Cafe Flesh

Sheep Meadow

Along with the usual sunbathers, some gay dudes strike yoga poses, a couple practise martial arts, the entrepreneur makes the rounds ("Ice cold water! Mohitos!") with his ten year old son carrying the load.

We watch a comedy troupe including some of NY's best who have a hard time keeping it PG for the Sunday afternoon. On another patch, we see a sword fight with maybe 12 participants dressed in medieval costume.  It lasts maybe three minutes.  Bikers, joggers, power walkers and roller bladers whizz by navigating the pedestrians. A skinny black dude with over-sized headphones stands in the middle tarmac singing full volume.  Nobody cares.

Upper West Side

Cafe Con Leche @ 81st and Amsterdam

I arrive Manhattan Saturday afternoon and it is a proper summer's day: hot. I drop my bags at Katie's flat and, since she returns from South Africa Sunday morning, head to 22nd St and 7th Ave to drink champagne cocktails and a 2009 cru with Kelly and Christine, who recently had twins, and I am impressed by the peace & quiet.

Katie arrives around 8AM and we go for a morning run in Central Park and coffee at neighbourhood bakery Silver Moon, which has created a special corner on B'way and 106th. From there it is a walk southward via Riverside Park and the Riverside Walk then across midtown to Central Park.

Red House

The Red House, on the corner of York Ave, designed by architect Arthur Young and built in 1904 when there was surely nothing else around.  Since we are on a hilltop, the views of the river (now not visible) would have been superb. It remains a convenient several hundred yards into Richmond Park. Yours for £7M.

Tomato Stalks

The tomatoes about half mast or behind pace for this time of year since there has been little sun this summer so far.  I still have hope that this will be a vintage year.  For all of us.

I am off to America in an hour.

Toothy Grin

Eitan will have braces

The kids and I to The Plough - burgers and chips for them, salad for me as I (barely hang on) to Sonnet's low carb diet.

The kids have swim practise, 5:30AM, so up at 5 to ensure a 5:20 pick up.  Then a 45 minute nap and to the pool to facilitate the transfer to their respective school buses (Sonnet's egg-bacon sandwiches devoured).  Sonnet and I stumble through the rest of the day. TGIF.

London On My Birthday

Justin and I have lunch at Sotheby's then walk about Mayfair taking a few photos. He wonders if one has permission to post pictures of strangers on the Internet (blog). A bit of research and I am home free : In the UK it is perfectly legal to take and also to post pictures of members of the public if they are taken in a public place.

Dog Days

Rusty gets in on the summer

People talk about the weather all the time in Britain, I observe, sitting in a cafe eavesdropping. It is like Seinfeld in the 90s or baseball maybe. If sunny, nod knowingly : "Let's hope summer lasts longer than today." If rain, nod knowingly: "Well, summer has finally arrived." And so on and so be it.

The protests in Brazil remind me of Brad Pitt's movie "World War Z" where zombies climb over each other to mount a wall. I would be pissed, too, knowing that the Brazilian government has spent billions in preparation of the 2014 World Cup and little or nothing on education or the banlieues. Won't be going there any time soon.

Any Given Monday

At Madeleine's school

Our week begins with the usual news about Syria (US to arm the rebels, the Russians support Assad); the NSA (who wire tapped world leaders at the G20 Summit in 2009 ); a week end massacre in Omaha, Nebraska. And so on and so forth.

What to tell one's kids these days ? The cost of education soaring, jobless ness in the Eurozone is 24% for the U25s (20% in the UK), cities and living un affordable and then there is the debt for the their generation . Global warming, too. Me, I say : go to work.

Teen Boy

Chillax

At a cocktail party I meet fair skinned Rose, who sings at St Martin's On The Field.  In confidence, she informs me, she and her choir have recorded the gospel for Nelson Mandela's passing. They did this four years ago so it is 'off the shelf.'

Madeleine: "Who's been searching for 'making out' and 'how to kiss better' on the computer?"
Me: "Huh?"
Madeleine: "Right here, see in the search history, 'making out.'"
Me: "When was it?"
Madeleine: "Um, last Sunday. At 8 o'clock."
Me: "It could have been me, so I know how to kiss your mother" (I kiss Sonnet)
Sonnet: "Mmm"
Me: "How do we know it wasn't you?"
Madeleine: "Yeah, right Dad. It must have been Eitan."
Me: "Well you are the problem child."
Madeleine: "Whatever."

