The ups and downs of being an Airbnb host, lots of cooking, the five ages of the brain, me in stripes in 2013 and in 2025, buying Christmas lottery tickets and other stories of the week.

 Madrid, Sunday 30th November, 2025

Cooking for a family lunch yesterday

Good morning on this last day of November. We are constantly reminded that Christmas is coming to which I am not immune. I have always loved Christmas so have begun preparing but mostly in my mind although I have also taken some action as you will read below and so has my husband Eladio. Ah but no decorations till December which is already tomorrow. We usually put the tree up later in the month as otherwise the magic seems to fade by Christmas Eve. 

Last Sunday we had just come back from Santa Pola and Madrid seemed so cold compared.Oh for those lovely mornings on the beach having a coffee and going for a walk. I did a lot of cooking this week, starting with last Sunday. Oli and family were coming for lunch and I made the easiest meal; spag bol for the kids. As I wrote last week, Miguel has broken his arm so we were asked to help taking the kids to school every day and picking them up on Tuesdays and Thursdays when Oli has her French lessons. Suzy helped but it was mostly Eladio who had to get up early to take them to school. Miguel went with him so he didn't have to fight for a space to park the car which is why my presence wasn't needed. I felt bad not helping but you see I have a secret to tell you: I can't reverse the car down the very long and steep drive and if I left the car in the street it would be frozen in the morning. Now you know one of my secrets. As our son-in-law will be out of action for a long time they will need our help for at least 6 weeks although with the Christmas holidays it may be shorter. Meanwhile he is suffering of course, mostly because he can't drive. 

Monday came and the main news that day and the rest of the week was a possible peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine. Last week's 28 point plan announced by Trump but which could have been written by Putin's aides, was of course, not agreed upon neither by Ukraine nor the EU. Peace talks continue but there is trouble at the heart of Zelensky's government as his chief aide was found guilty of corruption. That doesn't bode well for any future admission into the EU. Meanwhile, the Russian Army continues to attack its neighbour. It was nearly 5 years ago in February 2022 that Russia invaded and frankly it looks like a war of attrition which is leading nowhere except to death and destruction. I hope and pray for peace for Ukraine. 

I was up early as always and after playing my puzzles (Daily Mail Word Wheel, Wordle in Spanish and English and Contexto) and reading the headlines, I set about making our lunch. That day I made the most delicious lamb casserole again. I think you must know by now that lamb is my favourite meat. Meat may be going out of fashion but not for me. 

I then rushed to the Land Registry Office in our town hall as I needed the papers with the sacred property numbers to add to my Airbnb listings again. They had mysteriously disappeared and so had the papers with the numbers. Once home, I spent a good while uploading them; no mean feat as the numbers are about 40 digits long with so many zeroes to be copied your mind boggles. They wouldn't give me the papers in digital format so I had to copy out each number with great care. Damn the system and damn our socialist government who invents all these bureaucratic obstacles to make life difficult for Airbnb hosts. I noticed recently that most of my competition in the area no longer lists their rooms or properties, probably because the system has stumped them. I understand angst against Airbnb but also Booking for so many short term tourist rentals taking over cities, but couldn't there be a provision for people like me who are retired and want to make a bit on the side to help maintain the cost of running their houses? Without this income, no way could we live in this 650m2 house. No way, José. Oh the trials and tribulations and  ups and downs of being an Airbnb host of which there were a few this week.

With the admin work out of the way - as Eladio says, what would I do with my time if I didn't do Airbnb?

- I was able to concentrate on lunch. Tana was off so we made our own meals. One of the perks, however, of hosting is having a live in help who not only takes care of the rooms but of us. Tana is a treasure. 

That afternoon I started watching the BBC series called Prisoner 951. It is based on the true story of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, an Anglo Iranian national married to a British man who was imprisoned in Iran for 6 years from 2016 to 2022.  She was accused of being a spy and plotting to overthrow the Iranian government which she never did.  Nazanin had taken her  baby daughter back to Teheran to meet her grandparents and just when they were leaving for London, she was detained at the airport. And thereby began her journey to hell. This was a high profile story which you may remember. The underlying story is that Britain owed Iran around 4000 million dollars for arms not delivered from an agreement in the 70's. Nazanin had nothing to do with the debt but she was the bargaining chip to get the British Government to pay the debt. Eventually they paid but it took them 6 years while Nazanin languished in jail separated from her daughter and husband. If the story of the debt is even remotely true, I am ashamed of what happened to this family.

Meanwhile. Eladio went to have his flu jab which I had a few weeks ago. It's a good job that we now have them as there is an epidemic in Madrid and in Spain. He took a long time to come back from our local health centre and I began to get worried. I rang him countless times and even tried ringing the clinic. I was imagining he'd had an accident but also envisaging life without him - no, that cannot happen. So when he came back I hugged him instead of chastising him. He had gone to copy some keys. Thank God he was back. What would I do without him? Life would be very lonely and sad.

I had one guest arriving that night, a mysterious doctor from Peru - from deep dark Peru like Paddington hahaha. Unfortunately later he rang me as he had stepped on some of Pippa's poo in the doorway. She never does poo in the house but she had that day. I was mortified. I cleaned the mess and his shoe and apologised profusely. He didn't seem to mind. He left yesterday but will be back on Monday I'm not sure for what.

On Tuesday I read with interest about a new study of the brain. A team of neuroscientists  from the University of Cambridge, in an extensive study on real people, have identified crucial phases of structural development of the brain in the course of an average life. They occur at the ages of 9, 32, 66 and 83. Apparently at these ages the brain rewires while we grow and mature and eventually decline. There are actually 5 phases: childhood  (birth to age 9), adolescence (age 9 to 32), adulthood (age 32 to 66) and "early aging" (Age 66 to 83) when the brain starts to decline - lovely - and "late aging" (Age 83 onward)   - "the final epoch". 

So they have concluded that people in their 20s and early 30's are still adolescents? Wow!  As for Eladio and me, our brains are in decline. Well, we knew that I suppose. I am constantly forgetting things and always have to write lists. This week I had prepared for a guest's arrival and promptly went to sleep a siesta forgetting she was coming. Thankfully she sent me a Whatsapp. But that was a first. Should I be worried? Maybe, but there is not much I can do that I am not already doing. It's part of the process of old age but one thing I refuse to do is embrace it. 

On Tuesday I was all go - I did some shopping I had forgot last time  - see I am forgetting things. but I did not forget to go to my hospital appointments. Thank God for my phone calendar. I had a follow up consultation with my urogynecologist, who did my operation now over a month ago. She pronounced me nearly fully recovered and I have to say the operation has really helped. It's great not to have my bladder bulging out of my "you know what". Even that has changed and the doctor told me it had got younger and was like one of a 15 year old girl. Hahaha.  At the same hospital I had a check up appointment with an eye specialist as I was wondering if they were ok after the cataract ops in 2018. I was pronounced all ok but will go back for more tests just for precaution in January. 

I came out feeling on top of the world and came home to share leftover spag bol with Eladio for lunch. Leftovers are a great invention when you have no time for cooking and when I cook I always try to make more than needed to eat another time. 

