November 2016

November 30, 2016

Up at 6am to do some biology revision — the effects of aerobic exercise. I made Nova a hot ginger and lemon to sip while we worked. She found it really helped so grated up a goodly hunk and mixed it with lemon for her to take for later in the day. Having missed her friends on the bus, I also gave her a lift to school — making things a bit easier for her where I can this week…

I’m still resolving the problem with the image slider on the architect site. It wasn’t recognising image files as images, and won’t handle mixed landscape and portrait images. I’ve been in conversation with the website host, as I thought it may be something to do with uploading permissions. I’ve also now emailed support the slider developers to see whether they have any light to shine on the situation.

Collected Lyra at 3:30 from school and had a couple of hours at home before swimming. Nova and Adam are both out this evening — she’s at Joseph, he’s on the razz — so I left dinner preparations until we got back.

Just doing bedtime when Nova came in. Sounds like the show was even better than last night’s and she was even able to sing a little bit…

I’m reading Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff — quite engrossed now, so just stuck with that and didn’t bother even turning the telly on. The story of a relationship told from both perspectives has been done several times — this one is more “Gone Girl” than “Mr and Mrs Bridge”.

November 29, 2016

Did some more biology with Nova before school. This morning’s topic was respiration. Contrary to what many people think, respiration and breathing are not the same thing. Breathing is more accurately described as ventilation, while respiration is a chemical reaction that releases energy from food.

There’s no denying I found this a lot more interesting than Nova, who’s still pretty sick. She’s barely able to talk, let alone sing several numbers with a smile on her face while hoofing it in a chorus line…

After my second shift of Lyra duties I dropped her at school, then went for a three-mile run with some sprints at the end. I was really cold, which was definite motivation to run fast. I’m feeling really strong in my running at the moment…

Had a team meeting with both London and Vancouver this afternoon. On her return to Canada, Adam’s partner Mike terminated Kristy’s contract, and it seemed important to speak to all staff directly to explain why and address any questions and concerns.

As soon as that was over, I threw together a quick dinner of leftovers. We scarfed it down, the headed straight to Nova’s school. The doors opened at 6:30 for the 7:30 show, but you need to arrive early to get good seats. There was already a significant line when we arrived at 6:30 on the dot, and we were several rows from the front, but still far closer than I have ever been.

The show itself was awesome — we all really enjoyed it. Nova is on stage a lot as she is one of the wives. She sang and danced in about seven numbers. Although it turns out she wasn’t actually singing at all as her voice is still little more than a croak. She could have fooled me, and I’m her mother…;-)

November 28, 2016

Poor Nova is stuffed with cold and croaky-voiced this morning… Taskmaster than I have become, we still spent an hour going over enzymes before school. She is missing all her regular classes today to rehearse for the show, but still needs to keep up with the school work and revise for exams. It’s a lot for her to manage…

Up to the school for Lyra’s violin concert at 9:30 this morning. There were about ten kids in total, each of whom performed a solo piece. Two group numbers as well — Pachelbel’s Canon and Silent Night.

Found it surprisingly enjoyable (having noticed that in general it’s much more pleasant to listen to your own children’s early efforts at playing an instrument than anyone else’s), and Lyra played her Chinese-inspired piece really nicely. It was a good opportunity for her to practice performing with an accompanist, which she’ll need to do when she takes the exam.

With Nova tied up at the Joseph dress rehearsal, it fell to me to collect Lyra from sports club and take her to her drama class, then return again an hour later to collect her. It’s a big help to me she’s willing to do it — though she does stay and help teach the class, which she enjoys doing.

Chicken tinga tacos for dinner. I love having that tinga meat around — I could see it becoming a fridge staple, something I always have on hand, like hummus, house dressing and sourdough bread…

November 27, 2016

Got up and out by 8am so that I could fit in a five mile run on what is going to be a pretty busy day. The weather has turned very cold this weekend, which gave me an incentive to run more briskly than I might have done on a long run…

After a lightning quick shower, I hopped in the car and drove Nova to her all-day Joseph rehearsal, raced back and took Lyra to church, skidding into the vestibule just in front of the processing choir as usual.

It was the first day of advent, and seemed to be a particularly long service. There are usually two services on Sunday morning, but occasionally they merge them, as they did today, which may have been a factor. The second service is quite different to the 9:45 one we usually attend. More happy clappy, singing of Christian pop and so on — I hate it…

Ben and Michaela had arrived by the time we got back from church, and Adam hand valiantly made a start on the cooking. I took matters in hand and we were sitting down to eat in little over an hour.

