Steve, Lucy and 'Stella

I aspire to such photography, in this case Steve and Lucy's holiday greeting. It tells a story of something, no doubt, and despite the silliness is completely cool. On my own picture-taking: sadly the film apparatuses gather dust replaced (of course) by digital with its ease and this blog. The Old School developing took a considerable investment of time, several courses and a patient eye to reach the point where I could competently enter a dark-room and burn an image then work with a bunch of chemicals to produce something... beautiful, at least to me. No thrill quite compares to the first faint impression that forms on an otherwise pure glassy paper - followed by a final image as crystal clear as seeing the thing with thine eye. B&W is a tough passion without other time demands and whilst the Shakespeares offer a most excellent subject matter they and Sonnet are probably happy to have me around the week ends - at least, mostly. For now, I have chucked the hobby into a basket - along with tennis, War & Peace, surfing and other to-do's - that I will master whenever.

Eitan on his poem, which he fails to bring home to memorise over the holidays: "I had one good thought: as long as I am not chosen to go first.. .."

Madeleine struggles with subtracting '2s'; indignantly: "But only yesterday I was doing 1s!"

We have a discussion about Eitan's hero Ronaldo and I encourage the kids to shout out descriptive words.
Me: Strong, powerful, fleet-footed!
Eitan: Muscular, clever, burly, forceful!
Madeleine: Cheesy!

Self Portrait II

Eitan has has outgrown his Saturday football, a team he has been with since age-three. Consquently we explore competitive options and all I ask is that he visit several. Last week it was the Roehampton Rangers who seem fit and offer two excellent coaches; closer to home is the Sheen Lions (I have seen the dads scream from the sidelines: "Take him out! Take that kid out!" and I have yet to understand if this an automatic disqualifer or simply normal), Kew Park Rangers and the Barnes Eagles. The gorilla in our area is the Kingstonian Youth FC which is a standard chartered member of The FA or the governing body of English football. Plus they are sponsored by McDonalds so they must be legit. With >20 coaches and multiple-aged teams for boys and girls they certainly appear to be the real-deal and a tad intimidating. I am told that here is where a kid gets noticed, and tracked, from an early age if he is plenty good and wants to play for Manchester United. hmmm. Matches are every week-end - often at some distance - so I think our family structure about to change where ever the boy goes.

Yesterday, spent in Central London with a few meetings then Claridges Bar, I return with gifts: In Covent Garden I swoop a sweet pair of trainers for Sonnet and buy Madeleine oil paints and canvas. I also pick up colour print-film for her semi-automatic Pentax SuperME, which she has been playing with this year, which for my selfish reasons I would love for her to love. Eitan feels left out but I remind him of ManU vs. Chelsea on Sunday which he watched with pal Joe-Y-H. But back to trainers: only recently have I been turned onto the style and comfort of a fresh pair of kicks thanks mainly to Adam. The choice selection is huge and each intricacy a style point: low riders, retros, arch or flat bottoms, high tops, synthetic or canvas or combo and so on and so forth. The stores are filled with mostly teen-agers and some young 20-something hipsters all checking each other out and me checking them out. Yuf. A groups of girls fondles a pair of green and purple Nikes convincing themselves to do it: yes, fashion on the edge is pretty close to being silly and I am reminded of somebody jumping off the ten-meter platform. Are you just stupid enough to buy those purple shoes? In the end, the Nikes are out of stock and their is a collective groan ("I only want this one") which just goes to show the popular shoes are the last I would pick. Not sure if that says I am in-style or way, way out. Probably that.

Eitan writes a poem this morning

Moskito
Here I am.
A blundering blood-sucker,
A disgrace to humans,
A disgusting old wing beating wimp.
I stand on these shoulders which are as big as bolders,
I'll start sucking their blood as I get swatted around.

