rue d'Italie

A golden year

I spent my 16th year being educated at College de Candolle in Geneva (where I am today for a meeting). CdC a private school whose structure and curriculum similar to my first year of college (maybe better, in fact) : physics, calculus, chemistry, biology, geography . .. French literature, history and art on Saturday. I opted out of PE and the languages: Italian, German and Swiss Romanche. French was enough for me.

Yes, it was an exceptional experience. There were three other American exchange students and I remain in contact with two: Pam (who lives in Berkeley and a documentary film maker) and Kurt (Director of Global Engagement at Southern Utah University). My Swiss friends sadly did not stick.

During that year I had my first girlfriend (kissing, non sexual; can't remember her name), swam with the Swiss Olympics team (Eitenne Dagon won the first swimming medal for Switzerland, a bronze, in the 200m breast stroke) and lived with a local family who I recall fondly. I also set myself up to live in Europe forever.

Me: "If we were in California we would be surfing every day." (Madeliene and I do the secret handshake)
Madeleine: "I would get a long board."
Me: "And hiking in the Sierras."
Madeleine: "Yeah."
Me: "Or wine tasting in Sonoma."
Madeleine: "Why can't we move there?"
Me: "Maybe you will one day.  And I will come visit."

Pinball Wizard

Work'n it

Justin shows his prowess. He's also pretty good at ping pong (we compete doubles at a cool club off Earls Court), bad mitten and bowling.

I am in Zurich for a beautiful evening enjoyed with a long run along the lake.  People sunbathe, play frisbee, read and picnic and it is that sort of a day. This time of year I'm so used to blah weather that it is like, well, sunshine on a cloudy day. I'm not sure why but the Euro vibe different than New York or  Boston or San Francisco with similar sun draped grassy exposures but it is. Or maybe it is simply the young people I tune into.

Madeleine now done with 8 of 12 year-end exams, which has seen our gal revising in angles of repose: on the floor, a couch, the desk and the kitchen table slumped over, listening to music. Concentrating. She reports that the exams have gone well and she has done her best.

Raggae

Just groovy

I play reggae on the soundsystem. Eitan: "Are the people coming over Jamaican?"

Jimmy Cliff's 'The Harder They Come" my introduction to reggae in the 1980s listened to (of course) on my Sony Walkman (the kids have no idea what a tape cassette is).

I spent some time in Kingston, Jamaica, with Help The World See setting up a national eye health program across the Caribbean islands which were up and running in Jamaica and St Vincent and the Grenadines when I split for business school.  The University of West Indies, outside Kingston, the Caribbean's best university, offered the medical statistical data we needed for the preliminary work. It was an efficient place if under resourced. I also spent time in the local libraries on several islands. Good memories.

Of note, during my visit to Kingston, I joined a reggae concert at a local auditorium that was more akin to a school gym rather than concert hall.  Ziggy Marley, the final act, paraded as royalty. And of course he is. Raggae one of Jamaica's most significant cultural exports.

On the day of the concert I visited Bob Marley's house, which is now a museum (Barak Obama paid the museum a visit when he became the first sitting US president to visit Jamaica). For a small country, it plays large on the world stage.

On Town

Chelsea

Sonnet and I celebrate with Arnaud and Julia, pictured. They have two children under age three but one would never know.

Me: "Check out this photo of Ben and his girlfriend." [Dad's note: this week I had breakfast with Dale. Ben is now a freshman at Georgia U. He has a longtime girlfriend]
Sonnet: "They are so handsome together. And having fun."
Me: "Someday Madeleine you are going to come home with a guy and you know what I am going to do?"
Madeleine: "Embarrass me?"
Me: "No!"
Madeleine:
Me: "OK, yes, but it will be in your self interest."

Madeleine's year-end exams begin next week. We strike a deal at her suggestion: I keep her iPhone but she gets the radio.
Madeleine: "But how will you and mom get ahold of me?"
Me: "We trust you. So who cares?"
Madeleine:
Me: "Your mother and I survived, didn't we?"
Madeleine: "Nice one Dad."

Thameside

Rusty and I watch the scenery

From my office, beginning at the Stag Brewery, is a well used towpath that affords beautiful views of our changing tidal river. The Thames Path, as it is known, covers the river's 236 miles from the Thames Head in Gloucestershire to the North Sea. Along its way, there are 45 navigation locks (and accompanying weirs) with 38 named tributaries.  The river contains 80 islands. With its waters varying from freshwater to seawater, the Thames supports 23 species of fish plus eels (30 years ago down to 2 or 3; the river once a salmon run).  Human activity, dating to Pre Roman Britain, is visible at various points of the river. 

Madeleine: "Do you have Spotify Premium?"
Me: "Yes."
Madeleine: "Can I get it?"
Me: "Sure. Ten pounds a month."
Madeleine: "That's a lot."
Me: "You better get a job kid."
Madeleine: "I knew you were going to say that."
Me: "And now is when I tell you that 'money doesn't grow on trees.'"
Madeleine:
Me: "And don't get pregnant while you're a teenager."
Madeleine: "Can we change the subject?"

