March 2022

March 31, 2022

It’s Lyra’s last day of school for the term, and the last time I have to get up early and drive her to the bus stop for a few weeks 🙂

Got straight down  to work on cricket websites. I really need to get that off my plate. I was hoping it would be ready to share with the client by lunchtime, but it ended up taking most of the working day. It has been a good project for honing my Wix skills.

Sent it to the client to review by the end of the work day. If the amends aren’t significant, I can make them next week and take it  live. It would be great if that could all happen before we leave for Seville.

Had a phone call with Adam – sounds like he’s have a lovely time in Vancouver…

I’d arranged to go down to the flat at 6pm to sign off on the end of tenancy cleaning. The schedule shifted and they won’t be done until 7:30-8, so I’ve decided to do it tomorrow, when I let the new folks in and save myself a trip.

Lyra came home briefly before heading over to Lily’s for a sleepover. I worked until about 9pm, then poured myself a glass of wine and sorted out some leftovers for dinner. Fell asleep watching Arrested Development and woke up about 2am…

March 30, 2022

Lyra is taking the Tube today her Art mock – five hours of painting under supervision. – so no driving for me today, though I did get up at the usual time to make her a coffee and some breakfast. Meditated, put in a stint of housework and then hit the desk. Cricket website, some work on the beauty website, and a few queries from my Pilates client took up most of my time.

It sounds like the Art exam went okay. At 10:30pm last night Lyra mentioned that she couldn’t bring a dumb music player into the exam, such as an old style iPod. I still my little shuffle, but we couldn’t find a way to update the songs. I also have a Sony walkman, and dug out a box of cassette tapes from the garage.

Once we changed the batteries, it appear to work okay, but it ate the first tape we tried. At least she could use it as a radio in the exam, but would be good to sort out the tape playing. I found a place in Tottenham Court Road that does Walkman repairs, but not my top priority at the moment.

Went for a late afternoon walk with Kate on the Heath. It was surprisingly cold, but we had a good ramble. Made salmon yakitori, with grilled courgette and green onions. Watched an episode of Shameless while we ate. We’d like to watch Dune but always end up sitting down too late. Maybe once school breaks up…

March 29, 2022

Drove Lyra to the bus stop this morning. Listening to the news on the way home, it sounds like covid is everywhere, which correlates with my personal experience. For example, tonight’s Pilates is cancelled, as everyone but Stuart, Adam and me has covid. Stuart is going to the Stormzy concert tonight, so I won’t be surprised if he’s sick by Saturday, and Adam is travelling on a plane…

Had a meeting with Ruth for the beauty website, to bottom out the newsletter thing and also talk about a piece of work they want – adding some functionality that shows stores that recycle beauty products,. It’s not that straightforward… businesses need to update their own data, and there will be 1000+ locations or something. Another big, scary, hairy item for my extensive to-do list…

Made Lyra fried rice for dinner before heading down to the flat to do the final inventory. There’s only one tenant left, the other two have moved out already. The place looks pretty good, but there are a few things for the snag list. Caught the bus down, and walked back.

Had a glass of wine and a snack when I got in. Lyra is studying this evening, so I watched Arrested Development for the evening’s entertainment. If it doesn’t feature Jason Bateman or Will Arnett I don’t want to know about it…;-)

March 28, 2022

Our last day of dog duty… Lyra had her Textiles mock, so she went in on the Tube. I took Luna for a spin round Waterlow Park. She was pretty well behaved – there was definitely less of the refusing to walk shit she was pulling at the start of our week together. It would be great to let her off the lead, but I have zero confidence that she’d come back when I called.

Back home, I found it difficult to get down to work – I’m not sure why. Did some housework, read a hunk of Dune, meditated… Finally managed to get started in the afternoon, but I wasn’t particularly productive. There were issues with the beauty newsletter to resolve, in particular trying to merge two rss feeds into one mailout, which isn’t that straightforward, at least not in MailChimp. Managed to crack it in the end.

Richard and Rachel turned up about 5pm to collect Luna. When she saw them through the window, she flew at door barking aggressively. It took a good 30 seconds for her to calm down and welcome them. We were all surprised by her reaction: “What have you done to her?” Richard said.

They gave Lyra a generous amount of money for her efforts, and some nice Swiss chocolates for the house.  They plan to take Adam and me for a meal when he’s back. We’d gathered all her belongings – two big bags, plus the doggie bed. I’m sure we’ve forgotten things…

Went straight into Lyra’s virtual parent teacher evening, where everyone was singing her praises. They consistently appreciate the way she engages in class, volunteers answers, and responds to feedback. Her history teacher was particularly effusive and thinks she could achieve the top grade on her GCSE exam.

Chicken curry and rice for dinner in front of Shameless. With Adam away, we’ve been cracking on with it. There are eleven seasons or something…

March 27, 2022

It’s Mother’s Day in the UK. Lyra got up first thing to take the dog (who slept in my room last night) out for a wee. Her friends headed off pretty early to see their own mothers, and Lyra brought me coffee and gifts in bed – a beautiful bouquet of flowers from Nova and a tub of jasmine body butter from her.

