Guests and more guests, Suzy in Vitoria with Copi, our annual Christmas outing to Madrid centre, memories of my youth in Bradford, Pippa turns 12, Spain boycotts the Eurovision Song Contest, remembering Fátima and other stories of the week.

 Madrid, Sunday 7th December, 2025

Chocolate con churros at San Ginés on Monday in Madrid; best ever. 

Good morning again. December has got off to a start yet I still haven 't put up the Christmas decorations. We are leaving it until I get back from the UK. 

Many people would have put them up the Sunday gone, the last day of November but not us. I am very traditional about that. I had guests coming and going that day as I have had all week, including this weekend. This year we haven't had a guest free weekend. Let them come, let them come, let them come haha. Elliot once asked if our house was a hotel. It's more like a guest house and we actually like running it. Some people would think we are crazy.

That day Leonardo and my 4 guests from Barcelona left.  Jennifer the policewoman was still here and later in the day Jon arrived from Bilbao (he is building a skateboard park where my grandchildren play) and later Rachel. Rachel is Dutch and married to an Italian dentist and lives in Milan. She has twin sons; one of whom is studying to be a doctor in Italy and the other is doing dentistry here. It's her second stay and it is always a pleasure to host her and one of her gorgeous looking sons. I was interested to hear they had both studied at a boarding school in the UK. Only missing was Basem, my Peruvian doctor who came the next day. 

Tana was busy preparing all the rooms and I was happy to see her using the new duvet covers in my father's old bedroom. They were to replace duvet covers which were tearing at the seams that we had bought for Oli's bedroom at least 25 years ago. I chose them to go with the curtains of the same material so as not to have to change the latter.

New duvet covers from Ikea (of course) for my father's old bedroom

Meanwhile we went for a walk to our local churros bar and indulged. Tana had left when we got home so we made lunch ourselves out of my cocido leftovers - I do love leftovers. 

While we were enjoying a quiet life, there was a demonstration in Madrid to demand snap elections after all the scandals coming out of the Socialist Government. There was one more this week when it was discovered two female workers had complained in the summer about the sexual harassment at the hands of a top official who worked closely with the PM, Pedro Sánchez. Francisco Salazar made life impossible for the women who worked for him and I won't go into details as his behaviour was disgusting. It's ironic that a top official from the PSOE party should behave like that as the party  sees itself as the saviour of feminism. What was worse is they did nothing until it came to light. Eladio was half inclined to go to the protest but I hate demonstrations and we didn't go. 

On the other side of the world, Donald Trump somehow managed to shut down Venezuelan air space.He is on a mission to end the drug trafficking which he says is led by the socialist President Maduro, himself. Trump has been attacking drug traffic boats killing people at sea and now threatens a land invasion of the country itself. It is said he telephoned Maduro asking him to leave the country but we don't know if that is true. Meanwhile,  many Venezuelans outside the country can now not fly home. Barajas airport in Madrid is full of them. 

Monday was 1st December and was the 4th anniversary of my obtaining Spanish nationality which I applied for after damned Brexit as I wanted an EU passport.  However, they never made a fuss of it and there was no ceremony whatsoever. It hasn't made much difference to my life except that I am now able to use the coveted ID card we have here and that Brits seem not to want. It opens all doors here. Let's see if it ever comes to my birth country. 

Monday was the day we chose to go on our annual Christmas outing to the centre of Madrid. It's an event we always enjoy and this time was not going to be less. Suzy came with us to pick the kids up and take them to school and then we dropped her off at the Metro station as she was going to Vitoria (up north) to spend the week with her best friend Copi. She later sent me photos. Here is one of them together in this Basque city where Copi now lives with her husband Unai.

Suzy with Copi this week in Vitoria

I gather they both had a great time as Suzy told me she hadn't laughed so much in ages. That was music to my ears. 

We, meanwhile, took the metro with our free travel card but not on the way back, at least for me, as mine disappeared while in the city, along with my visa card. They must have been stolen. Thankfully I had left the rest of my wallet behind. We took the metro to the Puerta del Sol, the very centre of Madrid. It was very early so I suggested a second breakfast at Chocolateria San Ginés, Madrid's most famous chocolate and churros café which is open 24h a day. In all my 44 years here, somehow I had never been and Monday was the time. Here am I outside and surprised not to see much of a queue as I had heard they are long. Ah but we had chosen to go early on a Monday morning to avoid the crowds.

Outside the famous chocolate and churros place, San Ginés, in Madrid on Monday

 I can hardly imagine what it's like today during this weekend's long bank holiday to celebrate Spain's 1978 Constitution (6th December) and the Immaculate Conception tomorrow (8th December).  We got a seat and were served the best chocolate drink and best churros ever, not to mention the enormous "porras". Eladio took a photo and I have chosen it as this week's feature photo. It had to be of me stuffing my face on divine Spanish breakfast food. 

When we had had our fill. we wandered to the Puerta del Sol again, looking for a particular "turrón"  shop (Spanish sort of nougat popular at Christmas) where I wanted to get some proper nougat; the softer kind. Every year I shop for turrón at Torrons Vicens on the Calle Mayor. The choice is amazing. I got what I wanted and we continued back to the Puerta del Sol to take pictures and guess what? Yes, buy more Christmas lottery. That is what pleases my husband in the festive season. Here he is the main square and again after spending another fortune on lottery.

Eladio in the Puerta del Sol next to the Real Casa de Correos which is like Trafalgar Square or Times Square in that people celebrate NYE here and the chimes come from the clock at the top of the building. 

Eladio with his lottery tickets

From there we walked nearby to visit the Christmas market at the Plaza Mayor where we have been going every year since I came to live in Spain, apart from a few exceptions. It was lovely to see it practically deserted on a cold Monday morning. Today it will be teeming with people. The market itself is nothing special unless you are looking to add to your nativity crib collection which I wasn't. People here often have an ornate Nativity crib as well as a Christmas tree. I rather like that as it shows the real meaning of Christmas, the celebration of the birth of Christ. Thankfully, Christmas is not so commercialised here. We took more photos here like this one of me to remember the day.

At the Christmas market in the Plaza Mayor on Monday in brilliant sunshine

Ashamedly I have to confess I was more attracted to the stalls selling joke and prank items. I hesitated before I bought a plastic piece of pooh and a joke chewing gum pack which I am dying to try out on Elliot and Juliet. My mother would have been equally attracted as I remember her once bringing some of the joke s*** home from a shop opposite Leeds University where she was a languages instructor. She wanted to play a prank on my father who hated dogs because of their "doings". Once home, she put it on the steps of the porch and when he saw it, he got a shovel out to remove it. I still laugh at that story. So watch this space for my grandchildren's reaction. It's obvious I haven't lost the child in me even if I am in my late 60's hahaha.

