Fight to rescue boy in a well, preparations for my Father's 100th birthday, Brexit D Day, my 10 year photo challenge, my top 10 films and other stories.

Sunday 20th January, 2019 

My 10 year photo challenge. Photos of us and me in circa 2008/2009 and 10 years later. It's been a great 10 years!

Good morning friends and readers.

How has your week been? Have you had the January blues? Mine are over, just as Christmas is  and I've got used to it.

The week has been a quiet one. Last Sunday was not so quiet as the house was full of guests. That morning Alba and Javi left although they would be back this week again. Leslie and his partner Maria, from the Philippines, left too. And then just before lunch, our lovely guests from Portsmouth, Bob and Angela arrived for the night. It was great to see them again.

I spent the morning slow cooking stuffed peppers the Russian way or rather the way I think  my Mother used to make them. It's one  of my Father's favourite dishes; mine too. This was the result.

Stuffed peppers the Russian way

If you're interested this is how you make them. The filling is poached onion, tomato and grated carrot mixed with raw minced meat, preferably beef, a small portion of cooked rice, salt, pepper, fresh parsley and coriander. For nine "bell peppers" I used 1kg of minced meat.  If you're not into meat you can replace it with more vegetables. You slice the peppers at the stem and remove the pips and membrane and fill them with the stuffing putting the tops back on. The sauce is the remainder of the poached vegetables to which you add vegetable stock and more tomato. You then can then either bake them in an oven which takes forever or in a saucepan. They are served with "smetana" (sour cream) which I can't get here so I use  thick natural yoghurt to which I add lemon juice, dill, salt and pepper. And voilá you have a wonderful winter dish which is also very healthy and not too filling.

We slept off the stuffed peppers after which we went for our customary walk. While we were out, our guests, Angela and Bob, feeling very much at home, spent the time, believe it or not, in the sun on the terrace outside. Talk about "mad dogs and Englishmen" hahaha. I suppose they wanted to get the last rays of sunshine before going back to dark and cold England.

It was a lovely walk in the sun with crisp weather. Just before sunset there was such a special light  I had to have a photo of Eladio and Pippa together. Here they are, both looking gorgeous.

Eladio and Pippa on our walk last Sunday

The day ended with with us enjoying a quiet dinner in the kitchen. That night we made omelets from "blue eggs" to be found at Carrefour Market. They cost more than double the normal ones but are supposed to have more nutrients than others. They come from special hens or so-called "happy hens" who run run and eat freely. I must say the yolks were extremely yellow and the omelet tasted delicious. Have you tried "blue eggs"? Maybe they are just a fad or a complete con but I have to say the taste was amazing.

Later we watched the news. The story of a toddler aged 2 who had fallen down a very narrow well 150 metres deep in a village in Málaga disturbed me a lot. It would be very difficult to rescue him and I can only imagine the pain of the parents.  This whole week has been a race against time to rescue "Julen", something unimaginably difficult.  The diameter of the hole is just 15 inches (25cm) so no adult can get down it. Whoever the uncovered well belongs to will be in terrible trouble and will probably feel guilty for life. Who wouldn't? It turns out the well belongs to a relative of the parents who is now being questioned by the police. He swears he had covered the hole. So who opened it again and why?

The diameter of the entrance to the well, little Yulen fell into last Sunday

I cannot begin to imagine the pain of his parents already traumatised by the loss of Julen's older brother who died a year ago or so aged 3, suddenly walking by a beach. How terrible that must be for the parents. If they lose Julen too and they most probably will because he is probably trapped under tons of earth, what sort of life will they have after losing both their children?  Losing a child is the worst thing that can happen to a parent, so imagine losing two. If that happened to me I know I wouldn't want to carry on living. 

There was more news of the "Spanish tourist" who died in the terrible gas explosion in the centre of Paris last weekend. It was Laura's first trip on an airplane and her first trip abroad. From a small town in Toledo, she was a shop assistant and had 3 children. She had never had a holiday with her husband, Luis Enrique,  without the kids. It was Luis Enrique who planned the surprise romantic getaway together. Who could have imagined this most terrible outcome?

Our day ended watching more episodes of the tense thriller series "You are wanted".  I slept well that night, with no sign of my cough thank goodness. I even woke up "late" for me on Monday morning at 6.55; hurray!

