June 30, 2008

But the Darzi report launches today. It's a big day for the NHS, and for the Institute as well. We've been given significant new areas of responsibility -- it will mean lots of changes, and will likely have the greatest impact on my team.

Did some more gardening this evening -- I'm finally starting to feel on top of things out there. But there's just not enough time to go round. A sick child means no gardening, gardening means no website updates, website means no ironing. It's an endless juggling act...

Watched the end of a thrilling five set Wimbledon match between Andy Murray and Richard Gasquet of France. Murray eventually prevailed, but he meets Nadal next, so that's the end of his Championship hopes. Lost out on the e-Bay bidding for Wagtail Cottage, annoyingly pipped at the last moment while I was watering the raspberries. Have entered the bidding for a couple of others, setting my maximum bid a bit higher this time to show I mean business...;-)

June 29, 2008

Nova's such a good little swimmer now. She even does alternate breathing on her front crawl. Lyra was happy bobbing about in her rubber ring and arm bands. She slept really well after lunch -- all the fresh air and exercise must have tuckered her out.

Continued my push on the gardening front, weeding and thinning my rows of carrots and beets, staking up Nova's decidedly drooping sunflowers, and clearing out masses of weeds from the abandoned beds. I know you're meant to leave a bit of "set aside" where wildlife can flourish, but unfortunately that wildlife tends to include slugs and snails who hide out in the shady undergrowth, then venture forth to decimate my tender crops when it gets dark. Also, I show no mercy to ground elder, bindweed, stinging forget-me-not or creeping buttercup, all of which are relentlessly invasive. I'm more tolerant of the stinging nettle, herb robert, poppies, and various other less aggressive plants. Nova asked today how I could tell which plants were weeds. I told her that a weed is any plant that's growing where you don't want it to.

On Nova's birthday list she's asked for a Lilliput Lane cottage. She caught sight of a display of these cottages the last time we went through Heathrow, and has been campaigning for one ever since. They are high quality, miniature replicas of English country cottages, and cost an absolute bomb. The kind of thing beloved by knick-knack collectors, the kind of people with more money (and shelf space) than sense. There was no way I was going to pay the £32 asking price for one of these things, so this evening I found myself bidding on E-bay with all the other saddos for Wagtail Cottage. The things you do for love...!

June 28, 2008

Did some good work in the garden, weeding my vegetable bed, earthing the potatoes, replacing the broken posts and wire that should be supporting the raspberries, and tearing out the masses of ground elder and bindweed choking my raspberry canes. I think we'll have a decent crop of raspberries this year -- those new canes I planted a few years back are thriving. Adam went off to the garden centre and bought a new length of hose to replace the ancient, cracked one we've been putting up with for the last twelve years. It's given us a lot more reach as well, and will make watering the vegetable patch a lot easier. One of those satisfying little fixes that leave you wondering why you didn't do it ages ago...

Went round to Will and Sara's for a barbeque. They'd invited another couple whose baby daughter will be in Lyra's year at St Michaels. Funny to see them together -- Lyra running around, kicking a ball and babbling her first words, and Matilda only six months younger, still bald as an egg and just starting to pull herself up -- and realise that in a few years there will be next to no difference between them.

The food was lovely, except for a piece of tuna that was very underdone. I know some people like to sear the outside and leave it pink in the middle, but this was pretty much sushi, and not very warm either. Adam said his piece was lovely, so mine must have been on the edge of the grill or something...

June 27, 2008

We'd wanted to watch Babe -- Pig in the City for this week's movie night, but I didn't manage to get down to Archway Video. Went round to Jemima's to borrow something from them instead. The other day Nova said to me, "Mum, Ruby has over one hundred DVDs! Does that make her spoiled?" Tough to answer that one... Anyway, she doesn't have Babe -- Pig in the City, so I borrowed Over the Hedge instead, which turned out to be quite an entertaining animated film in the Toy Story vein.

June 26, 2008

Had a big salad for dinner. We're getting lots of lovely lettuce from our veggie patch at the moment. I've attempted something much smaller than previous summers -- just one plot instead of four or five, and it is a much more manageable amount of work. Nova was very keen at the seed planting stage, but seems to have much less interest in weeding. I seem to recall an Aesop's fable about that as well...

Went to the cinema with Jane this evening. We saw The Edge of Love, a biopic about Dylan Thomas. "Mediocre" is a generous assessment. The storyline veered between implausible and incomprehensible, the dialogue laughable, and the acting wooden. Of course I should have known better than to waste money on a film starring Keira Knightly, the most overrated actress of her generation.

