Battle Of The Brains

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

Eitan Takes A Bronze

200m butterfly, county champs

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

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

Disco Party II

Selfie

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

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

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

Good Day, Sunshine

6:14AM sunrise

Earlier this week I am in Abu Dhabi which is like a giant 5 star shopping mall (Rolls Royce's newest car, the 'Wraith", advertised in the airport and on the streets : this is its natural habitat, after all). My hotel (54th floor) offers views of the Persian Gulf and .. the desert. Strangely , several towers block my vista.

From A D to Dubai, which is more of the same. Then Kuwait City which I like. Despite Kuwait's vast wealth it is still Third World and the airport a complete shambles. Visitors require a visa so I queue in three lines before my passport stamped then another line for passport control.  It is 10PM and the airport heaving. And hot. And it smells. Getting a taxi not a problem but exiting the airport like threading a needle through the traffic. I'm at the nicest hotel in town, a Sheraton, which is designed for Westerners so gauche brown marble, gold and 14th century French decoration. A trio serenades us with pop songs at the hotel Italian. No Alcohol, of course.

Despite the crumbling eye level, Kuwait has some of the world's tallest and sleekest skyscrapers in the world. They shoot up like sprouts through mold.

Self Portrait XXXVI

Eitan goes to Luke's disco party with Joe and Shaheen; Joe shows up at our house first.
Me: "What's up?"
Joe: "Nothing."
Eitan, Joe:
Me: "Well this is awkward."
Eitan: "Yeah."

16 Candles

Hampton 5, Sutton 1

Sonnet, Madeleine and I watch the late John Hughes' film "Sixteen Candles" with Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall - excellent. Madeleine seems about the right age to appreciate Samantha's world, surrounded by awkwardness and embarrassments of family, school and being a teenager.  The movie from '84 or 30 years old - the equivalent of looking back to 1954 when I first saw it.  It doesn't seem to have dated but then what do I know ?  

I reference a poster of Cheryl Tiegs and music from Spandau Ballet, The Specials, Oingo Boingo. Samantha uses a phone to .. talk, something neither Eitan nor Madeliene have ever done with their friends.  Floppy disks, also something the kids have never heard of, noted 'kind of expensive' by the geek. All in, not a bad decade.

Madeleine absorbs it all.

Grandpa Fred: "Hey Howard, there's your Chinaman."

'Sup

Spain

Friday night.  Madeleine faints in hockey practise and Rusty comes down with a bad vibe - the pooch is bedridden and looks at me mournfully.  Serves him right for spreading the kitchen garbage across the hardwood floor.

Sonnet: "So what's your plan for Sunday?"
Madeleine: "Jack and Williby are coming over."
Me: "You're having a play date?"
Madeleine:
Sonnet: "Dad's just teasing."
Madeleine: "No he's not."
Me: "Actually I wasn't."
Madeleine: "See?"
Me: "So where are you going?"
Madeleine: "Hammersmith. And then Westfields." [Dad's note: Westfields is the largest shopping mall in Europe, located in Shepherds Bush, London]
Sonnet: "You are not going to Hammersmith." [Dad's note: Hammersmith is urban]
Madeleine: "You let Eitan go by himself."
Sonnet: "Your brother is a year older than you. A year and a half, actually."
Me: "Plus you might be tempted to do some busking."
Madeleine: "So how about Kingston?" [Dad's note: Kingston is shopping mall outside of London]
Me: "Why don't you just go to our High Street? You could go to Boots and Party Palace. And there's a wonderful WH Smith."
Madeleine rolls her eyes.
Sonnet: "You're not going to Kingston Either. It's too far away."
Madeleine: "But it's on the train. It's only four stops from Richmond." [Dad's note: Richmond equals shopping]
Me: "She's got a point. It's a safe area."
Sonnet: "I will think about it."

