Sunday 16th August 2015
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| On the lighthouse walk with Pippa in Gran Alacant |
Hi everyone,
It’s Sunday
again and blog day. Last week I wrote
from Montrondo. After publishing my blog
post, Eladio, Toño, Dolores and I went to Senra to get bread for lunch and also
to have a cup of coffee at the only bar there called Cumbres de Omaña run by a
very grumpy owner.
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| Eladio with Pippa and his next brother down Toño in Senra last Sunday |
Meanwhile Pili
stayed behind to take her Mother to mass.
Mass in Montrondo is the only “entertainment” and is the occasion for
locals to go out, dress up and chit chat after church. Here is a photo of Pili standing on her
balcony all ready to take her Mother out.
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| Pili ready to go to mass last Sunday in Montrondo |
It was to be
Pippa’s last few hours in Montrondo too.
She had a great time as the village is certainly a great place for dogs
compared to most public places in Spain – more about that later. One of her favourite spots is Toño and Dolores’s
wooden rail sleeper steps that lead up to her house and I caught her on camera
looking as sweet as she is in real life.
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| Pippa loves Montrondo |
We left after
a short siesta and were home by 9.30pm where Olivia was waiting for us as were
the other dogs, Norah and Elsa. The best
thing about coming home is always being able to sleep in your own bed and ours
is the best in the world, for us, at least.
On Monday
morning on my walk I realized how the temperatures had dropped compared to the
previous week; but never as low as they can get in Montrondo of course. Here I am on that first walk after coming
home, complete with my earphones to listen to music via Spotify.
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| About to go on my walk last Monday morning |
I had a lot of
work to do that day. We were to announce
a tiny increase in the setup fee in our lower end tariffs, from 18.5 cents to
20 cents, more in line with the market but we got a lot of stick from consumers
on Facebook and Twitter which was to be suspected. We dealt with it as best we could but it wasn’t
an easy task. Yoigo brought cheap mobile
phone prices to an expensive market in 2006 and has been lowering them ever
since and a one and a half cent increase is only in line with the market and
makes the tariffs more viable for us.
Water, petrol and electricity bills go up; so I think it’s fair that
after nearly 9 years an increase of 1.5 cents is understandable and that
companies have to make money and do not exist to offer free phones and free
data and voice tariffs; something people tend to forget.
That evening I
read more of the Grant County book series by Karin Slaughter as I tried to keep
my mind off Suzy’s pending operation.
The waiting is the worst part.
On Tuesday I
read with astonishment that 2 people were stabbed to death in an Ikea store in
its home market Sweden. It’s very rare
to hear stories like this one from such a peaceful country. It would have made great material for a new
book by Stieg Larsson if he had lived.
I’m sure.
That morning
whilst I was reading the news on my iPad having breakfast, I learned that
Google is to be called Alphabet or rather that the holding company will be
called Alphabet; Google just being a part of it. As a communications person I’m not sure that
makes much sense as the Google brand is so strong I`m pretty certain it will
carry on being called that by everyone.
But the most
interesting news, for me at least that morning, was when I learned that Atul
Kochhar, the only Indian chef with a Michelin star, is to open a “colonial style” restaurant called Benarés (same name as the famous Ganges town aka
Varanasi) in Madrid in September. Now I am looking forward to that. I love Indian food and am keen to see how
this endeavor goes down with Spaniards who do not like hot and spicy food. Will he tone it down to meet their palates I
wonder?
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| Atul Kochhar the first Indian chef to earn a Michelin star. He will be opening a restaurant called Benares in Madrid soon |
We left for
Santa Pola, a 420km drive, and arrived at our flat in Gran Alacant (an
urbanization some 4k from Santa Pola on the Alicante road) just after 2. After
a quick clean up and unpacking I made a makeshift lunch of steak and salad
washed down by gazpacho. It was very hot
and humid, more than usual even for August so I kept taking a shower the
effects of which didn’t last more than about 10 minutes.
Apart from unpacking and cleaning and having lunch, one of my first tasks was to set up my office. The dining room table doubles as my work space at the flat as you can see from this photo.
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| My working space at the flat is part of the dining room table |
After lunch and a siesta we sat on our cool
terrace which thankfully doesn’t get the sun in the afternoon. Here is Eladio with Pippa on the terrace
where we read and drank tea until it was time to go to the beach.
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| Eladio with Pippa on our terrace in Gran Alacant |
We always
avoid going to the beach in the middle of the day because of the heat, the
crowds and the impossibility to park, so that day we went down at 7.30 pm.