The day didn't end there. There was more to come. At 12.30 we had a coffee date with Eladio's brother Toño and his wife, Dolores who needs no introduction in this blog. She is the famous sister-in-law who introduced me to Eladio after finals in the summer of 1980 and, as they say, the rest is history.

We met at one of my old favourites; a sort of Spanish Betty's called La Mallorquna in Sol which opened in 1894. I love these sort of quaint cafés. When I was a student here from September 1978 (yes, the year of the Constitution after Franco's death) till June 1979, I used to frequent the Mallorquina and always bagged a table by the window with a view of Spain's most famous square. I would spend hours there over one coffee writing down new vocab in an exercise book I carried around always. Every time I learned a new word I wrote it down. I still have that lovely little exercise book bound in green leather which I bought at El Corté Inglés, Spain's flagship department store. I used to spend all my money earned from teaching English there. I just loved the place and still do.

It was good to meet up with  Toño and Dolores whom we hadn't seen since they left Montrondo during the fire last August. There never seems to be a good moment to meet up but we made it happen this week. 

I would have loved them to come to lunch with us but they couldn't. I had booked a table, again, at El Qüenco de la Pepa, that marvelous restaurant where the chef, Pepa, serves vegetables, mainly tomatoes, from her kitchen garden in Ávila. This was the view from our table.

Lunch at El Qüenco de la Pepa on Monday

We had a superb lunch but tried not to eat too much; not that we had big appetites after the chocolate and churros in the morning. 

We had left Pippa alone at home and I was worried so asked Rachel, our guest, to let her out. She later sent me a photo of Pippa, our soon to be 12 year old chocolate coloured, smooth haired, miniature dachshund, on her bed. That's unheard of as she won't let anyone but us pick her up. I felt better after seeing the picture. 

She was delighted to see us when we arrived home at about 4.30 pm after a wonderful day in Madrid, the best day of the week.

We retired to our quarters and that is when I looked at Facebook and saw an invitation from an old friend, Mark who was a pupil of my father's at Bradford Grammar School. The Page is called Memories of Bradford and has some 60.000 members. Bradford  is the city we moved to in 1964 or 1965. At the time the city was known for being the centre of the wool industry but was already in decline. I left in 1981 but my father continued to live there until 2005; a huge chunk of his life. I never liked Bradford as a city and couldn't wait to get away but today I only feel nostalgia for Bradford. I wrote a post on the page and was later inundated with welcoming messages and comments from people who knew my parents - amazing. My father had taught some of the members French and both my parents gave Russian lessons to some of the women who wrote that day.  Then a woman called Paula T commented she had lived at number 7 Heaton Grove (we lived at number 6) and of course she was my neighbour. They were a Polish family who fled from WW2 and we got on famously with them. I was about 9 at the time and Paula a teenager and I remember her wearing one of those amazing 60's dancing dresses like something out of Westside Story. When they moved, Paula and her siblings gave my brother George and I their whole collection of Enid Blyton books which they had probably grown out of. We loved them and thanks to Paula became avid readers. But back to Bradford and my memories which were sparked by joining the page.  

That day I was transported back to my childhood in the 60's and 70's in that dark industrial city which actually has its saving graces, such as The Alhambra, The Town Hall and St. George's Hall.  Designed in the Venetian Gothic style by the local architects, Lockwood and Mason, the Town Hall was built between 1870 and 1873. My mother always admired it and I do too. 

Bradford's magnificent Town Hall

 

What I like best about Bradford is that it is in Yorkshire itself. If you go into the countryside, then you go to what they call "God's own country". It's so beautiful in the Dales and those lovely market towns such as Skipton, Ilkley or Harrogate. Two more of my favourite haunts are Haworth and Bolton Abbey. I was born in Cambridge but my formative years were spent in Yorkshire and that's where my heat lies. 

Oh the memories of the 60's and 70's of our huge, rambling and untidy Victorian semi detached house with 4 floors and only one bathroom at 6 Heaton Grove which my parents crammed with University lodgers to pay off the mortgage. Some of the things I remember from my youth:  the ice cream van, the milkman, the first yoghurts, my first mini skirt which my father destroyed with a pair of scissors, buying penny loaves at a bakery on Oak Lane, shopping for my uniforms at Brown and Muffs,  jeans or denims coming into fashion, smoking in the toilets at school, cooking with lard, candy floss and toffee apples at the funfair at Lister Park, pocket money of 1 shilling a week, half a crowns, threepence,  and other pre decimal coins, getting a whole pound note for my birthday, Sunday roasts, taking the bus everywhere because my old fashioned parents didn't drive, my school uniforms from Rossefield school  (a very posh girls' junior school where most girls went on to be boarders and owned ponies) and later St. Joseph's College (a Catholic Grammar School for girls run by Irish nuns)Then of course what the box was like in those days. We  had a black and white television with no remote and only two channels, the BBC and ITV and I would watch the news with my parents and programmes such as Coronation Street, Steptoe and Son, Dixon of Dock Green, Softly Softly, The Avengers, Fawlty Towers and of course Blue Peter when I was younger. Then there was  underage drinking at the Mucky Duck, going to awful old swimming baths or to the Odeon cinema to see Charlie Chaplin and falling over laughing at Laurel and Hardy and later falling in love with Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music. I have to mention too Betty's in Bradford where it once had a  tea shop, buying clothes in fashion at the time (bell bottoms, wedge shoes, mini, midi and maxi skirts) with my mother on Saturday mornings at C&A or fish and meat at Rawson Market before  the first Morrisons supermarket ever was founded. I knew the family because they lived across the road from my friend Amanda and she used to babysit for Sir.Ken Morrison. I must also include  fish and chips at The Paddock on Manningham Lane on Saturdays, the first curries at The Kashmir near the University  and even the first Indian boy I ever saw in my class at my first school called St. Barnabas.  There were our trips to London on steam trains which always scared me and then there was going with my father to Thomas Cook to buy train tickets to France or Spain and, of course, getting travellers' cheques, so needed when "abroad", nights out at the Mecca and not so nice memories of the Yorkshire Ripper.  And finally our neighbours, the Tozceks, the Meesons, the Johnsons, the Wrights, the Rothschilds and the Forrester Patons. Douglas Forrester Paton who was Scottish and a QC and judge and his Danish wife who my mother befriended were very important to us and very kind. Then there were the Reimans whose son Julien who was a pupil of my father's died as a young teenager. So sad.  I am trying to remember more names but they escape me. We had lovely neighbours at Heaton Grove which I remember very fondly. 

Our old house at 6 Heaton Grove on Manningham Lane which we moved into in 1965 and where my father lived until 2005. We loved that old house. 