After a video call with Nova, I got up to make breakfast with Lyra. We had crumpets browned in curried butter with poached eggs on top – a Beulah concoction that is delicious.

 Walked Luna to the Old White Lion pub in East Finchley for a Garfunkel family roast lunch. She was surprisingly well behaved, aside from  doing two poops on North Hill, and one scary moment when her lead detached. Lyra sacked her like a quarterback, and I made sure it was proper tight before we got to the A1.

Our table was in a corner with lots of space around us. The waiter brought Luna a bowl of water, I gave her an ostrich tendon chew and she settled down okay. Two things I’ve been doing different to Richard and Rachel. I don’t yell at her when she barks (which seems like encouraging loudness) and I almost never give her treats. She hasn’t earned them in my view, and again the way they dole them out seems like reinforcing bad behaviour.

Another miniature schnauzer rocked up at the table across the way, which caused a bit of excitement, mostly initiated by the other dog to be fair to Luna. The food was nice, but the service terrible, and we were there for almost three hours in the end. Surprisingly, Luna was pretty good the whole time. Walked back to Highgate with Antonia – her kids had left earlier on the bus and Doron drove his mum back to Finchley.

Took it easy for the rest of the day. Lyra had school work to do, I read and we watched a bit of telly in the evening. Very chilled weekend…

March 26, 2022

Adam’s flying to Vancouver this morning. I got the timing wrong. Thinking he was leaving at 9:30am, so arranged a walk with Millie, but in fact he wasn’t off until 10:30…

I took Luna on the walk of course. She acted like a turkey, barking at Millie and refusing to walk on the field at random intervals. Rachel had suggested when that happens that I toss dog crunchies and treats in front of her, but there is no way in hell I’d do that. I also refuse to carry her on walks like the dog walker did. I just shake the lead, shorten it right up, then give her a little tug, or jog a few steps and that eventually does the trick.

Met up with Millie again in the afternoon for Bryn’s birthday lunch. We taxied into Soho to Rita’s Bodega where his daughter Rosie met us. Fried chicken Caesar salad, grapefruit & soda, chocolate sorbet for dessert. All very nice and Millie picked up the tab (also very nice).

The plan was to intersect the Ukraine solidarity march afterwards, but by the time Millie had browsed in a few stores, the march had pretty much arrived in Trafalgar Square. It was a beautiful afternoon for it, and the flags looked amazing against a cloudless blue sky. Listened to a few of the speakers – Emma Thompson, Sadiq Khan and another woman – before tubing it back to Highgate.

Lyra had Lily and Ava over, and I agreed they could stay the night. Interestingly they wanted to hang out with me, and we played Uno, Speed, and Werewolf. Luna predictably acted silly with the unfamiliar people, particularly Ava who is clearly nervous of dogs.

As I wasn’t hungry at all, I offered to get them a takeaway for dinner. The opted for sushi from Iro Sushi, which didn’t arrive. The restaurant wasn’t answering their phone, and eventually I walked down there. The place was in chaos. Drivers standing around (from the wrong delivery service maybe?) and orders piling up, including ours. I intended to be all mean about it, but it clearly wasn’t the poor counter girl’s fault. I did ensure she refunded the delivery charge though.

After the girls retreated to Lyra’s room, I watched some telly and to bed…

March 25, 2022

We all headed down to the Heath this morning, and after Lyra caught her bus Adam and I took dogface for a walk. Yet another glorious morning – the weather is really turning on the charm these days. Bought some pastries at Roni’s and dropped them round for Pete and Pasc. I thought the whole household was down with covid, but it turns out it’s only Pete and Sid. Sounds like he’s having a rough time with it, despite being triple vaxxed.

Adam is off to Vancouver tomorrow, so was busy ticking things off his to-do list: pre-travel covid test, early Mothers Day visit with Beulah, that sort of thing. I progressed the cricket website, had a new business meeting, some legacy work for my insurance client (who are taking their online marketing in house), supported my Irish Pilates woman, did a bit of Jx work. A typical day…

Luna seems a bit more chilled today. The long morning walk probably helped, but she was definitely less barky when the school kids were out and about. I think she’s settled in to her life her pretty well. I was expecting her to be much more of a pest. Still be happy enough to see the back of her, not least so the poor cat can return from exile.

Nandos delivery for dinner with a round of “let’s end the week” gin and tonics. 

March 24, 2022

Lyra being very responsible about her morning dog duties. I heard her get up about 6:30am to take Luna out for her morning wee. I sorted her breakfast then Adam ran her down to the bus. He’s not walking with Doron today, so didn’t walk Luna on the Heath, opting for a lap round Waterlow Park when he got back instead.

I liberated Cleo from the laundry room and gave her a cuddle. She’s keeping a very low profile these days, and the next time I went downstairs to go for my run she’d made herself scarce. At least the weather is nice for hanging about outdoors. Maybe it’ll help wean her off the litter tray…

Two and half miles round the Woods, shower and to work. I’m knocking off early today to take Lyra to the surrealism exhibition at the Tate. Set off about 3pm to meet her. We’ve been having the most beautiful weather the last few days, and it was a lovely walk along the river from Waterloo.

