Last day in England with Amanda and Andy, Marks and Spencers, Sunday roast and more ludo. Flight home, preparing for Christmas and other stories of the week.

 Madrid, Sunday 21st December, 2025

Sunday roast with my dear friends at The Linney in Coffinswell

Good morning again.

Here I am at home with only a few days to go to Christmas while just last Sunday I was still in England enjoying my final day with Amanda and Andy. 

That day we woke up to the news of the mass shooting and killing of innocent Jews celebrating Hanukkah on Bondi Beach in Australia. Two gunmen killed 15 people including a child. Killing for the sake of killing. It's horrible. 

Far away in Devon, I went to M&S - my favourite store in the UK - with Andy for one last trip. It was to get some M&S perishable food I wanted to take home. It opened at 9.30 but you couldn't start paying until 10 am. There was already a queue at the Torquay store when we got there.

I had to have one more visit to M&S on my last day in England

This was that morning's stash.

Last purchases at Marks and Spencer 

It was only when I got home to Madrid,  I realised I had left my prized sausage rolls in my friends' fridge and that instead of the delicious salmon paté I had bought 2 packs of prawn salad which expired the next day. Silly me.

Next on the agenda was a brisk walk with Amanda before our lunch out. It's very steep where they live and there was quite a hill to climb on the way back which Andy refuses to climb. I see his point. Soon we were in their lovely new Volvo again and on our way to The Linny at Coffinswell. We had gone to have a proper British Sunday roast and had chosen the right place. If I said last week that a trip to England is not complete without fish and chips, it is not complete  without a Sunday roast either. I was in for a treat. Well, we all were. Here are some photos of that lovely lunch and pub with its thatched roof.  I chose the one of the three of us for this week's feature photo, just before we dug in. 

Sunday roast at The Linny with my dear friends last Sunday

My only problem was choosing between roast lamb or beef and went for the former. The roasts came with all the trimmings, including a very well presented Yorkshire pudding. Dessert was a delicious strawberry pavlova with the meringue just right. 

We came home bursting full and we all  decided to watch the latest Downton Abbey Film, the Grand Finale. Unfortunately we all started falling asleep so we gave it up and Amanda and I played our last games of Ludo - well, Parchis, the more strategic Spanish version.  We played so often we got Andy to take a photo for the record. This is it.

Playing Ludo (parchis) with Amanda

Later we had some dinner as I couldn't resist the M&S food on offer and played more games of Sevens before we retired to bed.

Monday came, the day of my departure when my poor friends had to drive me  to Bristol airport and back which was a 4 hour drive for them.

I packed, hoping that everything I had bought at M&S and mostly food, would fit in my suitcase and not go over the 23kg limit. I had 12.5kg free space but when Andy weighed my case it was 26kg so I had to offload quite a lot of the food into my PC bag which would prove unbearably heavy. I also took a large carrier bag of food which I would put into a Duty Free bag at the airport so as to be able to get on my 
Easy Jet flight without infringing the rules although I was of course flouting them.

It rained  when we left but I didn't mind as we had had great weather. My flight was at 13.45 and we were at the airport well on time. It was sad to say goodbye to my wonderful friends and hosts who I hope to see again soon in the New Year.

I got a trolley for all my things but had to give it up when I went through security which was strict although I wasn't searched again. Once in the departure lounge, in need of a Duty Free bag to carry my M&S stuff on board, I had to buy some more chocolate (hahaha). Then I grabbed a sandwich, some water and a coffee at Starbucks and with no hands free walked the tortuous way to my departure gate with my unbearable load.  I didn't realise it but I nearly missed the plane if it hadn't been for two kind cleaners who handed me a wheelchair to place all my stuff on.  I think I was the last but one on and asked two Chinese boys to carry my stuff on board which they kindly did. 

The flight was smooth but once again I had the challenge of walking at the airport in Madrid with all my stuff and no trolley. I am now determined to buy a small suitcase that can go in the cabin free of charge and that has wheels. My back is still suffering from carrying that awfully heavy PC case. But I made it. I had ordered an Uber for the first time to save Eladio driving to the airport. It was an ok experience as I didn't know where the pick up point was and the driver was late. He was called Volodymyr so I guessed he was Ukrainian. He was and we had an interesting chat on the way home. He settled in Spain in 2016 so wasn't caught in the war nor did he sign up but who can judge him. 

