September 2007

September 30, 2007

Feeling a bit better this morning, or at least only as bad as I was yesterday afternoon. After the torment of last night seemed like a positive blessing.I dragged through the day, interspersing bouts of babycare and cooking with lying on the couch with my head under a hot water bottle. I kept the painkillers topped up as well. I was alright as long as I didn’t do too many head movements, like rolling around on the floor with Lyra.

Had a really nice dinner this evening: roast pork loin steaks with roasted new potatoes and a fennel apple slaw. Served it with an excellent bottle of merlot (which counts as a painkiller in my book!)

September 29, 2007

I now have an ear infection. There way no way I could run, so Pasc and I had coffee after our weigh in instead. I moped around much of the day in moderate pain. By the evening it was getting worse and worse. I’m also pretty deaf in that ear.I’d taken all the paracetemol I could, so I started in on nurofen, even though I suspect it might bring me out in hives. I also tried some Italian ear drops we bought in Sicily. I’m not sure what they do or what to do with them. It says to either take 4-8 drops twice a day, or two drops 4-8 times a day…

When Adam returned from babysitting we called NHS Direct. They were quite helpful, though there was nothing I wasn’t doing already. Apparently, I should be feeling better in 48 hours, though the hearing loss may last a couple of weeks…

There was no way I could sleep, so we sat up watching a movie/documentary on Jonestown and ordered a pepperoni pizza. I think the pizza helped with the ear pain as well…;-)

September 28, 2007

Feeling terrible and depressed, in keeping with the gloomy gray weather. Lyra’s sick, and won’t nap. She was grumpy and tearful, and some of her crying sounded like she might be in pain, which was worrying.One of the Archway neighbours called to complain about the noise the builders were making, so Adam went down there to placate them with cakes. I dragged myself up to the school to pick up Nova, then wheeled Lyra to the doctor when Adam returned. (It’s uncanny how often kids seem to come down with illnesses on a Friday, when there’s no possibility of seeing the GP for a whole weekend, forcing you to rely on the badly staffed out-of-hours CAMIDOC service or A&E.)

The doctor couldn’t find a cause for her crying (ears and throat looked fine, tummy seemed unblocked). He thought she might have a headache and suggested giving her nurofen along with the Calpol.

Once she was down, we had a family dinner with Nova — grilled sardines and a beetroot-fennel salad. I was very impressed with the way Nova tucked in. That’s pretty adventurous dining for a six year old. She’s been eating a lot more meals with us since Lyra’s arrival, and I think it’s done her good.

September 27, 2007

Too sick to do my running class — the cold has really socked in now…Went to Kalendar in the evening for a dinner with Pasc, Trish and Alicia. Started with champagne at Trish’s first, and a few pressies: a lovely candle (Alicia); a massage (Trish); and an essay on The Waves (Pasc). Opted for two starters and lots of wine. Shared a sticky toffee pudding four ways…

September 26, 2007

I think I might be getting a bit better. My head is less stuffed up anyway… I woke to discover it was already 7:45, which meant Nova should have been at breakfast gymnastics. Hustled her out of bed, into her shorts, and off to school in about five minutes flat.I returned an hour later with her lunch etc., then headed down to the flat. I’d woken in the night with the realisation they’d cut the sink into the wrong spot in the worktop. I had to stop myself going upstairs and telling Adam right then. Sure enough, that’s what’s happened. Arthur had an explanation — basically he blamed the plumber for putting the pipes there. Apparently it’s a better spot for the sink, as it leaves more space between sink and power points, and it’s better to have a unit rather than an appliance at the end to support the worktop. Anyway, it’s done now, and there’s no point getting upset, though you’d think they would have discussed it with us first…

Went to Brent Cross to spend my birthday money from dad on some new clothes. What with the pregnancy, it’s been about two years since I bought anything non-maternity.

Spent the evening with Nova doing piano, spelling, times tables, reading. For a six year old, she seems to get a lot of homework — it was nine o’ clock by the time we were done.

Nova lost a tooth at school today. That’s two on the bottom now, and one of the top ones is starting to wobble. I persuaded her to put it in a little box under her pillow. She didn’t agree with me that the tooth fairy might have trouble finding it, but was brought round by the possibility that the money might otherwise get lost.

