My iPad conked out, trouble with Apple, Suzy's birthday, an unprecedented nationwide blackout in Spain, tired, a bit overwhelmed and other stories of the week.

 Madrid, Sunday, 4th May, 2025

Suzy on her birthday just after a new haircut

Good morning friends and readers. 

What a week it has been. Who would ever have thought that Spain (and Portugal) would suffer a nationwide power cut for nearly 24 hours in this day and age? Well it happened and stunned the country. It was like going back to the 60's  or 70's but more about that later. 

It has not been a good week in many ways and last Sunday didn't start well either. My trusted, 10 year old, 13 inch Apple iPad pro crashed and I just knew it had conked out. It was one of the best work presents from Yoigo  and I loved it.. I didn't have high hopes for it but knew that if it couldn't be repaired I would have to fork out a lot of money for a new one. That's just what happened at the Apple Store in Majadahonda.  Apparently it was too old to be repaired. That's programmed obsolescence for you. There was nothing for it but to get the cheapest 13 inch model available, the iPad Air for which I also needed one of their very expensive iPad covers. At first I was very happy with my purchase and got Eladio to take a photo of me clutching it in my arms at the shop.

Just after I bought my new iPad last Sunday

The big problem was I could not remember the password of my old iPad or the one I thought I always used didn't work. That rather dampened my joy. Apple is difficult when it comes to security as I learned during the week. With any other big brand, be that Amazon, Netflix, Facebook, etc, it's easy to get  a new password in a few clicks. Not so with Apple who take a whole week to send you a link for a new one. Then try and follow the link which seems designed to frustrate you. You are probably wondering why I just didn't create a new account. The problem there  is my iCloud account which I pay for. With the account unlocked I could recover all my content and transfer it to the new iPad. So if I created a new account I would not be able to cancel the current iCloud package  and would end up paying for two. Thus I walked out with the iPad working but with no Apple account which makes it more or less useless. Once home I took out the cable to charge it only to realise there was no USB lead and that both ends wouldn't fit into any socket I had. Damn Apple. I would have to go back to the store for one the next day. I also had to get a power adapter and headphone jack. 

Monday came and I had some good news. I got on the scales which I have been doing every fortnight since I started on the appetite reducing drug, Mounjaro. Hurray I had lost 900 grammes in two weeks and 6.6 kilos (just over one stone) since I began on 21st February. I have been given a 4 month prescription so hope by June to have lost a bit more and fit comfortably into some summer clothes I haven't worn for years. 

That day was  Suzy's birthday. I can't believe she has turned 41 this week. Oli was coming for lunch and I was to make everyone's favourite; fish and chips which would later turn out to be quite an ordeal. In the morning I couldn't resist giving my daughter one of the presents I had bought for her. She was delighted with her new and very modern "ionic" hair dryer. It's a TQQ which works wonderfully even though it's not a 500 euro Dyson!

Suzy's main  birthday present, an Ionic hairdryer 

The first time I used one was at Amanda's house and I immediately thought of Suzy who always uses ours and forgets to put it back and knew it would make a great present.

I accompanied her to the hairdresser that morning so she had no time to try it out. She was driving the Mini and asked me to take over as she had to rush for her appointment. So I got into the driving seat only to realise she had taken the key and couldn't start the car. I immediately rang her as I had about 10 cars behind me on a single lane road but she always has her phone on silence. There was nothing for it but to leave the car and run to the hairdresser to get the key and come back and apologise to all the cars honking at me. I didn't get cross as I once did the very same thing to Eladio at the airport. Smart car keys have their advantages but this is one big disadvantage and I bet it has happened to lots of people. 

With that behind us we drove to the Apple store to get the accessories I needed, then to get the cake  and then back home. Oli was coming for Suzy's birthday lunch which was to be early as that day she had to be at work by 2 pm. Thus by just before 12.30 the dining room table was laid, the fish was battered and the chips were in the oil. At 12.33 pm the electricity went off and Eladio went down to the mains to switch it on again, except that it didn't come on. 

