned by 10am. She’d made me a lovely card and bought a travel set of mango bath products, which was very sweet.

Nova had a mock Lamda exam at noon. Her final is next week — if that goes well, she will have earned their highest level (Grade 8) certificate in Performance (acting, devising drama, and miming).

I’m usually of the view that Mothers/Fathers Day is a morning event — breakfast in bed or a family brunch out suffices to mark the occasion, then it’s back to business as usual.

This year, the family decided to go for it. Adam made veggie soup for lunch and brought me flowers. In the afternoon, Lyra suggested a family outing to Camden. Plan A was to go for bubble tea, but our usual place had shut down and we ended up at Cereal Killer.

The Hoxton hipsters who launched it took a pasting in the media when it opened a few years back. I thought it was harsh at the time, but also decided that it wasn’t my kind of thing. I’ve never been a fan of breakfast cereal and had no intention of ever visiting.

To my surprise, I was completely charmed by it. The array of vintage cereal boxes, 1970s kids’ bedroom decor and memorabilia, and the niche weird Japanese vibe. The food was pretty tasty as well.

Both girls went for bowls of cereal with flavoured milk and toppings. I finally tasted Count Chocula which I was keen to try as a child, being suckered in by the advertising of how it turned the milk chocolate.

Hell would have frozen over before mum would have bought Count Chocula — even before the big drama of the food colouring in Franken Berry turning children pink. To my surprise, it was pretty nice and surprisingly unsweet.

Back home, Adam poured me a glass of wine and a relaxed on the couch with my novel while he made dinner: chicken with lemon and basil, new potatoes, and a green salad with blue cheese dressing, all of which was delicious.

My present from Nova turned out to be a batch of lemon ice cream! She’d made it last night while we were out and served it with a warm berry coulis. I am really very blessed…

March 30, 2019

I’m still waking up far too early… Thankfully we’re springing ahead tomorrow — so at least it’ll be 5:15am..Coffee and crossword in bed. Haven’t done that for a while — weekend runs tend to work against it. I’m going to give it another day before I run again, though I definitely have a clearer head than I’ve had for almost a week.

Lyra invited me to watch some of Legally Blonde with her, and I got completely sucked in. I haven’t seen it in years, and forgotten what an entertaining film it is. (Note to self, watch My Cousin Vinnie with the girls…)

Made eggs Benedict for brunch. Tried a new technique for the hollandaise sauce from the Food Lab. As promised, it took about a minute and produced an impeccable, stable, velvety sauce. I AM NEVER making hollandaise the traditional way again…

Did a good session of housework, unfortunately unsupported by my feckless family. The place has fallen into a state of disarray and there was lots to catch up on. I’ve been neglecting my paperwork as well, so I tackled that too, baking sourdough bread between times.

Adam booked tickets a while back for something called Transendence — a late opening event at the Royal Academy. We got there about 8pm, and grabbed something to eat from the food trucks in the forecourt before going inside.

Opted for the filthy vegan jackfruit burgers, not really expecting to like them. I’d read a couple of articles about jackfruit in vegan cooking and cultural appropriation the other day, so it was on my radar.

I thought the jackfruit burger was surprisingly good, and definitely better than the margaritas from the cocktail truck (which weren’t bad either). By the time we finished eating the queue had died down, and we could pretty much walk straight in.

There were lots of folk in fancy dress, glitter and feathers and gowns. I’d say the median age was late twenties but there was a pretty broad spread of people.

Started with the Bill Viola and Michaelangelo exhibition, which I’m sorry to say I did not like at all. At best his work left me indifferent (Bill Viola, not Michaelangelo) — at worst, I actively disliked it. I’m pretty sure it’s the only exhibition I’ve seen at the RA that I feel that way about. Apparently, he’s the world’s foremost video artist…

Explored a gallery of sniffable sculptures that all smelt like soap, participated in a life journey interactive theatre thing (heaven was pretty good), then headed downstairs where there were various discos and a woman holding forth on astrology in the cafe. Left about 11pm and made our way home.

March 29, 2019

Another lousy night, but I feeling better again today. Got up to get the girls fed and out the door, then did some client work before my Highgate Festival meeting at 9am.Had a Highgate Festival meeting in the morning where we trod much the same ground as last week. We’re still in the “surfacing ideas” phase I guess, but with the thing less than three months away, we need to move into a more concrete phase soon…

Once again I had to leave early. This time to travel to St Albans to meet a possible client. I swung by the house to grab my computer then caught the train to St Pancras. (The slower trains to St Albans stop at Kentish Town, but unfortunately you can’t buy mainline train tickets at that station.)

The Thameslink trains were in a bit of a state, and I was glad I left extra time. Two trips outside London in the same week — quite nice to get out of the London bubble.

My potential client is a septagenarian pigeon fancier who wants a website to share his knowledge of breeding and racing pigeons with the world. It was such an unlikely new business approach that my curiousity was piqued enough to travel up to meet him.

He arrived his Spanish wife in tow, who has some vague, outlandish web needs of her own — she might start acting as a real estate broker for Marbella off-plan luxury holiday homes OR open a local tapas bar (I have no interest whatsoever in getting involved with either of those.)

Making up the rest of the party was their probably autistic teenage son who’d occasionally spring to his feet and dance in the Starbucks aisle while tugging at his penis through his basketball shorts — behavour we all chose to ignore…

Quite the new business meeting…

Got back about 4pm. Adam was working from home today. He’s not feeling one hundred percent, plus his book group is tonight. Made us a quick salad for a late lunch, then drove Lyra to her violin lesson.

Pulled together a rather impressive Japanese dinner out of bits and bobs in the fridge: teriyaki trout, steamed rice, sesame spinach, one gyoza each and some quick cucumber pickles.

After two classic Bradys the girls retreated downstairs to their caves, and I descended into Twitter. Caught up on the ugly spectacle of the leavers’ march, and the outrage over getting the Barr memo instead of the Mueller report.

