Home again, Fathers' day, Shetland, it's Spring again, coffee dressed in yellow, chaos in France over the rise in pension age, fun with Elliot and Juliet, Spanish film The Beasts, the clocks go forward and other stories of the week.

Sunday, 26th March 2023

We both happened to be dressed in yellow when we went on our walk and for coffee on Thursday morning

Good morning friends and readers.

I can't believe we are now nearly at the end of March. Spring came this week and nature is gearing up for new colours and new life after Winter. I hate Winter but love Spring which brings the beginning of good weather  and more light. We will have more light  because of Day Light Saving Time which came into force last night. If in Madrid dusk was around 7.30 pm, it will now be at 8.30, giving us longer days. We have definitely come out of hibernation which I got a taste of last week in Santa Pola where the sun shone the whole time. Wonderful. I love the sun and could not ever live again in a dark and rainy country.

Last Sunday we left Santa Pola after 9 wonderful and restorative days there. We came home to a quiet but full house. We hardly saw any of our guests which always amazes me. It was back to our routine life. We went for a walk with Pippa which she was very grateful for. We then met up with both girls and our grandchildren for a coffee. It was Fathers' Day in Spain - Mothers' Day in England - so we had to meet up but we didn't have lunch together as Oli had to join her partner's family for what is called "San José" here. 

In these days of new gender identites, cancel culture, wokeism and all that that brings, there is discussion about whether Mothers' Day and Fathers' Day should either be cancelled or called something else. Oh how I hate this ridiculous trend. They are the spoilers of our fun. Here in Spain none of this has gone half as far as it has in the UK or the USA where books by beloved authors such as Enid Blyton are now being edited to suit the times but we are getting there. Call me an old fogey but for me a mother is a mother and a father is a father. I wonder though what it will be for future generations who I fear are being taught in a sort of Orwellian school of thought. I wonder too whether there will even be a Fathers' or Mothers' Day when our grandchildren, Juliet and Elliot, are grown ups. One silly Spanish politician suggested a day for a "special person" instead of Fathers' Day. Come on.

Neither Juliet nor Elliot are aware of any of this now as they are so small, just 1 and a half and 3 and a half, bless them. May their oblivion last as long as possible. Oli sent us a lovely photo of the two of them that morning. 

Elliot and Juliet last Sunday, Fathers' Day

We hadn't seen them since before leaving for Santa Pola and it's always a delight to be reunited. We met at Manolo Bakes where we all gorged on their delightful mini croissants except for Eladio who is not really partial to sweet stuff unless it is honey. For the record, Elliot had 3. 

Being Fathers' Day I had to have a photo of Eladio with his daughters. This is it. Here he is, a wonderful father with his beautiful daughters, Suzy and Oli.

Eladio with his daughters Oli (left) and Suzy (right) last Sunday at Manolo Bakes on Fathers' Day

After our coffee we took the children to a nearby park but both of them fell asleep. Oli was grateful as she is so tired as her work life balance is rather challenging with two small children. We left her at around 1.30 and only waved at our grandchildren who were fast asleep.

There was to be no Fathers' Day lunch as Oli wasn't there and Suzy wasn't hungry. So it was just my husband and I. Lucy and I made that lovely Portuguese dish called "bacalhau à brás" - onion, thin chips, cod and egg - of which there was far too much for just three of us.

I had an interrupted siesta as two new guests arrived, Alejandra and her mother Carolina from Mexico. Alejandra had come to work at the La Liga school nearby and her mother was here to join her. After they settled in their room I think they spent the rest of the day and night sleeping off their jet lag. I did meet the other two guests, Stefano, an Italian who lives in Mexico and who is here until 25th April and Katherine a very tall and dark girl from Ecuador. But I only saw them briefly as they were out most of the day.

I spent part of the afternoon loving a new series  on the BBC iPlayer called Shetland. It's a detective series set on the islands my father came to know in the war. He was stationed there and at Scapa Flow in Orkney. Still on his desk the day he died was a book about the Shetland Islands. I have always wanted to go and I hope I will one day. Watching the series, he was in my thoughts a lot. For those of you not from the UK, these are the northernmost islands in the UK and are quite near Norway - hence the presence of the Royal Navy there in the war to help Norway in which my father played his part. Shetland, or the Shetland Islands, lie between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. Distance wise, the islands are 80km from Orkney, 170km from Scotland and 220km from Norway. They are not easy to get to. The ferry takes at least 12 or so hours from Aberdeen and flying there is apparently very expensive. I can imagine why my father loved these islands from seeing the amazing landscape on the BBC series. 

An image from Shetland with its famous ponies where I hope to go one day

It is also teeming with wildlife, including puffins, all sorts of birds, ponies and dolphins. I just have to go one day. 

I could have watched it all night but was interrupted by Suzy and Eladio for dinner for which I wasn't hungry after the croissants and the Portuguese dish at lunch. 

