Shaldon, near Teignmouth, South Devon, UK, Sunday 13th September, 2026
 |
| Group photo of my teenage friends and their partners taken at Amanda's 70th birthday party last night. From left to right: Chris, Simon, Gael, Sarah, Mark, Gill, Amanda, Andy, me and Eladio. |
Dear all.
I am writing today from Shaldon in Devon where we have come to partake in the celebrations of my dearest friend Amanda's 70th birthday. What a week it has been but it hasn't finished. She turns 70 today and there will be a final gathering of her family and friends.
We have been friends since starting at school together in Class 1 Kappa at St. Joseph's College (SJC), Bradford in West Yorkshire. Bradford was and probably still is one of Britain's grimmest cities. I think it was 1968 and we were about 11 and our friendship grew from our first day at St. Joseph's. It was a Catholic Grammar School for girls run by Irish nuns where my mother had taught and she loved it. Neither of us were Catholics nor born in Yorkshire (she was born in Bristol while I was born in Cambridge), nor had we passed the awful 11 Plus which is why we went to SJC and not Bradford Girls Grammar. Amanda remembers we had to take an exam to get in which I don't remember. I was tall at the time although nearly all the girls outgrew me later and Amanda was small. She was thin and I was fat which always made us laugh. She was the clever one who went on to study at Oxford and I was much lazier and just scraped into Nottingham University. I was the naughty girl she loved to egg on and I always got into trouble while the teachers thought she was angelic. In one of her school reports a teacher wrote: "Better away from Maria" as I was known at the time. That really hurt I can tell you. But she took no notice of the teacher.
 |
| Amanda and I outside the 6th form common room and below with our group of friends on what I think was our last day at school. I am in the back row second to the right. Amanda is on the front row and first on the left. Wow, what memories. At that moment we had our whole lives ahead of us. Did we do it right? |
Amanda's parents knew mine and her older brother, Simon, who did pass his 11 plus (haha) was at Bradford Grammar School where my father taught. It was through Simon that Amanda and I made lots of BGS friends some of whom we are still friends with today. Both Chris and Mark are here today and and of course Andy, who is now her husband. I have fond memories of Amanda's family as she does of mine. We go back a long way and it's marvellous that our friendship has lasted so long. Little did we know back in September 1968 that I would be living in Spain and coming out to celebrate her 70th birthday with my Spanish husband Eladio. So now you know more about her, let me rewind, as usual to the beginning of the week.
Last Sunday was our first day back home after returning from our second stay in Montrondo. It was much hotter in Madrid; almost unbearable and was a bit of a shock after the cooler weather in the village. Our house was full of guests. This week we had people from Slovenia, Croatia, Spain and Colombia and this weekend we have a lady from France and a lady from Serbia - that's nearly all the Balkans. Suzy, Eladio and I went out to do the shopping which is unusual on a Sunday but we were leaving for England the next day so there wasn't much time. We all have different tastes and each ate something different while Tana had the weekend off which she much deserved.
I had a siesta in our air conditioned room and later tried to pack for Devon where the temperature would be 20 degrees less. I do wish now I had brought a proper coat.
Monday came, the day of our departure but our Easy Jet flight to Bristol was not leaving until 21.50 - very late. That gave me plenty of time to pack all our essentials and the list is endless. Suzy took us to the airport where it was 37ºc - could you believe it? She took a photo of the two of us to remember the moment.
We had an awful outward journey. Our Easy Jet flight was delayed until 22.30 and didn't actually leave until 11 0'clock at night. We had hours and hours to kill at the airport and I, of course, was dying for a "fag". Poor Andy was waiting for us at Bristol airport where it was raining and quite cold. He drove us home which took forever as there were major roadworks on the motorway. It seemed to take forever until we reached our Airbnb in Shaldon and I think we went to bed at past 3 in the morning. It was a nightmare of a journey. Thankfully, Andy and Amanda had picked up our keys earlier in the day. They had also bought some Weetabix and milk for our breakfast.