Work; And More On Private Equity

Us somewhere in the English countryside. The British go back to work today with a vengence: Chistmas trees on the sidewalk, traffic-jams, nerves jingle and all hustle-bustle. I watch serious fellows on their way to the train station with hands jammed into their Burburries, scarves wrapped tightly. I am glad not to be on that path, thank goodness. There are two times a year when this phenomena occurs: September, post summer recess when clocks fall-back for winter-hours, and now. In the US where holidays are generally two or three weeks the work-year remains flat - one is never really far from the desk. In London, executives and bankers scram during Christmas and summer seasons and the city's population, I am told, dips >10%. It is a good pattern too: always something to plan for and without the endless grind of it all. Sonnet enjoys five weeks at the V&A and me, well - I have as much goof off as I wish assuming the bills somehow get paid and I don't get bored. This on my mind for 2009 as it looks to be a dull year - nothing to get done in private equity as fundraising stops and portfolios marked down thanks to the financial crisis and recession. Our crisis really began several years ago from freely available bank-debt and rosey opinion of economic growth (to get the deal, brother. Many transactions done at four or even five times leverage). This has left many firms exposed - a recent industry survey suggests that >20% of the mega-buyout funds, which own a sizable chunk of the Western World, will fail. As noted before I think, private equity is the largest private employeur in the UK accountable for >1.2 million jobs directly (and a multiple of this indirectly). Last year the industry felt cozy given the 10 year life-span of a typical investment partnership but say good-bye to all that: today's accounting marks reduce portfolio value which threatens limited partnership support (though they are obligated to pay up their capital call)+LPs are under cash pressures themselves. Still, fortunes will be made: anybody buying distressed assets or sitting on cash will find great deals and within a few years the returns will follow.

"The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it is conformity."
Rollo May

"Is he the fat one?"
Madeleine Orenstein, pointing to a photograph of Henry V

Mint

I bought this comic book after school at Comics & Comics on Telegraph Avenue in 1976. I was in the fourth grade and remember like yesterday how excited I was to own the first-issue of a new Spider Man series. Even then I calculated what the thing might one day be worth - a hundred bucks? Enough for college? The comic, along with a stack of others probably indeed worth something, rests safely at my parent's house tucked away somewhere in the basement, each individually protected by special-made air-tight sealing plastic. One day I may re-read all or simply pass them along to Eitan or Madeleine should they show an interest. So here is what happened in #1 (thank you SpiderVillian.com):

This issue opens with Spider-Man snapping pictures of a speech by a vice-chancellor of his university. The speech is interrupted by the sudden appearance of The Tarantula and his goons who are there to kidnap the vice-chancellor. While Spider-Man swings in to stop The Tarantula, the goons manhandle the vice-chancellor to a waiting car. Flash Thompson rushes in to aid the vice-chancellor with Mary Jane looking on, but he is easily subdued by the goons. The Tarantula feigns unconsciousness in order to sucker punch Spider-Man and makes his escape on the back of the getaway vehicle leaving Spider-Man to flee a crowd of hostile students. Our hero returns to his original perch to find his camera smashed and in a fit of anger, injures his hand punching into a brick wall.

Peter Parker returns to his Chelsea apartment and runs into his neighbor Glory Grant. She tends his injured hands and ropes Pete into going out jump-hunting with her. They run into Mary Jane in the hallway, and the threesome wanders down to City Hall. Outside City Hall, Pete spots The Tarantula's getaway vehicle. Pete makes an excuse about visiting Aunt May in the hospital to go change into Spider-Man.

Cut to The Tarantula and his goons being dropped off in the basement of City Hall. Here it is revealed that The Tarantula has been hired by an unknown party to assassinate the Mayor in the guise of a bungled kidnapping. Spider-Man catches up with the trio and tangles with the two goons while The Tarantula ducks into the Mayor's special express elevator. Spider-Man dispatches the goons, and climbs the elevator shaft in pursuit of the The Tarantula. Spider-Man catches up as The Tarantula confronts the Mayor in his office. When Spider-Man dives and carries The Tarantula out of the office window, The Tarantula drags the Mayor out with them. Forced to rescue the Mayor, Spider-Man webs them both gentle to the ground, allowing The Tarantula to escape once again.

Oh, and by the way: that 30¢ Peter Park Spectacular Spider Man first-issue is today valued at $75 (comicspriceguide.com) or a simple annualised rate of return (ROI) of 754%.

Spinnaker Tower

Here is the Spinnaker Tower, which is 170 meters and located in Portsmouth. The tower's design was chosen by local residents and is meant to reflect Portsmouth's maritime history - modeled after a sail, of course. It is possible to go to the top of for a spectacular view of the coast+the glass floor puts one's gonads into one's stomach (from personal experience) though we don't go to the top this time. The thing was completed in 2005 at the centre of the waterfront's re-development and funded by the National Lottery (planning began in '95 and there were fits and starts around money- construction went over-budget and tax-payers had to foot the balance so that it did not stand half-mast; good thing the cost to stop work greater then its completion, oh boy). It seems to have worked as a stim-u-lator too as there are post-holiday shoppers and a bustle - not surprising as Portsmouth has the highest population density of any UK city including London. Go figure. Retail is mostly middle-brow: Gap, Cliftons, Marks & Spencer, Waterfords, Top Shop. . . and themed-restaurants galore. We settle for a faux Mexican surrounded by chili, mustachioed cowboys and cacti decorations. Madeleine orders a cheeseburger and Sonnet some kind of wrap while my burrito interpretation would offend anybody South of the Border- I bemoan the lack of Mexican food here. Concluding, we stroll to the great docks and HMS Victory as well as a number of Britain's war ships including an Aircraft Carrier which is a monster. This is the world's largest dry-dock and so at the center of British history and former empire.

