Our last day in Asturias, home again, babysitting, Spring is here, Kate Middleton has cancer, massacre in Moscow and other stories of the week.

Madrid, Sunday 24th March, 2024

On the St. Peter's walkway in Llanes last Sunday

Good morning to you all this lovely sunny day in Spring. 

Just a week ago today, last Sunday, we were still in Asturias on the northern coast known as Spain's green coast. 

We all woke up that morning to read about Putin's predicted landslide victory which made my blood boil just as it will boil when that damned man, Donald Trump, gets reelected. I get that the Russians don't have much option but to think half or more of the population of the US is for Trump utterly stumps me. The world in their hands will be in a very sorry state.

But, I wasn't thinking about politics when we set off for Llanes from our modest country house in El Cuetu that morning. It was about time we went on a walk and chose the lovely Paseo de San Pedro - St. Peter's walkway, above the pretty coastal town. The weather was gorgeous with lots of sun but not quite warm enough to bathe. I have chosen a photo of me on that walk for want of another, for this week's feature photo. Ah, and here is one of Eladio on that same walk. What a beautiful day it was.

Eladio on our lovely walk last Sunday in Llanes.

At the end of the walk as we walked down the steep stone steps which overlook the Playa de Sablón, I spied some people on the beach sunning themselves, but not many.

Playa de Sablón in Llanes last Sunday with a few intrepid beach goers. 

By then it was coffee time so we sauntered off into the middle of the charming town of Llanes to have our mid morning coffee once more at La Galerna. There we sat in the sun and commented that life is good - most of the time (hahaha).

We had a last lazy afternoon in El Cuetu and went to bed early. Just before, Carlos Alcaraz, the world's number one was starting the Indian Wells final against the Russian, Medvedev, the world's number 4. I wouldn't know the outcome until Monday morning. 

I was happy that he beat the Russian in two straight sets and I thought it was a good beginning to the day. We were leaving for Madrid that morning. While I was showering, the gas bottle ran out. While I stood all wet I had to wait for Eladio to change it. Then, before leaving we had to go the garage to replace the empty bottle. Honestly, I do find that gas bottles are so dated but there is no  natural gas in El Cuetu. It's a bane for us and our guests. In the end we left at around 10.25 and had a 5 hour drive ahead of us with a stop for coffee and for lunch. We decided on Asador Siboney in Arevalo which is just over an hour from home. Arevalo is in the province of Avila and is famous in the history of the kings and queens of Spain. It is also famous for its wonderful suckling pig and lamb. What a wonderful lunch we had there.

We came home to a quiet house, despite there being 5 or 6 guests who we hardly saw. After unpacking, I had a lovely Facetime session with our friends Kathy and Phil. Their house was flooded a couple of months ago and they are now living out of a suitcase in various Airbnbs. I'm very sorry for them but at least the insurance covers them completely. Can't wait to meet up again. I don't think we've seen them since 2021. I haven't been back to the UK since November 2021 and I think I need a trip there this year. I really do. 

We weren't at all hungry at dinner time so skipped that meal and went straight to bed. I felt very rested after our 4 nights in Asturias. 

Tuesday came and it was father's day in Spain. I had to remind Suzy who later sent her father an audio. If I hadn't told her she would not have remembered. It was another gorgeous day with temperatures reaching 23c and we went in our shirt sleeves on our walk that day; a much needed one I should say. It was lovely to see flowers budding and they made me think of my father who always loved wile flowers. He once brought us home a bunch of them after a walk and announced "I have brought you spring". 

Then it was time for coffee at Manacor - again - and then some shopping to replenish the fridge and kitchen shelves which were pretty empty after our trip to Asturias. 

Coffee at Manacor in good weather this week

We had to babysit in the afternoon so Olivia could go to her Tuesday afternoon French lesson. Good for her. We met up with her and the kids at the park near their school. We hadn't seen them for a while and apparently Elliot had mentioned that, bless him. Olivia hadn't seen my "new" teeth. She said she preferred my teeth before and these are too big which put a damper on how I feel after the three month long treatment. Sandra my friend also said she thought I look different. So I am now not quite as happy as I was. But they needed doing, that's the reality. Hence,  I will just have to get used to them. 

