Week End

Madeleine does her homework. Sort of. Otherwise the day is cold and grey as it has been every day since, like, forever. This the capital's famous climate which does remind one of our proximity to the Atlantic which can otherwise easily be overlooked. Manhattan, for instance, an island but who actually sees the water? While Eitan footballs, I run along the Thames doing a loop from Kew Bridge to Barnes Bridge, northside then southside. There is a well-used trail for runners and part of the Thames Path which opened in 1996 and follows the river from its source near Kemble in Gloucestershire to the Thames Barrier at Charlton. It is about 184 miles long. My circle passes several boat houses and today's rowers out in force - I see at least twenty-five boats from single-hull to sevens - a real traffic jam. The Oxford-Cambridge race soon and completes in nearby Mortlake so maybe this why the buzz. Sonnet makes a brisket and I'm off to Finland tomorrow.

Eitan loses his Match Attack bid by 20p - I can just see the other dad hunched over his notebook son at his side going ... "yes!"

Eitan teases Madeleine for not knowing the players on Manchester United, her stated preferred team. With Eitan out of earshot, I inform Madeleine that ManU's greatest player is Stankowitz - after making me swear several times to its veracity, Madeleine rushes up to Eitan to describe "the Great Jew From The North." This gets a laugh from everybody including Sonnet who (again) rolls her eyes.