Sunday 15th November, 2015
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| Making pancakes for dinner this week |
We are all reeling from Friday’s
atrocities in Paris. Who does not love
the most beautiful city in the world? Who will never forget what they were
doing when the massacre happened? I’ll
come back to that later.
I left off in Montrondo on Monday
9th which was a holiday in
Madrid, “La Almudena”. I made “cocido” that
day for lunch using Primo’s potatoes.
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| Eladio sitting down to enjoy the cocido I made for lunch on Monday |
Later Ana sent me a photo of the potato salad she had made from his
potatoes too.
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| Ana's potato salad made with Primo's potatoes |
There is something special about
eating produce which has been locally grown.
So when Mari Carmen, Primo and Adela’s neighbour, offered me some
carrots from her kitchen garden, I happily accepted. This is the bag she gave
me which I shared with my sisters-in-law, Pili and Dolores.
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| Home grown carrots from Montrondo |
Finally on Monday the electrician
came to install the last item needed to be done in the house. He came to connect the Ikea kitchen lights
which the Swedish company had given us so much trouble with. The whole room lit up, they were so bright.
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| The new lights in the kitchen in our house in Montrondo |
In the afternoon, Eladio
continued to chop wood after which he looked pretty exhausted as the saw he was
using is manual. Here he is in the
picture below posing for me. I do wish
he wouldn’t work so hard in Montrondo but that seems to be the norm and the way
he and his brothers and sisters were brought up by their strict Father.
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| Eladio chopping wood in Montrondo on Monday afternoon |
Meanwhile I went on my last walk
to Murias. The autumn colours were still
in evidence, although most of the leaves are now on the ground.
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| My favourite path in Montrondo, covered in autumn leaves |
I went back for Dolores and when
we reached Murias we bumped into Salo, Manolita and Pili and thus walked back
with them. The weather was amazing all
day as it had been at the weekend.
Dinner was more potatoes from
Primo’s kitchen garden and eggs from Ulpiano’s hens; our favourite, fried eggs and
chips.
Suzy was still in Bristol and
later told us she loved the city. Here
she is with her friends near Suspension Bridge.
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| Suzy and her friends in Bristol |
On Tuesday morning we left at
around 10, sad to leave our cozy new home in Montrondo. Toño and Dolores left a
little later and on our way the four of us stopped for coffee and a bite at
about half way to Madrid. We were home
by 15.15 a little too late to have lunch with my Father unfortunately.
That morning Oli was busy. She
was to do a story on how Amazon was starting their Christmas campaign and she
did the filming from their huge warehouse on the outskirts of Madrid. To mark the start they had hired a huge choir
of 400 people. Olivia was amazed to find
that the choirmaster was Javier Blanco the girls’ music teacher at St. Michael’s
school and in whose choir they had both sung successfully for many years. He was a tough teacher but a very good
conductor and when the girls were in his choir it won many prizes. Here is a photo of Olivia doing a selfie with
Javier and as you can see it’s part of what she edited. It was quite a coincidence; after all she
hadn’t seen him since she left school over 10 years ago.
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| Oli and her ex choir master on TV on Tuesday |
Wednesday 11th
November was officially Remembrance Day.
In Spain it was Saint Martin’s day.
On St. Martin’s there is supposed to be another summer spell (veranillo
de San Martín) and you bet it felt like summer.
I have heard the term “veroño” too from the weather people on the TV
which is a play on the words “verano” (summer) and “otoño” (autumn).
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| Sunny weather in Madrid which has its downside |
So, yes we have been enjoying
sunny weather for weeks now. However,
there is a downside to no rain and it is pollution. The levels have gone very high in the centre
of the city and measures have been put in place. From the end of this week the speed limits on
the M30 ring road were reduced from 90 to 70km/h and on Friday no cars were allowed
to park in the city, except for residents and of course public and commercial
vehicles. The next level, if it happens,
would be to limit traffic alternately to odd and then even numbered
registration plates. This, of course,
will depend on the weather.
Tuesday was spent quietly at
home, catching up on my work. Salud, our
home help was off so I made the lunch.
