October 2020

October 31, 2020

Happy Halloween! Not that there’ll be much Halloweening going on this year. It’s not that big a deal for me, but I feel sorry for the girls who both love Halloween. At least they aren’t missing out on trick-or-treating, but both would have gone to parties no doubt.

The weather is horrible, not that I had any thought of running this morning. Morning coffee, meditation, then headed to Brent Cross. Pretty sure it’s my first time visiting since lockdown in March. Our main mission was to buy more coffee pods and pick up some mailing labels so we can drop our pod bag off locally in future.

Took the opportunity to replace our decrepit frying pan and buy Lyra a proper thermos flask so she can take hot food to school. It was past our lunch time by this point,so we headed to the food court and bought something at Leon. Their chicken plant box seemed a reasonably low-carb choice (pretty much the only choice) but it still wiped out my carbs for the day.

Tried to pick up a pumpkin on the way home, but no joy… Ended up with a plump little squash, and made myself a cute little jack-o-lantern for indoor display. (They always were primarily for me…)

Johnson had sent out a news bulletin telling the nation to tune in at 4pm for a lockdown announcement. We duly turned on the telly at 4pm, to discover it was now delayed until 5pm, and then 6pm.

He eventually lumbered out at 6:30pm, and immediately passed the mike to his scientific advisors who subjected us to a flurry of confusing slides. The upshot is that we are going back into lockdown next Thursday, except for students who will continue to attend school/uni. People can also meet in pairs outside, I’m pretty sure…

They leaked the story to the newspapers yesterday for some reason, so there had been twenty-four hours of speculation already. What is that about and how is it possibly helpful in controlling the nation’s mood and getting people onside? He’s done a pretty good job of undoing the compassionate equanimity I’ve been laying down in my meditation sessions…

Lyra headed off to meet friends for an evening of hanging on the Heath. She wanted to stay out later than the 9pm home time I specified, but I think it might be a weird one out there. Lots of people who with nowhere to celebrate Halloween, pubs closing early and lockdown looming…

Made a meat and cheese plate (which is pretty much carb-free), cracked a bottle of wine (which isn’t) and watched What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? So creepy, with amazing performances from both Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. The two women famously hated one other, which must have added zest to their acting…

October 30, 2020

Today’s meditation was on joy, something I imagine we could all use more of these days…
I try to put client work on the back burner on Fridays to focus on my charity/unpaid work and personal/house stuff, but it isn’t always an option. I had to launch the tabbed MemberZone on the beauty website in the morning.

I was bit anxious about it, as British Beauty weekend starts today and the site needs to perform well throughout. Backed up everything, carefully updated their plugins, testing after each one and then made the page swap, and happily it all went fine.

Had an online learning set with my former Kings Fund cohort at 2pm, which took most of the afternoon. It’s the first time we’ve done it that way and I wondered whether it would work, but I thought it went surprisingly well. It definitely helps that we know and trust each other so deeply.

During the initial check-ins we learned that four of us have thrived personally and professionally over the year. One woman was struggling in her new job, marriage, and unresolved issue with her father, so the rest of the session was devoted to her.

Over the years, each one of us has been in her position in a learning set. It can be very emotional and intense to be questioned and prompted by a group that is fully focussed on as you unpack your personal baggage, but incredibly cathartic as well.

The set finished at 5pm, and I rushed out to meet Jess. We’d planned to go for a walk and then a drink, but it was already getting dark so we cut to the chase. Nabbed the last free table at the Red Lion, and proceeded to sink a bottle of red wine and a couple of packs of peanuts.

Home at 8pm. It was sushi night (sashimi for me), which didn’t do much to absorb my red wine starter. Finished the Gilmore Girls… omg!

October 29, 2020

Worked on compassion (both for others and yourself) this morning, then headed off to the Woods to run 3 miles. Improved my pace a little bit, and now I’ve got the fitbit I can see that my heart rate is coming down as well. All signs of progress welcome…

Spent the bulk of my working day creating a little LinkedIn video post for my insurance client. They have been posting these slide decks of new employees, which are getting a little stale.

I wasn’t sure how to do it at first, but discovered that I could build an animated presentation in Keynote and then export it as a video. It turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself.

I got so caught up in figuring it out that I forgot to eat — not something that happens very often, especially now that I’m intermittent fasting. When that eight-hour food window opens I’m generally right in there.

By the time I realised, it was so close to dinner, that I just grabbed a quick snack and carried on. At 8pm, I reheated yesterday’s brisket and made a slaw, which I tossed with blue cheese. Adam was in a meeting so I ate with Lyra, Gilmored and to bed…

October 28, 2020

Day two of the election sanity meditation challenge. We are working on “loving kindness” or “being nice”, as Dan (the Ten Percent Happier guy) puts it. I’m sure I have room for improvement in that department…;-)

Afterwards I went for a walk on the Heath before settling down to work. The weather was much improved from yesterday, but there was a strange yellow tint to the sky and by the time I got home it was definitely turning for the worse.

Spent much of the day trying to implement a tabbed solution for the beauty website Members’ Zone. Got to a pretty good place by the end of the day with a few outstanding snag list items. The palette across the eight buttons needs to be improved and the ‘manage your account’ info isn’t working properly yet. Will take it up again tomorrow…

I got so stuck in to this piece of work that I forgot to put my piece of brisket that I’d prepped yesterday in the oven in time for dinner. The recipe suggested cooking it for five hours then resting it for 20 minutes.

