October 2019

October 31, 2019

Happy Halloween! Not that I’m doing much this year — Nova is away at uni, Lyra is hanging with Lucia, and I’m going out in Brighton with Michaela. Went for my weekly swim with the girls. Once again the weather was lovely and bright, though much cooler than the last few weeks. Went in the fast lane again, where fortunately that pesky older guy wasn’t swimming.

There were three young men that ploughed up and down like missiles, lapping me about every eight lengths. I have no problem with that…

Quick coffee afterwards and then home. Stuck up some Halloween decorations and dug out Lyra’s trick-or-treating bag and some leftover candy from last year. Finished a piece of work for my insurance client, then closed my computer and headed out for the day.

I’m seeing Margaret Atwood in Brighton with Michaela who bought the tickets months ago. Caught the 1:30pm from St Pancras, and she joined the train in East Croydon.

Arrived in Brighton mid afternoon. We wandered for a couple of hours — the North Lanes, the other Lanes, the promenade most of the way to Hove, before an early dinner at the acclaimed veggie restaurant Terre a Terre.

I had the aubergine dengaku, followed by “better batter and lemony yemeni relish”. Somehow in that slightly twee and grating name, and description of the dish I managed to miss that it was a vegetarian take on fish and chips.

Shared a bottle of merlot and both went for the pineapple tarte tatin, after which I felt as full as after a Christmas dinner. Quite the blowout…

Waddled over to the Brighton Dome and took our seats. We were a bit early and the large venue was far from full, but by time she took the stage every seat was taken.

What a great evening. Atwood was funny, dry, politically savvy, and thoroughly entertaining. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I didn’t think she would be so likeable.

Caught separate trains back as the Gatwick Express got me into London 45 minutes faster than Michaela’s train would have. Home by midnight.

October 29, 2019

And it’s back into the daily grind again… I got Lyra sorted for school, then Adam drove her down the hill while I changed into my running kit. There was just time for a couple of miles in the Woods and a quick shower before my first meeting.

The United Nations Environment Programme has got back in touch about contracting us to write an internal comms strategy for the next eighteen months. Actually, I’m not sure why they needed me on the call, but it does feel better for clients to realise that I am both a Junxion team member and Adam’s wife. (We have occasionally tried to fudge it and it always felt uncomfortable.)

I’m pleased that we are getting more work from them — it’s a high profile and important initiative to be involved with. There is an encouraging amount of new business bubbling up at the moment.

Adam has another comms strategy project lined up as well as a report writing project. I’ll likely support him on that one so need to clear my own decks.

Depending how the interviews go next week, we may have a consultant in post who can support him with some of this work.

Adam was out playing football this evening. I made a nice fish tajine with chermoula using frozen tilapia. Now that the risk of a no-deal Brexit has receded, I can re-focus on running down our food stores…

October 28, 2019

Lyra has one more day before she’s back at school, but it was a full-on work day for me. I made muffins for the girls’ breakfast, then sat down to work by 9am.

Made some of the Beauty Council developments I’d specced out with Millie on Saturday, as well as the first draft of a video for the insurance company website. I was feeling anxious about starting on this piece of work, as they have been difficult about previous videos, but I’m pretty happy with where I got to.

Adam and I did another pre-interview as well, with a woman who had tonsillitis last week and so couldn’t be interviewed. She wasn’t able to use the video aspect of the connection, and it definitely made a difference in how much of a sense I gained of her.

Lyra took Ali back to Euston to meet her mum at 2pm. She wanted to carry on to meet Ellie and Iris in a café, but she had a violin lesson today, and the timing wouldn’t work. She was pretty snarky about the whole thing, and I was annoyed by her attitude. I’ve always avoided telling the kids off in front of other people, but we had words about it when she got back.

Made Indonesian spinach-squash soup and prawn crackers for dinner. Watched an episode of Handmaid (actually we rewatched the previous episode, which we both fallen asleep in different parts of). To bed about 11pm — back to the school routine grind tomorrow…

October 27, 2019

Finally managed to shift my lazy ass and go for a run this morning. The clocks went back, the weather was gorgeous, and Adam wanted to come along, all of which added momentum.

Did a gentle lope down to Highgate Woods and around the perimeter. It was pretty mucky in places, though not as bad as I was expecting after a full day of rain yesterday.

Ali is coming to stay for the night, which was a good lever to get Lyra to do some homework, tidy her room and practice violin. She headed off about 11am to meet Debbie and Ali at Euston. Debbie carried on up to Manchester to visit her mum, and the two girls came back to ours for lunch.