Close Shave

Kashgar, Xinjiang, China, 1997

Me: "How was your race today?" (Dad's note: Madeleine runs a 3K race)
Madeleine: "It was so hard. I had asthma."
Me: "Were you OK?"
Madeleine: "Well I finished the race, didn't I?"
Me: "Asthma can be dangerous. And frightening - there was an adult there to help you ?"
Madeleine: "Yes, I finished and somebody got me my inhaler."
Me: "That's good to know."
Madeleine: "There was a stream and we had to jump over it and I almost fell in."
Me: "Woa."
Madeleine: "And I almost fell into a bramble bush."
Me: "Yep. Sounds like cross country."
Madeleine: "And I got to the finish and fell to the ground."
Me: "Quite an experience." (Dad's note: Madeleine in the top 5 finishers)

Barnes Railway Bridge

Facing West, from the Barnes embankment

The original bridge at this location was built in 1849 to a design by Josephe Locke followed by a replacement bridge, designed by Edward Andrews in 1895 for the London & South Western Railway. The original Locke span still stands unused on the upstream side. The bridge is still in use by the London overground rail and I pass it twice during a running loop from my office.

Goalkeeper

Madeleine is chosen goalkeeper for Emanuel's A squad.  She rolls with it.

Our gal takes a few minutes to kit up as the girls play the Harrodian School in Barnes which looks like a Ralph Lauren set, nestled between the river and the Barnes village (the grounds once a private estate until acquired, in the 1990s, by a local philanthropist opened an alternative school that concentrates on languages - Russian, anyone ?).

Madeleine is good in the box, too - she blocks six shots including a sequence of four which has us parents ooo-ing and ahh-ing from the sidelines. The end result: 2-2.

Grace nails six-for-six at my parents' Oscar party in Berkeley.

An interesting experiment: The world's 1,645 billionaires are worth $6.4 trillion at 2013 year-end, up from $5.4T in 2012.

Love

Glass cutter, SW London

Eitan's favorite bands (in no particular order) :
The Kooks
London Grammar
Bastille
Arctic Monkeys
The Vaccines
Passion Pit
Cold Play
The American Authors
The Gorrillaz

Me: "How about Justin Bieber?"
Eitan:
Me: "Do you listen to a lot of music?"
Eitan: "Yeah, quite a lot."
Me: "And how do you share music with your friends?"
Eitan: "We don't really share music. Most people like pop music, anyway, but I don't like the electronics and stuff.  I don't like the 'crappy pop music' as you might say."
Me: "I'm glad some of my training is sinking in."
Eitan: "It's not training Dad."

Sprezzatura

Why can't I have a cat?

Madeleine and I walk the dog then go for sushi. Over lunch we discuss pets (Dad's note: at Madeleine's age, I was somehow allowed a snake, a tarantula and three iguanas who each died an early death). Madeleine wants a cat and, momentarily, it was considered until Madeleine hit a wall: Sonnet. Plus Rusty would probably grab the thing by the throat and shake it to death, blood and fur everywhere. Ok maybe not.

Eitan in swimming action at the Univ. of Surrey for the Surrey County Championships, which are spread across five weeks. This weekend he swims the distance races : 1500 and 400 meter freestyles and the 400 IM in 19:42, 4:45 and 5:46, respectively.  Showing he is a multi-talented guy, Eitan now prepares tortilla de patatas.

Sonnet's exhibition gears up : today a five page story in the Financial Times Sunday insert.

Eitan on the tortilla de patatas: "I'm not really sure how this is going to work out." 

"Sprezzatura. It means nonchalance. It's the way in which clothes are worn - a mood, an attitude.  If you go to the financial centre of Rome on any given morning, you can watch this senses of easy elegance in action. Its a fashion parade."
--Sonnet, 'Moda Operandi' in the Sunday FT

Pow Wow

A discussion takes place around Madeleine's 5AM swim practise - it's either Friday morning or Sunday, which she dreads.  So Sonnet will take her since I am on a plane to Dublin for the day. Our gal now practises the trumpet putting the dog on alert.

Eric the turtle finally leaves the earth (Dad's note: Madeleine's pet died three weeks ago). His body 12 inches deep, under a stone-of-remembrance. Somber proceedings. The good news : Nelson's life expectancy another 30 years.

