Work Time

At Columbia Business School, ca '97 (photo from Adam Ballachey)

Back to the job for most of us. Unfortunately eurozone unemployment is 11.3% or 19 million people out of work; Spain the worst off at 26% and half of young people without a job.  Greece (25%) and Portugal (17%) not far behind. The difference of the haves (Germany, Netherlands and Austria below 6%) and have-nots striking : could this lead to social unrest ?  France thinks so as the taxi drivers to strike on Thursday and, since they are French, they will use their idle time to block the motor routes and central roads making everybody miserable.

Madeleine a trooper on her first day back to school (Eitan boots up tomorrow).  We walk to the bus stop in darkness; our gal frets about her pe kit, left at school on the last day of term . I worry about signing a next client.  Usual stuff, across the generations.

Madeleine: "I love taking the bus home" (Madeleine started taking the bus by herself last term).

Me: "Oh?"

Madeleine: "It is, like, freedom."

Welcome Home

Brentford council estates from the M4 

We arrive to London, greeted by what our pilot cheerfully describes as "seasonal weather" - cold, grey, dreary - but, as I tell a colleague on my mobile, "we choose to live here. " This always gets a chuckle as the counter party knows the alternative California.

Brentford btw is the first point on the tidal Thames easily fordable by foot (before dredging). It is believed Julius Caesar crossed the river here during his invasion of Britain in 54 BC.  Today Caesar would be greeted, and repelled, by the chavs (yuf identified through their love of tracksuits and burberry, splashing themselves with the tackiest designer brands and gold jewelery, and Sovereign rings.  Usually they come from a working class background but there are also very wealthy chavs like Jordan aka Katie Price).

Brentford, despite itself, has been on the up-and-up with new high rises and the Thames Valley University here; GlaxoSmithKline's HQ visible from the flyover and the Brentford FC offers some League One action.  It is near near Heathrow and remains affordable. It would have made for a good investment even ten years ago.

West by Southeast

We return to London tomorrow on the over night trans Atlantic. This is kind of how I feel.

Today we visit our friends Rob and Sloan and their beautiful children. Rob's Latin America trade finance business is growing its capital base, producing consistent solid returns before, during and since the financial recession; Sloan's exec coaching business thriving w/ 22 clients and growing.  We re live a number of key development moments like the time we all called it quits on the corporate scene and started our own businesses.

This evening we spend with Roger and Greta and their beautiful children.  They have made the return re location to the Bay Area so Roger can take his eight years at Microsoft to Box, one of the hottest companies in SV, growing 300% per year.  Roger and I re live a number of key developmental moments like the time we shared a flat on the Upper West Side and the roof nearly collapsed from rain fill - only our splashing about the roof deck searching for the plug in freezing dark temps saved the moment and Roger's high end stereo system, about the only thing of value in our place at the time.

Tunnel At Sunset

This the tunnel that connects Cordonices Park and the Berkeley Rose Garden, far side. When I was a kid, the tunnel covered with graffiti and smelled of urine (it has been cleaned up, along with the rest of the park); I found the passage a bit menacing - it has appeared in a dream or two in middle life.

Some Berkeley histrory, from the Berkeley Gazette, September 27, 1933 (and the Web), states: " A pedestrian tunnel runs under Euclid, connecting the Rose Garden with Codornices Park. In this section, from 1912 to 1928, before the Rose Garden was established, a 275-foot-long wooden streetcar and road trestle spanned Codornices Creek along Euclid. In 1928, the trestle was filled in, a culvert laid through it for the creek, and the pedestrian tunnel constructed."

Backyard

Madeleine spends the afternoon about the house.

We are with Spencer and Alex and their three beautiful children who bracket Eitan and Madeleine by age. Pre-children, the four of us in London from '97 to '99 until Alex's job at JP Morgan relocated them back to US; Spencer took an early role at Silver Point Capital, a hedge fund founded by several Goldman alum, which amassed billions.  The rest, as they say, is history.  During those post MBA early days, Friday evening cocktails were de rigeur.

