The birthday boy, my French expressions of the week, the difference between Sunni and Shia Muslims, Motorola turns 90, lunch with Julio and Fátima, dinner at Oli's and other stories of the week.

Sunday 30th September, 2018

Lunch with Julio and Fátima, my best friends, the highlight of the week

Good morning all.

How has your week been? Let me tell you about mine or should I say ours as Eladio says this blog is not mine but "ours".

The week started with a bang. Last Sunday was my dear husband's birthday. He turned 74 but as I said last week, no one would believe it, including me. I was up, as usual, before everyone - at 5.50! -so had time to lay the dining room table for the birthday breakfast which is when we give the presents and the all important card. Both of us went out to buy churros and porras, a thicker and longer version of churros as well as a litre of thick chocolate to dunk them in. 

Soon we were all in the dining room ready to start the day's celebrations. Here are Eladio, Oli and my Father. Oh, how he loves birthdays. So do we.

The birthday breakfast

For his presents Eladio got perfume from Olivia and a new Kindle and case from me and my Father. It was to replace the one that mysteriously disappeared. 

Later after a quick video call with Suzy, we went for a walk to work off the churros hahah. It was another hot day, reaching 34ºc again. Oli and I swam when we came back to cool off. Pierre, my French dentistry student was sitting by the pool too waiting for his new room. Giovanni, my Italian student had left earlier and Pierre was to occupy his room. Pierre is a lovely boy, tall and red haired and will be staying on for another 2 weeks until he gets his accommodation. While we showered and got ready to go out, he changed and went off on his bike in the sun, a bike he keeps in what I call his "tank" which is actually a "Defender" Land Rover.  I really don't know how he could bear the heat while cycling up the hill from our house. 

I was let off that morning as far as lunch was concerned as Zena was making it. She prepared a favourite Russian dish of ours, "gloupsy" (stuffed cabbage). Thus Oli and I went out to get Eladio's cake which I had pre-ordered at Alverán, a local bakery. We also went to the "Chinese shop" to get some birthday candles, the sort that are like fireworks. Chinese shops in Spain are all over the place and sell all sorts of cheap stuff. Here I found some silly glasses and a sash with the words "feliz cumpleaños" (happy birthday in Spanish).

Once home and with an hour until lunch, Oli and I sat under the trees in the shade reading and talking. That day I was coming to the end of the Frederick Forsyth book, The Odessa File. I realised I hadn't read it ever but had seen the film. It's good.

Lunch was ready at 2 o'clock. Eladio was surprised and I hope pleased with the birthday outfit which we made him put on. It certainly made my Father chuckle haha. I told him he had to wear it for the rest of the day including the siesta but of course that was just a joke. Here he is in his birthday regalia looking the perfect "birthday boy".

The birthday boy in his outfit. 

The photo is funny but even funnier if you try to spot the different faces in it. Suzy spotted Zena in the background which made me laugh too. 

Then the cake moment came.  On purpose we rearranged the numbers so it looked like he was celebrating his 47th and not his 74th birthday hahaha. The cake itself is our favourite. Made of sponge, thick cream and fruit and covered in white chocolate, it's one we buy for all our birthdays. It's divine. And here is Eladio sitting down just as the firework candles were lit. 

The birthday cake moment

Oli took a video which you can see here. 

Later both men took a siesta but I joined Oli by the pool under the trees. Soon afterwards her friends Elena or Elenita as the girls call her, came to visit and then Juli too. I continued with my book and finished it and then feeling very drowsy lay down on one of the hard sunbeds and slept for at least an hour.  After all I had got up at 5.50 that day!

It was a quiet afternoon with no sign of any guests. We were waiting for Andrew and his wife Ana, a Scottish Spanish couple who live in Antibes in France, to arrive but they didn't come until late that night. They had driven from Antibes which according to Google Maps is 1.270 km from here. Lots of my French guests drive from France to get here, it must be a very French thing. 

Talking of guests, while I was by the pool that afternoon, the son of my recent Russian guests from Lithuania got in touch to book our place for them again. They will be coming in the middle of October. They weren't the best guests but were nice people. October is slowly filling up and that's good as the quiet months of November, December, January and February will bring fewer guests as it's the low season.

To finish the special day with a flourish, Oli and I made a special dinner for Eladio; well for us too hahaha. We prepared a salad, foie with fresh figs, a plate of "lomo" as well as carrot sticks with humus. It was scrumptious. 

At around 9.30 our guests from Antibes arrived. They are a lovely couple. They were here to look for 6 month accommodation for Andrew who will be on an assignment  with the Banco Santander. The bank's worldwide HQ is in Boadilla. We settled them in and then they went out to dinner and we only saw them the next day. 

We went to bed straight after they went out and that night watched the film The Butler which I had seen before but Eladio hadn't. 

Monday came and after tossing and turning much of the night and waking up many times, I finally got up that morning at 6.20. I later realised I had probably slept badly as I had forgotten to take my sleeping tablets.

Monday would prove not to be the best day of the week. Continuing with my French expressions of the day, I duly looked it up on The Local France. Unfortunately the Local made it difficult for me to find it as it is searching for paying subscribers and it looks like unless I pay, I shall no longer be able to see its content. C'est domage I though. In any case the expression of the day was: "C'est la galère". Of course that means literally, it's a galley (on a ship)  and is a a sort of filler word used all the time by the French. As apparently it was torturous to work on a galley, the word has become to mean a struggle, a nightmare, or having a hard time doing something. For example you could use it to say: "c'est la galère sur les route du Voule d'Oise; i.e. it's hellish, a pain or difficult too. You can also say "quelle galère" meaning what a nightmare. When I told Oli, she said she still preferred "avoir la patate" which I do too.

Monday's French expression of the day: meaning a nightmare, difficulty or similar. 

The day started off with me having a lot of "patate" but later in the day I would feel like saying "quelle gallère" after an embarrassing complaint from some; how ironic. Read on.

Our walk that morning was lovely, very sunny but with a cool breeze. The day afterwards would be nearly cold at that time in the morning.  I came back to find my new guest Andrew drinking a cup of tea by the pool and I joined him. We  soon discovered we had both worked at Motorola. Thus we are what the company considers "Motorolans". He had worked with the American telecoms giant from 1989 for 11 years, starting in the UK in Basingstoke which I remember very well and me from 1990 to 1999 in Madrid. Gosh, what a coincidence! We didn't know each other at the time because he worked for the Radio division and I for the cellular division but had quite a few colleagues in common.

Being Monday morning, Eladio and I wanted to go to the Monday fruit and vegetable market in Villaviciosa de Odón to stock up on good produce for the week. Oli came with us. We spent quite a fortune between us and I only hoped it would last till the following  Monday. It doesn't usually. From there we went to Carrefour Market to get fresh fish for lunch, "merluza" which translates to "hake", although I have never eaten hake in the UK and didn't know of its existence when I lived there.  On the way to Carrefour, I got a sudden Airbnb reservation for that very day, to occupy Suzy's room, the only one empty this week. It was from a "chap" called Zaid from Sweden coming to start  his first year at the University. He was another dental student. He would be coming later that evening and we would be full house again.

