House hunting in Asturias, Elsa has a broken leg, family dinner, cooking with Eva, to Montrondo with Suzy, coronavirus news is bleak and other stories.

Montrondo, Sunday 26th July, 2020

The four of us with Pippa - family dinner at Oli's on Tuesday evening.

Good morning everyone. How are you doing? 

Well, here we are in our beloved village and in our beloved house in Montrondo. We came on Friday with Suzy - such a treat - and will be staying for a week or so. We are far away from coronavirus or at least we think we are. There are over 16 million cases in the world now with the total death toll reaching 645.000. Spain has seen a dramatic rise in cases after the end of lockdown on 21st June last. Outbreaks are growing every day, so much so that we are up to 1000 new cases per day, more than some of the days during lockdown. Most of the cases originate from young people enjoying night life - now curbed - and by family reunions. We have Eladio's family here and have to be very careful. Last night we heard on the news that the UK and some other countries will impose quarantine on tourists returning from Spain. The main areas affected are in the North East - Catalonia and Aragón but there are spikes all over the country. Spain's figures are dramatic for post lockdown but this is not the only country experiencing a surge in new contagions. France, Germany and Belgium are experiencing a rise too with France also reporting 1000 new cases per day. This is very worrying and I just hope we all won't have to go back into lockdown. We had all hoped for a semi virus free summer, so needed to boost tourism, but either the virus never went away or this is a new wave. Masks are obligatory nearly everywhere in Spain both indoors and outdoors and we even have to wear them here in supposedly virus free Montrondo when we step outside our garden. 

I don't have as much to tell you this week as I did in my last post as we have had rather a quiet week at home in Madrid until we came here. It was very hot, extremely hot, and if it weren't for the pool I have no idea how we would have coped. 

Last Sunday it was put to full use. Our house was full too. We had the French family of 4 and our 2 Catalan guests who brought their son, Albert, in the afternoon. Suzy had a guest too, a school friend Pili who she has known since she was tiny. Thankfully the house and garden are big enough to accommodate everyone and there are lots of corners to hide or maintain independence.

On the topic of houses, we continued our online search for a house in Asturias, inspired by our holiday there. We have found a few we think we might like but have to see them first. We are not sure whether we want a house in a village or a town or somewhere more remote. What we want for sure is a house that is pretty, built in the local style, doesn't need a lot of repair, is not too far from the coast and that has at least  3 or 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a garden of some sort. There is one that looks great online and ticks nearly all the boxes but we won't know if it is "the house" until we see it.  This is it.  

The house we like best so far. 

One box it doesn't tick is that it doesn't have a traditional Asturian type granery called "horreo" in Spain. I can imagine turning one into a dream Airbnb apartment. I absolutely love them but they are usually are built on farm like houses, something we would love too so long as the coast is near. The house above is less than 1km to the beach and is in a small fishing village. 

A typical Asturian granery

It's so exciting house hunting again. I had no idea that at this stage in life we would be embarking on buying another house; as if we didn't have enough with our main home in Madrid, our apartment in Santa Pola and our restored house in Montrondo. Well, it's all thanks to Airbnb. If we continue to get income from renting rooms and our houses, then another one in Asturias may well be worth it. The idea is to use it ourselves as well as rent it out.  This summer most Spaniards are taking staycations and rural areas are the most popular. Asturias is possibly the only coronavirus free region in Spain and is more popular than ever this summer. 

I had that on my mind last Sunday and searched online and would continue to do so all week. Sunday was a pleasant and quiet day for us, so there is not much to tell. The afternoon was spent in the shade by the pool but the highlight of the day was dinner with Suzy and Pili which we had on the kitchen terrace. Our meal consisted of home made vichysoisse followed by Scottish smoked salmon with creme fraiche, dill,  boiled potatoes and a little coleslaw. Later we started a new series on Amazon Prime which was right up our street; about a missing girl. We are suckers for kidnapping detective stories. If you are into this genre, it's a French series called Last Chance.

I was up at 6.30 on Monday morning, ready to start the week. It was to be another scorcher. I did a bit of gardening that morning. It's not something I do often. This is Eladio's domain but I am in charge of dead heading the roses and doing a similar job with the geramiums that surround the pool. Despite the irrigation system, nearly every time we come back from a trip the flowers are all fading. That morning, aided by little Eva, the French family's delightful 7 year old daughter, I did both jobs. Suzy caught me on camera. I don't look too good wearing my old Marks and Spencer nightie hahahaha but that's how I come down for breakfast until I do my ablutions later on.

