Time in Valencia with the girls, 'Racy Lady' rose, a queue to climb Mount Everest, Sledmere, Theresa May resigns, Oli and Miguel in Mallorca, and other stories.

Sunday 26th May, 2019

Ice cream time in Valencia last Sunday

Good morning all.

Today, in Spain, it's election day for the EU Parliament, the local and the autonomous governments. My father and I can only vote in the first two. Later this morning, we shall take him to vote with us. Neither of the girls will be with us as Suzy left for London this morning where she will spend 18 days with friends and Oli left yesterday for Mallorca. Oli though was able to vote by post; no easy feat in Spain.

But let me start from where I left off last Sunday. That day Suzy and I went to Valencia to spend two days with Oli who worked there this week from Tuesday to Friday.  Miguel, her boyfriend, drove my Mini and I sat happily in the back with Suzy.  As you know, he is a cameraman for TVE in the Valencia region and it is where they first met. Unfortunately though he wouldn't be her cameraman as this week as he works for a different team.

It's a three hour drive and we arrived just after 14h at the restaurant where Oli had booked a table for us, the same one we went to in December. Called Senia, it's in Paterna, near where Miguel lives and also near TVE.  Suzy chose a salad but Oli, Miguel and I had their delicious "arroz senyoret" (a sort of paella where all the seafood is shelled). This was it before we polished it off.

The "arroz senyoret" we had at the Senia restauarant near Valencia last Sunday

It's quite a nice restaurant although rather expensive and very slow when it comes to service. We decided that our dessert would be an ice cream by the beach but first we had to drop our things off at Miguel's flat. The weather wasn't the best. It was a bit windy and cloudy but even so we went to have our ice cream by the city's beach called "La Malvarrosa", a beach I know well.  The ice cream parlour Miguel took us to was amazing and we were spoiled for choice. Called Soler it is quite famous I think. I was delighted to see they had my favourite flavours; pistachio and coconut. The feature photo this week is of us all with our ice creams. Below is a photo of just some of the flavours on offer:

Just some of the flavours on offer at the Soler ice cream parlour by the Malvarrosa beach in Valencia

We attempted a walk by the beach but the wind had just begun to blow and frankly it was quite chilly. So we headed back to our car and drove into the city to see the shops. The big shops were not open but quite a few smaller ones were, such as Ale Hop - a shop I love - where I bought some espadrilles. I was amazed at the amount of tourists in the city. You could hear all sorts of languages around you, a lot of Russian, English, French and Italian. Valencia is now on the tourist route, something it wasn't when I first knew it many years ago. We went into a local espadrille shop and when I was paying for a pair, the shop assistant asked me where I was from. That is always a difficult question to ask me. For simplicity's sake, I just said, "Madrid". I asked her why she was inquiring and she told me it was to record where most tourists were from. I was interested to know too. Apparently Valencia is most popular with the Italians and then the French.

We wandered around the beautiful city and once again I admired the orange, mandarin and lemon trees which are everywhere. After so many years in Spain you would suppose I would be used to them. I'm not though. They still impress me and I always want to reach out and pick an orange but never dare. I think they are ornamental or maybe bitter; the type from Seville used to make marmalade. I always have to take a photo too, like the one below.

Orange and lemon trees in Valencia

We must have walked for at least 2 hours, although at a snail's pace looking into the shops. When we got to the cathedral there was a lady selling "horchata" (tiger nut milk) which is very typical in the Valencia region. I first discovered it in Callosa where my parents bought a house in the early 70s and love it but it's quite filling so I didn't buy a glass. The girls did though. Oli is a great fan of horchata, especially the brand the lady was selling. Here are both girls with this lovely refreshing drink.

The girls with their horchata in Valencia last Sunday

Soon it was time to go home and on our way we stopped at a small Carrefour Express to buy stuff for dinner. There wasn't much on the shelves being a Sunday evening but we found enough to make a salad to have with cold cuts.

We came back to Miguel's flat to rest and make our meal. I was happy to see later on the news that Rafa Nadal had beaten Djokovic in Rome to garner his 9th Italian Open. Either Rafa was really on good form that day or the latter was not as Nadal beat the Number 1 seed 6-0 4-6 6-1. It was yet another good day for Spanish sport.

