Uncovering the pool and getting the garden ready for the summer, scandal in the Madrid government, San Fermin wolf pack sentence causes uproar in Spain, Suzy came for her birthday as well as other tales of the week.

Sunday 29^th April 2018

The four of us together with our dogs off for a  sunny family walk on Friday afternoon.  

Good morning everyone.

I'm feeling very happy today and that's because my family is complete this weekend after Suzy came on Thursday to celebrate her birthday with us. We miss her so much and any time with her is precious.

But let me start from the beginning, from where I left off last Sunday. The weather has been great and last week we started cleaning the terraces, planting new flowers and generally getting the garden ready for the summer. Eladio has continued the task this week. The biggest task of course is always removing the tarpaulin cover of the pool, lifting it off and it's heavy I can tell you, then cleaning the water, etc. My husband had me, Oli and Zena to help him. This by the way is the before photo. I hate the tarpaulin which during the winter gets covered in dirty green water and is unsightly. We wouldn't mind so much but it's not a good impression for our Airbnb guests.

The pool before uncovering it on Sunday

What we didn't expect was to find the water underneath all green. It shouldn't be like that. Here are Eladio, Oli and Zena after the herculean effort of removing the cover which reveled green water.

Green water

Eladio spent all morning and most of the afternoon in efforts to get rid of the green.

Meanwhile,  Oli and I chilled out as that day Zena did the cooking and was to make us one of our favourite dishes, "gloupsy" a Russian dish which is a variety of stuffed cabbage. Here I am wearing pink that morning with my new pink sunglasses. They may be fashionable but they aren't dark enough to protect my eyes from the sun. My poor eyes have given me a lot of trouble this week. They are still very sore after the operations.

Wearing pink last Sunday

We had Olivia to ourselves last weekend after her trip to Germany and it's always a pleasure to have her. I love her loyalty to us and that she enjoys our company. We enjoy hers too. 

While we were chilling out, Rafa Nadal, was playing the final of the Masters at Montecarlo to defend his number one ranking. Well he did it by winning the match which would be his 11th win there, in fact his 76th career singles win. He has now won more masters matches than any other tennis player ever. He is such a great ambassador for Spain. 

Rafa Nadal, one of Spain's best ambassadors.

It was not so warm on Sunday but very pleasant and the three of us enjoyed our afternoon walk with the dogs. For dinner on terrace that evening I made another of our favourite dishes, prawn cocktail. And here are Eladio and Oli sitting down to the lovely meal. I really think our kitchen terrace is a beautiful summer dining room. It's an oasis of greenery and peace with the sound of birds singing and spring in the air of course.  What I also love are the long evenings of light. It doesn't get really dark until nearly 10 pm these days. 

Dinner on the kitchen terrace with Olivia last Sunday evening.

Monday came and it wasn't a good day for me. I woke up to very sore eyes. After breakfast and a shower I decided to go back to bed. All I could do was lie down with my eyes closed. There was no way I could work or do anything that required concentrating my eyes on anything, only manual tasks. Eventually I got up and decided all I could do was use my hands so I made the lunch, a wonderful lamb casserole with lots of vegetables. This is it.

The lamb casserole

At 11.01 that morning Kate Middleton gave birth to her 3rd baby at an exclusive wing of the St. Mary's hospital in Paddington. Weighing 8lb.7oz the announcement of the baby's birth was big royal news but the baby had no name. I was surprised the parents hadn't chosen one before its birth even though they didn't know its sex until it was born. Amazingly, just 7 hours later the Duchess of Cambridge left the hospital carrying the baby to hide her bump with her husband the proud Prince William at her side. We would not know the name until the end of the week. The pundits' favourite was Albert but that wouldn't be it in the end.

The Royal couple showing off the new baby boy with no name, 5th in line to the throne as they left the hospital on Monday

Eladio, who would have been completely oblivious to the news, apart from totally disinterested, continued battling with the pool water to get rid of the green. He went out to buy all sorts of products and by Monday evening he gave up the battle and decided to drain the pool and then fill it again with new water. Sounds easy right? Well it is but it's also very expensive. The amount of new water the pool needs will come to a bill of over 600 euros. So that night he began draining it. He would start filling it on Tuesday morning and it would take all day to fill again and part of the next morning. 

My contribution to the garden is actually only picking the flowers to fill the house and terraces and this week I discovered our 3 lilac trees, one white and 2 lilac, had blossomed and were in great shape. I put lots of the flowers in vases and would continue to cut more during the week. I just love the smell of the purple lilac. For some reason the white doesn't smell at all in comparison.

There's lots of lilac in the garden this week.

My eyes were better in the evening and I was able to watch the TV with Eladio at night in bed. We are loving our current Amazon Prime series, "La Sonata del Silencio", a Spanish series and family drama set in post Civil War Spain.

The awful thing about Monday was the news of yet another van attack, this time in Toronto Canada. Over 10 people were killed. For once the motivation was not terrorism but a hatred of women apparently. It's just so crazy. 

Thankfully, on Tuesday my eyes were slightly better but it would be a short respite. With the pool empty, Eladio began the task of cleaning it on the inside. Here he is doing that.