Post Play

Madeleine at school

An example of a morning discussion, on the walk to the train , which Madeleine now takes to school.
Madeleine: "What would Rusty do if he caught a cat?"
Me: "Grab it by the neck and shake it to death, probably."
Madeleine: "Yeah, probably so."
Me: "All creatures great and small. How about that snail there, would you kill it?"
Madeleine: "No. It is still a creature."
Me: "What about a swarm of veg destroying locusts? "
Madeleine: "So?"
Me: "Without crops, people will die."
Madeleine:
Me: "Death is never an easy subject."
Madeleine: "Of course I wouldn't want people to die. So I guess I would kill the locusts."
Me: "A wise decision."

A Play

Madeleine is Dandini

Madeleine in play "Cinders," a spin on Cinderella, which the drama class has been working since winter.  I rush to join from ..  Amsterdam and meet Sonnet and the other parents who mingle over luke warm white wine and nibbles.  Madeleine is Dandini (male character), the confident to the princw (played by the dreamy Jack) who is looking for a bride at the ball and the glass slipper and all that. It goes down well and afterwards the three of us have sushi. Nice way to end the week.

Exams In

Madeleine reviews her report card

Sonnet and I have a date to catch ourselves up on work, the Italian exhibition, neighbourhood gossips - usual stuff.  We consider strategies for the kids' school work - the Shakespeares are committed yet we are rarely together evenings as they swim etc.  This makes it difficult to help with their studies, something we would wish to change, in these important next several years.

Me: "How was your trumpet lesson?"
Madeleine: "Fine. I'm learning 'The Star Spangled Banner.'"
Me: "Excellent. I used to sing that to you when I was changing your diapers."
Madeleine: "TMI, dad."

Terminus

I always think of Star Trek at the abandoned Eurostar platform, Waterloo Station

I visit Stuttgart for lunch with Armin. New airport, new city. Unfortunately the weather kills any charm : I arrive, it is sticky hot, then it rains. Buckets. I go for a concrete jog dotted by sun fading 1970s objets d'art and graffiti here and there. A palpable sense of : nothing going on, as young people hang by the tramway smoking fags or drinking coffee at sidewalk cafes. It is 2:30PM. Otherwise there's "Das Broadway Musical: Sister Act!" postered everywhere. Robbie Williams visiting in September. I avoid the Mercedes and Porsche museums - both have mfr plants outside Stuttgard , employing ca. 37,000. I am sure there is Hanzel und Gretyl but today I do not have the time to find it.

"Worlds are conquered, galaxies destroyed...but a woman is always a woman. "
-- Captain James T Kirk in 'Conscience of the King'

Queen's Guard

St James's Palace, entrance from Pall Mall

Our beloved backyard Scots Pine, which reminds me of Northern California, is toast.  She took a heavy hit when the crown hived off, losing 30% of its volume and becoming unbalanced. Despite the violence, we clung to the tree but no more.  Jamie, the doe eyed arborist, took one climb then dashed all hope, giving us two options: take the tree down or leave the stem, which is what we choose to do.  Perhaps, as he suggests, we will install a climbing pulley for the kids. Or the story.

Ian M Banks, 1954-2013 RIP

Ian M Banks passes from cancer. Banks a prolific British author who is celebrated for his fiction but I know him best for his science fiction, specifically "The Culture", an evilly benign utopian world :

"The Culture is characterised by being a post-scarcity society (meaning that its advanced technologies provide practically limitless material wealth and comforts for everyone for free, having all but abolished the concept of possessions), by having overcome almost all physical constraints on life (including disease and death) and by being an almost totally egalitarian, stable society without the use of any form of force or compulsion, except where necessary to protect others." Wiki

"Law abiding citizens have nothing to fear".

