Family barbecue, 12th October - National day of Spain, visitors from Yorkshire, "dear, oh dear", says King Charles to PM, Truss ousts chancellor and makes another U turn, dinner for our guests, journey to Asturias and other stories

Casa del Cuetu, Asturias, Sunday, 16th October, 2022

With our friends from Yorkshire at Palacio de Bornos in Rueda tasting various wines.

Dear all, 

I don't know about your week but I have to say ours has been seriously uplifted by the visit of our dear friends from Yorkshire, Kathy and Phil, who arrived on Thursday.  For those of you you don't know, I went to school with Kathy - St. Joseph's college, a Catholic Grammar School in Bradford. Phil, her husband is a retired teacher of Spanish. Thus the 4 of us have loads in common and we consider them our very good friends. It was their first visit to Madrid since my 60th in 2017. We then saw them a couple of times until Covid and again in April and May this year for my father's memorial events in Yorkshire. If last week was a quiet week, this week was much livelier. We are away too, having taken our friends up north to our 100 year old "new house" in Asturias. We bought it in September 2020 and because of  Covid our friends haven't seen it until now. I'm hoping they like it. 

But let me rewind back to last Sunday before they came. That day, all our guests, but one, had left. There was only Macarena from Chile who left in the late afternoon as her plane wasn't until nearly midnight. Check out here is 11 am but I made an exception with her. What a wonderful guest she was.

We had a wonderful day too, all on our own and with the family. The day started with a brisk walk where we encountered the usual cyclists, it being a Sunday. I noticed they were all men cyclists, not one woman. Macarena rode Oli's bike while she was here so how come we hardly see any women with their bikes on our walk?

We got back and were soon out again as we had to get food for the barbecue and replenish the cupboards until our next big shopping. Oli was going to join us for coffee at Alverán but Elliot refused to go hahaha. Thus it was only Suzy, Eladio and me. After enjoying our coffee served by loyal Abel - I wonder if anyone calls their children Cain? - and with nasty Felipe Turover absent for once, we left Suzy enjoying a beer and drove to Carrefour for our provisions. 

We came home to unload everything and then set about making a very simple barbecue lunch: gourmet hamburgers, good steak, sausages and chorizo which we would have with a salad and washed down by gazpacho and wine in some cases. Dessert was a delicious melon left over from last week's shopping. Soon we were joined by Oli, Elliot and Juliet. Sadly, Miguel had gone to A&E with funny symptoms he had had for a while. Thus we missed his company. Eladio was preparing the barbecue which is always his domain. Juliet was happy to be reunited with her grandfather who Elliot calls "Bubu". He is now learning to say Eladio which he pronounces without the "d". I wonder if Juliet will follow suit but we won't know for a while as she has not yet uttered her first word. 

"Bubu" with Juliet by the barbecue

While he tended to the fire, Olivia took her baby out of his arms to feed her - my broccoli soup which she loved. She ate it all bless her. Most kids hate broccoli but she doesn't seem to mind.

Oli feeding little Juliet my broccoli soup last Sunday, the day of our family barbecue

After I snapped the picture above, I got one of Oli and her two little babies. It was a delight to see them again last Sunday.

Oli and her babies here for last weekend's barbecue

We loved the food made on the barbecue, Elliot not so much. He was looking forward to one of the  popsicles I had bought for him and Suzy had one too to remind her of her childhood hahaha. Here they are together after lunch which we had outside, with the permission of the damned flies and wasps that are such a bother at this time of year.

Suzy and Elliot enjoying their strawberry flavoured popsicle last Sunday

We were given permission, albeit a little reluctantly, to go upstairs for our siesta. My new Samsung watch 4 told me later I had slept just over an hour - it was all light sleep, no REM (rapid eye movement). At about 4ish I was downstairs again to join the girls and the kids. They didn't hear me listening to them sing Ave Verum. It sent shivers down my spine.

We spent the rest of the afternoon with our grandchildren until they left at around 6.30. Suzy joined Oli later as Miguel had been admitted to hospital - nothing serious -I had some quiet time in one of my favouirte reading corners until it was time for our dinner alone. There were just 3 of us that night or 4 if you count Pippa.