Monday was another sunny and fine day. When my Father first came to live with us, he always said January was his favourite month because of the sunshine and the cooler temperature. Besides, the days are now getting longer and it is daylight until nearly 7 pm. That is one of the good things about living in Spain for all those moaners here who complain about their own country hahaha.

On Monday morning we duly visited the weekly fresh fruit and vegetable market in Villaviciosa de Odón to stock up for the week. You should see my list, it's endless. If you are interested this is what I buy from my favourite stall or rather what I bought last Monday: potatoes, melon, pumpkin, courgettes, carrots, leeks, cauliflower, red cabbage, broccoli, miniature peppers, bananas, oranges, mandarins, golden delicious apples, cooking apples, onions, artichokes, asparagus, tomatoes, spring onion, avocados, mangoes, lettuce, coriander, parsley, mushrooms, spinach, garlic and grapes. I had to forget something of course. I always do and this week it was kiwis. That's quite a list isn't it? Well, you see, we try to get our daily ration of 30 grammes of fiber and 4 or 5 rations of fruit and veg  and this way we manage it. I only cook from scratch and avoid any processed food. Pretty healthy right?  Lunch that day would be home made pumpkin soup, leftover stuffed peppers with steamed artichokes and baked apple for desert for the men. I prefer freshly cut fruit cocktail.

With all that in our stomachs, we watched the news followed by a short siesta. Later we went on our daily walk and coming back we both commented just how important it was for our health, as much as our fruit and veg diet. But don't worry I am not radical when it comes to healthy eating  or anywhere near being a vegetarian. I still love my meat even though it is pretty much frowned upon these days. 

It was then time for my doctor's appointment to see lovely Dr. Crespo to get  my bi monthly prescription for my sleeping tablets. That night I heard on the news that people who get 6 or less hours sleep a night are more likely to have a higher level of cholesterol and thus are more at a risk of heart failure.  I have fractured sleep and am certainly in that category of people who don't sleep enough. Not good I'm afraid. Hopefully, my short naps at siesta time make up for lack of sleep at night.  Doctors here have lots of time for their patients and that day, Doctor Crespo and I had a long chat about Brexit. He was amazed I hadn't been allowed to vote (because I have lived outside the UK for more than 15 years). We also spoke about the impact on health for Britons travelling in Europe after Brexit and I told him just how good I think the Spanish health system is and that people who complain about it here have no idea what they are complaining about.

I was home on time for our fruit and veg dinner; tuna salad with lettuce, tomatoes, asparagus, spring onion, pumpkin seeds and avocado, washed down by gazpacho and followed by 2 small tangerines. We love our meals together in the kitchen at night on our own. No Airbnb guests were around that night. Later on the TV there was more news of the toddler in the well or rather no news as they had not found him, just dug down about half way and come to what looked like soil and rock. My heart bled for his family. I just can't imagine myself in that situation. It is the worst possible nightmare for any parent. The main news of course was all about the Brexit deal vote in the Commons this week. What a mess. In Spain, the main political news was about the 2019 budget proposed by the minority socialist government, led by Pedro Sánchez. Like Teresa May, he is seeking approval from the other parties and is dependent on the Catalan and Basque independent parties. The former will only give him support if he makes concessions to their plea for independence. Thus we have a deadlock situation. Meanwhile, in the US of A, Donald Trump's government continues to be in deadlock and it's because of a budget too. He wants it to include funding for his stupid wall with Mexico which thankfully the Democrats oppose. So, with no agreement, the budget can't go forward and the government is more or less at a standstill. As you see, lots of similar problems in the UK, Spain and the US. 

The day ended watching a couple of episodes from Season 2 of You are Wanted which actually we are getting a bit tired of. 

Tuesday came and I spent a large part of the morning doing something I have been meaning to do for a while and that is start the procedure for my Father to receive his 100th birthday card from the Queen of England. If he lived in the UK it would be straightforward as the Buckingham Palace office would receive notification from the Pensions Office and he would get the card with no hassle. However, as he lives abroad the procedure is more difficult. To start off with, it is impossible to call the number at B.P from a Spanish phone. Thus I downloaded the form to apply for the card online. In order to apply, it seems I need to prove his citizenship which seems very odd as the Pensions office know all about him. Thus I had to speak to the Registry Office  to apply for his birth certificate. This will allow me to apply online but I can only do so 3 weeks before the event, on 1st May 2019. On the phone to the Registry Office I had to give his birth details as well as the details of his parents, my grandparents. Luckily I know their names and also the date and place of birth of my Father. I can hardly imagine there is more than one Charles Courtenay Lloyd born on 1st May 1919 in Tamworth.

