With all the nonchalance of parents who don’t yet have to worry about school term dates, we’ve just wrapped up two weeks of a late summer holiday with Randi’s parents in Yorba Linda, California. Beth and Stu kindly prioritised the renovation of their swimming pool before we arrived, making the water extra sparkling and the slide ultra fast. (Alas, too fast to try it with a baby, but he still had a great time in his first outdoor swimming sessions! I’m hoping that Forest Hill Pools won’t be too much of a comedown after this.)
This was our third transatlantic outing as a family, and the flight was still surprisingly easy. For the record, I am writing this before making the journey back home again, so it remains to be seen whether baby’s much increased confidence with crawling will translate into more resistance at being restrained for so long. And we were very fortunate on the outward leg to get not one but two free babysitting sessions: once from the person sitting next to us, and later from an incredibly eager Norwegian woman who introduced herself and her partner with “we’re on our honeymoon… and then we’re going to start trying for a baby!”. It wasn’t entirely clear whether her husband was on exactly the same page, but suffice to say we were very grateful for the childcare and she did an excellent job.
Although Randi is the one with Californian blood, we also took this opportunity to see some of my extended family during our first week, starting with my cousins Jackie and Jeff. They came down from LA for lunch, together with their dog Savannah, and I believe Jackie was responsible for teaching our child to throw up his hands in the air with glee. This quickly metamorphosed into a “touchdown!” call-and-response, which may confuse the other kids in nursery.
The next day we drove down to Laguna Beach for lunch with David and Ginger. We sat on the patio at Las Brisas opposite a stunning ocean view, sampled the pineapple piscos and caught up on their most recent travels. Thanks to all for making the time!
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are the closest baseball team to Beth and Stu, but in recent years they’ve been a disappointment, with a stingy billionaire owner who’s failed to invest in the franchise. Indeed, Arte Moreno is famous for having said that actually winning games “is not even in the top five” of what fans want, to which fans did not respond well. However, since Yankees-fan Melissa was staying with us for a few days, and the Angels were playing the Yankees, Randi’s parents had dutifully bought tickets so that our child could experience his first baseball game.
You can imagine Stu’s excitement, then, when on the very day we were set to go it was announced that Moreno had finally agreed to sell the team to a non-stingy billionaire with a very promising track record of caring about winning games! Everyone was therefore in very high spirits at the stadium that night, even though the Yankees predictably triumphed. (I should note that Melissa tried out a Yankees baseball cap on the little one, but he wasn’t keen.)
I confess that I did spend a reasonable proportion of the game desperately hunting around the stadium for the delicious-looking cookies which had started to materialise around us in giant buckets. But my favourite part was probably our view of Hooliganism Corner, where fans angry with Moreno’s ownership have been gathering to protest with chants of “SELL THE TEAM!”, which could now become “SOLD THE TEAM!” in celebration. (Since this is a famously litigious society, I should clarify that Hooliganism Corner is intended as an unofficially, affectionate, tongue-in-cheek designation. They were not hoologians. Although for some reason they were mostly topless.)
Although this was mostly a lazy “stay at home and let people come to us” kinda holiday, we did venture out to Big Bear Lake for a couple of nights. This was a classic holiday destination for Randi growing up, and was a beautiful spot for us all to enjoy a little bit of hiking, a lovely lakeside walk and some ginormous burritos from Gaby’s Latin Flavors. Since we’re all massive Jet Lag fans, we also took the opportunity watch the season premiere of Japanorama together – a particularly brutal opener for team Adam & Tom, as it happens, especially when [spoiler alert] Tom Scott suffered the series’s first Medical Production Pause Zone.
Back in Yorba Linda, I have to say enormous thanks to everyone who visited and brought baby gifts: so many gifts, in fact, that we’re now flying back with an extra suitcase. It’s always wonderful to see Elana and Steve Leiken, who came over for a few hours – especially since Elana is one of my favourite people to argue with. She alternates between brilliant and terrible opinions (“it’s too cold to swim today” and “In-N-Out is overrated” being two ridiculous examples of the latter) with a truly mischievous streak.
