Sunday 12th May, 2019
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| A rare photo of the four of us - both Pippa and Elsa (our lab) got in the picture. Norah wasn't around. |
It has been a quiet week, the week after my father's 100th birthday celebrations. I had expected to feel a little flat but for some reason I didn't. I felt tired, caught up on my sleep and generally felt quite contented. I was worried my father would feel flat too after so much expectation for his big day, but it seems he is quietly carrying on and is feeling good. He is extremely grateful for all that was prepared and for everyone's greetings. He is still going through all the cards he received. I have ordered a 100th birthday card album and that's where they will be stored for future reference. I've had feedback too from the first readers of my book. My great friend Fátima, told me she couldn't put it down, my father read if from A to Z and started it again telling me it was "marvelous. My daughters started on it too. As for me, I found more things to correct and worked this week with my publisher to make sure the final edition will be as mistake free as possible.
Last Sunday was Mothers' Day in Spain. We didn't really celebrate as I wasn't brought up to do so but my dear daughters, Suzy and Oli, wished me a happy day. It was a happy day and a quiet one. I was grateful for that. I spent the morning with my girls and we went to do some food shopping and came back to cook. It was lovely to be all together as a family. I made broccoli and mushroom soup which everyone loved and roast chicken legs with peppers and jacket potatoes. We had lunch outside, just the 5 of us. Later I had a long siesta and spent the afternoon quietly. At around 5.15, a TVE car came to pick up Oli to take her to the Atocha train station from where she would travel to Valencia. On Monday and Tuesday she would be reporting on news in that area, filling in for the reporter there who was off for a few days. That meant she would be staying with her partner Miguel who lives in Valencia - well he lives one week in Valencia and one week in Madrid alternately. She read my father's book on the way and told me she loved it. Isn't that nice? Later Miguel would pick her up and he brought her a bottle of "horchata" (tiger nut milk from the Valencia area) which she loves.
When Oli left, Suzy did too. She went off to spend the afternoon with her bosom friend, Elenita, for a girly afternoon. We should have gone for our walk but felt lazy. Thus we stayed at home reading outside. I was soon joined by our lovely Scottish lodger, Andy and we had a good chin wag before it was time for dinner. Dinner was alfresco too although it was rather too "fresco" as the temperatures had gone down a bit. The week would be colder than the previous week but then got very warm this weekend. I got more Airbnb reservations that day, all for the month of May and it seems May will be pretty full. Our German guests left that morning and later posted a 5 star review on the Airbnb platform bless them. This week we would host Chema, Alba and Javi from Spain as well as Amiram, an Israeli judge and his wife Sarah. Sandy from Hong Kong and Ruud from Holland will be coming today. The house was fully booked this week and it will be the same next week. In the coming week we will be hosting someone from France, Javi and Alba will return and so will our Jewish judge. They are nearly all repeat guests and Amiram has become a friend. He comes here to visit his elderly mother who lives nearby and whose house is too small to accommodate him and his wife.
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| Oli reunited with Miguel in Valencia on Sunday evening, glass of "horchata" in hand and a big smile of their faces |
The day ended quietly. After dinner we went up to bed to watch the news. That night an Aeroflot Russian plane exploded shortly after departure from Moscow killing 40 people. Every time I read about a plane crash I remember how my Aunty Gloria, my Uncle Derek and cousins Jacqueline, Michael and Antony lost their lives in a plane crash in May 1971. That tragedy has never left me.
Monday came and I was up at 6.30, slightly later than usual. I am now catching up on a lot of the sleep I lost while working on my father's book. I am definitely resting and relaxing.
That morning I replied to some of the letters my father's old boys from Bradford Grammar School wrote to him along with the cards. They wrote back to with lots of new memories I wish I had known about as, if I had, they too would have gone into his book.
Suzy was up and about - what a pleasure to have her in the house - but I had to go off in the morning. I had a coffee date with my friend and neighbour Elena M. We spent a good hour and a half chin wagging too and catching up on our lives. It was nice to go and have a coffee with a friend. I should do it more often.
I came home to find mail in the post box. I was very happy to that the Cambridge News which had published an article on my father had sent me the newspaper. I was to add it to all the others. I showed it to my father who chuckled. I think my PR work with the British press has rather amazed him. Then again, I am a PR pro and know a story when I see one as I said last week. It was on the front page and a whole page was dedicated to him inside. This time the newspaper had him marry a "baroness".
I thought the headline of the article was great: "From ordinary seaman to an extraordinary century". He did indeed start off in the navy as an ordinary seaman, then was promoted to able seaman and then after an officers' course became Sub. Lt. and later Lieutenant. The arrival of the newspaper made me very happy.
Also in the post was a packet from Amazon. Our dear friend Andy D who had been here for last week's celebrations, had sent us a DVD of the film Woman in Gold. About an elderly Jewish holocaust survivor who sets about trying to reclaim family paintings taken by the Nazis, it sounds right up our street.
Suzy had her lessons that day as she seems to every day, from around 12 to 2.30 or 15.00 but she joined us for lunch when she had finished. Thus she found Eladio, my father and I still at the table on the kitchen patio when she came down. My father was quite animated that day. I was telling him that Olivia was in the Valencia region this week and that she would be covering the Moors and Christians festival in Alcoy for TVE. Alcoy is a town high up in the mountains of rural Alicante and not too far from Callosa, the village where my parents bought a house in the early 70's. It took a while for my father to remember. He was quite talkative that day and when he saw a sparrow asked me to remind him of the name of the bird. He then mentioned the name of a small sparrow - a name I didn't know really - and which I cannot now remember. Ever a lover of the names of birds, my father also told us his father used to say "wren wren king of the birds". This might have come from a fairy tale. I looked it up and it seems the wren may be considered so as it flies very high.