I Facetimed with Kathy that evening who has her own personal chef in Phil and he cooks so well. No doubt he too will have done a lot of cooking this week. I find it creative and relaxing, that is if I don't have to cook under pressure. It's always good to chat to Kathy, like it is to chat with Amanda. If only they lived nearer. Well, I shall be seeing Amanda soon this month. I can't wait for my trip to Devon.

On Wednesday the fuel came which is always an expensive day as to heat this huge house is costly. That is something Eladio deals with, thankfully.  I had a troublesome guest coming that morning who asked to check in at 11 vs 3 pm but arrived at 9 am! Of course,as his room was ready, I accommodated him. He had been here before in our absence and gave me what for him was  a good review but a bad review for me. Airbnb asks guests to review a host on a scale of 1 to 5 but if you get anything less than 5 woe betide the host. The thing is not all guests know this and think 4 is acceptable which it isn't if it happens too often. You see, this is another bad thing about being an Airbnb host, because you become a slave to guest reviews. Two of our rooms had maintained a constant 5 star listing until a nasty lady from Ecuadar gave me a 1 after arriving at midnight having got lost, etc, etc. That put the listing down to 4.8. And now even if all my future reviews are 5 star, this listing will never regain its 5 star status because of one bad review. It's not fair. The man in question who was here for 3 nights was not a good guest. He left lights on all the time, left a mess in his room, dirty cups in the kitchen and even the front door open when he left - 2 hours after the check out time. I have decided I don't want him to come again so have blocked him on Airbnb. On the other hand the other guest, Jennifer, who arrived that day, was an absolute darling as most guests are. 

Of note that afternoon, I went to my hairdresser Conchi as I really needed a cut and the roots dyeing. I hate going but my hair was grateful afterwards and so was I. I haven't changed the style in decades as it's so easy to keep looking good. My friend Julio once said I was like Nancy Reagan who never changed her hairstyle either. I am glad though that I don't look like she did, haha. She must have had an in house hairdresser at the White House.

She and her husband would have been appalled at the shooting at 2 National Guards very near the White House that day. One was killed. Apparently the killer was an Afghan who had worked for the US before they pulled out of Kabul. He must have been deranged and disgruntled. Trump's reaction is to halt all Afghan asylum requests from now on. Shame on him.

But nice things happened at the White House that day, the eve of Thanksgiving. That day Melania Trump received this year's Christmas Tree. She received it in style as you can see from the picture.

Melania Trump, the First Lady, receiving this year's Christmas tree for the White House. It came in style on a horse and carriage. 

The other news of course that day was the dreadful fire in Hong Kong. A fire ripped through a multiple tower block in the Tai Po district. It is said the fire was sparked by a cigarette. 128 people have died and countless more have lost their homes. 

On to Thursday, Thanksgiving in the US which for the moment is not celebrated here. It was a normal Thursday for us. Eladio took the kids to school while I busied myself organising the freezer compartment of our state of the art Samsung fridge. I later did the same with our medicine cupboard throwing out all expired pills, etc. 

Facebook reminded me that morning of a photo Eladio took of me on the same day, 27th November in 2013. I was wearing a grey and white striped jumper dress from Mango, a sort of long grey jacket from Zara and a lovely black fur snood I had bought in Stockholm at the Sturegallerian shopping centre on Sturegaten where Telia's HQ used to be. I was also wearing leggings from Primark. This was the photo.

The photo taken in on 27th November 2013

Not having thought what to put on, I decided to wear the exact same attire and got Eladio to take another photo. I have so many clothes, mostly old, and a lot of stripes as you know so it's quite useful when Facebook reminds me how to combine my clothes. This is the one taken 12 years later this week.

Same clothes on a older lady 12 years later

After our walk we went out again, for coffee and to get more provisions I had forgotten. While in Boadilla we walked past the lottery shop and decided to get some Christmas lottery tickets - for El Gordo (the fat one) which is drawn on 22nd December and is a very important Spanish Christmas tradition. Eladio bought 10 tickets and we gave the girls one each. Here he is coming out with his prized tickets which won't probably win anything. They never do but we still buy them every year. 

Eladio with the Christmas lottery tickets he bought this week

I came home to find packages of stuff I had ordered from Ikea who now have a much better online site and take 2 days to deliver purchases. I had ordered candles and candelabras which I have a bit of fetish about. They are so Scandinavian and I love Scandi decor. This is what I bought.

New candles and candelabras

I suppose this counts as Christmas decoration so I have put up some in November haven't I?

It was at lunchtime that I bought Suzy and Oli's main presents online too of course but I can't say what they are; not because they will read this blog which they don't but someone might tell them. So I have made some progress for Christmas this year. However, I still don't know whether Oli and family will be with us on Christmas Eve and or Christmas Day. As to New Year's Eve I think they will go to Montrondo and Suzy is going to a dinner party which means we will be alone this year. Thus I doubt we will wait up till midnight and we will not be eating the traditional 12 grapes. Maybe this is a sign of being in the early aging  stage of the brain; possibly although I have never really liked New Year's Eve and this year and look forward to an early night.

Who went to bed early that night were two corrupt Spanish politicians, José Luis Abalos, former number two of the government and transport minister and his aide Koldo. They were remanded in custody; accused of taking kickbacks for awarding contracts. They spent their first night in the same cell and it was said that Koldo couldn't sleep because his cellmate and former boss snored all night. It's a very high profile case in Spain and I honestly don't know how Pedro Sanchez, Spain's PM, can carry on. He is surrounded with corruption cases and has no support in Parliament and is unable to get a budget accepted by the House. Yet he carries on  but I doubt he sleeps well in his magnificent bed in the Moncloa Palace where he lives with his wife Begoña, also embroiled in a court cases accused of influence peddling, business corruption and embezzlement of public funds. He is also accused of receiving campaign funds from his father in law who was a brothel owner. Then his own brother is facing charges too for taking  a trumped up position due to Pedro's influence. Can he survive? Not for long, surely.

I didn't sleep badly that night and woke up on Friday full of beans. I have been feeling so much better mentally and physically since Suzy has a new job and seems to have improved a lot. She still has her moments of anxiety but we are in a much place today than we were a year ago.

Friday was Black Friday which some call Black Fraud Day. Companies like Carrefour or Mediamarkt have been accused of hiking prices before the day and then lowering them. I am not a Black Friday fan and refuse to bow to American traditions which are not mine. 

It was a quiet day for us and we didn't go out except for our walk. I was glad to see my bad guest leave. I had a big group of 5 young people coming later from Barcelona who had been asking me questions non stop since they booked back in October. I smelt trouble but they weren't. They only thing is they brought a baby without including it in the booking and two friends to visit which is not allowed but I just let it go. They are leaving today and I wonder what review they will give me. 

Saturday saw me cooking again. I was up early and wanted to prepare lunch for the family before our walk. I was making cod fritters on a bed of vegetables followed by meatballs with Tana's rice.Dessert was apple crumble and ice cream - all very filling but very satisfying. Eladio caught me in the act when he came down for breakfast and took this week's feature photo. When Suzy came home from work and saw all the food she told me to stop stuffing her like a turkey, hahahhaa. I did go over the top. Ah but we now have even more leftovers and I won't need to cook today or tomorrow while Tana is off. We had a good lunch together if you don't count Elliot's repeat tantrum of last week but we ignored him and he eventually ate the meatballs I had made specially for him.