Emerged from the cinema at midnight to a torrential downpour. Huddled under the bus shelter with a dozen other foolhardy, barearmed sandal wearers, we were sitting ducks for a steady stream of panhandlers, some of whom were quite creative. One guy performed unsuccessful card tricks and asked for group hugs each time a trick failed to come off before passing the hat. Another claimed to have lost his travel card and wanted to raise £12 coach fare. The third spun a longwinded rant against the government for trying to control his life. Certainly kept things lively while waiting for the number 43, though it didn't make the time pass any faster...

June 25, 2008

Came out in hives this evening. I don't know what triggered it, but it was really irritating. The started on my ears, then the palms of hands became itchy (and completely unsatisfying to scratch). By the time I went to bed they were all over my arms, chest and back. At least I can take antihistimines now I'm no longer breastfeeding...

June 24, 2008

Went to a gig this evening -- Buddy Guy in Shepherds Bush. I met Adam outside the office. We were going to eat in the West End but it was still a bit early, so we caught the Tube west and found a reasonable looking pub on Shepherd's Bush green. Had the veggie snack plate and a glass of wine before setting off to meet our friend Pad.

We had standing tickets, which is fine, but instead of strategically positioning ourselves before the show started we just stood around yakking at the back. When he came on stage I couldn't see a thing. He was obviously clowning around a bit, and the crowd kept erupting in cheers or laughter, and all I could see was a little flash of his white cap.

Eventually we moved back to the raised platform by the bar, and secured a bit of space near the stairs. I could see at least, but now was constantly being jostled by people going up and down the stairs. It was a good gig, but I never got really got absorbed by it -- spent too much energy coping with crowd instead of engaging with the performer...:-{

June 23, 2008

June 22, 2008

In the afternoon Nova was down to compete in the annual 1km school fun run. We gave her every opportunity to back out, but she was definite about wanting to do it. They divide the kids by school year, and yet again Nova did really well, coming fourth of all the Year Two girls, and ahead of lots of the boys as well. She's unexpectedly good at distance running -- I think it's because she just keeps going...

June 21, 2008

The close had its annual party in the afternoon. As the weather was iffy, Jemima -- who was charged with organising the event -- generously opted to host it at their house. Adam and Nova went round first, while I stayed back with napping Lyra. He eventually returned to spell me off, but it was winding down by that point. The buffet had been ravaged and I was immediately cornered but the greatest bore on the block (and there's some pretty stiff competition for that honour round here...) It was a very long half hour before I could make my escape.

Went to a far more enjoyable event at Andy and Sue's in the evening, jointly hosted by Paul and Alicia:

Fabulous dresses and outlandish get-ups, endless champagne, retro canapés -- what more can you ask for? I got into the spirit by converting a pair of old jeans into flares by splitting the side seam and sewing in a triangle of fabric. Adam wet as a sort of guru type. Rob had good idea -- he went as a Parlophone record exec, complete with security passand a big "Vote Nixon" badge.

There were loads of people, and most of them seemed to be going for it. They'd moved all the furniture out of the livingroom, and by 11pm it was a heaving dance floor. It was still going strong by the time we left at 2:30am...

June 20, 2008

I had a coffee morning with a couple of mums from our class: Christine came with baby Alice, and Marina brought baby Dimitrius. I'd made a batch of Margo muffins, which I burned slightly in the morning chaos. It's hard to believe that we can run out of getting ready time when we start our day so early, but we manage it... Everyone pronounced them delicious, and the babies fisted great handfuls into their mouths, so they can't have been too bad.

The kids are still far too young to play together. It's still all parallel play, though there was a bit of interaction -- tugging on the same toy mostly. Marina and Christine both have kids in the morning nursery class at the school, and headed off when it was time to pick up.

Made a nice dinner tonight -- gnocchi baked with salmon and cream cheese-tomato sauce and roasted asparagus (my fave way of cooking them now). Had Clare and Phil round for a drink for some birthday party planning. We're doing a joint party with their daughter Amy, and have settled on a session of pottery painting followed by sandwiches and fairy cakes. Nothing too complicated, but there are still a fair few tasks to divvy up.

June 19, 2008

Instead I got the doctor to listen to her chest and check her throat and ears again. Apparently her throat is a little red, so the infection may have been there. She's completely lost her voice now, can only make pathetic little croaking noises.

For once, Adam's not frantically busy at work. He spelled me off for the afternoon and I went shopping. I needed to find something hippyish for a 60s party we're going to on Saturday night. There was a time when half our wardrobe would have been suitable for such an occasion, but no longer. Ended up buying a loose paisley silk top in the Zara sale, which I really like and should wear regularly.

