GGB

Facing southward

I'm with Kitty and Tim yesterday and their rambunctious kids, ages 2 and 4 - Tim the CFO of a listed solar company.  He tells me the U.S. generates more sun electricity than anywhere else, driven by govt tax incentives "that are working" and will be unnecessary inside three years.  California, for instances, requires its utilities to get 33% of electricity from renewables by 2020.

In the twelve months through October 2013, utility scale solar power generated 8.9 million megawatt-hours, 0.22 % of total US electricity. A long ways to go yet.

Sunday In The East Bay

Driving from SFO to Berkeley, the radio plays Peaches And Herb, Chic - Le Freak, and Blondie. Where else this wonderful collection of music from my childhood ?

The good news is rain, as California in the throws of a three-year drought where the Sierra-Nevada snowpack is at 15% the normal level.

So I walk down Vine Lane (rain) to Peet's which opens 6AM on a Sunday.  The usual intellects and freaks there, making me feel pretty good about the place.

High School Standard

No rubber suit here

Katie Ledecky, who we saw win gold in London, set the American high school record yesterday in the 500 yard freestyle in the trials of the D.C. Metro high school swimming championships. Her time of 4:28.71 under her year-old national high school record of 4:31.38 and also lower's Katie Hoff's American record of 4:30.47 from 2007. Ledecky is 16 years old.

Ledecky's splits:
24.68
26.47 (51.15)
26.86
26.96 (53.82, 1:44.97)
27.13
27.37 (54.50, 2:39.47)
27.30
27.51 (54.81, 3:34.28)
27.87
26.56 (54.43, 4:28.71)

Katie's pal Susan now the CEO of Youtube. 

Off to California in 30.

Doppler Effect

Madeleine turns 12 tomorrow. I have every day of her life in my mind's eye and can move forward and backwards since her birth. When I look at her, I see all these years combined in her eyes and smile. It is something unique to us and that I treasure.

Sonnet arrives home a fabulous mess - tube strike and rain.  She has a photo shoot for Harper's Bazaar complete with makeup and hair stylist and wardrobe adviser - she chooses Armani (darling).  She is photographed before her mannequins, inside the museum, to hit the newsstands for the April issue. Madeleine: "Wow. Mom needs to come with me to listen to my trumpet."

Me: "You know, Sonnet was a ballerina." [Dad's note: dinner table, Sonnet working late]
Aneta: "Oh? what is that?"
Me: "It is someone who does ballet. Dancing on tip toes"
Madeleine: "Yeah. She did it until she was 12."
Eitan: "Why did she stop ?"
Madeleine: "Mom said it was because her feet grew."
Me: "That's not the only thing that grew."
Eitan:
Madeleine: "What do you mean?"
Me: "Let's just say she lost her balance."
Eitan: "Ha ha!"

Nordic

Uspenski Cathedral

Helsinki to Göteborg to Stockholm in 24 hours, meeting with a few pension funds and other investors. Usual stuff.

I like the Nordics - there is a winter sensibility here missing from London or the Continent. First off, the city gets on with snow. Taxi drivers hit excessive speeds, the airports don't shut down and the roads are clear. People dress sensibly before stylishly (unlike Eitan who refuses to wear his winter jacket most winter days because, you know, the other boys don't wear a winter jacket).  But mostly I like the people who are friendly and a bit different.

Me (on phone): "How was your day?"
Eitan: "Ok I guess."
Me: "Anything interesting happen?"
Eitan: "Not really. We had a test. In sex ed."
Me: "That sounds awkward."
Eitan: "It wasn't very difficult."
Me: "Did you cheat and touch your willy?"
Eitan: "Ha ha!"
Me: "Well whatever you don't learn in the classroom you'll pick up by trial and error."
Eitan:
Me: "That was a joke. Sort of."

Outta Here

The rush and tumble of daily life (as Sonnet says). Madeleine bolts for stage school where every Saturday she has an hour session each of drama, music and dance. Each term there is an end-of-term performance where the little darlings put their skills on display. Madeleine's ambition to be an actress. Like Serpico.

And in other late-breaking news, I am off to Finland in an hour.