I think I won Elana around on In-N-Out a little bit, actually, but that’s only because it was so fresh in my mind from our mandatory visit earlier in the week. Technically this had been baby’s very first In-N-Out outing, but since there’s nothing on the menu for him, he spent it sitting in a high chair and boughily consuming quinoa and sweet potato, so I’m not sure if it really counts. Next time?
Anyway, other visitors included an evening with Debbie Thorpe and the Spalters, Hirschs and Bells (during which Randi and I slipped off to lie looking up at the night sky, feet dangling in the pool) and another big gathering with the Shelankys, Moffitts and Patels. That night it was particularly great to see Sonali and Steven again, but we always try and cast our net to lure as many people to London and our spare room as possible.
And finally – for the social calendar at least – we also popped over to the Shelansky’s Rosh Hashanah party on Friday night to wish everyone a happy new year. Chopped liver: check. Honey: check. A chance for some quick conspiratorial talk with Andrew Shelansky before it was time to go back home? You bet.
Aside from Randi’s immediate family, however, the most special time we spent together was with Great Uncle Ron and Great Aunt Stacy, who drove all the way over from Vegas to be with us. Neither of them had met their great nephew before, and – since we’ve been talking gifts – I’m not sure I’ve ever seen our son’s eyes light up so wide as when Stacy unveiled his tricycle. As parents we weren’t sure that he’d be big enough to stay on, but he proved us wrong immediately!
We’re both incredibly grateful to Stacy and Ron for making the journey, especially since it coincided with Ron’s 70th birthday. (In fairness, he was compensated with a truly delicious vanilla & chocolate buttercream cake from Randi.) On one of the days we also drove to the cemetery for Uncle Jeff’s unveiling. Although he never got a chance to meet his great nephew, it’s easy to imagine how much fun they would have had together, and how many (only slightly embellished) stories he would have told. I’m glad that there are many other people around with memories of him to pass down as he grows up.
I have lots of other little snippets and memories from this trip, and since I’ve paid for unlimited WiFi on this flight (yes, hello from the plane) I’m afraid I’m still not done blogging. Let’s start with a quick audit of the Yorba Linda small business scene. On the one hand, YLS Bakery & Cafe remains an excellent dispensary for breakfast burritos. I had two. (Not on the same day.)
On the other hand, I have a bone to pick with the local wine & beer store, which is a short walk away from Randi’s parents and surprisingly judgy about customers buying any wine or beer. “You’re really going to town, aren’t you?” joked the owner in a joking-not-joking kinda way, as Randi, Melissa and I checked out with a grand total of three packs of beer and one half-bottle of wine. You’re the one running a wine and beer shop! Earlier, Randi had asked an assistant for a wheat beer “similar to Blue Moon” and he had recommended a can of Foster’s… so we were already baffled by this place.
It’s been a very long time since I’ve been inside a Costco, although throwback to Jamie for taking me back in 2011 just so I could marvel at the size of the Mayonnaise jars. This time we did a proper shop, including some of their famous pizza and ice cream at the little outdoor café for lunch, and I’m definitely a fan. My only regret is that I couldn’t engage with the gruff-but-friendly man seated opposite in the Navy Seals cap who caught my ear when he made a passing remark to his companion that, of course, “everything that’s happening” was foretold in the book of Revelation. (He actually did come over and say hello, but understandably was more interested in the cute baby than his eavesdropping father.)
Some other random bits and pieces:
- Last time Randi and I went fishing for toy fish in her pool, she beat me catastrophically. So we had a rematch! And she still beat me catastrophically, but compared to 2017 I’ve made substantial progress (at least 4 or 5 this time) so ask me again in 2035.
