Sunday 10th October, 2021.
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| Precious time with my grandchildren |
Dear all.
Another week, another post. I have now been writing this blog for 16 years since September 2005. Every Sunday hardly without exception I have laid down my thoughts and memories of the week. It has become a big part of my life. I have readers from all over the world. The insights the blog platform provides are mind boggling. But no worries all readers are anonymous. This blog has received more than 680.000 page visits. As to where my readers are from that's mind boggling too. The top 15 countries my readers are from, in this order, USA, Russia, Spain, UK, Germany, France, India, Turkmenistan (unbelievable), Ukraine, Canada, Netherlands, Romania, China, Ireland and Sweden. I don't know anyone in Turkmenistan, so if you are reading this from there, please do reach out and tell my why you read my blog. I would love to know. This started out as a weekly diary mostly directed at girlfriends too far away to meet who were living in Mexico, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, France and the UK. I could never have known what it would grow into. As I ask readers from Turkmenistan I also want to ask anyone reading this post who doesn't know me personally why you do so. I can understand people who know me reading it, it's the ones who don't that intrigue me.
My blog post from last Sunday was sad. I shared with you the death of our dear beagle Norah, "naughty Norah" as we called her and the house has seemed very empty without her. We have lost 2 dogs this year and life without Norah and Elsa is not the same. Pippa, our mini dachshund is all we have left and I treasure her.
I also shared with you the latest on Covid as I have done since the pandemic began. We are beginning to see light on the horizon as numbers increase but very gradually thanks to vaccines. Last Sunday I reported that the worldwide figures for infections and deaths were 235.438,565 and 4.811,923. Today the figures have increased slightly to 238.373.896 and 4.863.150. In Spain we are down to 48 cases per 100.000 which is considered below the danger level. That means the virus is nearly under control. I think the good news is thanks to over 80% of the population being doubly vaccinated which is one of the highest numbers in Europe. We are now seeing about 1000 cases and 30 deaths a day. That is encouraging. In the UK the figures are not encouraging where there are an average of 700 cases per 100.000. On Thursday I saw the number of infected in just one day was 40.000 and deaths over 100. Why are the numbers higher in the UK than in most EU countries? Well, the vaccine programme which started out well has hit a plateau with about 67% people vaccinated - not enough. But also because there are hardly any other precautions in place; namely the face mask. In England it is no longer obligatory whereas in Spain it is in all public indoor environments. Now we have the threat of flu coming. So I urge you all to wear face masks wherever you go, especially in indoor public places and to continue to be vigilant and keep your distance with other people. We don't want to get both Covid and flu do we?
As you know we host guests at our big house on the outskirts of Madrid as we do in our houses in Asturias and Alicante. Covid of course affected the "business" and I was always worried about infection. Now, however, I am feeling good about my guests who all come with a negative PCR test and all are doubly vaccinated. That is the case of my current guests from Poland, Dariusz, Mishka and Macidj. They are here to work at the Spanish golf Open and tell me that even though they are vaccinated they are subjected to many Covid tests. I suppose that is now a part of our lives. The Spanish Open started yesterday at the exclusive club, "Club de Campo". The main attraction it seems is that the world's number one, the Spaniard, John Rham is playing although he is not winning.
They worked every day there including last Sunday. I only really saw them at breakfast. Since the tournament started on Thursday I haven't seen them at all. It's easy to guess where they are from by what they have for breakfast: open sandwiches with cold cuts and raw red peppers. Eastern European countries and the Nordics tend to have a savoury breakfast and my Poles too with salami on the menu every day. That had Norah before she died at their feet hoping for morsels. In my house info pack I warn about Norah eating guests' food. I shall have to update the pack (sigh).
I felt sorry for my Polish guests as last Sunday it rained and heavily. I imagined them working on the golf course in the rain. It rained until about 16h and from then on the sun came out. The Indian summer was back thank goodness and it looks like it will be until the end of the month.
We did nothing special on Sunday so let me move to Monday. I coincided again with my Polish guests as I made my breakfast and read the headlines. The main news of the week worldwide, in my opinion, was the Pandora Papers. No doubt you will be familiar with the story, the continuation of the saga of the Panama Papers.