Oli had to escape without Juliet seeing her and when she realised her mother had gone she began to cry. Eladio picked up her to comfort her and I got a picture.

Eladio with Juliet just after her mother left

I then got a selfie with my 2 year old granddaughter while giving her her afternoon snack, a banana and some rice biscuits which didn't look at all appetising.

With Juliet at the park on Tuesday

Elliot refused them and told me he could get nicer biscuits from other parents at the park, hahahahaha.

 

At around 6.30 when it was still light, we took them home to their house. I then had the challenge not only of feeding them their dinner but getting Oli's ultra modern induction hob to work. I nearly gave up and felt cross in general with young engineers who design such products with no thought on their ease of use, especially for old fogies like us. It can be exasperating.

Feeding them was like feeding the animals at the zoo but we managed somehow. Elliot is into magicians these days as someone called Magician Cliff went to their school the other day. Thus I showed him some videos of Jorge Blass and David Copperfield. We also counted to 50 in English together. And that's how Oli found us when she returned at around 8.30. We said our goodbyes until Thursday when we would be babysitting again, and drove home which is practically round the corner.

Wednesday 20th marked the beginning of spring. I always learned it was on 21st, but who knows? Spring was certainly in the air this week with the good weather and flowers blooming everywhere. We went on our walk again in our shirt sleeves. I spent quite a while that day looking for a new accountant to do this year's income tax returns. It's not easy because of the Airbnb income, especially the rooms in our house. I also spent time on gathering the information I will need to give to the accountant once we find him or her. We certainly won't be using the incompetent woman, Pilar, who was my accountant since I became freelance in 2017. Because of her we still owe masses to the bloody tax people. It is a nightmare and one of the things that keeps me up at night.

Tana was off on Wednesday and Thursday in lieu of the weekend, so I had to make our lunch. I made a very simple meal. The highlight of Wednesday was my weekly Skype call with Amanda. While we were on the phone, Eladio was doing the tough job of mowing the whole of the back lawn. I honestly wish he would hire a gardener to do the job but he won't hear of it.

He was tired on Thursday. So was I.  Most of this week I have managed on an average of just 4 hours sleep a night and it is taking its toll. Once again we were on babysitting duty that afternoon and once again we went to the park. You probably all know I am a chewing gum freak - has to be spearmint, which Elliot loves. He always asks me for some and I make him say it in English. His friends followed suit and I was pursued by them for more of my gum. My trick was to make them ask me in English. The weather was so good we spent longer in the park than usual. Here are some pics from that day.

The children at the park on Thursday afternoon

It was while we were there that once again Suzy sent a message telling us not to come to Santa Pola. That is the third time. The excuse was that God wanted her to fast for three days - food, water, social media and seeing any people. You can probably imagine why I cannot sleep. So we didn't go this Friday but will go, come what may, after these damn 3 days, on Monday. Our daughter is living like a hermit and her belief in God has come to extremes I never could have imagined. Instead of helping, her God; or whatever is in her head, is doing harm, not good. 

With this on my mind I went through the motions of babysitting. We took Juliet and Elliot home around 7 where once again I had to face the challenge of her complicated hob but I managed. This time they both ate quite well, after which we had play time together until their mother came home. We would see them again at the weekend.

Friday came and I was up at the crack of dawn. So too was my guest, Juan Manuel, from Argentina, drinking his "mate". He'll be with us for over a month and is a very pleasant young man. There were a lot of guests arriving and others leaving that day but I left Tana to it and went off for some retail therapy.

First though I had organised all the tops in the walk-in-wardrobe I am blessed to have. If a few weeks ago, I did the jumpers, this time it was time for all my t-shirts. I had to take a photo to show you just how many blue and white striped tops I have. 

All my blue and white striped tops - a bit over the top so to say (haha)

I think it is an obsession. I'm in one in this week's feature photo too and in a couple of others too!. I gave many tops to Tana and will be taking some of the tiny size 10's I'll never get into again for Suzy and if she doesn't want them, I'll take them to the charity shop in Gran Alacant.