Me: "Say something about your turtle."
Madeleine: "Huh?"
Me: "Say something, anything."
Madeleine: "I don't know. He's a turtle dad."
Me: "That's all you've got?"
Madeleine: "He can swim."
Me: "Is he cuddly?"
Madeleine: "He's a turtle. Turtles aren't cuddly."
Me: "Fair enough."

More Weirdness

At the Courdault

I return from two nights in Berlin for the Super Return conference - the largest private equity gathering in the world with over 1,100 delegates including the good and the great. The highlight returning from dinner one night, 11PM, and finding Todd in the hotel lobby, in from Boston. We stay up late catching up.

Me: "Come on Rusty, you wanker."
Eitan: "Dad!"
Me: "What? What did I say?"
Eitan: "Do you know what 'wanker' means?"
Me: "Yeah, it's like what they used to call the guy who mixed the household butter. He was usually pretty low in the family hierarchy, so it's kind of a derogatory word."
Eitan: "Well that's not how it's used now."
Me: "Oh?"
Eitan: "It means 'mastrabation."
Me: "No, way. I am shocked."
Eitan: "Yeah, it's like, 'you're a wanker.'"
Me: "Boy it's a good thing you told me."

Cb Hounslow Blues

The Sheen Lions are back in action in their first game since December.  The wettest January on record, which has cancelled games left and right, has set the season back six or seven weeks.

Were it another week.  The Lions go down 4 nothing, opting to play against the wind in the first half (3-nil at half). The 30mph gusts wreak havoc on the defense and the boys only start playing as a team towards the end of the game, which brings them tantalisingly close, 4-3, as the whistle blows. Etian scores a PK and hits the bar on another, which proves to be the difference.  And that's football.

Kids back to school, Sonnet interviews with The Guardian, and I to Berlin for a conference. And so it goes.

Marscape

Sunrise, Mars (NASA)

When I was 10, 11 or 12 I remember pondering, "what will it be like when the year turns 2000? " And now : who will be the first to make it to another planet ?  Somebody must do it given the planet's dire flight path.

This morning I listen to  Elizabeth Kolbert interviewed by Terry Gross. Kolbert writes for the New Yorker and recently published 'The Sixth Extinction.' The amphibians (who btw survived the dinosaur wipe out) are being hit hard. Equally bad or worse: the oceans are acidifying which will roll back the barrier reefs where the aquatic food chain begins. And so on and so forth.

I'm with Shai who has been investing in green-energy since 2006 for Richard Branson. In short, he says, nobody cares.

"We are effectively undoing the beauty and the variety and the richness of the world which has taken tens of millions of years to reach ... We're sort of unraveling that. ... We're doing, it's often said, a massive experiment on the planet, and we really don't know what the end point is going to be."

--Elizabeth Kolbert

SuperDry Is Super Fly

Madeleine discovered brands last year but really she prefers one: SuperDry, which is like so now and Japanese. All the groovy cats have the SuperDry jacket, maybe a SuperDry sweatshirt and a SuperDry book bag.

In my day, which would by 1982-85, the outfit was an alligator shirt (collar up), canvas Sperry topsiders, Levi's 501s (shrunk-to-fit) and (for the real players) a Derby jacket. Of course I am working my way through these items again, age 46.

The kids have been on a one-week half-term break and Madeleine at school all week, all day, for theatre. She wasn't too happy when it looked like she would have two lines in "London Calling" ("one of them, like, two words") but now she's been assigned a monologue of some sort.  Eitan is invisible until 11 or 11:30AM when he stumbles downstairs for food.  I double-check that there is an air-hole as he is otherwise covered by his blanket.

The Meeting Place

Paul Day's sculpture, The Meeting Place, greets me and everyone from Paris at St Pancras Station, London. It is 9 metres tall surrounded by a frieze. I hate it.

Firstly, there's nothing unique or interesting about the couple - he's bald and wearing baggy trousers. As if. She looks like an investment banker.  What's to love here? Where are the idiosyncrasies that make the individuals rise above themselves creating something special even memorable? Not here.

