May 2018

May 31, 2018

Should have gone for a run this morning, but oddly enough I didn’t fancy it..;-).Instead, I put in a few hours editing yearbook copy. Lucia came round first thing. The girls hung out here for the morning, then went with Charlotte to Pizza Express to have lunch before heading back to Charlotte’s for the afternoon.

I asked to text and tell me everything was fine, but with all the excitement she forgot. We have a tracking app on all our phones so that each of us can see where another person is if necessary. I generally don’t use it on principle, but it’s good to have sometimes. In this case, I was able to see that she was in the close vicinity of Charlotte’s house, which was enough to put my mind at ease.

Picked up some groceries locally, and made an Iranian eggplant and tomato dish for dinner, with some freshly baked flatbread and a chopped salad. Utterly delicious…

Nova’s work experience at the literary agency sounds fun. I’d quite like to be doing it myself. It’s pretty neat to see her heading out in her professional wardrobe each morning (largely borrowed from Shira and Jess).

Adam and I are steadily catching up on the fourth series of The Bridge. It’s very good. The crimes themselves are overstylised, convoluted and hugely improbable, but there are excellent characters and they can certainly rachet up the tension. I watch minutes at a time with my hands mostly covering my face…

May 30, 2018

The Grenfell fire was the opening story on the news this morning. Thought it was too soon for the anniversary, but it turns out the government inquiry is about to get underway.Lyra was meant to go to Ava’s first thing, but her mum texted to say that they were in A&E as Ava had done something to her foot. She is certainly accident prone…

They were back by 11am, and I dropped Lyra round. She brought her new Zip card with her, and will travel home on her own by bus. Good practice for September…

Spent most of the day working on the finance website. Veronika texted me, then dropped round with the money we paid the waitresses. I’d promised Lyra that I’d ask her about the flower girl dresses, so I did.

It wasn’t an easy conversation, but I set out how we felt as cleanly as possible. Veronika listened and then tried to explain how it came about. More cock-up than conspiracy…

According to Veronika, Katie and Natalie had the idea of putting their four girls in matching dresses that coordinated with Veronika’s girls, and the idea just spread from there, with other mums chatting to each other, liking the idea and ordering the same dress, until there were sixteen of them wearing it…

Ate dinner with the girls when Nova got home (Adam being out somewhere for the evening) — cauliflower chickpea salad and leftover chicken from the wedding — while watching Glee.

Veronika came round to speak to Lyra in person, bearing a large chocolate bar and and a hearfelt apology. I could see the weight of it lifting off Lyra as they spoke, and there’s a much better vibe between Veronika and me again.

Found a bottle of wine in the fridge and had our first good talk in ages. Basil came round to collect her, and stayed for a drink himself. Adam got home in time to see them for a bit…

May 29, 2018

Noticeably cooler today… must have rained in the night…Nova headed off at 8:30am to start her work experience in Notting Hill. She’s borrowed smart/casual workwear from her girlfriends, and set off looking very smart. Suppressed the urge to line her up against the garage door and take her photo, the way I always do on the first day of school.

Went for a run in the woods with Lyra this morning. We were aiming for two miles, but in the end, we managed 1 3/4 — which is still the furthest distance she has run, so good on her.

Adam returned from his morning meeting to take Lyra and Nina to see the new Star Wars movie. I hadn’t realised that they had strayed from the original triple-trilogy plan, and are now doing additional films around it. (I imagine they’ve been bought out by Disney or something.) I think this one is the young Chewbacca story? Anyway, rather them than me…

Awful weather this afternoon. Monsoon-like downpours and regular lightning and thunder. I’m amazed there wasn’t water coming through the ceiling, which can happen with a heavy rainfall.

Veggie soup and garlic bread for dinner in front of the Masterchef finale. To all our surprise, the underdog won fair and square. He was definitely the best on the day, Very satisfying, as he’s the guy whose life will be most transformed — the other two finalists were a PhD/surgeon and an airline pilot.

May 28, 2018

Slept better last night, which is nice. I thought I might be picking up Nova’s cold, but my scratchy throat seems to have cleared up. Nova is feeling worse unfortunately, especially as she’s starting a week’s work experience at a literary agency in Notting Hill tomorrow…Adam took Lyra to the swimming pool to do some laps. The Germans were out for a family breakfast, so we kept things simple around here foodwise.

Had a visit in the afternoon sitting out on the patio before Basil came round to drive them to Luton. Such lovely folk, I really couldn’t have enjoyed their company more, but it’s still always nice to settle back into the familiar routine after a busy time like we’ve had

Lyra and Nina offered to wash the car for money. They did a very thorough job, and certainly spent at lot of time at it. It looks much better now, both inside and out. While they were doing that, I tackled the state of the house (shocking), and organised my overwhelming mountain of work into a slightly more manageable landscape.

Made choripan for dinner (grilled chorizo sausages in a bread roll with chimichurri and picked onions), which was very good indeed. Ate them in front of the penultimate episode of MasterChef. It’s going to be an all-male final — don’t think I’ve seen that happen before…

Worked for a while longer, then cracked a beer and watched the opening episode of The Bridge before bed.

May 27, 2018

I’m not feeling brilliant this morning. As ever, I wasn’t able to get anything like enough sleep. I was awake before 6am and stayed that way…:-(Sorted out a big breakfast for everyone again. i got the food on the table while Adam went off to collect the car and buy more food. Had a relaxing time sitting around and rehashing the wedding.

They headed off to Camden Market for the afternoon (our girls ended up there as well), and Adam and I hit the sofas to watch last fifteen minutes of that damn Salamander. Made it this time, but then segued into an afternoon nap. Felt much better for it…

I’m currently reading one of Lyra’s books called Fan Girl. She’s really been enjoying it and I was intrigued. Am now completely hooked, and find every spare minute possible to read. It’s not that it’s a great book (although it is good), or particularly exciting, it’s more the momentum, or pacing, of it.

It’s our neighbour John’s 98th birthday today. We went over at 8pm for a little birthday party — canapés and drinks with his son Martin, grandson and wife(over from Ontario), his gay vicar nephew and his partner, some other cousin, the four of us and Pauline.

The highlight of the event was probably the exploding birthday candle Pauline had bought in Poundland.

This video pretty much sums up our experience (though John’s did manage to play a tinny version of Happy Birthday).

Back home we started watching A Very English Scandal, the true (stranger-than-fiction) account of how the leader of the Liberal party tried to have his gay ex-lover murdered, starring Hugh Grant and Ben Wishaw.

