Sunday, May 13

Zzz

Madeleine asleep. I often tease her that she snores - she doesn't - but this always gets a rise from her. I guess she views it as unladylike.

Yesterday, the family completes the school Fun Run of five miles in Richmond Park beginning at Richmond Gate. Both Eitan and Madeleine are up for the challenge and we join 500 or so runner-walkers on a bright, cloudy morning to complete the race. Eitan and I charge ahead and he does a great job jogging (most) of the course. During our breaks we discuss things like the circulatory system and why one's heart beats faster during exercise. At completion we rally at the school for a BBQ and make-shift game of footie where 30 or so kids joined in.

Friday, May 11

Story time

Madeleine during story-time. Photo is blurry as Madeleine is never still, even when transfixed. We are reading chapter books, like James And The Giant Peach, which offer complicated plots and emotional under-currents. Eitan's focus is laser beam while Madeleine drifts in and out with a question. Eitan has a 16 month advantage and the trick is to find a balance so I read a picture book or tell a home-spun story on alternate evenings. Sonnet logs plenty of time too.

Rave

London's late night dance scene is alive and kicking and rest assured that Sonnet and I are no part of it (photo www). The last time we disco'd was pre-kids so I'm guessing 1999 (excluding weddings, but that doesn't really count does it?)

Eitan, Madeleine and friend Jackson and I have dinner at Pizza Express to congratulate our week's survival without Sonnet, who returns today. Madeleine FYI loves salami and Eitan is going through a Margarita phase.

Thursday, May 10

Skyline

Tony Blair gives his Bon Voyage in a brief emotional speech broadcast on all UK channels. He apologises for when he "fell short," and asks the nation to make their own decision on Iraq. He also notes that there are "more jobs, fewer unemployed, better health and education results, lower crime and economic growth in every quarter" since his arrival. Tony will remain in office until 27 June when, presumably, Gordon Brown will become leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister.

"The British are special - the world knows it, in our innermost thoughts we know it. This is the greatest nation on earth." Tony today

Zit

This morning Madeleine points at my chin and says "what's that daddy?" and I explain it is a zit. After a brief explanation of the zit, I tell her she can expect to have them when she is a teen-ager. She sobs.

Eitan and Madeleine had their Spanish lesson yesterday and were wiped out when I arrived home around 7PM. Madeleine adjusts to the full-day ending at 3:20PM and I remember Eitan being cranky when the hours were upped. Both kids making progress with their reading and writing - Eitan is working on "chapter books" while Madeleine completes sentences. We all look forward to Sonnet's return tomorrow. Hurray!

Tuesday, May 8

Franzosischer Dom / Luftangriff

This post-card photo from Berlin in 1944. It is a particularly chilling image of End Of Days.

Today, the cathedral remains, but gutted, on Gendermanmarkt. The first parts of the structure were built from 1701 to 1705 by the Huguenot community and was modelled after the destroyed Huguenot church in Charenton-Saint-Maurice, France. In 1785 Carl von Gontard modified the cathedral and built the domed tower - pictured.

4X

This collage of Madeleine taken at Lego-land in, and I am guessing a bit, autumn 2004 making her under three. Flash forward to today, when she gives me a huge hug and says: "Dad you are the best!". She also tells me matter-of-factly on the school-run not to step on anything round because "it might be poo."

The most recently reviewed book in my book-club is Flaubert's Parrot, by Julian Barnes, chosen after we thoroughly enjoyed M Bovary earlier this year. (Retired Goldman Sachs partner) Erich remarks from the book he has learned that "parrot soup" in French means bread in red wine, that Nabokov supposedly gets the phonetics of the name "Lolita" wrong, that for a while one could rent a closed carriage by asking for a "Bovary", in reference to the famous scene of passion in one such, which we learn may have been quite cramped. "The whole parrot angle, starting with which stuffed version is the one that sat on Flaubert's desk, is not too interesting, really." It may explain why the Peter Seller's Pink Panther gets such an immediate, if mis-understood, guffaw.





Monday, May 7

Bath

We head West to Bath, where we stay with friends Dave and Tabitha and their children 'Netta, John and A-C for the bank holiday weekend. We have known them since Maida Vale when Tabitha and Sonnet shared notes on pregnancy and babies. Shortly after graduating Amherst, Tabitha biked around the world on a BMW motorcycle. Dave is a Managing Director on Morgan Stanley's emerging markets desk and his team of 70 is responsible for p&l of €1B - most productive at the firm. On the way home we visit the RAF airplane musuem and see the old spit-fires, Lancasters, mustangs, a euro-fighter and others. Fun!

