Levin

Thinking of last night's opening, I use my mobile to snap this strange horse-manequin on rue due Faubourg St-Honore in Paris where I am staying in the 8th. The shop is Levan and other window-displays show a well presented gentlemen with a rooster's head. And a dressed-to-the-nines goat with a snake on his lapel. Go figure. But hey, if it sells it sells.

Eitan is sad that I am away tonight but cheers up when Aggie takes the kids to McDonalds and Mr Bean, a new movie showing at the Richmond Odeon. Sonnet arrives home at a reasonable hour with plenty of sunshine to focus on Eitan and Madeleine and unwind from New York Fashion Now. Me, I have a drink at the swank l'Hotel Costes surrounded by models and the uber attractive then head back to Le Faubourg to have dinner and finish some work.

This morning on Radio 4 Eitan heres about Virginia Tech where 33 are murdered. While we filter most adult news, the outside world encroaches and he is curious.

New York Fashion Now

Sonnet at the V&A. Her dress by Osman Yusefada, London.

Sonnet's Big Show last night opened without a hitch. The press and celebrity arrived in high spirits for the museum's fashion and sipped vodka fizzies under the Chihuly chandelier. In the house were Tom Ford, Ya Ya Yas and David Furnish. Sonnet was interviewed by Suzy Menkes of the International Herald Tribune. Of importance to Sonnet, many of her designers made it to London happy to see their couture in bright lights. Bravo.

KT

Katie at Kelly Flynn's wedding last month at Barney's, New York.

Did you know?

Over 80% of those working in central London travel to work by public transport compared to 14% in Great Britain as a whole.

Over three million trips a day are made on the London underground system. Over 5.4 million trips are made by bus each day in London.

Overseas visitors spend over £100million on London's tubes and buses and account for 25% of taxi fares.

HAL

A CCTV camera that can detect potential criminals, then follow their movements, is being tested in shopping centers in the U.K. This following the recent announcement that CCTV will be hooked up to bull-horns. The so-called "Bug" is fitted with a ring of eight cameras which record a panoramic view of the street below. The footage is scanned by software that "identifies 50 behavioral traits" and determines whether someone is acting "out of the ordinary." When a suspect is spotted, a ninth camera automatically locks on to them and follows their movements. Their are 4.2 million CCTV cameras in Britain, or one-fifth of the world's total. Comments Simon Davies, director of Privacy International: "We do not know what the psychological impact will be on the population."

Hard Knock

A sunny afternoon yesterday and Eitan must decide what he wants to do: backyard gardening, football at the common, quiet play in his room... he chooses none so I drag him to the drug store. He is clearly pissed off and I tell him: "In life, if you don't decide somebody will take the decision for you."

Mitch and I go to quasi metal band The Deftones at the Brixton Academy in South London. The Deftones are from Sacramento, cA, and influenced by hip hop. Their music is loud and satisfying . I get home around midnight buzzy and tone-deaf. Sonnet takes a pass on this one - which is just as well as she would have bolted for sure.

Sesame St

Katie enjoys the Upper West Side sunshine with a neighborhood friend. She has received a considerable positive feedback to her New York Times profile and the Women Op-Ed project. Last week she dined with Phil Donahue and his wife Marlo Thomas, the creator of "Free To Be You and Me" which Katie and I listened to as kids and Madeleine and Eitan experience now.

My Little Girl

Madeleine is in a good mood this morning as it is is spring and Silver and Stan are in town with presents and attention. Yesterday we play in Hyde Park with the grand-parents and Uncle Anthony sporting the latest cool facial hair. The only downer occurs when I exuberantly push Madeleine on the swing and... she falls off! The tears. The pain. The guilt. The playground's mums are like meercats: heads pop up and point directly at me. Madeleine hams it up and is only placated with a hug and promise of ice cream. For shame.

In this photo, she counts her coins separating Euros, pounds and US. She knows the equation: money = candy.

Antwerp

This image is the cover-page passport of Heyman and Catharina, the parents of my French instructor and friend Suzette, who has been kind enough to share a copy with me and allow me to poste it here. Heyman and Catharina are Jewish and their documents date-stamped to expire January 7, 1941. It allowed the family to leave Antwerp for, eventually, Britain and the remainder of the war. The Benelux countries were invaded by the Nazis on May the 10th 1940 and Antwerp Jews shared the same fate as the other Jewish people in Nazi-occupied countries: many were transported to the concentration camps. The Nazis were frequently angered by the 'soft' attitude of the Belgians towards the 'Jewish Problem'. Indeed, a lot of Belgians managed to save Jewish children by hiding them in schools, monasteries, sometimes by 'adopting' them into their own families.