It’s excellent stuff, and Hugh Grant in particular is knocking it out of the park. Let’s hope this saves him from the rom-com purgatory he’s languished in for the last couple of decades.

Massive thunder storms for the second night running. Makes you wonder if the gods are trying to tell us something…;-)

May 26, 2018

Franz’s family arrived from Munich about 2am this morning. They came up for breakfast at 9 looking worse for wear. Set out a German-style spread — different breads, cheese, coldcuts, yogurt, juice, hummus etc. And multiple pots of coffee. There were nine of us, and everyone wanted at least two cups…Took both cars to down to the hall afterwards. I wanted to clarify some waitressing issues, and got drawn into helping with final decorations as well. Back home again, I washed out our garden trugs for more drinks chillers while Adam collected the champagne (50 bottles) and dropped it back at the hall.

I also updated and printed out final instruction sheets for the waitresses, leaving me about fifteen minutes to wash, choose a dress, slap on some make-up and head out. (Pretty similar to my own wedding day as I recall…)

The wedding (surprisingly for Veronika) started pretty much on schedule. When walked through door with her three girls, it brought tears to my eyes. She looked beautiful and radiant. Basil is always Basil — he’s like my dad that way, something I love about him.

Nova left halfway through the service to meet her waitressing crew and get the hall ready for when the guests arrived.

Lyra had asked me a few days ago, if there would be bridesmaids. I told her that Alina, Marli and Sania were the only ones, which was what Veronika had told me ages ago. So we were both surprised to notice that every girl in the church (excepting Lyra and Grace) were wearing the same dress.

At the end of the service, all the pink-dressed girls got up, made their way to the front of the church and processed down the aisle behind Basil and Veronika. Lyra felt pretty left out, and I don’t blame her, especially as some of the girls included were recent friends who joined the school only this year…

As soon as we were outside, I hurried over to the hall. The girls had managed to open only one of the fifty bottles of champagne, but otherwise things were in reasonable shape. I got busy popping corks, and by the time people started drifting in there was a table full of poured drinks to offer them.

As I’d feared, there was no one taking any kind of charge of running the food or service end of things, so I ended up doing that. One of Basil’s sisters had prepared the food and organised catering dishes, but I decided when it was time to serve the meal, uncovered the dishes, and even ended up ladling out food to the younger guests.

I was feeling a bit lightheaded (thanks to regular slurps of champagne), so I sat down to eat something and had a coffee before getting back to work.

While Nova’s friends cleared the dinner plates, I hauled multiple crates of dirty dishes out of the hall and down to the crypt where Mona and a few other women were organising the strawberries and cream. There appeared to be some sort of cream-related crisis unfolding there, but I left them to get on with it.

By this point, the girls’ responsibilities were shifting more towards manning the bar. Nova headed off to a party, having arranged for another friend to cover the second half of her shift.

It was apparent that no thought had been given to paying the waitresses, so I sent Adam off to get some cash. Made a unilateral decision to top up the amount agreed to recognise how hard they worked. I hope we get reimbursed, but if not, it can count as a wedding gift I suppose…

Veronika’s brothers performed a rap and then sang a special song they’d written about Basil, Veronika and the girls. It was my absolute high point of the wedding.

I was feeling a bit stressed/cross about being thrust into head waitress mode without any warning, and annoyed about the matching dress thing. When I wasn’t included in the list of people Veronika thanked during her speech, I was pretty fucking hurt and annoyed.

I know how overwhelming weddings are, and how you don’t get to spend proper time with people, and inevitably leave someone out of the thank-yous, but I still feel very taken for granted…

I’d been drinking tonic water since dinner, but when the second tier of guests started arriving for the after-party, and we’d sent the waitresses home, I hit the white wine hard with Millie.

Things were definitely a lot more fun from that point… I was pretty drunk by the time we left at midnight. Hey ho…

May 25, 2018

Found time for three unlikely things this morning, before leaving the house at 8am: fixing Lyra’s broken school shoe (for the third time), making a salad for my lunch, and watering the greenhouse.My invigilating duties started with a small room and a dozen chemistry A-level students, then moved into the main hall once they were done.

Got off a bit early in the afternoon. Headed down to Kentish Town for groceries then back home to finish prepping the flat. I hadn’t been in five minutes when Franz arrived, wanting to take a nap. Abandoned the rest of the cleaning, changed the bed, shifted the rest of Nova’s stuff upstairs and left him to it.

I was pleased to see that Lyra’s dress for the wedding had arrived. She’s very pleased with it and it fits nicely — always a gamble when you buy online. Put in some more work on Saul’s website. I’m nearly there… just one little technical glitch to crack.

When Franz woke up we sorted out inflatable mattresses for his family, then walked down to the hall. There was still lots of decorating to do. There was a theatre group using the space until late this afternoon, so there was only so much that could be done. There were several of us there helping out, and by midnight it was looking amazing.

My biggest worry is how Nova and the team of waitresses she’s lined up will know what to do. As far as I can ascertain, there is no particular order of events or anyone responsible for the logistics of setting up food, serving drinks, clearing plates and so on.

I’m very much hoping that someone will materialise tomorrow and run the reception, but I’m going to write out a list of instructions for them to follow just in case…

I’d forgotten to eat dinner. Made some popcorn and tried to watch the end of that last episode of Salamander, but we fell asleep at exactly the same part again…

May 24, 2018

Full day at the high school (and everywhere else)! I was late leaving, had to powerwalk down there, and arrived feeling sweaty and disheveled. I’m too busy at the moment…

The afternoon exams ended early (praise be), and I was home in good time to start baking sourdough and for my meeting with Saul. Agreed the final snag list for his website. Overall, he’s very happy with it, but there are still a number of little tweaks to iron out.Nova had a couple of friends round for dinner before they headed off for a gig. Made a roast veg salad with halloumi and quinoa that went down well. I had just enough time to scarf down a bowl before leaving to collect Lyra from netball.

Nova and her friends turned into teenage hoovers the moment I left, and pretty much polished off the rest of the salad (which I was planning to feed Lyra and Adam for dinner — AND take the leftovers for my lunch tomorrow). There was barely enough to for one dinner portion…

Went round to our neighbour Martin’s to help him add a privacy statement to his little charity website and to amend his settings for collecting email addresses so that they comply with the new GDPR legislation around data protection.

