Sweety Pie

The cat

I am at 1530 for several days and my parents surrounded by their wonderful pets and everything else: exercise (Moe: 5AM), the view, NYT, books, a dog walk, some afternoon television followed by cooking/ dinner, a glass of wine and early to bed. Life is good.

I spend the morning with the Stanford endowment, which is loaded, yet I am more impressed by the campus : it has everything including space and nice weather. I watch a team of athletes stroll by without a worry in the world. This really is the best university in America, connected into Silicon Valley, attracting the smartest minds in the country. It makes the Ivy League seem fuddy-duddy. Who cares about the East Coast ? The action is here and now. Get in while you're young.

L.A. Gehry

Catching up following a long absence from my blog . ..

Christian and I join Lisa for lunch in downtown LA then hang out at the LA public library and it's lovely art deco entrance space and soothing Greek fountains, surrounded by skyscrapers (NB, With more than six million volumes, it is one of the largest public funded libraries in the world). 

Christian and Lisa on course to be married in September. We are on course for a weekend down the American River, South Fork. Supposed to be a surprise but that cat long out of the bag.

El Lay

From Los Angeles I take a late evening flight to San Francisco, catching bart to the East Bay. A family joins with six rowdy 5-6 years olds who squeel and scream, climbing over the seats and trampling on each other. Dad has a gold grill on his front teeth and mom every now and then yells at the youngsters to 'shut the hell up." Eventually I move to another seat.

A nice thing, in Berkeley, are the train horns which waft up from the flats into the Berkeley hills. Fog horns boom at the entrance of the Golden Gate Bridge, doing so since 1937, guiding 100s of thousands of ships through the Golden Gate straight and forewarning San Franciscans when fog rolling in to envelope the city. They operate, on average, 2 hours a day (in the summer fog months, it is over 5 hours a day).  In 1994 the fog horns were to be silenced for better technology but the howling protests ensure the fog horns longevity.

Hipster

Following morning meetings, Christian and I connect at Sunset Junction just beyond the Downtown LA, in an area now called "Silver Lake". The mildly predatory skyline visible in the distance (I don't know if it is the concentration,  mismatching styles or height, but I find the center oppressive).  It reminds me of The Mission in San Francisco or Shoreditch - scruffy and tattered yet dotted with coffee shops, music venues and restaurants. We sit outside at a cafe and watch the cool people go by - models, artists, journey men and actors (I recognise at least one). It is sunny and nobody seems to be in a particular hurry.

Christian and I catch up on the usual life stuff. Can we be approaching late 40s ? He prepares for the September wedding which will be in Palm Springs. Otherwises its music and the various gossips that keep us occupied. We have lunch with Lisa then sit outside the art deco Los Angeles library.

Catherine And Anneke

I arrive from Paris to LA in time for dinner with Catherine, Peter and Anneke, who is going on 7 and cute as a button. Peter continues to pull money and projects together for Chinese-American films (he is in Beijing often) while he and Catherine or organising the first China Week in Los Angeles which will actually last three and include cultural events across the city. They are doing exciting things.

Southern California is brown following four years of drought. Yet it is blue skies, Pacific Ocean and balmy temperatures. One could get used to this fast.

Serge Gainsbourg

Rue due Vaneuil

Paris, May 23, 2007: Carefully avoiding eye contact with the tourists in the street, Charlotte Gainsbourg quickly lets me into the small, graffiti-covered house at 5 bis Rue de Verneuil. Two blocks from Boulevard Saint-Germain in the Seventh Arrondissement, the house is where her father, Serge Gainsbourg, lived and, on March 2, 1991, died at the age of 62. In the days following his death, France went into mourning, fans crowded the tiny street singing his songs, and the women closest to him sat in his bedroom with his body for four days because Charlotte didn't want to let him go. For 16 years this house has been shuttered and locked, with only the housekeeper or occasional family member allowed inside. Charlotte, an actress and a huge star in France, is now the owner of the house and wants, with the help of architect Jean Nouvel, to turn it into a museum. For the first time since Serge Gainsbourg's death, she has agreed to reveal the private world of France's most beloved and important songwriter.