And there was my wonderful husband waiting for me in the street as I hadn't taken my keys with me. He is always there, my steadfast partner. It had taken 8h door to door. I unpacked all the food and the Christmas presents I had bought. Suzy joined us for dinner and I offered them a splendid spread from M&S. It was good to be back, to be with my family which includes dear Pippa.

I slept so so but it was nice to wake up in my own bed on Tuesday morning. It was pyjama day at our grandchildren's school. They were delighted as you can see in the photo Oli sent me. 

Pyjama day at school for Juliet and Elliot on Tuesday

Meanwhile, Eladio and I had work to do; that is put up the tree and all the Christmas decorations. Here is Eladio bringing the big box.

Eladio bringing up Christmas from the garage haha

Eladio did the tree and the lights and Suzy decorated it while I put up all the other decorations, including my mechanical toys, in the lounges and dining room. As we put everything up carols were playing in the background as is the tradition in our house. I think it took us less than 2 hours to have everything done and dusted. Finally Christmas had come to our house. 

Our little tree with its 10 or more year old lights which are still going, at least some of them, hahaha.

Apart from putting up the tree and decorating the house, it was quite a lazy day. This year all my Christmas shopping has been done at M&S and here in the comfort of our home on Amazon. Parcels arrived all week and now I have everything ready but in a cupboard. We can't put the presents under the tree because Juliet and Elliot still believe in Father Christmas and would be surprised to see them before the big day. I got Eladio to wrap everything up which took him a while. Poor man has had a cold this week which he caught from Tana. I am waiting to catch it from them  any moment but so far, so good, I'm ok. Let's hope it stays that way. 

On Wednesday morning I had an appointment at the Spanish Treasury office to renew my digital certificate, a sort of digital ID - the one I have to use online especially for filing income tax returns. It was a bore to go but had to be done. Later at home I downloaded it on my PC and managed also to get it to work on mobile. I am now good for another 3 years. 

We did most of the Christmas food shopping after that although I had to go back a couple of times to get ingredients for new recipes I tried out this week. 

Suzy had to go to work that morning as during the festive season they will be working in a different hospital. She later came back bringing a huge Christmas hamper that Sodexho gave to all their employees. We were all very impressed and congratulated her. This was the content of the big box she brought home.

The contents of Suzy's big Christmas hamper from Sodexho

She is a bit down these days and I'm not sure why. It's maybe because she finds herself once again alone after her recent trips to see friends in Vitoria and Castellón and the visit of her friends from London which took place while I was away. I think she is feeling a bit flat but I do hope she cheers up for Christmas. She told me she doesn't care much about life these days which I hope is only temporary. She works at the weekend and bank holidays so will have to work on Christmas and New Year's Day but that's good for her. 

That night I did a very silly thing. I wanted to free up space on my lovely Samsung S25 and deleted over 1000 files. It was only later One Drive - the cloud storage I use from Microsoft - sent me an email directing me to my recycle bin. I checked on my PC and realised I had nearly deleted everything on my PC, including my father's book and all my Airbnb stuff. Thankfully I was able to restore everything but had to do it file by file as you can't see the content of the files in the bin. That was a shock but all is good now. I hate to imagine what would have happened otherwise.  Oh I do hate tech sometimes.

It was on Thursday that Eladio woke up with a cold. Thus I went on our walk alone but with Pippa of course. That morning was Juliet's class Christmas show which I wish Oli had told me about as I would have gone. I only knew when she sent the photos.  Here is one of my cheeky, smiling 4 year old granddaughter, Juliet enjoying her moment of fame.

Juliet during her class Christmas show this week which we missed. 

I didn't see Juliet but I did see Oli who was working afternoons this week. She came to make a French quiche pie as her entry for this year's language food competition. She had made a trial run and baked her final entry at our house. Suzy later took it the Language school and "cor blimey", Oli later found out she had come first. Well done Oli.  This was her quiche.

Oli's winning quiche for the language school food competition this week which she won. 

She made a small one for us which we had with coleslaw made by Suzy. 

Coleslaw made by Suzy and Olis mini quiche which we enjoyed for lunch this week

I, meanwhile, made a dish I love but have never made before. Called "fideua" it's like paella but with vermicelli. I got the recipe from Instagram which you can see here. This is what it looked like on my plate at lunch that day.