It was a very bad day for the Chinese mobile phone company, Huawei though. That day and the coming days would be very difficult for the world's number 2 mobile phone manufacturer. The US accuse it of spying on the world with its phones and infrastructure and have put Huawei on their black list. Whether that is true or not I don't know. What I do know is that any mobile phone manufacturer could do the same. So I wonder why Huawei is the only target. What about Google, Apple, Samsung, Sony, etc? Or is this just part of the ongoing trade war between the US and China. The bad day came after Google announced it would no longer allow Huawei to update their phones with the Android system which is crucial for phones to work properly and be secure.  Owners of Huawei phones will be able to update applications but will not be be able to update the systems.  New phones from Huawei will not be able to offer Google Play or Google's apps such as Gmail or You Tube. Who would want a phone without these I wonder? So this is really bad news for Huawei. Even so the Chinese company says not to fear, they will offer their own system soon, their alternative to Android. Let's see how popular that will be. It's all a bit of a nightmare and would get worse over the week as other suppliers to Huawei announced breaking off relations. I would not like to be in the shoes of their communications people I can tell you. I can only imagine how difficult it must be for them, especially as their every move will be dictated by the HQ and they will have little or no local leave way. Meanwhile, sales of their devices have dropped.

My girls were not particularly interested in the topic. Neither of them have ever had a Huawei phone, but I was and am as I have worked for many years in the telecoms sector and know just how difficult company crises can be.  I felt sorry for Maria Luisa M, Huawei Spain's Communications Director. She must be having a very tough time. 

There was nothing of interest on TV that night, so I went to bed to read on my kindle. Normally reading in bed would help me fall asleep but I didn't sleep well at all despite the very comfortable mattress. I woke up really early and as usual went straight for the coffee machine. Miguel has a Nespresso which I thought was just the same as mine but it isn't. I just couldn't switch it on so had to forego my straight-out-of-bed-caffeine-fix that day. I thought I'd better have a shower and go outside to get a coffee at a bar and I had bad luck with the shower too. I couldn't get the hot water to work so had a freezing cold one. Thankfully when I was out of the torture shower, Oli and Miguel were up and I was able to get my cup of coffee. It turned out his machine has a different switch to mine which is quite hidden. That was not a good start to the day. However, everything after that was ok, so no great suffering really.

Once the girls were ready, we went out into town again, this time to hit the real shops. Oli wanted to change something at H&M and Suzy wanted to buy a denim jacket at Stradivarius. I had done my shopping the day before so just accompanied them. Suzy had to be back in the flat by 12.30 to start her online lessons. We left her there, after first having tried to open the door of the wrong flat number  - hahhaha, and went off to buy food for lunch from Mercadona. 

We came back to make our lunch; something different for everyone - I wanted meat, Oli and Miguel wanted fish and Suzy is vegan - and were home on time to prepare the meal for when Suzy finished her lessons and Miguel was back from work. Just after lunch I got a call from a journalist from an important British national newspaper who want to print my father's story. The Madrid correspondent wanted to send me his proposed article for me to check the facts. I was more than willing but wouldn't be able to do so until the following morning when I was back at my desk in Madrid.

Suzy and I left after lunch at about 16.30. We said our goodbyes to Miguel and Oli who I wouldn't see until after their holiday in Mallorca. Suzy drove my snazzy off white Mini with its British flag side lamps on the journey home. She sang all the way with her wonderful voice which was great entertainment for me. We were home by 19.30, on time to wish my father goodnight and catch up with him, greet Eladio and the dogs, of course before unpacking and making our dinner. Dinner was more leftovers from Oli's birthday party the previous Saturday but we didn't care. We ate on our lovely kitchen terrace after which I was looking forward to a good night's sleep. Thankfully I got it. 

Tuesday was the day we heard that Niki Lauda, the famous Austrian car racer had died. He wasn't old at all. The sports world mourned him. Early in the morning I got down to reading through the journalist's article about my father and sent him the corrections and a few more anecdotes he had asked for. I wonder when it's coming out.  When I was free, I went out to cut the heads of dead roses and to gather some for the house. They are so beautiful at this time of year. My very favourite is this one, a sort of off white coloured rose tinged with pink and which has the most wonderful fragrance.  It was so perfect I'm sure it could have won a rose competition.   

