Sunday 6th February, 2022
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| Live on TV again this week |
Dear all,
I wish I could say it has been a great week. Unfortunately it hasn't and we won't have a good week until Felipe Turover (FT) is finally evicted. There is a light on the horizon though. On 17th February the civil court case will take place. Hopefully the judge will sentence him. However, the date of eviction is fixed for 4th April. So if all goes on our side he should be out a few days later. But, by God, 2 more months to wait is untenable. I had hopes for an injunction on 17th February because of the state of my health and his vandalism but our lawyer told me it would be very unlikely. To get an injunction he would have to have done something far more radical such as stabbing me! As you will read he actually did attack my daughter Olivia yesterday. Yes, you heard right. But I am still wondering if that is enough for the judge to issue an injunction. How unfair is this law. Right now all we do is live and breathe this nightmare. This week though I promise that today's post will not all be about the nightmare of living with Felipe Turover. Someone told me last week he could tell how stressed I was from the style of my blog. Of course my writing reflects my mood. Let me try to change that a little in today's post.
There has been good news this week; although not about us. Sunday saw Spain's 35 year old tennis idol, Rafa Nadal win the Australian Open in the most amazing way. Down two sets against the Russian Medvedev, he fought his way back to win in one of the longest 5 set matches of his career. Even he didn't expect to win telling the press that not so long ago because of suffering covid and worse, a damaged bone in his foot, he had considered putting down his racket. Winning the Australian Open gave him his 21st grand slam (13 French Opens, 2 Wimbledons, 4 US Opens and now 2 Australian Opens) making him the Greatest of all times (GOAT) in men's singles. Before the Melbourne tournament, he, Djokovic and Federer each had 20 majors to their names. Now he has beaten them. Hopefully he may win a 22nd at his favourite court in Roland Garros where he has won the French Open, considered the hardest tournament of all, a staggering 13 times.
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| Rafa celebrating his immense victory. He can't quite believe what he has done |
I wish I had been able to spend my time watching this nail biting game. My friend Sandra in Brussels kept me up to date but with instructions only to post good news. I was desperate for good news and have to confess when I knew the outcome I was overjoyed for Rafa Nadal and for my adopted country, Spain.
News of Nadal's amazing feat was on the front pages of newspapers the world round. He was acclaimed as the "greatest of all times" but many forgot to mention that this was in men's singles only. They also forgot to mention that 3 women come first. Margaret Court (24), Serena Williams (23) and Steffi Graff (22) are the women's G.O.A.T.s. So step up Novak, Roger and Nadal to see if you can beat the Australian Margaret Court. I remember her playing when she was still at the top of her game. She put down her racket in 1977. Her last win was at the Australian Open in 1976, the grand slam she won 11 times. She may have been the best woman player ever but not my favourite. Let me confess who that was. No, not Martina Navatrilova, nor Chris Evert. It was Billie Jean King. There was something so charismatic about that woman on court who today is still involved in tennis. As so many other sports figures including his rivals Djokovic and Federer, she also turned to twitter to congratulate Rafa. More recently she commented "I adore Nadal, what I like the most about about him is how much he respects tennis". I think that is what most people like about him as well as his humility.
Oli and I spent part of the weekend on a new press release to keep the story going. We had developments to share; namely FT's vandalism, the judge's refusal to issue an injunction and of course the anti corruption and police investigations we knew were being carried out. We sent it that night and on Monday morning. I also posted it on my LinkedIn page here.
Being with our grandchildren was another reason for not watching the match, apart from the fact that, unbelievably, it wasn't televised on mainstream TV in Spain. Also I had to accompany Oli for her all important booster jab to the local hospital. Her appointment was at about 12.30 and we were lucky in that the queue was not too long. Despite Covid, both Elliot and I were allowed to accompany her. Thus I was able to take a photo of this important moment.
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| Oli getting her booster job last Sunday |
On the subject of Covid, the figures for Omicron are so staggering I am wondering how, so far, none of the members of our family have caught it. Are we immune or have we just been lucky? According to the WHO half of the whole of Europe will be infected with the new variant very shortly. In Spain alone we have surpassed 10 million infections. 12 million new cases were detected in Europe alone last week. However, there has not been a significant rise in those needing hospital care. As I write now I have a lingering cold and so does Eladio. Last weekend I was worried it was Covid but thankfully the test I took proved negative. Eladio took his on Thursday and he too proved negative. Not so my dear friend Sandra and her nonagenarian mother Magda. Both of them have the Omicron variant as does my poor soon-to-be 100 year old mother-in-law. My hearts go out to them.
