Sunday 9th December 2018
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| A visit to the Christmas Market at the Plaza Mayor in Madrid on Friday morning. |
We're truly into December now and Christmas is on its way whether you like it or not. I love it and always have. Last Sunday morning we had typical December weather. It was foggy and then later the sun shone and we actually had beautiful day, albeit very cold.
That morning Oli and I had our French lesson with Helene. We had a conversation about the riots in France and the "gilets jaunes" movement and then went over our homework on the "superlatif" and the "comparatif". All in all it was a good lesson. We have a lot of fun and laughter, make lots of mistakes but I think that, on the whole, we are slowly improving.
While we were in our class, Eladio and Miguel were trying to restore the image on my Father's TV - part of his daily routine is watching the BBC news in the afternoon every day - and it had broken down a few days ago. They came to the conclusion that the satellite antenna had probably been affected by strong wind. That should be easy to fix you might think, but it's not easy as this house is so huge and tall that workmen shy away from climbing up the roof and usually they don't have a ladder which is long enough. Miguel tried connecting the TV to internet with a streaming device. He downloaded an app which I have also downloaded on my phone, where you can see all the British TV channels. It's called UK TV and Radio. It sort of worked on my Father's TV but the signal is not good enough. We have fiber internet in this house but the router is not powerful enough and the house is too big to get a good signal everywhere. So we would have to find a TV antenna man willing to climb the roof. I really wanted the TV working again as watching the BBC news every afternoon is an integral part of my Father's day.
Oli and Miguel didn't stay to lunch, so we were just 3 that day. Zena, our Ukranian weekend helper, made one of my favourite Russian dishes for Sunday lunch, "gloupsy" - stuffed cabbage rolls, which both my Father and I love. I always remember my Mother making them. Later I left some for Andy, our Scottish lodger to try. He loved them.
The big news in Spain on Monday were the results in the local Andalusian elections of last Sunday. Andalusia has the biggest population of all areas in Spain and the results were being seen as a mirror for what could happen in May when and if general elections are called. I was surprised the turn out was so low - about 50%. Half of the population obviously didn't care but that's strange as Andalusia is one of Spain's poorest areas and people should care. It's always been a safe area for the socialist party, led until now, by the feisty Susana Diaz. But that changed on Sunday when there was a shift from left to right possibly because of the corruption scandals her party, the PSOE, is embroiled in. The Socialists have been in power for 36 years but that changed this week. No party would emerge with a majority, needing 55 of the 109 seats and there were new contenders, such as the so-called far wing party Vox, who, up till now, had never won a seat anywhere in the country. These were the results of the elections that night, compared to the results of 2015.
The socialists won the elections with 33 seats but lost 14 since last time. So, there will have to be a coalition again. Mathematically Susana won't be able to form a government alone, nor with the far left who only got 17 seats. The right wing parties, PP and Ciudadanos could govern but only if they make a pact with the far right party Vox who, amazingly, won 12 seats. Things seem to be going that way. As a lot of people in Spain, I am a bit wary of the far right. I don't like "far" anything in politics. Let's see what happens.
Our day on Sunday was quiet with no guests but we enjoyed our free time, going for our walk, reading and having a nice dinner together. That night the only thing on the TV was about the Andalusian elections and I watched until the results came through at about 10.15 and soon fell asleep.
I was shocked to hear on Monday that an old friend and colleague from the Motorola Cycling Team, Paul Sherwen had died aged 62 in Uganda. He is more known in the UK for being a commentator of the Tour of France on Channel Four with Phil Liggett. I bet Phil must be in shock.
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| Paul Sherwen RIP |
This is my tribute to him.
"Monday came and I was shocked to hear from an old friend and colleague from the Motorola Cycling Team, that Paul Sherwen had died aged 62 in Uganda where he lived with his wife Kathryn and children. I got the news from Carrie Worley an ex colleague from Motorola with whom I worked (and played) closely on the sponsorship of the team.
I got very involved as did Carrie and I could hardly fathom her news. Paul, at the time was the team's Communications Director, Carrie head of sponsorship worldwide and I was the marketing and communications manager for Spain and later in charge of sponsorship of the team in Europe.
