Life is back to normal. The Euro Cup continues, France, Spain, England and Holland through to the semi finals. A new fridge, greengages from the garden, farewell dinner for Mohammad and Sarang, Kier Starmer wins landslide victory for Labour, time with our grandchildren and other stories of the week.

Sunday 7th July, 2024

With my boys Mohammad and Sarang after the farewell dinner on Thursday night. Will miss them so. 

Good morning again. How are you all? 

My week has been full of tasks and we are  still adjusting to being home after our 8 week road trip across Europe and Turkey. Life is back to normal, a life I cannot complain about except for my constant worries about our eldest daughter Suzy. But that's another story. I have to get on with life despite everything. 

Last Sunday was quiet. 4 of our guests left, the rest were out and we had the house to ourselves. We had been back for three days and it was high time we resumed our daily walks. So off we went with Pippa who was more than happy to join us. The temperature was perfect - not too hot and not too cold - and the walk did us the world of good. We walked an awful lot during our road trips but did not go on walks as such. That actually was the only walk of the week; it got too hot and we got too lazy. 

I came home to make a delicious lunch of roast shoulder of baby lamb with jacket potatoes and roast red peppers which we ate in peace in the kitchen. 

We watched the news - mainly about the French elections and I fell asleep. I woke up 3 hours later feeling groggy but I had caught up on some lost sleep. We weren't hungry for dinner for obvious reasons but sat at the table in the patio drinking a little French wine and eating almonds - had run out of pistachios. Mohammad and Sarang were making chicken curry. It smelled divine but I wasn't hungry so would try it the next day. They were joined by Maria, an ex guest with whom they had made great friends and the three of them watched Spain play  Georgia in the Quarter Finals of the Euro Cup. 

Eladio watched the match from the comfort of our bed while I watched the final episode of Our Girl on the BBC iPlayer but with an eye on the match. When Georgia scored an early goal, I thought that was the end of Spain but I was wrong. We went on to beat them 4-1 but would now face the almighty Germany who were playing on their own turf. Spain played just after England who beat Slovakia 2-1, also after an early goal from their opponents. 

It's funny but this week there are three big sporting occasions which are coinciding, The Euro Cup, Wimbledon and the Tour of France. My hopes for Wimbledon lie with Carlitos but he has big competition. On Friday he won the third round and got through to the last sixteen. His great rivals, I suppose, are Djokovic and Sinner. Our Indian guest, Sarang who used to be a professional tennis player but had to quit because of injuries knew Sinner when they were both very young and he played and lost against him in the French Open. That is some claim to fame isn't it? I heard another tennis story this week which struck a cord. Pat Cash mentioned he was to play against Boris Becker in an exhibition match except that the German had pulled out. So Pat was told he would play against a 14 year old. The Australian thought he would give the youngster some run for his money but then went on to lose 0-2. Who was the 14 year old? None other than Rafa Nadal. A nice bit of tennis trivia for you. 

Monday came and we were more or less guest free until Friday which is very unusual but I suppose that maybe due to the local University closing for the summer - most of my guests are University related. 

We went out again on pleasant errands. One was to Jardilandia to get a hydrangea as one of them had died due to the wrong soil. So we got soil too. It's difficult to go to this garden centre without being tempted by so many beautiful things on display. What caught my eye were a table and two chairs, perfect for our bedroom balcony. On the spur of the moment we bought them. They are wrought iron with mosaics; beautiful. Ours was the only balcony in the house without furniture so I was very pleased with our purchase.

We then had coffee at Manacor, followed by a visit to the opticians to get Eladio's glasses mended and then the proverbial shop at Mercadona to get a few things. One of them was new dog food. Pippa hasn't been eating her dry food for weeks now or certainly not enough of it. She would just take one look at it and turn her head away. However, she was still eating table scraps so I bought her some more appetising and expensive dog food in the hope she would eat properly.

Dear Pippa who had gone off her food.

She loved it, thank goodness for that.

We came home on time for Eladio to plant the hydrangea - here he is. He is my own personal gardener.

Eladio planting a new hydrangea

There was also time to put the new furniture on our balcony. I had to try it out immediately. 