Small Business

The kids contemplate the New Year with new businesses: Madeleine considers reviving her gardening service "Dream Clean" and Eitan selling baked goods.  He puts together a business plan which includes costs, prices, a survey outline and "procedures for my business", which he will do from week to week.  Of course there is some discussion - negotiation - between the Shakespeares on mutual joint efforts and Eitan offers Madeleine a 10% cut for going to Waitrose to buy the ingredients (10% declined as "too little").  Madeleine has the brilliant idea of "prescriptions" (she means "subscriptions") for ongoing repeat customers and this is how an idea goes into action.

Eitan: "Can we get a ping pong table?"
Me: "Where would we put it?"
Eitan: "In the garage."
Me: "Sure. You can save up your money."
Eitan: "I am going to have to put my business in over drive."

Welcome 2013 !

We spend the 31st at Camp Connell (est. 1923), pictured, drinking beer (me); working (Katie, taking advantage of wi fi); begging for candy or beef jerky (kids); being patient (Sonnet).

The Orenstein Stanfills go to 11PM and reminisce about 1993 to 1994 when I hosted a party on Nob Hill for about 150 people.  Adam brought a professional lighting system to take black and white photographs of the guests; Chip a sound system and I and Jana supplied the apartment, owned by Tyler's dad, with booze to keep us going until 6AM.  Unfortunately I failed to cover the living room's thick white carpet leaving a wall to wall black hole. Sonnet and I drove hours to the one carpet-cleaning rental in the Bay Area open on New Year's Day - Burlingame - and spent the afternoon preying for a miracle.

I flew to South Korea that night to meet with eye frame manufacturers (but that is another story).

Eitan: "I am so bored. I know what, I will try to lick my chest like Rusty. .. "
Me: "How about licking your balls, like Rusty."
Eitan: "Ha ha ha!"
Me to Sonnet: "Two words that crack up Eitan: Rusty and balls."
Madeleine: "Charming, Dad."

Alpine County

Early sunset at Mt Reba, 8,755 feet, Stanislaus National Forest

175 Foot Short

We walk a familiar trail and I (re) learn the giant redwoods of Big Trees one of three kinds : the Sierra Sequoias, where we are now; the Coastal Redwoods lining Northern California and the Metas (for meta sequoias) in China.  Once these beautiful giants, the largest living things on earth ever, covered the northern hemisphere when the climate warmer; now they remain in groves which offer protection from wind and sun, moisture and a relatively mild climate. The three pictured about 175 feet while the largest in the park, the Louis Agassiz tree in the South Grove, is "only" 250 feet but it is over 25 feet in diameter six feet above the ground.  The Agassiz 'drinks' about 275 gallons of water a day and its roots system covers more than an acre; over a year, she creates enough new wood for a 75 foot tree.

Madeleine: "Auntie Katie I lost a tooth. My last tooth!"

Katie: "Well let me see then."

Madeleine: "It's in the bin. Mum threw it away."

Sonnet: "By accident. It was on a napkin and I didn't see it."

Katie: "Teeth last a long time in our family. Moe has all our teeth, from 35 or 40 years ago."
Madeleine: "Are they moldy ? "
Katie: "He keeps them in a drawer, in their bedroom."

Madeleine: "Isn't that kind of gross?"

Sonnet: "We are not keeping your last tooth, Madeleine, so don't you worry."

Madeleine: "Not even if we brush it or something?"

Katie: "Yeah, even if you brush it or something?"

Madeleine: "It is my last tooth mom."

Sonnet: "And the last one to go in to the bin."

Snow Boots

Eitan: "Mom! Did you know a gold fish can remember things for three seconds?"

Madeleine: "And you can't slam your car door in Switzerland."

Sonnet: "That's nice to know, dear."

Eitan: "Charles de Gaulle's final words were "It hurts."

Me: "Having fun there, Eitan?"

Eitan: "I downloaded an App."

Eitan: "A peanut is not a nut. it is a legume."

Me: "Nicely done."

Eitan: "Men can read small print better then women but women can hear better than men."

Eitan: "Owls are the only birds that can see the colour blue."

Eitan: "The percent of Africa that is wilderness is 28%."

Eitan: "Hamsters love to eat crickets."