On the weekend when asked to say one thing, Madeleine: "on holiday, me and 'netta had fun on the slide and we pushed our buddies in the wheel borough." The photo of 'netta during books-before-bed.

Saturday, May 5

Rancho

Rancho de Taos in New Mexico was built in 1772 by Franciscan Fathers and enjoys its patron Saint Francis of Assisi. More recently, the church has been made famous by Georgia O'Keefe and Ansel Adams. I took this photo last summer.

Madeleine and Eitan each score a goal at football this morning - Madeleine has three break-aways and on a rip. Perhaps its her purple "all England" shirt. From footie we head for the Prince's Diana playground in Hyde Park and picnic with Iranian shwarmas - a real treat - and carrot juice, which nets a protest from the pip-squeaks. At Diana, the kids fascinate themselves transporting water from a nearby fountain to the sand-pit constructing a "damp castle." My effort to roll up their pants and keep sand from their crack a failure. We stay three hours which is a long time to contemplate life from a park bench.

Sonnet leaves for the Big Apple

Madeleine cries big tears as Sonnet leaves for New York City to promote her book. I show Madeleine and Eitan this photograph of the skyline so that they know where she will be. Eitan immediately identifies the Empire State Building and says: "you found it on Google" demonstrating Goggle rates with Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald.

Eitan tells me: "Madeleine, seeing a man playing snooker on TV, wants to marry him." He carries mud into the house from the garden singing: "I have some mud, mud, mud. I have some MUD" before I scream at him.

Friday, May 4

He Must Be A Republican

Paul Wolfowitz yesterday blames the World Bank for his woes, stating that the the unclear bank rules are responsible for creating questions about his handling of the hefty pay raises to his girlfriend. Recall, of course ,that Wolfowitz's girldfriend Ms. Riza had worked for the Bank when Wolfowtiz arrived in 2005. She was moved to the State Department to avoid a conflict of interest but stayed on the bank's payroll. Her salary went from $133,000 to $180,000 with additional raises to $193,590 while she was no longer at the Bank and receiving a salary from State. Wolfowitz has made his main-stay mission... wait for it... the elimination of corruption where the Bank lends money.

Ants

Madeleine and I spend the afternoon together mano-a-chica. We head to the common taking reading materials and other entertainments. She is, of course, immediately bored so I tell her the story about Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. This lasts ten minutes. "Come on dad, I thought you said we were going to have some fun" she exclaims. We sit on the park bench and I tell Madeleine that "if you are bored you are boring" and she rolls her eyes at me. Finally, she breaks through her barrior and follows the travails of a lonely ant returning to its ant home. From there she imagines herself as one with the ants and I watch her imagination at work. It is a good afternoon.

Last night I attend our P
TA meeting - me and 20 women. Our main discussion is the fast approaching Summer Fair, which I am overseeing (theme: Wild, Wild, West). Yesterday also was a fair all-hands meeting following the morning school drop. I am happy to report that the mums are coming out in full force, thank goodness (our goal is to beat last year's £14,000 fundraise). During the pow wow, it became known to me that there has been some grumbling about the entrance fee of 50p ("why should the children have to pay?!"). Last night I raise the issue with the PTA and in true PTA fashion we debate the 50p charge for 30 minutes. Time... stands... still....

Wednesday, May 2

US Embassy

There are rumours that the horrible US Embassy in Mayfair (pictured, www) may go up for sale, fetching £300 million according to property experts in London. The building is on Grosvenor Square, in the heart of Expensive. It would likely be converted to a fancy hotel or high-end condos, thought the US Government insists a decision has yet to be made though "no options have been ruled in or out." Hmmm.

Eitan and I watch the Chelsea-Liverpool match last night on ITV. This their second meeting in the EUFA Championships and thanks to Joe Cole's winning goal last week, Liverpool had to win outright, which they did in penalty shoot-outs and long after Eitan to bed.

Tuesday, May 1

He Must Be A Republican

Randall Tobias, Deputy Secretary of State and Bush's co-coordinator for foreign aid, resigned yesterday after being found on Deborah-Jeane Palfrey's roledex; Deborah-Jeane, of course, being the founder of a Washington escort service. For Bush, Randall masterminded a policy that required recipients of Aids assistant to condemn prostitution. Mr Tobias, 65 and married, quit after being contacted by ABC in connection to... wait for it... soliciting prostitution. Randall says he had "the gals come over to the condo to give me a message." What tosh.

