September 2009

September 30, 2009

Shenda is a very proactive person, and full of ideas for stuff to do, which is an excellent quality in a travelling companion. It’s been a happy discovery to find how compatible we are. Aside from a long-ago mad weekend in Montreal, a day trip to Niagara Falls, and a short family get-together in Belgium, we have never travelled together. And thinking of it, all those occasions involved other people, so this is the first trip we’ve had with just the two of us.Having discovered the Fiery Furnaces are playing Berlin tonight, Shenda set about organising tickets. When she identified a ticket agent in Oranienburger Strasse where we’d stopped our exploration yesterday, it seemed like serendipity.

From the address we’d written down, it appeared the ticket agent was in the new Jewish synagogue. “Maybe they do a sideline in concert tickets…” we thought optimistically (they don’t, we discovered on reaching the front of the queue). Declined to pay to visit the synagogue tower — here’s only so much to be gained from seeing Berlin from on high…

Came upon an inviting cafe with tables set out front on the edge of the park. It was another gorgeous blue sky day. There was a definite autumn bite to the air, but fleece blankets were thoughtfully provided for customers to wrap up in. Spent a couple of hours chatting and people-watching over weisswurst, weissbier and pretzels.

We wandered along poking in various shops, and picking up gifts for our kids (a little cineviewer in the shape of a gingerbread house for Lyra, a bottle of perfume for Nova). Checked out the DDR museum of all things East German. It made life look pretty good under communism. (“Ostalgie'” it’s called, and apparently a lot of former East Germans feel it…)

Walked to Gendermenmarkt with its twin churches on either end of the square, then caught the metro to Oranienstrasse in the heart of Kreuzberg to pick up our concert tickets. Success this time, and we got tickets for the dance event Shenda found for us to attend tomorrow night.

Drank mint tea with lime in a very cool cafe — a cavernous wreck of a room with mismatched furniture and great art. Full of übercool Germans and waiters — one was dressed in tight black jeans, sleeveless black teeshirt and boots with heels, had his long hair arranged in an elaborate up-do Marie Antoinette might have favoured…

Stopped for a doner kebab on the way home. Apparently, doner kebabs are the official fast food of Berlin, and even more popular with the young — like us…;-) — than sausages or hamburgers.

“When do you think the music will actually start?” Shenda asked. Being Germany, I thought it pretty likely that it would start precisely at the time stated on the ticket. Arriving at the club at 9pm, we just had time to buy a beer before the opening band, Daniel Benjamin came on. He seems a relatively talented young guy, but the rest of his band was a waste of space, especially the bass player who divided his time between parodying bass playing and rolling his eyes and mimicking Daniel Benjamin.

The Fiery Furnaces were great! The lead singer is a mighty intense young woman, and the rest of the band is excellent. I only know their first album so I didn’t recognise many of the songs, but I really enjoyed it.

Shared a portion of chips on the way home. “Einen frites, bitte” I think I said. The server smiled at me, and returned with one solitary chip on a plate. Those zany Germans…!

September 29, 2009

Ate breakfast atop the Reichstag this morning. Shenda had discovered that you can avoid the hour long visitors queue by booking a table at the restaurant. Arriving at 10:30, we entered via the handicapped access and zoomed straight up.Our table was by the window (at least it was after Shenda asked them to move us) and had a great view, although the weather was overcast and rainy. The food was great too — a little three-tiered stand with meats and cheese; fresh rolls; fruit; yogurt; pastries; coffee…

Did the audio tower of Norman Foster’s dome afterwards. I hadn’t realised he’d done a modern take on the previous dome. Nor had I realised the central column is basically a machine, providing heating, light, ventilation etc — that it was functional not just decorative.

It was really pissing it down by the time we left the Reichstag. Walked to the main Hauptbahnhof along the canal, and cut through the station. Decided to catch a bus to the modern art museum (the Hamburger Bahnhof), but shouldn’t have bothered. The first driver shut the doors on Shenda’s head before roaring off without us. And the bus we eventually boarded overshot by more than we would have walked in the first place…

Much of the collection was a little too modern for my tastes — I like old modern art…;-) — but there were some real highlights. I loved the Rauchenberg/Twombly room (I hadn’t known they were a couple). And upstairs they were showing Toyland, an Oscar-winning short film by Jochen Freydank.

There was also a beautiful installation by somebody Feldman called Shadowplay, where little toys and objects mounted on a series of carousels create a magical interplay of shadows on the wall.

Meandering down Oranienburger Strasse afterwards, we came across the Tascheles art squat. Originally a department store, the building was damaged in the war. After the Wall came down, it was squatted by artists. The area has since gentrified, but instead of redeveloping the site, it has been preserved as a cultural venue.