I must have slept about 4 hours only and was up on Tuesday morning to more rain. It rained until midday and thankfully, after that, the weather improved; all week in fact. So finally I have seen Devon in the sunshine. I went out early in the morning to buy provisions for breakfast at the village shop and when we had been fed and I'd had my two coffees, we ventured outside. We didn't have to be at Amanda and Andy's until 2ish, so we had time to walk around Shaldon - a pretty coastal village near Teignmouth in South Devon. Here is a photo of our Airbnb (actually I got it on Booking) and one of me by the harbour in Shaldon.
 |
| The building where are apartment in Shaldon is and me by the beach. Not beach weather as you can see. |
Our first call of port just had to be Marks and Spencer. To get there I managed to find a taxi to Torbay which isn't far but difficult to get to. We spent a good 2.5h inside my favourite store in the UK which is perhaps top of the list of the things I miss most about my birth country. We got clothes but also stocked up on food from the amazing Food Hall for the times we weren't eating with our friends.
 |
| Marks and Spencers in Torbay was our first port of call after arriving in England! |
We then got another taxi to Andy and Amanda's house. If you are wondering why we aren't staying there the answer is simple; between us all; her friends and family, we just don't fit so it was decided everyone, even her kids would stay somewhere else. I have stayed there many times but it was Eladio's first visit and he loved their home with its fabulous views of the sea.
 |
| Andy and Amanda's house |
We were very privileged that day to be invited to lunch after the arrival of Andy's son and partner, Johnathan and Dani and their 6 month old baby, Flynn, who Andy and Amanda were seeing for the first time. That is because they live in Australia and see each other not as much as they would want. It was beautiful to see them together. When they had gone, Amanda and I played a game of Ludo, or rather the Spanish version called "Parchis" which we are both mad about. I went "home" later and Eladio and I went for a wonderful walk in the village and across the bridge to Teignmouth.
 |
| By the bridge to Teignmouth (pronounced Tinmuth) in Shaldon on our first evening in Devon. |
We came back to enjoy yummy gourmet M&S food including my favourite; white crab meat. I don't like fish very much (apart from fish and chips) but I adore seafood.
I slept well that night and woke up on Wednesday morning after 6.5h sleep. After breakfast we walked to Teignmouth and enjoyed a walk along the seafront.
 |
| On the seafront in Teignmouth on Wednesday morning |
I had hoped to find some good shops but was disappointed. There were lots of charity shops but not much else. Amanda says Teignmouth is run down but we liked it. Instead of walking back to Shaldon we caught the quaint ferry from Back Beach.
 |
| Catching the ferry to Shaldon from Teignmouth on Wednesday morning |
There was time for a coffee at Amanda's favourite café, The Strand from where our friends picked us up later. We drove to The Linny pub in Coffinswell, a marvelous 14th century establishment where we were to have lunch with their offspring and grandsons, Cord, Johnathan, Danny, Jane, Peter and little Flynn and Louis. It was great food - Eladio and I chose a Sunday roast even if it wasn't Sunday. The company was great too. As we left we had some group photos taken by the pub. This was one of them.
 |
| Group photo outside The Linny in Coffinswell on Wednesday. What a wonderful lunch we had. |
After that it was back to our friends' house where Amanda and I played Ludo again. Later she drove me "home". I wasn't hungry for dinner but we had so many M&S delicacies I had had to have something. To work it off we went on a rather cold and blustery walk.
Thursday came and it was cold, at least for us "Spaniards". I had looked up shops in Shaldon but only found one open, Helen, it was called. There I bought 2 lovely jumpers. In the picture below I am wearing the white one.
 |
| My new white jumper from Shaldon |
We had time to kill until Andy and Amanda were coming to pick us up again and decided to visit the Botanical Gardens. There was a lot of steep climbing to get there but it was worth it.
 |
| At the Botanical Gardens in Shaldon |
The walk home was a bit scary, on a main road with no pavement. Amanda told me later that a woman my age had been run over and killed there a week ago.
They picked us up later from our lodgings, "Osborne House" and we drove to a place I had heard of but never been to. Brixham is supposed to be Britain's biggest fishing port. We found it very attractive, a bit like a larger version of Robin Hood's Bay in Yorkshire or Cudillero in Spain. Again we were having lunch with the family and it was at a fish restaurant by the harbour called Fish Rock. There Eladio and I had dressed crab which I adore and can't get in Spain. That was followed by fresh fish and chips which I could not finish. However, I could finish the divine dessert: "sticky toffee pudding". When lunch was over, again we did a sort of photo shoot to remember the day and which I am happy to share with you here.
 |
| Some photos from our outing to Brixham where we went for lunch on Thursday |
The skies cleared a bit after lunch and we walked along the main street. I tried to explain the concept of English seaside towns to Eladio as there is no comparison. Only English people reading this will understand me: the slot machines, rock, cockles and welts, ice cream in any weather, mini funfairs, a pier, beach huts. All of this is because of the unpredictable weather of course. In Spain, none of this is needed. But I liked seeing it all again as it reminded of my childhood family holidays at the seaside. When I was small, there were lots of Donkeys to ride but I am so glad that is no longer a part of British seaside holidaying as it is so cruel to those lovely animals. My husband got very excited - and he never gets excited - when he saw a replica of a ship called "The Golden Hind". Naturally, as we are in Devon, it was Sir Francis Drake's ship. And, naturally, for any Spaniard, Drake is considered a pirate and a thief. My husband explained with great laughter how the latter stole Spanish gold bullion from ships coming from South America. Queen Elizabeth I knighted him on that same ship in reward for plundering Spanish riches. So you see, the British regard him as a national hero and the Spaniards as a pirate and thief, hahaha.