Dippy The Dinosaur

Dippy

King Edward VII gave "Dippy", a 26-meter Diplodocus, to the Natural History Museum in 1905.  I think he looks like Dino in the Flintstones.  But Dino a Snorkasaurus.  You know, a sauropod.

When I was in 2nd or 3rd grade, post school, I would find myself at Jeff Morgan's house watching Gilligan's Island followed by Star Trek and ... the Flintstones reruns, which otherwise aired on 'prime time' from 1960 to 1966. Hard to believe people watched cartoons while eating TV dinners but there you have it.

Jeff's brother, Louis, had cancer so his parents were never around which suited me and Jeff just fine - unsupervised afternoons, junk food ..  candy .. . as much television as we could handle.  We were modern day Tom Sawyers. That's what it seemed like back then.

Me: "What happened at school today?"

Madeleine: "Nothing."

Me: "Anything interesting happen?"

Madeleine: "No."

Me: "Let's try something different. You choose a subject. You know, something you want to talk about."

Madeleine: "How about 'can I leave the dinner table?" ?"

Me: "Ok, It's a start."

Self Portrait XXXV

Charlie Shrem, the CEO of Bitcoin exchange company BitInstant (backed by the Winklevoss brothers) and a well-known voice in the virtual currency community, charged with scheming to sell and launder $1 million worth of Bitcoin to users of the illegal drug website Silk Road.

The Manhattan Federal Court deems the 24-year old Shrem a flight risk and sets bail at $1 million, puts a tracking device around Shrem's ankle, and remands him to his parents' house in Brooklyn.  They must be like, WTF ?!  Raise the kid with good values - check.  Feed and clothe the little bastard - check. Pay for private college - check, check, check. And the payback ? Mom is picking up Charlie's dirty clothes again.

Cold Shower

One of the things I notice about getting older, other than an inability to keep up with Eitan running, is that I am now more clumsy revealed by several recent falls caused by mis-judging stupid situations including a dangerous one on my bike. I also have lost some of my sixth sense like when you drop a pencil and your hand is there to catch it without thinking.

To counter this, and I have no idea if there is any scientific merit here, I take freezing cold showers alternating with hot water. It certainly gives me a goose in the morning.

Box Dress

11 fading fast

Madeleine soon to turn 12 and we consider her celebration. I push for a party but neither kid comfortable with that at our house. Could it be the cow suit ? But anyway, I have to remind myself that this fabulous kid is not the same age as her older brother. She holds her own just fine.

In other news, Hollande mans up and - finally - Trierweiler is out.  It's hard to sympathise with Hollande, the putz, but Trierweiler sounds like a complete whack job. I have some insight into her type having also found myself trapped in the company of an insecure, opportunistic and ambitious (Asian) woman - may her career RIP.  From humble origins, Trierweiler forced her way on to the scene, damaging people along the way, without failure, until now. Hollande should have seen the signs well before the inevitable crash.

Cash Flows

Eitan walks to the coach which takes him and a bunch of local kids to school.  He looks like he could have an HP-12C or a bond table tucked inside his coat pocket.

And the boy has expressed an interest in business. Who can forget the methodical planning behind the bakery business which netted our neighbors, Helen and Martin, as customers? Or Eitan's attempt to sell my old Sony VAIO on eBay which I discouraged since it's missing a couple of important keys and the battery life about nil. He bemoans the Internet for squashing the paper-route (having listened to my glorified stories of delivering the long-gone Berkeley Gazette) and now he puts his Great Brain to work on books or, specifically, how to get them from the pulping skip to Africa.  These are all excellent initiatives.

Madeleine plays field hockey, a new sport, which takes over from net-ball, which comes to an end this month.

Functionalism

Danish 'functionalism', which began in the 1930s and spread outwards, relied on rational architecture making use of concrete, iron and glass, preferably to meet social needs.

The Bellahoj Svommstadion fits the bill, constructed by the City of Copenhagen, Culture and Leisure, Copenhagen Properties KEjd, who designed the building in 2005. It's also a magnificent aquatics complex with 50-meter swimming pool, diving well and spectator stands all sunk in industrial cement and supported by by white steel beams.  Floor to ceiling windows allow a view of the pool and the outdoors.  I feel like a million bucks doing my back and forths.

