It's So Shiny...

At the end of November, we went up to London for the weekend and bought a piano. It wasn't one of those 'went out for a loaf of bread and ended up with a piano' moments; we actually went to London with the intention of buying a piano, as the shop was having a pre-VAT increase, pre-2010 price increase sale. We bought a beautiful Model A, 6' 2" black grand piano, and arranged to have it delivered to the new house in early January.

We planned to have it delivered in the first week of January, but then we got snowed in so had to postpone the delivery. Then we decided to have the piano room decorated, including new carpets, so we postponed the delivery again until today.

So, almost 4 months after we paid for it, it's finally here.


There was a bit of a cock-up with the stool: this is the one from our upright piano that's still at the old house; we're selling it to a friend. The delivery men said the stool would be coming separately by courier, and after watching them lug a grand piano up a flight of stairs I didn't have the heart to complain about that, but when I contacted the shop about when the stool would be delivered, the lady told me it should have come with the piano... They are going to arrange to have a stool sent to me but the old one will do for now.

I love this piano. I didn't intend to get one as big as this; we had in mind when we went to the shop that we would get a Model M (5' 7") or a Model O (5' 10 3/4"), but when I tried this one it sounded so much better than the others. Just need to spend some time practising now!

First Midwife Appointment

I spoke to the midwife while we were in Bora Bora and arranged to go for my booking appointment this afternoon, after we arrived back this morning. Rob didn't sleep at all on the flight, which is unusual for him, and it even took me a couple of hours to get off to sleep but I did manage to get about 4 hours, which was better than nothing, even for plane sleep.

We got back to the house around 12:30 and checked out our newly decorated bedrooms - pictures later. We had to re-assemble our bed once the guys had finished putting up the curtains in there, and as soon as we'd done that Rob just collapsed onto it :). It was 15:00 by this time and my appointment was at 16:00. I told him not to worry about coming with me; it was only a booking appointment after all. We would just be going through family medical history etc to establish whether I was going to be a 'risky' pregnancy and therefore whether my obstetric care should be handled by a doctor or whether it could be done by the midwife. It was also going to take up to 90 minutes so I told him not to come; he should get some sleep and come to the scan on Saturday and he wouldn't miss anything.

What I didn't know was that the midwife had a Doppler Monitor and was going to check the baby's heartbeat at this appointment. The rest of the appointment was exactly as I thought it would be - I'm a low-risk pregnancy so my care will be midwife-led - but I almost cried when I heard the heartbeat, not just because it was incredible but also because I knew Rob would be gutted he'd missed it. And that's when I remembered about the wonder that is the Voice Memo app on the iPhone...

I only had about 4% battery left on my phone as I hadn't been able to charge it up overnight on the flight, but it was just enough to get this recorded.

I played it to Rob when I got home, and then I cried ;). Hearing the heartbeat made it all seem real for the first time - even the weeks of morning sickness, weird metallic taste in my mouth and ridiculously heightened sense of smell didn't 'prove' to me that I'm pregnant; they're all symptoms that can be explained by other things. But this? Wow.

Plus, it's Rob's birthday today, and I think I'd have to try hard to top the sound of your first child's heartbeat as the best birthday present :).

Southampton to Santa Barbara in 20 hours

Flying miles: 5,471
Driving miles: 160; 64 from home to Heathrow, 96 from LAX to Santa Barbara

Woke up 07:00, car picked us up 10:00, arrived LHR 11:00 to make the most of lounge access. Saw Jason Statham at airport. Had Thai chicken wrap for lunch, boarded plane at 14:45, took off almost an hour late at 16:00, watched An Education (very good), threw up chicken wrap, had tomato soup, threw up tomato soup. Declined main course and dessert on account of previous record with food so far today. Slept on and off for 6 hours, threw up bile, had 3 sips of water and ginger biscuit, threw up water and ginger biscuit. Had to sit in seat for landing so threw up rest of ginger biscuit, water and bile into sick bag. Got through baggage claim and customs without having to find a loo: good, because there weren't any. Waited outside Hertz office in fresh air while Rob sorted out paperwork for rental car, left LAX in Volvo C70 just after 20:00, arrived at the Upham Hotel in Santa Barbara just before 22:00, with a quick stop at Camarillo to throw up stomach lining at side of road. Straight to bed at 22:30.

Got another 6 flights this trip - hope they're not all like this one...

Knocked Up

[NB As ever, this post is dated 18 January but was actually published two months later, but as this is my 'diary' and I want to record things as they happened, I'm posting to the correct day.]

I took a pregnancy test on Wednesday morning as, despite the fact that I'd had a negative test a week ago, I hadn't started my period.

It was positive.

So I took another test. I guess there's more than one way to pee on a stick right because that one came back with an error, so I took a third. That was positive too, so just to be sure, I took a fourth. And a fifth.

By the time I had taken the fifth test, even the one that had an error was showing as positive, albeit faintly.