Another memory of course is of all the parties my poor parents allowed me to organise for "my gang", mostly made up of BGS boys and St.Joseph's girls. Many a party was held at 6 Heaton Grove while my father hid from his pupils.

And I could go on and on. Oh what a great find that Facebook page about Bradford was.  Thank you Mark for inviting me. You took me back to my youth which was mostly happy and without the frustrations of today.

Meanwhile at Oli's house, my grandchildren Elliot (6) and Juliet (4) were opening the number 1 of the Advent Calendars I had bought them. My memories in Bradford of Advent calendars were numbers which you opened to reveal just a Christmas picture not even a chocolate. These days they have become very sophisticated. I got Elliot one with "Super things" - all the rage for boys his age, and one of Frozen for Juliet. Oli sent me a video of them opening the calendars where she tries to explain they can only open one a day and not all at once which I suppose is what they wanted, hahaha. This is it. 

Juliet and Elliot opening their Advent Calendars on 1st December

After such a packed day I slept at least 6 hours which seems to the norm these days and is better than 5 hours. 

Tuesday came and wasn't half as exciting as Monday. I read something in the papers online that morning that my father would never have read in The Telegraph and Argus or The Times in the 60's and 70's as the internet didn't exist. The Oxford Dictionary's word of the year is "rage bait" which is online content designed to provoke anger. Really. I tried to find the 1964 word of the year and even though there wasn't such a ranking, the trending words were: "switched on" and "grotty". I definitely remember using the word grotty. 

I did work in the morning, mostly on my rental Admin stuff and only went out to the bank to get a replacement card - what a hassle. 

Wednesday was the 3rd of December and Pippa's 12th birthday. How time has flown. I was never allowed a dog as a child but took my revenge when I married Eladio. We both love animals and have had loads of dogs and cats and even once bred Beagles. Today we just have little Pippa after Norah the naughty beagle and lovely Elsa the golden labrador, died in 2021, the same year as my father and our annus horribilis. 

The only celebration was giving her a good piece of steak from my plate at lunch. So let me tell you what Pippa means to us. She is not just a dog; she is a member of this family and a very important one. She gives us unconditional love and I have proof. She hates water and swimming and once when we went into the sea in Asturias she was left on the beach and got so anxious at seeing us swimming away from her, that she got into the water, something she absolutely detests. Her eyes looked terrified and  I know if we went to live in a hole she would come with us.All Pippa wants is to be near us, wherever we are. She lives like a queen, gets taken for a daily walk; well almost, has her teeth brushed once a day and is bathed once a week. On top of that she sleeps with Eladio and I and we wouldn't have it any other way. Here is little Pippa who I hope  lives as long as  possible because when she goes, something inside me will die. Happy birthday Pips, Pipina, Pipita, Pippa.

Pippa turned 12 this week

She got taken on her walk on what I think was the coldest day of the year. But we were blessed with sunshine. 

In the afternoon I had a routine medical appointment with a dermatologist at the Quirón Hospital in Pozuelo. I am so grateful for cheap private health insurance in Spain. Would you believe I only pay just over 100 euros a month and have direct access to specialists? You don't have to go through your GP here. Public health is good too but it's much more select if you go private. I don't think Spaniards realise how good their health services are. It's not perfect but nearly. My father used the public health service and the way they treated him was remarkable. 

On Thursday it rained and we turned back on our heels having started our walk and went home. Unlike the Brits, Spaniards do not go out in the rain unless it is to go shopping which is exactly what we did. We went to Mercadona for just a few things but got the large majority at Carrefour. I have their loyalty card  and have become a huge fan.  I had a voucher for over 180 euros accumulated from shopping there in the last two months. We blew it mostly on food for Christmas. I will be making Beef Wellington for the first time when my friend Julio comes for our annual dinner at home later this month. 

Eladio was busy that day and every day this week, taking the kids to school in the morning since Miguel broke his arm. That day he went out 4 times in the car; in the morning to the school, then shopping, then at 5 to pick them up and again at 8 to pick Suzy up from the train station. I think he is a champion. 

RTVE, Spain's national broadcaster, where both Olivia and Miguel work as a reporter and cameraman, respectively, announced that day that they were boycotting next year's Eurovision Contest because it includes Israel. You may or may not like Israel but boycotting the most famous singing contest in the world isn't going to help bring peace. As a child and teenager in Bradford, we would watch it as a family and I did the same with my family. I even went to the one in Finland once when I worked for Yoigo. These days I hate the songs and Spain's entries have been so bad, this boycott doesn't mean much to me but it does to its huge fans. It was big news in Spain. Other countries have followed suit. I think they are Ireland and Holland. On a final note, if Israel is not in Europe, why does it compete in the ESC I wonder?

The highlight of Thursday was my weekly Facetime call with Amanda. I will be with her on Tuesday and I can't wait. I am looking forward to being together, playing cards, parchis, going out shopping, for walks and for meals. It's going to be a wonderful break.

The day ended with Suzy's arrival but we hardly saw her as she only eats once a day at lunch and is often out with friends. Yesterday she went to have lunch with George, her new beau and today she has having lunch at Juli's, an old friend she has now reconnected with. God bless her.

Friday was 5th December and it's hard to believe it was the 6th anniversary of the passing away of my greatest friend and soul mate, Fátima Sánchez Martín. We were friends since she joined Motorola in 1991. We were sent together to a cycling race in Catalonia and in those few days became fastest friends. Fátima was divorced from an Italian when I met her. Her greatest wish was to become a mother and she did in amazing circumstances. She was bedridden for most of her pregnancy. It must have been the year I was unemployed because I was able to look after her. I used to make and take her her lunch everyday which we called "meals on wheels". Her greatest joy was giving birth to her daughter Fátima and her greatest fear was leaving her so young without a mother. Fátima joined me at Nokia in 2007 and was hired by our later great friend Julio who hired her when she was 9 months pregnant. We went on to become known as "the three musketeers" and went on trips together, out for lunches always having fun. Because it was fun to be with Fátima. She had studied to be a lawyer but worked as an engineer; something not many people could do. After her daughter was born they moved, with her mother, to where we live now.Thus in 2006 we became neighbours. She was my greatest friend and I miss her everyday, as do all those who loved her. Here is a photo of the two of us to mark this painful anniversary. 

Fátima, forever in my heart

I had a stressful day on Friday, one of those days I wished Fátima was here. I had guests arriving for the bank holiday at our house in El Cuetu which has been mostly empty since October. The new cleaner, Andrea, hadn't been able to put on the central heating and I needed her to go back and call for us to explain. Finally she rang us at night and she managed to switch it on but the whole issue had me worried all day.