We caught up on the news - bloody Putin daring to visit Mariupol, the worrying bank crisis after the fall of the Silicon Valley Bank being two of the main topics. Later we finished a Norwegian film set in WW2 called Narvik which I am sure my father would have known all about - it was where the biggest battle against the Germans happened before the occupation. I slept well except that I woke up after an awful nightmare involving little Elliot which upset me a lot. I hate nightmares. Later I slept well until just before 7 am.

Monday was a holiday in Madrid as Fathers' Day had fallen on  a Sunday. We had a quiet day, going for our walk after which we were busy with accounts for the equivalent of the Inland Revenue tax returns (declaración de la renta in Spanish). That would take quite a few days as we needed to gather all invoices possible so as to get some tax relief from declaring income on our rental business. The paperwork is the worst.

While we were doing that, USB was buying Credit Suisse and the financial market seemed to stabilise for a while but we shall see. Of importance on a geopolitical scale, that day saw Xi Jinping visit Vladimir Putin in Russia. The latter has a  peace plan of 12 points to put an end to the "conflict" with Ukraine. The Chinese won't even call it war. The Chinese together with Russia working out a peace plan doesn't offer much hope in my mind. But at least Putin is considering the word peace. Hate the man. Having a Russian mother I was interested that "blini" was on the menu - the small Russian pancakes usually served with caviar or similar. I love the blini but hate caviar. I used to have mine with "skippers" (small sardines). 

Our house was full of guests but I never saw the Mexican mother and daughter who spent nearly 2 days getting over their jet lag. 

The highlight of the afternoon was my weekly Skype call with Amanda. We both spoke a lot about our sleep or rather how badly or well we get our shut eye. I have to say I am sleeping a lot better these days, hallelujah. 

But I was up at just past 6 am on Tuesday morning. Spring came and it was most welcome. There was no walk that day as I had a hairdresser appointment and had to do some emergency shopping to last till Wednesday. So I was out most of the morning while my dear husband who is a politics junkie watched nearly the whole of the no confidence vote in Parliament. It was a bit of a farce as it was proposed by the far right wing party Vox who had no hope of winning, even if they used the famous 89 year economist Ramón Tamames to speak for them. It's a bit ironic as he was once a member of the communist party. Even so, my husband loves following Spanish politics. I don't.

Wednesday was shopping day which I have come to enjoy as it is a task we do together and includes coffee out.  There was no time for a walk afterwards but there was still time to continue gathering documents for the inland revenue tax returns (declaración de la renta). When we had just a few to gather to send to my accountant I was stunned to receive a message from the AEAT (Spanish tax agency) to say there were some irregularities with last year's tax returns. The document was long and complicated but there was no explanation whatsoever as to what the irregularities actually are. I wrote hastily to my accountant, Pilar, who is no longer my accountant as I didn't need one when I retired. But it was Pilar who did my tax returns last year. I looked at some of the finer print and it seems they want all the invoices/receipts etc of all income and all expenditure but will not accept either jpg or pdf files which is practically what all my documents are. I didn't need that. I don't need that. What on earth was it about? I thought I wouldn't be able to sleep that night but actually I did. 

The only pleasant item on my agenda that afternoon was a Facetime call with my dear friend Kathy in the UK. In the UK  Boris Johnson was undergoing a grilling from the Privileges Committee about his behaviour during "partygate". He will either be let off (likely as he always has done), given some sort of fine (possible), or lose his status as an MP. The last is unlikely but it's what he deserves. He should be losing sleep over this but I bet he isn't. 

The first thing I would do on Thursday morning when offices opened would be to ring Pilar and see what she thought about the threatening letter from the Spanish tax office. It was a big relief talking to her as she said nothing was serious. Apparently the Tax Agency has sent the same letter to most or all freelance workers as the law on working at home has changed since the pandemic and some items do not have tax rebates any more, such as a new computer. This means we shall all have to return some money. The good thing is that she can take care of it and was not worried. I hadn't done anything illegal or wrong which is what worried me most. 

So with a with a much lighter heart, off we set for our walk which included coffee and porras (again) and  shouldn't as it beats the objective. I realised we were both wearing yellow, an unusual colour for us both but also a total coincidence. Thus I asked the waiter to take a photo. That's this week's feature photo my friends. As we were leaving the cafe, a woman on the table next to us commented on the colour and put it down to our love as husband and wife. The funny thing is, as I said, it was total coincidence.

That day we carried on with gathering all the paperwork for the tax returns which Pilar will do in May. I can't believe how much time we spent on it this week and also how much money we spend on electricity, gas, water, insurance, internet, council taxes, boiler fuel, etc, etc, etc. It's the first time I have ever done this sort of work and it is a very interesting exercise. I now know just how much electricity has gone up. If we paid around 70 euros a month for this great big house in the early part of 2021, by July of the same year we were paying over 400 years per month, that's nearly 6 times more. It makes the news come true.  I also now know what all the utility bills add up to for all 4 houses. It is electricity that costs the most by far. 