Copenhagen for meetings, home for dinner.

Women at Goodyear factory in Northern France shaking the President's hand: "It's not soft, your handshake !"

President Hollande: "Neither my hand nor my head. And I'll say nothing about the rest. "

Low Skies

Richmond Park jog

Britain's top sugar watchdog, Ian Macdonald, is on the Coca-Cola and Mars payrolls, never admitted by him and only recently made public thanks to a Channel 4 investigation.  Ian chairs the government panel examining the impact of sugar consumption on health; his recommendations later this year will frame the national guidance.  But I'm sure there's no conflict.

Lena Dunham, who is all out there and gnarly on her hit show 'Girls' and promotes 'anti-glamour' for more realistic images of women in the film and media industries is seriously photo shopped in next month's Vogue magazine. On the online fallout, she tweets: "Some shit is just too ridiculous to engage." Unless, that is, you have a twelve year old girl in your house.

Our last-night dinner party a success at 15, including kids, though we learn that our Spanish friends Alberto and Lucrecia returning to Madrid.  Now we have even more reason to visit a wonderful city.

Skate

Penny boarding

When I was about Madeleine's age I had a penny board, also known as a skateboard, which I practised in the backyard of 1530 Euclid. Unfortunately our block too steep, and trafficked, to learn it properly.

We are with Veronique and Marshall, whose pal, the CEO of BP, caught by Marshall last summer throwing water balloons from Marshall's 7th floor roof deck with Houston, Marshall's 16 year old son. Central London, mind you.

Tony visits for a walk in Richmond Pk and in town for the Davos pre parties (Tony a member of the Dean's Council at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University). Tony a 'recycled entrepreneur', his expression, who's first company, Morris Decisions Systems, a NYC-based PC dealer and network systems integrator, #9 on Inc. 500 in the year before its acquisition in the 1980s. Since, he has been a formidable investor in vc. We share a number of interests.

Me: "How was the walk?"
Madeleine: "Good."
Me: "Was the dog behaved?"
Madeleine: "Yes."
Me: "Were there a lot of people in the park?"
Madeleine: "No."
Me: "Can you answer all my questions with one word?"
Madeleine: "Maybe."

Engine Hall

So .. . back from Paris in time to see Madeleine's net-ball game at her school against some team (I don't know, she doesn't know). Emanuel wins, 11-3.

I am in Paris for the Astorg New Year's party which is at a trendy nightclub in the 9e which we take over for the affair. The evening entertainment around a hypnotist.  Weird in a very French sort of way.

2013 attendance at the British Museum sets a record with 25,000 people a day, on average.  The Elgin Marbles have never been so popular.

Me: "What's your homework ?"
Madeleine: "I have some Spanish thing.  I have to write about our family. In Spanish."
Me: "Oh?"
Madeleine: "Yeah. Like 'we have a dog' or 'mom has brown hair.'
Me:
Madeleine: "And 'dad has lots of hair.' "
Me: "Good. You're learning."

Swimming Day

Homework Sunday

I spend Saturday at the Mountbatten leisure center in Portsmouth, a wonderful new swimming complex with a modern design including an undulating wooden roof covering the 50-meter pool. The Shakespeares attempt qualifying times for 'the Surreys' regional swimming championships. Madeleine just misses the 50-meter freestyle in 34.45 while Eitan has the 100-meter (1:04.14) and 200m freestyle. Eitan: "I didn't get much training done recently over Christmas so I wasn't very fit."  

The drive to Portsmouth about 90 minutes through Surrey on the A3. We arrive home late but in time for me (and Sonnet) to catch some of the NFL playoffs.