These papers worked on by the ICIJ (Consortium of journalists) comprise 11.9 million leaked documents that exposed secret offshore accounts of 35 world leaders and hundreds of celebrities and business leaders. The ICIJ called this their "most expansive exposé of financial secrecy yet ..... surpassing the Panama Papers in 2016" Of course we do not know the source. It all boils down to the fact that the super rich are evading taxes of up to 32 trillion dollars, money desperately needed to fund health and education. It's people with ordinary salaries who have to make up for their secret hoarding of massive amounts of money and fork out from their meager salaries to comply with the tax man. It is true that it is not illegal to have offshore accounts but many of them are for money laundering which is illegal.
The names that have come up in the papers won't surprise you.
They include the King of Jordan, Premiere Putin, football coach Guardiola, the singer Shakira and even Tony Blair. In the UK the big hoohaa is related to donors to the Conservative Party, including donations by an ex Russian minister's wife. Why ever Russians would want to fund the Tories is beyond me but it is causing Boris Johnson a headache.
As if poor old Bojo didn't have enough problems at the moment. His biggest problem is getting supplies to petrol stations and supermarkets after Brexit and a supposed worldwide problem with supply and demand skewed in the post Covid era. So on Monday in the UK the Army was deployed to transport fuel to what are now called "forecourts". That is a new word for me. We always used to call them "garages" or "petrol stations". I shall stick to the latter. The Government had made a U turn and offered up to 300 visas for EU drivers but you know what? Less than 30 wanted a job as a lorry driver in the UK. Well, of course they didn't. Who would want to give up a full time job for a three month stint in unwelcome UK? That hurts.
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| The Army delivering fuel to British petrol stations. |
They might have to deliver turkeys and pork next. The other shortage being pig workers. There are not enough butchers now so pigs were going to be "culled" because of that or so I read. What a desperate situation.
There is actually a desperate situation regarding fuel the world over. In Spain the price of electricity has risen enormously - it's the highest in Europe. We noticed that when our latest monthly bill was 169 euros which is 40% more than usual. So is there a lack of fuel or what is the reason? It seems to be caused by the rise in the price of gas worldwide. The biggest gas producer is Russia and that means we are in their hands; it's not good when we are in the hands of Tsar Putin. In Spain a lot of gas too comes from Algeria and does so via Morocco. Well, Morocco has broken off diplomatic relations with Spain and now we only have one route for gas to come from Algeria and not two. The problem does not look like being solved in the short run and there is talk of shortages and rising prices when the winter sets in. It may yet be another "winter of discontent".
So Monday was not a good day, not for me really either. I was still upset after the death of our beloved beagle, Norah. The house feels so empty without her and even Pippa seems to notice. But there was a bright light on the horizon. On Monday 4th October my new granddaughter, Juliet, turned one month old. She is so sweet and still behaves nearly perfectly sleeping almost all the time in between feeds. Miguel sent me a photo to mark the day.
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| Juliet turned 1 month old on Monday a big milestone for her |
Fittingly a big parcel arrived for her that day. It was from my friend Joanne and her daughter Elisa. Joanne always overwhelms us with her generosity on significant moments in our lives. Oli rang in the afternoon to say that Elliot kept asking for us so could we come round to see them? Well, of course as we both love time with our grandchildren. He had just come back from school which he now likes and enjoys. His teacher is called "Itziar", impossible to pronounce for toddlers so it is shortened to "Itchy" (hahaha). He now likes his satchel too. It makes him look so "grown up" if that is possible. I remember the time we tried to put it on him for his first day at school and him refusing. It was just a question of time.
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| Elliot has now got used to his satchel |
Once at his house, he immediately asked me to sit on the floor with him to read a book. He did so by patting the floor as he can't really talk much yet. Meanwhile Oli opened the parcel. Inside there were cards for us, for Elliot and for my father; beautiful cards from England where they know how to make them best. There were presents for Elliot's 2nd birthday including a badge and a banner as well as Thomas the tank engine and book. For Juliet there was a very pretty outfit - all in pink. We tried to take photos of the presents and the kids but Elliot wasn't having it. However, we did get some photos like the one illustrating this week's blog post and the one below.
