Remembering Fátima, Spain and England out of the World Cup, I beg to differ, Christmas came to our house, a visit to St. George's Christmas market and other stories.

Sunday, 11th December, 2022

Yesterday at the entrance to the St. George's Anglican church annual Christmas market in Madrid 

Dear all. I hope you are  well. Like us, no doubt, many of you will have put up your Christmas decorations and are immersed in preparations. Many too will be following the World Cup as it enters its third week. From 32 countries, we are now into the Semi Finals. Sadly both Spain and England are now out after losing to Morocco (ouch) and France as we well know.  Who do you think will win - Argentina, Croatia, France or Morocco? My bets are on France, the last champions.

Last Sunday it didn't feel at all like Christmas. It was wet and cold and we had to turn back half way through our walk. We should have stayed at home like Oli and family who, lucky them, indulged in churros and "porras" for their late breakfast. I loved the photos my daughter sent of Elliot and his "porra" - the thicker version which is my favourite too and the one of Juliet with one of each in her hands. 

Elliot and Juliet enjoying their breakfast last Sunday

We had a quiet day overall. Not so for the England and Senegal teams. England were on great form and beat the African champions to go through to the Quarter Final where they would meet France. Statistics placed them equal with 11 matches each but it was never going to be an easy match.  That night a son was born, my dear friend Kathy's new grandson; born to her footballer son Tom whose wish was to holding his first child as England won the match against Senegal. His wish came true. So far, the son had no name and Kathy was holding her breath until it was announced. He will be called Isaac Joseph. How biblical can you get? It's lovely. 

It was on Sunday night and late that our Chinese guests, Yinzi, with Mr. Ling and Mr. Ren, arrived.But I wouldn't see them until the morning. I slept fitfully that night for no particular reason.

Monday dawned and it was cold and wet again as it would be for most of the week which meant no walk again.  Yinzi was soon down bringing with her a gift from China, a tea set which was very sweet of her. She and her family had stayed with us in the summer from May to July when they came to escape lock down in Shanghai. Once again she was critical of her government. It's so interesting to hear people express their opinions from countries in the news, who come and stay, such as Iran, Ukraine and now China.  Neither of the Chinese gentlemen who are here on business and to buy a house for over half a million euros to give them residency, speak English or Spanish. They nod and smile at me and I say "nihao" (hello, how are you?), the only word I know in Chinese. But now I know another because when one of them gave me two sachets of tea I asked how to say thank you and it is "xièxié" (shey shey). I don't think I will forget that. 

Monday wasn't just any day, it was the third anniversary of the passing away of my dearest beloved friend Fátima. There is hardly a day that goes past without my thinking of her. Life is cruel and took her aged just 58, leaving behind a very young daughter to face the future without her. She lived very near and I can still feel her presence. There are so many times when I want to share things with her and I can't. That is the cruelty of death. I wrote a tribute to her shortly after her death which you can read here. I read it just now and every word I wrote was heartfelt. 

We were so close. Those who knew us called us "Pin and Pon" and life is not the same without her. 

Fátima and I, best friends forever. 

But I still have Julio, our third musketeer and together we bring her back to life with our memories. We will be having him over for dinner this year at Christmas as we always did together with Fátima and he will reciprocate in early January. I love those dinners although it is at times like these that we feel her absence most. RIP my dearest friend. I hope you know that I carry you in my heart.

Monday was a horrible day, weather wise as we near winter. We did not brace the cold and rain for our walk but instead went into Boadilla on some errands. The first was at the local launderette which also mends or alters clothing and we took 3 of Eladio's old blazers which are now unfashionably too long. It was at the launderette that we got news of our former squatter Felipe Turover. He too had been their customer for years, a good and wealthy one until he ran out of money. When he left here in April he took 2 of his big suitcases there, allegedly to have his clothes cleaned but he never paid and the cases remain there. Occasionally he used to go and get clothes out, change in front of everyone and put his dirty clothes back into the cases. When the assistant asked him to remove his cases he told her it was law for her to keep them for 2 years and it is. She also told us she hadn't seen him for months but that the last time she did, he was incoherent and as thin as a rake - he who once was so well heeled and sporty. We commented we no longer see him at our favourite café, Alveran. She explained that's because he owes them money! So what has become of him? I can only imagine him living on the streets completely down and out, a ruined man, or even dead. That is not the end I wanted for him. It was the news of the day for me, but not good news.

