Sunday 16th September, 2018
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| The girly outing and lunch with Rania on Wednesday was the highlight of my week |
We are now half way through September and summer has nearly gone. That saddens me as it is my favourite season. It has been a good and quiet summer but we have to move on. That's how life is. It's been a quiet week too, although I was very busy with all my guests which was a bit stressful at times, especially when Norah our beagle misbehaved.
Last Sunday saw a house full of guests, Espe from La Rioja with her son whom we hardly saw, dear Rania and her son Johnathan from Brussels although she is from Lebanon and a family from Palermo, Lisa, her husband and son Nicolo. Both boys would be starting their degree in dentistry at the UEM University nearby. It must have been very exciting and very new for both of them.
Most children went back to school last week and this week too. Here it is called "la vuelta al cole" and in French "la reentré", a word Marianne reminded me of in her video last week. She sent me another one that day telling me she had been to a Lebanese restaurant and that it had made her remember Spain and that she had cried because she misses us. We miss her too. She sent me a photo of her on the beach in Deauville in Normandy near were they live. Oh I miss her so much and so does Oli.
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| Marianne in Deauville last Sunday |
It looked like they had good weather. Here after the enormous amount of rain we had on Saturday it cleared up after that although it rained the odd time this week, but there was a lot of sunshine too.
Marianne's "reentré" and other people's posts of their children starting school after the summer holidays, reminded me of all the years our girls were in the same position. We used to take photos of them every year in September by a palm tree outside our old house in Río Tajo (Parque Boadilla). Time has flied and today they are two fabulous and competent young women. As I write this I am searching for one of these photos to share with you. Here is the one of them in 1990. Suzy was 6 and Olivia 5. They didn't have far to go to their school, St. Michael's which was less than a mile from home. Those were happy years.
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| The girls in September 1990 aged 5 (Oli) and 6 (Suzy) on their first day back at school |
Sunday was quiet and , as we were worried about the rain we postponed our walk for the afternoon. I spent the morning in the kitchen cooking. I made coq au vin or something similar for lunch. I also spent time talking to Rania advising her of places to visit in Madrid and helping her to hire a car. She and Johnathan went off to catch the bus to the centre and would visit the Retiro park. When we lived in the centre of Madrid and the girls were small, we, like many Madrileños, would get well dressed - the girls with matching outfits - and go to the Retiro on Sunday morning to enjoy the park and all the thing that go on there. There is so much to see.
That morning I also made bread. I had time on my hands and as I hadn't made any for a long time, I thought let's make some wholemeal bread. And here is the result. We wouldn't try it until the evening but it was delicious. Later Eladio sliced it all to freeze and we would be enjoying it during the week.
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| The wholemeal bread I made on Sunday |
My siesta was interrupted first by having to rush down to the kitchen to get it out of the oven. I had left it in too long but thankfully it was fine.
Later I was interrupted by the arrival of my Italian guests at just before 16h. They are from Palermo and had brought me a present. Many guests bring me presents, like Rania last week with the Asterix Belgian chocolates. Lisa had brought me some delicious looking crystalised fruits. I will not eat them as they are made of sugar but they will be used for decoration hahaha. Ah but as an after thought maybe I shall keep them for Christmas. They are too tantalising not to touch.
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| A present from my Italian guests |
As soon as they had settled in, they went in search of somewhere to eat and to do some food shopping. I wouldn't see them again until the next day.
In the early evening with the sun shining and in shorts again, we went off for our 1.5h walk with the dogs. Rania and Johnathan joined us, Johnathan taking Elsa who he adores. He is begging his mother for a Doberman!!! He likes big dogs. It was a pleasant walk and Rania told me the scenery reminded her of Lebanon. It's as dry here as it is there I imagine. She told me more of her life story and a bit about Lebanon. I learned that it has a population of 4 million people and that they have 2 million Syrian refugees which is half the country! 60% of Lebanon was Christian from the Maronite church which is a branch of the Catholic church although today it has gone down to 40% because of the influx of Muslims.
We all came back in need of a shower. Later Eladio and I had dinner on our own and and went to bed early. We wanted to watch an interview on the television with the President of the Catalan parliament, Quim Tora, the one who replaced Puigdemont. Everything we heard depressed us and in the end I fell asleep.