Mr Normal

Dough boy

When things go down a good scandal in order and France's Hollande gives us just that, shagging a Fr movie star 20 years his younger. In past, the French turned the blind eye to their leader's dalliances but Fonzi changed all that, rubbing the post-crisis struggling nation's face in it, with the sexy and talented Carla Bruni. No, Hollande promised to return some respect to the highest office (even though he ditched his longtime girlfriend and mother of his children for a hot tempered editor at Paris Match but whatever)

France could use some presidential virility but pictures of the famously hen pecked Hollande taken around the corner on a moped and hustled into his sexual den wearing a motor helmet to avoid detection, well, a bit too much.

The President's popularity now in the teens and no wonder : it has been a mess from the start. It poured rain on his inaugural march down the Champs Elysee (he, refusing umbrella). Then the plane  on his first diplomatic mission struck by lightening (Germany, flight turned around). Of course there was the tax-the-rich fiasco of 2012 and, today, France the sole country in the Western World not forecasting growth while 54% of the workforce in public services. No fun here.

"I could have made a fortune in cheeseburgers, but I finally chose politics."
--Francois Hollande, President of France

Photo from AP and Getty Images

USA COLORADO DENVER

`Well, it's Friday night.  Back in business.

There's a good vibe in St Pancras as I return from Paris. First real Friday, post-holidays, and people are happy: life mostly sucks about now but, hey, we made it thru the week. It's worth something.

The kids back in school and into their routines : up at 6:30AM or 7, out the door for respective trips east and west by coach or train.  This morning Eitan has swimming practice, Sonnet works on labels. Madeleine creates an itinerary for a date with mom including Whole Food for sushi followed by Anchor Man 2 (movie).

Me: "This dog doesn't listen to anybody."
Eitan: "You've made Rusty what he is - dumb and stupid and all over the place."

Me: "Gee, thanks a lot."

Wildcard Game

Sean Alexander is tackled

I prepare for some NFL football and tonight it is the 49ers v the Packers, a good rivalry, being played at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin, despite A) record shattering cold temps and B) the Niners 12-4 and the Packers 8-7-1.  The playoffs have begun.

Sonnet befuddled by American football btw - what is the point of grown men battering each other, she ponders? (Dad's note: this is exactly the point). But then, one would expect this opinion from an art major from Smith College.  I recall '94 when we saw the Bears play Washington State at Memorial Stadium, her first Div 1 football game (the Bears lose on the final play), seated close to the field and next to the cheerleaders. "Perky", she said.

The kids and Aneta have friends over, which I comfortably sleep through (it is the afternoon).

Hip Hip

The rain comes down - another once-in-a-hundred-years storm batters the UK - raising a 'severe weather warning' from the Met Office and assembling the elite government "Cobra" team who respond to national emergencies. It all sounds pretty macho to me.  The BBC weather people have a ball, warning us to "stay inside unless absolutely essential" and "your life could be in danger" and so on and so forth.

This is the fifth mega storm in the last four or five years, go figure. The convergence of high tides, winds and low pressure systems coming down from the arctic pole, floods the south and midwest, making life miserable for thousands of people.

Rusty sneaks under the kitchen table.
Me: "The dog is scared of me. He knows when I'm gonna brush his teeth."
Eitan: "Yeah."
Me: "Whenever I use that voice, the dog knows it's coming."
Eitan: "I know when you are going to give me chores, by your voice ."
Me: "Oh?"
Eitan: "And by the way you walk up the stairs."
Me:
Eitan: "And the way you open the door. If it's fast, without knocking, I know: chores."
Me: "I guess I had better change up. So you won't know what's coming."
Eitan: "Well I'm still not going to do them."

A Beautiful City

Oxo Wharf

We say a sad farewell to Auntie Katie and the holiday season, which crept up on us slowly, stayed for a bit too long, then ended rather abruptly.  Same as forever.

I visit my office, Sonnet takes down the Christmas tree and the kids do some revisions. Work and school boot up Monday and Tuesday.

"Great supine protoplasmic invertebrate jellies!" 
--Boris Johnson describes the London Assembly members who voted not to debate his budget amendment.