The British press were mourning the ex British cyclist and sports commentator. I was mourning my first friend in the sport who introduced me to cycling. He was a real professional, Mr. Perfect in many ways, but also a great big bundle of fun. Those were great days and I remember vividly driving around Spain and France with him on various cycling races and having more fun than work. On Monday night, Rupert Guinness, an Australian cycling journalist and friend of Paul wrote to me and we exchanged anecdotes late into the night about him. He would be writing an article for Velo News and wanted a few anecdotes from me. I had plenty. Paul, apparently, died peacefully in bed from heart failure in his beloved Africa. I'm glad to hear he didn't suffer. I have only good memories of him. He was perhaps my first friend in cycling and my teacher. I knew nothing about cycling at all and in about 1991 at the Ruta del Sol in Andalusia, my first race and baptism in the sport, he introduced me both to the sport and the cycling family; in particular his wonderful friends and partners in crime, Rupert Guinness and the British photographer - the best there has ever been in cycling - Graham Watson. I remember very well our first night together, sitting in the bar of the hotel and talking and drinking till late at night. On one of the days, I treated Rupert and Paul to a slap up lunch and we were late to the Finish line. Paul was mortified. I also remember walking down a hotel corridor with Paul and out came Jesper Skibby, a famous Danish cyclist, stark naked from his room. Imagine my reaction! Paul didn't bat an eyelid and said "welcome to cycling". I hadn't even heard of Eddie Merck, not to mention any top Spanish cyclists, not even Pedro Delgado even though I lived in Spain, a country mad about cycling. One day, Paul pointed out a tall and lanky, dark haired, shy looking Spanish cyclist on his bike. He asked me if I knew who he was. I said no and he introduced me to the one and only Miguel Indurain! He told me later "you watch, he will win the Tour of France very soon". Paul was right, he did and 5 times. I could go on and on and on but what I most remember about Paul was his smile, his emotional intelligence, how everyone loved him and how he knew everyone. He spoke perfect French - the language of cycling but Spanish stumped him. His only phrase in Spanish was "bacalao de Bilbao" which used to crack me up. It was in the Basque Country that I introduced Paul, Rupert and Graham, the 3 cycling musketeers, to the local drink called pacharán which they loved. I don't drink it often but when I do, I remember them. RIP Paul, I have only good memories of you. It was a privilege to be your friend."
Paul was in my thoughts all week. I wish I had a photo of him. I might do somewhere but of course they are not digital and that would mean looking through about 30 odd albums. I did look and sadly found none. I was not such an avid photographer in those days.
Life continued of course and with a bit of a heavy heart, I took Eladio out on various shopping errands. Our first stop was the Monday market in Villaviciosa where I had vowed to go to earlier this week. We were there by 9.30 and the only shoppers which was great. You can see me with my list in hand in the photo below.
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| Buying fruit and veg nice and early at the market in Villavciosa |
From the market with our car loaded with 2 great big boxes of produce, to last us a week, off we went to Primark. We had to change one of the pairs of tight fitting trousers as we had picked up the wrong size. Shopping with Eladio can be a challenge as often he just wonders off, doesn't tell me where he is going and to top it all doesn't answer his phone. He did this to me at Primark that day. This has happened countless times and on Monday I made him promise never to do it again. Once he disappeared at a petrol station for about 40 minutes somewhere on the road to Santa Pola. I was distraught. The car was there but he wasn't and he wasn't answering his phone. He later emerged from the men's loo a bit surprised I had wondered where he was. His phone was on silence -it often is or he doesn't hear it - as happened Monday. In the end we changed the trousers for a jumper priced 7.50 euros. Imagine. Both Eladio and I wondered, over a cup of coffee afterwards, just how much the person who made it earned. A euro an hour or a euro a day? Maybe it's immoral to be buying such a cheap jumper made in Bangladesh with slave labour.
After Primark we went to have an old suit of Eladio's dry cleaned and then to Carrefour Market for our weekly dose of good ham, etc. Here is Eladio at the counter. Later we would enjoy it for dinner with a salad.
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| Buying Spanish "ibérico" ham at Carrefour Market on Monday |
We were home by about half twelve with plenty of time to unload everything, make the lunch and there was even time for work.