Zipped around doing housework while Adam took the girls to Nova's art class. I did a proper job of the living rooom, all the tidying, dusting, polishing, and hoovering... It took about an hour and a half, looked very nice when I was done.

Frozen pizza and a salad for dinner, followed by movie night once Lyra was down. It was my turn to choose the film, and I picked Babe. Nova got quite upset a few times when it looked like Babe was for the chop, but enjoyed it overall. We talked a bit about vegetarianism, and the rights and wrongs of eating animals. While she's very tenderhearted, she's such a meat lover I can't see her giving up her sausages just yet...;-)

June 18, 2008

Stocked up on cold remedies, orange juice, yogurt, coffee, vitamin C, toothbrush and paste at the station, and was feeling half human by the time I met my colleagues on the train.

Gruelling day of training and meetings. We still haven't got to the bottom of what triggered the accidental publishing incident on the website, and I needed to ask some difficult questions of our supplier. Home about 7pm, which wasn't as too bad.

Lyra is continuing to improve. She went to her playgroup this morning, but soon tired out and had to come home early. She's still sleeping a lot, but it's not the worrying 18 hours a day of sleep we were seeing a few days ago.

June 17, 2008

I took the morning as carer's leave while Adam caught up on his work, and then we swapped over in the afternoon. I think the poor little thing is badly dehydrated. I'd did a little research on her more worrying symptoms -- drowsiness, muscle weakness, dizziness -- and all are symptoms of dehydration. Since she's been ill, she's pretty much given up on walking, and when she does try she reels about like a drunk and topples over almost immediately.

Getting more liquid into her was the priority for the day. I gave her a bottle when she woke from her morning nap, which she knocked back, so that was a good start.

Lyra was okay about staying with Agata in the afternoon, so I managed to get some work done. Yesterday I felt guilty about going to work, today I felt guilty about staying home. The lot of the working mother I guess...

Helped Nova's with her ancient Greece project this evening. She wanted to do something about Greek writing, so I gave her a couple of sources to read, then made her write her report without referring to them again:

The Greek alphabet is very different from our alphabet. And modern Greeks are saying it in Greece perhaps right now. The word “alphabet” comes from A and B in Greek, which is “alpha” and “beta”. But they changed how you pronounced “beta” a little bit. It has 24 letters because it did not have J and V. The Greek alphabet is one of the first alphabets. The Greeks made their alphabet from the Phoenicians but it is different because the Phoenicians only used consonants, so they must have made up quite weird words. So if they wanted to write “basket” they would write “bskt”.

She carefully copied out a table of all the Greek letters, and I was very impressed by how neatly she did it. She wrote the name of each letter underneath and the modern letter they correlate to. We also found a website that converts any name to the Greek alphabet and made index cards of with the name of each child in her class written in Greek letters. She's very pleased with it, and it definitely qualifies as "the child's own work" unlike most of the special projects you see kids bringing in.

June 16, 2008

It was quite interesting (though it certainly couldn't be described as an "informal chat", no matter how warmly we grinned at the poor candidates), and we ended up recommending the same two people that the formal interview process had chosen.

Dropped back to the office for an hour to scan my emails, then headed home to relieve Adam. He'd taken Lyra to the GP, who had tasked him with collecting a urine sample in case a bladder infection was causing her fever. For some reason he wasn't given the little stick-on baggy to use, just the standard vial. He spent all morning with a naked baby sitting on his lap waiting for her to wee so he could attempt to catch the stream in a test tube. Apparently, he even took a conference call at the same time... Who says men can't multi-task?...;-)

Anyway, after hours of effort spent catching a teaspoon of wee the preliminary tests were negative. We still don't know what's causing the temperatures, but it's likely to be a virus. So no antibiotics...

Lyra was sleeping in her pushchair when I got in. I had to wake her for her dinner. She ate a few bits of pasta, had a miserable bath, and threw a wild tantrum when I tried to dress her. It was quite alarming, especially as she's been so listless.

June 15, 2008

I could hear the big girls upstairs tearing about, buy Liana seemed to have them in hand. When Pete finally emerged I made a cooked breakfast for the grownups: scrambled egg, bacon, toast, mushrooms. Held Lyra the whole meal. The only thing she wants to do is lie in my arms and whimper. It's heartbreaking to see her like this, and worrying as well.

Pete, Liana and co set off about noon. They fly to NZ next Friday, and who knows when we'll see them again... It's sad -- they're our best friends and we'll miss them...

