And The World Goes Round

Shoe Shop

Shoreditch

"On the map, Shoreditch looks pretty much like everywhere else in the great stew of London. But behind the mild-mannered street plaan lies a raving exhibitionist. Shoreditch has more in common with Brooklyn than it does with Islington. It's been dropped here from the planet me, me, me. It's so cool, so vain, so self-obsessed that it's twinned with itself. Shoreditch is granny's knick-knack cabinet of china ornaments, all of them reborn as irony."

AA Gill's description Shoreditch pretty much nails it. Sonnet and I check out antique furniture from the 1950s to modern household trotchkees. I buy a Finnish-design staple remover and the bearded cashier in espadrilles tells me: "good purchase" without showing an emotion. His co-cashier dressed exactly the same in a Chinese modernist kind of style. I take note.

From there we hang out in Hoxton Sq, which is filled with lush trees and surrounded by bars, coffee houses and companies called "M2".  Hoxton become Übercool when the gays moved in probably about the time we arrived in London. It was urban, cheep and accepting; now it is expensive: a 2 bedroom flat goes for at least £1 million and loft-like accommodations up to £3M. Since the afternoon sunny, the square filled with loungers and nappers and for an instant I can picture myself living here. Then I can't.

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Dave Ellis arrives from the US with his family

Forty-Five 45 XLV 3^2*5

Another day, another year . Yes, 45 which I  suppose a milestone since it is on a sequence of fives.  Usually I am rather melancholy on my birthday but today different : first off, it is sunny for  the first time in, like, months. My morning begins in Eitan's classroom helping friend Lorena teach a business module on starting and financing a company (I am the venture capitalist which means Eitan's group chooses the bank loan ...). From there I meet Sonnet for lunch at hole-in-the-wall Viet Namese in East London ; we have soft shelled crabs and other unrecognisable things that are delicious. Then we explore Hoxton and Shoreditch, where Sonnet takes this photo.

Chas's Wedding - 1996

All Stars

Eitan's All Stars win their home tournament, including 120 teams covering all ages, in fine fashion going 3-1-1 in the qualifying rounds followed by tight games in the quarter and semi-finals against Staines Albion and Carshalton.  The tension elevates as the boys progress - at least, elevates on the sidelines. The oos and ahs fairly contained compared to Brixham but then, this is Surrey, one of the civilised 'home counties'.  The final against Cheam, a good team with an oversized goalie who dwarfs the net and,  despite his extra weight, leaps into the air to make several spectacular, game changing, saves.  Our boys go up 1-nil but the equaliser falls shortly after the half (in the back of my mind I think : PKs and poor Eitan. No kid wants this kind of drama).  Coach yells at our strikers to hit low and hard and Rob puts one in for the 2-1 victory. Elm Grove hang on to the last three minutes including a sure-goal by Cheam which clanks off the post. The cup ours.

Bob

Bob the father-in-law of Elm Grove coach Marc and Grandfather of Denise, a fiery midfielder.  Bob also a retired postman who walked the beat for 30 years, rain or shine.

On the football pitch.
Phil: "When I was police we used to see all kinds of horrible things with drink and driving. I was called out to 34 fatalities around here.  You don't forget that sort of thing."
Bob: "When they made drink and drive illegal, the coppers got quite particular about things, pulling people over, giving them a warning. I couldn't be bothered."
Me: "When was that ? "
Bob: "1966. So I quit driving."
Phil: "You gave up your license ?"
Bob: "Of course I didn't. I keep it right here in me pocket."
Phil: "That expired . .. 45 years ago."
Bob: "It's still a license though isn't it ?"
Me: "Have you had a drink since then?"
Bob: "Oh heavens me yes. Why do you think I stopped driving ?"

Bob: "I see you enjoy reading there."
Me, reading 'War and Peace":
Bob: "I read a good one once. 'The Worm That Forgave The Plow.'"
Me: "The Worm That Forgave The Plow' ? "
Bob: " The Worm That Forgave The Plow.' "
Me: "I've not heard of it."
Bob: "It's a story about the Second World War, written in 1939 .. ."
Me: "So when England declares war on Germany then?"
Bob: "It's a real corker. About how a farmer learns how to forgive his enemy.. ."
Me:
Bob: "Of course we bombed Germany like nobody's business. .."

Chocolate Pie

Eitan loves to cook. It is has been a passion, right up there with football, for as long as I can remember (Sonnet recalls baking pancakes with Eitan who would stand on a chair to reach the counter. He was two).  Now the boy makes a chocolate pie, pictured. I ask why he enjoys cooking ? "I like everyone's reaction if they like it."