Eladio cleaning the pool on Tuesday morning

That didn't take him long as he had cleaned it while it was green. So, very soon he started filling it as you can see below.

The pool filling with water

Everything was looking lovely. After the pool, Eladio continued gardening and this time got rid of lots of ivy which was invading our roses. Here he is after that herculean task. Notice the size of the root in his hands which he removed manually. He's still so strong for his age.

Eladio gardening - spot Pippa

That was some serious gardening I can tell you. 

While he worked I had a long skype call with my oldest friend Amanda who lives in Devon. We hadn't spoken for ages. It was so lovely to "see" her and talk to her and catch up on each other's lives. We should do so skype calls more often. I do miss her.

Finally on Tuesday my eyes permitted me to get down to my main work task at the moment. I had to read a lot of documents my new customer had sent me  so that I could prepare a PR plan for them.  I didn't get very far as my eyes started smarting again. The feeling I have is them is the same as when you cut onions but the feeling doesn't go away. Oh, it's so annoying.  So when Eladio suggested going to the garden centre (Verdecora) to buy more roses for where he had removed the ivy, I jumped at the idea and left the documents feeling slightly guilty. 

That night we had another great meal outside and enjoyed the lovely spinach and onion omelet I now make quite often.  It was Lucy who cut the onions for me by the way.

On Wednesday my eyes were just awful, like on Monday so again all I could do were manual tasks. I chose to cook as I couldn't do much else and that morning prepared lots of veg for lunch. I also made wonderful bread with Suzy and Oli in mind. It's really enriched bread using at least 5 different types of flour and instead of water making up the liquid with milk, honey and olive oil. Ah and I also put in lots of nuts, seeds, some raisins and even dried apricots. It looked and tasted just amazing. Eladio said it was the best bread I have made so far.

I made some amazing bread on Wednesday

The smell soon invaded the house. Eladio did more gardening that morning but he also did a task which was much needed in that he bathed the two bigger dogs, Norah and Elsa. It's my job to bathe Pippa and I do so once a week. After this important task we sat down to "elevenses" on the kitchen terrace. We always have our morning coffee from my lovely collection of Emma Bridgewater pottery as you probably know.

Elevenses on Wednesday

While we were having a peaceful morning, the former Governor of Madrid, Cristina Cifuentes of the PP party, the one in government, resigned after a huge scandal. Weeks ago she was accused of falsely obtaining a masters degree from the Rey Juan Carlos University in Madrid. There was so much evidence it was obtained under false pretenses but she continued to deny it. The straw that broke the camel's back however came on Wednesday morning when a news portal (OK Diario) released video footage of her being detained after shoplifting 2 pots of Olay cream from a supermarket (Eroski) at 20 euros each some years ago.  Here she is resigning in a press conference that morning. This time she could not deny the facts.

Cristing Cifuentes resigning as Governor of Madrid

Cristina Cifuentes came on board as the Governor of Madrid ironically get rid of corruption so news of her illegal masters degree and shoplifting have been especially criticised. She should have resigned when the  scandal first erupted. Now she is politically finished although she is trying to hang on to her parliamentary seat. Her story was the main news of the week in Spain until Friday's sentence of the "Manada" (wolf pack) which I will come to later. 

Wednesday was the warmest day of the year so far with the temperature reaching 29ºc,  By Wednesday the main jobs of getting the gardens and pool ready for the summer were done and we were able to relax by the pool.

The pool and surroundings of the house all ready for the summer

It was on Wednesday that our Airbnb Argentinian car rally driver guest,  Esteban, arrived for his 3rd stay with us. He feels quite at home and we love him. He was the first person to enjoy the sun by the pool and he was even joined by Pippa who usually doesn't like men. I couldn't quite believe her lying with him on the sunbed.

Esteban by the pool

But she  did not join him when he jumped into the pool, thus becoming the first person to bathe in it this season. 

Our first bather of the year

I sat by the pool too but did neither bathe nor sit in the sun. Rather I sat in the shade with my PC reading my new customer's documents and beginning on the PR plan I have to do. It tired my eyes though I must say. 

And the day finished with a lovely walk with the dogs, dinner on the terrace and another episode of "Sonata del Silencio".  Eladio would have preferred to watch Real Madrid play Bayern de Munich in the first leg of their semifinal in Germany but these days most football matches are pay per view and you can't see them on mainstream TV.  

On Thursday I woke up to read Real Madrid had beaten the German team 2-1 but was surprised neither goal was from Ronaldo. Let's just hope he scores in the second leg which will probably be against Liverpool who thrashed Rome in their first semifinal.

It was another wonderful spring day. Our new roses were beginning to bloom. Ever since Eladio planted the new ones, I keep inspecting them to see if they have bloomed. I also look to see if the mock orange has flowered although I know it will soon. That morning we said goodbye to Esteban who will be back next Tuesday, this time with his Argentinian girlfriend, for 4 nights. He was off to a car race in Hungary and I wish him well. 

I had an appointment to see the eye specialist at 12.15 but before that I went to do the weekly shopping. I did it on my own and it was huge owing to having extra people in the house this weekend, Oli, Miguel and of course dear Suzy. 