We had more bad news. The fraud company who have charged one of our visa cards quite a lot of money, until we reported it and cancelled the card, are once again trying to charge us. That meant another visit to the bank with no news except that the charges were under dispute. I can't believe this is happening to us. We won't know much this week as both Wednesday and Friday were national holidays. So cross your fingers please and I hope this is sorted soon.

We came home to a quiet house - all the guests were out. Lunch was leftovers -  delicious cold roast beef - and we were joined by Olivia. The afternoon was quiet, the highlight being my weekly Skype call with my dear friend Amanda who I had last seen in Hebden Bridge during my glorious week in Yorkshire. We had lots to talk about and one of the topics was the Royal Family or rather the upcoming Harry and Meghan documentaries and his book "Spare". We commented too how the release of the Netflix trailers and the documentaries themselves will have done and do more damage to the Crown, as if the issue of supposed racism by the Queen's former Lady in Waiting, Susan Hussey hadn't already put it in the spotlight . The latter had to quit "over racist remarks" to a charity boss, Ngozi Fulani, a British born black lady Nogozi Fulani. They met last week at an event sponsored by the new Queen. At the event Hussey was overheard grilling Fulani over where she came from. That, my friends, sadly, is now seen as racist. I beg to differ. Because I have a "foreign" name and surnames - Masha Lloyd Lieven, I get asked every day by someone here in Spain, where I come from. And, I love telling them of my origin. Yes, I am a Spanish naturalised citizen but I was born in England, in Cambridge, to an English father and Russian mother and I married a Spaniard. Very exotic right? It is and I like my story. Thus, I too am always interested to know where people are from if they have "foreign" sounding names or  different colour skin. Many a time have I asked  Asian looking taxi drivers in Yorkshire where they are from. If they say from Bradford or Keighley, I want to know where their family is originally from. That is not racism. I want to know about their culture; are they from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan? but not because I am racist, God dammit, but because I am genuinely interested and love talking to people from different cultural backgrounds.  So, no, Lady Susan Hussey, in my mind, was not being racist when she asking Nogozi Fulani where her people were from. Have we got so woke we cannot even ask people where they are from for fear of being labelled racist? I actually would go as far as to say that if someone considers a question about their origin as racist, that they either have a chip on their shoulder or are looking for trouble. Since when is is racist to ask someone where they come from?  There, I've said my piece.

But back to the Harry and Meghan story, I also commented to my friend, quoting my husband who is not at all interested in this disruptive couple,  "why is she complaining about racism when she is not even black?" Well said I thought. 

Much more interestingly I watched the new film, Lady Chatterley's Lover on Netflix. I wasn't sure I would be too interested - what with all the torrid sex - but my goodness what a romantic story. A titled lady falls in love with one of her husband's servants, something impossible in the 20's in England and how she gives up everything for love. I grew up knowing that DHS Lawrence's book was no go territory. It had been banned for years, first being published in the 20's privately.  It apparently included the no no four letter word and much more and went against the morals of the times.  Its publisher, Penguin, was brought to trial under the Obscene Publications Act. I think then edited versions were published but it was only in November 1960 that Penguin won the right to publish it entirely. On the first day it hit the bookshops, 200.000 copies were sold. I was brought up to think it was a forbidden book. But, my goodness, the story is beautiful and a warning; it has some very steamy scenes which I am sure DH Lawrence would have approved of. I'm not sure though that he would have approved of the literary licence in this new version where even the ending is different.    

We couldn't watch much that night as the remote on our fancy new Samsung TV broke down. It would not be easy to get a new one. Thank goodness then for my iPad.  What use is a fancy television these days if the remote doesn't work? You may say I could have used my phone and I tried but it required an ok from the old remote so I would have to wait to find a replacement. 

