Spanish "Indian summer", family lunch to celebrate Eladio's birthday, missing my mother on 1st October, a possible peace deal for Gaza, RIP Jane Goodall and other stories of the week.

 Madrid, Sunday, 5th October, 2025

On one of our morning walks this week with Pippa 

Good morning from home for once. We have been on the move since June and we are finally here with no short or long term travel plans for the moment.

We have been enjoying the Spanish "Indian summer" called the little summer of St. Michael which always falls at the end of September or beginning of October. It rained a lot in other parts but we have had and continue to have glorious weather here. 

Of course we went for our walk last Sunday as we did nearly every day of this week. Last Sunday was the highlight of the week when we celebrated Eladio's birthday with the family.  That was the 3rd and last of the September birthdays and it was lovely. For the occasion I made fish and chips which delighted everyone. Thankfully I had Tana to help serve and clear away. She is such a treasure and if she ever wanted to leave we wouldn't know what to do without her. 

Before we tucked in, we took photos which I always insist upon. So here are some of the delicious fish and chips made in Spain on a beautifully laid table with all our finery.

Fish and chips made in Spain - just look how crispy my beer battered cod is

And here is the group photo, without Elliot I should say, as at that moment he decided to play up. He was cross because his mother had taken her mobile away from him. Addiction at 6 is a bit over the top. I chose to ignore the behaviour as I didn't want it to spoil the moment. 

Family photo last Sunday 

Thankfully Elliot got over his tantrum in time for the cake moment. I hadn't had time to make one so ordered our favourite from Alverán. This was it.

The birthday cake

And here is Eladio with Juliet just before we cut the cake. 

Eladio with Juliet

We all got to make speeches. My favourite was Miguel's. He predicted that as a family they would be coming every year to celebrate Eladio's birthday but maybe when Elliot is a teenager he would have to dragged here. I reminded him that by that time he and Oli would be 50 and 60 respectively. Then Juliet made us a laugh as she said she wanted to make a speech. Here speech was to tell us over and over again that she loved us all. Bless her.

Before they left we assembled to the TV lounge where we played a Spanish game using mime (juego del Director de la Orquesta) and then charades. 

We were exhausted but happy by the time Oli and her little family left. I was pleased to see Suzy go to her choir rehearsal but suspect she probably won't continue as it is proving very stressful. 

Monday came and the sun shone as it did all week with temperatures reaching 30ºc. After our walk I took a leaf out of my friend Amanda's book and did some of the weekly shopping online; at least the heavy stuff. I told her about it when that afternoon we resumed our weekly Facetime calls. It was so good to see her again. I am hoping to see her in person and toying with the idea of flying to Bristol later in the autumn. 

Suzy went out to dinner that night invited by her friend Elena she went to University with and who is also a dietitian and nutritionist. This is news as Suzy had broken ties with all her friends during her illness. It's great to see her socialising again even though she is still not really herself but she has good days and that makes me happy. 

On Tuesday I woke up to the news of the meeting in The White House between Trump and Netanyahu. They announced a peace deal for Gaza. There were 20 points, the first being a total ceasefire and return of the hostages but also including Hamas disbanding and disarming. The only trouble is Hamas was not included in the negotiations.  So for the moment it was just a possible deal but it was the best news in a long time. Hamas had to accept it as Trump said "accept deal or face destruction". I honestly don't think there can be much more destruction. The whole of the Gaza Strip is in ruins, the people too who have no access even to the most basic necessities. Of all people to implement the deal, Trump has chosen Tony Blair, the UK' former Labour PM. Will he be up to the job? Maybe. The good thing is that most Arab countries in the region have agreed to the plan. And only yesterday, at the last minute, did we hear from the Palestinian terrorist group. They agree to the plan, including the release of all the hostages both dead and alive but won't disarm until Israel withdraws from  the area. The world is on tenterhooks as negotiators fly to Egypt for ceasefire talks tomorrow. I can't wait for this war to end. 

Meanwhile the people of Gaza are starving and aid is not getting through. This week a Gaza aid flotilla made up of 42 boats made its way across the seas trying to reach Gaza with humanitarian aid and break the Israeli blockade.  We all knew it would never make it as Israel controls the waters even if they are considered international. The Global Sumud Flotilla carrying Greta Thunberg and Nelson Mandela's grandson as well as other activists, was, as predicted, detained by the Israelis and all those on the boats are now  in jail awaiting expulsion or have already left the country.  But the flotilla achieved its primary objective, more visibility of the situation of the people of Gaza. I wonder if they believe in the peace plan. 

Tuesday was a complicated day. We had come back from our walk and were going to do the weekly shopping when Tana showed us that the door handle and the cistern in one of the rooms someone was coming to occupy later in the day needed fixing.  We immediately had to call the insurance company and then a locksmith. By the end of the day all was done, just an hour before my Mexican guest, Elena, arrived. Later in the week we had to change the kitchen sink tap which was leaking and another plumber had to come. I could just see my Airbnb income going up in smoke this week. There is always something to repair in a house.