To bed about 10:30 and well asleep by the time Adam came in…

March 28, 2019

I had a miserable sinus headache all day in Manchester. It’s abated a bit today, but now my left ear is blocked…Spent an hour pulling together a Powerpoint master slide deck for my finance client to use, but Basil’s ecommerce website was my main focus. I’ve got all the new courses up, blocked up a new home page, modified the menu, and got the PayPal working (I think, though that remains to be tested).

Yet another parcel in the post for birthday girl Lyra — from godfather Dave this time. She’s made out like a bandit this year…

Lyra’s school concert this evening. We were running late and slid into our pew just in time. The programme was songs about London, and as with the Christmas concert the calibre of music was truly excellent.

Back home, we had leftover jambalaya for dinner then headed down to bed not long after. I’m sleeping badly with my sinuses all stuffed like this, and was awake multiple times last night, so I was pretty whacked out by 10pm…

March 27, 2019

Up at 5:30am to catch a train to Manchester with Nova for a uni visit. Adam kindly drove us to Euston, and we were in our seats a good five minutes before the train pulled out at 6:30am.I got some work done on the two hour journey — made a presentation template for my finance client and wrote up the progress on Basil’s site. Went for breakfast at a restaurant called Alabama’s American Style Eatery.(Though I very much doubt there’s anything remotely like it in Alabama or any of the other 49 states).

I entrusted Nova with the navigating, and she got us there okay. Mobile phones have completely transformed the situation. It makes me wonder how we every got anywhere without them.

Personally, I like Manchester and always have done. I used to come up occasionally for work and found it to be a vibrant, interesting and friendly city. One funny thing — for the first time in ages, I encountered people who couldn’t decipher my accent. It happened in the restaurant, and at the bus stop, after which I let Nova do the talking…

Caught a city bus to the accommodation tour at Fallowfield student campus. Managed to overshoot and got a bit lost. By the time we retraced our steps and found it, we were running late for the afternoon’s activities.

Joined a tour part way through, and got to see the final hall of residence. I was dead impressed with the generously sized rooms, dining hall and private library to which the residents had 24-hour access.

Caught a bus back to the main campus for her afternoon session with the English department. They laid on sandwiches, after which we trooped over to a lecture hall to hear a talk from the head of admissions explaining about the course. Personally, I thought it sounded fantastic.

The prospective students were then taken off on a tour of the campus, while the parents had a lecture on why we shouldn’t be worried about our kids studying something like English Literature (not that I am).

This was followed by a sample lecture for everyone on Shakespeare and what is essentially the meme of him holding Yorick’s skull. At one point the lecturer was trying to get students to participate and answer a question he posed. I practically had to sit on my hand not to stick it up and give the answer…;-)

Walked back downtown afterwards, browsing book stalls and a couple of shops, then spent an hour in Starbucks having a coffee and cadging their wifi.

Neither of us were hungry for dinner, so we stopped for a swift half before back to the station. Grabbed a salad in Sainsburys then back on the train. The two young gals sharing our table from us were pretty funny. They had salads as well, plus a bottle of rosé, which they sunk in about twenty minutes…

Back home, I watched news coverage of the Brexit indicative votes in Parliament. The Guardian headline sums it best up best:

March 26, 2019

I think I may be feeling a little better, though it’s relative. I briefly considered running then discounted it…:(Spent a chunk of my working day sorting out Basil’s e-commerce website. He’s had a go at doing it himself, and it’s harder to unpick that than just building it in the first place.

After lunch, I made a run to the supermarket. I’m away all day tomorrow, and wanted to have food in the house for Adam and Lyra. Had a meeting with Alicia about the festival, then whipped up a pot of jambalaya.

I ate with the girls while watching a couple of Bradys. (Adam was out at something or other as per usual). I must say, Season Three is pretty strong. We know the first couple of seasons so well that I wondered whether we’d enjoy the later ones, but they are pretty funny, often unintentionally…

I find it interesting how frequently the girls like those wacky 1970s clothes — “I like Carol’s dress”, “I’d wear Marcia’s trousers” etc. Though Lyra is as outraged by Florence Henderson’s mullet as mum was, who commented disparagingly on it every time she watched an episode with us.

Lyra was most pleased to receive a birthday parcel from Margo in the post today. It contained a highly covetable pot of Sand & Sky face mask as well as a rosewater toner.

March 25, 2019

Had a shift at the high school this morning. I had a nasty sinus headache but dragged my ass down there anyway. Not that enthused to discover I was acting as head invigilator, but it was relatively uneventful maths paper and I got through it.It was meant to be a fasting day, but I felt so low-energy after my steep uphill walk home that I made myself a fish finger sandwich for lunch…;-)

Nova’s parent teacher meetings this evening. All the feedback was pretty positive, though it seems like the message we’ve heard consistently since year 7 about contributing in class has yet to sink in…

The only subject that isn’t on all track to achieve her predicted grade is History. She’s found it a challenge to master the skills needed to score the highest marks on her History papers, and one of the essays in her mock exam went awry. However, her chosenonly look at your three best grades, so as long as she does well on her other papers, it won’t be an issue.

Pesto pasta for family dinner. Adam went off to the school governor hustings for the evening. When he got back we sat down to watch Madam Secretary. Pretty sure I didn’t make it to the end…

March 24, 2019

Not pleased with the state of my sinuses this morning, and what with the crap night’s sleep and lazy start, I ended up blowing off my long run. I’m sure yesterday’s beer and takeaway sofa session didn’t add to my motivation either…Took my cup of coffee into the garden and spent half an hour reading my Muriel Spark memoir in the morning sun. Good for the soul…

Made breakfast burritos for lunch, after which Lyra off to hang out with Sissy — because a day without friends is like a day without sunshine for that one.

Had a phone call with Katrina to plan food for our Centreparcs weekend, which is looming large. In my experience, people always overcater for these things and despite my efforts we aren’t going to buck the trend. Maybe it’s inevitable…

Fried rice for dinner using up bits and bobs lurking in the fridge. Spent much of the evening reading news and comment from the States on the Mueller report, which has been submitted to the Attorney General.

