Boxing Day UK

Bridge to bridge with Berkeley in the foreground

We see Tim and Kitty for breakfast on the way to the airport, where I drop Sonnet off for El Lay where she will visit Catherine and see a museum or two. Last time Tim and I together, earlier this year (he reminds me) I left my driver's license in London and could not rent a car so my parents (God bless them) drove me around the Bay Area waiting in the car while I had meetings. We chuckle about this.

England's Boxing Day is the day following Christmas when servants and tradesmen receive gifts from their superiors.  It is a major UK holiday and everything, excluding the retailers but including the underground, locked down tight.

Family Gathering

 

Eitan eats some Jelly Tots (before breakfast)

Me: "What's your favourite candy?"

Eitan: "Probably .. I don't know.  It's a hard decision. "

Me:

Eitan: "Hmmm.. Does that include cake and ice cream?"

Me: "Sure."

Eitan: "Then probably something really moist .. a soft chocolate cake with mint oreo ice cream."

Me: "How about every day candy?

Eitan: "There are so many choices.  Umm. Hmmm... "

Me: "Don't kill yourself kid."

Eitan: "Then either oreos or toffee pop corn. 

Me: "Good picks."

Eitan: "I also like sherbets."

Merry Christmas From The Cat

Sonnet and I up before the kids and use the quiet time to go running on a favorite trail in Strawberry Canyon above the Laurance Hall of Science.  We are the only ones about.

Wedding Cake

"Grace came to the Peace Corps from Upper Arlington, Ohio, which, in my mind’s eye, IS America of the1950s : Grace raised with Protestant values, wore saddle shoes and bobby socks, and a cheer leader who rooted for the Golden Bears high school squad who played on Friday lights. She was looking for a way forward and she found Peace Corp.

The next two years Moe and Grace got to know each other in a village outside Lilongue, Malowi, where they taught maths and French and history. They climbed Mount Kilimanjarro and travelled the world. When it was time to return home only one city spoke to them : Berkeley, California. This was 1965 or, as Benjamin Braddock from The Graduate, noted: “Mrs. Robinson, if you don't mind my saying so, this conversation is getting a little strange.”

Moe grew a beard, passed the State Bar, and went to work at the NLRB. Grace founded a Montessori school in Oakland and Katie and I got to know public transportation from an early. My parents tried marijuana once, they told us, though had an elaborate Turkish bong hidden in the closet. Katie and I advanced in the Berkeley Unified School district. "

50

Grace and Moe, 1962

My parents celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary (officially, December 28) with a party at The City Club in Berkeley, a Julia Morgan designed treasure built in 1927 (Morgan also the architect behind San Simeon).  They and we are surrounded by family and friends from many generations - Moe points out three who have known my father for at least 50 years : Bob Siegel, a volunteer in Peace Corps 1; Ken Fisher, a St Louis pal, Rhodes Scholar and pulmonary specialist and the Best Man at my parents' wedding; and Joy, my father's sister, who gets credit for knowing Moe the longest.

From my remarks:

"My parents met the first week of the first Peace Corps, announced by JFK at the University of Michigan where Moe was a law student.

At the time, Moe did not rate the Kennedy family. He had not been impressed by the Kennedy-Nixon televised debate. Moe’s room- mates convinced my father to cross the street, for Pete’s sake, to Hill Auditorium to see the President of the United States.

During Kennedy’s speech, which my father describes as “captivating”, Kennedy suggested he would send America’s willing young people around the world in a “united corps for peace”; afterwards pressed, JFK announced the Peace Corp and my father knew right then he would join up. 

"

Retro Swimming

Carolyn (far right) organises a Berkeley Barracudas reunion at UC Berkeley's Spieker pool.  We swim 1500 yards or just about enough.  Way back when, it was ten miles a day.  Eitan joins us for the next generation (he kindly takes the photo).

The Hulk

Madeleine discovers my comics, secured all these years in the downstairs of my parents house.  The collection might be worth several grand so nothing to get overly excited about. But, as a multiple of investment, probably OK.