You may remember last week I mentioned I might be going to an audition for a Cilli Bang advert on Monday afternoon. In the end I didn't go. It's not that I chickened out. Rather the date for filming were awkward - a day from 17th to 21st December - days I had other engagements. Also the filming would be in Barcelona. So, no, in the end I didn't go. It would have been fun, I'm sure or at least a new experience.
Instead we went for our walk in the sun again, came home, I did some work, then read a bit until it was time for dinner. It was Facebook that reminded me it was Pippa's birthday. I had not remembered. But yes, she was born on 3rd December 2014, although we didn't get her until February 2015. She turned 4 on Monday. How time has flown. She has brought so much joy and love to our family and is the light of our lives, together with our other dear dogs, Elsa and Norah. It wasn't too late to celebrate. Thus I picked her up, offered her a chunk of cooked turkey and got Eladio to take a photo to immortalise the moment and voilá here is the photo. She looks lovely, I have too many wrinkles:-(
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| Celebrating Pippa's 4th birthday on Monday |
It was early to bed, as usual. The news was again full of the election results in Andalusia of which I had had quite enough. Rather than watching the news I was texting with Carrie and Rupert until quite late. Later though we watched a very interesting but terrifying programme all about drug trafficking in the "Campo de Gibraltar" o the Gibraltar Straights area in Spain, just 10 km from Morocco. It is in Morocco where the world's largest amount of marihuana is produced. The journalist, very daringly, interviewed some of the notorious and violent drug lords - with their faces covered in masks - who talked openly about the whole process including the methods they used, the killings and the violence, not to mention the huge amounts of money involved at every stage, apart from the farmers of the plant. I wondered how he got them to agree to the interviews.
So we switched off the light late and I didn't have too good a night, but that's not news.
Tuesday came and I was happy to read that this year's Balon d'Or had been awarded to the Croatian Real Madrid player, Luke Modric. At last the 10 or 11 year duopoly of Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi had been broken.
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| Luke Modric wins this year's Balon d'Or |
Ronaldo wasn't there, although he should have been, and there was silence on his twitter profile. That's not fair play in my mind. I, for one, am a bit fed up of his ego and far prefer the humble Croatian player. Well done Modric.
That day, my cousin in France, Anne, was to continue her time in labour, from the night before, poor thing. She must have been exhausted when little Maxime was born yesterday in the South of France at just after 10.25. She obviously went through a pretty tough time but no doubt, by now, she will be focused on her new baby. Congratulations to Anne, Sasha and little Maxime. I hope to see the three of you at next year's cousinade.
I sort of doubt Anne had any thoughts about the deep troubles in France that hit the headlines that day and most of the week over the "gilets jaunes" movement which has seen some of the worst riots since the student revolution in the 60's. They seem all out to topple the new President. Macron, who, that day, bowed to pressure and promised to suspend the rise in fuel tax for 6 months. That, of course, is not enough for the demonstrators and I suppose it is not good for the fight against global warming. The "gilets jaunes" would continue to demonstrate this weekend and have also said they will do so in Brussels against the EU. This movement, although some of the demands are perfectly understandable, could be a danger to the whole of Europe. So far there have been 4 deaths. It's very ominous.
Teresa May, meanwhile, was having a very hard time in the UK Parliament trying to win favour for her Brexit deal. Parliament was in trouble for not revealing the legal studies of the deal and MPs demanded and will probably be able to have a say in what happens next if the deal is not approved on 11th December. That is looking ominous too.
It was a sunny day here in Madrid and my work continued. I had lots to do that morning and again had to juggle my time with work and making lunch. There would be fresh cream of vegetable soup followed by grilled fish and garlic accompanied by Brussel sprouts - my Father's favourite - on the table for lunch that day.
I had to work after lunch but at about 5.05, in brilliant sunshine, we went on our walk with the dogs. Half of the walk was taken up with a phone call with my new customer but it didn't really matter. When I got home, my free time until dinner was shortened, as I had to deal with a couple of important mails. I always like to have an hour to myself reading in between returning from our walk and making dinner. But that day I only managed a chapter of Mariano's fascinating memoirs.