The rough ground behind it is given over to makeshift sculpture “studios” — the kind where the artist welds a few tin cans to a rusted out muffler and calls it “Winter Concept-6”. There is a beer garden in a sort of sandpit, where we had a weissbeer and the breakfast leftovers Shenda had the chutzpah to get packed up.

For a European capital, Berlin has a lot of empty space. You’re forever coming across odd little patches of waste land. I imagine it’s a legacy of the Wall, and the war. Berlin was pretty much flattened in 1945 — but then, so was Tokyo…

Arriving home with the fixings for risotto, I noticed that the mysterious cafe Terry Explosion had the lights on. No customers, but the bartender appeared to be wresting a mannequin into a mini dress…

September 28, 2009

Started the morning with some yoga practice, then popped out to buy fruit for breakfast. The Turkish guy in the greengrocers speaks no English, and I was able to put some of my new vocabulary from “Learn German by Podcast” to good use.I’ve stubbed my toe twice already on the dodgy brick in the bathroom, and have had a pretty nasty encounter with the problem-flushing toilet as well. Maybe Keith wasn’t the fussbudget I took him for…

Started today’s explorations in Prenzlauer Berg. I’m stunned at how quickly it has gentrified since my visit six year ago. On Kollwitzstrasse trendy boutiques have replaced the anarchic “cafes” with their decrepit garden furniture and basic menus.

Ate lunch at a Turkish cafe where the falafel was made on order, and the accompanying salads were fresh and tasty. “Sisters?” the guy asked, setting our plates before us. I hadn’t thought of it before, but Shenda and I are a similar type in appearance…

Wandered down to Mitte, browsing in shops as we went. Looking at glasses in a kitchenware shop, the proprietor approached us and barked something in German. Faced with our puzzled expressions, he snatched the glass from Shenda’s hand and started whacking it on a nearby table. I imagine he was trying to demonstrate its durability, but something was definitely lost in the translation…

Next stop the KaDeWe department store, ostensibly to buy a lens cap, but really to visit their food floor, which is supposedly the largest in Europe. There were two oyster bars, plus an enormous fish counter. The sausage section was jaw dropping, with hundreds different types of wurst; and the meat counter had several varieties of tongue, not to mention lungs, windpipes, and pigs’ head skins. Cheeses, chocolates, bread, cakes, pickles, dry goods — it was pretty overwhelming… We’d planned to pick up something for dinner, but the sheer volume of choice left us paralysed with indecision.

Opted instead for the top-floor cafe, with a view over the city. Dinner was mushroom pasta cooked to order and a carafe of wine. Caught the bus home afterwards. I’m already feeling very settled in Berlin and my flat-sharing life. It’s surprising how quickly that happens…

On the ground floor of our building is the originally-named Cafe Terry Explosion. Keith mentioned it in his rundown as somewhere we might enjoy, but I have yet to see a person in it, and its hours seem pretty random…

September 27, 2009

Waking up under my own steam — what a luxury that is…
As usual in Germany, I feel like I’m in a land of giants. I’m sure sleeping on the floor intensified the sensation, but the ceilings of our flat are about thirty feet high. And the curtain rods are about an inch from the ceiling… I managed to yank them closed last night, but there was no way to pull them open again. I eventually climbed onto a chair, then clambered up onto the (very high) windowsill (feeling positively Liliputian), from where I was able to stretch up on my toes and pull them apart.The rest of the apartment is monumental as well — massive pieces of gay art, enormous brick heaters looming in the corners of rooms. Apparently, they provide the only heating in the flat — you build coal fires in the base and the bricks radiate heat back into the room. I hope it doesn’t come to that — I’ve never had much success getting coal to burn…

We’d intended to start our day with a walking tour of the city, but our plans were thwarted at Friedrichstrasse station, when it turned out the S-bahn was closed. In a quick change of plan we headed for Potsdamerplatz and hopped on one of those open-air tour buses. The guy doing the commentary switched constantly between English and German in an accent so thick it was impossible to tell which language he was speaking half the time. It was a glorious day for it, and it gave us a good overview of the main sights.