London Skyline

From Richmond Pk

While we are at it, Madeleine's sushi menu (prepared by Madeleine with sou chef Katie)
Starters:
Salted peas
Miso soup

Main course:
Salmon nigiri (Plain salmon on rice)
Treasure of the sea (salmon caviar and rice)
California hand roll (carrot, rice, avocado and mini caviar and salmon)
Cuttlefish nigiri (plain cuttlefish on rice)
Salmon and tuna handroll (salmon, tuna, rice, avocado, grated carrot and mini caviar)
Salmon sashimi (plain salmon)
Tuna roll (plain tuna wrapped in rice)
Inside out roll

Business Owner

The holiday routine continues into the New Year: Sleep until 11AM, some coffee, a bit of exercise ..  dog walk, television.. vodka martini, dry, with a twist (or olives, if Katie).  Next week's gonna be a shocker.

Eitan makes busy preparing dinner:
Butternut squash soup with bread and cheese
Seasoned Chicken breasts with potatoes and cabbage and tomato and goat cheese salad
Chocolate mousse with lemon glazed fruit salad for dessert

Surrey Hills

We ramble in the Devil's Punch Bowl, a large natural amphitheatre near Hindhead, Surrey. An ancient story claims that two giants clashed here, and one, scooping up earth to throw at the other, made the landmark before missing the throw and creating the Isle of Wight. 

In any case, the kids whine and complain since they would rather stay inside and play with their gadgets.  It does not help that, en route, there is torrential rain.  Sonnet rolls her eyes.  Rusty has the time of his life.

Movie Night

Oxo Tower

Grace picks a movie, which she has brought from California: "The Wind And The Lion".
Sonnet: "Will you go get your son?" [Dad's note: Eitan is watching "Made in Chelsea"]
Madeleine: "Is it in black and white?"
Me: "It's about old people. The average age is over 50" [Madeleine looks at me in horror]
Grace: "Oh cut it out. Don't let your father tease you like that."
Me: "Put the movie in and let's get this thing over with."
Sonnet: "I had a dream of Sean Connery last night." [Dad's note: the movie stars Sean Connery.]
Me:
Grace: "That's nice. Was it a good dream?"
Moe: "Great opening scene, Grace" [Dad's note: Moe lies on the couch where he will fall asleep]
Katie reads a book: "There was no Internet in 1904" [The movie takes place in 1904]
Grace: "Just watch the movie."

Gracie's Book

My mother's book, "Think About It! Reflective Communication Skills for Early Care and Education Professionals," is published by Minuteman Press and we could not be more delighted and proud of her.

Katie and I take our parents to Terminal 5 where they return to Berkeley after a week that flies by too quickly.

Sushi. It's What's For Dinner

Hu-waaaaaa town

Madeleine prepares sushi, something planned for over a month, and so we head to New Malden where there is an Asian center which strangely combines Korea, China and Japan which is a lot of territory to cover, if you ask me.  Madeleine picks the fish, including tuna and salmon, octopus and a few other things I don't recognise.

I stumble across some Sriracha Super Hot Chili Sauce which Roger and I discovered in college and put on bologna sandwiches.  We called it "Hu-waaaa" sauce while making Asian-faces which I agree is pretty immature and Roger did merry Greta so I think we are off the hook.

A Lull In The Action

Katie samples an avacado

Katie, Eitan and I run a 5k in Bushy Park so the boy can qualify for the London mini-marathon in April.  The only thing worse than running a race is running a race out of shape.  The dog drags me across the finish line (Rusty in first place, for dogs). Moe and Grace cheer us on.

Eitan crosses in 19:01, which would be enough to qualify him but, reading the fine print, the race must be be completed between 4 Jan and 22 Feb, so he will have to do it again.

Post Xmas

The Lawyer

Me: "Madeleine what do you say about Christmas?"
Madeleine shrugs: "I don't know."
Me: "That all?"
Madeleine: "Where's your Panasonic thing?" [Dad's note: Dad got a camcorder]
Me: "It's charging."
Madeleine: "What are you going to use it for?"
Me: "Do you really need to ask?"
Madeleine rolls her eyes.
Me: "How about if you dance around like a nut cracker?"
Madeleine: "I'm good."

A Merry Rusty Christmas

What would the fox say?