When Eladio was loading the dishwasher, I just had to share this photo
of the dogs, queueing up to lick the dirty plates in order of size. I have to say it’s their favourite activity
hahaha.
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| The dogs and the washing up machine! |
Olivia was home relatively early
at 7.20 and we decided to make pancakes for dinner. The cupboards were a bit bare as I hadn’t
done the shopping for a week and I had run out of ideas. As I was making them and Eladio
and Oli were watching, my daughter commented that she had done a TV report on
wrong diets that day. It wasn’t really
the time to hear her story when we were about to gorge pancakes. I was not surprised to hear from her that “The
Fast Diet”, the one I try to follow on at least 2 days a week, is one of the “wrong
diets” because one tends to binge on other days. Touché I thought as I binged
on 3 pancakes with maple syrup. The photo illustrating this week’s post is of
me happily making pancakes for my family.
On Thursday morning I was up at
06.30. I was up just a little earlier than usual as I had to be at the office
for a management team meeting at 9 and I knew the traffic would be dense. I got there by 9.15, leaving everyone asleep
at home, including the dogs.
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| The dogs asleep in the kitchen on Thursday morning |
Just before the meeting started I got a call from the head of communications from our mother company. It was to do with an article I saw a little while later in Spain's main financial newspaper. It was another rumour about Yoigo being sold. There have been rumours of our sale since the company started in 2006. This time the story said a British venture capital group were interested in making an offer for Yoigo to our shareholder. Needless to say I got umpteen calls from the media that day.
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| The news about Yoigo in Expansión on Thursday morning |
After the management team
meeting, I had another meeting, this time with my PR agency and the team that
heads up social media from customer care.
We work closely together and very well too I have to say.
I fasted that day and so when I
got home I made lunch just for the men as Salud was still away. In the
afternoon I got a reminder from Amazon that I had looked at the Downton Abbey
Season 6 DVD; so there and then I pre-ordered it. It won’t be available until 16th
November. I very much look forward to being reunited with the cast but am a
little sad that it’s the last season.
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| Can't wait to watch Downton Abbey Season 6 when it arrives |
Meanwhile in Montrondo, our
builders were doing their final, or at least I hope it’s the last,
assignment. Eladio had asked them to
build a stone basin for the taps on the front of the house; one of them coming
from the well we had discovered. This is what it looks like.
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| A basin for the taps at the entrance to our house in Montrondo |
Friday was the 13th,
always a day people who are superstitious are wary of. Normally I’m not worried and posted on
Facebook: “Today is Friday 13th, I hope it is a good day”. Well it wasn’t was it as we would all find
out later.
I had an appointment with a traumatologist
at a local private hospital, “Monteprincipe”.
I have had a pain when I walk in the second toe, next to the big toe, on
my left foot for some weeks now but could see no inflammation. After seeing the doctor he sent me for an
x-ray and quite a while later I was with him again whilst he examined it. He diagnosed arthritis. Arthritis! Oh shit,
aren’t I a bit young for that? He even
said it would get worse. It’s also partly
caused by the horrible bunion I have and he told me I should wear a toe
spreader which I am now doing. He also prescribed a medicine to preserve the cartilage
called “artilax plus” which I have since invested in and it’s not cheap. Oh well, the diagnosis could have been a lot
worse. Who am I to complain when my best friend is going to be operated on for
breast cancer this Monday coming? I am
praying for her and meanwhile just put up with the pain in the toe from the
arthritis.
I came home to find Eladio and
Salud, who was back, had put the white Ikea chest of drawers and mirror in Suzy’s
bedroom. We had bought it some years ago
for one of the rooms in Montrondo but it didn’t fit anywhere in our new
house. Now it looks lovely in Suzy’s
bedroom. Only she is missing and I can’t
wait to see her when she comes home for Christmas on 20th December.
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| Suzy's beautiful room |
That night Eladio, Oli and I went
out to dinner to Zurito in Pozuelo.
We chose that place not just because we like it – the food is great –
but because the reservation via The Fork gives you a 30% discount and because
it accepts luncheon vouchers of which I have a lot. So we were very disappointed when the bill
came and the waiter told us they no longer accept Sodexho tickets. For that reason, unfortunately we shall not
be going back.