I make the kids jam-butter-banana sandwiches on wheat bread; I overhear them discuss how awful my creation; so bad, in fact, Eitan reportedly cries (Eitan "did not Madeleine. You wouldn't even know!")

Madeleine, out of the blue: "Have you ever been sacked Dad?"

Eitan: "I wish I could be on (Chelsea's Frank) Lampard's training team so I could ask him if could swap to Man United."
Sonnet: "I wish I could be inside Eitan's head so I could say: Eitan, when are you going to pick up your room?"

Back To The Future

The Brits go mad over Darwin - or at least on the wireless - as we celebrate the 150th anniversary of perhaps the most profound gift to modern science: On The Origins of Species. Alongside the many, many volumes of new non-fiction dedicated to The Genius, the BBC presents 45 minutes of 9AM prime-time each day this week to Darwin's life legacy. I catch some of it driving to wherever - usually yoga or Waitrose - and it is a blessing of understanding into the man and his hardship. Consider that Darwin organised his work, post Beagle, in Cambridge which was then the centre of the Catholic aristocracy. Can you imagine those dinner parties? In a uniquely British way, that is a mixture of genius, snottiness and bull-dog tenacity (think Gibbons perhaps with his "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire"), Darwin accomplished his task barely nipping Wallace to the finish. Oddly, Darwin's theory delayed so he could complete proof via a comprehensive field test of a barnacle - in his day, any sea-faring fellow would know the barnacle and have some opinion on where it came from (usually not a pleasant place). By presenting something simple and knowable with a short-life span easily adapting to its own element, Darwin showed conclusively that he was onto something big. Finally, note Darwin's title which easily could have been "The Origins of Man" or homo sapien or even: God Is Dead. Darwin knew his work dangerous to many and like any good scientist he wanted his work to be accepted and debated - not rejected as heresay or perhaps worse. And so it has been.

Here is a quote by Darwin which sums up the Bush years; it is actually the reason why I have written this otherwise admittedly shallow blog of an otherwise great man:

“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.”

Portsmouth Go!

After visiting the stadium how can we not see a game? The next fixture is v. Bristol City in the first-round qualifier of the FA Cup, which Portsmouth won last year. Here Eitan draws a cheering-flag which he holds up whenever necessary - in this game, which ends nil-nil, flag stays mostly in lap. As we know (?!), Portsmouth is the UK's only island-city, located on the Portsea Island; they are commonly nicknamed Pompey (pronounced Pom-pee) which, not surprisingly then, is the name of their FC. The team is also known as 'the Blues' (a tad more macho), with their fans being 'The Blue Army'. The FC was founded 1898 by John Brickwood, owner of the local brewery and presumably keen on his distribution. More recently, Pompey moved into the Premier League four years ago posting 13th, 16th, and 17th positions, respectively, before being bought by Russian Tycoon Alexandre Gaydamak (grounds keeper Frank tells me he is never at the games). With large amounts of free cash-flow, the manager made record signings and the club finished 2006-2007 in the Premier League's top-half, only one point short of European qualification. In 2008, Portsmouth reached the FA Cup final for the first time since 1939. Tragically for the Orenstein household, The Blues beat Manchester United at Old Trafford and the following day became the only Premier League team left in the cup, following Cardiff's win over Middlesbrough. They held on to beat Cardiff City, earning them a place in the 2008-09 UEFA Cup, the club's first-time playing European football. Phew! Their first UEFA cup match resulted in an historic 2-0 victory over Vitoria SC and Pompey went on to win the aggregate (4-2). This put Portsmouth in the group stages for the first time in their history. Not a bad way for the club to celebrate its 110th year.

Eitan at Portsmouth Stadium watching Portsmouth play Bristol City: "I would rather be at Old Trafford."