Madeleine: "I love the smell of these comics."
Me: "Mmm."
Madeleine: "Isn't Bruce Banner the Hulk?"
Me: "Yes."
Madeleine: "But it says here the Hulk wants to kill Bruce Banner. .."
Me: "That's the psychology of the thing."
Madeleine: "But then the Hulk turns into Bruce Banner."
Me: "Yes he does."
Madeleine: "How can he be two people at once?"
Me: "Don't you ever feel that way? Angry one moment, happy the next?"
Madeleine: "Yeah ?"
Me: "So the Hulk is Bruce Banner's alter ego. He does all the things the mild mannered scientist cannot do like express rage and throw tanks and stuff."
Madeleine: "Woa. So he can be, like, angry and yell at people whenever he wants?"
Me: "That's the idea."
Madeleine: "That is so cool."

Re United

 Saul's Jewish restaurant and delicatessen

Madeleine: "Gracie, on Christmas Day, can we open our presents in the afternoon so we have longer to look forward to them?"
Me: "Good idea. How about if we wait until 2014?"
Madeleine: "Until 2014 ?"
Me: "Just think about how excited you would be then."
Madeleine: "Yeah, right Dad."
Me: "We could combine 2013 and 2014. It would be over the top."
Madeleine: "We are not going to wait until 2014 to open our presents."
Me: "Let's see if Gracie and Moe would agree."
Grace: "Jeff we are not going to wait until 2014. Don't tease your daughter like that."
Madeleine: "See?"
Me: "You're just lucky you have your Grandmother on your side."
Madeleine: "Whatever, Dad."

Gun Job

Bay Bridge and San Francisco from the East Bay

We listen to Terri Gross interview Tom Diaz, the senior analyst for the Violence Policy Center, who says one of the weapons found at the site of the Newtown, Conn., shooting was a variant of a gun developed for troops in Vietnam.  This is what the US is talking about right now: guns and the 'fiscal cliff,' which are both destabilising and spreading a palpable fear, the first time I have felt anxious in this country.

The NRA launders the gun industry's dirty business, promoting and protecting semi-automatic weapons, while companies like A-Square and Bushmaster reap profits from their $31B market, by annual sales. The US owns over half of all firearms in the world (another stunning statistic: Since Robert Kennedy assassinated June 8, 1968, more Americans have died by firearms in the US, including suicides and accidents, then in all American wars combined).

The industry's fall back, that guns don't kill people, delusional : the US, with an estimated 270-300 million guns in circulation, the only western society with a murder pandemic. The UK, for instance, has as many wackos who play violent inter-active video games yet 1/200th the number of people murdered (adjusted for population etc).

Obama has asked Congress to put 'common sense' gun control legislation on his desk in one month.

“I call on Congress today to act immediately to appropriate whatever is necessary to put armed officers in every single school in this nation.”
--Wayne LaPierre, Exec VP of the NRA, responds to Newtown

Holiday Travel

T5

We say good-bye to Aneta then Heathrow for the long-haul to find our jumbo defective so BA finds another one, three hours later. In fact we are lucky that they have a spare - not too many 747s hanging about I imagine.  The kids settle in for 10 hours of entertainment so they really aren't all too bothered by inter planetary transport.  As with so many things that would astound my grandmother, it is all as normal as pie for the Shakespeares.

Kennel Bound

Rusty gets one last scratch 

At the kennel drop Rusty looks at me balefully then is trotted away.  He peers over his shoulder one last time : we could be at a train station . in Austria .. circa 1938, the engine's steam filling the platform . a whistle blows .. as the the cabins move . forward.. .separating the lovers. . forever.

I tell the guy the dog takes dry dog food and not to spoil him.

Eitan's iPod screen shattered to bits. Eitan: "We can fix it." 

Cabinet

The Queen attends a cabinet meeting forcing us to ask : What the hell is she doing there ?

The Gang Skates

Madeleine, Jackson, Joe and Eitan at Hampton Court Palace

Eitan sings in the Hampton choir at the St Mary's Parish Church and seeing Sonnet's happiness makes me happy, too. We work our way through the 18 page program complete with Christmas songs, readings and prayers.  Madeleine insists I check my mobile 'off' and squirms at the idea of me singing; she gets the loud hiccups as the lights dim for Chorale Preludes on Nun komm der Heiden Heiland und Wachet auf ruft uns die Stime by Bach. I try not to giggle.

Eitan's last day of school at 12-noon and the boy reports his class watches movies.  I have already emailed Eitan's form teacher about a ' homework break' so close to the four week Xmas holiday but this time I let it ride.