The morning was quieter. I accompanied Eladio to Boadilla to his barber, Goyo, where he has been going probably since about 1988 when we moved to Boadilla. If he charges 10 euros a haircut now I wonder how much it was then?. Meanwhile, I went to the post office to post one of my calendars to my cousin in France and as I walked through the old streets, memories came flooding back of our first few years of living outside the centre of Madrid. We used to do the shopping at the indoor market before the proliferation of supermarkets. It was a good feeling to walk those streets again. I then decided to pop into Eladio's barber shop and watch him having his hair cut. I got a picture too; sly of me, hahaha.

Eladio at the barber on Friday

In the afternoon I had an appointment at my local nail bar where I had my nails done for my trip to the UK. I was home for dinner after which we waited for Enrique and his family to arrive from Algemesi, one of the towns in Valencia affected by the flash floods. They later told us their story and said it was much worse than anything we had seen on TV. They arrived at just before 11 pm and had come for their children to play football this weekend. They were joined on Saturday by another family and thus this weekend we have 8 guests in this house making use of all 4 rooms. They are lovely people and I think they are happy here. But I never like having to wait up late for guests to arrive.That's one of the downsides of hosting.

Saturday 6th December was the Day of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 which may seem a long time ago but not as long as the Magna Carta. It's a holiday in Spain and also Independence Day in Finland. I always remember that from my years working for Nokia. We heard that around 6 million people were on the move this bank holiday, many of them visiting the capital. Of those 6 million, I am hosting 12 people, 8 here and 4 in Asturias. 

Yesterday I made the filling for this year's  Christmas "perushkis" - small Russian meat and rice pies which we all so love.  Their real name is "pirozhki" but for some reason we always called them the former at home. If I did the filling, our Paraguyan home help, Tana, made them all with her own hands. Bless her. We froze most of them but couldn't resist having some for dinner last night.

Delicious Russian pirozhki meat pies for dinner last night with home made soup.

There was time for a walk too and once home I saw that my new visa card had arrived. I think it took me about an hour to connect it for payment on my watch and phone and then change the payment method on all these beasties: Amazon, Netflix, Apple, Google, Microsoft and Paypal. They are all giant US tech companies, the beasts we all feed and don't really know how to live without. Anyway, the job is done now and I look forward to using my new card at M&S and other British stores I love, next week in Devon.

I wrote most of today's blog yesterday afternoon while our 8 guests were all outside smoking on the kitchen patio. The weather was mild but not mild enough to make a barbecue which is what they did yesterday night. We had a quiet dinner of perushki and home made veg soup and were soon in our bedroom, probably at about 8.30. Pippa got her weekly bath last night and I managed on just 5 hours sleep. 

Today is Sunday and I was up at 6.30 and am feeling dead beat. I just need one good night's sleep. It will be a quiet day and we have no plans at all.

Next week promises to be exciting with my trip to the UK on Tuesday. Suzy will be off again,this time to Castellón to stay with a friend which means Eladio and Pippa will be on their own. I hope they cope ok and look forward to seeing them when I get back.

That's all from me for this week. Hope you have enjoyed  my memories of Bradford in the 60's and 70's. 

Cheers Masha

The ups and downs of being an Airbnb host, lots of cooking, the five ages of the brain, me in stripes in 2013 and in 2025, buying Christmas lottery tickets and other stories of the week.

 Madrid, Sunday 30th November, 2025

Cooking for a family lunch yesterday

Good morning on this last day of November. We are constantly reminded that Christmas is coming to which I am not immune. I have always loved Christmas so have begun preparing but mostly in my mind although I have also taken some action as you will read below and so has my husband Eladio. Ah but no decorations till December which is already tomorrow. We usually put the tree up later in the month as otherwise the magic seems to fade by Christmas Eve. 

Last Sunday we had just come back from Santa Pola and Madrid seemed so cold compared.Oh for those lovely mornings on the beach having a coffee and going for a walk. I did a lot of cooking this week, starting with last Sunday. Oli and family were coming for lunch and I made the easiest meal; spag bol for the kids. As I wrote last week, Miguel has broken his arm so we were asked to help taking the kids to school every day and picking them up on Tuesdays and Thursdays when Oli has her French lessons. Suzy helped but it was mostly Eladio who had to get up early to take them to school. Miguel went with him so he didn't have to fight for a space to park the car which is why my presence wasn't needed. I felt bad not helping but you see I have a secret to tell you: I can't reverse the car down the very long and steep drive and if I left the car in the street it would be frozen in the morning. Now you know one of my secrets. As our son-in-law will be out of action for a long time they will need our help for at least 6 weeks although with the Christmas holidays it may be shorter. Meanwhile he is suffering of course, mostly because he can't drive. 

Monday came and the main news that day and the rest of the week was a possible peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine. Last week's 28 point plan announced by Trump but which could have been written by Putin's aides, was of course, not agreed upon neither by Ukraine nor the EU. Peace talks continue but there is trouble at the heart of Zelensky's government as his chief aide was found guilty of corruption. That doesn't bode well for any future admission into the EU. Meanwhile, the Russian Army continues to attack its neighbour. It was nearly 5 years ago in February 2022 that Russia invaded and frankly it looks like a war of attrition which is leading nowhere except to death and destruction. I hope and pray for peace for Ukraine. 

I was up early as always and after playing my puzzles (Daily Mail Word Wheel, Wordle in Spanish and English and Contexto) and reading the headlines, I set about making our lunch. That day I made the most delicious lamb casserole again. I think you must know by now that lamb is my favourite meat. Meat may be going out of fashion but not for me. 

I then rushed to the Land Registry Office in our town hall as I needed the papers with the sacred property numbers to add to my Airbnb listings again. They had mysteriously disappeared and so had the papers with the numbers. Once home, I spent a good while uploading them; no mean feat as the numbers are about 40 digits long with so many zeroes to be copied your mind boggles. They wouldn't give me the papers in digital format so I had to copy out each number with great care. Damn the system and damn our socialist government who invents all these bureaucratic obstacles to make life difficult for Airbnb hosts. I noticed recently that most of my competition in the area no longer lists their rooms or properties, probably because the system has stumped them. I understand angst against Airbnb but also Booking for so many short term tourist rentals taking over cities, but couldn't there be a provision for people like me who are retired and want to make a bit on the side to help maintain the cost of running their houses? Without this income, no way could we live in this 650m2 house. No way, José. Oh the trials and tribulations and  ups and downs of being an Airbnb host of which there were a few this week.

With the admin work out of the way - as Eladio says, what would I do with my time if I didn't do Airbnb?

- I was able to concentrate on lunch. Tana was off so we made our own meals. One of the perks, however, of hosting is having a live in help who not only takes care of the rooms but of us. Tana is a treasure. 