Coach's Box

Visiting Portsmouth Eitan spies a sign for the FC and begs a visit to the stadium even though mid-week and most certainly deserted. An easy decision nonetheless. We park in an empty lot and investigate how to see (sneak onto?) the pitch and happily, I ask a ground's keeper - Frank- who sees the boy's excited face and cannot resist us. Frank, who must be in his late 60s, gives us a full-tour from personal experience: "I was com'n here when I was a laddy with my dad. We would be standing, usually, but now they've replaced our gally with seats." The stadium is one of England's oldest: >100 years. Unlike the chic, new and very modern Emirates stadium where Arsenal plays or the largest club stadium Old Trafford (Manchester United), Portsmouth compares well to those old grainy black-and-whites where the fans huddled closely together wearing wool ivy caps - their frozen breath somehow visible. The stadium holds less than 20,000 and until recently half that before modernising for the Premier League, where the squad is a sound middle-player. Frank shows Eitan the coaches box - pictured - and indicates where the players sit when out of action. Eitan gushes as he considers Sol Cambell (Portsmouth captain and England player), Peter Crouch and David James (Portsmouth and England goalie). I did not have to ask twice for this photo.

Sonnet and I to visit Bath last night for Dave and Tabitha's Twelth Night party, which we have attend nine years in a row. Unfortunately we cannot quite make the logistics work as our nanny remains in Italy for the holidays so Sonnet must go by herself- boo hoo for me missing both the party and a 5-star nearby hotel. Still, I love having the Shakespeares to myself and yesterday I pick them up from school with their pal Jackson and we head to the common for football despite the sub-freezing weather. Eitan, as usual, insists on shorts and light fair while Madeleine wises up and puts on tights. Jackson no dummy and bundles himself with a very large winter-parka. Everybody tired in the end and we hit the hay at 7PM, including dad.

Eitan, enthusiastically, this morning 5:45Am: "Dad! You have to wake up at 7AM!"

Madeleine spells 'cross': "C.. R.. O.. S.. . . . .K?"

Madeleine does her homework: "Math, math, math! That is all I ever do around here!"

On Water

The tide is out and we explore a bog, which is remarkably clean. I think about the Thames which was so foul that by 1858 sittings at the House of Commons, next to the river, had to be abandoned. Covering the windows with carpet, which was a defense, could not stop le stink. By the middle of 19th Century, the rise in sewage carried into the Thames via the Fleet river killed every single fish, and consequently all the birds that lived off them. London had 70,000 houses of which only 17,000 had their own wells; the rest relied on standpipes- one for every 20 to 30 houses- which supplied water for one hour only, three days a week. Few houses had bathrooms and even when Queen Victoria moved into Buckingham Palace, she found no bathrooms. (as late as 1908, Downing Street had no bathrooms BTW). All of Victorian London's waste and toxic water passed into the river, you see. Public bathhouses were popular which is an unimaginable horror - I am made squeemish by the old, over-chlorinated swimming pools. A series of cholera outbreaks in the 1840s and 1850s paved the way for a system of sewers built with the main outfall at Becton and Crossness, away from the central areas and leading to a dramatic drop in death rates (from 130 down to 37 per 1000). The first filtration plant for the Thames was built in 1869. As a further precaution, the Victoria, Albert and Chelsea embankments were built to speed the river and get rid of the putrid mud. The Victorians used the momentum to build further under London with the Underground railway and more sewers.

And here we are today using practically the same system. Improvements do happen though. Take our area Richmond: Thames Water is redoing all the clay-pipes at once, modernising with plastic and bendy fixtures attaching each and everyone's house. God only knows the cost but I am fascinated by the workmanship, which marches block-by-block through the neighborhood tearing up concrete roads and sidewalks, digging ever-deeper ditches and snaking tubes. For a while the kids and I would try to understand the process but soon its commonplace grew boring. This work happening everywhere in London BTW and long-overdue: Thames Water loses >2 billion gallons a day.

Sunset In Bosham

Last week I capture the sunset while we otherwise goof around in the small charming village of Bosham (pop. 2847) which was founded by the Romans who built a Mill Stream as there was no fresh water otherwise. The Mill Stream still exists and runs by the parish, which is mentioned by name in the Bayeux Tapestry, referring to the 1064 meeting of Harold and Edward the Confessor on the way to meet William of Normandy to discuss who would succeed Edward to the throne. I repeat the words below as I know they are of interest to Silver:

    "Ubi Harold Dux Anglorum et sui milites equitant ad Bosham"
    (Where Harold, Earl of the English, and his army ride to Bosham)