My brisket was about half the size, but I’m not sure what that does to cooking times — whether there’s an exact correlation. It seemed best just to keep cooking it until it was falling apart and then reheat it tomorrow. So instead of brisket and slaw, we all had a meat and cheese plate this evening with a side of Gilmore Girls…

October 27, 2020

Started an ‘election sanity’ meditation challenge today, which is designed to help people develop resources to navigate the coming weeks by engaging with it while remaining calm. We’ll see…

Went for a three-mile run in the Woods afterwards — my second time at that distance. I’m going to stay here for a week or more, after which I plan to slowly build one long run. The weather was cold and wet, which was off-putting, but actually once I’m out there I quite enjoy it.

Finished the personal trainer website this afternoon/evening and sent my usual summary “it’s been a pleasure” email. It has been a pleasure — the client was appreciative and complementary, the site looks good, and I gained experience working on the Wix platform.

Did some yoga afterwards and let someone else prepare dinner. Adam and Lyra had black bean and sweet potato tacos, and I had a plate of deli meat, cheese and crudités, plus a glass of white wine. Gilmores x2 and then to bed…

October 26, 2020

Despite it being Lyra’s half term, I was awake by 6am (and up by 7am). I’ve always heard that it’s best to be as regular as possible with sleeping patterns, going to bed and rising at the same time every day regardless of weekends, holidays etc. I don’t know how I feel about that actually, but it’s pretty much the way my body works whether I like it or not…

Crossed paths with Adam, who’d been up in the night with his stomach issue. He was feeling well enough to attempt another hour’s sleep before starting his work week.

I did my meditation, sorted the kitchen and then woke Adam with a cup of coffee. We’ve noticed that cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts (and maybe fennel?) all seem to disagree with his digestion — unless they are thoroughly cooked, or even over-cooked.

Stopped work at 11am to go for a walk in Queens Wood with Kate. There was meant to be a work aspect to the conversation, but we got rabbiting on and forgot to talk about work until we were nearly back home again.

Went for a coffee on the Archway Road, which strictly speaking we aren’t supposed to do (being from two households and indoors). Though if people are allowed to go to the office still and meet with however many colleagues, I suppose maybe it was okay. Felt a bit guilty all the same…

Leftovers for lunch when I got back — I don’t want Adam eating any of that stuff. He can have a nice bagel with cream cheese or something when he’s up to it. Worked on the personal trainer website in the afternoon, getting so stuck in that I carried on until gone 7:30 before breaking off to make some dinner.

Kept it simple with ginger-lime chicken thigh fillets, leftover rice for Adam/Lyra and a quick slaw for me. Two Gilmores and to bed with the Guardian puzzle section. Living on the edge…

October 25, 2020

The clocks went back last night… Nonetheless, I was awake by 6am (the former 7am) and lolled about in bed catching up on Twitter news until Adam was ready to get up and meditate.

We sat for half an hour today. Generally we do 15-20 minutes, depending on when we start and how busy the day is. But I like experimenting with sitting for longer stretches. My mind reaches a more settled place after fifteen minutes, and also the experience of sitting motionless for that long becomes a factor.

Ran three miles in the Woods after that — the first time I’ve managed that distance in a good long while (it used to be my bread and butter run). Adam went for a swim in Park Road Lido when I got back and then over to Beulah’s for a visit.

I applied myself to Thanksgiving preparations, which we are doing by Zoom this year. My main concern was making a keto pumpkin pie — a pre-baked almond flour crust and a filling that used double cream and erithytol instead of condensed milk and sugar. It took a little longer to set, but was visually indistinguishable from my usual effort.

For the rest of the meal, I made crispy kale to start, then pan-fried salmon, corn on the cob, basmati/wild rice, steamed brussels/leek/carrots in a horseradish dressing, and a fennel-endive salad.

We connected with Ben and Michaela on Zoom for a pre-dinner chat and toast, then ate our respective meals, and connected again for dessert. The whole set-up worked reasonably well. It wasn’t the same as sitting down together, but then again we didn’t spent the best part of four hours slogging up and down the M25…

Watched the new Borat film, which was released this weekend. Generally not my kind of thing, but I wanted to form my own opinion of the Rudy Guiliani scene. To my surprise, I quite enjoyed the film and thought the woman who played his daughter stole the show. Bath and bed…

October 24, 2020

Feeling pretty much okay this morning — I think I’ve dodged a bullet there… I’m drinking less these days, which means that I feel it more when I do. I kept up my water intake throughout the meal and ordered something filling, which would have helped.

Made muffins for Adam and Lyra — something I haven’t done in a while. Adam and I for a walk before lunch, round Kenwood then down to the farmers’ market at William Ellis, looking for Thanksgiving dinner inspiration.

Nothing caught my eye in the meat/fish line, but we did buy some nice brussels sprouts and a few bits and bobs. Topped up our shop in Swains Lane — salmon fillets, fennel and endive for a salad.

It started raining just as we got home — we were lucky there, as the weather was basically shit from that point on…

Ended up eating lunch quite late, which meant none of us were hungry for dinner. Made a grazing plate with whatever caught our fancy in the fridge and watched I, Tonya for movie night. Second time I’ve seen it, but happy to watch it again…

October 23, 2020

Lyra’s last day of term… Because she’s breaking up before lunch, there was no need for me to pack her anything. Ran her down the hill on schedule, then returned home to meditate before work.