Trumpet

"PVC and steel" by Anish Kapoor was on display at the Tate Modern from October 2002 to April 2003 as part of the Unilever Series. Looking like a giant cochlear space-ship, the thing occupied the entirety of the museum's turbine hall or 200 meters by 35 meters. This image from a post card and photo taken by John Riddy.

Stan and Silver arrive today and Madeleine is up at the crack-of-dawn and full of anticipation. I note that this is the first time that she has seen the sun-rise, which she contemplates for a moment: "but I have seen the sun-set and that is like the same thing." Smart kid.

Shades

Madeleine with my presciption sunglasses.

People often confuse the names for this country, and frequently make mistakes in using them. United Kingdom, UK, and Britain are all proper terms for the entire nation, although the term Britain is also often used when talking about the island of Great Britain. The use of the term Great Britain to refer to the entire nation is now outdated; the term Great Britain, properly used, refers only to the island of Great Britain, which does not include Northern Ireland. The term England should never be used to describe Britain, because England is only one part of the island. It is always correct to call people from England, Scotland, or Wales British, although people from England may also properly be called English, people from Scotland Scottish, and people from Wales Welsh.

New Twenty

This year we get a new £20 banknote in pretty purple and Adam Smith to boot. I learn that the Bank of England has been issuing notes for 310 years and the first were security documents, handwritten, providing the bearer with evidence that they had a claim on the Bank. Only in the past 50 years has the design of the banknote attempted security. For instance, to prevent counterfeiting, Shakespeare became the first historical character to appear on a banknote in 1970. Other notables include George Stephenson, Charles Dickens, Michael Faraday, Elisabeth Fry, Charles Darwin, Sir Edward Elgar and Sr John Houblon (I know four). The banknotes have a contoured edge on its metallic thread and windowed metallic thread, an ultraviolet feature, a strip of holograms, micro-lettering and a "see-through" register that, when held up to light, produces coloured irregular shapes that combine to form the pound sterling symbol. In 2006 among £38B worth of notes, £8 million worth of counterfeits found, most of them twenties.

Ten Quid

The kids take their hard earned dough to Woolworths to do some shopping (the next two weeks are school holiday). Eitan is forced to make a decision: to have ten pounds in his pocket or to not have ten pounds in his pocket. Of course he decides the former so Aggie has to coax him into buying something, which he does reluctantly purchasing a plastic torch, some papers and a crayon. Madeleine does not hesitate: Mr Potato Head is hers with £1 to spare. She has been in love with Potato for some time and simply glows having him and the Missus in her possession. This morning she shouts: "Come see! I've put the feet where his ears should go!" Today Aggie takes the kids horse-back riding in Richmond Park.

Sonnet Sets Up

Sonnet and colleague Mark arrange New York Fashion Now for the 16 April opening. In all, cutting edge from 20 NYC designers will be on display and Sonnet has brought them together.

We end the Easter weekend with our friends Scott and Cindy Burns and Mike and Molly Beauregard for dinner then a late night drink at Claridges. Scott I know through Brown as he is a member of the Board of Trustees. Scott is also on the acquisition committee of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Mike is a partner at Huron Capital, a private equity firm in Detroit and Molly is a professor of psychology. All of us at various stages of parenting or careers and it is fun to compare notes.

Fun in the Hebrides

Angus MacNeil, 36, and the Scottish National Party's anti-sleaze champion and credited with blowing the whistle on the cash-for-honours affair now dogging Tony Blair was forced to issue a public apology Sunday after having a "drunken romp" with two teenagers. Otherwise Mr MacNeil is a sheep farmer in the the remote outer Hebrides. One of the un-phased girls Ms Morrison says: "We both kissed him and there was heavy petting. He was excited but we did not have full sex - we were all too drunk" saving, I might add, Mr MacNeil's political career if Washington DC is the standard. Morrison, and her female partner Ms. Watt, now study at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music in Glasgow. Ms Morrison's father is (of course) the daughter of a Church of Scotland minister who is one of the Queen's chaplains. What fun!