We were in our room by 8.45, well on time for the news which is usually a rehash of the midday news - we are news freaks aren't we? With no new series to watch we tried to keep awake to see the second part of the programme on drug trafficking in the Gibraltar Straits. That night a "mule" was interviewed, a young Moroccan man who swallows up to 25 pellets of marihuana wrapped in cling film to transport them to Spain by boat nearly every other day of his life. He described the process and showed us just how he does it. He is abusing his body big time and told us how some of these pellets can explode in the body and then you are dead. If the immigration body X-rays catch them, they go to prison. He described a Moroccan prison and compared it to the "paradise" of a Spanish prison. For each dangerous trip, he gets about 400 euros. He told the camera there were no jobs to be had and this was his "profession". It's frightening and doesn't bear thinking about but it is a reality and many people like him risk their lives being "mules".
I fell asleep giving thanks for my easy and generally very comfortable life. I didn't sleep well though as all through the night I was getting messages from Airbnb with enquiries to book a room this weekend. The problem was they were mostly football fans from Argentina coming to see the high risk Boca Juniors vs River Plate match this weekend at the Real Madrid stadium. I wasn't sure I wanted any of the fans in my house.
Thus I was wide awake at 5.30 which is far too early but after replying to the messages, I couldn't sleep anymore and came downstairs to the kitchen to feed the dogs and the cat and to have my breakfast.
On Wednesday I was reminded by a journalist that Yoigo, my previous company, Spain's first low cost operator, irrupted on the Spanish market 12 years ago this week. Wow that was some journey. It was a somewhat a bitter sweet memory as nearly 2 years ago the founding members of Yoigo were nearly all fired when a new company bought us up. But no one can take away the wonderful journey we all had especially for the first few years under our very charismatic Swedish CEO. That news took me back in time.
But that morning I was working for another operator in the telecoms market. I had to do the social media plan for the next phase of their launch and it kept me on my toes. All the work I am doing these days is the sort of work I used to delegate to my agency. All I had to do then was to supervise but now I have to do everything, all the nittygritty but I don't mind.
Lunch was a simple affair and I only had a short time to rest in our quarters afterwards to watch the news. That day, George Bush Senior, the 41st US President, was laid to rest in a state funeral attended by all the ex Presidents who are still alive and many other authorities.
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| At George Bush Senior's state funeral on Wednesday |
I had forgotten to mention his passing away last week. One of his granddaughters had said that after his beloved wife, Barbara, passed away this year, she thought he couldn't face Christmas without her and that may have been the reason he left the world when he did. He had a lovely Labrador dog who cared for him called Sully. Sully hit the headlines this week and last when it never left its owner's coffin where it lay it state. I thought that was a beautiful sendoff from a dog. Who say's dogs don't have feelings? Oh they do.
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| Sully, George Bush's dog by his coffin lying in mourning |
Shortly afterwards I had a phone call from Lindsey from Bradford Grammar School to discuss a special celebration of my Father's upcoming 100th birthday in the school magazine The Bradfordian. It was lovely to talk to her and I was so touched. I shall be sending her material and photos and let's see how it goes from there. His 100th is on May 1st 2019 and deserves to be celebrated in a very special way. That is my ambition and I'm working on it.
I was on the phone for an hour and as soon as I had hung up, there were loads of messages from my client/customer which I had to attend to. Thankfully though I got my walk in with Eladio and the dogs, although half of it was talking on the phone. I should not complain, it's much nicer to do my work during a walk than from an office building somewhere in the centre of Madrid hahaha.
Dinner was late that night as Oli would be joining us. The following day, Thursday 6th, Constitution Day, was a holiday in Spain and she would spend it with us. Then on Friday she would be off to Zurich. We had a lovely dinner together in the kitchen and then I spent about an hour talking to my younger daughter catching up on each other's lives. I love those girly mother and daughter moments.
I went to bed late at about 10. I was happy to receive a new booking for next week on Airbnb just as I was about to snuggle under our lovely duvet.
Thursday came and as I said it was Constitution Day and actually the 40th anniversary of the referendum in 1978. It has served Spain well over the years but there is talk of updating some of it. That's not a bad idea but it will be difficult to find consensus on any reforms so let's see how it goes. It was also Independence Day in Finland, a country I often feel is my adopted country in Europe after my 6 years with Nokia. Oh, how I love Finland and the Finns. The good thing on Thursday was that it was a holiday.
