More Israeli hostages released, grandparent duty, ceasefire over and bombing of Gaza renewed, opening my Advent calendar, my guests' electric scooters and other stories of the week.

Sunday, 3rd December, 2023

Posing on one of our guest's rented electric scooters the new way to get around in modern times. 

Good morning all. How are you doing? We are doing better than this time last Sunday when I was recovering from flu and Eladio was in the midst of it, poor chap. I read this week that "man flu" does exist, that men  really do suffer more than women - something to do with hormones which affect the immune system. However Murphey's law saw that after my flu I was to get a common cold. 

So it was just Pippa and me on our walk that day. I came home feeling more energised and made an effort for lunch. We had roast lamb (shoulder of baby lamb - poor mite) with roast potatoes, peas, gravy and mint sauce. I had bought the latter at Quicksave, the British supermarket in Gran Alacant. This was the result. Wonderful!

Roast lamb with all the trimmings for lunch last Sunday

Monday came and my energy was back - a bit. That morning I had an appointment for a scan of my teeth at 11.15 so decided to go out early. My main mission was to find a lovely jumper dress I had found online at Zara. Unfortunately they had run out of it but it felt good to be in a shopping centre on my own where I imbibed a bit of the Christmas spirit. I went into the enormous Carrefour hypermarket where I stocked up on their amazing in house smoked salmon. I also got a variety of "turrón" - Spanish nougat - a big thing here at Christmas. From Majadahonda I drove to Las Rozas for my appointment where I had to wait nearly an hour so spent the time fiddling on my phone. What would we do without our phones to wile the time away in a waiting room? In the old days there would have been old magazines to browse through. After the scan I had a coffee and a "porra" (thick churro) before I walked nearly 1km away to where my car was parked. My next destination was to the new Mercadona which has opened near our house or rather between our house and Oli's. I went to get pastry for some left over filling to make more "perushki" (Russian meat pies) - also for Christmas. But I also got some phyllo pastry as I have decided I shall make "baklava" for our Christmas Eve dessert. Let's see how it works out. This is the recipe I shall be following.  My last stop was the chemist to buy more strepsils to get us through the nights

I came home to find lunch made by dear Tana under my instructions: cream of broccoli soup followed by grilled pork loin steak with cauliflower and runner beans and garlic - a very easy meal. 

The highlight of Monday afternoon was my weekly Skype call with Amanda. We were both feeling in better spirits than the week before; thankfully. While I was on the call, Oli rang to say she was arriving to bring us some bean stew and fresh bread; bless her. So out I went in my dressing gown in the freezing cold. They didn't come in as we would be spending time with the kids on Tuesday.

Thus I resumed my call with Amanda until it was nearly "tea time" which is dinner at home at 8pm. As I was preparing our dinner, Mileny, our Peruvian student remarked how she had noticed we always have our meals at set times. She is right, we do. We are sticklers for routine which I am never sure is a good or bad thing. It is Eladio who likes his meals at 2 and at 8 pm and I just go along with it. I made a dish with the salmon I had bought and just when the table was laid I saw a message from Eladio to say he didn't want dinner because of his (man) flu! But he came down and ate it in the end, thank goodness. We later watched the news: day 3 of the hostage releases. I read that of the over 200 hostages Hamas does not have them all and some are in the hands of other terrorist groups!!! The next day it was announced the 4 day ceasefire and hostage release would be extended for a further two days. Let's hope the missing hostages are found and released. It's not looking good. 

However by the end of the week the ceasefire was over and the bombing of Gaza renewed which also means no more humanitarian aid allowed in. Hamas also attacked Israel with people killed at a bus stop, including an Israeli by mistake and we are back to square one. Although I hate Hamas and what they did and are doing, my heart goes out to innocent Palestinians who are wrongly in the line of fire while their leaders hide abroad or in tunnels under the cities. Spain is caught in a diplomatic row after the country's PM, Pedro Sánchez said something similar but also requesting that Israel keep to international warfare rules adding that the killing of civilians was "unbearable". Israel swears it is keeping to the rules but I'm sorry to say I'm not convinced. 

That night (Monday) was the first since my flu began that I didn't need to take any codeine for my cough. Hooray I thought. I slept on and off but woke up feeling slightly stronger. Eladio, on the other hand, had had a bad night, poor chap with his cough keeping him up but he refused to take a codeine tablet. 

Tuesday was quiet in the morning but hectic in the afternoon. We were on grandparent duty from 5.30 to 8.30 so that Oli could attend her French lessons. Thus we had to entertain them at home as Eladio preferred not to venture out. In my days doctors used to prescribe "fresh air" for a cold. In Eladio's days in rural northern Spain, people were wrapped up indoors. We managed as best we could. Just as the sun had set our two little tots wanted to go out to the swings so off we went. Here is a not very good photo of them on the swings in the dark. For the record these swings were bought for our daughters when they were around Elliot and Juliet's age. I'm sure when we bought them for old house in Rio Tajo (Boadilla) we couldn't have imagined that one day they would be enjoyed by our grandchildren!