Once home and with everything packed away and lunch planned, I drove again to the Hospital Quirón in Pozuelo. All the tests I did had good results, i.e. my eyes are fine after the operation. The only thing is that they are irritated and apparently dry. I was given new drops and instructions on keeping them hydrated and was given another appointment in one month's time. 

In between the tests and with great difficulty I read the news on my phone. It was difficult as they had dilated my pupils of course. But that didn't stop me seeing the sentence read out  from  Pamplona in the high profile rape case of 5 nasty individuals from Seville who had gang raped an 18 year old girl during the famous Bull Run fiestas (The San Fermines) in 2016. Known as "La manada" (the wolf pack) they have been in prison since and their court case was a highly sensitive one. The sentence was to be read at 13h and was much awaited for. In Spain this is our "me too" movement to to support survivors and end sexual violence. We were all expecting them to get a long prison sentence of up to 22 years for rape. So when we heard they got away with just sexual abuse and not rape with a sentence of 9 years; probably only 3 of which will see them well and truly behind walls, the reactions around the country were passionately against the ruling of the judges. That afternoon and all around Spain there were protests, including many people outside the courthouse itself.

Protesters outside the court in Pamplona after the sentence was read.on Friday at 13h. 

There were 3 judges in this case and believe it or not one of them wanted to acquit these 5 ****ards. Since the ruling, there have been demonstrations all over the country. So why isn't the sentence rape we all ask? Well apparently Spain's penal code is pretty blurry on this and for rape there has to be violence and aggression which the judges did not see evidence of. But the country is not buying that argument. I have been happy to read later that all the political parties want the penal code reformed. Meanwhile, of course the sentence will be appealed. Apparently these 5 rapists are requesting respect for their privacy.. 4 of them will soon face trial in Córdoba for a similar incident, both of which they recorded and shared on whatsapp.  So how dare they ask for privacy? I ask you, if you haven't already, to share their photo and their names so that everyone knows who they are and never forgets. 

The members of the rapist "wolf pack". may they rot in prison. 

You may know the girls group of friends is called "La Manada". Well ever since the 5 rapists were detained, the girls changed the name of their group. I think it is now called "Las chicas de oro " (the golden girls).

Feeling very cross with the judges' sentence I was home late from the hospital but on time for lunch with Eladio and my Father on our lovely kitchen terrace.

That afternoon, Suzy was to begin her journey home. She was to catch a Ryan Air flight from Stansted, arriving just before midnight. Oli and Miguel would be picking her up and she would stay overnight with them so we wouldn't see her until Friday morning.

Knowing she loves "salmorejo", a sort of thick gazpacho that is typical in Córdoba, I made it that afternoon for her birthday this weekend. Lucy helped me once again with the onions but I peeled all the tomatoes. The basic recipe is half old bread and half tomatoes with lots of olive oil, a clove of garlic and if you want some spring onion. I also add a little water as otherwise it gets very thick. It is eaten cold and served with chopped boiled egg and Spanish ham. Well, Suzy doesn't eat the ham of course as she is vegan. 

The salmorejo I made for Suzy's birthday

While I was making the salmorejo, my eyes were smarting even more after the new drops and would continue to do so all day until I went to sleep. The day ended with another lovely sunny walk, this time wearing shorts, dinner on the terrace and more of our TV series.  

Friday dawned, the big day of seeing Suzy for the first time since January when we were in Manchester together. I went to pick her up at Oli's house where she had stayed the night. Early that morning, the girls' good friend, Anita, was visiting them for breakfast as she would not be at Suzy's party this weekend which of course was the May Bank holiday here. Anita who went to University with Olivia and lived with Suzy in London, is an amazing cake maker. She had made  a very special one for Suzy's birthday shaped in an "s". Unfortunately I would only get to see it, not eat it, as it would be for the girls' party not for the family. This was it and it's just beautiful.

The cake Anita made for Suzy for her birthday

You can browse some of her creations here. 

Suzy was delighted. For the record, here she is with Anita that morning at Oli and Miguel's flat.

Anita and Suzy on Friday morning

We had lovely "girly" time together before it was time for Oli and Anita to leave. Shortly afterwards Suzy and I drove home careful not to damage the lovely cake.

Suzy greeted all and sundry at home, her father, Lucy who adores her,  my Father and of course the dogs. I always loves those moments but sometimes wish she lived here in Spain near us like Olivia. 

We had lunch together, outside and then Suzy went off to see her other great girlfriends Elenita, from her Uni days, and Chati, Ele's sister, the nurse with whom she left Spain for London some 6 years ago. They are very close. But she was home by about 5 pm and we had tea together. Soon Oli and Miguel were home to stay with us for the weekend and thus the four of us and the dogs were able to enjoy our walk that day together. Miguel took the photo illustrating this week's blog but couldn't join us on the walk as he wasn't feeling too good. What a joy it was to go on our walk with both girls and in the sunshine. 