So lovely to see Ali. She and Lyra were thick as thieves in infant school, and she spent a lot of time here. It’s great that they’ve been able to maintain their friendship since they moved to Surrey. That’s one thing social media is good for I guess.

They headed off to Camden after lunch, and Adam and I spent some time researching mobile phones. We are all coming out of contract, so we need to revisit the whole set-up.

I’m perfectly happy with my current phone, but apparently the next operating system won’t work with it, so I’m going to have to upgrade pretty soon.

Ended up ordering a new phone over the phone after a lengthy consultation with a Vodafone rep. It’s arriving tomorrow…

Adam headed out to an Arsenal match for the afternoon. I had vague thoughts of doing some of the Beauty Council work, then thought “fuck it, I’m taking a day of rest”. Cracked a Corona and finished my new novel, I Saw a Man by Owen Sheers, which Pasc loaned me the other day. Didn’t love it.

Made honey-mustard chicken and new potatoes for dinner. Fed the girls, but I waited for Adam to return. Ate together in front of Handmaid.

Old Offred is getting pretty bolshy with the Gileadites, and goes about sporting a ferocious scowl that would blister paint — not sure how she’s getting away with it, especially after what happened with the “Commander’s” baby…

October 26, 2019

Another day, another downpour… Mooched around drinking coffee and doing the crossword instead of bouncing up and lacing on my running shoes. Maybe tomorrow…

Adam headed off in the car to do Jackson’s Lane and Arsenal type things, and I tackled some housework — hoovering, laundry, ironing. It had gone noon by the time I heard from Lyra. She wanted me to put money on her card so she could go straight to the twin’s house without passing home.

I nixed that, and had her come by to show her face, drop her bag, pick up her free bus pass. The teenage phase is definitely kicking in earlier this time round…

Headed down to Millie’s myself for a cup of tea and to have a meeting about the site. We’ve been exchanging emails about images for a few days now and it just seemed easier to sit down and look at it together, despite it being a Saturday.

Adam eventually rocked up as well, and from tea we moved on to tequila. Just the one shot — just as well, as I realised I’d eaten nothing but a piece of toast all day…

Back home, I made Japanese tofu curry for dinner while Adam made carrot halvah from a recipe we noticed in The Week magazine. Absolutely delicious…

October 25, 2019

Vague thoughts of running, easily brushed aside once I raised the blinds…

Instead I headed upstairs at 7:30am, made a small pot of coffee and settled down with my novel, Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments. I’ve been cracking along — it’s definitely a page turner. Managed to finish it in installments over the course of the day…

Managed some client work as well — Beauty Council amends and more on the insurance images — but it wasn’t a very productive day workwise.

Lyra headed off to Lucia’s about 4pm, and the predictable request to eat there then sleep over followed soon after. I’d planned to make Japanese curry for dinner so we could save some for Adam when he got back from Switzerland, but I wasn’t hungry myself so didn’t bother.

When Adam got home we cracked a bottle of wine, made a plate of cheese and crackers and started in on the third series of Handmaid. We’ve had some glitches in the recording so are missing the final six episodes, but I’m keen to see how June is getting on now that I’m all caught up bookwise…

October 24, 2019

My current routine is to listen to the Rachel Maddow podcast first thing with my morning coffee before getting out of bed. Not the cheeriest subject matter, but there’s something comforting about how she breaks down and makes explicable the current chaos in American politics.

Adam and I (and so many people) are obsessed with politics these days. This morning, Rachel said that no one should have to think about politics this much. We used to be able to go days at a time without thinking about politics. You could say tha’st why we elected and pay these people — so that they can think about politics instead of us.

It’s such a crazy time though: Brexit, Trump and even the Canadian election. All the weirdness seems connected somehow. The obvious thread is Russia — achieving it’s political ends through dark money, destabilization and disinformation.

Adam headed off to Switzerland this morning for a couple of days. I headed off for Crouch End for my weekly swim with my posse. Felt better again and had a good workout, aside from a jackass in the fast lane.

I was a bit faster than him, so I overtook him. The next lap, he sped up and tapped on my feet a few times. I let him go ahead, after which I overtook him again. He then glared at me whenever we found ourselves at the same end. Wally…

I stopped in on Rachel way back. She was clearly feeling very down. She has a grade two tear in her hamstring, and it is going to take three to five months before she can run without pain.

Worked on some stuff for Junxion, and also went through the rest of the debate pics and video and sent off a final set of images.