Disembarking hungry at Potsdamerplatz two hours later — it was well past noon — we stopped for a buffet lunch at a cafe in the Sony Centre. I’d forgotten that we’d visited it the last time I was in Berlin. Once again, the whse steel and glass enclosed atrium reminded me of Vancouver…

We’d planned to visit the New National Art Gallery next, and had even bought the tickets. But the officious man on the door took such smirking pleasure in refusing us entry with our handbags — which were bigger than a piece of A4 as he scrupulously demonstrated — that we turned on our heels and left (after getting our 12 euros back of course)… I recall that something pretty similar happened the last time I visited this particular gallery. I know it’s a stereotype, but Germans do seem to have a real zest for following rules non matter how foolish…

Walked over to the Holocaust memorial instead. A vast field of stelae of arranged in rows on sloping ground, the stones appear to undulate. It was interesting to walk among them, but it didn’t really “speak” to me. The visitors centre underneath was very moving, particularly the excerpts from letters people managed to send from concentration camps and transport trains.

Sticking with the Jewish theme, we made our way next to the Jewish Museum, which was excellent. I’d love to return with Adam and the girls sometime. The lower floor was arranged into three axes — Axis of Continuity, Axis of Emigration and the Axis of Holocaust — and was sparingly filled. A series of glass windows with a few photographs or personal effects, and the story behind each one…

At the end of one axis was the Holocaust Tower — a bare, empty void with one narrow window set high in the wall, and a ladder mounted out of reach. Although noise from the street outside penetrated the space, you felt that no one would hear you scream. A little like being at the bottom of a well…

After the empty space of the ground floor, the crowded exhibition rooms of the top floor came as a shock. 2000 years of Jewish history engagingly presented. Unlike most museums, it kept my interest all the way through. The way they showed the many Jewish people who contributed so much to German science, arts and industry, followed by the rise of the Nazis was really effective.

Night had fallen by the time we left. We opted to walk back to the flat — in Shenda I’ve found a travelling companion as happy to walk as I am — stopping for a beer en route. In Shenda I’ve also found a travelling companion as happy to stop for a beer as I am…;-)

Nova and Adam called this evening. It sounds like they’re having a lovely time without me, which is great as I’m having a lovely time without them…

September 26, 2009

Off to Berlin! My taxi came at 7am, so I was able to see the girls before I left. I’m going to miss those little sweeties, and my big sweetie as well… 

My taxi driver was absolutely dreadful — I would have been soaked in vomit if I’d had the girls in the back seat with me. Spent twenty minutes stuck in traffic jam at the turn-off for Heathrow, but it wasn’t a problem as I’d set off in lots of time. There was a bit of confusion when my BMI flight somehow transformed itself into a Lufthansa flight, and I had a few bits of shopping to sort out, but it all felt very relaxed.

The flight was uneventful, Shenda and I basically bumped into each other the moment we entered the arrivals hall, and the travel to the flat went smoothly. Keith (who’s flat we’d arranged to rent) wasn’t waiting when we arrived, which meant dragging our suitcases around the corner grocery store where we bought beer and pretzels. We’d planned to eat on apartment stoop, but he whizzed up on his bike as we approached.

The flat is terrific — stylish and funky and homey at the same time. Keith chose to focus on the negatives — the missing cabinet key, broken window pane, leaking washing machine, treacherous bathroom brick, and plug-prone toilet. He came across as a (likeable) scatterbrained fusspot. Not a great combination for someone in his line of work. “Tell me you’re a couple!” he interrupted himself at one point. “I made the flat up for a couple…” And he’d neglected to mention we should have arrived with the week’s rent in cash, so we’ll have to meet again…

Once he’d left us, we went for a walk round the neighbourhood. I’d thought we were staying in Prenzlauer Berg, and was a bit surprised to discover we are in the heart of Kreuzberg. Spent a couple of hours wandering down Bergmannstrasse, poking into shops, drinking coffee, picking up some food for tomorrow when most things will be shut…

The place we had in mind for dinner was closed for a private party, so we ended up eating a take-out currywurst. I’m not sure whether the subtle but definite taste of curry comes from the sauce or the batter on the sausage. Either way, it was surprisingly tasty, especially with a beer to wash it down.

Either we look more German than I thought, or the Germans (at least the former East Germans) speak less English than I expected. Or maybe it’s because I have a lot less bridging language to fall back on than I have in French or Italian. Whatever the reason, I seem to be making far more use of my absolutely useless pidgin German vocabulary than I’d expected…

Having lost the toss for the bedroom, I made up my bed on the floor of the unusual narrow room facing the street. It was certainly quiet enough for a Saturday night once I’d shut the double windows, and I had no trouble falling asleep…

September 25, 2009

Nova headed off to school without my even seeing her. It felt very wrong when I realised what had happened. I’m sure there will come a time when it seems normal, but that time has not yet arrived…Went for a run, in spite of messing up the timing. I don’t like being out on the street after about 8:15 because of the steady stream of school mums and kids I’m bound to encounter…