The afternoon was quiet after the family left. Our 6 guests were not at home either and I spent most of the time writing today's blog post before I sat down to a very meagre dinner. Today will be quiet too as all the guests will be leaving and only Jennifer will be back. 

Now I am at the end of the stories of this week where not much really happened on the home front but overall it was a good week with no scares or crises. So here's to another quiet and happy  week. Tomorrow we shall be going into Madrid for our annual day out to see the Christmas market and buy more lottery tickets. It's a tradition for us and one I always look forward to. 

So that's it from me for now. Hoping you all have a good Sunday, cheers till next week,

Masha

In search of the November sun, time out in Santa Pola, 50 years since Franco died, Spain's Attorney General guilty in tax fraud case, home again and other stories of the week.

 Home again, Madrid, 23rd November, 2025

Bliss, coffee in the sun on the beach in November

Good morning readers and friends. Thank you once again for reading my blog. It's quite amazing to think I have been writing once a week for 20 years. This week I looked back at a post of our trip to Nepal from India in 2009 and boy we looked so young. I started writing this blog in my 40's and now I am  in my 60's and beginning to feel old. I wish I had begun much earlier to include my beginnings in Spain. This week marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Spain's dictator, Francisco Franco who died in 1975. I was just 18 but remember it very clearly, as do many Spaniards who were young then too. But ask young people here  and they generally don't have much of a clue. I mustn't diverse and will return to last Sunday. 

That was the day we left for Santa Pola in search of sun and to escape every day minutiae. After my operation a month ago, every day seemed like Groundhog Day and I was in need of a change of scenery. As the saying goes," a change is as good as a rest" and that's what we needed.

We left shortly after Suzy went to work and hoped things would be ok for her in our absence. We stopped for lunch at the Parador in Albacete and arrived mid afternoon to 22ºc sunshine. Oh what bliss in November. I really understand why so many pensioners from the north of Europe flock here in the winter. It wouldn't be a bad idea to live in the area because of the sea and the climate.  This was the view that greeted us, a view I never tire of.

The view from our apartment, one I never tire of

The place was spotless thanks to Gina's cleaning efforts - she is a treasure and such a help - and we soon settled in. I read on the terrace and Eladio watched the top two tennis seeds, Alcáraz of Spain who is number one and Sinner of Italy who is number two, compete in the ATP finals. The Spaniard lost to the Italian who is generally more consistent although he lacks the Spaniard's flare. I can't watch Alcáraz play as it is too nerve racking so, instead, I read on the terrace but of course with one eye on the match.

I slept dreadfully that night and my sleep was worsened by a dry eye syndrome or irritation that has been plaguing me for a while.  I could neither read nor look at any screen. Thankfully I got some drops which have helped. I think the condition comes from tso much lack of sleep and too much smoking. 

Monday was ours for the taking and mid morning we headed to the beach for a walk in the sun. To our delight, the "chiringuito" (name for beach bars in Spain) was open so I could have my morning coffee in the sun. What bliss and how good it was to be back. I took lots of photos to remember the moment and to share with you. Here are two of them.

Our "chiringuito" on the Playa de Carabassi beach.  It was great to find it open in November

I took a photo of Eladio next to the sign advertising fresh grilled sardines as he loves them. I sent it to our friends Kathy and Phil who were here in September with us and are now probably deep in snow in Keighley, West Yorkshire. Both Phil and Eladio enjoyed sardines together in the same place.

We then walked to the end of the beach from where you can see our apartments and the Island of Tabarca on the horizon. "Our rock" was occupied by a large beer bellied man so we had to sit on another rock before walking back. People were bathing in the sea, sunbathing, others were walking like us, some were naked and some wore jackets or coats. I could seriously have gone into the water but never thought to bring our swim wear as I couldn't imagine it would be warm enough. That's climate change for you; being able to sunbathe and swim in the Med in November in Spain. Ah, but it was lovely to be there.

Before heading home for lunch we went in search of a new stand up lounge lamp to replace the very old and dilapidated one we inherited from the Norwegian couple who sold us the apartment in 1999. We found one and at the same time came across a wonderful Danish household goods store called JYSK. It's like a mini Ikea and in many instances is even cheaper. Here is Eladio coming outside with the lamp.

Shopping at JYSK for a lamp on Monday

He came out smiling because he got it for 20 euros instead of 46 which was the real price. It was his lucky day.

We came home to have leftover lamb casserole which I think ate for 4 days running but I love it so don't care. 

The highlight of the afternoon was my weekly Facetime call with my oldest friend, Amanda. Amanda and Andy were here in the spring and I wish they had been with us this week. Maybe another time. In any case I will be soon be with them next month.

 I slept better that night and woke up feeling new on Tuesday morning. The main news that day and for the last few months, as well, was  release of the so-called Epstein files in the US. They are files related to the criminal charges of sex trafficking against former predator Jeffrey Epstein who has links to the former Prince Andrew, other celebrities and possibly Donald Trump. This week the house voted for them to be released and Trump signed the order. What will be released we don't know or rather what won't be released.  This is a hideous case of sex crimes perpetrated by very dangerous and powerful men and they must be held to account; all of them.  I am still trying to read Virginia Guiffre's biography and finding it very hard reading. Those men ruined so many young girls' lives just for their perverted pleasure and because they thought they were so powerful they could get away with it. 

But we weren't thinking about any of this as we planned our morning. We went down to the beach again in search of more sun and of course coffee at the "chiringuito" where we whiled away the time and walked to our rock and back, which was not occupied this time. This week's feature photo is of me on Tuesday morning enjoying my coffee. And here are some more photos of that morning which no doubt in a few years time I will be reminded of by my Samsung phone and I will realise how much older I am. My phone does that every day and I get to see  photos from 15 years ago with a bit of nostalgia. 

On the beach on Tuesday enjoying the weather and our time alone

We decided to have lunch out that day and drove to the port in Santa Pola. We chose La Sal where we have taken our friends many times. I love that place because of its location and the food is pretty good too. We had the menu of the day which included a rice dish - a sort of paella called "arroz señoret". It wasn't bad but I've had better. My daughter Olivia always reminds me that paella is only really good in Valencia and maybe she is right. But this area does make a lot of rice dishes too. Here I am enjoying the moment the dish arrived.

Lunch outside at La Sal in Santa Pola on Tuesday

Things have changed a lot in this area I have noticed recently. When we used to come in the early 2000s in the late autumn and winter, there was hardly a soul around and restaurants were empty. Not so now but thankfully no over tourism; just pleasant retired people, like ourselves (hahaha) and from all over Europe. 

My lunch was interrupted by an Airbnb issue which in the end wasn't one but had me scared. For some reason my property register numbers had disappeared from all my listings. Putting them back was to be quite a task and took me a long time. Added to this scare was a rumour from a friend that I needed another sort of new number and if I didn't have it, my listings would be removed from Airbnb. In the end it was just a rumour but it did actually spoil my lunch and the whole of my afternoon.

Who was having a great time that day was another powerful man who I can't stomach. Mohammed bin Salman, the PM of Saudi Arabia was in Washington that day to meet Donald Trump. Honestly? He is highly suspected of ordering the killing of journalist, Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Embassy in Turkey. The poor man who went in to renew his passport, was killed and cut into pieces and never seen again. This is information from the CIA. However, Trump who is more interested in Salman's possible investment of 1 billion dollars worth of trade with the US, than he is in human rights, answered a journalist by saying "these things happen" or something similar. That makes me cringe. Creepy men they are. 