Monday, April 30

Eitan does footie

Busker

Madeleine observes a variety of performers compensated for their services as we stroll along the Southbank Center on the Thames. Quick as a bat she has Eitan's sweatshirt on the ground and begins tap dancing (Eitan is a bit shy and watches mostly from the sidelines and clearly impressed). Amazingly people toss coins Madeleine's way - I think from bemusement - a powerful reinforcement indeed. She begs to continue after I tell her she is being unseemly.

A bike is stolen every 71 seconds in Britain.

London Eye

Bill and Martine visit London to see Sonnet's exhibition and we spend Saturday afternoon on the London Eye. From London they will head to Croatia to check out some Baltic culture and beaches. Bill tells me that the Colorado winter has been fierce with a major snow-storm last week (how different from the UK, which is fast becoming the South of France climate-wise). The Minis's keep their horses in Denver during the cold-season as their ranch may be snowed under for much of the season. We will see them in July and Madeleine chatters away about Charlie, Nugget, Praline, Buckwheat and her other pals.

Sunday, April 29

Online!


Brit shoppers will spend £42 billion online this year - up 35X from 2000's £800MM during the Internet "bubble." According to Internet research group IMRG, 860MM parcels will be shipped to Britain's 26MM Internet customers in 2006. Each will receive, on average, 33 packages over the year. Online shoppers are expected to splash out £1,600 per surfer in 2007 when IMRG guesses that the global Internet shopping marketplace will equal £250 billion. Pictured is the Apricot F1 personal computer which was U.K. released in '83 based on the Intel 8086 microprocessor running at 4.77MHz with 256KB of RAM and two floppy disc drives. The Apricot could not store one MP3 file (my photo from the WWW).

This morning I show Eitan how to construct a paper-airplane using Todd Price's classic design back in the day on San Ramon from 1974. Life was good and I recall standing on our pink porch watching our simple creations circle around and through (and in) the trees. Eventually we graduated to model-rocket kits and other heart-quickening pursuits. Eitan tells me that he will take his planes to show-and-tell.

"There's a lot of weirdos on the Internet." Miss Texas Teen USA (during 1998 pageant)

Friday, April 27

Monkeys

Eitan and I listen to our favorite Sheffield Brit-band Arctic Monkeys. In '05 we grooved to their debut and Internet phenomena "Whatever You Say I Am, I'm Not" from '05 and are equally happy with today's "Favorite Worst Nightmare." The Monkeys crest the Brit-pop wave which includes The Kooks, Hardfi, Maximo Park with heavy midlands accents and ripping guitar, along with a fast pace and snappy beat. UnlikePublish the others, ours keep their edgy garage sound and troubled cul-de-sac youth.

She must be a Republican

Or a business school student. It was reported today that Marilee Jones, an outspoken critic of students falsifying their resumes for elite colleges, resigned Thursday as dean of admissions at MIT after acknowledging... wait for it... that she had misrepresented her academic credentials when applying to MIT 28 years ago. Marilee says: "I did not have the courage to correct my resume when I applied for my current job or at any time since." What tosh.

Thursday, April 26

Copter down

A Virgin mobile lands about 100 yards from where I am sitting in Green Park on a lovely Tuesday morning. The bird does a low circle, brushing back a maple or two, then lands on the green attracting several curious Japanese tourists and a raised eyebrow from the local morning sun seekers. Out jump two yellow-attired medivacs, complete with O-2 and moon-boots, who cross the common to Mayfair. I stroll over to the pilot who munches a sandwich and refuses to take my question.

Bug

Madeleine at Climber's and Creepers. This morning on the school run I respond to a Madeleine-ism saying "sheesh". She tells me to "shush!" and I say: "Are you shushing my sheeshing?" And around it goes.

Eitan's bad behavior loses him the Chelsea-Liverpool UEFA cup semi-final televised on Sky Sports. Both kids excited to wear their new football colours and my punishment comes as a startling blow. Feeling sorry for the kid (and wanting to watch the game with him), I propose that Eitan swap Chelsea-'pool for Sunday cartoons. He accepts the deal and draws the contract, signing his name in black ink.