After that bit of bureaucracy I got down to my main task, which was to start writing a short biography which his former school Bradford Grammar School have asked for. I am thinking also that I might send it to the local Bradford paper, The Telegraph and Argus when the time comes.  My friend Amanda and other friends have urged me to even contact the BBC as they think he has an amazing story to tell.  I suppose he has and I also think that a 100 year old WW2 veteran Navy Officer deserves some recognition, as, after all, there are very few of them left. Here is a photo of a small article published in a Bristol newspaper when he was awarded the Freedom Medal from King Haakon VII for "outstanding services in connection with the liberation of Norway". It is entitled "Henbury Honour", Henbury (near Bristol) being his home when his Father was the Vicar there.  

Little cutting from a Bristol paper about the medal my Father was awarded after WW2

Just to whet your appetite, here are  the opening lines of the biography: 

"Charles Courtenay Lloyd turns 100 on 1^st May 2019

Courtenay Lloyd, a linguist and former WW2 Royal Navy veteran officer who contributed to the liberation of Norway, is an old Cliftonian (went to Clifton College school in Bristol) graduated in German and Scandinavian languages at  Selwyn College Cambridge and was a teacher of spies, teacher of Russian at the RAF College in Cranwell and teacher of modern languages at Bradford Grammar School. He married a Russian princess (Her Serene Highness Elena Lieven) and had two children. His older son George, died of cancer in 2001. He left Bradford in 2005 to live in Madrid with his only living offspring, his daughter Masha, who is married to a Spaniard. Courtenay Lloyd is a polyglot who still speaks and reads in his native tongue, English, as well as in Russian, Norwegian, German, French and Spanish". 

I got as far as his Cambridge days, after his graduation and when he began to teach Russian, under the auspices of Dame Elizabeth Hill, the colourful Professor of Slavonic Studies, at the secret Joint Services School for Linguists (JSCL) founded in 1951 and dubbed by the Russians as the "spy school". It was there he met my Mother.  Dame Elizabeth Hill was to have much influence over my Father who would become her "first hand man" (her words) and  it was the Professor, commonly known as "Lisa", who was instrumental in the marriage of my parents or so I always assumed. There is actually a book about these courses called "The Secret Classrooms, an untold story of the cold war" written by former pupils Geoffrey Elliott and Harold Shukman in which both my parents are mentioned.  According to the book the "purpose of these courses was to produce linguists and interpreters of Russian for military and intelligence purposes", aka spying,

The book about the Joint Services School for linguists (the spy school) where my parents met and taught in Cambridge in the early 50's

Rereading what I have written above, I suppose my Father's story does have quite a lot to tell. I have to say I am enjoying writing his biography, only a few pages I am afraid as I have lots of gaps in my information and it is very difficult to talk to my dear Father in a proper sort of way these days as he is so hard of hearing. His memory is still there though, so I shall share the document with him when it is finished and hope to get some good feedback, corrections, etc. I am so looking forward to celebrating his 100th as I can only imagine he is too. Love you Daddy.

While I was having a quiet morning, Parliament at Westminster was in the throes of debate about Theresa May's deal for Brexit. It would go on all day until the actual voting was to happen. Tuesday this week was referred to as "Brexit D Day", a sort of culmination of the whole story since the referendum in 2016 and which can only be described as a pure shambles. At the end of the day, Theresa May did not get her way and the deal was voted against by a large majority, including 200 or so from her own party. So what would happen next? Jeremy Corbyn called for a vote of no confidence which he would not win  -amazingly TM is still being  backed by all members of the Conservative Government and the SUP. If she had lost, then a General Election would be called but that hasn't happened. So now what? With Mrs. May still in power, she will have to renegotiate with the EU.  That was her pledge or objective after winning the vote of no confidence and agreeing to working cross party to come up with a new deal. And will the the EU want to? Will the exit date of 29th March be postponed? Will there be another referendum?  I personally think Theresa May should step down but then what would the alternative be? These are all questions the papers and minds of the people are full of. So in a way it wasn't D Day at all on Tuesday, just the beginning of the end, or maybe not even that. Brexit will drag on for years in my view. And what the final outcome will be is anyone's guess.