Monday dawned. It was to be a nice and warm day. As my guests prepared to go to the University, Eladio and I went out to to the Villaiciosa fruit and veg market which is open on Mondays. I had been once before with Olivia in the summer and wanted Eladio to see it. There are about 5 fruit and vegetable stalls and also some cheapo clothes and shoe stalls which were not very attractive. But, oh wow, the fruit was amazing. We bought two whole crate fulls for about 70 euros including, flat peaches, nectarines, figs, oranges, water melon, melon, grapes, mangoes, avocados, Victoria plums, greengages, potatoes, runner beans as well as the most delicious tomatoes I have ever tasted. The same goes for the figs and flat peaches even though the season for the latter is over. The quality is far superior to supermarket produce mostly because it comes straight from the growers and doesn't have to sit in ice cold containers until it reaches the supermarket shelves where it stays rock hard. Here is Eladio with one of the crates.
There was trouble fitting everything in the kitchen and fridge - we have to share it with the guests - so we resorted to using the spare one downstairs. I put some of it out on the kitchen island and wondered how long it would last. We were going to have a veritable feast of fruit and veg that day and on the days following. I have to say it's the best fruit I have ever bought at a market and at reasonable prices too. We shall now go every Monday. What a find. We have been living here for 12 years and I wonder why we don't go until now. But we shall make up for that I know.
The morning apart from our outing was quiet. We only saw our Italians shortly when they were having their breakfast. I think they consider a shared Airbnb home a bit like a hotel as they hardly ever leave their room apart from when they go out. In 3 days they never even met our other guests!
The afternoon was equally quiet. We read for a while and then went on our evening walk with the dogs and how lovely that was too. It was just before sunset and there was hardly anyone else. At that time of day there are very few other walkers. It was hot enough for me to need a shower when I got back. We made dinner with no sign of our guests and started on our fruit and vegetable feast. I made a duck salad with lettuce, cashew nuts, mango and avocado which we had with a plate of sliced sweet tomatoes. Dessert were the amazing figs.
That night I watched the Tom Hanks and Melanie Streep film The Post about the publication of the Pentagon papers on the US real role in Vietnam. I'm sorry to say I found it rather boring. Eladio immediately fell asleep and although I watched it until the end, I was disappointed with it.
Tuesday is the day of our French lesson and Oi would be coming on time for that at 12 noon. Afterwards she and Miguel would be staying for lunch. Tuesday was 11th September, a date etched in our memories because of the September 11 attacks in the US. That is a date I shall never forget. It was also the day of Catalonia, otherwise known as "La Diada" and a big demonstration was to take place. Funnily enough the "Diada" actually celebrates a defeat when Barcelona fell to the soldiers of King Philip V in 1714. They were routing for independence then too. You may wonder why Spain won't give Catalonia independence or allow a referendum to take place like in Scotland. Well one of the reasons is that, unlike Scotland, Catalonia has never been a separate nation. Also the Spanish constitution prohibits breaking up bits of the country so to speak and if a referendum took place the whole of Spain would have to vote as losing a part of their land affects them too and they have to decide this, not just the Catalans. Remember too that it is only 48% or so of the region that actually wants independence. Even though this is the day of all Catalans, the Independent movement has politicised it completely and it is now more like a day of grudgement against the Spanish central government. I hate the tension there and the whole Catalan issue because of its complete small mindedness.
That day 1 million people turned out for what turned out to be a demonstration to free the independence leaders from prison. They call them "political prisoners". There is no such thing in Spain, one of the most democratic countries in the world. Rather, they are "imprisoned politicians" and they are in prison because they broke the law by violating the Spanish constitution. There, I have said it.
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| Eladio with one of the crates of fruit and veg we bought at the Villaviciosa market on Monday morning |
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| Just some of the fruit we bought at the market on Monday |
The afternoon was equally quiet. We read for a while and then went on our evening walk with the dogs and how lovely that was too. It was just before sunset and there was hardly anyone else. At that time of day there are very few other walkers. It was hot enough for me to need a shower when I got back. We made dinner with no sign of our guests and started on our fruit and vegetable feast. I made a duck salad with lettuce, cashew nuts, mango and avocado which we had with a plate of sliced sweet tomatoes. Dessert were the amazing figs.
That night I watched the Tom Hanks and Melanie Streep film The Post about the publication of the Pentagon papers on the US real role in Vietnam. I'm sorry to say I found it rather boring. Eladio immediately fell asleep and although I watched it until the end, I was disappointed with it.