Rather than release it, he’s written a brief note, essentially saying he’d read it and there’s no case to answer. Given he’s a partisan appointment, shoehorned into that position to protect Trump, I’ll be surprised if he can get away with this, but that’s the current state of affairs…

March 23, 2019

My sinuses feel rotten this morning…:-( It’s either result of yesterday’s eating mishap or I’m coming down with something. After weighing it up, I decided to go for a run anyway. Only three and a half miles and I didn’t push myself, aside from the sprints.Adam packed a bit of a lunch while I was out and as soon as Lyra back from her sleepover we set off for the march. Richard and Rachel joined us this time, and also Lily’s mum Tanja, who wanted to march despite it being baby Liam’s first birthday.

The tube was already crowded at Highgate — it was obvious that the march would be even bigger than the last one. We were aiming for Green Park, but they had closed the station by the time we were on the Victoria line, so we disembarked at Oxford Circus, where it took ages to shuffle out of the station.

Made our way across to Park Lane, stopping for a coffee and bite to eat before joining the march. I wanted to avoid getting kettled at the start, which can be a pain. With big marches, it’s better to join in from the side near to the start, which is what we did.

Joined the huge, shuffling mass inching down Piccadilly. Richard came in handy — a six foot four Australian rugby player is easy to keep site of in a crowd. Plus he seemed to have a crowd parting effect, and moved along at a relatively good clip.

Tanja peeled off at Piccadilly Circus and Richard and Rachel left us just before Trafalgar Square. Things ground to a halt shortly after that — I think Whitehall was completely full by this point. There was a big screen set up, and we watched Sadiq Khan address the crowd in Parliament Square.

Rather than fight our way forward, we opted to head home from Charing Cross. Lyra had a violin rehearsal with an accompaniast scheduled for late afternoon we needed to be back for.

There was just time to relax with a beer before Adam needed to run her down to Kentish Town. When he returned, we caught up on back episodes of Madame Secretary and ordered an Indian takeaway from a place in Muswell Hill for dinner. Running low both on groceries and motivation to cook…;-)

March 22, 2019

Attended Lyra’s academic review meeting today. We had a 9:30am appointment which was nice. Set off with just enough time to make the journey, at least until we discovered Highgate station was closed.That changed things… We crammed onto a bus to Archway, and got the tube there. After running up escalators and chasing down Euston Road bus we made it only a few minutes late.

The teacher had nothing but praise for Lyra, which was nice to hear. Took her for a cinnamon social slice at Ole & Steen. We were going to share it, but as I hadn’t had breakfast thought I could manage my own.

In the event, they are quite large — maybe the clue was in the “social”. (Though Lyra says the cinnamon buns are even larger and they aren’t called “social buns”.)

After that we headed to Oxford Street to do some underwear shopping. I was aiming for M&S, but John Lewis came first. Started in Ladies’ Lingerie, headed up to Childrens’, then back to Ladies, eventually buying bras, pants, socks and a swimsuit.

Spent another hour in Brandy Melville so she could spend her birthday voucher from her grandparents. Ended up with a stylish new outfit — cropped white polo shirt and a pair of smart plaid trousers.

I got stuck into work when we got home and Lyra headed straight down to Ellie’s to hang out and make her own way to violin. Adam was back in time to collect her, and to drive her and three friends round to Iris’s house in Willesdon Green for a sleepover.

We were meant to be going to a 50th birthday party for a former work colleague of Adam’s, who I never knew and he hasn’t seen in 20 years. They live in Surrey, not far from Dan and Debbie.

It wasn’t something I felt remotely like doing. Adam didn’t feel much like it either, but at least he would recognise the guy if he bumped into him on the street. Went on his own in the end.

Nova was off at an 18th birthday party, so I had house to myself. Fixed cheese and crackers for dinner, dozed through a few episodes of Master Chef and headed to bed.

Felt obliged to stay awake until Nova got in. She turned upat midnight a bit tipsy on vodka and cranberry and Adam wasn’t long behind her…

March 21, 2019

Did my four mile run along the Parkland Walk to Finsbury Park and back. I didn’t feel much like it, but was glad to have done it all the same. Lovely cool, crisp running weather — this is definitely my favourite time of year to run.Made a few gyoza with the leftover filling and wraps from the other evening. I was happily noshing away, when an unexpected sneeze caused me to aspirate a mouthful of chewed food into my sinuses.

I’ve had a similar thing happen with drinks once or twice, but never with food. It was pretty horrible and quite painful as well. I won’t get too graphic about it, but I was expelling food particles for the rest of the day. I hope it has all come out — seems like there would be a decent risk of infection…:(

Had a meeting with my finance client that had been rescheduled from Tuesday. Spent a couple of hours with her, most of which ended up being social, and I only marked down half an hour as work time.

Had another appointment for Lyra with the asthma nurse this afternoon. It seems that the steroid inhaler isn’t making a measurable difference, though I’m not confident that Lyra is using it as consistently as she is meant to be. We agreed an approach for the next six months, then headed home.

Courgette kofte for dinner. It was meant to be just the three of us (as per usual) and I planned proportions accordingly. I was about to serve up when Adam called half cut to say he was on his way home and had we eaten yet.

Held back a few kofte for him which he had with the last of the chicken cacciatore. My sinuses and soft palette are still feeling messed up. Such a drag…

March 20, 2019

Happy birthday, Adam! Did pressies first thing — a Paul Smith shirt and Miller’s Crossing DVD from me, bamboo socks and rhubarb jam from Lyra, and and an anthology of Guardian writing from Nova. No special birthday breakfast. There was no time for one thing, plus (inspired by Sunday’s film) Adam had decided he wanted to go for a morning swim in the Ponds. He invited Doron to join him. He sensibly declined the swim, but did join him with cake and a flask of hot coffee.

