Sunday 13th January, 2018
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| Getting into the spirit of Kings' Day with my Father last Sunday morning |
Dear all,
How are you doing?
January in Spain is known as "la cuesta de enero", (the January hill) meaning that the month after Christmas is a bit uphill, financially after all the extra expense but, in my mind, also mentally. It's difficult to get back to normal after Christmas and I always feel a bit down when 7th January comes and everything is over.
But it wasn't over last Sunday which was Kings' Day (Epiphany) in Spain and is celebrated all over the country. It's also the time when most Spaniards give their presents and is a very special day, mostly for children. Being an Anglo Spanish family, we celebrate both the English and Spanish traditions and thus get a lot more out of Christmas than most. That's also because I love Christmas as you have probably gathered.
As I'm in charge of all celebrations, I was up early on 6th January to make everyone's breakfast. In Spain it is a tradition to eat the "roscón de reyes" (Kings' cake) on Kings' Day and that is what we did. I bought both the classic and whipped cream varieties. I like to have mine toasted with butter but my Father prefers the whipped cream one. We had already had that one at Julio's the night before.
This is what our breakfast table looked like. It was truly a breakfast fit for Kings.
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| The breakfast table on Kings' Day last Sunday |
And we felt like kings too that day. Here is a lovely photo of my Father and I with our crowns on - the crowns that come with the "roscón".
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| My Father and I on Kings' Day just before we sat down to breakfast |
We were like the King and Queen of the house hahaha.
After breakfast it was time to open our presents by the tree. We give all our main presents on Christmas day but keep 2 for each person on Kings' Day. Before we opened the presents we had to have the customary photos taken to remember the moment and for my blog of course. Here's one Oli took of Eladio and I with our crowns on too.
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| Eladio and I on Kings' Day in the morning |
For the record I gave Eladio his favourite perfume or rather my favourite perfume for him - Esencia by Loewe and Oli gave him a yellow jumper from Zara. Here he is in it. I love it when he wears bright colours. Men shouldn't only wear grey, black, brown or dark blue don't you think?
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| Eladio in his new yellow jumper |
Oli got perfume too (Love Story by Chloe) and another jumper - from Pull and Bear. Here she is in it. There are not many photos of her that morning as she was wearing her pyjamas hahaha.
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| Oli with her new jumper |
My Father, who thoroughly enjoyed Kings' Day, got some new white vests and a book - Mariano Guindal's autobiography. I love the photo of him with me illustrating this week's post. I love the twinkle in his eye.
After the present session, it was time to start on lunch. I would make roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, one of our favourite meals, for Kings' Day. Even though it is a very British dish we all love it. My Yorkshire pudding turned out a treat. I got the recipe from the BBC website and it has never turned out so crispy nor has it ever risen so much. It was wonderful and my Father asked for second helpings, bless him. And here is the Kings' Day lunch table with all the food we were about to devour hahaha.
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| Our Kings' Day lunch - roast beef and Yorkshire pudding |
We had the last of the crackers that day and here is a selfie of Oli, Eladio and I with our hats on. Such fun.
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| Oli, Eladio and I with our Christmas cracker hats on on Kings' Day |
Only Suzy was missing on Kings' Day. She is of course in Bali. That day she visited the Nusa Penida Island with her London friends. It belongs to Bali and looks like paradise. Here they are together on the island.
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| Suzy and her friends on the Nusa Penida Island (Bali) on Kings' Day |
We all needed a long siesta after such a copious lunch. Oli and I and the dogs also needed a long walk in the afternoon. We left at 5.30 which is quite late as it gets dark soon but amazingly it didn't get dark until after 6.30 as the days are getting longer now. It was another beautiful sunny day last Sunday.
We came back for free time as I call it when I don't have any obligations. Oli chose to do her French homework. Helene had set us holiday homework to be done by our lesson on 12th January. It was a refresh of the "avoir" verb but I would leave my homework until later.