Lyra and I had Greek salad (with vinegar — out of lemons), tzatziki, hummus and pitta for dinner. Watched A League of Their Own — the Penny Marshall film about the professional women’s baseball league during World War Two — which we both loved.

October 23, 2019

I really should get back into my running routine, but somehow my morning slot slipped past again. I had sourdough proofing in the fridge that was overdue for baking, an urgent email to send, and Lyra’s appointment at the hairdressers.

I walked her up there and chatted with the stylist again before parting with a whack of money and heading home. Adam and I had another pre-interview with a potential consultant, which I was meant to join by Skype. For some reason, my Skype account has been locked and my attempts to prove my identity deemed insufficient…>:(

Managed the meeting by another route, but I can see there will be frustrating times ahead re-establishing my account. Very tempting to say “fuck Microsoft” and do without it, but they have such a grip on tele-meetings that unfortunately, that isn’t an option.

Lyra called when she was done and I headed up to Gail’s to meet her for lunch. She was absolutely thrilled with her salon-tastic hair, which was sweet to see. It does look pretty fab…

Had a couple more pre-interviews over the evening, which we were able to do sharing Adam’s screen. I’ve been very impressed with the candidates who have come forward for this post. Not all of them are suitable/affordable but their hearts are all in the right place.

Made a Spanish tortilla for dinner in the Remoska (which worked extremely well), along with padrón peppers and fresh sourdough…

October 22, 2019

Feeling a little perkier today, despite a disrupted night’s sleep…
Adam woke me at 3:30am to tell me he could hear a mouse in the room. We decided to bring in the cat, in the hope she’d take care of the situation. This was a futile hope. Her preference was to join us in bed, but I kept shoving her off and eventually managed to fall back asleep.

Dawn found her stationed by Adam’s desk, where the poor mouse was obviously hiding. We shifted a pile of crap then carefully inched the desk away from the wall. The terrified mouse fled to a corner by the door — which Cleo gormlessly failed to notice.

The mouse then hid behind the storage boxes under the counter, so we shifted those as well, as well as anything near my bedside cabinet. Eventually the cat managed to pounce on the poor little thing, and we were able to scoop it up and carry it outside.

We’d forgotten to switch the flap back after our weekend away and Cleo has been introducing mice into the house ever since. We’ve found a few mouse scraps around in the last week — not sure why none of us thought to check the flap.

Did a few Skype pre-interviews for the consultant post with Adam, and worked on the Beauty Council website rebuild, which made for a full day’s work.

Adam was out playing football, so Lyra and I made pesto pasta and watched a couple of episodes of Lost. Had a phone call from Wade, which was lovely. I’ve been meaning to call but never think of it at the right times…

October 21, 2019

Mum would have been 92 years old today. Getting up there, but with better luck in terms of her health, she could still be with us…

Everyone was up at 6am to ensure Nova left in time to catch her coach back to Bristol. Lyra got up too and walked her to the tube station. We were all sad to see her go, but she’ll be back for reading week in mid-November.

Lyra current obsession is getting her hair sorted out. She gave herself a home dye job in the summer and now that it’s growing out she’s unhappy with how it looks.

Went for a consultation at a local salon after lunch. The stylist talked through the best approach — a semi all-over dye of something close to her current colour, leaving some of the ends untouched. She did an allergy test with the dye before we left — if Lyra doesn’t react then she have it done on Wednesday morning.

The consultant recruitment has advanced to the next stage. An initial review of the cvs eliminated a few candidates, after which Adam sent out invitations for a brief Skype meeting with the seven yes/maybes.

It’s important to confirm that we have a shared idea of the role — salary expectations, type of work etc. — after which we’ll set up interviews. I hope we’ll be in the new work space by then, as it would be a draw.

I felt pretty melancholy all day. I pushed some work along — mainly a review of the membership process for the Beauty Council and slashed through a heap of email.

In the excitement of having Nova home for the weekend, I neglected to buy scallops. Fishmongers are closed on Mondays, so there was no prospect of getting shellfish for coquilles St Jacques.

Ended up having leftover Brazilian pork stew and corn dumplings, a rocket & walnut salad, and a glass of red wine. Last of the pumpkin pie for dessert.

October 20, 2019

It’s Nova’s last day home before she heads back to Bristol. It already feels so normal to have her back with us again…

We had eggs and bacon for brunch, after which everyone went out except me — Adam to his mother’s for yet another chapter in some endless filing cabinet saga; Nova riding the friend carousel despite having woken with conjunctivitis yesterday morning; and Lyra is off shopping with Margaux in Camden.