I had a Highgate Festival meeting at Pan Quotidien with Alicia and the committee that is forming to plan and deliver this year’s event. Not quite sure how I’ve found myself on another committee, given how unkeen I am on the first one, but there it is…

Escaped at 11:30 to meet Adam in town for lunch at the Tandoor Chop House. They had a special menu to celebrate Holi — “the ‘Festival of Colour’ which honours the victory of good over evil and the return of spring” so we opted for that.

Picked our cocktails — Adam: a CBD Bhang (gin, lime, moringa & jeera syrup, mint, CBD oil) me: a Gulal Sour (hibiscus infused Ceylon Arrack, lemon, vanilla, peach bitters) and let them do the rest:

Starters: bhel puri, green pea kachori chat, chop house fried chicken
Mains: celeriac tikka naan, roast goat leg chops, tarragon chicken chops
Dessert: apple jalebi, holi ice cream sandwich

Back home, Adam tackled some work while I assembled by Bakewell birthday cake. Not much to it — half a jar of black cherry preserves between the two sponges, and a lemon juice and icing sugar drizzle over the top, followed by a handful of flaked almonds.

Freddy and Beulah arrived around 4:30pm. I’d asked the girls to be home promptly after school, but neither of them heeded that instruction. Lyra got in first but I had to chase Nova out of the Costa in Golders Green…>:(

Neither Adam or I felt remotely like eating dinner, but I organised something for the kids. He had a Board meeting this evening, so I’d accepted an invitation to attend a Charpentier concert at Wigmore Hall with my friend Lawrence.

I’ve been listening to the pieces for the last couple of months, which really added to my enjoyment of a wonderful performance. Stopped for a drink and catch up afterwards, before heading home.

March 19, 2019

Good run this morning — three and a half miles, including wind sprints, at a pretty brisk pace. I can definitely feel my fitness levels improving, which is nice.Made a grocery run to the supermarket, then came home and baked birthday cakes for tomorrow. I’m making a Bakewell cake (essentially a Bakewell tart with almond-based sponge instead of pastry).

They turned out a lurid yellow colour, but the egg yolks were practically orange, so that was probably it. Though it isn’t filling me with confidence…

Made gyoza, miso soup, sesame spinach and rice for dinner. I’m surprised to notice that I haven’t written up gyoza yet — I certainly make them regularly enough. It’s getting to the point where pretty much everything I make regularly is on the site.

Adam I went to see Richard III at the newly refurbed theatre at Ally Pally. It was my ambition to reread the play before the performance, but I didn’t have enough free time for that.

It was only about a third full, so we were able to move closer when it was about to start. It was a good performance, though I definitely enjoyed the part I’d read much more.

That War of the Roses stuff is a confusing slice of history, with people swapping sides, and going by both their titles and their names. And then Shakespearean English can be hard to understand, though it always helps to hear it spoken.

March 18, 2019

Monday and a fasting day. Spent the whole morning catching up on housework, which I hadn’t managed to get to over the weekend. And if I don’t do it (or at least spearhead the effort), it doesn’t get done…My life was complicated by having to spend half an hour repairing the hoover. I had to pretty much take it to pieces to discover that someone had hoovered up a bobby pin.

It had jammed in the U-bend of the intake house, making two vampire-like punctures through the plastic. After I managed to extract it, the hoover worked much better again, though it now make a high-pitched whine it wasn’t making before.

Now Dyson has turned out to be such a Brexit-loving asshole, I won’t be buying another one of his products. We’ve been nursing this machine along for a while, but it is going to crap out eventually.

I’ve agreed to act as a referee for Tanja’s application for British citizenship. It seems to be a more significant undertaking than I’d anticipated. I needed to provide a fair amount of personal information , and also had to fill out a form myself and attach a passport photo.

Having no passport photos to hand, I headed up to Village Stationers to have some down. It was a palaver, though got there in the end.

Adam was out for the evening at a launch party, so I made dinner for the girls — a creamy chicken and broccoli pasta dish — then headed over to Tanja’s to finish the refereeing process.

Although she’s lived and worked in the UK for fifteen years, is a homeowner, and married to a Brit with whom she has three children, unless she gets a British passport sorted could be denied the right to remain.

There are regular stories in the news about people in similar situations who have been refused permanent residency all EU nationals now much pay to apply for…

March 17, 2019

What a difference a nine-hour sleep makes — I woke full of energy and enthusiasm for my scheduled five-mile run and was in my shoes and out of the house before 8:30am…It was nice running weather and not too mucky. Plus there were no trees down. Managed to knock a few minutes off last week’s time. Even better, I was home by 9:30am for a quick shower and upbeat start to the day.

As it’s St Patricks day, I wanted to cook something Irish. Initially, I thought I might corn some beef, but never got round to it. Today’s thought was Irish stew, but when I noticed some stewing beef in the freezer, I opted for beef barley soup instead.

Went to the Phoenix with Doron and Antonia this afternoon to see a film about the Highgate ponds. Doron’s friend Red was in it, which we knew but was still great to see.

I’ve known him since I moved to London. He was already losing his eyesight in his 20s and is now completely blind. Which hasn’t stopped him taking on extreme climbing challenges — like climbing the Old Man of Hoy.

Returned home ready for a tasty bowl of beef barley soup to discover that the girls had practically eaten the whole pot. I couldn’t believe it… There was just enough for a small lunch portion for one.

It seems likely that the barley had absorbed all the liquid, and they didn’t thin it out again, just ate whacking great bowls of beef and barley.

Nothing for it but to head to the Duke’s Head for a guinea fowl burger and a pint. Not what I would have opted for this evening, but pretty tasty all the same…

March 16, 2019

Just as well only had a short run scheduled today — I’m not feeling particularly well, surprise, surprise… That red wine dinner didn’t agree with me — that plus a terrible night’s sleep of about four hours…Got down to the Woods to discover they were closed again for wind, though it was still as a church at the moment. Carried on down Muswell Hill Road as before then along the Parkland way to Ally Pally.

Turned round at the entrance and headed home. Did my first wind sprint before I rejoined the main road and made the best of it from there.

