Keep On Toking

Obama in college

President Obama's second inauguration takes place, fittingly, on a national holiday honouring MLK.

Visitor Pass

Eitan lies on the sofa watching The Simpsons: "I seriously hope they cancel school tomorrow."
Me: "Every day is an opportunity. Unless, that is, you are lying in bed."

Eitan: "Unless the opportunity is to lie in bed."
Me: "Touché."

Sunshine

Moab, Utah

As for today's snow fall, well, the old timers tell me about the winter of '62-63 , the second coldest on record, after 1683-84. Everything froze solid: canals, lakes and rivers, including the Thames. The Big Freeze, as it became known, went until March with the worst in January : pipes burst, schools shut (no plumbing) and neighborhood water trucks supplied potable water (their faucets frozen tight); the electricity grid down and gas supplies insufficient for demand.  Waterways and commerce came to a grinding halt. Snow drifts 20 feet. No doubt tomorrow's commuters will suffer their fate at 15 cm.

Madeleine has a sleep-over with Marcus'  and the intrepids spend the morning fending off abuse from Marcus's older brothers who stuff snow down his shirt and generally pummel the poor dears.  Eitan teams us with Cyrus to romp in the snow at Palewell Park.

Sheen Lane

Red House

The Red House located at the junction of York Ave, Richmond Park Road and Sheen Lane, an ancient road, which follows the route of medieval field boundaries. It linked the market town of Kingston with the village of Mortlake and the river to London.  

The street lamp (pictured) burned gas until '64 when South West London switched to electricity; prior, a council man peddled through the ward igniting the flames with a long wand, returning the next morning, at dawn, to extinguish them.

A Boy And His Dog

All sports events cancelled and we enjoy an unusual morning at home.  We take the pooch for a walk, before it all goes to slush, and Madeleine builds a snow man.

The Sony Building goes for $1.1 billion - 2007 all over again.

“We’re flawed because we want so much more. We’re ruined because we get these things and wish for what we had.”
--Don Draper

Grit

Ten centimetres of snow bring the capital to a stand still (that is less than four inches people).  Flights  and buses cancelled, schools across the country closed (including Hampton but not Emanuel); this morning's trains late at the sniff of foul weather and I have a hard time getting a return taxi to Sheen since, outside the centre-city, the snowpack "unpredictable, mate, I can't be taking the risk " As if.  The BBC dedicates 30 minutes of top-of-the-hour news to the weather: "a 'crocodile line' of five cars stuck on the motor route in Wales! We came across a lady who had been in her car for a while and she was delighted to see us." There is a run on the grocery store.  As the Radio 4 concludes solemnly: "A day London put to the test."

The British love a good weather crisis and, since Friday, an unexpected long weekend.

Photo: Telegraph

Shoe Laces

Eitan ties

This morning I meet a gal at Ontario Teachers who is full of pep and vigour: she opened the London offices and it doesn't hurt that the pension manages $117 billion, second largest in Canada (after CPP). This the future of 180,000 teachers, principals and administrators while already supporting 120,000 retirees.  A reason the pension so large: 10% IRRs over ten years.  Still, the pension "gap' about $10 B, which means more contributions from its members.  Without higher-return illiquid assets like infrastructure and private equity, it would be worse.

Madeleine in a good mood.
Me: "How was swimming practise kiddo?"
Madeleine: "It was cancelled."
Me: "Oh?"
Madeleine: "A kid poo'd in the pool."
Me: "You're kidding."
Madeleine: "We saw some one fish it out with a net. And they did an evacuation bell."
Me:
Madeleine: "To get every body out."
Me:
Madeleine: "And some one had a heart attack."
Me: "Is this a public pool?"
Madeleine: "Yep."

Tilden Trail

Tilden Park trail

Earlier this month Katie takes us on a run that goes up and then goes down. Puff puff puff.

A bench plaque at the top honours Brian Maxwell, the founder of Berkeley based PowerBar which became the go to food of ultra athletes and i bankers. Maxwell himself a runner and, despite being told as a teenager of his congenital heart condition, he persevered, and in 1977 was ranked third in the world in the marathon by Track and Field News. At 51 years of age he died of a heart attack.