When I got back, I worked on Saul’s site until almost 1am. Touched up some graphics, and created a few new ones. Pretty happy with where i got to…

May 23, 2018

Spent the morning trying to catch up on client at home. Or more accurately, trying to write down all the things I need to do and break them into smaller jobs so that I can start tackling it.I’m overwhelmed by how much work I have on at the moment. It’s a shame that it has coincided with exam month. All the same, I made time for a short run — I’ve learned from experience that not making time to exercise is a false economy…

After my afternoon exam shift, I headed up to Lyra’s school to capture some pictures off the school drive for the yearbook. The teacher who I’d arranged to do it with was feeling pretty stressed himself. Plus he had a lot of anxiety about me looking at the server. No doubt he’s right to be careful about security, but it certainly added to the time the job took.

Made onion-tahini sauce with brown rice for dinner. It’s one of the dishes I lived on in my student days. I remember craving it when I was treeplanting. I somehow managed to find a jar of tahini in Terrace (or McBride) and fixed up a batch in the camp.

Adam was out this evening. Spent a couple of hours getting the flat ready for our German house guests who are arriving on Friday. For some reason, I thought it was just Veronika’s brother Franz and his wife Mona.

But of course, they’re bringing their three twenty-something kids as well. Trickier to figure out where they’ll all sleep (we may have to take the armchair out). We had a scare on the weekend, when Franz sent a text suggesting he was staying with us from Monday. Veronika swiftly put paid to that — I’m sure she’s planning to work him hard all week…;-)

May 22, 2018

Back to the high school for an intense week of GCSE exams. First up, non-calculator maths in the main hall. For some reason, we were short 16 desks — hard to believe as there were 124 already set up. We were racing around locating and squeezing extra places up to the last minute…The ids are certainly more focused then they were with during mocks last year, but they really aren’t a great cohort. It only takes a couple of troublemakers to disrupt an exam, and there are about a dozen in this group.

It really is tiresome, but somehow tense at the same time. There is this powder keg feeling in the hall sometimes like something might go off. I’m sure everyone feels it.

There’s a bit of misbehaviour, someone exerts authority, that either works or it doesn’t, and the edge is pushed a little farther. You can actually feel it spreading like a virus. I was glad when the morning was over and I could go home.

Sorted out house stuff, then got down to some proper work…

May 21, 2018

Did a yearbook photo shoot at school this morning. It was a bit chaotic at first, and not helped by the fact there seemed to be some sort of unexpected Yr 6 exam crisis we had to work around…It was good fun once we found the rhythm. I’d collect a child from the classroom and bring them outside to where we were set up. First, they wrote what they wanted to be when they grow up on a little chalkboard shaped like a speech bubble.

After that they sat for two portraits — one holding the speech bubble and another, more traditional school photo. When the photographer was satisfied, I’d return that kid to the classroom and collect the next one. Managed to do thirty double portraits before our lunchtime deadline.

My finance client meeting went well. They are generally happy with videos I slapped together last night. A few tweaks and ropey cuts to sort out, but nothing major…

Attended a PGL meeting at school this evening. PGL is the residential outdoor activity trip that both Year 6 classes do towards the end of the year. It’s approaching fast now, which is very exciting.

Mr Whiting talked us through the set up (they are going to one on the Isle of Wight this year), and the types of things they’ll be doing. Sounds super fun — I’d quite like to go myself…;-)

May 20, 2018

Woke at the same time I always do…6:25am…:-(
After an hour in bed with the cryptic crossword, Adam and I drove over to Belsize Park to collect my toiletries bag from Lawrence’s dad.His sister was there too, as she’s over from New York for work. Turns out she’s an sought-after fashion model whose international career started when she was discovered by David Bailey’s assistant in the 1980s. (He’s kept that quiet for the last eight years — I had no idea…)

Ate breakfast in a nearby café and picked up a few groceries before heading home. Back just in time for my meeting with Alicia about the committee website.

In the afternoon, I did some client work while Adam went down to the Whittington to bring John a few things and have a little visit. I have some video editing work hanging over me, that I’ve been avoiding like the plague and needs to be ready for a client meeting tomorrow afternoon.

It was nearly 10pm by the time i sat down to it. At first couldn’t even remember how I’d done the small amount I’d managed to complete, and had a little panic, but I figured it out in the end.

What I’ve put together isn’t great, but I can take the line that Ididn’t want to overinvest until I was clear that it was what they wanted…

May 19, 2018

My last morning in the Charente. The retreat has drawn to a close, so no meditation session this morning. I found that I kind of missed it… It would be good (though unlikely) to build that habit into my life at home.After breakfast, we went for an hour’s walk in nearby Alloue, after which it was time to head to the airport. Mike and Carolyn stayed behind at the house (he’s giving her a lift to Poitiers later today). And then there were nine…

Nicholas, Rachel, and Keith came into the departure hall to say their goodbyes. And then we were six… Once the bags were checked in, there was just time for a coffee and quick glimpse of Harry and Meghan’s wedding, which was underway. After clearing customs, Sarah boarded her plane to Southampton. And then we were five…

We were seated in different parts of the plane but somehow ended up together again in the passport queue. Once we cleared customs, Laurence and Liz headed off to Sevenoaks and then we were three. Alan had missed his train, so he caught a ride into London with Lawrence as well. We dropped him at Highgate tube, and then we were two.

Lyra was playing in the street with Nina when we pulled up. It was wonderful to see her, and she seems to have grown in the week I’ve been away. Adam out to meet us, and say hi to Lawrence before he drove off. And then I was home…

I’d been in the house less than a two minutes when the phone rang. It was Andy, calling from Dorchester to tell us that John had fallen over and could we go round to help.

He was lying awkwardly on the floor, with a small heater half lodged beneath him. His friend Pauline was there when it happened. Either she or Andy had called emergency services, who said not to move him, so we didn’t.

I did wiggle the heater out and arranged him more comfortably on a couple of throw pillows. I also gave him a bit of water to drink (against their instructions). Pauline was very rattled by it all, hectoring John and spouting nonsense. She left when the paramedics finally arrived, which was a relief.

We helped them hoist John up and settle him back in his chair. They asked lots of questions about how it happened, his health and care arrangements in general before ascertaining that he was fine.

By this point, we had to leave too as we were due and Dave and Rachel’s for dinner.

Pete and Pasc drove, and we were only a few minutes late. Sat outside for an hour or so, though it was a bit chilly. They’d made a beautiful Indian meal and I realised I’d somehow neglected to eat anything but a croissant first thing.

