Another week of foul weather in Spain, no deal for Ukraine ceasefire, we both got colds, babysitting our grandchildren, the boiler is working again, hurray I finally got the Land Registry number for our house and other stories of the week.

 Madrid, Sunday 23rd March, 2025

Happy to finally have the Land Registry numbers for the rooms we rent in our house.

Good morning folks.

As I set about thinking what I have to relate this week, there is not much. There has been such foul weather, we both have colds and until Thursday we had no central heating or hot water that frankly I would have preferred this week to be wiped out. 

Yes it was a miserable week but we muddled through as one does. Last Sunday was once again cold and wet as it has been for more than 3 weeks. That is so unusual for Spain. We usually complain the reservoirs are empty but now they are overfilling. Thankfully by Tuesday the sun will return and I much look forward to normal Spanish weather. Even Elliot was tired of it and told me his favourite seasons are spring and summer, bless him. 

He came with Oli and co for lunch and I made the kids meatballs. I was amazed to see Suzy eating them too as she is mostly vegetarian. Good for her. I think they reminded her of her childhood.

I spent the afternoon binge watching the new Netflix sensation, Adolescence which is a masterpiece on how young kids behave today and what trouble they get into because of social media and trends on internet, in this case that horrible man Andrew Tate who needs no introduction. 

On the world scene, nasty Trump deported hundreds of Venezuelans to jails in El Salvador where they will be treated as animals. Is there no end to the cruelty of this man? Meanwhile, in North Macedonia where not much usually happens, a night club went up in flames killing 59 people.  That day we also saw the first photo of Pope Francis since he was admitted to  hospital on 14th February with double pneumonia.

Photo released by the Vatican of the Pope celebrating mass at the Gemelli Hospital chapel in Rome this week

He is on the road to recovery but all the bronchial treatment has left him nearly mute. He might be an infallible Pope but he is a man and he suffers. There is no talk of abdication though. The good news though is that today he will be discharged. I wish him well.

Monday came and brought with it Storm Laurence which the Spanish TV anchors did not pronounce right (hahahaha). Laurence even brought snow. Later we had Storm Martinho which caused extensive flooding. 

I was up at 6 am which seems to be my usual this week and was the first one up in the house. As usual too, before and during breakfast I did Wordle in both English and Spanish, then the Sun Word Wheel and later the NYT Spelling Bee. Only after that did I read the news. This week the main news is no news really. It's about a possible ceasefire in Ukraine. One of many of Putin's conditions is that Ukraine never joins Nato. Trump spoke on the phone to him this week and Putin only agreed to stop targeting energy plants. 

Both Suzy and I watched Oli live on TV reporting live on yet another court case - she seems to be good at them. The trial is of Nacho Cano, a Spanish musician and composer who is accused of hiring illegal Mexican immigrants. Here is a still and then a video of her report which might interest her children if they read this when they are older.

Olivia reporting on the Nacho Cano court case on Monday

Eladio and I braced the cold and wet weather to go and do the shopping. The highlight of Monday was not the shopping but my weekly video call with Amanda. We always cheer each other up. 

On Tuesday I woke to see on my smart watch that I had only slept 3.5h which is appalling. What made me slightly happy though were the scales. I had lost another half a kilo, now a total of 2.8 kg in one month which is not a lot but it made me happy. 

What didn't make me happy was to see Netanyahu break the ceasefire and attack Gaza again in demand for the remaining hostages. At home I wasn't happy about the lack of hot water and central heating when the customer service people said it could take up to two weeks to get the spare they needed to mend the boiler. OMG. We had nothing for it but to go to Oli's for a shower and it was wonderful. 

I went to my hairdresser at midday. Her place was freezing and after sitting with the dye cream in my hair in the cold for 45 minutes I think I caught a cold which, of course, I later passed on to my dear husband. I should probably have gone to bed after lunch but I had another beauty appointment, this time at the nail bar. That meant I was late for babysitting our grandchildren, Elliot and Juliet, at their place in the afternoon while Olivia went to her French lessons. It was bliss to be in a warm flat and I have to say they behaved very well. 

Wednesday was a big day for Suzy and for us. She was to have her first appointment with her designated therapist at 9.30 and I think she was nervous.  This is a new start for our daughter and I hope to God this time we are on the path to recovery. She will only be seeing her once a month but already the medication is doing her good and there are no apparent side effects. 