Me removing the dead flowers, mainly the geraniums, on Monday morning

It was too hot  to go on our walks and I missed them. I spent the morning quite lazily with my only responsibility being to make lunch and I decided on something simple. Thus I had a lot of time on my hands which I put to use by sitting in the garden under the trees reading. My Catalan guests meanwhile were having a leisurely breakfast on their own private patio on the ground floor and my French guests were by the pool. Eladio went off to have a haircut and came back worried he may have caught Covid. I don't think he did. 

The highlight of the afternoon was a catch up skype call with my dear and oldest friend Amanda. And the highlight of the evening was watching Oli on TV as we do every day from Monday to Friday. Her programme, España Directo usually starts at 19.45 or later at 8 pm and she is on very soon after the start. I watched her with Suzy and we were both very much in awe when we saw her that day. She simply looked spectacular. Her hair was perfect; the best we have seen. Her makeup too as well as dress and high heeled shoes. Her diction was perfect as was her reporting. When we watch her we are so in awe we hardly pay attention to what she says. That's wrong of us but I suppose natural as we are her family. Suzy took a video and later told her sister she had never seen her looking so poised or beautiful. Oli commented it had taken a week to get the look right. I suppose we would all look good if we too had a personal stylist, hairdresser and make up artist! Unlike me, Oli didn't put on any weight after giving birth to Elliot last September and her figure looked very trim in an elegant shocking blue tight fitted dress.

Oli reporting live. She gets better and better

You can see the clip here by the way. She confessed to us that being a presenter rather than a reporter which has always been her job, has its challenges. She had never used a teleprompter before and found it difficult as she is used to speaking live. You might be interested to know that she creates her own content and writes the text for the teleprompter. I think she doesn't use it much as she knows her subject very well. 

Her news was dire though. That day there were over 150 outbreaks of Covid in Spain all over the country but the two most worrying areas were and are Catalonia and Aragón. The number of new infections rose dramatically that day. That is something we haven't seen since the end of lockdown. The only good news is that people are not dying or very very few as this virus seems to have changed. As I wrote above, the main reason for new contagion is the result of family reunions and young people enjoying night life. Night life in all the areas of new outbreaks has now been suspended. In Barcelona, they are nearly back in lockdown. What a difficult life the pandemic is causing for us all. 

The day ended with dinner on the kitchen terrace with Eladio and Suzy. Suzy had been singing in our neighbour, Julio's band that afternoon and later gave us a little concert by singing and playing her ukelele. She is so good and we love listening to her.

Tuesday came. There was good news on two fronts regarding the pandemic. A so far, seemingly successful vaccine being developed by Oxford University is in the offing, although of course it won't be on the market for possibly up to a year. The other good news was the outcome of  EU talks on funding for the economies hit by the virus. After marathon talks the EU leaders agreed to a 1.82 trillion euro recovery fund and budget. Out of this, 390 billion euros will go to direct grants with countries not having to return the funding. At last the EU have taken a step in the right direction. It has taken a lot longer than it should have. All in all, in my view, the EU as an entity has not behaved as it should and instead of rallying round, it has been each to its own. Hopefully that has changed now.

On the home front it was a quiet day and hot again. Straight after breakfast Eladio and I got in touch with several of the estate agents of the houses we had put on a short list to see in Asturias. The one we liked most, the red one above, had gone down in price but has its drawbacks; lots of steps and no central heating. We planned to go and see the houses once we were in Montrondo.

I spent part of the morning baking and I got help from little Eva who was keen to learn how to make salmon and leek pies. She follows me everywhere and is a bit like my shadow. Her little brother David, aged nearly 4, does too and I'm afraid he is a little difficult to understand so I am not sure what to answer. On the topic of food, he made it very clear that his favourite is ice cream, hahahahaha. Well, it's mine too. He told me that sadly his parents only let them have ice cream at the weekends! Eva also told me she didn't think it was fair that when they went out to restaurants, her mother wouldn't let her choose what she ate and she had to eat what her mother decided. The parents seem very strict but then again these two kids are extremely well behaved. 

These were the pies we had for lunch. I also took some to Oli's that night for our family dinner.