None of of us was hungry for dinner but even so we ate and even had some more roscón and a glass of wine. For Oli and I and Eladio too, Kings' day would be the last day of indulging in food. From Monday 7th January it would be a return to healthy food and in my case to my diet. God knows how much I have put on but I won't be weighing myself for at least 10 days. My main New Year's resolution is to stay slim and I shall keep to it I promise.
Eladio and I were too tired and too full to watch anything on Netflix or Amazon Prime and both of us fell asleep after the news. I had another coughing fit but thankfully my "codiesan" tablets helped me get over it.
Monday 7th January dawned and it meant Christmas would be over. It was also Russian Christmas for the Orthodox religion. We used to celebrate it at home with my Russian born Mother but no longer unfortunately. So when in the evening, my Russian neighbour, Ekaterina, came over to bring us some chocolates and a bottle of vodka I was really touched. That was so thoughtful of her. I'm sure she didn't know that it would be my first present on 7th January since I was a child when my Mother used to give us presents. I wasn't brought up to speak Russian - big mistake on the part of my parents - so had to google Merry Christmas in my mother's native tongue. It is С Рождество́м!
For me, on 7th January Christmas was over, although it was a holiday in Spain as Reyes (Kings' Day) had been on a Sunday. Oli was leaving that morning as Miguel was coming from Valencia and they would spend the rest of the week together. They went to a small village in Cáceres called Losar de la Vera where Oli would be interviewing a young woman who is a goat herd, all this for her new programme, España Directo. So Christmas was over and my girls were gone and I wanted it all back. I wished it was 7th December instead of 7th January.
It was time to take down the tree and all the decorations, perhaps the most depressing task of the year. But I got on with it. I did most of it and all Eladio had to do was to put everything in a big box to store until next year. Here he is about to close the box.
Although it was a holiday, my favourite supermarket, Carrefour Market, would be open as it is every day of the year to my delight. As the Monday fruit and veg market was closed, we went to the former to stock up on fruit and veg. Monday spelled a return to healthy living. At the end of the day, I had kept to my diet: fruit, veg, protein and milk and no carbohydrates, fat or sugar, and knew that I would be able to keep to my New Year's resolution.
It was a quiet day for us and the day unfolded as days do when we are at home and not particularly busy. We didn't hear from Suzy but we did get photos from Oli and Miguel at the village in Cáceres, Losar de la Vera. Here they are together that day, in brilliant sunshine I should say, the same as here.
I finished Mariano Guindal's book "un hombre con buena suerte" on Monday afternoon, just before dinner. I do hope we can see him soon for me to give him my feedback, all of it positive. What will my next book be I wondered? I had the choice of continuing Michelle Obama's "Becoming" which I started a while ago, or, interestingly, "The girl in the picture". The latter is the story of Kim Phuc, the so-called "napalm girl" whose photo by Nick Ut is the most famous one to come out of the Vietnam war.
The book is written by Denise Chong and tells the story of how the photo came about and hopefully what happened to the 9 year old victim.
That night we watched or started watching a film called The Oxford Crimes on Amazon Prime. Not sure it was one of my favourites as I fell asleep before it ended.
Tuesday came and all vestige of the Christmas holidays was over. Andy, our long term Scottish lodger was back from his home in Antibes, France. I greeted him in the morning. It was good to have him back.
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| Presents from our neighbours on 7th January, Russian Christmas. |
It was time to take down the tree and all the decorations, perhaps the most depressing task of the year. But I got on with it. I did most of it and all Eladio had to do was to put everything in a big box to store until next year. Here he is about to close the box.
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| Taking down all the Christmas decorations on Monday |
It was a quiet day for us and the day unfolded as days do when we are at home and not particularly busy. We didn't hear from Suzy but we did get photos from Oli and Miguel at the village in Cáceres, Losar de la Vera. Here they are together that day, in brilliant sunshine I should say, the same as here.