--Foreign Secretary William Hague responds to the NSA's clandestine recording and analysing of global communications

Brains

At NYC hospital w/ Katie's friend, a neurosurgeon

Me: "How was the film? " [Dad's note: Madeleine and Molly sees  the movie 'After Earth'; the girls otherwise by themselves]
Madeleine: "It was so scary.  And you're never going to guess what Molly did."
Me: "Oh?"
Madeleine: "They, like, asked me my age and I said 12." [Dad's note: 'After Earth' an 12A, meaning a film-gover must be over 12 or accompanied by a parent. Madeleine is 11]
Me:
Madeleine: "And Molly said ten. Can you believe it?"
Me: "So how did you get in?"
Madeleine: "The ticket guy was quiting and so he didn't care about being fired."
Me: "Well done". I give Madeleine the Obama rock.

Me: "So how is my reputation around the house these days?"
Madeleine: "Um OK I guess. It could be better. "
Me: "Oh?"
Madeleine: "Like when you tell me to clean the front yard because I haven't talked to Eitan or something. "
Me: "Don't you realise it's part of a bigger plan?"
Madeleine: "How is sweeping the front yard a plan?  None of the other kids have to do chores like we do. "
Me: "I have two words to say to you. "
Madeleine:
Me: "Karate Kid."
Madeleine:
Me: "Miyagi-san knew what he was doing. "

Stamen & Stigma

Eitan and I check out a flower being pollinated by a bee. Since he does not know the mechanics, I ask him to investigate plant-reproduction on the web and report back to me. When he asks if he has a choice I tell him, sure, he can do the research or the backyard. He goes for the research.

Later, we sit around the living room and Eitan describes what he has learned to Madeleine (under threat of punishment). Who said learning isn't fun ?

I prepare to kill an insect in the kitchen. Madeleine: "All creatures great and small."
Me: "All creatures small and dead."
Madeleine: "Nice, dad."
Me: "It's a bug."
Madeleine: "Whatever."

Brilliant Green

Spring Celmatis, pre flower

Silver would exclaim, when visiting London, early summer, "The Green, Jeff, oh the green!" and so I look around with an extra appreciation, pointing out to Eitan how fabulously brilliant it all is. Tree crowns at maximum, grasses long and vines and bushes flush. Yeah, sure, I try to explain for the umpteenth time photosynthesis (collective groan from the Shakespeares) but even this does not spoil the joy.

Tesco

Carpenteria californica (I think)

Eitan thoughtfully munches on a custard filled, chocolate sprinkled, croissant : "You can get anything at Tesco." [Dad's note: Tesco is the third largest retailer in the world with ca $100bn of turnover from 6,351 stores]
Me: "Oh?"
Eitan: "Nutella. Pancake mix. Doritos. .."
Me: "Can you imagine the day when you aren't driven by your next sugar hit ?"
Eitan: "No."
Me: "Probably not."

CHiPS

Les flics

Cops on mopeds strap on their helmets, gun their small engines, and blitz into Place du Madeleine. Why is this amusing ?

Lights, Camera

Film crew, Gare du Nord

My day starts in Paris where I navigate the metro to Gare du Nord and the fast train to Brussels. The metro stressful, since rush hour, while my station (Gare du Nord) is marked (for some crazy reason) Magenta. But I digress.  I am in Brussels to entice a serious investor into a serious fund and, as I tell Sonnet, it is not every day one asks for 50M bucks.

Duty & Booze

 Madeleine plays it cool (Auntie Katie's sunglasses)

David an entrepreneur in the drinks business, introducing the UK's benighted and blinkered boozers to exotic imports like "Poison Brew" from Sweden. We have a case of "Carnaby Brown" coolers in the pantry.

Since cheer a big business here not surprisingly government wants a piece of the action.  The duty on beer, for instance, is £19.51 per hectolitre per alcohol content.  So 15 beers or 7.5 litres at 5.3%  would raise a tax of £7.75 (.1971 * 7.5 * 5.3).  The tax per bottle , then, is 51p  - interesting as I see a case of Becks (20 bottles) at Tesco going for £12, or 60p a bottle. Loss making and also cheaper than water.

Last year a movement towards a minimum price on liquor snuffed out by both parties afraid of losing, well, the entire voting public. Britain enjoys its bender.

Get Lucky

This cool kid reminds me of Daft Punk.