Eitan finds a group of kids playing football and shyly watches the action. I prompt him to join and he does, reluctantly, and then fully embraced by the kids and their dads who are working off some holiday glut (this Dad chooses to watch). Madeleine is more interested in the swans, ducks and sea gulls which I learn are becoming a menace in the UK since they are A) aggressive and B) well-fed thanks to the refuse. But why be a spoiler? Madeleine's loaf of stale bread goes a long way towards her popularity while Sonnet resists every instinct to bark: "Not so close to the edge!"
Speaking of the edge, the solar system is orbiting the centre of the Milky Way at a giddy 600,000 MPH or 100,000 MPH faster than the experts thought (reported in today's Popular Science). Astronomers have discovered that the Milky Way's mass is 50% greater, equal to the neighbouring Andromeda galaxy, which means there is an even liklier chance of our Milky Way colliding with other galaxies. As though we don't have enough to worry about.
What is equally interesting (to me, anyway) is how they measure such things: the American Astronomical Society in California first directed the Very Long Baseline Array radio telescope at some of the most prolific star-forming regions.
Because these areas have enhanced levels of radio emission, they act as "bright landmarks." Next they observe them when the Earth is at opposite sides of its sun-orbit, allowing astronomers to measure the slight shift in position between the star-forming regions and other distant objects. From there, measurements use the traditional surveyor's triangulation method, which I recall from Mr Griffon's tenth grade geometry.

Cool! (Mr Griffon was a terrific crotchety old man and a fabulous teacher. I needed an "A" on the final-exam to pull an "A" in the class. He handed me my result and winked: "You did it, kid. Nice job." Sadly, he died the year I left for college).

Belloc

NB I will post family pics tomorrow.

Eitan forgets his holiday homework, which includes (amongst other things) memorising Hilaire Belloc. Sonnet talks to a mum to get the assignment and Eitan pulls himself away from Manchester United vs. Southampton in a FA Cup qualifier to do his work. Remarkably, he knows the poem almost entirely from several readings - Madeleine and I watch his recital at the dining-room table, me with my mouth open:

"There was a Boy whose name was Jim;
His Friends were very good to him.
They gave him Tea, and Cakes, and Jam,
And slices of delicious Ham,
And Chocolate with pink insideAnd little Tricycles to ride,
And read him Stories through and through,
And even took him to the Zoo-
But there it was the dreadful Fate
Befell him, which I now relate.

"You know--or at least you ought to know
For I have often told you so--
That Children never are allowed
To leave their Nurses in a Crowd;
Now this was Jim's especial Foible,
He ran away when he was able,
And on this inauspicious day
He slipped his hand and ran away!

"He hadn't gone a yard when--Bang!
With open Jaws, a lion sprang,
And hungrily began to eat
The Boy: beginning at his feet.
Now, just imagine how it feels
When first your toes and then your heels,
And then by gradual degrees,
Your shins and ankles, calves and knees,
Are slowly eaten, bit by bit.
No wonder Jim detested it!
No wonder that he shouted "Hi!"

"The Honest Keeper heard his cry,
Though very fat he almost ran
To help the little gentleman.
"Ponto!" he ordered as he came
(For Ponto was the Lion's name),
"Ponto!" he cried, with angry Frown,
"Let go, Sir! Down, Sir! Put it down!"
The Lion made a sudden stop,
He let the Dainty Morsel drop,
And slunk reluctant to his Cage,
Snarling with Disappointed Rage.
But when he bent him over Jim,
The Honest Keeper's Eyes were dim.
The Lion having reached his Head,
The Miserable Boy was dead!

"When Nurse informed his Parents, they
Were more Concerned than I can say:--
His Mother, as She dried her eyes,
Said, "Well--it gives me no surprise,
He would not do as he was told!"
His Father, who was self-controlled,
Bade all the children round attend
To James's miserable end,
And always keep a-hold of Nurse
For fear of finding something worse."

Belloc (b. 1870- 1953) BTW was a French-born writer and historian who became a naturalised British subject in 1902. He was one of the most prolific writers in England during the early twentieth century. He is most notable for his Roman Catholic faith, which impacted most of his writing.

On Pizza

And here we are in 2009.