Tuesday is the day of our French lesson and Oi would be coming on time for that at 12 noon. Afterwards she and Miguel would be staying for lunch. Tuesday was 11th September, a date etched in our memories because of the September 11 attacks in the US. That is a date I shall never forget. It was also the day of Catalonia, otherwise known as "La Diada" and a big demonstration was to take place. Funnily enough the "Diada" actually celebrates a defeat when Barcelona fell to the soldiers of King Philip V in 1714. They were routing for independence then too. You may wonder why Spain won't give Catalonia independence or allow a referendum to take place like in Scotland. Well one of the reasons is that, unlike Scotland, Catalonia has never been a separate nation. Also the Spanish constitution prohibits breaking up bits of the country so to speak and if a referendum took place the whole of Spain would have to vote as losing a part of their land affects them too and they have to decide this, not just the Catalans. Remember too that it is only 48% or so of the region that actually wants independence. Even though this is the day of all Catalans, the Independent movement has politicised it completely and it is now more like a day of grudgement against the Spanish central government. I hate the tension there and the whole Catalan issue because of its complete small mindedness.
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| The big demonstration in Barcelona on 11th September, the day of the "Diada". |
One politician in Spain was in the eye of the hurricane that day. Carmen Montón, the Minister for Health in Pedro Sánchez new socialist government, had to resign after irregularities were found in how she obtained a master's degree at the controversial Rey Juan Carlos University. There are other cases too but hers came to light this week. She is not the first politician to suffer from an investigation into how she obtained it at this University. Apart from not attending lectures (obligatory), manipulation of marks in some of her subjects, the straw that broke the camel's back and forced her to resign at the end of Tuesday was because of copying in her thesis. Whole chunks of it came from other authors and even Wikipedia. She is the second minister who has had to resign in the new majority women cabinet in the last 100 days and this will not look good for the new government. However the decision to resign may provide more ammunition for Pedro Sánchez and co to continue to accuse the new leader of the opposition, Pablo Casado, to do likewise after many irregularities have also been found in a master degree he obtained, seemingly, in similar circumstances, and at the same University. This was the main story in Spanish news on Tuesday.
But I am digressing and haven't told you what I did on Tuesday which was not much really. It was a quiet day. That day I realised that out of 10 people at home there were 6 nationalities between us (my family and Lucy our carer and our Airbnb guests). By Thursday that would increase to 7 when Virginie from Aix en Province arrived with her son, also to study here at the UEM University. If you are interested, the nationalities are: Spanish (1 - Eladio - or 3 if you include Oli and Miguel who were here on Tuesday), English (2 - my Father and I), Paraguayan (Lucy), Lebanese (Rania), Belgian (Rania's son Jo) and Italian (3 - Lisa, Giovanni and Nicolo). All my guests were here this week to enroll their sons in dentistry (Jo and Nicolo) and physiotherapy (Virginie's son). As I told you in last week's blog, this house feels like the UN or rather the European Union (including Brexit hahaha) but that's just how I like it. We have always had guests from abroad but with Airbnb the percentage of them has multiplied and sort of exploded. Since I started my Airbnb project in March 2017 I cannot count the number of nationalities that have visited but can tell you that they have come from all the continents in the world. So this week found me speaking Spanish, English, French and even trying Italian with Lisa. It's been such fun and in Rania I have found a new friend.
That morning my Belgian- Lebanese guests had breakfast with my Italian guests. It's funny but both Father's of the two boys, Jo and Nicolo, are dentists which is why they want to study dentistry here. Rania had secured a room, the last one available, at one of the main residences on campus and she helped Lisa and Giovanni to find a room off campus at a brand new residence by our local shopping centre. They all went off together that morning. It was nice to see my guests interact together.
That morning I revised my French again as Helene was coming to give Oli and I our 3rd lesson that day. I also prepared lunch for us all as Miguel and Oli would stay on to eat with us after our lesson. Once again it went past so quickly I sort of thought maybe we should have 1.5h a week instead of just 1 hour. Rania has been helping me with my French this week and I would practice it later with Virginie. It will really come in useful when I have French speaking guests who do not speak English and they do come you know.