Monday dawned and brought some much needed rain at last. In Ukraine it brought more bombs and missiles - Putin's retaliation for the explosion of the Crimean bridge. Striking civilians is a war crime but he doesn't care does he?

Of note that day, I went for our walk on my own while Eladio took the car to the garage to fix some electrical fault. He also went to the ophthalmologist to get his eyes checked. But all he needs really are glasses for reading. I made a delicious meat loaf for lunch with lots of vegetables. Oli joined us for a short while but had to leave soon to pick up the babies. We slept - like babies - well, I did at least sleeping nearly 2h with lots of REM (rapid eye movement) - supposedly good for your brain. I woke up just before my weekly Skype call with Amanda. We discussed the shocking state of the nation - our nation and I really commiserate for anyone struggling in the UK. While the UK government is dilly dallying on whether to put up benefits to match wages or inflation, in Spain I was delighted to tell her that pensions are likely to go up in January 2023 by 8.5%. I only hope they don't raise the income tax (crossing my fingers here). 

I had to curtail our call as my new guest was arriving - a young man from Asturias (wonderful place). He had booked my father's room - the most popular at the moment as it is the cheapest. It turns out he was here for Spain's National Day  - Wed 12th Oct - to take part in the military processions. He is part of the Mounted Police Unit. When I told Amanda, she said she wanted to see his horse. I did too. I love horses. I realised that Miguel was my first policeman guest. We do get people from all walks of life and from all corners of the world. What fun. 

Dinner was delicious - gazpacho, chicken salad and kiwi with a fig each - all very healthy too. I have now been on my new diet for nearly 3 weeks. As I have a horrible relationship with my scales, I haven't yet weighed myself but am feeling a lot lighter. No more chest pains this week and my cough is slowly getting better.

Tuesday was busy. It rained a bit but we still went on our walk and enjoyed having the path mostly to ourselves. Once back we were soon out again to do the weekly shopping. That, of course, included  coffee out. This time we chose Manolo Bakes over Alverán because their coffee, I'm afraid, is a lot better. We were late with our shopping as Eladio chose to go into an optician's after having his sight measured. He maybe needs prescription glasses, just for reading. He wants the folding type which we found but there was no case to be found which he can attach to his belt - a prerequisite that was the stumbling block to the purchase. Thus we were late at both Mercadona and BM  that day and came home after 2 pm. 

I wasn't able to sleep a siesta for some reason so was soon downstairs again with my "cuppa" (always decaf tea in the afternoons) and a small golden delicious apple. It was then that I read the date for Charles III's coronation has now been fixed for 6th May next. We all wonder whether the event will be as elaborate as The Queen's some 70 years ago. I think it will be shorter but the holy anointment, given up by all other European monarchies, will still take place. The new Queen Consort will also be crowned. I somehow cannot imagine that as if it should have been Lady Diana but of course it never would have been. 

Eladio joined me later with his PC where he is reading a new book by the famous Spanish psychiatrist, Luis Rojas Marcos - he worked at a New York hospital for many years and was involved in the trauma of 11th September survivors. My choice was more mundane. Of course we were joined by Pippa who was trembling as there was a bit of a thunderstorm. Oh how she hates them. 

Eladio reading by the pool on Tuesday afternoon with me

I was so glad the previous owners had thought about covering part of the swimming pool terraces for afternoons like that. It wasn't at all cold and a wonderful place to be in peace together.

Wednesday 12th October was the National Day of Spain  - Day of Hispanity.  It commemorates the date of Christopher Colombus' discovery of America - 12th October 1492 - then called The New World. It is a bank holiday and there is a big military procession on the streets of the main cities in Spain. I wished I could have seen our mounted policeman guest in his regalia as much as I wanted to see his horse - I did later. We never saw him after his arrival. Spain's national day is nothing like France's 14th July or the USA's 4th July. It is a day that shows the division between Spaniards which has existed always and never best manifested than in the Spanish Civil War. That is the pain and sadness of Spain - the sheer division between the left and right wing thinkers. Thus there is no such thing as proper national pride. Spaniards love to spend their time knocking their country and criticising  its institutions. Flying the Spanish flag has fascist connotations unless it is football related. I find that so sad. It might have been a bank holiday but now that we are both retired it doesn't matter what day it is anymore. But at least we had got the shopping done and the cupboards and fridges were full.