We both really enjoyed the exhibition, so much that I actually bought the catalogue, which I don’t generally do. It’s on until the end of August, so I’ll aim to come see it again, perhaps with Adam. I would have taken her out for a drink/snack, but Adam is out this evening so we needed to get back for the dog.

In the end, Luna was on her own for about five minutes, but judging from how she greeted us, you’d think she’d been left all day. Quesadillas and mug cakes for dinner, with a double episode of Shameless. What with Adam going away for a week, I expect we’ll make good progress on that one in the coming days…

March 23, 2022

Luna is sleeping in Lyra’s room, so she gets up first thing and takes her to the little green. Adam drove all of us to the bus stop today, and I hopped out with the dog and took her for a long walk on the Heath first thing.

She’s a funny little creature. Sometimes she’ll just plant her feet and refuse to walk for no apparent reason; other times she drops on her belly like a lion stalking in the savannah. I give her a bit of time, then shorten the lead right up and exert gentle pressure until she starts moving again.

Breakfast when we got home, then her yogurt at noon. As I was the only one home until 5pm all the day walks fell to me – a medium walk at 1pm, a trip to the green about 4pm. I was glad when Lyra got home and took over. Though I’m enjoying Luna’s company more than I expected to, and it’s actually no bad thing to break up the working day with a half hour walk to clear the head and stretch the limbs.

Spicy cottage pie and green beans for dinner with an episode of Bojack, followed by an Ozark chaser. To bed with my novel by 10:30pm. I’m re-reading Dune. I remember reading it when I was Lyra’s age, absolutely loving it and getting mum to read it. Hard to believe my fifteen-year-old self made head or tail of it – it’s dense, convoluted and confusing though I am enjoying it. Maybe all comes good by the end…

March 22, 2022

Our first full day of dog care… Lyra did the morning wee, Adam took her for a walk on the Heath when he met Doron, I did meals, snack and afternoon walk, and Lyra took over when she got home. Luna is being very agreeable (aside from bouts of barking at school children or our neighbours through the window).

I did a run in the Woods – just two miles as I got going late. It was a beautiful morning, with a real spring warmth in the air. The paths are still pretty muddy, but that’ll dry up quickly if it continues like this.

Richard and Rachel checked in from Switzerland and I was able to give Luna a reasonably good report card. Apparently the doggy daycare woman who had her for the weekend has informed them Luna can’t stay there again because she got too aggressive towards the woman’s partner. (The kind of thing she’s pulled with Adam and Lyra in the past).

Lyra went to the gym after school, which meant a bit more dog care for me, but she stepped right up when she got home. Sweet potato cauliflower tacos for dinner, Bojack, Ozark and bed.

March 21, 2022

Back to work… I’ve got so much on at the moment that taking a day off is a headache. At least Lyra opted to take the Tube this morning so she could lie in a bit. I got her breakfast and coffee, meditated then got down to work before 8am.

Had some urgent updates for the art school website and a block of UN editing that I made a start on (second amends). Spent some time supporting my Irish Pilates instructor, who tried setting up a free taster class and made a bit of a hash of it, which took an hour to sort out. I do admire her willingness to give it a go, but it can be a challenge to work out how to unpick things.

When Lyra got back from school we headed to Muswell Hill to collect Luna from the dog minder. The original arrangement was for her to deliver Luna to us, but that fell through. We could hear Luna’s wild barking as we parked the car, and the woman practically shoved her into my arms.

Out on the pavement, Luna locked her legs and refused to move. It was a challenge getting her into the car, and definitely a two person job. Lyra held her on the journey home. There is some sort of dog seatbelt arrangement, but I hadn’t the first idea how to configure it. Another big bag of dog supplies to find a home for – that dog has more kit than the two of us took to Paris.

Come dinner time, I found I wasn’t feeling very hungry – still digesting from Paris perhaps. Lyra had a bowl of pesto pasta, Adam had leftover broccoli soup and toast, and I had cheese and crackers. Watched a Bojack (we’re closing in on season 5) with dinner, then switched to finishing my novel (Breasts and Eggs) and catching up on the news etc before bed. The Ukraine situation seems to be stalemating, which is better than Russia prevailing, but not great either…

March 20, 2022

Happy birthday Adam! After uploading Mike’s video to the Jx Slack channel, it was time to focus on Adam. Gave him the birthday present I’d tucked into my suitcase – one of those  23 and Me DNA kits. David has done one and shared the results with me (we’re pretty much entirely northern European – various shades of British, with a bit of German and Scandi in the mix). It’ll be interesting to see what Adam’s reveals.

It’s another beautiful morning. We’ve had beautiful weather this trip, which is unprecedented for Paris in my experience. Popped out for a croissant and coffee, then back for a swim in their weird little pool in our equally weird swimsuits. At least we had the place to ourselves…

Just enough time to dry my hair before checkout. Left our bags and headed straight to the Vaudeville, across from the Bourse. It’s a classic old style brasserie – I love those places. Oysters, salmon/seabass and a bottle of chablis. Creme brulée, chocolate mousse, and a couple of brandies made for a lovely birthday lunch.