A Boy And His Dog

Woof

Here we are in mid May and I wonder: how did that happen? Almost half-way through the year.

This year Astorg will raise a next fund and the moment to strike is now: the markets are hot as the the pension funds circulate their record distributions back to private equity, an asset class that delivers 11-12% IRRs and the hope of matching unfunded liabilities. The flows go to the best managers; middling and lesser GPs go home empty handed. It's a mature market.

I'm in pfäffikon and Paris on Monday and Tuesday and home for dinner on Tuesday. Sonnet hosts Deloittes at an Alexander McQueen party at the museum.

Today's blog is what one calls a placeholder.

Trainers And A Teraflop

In the digital era, one is never alone.

Speaking of this age, in 1996 the US government built the world's fastest supercomputer, the ASCI Red, to simulate nuclear tests and similar high complexity events. It cost $55 million and its one hundred cabinets occupied about one tennis court of space. It was the first computer to score above one teraflop or one-trillion floating point operations per second. To do this, it used eight hundred kilowatts per hour, about as much as eight hundred homes would.  In '97, it hit 1.8 teraflops

Nine years later another computer hit 1.8 teraflops yet taking up less than a tenth of a square meter of space and drawing about two hundred watts of power.  The PlayStation 3, launched in 2003, retailed for under $500 and sold 64 million units (the ASCI Red was taken offline in 2006).

Aneta Visits

St John's Wood

Aneta #1 visits us from Prague where, she reports, she works for a famous software company as an executive assistant. She has her own flat and keeping, mostly, current with her English which remains very good. We are proud of her. She remarks, "Eitan and Madeleine have grown so big !' 

Madeleine and I jog in Richmond Park and see the annual Sheen Mount Fun Run.

Madeleine: "Who were you talking to just now?"
Me: "A Sheen Mount dad."
Madeleine: "What were you talking about?"
Me: "He's got a year-zero and year-two at Sheen Mount. Isn't it funny how we are so wrapped up in where we are yet life just goes on. I remember when your mother and I attended the Sheen Mount reception like we were the only parents to ever send their kids to kindergarten."
Madeleine: "Yeah."
Me: "Your mom was crying and I was like, relax, we still have them for a while."
Madeleine: "Nice Dad. You definitely know how to choose the right emotional words."
Me: "Are you being sarcastic young lady?"
Madeleine: "'Mom was crying and you said 'Relax.' Just saying."
Me: "And here we are. Already thinking about when you are leaving."
Madeleine: "Are you sad?"
Me: "Sad that I'm going to miss all the chores you do.  Who's going to clean the dishes?"
Madeleine: "Or the sweeping. And yard work."
Me: "I'm going to have to hire two cleaners to replace you."
Madeleine: "So you won't miss me?"
Me: "Of course I will silly. You are my everything."

The Inside Out Building

The Lloyd's building, in the middle of my photo, was constructed in 1986 and is the home of the Lloyds insurance market located on the former site of East India House in the City of London. The building is a leading example of radical Bowellism architecture in which the building services, like ducts or lifts, are on the outside to maximise space on the inside. I've been invited inside before and the open space in the atrium is .. unexpected.

The building received a Grade I listing in 2011 - the youngest structure ever to obtain this status - and noted by English Heritage to be "universally recognised as one of the key buildings of the modern epoch."

In 2011, over £23.4 billion of gross premiums were transacted in the Lloyd's market.

In a surprise outcome, the Tories take the elections with a majority of parliamentary seats. Cameron retains the thrown. And now to the referendum on Europe.

Palma Violets

Front stage

I see the Palma Violets last night at the Hippodrome in Kingston. The band has been around since 2011 and formed in Lambeth, London, by Samuel Fryer and Chilli Jesson (pictured). They remind me of the early Clash. I first heard of them from Christian (Sonnet takes a pass; I wear wax earplugs)

And these guys put out serious energy. The audience mostly young and split between those who mosh and those who don't. The large bouncers forced to catch the lads thrown from the crowd towards the stage, which is really a dangerous business. But so what ? The crowd pumped up on the music and their youth.

At entrance, talking to two women: 

Woman #1: "Where are you from?"

Me: "California."

Woman #2: "That is so cool. How long have you been in London?"

Me: "Since '97. Where are you from?"

Woman #1: "We're from Essex."

Me: "How long have you lived in Essex?"

Woman #2: "Since 1998."

Me: 

Woman #1: "We were sort of born there."

800M

Madeleine gets some advice from Mark, a coach at Hercules Wimbledon athletic club where Eitan and Madeleine train on Tuesdays and Thursday evenings (me, sometime joining though not lately).
Mark is a masters runner and shares his enthusiasm and knowledge with the younger runners. As it is the beginning of the long outdoor season, races today are mainly for practice and to judge the necessary work required to meet pre-season objectives.