Graph showing when the power cut happened

There I was trying to fry fish and chips with no electricity. Thankfully we have a camping gas stove which is very slow but did the job. If Olivia hadn't walked in a while later we would never have known that the whole of Spain and Portugal and parts of the south of France had experienced a major power cut, the largest in Europe's history. Oli had just escaped being stuck in her lift coming to our place. She wasn't able to get the car out of the garage but thankfully was able to use their 3rd car parked on the pavement. Mobile phones were also affected but she seemed to have a tiny bit of coverage, enough to know what had happened. If she hadn't come, we would not have known. At the same time, our 3 Chinese guests couldn't get their car out of the gate which is powered by electricity, nor could they ring a taxi to the restaurant they were going to which probably shut down later like most trade did.

The power cut rather overshadowed Suzy's birthday lunch but I was determined it wouldn't. Thus we had a lovely meal together followed by more presents, a beautiful birthday card I got in England and then of course the cake moment.  Here are some pics of that lovely lunch.

Suzy's birthday lunch on the day of the power cut in Spain.

We were rather lucky that we weren't stuck in traffic in Madrid with the traffic lights not working or stuck in a lift or in a train. We were also lucky it was a sunny and warm day and wouldn't get dark until 9.30 pm. But we were totally cut off from the world.  In all my years I have never experienced anything like it although as some media pointed out, this is the story of every day story for people who live in places like Gaza or Cuba. With no electricity came no internet which we are 99% reliant upon That's why I wrote at the beginning that it was like going back to the 70's - or even the 60's. Cash withdrawal,  payment with credit cards,  getting news on the TV, taking the lift or train, using SatNav were all impossible among many other things I can't remember to include right now.  This blackout was totally unprecedented but of course is a lesson that it can happen. When I was back online I wrote to my friend Amanda and commented that Spain has had its fair share of disasters over the last few years; Covid, the Philomena snow storm in Madrid, the volcano in Palma, the floods in Valencia just six months ago and now this. 

Not so long ago in this blog I wrote about the EU recommendation to get an emergency survival kit. I only wished that day that we had and most of all I wished we had a battery powered transistor as that day the radio was the only form of communication. Thus you had both me and Eladio going to our cars to listen to the news and it was dire. No one knew what had happened and when power would come back. I heard the Prime Minister talking live saying that the outage was triggered by a sudden loss of 15 giga wats of electricity which destabilised the grid and led to the nationwide blackout. No one knows why but there are theories about too much of the energy mix coming from renewable energy  which is less stable, a disconnection of  some solar plants in Extremadura and a disconnection between Spain and France. At first we all thought this must have been a sort of sabotage caused by a terrorist attack which now seems to have been ruled out. The whole issue has become a political blame game and the government which partly owns the operator responsible for running the network, Red Eléctrica, is trying to lay the blame on the big private electricity companies.  The whole country was affected bringing industry, commerce and work places to a standstill, except for those, such as hospitals or radio and TV stations, like TVE where Oli works, that have fuel powered generators.  We were glued to the radio in our cars and listened live as power began to be return, much faster than I could have imagined. If the power went at 12.33 it came back just as we were having dinner outside at 8.20 pm or so. In the capital it didn't come back until about 11.30 pm and my friend Geraldine in the Málaga area said she didn't get it back till 4 am. She didn't have water either and only 20 euros - another lesson to learn and to include in a survival kit. Since the outage we have ordered an emergency solar crank portable radio. When the power came back we all cheered at home and I I even hugged Fernanda, our guest from Costa Rica. Our Chinese guests were happy too. In general the country took the whole episode quite stoically, even those stuck on trains for 24 hours.  I must share with you just one of the videos of the moment the power came back of people cheering - it's just so Spanish. This is it. Enjoy