As we came in with our huge loads of fruit wondering where to put it all as we have to share our main fridge with guests, one of them took me aside to complain in a nice way that their bathroom was "filthy". OMG, panic stations. I was stunned and embarrassed, left everything and ran to the room, cleaning equipment in hand, to do the job myself. Oli helped me as did Eladio. It's true the bathroom was a little dirty; things like the soap tray but it wasn't filthy. However, we gave it a deep clean and from now on shall be on the alert to make sure all the guests' bathrooms are impeccable. I was mortified. Later though I felt a bit better when I got a glowing review from Giovanni. I do hope his bathroom in the green room was clean when he arrived.  From now on, I shall make sure they are all spick and span. I can't trust our cleaning ladies, Lucy and Zena to do the job properly. However that's understandable as this house is sprawling and enormous with 650m2 and it's nearly impossible to keep it "impeccable" which is how our  guest said she liked things, all the time. We would need a full time staff like at Downton Abbey for that to happen, something which is not going to happen.

I thus rushed to make lunch feeling stressed. It was then that I could have used the new French expression, "quelle galère" if you see what I mean.

Luckily I was able to de-stress after lunch and sat for a while under the trees with Oli in the shade before going upstairs for a well needed siesta. She would leave a little later as the next day my youngest daughter was starting work after a long summer break. I wondered what her next destination would be.

I missed the news on TV while with her. Of course though I had read the headlines in the morning. One piece of news that piqued my interest was about the German  Minister of Education, Annette Schavan,  resigning over PhD plagiarism. So it's not just in Spain where politicians have been caught out copying.

In the afternoon, funnily enough, I started reading a book called "Educated". I wonder if Ms. Schavan will be reading it too now that she has lots of free time on her hands. Written by Tara Westover, it describes her youth in a very restrictive Mormon family where she was not allowed to go to school. Incredibly, somehow, she managed to educate herself and went to Cambridge University. Sadly, she is now estranged from her Mormon family. There has been a lot about this new book in the news. It makes for tough reading I can tell you but is fascinating.

My choice of book this week

Zaid arrived just before our dinner. He came in a thick track suit. While it had been 10ºc in Stockholm that morning, he was arriving to nearly 30ºc. It must have been a shock for his system. We duly greeted him, showed him his room and welcomed him. He was born in Sweden but is not of Swedish origin. His Mother is Moroccan and his Father from Iraq. He has come to the right house; the United Nations of guests hahaha. He had brought with him boxes and boxes of what the Swedes call "snus" for Swedish friends here. This is like English snuff or a variant of it and is actually moist powder tobacco. You put it under your upper lip for extended periods and it is supposed to give you a high. I tried it once from a Swedish colleague and found it vile.

Dinner was simple and healthy, just as lunch had been. You see I am trying to eat as healthily as possible now that autumn has come, to shed any excess weight put on in the summer. Thus we had salad, ham and fruit.

As we were finishing our guests came into the kitchen to make their dinner. Soon Zaid joined us and the banter was lovely. It usually is and we later remarked that nearly everyone loves our house for its atmosphere. It's true and then we said that those who don't can lump it haha.

The day ended finishing watching The Eagle about the peace process with Egypt and Israel. It's well worth watching.

Tuesday's sports news was about Luca Modric, the 33 year old Real Madrid midfielder from Croatia winning the Fifa best player award in London. It's a goal for his native country and a first.

Luca Modric at the awards for Best Player of the year in London this week.

To think he grew up as the son of a goat herder, being a child shepherd and later a war refugee, his career is pretty marvelous. I, for one, was happy to see an end to the duopoly of Messi and Ronaldo who have dominated the awards for 10 years. It was pretty bad behaviour on their part for not attending the awards. That was the least they could have done.

It was cooler on Tuesday, just 16ºc in the morning when I sat outside with my cup of coffee. I even wore a cardigan on our walk but took it off half way when the sun became stronger. The highest temperature that day was 28ºc I think which for us is not that warm. However, for Zaid, my Arab Swedish dental student, it was relatively boiling. He told me that when Sweden had a heatwave this summer, the country ran out of fans hahaha.

Finally on Tuesday I went to the hairdresser; I hadn't been for about a month and a half and my hair was a mess and in much need of "doing my roots". Thankfully, an hour or so later, after Sandra's good work, I came out looking my usual self, with my midway length bob and blonde hair with all sign of grey or white roots gone. I don't like going to the hairdresser but I do like my hair looking good.

I came home with time on my hands as lunch would be leftovers of Zena's "gloupsy". It was time to do my French homework but I got interrupted by Zaid and then by Pierre, our other dental student who is from Pau in France, the one with the "tank". It was then that I got a message from Rania to say she and her husband Pierre and their little boy Raphael would be coming in October and do I have a room spare. If you follow my blog you will remember Rania was my recent Airbnb guest who lives in Brussels but is originally from Lebanon and that we had become fast friends. Their visit would coincide with my repeat Russian Airbnb guests from Lithuania. Juggling around with the reservations I told her I would be able to put her in the triple room which is actually Suzy's old room. Recently Airbnb arranged for professional photography for me after having being a "super host" for more than a year. I do think that since they have been posted my bookings have gone up. The nice thing is that people come back. This is one of the photos of Suzy's room:

One of the professional photos of Suzy's room, the one where Rania will be staying

I can't wait to see her again and to meet her husband and son.

After lunch and a short siesta, I sat down to finish my French homework, mostly about the conditional present hahaha, when I was interrupted by Zaid again who was calling a taxi. We were joined by Eladio and were soon talking about religion. He told us he was a Shia Muslim with a direct blood link to Mohammed the Prophet! We asked him about the difference between Shia and Sunni muslims and we got some very interesting answers. I have to say the conversation with him was very enriching. He is only 20 but knowledgeable on many subjects. He told us he had faith but was not a very practicing Muslim. For instance he cheats during Ramadan. I laughed happily at that. When I asked him which branch of Muslim was more radical, he told me that the Shias say it's the Sunnis and the Sunnis say it's the Shias.  He also told us the Sunnis generally hate the Shias and that they were persecuted by the Sunnis; i.e. Isis. How frightening. His Father has one wife only, thank goodness, but his Father's father had 4 and nearly 40 offspring. That means his Father has nearly 40 brothers and sisters, 19 sisters and 17 brothers! He reckoned he, Zaid, had more than 600 cousins! The answer to the difference in the two branches is pretty simple and Eladio, my philosopher husband and ex Catholic priest, of course knew it. Let me quote it to you from the internet in inverted commas. No plagiarism here hahaha.

The Sunni majority got their way, as Abu Bakr became the first Muslim caliph and successor of the prophet. ... One of the most crucial differences between Shia and Sunni Muslims is the importance that the Shiites give to Ali, whom the Sunni do not recognize as being the prophet's rightful successor.

