Our holiday in Montrondo, more emails from my father's past pupils, God save England from Boris Johnson,the girls came, a wet Santa Marta fiesta, Colombia to win the Tour de France and other stories.

Sunday 28th July 2019

With my beautiful girls, Oli on the left and Suzy in the middle, at the fiestas yesterday in Montrondo

Good morning all.

Gosh, this is our last day here. It seems such a short time ago we came for our annual summer holiday here 10 days ago. We have had a very quiet and pleasant time and now I am actually looking forward to going home.

Last Sunday we were still alone - the girls wouldn't come until later in the week. Our walk that morning was up into the mountains as far as "El Zalamal" - each nook and cranny has a name in Montrondo. We met one of the only two farmers left in the village, Manolo, as we set off on our walk. I was sad to hear he had lost one of his two dogs after an accident with one of his horses. I asked after his cows, hoping to see some of the calves but they were in a far of field. He had one cow confined in a field nearing giving birth and I asked him to let me know when it happened as I have never seen a cow giving birth. This is it poor thing. I heard yesterday that it still hasn't given birth so I shall miss the opportunity as we are leaving tomorrow. 

Manolo's expectant bull

We were the only people on the walk up into the mountains. The first part is extremely steep. This is where I fell in the ice a few years ago and broke my leg so I'm always very cautious here. There are lots of natural streams to drink fresh water from like this one the name of which escapes me.

One of the natural springs on our way up the mountains

When we got to the birch wood forest ("el abedular"), my father's favourite spot, we could see the highest peak, El Tambarón mountain, in the distance which is 2100 metres high. We have been up it twice in the past few years but were not in the mood that day. It is, after all, about an 8 hour hike there and back.

Pippa and I and the Tambarón peak in the background

After an hour climbing up into the mountains, we turned back to walk down into the village again. There we didn't see a soul. We had a well deserved cup of coffee upon our arrival and later read on our sun beds. At one stage I fell asleep in the sunshine and had to move into the shade.

I had a lazy morning and didn't cook that day as there was so much shepherds' pie left. After the news, we both had a siesta and then spent the afternoon outside reading again. It was a perfect Sunday afternoon in Montrondo.

The girls, meanwhile, were suffering another heatwave in Madrid where the temperature reached 40ºc. They had friends round and spent the afternoon by the pool. Oli's school friend, Cristina, came with her husband and 3 small children. I don't think I have seen her since they left St. Michael's School and it was funny to think that she is now a grown woman and mother like Oli will be soon too. Here they are enjoying the water.

The girls and their visitors enjoying the water at home last Sunday

That night we started watching the 2017 film, Dunkirk, about the evacuation of some 400.000 British troops and some French soldiers after they were pushed back to the sea by the Germans. It's a much acclaimed film and although one of my favourite film genres is about WW2, within this genre the battle scenes are not my favourite.  We finished watching it the next night but frankly we were rather disappointed with the film overall.

I was interrupted a bit by a new Airbnb reservation. Another French family would be coming this week. Our place is very popular with the French, especially in the summer. If I think of all the nationalities that come, French probably ties first with Spanish after which come the English. Oli and Suzy told me they hardly left the house.

Monday came and according to our current routine here, after breakfast we set off on our walk. This time we went up the old path called "el camino valle" into the hills and along a path that looks over the next village Murias de Paredes. It's a beautiful walk through at least three different woods and has a lot of shade.

The view of Murias on our walk yesterday

This time there were no cows and we were able to finish our walk. We were home by 11ish and of course it was time for "elevenses" which we had outside on our back terrace which we don't use much as the sun hardly gets to it. 

 I prepared our lunch - chicken with peppers, onions and carrots - and left it in the oven. I then got engrossed in my book, "A life in secrets, Vera Atkins and the lost agents of SOE" about the SOE during WW2 and didn't realise it was nearly burned by the time I opened the oven. Thankfully it was eatable hahaha. The S.O.E. (Special Operations Executive) was a secret establishment set up to send in (spy) agents to Nazi occupied countries to help the resistance. Unlike any other war branch, it sent in women agents, some of whom became very famous, such as  Odette Samson or Violette Szabó. They risked their lives helping the resistance which was often penetrated by the Gestapo and many were caught and secretly sent to be killed at German concentration camps. 

I carried on reading my book in the afternoon on the sun beds. I was interrupted, however, by thunder which threatened rain. I quickly removed the clothes from the washing line and we had to retreat indoors. The rain didn't last long but it certainly refreshed the air.

Meanwhile in Madrid at the Spanish Parliament a day long debate was taking place as part of the investiture process to vote for the new government. Similarly in the UK, Conservative MPs would be voting for a new leader this week and we all knew what the outcome would be; that buffoon, Boris Johnson would be elected, the UK's answer to Donald Trump. Oh what  a mess!

My afternoon was interrupted by a very interesting email from one of my father's star pupils, David Jones. He wrote to tell me about how the British impersonator, Rory Bremner, had just been on Channel 4 talking about his best teacher. His best teacher was not my father but one of my father's pupils at Bradford Grammar School; Derek Swift. My father apparently taught him and he went on to study at Oxford. He speaks 10 to 12 languages, went on to become a teacher of languages himself and his final post was as Head of Languages at Harrow. He was apparently a very inspiring teacher who used unconventional tactics to inspire students to learn languages just as my father did.  According to David, both he and Derek had learned something from my father which Derek Swift would have passed on to Rory Bremner. David wrote "Derek will have picked up from your father, as I did, that to speak a different language you have to hold your whole body differently, not just your vocal apparatus - and out of that came the talent of Rory Bremner, one of the nation's top impressionists". Gosh I wonder where my father got that from? I never heard him say it. Perhaps he is right. I shall ask my father if he remembers Derek Swift when I go home. Interestingly I read in this article that Rory's first impressionism act was precisely of Derek Swift his teacher who still spoke with a broad Bradford accent!  I loved the story. 

Funnily enough I got another email from another past pupil just after the one from David. This one was from Henry Daniels who sent me a link to a performance by the WW2 forces' favourite singer, Dame Vera Lynn. He said he thought of my father when he saw it. I was very moved by her performance. She is still alive, being about two years older than my father and Henry is in touch with her as he wrote a book which touches her life. I have yet to read it and will. Called "Cat among the pigeons", like mine, it is also available on Amazon Kindle.