Meanwhile, in Madrid, Ukraine's President, war weary Volodymyr Zelensky met with Spain's premiere Pedro Sánchez. From what I read they agreed on a 615 million aid package which will be like a drop in the ocean for Ukraine which continues to be bombed and attacked by Putin's Army. When will this stupid war end? I don't like Washington's latest peace plan discussed so far only between the US and the Kremlin. If they had it their way, Ukraine would shrink in size and abandon all hopes of joining NATO: and Russia would be reinstated financially and socially. On Friday Zelensky addressed the nation saying they had a very difficult choice: either losing dignity or risk losing the a key partner, the US. The leaked 28 point plan is supposed to include a clause whereby the US will defend Ukraine if Russia invades again but there is no guarantee. Another clause is that Zelensky would have to call elections within 100 days of signing the treaty. Sounds like a time bomb to me. 

We had a quiet afternoon and it must have been the sun and the sea breeze as once again I got a decent night's sleep, decent, at least for me.

On Wednesday we headed for Santa Pola. On our way we stopped at an ironmonger for items needed to fix little problems in the apartment. There is always something to fix or replace there and we are a bit like ants building their homes or birds building their nests; always buying something we need for the apartment. Rare is the day we don't. We got what we wanted and drove to the car park by the castle. Our destination was my favourite cafe in town, Choco&latte in the main square. It is one of my happy places of which I have quite a few. We were a bit naughty and I ordered an "ensaimada" pastry with my coffee and Eladio had a cup of chocolate with a croissant. I ended up eating his crossant and he had my pastry, hahaha. 

Indulging ourselves at Choco&latte in Santa Pola on Wednesday

To work it off we walked along the promenade on Avda. Santiago Bernabeu. If you are familiar with the Real Madrid stadium you will know it is called the Santiago Bernabeu. Bernabeu who was a football player and President of the team for three decades from 1943 to 1978, was born in Santa Pola and is probably the town's most famous citizen.  I have to say the promenade is marvelous as are the beaches in this little known seaside town. I often wonder why there are so few hotels here. It could easily have been turned into a Benidorm or Magaluf but thankfully has remained a quiet seaside town.

Lunch was bits and bobs and I spent the whole afternoon watching a hospital series on Movistar Plus which I felt a bit guilty about.

Thursday was our last day there and it was another sunny day. It was also the 50th anniversary of the death of Generalísimo Francisco Franco who I imagine needs no introduction if you are middle aged or more. He was Spain's ruler and dictator after winning the bloody civil war in 1939  in which from 500.000 to 1.000.000 people were killed or lost their lives. The war divided Spain and in my opinion the country is still divided today. Franco ruled with an iron fist and will go down in history as a fascist dictator although he still has his fans. He died on 20th November 1975 when I was just 18. I was in London on a bus with a Spanish friend, Ana, a cousin of my then Spanish boyfriend, called José Francisco. Her family must have been very pro Franco as when we saw the Evening Standard bill boards with the words "Franco is dead", she began to cry, saying "pobre Franquet". I wasn't really sorry and read that many Spaniards had been waiting for the moment with champagne in their fridges. But many others were worried about what would happen next. Franco had appointed the young Prince Juan Carlos as his successor, bypassing his father Don Juan, but restoring the monarchy. 

The future King of Spain and Franco together shortly before the dictator died

Today the former King of Spain is disgraced for his financial scandals and lives in exile in Abu Dhabi. But he had a huge role in forging democracy when he took over from Franco. The transition was exemplary and all political parties were made legal, including the communist party and from then onward Spain grew to become the steady democratic country it is today. Spain is not without its problems today but I prefer to be a woman in today's society than during Franco's times. When he ruled, women could neither get a passport nor open a bank account without their husband's permission. Divorce and abortions were prohibited as were many other things. Today is a much freer society and we are better off with democracy.  The next day there was a commemoration of the 50 years of monarchy after Franco died and when King Juan Carlos took over. Rightly or wrongly he was not invited although the former Queen was. He must have felt estranged but probably enjoyed the private family lunch the next day in El Pardo Palace (where Franco lived) where the whole family gathered, including all his grandchildren. No photos have emerged. 

Thursday was also the 80th anniversary of the Nuremberg trials of  Nazi criminals after WW2 which deserves a mention here. That famous trial is said to have been the precursor of international law as we know it today and is considered the most important legal trial in history.  199 Nazis were tried by an international tribunal. 161 were convicted and 37 sentenced to death. I find those numbers rather low considering the scale of the Holocaust where. 50 to 85 million people lost their lives in WW2. Of those, Hitler is directly guilty of the death of 6 million Jews but also of many other millions of people: Soviet prisoners, gypsies, Poles, people with mental and physical handicaps and many others. He killed himself before he could be tried at Nuremberg. Many other Nazi criminals fled the country and it seems the vast majority of those involved in so many deaths, made their way to countries in South  America. Damn them. May we never forget.

It was a historic day for Spain and not just because of the anniversary of the death of Franco. For the first time in Spanish history  an Attorney General was to be on trial. Attorney General, Alvaro Garcia Ortiz, appointed by the governing socialist party, was found guilty in a politicised tax fraud case. His crime was to reveal confidential information when he leaked oan email to the press which included a plea for negotiating tax evasion by Alberto González Amador, the boyfriend of PM Sanchez's arch enemy, Isabel Diaz Ayuso.  

Spain's Attorney General found guilty!

The announcement, prior to the sentence, was made by the Supreme Court on Thursday. García Ortiz has been suspended for 2 years from public service which means he will have to be replaced. He will also be given a fine of 7.000 euros and will have to pay Alberto González 10.000 for damages to his reputation. The government has insisted on his being innocent and the news this week of Ortiz being found guilty will not sit well with them. Honestly, it is about time that Pedro Sánchez resigns. His government is paralysed, his wife and brother are on trial as well as former members of his cabinet for large scale kick backs in exchange for public contracts. He cannot go on. This last news should be the nail on his coffin but I doubt he will call elections and Spain's soap  opera will continue as he tries to carry on governing. 

Life continued quietly for us on our last day in Gran Alacant. It was sunny once again with temperatures reaching 22ºc, while the north of Spain was on alert for snow. 

Before heading for the beach, we visited the Danish Ikea type shop, JYSK, again to get some bedding we needed at home as well as a bath mat for our apartment. I do like that shop but refused to be tempted to buy anything else that I'm sure I didn't need.  What we do need though is a new front door as the one we inherited has been battered by the sea air and needs replacing. Eladio wanted to find someone to mend it but it is beyond repair. That day we found a local carpenter called Mauricio who is actually from Venezuela. We spoke to him while having coffee on the beach and he came later in the day to see the door and come to an agreement with him to change it. Hopefully he will do a good job. 

We went on our last walk on the beach after talking to Mauricio and once again people were sunbathing and just a few were swimming in the sea. What a lovely time we have had on what I call "our beach" but all good things come to an end and we had to go back the next day to be with the girls and the kids this weekend.