Ever interested in languages, etc, he suddenly asked me to look up the name of Holyhead in Welsh. Holyhead, the capital of Anglesey, is where his father and his father's siblings were born. Before I had time to find the answer, he remembered and surprised us all with his knowledge when he said "Cayergybi". Wow I thought and I cannot wait to visit my grandfather's island when we go in June. We asked him how he was getting on with my biography and he told us he was reading it now for a second time. That is high praise from him.
Later Oli sent us photos of her in Alcoy preparing a report on the famous Moors and Christians festival that takes place there every year and is the best in the region. The fiesta or festival is held in honour of St. George who it is said appeared during a battle between Moors and Christians and thanks to his intervention, the latter won. Alcoy was on the border of the Muslim held territories in Spain in the 13th century. The festival commemorates a battle fought on 23rd April 1276. It is a fabulous 3 day event and Oli was to report on the last day, the "Day of the Alardo" (mock battle) where a powder gun show (trabuco) takes place with the use of a hook gun called an "arcabus" which is also called a blunderbuss and came before the musket. The noise of the gun powder show is deafening and it's quite a spectacle. On the last day, the Moors win the battle in the morning but then the Christians win the final battle in the afternoon. I have always wanted to see this most famous of festivals in Spain but had to content myself with Oli reporting on it on TV. Here she is interviewing one of the Christians after the battle.
Alcoy used to be a practically unreachable town perched high in the mountains when we used to holiday in Callosa. I remember driving there with Eladio, my brother George and my Father in the early 80's and what a winding road it was. Today there are several new roads which make getting there easily not like in the past.
The big news though on Monday was that Meghan Markel had given birth to a boy - a boy with no name, like Olivia's hahaha. Buckingham Palace had announced recently that when the baby was born, the news of its birth would not be divulged to the public. Thus I was surprised, as I suppose the journalists were, when Prince Harry appeared before a bunch of journalists to make the announcement of the birth of their baby. We still don't know where she gave birth nor would we know the name until a few days later. The name would surprise us all. Prince Harry, visibly emotional, told of how he had been by his wife's side as she gave birth and commented how brave women were to go through such an ordeal. He is very right. A new Royal baby in England is always good news. We wouldn't get to see the new born until Wednesday, nor his very unroyal name which by now we all know.
Monday was another beautiful sunny day and we waited for the temperature to decrease slightly before we left for our walk with the dogs at nearly 7 pm. We watched Oli on TV from Alcoy on my phone while on our walk. We came back quite late. Suzy would help me to make dinner which we had alfresco once again. It was so good to have her to ourselves. I kept pinching myself all week as I could hardly believe our luck. Over the past few years every time we saw her it was always for a very short period of time. Now we shall have her until Christmas. It's great to have time with her.
Later we watched a new episode of "Secrets of State" on Amazon Prime. Our fire TV stick began to misbehave and I had no option but to get Amazon to call me. I had an incoming call from them from England but it turned out the Customer Care agent, a young girl, was really talking to me all the way from Costa Rica. It took both her and I about an hour to restore the fire TV stick. We resumed our series and went to sleep quite late.
At about 3 in the morning I was woken up by someone called Fernando from New York in the US, with an enquiry to book our house for 12 days in July with his family. After answering a few questions, he said he would be possibly confirm the reservation in a few days time. Or, on the other hand, he may not. You never know. My Airbnb calendar for the summer is slowly filling up.
I got up on Tuesday morning, believe it or not, at 7 am. I did and do need to recover all the sleep lost and also to relax as much as possible to recharge my rather depleted batteries. So Tuesday was a sort of lazy day. I didn't do much. I read a lot - "The Librarian of Auschwitz" was my latest book - and finished it that day. Suzy gave her lessons and was not able to join us for lunch. My father was less talkative that day but I reminded him of his birthday and he perked up. I showed him the video again of his old school, Clifton College, of the raising of the flag and all the boys singing him happy birthday from the choir. I told him I have planned a visit to the school in June when I will present the headmaster with his biography for their library. He was amazed at the video. I had showed it to him on his birthday but there had been so many things going on, I don't think he took it in.
I slept a siesta afterwards as we all did, except for Suzy. Later it was walk time but my older daughter didn't join us as her bosom friend, Chati, with whom she has been living in Bali, came to see her. Whilst on our walk, Oli alerted us to the fact that she would be live on TV twice at 7.15 and 7.30 reporting on a new blue beach flag in Altea. Gosh Altea, that lovely pretty beach town on the Costa Blanca, not far from Benidorm, is well known to both Eladio and I. It is only 15km from the house my parents bought in Callosa in the early 70's. Incidentally, Altea was the town Eladio and I chose for our very first dinner out. I can't remember the name of the restaurant as it was so long ago. We have always felt emotionally tied to Altea, possibly for that reason. I was surprised that a stony beach could be awarded a blue flag but it can. We had been recently; last October on one of our visits to stay at our apartment by the sea near Alicante and we visited the Espigo beach. It is the main town beach and is a sight for sore eyes on the waterfront.
