Mum

Sonnet could not possibly be a better mother. She is constantly upbeat and organised around the kids ceaseless various activities and, above all else, she is their champion and confident. She is their role model. Somehow she manages all of this while I am travelling and with a full time job. She is the reason our house is a home. We are blessed.

I find a bottle of Haut-Medoc 2004 in the pantry, opened, and not by me. The wine earned a Bronze medal at the 2006 Decanter World Wine Awards amongst other recognitions. Sonnet used it in a beef bolognese.

Cumberbatch

So who is the is Benedict Cumberbatch, I wonder, as girls swoon over Sherlock and his long curls? Cumberbatch may be the Sean Cassidy for this generation but even more: He has appeared in such films as Atonement, Star Trek and 12 Years A Slave as well as other BBC dramas like Hawkings.

In life, Cumberbatch attended boarding schools from the age of eight, was educated at Brambletye School  in West Sussex, and was an arts scholar at Harrow School. He was a member of The Rattigan Society, Harrow's principal club for the dramatic arts which was named after Old Harrovian and playwright Terence Rattington. He was involved in numerous Shakespearean works at school and made his acting debut as Titania, Queen of the Fairies, in A Midsummer Night's Dream when he was 12.Cumberbatch's drama teacher, Martin Tyrell, called him "the best schoolboy actor" he had ever worked with. He was also part of the rugby team, and painted in oil while at Harrow.

After leaving Harrow, Cumberbatch took a gap year to volunteer as an English teacher at a Tibetan monastery in Darjeeling. He then attended the Univ of Manchester, where he studied Drama. He continued his training as an actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art with a degree in Classical Acting.  (source: Wiki)

All this and not even 30. He will be with us for a while which is good news.

Game Off

Pitchside

Sunday morning which means club football and today the boys take on the Met Police. They go down swinging, 3-nil, in a game tied nil-nil at half-time.  It's been a rough season and today's outcome puts the Lions in the bottom half of their league. Still, for the joy of the game.

Sonnet and I out to fun restaurant Pizza East in the edgier part of Notting Hill, an area we are familiar with for many visits to the Portobella Road and market in our early days in London. We are with Natalie and Justin, who has recently been offered the CEO role of a substantial UK business. He is perfectly suited for it.

London Youth Games

Parliament Hill, Hamstead Heath

Madeleine competes in today's London Youth Games representing Richmond borough having qualified several weeks ago when she won the Wandsworth schools championship on the Clapham Common. The course a muddy 2K and begins fast: straight up Parliament Hill. Madeleine in the top 10%, by my judgement, huffing and puffing, but then hardship: she slips and falls on a tight bend and pulls out of the race with 500m to go. I greet our fallen warrior on the course. She is covered in mud and feeling downbeat; we get her patched up at the aid station then cubano sandwiches for lunch from the local farmers market. She's now watching television and feeling better.

Sonnet in Amsterdam to give a lecture. I have lunch at Fortnum And Mason with the Ladies That Lunch. Greg in London for three hours en route to Maryland following an AGM in Barcelona. We catch up.

The Heath

Hamstead Heath

Hamstead Heath is a large, ancient London park covering 790 acres. The Heath is rambling and hilly, perfect for a Sunday stroll or cross country race. The cozy Hamstead village is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and, perhaps not surprisingly, has the highest concentration of millionaires in London. 

So Sonnet and I split an evening: She to the Italian Ambassador's house to discuss fashion with the Good and the Great and me, to Emanuel school to meet with Madeleine's 14 teachers to get the low-down on her performance. I get the better deal. The feedback is excellent and it is clear that our gal is making her mark. What stands out, in the feedback, is Madeleine's enthusiasm and effort; sure, there are a few minor comments about chitter-chat but overall she is doing tops in her school work. We could not be more proud. [Dad's note: since the parent-teacher evening, we received a letter from Madeleine's form teacher telling us Madeleine scored top 10% in school effort work.

Early Hours

Sonnet and I up at 5:30AM to jog 4 laps around Palewell Park. Our preferred run is Richmond Park but it is pitch black this time of year and spooky plus the annual deer cull locks the park's morning gates for the next six weeks.  The dog is ever on the ready for exercise and could care less about the hour of the day.

The morning darkness recalls my teenage swimming years, also up around 5:30AM, when I biked to the King Jr high school swimming pool. Berkeley was sound asleep as I cycled from the Northside hills to the flats, passing streetlamps and front lights - sometimes in the rain with my shoes protected by plastic bags. I envied those still asleep. Bill (God bless him) delivered a two-hour workout for me and Katie (we had our own lane) while Moe swam laps with the lap-swimmers. If I recall correctly, Moe swam one length of the 25 yd pool for each year of his age which seemed like a pretty good deal against the 7,000 yards Katie and I put in.

Following our effort this morning, we are rewarded with a beautiful sunrise filled with warm colours; Madeleine wanders down for breakfast and I wake Eitan ("5 more minutes.")