Elliot and Juliet on the swings when they came on Tuesday afternoon

The next item on the agenda was serving them dinner. Elliot is a bad eater, whereas Juliet eats very well in comparison. We sat them down to dinner in the dining room so as not to disturb any guests, except that this week's guests have been practically invisible. Elliot doesn't like his photo being taken so he is making a grimace in the photo below to record one of the moments of grandparent duty this week.

The children having their dinner on Tuesday at our house

Of course they got an ice cream each afterwards, despite Elliot not having finished his dinner, hahahaha. We then entertained them as best we could in the "toy room" which doubles as the library or TV lounge. That had me organising all their toys which are looking a bit drab and need replenishing. That will happen at Christmas of course. Finally Oli was back at around 8.30 to pick them up. It had been lovely to have them but more tiring than usual because of our varying stages of flu - poor us.

That night my cough kept me awake and I didn't sleep well. It was the same for Eladio but his cough was much worse, a bit like whooping cough or croup. We woke up to fog on Wednesday morning, the last but one day of November. Wednesday 29th November 2023 will go down in history as the day the US' most famous diplomat, Henry Kissenger died, aged 100. As a friend remarked, my father saw the same world as he did. Ever since I can remember he was in the news. Of Jewish origin his family escaped to the US in the 30's and apparently he never lost his Bavarian accent. However, his legacy is not without controversy but who am I to judge? 

I decided that morning that we had to move and get out of our rut, however bad we were feeling and persuaded my husband to go for a walk to the local shopping centre. I was prescribing him what English GPs did to me when I was a child; go out in the fresh air but he wasn't convinced. In any case  the prize would be a change in activity as well as a coffee and "porra" for me (again) and toast with tomato and olive oil which is my husband's latest favourite snack; not that he is into snacking at all. And here he is, all wrapped up in the lovely Barbour scarf I bought him last Christmas. Whatever am I going to buy him this Christmas? While some of you have already done all or a lot of your seasonal shopping; I haven't started except for crackers, Christmas pudding, sage and onion stuffing and cranberry sauce - the latter courtesy of Quicksave, the British supermarket in Gran Alacant. 

Out for a coffee with Eladio on Wednesday

We then walked home and out we went again, this time by car to get some provisions including pizza; something which I don't usually buy but these days I have been feeling lazy and ready to make pizza is great comfort food.

We had planned on having a quiet time for the rest of the day but then I got a all from Oli to ask us to sleep at her house that night as well as Thursday - which we knew about but not Wednesday which came as a surprise. It was because Miguel was being sent somewhere by RTVE for 2 nights and someone had to take the kids to school as she gets up too early (at 5 am). I had dinner with Eladio and at about 8.15 I set off for their house which is very near; about 2km away. Oli had both kids ready for bed. She sleeps with Juliet and Miguel sleeps with Elliot which would be me this week. I got him to fall asleep by 9.30 which was quite miraculous. I did so by telling him stories of his mother and sister Suzy (Auny Bonny) when they were little girls and by giving him a massage. When I was sure he was asleep I went to Julie't bed which she never uses. Sleep didn't come easily as I was on the watch out in case Elliot woke up. He did at 11 and I went in to give him some water. Later Oli told me he went to her bed twice, poor lamb. I sort of slept on and off and woke up at 6.50 on Thursday morning.  I had time for myself to have a coffee (and a fag) and even shower myself. I couldn't find any deodorant so had to use Miguel's Old Spice, hahahaha. Hope he doesn't mind.

Eladio was at the flat by 7.45 so we had breakfast together - Elliot's Weetabix. At 8ish I woke them both up. First I woke up Juliet who was happy to know "Booboo", as she calls her grandfather, was in the kitchen. Then it was Elliot's turn. I loved those moments, I really did. What lovely memories of waking them up and their warming to us. The school routine between the two of us went quite smoothly thank goodness. From their school we drove straight to A&E at the local hospital - Monteprincipe in Pozuelo, as we had to sort Eladio out as he just wasn't getting better. We spent about 2 hours there and after an X-ray it seemed he had the beginnings of bronchitis for which they prescribed antibiotics. So, maybe my prescription of fresh air was a mistake. We went to get the medicines and the car and that was when I got a call from my dentist after seeing the results of the scans. In a nutshell, my top 5 piece bridge needs removing and replaced with implants, plus my top left canine tooth is broken. The budget is over 5000 euros and that's just for starters. My first appointment is on 11th December when Dr. Garralda will remove my 15 year old bridge. That will leave a gaping hole in my mouth for about a week which is what I am mostly dreading. I refused to let the news get me down although it couldn't have come at a worse time with Christmas on the horizon, dammit. 

After a couple more errands we were finally home and free of grandparent duty until 5.30 that day when Oli brought the kids again while she went to her second French lesson of the week. I then went home with her to sleep at her place for the second night running. It was heavy grandparent duty this week. I have to say though that  I adore little Elliot and Juliet. 