Photo from Sonnet.

Baseball, Hot Dogs And Apple Pie

Spin

Eitan 'disposesses' the ball

Lyne Lions

Half time pow wow

Elm Grove maintain a clean sheet against the Lions, 7-nil.  

Sonnet and I to Wimbledon for a dinner party with Jim and Peri and their interesting friends : one fellow from Istanbul and an antiques trader; another organises bespoke celebrations for the richest people in the world.  The woman next to me separated from her husband 17 years ago but not divorced: "he's now worth a mint in the City" she reports.  Jim, for his part, continues to spend time in California with Google, where he has been seven years, joining at about my age.  He tells us the average age 27.  And this, the most powerful company the world has ever known.

I pin up a mistletoe.
Me: "Do you know what happens under a mistletoe?"
Madeleine: "No."
I grab Madeleine and cover her with kisses: "Ahh, stop it dad! Stop!"
Me: "I can't help myself.  You had better make sure some cute fellow doesn't come in to our house."
Madeleine: "Dad!"
Me: "Or the dog."

At Elm Grove I forget my shirt so do my post-run stretches topless. Eitan jogs over, growls: "Dad put your shirt on. Or go in the car or something."

Work And Play

My Friday - Friday !- lunch cancels so I join Sonnet at a local Japanese near the museum then, afterwards, sit around writing emails and bothering her a bit.  Sonnet now "upstairs" working on La Moda for the next several years and has a perfect hide-away overlooking the ancient brownstone. Since the top floor (passing through the Asiatic and silver collections to get to), Sonnet enjoys sunlight, a valuable commodity in London, esp. when dark and gloomy , like today.

Madeleine, tucked in bed with a cold, re-reads "The Hunger Games." Have we finally moved on from Harry Potter? ("No, Dad, we have not moved on from Harry Potter.")  Today her last day of school so she is officially on hols until January noting, mournfully, that she starts the next term the day following our return from California. She and I carry many similarities.

I take Eitan to football practise (Sonnet reports that Eitan qualifies for a duathlon and to represent his school); the dog and I geared up for a run around Bushy Park.

Eglise Madeleine

Sunrise, with mobile

A whirl wind trip goes from Paris to Amsterdam to Rijswijk, where I am now, blogging away. It keeps me sane. Before my afternoon meeting I jog in a familiar park - the receptionist my conspiracist who shows me the employee shower room.  Travel without exercise a bad combination.

I watch some BBC program in the hotel and learn that humans shed 3.5 kg of skin every year - that is, they point out - equal to seven bowls of corn flakes.  Here's another one: no one in Britain is 70 miles from the coast. I am on a roll.

“Some tourists think Amsterdam is a city of sin, but in truth it is a city of freedom. And in freedom, most people find sin.”
--Writer John Green

Xmas Cookies

Madeleine bakes

"Good night, mom, I'm going to bed."

Shiny River

Madeleine, from under a blanket, pops up: "Dad, you know, I just thought of something. If you are blind, do you see things in your dreams ?"
Me: "That is a very good question. I don't know."
Madeleine: "I bet they would want to. See things I mean."
Me: "Yeah, I imagine they would."
Madeleine: "I hope they can."
Me: "You have a big heart, kid."

Madeleine: "This girl at school has been calling me Mad-uh-lae-an, which I hate."
Sonnet: "I can understand why."
Madeleine: "So I gave her a nick name and she totally exploded. And nearly cried."
Sonnet:
Madeleine: "And besides my nick name is MO."
Sonnet: "MO?"
Madeleine: "Madeleine Orenstein. Mo.
Me: "Know who would appreciate that?"
Madeleine: "I have no idea."
Me: "Moe."
(Madeleine and Sonnet crack up for some reason.)

Ze Fromage

Sonnet shows us a Vacherin

We are out until late late last night earning, even, the au pair's respect. Ramsey and Jennifer host a party at their home in Hamstead complete with 8 piece band (trumpet!) that kicks and an unusual number of middle-age models. So this is where they go - North London. The best part is sitting outside with Sonnet, under a heat lamp, drinking a cocktail and discussing various gossips and goings on. Eitan out late at a swimming gala and Madeleine watches a movie.

