Summer UK

My faithful five: apologies for being offline for the past week. I write from Le Veta, Colorado, in the Colorado Rockies. But more on this later.
This photo taken in Brighton-By-Sea, where I return with the kids last week. We lucked out with good weather as the summer has otherwise been the wettest in 75 years. Flash-flooding across England has left 1,000s without water, electricity and home. The worst towns are where the Thames and Severn Rivers meet, unable to absorb the hillside run-off. Earlier this month we saw Sheffield, home of the Arctic Monkeys, washed out. But back to us: Brighton was once the seaside town for which these Brits pined before modern travel whisked the wealthy (and now the pint drinking, cigarette smoking) set to Southern European locals setting in motion the the second British colonisation: low-cost, beach-front condominiums. God bless the herd mentality of this people. Our day otherwise is unspoiled following a train-ride from Clapham Junction to Brighton station. We enjoy the rocks, eat greasy chips and vinegar and check out the boardwalk. A fun day spent while Sonnet prepares for the summer Bon Voyage.

This one makes me (and Wayne) proud - from IHT

Devanand's eyesight and livelihood were saved through the efforts of an innovative microfranchise program developed by the Scojo Foundation, a nonprofit social enterprise based in New York that uses market solutions to distribute inexpensive corrective glasses in the developing world (picture and story from the IHT).

Worldwide, according to Scojo, more than 700 million people who make less than $4 a day suffer from presbyopia, limiting their ability to make handicrafts, read a newspaper or find insects on crops and separate seeds. Sufferers face the dark prospect of diminished productivity and greater poverty.

Scojo does more than just sell glasses. Operating in six countries, the foundation has trained more than 1,000 people to become microfranchise owners, or "vision entrepreneurs," who conduct basic eye exams, sell affordable prescription glasses and refer those who need advanced eye care to clinics and hospitals. According to Scojo, many of the microfranchise owners have doubled their income, and thousands of farmers, craftspeople and merchants have been able to return to work.

Using 5 percent of profit from the for-profit luxury eyewear company Scojo Vision, and grants from organizations like Open Society Institute of George Soros and the Acumen Fund, the Scojo Foundation addresses the most basic eye-care needs of local communities. It also trains its entrepreneurs to refer those in need of serious medical treatment to organizations like Orbis, the global anti-blindness charity.

In Ghana, Fan Milk has sold 8,000 people the bicycles and dairy products to become distributors, and in India, Hindustan Lever has trained nearly 31,000 women in its "Project Shakti" network to sell consumer products like coffee, laundry detergent and toothpaste.

Since its inception in 2002, Scojo has joined forces with more than 20 private companies and nongovernmental organizations in Bangladesh, India, Ghana, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico to train microfranchise owners, often linking up with existing networks of health workers, peddlers and shopkeepers.

In April, Scojo began collaboration with the nonprofit health organization Population Services International to distribute glasses throughout sub-Saharan Africa. In five years, Scojo has sold more than 70,000 pairs of eyeglasses to the poor across the globe.

That Hat

A photo from the archives - this one taken November 2003 at three years old. The flapper was a Christmas present from me to Sonnet when we lived on the Upper West Side. "Flapper" referred to a "new breed" of young women from the '20s who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to unconventional music and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered "decent" behavior. The flappers were seen as brash in their time for wearing excessive makeup, drinking hard liquor , treating sex in a more casual manner, smoking cigarettes, driving automobiles, and otherwise flouting conventional social and sexual norms. God how we miss 'em.

Surreal

These lovelies are from the cover of Surreal Things which is on display at Sonnet's museum. We attended the opening in April and the curator, Ghislaine Wood, wore an Alexander McQueen butterfly print dress mirroring the 1937 version by "Schiap." While the most known works are by Dali (of course), Andre Breton, Joan Miro and Man Ray, my favorite is Alberto Giacometti's unexpected pottery including "Tutankhamun' lamp in 1933. I have only admired his bronzes and so a real treat to see his weirdness in clay.

2007 is really 1984

In a document mistakenly released by the Home Office Tuesday and reported by Fleet Street, U.K. police may be given access to the details of journeys taken by millions of British motorists collected by road pricing technology for congestion charging in London and elsewhere. The data would include license plates and individual targeting of suspected terrorists and potential criminals and criminal-like behaviors, whatever this means. There is yet considerable opposition to the plan and I listened to our new Home Secretary Jacqui Smith dodge the question on Radio 4 this morning claiming she would like more information before rendering her opinion. Britain has the infrastructure for the Orwellian plan: 2,640 "smart" cameras in operation and pilot-less camera "drones" now being tested in areas like Manchester. The 21st Century started yesterday.

He Must Be A Republican

Senator David Vitter for 16 hears staked out the moral high ground where he has challenged the ethics of other Louisiana politicians on same-sex marriage while depicting himself as a "clean-as-a-whistle" champion of family values. Says he: “I’m a conservative who opposes radically redefining marriage, the most important social institution in human history,” Mr. Vitter, a 46-year-old family man and yes, Republican, wrote in a letter last year to The New Orleans Times-Picayune. Well, His Holy now admits that his phone number is in a list of clients’ numbers kept by Deborah Jeane Palfrey, who is accused of running a prostitution ring in Washington (Vitter missed major votes on Iraq in the Senate and made no public appearances as accounts of other prostitutes multiplied in the New Orleans news media). Vitter now says he committed "a very serious sin in my past.” No shit mister. What are the odds he voted for Clinton's impeachment? Would YOU take that bet?

