Dear all.
How have you fared this week? Have you got the January blues? In Spain January is often referred to as "la cuesta de enero". It roughly translates into "uphill January" as everything seems uphill after Christmas but also financially, owing to all the extra expenditure. Do you ever calculate how much you have spent over the season? I don't but maybe I should.
You will see that I am writing from our apartment in Santa Pola which was certainly not in our plans last Sunday but we had to come to see our daughter Suzy who worries us so much.
The house was quiet, despite our 3 guests, Maria, Mohammad and Mileny who seem to get on famously. They are lovely young people and I wish they would all live here permanently. Maria took Mohammad to a special halal shop in her brand new car and no doubt he has bought kilos of chicken. I have promised to make him my staple chicken curry. On Tuesday Mileny from Peru, announced she was leaving the next day, the end of her reservation on Airbnb. She's found a place half the price so it's understandable. We will miss her as she was an excellent guest. But they come and go and that's the way the business works.
Sunday was all about self comfort so I took to watching Downton Abbey from the beginning again, probably for the 3rd or 4th time as I couldn't find anything at least as good on any platform, BBC, Netflix, Movistar Plus, Prime Video or RTVE Play. It's obvious I am not a typical TV streaming consumer as there is so much rubbish on these apps. I had recently watched Fool Me Once which is excellent. If only there was something else as good.
At dinner I had more ice cream and chocolate and even a glass of red wine and do you know what? I slept like a baby and got over 8h shut eye which is a miracle for me.
He is wearing 3 of his presents: a black jumper and black jeans from Zara and his new Timberland trainers and is looking very smart.
Once the job was done I pronounced Christmas over. It hasn't been a bad one, but not the best. My heart wasn't really in it as Suzy refused to join us.
We then went to the shops to do what many people do after Christmas; i.e. return presents. I heard on the news that 50% of people return them. Thus all the world and his brother were at the shopping centre we went to that day called Tres Aguas.
But Benetton was pretty empty. We went there to change a beautiful tartan shirt I had bought for Eladio so I took a photo. For the record he is wearing the lovely green puffer jacket Oli bought him there too for Kings' Day. I commented he could be a senior model for Benetton if they wanted him hahahhaaha.
From Benetton we made our way to the much busier Zara. We had to return some boots I had bought for Juliet and the queue was a mile long. There were a lot of people also there for the sales but honestly with so many people I was put off looking at anything.
We managed a nice cup of coffee for me with no croissant (note) and then a quick entry into Mercadona to buy kilos and kilos of oranges, mandarins and other fruit and veg so that I had enough to start my diet. Instead of gorging on chocolate I shall gorge on mandarins. I shouldn't gorge at all should I' But I am so greedy. I have come to the conclusion that the only person who cares whether I am fat or not is me.
Lunch was frugal but delicious for me as I ate the cold remains of the roast beef. I gave the fatty and grizzly parts to Pippa which must have made her day.
There was no Skype call this Monday with Amanda as she and Andy have gone off in their motor home. I love our weekly calls.
On Tuesday I had things to do. I had an appointment with the dermatologist at the local private hospital; Montepríncipe. It was to see what to do about a small cyst she tried to remove at the end of last year. It will now be removed surgically on 12th Feb. It's totally benign so no worries there.
Meanwhile. the kids were on their way to school, the first day back after Christmas. Oli sent me this photo of them via Miguel. Sweeties. The photo reminded me of a poem my Mother used to tell me when I was a child and it's this: "there was a little girl with a curl on her forehead. When she was good, she was very, very good and when she was bad she was horrid". They are lovely when they are good and challenging when they are bad as are all children. I hope for them the same thing my father hoped for, that they would have a productive life. What a wise man he was.
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| My grandchildren, Juliet and Elliot going to school on Tuesday this week. |
It was while I was at the hospital that Olivia appeared live on TV. For once she warned me and for once I couldn't see her. I wondered whether she was reporting on the weather, particularly the snow in the mountains outside Madrid. Coincidentally, Tuesday was the third anniversary of the biggest snowfall in Madrid in 50 years. Dubbed "Storm Filomena", it was the biggest I have ever seen in all my years in Spain. Here is a photo from that first day which had us practically snowbound at home for a week.
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| With Norah - the biggest snowfall in Madrid in 50 years - 3 years ago this week. |
I am with dear Norah, our darling beagle, the only dog who wanted to brave the snow. Sadly, we lost her in 2021, the year we also lost Elsa the lab and of course my dearest father.
But not a sign of snow here for the moment. The big news in Spain, besides politics and some awful pollution on the north coast from plastic pellets, is the flu epidemic as well as the rise of Covid. Face masks are now back here at medical centres since Wednesday so next time I go I shall have to wear one. I hate them but I am sure they help prevent the spread of flu. You see lots of people wearing them these days.