Bank Holiday Weekend

This being Easter and England, the country shuts down for a four day bank-holiday weekend to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. Amen. Our ambitions our a bit more modest and Sunday finds us at the Hampton outdoor pool for some fun-in-the-sun once the morning chill burns off. Madeleine spends no less than two hours in the H-2-O until I drag her out, fingers white and pruney. We sun-bathe and Eitan finds a couple of new friends to play make-shift footie. From here we go to Dana and Nathan's for an afternoon BBQ. Before the meat, Dana hides Easter Eggs in a private garden nearby her house in Primrose Hill and the kids go wild for it. We say our farewells to Mary and Amado who return to New York the next day. Eitan declares that Devon is his best friend.

Our good weather this weekend prompts a flurry of bets on a record-breaking summer. The book maker William Hill reacts by trimmming the odds of temperatures exceeding 100F in 2007 from 10-1 to 8-1. Further, Hill offers 12-1 that the higest record temperature of 103.5F will be beaten this year.

Chelsea Football

Having recently declared celery a "prohibited item" within their Stamford Bridge ground, last week Chelsea FC banned three supporters who were seen in possession of the vegatable at a recent FA Cup game against Spurs. Chelsea supporters, you see, have been singing a ditty about celery since the early 1980s when the club was so poor that the fans had to make their own entertainment. This disgruntled the ruling powers and hence the ban, which states: "The throwing of anything at a football match, including celery, is a criminal offense for which you can be arrested and end up with a criminal record. In future, if anyone is found attempting to bring celery into Stamford Bridge they could be refused entry and anyone caught throwing celery will face a ban." When queried, the Royal Society of the Prevention of Accidents notes "I do not think we can find any instances of people struck by vegetables at sporting fixtures."
Photo from the WWW.

Watching you

It is reported today in the Herald Tribune that the British government will attach loud-speakers to the country's already ubiquitous CCTV cameras. If the idea of being blasted by an over-head bullhorn for dropping chewing gum were not so funny it would be sad. Or frightening. We Brits are the most photographed in the world with one camera per 14 citizens. In London, on average, I am snappped and stored over 300 times per day. Soon this data will connect to the Identity Card now fiercely debated in parliament. Add my medical history, credit scores and other personal data and presto - my private life ends. Young people battle this intrusion by going the other extreme exhibiting themselves on MySpace and other community websites. For them who live the Internet this is freedom.

Eurostar home

Eitan and Madeleine are bored and push me to the end. Madeleine: "Are we there yet dad? Are we? Are we there yet dad? Dad! Are! We! There! Yet!" I receive dirty looks for nearby passengers and one who tells Madeleine to "pipe down" which gets an immediate negative reaction from me. I split the kids up. Bribe them with treats. Threaten them with no-TV. We are all relieved to pull into London Waterloo where another train ride to Richmond awaits us. "Aw dad, this is the longest trip of my life" says Madeleine.

Amado-Mary

Mary, Amado and Mia yesterday in Paris. Mary, Amado and I met at Columbia then trekked with Sonnet and classmates Holly and Marc to Morocco where we climbed the High Atlas. We reached the peak Jbel Toubkal which is 4,167 meters and the highest in the range and Africa's second highest after Kilimanjaro. On the way, we visited Fez, Marrakesh and romantic favorite Essaouira on the Atlantic coast. Since those high travels, Mary has pursued strategic consulting at Boston Consulting and Amado teaching at West Side schools. Before graduate school, Mary and Amado taught in the New York Public School System, which is how they met.

Maya is a joy and spreads cheer with her never-ending smile.

La Tour

The Little Dudes re-unite at the mid-section of the Eiffel Tower following an unanticipated 2.5 hour weight in line. Not to worry though - the children play footie with a deck-shoe, climb the Eiffel Tower's concrete base, play with themselves and mostly avoid the grouchy adults. Mostly. Mary decides that the line is unfair as large groups receive priority over single payers: "this does not sit well with the entrepreneur in me" she says. It is a chilly morning which turns into a warm spring afternoon for our picnic in the nextdoor park. Afterwards we catch a merry-go-round and it is a perfect day.

I learn that maintenance of the tower includes applying 60 tons of three graded tones of paint every seven years to protect it from rust. On occasion, the color of the paint is changed — the tower is currently painted a shade of brownish-gray. However, the tower is actually painted three different colors in order to make it look the same color. The colors change from dark to light from top to bottom, but it looks the same because of the background (the sky being light and the ground being dark).