Coming from Paris where the city drips with serious art, one would think one's introduction to London would give us more.

Living Large

California -> London -> Paris

Texting with Madeleine:
Me: "How was your day sweetheart?"
Madeleine: "Pretty good."
Me: "Who did you have lunch with?"
Madeleine: "Jack and Aiden."
Me: "The crew. Were you rehearsing all day?"
Madeleine: "Yep."
Me: "What's the name of the play?"
Madeleine: "London Calling."
Me: "Calling what?"
Madeleine: "I have no idea."

Bay Bridge Moonrise

Eastward

The new Bay Bridge, connecting Oakland to Yerba Buena or "Treasure" Island, finally completed in 2013 after ten years construction and $6.5b of investment. It is the the world's widest bridge, says the Guinness World Records.

The old bridge, to the right, was completed in 1936 and runs parallel to the new bridge. Not anchored in bedrock on the Oakland side, the bridge collapsed in the '89 earthquake - an image beamed around the world and now forgotten to many greater calamities.  Seeing the old thing gives me a shiver.  It is being disassembled, no easy task.

The bridge is white and modern and makes me think of Apple - good design. Plenty of room and well lit all the way.

Madeleine, reading, from the back of the car: "Do astronauts have to know how to kill each other?"

Me: "It's a good question."

One Day In The Bay Area

 The Educator

Brad's start up is funding operating costs for charter schools. He began factoring (advancing receivables) for the same clients several years ago and his book now $600m.

The CFO and the VC

Tim the CFO of Yingli Energy, the world's largest solar panel manufacturer, and Josh a Managing Partner at Matrix, one of the most successful venture firms in the valley.

The Architect

Doug responsible for US and global design at Adobe.

The Saxophonist

Dave's 'State of Mind', produced by legendary record producer Orrin Keepnews, was number one on the Jazz billboards for months.

The Technologist

Roger heads the bizdev team and an early guy at Box.

Misty Morning

Rob and Slon in Mill Valley

I'm up well before the crack of dawn and join my father as he prepares for the gym. It's not yet 4AM. Rather than lie in bed on London time, worrying about emails and other things I should be doing GMT, I drive myself to Inspiration Point, my mind's peaceful place, to do some running. Only it's pitch black other than the twinkling stars that break thru the fog. Not really safe give the fire trail's ancient tarmac filled with cracks but off I go. I am treated with sounds : frogs so loud that I think electric cable, an owl hooting, a coyote howling. Dream.

GGB

Facing southward

I'm with Kitty and Tim yesterday and their rambunctious kids, ages 2 and 4 - Tim the CFO of a listed solar company.  He tells me the U.S. generates more sun electricity than anywhere else, driven by govt tax incentives "that are working" and will be unnecessary inside three years.  California, for instances, requires its utilities to get 33% of electricity from renewables by 2020.

In the twelve months through October 2013, utility scale solar power generated 8.9 million megawatt-hours, 0.22 % of total US electricity. A long ways to go yet.

Sunday In The East Bay

Driving from SFO to Berkeley, the radio plays Peaches And Herb, Chic - Le Freak, and Blondie. Where else this wonderful collection of music from my childhood ?

The good news is rain, as California in the throws of a three-year drought where the Sierra-Nevada snowpack is at 15% the normal level.

So I walk down Vine Lane (rain) to Peet's which opens 6AM on a Sunday.  The usual intellects and freaks there, making me feel pretty good about the place.

High School Standard

No rubber suit here

Katie Ledecky, who we saw win gold in London, set the American high school record yesterday in the 500 yard freestyle in the trials of the D.C. Metro high school swimming championships. Her time of 4:28.71 under her year-old national high school record of 4:31.38 and also lower's Katie Hoff's American record of 4:30.47 from 2007. Ledecky is 16 years old.

Ledecky's splits:
24.68
26.47 (51.15)
26.86
26.96 (53.82, 1:44.97)
27.13
27.37 (54.50, 2:39.47)
27.30
27.51 (54.81, 3:34.28)
27.87
26.56 (54.43, 4:28.71)

Katie's pal Susan now the CEO of Youtube. 