From the hospital I walked to the car park at a small shopping centre and that's where I had my morning coffee (with no food to accompany it). I don't remember the name of the cafe but oh my goodness I got given the best cappuccino ever; as good as the best in Italy. This is it; coffee just how I like it with one third strong coffee and two thirds thick foamy milk.
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| One of the best cappuccinos I have ever had |
While there, I spent at least half an hour on the phone to my private health insurer, Adeslas. That's because I can't use their app since I changed from being a resident to having a Spanish national ID card. What a bore. Honestly the change of identity has given me hundreds of issues and still does. On the plus side I am now once again an EU citizen and have 2 passports.
On my way back, I stopped at Carrefour for more diet food. It would be fish with vegetables for lunch. I told both Eladio and Tana that when I am on a diet, they are too, hahahha.
I came back to find a man putting in new shower doors in my father's bathroom which is now Mohammad's. One of the glass doors had come unhinged and the only solution was to change the doors completely. I must say it looks great now and needed changing as it was very old. We had a lot of expenses that day; the new shower doors, filling the tank for the central heating and changing the filter of the drinking water filter. These are a sign of "uphill January". Keeping up this house is never ending so thank God for our guests. No way could we live here otherwise.
While Tana was putting the finishing touches to our lunch, I saw a tweet about an exhibition that is right up our street. It's about the Berlin Wall. So there and then I bought tickets for this Friday. But of course we never got to go as we came here. But we shall. So watch this space. We hardly ever go out to do cultural things and maybe we should do so more often. When I was a child the infamous wall was already built and it was only in 1990 that East Germany was dissolved. There was much talk about the wall, the war and communism in our house at home so this subject fascinates me. When it came down, my parents went to visit and brought me back two pieces. One of them had a certificate which I have unfortunately lost. I have only ever been to Berlin once and cannot imagine what it must have been like to live on the communist side. I remember also visiting the monument to those who died trying to escape which was very somber. I therefore look forward to going sometime in the near future.
While I was away, a parcel arrived from Amazon. It was a lovely blanket bought for us by Oli for Christmas. She had ordered it in grey when I wanted it in blue as our bedroom is mostly blue. This is it; the warmest and snuggliest I have ever seen.
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| Our lovely and snuggly new blanket |
It is to replace a horrible old one we bought back in 1981 when we first lived together. It has served its purpose and has to be gotten rid of now, hahaha.
We use a blanket to sleep under during our siesta and in the afternoons when I am watching TV - yes, I realise I waste nearly all my afternoons binge watching stuff for want of nothing better to do. I would probably be more active if I didn't have the worry of Suzy on my mind constantly. So I use TV as an evasion technique; something I never thought I would do. But there you have it. My choice again that day was Downton Abbey. For me it is pure comfort TV and I still love it after all this time. One of the reasons I love it is the era. It starts in 1912, only 7 years before my father was born. I am fascinated with the early 20th century - so near to our times, yet so different in every way. How we have come on from there but not always in the best sense. Life was simpler wasn't it?
Dinner was a tuna fish salad - very healthy and diety (hahaha). That night we continued watching "Your Honor" (prefer it spelled with a "u") which is good at the beginning but gets a bit complicated. My cough returned that night and I only got about 4 hours sleep.
However I woke up ok on Wednesday morning, the only morning we didn't have any tasks to do. Thus we would go on our walk. All was well until lunchtime when I received a disturbing message that sent a chill down my spine. I am helpless and have my hands tied, yet I have to live.
That night again I only got about 4 hours sleep. I was up on Thursday at 7.30 or so. Olivia brightened up my mood by warning me she would be live on TV at 8.20. This time she was reporting on the weather, the cold and snow up in the mountains of Madrid. I watched her on my old iPad while I had my breakfast.
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| Oli reporting live on the weather in Madrid on Thursday |
I also took a video to add to my YouTube channel which you can see
here. She makes me very proud. Her kids were having breakfast while she was in the mountains but were watching Paw Patrol hahaha, according to this photo she sent of them.
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| Elliot and Juliet having breakfast on Thursday morning |
Thursday was the day both Pippa and I went to the dentist. Pippa's was to be a huge ordeal as dogs have to be intubated and put to sleep. She had to have her teeth seen to and cleaned to get rid of the plaque which one day could go into her blood stream, not to mention have a less smelly mouth, hahahaha.