Adding to the road kill, in 2000 Vitter's wife Wendy was asked: If her husband were as unfaithful as Bill Clinton, would she be as forgiving as Hillary Rodham Clinton? “I’m a lot more like Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary,” Wendy Vitter told Newhouse News. “If he does something like that, I’m walking away with one thing, and it’s not alimony, trust me." Recall that Lorena Bobbitt cut off her husband's dick with a kitchen knife when she found out he was having an affair.

Madeleine 24

Here is Madeleine at Day One of life. As any parent says: time goes by fast so enjoy the moment. I can say: when this photo taken time did not go by fast but there was enjoyment. Madeleine had lungs like a bull-horn and a stubborn personality from the git-go. She had no problem wailing for hours until given the midnight nip or a little comfort from mum. This holds remarkably true today where our little girl sets her mind to something and works hard for it - or screams murder otherwise. This morning, for instance, Eitan and I work out various clock times. Madeleine, who has not done this in school, sits on the side-line chirping her guesses: "1:05? 15:36? 100:45?!" She's not ready to call it quits when we move on to something else and I promise her that we will get the hours and minutes sorted out together.

Mel Ramos

The notorious and "utterly questionable" pop artist Mel Ramos has surfaced in the West End - pictured. The W1 showing is a first for the artist most famous for his 1960s sexy nudes and naked B-movie stars draped around over-sized cigars, cigarette packs, tooth-paste tubes and other familiar 1950s house-hold products. At the same time Andy Warhol was trolling pop culture with his Elvises and Marilyns, which netted greater introspection and long-lasting attention. Unlike Warhol, Ramos did not fuse depth and pop trash - he was only trashy and so objectionable to the critical masses. I, lighter than air, intend to ogle the great ogler.

Swann-Upping

The Queen's annual swan count began yesterday at Sunbury and the whole country is a-twitter. Passing through Berkshire to Abingdon in Oxfordshire, a boat of loyals (dressed in their scarlet uniforms) and children count, weigh and ring each bird while checking for signs of injury and disease. The ceremony dates from the 12th Century when the Crown claimed all unowned mute swans in Britain to ensure a ready supply for banquets and feasts. Nowadays, the Queen retains the right to ownership on some stretches of the River Thames and tributaries. For the record and the most recent data I could find, in 1991 there were 116 cygnets and in 1992 the total number of new cygnets marked was 136. There is as yet, no answer to the problem of those that are strangled by fishing lines. Photo from Londondiary.com.

Smokes

Eitan and I go to Eddie Katz's this afternoon. EK offers kids a giant play area complete with slides, bouncy castles, hockey, video games and other must haves for a six year old (Madeleine is at a birthday party). On the way home, we discuss cigarettes and I ask Eitan if he understands a craving. "Is it like sucking my thumb?" he asks adroitly. We then touch on addiction: "only when I suck my thumb I can stop" he adds. We compare TV and chocolates to smoking and I use our car ride to touch upon drugs. "Some kids, even your friends, will want you to take pills and you will have to decide" I say. Eitan comments on a school story about a boy and an apple. If eaten, the apple will bring a long life of unhappiness.. I ask if he would eat the apple. Eitan: "No, I'd rather die now but happy."
Photo from the WWW.

Champions

Yesterday is the final day of football as the summer break is upon us (Kids last day of school: Wednesday). Eitan and Madeleine play in tournaments and each's team takes second place in their division. Eitan scores a terrific side-post goal that makes him visibly happy as the other kids high-five him. For the record, Madeleine enjoys footie, effectus, but is now aware that she is one of two girls on the pitch. Some discussions have taken place about swim-club and tennis, which I would enjoy with her later on. Stay tuned, dear reader.

The artist formally know as "the squiggly thing" angers the high street by giving away his latest album In today's Sunday Mail - Prince will play 30 gigs in London this August. The Mail paid Prince £500,000, a small figure for His Purple Squire, but the stapled controversy has produced enormous free publicity feeding concert attendance as each show has sold out. Sonnet and I will probably see him in September, though I generally shy away from big venues like the 02 center, formally known as the Millennium Dome.

Gold

Here is yesterday's sporting result where Madeleine takes first and second place in her races. This photo is from my mobile camera as I forgot the DSLR - but I think it gets the point accross. Picture taken on the school grounds, post pick-up.

Sports Day

I arrive from Copenhagen in time for Sports Day at our primary school. The kids are organised by class and compete in heats - events which include the full-on dash and the obstacle-challenge. The children wear their PE outfits and School Colours, which takes place on the green field. Eitan wins his two races while Madeleine takes a first and second. There must be over 200 parents and they all buzz about MY kids performance: "Eitan won his race! Madeleine is sooo fast!" I explain it must be the Saturday football but deep-down I know the kids compete.