Did a swathe of housework and a batch of hummus then sat down to read a couple of chapters of The Handmaid’s Tale. Michaela and I are going to see Margaret Atwood in Brighton at the end of the month. Ideally, I’ll have re-read Handmaid, and her new novel The Testaments before then.

Adam had just got back from his mum’s when there was a knock at the door. It was Richard needing help. Rachel had fallen on the Parkland Walk and torn her hamstring. Adam drove up there and the two of them supported her back to the car and home.

Lyra returned from her shopping trip in high spirits. On the way to the bus, she found a £20 on the ground, which enabled her to buy a pair of secondhand Levis and a bandanna.

We had Beulah for dinner. I made Swedish meatballs, boiled potatoes, peas and a lingonberry-cranberry sauce. Apple crumble for dessert.

October 19, 2019

Adam got up by 9am to make pancakes for the girls. Dropped them down at ensemble rehearsal, which is being held at Margaux’s house today — definitely easier for us.

Another day, another march — we showing up in support of a confirmatory vote on the Brexit agreement. I’ve always ready to march when warranted, but years have passed without cause for marching. It’s more like five, six times a year these days…

We met our friend Dave at the Quakers Hall on Euston Road. Had a quick cup of tea then headed off to the march. He’d arranged to connect with his friend Vernon who had travelled down from Sheffield.

We shuffled down Park Lane for the best part of the hour until we rounded Hyde Park Corner into Piccadilly and some space opened up so we could walk. There was a good atmosphere and lots of amusing signs. It feels important what with Parliament sitting for a “meaningful debate” on Johnson’s wretched withdrawal deal.

There was a half hour of rain, sometimes quite heavy, but it didn’t dampen people’s spirits. And when it let up, and word went round that the Letwin Amendment had passed, the mood was even higher. “What do we want? A MEANINGFUL VOTE! When do we want it? NOW!!”

There was no hope of making it to Parliament Square or even Trafalgar Square today. Eventually we cut left and repaired to a Soho pub for a pint. Vernon had to catch his bus back to Yorkshire, and we needed to get back to make dinner for Pete and Pasc who were coming round.

I didn’t have quite enough time to make the Brazilian pork stew I had planned, but I forced things along and we were eating by 8:30. The girls both out, though Lyra came back from Saya’s and hung with us for a while.

Ate her rocky road thing for dessert along with some chocolates that had been hanging around in the garage.

October 18, 2019

Nova’s coming home today! She’s getting a coach in the afternoon, and should be here in time for dinner. Really excited to see her…Knocked through the Join us section of the Beauty Council website and then sent the draft text across for feedback. I also managed to post a couple of news stories for my engineering client before calling it a day.

Lyra is having Ellie for a sleepover this evening. We waited dinner until Nova got back at 8:30pm to serve up the tacos. Played some Werewolf afterwards then headed down to bed. We’re all pretty tired…

October 17, 2019

Went swimming with Kate again this week. It was colder than last time, and the outdoor pool was steaming into the frosty morning air. I felt looser this week, and managed the whole mile in front crawl. I felt better at the end as well — though not particularly out of breath (I’d need to swim faster for that).

Kate and I went for a coffee afterwards at the fancy coffee place. I ordered the first round (social), then she got the second one and we moved into our work meeting. She wants me to put together yet another video for the home page of the insurance website…

Adam was in the middle of a phone interview when I got home, and I had to hold off on blitzing up my breakfast smoothie. Turned out to be my lunch smoothie.

By the time his call ended, he was running late for his business lunch, and I drove him to Archway to help him claw back some time.

Spent a couple of hours editing an impact report assessment for Adam in the afternoon. He repaid the favour by helping me with the strategy section of the Beauty Council content after dinner (potato-corn chowder and rye toast).

To bed about midnight…

October 16, 2019

Happy birthday, Gale!
Had a Festival meeting at Café Rouge first thing. Better than the last one, after which I was tempted to withdraw from the committee. Left feeling the love again…;-)

Started on the Beauty Council website rewrite. Tackled the straightforward stuff — Home page promos and the About us section. Also organised the applications for the London consulting job into separate folders so that we can review them and invite candidates for interview.

Toor dhal and rice for dinner with the last of the spinach yogurt. Watched The Breakfast Club while we ate — Lyra’s idea, though one of it’s one of my favourites as well.

October 15, 2019

Tuesday is normally my most likely day to fit in a run, but my blisters still need a couple more days of healing. After that, I’ll stick plasters on them before I run and they should be fine. Also I’d arranged a coffee with Veronika after drop-off, but she never showed. Possibly she forgot, but it’s also possible another crisis has arisen. Hope not, but those guys seem to catch a lot of bad breaks…

Worked on restructuring the Beauty Council website. Once that is approved I can start rewriting content and filling gaps.

