Goodbye Szyszkas!

We hosted a bbq on Sunday to say goodbye to friends we've made over the last 2 years, Julia, Stepan, Stepko and Larissa.

They're moving back to the States, but we know this won't be the last we see of them, since they're active in Plast (the Ukrainian scouting group), so we could see them at various summer and winter camps going on around the world. In fact, Julia was instrumental in helping us create an active scout group here in London, when we were hopelessly lost trying to get anything going.

As a gift we made them a 'tarilka' (a plate) that everyone signed and I hope that it (as well as they) survives the move.

Pa-pa for now, hope to see you at UMPZ this summer!

Here's a lovely shot of some of the youngest party-goers trying to maim themselves using a toboggan and a Little Tykes slide.

Taxi Driver as Anti-Hero

My trip home from Madrid was marred by a few things (spending 4 hours in Madrid airport, having to carry my heavy bag with no wheels), but the worst was the mini-cab driver who was scheduled to pick Lisa and myself from the airport.

like a good passenger, I turned my mobile off on the airplane, completely unaware of the saga brewing in London for the duration of the flight home.

Apparently, 1 digit of the our flight number had gotten miscommunicated when Orest booked us the cab, so that the dispatch sent the driver to collect us from the airport 2 hours before our flight was scheduled to land. He was just on his way away from the airport when dispatch finally got a hold of me and made him turn around to collect us.

But I didn't understand where all the confusion was coming from since I had the text I sent Orest indicating the correct flight number. It was still a shock to see our driver turn his back on us and expect us to follow him without a word. I even had my hand out with the heavy bag, thinking he would offer to carry it for me, but he ignored me completely and stalked off.

I can understand that he might of been annoyed at having wasted the 3 hours, but surely he didn't have to take it out on the innocent parties involved? On top of all that, he regaled Lisa and I his woeful story of his day from hell, which included some little old lady having pee'd on the seat of his car ("Don't worry," he says, "It was the front seat."). It was only when he started invoking Allah's name that I began to worry that we were in the hands of some nut-job terrorist intent on destroying all of North London. I was beginning to reach for my mobile phone to see if I could surreptitiously ring home and get Orest to stop this maniac from detonating us and my bag to kingdom come.

Two minutes later I was home safe and sound - but no tip for the weirdo taxi man!

My Superhero

So did the kids miss me while I was away?

Orest must have decided to put on his superhero costume for the weekend, because the girls certainly had no complaints about their time with Dad in charge.

1. Pizza and popcorm movie night on Friday with Orest having borrowed the office's projector to show DVDs on the wall about 6ft tall.
2. Getting the girls off to skating by 8:30 am Saturday morning with packed lunches ready for Ukrainian school, followed by great fun in the Holland Park playgrounds.
3. Emcee'ing a Quiz Night which I had prepared for Stefanie's school on Saturday night.
4. Taking the kids to the park to play baseball on Sunday, despite a wicked headache.

What a star! I tried to weasel out of the girls if he may have fallen down on the job, but all I could get was that they didn't get a lunch on Sunday. Not bad, not bad at all.

The best comment was from Larysa, who said: "I like being with Tato, he sometimes makes us do stuff we don't want to do, but it turns out to be lots of fun in the end."

Awww, sweet!

Mad in Madrid

Time for another girlie weekend, this time to see Sara in Madrid. 12 of us flew in from various European cities (mostly UK, though) to do a little culture, some sight-seeing, lots of shopping, but mostly catching up with friends.

I was told that the hotel would be a 20 minute metro ride from the airport, so when 11 of us gathered at Terminal 2 in Madrid, we had no idea what was in store for us. The best any of us could say after switching trains twice and lugging our cases (mine without wheels!) up and down stairs, was: "At least the tube stations feel light and airy...not like the London tube." Needless to say, taxis were the preferred method of travel from that moment on.

Friday evening was spent at Casa Pearce, and as you can see from the photo, much vino was consumed that evening. Sara put on a fabulous spread of local cuisine and Mike played waiter, making sure our glasses were full at all times. It was a cozy way to catch up on everyone's news. The next day, Sara took us shopping, and I scored 2 pairs of shoes and a summer ensemble. By the end of the day, everyone's feet were in various shapes of disrepair, but we still managed to hobble over for the evening's tapas meal in Plaza Santa Ana. With 13 of us, it was difficult to get all of us together at one table (especially since it's first-come, first-serve), but the waiters were very funny with their invisible line when we tried to put a few tables together. In the end, we sat at 2 tables set further apart, but the waiters got a wonderful tip in the end... they were cute!! Beauty conquers all, I suppose. We carried on to Plaza Mayor for more drinking and were kicked out by about 2 am(?). we walked back to our hotel and it was amazing to see so many people out have fun, and not the scary type of fun, where you're afraid some drunken yob is going to cold-cock you for no other reason than that you were within arm's length. Sue and I pretended we were 5 and hid in a doorway, no luck, they found us. Then some tried their best to get arrested in front of the police station and Lynn and Lisa had to walk barefoot (shoes were killing them). After a nightcap, I hit the sack by about 4 am. What a night!