It was my only time out of the house that day. The sun was shining as it has all week and both Oli and I remarked how pleasant it would be to take advantage of the weather and go somewhere with the children. But that was impossible as someone has to stay at home all the time in case FT goes on the rampage again in our absence. Damn the man.
Just before Oli and I departed, "he" left the house. He asked for us to open the door - ridiculous as he can get out through any of the French windows. As he did, Oli called him a "criminal" to which he took a blind bit of notice. She also caught him on camera climbing over the gate. Eladio is furious he does that as he may break the remote opening system. In order to avoid that my husband suggested giving him a key. Oli and I were in total disagreement as the last thing we want to do is to make life easier for him.
Once back from the hospital he was still out and after lunch Eladio and I took a much needed siesta. I was woken up by shouting. Oh God what had happened? I soon found as I came downstairs and saw Oli leaning out of the lounge window, shouting at him and taping the scene with her phone. Both she and her partner, Miguel, had lost their patience. The four of us then huddled together and we decided to support them. FT of course rang the police once again. I was shooed away to my room. As things became tenser, Oli decided to ring our lawyer to see if our actions would go against us in court. She agreed they would and in the end in he came, playing and looking the homeless man which he isn't. However, we had left him out in the cold for about 2 hours which must have inconvenienced him quite a bit. He had brought with him a bag, once again, full of medicines. Where does he get them on a Sunday I wondered? So we had another drama crisis on Sunday which once again affected my nerves and I didn't sleep well again that night. How could I with him next door?
Monday came, the day the Civil Servant Sue Grey issued her much awaited "partygate" report with Boris Johnson in the middle of it. The whole of the UK had been waiting for the report. It was a bit of a disappointment as it had to be watered down owing to the Met's ongoing investigations of these same parties. I have no need to go into any of them as they are vox populi and are dominating politics in the UK. The main conclusion though is pretty incriminating. It tells of failure of leadership, poor judgment and heavy alcohol consumption in Boris Johnson's administration during the pandemic. So much for his having denied they were parties weeks before. That day he had to explain himself in Parliament and ended up saying sorry again. But no one believes him. He has no credibility and is not fit for the job. Theresa May, the former PM from his own party, agrees. In Parliament that day, she broke her silence and said "What the Sue Grey report does show is that No. 10 Downing Street was not following the regulations they had imposed on members of the public. So either my Right Honourable friend had not read the rules, hadn't understood what they meant - and others around him - or they didn't think the rules applied to No. 10. She then viciously added "Which was it?"
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| Theresa May questioning BJ on whether he understood the Covd rules |
She couldn't have put it better. He has to go. This has to be the end of him. Later in the week 5 of his top advisers left and no doubt more will follow. What we need is for 54 Tory MPs to send letters which will trigger a vote of no confidence. How can anyone have any confidence left him I ask myself?
I do want to see the end of Boris Johnson but am far keener on seeing the end of Felipe Turover. On Monday Eladio and I actually left the house to go on a walk together, our first in a long time. We were able to leave as Lucy was at home - someone always has to be here. It was while we were out another crisis happened. Oli and Miguel had come to our place to get something and coincided with "him" leaving, climbing over the gate as he does now.
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| Climbing over the gate in his 700 euro jacket |
Miguel taped the whole scene which you can see here. No doubt you are thinking the same as me. How on earth can this be legal? Well, it is in Spain where the law is on the side of the squatters. Why you might ask? Well the answer is simple, because the country's constitution says all citizens have the right to a home. A "home" though should not be someone else's private property should it? The government is happy to see this continue as social services have a very limited number of houses for the homeless. I understand the quandary of the "homeless" but it should not be homeowners' responsibility to house really vulnerable people or people like FT who is basically a criminal taking advantage of the system and squatter laws in Spain which make it a squatters paradise. In the tape Miguel urged FT to leave and later the damned man actually reported my daughter and her partner for not letting him leave the home. They were stunned and so were we. Here is the criminal reporting the owners. In any case they did not stop him leaving as is quite clear in the video. The next day Oli and Miguel went to the police station (Guardia Civil) to place their own report on him and deny they had not let him leave. What a shambles. That was Monday's crisis.