Spain has more blue flag beaches than any other country in the world. That doesn't surprise me as the beaches in this country are, as far as I'm concerned, the best in the world.
The rest of Tuesday was pretty much like most evenings: dinner alresco, then up to bed for the news and then more entertainment via video streaming. The main news that day is that the UK will have to take part in the EU elections as there is no time for a Brexit deal to be agreed upon. Oh what a long and drawn out process it is and a very painful one too.
Wednesday came and rain was forecast. It was cooler and very windy but it did not rain. I was surprised to read over breakfast that Liverpool had beaten Barcelona 4-0 in the second leg of their Championship League match. It should have been child's play for the Spanish team to get through to the finals as they had won the previous match with some leverage but it was not to be. The next night Tottenham Hotspurs surprised too by beating Ajax of Amsterdam. Thus we shall see an all England Champions League final this year and, ironically, it will be held in Madrid.
In the morning I replied to more of my father's "old boys" letters and got some more replies. I only wish I had been in touch with them earlier. It's incredible how they remember him so well. Henry D. wrote "Believe it or not, he never told us at BGS about his WW2 exploits, or that he had a degree in Norwegian, but then, modesty, discretion - not forgetting zest and erudition - are the hallmarks of his personality". Isn't that nice? I liked to see my father described as having zest. Indeed he does for his great passions such as languages. Thank you Henry.
I still have quite a few more to reply to, so no doubt I will find out more about my father over the next few days. But I had to drop everything and go and do the food shopping which I hadn't done for 10 days.
Olivia was leaving Valencia for Madrid but at the last moment and already at the train station, she was sent to Barcelona to cover a story the resident programme reporter couldn't as she was off sick. Poor Oli would be very tired this week travelling up and down Spain. Later we would see her on TV.
Lunch was animated again with my father, especially because we had it in the dining room where all his 100th birthday decorations are still up and all his cards are on a table. He looked at it all very approvingly and also contentedly. I am so glad. We all remarked that it had been just one week since my father's 100th. How time flies!
My siesta on Wednesday was 2.5h long. I couldn't believe that I slept until 5.45. Thank goodness my body is letting me catch up on my sleep. I really needed it. We went on a blustery walk and Suzy joined us. While on the walk we stopped to watch Oli reporting from Barcelona. The case was rather a horrid one; about a young woman, Janet, who was missing and presumed dead in a story of domestic violence. However, it was a big story in the news here and I was glad to see Oli reporting on it. She looked very serious as she spoke. We could notice her bump quite clearly.
On the subject of pregnancy and babies, it was on Wednesday afternoon that Meghan Markel and Prince Harry, showed their new baby to the world and announced its name: Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor. Neither of his two names was on any bookies' lists. Meghan said "it's magic, it's pretty amazing. I have the two best guys in the world so I'm really happy". Prince Harry added: "it's great. Parenting is amazing". No doubt parenting will be great as they will have so much help, more than any of us mortals could ever hope for. Archie is a modern name although it comes from the more old fashioned Archibald and of course Harrison means "son of Harry".
A BBC radio reporter, Danny Baker from Radio 5 live, very stupidly and thoughtlessly tweeted the news with a photo of a couple and a chimpanzee dressed in human clothes. He titled the tweet; "Royal baby leaves hospital". Later the BBC would fire him for his racist tweet. He protested it was just a joke but for me it was an unpardonable joke and he deserves his punishment I'm afraid.
After our walk we had an agreeable dinner with Suzy; all "salady stuff" and were in bed later than usual. Eladio and I watched another episode of "Secretos de Estado" which is quite gripping. Just as we were switching off the light for our shut eye, I was pleased to see yet another booking for May. Now we really must be full up for the rest of the month.
I couldn't believe I woke up at 7 am on Thursday. I am certainly catching up on all the sleep lost in the past three months. I think it's because I'm finally being able to relax. I spent the morning on domestic tasks. I had to go to the supermarket again as when we did the shopping on Wednesday, one of the baskets was left on the shop floor! I also went to the post office to pick up a parcel for my father. I wondered who it was from and what it was. I came home to give it to my father. It was another present from Joanne from Lancashire; a beautiful tin of Yorkshire Parkin biscuits. Being a great biscuit and chocolate fan (but not dark chocolate), he was delighted.
That morning, in preparation for my many new Airbnb guests coming, I went in search of roses. Some of them needed heading but there were loads to choose from and lots of colours too.
The gardeners had pruned them quite well in the winter so they are now blooming beautifully. I filled the house with them and it's still looking lovely today.
I then had to get on with making lunch. Oli would be back from Barcelona. In the middle of cooking she wrote to say her boyfriend Miguel was coming too and thus we would be 6 around the kitchen patio dining room. I panicked a bit as I didn't think there would be enough food, so had to get out more fish from the deep freeze and make more vegetables; roast peppers, cauliflower, left over green beans, tomatoes, etc. Thankfully there was more than enough when we sat down to lunch. Suzy wouldn't finish her lessons until 3.30 so only joined us at the end. Later we all had siestas and then we all gathered together outside in the sun. In a rare moment, the four of us were together, Eladio and I and both girls. Miguel was on hand so I asked him for a photo - he is our official family photographer hahaha and the photo he took is this week's feature photo. It's not often the four of us are together and I treasure it when we are. Having Suzy back is a blessing and having Oli too was the formula this week for all of us being together.