The Beauty Council is launching a campaign to pressure government to #CutTheVAT on hairdressing services, as they’ve done with hospitality this morning. The government consistently treats the beauty industry differently, which I can’t help but think it has something to do with it being perceived as “women’s” (therefore low status” work.

Smoked salmon scrambled eggs for lunch. Made myself one of those microwave mug breads. I’m getting used to them but am still not a convert. One main issue is their “egginess”, especially when I eat them with eggs.

I’ve never been much of an egg eater. I’m happy to cook with them, but wouldn’t care if I never ate another egg on its own for the rest of my life. I’ll make a point of using a mug bread for a tomato sandwich or something to see if I like that better…

Did a good chunk of work on the personal trainer website, chipping away making it consistent, reducing random fonts and button styles, and improving the text. Rewrote the recipe section as well. Finished just in time for our dinner with Richard and Rachel at the Bull.

They brought Luna round for Lyra to puppy sit, which suited her down to the ground. I closed Cleo in our bedroom and told Lyra not to disturb her. Puppies are definitely not Cleo’s idea of a good time…

We’d booked a table outside in the back garden, which they is now covered with a tarpaulin roof. They’ve got those big standing heaters scattered around and it was perfectly comfortable eating outdoors with that set-up.

Home about 10:15pm a bit worse for wear — too much sauvignon blanc…

October 22, 2020

Feeling a little perkier today, and the weather agreed with me. It was still dark when we got out of bed to do the school routine, but the sun soon rose excellent and fair. Had a good meditation session then ran 2.75 miles in the Woods — I’m closing in on my three-mile base run. My speed is starting to pick up as well without me focusing on it.

Quick shower and a second cup of coffee, and at my desk in good time to prep a bit for my 11am meeting. The beauty website is launching a campaign tomorrow to pressure the government to cut the VAT on hairdressing — something they have done for the hospitality industry.

Put in a couple of hours on the personal trainer website in the afternoon. It’s interesting to work on a Wix website, which I haven’t had a chance to do before. I wasn’t nervous about taking the work — I’ve heard how easy Wix is to use, and so far that’s panning out.

Sent her an email at the end of the day outlining what I’ve done so far (5 hours work) and confirming that she’s happy for me to carry on.

Adam had his book group and Lyra and Ellie had gone for chips after school, so I was okay to do yoga before switching to dinner mode — spicy peanut chicken with an Asian slaw. Took my portion of chicken out first then tossed a batch of noodles through Adam and Lyra’s share.

Yet another episode of Gilmore, then part two of Roadkill a political crime/drama with Hugh Laurie. To bed about 11pm…

October 21, 2020

Mum’s birthday today — she would have been 93. A goodly age for sure, but there are plenty of folk still up and about with more miles on the clock. Mum’s quality of life wouldn’t be much though if she were still with us…:(

The sun hadn’t risen when I got out of bed. The weather was appalling, my mood glum and I had no inclination whatsoever to head outdoors and exercise after launching Lyra on her morning.

Put in some client work, but my heart wasn’t in it. Spent an hour napping on the sofa after lunch which improved my mood a bit. I didn’t sleep very well last night… Initially when I got the FitBit it was a case of the sleep tracking affecting my behaviour. I was more disciplined about going to bed before 11pm and limiting blue light a few hours before bedtime, but bad, old habits are creeping back in…

My online grocery delivery arrived about 6pm, just in time for me to prepare the coquilles St Jacques I like to make on mum’s birthday. Modified the sauce a bit to avoid flour, and ate mine with cauliflower rice instead of regular rice.

Turned out very nicely. Ate at the table for once instead of in front of those darn Gilmores. Dark chocolate for dessert.

October 20, 2020

Meditated and got Lyra off to school as per usual. Didn’t exercise before starting work, as I was booked to go swimming with my “mermaids” at lunch. A certain amount of house stuff had piled up, which meant I didn’t get much work done before it was time to leave.

Walked down to the Lido through Park Road, which took exactly the half hour I’d estimated. Met Helen and Lynne, and had a quick chat while we changed poolside — no change rooms or lockers at the moment.

The weather was cold but bright, and the water barely heated. It took a bit for me to get in — unlike these other crazy gals, I don’t go in for year-round wild swimming. I haven’t swum at all since last March, and it felt awful at first. My initial lap seemed endless, until I remembered that it was a 50m pool.

Half a mile was plenty for this occasion. Met Kate for a coffee at the usual place afterwards. She couldn’t swim as she’s recovering from facial surgery to correct the effects of her horrific bike accident two years ago.

They needed to doing something to a little muscle on the outside of her eye that has healed too tightly. She now has stitches in both her eyelids and a lot of bruising round both eyes. She said the whole experience was pretty unpleasant, which is undoubtedly true.

She had it done under local anaesthetic — as I did when I had my nose rebroken. That was certainly no picnic. It didn’t seem so bad at the time, as I was high as a kite, but I had flashbacks from it for years afterwards. It was probably some form of PTSD, though I didn’t know about that then…

Walked home along Shepherds Hill afterwards, and was cold and hungry by the timeI got home at 2:30pm. Fixed some lunch for Adam and myself — the quickest meal I could pull together from the fridge.

It wasn’t that easy to shift into work gear afterwards. I was still chilly and feeling mentally scattered. Cleared emails, caught up the household budget and did some tidying of my computer desktop, which was well overdue. Gave up trying to force myself and shifted to my yoga mat before prepping dinner.