--Vanity Fair, 2007

Update: the house has not been converted to a museum and remains locked. It is a curiosity for tourists.

Selfie - Eric And Simona !

Marias

Sonnet takes me to Au Bourguignon du Maria where we visited 15 years ago when the restaurant first opened and reviewed for its fois gras. Joining us - a complete surprise - are Eric and Simona, who are on their way to Romania and yet there they are for dinner.  We have a truly wonderful evening.

Today we join for a cafe followed by a Sunday at the Clignancourt Les Puces flea market, the biggest in Europe, on the outer edge of Paris. Once may find everything from antiques to taxidermy. It's not quite Kashgar on the Taklamakan Desert but it does have a similar broad variety of wares though not Kalashnikovs nor animal guts. Still, one may find about whatever one needs.

We wrap up a perfect day in the historic Jewish quarter with fafel.

Etienne-Martin

Étienne Martin was a non-figurative sculptor.

Eitienne-Martin (1913-1995) began making sculpture in the mid 1930s. During the Second World War he was a prisoner of Germany, being liberated in 1941.  Soon after,  in Dieuleft, in the South of France, he met the critic and collector Henri-Pierre Roche who would support him on his return to Paris. A modernist fringe-figure, E-M explored his 'individual mythologies', to quote Harold Szeeman, who invited him to show at the Document 5 in Kassel, in 1972.

Why not?

48 And Feeling Fine

Self Portrait XXXXV

Sonnet and I visit three museums: Palais Galliera, where Sonnet sees an exhibition on Jean Labin, a Paris coutuerier active from c. 1900 to 1946; The Musee d'Art Moderne; and Ives Saint Laurent museum for an exhibition on YSL's 1971 collection. That year, Laurent shocked the critics who chastised his revisiting a period of wartime deprivation as a source for inspiration. The collection includes bold prints, boxy jackets and garish colours. Of note, the models had normal shapes and not overly sexualised. 

1971

The Flight Path Is Blue

The schematic presents the areas of London to be effected should Heathrow build a 3rd runway (the area in blue). Basically it is everyone.

No doubt Heathrow needs a 3rd runway given the current operation is running at 98% capacity with planes swooping down every two minutes during the morning and afternoon run. Anyone can see the projections: an extra 25-30 million passengers a year by 2050.  Unfortunately Heathrow is horribly located. Not only that, the flight paths cross wealthy neighbourhoods including Richmond, Chelsea, Barnes and, yes, East Sheen. These communities have the political clout to fight. What London needs is some forward planning and a new airport. Good luck with that.

Study for the Dance Mural

Oo la la Matisse

Sonnet and I visit the Musee d'Art Moderne in the 16e where we check out a dry run of Matisse's "Dance", which he eventually painted for the Barnes Foundation (outside of Philadelphia) in 1931. The painting in the background was lost only to be rediscovered in Paris in 1992 and now on display at the Moderne. It is one of two Dance murals on display in the gallery. Sonnet says, "How they have installed the painting is amazing - as you approach it, down a set of stairs, the mural fills your line of vision."

We leave Eitan and Madeleine with our au pair for a long weekend in Paris. Eitan invited to a teenage party for popular twins at Eitan's sister all-girls school. Richard, our stand-in chauffeur, reports that there were no shenanigans at the 11PM pick-up.

Tyler, my childhood friend visiting from Berkeley, and I reminisce on Eitan's age: for us, it included naked hot tubs, alcohol and marijuana cigarettes (as Moe once called weed). Yours, truly, missed out on the fun for swimming laps (Eitan, Madelein: take note).  Tyler and I agree that the parents of that era or, at least, many parents in Berkeley, swung too far left on the freedom pendulum.

Night Of The Banana

Sonnet orders 13 lbs of bananas instead of 13 bananas in her weekly online shopping which means we have bananas everywhere. I've been giving them away by the dozens. Even Eitan, who is rarely seen outside of the refrigerator these days, balks. Sonnet plans to make a bunch of banana bread. I expect we will be serving it at Christmas.

Hiker

Moe in the '60s. My guess Yosemite or Tahoe.