September 25, 2007

I’m feeling pretty crap. I could have happily spent the day on the sofa in my pajamas, but had arranged a birthday lunch with Michaela at fish! in Borough Market and didn’t want to break the date. The cold has mostly left my sinuses now, so I have some sense of taste back, though ears are still plugged.Started the day with a coffee morning round Patricia’s. There were about ten mums and Adam, who chaired. It must be the first coffee morning in the history of north London that has ever been chaired. The consensus is he’s doing an excellent job as class rep.

I went straight on to my lunch date from there. We both order the swordfish club sandwich. They used fried smoked salmon as a bacon substitute, which worked very well. Not that I need bacon substitutes any more, carnivore that I am.

Vegetarians so often miss bacon, and we used to buy something called Bacos, nasty little synthetic chips of who knows what that tasted of overcrisp bacon fat. We turned our friend Ben onto them, and on a visit from Australia he bought a couple of jars to take home. Going through customs, the clerks were first baffled then wildly amused at the thought of eating fake bacon. He said he was lucky to get his resident visa stamped.

Stopped off at Chris Stevens on the way home to buy mixer taps for both basins and dropped them off at the flat. Back home, I spent the afternoon updating the Kingsley Place website. Adam is responsible for it, but never finds the time to make the updates, and it was getting to the point where he was embarrassed to see the neighbours.

I’d attempted way too much and by evening I feeling like complete crap. Skipped dinner, opting for a Lemsip and an early night in the flat.

September 24, 2007

As soon as I lay down in bed last night, I could feel my throat tickling. I knew I’d be sneezing and coughing all night, so decided to sleep in the flat so as not to disturb Adam and Nova.I woke a couple of times in the night, but went straight back to sleep. There was definitely a nice off-duty feeling about sleeping down there. Also, it is very dark, unlike our bedroom. Came upstairs at 7:45 to find Adam and the two girls eating their breakfasts — what a lovely domestic sight.

I’m feeling dreadful… My head is stuffed with cold. I staggered around doing my stuff until Simonia arrived at 1pm. Adam headed off for an afternoon meeting and I went back to bed. Lyra is miserable too. It’s a funny thing about kids’ colds. You notice their nose is runny, but don’t credit how bad they might be feeling until you get the damn thing yourself…

September 23, 2007

I’m up about three pounds, which doesn’t bode well for next week’s fat club… A fair amount of it might be mucus (at least the part that isn’t hamburger, chips and banoffee pie)… :-OI’m coming down with a cold, but we’d been invited to our friend Ben’s birthday barbeque, and I don’t like missing people’s parties (or opportunities to eat Ben’s delicious cooking), so we bundled up the girls and headed off Stoke Newington.

It was a nice afternoon. We settled Lyra on a blanket on the lawn, where she happily bent her energies toward trying to eat grass and autumn leaves. Nova was quite adventurous, trying the yellow olives. She’d eaten a few before encountering a piece of chilli. She jumped back like she’d been burned (I suppose she had) and clapped her hands over her ears as if it the burning sensation was a sound. Left about 5pm after the cakes (and apple vodka sorbet) was served.

September 22, 2007

Had a family lunch at the Fine Burger Company to mark my birthday. It was in the balance as the Lyra is pretty poorly, but Nova was most alarmed at the possibility of postponement. “Why don’t you just breastfeed Lyra the whole time?” she suggested. Now that would make for a lovely birthday lunch, wouldn’t it?Stopped off to buy “door furniture” on the way — mail slot, doorbell, knocker etc. “I wish you didn’t buy that silly old flat!” Nova said crossly. “Why’s that?” I asked. “Because then I’d be eating a lovely burger right now instead of looking at doorknobs!” she said. Fair point….

Adam managed to get Lyra to sleep by wheeling her up and down the Broadway, so lunch was a reasonably civilised affair, if you can call any meal with Nova civilised. For all her many wonderful qualities, she eats like a savage. It drives Adam round the bend…

September 21, 2007

At fat club weigh in this morning, I was down a quarter of a pound… Must try harder…;-)Drilled Nova for her spelling test over breakfast. It’s a big step up from the words they were doing last year. They’ve gone from “wet, pet, get” to “screamed, pavement, lifebuoy”. It’s not a problem for Nova, but must be a shock for some of the kids.