A table and chairs for our bedroom balcony - finally

This is how it looks now. Eladio calls it my smoking corner. He is right. 

A table and chairs for our bedroom balcony - about time

We had lunch made by Tana which Eladio loved it as both courses were spoon eating food - his favourite but not necessarily mine. He is enjoying Spanish home cooking again. That day he had pumpkin and carrot soup followed by lentil soup.

I had a very important appointment that afternoon. I was going to my hairdresser, Conchi, for the first time since before our road trip. I was looking a bit like a witch with so much white hair. She soon got rid of that by dying my roots and I came out looking a lot better and a lot younger or so I liked to think. It only cost me 16 euros. Amazing, eh? That's Spain for you. I doubt it would cost less even in Kosovo and certainly not Greece where Eladio had his cut this year. Conchi and I don't really talk while she is doing my hair. I am not one for long dialogue with my hairdresser so I couldn't dream of asking her to take a photo. 

We shouldn't have been hungry for dinner but we were and had a small dinner on the kitchen patio. I had bought some thick black cherries which I put in a beautiful bowl we had bought in San Gimignano. On most of our travels we buy a bowl to add to our collection. They always remind us of our trips. This is our main road trip souvenir where we bought very little. 

Our new bowl from San Gimignano with Spanish cherries in it. It is a bowl which will always remind us of our road trip.

Our dinners outside these days are wonderful because at this time of the year it is light until 10.30. People always talk about that being unique to the Nordic countries but it is not. Mohammad, my lovely student from Iraq who left us this week, finds it amazing as where he comes from it generally gets dark at around 6 pm. I remember that in Aqaba in Jordan by the red sea and in Israel. I so love our long days of light and sunshine. 

That night Eladio watched Portugal play Slovenia - a long drawn out match which saw Ronaldo crying after he missed a penalty. The Portuguese later won   in a penalty shootout where Cristiano didn't miss the net this time. Meanwhile, having finished Our Girl, I turned to a new series, also on the iPlayer, called "Thirteen". 

Tuesday came. We had no new guests coming till Friday so Tana spent days spring cleaning the rooms, including the curtains for which she needed Eladio's help. We also got ready for new guests by going out and buying two more television sets for the Green Room and Andy's room. Both had very old TVs which won't work on new frequencies and nor could I fit an Amazon Firestick on them. So, off we went to El Corte Inglés once again. We both argued that this was an investment and in order to earn we have to invest - something I learned years ago as a young executive with Motorola. I have now lost count of the obscene number of television sets we have in our 4 houses. I remember a time when most households just had one and when  I was a child we only had a black and white "telly".  As a family we would all sit together in the lounge at Heaton Grove, mostly watching the the 9 0'clock news followed by News at Ten with a mug of cocoa in between. How things have changed. 

I watched more TV that afternoon using my Express VPN to access the BBC iPlayer for which I don't have a licence. But God dammit, I am British and have a need for"Auntie Beeb". Besides, there are great British series I can't see on Netflix and I far prefer them.  Possibly it's because of nostalgia for my British roots. I finished "Thirteen" - amazing -  while Eladio finished watching Turkey beat Austria. He later admitted that after all our time in Turkey, his feeling were with their national team. The Quarter Finals were now all set up. Spain was to play Germany, Portugal France, England Switzerland (much easier) and Holland Turkey. May the best team win I thought but I referred to Spain and England. I would have a problem if the two countries were to meet in the final.

Wednesday came, the day they were bringing the new intelligent Samsung fridge. That is news because it is the first new big family fridge in over 24 years. So it has to go into this blog, however mundane the topic. I remember a very hot topic in our house in Ruskington when I must have been about 4 or 5, around the time we got our first telly. My mother wanted to "invest" in a washing up machine which were very new on the market. My father being against most change, was completely against it and threatened her with divorce. End of story was that she got the washing up machine (I refuse to use the term dishwasher) but divorce was never mentioned. My father got used to the new gadget and there you have it.  I also remember my mother using an old fashioned washing machine with a mangle and then getting a proper one; another milestone in our family life as a child; not that I realised the benefits of it at the time. No way could my parents ever have envisaged that their daughter would one day have an "intelligent fridge" which she could control from her "mobile phone". If you are my age you will remember probably only having one bakelite black phone like this one.