 I was so engrossed in my reading we had dinner later than usual. Afterwards we finished watching 

"Dunkirk" and then started on series 3 of "Money Heist". Called "La casa de papel" in Spanish it is  the most popular non-English language series on Netflix. Eladio is not very keen but I find it highly entertaining.  If you haven't seen it, give series 1 a go and see what you think.

Money Heist or La Casa de Papel. 

I went to bed late as I got hooked on the new series which no doubt I will  have to watch alone from now on as Eladio isn't keen. 

Tuesday came and I was awake at 5.45 which is far too early but what to do? If my body wakes up my mind becomes active and I just have to get up. It was to be a sad and depressing day for the future of my birth country as on Tuesday the Conservative Party voted for Boris Johnson, "Britain's Trump" to be their leader and consequently the Prime Minister of Great Britain when Teresa May stepped down this week. Oh my goodness I thought. We saw this coming of course as the buffoon had too - apparently when he was at Eton his ambition was to be "the king of the world".Well he won't be that, but just as bad he will be the one to try and lead the UK out of the Brexit mess it is in. The foolish man voted for by fools said after the voting he was the "dude" to would "deliver (Brexit), unite (the country) and defeat (the labour party) which stands for "dud", so he added "energise" to make the acronym of "dude" referring to himself jokingly. This man is a joker whose promises can only compromise the future of the UK. He is the man who has said he will lead the UK out of the EU even if there is no agreement by Halloween. What can I say? Only that he is the worst man for the job. He will neither deliver Brexit in an orderly way, nor will he be able to unite a completely divided country and whether he will defeat the labor party remains to be seen. Energy he certainly has but the wrong kind for the job. All I could think was God save England and the future of my birth country. Unbelievably we now have our own British Trump in the figure of this larger than life and dangerous man who above all things is only in the seat of PM for his own benefit. What a huge big mess for the UK which with BJ in the driving seat is now the laughing stock of Europe and the world. Only his american counterpart seems happy about the choice.

We now have our very own version of Donald Trump in the figure of Boris Johnson in the driving seat of the UK government. God help us. 

With this on my mind I got on with the day. We did a little laundry, changing sheets and duvet covers - oh how I hate removing and replacing duvet covers. When will someone invent one that is easier to put on I always wonder? The sun shone and the washing dried soon but later a storm threatened and I had to bring it in quickly. But the morning was dry and warm and we went on our walk this time choosing the one to Senra and back which offers the reward of a cup of coffee at the bar with the grumpy man. On our way we passed my "sitting bull" but this time it was with its family, a cow and their bullock. Oh what a lovely picture they made and even posed for me like in the photo below.

The bull and its family in peace together in a lush field near Senra

We were home on time for making lunch and also reading in the shade under the apple trees in the back garden, my favourite spot here.

The back garden in Montrondo where we spend a lot of our time reading on the new sun beds under the shade of the apple trees

That was when the storm gathered and I had to bring the washing in. Often the storms here interrupt the TV and can even destroy an internet router so that day we had to forego watching the midday news. We had an early siesta and when we woke up the sun was shining again.

As the girls were coming and we were running out of provisions, we drove to the nearest town, Villablino, to do some shopping which hopefully would last until the end of our stay. I do like the supermarket, Gadis, that they have there and which is only to be found in the  north of Spain. We drove back with the car full of food, on the mountain road with breathtaking views and with thick forests where Eladio suspects there will be bears. He is probably right.

We came home to put everything away and realised just how much fruit we had bought. This is just some of it hahaha.

Some of the fruit we bought at Gadis on Tuesday

At dinner there was another storm and we could only use internet and watch the TV when it stopped. That night we watched an interesting Danish film recommended to us by Olivia; "A fortunate man". (Lykke Per in Danish) It was just up our street. I found out later that the film is based on the  book  "Lucky Per" by the Danish Nobel Prize winner for Literature, Henric Pontoppidan and that it is partly autobiographical. We loved it and thus went to bed late.  It was nice to sleep in clean white sheets. I could add the word "crisp" but they weren't as I am not a one for ironing sheets I'm afraid.

The film we watched on Netflix on Tuesday night

I woke up quite late for me on Wednesday, at 6.45 and had to deal with an Airbn request from a family from Peru who will be bringing their daughters to study at the local University next term. No doubt we will get lots of University related reservations in September and October too as parents their sons and daughters  start their new term in another country. The UEM has a very high percentage of foreign students.

One of the main items of news that day and during the week was the weather or rather extreme weather countries in Europe were facing. The climate crisis was blamed as temperature records were broken in Belgium, Holland and Germany where mercury reached over 39ºc, a whole lot hotter than here in Montrondo. We are so happy to have escaped the 40ºc in Madrid this week. France too was sweltering and Paris was set to break records too and registered 42ºc on Thursday.

Of course the other was Boris Johnson becoming Prime Minister after being received by the Queen. He then went to install himself at 10 Downing Street. Internet made fun of this calling it "Clowning Street". His first job was to sack most of Theresa May's government and appoint new ministers; mostly pro Brexiters.

In Spain there were last minute negotiations between the Socialist Government with the far left party, Podemos, whose votes they needed for their leader, Pedro Sánchez, to be sworn in as PM on Thursday too. The latter want a coalition even though they only have 50 odd seats vs 124 of the PSOE but their demands to be in charge of key ministries proved too much for Sánchez. Late on Wednesday night the negotiations broke down and things were not looking good. Because of the break down in negotiations - according to the PSOE party, Podemos were after half the government posts - Pedro Sánchez lost the votes again in the second parliamentary investiture. He now has until 24th September to reach an agreement with another party or try to gain more votes. If that doesn't work out it will mean another general election in November. So for now we have a caretaker government.

Here in Montrondo, life continued peacefully and we had another pleasant day. In the morning we walked to Senra and back and had our coffee at Cumbres de Omaña. Eladio broke his cup by mistake and was dreading the reaction of the grumpy bar owner. Thankfully he didn't get cross haha. My bovine family - the bull, the calf and their bullock - seemed to be having another pleasant day too in their lush field. Eladio doesn't understand my insistence in stopping to take photos of them each time but I just can't resist them. I do so love 4 legged animals don't I?  Here are the mother and cow with the father looking on and all lying down in perfect harmony.

My bovine family in the field near Senra

My favourite part of the walk is the shaded area of the old path between Murias and Montrondo. This time I took a photo of Eladio and Pippa to capture the moment.