I’m exhausted by the last few nights of rotten sleep. Lyra has a nasty cold and was coughing and spluttering in the night. Now that Nova’s back at school we’ll all be getting colds again. Driving to Waitrose realised I probably shouldn’t be operating heavy machinery. I could feel my concentration wavering in and out of focus. I’d be fine if nothing went wrong, but wouldn’t react quickly enough in a crisis.

Poor Lyra was hard work all day, then Nova wanted lots of attention once I had the baby settled. We did puzzle after puzzle until bedtime. Very companionable…

September 20, 2007

Alicia bailed on the running class this morning. I felt a bit draggy , but saw it through. I’m glad I did. I’m not in great position for my fat club weigh in, which we’re doing tomorrow as Pasc is away this weekend.Adam was off doing a presentation, so I had to drag poor Lyra around a bit, and she didn’t get her afternoon nap. Out to pick up Nova at school. Home to get her changed. Out again to art class (in the pouring rain). I thought I was condemned to an hour of rainy laps around Waterlow Park, but Adam decided to come home between his meeting and evening social event, so I was able to take Lyra home to feed her, leaving Adam to pick up Nova. Logistics, logistics… How do people manage with three kids?

September 19, 2007

My god, I feel terrible…
Sometimes the lack of sleep can sort of cancel out a hangover, other times they seem to magnify each other. This is one of the magnifying times…Nova’s started her gymnastics breakfast club this morning, so we had the added joy of having to deliver her to school with lunch, book bag, piano bag, yada yada yada at 7:45a,

Took Lyra round to Trisha’s for a coffee. Pasc was there too. She gave Nova a great bag of clothes that her daughter has grown out of. Nova was thrilled, and refers to it as “her new wardrobe”. She’s already worked out which new outfit she’ll wear to school on mufti day.

September 18, 2007

Happy birthday to me!
Had a rotten night with Lyra. I guess she wanted me to enjoy my birthday to the full, and not miss a minute of it. To this end, she woke at 1am, 4am, 5am…My next wake up was at 7:30, when Adam and Nova brought me breakfast in bed and my pressies. Staggered through the morning routine, and once Nova was dispatched and Lyra napping, I had my shower.

I was showered with phone calls and birthday messages throughout the day. Went to the gym in the afternoon and had a good run to give myself guilt free indulgence room this evening.

Pete, Pasc and kids came round for cake and champagne, then Pete was back an hour later to babysit. Adam took me to Bentley’s oyster bar in Piccadilly for dinner. I know science has proven there is no such thing as an aphrodisiac food, but in my opinion it is impossible not to feel extremely happy eating oysters.

Had another glass of champagne with our oysters, and a nice bottle of Spanish white with our dinners. Adam had roast monkfish with chips and bearnaise sauce, and I had roast plaice with a seaweed tapenade (delicious) and runner beans. We didn’t bother with dessert.

I got talking to the people next table, a group of three men in their sixties or seventies. They were all theatrical types, and very interesting. One of them founded the Comedy Store, another was a theatrical agent (and reminded me of my sweetie Jerry Orbach) and the third had made a fortune in toilets or something and now lives in tax exile in Switzerland. They ordered another bottle of wine to share with us, and it had gone midnight by the time we toddled home…

September 17, 2007

Spent the afternoon tile shopping in Camden. Things I’ve never given a moment’s thought are occupying all my energies at the moment… I hadn’t realised that I would have such strong opinions about innocuous white tiles, but the quality of these tiles are the best we’ve seen. After a lot of hemming and hawing we settled on some metal wood effect ceramic floor tiles, only to discover they were out of stock until mid October, which is annoying…

September 16, 2007

Finally made the plunge into the world of Facebook. It’s been one of those things that I’ve been hearing about for months, but couldn’t see what it might add to my life. But now that we’ve signed up, I’m finding it weirdly addictive.The idea was that we would use it to communicate with with family, but Adam went racing off and contacted about fifty people from his past lives, and now I have friend envy…;-) His totals are nothing compared to Landyn, who has about 300 friends, half of them gorgeous babes in bikinis…

At our family dinner tonight, all four of us had the same — chickpea pasta soup. I pulverised Lyra’s in the blender and she loved it. The other day Nova said to me, “When will we stop having all these family dinners? I want to eat on my own in front of the TV like I used to when you had a job.” Made me laugh…