Pre Race

They're off !

Polling Day UK

These are important elections with the outcome, known tonight after 10PM, coming down to the wire. The Tories will likely hold the majority of the minority while Labour, the second largest minority, may form a government with the Scottish National Party meaning that Labour's expected higher taxes and wealth taxes, mainly levied on Londoners, will be delivered to Scotland, who recently voted to devolve from the UK.

Alternatively, the conservatives may maintain status quo should the Lib Dems rebound in the polls, as they seem to be recently, but to play kingpin the Lib Dems would have to join the nationalists UKIP, who they refuse to do.

At stake? Probably about £20-25 billion of public spending during the parliament with the Tories investing less while maintaining or reducing taxes; and Labour more, using debt and higher taxes to reach their objectives.

The next PM ?

Movie Night

Madeleine and Wylloughby hit the Fun Fair on the Putney common and now watch "Ride Along" starring Kevin Hart and Ice Cube. There's sexual content. Gratuitous Violence, excessive swearing and naked women.  It's a comedy.

Me: "Is it cool that you guys are watching this?"
Madeleine: "We've seen people killed before Dad."
Me: "Wylloughby does your mom let you watch this stuff?"
Madeleine: "It's a 15." 
Wylloughby: "Yeah, I guess."
Me: "Let me get some potato chips."
Madeleine: "Can we watch the movie?"
Me: "Let's do it."
Madeleine: "Alone."

Wines

Thames across from the Fulham FB stadium

Bank holiday weekend which means rain but we are still treated to a nice afternoon. We visit Mike and Lucy for cocktails and yesterday afternoon with Natalie and Justin and their crew.

I take a wine class in Fulham led by a fabulous New Zealander who knows her vintages. It's a day with 12 different wines ranging from the pinots to chardonnays. 12 wines means 12 glasses plus more for lunch. I'm the only one using the spittoon.

Here are some of the wines I've had with Xavier and Astorg:  Chateau Bonnet 2012 (white), Chateau Les Hauts de Smith 2010 (white), Chateau Larrivet-Haut Brion 2007 (red), Clos de l'Oratoire 2007 (grand cru - red), Chateaux Lafaurie-Peyraguey 2007 (1er grand cru - white), Domaine Paul Blanck 2008 (Alsace, grand cru - Sommerberg), Meursault 2009 (Burgundy, Domaine Jacques Prieur), Chateau Siron - Margaux 2005 (Bordeaux, Grand cru classe), Clos de Vougeot 2006 (Burgandy, Domaine Meo Camuzet, grand cru), Chateauneuf du Pape 2008 (Grand cru), Chateauneuf du Pape 2008 (Cotes du Rhone); Chateau Lafaurie Peyraguey 2005 (Bordeaux, 1er grand cru); and a Veuve Clicquot champagne founded in 1772 by Philippe Clicquot-Muiron

Who's On First

Madeleine: "I'm going to Southside tomorrow."
Sonnet: "With whom?"
Madeleine: "Izzy, Izzy and Lizzy."
Me: "Izzy and Izzy?"
Madeleine: "And Lizzy."
Me: ""Is it Izzy or is it Lizzy?"
Madeleine: "It's Izzy, Izzy and Lizzy Dad."
Me: "Lizzy Izzy?"
Madeleine: "No, Lizzy, Izzy and Izzy."
Sonnet: "Can you stop that now?"

Late Night

Eitan competes in the Oxford Relays notable for the return trip which takes six hours following an overturned cement lorrie on the M25. Home at 3:30AM.

Me: "So if you don't call it a 'play date' what do you call it ?"
Eitan: "I don't know. Just a sleepover."
Me: "Well, aren't you playing ?"
Eitan:
Me: "What are you doing then? Hanging out? Chillaxing?"
Madeleine, giggling: "Yeah, 'chillaxing'"
Eitan: "That is so like 1990s."
Me: "That is so like post 2000."
Eitan: "It's all the same before 2005."
Me: "Touchee."

South Ken

I join Sonnet on the steps of the V&A for a cupper.

Following an initial round of competition, Madeleine is chosen as one of three finalists from her school year to compete in the "book quiz".
Sonnet: "Did they quiz you on 'Harry Potter' ?"
Madeleine:
Me: "I played that one already."
Sonnet: "Well what books did you get quizzed on?"
Madeleine: "Tom Sawyer and Watership Down." [Dad's note, I have been trying to get the kids to read Watership Down for years and it has become a family inside joke]
Me: "You're kidding. See?"
Sonnet: "Madeleine you are so well read."
Me: "Its all about the rabbits."

Eitan: "Today we cut up pigs' hearts.  In class I mean."
Me: "They go well with mint jelly."
Madeleine: "Dad!"
Me: "Sucks to be a vegetarian. All that hard work then you learn your brother is killing pigs in school."
Madeleine:
Me: "I'm just saying, Sonnet."