This morning Eitan to another football match - this time Elm Grove - and Sonnet and I take the dog for a run; she now addresses Xmas cards while Madeleine does some homework (grumpy) and I listen to Philip Glass's 'koyaanisqatsi.'

Sonnet on the pictured cheese: "It looks like an organ."

Game Day

Eitan all business before Hampton's home match against Wilson's in Surrey (this my first Hampton game btw and I am told by Eitan "to not do anything embarrassing". As if). The lads arrive in school uniform so change while the Dads chit chat about their boy's football talents - this as ever before.  Hampton win 5-1.

I am happy to be home from Zurich given a foot of snow on the departing side and flights cancelled. A highlight the Zunfthaus zur Waag, a restaurant in the 'old town' where I have the Zürcher Kalbsgeschnetzeltes mit/ohne Kalbsnieren und Butterrösti which is slaced veal, "Zurich style," with calf’s kidneys and “Rösti”.  My guests (a large pe investor and a limited partner in Astorg) and I discuss the usual topics : investment, tax, regulation . .. corruption, which is rare in private equity, perhaps surprising given the opaque nature of the industry.  Contrast this to hedge funds, like SAC, which, in theory, are transparent, investing in public stocks, and yet rocked by insider trading.

Madeleine: "Hi, Dad."
Sonnet: "That's not a very enthusiastic way of greeting your father."
Me: "Didn't you miss me?"
Madeleine: "You were away ?"

Lake Zurich

Diving platform, winter

I am in Zurich today and tomorrow for meetings and, since my afternoon otherwise free, I take my camera for a jog by Lake Zurich. My taxi driver (who hates the mountains and the cold) tells me that the lake freezes  over - a quick web search indicates this has happened 25 times since 1200, most recently in 1962.

Switzerland about the cleanest, most efficient, place in Europe or any where : I recall Geneva: The trains run to the second; the airports, highways and rail networks connect seamlessly. The swiss pride their exactness.  Of course the sacrifice is the mad creative chaos that fuels many big cities : London's mixture of cultures, sub cultures, languages, food, traffic, newspapers, noise, discos, theatre and everything else is what makes it a thrilling place to be.

Red

Madeleine at football

Catherine Middleton pregnant which disrupts Sonnet's schedule as she was to spend the day showing the Duchess the Hollywood exhibition.

Me: "You know that I will be in Zurich tomorrow."
Eitan: "For how long?"
Me: "One night."
Eitan: "One night? What a waste of time."
Me: "What do you think I do - sit around the hotel and watch TV?"
Eitan: "I don't know .. .I guess."

Barking

The dog in the habit of, well, barking. Only problem is that he does so whenever let into the back-yard and, worse, the front when we go running often at 6AM.  The neighbours hate us (Sonnet hates Rusty).  A dog's gotta do what a dog's gotta do.

Madeleine to receive her exam marks and is unusually quiescent on the upper deck of the 337.  I hold her hand part of the way (until someone she knows enters the bus); it is a quiet journey.

Sonnet and I to the Emanuel hill form drinks in Clapham.  I spend thirty minutes talking to Lillian, with slight moustache, unable to make chitter-chatter.  Sonnet informs me later that Lillian is deconstructing the human genome with a particular focus on understanding the DNA sequencing of lupus.  Probably a good thing we did not reach this topic. She also rides a motorcycle.

Ginger

Redhead at Waterloo Station

Here is the morning : rain. Madeleine and I out the door in a rush, 7AM, me without my keys. Aneta shows up at my office before lunch having locked herself out, no mobile phone (hair a mess). Sonnet forgets her mobile so I coordinate Eitan's commute home from school. As his mobile turned 'off' Sonnet calls the school. Touch and go.

Flickr Tweet

Eric Fischer's 'heat map' shows geotagged Flickr photos and Twitter Tweets. The orange dots are photos, the blue are Tweets, and white is both in the same location. The UK stands out for usage and density.

Hayward Gallery

Matilda

W'loo bridge facing West

We catch a train to Waterloo station and cross the similarly named bridge - pictured. Much more fun than driving.  We are again to Covent Garden this time to see the musical 'Matilda' by Roald Dahl. It is a wonderful adaptation, too, and a close mirror to the story right down to the character's appearances (in my imagination) including the perfect horrible Miss Trunchball, who is played with gruesome awesomeness by David Leanard : a highlight visual gag when Trunchball grabs an eight year-old by the pig tails and twirls her round then releases her into the audience. . . the kids howl with delight, as do we.