Adam was out playing football, so it was Lyra and me for dinner. I made mirzi ghazemi (the aubergine-egg thing), a yogurt-spinach dip, and grilled peppers.

Bagged another episode of Lost. Only 120 more to go…

October 14, 2019

Monday, Monday… They always feel a bit brutal when we’ve been away for the weekend. As if my ducks weren’t quite lined up or something… Needed to remind myself where I’d left my various projects. There was a minor crisis with the Beauty Council website, who have managed to run out of storage space. Spent some time sorting out their media library, removing overly large and duplicate images. Did some Festival work as well…

Sat down to eat my lunch and promptly dozed off for an hour. I’m getting as bad as dad…;-)

Broke off to collect Lyra from violin, which I’m happy enough to do when I’m available. It was pissing with raining and getting dark, and she’s already had a pretty long day by that point.

For dinner I made Japanese pork and beans — a solid little recipe that is edging into the repetoire. Made a pumpkin pie as well in recognition of Thanksgiving. Watched an episode of Lost — good, enjoyable, semi-mindless fare…

October 13, 2019

Felt a bit hung over this morning, though not too bad… Went for a lighter breakfast than yesterday — salmon and scrambled eggs on brioche. Very nice.

The rainy weather has pinned us down today. Decided on a visit to Blenheim Palace to avoid the worst of it. I haven’t been in years, and it was interesting to visit after recently seeing The Favourite, as it was built by the Duke of Marlborough (John Churchill) and his wife Sarah. There was an art exhibition as well by conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan.

Went for a walk in the grounds afterwards. Stopped to eat our bits of leftover food that passed for lunch. Did quite a short route (3-4 miles), as I’d told Lyra we’d be home by 5pm. The way Birgit drives (like a maniac), despite leaving a bit late made it more or less on time.

I’d made some veggie soup earlier in the week, which we had for dinner along with the last of the rye bread. Pretty tired from all that walking and wine drinking, took to my bed for an early night.

October 12, 2019

After a great night’s sleep, we went down for our full English breakfast at 9am. Everything was cooked beautifully, which boded well for our dinner this evening. Spent a bit of time afterwards agreeing a route. By the time that was sorted the rain had almost stopped and we set off.

I dressed my blisters as best I could before lacing up my boots. There were painful at first, but soon settled down to a dull ache, and after a while I didn’t think about them at all.

The walk was relatively flat but still challenging, as it was very muddy and slippy underfoot, and I was grateful for the walking stick.

After seven miles we stopped for a pint at the Feathered Nest Country Inn in Nether Westcote, a upscale pub/restaurant that was a veritable museum of fishing/hunting regalia — glass cases with stuffed fish, rods, guns, bar stools made of riding saddles.

It was another 3.5 miles back to the hotel. Stopped to eat the smoked salmon bagels I made en route along with a flask of tea. In the end, we made it back with barely a drop of rain. An unexpected result.

It had gone 5pm by that point. Retreated to our respective rooms for a few hours. I gingerly unwrapped my feet before a good long soak in the tub, and then spent some time tackling the cryptic crossword.

Headed down for dinner about 7:30pm. The menu wasn’t particularly large, but there was enough to tempt us that we mostly ordered different dishes. I started with prawns before my main course of skate, artichoke purée and hazelnuts, which was delicious.

Despite the generous portions, we had space for two orders of sticky toffee pudding. With Kiran in charge of the wine list, we got through three bottles of wine as well…

October 11, 2019

The blisters are a bit better today, though I’m still not wearing shoes or socks unless absolutely necessary. I’m a bit concerned about how I’ll fare on our walking weekend in the Cotswolds with Birgit and Kiran. I made sure to pack an array of blister pads, moleskin, plasters, scissors, surgical tape, gauze etc so I can protect them as much as possible before easing them into my hiking boots.

Lyra is spending the weekend at Lucia’s. I saw her off, and just had time to finish my packing and make some smoked salmon bagels for our lunch tomorrow before Kiran and Birgit arrived.

We’re taking one car, as it’s just the four of us. Absolutely filthy weather for motorway driving, and I was glad it wasn’t me. I hope it lets up for our walking, though the forecast isn’t great.

Made it to The Wychwood Inn in Shipton under Wychwood without incident. Seems a very nice place, with lovely rooms above a pub/restaurant. We hadn’t eaten dinner, so ordered a cheese plate to have with our pints.