The next day, I tried to get a little culture and spent a few hours in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza (the Prado would have been too large to try and get through) and then it was time to say good-bye to everyone and start heading home.

The Hotel was a great choice, location was perfect and I particularly loved having the private hot tub on our patio, it really came in handy after a long day of shopping.

Helpful or not?

We were having a spot of trouble putting Adriana to bed the other night when Larysa offered to take her back upstairs and settle her (for the 3rd time). "How sweet!", I thought, "This is what I've been working towards all my life as a mother, having my children be so helpful and caring."
I thanked her sincerely when she returned and she said she'd read her a funny story and was going to sleep.

Not 5 minutes go by and guess who's come downstairs again? She's lucky I didn't immediately start shouting: "GO TO BED!", but she caught me by surprise with: "Mama, I can't sleep because my room is smoky."

What the...?!!?

I raced up the stairs two at a time only to find Adriana's school skirt slowly melting away on top of her spotlight. Whipping it off as charred flakes of polyester floated to the ground, I looked to Larysa for an explanation.
"I was trying to make her a nightlight because Adriana said she was afraid of the dark."

Well, the intent was good, but results? Not so much...

The next night, Larysa smoked us out again by microwaving the popcorn 1 minute too long and turning it into black blobs of corn with that putrid smell of smoke lingering in the kitchen.

Needless to say, we are keeping her away from all things electrical and fire-related for the next little while...

Camden Market

Sometimes it's nice to just hang around London, instead of trying to get away with the rest of the population for the Bank Holiday weekend.
There was a break in the rain on Monday, and we decided to head over to Camden Market (photo by Ben Wedmuller on Flickr). A magical place which reminds me a lot of Kensington Market in Toronto, except with Moroccan and Chinese food smells replaced the fish and cheese smells.
Did a lot of shopping and we are slowly indoctrinating Adriana into the joys of consumerism, but it's still hard to convince her to walk around aimlessly for 3 hours without the promise (read:bribe) of either something delicious to eat or some sort of useless toy. We spent most of this trip listening to her drop her "magic magnets" on the pavement over and over. It is advertised as: "powerful magnetic,when you toss them in the air and they tumble down,clicking like cicadas or bees. Fascinate your friends!!" But in reality, we were not fascinated, we weren't remotely amused as the sound these things made when they were tossed was more akin to having someone chuck a bagful of marbles at your ear - very loud and very painful.

Any way, barring any hearing loss, after putting a dent into your respective credit cards with clothes and clocks, we proceeded to Marine Ice for some great pasta and Italian ices. (except for Larysa who couldn't find any flavour she could live with - this girl's hard to please!)

Supporting our local arts & cuisine

It's great to have talented friends!

On Friday night we went to see the opening of 2 short films directed by the dad of one of Larysa's classmates. Mal is going to be showing these 2 at the Cannes Film Festival, so he rented a cinema here in Soho to pre-screen it for his family, friends and any potentially interested parties. The two films were both completely different in style and atmosphere. 'Fluffy', was a whimsical story of a man getting too attached to his belly-button lint, while 'RedBlack' was a dark and somewhat disturbing tale, like 'Collateral', but with a gorgeous blonde replacing Tom Cruise. I would see RedBlack made into a full-length feature, as it left me feeling I needed to see more. I think Mal is on the verge of stardom for sure, so bookmark his website now http://www.malwoolford.com/ and you can say you knew him before he was famous!

After the screenings, Christine and Bill and Orest & I made the short jaunt up to Russell Square, where a fellow dog-walker had just opened up a restaurant nearby. Bruce is managing a goldmine. Balfour has a great location, fabulous food and a manager who makes everything tick along nicely. Christine and I had the duck and it was really delicious. We all tasted each other's starters and meals and couldn't find fault with any of it. We would definitely recommend this place to anyone looking for a nice Italian meal out, but doesn't want to go to Pizza Express yet again. It's at the corner of Tavistock and Marchmount Streets just north-east of Russell Square, because you won't find it in any food guides just yet.