Fideua made by me this week

We were rather stuffed but pleasantly so as it was great to eat different food, or not our usual. I made quite a few different dishes this week to add to my rather limited range of dishes we normally eat.  

I spent most of the afternoon watching comfort TV. Finding nothing on any streaming platform, I dug into my collection of favourite DVDs and watched The Inn of Sixth Happiness with Ingrid Bergman which I have watched countless times and never tire of. It was made in 1958 and I still love it. 

That night one of our last guests of the year, Laura, arrived but I didn't see her as she is a repeat guest and picks up the keys herself. 

Friday came and it was Elliot's class Christmas show this time which we only got to see in photos again. He did his part well and I loved his green jumper with  pompoms on it. 

Elliot during his class Christmas performance on Friday

I did a lot of cooking that day. In the morning I made a chicken curry for us and a vegetarian version for Suzy both of which we are still eating. I only went out to get a prescription and some ingredients for dinner that night. Oli and family were coming for dinner and I wanted to make a special one. For the first time ever I made a creamy  "bisque soup" which Eladio always chooses if it's on the menu when we eat out. He later told me it was restaurant quality. I think it was and it's a pity I didn't take a photo. Once again I got the recipe from Instagram which you can find here. I also served them some of the coleslaw and fideua as well as our famed perushki pies for the kids and the amazing M&S duck parfait. For dessert I made mini fruit tarts as we all love whipped cream. But there I had a problem as my Kenwood has broken down. Eladio helped me whip the cream with my trusted English hand whisk. If you don't know it, it's like this.

My old fashioned hand whisk with which we were able to whisk the cream for my mini fruit tarts

And these were them.

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My mini fruit tarts which I served for dessert on Friday night when Oli and family came for dinner

Oli and family will be spending Christmas Eve with Miguel's mother; I think for the first time, so I wanted to make Friday night's dinner something to remember. We had such a good time that night, I forgot to take photos. The only damper was that Suzy didn't join us. She doesn't usually eat dinner and was a bit down. Before they left, we opened the old oak chest in the hall which is full of our collection of disguises and Christmas hats, etc. The kids had a field day. That chest has been in our family at least since 1860 odd which we know because it is papered inside with newspaper with that date. Imagine. Just as they left, our last but one guest of the year, Dani, arrived and also picked up his keys.  

Saturday came and Eladio was feeling better so joined me and Pippa on our walk. He also had a decaf with me but we didn't go out. Suzy was at work and joined us for lunch which was, of course, leftovers. The fridge is groaning with food and the furthest thing from my mind is Mounjaro and a diet now that Christmas is here. I will think about that in the New Year when I can't get into my jeans. It's the same old story all my life.

It was yesterday that the much awaited but very redacted Epstein files were released. Images of the sexual predator's friends such as the former Prince Andrew, Michael Jackson (no surprise) and Bill Clinton, without being totally compromising, lead me to understand they all took part in his obscene behaviour and were a part of it all. 

It was just before lunch that our very last guest of the day, Joaquín, a student from Peru, arrived. He will be here until 24th when we shut shop for Christmas. It has been a very good year, not quite as good as last year but I'm not complaining. 

And today is Sunday and we wont' be doing much. It's four days to Christmas so let me take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy Christmas. I made a photo for the occasion which I am happy to include here.

Happy Christmas from Eladio and I

I think I chose the best photo of the two of us taken this year. It was at a dinner in the summer with our friends Gerardo and Irene, their spouses and Andy and Amanda, at Quënco, the restaurant where we had our wedding reception. My husband, though, was much more creative and sent a lovely festive message to our friends. This was it in Spanish and below a poor translation: "Queridos amigos, la Navidad aviva el recuerdo de todo lo bueno que nos ha pasado en la vida y vosotros formáis parte de ese todo, que ha resistido el paso del tiempo.Feliz Navidad y feliz año nuevo.Un abrazo grande. Masha y Eladio" . translation: Dear friends, Christmas rekindles memories of all the good things that have happened to us in life and you form part of it which has stood the test of time. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year". He couldn't have worded it better. 

That's it from me for this week. Enjoy Christmas.

Cheers Masha

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