Madrid, 8th September, 2019
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| At my desk with my new toy |
How has your week been? Let me tell you about mine.
Last Sunday, 1st September was a quiet day for us. 1st September 2019 was an important date; the 80th anniversary of the beginning of WW2 when Hitler invaded Poland. My father was just 20 at the time and shortly afterwards would enlist in the Navy. I wonder how his family took the news; probably with great alarm.
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| My father in his Ordinary Seaman RNVR uniform just after signing up. Later he would become an officer. |
This week at lunch, my father asked me to remind him of the exact date WW2 broke out. I told him that officially it was on 1st September when Hitler invaded Poland but that on 3rd September both the UK and France declared war on Germany. I asked him how he remembered the news of the announcement and he told me his story. When WW2 broke out my father found himself in Sweden on holiday. His love for Scandinavia had already begun and he had learned some Swedish and Norwegian already then. He had just finished his first
year at Cambridge and went hitchhiking in Scandinavia. Hitchhiking was very customary in those days he told me. He had returned to the youth hostel in the
small town of Åre in Sweden where he was staying and that was when he heard the
news. I asked him what his reaction was. He told me gravely that he had
alarming memories of his father’s descriptions of the horrors of WW1 and his
hope then was that they would not be transferred to this new war. He had no
idea then that he would be witness to what would become the deadliest military
conflict in history. His immediate thoughts were that he must return home but
it wasn’t easy. He hitchhiked to Bergen in Norway and there were lots of
passing cars but they were nearly all full. He told me he cried out to them in
Swedish “Har du plats I bilen?” (Do you have room in your car?) and that the
answer was nearly always “Nej”. He made it to Bergen eventually and went
straight to see the British Consul. There were quite a few stranded British citizens
like him that the Consul repatriated to England by boat cost free he told me.
My mother's family would have been worried too in far away Bulgaria where they took refuge after fleeing the Russian Revolution. For her the consequences would be far graver than for my father as because of WW2 the family were scattered all over the world and she would never see her father again. As a child I was brought up on my parents' tales of WW2 which have remained with me always. Particularly alarming were my mother's stories of her flight to Germany to escape the invasion of the Russians in Bulgaria and her frightening time in a prison run by the Gestapo. She wasn't Jewish but because of her Russian origin she was suspected of being an enemy. She was no enemy, just a young woman, running for freedom. She managed to get out of prison just 4 days before the Red Army tanks entered Berlin and escaped to Austria with her two brothers, Sasha and Nicolai. My mother and her siblings waited for her family to join them from Sofia, going everyday to the train station in Salzburg where they had sought refuge with her Uncle Misha. In the end they never came although they could have got out. It was because of the stubbornness of my grandfather, Dedushka Andrei, an Orthodox priest who decided to remain for his parishioners. Later when the Communist regime took hold, he tried to get out and it was too late.
Once back in Bristol and because of the war, there was no question of
returning to Cambridge. He had to sign up as did most young men of his age. Upon his father's suggestion he chose the Navy thinking it was a little less dangerous than the other Armed Forces and after inevitable delays it was not until 8th January that he joined the Navy. If you haven't read the biography about my father where you can find out much more about his role in WW2, this is the link to the e-book on Amazon.co.uk. It's available on all Amazon sites, so just type in my name as the author and bingo you will find it.
My mother's family would have been worried too in far away Bulgaria where they took refuge after fleeing the Russian Revolution. For her the consequences would be far graver than for my father as because of WW2 the family were scattered all over the world and she would never see her father again. As a child I was brought up on my parents' tales of WW2 which have remained with me always. Particularly alarming were my mother's stories of her flight to Germany to escape the invasion of the Russians in Bulgaria and her frightening time in a prison run by the Gestapo. She wasn't Jewish but because of her Russian origin she was suspected of being an enemy. She was no enemy, just a young woman, running for freedom. She managed to get out of prison just 4 days before the Red Army tanks entered Berlin and escaped to Austria with her two brothers, Sasha and Nicolai. My mother and her siblings waited for her family to join them from Sofia, going everyday to the train station in Salzburg where they had sought refuge with her Uncle Misha. In the end they never came although they could have got out. It was because of the stubbornness of my grandfather, Dedushka Andrei, an Orthodox priest who decided to remain for his parishioners. Later when the Communist regime took hold, he tried to get out and it was too late.