Theresa May defeated in Parliament in the so-called D Day this Tuesday

My mind was on Brexit for most of the day but I got on with my life. Lunch was a nice break and very healthy - more vegetables. That day I made baked peppers and red cabbage - Suzy would have approved haha. Suzy, by the way, moved into her new house in Bali on Tuesday with her friend Chati and another Spaniard. The place looks lovely. I do hope there is room for us to stay. That would be nice wouldn't it? 

Oli was busy too on Tuesday as she has been since she returned to RTVE and to work for   "España Directo". That day saw her in a town called Torrijos in Toledo after a train coming from Exremadura derailed because of  sabotage. Someone had laid a piece of metal from railing on the tracks and the train derailed but thankfully there were no injuries. Oli was surprised to find that the cameraman she had been assigned that day, many of whom are outsourced by RTVE, was a former member of her school, just one year below her. What a coincidence. Here they are together.

Oli with her cameraman, Pablo, in Torrijos on Tuesday - both of them had gone to the same school, St. Michael's

After our walk, we watched her report live from the train station. She had woken up with a sore throat and I could tell she was slightly hoarse during the report. Later on her way home - she came to spend the night - she lost it completely  as she had done a couple of weeks ago. Once home and after a lovely dinner together, I searched natural remedies online and she had to drink Camomile tea with lemon and honey. Later I made her a ghastly drink from water in which I had boiled 2 onions to which I added a big dollop of honey. I only hoped her throat and voice would be better the next day but they weren't.

We all went to bed late and Eladio and I watched perhaps the most gruesome film I have ever since about the Holocaust, called The Grey Zone (2001), the terrible story of the "sonderkommando", those Jews who were made to form part of the "special squads" who worked at the gas chambers. I slept very badly afterwards.

On Wednesday I was the first one up at 5.55, just before 6 am and fed the dogs. While Theresa May was fighting the motion of no confidence which she won, I spent the day at hospitals. First I went with Oli who was diagnosed with  acute laryngitis and was completely hoarse which is not good when your voice is vital for your job.  She could only communicate in writing and I was "her voice" at the hospital and chemist. In the afternoon I spent the time accompanying a friend who was being operated. 

I had plenty of time on my hands waiting at the hospital and spurred on by a movement on social media called the 10 year challenge where you are supposed to post photos of yourself 10 years ago alongside one today, I began to search for photos.  I had taken my PC with me so could browse and I can tell you there are and were plenty of photos to choose from. In the end I chose the ones illustrating this week's post. All 4 of us look so young in the photos then. Of course the girls look great as they are still young but I think Eladio and I don't look too bad for nearly 62 and 74 respectively. Later a former colleague warned me they the initiative is really being driven by a company or people who want to further develop face recognition programmes!  I don't know if you know but all those quizzes and tests on FB  are just used to get your data and learn your preferences. When I learned that I stopped doing them a while ago.  Maybe I should have deleted the post with the photo after learning the real objective but I didn't really care, well at least not about face recognition development research hahaha. That's probably because I am a bit narcissistic. I particularly love the photo of Eladio and I at the Taj Mahal for our 25th wedding anniversary. One big change in the 10 years is that I am a lot slimmer now hahaha.

At the Taj Mahal with Eladio in January 2019, 10 years ago this month. 

My dearest Indian born friend Sandra is in India at the moment, in Goa right now with another friend. Now that's one trip I would like to make again but this time with Sandra who would be the perfect guide.

I also had time to reflect on my top 10 films of all time, responding to another social media challenge.  I wonder what the objective behind that is too. My top ten are: Doctor Zhivago, The Sound of Music,  Gone with the Wind, The Inn of Sixth Happiness, Gandhi, The Nun's Story, Titanic, Schindler's List, The Empire of the Sun and Love Story.  As you can see I love biographies or rather films based on true stories as well as epic drama. I am also into films about prisons, nuns, schools, hospitals and of course WW2. Most of these films are pretty old. In my mind none made in the last 20 or so years are a patch on my top 10 but then I have a very particular taste for films and and am not your mainstream cinema lover. 

