A funeral, meeting "Sr. Cervera", ceasefire for Ukraine? The boiler broke down - no hot water or heating, 5 years since Covid lockdown, 4th dose of Mounjaro and other stories of the week.

Sunday, 16th March, 2025.

Meeting Sr. Cervera (with the hat) for the first time in more than 35 years. He was one of my bosses at Defex where I worked from 1982 to 1990

Good morning again. What a week it has been; so let me tell you all about it.

Last Sunday it continued to rain as it has now for probably 3 or so more weeks. Each week brings another storm and this week we were cursed by Storms Jana and Konrad which wreaked havoc mainly in the south. Places like Jérez or Seville were flooded. We had so much  rain in Madrid that our beloved greengage tree fell  and had to be chopped up. I'm very sad about that.

I was sad last Sunday of course because Suzy was in hospital still and we didn't know the outcome. I was also sad because we went to my friend Nacho Salcedo's funeral. It was in Pozuelo at the chapel next to the funeral parlour where we had been to the wake the afternoon before. There were many people and I was pleased and surprised to meet up with 3 bosses from my time at Defex, the weapons exporter, where I worked from 1982 to 1990 and whom I hadn't seen for 35 years.  I wasespecially pleased to meet Alvaro Cervera (Capitán de Corbeta) known to us as only "Sr. Cervera". He was a true gentleman and I have fond memories of him. We female secretaries and admin staff had to treat the men bosses using "usted" and they used "tu" to address us which was very humiliating. Sr. Cervera who is now 92  must have been 48 when I met him. I pointed out the way we used to address each other and his answer was; "well those were different times". Indeed they were. I introduced my husband to my ex boss who asked Eladio how he could manage me hahaha. With much laughter, my husband took a photo which I have chosen as this week's feature photo. And here is another one.

With my ex Defex colleagues from 36 years ago at Nacho's funeral. From left to right: Juan, Sr. Cervera, me, Sr. Iglesias and Mar, Juan's wife.

It was rather nice that Nacho had reunited us in his death. I told some of my ex Defex colleagues that we must now meet again. I hope we do. What fun.

The funeral service was sombre and without any frills; no photos, no special words. That is how things usually go in Spain. They are not good at ceremony. And then there was the burial where we all gathered only to see the cemetery masons lowering the coffin into the ground. Where was the priest and those final words "ashes to ashes"? It felt rather forlorn for our friend so I hope someone will organise a proper memorial service when we can pay him better homage. 

For want of a proper wake which they do before the funeral in Spain without food or drink and not afterwards, some of us ex Motorolans went for coffee at Mallorca in nearby Pozuelo. There I had a good chance to talk to some of my favourite colleagues such as Ruben and Ignacio.

It was home again after that in the cold and rain. Our guests had gone and Tana was away, thus it was just Eladio and me for a change. We deeply felt the absence of Suzy who was in our thoughts the whole time. I had a shoulder to lean on that afternoon when Kathy and I Skyped. Close women friends are the best therapy. Skype, as you probably know, is going soon but no worries as there are many more ways to video call such as Facetime, Whatsapp, Zoom etc. I wonder what methods my grandchildren will be using when I am  gone. Who knows?

My video call was interrupted by the arrival of Florin, a guest from Romania who lives in Spain. He came in a huge van. I hardly saw him after that but Eladio did and Florin told him he would like to come back with his family in the summer. 

Entertainment that night was the film based on Fredrick Forsythe's Odessa File, a thriller made in 1974. It helped me fall asleep. I was finding it hard to concentrate on anything this week because of our troubles. 

Monday came, the day I found the fallen tree in our front garden. Finally, that day we had our second call from the psychiatrist. Her name is Fanny Beatriz Cegla Schvartzman and there is hardly anything on the WWW about her but later Suzy told me she liked her which was the important thing. That day our daughter had accepted to see her father but not me. That hurt but it was huge progress. The three of us went and Eladio spent over an hour with her coming out smiling. He had found her calm which was such a good sign. I couldn't help crying though outside with Olivia. If you are a mother you will understand.

We left in more torrential rain and were home within an hour with Oli in the driving seat so we could grill Eladio with questions. 