The National Day of Spain is also the National Day of the Spanish Armed Forces - hence the big military processions. For the last 10 days or so, we had seen military jets flying; 7 of them, above our house and on our walk. It turns out they are part of the "Patrulla Aguila" formation, with their base in San Javier, Murcia. This year they were flying their  new planes, the Pilaturs Pc-21 which I think is Swiss. This is it.

The new plane which we saw above our heads on our walk for the past week or so

It is the Patrulla Aguila which lets off smoke in the the colours of the Spanish flag during the procession. Ah, so these were the planes we saw practicing while we were on our walks.

The PC-21 plane letting off smoke in the colours of the Spanish flag on Spain's National Day on Wednesday this week

I didn't see them at the procession but Eladio did who always watches it, year after year  - he sort of likes the Armed Forces or rather watching military processions. The one that I like best is the Spanish Legion with its mascot goat which this year was a sheep called Titan. They go very fast - 160 paces a minute and I wonder how on earth they have trained a sheep to do the same. Say hello to Titán. What a lovely animal.

Titán the sheep mascot belonging to the Spanish legion which took part in the military procession yesterday in Madrid. 

Taking part too but on his horse was our guest, Miguel, who we never saw after his arrival on Monday. I later wrote to him to say goodbye and that I was sorry to miss his departure but hoped that all had gone well in the 12th October processions. He rewarded me by sending me 2 videos of himself and his horse - a 16 year old Hispanic Arabian horse called Falce. He was interviewed on TV and I learned that he and Falce had led the procession. What an honour. He told me Falce would be retiring soon and I asked whether he would be adopting this wonderful horse. I was delighted to hear that he will and that Falce will be living in Asturias with him. He also recently adopted an 8 year old German Shepherd who had been a sniffer dog (explosives). Good for him. 

My equestrian policeman and his horse after the 12th October military processions this week. 

It was a quiet day for us, the only interruption being the arrival of a new guest - Cristian from Birmingham in the UK - a city I have never been to nor am I interested in visiting. He came around 7.30 while I was reading outdoors - the temperature rose to 25c that day - and Eladio escorted him to the front door. It turns out he is Romanian and has come for a cousin's wedding. She lives in nearby Boadilla and was getting married yesterday to another Romanian. I think Romanians are known for their long weddings. He told me it was in that ghastly suburban town, Alcorcón. Alcorcón is  near Móstoles  where the magistrate courts we went to countless times are for the trial against our horrible squatter, Felipe Turover. I don't like either of the two and am glad I don't live there.

I was looking forward to Thursday, the day our friends Phil and Kathy would be traveling from Manchester to Madrid to stay with us for 12 whole days. Oh what fun we would have and a wonderful interruption to our rather quiet life at this period in time. Also arriving that day was another guest, also called Cristian - a bit confusing. He booked late on Wednesday night and I realised he was a repeat guest who had been here twice 5 years ago. I blessed him for choosing our house again.  

I was up so early on Thursday at around 5.15. That was probably 2 hours earlier than my friends who took a very early taxi to Manchester Airport. While they traveled we spent a quiet morning. Our walk was the highlight, as it has been most days this week. It was while I was having lunch, Kathy texted to say they had landed - a bit earlier than I thought, even after a 45 minute delay. So I set off immediately. It's about a 40 minute drive without traffic and as it was at Terminal where 1 picking them up it would not be too difficult. The main obstacle they faced was the non EU queue which they said was enormous. That is one of the downfalls of Brexit my friends. I think they were out by about 15.15 when their arrival was scheduled for 1.45. They arrived to brilliant sunshine - around 24ºc which Phil said was a huge improvement on Keighley! We were home by 16 and after unpacking, my dear English friends who were "knackered", were sitting by the pool and eating a bowl of red lentils   followed by a plate of ham and tomatoes. They were so "kn******" they had to have a siesta. I was tired too and nearly fell asleep watching more of Series 5 of The Good Doctor - nowhere near as good as the earlier seasons. The day finished with a lovely meal outside on the terrace when we tried the wine my recent Georgian guest had brought me - how kind of him.