That afternoon I started watching the BBC series called Prisoner 951. It is based on the true story of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, an Anglo Iranian national married to a British man who was imprisoned in Iran for 6 years from 2016 to 2022.  She was accused of being a spy and plotting to overthrow the Iranian government which she never did.  Nazanin had taken her  baby daughter back to Teheran to meet her grandparents and just when they were leaving for London, she was detained at the airport. And thereby began her journey to hell. This was a high profile story which you may remember. The underlying story is that Britain owed Iran around 4000 million dollars for arms not delivered from an agreement in the 70's. Nazanin had nothing to do with the debt but she was the bargaining chip to get the British Government to pay the debt. Eventually they paid but it took them 6 years while Nazanin languished in jail separated from her daughter and husband. If the story of the debt is even remotely true, I am ashamed of what happened to this family.

Meanwhile. Eladio went to have his flu jab which I had a few weeks ago. It's a good job that we now have them as there is an epidemic in Madrid and in Spain. He took a long time to come back from our local health centre and I began to get worried. I rang him countless times and even tried ringing the clinic. I was imagining he'd had an accident but also envisaging life without him - no, that cannot happen. So when he came back I hugged him instead of chastising him. He had gone to copy some keys. Thank God he was back. What would I do without him? Life would be very lonely and sad.

I had one guest arriving that night, a mysterious doctor from Peru - from deep dark Peru like Paddington hahaha. Unfortunately later he rang me as he had stepped on some of Pippa's poo in the doorway. She never does poo in the house but she had that day. I was mortified. I cleaned the mess and his shoe and apologised profusely. He didn't seem to mind. He left yesterday but will be back on Monday I'm not sure for what.

On Tuesday I read with interest about a new study of the brain. A team of neuroscientists  from the University of Cambridge, in an extensive study on real people, have identified crucial phases of structural development of the brain in the course of an average life. They occur at the ages of 9, 32, 66 and 83. Apparently at these ages the brain rewires while we grow and mature and eventually decline. There are actually 5 phases: childhood  (birth to age 9), adolescence (age 9 to 32), adulthood (age 32 to 66) and "early aging" (Age 66 to 83) when the brain starts to decline - lovely - and "late aging" (Age 83 onward)   - "the final epoch". 

So they have concluded that people in their 20s and early 30's are still adolescents? Wow!  As for Eladio and me, our brains are in decline. Well, we knew that I suppose. I am constantly forgetting things and always have to write lists. This week I had prepared for a guest's arrival and promptly went to sleep a siesta forgetting she was coming. Thankfully she sent me a Whatsapp. But that was a first. Should I be worried? Maybe, but there is not much I can do that I am not already doing. It's part of the process of old age but one thing I refuse to do is embrace it. 

On Tuesday I was all go - I did some shopping I had forgot last time  - see I am forgetting things. but I did not forget to go to my hospital appointments. Thank God for my phone calendar. I had a follow up consultation with my urogynecologist, who did my operation now over a month ago. She pronounced me nearly fully recovered and I have to say the operation has really helped. It's great not to have my bladder bulging out of my "you know what". Even that has changed and the doctor told me it had got younger and was like one of a 15 year old girl. Hahaha.  At the same hospital I had a check up appointment with an eye specialist as I was wondering if they were ok after the cataract ops in 2018. I was pronounced all ok but will go back for more tests just for precaution in January. 

I came out feeling on top of the world and came home to share leftover spag bol with Eladio for lunch. Leftovers are a great invention when you have no time for cooking and when I cook I always try to make more than needed to eat another time. 

I Facetimed with Kathy that evening who has her own personal chef in Phil and he cooks so well. No doubt he too will have done a lot of cooking this week. I find it creative and relaxing, that is if I don't have to cook under pressure. It's always good to chat to Kathy, like it is to chat with Amanda. If only they lived nearer. Well, I shall be seeing Amanda soon this month. I can't wait for my trip to Devon.

On Wednesday the fuel came which is always an expensive day as to heat this huge house is costly. That is something Eladio deals with, thankfully.  I had a troublesome guest coming that morning who asked to check in at 11 vs 3 pm but arrived at 9 am! Of course,as his room was ready, I accommodated him. He had been here before in our absence and gave me what for him was  a good review but a bad review for me. Airbnb asks guests to review a host on a scale of 1 to 5 but if you get anything less than 5 woe betide the host. The thing is not all guests know this and think 4 is acceptable which it isn't if it happens too often. You see, this is another bad thing about being an Airbnb host, because you become a slave to guest reviews. Two of our rooms had maintained a constant 5 star listing until a nasty lady from Ecuadar gave me a 1 after arriving at midnight having got lost, etc, etc. That put the listing down to 4.8. And now even if all my future reviews are 5 star, this listing will never regain its 5 star status because of one bad review. It's not fair. The man in question who was here for 3 nights was not a good guest. He left lights on all the time, left a mess in his room, dirty cups in the kitchen and even the front door open when he left - 2 hours after the check out time. I have decided I don't want him to come again so have blocked him on Airbnb. On the other hand the other guest, Jennifer, who arrived that day, was an absolute darling as most guests are. 

Of note that afternoon, I went to my hairdresser Conchi as I really needed a cut and the roots dyeing. I hate going but my hair was grateful afterwards and so was I. I haven't changed the style in decades as it's so easy to keep looking good. My friend Julio once said I was like Nancy Reagan who never changed her hairstyle either. I am glad though that I don't look like she did, haha. She must have had an in house hairdresser at the White House.

She and her husband would have been appalled at the shooting at 2 National Guards very near the White House that day. One was killed. Apparently the killer was an Afghan who had worked for the US before they pulled out of Kabul. He must have been deranged and disgruntled. Trump's reaction is to halt all Afghan asylum requests from now on. Shame on him.

But nice things happened at the White House that day, the eve of Thanksgiving. That day Melania Trump received this year's Christmas Tree. She received it in style as you can see from the picture.

Melania Trump, the First Lady, receiving this year's Christmas tree for the White House. It came in style on a horse and carriage. 

The other news of course that day was the dreadful fire in Hong Kong. A fire ripped through a multiple tower block in the Tai Po district. It is said the fire was sparked by a cigarette. 128 people have died and countless more have lost their homes. 

On to Thursday, Thanksgiving in the US which for the moment is not celebrated here. It was a normal Thursday for us. Eladio took the kids to school while I busied myself organising the freezer compartment of our state of the art Samsung fridge. I later did the same with our medicine cupboard throwing out all expired pills, etc. 

Facebook reminded me that morning of a photo Eladio took of me on the same day, 27th November in 2013. I was wearing a grey and white striped jumper dress from Mango, a sort of long grey jacket from Zara and a lovely black fur snood I had bought in Stockholm at the Sturegallerian shopping centre on Sturegaten where Telia's HQ used to be. I was also wearing leggings from Primark. This was the photo.