The food looked great, and there was lots of it. We were just tucking in when Adam’s phone rang. John had fallen again, but fortunately he was wearing his emergency alarm this time, and we’re down as the first people to call.

Adam asked them to call his carer Anne to see if she was available to pop round, and fortunately she was. The paramedics took him in to hospital this time, which is for the best. The situation seems to be in hand, but I felt distracted and anxious for the rest of the evening, and was happy to get home.

I was just changing into my pjs when Adam produced a gorgeous bouquet of flowers he hadn’t had time to give me. I also realised that I’d forgotten my toiletries bag in Lawrence’s suitcase. He was just setting off for Brighton, but left it at his dad’s place and texted me the address. What with the crazy afternoon/evening we’ve had, I feel like all benefits of that retreat have been pretty much lost…

May 18, 2018

Day 6. Slept until 7:30, which felt good (but is actually exactly the time I always wake up in the UK…) Got chatting to my roomie Carolyn on my way to meditation and ended up missing the gong.Headed out to the back lawn instead. Lawrence was already there. I pulled up a chair and we sat contemplating the river in silence for half an hour, which was very calming. I discovered later that a number of others hadn’t joined the formal session. There was meditative weeding, running, walking and fishing going on as well.

Back on the croissants again today — when in France and all that… Our final community gathering took a bit of an odd turn at the end. It left me feeling a bit irritated and I voiced that. Which was pretty much the final word said on the subject…

After coffee break, we had our final fourth plinth. Actually, we did two today. Two people went for a walk with Keith to discuss the theological model he presented last night in more detail.

I opted to watch Laurence’s public one-to one, which was led by Nicholas. Overall, I found it remarkably moving, though the primary emotion I felt while watching it was fear (which I also expressed).

I don’t know whether I was feeling his fear or if I was scared of what might come out. He is the only person here with his partner, and she was in the audience as well. I would have found it difficult to hear my husband say some of the things he shared, but she seemed ok with it.

The weather has turned so nice we ate lunch on the lawn. I passed on today’s wild swim — having done it once, I had little enthusiasm to do it again. Finished my novel instead…

After a final meditation, we had a closing ceremony on the lawn in the same place we started things a week ago. We stood in a circle and each said something about what we’d gained from the week. Rachel recited Reverend Jenkins poem from Under Milkwood, and then we closed by saying in unison:”For what has happened, thank you. For what is coming, yes.”

We were instructed to dress for dinner this evening. My wardrobe options were pretty limited, but I had packed a skirt and wore that. Drinks and artichokes in the garden, then inside for roast leg of lamb, roast potatoes and steamed vegetables, strawberries and crème fraiche for dessert, with those insurmountable meringues. And of course, cheese…

For our final evening, we’d decided to have a concert. Lawrence kicked things off, playing a piece by Handel and another by Mendelsohn on the piano. Alan, Liz and Rachel read poems, Carolyn singing an operatic number accompanied by Lawrence who’d managed to learn the accompaniment during the week.

After that we listened to a piece of folk music in the dark. With the lights still out, Nicholas sang a song in a Papau New Guinean dialect he’d learned when he lived there in the 1960s.

I opted to do my poem (Mortality) in the dark as well. I know it from memory, and it solved the problem of where to stand or what to do with my hands. After that we sang rounds, then headed out to see the stars before bed…

May 17, 2018

Day 5. I’m sleeping very soundly now that I’m used to my little bed (and considering I’m sharing the space with two virtual strangers). I’d decided to pass on breakfast this morning, but it felt wrong not to join the others so I had a coffee while they tackled the bread and croissants.In this morning’s community gathering, Lawrence raised yesterday’s daytrip debacle as a topic of discussion. I wouldn’t have bothered myself but he was right to do so — it was the “elephant in the room” as they say, and certainly livened things up…;-)

Today’s fourth plinth was a one-to-one session. It was going to be mine, but I felt that after the daytrip discussion I’d had enough publicity for one day. Gave my slot to Alan.

The session itself was frustrating and actually a bit dull, but the comments and observations that followed were valuable and by the end felt we’d worked harder than some previous sessions and been rewarded accordingly.

I ended up doing a private one-to-one with Keith, in which we explored my desires around work, not in a career counsellor sense, but in terms of motivation. Time for a walk with Alan, Lawrence and Sarah afterwards between meditation and dinner (Caroline cooking again).

This evening’s “entertainment”: a presentation on a theological paradigm from Keith, which I pretty much glazed over for, followed by each of us offering three things about ourselves — something we regretted doing, something we were most proud of, and something unlikely.

The stars were a blazing canopy above on our little walk before bed…

May 16, 2018

Day 4. Had a good morning meditation session this morning. Didn’t succeed in completely quieting my mind, but I did think up some interesting stuff…;-)In an unplanned change to the structure of the retreat, we’re making a group outing into town this afternoon. Yesterday, Sarah mentioned that the brochure had promised we’d be “buying food in markets” and that she’d been looking forward to it.

We negotiated the location (Ruffec, our nearest market town) and the timing (to coincide with lunch). We were just about to climb into the cars when Mike announced that he’d decided to drive to some other town instead. Sarah, Alan and Lawrence all piped up that they wanted to go there too, and off they went.

The seven remaining people climbed into the other two cars and headed off for Ruffec. I ended up travelling with Nicholas and Caroline. Despite a preference for going to Ruffec, I still felt cross.

It transpires that Nicholas and Caroline are old university friends, as well as being old enough to be my parents. I sat in the back seat like a sullen teenager while they nattered on about the good old days at Oxford in the 1960s.

The Ruffec market was a damp squib. After a quick coffee, our car had to run errands: bank, taking Carolyn to the train station to confim her ticket, followed by the hypermarket to stock up on house supplies.

All well and good… but then Caroline expressed a strong preference for heading back to the house for lunch instead of eating in town like everyone else. It transpired that she had purchased a small savoury pastry which would do her nicely. I was against the idea, but Nicholas had insisted he would pay for the lunches out, and I felt awkward pushing for him to buy me a restaurant meal.

We set off for home, but five miles down the road Nicholas abruptly pulled into a tiny little village next to the river. He dropped Caroline on a bench opposite the medieval church, where she could eat her bun and admire the façade, while we had the menu fixe in a charming café two hundred yards up the road.

Caroline joined us in about five minutes (she must have crammed that cheese bun into her mouth and jogged). She had coffee while we ate our salades composées, bavettes with frites, and peches melbas.