Just as I was making dinner, prawn cocktail again, I heard the news that the name or names of the new royal baby had been announced. It had taken the parents 4 days to decide upon. In the end the fifth in line to the throne will be called Louis Arthur Charles or commonly known as Louis of Cambridge. All of England I think wondered how the name would be pronounced, the French way "Louee with the stress on the last syllable or as in "Lewis" in English. Well they've gone for the French pronunciation. Funny eh?

Actually the biggest news that day or the biggest news of the week was the meeting of the two Korean premieres. On Friday Kim Jon-un and Moon Jae-in met at the border of the divided country which is technically still at war since laying down arms in 1951. It was the first time a South Korean leader would step on North Korean soil. The meeting, however, took place just inside South Korea. After hugging and greeting, the 2 premieres planted a tree of peace on the border.

Planting the tree

The most important news that came out of the summit was the agreement to stop developing nuclear weapons. Also the reunion was the beginning of a thawing in relations and hopefully a better future for the inhabitants of North Korea, the most hermetic country in the world where human rights just do not exist. 

No doubt they enjoyed top Korean cuisine together whatever that would be. We, meanwhile, enjoyed our family meal outdoors that night and enjoyed our own reunion with Suzy. Here I am with both girls just as we were about to start.

With my girls on Friday evening, about to start our family dinner

Note we were wearing evening dress, i.e. our night gowns and pyjamas and dressing gowns, hahah which is how I always dress for dinner at home. I like to be relaxed as you probably know. 

Saturday 28th April dawned, the day of Suzy's 34th birthday. To think 34 years ago I was heavily pregnant. No, actually I had just given birth and it was no easy birth I can tell you as by the time I was taken to the birthing room my contractions were over and Suzy had to be delivered with what I think is called a "vacuum". Anyway there were no thoughts of those awful moments as I greeted Suzy yesterday morning. It was terribly early, 6.30 or so and I had woken everyone up by leaving the room without switching oft the alarm hahaha. So Suzy was up with me really early and joined me outside on the kitchen terrace for our first cup of coffee of the day. Suzy recorded the birds singing as well as me cutting flowers from the garden. For birthday breakfasts we usually go heavy on croissants or churros but this time Suzy prepared a healthy breakfast for us all which I frankly preferred. 

Always on a tight schedule, I urged the girls to get ready after breakfast to go and buy ingredients to make Suzy's family lunch cake. Yes, I'm always on a schedule to meet the times for lunch (2 pm), our walk (5.30 pm) and dinner (8.30 pm) and with extra people in the house, the schedule seems even tighter as I am in charge of planning and making all the meals. The girls of course and Eladio don't think about time like I do. They took ages, so I decided to make more bread as they had devoured the batch I made for them on Thursday. I was able to go out with them and not watch the dough, etc as dear Lucy did that for me. In fact she took care of the rest of the process and it was in the oven and nearly ready when we came home. 

In the end we bought a cake from Alverán cake shop after having bought the ingredients. We did so as I was running against schedule and there would be no time to bake a cake before lunch hahaha. Suzy chose a "sachertorte" (black forest gateau) which was just delicious, better than anything we could make. 

Just as we were sitting to lunch; salmorejo, fresh grilled hake with garlic and parsley from the garden, followed by the cake, a very sad death occurred in England. Little baby Alfie Evans, aged just 23 months and with the most terrible degenerative and rare  illness that  exists, mitochondrial disease, passed away just a week or so after being removed from a life support machine in a hospital in Liverpool.  He had been in a coma and connected to the machine for over a year. His poor young parents fought a huge legal battle to keep him on life support and also to take him to Italy for a possible miracle treatment but that was denied to them. Who am I to judge who is right or wrong? What is true though is that the child had no possible chance of living when most of the white matter in his brain was no longer there. But how terrible for the parents and also how terrible for the baby who must have suffered until the very end. RIP baby Alfie Evans you will never be forgotten. 

After the festive lunch and with too much cake in my stomach, it was time for a siesta. Pippa joined us and I just had to take a photo of her lying in Eladio's arm against his pristine white shirt. It's lovely isn't it?

Eladio and Pippa about to have a siesta

I didn't actually sleep and preferred to watch La Casa de Papel on Netflix. When I got up Suzy, Oli and Miguel were all dressed up and ready to go to their party which would take place at a bar called "La Manuela" in Majadahonda. I was invited but was lazy and preferred to stay at home and go on our walk with the dogs.  I asked the girls for photos and got some. I particularly like the one of them with the other two sisters, Elenita and Chati.

Oli and Suzy beginning  the party yesterday. 

While they partied, we went to bed before it was dark hahaha. Last night we watched a film called Prisoners on Amazon Prime which turned out to be quite intense and depressing and we regretted watching it afterwards. 

And today is Sunday and I woke up to rain. In fact rain has been forecast for most parts of Spain today and there will be much cooler temperatures this week. I do hope the sun comes back soon so that we can enjoy the summer terraces we have so lovingly prepared this week, not to mention the garden and all the flowers. 

Today we shall continue to enjoy being all together. Trust me, you will hear all about it in next Sunday's post. Until then, I wish you all a great week.

Cheers till next time

Masha. 

The end of our stay in Santa Pola and home again, Oli back from Germany, the Windrush scandal, getting ready for the summer, flowers for the garden and other tales of the week.