And here he is on the said ship which he later read about with great interest. I was happy to see him excited about something for once as he is usually very placid and always on an even keel. I am the one who is more up and down.
 |
| Eladio on board the replica of Sir Francis Drake's Golden Hind in Brixham. |
Time with our friends in Brixham came to an end after Eladio's visit to the ship. But our day did not end there as on the way home, we stopped for another visit to M&S. We also went to Sainsbury's to get a few items but it was gigantic and freezing inside, we didn't get much. At M&S we bought a lovely jumper for Eladio. Here he is trying it on.
 |
| Eladio's new M&S jumper |
He wanted to wear it immediately which he did, except that the assistant hadn't removed the tag .We were stopped by security and had to have it removed. I remarked to the shop assistant that if it had been in the USA he would have been taken to a cell. She replied he would be the best dressed man there hahahaha.
We finally got home, too late for a siesta, tired, a bit cold but very happy. We have had a marvellous time, enjoying every minute. I slept well that night too.
The week flew past and suddenly it was Friday. It wasn't any other Friday. It was 11th September, 9/11and the 25th anniversary of the bombings. How life has changed since then. We now have Trump in government. This week he announced he would give 5000 dollars to everyone who voted for him in the Mid term elections. He is literally buying votes, except that he does not have the 1.3 trillion dollars necessary to keep his word. In Spain, the PM Pedro Sánchez also wants to hang on to power. He is trying to give the vote to 2.5 million people; the grandchildren of those who fled the country after being on the losing side in the Spanish Civil War. He has already bought more votes this year by giving residency to 1.5 million immigrants who, will, when it comes to it, of course vote for him. And only this week his party voted to grant citizenship to 200.000 people from the Western Sahara! He has to go, his governance after the invasion of Ceuta has been abominable. Oli will see what is happening in Ceuta with her own eyes this week as she is being sent there to cover the topic for her TVE programme. She will be there for 10 days so I think we won't see her next week.
Anyway, back to Devon and more pleasant subjects.
Friday was the only day we had to ourselves and we spent it in Exeter, the county town of Devon where I had never been. Devon had never been my stomping ground - that is Yorkshire - but I do like it. We took the ferry to Teignmouth again from where we caught a train to Exeter. The journey was pretty short and took under an hour from door to door. I was enamoured with the city as soon as we walked out of the pretty train station. We were soon on the High Street full of shops and lovely Tudor buildings.
 |
Beautiful Tudor houses on the High Street in Exeter
|
I spied a Lakeland, a British shop that sells great kitchen ware and bought bits and bobs there including two sillicone poached egg moulds, one for us and one for Oli. I also got toast tongs and some lovely pegs. From there we walked to the Cathedral, a mixture of English Gothic and Norman style. Here is a photo. In the picture too is a statue of a priest and theologian, Richard Hooker (an unfortunate name these days).He is famous for shaping mainstream Anglican doctrine and is said to have been of great influence to John Locke.
 |
Exeter Cathedral
|
We then spotted a nice looking café called Côte where I had a wonderful decaf cappuccino and admired my surroundings. Exeter is a quintessential British city and I thought it was beautiful.
On my to do list for this week in England was to have an afternoon tea. I did my homework on the train and found a place by the cathedral called
Eat on the Green in another beautiful Tudor house. I had to order and pay for the said afternoon tea on the phone which was well worth it. They gave us the best seat in the restaurant and this was what I was served. Just look.
 |
| My amazing afternoon tea at Eat on the Green in Exeter on Friday |
Eladio and I are chalk and cheese in our preferences for food and he went for a full English breakfast. We were having lunch but who cares. I could only eat half of my afternoon tea and took a doggy bag home. Couldn't waste even a morsel of the clotted cream could I?
Later we went into M&S (again), this time to get underwear for Oli - bras and thongs which she had chosen online previously. While there I got more knickers, socks and bras for me too. Love that shop. I also love Boots where we went too to get things like E45 cream. When we had shopped till we had to stop, we headed home and were in Teignmouth well on time to catch the last ferry back to Shaldon.
