Carlos Alcaraz, King of Wimbledon, a few days in Santa Pola, early morning bathe and walk on our beach, home again, time with Elliot and Juliet and other stories.

Home again, Madrid, Sunday 23rd July, 2023

We finally went to the beach  - early morning bathe and walk on Wednesday

Good morning again friends and readers.

We are now into the end of July which has been perhaps not the  the hottest I can remember in all my 40 years in Spain but the longest. Seville this week was the hottest city in Europe  with temperatures reaching over 43ºc. I read in the news that    this wonderful, beautiful and magical city in the south of Spain that is steeped in history, could become a desert in the next few years due to furnace heat! It wasn't much better in Madrid where mercury hit 42ºc on Monday this week. That, though, is not so unusual. I remember when we lived in the city in the late 80's that 40 and above was quite normal in July and August but I hated it. Far away in Phoenix where I once went, I read that the inhabitants of the Arizona capital have had to bear 45ºc for more than 45 days. Last night I read that tourists and residents fled their homes and hotels in Rhodes, Greece, where a fire was raging. Desperate news!

We wanted to escape the heat and had booked 5 nights at our own place near Santa Pola and left last Sunday hoping to be able to cool off in the sea but ended up using the pool more than we normally do there. The thermometer reached at least 10 degrees less but due to the humidity, 30ºc on the Costa Blanca is the equivalent of 40ºc in dryer Madrid. So we didn't escape the heat, as the humidity made it even more impossible. 

We set off with Suzy and Pippa in the Mini and bought sandwiches to eat on the way. We had them at some godforsaken, dusty and horribly hot small town called "Horna". "Horno" in Spanish means an oven and that was the place felt like as we sat on our beach chairs under a tree surrounded by flies. Here are Eladio and Suzy trying to enjoy what was not a very nice Sunday lunch hahaha

Not the best Sunday lunch - on the road to Santa Pola last week

We arrived at around 4.30 to a clean and fresh apartment, thanks to our neighbour Lucy. Guests had left that very morning and she had done a rush but good job.  

We soon settled in and I put on all the fans as it was so humid and warm outside. Thankfully our apartments are on a cliff so there was some breeze. 

At that time on the other side of the Channel, in much cooler weather, Spain's Carlos Alcaraz who is from even hotter Murcia (very near Alicante), was playing the 7 time Wimbledon champion in the final. It was David against Goliath and as much as I love the 20 year old young Carlos and wanted him to win with all my heart, I knew inside me that the Serb would beat him. I watched the first set on the BBC iPlayer only to see him beaten 1-6. So I stopped watching. In Belgium, France and England, and in that order, my great friends, Sandra, Adele and Amanda watched the whole 5 set match which turned out to be the second longest final at SW19. So I went down to the pool but kept looking at the progress of the match on my phone. When I saw Carlos was winning 2 sets to 1, I rushed upstairs again to watch the rest of the match. I told Eladio to join me as Alcaraz was winning. Well, just as my husband started watching, the young Spaniard who was only 7 when 36 year old Novak was already winning grand slams, he lost the next set. So much for him winning I thought. Great, he has won 2 sets but he won't be able to beat the tennis legend who was, supposedly, unbeatable at the All England Club. I thought Carlos was too young, his nerves would play against him and that the old Serb had too many tricks in his handbook and that really he was the better player. That was until Sandra texted me to say, "Watch Masha, he is about to serve match point". So I timidly watched him serve, thinking he would lose the point. But I was so wrong, so wrong - he did it. As my school friend Maureen said to me "your boy did good". Oh how good. I think I was probably more nervous than the champion and was only able to enjoy the final when it came to the presentation of the Cup. It was handed to the young Spaniard who made history that day - some called it the changing of the guard - by the Princess of Wales with the King of Spain looking on. I wonder what Carlos was thinking at that moment. It was a dream come true which is how he described his achievement. For me that day, he made me proud of Spain and Spanish sport. I liked the Wimbledon Twitter handle comment: "a new name, a new reign".

The King of Wimbledon - 20 year old  Carlos Alcaraz from Murcia, Spain. He did it!

Mats Wilander summed up both his win and his tennis very well when he said "I think it's important that we have a new Wimbledon champion and it's even more important that it's Carlos Alcaraz because he has something so special that we might never have seen in our sport before. I include Federer, Nadal and Djokovic in that. He has the touch of Federer, the passion of Nadal and the movement and defensive skills of Djokovic."

But I doubt it is a question of "The King has died, long live the King" because of the 3 great tennis players who have dominated the game for 20 years, Djokovich is still hungry and still has it in him to be the number one again and win his 8th Wimbledon to equal Federer. But for the moment, Carlos Alaraz is King of Wimbledon and I couldn't be more pleased. The Spanish King of tennis, Nadal, now has  a successor and that is good for the sport too. So now instead of chanting "vamos Rafa", we will be chanting "vamos" Carlos, Carlitos or Charlie - he goes by all three. 

We didn't exactly celebrate but I did have a glass of wine with my dinner. Dinner was another little disaster. I wanted to make fish in batter but it stuck on the frying pan - will get some new ones - and the batter was too thin. Never mind though as the fish was still nice.