Tuesday was the day after and within 24 hours of the start of the power cut, Red Eléctrica announced everything was back to normal. I sincerely hope so. That day I had to deal with the mending of the lounge floor tiles at our apartment in Santa Pola. To cut a long story short, they couldn't find the same tiles, had to opt for different ones and had to cover the whole dining area with the new ones which would not take a day but a week. I have been in touch with Vadim all week and will now be forking out much more than planned when they supposedly finish this Tuesday. I also had to deal with our new cleaner in Asturias from a distance. She is an excellent cleaner but is not very professional in how she handles her business. I just can't stand her 9 minute long audio messages. However, I have to say the guests who arrived this bank holiday told me the place was sparkling and that's not easy for a century old house.  There was no rest for the wicked that day or all week really, as we had to pick the kids up from school in the middle of our siesta. But they were pleased and it was lovely to see them.

On Wednesday I was dealing with techie issues which seem to be my domain at home these days. I spent a lot of the morning having trouble with Apple. They had sent the link, then demanded my former iPad 4 digit code which I have used for the new iPad. It didn't like that so then asked me for my bank card details. I got stuck putting in the expiry date - the days and months wouldn't move. I rang their customer service and they couldn't do anything. Thus I have to wait a whole new week for a link for another attempt to recover my account. But this time I going with my iPad to the Apple store for them to do it for me. What a palaver. It was all getting a bit much. I was tired and overwhelmed with tasks and I haven't even begun to mention my Airbnb and Booking related work. 

 

Just as I had got off the phone with Apple, my husband came home from a routine medical appointment to tell me his phone didn't work. I saw it wasn't registered on the network so decided to take out the sim card and put it back in again which is often the trick if that happens. Except that the sim card wasn't there and neither was his memory card. We could only surmise someone had stolen them and it had to be one of our guests which was a chilling thought. But who would want to steal a sim card and not the phone? It didn't make sense.  I got through to my operator via Whatsapp as they were inundated with calls from people reeling form the power cut. I was told to get  a duplicate card from a Movistar shop. I got an appointment at the shop - I swear that in the 70's you didn't need appointments in shops - and we were there at 5.30. It was only at the end of the process that I realised  the mobile phone in question was Eladio's old one, not the "new" one he had inherited from Olivia. But of course from the outside they both look the same as they are both Samsungs. Would you believe we had to go through all that because he had taken with him his old phone that morning?  On the bright side, the shop owner said we were entitled to a free device because of the package we have. To think I could have got a new iPad for half the price!!! In the end we got a 50 inch TV which we don't really need as you probably know. It's quite obscene to think we have 9 TVs in this house, 2 in Santa Pola, 1 in El Cuetu and 1 in Montrondo. We came home to find his new phone somewhere in the back of the drawer in his bedside table. We proceeded to change the sim cards and ended up putting the wrong ones in. I nearly had a fit but in the end all was well.

 

 I nearly had a fit too when the new guests who had just arrived at our house in El Cuetu said the fridge wasn't working. What could I do as the next day was 1st May and a national holiday?  So I was doubly pleased when the person who booked sent a message to say it was working.  Now you understand why I have been overwhelmed with tasks. I am also over tired from sleeping an average of 4 hours a night and being constantly worried and sad about Suzy. She is on her meds and calm with but it's as if the stuffing has been taken out of her. Thus I had a bit of a breakdown that evening. Partly too it's my own fault. I seem to be  a hyperactive problem solver - I always was one at work - and as soon as a problem arises, I just pounce on it to fix it. I can't be calm and wait; I am not at peace until it is fixed. That's how I am. 

What helped me sleep that night was a documentary on the history of the Papacy a subject that always fascinates me. I suppose it's no news to you that the very much awaited Conclave takes place this Wednesday 7th May. What didn't help me sleep was reading Man's Search for meaning by Victor Frankl, who was a Holocaust survivor and a psychiatrist. It was recommended to Suzy by her therapist. It's a book you have to concentrate on so no good helping you fall asleep. Thus I turned to an old friend, "A town like Alice" by Nevil Shute which I have unfortunately now finished. I think it is the book I have read most times in my life.