Wednesday, April 25

Kew

Stan and Silver at Kew Gardens. Eitan is a bit grumpy being forced to pose for the photo, which he doesn't. We play tag whereby the winner earns a "double ice-cream" for not being "it". The kids run with an urgency reserved for, well, nothing else. Both are fast and slippery and I can still scoop up Madeleine on the fly. From the park to home where Sonnet has prepared a roast beast and three-berries tart. The weather is spring-like and the bluebells are in bloom. Not a bad Sunday spent.

Neues Museum

Sonnet at the National Gallery in Berlin, artist unknown by me. Sonnet studied art history at Smith College which she puts to good practice here or in London. The night before we join our friend Dr Frank Albrecht for dinner at the Borchardt restaurant. It is a local and we each order the weinerschnitzel and potato salad and bottle of rieiling wine (white). Frank was born in Berlin shortly before the wall and there to see its end. After receiving his PhD and re-unification Frank worked for the Treuhand which privatised the East's national enterprises. He now works for CAM, a substantial private equity investor.

La Reine

At the antiquities museum, Sonnet and I see Queen Nefertiti or translated: "the beautiful woman has come." This is one of the most famous and beloved of all ancient Egyptians and here is her bust. Nefertit's orignis and life are shrouded in mystery but the speculation has kept many a PhD program going. She surfaced with King Akhenaten during his fourth year at el-'Amarna 2500 years b.c. The city was dedicated to the god Aten. In the sixth year of his reign, Neferiti's name was changed to Nefernefruaten, which means "Beautiful in beauty is Aten". This we know. And too that she was a lovely.

Tuesday, April 17

Levin

Thinking of last night's opening, I use my mobile to snap this strange horse-manequin on rue due Faubourg St-Honore in Paris where I am staying in the 8th. The shop is Levan and other window-displays show a well presented gentlemen with a rooster's head. And a dressed-to-the-nines goat with a snake on his lapel. Go figure. But hey, if it sells it sells.

Eitan is sad that I am away tonight but cheers up when Aggie takes the kids to McDonalds and Mr Bean, a new movie showing at the Richmond Odeon. Sonnet arrives home at a reasonable hour with plenty of sunshine to focus on Eitan and Madeleine and unwind from New York Fashion Now. Me, I have a drink at the swank l'Hotel Costes surrounded by models and the uber attractive then head back to Le Faubourg to have dinner and finish some work.

This morning on Radio 4 Eitan heres about Virginia Tech where 33 are murdered. While we filter most adult news, the outside world encroaches and he is curious.

New York Fashion Now

Sonnet at the V&A. Her dress by Osman Yusefada, London.

Sonnet's Big Show last night opened without a hitch. The press and celebrity arrived in high spirits for the museum's fashion and sipped vodka fizzies under the Chihuly chandelier. In the house were Tom Ford, Ya Ya Yas and David Furnish. Sonnet was interviewed by Suzy Menkes of the International Herald Tribune. Of importance to Sonnet, many of her designers made it to London happy to see their couture in bright lights. Bravo.

Monday, April 16

KT

Katie at Kelly Flynn's wedding last month at Barney's, New York.

Did you know?

Over 80% of those working in central London travel to work by public transport compared to 14% in Great Britain as a whole.

Over three million trips a day are made on the London underground system. Over 5.4 million trips are made by bus each day in London.

Overseas visitors spend over £100million on London's tubes and buses and account for 25% of taxi fares.

HAL

A CCTV camera that can detect potential criminals, then follow their movements, is being tested in shopping centers in the U.K. This following the recent announcement that CCTV will be hooked up to bull-horns. The so-called "Bug" is fitted with a ring of eight cameras which record a panoramic view of the street below. The footage is scanned by software that "identifies 50 behavioral traits" and determines whether someone is acting "out of the ordinary." When a suspect is spotted, a ninth camera automatically locks on to them and follows their movements. Their are 4.2 million CCTV cameras in Britain, or one-fifth of the world's total. Comments Simon Davies, director of Privacy International: "We do not know what the psychological impact will be on the population."

Sunday, April 15

Hard Knock

A sunny afternoon yesterday and Eitan must decide what he wants to do: backyard gardening, football at the common, quiet play in his room... he chooses none so I drag him to the drug store. He is clearly pissed off and I tell him: "In life, if you don't decide somebody will take the decision for you."

Mitch and I go to quasi metal band The Deftones at the Brixton Academy in South London. The Deftones are from Sacramento, cA, and influenced by hip hop. Their music is loud and satisfying . I get home around midnight buzzy and tone-deaf. Sonnet takes a pass on this one - which is just as well as she would have bolted for sure.