We bought some more milk and fruit (lovely British strawberries) at the Village Shop on our way home. We had had a very enjoyable day out. But I had homework to do, as I did every day this week - writing each day of my blog as I could not do it all in one go today - no way. At the same time I was texting with Amanda who was fretting about her speech and also with Pili who was back in Montrondo with other members of the family.
And that was Friday. Now on to Saturday which was very special too.
I was up really early as, between you and me, I am like the captain of the ship who couldn't remember port is left and starboard is right. My problem is I never know if it is an hour later in Spain or in England. I thought I was up at 7 am but it actually was 6 am, dammit.
The news that made the most impact on me yesterday was about AI. We all use it, it gets better every day but Oh my God it is becoming dangerous. Jacob Coxon, an Anglo French AI researcher quit his role as a training researcher at Anthropic (Claude) this week. He also left Open AI (Chat GPT) previously. He did so while issuing a warning on his
X handle that has gone viral. He believes that these AI companies are "gambling with our lives" and that "advanced AI could cause human destruction by 2030". He warns it will soon be smart enough to kill us. The race is on to create super human AI which, obviously, could make it more intelligent than human beings. Someone wrote this week that we will be like apes and the machine like humans and we will be outsmarted. Dangerous? Yeah, extremely. He isn't the only one who thinks this in the industry. The real scare came some time ago when Open AI went rogue and autonomously hacked a digital library and platform called Hugging Face. This has to be controlled, but how if these AI platforms are competing with each other? I don't know the answer but the whole issue is one of the most frightening we are up against in this generation. Does it frighten you? Hopefully, this will never happen and it will be controlled on time because AI should and has to be developed for our benefit and our benefit only.
My thoughts were interrupted by the agenda of the day. On Saturday morning we were having an amazing reunion with a friend of Olivia's from her Erasmus year in Falmouth, UK in 2006. We were meeting dear Sandeep who lives and works in Plymouth, not far from here. Eladio and I had met him and his soul mate, Summit, who are both from India, when we went to visit our daughter in Cornwall. I have to say we hit it off immediately. Falmouth University specialises in Film Studies and both "boys" now work in the industry. Sandeep is an editor for TV programmes such as Love Island and Summit who lives in Bombay is a script writer for Bollywood. Olivia went on to become a TV reporter and presenter but her beginnings in that genre happened in Falmouth when they did all sorts of videos together. We met them again when they came to stay with us in 2010 but that is 16 years ago. Suzy also became friends with Sandeep when she lived in London. So when Sandeep (Sandy to his friends) reached out to me this week to see if we could meet, I was so happy. We agreed on yesterday and I booked a table for a late breakfast at The Strand in Shaldon. I kept the reunion secret from Olivia and Suzy and then we rang them both. Oli nearly had a heart attack and ended up sobbing with emotion. Suzy's reaction was similar. We have all agreed that Sandy must come and stay with us soon. It was so good to catch up although I didn't have to tell him much as he is a loyal reader of my blog. When we first met the boys and Oli were around 21. Now they are in their early 40's and we, of course, are old hahaha. After time at the café we took the ferry again to Teignmouth to see Sandeep off and were so grateful he took the time to come and see us. What a wonderful reunion. Here are some photos to remember yesterday.
 |
| Reunion with Sandeep yesterday |
Thank you Sandeep too for the lovely M&S goodie bag. You know me well:-)
After that we continued our walk along the seafront to the other end of Teignmouth where we took photos too, like this one.
 |
| Photo from our walk yesterday along the seafront of Teignmouth |
It's a lovely walk along a path between the sea front and the train line where I have walked before with Amanda and Andy but always in the winter with blustery and freezing cold weather. The sun was shining yesterday and the walk was very pleasant.
On our way back along the seafront to catch the ferry back to Shaldon, we stopped to share a portion of fish and chips which looked good and were good.
 |
| Sharing a take away portion of fish and chips yesterday with Eladio in Teignmouth |
Once in Shaldon where the ferry lands actually on the beach itself, it was a short walk back to our lodgings.
We weren't there for long as we had to be ready at 6.10 pm for our taxi to take us to
Riverford restaurant where the big birthday party dinner was taking place to celebrate Amanda's 70th which is actually today, Sunday.