Yes it was a holiday and Oli was with us for the day. I suggested to her we go Christmas shopping as this year my preparations have started a bit late. She had to work but agreed to do so in the afternoon, so off we went. Our Chinese guests, a family of 4, a couple and 2 small children were coming that morning but Eladio would greet them. Little did I know the trouble their arrival would cause in my absence.
Off we went in my car with Olivia driving. I took advantage of the free time to do some Christmas purchases online which is so much easier than traipsing around the shops. However, going into places like Zara, Primark, Natura, Tiger, etc is much more exciting. Oli had a cold so wasn't feeling that well. I was getting one too despite my flu jab. But nothing was going to stop our enjoying mother and daughter time Christmas shopping together.
It was when we were in the last shop - Tiger - where I get some of the girls' stocking fillers, that Eladio rang to say the Chinese had arrived and that instead of 4, a couple and their 2 children, they were 6. Bei had booked for 4 and had probably hoped to dupe us by bringing his parents for free. But I wasn't for it. I had to sort it all out on the phone and luckily when I got home and met them, they were on their way out after having settled the difference. What a cheek.
We enjoyed a quiet lunch with my Father with Oli telling him about her trip to Switzerland. She told him she would bring him some chocolate back from "chocolate land" and the main newspaper in German, which he has always preferred to French. He loves "foreign" newspapers and she always tries to bring him one from her travels.
Later Oli worked on the preparations for her trip. I got to see the documents as she sent them to me for printing. I was quite impressed with the preparations that go into a travel trip for a journalist. She has to know a lot about the country she is going to. Good for her. She's very professional and, although she tried to be back on 14th December for the old school choir Christmas concert, she had to sacrifice it for work as that day she has to be in the Alps for shooting. What a pity. At least Suzy will be able to sing there and I won't miss it for the world.
While our younger daughter worked, we went on our walk and wow was it sunny even if it was late and would be dark upon our return. When we got back, the kitchen was invaded with the Chinese family. I think they were making fried lettuce! However, there is plenty of room in our house and they had their dinner in the dining room while we had ours in the kitchen. They left their car parked awkwardly which meant that Andy, our long term lodger, had to leave his outside. We have room for at least 6 cars but only if you park properly! Damn them.
Just before dinner, Oli and I went out to get some provisions from Carrefour Market and also to get some petrol. It was that night that I finally learned how to fill the tank automatically, thanks to my daughter. What a wonderful discovery after all those years doing it manually!
Dinner was a very small affair - just a little omelet with mushrooms. We had to keep Pippa close to us as she tended to bark at the Chinese guests. Here is Oli holding Pippa. I love the photo. Our miniature chocolate dachushund, is like a baby and likes nothing more than being held on our laps.
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| Oli and Pippa, Pippa and Oli on Thursday night |
I think I was hungry when we finished but perhaps that's a good thing. Oli left straight afterwards as she had to pack at her house and prepare for her journey on Friday. We won't see her until Saturday 15th, 3 days after Suzy's arrival on the 12th. I can't wait for us all to be together.
There was not much on the TV that night and we didn't find anything very interesting on Netflix or Amazon Prime. We fell asleep quite soon and I had a better night than unusual only waking up twice.
I woke up at 6 am on Saturday morning to find I had two new Airbnb reservations. On Saturday a couple were coming from Florida as well as a young man called Miguel from Colombia. I suspected the latter was coming to see the Boca Juniors - River Plate match but actually he wasn't. As I said, I got many enquiries from people coming to Madrid for the match and I wondered how it would go and hoped there wouldn't be any violence. The house would be full again this weekend and that is a good thing for our domestic economy.
Friday was perhaps the highlight of our week. While Olivia was getting ready to go to the airport and then flying to Zurich, I suggested to Eladio we go on our annual visit to the Madrid Christmas market at the Plaza Mayor, something of a tradition. This time we decided to leave our car at the station in Colonia Jardin and take the metro into town. It was a good decision as there would be crowds in the city that day.
