The barbecue of the season, a chance encounter at Alverán, deadly funicular crash in Lisbon, birthday dinner for Juliet who turned 4, Alcaraz beats Djokovic to meet Sinner in the US Open final and other stories of the week.

Madrid,  Sunday, 7th September, 2025

The family together to celebrate Juliet's 4th birthday on 4th September

Good morning again folks.

This has been a very quiet week and the weather has been marvelous. The awful heat has gone and we have enjoyed much more normal temperatures for this time of year.

Last Sunday was the closing day of August, the hottest ever on record in Spain. Weather wise I suppose it is the end of the summer but not really. We went on our walk that morning as we have done every morning this week with Pippa and a couple of times with Suzy.

We were busy later preparing our one and only barbecue of the season. It was for Oli and family who were coming for lunch and it seemed very appropriate. We hardly ever use it and should do more often. Here are some pics of the preparations. Eladio, of course, was the chef of the day. He did a good job grilling the chorizo, lamb chops and hamburgers to perfection and which we all ate with relish.

This season's barbecue. Hurray Eladio for being such a good chef

We must have been so busy eating we forgot to take photos. The kids behaved quite well and it was good to have them. They have been to all sorts of places on holiday this summer, to Cantabria, Montrondo, Santa Pola and twice to France. When I asked them which was their favourite place I was not surprised to learn it was Montrondo where they enjoy the company of their cousins and can run free in the village. I'm happy to report it is now fire free but what a scare.

We had guests in all our houses which is how it should be at this time of the year and this week I had no guest trouble. In fact the day ended happily with yet another 5 star review for our apartment in Gran Alacant from a recent guest. It made me very happy. Well done to Mar and Gina my key holder and cleaner who do a sterling job. 

5 stars for Santa Pola!

On Monday we woke up to the news of a dreadful earthquake in Afghanistan. Of all the places in the world it had to happen to the long suffering inhabitants of that complicated and very poor country. 

Life continued at home and after our walk I set about making vichysoisse for dinner, a dish we love and which I hadn't made for years. I have become a bit lazy about cooking as Tana does nearly all of it. This week she made hundreds of little Russian meat pies which we batch froze only taking out some for Juliet's birthday dinner. 

That night while waiting for a guest who got lost after running out of battery we watched Spain's PM, Pedro Sánchez being interviewed on the TV. The presenter commented it was his first official interview in over a year. He does tend to shy from the press as he is so embroiled in corruption cases in his own family and his party. He really should resign and only hangs on thanks to the marginal support of minority separatist parties who hold him ransom and really he governs in paralysis. It's time for him to go but there is no alternative a bit like in the UK. Angela Rayner resigned for a much lesser sin so maybe he should take her lead but he won't. Oh how some politicians love power but yet cannot govern. It drives me mad.

What doesn't drive me mad and what I love is watching Downton Abbey for the umpteenth time these last few weeks. It's the script I love and the lines of Carson the butler and the Dowager Lady Grantham, Maggie Smith. You are probably familiar with lots of them but one stuck with me this week from Carson. He told "Mrs. Hughes" that "the business of life is the acquisition of memories. In the end that's all there is". He was talking about his memories and life experience. I rather liked it. 

Tuesday came and after our walk I did guest related work and then joined Suzy for a coffee at Alverán where I went three times this week. I had a new guest, Mackawi who lives in Germany and whose father is from Sudan. What a wonderful boy he is. He is leaving today and I wish him the best in his Erasmus course here in Spain. We had a full house that day as we did all week. 

I have been following the Men's singles at the US Open this week and cheering on Spain's new favourite, Carlos Alcaraz. He won all the run up matches in 3 sets but had Djokovic (38) to compete with on Friday night. Djokovic, whether you are a fan or not, is the GOAT (greatest of all time) as he leads with 24 Grand Slams. The others are Rafael Nadal with 22, Federer with 20, Pete Sampras with 14 and Roy Emerson with 12.  The Serb is aged 38 but is still a force to be reckoned with it. So when the 22 year old Spaniard beat him in the Semi Final on Friday night which I could hardly watch, it was quite a feat. Alcaraz at the tender age of 22 has 5 Grand Slams. Could he go on to beat Djokovic's record? But maybe that's too far in the future to predict. Right now he is playing well but today has to face Sinner, the World Number 1 in the final.  May the best man win although I only want it to be Carlitos. Sorry if I am boring non tennis fans.

So let's move on to Wednesday. That was the day China showed off its military power to the world in a celebration of the liberation from Japan 80 years ago. For the occasion, Xi Jinping invited his dictator friends from Russia and North Korea, Putin and Kim Jong-un who brought his daughter along. The three were caught speaking freely while a microphone was on. They were talking about ageing and the Russian autocrat said soon people could live to 150. That's what he would like and to remain in power for another 70 years. 

Suzy and I went to do the food shopping for Juliet's birthday dinner and had coffee at Alverán which we tend to favour these days. And there we had a chance encounter with Susana G, an ex Motorola colleague who I have known since 1999. I hadn't seen her since Fátima who was also her friend, died and it was a lovely reunion. Here is a photo to remember the chance encounter.

A wonderful chance encounter with Susana an ex Motorola colleague who I have known for 26 years!

I think I mentioned a while ago that Suzy was going to join  a choir conducted by Javier Blanco, her music teacher and choir director at St. Michael's. He has his own music academy Mushi and after giving her a voice test that afternoon he suggested she had singing lessons. He was impressed with her voice and has included her with the sopranos. This is going to be wonderful therapy for her. They will be singing Fauré's Requiem and the Credo by Vivaldi in a series of concerts this autumn. 