Madeleine shops with Sonnet: "Can I get dad a present? "
Sonnet: "For Father's Day? Of course.. ."
Madeleine: "I am going to get him this bag of Coca Cola gummy bears. .. "

Madeleine enters my bedroom as I read:  "Dad, I got you a present a day early. Do, you want to open it now ?"
Me: "Sure, honey, that was nice of you."
Madeleine: "You might not like it though. It's Coca Cola gummy bears."
Me:
Madeleine: "Do you like it?"
Me: "I like that you got me a gift, which was very thoughtful of you." 
Madeleine: "So you don't like Coca Cola gummy bears."
Me: "They are not my favourite."
Madeleine: "Well if you don't like them, I can always have them."
Me: "Good idea. Why don't you take them."
Madeleine: "OK."
Me: "And thank you again for my gift."
Madeleine: "You are welcome."
Me to Sonnet: "That one was win-win."
Sonnet: "That kid is more clever than we give her credit for."

Synthpop

Madeleine and I walk the dog on way to drama class (don't be fooled by the sunshine as it rains as I write).  I use these opportunities to discuss topics a couple years ahead of their time (or maybe not) : sex, drugs and rock and roll. As ever and every kid, she is mortified that I may raise such subjects, especially outside, where anybody can hear us though nobody inside a quarter mile. That's the way it goes : better educated and awkward than the other way.

Eitan and Georgia filled with joy as they learn swim practise cancelled (unfortunately, the discovery made at Crystal Palace and a 6:30AM wake-up call).  This continues the good vibe from last night's England-Sweden Euro Cup match which the three lions win 3-2 in an exciting game with us down 2-1 in the second half.  Sonnet marks the living room for a carpet and some furniture.  I drink coffee and listen to the Human League's "Don't You Want Me Baby" on Spotify - a classic, of course, but I was ridiculed for seeing them in concert in '98 or '99 with ABC ("Look Of Love" and "Shoot That Poison Arrow (Through My Heart)") and Heaven 17 ("Temptation").  So Eighties synthpop. So fine.

Eitan: "Will you stop dancing. Please."

"If you judge a book by the cover,
Then you'd judge the look by the lover
I hope you'll soon recover,
Me I go from one extreme to another"

--"Look of Love", ABC (1981)

Post Facto

Sonnet and her colleague Oriel - the two have been together since the Courtauld Institute of Art.

Me: "Do you and Eitan discuss me and your mother ?"
Madeleine: "No ?"
Me: "Katie and I used to talk about your Grandparents, but I think that was more like in college.  One day it will be the most interesting thing in the world to you and your brother, discussing all those things your mom and I did to mess you up."
Madeleine: "Yeah, like wearing a cow suit to school so we had to pretend you weren't our Dad."
Me:
Madeleine: "Or that time you were pushing me on the swing and I fell off and there were two big bruises on my bottom."
Me: "Yep. Or when I asked you to pull up your pants, when I really meant trousers, in front of all you friends."
Madeleine: "Or remember that time when you were in my class and you said 'let me get a little more comfortable' then you took off your trousers."
Me: "I did ? "
Madeleine: "You were telling a story about surfing or something. I nearly died."
Me: "Boy you and Eitan are going to have a lot to talk about."
Madeleine: "Yep."

Final Days

Eitan coasting his last two months of primary school. I learn they are no longer doing maths nor English or history instead focusing on the year-six production (a play the seniors put on each year) and the yearbook. It does raise my eyebrow yet he and Madeleine have earned an easy summer. September will be a splash of cold water.

Sonnet, over dinner: "What do you guys think about changing our diet and making it healthier ?"
Madeleine: "Like no treats?"
Sonnet: "No more chocolate. Or ice cream."
Eitan: "You mean Dad's diet. .."
Sonnet: "No more biscuits"
Me: "Finished those last night."
Eitan: "See?"
Sonnet: "And replace white flour with whole wheat flour."
Me: "There goes our favorite pizzas."
Madeleine, Eitan:
Me: "No more chips and salsa . ."
Eitan:
Me: "Hummus and salty peanuts. ."
Eitan: "Only you eat those things."
Me: "After dinner cheese . .."
Sonnet: "You sent me an email saying to hide all the junk food ... ."
Madeleine: "So why are you punishing us?"

Harvey Nichols

Harvey Nics in Knightsbridge has their yearly 50% sale - presumably so exciting that the female model and, by association, all women, wet themselves in anticipation of buying their designer labels cheap (the ad cropped in later additions of The Times). This from the purveyors of taste and good style.

515

Eitan and Madeleine participate in their last borough championships on a lovely sunny morning (a brief respite from the miserable spring weather we have so far not enjoyed).  The competitions opened by our handsome young MP Zac Goldsmith, a conservative Tory who has done more than perhaps anybody to block the Heathrow third-runway. God bless. Both kids compete the 600-meters "long distance" race and it is interesting to see the inexperienced athletes blast off then collapse by the straight-away; a hard lesson learnt.  Madeleine blasts off and finishes in a dog fight for first, second or third place - last year she was pipped at the end of her heat so her goal to win.  She is all determination and a real street-fighter on the track, which makes me proud. In the end, she ties for second; later on she is first in the sprints. Superstar.