Afterwards we stumble upon food stalls behind The Hayward Gallery - a new thing, which offers some of the best creative new food in London.  We pick up some rice balls for the ride home and Sonnet buys salamis and cheese (I think fondly of Brown's "Silver Truck" where half the Freshman class lined up for an egg and steak sandwich at 3 or 4AM, post night out, lonely to bed)

Covent Garden Opera

Eitan orders a lemonade at the opera house

We join the Clarks at the Covent Garden opera house to see Donizetti's 'Elixir of Love' - the kids first full opera while Stan treated them to half of 'The Magic Flute' in Santa Fe. Ease them in, we all agree.  "Beautiful music in a grand setting" Sonnet says (she now sings una furtiba lacrima or 'the silent tear').  Michael (who gave us a tour of the Capital Building in DC when he was interning for Senator Shaheen) prepares his application for the Naval Academy. Since Michael aims for the Oval Office one day, and I think he will be a contender, he wants to beef up his military credentials. Smart kid.

Robot Love

Chrome Dinette a San Francisco synth band from the early 1980s or right about when I was tuning into music.  In 1982 they put out a 12” single (Robot Love and Can’t Live Without You) and tried to get a record contract. When the label didn’t come, the band broke up, never to be heard from again.

Chrome Dinette played Berkeley's long-gone Key Stone theatre, which I consider whenever driving along University Ave towards campus and my parent's house.  It was a big night when the band in town, across the bay, no ID for alcohol.  Robot Love a pretty good song, too, which holds up even now : there are traces of the Police's Zenyattà Mondatta or the Comateens.  But I was too young for permission to concerts so I listened to my friends' enthusiasms (they being sophomores and juniors in HS). Getting older couldn't come fast enough.

And now, thx to the Internets, I can listen to Chrome Dinette again. The music hasn't changed, either, but everything else has.

Sonnet, Friday night: "This is the centre of excitement. 45 York Avenue, rock'n out."

Run Eitan Run

1.5 Km course in Richmond Park near Pembroke Lodge

Eitan competes in the Richmond borough cross country race for Hampton School. He finishes second (of about 60) and the top nine runners qualify for county championships some time next year.

Madeleine has term-end exams and butterflies: first marks on the permanent record.  The school informs me (at the the parent-teacher evening) that the children not meant to feel "pressurised" but, rather, to enjoy learning. Me, I see the mums at the morning drop-off and they are here to compete.

I ease into Friday taking the afternoon to work from home; Rusty snoozes as I blog.

Madeleine text to Sonnet: "Exam was hell "

Oxford St

Young couple near Bond Street 

Oxford St the busiest High St in the West End and, indeed, the busiest shopping street in Europe.  Its 1.5 miles stretch from Marble Arch to Centre Point and hosts 300 shops mostly of the throw-away fashion : H&M, French Connection, HMV, Look and so on and so forth.  The road blocked to car traffic, excluding the double-decker red buses, and crammed with young shoppers from everywhere.  Me, I sometimes dip into Selfridges or Uniqlo but mostly I try to stay away : too much, too many.

F-35 And Primrose Gets It

This is what you get for $396 Bn

The Pentagon's all-in cost for designing, building and maintaining 2,443 F-35s fighters, to be delivered in the late 2030s, runs at $1.4 to $1.5 Tn. So far I and the US have committed $396 Bn to the plane. The F-35 program is 4X costlier than any other weapons system built or imagined. (source: NYT; photo from LMTAS).

Harvard University's Program on Education Policy and Governance reports in July that foreign students are outpacing their American peers academically. Students in Shanghai who recently took international exams for the first time outscored every other school system in the world. In the same test, American students ranked 25th in math, 17th in science and 14th in reading. Further, six percent of U.S. students performed at the advanced level on an international exam administered in 56 countries in 2006. That proportion is lower than those achieved by students in 30 other countries.

Related?

Me: "So have you finished the Hunger Games series?"
Madeleine: "Yes."
Me: "Tell me what happened ! I need to know .. ."
Madeleine: "It's too long to explain."
Me: "Please, I'm begging you."
Madeleine: "Primrose burst in to flames."
Me:
Madeleine: "And dies."
Me: "That's pretty cool."
Madeleine: "I guess."
Me: "Was it sad?"
Madeleine: "No, not really."
Me: "So it was a happy ending then?"
Madeleine: "Not for Primrose."