There was only Lyra representing the younger generation this year — Aphra is at university in York, and Nova and Poppy were both rehearsing for drama productions. In theory, Lyra wasn’t happy about the situation, but in practice she enjoyed all the attention.

They headed home about 5pm, and Adam collected Nova from school not long after. She’s coming down with a cold — rotten timing, as she has to sing her way through three evening performances over the coming week.

November 26, 2016

Hit the biology with Nova this morning. She has a test looming on Dec 7th,and a lot of ground to make up before then…

Whipped up a batch of apple muffins (my secret ingredient for all things apple — clove instead of cinnamon) before setting out for a two-mile run (plus wind sprints). It was a lovely, crisp morning, with frost sparkling on the edges of things. I love how running gets me up and outside to enjoy moments like this.

Adam took Lyra to her skating lesson — that responsibility sits mainly with him unless he’s away. Seems fair to me, as he’s not around much for school runs, swimming, gymnastics, etc during the week…

We’re hosting Thanksgiving dinner with Ben and Michaela tomorrow. The guests always bring the pies and the hosts supply the roast lunch. They are arriving at noon, so it makes sense to get as much as possible done in advance. To that end, I made the nut loaf, red cabbage, and veggie stock for the gravy.

Nova was off babysitting, which left us without a babysitter ourselves for the school disco evening that Adam had belatedly bought tickets to. After doing Lyra’s bedtime and checking she was okay being alone in the house for a couple of hours, I put the phone on her bedside table, instructed her to call me whenever she wanted, and headed out.

I didn’t have high expectations, which may be why it turned out to be such a fun evening. Stuck to drinking vodka, which is always a good energy drink for me, and aside from the half hour auction, spent most of my time on the dance floor. Or in the photo booth…;-)

November 25, 2016

What a great sleep for once… I’d already had a solid eight hours by the time the alarm went at 6am…:-)

Adam did maths with Nova before school. She had some homework due yesterday that she hadn’t finished. As she’s missing class on Monday for an all-day rehearsal, it made sense to hand it in today. (This Joseph production is wreaking havoc with her schoolwork. At least it’s all over on Thursday next week…)

The “Made in Highgate” project is pretty much done — I’ve set up a Facebook page, Instagram feed and gmail account and made initial posts. The only thing outstanding is the Twitter feed. Turns out someone has already taken madeinhighgate, although they’ve only ever tweeted once, and that was in 2013.

Less satisfying is my architect site, where I’m experiencing annoying technical difficulties with the slider plug-in. Plug-in and WordPress updates aren’t compatible or maybe something it’s something to do with ftp’ing image files. At any rate, it reminds me of the main thing I hate about website work — the added layer of IT grief that can emerge unexpectedly to complicate the simplest things…

Coconut cauliflower cashew curry for dinner. To my surprise, it has turned out to be my top performing recipe on Ten More Bites — and is pretty damn good, if I do say so myself.

Settled Lyra for the night then sat down to watch The Last Waltz with Adam — the 40th anniversary of the film. Having watched it dozens of times over the years, I can recite most of the interviews verbatim, let alone sing all the songs.

I found it very poignant this time — so many of the performers are dead now. I have a particular soft spot for Rick Danko, dead at 55. I remember hearing that news back when 55 still seemed somewhat old. All those 30-somethings singing Forever Young — half are dead now, the rest decrepit… (Aside from Neil Diamond, who looks amazing!)

November 24, 2016

Last physics session before Nova’s exam. I’d say she’s pretty ready, though I wish we could have covered the last section on work and power properly. Did a hard four miles after drop-off — faster than usual, though no idea why.

A couple of work meetings this morning. The first meeting was with my friend Alicia. She’s starting a Made in Highgate initiative to support local artisans, and is organising a few pop-ups around Christmas. I’ve agreed to set up the social media side of things for her: Facebook page, Instagram, maybe a Twitter account… Also had my weekly meeting with my architect client who I interviewed for another project case study, which I will write up later in the week.

After lunch, I checked in with Nova about how the physics exam went. According to her, it was an easy test and she did okay. It could be that she had actually studied hard for once — anything seems easy when you know it…

It was Nova’s parent-teacher evening tonight. As soon as Lyra got home, she leapt into her leotard and grabbed a snack and a book. We were waiting by the door when Adam roared up on his motorcycle a couple of minutes later. Hopped in the car and headed straight off to Nova’s school.