Eitan , for his part, hangs back and allows the front-runner to do the hard work. He throws in his kick with 150 meters to go and wins handily.  Sonnet and I return to work despite the sunshine.

A Moving Comedy

By New York and SF friend Celine Gouillou.

Self Portrait XXVI

Le Bain De Mer

I snap this photo from an ad on the Paris Metro where I am this late evening.  The contrast with the otherwise disinterested Parisians interests me  : "you can have this," the bather suggests (or maybe even "you can have me").  Do they want it, skipping between tunnels, no natural light ? London's underground ads are less nude.

So this puts me in the frame of .. age nine : Donovan (a bad kid whose parents were hippies) and I used to bike on our choppers ( baseball cards in spokes) to 7-11 on Solano for super-hero Slurpees and comic books and a brief scan of Playboy which, back then, was not behind the counter requiring an adult engagement. This my first look at a woman's figure. How innocent compared to a few clix on the Internet.  From then to the metro : that glance remains as fascinating as ever.

The family hunkers down to watch "Rambo" which has captured Madeleine's imagination (being rated '15'  gives the film further cred).  Despite all the retreads and subsequents, Stallone created two indelible heroes : Rocky the underdog and Rambo the forgotten vet. Both use violence to express themselves and we root for them all the way.

Boot Camp

Madeleine joins the commandos for Zac's birthday party.

And, since nobody seems to really care, here is Britain currently at war: British troops have been based in Afghanistan since the US-Led invastion in 2001. Currently, under Operation Herrick, the Army maintains troops in Camp Souter, Kabuul and a brigade on 6-monthly rotation in the southern province of Helmand, mostly based in Camp Bastion and forward operating bases. In late 2009, the resident brigade is 11 Brigade. This brigade has previously served tours in Afghanistan. In 2009, the then Secretary of State for Defence Bob Ainsworth announced British troop numbers in Afghanistan to increase by 500 to a new high of more than 9,500 by late 2009 (from BBC news).

"What I have said is, people in Britain should understand we're not going to be there in five years' time, in 2015, with combat troops or large numbers because I think it's important to give people an end date by which we won't be continuing in that way."
--David Cameron, UK Prime Minister

"We should be thinking in terms of decades."
--Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles,  Foreign Secretary's Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan 

"Can we watch Rambo?"

--Madeleine

Lady Helen Melons

The Lady Helen Taylor (Helen Marina Lucy Taylor, nee Windsor, born 28 April 1964) is a first cousin once removed of Queen Elizabeth II. She is the great-granddaughter of King George V and is in the line of succession to the British throne.  Her nickname is 'Melons' because of her ample bosom.

Madeleine Reports

Yep, Friday.  Madeleine reads me her first assignment, pictured - a three page story - about a creature she names 'Eric' : not quite human , not quite Stuart Little. Our dear still owes me a book report by this evening of the same length , which may prove problematic as she is (cleverly) at Zac's all-day birthday party.  Eitan, for his part, has yet to crack War And Peace (recall he is tasked with a five page written assessment on the first chapters) and he groans when I remind him it is also due today.  We haggle a bit (he, indignantly : "How can I write five pages about 50 pages ?") and I relent , allowing him to choose the book which will probably be "The Hunger Games" which he re-reads.

I had to do these sorts of things once or twice for Moe and Grace : I remember one miserable summer afternoon writing about the great white shark which was mostly a retelling of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Am I stronger for it today ? You bet.

"The great white shark is a species of shark.  This fish is a good swimmer and is the world's largest predatory fish.. Great white sharks have about 3,000 teeth, arranged in many rows. The first two rows of the teeth are used for grabbing and cutting the animals they eat, while the other teeth in the last rows replace the front teeth when they are broken, worn down, or when they fall out. The teeth have the shape of a triangle with jags on the edges. Great white sharks eat fish and other animals, for example seals and sea lions."

--The great white shark from the Encyclopedia Britannica

The Illustrated Man (1920-2012)

I discovered Ray Bradbury, who has died age 92, in seventh grade 'reading period' (twenty minutes between morning classes) at King Jr High. Most of the kids goofed or napped but I could not wait to dive into 'The Rocket' or 'The Long Rain' : Astronauts stranded on Venus, where it rains non-stop. The men make their way towards a "sun dome" - a shelter with a large artificial light source. The first one they find destroyed by the Venetians. Searching for another sun dome the men driven to madness and suicide by the unrelenting rhythm of the rain.  By the end, only one sane astronaut remains (and finds a functional sun dome).

I still mull this over in my mind from time to time before falling asleep.