The three of them later went off to the supermarket. Miguel and Oli were making our dinner that night. Therefore it was just Eladio, me and the dogs on our windy but sunny walk that day. There would be more than the family at home that night as both Alba and Javi, my student Airbnb guests would be coming later in the evening. Andy, our Scottish lodger, was here too but I didn't see him. It's amazing, there can be 9 or 10 people staying in this house and yet you don't notice it as it is just so big. Eladio and I talked about our future during our walk. It's always a dilemma thinking whether to stay here after our retirement or sell the house and downsize. The more we talk about it, the more we both think we shall probably stay here until it gets just too big for us. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
We came back from the walk to find the kitchen full with Oli and Miguel cooking and Suzy creating a new profile on a website where she hopes to get more online teaching classes. She remarked to me that day, that although teaching English online was an interim thing it may well turn out that she becomes a full time teacher. I told her she would be following in the footsteps of both her father and my parents.
We had dinner in the dining room and a splendid dinner it was too. Oli and Miguel had made "lubina" (European sea bass) "a la sal" which means baked in a coat of salt. It came with sweet potato, mushrooms, fried onion and asparagus. Dessert was left over chocolates from my father's 100th birthday. It was great to be just the looker on when dinner was being made. For once making a meal was not my responsibility.
It was a late night and we nearly finished a bottle of Luis Cañas red wine between us except for Olivia who is pregnant. It would give me a slight headache afterwards but it was worth it. That night and for the next few nights, Suzy would sleep in the conservatory which is adjacent to our huge bedroom or should I say quarters as really it is made up of 4 rooms, the giant bedroom, the conservatory, the enormous bathroom and my walk in closet. She carried on working on her profile for a new teaching platform and we watched a series called "Monteperdido" about two missing children who are kidnapped. We must have switched off the light at around midnight.
Friday came and that morning I had to accompany Suzy into Madrid to change the Indonesian rupees she didn't have time to change when leaving Bali. I doubted she would be able to change them anywhere in Spain. Eladio had found out that it was possible at one bank in Madrid, the Confederación de Cajas de Ahorro, which is near the very centre, "Puerta del Sol". However, it turned out he had asked about Indian rupees and not Indonesian. We drove to the nearest metro stop at Colonia Jardín, parked there and took the metro into the city. It's just a 23 minute ride to Sol and wow was it teeming with tourists when we got there just after 10 pm. It's funny how "touristy" Madrid has become. It never used to be like that. Suzy needed to take some photos wearing a t-shirt promoting her friends' music band back in Bali. She wanted me to put it on too over my clothes but I'm afraid I said no, "not at my age" hahaha. Here is one of her by the Sol metro station exit.
To get to the bank where we thought we could sell Suzy's rupees, we had to go up the street leading of the square called Calle Montero, most famous for its prostitutes. I didn't see any though. As I suspected, once at the bank we were told they do not buy Indonesian rupees. So, we had made the journey in vain. But never mind it was a nice sunny day and we decided to have a coffee outside and enjoy being together. Soon a gypsy looking woman approached begging for money. She carried a piece of cardboard which said she was poor and hungry and had a child in hospital. She was extremely thin and we felt sorry for her. We offered her a cup of coffee and she sat with us. I asked whether she was hungry and she nodded she was so we got her a sandwich. We tried to have a conversation with her. She said she was from Bulgaria. I told her my mother's family had lived there so we had something in common. I then asked about her child. She said it was just 2 weeks old and in hospital with a throat infection. I could hardly believe that a woman like her was living in the street with a new born baby in hospital and didn't know whether to believe her. After we said our goodbyes, we walked along the street back towards Sol and encountered many other women like her with similar pieces of cardboard. We had to admit that the story of a baby in a hospital was rather far fetched as they all looked past child bearing age. All we could do though was sigh and admit that at least we had given the poor woman something to eat. It was our adventure of the day. I wonder what the woman thought and what her real story is.
We were home by 11.30 and on plenty of time for Suzy's lessons. We had time for another coffee which we had outside as the weather was glorious. As usual we were joined by our canine threesome. Here is Suzy frolicking with them on the grass. She loves them so as we all do.
I got on with making lunch and generally relaxing. It was after lunch that I got a call from The Times' correspondent in Madrid. He had been interested in my father's story and as the newspaper had not printed anything on 1st May, I thought it was no longer interested. He was though and grilled with me lots of questions, some of which seemed rather personal and not only about my father but about all the members of our family. I felt a little uncomfortable. When I asked why he wanted to run the story after the event, his answer was that he had been very busy covering the Spanish General Elections and that the paper still wanted to run a piece on my father. However, when I told him it had been in lots of papers, including the Daily Express, a national paper, he was a little disappointed as if he only wanted The Times to cover it on a national level. Well, I thought, he is a bit late for that. I suggested he link it to the upcoming 75th anniversary of D Day. Let's see what he does. He has now called me three times and maybe this is all for nothing. Funny journalist I thought.