Sunday 22nd April, 2018.

Buying flowers with Eladio and Oli this week

Last Sunday saw us still in Santa Pola enjoying time together at our lovely little flat. It was the warmest day with temperatures rising to 27ºc and we spent part of the morning sitting on the beach in the dunes to protect ourselves from the wind and enjoying reading in the sun. 

On the beach last Sunday, the Carabasi beach which lies below the cliffs where our apartment is.

Apart from reading, we did of course walk along the beach to the end and back. You may be wondering what I was reading. Well, I have to confess I am a sucker for books about the  British Royal family so when Andrew Norton of the Lady Diana biography fame (Diana, her true story) published his new biography which is about Meghan Markle, Prince Harry's bride to be, I couldn't resist downloading it as soon as I heard. "Meghan:  a Hollywood Princess" makes interesting reading I must say, especially about her life before the beautiful bi-racial American actress of TV series Suits fame met her Prince Charming.

Andrew Morton's new biography which I read this week

Sadly she has had to leave the series, had to forego her very popular "The Tig" blog and even her work with the UN on gender and race issues. Hopefully her new role will give her leeway to be herself and in a way modernise the very stiff Royal family or at least bring it a breath of fresh air. This is a love match with no opposition from within so hopefully it won't end in another divorce. It's amazing to think that a person who is Amercan, a divorcee and also half black and half white has been admitted into the Royal circle with what looks like open arms. . I wonder what the late Princess Margaret or her uncle ex King Edward VIII who abdicated in order to marry the also divorced and American, Wallis Simpson would think of how times have changed since the scandals throughout the British establishment when they wanted to marry divorced people.  Thank God things have changed I say and I wish them well. 

Meghan Markle is a true foodie and into healthy eating and loves cooking, something she will hopefully bring to the table when she marries into the Royal family who are not known for any great interest in fine dining or healthy eating. I find that funny. Well I am into food as you know and on Sunday had booked a table for lunch at our favourite restaurant in the area, Maria Picola where we hadn't been since last summer. On the road to Elche from Santa Pola it is more frequented by locals than by tourists. It is the locals of course who know all the best places.

The entrance to the Maria Picola restaurant we love so much.

We have been going there for 19 years and are always welcomed warmly by the owner. I once wrote a review on Trip Advisor which you can read here and then a while later when we returned we were rewarded with a plate of fresh local prawns, just for having written a positive review. I was amazed. We always ask to sit on the outdoor terrace and patio and here is Eladio sitting down last Sunday to enjoy another meal there.

Eladio sitting down for lunch at Maria Picola last Sunday

In the Alicante area it is very typical for restaurants to offer you bread or toast with home made ali oli mayonnaise and fresh crushed tomato. I love it and when we have it we usually skip a first course as it is so filling.

Toast, ali oli and fresh tomato, so typical of the area.

Being the traditionalists we are when it comes to choosing our favourite meals, we ordered a rice dish called "arroz a banda" which is  a variation of paella. Rice dishes hail from the Valencia and Alicante area although many people outside Spain think paella is a dish eaten by all Spaniards all over the country which is not exactly true. The best rice dishes always come from the Valencia region. This was it and wow was it delicious. 

The "arroz a banda" we had at Maria Picola last Sunday

Feeling happy and with our stomachs full we returned home to our flat for a siesta and of course to greet poor Pippa who had to stay behind. Spain is not a dog friendly country and I wish it was.

After the rice we needed another walk that afternoon and of course we chose to go to the lighthouse cliffs which never fails to delight us. My new Samsung Galaxy S9 takes great photos and that afternoon the island of Tabarca was very visible and I could make out the main landmarks easily. That could also be because of my new eyesight hahaha.

The island of Tabarca as seen from the Santa Pola cape and cliffs.

The views from the cliffs are great but we also enjoy the walk through the pinewoods to get there and back. Here is Eladio with Pippa on the path leading to the wood which takes us back to our apartment block.

Eladio and Pippa on our walk last Sunday

All in all Sunday was great except for an email that arrived from my accountant Pilar during the walk. It was to inform me of the hefty taxes I had to pay for the first three months of this year. I hate the way it works here for self employed people, especially the fact that when I invoice my customers I have to include the VAT. They then pay the VAT to me which 3 months later I have to return to the Treasury. It plays havoc with our finances. Damn the system. 

Dinner was just fruit that night, at least for me, the lovely fruit from the local market. Meanwhile Oli continued her adventures shooting her next programme for "Madrileños por el Mundo" in Bavaria. She was in Wuzburg and then off to Regensburg, neither of which I had heard of although my Father has of course. She sent us a photo that day with a group of Germans dressed in the typical Tyrolean, Austrian and Bavarian national dress. The women wear an outfit called "dirndl" and the men "lederhosen" .I remember my Mother buying my brother George a lederhosen outfit, sort of leather shorts with braces when he was a little boy and he looked very smart. 

Oli in Bavaria

That night Oli probably watched the series Peaky Blinders. We've already seen it so our choice was different. We watched the end of the film called Breathe which is very romantic and based on a true story. 