Merry Tills

The British holiday shopping season mirrors the US - Thanksgiving to Boxing Day.  Oxford Street and everywhere dolled up for the cash machine and no wonder : UK retail is 8% GDP and the year-end rush 25% of annual volumes.  Throw in Hanukkah from 9 December and life is looking rosy.

I introduce Astorg to Diageo regarding a portfolio company that makes premium glass bottles.  Diageo the world's largest producer of spirits including Johnie Walker, Jose Cuervo and Kettle One.  And also Captain Morgan rum, based on the 17-th century Welsh swash buckler Sir Henry Morgan who cheers "To Life, Love and Loot!" Afterwards I show one of my Astorg friends around Kew Gardens where we have lunch at the Orangery. A nice afternoon, even if grey, away from the 8e.

Three Photos Of Paris

Inside the Jeu de Paume

Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré

Hôtel Costes

Madeleine Cranks

Today the first time I see Madeleine in action with her new club the Barnes Eagles who take on Crystal Palace - tops in the league. The gals play with heart but lose 5-1 (2-1 at half) while three Eagles' strikes  should have found net. Madeleine the youngest on the squad by a year as this is U12s. She plays valiantly and physically: nobody notices her age.

I have never been at a hotel where everybody knows my name and that is how it is in Paris. There is a great scene in The Graduate where Benjamin takes Elaine to the hotel where he has been bedding Mrs. Robinson and Elaine notes that the staff know him (Benjamin denies it of course).

And, as I seem to be a preferred guest, I am upgraded to the player's suite complete with black animal skin lounge chairs, multiple media and a stylish shag carpet. Mrs. Robinson would be right at home.

Waterstone's

A dude at Waterstone's

No High Street in Britain without bookseller Waterstone's, which operates 295 stores across the island. The company's flagship on Piccadilly, where I am last week, reading Graham Greene, awaiting my next meeting, in the the Simpsons-Of-Piccadilly building.

Eitan, Madeleine and Zara race from the dinner table.
Me: "Stop! Dishes, please."
Madeleine: "What? We have a friend over!"
Me: "Zara you can help, too."
Madeleine: "That is so unfair."
Me: "Those are the breaks. You're mom and I have been working all day."
Madeleine: "Yeah, right Dad. Taking a nap."
Sonnet:
Me: "I walked right into that one."
Madeleine: "We just want to go and play. Zara: don't do any dishes."
Me: "In this house, if you are under 11, you are doing the dishes."
Madeleine: "What about Eitan?"
Me: "Sorry, kid, and if you keep complaining then I can think of some other things for you to do."
Madeleine (under her breathe): "Just wait until I turn 12."
Me: "And, as the maker-of-rules, I just may raise the under-11 to under-12."
Madeleine: "You are so cruel. You actually enjoy this, don't you?"
Me: "These are the best moments. By far."
Madeleine: "Just wait and see when I turn 12."

Simpson's

Joseph Emberton the architect Simpson's (now Waterstone's) a multiple-floor Modernism building and the first shop in Britain to have an uninterrupted curved-glass frontage. This new style made possible by arc-welding a wide-span steel frame, rather than earlier techniques that used bulky bolted joints. The interior designed with rooms conforming to domestic proportions arranged around an open staircase.

The building notable for the 42-foot spans of its welded steel framing, which produced one of the most elegant shop interiors of the decade or any time, although the purity of the concept compromised as a result of interventions by the London County Council. It was faced in Portland stone as required by the landlord to be consistent with the neighbourhood.

There was a men's toilet between the ground and first floors perfect for an emergency leak but, probably owing to popularity, it closed last summer.

Re Take

Eitan before Saturday football practice

Sonnet and the kids home from swimming - Friday night - to find me in the kitchen so we dance to MGMT.

Sonnet prepares dinner, Eitan gets a head start on homework; Madeleine watches TV.  How rare for our together on a week night.  Growing up my family nearly always at the table : Moe picked me and Katie up from the King Jr High pool (or, later, I would drive) at 5:30 or 6PM - he could do this since he was the first in his office (after dropping me and Katie off for morning practice, of course).  Grace there to greet us with dinner and a warm house. I think of these things often enough as my adult memories began to gel around Eitan and Madeleine's age now.  Family a big part of it.