We chatted about other things too, as 2 British expats in Spain and he mentioned towards the end of our call that Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, the ex socialist party leader, had just died. I was shocked. The very well known Spanish politician, who retired from politics to return to his job as a lecturer in chemistry suffered a stroke on Wednesday and fought for his life until Friday afternoon when he took his last breath shortly after 5 pm aged only 67. Whether you liked him or not, he was a marvelous statesman of great talent and much respected by all specters of politics. He was also one of Spain's longest lasting politicians having risen to fame under Felipe González in the 80's. He never made it to Prime Minister but he would have been a good one. He will always be remembered for his role in the disarmament of the ETA terrorist band. Life is unfair and instead of enjoying a wonderful retirement after so many years under pressure in politics, he died suddenly this week aged only 67. He will be sorely missed in Spanish politics. Now all his rivals who made his life as difficult as possible will all have good words for him. He was not a prophet in his own land or rather not revered during his life time. But now, as often happens after the death of a good or famous man or woman, his figure will be exalted. That, I suppose, is some compensation for his leaving this earth before his time. I only met him once and will always remember that moment. His oratory impressed me enormously as did the sparkle in his eyes as he spoke. He seemed to me to be a very decent man even if my politics differed from his. But that didn't matter then and it doesn't matter now. What counts is what he was like as a person. He was a politician of great stature, a dying breed of which today I can find no equivalent in any of the political parties. We will all miss him. RIP Alfredo.
After that news and the long telephone conversation with the Times correspondent, it was too late for a siesta. So I skipped it and spent some quality time with Suzy. We wandered over to the pool terrace, me to read and Suzy to sunbathe and swim. Believe it or not my crazy daughter was to be the first person in our family to brave the cold water and take the plunge this year. Here she is in the water. Normally I'm the first in each year but in 2019 Suzy beat me to it. Good for you Suzy. Here she is in the water.
Later Eladio joined us and we spent quality time with Suzy.
She slept with us too these last few nights as all the rooms would be full of our Airbnb guests, including Olivia's for once. I don't usually use my younger daughter's room, only for emergencies and we had an emergency this week when there was a glitch in my calendar and we were over booked. There was nothing for it but to offer Amiram and Sarah his wife, from Israel, Oli's room for their 3 night stay.
Suzy's social agenda is pretty full at the moment, after so much time away in Bali - nearly a year, and that evening she went out with friends for dinner. Oli would join them too. When she left it was the perfect time for our walk with the dogs, but, feeling lazy, we decided not to go. I read by the pool while Eladio did some weeding in the garden. Andy, our Scottish guest, joined me for a while and we had a lively chat as we often do. He really is the best long stay guest we would ever wish for.
Being Friday night we went out to dinner, to our latest favourite restaurant, Casa Iván. We ordered too much food and couldn't finish it. Unusually for me I was too full to even have a dessert. We were home quite early by about 10.10 and about 10 minutes later our Jewish guests Amiram and Sarah arrived. We saw them into their room, into Oli's room and left them to it. They went out later to see his mother who lives close by. I was surprised they were going to see her so late and Amiram told me his mother had adopted Spanish living habits. I haven't really as we eat earlier than most and go to bed much earlier too. That night we watched two more episodes of the Spanish series on RTVE, "Monteperdido" until we fell asleep.
Saturday came and I think it could have been the warmest day of the year so far. What did I do? Not much really. I just made the lunch, relaxed and read. Suzy was up late and left to see a friend before our meal. We wouldn't see her until this morning when we will be picking her up from Oli's house to go to Montrondo for a few days.
In the afternoon I went for a walk alone with Pippa while Eladio mowed the lawn. It's funny just how fast the grass is growing at the moment. We had dinner alone on the kitchen terrace and went to bed early.
Today is Sunday and in a few hours time we shall be off to my husband's village Montrondo where we have a beautiful house. It is the original family house we had restored about 3 years ago. We look forward to good weather there, lots of walks and more quality time with Suzy. Naturally Pippa will be joining us too.
Of course you will read about all our tales there in next Sunday's post. Meanwhile, friends and readers, I wish you all a great week ahead.
Cheers for now
Masha.
That morning I replied to some of the letters my father's old boys from Bradford Grammar School wrote to him along with the cards. They wrote back to with lots of new memories I wish I had known about as, if I had, they too would have gone into his book.
Suzy was up and about - what a pleasure to have her in the house - but I had to go off in the morning. I had a coffee date with my friend and neighbour Elena M. We spent a good hour and a half chin wagging too and catching up on our lives. It was nice to go and have a coffee with a friend. I should do it more often.
I came home to find mail in the post box. I was very happy to that the Cambridge News which had published an article on my father had sent me the newspaper. I was to add it to all the others. I showed it to my father who chuckled. I think my PR work with the British press has rather amazed him. Then again, I am a PR pro and know a story when I see one as I said last week. It was on the front page and a whole page was dedicated to him inside. This time the newspaper had him marry a "baroness".
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| Cambridge News with my father on the front page |
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| The article about my father in The Cambridge News |
Also in the post was a packet from Amazon. Our dear friend Andy D who had been here for last week's celebrations, had sent us a DVD of the film Woman in Gold. About an elderly Jewish holocaust survivor who sets about trying to reclaim family paintings taken by the Nazis, it sounds right up our street.
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| A new film to watch. Thank you Andy |
Ever interested in languages, etc, he suddenly asked me to look up the name of Holyhead in Welsh. Holyhead, the capital of Anglesey, is where his father and his father's siblings were born. Before I had time to find the answer, he remembered and surprised us all with his knowledge when he said "Cayergybi". Wow I thought and I cannot wait to visit my grandfather's island when we go in June. We asked him how he was getting on with my biography and he told us he was reading it now for a second time. That is high praise from him.