I certainly felt better for running, though I was still tired all day. Adam made a cooked breakfast for the two of us, as both the girls still out — fried eggs, bacon, mushrooms and bread. That didn’t hurt either…

Lyra popped in briefly then headed off to ensemble rehearsal with Margaux and Ellie. The girls took the bus together both ways, setting a nice precedent for the future.

Made sweet potato black bean enchiladas for dinner with the cabbage corn salad I’ve been serving up recently. Ate round the table with everybody there — made a pleasant change.

I was planning to finish that episode of Black Mirror from Friday night, but I was too darn tired. Flaked out by 9pm, shifted myself downstairs at 11pm and asleep in minutes…

March 15, 2019

No school for Lyra today, as she’s going on another cimate change march. Actually, Nova is going this time as well, but her classes finish at noon so she’s heading down then.Ellie and Lucia came over to make another poster before setting off about 10am. I mainly worked on the engineering site. They gave me a bunch of feedback yesterday evening, most of which are design changes and thus chargeable.

A funny thing happened this afternoon. When Lyra got back, she unwrapped this week’s issue of The Week Junior, whose feature story is on the climate change protests. And there on the front cover, at Greta Thunberg’s elbow, were Lyra and Lucia:

She just about ruptured herself laughing at the morose expression on her face. I sent a couple of pics to Millie and Adam who ensured it was soon all over social media…;-)

We had already bought tickets for Lyra’s school quiz night when Nova announced that she had yet another 18th birthday party to attend this evening. We agreed that she’d deliver Lyra to her violin lesson by bus, then go her merry way.

Lyra would then travel from violin to her friend Ellie’s and stay there until we returned with Ellie’s parents from the quiz night to collect her. The ink hadn’t had time to dry on this arrangement when Lyra began renegotiating it.

Instead, she went back to Ellie’s, the pair of them travelled to ours, grabbed Lyra’s sleepover stuff, and headed to Sissy’s to spend the night.

The quiz started promptly at 7pm. We were on a table with other year 7 parents — Jess and Chris (Ellie’s parents), Tanja, and three other random people. There was meant to be supper provided, which turned out to be a cheese platter. Filled up on red wine…;-)

We did reasonably well coming joint fourth (and only one point off third), after which we repaired to the pub for a swift half before sharing a cab back to Highgate.

March 14, 2019

It was raining this morning, which was a deterred me from setting for my run once the girls were sorted. To paraphrase Lyle Lovett, does that make me a shallow person…?Spent a while searching for my Running Room hat, which appears to be lost…>:( At least by the time I gave up looking, it had stopped raining. It was still pretty wet on the Parkland Walk, and my shoes and socks were soaked by the end of four miles, but the hair was looking good…

Spent much of the day on minor website updates for clients: the Team section on Finance site, another round of snagging and amends on the engineering site, and adding video testimonials to the UN site.

Nova came home for lunch. We had another go and the warm white bean dish we tried last week. Took it in a new direction this time, serving it on toasted sourdough and scattering it with crispy pancetta.

Definite improvements, though I didn’t like the beans as much this time. I had to go for some fancy organic ones as they were all out of the “el cheapo” brand I usually buy. Those beans are larger, softer and saltier — all of which are better for this dish.

Spent an hour working on a javascript tutorial, having come to the conclusion that I need a firmer grounding of understanding in that area. I regularly find myself needing to tweak javascript and php code, which I can generally do, but definitely can’t write code from scratch or properly debug when something isn’t working.

Dinner was mapo tofu with rice and broccoli. Adam got home at 6:30, and even helped get the food on the table. We all sat down together too, which was a nice change.

Watched a very interesting Black Mirror tonight — punishment for a heinous crime being delivered in an “entertainment” context. Made me think of Roman colosseums, but also how complicit our society is in treating real life in this way — reality TV, the endless carnival of Brexit, Trump and the angry mobs on Twitter, Facebook and in the streets. Hating this, condemning that, everything so polarised and seemingly unfixable…

March 13, 2019

Had to be down at the school for 8:30 to do a big English mock. Did the girls’ stuff, ate breakfast with them, and actually left the house before Nova this morning.I definitely prefer walking there — cheaper, purposeful, and counts as a proper bit of exercise, especially if I do the steep trek home afterwards.

Veronika was working today as well, so we walked back together — more enjoyable than on Monday, thankfully. Some general griping about a particularly annoying colleague, followed by strong encouragement to shop at the new Aldi, which has opened up on the site of the former Archway Poundland.

Finance client work, laundry and other household duties occupied my afternoon. Chicken cacciatore (mum’s recipe) and “buttered noodles” for dinner. Tasted like the 1970s. Mushrooms aside (Lyra), it was a big hit with everyone, despite the definite downside of eating chicken on the bone with pasta.

Adam was in late from an evening event, then had to go out again to deliver the Arsenal season tickets he shares to another user. Watched an episode of Black Mirror — really enjoying them.

Theresa May is failing to shove her Brexit deal down Parliament’s throat this week. Even the threat of crashing out with no deal, doesn’t seem to be enough of a big stick. In fact, Parliament has now voted (312-308) to take “no deal” of the table. The problem is, there actually isn’t a table…

It’s all very Lord of the Flies around here, except there isn’t going to be anyone showing up to rescue us from this colossal clusterfucking mess of our own making…

March 12, 2019

Got the girls up, fed and out the door by 7:30am as per usual, then hopped into my running gear and set out for a three mile run.It was very gusty again today, and when I got the the Woods the gates were locked to protect people from the risk of falling branches. Ran along Muswell Hill Road instead, then onto the trail to Ally Pally.

Once there, I did an extra loop round the first field which pretty much got me back on track distance-wise. I wasn’t sure how I was going to manage the wind sprints, but they’d opened the Woods by the time I got back and everything worked out fine.

Had enough time to change out of my running kit, shower and do an hour’s work before my hair appointment. The usual — highlights, cut, blowdry — somehow took closer to three hours than the usual two. Looks good though…

Had a late lunch when I got back, then worked for an hour or so until the girls got home. Banh mi for dinner, which involved making the meatballs, carrot-cabbage pickle, and cooking some frozen half-baked baguettes I’d had hanging around since Lyra’s birthday.