I lunch with T, who is in town to attend Hg Capital's AGM and to meet with some venture funds and tech guys, which is where his interests are since he is a "recycled entrepreneur", as he once liked to say.  Since 2000, his tech portfolio, which includes Benchmark, Index, Apax, BlueRun, Correlation and Industry Ventures, is 30% net IRR based, in part, on several early exits. We agree : the timing of cashflows has a mighty effect on performance - obvious, but nice to see it confirmed in real numbers (the median vc industry performance over this period 3%).

Sonnet and Madeleine make it home in one piece. Back to work and school tomorrow.

Bounce And SAT

Eitan takes a break from revisioning - tomorrow begins his exams, which last one-two hours per discipline, all day, all week.  Today he puts in six hours compared to six hours over the last seven days.  I try to stay out of it as, his teachers' tell us, part of the learning is learning how to learn.  This year for practice, a goof, but from year eight, it is a mark on the boy's permanent record.

US universities, unlike England, look for the fuller picture : grades, teacher recommendations, extra curriculars and, of course, test scores.  My second SAT exam, for instance, in '84 and I had the flu and did not want to go - Grace got me fed and into the car, which broke down four blocks from our house. She raced up Euclid, in the rain, and swapped for Moe's difficult-to-drive 544 and off we went to the test center, me arriving late but allowed access to the exam hall. I improved and got into college but, if this were the only data point, I would have been f***ed.

Big Tree

The tree out front that we hope won't fall on the house.  It has grown, like, 20% since we moved in.

Eitan and I have dinner at The Plough (fabulous local gastropub converted from the neighbourhood boozer for the over 50s) and discuss the usual stuff : school, sports, goals and expectations .. girls, though nothing new or on the horizon here - or that he would wish to share, anyway. He's never around the opposite sex as Hampton School all boys but (I learn) Joe and Shaheen have gone on a movie double date, while the counter parties unidentified. It still kinda counts.

Crazy Frankensteins

The backyard in first bloom and it is payback for the long winter, particularly hard this year as we adjust to the kids' early morning schedule. Can I take another? But for now the sunrise is 4:30AM and sunset at 9PM.  Amazing what a little extra light does.

Another reason to appreciate this time of year: Roland Garros. And soon, Wimbledon.

And The Chocolate Factory

New York Day

MOMA

Madeleine Katie

Central Park

Katie and Madeleine have an Upper West Side morning, starting off with a jog/walk around the reservoir followed by the Silver Moon Cafe for croissants and pastries. From there it is a smoothie then down town to Katie's offices and an afternoon at a chocolate factory in soho "that takes up an entire city block."  Sonnet visits the Met. Eitan does his revisions.

Me, on speaker phone: "So do you miss your brother?"

Madeleine: "Not really."

Me: "Guess who's right here?"

Madeleine: "Um, Eitan?"

Eitan: "Hi Madeleine!"

Manhattan

Sonnet takes Madeleine to Manhattan for half-term break to visit Auntie Katie.  Today Katie will take Madeleine to her offices.

Eitan and I were going to go to Thorp amusement park to ride "The Saw", "Swarm," "Stealth" and the "Nemesis Inferno" but foul weather keeps us home. Instead we watch "The Dictator" which seems about right for his age. Or ours.

Me: "How are the revisions going?"
Eitan: "Fine. I did Geography today."
Me: "Oh, what?"
Eitan: "Like how to take temperatures using a thermometer."
Me: "By sticking it up your ass?"
Eitan: "Ha ha! Dad!"

Conservatory

We get some w/e sun which means only one thing for the Shakespeares: chores. The front and backyard require weekly work and, since it has been two weeks, a job for idle hands (or, at least, two kids on half-term break).  They grumble but I hold a few cards in my pocket : Eitan wants to watch the men's EUFA Champions Final with Joe and Madeleine wants an iPad.  The work gets done.

Our conservatory painted inside black, a gutsy decision which somehow brings the garden closer.  Eric made the right call.

Ava

Ava is a crack footballer so no surprise she makes to trip from Devon to see the women's EUFA Champions League at Stamford Bridge.  The final between Lyon and Wolfsburg, who win 1-nil, preventing the defending champions from three in a row. I have known this kid her whole life and she is a good one.

Fondu Enchainé

A 'fondu enchainé  ' is when, in a movie, one image fades while the next one already appears.  This is often what I think, today, of Eitan and Madeleine - they are both still kids who want to climb things, sleep late and slack on their chores or homework. Watch television and eat a candy bar when the mood strikes them. Read comics. Yet, their bodies and personalities subtly shifting before us, in preparation for the next stage. Sonnet and I wonder : what ?