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| Oli and Miguel in Losar de la Vera |
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| June 8, 1972: Kim Phúc, center left, running down a road naked near Trảng Bàng after a South Vietnam Air Force napalm attack (Nick Ut / The Associated Press) |
That night we watched or started watching a film called The Oxford Crimes on Amazon Prime. Not sure it was one of my favourites as I fell asleep before it ended.
Tuesday came and all vestige of the Christmas holidays was over. Andy, our long term Scottish lodger was back from his home in Antibes, France. I greeted him in the morning. It was good to have him back.
I didn't have much to do that morning or rather I procrastinated and rewarded myself and went shopping in the sales. The excuse was to change an item of clothing I got for Christmas, but while at Centro Oeste, I was too tempted not to go and see the sales in some of my favourite shops, Zara being the first of course.
At Zara I got a white, hooded, waterproof padded jacket, made, believe it or not, from recycled plastic bottles. What a good idea. There were no "Ms" so I had to make do with an "S". I was quite chuffed I could get into a Zara "S" after Christmas. At a lovely little boutique called "Algo Bonito", I exchanged the item of clothing for another padded jacket, a pink waistcoat one and a matching snood scarf. But it was at Pull and Bear I had my best find. I love tartan which is in fashion again and had been on the lookout for some comfortable and flattering red tartan trousers. It was there that I found them and I got a red jumper to match. I love this outfit don't you?
These were my purchases which I had to photograph when I got home - minus the trousers.
All in all it was a wonderful solo trip to the sales. I felt so fortunate being able to go into any shop and more or less buy what I wanted. Later when I posted some of the photos on Instagram, my vegan and environment conscious daughter Suzy asked if I really needed all that. I answered not really but that it had made me happy. I've always thought I probably have enough clothes never to have to buy anything more until the end of my days but that would be so boring. It's lovely to wear new clothes; it gives you an up and on Tuesday I needed an "up".
I came home to show Lucy my purchases and hide them from Eladio. I never tell him when I buy new clothes as he doesn't approve. If it were for him, he'd wear the same thing everyday and never buy anything again hahahah. Lucy liked them though:-) I showed them to Oli too, who loves retail therapy as much as me, via whatsapp as she was in Losar de la Vera in Cácerces shooting. She approved. No doubt, as we often wear each other's clothes, she will be wearing some of the new ones I bought this week.
That morning Oli was in her element filming a young 35 year old goat herd called Mari, with her 90 or so goats in a village called Losar de la Vera (Cáceres). Mari knows the name and number of each and every one of them! As she has to milk them twice a day, she can never take a holiday but doesn't seem to mind. She inherited the herd from her Father and even though she has a University degree, preferred to return to her home village and continue the family's way of living. Here they are together; two girls of similar age but with completely different lives.
After shooting the report, Oli and her cameraman edited it at a bar nearby and sent it to TVE. It was broadcast that evening at 19.50 on her new programme, España Directo and we watched it with great interest. It is the first of a series of reports about rural working women. Thursday would see Oli in a village in Soria filming another woman farmer. She loves the outdoors and is loving her new job and return to TVE.
The rest of the day went past as usual. In the afternoon we went for our walk, came back to read and then had dinner - a diet one. Then it was time for bed, the news and instead of watching a film, we both fell asleep again. That must have been because of the cold air on our bracing walk.
Wednesday came and it was a very quiet day with hardly anything to report. I did have some great news that day but very frustratingly I can't share it until it's confirmed. But I have to say it left me on cloud 9 and feeling happy all day long.
I spent most of the morning doing something I had been putting off for a while; sending all my financial statements, invoices and receipts to my accountant. One of the banes of being self employed is financial reporting every 3 months. I was so relieved when I finished.
There was little news from the girls that day, a day of our routine which you must be pretty familiar with by now. I made lunch with Lucy's help; basically veg with protein, no fat and no carbs. Even so, it was still delicious.
It has been a week of brilliant sunshine although very cold in the mornings and evenings but that has made for lovely weather on our walks. We now go out at about 5, as we did on Wednesday, to enjoy our 1 hour and 20 minute walk up the hill and across the fields and back with Madrid's skyline in the far distance. We are so glad we live away from the city's pollution.