Watched Leaving Neverland this evening. I never doubted the boys’ stories for a minute, but any pity I felt for Jackson evaporated my the end. He appears to have been a serial sexual predator who has inflicted immeasurable damage. It was all terribly sad, and I was in tears more than once while watching it…

March 11, 2019

Invigilating today, though I didn’t need to be there until 10:30am, which made for a leisurely start to the morning.Walked down instead of going for a run, which takes me about half an hour. It’s still pretty windy — and too loud to listen to anything on headphones.

Maths exam in the hall, with about a hundred candidates. For some unexplained reason, several maths teachers sat at desks amongst the kids doing paperwork, which changed the atmosphere somewhat.

Walked back with Veronika when it was over. She had a litany of complaints about the panto and then started grilling me about Lyra’s birthday party. I responded pretty neutrally, but when I thought about it later, I felt hacked off.

For eight straight years, we invited every girl in the class (and sometimes all the boys) to those joint parties with Alice. I can’t think of anyone else who did that, aside from twins (and they joined in Year 4).

There were girls we invited eight times who never invited Lyra to a single party. If she wanted to have a party with only five friends, that is absolutely up to her.

I was fasting today, and was pleased when Nova offered to take over the mac and cheese prep. Adam was off somewhere or other, but got back in time to catch our second Brady episode. Finally into season 3 and new episodes…

March 10, 2019

Adam got in about 2:30am, which is pretty restrained behaviour for a post-panto party. Woke up briefly, but fell back asleep again until about 8:30…Still, it was gone 10am by the time I set off for my five-mile run on the Heath. There were high winds about, and a massive plane tree down in the Grove. Faced a ferocious headwind all the way down Spaniards Lane, but it eased off once I got onto the Heath itself.

Tried to keep my pace nice and slow from the start, instead of going out too fast and then dragging my ass up those last few hills home. Had to leave the path twice due to fallen trees and pick my way through the brambly undergrowth, which helped control the pace as well.

Adam was up and about by the time I got back, and Doron popped round not long after with a belated present for Lyra. Had coffee together, and after he left I made eggs benedict for brunch.

Annoyingly, I split the sauce right at the end. The taste was still there, but it’s not the same. Read about ways to remedy the situation afterwards. Basically you start again with a single egg yolk and then slowly incorporate the split sauce into your new one.

Adam had tickets to the Arsenal v ManU match and Lyra was off pottering about with Margaux, so it was Nova and me at home for the afternoon. When Lyra got back I made Swedish meatballs and potatoes for the three of us, which we ate while watching the last Brady of series two.

Started Black Mirror this evening. I’d been hearing about it for a while, but it wasn’t until the furore over Bandersnatch at Christmas that I resolved to watch it. Creepy, dystopian, intelligent stuff…

March 9, 2019

Happy 16th birthday, Liam! I felt fine after last night, despite waking up at 6:30am, and was happy enough to go for my two mile run. Took it pretty easy, as I’m doing a long run tomorrow. It was cold out and slippery too — the weather is definitely worsening, and apparently we’re in for a dose of that snow that has been battering North America.Made sure that Lyra did some homework before skipping off to hang out with friends for the day. Nova had left for a kilo clothing sale in Brixton, so it was just Adam and me. At my behest, he’d made a pot of vegetable soup while I was running, but we decided to keep it for dinner and go out for lunch instead.

The Duke’s Head hosts a pop-up restaurant each month. The current one is called Guinea Fowlers. Had their signature buttermilk-fried guinea fowl fillet in a bun, a schooner of Palomino, and split a side of chips, after which Adam headed off to do the matinee.

Drinking at lunch always does for me, and with last night’s party as well, I came straight home for a half-hour cat nap on the sofa. Made sure to wake up in time to receive my grocery order.

I thought I might be ferrying Lyra around for violin ensemble and wouldn’t find time to do the shopping, but that didn’t happen in the end. While it’s quite convenient having groceries delivered, overall I prefer to go shopping for my own groceries.

Had to chase Lyra back from Arthur and Walter’s to eat and change for the panto. Nova set off to a party in High Barnet, and I headed up to the school to see the show for myself.

I was soon joined by Freddy, Beulah and their friend Suzie. Adam had reserved some decent seats for us, with an aisle seat for Freddy to facilitate his trips to the loo.

It was odd to be sitting in the audience again after nearly a decade on stage — and while I thoroughly enjoyed myself, it wasn’t quite the same. There were some great individual performances, and the sets, costumes, and props were fantastic.

It was the writing that let the show down — it wasn’t that funny and there was no comic reworking of the songs — the actors just sang straight versions from the Disney film.

The woman doing the choreography clearly hadn’t had enough support either. The parent dances were good, and the Year 6 dance, but Year 5 and 4 were pretty ragged.

Though you can’t really lose with the kids dances. The kids are adorable and thrilled to be up there, and the parents are going to love whatever they d,o so maybe there’s no need to over-invest.

After a lengthy spell of thank-you speeches, it was time for cast and crew to repair to the pub. I was always going to give that one a miss (though some spouses and hangers-on do turn up)…

March 8, 2019

I try to keep Fridays free from client work as much as possible. The idea is to either do home-type work (as opposed to housework), such as filling out Lyra’s medical form for school, or doing maintenance on my computer, or to head into town for errands or appointments.In theory, this would then leave the weekend free for more interesting, non-work activities or just relaxing. In practice this pretty much never happens…

I did make a layered Mexican dip for Antonia’s party this evening. I was pleased I had just enough of everything to avoid making a run to the shops. (Though it meant didn’t get to buy the tortilla chips to go with it…)

Spent some time round John’s as well, helping him take receipt of his grocery delivery. The guy doing the delivery was nearly as clapped out as John himself, though a good thirty years younger. He was so wheezy and unfit that I ended up carrying half the bags up myself.