We had two phones like this in Bradford in the 70s. 

We actually had two, one in my father's study and one on his bedside table.  Calls were not cheap and I often got into trouble if I was found on the phone. I used to come home from my school, St. Joseph's College (Catholic Grammar school in Bradford) and the first thing I did was go up to my parents' room and ring my best friend Amanda who I had just seen an hour before. I remember speaking for hours to her and other friends too, especially when I had come back from a foreign holiday. I would do so from my father's study in private with the door shut and put the phone down as soon as he walked in.  Again, how times change. I suppose, at my age, I notice these changes a lot more than the changes experienced by younger people today. 

For breakfast that morning, I picked three ripe plums from our greengage tree. I always find that so bucolic and romantic. They tasted delicious. 

Greengages from our tree

We didn't go out that morning as we were waiting eagerly for the new fridge. It came at around noon. Meanwhile, Tana and I had emptied the old one and I had removed all the fridge magnets I have collected over the years. They needed a good clean. Those that have survived are now gracing the two small guest fridges. Juliet and Elliot will miss them. They are the culprits why so many got broken hahahaha.

And voilà, this is it. It may seem like bragging - not my intention - but it was quite an event in our lives hahahaha.

Setting up the new fridge

The new American style refrigerator

The men took the old one down to the garage where it may be used sporadically for large parties or whatever. Eladio is reluctant to see it go.  For the water and ice dispenser to work a technician has to come to get them going. It's a nice feature which we had with the other fridge but it often caused problems. I then tried out connecting the fridge to my phone which I did without much difficulty using an app called "smart things". I was a bit disappointed to see that all I can do with it is control the temperature which is a bit redundant as you can do that too from inside the fridge. I had hoped for something more sophisticated such as knowing how much food you have in your fridge or to be able to see inside it but I'm afraid this fridge, at least, doesn't do that. 

I then got on with making lunch. I had two pieces of steak for three people so turned it into a sort of ragout which we all liked. It was easy peasy to make. The afternoon was spent lazing around. It was rather hot that day so I took my first bathe in the pool. There was no one there to record the moment but I can tell you it was wonderful to cool off and have it to myself.

The day ended with us picking more plums from the tree. They are rather high up and camouflaged because they are green like the leaves. Eladio got out a huge ladder and had me worried stiff he might fall but he didn't. He picked more and they were delicious. 

Greengages from our tree in the new bowl from San Gimignano

They went into our new bowl from San Gimignano and I had them again for my breakfast on Thursday morning. 

The real big news that day was about the elections in the UK which I was too late to vote in and of course the second round of the general elections in France. My news was that once again, for the 6th consecutive year,  I was Super Host on Airbnb. For every full year of being a super host, the company gives you a hundred dollar voucher to spend on the platform. 

Super host again for the 6th consecutive year

It's no doddle to be a super host, I can tell you. We work very hard at it. However, things don't look too good for short term lets on Airbnb and Booking with governments cracking down on them because of a lack of housing for locals or that is what they say. I have my own views of course and really think that the use of private property should be decided by the owner not the government. Should the worst come to the worst and we can no longer continue our tiny rental business, we shall just have to sell our huge house, move somewhere smaller. Keeping  this house going without extra income is not an option.  Again, only time will tell.

Thursday was Mohammad and Sarang's last day with us. Mohammad from Iraq came in October so has been here the longest and is like a son. Sarang, from India, joined him some months later. They have been amazing guests and I will miss them sorely.  They have just finished their masters degrees in sport nutrition and I know they will go far professionally. Their graduation took place at the Bernabeu Stadium which must have been thrilling. I offered to prepare a goodbye dinner before they left on Friday. That was the least I could do. 