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| Our beach . you can see the apartments where we live on the cliff at the end of the photo |
On the signs
with rules about the beach it was clear dogs were not allowed. When we were last there in March we never
spied the sign and saw lots of dogs on the beach. So I told Eladio it was
probably a rule that most people broke.
Unwillingly he agreed to take Pippa down to the beach but from then on
was worried about what people would say.
Most people thought she was gorgeous and didn’t seem to worry. However
she did appear to be the only dog there.
We took her for a walk on her leash and not on the beach shore where
people were which made it very difficult for us to walk. Eladio, seeming more British than I, decided
we should give up on the walk and go home as he didn’t like breaking the rule
about no dogs on the beach. So, no beach
for poor Pippa and it got worse. There
were signs too in the gardens of our complex forbidding dogs. That rule I passed on.
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| Spain is no country for dogs in public places |
We tried
taking her to the communal swimming pool which didn’t seem to feature
forbidding dogs in its list of rules.
But as soon as we walked in, an unpleasant man who was an obvious dog
hater told us we shouldn’t have brought her in.
When we protested saying there was no rule in the list about dogs, he
answered it was common sense not to take them there. Eladio obeyed and I stayed behind feeling
furious with the country I love, Spain which I now know is “no country for
dogs”. Many people have dogs in Spain
but animals in general here are not revered and have never been so. Especially animals in the villages where they
often roam free and are not fed on a regular basis. The English, on the other hand, adore animals
be they dogs, cats, horses or donkeys and their tribulations form part of daily
news articles – not so here I can tell you and no self-respecting fireman would
be seen dead climbing up a tree either to rescue a cat. I just wish it was the
same here but it isn’t and dogs can only enjoy their homes and the countryside
until that perhaps will also become forbidden for them. I sincerely hope not. As one man commented to me on the beach,
Pippa looked a lot cleaner than many people there and I totally agree.
That night we
went to dinner to a new restaurant in Gran Alacant, Marandi, recommended to me
by Miguel, Oli’s boyfriend. According to
The Fork it is the most popular in the area. It was full of Nordic and French
customers. I didn’t see any Spaniards
except the staff. The meal was good. I
had fish and chips (surprised?) but the best part was the dessert which was apple
crumble. The fish and chips were ok but nowhere near the quality of Derby's Chippy which unfortunately we didn't get to go to this time.
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| The restaurant we went to on our first night at Gran Alacant |
That night we
slept with the fan on as it was so hot and humid. The next morning I was up at 7 and after a
quick cup of coffee I took Pippa with me for a long walk to the lighthouse on
the cliff at the Cape of Santa Pola. We
would do this every morning of our stay.
Sunrise was at 7.30 approx and the views from the cliff are
amazing. The photo illustrating this
week’s post is of Pippa and I at the lighthouse cliff which now boasts a new
and rather ugly pathway and balcony to take in the views of the nearby
inhabited island of Tabarca. I didn’t
like it and neither did Pippa.
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| Sunrise by the lighthouse on one of my morning walks. |
We spent most
of the day in the flat and went down to the beach again in the evening, this
time without Pippa who had to stay alone in the flat poor sweetie. That night
we were expecting to see lots of shooting stars in the skies thanks to the Perseid Meteor shower which was much advertised on
TV. Unfortunately it was too cloudy and
I never got to see them. They were
supposed to peak on the 11th, 12th and 13th
August.
But the main news in Spain both
last week and this week has been a crime in Cuenca, a quiet inland provincial
capital in between Madrid and Alicante.
Two young girls, Laura del Hoyo aged 24 and her Ukranian friend Marina
Okarynska went missing the week before and their bodies were found on Wednesday
night covered in quicklime by a passerby.
The autopsy proved their death had been violent and the cause
strangulation. At the same time Laura’s
ex-boyfriend Sergio Morate disappeared too and is the prime suspect of the
crime. Previously he had been in prison
for kidnapping and torturing an ex-girlfriend.
Laura had gone to his flat to pick up her things and was accompanied by
Marina. Sergio was found the next day in
Romania when he switched on his mobile phone.
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| Laura and Marina RIP |
Crimes like
this are uncommon in Spain and the news has shocked the country. Even the suspect’s family has disowned him. Whatever
could have been his motive? There is a famous film in Spain which is actually
called El Crimen de Cuenca (the crime of Cuenca) and in many articles this week
the story has been called the crime of Cuenca.