While Eladio waited for the first plumber I went to do the shopping on my own and I managed a coffee at Alverán. I came home with a heavy load just after my online order had arrived.  There was no peace for the wicked that day as at 5 we had to pick up the kids and take Elliot to athletics, after which we brought Juliet home. We have to be on call while Oli goes to her French lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays every week but the good news is that this year her timetable is from 3.30 to 6. That meant she was home to pick up Juliet quite early and we were relieved of our duties, hahaha. We love them but they are very tiring. 

The good sports news that day was that Alcáraz beat Fritz 6-4 6-4 to win the Japan Open. He has now won 8 ATP titles this year. For the record Sinner who is the number two seed has won just 3. Let's see how it turns out for them both in 2026 . 

Wednesday was 1st October, the start of a new month, yes, but for me the 1st October is forever the anniversary of the untimely death of my mother aged 79 in 1999. Oh how we have missed her over the years.  I just wish she could have met my grandchildren. That she missed and a lot more. It's been 26 years without her and  I often find it difficult to recall her face. Thankfully I have lots of photos, well not lots, but some. 

A particularly poignant photo of my mother taken unawares. She is watering the plants in the porch of 6 Heaton Grove. I well remember her turquoise coloured night gown which she wore to death. My mother preferred to be comfortably dressed rather than elegantly so. 

But she is forever in my heart and in Suzy and Oli's who adored her and she adored them. I was lucky to have my father with me for 16 years until his death at the grand old age of 102. He must have missed her dearly. He did but at the very end he started to forget her which broke my heart. For the moment I remember them all, George, Mummy, Aunty Masha, Aunty Gloria, Uncle Derek, my cousins, Jacqueline, Michael and Antony. They all went too early and I will miss them to the end of my days while I retain my sanity. I sigh and heave as I write that. God bless them all. 

The 1st October is also the anniversary of my start as the Communications Director of Yoigo, a Swedish owned Spanish mobile phone operator which I helped to create. I joined on 1st October 2006 and left in January 2017. I still have the photo of me on my first day which they used for my badge

My Yoigo badge photo - me on my first day on 1st October 2006

Gosh I was only 49 then and I'm now nearly 20 years older. I have aged.....

1st October was also Julie Andrew's 90th birthday. She was the wonderful actress of  the very popular films of my youth; Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music. She brought magic to me, my girls and millions of people with her amazing voice and looks. 

Sadly, another wonderful British woman, Jane Goodall (1934-2025) the famous primatologist, aged 91, died on 1st October too. Her story is amazing and too long to summarise here. With no prior experience or studies and aged only 23 she travelled to Africa to follow her dream of living among the wildlife, inspired by books like Tarzan!  Paleontologist Louis Leakey started her on her research of chimpanzees in 1960 and she went to live with her mother and a cook in Gombe, Tanzania. 

Jane Goodall living her dream in Africa among chimpanzees

Later she got a PhD in Ethology at Cambridge University, encouraged by Leakey as otherwise the scientific community rejected her findings. She was able to demonstrate that humans are not the only ones to use tools when she witnessed a chimpanzee making a stick to extract termites. She also documented that chimpanzees have  complex emotions, like us and a social life. She also documented that, again, like humans, they go to war with great ferocity.  I have to say I admire her for her courage and following her dream and for making a difference. 

Wednesday was a good day for bookings. All four rooms have been full since the beginning of September. More bookings arrived that day and all this week and I now have 15 or so upcoming reservations. 

I suppose the hotels and Airbnbs in Copenhagen this week were all fully booked too that day. This week the 27 members of the EU met in the Danish capital.  The  focus of this informal summit was on how to strengthen Ukraine. It was also on security and  how to defend the EU  from Russian drones which have been invading our airspace recently. It's frightening isn't it? 

Life carried on in El Bosque and that day Eladio took the car to be serviced to the Pereira garage in our town. Unbelievably, Pereira himself, drove my husband back meanwhile. The bill was very reasonable and it's great to be customers of an honest and efficient garage. Thank you Pereira. My highlight of the day was going to the hairdresser. My hair was nearly all white and too long and I was so happy to emerge with my "normal" colour and cut. A lady complimented my hairstyle as I left. That's quite funny as I have had the same hair style for at least the last 40 years. All this was in the afternoon and I came home to find that Oli and the kids had come for dinner. They were having a shower and a bath in our quarters while Tana was laying the table outside. Thankfully I had all their favourite food; "cocido" and "spag bol". It was wonderful to be together again this week and so pleasant to eat outside in the evening. Once again, 10 out of 10 to Tana for all her help. The only bad thing about this "Indian summer" is that the bloody midges are back with a vengeance. Both Juliet and I got bitten, after which I lathered myself in mosquito repellent, so much so Suzy said I stank. I prefer to stink than to be bitten haha.

Thursday dawned and Facebook reminded me that on that day, 2nd October, 2021, we had lost Norah, our lovely beagle aged 12. She had cancer but died of a heart attack in front of us. She is sadly missed as are Elsa our lab and Phoebe our cat. 