The most perfect and most fragrant rose in our garden this week

Not being a rose expert,  I had no idea what this perfect rose in our garden was called. That's when my friend Kathryn stepped in and asked her father. He is a professional rose grower and judge - a profession I deeply admire as roses are my favourite flowers. He told his daughter that the rose in question is called 'Racy Lady' which I thought was a lovely name. I looked it up and found he was dead right. It is indeed called that.

I like to fill the house with flowers, especially when we have Airbnb guests. They all get a plate of fruit, filtered water and flowers in their rooms and I think they appreciate that a lot. I would. I had a new guest coming that night, Ricardo from Portugal. I also got a new reservation from my first Japanese guest who is coming next Tuesday and oh joy of joys I got a very lucrative one for August from a guest whose name could be either Chinese or Korean but I guess he is Korean as he works for Samsung.  Again I marvel at all the nationalities that come to stay in our house. This week we also had the pleasure of the visit of Amiram, our Israeli judge friend and his wife Sara and of course my faithful young guests Alba and Javi. We had a full house again this week. 

That night we had one of our favourite dishes: giant prawn salad with mango and avocado. Have you tried that combination? It is just the best. The only dressing is a splash of olive oil and pinch of salt. There is no need for any heavy sort of sauce as the avocado takes its place. This is what it looks like:

One of our favourite dishes: giant prawns with lettuce, mango and avocado

That night I had a bad headache. I must have taken too many tablets and felt sick during the night and was actually sick. I got up at about 7.15, made my cup of coffee on my Nespresso machine and minutes later threw it all up. I felt like something the dog had brought in. Knowing I would be sick again, I got Eladio to inject me with a medicine called Primperán which prevents vomiting. Thankfully it worked and I felt better afterwards although a little fragile and the headache would linger for most of the day. 

Wednesday 22nd May was of course Oli's official birthday. For the first time in years she wasn't with us to celebrate it as she was working in Valencia. All we could do was send her our best wishes. That day she got sent to Torrevieja, a 2.5h drive from Valencia - to report on the salt mines there or was it salt lagoons. We missed her report later when new guests arrived unfortunately.

The walk that day helped get rid of my headache finally. Suzy joined us and boy was it hot. Again we had dinner on the terrace and later I got a fantastic night's sleep probably because I was extremely tired but maybe too because of the most boring political debate I have ever seen on TV provoked deep sleep hahaha. The debate was supposedly about the EU elections and included representatives from 9 parties, including the Catalan independence parties some of whose delegates are in prison for the illegal referendum. It's such a farce. 

There was a farce too on Thursday in the UK when the EU elections were held, a few days before those in Spain. I was horrified to hear that many EU citizens living in the UK  were literally turned away at the polling stations. Hundreds or maybe thousands were not able to vote because of incompetency of the local authorities in the processing of a very bureaucratic system in place. I blame it all on the Brexit effect I am afraid. Voting as an EU citizen in another EU country should be automatic as it usually is in Spain. I received my election card weeks ago as did my father and I know we won't be turned away when we go to our polling station this morning. 

The first thing I did that morning was to go over yet more supposedly final corrections of my father's book for the re run print and of course the e-book which is taking a lot longer to do than I thought.  I would have to add one more change though. That day I got an email from Steve, the son of GNC Nicholls, more commonly known as Nicky. I had written to Steve to thank him for the card he had sent to my father. He wrote back to thank me but I also got some important information from him which would mean one more correction to the book. Thank goodness it was on time. He told me his father was head of Modern Languages at Bradford Grammar School when my father started there in 1964. I had thought the head was Harry Davies which is what I wrote in the manuscript. But obviously his first boss was Nicky Nicholls and his second boss was Harry Davies. Steve reminded me that my parents were friends, something I didn't remember. He told me that his mother, Helen and my mother were friends and that his sister Claire remembered playing at our house. I didn't remember any of that for the life of me but then all this happened more than 50 years ago. So I am very grateful to Steve's email otherwise there would have been quite a big mistake in my father's book. 