- Is there anything lovelier than a child’s joy at discovering the concept of bounciness via a large bouncy ball? I could see it all written in his face: “OK… the ball is going down… all very regular… and yet, what’s this? It came up again?” [cue pure delight]
- Uncle Alex really deserves a special mention here: not just for doing so much playtime, but also helping his nephew with both the piano and the guitar. (Even if his instinct with the guitar was mostly to bang it like a drum…)
- For Alex’s dog Angua, our visit was a mixed blessing. Careful positioning under the high chair did yield a lot more dropped food than usual, but at the cost of some fur when baby’s petting of the dog got a bit too enthusiastic. Again, many apologies.
- We had some tentative first steps while holding the walker!
- We also had lots of matzo brei (thank you, Bubbe) and Randi’s dry run for a very special first birthday cake. Yes, really, his first birthday is now coming up fast… can you believe it?
I’m probably missing a lot, but even if the WiFi is unlimited, my ability to write coherent sentences is not. So all that remains before I hit publish (seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever paid for this on a plane before so it’s a bit of a thrill) is to say a massive thanks to Beth and Stu for hosting us and making it such a wonderful time. Sure, going outside was sometimes hotter-than-the-sun, but inside was always joyful and felt like a proper family holiday. See you soon!
We’re back! Prior to last weekend I’d only been to New York twice in my life, and both times in February. So when Randi and I were first invited to Mike and Melissa’s wedding, I was doubly excited: both to celebrate these wonderful human beings, but also to experience the city without a coat. Later, after Randi’s family had generously agreed to fly from California in order to provide childcare, Randi also had the inspired idea of contriving a bonus family road trip to New Jersey so that I could boost my state count to 32 states. So I was really looking forward to this trip for all sorts of reasons, and it didn’t disappoint.
We flew into Newark (which is technically in New Jersey anyway, but airports alone don’t count) and drove to Somerset, because this is where Beth and Stewart lived for a couple of years with baby Alex and we thought it’d be nice to go see their old house. We checked into a Residence Inn, which required both a physical credit card (“no contactless”) and – astonishingly – hard cash (!) to be exchanged into quarters (!!) if you wanted to do laundry. (And at the risk of providing too much information, while our flight with a seven month old was only marginally harder than it had been with a three month old, by that point we already had a lot of laundry to do.)
Fortunately, Beth was able to bail us out on all counts. But I would gently plead with the American hotel industry to consider a new approach. Otherwise, Randi found staying at a Residence Inn to be incredibly warm and nostalgic for bringing back childhood holiday memories. We were also proud of ourselves for jamming a toilet roll under the window in order to get some air without requiring the fan. So, overall I’m sure the staff thought we were totally mad.
Obviously it was important to find some distinctly New Jersey experiences, so on Thursday night we headed to the Somerset Diner where Beth and Stu had eaten many times when they lived here. Nothing quite beats a real American diner, from its characteristic features (the huge menu, the giant portions) to the finer details (like the placemat entirely covered in adverts for local small businesses) which just aren’t replicated elsewhere.
If I’m ever in Somerset again, I’d go back. This seems unlikely, though, as it’s not exactly a tourist magnet. Somerset itself is an “unincorporated community” located within “Franklin township”, and despite passing multiple road signs where the township boasted of being “the 5th best place to live in the USA” (at least according to Money Magazine 2008) this wasn’t quite enough to shake my preconception of New Jersey as a poorer, more industrial adjunct to its famous neighbour.
I’m very glad, therefore, that Randi did some emergency research and directed us to Washington Valley Park for a Friday morning walk through the woods. This was absolutely delightful, and a refreshing vision of life in the garden state. (Fortunately, we did not see any venomous Northern Copperheads, and therefore succeeded in giving snakes the “distance and respect” which the information board requested.)
We then enjoyed a scenic drive through Princeton, home of both the eponymous university but also the governor’s residence (“Drumthwacket“). This is a little odd because the state’s capital is two towns over in Trenton, although it’s not hard to guess why “the People’s House” is hidden away here instead. Our next stop was Lawrenceville – an excellent name – home to both an excellent sandwich shop and Rider University where Stewart studied as an undergraduate.