Prince

'Controversy' single

Sonnet and I join Emily's birthday party themed "Exposed" where she holds a salon format inviting her interesting friends to offer missives on the subject. A choreographer, for instance, discusses how she feels when her work performed by others. A techie turned designer describes his app that concentrates central and peripheral focus and an entomologist tells how plants offer signals to pollinate them - "a glowing runway".  We conclude the evening with Prince's 1999 - Eitan and Madeleine would have been mortified to see us dance. Ah, well.

Thinking of Prince, I recall West Campus where my class spent the 9th grade while the Berkeley High School C building retrofitted to make earthquake sound in 1982. That year the black girls enthralled by 'Controversy', Prince's break-through album one year before '1999' which became a mainstay on the disco floor and has followed me across .. . 30 years.

'Controversy' was a racy album with song tracks that I am embarrassed to write like 'Private Joy', 'Jack U Off' and 'Do Me, Baby' but I suppose this is now easily eclipsed by the stuff Eitan and Madeleine exposed to in music or online. Back then it was about the funk before the lyrics (though I am sure our parents only heard the lyrics, if they knew of Prince at all).

Today is the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and Gorbechav warns of the new Cold War.

Sonnet: "Tell me three careers, if you had to imagine into the future, that you would be interested in doing."
Madeleine: "One, a full time actress. Two, a physical therapist. And three, to work at Google."
Sonnet: "Great ideas. Give me one sentence for each explaining why."
Madeleine: "I think it would be amazing to be in a film. If I was a physical therapist I would make a difference in people's lives. And Google because it is such a cool company."
Sonnet: "Those are excellent explanations."

Aneta In The House

Post Game

Sunday afternoon following two-weeks of half-term break and that can only mean one thing: homework. Eitan must review history and French "and do a bit of writing." Same as it ever was.

Sonnet and I review our last couple of weeks which sees our family in NYC, Minneapolis-St Paul, Madrid and Tokyo. Pretty cool.

Me: "Tell me one thing about the half-term break for the blog."
Eitan: "It was fun."
Me: "Can you do more than that?"
Eitan: "Minneapolis was fun. I got to meet Henry's friends and stuff. And I went to an American football game on Friday night. The home team won. The atmosphere was really good because everyone was supporting the team."
Me: "What do you think of American football?"
Eitan: "It's OK. A bit boring I guess."
Me: "How so?"
Eitan: "I don't know. It's kind of slow. And there is a lot of throwing the ball around."
Me: "I see your point."

Coach's Huddle

"Watch the through balls"

The Sheen Lions battle the Kingstonian Youth to a 3-3 draw which our side equalises with a minute to go on a free kick by Woo from 40 yards out, headed into the net by Luke. Joy! The game notable for the miserable weather and Sonnet and I soaked and cold by half-time. Eitan is selected 'Man Of The Match' (and now happily watches Manchester United vs. Manchester City as I blog). 

Aneta with us for the weekend and we catch up on her summer, spent at a Jewish camp in Western Massachusetts, and her other various travels in the US.  She is as agreeable as ever and always a good vibe to have around.

Sonnet takes Madeleine to the Richmond High Street for some Sunday afternoon shopping. And the passage of time rolls on.

Boo

Eitan out this afternoon in a "flash mob" (he hates it when I say this) when the teenagers text each other and meet an hour later. Today it's Kingston where they wander about, looking at shops, no money or at least limited funds. Maybe a snack then home.  Tonight he will hang out with his Sheen Mount crew but no trick-or-treating. Those days long gone.

Pre Candy

Madeleine spends the day with Sonnet at the V&A (last day of half-term break) finishing homework and hanging out with mom. Tonight she hits the block with Abby resurrecting the chicken-hat which, dear reader, was my long-running costume when the children were children and not so embarrassed by such things. And then they were.

Hallowe'en Pumpkins

Madeleine and Jack

We slip into Friday evening and it is my once favourite holiday, Halloween, before it become somehow commercial, even in the UK. Even in Tokyo.  I liked the unsettling nature of the transitional autumn heading into the dead zone of winter and what better way to celebrate than trick-or-treating? Usually I try to watch at least one scary movie to put me in the mood but now not so much. Maybe it is in line with my mood these days - who needs more death? In any case, our block doesn't receive much attention from the candy crowd as there are more elderly folks vs. families. No kid wants fruit in their bag.

4AM

Tokyo is really God damn big and sprawls for as far as the eye can see. But it never loses its vibrancy. Here are a few of the neighborhoods I visit:

Shinjuki, which is a large business, entertainment and shopping district centered around JR Shinjuku Station. It's the busiest train station in the world with 3.64 million passengers a day. Due East is Kabukicho, Asia's biggest red-light district.

Shibuya, a large shopping and entertainment district best known for the Shibuya crossing, which is the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world. Estimates are that almost 1 million people cross the street here each day (2.18 million people use Shibuya station daily).

Tokyo Station Area (Marunouchi & Yaesu), which handles over a million passengers a day. It's Tokyo's intercity rail hub connecting Tokyo with the rest of Japan by Shinkansen (bullet train). More trains pass through Tokyo station each day than any other station in Japan. My hotel, the Shangra La, located nearby.

We also visit the Park Hyatt, where Lost In Translation filmed, and dine at Gonpachi made famous in Quentin Taratino's bloody Kill Bill.