Thursday was 1st May, Labour day of course and a holiday in most of the world but it was also the date of my father's birthday. He  died on 8th October 2021 aged 102 and I miss him every day. He is always in my thoughts. Oh how he loved a birthday. Also that day, Facebook reminded me that on 1st May 2 years ago this week Eladio and I were in Bulgaria on our first road trip. Being in the country where my mother's family fled to from Russia and seeing their home, my grandfather's church where he was the priest, his grave and my Aunt Olga's Orthodox convent was the emotional highlight of that road trip. Of great significance that day a deal between the USA and Ukraine was signed. Trump sees it as Ukraine paying for all the military aid and getting his hands on Ukraine's rare minerals. What the Ukraine gets out of it I'm not so sure. 

We had the kids for lunch that day as schools were closed and they stayed until their father picked them up in the evening. The weather has been foul this week and with so much rain we couldn't take them to the park where they could let off steam. I was exhausted when they left.

Friday came and I had managed 6h sleep so felt a bit better. We had the kids again as 2nd May was a holiday in Madrid. Oli brought them at 08.45 and came to pick them up right after lunch. The three of us took turns to entertain them. Their quietest time was when they were drawing in the kitchen and I have to say Elliot seems like a budding artist. His drawings aged 5 are much better than any of ours in the family and he seems to love it. 

The kids drawing at home on Friday morning

Being the end of the week our cupboards were a bit bare so it was quite a task to make a meal for everyone but, as usual, and with the help of Tana, we managed it. It's always a miracle isn't and one I have to perform everyday. 

 

Their behaviour got worse as the time approached for their mother to return. She came home to find the Elliot half undressed and misbehaving. I was trying to stop him from entering the kitchen where our Chinese guests were eating. It was a rather stressful situation. 

 

It rained all day and that night I had the most awful nightmare. It was about my dear brother Geroge who died aged 46 in 2001 and who I sorely miss. He was a problem boy and devoloped schzophrenia and was a huge challenge for my parents. In my dream we were at our old house at 6 Heaton Grove and I found him locked in a room which was like a hovel. He was dirty and unshaven and I tried to let him out. While doing so we hugged and I kissed his lovely face and head. It felt so real. I woke up crying my eyes out and telling myself I had abandoned him; something I can never forgive myself for. I did so when the girls were very small because of his behaviour and we only really reconciled when he was dying. That is something I carry in my heart always as a sort of self inflicted punishment. As Eladio held me in his arms he comforted me and said I should not feel any blame as none  of it was my fault. I am reliving what my parents lived, and while I cried for George I also cried for Suzy and then for me. I was sadly reminded, once again, that of the 4 of us only I was left. Our only other family had died in an air crash.  

I think the crying episode made me feel better the next day, Saturday. Getting these things off my chest is probably a good thing although they never go away. 

That morning we went to do the shopping with Suzy who also joined us for a coffee at Manacor. I didn't do much yesterday apart from write part of today's blog which I had been putting off all week. I just didn't feel up to it. But I have to carry on. I must.

 

Today is Sunday and Mother's Day in Spain. I was not brought up to celebrate it and so I didn't instil much of this tradition on my girls. I'm not even sure if they will wish me a Happy Mother's Day.  It's raining again so no doubt we shall skip our daily walk once again. We must take them up again soon and maybe when the weather gets better we shall.

 

As I finish today's post I can only hope next week will be better than this week. All eyes will be focused on the Vatican from 7th May. Next week will also be another anniversary of VE Day, a day I always think about, the end of the war and what that must have meant for my parents' generation and all those who were sacrificed becaus of it.  I also hope my new iPad will be fully functioning and am crossing my fingers. 

 

So that's it from me this week. Sorry there has been so much doom and gloom. I am normally a very positive person but even I have my limits and this week came to the end of my tether. I need to get away. Roll on June when I shall spend time with my friends Adele and Sandra in Santa Pola and with Amanda and Andy who are coming at the end of June. I need a break if I am to continue. 

Cheers then until next week,

 

Masha