October 10, 2019

Went for a swim with my friend Kate and a few other women this morning after drop-off. We met at Park Road at 7:30am to do laps in the 50m outdoor pool. It was a cool morning, but the pool was heated, and — at 24°C — even a little too warm.

I can’t recall the last time I swam laps — it must be at least a year. After all those years in the swim club, swimming is pretty much like walking, and I cruised through a leisurely mile. Of course, I could always speed up (jog/run), but public swimming is not really geared for speed.

Went for a coffee afterwards before heading for home and starting my working day. I definitely enjoyed it, and plan to go next Thursday, especially as I won’t be running for a week or so on account of the blisters.

Veronika called shortly after I got home, asking if they could park at ours while she was at the Whittington. Her appendix ruptured a couple of weeks ago, and had an appointment about that.

Made a big pot of veggie soup and popped to the Village for some bread and a Vogue magazine to make up a little care package for her when they returned for the car.

Adam was out a B Corp conference and evening social so it was Lyra and me for dinner. Watched a couple of episodes of Lost. We’re getting drawn in to what is a great premise, but hard to imagine how they sustain it over so many episodes.

October 9, 2019

I’ve got a nasty blister on my heel from last night…:-( Two actually, though the left one is so much nastier than the other, that the right one barely counts… Getting ready to go out last night, I noticed a pair of blue leather ankle boots I haven’t worn in a while. “I love these!” I thought to myself, “Why don’t I wear them more often?”

Misremembering that the pointiness of the toe had put me off wearing them, I opted to go without socks so they wouldn’t feel tight. This was a grave error. By the time we were walking to Holborn station at the end of the night, I clearly recalled that it was the stiffness of the backs that was the problem…

Gingerly bandaged my suppurating wounds, gathered my work supplies, and limped off to Aldgate East to spend a test day working out of the X+Why shared workspace with Adam and Asya – where he’s negotiating to move office.

The space is very smart, with a nice design aesthetic, café, well-appointed kitchen, honesty bar, pretty garden, and even a wellness centre where they run occasional yoga classes.

Completed two pieces of work for Junxion during my stay – an edit of the paper on Junxion’s service offer and a two-page leave-behind for potential clients. Adam had a late afternoon call, so I headed home on my own

Lyra already returned and left again for netball. Made us burritos with leftovers from our weekend in Suffolk. Watched the latest, moderately-entertaining episode of Bake-Off.

October 8, 2019

Went for a run this morning. I did another timed half hour in the absence of a better idea, or something specific to train for. My best time so far — I was comfortable running 5km at a 10:30 pace. Adam is working from home again. His intern Asya is taking a couple of days unpaid leave to participate in the Extinction Rebellion demonstrations.

Instead of getting stuck into client work, I put on a load of laundry, and made a run to the grocery store. Adam helped by putting the second load on, managing to do something to the machine in the process. It wouldn’t drain, and I had to spend another hour bailing it out, mopping, and trying to diagnose what went wrong…:-(

Lyra went round to Lily’s after school. I was going to make her pesto pasta before heading into town to meet Keith Fraser, but she ended up eating round theirs and we left without seeing her.

Met Keith at a place called Vanilla Black in Holborn — a high-end vegetarian restaurant I’ve long wanted to try. I wasn’t that impressed unfortunately — far more style than substance, though I think I ordered badly.

He’s over for the London Film Festival (as in-house council for a film production company) and also to pitch an app of some description to PR guru Matthew Freud. Ended the eveing with a beer at the nearby Cittie of Yorke before heading home.

October 7, 2019

A bit chaotic this morning, as we all slept in a bit. Lyra was in particular disarray — with last night’s migraine she didn’t organise her school bag before bed. Poor little thing still isn’t feeling right… One good thing about getting up early at this time of year is the amazing sunrises we get to enjoy. Some mornings are better than others — and this one was spectacular:

I had an article to write for the Beauty Council. I was a tricky one, flagging up a trend report without the actual report to refer to — just a badly cobbled together set of notes. Got there in the end…

Adam was working from home. We did a HIIT workout together before lunch. I’d felt the squats a bit over the weekend, but not the mountain climbers, which I tried to do a lot faster this time.

Lyra called from school with the news that Sissy’s uncle Danny (a guy our age) had died unexpectedly of a heart attack on the weekend. We also had the sad news that Jenny’s husband Paul is in his final days, having been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Seems to be a lot of death about…

Counting Song
Jee Leong Koh

This is failing territory, where we will die
of prostate cancer or sweet pneumonia,
after we hang our coats in the broom closet.
This old man plays nick nack on my drum.