Meanwhile both Oli and I worked on getting the news from our press release to be told by the press. We have a problem with the written press which you will find stupid as I do. As the story was first told by Spain's leading paper, El País, no other paper will touch it. Why? Journalism competition seems to be the answer. Thankfully the TVs don't have that problem and that day the national private channel "Cuatro" got in touch. They did a story in an evening programme just before the news and we joined in via skype. It was quite an experience being broadcast by a TV on skype. Cuatro rang my skype to connect us. .What we hadn't expected and were relieved to see was that while we were being interviewed we could watch the programme (Cuatro al Día) live. Of much importance was what one journalist said. Summed up he said the top judicial body in Spain was discussing the very problem of the right to a home falling on the shoulders of private home owners like us. Olivia later talked to him and heard that the government is not going to include the issue of squatters in their housing reform bill. Damn it. But, at least it is being talked about and part of our campaign is to put a focus on how ludicrous the law is.
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| Live on Skype for an interview about the latest developments in our case. We are in the far right corner |
I have to say we have really had a crash course in how TV works these last few weeks. The woman in the photo above is actually our lawyer, Vero. It was only by coincidence that she was invited to the programme too. If only she could fight our case better.
It was that night when I got unexpected good news but on a very different topic. Booking who I work with for renting the house in Asturias and our apartment in Santa Pola, had written to me to congratulate me on achieving the Booking.Com Traveller Review Awards 2022 for the apartment. I got 9.2 out of 10. I would have got the same award for the house in Asturias where nearly all the reviews are between 8 and 10, except for one nasty man who gave me a 2. That 2 brought down my average to 7.9. Now it stands at 8.1 as our latest guests gave me a 10. But that was too late for the award. Hopefully, I will get it next year. I was pleased to get the award although I can't rent the apartment now as Suzy is living there. Oh dear.
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| Happy to get this award from Booking.com |
The award itself is not material. It is really a set of images to download which can be included in the listing or put on a window at the apartment. So, something good did happen on Monday.
Tuesday was busy to say the least. The morning started early. At 7 am a TV crew was coming from Telemadrid to cover the developments in our story. Great but wow that was a little early in the morning. Thus I got up at 5.15. I was ready by 7 and on air by about half past. The interview was once again conducted on the landing outside our door and "his". They later tweeted a clip which you can see here.
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| On TV again this week |
At 8 they wanted us again and this time included Eladio.
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| Eladio live on TV on Tuesday morning |
They later wanted to do a whole story for the midday news which meant the cameraman and journalist were here from 7 am to 11 am. Wow that was exhausting but very good for our campaign. We managed to watch ourselves on the 2 o'clock news and the story was much longer than we thought it would be. Here is their summary.
When they left we had to rush out as I had a routine medical test - a bone density test ordered by my
gynecologist who no doubt wants to see if I have osteoporosis given my age. While my whole body was being scanned all I could think about was our situation. I do wish I could think about something else. I can't read as I can't concentrate so when I can and I have time I watch Netflix or similar. This week I saw a great film which, unfortunately, had me thinking about FT. Called "Backstabbing for beginners" it tells the story of Michael Sullivan a junior diplomat in the UN who is put in charge of the "Oil for food" programme for Irak when there were sanctions and people were starving. He found out everyone even in the UN were taking kick backs and that the programme was completely corrupt. Coincidentally our man, the Russian KGB officer worked side by side with Putin when he was the vice mayor of St. Petersburg on a similar "oil for food" programme. We reckon that's where FT made his money which he has now probably all spent. Why did he have to end up here?
I also watched a great spy story set in Russia - yes probably around the time FT was born. Called "The Courier" it is based on the true story of a British business man turned spy, Greville Wynne, who unwittingly helped end the Bay of Pigs Missile crisis in Cuba in the 60s. It had me riveted. I don't know why but I always prefer films based on true stories.
I did not watch much on Tuesday afternoon as I had a very pleasant and long Skype call with my best friend Amanda. That night though I watched a new film about Ann Frank. Called "My best friend Anne Frank" it is the story of the friendship of Hanneli Goslar who survived Anne. As many many people I have always been fascinated with Anne Frank's diary. I was privileged to visit the annex where she and her family hid in Amsterdam a few years ago which had a profound impact on me. Poor dear girl. Her life was cut short so cruelly but my goodness she has never been forgotten. She is the icon of youth that we all remember when thinking about WW2.