Soon, Cordelia (commonly known as Cord), Amanda's daughter and her partner Tommy who were coming with us, arrived and we had some quality time together before I had to get all dressed up. Note I bought some high heels from M&S just for the occasion and they killed me all night but were worth it. A taxi drove us to Riverford where we had to be by 7pm. All the Bradford crowd from BGS were there and of course Amanda's family. The other people were many of her friends I knew the names of but had never met. I sat on a table next to some of the Bradford crowd and one man on my left I did not know. That always happens to me at big gatherings. But it didn't matter as talking to Mark, Chris and their wives Sarah and Gael was my highlight. There were speeches of course. I wasn't asked to make one but as Amanda's oldest friend there and having coming all the way from Spain I thought it was my prerogative. If you can be bothered to read it or want to know more about our youth together, this was it:
"Good evening everyone. For those who don’t know me,
I am Masha Lloyd. I haven't actually been asked to make a speech tonight, but
as Amanda's oldest friend here—and having flown all the way from Spain—I've
decided to make one anyway. We've been friends since starting school together
at St. Joseph's College, Bradford—England's grimmest city. It was 1968,
we were 11 years old, and St. Joseph's was a Catholic grammar school for girls
run by Irish nuns! Neither of us were Catholic, nor were we born in Yorkshire,
so we stuck out like two sore thumbs. Mind you, we can both do a cracking
Yorkshire accent when it suits us! The real reason we ended up there, though,
is that neither of us passed the dreaded 11 Plus. Now, here's another secret that very few of you
will know. In those days, we went by completely different names—Maria and
Sharon. But that’s a story for another day... and definitely another drink. Back then, I was tall—before every other girl in
the class outgrew me—and Amanda was small. I was the fat one, she was the thin
one, so naturally we called ourselves Laurel and Hardy. She was the clever one
who went to Oxford; I was the lazy one who scraped into Nottingham. I was the
naughty girl Amanda loved to egg on. I always got caught, while the teachers
were convinced she was an absolute angel. Only I knew she wasn’t one. Although
she looked like one with her golden hair and pretty face. No one was surprised
when she was given the part of the Good Angel in Marlowe's Dr Faustus.
I, meanwhile, was cast as one of the buffoons. A teacher even wrote in one of
her school reports: "Better away from Maria." Thankfully,
Amanda ignored her completely. Loyal doesn't even begin to describe her. But it
was always her quick thinking and brilliant sense of humour that sparked our
friendship. Her older brother Simon—who did pass his 11
Plus and is here tonight—was incredibly important in our teenage years. He went
to Bradford Grammar School, where my father, Mr Lloyd, was a teacher. Through
Simon, we met a whole gang of boys from his school, three of whom are here
tonight: Chris Vigrass, Mark Ashley, and Andy Myers who is now Amanda's
husband. All three boys were in my father's class, and much to his despair,
I hosted rather a lot of raucous parties at our home at 6 Heaton Grove. Mark,
thank you for being such a marvellous bouncer at those parties! Amanda has been there for me at every major moment
of my life both good and bad. Thank you,
my friend. She always says my parents were like surrogate parents to her, which
I suppose makes me her surrogate sister—though honestly, there’s no 'surrogate'
about it. Back in 1968, two 11-year-old girls in Bradford
could never have imagined we'd be here toasting her 70th birthday tonight. So
please, raise your glasses with me—to friendship, to family, and to Amanda, who
is somehow, impossibly, 70 tomorrow. Cheers!"
We all had a grand time even though we didn't all know each other and it must have been marvellous for my friend to gather all the people she loves most together in one place. I didn't take any photos as the lighting was not conducive. But someone took a few of us as a group and I got Chat GPT to improve it. That's the photo I have chosen as this week's feature photo. I think AI made our faces look younger but I'm not complaining about that. I forgot to ask it to remove the Exit sign but never mind.
All good things come to an end and this lovely 70th birthday party dinner went far too fast. Suddenly Cord was telling me it was 11pm and our taxi was arriving. My feet were happy but not my head. We were in bed past midnight and oh dear, oh dear, I only got 4.5h sleep last night and woke up today, Sunday, at 6 am UK time.
And here I am writing now on our last full day in England. Today is going to be great as the party continues with brunch at Amanda's house this morning. My present should be arriving in the middle of it. Not knowing what to get her as she literally has everything, I resorted to an indoor plant or planter which I was able to order online locally here. The Flower Corner in Torquay sent me a photo of it yesterday and I hope she likes it.
 |
| Our birthday present to Amanda which will be delivered today during the day party. |
I have come to the end of my stories for this week which has been such fun. Oh how I love being with my dearest friend and spending time in England. Chris said to me last night when he asked what I most miss about my birth country - M&S, the BBC, English puddings, fish and chips, Sunday roasts, curries, afternoon tea, the English sense of humour, Church on Sunday, hearing my language spoken everywhere; just to name some - he replied "you never really left". With my body I did but not with my mind.
And that's it for today. Cheers all and have a great day. Till next Sunday,