Tuesday came and it was 6th December, Constitution Day in Spain and Independence Day in Finland - the latter much more important as it celebrates their  release from the Russian yoke. Finland declared its independence in 1917. Would you believe a relative of mine, Mikhail Aleksandrovich Stakhovich (1861-1923) my great grand uncle, was the Governor General of the Grand Duchy of Finland at the time?  He didn't last long though and resigned on 17th September of that year.  Coincidentally too, his next post was as Ambassador to Madrid but he never reached the Spanish capital owing to the October Revolution. Like all my Russian relatives he took exile. He died in Aix-en-Provence, in 1923 and is buried in the Sainte-Genieviéve-des Bois Russian cemetery in Paris. He was the brother of my great grandfather, my mother's paternal grandfather, Alexander Alexandrovich Stakhovich (1830-1913). I wonder what sort of man he was? I wonder what he thought about the revolution? I wonder what he thought about Finnish independence? I am only sure of one thing though, that he would have gone to the Russian Orthodox Uspenski cathedral often when he lived in Helsinki. When I worked for Nokia from 2000 to 2006 I made many visits to the Finnish capital and nearly always visited this magnificent onion domed Russian cathedral. I knew vaguely at the time that a relative of mine had been the Governor General. Only when I started research into my father's book and then my mother's history, did I find his name. I don't know what he thought but I am very happy that Finland broke away from the Russian yoke. 

My great grand uncle Mikhail Aleksandrovich was Governor General of the Grand Duchy of Finland when the latter declared its independence in 1917. 

I look forward to the Ukrainians being able to celebrate the end of the war with Russia and their independence but the battle will be very long. 

On a completely different topic, that morning we went on a mission to get a new remote as well as a new DVD player for my PC and other stuff. We shopped at the wonderful Corte Inglés department store which normally sells everything including a kitchen sink but not, unfortunately a remote for our TV. We would have to battle that out with Samsung who apparently only has one supplier in the whole of Spain - shame on them. 

We also did some Christmas shopping. We bought my friend Julio's present as well as a lovely green jumper for Eladio by Gant - love that Swedish clothes brand for men. Shortly before we left, very coincidentally, we actually bumped into Julio. He was there buying gourmet food to take to have lunch with his parents. He lives in the centre of Madrid so it was a pretty big coincidence. I got Eladio to take a photo. I look awful but the moment was beautiful. Here you are:

A chance meeting with my dear friend Julio at the Corté Inglés on Tuesday while buying his  Christmas present!

We were home on time for lunch with Suzy. Our siesta was short as the Spain-Morocco Last 16 match started at 16h. I could not watch so used my new DVD player to start Season 10 (and 11) of Call the Midwife which I had to buy on Amazon as it is not available on any streaming platform in Spain.

The teams drew 0-0 and went to extra time and then to a penalty shoot out. No way was I watching that. I came up later to see Eladio's  face. Oh dear, Spain out again. How on earth could the Moroccan team beat the Spaniards? Well because the latter did not perform their magic that day as happens so often. I now had England left to cheer for. Could they beat France? I thought it would be 50-50. Meanwhile the last teams to play in the knockout round were Portugal and Switzerland. Ronaldo was not playing so how could they win? Well, they could as they have a new young striker called Ramos who scored a hat trick. No doubt Ronaldo was feeling glum as his team beat the Swiss 6-1 without his help. I was sorry for Spain but not so sorry for Portugal as I am no fan of Ronaldo. 

I don't have much to say about Wednesday. It was a mundane day brightened up with news from the bank that Visa would be reimbursing the fraudulent charges but I will only believe it when it is reflected in our bank balance. At least, though, it seemed our trips to the police and bank were not in vain. We did go out that morning again and it was to send some of my family calendars to friends abroad who feature in it.  On our way we also visited the launderette again- the one Felipe frequented - to see the seamstress and measure the blazers that need shortening for my husband. I had a lovely frothy coffee afterwards at Alveran without the worry of facing the down and out  Felipe  who I fear  may not even be in this world anymore. We should be able to forget this terrible episode but deep down I can only feel sorry for the man. 

I have to confess I binge watched a lot of Call the Midwife that afternoon and evening and did not feel very productive. I would be more productive on Thursday.

Thursday was also a holiday this week, to celebrate the Immaculate Conception. If it really happened then it should possibly be as big or bigger than Christmas. But these days Christianity as we know it, at least in the UK, is declining. You will have read the news of the latest survey in the UK. That does not come as a surprise to me. Would I have ticked the box as Christian? I definitely would have although I am not a church going one .My parents never forced any religion on me and both had very strong faith. Mine is not strong. It is weak and often absolutely absent. I will never know whether God exists. Imagine if he didn't, what a wasted life for Church going people not to mention bishops and Popes. 