Sesame St

Katie enjoys the Upper West Side sunshine with a neighborhood friend. She has received a considerable positive feedback to her New York Times profile and the Women Op-Ed project. Last week she dined with Phil Donahue and his wife Marlo Thomas, the creator of "Free To Be You and Me" which Katie and I listened to as kids and Madeleine and Eitan experience now.

My Little Girl

Madeleine is in a good mood this morning as it is is spring and Silver and Stan are in town with presents and attention. Yesterday we play in Hyde Park with the grand-parents and Uncle Anthony sporting the latest cool facial hair. The only downer occurs when I exuberantly push Madeleine on the swing and... she falls off! The tears. The pain. The guilt. The playground's mums are like meercats: heads pop up and point directly at me. Madeleine hams it up and is only placated with a hug and promise of ice cream. For shame.

In this photo, she counts her coins separating Euros, pounds and US. She knows the equation: money = candy.

Friday, April 13

Antwerp

This image is the cover-page passport of Heyman and Catharina, the parents of my French instructor and friend Suzette, who has been kind enough to share a copy with me and allow me to poste it here. Heyman and Catharina are Jewish and their documents date-stamped to expire January 7, 1941. It allowed the family to leave Antwerp for, eventually, Britain and the remainder of the war. The Benelux countries were invaded by the Nazis on May the 10th 1940 and Antwerp Jews shared the same fate as the other Jewish people in Nazi-occupied countries: many were transported to the concentration camps. The Nazis were frequently angered by the 'soft' attitude of the Belgians towards the 'Jewish Problem'. Indeed, a lot of Belgians managed to save Jewish children by hiding them in schools, monasteries, sometimes by 'adopting' them into their own families.

Thursday, April 12

Trumpet

"PVC and steel" by Anish Kapoor was on display at the Tate Modern from October 2002 to April 2003 as part of the Unilever Series. Looking like a giant cochlear space-ship, the thing occupied the entirety of the museum's turbine hall or 200 meters by 35 meters. This image from a post card and photo taken by John Riddy.

Stan and Silver arrive today and Madeleine is up at the crack-of-dawn and full of anticipation. I note that this is the first time that she has seen the sun-rise, which she contemplates for a moment: "but I have seen the sun-set and that is like the same thing." Smart kid.

Wednesday, April 11

Shades

Madeleine with my presciption sunglasses.

People often confuse the names for this country, and frequently make mistakes in using them. United Kingdom, UK, and Britain are all proper terms for the entire nation, although the term Britain is also often used when talking about the island of Great Britain. The use of the term Great Britain to refer to the entire nation is now outdated; the term Great Britain, properly used, refers only to the island of Great Britain, which does not include Northern Ireland. The term England should never be used to describe Britain, because England is only one part of the island. It is always correct to call people from England, Scotland, or Wales British, although people from England may also properly be called English, people from Scotland Scottish, and people from Wales Welsh.

New Twenty

This year we get a new £20 banknote in pretty purple and Adam Smith to boot. I learn that the Bank of England has been issuing notes for 310 years and the first were security documents, handwritten, providing the bearer with evidence that they had a claim on the Bank. Only in the past 50 years has the design of the banknote attempted security. For instance, to prevent counterfeiting, Shakespeare became the first historical character to appear on a banknote in 1970. Other notables include George Stephenson, Charles Dickens, Michael Faraday, Elisabeth Fry, Charles Darwin, Sir Edward Elgar and Sr John Houblon (I know four). The banknotes have a contoured edge on its metallic thread and windowed metallic thread, an ultraviolet feature, a strip of holograms, micro-lettering and a "see-through" register that, when held up to light, produces coloured irregular shapes that combine to form the pound sterling symbol. In 2006 among £38B worth of notes, £8 million worth of counterfeits found, most of them twenties.

Ten Quid

The kids take their hard earned dough to Woolworths to do some shopping (the next two weeks are school holiday). Eitan is forced to make a decision: to have ten pounds in his pocket or to not have ten pounds in his pocket. Of course he decides the former so Aggie has to coax him into buying something, which he does reluctantly purchasing a plastic torch, some papers and a crayon. Madeleine does not hesitate: Mr Potato Head is hers with £1 to spare. She has been in love with Potato for some time and simply glows having him and the Missus in her possession. This morning she shouts: "Come see! I've put the feet where his ears should go!" Today Aggie takes the kids horse-back riding in Richmond Park.