Later Oli sent us photos of her in Alcoy preparing a report on the famous Moors and Christians festival that takes place there every year and is the best in the region. The fiesta or festival is held in honour of St. George who it is said appeared during a battle between Moors and Christians and thanks to his intervention, the latter won. Alcoy was on the border of the Muslim held territories in Spain in the 13th century. The festival commemorates a battle fought on 23rd April 1276. It is a fabulous 3 day event and Oli was to report on the last day, the "Day of the Alardo" (mock battle) where a powder gun show (trabuco) takes place with the use of a hook gun called an "arcabus" which is also called a blunderbuss and came before the musket. The noise of the gun powder show is deafening and it's quite a spectacle. On the last day, the Moors win the battle in the morning but then the Christians win the final battle in the afternoon. I have always wanted to see this most famous of festivals in Spain but had to content myself with Oli reporting on it on TV. Here she is interviewing one of the Christians after the battle.
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| Oli reporting on the Moors and Christians fiesta in Alcoy on Monday. |
The big news though on Monday was that Meghan Markel had given birth to a boy - a boy with no name, like Olivia's hahaha. Buckingham Palace had announced recently that when the baby was born, the news of its birth would not be divulged to the public. Thus I was surprised, as I suppose the journalists were, when Prince Harry appeared before a bunch of journalists to make the announcement of the birth of their baby. We still don't know where she gave birth nor would we know the name until a few days later. The name would surprise us all. Prince Harry, visibly emotional, told of how he had been by his wife's side as she gave birth and commented how brave women were to go through such an ordeal. He is very right. A new Royal baby in England is always good news. We wouldn't get to see the new born until Wednesday, nor his very unroyal name which by now we all know.
Monday was another beautiful sunny day and we waited for the temperature to decrease slightly before we left for our walk with the dogs at nearly 7 pm. We watched Oli on TV from Alcoy on my phone while on our walk. We came back quite late. Suzy would help me to make dinner which we had alfresco once again. It was so good to have her to ourselves. I kept pinching myself all week as I could hardly believe our luck. Over the past few years every time we saw her it was always for a very short period of time. Now we shall have her until Christmas. It's great to have time with her.
Later we watched a new episode of "Secrets of State" on Amazon Prime. Our fire TV stick began to misbehave and I had no option but to get Amazon to call me. I had an incoming call from them from England but it turned out the Customer Care agent, a young girl, was really talking to me all the way from Costa Rica. It took both her and I about an hour to restore the fire TV stick. We resumed our series and went to sleep quite late.
At about 3 in the morning I was woken up by someone called Fernando from New York in the US, with an enquiry to book our house for 12 days in July with his family. After answering a few questions, he said he would be possibly confirm the reservation in a few days time. Or, on the other hand, he may not. You never know. My Airbnb calendar for the summer is slowly filling up.
I got up on Tuesday morning, believe it or not, at 7 am. I did and do need to recover all the sleep lost and also to relax as much as possible to recharge my rather depleted batteries. So Tuesday was a sort of lazy day. I didn't do much. I read a lot - "The Librarian of Auschwitz" was my latest book - and finished it that day. Suzy gave her lessons and was not able to join us for lunch. My father was less talkative that day but I reminded him of his birthday and he perked up. I showed him the video again of his old school, Clifton College, of the raising of the flag and all the boys singing him happy birthday from the choir. I told him I have planned a visit to the school in June when I will present the headmaster with his biography for their library. He was amazed at the video. I had showed it to him on his birthday but there had been so many things going on, I don't think he took it in.
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| Clifton College Bristol where my father went to school, raising the OC flag for him on his birthday |
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| The Espigo beach in Altea which has been awarded a blue flag this year |
The rest of Tuesday was pretty much like most evenings: dinner alresco, then up to bed for the news and then more entertainment via video streaming. The main news that day is that the UK will have to take part in the EU elections as there is no time for a Brexit deal to be agreed upon. Oh what a long and drawn out process it is and a very painful one too.
Wednesday came and rain was forecast. It was cooler and very windy but it did not rain. I was surprised to read over breakfast that Liverpool had beaten Barcelona 4-0 in the second leg of their Championship League match. It should have been child's play for the Spanish team to get through to the finals as they had won the previous match with some leverage but it was not to be. The next night Tottenham Hotspurs surprised too by beating Ajax of Amsterdam. Thus we shall see an all England Champions League final this year and, ironically, it will be held in Madrid.
In the morning I replied to more of my father's "old boys" letters and got some more replies. I only wish I had been in touch with them earlier. It's incredible how they remember him so well. Henry D. wrote "Believe it or not, he never told us at BGS about his WW2 exploits, or that he had a degree in Norwegian, but then, modesty, discretion - not forgetting zest and erudition - are the hallmarks of his personality". Isn't that nice? I liked to see my father described as having zest. Indeed he does for his great passions such as languages. Thank you Henry.
I still have quite a few more to reply to, so no doubt I will find out more about my father over the next few days. But I had to drop everything and go and do the food shopping which I hadn't done for 10 days.
Olivia was leaving Valencia for Madrid but at the last moment and already at the train station, she was sent to Barcelona to cover a story the resident programme reporter couldn't as she was off sick. Poor Oli would be very tired this week travelling up and down Spain. Later we would see her on TV.