With a few hours to kill before our train, we walked a bit to digest then caught the metro to Bastille. I haven’t been round that area in ages – it used to be a preferred area to stay when we were younger. Wandered the streets reminiscing. Adam popped into a clothing store to replace his belt, which had split yesterday and also bought a nice new shirt. One last drink in a sidewalk café, before metro’ing back to the hotel to collect our bags.

Were planning to metro to Gare du Nord as well, but the station we’d aimed for didn’t accept our old style paper tickets, and we ended up flagging a cab. It’s definitely more complicated to check in now we’re no longer EU, but we still ended up with half an hour to wait before we boarded.

Smooth journey, and more food  – curried chicken salad, a glass of red wine and a delicious chocolate-cayenne brownie. Caught a cab home from Kings X, and both unpacked our bags the moment we got in. We’re alike in that regard, and very different to most people. I’ve known friends not to bother unpacking for a week after getting home from a trip.

Adam collected Lyra from his mums. Sounds like she was treated very well and had a reasonably nice time. To bed about midnight.

March 19, 2022

Another gorgeous morning… Lounged about in bed until it was time to make our way to the Orsay. Stopped for coffee and a croissant in Cafe Marly overlooking the pyramid at the Louvre. The service wasn’t stellar, but it’s a nice place to sit.

Adam and his business partner Mike happen to have the same birthday. Mike is turning 50 tomorrow, and there’s a plan for the team to record birthday greetings for him. We got the idea of making a video along the lines of “to celebrate your birthday, we’ve come to Paris”. All day, I recorded bits and pieces I could use to compile it later.

There was a Whistler exhibition at the Orsay, which I really enjoyed, but every painting in there is fabulous. There wasn’t as much mask wearing as I expected. It must have changed pretty recently – when we booked the tix a week ago, we needed to download and set up a special covid pass app as part of the entry requirements. No sign of that… Maybe a third of people still wearing masks, which is a lot more than you’d see in London.

Full of art, we wandered southeast, looking for somewhere to eat ending up at a little neighbourhood café. Great people watching and the nice enough food – club sandwich for Adam, and a croque monsieur for me. Headed along Boulevard St Germain to the Latin Quarter and pootled around a bit. Our hotel has a pool – assuming it was closed we neglected to bring swimsuits, so we bought a couple.

Caught the metro back to our neck of the woods. Definitely 100% mask compliance there, which seems a fucking no brainer to me, but its not like that in the UK at all. Hung out in the room putting together Mike’s birthday video. I did it all on my phone, as I opted to leave the computer at home, so I didn’t have my usual video tools at my disposal, but I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. Here the final result:

Our hotel is surrounded by Asian restaurants, and for dinner we opted up in a Korean barbeque place called Sam Chic. Enjoyed it a lot – I haven’t had barbeque in ages…

March 18, 2022

Not even three hours sleep when the alarm went off. It’s so predictably tedious the way we always do this. Note to self, make a point next trip of NOT staying up most of the night beforehand. Maybe pack a day in advance?

When Adam went to book a cab last night, there were none available with our local companies. Had to reserve a black cab through TfL. This behemoth turned up this morning to rattle us off to KingsX – it occurred to me that we must be coming to the end of this sort of thing, enormous petrol powered hulks driven by one of yesterday’s men. Like that scene at the end of The Dead when they travel to the hotel in a horse-driven carriage. I bet they weren’t around many years after that story was set.

We arrived the recommended two hours early, along with lots of other people. The formalities took a few minutes longer, but we were left with a good ninety minutes to wait before boarding. Adam upgraded our tickets, which meant they served us breakfast. The train ended up being an hour late, though it still took only three hours. (I think we get some kind of refund for that.)

Walked from Gare du Nord to our hotel in the 2ieme. I don’t usually stay so centrally, but makes sense for a weekend trip. Room not ready yet, left our bags and headed out for lunch. We’d booked the Auberge Nicolas Flamel, a one Michelin starred place situated in the oldest stone house in Paris. It was Flamel’s actually house, which is pretty cool.

Lunch was an absolute delight.  Food, wine, service were all impeccable – we were thrilled with everything. It’s been a very long time since we’ve eaten in such a smart restaurant. Three little amuse bouches (neither of us were quite sure what they were as we’d opted to speak French to the waiters), followed by a radicchio starter; monkfish for me, veal for Adam; a cheese course; and dessert – a bitter orange concoction with coffee cream flavoured with tonka bean. Exceedingly good value too, as set lunch menus often are.

Moseyed around afterwards, just following our nose – the Brancusi atelier by the Pompidou, into the Marais for a bit of shopping, then down to stroll along the Seine. It’s much more pedestrianized now, which is a big improvement. The road was lively with joggers, impromptu cafés, cyclists, boules pits, everyone enjoying the glorious weather.

Continued back through the centre of town, stopping for a glass of wine and a bite at a local place we’d noticed on the way out. Went for a small carafe of red wine and two appetisers. We enjoyed that so much we had another carafe and the remaining two starters, despite one of them being “oreille du cochon”. Really glad we tried that one, which turned out to be a delicious porky take on calamari with a crème fraiche dip.