The photo taken in on 27th November 2013

Not having thought what to put on, I decided to wear the exact same attire and got Eladio to take another photo. I have so many clothes, mostly old, and a lot of stripes as you know so it's quite useful when Facebook reminds me how to combine my clothes. This is the one taken 12 years later this week.

Same clothes on a older lady 12 years later

After our walk we went out again, for coffee and to get more provisions I had forgotten. While in Boadilla we walked past the lottery shop and decided to get some Christmas lottery tickets - for El Gordo (the fat one) which is drawn on 22nd December and is a very important Spanish Christmas tradition. Eladio bought 10 tickets and we gave the girls one each. Here he is coming out with his prized tickets which won't probably win anything. They never do but we still buy them every year. 

Eladio with the Christmas lottery tickets he bought this week

I came home to find packages of stuff I had ordered from Ikea who now have a much better online site and take 2 days to deliver purchases. I had ordered candles and candelabras which I have a bit of fetish about. They are so Scandinavian and I love Scandi decor. This is what I bought.

New candles and candelabras

I suppose this counts as Christmas decoration so I have put up some in November haven't I?

It was at lunchtime that I bought Suzy and Oli's main presents online too of course but I can't say what they are; not because they will read this blog which they don't but someone might tell them. So I have made some progress for Christmas this year. However, I still don't know whether Oli and family will be with us on Christmas Eve and or Christmas Day. As to New Year's Eve I think they will go to Montrondo and Suzy is going to a dinner party which means we will be alone this year. Thus I doubt we will wait up till midnight and we will not be eating the traditional 12 grapes. Maybe this is a sign of being in the early aging  stage of the brain; possibly although I have never really liked New Year's Eve and this year and look forward to an early night.

Who went to bed early that night were two corrupt Spanish politicians, José Luis Abalos, former number two of the government and transport minister and his aide Koldo. They were remanded in custody; accused of taking kickbacks for awarding contracts. They spent their first night in the same cell and it was said that Koldo couldn't sleep because his cellmate and former boss snored all night. It's a very high profile case in Spain and I honestly don't know how Pedro Sanchez, Spain's PM, can carry on. He is surrounded with corruption cases and has no support in Parliament and is unable to get a budget accepted by the House. Yet he carries on  but I doubt he sleeps well in his magnificent bed in the Moncloa Palace where he lives with his wife Begoña, also embroiled in a court cases accused of influence peddling, business corruption and embezzlement of public funds. He is also accused of receiving campaign funds from his father in law who was a brothel owner. Then his own brother is facing charges too for taking  a trumped up position due to Pedro's influence. Can he survive? Not for long, surely.

I didn't sleep badly that night and woke up on Friday full of beans. I have been feeling so much better mentally and physically since Suzy has a new job and seems to have improved a lot. She still has her moments of anxiety but we are in a much place today than we were a year ago.

Friday was Black Friday which some call Black Fraud Day. Companies like Carrefour or Mediamarkt have been accused of hiking prices before the day and then lowering them. I am not a Black Friday fan and refuse to bow to American traditions which are not mine. 

It was a quiet day for us and we didn't go out except for our walk. I was glad to see my bad guest leave. I had a big group of 5 young people coming later from Barcelona who had been asking me questions non stop since they booked back in October. I smelt trouble but they weren't. They only thing is they brought a baby without including it in the booking and two friends to visit which is not allowed but I just let it go. They are leaving today and I wonder what review they will give me. 

Saturday saw me cooking again. I was up early and wanted to prepare lunch for the family before our walk. I was making cod fritters on a bed of vegetables followed by meatballs with Tana's rice.Dessert was apple crumble and ice cream - all very filling but very satisfying. Eladio caught me in the act when he came down for breakfast and took this week's feature photo. When Suzy came home from work and saw all the food she told me to stop stuffing her like a turkey, hahahhaa. I did go over the top. Ah but we now have even more leftovers and I won't need to cook today or tomorrow while Tana is off. We had a good lunch together if you don't count Elliot's repeat tantrum of last week but we ignored him and he eventually ate the meatballs I had made specially for him.

The afternoon was quiet after the family left. Our 6 guests were not at home either and I spent most of the time writing today's blog post before I sat down to a very meagre dinner. Today will be quiet too as all the guests will be leaving and only Jennifer will be back. 

Now I am at the end of the stories of this week where not much really happened on the home front but overall it was a good week with no scares or crises. So here's to another quiet and happy  week. Tomorrow we shall be going into Madrid for our annual day out to see the Christmas market and buy more lottery tickets. It's a tradition for us and one I always look forward to. 

So that's it from me for now. Hoping you all have a good Sunday, cheers till next week,

Masha

In search of the November sun, time out in Santa Pola, 50 years since Franco died, Spain's Attorney General guilty in tax fraud case, home again and other stories of the week.

 Home again, Madrid, 23rd November, 2025

Bliss, coffee in the sun on the beach in November

Good morning readers and friends. Thank you once again for reading my blog. It's quite amazing to think I have been writing once a week for 20 years. This week I looked back at a post of our trip to Nepal from India in 2009 and boy we looked so young. I started writing this blog in my 40's and now I am  in my 60's and beginning to feel old. I wish I had begun much earlier to include my beginnings in Spain. This week marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Spain's dictator, Francisco Franco who died in 1975. I was just 18 but remember it very clearly, as do many Spaniards who were young then too. But ask young people here  and they generally don't have much of a clue. I mustn't diverse and will return to last Sunday. 

That was the day we left for Santa Pola in search of sun and to escape every day minutiae. After my operation a month ago, every day seemed like Groundhog Day and I was in need of a change of scenery. As the saying goes," a change is as good as a rest" and that's what we needed.

We left shortly after Suzy went to work and hoped things would be ok for her in our absence. We stopped for lunch at the Parador in Albacete and arrived mid afternoon to 22ºc sunshine. Oh what bliss in November. I really understand why so many pensioners from the north of Europe flock here in the winter. It wouldn't be a bad idea to live in the area because of the sea and the climate.  This was the view that greeted us, a view I never tire of.

The view from our apartment, one I never tire of

The place was spotless thanks to Gina's cleaning efforts - she is a treasure and such a help - and we soon settled in. I read on the terrace and Eladio watched the top two tennis seeds, Alcáraz of Spain who is number one and Sinner of Italy who is number two, compete in the ATP finals. The Spaniard lost to the Italian who is generally more consistent although he lacks the Spaniard's flare. I can't watch Alcáraz play as it is too nerve racking so, instead, I read on the terrace but of course with one eye on the match.