According to Eladio, Abu Bakr was the direct descendant of the prophet whereas Ali was his cousin. And forever after there has been discord, just as there has been discord between the Catholics and the Protestants and other religions against Judaism. To quote my husband yesterday, most of the world's woes have been because of religion, the biggest cause of war in all history.  On a final note the Shias are a minority group of Muslims, representing just 15%.

Searching for a photo to illustrate this little story, I came across various maps where the the two different branches of Islam can be found. I hope this one is correct.

We later remarked how enriching it was for us to meet so many different people representing conflicts in the world and to hear their opinion. Quite recently we had the opportunity to meet and talk to a Jewish judge, a family from Saudi Arabia, a Christian from Lebanon and now a Shia muslim. That is the greatest advantage of being an Airbnb host. We love it. 

I also asked Zaid how integrated immigrant Muslims are in Sweden. He told me, sadly, they weren't really. For example all his friends are of immigrant origin. You would have thought that with Sweden being a pillar of example for equal rights and democracy there would be integration. When I said that to him, he answered that the Swedes were "nice" people but two faced. On the other hand, as a boy of Muslim origin, he has been brought up in a democratic society and a lot of it has rubbed off on him. 

When Zain left, I continued my homework only to be interrupted by the arrival of Pierre. With Pierre we talked about his choice of subject, dentistry. He told me that many students only get to see a mouthful of teeth in their 4th year and that some are so shocked they forego their studies hahha. Pierre, being a clever young chap, had made friends with one of his lecturers and attended surgery and was not put off. He will make a marvelous dentist. He is very good looking, so no doubt all his young female patients will fall in love with him. I later told Zaid that and he said that now first year students will be able to practice on dead bodies. Well that is just gross. It's funny we've had so many dental students to stay.

I finally finished my homework (je finis mes devoirs) and by then it was time for dinner. We had a very healthy meal, an omelet with fresh runner beans bought at the local market. Just before we finished, our  Scottish Spanish couple who live in Antibes, arrived home after a long day in Madrid. At one stage all 4 of our guests were in the kitchen and there was a babble of French, Spanish and English. What a lovely babble it was. But we bade them all "bon nuit" and went up to bed after 9pm.

We missed part of the news, but not all. What captured my attention was the story of the former French PM, Catalan born Manuel Valls. He was born in Barcelona to a Spanish father and Swiss Mother or was it the other way round. He left to live in France when he was 20. Well, the news about him is that he announced he is running for the post of Mayor of Barcelona. The good news, for me, at least, is that he is against independence. He has the backing of the anti independence party, "Ciudadanos" but is unlikely to win. But who knows? I mean if Paris can have a Spanish born Mayoress, why can't Barcelona have Manuel Valls for Mayor. Let's see how it goes.

Manul Valls, former PM of France, running for Mayor of Barcelona

There was another piece of news that day which was rather emotional for me. You see, on Tuesday, Motorola turned 90. Wow 90. I worked for the company as you read earlier from 1990 to 1999. All nines.  This is their quick history corporate wise: "The Motorola corporation turns 90 years old today and it is celebrating its legacy from the the time Paul and Joseph Galvin founded the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation to the first Motorola car radio to providing communications to missions to Mount Everest and the Moon to the DynaTAC, the StarTAC, through Google and now to Lenovo ownership". 

But for me, it was my first telco company and the first multinational I worked for and wow those years were amazing when mobile telephony took off. I have many memories of my years with Motorola but one sticks out more than the rest. I was at a worldwide marketing conference in Chicago and one evening at a dinner, the founder's son, Joseph Galvin or "Bob" Galvin, would be presiding the dinner. I was astounded when I was chosen to sit on his table as a representative of Europe. There was a member on his table from each continent and one of the girls was from China. She sat next to me and told me it was her first time outside China and that she didn't know how to use a knife and fork. That would prove a challenge as we were served "turf and surf" (steak and salmon). I told her to imitate me and she did and she was fine. As to Bob Galvin, well, he was a real gentleman and made us feel welcome. It was his son Chris Galvin who was more inspiring though and awfully good looking with too. 

So when I read about Motorola's 90th anniversary on Tuesday I thought about all the good times I had spent with the company. Here in Spain, there were a few articles and one from Zona Movilidad mentioned me, little me, as one of the founding members who had made their mark on the sector. That was nice. 

My first telco company, Motorola, turned 90 this week. I spent 9 years with them. 

Later we continued watching a film called The Banker of the Resistance until we fell asleep. It is an interesting story but the script is not good.

Wednesday dawned and over my cup of coffee I looked up The Local's expression of the day. It was a slangy one "Truc de ouf". Funnily enough it was to be a new expression too for my French born cousin Zuka who lives in France. I hope that doesn't mean it's uncommon.

Wednesday's French expression of the day

It has nothing to do with eggs. In fact "ouf" is "fou" the other way round, fou meaning crazy. But in this expression un truc means "thing" like in "thingymajig". For example, ·C'est ou le truc? This means where's the thing gone? It also means something positive: "c'était un truc de ouf" translates as,  it was so good. So there's your expression of the day in French. Each morning the first thing I do is consult The Local to get the latest one. In a way that is a little crazy (fou) too hahaha.

Our walk was late that day and it was cooler. Rain threatened but it didn't come.

The morning went past in a jiffy and soon it was lunch and then the news and our siesta. The news I found the most interesting on Wednesday was not on the TV but on internet. It referred to the countries in Europe with the highest living expectancy, or rather the cities in Europe. You can read the article here. Amazing that Madrid comes top for both men and women. So I am living in the right city aren't I?

Madrid tops the chart for highest living expectancy in Europe for both men and women

It was in the early afternoon I got some very good professional news. A project I had submitted a PR plan for has been accepted and more importantly the budget too. The real work will take off quite soon as the launch time will be around February. That made me so pleased, Eladio too.

Oli's news that day was her next destination with her programme, "Madrileños por el mundo". She will be off to New Mexico in the US next week. Lucky girl, what a plush and fantastic job she has. She said, "not bad, but the US is not my favourite destination". It's not mine either but there's always something to learn from going somewhere new. So it's places like Santa Fe and Alburqueque she will be visiting, somewhere in the south of the US on the border of Mexico and near Arizona and Texas. Don't take me literally as my geography of the US is appalling.

The rest of the day was quiet. I had to go out to my GP to get my 2 monthly prescription of sleeping pills and then it was home to make dinner which, despite the threatened rain, we had outside. The rest of the evening, you can guess so I shan't repeat it here.

Thursday came and the temperature rose to 30ºc. Ana, one of my Airbnb guests, bathed in the pool that day. We went on our walk and wore jumpers which we would later shed as the sun shone brighter.