We spent some quality family time by the pool in the afternoon when the temperature reached 30ºc and Oli and Miguel even bathed. We had a sudden video call with Suzy with a bad line but we saw here which is what matters. She seems in great spirits. We talked too about our upcoming trip to see her in Bali, most probably in February in the low season. After the call I looked up tentative flights and Miguel and I browsed Booking and Tripadvisor for bungalows or villas. Suzy does not live anywhere near the tourist spots and seems to have gone completely local. Maybe we shall stay at the Monkey Surf Camp where she used to work. Let's see. Bali and Indonesia have never been on my top ten bucket list of destinations but then again Cuba wasn't either and when I went I loved it. In any case, it's something exciting to look forward to.
Suzy told us she was meeting Katty, my cousin Zuka's daughter, who lives in New Zealand and works as an air hostess for Air New Zealand. I was so happy for them. In actual fact they met on Wednesday but as they are 6 hours ahead of Madrid I got the photo of the two of them together early in the morning the next day. Suzy told me that Katty feels like a sister to her. I am her Aunt, although, as she is in between the ages of my daughters, she also feels like a sister to me too sometimes. I do hope I get to see her when we go to Bali in February.
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| Suzy and Katty together in Bali this week, like 2 peas in a pod. |
From what I heard they had a relaxing time chilling out at Katty's hotel. How nice for them to meet in Bali. Lovely girls, lovely women.
After the call and a chat with Lisa and Giovanni, it was time for our walk. That day we went later than usual, at 7 pm as it was such a warm eventing. Again I came home in need of another shower. Thus dinner was late. During dinner, Eladio was watching the second Spain match in the Uefa Nations League championship. That day they were playing the World Cup runners up, Croatia, in Elche, near Alicante. After their rival's performance in the World Cup, Eladio and I were expecting Spain to lose but my goodness they ended up thrashing Croatia 6-0. That must have been totally humiliating for the team that played France in the World Cup final. The 6 goals came from 3 Real Madrid players: Asensio (2), Isco (1) and Ramos (1) as well as from the Atletico de Madrid player (Saul) and Rodrigo the Valencia F.C player. No doubt the new Spanish coach, Luis Enrique, the ex Barça player and coach, must be delighted with his two results. They play Wales next. All I can say is well done La Roja but why didn't they play as well in the World Cup? In any case it seems La Roja is back"
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| Celebrating one of the man of the match, Asensio's goals in Tuesday's thrashing of Croatia |
Later I spent some time with Rania and Jo before going upstairs to bed or rather to our room where Eladio was still watching the match. Later we started watching a new series on Amazon Prime. A friend and ex Nokia colleague, Oscar, had recommended The Looming Tower in a post on social media so we decided to watch it as it sounded just up our street. It's about the 11th September attacks or rather how the rivalry between the CIA and the FBI may have "set the path for the attacks".That's pretty frightening isn't it.
Wednesday came, the middle of the week, and was the highlight of the week. I spent most of it with my new friend Rania. We went shopping and even had lunch together. It turned out to be an unplanned, spur of the moment, girly outing. I took her to buy stuff for Jo. We went to a stationery shop, Carlin, and then to Ikea. She needed stuff and I didn't but I ended up with a full trolley including a whole new set of crockery for Santa Pola. When we finished at Ikea it was time for lunch and so I drove Rania to one of my favourite restaurants, De Maria (Argentinian) next to the Atlético de Madrid playing grounds in Majadahonda. It was so nice to be with a friend and a new one.
We had lunch on the terrace and were very good in that we steered clear of carbs and sugar. We ate fresh artichokes then a divine rib eye steak followed by a cup of coffee. We did not eat any of the stuff De Maria offers on the house, except for a small sip or two of pink cava and the small glass of gazpacho. We both resisted the sweet almond biscuits (tejas), liqueurs and delicious looking miniature chocolate mousse. I have chosen a photo of the two of us at De Maria as this week's feature photo but here is one of Rania at the table. She's lovely and we have lots in common.
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| Rania at lunch on Wednesday |
My lunch was interrupted by work with a call from a journalist from Expansión (Spain's "FT") with a request for information from a company I work for as a freelance communications consultant. He needed the information by 6 p.m. I had to make a few phone calls and send whatsapps and it wasn't until just past 6 pm that I finally got all the information he had asked for. So I was on the alert from the phone call until I was finally able to send the email at around 6.