Eladio and Pippa on our walk on Wednesday on the old path from Murias to Montrondo which is shaded by the trees.

We were home by 11.30 after our 8 km. walk and my task that morning, like every morning here, was to prepare lunch. That day I made my new dish which we love; pork rib stew with potatoes.

Lunch on Wednesday - pork rib stew

I spent the afternoon on one of the sun beds in the garden behind the house with Pippa. She is my sentry and guardian, barking at anyone who comes near. I wish she wouldn't but I can't stop her. Here she is standing guard and barking her head off hahaha.

Pippa standing on guard and barking her head off at the back of the house

The rest of the afternoon panned out as usual. I finished my book on the SOE which I found very interesting. I shall now look out for books on the spies who worked for that most secret of organisations which helped the resistance during WW2. You must have noticed by now my fascination with the last great European war. I was brought up on stories of it by my parents and have never shaken it off.

The evening ended with us finishing the film A fortunate man and later started watching a new Spanish series, "Alta Mar" which didn't convince us. I thought about reading the book, Luck Per, but was a bit put off to find out it is 8 volumes long. So maybe for another life time hahaha.

Thursday dawned and again I woke up slightly later at 6.45. Thursday was the day the girls and Miguel were coming but they wouldn't arrive until late that night. That morning, following the habit we have created here, we went on our walk in the morning shortly after breakfast. We had to postpone setting off when I saw a mouse scuttle into the lounge. That had Eladio trying to catch it while I sat outside with Pippa. He never caught it but left a mouse trap with some cheese while we were out. The cheese was still there when we got back. Later in the day the cheese disappeared but not the clever little mouse so we now have another creature living with us for the moment.

What struck me on our bucolic walk along the old path from Montrondo to Murias were the fields with their hay stacks. Some of the farmers had been busy cutting the grass which would turn into hay for the cows in the village. It just looked so beautiful and I don't know why but it conjured up images for me from Thomas Hardy's Mayor of Casterbridge which was my set novel for  O' level English  many years ago.

Hay stacks in the fields of Montrondo, such a pretty sight.

We had our usual coffee at Cumbres de Omaña and walked back to Montrondo with a lot less sun than the past few days. Even so, Pippa was very thirsty when we got back to the village. I lead her to the spring - one of two old ones in the village - for her to drink the cool mountain water. I had some too. Here we are by the spring.

Pippa is always thirsty after our morning walks.

The weather had taken a turn and was much cooler in sharp contrast to other parts of Spain and the sweltering countries of Holland, Belgium, France and even England where in my birth town, Cambridge, registered the highest temperature in England at 38.1ºc. It didn't last long though as later a storm cooled the air. In the afternoon in Montrondo it was less than half that, at just 17ºc. It was 32ºc in Finland in comparison which just goes to show that the world is upside down when it comes to weather now, owing of course to the climate crisis. Train tracks melted in England and there were delays for passengers. In Spain that doesn't happen as I suppose they are designed to reach temperatures over 40ºc.

So it was rather a cool day. I spent most of it thinking about the girls who were coming that night with Oli's boyfriend, Miguel. They left at around 5.45 and reached Montrondo at after 9.30 pm. I had prepared dinner but they weren't hungry as they had eaten sandwiches on the way but they were happy to eat fruit of which there was lots. I was happy to see them and so was Pippa and Eladio of course. Once dinner was over and they had settled in we watched Netflix together. They chose a great documentary, "Empire of the Tsars" about the Romanov dynasty. It had me riveted especially when they played Russian Orthodox church music - always sung in harmony with no accompanying instrument.  The sound of it transported me back to my childhood when my mother would take us to Russian Orthodox services. There is something about the singing that brings out the Russian roots in me and makes my hair stand on end.

A documentary on Romanov Russia by the BBC well worth watching

Just as we were finishing the first episode, I suddenly got alerted to the fact that the programme I was on for Yoigo in 2015, "Undercover Boss" was being aired again for the umpteenth time but this time on the main channel of the very popular La Sexta.

A shot from one of the scenes of  the Undercover Boss programme I featured in for Yoigo in 2015 and which keeps being aired again and again. 

You can't imagine how many messages I received from unknown people who were watching it, some positive and some negative. There were some nice comments on Twitter and some nasty ones - the usual trolls I'm afraid. It's rather ironic that it keeps getting re-broadcast when I was fired more than 2 years ago after Yoigo was bought up by Másmóvil. No doubt the latter are not too happy about it being aired over and over again. It's funny but I didn't want to watch it. I saw it when it first came out and have never really wanted to see it again. It brings back good and bad memories, especially of the end of my time with the company. Here is a clip of the part when the producers change my look completely so that employees wouldn't recognise me. That's the  part I hated most.

I went to bed after everyone else and couldn't sleep well. I suppose I was a little excited by the girls' arrival. I was also wondering if our new guests - 3 guys from Montpellier in France - had arrived that night. Lucy later told me they didn't get there till past midnight. The three French guests who had left the day before wrote a glowing report on Airbnb and gave me 5 stars overall and for every concept: accuracy, check-in, cleanliness, communication, location and value. This is what they wrote:

The glowing report from my recent French guests

I tossed and turned until I finally relaxed and fell asleep although I woke up quite a few times during the night.

On Thursday morning I woke up at 6.25. I love that time of day which I have all to myself. It's a time to gather my thoughts after a first cup of coffee, check my emails and write my blog. An hour or so later Eladio was up and we prepared breakfast for all the family. How nice it was to be all together in Montrondo. We don't often have the luxury of having both girls with us here and Miguel, Oli's partner, who is already part of the family. Pippa was happy to have them here too and as usual got into most of our pictures.

Suzy on Friday morning

Oli on Friday morning with Pippa

Later they joined me on my morning walk. Eladio stayed behind to cut the hedges at the back of the house. It was quite a cool morning but later the sun came out.

Miguel and Oli on our walk on Friday morning

We walked to Senra and back which is quite a long walk and as we spoke to so many people while leaving the village, it got a bit late for Suzy who had to be at her PC to give her daily lessons to the Chinese children she teaches English to at 12 noon. Coffee with Oli and Miguel at Cumbres de Omaña was the highlight of the day for me.

As we walked home, Miguel kept taking photos of Oli (he does love her so) and I particularly love this one of her with her big bump containing Elliot and holding little Pippa. My mother to be daughter looks so radiant.