Our visit coincided with graduation weekend, which happens elsewhere, so the campus was quiet for our walk around the grounds. I appreciated the strict rules for getting a poster up on the noticeboard (“must be approved and stamped by the Office of Campus Life”) and rebelliously parked our buggy in the parking spot “reserved for President Loyack”, purely because there’s something about named parking spaces which makes me want to fight the system.
Also, they have a pub! At least it’s labelled as such, which was very promising, so maybe our child will want to chase his dreams here in a couple of decades’ time. If he does, all I advise is that he stays away from the creepy fraternities on the campus fringe, whose dorm buildings announce their separation from the others with pompous Greek lettering on the side, and oh goodness this is just a bit hard seriously for a glorified teenage drinking club.
Finally, we arrived in Trenton, where the rental car could be handed back and – in exchange – we were all ferried to the Trenton Transit Center to catch our train to New York’s Penn Station. While Randi and I were very grateful to be taxied around by her parents in New Jersey, we did feel a palpable sense of relief to be back on rails, especially as driving with a baby seems fundamentally flawed since you can’t pick them up if they start fussing or crying. Happily, the NJ Transit route seemed both frequent and well-used.
The view from the train thereby completed my New Jersey experience, at least for now, as we passed through stations such as Elizabeth, New Brunswick and – my favourite – Rahway. As in, there’s genuinely a railway station called Rahway Station, as though it’s just very posh.
And now… New York! On this trip we stayed entirely within Brooklyn, which feels somewhat more ‘Londony’ than Manhattan with its relative greenery and lower-rise buildings. But only somewhat. Overall, NYC’s urban infrastructure is genuinely unique within the United States. (Shout-out to the much improved subway cars on the A train we rode to the hotel!) But at the same time it’s very obvious that you’re still in an American city, just from a hundred little things, just as London may be a fellow ‘world city’ but is unambiguously still the British capital. People sometimes imply that these giant cities stand completely apart from their countries, but it’s just not true.
Good New York thing: the new subway map (rolled out last year) is so delightful and such an improvement. I’m so proud they finally did it!
Bad New York thing: their drivers feel significantly less tamed. Perhaps it was just because we were staying on the busy Flatbush Avenue, but cars overall feel significantly less tamed.
Anyway, on Friday night, Randi and I (plus baby) walked to Mike and Melissa’s welcome drinks at a nearby brewery, which also featured an incredibly delicious build-your-own-taco buffet. I definitely didn’t need any more food on the way back, but since we were walking by it seemed stupid not to pick up a classic New York pizza slice too, which I also appreciated.
I did not appreciate the suggestion from a random person on the street that if I fell out with Randi at some point in the future I should resort to murder. I’m not saying there aren’t violently minded Londoners, but perhaps they’re just less socialised to offer unsolicited advice, and I’d like to keep it that way. On the other hand, the woman at the hotel the next morning who struck up a conversation with me while I was looking for proper tea bags (not easy) was lovely, if a little pushy. (“I have a niece and nephew in college nearby.” “Are they enjoying it?” “They better be enjoying it! If they want to make a career out of it!”)
On Saturday we did some emergency wedding shopping and then headed over to Prospect Park to hang out with Phoenix and Marcos, last seen on this blog last summer during their holiday to London. Prospect Park is wonderful, and – like all of the parks we saw – was chock-a-block with families enjoying the sunshine. We had a great time catching up, and then Marcos engaged his superpower of “locate nearest food spot which everyone will enjoy” and we brunched at a tasty Italian place.
That night was the wedding itself, which took place in the garden of another Italian restaurant with even more exceptional food. Randi and I were both slightly giddy since it was our first childless night in seven months, and we found it very sweet that – since Mike and Melissa are both lawyers – they were married by a judge which Melissa used to clerk for.