September 15, 2007

Pete and Liana generously gave up their bedroom for us so we’d have somewhere quiet to settle the baby and breastfeed her in the night. I’d just given her a 4am feed when the door creaked open and three-year-old Ellie appeared. “Cuddle,” she said, coming round to my side of the bed. “Your mummy’s downstairs, sweetie,” I said, “Shall I take you down to her?” “Cuddle here!” she said, climbing in and snuggling against my side.I’d only had about three hours sleep at that point, and that was pretty much it for the night. Ellie insisted on sticking her hand down the front of my teeshirt and sort of swishing it around. Whenever I removed it, she’d firmly stick it back in again. Even asleep, she persisted…

Nova and Martha were keen to continue playing together, so we left her for another night and headed back to London. Even in our zombified state, we managed to go to Muswell Hill to pick out rubber flooring for the bathroom floor in the bathroom.

Grabbed some smoked trout and broccoli at M&S and threw together a quick dinner before Adam headed out for the evening. One good thing about fat club — it helps you make good food choices, instead of easy ones, like a double pepperoni pizza…;-)

I had a great bath with Lyra this evening. I climbed in with her, and we had lots of fun splashing and pouring water. It made me realise that I don’t get as much one on one time with her as I would like. (though you’ve got to be careful what you wish for…)

September 14, 2007

Adam had a class rep coffee morning at our house. Gilda and Patricia’s little boys deconstructed Nova’s bedroom while we sat around discussing cake sales, pub nights, and the class newsletter format.We’ve been trying to wire transfer some money from Canada for the last week. The Canadian bank told us it would take one to five days, but that period passed without any sign of it. The UK bank has been denying any knowledge of it, but today the Canadians contacted us to say that the transfer had been rejected and returned (minus charges). Adam completely lost it with the UK bunch this afternoon, which resulted in us finally getting some decent customer service from them. It turns out that they’ve taken so long (weeks!) to complete our request to make the account joint that the name on the wire transfer didn’t match the name on the account or some such nonsense. Doing it again…

Picked up Nova from school and drove up to visit Pete and Liana. Martha and Ellie were very pleased to see us. Little Ellie ran over and threw herself into my arms. What a sweetie, I thought, until I realised they’d been desperate for us to arrive so they could tuck into the special children’s high tea that was laid out: salmon and cream cheese sandwiches, scotch eggs, carrots and hummus, sugared strawberries and beautiful little cakes from Konditor and Cook.

They’d also put together a little birthday supper for me, with a seafood laksa and more grown up lemon chiffon cake. Far too much wine was drunk by the time we called it a night…

September 13, 2007

Alicia and I have signed up for another course of the Highgate Woods running class, which started today. I was much fitter than last time, and was actually one of the faster ones. I haven’t been doing much over the summer, but I guess it’s more than some of the other women…Bought a fridge and a dishwasher for the flat over the internet this afternoon. Money is flowing out of our bank account at the moment. We’re still within the budget we’ve set for the renovations, but I’ve never spent money at this rate before.

Nova started her art class at Lauderdale House this afternoon. It’s a frustrating distance from our house. The class is an hour long, but if I headed home I’d have only about fifteen minutes before I’d have to head out again. Bought a coffee and spent time with my book and Lyra, mostly Lyra…

I made her a great purée tonight — potato, fennel, tomato and basil. I could have eaten it myself if the little minx had left any! The babyfood cookbook says “makes 18 portions”, but Lyra ate half of it in one sitting, so I don’t know what they are calling a portion…

September 12, 2007

No nap for Lyra today. She remained remarkably cheerful, although she flagged by late afternoon. I took her to Highgate Woods where I met a friend for lunch. Between Lyra and Jane’s three year old, we barely managed two sentences together.Jane is an architect (aren’t all our Highgate friends?), and thinks we’ve made a sound investment in the Archway flat. According to her, we should refer to it as Dartmouth Park, as it is the next thing to it, and has more cachet…

Now that Nova’s back at school, there are spelling sentences, chapter book reading, and the two times table to practice before bed. We really should be doing piano practice as well…

September 11, 2007

Either I’ve managed to miss the 9/11 documentaries this year, or for some reason they aren’t doing any, which seems unlikely… It only dawned on me this evening what day it was.Nova was a three month old baby on 9/11, like Lyra is now. I was hanging out at home with her when Adam called and told me to turn on the television, because something big was happening. I remember saying to him, bigger than Princess Diana? and him saying yes. I sat in front of the screen in stunned disbelief for about five days watching coverage. Another thing I remember is how menacing airplanes looked against the bright autumn sky when they were allowed to fly over London again. Six years ago now…