We started with Religious Studies, where it turns out she hasn’t been handing in key pieces of homework… Aat least the work she does submit is at an A* standard — could be worse.

Biology and chemistry were as expected (ie, not great) though she’s starting to turn that ship around. Her maths teacher is very cool, and it turns out Nova scored an A on the last maths exam, which was apparently very difficult, so that’s encouraging. We also spoke to her guidance counsellor, who things were are doing the right things around improving her performance in the sciences.

Things started looking up from there. Nova got very positive feedback from drama, English and History — she’s on target for A*s in those subjects. Her French and Spanish teachers were effusive in their praise. They couldn’t speak highly enough of her.

Adam and Lyra had to leave for gymnastics at this point, but we stuck around to talk to Nova’s physics teacher. It turns out she had marked Nova’s physics exam… The first thing the teacher said was, “you studied very hard for this, didn’t you? When Nova said she had, the teacher said, “wel,l it certainly shows — you scored 40 out of 43, which is one of the highest marks in the class.”

The teacher continued, “I had thought you were on track for a B in physics, but after this, I believe you are capable of getting an A*.” We both so surprised and pleased — I even teared up a bit, probably due to exhaustion…;-)

We floated out of that hall, and rehashed the high points of that parents’ night all the way home on the bus. “This is the first time I’ve ever enjoyed parents’ night!” Nova said happily. “I wish there was another one tomorrow! Also it’s the first time I’ve got a 40 in physics when it wasn’t in percent!” Not true, but not miles off either…

Had a family dinner when everyone was back, followed by the usual evening routine. Lights out for everyone by 10pm — I was so tired I actually walked into a door when I was heading down to bed…

November 23, 2016

Up at 6am as per the new normal around here to go over physics with Nova before school. These days when I plug the kettle in to make the coffee, I say to myself: “I’ll just connect this appliance in parallel to our mains circuit, ensuring the switch is closed so the AC can flow, allowing the transfer of heat energy to the water.”

Starting the day so early allowed me to bake my sourdough in time for breakfast, which was a nice treat. I know you shouldn’t really slice it while it’s still hot, but it’s so lovely that way…

Had a meeting with Alicia this morning about her Made in Highgate initiative. They are planning a few pop-up shops of locally produced goods in the next few weeks, and want to have a Facebook page, Instagram and Twitter set up so they can promote it.

Just Lyra and I around this evening. Adam came home briefly to do a couple of phone meetings before heading out to a football match, and Nova is on a school theatre trip to see Romeo and Juliet.

After swimming (she’s not moving to a higher group next term), we had spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, then practiced her times tables and piano exam pieces, before reading more Hound of the Baskervilles.

Kristy popped upstairs the minute I’d finished looking for feedback on a presentation she’s delivering tomorrow on courageous capitalism, so I spent an hour going through that. Would have taken longer, but Nova returned home from the theatre and we got stuck into the physics revision.

Her electricity test is tomorrow. There hasn’t been time to go over the section on electrical power thoroughly, but she is so much better prepared than she might have been…

November 22, 2016

Nova swore to me she’d be up early to revise physics with a smile on her face if I let her go to the slava last night, and she was good to her word. Put in a productive session on alternating current, cables and plugs before she needed to leave for school.

Knocked off a brisk three mile run, showered, made some bread dough, had an hour-long meeting, then drove up to Nova’s school to collect her, as we’d arranged to visit Camden School for Girls this afternoon.

Took the tube to Kentish Town and walked from there. I had no idea where the school was, and honestly don’t think I’ve had occasion to visit that corner of north London in the twenty years I’ve lived here.

Things kicked off with a long talk from the Head, followed by an even longer talk from the Deputy Head, then a bit more talking from two prefects. There were a couple of hundred of us crammed into the main hall, and it took an effort of will to listen to the whole thing, or even stay awake.

We only had about twenty minutes to tour the school by the time they finally stopped with the speechmaking, but managed to get around to see the teachers for the A-levels that Nova is interested in studying.

I left Nova to travel back to school with her friend Iris, and walked back to Kentish Town and caught a bus home. Flew into action, making beef barley soup, shaping bread loaves, and getting Lyra to and from a supplementary piano lesson.