We had agreed in the car on the
way to the restaurant that we would not look at our phones until we got
home. Thus we didn’t find out about the
terrorist attacks that had started in the French capital whilst we were at
dinner and only found out when we got home.
Immediately we turned on the TV aghast at what we saw.
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| The times and places of the terrible attacks in Paris on Friday night |
At just after 9pm, 8 gunmen
caused carnage in 6 areas in Paris, including the St. Denis football stadium
where a friendly match between France and Germany was taking place. The worst attack was at the Bataclan theatre
were more than 80 people were killed. It was Friday, a holy day for muslims - how ironice - and of course Friday 13th. But it was no joke. That night in Paris for the people on the streets it must have been like
being in hell. The death toll is now 127
people with over 200 wounded and nearly a 100 fighting for their lives. 7 of the gunmen detonated bombs on their
bodies, whilst one was shot down by the police.
Others may still be at large, as well as their accomplices. And who did this we all asked ourselves on
Friday night? We knew it could only be
the Islamic State, that most frightening of all terrorist groups ever to walk
the face of the earth. One of their
members, the famous Jihadist John, who appeared on the terrible beheading
videos of journalists and aid workers was shot down and presumably killed just
a few days before the Paris massacre. Was this an act of retaliation? IS have made it clear the attacks, of which
they threaten there will be more, is because of France’s military involvement
against them in Iraq and Syria. The
President of France, François Holland, who had to be taken away to safety from the
football match, said on a TV announcement that this was “an act of war”. Indeed it was and the whole world is in
shock.
On Saturday morning I was up
early and shocked to read how the death toll had increased over night. Paris was virtually closed down, including
the metro and even the Eiffel Tower and people were told to stay at home. Thankfully the shootings had stopped and now
it was the work of the police to find the perpetrators who were still alive and
their accomplices. Two of the dead gunmen
were found with a Syrian and Egyptian passport in their pockets and we have
since learned they came to Europe disguised as refugees. The others most probably became radicalized in
France and Belgium. The war is now on to
find them and France and the rest of the world wants retaliation. We also want peace and the whole civilized
world stands together with France. There
have been many beautiful memes on internet and a show of solidarity from people
and cities around the world. Cities around the world have lit up their most
symbolic buildings with the colours of the “tricolore”. We are all in mourning.
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| As seen all over internet |
Of course life went on and at
home we stuck to our routine, although we had the BBC world news on most of the
day. We went for our walk with the dogs
and had lunch together. I spent most of
the day cooking and Oli helped me. Most
of the things I made were for freezing to consume at home and to take to
Montrondo. In one single day I made a lasagne,
bitki, 50 odd perushki and pumpkin soup made with pumpkin, potatoes, carrots
and leek. I also prepared the
ingredients to make a big potato salad and a huge batch of ham croquettes this
morning. Oli told me I was hoarding.
Maybe I was but I was also being very organized and productive too as well as
enjoying the activity. Cooking is always
very relaxing when I choose to do it.
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| About to make a batch of nearly 60 ham croquettes this morning |
This morning I was up at just after
7 and did an amazing amount of tasks in just over 2.5 hours! By 9.30 these were the tasks I performed: fed the dogs and the cat, made the men's breakfast plus orange juice for
everyone, had my own breakfast, read articles from The Times, The Telegraph and
The Guardian on my iPad, finished making the potato salad as well as making 60
ham croquettes to be frozen. I wonder if I am just a very productive person or if I’m
hyper active.
And now I am writing my blog.
When Oli and Eladio are ready we shall go for our walk. Hopefully I will be free to do whatever I want
this afternoon. So either this Sunday
afternoon will be spent reading more Jeffrey Archer (his books are riveting) or
I will be watching a new TV series with Oli on Netflix.
Next week we shall be off to Montrondo
again and at the weekend we will be joined by Oli and Miguel. I just hope the
weather holds.
So I will leave you now, as you
can see I am very busy. Cheers to you
all and have a great week. Let’s hope
peace reigns and I don’t have to report on another massacre or terrorist
attack. #PrayForParis #JeSuisParis.
Masha
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