It’s a bit ironic as Cuenca is a sleepy little town where not much
happens.
Olivia covered
the story and the next day was sent to Cuenca to the funeral parlour along with
most of the Spanish press. Coincidentally
her boyfriend who is a cameraman for Spanish TVE in the Valencia region was
also there. That was the happy story of
the day.
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| Olivia with Miguel and one of his colleagues in Cuenca where they coincided on Thursday |
On Thursday
after my walk and breakfast Eladio and I decided to go the beach in the morning
too before it got too hot or the crowds appeared. It turned out to be a great decision as the
water at that time in the morning is much cooler and the walk along the beach
more pleasant without so many people.
Here is a photo of Eladio setting up our parasol and chairs.
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| Eladio setting up our space on the beach one morning |
We then came
home to let little Pippa out. We took
her to the new market which is comes on Thursdays and is now located diagonally
across from where we live. This is just
some of the lovely fruit we bought.
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| Fruit bought from the local market |
Then we had a
boring task to do; go to Alicante to the estate agent for our block of flats to
get a new clicker for the car park as ours had stopped working. Once back in Gran Alacant, we did a bit of
shopping at a new supermarket called Urbine which stocks some very good food as
well as a lot of British produce. There
are so many Brits in Gran Alacant which is why many of the local supermarkets
stock UK products. That makes me very
happy. I stocked up on Sharwoods curry
sauces and crumpets at Quicksave across the way from our flat.
Meanwhile in
London Suzy was seeing an EENT (ear eyes nose and throat) specialist as she had
an ear plug stuck up her ear since the beginning of July and which the local GP
couldn’t remove. It had bothered her for
more than a month, plus of course she couldn’t hear with that ear. At the same
time the consultant examined her throat to see the polyp there. It will be removed in September. They also discovered her blood pressure was
very low; not a good thing for her operation next week. I suspect it is because
of the vegan diet and she needs lots of iron and protein to be fit for the
laparoscopy and recovery.
Poor Suzy, she
has lots of health issues at the moment.
On the bright side she has lots of hope for her professional future after
an interview with a job agency which specializes in health care
professionals. One of the things he told
her is that London is saturated for jobs and that it would be easier to find
one outside London. He also said that if
she worked for a hospital as a locum dietitian she would be entitled to
hospital accommodation at a very reasonable price. I have been telling both her and lots of
other young Spaniards seeking their fortune in London, that they really should
try their luck elsewhere. I recently read
and commented here that in Yorkshire for example in just one year there had
been more jobs created there than in the whole of France.
That night
Eladio and I went out to dinner to Batiste, the best in town in Santa
Pola. We wanted to have an “arroz a
banda” (rice dish similar to a paella but in my opinion much nicer) before we
left. This is what it looked like.
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| The arroz a banda we had at Batiste. |
We would have far preferred to go to our favourite restaurant of all in the area, Maria Picola but for some unknown reason it has closed. I do hope it's not closed permanently.
Friday was
much like Thursday. I was up at 06.45
and the visibility on our walk that morning was super. We could see the island of Tabarca very
clearly, well I could. I’m not sure about Pippa haha. I was rather surprised to
find a completely naked man in his 40’s or 50’s doing exercise up on the cliff
by the lighthouse. He even said good
morning to which I replied but looking the other way. Later I saw him walking off with his shorts
on thank goodness. I suspect he didn’t expect to find anyone else so early on
the walk. Well he did didn’t he?
Friday was much like Thursday for us but for my nephew
Miguel who lives in Havana and for Cuba, the United States and the
International community it was a historic day.
Miguel lived history that day when he witnessed the hoisting of the US flag at the newly opened US Embassy in the Cuban capital. It had been closed
for 54 years. The ceremony was presided over by John Kerry, the first US
Secretary of State to visit Cuba in 70 years.
Apart from the significance of the opening of the Embassy which is part
of the thaw in relations, what I found most newsworthy about the occasion was
that the US flag which was raised last Friday was presented by the same US
marines who brought it down in 1961.
That is one hell of a story.
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| Photos posted by Miguel (in green) outside the US Embassy when the flag was hoisted - an historic moment he will never forget |
Saturday was our last day. I was up even earlier than usual at 06.30 and
went on my last walk to the lighthouse with Pippa.
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| The lighhouse we walked to every morning (Pippa and I) |
By 9 in the morning Eladio and I
were on the beach for the last time until we go back. Here is a selfie of the two of us just after
our last bathe.