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| Time with my grandchildren |
I only got the photos the next day and not immediately as would normally have happened. That was because Facebook and the platforms it owns, Instagram and Whatsapp were down for more than 6 hours on Monday. It turned out to be an internal technical glitch and perhaps the longest outage the company has suffered yet. It was a funny feeling not being able to access them but not a bad thing for me at least. But for those who depend on it for more important reasons than just chatting, it was a disaster. What I find unacceptable is that nearly half or more of the world's population depend on the company that is a true internet monopoly as are Google, Amazon and YouTube. The world has created internet giants and monsters and that is not a good thing. One piece of good news relating to these giants though emerged this week. Most of the world's nations signed a deal to ensure big companies pay a fairer share of tax. 136 countries agreed to a corporate tax of 15%. I think that is far too low but at least it is a step in the right direction.
Facebook was not only in trouble because of the outage. It has been in the spotlight all week as a former worker became a whistle blower. She is probably the only inside voice to confirm what many of us, governments, too, already suspected. Frances Haugen accused the social media platform of "putting astronomical profits before people". She also said Facebook knew but covered up that Instagram was bad for girls and that it damaged young people and destabilised democracy. She said she believes she has proof that the company has ignored internal research that shows just how damaging its "products" can be to vulnerable users, especially young girls. Yet we all use it or are addicted to it as Facebook knows. That's what it pursues. Monday proved it is difficult to communicate without Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram. What I don't think is right is that nearly all our online communication is in the hands of one company which puts money before people. According to another source, the NGO CCDH (Center for Countering Digital Hate), hate sites attracting millions of clicks are more influential than any political party. Social media manipulates what we think and CCDH did an experiment to prove it by setting up a few Instagram accounts The study concludes that if you follow well being that prompts antivax content. If you follow antivax that then feeds you antisemitism and even QAnon and it goes on. If you follow QAnon it feeds you antivax again and Covid disinformation. In short "it deepens and broadens people's extremisms". To me it sounds positively Orwellian.
Even little Elliot is exposed to it when he watches his favourite cartoons on You Tube. You Tube and its parent company Google are also in the spotlight for similar behaviour to Facebook and co. Of course they are. As a woman friend in tech once said to me; "nothing is free; we are the product". So if we are the product, let's use social media for good causes and be very aware of fake news or hate posts. I always say look for the source. If the source isn't reliable, then don't share it.
We didn't stay for dinner as on Monday I had started my diet (let's see how long it lasts this time). It must be the umpteenth time I have but the kilos have piled on since the pandemic began and it was time to do something about it. Doing something about it isn't that easy. There has to be a decisive moment. Monday was the decisive moment. So no, we went home for dinner and had a tuna fish salad and some fruit. I felt good.
I felt even better when I got a sudden email from Airbnb. It was to tell me I was a super host again. The Airbnb superhost progamme rewards top rated and most experienced hosts. I have been one almost since my journey with Airbnb started. All my listings have the superhost badge. So, it was great to get it again. I also found out that I have had only 5 star ratings for the full year since last October. That is great and I felt good. It's nice to be rewarded. The materialistic reward is a a 100 dollar coupon to use on Airbnb. We use these every year, the last time being in La Rioja.
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| Superhost again on Airbnb |
It's a good programme but not as easy to reach as you can imagine. I don't have to go into the details of how I manage to maintain the status of super host. It boils down to excellent hospitality skills I suppose as well as good communication skills. But it also means keeping the properties in ship shape condition.
So Monday ended on a high.
Tuesday came, the second day of my diet and I felt good. It was a sunny day. Off we went to the bank again for the third time in the past few weeks. We had problems with our online digital signatures which kept being blocked. It was a boring errand but we were rewarded with a coffee outside in the sun afterwards. Before heading home I needed to get more greens for my diet so suggested to Eladio we try out a green grocer called "la portuguesa" which had been recommended to me.
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| La Portuguesa green grocer |
It was great but so much more expensive than Mercadona. We won't be going again.
We had plenty of veg for lunch with our "bitki" (Russian meat patties) that included seasonal pumpkin, mushrooms and small "padrón" peppers. The afternoon was quiet - me with my leg up watching Grey's Anatomy. I did go out though to my local private GP to pick up a prescription for my sleeping tablets. But I was soon home. Dinner was healthy again as I intend it to be until the weight sheds: omelet with asparagus and ham followed by delicious melon which is seasonal too.
We began a new series on Netflix that night recommended to me by my dear friends Sandra and Adele.