Before heading home, I took Rania to the shopping centre nearby, Centro Oeste. She wanted to buy a coat for her daughter at Zara so there we went. But it was all winter clothes and with 30'c that day, nothing tempted me. We looked in a few other shops and boutiques but I didn't buy anything. Rania did though, at a boutique called "Algo bonito". My main mission at the shopping centre was to buy toothpaste for Pippa at the giant Carrefour there. I bet that makes you laugh. Well, yes, I brush her teeth every day. That's because she often sleeps with us and there is nothing I hate more than bad breath in dogs (!).
We were home by 5 and it was all panic stations for me to gather the information for the mail to the journalist. I didn't even unload the car or, rather, left most things in the garage. Once I had sent the email I could relax but by then it was too late for our daily walk. I didn't mind though as both Rania and I had walked all day around the shops, including Ikea and my phone said we had done nearly 7 km. Thus I decided to read by the pool but as I was feeling a bit hot and bothered, I actually went in the water first. It was cold but very refreshing. My current book? The Afghan by Frederick Forsyth.
Eladio and I had a healthy dinner on the terrace later although I wasn't very hungry after the steak at De María. Later we watched the news, more Spanish political scandals, etc, and then continued watching The Looming Tower until we fell asleep at about 11.30.
Thursday would be another day with "girly time" as I had a coffee date with a friend, ex colleague and neighbour, Elena, that morning. While Rania went off to spend the day in Toledo, I met Elena at our nearby shopping centre, a vibrant little place. It was lovely to have a date, so to say, and I dressed up for the occasion. I even wore a lovely little bracelet ring with pink stones which I had bought in Petra in 2010 and which I adore but hardly ever wear.
I'm not so sure it looks good on an old hand but that's the way it is. I'm still getting used to older hands and an ever increasingly wrinkled face and body at 61.
We spoke for an hour and could have gone for another hour but both of us had to do our shopping. We both went to Mercadona where I do the shopping for basics. I was in a rush and went round like speedy Gonzalez and was home on time to unload and put everything away. My Italians were making their lunch to have outside when suddenly with all the commotion, our clever and forever on the watch for food Norah, our beagle, was on their table and had wolfed down a whole plate of Spanish ham. Thankfully their pasta was spared as it hadn't been put on the table. It was a most embarrassing moment. I rushed to the table and literally lugged my naughty beagle off it but the damage was done. All I could do was offer Lisa, Giovanni and Nicolo a few packets of my own ham. It was a not a nice situation but my Italians were very kind about it. Later that night, Norah did it again. After dinner which we had with Rania and her son Johnathan and the French Mother and son who had arrived earlier, I caught Norah about to leap onto the table again to eat the remains of Ranya's Lebanese chicken and potato casserole. To stop her getting on top of a table the chairs must be firmly under it. If any chair is pulled out, all she does is leap onto the chair and from there to the table so my guests now know how to avoid it. Norah's menacing and food mania did not stop there. She later "helped" clean the dishes going into the washing up machine (sorry, I use the old fashioned term instead of "dishwasher"). Again, thankfully, my guests were very good about it but I was mortified. Airbnb and 3 dogs is not a good combination as you can see. On the other hand Beagles are notoriously greedy. Apparently there is something in their genes or makeup that doesn't let them know when to stop eating. I have dug out this photo of her looking very gentle and nice as she is but she is just a menace when it comes to food and don't think we don't feed her hahaha. We shall have to be extra vigilant from now on.
I didn't have much of a siesta as at about 4 pm my French guests, Virginie and her son Julian, arrived from France. They are from Aix en Provence near Marseille. They brought me a lovely present, lavander and lavander Marseille soap. I'm very touched that many of my Airbnb guests bring me presents.
They had come to find accommodation for Julian too who will be studying Physiotherapy at the UEM University. Thus my guests were to be in similar company this week with the others here for a similar quest. I was able to help them find accommodation thanks to Ranya who had found a great new residence nearby. Later they went to see it and took one of the rooms; there were only 4 left. So that night they were very happy. I was happy for them too.
After their arrival, I spent some quiet time by the pool reading and was soon joined by Eladio. Suzy rang us out of the blue (video call) from Bali again and we had a long conversation. She is in good spirits although she had had some PC problems during her online English teaching lessons. Luckily, my dear friend Jacky was there for her. Thank you my dear Jacky from the bottom of my heart. Suzy sings your praises and would love to meet you.