Meanwhile back in the UK trouble was brewing as it has been all week for the new PM, Liz Truss and her going back on her awful Mini Budget. Even the new King seemed to sympathise when he and his new PM met for their first weekly audience. I think both newcomers - new King and new PM - thought they were off camera when the King's Equerry ushered her in and what followed went viral for obvious reasons. 

The King greets Liz Truss by saying "dear, oh dear". 

If you haven't seen it yet, here is the video of the off camera words when the two met this week and it's worth a watch, hahahahaa. He sums up what the whole nation thinks of the situation she has put herself and the country in when he said "dear, oh dear". He could have added "what a mess you and the country are in". As Truss curtseyed and said "Your Majesty, lovely to see you again", Charles replied "So you've come back again? She replied "it's a great pleasure" and the new King muttered "Dear, oh, dear. Anyway ....". The camera must have stopped there but I wish I knew what he had said next. Not the best PM a new King could have and so different to the start of his mother's reign and whose first PM was none less than Winston Churchill. Both the Queen and Sir Winston would probably turn in their graves watching what is going on at the moment. 

Friday was the day when the new PM went back on her word and made another U turn, this time on Corporate Tax which she had promised not to raise but the market wasn't taking it. So what did she do? She sacked her Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, as if he were the only one to blame for the market woes. He didn't last 2 months and no wonder. But she was sacking him to save her own skin and she is hanging on for dear life. I honestly don't think she can last much longer. After sacking Kwarteng she gave a pathetic 8 minute long press conference where she only allowed 4 questions from guess who? The Mail and the Telegraph. She had to concede also to the BBC and ITV. It was the reporter from the latter who asked her if she was going to apologise to her own party. Of course she didn't. Instead Truss concentrated on insisting she would stay on as she had to see through the mandate that had given her leadership - her funny way of seeing how to reach growth in the UK. Her words did nothing to placate the markets and the pound dropped again. This woman was described to me by someone who knows someone who went to Oxford with her as having a lot of ambition but no brains. That sort of sums her up for me. Friday reminded me of when Margaret Thatcher once said "the lady is not for turning". This lady did turn and has now made two big U Turns - last week she scrapped the 45p income tax cut for the rich. These are two pillars of her very unpopular "mini budget" which we should remember was not put together by Kwarteng alone but by both of them. She has sacked her partner in crime but if she were an honest lady, she too should have let go of the helm. For the moment, the lady is not for letting go. Frankly she is hanging on in there by the skin of her teeth. I wonder how much longer she will last. Maybe she will become the PM with the shortest term in history. I can imagine that King Charles will be welcoming his next PM quite soon now. He won't then have to say "back again" or "dear, oh dear". For now, I voice his words, "dear oh dear" and would add, what a sorry state my country is in. As a post date, Truss appointed a "grown up" in Jeremy Hunt who is going to turn around all her policies and seems to be the person leading the country. As I read somewhere, she is now "in the departure lounge" and senior Tories are plotting to replace her with Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt. Another MP described Truss as having the shelf life of a lettuce! I hope she is gone by the time I write next week. 

But none of this was on my mind on Friday morning. It was Phil and Kath's first day with us and we got a lot in and had a very jolly day all round. First they got scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast, we then took them on our walk and what a wonderful one it was as the sun was out. That day mercury rose to 26ºc again! Once home we went to do the shopping and as is customary for us we took then to Alverán for a lovely "café con leche". We then had to go to my private clinic for prescriptions for my sleeping and cough tablets- yes still got that - and then we drove to Mercadona where I did the shopping in record time. From there we drove to Carrefour to get more provisions, some to leave at home while we are here, some to take with us and some to make dinner for the family that night. We were home by 1.30 and lunch at our house is generally at 2 on the dot. But I had a meatloaf to make and lunch wasn't on the table until about 2.40 - but never mind, everyone loved it.

My friend Kathy wanted to bathe in the pool while the sun was strong - our usual time for a siesta, so I skipped my routine for once. I did not though join her. Phil did as you can see from the picture below.