The scientist and co founder of PowerBar, Bill Vaughan, the father of childhood friend Brian, who is now CEO and owner of sports gel GU.  My friends and I tested GU on the San Francisco and Sacramento marathons in the 1990s.

Linebacker Patrick Willis on 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick's performance against the Packers: "It wows me."

Glory Hole

Lake Berryessa, CA

The morning glory spillway in Napa, California, is the largest in the world and allows water to bypass the Monticello Dam when at capacity.  The Glory Hole is about 61m from the dam; the distance from the funnel to the exit point - which is situated in the south side of the canyon - is about 213m. The outside diameter is 22m, slowly narrowing to 8.5m at the exit (Photo from The Earth Story)

I jog around La Cité on a dark cold deserted morning and wonder, as I sometimes do, whether I incorrectly set the alarm and it is really 2AM.

Nestle Toll House

Eitan bakes

Eitan puts his baking business in to action, preparing the first batch of chocolate chip cookies. "Today", he says, "I am just going to do some cookies. I've decided not to do muffins.  I have enough to make 18 cookies so I plan to sell 15.  The remaining can be for the family" which is awfully nice of the boy.

As for the cookie .. . .the original chocolate chip cookie, the Toll House Cookie, was "invented " by Ruth Graves Wakefield in the 1930s. Ruth and her husband owned the Toll House Inn, near Whitman, Massachusetts. Ruth cooked for her guests, and one day had to substitute semi-sweet chocolate for baker's chocolate in a cookie recipe. She chopped the chocolate in bits, but when she took the cookies from the oven, the semi-sweet chocolate had not melted into the dough as the baker's chocolate had.

As it so happened the chocolate bar had been a gift from Andrew Nestle of the Nestle Chocolate Company. As the Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe became popular, sales of Nestle's semi-sweet chocolate bar increased. Andrew Nestle and Ruth Wakefield struck a deal. Nestle would print the Toll House Cookie recipe on its packaging and Ruth Wakefield would have a lifetime supply of Nestle chocolate. (source:  Nestle website)

Eitan, before doing the door-to-door: "I really want to go. I am excited. And kinda nervous."

Bounce

Eitan has a couple of thrilling football games this weekend.  Yesterday, his Hampton School defeats Dulwich College 5-4 in a hard fought affair that never sees our side trailing (Gordon Ramsey checks out the action). Today Elm Grove advances to the final eight in the Surrey Cup by defeating Barnstead Colts 2-1.  Coach on Eitan's second half: "electric."  We now watch Man U v. Liverpool because that\s what people do in the country.

Madeleine swims a personal best in the 50-meter freestyle at the Epson Rainbow Leisure Centre.  Her time of 37 seconds one off the Surrey Championships qualification time and we are thrilled by her performance.  Today she competes the 200 freestyle.  Me, I am shortly to Paris and in to the full swing of 2013.

New Yawk

Grand Central Station Oyster Bar

I am back from a one-nighter in Manhattan which I would not recommend. Nor would I recommend two trans-Atlantics in one week no matter how effiicient.

I stay at the Waldorf Astoria which, while not The Roosevelt, somehow appropriate as Sonnet and I watch the final two episodes of Mad Men , season 5 (In season 2 Don Draper lives at The Roosevelt during marital problems).  My favorite use of the Waldorf sitting in the beautiful lobby after an early jet-lagged run in Central Park, drinking coffee, people-watching and making calls.

And did you know the Waldorf Astoria the first hotel to offer room service ?

Tube 150

Piccadilly tube at Barron's Court station

London celebrates the oldest metro in the world and there are days when the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines feel every bit their age, clunking and clacking between stations, pausing for no reason or to allow other trains to pass, taking their good sweet time. This somehow charming or even romantic unless, of course, you are a commuter.  The more recent tracks more efficient, carrying 1.2 billion passengers in 2011/12 or third most in Europe after Moscow and Paris.

Justin and I watch the Chelsea Blue lose to Swansea city at Stamford Bridge; beforehand I use a fork and knife on my beef burger.

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