Marathon Day

Four Kenyons at the Embankment

In an always inspiring London Marathon, Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge (white T) wins the men's race in 2.04.42 from Wilson Kipsang (2.04.47, second from right) clocking a 4:33 mile 25 to open the race open. Both men are wonderful ambassadors for the sport, Wilson noting his delight for his friend Eliud's victory and satisfaction with his own race; Eliud thanking the spectators for seeing him through the last miles. Everybody a winer today. (My photo from the TV)

Ethiopia's Tigust Tufa wins the women's race in 2.23.32, sprinting to the endline. 

Paula Radcliffe runs her last marathon, age 42, in 2:36.55. I remember watching her set the World Record of 2:15.25 in London in 2003. Her record may stand another ten or 15 years, one of the greatest athletic performances of our era. Unfortunately Radcliffe does not get the credit she deserves as one of Britain's greatest athletes of all time given her Olympic disappointments, which dragged the country along with her. She is a national treasure.

Four British men under 2:20. Scott Overall the fastest Brit taking 13th place with a time of 2:12.

Me: "What do you think of the marathon?"
Madeleine: "It looks incredibly painful. Hard. And long."
Me: "Yep."

Tomato Time

Madeleine tills the soil

Every year in early April or so I start in on my tomatoes. This springtime no different only my seeds are German, purchased during Eitan's football camp in Bitburg (I've already killed the tadpoles). Maybe I'll feed them beer and Sauerkraut dressed in Dirndles and Lederhosen with Krafwerk and Rammstein playing in the background.

I've been told to brush the stalks with my hand as it strengthens them for the outdoors and they like the human touch.

I drive Madeleine, Willoughby and Jake home Friday, 10:30PM.  It's a good crew and I keep quiet as the trio chat away about people, candy, school and other things of equal importance. There is a lot of giggling and laughter.

Madeleine: "Do you like cream soda?"
Me: "Cream soda?"
Madeleine: "Yeah, cream soda. Do you like it?"
Me: "I'm not sure, I guess so. I can't remember the last time I had a cream soda. I think it's a Midwest thing." 
Madeleine: "Yeah."
Me: "Why do you ask?"
Madeleine: "Just curious."

ST P

St Paul's Cathedral

I join about 80 Columbia Business School alum at the London Stock Exchange to honor Massimo Tosato '80, Executive Vice Chairman of Schroders. I have known him as a friend for 12 years whom I met when I was President of the business school's London club from 2002-04. Massimo a worthy recipient of recognition who brings charm and style to the evening.

The London Stock Exchange located in Paternoster Square next to the St Paul's Cathedral. When we arrived in London it was still a bombed out neighborhood which couldn't fill its leases. Now it is a smart part of town, owned by Mitsubishi Estate, who have redeveloped it to sparkle yet now without any charm. Lots of young men in ties and women with heels. It was more interesting the old way but that's progress.

Gallipoli Remembered

131,000 died in the doomed campaign.

The Gallipoli campaign in World War I took place on the Gallipoli peninsula, Turkey, in the Ottoman Empire from April 1915 to January 1916. We mark the 100 year remembrance. 

The peninsula forms the northern bank of the Dardanelles, a straight that provided a sea route to the Russian Empire, one of the Allied powers during the war. Intending to secure it, Russia's allies Britain and France launched a naval attack followed by an amphibius landing on the peninsula, with the aim of capturing the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (Istanbul). It failed disastrously.

The campaign was one of the greatest Ottoman victories during the war. In Turkey, it is regarded as a defining moment in the nation's history : a final surge in the defence of the motherland as the Ottoman Empire crumbled. 

The struggle formed the basis for the Turkish War of independence and the declaration of the Republic of Turkey eight years later under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who first rose to prominence as a commander at Gallipoli. 

The campaign is often considered as marking the birth of national consciousness in Australia and New Zealand.

(source: Wiki and others)

Homework, Dude

Plugged in

Madeleine, on her initiative during the half-term break, organises Marcus and together they head for South Kensington, on their own, then a kick around Hyde Park. Sonnet learns of their adventure post pacto.

It makes me think of lazy weekend mornings, age 11 or 12, walking across the UC campus on a lazy summer morning, nothing to do but jingle a few coins in my pocket, hit the comic book stores  (two of them) on Telegraph then a slice at Blondie's pizza washed down by a coke and maybe a candy bar on the walk home.

We host a BBQ on a sunny Saturday afternoon - 20 friends+three dogs - followed by a walk in Richmond Park. Catch as catch can.

MLK

Eitan works on a school project during the half-term break. He has chosen Martin Luther King and the project meant to relate to MLK's beliefs on non-violence. Eitan says, "Um, the five topics I'm covering are a summary of his life, the way that he resisted oppression in the United States, his beliefs on non violence, how religion shaped his beliefs. And an opinion on him."