Went to the cinema this evening with Adam and Kristy. They sneakily declined to mention that the film we were seeing — Arrival — was science fiction, or I would have probably opted to stay home and study physics with Nova. As sci fi goes, it wasn’t that bad, and I did like the cinematography and portrayal of the aliens, but it really wasn’t my thing…

November 21, 2016

Early math session for Adam and Nova today. I seem to have taken over the physics ones (at least for the moment), but it’s better if maths remains with Adam…

They were working on sequences, which is pretty confusing stuff. I think Nova needs to go back to the ground floor on this topic and make sure she understands the basic principles before tackling the kind of questions they were doing this morning. It’s like building something — if the foundations are shaky, your final structure will never be stable.

When I skipped grade three, I don’t recall any time being spent on ensuring I understood the things I’d missed learning, which caused some gaps in my understanding. Having never been taught joined up writing, I just assumed a written “m” had three bumps when written, and “n” had two. I also missed a key piece of information about adding fractions. This caused me grief until I figured it out for myself in about grade nine — a real “Doh!” moment.

After the our “start the week” meeting — which I did by phone, and which was pretty much my “finish the week” meeting as well, as it happens — I got stuck into making this year’s Christmas cake.

Last year’s modest 15cm cake was greeted with dismay, so it’s back to the 23cm version this year. This involves 2kg of dried fruit, enough stirring to weary the arms of an East German shotputter, and four and a half hours’ baking.Wrestling that monster into the oven used most of the morning…

I was meant to go to my book group this evening, but Nova had been invited to her friend Ana’s for a “slava”, a Serbian feast day celebration, and was desperate to go. Adam was out, so there was no one to stay with Lyra. I was hoping Adam might get home around 9, so I could go along later, but it was more like 10pm in the end…:-( At least he drove back down to Camden to pick up Nova (and stayed to do a little “slava-ing” himself, the rotter…

November 20, 2016

Ate way too much for the wine to have any effect on my system whatsoever — though I’m not sure which was the lesser evil…

The rain was lashing it down in the night — they’re calling it the first proper winter storm, with weather warnings up and down the country. Things calmed down by the time I’d made muffins, and I decided it was safe to run on the Heath. Just kept an eye out for “widower makers”.

Initially the morning appeared to be a logistical headache of getting the kids to opposite ends of North London at the same time. But in the end, we didn’t have to go anywhere… Lily’s mum took Lyra to Alina’s party while Maya’s dad drove Nova to her Joseph rehearsal.

I was half way through a nice, gentle five mile run when my phone rang. It’s a funny thing about smart phone — I use mine for so many other things that are actually more important to me that I’m always a bit surprised and even annoyed when the thing actually rings.

Even more annoyingly, taking the call somehow messed up the connection between my running and music apps, and I had to complete the rest of the run in silence. How I ever managed to train for a marathon without any run measuring device or sound system amazes me now.

After my shower, I took advantage of the child-free house to finish reading the last few pages of Wolf Hall. What a great book — I feel like I’ve been living in Thomas Cromwell’s head for the last month…

In the afternoon, I spent some time doing long division with Lyra. She’s usually pretty quick with maths, but long division is giving her grief. She likes to understand how things work, and long division is one of those things you sort of take on faith and just follow the system.

We got there eventually, evidenced by her ability to solve this crazy problem:

We turned our attentions to the piano after that. Lyra’s grade two exam is looming, and one of the pieces is a good way from ready. There’s still time to get it up to snuff, but it will take some hard work, which Lyra didn’t feel much like doing…

My whole life seems to be about providing a one-woman support service these days — tutor, music teacher, business strategist, cook, cleaner, nurse, chauffeur, inn keeper, logistics manager…

Chicken tinga tacos for dinner — very tasty. For dessert, a generous serving of physics with Nova. She’s really getting her shit together on electricity and circuits, which is good to see as the test is on Thursday…

Currently reading The Hound of the Baskervilles with Lyra, as she was finding the language a bit difficult on her own. She’s seen the Sherlock version of the story, and we talk through what’s happened after each chapter, and she’s following along with no problem.