Once home, I did another task I had been procrastinating about; tidying up part of my walk in wardrobe. That took a while. I was looking forward afterwards to watching Oli on TV but she wasn't on that day. She had spent the time pre-producing a report she would be dong the next day on a 58 year old woman farmer from a village in Soria - part of a series of reports on rural working women. We won't see it until next Monday. She would be leaving early in the morning for Soria on Thursday and on Friday again but this time for Valladolid to cover the annual international motorbike gathering called "pinguinos". So, we would have to wait till Friday evening to see her again on TV and until Saturday to see her in the flesh.
We had a very quiet dinner together and then went upstairs to our quarters. The news that night was full of the agreement with the right wing parties, PP and Ciudadanos, backed by the extreme right Vox party, that would allow the former to govern in Andalucia. Some of the proposals from Vox were preposterous, such as separating boys and girls in the classroom and many others.
That night we were entertained with a new series on Prime Video; You are Wanted. It's a hacker type thriller, very much a story of our times and is pretty frightening.
Thursday came. It was a quiet day for us but not for Oli. That morning a car from TVE was coming to pick her up to drive her to a village in the province of Soria. She later sent us a photo where you can see her lady farmer storing sunflower seeds. These are eaten widely by people in Spain. Not so in England where they are reserved for parrots hahaha.
I finally did my holiday homework that our French teacher, Helene, had set us. Our next lesson would be on Saturday and it was time for me to do it. The exercises were all about the "avoir" verb which were actually quite easy. I must have been listening well when I was taught it at school so many years ago. The homework took more than 2 hours though as there were pages and pages of exercises. I felt so good when I had finished.
Eladio had errands to do in the afternoon, so on Thursday we went on our walk in the morning before lunch. It was freezing but very sunny. That morning I wore some of my new clothes, the pink waistcoat with my new Adidas trainers. This is how I looked. Very modern right? Recently I read comments from the fashion designer Carolina Herrera who advised women over 40 never to wear jeans or a mini skirt saying that "older women" should not try to look like younger women. What bullshit. I love jeans and I love mini skirts. What funny advice from a woman like Carolina Herrera.
If my morning had been busy and I had been very active, I was very lazy in the afternoon. Eladio went off to do his errands and I decided to stay inside - it was freezing outside - and enjoy a series I started watching recently on Prime Video, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, set in New York in the 50's. It's very entertaining.
That night we watched more of our new series, "You are Wanted" and it's so tense I'm afraid I found it difficult to fall asleep afterwards. We were interrupted when our 2 student guests, Alba and Javi, arrived at about 11 pm. They are repeat guests who have been coming since November and will be coming on and off from now until June. They are from Alicante and Valencia, respectively and no doubt, felt the cold. Luckily our house is very warm. I settled them in, settled the dogs too as Norah had hogged Elsa and Pippa's bed and returned to my own bed for more stress watching You are Wanted.
Friday came and promised to be a great day. We did the food shopping - no not a great task and there would be no churros this week - while Oli was on her way to Valladolid. That day she would be covering the annual "pinguinos" event there where up to 30.000 fervent motorcycle fans gather from all over the world. It is perhaps the biggest event of its kind. She would be there all day, doing a report for the programme and then stay until the programme began to do a live report at around 7.30. We looked forward to that. I never tire of seeing her on TV.
While she was having an exciting day, ours went by as usual, the highlight being our walk. We came back to watch her on the TV and then got ready to go out.
Her story was first on. Here she is reporting live from Valladolid on the motorcycle event there.
We are currently going through a very cold spell here and she had to report on the weather too. Cleverly she held her toy penguin to illustrate the name of the event (pinguino meaning penguin) and the cold too. It was just 3ºc that evening in Valladolid.