I even got to sit in the front seat for the drive home (until that was cut short by Caroline’s car sickness). Squeezed myself into the back again, and admired the scenery while they talked about the good old days in the Oxford Quaker community and made evidently amusing quips in Latin.

Made it home just in time for today’s rescheduled fourth plinth — writing our own obituary. I felt pretty ambivalent about this one (actually disinclined to do it, if I’m honest). But then I reasoned that the things I don’t want to do might be the very things that I should do, I decided give it a go.

After time spent composing, we read out obituaries out to one another. We’d all approached the challenge in very different ways. One was worthy but dull, another humorous but rather cruel, Alan’s was witty, Lawrence’s a real emotional beating.

I’d taken it to be what the girls might write and deliver if they attended my funeral in the days ahead, but also what they might write as adults, if that makes sense. I found the whole experience very emotional, and I’m not sure whether it was a positive thing to do in the end.

On our pre-dinner walk we managed to collect a farm dog somehow. It cheerfully followed us back to the house (despite Nicholas’s attempts to send it packing) and even joined Caroline (who is a Ladies Pond devotee), Lawrence and me for a dip in the river. It would swim up to each of us in turn and give us a little hug with her forepaws, which was rather sweet.

Aperos and snacks in the garden, followed by dinner inside, prepared my Mike (with support from Sarah).

We’ve gone upmarket tonight — cod in tomato sauce with olives, roast potatoes, lettuce, and a sort of Eton mess made with the most enormous meringues I’ve ever seen. They bought three for the eleven of us, and we barely managed to polish off one.

There was nothing planned for our evening entertainment. Just as well… I was happy to retire a bit earlier with my novel (Olive Kitteridge — excellent).

May 15, 2018

Day 3. Slept through until 7:20 this morning. Admittedly, it is only 6:20am in the UK, but it feels like a positive direction of travel, especially as I’m going to bed earlier here as well.

What with this and that, I had to hop it to get to morning meditation in time. After breakfast we convened in the great hall for the community gathering. Things took a more emotional turn, with different voices coming to the fore.

The second session was a guided conversation between Rachel (one of the leaders) and Mike, who works in vocational education. We were asked to send in a brief bio in advance of the retreat. Most were very impressive (and intimidating) — Mike’s was the only person who sounded somewhat similar to mine.

So I was taken aback when he turned out to be a strapping great alpha male, with a big belly and booming laugh. But a different person is gradually emerging through this process and I can see my first instinctive reaction was accurate.

In the day’s practicalities discussion we discovered that there seem to be only two of us who feel comfortable turning out meals for eleven people (with a veggie option) based on the random contents of the cupboard and the limited supplies on offer at the local mini-mart.

Having already cooked on both days 1 and 2, I didn’t want to put myself forward, but when Lawrence reluctantly stepped up I was more than happy to support him. After a scan of the cupboards, we decided on a vegetarian chilli with rice and guacamole, followed by apple crumble.

Served up the end of the broccoli soup for lunch, with the usual cold cuts, cheese board and bread. When Lawrence set off to get groceries, I went for a walk with Sarah. There’s a 2.5 mile circular walk that we’ve got into the habit of doing. The weather is finally improving a bit, though it’s still nothing to shout about. All the same, it’s awfully pretty round here…

Kicked in a bit with the dinner preparations, but tried to maintain a consultative, coaching role, rather than taking over. Lawrence had the chilli well in hand (though I did end up making the guacamole, and later, the rice). I barely lifted a finger to help Alan make the apple crumble.

Had some good moments in the afternoon meditation — little moments of pure quiet, though perhaps I was dozing off? Didn’t feel like that though…

Mike offered up the evening entertainment. He gave each of us a hand-drawn “chuff-o-meter” to record our responses to a series of songs he then played. They were all by a Midlands band he particularly rates. I didn’t mind the music but often found the lyrics on the annoying side. He also showed us a trick with two wine corks that kept everyone occupied for a good twenty minutes.

Whisky before bed…

May 14, 2018

Day 2. Slept until 7am and felt fine when I woke, having resisted the temptation of a second whisky with the younger (rest of the 50-something!) contingent.My third meditation session, took a straight-backed chair this time, which is probably better. Though when Alan said to me at the end of the half hour, “I don’t think I’m doing this right” I had pretty much the same feeling.

Breakfast is always baguettes, croissants, butter and jam, with meusli for those who want it (I find that I don’t) and lots of coffee, which I do.

After eating, we headed back to the great hall. As before, the first hour involved being present, and saying what you are observing. As before, there were lots of people speaking for others or generally (“everyone thinks…”), making assumptions, and jockeying for position.

During the business part of the meeting, I volunteered to cook the evening. Used the coffee break to explore what provisions we had and plan what could be made from it. Decided to go Indian…

Today’s fourth plinth was a facilitated consultation with Carolyn, who is going to be acting as the spiritual advisor to an elderly woman (and acquaintance) who has recently been convicted of historical child abuse and sent to prison. Very interesting (and diverse range) of thoughts about how she might best fulfil this role.

Made a shopping trip to the nearest market village with a little mini-market. The selection wasn’t not great but found enough to work with. Made the chickpea curry before meditation, then prepped the spinach and potato curry, basmati and raita with help from Sarah.

I chose a hard chair to meditate in this time, but didn’t find it made much difference. I can happily sit perfectly still, and haven’t felt like nodding off, but there is chatter in my head the whole time, which I try to steer back to the present moment.

One good thing that came out of it was a brainwave about doing the spinach potato curry in roasting tins, which solved the challenge of finding sufficient pots.

Dinner was a great success, and pretty much everything was polished. Carolyn had offered to make dessert, which was A-OK with. It was meant to be orange slices with caramel poured over top, then scattered with toasted walnuts. For some reason, the caramel didn’t work, so it was just oranges and walnuts in the end…

Our evening’s “entertainment” was a discussion on what role the private sector can and should/shouln’t play in delivering public services. Only mildly interesting/relevant to me, and with lots of voices eager to be heard I found myself “leaning out” and letting them get on with it.