Talking of lawyers: I tried to deter the lawyers sitting on our table from doubling down on their written constitution idea, but unfortunately I think that ship has sailed. Enjoyable conversations though, with an unexpected focus on post-Soviet states. But the person I was most interested in hearing from was Mike and Randi’s mutual uni friend Matt, who is an honest-to-goodness college counsellor: a role which I’ve seen in films but always struggle to imagine as a full-time job. He was lovely, though, with all the earnest idealism of a native San Franciscan who spends his time encouraging teenagers to envision a bright future ahead.
Sunday was Randi’s birthday, which we kicked off with a family walk across the magnificent Brooklyn Bridge. Afterwards, Randi and I scuttled back over to the Brooklyn side for lunch with Rachel and Ana at Miss Ada: a Mediterranean restaurant with lots of sharing plates which was a big hit with both adults and baby alike. The walk there and back took us through another busy park – Fort Greene Park – which was similarly packed out with families.
It will surprise nobody to learn that our next stop was the New York Transit Museum, which has an advantage over the London Transport Museum in that it’s housed in a real abandoned station. Not only does this give the exhibitions plenty of atmosphere, but it also allows them to dedicate the platforms to a whole slew of subway cars from different eras which kids (and non-kids) can happily run through.
There’s also an excellent shop, although I was disappointed not to find any Forest Hills-specific memorabilia which I would have been compelled to buy. I will note, for the record, that the section of the museum about payment systems has some brazen factual inaccuracies about both London and Hong Kong, and implies that New York was some kind of pioneer in contactless. This is… not correct.
After the museum we all went our separate ways, leaving the three of us to enjoy an afternoon wander along Brooklyn Bridge Park. This is a long, linear stretch of greenery by the East River, punctuated by piers, and has a surprising smell of the sea. We ate some ice creams in the sun before setting off to the airport for our overnight flight back home, although not before stopping for one final burst of New York pizza. (I’m not entirely sure why the UK didn’t welcome a generation of late nineteenth century Italian immigrants to sell pizza by the slice, but it was a serious policy error.)
We might all be a little exhausted – and varying degrees of sick – after this mad, nonstop weekend. But it was extremely nice to have a bit of the old travelling feeling back again… and, of course, to scratch off another US state from the scratch map. Still 18 more to go…
Happy new year! As you already know, we spent a week in Chicago in a sneaky attempt to persuade our child that, relatively speaking, London really isn’t that cold. In truth, the Chicago winters are a little overhyped: you just have to dress appropriately for the weather, and snow is generally lovely. The only thing to really worry about is ice. I think it’s fair to say that I’m not a fan of ice. Ice is malicious and dangerous, so it’s inspiring to see the steps which Chicago takes to defeat it.
The flight there was very easy – our baby even received the “baby of the day award” for his lack of crying from a flight attendant who was clearly not a fan of babies in general. Thanks to AJ meeting us at the airport, he also enjoyed his very first journey in a car! (We’re planning on teaching him that cars are a uniquely North American invention, although others have already been sceptical that this will work.)
Using Catherine and AJ’s home as a warm and cosy base, we did venture out a few times to see other people, starting with a Sunday afternoon at Toggolyn’s. Very excitingly, Ellen – last seen on this blog in 2021! – was able to join us, and together we all had a super interesting conversation about blogging and writing. I think sometimes the idea of a regular person in 2026 sitting on their own and working on a piece of writing for personal reasons can seem so implausible – even though it’s literally what I’m doing right now – that it’s genuinely a bit surprising to learn that other people do it too.
(Side-note: I felt this surprise again today – back in London – when I heard about someone else’s scribbled notes during a pub meetup with our NCT group. Is everyone still still secretly writing? I would find this reassuring.)
A few days later we joined Julie, Colleen and Karol for a delicious cajun brunch at Big Jones, which was extremely tasty. I mean, someday Randi and I have got to find our way back to a Yats, but in the meantime this hit the spot.