Our hotel room is super nice, a notch up on anything we’ve booked in Paris before. Bath, bed. What a fab day…

March 17, 2022

Happy St Patricks Day! I’d thought of making corned beef this year and even got my hands on a brisket, but Adam was planning on being out tonight, and I didn’t get organized five days ago to start brining it so it hasn’t happened.

Lyra slept in a bit to compensate for last night, then took the tube to school. Adam still drove to Swains Lane and parked up as usual to go for a walk with Doron. I skipped the exercise and cut straight to my shower the started in on the work.

A couple of hours amending wireframes, then the rest of the day on the final UN report on ocean-based oil and gas exploration. These three papers have been particularly interesting – I’ve enjoyed working on them.

Wrapped that up about 7pm and made dinner: Korean pork and tofu stirfry. Bojack, a final flurry of work, packing, house prep and bed.

March 16, 2022

Up early to get Lyra’s breakfast and drive her to the bus. I should have gone for a run, but I’m feeling overwhelmed with work deadlines and gave it a miss. I blew off my mermaids as well this week – Adam and I are off to Paris on Friday, and it’s going to be a challenge getting everything done.

Tried to put in a solid block of UN editing, but one of my Irish fitness clients was having a website crisis and kept distracting me. She decided to do some website editing of her own and really cocked things up. Took a while to work out what she’d done and put things back in working order.

Adam went into the office and then straight to an Arsenal match, so it was just Lyra and me for dinner – broccoli soup and cheese on toast. We ate early as she was going to a Nilüfer Yanya gig at the Electric Ballroom Brixton with her friend Ava. I’ve never heard of her, but apparently Ava is a big fan.

Watched Beautiful Boy, which I didn’t enjoy as much as I expected. Adam got in about 11pm, and I headed out a few minutes later to meet Lyra and the Tube and walk her home. She’s going to be tired tomorrow…

March 15, 2022

Adam and I both drove Lyra to the Heath this morning and went for a walk together. We haven’t seen much of each other lately. He’s going into the office more, and going out more evenings as well. Bumped into Peter L towards the end of the walk and had a good catch up.

Got properly stuck into the UN editing today. I’d skimmed one of the papers (on deep-sea mining) but I started the proper edit. They are very similar in format and introduction, but not once they get talking about the sector itself. Managed to edit the first paper, but it’s the shortest one. I’ll be able to transfer some of the intro edits to the next two though, so that should save some time.

Had a meeting with Shayla about a website strategy project Jx Canada has sold me in on. It’s going to be a bit of a stretch for me, both in terms of schedule and the work itself, but it should be interesting. Adam headed out to some sort of event and I ate dinner with Lyra – the rest of the spag bol that Adam made on Sunday.

We watched an episode of Shameless, and when she retreated I watched The Lost Daughter with Olivia Coleman, another Oscar contender and another very good film. To bed about 11pm.

March 14, 2022

Started the week as usual with my Monday Lyra duties. After Sunday’s marathon, I didn’t feel much like hopping right onto the computer. Did some laundry, general tidying and read a chunk of my current novel, Breasts and Eggs by Meiko Kawakami, which I’m really enjoying.

Finally turned on the computer after lunch, though I opted not to work at the table. Caught up on emails, carried on with my Figma course, did some website edits for various clients. Adam came home from work feeling poorly, which he blamed on the falafel salad box he’d eaten for lunch.

Just Lyra and me for dinner – satay chicken and salad. After she headed off I cleaned the kitchen then sat down to watch The Power of the Dog. It wasn’t what I expected at all. It was a slow-burning fuse of a film, and I thought it was brilliant. The minute it ended, I wanted to watch it again and I thought about it until I fell asleep…

It’s the Oscars in a few weeks and it would be good to catch up with a few more contending films if we can…

March 13, 2022

I should have gone running this morning, but it was raining when we woke up and by the time it stopped I no longer felt like it…

Adam headed over to his mum’s to try to sort the package return muddle and I sorted stuff round the house. We had a fry-up when he got back – eggs, avocado, halloumi, bacon, mushrooms.

Spent the rest of the afternoon wireframing the Canadian accounting firm web project and learning to use Figma. Adam took Lyra and Ellie to see Arsenal v Leicester, which the gunners won 2-0.

I was still deep in my work when they got back, and not remotely hungry. Adam fixed spag bol for their dinner, which we watched in front of Bojack. After that he dozed in the arm chair and I carried on wireframing until I finally cracked the bugger about 10:30pm.

Glad to get that piece of work out of the way… the UN has sent a batch of copy for me to edit this week, and I’m taking Friday off so that we can go to Paris for Adam’s birthday. Read a bit to unwind before turning the light off about midnight. Lyra has convinced my to try some Harry Potter fan fiction about the young Remus Lupin. Surprisingly enjoyable…

March 12, 2022

Knocked a cryptic crossword on the head before starting our day this morning. I was committed to going to Pilates this week, so didn’t go for a run first. It was a good class – she’s definitely introducing trickier exercises.

Ate lunch in the newly opened Jackson’s Lane café afterwards. It’s definitely a big improvement on the previous incarnation. Most of the food was veggie/vegan – I had a mixed salad plate and Adam went for a quiche/salad option.