Friday came and brought with it new guests. I can't believe how full we have been this month and I bless the Lord as this helps pay all those horrible utility bills, hahahaha. Our Mexican mother and daughter who left me a glowing review will be back on 1st April. In their place came Ricardo from Honduras and Pablo from Almeria; both to do exams this weekend, poor boys. 

We had expected to be baby sitting for Juliet and Elliot while their parents went out for a well deserved dinner on their own but they were far too tired and would leave it till Saturday.

If I have a had quiet life this week, it's been very turbulent internationally - the war continues in Ukraine, peace efforts aren't really being made, the banking crisis that started of with the Silicon Valley bank crash, spread through the sector. By Friday it even affected Deutcsh Bank. People will be moving their money from one bank to another in panic mode and who knows how this will end up.

 Nearer to home, in France, the young President Emanuel Macron, is under huge pressure from the population  over the new pension age law going up from 62 to 64. It really has got out of hand, with strikes and violent demonstrations everywhere.  It almost feels like a throwback to 1798, the famous French Revolution. Would you believe that because of this, King Charles' first foreign visit abroad as the new King of the UK, to France did not go ahead? I believe there was worry that the lavish dinner planned at Versailles would not go down well with the disgruntled French Population.   This was The Times front page yesterday. Just look at the photos of rubbish piling up in the streets of Paris thanks to the strikes, some of which was smouldering after demonstrators set fire to containers in the street. 

Front page of The Times yesterday

I honestly wonder whether Macron is getting his sleep. The good news is that I am. I have slept well nearly all week getting between 6 and 7 hours a night which is a huge tonic. 

Saturday was the most exciting day of this rather quiet week. Again our walk included coffee and porras at the local shopping centre. Once there, I couldn't believe what I was seeing; 2 replica Pippas, ie. 2 chocolate coloured miniature dachshunds just like her. Pippa met Greta who is about the same  size. Normally she is quite aggressive with other dogs but not with those of her same breed. How on earth does she know? I tried to get a photo but only managed this and didn't get the other mini sausage dog, Lola who tried to bite me (hahaha) in the picture.

Pippa meets Greta, her lookalike

I so love dogs, I go up to nearly all the ones I see, but I have a special fondness for dachshunds. It was interesting to talk to the owners and compare notes. All three dogs have similar traits; they are wary of strangers, focus on one person, are fiercely loyal and, yes, they all like to sleep in their owners' beds. It was quite a fun moment.

We sat in the brilliant sunshine and I told Eladio to close his eyes and imagine he was sitting with me having a coffee in Venice in Piazza San Marco. We spoke about our trip on the walk home, mostly about the essential items we must take. Our guest Stefano who is from north Italy has given us lots of suggestions and recommendations. In less than a month we will be on our way. This last week Eladio got our green card as well as travel insurance. We are nearly all done. 

We had a quiet afternoon until Oli and Miguel arrived with the babies. They had been out to lunch so instead of babysitting for them to go out to dinner, we did it so that they could go home and watch a film together. They needed some time out, poor souls.

The kids behaved and even ate their dinner with us so I was happy to report to Oli they had eaten "properly". They played with their toys too and later we took them up to our room and out of the way of any potential guest. They had a great time with us on our huge 180cm bed. I had to take a photo to share. This is it. 

Fun with Elliot and Juliet

We had lots of fun with them. Babysitting was the highlight of the day. Their parents came rather too early to pick them up. I think they felt guilty although they shouldn't. They need more time out, they really do. It's hard work bringing up babies and toddlers who you cannot let out of your sight for long; especially little Juliet, haha, who nearly fell off the bed a few times.

Oli and Miguel had watched the new Spanish film, "The Beasts" which won most prizes at the Spanish film awards (Los Goya) last month. So, when they went, we decided we would too. In Spain it's on Movistar Plus - yes the company I had so much hassle with when I changed operators. One of the reasons was their TV content so I was happy to be able to finally get some payback for all my efforts last night. 

What a film

Loosely based on a true story, it's about a French couple who move to a remote and poor village in inland Galicia. They go there to carry out their life dream of ecological farming and restoring old and empty houses. Everything goes sour when the French couple refuse to sign an agreement to sell land to a wind farm company which the rest of their neighbours want to make some fast money and quit their hard life. In Spanish it is called "As Bestas" which is the Galician for The Beasts. It is not for the lighthearted but what a story; the story of life where no one is right nor is rural life as idyllic as it might seem. 

I think we finished the film after midnight and of course last night they changed the clocks. We weren't tired and continued onto The Elephant Whisperers which I had already seen. Thus I must have fallen asleep at past 2 am (new time) and was up at 7.30. It was nearly light which surprised me. Today they have robbed us of an hour's sleep but I don't mind as even if the day is shorter, days will seem longer from now on as it won't get dark until past 8.30pm. 

Today we will have the pleasure of the company of our grandchildren again as they are all coming for lunch. I will be preparing lasagna. Pasta is such great comfort food isn't it?

Now I have come to the end of the tales of this week and hopefully you have enjoyed the read. Who knows, my friends, what next week will bring; good things I hope.

Cheers then till next Sunday,

Masha

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