Off to California in 30.

Doppler Effect

Madeleine turns 12 tomorrow. I have every day of her life in my mind's eye and can move forward and backwards since her birth. When I look at her, I see all these years combined in her eyes and smile. It is something unique to us and that I treasure.

Sonnet arrives home a fabulous mess - tube strike and rain.  She has a photo shoot for Harper's Bazaar complete with makeup and hair stylist and wardrobe adviser - she chooses Armani (darling).  She is photographed before her mannequins, inside the museum, to hit the newsstands for the April issue. Madeleine: "Wow. Mom needs to come with me to listen to my trumpet."

Me: "You know, Sonnet was a ballerina." [Dad's note: dinner table, Sonnet working late]
Aneta: "Oh? what is that?"
Me: "It is someone who does ballet. Dancing on tip toes"
Madeleine: "Yeah. She did it until she was 12."
Eitan: "Why did she stop ?"
Madeleine: "Mom said it was because her feet grew."
Me: "That's not the only thing that grew."
Eitan:
Madeleine: "What do you mean?"
Me: "Let's just say she lost her balance."
Eitan: "Ha ha!"

Nordic

Uspenski Cathedral

Helsinki to Göteborg to Stockholm in 24 hours, meeting with a few pension funds and other investors. Usual stuff.

I like the Nordics - there is a winter sensibility here missing from London or the Continent. First off, the city gets on with snow. Taxi drivers hit excessive speeds, the airports don't shut down and the roads are clear. People dress sensibly before stylishly (unlike Eitan who refuses to wear his winter jacket most winter days because, you know, the other boys don't wear a winter jacket).  But mostly I like the people who are friendly and a bit different.

Me (on phone): "How was your day?"
Eitan: "Ok I guess."
Me: "Anything interesting happen?"
Eitan: "Not really. We had a test. In sex ed."
Me: "That sounds awkward."
Eitan: "It wasn't very difficult."
Me: "Did you cheat and touch your willy?"
Eitan: "Ha ha!"
Me: "Well whatever you don't learn in the classroom you'll pick up by trial and error."
Eitan:
Me: "That was a joke. Sort of."

Outta Here

The rush and tumble of daily life (as Sonnet says). Madeleine bolts for stage school where every Saturday she has an hour session each of drama, music and dance. Each term there is an end-of-term performance where the little darlings put their skills on display. Madeleine's ambition to be an actress. Like Serpico.

And in other late-breaking news, I am off to Finland in an hour.

Dippy The Dinosaur

Dippy

King Edward VII gave "Dippy", a 26-meter Diplodocus, to the Natural History Museum in 1905.  I think he looks like Dino in the Flintstones.  But Dino a Snorkasaurus.  You know, a sauropod.

When I was in 2nd or 3rd grade, post school, I would find myself at Jeff Morgan's house watching Gilligan's Island followed by Star Trek and ... the Flintstones reruns, which otherwise aired on 'prime time' from 1960 to 1966. Hard to believe people watched cartoons while eating TV dinners but there you have it.

Jeff's brother, Louis, had cancer so his parents were never around which suited me and Jeff just fine - unsupervised afternoons, junk food ..  candy .. . as much television as we could handle.  We were modern day Tom Sawyers. That's what it seemed like back then.

Me: "What happened at school today?"

Madeleine: "Nothing."

Me: "Anything interesting happen?"

Madeleine: "No."

Me: "Let's try something different. You choose a subject. You know, something you want to talk about."

Madeleine: "How about 'can I leave the dinner table?" ?"

Me: "Ok, It's a start."

Self Portrait XXXV

Charlie Shrem, the CEO of Bitcoin exchange company BitInstant (backed by the Winklevoss brothers) and a well-known voice in the virtual currency community, charged with scheming to sell and launder $1 million worth of Bitcoin to users of the illegal drug website Silk Road.