Our afternoon was quiet, just interrupted by Mauricio and soon Friday dawned, the day of our departure. We left at around 10.30 and as we drove north it got colder and colder. We stopped for lunch at an expensive place called Essentia in Tarancón and were home by about 4. There were Tana  and Pippa to greet us. Tana later went off to enjoy her weekend. Suzy was around but busy preparing for work on Saturday and Sunday. We didn't know it then but that evening, our son-in-law, Miguel, broke his elbow bone (the radial head) while doing crossfit.  He is now out of action and cannot drive or go to work. As Elliot says, it's Mummy who is doing everything now. He must feel very frustrated. 

It was cold in Madrid but good to be back and inside it was very warm and cozy. We had to wait up that night for a new guest, Paula, who didn't arrive till 11.30 pm. I hardly saw the other guests at all and thank my living stars we still have guests in November.

Saturday came and it was just 3ºc at 7 in the morning when I got up. What a difference from Santa Pola. I did the online shopping and then got well dressed up for the cold to shop to fresh stuff; fruit, veg, meat, fish, etc that we don't order online.  There was time for coffee at Alverán and I came home to cook lunch for the three of us. 

Today is Sunday and Oli and family are coming for lunch. I am taking the easy way out and making spaghetti bolognese which the kids usually love. 

It's late now as I write, so I must sign off to get on with the day. I trust you all have a good Sunday and will be back next week.

Cheers till then, 

Masha

11th November, the BBC in trouble, film Mr. Burton, celebrating Suzy's new job at Honest Greens, coffee is now good for you and other stories of the week.

 Madrid, 16th November, 2025

Celebrating Suzy's new job this week at Honest Greens

Good morning again everyone. 

How are you all? I hope well. 

Life has been good this week as we had something special to celebrate as a family. The girls took us to a place which is new for us called Honest Greens which they have been raving about recently and we were to finally discover. But more about that later.

Last Sunday Remembrance Day was celebrated even though it wasn't actually until 11th November. It came about after WW1 when armistice was declared on the eleventh hour of the eleventh month in 1918. Since then 11th November has been celebrated to include all wars. My father who fought in WW2 and died on 8th November 2021 aged 102, was very much in my mind this week. When he died it was a few days before Remembrance Day and at the time he was one of the very few veterans still alive.They are a dwindling group and soon there will be no more human witnesses to those terrible events. Ah, but their testimony will always live on. Facebook reminded me this week of photos I had posted on 11th November, 2021, including a photo of the front page of the Bradford paper, The Telegraph and Argus, which we used to get at home every afternoon . Fittingly they published it on 11th November. 

The front page of the Telegraph and Argus on 11th November 2021. Bless them, bless him. 

This was their obituary. 

In England everyone would have been wearing red poppies. We don't do that in Spain and I miss it. The origin of the poppy becoming a symbol of Remembrance Day goes back to a wonderful poem called Flanders Field written by a Canadian, Lt .Col. John McCrae. 

Remembrance Day poppies

I think most people know the opening lines "In Flanders fields the poppies blow, between the crosses, row on row ..." The poppy of course is red and represents the bloodshed but also hope for a peaceful future. 

Oli and family were coming for lunch and as it was a special Sunday I made a proper roast meal which was a bit like Christmas really. We had roast chicken with all the trimmings including sage and onion stuffing and cranberry sauce. It was divine. I honestly don't know how Eladio and I l had the energy later to play hide and seek with Elliot and Juliet but we did and it was lots of fun. Oli had to work on a piece she would be doing on Monday morning about the new candidate for regional head of Valencia after Carlos Mazon's resignation for handling the floods there so badly a year ago.

Monday came and I forgot to watch my daughter but I later saw her on Twitter as often her programme posts stuff they report on; not always though.  Here she is live on Monday.

Oli reporting live last Monday

You can see her piece here. I noted she was wearing my red coat without my permission. That is part of having two daughters who seem to like my clothes. Later in the week she wore a blue trouser suit of mine from Zara which I had given her with a blue coat I hadn't and didn't even remember I had. I suppose the girls taking my clothes is a compliment. I like to think so.

Monday was a good day for former French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, who was let out of jail after serving just 3 weeks of his 5 year sentence. I never understand why people get sentenced and then let out. He says he is not guilty of receiving campaign funding from the former Libyan dictator Gaddafi. He said of his time in prison where he was given special treatment that it had been a nightmare. I read that he only ate yoghurts, afraid there would be spit in his food. Imagine!!! 

It was not a good day for the British Broadcasting Corporation, aka the BBC or simply "The Beeb". The BBC is a national treasure in the UK and people pay a licence to watch it. I had or have great faith in this institution but am pretty appalled at the latest scandal - there have been many. This one is about Trump and the Capitol attack on January 6th 2021. An internal memo  by journalist Michael Prescott describing systematic bias in the BBC's news coverage was leaked to the Daily Telegraph. In it a documentary was mentioned about Trump broadcast over a year ago by the current affairs programme Panorama. The memo claims  Panorama deliberately edited words from  2 of  Trump's speeches to show him calling for violent action as if he was the orchestrator of what happened when actually he had called for people to demonstrate peacefully.  The BBC spliced together two quotes from Trump made on that day despite the comments being made an hour apart on different topics.  He really said "We're going to walk down to the Capitol and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women". However, in the edit it made it seem as if he had said "We're going to walk down to the Capitol .... and I'll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell". His fighting like hell actually referred to him (wrongly) arguing the election results were rigged and were not an incitement to attack the Capitol. That is where the BBC got it wrong; really wrong. 

There was more bias uncovered regarding  a documentary about Gaza where the narrator was the son of a member of Hamas. There has been more scandalous bias but the Panorama one was the straw that broke the camel's back. Trump was furious of course and wants to sue the BBC for up to 5 billion dollars. In London, the top management of the Corporation resigned this week  over pressure after the leaked memo alleged "serious and systematic biast in the BBC's news coverage". Well, I never. The BBC is in trouble but I have faith it will recover. It will have to change its tone and become the impartial broadcaster it is supposed to be, the gold standard of journalism. How they will do that I don't but I hope they do. 

The highlight of Monday was my weekly Facetime call with Amanda where of course we spoke about the BBC. My daughter Olivia who is a journalist, is most upset and cannot understand how the BBC actually edited or doctored Trump's words this way. She told that journalists learn that lesson in their first year. She is right. 

Tuesday came, the real 11th November and I kept thinking of my father. He would have been fascinated to know the latest population figures of my adopted country, Spain, that were published that day. If in 1981 when I came to live here the population was 37.7 million, today it is 49.4 million. Most of the growth in Spain comes from immigration as the birth rate here is one of the lowest in the world.  Interestingly, in 1981, the immigration population of Spain was just 0.52% while today that figure stands at around 14% with some 6.9 million people from abroad. So where do they all come from? Mainly neighbouring Morocco, then Romania, Colombia and Venezuela. And, by the way, I think the UK is in fifth or sixth place.  Immigration is a hot topic in many places. We have our issues too, but less I think, at least in my milieu. However, it is immigration that is driving Spain's economic growth. That sounds great but it can't be so great if another study this week published the poverty figures. A whopping 12.5 million people, 25% of the population, are at risk of poverty or social exclusion and 4 million of them live in severe poverty. Young people, even those with a job,  have it worst as  either they can't afford  getting on the property ladder or paying for rent. Many, of course, carry on living with their parents. Another option is living in a  caravan which is not unheard of here. On a last note and out of curiosity, when  I left the UK in 1981, the population then was 55 million, today it has jumped to 69.7.  