The discussion broke off about 11pm. I opted to head for bed with my book instead of joining a few others for a nightcap round the fire. This week is about practicing different ways of being, after all…;-)

May 13, 2018

Day 1. Woke at 6:30, and crept around like a mouse until signs of waking from the other “girls” in the dorm. Had time to make a pot of coffee before the first meditation. I plonked down in a nice leather armchair, and then wondered if it was right choice. It was nice and close to a candle, but maybe a bit too comfy.The outline that Nicholas sent round in advance included the following:

0835-45 (strictly optional!) – you are invited to spend ten minutes gardening (e.g.weeding) in a patch of your choice. (I found this agreeable when I did it in community with the Franciscans in New Guinea in 1968 and have borrowed the idea)

Gave it a go this morning (along with two elderly female retreatants) but I don’t think kneeling on the wet lawn before breakfast weeding someone else’s overgrown borders is conducive to my spiritual development, and doubt I’ll be doing that again…:-)

After breakfast, we arranged ourselves on the two sofas and three armchairs in the hall and began the work of the retreat — starting with a one hour session where we discussed our desire for the week.

This was followed by a half hour meeting to discuss practicalities — cooking, shopping, and to plan our first “fourth plinth” (sessions where we decide collectively what to do), plus this evening’s entertainment.

It is chilly today — we’ve needed to the fire burning in the hall all morning. I took it upon myself to make a big pot of broccoli soup. It turned out alright and people seemed appreciative.

We have a block of free time in the afternoons. The weather was disappointing, but I sat out for a bit when it wasn’t actually raining and had a discreet call with Adam (who was at the misnamed Footie Funday with Lyra) followed by a delicious afternoon nap.

There is an afternoon meditation session as well, exactly the same as in the morning. We all file into the library just before 4pm and choose our seats. At 4 on the dot, Keith strikes a gong and the meditation begins. At 5pm, he strikes it again and the meditation ends.

I don’t seem to be much use at it. Unlike some people, I can sit perfectly still without fidgeting, itching or coughing, but I can’t quiet my mind for more than ten seconds.

Afterwards, I went for a walk on my own. I had rough directions from Nicholas for a three mile circular walk, and thought I was going right until I came to a confusing farm track. Chose the direction that seemed best, but was glad when I heard voices behind me and saw Alan and Sarah coming up behind.

Carolyn cooked dinner this evening: frittata, salad, and a sort of shortbready thing to have with the last of the strawberries — all very nice. This was followed by copious amounts of cheese. That cheeseboard makes an appearance at both lunch and dinner it seems. Works for me…:)

Tonight’s after-dinner entertainment was a discussion on Lampedusa’s novel The Leopard by (accountant) Laurence. He expressed considerable surprise when it turned out that was the only person who knew it.

“But why did you read it?” he asked (italics mine). “The same reason you did, I’d imagine. You patronising dick…” I thought. (Just as well we’re not fully expressing ourselves at this stage in the proceedings.)

Lawrence had brought along a bottle of Glenlivet which he cracked this evening. Had a glass, but afterwards left them to it. I don’t want to lose site of why I’m here…

May 12, 2018

When I was racing round the village looking for emergency hamster supplies on Thursday, I bumped into my hairdresser Edmund. He encouraged me to squeeze in an appointment before my taxi to the airport. It seemed just about doable at the time, but blindingly obvious this morning that the timing wasn’t going to work…Cancelled the appointment and moved my taxi to Stansted forward by 45 minutes, which left me just enough time to pack before I had to leave. Met Lawrence in the arrival hall. Once we checked his suitcase, we went through the scanners and then lots of time for coffee and a catch-up before it was time to board.

The flight itself was smooth, but our descent and landing at Limoges was pretty bumpy. This was due to the local weather, which looked pretty dismal.

There was two other two retreatants on the plane from Stanstead. Spent our time in the lengthy passport queue trying to work out who they were. I settled on a pair, though I wasn’t convinced, and turned out to be right…

Nicholas was waiting when we finally got through, with some other participants he’d collected from train stations and such. It was pouring with rain by the time we set off. Turns out Nicholas drives like a maniac (and with the steering wheel on the wrong side to boot). I was relieved to arrive at his lovely house in one piece.

I’m sharing a bedroom with two women — Sarah, an NHS sort, who is about my age, and Carolyn who is somewhat older and has recently retired from the charity she set up.

The other participants — besides Lawrence, Sarah, Carolyn and myself — are:

• Laurence and Liz (late-60s, married, retired with grandkids, she’s a former vicar, he was an accountant)
• Mike (big, jovial, extroverted NHS type from Leeds)
• Alan (lovely, friendly public health professional, ex-NHS, now freelance, from Manchester)

In the taxi this morning, I discovered that I hadn’t optimised the website I’d been building for mobile phones. As I’ve brought my computer, I managed to grab half an hour and complete that. (Which is great, as it would have distracted me all evening otherwise…)

Nicholas started the retreat by gathering us in a circle on the lawn. After introducing the other two facilitators (Keith and Rachel, both CofE), we were set a series of ten minute tasks. Each involved wandering about the garden observing things, after which we’d reconvene and share what we’d noticed. The tasks were:

1. What attracts you?
2. What patterns do you see?
3. Slow right down — what does that bring?
4. There is beauty in everything

Headed inside for apertifs and dinner: asparagus with fresh mayonnaise, roast vegetables, roast potatoes, a single, thin sausage each, some lettuce, strawberries and crème fraiche, then cheese. Quite the feast…

We retired to the great hall for some hanging out and final glass of wine, after which few of us took a short walk up the pitch dark road to hear the frogs before calling it a night.

May 11, 2018

My last day before I head to France to attend my friend Nicholas’s retreat. I’m too busy this week with invigilating shifts and now the charity website (not to mention my finance client), and have barely given the retreat a moment’s thought…Headed down to the high school for 8:15am. We were doing an A-level geography paper this morning. One thing I’ve learned about invigilating is that you don’t have to pay any attention to most of the candidates (unless they stick their hand up for more paper or something).

Instead, you need to identify the “hot spots” — individual candidates that are going to be troublesome or pairs of people who are communicating. Within about 15 minutes, I’d identified a suspicious pair. The guy in front would hold up his paper or his calculator in such a way that the guy behind might be able to see it. He would also leaning back in his chair and twist sideways in his seat.

The best thing to do is to stand nearby, which I did, but when I moved away it would start up again. I also like to watch from a distance. The thing that convinced me was when they both smiled at the same time.

I wrote up the incident, and heard later that after examining their papers, it was decided that they had been cheating and they were both disqualified. I’m glad it was a mock exam, and hope that they’ve learned from the experience.