Meanwhile, visitors to the apartment included Christian & Erica and kids (a brief stopover and tornado of lovable chaos) and Anna & Ned’s family, with whom we shared an order from Randi’s favourite Thai restaurant. We also made our obligatory and much-anticipated visit to Janik’s for brunch with Mike & Melissa, who were visiting Chicago at the same time from New York, and received Buffalo Bills baby gifts!
But otherwise, we mostly enjoyed a lot of great home cooking (Detroit pizza night being a particular highlight for me) and made various attempts to match all of the kids in the same outfits. This really came to a head on New Year’s Eve, when party hats were briefly thrown into the mix too, and the resulting photos are surely something to treasure and\or grist for anti-parent angst later on during their teenage years.
Oh, and I’m pretty proud of the popularity of my very own children’s stories about creepy Mr. Google and his nosy, data-collecting habits…
Thank you so much to Catherine and AJ for hosting us, as always!
It’s most definitely summer, which in our family also means it’s peak birthday season. For mine, we had a family dinner at Took Took in West Hampstead, followed by a little walk along the path through Fortune Green and behind Hampstead Cemetery which we used to do on my birthday every year growing up.
Randi and I also spent a lovely evening at Angela’s new flat, which – happily – is right around the corner from us. We also spent a wonderful Saturday at Simon and Fleur’s barbecue with a mix of familiar faces and some new people I’d never met before. Not only did I consume a healthy mix of beer and burgers, but I also got to test-drive an empty buggy around the block under the influence of this beer plus burger mix. Apologies to the people of Hassocks if we looked very strange.
On the way home our convoluted train route led to an unplanned stop at Kartuli in East Dulwich for dinner, and therefore some unexpected khachapuri. This was delicious, even though – strictly speaking – it wasn’t really khachapuri weather. Equally delicious was our dinner at Dishoom with Robert a few weeks ago, who was passing through London for a night and spent his evening with us. Coincidentally, I also enjoyed a Zoom-based Groupon catch-up with Todd Webb later that week, who made me even more nostalgic for the days when we were all in an office together.
Recently I also went out for an evening with Jill, although we quickly abandoned our usual haunt thanks to it being live music night at The Island (nothing against it, but not great for talking) and switched to Curry Nights instead. I also swapped stories of product management with Katie’s friend Caitlin over drinks in Southwark, before grabbing food at Mercato Metropolitano and accidentally taking home one of their food buzzers. But our big social achievement was finding a weekend for Josh, Anna and Cora to visit our place for a sleepover! Together we made tacos, invented new games to play with Dominion cards, danced to the Mosquito song (the Minidisco playlist of the classic Spanish holiday resort having been updated since my day) and, in the morning, ate loads of pancakes before exploring the Horniman Gardens.
Randi was in Scotland last weekend, so I took a couple of days off work and made a slightly impromptu trip to Chicago. My short stay was clearly a bit suspicious to the immigration officers (“you’re here for two days?” “well, three days if you count today!”), but the double round of questioning at customs was more than made up for by the shortest queues I’ve ever enjoyed at O’Hare. Then I was nerdishly delighted to get one of the newer Blue line trains for the journey into town – spick and span and filled with suburbanites travelling into Chicago for 4th July the next day. That train from the airport is how Randi and I always take the temperature of how Chicago is doing, and this time the omens were very good.
Todd and Carolyn very kindly hosted me on this trip, and that afternoon I enjoyed a few beers in the sun with Todd and Dolly Dietz – Robert’s very adorable dog, who they were looking after – before ordering Antique Taco for dinner. I also playtested Todd’s murder mystery (albeit sadly not in its ultimate setting of the Bahamas) and enjoyed a can of Salted Lemonade courtesy of Benno and Shelby’s Five Corners beverage company. While I haven’t seen these guys in years, the fact that they are running an independent husband-and-wife business surprises me not at all, and made me smile.