The BBC maybe in trouble but their content is still popular and long may that live. This week I discovered a film called Mr. Burton on the iPlayer which I watched thanks to a VPN (VPN Express) that masks my internet origin as you can't watch the BBC outside the UK. Mr. Burton is the story of how Richard Burton from Pontrhydyfen near Port Talbot in Wales became an actor. 

The BBC film, Mr. Burton about how Richard Burton from a mining village in Wales became an actor. 

He came from a numerous family with a drunken mining father - he himself later went on to drink himself to death. Born Richard Jenkins, his teacher, Mr. Philip Burton, saw something in him and when he left school early to work, he took him under his wing. He acted in a local play and his talent was even obvious then. The film is a real story of rags to riches done in a magnificent way. The biggest job his teacher had was to change his Welsh accent to Received Pronunciation. He went on to be famous for his wonderful baritone voice, despite smoking 4 packets of cigarettes a day, but there still remained a beautiful Welsh lilt.  When I was young, Richard Burton was one of the most famous actors in the world. He first became famous for his acclaimed performances in Shakespeare's plays. Sadly he became more famous for his role as Mark Antony in Cleopatra, mostly because he fell in love with Elizabeth Taylor. They became known for their passionate and dramatic relationship. It seems they both loved and hated each other as they married twice from 1964 to 1974 and from 1975 to  1976. They spent money as they lived with passion and excess. Most famous was the diamond called the Taylor-Burton diamond which cost 1.1 million dollars in 1969! I watched Michael Parkinson's interview with the Welsh actor broadcast in 1974 where Burton chain smoked throughout. In it he spoke of his battle with alcoholism which brought him to near death and of his depression and dark moments but there was also time for laughter. I especially loved his stories of returning to his home town and encounters with his drunken father in the local pub. It remains today as Parkinson's best interview. The famous Yorkshire presenter died in 2023 but I'm sure he would have loved the film Mr. Burton. Here is the link to the interview by the way if you want to watch it as well as an article from the BBC about the teacher and pupil which makes for great reading if you are interested of course. 

Wednesday came and we managed our walk. Nothing interesting happened that day. What didn't please me though, on Wednesday, was to receive a bad review from a recent guest in the best room in the house because she said the house was too big for her liking. Honestly!! I have to say I do actually dread American guests who can be very picky. Maybe they are all lovely but I just seem to get the picky ones. As they say in my beloved Yorkshire, "there is nowt so queer as folk". Maybe they no longer use as these days you can't use the word queer or can you? A final thing about Wednesday. Unbelievably, for November, the temperature reached 24ºc that day which had us enjoying our wine and pistachios on the terrace by the pool. Not so the rest of the week which has been foul.

Thursday was foul and we didn't go out at all. Importantly that day, at least for me and other tennis fans in Spain, Carlos Alcaraz returned to the number one stop after reaching the semi finals in the ATP finals. He might beat his rival Sinner in the final today but, despite whoever wins, the Spaniard will remain the number one player at least until the end of this year. I think he deserves it as he has had 70 wins this year. He also beat Sinner in 7 of their past 8 matches, albeit that 1 being Wimbledon. He is probably the better player of the two but not as consistent. That's what he has to work on. But we love him, maybe because of his inconsistency. He makes us suffer so we love him even more when he wins. Sinner doesn't make us suffer; that is the difference in my opinion. 

Olivia was busy that day and Friday. This week saw her emceeing at some big conference organised by the NHS anti fraud department. Oli later reported she hates conferences and finds them boring, even if the Spanish Minister of Health attended. I totally agree with her; company conferences are nearly always boring. I'm so glad I am retired and no longer work in the corporate world. As a PR person I always tried to make my speakers' content more interesting. When I worked at Yoigo and had to make both the brand famous and the CEO, I was inspired by Virgin's Richard Branson and it worked. It's obvious the NHS and the Spanish Ministry of Health don't have a good Communications Director, hahaha. 

If Olivia had been at home that afternoon, she would have been delighted to meet and greet my new guests as they are from Lyon in France as Oli loves to practice  her French which she is very good at. Mine is still my limited school French and is rusty but I bring it out of the archive, so to speak, when I have to and I had to when I met Sandrine and Philippe. They are lovely guests and in general I love my guests from France - I get a lot of them and they are the best.

Friday came and was the highlight of the week. It was the day we were going to celebrate Suzy's new job and general mental welfare. I'm so proud of her. But first she and I did the food shopping and I appreciated her help as I can't carry heavy loads after my operation. Suzy chose a restaurant called Honest Greens and I had my doubts as I thought it would be all vegetarian which it mostly is but I was bowled over.  I loved the place instantly. It felt like being in London or New York. 

Honest Greens in Pozuelo. Wonderful place

The food is marvelous because it is all fresh and it's creative and tasty and also affordable. Little did I know there are already 30 restaurants in Spain, two in Portugal and that it is expanding to both Paris and London. Obviously Honest Greens is going places. I was intrigued to know who runs and owns it. Turns out it's a famous French chef Benjamin Bensoussan. I read that he had worked, many years ago, at the famous Ladurée in Paris where I was privileged to have afternoon tea with my cousin Marie and her husband Anas this summer. When I posted photos of our experience on Instagram, I was surprised and pleased to get a comment directly from Benjoussan who, by the way, featured in The Final Table on Netflix. I had complained about the loud music and he promised to do something about it. I loved the avocado salad and beef platter but what I loved most were the desserts, especially the pecan pie. I later looked up how to make it and it's simple but I think my family are not keen. Suzy went for the falafel and Oli for the tofu. Miguel had meat and salmon and Eladio had the same as me. Miguel took photos of us as we left, one of which I have chosen as this week's feature photo as Friday's lunch was the best moment of the week. It was wonderful and I will be going back to Honest Greens. In fact both Oli and Suzy are going again today. Before I move on, here is another photo of the four of us. I love these photos as we don't get many taken of us together.

A great moment this week - the four of us together outside Honest Greens, a real find for me.

We came back to a house full of guests but hardly saw any of them. My day ended with a lovely video call with my friend Kathy. She has  bronchitis and a terrible, terrible cough. I really felt for her; I did. She is so unwell, she couldn't go to our school reunion yesterday. I hope they had a lovely time. I would loved to have gone as it's now 50 years since we started at St. Joseph's College, but with my operation being so recent, I couldn't go. Nothing is stopping me going next year.

On Saturday it poured with rain. When there was a lull, we donned our wet weather clothes and I put Pippa's jumper on but it got too bad and we had to return home. Instead, we went to do some errands and to have a coffee at Alverán. It was yesterday that The Times published an article on the health benefits of coffee from a recent study. So, contrary to being bad for your health, it is now deemed extremely good. The English flagship newspaper went as far as calling it the "new wellness drink" but Eladio wasn't convinced. I, as a coffee lover, was delighted to read the benefits. The properties found are: antioxidant and anti inflammatory, good for your gut health, lowers the risk of heart attacks as well as of diabetes, Parkinson's disease and even certain cancers. It even contributes to longevity and being in a good mood. The article which you probably can't read as you can't get past the paywall is full of quotes from eminent sources so it has to be believed in my opinion. However, if this is true why isn't the whole world talking about it? I hope they will soon. Anyway back to my coffee at Alveran. We sat outside so I could smoke and it was cozy thanks to the outdoor gas heater. I have always wanted one of those but I won't be getting one.  I took a photo of my dear husband who won't drink coffee and still has a nasty cold but he looks great doesn't he? This is it.

