A sunny week in May, news from St Giles Church in Ickenham, remembering Aunty Gloria, Olivia turns 40, birthday celebrations and other stories of the week.

 Madrid, Sunday 25th May, 2025

My lovely girls Suzy and Oli with their father Eladio on Oli's birthday on Thursday at Tuareg restaurant

Dear all. How has your week been? This has been one of the best so far this year.

Last Sunday we left Santa Pola and drove home on time for lunch outside. We have had all our meals oudoors since we got back as the weather has improved dramatically. It really has been a sunny week and hopefully that's the end of the rain. It was 27ºc when we sat down to eat lunch made by dear Tana.

On Sunday lots of things happened on the international scene. It was the aftermath of the ridiculous Eurovision Song Contest which used to be a lovely event but no longer. Austria won with a stupid song and Spain came last but one with a useless song. Israel came second which stirred the political heat and would you believe Spain gave Israel 12 votes?  That's all due to the ridiculous voting rules where one person can vote 20 times.The whole system seems rigged. But no more about this silly event.  Much more dramatically a Mexicn naval ship lost power and barged into Brooklyn Bridge killing 2 people. How can that happen? In Rome, meanwhile, the new Pope Leo XIV was literally being enthroned in a far too sumptuous ceremony in front of more than 150 delegations. The happiest news for me though was hearing that Carlos Alcaraz had beaten Janik Sinner in Rome that very day and won the Italian Open. Let's see how the reigning champion gets on at Roland Garros starting soon. 

Monday came and I had slept better than usual.  With all the rain and sunshine our roses were running wild and many needed pruning. That's my only job in the garden - well, I also deadhead the geraniums when I remember - and I did it that morning. Eladio caught me on camera coming back with a splendid yellow rose. Oh, how I love our roses.

 

Returning from pruning the roses

As I write, I know they need more pruning so I shall do so straight after publishing today's post.

The news that day was mostly about elections in Portugal, Romania and Poland and that Trump was to have a phone call with Putin about peace for Ukraine. The former came away saying peace talks would begin immediately but it hasn't happened so far. 

We went shopping and then to Ikea to get  a desk for Suzy. Oli joined us for lunch and it was just the four of us that day. Suzy's mood had improved a lot since we got back from Santa Pola and I attribute it to her facing all the demons there. She has been in a better place since, thank goodness. Oh, how she worries me.

Eladio set about mounting the new desk - he is good at those things -and I caught him on camera to remember the moment. I love that my husband is good with his hands.

 

Eladio assembling Suzy's new desk from Ikea

I was doing something on my computer and it crashed. I could not login with my Microsoft pin and kept getting a message to say they couldn't load my profile. It was impossible to talk to a person and all online help was pretty useless. I resorted to their Twitter handle and although they were sympathetic they couldn't do anything. It was obvious this was a Windows issue and not an account issue. Thus I rang a PC wiz we know and he would come the next night. I was dreading having to buy a new PC but not worried about the content  as I have everything stored in the cloud hosted by One Drive (Microsoft). I learned that the hard way when my computer crashed during the pandemic and I lost everything. 

In England that day, some were celebrating a post Brexit deal signed with the EU which will probably bring some improvement but very little.  Oh bloody Brexit!

On Tuesday I was out with Suzy on errands which included coffee at Manacor. We bumped into our Russian neighbour Ekaterina and invited her to coffee. It was good to spend time with her. Katia is a volunteer with the Red Cross and she has promised to introduce Suzy there to see if she too can lend a helping hand. That would be just wonderful. Watch this space. We had lunch outside again and I have a photo to prove it.

 

One of our lunches outside this week

We babysat for our grandchildren Elliot (5) and Juliet (3) in the afternoon while Oli went to her French classes. They behaved so so and were best entertained when given their notebooks and crayons. Here are the little mites outside drawing. I have to say Elliot seems to be very talented at drawing. 

Elliot and Juliet drawing

Our grandchildren have such a wonderful upbringing with all their needs and more catered for, not so the poor children and babies of the Gaza Strip which Israel is destroying daily. Did you know that since the beginning of the Israeli Gazan war on 7th October, 16.503 children have been killed, 900 of them babies. That is a terrible average of 22 children killed a day. On top of that the Israeli government has stopped any aid getting into Gaza until the last few days after international pressure. I understand the Israelis need to counter attack the terrorist group Hamas, but not children and babies or the general population. The Jews underwent the Holocaust and yet they are the instigators of the genocide in Gaza. Dont' they see that? I can't stand it.

Later that night, Luis, the PC wiz, came to inspect my PC. Within the hour he had it up and running again. On the downside, he had to take out the battery which was bulging, in case it exploded (gosh) and I have ordered a new one. He only charged 20 euros. What a guy. Thank you Luis for saving my computer, the one I am writing on now and without which I would be lost.