Lyra had a playdate at Alice’s this morning. There were three two-year-olds, all born within a month of one another, and the potty was in pretty constant demand. In fact, Alice on the potty when we arrived. “I’m doing a poo!” announced happily. I love the lack of inhibition…

Made a trip to Brent Cross to replace my black flats, which have sprung a hole in the toe. “I want new shoes,” Lyra informed me as I was perusing the racks in New Look. “I bought you two pairs of new shoes last week,” I reminded her. “But I love shoes! I need shoes!!’ she wailed. I can just picture the little mall rat she’ll me when she hits her teens…

It is so easy to pack when you are doing it for one instead of four. Also, there was none of the leaving the house stuff I usually have to sort out, though I did make a menu plan for the week I’m away.

Finished watching Cabaret (which I dozed off in last night). Finished off the pomegranate margaritas as well, which was probably ill advised…;-)

September 24, 2009

Made it to my spinning class for the first time in ages. Used my heart rate monitor to ensure that I was exercising at the right intensity. I’m a bit stumped by this whole heart rate thing actually. The formula you’re meant to apply is 220 minus your age is your maximum heart rate. So for me that would be 175bpm. Next, you divide 0-175 into five segments:35=20%; 70=40%; 105=60%; 140=80%; 175=100%.By this reckoning, I should be have my heart rate between 105-140bpm to exercise effectively. However, I don’t feel like I’m exercising at all unless my heart rate is above 145. I’m sure that the formula is a pretty crude one, and I’d like to discover how to determine the my maximum heart rate, as opposed to an average (or safe?) maximum heart rate for the average 45 year old woman.

Rented Cabaret to get me in the mood for Berlin. What a good film… I’d always put it in the musical category and therefore wrote it off. Liza Minelli is amazing in the Sally Bowles role, and I had no idea what a very beautiful young man Michael York was…

September 23, 2009

Adam headed off to Germany at 5am this morning. He’ll be back late tonight… It’s my last day in the office before my week’s holiday. It was a busy one, with solid meetings that meant I didn’t get a chance to do any actual work until after 4pm. It helped that I had to be home by 6:45, as I could have spent hours wrapping things up…Nova got a paper fashion making kit from David and Denise for Christmas, and has been madly cutting out little paper outfits ever since. We’ve got envelopes full of carefully cut-out little jackets and dresses, and I’m forever picking tiny leopard skin boots or handbags off the carpet. I suggested Nova start a fashion notebook where she sticks outfits together and maybe even draw the people wearing them. She loved the idea and got underway with it this evening…

Lyra has an imaginary friend called Daisy. She talks about Daisy all day long, and involves her in everything going on. For example, when we saw an airplane this morning, Lyra said, “Daisy’s flying in that airplane with her mummy. They are going to the park!” She’s very keen to have a sleepover with Daisy, and has a bag packed in readiness…

September 22, 2009

I’m reading a book called “Zoo Station:Adventures in East and West Berlin” by an British journalist called Ian Walker. The book is good (though not great), but because it’s intensely personal I found myself wondering what else he has written, what he’s done since etc. There was a surprisingly lack of writing by or about him on the internet (given that he’s a journalist), but I eventually discovered that he killed himself shortly after the book was published. He jumped from the roof a friend’s house in London. Reading the book has become very poignant…Went to the gym for a workout at the end of the day. Did a five km run on the treadmill — one of those interval ones where I do one minute jogging, two minutes running, and one minute fast running, then repeat it about eight times until I’ve done five km. As an added twist, I increase the pace of each segment a little bit each time. For example, if I start at 8.0/9.0/10.0 then the next interval is at 8.1/9.1/10.1. Makes for a good workout…

September 21, 2009

Still not feeling a hundred percent… that’s tequila for you, the gift that keeps on giving…;-) We’ve had a number of comments from people who attended the party by now — strangely enough, the word lethal keeps coming up with regard to the pomegranate margaritas. And they seemed so good for you at the time… 

Made beef stroganoff for dinner, with some roast that Beulah gave us after the Rosh Hashanah dinner. It was my favourite dinner when I was a little girl. I remember bringing it to school as my contribution to the grade one cookbook. As much as I loved eating it, I think I enjoy finding random poppy seeds afterwards in random crevices of my mouth almost as much…