My home made salmon and leek pies

If you are interested to know how to make them, I used shop bought puff pastry and the filling was, and in this order:  a small layer of leek followed by a piece of uncooked salmon spread with craime fraiche and topped with fresh dill and then another layer of leek and a few peas. We had the pies with home made broccoli, mushroom and carrot soup. My father ate everything on his plate. 

As I had been up at 5.50 that morning, I needed to catch up on my sleep and was lucky in that I was able to sleep for one hour after lunch. Later I went down to the pool and jumped in to cool down. I was joined by Suzy later and by my shadow, little Eva. Here is a photo of the two of them together.

Eva and Suzy on Tuesday afternoon

Soon Suzy left us to go up and give a lesson to her deaf pupil, Olga, who is a tourist guide for the hard of hearing. They get on very well. I had to leave soon to go with Eladio to the vet. We had made an appointment as Elsa, our 9 year old labrador, had been limping lately. 

We had to join a queue outside and even though our appointment was for 6.30, we didn't go in until about 7.15. Only one person could accompany pets, so I went home to wait.  Here they are in the queue that day.

Eladio and Elsa outside the vet on Tuesday afternoon

I drove home and would later pick them up about one hour later. Eladio kept us posted. 

Meanwhile, Suzy and I were able to watch Oli on the TV again. We never tire of it. These days we are always to keen to see what she is wearing and that day she looked spectacular in red.

Oli ready to go live on TV on Tuesday evening

We are always thrilled to see her live. There is something magical about being on TV. She later told us that a famous Spanish actress, Cayetana Guillén Cuervo, who was also being made up, saw her and commented just how beautiful she was. Wow that is something coming from a famous actress. She looked great on screen as she always does. You can see her clip here by the way. 

Oli presenting live on Tuesday dressed in red

The news on Covid was less drastic than the day before with cases not so high but still too high. I imagine we shall be living with outbreaks forever, just as we do with flu. 

We got updates from Eladio who told us the vet thought Elsa had a broken leg - the tibia on her right hind leg. In a way we were relieved as we thought she had dysplasia which is very common in labradors and also means complicated surgery. She had to be sedated for the X-ray. Here she is, poor thing.

Elsa sedated for her X-ray

The X-ray confirmed his opiniom and the operation is going to cost in the region of 1.5k (shit) but the good news is that it is not urgent and amazingly she is not in any apparent pain. The operation is supposedly a very simple one. None of us know how she broke her leg but the vet said it is was very common. She will probably be operated on next week or the following week. 

Soon both Eladio and Elsa were back and we set off to Oli's house for dinner a bit later than planned. I had hoped to be there early enough to see Elliot at the pool. Unfortunately he was asleep when we got to their flat. We had taken along food for dinner; 4 mini tortillas made by Lucy and the rest of the salmon and leek pies. As soon as we were sitting around the table and before tucking in, I asked Miguel for a photo as it's not often the four of us are together and I got the lovely picture above, the one I have chosen as this week's feature photo. It was a pity Elliot was still asleep when it was taken. Dinner was delicious and just as we were finishing our grandson woke up. He was amazed to see us all there but immediately recognised us. He couldn't choose between Eladio and me although I have to admit he has a slight preference for his grandfather. Eladio is always a magnet for children and animals. He is now 10 months old and is nearly walking and is such a delightful and cheerful little boy. Suzy and I played with him and his huge array of toys; all hand me downs from a friend of Oli's. 

The dinner and family gathering did not have a good end though. Oli picked up the table cloth to shake the crumbs out of the window and with it went one of Elliot's t-shirts. Suzy and I went down to get it and oh dear, there was Eladio's phone she had thrown out too unknowingly. It fell on grass but from such a height that it was broken. I felt so sorry for my husband as our phones are the centre of our universe these days. Thankfully we have old phones at home, the same model as his -but the hassle of transferring all his data and get it up and working for him would fall to me and it's a long and tedious job. 

We were home by 11.30 and Eladio and I watched more of our series until we fell asleep at possibly 1 in the morning. I woke up to rain on Wednesday at about 6.30. My gosh it was pouring it down. By 8.30 the sun was out again. That day I had lots to do. First I had to set up an old Samsung Galaxy S7  of mine for Eladio. That proved difficult because of problems with accessing his Samsung Account. I'm not joking but it took me most of the day. Meanwhile in the morning we went to a phone repair shop who first gave us an estimate of 129 euros to repair the screen and then later increased it to 159. We said no as that's what a second handone would cost. So he is now using my old S7 Edge which is about 4 years old. 