Made a crustless quiche lorraine and salad, which I had with a glass of red wine and the Gilmore Girls. Finished watching Mrs America before bed…

October 19, 2020

Not enough sleep, but at least it was of a pretty good quality. Looking at my FitBit readings, it appears that my main issue is waking up too often, and my minor issue is not getting enough deep sleep. Some nights it estimates I get as little as 20 minutes. I’m not sure what to do about either of those things, except keeping to a regular bedtime and avoiding screens at bedtime. Early days still…

Got Lyra dispatched, meditated and headed to the Woods for a 2.5 mile run. Felt pretty good today — my pace was naturally faster without having to push it, and I felt strong at the end instead of pooped.

Quick shower and at my desk by 10:15am. I had a couple of unexpected issues with the beauty website that knocked my day off course. The credit card payments stopped working unexpectedly, and I couldn’t figure out what was causing it for a good hour, which was quite stressful. Turned out to be a caching issue — just glad to have sorted it relatively quickly.

Steak salad for lunch, and lamb meatballs and ratatouille for dinner. One Gilmore then returned to the Phyllis Schlafly ERA thing which we lost steam on. It’s good and well acted, but I know it’s going to end depressingly…

October 18, 2020

Slept pretty well, and also late enough that any effects of the wine had worn off. Not that we drank that much — a G&T, and the small half of a bottle of wine — but that counts as a lot for me these days.

Pootled around our room until the 11am checkout time, then headed downstairs to sort out some compensation for the broken sink issue. Without even having to ask, the manager immediately suggested comping our bottle of wine from last night. (Glad we got the pricey one!)

The girls met us at the suspension bridge and we made our way across and back again. Had the realisation yet again that looking at Clifton Suspension Bridge is much more impressive than standing on the bridge and looking at the Avon Gorge. The gorge isn’t that deep for one thing, and the river is really quite unattractive.

Queued for coffee at the Observatory café (which took an absolute age), then headed to the car and drove back to Nova’s place for our Sunday roast lunch lunch at the Shakespeare.

There are so many new, inconvenient ways of ordering things these days. This was the scanning set up where you bring the menu up on your phone then order through an online form.

We were unable to order three roast pork meals, so Adam masked up and went back in to discover that they had only two portions left. There would be more in half an hour, so we ordered a couple of starters to share and a bottle of wine, which they promptly comped to make amends for the delay. We can’t buy a drink in this town…

The food was very good, and I would happily eat there again. I liked sitting in the covered outdoor area instead of the busier (warmer) inside. Turns out that Bristol is currently more infectious than London. That’s a surprise to me — I’d been feeling guilty about potentially spreading the virus to the West Country, when we’re more likely to reintroduce it back to London.

The drive home wasn’t as smooth as the journey up. The eastbound diversion was longer and more meandering. Took about three hours, which isn’t that bad. Unpacked, didn’t bother with dinner, bath, bed. Good weekend…

October 17, 2020

Off to Bristol this morning. While there was still a lot to do, I selfishly opted to do what I wanted for myself before focussing on getting us ready for the trip. Adam was doing the same — catching up on some work on his computer — while I meditated, ran, showered and then packed the car, sorted the food, locked the bedroom, reset the catflap etc.

So it was more like 10:30 than 9am by the time we pulled away. Traffic was fine, and aside from the never-ending roadworks, we made reasonable time and arrived at Nova’s just after 1pm. Great to see her — she looks happy and thriving.

Walked into town for some lunch in St Nicholas Market. There was a falafel place that Nova wanted us to try. Not very keto friendly, but whatever… Did some shopping in the covered market, and the street market, then completed the loop back to Nova’s house. A good three miles or so of walking…

Left Lyra to spend the night with her sister, and drove ten minutes across Bristol to where we’d booked a hotel for the night. I’m pretty sure it’s the first time that Adam and I have stayed in a hotel — not a pub with a couple of rooms, or an AirBnb — since we went to Rome for his 50th birthday.

The hotel overlooks the Avon Gorge, and we paid a bit extra for a room with a view of the suspension bridge. They have a big terrace, and we headed down for a drink despite it being a bit too cold to sit outside. If the covid situation carries on the way it looks like doing, going to start travelling with a fleece blanket.

Bought a bottle of wine from the bar and headed back to our room. I’d brought the balance of our Neals Yard cheese, crackers, celery sticks, and a few other bits and bobs. I’d even packed our cheeseboard and two plates.

Poured the wine, served ourselves plates of cheese, then settled down to watch Jackie Brown on the telly. Haven’t seen that film in ages — I’d forgotten how entertaining it is…

At bedtime, we noticed that our bathroom sink wasn’t draining. Adam contacted reception who sent a maintenance man up, but he couldn’t sort it. They then offered us a key card for a free room down the hall we could relocate to or at least use the sink, but that seemed too much of a bother.

It took a bit of the shine off our hotel experience, but we didn’t dwell on it. To sleep about midnight. A late one for me…

October 16, 2020

Happy birthday, Gale! After Lyra stuff and meditating, I decided to go for a walk before starting work. Adam had an early meeting, so I texted Veronika on the as she would be dropping Sania at school about now. I get the feeling she’s struggling at the moment and avoiding people (or at least avoiding me).

She didn’t respond to the text, but picked up when I called to say that she was feeling stressed about her art lesson later today and needed to prepare. It’s difficult to know what to do with people who are depressed. Keep trying to connect or just give them space to work through it…?

Headed to the Heath and up to Kenwood while listening to an interesting podcast about whether enlightenment can be reverse engineered by studying the brain in various meditative states.