Afterwards, I headed upstairs to watch Cold Feet with Adam. Honestly, it’s the stupidest show I’ve seen in a good while. Either the series is a lot worse than it was ten years ago, or my taste has markedly improved…

November 19, 2016

Went for a short run while Adam took Lyra ice skating, then hit the physics studying with Nova. It wasn’t the greatest session, but she is definitely making progress…

When the others returned, we all headed up to the farmers market for some groceries and lunch. The girls went for their beloved bao, Adam had a shrimpy burger and I had a half serving of some concoction one of the meat stalls had cooking in a large vat. I’m not entirely sure what was in it, but it was pretty tasty (not to mention cheap).

Had Kristy up for dinner this evening. Made a meal from Nigella’s Feast cookbook: chicken and sausage tray bake, potato gratin and peas, followed by chocolate chilli cinnamon self-saucing pudding.

The girls hoovered up the nibbles beforehand and didn’t bring much appetite for dinner, but we adults didn’t let that stand in our way. It was all very tasty, but I had that Christmas dinner feeling afterward. Nigella’s food can be very rich…

Afterwards we sat around digesting, finishing the wine, and painting our nails. Even Adam got in the spirit, and allowed the girls to apply a coat of nude gloss. In bed before 11pm…

November 18, 2016

Nova has her chemistry ISA today. Despite getting a very decent mark the first time (86%), she and a handful of girls are doing a retake, with the goal of improving on that mark. They really do aim high at that school…

After breakfast and a last bit of chemistry revision, she headed off to the rescheduled Marylebone open day with Adam. I got Lyra to school then headed off for a breakfast meeting with Karen to talk about distributing video by email.

I had to bone up on the subject myself before I felt able to offer advice, though I discovered that not much has changed since I last looked into it. Didn’t take too long to impart my knowledge, after which we just had a natter over coffee. Her daughter Lucia is in year 13 — it’s always interesting to talk to people whose kids are further along the exam treadmill.

Back home I spent a few hours writing up a case study for my architect client. Took longer than I had budgeted, but I was happy with the finished result. Sent it over then headed to Exmouth Market for team drinks at a place called the Coin Laundry.

Had a couple of pints and an interesting array of nouveau-British bar snacks. Left in time for Adam to get to his book group. Nova and I watched the updated version of An Inspector Calls with David Thewlis, which was fan-fucking-tastic. He has certainly come a long way since I first saw him in Mike Leigh’s “Naked”.

November 17, 2016

Started the day with a bracing session of physics — series and parallel circuits this time. Did a four mile run after drop-off, then scurried around getting organised before heading out for my weekly meeting with the architect client. I’m trying to get all the case studies on the site completed, and spent an hour interviewing her about a recent project that needs writing up.

Andy Murray reached number one in the world rankings last week — probably the first time ever a British player has achieved that — but Djokovic can still overtake him depending how the ATP Masters unfolds.

Adam has bought us tickets again this year, and I was hoping we might see Murray, but we’ve ended up with Raonic and Thiem. At least it’s not Berdych — I’ve lost track of the number of times I have seen that guy…

Family logistics are such that Lyra had to miss her gymnastics class this evening. Ordinarily, I would have asked Nova to collect her, but she’s got two exams tomorrow she needs to study for. I arranged a playdate with Lily round ours instead, which Lyra preferred to gymnastics anyway.

Adam got home around 6pm, and we set off soon afterwards. Even so, we completely missed — a shame, as it was Jamie Murray who ended the year at number one as well.

I’d made some gyoza for the girls’ dinner, but didn’t get round to cooking for us, which meant buying something at the O2. I wasn’t that impressed with the options, but the margarita pizza I went for wasn’t half bad, and was certainly improved by a cold pint of Stella.

I know I should like Raonic (being Canadian and all), but I just can’t. He’s a listless sort of player, with a big serve and not much else. The Austrian Thiem was a much more exciting, well-rounded player. The crowd thought so too, and was heavily biased in his favour — I’m pretty sure he is also the underdog. In the end, might prevailed and Raonic advances to the semis.

Home about 11pm, just as Nova just going to bed. She’s feeling good about her drama test, but didn’t spend any time revising for chemistry. We’ll have to take a quick look at that tomorrow morning…joy…

November 16, 2016

Things seem very full on round here at the moment. Revision, drama rehearsals, looming music exams, Christmas events, birthday parties, school concerts and field trips are piling in on top of everything else…

Tonight was Nova’s winter concert. I’d originally planned to take Lyra to her swimming lesson then travel straight from the pool to the concert, but the timing would have been very tight. When she was invited round to play with Alice, that seemed a much better option.