Tuesday, April 10

Sonnet Sets Up

Sonnet and colleague Mark arrange New York Fashion Now for the 16 April opening. In all, cutting edge from 20 NYC designers will be on display and Sonnet has brought them together.

We end the Easter weekend with our friends Scott and Cindy Burns and Mike and Molly Beauregard for dinner then a late night drink at Claridges. Scott I know through Brown as he is a member of the Board of Trustees. Scott is also on the acquisition committee of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Mike is a partner at Huron Capital, a private equity firm in Detroit and Molly is a professor of psychology. All of us at various stages of parenting or careers and it is fun to compare notes.

Monday, April 9

Fun in the Hebrides

Angus MacNeil, 36, and the Scottish National Party's anti-sleaze champion and credited with blowing the whistle on the cash-for-honours affair now dogging Tony Blair was forced to issue a public apology Sunday after having a "drunken romp" with two teenagers. Otherwise Mr MacNeil is a sheep farmer in the the remote outer Hebrides. One of the un-phased girls Ms Morrison says: "We both kissed him and there was heavy petting. He was excited but we did not have full sex - we were all too drunk" saving, I might add, Mr MacNeil's political career if Washington DC is the standard. Morrison, and her female partner Ms. Watt, now study at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music in Glasgow. Ms Morrison's father is (of course) the daughter of a Church of Scotland minister who is one of the Queen's chaplains. What fun!

Bank Holiday Weekend

This being Easter and England, the country shuts down for a four day bank-holiday weekend to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. Amen. Our ambitions our a bit more modest and Sunday finds us at the Hampton outdoor pool for some fun-in-the-sun once the morning chill burns off. Madeleine spends no less than two hours in the H-2-O until I drag her out, fingers white and pruney. We sun-bathe and Eitan finds a couple of new friends to play make-shift footie. From here we go to Dana and Nathan's for an afternoon BBQ. Before the meat, Dana hides Easter Eggs in a private garden nearby her house in Primrose Hill and the kids go wild for it. We say our farewells to Mary and Amado who return to New York the next day. Eitan declares that Devon is his best friend.

Our good weather this weekend prompts a flurry of bets on a record-breaking summer. The book maker William Hill reacts by trimmming the odds of temperatures exceeding 100F in 2007 from 10-1 to 8-1. Further, Hill offers 12-1 that the higest record temperature of 103.5F will be beaten this year.

Thursday, April 5

Chelsea Football

Having recently declared celery a "prohibited item" within their Stamford Bridge ground, last week Chelsea FC banned three supporters who were seen in possession of the vegatable at a recent FA Cup game against Spurs. Chelsea supporters, you see, have been singing a ditty about celery since the early 1980s when the club was so poor that the fans had to make their own entertainment. This disgruntled the ruling powers and hence the ban, which states: "The throwing of anything at a football match, including celery, is a criminal offense for which you can be arrested and end up with a criminal record. In future, if anyone is found attempting to bring celery into Stamford Bridge they could be refused entry and anyone caught throwing celery will face a ban." When queried, the Royal Society of the Prevention of Accidents notes "I do not think we can find any instances of people struck by vegetables at sporting fixtures."
Photo from the WWW.

Watching you

It is reported today in the Herald Tribune that the British government will attach loud-speakers to the country's already ubiquitous CCTV cameras. If the idea of being blasted by an over-head bullhorn for dropping chewing gum were not so funny it would be sad. Or frightening. We Brits are the most photographed in the world with one camera per 14 citizens. In London, on average, I am snappped and stored over 300 times per day. Soon this data will connect to the Identity Card now fiercely debated in parliament. Add my medical history, credit scores and other personal data and presto - my private life ends. Young people battle this intrusion by going the other extreme exhibiting themselves on MySpace and other community websites. For them who live the Internet this is freedom.

Wednesday, April 4

Eurostar home

Eitan and Madeleine are bored and push me to the end. Madeleine: "Are we there yet dad? Are we? Are we there yet dad? Dad! Are! We! There! Yet!" I receive dirty looks for nearby passengers and one who tells Madeleine to "pipe down" which gets an immediate negative reaction from me. I split the kids up. Bribe them with treats. Threaten them with no-TV. We are all relieved to pull into London Waterloo where another train ride to Richmond awaits us. "Aw dad, this is the longest trip of my life" says Madeleine.