My favourite film of all times

I didn't get home until 11 o'clock that night and went to bed feeling shattered. I slept until 6.40 the next day which is just over 6 hours.  In all this time and since last Sunday the rescue mission goes on to find little Julen down that dreadful well.

Thursday came and was supposed to bring rain although it never came. That morning I went with Eladio and later with Olivia to see yet another new supermarket being opened near us. We have so many, we are spoiled for choice.  I wonder with so much competition how on earth they will all survive. We already had a Carrefour Market, a Dia, a Supercor, Mercadona, Lidl and now BM and another one will be squeezed in between the latter and this new one. I had never heard of it but learned it is of northern Spanish origin  (Basque Country and Santander)  and has now landed in Madrid. It is supposed to offer quality at a good price and lots of fresh produce. It was teeming with people and lots of produce to try for free such as fresh smoothies, bread, cakes, etc. I only tried the former hahaha. At the meat counter I spied sliced cold roast beef which I adore and is difficult to find here.  Amazingly I was given three little tubs with 3 thick slices in each one for free! It was really to promote the fact that at BM they can roast the meat or fish you buy there. I think I will take that up.  Here I am, by the way, coming out of the new supermarket. Later in the day, apart from the in store freebies and promotions there was a giant hot air balloon  outsidewhere kids were queuing up to get in the basket. That must have cost a bomb. They were also giving away free coffee sets to all new customers. I can only imagine Carrefour Market next door would have been pretty empty that day. Let's see how the two survive together. 

Outside BM yet another new supermarket to choose from in our area.

Later we all had lunch together. It was lovely to have Oli with us although I was sorry for her because she was ill. I had to go with her to the doctor again in the afternoon, her GP, to pick up a sick leave note for her to present at work when she goes back on Monday. Hopefully, by then, her laryngitis would  be over.  As I write today, Sunday, her voice has returned but still has a "frog" in it and she is not feeling well so maybe she will have to take a few more days off poor girl. 

That afternoon I went for a walk with Lucy as Eladio was feeling a bit under the weather too. She was very happy as she had just heard that her daughter was pregnant.  I was very pleased for her. She will be leaving soon and we will sorely miss her. She will be going at the end of this month and today is bringing her replacement, another woman from Paraguay and also called Lucy. The latter will be with us for 10 days and under our "old" Lucy's sharp eyes will learn the ropes, after which she will stay on until Lucy comes back. If she doesn't and the new Lucy is doing her job well and we get on, then she will stay to replace her. Is that confusing? I tried to explain all this to my Father yesterday and it didn't help that both women have the same name. Lucy came to Spain 2 years ago and is sorely missing her family. While she was here, her first grandchild was born, a little girl now aged 1 year and 7 months whom she has only seen on her telephone screen.  Image the scene when Lucy first sees, holds and touches her. If I were her, even if I wasn't earning as much money, I would stay and never come back. For me, family takes precedence over everything and I would have to be beyond the bread line to even contemplate leaving it.  That's why I miss Suzy so much. 

Dinner was a family affair again. The 3 of us prepared dinner together and my husband remarked how much he loved the preparations for our evening meals together. I do too. Later we watched the news, pretty much a rehash of everything we already knew.

In the UK that day, Prince Phillip, aged 97, had a car accident on the Sandringham estate from which he emerged unscathed although a little shocked. It's amazing he is still driving at that age. He is also still practicing horse carriage riding and the Queen continues to ride her horses. I hope I am as fit as them if I ever reach their age. Later in the week I read the story of his victims, Emma Fairweather, who broke her wrist, and her friend who was driving and her friend's baby. She told the press it was thanks to her friend's excellent and careful driving they didn't get killed. A royalist, she said she was disappointed not to have heard from the palace. I mean, the least they could do is apologise. While her car needs mending and her wrist is broken, Prince Philip was seen driving a replacement Land Rover two days later and not wearing a seat belt for which he was admonished by the police. 