I'm not sure my Father would have been very interested in the motorcycle event but, as a great lover of weather news and weather forecasts, he would have been proud of her reporting on the temperature that day. She was well wrapped up thank goodness. I would be too when we were ready to go out to dinner on Friday night. Olivia would be home late that night as she had to return to Madrid after the report, a drive that takes a little over 2 hours.
Our drive took 15 minutes or less. We had a dinner date at the Parque de Boadilla Members Club which we used to frequent and belong to when we lived in our last house in Rio Tajo there. After the girls were born, we sold our flat in the centre of Madrid and bought a house in the country and moved to an area (urbanización) called Parque Boadilla in 1988. When we were looking for houses in the area I remember being taken to the "club" which seemed such a luxury to me with its gardens, cafeteria, restaurant, tennis courts and swimming pool. It was one of the reasons we bought our house there. Many a happy hour was spent at the club. We hadn't been back since we moved to our new house in 2006 so Friday night would be a very special night remembering old times. We were to have dinner with our friends Isabel and Juanjo, also from Parque Boadilla, whom we met through Suzy who was their daughter Lorena's best friend in their class at St Michael's school when they were small. I think I told you in my last post that we had bumped into "Lorena's parents" last week and arranged a dinner date at the "club". Dinner that night was the highlight of my week. It certainly was a trip down memory lane and a happy one at that. Here we are, the 4 of us around the table at the Club that night.
Not much had changed apart from the restaurant furniture. Everything else was the same. It was pity it was night time as I would have loved to wander outside and see the grounds. During dinner I got a sudden and unexpected Airbn reservation for Saturday night from a couple who hail from Philippines. They will be our first guests from that part of the world. We stayed at the Club until after midnight, happily chatting, catching up on each other's lives and talking about the past and the present, including our offspring of course. As we parted, we agreed to repeat the experience. It's nice to have found our old friends again and I have a feeling we shall be seeing more of them. That's great for our social life which actually isn't that "social".
It was very late when we switched the light off that night, past 1 in the morning. I thought my cough had gone but it hadn't and I got a coughing fit in the middle of the night damn it. Thankfully I woke up half an hour later than usual at about 7 am.
Saturday was a break with routine, something I needed. I had a quiet morning and didn't even see our guests Alba and Javi who left early for the UEM. At 12 Oli and Miguel arrived and shortly Helene, our French teacher too. We spent a 1.15h in a very intense lesson, talking French the whole time. We spent at least one hour going over our homework, a refresh on the verb "avoir". Helene congratulated us on our exercises which were nearly perfect for once.
As soon as the lesson finished and we had seen Helene out until next Saturday - hahahaha she forgot to set us homework for next week - it was time to make lunch. I sent Lucy off who I knew was dying to leave for her short weekend and respite from looking after my Father and the house. She does such a good job. We had a healthy lunch of fresh fish and vegetables and no carbs!!
Later we all had a siesta until my Philippine guests arrived, Leslie and Maria. I welcomed them in, showed them around the house, settled them into their room and haven't seen them since. This morning they will be leaving, as will Javi and Alba but this afternoon Bob and Angela will be coming - they are repeat guests - and Andy will be back from his hiking trip up a snowy mountain in France.
The big news came from France that day, or rather from Paris and it wasn't about the "gilets jaunes" (yellow vests) who were demonstrating in the centre for the 9th time. No it was more sinister. A gas explosion at a bakery in the heart of the tourist area caused havoc, death and destruction. One Spanish woman tourist from Toledo and 2 firemen were killed and many people injured. Those affected must have thought the explosion was from terrorist action but for once it wasn't.
The other news came from Canada. The 18 year old Saudi Arabian teenager, Rahaf al-Qunun, who, earlier this week, barricaded herself in her hotel room in Bangkok, refusing to return to her homeland where she faces a death penalty for giving up her religion and a backlash from her ultra conservative family who have made her life a misery, was on her way to freedom. The world got to know of her plight thanks to her twitter account. Many others who don't use social media, end up going back to a life of misery or even death. Thankfully, the Canadian PM Justin Trudeau came to her rescue and she will now know what it is like to live in freedom although it won't be easy for her starting a new life in a new and cold country where she knows no one. I think she has been very very brave and wish her a wonderful life. Go for it Rahaf!