Any thought that the British recession might somehow lead to a healthier lifestyle gets an early knock: Domino's takeaway pizza is on the expansion as consumers down-grade from fancier restaurants or, more likely, stay at home watching T.V. The company's Q4, which will be announced this week, is expected to be strong following a 10.5% sales-increase for the first nine months of '08. Go England. Domino's, as all fast-food here, comes from America where it originated in 1960. For Britain, the joy commenced trading in '85 with the first store in Luton (a ghastly spot BTW offering a no-frills airport for the worst low-fare holiday-makers). By 2002 there were >200 Domino's in the UK and now there are >500. It astounds me that these Brits choose fast-food when there are better and more enjoyable alternatives - in our neighborhood, Basilico's delivers some of the best pizza I have eaten, excluding Naples Italy (Katie and I confirmed that firstly in '92). My uncle Larry (HBS '73) has a business school friend Dave D. who attended Harvard with one ambition: bring England pizza. And he did - by the time Dave sold his franchise to The Daily Mail & Trust, who was pursuing a diversified corporate portfolio strategy stupidly popular in the 1980s, he owned >100 restaurants. I met Dave several years ago in London where he retains a strategic role with DM&T and otherwise retired. I recall his retelling of his life's work and though he made his fortune in the '80s, which doesn't seem to far ago to me, he described it from another lifetime. I guess that is what happens. Well, in any case: there is no slowing Dominoes - the UK master franchise owns the right to sell signature pies like "Mighty Meaty" and "Texas BBQ" as well as the "cheesy double-stuffed crust." Could you ever bet against it?

Madeleine's all-time favorite food: pepperoni pizza.

Eitan's favorite pizza: La Reine at chain Pizza Express (Prosciutto ham, olives and mushrooms).

Dad's favorite: Salami at Pierro's Pizza on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley across from the UA Theatre (about ten-minutes from Chez Panisse). Pizza served in dark room on red checkered tables with ancient droopy candles+blue cheese salad having more dressing than lettuce. Sadly Pierro's closed maybe eight-years ago having opened in '73. For me, an irreplaceable Berkeley institution.

Meat pizza uncredited from the www.

Until '09

Sonnet and I take down the Christmas tree which goes to recycling this morning. Officially we are the second BTW. We shortly head for Sussex nearby the Goodwood estate where we will bottle up for a week+the New Year. We will stay at a country house (think green, rolling hills, sheep) and not too far from the sea. As we are without wireless I will not be taking my notebook. Hooray. So an old-school break - hmmm, wonder how we will fair? Sonnet has packed food as though for survival while we have our hiking gear and other exercise kit to boot - I understand there is a swimming pool in nearby quaint town Chichester and I plan to work out the Shakespeares. Madeleine meanwhile has her Kumon and is something like two weeks behind, poor her. To family and friends and anybody reading: Happy New Year and see you for 2009, when I will start blogging again, or before. Photo by Chris Hammerton.

Boxing Day

Boxing Day dates back centuries when it was the custom for the Commonwealth's richest to give gifts to their employees or people in a lower class, most especially to household servants and other service personnel. Here in ye Olde England, a more recent tradition is the Premiership which plays a full programme of matches - sorta like Detroit on Thanksgiving only our teams better to watch. This year's Bank Holiday is closely observed as the High Street is feared to go into the toilet thanks to the recession. All stores are discounting and attract they do: Oxford Street expects footfall at >half a million. Eitan and I brave the zoo (Madeleine recovers from last night) and we park the car at Hammersmith then wisely tube to Piccadilly Circus. In two words: mad house. Eitan is hell-bent on an official Premier League football at Lillywhites, the largest sport's store in London and blessed by HRH. We claw our way to the second level then push through Russians loading up on branded gear (it is always the Russians). We score and head for China Town and dim sum then more stores and more crowds.

I admit to struggling a bit with Eitan around a conversation - it is tough to get inside an eight year old who is otherwise inclined to keep things private or assumes I know already or finds it too much work to share. Our discussions, which I try not to force, concentrate on school pals, teachers, sports and football (of course) which gets his fullest reaction. I tell him anecdotes some hit and others don't. I am dead proud to take this handsome little kid around Mayfair but for him it is mostly work (I remember this age for sure) - he would rather practice his football and in fact cries hard tears realising the early sunset will keep us from the common. I feel bad and allow him to buy a DVD ("Kung Fu Panda - "an easy choice" he says - "It is my favorite") and we head home in better sorts.

I just do not get the (credit-card) spending and buzziness I see today. In one of the gloomiest reports yet for the UK’s finances, the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) predicts that the British economy could shrink >2.5% in 2009 as bank lending continues to stagnate and business investment slashed. That would be the biggest slump since '46 when the UK was wrestling with both a freezing winter and the effects of mass demobilisation after the Second World War.