We also went out to do errands for Olivia; first to the post office to pick up some Ali Express parcels which had taken months to arrive and then to the town hall to get a document proving our address. We learned there we had to have a prior appointment so would have to return the next day. The whole of Tuesday felt like a marathon until I was finally out of the thick of it and had some time to myself in the afternoon. By then I was exhausted especially after having got up at 5.30 in the morning. Eva wanted my company as she always does. She is a lovely little girl. I had promised we would make ice lollies together. She wanted to make them with yoghurt and fruit. She chose banana and I chose mango to which we added some pineapple. Here she is making the lollies.

Eva making ice lollies

Once they were in the deep freeze, I had an hour or so to myself under the trees by the pool and later went in. At about 8 pm we saw Olivia live again on TV. The cases of the newly infected had gone down but just a little. Eladio, meanwhile, was looking at more houses in Asturias and I looked with him and later made a short list which is actually quite long. The day ended with dinner on the kitchen terrace with Eladio; just the two of us as Suzy had gone to see Elenita.

That day new guests arrived  at our apartment in Santa Pola and seemed pleased with the place. Lucy, my neighbour, gave them a very warm welcome. If it wasn't for Lucy we would not be able to list our home there on Airbnb. She is a treasure.

Our entertainment that night was the last episode of the French series Last Opportunity. We haven't found anything interesting since. 

I was up at 5.50 on Wednesday morning. I had a productive morning again, most of it spent on organising our house hunting in Asturias. I drew up a document with the details of our short listed houses which are all in the Cudillero, Candás and Llanes area. We shall be visiting them while we are here which is a much shorter drive than if we went from Madrid. I also spoke to  various estate agencies with Eladio listening and talking to them too. We are very excited about this new project in our life. One of the houses was basically a rural hotel (casa rural) and is all set up to rent out. Imagine, owning a hotel! Don't think we are rolling in it, as property is pretty cheap in this area but also in demand for renting. I tried to rent somewhere on Airbnb for a couple of nights this coming week - the height of the season - and couldn't find anything which goes to show that Asturias is a very desirable holiday destination. 

I also did lists, a shopping list and a list of stuff to bring here - mostly food, as there are no shops in the vicinity. Then there was lunch to make and dear little Eva helped me make a batch of "bitki" to freeze. I only stopped to say goodbye to our Airbnb guests, Manel and Gelia. We had hardly seen our Catalan guests during their stay. They were house hunting too but for a flat in Madrid for their 26 year old son, Albert - lucky him. We wished them farewell and hope to see them again in September. They seem more like friends than guests. That's possibly because we have a lot in common. They are my age roughly and Gelia is a teacher and Manel was a company executive like Eladio and I but the other way round. 

Soon it was lunchtime and then siesta time straight afterwards. You may have noticed I do my work in the mornings so as to be free  in the afternoons. That afternoon I was joined by Eva of course but also by my dear daughter Suzy. It's lovely to have her for company. She was working on the after class evaluations she has to do but then played the ukelele and sang for me - my own private concert. She is trying to perfect her version of Lady Gaga's "Always remember me this way", a song I love. When I hear her singing it I think to myself that I shall always remember HER that way too. You can see and listen to her here on my You Tube channel. As I am so proud of her I posted it on Instagram and on Facebook. One of my friends, Carmen, a journalist commented that I have two very talented daughters. She is right I do and I love them both so much. 

Later the two of us watched Oli again on TV as we do every day at around 8pm when her programme starts. The news she brought was not good - nearly a 1000 new Covid cases in 280 areas in Spain with one town going back to stage 1 of lockdown. Oh dear I do hope this doesn't mean that we shall all be going into lockdown again soon. The only good thing is that people are not dying or very very few. Authorities warn that that could change. Ominous.

Olivia presenting live on Thursday

Oli told us later that the tele prompter didn't work so she had to improvise but thankfully she knew all the figures off by heart as well as all the names of the towns. She is so used to presenting live rather than using the prompter, it was not a problem. Good for her.

I also improvised; referring to dinner that night hahahahaha. I always love our dinners together on the kitchen terrace and time with Suzy afterwards before going to bed.

Friday came and I was up at 5.50. I do wish I could sleep longer damn it. I had lots to do that morning to get ready to leave for Montrondo. After I had done our packing, Eladio and I went out to food shop to leave provisions at home and take enough to Montrondo for a few days as the last thing I wanted to do here was to go shopping on Saturday morning.