Robataya

We enjoy a robata style dinner, which is similar to barbecue, where the food is skewered (often alive, brutal) and slow-grilled over hot charcoal. Traditionally the servings are a combination of seafoods and vegatables while we have shrimps, beef and .. fish. The ingredients displayed, and cooked, before us ("Like a puddle" our host helpfully tells us) interrupted by a traditional Japanese dinner chant complete with brusk clapping. Robataya is one of the best restaurants in Tokyo.

Tokyo

I arrive in Tokyo for business, meeting Thierry at the hotel and off we go.

It's my first visit Tokyo and the city is BIG - the most populous metropolitan area in the world with 37.8 million people. From the 33rd floor of my hotel, Tokyo just goes on forever.

Tokyo has eaten everything around it due, mainly, to the decision to build the Shinkansen (or "new trunk line"), a network of high-speed lines in Japan that opened in 1964 weeks before the Tokyo Olympics.

The Shinkansen owns 1,483 miles of lines with max speeds of 150-200 mph. It links most major cities on the main island, making Tokyo ever more important as the central force of the economy while weakening regional cities. By an odd quirk, employers pay for the commute time making a 2 hour one-way somehow tolerable or even desirable. Any case, it carries over 300 million passengers a year. It runs like a Swiss clock.

I watch the World Series, game 5, which is broadcast on Japanese television delayed for prime time (Giants beat KC, 5-0. There will be a Game 7). The commentary is in Japanese. I note that restaurants and bars are showing the game to locals who watch, enthralled. No surprise, either, since baseball introduced to Japan in 1872 by HOrace Wilson who taught at the Kaisei School in Tokyo and the first baseball team here was called the Shimbashi Athletic club in 1878.

España

Madeleine unpacks

Madeleine's half-term break takes her to Madrid, where she flies in Monday until last night when I scoop her up from T5 followed by a late dinner. She is a chatter box, filled with enthusiasm and good cheer. 

In Spain,  the school group stay in the Sierre de Gredos mountains: "very hot and sunny, mountains everywhere. Streams and lakes, too, along with forests". Madeleine bunks with nine other girls and gets maybe four hours of sleep despite the designated curfew of 23h30.  During the week, the kids horseback ride, hike, mountain bike, enjoy archery and visit Real Madrid football stadium. In addition, for us parents, there is an hour and a half of Spanish lessons per day (Madeleine groans). 

Madeleine tells me the best part of the trip was "playing 'Slender Man' at night, pitch black, through the forrest, with my friends." (Slender Man, dear readers, is when the Slender Man, dressed in dark clothes, try to capture the non Slender Men; once captured, the captured join the Slender Men or the chasing team. Or so I think).

I prepare for Tokyo tomorrow.

Minneapolis St Paul

Twin Cities with Mike and Gretchen

Sonnet is in Minneapolis St Paul for the opening of Italian Style (renamed from "The Glamour of Italian Fashion" for the Americans") at the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts.  Eitan joins her from some mother-teenager bonding, and are hosted by the Bransfords who roll out the red carpet.  Recall Mike and Gretchen part of our original ex pat group, post business school, who returned Homeland maybe ten years ago. Bill and Whitney join for the opening and it is a family affair.

As Madeleine has been in Spain this week, I am solo for several nights. I take advantage by catching up on work, a trip to Manhattan where I see Katie, and going to the Egon Schiele opening at the Courdault.

Any Given Sunday

On being a teenager

Eitan celebrates his freedom - half term! - watching football from dawn until dusk (right now it is the ever important match, Stoke v. Swansea). In between televised matches, The Sheen Lions take on KPR and win 3-2 on a nail-biter though the Lions outplayed their opponents.

Dear reader, Eitan began his club play with KPR and there are a handful of kids that I recall from Eitan's very first competitive run down the pitch with the Rangers. 

Sonnet and I go to yoga which is something I have not done in, like, three years - shocking, really, as yoga was once an important part of our routine. Back in the early days of our relationship, ca. 1993, Sonnet introduced me to Bikram yoga in North Beach - it was their second studio though now they can be found everywhere (though Bikram's system has come into question). I still can't do the balancing poses and I sweat like a maniac.

Me: "Why don't you you put on some NFL?"
Eitan: "Do I have to?"
Me: "Let's watch some real football."
Eitan: "Whatever."
Me: "Who do you think would win - the Baltimore Colts vs Man U in soccer or vice versa?"
Eitan: "Well it depends on who is playing. But, um, probably the Colts."
Me: "Manchester wouldn't make it through the fist quarter. Look at how big the players are."
Eitan: "It probably wouldn't be pretty."
Me: "I'll say."

School Press

Madeleine wraps up top place.

Friday night and everybody has been working hard. Since Sonnet out and Eitan at football practice, Madeleine and I have a date: Praline's And Cream ice cream+several episodes of "Modern Family." Doesn't matter that s/ we have seen every episode maybe more than twice, it is still funny and shows us what the 'normal' is. 

“I’ve always said that if my son thinks of me as one of his idiot friends, I’ve succeeded as a dad.”

--Phil Dunphy, Modern Family