Eladio at Alverán yesterday. Who would believe his age?

On our way home we stopped at Carrefour to buy the new obligatory beacon or whatever it is called. It's like the alarm the police put on their cars and will be connected to the traffic authorities so they know where you are. I had no idea they were replacing the old warning triangles. It was Miguel who told me during our lunch on Friday. So I got two for the Mini and the Volvo. 

I came home to cook which I love doing when it's bad weather and I have time on my hands. I made a leak and potato stew followed by a sort of lamb hot pot/casserole. It was a dish I invented years ago but hadn't made for ages. Suzy, who only ate the potatoes, said it reminded her of the past. This was it.

The lamb casserole I made yesterday

I prepared more food yesterday afternoon as we had invited Olivia, Miguel, Elliot and Juliet for dinner. They braved the foul weather caused by Storm Claudia and we were soon sitting down for a cozy family meal. We had cold roast chicken, giant prawns and a Waldorf salad but the kids didn't eat anything. They never do but seem very healthy haha. It was good to have them and it was a nice end to the week.

Today, Sunday, we shall be driving to stay at our modest apartment near Santa Pola on the coast. We are escaping the rain and hoping for some sunshine as well as a change of scenery.

Now I must get going with all the preparations necessary for our stay there.

Till next time my friends. Have a good Sunday, cheers Masha 

A quiet week in November, Spain's political soap opera, shopping in Madrid with Suzy, remembering my father and other stories of the week.

 Madrid, Sunday 9th November, 2025

Out and about with Suzy in Madrid centre this week

Good morning all. 

I don't like November. Do you? November is when summer is finally over here, the leaves cover the garden, it gets dark early and usually rains. In short, miserable. 

My week hasn't been miserable. It's just been quiet while I have been recovering after my operation two weeks ago. I am feeling a lot better but still have some brain fog and, sometimes, it still hurts. But I am sure it's for the greater good.

There is not much to report about this week but let me try. Last Sunday we went on our walk, as we usually do. I was happy later to read a 5 star review from my Belgian family guests. Thank you Peter and I hope to host you again. I met my other Belgian guest, Simon, finally that day. It turned out he is from Paris but studying in Brussels. He was a great guest and we hardly ever saw him. Suzy was at work and from there went straight to see George, her beau. They seem to be happy but I don't think I will be meeting him anytime soon as he is the sort of chap who is not to keen on meeting the mother of his girlfriend. I told Suzy to tell him that I don't bite. 

Suzy confessed to me that day that she had stopped her medication two whole months ago. I was astonished, mainly because she seems so much better and there have been no symptoms. So she hasn't taken her meds for 2 months yet seems fine. I keep wondering if maybe she is not bipolar or all the things she was diagnosed with and that her psychotic incidents were drug induced. And now she is off cannabis, she is back to normal. I looked it up on AI and I could be right. It could be she was wrongly diagnosed and it was all down to marijuana because the symptoms of drug psychosis and bipolar condition mimic each other. I honestly hope I am right. It may just be a state of remission, I don't know.  But there she is doing things, meeting people, going to work, socialising, smiling; yes smiling and doesn't seem at all ill. She herself admits it and told me she is happy again while she thought she never would be. Eladio thinks her best medication is the new job and the beau. For the moment we are happy that she is happy and that's enough for me. I can't ask for more. Only time will tell.

I finished The Long Shadow - that very good series about the Yorkshire Ripper and then went onto the biography of Andrew and Sarah; Entitled, the Rise and Fall of the House of York. Andrew Lownie's damning book about the ex Duke and Duchess'  abominable behaviour won't do much for their popularity. 

This damning book couldn't have come at a worse time for Andrew and Sarah

It is all about money and sex. Andrew according to Epstein was an even heavier addict than him, and money was everything to them both. It's outrageous how they exploited their royalty for their own benefit.  Honestly, I don't know how they got away with it for all those years when everyone around them knew what was going on. Shame on the Royal family and I was a fan. I no longer am and that is saying a lot.

I was a bit upset this week by friends' insensitive behaviour which I still can't understand and don't want to go into here.   Dear Kathy cheered me up that evening when we had a long overdue video call. We had one later in the week too. 

On Monday things came to a head in Spain's political soap opera which is basically a ferocious battle between the left wing government, the PSOE, led by Pedro Sánchez and propped up by all sorts of dubious parties, and the right wing opposition, the People's Party (PP). That morning Carlos Mazón the regional head of the Autonomy of Valencia and from the PP  finally resigned after accusations of mismanaging the flash floods last year. Now we have to see who replaces him or whether there will be local elections. All this fuels the ongoing political battle between the right and the left.  Amazingly too this week, Spain's Attorney General, Alvaro García Ortiz, who was appointed by Pedro Sánchez, appeared at the Supreme Court to face trial  for allegedly disclosing confidential information. The information pertained to the boyfriend of the Regional head of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, from the PP party and Sánchez' arch enemy. An Attorney General has never been seen in the dock before and I still don't understand why he hasn't resigned. I also don't understand why Sánchez himself hasn't.  This week his Catalan extremist supporters, Junts, led by the fugitive Carlos Puigdemont, cut off ties with the PSOE party. They had 7 deputies in Congress so now the PSOE will have their hands completely tied. In normal circumstances a government without a majority has to call elections but Pedro prefers to ignore all this noise and stay in his palace without being able to govern.  That on top of the court cases where both Sánchez' wife, Begoña and brother, David, are also facing trial. And then there is the trial of his former Minister of Transport and Secretary general who is in prison. They are accused of taking kick backs from public construction contracts. Their trial is peppered with stories of payments to call girls and gifts of expensive flats and holidays. When will this end? Not for a long time. Eladio is loving the whole farce but I am getting tired of it. 

I did some retail therapy and went to a shopping centre where I was not at all inspired. But I did enjoy the expensive coffee at Starbucks. I never know whether I love or hate that brand, especially living in a coffee country like Spain. Since when was a cappuccino a Spanish thing? It's not, it's a "café con leche" just with a bit more foam. 

The afternoon was  another groundhog afternoon with me mostly watching the telly. Not good. What is good is when we adjoin for wine and pistachios by the pool just before dinner at around 7 pm. Or maybe it isn't good for my body but good for my morale. 

Tuesday came and as usual I got about 5.5h sleep which is just not enough and that is despite a cocktail of sleeping pills. Oh dear. 

I did something good that morning and made a 2026 desk calendar using a website called Vistaprint. I used to make them every year until about 3 years ago, until our life went pear shape.  This is what it looks like. 

My 2026 desk calendar in the making

I have ordered 15 and hope to be able to take one with me to Devon in December for Amanda and Andy.

I got my flu jab that morning but not my Covid jab as it's for over 70's in Spain, or so I was told. As soon as I got back we went on our walk. Suzy was home for lunch which was curry again which I had made industrial amounts of. Later she and I went to pick the kids up from school and took Elliot to athletics. I left her to look after Juliet as at 6.15 as I had a scheduled Facetime call with my dear friend Amanda. She always cheers me up and I was so happy to give her good news for once; all about Suzy, of course. 