It was getting too hot for Lyra on the top floor, so I relocated to our bedroom and sat there with her for the most of the afternoon. She dozed much of the time -- must be doing her some good.

Barbequed turkey burgers for dinner, but not until about 8pm, when Lyra was settled for the night. I used a recipe Wendy sent us, involving chopped sage, cranberry sauce and cheddar -- they turned out really nicely. It feels like a bit of a lost day, but at least Adam and Nova had a nice time. They went bike riding in the afternoon, and Nova had fun making marzipan toadstools for dessert. I wish I'd taken a picture of them -- they were quite marvellous.

Straight to bed after Nova went down. I've got a nasty cough. I think that chest pain I've been having may have been a pleurisy. I've been hacking up relentlessly all day.

June 14, 2008

After a lot of deliberation, we decided to go to Frea's second birthday party after all. Lyra was feeling better for the medicine, and being around other people eemed to give her a little boost. She played with a few toys and ate a fairy cake, but mostly she sat on my lap or in my arms. Didn't stay too long...

We moved Lyra's cot into our room for tonight. Pete and Liana and the girls are spending the night (it's the last time we'll see them before they emigrate to NZ) and we thought it would be nice for Nova to have Martha and Ellie sleep in her room. Also, I like the idea of having Lyra in with us when she's not feeling well.

I cooked a big Indian meal -- I can't imagine Indian food is as readily available out there as it is in London. Mixed up a batch of kiwi martinis to start. Got through a lot of wine as well, though I held back as I didn't know how much sleep I'd be getting with Lyra.

June 13, 2008

Lyra is feeling poorly, clingy and hot and miserable. We stuck with our plan of Adam taking the girls to the zoo (Nova's school is closed today) as we thought it might raise her spirits. I didn't go along as I had a hair appointment.

After lunch, Lyra dozed on my chest for much of the afternoon and had no interest in dinner. After Nova was deposited at Sadie's, we had an evening of pasta puttanesca and Euro 2008 football.

June 12, 2008

Did our weekly movie night tonight as Nova's having a sleepover at Sadie's house tomorrow. It was her pick and she chose Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium with Dustin Hoffman. Not bad, kind of a Willy Wonka-esque thing, but Escape to Witch Mountain remains the reigning favourite around here.

June 11, 2008

The work crisis continues... The latest headache is that Google has cached a version of the content that shouldn't have been uploaded and aren't responding to our entreaties to remove it...

June 10, 2008

The work crisis rumbles on. Managing the fallout, writing reports for the audit committee and pharma company involved, reviewing systems to guard against it happening again takes up all my working hours. I'm trying to view it as a learning opportunity -- the old "it's not the mistake that matters, but how you handle it" saw, but I could do without it.

Out with a group of school mums tonight to see "Sex and the City" at the Everyman. I never really watched the show (I think I've seen about three episodes over the years) but thought it might be fun to see what all the fuss is about. Drove over with Maj and Trish. Parking in Hampstead is impossible. It took us a good fifteen minutes cruising in circles to find a parking space -- and the one we found was residents only for another twenty minutes. Enforcement is so zealous we opted to buy a drink from the pub on the corner and stand guarding the car until it was legal.

The other mums were well into the cocktails by the time we joined them. We bought a few bottles of wine at the cinema as well, and there were some pretty drunk women by the time the final credits rolled. I must confess to dozing through the last fifteen minutes or so, but I doubt there were any surprises. Cried off the pub as it was already 12:30am... and a working night...

June 9, 2008

It was a gorgeous afternoon, and we sat in the sun eating our packed lunch (remnants of Saturday's picnic) and drinking criminally expensive pints of Pimms. Saw some really good matches:

• Lapentti v Ancic
• Hewitt v Goodall
• Safin v Ward
• Grosjean v de Voest

Decided to pass on the Andy Murray doubles match and grab some dinner. We took advantage of being west of where we normally venture, and ate at Amaya, a modern Indian restaurant that has been on our list of places to try forever.

We opted for one of their amazing cocktails, but passed on wine. I think we may be onto something there, especially with cuisines not part suited to wine anyway. Decided that today would be our anniversary celebration -- tough day to top!

June 8, 2008

Trish had invited everyone (husbands, kids and all) round for lunch. Their staff had put together a lovely spread. Spent a relaxing afternoon sitting in the sun drinking Bollinger and rosé. Felt like we were in the south of France...