The Manhattan Federal Court deems the 24-year old Shrem a flight risk and sets bail at $1 million, puts a tracking device around Shrem's ankle, and remands him to his parents' house in Brooklyn.  They must be like, WTF ?!  Raise the kid with good values - check.  Feed and clothe the little bastard - check. Pay for private college - check, check, check. And the payback ? Mom is picking up Charlie's dirty clothes again.

Cold Shower

One of the things I notice about getting older, other than an inability to keep up with Eitan running, is that I am now more clumsy revealed by several recent falls caused by mis-judging stupid situations including a dangerous one on my bike. I also have lost some of my sixth sense like when you drop a pencil and your hand is there to catch it without thinking.

To counter this, and I have no idea if there is any scientific merit here, I take freezing cold showers alternating with hot water. It certainly gives me a goose in the morning.

Box Dress

11 fading fast

Madeleine soon to turn 12 and we consider her celebration. I push for a party but neither kid comfortable with that at our house. Could it be the cow suit ? But anyway, I have to remind myself that this fabulous kid is not the same age as her older brother. She holds her own just fine.

In other news, Hollande mans up and - finally - Trierweiler is out.  It's hard to sympathise with Hollande, the putz, but Trierweiler sounds like a complete whack job. I have some insight into her type having also found myself trapped in the company of an insecure, opportunistic and ambitious (Asian) woman - may her career RIP.  From humble origins, Trierweiler forced her way on to the scene, damaging people along the way, without failure, until now. Hollande should have seen the signs well before the inevitable crash.

Cash Flows

Eitan walks to the coach which takes him and a bunch of local kids to school.  He looks like he could have an HP-12C or a bond table tucked inside his coat pocket.

And the boy has expressed an interest in business. Who can forget the methodical planning behind the bakery business which netted our neighbors, Helen and Martin, as customers? Or Eitan's attempt to sell my old Sony VAIO on eBay which I discouraged since it's missing a couple of important keys and the battery life about nil. He bemoans the Internet for squashing the paper-route (having listened to my glorified stories of delivering the long-gone Berkeley Gazette) and now he puts his Great Brain to work on books or, specifically, how to get them from the pulping skip to Africa.  These are all excellent initiatives.

Madeleine plays field hockey, a new sport, which takes over from net-ball, which comes to an end this month.

Functionalism

Danish 'functionalism', which began in the 1930s and spread outwards, relied on rational architecture making use of concrete, iron and glass, preferably to meet social needs.

The Bellahoj Svommstadion fits the bill, constructed by the City of Copenhagen, Culture and Leisure, Copenhagen Properties KEjd, who designed the building in 2005. It's also a magnificent aquatics complex with 50-meter swimming pool, diving well and spectator stands all sunk in industrial cement and supported by by white steel beams.  Floor to ceiling windows allow a view of the pool and the outdoors.  I feel like a million bucks doing my back and forths.

Copenhagen for meetings, home for dinner.

Women at Goodyear factory in Northern France shaking the President's hand: "It's not soft, your handshake !"

President Hollande: "Neither my hand nor my head. And I'll say nothing about the rest. "

Low Skies

Richmond Park jog

Britain's top sugar watchdog, Ian Macdonald, is on the Coca-Cola and Mars payrolls, never admitted by him and only recently made public thanks to a Channel 4 investigation.  Ian chairs the government panel examining the impact of sugar consumption on health; his recommendations later this year will frame the national guidance.  But I'm sure there's no conflict.

Lena Dunham, who is all out there and gnarly on her hit show 'Girls' and promotes 'anti-glamour' for more realistic images of women in the film and media industries is seriously photo shopped in next month's Vogue magazine. On the online fallout, she tweets: "Some shit is just too ridiculous to engage." Unless, that is, you have a twelve year old girl in your house.

Our last-night dinner party a success at 15, including kids, though we learn that our Spanish friends Alberto and Lucrecia returning to Madrid.  Now we have even more reason to visit a wonderful city.

Skate

Penny boarding

When I was about Madeleine's age I had a penny board, also known as a skateboard, which I practised in the backyard of 1530 Euclid. Unfortunately our block too steep, and trafficked, to learn it properly.