I'm impressed by Eitan's presentation which includes quotes, facts, photographs and his thinking on the man and those times.  It seems in line with what I did in college.

"MLK was an independent thinker. I thought it impressive how he was a leader at such a young age. His speeches affected everyone. He had a really big impact on his era. His legacy is huge."
--Eitan

Photo from Biography.com

The Last Lion

Churchill in Paris

Like many young men in America, I went through a serious Second World War interest and read Churchill's six volumes over the course of 1992-94 (Moe read them in one month, he once told me). The drama reads better than fiction and, while I won't go into detail on this blog, my general knowledge on the war, held idle for so long, revitalised in Normandy and having a captive audience, poor kids.

Another epic read from that period was William Manchester's 'The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill', a three volume trilogy covering Churchill's life from the early days ("Visions of Glory, 1874-1932"), to his political isolation and triumphant return ("Alone, 1932-1940") and finally the master-work to never be, "Defender of the Realm, 1940-1965" which Manchester unable to complete prior to his death, at 82, in 2004, leaving tens of thousands of loyal readers on the edge of their seat awaiting the final victorious turn of events that sealed the world's future.

Madeleine's time of 2:31.57 yesterday's 800 puts her in the UK Top 100 ranking for girls 15 and under.

Race Day

600 of 800

We spend the day, a glorious one at that, in Wimbledon Park as Eitan and Madeleine compete in the Hercules Wimbledon Young Athletes track meet, the first racing of the outdoor season.

Eitan goes for the 1500, clocking a 4:47, placing him 7th in the U15s.

Madeleine competes the 800 and takes off like a rocket, forcing her heat to go with her. At the 3/4 point it is a close back and forth until both gals nipped by the outside lane, who passes them on the final 20m, our gal taking 3rd. She runs a gutsy race.

I change into a running shirt in front of some spectators.
Eitan: "Oh my God, Dad. Do you have to do that?"
Me: "Do what?"
Eitan: "Do you have to change here, in front of everybody?"
Me: "How about if I practise my break-dancing ?"
Eitan:
Me: "Definitely. Check this move out."
Eitan:
Me: "Well, off for my run now."

Klára Departs

Klára

Klára has been part of our family for the last 12 months or so and now she has moved on to the next thing: her own flat, working at one of London's cool restaurants Yauatcha.

I recover from New York with a five mile loop in Richmond Park including 2 miles at race pace against an equally paced runner; we nod at each other as we separate (me, holding it together). I then sleep the better half of Saturday, waking to a brilliant afternoon late sunset, dog walk and family dinner. What more could I wish?

The 79th Masters golf tournament televised from Augustus. I could care less but curious to see all the white people watching the old white men trying to put a little white ball into a small white hole.

Romeo And A Pair Ducks

Romeo Gili

Romeo Gili's velvet menswear ensemble ca. 1990 on display in Portland, Oregon, as part of the Glamour of Italian Fashion. One of my favorites.

From the V&A staff web noticeboard (filed under 'Only In Britain'):

"A number of colleagues have been in touch with both the Visitor Experience and Security teams to notify us of the pair of ducks who have been spending a lot of time in the Museum Garden recently. We have discovered that the female duck has laid two eggs, and have sought advice from the RSPB as to what steps we should be taking.

"Due to the legal protection ducks and their nests receive in all parts of the UK, we are legally obliged to not interfere with the birds and their eggs, so please do not be tempted to chase away the ducks or move the eggs. The RSPB have advised that if the breeding pair have decided to nest here we should leave them alone, and that they expect that if the family is successful they would expect them to leave the Museum quite quickly to find a larger body of water.

"We will be putting barriers up in the area, and ask that any colleagues passing through the garden are aware of the situation.

Head of Visitor Experience

"

Ammonite

Ca 200 million years old

Madeleine finds an ammonite on a Normandy beach, now on her windowsill next to a crab claw and a few rocks.

Originating from within the bacritoid nautiloids, the ammonoid cephalopods first appeared in the Devonian (circa 400 million years ago) and became extinct at the close of the Cretaceous along with the dinosaurs. The classification of ammonoids is based in part on the ornamentation and structure of the septa comprising their shells' gas chambers. While nearly all nautiloids show gently curving sutures, the ammonoid suture line (the intersection of the septum with the outer shell) is variably folded, forming saddles (or peaks) and lobes (or valleys). Source: Wiki.

Upper East Side

57 and Park

Thierry and I have nine meetings in 2.5 days.  Efficient describes it. Exhausting, too. I'm up at 4AM and on the treadmill by 4:30 with all the other poor slobs as jet lagged as me. There is some camaraderie, I suppose, but mainly we just work off the stress of the time zone. More interestingly, Thierry and I go to Le Marais on 46th St, a Kosher steak house, famous to the Jewish community. No reservations so we wait 45 minutes for a table and worth it.