Lunch was animated again with my father, especially because we had it in the dining room where all his 100th birthday decorations are still up and all his cards are on a table. He looked at it all very approvingly and also contentedly. I am so glad. We all remarked that it had been just one week since my father's 100th. How time flies!
My siesta on Wednesday was 2.5h long. I couldn't believe that I slept until 5.45. Thank goodness my body is letting me catch up on my sleep. I really needed it. We went on a blustery walk and Suzy joined us. While on the walk we stopped to watch Oli reporting from Barcelona. The case was rather a horrid one; about a young woman, Janet, who was missing and presumed dead in a story of domestic violence. However, it was a big story in the news here and I was glad to see Oli reporting on it. She looked very serious as she spoke. We could notice her bump quite clearly.
On the subject of pregnancy and babies, it was on Wednesday afternoon that Meghan Markel and Prince Harry, showed their new baby to the world and announced its name: Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor. Neither of his two names was on any bookies' lists. Meghan said "it's magic, it's pretty amazing. I have the two best guys in the world so I'm really happy". Prince Harry added: "it's great. Parenting is amazing". No doubt parenting will be great as they will have so much help, more than any of us mortals could ever hope for. Archie is a modern name although it comes from the more old fashioned Archibald and of course Harrison means "son of Harry".
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| The royal couple with baby Archie |
After our walk we had an agreeable dinner with Suzy; all "salady stuff" and were in bed later than usual. Eladio and I watched another episode of "Secretos de Estado" which is quite gripping. Just as we were switching off the light for our shut eye, I was pleased to see yet another booking for May. Now we really must be full up for the rest of the month.
I couldn't believe I woke up at 7 am on Thursday. I am certainly catching up on all the sleep lost in the past three months. I think it's because I'm finally being able to relax. I spent the morning on domestic tasks. I had to go to the supermarket again as when we did the shopping on Wednesday, one of the baskets was left on the shop floor! I also went to the post office to pick up a parcel for my father. I wondered who it was from and what it was. I came home to give it to my father. It was another present from Joanne from Lancashire; a beautiful tin of Yorkshire Parkin biscuits. Being a great biscuit and chocolate fan (but not dark chocolate), he was delighted.
That morning, in preparation for my many new Airbnb guests coming, I went in search of roses. Some of them needed heading but there were loads to choose from and lots of colours too.
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| My beautiful roses |
I then had to get on with making lunch. Oli would be back from Barcelona. In the middle of cooking she wrote to say her boyfriend Miguel was coming too and thus we would be 6 around the kitchen patio dining room. I panicked a bit as I didn't think there would be enough food, so had to get out more fish from the deep freeze and make more vegetables; roast peppers, cauliflower, left over green beans, tomatoes, etc. Thankfully there was more than enough when we sat down to lunch. Suzy wouldn't finish her lessons until 3.30 so only joined us at the end. Later we all had siestas and then we all gathered together outside in the sun. In a rare moment, the four of us were together, Eladio and I and both girls. Miguel was on hand so I asked him for a photo - he is our official family photographer hahaha and the photo he took is this week's feature photo. It's not often the four of us are together and I treasure it when we are. Having Suzy back is a blessing and having Oli too was the formula this week for all of us being together.
The three of them later went off to the supermarket. Miguel and Oli were making our dinner that night. Therefore it was just Eladio, me and the dogs on our windy but sunny walk that day. There would be more than the family at home that night as both Alba and Javi, my student Airbnb guests would be coming later in the evening. Andy, our Scottish lodger, was here too but I didn't see him. It's amazing, there can be 9 or 10 people staying in this house and yet you don't notice it as it is just so big. Eladio and I talked about our future during our walk. It's always a dilemma thinking whether to stay here after our retirement or sell the house and downsize. The more we talk about it, the more we both think we shall probably stay here until it gets just too big for us. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
We came back from the walk to find the kitchen full with Oli and Miguel cooking and Suzy creating a new profile on a website where she hopes to get more online teaching classes. She remarked to me that day, that although teaching English online was an interim thing it may well turn out that she becomes a full time teacher. I told her she would be following in the footsteps of both her father and my parents.
We had dinner in the dining room and a splendid dinner it was too. Oli and Miguel had made "lubina" (European sea bass) "a la sal" which means baked in a coat of salt. It came with sweet potato, mushrooms, fried onion and asparagus. Dessert was left over chocolates from my father's 100th birthday. It was great to be just the looker on when dinner was being made. For once making a meal was not my responsibility.
It was a late night and we nearly finished a bottle of Luis Cañas red wine between us except for Olivia who is pregnant. It would give me a slight headache afterwards but it was worth it. That night and for the next few nights, Suzy would sleep in the conservatory which is adjacent to our huge bedroom or should I say quarters as really it is made up of 4 rooms, the giant bedroom, the conservatory, the enormous bathroom and my walk in closet. She carried on working on her profile for a new teaching platform and we watched a series called "Monteperdido" about two missing children who are kidnapped. We must have switched off the light at around midnight.