Lyra went back to Ellie’s after school. I collected her from there and carried on to the violin teacher’s. Adam got back in time to do the collecting, which is always much appreciated, and allows me to get dinner on the table for when they get back. Kept it simple tonight — pesto pasta all round.

Nova is seeing the panto tonight, and headed up with Lyra who is shadowing on one of the follow spots. Adam returned at half time, whipped off his tutu and make-up, after which we headed off to Antonia’s party.

Got there just before 10pm. There were a number of Doron’s friends I’ve known for years to talk to, as well as Antonia’s mum and sisters. Met a few new folk as well, though I was pretty restrained on the drinking front, and thus less extroverted.

Freddy and Beulah were still there when we arrived. Beulah was having a nice time but it wasn’t the best environment for Freddy. It was very crowded and hard to move, plus he managed to lock himself in the downstairs loo twice in a half hour. I felt happier when they were popped into a taxied and sent on their way.

My midnight, Adam had reached the “slurring and repeating himself” stage, and it seemed best to steer him homewards. We were making our way to the door when two Dominos delivery boys arrived with a massive stack of pizzas — must have been close to twenty.

I helped Doron carry them to the kitchen and clear a space, after which the feeding frenzy commenced. That mountain of pizza was decimated in twenty minutes, and it was a job keeping up with the empty boxes.

Adam was certainly improved by a switch from drinking to eating. He was far more with it, and we ended up staying until almost 1:30am before calling it a night and taxi-ing home.

March 7, 2019

Four mile run this morning, along the Parkland Walk. It’s the perfect length run for that route, nearly all along a wooded trail, and avoids the roadworks on Spaniards Lane.I was happy to note that the soreness in my leg was completely gone. I was pretty sure it was muscular, but it was close enough to my hip joint to give me pause…

Walked down to the high school for my afternoon invigilating shift (another mile or so). Physics mock A-level with a dozen candidates who just put their heads down and scribbled furiously. Aside from having to stay awake, it couldn’t have been less work on my part.

The girls were already home from school by the time I got back. Nova has finished her mocks now. Hard to know, but she feels like they went pretty well. She was out with Shira for the evening, and Adam was going straight to the panto from work, so it was just Lyra and me for dinner.

I made chicken tinga enchiladas, which I baked in the oven, then topped with guac and crème fraiche and served with a cabbage-corn slaw (my current thing). Watched a Brady Bunch together before I had to shoot off to a committee meeting.

Happily it was short and sweet — though as testy and contentious as ever — and I was home long before Adam got back. Caught up on the Madame Secretary I dozed through the other day, after which we attempted a new one — which I immediately fell asleep in…;-)

March 6, 2019

Happy birthday to Antonia, who joins us on the exclusive side of the hill today…;-)I was invigilating today, but my shift didn’t start until 12:30, which gave me time to knock a few things off the old to-do list before I had to set off. Left enough time to walk down, which I prefer to catching the bus. Wet and windy day, but I dressed for it.

It was my first go at being lead invigilator — though a pretty soft intro to the role. Forty mock A-level candidates sitting two papers in the hall, no break-out rooms, no next-day prep, and only one invigilator to supervise.

Even so, it felt a bit different to be the one in charge — entering the exam details into the overhead, making the opening announcement and calling time, plus taking the little decisions that come up during the course of any exam.

Home about 4:15pm. Did a bit more computer work, then switched gears to making dinner — pork bits Hawaiian and rice. Given how much I adored this dish as a child, it’s surprising to me that I’ve never made it for my own family, especially as everyone loved it.

Watched a couple of Brady Bunches with dinner. Adam popped in for a bite to eat then headed off to dress rehearsal. I cleared up, did some laundry, cajoled Lyra into practicing her violin, then sat down with my novel.

It’s a strange little novella called “The Lady and the Little Fox Fur” by Violette Leduc. I’ve started it twice now, but I’m deliberately reading very slowly and connecting with it more this time.

Half asleep by the time Adam got home. We “watched” a Madame Secretary (he did, anyway) and then to bed.

March 5, 2019

Up at 6:45am to get the girls fed and sorted, then changed into my running gear and headed for the Woods. Introduced a few short sprints at the end of my three mile run — 20 seconds fast followed by two minutes recovery.I always dread the sprints then end up quite enjoying them. There’s something about running fast that makes me feel like a kid again…

Nova was back from her history exam mid-morning (sounds like it went pretty well) so we had our lunch break together. Made a warm white bean salad I used to love and haven’t eaten in ages, which we both really enjoyed.

Though when Nova pointed out how it would be improved by some crispy bacon or pancetta I had to disagree. We were probably still vegetarians when I used to make it, or I might have thought of that myself. It would also make a mighty good bruschetta topping…

A few UN amendments, but otherwise no client work today. Unless I consider my family as clients, which I could do — I certainly devote a goodly part of every single day to servicing them.

Baked bread (the sourdough gods were smiling on me today, and the loaves were pretty much perfection), and made a pot of lentil soup for dinner. As it’s Shrove Tuesday, we had Icelandic pancakes for dessert.

Adam’s stomach was playing up so he didn’t eat dinner, but was unable to resist having a pancake, which his stomach seemed to cope with. He’d eaten a high-fibre lunch, which he thinks might have triggered the episode.

Watched some Madame Secretary, then bath (a bit of soreness in my right leg from the sprinting) and bed…

March 4, 2019

Happy 21st birthday, Ceinwen! Got the girls up and breakfasted and off to school with their packed lunches, then sat down with a coffee to catch up on the news.With only three weeks until we leave the EU, the political situation is as chaotic as ever. It’s hard to believe that such a colossal act of national self-harm will be allowed to happen, but nothing surprises me any more.

Things are looking a bit more promising on the American front. The Oversight Committee is send out dozens of requests for documents and information from a raft of bad actors, and Michael Cohen’s testimony last week certainly lifted the spirits.