Madeleine has the London Schools Athletic Championships coming up.
Madeleine: "Dad will you fill out and sign this form?"
Me: "You fill it out. I will do the signing."
Madeleine: "I can't! There is all this stuff on there that I don't know!" [Dad's note: I look at the form]
Me: "You can do it. You certainly know your address young lady."
Madeleine fills out the forms. Madeleine: "It says 'visual.' What does 'visual' mean?"
Me: "It's a check-box. You check it if you have visual problems."
Madeleine: "So do I check it?"
Me: "Is there a box for less-than-average intelligence."
Madeleine: "Ha ha ha very funny, Dad."
Me: "Where do you need me to sign it?"
Madeleine: "At the bottom."
Me: "Now that wasn't so hard, was it?"
Madeleine: "For you, maybe."

Eagle

Lazy Sunday

Madeleine has Sunday rehearsal for the school play, "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe."  She is playing an eagle. Is it a big role? No, but she doesn't care: "I'm fine with it" she tells me now. She is disappointed, however, that the eagle does not get to enter a battle. Her line: "... and joining in the battle as well I hope, sir."  Apparently it is more of a physical character.

Madeleine huddles over her phone in the car passenger seat. Me: "Texting your peeps?"
Madeleine: "Never say that again."

Summer Sunday

Breathe

Another day flying solo. Madeleine and Eitan up at 10 and 11AM, respectively, about right for a Sunday.  We enjoy the summer sunshine.

Me: "Say something for my blog."
Eitan: "Ummm"
Me: "Have we had an interesting conversation about something lately?"
Eitan: "As you get older, you realise it's more important to turn up."
Me: "Nice one. Did you just make that up?"
Eitan: "No, you said that at the BBQ yesterday."
Me: "Glad it's sinking in."

Martin

Martin handles some tooling

Martin, our next door neighbour, helps me install a water butt which I could not have done without his help. We have a good time doing it, too. 

Martin knows a bit about everything on our block which makes sense as he grew up in the house is lives in today (Martin's mother, Kitty Godfrey, won Wimbledon a bunch of times in the 1920s).  I learn, for instance, that our property once owned by a bank manager.  And number 37 down the block owned by the industrialist owner of the stag brewery. 

Martin tells me about the local homes bombed during the Second World War. There were several direct hits (he was evacuated to Surrey). When Madeleine in Year 3 or 4, he told her about the experience for a class project.

Martin an electrical engineer who remains busy. He is currently installing the lighting system on London's Crossrail, a 73 mile railway line under construction for 2018 with a new east-west route across Greater London. His garage stuffed with every tool imaginable.

Talking Italian Glamour

Sonnet presents to the members of the Frist Museum, or about 400 people.  She is an old hand at these things now.  Photo from Adrianne.

Cheek

New Dad

Sonnet and Marcus at the Cheekwood Botanical Gardens, on the grounds formerly occupied by Nashville's Cheek family, in their 30,000-square-foot Georgian-style mansion. The Cheek's founded a wholesale grocery store in the 1880s.

Madeleine and I have a Friday night sushi date (Eitan at a sleep-over). Our conversation covers sports, school and friends. She is a well adjusted kid who has managed to miss the nastiness that often occupies girls at this age. Madeleine made it simple: all her friends are boys. She may not be a Tom Boy any longer but some things don't change.

According to Rightmove.co.uk, terraced properties in London sell for an average price of £594,166, while semi-detached properties fetch £560,744.  London, with an overall average price of £533,018 was more expensive than nearby South East (£332,312), East of England (£268,083) and East Midlands (£175,726).

Nashville

Katie Glams

Sonnet in Nashville for the opening of Glamour at the Frist Museum. Stan and his lady friend Cate join Sonnet on Tuesday while my parents arrive on Wednesday. Katie yesterday along with Marcus and Adrianne and my niece Willa.

Adding to the fun, Tony and Susan are in town with some friends, just in time for the show (Tony sends me this photo).

Eitan finishes exam week and reports, 'all good'. He was prepared and relaxed, putting himself to bed at a reasonable hour, handing over his mobile phone over the weekend (which lasted less than a day). No drama.