By this point I was cautiously optimistic, but did still think that because I had bought all the tests at the same time, maybe I had just bought from a faulty batch. I showed Rob, who was very excited, and I rang the doctor to make an appointment, but the snow havoc meant that they didn't have all their staff in and the earliest they could offer me an appointment was this morning at 09:20.

The next opportunity I had to go to the supermarket to buy a different brand of test was Friday, but I had a PT session at the gym first thing. So I got up, peed in a plastic cup with a sealable lid, put said cup in my £450 handbag, went to my PT session, went to Sainsbury's to buy more tests (bought a two-pack), then went to the old house to pick up the mail. While I was there, I dunked one of my new tests in the cup, and voila:


This time around I was pretty sure it was accurate, and seeing as I had another test left, I did it on Saturday morning and got another positive ;). If I needed any further confirmation, last night I started feeling quite nauseous. As it turned out, the doctor didn't re-test me this morning when I saw her, presumably because home pregnancy tests are as accurate as any test the doctor can do at this stage. If I had been less sure, I would have asked the doctor for another test, but I think 7 positive tests and sudden onset nausea are pretty conclusive...

So, I've been referred to the midwife for a booking appointment and a 12-week scan, although it didn't occur to me until after I left the doctor's that I won't actually be here at 12 weeks - we're going on holiday from 9 weeks to 14 weeks. I need to change GP anyway, as we no longer live in the right area for that one since we moved, so I'll arrange to register with a GP near the new house and let the new doctor know about the holiday.

My Christmas Jumper

For the last few weeks Rob has been teasing/taunting me with what he's bought me for Christmas. I like things to be surprises and therefore didn't want too many clues, so he limited it to 'a silly present, a nice present and an awesome present', something like that. This was the 'awesome' present:


Excuse the quality of the picture (taken with my phone) and the fact that I have no make-up on.

My guess is the Christmas Jumper is going to become a tradition in the Harrop family :).

Hopalong - Again

I sprained my ankle at the gym this morning. The one I injured last year when I got knocked off my bike. Actually, I sprained it twice this morning: clearly I didn't do a good enough job the first time. I was doing walking lunges and felt my left ankle give way, so I stopped and told Sophie what had happened last year and that my left ankle in particular is now quite weak. We did other exercises then went on to step-ups. I started out with my right leg, then when Sophie asked me to change legs, I wondered if I should say that I didn't think my left ankle was strong enough to step off the box onto the floor - particularly carrying the extra 20kg in weights Sophie had put in my hands. That's what I should have done. Instead, I thought I would give one a try and see how it felt.

Suffice to say it didn't feel good. My ankle caved underneath me, I dropped the two 10kg weights, fell backwards and landed hard on my bum. Ben was training Rob at the time and watched me go down, so the two of them came over to see if I was OK. Ben had a look at my ankle, moved it around a bit and said he thought it was probably only over-stretched, rather than torn or anything worse, and I should try to walk as normally as possible on it (i.e. not limp if I could manage it) and even do a short session on the bike tomorrow to loosen it off.

My ankle has swollen up a bit on the outside, and I'm trying my best to walk evenly, without limping, but it's proving quite difficult. It's nothing like as bad as it was last year, though, and I imagine it will be alright again within a few days to a week.

New York: Saturday and Beyond

On Saturday's agenda: shopping!

We made a list of the stores we wanted to visit around 5th, then plotted a route round them all that didn't involve too much doubling back. We had a great time browsing, but an even better time purchasing :). I got some beautiful special-occasion jewellery; it will look great at Christmas with my LBD. I left it at the store until Monday as I won't need it while I'm here. The store even cleaned all of my other jewellery for free!

We made time for a gym session in the afternoon, then headed off to Madison Square Garden for a hockey game in the evening. It was New York Rangers vs Florida Panthers and we really enjoyed ourselves. The Rangers lost, unfortunately - and by that I mean unfortunately for us, as it didn't please anyone sitting near us - but it was a great night. We bought the obligatory hot dogs, enormous drinks and, of course, a foam finger :).

Sunday was a busy day: gym first thing, then Rob went to a barber's down the road for a haircut and shave while I spent a couple of hours in the spa having a facial and manicure. We just had time for a delicious lunch at the hotel (which was free - part of our package) before going to the Gershwin Theatre for the matinee performance of Wicked. I needed the loo before it started and the queue was really long, but we were in plenty of time. A lady behind me in the queue remarked that there were only two stalls in the toilets, and something about it being because this theatre was so old, so I looked it up when we got back. It was built in 1972! I guess someone's idea of 'old' is all relative...

It was my third time seeing this show in just over two years, but the first time I'd seen it on Broadway. It was fabulous; the fact that the stage was so much wider than the one at the Apollo Victoria in London meant that the view from almost any seat was unobstructed. Great cast, great songs, great show.