When the war came to an end, she was employed by the French Control Commission whose main mission was the handling of displaced people, many of them Russian soldiers who feared being sent back to Stalin's Russia. They would have faced either a labour camp or firing squad. In many cases she told the Allied Control Commission they were not Russian but Bulgarian or Polish saving their lives. Little did she know that in not so far away Schleswig Holstein, her future husband, my father, was also working for the Allied Control Commission but under the British where his role was to help catch Nazi criminals on the run and to establish a new democratic political party. They both played an important role in the war.
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| My mother, Princess Elena Von Lieven, in Feldkirch, Austria, in 1945 just after WW2 finished. |
I reflected on all this last Sunday, more than on other days, imagining what it must have been like for ordinary people like my parents when WW2 broke out. How lucky my generation is to have been brought up in war free Western Europe.
While many world leaders were gathered in Poland to commemorate the start of WW2, we had a very quiet day at home. The morning was spent working and on preparing the house and pool for the arrival of our new guests who were Dutch. We had lunch together as always and just as we finished, Eline, her husband Vincent and one and a half year old, white haired little boy, Johan (not sure of the spelling) arrived at 3 pm on the dot as they said they would. They are a delightful couple and their little boy is very sweet. They spent the time by the pool.
Meanwhile, Eladio and I took refuge in our bedroom together with Pippa who we had to keep out of the toddler's way as she is petrified of small children and barks away like mad. I watched the end of the documentary, "Diana in my own words". Although Eladio had told me he wasn't a bit interested, he ended up watching it with me too.
By then our guests had gone out to dinner. I'm not sure what they would have found on offer as Spaniards have dinner late; from about 9 pm onward if they are going out. Thus we spent time on the sunbeds by the pool. My latest book had me engaged until dinner. Called "Conclave" by Robert Harris it is one of his most famous books. Funnily enough I had hardly heard of him. I was inspired to read the book when I read a tweet by the Master of my father's old College, Selwyn College Cambridge where I learned that Robert Harris was an ex alumni too.
Eladio and I had a light dinner alone on the kitchen patio and were up in our room by 9 pm to watch the news. Later we continued watching a series on RTVE called "Tración" (Treason); a family saga with a lot of suspense.
Monday came and Monday was the day I went back to healthier eating, so as to shed any weight I knew I had put on this summer. I do not want to go back to my "fat days" and am determined to become slim again. Once I have decided to do something, in general I will stick to it. That's how I am and have always been.
Our morning started with our daily walk with the dogs. It's great to have the company of Suzy these days before she returns to Bali at the end of October. It was a little chilly and she decided to wear a long sleeved top. I don't know where she dug it out but she came out wearing an old sweat shirt of mine; a Yoigo merchandising relic with the words "Soy Masha" (I am Masha) on it. That had me in stitches. I thought it was hilarious. Here she is.
It was cool when we started off but by the time we got back it was far warmer. That day the temperatures reached 32ºc. Our Dutch guests went into Madrid that morning. I spent most of it working for one of my customers. Oli and Miguel turned up for lunch which was lovely. The girls and Miguel spent the afternoon by the pool but I was tied up with long conference calls and didn't see much of them. A friend of Suzy's from school, Pilar, a psychologist, came to spend the afternoon. It's so funny to see the two of them together, grown up women when the image I have of them together is as children at St. Michael's school. Pilar joined us for dinner which both girls made while I was busy on my late night conference call.
It was on Monday afternoon that I received the contract from my London publishers. I read it quite a few times and had some feedback to give them. Before signing it though, I sent a copy to a publisher friend and a lawyer friend to get their opinion just to make sure I'm doing the right thing. I don't have a lot of choice in the matter as this is the only publishing house of those that I have been in contact with, willing to publish it, but I must make sure that what I sign is reasonable. I'm not usually a very cautious person but in this case I must be. Cross your fingers friends and readers.
The day ended quite late and Eladio and I stayed up in bed watching "Traición" until nearly midnight.