September 20, 2009

I was awake far too early… At least it wasn’t as early as if we’d had the girls. I was able to lie in bed assessing the state of the damage… The doorbell rang about 9am. It was Rob from down the road, bearing the weekend paper and a bag of croissants, which was a very thoughtful gesture. Retreated back to bed with a pot coffee for another hour.Swung by Waitrose before picking up Lyra from her grandparents. Happily, she’d had a successful, “accident-free” visit. Retrieved Nova from her bowling birthday party on the way home. Not the environment you’d seek out with a hangover — flashing lights, crashing balls, screaming kids… Saw a few party guests picking up their little darlings, and looking worse for wear. It was a really good night, and definitely worth the effort. There’s nothing more annoying than getting the work:fun ratio wrong…

Watched the Man U v Man City football match in the afternoon. Thrilling match, controversially won by Man U in the dying seconds of overtime… Lyra was a bit weirded out by not getting telly to herself. I don’t know if she even realised it’s used for anything besides watching cartoons…

September 19, 2009

Cleo got the all clear from the vet, and is free to go outside again. No more stinky litter tray, hooray to that! We’ve tried a few styles of cat litter, none of which were all that satisfactory.Went for a run before breakfast, and pushed it pretty hard. I really pounded up the final hill, and got my best time in ages. Pretty sure I won’t feel like running tomorrow…

Spent much of the day on party preparations. Got all the food organised, took receipt of the alcohol (which we have the option of returning if it isn’t opened). Got the girls ready for their sleepover with their grandparents. Nova has a birthday party tomorrow (which Freddy will deliver her to) and the idea is to come as your favourite movie character. It goes without saying that we haven’t put any thought into this before today. “I’m going to go as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz!” Nova announced. I’ll put my hair in two bunches, and wear this blue gingham dress with a white apron on top, and my purple party shoes…”

When I was shoe shopping with Lyra a couple of weeks back, I’d seen some beautiful sparkly red shoes in John Lewis, so Adam and Nova went racing off to Brent Cross to buy a pair. It cost me my yoga class, but you can’t be Dorothy without ruby slippers…

I waited until the girls had left to move the furniture, as I know much Lyra would have hated it. “Oh, no! The armchair is over there! PUT IT BACK, MUMMY!!“ Moved the dining table right up against the window to give us as much floor space as possible.

Had a riotous time premixing (and sampling) the pomegranate margaritas. I managed to get the proportions wrong the first time, which meant adding another bottle of tequila to bring it back into balance. Of course we don’t own any three litre jugs, so there was a great deal of pouring between multiple vessels, until we considered everything to be adequate mixed. Siphoned the final result back into the empty spirits bottles and stuck them in the freezer.

Oddly enough, I have a childhood memory of mixing a batch of margaritas with mum and messing up the proportions then as well. It involved some complicated maths (and a trip to Woodwards) to get things back in balance… Don’t recall any difficulties around drinking all the margaritas…;-)

We didn’t have any difficulties in that department either… The first guests arrived by 8:30, and the party was going strong by 9:30. Everyone opted for a margarita, then another and another… they must be good for you with all that pomegranate juice, surely…;-) Adam and I mixed up the rest of the tequila, stashed all the bottles in the fridge, and people soon figured out how to help themselves…

I’d planned to have one or two margaritas, then switch to Coronas, but somehow that strategy got abandoned, and I’d drunk four of the things before I knew it. At that point, it seemed safest just to stick with tequila and hope for the best… The party lasted until about 2:30am, and we spent an hour cleaning up before calling it a night…

September 18, 2009

Happy birthday to me! 45 years old… I’m not so keen on that number. It’s the first birthday that feels “old” to me. And I’m pretty sure it bumps me into a new survey bracket as well — the 45-54 year olds…Started the day with presents and breakfast in bed — a lovely beaded necklace from Nova in the most beautifully decorated box; a new handbag from Adam; books from Wade and Gale, and Greg and Wendy.

Spent the day hanging out with Lyra, and also squeezed in some cooking for tomorrow’s party before heading over for Rosh Hashanah dinner at Freddy and Beulah’s. The girls dressed in their best dresses and were very well behaved, thoroughout what is always a long evening. They certainly both ate well — and Nova even gave the chopped liver a fair try.