By the time I had finished, Suzy was up and having breakfast. With such weather lovely, we have all our meals on the terrace these days. I caught her on camera with Pippa while chewing her breakfast. But it's a lovely picture. I have to say that there is something about Suzy these days. I don't know what it is but she looks absolutely stunning.

Suzy and Pippa - breakfast outside on Thursday morning

It must have been good weather on Everest, the world's highest mountain, this week too as so many people were climbing to the summit. A photo surfaced and went viral of an actual queue of mountaineers trying to get to the top and down. The sad news is that because of the crowd, 10 people who had run out of oxygen or were exhausted were not able to get down fast enough and died. I am still asking myself how there can be a queue to climb Everest. It is bizarre. I was amazed to read that each permit to climb Everest costs 11.000 euros and that too many permits are handed out which I suppose is the main reason we got to the problem of the congestion on that highest slope in the world.  Over 800 climbers who  reached the summit last year and whose figure may well increase this year, is a very large number. Many of the climbers are non professional and go the easy route, paying for the VIP route that costs tens of thousands of euros where they go up via a fixed rope and of course oxygen but they are not all fit enough to climb the world's highest summit and it is mostly these people jamming the way up and down. No doubt a poor country like Nepal needs this money but I don't think it needs the bad image created by too many climbers attempting to get to the top of Everest and dying because of the queue. 

An unbelievable photo of an actual queue of mountaineers climbing Mount Everest this week

It was great weather in the Valencia region too that day and Oli got sent to report from the main town beach in Alicante, the "Postiguet Beach". She did a report at around midday when the beach was full and then a live report at 8 pm which we watched on TVE1 while on our walk. To judge from the photo she posted on social media, she is enjoying working with the Valencian TVE team. I'm glad about that. She would have a long day though as it's at least  a 2 hour drive both ways. 

Oli in Alicante with the TVE Valencia team on Thursday

She was looking stunning too. She is now over 5 months pregnant and has no qualms about her bump being aired on TV. Not so long ago, TV reporters'  pregnancy was mostly hidden but thankfully not any more.  Way to go Oli.  As I watched my beautiful daughter report from Alicante, I thought back to my beginnings in Spain. They were usually by train from England to Alicante. I well remember my first time at the train station there - very different to the very modern and sparkling clean one today - getting off the train with my huge suitcase. There were no wheels on suitcases in the those days. I then had to make my way to the bus station and knew no Spanish. I could never have known then that one day  I would be watching my daughter reporting  on TV from that very same city.  

Thursday was quite a lazy day for us and we mainly enjoyed the good weather at home, only going out for a few errands in the morning and for our walk late in the evening.

Friday came. I spent part of the morning in the kitchen with Suzy making gazpacho while she worked. After her online lessons to her Chinese young pupils, she always has to write up a report which takes nearly as long as the lessons. She has been a busy bee this week, far busier than me. 

Gazpacho today can be found on the shelves at the supermarkets of such good quality there is no  need to make it at home. However, I had three huge red tomatoes that were going bad so I had to use them for something. To the tomatoes I added a green pepper, a piece of cucumber, a spring onion, a clove of garlic, a slice of bread, olive oil, vinegar and salt. All this went into my Kenwood liquidiser and very soon I had the perfect first course ready for a summer lunch. We had it later with the usual garnish, the same ingredients that go into the gazpacho but all chopped up.

Making gazpacho on Friday morning

I had plenty of time on my hands even after making the gazpacho and I used it to start sticking my father's birthday cards into a beautiful album I had bought for the occasion. I was interrupted by a call from the UK. It was a man called Keith who is the Church Warden at St. Mary's in Sledmere (East Yorkshire) ringing about our visit there next month. 

St. Mary's Church in Sledmere where my grandfather was the vicar from 1924-1928

I want to visit it as that was where my grandfather, Revd. John Collins Lloyd was the vicar from 1924 - 1928 and where my father lived with his family at the village rectory from the age of 5 to 9. He remembers it clearly and always speaks lovingly about Sledmere. I had wanted to attend the church service but unfortunately there are only 2 per month these days and there won't be one the day we go. However, Keith, very kindly offered to show us around the church. I asked him too if he knew where the vicarage is as I am keen to see it too.