The highlight of their stay that afternoon was pizza for dinner; always an instant success. There was no going out to the swings because it was cold and wet. When Olivia finally came we shoveled the kids into the car quickly and I got in too as I had to sleep the night again with Elliot. On our way out of our drive Oli hit the gate and broke one of the car sidelights which had her in a fury. I think it's all a bit too much for her at times when Miguel is away. She is up so early at around 5, starts work at 6, is out by about 1 or 2, has lunch and then picks up both kids ay 4.30 and has to look after them until bedtime which is also a challenge when you have two toddlers aged 2 and 4. I felt sorry for her and wouldn't want to go back to that stage of my life for all the tea in China. 

That night I had Elliot asleep by 9.40 which gave me some free time to continue binge watching "Cuéntame cómo pasó". He woke up at 6.15 on Friday morning but went back to bed which gave me time to have a shower and get ready before they were both up. That morning they both got out of bed by themselves, robbing me of the privilege of waking them up myself. They were up early, first Elliot and then Juliet. I gave him his breakfast; Weetabix and smacks while he watched something on Netflix.

Elliot having breakfast on Friday morning

Juliet was up before Eladio came but only ate one third of a banana, hahaha. As there was lots of time before having to leave, they both started bringing their toys into the kitchen. The latest craze is something called "super things".  Eladio was there by about 8.15, had his breakfast and we left the house at 8.40 well on time for the school start at 9 am. Both kids know the drill and I was surprised there was no crying or protesting when we left them with their teachers, Carmen and Valle.

We then went straight home and I went straight to my bedroom feeling exhausted after two nights on the trot at the kids' house. Also I was getting another cold, just after my flu was receding. Really? That got me down. Frankly Friday was another day which could be erased from my life. In general I have felt very down this week and am trying to get out of the rut. Suzy is on my mind the whole time. Then there are the  tax people who I apparently owe lots of money too because my financial advisor did a bad job when I worked as a freelancer. She is not helping at all and should be. She just doesn't want to know. It's all very complicated so I have decided to get an appointment and hopefully pay up and move on. This has been going on since September and is often top of my mind. The other thing worrying me is the botched painting at the house in El Cuetu Asturias, mainly because we have guests going there this next week for the long early December Bank Holiday. Thus, we are going there today to deal with it ourselves. More about that next week.

The house was full of guests on Friday, Maria, Pilar and a friend, Mohammad (love this guy), Leticia and Mileny. However I only saw Pilar and Mohammad. Thank God I have Tana to deal with the rooms, etc and the guests when I am away. She is a blessing.

Saturday came and I had had a better night's sleep although I woke up with the same cold symptoms. We did the shopping though as we had to and as Tana was off work I made our very simple lunch. It was 2nd December and I realised as I showered that morning that I had forgotten to open the lovely Body Shop Advent calendar Olivia had bought to cheer me up. Thus I was able to open two boxes and out came some lovely hand cream and shower gel. I now have something to look forward to every day from  until Christmas. Thank you my darling daughter for this lovely gift that leaves me feeling pampered every morning. 

This week I started opening the lovely Body Shop Advent calendar that Olivia bought to cheer me up. Thank you darling. 

Just as we left to do the shopping, I noticed 4 electric scooters outside our house. As you know they have become ubiquitous and where we live they are a blessing for students to get to the local University as the buses are few and far between. I have never been on one so this was my chance, if only for a photo which I have chosen as this week's feature photo. My students; mostly Mohammad and Mileny, use them every day. Apparently all you have to do is download the app of the company renting them - in this case, Bird - scan something and off you go.  You look for the nearest one on the app via GPS of course. I wondered how they get charged. Mohammad told me it's teams of people who come and either charge them with a generator or just change the battery. Scooters have been around for a couple of years now but I have never seen so many where we live. They work in my favour as our house is too far from the University to walk to. They are really a sign of our times aren't they? As I told Elliot in some of my stories to help him fall asleep this week, our lives have changed a lot and that when his mother was young there was no internet, no mobile phones, no Netflix, no looking up things on Google, no Alexa and of course no electric scooters. What will come next I ask myself? Well, of course, flying cars which I have always thought would happen one day, whether in my lifetime or Elliot's, only time will tell. They exist today but only really as prototypes, the same as driver free cars. My father and Henry Kissenger lived through the technological revolution and this may just be the beginning. What worries me and a a lot of people is AI and how that will affect our lives for good and for bad. Time will tell, of course. 

Of note that day one of Spain's most famous actresses, Concha Velasco, died aged 84. RIP, what a wonderful woman and actress you were. There were lots of her films on TV last night but I watched something very different, an Iranian film called There is no evil. Banned in Iran, for obvious reasons, it explores the subject of the dreaded death penalty. Iran is a country I have always found fascinating but is too dangerous to visit as a European. 

I only slept a bare 5 hours last night so no doubt I shall nod off in the car today on our way to El Cuetu in Asturias. It is over 5 hours away but we have to go to sort out the botched paint job before our new guests arrive on 7th December. More about that next week.

So I shall leave you now to get on with the day. 

Cheers till next week. All the best, Masha