Ambition, the devil, has descended to details
and every meal is eaten with Dissatisfaction.
Give, my Love, the long-dead dog a bone.
Paddy whacked, this old man comes rolling home.

Friends go before us—who knows where.
The bell rings for other men, our door
opens to the mocking grin of thinning air.
This old man plays nick nack on my shoe.

Look, our eyesight is deserting us. Parody!
They say hearing, HEARING, the first to go.
Sans eyes, sans ears, sans smell, sans taste,
paddy whacked, this old man comes rolling home.

What have we left? The furniture of memory.
Dining table your dad made, the ghostly TV,
the ghastly licks of animal horn on the wall.
This old man plays nick nack on my tree.

Residence of sadness where we intend joy,
it will be a property, a prop, for tired feet.
After the drill square and the stroll garden,
paddy whacked, this old man comes rolling home.

October 6, 2019

It’s 16 years since mum died today… That’s getting to be a long time ago, and sometimes it feels that way, other times not so much… Woke to an absolute downpour, with rain clattering against the roof. There was no way we doing anything outdoors (blackberry picking had been suggested), and not much time anyway.

I still felt too full from yesterday’s excesses, and even had a touch of heartburn, something I almost never suffer from. At least all that food made it impossible to get very drunk, despite the four bourbon and cokes and the red wine.

Mary and Jules produced an elaborate brunch — poached eggs and hollandaise on courgette fritters, artisan sausages, grilled asparagus, wild mushrooms. My heart sank at the size of it, but it was delicious and I enjoyed it more than I’d have believed possible.

We headed off around noon, a bit later than we needed to in order for Lyra to get to Danae’s karaoke party in Shepherd’s Bush for 2pm. Ended up dropping her at Snaresbrook station on the eastern reaches of the Central Line, which was her fastest route across town at that point.

As we were driving right past Costco we decided to fit in a quick shop. The usual suspects: toilet paper, dishwasher tablets, smoked salmon, cat sachets, frozen fruit, peanut butter pretzels…

Unpacked the food and our belongs, sorted out the cat, then took to my sofa and there I remained for the rest of the evening. Adam headed off to his mum’s house to move a filing cabinet, and operation that seemed to take well into the evening.

Lyra got back from her party at 7pm with a migraine. She’s had a good stretch without them, but seems to be getting regular headaches again. School and stress and lack of sleep I’m guessing…

In bed just after 9pm…

October 5, 2019

We’re off to Jules and Mary’s place in Suffolk for the weekend. Only for one night, so no need to pack much or make special arrangements for the pets.

Left London about 10:30am and pulled up at theirs two hours later. It was great to see them and meet the latest addition to their family — Milo the tabby kitten. Sadly, Habibi died earlier this year…

After a lunch of soup, bread and cheese, Mary, Lyra and I drove into Framlington while the guys did some gardening — sorting out the last of the tomatoes.

Mary was concerned that her cheesecake hadn’ worked out and wanted to get supplies for a back-up dessert– Biscoff rocky road — which she and Lyra made together when we got back.

Julian had bought some specially formulated Coca-Cola mixers, designed to be drunk with dark spirits. The three of us had a grand time testing all four varieties with his impressive collection of bourbon.

Their old university friend Sarah came round for dinner. She brought her daughter Beth, who is exactly Lyra’s age and they got on well together.

As usual, the food was amazing. As yesterday was international Taco Day, Mary served up pulled beef tacos with smoky beans and all the trimmings. Dessert was an excellent cheesecake and the Biscoff rocky road.

Stayed up late setting the world to rights, though it was just Adam, Jules and me by the end. It was well past 1am by the time we wove our way across the courtyard to the guest house.

October 4, 2019

Spent most of the morning processing photos from the insurance debate shoot. Glad I took so many — I haven’t ended up with an embarrassment of riches. The files so large I had to upgrade my Dropbox subscription in order to get them off my computer.

Adam has found a nine-minute Hiit workout that purports to be all the exercise a person needs. He’s done it once, and I joined him this morning — eight 20s sets of squats with a 10s rest, 60s rest, then eight 20s sets of mountain climbers with a 10s rest. Hard to see how that replaces going for a run, but my heartrate was certainly elevated by the end.

Met Adam at Aldgate East at 3pm to tour a potential office space. He wants to move from where he is now before recruiting Shayla’s replacement. This place is a values-aligned business (as the jargon goes) and very smart.

