Paris In Springtime

Tuileries

I'm in Paris for the season's change and it is lovely.

Astorg's annual meeting takes place at some marvelous places: the Automobile Club on the place de la Concorde (Wednesday) followed by a gala dinner at musée Jacquemart André; Musée des Arts Décoratifs overlooking jardin tuileries and the sun takers  (Thursday) then dinner at la Tour d’Argent offering a magnificent view of Notre Dame from five stories up. Splendid.

And what have I missed at home? Madeleine: "Nothing."

"When spring comes to Paris the humblest mortal alive must feel that he dwells in paradise."

--Henry Miller from 'Tropic of Capricorn"

Streamline

Eitan, 200m freestyle

Following five weekends of competing at Guildford and Crystal Palace in individual and relay events, WSC finish 3rd in the medals and 5th in Tinlin Trophy.  Not bad for a reasonably small club (ca 150 swimmers) and achieved by just over 30 swimmers competing at the Championships.  The team scoops 31 medals including Eitan's bronze in the 200m fly.  The boy also set PBs in the butterfly and freestyle events.

Aneta

At the NPG

We join Tab and David who host the Sapersteins in Bath.  Now I am in Paris.  Eitan up at 4:30AM for a class trip to Barcelona, where he will be until Thursday.

Madeleine organising afternoons with her friends.

Peaches is dead.

"Peaches has died. We are beyond pain. She was the wildest, funniest, cleverest, wittiest and the most bonkers of all of us. Writing 'was' destroys me afresh."
--Bob Geldof

Me And Andy Warhol

Photo by David Bailey

And so it is Friday, an exhausting exhilarating week for Sonnet whom I and we could not be more proud of.

Stan, Aneta and I meet Jeanine, Sunny and Leon+Westlee for lunch at the Portrait Gallery Restaurant.

Leon continues to take beautiful photographs using swaths of light; his studio set up in Oakland while he keeps a foot in Paris.

Beforehand, Guy and I have lunch with Diana, a sworn progressive who was heavily involved in Obama's first campaign and on the Council of the Holocaust Memorial in Washington DC.  She is a force of nature, too, and perfectly matched with Guy on politics, insider connections and a desire to make things better.

Pre Show

The private viewing and reception fills the museum with the great and the good. Stan watches over the Shakespeares who mill about perfectly awkward, the little dears. They blitz the exhibition in two minutes and ready to split at 9PM.  We stay until the end then dinner with Spencer and Alex. Top evening.

The Sapersteins arrive from Northern California and we are honoured that they are with us. Guy wears Armani.

On The Board

Madeleine, Aneta and I sit around watching Modern Family and eating ice cream (thank you, Aneta). Before dinner. Madeleine has seen every episode of Modern Family, too - she says, 'more than a hundred ' - and never gets bored (today the first day of Easter Break so plenty of time to go comatose)

Me: "Do you have any gay friends?"
Aneta: "Like five of them."
Me: Men or women?"
Aneta: "Men."
Me: "Cool, every girl should have a gay friend. Sonnet does. Madeleine do you have one?"
Madeleine: "Huh?"
Me: "A gay friend. Do you have one ?"
Madeleine: "No."
Me: "How would you know?"
Madeleine: "I have no idea."
Me: "Right answer. Let's keep it that way."

Man In The Grey Flannel Suit

Stan

Me: "What did you think of mom's show ?"
Madeleine: "Great."
Me: "Anything else?"
Madeleine: "it was amazing."
Me:
Madeleine: "It was really creative and imaginative and a lot of thought went into it."
Me:
Madeleine: "And I liked the Vespa" [Dad's note: a Vespa 125 from 1949 on display].
Me: "What was your favourite?"
Madeleine: "The red dress with the big front bow."
Me: "Good one."

Red Dresss

Germana Marucelli, 1950

I imagine this dress sashaying along a bombed out block in Milan, post Second World War, suggesting the Italy's first spring in ten years.