I couldn't vote in the UK elections, yet again, but this time because I was too late to post my ballot paper. Olivia had to do a video profile about Kier Starmer for TVE and asked me for some ideas. I didn't have many as for me he is a bit of an unknown quantity. What I did tell her was that the public were rather lukewarm to him and that if he won it was because no one wanted the Conservatives to win. I also told her he positioned himself as from a working class background even though he is a Sir and did his master degree at Oxford.  Polling stations didn't close until 10 pm that night so we wouldn't know the result until Friday morning but everyone predicted a landslide victory and that is what he got. Am I pleased? Well I'm happy to see the Tories go even though my family always voted Conservative but they have made such a mess of things, anyone could do a better job. I really hope that Starmer can live up to the job and he has a hell of a lot to sort out, the economy and the NHS to start with. What made me so cross is that the elephant in the room was Brexit  - for me the cause of many of the UK's woes, but no one was mentioning it. I suppose that's because the country is divided and no one wanted to lose votes by declaring Brexit should be reversed or was bad for the country. For the moment I wish him lots of luck because he will need it. His first wrong move and the press will murder him. 

But I wasn't thinking  about the elections as I got on with my day.  That morning I went to inspect two small fig trees at the end of the garden hoping they may have produced some fruit. In recent years they had never produced more than two or three green figs. But oh my, this year there are loads of them. The problem is reaching them because the trunks are far too slim to hold a big ladder. No doubt my husband will think of a way and I hope we beat the birds to it. 

I had the special dinner to prepare for so out we went to get more provisions. Eladio says we have been spending a lot lately on food shopping. We also had coffee at Alverán which brightened up the morning. I came home to finish the potato salad, always a festive meal in our household. The recipe was my Russian Grandfather's who got it from a Swiss cookery book or so my mother always told me. The ingredients are: boiled potatoes, carrots and peas, spring onion, prawns (lots of them), hard boiled eggs (at least 6) and homemade mayonnaise. Everything has to be cooked and chopped and then mixed in with the mayonnaise. The only seasoning is a bit of salt. You can decorate it how you wish. I do it with prawns and eggs. And voilà here was my main dish for the dinner

My festive potato salad - the main dish for the farewell dinner that night

I also made my staple tuna fish salad (my own recipe) which most people love. 

My staple tuna fish salad 

Dessert which had to be made at the last minute would be an ice cream creation suggested to me by a friend Anders. The base was crushed Biscoff biscuits, then two scoops of vanilla ice cream topped with a dash of sherry and 4 wonderful  Fabbri Amarena cherries with their amazing syrup. Best ice cream ever I must say. This was it. Thanks Mohammad for the photo.

A new dessert. Crushed Biscoff biscuits, vanilla ice cream laced with sherry and topped with Fabbri Amarena cherries. Delicious.

I wanted to get everything done before the Oli and the kids descended on us in the afternoon. It was such a hot day we all went in the pool except for my husband Eladio, who, a bit like Pippa, has a sort of aversion to water hahahahah.  But at least he took a photo of us to remember the moment. 

In our pool with the babies this week

What a great time we had and thank God for the pool as it was in the mid 30's that day.

By 7pm I was back in the kitchen with Tana adding the final touches to the dinner and by about 8 pm we were all sitting down. Tana took a photo to remember the night. 

Goodbye dinner for Mohammad and Sarang on Thursday night.

I could only hope that these two boys enjoyed the cold summer food as they seem to have only been eating either pasta or curry all year round  - despite studying nutrition hahaha. We drank Prosecco from Italy and at the end of the dinner I remembered to get out the wonderful Limoncello liquer I had bought in Puglia which I was dying to taste. Oli and the kids left early and it was just me and the boys finishing off the Limencello until late. Oh how I am going to miss them. But hopefully we shall see them again as they are only going to Alicante. They will be doing their sports nutrition internship at the David Ferrer Tennis Academy in La Nucia. La Nucia is a largish village not far from Callosa in inland Alicante where my parents bought a ramshackle house in the early 70's so it's an area very close to my heart. I wish them all the luck in the world. What marvellous boys they are.  Before we parted we had to have a photo shoot. I have chosen one with them for this week's feature photo and here is one of Eladio and I with dear Mohammad.

Another farewell photo with Mohammad. 