Oli with her bump holding Pippa on our walk on Friday

I think it was quite a long walk for Olivia at her stage of pregnancy, nearly 8 months, so she was rather tired when she got back. Even so she and Miguel helped me make lunch while Suzy was giving her lessons.

Lunch together was another highlight of the day - all meals together are. Later everyone took a siesta except for Suzy and I. We decided to watch a film on Netflix. We chose one Eladio would never want to watch called "Wonder" about a little boy with a deformed face who goes to school for the first time. It was delightful but I fell asleep. Our Ikea sofa is very nice but most uncomfortable for sleeping and I got a crick in my neck which caused a headache which I wouldn't shake off until the next morning.

The rest of the day was spent quietly. I read outside a little but it was actually quite cold. Thus I wore a dressing gown and covered myself with a blanket with Pippa underneath for extra warmth.

Soon it was time for dinner again and Miguel and Olivia made it. It was great to be served a dinner I didn't make. Later we all watched another film on Netflix. Called "Tu hijo"  (Your son) it's a Spanish film which I highly recommend starring one of my favourite actors, José Coronado. It was  a bit violent and had a very surprising end which rather disturbed me and I found it difficult to sleep.

On Saturday I was up at 6.30 and had slept quite well. Yesterday morning I had an interesting email to respond to. It was from a London publishing house which has shown interest in my father's book. However, as I have already self published, they can apparently only offer me a shared contract. So I wrote to thank them for the email and ask for an explanation as to what that would really entail. I was rather intrigued I have to say at their interest but must be wary of what publishing with them would mean. It doesn't help knowing nothing about the publishing world.

Saturday was the village festival or "fiesta" in honour of the patron saint of Montrondo, Santa Marta. For the first time ever, there was bad weather. It rained all  morning threatening to spoil the activities for the day. It spoiled our walk too as it was pouring it down. There was no other option than to stay indoors. Eladio read, Oli and Miguel poured over shopping pages on the internet for more stuff for little Elliot and Suzy and I watched the film Kiss and Cry. It's a romantic film with a sad end based on the true story of a 17 year old promising Canadian ice skater, Carley Allison, who on the brink of a brilliant career is diagnosed with a very rare type of cancer. It was sugary sweet but a beautiful story.

Miguel was chef that day and made us one of his flagship dishes, mushroom risotto which we all enjoyed for lunch.  I should have been happy but Saturday was a sad day for me really and it had nothing to do with the fiesta being a wash out. I had been thrilled to have my family here, the 5 of us together and it was amazing to have Suzy too who hadn't been back for the fiestas  for 5 years. It was Suzy who made me sad when she admitted that morning that instead of staying in Spain until Christmas, she has such a yearning to return to her "simpler life" with her new friends who are all local in Bali that she is returning there in October and has already bought her ticket. I can't stop her. She is 35 and it's her life, not mine, but Indonesia is just so far away and it's not the life I want for her, so far away from her family. Also I worry that it is quite a dangerous place where just for being accused of smoking light drugs you can be imprisoned and this can happen as a corrupt system allows for trumping up charges in cahoots with the local police using locals happy to accuse an innocent tourist on a beach somewhere. I dread the thought of a call from the Spanish Embassy like in the notorious film, Midnight Express. Then there are the constant earthquakes and a host of other dangers a young woman like her  alone there may have to face. It's not the life I imagined for her but if it's the only way for her to be happy all I can do is let her go and let her go with my blessing although it breaks my heart.  She was on my mind all day.

If I was unhappy, a 22 year old Colombian cyclist, Egan Bernal, was ecstatic when he was set to become the first of his countrymen to win the Tour of France. Until Friday he had not had a particularly illustrious race but then the weather changed all that when there was a freak hailstorm and the stage was cut short as it was impossible to continue. Until then the leader was Alaphilippe who was all set to become the first Frenchman to win the Tour de France since Bernard Hinault in the 70's. The Tour is a global sporting event but for the French it is an event of national pride and there has been a yearning for a Frenchman to win. On that freak weather stage on Friday, the young Colombian had made a break away and by the time the stage was cancelled he was in in the lead. He was given the coveted yellow jersey and broke down in tears, not quite believing his luck. His lead was just under 50 seconds over Alaphilippe and all would be decided in a shortened but tough mountain stage on Saturday. The Frenchman lost all his steam and didn't ride well, the Colombian maintained the jersey and is now all set to win today after the triumphal final stage which ends in Paris. I think what happened on Friday was very unfair for the leader but I suppose it is the luck of the game. Alaphilippe was hoping to be the first French cyclist to win Le Tour since Hinault today but it was not to be once again. All of Colombia will be ecstatic today as they watch Egan Bernal being crowned champion of the Tour of France. Having been many times to the Tour when I worked for Motorola and we had Lance Armstrong in our team, and knowing what life is behind the scenes,  I can just imagine how the commentators of Radio Nacional de Colombia and Radio Caracol will be going mad in their broadcast today. For the Colombians there is no greater sport than cycling. So all I can say is "Viva Colombia" and partake of their happiness.

Egan Bernal set to fulfill the dreams of his country to become the first Colombian ever to win the Tour of France

Never in a million years would Egan Bernal have thought he would win the biggest cycling race in the world when he set out 3 weeks ago in Brussels to take part in his second Tour de France.

Finally it stopped raining here in the afternoon and as a family we went to see the children's games which are always the most enjoyable part of the Santa Marta fiestas. Thankfully there is a marquee so although the fiestas were rather washed out in the morning and it was cold, activities could still take place under cover.  The whole village gathered and it was lovely to talk to the people and catch up on their lives. It was also lovely to be with my girls there. Miguel took a photo of the three of us which I have chosen as this week's feature photo. I love it although I don't love how old I look in comparison to my beautiful daughters but who cares? I am 62 and all I can do is accept the oncoming of old age.

The games began lead by Javi, the youngest inhabitant of the village, with his sister, Lorena. There would be no fiestas if if wasn't for them. There was a warm up and then the usual games children love to play like the sack and egg and spoon races. Here are some of them during the warm up.

The children's games beginning yesterday at the fiestas

There were trophies and prizes for all of them. The games ended with the traditional tug of war played by the children and the adults between girls and boys, women and men. The girls won the first race and we women lost to the men of course.