Friday came and that morning I had to accompany Suzy into Madrid to change the Indonesian rupees she didn't have time to change when leaving Bali. I doubted she would be able to change them anywhere in Spain. Eladio had found out that it was possible at one bank in Madrid, the Confederación de Cajas de Ahorro, which is near the very centre, "Puerta del Sol". However, it turned out he had asked about Indian rupees and not Indonesian. We drove to the nearest metro stop at Colonia Jardín, parked there and took the metro into the city. It's just a 23 minute ride to Sol and wow was it teeming with tourists when we got there just after 10 pm. It's funny how "touristy" Madrid has become. It never used to be like that. Suzy needed to take some photos wearing a t-shirt promoting her friends' music band back in Bali. She wanted me to put it on too over my clothes but I'm afraid I said no, "not at my age" hahaha. Here is one of her by the Sol metro station exit.
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| Suzy in Madrid by the Puerta del Sol on Friday morning |
We were home by 11.30 and on plenty of time for Suzy's lessons. We had time for another coffee which we had outside as the weather was glorious. As usual we were joined by our canine threesome. Here is Suzy frolicking with them on the grass. She loves them so as we all do.
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| Suzy spending quality time with the dogs on Friday morning after our trip into town |
I got on with making lunch and generally relaxing. It was after lunch that I got a call from The Times' correspondent in Madrid. He had been interested in my father's story and as the newspaper had not printed anything on 1st May, I thought it was no longer interested. He was though and grilled with me lots of questions, some of which seemed rather personal and not only about my father but about all the members of our family. I felt a little uncomfortable. When I asked why he wanted to run the story after the event, his answer was that he had been very busy covering the Spanish General Elections and that the paper still wanted to run a piece on my father. However, when I told him it had been in lots of papers, including the Daily Express, a national paper, he was a little disappointed as if he only wanted The Times to cover it on a national level. Well, I thought, he is a bit late for that. I suggested he link it to the upcoming 75th anniversary of D Day. Let's see what he does. He has now called me three times and maybe this is all for nothing. Funny journalist I thought.
We chatted about other things too, as 2 British expats in Spain and he mentioned towards the end of our call that Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, the ex socialist party leader, had just died. I was shocked. The very well known Spanish politician, who retired from politics to return to his job as a lecturer in chemistry suffered a stroke on Wednesday and fought for his life until Friday afternoon when he took his last breath shortly after 5 pm aged only 67. Whether you liked him or not, he was a marvelous statesman of great talent and much respected by all specters of politics. He was also one of Spain's longest lasting politicians having risen to fame under Felipe González in the 80's. He never made it to Prime Minister but he would have been a good one. He will always be remembered for his role in the disarmament of the ETA terrorist band. Life is unfair and instead of enjoying a wonderful retirement after so many years under pressure in politics, he died suddenly this week aged only 67. He will be sorely missed in Spanish politics. Now all his rivals who made his life as difficult as possible will all have good words for him. He was not a prophet in his own land or rather not revered during his life time. But now, as often happens after the death of a good or famous man or woman, his figure will be exalted. That, I suppose, is some compensation for his leaving this earth before his time. I only met him once and will always remember that moment. His oratory impressed me enormously as did the sparkle in his eyes as he spoke. He seemed to me to be a very decent man even if my politics differed from his. But that didn't matter then and it doesn't matter now. What counts is what he was like as a person. He was a politician of great stature, a dying breed of which today I can find no equivalent in any of the political parties. We will all miss him. RIP Alfredo.
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| RIP, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba. One of Spain's best known statesmen and one to be missed sorely by Spanish politics |
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| Suzy in the pool on Friday - the first member of our family to take the plunge this year. |
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| A lovely photo of Suzy with her father on Friday afternoon when we were relaxing by the pool. But only she would go in the water of course. We only go in when it's very hot. |
Suzy's social agenda is pretty full at the moment, after so much time away in Bali - nearly a year, and that evening she went out with friends for dinner. Oli would join them too. When she left it was the perfect time for our walk with the dogs, but, feeling lazy, we decided not to go. I read by the pool while Eladio did some weeding in the garden. Andy, our Scottish guest, joined me for a while and we had a lively chat as we often do. He really is the best long stay guest we would ever wish for.
Being Friday night we went out to dinner, to our latest favourite restaurant, Casa Iván. We ordered too much food and couldn't finish it. Unusually for me I was too full to even have a dessert. We were home quite early by about 10.10 and about 10 minutes later our Jewish guests Amiram and Sarah arrived. We saw them into their room, into Oli's room and left them to it. They went out later to see his mother who lives close by. I was surprised they were going to see her so late and Amiram told me his mother had adopted Spanish living habits. I haven't really as we eat earlier than most and go to bed much earlier too. That night we watched two more episodes of the Spanish series on RTVE, "Monteperdido" until we fell asleep.
Saturday came and I think it could have been the warmest day of the year so far. What did I do? Not much really. I just made the lunch, relaxed and read. Suzy was up late and left to see a friend before our meal. We wouldn't see her until this morning when we will be picking her up from Oli's house to go to Montrondo for a few days.
In the afternoon I went for a walk alone with Pippa while Eladio mowed the lawn. It's funny just how fast the grass is growing at the moment. We had dinner alone on the kitchen terrace and went to bed early.
Today is Sunday and in a few hours time we shall be off to my husband's village Montrondo where we have a beautiful house. It is the original family house we had restored about 3 years ago. We look forward to good weather there, lots of walks and more quality time with Suzy. Naturally Pippa will be joining us too.
Of course you will read about all our tales there in next Sunday's post. Meanwhile, friends and readers, I wish you all a great week ahead.
Cheers for now
Masha.
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