Got some housework out of the way before Adam and I headed to Muswell Hill for a pedicure. Adam’s first time and an early birthday treat. He loved it, and paid such close attention to everything it looked like he was expecting an exam at the end.

Carried on to the garden centre afterwards to replace the big mint by the flat door which has died this winter. We were just about to go in when Beulah called needing help returning an online delivery. I left Adam to deal with that and went in on my own. 

They were still at it when I got back fifteen minutes later. He’s going to go over there tomorrow to try to sort it. Lyra was out thrift shopping with Ellie for the afternoon, and had an early dinner so it was just Adam and me to feed. 

He suggested starting with a bottle of cava, which sounded good to me, after which  we had a cheese plate and started season 3 of Ozark.

March 11, 2022

Woke up a few times in the night for no reason, which left me feeling a bit groggy when it was time to get up and make Lyra’s breakfast, packed lunch and drive her to the bus stop.

Did my meditating afterwards, viakaled the sinks (which are looking a bit grotty), then got down to work. Adam had made time to spruce the case study up a bit, so I was able to put that to bed within half an hour.

Emboldened by last night’s outing, I booked tickets to see the Mountain Goats at the Roundhouse (in November) and spent ages tracking down the status of the To Kill a Mockingbird tickets I bought at the end of 2019. They were originally for June 2020, rescheduled and cancelled for May 2021, since when I’ve heard nothing.

The show opened again yesterday, and I was eventually able to confirm that our booking has been moved to 8 April. Now have to figure out who to go with. I think our dates fall right in the middle of half term, so that might be tricky…

G&Ts, chicken with lime and ginger and an Asian-inspired slaw for dinner. Watched 9 To 5 for movie night – my choice. I’ve been listening to the Dolly Parton’s America podcast, and just completed the episode about her involvement in the film.

March 10, 2022

No school for Lyra today, which could have meant a bit of a lie-in, but I woke up about 5:15am and that was that… She has an ARD day, where all the students meet with the form tutor one on one to discuss any issues with their school work and progress. I used to have to accompany her into school for them when she was younger, but parent attendance isn’t necessary in the higher years, and they now do them online. Easier all round..

Adam still went walking with his brother on the Heath. I formed my bread loaves, did a little piece of Jx work that was hanging over my head from yesterday, meditated then headed out for a run. It was a lovely morning for it, and there was a real feeling of spring in the air. The sun had some strength to it, the forsythia is starting to bloom, there were daffs everywhere and the winter muck is receding.

Did my usual 3.5 miles (a couple of minutes faster than last time), then home to shower, change and get down to work. Still wrestling with that bloody case study… I bill two hours per case study, and this one will definitely take longer than that…

Cauliflower soup with fresh sourdough for dinner. I also made a batch of lemon-honey cookies, an old favourite that I’m not sure I’ve ever made since moving to the UK. Adam and I had tickets to see Ricky Gervais workshop some new material at Jackson’s Lane, so we powerwalked down there in time for the 7:30pm performance.

I quite enjoy the comedy workshops – there’s an intimacy to it. He had three other comedians who did short spots to break things up, but the whole event wasn’t much longer than an hour. It was depressing (but unsurprising) to see that there were only about ten people in an audience of 150 who were wearing masks. I think the UK has really lost the plot on this one. 

When I spoke to Nova afterwards she said that in Spain things are pretty much open but that everybody wears masks indoors, on public transport etc as a matter of course. To bed about midnight…

March 9, 2022

Happy 19th birthday, Liam! Adam and I both woke up about 5am and couldn’t get back to sleep. He got up to work on a proposal, while I listened to an excellent episode of Smartless with George Clooney as the guest. Sometimes I manage to fall back to sleep my listening to something, but Clooney was too entertaining for that to happen.

Made Lyra’s breakfast and coffee, dropped her at the bus, then got on with my day.  Advanced my sourdough starter, laundry/ironing, planned dinner, meditated and got to work. I’m struggling with a case study that I just can’t seem to put to bed. It doesn’t help that the story I’m trying to tell is not backed up by the client’s website.

Adam didn’t come home for dinner so I ate with Lyra – a kind a lamb and courgette stew I threw together in the Remoska. Watched two episodes of Shameless then called it a night. Was already tucked up with my latest Jack Reacher novel when Adam got in about 10:30pm…

March 8, 2022

I am sleeping better than usual these last few days. Woke up just before 6am feeling pretty refreshed, and happily got up to make Lyra’s breakfast and coffee before Adam dropped her at the bus. He’s kept up his Tuesday/Thursday walks with Doron, so that works well. My exercise schedule doesn’t coordinate with my driving duties, especially now that the Mermaids have shifted the weekly swim to Wednesday.

Meditated then went for a 3.5 mile run in the Woods. I was somewhat faster than Sunday, partly because it was less mucky underfoot. It was extremely cold – it must be hovering around 0°C, and there is a bitter wind.