Amado-Mary

Mary, Amado and Mia yesterday in Paris. Mary, Amado and I met at Columbia then trekked with Sonnet and classmates Holly and Marc to Morocco where we climbed the High Atlas. We reached the peak Jbel Toubkal which is 4,167 meters and the highest in the range and Africa's second highest after Kilimanjaro. On the way, we visited Fez, Marrakesh and romantic favorite Essaouira on the Atlantic coast. Since those high travels, Mary has pursued strategic consulting at Boston Consulting and Amado teaching at West Side schools. Before graduate school, Mary and Amado taught in the New York Public School System, which is how they met.

Maya is a joy and spreads cheer with her never-ending smile.

La Tour

The Little Dudes re-unite at the mid-section of the Eiffel Tower following an unanticipated 2.5 hour weight in line. Not to worry though - the children play footie with a deck-shoe, climb the Eiffel Tower's concrete base, play with themselves and mostly avoid the grouchy adults. Mostly. Mary decides that the line is unfair as large groups receive priority over single payers: "this does not sit well with the entrepreneur in me" she says. It is a chilly morning which turns into a warm spring afternoon for our picnic in the nextdoor park. Afterwards we catch a merry-go-round and it is a perfect day.

I learn that maintenance of the tower includes applying 60 tons of three graded tones of paint every seven years to protect it from rust. On occasion, the color of the paint is changed — the tower is currently painted a shade of brownish-gray. However, the tower is actually painted three different colors in order to make it look the same color. The colors change from dark to light from top to bottom, but it looks the same because of the background (the sky being light and the ground being dark).

Montparnasse

The kids and I cross the channel to visit Paris Monday and yesterday, where I took this photo of Madeleine (Sonnet stays in London to work on her exhibition). We stay in Montparnasse or the 14th arrondisement with the Marry and Amado and their crew who continue their European Family Holiday. Our room is cozy and requires a roll-out which Madeleine and Eitan fight over until the bed collapses missing Madeleine's foot by a fraction. Disaster deflected. We get an early start on the day at a crowded cafe with chocolate croissants, hot chocolate and chocolate crepes before visiting the Eiffel Tower.

Monday, April 2

I ❤ NY


Sonnet in the Daily Mail

by LIZ JONES - 2nd April 2007

SAY the words New York fashion and what springs to mind (for me anyway) is one big yawn. New York design is wearable and well-made, classic, a bit sporty. But exciting? Oh dear me no.

You need only glance at the assembled members of the American fashion press in the front row of the shows - all supersmooth blowdried hair, French manicures and kitten heels - to realise that while American women can do polished, they can't do funky.

The famous names in New York, from Calvin Klein to Ralph Lauren and Donna Karan, produce predictable clothes in various shades of taupe for women who like to look slick but safe.

For anything remotely innovative you have to go to London. For impeccable craftsmanship, Paris. And for high-end luxury labels, Milan.

But all these preconceptions are about to be overturned with an exhibition, New York Fashion Now, opening at the V&A museum in London next month.


The work of 20 young designers has been gathered together over the course of two years by the curator, Sonnet Stanfill, who, when I her for a sneak preview, told me that New York is enjoying a fashion moment not seen since London was swinging in the Sixties.

And the reason for this renaissance? The after-effects of 9/11.

'The terror attacks happened during New York Fashion Week,' she reminds me. 'It meant all the shows were cancelled and many young designers were hit hard. Everyone was thinking: 'Who needs fashion?' It seemed irrelevant and frivolous. But it was also the best time to start a business: the only way was up.'

New York designers have always risen to a challenge. For the first three decades of the 20th century, well-heeled women in America looked only to Paris. Two world wars changed that for good.

Unable to get hold of clothes from Europe, women had to look at home-grown designers, such as Geoffrey Beene (the first designer to appropriate men's tailoring for women), Clare Potter and Claire McCardell, who was among the first to dress women in slacks and unstructured, sporty clothes.

In the autumn of 2001, keen to shore up the economy, the press and fashion buyers were behind the new young designers who emerged out of the ashes and whose work we will be able to see next month.

Some names will already be familiar. There's Zac Posen, whose clever draping and supple fabrics are beloved by movie stars. Proenza Schouler, who designs luxurious, feminine sportswear. Behnaz Sarafpour, the Iranianborn designer who was inspired to start her business by the events of 2001 and has since become most famous for her miniskirts.

And finally Derek Lam, who has been hired to inject edge into the Italian luxury brand Tod's and is one of the very few designers to address the issue of very young, very thin models.