We skipped our walk that day as we had to wait for the plumber to come and change the tap in the kitchen. We only left the house to pick up the serviced Volvo. Good old Volvo, my Nokia company car, now nearly 25 years old and still going strong,  

I was sad to hear that night of a terrorist attack on a Jewish synagogue in Manchester that day, one of the days of Yom Kippur, that most holy of Jewish festivals. 2 people were killed in an appalling antisemitic attack in the north of England. London of course has the largest Jewish community in England with 1500 synagogues I read, but there are many in the north too, probably because of the Cotton and Wool mills in Lancashire and Yorkshire during the Industrial Revolution.  When I grew up in Bradford in the 60's and 70's we knew many Jewish people. Our neighbours and friends, an offshoot of the Rothschild's family, used to invite George and I to their Sabbath dinners  on Friday nights. Their son, Walter, was my father's pupil at Bradford Grammar School and I remember my parents going to his Bar Mitzvah. I also remember having friends from very Orthodox families who, as they couldn't work on the Sabbath would ask me to switch their lights on or off or to pull their sledge up the hill hahaha. . Bradford and Manchester were and are very multicultural cities so this awful act saddened me. 

Friday was a red letter day for us.  That morning, just before lunch, Suzy surprised us very pleasantly. She had landed a job as a dietitian for a nearby hospital at the weekends. I had no idea she was applying for a job and she was lucky she didn't have to go through a face to face interview. It was all on the phone. The job is with Sodexo, the big French catering company and is very similar to her first job with Aramark, an American catering company, she worked for after graduating.  I think she was as surprised as us and her semblance changed and finally we saw her smile. She has been through hell and is not yet back but if she goes through with it, a job as a dietitian for which she studied, even on the lowest rung, would have her back in the system.  For the moment she wants to test herself and only work 15 hours a week. Good for her. I was so happy and proud of her. Well done Suzy! You can do it. We celebrated later that evening with wine and pistachios by the pool.

Friday was also a red letter day for Sarah Mullaly. The 63 year old former NHS chief nurse, was ordained in 2006, appointed Bishop of London in 2018 and this week was named as the new Archbishop of Canterbury, the first woman ever to be chosen for the top job in the Anglican Church. She takes over from Justin Welby who resigned over yet another abuse scandal. So it's good that a woman has been chosen.  Well done Sarah and well done for women. I do wish the Catholic church would follow suit. Women were first ordained priests in 1994 but the first woman bishop was only appointed in 2014. And now we have a woman at the helm of the C of E. That is a positive sign of our times and would have been impossible when I grew up. But not everyone agrees with me. Some in the more conservative sector of the Anglican Church would prefer the job to be given to a male bishop. Well, they must catch up with the times mustn't they. It's men like them who still want to keep women in their place; i.e. under their thumbs. 

Saturday came and while we were on our walk Suzy left for a party. It was to celebrate her great friend Copi's husband, Unai's 44th birthday. She was going with Olivia who no doubt enjoyed yesterday immensely as she had left the kids with Miguel. Suzy was going to tell her about the new job as she wanted to do so face to face. I'm sure Olivia is just as happy as we are. 

After our walk we drove to Villaviciosa for Eladio to get a much needed haircut. I always seem to have to drag him to the barbers. His usual barber wasn't answering the phone so I got him an appointment at Suzy's hairdresser while I had a coffee. I took a quick snapshot of him from my table. 

Eladio having a haircut this morning

I got another one as he came out looking like my husband and not like Puigdemont, that horrible Catalan politician who is a fugitive in Brussels. He has very similar hair to Eladio, who, btw, is much better looking, but his is longer and isn't nice. I think that comment did the trick and persuaded my husband he needed his locks cut off. Here is just coming out of the hairdresser.

Eladio looking himself again after a haircut yesterday morning.

We may be old but we like to look good. I am not like a friend's husband who this week described him as "embracing old age". Never!!!! So when I got home I had an hour to kick my heels before lunch and decided to try on some clothes to decide what to wear for a lunch next week - another birthday lunch this time with some of Eladio's friends.

I tried on quite a few and took pictures in my mirror. I later posted them on my social media profiles to ask my friends which outfit they like best as I am undecided. These are them.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

The favourites are number 8, 5, 1 and 9 with most votes going to number 8. My favourites are numbers 1 and 9 but I also like number 5.  Some of these clothes are years old and it's lovely to be able to get into them again and also have the occasion to wear them - well only one occasion. Otherwise I wear shorts or jeans most days. Which are your favourites and why? Thank you. Eladio's favourite is number 8 (white top with flowers) but I think it's a little too informal. 

The house was very quiet yesterday despite having 6 guests. A French family from Pau had arrived late last night and we greeted them this morning but I haven't seen them since. They have come to see their son who is in his first year of physiotherapy  - a popular subject with French students at the UEM, Universidad Europea de Madrid. 

We had lunch on our own as Tana had gone into Madrid for the weekend as she always does when we are at home. And we would have dinner alone too as Suzy was away and won't be back until today. 

Today is Sunday and promises to be another sunny day. Oh how I am loving this Indian Summer. Now I am the end of the tales of this week, it is time to love you and leave you until next week.

Cheers everyone,

Masha