At about 8.30, Oli, Miguel, Suzy and I gave it a day and walked home feeling rather cold to make dinner in our well heated house. The fiestas hadn't finished though and at about 11.30 the traditional dance was to take place. The only member of our family to attend was Suzy who is always game for a night out in her beloved village. As children and teenagers, the girls would dress up and go out and enjoy the dance and stay up really late - well not so much Oli - and Suzy would come home in the early hours of the morning. She did just that yesterday too and came home at 7 in the morning today to find me making my coffee. Who knows how long she will sleep this morning hahaha?

And today is Sunday and thankfully the rain has stopped. The sun is out so no doubt we shall be going on our walk this morning but without Suzy hahha.

Facebook has just reminded me that today is the 36th anniversary of our civil registry wedding. The church wedding was 3 weeks later on 21st August but to be legally wed in Spain as our church wedding was at a Protestant church and not a Catholic one, we had to be married in a civil wedding first. I was not happy about that and you can see from my face that day just how I felt.

Eladio and I 36 years ago today during our civil wedding. 

I didn't want a registry wedding for such an important ceremony but I had to go through the motions if I was to be legally married. That night, unknowingly, Suzy, our eldest daughter, was conceived. She was born on 28th April 1984, 9 months to the day. I was just 26 years old in that photo and hardly recognise myself. I was much happier on our church wedding three weeks later.

Today will be our last full day here as tomorrow we shall be going home. I have something wonderful to look forward to though next week when Suzy and I go on a road trip together to France. I shall be taking her with me for the first time to the annual "cousinade", the gathering of my Russian cousins which has now become a tradition. Everyone else takes their families and I have always gone alone so it will be wonderful to take Suzy with me. I am looking forward to quality time with her and a great girly time together in France with Zuka, my Aunty Valya, Katty, Ruby and co. I can't wait. We shall hit the road next Sunday and you will hear all about our adventures the following week when I will be writing from Île de Ré where the Cousinade is to take place.

Now my friends, I have come to the end of the tales of this week, this lovely week spent together with my family in Montrondo.

So goodbye it is until next Sunday,

Cheers to you all,
Masha


c

Plums from our garden, hacked, home alone, a surprise email from Holland, friends will be friends, 50 years since the first moon landing, off to Montrondo to escape the heat and other stories

Sunday, 21st July, 2019

With Fátima my best Spanish friends with our dogs when she came to visit on Wednesday

Good morning friends and readers.

How has your week been? Let me tell you about mine.

Last Sunday was hot again but not unbearable with the temperature "only" reaching 36ºc. My English guests, Robert  and Cathy and Claire and her South African husband Murray, didn't mind it though and when they were up which was quite late as they had been to wedding, they sat by the pool and Claire swam.

I went for a walk on my own with Pippa that morning. Eladio couldn't bear the heat even at 8 am in the morning. I came back to see to our lunch and that was when my husband suggested it was time to pick some of the greengages from our tree, really our only proper fruit tree. There are an enormous amount of them and some of them seemed very ripe. So up he went on a ladder to gather the first crop. Here he is up the ladder. There are so many of them and some of them could even be reached by me just standing up.

Eladio picking the plums from our garden on Sunday

The tree is very sticky though and he got covered in its goo and had to have a shower and change his clothes afterwards hahaha. He picked quite a few but as some were still unripe, there would be many more to pick over the following days. I think there is something lovely about picking fruit from your own garden; quite bucolic.

Later I lay on one of our new sunbeds reading in the shade. I joined my English/South African guests for a lovely "chin wag" over their late breakfast and just before they were to leave which was at around 1.30. They were charming guests and I took extra special care of them. I have to say that because of their Yorkshire connection that's probably why I did. When they left, Cathy wanted to buy my father's book which of course I gave to her free. She was very touched at the gift but so was I that she wanted to read it.

When they left it was already lunch time. Suzy joined us after having been to an outdoor yoga session at a park in Alcorcón with her bosom friend Elena. We all had one of the Norwegian girls' Lindt chocolates as a treat. Then it was siesta time.

That afternoon, for the very first time in a long time, Eladio and I were practically "home alone". Suzy went to spend the afternoon at Elena's pool, our guests had gone and our lodger, Andy, the Scot, was out too. That meant Eladio and I had the pool to ourselves. What luxury. Given the circumstances I persuaded my husband to join me in the pool. He hardly ever goes in but on Sunday he did. Here he is enjoying the pool all to himself.

An unusual sight; Eladio in our pool last Sunday

Who didn't go in the pool as she hates water was Pippa, our little dachshund. She preferred to be in the shade under one of the terrace tables. Isn't she irresistible?

Pippa in the shade last Sunday

Most of the world was either watching the Wimbledon men's final between Federer and Djokovic or the Cricket World Cup final between England and New Zealand. My favourites were Federer and England (of course). The two top seeds played the longest men's singles final ever at Wimbledon

which sounded thrilling to judge from the score we kept following on our phones. Federer was looking to win his 9th title and "Nolo" his 5th. They played very equally and Federer even had two match points for the championship which ended on a tie break but Djokovic won in the end: 7-6 1-6 7 -6 6-4 13-12. I was happier to see that England won their match which was apparently just as thrilling as the tennis.

Eladio and I had a late dinner of what we could find in the fridge as the provisions bought at the beginning of the week were running out. We later watched a new series on Amazon Prime, "El Bloke" based on a corrupt police case. That night I realised my Netflilx account had been hacked. The night before I got an email from Netflix to say someone had entered my account from a location in Granada - miles from us. So I changed my password. But again that night I got a similar message to say someone from Barcelona had entered it that night.  I rang Netflix to report the issue but they really just washed their hands off the whole matter telling me to change my password which I had already done. I was not impressed with their customer care attitude nor with the fact that they don't have two factor authentication to protect customers' accounts.  I decided I would have to change all my passwords on most of my accounts when I got up the next day. I think this may have to do with the LinkedIn breach in security where lots of account information was stolen.

Thus on Monday morning, one of the first things I did was to increase the security on my various accounts beginning with Gmail. Before changing the passwords, I checked on a site "I've been pwned" whether my accounts had been breached. The answer was that 5 of them had. That shocked me  and I didn't want a repeat episode of when my gmail account was hacked a few years ago in Stockholm when the hackers used my account to send an email to all my contacts saying I was in Cyprus and had been robbed and please send money! They also spitefully deleted all my email history and added a letter to all the names of my contacts making it impossible to send an email. So on Monday I really had to up the security if I didn't want something like that to happen again. What a world we live in!