At about 11 am we found ourselves in Puerta del Sol, the very centre of the country. Before going to the market, we went to have a cup of coffee at a place called La Mallorquina which is close to my heart. It's an old fashioned café, dubbed by Eladio as "Spain's "Betty's" and I used to go there a lot in my student days when I had a year in Spain during my degree in Hispanic Studies at Nottingham University. From the upstairs coffee room I would sit by the window and watch the world go around, either writing my diary or updating a vocabulary exercise book I used to take everywhere with me. There were no window seats available unfortunately yesterday. There was a bit of a queue, this time with numbers but we were soon sitting down in La Mallorquina. The downstairs part of the cafe where you can eat and drink standing up or purchase some of the cakes and pastries was very full as you can see in the photo below. Thankfully upstairs was much quieter. See if you can spot my husband in the photo below hahaha.
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| Eladio queuing at the busy La Mallorquina cafe on Saturday morning |
I would have loved one of their delicious pastries but had brought an apple from home which would have to suffice to quash my hunger. And here I am having my coffee at possibly my favourite coffee shop in Spain.
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| Coffee at the quaint La Mallorquina cafe in Puerta del Sol |
Outside the square, Puerta del Sol, was teeming with people. There were many lottery sellers, mainly gypsies reselling El Gordo, the Spanish Christmas lottery, tickets from the famous lottery shop Doña Manolita. If you buy from them, there is an extra charge, so Eladio refused to. The alternative was to queue up at Doña Manolita itself but the queues were hours long. So we didn't buy any lottery tickets that day. Eladio will do so nearer home. The "El Gordo" (the fat one) lottery which is drawn on 22nd December is perhaps Spain's biggest Christmas traditions.
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| Lottery tickets for El Gordo in the Puerta del Sol on Friday |
From the Puerta del Sol we walked to the nearby Plaza Mayor to see the Christmas Market. It's not a patch on the ones you get in Northern Europe but it's what we have here. The photo illustrating this week's post is of me at the Plaza Mayor. All the stalls sell practically the same things, either Christmas trees, decorations, Nativity Crib figures, objects for jokes and lots of cheapo hats and masks. But there is one particular stall, one I always go to, that does sell different and better products. It's from this stall I have lots of fun Christmas figures and objects I have collected over the years such as a hat that sings, a snowman that dances, Santa on a motorbike revving up, etc. Well, on Friday, I added a new moving and singing Father Christmas to my collection as well as a set of 3 red candles made with real wax but electric powered flames that you switch on with a remote control. They are super. It was great having Eladio trailing behind me as he paid for and carried everything. Here he is with our bag of goodies.
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| Eladio at the Christmas Market in the Plaza Mayor on Friday |
It was a lovely sunny morning but not too cold thankfully. After purchasing my new Christmas items, we walked slowly back towards the Puerta del Sol. I wanted to find a "turrón" (Spanish Christmas nougat) shop where I had bought French style nougat last year. It's called "Turrones Vicens and is on Calle Mayor, 41. I far prefer the softer French nougat. Turrón is another big Spanish Christmas tradition but I don't really like the 2 most popular varieties here, the hard one with almonds and the soft one with crushed almonds. I find the first one too hard and the second sickly sweet. And here I am with my prized nougat which I won't touch until Christmas Eve.
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| Buying French style nougat on Saturday in Madrid |
From Turrones Vicens, we walked back to the Puerta del Sol to take the metro to Tribunal and from there another train to Colonia Jardín, all of which took under half an hour. We were home by 13h after a lovely morning in the city enjoying the atmosphere. Dear Lucy had made the lunch, the table was laid and everything was ready to serve by the time we were sitting down with my Father at 2 pm on the dot.
On Saturday I could feel my cold was really coming on. I had either caught it from Lucy or from Oli, so later that afternoon, when I went food shopping to Mercadona with Lucy, we visited the chemist to stock up on Frenadol. Frenadol is Spain's main cure for a cold.
Our Chinese guests were out all day, visiting Madrid too from what they told me later. Luckily, we were able to make our dinner and finish it before they had theirs, but only just and I had to hold Pippa on my lap again as I ate as she did tend to bark at the two kids. She does not like children which is a bit awkward when you are an Airbnb host like me.
It was early to bed as usual on Friday but it was very early up in the morning on Saturday. I woke up at 4.30 and couldn't sleep any more so got up at 5. I had lots to do that morning so I decided to get up and get on with the day.