I always write about Oli my younger daughter and not much about my older daughter Suzy (older by 1 year and 3 weeks by the way and no family planning hahaha) who is a dietitian and nutritionist living in London and soon to move to Bali. But that's because Suzy doesn't send photos. However, on Sunday she did. That day she also went out visiting a place called Surrey Hills near Dorking with friends. This is the photo she sent which she said was of a place called Wotton which I had not heard of either. She was out with friends, 2 boys who are  in the photo and we wondered who they were. We were only told they were friends. Interesting!

Suzy on a day trip with "friends" near Dorking last Sunday

Monday dawned and amazingly it rained. Later however it stopped and the sun came out and the temperature reached 23ºc but it was very windy, in fact seriously windy. It was to be our last full day at the flat. Meanwhile in Madrid, Lorena, a young woman from Venezuela but who lives in Dubai and has married a Lebanese man, arrived to spend the week with us while he was travelling. We weren't to meet her until we got home on Tuesday though. Her arrival was a little problematic as when she walked into her beautiful room (Suzy's room), Norah, our beagle, somehow got in and peed on the floor. OMG and I wasn't there. I had to ring Lucy, ask her to clean the floor and then profusely offer my apologies to Lorena. Lorena's stay would be full of little problems like that but she took everything cheerfully. Naughty Norah. It's very unusual for her to behave like that and I think it was to due to her excitement of meeting a new guest. Let's hope it never happens again.  

We spent the morning in the flat as it was too windy to go out. Luckily the terrace wasn't affected by the wind and we could sit and read in the sun. I did some work, pottered around, made lunch and also prepared a bowl of cut up fruit from the local market which is how we like to serve it and this is what it looked like. Colourful and lovely don't you agree?

This is how how we like to serve fruit.

We had a long siesta after lunch interrupted by a call from a head hunter. I find it funny I still get the calls. If they knew my age, no doubt they wouldn't bother hahaha. I also received some reading material from a new customer which I need to work on a PR plan for them. But that would have to wait until I got home and was something I would have to think about quite a lot as the target public is unusual, thus the target media too. 

Eventually we left the flat despite the wind and went down for a walk on the beach. It was still very windy so I wore a headscarf to cover my hair which was blowing in my face. I'm not sure whether I resembled a Muslim woman or an English woman with a headscarf the way the Queen of England wears them hahaha. Eladio with short hair never has that problem and here he is on the beach that afternoon with little Pippa at his side.

Eladio on the beach with little Pippa on our last day in Santa Pola

Of note that night we started a new TV series on Netflix called "La Casa de Papel" which I am enjoying thoroughly but Eladio is not keen so I shall have to watch it on my own when I have free time. 

Tuesday came, the day we were going home.  It takes us usually about an hour to clean the flat, pack and get ready to go. While we were doing so I got an alarm call from Lucy to tell me there was no water at home. OMG panic stations, mainly because we had an Airbn guest at home who would obviously want a shower. It turned out there were some repairs in the pipes in the neighbourhood and that there had been a warning notice posted in our mail box but Lucy hadn't seen it. We rang the water board to hear the water would be switched off from 9 until 3 pm. Thankfully though it returned much earlier. That was Lorena, our Airbn guest's second problem with her stay. I just hoped there wouldn't be any more. I would hope in vain as you will read later. 

Just before leaving I always go to the British supermarket, Quick Save across the road to buy chocolate bars for my Father which always include a bounty and turkish delight, his favourites. As I crossed the road to go back to the flat I took one last photo and it is of the view from the road of the bay of Alicante which I always love. Here it is.

The view of the bay of Alicante 

We were in the car and ready to go just before 11 am and would have the roads more or less to ourselves as there is little traffic during the week. We stopped for lunch at the same place we had stopped on our way to Santa Pola, our newly discovered roadside bar/restaurant. Bar restaurante San José is in a small village called Zafra de Záncara about 100 km or so from Madrid and is truly a new find. You can always tell in Spain when a roadside bar,cafe or restaurant is good when you see lots of cars and especially lorries. Once again we enjoyed a great meal for about 35 euros for the two of us and we shall be going back next time no doubt.

The restaurant we had lunch at on our way to and back from Santa Pola 

We were home by about 16h and happy to find good weather here too. In fact it has been lovely every day since we got back. Finally we are enjoying fine weather after so many weeks and months of cold, snow and rain.  After settling in, unpacking, etc, I took Lucy out to visit the new Carrefour that has been opened very near here. It is a Carrefour Market which I learned is the gourmet version of a supermarket the French company has among its different shops and stores and my goodness it is both gourmet and very expensive. But wow the quality is amazing as well as the range of products. It is in a different league to Mercadona where we usually shop. 

I came home to finally meet Lorena, our Venezuelan guest who must be in her 30's or so and found her charming. She joined us for dinner and all this week ended up being part of the family. It was like having another daughter at home. She hadn't brought a car so often she came with me when I went  out shopping or on errands. 

Eladio spent the afternoon of our return in the garden removing the huge branches of our Mimosa tree which had fallen in strong winds a few weeks ago. He also mowed part of the lawn. He would carry on sprucing up the garden over the next few days to get it ready for the summer and it's looking lovely.  