A typical day – housework, house admin, email, client updates…

Down to the flat for 6:30 for another round of viewings. It doesn’t look like we’ll have any difficulty filling it this time round – pretty much everyone is very keen on it, with horror stories of the state of the rental market and the avariciousness of landlords.

Saw another seven groups and once again everyone was pretty keen. When we got home we went through our notes and invited our top candidates to put down a holding deposit. They accepted immediately so we move onto reference checking tomorrow.

March 7, 2022

Slept well last night, which is always a bonus. Adam and I immediately started checking on booking confirmations and neglected to tend to Lyra. She stuck her head into our room just after 7am to say that if we aren’t going to prepare her food then we should really let her know, which is a fair point.

Dropped her at the bus, with the vague idea of parking up and going for a morning walk on the Heath. There was only one tricky parking spot available, and I went off the idea. Caught up on the news (lousy on all fronts) then eased into my week.

Beulah called three times with questions about Lyra’s impending visit: what foods she likes for each meal, what time she showers, does she wet the bed, does she play cards, what temperature does she prefer her bedroom to be. Sounds like Lyra’s in line for some deluxe treatment…

Had a meeting with Shayla about another case study that needs writing. Hard to keep up with the volume of work that Jx is powering through. This was a B Corp certification/recertification story, the main message being that the client became a B Corp to show accountability and transparency in the social care sector.

After the meeting I visited the clients’ website for supporting content, and was surprised to find that they don’t mention the fact that they are a B Corp at all, which rather works against the narrative…

Threw together a quick sausage supper then headed off to the flat for an evening of viewings. Managed to see seven groups over 2.5 hours, including one virtual tour. In our past experience, there was a certain percentage of no-shows, but that wasn’t the case today. Everyone was on time, and very positive about the flat. By the end of the evening, five of the groups wanted to put down a deposit and proceed to referencing.

We’d offered viewings across Monday and Tuesday to the first fifteen people to apply, so it didn’t seem fair to just drop the Tuesday people. We’ve got two groups that both of us really like already, which is a good position to be in. I expect tomorrow to be more of the same, which won’t make the decision any easier.

Home and to bed by 11pm…

March 6, 2022

Adam wasn’t feeling so great this morning after his multiple long island iced teas… I am not a fan of that cocktail – no drink needs rum, vodka, gin, tequila and triple sec. That’s just silly.

Having stuck to gin & tonic myself, I was fine to go for a morning run – my first this week. I have been doing a long run on the weekend of late, but confined myself to my usual 3.5 to Ally Pally and back, which felt like plenty.

Made huevos rancheros for brunch, then pootled about with this and that until it was time to go see our tenants. They are moving out at the end of March, so we’ll need to show the flat in the coming week. There has been plenty of interest in the advert we put up last night, so the sooner we can move forward, the better.

I was pleased to see the place looking in good nick. What with the pandemic, we’ve had next to nothing to do with them. They arrived in March 2019 at the start of the first lockdown. Took some new photos to update the advert, and agreed to do viewings on Monday/Tuesday evening.

Popped in for a cup of tea with Beulah while we were out. She agreed to have Lyra for Adam’s birthday weekend, when we are in Paris. Chicken satay, rice and broccoli for dinner and finished Inventing Anna.

March 5, 2022

Should have gone running, but couldn’t be arsed. No excuse except plain laziness… Coffee and crossword in bed, after which I got up and resumed work on that Jx case study I hadn’t been able to get across the line during the week.

I was starting to gain some traction and opted to carry on working instead of going to Pilates. It didn’t help that the weather is cold and miserable today. When Adam got back he made poached eggs on toast for brunch. He spent some time on the case study as well, which I appreciated. It’s about a Theory of Change project, something I know so little about that I wasn’t confident I was even using the right words to describe things.

Ellie popped round unexpectedly to see Lyra in the afternoon, and they holed up in her bedroom. Adam and I had a cheese plate for a light supper then headed down to Paul and Alicia’s for his 60th birthday party. In the years we’ve known him, Paul has become one of the UK’s most successful architects and the party was a gathering of the architectural great and good.

There were a handful of folks we knew from school/panto, but I ended up talking to a few strangers, which felt pretty odd after the last couple of years. Actually it was strange to be at a party at all. No one was masked, but the sliding doors were wide open despite the freezing weather, and there was a steady breeze flowing.

There was a full bar with two mixologists doing service. I had a couple of g&ts, while Adam recklessly opted for the house cocktail of long island ice tea. By 11pm, he was slurring his words and unsteady on his feet, and it seemed wise to take our leave…

March 4, 2022

Happy 24th birthday, Ceinwen! Zero minutes of deep sleep last night, which is a new low. I always suspected I was a light sleeper, and the FitBit supports that. In contrast, Adam (who has slept through an earthquake) gets loads of deep sleep and no REM.

Got up to make a fruit bowl for Lyra and drive her to the bus stop. I was already in my running clothes when Veronika texted to suggest a walk down to the high school where she still works, and a coffee. Sounded like a much better option.