Thus we went on our walk rather late which meant dinner was late. Believe it or not we ended up having our dinner on the kitchen terrace table together with our EU guests (Ranya and Johanathan, Virginie and Julian). A good time was had by all. They, of course, spoke French together and although I am having my French lessons and am speaking it better these days, I was a bit disappointed not to understand much of what they said:-( That should spur me on to learn more and improve.
We went to bed late and watched another episode of The Looming Tower until it was time to sleep.
I woke up with a big headache on Friday morning. As I was having my first cup of coffee outside with the dogs at 6.30, I was joined by Virginie who is an early riser like me.
Friday was a busy day and I had a headache all day which didn't help. It got hotter during the week so we went on an early morning walk. I spent a lot of the morning after that working and making lunch. The kitchen was full of people doing the same and for precaution's sake we locked Norah away. The best moment of the day for me is our siesta watching the news after lunch and reading time by the pool afterwards.
The main news that day was yet another Spanish scandal now dubbed "mastergate" about dubiously achieved master degrees as we have seen with the Spanish Minister of Culture. But she isn't the only one. The current leader of the PP party, Pablo Casado, is facing a similar issue and the story is not going away. There is a veritable witch hunt by the media to scrutinise master degrees by top politicians. This week too has seen Pedro Sánchez, Spain's new PM under pressure also about his master's degree which some media say has been copied in many parts. It's a bit like a soap opera but is much more serious as these cases could topple the politicians. It's most likely then that early elections would be called. It's funny to see the Spanish media witch hunt, something unheard of here before now. They are probably doing a good job but at times I see it as a witch hunter. I also think that that if you dig deep enough in anyone's life you will find an issue that could be turned into a scandal and this is what is happening. Let's see how "mastergate" continues.
My favourite part of Friday was sitting by the pool, under the trees, reading my book, The Afghan which, if a bit dated (2008) is set in Bin Laden's times. It's riveting. It was so warm that while my guests were all out, I went in the pool. Having it all to myself was a real luxury.
That night, while our French speaking guests had dinner together on the kitchen patio, Eladio and I, true to tradition, went out to dinner, despite my headache. We chose Ginos as we hadn't been there for a long time and I fancied pasta. And pasta is what I got; one of my favourite dishes, "paglia e fieno" (straw and hay). This was it before I devoured it.
It was a balmy warm night with 29ºc at 8.45 pm, believe it or not. There were lots of people on the streets and the restaurants were full but we had a quiet table at Ginos. Over a lovely dinner together, we talked about our lives, how lucky we are, how well Airbnb is going and of course our girls, Suzy and Oli, the reasons for our lives.
We were home early and our guests were enjoying wine on the kitchen terrace surrounded by our dogs. We bade them goodnight and slipped upstairs to the quiet of our quarters, to our large bedroom. We were soon in bed and watching the next episode of Looming Towers, also about Bin Laden's times. It took me ages to get to sleep, despite taking 2 sleeping pills in the end.
Saturday was another warm day. In other parts of the world the weather was causing chaos, like Hurricane Florence in the US. Nearer home, in Andalusia, there were freak storms and extreme flooding. After our walk, I spent quality time with Miguel and Oli who had stayed the night. I got a sudden new booking, added to one I had got the day before and realised that I was out of sheets for some of the beds. So, after organising our lunch, I went to Ikea again, this time accompanied by Eladio, to buy more sets of sheets, duvet covers as well as towels to replace some of the older ones.
Oli and I sat under the trees in the garden after lunch reading. Meanwhile, Simon Yates, the young British cyclist, was sealing his victory of this year's Vuelta a España. He will win today as on the last day of any grand tour the leader is traditionally never challenged. It's been an amazing year for British cyclists as 3 of them will now have won all 3 grand tours: The Giro (Chris Froome), The Tour of France (Geraint Thomas from Wales) and now La Vuelta (Tour of Spain). That is making history for the sport of cycling. It's funny as it has always been cyclists from mainland Europe who have dominated the sport but the tables have turned. Well done Simon Yates and well done Great Britain.
Later Miguel and Eladio joined us in the garden where we read our books, consulted our phones, chatted and had a generally relaxing time. I finished The Afghan yesterday and afterwards looked at more flights to Balis, etc. The dogs joined us as they always do. Here are Miguel and Oli with Norah and Pippa.