When Adam got back from work, we swung by to collect Lyra then headed up to the school. It was rammed by the time we arrived, but we managed to find three seats at the back behind a pillar. We fared better than a number of people who arrived later, and had to stand.

Nova is playing first flute in Wind Band this year. They were on at the end of the first half, and performed a nice medley of songs from Guys and Dolls. (Though we couldn’t see her do it because of the aforementioned pillar.)

Usually Nova sings in the choir as well, but as choir rehearsals clash with the drama production rehearsals, she’s not doing it this term — and we were able to slope off discreetly during the intermission. Used the hour we clawed back for some physics revision before bed — the perfect way to round off the evening…;-)

November 15, 2016

Adam and Nova were supposed to be visiting Marylebone School 6th form today, but there was a mix-up in terms of the booking. Basically, they sent an email to Nova for her to confirm she was attending, and she didn’t reply.

Adam was annoyed because he’d arranged his meeting to around being in that part of London on Tuesday morning, which he was no longer going to be. I managed to get hold of the school in the afternoon, and booked Nova in for a Friday morning visit instead, so problem solved.

Lyra’s class photo today, which created some drama around the appearance of her hair. She claims that one year I forgot to remind her, and she ended up with a crazy-hair photo which was all my fault. I have no recollection whatsoever of that, plus her hair and photo looks identical year after year…

Adam was out at something or other, so I fed the girls, did the homework, music practice, swimming run… rinse, wash, repeat…

November 14, 2016

Happy birthday, Wade! Woke Nova up early to study maths with Adam. Neither of them were that keen on the idea — i’m definitely driving this bus at the moment… Suzy homemaker kind of a day — housework, cooking, laundry, sorting paperwork — too dull to go into more detail over.

Nova has her chemistry ISA later this week. Students carry out an experiment in the lab, then write up the lab report under examination conditions. She hasn’t done the lab work yet, but we went through a past paper together so that she can be ready for the sort of questions they are likely to ask.

Made mac and cheese for the girls when back returned from Lyra’s drama class. Apparently, Catherine (the instructor) has suggested she’d like to pay Nova for her help each week, which is an exciting development.

Heading into town at 6:30pm to meet Adam in the West End. We had tickets to see The Dresser, with Ken Stott as Sir. I thought it was excellent, and was surprised that there were a number of empty seats in the stalls.

Not having eaten dinner, we were both hungry afterwards and stopped at Five Guys for a BLT and some chips before tubing it home.

November 13, 2016

Felt fine this morning, having played it pretty safe last night — lots of food and water, and very small measures of whisky saw me right…

Headed down to Archway to collect Lyra from sleepover. After a quick coffee with her mum, I dropped her home then went for a four mile run on the Parkland Walk.

Made fried eggs served over hashbrown potatoes for lunch. Used the leftover pan fat from the turmeric chicken to fry the potatoes, which gave them a lovely flavour, texture and golden colour.

Late afternoon I made a grocery store run, dropping Adam at the Park Road pool before driving to the 24-hour Tesco. Annoyingly, I hadn’t realised it closes at 4pm on Sundays (most shops close at 5pm), and got to the door just in time to have it locked in my face.

Battled my way back through Sunday afternoon traffic to the Muswell Hill Sainsburys, where I did a whistle-stop trolley dash before fighting back through the same traffic to collect Adam after his swim. Pretty shitty couple of hours, all in all…

Seco for dinner, with quinoa made in the rice cooker (turned out very nicely). Watched An Inspector Calls with the girls afterwards. Alastair Sim was playing the inspector, and oddly enough his nephew is Gerald the fiancé, and young Scrooge makes an appearance as a bus conductor. The pool of British acting talent must have been pretty thin on the ground back then…

Everyone really enjoyed the film, though the girls had a very different interpretation of the ending than we did, which surprised me. Kristy came up just as I was heading down to put Lyra to bed.

I’d planned to finish my cop drama this evening, but when I returned they were deep into work talk, so I retreated back downstairs and hung out with Nova instead.

November 12, 2016

Things were pretty hectic around here for a Saturday… Ice skating has started up again, we have Kristy coming to stay today which meant getting the flat ready, plus Nova has exams looming.

While she’s got some subjects well in hand, she’s going to need support from us to ensure she gets the grades she needs in science and maths. To that end, I’ve had her draw up a homework schedule, so we can keep an eye on how she’s managing her time and workload.