The highlight of Thursday was lunch out with my best friends Julio and Fátima. As many of you know the three of us worked together at Nokia for many years. However, Fátima and I go back a lot longer as we first met at Motorola in about 1991. We had an early lunch at a quasi Italian place; "La Tagliatella" in Pozuelo. We had lots to catch up on with Julio who we hadn't seen since before the summer. He was recently given the post of lecturer with the UNED University, a job which is just up his street but oh so different from working for a telco multinational. In fact, the 3 of us commented just how much our lives had changed work wise but for the better. As lunch with my friends was the highlight of the week, it is the photo of the three of us on Thursday that I have chosen to illustrate this week's blog post. I do so love my friends.

I came home to take a short siesta and then Eladio and I retired to our favourite spot by the pool, a little corner under the trees where we sit on wooden benches and read often in the summer. Here is Eladio reading that day. with his new Kindle. I call it our "reading corner".

Eladio reading in the garden on Thursday

We had a dinner date that night at Oli's house and I was to take the food as she was a bit stressed from work, yes stressed after 3 days back at work hahaha. Thus at about 7ish, I set about making two small Spanish potato and onion omelets. Dear Eladio helped me with the skivvy work. I've perfected the art of making the perfect tortilla, the way we like it that is. It has to be very moist inside, not runny but nearly and have plenty of onions. And voilà, here they are. I made them in less than half an hour!

The 2 tortillas I made to take to Oli's place on Thursday

Had I been writing this in French, I could have used the expression of the day I learned that day from The Local France. It is "Dis donc" meaning a lot of things actually, one of them being, "by the way "or even "you don't say" It's used a lot apparently and can also mean "hey" or "well I never".  When Oli and I had our weekly French lesson on Saturday and I mentioned all these new expressions I am learning to Helene, our teacher or should I say "ma prof", apparently the cool way to say "my teacher" rather than "mon professuer".

We were on time at Oli's place and to please her we took Pips along, aka Pippa. Pippa wanted dinner too so we had to keep feeding her carrot sticks we had cut to have with Ol's homemade humus. It was funny to be at her flat without her boyfriend Miguel. The lucky chap was sailing in Croatia this week. He is indeed lucky with his job as he works about 20 weeks out of 52 in the whole year  as technician and cameraman for TVE in Valencia.

The dinner was delicious but the nicest thing was being together. Suzy was missing though. We do miss her. But I have to make do with her coming just for Christmas which at the moment seems so far away. On the bright side, we shall be going out to see her, hopefully, in March.

Dinner at Oli's on Thursday evening, another highlight of the week

We left relatively early at about 10.30 and were in bed by 11.20. We watched a bit of "telly" until we both fell asleep.

Friday dawned and it was another glorious day. September has been great weather wise. That morning, before setting off on our walk, we had a chat with Andrew, our Scottish guest. He and his wife had come to look for accommodation for him for his 6 month assignment as a coach with the Banco Santander. However, very shortly after being here and after seeing lots of places,  they both expressed an interest in him staying with us for the period. He loves our house. I must say he's a very nice person. So, on Friday, we came to an agreement for him to stay. Thus I had to change my main Airbnb listing to remove his room from it for the next 6 months. We agreed to him staying from now to March as from November to March it is the low season and his added income should make up for lesser Airbnb earnings. It's the first time we've had a proper "lodger" a bit like my parents used to have.

After our walk, I had a quiet morning. I was happy to receive 2 new Airbnb reservations. That now means that October is fully booked. Let's see how November pans out.

Lunch was a healthy meal of vegetable soup, fish and runner beans. I made a light meal on purpose as we had dinner out that night.

In the afternoon, we spent quiet time in our reading corner in the garden by the pool. Meanwhile, many thousands of  miles away, in Indonesia there was a 7.5 earthquake, thankfully 1.800 km from where Suzy lives in Bali but the news did scare us for a  moment. I haven't heard much from her this week but have seen photos, like this one of her on a beach drinking some concoction from a coconut  and sitting next to her Indonesian boyfriend Dous. He has an enormous amount of hair which makes him look a bit scary, at least for me, but here he is wearing it tied back thank goodness hahaha. There you have my hippy older daughter living the simple life in Bali and integrating completely with the locals. She even sings in Indonesian with the band she sings in and in which he plays the guitar or the drums.

Suzy and Dous in Bali this week

Who had a bad moment on Friday afternoon was the social media giant Facebook. More than 50 million of its accounts had been hacked, including, I suppose, mine as  they had logged me out and I had to log back in again. Oh how vulnerable we are on internet.

We spent the time reading. I finished "Educated" and recommend it to you all. It's a great biography of a very strange life; from strict Mormon to Cambridge University.  I then started on another book by Frederick Forsyth, The Fish of God about Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

Eladio was reading his book too but in between time consulting the news. This week has been very controversial for Spain's new socialist government. Just a few months ago, its leader, Pedro Sánchez formed a brand new government with a majority of women. Since then, for various scandal reasons, 2 of the ministers have had to resign and now another 2 are embroiled in new scandals, including the Science Minister and ex astronaut, Pedro Duque. Sánchez himself has his very own scandal too with accusations of plagiarism of his thesis. The new government says it is the victim of a witch hunt and it may well be so but that doesn't take away the reality of the scandals. Probably, much sooner than he wants, he will have to call elections as no way can he continue to govern under this huge black cloud and with just 84 seats in parliament.

We had a dinner date that night with our friends Irene and her husband Tomas. Irene was one of the 4 children in the family I lived with when I had my year in Spain during my degree in Hispanic Studies many moons ago. I was 21 at the time and Irene about 12 so there's not that much difference in age between us now. I love her, her siblings and her family and I consider them my Spanish family. The dinner table was booked for 9.45, incredibly late for us but they couldn't make it before as they had to take one of their children to golf lessons or pick them up. Thus we only sat down to dinner at 10 which when is the time we would have usually finished haha. For the occasion we chose Filandón, a big favourite and near where they live which is also where Oli lives in Mirasierra. I love the place for its decor, atmosphere and amazing food. Everything they serve is delicious, like the hamburger I had that night.

Friday's dinner

It's no ordinary hamburger I can tell you. According to Tomas, Filandón employs a staff of 100 people and is the restaurant that has the biggest sales of all restaurants in Spain. It is hugely popular.
Over dinner we caught up on each other's lives as it had been a while since we last met. We also had to have a photo taken of the occasion and of course had to resort to asking one of the waiters. Waiters, notoriously, take bad photos but it's what I've got to remember that night.

Dinner on Friday night with Irene and Tomas

If you are wondering why Irene and I are wearing shawls, they are actually blankets provided by the owners to wear on the terrace. It wasn't cold that night, about 24ºc but they came in handy. We finished our meal really late, at past midnight and as we had a long drive home; 30 minutes, by then it was time to leave. Hopefully we shall meet again soon and this time with Irene's dear brother Gerardo and his wife Vicky.

We were home by 1 in the morning. Oli was there too. When Miguel is away and she is working, she often comes home for the weekends. I joined her in her room where she was with Pippa, the joy of both our lives. After a quick chat and a kiss, I went to bed.