Now that we’ve decided to go away a week early my food supplies are out of whack. I needed to freeze some stuff, and make dishes out of ingredients I’d intended for other purposes — a broccoli confit, and a beansprout stirfry for dinner.

Broke off a bit earlier than usual to do some yoga. Don’t imagine that I’ll do much this weekend besides walking and eating. Headed up to the HLSI at 7:30 for an art opening by my friend Susie.

I say friend, but I have scarcely seen her since we stopped working together in the late 1990s. I run past her occasionally in the Woods walking her dogs, sometimes stopping for a brief chat. I had no idea she was such a talented artist.

I’d left everything ready to make dinner, asking Adam to cook the brown rice while I was out, as it takes a while. He turned the burner on medium and left it to its own devices, resulting an a scorched, chewy mess. It was a shame, but then again I’m not eating it… Gilmore then to bed…

October 15, 2020

Food prep, chauffeuring, meditate, run 2.5 miles… Same old, same old… I was a tiny bit faster today, but still pretty sluggish compared to my (recent) past efforts. In some ways, all the running data I’ve accumulated can be a bit discouraging…

Spent a couple of hours working out how to best place banner ads on the beauty site. I’m generally not a fan, but understand that they want to promote events and potentially bring in advertising revenue, which makes sense.

Carried on with building the LinkedIn presence for my architect client. Now I’ve got the company page and her personal page established, I’m trying to grow connections and followers. I’ve been resharing quite anodyne stories that I can’t imagine them objecting to, but it would be better to have some actual news or input from the clients themselves…

Felt strangely tired after lunch. It took will power not to lie down and have a wee nap, but I managed to push through it. My energy dragged all through the afternoon, — though yoga at the end of the work day gave me a boost.

Lyra was unexpectedly invited to eat dinner at Ellie’s house, so I shifted gears and made garlic chicken legs and kachumber. I’d made some of those chocolate tahini things as well, so we had those for dessert.

I recently switched my online grocery delivery from Ocado to Waitrose. Back when Nova was a baby, and grocery delivery also in its infancy, I signed up for an Ocado account. Just as well I did, because when the lockdown arrived it was impossible to sign up for a new account with any of the supermarkets.

Ocado was always aligned with Waitrose (and others), but the arrangement abruptly ended in September. They now carry M&S Food instead. I was able to sign up for a Waitrose delivery account, and have been toggling between the two.

Waitrose still has some snags to work out. One of the worst is their substitution algorithm. You ordered a 1kg of chicken thighs? How about 300g of chicken legs instead? You wanted fresh coriander? Have a jar of ground instead…

Adam was supposed to have his book group this evening, but a couple of the guys forgot so they’ve rescheduled for next week…

October 14, 2020

My days are so similar now that they are an indistinguishable blur. If I wasn’t on top of this journal — which I have little difficulty being, as nothing much happens — I would struggle to separate on day from the next…

Adam did the school run today. I had a Festival committee meeting — an actual physical one — where I presented what I’ve done on the donation page front and we talked strategy for next year. The feeling is we’ll prioritise events that can be done digitally, but be open to moving things into the physical realm if that’s an option.

Adam met me when we finished and we went for a brisk walk down Swain’s Lane to where it meets West Hill and then up again. Two miles in all…

Made us those cod, chorizo and spinach sandwiches that Lyra and I had the other weekend. Served it with our new, ferociously hot “El Nino” hot sauce. Haven’t quite worked out the cooking method yet (how to do it all in one pan, steam the spinach perfectly, and not make the chorizo soggy, but once I do, I’ll add it to TenMoreBites.)

Things are changing rapidly on the covid front now, and it seemed prudent to move our visit to Bristol forward to next weekend. We’re hoping that Lyra can spend the night with her sister, but events might overtake us…

Dinner was shakshouka with poached eggs — very nice — and the opening episode of the final season of Gilmore. My god, I think we’re going to make it. Adam popped over for a visit with his mum, and I headed to bed about 10pm to finish my depressing novel about Syrian refugees that I’ve been dragging myself through since late August…

October 13, 2020

Happy birthday, Margo! Business as usual around here — breakfast smoothie, packed lunch, taxi service, meditation, run… I managed 2.25 miles round the Woods with little to no complaining from my array of injuries. I am dreadfully slow though — I seem to recall running about two minutes/mile faster not all that long ago…

Caught up on another few cvs that needed redacting. I certainly hope they take that advert down soon. I had some work for the Festival website that needed sorting before tomorrow’s meeting.

It’s been decided that we should have a donations page, so I’ve been doing some research around the best way to implement that. Found a good (free) plugin and got that mostly set up. I can’t see paying for a plugin when it’s possible it will cost more than we actually make in donations…

Lunch was the leftover salmon in creamy spinach sauce with some fresh asparagus. Dinner was a beef salad stirred on a bed of cucumber strips dressed in a sort of Thai dressing. Very nice…

Found time for a yoga session before we ate — been a few days since I did a full hour. Watched the Gilmore season 6 finale (meh), then caught up on last week’s BakeOff (double meh).

In bed shortly after ten pm. Now I’ve got that FitBit tracking my every move (or non-move), I’ve become more focussed on my sleep patterns and trying to improve them. Chasing the 7.5 hour holy grail…

October 12, 2020

Happy Thanksgiving, Canadians!
Up early with Lyra to do her breakfast smoothie, packed lunch and run her down the hill. Made it there before Ellie — a rare occurrence…Meditated when we got back. My brain was pretty scattered — it’s always better if I sit before I get too stuck into my day. It was cold too — the temperature has really taken a dive, and I set the heat to “all-day” before we went out for a quick walk.