On Tuesday I was happy to finally see some results from taking Mounjaro. I had shed 2.3kg (5lbs) which is ok as I don't need to lose too much and the dose I was on is low (2.5mg). That lifted my mood. We spent some of the morning in Villaviciosa at the Land Registry Office. They needed more paperwork from me to get the elusive Registry Code number to let the rooms at home. I thought I had given them everything but there was a complication. In the deeds of the house I figure with a Residency Card and since 2000 I have a Spanish ID card. They wanted a police certificate to prove I was the same person. Thankfully I still have it. What a bore. On the good side, they will give me the numbers which will take just another 3 weeks (!!!!). We then went to have coffee at Manacor where I got a phone call from the Land Registry Office in Llanes (Asturias). This time it was to confirm the number which now figures on the listing of the house on both Booking and Airbnb. Hurray.

Oli joined us for lunch as she did for most of the week as we were in this together. Thus she was there when the doctor rang again. Oli tried to interrupt her and the response was rather short and intimidating. Thankfully, later in person, she was much nicer. She rang to say Suzy would be discharged the next day and we asked for a meeting with her which we got, finally. Finally she was going to listen to us. 

While we were going through all this, Zelensky was in Saudi Arabia of all places, for peace talks with the US, but not with Russia, the aggressor. He agreed to a ceasefire for a month while a peace plan was drawn up. In exchange the US would restore military aid and share intelligence again. The painful part is that Trump already knows which parts of the Ukraine will have to be given up to Russia. Also he is after Ukraine's rare minerals and he will do anything to get them. Now the ball is in Putin's court. He will ask for lots I'm sure. So we don't yet have a ceasefire but it could come soon. 

All the above topics were part of my weekly Skype call - actually Facetime and then Whatsapp - with Amanda. My weekly calls with Amanda which began during Covid, by the way, are so restorative. I hope they are for her too. Later in the week my friend gave me good news as she and Andy will be coming out to see us for a week at the end of March. I can't wait for their visit. It will be a true tonic.

On Wednesday I was awake at 4 am and finally got up at 5.30. We left at 08.45 to be at the hospital for 10  for our meeting with the doctor. It was a good long talk which really helped. She had taken the case seriously and there will be follow up and control to see she continues her medication by a monthly injection and goes to therapy. Then we were allowed to see Suzy who would be discharged later in the day. And, oh what a beautiful reunion it was. She seemed gaunt and tired but happy if that is the right word and melted into our arms. The good thing, if I can believe it, is that she now knows she needs treatment. The medication has already made an enormous difference and she seems to be the Suzy from before and I keep pinching myself to see if it's true. Oh how happy we all were. The family was reunited.

The family reunited

We came home for lunch and at about 4 pm we left again to pick Suzy up. It was so good to have her back again and to see her symptoms slowly recede. I am not counting on victory yet but I do think this time things will be better. Finally, I have hope and I can smile again.

Thursday came and brought problems. The boiler stopped working after filling it with fuel. Unfortunately it is still not working and we are without central heating and hot water which is a huge bind but mostly it is bad for business. I had to reach out to all my current and upcoming guests and explain the situation. The boiler men came on Friday morning to fix it but it has broken down and needs an expensive new part which they have had to order and won't come until next week. Thankfully in the upstairs rooms, our study and the dining room we can get warm air from the AC units. I have had to block the guest calendar until next weekend and hope and pray it will be up and running by next Friday. 

We went out with Suzy to have coffee at the Flaca and then she and I did a tiny bit of shopping to get through the next few days. Tana made lentils for lunch which we love but oh dear they were inedible as the chorizos were spicy which she didn't know. The next day Eladio felt ill. I have told him never to buy spicy chorizo sausages again hahah. They were so hot I suspect they had chili in them. 

Eladio had a comfortable siesta as I had bought a memory foam mattress topper like the one I bought for our bed in Santa Pola. Our own memory foam mattress is old and rather saggy, so this new topper is the perfect solution.  Except that I didn't sleep. I spent the whole afternoon transferring all the data from Eladio's old phone to a hand me down Samsung S20 Fe which was Olivia's. It's quite a job and I still have to do some fine tuning. 