Saturday came. Ana was leaving that morning which meant Andrew would be alone after that. But he has company in us and of course his work. Eladio and I did the food shopping - what  a bore - and soon after we came back it was time for our French lesson.

Helene was on time and by 12.30 we were sitting in our dining room. She corrected our homework and we did new exercises. She also set us homework for our next lesson together.  Oli will be away next Saturday in the US, so my lesson with "ma prof" will be a conversation one.

When she left, it was lunch time. I had made "fabada", an Asturian bean stew, a favourite with my husband. Oli went out to lunch with her friends but was back home even before I had finished my siesta.

Soon we were all by the pool. Andrew swam. For me it wasn't warm enough - just 30ºc. During the afternoon I had another chat with Zaid, this time about Iraq and Saddam Hussein! I was interested especially because of the book I was reading by F. Forsyth concerning the invasion of Kuwait. Zaid told me practically all his family left after Hussein came into power. Some of them have now gone back. He told me his grandfather, the one with 4 wives, was a general in the army but being against Hussein, he joined the Kurds in their fight. He escaped to Turkey but was arrested and tortured and soon after returning home, died of internal bleeding, aged just 61! What a story.

I told Eladio and Oli about it over dinner. We had a lovely meal with which I had a glass of Muga wine which later I would regret as it gave me a headache and sent me straight to sleep. I was so drowsy I couldn't focus on the TV so there was no Netflix or Amazon Prime last night.

And today is Sunday, the last day of this blog post. I'm not sure how Sunday will pan out but no doubt you will hear all about it in next week's tales.

So, my friends, I shall leave you here, to publish this, print a copy for my Father and get on with the day which promises to be another warm one.

All the best until next Sunday,

Cheers for now
Masha.



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Oli and Miguel in Agua Amarga, Marathon man, Suzy on Mount Agung, RIP Celia, time with my best friend Fátima, the sound of discord in Salzburg and other stories.

Sunday 23rd September

Dinner out on Friday night this week

Hi everyone,

Today is Eladio's birthday. It's hard to believe that he has turned 74. We first met in 1980 when I was 23 and he was 35. It's been a long journey and I can tell you one thing, I find him just as attractive now as I did then. He has aged for sure but looks absolutely great. No one, no one at all, would ever think he was 74 but he is. And long may he keep in such good health. He must have his grandmothers' genes, grandmothers who lived until nearly 100!

But let me tell you about the week and backtrack to last Sunday. It was a quiet and lovely sunny day. First Rania left and later, while we were on our walk, Virginie and her son Julien from Aix en Provence. I hope they both come back as they were fabulous guests. Our Italian guests, Lisa and her son Nicolo would stay until Thursday but we hardly ever saw them. They usually got up for breakfast at 11 in the morning and went out to dinner at night.

While we were on our walk, Oli and Miguel were starting their long drive to Almeria for a 3 night holiday in the lovely beach village of Agua Amarga. They would be staying at a hotel  called Las Calas which looks right up my street. Miguel is great at finding the best places to stay and eat. And here they are that afternoon on the beach by their hotel with their sun hats.

Oli and Miguel in Agua Amarga on what looks like a pretty empty beach

While Zena cleaned the recently vacated rooms, I went out to do a bit of shopping at Carrefour Market. The fruit and veg I had bought at the market the Monday before did not last a week. So there I got figs, grapes, mango, raspberries, etc, all my favourite types of fruit.

Lunch was quiet with just Eladio, my Father and I and afterwards, as always, we went up to our own private quarters to watch the news and take a siesta. The news has been dominated here by the subject of the Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, and his much questioned thesis. The sports news was good for the UK with the Tour of Spain win by young Simon Yates but also for Spanish sport.  Down under, in Australia that day, 28 year old Mario Mola from Mallorca, won his 3rd straight World Triathlon Series title. It has to be said that he did so after Great Britain's Alistair Brownlee was disqualified for some technicality I am not familiar with as I don't know much about triathlon. All I know is that it is one of the hardest sports there is and involves marathon swimming, running and cycling.

Mario Mola's big win on Sunday for Spanish sport

I'm sure you didn't read this anywhere as triathlon is not a popular sport. However, the feat of winning the world championship deserves much more attention than it has been given.

However, the biggest news for sport worldwide that day came from the Marathon in Berlin. The Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge, broke the world record finishing first and taking only 2 hours and 1-09 seconds! He broke the record by more than a minute I think. In his native country, people took to the streets to celebrate just like people from the rest of the world do when their country wins the world cup. He is absolutely amazing and his win will make him a legend. He will no doubt become the most famous Marathon man in a long time.

By 4 pm I was sitting by the pool with my book, feeling more relaxed than last week, with fewer needy guests in the house, when I was interrupted by the arrival of a new one; Carolina, a Spanish educational psychologist, from Munich. She was bringing her daughter to the UEM too, but to study medicine. Aren't all these kids so privileged? They left soon after to go and buy stuff to kit the girl out for her first year here.

Eladio joined me later and both of us read and relaxed by the pool until it was time for dinner. I made a new favourite: duck and mango salad, followed by fresh figs; a veritable fruit and vegetable feast and very healthy too.

That night, instead of watching The Looming Tower on Amazon Prime, we saw the much publicised interview of Spain's new Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, with one of Spain's top journalists, Ana Pastor. He came out quite well actually although the interview was a minefield. As to whether he really plagiarised his thesis, that remains to be seen. Watch this space.

I slept at the end of it, took my pills and then at 2.30 in the morning was woken up by a message from someone on Airbnb saying they were my "case manager"  from the USA. Why would I want a case manager from so far away and not from here locally? After that I slept in fits and starts. Over my cup of coffee on Monday morning I wrote to ask if maybe in the future they could take into consideration the time difference between the USA and Spain!

Monday dawned and it was to be another lovely sunny day although, unusually for here it rained at the end of the day.

While Oli and Miguel continued their relaxing holiday in Agua Amarga, Suzy, more adventurously, went camping with her Indonesian boyfriend (yes she has a boyfriend, Dous!) and a group of friends. I think she was the only non native in the expedition. It was an expedition as they went to the highest point in Bali, Mount Agung at over 3.000 metres which is actually a volcano and I think very recently an erupting one. Here she is with the group of friends. She is easy to spot hahaha.

Suzy by Mount Agung in Bali on Monday with her Indonesian friends

My life was and is very tame compared to Suzy's hahaha. The morning was quiet. After our walk with the dogs, I worked and later made lunch. Just as our siesta began, a new guest Pedro arrived. As it was his birthday I had put both flowers and fruit in his room and added a birthday card. A repeat guests and video photographer, he had driven from Oviedo and on Tuesday would be off to Murcia. He didn't emerge from his room until the evening when he went out to dinner with a friend.

I had some time reading by the pool but then had to go to the dentist. One of my back teeth had broken a bit and needed "reconstruction". I hate going to the dentist but love ours, Dr. Garralda. He has been my dentist since 1991 when I started working for Motorola. Thankfully the reconstruction was quite easy and was performed without any need of anesthetic. 20 minutes later and 90 euros worse off, I left the clinic, got my car and drove home.