It was our ambition not to have any conversations, but we weren’t even up the path before Rachel yoo-hood us. She brought Luna out for a scamper on the grass. What an adorable little thing she is, and I love the way she sort of hops like a bunny.

Richard and Rachel look exhausted — they’ve been up with Luna every night since they brought her home on Friday. I hadn’t realised new puppies were so much work. I don’t remember any of this with little Cleo…

Did a brisk loop round Waterlow Park, blowing past a few people we knew with a quick wave and hello rather than stopping to chat. Home again in time for Adam to prepare for his 10am meeting.

Interspersed the resumé redacting with my other work, and managed to get through the rest of the 127 of them by the end of the working day. Prepared chicken breasts stuffed with pesto and cream cheese and roasted brussels sprouts for dinner. Fitted in a bit of yoga while things cooked.

Two Gilmores while we ate — season 6 finale tomorrow, and then it’s the home stretch… To bed just after 10pm…

October 11, 2020

Adam and I were up around 7am. Not a rustle from Lyra’s bedroom — I imagine the girls were up pretty late in standard sleepover style. Meditated then went for a run in Highgate Woods. Did two miles this time, at a slightly faster pace than last time.

The groceries were been delivered just as I got back. Took over from Adam who headed off for a walk in the Woods with Millie. Lyra and Olive surfaced about 11am for some toast and Olive left soon after.

For lunch, Adam and I swung by the Salt Beef Bar in Golders Green to pick up salt beef sandwiches and latkes. We took them round to Beulah’s with a bottle of champagne to celebrate our first mortgage-free month in more than 13 years.

She was very pleased for us and saved the cork, along with a few others from key moments in her life. Home about 5pm. I wasn’t particularly hungry myself, but that doesn’t compute for the rest of the family, so went ahead with my planned dinner — salmon fillets in a creamy spinach sauce with mash and spring greens. Very nice it was too…

Bath night. I look forward to my Sunday evening bath so much — it’s practically the highlight of my week sometimes — and always sleep really well afterwards. I’ve wondered about doing it more often, but maybe it wouldn’t be such a treat?

October 10, 2020

I’ve noticed that there isn’t much difference between weekday and weekend mornings any more. The main one is that we sometimes do a bit of cryptic crossword with our first coffee before starting the day.

Meditated for 25 minutes this morning. I want to stretch to a longer session at least once a week. You get to a different place when you sit longer — your mind quiets more (and the physical discomfort ramps up).

We’d just finished sitting when the doorbell rang. It was Richard, coming round to introduce me to their gorgeous new miniature schnauzer puppy Luna. What a cuddly, doe-eyed, wriggling bundle of gorgeousness. Almost enough to make me want one myself…

Did our five-mile Heath walk after that. It was a cold, bright morning — perfect for a brisk walk. Adam observed that there aren’t many daytrippers out there at 9:30am on a Saturday morning. Just the runners, the dog walkers and us…

Eytan called as we were finishing up, inviting Adam to go for swim with him in the 13°C mens’ pond. Adam took him up on that offer, so we held off on lunch — scrambled eggs and smoked salmon — until he returned.

Put in a bit of a housework blitz. It was overdue, plus Lyra was having her friend Olive to sleep over tonight. They wanted pizza for dinner so Adam ordered a couple from Dominos.

The only way I could enjoy pizza these days would be to peel the topping off the crust and just eat that, which seems both wasteful and kind of gross. I heated up the rest of the cauliflower soup and made myself a cheese plate and some salad to go with.

The girls retreated to Lyra’s bedroom with their food, and we watched a film called Hell or High Water with Jeff Bridges and Chris Pine. I really enjoyed it — I don’t know that I’ve ever met a Jeff Bridges film I didn’t like. He’s got my number, that man does…

October 9, 2020

Bring on the weekend… Got up at 6:30am, did the Lyra prep, ran her down the hill, meditated and went for a run. I managed two miles this time, which was an improvement, though my pace is still pretty slow…

Shifted my focus today to my non-paying work — setting up a donation page for the Festival site, updating the Committee site and Basil’s art school. Put in a good chunk of time on the marketing resumés for Adam as well.

I’ve changed the MO a bit there. I’m now reading them through to determine if they are worth redacting. It doesn’t save me any time (in fact I think it’s a bit slower) but it means that Adam and his partner are reviewing a higher calibre of resumé.

The whole point of the redacting is to remove as much unconscious bias as possible, so I need to be careful to avoid bias on my part.

Lyra returned from school in a blue mood. The plans she’d set up for this weekend after all that self-isolating are falling through. Made her a hot drink and then encouraged her to go round and see the new puppy that Richard and Rachel brought home today. (That didn’t require much persuading).

Reinstituted take-out night, picking up and order of peri-peri chicken from Nandos. A strong choice carbwise, as long as I had salad instead of chips. Four episode Gilmore bonanza — we’re wrestling that sucker to into submission…

October 8, 2020

Lyra’s first day back at school in two weeks… We were all up by 6:45am doing the routine, and when it came time to run her down the hill, both Adam and I went along. The council introduced some changes to the roads around here during lockdown. I was blissfully unaware that I was no longer able to turn right at the top of Swain’s Lane and have done so a dozen times last month. I don’t think there’s a camera up, but it’s only a matter of time before I get dinged for it.