The day of our arrival was Oli's last full day in Germany and she was in Munich from where she would be visiting the famous castle that inspired Disney and called Neuschwanstein (pronounce that if you can). 

Oli in Munich

I always remember my Mother telling me that when she came to London as a refugee after the 2nd world war and had to work as a cleaner in a hospital until she was given residency, she worked alongside a German girl whose family were the owners of the castle. Amazing! Apparently there were many aristocrats and princesses like herself who were in the same situation. She had many stories to tell of those times being penniless in London and far from home. 

Oli with one of her interviewees from Madrid by the famous Disney castle in Germany

Oli was loving Germany. She sent us a photo eating a pretzel, that very German hard bread ring which I find tasteless but which is so popular both there and of course in the US.

Oli eating a pretzel in Germany

She would be returning late on Tuesday evening but we weren't to see her until Wednesday.  

One of the reasons we had to come back from Santa Pola on Tuesday was that I had an appointment with the traumatologist the next morning after recent back pain. When I was a child I fell off a swimming pool trampoline while climbing the steps and landed on my back. At the time I was told it had caused a small fissure in one of the lower vertabras. Ever since I have had back pain on and off over the years. 10 years ago or so I was diagnosed with "spondylolisthesis" which apparently means one of the vertebra has slipped out of position and it can be dangerous. At the time I did lots of scans and eventually I remember the doctor telling me a miracle had occurred in that the affected vertebra had actually welded with the next one. So I took along the x-rays etc and told that story to the doctor on Wednesday who refused to believe they had welded as she said that wasn't medically possible. In any case she examined me and I have to do another "magnetic resonance" scan on my back. I will be doing another one too on my right hip  as I told her I have been experiencing pain in my groin. I hope and pray that doesn't mean I will have to have a replacement hip put in. Cross your fingers. The good thing though is that all pain has gone away for the moment. 

It was a lovely day and I came home to find Eladio once again in the garden getting it ready for the summer. We went for our walk in the afternoon and it was so warm I wished I had worn shorts. I came home in need of another shower and afterwards got out all my summer jeans and trousers and tried them on. I was dreading them not fitting but most of them did thank goodness. Those that were tight are a good motivation to keep to healthy eating after our stay in Santa Pola. 

If it was warm here on Wednesday it got warmer the next day. Amazingly in London on Thursday it was the hottest day in England since 1949 with temperatures at 26 or so degrees which is hardly sizzling by Spanish standards but is a big thing in the UK hahaha. The papers are full of warnings of what to do and not to do in "hot" weather. 26ºc is definitely not "hot" for me after having lived in Spain for more than 30 years. "Hot" here is generally over 40ºc and 26ºc is considered mild.  

Thursday morning saw us with a sort of fever to get the summer terraces ready for the good weather. The swimming pool terrace and kitchen patio were looking awful but we soon had them looking clean and tidy with all the summer furniture out. But what we needed were flowers to make everything look more attractive and we would go out shopping to "Verdecora" (garden centre) in the afternoon. 

In the morning I went out to buy, believe it or not, a muzzle for Pippa and Lorena joined me. Pippa is not good with people outside the family and with other dogs and she has been known to go for people's ankles, especially men's. She hasn't actually bitten them but has certainly tried. She also eats all sorts of stuff from the ground that she shouldn't. We took her to a lovely pet shop which is dog friendly called Petuluku or something like that and there we got to know the "muzzle world". Some of them looked like the muzzle Anthony Hopkins wore in the film "The silence of the lambs". We looked for the most gentle and least aggressive of all them and tried them on her. Poor little Pippa, she was absolutely terrified and just stood still and trembled. I did buy one but haven't put it on her yet and  probably never will. 

We came home and I made a simple lunch for the family. Soon Oli arrived and we greeted her after her return from Germany. It was lovely to see her. Both Oli and I spent time together on the swimming pool terrace afterwards "chillaxing" as she calls it and I couldn't have thought of a better way to spend the afternoon. Later we went to buy flowers to put in the pots around the pool and Lorena came with us as if she were part of the family. It was Lorena who took the photo of the three of us in the queue at Verdecora with our trollies of flowers, the photo I have chosen to illustrate this week's blog post. It was a happy moment.

Lorena our Venezuelan Airbnb guest with us buying flowers at Verdecora this week

Eladio would plant them the next day but meanwhile I got Lucy to plant the lovely daisies Lorena had bought for us and which are now decorating the kitchen patio wooden table where we would have dinner that night for the first time this year.

The kitchen patio table and chairs with flowers

We came home happy with the flowers we had bought but we came home to no electricity. Oh my goodness yet another breakdown during an Airbnb guest's stay. Eladio tried his best to find out where the problem was coming from as the mains was down the whole time. It was nearly 9 pm and getting dark and I was envisaging a night without light, hot water or central heating when an electrician came. He charged Eladio 50 euros and only confirmed my husband's suspicions that the cause was the central heating. That meant we had to call the technicians from the firm who had sold us the new boiler and which we only had installed last month. Thankfully though we at least had light and on Saturday morning they came to put in a new pump and everything was working again. 