We went to the chemist, to Mercadona, then took a break and had a coffee together and from the bar drove first to Carrefour Market and then to BM. It was so hot that day with temperatures reaching 38ºc in the Madrid area that I couldn't wait to be in Montrondo where it is much cooler. We didn't leave until around 4 and just as we were leaving the guest fridge we had bought from El Corté Inglés arrived and was installed in the kitchen. Now our guests will have their own fridge and we will have ours just for ourselves. It was about time.

Eladio drove all the way while Suzy worked in the back with Pippa at her feet and I browsed my phone or read. We only stopped once and it was horrible getting out of the car in such heat and having to wear our masks. Today in Spain, in nearly all the country, except for Madrid, it is obligatory to wear them inside and outside in all public places. We just couldn't imagine having to wear one on our walks in Montrondo which is rather ridiculous as so few people live here. However, the rules are one for all and really are made for cities and not sparsely populated villages. 

We arrived just after 8pm which is quite fast and I suspect Eladio was speeding. Let's hope we don't get another fine. It felt much cooler here as we got out of the car and we would need a cardigan or jumper later. We missed Olivia on the TV that evening but she sent us the link to her report and also a photo of herself just before she entered the studio. She had a new look I'm not sure I liked as much as the others. However, she waa spectacular in black.

A new look for Olivia on Friday

It took a while to unload and put away all the food I had brought and to unpack our suitcases but by 9 pm we were sitting on our lovely kitchen terrace and having dinner. Here are Eladio and Suzy together.

Dinner on Friday night in Montrondo - father and daughter

We had missed the news but of course we were up to date on the coronavirus situation in Spain which is looking dire. I'm not sure whether this a second wave or a continuation of the pandemic which just hasn't gone away. The number of those infected gets higher everyday. The only comforting thing is that most people have no symptoms, very few are dying and that so far care homes have not been affected. That has to be because they are now better protected. I just think the virus is going to live with us forever and that we shall be wearing masks, greeting each other with our elbows, washing our hands frequently, etc for some years. People will continue to work from home and international travel will never be the same again or will it I wonder?

Instead of watching the news we sat outside in the dark listening to Suzy sing and play her ukelele. She gave us another private concert and both Eladio and  I clapped as we were so impressed. 

We put an end to the day at just before midnight and went to bed. There was no need for air conditioning and we slept under thick duvets in sharp contrast to our home near Madrid.

I was up at 6.10 on Saturday morning. It was to be a lovely sunny and lazy day spent together, the three of us and Pippa. Suzy had a morning lesson so it was just Eladio, Pippa and I on our walk. We donned our masks to wear on the main road and village but decided to take the empty country paths where we could take them off. The sky was blue and it was already warm but nothing like Madrid.

View of Montrondo on our walk yesterday

We stopped to take photos on our way. One of my favourite spots is the birch tree lined path called "camino valle" which takes you to the top of the next village, Murias. Here we took photos too, like this one of me below.

On our walk yesterday

There was hardly anyone and not one soul to be seen on what I call our "secret path". On our way back instead of taking the main entrance to the village, Eladio took me across fields and to the church where we had to climb over a few walls. We were home on time for a coffee and I prepared our lunch which would be very simple; barbecued lamb chops with jacket potatoes washed down with gazpacho. Suzy, being vegan, did not partake in the barbecue. Pippa was delighted with the bones though.

Eladio grilling the lamb chops on the barbecue

The three of us had an extremely lazy afternoon chilling out on the grass behind our house. We read and again Suzy sang and played her ukelele. I enjoyed every minute of our time together.

Chilling out yesterday

Dinner time came and although we weren't hungry we rustled something up which we enjoyed on the kitchen terrace with its dramatic mountain back drop. 

It was on the news last night that we heard about the UK imposing quarantine on people arriving from Spain. That would affect two of Suzy's friends who had bought tickets to travel to Alicante at the end of August. Suzy had invited them to stay at our apartment there. I'm not sure they will want to travel now. I felt sorry for their plans being thwarted by the virus. We too have travel plans at the end of August, to Portugal, and I am wondering if we will be able to go. Time will tell.

Well my friends, it is now time to publish this blog post and go and prepare breakfast. Life goes on, despite the virus, and so it should but we must keep safe. So keep safe my friends until next time,

Masha