Christmas Cracker

Katie: "What are some things Norway is known for?"
Me: "Gravlox."
Moe: "Fjords."
Grace: "Reindeer!"
Katie: "Yep. What else?"
Us:
Katie: "Give up? Santa Claus, of course."
Madeleine: "I thought he was from Greece."
Kate: "Dad, how many countries have you been to?"
Moe: "I don't know, 30 maybe ?"
Me: "Greece?"
Eitan: "I've been to America. And England, and Italy, Switzerland, Spain and Greece.  And Wales."
Me: "Wales doesn't count."
Grace: "Wales isn't a country ?"
Me: "I didn't say that. Only that it doesn't count."
Madeleine: "That's where we got Rusty."
Grace: "So it counts for something."
Rusty:

Xmas Eve

Barnes track

I get the kids (the hell out of) the house for some exercise.  Eitan runs a mile time trial in 5:50.

Madeleine: "Can we park here Dad? Is it legal ?"
Eitan: "It's not allowed."
Madeleine: "Are we allowed on to the field?"
Eitan:
Me: "Just squeeze through the gate here, no problem."
Eitan: "We really aren't supposed to be doing this."
Me: "We're not robbing a bank, for Pete's sake."
Madeleine: "I am not going to jail on Christmas Eve."
Me: "No one is going to jail. We're just going to run a few laps around the track."
Eitan: "Come on, Madeleine, no one's going to catch us."
Me: "That's the spirit."

Checkered Shirts

We are in town for a play then an early dinner at Cecconi's where I sit next to Gracie and we drink martinis (mine: vodka, dry, with a twist; hers: gin, dirty with olives.  My grandfather George was also a gin man - in the Midwest, this is old school proper).  Madeleine looks at me bemused.

From here, it is home to watch a scary movie, "The Women in Black," which Eitan has been pestering me about for weeks (me: "is she really in black? Is she?"), which is discussed the next day over the breakfast counter since it is the creepiest movie ever, according to Eitan (Dad's correction: Eitan says it is not, actually, the creepiest movie ever, but "I have not seen many creepy movies")

Me: "This dog doesn't know the half of it."
Eitan:
Rusty: "Woof."

And She's Off

Aneta returns to Czech.

At least Aneta is flying. When she arrived it was by bus - 18 hours.

I never really did the Greyhound in those younger years. Oh, sure, sometimes I took a bus from NY's Port Authority to Providence, post college, to see my post-college girlfriend, but mostly it was the train when on the Eastern Seaboard.  By Jr year I had a car (three, in fact) so the indignities of a "Silverside" mostly lost on me.  Still, it is hard to beat £20.60 to Prague one-way.

Me And The Boy

We sit around the living room watching "The First Great Train Robbery", one of my mom's favourites, which is somehow appropriate as Ronnie Biggs died last week (Biggs involved in The Great Train Robbery of '63).  A best thing about the movie is the rendition of the Victorian period - costumes, accents and all - a good hanging, too (crowd chants: "Oh, my, someone's gonna die"which is pretty creepy stuff).

We are with the Clarks and welcome Michael home from Annapolis.  He wears his 'choker' and takes q & a , composed and secure that boot camp behind him and he can focus on the academics, where he excels.

Moe explains the legal actions surrounding gay marriage in the US. The fight is not over.

Me: "Do you think I'm weird ?"

Madeleine: "Yes but in a good way."

Self Portrait XXXIV

Heathrow

Madeleine and I pick up Grace and Moe, who arrive following a delayed flight and a long journey.  We are delighted that they are with us. Katie arrives Monday.

Eitan has been begging to go to Primark - "a room full of cheap clothes" he enthuses - so this afternoon we are there.  Madeleine and I bored within minutes while Eitan checks out the various styles. I handle a pair of shiny pointy boots - could they be dress shoes ? - while Eitan goes for a "kind of cool geeky" shirt and "pretty fly" jacket. Score.

Una Vez Más

The boy at 13. I could not be more proud of him.