We began watching a beautiful film, also about "older people", falling in love, something we don't see much of. It seems that love is the prerogative of younger people. That may be so on the screen in general  but it isn't like that in real life. I know that as I am an "older person" who is love. "Our souls at Night", starring Robert Redford  (82) and Jane Fonda  (81), is a refreshingly positive story about love at an older age but also a reflection on solitude when in the so-called "golden age", you become a widow or widower. I am dreading that by the way.  I slept much better after watching it than I did after The Grey Zone.

We watched this lovely film this week

Friday came and it was a cold day, even foggy, although it cleared in the afternoon when the sun made its appearance again. Oli spent the day nursing her laryngitis and feeling bored and trapped, wanting to go back to work but unable. Eladio and I went to do the normal weekly shopping at Mercadona. At Christmas we would go and have "chocolate con churros" after shopping but unfortunately no more. I have to shed the kilo I put on after all the chocolate I ate and other fattening things. We all had a very quiet day.

After a very short siesta, I made my daily cup of decaf tea and read a chapter of my latest book which I am loving, Odette (True stories from WW2) by Jerrard Tickell. The backdrop is the 2nd World War and the Resistance in France. The story is the biography of a young French woman, Odette Samson, who became a spy for the British French service run by "The Firm". Born in France but living in England after marrying an English man she felt strongly about the Nazi occupation of her beloved home country but she also felt a great duty to Great Britain after having been made so welcome when she first came to live there.  Odette was incredibly brave for such a young and "ordinary woman" (her words) but she turned out to be an extraordinary woman. Her story is well known, for being one of the few survivors of the Nazi death camp the infamous, Ravensbruck concentration camp. She was  one of England's "darling WW2 spies" and as I read her story I can see why.

This week's good read

 After our walk, Oli and I watched a bit of a series I like, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel in English. It's very funny; not my usual genre but refreshing. We had a table booked at a new restaurant Oli and Miguel had tried out a week or so ago, but Oli was not up to it. Thus we stayed at home and enjoyed another evening meal together in our kitchen. Andy was home and later I greeted Alba and Javi, my Airbnb student guests, who arrived on Thursday night late and whom I hadn't seen until then.  They are not girlfriend and boyfriend as I met Alba's boyfriend who joined her one weekend, but I have a feeling Alba will be changing partners soon. I wish I had a photo of her for you. You can't imagine just how lovely, elegant and beautiful she is. Every time I see her I want to hug her, she's so sweet. 

That night we finished watching Our Souls at Night which I'm afraid finishes rather abruptly and doesn't really have a sweet and happy ending. 

Saturday came and it felt like the coldest day of winter so far. It was freezing, foggy and rained on and off all day. Needless to say we didn't venture out at all and missed our walk of the day. I made a lovely winter stew with miniature chick peas, veg and meat which we all polished off. I read more of Odette, spent quality time with Olivia and watched a silly film with Eladio, "Closer" which we didn't finish. I loved the actors but that was all I loved.  I think we were in bed by 8.30 but actually didn't switch the light off until past midnight. The news on all channels and on all media seems to be about the difficult rescue of Julen. Last night they were about 15 hours from reaching him via a parallel tunnel being bored but stumbled upon 4 metres of hard rock difficult to penetrate. As I write this Sunday morning, the race against time to find the toddler alive seems over to me. I only hope I am wrong.  I would love to be able to tell you next Sunday that he was rescued, found alive and well and that his family lived happily ever after and I sincerely hope I can. We will know later today or tomorrow I hope, so pray if you are a believer. It may help.

Sunday was 19th January, just another day for some. However it would have been the 60th birthday of my little cousin Jacqueline who died aged 12 in the air crash at Rijeka in 1971. She was just 2 years younger than me and I know we would have been like sisters if her life hadn't been cut short so unfairly.  The date of her birthday is etched in my mind. The day my Aunty Gloria, my Father's sister, her husband Derek and their three children, my cousins, Jacqueline, Michael and Antony, aged 12, 9 and 7 died was the saddest day in the life of my family. None of us ever got over it.

I have now reached the end of the stories of this week which has been very quiet. I am longing for a bit of action. I am hoping to persuade Eladio to go to Montrondo soon where it has snowed this weekend. I love the village with snow. Hopefully, then, I shall be writing next week's post from our house in the mountains.

All that remains for me to say is have a good Sunday and week ahead. Cheers till next time,

Masha