Katie joins us for a drink at the Four Seasons then we have dinner afterwards. It's great to have a sister in New York and one as cool as her. Do note the 80s gold disco jacket.

Eitan: "Can we go to 'Pickle and Rye?" [Dad's note: Pickle and Rye a sandwich shop in Mortlake, near the train station]

Me: "Do you have any money?"

Eitan: "I have a couple of pounds."

Me: "And you used to be the one who was the saver. Now it is Madeleine who is stowing away her dough." [Dad's note #2: Madeleine is saving her money to buy a plane ticket to America, possibly one-way]

Madeleine: "I don't 'stowe' money. I save it."

Me: "Isn't that the same thing?"

Madeleine: "Stowing sounds like hiding."

Me: "Makes sense."

Eric En Route

With Normandy a distant memory and on my way to Manhattan, I re route to Boston for a late meeting with the Mass state pension plan (ca. $80bn under mgmt).  I leave the kids with instructions to water the front yard and sweep out the back. There is resistance.

Incredibly it snows in Boston - a storm, it seems, that has not abated since my last time on the East Coast. A record winter for snow. The mood is .. claustrophobic.

Eric is free for lunch and we catch up on work, kids and life. An excellent unanticipated bonus. Eric's work office comprises of a number of jerry-rigged computers that serve as his coding palette, filled with language as foreign to me as Sanskrit. He has a standing work station surrounded by books, a few bones, a chalkboard with more software script and other various nick-nacks that capture my interest. Today he is testing his work before it goes live and, he notes, 'buggy.'

Side Road

Madeleine: "Can I have a sip of your wine?"
Me: "Sure."
Madeleine drinks a half a glass of wine in one go.
Me: "Madeleine!"
Madeleine, giggling: "What?"
Me: "Did I tell you about the first time I got drunk?"
Eitan: "Was that the time with the vodka?"
Me: "It was after league championships. Kristen, Jana and I went to Hillside Park with a bottle of Champagne."
Madeleine: "How old were you?"
Me: "16. I'd never really had alcohol before. A bottle of Champagne didn't really do anything so we went to Jana's house and got a bottle of vodka."
Madeleine: "So you are saying you stole a bottle of vodka?"
Me: "When I got home I was like, 'hi Mom and Dad, I'm home' then went into my bedroom. Everything started spinning around."
Madeleine: "Were you dizzy? From all that drinking?"
Me: "It's the worst feeling in the world. Just awful."
Eitan: "Did you get sick?"
Me: "I barely made it to the bathroom. Then Moe and Grace came in, they couldn't believe it. Katie thought it was hilarious though."
Madeleine: "Did you get into trouble?"
Me: "No. As parents, you expect your kids to do something stupid now and then. Like what I did."
Eitan, Madeleine:
Me: "Just don't do it twice."

Reading Room

'sup?

I surprise the kids - they're reading! - but in fairness they have been disciplined about their revisions and each day put in a couple hours of work though here it is for pleasure: Madeleine "Roots" and Eitan "The Two Of Us."

This morning Madeleine and I power-walk in the fresh countryside air. We pass by two 30-foot long stone ramps equally separated with blocks every seven feet or so. Eitan puzzles on it for several days but Madeleine gets it right away: a ramp to raise a car or tractor so the mechanic can work underneath.

We've been sleeping until 10AM with lunch around 3PM or 4PM. Since the sun sets at 9PM, our days have been thoroughly thrown off kilter. We are loving it.

Tomorrow back to London.

Passover Run

I go for a 13 or 14 mile run, something I haven't done in ages, and it feels great.  The first 30 minutes achy and stiff but then the old body warms up and I cruise along the seaside feeling like a million bucks. Or 17 (much more valuable).

Madeleine cranks away on her religious studies : "I'm doing stuff about Jesus, and the Old Testament and the New Testament. And the Pharisees (Me: Who are the Pharisees? Madeleine: "I have no idea. That's why I'm revising").

I chop off the chicken's head. Sonnet: "Don't tell Madeleine."
Me:
Sonnet: "We don't need a vegetarian in our house."

Bayeux Tapestry

Morningtime. Sonnet and Madeleine go for a 5 mile run

We take a break from the Second World War to visit the Bayeux Tapestries.  Madeleine explains:

"The tapestry describes the Battle of Hastings in 1066. King Edward (of England) was going to die, and so he told he nephew Harold to make peace with William, Duke of Normandy. Harold set out to Normandy to pledge his loyalty but ended up in Picardy and was taken hostage by Guy (Count du Ponthieu). Then William arrives, there's a small fight between William and the Picardy people, and William frees Harold. Harold then swears his allegiance to William should Edward die.

"Harold goes back to England and King Edward dies. Then Harold becomes King and breaks his promise with William. In England, people see Haley's comment and get nervous. William gets really really mad, and starts building boats. He puts armour, horses, swords, supplies and people onto the boats and sales to England.