I was finished in the early afternoon, unfortunately a little too late to see Nova before she left to spend the weekend at Knole with her friend Jess. Had an update meeting on the website project, then spent a few hours making amends. Ordered pizza for dinner at kept at it until midnight. It’s looking pretty good — not quite there yet, but I had to shift gears and do some packing and preparation for my trip…

May 10, 2018

Very tired indeed this morning, surprise, surprise… Had to be down at the high school at 8:15 for a long day’s invigilating. My justifiable concern about sleeping in meant I repeatedly woke myself up during the few hour’s sleep I was able to grab….:-(Our first exam was meant to be French listening in the gym. Due to some unspecified problem, the exams had been relocated to the classroom(s). Two invigilators were assigned to sit in while the teachers delivered the test themselves, but the whole thing was pointless. Annoying to think I could have had a few more hours in bed…

After that, it was two back-to-back AS economics papers in the gym. The A-level exams generally run pretty smoothly, but we were down an invigilator, and I was still sorting answer papers on my own when realised I was now meant to be in a film studies A-level on the other side of the school.

I raced up to the exam office to see what was going on. I thought the head of exams might have realised the situation and set things up, but everything was still in his office.

By the time I found the classroom, it was fifteen minutes after the exam was scheduled to start and a few candidates were kicking off. I think they had actually been wrestling or something and were in the midst of being told off by a teacher.

I scampered around arranging desks and setting out cards and papers, and being as calm, sincere and apologetic as possible without compromising my authority. Very different to the persona I generally bring to the exam room, but it seemed to have a settling effect.

Part of the problem was that it was a 2.5 hour paper and already scheduled to run past the end of the school day. One guy had an external commitment and that was stressing him out. Eventually, two candidates negotiated leaving after the first question, and a separate chunk of time to do the second question tomorrow, and that helped further.

It was almost 5pm by the time I got out of there. I was physically and mentally exhausted, and couldn’t wait to collapse on the sofa. I was just reaching the village when Nova called in a flap.

Her friend Shira had been give a hamster by another classmate and Shira’s mum was absolutely refusing to allow it in the house. The other girl’s mum was absolutely refusing to have it in her house either. Things had reached the stage where Shira’s mum was threatening to release “Barblin” in the park if Shira didn’t remove it immediately, so Nova offered to take it home.

The poor little thing was in a gift-wrapped cardboard box, with no food or water (though a hamster ball had been included). Nova had given it almonds and lettuce and a dish of water, which it had ignored.

As much as I don’t want a hamster and particularly didn’t feel like dealing with it this evening, it wasn’t a sustainable situation. I checked a few places in the village for pet food and a water bottle (nada), then got Nova to text Christine, who we’d given Harvey’s hamster supplies to. Sure enough they had everything required.

Drove Nova and Barblin round to theirs and we set her up in a fab new hamster environment with sawdust, bedding, hide, water bottle, hamster food — the lot. She is a pretty cute little thing — one of those golden Siberian hamsters — but it’s not an ideal pet in a house with a cat. Haven’t made any promises, but can feel myself weakening…

May 9, 2018

Exams in the morning (uneventful), then back home for a kick-off meeting on a website I’m putting together for a business associate of Adam’s this afternoon. Sounds reasonably straightforward, and he has some of the assets in place already (logo, colour palette, a brochure to extract text from). For reasons unclear to me, Adam has told him that I have time to build it this week…Had Ava back to ours in the afternoon. Lyra and Ava have been having some ups and downs in their friendship recently, but all went smoothly today. Fed them some dinner, but didn’t eat myself as it was Veronika’s hen night at St John this evening.

I got down there for about 8pm. There were about ten women (half of whom I knew), knocking back bottles of cava and eating a few tapas. Drank more than I ate (inevitably) and felt a bit tipsy by the time they turfed us out at 11:30.

Walked home with Ann Marie (most of the way) and was just at the top of the path when Veronika called to invite me to the after-party in the studio. Apparently, she’d been trying to give me some coded invitation when we left, but it went sailing over my head.

I was ready for my bed, but she’s one of my special friends so I carried on past the path and back down to the Archway Road. The after-party turned out to be a select few — me, Cordelia, Peggy and Veronika — but that was enough to keep things going until 3am…

May 8, 2018

The girls return to school today. Sometimes we all feel ready for the routine to kick in again, but perhaps because of the New York trip, I don’t feel that way this time.Back to school myself, for a full day invigilating exams. Veronika was scheduled today as well, which is always nice. It’s not that we interact particularly while we’re working, but we chat on breaks and sometimes walk home together afterwards.

It was especially nice this morning, when Basil stopped and gave me a lift. I was running late, and torn between power walking down West Hill or chancing the bus. He dropped us right at the gates before taking the girls to school.

It’s mostly year 9 mocks in the gym this week. I found the kids to be very well behaved. I think they are still a bit scared of us, plus the whole exam situation is new and intimidating as well. Long may that continue…;-)

May 7, 2018

Up at 6am. It’s Fay’s 18th birthday today, and I decided to make her a batch of birthday muffins. When they were ready, I mobilised the whole family and headed up the path to deliver him to her.It’s funny to think that strictly speaking, Pete and Pasc don’t have kids any more — just adults. Also funny to discover that despite it being almost 10am, the entire family was still in bed. Apparently that’s normal…;-)

Adam had just enough time for a flying visit to his folks, before we needed to set off for the Southbank to spend the afternoon with Bruce and Gail’s daughter Rebecca, who is in London this week. I’ve only met her once before (and that was almost ten years ago), but she is so like her mother that I would have recognised her instantly.

We’d planned to attend an Asian food festival that was advertised for this weekend. It proved surprisingly hard to find for such a large and well-promoted event, but we tracked it down eventually. We ended up eating at different stalls, which involved a fair amount of queueing, but managed to find table space to sit and eat together.

Afterwards, we shared a jug of Pimms in the glorious afternoon sunshine before heading home. I love introducing Canadians to Pimms — such a lovely British summer tradition, that doesn’t seem to have crossed the pond as yet…

Picked up ice lollies on the way home, which we ate in the garden. Did some gardening with Lyra before dinner. She planted out her nasturtiums, marigolds and petunias, while I weeded the raspberries, and did battle with the indistructible ground elder.

Dinner was a rustic tomato pasta, which we ate in front of Master Chef. Once the girls sloped off downstairs, we watched the final episode of Homeland, which was very good indeed…

May 6, 2018

Went for a run after Adam and Lyra left for ice skating. All along my route I encountered a never-ending procession of people walking to raise money for the North London Hospice. They were doing a seven-mile route connecting the green spaces of London. Must have met a few hundred of them — a very impressive turnout.

After breakfast we headed to the garden centre to pick up some potted herbs and flowers for Lyra to plant in one of the back beds. There isn’t really any point in trying to grow vegetables back there any more. That wretched monstrosity of a cedar tree casts the whole area in shade.