We are with Veronique and Marshall, whose pal, the CEO of BP, caught by Marshall last summer throwing water balloons from Marshall's 7th floor roof deck with Houston, Marshall's 16 year old son. Central London, mind you.

Tony visits for a walk in Richmond Pk and in town for the Davos pre parties (Tony a member of the Dean's Council at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University). Tony a 'recycled entrepreneur', his expression, who's first company, Morris Decisions Systems, a NYC-based PC dealer and network systems integrator, #9 on Inc. 500 in the year before its acquisition in the 1980s. Since, he has been a formidable investor in vc. We share a number of interests.

Me: "How was the walk?"
Madeleine: "Good."
Me: "Was the dog behaved?"
Madeleine: "Yes."
Me: "Were there a lot of people in the park?"
Madeleine: "No."
Me: "Can you answer all my questions with one word?"
Madeleine: "Maybe."

Engine Hall

So .. . back from Paris in time to see Madeleine's net-ball game at her school against some team (I don't know, she doesn't know). Emanuel wins, 11-3.

I am in Paris for the Astorg New Year's party which is at a trendy nightclub in the 9e which we take over for the affair. The evening entertainment around a hypnotist.  Weird in a very French sort of way.

2013 attendance at the British Museum sets a record with 25,000 people a day, on average.  The Elgin Marbles have never been so popular.

Me: "What's your homework ?"
Madeleine: "I have some Spanish thing.  I have to write about our family. In Spanish."
Me: "Oh?"
Madeleine: "Yeah. Like 'we have a dog' or 'mom has brown hair.'
Me:
Madeleine: "And 'dad has lots of hair.' "
Me: "Good. You're learning."

Swimming Day

Homework Sunday

I spend Saturday at the Mountbatten leisure center in Portsmouth, a wonderful new swimming complex with a modern design including an undulating wooden roof covering the 50-meter pool. The Shakespeares attempt qualifying times for 'the Surreys' regional swimming championships. Madeleine just misses the 50-meter freestyle in 34.45 while Eitan has the 100-meter (1:04.14) and 200m freestyle. Eitan: "I didn't get much training done recently over Christmas so I wasn't very fit."  

The drive to Portsmouth about 90 minutes through Surrey on the A3. We arrive home late but in time for me (and Sonnet) to catch some of the NFL playoffs.

Mr Normal

Dough boy

When things go down a good scandal in order and France's Hollande gives us just that, shagging a Fr movie star 20 years his younger. In past, the French turned the blind eye to their leader's dalliances but Fonzi changed all that, rubbing the post-crisis struggling nation's face in it, with the sexy and talented Carla Bruni. No, Hollande promised to return some respect to the highest office (even though he ditched his longtime girlfriend and mother of his children for a hot tempered editor at Paris Match but whatever)

France could use some presidential virility but pictures of the famously hen pecked Hollande taken around the corner on a moped and hustled into his sexual den wearing a motor helmet to avoid detection, well, a bit too much.

The President's popularity now in the teens and no wonder : it has been a mess from the start. It poured rain on his inaugural march down the Champs Elysee (he, refusing umbrella). Then the plane  on his first diplomatic mission struck by lightening (Germany, flight turned around). Of course there was the tax-the-rich fiasco of 2012 and, today, France the sole country in the Western World not forecasting growth while 54% of the workforce in public services. No fun here.

"I could have made a fortune in cheeseburgers, but I finally chose politics."
--Francois Hollande, President of France

Photo from AP and Getty Images

USA COLORADO DENVER

`Well, it's Friday night.  Back in business.

There's a good vibe in St Pancras as I return from Paris. First real Friday, post-holidays, and people are happy: life mostly sucks about now but, hey, we made it thru the week. It's worth something.

The kids back in school and into their routines : up at 6:30AM or 7, out the door for respective trips east and west by coach or train.  This morning Eitan has swimming practice, Sonnet works on labels. Madeleine creates an itinerary for a date with mom including Whole Food for sushi followed by Anchor Man 2 (movie).