Tuesday came, only 2 days to Oli's due date. Would Elliot come on time we all wondered? Well he didn't as the due date was Friday and it came and went. But surely it will be any time now. Tuesday was a very busy day work wise for me. I also had time to start updating the manuscript of the book about my father for submission to my publisher. Since I self published the first version, I have thought or learned more things that I am now able to add to the book. That finds me quizzing my father at lunchtime. He gets so happy when I ask him questions about the past and told me that that ot is what keeps him going and thanked me for it. I hugged him, kissed him, told him I loved him and that for me this was pure pleasure. I never used to hug and kiss my father - it just wasn't done but now that he so old it's a different matter. The story of where and what he was doing when WW2 broke out (told above) was new to me and I had to add it to the manuscript.
But before work, of course we went on our early morning walk joined by Suzy. Here she is with two of our dogs, Elsa the lab and Norah the beagle. I love the picture.
As I said I spent most of the day working on two customer projects and on the manuscript. I had a conference call at 7 pm which finished an hour later. Eladio and I had dinner on our own - the Dutch were out as was Suzy. Oli and Miguel have spent most of the week at their flat and Tuesday saw them attending a breast feeding training session, complete with power point slides, with her assigned midwife! She showed us some of the slides, mostly about milk extraction and how to conserve it including how to freeze and unfreeze it. Gosh I thought, I never got training like that when I was pregnant.
We caught up with the news on my iPad while eating our meal - very healthy one too; a plain omelet with steamed asparagus. The main international news came from Westminster when Boris Johnson lost the majority in the conservative party. The opposition and some of his own party members voted to take control in the hope of delaying Brexit and above all leaving the EU without an agreement. Events became even more heated the next day when MPs backed a bill to block a no deal Brexit. Johnson had hoped to call elections, too late to stop Britain crashing out of Europe without a deal but that looks as if it is not on the cards either. He has now been defeated on 3 counts and is looking weaker and weaker. But don't underestimate the guy. Anything could happen now.
On the home front, one of the biggest items of news this week was about the disappearance of a former skiing Olympic medalist, Blanca Fernández Ochoa. She comes from a family of skiers and her older brother Paco Fernandez Ochoa was the first Spaniard ever to win a gold medal in the Olympics. Believe it or not I know her or knew her as she once tried to teach me, unsuccessfully, how to ski. It was with a Nokia skiing incentive trip to Baqueira. She left her home in Aravaca, near where we live, on 23rd August and had not been seen since except on security cameras doing some shopping that day or the next. She had told her family she was going hiking in the mountains in the north. The funny thing is she left her mobile behind. Who would go hiking without their mobile I wonder? A few days ago her car was found at a car park in Cercedilla in the mountains of Madrid. Her family thought she may have had an accident but the police were also exploring other lines of investigation. It's a very high profile case. I only hoped she would be found alive. Very sadly, her body was found dead on Wednesday and the world of sport in Spain and elsewhere is in mourning. I was very shocked and my heart reached out to her family who will mourn her for the rest of their lives. The autopsy report has not been released but it is more than likely that she took her own life. How sad.
Later we watched more of our latest TV series, "Traición" the script of which is becoming a little far fetched and were asleep quite early.
Wednesday came. It brought the best international news of the day. Finally the Chinese backed down and gave into the demonstrators in Hong Kong who have been fighting extradition to mainland China. That day the Governor of Hong Kong announced the bill would be suspended (but not withdrawn). That's one could step forward. However, protesters say it is not enough. They say the territory is supposed to have a separate justice system under one country and that's how they want to see it stay. No doubt then, the protests will continue.
The other big news that day and this week in fact has been about Hurricane Dorian. Later it made its way to North Carolina but no longer category 5 before heading for Canada. First it hit the Bahamas causing such devastation that 90% of the houses on Grand Bahama were destroyed.
Life continued quietly here with no signs of the arrival of little Elliot. I had lots of work to do on Wednesday which kept me occupied much of the morning. Suzy was busy too with both her morning online English lessons to Chinese children with Dada and new face to face lessons with a company called "La Casita de Inglés" where she is teaching 4 year old Spanish children. She is loving it.