Walked down to the library to return our books and take out a few more. It gave me a chance to get out of the house. Adam is very irritable today. He’s getting back into work again, and the baby and the flat renovations are placing conflicting demands on his time. He doesn’t like to say no to anyone, then takes out his frustrations on us. Calm was restored by evening…

September 10, 2007

Bought a toilet and sink and an IKEA kitchen today. I’m glad we’ve taken this long to finalise the kitchen purchase. I’ve been tinkering around with it for days, and have corrected some aspects of the earlier draft that I think would have annoyed me.We now have wall units going all the way to the ceiling. Also, we’ve opted for single doors on the 60cm cupboards rather than double doors, which would have looked a bit mincy.

After waiting in the queue to arrange home delivery, we forgot our bag of shopping. We’d just turned onto the North Circular when Adam said, “The shopping bag is in the boot, right?” “I thought you had it!” I said. Adam let me out on the side of the road to run back for it, as there was nowhere to stop. At least until he noticed a fender bender fifty yards up the highway… He pulled in behind the two vehicles (who were busy exchanging insurance details), left the hazards on, and sprinted back to IKEA, catching up with me just as I reached the entrance. Fortunately, no opportunistic thief had made off with our bag of hinges, cabinet legs, and Swedish delicacies…;-)

September 9, 2007

Dave came for a visit this afternoon. He’s working in Exeter now, and it’s been months since we’ve seen him.After lunch we strolled down to Archway to show him the flat. It degenerates each time I see it. The builders have now pulled some strips of paper off the ceiling, there’s more rubble on the balconies, two holes in the walls, and the bath has been ripped out. On the plus side, the boiler is now in…

September 8, 2007

Fat club weigh in with Pasc this morning. In spite of my indulgences at Anne’s birthday party yesterday, I still managed to be down two pounds.

After breakfast, Nova and I headed off to the salon in the village to get our hair done. “You two baldies can just stay home and look at each other!” she instructed Adam and Lyra.

We were shampooed together, then went off with our separate stylists. Nova was finished a little before me and came to show me the results. “You look great sweetie!” I said, “Very grown up and stylish.” (She did.) “I think I look seven!” Nova said happily.

When I was done Alicia held up the mirror to give me the full view. “What do you think, Nova?” I asked. “Great! You look one year older too, mummy!” she told me. Well, that was £30 well spent…;-)

Went to an eco-art show in Queen’s Woods with Jane, Gerry and Elsie. Our plumber Tony had invited both families. There was a map you could follow to find the different art works — fake pieces of litter, things hanging from trees and so on — but the woods aren’t that pushchair friendly, so we mostly stood around drinking wine then came home again.

They stayed for an impromptu dinner, then took Nova back with them for an even more impromptu sleepover.

September 7, 2007

Bought a bathtub this afternoon. Never done that before, and had no idea what they cost. (They’re cheaper than I expected.) We also bought a cistern, flash mixer tap, and glass shower screen…

Anne’s 92nd birthday celebration this evening. Nova was off at a school party, and Adam had a meeting. I’d planned to go with Lyra, but she was so tuckered out from the bathroom shopping expedition that she went down an hour early. I left her asleep and took the monitor next door.

They’d rounded up the usual octogenarian neighbors… John poured glasses of champagne and handed them round. One neighbour who now has Alzheimers, was about to sip hers when her carer practically vaulted the coffee table to prise it out of her fingers. “You can’t have that!” she said, “It’s alcohol!”

Later she told me that the neighbour is a former alcoholic (twenty five years recovered). Aside from my surprise that this piece of neighbourhood scuttlebutt had escaped me all these years, I couldn’t help but wonder whether someone who had Alzheimer’s would remember that they were an alcoholic between drinks…? Or would they have one drink, forget they’d had it, have another, etc? It seems alcoholism might require a level of self-awareness that I’m not someone with established Alzheimer’s possesses.

September 6, 2007

Out to the cinema with Jemima to see The Bourne Ultimatum. Complete nonsense, but entertaining nonsense. I haven’t seen much of Jemima these last months. We felt a little awkward with each other when I was pregnant with Lyra. Now that she’s pregnant herself (baby due in November!), we may find ourselves with more common ground again…

September 5, 2007

I spoke to George (the man we bought the flat from) this evening. Although they’ve arranged for their mail to be redirected, he’s left us a big pile of address labels to forward anything that slips through.