I’ve also added short study sessions with Adam and me across the week. I’m doing biology and chemistry, and Adam is taking maths and physics. It’s not a lot of time, but it will require commitment from all of us to make it happen.

Left Adam to do the farmers market with the girls, after which he took Nova to visit a 6th form college in Finchley called Woodhouse. Nova is hoping to stay at her current school, but it’s definitely worth looking at options. She can’t do drama there for one thing, and the bar for readmission is set very high. Makes sense to have a fall-back position if it doesn’t happen.

Kristy arrived while they were out. I made her something to eat, and when Adam returned (having dropped Nova at her drama class), I hopped in the car with Lyra and took her to a sleepover at her friend Ava’s in Whitehall Park.

Whisky night round Pad’s this evening with Dave and Cath. Stuck a steak pie in the oven for Nova and Kristy and set off before 6pm, as Pad wanted an early start.

He’d prepared a big Indian feast for dinner — squash pakoras, spiced spinach and Bombay potatoes, with a really show-stopper of a chocolate pear crumble for dessert. A few good foundation to absorb the ten different whiskies we set about tasting.

While everything we sampled was at least alright, there were two clear favourites: the 12-year-old Balvenie Doublewood, and the 15-year-old Glenlivet.

Pad is on medication that causes him to fade relatively early of an evening, which meant we were back home by 11pm. I didn’t feel particularly drunk or tired, and thought we could watch another episode of the Level before bed. Turns out we actually were too drunk and tired…;-)

Kristy came upstairs for a snack about 1am found us crashed out in the living room. I toddled off to bed and left her and Adam to carry on for a couple of hours…

November 11, 2016

Remembrance Day, not that they bother much about in this country, which still strikes me as odd. They’ve recently started observing a two-minute silence, but it’s not a holiday or anything… Ate an early family supper then headed off to Wembley to see the England v Scotland World Cup qualifier. Our friend Steve is working as a steward for the game, and unexpectedly offered us four free tickets, and a free parking space next to the stadium.

Nova wasn’t at all keen on the idea, but she eventually got into it. For myself, I enjoyed seeing a live match at Wembley for the first time — it’s a lovely stadium, and we had premium seats on the centre line. But I just hate most football fans. It’s akin to being surrounded by legions of Trump supporters — shoals of fat, red-faced men shouting racist abuse, or just abuse…

It was a good enough game, though I thought Scotland was better than the 3-0 scoreline suggests. Home by 10:15 — and the game only ended at 9:30, which is pretty sweet.

Once the girls were down, we carried on with the Brighton-based cop drama we’re watching. It’s better than it looks on paper, and I’m quite enjoying it…

November 10, 2016

Blew off my run this morning…:-( Nova heads off at 7:30, Adam now has a standing meeting at 8am, and it wouldn’t feel right leaving Lyra to get herself breakfasted, ready for school and responsible for locking the house. She could probably manage it, but she is only nine years old…

Had coffee with Jemima after drop-off. It’s always good to catch up with her — although we’re very different sorts of people, we see eye to eye on a lot of fundamental things — such as the tragedy unfolding in the US.

Found it difficult to focus at my weekly meeting my architect client. I really need to sharpen my focus on that work — otherwise I’m wasting my time and her money…

I was overcome wiht exhaustion in the afternoon. I could barely keep my eyes open at my desk, but was wary of lying down in case I slept through pick-up time. Hit the couch when we got back and didn’t get up again until time to leave for gymnastics. Maybe I’m coming down with something…:-(

November 9, 2016

Finally dozed off around 5am, with the election outcome looking dire. Slept for a couple of hours, and woke to the news that is was all over and America had somehow chosen the inexperienced, ignorant, sexist, racist bully over the best candidate for president that there has ever been. You get what you deserve…

Nova was gutted, and Lyra in tears. She wasn’t the only one — in the playground there were two mums openly crying — one I know to be an American, the other I have no idea. Lucia was bawling as well. She’s just back from New York yesterday, so it must feel very real to her…

Went for a coffee with my friend Lynne who was recently made redundant from her internal comms job at a major bank. Almost 60 years old, she was feeling anxious about finding another job but has managed to land something within a month — go, her!