We had a very similar day to all others. I managed to get most of my work out of the way in the afternoon and was able to sit under the trees by the pool with Eladio.
I finished Conclave by Robert Harris - highly recommendable by the way and started on a new book. I am a sucker for biographies as you know and am now devouring the new biography on the Mountbattens, Lord Louis (Dickie) and Edwina his wife. I just can't put it down and am enjoying every page I know. Called The Mountbattens, their lives and loves, it is by Andrew Lownie and contains information never revealed before.
Dinner was alone. Our Dutch family went out, Suzy was at Oli's so we had a quiet dinner together before returning to our chambers to watch the news and then more of our latest series. One piece of news I would never have wanted to read is about the series of accusations of sexual harassment by one of Spain's best ambassadors, Plácido Domingo, one of the most revered figures ever in the opera world. I always admired and loved him and now am feeling so disappointed. "Him too", would you believe it. Well I think we should, however much he denies it. Last month 9 women accused him of sexual harassment and abuse saying he pressurised women into having sex with him. Only one of the women gave her name; the retired mezzo soprano Patricia Wulf. The rest did not dare as they are still working and do not want their career jeopardised. The 9 women claimed his behaviour was common knowledge. The scandal sort of went away but arose again this week when a further 11 women came forward with more allegations against him. Again only one when gave her name; Angela Turner Wilson. The workers at the Los Angeles Opera where Domingo has worked since the 80s, were well aware of his behaviour, tried to shield the younger women from coming into close contact with him. Some of the women have claimed that when they refused his advances they faced losing promotion or even their careers. I am shocked but not surprised but also glad, if this is true and it very much seems to be, that this has come to light. He may not own up but there are too many witnesses for him to get away from the claims. Shame on him is all I can say.
Thursday was to be a busy day. That morning we went on our walk. I then rushed back as I had to send out a press release at 11 am and have lunch on the go before that and also say goodbye to our lovely Dutch guests, the young couple Eline, Vincent and their toddler son Johan. They were off to Valencia which seems an ever more magnet for tourists. Our next guests, arriving the same day, had been visiting Valencia too and were driving to Madrid and would reach us in the early afternoon. They were a middle aged couple from New Jersey in the US touring Europe to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. They are originally Indian and are from Calcutta. They were also a lovely couple.
I didn't get work out of the way until lunchtime or so I thought. After our US guests arrived, I spent time on my PC updating the manuscript of my father's book which I have to get to my London publishers by 1st October. That day I sent them my comments on the publishing contract thanks to feedback from an Spanish publisher friend, Javier and a lawyer friend, Mónica. Their feedback was invaluable. Thank you both.
There is not much more to tell about Thursday. It ended with us in bed watching more episodes of Traición.
Friday came, 6th September and it was Oli's due date to deliver little Elliot. I wondered if he would really arrive that day. But no, he didn't. That day my pregnant daughter had an appointment at the hospital. She was told that not so little Elliot now weighs a whopping 4 kilos. That is 8.8lbs and if he is born in a week or two then his weight will go up even more. There is a possibility that because he is a large baby, Oli may have to have what she doesn't want, i.e. a cesarean. In any case she has another appointment next Friday so let's see although you never know, he may be born before that day comes. We're all waiting in excited anticipation.
On Friday we heard of the death of the ex dictator of Zimbabwe, a man my father thoroughly disliked, Robert Mugabe, aged 95. We also heard that Hurricane Dorian hit the North Carolina coast trapping hundreds after its nearly total destruction of Grand Bahama. Boris Johnson got a further hit that day when The Lords passed the bill to stop a no deal Brexit and when the opposition refused to agree to a General Election which if he won would have given him power to crash exit the EU. I'm very pleased about that. He has no other option for the moment than to ask for another extension from the EU if there is no agreement on a deal before 31st October. That gives Brexit a breather for the moment but who knows what will happen. On a much happier note, Rafa Nadal has cruised through to the US Open final and if he beat the other finalist, the Russian, Medvedev, he would be one grand slam behind Federer's 20. It would also be his 4th US Open title. With both Federer and Djokovic out of the way, he was the favourite at Flushing Meadows this year. He will play the final today. I am crossing my fingers for him.