I slept reasonably well but only because I had the fan blowing recycled warm air in my face all night. I was up at about 7.15 on Monday morning and at that time the temperature was already 25ºc, just too much for me. We rather wasted the morning  - or maybe not - by talking to different electricity suppliers for all our houses. We had had a very high bill at our main house and Eladio was determined to shop around to get a better price. Then we ventured out, this time to spend more money. The TV was not working and I decided it was high time we got a smart TV at our apartment. We got a very cheap one - oh how the prices have gone down, a smallish Samsung - good enough for Santa Pola - which the usually efficient appliance shop (Euronics) were to install on Wednesday. 

Only then could I walk down to the pool to cool off - not so much in the water which was tepid but in the shower. I then sat under the trees enjoying the breeze which is when I finally felt cool. Lunch was a doddle - leftover spag bol and then I sat on our cool terrace which only gets the sun in the mornings, thank goodness. I never understand why people with apartments there close off the terrace to make another room. For me the saving grace of our apartment is the terrace overlooking the sea and a Mediterranean garden. 

I had my Monday afternoon Skype call by the pool with my friend Amanda in Devon where it was only 20ºc. But soon I was joined by Eladio who was willing to go into the pool so I cut short the call to live the moment. Soon after it was time for another Skype call, this time with my Uni friends, Sandra and Adele. We did talk about Alcaraz, for sure - they are great Wimbledon fans too - but also about our upcoming girly week  in Santa Pola in October. I'm looking forward to that. 

The day ended quietly. We hadn't done much but then again we had and I had enjoyed talking to my friends and spending time by the pool.

Wednesday came and it was another morning of errands. We duly went to get new frying pans - the others were more than 20 years old (haha), then for a coffee - but inside with air con as it was too hot outside - and then to the ubiquitous Mercadona mostly for household products for guests. The final stop was at Lidl where I got 12 bottles of wine and 12 large packet of crisps - welcome gifts for the next guests until the beginning of September. It's nice to arrive at an Airbnb/hotel or whatever and to find a gift. In Asturias it is cider with crisps and in Madrid it is fresh orange juice with almonds. 

I made a slightly bigger effort for lunch and grilled mushrooms and asparagus to have with the leftover meat loaf I had brought from Madrid. Straight after lunch I went down to the pool again to cool off. I was joined by Eladio but this time he didn't go in. 

The rest of the day was quiet but hot. The only thing I did of interest was start a new BBC series, "The Sixth Commandment". Based on a true story it tells a horrible tale of how one young man manipulated 2 old people to get them to change their wills in his favour - one of whom he murdered. It's a horrible tale but very well told.

We had come on Sunday and by Wednesday had still not gone down to the beach which was the main purpose. The reason we didn't go was the heat so on that morning we decided to go down as early as possible to avoid the heat and the crowds - not that our beach (Arenales/Carabassi) ever gets really overcrowded. It was lovely to get there at 8.15 in the morning with hardly anyone on the beach and no issue with parking. I took a photo of my husband going down one of the wooden walkways. This is him. He is dressed in green which, totally, out of coincidence, matched our green beach chairs and parasol. A friend commented how colour coordinated he is. He is not; it was just a coincidence hahahaha. 

On our way down to our beach

I call it "our beach" because we have been going to it since we bought the apartment in May 1999. I cannot forget the year as it was the year my mother died (in October). I was always sorry she never came but my father often did and he loved "our beach". My husband took one of me too in the same spot as I needed a feature photo for this week's blog.

And here he is picking our spot right by the water with no competition whatsoever. What a lovely time of the morning to go and have a bathe and a walk on the beach. 

Eladio setting up our spot on the beach on Wednesday morning - the buildings in the distance are where our apartment is - the white ones on the cliff.

It was already 26ºc at 8.15 in the morning and I was dying to go in the water but first I had to take a video to share with you of that lovely moment. You can see it here on my YouTube channel. 

We were soon in the sea with hardly anyone else around and both remarked just how warm the water was. We also spoke about the heatwave. Yes it is intense but I'm not sure it's that much different from when I first came to Spain in the 70's and 80's. I remember torrid nights in Callosa with my parents and friends, hitchhiking in the deadly sun to Benidorm. I also remember driving to Alicante from Madrid without air conditioning and on a main road with only two lanes which took forever in the intense heat; the same as now, 40ºc. I am not denying climate change but Spain was hot already. Maybe what has changed is the relentlessness;  longer periods of  extremely high temperatures. 

Once we had cooled off, we went on our walk - the same one as always - all the way to the rocks at the end of the beach which is surrounded by dunes. We never go the other way which is built up, far preferring the scenery. We sat on the same rock we always sit on which means so much to us.

At about 10.30 when the front row of the beach was filling up, we did the opposite. While people were arriving, we left. Before getting into our sauna-like car, we had a coffee at the only bar on the promenade. Once home, while Eladio went to have a shower, I made a beeline for the pool. Suzy joined me where she announced she wasn't coming home with us. Rather she is going to restart life in Lorca - Murcia. Well, what can I say or do? She is 39 and has to live her own life. I am not so keen as she is going back to someone who is not exactly the epitome of a gentleman. That has been on my mind ever since. 