When I got home, Eladio was mowing the lawn which is quite a task as our house is built on 2.500 m2 of ground. Thankfully the sun was down and it wasn't so hot although the temperature that day reached 30ºc. Here he is mowing the lawn. He is a good gardener and a real "jack of all trades".

Eladio mowing the lawn on Tuesday evening

While he worked, I prepared our dinner, a simple one of ham and salad. I laid the table outside only to have to bring it all in when there was a sudden downpour at about 8.30. Eladio was pleased though as he said that rain after mowing a lawn is great for the grass.

Later we watched more of The Looming Tower and by midnight switched off the lights.

Tuesday came and brought with it another Airbnb booking, this time, a student called Pierre from Pau in France. Carolina, my Spanish guest who lives in Germany wanted to stay on for another 3 nights. I was able to accommodate her request but would have to change rooms. Thus Lucy had to prepare two bedrooms that morning something she did with not much good grace. She does have her moods I'm afraid.

Eladio and Lucy took my Father to the doctor that morning, for a routine skin check up and I stayed at home to make lunch. I have to have lunch prepared everyday at 2 pm which limits any trips out of the house in the morning. It was to be chicken casserole again but bacon for my Father who doesn't like chicken.

Oli and Miguel continued their time in Almería on the south western coast of Spain in Andalusia. That day saw them at one of Oli's favourite beaches in the province, "Playa de los muertos" (muertos means dead) Situated in the famous Natural Park, "Cabo de Gata",  it is one of the best beaches in Spain and always appears in lists of top ranked beaches here and in Europe. It is apparently called the beach of the dead, as owing to its currents, that is where bodies turn up from shipwrecks or so they say. It is not because people bathing drown there. Whatever the reason, it is a rather chilling name and fact I think.

Playa de los Muertos in Cabo de Gata, Almería, on Tuesday, photo sent from Olivia

The news that day of the death of a young Spanish woman golfer in the US was chilling indeed. The sports world went into mourning when it was known that 22 year old Celia Barquín had been found dead on a golf course in Iowa where she had been studying Engineering at the University there. Celia Barquín, was the European amateur champion and a rising star in the world of golf and very popular with her fellow students. It's a shocking story of a life interrupted unnecessarily. The man who slayed her is now in custody and yes justice will prevail but it won't bring back her life. Her parents and family from a small village in the province of Santander will be affected forever. There is nothing more dreadful than losing a child. God bless you and RIP Celia.

The young Spanish golfer, Celia Barquín brutally killed on a golf course in Iowa this week

This is not the sort of news I like to write about I can tell you.

Life continued as normal here and I counted my blessings. At about 5.30 we got another downpour of rain just as Pierre from Pau in the French Pyrenees arrived. He is a student in dentistry at the UEM and entering his 3rd year. He has come to find accommodation for the year while staying at our house for a few days. He had driven from France in what looked to me like a military lorry it was so big. Thankfully he managed to park it on our property, but wow what a vehicle. 

Pierre's big military type Land Rover parked on our premises

After settling him into his room, our house was a full house once again, this time representing, Germany, Spain, Italy and France.  What  a September we are having, with not one night without guests.

Just after that I had to help my Italian guests with my secretarial skills - I was once a secretary about 35 years ago and can touch type still. Nicolo, the boy had started his course in dentistry here at the UEM but was waiting for his exam results in Italy to know if he had a place at a local University. Well, on Tuesday he found out he did which meant he had to cancel all his plans here. His parents had spent money on their flights, their stay here, a month's tuition fees, as well as a month's rent for his accommodation which he wasn't going to use  and all on the off chance he wouldn't get a place in dentistry in Palermo. He was happy though as I suspect he prefers to be in Italy because of his girlfriend although he told me the reason was that there is no place like home. His mother Lisa, I think was a little stunned as she had fallen in love with the UEM. I had to help them with a letter of resignation to be presented to the University which was easy for me but not for them as they had no PC or printer. You see, as an Airbnb host, my duties extend far beyond just renting out rooms hahaha.

While they went off to present it at the University, Eladio and I had some quiet time by the pool. We read and Pippa, as always, was at our feet. Here is a lovely photo of the two of them. I'm not sure who is the browner of the two,  Pippa or Eladio hahaha.

Reading in the garden on Tuesday afternoon

All our guests were out when we had dinner which again was  a simple affair, omelet and ham with my home made bread.  You can guess the rest of Tuesday: bed, watching the news and then a series on video streaming, another episode of Looming Towers. I have nothing to complain about in my life have I?

Well actually the night itself was not a good one with me tossing and turning. First I had a nasty episode of apnea and Eladio had trouble shaking me strongly enough for me to recover my breathing and wake up. Yes I did do  a sleep test last year and they did not detect apnea but I swear I have it. I added an extra pillow after that to avoid another attack which would make me wake up with a contracted muscle on my back that would have me in pain for most of Wednesday. Shortly after falling asleep again I had a nightmare. Yes, I have them occasionally. This one was very emotional. It concerned my Mother, who, in my dreams, was alive and telling me she had never died. Then suddenly I was hugging her in amazement and then joined by, oh my God, my dear brother George who died in 2001 and even my Father. In the dream my Father was a a younger version of today and we were all hugging, crying and talking. No wonder I woke up from my nightmare crying my eyes out. Once again Eladio came to the rescue, holding me and loving me.  My tears were for my missing family, the joy of the 4 of us being together again, except that it was only in my dreams. What a night. 

Thus, on Wednesday I woke up with a damned contracted muscle on my shoulder blade which would have me in pain for much of the day. I stuffed myself with pain killers and sprayed some athlete anti pain spray on my back called "reflex" which actually works for a while although it smells vile. Even so, I managed to go on my walk that day, make lunch (cocido madrileño) and even more bread but I wasn't myself.

So, stuffed with pain killers and smothered with "reflex" I took a siesta after Eladio had given me a vigorous massage. He is my very own physiotherapist and I don't know what I would do without him. At about 6 pm I woke up drowsy and fragile but in less pain thank goodness.

I then joined Eladio by the pool and finished reading Frederick Forsyth's autobiography, "The outsider".  He really has had an interesting life. Peppered in his book are the reasons behind his major novels, some of which I have read but many years ago. I wanted to read some of them again, such as the 4th Protocol and definitely The Odessa File after which I shall read some of the more recent ones I have not read before. 

While starting on The Odessa File, I was interrupted by the Airbnb notitication ring on my phone. A new reservation had come in and it was for two Norwegian ladies in their early 60's. They will be my first Norwegian guests of all time. The other day I counted the number of groups/guests we have hosted since I started this adventure in February 2017 and there have been a total of 132. Of these 33% are Spanish. The rest are from all over the world with France, the UK and Italy coming 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Lise and her friend are coming to visit her son who is studying his masters degree in Psychology. I shall give them the green room which I'm sure they will love when they come at the end of October. 