The Chestnut Man which is made in Denmark so I imagine belongs to that genre called "Nordic noir" which is not usually my thing. It is a gruesome serial killer detective series which apparently is addictive. We thought it was a bit complicated. I don't like complicated when it comes to night time entertainment as it only sends me to sleep. Eladio tells me he is a bit fed up of whodunits about missing people which is what we always seem to watch. Maybe he is right.
I didn't sleep too badly but not enough that night. On Wednesday I was up at 7ish. Wednesday was not a good day. My knee hurt and I felt the beginnings of a cold. Of course it crossed my mind it could be the dreaded Covid. The only way I could have got a cold was from contact with Elliot who gets them constantly at his day care centre. But no way I am giving up on seeing him because of catching a cold. I didn't do much that day. The highlight was when Oli and family brought our grandchildren here in the afternoon. What a joy to see them, especially Elliot. I adore Juliet of course but she spends nearly all her time sleeping and Elliot is a hoot to be with. He cheered me up immensely. I have come to the conclusion this week that grandchildren, when they are small, make you happy. So I felt happy when my grandchildren came to visit.
We had a diet type dinner on our own later - grilled fish with garlic accompanied by green beans. I went to bed on a light stomach but even so had a headache. I felt like an old woman getting ready to go to bed. Eladio watched Spain beat Italy in the semi final of a new football championship called the UEFA Nations League. That surprised me especially because it was played in Italy. While Eladio watched avidly I watched Grey's Anatomy on my iPad using not very good ear phones which meant I could hear all the football commentary. We only watched the TV together when it was half time and News time. I commented to Eladio that we already knew the news: the continued eruption of the volcano in La Palma which has now destroyed over 1200 houses, the price of electricity which is sky high, the Pandora Papers and an agreement in the coalition government on the "budget". Apart from the volcano it all bores me I'm afraid. There was though a new news item which was good news for once. Finally a vaccine for malaria has been developed and has been approved by the WHO. That is great especially for the African continent. In 2019 there were an estimated 229 million cases of malaria worldwide with Africa recording 67% of all deaths. And the approximate number of malaria deaths for that same year was 409.000. Did you know it took more than 30 years to develop compared to less than a year for the Covid vaccine. Ok I understand it is easier to make a vaccine against a virus than against a parasite but even so. I think that demonstrates that where there is a will there is a way and as Malaria only really affects poor people in Africa there wasn't the interest or the money as there was for Covid.
I didn't sleep too badly that night and got up at 7ish again on Thursday morning. It was another sunny day and another day spent mostly at home. Our guests were out all day so we had the house to our own. Only Eladio went out for a walk with Pippa - so sad. That day I had my follow up appointment with a traumatologist and he confirmed I still have water on the knee. He prescribed a different anti inflammatory pill called "etoricoxib" to be taken once a day as well as ice three times a day and no long walks. I looked it up on internet and was not too happy to see it has been banned in some countries due to side effects that could damage the heart. I asked the doctor when he thought the water would go away and his reply was vague; one or two months. That means one or two months without my daily walks. Damn it. But, at least it doesn't hurt and I can get around. I do miss my walks.
Thursday was day 4 of my diet which would be so much more effective with exercise. I made a winter stew for the family and had bitki with green beans for myself. Dinner was even lighter. That night Belgium played France in the other UEFA Nations League semi final. It looked like Belgium, ranked number 1 in Europe, would win but in the end you have to give it to the French who won 3-2. They have some amazing players. That means Spain will play France today in the final.
Friday came, our shopping day and an opportunity to leave the house. How pathetic, looking forward to doing the food shopping. We enjoyed the morning out including coffee at a street café.
We enjoyed watching the news too and our siesta. The news in Spain is still dominated by the volcano in La Palma which continues to erupt. It has now been exploding for 3 weeks and also causing countless earthquake murmurs from under the ground as far as 36 kilometres deep. I find it extraordinary that the earth is so deep. In its wake Cumbre Vieja has so far destroyed 480 hectares of land and 1200 buildings. The ash and toxic gas are causing havoc, not least interrupting air traffic. I read that only half of the houses destroyed had insurance. I hope the Government steps up and helps those who need it with enough funding for them to start their lives over.
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| Cumbre Vieja - the volcano in La Palma |
I cannot begin to imagine the suffering of owners looking on and seeing their houses destroyed or engulfed by the flames and lava. Can you?