"The men and horses get off the boats and the battle between William Duke of Normandy and King Harold begins.

"It is a 14 hour long battle and the first few hours many people die on both sides. Before the end of the battle, William's soldiers think he is dead. But William is not dead and he lifts up his visor to rally his troops.  Then an arrow, shot by one of William's archers, hits King Harold in the eye and he is killed.

"The battle finishes and William's name is changed from 'William The Bastard' to 'William The Conqueror.' "

Crisbecq Battery

 Battery

The Crisbecq Battery, constructed by the Germans near Saint-Marcouf in the north-east of the Cotentin peninsula and jogging distance from where we are staying. The battery formed a part of the German Atlantic Wall coastal fortifications overseen by Rommel who had concluded by 1943 that Germany's Blitzkreig was no longer potent and that a strike on Normandy inevitable. He turned his attention to defense.

The main armament were three Czech 21 cm Kanone 39 canons, two of which were housed in the casemates (pictured). The Battery, with a range of 17–21 miles, could cover the beaches between Saint-Vast-la-Hougue and Point du Hoc, ie, Utah and Omaha Beaches.

Vista from the canon point

The stretch of land between the battery and Utah beach about 3 kilometres. The Germans flooded this region to make it more difficult for the Allies to advance on Normandy, with five pathways traversing the swamps (the first wave para gliders tasked with securing these routes, as well as taking out the bunker canons). Crisbecq offered a perfect location to target D Day ships. Dawn aerial and naval bombings reduced some of the threat.

In the end, Crisbecq was captured in the morning of 12 June without a fight by the 39th Regiment after the 9th US Infantry landed at Utah Beach. They found it deserted.

Le Hebert

The moat around Le Coeur

From Valognes we drive to St-Martin-Le-Hebert to visit Le Coeur, a sixteenth century manoir fortified by a moat and next to an ancient beautiful church (they are a dime a dozen here).  We lunch at Bricquebec followed by a local art fair.

Last night, at a country estate, we join an unusual group of local French land owners and English eccentrics all who have inherited their wealth. The host, a charming French woman named Sophie, married to a multi-billionaire away on a sailing expedition. There is a lot of wine and spirit. I get the sense these gatherings take place regularly.

The highlight, and reason, for the dinner is Annabel, a soprano trained at the Paris Conservatoire, who performs a selection of arias from Shubert to Mozart in preparation for a concert she will give next weekend to raise money for "the hunt" (in this part of France, the tradition of hunting involves deer rather than fox, as in England).

The evening ends by singing happy-birthday David, one of the guests and a retired British banker, who owns farmland in Malawi, South Africa, California (weirdly, grapefruits) and France. He oversees a local choir in which Anabel occasionally sings.

Sonnet: "That was a night."

An Old Man And His Ducks

Valogne market 

Our six villages take turns hosting a daily market and today we visit Valogne to buy Easter provisions. I chat with the friendly man, pictured, who is selling three ducks which, when asked how they should be prepared, illicits the motion of ringing their necks and stripping their feathers. Then, he says, best served au jus.  He speaks no English. We compare notes on France, my favorite country I tell him, and California and he is aware that there is a severe draught on the West Coast.

Sonnet collects four kinds of cheese, a whole cauliflower, potatoes, one large stripped chicken, two types of clams, four different preserves, bread, croissants, a large brioche and a custard tart picked out greedily by the Shakespeares. Followed by a double espresso at a local cafe. How can this not be a great day?

Rush Hour

Fontenay-sur-mer must have 25 people max including a mayor, who has the one fax machine in town which I need to use, knocking on her door [Digression: nobody uses a fax machine so why does my bank, Coutts no less, require faxed instructions? I email a photo of my fax but they need it faxed.  This is the kind of modern-day-stupidity that makes me nuts. Digression end]

Eitan and I go for a 60 minute jog this morning - he is chipper and a good jogging companion. He has yet to put training into his running, which has always come naturally. That probably won't fly in today's competition.

We have oysters. Me: "You know, Madeleine, oysters are still alive when we eat them."
Madeleine spits out her oyster, ptui! "What? Mom, Dad is joking. Tell me he's joking."
Sonnet: "It could be possible."
Me: "That's how you know they are fresh."
Madeleine: "Animals. You are all animals."

Madeleine: "What would you have named me, if not 'Madeleine'?"
Sonnet: "'Hannah' or 'Abigail.'"
Me: "I like 'Abby Orenstein'. Or 'Ava."
Eitan: "What common British name would you least want me to have?"
Me: "You fuck'n wanker."
Eitan: "Seriously."
Me: "It's the most common name in England. Like, come 'ere you fuck'n wanker."
Sonnet: "You were almost an 'Oscar.'"
Me: "Good thing you're mom was on the case."