There was a letter for them today from the post office, with “Important information! Do not redirect!” on it. It turned out to be a letter confirming that the redirect service was up and running, and that they’d paid in full. Sending a letter that can’t be redirected to the former address of people who’ve bought a redirect service from you… how daft is that?

Chatting to George, we both agreed that contrary to the horror stories you hear about buying and selling property, the whole transaction had gone very smoothly.. “That’s because you’re normal,” George said. I guess he means as opposed to the sharks and assholes that infest the UK property market.

Went to the school to meet Nova’s teacher this evening. Lyra was a bit of a distraction, but given it was the tricky hour she did okay. Adam volunteered to be class rep. I’m sure he’ll do a great job. He has no trouble asking people to do things, and is sociable, proactive, efficient… He’s already lined up the two most glamorous mums in the class to share the role with him, so he’s off to a flying start…;-)

September 4, 2007

Nova’s first day of school. Year two is her last year in infants school, before moving up to the juniors. She has a very nice teacher, and she seems happy.

In a move to increase the children’s independence, we’ve been instructed to drop them at the bottom of the school stairs and leave them to go in on their own with the various bookbags, lunch kits, water bottles, musical instruments etc. Nova gave me a quick kiss goodbye and marched straight past a few clinging, tearful girls and boys (and a few clinging parents who’d ignored the “bottom of the stairs” rule).

Spent some time shopping for floor tiles this afternoon. I didn’t buy anything — there’s a bewildering range of choice and we need to take some proper measurements first. It’s funny, now that I’ve got tiles on the brain, I see them everywhere…

Went for a family dinner at Strada. Lyra was tired and cranky — the end of the day is a tricky time for her. There’s a glimmer of a dawn though, in the way she sat in a high chair unsupported and gnawed her way through a couple of pizza crusts while we ate. Nova had her usual gorgonzola pasta — she still claims not to like pizza…

September 3, 2007

Adam’s first full day of work since the start of August. Now that we’re mortgage holders it’s reassuring to have him out there looking for paid work again. We’ve picked a funny time to buy a place. I’m on unpaid maternity leave, and Adam’s given up the security of his part time post at the Body Shop after three years…

Now we’re keeping a budget, it’s my ambition to bring our grocery bills down by buying (and wasting) less food, and paying more attention to the price of things. I’m aiming to spend about £80 a week, which would be a 20% improvement, while still eating as well as we currently do.

September 2, 2007

Went for brunch at Beulah and Freddy’s. Alongside the usual favourites — bagels and platzls, smoked salmon, hummus, chopped egg — Beulah served a smoked salmon and scrambled egg starter and a cheesecake for dessert.

Nova and Marni played really well together. Nova and Oliver have never really clicked — their personalities are so different, so it’s great to see her getting along so nicely with her other Garfunkel cousin.

Lyra enjoyed herself. She’s such a people person, and always happiest with a crowd of admirers. She ate her lentils and carrot in their high chair then sat on my lap while the rest of us ate.

September 1, 2007

At fat club weigh in this morning, I was down two pounds. I’m happy with that. Went for our runs then returned Ruby and headed off to IKEA. It wasn’t as unbearable as I’d expected…

We sat with another kitchen consultant (until last week, I was completely unaware that this profession even existed!) who worked up a quote for the pieces we’d planned last night. In keeping with the IKEA self-serve ethos, you have to do your own mock-ups which I did using their CAD software. We’re not entirely happy with it — and will need to do a bit more tweaking.

I showed the flat to a friend of Jemima’s who’s looking to rent in Archway. It could work out really well, except that she wants to live on her own, and a three bedroom place might be out of her price range. It’s still quite weird to think that we own the place.

Watched “Notes on a Scandal” this evening. It has a great cast, and with direction by Richard Eyre, script by Patrick Marber and music by Philip Glass, how bad is it going to be. Judy Dench’s performance was amazing. It’s hard to believe Helen Mirren pipped her for the Oscar, for what was basically an impersonation of Queen Elizabeth. She mopped the floor with Cate Blanchett, which takes some doing. Bill Nighy played himself as always…