They stayed for dinner which we made together. Oli fancied "huevos rotos" (fried egg and chips with the eggs broken over the chips and mixed with ham) so it was all hands on deck. I normally would have had to fry all 8 eggs, but Miguel took over and did them instead. He's a great son-in-law. All of our guests went out to dinner that night so we had the place to ourselves. Here is a picture of us just before dinner.
No way would I normally have had "egg and chips" for dinner but I have to admit it was delicious. We stayed at the table talking until late. Oli and Miguel are off this morning to Almería for a few days as both of them are on holiday. I'm sure they will have a great time and I look forward to their pictures.
Last night we watched a debate on the TV about "master gate" which saw me asleep pretty soon. Debates always do that to me. I would have slept well last night if it hadn't been for the long and loud firework displays coming from nearby Villaviciosa de Odon. The sky looked great but I wanted to sleep. The reason for the displays? Well, it is the yearly "fiestas" there.
Even so, I was up really early this morning at 6.05. Ranya was up earlier though as she had to leave for the airport at 5 this morning. It's sad to see her go. I shall miss her and hope she comes again soon. Virginie and Julien will be leaving today, my Italians staying on for another week and tonight a Spanish woman who lives in Germany will be coming with her student daughter, so the house will remain full.
Now as I write, it is early on Sunday morning and I have come to the end of this week's tales. I shall now sign off but not before wishing you all a great week ahead.
Till next week my friends and readers, cheers till next Sunday,
Masha
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| My Jordanian bracelet I bought in Petra years ago and which I wore this week and must wear more often |
We spoke for an hour and could have gone for another hour but both of us had to do our shopping. We both went to Mercadona where I do the shopping for basics. I was in a rush and went round like speedy Gonzalez and was home on time to unload and put everything away. My Italians were making their lunch to have outside when suddenly with all the commotion, our clever and forever on the watch for food Norah, our beagle, was on their table and had wolfed down a whole plate of Spanish ham. Thankfully their pasta was spared as it hadn't been put on the table. It was a most embarrassing moment. I rushed to the table and literally lugged my naughty beagle off it but the damage was done. All I could do was offer Lisa, Giovanni and Nicolo a few packets of my own ham. It was a not a nice situation but my Italians were very kind about it. Later that night, Norah did it again. After dinner which we had with Rania and her son Johnathan and the French Mother and son who had arrived earlier, I caught Norah about to leap onto the table again to eat the remains of Ranya's Lebanese chicken and potato casserole. To stop her getting on top of a table the chairs must be firmly under it. If any chair is pulled out, all she does is leap onto the chair and from there to the table so my guests now know how to avoid it. Norah's menacing and food mania did not stop there. She later "helped" clean the dishes going into the washing up machine (sorry, I use the old fashioned term instead of "dishwasher"). Again, thankfully, my guests were very good about it but I was mortified. Airbnb and 3 dogs is not a good combination as you can see. On the other hand Beagles are notoriously greedy. Apparently there is something in their genes or makeup that doesn't let them know when to stop eating. I have dug out this photo of her looking very gentle and nice as she is but she is just a menace when it comes to food and don't think we don't feed her hahaha. We shall have to be extra vigilant from now on.
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| Naughty Norah |
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| The lavender present from my French guests |
After their arrival, I spent some quiet time by the pool reading and was soon joined by Eladio. Suzy rang us out of the blue (video call) from Bali again and we had a long conversation. She is in good spirits although she had had some PC problems during her online English teaching lessons. Luckily, my dear friend Jacky was there for her. Thank you my dear Jacky from the bottom of my heart. Suzy sings your praises and would love to meet you.
Thus we went on our walk rather late which meant dinner was late. Believe it or not we ended up having our dinner on the kitchen terrace table together with our EU guests (Ranya and Johanathan, Virginie and Julian). A good time was had by all. They, of course, spoke French together and although I am having my French lessons and am speaking it better these days, I was a bit disappointed not to understand much of what they said:-( That should spur me on to learn more and improve.
We went to bed late and watched another episode of The Looming Tower until it was time to sleep.
I woke up with a big headache on Friday morning. As I was having my first cup of coffee outside with the dogs at 6.30, I was joined by Virginie who is an early riser like me.