Me: "They do?"

Madeleine: "We would never do that. Feed a hamster a cricket."

Me: "No way."

Eitan: "You cannot keep your eyes open when you sneeze."

Me: "Do you believe all that stuff?"

Eitan: "Yes. It says so right here."

Me: "From there to college. Go get 'em, kid."

Skiis Up

We get the kids on skiis at Bear Valley which, for the record, not my favourite activity : awkward equipment, lines, cold and cramped feet .. . (Madeleine: "Way to look at the bright side of things, Dad") so I sit in the lodge and read 'Jane Eyre' while Sonnet and Katie take Eitan and Madeleine through the rentals (one and a half hours), lessons (2 hours), lunch (one hour) and some skiing (half hour).

Both kids pleased with their progress and, despite several hard knocks, are game for more.  Eitan makes it off the 'cub slope' to the chair lifts; Madeleine keeps her spirit and strong until the end.  We are rewarded with a spectacular sunset over the spine of the mountains.

Katie: "How was it?"
Eitan: "My heart leapt and missed a beat."

Lake Alpine

Lake Alpine snowed over, 7,388 feet

We are in the Sierra Nevadas, joined happily by 'Auntie Katie', who is another source of entertainment (and wisdom) for the Shakespeares. I use our first day to trek into Lake Alpine as HW 4 otherwise closed at Ebbetts Pass or 8,736. There is maybe six feet of snow pack and I rely on snow-mobile paths to make my way to the lakeshore; otherwise it is hard tredging.

To my surprise, the lake iced over and covered in a blanket of snow. The sun bears down and cumulous clouds provide little relief ( I shoot with a polar lens).  A storm moves up the Bear Valley and, very rapidly, the sky menacing and I retreat to collect Sonnet and the kids as snow arrives.

Eitan leaps across the living room: "Duck! Roll! Cover! Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat !"

Wipe Out

Tiles

 SF MOMA

Madeleine, cradling the cat: "You know cats can be like Wolverines?"
Me: "Oh? I wasn't aware of that."
Madeleine: "Their claws can come out like metal things."
Me: "Do you like the cat more than Rusty?"
Madeleine: "Is that a serious question?"
Me: "Who do you like more, Eitan or Rusty?"
Madeleine: "Rusty."
Eitan: "Madeleine!"
Me: "That's the way it goes. How about me?"
Madeleine: "I am sorry to say not even close Dad."
Me: "See?"

Orb

We check out Jasper at Obscura Digital.

Eitan, Katie and I run a familiar trail; Eitan and I do the second half, or about 2 miles, hard. We are evenly matched and, dare I say, the boy now nips me.

Eitan: "I am going to have a shower."
Me: "Just make sure you wash your hair."
Eitan: "I've washed my hair."
Me: "Oh, Really? How many times?"
Eitan: "I've washed my hair twice."
Me: "And how long have we been here?"
Eitan: "A week."
Me:
Eitan: "Ok, Ok, I will wash my hair again."

O P

OP (Original Peet's) never disappoints : this morning I talk to a fellow, pictured, about rain and electronics. We agree, water is bad.  I also learn that he is a Viet Nam vet and is against gun freedom in America: "Man, it is insane" he says.

MOMA

With howls of protest from the back seat, we visit the SF Museum of Modern Art to see the Jasper Johns and the permanent collections.

Madeleine enjoys Rafael Lozano-Hemmer's "Frequency and Volume" exhibition that "responds to the size and position of visitors' shadows on the gallery wall, encouraging participants to use their own bodies to tune in to a range of public and private radio frequencies — from commercial music stations to police bands and air traffic control."

Me: "Do you guys know what Boxing Day is?"
Eitan: "Is it a famous boxing match or something?"
Me: "Guess again."
Eitan: "Is it a day for the dead?"
Me:
Madeleine: "That's Hallow's Eve, Eitan."
Eitan: "Oh, yeah, right."
Me: "It's when the servants would get their presents."
Madeleine: "They have to wait that long?"
Me: "I guess they were happy to get something."
Madeleine: "Yeah. Having to wait must have made it worse."
Me: "Probably so."

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.