More presents… a lovely bottle of St-Emilion from Doron and Antonia, chocolate truffles, earrings, and the Rodriguez CD. Home at 10pm…

September 17, 2009

Spent the morning party shopping: groceries for the Mexican buffet we’ve planned; pomegranate juice for the margaritas (the rest of the alcohol is being delivered from Majestic); 36 glasses and LED lights from IKEA (not margarita glasses, but they’ll work); lime green trugs, cacti and a lime juicer from the garden centre…Did a bunch of the cooking this evening, with the idea of avoiding manual labour on my birthday: the cornmeal blini; chili-chocolate brownies are ready to go, the pork is marinating and the prawns pickling…

September 16, 2009

Met my joint class reps Kiran and Wendy (and their partners) at the Wrestlers for our first meeting — agreeing dates for coffee mornings, class drinks and bake sales, deciding how much money to collect from the other parents, who will write the newsletter (me), and compile the class list.Adam joined us after his Jackson’s Lane Board meeting, and it was 1am by the time we wove our way home…

September 15, 2009

That bloody Cleo cat… I’m sorry to admit she makes it difficult for me to love her. The main issue is her mania for suckling on my neck. She has an absolute compulsion to do this — we can’t spend ten minutes together without pouncing on me. Then there are her destructive tendencies… She loves shredding Lyra’s rattan toybox, plucking tufts from the carpet and shitting in the plant pots… Four months with Cleo and I don’t think I’d even say cats are my favourite animal any longer. In fact if asked, I might say hamsters.Lyra asked me to read both her versions of Red Riding Hood for “bed book” tonight. I thought it quite a sophisticated request, and it made a welcome change from “Angelina at the Palace”. She can’t get enough of that one at the moment, and often asks if we can “jump in the book and go to the palace with Angelina please.” I’d so love to be able to grant that request…

September 14, 2009

Woke up to the news that Kim Clijsters has won the US Open tennis this year — a few months after returning from maternity leave, so to speak. Go mums!Still not feeling very well, and although I could have hauled myself to work I opted for a duvet day (as they call it over here) instead. Lazed about in my pyjamas until mid-afternoon, then got busy making lists for the party we’ve decided to throw next weekend. Looking forward to it, but have a bit of trepidation as well… It’s been fifteen years since we had a proper party — not that I was ever “the hostess with the mostest” — and it all feels a bit unfamiliar…

September 13, 2009

Took the bus to Spitalfields Market after breakfast to meet up with Trevor and Marni who fly back to Vancouver tomorrow. I was a bit nervous for Lyra, as it’s a good 45 minutes on the bus, but she did really well. “Don’t do a wee wee in your knickers,” I occasionally reminded her. “Okay,” she’d say cheerfully… and she didn’t.Ate brunch at Giraffe, where the long spoon they brought with my latte, was just the thing for feeding Lyra from across the table. In fact, it was so useful I knicked it…

The gentrified Spitalfields Market is not as bad as I’d feared… There is now a covered courtyard outside the market building that is lined with restaurants like Giraffe on one side, and rows of stalls on the other. Inside, the old market hall is still recognisable, though somewhat “sanitised”. Bought Nova some kind of fancy hair fastener, a pair of bracelets for Lyra (who loves her jewellry) and the most fabulous cupcakes for the pair of them — those ones with more icing than cake, and dripping with glitter, candies and chocolate shavings.

By mid-afternoon I was feeling pretty ropey… Passed on dinner and took to my bed…

September 12, 2009

Cleo was spayed yesterday. The vet predicted she might seem a little tired for a day or two, but in fact she’s completely wired. Bouncing off the walls, “give that cat a chill pill” wired. When Adam went to pick her up, the vet said, “That’s a pretty fiesty cat you’ve got,” which I suspect is vet speak for “psychotic”.Her tummy is all shaved, which a neat little line of stitches running up her middle. For some reason it surprised me that her skin colour matches her fur colour — black skin underneath black fur, white skin underneath white…

Watched “Jindabyne,” an Australian film with Gabriel Byrne and Laura Linney. Spoiler: a group of guys on a backwoods fishing trip discover the body of an Aboriginal girl who has been murdered. Rather than hiking back to town and reporting the crime immediately, they choose to follow through with their weekend plans. When they eventually report the crime, all hell breaks loose. The story was well told, in that I had some sympathy with all the points of view…

September 11, 2009

Back to Brent Cross again today — this time with Lyra — to buy her some new shoes at John Lewis. She was a pretty good girl, except when it came to handing over the shoes at the till. Kids just don’t get that part…Picked her up some little knickers as well. According to our Toddler Taming book, most children are already toilet trained by two and a half. (Toilet training Nova was so stressful, that I think we’ve been putting it off…)

Lyra hopped straight out of her nappy and into a pair of knickers the moment we got home. The were a couple of minor accidents, but she didn’t pretty well for her first day.