I think all of us living in the free world, so to speak, just take our lives and freedom for granted. Cases like that of Rahaf should make us realise just how lucky we are really. Yesterday, I could choose what to do in the afternoon. Saudi girls don't get that choice without permission from a male guardian. Imagine. Well, Eladio is no male guardian, thank goodness - I wouldn't have married him if he was - so I chose to accompany Oli and Miguel who were going into the city to visit Anita, Oli's great friend from Uni, a lovely girl I know well. She also lived with Suzy in London where I saw a lot of her. She has been ill and has a mysterious yet to be diagnosed rare illness and we wanted to see her. She was in good shape really and above all radiated a positive attitude. She lives with her boyfriend, Alberto, in a flat in the centre and we spent a quiet and nice 2 or 3 hours together while back home Eladio went for a walk with Pippa. I missed my walk yesterday but it was for a good cause.
Oli and Miguel dropped me off at home later while they gallivanted off to dinner again. As Anita pointed out, Oli's main social pleasure is eating at good restaurants, just like me hahaha. I was happy to stay at home and have a quiet dinner with Eladio. There was no sign of any of our guests who were all out so we had the kitchen to ourselves.
Last night we watched a depressing film called The Innocents. It's Polish and set in 1945 and tells the horrific story of nuns who had raped during the war and impregnated and who were helped secretly by a young Red Cross Communist doctor. Thankfully I fell asleep quite soon and for once got quite a decent night's sleep with no coughing.
Today is Sunday and the day promises to be quiet. Today, by the way, is my best friend Fátima's birthday so happy birthday to her from here. Hopefully we shall go out to lunch one day soon to celebrate it with her.
I have reached the end of the tales of this week which started with Reyes. Christmas has now gone completely and we are at the beginning of a new year which I hope will be a great one for us all.
That's all from me for this week folks! Cheers till next time,
Masha
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| The sales at Zara on Tuesday 8th January |
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| In my new red tartan outfit |
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| Some of my purchases when I went to the sales on Tuesday |
I came home to show Lucy my purchases and hide them from Eladio. I never tell him when I buy new clothes as he doesn't approve. If it were for him, he'd wear the same thing everyday and never buy anything again hahahah. Lucy liked them though:-) I showed them to Oli too, who loves retail therapy as much as me, via whatsapp as she was in Losar de la Vera in Cácerces shooting. She approved. No doubt, as we often wear each other's clothes, she will be wearing some of the new ones I bought this week.
That morning Oli was in her element filming a young 35 year old goat herd called Mari, with her 90 or so goats in a village called Losar de la Vera (Cáceres). Mari knows the name and number of each and every one of them! As she has to milk them twice a day, she can never take a holiday but doesn't seem to mind. She inherited the herd from her Father and even though she has a University degree, preferred to return to her home village and continue the family's way of living. Here they are together; two girls of similar age but with completely different lives.
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| Oli and Mari, the young goat herd in Losar de la Vera (Cáceres) on Tuesday |
The rest of the day went past as usual. In the afternoon we went for our walk, came back to read and then had dinner - a diet one. Then it was time for bed, the news and instead of watching a film, we both fell asleep again. That must have been because of the cold air on our bracing walk.
Wednesday came and it was a very quiet day with hardly anything to report. I did have some great news that day but very frustratingly I can't share it until it's confirmed. But I have to say it left me on cloud 9 and feeling happy all day long.
I spent most of the morning doing something I had been putting off for a while; sending all my financial statements, invoices and receipts to my accountant. One of the banes of being self employed is financial reporting every 3 months. I was so relieved when I finished.
There was little news from the girls that day, a day of our routine which you must be pretty familiar with by now. I made lunch with Lucy's help; basically veg with protein, no fat and no carbs. Even so, it was still delicious.