Disco Modern

Daft Punk is an electronica duo of French musicians Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christon and Thomas Bangalter who hit the euro club scene in the 90s and came to popular attention from the soundtrack of the Tron remake in 2010.

I listen to a review of their new song 'Get Lucky' on Radio 4 - described as a disco retread, the equivalent of cat nip for the middle-age male, who make the tune No. 1 on the charts.  I would wish to report that I hate it but I love it.  Daft Punk nails the song, too - some KC And The Sunshine Band, a bit of Earth Wind And Fire and (of course) Donna Summer whose "I Feel Love" changed everything when it arrived in 1977.  I also hear shades of Cool And The Gang and the Gap Band. A fine vintage tune for the ages.

Bank Holiday Bunk

Eitan, Shaheen and Joe at Palewell Park

We head in to a 'bank' holiday weekend and that can mean only one thing: crap weather. It pisses down, too, and my friend Justin, in California, happily informs me "it's 45 degrees in London but feels like 39."  I wear  my winter coat.  Sonnet takes a hot shower to warm up, 8:40PM.  It is late May for Christ's sake.

"It gets your blood circulating."
--BBC presenter Steve Bradley psyches us up from the Chelsea Flower Show

Summer's Day (Almost)

7:45AM from Barnes Bridge, facing East

Sonnet and I share a walk this morning. I observe the tide is 'out' (some difference between low and hi tide).

Britain has always looked like a cloud to me, drifting from the continent, while my earliest thoughts of the country formed by Beatles' psychedelic: Gentle billowy floating across riverbeds and green fields. Today it lives up to that first impression.

Munir And Exams

Our friend Munir, with flag, who joined us along the KKH in '97. Munir is from Pakistan and, at the time of our trip, responsible for small business and commercial development along the highway.  Here he visits Silver and and Stan, who accompanied Munir along Alaska's Dalton Highway.

Some things Eitan will require for his year-end exams, which take place after the half-term break (Katie always suffered the Xmas holidays because Harvard insisted on having its finals post holidays) : a pen (and spare pens), pencils and a pencil sharpener, a ruler, a rubber, colouring pencils, a calculator, a protractor, a pair of compasses and a set square; the items " should be contained in a see-through pencil case or plastic wallet."  King Jr High was never so anal.

Aneta And A B'Day

Aneta's carrot cake

Here is Aneta, who joined us in September after an 18 hour bus ride from her small town in the Czech Republic.  Without her, our lives would be near impossible as she shuttles the kids to swim practice, jogs with Rusty, helps around the house and baby sitting and always with a smile.  In short, she keeps us running. God bless.

Sonnet turns a year and begins the day at Bikram yoga, 6:00AM.  She was to take the day off - why not ? - but decides there is too much to be done for her Italian exhibition and so reports to work. Yes, she's a worrier.

Watching Sonnet age is a joy. Not getting old, mind you, but knowing that we have shared this special time together in the vastness of it all. None of it makes sense but the continuity helps.

The Fonz or Eddie Hascell?

I love Eitan's long hair but he likes it short, so there you go.  There was a moment when Sonnet and I discussed the kids' hair : mostly because Madeleine wanted to cut most of it off.  We decided that, what the hell, it's theirs so they can do what they want with it. Even Brill cream.

Me: "Are you playing games on the computer?" (Dad's note: Madeleine plays games on the computer)
Madeleine:
Me: "Well, turn it off.  Why don't you be that kid who is always reading a book?"
Madeleine: "You always want me to be something I don't want to be."
Me: "It has nothing to do with that. I just want you to read."
Madeleine: "You're always trying to get me to read something I don't want to."
Me: "Never so."
Madeleine: "Yeah well what about that book about the bunnies?"
Me: "Watership Down?"
Madeleine: "It's about rabbits, Dad."
Me: "Fair enough."

"Experience The Exceptional"

The ugliest buildings in London?

The remarkable thing about One Hyde Park, with its Arabic scrawl and Rolex/McClaren showrooms not that it is the most expensive residential property in the world (in 2010, a penthouse went for £140 million). No, what is extraordinary is that it is empty.