The Malaga airport is absurd : recently built and modern, size of a military hanger, too big for retail and barely half a day of flights mostly from the low cost airlines.  This is where Spain spent its borrowings. Following a week of extraordinary food we break down and hit Burger King (which is worth the price just to hear the Spanish cashier pronounce 'whopper')

Puente Viejo

The Old Bridge

We visit Ronda where Ernest Hemingway and Orson Welles spent many summers in the old town quarter "La Ciudad." Hemingway famously loved the bull-fighting machismo. Eitan and I check out the Old Bridge which was built from 1751 to 1793 and is 120 metres above the canyon floor.

The Guadavalin  River runs through the city, dividing it in two and carving out the steep, 100 plus meters deep El Tajo canyon upon which the city perches. Eitan and I scale the mountain wall then go for a five mile run alongside the river. Magic.

Eitan: "That's not very funny, Dad."

Me:

Eitan: "You like to laugh at your own jokes, don't you?"

Me: "Sometimes I laugh because you don't get my jokes."

Eitan:

Me: "Or because they make you laugh. Or because I find them funny."

Eitan:

Me: "Aren't you happy that I laugh all the time?"

Eitan gives me a weird look.

Pablo

Picasso Museum

Eitan hates my stretching which I often do from the sidelines of the football pitch or some other equally humiliating place. The airport, for instance.  At least now he rolls with it.

Me: "I haven't had a bath in two days."
Eitan: "That's nothing."

Alora

Day 1 finds us on a train, 8AM, to Alora, a typical pueblo blanco, a whitewashed village nestled between three rocky spurs topped by the ruins of a castle built by the Phoenicians. The train station empty accept for a lonely cafe where the proprietor informs us, using gestures: go up.

A zig zagging trail leads us up the hillside and there is Alora which looks like a favela and Eitan and I wonder: What the hell? Once inside the village, however, we find a hustle-bustle and sparkly shine - the town center filled with the well-dressed elderly people and the young, presumably unemployed, what do they do? one must wonder.  And orange trees filled with fruit.

Our random walk takes us to an olive grove underneath a serious mountain topped with a cross that overlooks  us and the valley beneath.

We return to the station for a perfect tray of anchovies, cured meats and coffee. A table of men play cards.

Español

Airborne 

The boy and I arrive in Malaga for a week of bonding and goofing.   Here, Eitan says, "We treck up to the rooftop pool and shiver, there, before we are brave enough to jump in." [Dad's note: the hotel pool is unheated] "I get shivers for the rest of the night."

From there we search for tapas, found in abundance.  I have a plate of fried sardines while Eitan devours the local salamies.  Our discussion covers college, clothes and jobs.

Gatwick

Eitan and I off to Spain. He is a nice accoutrement, better than any pair of trainers, really.  A fabulous kid.

Pre Game

Eitan prepares for Kew Association, which the Lions win 2-1 (Eitan scores the first goal on a PK).  The match notable for the sidelines referee who clearly cheats on the off-side calls and is over-ruled by the on-field ref on the final, decisive goal.  The sidelines in an uproar.

Madeleine: "There are several kids in my year who are 'going out.' "
Sonnet: "Oh?"
Madeleine: "What does that mean, anyway, 'going out' ? Are they going to Nando's or something ? [Dad's note: Nando's is a chicken chain in the UK]
Sonnet: "Yes, maybe."
Madeleine: "It's not like they have anything to talk about that they can't say at school."
Sonnet: "Maybe that's not the point."
Madeleine: "Yeah, I guess."

Rusty & Aneta

BFF

Sonnet submits the final edits to her book, Italian Fashion, which will accompany her exhibition and, voilà, there is a palpable sense of relief ( for all of us, really). Now she has to make labels for the show's 300 items.

Eitan tunes me on to "Made In Chelsea" about a bunch of post-college rich twats who date and gossip and partner swap, always looking fabulous - such posh accents! - and working their parents' trust fund. At least in Melrose Place the characters, like, worked.

Madeleine wanders into the living room as Sonnet and I watch "Mad Men."
Madeleine: "That man looks just like you."
Me: "You mean the old guy with white hair?"
Madeleine: "No, the other one." [Dad's note: Madeleine indicates Don Draper]
Me: "Well that is about the nicest complement I've received in a long time."