Me: "So do you know what a mortgage is?"
Madeleine: "Yeah. It's when you can't afford a house so you borrow money from a bank. You pay it back a little at a time."
Me: "And how does a bank decide to give you the mortgage?"
Madeleine: "Um, they look at your job to see how much money you make. And where the house is located and how much it is worth."
Me: "And what do you do if you can't repay your mortgage?"
Madeleine: "Run?"

So Long, Oscar's

Est 1950

Oscar's burger and hot dog joint in Berkeley is closing after 65 years. A fixture from the ancient past, up there with Top Dog and Giant Burger, Oscar's took on Jack In The Box, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Burger King and won, all opening - and closing - at various times along Shattuck Avenue. Only McDonald's survived Berkeley's fast food wars of the 1980s.

Oscars served simple greasy food which could be eaten on site or take-away through a simple slide- window on the parking side wall. The burgers weren't particularly great nor the service ever good but it was comforting to see the retro logo in an area now populated by a micro brewery and a bunch of coffee shops. I went out of my way to drive by Hearst and Shattuck just to see it. Oscar's as real to Berkeley as People's Park. Or the original Pete's.

All good things must come to an end.

Good Bye Dear Aggie

For the love of bugs

Madeleine bangs out some homework. On Friday, following exam week, her bio teacher took the class onto the school fields to search for bugs for the microscope (she draws them now for her half-term break assignment). She notes, following those exams, the kids sank into the grass and sunshine, thoroughly spent, taking a moment for themselves. Fair enough.

Aggie returns to Poland after 13 years in London. When she arrived in the UK she knew a handful of people and her English limited to classwork assignments. She joined our family as a nanny. The last 4.5 years she has been a professional at Deloittes. She plans to start a business introducing Western businesses to Poland.

Aggie: "You must come to Poland and visit me in Krakauer." 
Me: "We would love to. What we need is a beach holiday."
Sonnet: "I'm afraid those days are over for me." [Dad's note: Sonnet has been advised not to spend time in the sun as a precaution against melanomas]
Me to Madeleine: "When your mother lived in San Francisco she sunbathed on her roof deck. Naked."
Madeleine: "Dad!"
Me: "Mother. Naked."
Madeleine flees the kitchen.
Sonnet: "We loved Tortoreto Lido."

On Questions

The Christ Church bells ring, something I appreciate, along with the BBC Sunday morning program and Sonnet's waffles.

Eitan going through another "curious" phase similar to when he was 4 or 5 and everything an open question. In a real way, he is navigating similar uncharted territories trying to make sense of the world us adults have created for him . What, for instance, does a job mean? What do Sonnet and I and everybody do during the day and where does one fit in ? How to figure out one's interest and why the fuss ? What the hell is it all about, really ?

I tell him our job is to help him find his path and navigate the uncertainty as best we can as a family. I also tell him, "being a kid is hard work." That never changes.

Dog's Life

Tongue

It's about time somebody did something about FIFA and it takes the Americans, as usual. It's not like there has been a lack of evidence to nail this crummy organisation and its bribe taking members. Qatar? Seriously. Finally something fun in the news. Only question is: will they get Sepp Blatter?

While on football, the FA Cup today: Arsenal and Aston Villa. England and millions around the world tuned in to watch the beautiful game. Regeneration.

Week End

Madeleine in the garbage pale

Just another Friday.

This week has zipped by from meeting to meeting to meeting. Sonnet engrossed in McQueen and preparations for Italian Fashion which opens in Nashville, TN, next week. By my last count, 35 friends and family will descend upon the Frist Center for her exhibition.

Madeleine: "Will I have earned your respect if I climb into the garbage pale?"
Me:
Madeleine: "Will I?"
Me: "Is this a trick question?"

Sonnet, observing Eitan: "He was so cute when he was little."
Me: "At least he doesn't smell bad."
Eitan: "What are you talking about?"
Sonnet: "We were talking about how cute you were when you were little."
Eitan: "I just don't want you to feel bad when I leave for college."
Me: "Are you kidding, it's going to be the best day of my life."
Sonnet: "I'm going to be really sad but I'm not going to show it."
Eitan, me:
Sonnet: "Didn't Grace break down in the airport when you went to Switzerland?"
Me, Eitan:
Sonnet: "Are you listening?"