I slept so-so that night, perhaps because of too much wine and was up at 6.45 on Friday morning. By then the boys had left and we had to prepare for the arrival of 7 new guests. There is no rest for the wicked is there? After the boys left Tana discovered a leak in the shower. That meant calling the insurance people and it still has to be sorted. I spent the morning waiting for the El Corte Inglés people coming to install the new TVs. They came and and they did install them but the wall supports we were sold weren't suitable. That meant another trip to El Corte Inglés to change them.

The whole day was hectic and my phone constantly pinged with guest related matters. I missed greeting our new guests - the 5 young people from Galicia and the Sylvie and her husband from Paris. Tana did my job instead while we went over to Oli's to give her a helping hand with the kids. Miguel was out shooting on the street in Madrid, it being Gay Pride week. It must have been boiling for him. 

We arrived shortly before the all important Spain Germany quarter final was beginning. Unbelievably, Spain had never won a match against a host country. Not only that;  no host country has won on their home turf for 40 years (France 1984), so the stakes were huge. No wonder this match was described as the match of the championship. It certainly was but Oli and I didn't see it as we took the kids down to their pool where we cooled off and kept them entertained so Eladio could watch the match in peace. We returned at 8 pm when Spain had scored a goal. Then just before the end Germany scored another one so they went into extra time. It was just as we were sitting down to eat Oli's homemade pizza that Spain scored again in the very last minute, which meant no awful penalty shootout. We all roared for Spain and Elliot and Juliet were quite amused. Spain had finally broken its spell of losses to host nations and Germany had continued the tradition of a host country not winning.  One man was very upset, Tony Kroos. The German ex Real Madrid player was retiring and it was a not a good way to leave. Very sportingly, the huge crowd of Spanish fans paid him homage as he left the pitch. 

We left just as France was playing Portugal - Spain would meet the winner of that match in the semi finals on Saturday. The five guys were preparing a barbecue and Sylvie, her husband Lolo and her son Roman  where rooting for France in our TV lounge. They had brought their dog, June, a miniature dachshund like Pippa but with long hair. I normally don't allow other pets but made an exception with Sylvie who has become more like a friend. She came bearing gifts from Paris; Olympic game pens, an Eiffel Tower shaped toy for Pippa which she ignored and some gorgeous La Durée luxury macarons. I had never tried them so looked forward to tasting one of France's best macarons. They were featured in the film Marie Antoinette which probably made them even more famous.

Eladio watched the match in our room while I turned to a new series on the BBC iPlayer - The Cops. It went to a penalty shootout which France won so now Spain will play its other neighbour next Tuesday. Who will win? That's a tough one. 

Saturday was hectic too and a bit tiring.  We left our guests to it while we went once again to El Corte Inglés - to get the right wall support for the new televisions. It then turned out we had to get special screws for them to fit the Samsung TVs - very rare ones too which were difficult to find. We found them at Leroy Merlin thankfully - what a stress. We were going home when Oli rang to arrange for us to give her support with the kids from lunchtime onward as Miguel was out shooting for TVE again. We decided it was better to go to her place, rather than bring the kids to our house, full of young people barbecuing and using the pool. It was very hot again so later in the afternoon we took the kids to their pool; much safer than ours which has no shallow end. We left at around 7.30 and went straight up to our air conditioned room, just as the England Switzerland match was ending. That also went to penalties which thankfully my home country won. It was no sooner ended when the last Quarter Final started - Holland against Turkey. We had hopes for Turkey but they didn't win. So now Holland will play England. I remember Spain playing Holland in the World Cup final in 2010 in South Africa and the latter played really dirty football. Anyway, there will now be no more Euro Cup football until Tuesday. So enough about that.

Today is Sunday and we are grandchildren free. That's a pity as most of the guests are leaving and none coming till tonight so we could have enjoyed the pool together but they have other plans. No doubt I will enjoy it though this afternoon or at least that is my intention.

Tomorrow we are off again, this time to El Cuetu in Asturias to set up the house  for all the summer guests. I look forward to some quiet time there and a respite from the heat too. You will hear all about it in next Sunday's blog post.

Meanwhile, cheers to you all until next time,

Masha