By 8.45 I had written and sent off the English version of a press release together with my updated social media plan. With that out of the way I was able to get on with other things. It's true that the early bird catches the worm but I knew I would be tired later and I was. Yesterday morning our Chinese family of 6 left and we were relieved because they had not been good guests. Apart from 6 arriving instead of 4, they were not clean and to top it all had soiled a mattress. I'm afraid to say they got my worst review ever on Airbnb.
We then had to get ready for our new arrivals, a young brother and sister from Florida and later in the day a young Colombian student. I also had to make the lunch and at 12 I had my weekly French lesson. With Oli being away we always have a conversation lesson.
Helene and I spoke about what was happening in Paris and other cities in France that day. The "gilets jaunes" were out in force for the 4th weekend, yet Emanuel Macron remained in his palace. Paris was in lock down with many of its most famous landmarks closed. They even shut the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and the famous Lafayette Galleries. Tourists cancelled trips and those in the the capital stayed away. This time Macron was slightly better prepared for the demonstrations. The "gilets juanes" movement has laudable claims and they are protesting against increasing poverty. However they are infiltrated by vandals from both the extreme left and the extreme right and there was and has been much violence, probably never seen since the French Revolution. Their movement spread to Belgium and Holland and who knows where it will end up. Their basic objective is to topple Macron and his government. So that day, while I was having my peaceful French lesson, about 125.000 people marched across the country, backed, it is said by about 66% of the population. Macron deployed approximately 90.000 police officers including 8000 in Paris alone outnumbering the protesters there estimated at 10.000 and where they made use of 12 armoured vehicles. They also had to use tear gas and water canons to disperse the demonstrators. The scenes of violence were horrific, shop windows smashed, shops looted, cars burned, bus stops vandalised although it is true that most of the 125.000 protesters were peaceful. However, their cause is tainted by violence.
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| More riots in Paris and other big cities in France yesterday |
I'm not sure what such violence can achieve but I can tell you I wouldn't want to be in Macron's shoes today or any day. He is not in touch with his people and is reacting too late.
One of the protests of the movement is about how the government favours the rich and how the poor and middle class just get poorer. In our lesson yesterday, we had a conversation about the rich in France which seemed quite appropriate given what was happening in that country. It shocks me actually.
Meanwhile, our guests from Lake Worth in Florida were arriving by bus nearby and Eladio went to pick them up. The poor kids - they are in their 20's - had not been able to hire a car as they don't have an international driving licence, something new for me and them. Thus they had to bus it and that's not easy from the airport to our house. That's why I offered to pick them up. After my lesson was over, I greeted them. They are nice kids but were so tired they slept most of yesterday and then ventured out and went into Madrid for dinner. They are here for 3 nights.
Eladio and I had a quiet lunch with my Father and later a much needed siesta - at least for me - although I don't think I got more than about 10 minutes shut eye. I am a bit hyper active and just needed to relax. As I couldn't sleep I continued watching The Family on Amazon Prime. Later we went for our walk. Our next guest was supposed to arrive around 6 or 7 pm but there was no sign of him when we came back. Thankfully he answered my messages. He too was coming from the airport by bus and got lost. Being me, a sort surrogate mother, I went to find him, about 7 km from here. I felt sorry for him, a young boy lost around here in the dark of the night. I finally found him with his huge luggage and a pizza he had bought for his dinner and drove him home. He's from Medellin so of course on the drive back my only reference point about his country was the Netflix series "Narcos" hahaha. He got given an upgrade to Suzy's room, the biggest in the house after ours and perhaps the most beautiful. I hope he had a good night's sleep.
With all my guests taken care of, Eladio and I had a simple dinner and went to bed to watch the news, especially about events in France. Later we watched a new episode of "La República". Thankfully last night I slept a bit better and got up this morning at 6.20.
Today should be quiet. I have no work to do and thus I can relax. Let's see how things pan out. I am also eager to know how Oli is getting on in Zurich. Soon we will all be together after Suzy arrives on Wednesday and Oli returns Saturday. My Christmas preparations are well underway and by the time I write next week, hopefully I'll have everything done.
So, my friends and readers, it's time to sign off now and wish you all a happy Sunday.
Cheers till next week.
Masha
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