"The Green Room" with its en suite bathroom and private terrace. 

It's one of my favourite rooms in the house and has proved very popular with our guests. If you are interested you can see the link here. It used to be Oli's study but when she moved to her flat in Madrid, she retained her own bedroom here but had to give up the study as I needed it for my Airbnb project. I changed the room completely turning it into a beautiful twin bedroom in green tones, my favourite colour. Soon my Norwegian ladies will be occupying it. On Airbnb it has 5 stars (the maximum) and some great reviews. The sudden reservation perked me up that afternoon as slowly the days in October are filling up. 

Talking about guests, I got another interruption while reading Frederick Forsyth  that afternoon. My Italian guests, Lisa and her son Nicolo from Palermo came to look for me. It was to tell me that they would be leaving the next day, Thursday, instead of Saturday. With their business finished here and Nicolo abandoning his dentistry studies at the UEM to start them in Italy, they had decided to book a hotel room and spend their last two days in the centre of Madrid to do some tourism. Here they are  together, the "mama" and her "figlio" who are so united. I took a photo of them both for me and for them. They are lovely people and it was just a pity I couldn't communicate better with Lisa whose English is probably worse than my Italian which is not saying much hahaha. I am thinking of learning Italian next year after a year's lessons in French. Let's see if I do.

Lisa and her son Nicolo from Palermo on their last day with us this week

We would miss them and I wished Nicolo all the luck in the world for his future which I know will be bright. After all, his father is a dentist and no doubt he will join the practice when he graduates. 

All our guests were out that evening when we had dinner together on the terrace, a light tuna fish salad followed by a slice of mango and a handful of raspberries.

We were in bed early and I slept through the TV series, only waking up to see snippets of it. Thankfully that night I slept better and on Thursday morning woke up feeling fragile but with the pain nearly gone. 

On Thursday after a better night's sleep my contracted muscle felt better if a bit fragile but definitely better. The morning was rather routine with our walk of course and then the horrible task of the weekly food shopping at Mercadona where we shop for basics. It's probably the most popular supermarket in Spain but I have never liked it. Yes, it's cheaper in general than the others but is limited when it comes to brands and there is no gourmet section. Plus, their fruit is generally unripe, the fishmongers don't know their jobs and their is no real butcher service as everything comes in plastic. Anyway, we got the job done and were home to unpack it soon - I hate that part of shopping too - and were soon having lunch with my Father. He remarked that day that there were two politicians he would do away with if he could and they were Maduro and Puigdemont. I told him I would add Putin to the list hahaha.

My siesta was very short, I was up again before 4 and soon sitting by the pool reading with the dogs. I was waiting from my dear friend Fátima to pick me up at 5. We had scheduled lunch together that day but very inconveniently, her 95 year old aunt died. Thus we rescheduled our time together later in the day. Fátima is not known for her punctuality and sometimes, without warning, she doesn't turn up but she did that day at 5.30. Off we went to have tea together at a new cake shop specialising in gluten free cakes, pastries and bread. Fátima has an intolerance to gluten and I had spied the new place so that is where we went in nearby Boadilla. I hadn't seen her since before the summer and she gave me an update on her cancer treatment. I was so pleased to hear that the latest experimental ground breaking chemotherapy which attacks only the bad cells seems to be working. She is such a fighter and has the right mindset, I congratulated her. I so admire her. I'm not sure I would have been as positive as her, especially as a single mother with a student daughter and ailing and ageing mother to look after. Poor her. But she was in good spirits. Me too and we had a grand time chatting and catching up till it was nearly 8 pm. We shall meet again next week for lunch with Julio, our other great friend. This is a  not a very good photo of us that afternoon taken by a rather surly waiter.

Quality time with my dear friend Fátima this week

We have been friends since our time working together with Motorola in the early 90's. She was in sales and marketing and I was in communication and marketing too. Thus we worked a lot together. At the time, the American telco giant sponsored the Motorola Cycling team and we often went together to races we also sponsored. Here below we are the famous Paris Roubaix classic race, invited by the Spanish magazine Bicisport. It is a lovely photo of the two of us in our 30's. What a difference in how we look today. I like to think we are ageing gracefully but have to admit we looked a lot better in this old photo. And this is it:

At the Paris Roubaix classic cycling race with Fátima in the early 90's when we worked for Motorola

While driving home, we remarked just how attractive we thought we looked in those days and how many of the people in the cycling world, "the peloton" must have found us attractive  but that neither of us was aware of the fact. I suppose that's true. I was never very sure of my looks as I always thought I was fat.

I was home on time to make our dinner which we had on the table outside as the weather is still amazing. Later we watched the news on TV before settling down to continue The Looming Tower, The main news that night was the bad outcome for Theresa May's Checker's plan for Brexit which seems to have been rejected by the rest of the member states. Time is looming too for Brexit and the outcome is so uncertain. I just wish there could be another referendum with the real facts on the table and that people like me who live outside the UK but in the EU should be allowed to vote this time. I sometimes worry about my status here in Spain on 29th March next year, the due date for leaving.

With these thoughts in mind I went to sleep. I wonder how Theresa May slept in Salzburg, that beautiful city where the Sound of Music was filmed.  Many news articles used that angle in their reporting. Thus The Times titled one of theirs; "The hills are alive with the sound of Brexit". I particularly like this picture of Julie Andrews and the British premiere in similar postures. Holding the summit in Salzburg made it a field day for the media hahaha.

The Hills were not alive for Brexit in Salzburg on Thursday

In actual fact the summit took place at the Salzburg theatre from where the Von Trapp family made their dramatic escape in the film. If Theresa May had hoped for harmony, she only got discord. So, not doubt, she did not sleep well that night.

Friday came and our nice guest Carolina who is Spanish but lives in Munich was leaving. She had come to settle her daughter into her first year of Medicine at the UEM and with the job finished it was time to go. It was a pleasure to have her. 

When she left and before our walk, we had a date with Suzy  or rather  a whatsapp video call with her. It's not often we speak, although we are in touch on a daily basis. But its always lovely to see her even if it is virtually. We shall now be going out to  Bali to see her at the end of March as apparently February is the middle of the rainy season. That day I nearly booked our flights and apartment but didn't yet dare press the buttons to reserve as it's 6 months away. She was a in  bubbly mood which I think reflects just how happy she is with her new rather hippy and nomad type of life. Her Father would far prefer her to be settled with a proper job but for the moment that is not in her thoughts. She was talking from her new shared flat in the heart of Bali and where the locals live. Here she is during our call.

A shot from our video call with Suzy on Friday morning

We can't wait to see her when she comes for Christmas.