I find it surprising that no one pointed out to those Republican congressmen who kept bleating that Cohen was a convicted liar whose testimony shouldn’t be believed, that the lies he was convicted of were for saying that Trump had done nothing wrong…

Did a chunk of work for the UN website and supported Gilda in getting her assistant up and running so she can upload articles, plus a few other bits and bobs.

Fed the girls a bit early so that Lyra could go up to the panto to do run a spotlight for the tech rehearsal. At least that was the plan. When she and Nova got there, it turned out they’d filled the spotlight positions, despite Adam putting her name down a few weeks back.

Adam spoke to the producers after rehearsal, and has arranged for her to shadow the most senior spotlighter on Friday and the two Saturday performances. She’s not best pleased, but it sounds like a good arrangement to me.

Adam’s new computer arrived today, and once he’s transferred all his files across and wiped the hard drive, we’ll set it up for Lyra to use.

Saddened by the death of Luke Perry, who had a massive stroke a couple of days ago and never recovered. He’s our age, and I always thought he seemed a super-nice, down-to-earth guy…

March 3, 2019

According to Adam (and evidence later gleaned from Instagram) the little skunks were still awake at 3am…Unsurprisingly, they were slow to get moving and still sacked out when I had a quick peek upstairs before setting off for a run at 9am. Did four miles at a gentle pace, round Kenwood and out to Whitestone Pond and back.

They were up and eating waffles by the time I got home. Ellie had brought her waffle iron over, and they were churning out a steady production stream going. I expected people might make a move after that, but back to the livingroom to hang out some more.

Aside from Saya, no one shifted until 12:30pm. What lit a fire under them was the idea of seeing Bohemian Rhapsody in Hampstead. Adam was more than happy to facilitate this happening by giving them a lift…;-)

To their credit, they did a pretty good job of tidying up the living room. It remained for us to shift all the furniture back and take down the decorations before having a spot of lunch.

Adam headed up to the school for the stagger-through. It’s not such an imposition when just doing a dance, but what with rehearsing before and after, he was gone for a couple of hours.

Made Swedish meatballs and potatoes for dinner, which went down a storm with everyone. (I was pretty sure I’d stopped making them because people were ambivalent, but apparently I’ve misremembered that.)

Lyra received a beautiful orchid from Margo and Aaron today. She rearranged the items on her storage units to give it pride of place.

Adam and started on the fifth series of Madam Secretary this evening. There was an scene where the Teá Leone character (who plays the Secretary of State) had a meeting with her “predecessors” Madeleine Albright, Hillary Clinton and Colin Powell (all playing themselves) about how she should proceed.

They were a little wooden and delivered their lines a bit flat and fast, but it was an interesting blurring of drama and reality…

March 2, 2019

Went for a gentle two mile run first thing. Had a quick shower and then Lyra and I headed straight out to the supermarket. She’s having a birthday sleepover for six girls this eveningand needed to stock up on crispy crap to serve her guests.Adam made a pot of veggie soup while we were out, and we had that for lunch with my mediocre skunk cake. I’d shifted Lyra’s violin lesson to this afternoon, so Adam ran her down to that for 1:30, after which she stayed on for ensemble practice.

Ellie’s mum dropped her back and it was all systems go on the party from then on. We rearranged the living room furniture, lining the sofa and armchair against the window to maximise floor space. Hung decorations while the Lyra and Ellie made a batch of pink lemonade, a big bowl of guacamole, and set out the aforementioned snacks.

After the guests started arriving, Adam and I were pretty much banished to the lower floors appearing only briefly to clear dishes, fix the Nintendo Switch or deliver the Al Parco pizzas we’d popped out to collect.

It’s an unfortunate feature of our floors that relatively modest activity sounds like a thundering stampede, so you can imagine what six girls Just Dancing all evening was like. I jammed on my headphones and cranked the Benjamin Britten while I worked on my computer. Adam was busy writing a speech for his client to deliver at the inaugural black theatre awards on Monday.

We were in bed by 10pm, and after a brief, unhappy period without them, I found it preferable to sleep in my headphones as well. When I woke at 1am, there was definitely action overhead, but I quickly fell asleep again and that was the last I heard…

March 1, 2019

Happy birthday, little Lyra — 12 years old today, how amazing is that!!!

As negotiated, we were all upstairs at 6:30am for the opening of the presents, which went swimmingly. She seemed genuinely surprised and pleased by her gifts, everything fit, there were no jealousy issues. This year’s haul:

• • skateboard
  • jeans x2
  • teeshirt
  • belt
  • boots
  • water bottle
  • earrings
  • Polaroid film
  • Brandy Melville gift certificate (Beulah and Freddy)
  • Skinny Dip gift certificate (Nova)

Just time for her requested birthday breakfast of grapefruit and toast before everyone had to shift gears for the rest of their day. For me, this involved doing some analysis of the materiality matrix, as well as baking a birthday cake and making the requested birthday dinner of lasagne and garlic bread.

This required two trips to the local shops (I under-estimated how much frosting would be needed). I must say, I’m pretty happy with how the cake turned out.

Following my recent imaging retouching success (the result of taking time to learn how to do it instead of just diving in), I spent five minutes watching a video on frosting cakes. There’s still plenty of room for improvement, but nice to produce an iced cake that doesn’t deserve pride of place on Cake Fail.

Wade called in the afternoon to wish Lyra a happy birthday, and we had a good long chat and catch-up before she got home. Not long after that, Pasc came over bearing gifts. She ended up staying for dinner as Pete at a theatre rehearsal, leaving just before Freddy and Beulah arrived for birthday cake.

They taxied here as Beulah’s still not happy driving, although both cataract operations have been carried out and no reason why she shouldn’t. She should be enjoying perfect eyesight, but apparently she’s experiencing some double vision. Adam dropped them back, while I cleaned up the kitchen and then to bed.

Nova is sleeping in Lyra’s room tonight (some sort of birthday thing). I came downstairs to find them curled up together and fast asleep like a pair of puppies. Bless…

David called after I was in bed, so we had a good visit too. He’ls going to try again tomorrow when Lyra is awake…;-)