I slept dreadfully that night and my sleep was worsened by a dry eye syndrome or irritation that has been plaguing me for a while.  I could neither read nor look at any screen. Thankfully I got some drops which have helped. I think the condition comes from tso much lack of sleep and too much smoking. 

Monday was ours for the taking and mid morning we headed to the beach for a walk in the sun. To our delight, the "chiringuito" (name for beach bars in Spain) was open so I could have my morning coffee in the sun. What bliss and how good it was to be back. I took lots of photos to remember the moment and to share with you. Here are two of them.

Our "chiringuito" on the Playa de Carabassi beach.  It was great to find it open in November

I took a photo of Eladio next to the sign advertising fresh grilled sardines as he loves them. I sent it to our friends Kathy and Phil who were here in September with us and are now probably deep in snow in Keighley, West Yorkshire. Both Phil and Eladio enjoyed sardines together in the same place.

We then walked to the end of the beach from where you can see our apartments and the Island of Tabarca on the horizon. "Our rock" was occupied by a large beer bellied man so we had to sit on another rock before walking back. People were bathing in the sea, sunbathing, others were walking like us, some were naked and some wore jackets or coats. I could seriously have gone into the water but never thought to bring our swim wear as I couldn't imagine it would be warm enough. That's climate change for you; being able to sunbathe and swim in the Med in November in Spain. Ah, but it was lovely to be there.

Before heading home for lunch we went in search of a new stand up lounge lamp to replace the very old and dilapidated one we inherited from the Norwegian couple who sold us the apartment in 1999. We found one and at the same time came across a wonderful Danish household goods store called JYSK. It's like a mini Ikea and in many instances is even cheaper. Here is Eladio coming outside with the lamp.

Shopping at JYSK for a lamp on Monday

He came out smiling because he got it for 20 euros instead of 46 which was the real price. It was his lucky day.

We came home to have leftover lamb casserole which I think ate for 4 days running but I love it so don't care. 

The highlight of the afternoon was my weekly Facetime call with my oldest friend, Amanda. Amanda and Andy were here in the spring and I wish they had been with us this week. Maybe another time. In any case I will be soon be with them next month.

 I slept better that night and woke up feeling new on Tuesday morning. The main news that day and for the last few months, as well, was  release of the so-called Epstein files in the US. They are files related to the criminal charges of sex trafficking against former predator Jeffrey Epstein who has links to the former Prince Andrew, other celebrities and possibly Donald Trump. This week the house voted for them to be released and Trump signed the order. What will be released we don't know or rather what won't be released.  This is a hideous case of sex crimes perpetrated by very dangerous and powerful men and they must be held to account; all of them.  I am still trying to read Virginia Guiffre's biography and finding it very hard reading. Those men ruined so many young girls' lives just for their perverted pleasure and because they thought they were so powerful they could get away with it. 

But we weren't thinking about any of this as we planned our morning. We went down to the beach again in search of more sun and of course coffee at the "chiringuito" where we whiled away the time and walked to our rock and back, which was not occupied this time. This week's feature photo is of me on Tuesday morning enjoying my coffee. And here are some more photos of that morning which no doubt in a few years time I will be reminded of by my Samsung phone and I will realise how much older I am. My phone does that every day and I get to see  photos from 15 years ago with a bit of nostalgia. 

On the beach on Tuesday enjoying the weather and our time alone

We decided to have lunch out that day and drove to the port in Santa Pola. We chose La Sal where we have taken our friends many times. I love that place because of its location and the food is pretty good too. We had the menu of the day which included a rice dish - a sort of paella called "arroz señoret". It wasn't bad but I've had better. My daughter Olivia always reminds me that paella is only really good in Valencia and maybe she is right. But this area does make a lot of rice dishes too. Here I am enjoying the moment the dish arrived.

Lunch outside at La Sal in Santa Pola on Tuesday

Things have changed a lot in this area I have noticed recently. When we used to come in the early 2000s in the late autumn and winter, there was hardly a soul around and restaurants were empty. Not so now but thankfully no over tourism; just pleasant retired people, like ourselves (hahaha) and from all over Europe. 

My lunch was interrupted by an Airbnb issue which in the end wasn't one but had me scared. For some reason my property register numbers had disappeared from all my listings. Putting them back was to be quite a task and took me a long time. Added to this scare was a rumour from a friend that I needed another sort of new number and if I didn't have it, my listings would be removed from Airbnb. In the end it was just a rumour but it did actually spoil my lunch and the whole of my afternoon.

Who was having a great time that day was another powerful man who I can't stomach. Mohammed bin Salman, the PM of Saudi Arabia was in Washington that day to meet Donald Trump. Honestly? He is highly suspected of ordering the killing of journalist, Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Embassy in Turkey. The poor man who went in to renew his passport, was killed and cut into pieces and never seen again. This is information from the CIA. However, Trump who is more interested in Salman's possible investment of 1 billion dollars worth of trade with the US, than he is in human rights, answered a journalist by saying "these things happen" or something similar. That makes me cringe. Creepy men they are. 

Meanwhile, in Madrid, Ukraine's President, war weary Volodymyr Zelensky met with Spain's premiere Pedro Sánchez. From what I read they agreed on a 615 million aid package which will be like a drop in the ocean for Ukraine which continues to be bombed and attacked by Putin's Army. When will this stupid war end? I don't like Washington's latest peace plan discussed so far only between the US and the Kremlin. If they had it their way, Ukraine would shrink in size and abandon all hopes of joining NATO: and Russia would be reinstated financially and socially. On Friday Zelensky addressed the nation saying they had a very difficult choice: either losing dignity or risk losing the a key partner, the US. The leaked 28 point plan is supposed to include a clause whereby the US will defend Ukraine if Russia invades again but there is no guarantee. Another clause is that Zelensky would have to call elections within 100 days of signing the treaty. Sounds like a time bomb to me. 

We had a quiet afternoon and it must have been the sun and the sea breeze as once again I got a decent night's sleep, decent, at least for me.

On Wednesday we headed for Santa Pola. On our way we stopped at an ironmonger for items needed to fix little problems in the apartment. There is always something to fix or replace there and we are a bit like ants building their homes or birds building their nests; always buying something we need for the apartment. Rare is the day we don't. We got what we wanted and drove to the car park by the castle. Our destination was my favourite cafe in town, Choco&latte in the main square. It is one of my happy places of which I have quite a few. We were a bit naughty and I ordered an "ensaimada" pastry with my coffee and Eladio had a cup of chocolate with a croissant. I ended up eating his crossant and he had my pastry, hahaha. 