God, of course, is at the heart of Christmas but the majority of us treat it is a great big pagan like festival. But whether you believe or not, I do think Christmas is a good thing. It brings families together and creates a positive spirit, something we all need. I felt positive as we set about a task that morning that we have now being doing since we have been together, putting up the decorations. We met in  1980 and married in 1983 and every year we have done this together. In latter years the decorations have got more elaborate but our tree has not. It is still a smallish plastic one we bought at Carrefour years ago when it was called Pryca in Spain. At home, as a child, we always had a real one but they always dry out and shed lots of pine needles. Ours  would have do as it has for years.  Maybe we will get a bigger one next year but I doubt it.

We must have started at around 10.30 and everything was up and ready by about 1.30. Here is Eladio with the big Christmas box he brought up from the garage and the unadorned small plastic tree.

Beginning the job on Thursday morning 8th December. 

We have collected so many decorations over the years and some are even from my childhood. My favourites are my mechanical and musical ornaments, boxes and figures, especially a Christmas hat that sings. I am sucker for them and each year add one to my collection, like the carousel I bought recently at the Christmas market in Madrid. Naughtily  I also bought a tree lamp on Amazon which I can't wait to add to the decorations. Everything looked wonderful when we had finished. Suzy helped me just at the end, to the music of Christmas from Spotify which I connected to the lounge speakers.

Here are just some of the photos of how the main lounge looked like after putting up the decorations.

Some of the Christmas decorations we put up on Thursday morning

I wondered what our grandchildren would think. Elliot can just about say the word "Christmas". He would be coming the next day so we would see hahahahha. 

I had to do a tiny bit of food shopping for ingredients to add to our lunch menu: baked salmon with leek and peas  so off we went to Carrefour. It is the only supermarket open all year round. We came home to a quiet lunch after a morning of pleasant work conjuring up the spirit of Christmas to envelop our home. I wondered what our Chinese guests would think as they do not celebrate this Christian feast. That day they were in Segovia having lunch at the famous "Casa Cándido" where they ate the house speciality; suckling pig.

Again we spent a quiet afternoon.  A compatible remote, if very flimsy, had arrived that morning and to our amazement, worked on our TV so I took the opportunity to start binge watching the first part of the 6 episode Netflix documentary Harry and Meghan. I had been hoping for some bombshell news bur frankly there was nothing new; just the same old story, the story of a rich couple who have everything they want yet still complain. They did not hit any emotional nerve with me. One bit I did not like at all was when Meghan described her first encounter with the Queen. In doing so, she mimicked an over the top curtsey which frankly seemed as if she was mocking the Queen. Even Harry didn't seem to like it and looked he was cringing as she acted her curtsey out. How dare she?

Meghan mocking the Queen. I do not like the woman.

I kept thinking how on earth can they complain about their lives while people "back home" and elsewhere can hardly afford food or fuel, while wars are being fought and people endangering their lives demonstrating in countries like Iran? Again I say, what is this fixation with race or being bi racial? Can't they turn the page? However, as I am a sucker for stories of the Royal family I shall continue to the end. Frankly, Call the Midwife is much more uplifting. 

It rained all day on Thursday and would do too on Friday, shopping day. Our Chinese guests had left for the weekend to go to Barcelona but kept their rooms. Thus the house was quiet. Oli and Miguel came for lunch and brought Elliot. That was because he had been pulled out of play school with a temperature. It seems he has a virus. Thankfully it is not that dreadful Strep A virus children are dying of. 16 have now died in England and 2 in Spain. In light of that, Elliot was taken straight to the doctor who, by the way, saw him then and there. He is now better although he wasn't his usual bubbly self on Friday. But oh, how he loved my Christmas "toys" - the mechanical ones. I had to show him each and every one of them and how they work. His favourite? Our favourite, the singing hat, the one we used to put on my father which made us laugh so much. Here he is with his grandfather, Eladio, by our small tree; the embodiment of the joy of Christmas.

Elliot with his grandfather on Friday

We had an enjoyable family lunch although Elliot was not a bit hungry - poor mite. They left around 4 to pick up Juliet and we dashed upstairs for our siesta. I had been up at 5 am and was tired and slept for 2 full hours!  The news of the afternoon was Croatia beating Brazil in the Quarter Finals. Eladio later watched Argentina play Holland which was exciting but again went to penalties which I so hate. It is Messi's team who got through to the semi finals. 