Sonnet begins an early freak-out for our five weeks in the US'A. Clothes, swim suits, cowboy boots, goggles and other crap litter our bedroom to be organised, packed, re-packed and finally stuffed into suitcases and an over-sized duffle bag. I stay away from this hurricane, BTW. It is only trouble for me and the kids.

Madeleine saves a spider, racing outside to deposit the creature on a leaf next to a lady bug.

Eitan cuts his hair to have a "spikey look" like his class-mate Joe-Y-H (there are two Joe's in Eitan's class with the same first and last name- go figure). In honesty, it doesn't look bad. Madeleine follows suit and this morning cuts her bangs - Sonnet finds clumps of hair but in the morning rush refuses to put two-and-two together. The last time Madeleine self-inflicted was 2004. Aggie is aghast. Sonnet and I threaten consequences but really I find it funny. Let the kid do what she wants when style-related. Why not?

Planes

This is a picture of Katie's cat who is very cosmo. My day starts in Amsterdam, peaks in Munich and I now write from Copenhagen. Hans and I have a number of meetings with pension funds and money managers, which we hope will pay off later in the year when Industry Ventures raises their fifth fund. I am helping Industry bring in the dough while also a Venture Partner sourcing deals in Europe. Tomorrow we return to London and Sonnet and I have a dinner-date in town, assuming we can work out the baby sitter. Gordon Brown has only worn a BLUE tie since becoming Prime Minister. As the Echequer, he only wore a RED tie. Is something going on here?

Rotterdam

This ghastly photo of Rotterdam was taken after the German army invaded the Netherlands on May 10, 1940 (I am now with Hans Swildens of Industry Ventures) Germany I learn forced the Dutch army to surrender on May 14, 1940 with the Bombing of Rotterdam by the Luftwaffe, and threats to bomb other cities. The heart of the city was almost completely destroyed, 800 people were killed, about 80,000 others were made homeless. The City Hall - pictured - survived the bombings.

Instrument

At the arts college, Sonnet has a pow-wow with the kids asking them what instrument they would like to play. Both reply: "Guitar!"
Sonnet: "You may have to play different instruments. "
Madeleine: "Trumpet!"
Sonnet: "What if there is no trumpet?"
Madeleine: "Drums!"
Sonnet to me: "There is no way in hell Madeleine will play the trumpet or the drums in this house."

Tour de France

Yesterday the 2007 Tour de France began in Hyde Park blocking traffic for those foolish enough to venture into town. Today the pelaton left the Capital for Canterbury. The race will take on its familiar settings from tomorrow when the bikers will rev their wheels in Dunkerque. The race continues for twenty days ending famously on the Champs-Élysées. Sloggi "the young underwear brand for boys and girls" capitalises on the excitement with several well-placed billboards - pictured - along the route. Dear reader, I will report to you if this add increases traffic to this website.

Madeleine rides her bike and tells us that she is very proud of herself. With determination and a little push, off she goes no problem. Eitan experiments with his roller blades and he too has success.

Snitch

Nobody likes a snitch and unfortunately the UK has a lot of them. Grinding yet further towards Big Brother, last year the Inland Revenue opened a line, staffed 24/7, to anomalously receive data on island tax evaders. In its first year of operations over 200,000 Brits ratted on their neighbors, colleagues and friends raising £26 million for the government on a private target of £107 billion (which Fleet Street exposed via the Freedom of Information Act). While of course I pay my 40% and am against those rat dodgers, turning Britain into East Germany for a couple hundred million quid or less than .01% of Inland receipts seems far and away short-sighted. Breshnev would be so proud.

SW20

It's hard to miss Wimbledon which brings excitement to London's southwest. This has been a paricularly wet year and at least one match was played over five days (Nadal's five set win over Soderling). Things have mostly caught up with players being forced to play at the ungentlemanly hour of 11AM. The finals are this weekend and Venus Williams wins her fourth title beating French 18th seed Marion Bartoli 6-4 6-1 with a commanding performance. Tomorrow is a rematch of last year's finalists Nadal and Federer. This photo taken by Ray Giubilo of Federer on Center Court. FYI SW20 is Wimbledon's poste code.

School Drop

I take this photo of Madeleine at 0900 this morning in front of her classroom (Eitan hamming it up in the background). As one can see, there is a lot of action on the playground and this is the power-center of the neighborhood where the moms share gossip and information while administering their influence over the school community. Unless you're in - you're out. Clawing my way on the edges via the PTA, I host a post Summer Fair gathering at the nearby caf, post-drop, to wrap things up and receive feedback. The Class Reps and other volunteers are happy and nobody can argue with the rake, which was about the same last year at £15,000 despite the ghastly weather. My Big Initiative is to put all instructions etc. on the PTA website (and to pawn the Fair off on the next unsuspecting bugger).

We have been interviewing a new nanny now that Aggie is required part-time and has an office job. Sonnet extends an offer to Natasha from Macedonia who is otherwise earning her Masters degree in London. She speaks four Slavic languages along with perfect English. Natasha appears adequately serious yet relaxed and comfortable with the kids, who are happy she will join our family.