But while you may not be familiar with the rest of the names on show, rest assured many are bound to become the Marc Jacobs and Narciso Rodriguezes of the future. Surprisingly, there is even the occasional Alexander McQueen in the making, in a section entitled Avant Garde.

The names here include Slow And Steady Wins The Race, a label designed by a female designer who wishes to remain anonymous; Three As Four, whose designs, as well as being hung in art galleries can already be found in Barney's, the Manhattan equivalent of Harvey Nichols; and Miguel Adrover, a radical designer (his clothes were sometimes made to be worn inside out) who sadly went out of business in 2005.

Another even more surprising is entitled Atelier. New York fashion has never been about craftsmanship and bespoke tailoring, but there are a handful of designers who have made a name from intricate, beautifully made and hugely expensive clothes.

THERE'S Maggie Norris, who learned her trade at the coat-tails of Ralph Lauren and whose evening gowns can cost £25,000. For his label Lost Art, Jordan Betten makes intricate pieces in leather and suede by hand for celebrity clients including Lenny Kravitz and Britney Spears.

Korean-born designer Jean Yu, who opened for business only three months after 9/11, makes simple but sumptuous dresses; and finally Costello Tagliapietra, who tailors deceptively simple double-knit jersey or bias-cut satin dresses.

Menswear, too, will feature heavily, with new labels Thom Browne, which is all about retro tailoring and cropped trousers, Duckie Brown, which gives tailoring a slightly whimsical twist, John Varvatos, who has been known to send men down the runway wearing ponchos, shawls and carrying a handbag, and Cloak, a label (since closed; being an up and coming designer is nothing if not perilous) renowned for tough, masculine clothes.

And, of course, an exhibition on New York fashion wouldn't be complete without a section on designers who rely most heavily on celebrity endorsement. Here you will be able to see outfits by Zac Posen (Gwyneth Paltrow wore one of his dresses to this year's Oscars) and Sean 'Diddy' Combs, whose label Sean John is hugely successful in the U.S. because it is both affordable and cutting edge.

•NEW YORKFashion Now, sponsored by Ecco, is at the V&A from April 17 to September 23. Entry is free.

Dana and Dakota

Dana and daughter Dakota on the Edgware Road in London Sunday evening. Dakota is one cute kid. When not full-time mom, Dana is a Managing Director in JP Morgan's private equity funds group. Dana, Mary and Sonnet each juggle time-commitments and parenting while maintaining their family-work balance. Not easy I observe and imagine but happily there is a support group of each other which does help it all along.

Yummy Mummy

Mary and husband Amado and children Devon, Simon and Maya visit London from Friday to next Sunday. Eitan and Madeleine giddy by the prospect seeing their friends and their joining matches all expectations. We are also delighted to see our New York friends and spend the day kicking about London starting at the Tate Britain and ending at the Beirut Express for an early Lebanese dinner - family style. This photo of Sonnet, Mary and Dana taken next to the Millennium Bridge connecting the Tate Modern to the City.

Michael Phelps wins seven gold medals at the World Swimming Championships in Melbourne, tying Mark Spitz's '72 Olympic tally. Phelps would most likely have collected eight if not for the DQ of the US 4X100 medley relay in the preliminaries. Overall 15 world records were established of which 12 by Americans and four by Phelps excluding relays.

Green grass

Madeleine tells me what she thinks. To be honest, I ask her (and Eitan) to pose so often that she has a canned-response and the sillier the better. I mis-time the neighborhood birthday party at the the lawn and tennis club giving us an hour outside and so here we are on the nearby common. We play tag and home-base and sample the early spring. Classmates Alex and Sue turn five.

Brit gals in the armed forces:

  • 17,000 women in the UK armed forces
  • 9.1% of total
  • 1% of combat soldiers
  • 11.2% are officers
  • 8,270 are in the British Army
  • 1,191 are on 55 war-ships
  • 12.3% of Royal Air Force
  • 2 are brigadiers, the highest rank held by women in the Army
  • 2 killed in Iraq since 2003
  • 96% of jobs in the RAF open to women
Source: The Times

Cone

Eitan and I share a moment at the local ice cream parlor. His cone is mint chocolate-chip and chocolate-chocolate cake which, I am told by the proprietor and maker of the ice creams, is "by far" the favorite for the under-sevens crowd. Our Mano-a-Mano during a Madeleine birthday party and I use the time to get Eitan clipped at "the Turks", our local barbershop where one simply states a preferred razor number. Eitan is number three.