The next day was 4th July (or July 4th?) so we headed over to Robert and Julie’s, both to return custody of Dolly and to celebrate freedom and independence etc. etc. I was inordinately proud of not being the first to be eliminated from Bernie’s drawing-based game, although he was probably just being kind, while Grant (accurately) labelled me a weirdo when I was being weird. The only thing I was less thrilled about was the start of all the random neighbourhood fireworks, which – at least when you’re at ground level – feel less like fireworks and more like a coordinated attack of the well-regulated militia. But I’m aware that I’m in a deep minority here – only Dolly felt the same way! – and at least once we joined the neighbours’ rooftop we could appreciate the spectacle from a safer height.
Since Robert had told a very long story about watching Landman on a plane, Todd and I resolved to watch the first episode before going to bed that night. It was excellent, in the sense that it was terrible, and so there was a lot to enjoy. I did also get some genuine satisfaction at hearing ‘advertisement’ being spoken in a Southern accent with the same pronunciation as my British accent.
The next morning, we brought Carolyn up to speed with the culture she had missed over breakfast at Bang Bang Pie & Biscuits, where I had some very tasty biscuits and gravy. Then, I attempted to introduce Toggolyn to Jet Lag! I’m not sure if I fully converted them, but we all agreed that chasing your friends around Switzerland by train is much more fun than getting blown up together at a malfunctioning oil well. And finally, Todd allowed me to wander around ancient Athens for a bit within Assassin’s Creed. The original intent was to find Socrates so that we could have a nice argument, but in the end I just took to the random murder of innocent bystanders, surprising both Todd and myself with my ability to run away quickly enough from any retribution.
I had one more stop to make before flying home that night. This was a very special afternoon at Catherine and AJ’s, who are only one week into welcoming the newest member of the family. I felt incredibly lucky to be able to hang out with them all together, and at this point in my life it’s also deeply reassuring to see everybody doing so well too.
The journey home was all very smooth, and the week afterwards we did some transatlantic hosting in reverse when Melissa came to stay for a few days! Along with a decent sampling of our local pubs, on Tuesday night we all went out to see Nye together at the National Theatre. This play is a tribute to the life of Aneurin Bevan, the founder of the NHS, and its existence alone does something to capture the peculiar relationship between Britain and its healthcare system. As you’d expect, Michael Sheen gives an amazing performance, and the play does an excellent job of zooming around Bevan’s life and career. I particularly enjoyed the staging of the climactic showdown with the BMA in 1948.
This week we also went to Kirsty’s summer party (where I hit my quota of strangers to talk to) and enjoyed a relaxed Friday night with my mum. Finally, shortly after hitting publish on this blog we’ll be off to Sidcup to spend the afternoon with Tomas and Roberta, which I’m very excited about! [Update: we did indeed have a wonderful afternoon hanging out together with their family in their sunny garden, eating delicious salmon, sharing Randi’s lemon & blackberry cake and making out like bandits with a giant pile of baby things. Thanks guys!]
Happy 2025!
We had always planned to spend Christmas with Randi’s family this year, so it was both good and bad timing for us to land in Vegas barely a day after her uncle died. “We managed to take the shortest day of the year and make it the longest”, noted Randi sometime during the flight, which I was touched to see included Christmas cracker hats as part of the onboard meal.
The night before we got a chance to hang out with Tash, Cormac and Katie at our place – which was really lovely – and play dual variants of the “secret rating out of 10” game. We also ate a lot of cheese and exchanged our Secret Santas, wrapping up our final night with this year’s beloved Christmas tree.
Back in Vegas, the closest we got to the Strip was spotting the giant illuminated Sphere as we landed. In fairness this is not exactly hard to spot, and while it’s a cool thing to exist in Vegas, I’m sure the residents of Stratford are grateful for Sadiq Khan blocking a London version descending in the middle of Stratford. To be clear, neither of us had any desire for tourist Vegas. Instead, we were very happy to be able to (finally!) redeem our last wedding gift voucher from Toggolyn – don’t worry, $25 still goes very far at In-N-Out – and then taking it back to Randi’s uncle Ron and aunt Stacy for some much-needed family time.