I was a bit late for our walk because of this but thankfully there was  a tiny breeze and the heat wasn't quite so oppressive. Later Eladio and I did some of the food shopping and I spent the rest of the morning making a delicious lunch; broccoli, carrot and mushroom soup followed by pork rib stew with potatoes. Oli joined us for lunch - she is off work with lumbago poor lamb  - and my father was impressed with her bump and asked after "Elliot" whose name will include the two "ls" in the end.

That afternoon I got a surprise email from Holland from someone called Maarten. Maarten told me he was doing research for a book about his grandfather, Major Mowbray Morris Souper, and had come across the matriculation photo of my father at Selwyn College Cambridge in 1938 where he had excitedly found his grandfather on the third row and fifth from the right. This is the photo by the way.

My father's and Major Mowbray Morris Souper's 1938 Selwyn College Cambridge matriculation photo (my father is second from the left on the second row)

What a coincidence. There were more coincidences as I read that Mowbray M. Souper was also the son of a Church of England vicar and that he was born in Bristol where my father was brought up.  Sadly though Mowbray died at the Battle of Arnhem in Holland on 24th September 1944. His wife later married a Dutchman whose daughter also married a Dutchman. It was only when they both died that Maarten inherited his grandmother's metal box with all her letters and documents regarding her first husband Mowbray. That must have been what spurred on Maarten to write the biography. Of course I wrote back immediately and sent  the photo as well as the the Selwyn College Alumni departments's contacts. To think both Mowbray M. Souper and my father were at Selwyn together in 1938 and would have known each other and then to receive this email out of the blue 81 years later from a relative of Mowbray's in Holland to me in Madrid, is quite extraordinary isn't it? Unfortunately though my father didn't remember him.

We spent a pleasant afternoon by the pool again and were joined by both girls later. Oli and I swam for a bit to cool off. Our next set of guests arrived, a group of 4 young people from Valencia who were coming just for one night. Irina and her colleagues soon settled in, went down to the pool for a bathe and then out to dinner. We didn't see them again until the next day.

That afternoon I spent part of my time responding to numerous requests to come this weekend which, surprisingly, was actually free on my Airbn calendar. However, most of the requests were for big groups and parties which we do not allow.  Later though I got a more lucrative reservation from a family from France who would be spending 5 nights at our house. 

With everyone out, we had a quiet dinner, just the four of us - what a luxury - and lingered around the table until way past 10 pm when it was still quite light. The full moon was out which helped.

The day ended with us watching Netflix and I had my fingers crossed the change of password would prevent the hackers using my account. That night we started watching a rather violent biopic called "Kidnapping Stella" which would entertain us till quite late.

I was up at 6.15 on Tuesday and after seeing off our group of guests who were no trouble at all, went for our morning walk with Eladio and the dogs. Our next group - a family from France - was not arriving until Friday.

I had a very lazy and pleasant day on Tuesday spending a lot of it with Eladio and the girls although for Suzy it was possibly her busiest day vs a vs her lessons.

I was interested to read at breakfast that morning that the Bank of England will be featuring the famous English mathematician, Alan Turing, who is famous for cracking the Enigma Code, on their new 50 pound notes. He also pioneered the modern computer. He was selected out of 1000 scientists. I don't who they were or their merits but I do think it is great that  this amazing scientist who was also persecuted for his homosexuality should finally be recognised for his help in WW2, one of his main roles being to fend off German U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic. That made me realise he must have kept my father safe as my father was a Lieutenant in WW2 in the Royal Navy and most of the missions of the ships he was on were to catch U-boats precisely in the Atlantic as he was stationed in Scotland for much of the war. That was a very positive piece of news indeed.

Alan Turing to feature on the new fifty pound notes

The afternoon was spent by the pool again in the increasing heat which as the week went on got hotter and hotter. Oli and Eladio accompanied me as did the dogs and we had a quiet time reading and chatting and generally enjoying life. Oli commented later that night just what a wonderful life her parents lead. She is right and we are very conscious of it.

Andy left on Thursday for France to spend his holidays with his family. That meant that for the first time in many many weeks, it was just us the family at home. We had a great dinner together. I made three small tortillas at Oli's request - her favourite food.

We went to bed with a full moon that night and a partial eclipse.  Coincidentally it was the 50th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11 for what would be the first moon landing. Wow I thought, 50 years since that happened and I remember it as if it were yesterday. I was just 12 at the time.  I clearly remember the day of the landing, 20th July 1969. The television was on in our lounge from beginning to end and my mother watched the whole transmission including  during the night. I walked in and out at the most important moments as we watched it in black and white. Two men landed on the moon - Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and a third man, Michael Collins,stayed in the space module which must have been very frustrating for him. However, people only really remember Armstrong who was the first one to step on the moon's surface. Some people remember Aldrin was the second and more or less no one remembers Collins' role in the expedition.  All in all 12 men have stepped on the moon but we only really remember Neil Armstrong. That seems a little unfair I think. In any case if you were alive then, no doubt you will always remember what you were doing when the moon landing happened. We can never ever forget Armstrong's voice when he said "That's one small step for  man, one giant leap for mankind". In today's ever inclusive language the word "mankind" would be deemed politically incorrect but not in 1969 I can tell you. As I said he was the first man to ever step on the moon and his name and his quote are something  the world will remember forever.  I have always wondered if he had prepared it or whether it was spontaneous. It was probably the former but what he said was so very very true.  It has always been said he forget to add the word "a" before the word "man", meaning to have said "a small step for a man" instead of "a small step for man".  That day I was getting ready to go to a guide camp in Baildon (West Yorkshire) and was perhaps too young to understand the significance of that one giant leap but I do remember going in and out of the lounge to follow what was happening as I packed for my camping trip.  Today as I look back, I feel privileged to be a part of one of the most important historical collective memories of modern times. I think it was one of the two most important pieces of news when I was a child, the other one being the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. 

The moon landing

To me it seems quite amazing that without today's computers and technology just how the Apollo 11 moon expedition and landing every took place. Some people think it was  a fraud but I think there is too much evidence to suggest that. At the time there was thought that after the mission, the moon could somehow one day be populated. It is only with today's technology though that this is being contemplated. Maybe one day it will be feasible but I don't think I would ever want to live there for some very obvious reasons.