We were excited to be waiting for Euronics to deliver and install the new Samsung smart TV. Well, they came but couldn't do much as the TV cable was broken. That meant Eladio had to go to the ironmonger - in the end he went 3 times. They would come back the next day.

I think that night was the hottest. What with the heat, the humidity and the relentless mosquitoes biting me, all I wanted was to go home. That night there was another election debate except that the opposition leader, Feijóo was not taking part. Eladio watched it while I read.

We decided to go home on Thursday morning instead of Friday so as to have an extra day in Madrid before setting off for Montrondo again. Eladio duly took Suzy to the bus stop to take the bus to Lorca while I waited for the Euronics people. They came but damn them, they drilled 3 holes in the wall which penetrated the bedroom next to the lounge. They made a botched job of covering it with plaster but it needs a painter which they have promised to send. I was pretty annoyed as new guests were arriving on Friday and the holes are a bit unsightly.  We left at around 13.30 and were soon on the road to Madrid. We stopped for lunch at El Cruce but it wasn't as good as usual. The journey home seemed endless.

We were back by about 5.30 to be greeted by Tana who had looked after the house well. I unpacked in our pleasantly air conditioned room and could have bathed in the pool as there were no guests until Friday. We just had fruit for dinner sitting on the patio and it was much cooler than in Santa Pola. 

Friday came and we were busy. We had to do the shopping of course and then I sent Eladio to the barber. He hadn't had a haircut since Kosovo and  had veritable locks in his hair. I told him he looked like that Catalan fugitive separatist, Puigdemont, hahahaha.

I brought the shopping back on time to put it away and make the lunch before our new guests arrived, a family from Piacenza, Italy - Matteo, Simona and their 2 young daughters. They loved the house and we loved them. We would have loved to have Oli and the kids round but not with guests - much to her annoyance, I'm afraid. But we would see them on Saturday when the guests were out visiting Madrid and we will be spending time with them in Montrondo next week. 

It was a quiet day all round and I spent most of the afternoon in our cool room finishing the excellent BBC series, The sixth commandment. 

Saturday came and I had slept very badly and got up before 6 am. I just hope I will sleep better in Montrondo where we are going tomorrow. I set about making lunch early so as to be ready when Oli and the kids came that morning. I made a cream of pumpkin and carrot soup followed by stuffed shoulder of lamb and was then free to read a bit in the quiet of the garden by the pool. It was lovely to watch the pool maintenance man clean it while I was relaxing. It's always relaxing to watch someone else clean isn't it? Soon our own little pumpkins were with us. We hadn't seen Juliet and Elliot for more than a week and it's always lovely to be reunited. Here they are in the pool with their mother which we had to ourselves yesterday morning when our Italian guests were out for the day.

Pool time yesterday

We were joined by Miguel for lunch and everyone loved my cooking. Today I will be cooking again to take ready made food to Montrondo. I was shattered after lunch as I had only slept about 4 hours so both of us went and had a siesta while Oli and family enjoyed the pool until the Italian family were back.

It was a quiet day in the whole of Spain too, as the day before a general election - being held today - is called "the day of reflection" and no parties are allowed to campaign any longer. I reflected that I shall be voting in a general election for the first time in 40 years. I seem to remember the last time I voted in one was in the UK and it was for Margaret Thatcher. Yes, I voted for her as in my house you were only allowed to vote Conservative. My brother was the rebellious exception and always voted Labour to annoy our parents. But he was lazy and being a teenager slept most of the day. My mother's tactic was to let him sleep for it to be too late for him to vote, hahahaha. Once I left England I could not vote in Spain until I had a residency card and then I was only allowed to vote in 2 types of elections - the local and European elections; not the general or regional elections. And, as I told you recently, after 15 years outside the UK I am no longer able to vote there either. So today will be very significant for me. The country, as always, is totally divided and we will end up with no clear majority for any of the candidates. Will the vote sway right or stay left? We will know very soon tonight, shortly after the polling stations close at 8 pm. In the UK, I remember us all watching the TV well into the night to know who had won. These days the results come in much more quickly. So, by tonight, we will have an outcome. But again we will have a coalition government as neither the Socialists nor the People's party will get a majority.  The two options are: 1) Socialists again who need the support of the communists (Sumar) and the ex terrorist party (Bildu) - led by men who killed - as well as the Catalan separatist parties. 2) The right wing PP party together with Vox the far right party. I can't stomach the communists but nor can I stomach the far right wing party. Thus my choice of vote is very difficult. I think that is the same for everyone who is voting. Tonight we shall know what Spain's future government will be or at least we might have an idea as after today there will be a long period of negotiating between parties. 

Today is Sunday, 23rd July, day of the general election. I look forward to voting, I really do. We are doing so at the local University as the usual polling station - a nearby school - is under reform. That, my friends, is the main news of the day. By next Sunday it will all be over. 

Cheers till then, 

Masha