Me: "Did you take the bread out of the oven like your mother asked?"
Eitan: "No."
Me: "Did you put it in the oven?"
Eitan: "No."
Me: "How old are you?"
Eitan: "Is that a trick question?"

Happy Thanksgiving

Eitan recites (picture from Aisling)

We have hosted London Thanksgivings for as many as 25 American expats while this year it is us and the Shakespeares and celebrated on Sunday; we are grateful.  Of course we miss our extended family  in Berkeley, Manhattan, Montrose, Medina, St Louis, Portland, Santa Monica, Bronxville, Akron, Denver, La Veta and Atlanta and our friends, wherever you may be.

While Europe barely shrugs over the Second Biggest Holiday Of The Year, for me it feels like a slow-down day.  Half my emails won't be returned, no cross-Atlantic calls to make.  Home away from home though Sky not showing the Houston-Detroit, New England-NY Jets nor Washington-Dallas games (that would be real football, thank you very much).

Top Marks

View from Sonnet's hotel room in Florence

I attend Madeleine's first parent-teacher review at Emanuel and, since there are multiple classes each with a different teacher across various forms, the school hall filled to capacity with stations by subject : maths, sciences, history, etc.  Biscuits and tea dutifully served up.

I get five minutes per teacher and am impressed by their serious natures (esp. English : already Madeleine has had to redo an assignment).  Each encouraging and love our gal's intelligence and enthusiasm ("a pleasure to have in the class" and "always up for it" and so on and so forth).  Madeleine rather nervous upon my return home ("It was really bad, wasn't it Dad?") and more relieved than anything that her marks are more than sufficient. Me, I could not be more proud.

Bubblelicious

Women smokes outside the National Portrait Gallery

I am across London for meetings and find time to see the Flowers.  My afternoon ends with Jan at Dukes, always a dangerous thing, but we keep it to one martini.  Probably the right number.  

Walking to the 337:

Madeleine: "There is a candy store, Lundi's, where all the kids go to get their treats after school."

Me: "Oh?"

Madeleine: "They have everything, too."

Me: "I bet. What are your favourites?"

Madeleine: "Yesterday, Peter gave us these sour candies that almost made me cry. But nobody could spit them out."

Me: "Yeah, I hate that.  Do you know who Reggie Jackson is?"

Madeleine: "Who?"

Me: "Reggie Jackson. He was a baseball player who hit three home-runs in one game of the '77 World Series.  At one point he was as famous as David Beckham."

Madeleine: "Or Michael Jackson."

Me: "Exactly.  Any ways, when I was a kid, there was a "Reggie Bar" which was, like, caramel, nuts and chocolate. It was so good."

Madeleine: "Was that your favourite?"

Me: "One of them. I also loved the 'Marathon Bar'. They said it was so slow you would miss saving the girl from the train because you were eating it."

Madeleine: "Whoa. I also like Starbursts and gummies.  Didn't you have 'Now-and-Laters'? Weren't they sour?"

Me: "Kind of, depends which one.  And 'Bubble Yum,' in cherry or grape or regular flavor.  Some kids chose 'Bubblelicious'.  Half the kids chewed 'Bubble Yum' and other half 'Bubblelicious'.  Like Coke v Pepsi.  We were like "Ohhhh you chew Bubblelicous. You think you're so cooool."

Madeleine:

Me: "Fights would break out over this stuff."

Madeleine: "You sure like candy, Dad."

Pucci And Gucci

Eitan on iPhoto

I walk into the living room this morning, pitch dark, and am startled by Eitan : "Hi, Dad, I am having a nap." On some evenings he is home from swim practise at 9:30PM so with dinner and down-time, he may put himself to sleep at 11PM.

Sonnet visits Pucci (Emelio Pucci a Florentine Italian fashion designer and politician whose eponymous company are synonymous with geometric prints in a Kaleidoscope of colours. 2010 revs about $50M) and Gucci (founded by Guccio Gucci in 1921and today Italy's biggest selling brand with ca.€5 Bn of revenues per year).  Nobody does fashion like the Italians.