She arrived at our meeting point with a mannequin on a wooden pedestal under one arm. She’d found it on the street – I’m a little envious she got there first. There are pretty good street pickings up here in Highgate – designer clothes and shoes, furnishings, electrical goods carefully repackaged in their original boxes. I’ve made out like a bandit over the years…

I’d signed up for an online WordPress conference today, but my workload got in the way. I’m configuring a premium backup plugin for some of my clients, so there was learning around that. Lyra was having a sleepover round Lily’s, so there was no pressure to break off and feed her.

Aside from a trip to the chemists to collect my alternate prescription (turns out Highgate pharmacist was right – the other places we visited confirmed there is no oestrogel in the country, and that I should get something similar prescribed in its stead, which I managed to do by phone this morning.)

Worked until it was time for us to attend the Life After Life art opening at the HLSI in Pond Square. The works were inspired by Highgate Cemetery, and our friend Patricia had a painting in it. Met Sara there, and afterwards we went for dinner at Namaste. Home about 11pm and to bed…

March 3, 2022

Slept like a log last night, and woke feeling pretty perky. At least until I looked at my phone and saw that the qigong website I’d been working on yesterday was down…

Got down to work the minute Adam and Lyra left at 7:30am to sort out what was going on. It turned out to be nothing to do with me. The web host had updated her PHP to a version that was incompatible with the WordPress and theme versions. Once I updated things it all worked like a charm.

In testing the site to ensure everything was back to normal, I discovered that I hadn’t done a great job on the mobile version. I built this site a few years ago, and I’m a lot stronger on that side of things now (designing for mobile has become a much bigger part of my job). Also the work stretched on so long, and was considerably over budget, so I would have been keen to wash my hands of it.

In any event, I spent over an hour rebuilding all the headings and setting responsive text and images sizes, and it looks a lot better for it.

Made myself an omelet for lunch and sat down to the 1pm news. It’s sad and upsetting to see the situation in the Ukraine but that isn’t a reason to avoid it. Despite the best efforts of the Ukrainian people, Russian is slowly tightening the noose. Fuckers…

Soft shell tacos for dinner and the penultimate episode of Inventing Anna. Lyra and I were debating whether she’s a psychopath or a sociopath. I’m for socio, she’s leaning psycho. Neither have empathy, but sociopaths have a weak conscience (they know what they are doing is wrong, but do it anyway), while psychopaths have none (and are less likely to get in their own way).

March 2, 2022

Lyra is feeling poorly this morning and didn’t go to school (I predicted this one…) Adam headed off to work, but was back within half an hour. The roads are gridlocked due to the tail end of yesterday’s Tube strike, and it made sense to work from home. He returned bearing Gail’s pastries, which had a positive effect on Lyra’s health…

Finished my invoicing from yesterday. I had lots of smallish bits of client work to clear up and a crazy inbox to wade through. Stopped for a salad and the news at 1pm, then soldiered on until I called it a day at 7pm.

Adam was out at the pub this evening. An acquaintance is going for a big sustainability job and had asked if Adam would give him a practice interview. It wasn’t clear if he would be back for dinner. I cooked spicy chicken thighs (chilli, allspice, garlic, soya), red rice and green beans for dinner, thinking there would be enough for three but it was so delicious that Lyra and I polished off the lot.

Watched an episode of Shameless, then headed downstairs for an early night. I’ve felt shattered all day. One thing I notice when I’m tired is that my tinnitus goes into absolute overdrive. At times it felt like someone was operating a noisy piece of equipment in my head.

March 1, 2022

Happy fifteenth birthday, darling Lyra! Started the day at 6:15am as previously negotiated: coffee, pressies (necklace; novels; Glossier washbag; candle; fancy hair product; crystals; money from Wade & Gale), followed by a pancake breakfast. There’s a Tube strike today, so Lyra got a lift to school with Lily’s mum.

Managed some client work, but there were a number of things I needed to do for the birthday. I also had a doctor’s appointment to start the referral process for my eye. Despite evidence to the contrary, the GP insisted that my right eye may have been droopy before the fall, but eventually referred me to the Whittington opthamology team, so mission accomplished.

I was also looking to have my oestrogel prescription amended. Brexit is playing havoc with the supply chain for certain medicines, and the pharmacist recommended that the GP prescribe an alternative. Dr Z wasn’t taking any guidance on that front either. He denied there was a supply issue, and gave me a special code which he advised me to take to larger pharmacies.

Bought a few birthday groceries in the village while I was out. Lyra has requested fancy pasta for her birthday dinner, so I bought that, plus some olives and those little Sicilian breadsticks. I’d bake the cake before I went out, and whipped up some Baileys buttercream to glue it together before decorating the top with whipped cream and raspberries.

Lyra returned home in a state. There had been a fight in her friendship group, after which she spent two hours waiting for buses and crawling home in the pouring rain. Happily her day looked up from there, with a birthday call from Wade, and a visit from Pasc bearing more pressies (colour changing light bulb, Lindt chocolates and a candle). At 7pm, Adam headed off to collect Beulah for the birthday dinner.

We had a nice evening today. The pasta – a sort of amatriciana/vodka mashup – turned out well – and the cake was a big hit. Adam drove Beulah home about 10pm. I did the washing up, then sat down to watch the news. Ended up dozing on the couch until 1am, then found it impossible to sleep until 3:30…