It has been a week of brilliant sunshine although very cold in the mornings and evenings but that has made for lovely weather on our walks. We now go out at about 5, as we did on Wednesday, to enjoy our 1 hour and 20 minute walk up the hill and across the fields and back with Madrid's skyline in the far distance. We are so glad we live away from the city's pollution.
Once home, I did another task I had been procrastinating about; tidying up part of my walk in wardrobe. That took a while. I was looking forward afterwards to watching Oli on TV but she wasn't on that day. She had spent the time pre-producing a report she would be dong the next day on a 58 year old woman farmer from a village in Soria - part of a series of reports on rural working women. We won't see it until next Monday. She would be leaving early in the morning for Soria on Thursday and on Friday again but this time for Valladolid to cover the annual international motorbike gathering called "pinguinos". So, we would have to wait till Friday evening to see her again on TV and until Saturday to see her in the flesh.
We had a very quiet dinner together and then went upstairs to our quarters. The news that night was full of the agreement with the right wing parties, PP and Ciudadanos, backed by the extreme right Vox party, that would allow the former to govern in Andalucia. Some of the proposals from Vox were preposterous, such as separating boys and girls in the classroom and many others.
That night we were entertained with a new series on Prime Video; You are Wanted. It's a hacker type thriller, very much a story of our times and is pretty frightening.
Thursday came. It was a quiet day for us but not for Oli. That morning a car from TVE was coming to pick her up to drive her to a village in the province of Soria. She later sent us a photo where you can see her lady farmer storing sunflower seeds. These are eaten widely by people in Spain. Not so in England where they are reserved for parrots hahaha.
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| Oli in a village in Soria on Thursday |
Eladio had errands to do in the afternoon, so on Thursday we went on our walk in the morning before lunch. It was freezing but very sunny. That morning I wore some of my new clothes, the pink waistcoat with my new Adidas trainers. This is how I looked. Very modern right? Recently I read comments from the fashion designer Carolina Herrera who advised women over 40 never to wear jeans or a mini skirt saying that "older women" should not try to look like younger women. What bullshit. I love jeans and I love mini skirts. What funny advice from a woman like Carolina Herrera.
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| All in the pink on Thursday |
That night we watched more of our new series, "You are Wanted" and it's so tense I'm afraid I found it difficult to fall asleep afterwards. We were interrupted when our 2 student guests, Alba and Javi, arrived at about 11 pm. They are repeat guests who have been coming since November and will be coming on and off from now until June. They are from Alicante and Valencia, respectively and no doubt, felt the cold. Luckily our house is very warm. I settled them in, settled the dogs too as Norah had hogged Elsa and Pippa's bed and returned to my own bed for more stress watching You are Wanted.
Friday came and promised to be a great day. We did the food shopping - no not a great task and there would be no churros this week - while Oli was on her way to Valladolid. That day she would be covering the annual "pinguinos" event there where up to 30.000 fervent motorcycle fans gather from all over the world. It is perhaps the biggest event of its kind. She would be there all day, doing a report for the programme and then stay until the programme began to do a live report at around 7.30. We looked forward to that. I never tire of seeing her on TV.
While she was having an exciting day, ours went by as usual, the highlight being our walk. We came back to watch her on the TV and then got ready to go out.
Her story was first on. Here she is reporting live from Valladolid on the motorcycle event there.
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| Oli reporting on the weather for TVE on Friday |
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| Oli live from Valladolid reporting on the international motorcycle gathering event called "Pinguinos" |
Our drive took 15 minutes or less. We had a dinner date at the Parque de Boadilla Members Club which we used to frequent and belong to when we lived in our last house in Rio Tajo there. After the girls were born, we sold our flat in the centre of Madrid and bought a house in the country and moved to an area (urbanización) called Parque Boadilla in 1988. When we were looking for houses in the area I remember being taken to the "club" which seemed such a luxury to me with its gardens, cafeteria, restaurant, tennis courts and swimming pool. It was one of the reasons we bought our house there. Many a happy hour was spent at the club. We hadn't been back since we moved to our new house in 2006 so Friday night would be a very special night remembering old times. We were to have dinner with our friends Isabel and Juanjo, also from Parque Boadilla, whom we met through Suzy who was their daughter Lorena's best friend in their class at St Michael's school when they were small. I think I told you in my last post that we had bumped into "Lorena's parents" last week and arranged a dinner date at the "club". Dinner that night was the highlight of my week. It certainly was a trip down memory lane and a happy one at that. Here we are, the 4 of us around the table at the Club that night.