The building replaced a ghastly 1960s urban concrete affair that blocked Knightsbridge from Hyde Park. An obvious place for the billionaire Candy Brothers to re build, which they did from 2006 creating a snarling traffic mess at the doorstep of Harrod's and the beautiful Mandarin Oriental making Central London and me miserable for five years. But what did they care ?

1HP comes with all the modern-day conveniences - bullet proof windows, 24 hour armed security, lock-down procedures and secure private access for the RR. In short, a military bunker for the nine residential addresses actually registered with the Westminster City Council for Council Tax.  The remaining units purchased by offshore corporates or Guernsey tax shelters as investment, never to be inhabited and leaving an otherwise vibrant neighbourhood empty.

"When council spending is under unprecedented pressure, it is scandalous that residents in luxury apartments can avoid their share of council tax liability."

--Westminster North MP Karen Buck

Harry's Voice

Me: "You are in our house every day."
Stephen Fry:
Me: "I am so grateful that you have made Harry Potter come to life in such a wonderful way. My children just love your voice." [Dad's note: There are 99 CDs covering the 7 Harry Potter books read by Stephen Fry]
Stephen Fry: "Well that is kind of you to say so. Thank you very much indeed."

Me: "Do you have a Harry Potter book?"
Eitan: "Is it for your blog?"
Me: "That damn wizard has been with us for ten years, putting a cold steel knife in to the heart of Spider Man and my bedtime stories."
Eitan: "Do I have to do this Dad?"

Self Portrait XXVIII

At 45

The Chinese have a saying or, at least I have been saying, that "at 45 you know your destiny."

Me: "What else happened this week? Anything interesting?"
Eitan: "Chelsea won the Europa League Final."
Aneta: "This week not interesting just Rusty."
Me: "Is that all we can do?"
Eitan: "I had a Spanish test today" (Dad's note: Eitan and Madeleine revising for their year-end exams)
Me: "How did it go?"
Eitan: "I forgot what I meant to say on one of my questions. Apart from that it was OK."
Me: "So you didn't ace it?"
Eitan: "No, but I did OK."
Me:
Eitan:

Springer

Rusty jumps

Sonnet to Florence tomorrow, me to France. Eitan has an away fb match on Wednesday and the English Schools Athletics Cup, Round 1, representing Hampton. Madeleine has swim practise.  To make this happen, we have four different rides, including our fabulous Aneta.

Contact The Elderly

William, age 98

I host a group of over-80s and a number of volunteers (Contact The Elderly a charity around since '65; last year they received the "Queen's Diamond Jubilee Volunteering Award").

Madeleine and I set up for 14 guests as Sonnet and Eitan at a swimming gala (the boy disqualified in his one race, the 200 IM, attempting to qualify for the regionals). Madeleine reluctant given, well, these people are old. Me, I am concerned that the dog will take someone down and bust up a hip.

We serve tea and cakes and talk about technology (none of the elderlies have used a mobile phone), Second World War (vivid memories of houses destroyed or war serviced) and travel : most never out of England. It is a lively group from Southwest London, and good for Eitan (who eventually arrives) and Madeleine to engage. Jean (age 8X) flirts and I give it right back.

Grace taught me a valuable lesson at Bay Village, Sarasota : she went out of her way to hug and touch the seniors, making them feel wanted and loved.

Rusty at 2.5

Eitan At 12

Since the week end, I sit in the kitchen w/ red wine playing 80s songs : Prince, Grandmaster Flash, The Time, Howard Jones and The Cure all get a turn.  I push myself with XTC, Thomas Dolby and The English Beat.

Me: "You are as skinny as a rail, kid."
Eitan: "Not really."
Me: "Do you remember Dave Ellis? We were both, like, 97 pounds until 10th grade."
Eitan: "I'm 98 pounds."
Me: "Yep."

Madeleine At 11

Friday again.

And no rest for the weary : Eitan at an all day swim gala, Madeleine, football and a birthday party; me, backyard chores while Sonnet and I split the driving.  Livening things up, our beloved Scot Pine losing another limb. To be on the safe side we call the fire brigade who show up inside three minutes, 10PM, to give the tree a once over.  The all-clear bestowed, an arborist called for tomorrow.