Finally, before our drive back to California, Randi led me on an early morning walk at the edge of the city, where we could look back just as the sun was coming up and see a much more beautiful place than I typically imagine Vegas to be.
Christmas in California might lack a Dickensian winter atmosphere, but Randi and I went on a lot of local walks on this trip and we still appreciated everyone who made an effort with their lights. (Partly we just needed the walks to offset the effects of Yorba Linda’s finest eateries: Wise Guys Pizzeria, Burrito Brothers and the majestic YLS Bakery & Cafe, whose croissants alone could be wrapped for a stocking filler.) The festive spirit really ramped up on Christmas Eve when Alex and Randi rescued a stray husky from having to spend the night alone on the streets, and at the mercy of the local coyotes.
Thankfully, Dakota was reunited with her owners on Christmas Day, which also featured a Trader Joe’s cinnamon bake, Randi’s incredible strata, mimosas, a sunny walk with a view, unnecessary fear of hibernating snakes, Beth and Stewart’s legendary chicken dish, a trip to East Lake to see the seriously impressive Christmas lights, some all-important hot tub time and, of course, Doctor Who!
For Boxing Day, the traditional rainy walk was swapped for Laguna Beach, one of Randi’s favourite places and boasting a chilled linear park alongside the beach. Over the next few days we also spent some time with the Shelanksys, Elana and Alex’s friend Brian before Jeff’s funeral was arranged for New Year’s Eve. I also used this time to help digitise a bunch of old family videos, which (a) is basically my dream project, and (b) taught me that at least some families made sure to set the time and date stamp on their cameras correctly.
In all seriousness – this had actually been on my mind for a little while since Randi mentioned that she knew there was some video footage of her childhood lying around somewhere, and the subsequent wildfires in LA have been a sad reminder of how vulnerable these things can be. PSA: Backups are great.
As 2025 approached, we repeated our trick from several years ago by using London’s fireworks as a convenient 4pm midnight. In our defence, we had a rescheduled 8am flight to Chicago the next day. And then hello again, Chicago! Happily, we made it to Catherine and AJ’s in time for a timeshifted New Year’s Eve celebration featuring 100% perfectly made dumplings and lots of toddler playtime.
At times when said toddler was in bed – or at least supposed to be – Catherine and AJ introduced us to the first season of Severance, which (as promised) is excellent and I’m excited to finish with Randi when she’s back from her bonus week in Chicago. We didn’t venture out very much, but we did enjoy a wonderful afternoon with Jason and Carrie followed by a delicious dinner at Mano a Mano (it’s not a restaurant, it’s a “neighborhood pasta project”) with Toggolyn.
Finally, just before leaving for my flight home, it was really nice to see Catherine’s cousins again, even if I did feel under some pressure when I was made to place all of the US state names into the correct boxes on the giant floor mat. (Honestly? I’m pleased with my performance, and perhaps some of those states would be happier in their new locations anyhow.)
After a week back at work, many thanks to Andrew and Bonnie for plying me with wine last night for a fun Friday unwinding, and then staying up to 3am to comb through our own family’s tapes! For tonight – my last night before Randi returns from Chicago – I am reminded of Catherine’s young cousin suggesting thoughtfully that maybe I could “host a boys’ night” in her absence. I’m sorry to say that I did not do this. For partial credit, though, I did watch Katie’s latest “break glass in case of Randi absence” film: Beyond The Infinite Two Minutes, an hour-long Japanese comedy from 2020 about some very limited (and not particularly useful!) time travelling hijinks, which was short and sweet. (Probably short enough for Randi, in fact…)
Linda Moffitt on Colombia: “Such a sweet memory of the four of you meeting up in Colombia!” Dec 2, 07:42