It was on Wednesday that I played my first game of Wordle. No doubt you have heard of it or have been playing it for a while. I had been too wrapped up in our drama to take much notice but I did this week when I had a moment to find out what it was all about. It is a word game phenomenon that has been taken up by millions. So, as I love words and always loved scrabble I thought I should at least try it out. It hasn't taken me long to get into it and become addicted like many people around the world. This game was created by a young man called John Wardle in Wales. He did it for his girlfriend during lockdown. Now it has become a world craze and was recently bought up by the New York Times. It is said that Wardle made a million dollars or more (7 figure amount). Good for him. The game is deceivingly easy. I think though there is an element of luck in it. It challenges players to guess from scratch a 5 letter word in 6 attempts. One new word is released every 24 hours. I'm glad there is only one a day as otherwise I would probably find myself playing wordle all day long. There are some caveats though to its success. For the moment it is only available in English but not UK English, only US English which is an obstacle for us Brits who prefer English spelling. Thus words like "favour" are spelled "favor" which is very annoying.
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| My first attempt at Wordle |
Wordle is being mentioned everywhere so when I saw a comic in The Times of Boris Johnson playing the word game which I doubt he bothers with - he has too much on his plate what with partygate and the Ukraine - I had to share it. Here you go. Simple and funny.
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| Boris playing Wordle haha |
If you haven't tried the game and like words, go for it. But you won't find an app (yet). Rather you have to go to the website. Go for it. I did and I love it.
On Wednesday more cameras came, again from TeleMadrid. The lovely Laura from the programme "120 minutos" was with us by about 12.30. I was grateful to her and her programme for continuing our story. Here she is practicing before we went live.
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| More TV cameras on Wednesday |
When the TV crew left it was time for lunch and there sitting on the kitchen table was an envelope from England. I couldn't guess what it was or who it was from until I opened it. It was a copy of The Telegraph dated 5th January including my father's full colour obituary sent to me by my dear friend Amanda. I was amazed to see it took up a whole half page which is a lot for a broadsheet. I am wondering whether to frame it. What a lovely souvenir to have. My father kept his own father's obituaries when he retired as Canon of Bristol Cathedral in the 60s and I have them too. I am eternally grateful to the journalist J. Kerridge, who wrote it. He was inspired by the obit in The Yorkshire Post. So thank you Jake for this obituary which I shall always treasure.
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| My father's obituary in The Daily Telegraph - a copy of which arrived this week |
We were able to relax in the afternoon but were worried. Eladio had bad news about his mother who, apart from Covid, fell ill again this week and doctors talked of "palliative care" that day and we all know what that means. However as the week progressed she got just a little bit better. Eladio was unwell himself with a bad cold which he must have caught from me. His was worse than mine poor chap. That day, as far as we knew, FT, did not leave his room. I often wonder what the hell he does all day when he doesn't leave the house. But I don't feel at all sorry for him as he has brought this upon himself. At least there was no crisis caused by him on Wednesday for once.
Thursday saw us at the garage taking my Mini to have the brakes mended (important) and then rushing to a Social Security office where I had managed to get an appointment to start claiming my retirement pension. That place was just as kafkian as the courts. I hate administrative institutions in Spain where the workers are civil servants for life after taking exams called "oposiciones". That makes them pretty lazy and there is little or no customer service at all. They make you feel they are doing you are a favour. If your paperwork is not 100% correct, you just get turned away as I did that morning. They also limit themselves to their job description and anything that falls outside of it can't be dealt with. It's pathetic. Don't these people get ongoing training or learn how to think a bit out of the box? No they don't, damn them. A lawyer friend, Ana, told me the other day that the judicial system has not changed since Franco's days and paper is still used. If only they could learn from countries like Estonia where everything is digitalised and there is zero bureaucracy. My problem stemmed from now having a Spanish ID card and not my previous Residency card. Their system didn't seem to have registered that or only part of it although we had communicated the change through the right channels. Thus my digital certificate which is used for online admin stuff no longer works and I need another one. And it goes on and on and on. No doubt it will be sorted at some stage. When I went to the appointment I was going to ask for what is known as "active" retirement whereby I could carry on working for my main client while forfeiting half of my pension. I was stunned and cross to hear from the clerk that a new law that came into force on 1st January does not allow me to do so until I have been retired for a full year. I had to face the decision of carrying on working with no pension or stop working but take my pension. It is a very difficult decision to make and I still haven't made up my mind.