I’m the one against the wall at this weeks weigh-in. I ate less pasta than Lyra at tonight’s dinner, hoping that might make the difference…

September 10, 2009

Went to a spinning class at the gym (my first in ages) followed by a “wellness check”. One of the trainers took me through a series of fitness tests and measurements — height, weight, blood pressure, body fat, flexibility, strength, VO2 max etc. Although I’ve done next to no exercise all summer, my scores were generally good to excellent. Found it perversely demotivating — if I’m more fit than then the average 45 year old without doing a lick of exercise, then why bother?…;-) Actually the main reason I did it was to get the VO2max result — I haven’t had that tested before…Adam and I went to the Gap sale at Brent Cross this morning. He bought a new pair of jeans and I picked up some black work trousers. Left him alone for a half an hour, while I browsed in Hennes. By the time we reunited, he’d committed an act of madness in Hugo Boss, and spent an insane amount of money on a black cardigan. (I can’t even bring myself to type how much it cost…) Fortunately he came to his senses and returned to Brent Cross after lunch to remedy the situation…

September 9, 2009

I still haven’t seen my job share Tina. We were meant to overlap for the first time today, but her son has suspected appendicitis, and she had to take him to the hospital instead. All the meetings she’d set up landed on me, which made for a pretty fraught day…Got home just in time to dash off and meet Nova’s new teacher. Miss Fellowes seems very young, but capable and enthusiastic. My all accounts she’s better than the woman who’s maternity cover she’s providing. Unfortunately, last July’s drunken agreement to be a class rep hasn’t been forgotten, so I can add that to my never-ending list of obligations for the next ten months…

Adam made a great red lentil soup for dinner. (I’m on a bit of a mission to find the perfect red lentil soup recipe, and came across this one — courtesy of former supermodel Sophie Dahl, who is branching out into food journalism — in a recent Waitrose magazine.) Very lemony and delicious…

Watched A Little Trip to Heaven, the last of the Icelandic movies we’d lined up on LoveFilm. Directed by an Icelandic guy, the story takes place in backwoods Minnesota. Watching the credits, it was clearly filmed and produced in Iceland — they must have thanked practically every citizen in the place…

September 8, 2009

Lyra has a funny little thing she does… Every so often she’ll pick up her fairy wand, wave it dramatically and says, “I magic you happy!” It works too, as it always puts a smile on my face. It’s even odder when she waves her wand and says, “I magic you elephant!” No idea where that comes from…

September 7, 2009

Nova’s first day of year four… She set her alarm for 6:45am to ensure plenty of time to get ready, but there actually wasn’t all that much to do. She looked very smart setting off in her new teeshirt, skirt and school shoes. The backpack we ordered on Amazon has been delayed by the postal strike, but should arrive later this week to complete her “back-to-school ensemble”. 

Roads busier, trains noticeably more crowded, summer has come to an end…

Went round to the Stillman’s after work to celebrate Anne’s 94th birthday. She’s looking amazing, and actually seems younger than she did last year. Too much cava — the kind of party where you find yourself eating the slightly soggy canapes as a coping strategy. Happy to celebrate the occasion with her (along with half the close) — they have been a significant part of our lives since we moved to Highgate, and the thought of no longer having her with us is a sad one…

September 6, 2009

The uninterrupted nights continue… It seems unlikely to be down to one night’s sleep training — I think removing the front bed curtain may be a factor — but whatever the cause, it seems like absolute luxury to wake yourself up after a decent night’s rest. 

During Nova’s playdate with Ruby yesterday, the cat’s new scratching post/platform was broken somehow. It’s not that unusual an outcome of a Ruby playdate unfortunately. What btherme about this though was:

1. It cost £30.
2. I was in the next room when it must have happened and they didn’t tell me.

Instead, they propped it up against the wall (hoping I’d never notice?) and went downstairs to play, leaving me to discover it when I tidied up after the girls were in bed.

When I questioned Nova about it, she said that Ruby had told her not to tell, even after she’d gone home. Cue a lecture on knowing your own mind, honesty, and taking responsibility for your mistakes. This “moral guidance’ aspect of parenting becomes more prominent as the years go by…

Did some cottage research for the February half term holiday, which we are pretty sure we’ll spend in the UK. Our first choice in Devon is unavailable and we don’t really fit into our Staffordshire place either. I was hoping to find something as nice as either of those. Made the happy discovery that the off-season reductions are so significant — especially in seaside places like Cornwall — that some really nice three-bedroom places are affordable options.

September 5, 2009

Woke up when I was no longer tired… what a novel concept. Even had enough energy for a run, and Adam went after I returned. Managed my two-mile loop without much difficulty, though it was definitely on the slow side. Left me feeling much more “myself” all day. Must be the endorphins…:-)We were both feeling very pleased with ourselves until we remembered we’d arranged a lease signing with our tenants in Archway. Actually, we didn’t remember — they chased us… Printed off four copies, filled them in and Adam went off with them.