The Vicarage in Sledmere where my father lived as a child from 1924-1928. Today it is a private house

The only photograph from the family albums that I could distinguish as having been taken at Sledmere, is this one of my father and his family in his father's car. You can tell it was taken outside the vicarage as the window frames are exactly the same. 

My father and his family in their car outside the Sledmere Vicarage around 1926. My father is the little boy on the far right of the photo next to his younger brother Raymond.

Keith told me it was now a private house owned by a man who runs a business in nearby Bridlington. I shall have to suffice myself by seeing it from the outside. 

Sledmere is not famous for its church or rectory rather for  Sledmere House, a stately home owned originally by Sir Tatton Sykes which today houses a very recommended bakery and farm store. 

Sledmere House in East Yorkshire where my father lived as a child - not at the house but at the vicarage.

Sir Tatton Sykes spent the enormous sum of 60.000 pounds in the late 19th century to build one of the best examples of a Victorian Gothic church in the country. I wonder if my grandfather knew him. He may well have as the dates are not that far away. Sir Tatton Sykes built the church in 1898 and my grandfather was appointed its vicar in 1924. Or perhaps he knew his son, Sir Richard Sykes who succeeded him from 1905 to 1978. I read that the Sykes made their wealth from cloth trading and iron  in the Industrial Revolution. However they did not build the original Sledmere House. It came through the marriage of Richard Sykes to Mary Kirkby, an heiress of the state. Richard Sykes apparently demolished the original house and built a new one in 1751 and it seems the Sledmere House still belongs to the Sykes family and the current owner is Sir Tatton Sykes (8th Baronet). I wonder if my father and his siblings played with the Sykes children when he lived in Sledmere. I would not be surprised. 

I can't wait to visit Sledmere. I shall also have a reunion to look forward to there with one of my father's old pupils from Bradford Grammar School who lives nearby, Jon S. He has written to my father over the years and I have been in touch with him so it will be great to meet him in Sledmere, a place that means so much to my father. No doubt we shall meet at the famous farm shop at Sledmere House or the pub he recommends in the village, The Triton Inn. 

While Sledmere was on my mind that morning, further away in London, Theresa May announced her decision to step down as Prime Minister on 7th June. There had been rumours all week that she would resign and it is because she knew that she would never get her Brexit deal through Parliament. I was happy to see her go but unhappy to think that Boris Johnson, that hard line Brexiter, who is a clown like political figure, similar in many ways to Donald Trump, would become her successor. He announced yesterday that if he does Britain will leave the EU on 31st October with or without a deal. The man is mad. That is the suicide route for the UK. British politics are in a shambles and I don't see a good future for my country.  In her announcement, her last outside number 10 Downing Street, Theresa May broke into tears at the end of her speech, turned around and walked back into the famous PM's residence. 

Theresa May holding back tears of self pity as she announced her resignation as PM on Friday

Some would understand these as tears of frustration, an admission she had failed but that she had been given an impossible task and that no one can achieve a Brexit agreement that will get a majority backing. For me they were tears of self pity only, for losing power and for not having successfully delivered Brexit. What about tears for the Windrush people, the Grenfell fire victims, the 4 million British children who live in dire poverty and all the other injustices in the country? She seems to have no pity for any of them, nor for those EU citizens living in the UK who don't know what their future is nor for the UK citizens living in the EU, like me, who have been left bereft of our EU citizenship without even being able to vote in the Referendum. Yes, I am happy to see her go but not happy about seeing Boris Johnson or any other hard liner Tory take her place. 

The gazpacho we had for lunch was delicious and the siesta afterwards a short one for me. I was down again at 4 pm and found Suzy working. We had some quality time together before she was off again, this time to see a friend, Pili, from school. Later she would go out with her friends Rocío and Elenita. She wasn't back until after 7 am on Saturday morning. What a party animal my oldest daughter is. 