Eladio took her there early in the morning and I picked her up after my own dental appointment later in the morning. It was to examine my mouth after the episode of oral thrush caused by antibiotics (damn) but also to schedule all the dental work I need which is quite a lot. It's going to be awful and to "cost a bomb" but it will be worth it.
It was worth taking Pippa to have her mouth sorted out as it all went well, she didn't suffer and was delighted to see me. Here she is in the capable hands of her sweet vet, Lola.
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| Pippa in the arms of her dental vet Lola |
She came out with brand new teeth .- all white and shiny, unlike me. She didn't need even one filling which was good news.
I came home to have lunch with Eladio and that's when we decided we just must come here to see Suzy after so much worry about her living like a hermit on the edge of society. I could not sleep for worry and needed to know, even if she didn't want us to come.
Many people in the Middle East cannot sleep at all and their situation is dire. As if the war with Gaza wasn't enough, that day we heard the UK and US forces attacked the Iran backed Houthis in Yemen. It was in response to their attacks on the Red Sea. But all I can see is the conflict escalating and spreading. I feel so sorry for all the innocent people caught up in the conflict, what is known as "collateral damage" - don't like that euphemism.
But I did manage 6h sleep before waking up on Friday. We left the house around 10.30 taking lots of provisions with us and even stopped for a decent lunch at the Parador in Alabacete on the way.
Our daughter was not too pleased to see us when we arrived but then warmed to the idea, commenting it must have been in God's plan for us to go and see her. We wanted to see how she was and actually I was pleasantly surprised to see she was in a better state than I had imagined and we even had a pleasant dinner together. Thus I slept so much better that night. It was not only because of that but because I slept solo - alone. She had moved into our bedroom with the king size bed and as the other beds are relatively small we decided to take a room each for ourselves. I went to bed with Pippa of course but also a bit of Downton Abbey and the autobiography of Dr.Roberto Canessa from the famous Andes air crash in 1972. I was spurred on to read it after watching the recent version of their story in the Spanish film called Society of Snow. It's always better to hear the story from the "horse's mouth" isn't it?
I woke up at about 8.15 on Saturday. We had not come on holiday, we had come to be with our daughter so we only went out for a coffee and for some provisions. First things first was mid morning coffee with Eladio and Pippa. We went to a lovely new place across the road. There we met Ingrid and her dog Dakota. What an interesting woman she is - German, living here for 8 years and working at an animal rescue centre. There was an instant click so we exchanged phone numbers. I do hope to see her again.
We then went to the local supermarket - Udine or Unide (can never remember) to get some staples and then back home. Suzy had started on the lunch which we enjoyed quietly together. It's good to see her calm although we cannot approve of her life style. She hasn't seen anyone since we left at the beginning of November. Later I worked and did so from "my room" which has a plus in that it has a desk from where I can work. She caught me on camera and I liked the photo so have chosen it, for want of another one, for this week's feature photo. I entitled it "working peacefully in Santa Pola". Here is another one which I also liked - notice Pippa on my bed, of course hahahaha.
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| Working from my room and caught on camera by Suzy |
It was so good to be in peace and to see Suzy is in a better place than we thought. She is into spiritual things - obsessively so but one of them is the Tarot cards which I have always found fun. So I asked her to read mine. From what I remember, the main things that came out are that I am a "magician" and have some decisions to make. The pentacle (money I think) came up a lot too. Hope that means there will be some windfall or that my little business will do as well or better than 2023.
We all did our own thing in the afternoon. It was too cold to go out really. The weather here in January is cold but much warmer than in the centre of the country. Today it will reach 17ºc though and even 20ºc over the next few days. There are only 2 heaters in the house, a small but effective radiator in Suzy's room and a gas stove for which we had to change the gas bottle. I don't like gas stoves so we do not have it on at night.
Thus the house was much warmer than when we came and our lounge feels cozy. I had to have a photo of Eladio and Pippa (in prime position) sitting on the settee hahahah. Here they are saying hi.
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| Eladio and Pippa on the sofa yesterday - notice she is in my place hahaha |
I made pumpkin soup in the afternoon which we all loved when we had dinner together, made mostly by Suzy. She is very good around the house. It was clean when we came and everything was in order. Our day ended when we finished Season 1 of Your Honour which we got totally engrossed in.
Again I went to bed with Downton Abbey and Society of Snow. I slept well with not much of a cough and actually managed 6 hours. Today is Sunday and our only plan is to go to a local charity market. I can only imagine it will be a sort of Jumble Sale which these days are called "car boot sales" -not in my day. We shall also have coffee out and go for a walk. So you see, all is quiet here in Santa Pola which I am so grateful for as I was expecting quite the opposite. Long may it continue.
So I shall leave you now to get on with the day. Cheers till next week,
Masha
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