title
05.18 – 05.24
date
Sun May 24 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
updatedAt
2026-05-24T21:47:53+01:00
tags
  • note

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05.18 – 05.24

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Life

The commute with the kids has been a lot. But they’ve been excellent about it almost exclusively. It’s obviously no particularly great hardship to have to spend more time with the kids in London’s travel network, but it’s a shock to the system.

The builders have started smashing stuff up at a remarkable rate. It’s cathartic to see all the manky laminate torn out and the wall knocked down. The windows guys even had a last minute cancellation meaning they were able to come in on Friday. Chatting to the gaffer it seems like they haven’t unearthed any huge surprises so far, and everything seems still to be on track. The neighbours aren’t happy, but I think they accept that it is what it is.

Bournemouth beat Man City meaning Arsenal couldn’t be caught in the Premier League and north London went nuts. We were a bit sad to have moved out so we weren’t there to soak up the atmosphere but the all-night revelling would probably have kept the kids up. There was an extraordinary come-to-school-in-football-kit for Ηη the next day, and good vibes in and around Finsbo in general. I think my enthusiasm for football might have been lying dormant for 35 years, and I’m glad Ηη and Αα have got to enjoy a highlight for their team (although this might mean they’ve peaked).

We hung out with the Popes for Mark’s birthday after school on Friday and it definitely felt like we were on the brink of summer. They’re are going away for half term and have kindly let us have their Stokey flat for the week which will be a welcome reprieve from Highams Park.

We got on a sweaty train up to Scotland on Saturday afternoon and arrived in time to hang out with Aila for a couple of hours before heading to our hotel. I’ve not seen her for the best part of a year and it was wonderful to see her in the flesh again. She’s doing incredibly well but there’s no hiding from the fact it’s so much for Johnny and Dani to look after her. She’s also just had to go on another two week course of antibiotics because she’s enormously prone to getting sick on account of the immunosuppressants that stop her from rejecting her dad’s kidney. It’s heartbreaking that she takes it all in her stride since she can’t remember a time when extreme levels of medical intervention weren’t the norm.

We went back round to hang out the next day. We drank champagne to celebrate Johnny’s 40th, and watched Arsenal’s premiership coronation. Aila is clearly up and down with illness and medication but the kids were all very cute and gentle with each other.

I still find Kilmarnock a particularly depressing place because of the weight of history, but this trip has at least been predominantly upbeat and the sun has been shining.

Running

I’m feeling a bit flat physically and mentally. I don’t want to lose too much fitness, but I recognise that I’m feeling slightly beaten up and not particularly enthused about running at the moment. I might have to let it go to seed for a bit to give myself time to miss it.