Looked at barbeques as well. Now that we’ve got rid of the gas barbeque, we’re thinking of buying a smaller charcoal one instead — maybe a classic smaller Weber…

Adam set off for the Arsenal match in the afternoon. It’s a big one — Arsene Wenger’s final home match after twenty years as manager, which is almost unprecedented. I spent a couple of hours clearing a bed for Lyra to plant her flowers while she was at football training.

I’d bought a lemonade to make myself a Pimms when I finished, and had to swiftly hide it when Lyra returned from practice with Lucia and Lily in tow. They hung out in her room singing Hamilton songs, until it was time for us to head to Will and Sara’s for a barbeque. (Nova isn’t coming with us, as she’s attending a bar mitzvah in Old Street for Shira’s brother this evening.)

There were two other families there by the time we arrive, one of which we know vaguely. I’ve noticed before that architects tend to socialise mostly with other architectslways the way with architects they only seem to associate with other architects. When our architect friends throw get-togethers, we are often the only non-architects there…

I was glad when Adam, Sara and Chad eventually turned up. We ate our barbequed burgers, sausages and salads, then moved on to dessert. There was a definitely Wenger theme to the whole evening, and this tart was no exception, with Wenger’s name carved out of grapes:

His leaving is really quite a big deal. Chad — who’s in his early twenties now — was just a few months old when Wenger took the reins at Highbury.

Home about 11pm…

May 5, 2018

We’d arranged to go for a bluebell walk with Kiran and Birgit after ice skating this morning, but they cried off at the last minute. Kiran has injured his foot running too far, too fast (there’s a lesson for me there), and needed to rest it.The plan was to drive in convoy to Christmas Common near Oxford, which is somewhere they like to walk, but once they bailed we decided to fall back on our usual bluebell walk.

Nova cried off, claiming revision and LAMDA, and Lyra had a sleepover with Nina didn’t want to risk missing a minute of, so it was just Adam and me in the end. It felt a bit odd at first — I can’t remember the last time the two of us went for a country walk together.

We parked up in Little Missenden and set off. The weather was ideal for walking, and there were promising quantities of bluebells along the side of the path. When we reached the woods, everything was in full bloom and there wasn’t another walking in site. Perfection…

Ate our packed lunch amidst the blooms, then carried on down to the cricket club and back in front of Shardloes stately home. Near the end of the walk, there is a farm house. A woman and a little girl of about eight were in the field tending their pigs. The girl had set up a stall selling mixed eggs.

We bought two punnets and got chatting with them both. The little girl was a character, one of those serious kids that talk unselfconsciously about themselves. “I’m an entemologist,” she told me. “I have a pink tarantula, a scorpion, seven stick insects,…” (I forget the rest).

“Are they alive?” I asked her. “Oh, yes. You can call it a collection if the insects are alive OR dead, but mine are alive.” Reminded me of a joke I heard not long ago. It went something like: “I just can’t put into words how much it bugs me when people mix up entymologist and entomologist…”

The pub where the walk ends is always closed in the afternoons (or maybe on weekends?). At any rate, we’ve never succeeded in buying a drink off them. Headed up the road to the more enterprising place for a pint before heading home.

Did some crossword puzzle, had an afternoon nap, made salad plates for dinner and watched an episode of MasterChef with Nova. A practically perfect day…

May 4, 2018

Had a two hour shift at the high school this morning. I’d assumed it was a refresher/training session before the exam season proper kicks in, but it turned out to be preparation for the first exam day next week.We were cutting candidate cards for the year 9 mocks. It was meant to take two hours, but ended up taking four…:-(

I was glad to finally escape. It was a lovely day, and I walked down to Kentish Town to pick up some groceries. I hadn’t brought anything for lunch, and it was past 2pm, so I was feeling hungry.

Had a delicious banh mi sandwich at a little Vietnamese hole-in-the-wall, then grabbed some Mediterranean ingredients at Phoenicia and some extra bits at Lidl before coming home on the bus.

Made a few salads to have in the fridge: sushi rice, a roast veg one, and another with beans.

May 3, 2018

Ran for 23 minutes this morning. I’ve been getting sick of the softly/softly approach, but to my surprise, I found myself clicking along pretty rapidly on the running bits, and my time for the distance averaged out pretty well. So maybe it’s worth sticking with a while longer…Did some preparation for my finance client meeting this afternoon. They are keen to get some testimonial videos up on the site, which is a good idea. For now, there is a certain amount of legacy video that I’m meant to repurpose into short pieces that promote their various service offer.s.

It’s not a straightforward thing to do, and I’ve been struggling over how best to approach it. Finally made some breakthrough progress, which is a relief. For a while there, I couldn’t even convert the files into anything usable, let alone manipulate them in iMovie…

May 2, 2018

Bucketing with rain today. The weather is all over the map these days, veering from single digits to the low 20s in the space of a day.I didn’t feel much like setting out for lunch in the West End, but I’d accepted an invitation from some old colleagues at Marian’s leaving do the other day, and it felt wrong to cry off.

Although I was cutting it pretty fine, my train came quickly and I made it to the Thai restaurant in Trafalgar Square just a few minutes past one. So I wasn’t surprised to be the first one there.

But after fifteen minutes, no one had arrived, and I called Iain. He was rather surprised to hear from me as the lunch invitation had been for last week. Ended up eating with Iain and Sue at the canteen in the basement of their current office building, which they share with the British Council.

Nice enough to see them, but we don’t have all that much in common any more, and probably never did aside from the job. I’m glad I’ve put all that to rest though…

The rain had let up by the time we finished, and I walked back the long way, sweeping round through Chinatown. So much new development, none of it good. Wherever you look, London is losing an awful lot of its seedy charm…

May 1, 2018

And whoosh… May is already upon us… I have such a sense of work and commitments piling up like afternoon thunder clouds waiting to crash down on me.Website projects (current and new), full-on exam season, my retreat to France, school yearbook, school play and other end of year events, Nova’s university visits, Veronika’s wedding, I’ve probably forgotten a few things. Not a good feeling…

Made Cornish pasties for a rare family dinner, though I had just enough time to scoff mine down before I had to leave to meet Jane at the Holloway Odeon. Adam drove me down, and I was pretty much on time.

Saw a film called Beast, a clever psychological thriller set on the Isle of Wight. We were most of the way through our bottle of rosé by the time the film started, but it was too tense to doze off in…