Me: "This dog doesn't listen to anybody."
Eitan: "You've made Rusty what he is - dumb and stupid and all over the place."

Me: "Gee, thanks a lot."

Wildcard Game

Sean Alexander is tackled

I prepare for some NFL football and tonight it is the 49ers v the Packers, a good rivalry, being played at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin, despite A) record shattering cold temps and B) the Niners 12-4 and the Packers 8-7-1.  The playoffs have begun.

Sonnet befuddled by American football btw - what is the point of grown men battering each other, she ponders? (Dad's note: this is exactly the point). But then, one would expect this opinion from an art major from Smith College.  I recall '94 when we saw the Bears play Washington State at Memorial Stadium, her first Div 1 football game (the Bears lose on the final play), seated close to the field and next to the cheerleaders. "Perky", she said.

The kids and Aneta have friends over, which I comfortably sleep through (it is the afternoon).

Hip Hip

The rain comes down - another once-in-a-hundred-years storm batters the UK - raising a 'severe weather warning' from the Met Office and assembling the elite government "Cobra" team who respond to national emergencies. It all sounds pretty macho to me.  The BBC weather people have a ball, warning us to "stay inside unless absolutely essential" and "your life could be in danger" and so on and so forth.

This is the fifth mega storm in the last four or five years, go figure. The convergence of high tides, winds and low pressure systems coming down from the arctic pole, floods the south and midwest, making life miserable for thousands of people.

Rusty sneaks under the kitchen table.
Me: "The dog is scared of me. He knows when I'm gonna brush his teeth."
Eitan: "Yeah."
Me: "Whenever I use that voice, the dog knows it's coming."
Eitan: "I know when you are going to give me chores, by your voice ."
Me: "Oh?"
Eitan: "And by the way you walk up the stairs."
Me:
Eitan: "And the way you open the door. If it's fast, without knocking, I know: chores."
Me: "I guess I had better change up. So you won't know what's coming."
Eitan: "Well I'm still not going to do them."

A Beautiful City

Oxo Wharf

We say a sad farewell to Auntie Katie and the holiday season, which crept up on us slowly, stayed for a bit too long, then ended rather abruptly.  Same as forever.

I visit my office, Sonnet takes down the Christmas tree and the kids do some revisions. Work and school boot up Monday and Tuesday.

"Great supine protoplasmic invertebrate jellies!" 
--Boris Johnson describes the London Assembly members who voted not to debate his budget amendment.

London Skyline

From Richmond Pk

While we are at it, Madeleine's sushi menu (prepared by Madeleine with sou chef Katie)
Starters:
Salted peas
Miso soup

Main course:
Salmon nigiri (Plain salmon on rice)
Treasure of the sea (salmon caviar and rice)
California hand roll (carrot, rice, avocado and mini caviar and salmon)
Cuttlefish nigiri (plain cuttlefish on rice)
Salmon and tuna handroll (salmon, tuna, rice, avocado, grated carrot and mini caviar)
Salmon sashimi (plain salmon)
Tuna roll (plain tuna wrapped in rice)
Inside out roll

Business Owner

The holiday routine continues into the New Year: Sleep until 11AM, some coffee, a bit of exercise ..  dog walk, television.. vodka martini, dry, with a twist (or olives, if Katie).  Next week's gonna be a shocker.

Eitan makes busy preparing dinner:
Butternut squash soup with bread and cheese
Seasoned Chicken breasts with potatoes and cabbage and tomato and goat cheese salad
Chocolate mousse with lemon glazed fruit salad for dessert

Surrey Hills

We ramble in the Devil's Punch Bowl, a large natural amphitheatre near Hindhead, Surrey. An ancient story claims that two giants clashed here, and one, scooping up earth to throw at the other, made the landmark before missing the throw and creating the Isle of Wight. 

In any case, the kids whine and complain since they would rather stay inside and play with their gadgets.  It does not help that, en route, there is torrential rain.  Sonnet rolls her eyes.  Rusty has the time of his life.