A quiet and rainy week, earthquake in Morocco, tragedy in flooded Libya, birthdays in September and other stories of the week

Sunday 17th September, 2023 - Elliot's 4th birthday

For lack of any others, here is a photo of me on our walk on Friday - always with Pippa.

Good morning all.

Today is a happy day. It is Elliot's 4th birthday and he is having his birthday party at our house this afternoon. It's quite a milestone for him and for us and as we love birthdays, today will be a good day.

Most of this week wasn't. But, at least it has been quiet and rainy too, I should add. We have had big thunderstorms for the last 3 nights, but no more emergency warnings. We have nothing to complain about compared to the tragic floods in Libya where 10.000 have died and more than 11,000 are missing; probably never to be found again. As if it wasn't miserable enough in a country like Libya for the population to have to go through such a  greatest natural disaster  - it makes me think just how privileged I am, living in this part of the world in a relatively rich and peaceful country. 

Last Sunday saw us reeling from our rescue trip to a small village in Guadalajara. That was the day our Peruvian guests arrived. 22 year old Mileny will be studying marketing at the Universidad Europea de Madrid, and will be staying with us, at least until January. She arrived with her parents who seemed so young to me. Well, of course they are, by about 20 years. Some 20 years ago we were in their same position, seeing our girls start their University courses. They must be pretty well off to travel to Madrid all the way from Lima just to settle their daughter in - and to make sure she had come to a safe home - and to be able to afford the fees. The UEM is the most expensive private university in Spain as I know very well.The parents spent just one day before travelling on Sunday with their daughter to Italy; Milan. She was hell bent on visiting Portofino. Mileny who stuffed the mini fridge we got for her, with so many bags of lettuce, etc, it wouldn't shut, returned yesterday with her parents who only came by to have a shower, get their luggage and return to the airport to catch their flight back to Peru. They had brought us a bag of what looked like crisps. Turns out they are crisps made from bananas. Not sure they are up my street but very kind of them.  We promised to look after their "little girl". 

With us too we had Maria and her daughter Thea from Norway, Veronica who is Argentinian and Ivan who had come from Barcelona to do a private course on stocks and shares. We get people from all over the world coming for so many different reasons. But they were all quiet and most of the time we didn't see them. 

It was last Sunday the world woke up to the news of an earthquake in the Marrakesh area of Morocco, at the foot of the Atlas mountains. Many have died and many homes are destroyed. The King was in Paris and took too long to make a public appearance. Initially he resisted international aid and then only from certain countries, excluding France but including the UK and Spain. One of Oli's colleagues was sent to cover the story. She would have loved to as well but is on a "non travel" contract as who would look after the children as she complained to me. 

I was up very late that night as Suzy was travelling to Santa Pola, to Gran Alacant, to move into our apartment there again but didn't have keys. So at around 2.30 in the morning I was in contact with her to make sure she got in. Oh, she does worry me so.

Monday came. It wasn't any Monday, it was 11th September, the anniversary of a terrorist attack on the US we shall never forget and which forever changed the world; especially how we travel; still today. 

Life continues, as it does and Monday was pretty mundane as was most of the rest of the week. We went on our walk which is a good thing. I was on the phone later to Loli, my neighbour in El Cuetu (Asturias). The insurance people or rather the workers they had sent to fix a leak had arrived. She wanted to know if they should go ahead and break the walls from the bathroom to the lounge. I had to say yes and God it looked awful later. We are now waiting for the plumber to do his job and then I suppose a mason and a painter. We are planning to go this week and we are not sure what we will find. Thankfully there is a second bathroom. We were going to be joined by Zuka, my cousin, and her friend but they are not coming in the end. Well, we shall still enjoy ourselves. Our main mission there, apart from the plumbing issue, is to replant hydrangeas and other flowers which were killed by the sun this summer. That is highly unusual for green Asturias. 

I made lasagne for lunch which would last us 3 meals as I don't know how to make small portions when I cook, hahahaha. In the afternoon I spent a lot of time talking to Maria, my Norwegian guest while Eladio did the massive job of mowing the lawn. With all the recent rain the grass had grown enormously. Last month there were so many dry patches I didn't think it would get green again but it has. Here he is finishing the job.

Eladio after mowing the lawn on Monday

On Tuesday we woke up to the news of terrible flooding in Libya. Thousands have died in this war torn and divided country. They had torrential rain but it was damns that broke, damns that badly needed repairing. That was the main cause of destruction. 

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, two of the world's biggest pariahs, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jon Un of the hermetic, poor, communist country, North Korea, met in Siberia. Kim Jon Un had arrived on his private, pink leather seated, train on a journey which took 65 hours. His train and his lifestyle are obscenely luxurious while most of his countrymen are living in poverty. He was there to offer munitions to help Russia win the war against Ukraine, in exchange for more military aid, as well as food. His country needs food more than anything. He disgusts me as does Putin who makes me ashamed of my Russian origins.

My only engagement that day was an appointment with a dermatologist. I had a recurring small wound on my back which was worrying me. After all, my dear brother George, died of melanoma. After telling me off for not having gone sooner he told me it was nothing to worry about and  sprayed it with some burning mixture. In a few days time I will be rid of it. 

That night, with our Peruvians in Italy and Maria and Veronica no around, we had a quiet dinner on our terrace.