If lunch was awful in terms of food, our prawn salad for dinner was delicious. Later I had a good Mother to daughter chat with Suzy who  is so much more reasonable to talk to after the episode which I know was awful but did her so much good. She who has shunned society and all her friends, is now meeting one of them next week and she will be going to her great friend, Copi's wedding. Hurray!

Friday came and I went out with her again. We went to have coffee together and for her to have a haircut after she  died her hair a dark brunette colour on Thursday.  I took a photo of her later at home and even though she is wearing a thick dressing gown she looks lovely. 

Suzy's new hair colour and cut

She is outside the wooden cabin. I went in there to smoke because it was warm inside from some sunshine in the morning and she took  one of me inside, with my dressing gown on too.

Keeping warm in the wood cabin

Friday 14th March was the fifth anniversary of lockdown  because of Covid in Spain. I remember that day so well and all that came after it. Over 7 million people died of the dreaded virus , 120.000 of them in Spain. What a terrible period we went through. It was as if the world had stopped and it really felt like it with everything closed and  streets empty of cars and people. Thankfully in our family absolutely no one was affected but we were still terrified. One day we will be known as the Covid generation. When it started in China I thought it would be like bird flu or Asian flu, just a virus that affected China. How wrong I was. We never could have known what was coming  when we celebrated the New Year on December 31st 2019 when my dear father was still alive. Spain had perhaps the most severe lockdown after China. We were not even allowed out for exercise and only one person per family could do the shopping. That was me and I had to shop for 7 people as Oli,Miguel and Elliot were with us as was my father's carer Lucy. We were lucky we have a garden while most people in Spain live in small flats. Thus we took to walking around the garden in the afternoons to our dogs' dismay. They didn't know what was happening. The first lockdown lasted until 21st June 2020, more than a hundred days. But Covid wasn't over and governments and laboratories were working on a vaccine which came at a faster speed than could have been imagined. We survived Covid but it was perhaps the most significant event of my life, something that affected the whole world. Some people likened it to WW2. We were not fighting in battle but it was a battle in its own right. Today Covid is now part of history although some people have lasting physical effects;  known as long Covid. No government nor scientific body was prepared for Covid and its effects so they muddled along as best they could and we finally came out of it. This is something those of us who lived through it will always, always remember. So lets remember too those people who died and their loved ones, most of whom couldn't even bury them. To think it was 5 years ago. How time flies.

I thought a lot about our lives during the lockdown and the whole pandemic on Friday as I'm sure many people did. But I had other things on my mind. That day I was to inject my 4th dose of Mounjaro at 18.45 as it always has to be at the same time. This time I needed no help. Thankfully the headaches went after 2 weeks and it seems to be working. Next week I move on to the 5mg dose and hope it will work faster but won't give me any side effects.  I'll let you know next week.

We spent the afternoon in our rooms and thankfully I managed a siesta and slept a whole two hours which I needed desperately.

I slept a bit better too that night but was up early on Saturday morning at 6.30 am. We only went out that morning to the bank and for a coffee. I needed to get a password for Eladio's new phone so he can use his banking app and I don't know how, but the hole in the wall swallowed it up. We will be back on Monday to retrieve it. Isn't life full of silly little obstacle?

So we were without heating and hot water. I am managing to wash myself using hot water from a kettle which I share with Suzy. Later that evening while making dinner the electricity went. Could anything else go wrong? Eventually it came back but I was so embarrassed for my guests.  Maria from Colombia is leaving tomorrow but says she will be back in June - despite the boiler incident, bless her. Alice from the USA who I haven't seen is leaving today and I hope I won't get a bad review because of the boiler. Then we will be guest free until Friday and I hope within that time frame all will be sorted. I am crossing my fingers.

Today is Sunday and it is cold and miserable again and here I am writing with my great big thick dressing gown which I have been living in this week because it is so cold in the house. Olivia and family will be coming for lunch and the family really will be reunited again. I hope we have a pleasant day despite the boiler issue, hahahahaha.

I must go now so cheers till next week,

All the best, Masha