The first one is on 8th November at the Church of Saint Antonio, known as the Sixtine Chapel of Madrid. I really hope she sings on that occasion and we can go and hear her and the choir of Matritum Cantat directed by her former teacher she so admires. 

She came back from Madrid feeling good and she needs things that make her feel good if she is to get better. I was pleased for her.

I was also pleased to hear that the border between Spain and Gibraltar will be demolished next year. That day Spain's PM met Kier Starmer where apart from this, they will have talked about peace in Ukraine and Gaza, the two awful wars of our times to which I see no end. 

Meanwhile, in Lisbon, the famous Gloria funicular in the centre which is a tourist attraction but also a means of transport for the locals, crashed when it derailed. A funicular is a cable railway system for steep slopes like the one in Lisbon which involves one car going up and one coming down, sort of pulling each other.  On Wednesday the two cabins crashed after what seems to have been a fault in the cable. 

The dreadful funicular crash in Lisbon this week 

One fell a short distance with not much damage but the other one crashed into a building with tragic consequences. 16 people died in Portugal's worst tragedy in decades. The country is in mourning. I read that there 9 nationalities in those 16 very unfortunate people. I remember taking that funicular years ago. In fact it is over 140 years old. In recent years I have been on many and remember the one in Hong Kong which takes you to Victoria Peak and more recently in Paris when we took it to Montmartre. 

Thursday was 4th September, the day Juliet our youngest grandchild turned 4. She was at school while we were busy making her cake which she had ordered to include strawberries and cream. We were also busy preparing the dinner - lot of dishes which included "perushki", vichysoisse, ham and melon, potato salad (bought), asparagus, tomato salad, prawns, vol au vent with egg mayonnaise and what the kids loved best, croissant ham sandwiches.  A big thanks to Suzy for all her help but mostly to Tana who helped make it happen.

Thanks to Tana I was able to go out for coffee with Eladio and for the third time this week I went to Alverán. Here is a photo to prove it.

Coffee at Alverán on Wednesday morning

While we were there we were given news of our ex squatter, the Russian spy, Felipe Turover. He also used to frequent Alverán where he left an outstanding bill. According to the manager who runs the café at a hospital (Puerta de Hierro) in nearby Majadahonda, he is now squatting at the hospital and escaping the security guards when he can. What an awful development of this man's ruined life. To think he once worked for Putin when the latter was the Mayor or Vice Mayor of St. Petersburg where they lined their pockets with money from the UN instead of giving it to the people of the city. In a way I felt for sorry for him.

We came home to have lunch while Suzy went to a friend's house for her midday meal. That is progress indeed. I love to see her rekindling friendships after so much time living as a hermit. 

Tana and I laid the table after lunch and before Oli and family arrived at around 5 pm. This is what it looked like when we added some of the food.

The dinner table for Juliet's 4th birthday

They arrived smiling and with them came their other grandmother, Merche. Thankfully all our guests were out and we had the house and gardens to ourselves. Juliet was given her presents from her parents and Merche - a doctor's play outfit, a toy watch and a pink satchel. She was a  little overwhelmed so I saved our present till after dinner. She is obsessed with doctors and loves going to see them and was in love with her present. Wouldn't it be wonderful if she became a doctor? 

After some play time we sat down to dinner and had a group photo which has to be this week's feature photo, even if Elliot is making faces while posing, hahaha. Here are two more of Juliet on her big day with her present.

Juliet is 4!

Of course she loved the cake moment most, as we all did and Oli took a lovely video which you can see here. At the end of the evening we gave her our present, a tea set which she loved too so maybe she might also want to be a waitress or cook, who knows. The world is her oyster aged 4. Happy birthday darling. And a good time was had by all.

Friday was quiet at home. In England it wasn't when Angela Rayner deputy PM and one of the most powerful women in the UK, resigned from her post. It was all over a stamp duty row. Apparently she hadn't paid the tax due on her flat in Hove, near Brighton which she claimed was a mistake. If only politicians in Spain would resign for similar reasons. The Labour government is not having its best moment right now but again, like in Spain, what is the alternative? 

While Angela Rayner was going through political hell, I was having a nice day which included my daily walk and on Friday a manicure at my local nail bar. I always have my nails painted bright red but this time I chose bright pink.  I don't think I will be doing that again.

At 9 pm sharp we began watching Alcaraz play Djokovic in the Semi Finals at Flushing Meadows to a huge crowd on what will be their centre court. I could not watch it for my nerves. I have a brother-in-law who is a Barça fan but cant' watch them play. He only watches the matches when he knows they have won. It's the same for me with Alcaraz and previously with Nadal. If they don't win every stroke they play I suffer. So while Eladio watched I put on my ear phones and watched Downton Abbey with half an eye on the screen. But of course I was delighted when he won 6-4, 7-6, 6-2. Sinner also beat his semi final opponent, the Canadian, Felix Auger Aliassime, in a much easier match as the latter is number 25 in the world. Even so the Canadian took one of the sets. 

It was pleasant to read about Alcaraz beating Djokovic on Saturday morning in the news, rather than awful headlines about Gaza, Ukraine or Trump's latest antics. Yesterday was also very quiet and I didn't do much apart from pack for Santa Pola where we are going today. 

We will be joined by our great friends, Kathy and Phil from my beloved Yorkshire and whom we haven't seen since October 2022. We have to make up for that big time when we get together at our sunny apartment.  We shall be driving there today to get things ready and they will be arriving tomorrow. I can't wait to see them. 

Must leave you now as I have to pack food and lots of stuff to take. Have a great Sunday and best wishes till next week.

Cheers Masha