Gordon MacRae And A Correction

"Oklahoma," which remains on my mind, gave us many great songs and Gordon MacRae - the fabulous singer and gayest cowboy on film. Ever. Period. The movie starts with MacRae's character clopping on his white horse singing "Oh What A Beautiful Mornin" in a bright tangerine red shirt and silk neck handkerchief. His gun holster hangs suggestively and his pants packed. Tight. Sonnet and I love it. Anyway, I am prompted to re-visit the opening song because Moe corrects me that "When I awakened you and Katie early in the morning for swimming I always said 'It's Uppy, Uppy Time' and "It was only when we shortly thereafter arrived at the King Pool (early, of course,) that I broke out in the refrain, 'Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day, I got etc.' To be fair, I only imposed this on the two of you on the bleakest, darkest, rainy, windy and miserable days, as we collectively waited for the pool to open. This effort at pleasantry on my part was also, I am afraid, not fully appreciated by you or Katie." Ah yes - it somehow feels like yesterday.

Eitan indignantly to me: "You always get to do what you want to do. Watch TV. Go into town. Eat a taco."
Me: "Eat a taco?"
Eitan: "Yeah, or whatever."

Ze Rat

Eitan and I go for a walk and, given that we are up all night with Madeleine's stomach bug, I ask him: "do you know the difference between a bacteria and virus?" He looks at me quizzically so I try to explain but stumble. Here is the answer: "The differences between viruses and bacteria are numerous. "Viruses are the smallest and simplest life form known. They are 10 to 100 times smaller than bacteria. The biggest difference between viruses and bacteria is that viruses must have a living host - like a plant or animal - to multiply, while most bacteria can grow on non-living surfaces.

"Also, unlike bacteria, which attack the body like soldiers mounting a pitched battle, viruses are guerrilla fighters. They don't attack so much as infiltrate. They literally invade human cells and turn the cell's genetic material from its normal function to producing the virus itself.

In addition, bacteria carry all the machinery needed for their growth and multiplication, while viruses carry mainly information - for example, DNA or RNA, packaged in a protein and/or membranous coat. Viruses harness the host cell's machinery to reproduce. In a sense, viruses are not truly "living," but are essentially information (DNA or RNA) that float around until they encounter a suitable living host." Well, this is more information than any of us need so suffice it to say Sonnet and I comfort Madeleine and make sure she feels loved and looked after- it is traumatising for the poor child, no doubt. No they watch "Ratatouille" a movie about a rat who becomes a chef, allow me to say en francais, "ze raht is in ze kitchen." Try it- guaranteed addictive. Photo from Disney.

Buddy 93 Scores!

We walk in the Isabella Plantation after "My Fair Lady" and "Oklahoma" where I am surprised to know every single song despite having never seen the Rogers and Hammerstein before. The song I know best is the opening ballad "Oh What A Beautiful Morning" which Moe sang every morning at 5:30AM waking me and Katie for swim-practice. Thank you Moe. Richmond Park is otherwise shut-down for the winter and the gardens mostly out of bloom excluding a small number of winter flowers and shrubs. Madeleine brings along yet-to-be-named Buddy number 93 who we can see here going for a strike on goal. From Richmond Eitan begs me for more football so we conclude at Sheen Common for pick-up. Madeleine earns 15 quid BTW catching me or doing various exercises - the money makes it exciting for both of us and probably not a good plan but hey, whatever motivates. Meanwhile Karen and Andrew arrive with two of their three goosing Christmas gifts like an electric scooter (Jackson) and new bike (Lauren). Jackson is a fleet foot and we play sides until the sun is well-set, though Eitan enters a huff about leaving. The kid would play 24/7 if he could.

Madeleine and I leave the common, which is dark and rather spooky. Me to her: "If you don't hurry up - ghosts."
Madeleine: "No such thing as ghosts, Dad."
Me: "Of course there are."
Madeleine, matter of factly: "There aren't. I know."
Me: "Well, do you believe in Santa Claus?"
She: "Of course I do." Long pause. "And he is not a ghost."

Sweetie Pie

Sweetie Pie takes one for the team - here she is with mom. Katie, too, spends Christmas Eve and Day in Berkeley and sends me this and other cat photos.