It was this week and mainly on Thursday that I became much more aware of what is being called the "Windrush scandal" in the UK.  Thousands of people were invited by the UK Government between 1948 and 1973 to come and live in England to do jobs necessary, especially after the Second World War, to rebuild the country.  They were mostly from Jamaica and other Caribbean countries and I well remember their smiling faces, many of whom were bus drivers.  They are being called the "Windrush" immigrants as the first of them arrived on a ship of that name in 1948. 

Caribbean immigrants arriving on the Windrush ship in England

They came at an invitation from the government but were never given any papers that made them officially legal or British or whatever and now in a crack down from the Home Office which started when Theresa May was the Home Secretary, many of these people who have led their whole lives in England are being declared illegal and being asked to prove they came legally. They were never told or they never knew they had to formalise their residency status and now they are in a totally kafkian like situation. Astonishingly we have learned that the Immigration body or authority recently destroyed all their landing cards.  Many of the affected are risking deportation, have lost their jobs, their houses and are not allowed health care.  Anyone who lived in England between 1948 and 1973 knows of their existence so it seems astonishing that the Government is now denying that they are in England legally. It is just appalling. This is not the England I know.  In a way, this attempt by the government to create a hostile environment for immigrants when as a government they have no records of most immigrants' entry into the country is what has caused the scandal and will continue to cause more scandals such as threatening to deport spouses married to English people as we have seen in the wake of Brexit. I find it rather ironic that one of the fundamental reasons for voting to leave the EU was immigration but that the majority of immigrants in the UK actually do not come come the EU but  from the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth, itself, that body that encompasses representatives from all the countries which once belonged to the British Empire for me is a bit of a joke if the UK government is now trying to deport the very people who came from them at the invitation of the Empire. I am utterly in shock with the whole affair, the Windrush scandal and its consequences and am ashamed of those governing the country where I was born and which invented democracy. 

Friday came and Eladio would plant the flowers. But first Lorena and I arranged where everyone of them would go as we wanted harmony and all of them matching. But of course the hard work was done by Eladio. I had to do the food shopping and lots of little errands and Lorena joined me. When we got home we found my dear husband had planted them all perfectly and everything was looking great, except of course for the pool. The cover had to come off but we would until today to do it just in case it rained in between time which actually it didn't.  When Olivia came home from work that night she would see all Eladio's handy work.  

Some of the flowers around the pool

Yesterday Lorena would be leaving but first her Lebanese husband came to pick her up after flying into Madrid from the USA. They are a lovely couple and we spent time with them having coffee and chatting .I do  hope they come again.

Oli and I had to go out and do more food shopping and we chose to go to Carrefour Market. This time I took a closer look at the fruit stall and it is simply beautiful. I met a woman who makes fruit arrangements as a job and decorates some of the stall, like the water melons in the photo below. I asked for her contact number as she showed me lots of pictures of over fruit centres she does and they were spectacular.

The amazing fruit stall at the new Carrefour Market recently opened in Boadilla near where we live

We came home with our purchases and to say goodbye to Lorena and her husband. I then made our lunch; fish and lots of vegetables but before sitting down to eat, Eladio, Oli, the dogs and I went for our daily walk. Thus we had a rather late lunch. 

New Airbnb guests were coming, a family from Denver, Colorado; wife and husband Amy and Mike and their daughter Rachel who is studying at the University of Seville. It was their very first trip outside the USA and they had been touring the north of Spain.  Their stay at our house yesterday was their last night in Spain and I think they fell in love with the country. I liked them immensely and think the feeling was mutual but I couldn't have much time together as just after they arrived Eladio and I were leaving to go out to dinner. Also they left this morning at about 5.30 pm as they had an early flight to catch. Both my husband and I commented while driving into Madrid last night for dinner at our friends' house in town, that we have met some very lovely and interesting people thanks to our Airbnb hosting and very honest people too. 

We went to have dinner at Pedro and Ludy's house. Pedro is the famous "Perico Delgado" of cycling fame in Spain, having won 2 Tours of Spain and 1 Tour of France. His wife comes from Villablino which is really near Montrondo and we have lots in common as well as  a friendship that goes back at least 20 years if not more.  We always feel at home with them and Ludy is a great cook. They have 3 lovely young sons, Pedro aged 17 and non identical twins Pablo and Alvaro aged about 14. Their eldest son is mad about philosophy so was keen to talk to Eladio who as you know is a a philosopher. While they talked, I talked more mundane matters with both Pedro and Ludy. We were there until nearly 1 in the morning which is very late for us and weren't in bed until nearly 2. 

I was awake at about 5.30 maybe hearing my American guests leave but made myself stay in bed until 7 am. 

Today the main task will be to remove the swimming pool cover and get it ready for the good weather. Pictures no doubt will be in my post next Sunday. But there will be more important pictures next week as on Thursday Suzy will be coming for her birthday which is on Saturday and we can't wait to see her. She will be the main subject of next week's post for sure.

So my friends and readers, I have come to the end of the tales of this week. It is late and I must print this for my Father. 

All the best everyone until next Sunday