The news wasn't all gloom and doom though. It seems there may be an end to the "sausage war" caused by the Northern Ireland protocol which Brussels says it is willing to renegotiate. Ah and this week has been Nobel Prize week. The prizes that always interest me are those for literature and the peace prize. I had never heard the name of the winner of the literature prize, a man from Tanzania - when I studied geography under Miss Fair at St. Joseph's (Catholic) Grammar School in Bradford, it was called Tanganyika. His name is Abdulrazak Gurnah and I have never heard of him. As many prize winners do when they get the news, he didn't believe it. His reaction was "come on, get out of here! Leave me alone". He eventually was persuaded to believe it was not a prank and said he was humbled and surprised to be this year's literature laureate. His books apparently centre on the effects of colonialism, possibly drawing on his own life story. He lives in the UK by the way since 1948 so is a contemporary of the "Windrush" people. I imagine now he will never be in threat of deportation. Well done Mr. Gurnah.
As to the Peace Prize it was given to two journalists, Dmitry Muratov from Russia and María Ressa from The Philippines. Both are considered dissident journalists in their respective countries where freedom of expression hardly exists. Muratov works for one of the only independent papers, Novaya Gazeta where 6 of its journalists have been murdered for their work. The Kremlin had to kowtow to international recognition of a journalist and newspaper it hates by congratulating the Russian journalist. I can only hope the prize will bring Dmitry and Novaya Gazeta some breathing space while they exercise their profession as it should be exercised; with freedom of expression.
I often think we in "The West" take for granted the privileges we have just because we are born here don't you?
Saturday dawned and Oli and family were coming for lunch. It was to be a lovely day. We decided on a barbecue which we hadn't had for ages so off we went in search of ingredients - all meat I'm afraid. We had coffee out and shortly after our return Oli and family arrived. What a delight to see our grandchildren again. I immediately took little Juliet to see my father for him to get a close up of his new great granddaughter. We all convened for a stupendous lunch outside with Eladio being the chef.
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| Eladio - the barbecue chef |
Elliot was in awe of the fire from the grill and kept saying "wow". He does love the elements (hahaha).
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| Elliot amazed at the flames of the barbecue grill |
The food was delicious and even better to eat it outside. The day was wonderful so sunny I remarked it was "pool weather". Elliot agreed and insisted in going in with his father who was more reluctant. It was sunny of course but in October the water can be very cold. Elliot didn't seem to mind.
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| Pool time yesterday |
Normally Eladio closes the pool at the beginning of October but as the weather has been so good and our guests are so attracted to it, this year we won't close it until the beginning of November. It will probably be open again in April.
While I watched Elliot with his father in the water and Oli sunning herself on one of the recliners, I reflected how lucky we are to live in Spain where the weather is so much better than my home country. When I lived in the UK as a girl, teenager and student before moving to Madrid in 1981, I always thought sun was a thing to enjoy on holiday. That's not so in Spain. It is one of the biggest attractions of this country, at least for me.
Meanwhile little Juliet, dubbed "la santa" (the saint) slept all through the proceedings. We tried to wake her up occasionally to feed her as she doesn't even cry really when she is hungry so we had her in our arms at times. I look at her perfect little face and wonder what sort of person she will grow into and what she will look like. No doubt she will be beautiful. I can't think otherwise.
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| Eladio with Juliet in his arms yesterday |
Miguel and Oli are so lucky Juliet is a "saint" as Elliot never was and still is the outright attention seeker. No doubt he will grow up to be a character.
The family left at around 7 pm as they had friend coming for dinner. I took one more look at Juliet lying peacefully in her little car seat and had to have another photo. She looked so angelic and utterly peaceful. I hope she is like that when she is a teenager (hahaha).
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| Angelic Juliet tucked up in her car seat when the family left yesterday |
Both Eladio and I concluded what a wonderful day we had had with our grandchildren with great weather and great food. Dinner was small and soon we were in bed.
Today is Sunday and the sun is shining again. This weekend is a bank holiday (El Pilar - patron saint of Zaragoza) and all our houses are full of guests. But tomorrow the guests in Asturias are leaving and we plan to go for a few days as the weather forecast is good there too. We both love staying at El Cuetu and no doubt I will be writing next week's blog from there.
Cheers till then all and take care,
All the best, Masha.
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