After the show we had a quick stop at the hotel to change then we got a cab to the Upper West Side to meet Mark, Daniela and David for a meal, which was lovely. The last time we saw Daniela was in 2005 and she was 6 months' pregnant; they've got two boys now. We had some really good food in good company.

Monday was a slow day: just a trip to the luggage store to buy a new suitcase (we planned to buy one all along as we need another one, but it's a good job we did as our purchases from just four days almost filled it), a walk up to the jewellers to pick up my bling and a quick stop at a shoe store for some Fitflops. Just as we were waiting for our car to pick up us to take us to Newark, it started raining. I couldn't believe we'd spent all weekend in New York in November and the only rain we saw was in the cab on the way in and for 5 minutes before we left. And it wasn't even all that cold - incredible. Shame the weather hadn't been this nice when Mum, Jen and I were here in May...

Rob commented that if a 6- to 12-month work assignment came up in New York, he would volunteer to do it. I think I could live with that.

Two consecutive weekends at home now - that hasn't happened since mid-September. In fact, we haven't even had one weekend at home since mid-September ;).

New York: Friday

I love New York. I woke up Friday morning, thankfully not too early as is usually the case the first morning after I've flown west, and felt strangely surreal about meeting famous people last night. I like to think that people are just people and I don't get fazed by celebrity, but I think that's only because I've never met anyone quite so famous before. Actually the whole experience was a bit surreal - what do you say to people you think you already know in some way? You can't exactly ask them 'So, what do you do?' and they aren't interested in what you do (although I did discuss Manchester and the North West with Daniel Craig, as he's from that area too). Still, an interesting, if a little bizarre, experience.

Moving on. We got up, dressed and went to a deli round the corner for breakfast, then headed off to the Empire State Building for the now-compulsory bird's-eye view of the city. The weather was fantastic for that time of year: bright and not too cold at all. We got the usual shots from the top of the Empire State, and this time we paid to go to the 102nd floor, which quite honestly was not worth the money. It was much quieter, but it was inside so all our pictures were taken from the other side of the glass and only gave you exactly the same view as the 86th floor, albeit you could spend as long as you liked gazing into the distance as there weren't hordes of people waiting to stand in your spot.

We got the subway up to 57th & 7th and had lunch at Carnegie's deli, opposite Carnegie Hall. They are famous for their portion sizes, and in hindsight it possibly wasn't the best place to eat considering we didn't want to over-indulge too much this weekend. But it was definitely an experience! Rob ordered a turkey, bacon & swiss sandwich and got this:


He made a valiant attempt at it but really didn't come even close to finishing it. I ordered a hot bacon & egg roll and I finished it, but it was less than half the size of Rob's...

After lunch, we went for a walk through Central Park, and it was perfect weather for it. I took a couple of shots:




We went for an early meal at Tao on 58th Street. We'd eaten here when we came in 2005, and we ate at Tao Las Vegas in March, but this time we weren't so impressed. The food was very nice, in fact I had shabu shabu for the first time since Kyoto in June, but the place was just a little too pretentious. OK, very pretentious. But at least we lowered the tone a bit. A lot.

We deliberately booked an early meal as past experience tells me the second evening is when I'm at my tiredest (although maybe it just has to do with sitting still), so we went back to the hotel and crashed out afterwards.

A Steady Rain

We flew to New York today for a belated birthday weekend trip. Rob planned it all, and he did a great job of it. We flew Virgin Upper Class from Heathrow to JFK, and we were like two kids in a sweet shop both in the lounge beforehand and particularly when we got on the plane, what with the fully flat bed, free toiletries, free food etc. :).

We got a cab into the city at around 5pm, which made the journey quite long, but not too bad. Our hotel gave us an upgrade - in fact, we worked out that we were upgraded by two levels of room, not just one. Our room was stunning, with a lounge area, big dining table, separate bedroom, even a mini-kitchen - but the best part about it was the view. Here it is, overlooking St Patrick's Cathedral.


We had just enough time to order some room service before we headed out to the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre to see A Steady Rain starring Hugh Jackman & Daniel Craig. The play started at 20:00 and ran straight through for 90 minutes with no interval. I think of all the times I could have benefitted from an interval, this was it. Despite the fact that the play was excellent, by 21:00, which was 02:00 our time, my eyes were closing and I was struggling to stay awake. An interval, and a chance to walk around and stretch my legs, would have been most welcome!

Still, I woke up good and proper after the show finished when Rob and I met Hugh and Daniel backstage :).


I loved this play. It was quite shocking in places, but absolutely riveting (despite the overwhelming urge to sleep). Just the two of them, with very little in the way of a set - just two chairs and a lamp, really. Fantastic. And very lovely in real life too :).

Birthday Treats

Rob gave me my birthday present last weekend so I could take it to Geneva with me: -


But today I also got a beeyootiful bunch of flowers: -


And a card, which he said is possibly the best card he's ever bought: -