Oli is not a party animal, she is quite the opposite. On Friday she was still in Valencia and that day reported on football. There is no subject she cannot report on. It was on the occasion of the "Copa del Rey" final yesterday between Barcelona and Valencia to be held in Seville. She reported on a Valencian club group getting ready to party. I always support a weaker team and was happy that last night Valencia beat Messi's Barça 2-1 to raise what I think is their 8th cup. 

Oli reporting on the celebrations for the Valencia Barcelona Cup final on Saturday

Miguel was with her while she did her job and sent us the photo above of her being filmed. It was lovely to see her growing bump. She is now more or less 5 months pregnant. I still can't get it round my head that in September I will have a grandson. Wow!

I watched her report on my phone while on our walk as our walk seems to coincide with the time of her programme (7.15 - 8pm) these days. 

We came back to find only Andy in the kitchen, having his dinner. We were going out to dinner as it was Friday night. We chose to go to Casa Ivan again but as they serve such huge portions decided to share both our first and second courses. The first one was divine: grilled baby squid on a bed of potatoes, apple and mushrooms. Here it is. It's worth going to Casa Iván just for that dish.

Grilled baby squid for dinner on Friday night.

We decided that instead of dessert we would have some chocolate when we got home. Eladio had a small bounty bar and I had a "snowball" both from the too many English chocolates I had ordered for my father's birthday.

Snowballs- delicious soft marshmallow covered in chocolate and coconut. 

 I love snowballs and remember buying them at the tuck shop at my school, St. Joseph's College with my friend Amanda when we could afford them. 

We ate our chocolate on the table outside the kitchen and then went up to bed. There was not much on television and I quickly fell asleep. It must have been thanks to the glass of Rioja I had at dinner that helped me get a good night's sleep as I didn't wake up until 7 a.m. the next day. 

At that time, Oli and Miguel were at the airport about to take a flight to Mallorca for a 6 night holiday on the island.  This is the photo they sent us while waiting for their flight.

Oli and Miguel at the airport in Valencia yesterday waiting for their flight to Palma

It was around the same time that  Suzy was on her way home from a night our partying hahaha. What different girls I have.

I had quite a lazy morning yesterday, reading and making the lunch for which Suzy would not join us although she did finally get up at 2 am but was not hungry for lunch.  Her friend Elena joined her in the afternoon while Eladio and I read on the kitchen patio. Miguel and Oli meanwhile were exploring their hotel and the nearby beach and sent us some photos. I particularly like this one of Oli walking past their lovely hotel. At 140 euros per night I guess it must be a pretty good one. It's certainly very pretty on the outside. 

Oli outside their hotel in Mallorca yesterday

They went for a walk on the beach while Eladio and I went on our usual walk with the dogs. It was to be a very special walk as on the way back, I was suddenly confronted by a very pretty fox which suddenly came out of the bushes and  barked or made the noise foxes make and just stood there looking at both Pippa and I. Pippa, for once, didn't move or make a noise. At first I thought it was a dog but soon realised it was a fox. I thought it would run away as I prepared my phone to take a photo. But it didn't. It just stood there posing and I was able to snap away. 

The beautiful fox on our walk yesterday

It then promptly sat down and as we turned our backs on it to continue on our walk home, it began to follow us. It was so tame but perhaps not tame enough for me to go up to it. I longed to touch it, stroke it and even dreamed of taking it home to live with us but of course that is not possible. My encounter with a fox on yesterday's walk was very special. I always count my lucky stars we live outside the city and can enjoy country life. 

We came home to a quiet house. There was no sign of our  Airbnb guests and Eladio and I had dinner on the terrace. Suzy didn't join us as she had had her lunch at around 6 pm hahaha. Later she spent the time packing while we watched a film on Amazon - The Sentinel with Michael Douglas and Kim Bassenger. It was quite good but we fell asleep in the middle of it and will not doubt see the end tonight.

This morning, Suzy will be leaving and later we shall go and vote with my father. But let me tell you all about that in next Sunday's blog post.

I have to rush now, to publish this, print a copy for my father and then get ready to take Suzy to the airport.

Wishing you all a great week ahead, cheers for now,
Masha