Left about four to head over to Patricia and John's. They are hosting one of those National Garden Scheme open days at their house. Sat on their grass eating a slice of the oatmeal cake I'd dropped off earlier for her cake stand. There were a few other school families there, and the kids were all tearing about.

Developed a strange sort of chest pain this evening. It's on the left side only, and worse when I breathe. A bit worrying, though I suspect it might be muscular -- either something from the running, or perhaps all the pushchair pushing and lifting I've been doing lately...

June 7, 2008

The grass was a bit damp from all the rain we've been having, but at least we had the place to ourselves. We ate our lunch and played football with the kids (Lyra was much keener than Nova...)

Headed back to theirs for a cup of tea, then Eytan dropped us home in the car. Lyra had missed her afternoon nap, and was too grumpy to entertain the idea of dinner. Gave her an extra big bottle instead, and popped her to bed a bit early.

June 6, 2008

The minute we left the house, her nerve failed and she skulked along the fences, hoping no one would notice her. None of the other kids we saw in pajamas, but when we got to where her class assembles there were a few other girls who'd done the same.

Kim's last day. She brought gifts round for everyone, and took Lyra and me out for coffee at Jackson's Lane. Lyra insisted on her own proper chair (no high chairs for that one year old!) and sat at the table with her little plate of cake and carton of apple juice looking very chuffed with herself.

Tonight was family movie night, and Adam chose ET. Nova thought it was great fun, until we got to the prolonged near death scene (which lasts about thirty minutes!) She was practically hysterical with grief, hyperventilating and screaming "I hate this movie!" at the screen. I was a bit concerned for her, but thought maybe seeing it through to the end would be the best, as ET does make a full recovery. Unfortunately she hated the goodbye scene as well. Nova's verdict: "The WORST movie I ever saw!"

June 5, 2008

Back to the park in the afternoon for the class picnic. We were so lucky with the weather, as it's been pretty chilly right up to this morning. Both year 2 classes came along, so there were about forty parents with the kids and random siblings.

Lyra's little cohort of year 2 babies were all there -- Alice, Dimitrios, Nana and Hector. While none of the others strayed an inch from their mothers, she was half way across the park whenever I turned my back. She also happily wandered about sampling other people's picnics, returning one time with a large strip of breaded chicken, another with a fistful of pasta salad.

Footballs exert a magnetic attraction on her. She was forever staggering off to get in the midst of a kickabout, and would crow with delight whenever she claimed a ball for her own. She impressed the assembed mums with her (ball) dribbling skills. The first time she did it they thought it was an accident. When she caught up to the ball again and gave it another neat little kick they realised. She seems very physically well coordinated to me, not that I'm unbiased...;-)

June 4, 2008

Shock and horror ensued. The only thing I could think of was that perhaps Lyra scared the tooth fairy just as she was about to arrive, and the best thing to do was for us all to go back to sleep, and hope she'd still come. Just to be on the safe side, we put the tooth outside underneath the fuschia bush.

Fortunately that worked, and the tooth fairy did come after all. At least the early start meant I got into work on time. Just as well, as it was a full-on day, what with the crisis on top of my usual full slate of meetings. I ended up bringing the risk committee paper home with me and working on it until about 10:30pm. As I'm planning to take Monday afternoon off so Adam and I can go to the Stella Artois tennis championship, I'll claw the time back then.

June 3, 2008

Lyra went for her one year jab this afternoon. Adam took her, and says she barely reacted. Apparently, this first one isn't bad. A month from now she returns for two jabs -- one of which is a real cocktail -- and she's much more likely to react badly to them.

Nova lost another tooth tonight. Nova was worrying away at a loose tooth as we watched an episode of the Secret Garden, and it popped out. That makes five...

June 2, 2008

Spent most of the day in bed, dozing, reading, catching up on work emails. Made myself a bowl of rice with a fried egg on top mid-afternoon, and that seemed to sit alright...

June 1, 2008

I'd expected to spend the afternoon unpacking, doing laundry, restocking the fridge etc, but Adam happened to glance at the calendar and realised that it was Ben's aparagus party this afternoon. We'd already confirmed we were coming twice, so it would have been a bit rude to cancel. Did the bulk of the unpacking, bundled the poor girls into the car again, grabbed a bottle of white wine and set off for Stoke Newington.

As always, Ben had put on a wonderful spread: asparagus and grilled halloumi pasta salad; asparagus frittata, asparagus dauphinoise, asparagus wraps with porcini or salmon, roast asparagus, steamed asparagus as well as various salads. Sat in his garden drinking wine and eating his delicious food all afternoon. There are worse ways to spend a Sunday afternoon...;-)