On Wednesday we resumed our walks. The flora had grown so much that at times wewere knee deep in flowers or grass. But it was beautiful. I love this time of year when the temperatures rise, the days are long and everything is green. It is of course the gateway to the summer. Thus this week I have been able to wear summer clothes and have been happy to see myself fit into some I wouldn't have been able to wear last year but can now thanks to Mounjaro. What a discovery.

At 11.30 I had a coffee date with my friend and neighbour Elena. It was good to see her again and to catch up on each other's lives. I don't see a lot of her as she and her husband seem to spend their lives on cruises.

It was while I was with her that I got a message from the new Rector at St. Giles Church in Ickenham. That's the village outside London where my father's family lived. His sister Gloria and her husband Derek bought a house there on 18 Ivy House Road when they married and shortly afterwards his parents bought one too on 17 Hoylake Crescent when they retired so as to be near Gloria. Derek and Gloria had three children, my cousins, Jacqueline, Michael and Antony. We were very close to them, spending every Christmas in Ickenham and then on 23rd May 1971 they met their death in an air crash while landing at Rijeka airport in Croatia. You probably know the tragic story. They had met on the island of Krk and when my grandmother died and they inherited some money, they decided to take their children on holiday to "Mummy and Daddy's island", except that they met their death there. I was 14 at the time and the children, 12, 9 and 7 and when I was given the awful news by my mother, something died inside me. I was given a cross to bear that I shall carry to my grave. I knew this week was the 54th anniversary of their death so was surprised to hear from St. Giles. The Rector, a woman called Christine, wrote to tell me that the lovely Memorial window built for them had been damaged in a break in in 2024 but that they had lovingly restored it and that this Sunday they would be redidicating it. Oh my God, that brought it all back but at the same time, it was so comforting to know what the church was going to do after all these years. I wrote back immediately to send Christine some information of their story, a story that never left the village either. There are people who were children like me in 1971 and who all remember the event and who knew my little cousins very well. It is comforting to know that they have lived on in many other people's memories, not only mine. If only Christine had told me earlier, then maybe I would have gone to London to be at the church this Sunday. Dear Gloria, Derek and my little cousins, this is a beautiful event in your memory today. If you don't already know, I have carried you all in my heart ever since you left this earth, too early in life. It is my dear Aunty Gloria I mourn most. She was my father's youngest sister and they adored each other in a quiet English way. You were my own English aunty, a wonderful, jolly and sensible person who cared for everyone around you. I loved you and always regret never telling you so. God bless you all. 

When I told my family, Olivia remarked "The Brits are so good at this". She is right. What other church would bother to restore a memorial window built more than 50 years ago? Thank you Christine, thank you St. Giles and the people of Ickenham from the bottom of my heart. 

While this was going on a terrible shooting took place in nearby Pozuelo. Andriy Portnov, a famous Ukrainian ex politician who sided with Russia and was embroiled in corruption in Kiev, had just dropped off his children at the American school when he was fired at and killed in a question of minutes. This took place as children were entering the school. Olivia commented how close the mafia or whoever did this, is to where we live. It seems like a story from the US and not from Spain so rather shocked the country. Who did it? The Russians, the Ukrainians or was it a revenge killing. Whatever it was it was rather too close to our home for our liking. Olivia who covered the case told me the fees at the American school are 2800 euros a month so the man must have been pretty rich.

This killing followed the killing of 2 Israeli Embassy workers in Washington the day before. 

In our FaceTime call that afternoon, Amanda and I talked about this and of course got up to speed on each other's lives as we like to do. I can't wait to see her and Andy when they come for 12 days at the end of June. Oh what fun we are going to have. 

Thursday 22nd May came and it was Olivia's 40th birthday. Gosh, where have the years gone?  How can my happy and hard working little girl be 40. She is now a mother and wife in her own right and I am so proud of her. She brings us so much joy. 

Suzy and I went out for coffee and to get cake for her lunch which we would have at El Tuareg, a Moroccan restaurant nearby, just the four of us. Saturday would be the official birthday lunch with our grandchildren but on her actual birthday it was just the four of us. How lovely. As soon  as we got to El Tuareg I took a photo of my girls and Eladio and have chosen it as this week's feature photo. Suzy looks so much better in it I think. This week she started group therapy and I hope it helps. She seems to be in such a better place this week bless her. 

Apart from the little cakes we got, I also took a bunch of yellow tulips (bought at the petrol station I am afraid) and a tiara and band for her to wear. I had to have a photo of that too. Look

 

Olivia at 40

Her present was a restaurant voucher for her and Miguel to enjoy a night out on their own while we babysit the kids. We had such a lovely time that when I got home and bumped into a young girl in the kitchen, I had forgotten a guest was coming that day. Thank God I had told Tana who had checked her in.

The rest of the day was quiet, a rest, The Good Doctor, a light dinner on the terrace, followed by the news. I was appalled to hear that Trump has forbidden the University of Harvard from accepting foreign students, including those who are already there. This comes after accusations of anti semitism, links with China and inclusion practices. Does the man have limits? I guess not and he interferes everywhere damn the man. I have heard  that immigration officials look at people's social media profiles when they enter US soil so I can only conclude I will probably never be let in again; not that the US is on my bucket list anymore, having been many times and having always hated the way I was treated by border officials.  What has America come to I ask myself? Not a land of freedom, but an autocratic state, reminiscent of fascist or communist countries of the past. And yet half the population voted for him. I don't get it, I really don't.