Erik, who is from Michigan, and I have a lengthy discussion about the auto-bail-out and generally I have not been for it. After Erik, I feel somewhat differently - sure, Detroit has done some stupid things and not changed with the times. For instance, Ford, GM and Chrysler sued California and Arnold Schwarzenegger for raising minimum efficiency in California to 22 MPG by 2016. They won, instantly ceding the world's largest car market China which today requires >40 MPG. Further we know the UAW has been as difficult partner and unwilling (or able) to cede compensation to compete with the nips who are younger, better run and with less legacy. But then there is this: Wall Street gets >$700 billion for outright fraud while anybody paid excessive bonuses through 2006 while devising a house of destruction have ripped off the country. And worse- many of these bastards are getting bonused this year with our bail-out money. And most of the same bonusing institutions are paying dividends in '08 from our taxes (Lehman's Fuld over last five years: >$200 million, most cashed out). Get real. Detroit employs >1 million Americans, who work damn hard, and probably another two million indirectly. On average, their cost is $70 per hour (vs. $40 for the Japanese) and a yearly wage may be $60K. This is well over America's per capita income but certainly no lavish lifestyle. Worse, many foreign autos with plants in the United States have been subsidized to be in the US'A with tax breaks and other incentives. For Washington (and mostly the Republicans) to kiss off the country's most important manufacturing companies, nor provide support for auto-purchase financing via GMAC or others, while directly supporting foreigners and the Wall Street rip off is a fiasco. And should we be surprised with Paulson, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs humping the dog? He and Bush - heck of a job. Erik wonders why Michigan doesn't break away from the Union and join Canada. Preposterous but then... perhaps not so.

On December 21 interviews, Cheney notes that FDR and Lincoln did things far worse than he and the Bush Administration's over-reach regarding the U.S. Constitution and things like torture during a war-time. May I point out that FDR imprisoned Japanese Americans while Lincoln suspended habeous corpus when civilians demanded protection from arbitrary arrest and the right to protest the conduct of the Civil War? These are some of the darkest moments in American history so way to set the bar Dick. I congratulate you.

.

Sonnet ponders choosing a football team in the Premier League.
Sonnet: "Maybe it will be West Brom (worst in the league). They could use some support."
Eitan: "Are you crazy? It will take them ages. How about Liverpool? or Arsenal?" (interestingly not Man U which is maybe too personal somehow?)
Madeleine: "How about that team that has that guy?"
Eitan: "That's Manchester United. And you mean Cristiano Rinaldo."
Sonnet: "Well maybe I'll go with Arsenal - that's dad's team."
Eitan: "That is a strange way to choose a team."

Jolly Merry

Eitan and Madeleine arise at 6AM and race into our room - presents! I tell them to go downstairs and watch cartoons or whatever. We agree to join them in 45 minutes. Groan. Sonnet is up and and about and soon we are sitting before a fire and the kids squealing with delight: "A Manchester United calendar! Just what I always wanted - I can't wait for January!" and "A Manchester United travel kit! And a Cristiano Rinaldo comforter!" and Madeleine: "Another buddy - that makes 93!" and "Coloring books! and an artist kit!" (I get Sonnet a music player which I load with my favorite songs and some opera too). We listen to Diane's "A Merry Little Christmas" where she sings the classics like "Santa Baby," "I'll Be Home For Christmas," and "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" (Diane, who has a wonderful, rich voice, made the CD with proceeds going to the Miracle Kids in Northeastern, PA). After breakfast Sonnet now reads the kids Harry P and we will soon go to the park for an afternoon stroll to burn off some energy and prepare indoor movies and such activities. London is appropriately grey and a cold-front moves in adding to the "festive season." I would venture the good majority of houses in our area have lights, trees and holiday wreaths on their door. Thank you to our family and worldly friends who have sent us and the kids presents, holiday cards and love and warm wishes. Thank you!

Painting of Chelsea and the Battersea Bridge by Doug Myers.

"Ho! Ho! Ho!"
Santa

Duck

Madeleine's no dummy and she ducks (ar ar) when I ask her if she wants to join me to pick up the Christmas bird. Like last year and the year before, the line stretches down the block and it takes >2 hours before we get into the butchers. We are rewarded happily with an 11 pounder (on reserve) plus all sorts of gore like bacon, sausage and mince meat. Eitan and I eye the saw and various knives assembled on the cutting board, which has soaked up blood. The British do know their meats. Standing in line I say hello to the neighborhood as we are all in the same place. Eitan amuses himself with some sprints then gets board then practices some maths then gets bored again then reads the sports pages and bored and so it goes. Now I blog when I should be exercising or something. Or focused on the kiddos so I will jump off. Merry Christmas!

Me to Madeleine: "Do you think Santa is fat?"
Madeleine: "Dad! Don't even say such a thing! Of course he's not!"
Me: "Ok but he is definitely chubby."
Madeleine: "Stop it! He'll hear you!"
Eitan: "Well, maybe not fat but jolly. He is definitely jolly."

Me: "And those elves are pretty skinny. Do you think they eat much?"
Madeleine gives me the evil eye.
Eitan: "They are not skinny. They are just small. They're just elves, Dad."
Madeleine: "Maybe we can leave them some food with Santa."