Wednesday was a busy day. It was on Wednesday that Eladio and I decided we would escape to Montrondo on Thursday for a few days to get away from the heat in Madrid where the temperatures are more than 10 degrees lower.

That day there was another important anniversary that did not escape my attention. My favourite tea rooms, Betty's, in my beloved Yorkshire turned 100 that day. Exactly 100 years ago the Swiss cake maker, Frederick Belmont, opened the first Betty's Café Tea Rooms at 9 Cambridge Crescent in Harrogate on July 17th 1919, also the year of my father's birth. My father and I are both great lovers of those charming tea rooms only to be found in Yorkshire for their amazing quality of food and traditional and genteel atmosphere. So it was happy birthday to Betty's that day. I would have loved to be in Harrogate or York or Ilkely or Ripon where it has establishments.

Happy birthday Betty's

Nearly every time we are in Yorkshire, Eladio and I go to Betty's, me for afternoon tea usually and Eladio for fish and chips. I remember introducing my husband to the tea room in Harrogate at Christmas in about 1982, the year before we married. We had a window table and stayed the whole afternoon there together. We were so in love, Eladio spent a lot of the time taking photos of me. I have dug out the only one that survives. Aged just 25, I had long hair then and was smoking which of course today is no longer allowed anywhere inside.

At Betty's in 1982 where we spent the whole afternoon

I had no idea that day that 37 years later we would still be together. I always say I won the lottery of marriage and I did.

On Wednesday we did the general weekly shopping at my hated Mercadona supermarket but it had to be done. Meanwhile Suzy was giving lessons and Oli was relaxing by the pool. She sent a photo of her with Pippa and her bump. Elliot is growing for sure and it's not long before he will make his entry into this brave new world. There are not many photographs of her pregnant so here is one for me to remember her by.  I love it. In it she is holding Pippa. Soon she will be holding baby Elliot. Finally  as I said, his name will be spelled with two "ls".

Very pregnant Oli with Pippa in her arms

Once home and with everything put away, I embarked on a cooking spree and Oli joined me. She helped me make some of the veg for lunch and then made her flagship cake, a carrot cake, not my favourite but it's nice. This is how it turned out before she iced it.

Oli's heart shaped carrot cake

Eladio, meanwhile, was busy in the garden. He had to pick more plums before we went otherwise the birds would have eaten them. He got quite a crop and even so there are loads left.  As it's a bit a of sticky job to pick them this time he wore an old hat to protect his hair but again had to have a shower and a change of clothes afterwards. The fruit tree apparently secretes some sort of sticky stuff which protects the tree and fruit but it makes it a very dirty job to pick the plums. Here are just some of the ones he picked. Later I would give my friend Fátima some as well as our neighbours.  We would leave some at home and also take some to Montrondo. The crop this year is very abundant and the taste of these home grown greengages is wonderful. I gave my father one for his "pudding" and he loved it.

Eladio picked more plums on Wednesday

My husband later cleaned the ping pong table for it to be ready for new guests and in the afternoon he mowed the lawn and then cleaned the swimming pool; all so we could go away to Montrondo leaving the garden and pool ship shape.

I cooked alongside my daughter happily in the kitchen making more broccoli, carrot and mushroom soup to have as a first course for lunch. The main dish would be fish with roast red peppers and green beans.

Later we all had a siesta  - it's so hot at that time of day, the only place to be is in our air conditioned bedrooms. As happens pretty often, Pippa joined us. She loves to lie by Eladio's legs and I had to have the sight on camera. She is tiny but very long, nearly as long as Eladio's very well shaped legs hahaha.

Pippa joining us for our siesta

Later I joined Oli under the trees on our new sun beds to read and enjoy the slightly lower temperature to be found in the leafy garden by the pool. My friend Fátima was coming to spend part of the afternoon with me and I was looking forward to that as I hadn't seen her since my father's birthday on 1st May.  It was great to see her in such good health, despite her cancer which she is fighting heroically. I can do nothing but admire her. We spoke about everything from her daughter's studies, to the film about the last Tsars and my mother's family before the Russian revolution, to my daughters, to our past together at Motorola and Nokia and how life is so good. We first met at Motorola where I joined in 1990 and she joined in 1991. I was the head of communications and she was the  sales and marketing manager. We went to a lot of cycling races together when Motorola sponsored a team and have some great memories. I have a photo of the two of us at the Paris Roubaix race which we went to with the Spanish cycling magazine, Bicisport. We were so young. I think it must have been taken in about 1992 or 1993 when I was my daughter Suzy's age, just 35 and Fátima must have been about 31. We were so good looking but also unaware of how attractive we were. We were surrounded by men in the cycling world but everyone was very respectful of us although I'm sure there must have been many comments about us. Here we are together in a photo I shall treasure always.

Fátima and I in your youth at the Paris Roubaix classic cycling race in about 1992 - we were so young and beautiful but were not at all aware we were.

I asked Oli to take a photo of the two of us today, some 27 years later. Oh, how we have aged but friends will be friends and our friendship which started in 1991 will go on forever. What a difference in age my friends. I have chosen that photo for this week's post as the feature photo as it shows us just how we are today - no makeup, no filters, a few grey hairs and quite a few wrinkles, ageing I like to think gracefully.

Later the girls left to spend the night at Oli's flat where the two of them would have dinner and watch their latest favourite series, Stranger Things, which is not my cup of tea. Eladio and I had a quiet dinner together on the kitchen patio only going up to bed at about 10 pm to watch something more to our taste. It couldn't have been very good as soon I was asleep.

I was up at 5.45 on Thursday morning and with plenty of things to do before we could leave for our village which is a four hour drive away.  We left at about 10 am taking Pippa with us and lots of provisions as there are no shops in the village or area. There was a police control on the way which lengthened our trip which normally takes about 4 hours. On the way to Montrondo we always stop at Rueda, the capital of a white wine growing area of the same name. I have to say that Rueda is my favourite white wine. We stopped at our favourite winery, El Palacio de Bodegas, and true to tradition ordered a plate of ham to be washed down by the local wine. I always choose the local grape "verdejo" while Eladio goes for "sauvignon". Here is Eladio enjoying the moment.