Celebs

Eva Herzigová

Valentino at our table and barely says a word. His partner, Giancarlo Giammetti, however, is charming and smooth, with powdered white hair and an orange tan. His style impeccable and he glides thru the crowd - there's Liz Hurley and over there Naomi Cambell. Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana are at the next table while the Italian PM, Matteo Renzi, is in the house (he, with entourage; Sonnet with him for 45 minutes).

Sonnet in Versace.

The Glamour Of Italian Fashion

Sonnet's exhibition opens Tuesday with a bang and the red carpet, leading us to the Raphael cartoon gallery and the patron's dinner (Sonnet in sponsor Bulgari jewelry on loan). Yesterday it is a private viewing and cocktail reception underneath the Chihuly.  And today it goes public.

It is a week long party. Or wedding.  In between Sonnet is interviewed by the press, shows various designers, funders and dignitaries around the exhibition, and generally holds it together.

We are surrounded by friends and family who have gone out of their way to support our wonderful curator.

Me: "Are you going to join us at the museum Friday?"
Madeline: "No way.'
Me: "I thought you were a cultured little dude."
Madeleine: "The last thing a kid wants to do is go to a museum."
Sonnet: "It pains me to hear that."
Madeleine: "None of my friends would be caught dead at a museum."
Me: "What do you guys like to do for fun anyway?"
Madeleine: "We like to go places and eat frozen yogurt and be crazy."
Me: "Sounds fun."
Madeleine: "That's just the way it is, Dad."

Golden Couple

NPG

Spencer and Alex in town for Sonnet's exhibition which is happening this week. We are friends from business school and spent the first two years in London together.  Back then, Friday evening cocktails de rigeuer.  Now they are in San Francisco, enjoying the good life, and raising their three fabulous children.

This is my 3,800 blog.

"It is to the curator’s credit that the exhibition can raise questions for the fashion cognoscenti about the state of the Italian industry, while allowing a more general audience to appreciate La Bella Figura."
--Suzy Menkes in the NYT on Sonnet's show

Centraal Station Rotterdam

Having visited Rotterdam's Central Station on many occasions thinking to myself 'what a dump' I am surprised by a new building which opened March 13, pictured. Pretty damn cool, too.

I have lunch, and talk some business, with Stichting Pensioenfonds Nederlands also known as Unilever also known as « Progress » (the cool name for the investment business). From there it is The Hague then Schiphol.  Been here, done that.

Eitan in the final day of the Surrey county swimming champs, attended by Stan, and it is all relays. The boy has qualified for a bunch of regional events which will take place later this year at the Olympics pool. He has a ways to go to qualify for nationals but it will come.

Hard At Work

Madeleine Skypes

Madeleine scores an 82% on a math's test, which makes her happy - one of the top scores in the class.  

There are two types of people really : those comfortable with maths and the rest of us. Generally the former end up at investment banks or hedge funds.

Stan arrives from Colorado. He is with us for the week and Sonnet's opening.

The photo above Madeleine mine btw. It is wall graffiti in Shoreditch, London.

The Carefree Lifestyle

Me, in the car: "So how are we feeling these days?"
Eitan: "OK, I guess."
Me: "Anything you want to be doing?"
Eitan: "Not really. I don't want to be, like, 30 and having missed something in the 'carefree lifestyle.' "
Me: "The 'carefree lifestyle' ? Like not having any responsibility ?"
Eitan: "Well, it's not like that. .. ."
Me: "So what exactly is this 'carefree lifestyle'? "
Eitan: "It's like in your 20s. And before you have a family and stuff."
Me: "So your 20s are carefree? That's news to me. I was working my ass off."
Eitan: "But you always talk about it like it was fun."
Me: "I was trying to eat. I had to pay for all that macaroni and cheese somehow."
Eitan: "Yeah."
Me: "So who do you know who has the 'carefree lifestyle'? "
Eitan: "Katie does."
Me: "Oh?"
Eitan: "She gets up when she wants, and she works with her friends. And she's not bossy. And she's really cool."
Me: "She'll like knowing that."