Friday came and would be busy thus I was up at the crack of dawn at 5.30 am. I wanted to write most of this blog as I wouldn't have time at the weekend. Then we had to do the shopping and Suzy had to take a medical test to renew her driving licence, or rather change her UK one back to a Spanish one. Meanwhile, she shouldn't be driving but she does. Suzy helped with the shopping until she had to go off to for her first group therapy session. She was rather nervous and didn't want to talk about it later. Oh dear. Anything can trigger her ups and downs. 

Meanwhile, Eladio and I went out for lunch to redeem a voucher Olivia had bought us for Christmas. Her choice was a seafood place called El Barco de Aparicio in Pozuelo and was full so is obviously very popular. We were spoiled for choice and I went for seafood, small scallops, delicious shrimp fritters and large prawns in garlic. I also ordered razor clams but had to send them back as they smelled strange. I couldn't finish half of my food (thank you Mounjaro) but neither could Eladio who had ordered a fish and bean stew followed by grilled turbot. Niether of these would have been my choices. It was lovely to sit outside in the good weather and be wined and dined with excellent seafood. Here are some pics to remember our outing that day.

 

Lunch at El Barco de Aparicio in Pozuelo yesterday courtesy of Olivia

I was even busy when I got back as I was waiting to receive 2 new guests, one of who didn't get here until 10 pm that night. I also had to make Oli's Victoria sponge cake with Suzy. I used a trusted recipe but it came out rather lopsided and took a lot longer than the recommended 20 minutes. This was it as I took it out of the cake tin.

 

Our rather lopsided Victoria sponge cake

We left it in the fridge overnight and on Saturday morning I sliced it with difficulty but managed. I then made the whipped cream and icing. Suzy filled the sponge with the jam and cream and iced the top. Later we would decorate it with blueberries and raspberries. It wasn't very professional as some of the cream will spilled out but I knew it would taste delicious. We made it because it's Oli's favourite.

And this was the result my friends. 

 

Oli's sui generis Victoria sponge cake for her birthday

Only then could I join Eladio and Pippa on our walk. Once home I set about making the beer batter for the fish and the mushy peas. Tana did the chips. Oli, Elliot and Juliet arrived soon and by about 2pm (our lunchtime) we were sitting at the table about to dig into home made fish and chips. I had to have a photo before everyone started eating. 

Yesterday's birthday lunch; fish and chips of course

The kids loved the cake moment as do we all and we had to do our very best to stop them sticking their fingers in the cake before it was served hahahahha. And here is Oli with Elliot and Juliet while we all sang  Happy Birthday to you which Juliet wanted ro repeat over and over again.

 

The birthday cake moment

Oli is nor very happy at turning 40. I told her to worry about her age until she turns 60 or 70 but not 40 which is the age in which she is in her prime. 

We later adjoined to the swimming pool which we had to our own as all our guests were out doing exams. We had a fun afernoon trying often hopelessly to get the kids to behave and not hit eachother. Here is a moment when they were both at peace.

 

The kids by the pool yesterday

I enjoyed being with Oli and Suzy alone and with the kids. At one stage their friend Copi rang about her wedding and hen party. She is getting married in July and they will be her bridesmaids. I think this is somehing which Suzy is now looking forward to. I love to see her talking enthusiastically with Copi, something we couldn't have dreamed of a year ago. She has even reconnected with another friend from the past. Piano piano my friends. And here are both girls talking to their oldest friend Copi.

 

Suzy and Oli on the phone to Copi yesterday

With us of course was Pippa, all afternoon. Everything looked splendid. The flowers around the pool were in bloom and the vegetation could not have been greener. I caught Pips on camera surrounded by flowers. Here she is, our little dacschund who is an integral part of the family.

 

Pippa always with us

The afternoon did not end well when Elliot pushed Juliet into the deep end. I didn't see him do it as I was in the kitchen with Suzy. We heard screams and rushed to see Oli coming out of the pool fully dressed with a very shocked Juliet. Elliot swore he didn't do it but Juliet said he did. What a fright. Thank God Oli and Eladio were there. This is how pool deaths occur and there are many recorded in Spain every year. It was a rather shocking end to a lovely day together but thankfully all's well that ends well. 

When they left to go out to dinner, none of of us was hungry so after eating just a bit of fruit and yoghurt we retired to our quarters.

I slept relatively well last night and look forward to a quiet Sunday at home. This time next week I shall probably be writing to you from Montrondo where we haven't been since last August. We need to clean the house and get it ready for Amanda and Andy's visit in June. The weather promises to be good there too so I am looking forward to our trip to Eladio's village. 

That's it from me now for this week so let me just wish you all a great Sunday. Cheers till next week,

All the best Masha

c