Indulging ourselves at Choco&latte in Santa Pola on Wednesday

To work it off we walked along the promenade on Avda. Santiago Bernabeu. If you are familiar with the Real Madrid stadium you will know it is called the Santiago Bernabeu. Bernabeu who was a football player and President of the team for three decades from 1943 to 1978, was born in Santa Pola and is probably the town's most famous citizen.  I have to say the promenade is marvelous as are the beaches in this little known seaside town. I often wonder why there are so few hotels here. It could easily have been turned into a Benidorm or Magaluf but thankfully has remained a quiet seaside town.

Lunch was bits and bobs and I spent the whole afternoon watching a hospital series on Movistar Plus which I felt a bit guilty about.

Thursday was our last day there and it was another sunny day. It was also the 50th anniversary of the death of Generalísimo Francisco Franco who I imagine needs no introduction if you are middle aged or more. He was Spain's ruler and dictator after winning the bloody civil war in 1939  in which from 500.000 to 1.000.000 people were killed or lost their lives. The war divided Spain and in my opinion the country is still divided today. Franco ruled with an iron fist and will go down in history as a fascist dictator although he still has his fans. He died on 20th November 1975 when I was just 18. I was in London on a bus with a Spanish friend, Ana, a cousin of my then Spanish boyfriend, called José Francisco. Her family must have been very pro Franco as when we saw the Evening Standard bill boards with the words "Franco is dead", she began to cry, saying "pobre Franquet". I wasn't really sorry and read that many Spaniards had been waiting for the moment with champagne in their fridges. But many others were worried about what would happen next. Franco had appointed the young Prince Juan Carlos as his successor, bypassing his father Don Juan, but restoring the monarchy. 

The future King of Spain and Franco together shortly before the dictator died

Today the former King of Spain is disgraced for his financial scandals and lives in exile in Abu Dhabi. But he had a huge role in forging democracy when he took over from Franco. The transition was exemplary and all political parties were made legal, including the communist party and from then onward Spain grew to become the steady democratic country it is today. Spain is not without its problems today but I prefer to be a woman in today's society than during Franco's times. When he ruled, women could neither get a passport nor open a bank account without their husband's permission. Divorce and abortions were prohibited as were many other things. Today is a much freer society and we are better off with democracy.  The next day there was a commemoration of the 50 years of monarchy after Franco died and when King Juan Carlos took over. Rightly or wrongly he was not invited although the former Queen was. He must have felt estranged but probably enjoyed the private family lunch the next day in El Pardo Palace (where Franco lived) where the whole family gathered, including all his grandchildren. No photos have emerged. 

Thursday was also the 80th anniversary of the Nuremberg trials of  Nazi criminals after WW2 which deserves a mention here. That famous trial is said to have been the precursor of international law as we know it today and is considered the most important legal trial in history.  199 Nazis were tried by an international tribunal. 161 were convicted and 37 sentenced to death. I find those numbers rather low considering the scale of the Holocaust where. 50 to 85 million people lost their lives in WW2. Of those, Hitler is directly guilty of the death of 6 million Jews but also of many other millions of people: Soviet prisoners, gypsies, Poles, people with mental and physical handicaps and many others. He killed himself before he could be tried at Nuremberg. Many other Nazi criminals fled the country and it seems the vast majority of those involved in so many deaths, made their way to countries in South  America. Damn them. May we never forget.

It was a historic day for Spain and not just because of the anniversary of the death of Franco. For the first time in Spanish history  an Attorney General was to be on trial. Attorney General, Alvaro Garcia Ortiz, appointed by the governing socialist party, was found guilty in a politicised tax fraud case. His crime was to reveal confidential information when he leaked oan email to the press which included a plea for negotiating tax evasion by Alberto González Amador, the boyfriend of PM Sanchez's arch enemy, Isabel Diaz Ayuso.  

Spain's Attorney General found guilty!

The announcement, prior to the sentence, was made by the Supreme Court on Thursday. García Ortiz has been suspended for 2 years from public service which means he will have to be replaced. He will also be given a fine of 7.000 euros and will have to pay Alberto González 10.000 for damages to his reputation. The government has insisted on his being innocent and the news this week of Ortiz being found guilty will not sit well with them. Honestly, it is about time that Pedro Sánchez resigns. His government is paralysed, his wife and brother are on trial as well as former members of his cabinet for large scale kick backs in exchange for public contracts. He cannot go on. This last news should be the nail on his coffin but I doubt he will call elections and Spain's soap  opera will continue as he tries to carry on governing. 

Life continued quietly for us on our last day in Gran Alacant. It was sunny once again with temperatures reaching 22ºc, while the north of Spain was on alert for snow. 

Before heading for the beach, we visited the Danish Ikea type shop, JYSK, again to get some bedding we needed at home as well as a bath mat for our apartment. I do like that shop but refused to be tempted to buy anything else that I'm sure I didn't need.  What we do need though is a new front door as the one we inherited has been battered by the sea air and needs replacing. Eladio wanted to find someone to mend it but it is beyond repair. That day we found a local carpenter called Mauricio who is actually from Venezuela. We spoke to him while having coffee on the beach and he came later in the day to see the door and come to an agreement with him to change it. Hopefully he will do a good job. 

We went on our last walk on the beach after talking to Mauricio and once again people were sunbathing and just a few were swimming in the sea. What a lovely time we have had on what I call "our beach" but all good things come to an end and we had to go back the next day to be with the girls and the kids this weekend.

Our afternoon was quiet, just interrupted by Mauricio and soon Friday dawned, the day of our departure. We left at around 10.30 and as we drove north it got colder and colder. We stopped for lunch at an expensive place called Essentia in Tarancón and were home by about 4. There were Tana  and Pippa to greet us. Tana later went off to enjoy her weekend. Suzy was around but busy preparing for work on Saturday and Sunday. We didn't know it then but that evening, our son-in-law, Miguel, broke his elbow bone (the radial head) while doing crossfit.  He is now out of action and cannot drive or go to work. As Elliot says, it's Mummy who is doing everything now. He must feel very frustrated. 

It was cold in Madrid but good to be back and inside it was very warm and cozy. We had to wait up that night for a new guest, Paula, who didn't arrive till 11.30 pm. I hardly saw the other guests at all and thank my living stars we still have guests in November.

Saturday came and it was just 3ºc at 7 in the morning when I got up. What a difference from Santa Pola. I did the online shopping and then got well dressed up for the cold to shop to fresh stuff; fruit, veg, meat, fish, etc that we don't order online.  There was time for coffee at Alverán and I came home to cook lunch for the three of us. 

Today is Sunday and Oli and family are coming for lunch. I am taking the easy way out and making spaghetti bolognese which the kids usually love. 

It's late now as I write, so I must sign off to get on with the day. I trust you all have a good Sunday and will be back next week.

Cheers till then, 

Masha