Ham and wine at our stop in Rueda

We bought some of the wine as well as chocolate and biscuits (for my father) and resumed our journey. I spent part of it beginning to plan Oli's baby shower which I realise now we have left far too late. Oh dear.

We got to the village at around 2.30 to lovely weather - around 24ºc. We unpacked everything we had brought  and eventually sat down to have a late lunch of my leftover pork rib stew even though we were not at all hungry. 

Eladio had installed the new sun beds in the back garden and that is where I spent the afternoon with Pippa at my side. We should have gone for a walk but felt a bit lazy. We would make up for it the next day. Pippa loves being in Montrondo, as much as us I suppose. Here she is sitting on the old stone steps outside our kitchen feeling very at home. She knows every nook and cranny.

Pippa in Montrondo

Eladio went to have coffee with his siblings and I continued to read my book with Pippa at my side. At about 8 pm it got quite fresh and we had to go in - what a difference from Madrid. We watched the news and then had a very light dinner. We would have watched something on Netflix too but by about 10 pm both of us were asleep and thus went to bed to have an early night. In contrast to Madrid here we sleep with a duvet on us. There is no need for air conditioning here either. The day time temperatures are in their 20's but during the night they go down by about 10 degrees.

I was up early on Friday morning. I woke up at 5.30 - what an indecent hour - and eventually got up at 6.15.  It was just 12ºc degrees outside, much cooler than in sizzling Madrid. We went to the nearest town from here, Villablino, to get some provisions. We also went to the Friday market which I'm afraid always disappoints. It sells the usual rubbish you see in markets in most parts of the world. The fruit was nothing special either so we did our food shopping at Gadis which belongs to a chain of supermarkets you only see in the north of Spain. True to tradition, afterwards we went to have a coffee at one of the town's rather dismal bars. As we drank our coffee I said to Eladio, this is nothing like Betty's hahahaha. Well, there is nothing nearing a Betty's anywhere in Spain I am afraid. We were home by 12.30 and greeted excitedly by poor Pippa who had been left in the house by herself. Had this been England, France or Italy we could have taken her with us but Spain is an extremely unfriendly dog country as I have told you countless times. One can hardly take a dog anywhere these days apart from on the street and I refuse to tie her up outside a café as first she doesn't like it and secondly someone could steal her.

We had leftovers I had brought from Madrid that day - "fabada" (bean stew) and watched the news that day. The main story on the international front was the seizing of a British tanker by Iranian vessels in the Gulf. This has caused a lot of tension but thankfully the UK government has said they want to resolve the issue diplomatically. I can hardly imagine a war with Iran. According to the latter, the ship was "violating international maritime rules" but according to the owners of the tanker it was in "full compliance with all navigational and international regulations". It looks like the Iranians are looking for a fight; not something the world wants to see.

On the home front, the Spanish government leader of the socialist party, Pedro Sánchez, is finding it hard to form a government after winning the general elections but without a majority. It needs the support of the far left party, Podemos, but in exchange for backing the PSOE, they are demanding a coalition government with their leader and others to be part of the government and to be ministers. Later in the day, the leader of Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, said he no longer demands a place in the cabinet. However, he is still demanding one for his wife, Irene Montero. The negotiations are not looking good and if they don't come to some agreement we may face new general elections in November.

A bit disgusted with the news, I took my book or kindle and went out to the back garden to read and sleep a siesta accompanied by Pippa. Later while Eladio went to have coffee with his siblings again, I went for my first walk since we got here. I took the old path and climbed up the "camino valle" which passes the river and runs parallel to the main road towards Murias de Paredes. I was the only one on the walk which was beautiful. This is the beginning of the "camino valle" path. It reminds me of countryside in Finland with its lovely birch trees.

The entrance to the "camino valle" path 

Unfortunately Eladio had taken Pippa with him so she missed her walk. I missed her too. Towards the end of the path I met with a herd of cows. At first I decided to carry on and walk past them but thought twice about it when I saw the many calves and realised the cows would want to protect their young. I wasn't sure either if one of them was actually a bull so decided to turn round and leave them to their pasturing. I was home by 9 ish and Eladio still wasn't back so set about making a delicious dinner of prawn, mango and avocado salad.

Later we sat on the sofa and watched a film on Netflix, Secret Obsession, which was quite a tense drama and entertaining enough for us not to fall asleep for once. We were in bed by midnight and I slept fitfully until I got up a bit later than usual at 7.05. Hurray.

Saturday was another gorgeous day weather wise. It would be warm and sunny but there would be no heat wave as there never is here because we are high up in the mountains. It is the perfect place to escape the heat yet enjoy good weather. We decided to go on our walk early so as to avoid the heat which although not as intense as in Madrid, makes for hot walking during the midday sun. We set off at around 9.30 towards Senra where we would stop for a well earned cup of coffee at the only bar there, Cumbres de Omaña, run by a very grumpy man. On our way we passed lovely green fields, many of them with newly created hay stacks, cows, sheep or horses. I spied what I thought was a very big cow which Eladio told me was a bull. I asked how he knew if he couldn't see its "genitalia" hahaha and he replied because of its face and neck. When I looked closer, I saw his point. He thought it would get up and move away when I took my phone out to take a photo but it remained sitting. I called it a "sitting bull",  like the famous Cowboys and Indians character. Well it didn't move and I got my photo of this magnificent animal. I was happy for it it as  it isn't destined for any cruel bull sporting that goes on still today in Spain.

My "sitting bull" as seen in a field between Murias and Senra on Saturday

We were home by 12.30 and I set about making our lunch. It's lovely just to cook for 2 people with no rush and nothing else to do. I had brought some minced lamb - not easy to procure in Spain - with the idea of making "shepherds' pie" after having eaten it recently in Ireland. It's the easiest dish to make in the world and I don't know why I don't make it more often. My father loves it so when we go back I shall make it for him too. It turned out a treat and Eladio complimented me for a wonderful lunch.

The shepherds' pie I made for lunch on Saturday

The rest of the day panned out similarly to other days here. We both had a siesta - mine was far too long - and later read outside on the sunbeds.

Today is Sunday and it will be another lazy day here. The girls will hopefully be joining us on Wednesday next as will Oli's boyfriend Miguel. I spoke to them last night and they complained of the heat in Madrid. They too can't wait to be here to get away from it.

So now my friends, I shall leave you to get on with the day.

Wishing you all a pleasant Sunday and happy week ahead, all the best until next week,
Masha.

c