Mostly avoided all news coverage today, though I did see this interesting map of how the election would have gone if only millennial votes counted. Wonder how true it is — if it’s based on any info produced by polls, it’s probably not worth the bits it’s composed of…

Had a meeting with Basil this afternoon. I’m going to help him set up a website for their studio. Talked through some ideas and looked at templates for a couple of hours until it was time to take Lyra to her swimming lesson. Assessment day — I’d say it’s 50-50 whether she moves up a level…

November 8, 2016

The day of the US election has finally arrived… Though there won’t be anything to report on until almost bedtime, I was on my mind all day.

Went for a two-mile run after drop-off — I’d planned to do more but my ankle is feeling a bit unstable, and I thought it better not to push it. It goes funny from time to time — not sure why…

Spent a few hours cooking in the afternoon, which was a nice way for me to relax after all that intense report writing, resulting in turmeric-infused chicken and an array of Middle eastern salads for dinner.

In the evening, we finally finished the current series of Poldark. They’ve managed to rope me back in with the last two episodes. I was so over it — the story seemed to go round in circles — I get enough of that in real life, I don’t need it from my entertainment choices as well…

Despite the pundits giving Hillary a clear lead, as soon as the results started coming in it was apparent that it wasn’t going as predicted. Having been down this road a couple of times in the last year, I could see the same fucking mismatch between polls and predictions and what you want to happen and what is actually happening. I just didn’t have the stomach to watch, and took myself to bed about 2am…

Against my better judgement, I turned the radio on, occasionally checking my phone to watch the electoral college votes stack up on the red side of the pile. The rain drummed steadily against the windows, adding the a mounting feeling of despair. “I don’t belong in this world any more, and I’m not sure I want to be here,” thoughts I’ve never had before…

November 7, 2016

Got up early and continued working on my report alongside getting Lyra ready for school. The latest section is giving me grief, and annoyingly I wasn’t able to wrap it up before had to travel into the office.

The Holloway Road is going to be a mess for the next few months, which makes taking the bus a less attractive option. Decided to follow Adam’s suggestion of the Northern line to Euston, change to Victoria line to Highbury & Islington, then change to the overground to Haggerston.

Unfortunately, I make that Northern-Victoria line change so often, that I autopiloted across to the southbound branch. I was in Oxford Circus before I realised my mistake, and reversed direction. Doh!…:0(

Made it just in time for our initial insights presentation to the refugee charity client. I wasn’t sure how they would respond to some of our feedback, but Adam did a great job of presenting it and setting things into context, and they were really pleased.

Carried on working when I got home. Adam helped clarify a couple of things with that tricky chapter before he headed off to his gay dads’ pub quiz, which was enough to get that part across the line. Soldiered on until 11pm when got back to give it a final look-see, then sent it. Overall, I’m pretty pleased with my draft — and it was nice to sink my teeth into a solid piece of work for a change…

November 6, 2016

We were a little slow off the mark this morning — I find that happens as the days grow shorter. Last night’s party didn’t help either. Started the gears turning with a coffee and some crossword in bed (which is not a euphemism for anything more exciting)…;-)

We were gently easing ourselves into the morning when Lyra burst in to announce that she wanted to go to the 9:45 service. Normally that would be my lookout, but as Adam was off to the Arsenal game at noon, it made sense for him to take her and then just carry on. Also, he’s making an effort to contribute more around here post-fight.

I was going to go for a run (the number of paragraphs I start with that phrase…) but got into a long discussion with Nova about her schoolwork instead. She attends a very academic school and they set a high bar for admission to the 6th form. It’s achievable, but Nova will have to work hard to guarantee it — which means changing some of her habits. By the time we’d finished flogging that subject to death it was time for lunch…:-(

I also had some work of my own to do on the Greenest City report. It’s interesting stuff, and I put in a few good hours before Adam got back from the match. He headed out again almost straight away with Lyra to do something called the Hint Hunt (I think?) with Doron and his kids in Kentish Town.

It’s one of those things where you get locked in a room, and have to solve clues to get yourself out within a certain time limit, which they failed to do. According to Lyra, this was because they ignored her suggestion of which button to use. Adam partly agreed with this version of events, though he blamed the clue-setters for writing the clues badly.

Japanese food dinner: miso soup, rice, simmered squash and maple-soy salmon — with green tea Pocky for dessert. Carried on working after dinner until gone 11pm. I’m nearly half way through the report now, which feels a lot better than it did this morning. I need to have a finished draft by Tuesday afternoon, which feels doable…