On Wednesday Suzy and I went into the centre of Madrid for some retail therapy and a splendid lunch. We left early and parked the car at Plaza de España. From there I took Suzy to the rooftop bar, called The Sky Bar. It really is a great place to take people. This week's feature photo is of the two of us having coffee there and enjoying the views. It is only really from a rooftop that you appreciate that most of Madrid's roofs are red. As I write the plural of the word roof I remember being taught by our English teacher, Miss Speak, back in the 60's that the correct spelling was "rooves". It seems since I left England in 1981 many things have changed.  Anyway, back to the rooftop. Here is a lovely photo of Suzy who, like me, could not cross the glass walkway so high up. 

Suzy on Wednesday at the Sky Bar rooftop in Madrid

From there we walked to Primark on Gran Via to get some basics we both needed. I had only ever been to our local Primark and wasn't prepared to enter the second largest in the world. It measures over 12.000 square metres and has 5 floors. There is so much on offer at good prices. Its only downfall is that the queues for paying are so long. It was a bit overwhelming that's for sure but we came out  happy with our purchases. I got some 5 euro leggings, as good as Marks and Spencer's, a lovely white knitted jumper dress and a pastel pink fleece jacket. Suzy got jeans, leggings, tops and other basics.

I came out feeling I had overdone it and needed a little sit down. Next on our agenda was lunch at the lovely El Cüenco de Pepa, a very upmarket restaurant near the Bernabeu stadium on the other side of Madrid. The restaurant  is famous mostly for its tomatoes and its chef and owner, Pepa Muñoz who, I was happy to read, collaborates with World Central Kitchen run by fellow Spanish chef, José Andrés. Pepa has her own orchard in Avila not far from Madrid and the whole restaurant is decorated with gigantic tomatoes and pumpkins. She even has a shop where we later bought 3 enormous tomatoes at 8 euros each.

Lunch was splendid and Suzy says it's now her favourite restaurant. The place was full of important looking Madrileño businessmen as always but then as always the food is splendid and it's worth going back to over and over again, as I have. All in all Suzy and I had had a wonderful time. There is nothing better than retail therapy, spending time with your offspring in harmony and having a good lunch out, to raise your spirits and mine were raised on Wednesday.

Wednesday, of course was 5th November, Guy Fawke's night aka Bonfire Night. I tried to describe to Suzy my memories as a child of that magical night. My dear father would light fireworks in our garden and sometimes in our street  in Heaton Grove at the Pond in the middle of it, where we used to play as kids,  there would be a bonfire. That is a very British celebration. The only thing I don't like now as an adult is the harm the fireworks do to animals. 

On the other side of THE pond that day, something historical happened in New York. A 34 year man called Zohran Mamdani, representing the Democrat Party was voted Mayor of the city, the capital of the world for some. It's funny but this time last year Oli and I were there and we stayed at the famed Carlyle. Anyway, back to Mamdani, who Trump is of course furious about. Born in Uganda to Indian parents he is the first Muslim Mayor of New York. His political promises seem very attractive but whether he can carry them all out is another thing. His win is a breath of fresh air for the increasingly autocratic United States and I wish him luck in his new mandate. 

That night, Omar from Tunisia arrived. He is young and surely a Muslim too and so polite. He keeps calling me Madame. He came bringing a book written in French by his grandfather who was a philosopher. It was his grandmother's dedication I liked. You see she was a former teacher of English and had lived for a year in Yorkshire in 1970. 

Thursday was the first really cold day of the month. But we still went on our walk. Suzy was out in Madrid with Copi and we picked up the kids again while Oli was giving a presentation at a workshop - something to do with PR and communication. 

Oli ready for her workshop on Thursday afternoon while we picked up the kids

How she juggles her life, I do not know. She is up at 5 am and manages to include her French lessons and go to they gym with Suzy. With Miguel away in Pamplona, she needed our help so we came to her rescue. They later stayed for dinner made by dear Tana and had their baths in our room, bless them. Just after they left, I touched base with Kathy again. It seems both she and Phil have come down with flu or a cold.

While all that was happening, Suzy was having a great time with Copi who did both her makeup and her hair. Here are some pics. I don't like the piercing but if she does what can I say?

Suzy all dressed up to go out with Copi on Thursday night

I was up at 6 am on Friday morning and not out of choice. I do wish I could sleep more. Oli had told me she was nervous as that morning she had to cover the People Party's news and opinion - all part of Spain's soap opera. She might have been nervous but I would never have noticed as she did an excellent job. Here she is outside the PP party HQ in Génova. She came on quite a few times and, as always, I watched her in awe.

Oli live on TV various times on Friday morning covering the news from the opposition party, the PP

We went for our walk on Friday morning and then to do the shopping I don't order online. We were supposed to go out for lunch to celebrate Suzy's new job but Oli was exhausted so we have postponed it.  Later in the evening we met Raúl, a young engineer from Alicante who is a repeat guest. He asked if he could play our piano. Well, of course. The piano which belonged to my grandmother who was a pianist was played by her, my Aunty Gloria, my cousin Jacqueline and of course my brother George. It's always nostalgic but pleasing to hear a guest who knows how to play, to use her over 100 year old piano. Thank you Raúl. 

Saturday came and saw Suzy at work again in her new role as a hospital dietitian for the French catering company Sodexho. I had asked her for a photo and got this.

So proud Suzy is working again. 

Saturday was of significance as 8th November is the anniversary of the passing away of my dear, dear father who died with me by his bedside 4 years ago now. It's hard to believe that 4 years have passed since he left us. He left a gaping hole no one can fill. It was a pleasure and privilege to have him living with us from 2005 to 2021. If you know me, you will know I revere my father for so many reasons. My greatest gift to him was a biography of his life when he turned 100. It made me so happy to see his smiling and surprised face as I presented it to him. He read it countless times. If you haven't read it, you can find it on Amazon. Here is the Amazon UK link although you can get it on any Amazon country site. And when he died I organised a funeral fit for a general. He would probably have said to me "what is all the fuss about?". He never ever blew his own trumpet so I had to do that for him. For his funeral in Bradford the local paper, The Telegraph and Argus, the one he used to receive daily alongside The Times for more than 40 years, published a fitting tribute with lots of photos of his life. These are just some of the photos in that article.

It was the 4th anniversary yesterday of my father's death yesterday 

He lived with us for 16 years and I still miss him everyday. I miss his smiling and appreciative face and I miss sharing things with him. Love you Daddy.

I miss him at meals too and I know he would have loved the vegetable soup I made yesterday for lunch for Eladio and me. He would not have been quite so keen on my divine stuffed roast shoulder of lamb as he was no great meat eater. But we enjoyed it. 

Today, Sunday, we shall enjoy having Oli and the kids here while Miguel is still in Pamplona for TVE. Thankfully Tana is back and will help me make a traditional Sunday roast for our lunch.  It looks like another sunny but cold day and we shall enjoy our walk before I don my apron and prepare the lunch.

That is it from me apart from a special message to my school friend Geraldine to congratulate her on the birth of her grandson. I know how she will be feeling as having a grandchild is an emotional and wonderful thing to happen to parents.

Till next week, cheers for now,

Masha