Tuck Shop

"Girl On The Train"

Eitan brings his monkey suit to France, good on him. He finishes "Girl On The Train" by Paula Hawkins which is about "a girl who's an alcoholic and has a pretty terrible life and she takes the same train twice a day and can look into all the houses she passes. There's this one couple that reminds her of her ex husband. She creates an imaginary story from what she sees of them and what she thinks is a perfect life. One day she finds out that the women has gone missing, and she tries to get to the bottom of who killed her. She kind of goes into their world, meets the husband, sees the house, and finds out about their past lives. And stuff."

We buy oysters from a seaside shop; Madeleine on the water cage: "That would be a nice place to live."

Sonnet: "Eitan you have such big feet."
Me: "You know what they say about big feet, don't you?"
Eitan:
Madeleine: "Dad!"
Me: "Big feet, big hands."

Madeleine: "Oh, yeah, right Dad. Like that was what you were really going to say."

Me: "What did you think I was going to say? Oh, that Eitan has a big willy?"

Eitan: "Hahaha."

Sonnet: "Don't listen to your father."

We have a discussion about school.

Me: "So what do you guys do when you get hungry?"

Madeleine: "We go to the tuck shop."

Me: "What's the tock shop?"

Madeleine: "The tuck shop. It's where we go to get snacks."

Me: "It's where you go to get sex?"

Madeleine: 

Me: "That's what I thought you said. Look, really, my hearing is going."

Sonnet: "It must be the British accent."

(Madeleine rolls her eyes)

Utah Beach

"The VIIth corps will attack Utah beach the D Day at H-Hour and will storm Cherbourg in a minimum of time."

--Field order number one dated May 28th, 1944

We re visit Utah Beach which is always extraordinary to me, what these men accomplished, and sacrificed. 

"Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based on the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt, it is mine alone."

--Notes for an announcement, written by Eisenhower in advance of the Normandy invasion, in case of its failure, but never delivered.

Poor Dead Bastards

OGEFR. HUB. BRIEDENBACH, 8.8.24 + 11.6.44

We visit the German cemetery in La Cambe with its small parking-lot and no visitors. It is striking to see the U20s, and those gravestones marked after June 6, 1944, when a soldier's death would have been meaningless.

La Cambe was originally the site of a battlefield cemetery, established by the US Army Graves Registration Service during the war, where American and German soldiers, sailors and airmen were buried in two adjacent fields.

After the war ended on the continent and parallelling the work to repair the devastation, work began on exhuming the American remains and transferring them in accordance with the wishes of their families. Beginning in 1945, the Americans transferred two-thirds of their fallen from this site back to the United States while the remainder were reinterred at the American Cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach.

Because of the pace of the war, the German war dead in Normandy were scattered over a wide area, many of them buried in isolated field graves - or small battlefield cemeteries. In the years following the war, the German War Graves Commission (Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge) sought to establish six main German cemeteries in the Normandy area.

La Cambe covers over 21,000 German dead. 

(Source: Site, edited)

Self Portrait XXXXIII

Madeleine gives me a fake tattoo on my upper arm (she says, "a skull eating a blue rose while thorns are going through the top of its head."
Eitan:  "God you look like such a douchebag."
Me: "Do you even know what a 'douchebag' is?"
Eitan: "Yeah. Everybody does."
Me: "Is that so?"
Eitan: "It's not like it's a bad word or anything." [Dad's note: Eitan has no idea what a 'douchebag' is]
Me: "Let's keep that one in the house."

We visit a small village to look at antiques and paintings (buying a charming bird bath) then the boulengerie, charcouterie and the fromagerie.

Fonteney Sur Mer

Day 1

We pull into a familiar place following a six hour drive and The Chunnel crossing under the English Channel which, I learn, is the largest such vehicle transport in the world. Go figure. The car (over)loaded up with suitcases, electronics and bikes - missing only Rusty who got shipped off to the kennel, poor guy.

Madeleine suggests a car roof and I immediately connect it with the dog. Mitt Romney would approve.

Eitan: "Crepe."

Me: "Crap?"

Eitan: "Hahahaha!"

I Am

Madeleine breaks it down

Madeleine performs in "I AM", a play at the BAC. It is devised theatre that the kids created themselves, addressing kids related issues like self expression, school pressure, gender issues and racial stereotyping. Madeleine does a piece with a schoolmate on parental rules (looking directly at me, second row). She is fabulous. Afterwards Madeliene joins us in the audience to watch a different troupe perform; these kids older and address 17-18 angst throwing in plenty of sexual innuendo and words like 'blow job' and 'vagina', raising Sonnet's eyebrow like Spock.

Eitan's last football match of the season, against Kingstonian Youth, nets a 9-1 victory for the Lions. Eitan puts in the first goal.

Sonnet '96

Digging around in our attic I shuffle through a stack of ancient photographic prints .. well, to New York ca. 1996, anyway. Here is Sonnet, standing out from the rest of all those Manhattan memories.  I sure did something right.