Wednesday was Father's Day in Spain but we didn't pay much heed to it. It was another day without heating or hot water. Suzy had a shower again at Oli's place after which we dropped her off at home and drove to Boadilla to have coffee with our friends Roberto and Mari Carmen. Mari Carmen had brought me the latest dose of Monjauro, this time the one with 5 mg vs the 2.5g I was on for the first month. We headed home later for a makeshift lunch as Tana was away. The rest of the day was quiet (and cold brrr).

I was told by Elliot that Thursday 20th March was the first day of spring. And there you had me thinking the beginning of the new seasons are always on day 21. It certainly didn't seem like spring  with so much rain. Eladio had caught my cold by Thursday so it was a good job the boiler people came, earlier than expected, with the spare part to mend it. Hallelujah I thought. Soon we had hot water but it took a long time for the radiators to work. 

Thus Elliot and Juliet came to ours that afternoon while Oli went to her Thursday afternoon French lessons from 5.30  to 8. Neither Eladio nor I were in a good shape to babysit but we had to do our best. Here they are enjoying a cup of decaf tea with a mountains of biscuits.

With Elliot and Juliet at home on Thursday

Suzy who had been told by her therapist that she is no state to be looking after anyone but herself, came down to greet them as she loves them. She also joined us for bath time and dinner served by Tana. The poor mites left in the pouring rain and she helped them into her sister's car.  

Friday came and my cold was just a bit better; not so poor Eladio who spent the day in bed. The wonderful thing about that morning was that we were finally able to have a hot shower at home. Having been at home for most of the week, I needed to get out. I had some errands to do and one was important. It was to visit the local Land Registry Office to get the coveted registry codes for each room we rent in this house. Without it, we could face fines of up to 30.000 euros. By now I was a familiar face at the office and was told I was their guinea pig in this new bureaucratic stumbling block imposed by our semi communist government. This is on top of all the requirements needed by guests checking into Airbnbs or hotels. They have made it really difficult for people like me to host guests both in our home and in other properties. The whole process was completely kafkian so no wonder I was elated to finally be able to add these diabolical numbers to my listings. Would you believe that I was given hard copies rather than digital copies? Thus I was not able to copy and paste the numbers, some of which included 25 zeroes in a row. For lack of any feature photo this week, I asked Eladio to take a photo of me at my desk with the papers I got from the Land Registry office.

While out I also went to LM (Leroy Merlin) a DIY store to get two fan heaters for Santa Pola for when we go next week. I didn't find what I wanted either there or at Carrefour so had to resort to feeding the beast, and buying them on Amazon. Before going home I had a free cappuccino at Starbucks thanks to their Loyalty Card. Thus I saved 3.7 euros. I wonder how much the same sized coffee costs in other countries; a lot more I suspect.

While I was out, Suzy and Oli were cooking together at Oli's place. They made a huge batch of Russian pies we call "perushki" in our family. I was glad that Suzy was able to spend some time with her sister and away from home as she is always in her room with her own thoughts. 

In London that day, Heathrow closed down completely for most of the day owing to a fire at a nearby electric substation. Imagine Heathrow closed down? What chaos the fire must have caused.

My diary reminded me  to take the first dose of Monjauro 5mg at 7.45 that evening. It's a complicated process and each time I inject a dose I have to follow lengthy instructions. I was a bit worried I would get a headache for days which I got when I first started taking this new appetite suppressing drug, but, touch wood, I didn't. I also wondered whether I would feel the difference in appetite. With the 2.5mg dose my appetite hasn't really been reduced as such. It's more a question of being less interested in food. So let's see how this new dose goes. I will know on Tuesday if I have lost any more weight. I am also semi dieting and my dinners now exclusively consist of some fruit, a coconut yoghurt and a medjool date. 

Saturday came and we didn't do much. In fact, I got straight back into my pyjamas straight after my morning shower. The three of us were to be alone at home this weekend, except for one guest who had booked a while back. I would probably have had more, if I hadn't had to close the calendar due to the bl**** boiler. Our guest this weekend is called Lidia and she is a GP who lives in Ciudad Real.

Eladio went back to bed and I joined him for most of the day. Suzy looked after us making our meals and washing up. Yesterday was a total washout as far as days go.

Today is Sunday and as I write, believe it or not and to top it all,  we now have no running water. According to the neigbourhood whatsapp group, there is a burst pipe up the street which should be fixed by midday. I hope so. 

And so my friends, that's it for today. Hoping you haven't had too boring a read as there really wasn't much to tell. Cheers then till next Sunday,

All the best, Masha