After dropping Lyra off, we tested an alternate route home involving Dartmouth Park Hill, which is fine if a bit less convenient.

Spent most of the day on the architecture website — mainly sorting out the personal and company LinkedIn pages. I’m not a huge fan of LinkedIn myself, but you can’t avoid setting up at least a basic profile. It’s doesn’t make a great impression these days if someone you meet in a work context isn’t on it.

I’ve been thinking about our former neighbour John lately and wondering how he’s getting on in his Dorset care home. We wrote to his son Andy for an update and got a response yesterday.

Andy lives in Dorset which was the pretext for moving John down there. It turns out that Andy has now moved to France!, leaving John stranded far away from family and friends. Apparently he calls John once a week. Still processing that one…

I would have liked him to move to the excellent Mary Feilding care home in Highgate, where his friends, nephew, and neighbours could easily visit him, and take him out to local pubs for lunch etc.

We called the care home and they took a phone down to his room so we could have a chat. It was so nice to hear his voice — he sounded very on the ball and was evidently pleased to hear from us.

Salad niçoise for lunch; cauliflower soup and cheese for dinner. I baked some cracked wheat bread this afternoon as well, so Adam and Lyra had that as well. Double Gilmore night and early to bed (10pm). Trying to prioritise sleep now that I’ve got that FitBit tracking my every move…

October 7, 2020

Last day of self-isolating for Lyra… Let’s hope that her year can make it to half term without another incident. Nova has a housemate waiting for the results of a test. If that comes back positive then she’ll be an isolating situation as well… Started the day with meditation, and considered going for a walk but the weather was shit and I didn’t bother. You can really notice the mornings getting darker at the moment — September and October are the months when it changes the quickest.

Had a meeting with beauty website Board member about integrating a jobs page into the site. Not something I’ve done before, but as always, there are plugins for that…

Lyra was sprung from self-isolation this afternoon, as we agreed that her latest possible exposure to the sick girl was the end of the school day two weeks ago. She headed off to meet her friend Olive for a couple of hours and then straight on to netball training.

Went out for dinner with Millie to Naamaste, a new Indian restaurant that opened in the village this week, where Strada used to be. It’s a small plates, sharing menu kind of place, though obviously that’s not the way to roll during a pandemic.

Our respective diets are pretty incompatible at the moment. I’m trying to reduce carbs (less fruit, grains, breads, root veg, more meat, fish, eggs and cheese). Millie is on a three month liver detox that has her getting up half an hour earlier each morning so she can take various tinctures and supplements in the right order, and eating a vegan diet.

I went with chilli paneer to start, followed by tandoori salmon. Millie had pani puri, some kind of stuffed mushroom thing, and a paneer main course. She was quite insistent about sharing a chocolate brownie and ice cream for dessert, so I went along with that.

The restaurant was quite busy by the time we finished our meal — to the point it was making me uneasy. It was a nice time, but not worth getting covid for. Makes me feel like being extra careful for the next couple of weeks, so the amount of risk I’ve taken evens out.

I was pretty tired after all that “excitement” and in bed not long after 10pm…

October 6, 2020

It’s seventeen years since mum died… a whole lifetime to my girls…
In some ways it feels a long time ago, and in other ways she’s very present. I remember things that happened, or see or read something she would have liked. I tell the girls about her, and know how much she would have loved them.

When I dream about mum, it’s always a pleasant surprise now – like meeting someone you haven’t seen in a while. In the first couple of years after she died, my dreams were full of guilt. I’d moved her to a new apartment and then forgotten to visit. I gave away all her belongings but she wasn’t dead and wanted them back. That sort of thing…

The colours remind me of her

I was wake before 6am, but managed to squeak past the 6-hour mark for sleep. I’m surprised the FitBit is okay with that effort, but it scored me 86. I was expecting a telling off…

Adam already up and working. Joined him upstairs for a coffee and some meditating before the sun was up. The rain has finally stopped and it was looking like such a promising morning that I went running for the first time in almost a month.

The stress fracture has been quiet for almost a week, but it’s not completely healed — it announced its presence almost immediately, and by two miles it seemed wisest to stop. Injuries are so frustrating — I know I’m very lucky to have had so many injury-free years of running — generally I’m stopped by illness not injury…

Adam is trying out a new shared workspace today, so it was only Lyra and me at home. Had to pop out to take the car for its MOT, but otherwise chipped away and my various projects.

Yoga, followed by wine and cheese for dinner. Neal’s Yard have delivered this month’s subscription box one week after the last one, and Adam brought cheese back from his walking weekend, so we have an abundance. Not that I’m complaining…:)

To bed just after 10pm — feeling tired this evening…

October 5, 2020

Awake just past 6am — coffee, meditation, followed by a little flurry of housework that didn’t get done on the weekend and was preventing me from getting down to work. Divided my time between the architecture site and the beauty site. Knocked off about 3pm and headed up to Café Nero to meet my friend Helen for a coffee. She’s recently been made redundant from a high-flying job at Planned Parenthood, and is feeling a bit battered. Redundancy is always going to sting, but some organisations manage to make it so much worse than it needs to be…

Bullied Adam into cooking tonight while I did yoga. Tried a new routine — turns out I’m pretty fucking awful at this one too, though a bit more comfortable with the video instruction and can follow along better.

