Mr Blue Skies

It's flat

Another day, another skyline. This time it is Amsterdam.

Eitan and I have dinner at The Wolseley on a Friday night mano a mano. I order a vodka martini with a twist ("Nice", he says) and him a beer which he nurses two-thirds of the way. We order the same: wiener schnitzel, steamed spinach and fries. Classic.

Eitan is keen to ask questions about what I do, what investment means and how Astorg goes about it. He's decided to concentrate his A Levels (lower and upper Sixth Form begin September - serious stuff) on the humanities including English literature, history, Spanish and politics. Hard to imagine but the boy may never take another math course, unless he selects to do so outside school. We discuss its implication for business as Eitan (I sense) wants to do it.

Unlike the US, where one can faff about in the liberal arts until deciding junior year of college to study economics (OK, me). These Brit kids must decide their interest - and future - at age 16. Who knows what the hell he's going to do for life at this age? Eitan, for his part, doesn't have much fixed beyond the summer (which will be spent recovering from an ACL operation).

That said, Eitan continues to explore and while he won't go to soccer camps and the JMT over the break, he has signed up for piano and guitar lessons, wants to learn bridge and is looking into a few summer business course. Hard to do without any planned structure (the ACL disrupting Sonnet's to-the-hour planning) but we are rolling with it.

Madeleine, from the back seat, in heavy traffic: "Mom just texted and asked where we are and why we are so late." 
Me: "Tell her we went to the mall and we'll meet her when we're done."
Madeleine: "You don't really want me to say that do you Dad?"
Me:
Madeleine: "Yep."