I pick up the original 'Twilight' from the library to watch with Madeleine - an unusual treat for a Monday night.  She has done most of her homework and Eitan at swimming.  Aneta joins us.  Similar to Harry P, I feel like this youthful phenomenon moved without me.

Early Bird

Madeleine commutes (Photo from Sonnet) 

I am on the bus with Madeleine - top level front offering a panoramic sweep of road before us and the dawn crescent : London comes awake in the most intense way.  Taxis, cars, people fight for any free space in the onward rush, rush, rush! to their work slot.

Being with Madeleine a pleasure and we practice spelling words, discuss the swimming gala, talk about play dates and school.  I tell her about my 6:00AM walks with Moe at around her age : he to the bus, me to swim practice.  Eventually I got wise and convinced my father to drive us and Katie to the pool (where Moe also swam laps).

Usually Sonnet takes Madeleine to Emanuel en route to the museum (making Sonnet's inward commute sometimes two-hours) but today she is to Florence.  I (and au pair Aneta) solo with the Shakespeares so I receive emails and texts from Sonnet not yet at the airport (last night, we had a sit-down pow wow to overview the schedule).  Given the logistics of separate schools, multiple sports, teacher's conference (Madeleine), choir (Eitan) and trumpet solo (Madeleine) , work is like a holiday.

Me: "Have you ever missed the bus?"
Madeleine: "Yeah, sometimes, so we have to take the train. Once there was vasaline all over the poles and people were, like, that is so gross. They put bags on their hands to hold on."
Me: "Teenagers."
Madeleine: "Yep. Why would they do that?"
Me: "Who knows but it is kinda funny."
Madeleine: "I guess so, Dad, but you weren't on the train."

Me: "Are you looking forward to Christmas?"
Madeleine: "Yes. And seeing Gracie and Moe and Auntie Katie."
Me: "Me, too."
Madeleine: "It would be terrible to have your birthday on Christmas."
Me: "Oh?"
Madeleine: "You would miss out on all the gifts!"
Me: "Good point. But it would be the best Christmas gift ever for the parents."
Madeleine:  "No kid wants their birthday around Christmas, Dad. April is the best month since there is time between Christmas.  But Marcus has his on April 1 - April fools."
Me: "So, like, hey Marcus - here are your presents. April fools!"
Madeleine: "Yeah. That would be terrible. I feel sorry for him."
Me: "I bet, poor kid."

Red Blood Cell

Eitan spends the afternoon making a red blood cell for his biology class.  He uses red paint, CD discs, a sponge, super glue and "a pen to label everything".  All this laid out on his work space, the kitchen floor.

Sonnet prepares Thanksgiving dinner as she will be in Italy on Thursday and next week end the kids have a swimming gala. The tree leaves have finally turned, and fallen, and the colours are bright orange, yellow and red. Not quite as dramatic as New England but it is not as cold triggering the sudden dramatic colour changes (planetary factoid: A 27 year old has never seen a month of below-average temperatures. Source: Nature).

Eitan's All Stars clobber the Lyne Lions 11 or 12 to 3.  Both kids also compete at the Borough Swim Championships Saturday and Sunday : Eitan the 200 breastroke (3:26), 200 fly (3:15), 100 freestyle (1:08) and the medley relay; Madeleine the 66 meter free, 200 breast stroke and 200 freestyle (3:15 seconds).  Eitan was to run the London cross-country championships on Hamstead Heath but left his cc shoes at school.

Friziday

Sonnet writes Xmas cards while watching Mad Men

Another Friday upon us.  This an unusual week with Paris in the middle putting me off my rythme.  But not Sonnet nor the kids : up before dawn, out the door 6:55AM (Sonnet and Madeleine) and 7:25AM (Eitan).  Me, I catch the early train for a breakfast on Berkeley Sq, a smart part of town (Anchorman Kent Brockman on the Simpsons, which we watch now: "Childhood obesity: It's not funny anymore.")

I notice that most of the people in Mayfair are younger than I am or, at least, those bustling about the grey London streets.

Me: "How was school ?"
Madeleine: "Fine."
Me: "What did you do?"
Madeleine: "Not much."
Me: "Care to add more?"
Madeleine: "No."
Me: "Four words. That may be a new record."
Madeleine:
Me: "Don't lose your discipline kid."