Chicken kati curry — they had theirs in flatbread; I had mine on spinach. I’m finding that I’m not that into the substitute “bread”, “waffles” etc. I’ll keep an open mind and try a few more things, but I remain unconvinced…

October 4, 2020

Awake at 7am. The house was freezing, and it turned out the furnace had tripped off at midnight…. Had a coffee and did my meditating, then put in an hour’s work on some recruitment stuff I’m doing for Adam. They are hiring a marketing manager, and want to remove as much unconscious bias as possible. I’m opening each cv and redacting information that reveals ethnicity, gender and location.

Met Millie for a walk in the Woods. The weather was shit and we managed less than a lap before bailing and going for coffee. I haven’t seen much of her lately — she’s swamped with work, and has a friend living with her who has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.

Made keto waffles for brunch (the things you can do with almonds and eggs). Lyra liked them better than I did, but then she likes waffles more than I do…

Worked a good chunk of the afternoon on the redacting, processing 29 candidates in total. Some impressive cvs in there, and some real chancers as well.

Adam got back late afternoon. The weather was consistently awful but it sounds like they had a good time anyway. After yoga I made lamb burgers with tzatziki and salad for dinner. Gilmore, bath, bed…

October 3, 2020

Adam headed off at 8:30am this morning for a walking weekend in Suffolk. They’ve altered their plans and are only going one night instead of two. They’ve staying in Nick’s brother’s holiday home. It’s BYOB — bring your own bedding…

Sat for half an hour of meditation this morning — the longest I’ve ever done. My thoughts eventually quietened and I had a good five minutes of not thinking much at all. I also did a bit of drooling… attractive…;-)

My new FitBit arrived! It looks pretty sleek, but lacks the awesome Apple interface and ease of use I’ve come to expect from my devices. I’m happy with it though and really couldn’t justify the expense of an Apple Watch.

Went straight out for a walk when the downpour eased off, following the four-mile route I used to run. Makes you realise what an efficient form of exercise running is…

Fixed lunch for Lyra and me when I got home: a cod, chorizo and spinach concoction on a chia mug bread. The chia ones are way better than the first type one I made, and more breadlike. It helps not to be eating egg on it — everything keto seems to be made of almonds and eggs…

Lyra hates this picture, but I think it’s neat the way
the three girls’ eyes look so similar

Read the paper, caught up on some emails, did my yoga, then fixed dinner. We had kale chips and a drink while we started our film. At a convenient moment, I popped back to the kitchen to whip together a chicken satay thing on spicy slaw — delicious…

My turn to pick the film, and I chose Housesitter — I love that movie. Lyra was skeptical at first, but totally enjoyed it. Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn are such talented comedians, and it’s a well-written script.

After Lyra went to bed finished the Memphis Three thing. As I suspected, the armchair detective didn’t solve it. Though he did pretty much work out that it was one of the boys’ step-fathers who did all the murdering. He wasn’t able to get the physical evidence retested for DNA yet. The guy looks profoundly guilty though — so let’s hope some justice is coming his way…

October 2, 2020

Awake at 6am, fully rested after nearly 8 hours sleep. It always feels strange when I get enough sleep — definitely the exception, not the norm.

The top story on the news was Trump and Melania testing positive for Covid19. Much as I loathe the man, I hope this doesn’t finish him off. It makes me even more nervous for the looming election, and the how it might be used to thwart democracy.

Appalling weather — grey, cold, sheets of rain… Shower, coffee,” took our meds” (as we now call meditation practice). Adam was straight onto a work call afterwards. I roused Lyra so she could log in to home room registration, and liberated the cat.

The days when I can set my work aside on a Friday are long gone, but I try to do less. Spent some time composing an email to accompany my invoice to the e-commerce website. I’ve pretty much done all the work we agreed in less time than I quoted, so I wanted to suggest some additional stuff in the right tone, so as to generate another day’s work with them.

I have a new business lead as well (a personal trainer), so I wrote back to her and arranged a meeting for next week. After that, I just stayed on top of emails and did a bit of research on adding a job board to the beauty site, and that was about it.

Noticed small improvements in my yoga practice today, but it’s still a bit of a car crash. I’m going to continue repeating this routine for the rest of the week before attempting something else.

Crustless broccoli quiche, salad and a couple of glasses of white wine for dinner to herald in the weekend…

October 1, 2020

Rabbits! Forgot to say it as usual, though did wake up Lyra with a “rabbits” so maybe she’ll have some luck coming her way… Coffee, meditation, then fixed a quick breakfast for Lyra before Adam and I headed out for a pre-work walk. Aimed for the Woods today, extending the route by joining the Parkland Walk at the far end and carrying on as far as the viewpoint before heading back.

We were striding along at a good clip until we rain into Donna setting off for work and stopped for a chat. Millie’s business partner Anna joined us, and we four had a good chinwag for fifteen minutes or so, commiserating on the current state of affairs.

Meeting with my architecture client, setting out next priorities. They’ve asked me to commit to four days a month until Christmas, which works for me. Did my invoicing today as well — not as much money as August, but seven clients to invoice, which might be a record.

Knocked off about 6:30 and did my yoga routine. Still sticking with the first class — lots of room for improvement there, but I can tell that I’m getting a bit better each time. Aside from the knee-hugging one-legged tree pose — I last about two seconds before losing my balance.

Lunch was tomato-avo-mozza salad; dinner a delicious Asian steak salad — grilled rump steak, thinly sliced and served on a bed of cucumber ribbons tossed with fish sauce and rice vinegar. Excellent and photogenic too — I should have taken a photo..

Watched a pretty good Gilmore, then decided to retire to bed at 10pm with our novels. Lasted about ten minutes before we both conked out…