Retail therapy was the searching of white denims to go with all those tops. I have a bit of an obsession with white trousers too. Now that I have lost a little weight I knew it would be a bit easier to find some and I did. Off I went to Gran Plaza 2 near Majadahonda where I searched in  H&M, Zara and Primark. Funnily enough I only found a suitable pair at Zara. They weren't quite what I was looking for; flared and seamless hems but they look quite good on me.  Happy with my choice I drove back to Boadilla, this time for an appointment at the De Uñas nail bar there. I was happy with the result too which you can see in this photo taken by the nail technician as I think they are called now. Notice I am wearing stripes again!!!

Happy with my nails on Friday

Friday morning was great. Friday afternoon was not. It was then that the Princess of Wales, aka Kate Middleton, announced via a personal video, that she is being treated for cancer. Wow! That was breaking news. Since she had a major stomach operation in January there has been so much speculation as to her whereabouts and so many awful rumours, it was, in a way, a relief to know what has been going on. If she were a private person, well fine, but she is the future Queen of England. I honestly think her PR people have done a bad job or as a family they should have been more honest. Bottom line now is that we all want her to get better. It seems cancer was found when during the operation and she started chemotherapy in Feburary.  It comes at a similar time to the King's diagnosis. Now we have two senior royals with cancer. I so miss The Queen in these times.  Kate  stressed it was preventative, so let us hope that that is so and she can recover from this most awful disease, the bane of our society when it comes to health. Here is a still of the Princess from her video sitting in a normal jumper (striped too) and jeans and sitting on a wooden bench with a backdrop of daffodils. I can hardly recognise her as in this video she is most obviously not wearing makeup. 

Kate on camera on Friday

You would think that after the announcement, the conspiracy theories would go away but they haven't of course. There are now rumours it was engineered by artificial intelligence. 

But there was other breaking news at the same time; a massive terrorist attack on a concert hall, The Crocus Centre, outside Moscow.  Gunmen went shooting inside the venue with a capacity of up to 7000 people who were there to watch a pop concert. They also threw grenades and killed more than 130 people. No doubt Moscow thought it was the work of Ukraine which was never further from my mind.  On 7th or 8th March, I read that both British and US secret services warned of terrorist attacks in Russia: "extremists had imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow and specifically targeted concerts".  Didn't the FSB (ex KGB) take the threat seriously?  Whether they did or not, we shall never know. What we do know do now though is that ISIS have claimed authorship. Will that be in retaliation for Russia's involvement in Syria? The scenes evolving from the concert hall were dantesque.

The aftermath of the terrible attack on the Crocus Centre concert hall on Friday just outside Moscow

Oh how I hate terrorism.  Putin is hell bent in some way accusing Ukraine and hasn't once mentioned the real authors. This could have dire consequences. 

Again I slept badly that night but was still up early on Saturday morning.  When we were ready we went on our walk and I was wearing my new white trousers, with guess what? A blue and white striped top. 

On our walk on Saturday wearing my new white denims

This one is from Uniqlo, a shop I can be partial too if I find what I like, especially their down jackets and coats. 

Once home, we left again to meet Oli and the kids for coffee at Manacor where we spent a pleasant time together in the shade I should add.  They were going out to lunch with Suzy's Uni friend, Elena so we parted ways later until we see each other again today.

We had lunch outside for the first time yesterday after I urged Eladio and Tana to bring out the kitchen patio table from its winter shelter in the garage. This is it, ready for the season.

We got the kitchen patio table out again this week

Finally I got a bit more shut eye last night. Today is Palm Sunday which brings back many memories from childhood, especially getting a palm leaf at church. We won't be going to church though today. Oli will be coming with the kids and bringing with her the girls' childhood friend, Copi and her other for lunch. We have planned the first barbecue of the season and I look forward to that.

I have come to the end of the tales of this week and all that remains is to wish you all a pleasant Sunday and a Happy Easter. 

Cheers all, till next week.

Masha