Saturday was a big day for England who were playing France. It was a big day for us too as we went into Madrid to visit the English Christmas market. It was hosted by St. George's Anglican church, where we held a memorial service for my father a few days after he died last year. I had been to their Easter market or jumble sale  and always a sucker for all things English, especially markets and more pointedly Christmas markets, I was keen to go again. We would be meeting my in laws, Dolores and Toño, although only we women would be visiting the market the men being totally uninterested. 

We set off at about 10.10 am and were there at 10.30 on the dot. So it only took us 20 minutes. Who says we live far out I wondered to myself?  Toño and Dolores were in the queue which was growing by the minute and I joined it while Eladio's brother went off to help him find somewhere to park which was not easy. 

Eladio with his brother and his wife yesterday in Madrid

The place was full of not very interesting stalls and full of people; a bit too crowded for our liking. I did buy things though - British food which I suspect came from the same source I use, British Corner Shop online. For the record I bought sage and onion stuffing, meant to buy cranberry sauce but left it behind, Mr. Kipling's Battenberg cake which I can't resist, a small box of Roses, a small slice of iced Christmas cake for Suzy as she adores it and some mince pies - not sure I will eat them before their sell by date. I also got two home made gingerbread men for Juliet and Elliot and a little box of Vegan orange truffles for Suzy. All of this is reserved for Christmas when I really look forward to breaking my diet. No doubt I will put on the weight I have lost since the end of September but I vow that I shall lose it again in the New Year. This is a permanent battle of the bulge my friends, the story of my life.

As the men didn't join us we sent them off to a very special coffee and cake shop "Balbisana" on the very upmarket Velázquez street where we joined them later. It's such a special place and Madrid's answer to Betty's in Yorkshire. The owner is a friend of a friend and I discovered the cake shop which sells online not long ago. It really is the best of the best. It's not cheap either and 4 coffees with 4 tiny chocolate truffles came to over 20 euros when normally a cup of coffee at a bar in Spain costs under 2 euros. But it was worth it. Just look at the entrance. It's gorgeous. 

The entrance to Balbisiana in Madrid

We enjoyed our time there although our conversation was somewhat intense. When Eladio and his brother are together they always talk about corruption in politics and the woes of the world; not my favourite topics. I was more interested in the beautiful place I was having my coffee at but I think I was alone in thinking that.

We left at around 1.30 and were home by 2ish on time for lunch which Lucy had prepared for us and included lamb chops - my favourite but not too good for the diet.

Our siesta was interrupted by the Portugal Morocco match. I was sure the Portuguese would win but I was wrong. An amazingly strong Moroccan team about half of whose members  play in the Spanish La Liga, beat Portugal and strode confidently into the semi finals. This is the first time an "African" team has made it to the semi finals although I have to say there are actually lots of African players in many of the participating clubs' teams. 

Then it was time for a special Skype call with my friends Adele and Sandra who live in France and Belgium respectively. It was Adele's birthday and we wanted to celebrate it with her. Adele wanted England to win but her French husband and French born sons did not. I'm not sure who Sandra wanted to win. I know I wanted England to win. But we had a problem. RTVE were not broadcasting the match dammit. However, thanks to my Express VPN, I was able to connect to ITV which was broadcasting it back home rather than the BBC I have my father's pupil Michael to thank for that. But it is not perfect and the screen kept freezing. However we were able to see England lose so sadly when Harry Kane missed the second penalty which would have given his team a draw and a chance to stay in the match. One commentator said most people in England would bet their houses on him scoring the penalty but he didn't. It's funny but the goal keeper from the French side is in his team and both know each other's tactics. This loss will go down in the history of modern English football as one of the worst losses and poor Harry Kane will be remembered for it forever. I feel sorry for him. He was gutted. Just look at his face in the picture below that I robbed from The Times this morning.

So sorry for Harry Kane, so sorry for England.

So England's dream was over and they weren't "bringing it home".  Like Spain, Germany and many others, they will have to wait another 4 years for a chance to do so. Now it is down to France, Morocco, Croatia and Argentina.  May the best side win which I think will be France. We will know next week. 

Meanwhile, life is quiet here today. Sundays normally are. The weather looks nasty again with a lot of rain so I doubt we will be doing much. 

I shall now leave you to get on with the day. Cheers then till next week,

All the best/Masha