Walked back through Brick Lane and Shoreditch to Old Street afterwards. I seldom get to this part of town and enjoyed poking around. Also, I wanted to pick up something for Jules and Mary – we’re visiting them this weekend.

Mary really… we’ll bring a nice bottle of wine for Jules, but Mary doesn’t drink. Ended up buying a bunch of handmade chocolates, a dozen bagels, and a Thums Up cola as possibilities.

Leftovers for dinner – I’d had no time to cook, and few ingredients to cook with. I ate the potato-corn chowder, and Adam and Lyra had reheated Japanese rice with a mysterious tomato sauce I found skulking at the back of the fridge. Not my finest culinary moment…

Watched Four Weddings and a Funeral while we dined. I’d forgotten what an enjoyable film that is…

October 3, 2019

Had a much better timed 30 minute run this morning — my ankle didn’t give me any trouble… After a quick shower, I got busy prepping for this afternoon’s photoshoot. I’m covering an insurance event in the Old Library of the Lloyds Building.

Got there half an hour early to scope out the room. A less photo-friendly venue would have been a challenge to find. It was a dark, panelled box with fluorescent lighting and a massive projection screen.

I set up my tripod in a good position for the podium. So I wasn’t best pleased when the keynote talk was delivered from the panel table instead. I surreptiously crept into a vacant front-row seat and adjusted my settings.

I was now situated below the speakers, who were half hidden by the table. Even worse, two of them were leaning back in their chairs, bellies skyward. If that wasn’t enough, spent most of their time craning backwards over their shoulder to read the screen instead of facing the audience.

The main thing I learn again and again from photo and videoshoots is to expect the unexpected. How you plan for that, I have yet to figure out… At least the rest of the presentations were from the podium. But the AV equipment was so old that speakers had no way of seeing their slides without looking over their shoulder or reading from notes.

I was glad when it finished after three hours. I was invited to join them for a drink at the pub, but made some vague sounding noises and sloped off home.

Just Lyra and me for dinner again. I made an excellent new dish – Japanese pork and beans – definitely one for the food blog once I’ve made it a few more times.

Lyra and I have started watching Lost. I missed out on the whole Lost phenomenon, which was huge back in the day before catch-up TV. It’s good, but there appears to be about 250 episodes. Hard to imagine committing so much time to one show…

October 2, 2019

Reasonably productive day. Put in work on draft brand guidelines for the insurance company, baked rye bread and flapjacks, and continued with my efforts to clear some space on my computer.

Another option would be to get an external hard drive for images (or at least video files). They are just so bloody big to work with — they tax my application memory to the limit.

Made a potato corn chowder for dinner – more or less a veggie version of tuna chowder, though tuna is such a dominant flavour that the taste profile is quite different when you leave it out.

Watched the latest episode of Bake-off – dessert week – which had them making elaborate bombes for the showstopper. Have never made a bombe myself, and don’t expect I ever shall…

October 1, 2019

Rabbits! Forgot to say it round here but I texted Nova so maybe the luck will flow in her direction this month…

Got it together to go for a run at last. Opted to go for 30 minutes — not that impressive on distance as my ankle acting up. I thought I might have to turn around but managed to walk it out and push on.

Did a piece of work for the Beauty Council, then spent the rest of the day on my own projects. One thing I’m working slowly/steadily on is de-cluttering my computer. Although it’s five years old now, it has a good-sized hard drive and a fair amount of RAM. But all the video work I’ve been doing is pushing it to the wall…

Lyra’s head of year called in the afternoon to tell me that Lyra had been reported for posting an Instagram story that was mean to a classmate and had been interviewed by two teachers. The woman was very vague on the details and wouldn’t say who the story was about, who reported it, or when it happened, but that Lyra had shown remorse and would be getting a detention in the coming days.

When Lyra got home, I sat her down to talk about it. Because it was an Instagram story, it expired after 24 hours and the teacher hadn’t even seen the video. It took me 30 seconds to find the recording on her phone. Lyra was singing a silly song with Lyra when a voice in the background yelled, “Vera got her first detention!” Recognising the newsworthiness of this (Vera is a music scholar, very prim and well-behaved) Lyra labelled her video clip “Vera got a detention” and posted it.

You can’t be too careful with social media, and she shouldn’t have done it (or at least not labelled it). But I was disappointed at the school not making any effort to ascertain the facts before deciding to punish Lyra. I’m also curious about the motives of the girl who came forward to report her weeks afterwards.

Dinner was the leftover chicken basque thing that Adam made on Saturday. Lyra and I ate together as he was out playing football. Watched To The Bone, a made-for-Netflix film about anorexia.