Adam and I are doing a little version of fat club for the next few months. Because the money incentive I use with Pasc would be meaningless, we’ve opted for an alcohol-based incentive instead. Basically, if either of us has gained at the weekly weigh-in, neither of us can drink at all the next week. If either of us has stayed the same, we get a single drinking opportunity that week. Adam was looking like having a bad weigh-in yesterday morning, but was sufficiently motivated by the fear of a dry week to manage a small weight loss this morning.

Just as well, as we had Trevor and Marni round for dinner. Went for an Asian-influenced menu:

• soba noodle salad with vegetables in a spicy sauce
• cha ca sole with coconut rice
• blackberry sorbet (a stunning recipe)

The food turned out great. There was a little too much talk about the GRI standards for a truly memorable evening, but Adam certainly enjoyed himself…

September 4, 2009

Lyra appears to have slept through the night… Either that, or we are so exhausted that her crying failed to wake us up? I doubt it, though as that’s never happened before. We employed a bit of our new technique at bedtime last night (where she’s also in the habit of summoning us back to her bedside a few times before she settles for the night). Hard to believe it would have produced such quick results…We had Fay this afternoon as Pete and Pasc were out meeting parents in Sid’s class or something. She and Nova seem to be endlessly satisifed with each other’s company. I’m happy for them to enjoy it while they can. Life gets so busy in term time, they don’t see all that much of each other.

Adam and I took Lyra to Alexandra Park for a bit of fresh air. We started with a half hour of pedalo on the little lake, then spent some time in the playground. It struck me that Lyra almost never gets two-on-one attention from us. I could count on one hand the number of times it has happened — not surprising she shouts occasionally to attract a bit of notice…

Fig salad for dinner — ripe figs and shavings of pecorino on a bed of rocket, dressed with lemon juice, olive oil and pepper. Watched The Cat Returns (another Studio Ghibli film) this evening, which I rented from the library. Gone straight to the top of Nova’s Ghibli list…

September 3, 2009

Adam and I went to see the Richard Long exhibition at the Tate this morning. I love the way Long records his impact on the landscape, and finds new ways of mapping distance and time. I’d undoubtedly have thought of more things I liked about it if I wasn’t so brain numbingly exhausted… We really need to do something about Lyra’s nighttime waking — it is killing us… 

Went for coffee at Trish’s with Lyra in the afternoon. Nova was meant to come as well, but she was holed up with Fay who got back from holiday last night, and it seemed too much like hard work to extract her. I knew I should have made her come, especially when I saw that Trish’s daughter Safi felt a bit disappointed.

Did some reading in my copy of Toddler Taming and have devised a sleep training plan for Lyra that we’re putting into practice tonight. He recommends a version of the controlled crying method, where you let them cry for a while before going in, do the absolute minimum necessary to settle them again (no singing, rocking, debating etc), then leave. The next time they cry, you leave it a little longer then repeat the cycle. I think part of the problem is that Adam and I do things differently. He’s far more inclined to stretch out on her bed and sing multiple rounds of Old McDonald than I am, and she takes advantage of that.

September 2, 2009

Another crazy day at work — back-to-back meetings, HR crises, projects coming off the rails… My presentation was a bit of a fiasco. I wasn’t sufficiently organised to bring along a printout to refer to, and they way the room was set up meant I couldn’t see the laptop it was projecting from either. Kept having to look over my shoulder to see what it was I was meant to be talking about. Most professional… :-<Happily, my jobshare Tina should be back tomorrow, along with a couple of other key team members, and I hope things settle down after that…

Adam met me in the lobby and we walked to Exmouth Market to have dinner at Moro. The crowd felt different somehow — it used to be the sort of place where you’d look round and the other diners and wish you could join their table because they all looked so interesting, but not tonight. The food still as I remembered it, especially their unparalleled bread. One to keep in mind to share with Margo and Aaron when they come to visit us…

September 1, 2009

Real dog days of summer now… It’s already noticeably darker in the mornings and there’s a bit of a bite to the air. A nice summer for a change, but it’s gone by so quickly…I went into the office, instead of working from home as I often do on Tuesdays. We’re running such a skeleton crew at the moment and I wanted to swell the numbers. In this era of working remotely, it should make any difference where I am physically, but somehow it still does… Crazily busy all day. I’m making a presentation tomorrow, and didn’t even get to start my slides until gone 6pm.

Cooked the mesclun, pear and hazelnut salad from the Rebar cookbook for dinner, with the blackberry vinaigrette I’d whizzed together yesterday. Great recipe, and a way to eke out summer that little bit more…