SAP

Zap

I am at a fancy dinner arranged by SAP and find myself in a champagne room filled in Mayfair with middle-aged dudes from the back-office operations of their various impressive large firms. [Dad's note: SAP is the world leader in the market of enterprise applications for software and software-related services].

I do a lap, panic, and head for the door where a friendly SAP Vice President offers to introduce me to the President. It is clear that I have nothing to contribute to the SAP conversation, nor is this fellow going to sell me some enterprise software. I make my excuses and split before the appetiser.

London moves into the Xmas zone and Christmas carollers sing at Green Park.  Oxford and Regent Sts draped in light and the shop windows polished, open for business - extended hours.  The kids term ends Friday.

Gal Play

Madeleine and Molly see the latest 'Hunger Games' installation followed by a sleep-over.  I drive Madeleine nuts by referring to Katniss as 'catnip' on three or four occassions.  I can't help myself, really.

A water pipe bursts under the front-yard concrete five weeks after I take on plumbing and drainage insurance and one week after it is 'active'.  The premium: £1 per month so this may be the best investment I have ever made. In fact, no doubt about it.

Rake Work

20 bags

I spend the day in the backyard. Once, against their wills, the kids helped but no more : they are too busy with sport, homework, social ..  rest.  Moe and Grace cut me and Katie a break from chores at about this age so I get it. 

Eitan wanders into kitchen to find snack.

Me: "What do you think about Nelson Mandela's death?"

Eitan: "I'm not that upset I guess."

Me: "Do you know what Mandela was famous for?"

Eitan: "He was President."

Me: "Of what?"

Eitan: "Africa."

Me: "Not all of Africa. What part?"

Eitan: "South Africa."

Me: "What else do you know about him?"

Eitan: "He fought for his rights."

Me: "Everyone's rights. Blacks and all people."

Eitan exits kitchen, no snack.

Madeleine: "You know how I'm making that thing for you at school for Christmas that you are not supposed to know about ?"
Me: "Ummm . ."
Madeleine: "Well our teacher used it as an example and dropped in acid." [Dad's note: Madeleine makes things in her 'design technology' class]
Me:
Madeleine: "It took the whole class to get it out."
Me: "Sounds promising."
Madeleine: "I was really upset, Dad. Everybody was watching."
Me: "I bet."
Madeleine: "But the teacher was able to finally get it."
Me: "I can't wait for Christmas."

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."

--Nelson Mandela

And She Was

Me: "Do you think Rusty prefers breakfast or dinner ?"
Madeleine:
Me: "These are important questions."

Madeleine: "But, Dad , I have to do my homework."
Me: "Too bad. Dishes."
Madeleine: "But it's math!"
I help Madeleine do the dishes; afterwards she jumps on her macbook.
Me: "I thought you had homework."
Madeleine: "I do."
Me: "And?"
Madeleine: "It's not due tomorrow."

Final Bend

Final photo

Madeleine's recent instructions on how to feed Erik and Nelson (the turtles):
"Turn light for turtles on and off in morning and night.
Feed them either shrimp or blood worms.
Blood worms go in a small box, ie, the yellow box on counter.
Take turtles and put them in box.
Put them back in tank when done.
Blood worms are in BIG freezer.
Feed every day."

Seems reasonable. I am sure that I will be doing this long after Madeleine has flown the coop.

Outside Lane

Poolside pre race

Sunday morning, 6:30 AM, Madeleine and I up for the Haslemere gala in deepest Surrey. We pick up Zara and Sonnet calls Zara's mom beforehand to make sure they are awake (their request). I watch Madeleine crank out the 200m freestyle (2:55) and 50m crawl (35.15).

Eitan chooses football over swimming (though signed up for Haslemere) and the Sheen Lions take on the CB Hounslow United Blues on the home pitch on a beautiful cold day. Sonnet reports "thrilling" as the Lions up 1-nil then down 2-1 in the late second half. Eitan takes a corner which bounces off the defence giving him a second shot, which he puts into the net with a wedge shot "that drops" (he says). The Lions go on to win, 3-2, putting them in a 5-way time for 2nd place in the Premiere division.

Sonnet to Rome for the exhibition.