Katy J

Katy, whom I have know since 1985, visits for the bank holiday weekend. Katy is at Oxford where she is a Senior Researcher in the Environmental Change Institute. She recently raised £500K to study energy strategies in the retail sector. In the UK, surprisingly, there is little information on energy use for commercial and public spaces. Katy is looking to better understand how these organisations can be run more efficiently.  When not on campus, she is happily hiking or biking in the English countryside.

Madeleine Runs

Proud mum

Madeleine competes the 800m at the Surrey County Championships, a UK regional race. Her time of 2:32 just off her standard and nets her fourth in her hear (top 2 advance). She runs a smart race, starting out slowly then picking off three girls on the final lap. 

Proving one can teach an old dog new trips, Rusty learns how to jump in to the car boot. Maybe it's that you can't teach a dumb dog new tricks. Anyway it makes our life easier not to have to chuck the dog in the back since he ways 30 lbs.

Sonnet: "I would love to see Fleetwood Mac."

Me: "We can. They're playing at the Isle of Wight Festival this summer."

Sonnet: "I'm not really a festival kind of girl."

Stuttgart

Terminal 5

Eitan leaves Saturday morning bright and early for an American football camp in Stuttgart, Germany. At play: an invitation to the Olympic Development Program (ODP) Region 1 in Pennsylvania, July 2015. US coaches are scouting for players to attend.

Eitan, who has not travelled solo outside of school excursions or, on occasion, with Madeleine (swimming camp, Grandparents) connects with Rocco at the airport and all is good (Rocco's dad, Peter, is from Holland and so utterly dependable). I give him an awkward hug and off the boy goes.

We have Madeleine to ourselves and Katy joins us from Oxford (Madeleine ditches for Richmond to hang out with a friend, returning 9PM. Connected by mobile of course)

Sonnet walks into Madeleine's room, 11AM. Madeleine: "Mom I'm still in my pajamas"

Best Coast

Electric Ballroom, Camden

Friday again. Three day bank holiday weekend. The London mood: giddy.

Madeleine's exams come back and she pulls the 3rd top score on her history exam, 4th in drama and well above average on RS. The history prof notes before handing out the exams that today's result but a grain of sand on the beach of life. Madeleine: "we were kind of worried."

Happy 47

Love of my life

Sonnet the Birthday Girl wakes 6:05AM and out the door to yoga (I roll over, long day ahead). She pampers herself, taking a day off to do her nails, bake a maple cake, bake pulled porc and BBQ sauce which is FABULOUS. We sing our gal happy birthday and so very grateful to have her in our lives.

Last night Sonnet and I go to Camden's Electric Cafe to see LA band Best Coast, which Christian and I caught five years ago at a small venue in San Francisco's Tenderloin district. They were excellent then, excellent now. Since the lead singer Bethany Cosentino (think shampoo. Think hair) there is a large supportive female audience and lots of happy couples on dates (I imagine) or between shagging sessions. This is London afterall and it is springtime.

Madeleine completes her final year-end exam - physics, 26 pages, our gal reports. She is home free. Eitan's exams after next week's half-term break, poor kid. 

V&A Develoment

Self Portrait XXXXIV

In January 2014, the V&A broke ground on a new entrance, courtyard and purpose-built subterranean gallery for temporary exhibitions facing the Exhibition Road across from the Sciences Museum. The budget for the project is £49 million with 80% raised by private donations so far. The naming of the entrance goes for a cool £5 million.

Recently I have joined the museum's Corporate Development Board, invited by Standing Chair of the Trustees, Nicholas Coleridge, who is also the President of Condé Nast. Our aim is to raise support for projects and exhibitions with a particular focus on the 30 and 40 year old jet set who may comprise the museum's future funding base, taking over from an older generation of donors.

We have a tour of the work site led by the project engineer who informs me the courtyard will slope slightly downward allowing for a grande entrance stairway; underneath two galleries and a coffee bar offering 1000s of feet of modern use space. Several massive beams 5 ft in diameter hold the ancient building up as the digging goes down. We learn that the "services" (electrics, piping and cables) took nine months to be removed and, as the original building dates to the 1840s, there was no master plan ("a bit of a mess" our guy tells us). 

The expected opening is for late 2016.

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."