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| A selfie with Eladio just after our last bathe on Saturday morning |
We went for a quick walk along the
uncrowded beach until it was time to return.
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| On the walk on the beach on Saturday morning |
On my return from the beach I always
went to the pool for a quick dip before having a shower in the flat. Well on Saturday morning it was completely
empty. I have no idea why. It’s a lovely pool mostly because of the
location, surrounded by a Mediterranean garden and overlooking the bay of
Alicante.
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| The pool belonging to our block of flats |
I couldn’t dally as we had a date
with our friends Jackie and John at Guardamar that morning before we left for
Madrid. We met at the port there which
is very pretty and had a coffee and a good hour’s chat to catch up on our
lives. I wish it had been longer. Here are my friends with Eladio by the port
yesterday. I’m very sorry Jackie that we
were half an hour late.
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| John, Eladio and Jackie at the port of Guardamar. |
The main mission that morning was to
see our friends but Jacky had also offered to take me to the cash and carry in
Torrevieja. However, Saturday was 15th
August, a holiday in Spain to celebrate the Assumption so it was closed. Instead they took us to Iceland in nearby
Marina. It was the biggest British
supermarket I have ever seen in Spain and reminded me of Lidl. Eladio wasn’t very interested of course as he
cannot understand my need or craving for certain British products. I always tell him that if it was the other
way round and he lived in England he would want to visit Spanish food shops for
sure to which he reluctantly agreed.
Here I stocked up on lots of things for my Father, Olivia and myself,
mostly crumpets again in my case. The place was so British even the cashier was
from the Isles. Actually he was Scottish and from Glasgow and I could hardly
understand a word he said as his glaswegian accent was so thick. Before saying
our goodbyes Jackie and I posed outside the shop with our trolleys. Thanks Eladio for this great photo and thanks
Jackie and John for taking us to the Iceland store.
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| Shopping with Jackie at a big British food store called Iceland in La Marina between Guardamar and Santa Pola |
We were soon home as Marina and
Guardamar are very near Santa Pola. As
usual, Pippa freaked out when we opened the door, so delighted was she to see
us. As I made lunch, Eladio cleaned the
flat and afterwards I did the bathroom and the packing.
We left our little holiday place at 4.15 and
were home by just after 8pm. On our way
home Olivia sent me a photo of her with her ex school friends Begoña, Elena and
Sonia. They were all in the same class
and I have known them since they were about 3.
It was Sonia’s 30th birthday last week and they met up to
celebrate. Happy birthday sweet Sonia and
welcome to the 30’s to quote Olivia.
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| From left to right: Sonia, Olivia, Elena and Begoña |
Finally the heatwave is over and we
came home to a pleasant 28c. It was lovely to be home, to see my Father and Oli
and of course the dogs. They gave us a
great welcome as they always do. I’m sure both Elsa our lab and Norah our
beagle know that Pippa gets to go away with us and they must be a little
jealous. I always post photos of Pippa
on Facebook and feeling guilty I recently posted some lovely ones of Elsa. At
Jackie's request yesterday I posted one of Norah too. The only way to get her to pose, by the way,
is holding out a morsel of food haha.
The best photo though is of the three of them queueing up for food from
Eladio.
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| We got a lovely welcome from the dogs when we got home yesterday. In the picture Eladio with Norah our beagle left, Pippa in the middle and Elsa our lab on the right. |
We slept beautifully last night in
our own bed; that is the three of us – Pippa too after a bath haha. And surprise, surprise I woke up late for me
this morning at 8 a.m. It was this
morning whilst I started writing this post that I heard that Carolina Marín the
Spanish European and World champion of badminton had done it again. Today she beat the Indian girl Saina Nehwal
to retain the title in the final of the World Badminton Championship in Jakarta
and is thus the first European player to win the world championship on two
consecutive occasions. All I can say is
well done Carolina. I love to see
Spaniards excel at sport as I think it is the best kind of ambassadorship a
country can have for a good image.
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| Well done Carolina Marin, badminton world champion for the second year in a row! |
That is a very nice story to end
this week’s post. I shall leave you now
that I have told you this week’s tales and get on with our family lunch.
Next week will be the week Suzy is
operated on, so please all keep your fingers crossed it goes well. We shall not
leave her side throughout nor will Juan our Doctor friend who has promised he
will make sure she is treated like a queen.
Isn’t that reassuring?
So folks, lots of good vibes until
next time
Masha
PS here is the full collection of photos of our stay in Gran Alacant this week
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