When the connection broke which it often does, we got ready for our walk with the dogs. When I got home, a new guest had arrived which was very early as our check in time is 13h, which leaves us just one hour to prepare a room if another guest has just checked out. So there was 32 year old Giovanni from Salerno near Naples waiting for my by the pool with a cup of coffee. He had got up at 3 in the morning to reach Madrid and came by taxi. It is far preferable to come here by car so most people hire one but he can't drive. He has come to do a weekend course at the UEM in dental hygiene! He will be coming once a month at the weekends for the next 6 months or a year. That is going to cost his parents a lot I imagine. People do come for so many different reasons. He would not leave the house all day and once he got his room he slept until about 8 in the evening. He had no food on him and would have had to take a taxi to a supermarket or walk there which can take 20 minutes, so feeling sorry for him and being the surrogate Mother I am,  I made him a simple dinner before we went out to have our own dinner.

Just after he arrived, my French teacher, Helene came for our lesson at midday on Friday when, for some reason, I thought we had agreed on Saturday. I had to have it alone as Olivia was travelling back from Valencia that day. Instead of continuing with the exercises and leaving my daughter behind, I suggested we spend the whole hour having a conversation class. It was wonderful! I need more of them. My French was becoming more fluent by the end although peppered with the odd Spanish phrase or word which I didn't know or didn't remember and Helene helped me. It's funny but I understand everything she says. I loved the lesson and shall suggest having conversation lessons on other occasions when Oli is not here. For sure she will miss the odd lesson because of her travels for the TV programme she works for. 

After Helene left, Lucy and I quickly rustled up lunch for my Father and Eladio and just at the end of it Olivia arrived, having driven back from Valencia that morning. 

We spent time together and went out shopping in the afternoon. Just as we were leaving my new found friend on Airbnb, Rania from Belgium but who is Lebanese called. She said she just wanted to hear my voice. How sweet. I wanted to hear her voice too. What a lovely new friend I have. Thanks Rania. 

Oli and I went out to do errands for her and also for her to buy Eladio's birthday present. It was nice girly time together. Oh if only Suzy could have been with us. Oh, how we miss her. 

Later we had quality family time together too when the three of us went out to dinner. For some reason, both Oli and I fancied an Italian place and I found one on The Fork which looks like it now belongs to Trip Advisor. We went for the top ranked one in the area called Trattoria Mio Piccolo in Boadilla del Monte. The feature photo this week is of Eladio and I there that night, courtesy of our very own photographer, Oli. It's a very authentic place as its run by 2 Italians. We liked it but not enough for it to join our list of favourite restaurants. The menu is a little lacking and for me the dessert menu was not enticing; just tiramisu, panna cotta, neither of which I like and no ice cream, my overall favourite "pudding". For me, a restaurant which doesn't serve ice cream gets black points hahaha. But we had a lovely meal together, enjoying the "lambrusco" wine on the terrace in the main street of the old part of the town, now called "Adolfo Suárez". It was once called "Generalisimo" after Franco but all vestiges of Spain's fascist past are being removed and there are very few left. And here are Eladio and Oli together at dinner on Friday; Father and daughter:-)

Eladio and Olivia at dinner on Friday night

It was a warm night, nearly 30ºc, unbelievable if you think the next day, 21st September, nearly the beginning of Autumn. 

We were home early to be greeted by our 3 dogs and before going upstairs to bed, helped ourselves to fruit from the kitchen as our dessert. Figs and grapes are in season at the moment and the three of us are great fig fans.

Saturday came and while reading the news over my coffee I came across a section from The Local in France. The Local has news outlets in nearly every country. What captured my attention was its section called "The French expression of the day". They publish one each day and yesterday's was "Avoir la patate". It has nothing to do with potatoes either but more or less means "full of beans", also being in a good mood or up for something.

The Local France, expression of the day on Saturday

I decided there and then to follow this section, thus learning a new expression every day which I would write down in my new French vocab exercise book. For interest's sake, I looked up a couple of others from previous days and particularly like this one too:  "avoir le cul entre deux chaises" (literally to have your bum on two chairs) which means to be undecided or to sit on the fence. These are the sort of expressions you won't see in the grammar books. Another one was "du coup" which means "so" or "therefore" and which apparently French people pepper lots of their sentences with. I tried it out on my teacher on Friday during our conversation lesson and she didn't bat an eyelid, so it must have sounded fine. 

Oli joined us on our morning walk yesterday. It was to be a warm day. She was going out later to spend the day with ex colleagues from a previous TV reporter job. With enough leftovers for lunch and with time on my hands, I suggested to Eladio we go to Boadilla where we had seen advertised when we went there to dinner on Friday, that a special market would be open on Saturday. Called "la despensa de Madrid" (literally the pantry of Madrid) it was to be held in the Palace gardens. The market offers locally sourced produce. The location was stunning as you can see in the photo below.

The market in the palace gardens yesterday

I had expected a big market with lots of produce on sale but it was rather small with not much on offer. There were a lot of people and it was so hot we didn't want to stay long. We did buy some products though. Here I am paying for some locally produced chick peas. They come from a nearby village called Sevilla la Nueva. 

Shopping at the market yesterday in Boadilla

We also bought some free range eggs from apparently happy and free hens who roam free somewhere in nearby El Escorial. Eladio bought honey and a great dispensing gadget to use on any honey jar to avoid spills. Here he is with his hat on paying for the honey, his favourite sweet food. 

Eladio buying honey yesterday

We took a look at other stalls which offered home made embroidered products. There was also a flamenco group but it was just too hot - around 34ºc - we decided to make it a day and come home in time for a dip in the pool before lunch.

And that is what we did. Eladio hardly ever goes in, only when he feels very hot so yesterday he did go in and I had to have it on camera as the occasion is so rare. Plus it is the end of September and there won't be many more opportunities for swimming in our pool.

Eladio in the pool yesterday

We had lunch with our father, Zena came at around 3 pm to replace Lucy who went off for the weekend and after that we all took a siesta. I was the first one up and soon down by the pool again but in the shady area under the trees. I would swim again later a couple of times to cool off. 

Soon Eladio joined me as did the dogs. Pierre came to confirm he was staying on another 13 nights as the room he had found in a shared flat wouldn't be available until 6th October. He's a pleasure to host. Funnily, he never met Giovanni, our Italian guest. The latter who came home early from his course, joined me later in the afternoon and we talked for a long time. His Spanish is quite good. He too will be back again I know. Later I ordered him a pizza for dinner from a dubious pizza takeaway, probably not up to his standard hahaha. 

Eladio and I had a lovely meal alfresco before we went to bed. Last night we started watching a new film on Netflix, The Eagle. It's about Egypt and Israel after the  6 day war and is right up our street.  We shall be watching more of it tonight. 

Today I woke up at 5.50!! But I don't feel tired. In fact, "j'ai la patate" hahaha. I wanted to be up early to finish writing this post so as to prepare Eladio's birthday breakfast before everyone wakes up. So I will leave you now on this important day for us. It is also officially the first day of Autumn although it still feels like summer and today the temperature will reach 34ºc! 

Cheers my friends. I hope you have enjoyed the tales of this week. Until next Sunday,

Masha