Wednesday came. It was 13th September, my friend Amanda's 67th birthday. We have been friends since the age of 10 or 11 when we started senior school at St. Joseph's Catholic College in Bradford where we both live. It is marvelous that 50 years later our friendship is still going strong. We are like soul sisters but I only wish we lived near each other. Our relationship now consists of a weekly Skype call, usually on Mondays. I always look forward to them. 

We had another appointment that day - to take our 22 year old Volvo S60 (my ex Nokia company car) to the garage. It kept stopping and until we took it to the Volvo garage, no other garage could find out what was wrong with it. It turns out three small parts need replacing - something to do with the oil not reaching where it has to reach. Bottom line is it will cost a "grand". Lovely! As to the engine, the mechanic remarked it would last "forever". Someone recently told me that car manufacturers these days prime safety over quality. That maybe so. For the moment we are keeping the Volvo. 

We had a medical appointment in Madrid later where we met up with Olivia. As it was getting late we had lunch out for a change. Oli took us to a new local place where I had fish and chips which weren't that bad. They had the menu of the day, nothing of which was on it appealed to me. Oli told me I'm fussy with my choice of food and she is right. 

But there are many dishes I love and one of them is "patatas revolconas" ( translates badly - sort of means partially mashed potatoes. That is the dish I made for dinner that night which we had on the terrace again. This was the result.

Patatas revolconas for dinner on Wednesday

Pork cracklings accompany the potatoes and Pippa was in seventh heaven when we gave her those that were left over. 

Thursday was the quietest day of the week and we only left the house for our walk. Maria, our Norwegian guest, was leaving that day. Bless her, she left us a bottle of wine, some white roses and treats for Pippa, as well as a thank you note. It's not often you get guests like Maria and I was sorry to see her go.

Of note, I bought Eladio's birthday presents that afternoon online. We will have had 3 birthdays this month. It's hard to believe my gorgeous looking husband will turn 79 on 23rd September and that next year he will be 80!!! How can that be possible I ask myself? When we met in the summer of 1980 I could not envisage he would turn out to be my life partner and that we would still be together more than 40 years later. Marrying Eladio was the best decision of my life. He never got down on his knees to ask for my hand in marriage. He didn't need to as very shortly after we met, we both knew we had met our soul mate and that we would marry. There was no need for a proposal hahahahha. 

Friday was a bit busier as it was shopping day and, as usual, we did our errands together as we always do. First we went to the DIY store, Leroy Merlin. We needed to get a wood plank for one of our benches. That took up a good hour and a half. I even had my coffee there - not the best place. Then we rushed to Mercadona and to Carrefour, hoping to be back on time to unload the shopping and have our lunch before our next set of guests arrived. They were due at 2 but didn't come till 3.15 which gave us a breather. It was 2 families from Vigo (Galicia) who had come to accompany their teenage kids who were playing in a water polo championship and who we hardly saw.  I told you people come for a myriad of reasons. 

That day at school, Elliot celebrated his 4th birthday which is actually today. This is him with his birthday hat next to little Juliet who turned 2 on 4th of September. That makes, together with Eladio, 3 family birthdays this month. A lot. 

Elliot with his birthday hat on Friday

The highlight of Friday was a Skype call  in the afternoon with my dear friend Amanda who was back from her step daughter, Jane's wedding. Who needs therapy when you have a friend like you I told Amanda. She agreed. 

It rained cats and dogs that night as it did most nights this week which scared Pippa stiff. She hates thunder and lightning. I am just hoping the rain will have gone by this afternoon for Elliot's birthday party. I was told yesterday that there will be 20 children and, yes, imagine, 20 adults! That's 40 people in our garden and there is no plan B for if it rains. I do not want 40 people in the house. Plus I have new guests coming. I had forgotten to block the calendar for all the rooms and thus we will have 5 guests here while a kids' raucous party is going on. I am not looking forward to it but bless him, it's Elliot and I shall be happy for him. 

Saturday came and it started with our walk. I asked Eladio to take a photo of me, for want of any other photo taken this week of significance as we did not do anything significant. It's with little Pippa, of course the joy of our lives. 

Tana, our housekeeper had her day off and all the guests were out so the house was quiet when Oli and family came to drop off things for the party. Lunch was a Sunday roast on a Saturday - a shoulder of lamb with roast potatoes, runner beans, gravy and mint sauce. Eladio told me he has put on 3 kilos in the last 5 or 6 months. I have not dared get on the scales. Soon I will have to. Soon is maybe in October after a girly week in Santa Pola with Adele and Sandra.

We slept a long siesta after the heavy meal and then again Oli and family came, this time to bring all the party food and drink. They stuffed the only free fridge we had to the limit. 

Later, for want of anything else to do, I made a vegetable dish for our dinner, then watched more of a series called In the dark on the BBC iPlayer with my illicit VPN masker (VPN Express). We went to bed early, watched the news - more on the earthquake in Morocco and the floods in Libya, then watched a disturbing film about a mother and her drug addict daughter. What a nightmare. We should have watched something more positive.

I probably got about 6 hours sleep last night which seems to be the latest normal and today, of course, is Elliot's birthday proper. They will be coming for lunch and I have made "bitki" - Russian hamburgers (my mother's recipe) to be accompanied by a mountain of chips at Olivia's request.

So today, in contrast to most of this week, will be hectic and chaotic. I'll muddle through and all will be ok, I'm sure. I must be more positive. I will be.

That's it then for this week my friends. Cheers till next Sunday,

Masha