Friday was a busy day and I had a headache all day which didn't help. It got hotter during the week so we went on an early morning walk. I spent a lot of the morning after that working and making lunch. The kitchen was full of people doing the same and for precaution's sake we locked Norah away. The best moment of the day for me is our siesta watching the news after lunch and reading time by the pool afterwards.
The main news that day was yet another Spanish scandal now dubbed "mastergate" about dubiously achieved master degrees as we have seen with the Spanish Minister of Culture. But she isn't the only one. The current leader of the PP party, Pablo Casado, is facing a similar issue and the story is not going away. There is a veritable witch hunt by the media to scrutinise master degrees by top politicians. This week too has seen Pedro Sánchez, Spain's new PM under pressure also about his master's degree which some media say has been copied in many parts. It's a bit like a soap opera but is much more serious as these cases could topple the politicians. It's most likely then that early elections would be called. It's funny to see the Spanish media witch hunt, something unheard of here before now. They are probably doing a good job but at times I see it as a witch hunter. I also think that that if you dig deep enough in anyone's life you will find an issue that could be turned into a scandal and this is what is happening. Let's see how "mastergate" continues.
My favourite part of Friday was sitting by the pool, under the trees, reading my book, The Afghan which, if a bit dated (2008) is set in Bin Laden's times. It's riveting. It was so warm that while my guests were all out, I went in the pool. Having it all to myself was a real luxury.
That night, while our French speaking guests had dinner together on the kitchen patio, Eladio and I, true to tradition, went out to dinner, despite my headache. We chose Ginos as we hadn't been there for a long time and I fancied pasta. And pasta is what I got; one of my favourite dishes, "paglia e fieno" (straw and hay). This was it before I devoured it.
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| My "paglia e fieno" pasta dish at Ginos on Friday night. |
We were home early and our guests were enjoying wine on the kitchen terrace surrounded by our dogs. We bade them goodnight and slipped upstairs to the quiet of our quarters, to our large bedroom. We were soon in bed and watching the next episode of Looming Towers, also about Bin Laden's times. It took me ages to get to sleep, despite taking 2 sleeping pills in the end.
Saturday was another warm day. In other parts of the world the weather was causing chaos, like Hurricane Florence in the US. Nearer home, in Andalusia, there were freak storms and extreme flooding. After our walk, I spent quality time with Miguel and Oli who had stayed the night. I got a sudden new booking, added to one I had got the day before and realised that I was out of sheets for some of the beds. So, after organising our lunch, I went to Ikea again, this time accompanied by Eladio, to buy more sets of sheets, duvet covers as well as towels to replace some of the older ones.
Oli and I sat under the trees in the garden after lunch reading. Meanwhile, Simon Yates, the young British cyclist, was sealing his victory of this year's Vuelta a España. He will win today as on the last day of any grand tour the leader is traditionally never challenged. It's been an amazing year for British cyclists as 3 of them will now have won all 3 grand tours: The Giro (Chris Froome), The Tour of France (Geraint Thomas from Wales) and now La Vuelta (Tour of Spain). That is making history for the sport of cycling. It's funny as it has always been cyclists from mainland Europe who have dominated the sport but the tables have turned. Well done Simon Yates and well done Great Britain.
Later Miguel and Eladio joined us in the garden where we read our books, consulted our phones, chatted and had a generally relaxing time. I finished The Afghan yesterday and afterwards looked at more flights to Balis, etc. The dogs joined us as they always do. Here are Miguel and Oli with Norah and Pippa.
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| Miguel and Oli in the garden yesterday with 2 of our dogs |
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| Dinner last night |
Last night we watched a debate on the TV about "master gate" which saw me asleep pretty soon. Debates always do that to me. I would have slept well last night if it hadn't been for the long and loud firework displays coming from nearby Villaviciosa de Odon. The sky looked great but I wanted to sleep. The reason for the displays? Well, it is the yearly "fiestas" there.
Even so, I was up really early this morning at 6.05. Ranya was up earlier though as she had to leave for the airport at 5 this morning. It's sad to see her go. I shall miss her and hope she comes again soon. Virginie and Julien will be leaving today, my Italians staying on for another week and tonight a Spanish woman who lives in Germany will be coming with her student daughter, so the house will remain full.
Now as I write, it is early on Sunday morning and I have come to the end of this week's tales. I shall now sign off but not before wishing you all a great week ahead.
Till next week my friends and readers, cheers till next Sunday,
Masha
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