We discussed this over a cup of coffee at a modest looking bar. The owner looked Chinese yet offered Spanish fare including tapas. I heard recently that many bars in Spain are now owned by the Chinese. When I first came to live here 40 years ago, I noticed there were bars everywhere in the country, especially in the towns, streets and streets lined with them. Out of curiosity I googled number of bars in Spain and came up with 350.000 approx. The figure is for 2013 and estimates that comes to 1 bar per 132 inhabitants. This comes from a study by Coca Cola so they should know. The two coffees cost 2.80. Eladio says that is more than what we pay at the cafes near us. I suppose prices are higher in the city. But no doubt, that is cheap compared to other European cities. How much does a cup of coffee cost where you live I wonder?
Again I didn't see FT. He rang during our siesta at around 3.30 but we didn't hear the bell or his call as we were asleep. Finally Eladio opened the door at 5. At least he hadn't rung the police again damn the man. We suspect they have told him not to ring them for such a minor issue.
Friday came and I realised just how fast the week had gone by. It was shopping day but we managed a full walk beforehand. I have to report that my knee is causing me a lot less problems these days despite the torn meniscus which needs operating. It was late when we left so our first stop was Alverán, our preferred cafe as well as FT's. There was no sign of him thankfully. That day he did not leave the house. He will do today though I am sure.
It was on Friday that our little granddaughter, Juliet, turned 5 months old, bless her. Shes is such a saint of a baby. Elliot isn't but he is a loving brother (when he wants). Here they are together.
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| A beautiful photo of sibling love. Elliot and Juliet who turned 4 months old that day |
We had something to look forward to that night; dinner out. We had asked Lucy to stay over until Saturday so that we could resume our Friday night dinner. We went to one of our old favourites, Ginos, a quasi Italian place which favours Spanish palates. There I went for one of my favourite dishes too; "paglia e fieno" (paja y heno - straw and hay). I had a craving for pasta. Eladio is not a pasta fan - it's funny how our tastes are so different. He would have preferred some sort of stew or soup and fish for seconds. I argued he has that every day at home, hahahaha.
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| Paglia e fieno - my choice at Ginos on Friday |
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| Eladio's choice and my choice - radically different. Dinner at Ginos on Friday night |
It was a bit of a treat and we hardly spoke about FT who was lying alone in his dirty sheets stuck in a dirty room with no friends and supposedly nowhere to go. We were home early and I actually fell asleep more quickly than usual. It must have been the wine.
Saturday dawned. It was to be a quiet day when we were unexpectedly joined by Oli and family for lunch. Thankfully I had done the food shopping on Friday so there was lots to offer. Little Elliot had already had his lunch as he eats early but enjoyed the left over Christmas chocolates from a half empty tub of Cadbury's Heroes. Here he is helping himself. He even realised that the pictures of the chocolates were on the outside and was puzzled not to find some of them inside. Well, of course, the favourites had all been gobbled up hahahahaha.
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| Elliot enjoying the chocolates at lunch yesterday |
When everyone left, it was just us in the house and FT which always makes me feel nervous. As usual we locked our door with the key and put the alarm on and only then did we feel safe. I slept on and off last night after the awful events of Saturday.
The Queen who has bred corgis now has 3 dogs, Candy the oldest, Muick a young corgi and a puppy cocker spaniel given to her by her family which goes by the name of Lissy.
Sunday doesn't look like it will be significant for us but it is enormously significant for the British Monarchy. Today marks the 70th anniversary of the Queen's ascension to the throne - 6th February 1952 (5 years before I was born), when aged just 25, her beloved father, King George VI died and she became Queen. She is the longest ever serving British monarch. Yesterday the Queen hosted a reception at Sandringham on the eve of her platinum jubilee. She had spent part of the day reading the many cards and messages that had already arrived. She was accompanied by her dogs. Dogs and horses have been a constant presence in her life and that is where I can totally relate to her.
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| The Queen reading her jubilee messages while Candy her elderly Dorgi (cross between a dachshund and a corgi) walked over. |
Aged 95 she is still looking strong. Today the Royal Family website included a message from her which you can read here. Of great significance, in it she outlined her wish that Charles' wife, Camila, would become Queen Consort when he is King. She must like her daughter-in-law a lot to break with tradition in this way. Time will tell, but for the moment our Queen remains firmly on the throne. If only I could say "long may she live".
No doubt there will be a special family lunch for her today or at least I hope so. We shall spend the day alone I suppose and just hope there are no more ghastly antics coming from our unwanted squatter.
Next week will be my birthday. Wow, I will reach the grand old age of 65. We shall have a low key celebration but will still mark the day as we always do.
So now my friends, I have come to the end of this week's tales. I hope this week's story is a little bit more upbeat than previous posts.
Cheers till next Sunday,
Masha
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