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| Dinner with our old friends on Friday night at The Club |
It was very late when we switched the light off that night, past 1 in the morning. I thought my cough had gone but it hadn't and I got a coughing fit in the middle of the night damn it. Thankfully I woke up half an hour later than usual at about 7 am.
Saturday was a break with routine, something I needed. I had a quiet morning and didn't even see our guests Alba and Javi who left early for the UEM. At 12 Oli and Miguel arrived and shortly Helene, our French teacher too. We spent a 1.15h in a very intense lesson, talking French the whole time. We spent at least one hour going over our homework, a refresh on the verb "avoir". Helene congratulated us on our exercises which were nearly perfect for once.
As soon as the lesson finished and we had seen Helene out until next Saturday - hahahaha she forgot to set us homework for next week - it was time to make lunch. I sent Lucy off who I knew was dying to leave for her short weekend and respite from looking after my Father and the house. She does such a good job. We had a healthy lunch of fresh fish and vegetables and no carbs!!
Later we all had a siesta until my Philippine guests arrived, Leslie and Maria. I welcomed them in, showed them around the house, settled them into their room and haven't seen them since. This morning they will be leaving, as will Javi and Alba but this afternoon Bob and Angela will be coming - they are repeat guests - and Andy will be back from his hiking trip up a snowy mountain in France.
The big news came from France that day, or rather from Paris and it wasn't about the "gilets jaunes" (yellow vests) who were demonstrating in the centre for the 9th time. No it was more sinister. A gas explosion at a bakery in the heart of the tourist area caused havoc, death and destruction. One Spanish woman tourist from Toledo and 2 firemen were killed and many people injured. Those affected must have thought the explosion was from terrorist action but for once it wasn't.
The other news came from Canada. The 18 year old Saudi Arabian teenager, Rahaf al-Qunun, who, earlier this week, barricaded herself in her hotel room in Bangkok, refusing to return to her homeland where she faces a death penalty for giving up her religion and a backlash from her ultra conservative family who have made her life a misery, was on her way to freedom. The world got to know of her plight thanks to her twitter account. Many others who don't use social media, end up going back to a life of misery or even death. Thankfully, the Canadian PM Justin Trudeau came to her rescue and she will now know what it is like to live in freedom although it won't be easy for her starting a new life in a new and cold country where she knows no one. I think she has been very very brave and wish her a wonderful life. Go for it Rahaf!
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| The smiling Saudi teenage girl Rahaf arriving to freedom in Canada yesterday |
Oli and Miguel dropped me off at home later while they gallivanted off to dinner again. As Anita pointed out, Oli's main social pleasure is eating at good restaurants, just like me hahaha. I was happy to stay at home and have a quiet dinner with Eladio. There was no sign of any of our guests who were all out so we had the kitchen to ourselves.
Last night we watched a depressing film called The Innocents. It's Polish and set in 1945 and tells the horrific story of nuns who had raped during the war and impregnated and who were helped secretly by a young Red Cross Communist doctor. Thankfully I fell asleep quite soon and for once got quite a decent night's sleep with no coughing.
Today is Sunday and the day promises to be quiet. Today, by the way, is my best friend Fátima's birthday so happy birthday to her from here. Hopefully we shall go out to lunch one day soon to celebrate it with her.
I have reached the end of the tales of this week which started with Reyes. Christmas has now gone completely and we are at the beginning of a new year which I hope will be a great one for us all.
That's all from me for this week folks! Cheers till next time,
Masha
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