Phil and Kathy using the pool on Friday - what a wonderful sunny day it was too

The truth is he only dipped his toes while Kathy made the full plunge. It was lovely to have the pool to ourselves. Our guests these days are not using it. In fact that day we had 3 guests in the house and I only saw one of them, Pilar, .a Pharmacy student, who arrived that evening. 

We had our own family guests coming too that evening; Olivia, Miguel and our grandchildren, Elliot and Juliet. I wanted them to see Kathy and Phil before we left for Asturias and I was dying for our friends to meet Elliot and see Juliet again. Thus we had the most marvelous dinner together on the kitchen terrace. The weather was most benign. With a little help from Phil who is a good chef and from Suzy, as well as Lili, we rustled up what in this house we call a "bits and bobs meal". That night's consisted of a huge salad with all possible healthy ingredients - yes I'm still on my diet while my friends are here and they are too as I cook "diety" but delicious food. Along with the salad there was gazpacho and lots of cold cuts. I had to cater for 8 plus Elliot and was worried there wasn't enough but there was; thankfully. People had already tucked in before I sat down- that happens a lot - but I stopped them for a quick photo session to immortalise the moment. After a few takes, this is one of the best. 

Dinner for family and friends on Friday night

As you can tell  there was much merriment around the table, a reunion of family and very good friends. What fun! Elliot was very much the centre of attention causing lots of hilarious moments; especially when he brought out a huge tub of ice cream and sat about eating straight from it. There was another hilarious moment when I got Suzy to go up and find a night light stick I had brought back from the wedding we went to in July. He loved it and so did we. The evening ended with us all singing and Elliot dancing the "Baby shark" song where he insisted we all sang and made the gestures together. All good things come to an end and at around 9.30 Oli and Miguel took their lovely babies home. We promised to have another dinner together when we are back from Asturias and before Phil and Kathy return to England.

We had missed the news on TV of course but nothing would be new as I was fully up to date on the catastrophe unfolding at Downing Street that day. No doubt Truss and her ex chancellor slept really badly - I imagine they did. I slept ok for once - well I haven't got their problems on my mind thank goodness. I was up at 6 am on Saturday morning, the day of our departure to our beloved Asturias Thus a new adventure would begin for us "oldies" (but goldies as the expression goes). 

We set off at around 10.30. The journey takes 5 hours without stopping but I had scheduled in 3 important ones - after all it's all about the journey not just the destination isn't?  Thus we stopped on the motorway an hour after leaving for a lovely cup of coffee. As you can see the sun was out and it felt so good.  I couldn't have felt happier. We enjoyed it in the sun as you can see here.

Coffee on our way -  our first stop

Our second stop was about an hour later in Rueda - the lovely white wine growing area. We always stop there and our friends were keen to go again. Here we were attended by dear Mariano who got out all sorts of wines for our friends to try. This place, Palacio de Bornos, is a wine lovers' paradise and always a must on our way to the north of Spain. 

Eladio and I at Palacio de Bornos yesterday in Rueda 

The final stop was in Alar del Rey (Palencia) where I had booked a table for 3 pm. For once we ate outside as it was a bit windy. The food, as always, did not disappoint. Outside I could see autumn colours, not yet to be seen further south in Madrid. I love the view of the River Pisuerga in Alar del Rey. 

Autumn colours in Alar del Rey yesterday

From Alar del Rey it's about 1.5 hour drive to El Cuetu. We soon reached the third motorway of our journey- the A8 which stretches along most of the north coast of Spain, until we reached the turn off for Posada de Llanes, our nearest little town. Soon we were in El Cuetu and unloading the car full of food and drink and our suitcases of course. Soon too we had unpacked and shortly after were all sitting outside on the terrace watching the little world of El Cuetu go past. Eladio later lit the kitchen wood stove and the house was soon warm and cozy, after my husband got rid of some of the smoke. Dinner was a token meal - mostly my broccoli soup. I hope you don't hate broccoli.

We were in bed early and I slept so well last night, waking up today at 7.15 which is a record for me. Today is ours for the taking and our adventure in Asturias begins today. You will hear all about it in next week's blog post. 

Meanwhile, keep well. Until next time, cheers Masha.