Me: "So your mother sent Clara an email about joining our family after Aneta leaves" [Dad's note: our fabulous Aneta is leaving in May; Clara, also from The Czech, will join us]
Eitan:
Me: "Do you think you will be able to ignore her?"
Eitan: "Huh?"
Me: "Ignore her. Maybe we should invite her over so you and your sister can ignore her for a couple of hours. If it works out, then we'll hire her."
Eitan: "Whatever, Dad."

Sonnet Gets Glossy

Harper's Bazaar

Our gal in the midst of installations - less than one week (but who is counting ?)

Dad Daughter Friend

Eitan has a busy sports weekend : Hampton defeats Glyn School 4-nil then I whisk the boy to the pool for the Surrey County Championships, where he goes 1:02.82 in the 100m freestyle (PB).  Today, Eitans home team, the Sheen Lions, have a double-header against Staines - our side takes both, winning 3-0 and 3-1. Eitan puts a 30m free kick over the keeper's finger tips, a hell of a shot, that decides the second match.

Aneta home, 7:30AM, following a rave in Shoreditch and me, I've been asleep 8 hours.

Me: "Do you think Phil is a good dad?" [Dad's note: Phil is the father in CBS comedy 'Modern Family']
Madeleine: "He's more a friend than a dad."
Me: "Oh? Which one am I ? "
Madeleine: "Definitely 'dad'"
Me: "How about Sonnet?"
Madeleine: "I don't know."
Me: "Can you tell her anything?"
Madeleine: "Yes."
Me: "Friend. Do you lie to her ?"
Madeleine: "No."
Me: "Friend. Who takes you out to sushi all the time?"
Madeleine: "Mom."
Me: "Best friend."

Madeleine: "What would happen if your skin wasn't water proof?"
Me: "It's a good question."

Red Pepper

Katie and I join David at the River Cafe. David's firm, Macro Advisory Partners, advises clients on geopolitical risk, macro intelligence and investment strategy and is going great guns. Mona Sutphen, former White House Deputy Chief of Staff, recently joined as a partner.

Sonnet working on the installation for The Italians.  Her book is now on Amazon.

Battle Of The Brains

Katie with us since Sunday after leading a seminar at Cambridge U.  We take Monday afternoon to watch Eitan's Hampton U13s play St Paul's in the geeks versus the geeks.  Our geeks win, 4-1.  On my way to work same morning I bump into Syrus (at St Paul's playing for the B team) buying a couple packs of cherry-flavoured bubble gum at the local newsagents.

Eitan Takes A Bronze

200m butterfly, county champs

I buy a pair of Bass flat-panel penny-loafers which I had in high school and my parents wore in the '50s. To break them in, I wear wool calf-hi socks and walk around the house otherwise in shorts since a nice day in London - Aneta cracks up, which makes me realise: usually I know when I'm being a dork but now , maybe not so much.

Me: "So what's your favourite band these days?"
Madeleine: "I don't know. I like a lot of music."
Me: "How about if I tell you mine?"
Madeleine: "Oh, right, from the 1960s."
Me: "The 1980s."
Madeleine:
Me: "So I made you laugh. That's a good thing, right?"

Disco Party II

Selfie

Madeleine has her own disco party tonight at the Broomwood Methodist Church Hall in Clapham.  Our gal meets several friends to put on make up, do their hair and get ready.  She then has a sleep-over with the disco host. Madeleine wears a dress.

I give Eitan some (expensive) English cologne.
Me: "You may want to try it out first. Don't douse yourself in it" (Dad's note: Eitan has been wearing 'Lynx', which is an older lad's perfume known for it's "sex panther" scent. Eitan's year laps it up)
Eitan:
Two weeks later, Madeleine: "OMG. Eitan was wearing this new smell in the car to swim practise. You could smell it in the pool."
Me:
Madeleine: "Poor Georgia. She was in the back seat."
Me: "There goes that relationship."
Madeleine: "I'll say."

Me: "Come on, Eitan, do the dishes. That is a request."
Eitan: "But it's not an order."
Me: "Is that your objective - to get out of every chore asked of you ?"
Eitan: "It's every kid's objective."
Me:
Eitan: "it's just the way it is."