My mind was on all this news on our walk in the morning but once home, my mind turned to other things. I was to have a very busy day. That night I had decided it was high time I got a new computer. My 7 or 8 year old Windows 7 HP Pro Book I had inherited from my time at Yoigo is about 8 years old and kept crashing this week. It was getting slower and slower and only one of the USB ports worked. I had no option but to buy myself a PC for the first time in my life. All my others had been given to me at work. So that morning after our walk, I drove the car to El Corte Inglés, Spain's only real department story but always a place to shop with quality. I wanted a PC laptop, not a Mac as I am used to PCs. I chose an HP probably because all my past PCs were HP. In about half an hour I had purchased a 15 inch red HP laptop with a storage memory of 512 gigabytes. I was tempted to buy a 17 inch model with a larger storage memory but thought that the former would be fine for my needs. After all, I only really use my PC for my work which is mostly emails and documents, for my blog and for my writing and storing of photos. I also got a Microsoft Office pack, a McAfee anti virus, an external DVD player, a new mouse and an external USB adapter. I had expected to pay about 1000 euros but paid quite a lot less as the laptop came at quite a good discount. Ah and one of the deciding factors on the model I chose my friends was its colour - red. I have always had black laptops and was delighted to be the owner of a bright red one. Even the mouse matches it hahaha. This is it. It is also a lot lighter than my old Yoigo PC.
I was dying to get home and start setting it up but on the way back from El Corté Inglés I had to buy some food for lunch and also concentrate on making the meal when I returned. Our Indian guests were out for the day so it was just us at home that afternoon.
The whole afternoon, apart from an hour long conference call at 17h, was dedicated to setting up my new laptop. That was a new experience too as in the past at work all the PCs I owned had been set up for me. I had the added difficulty of using Windows 10 for the first time and it's rather different to Windows 7 which I am very used to. It took me a while to get the hang of it and to get rid of the dreaded and unwanted Microsoft search engine, Bing. Who wants Bing when you've got Google? By late afternoon my new laptop was ready for using. I had copied all my files from my Windows 7 laptop and had installed all the necessary software.
I must say I love it and it's a lot faster than my previous computer. No doubt, I shall be writing my mother's story on my laptop. What an honour. I got Eladio to take a photo of me at my desk in our lovely study for this week's feature photo.
In the morning on Friday I had a chat with our Indian/US guests at breakfast and was rather flattered when Indranil said "oh you're an author". He must have seen my father's book lying around. Me, an author? Well, I suppose I am. Funnily enough, it turns out he is an actor! They are a lovely couple.
I didn't feel like going out to dinner on Friday night. Besides, I had started my healthy diet on Monday and didn't want to break it too soon. It was just Eladio and I for dinner again and we had a delicious prawn and pineapple salad. Later we watched the news and watched another episode of "Tración".
Saturday came. I was up at 5.30 in the morning. I just couldn't sleep any more. That morning it was only me on the walk. Suzy was busy working and Eladio wanted to mow the lawn. But before my walk, I saw my Indian guests off. They wanted a photo with me; imagine. Here we are, me in my dressing gown and unwashed face hahaha.
Indranil later posted a "rave" review which was so nice of him.
We didn't have long to prepare for our next set of guests, a family from Honduras! I was also busy organising lunch for 7 as Miguel and Oli were coming. I had to go out and do some emergency shopping and ended up serving them oven baked salmon with loads of vegetables; blue cabbage, green beans and roast red peppers. It was a wonderful family lunch.
I only saw the end of the 3 pm news - equivalent to midday news in the UK hahaha as everything happens later in Spain. I didn't get my siesta either as I was interrupted by messages, phone calls and at about 4 pm, the arrival of Josefina, her husband Oscar, an gynecologist, and their son Oscar who at the age of 40 has come here to study at the UEM University. I'm not sure I heard right when he said he was going to study nuclear medicine. The three of them are staying here for 10 days and their main mission is to find accommodation for Oscar "junior" who is not so junior. They did not hire a car as they said with a Honduran driving licence they weren't able to do so. Thus they will have to rely on Uber and on buses. I don't see them on buses really as they are a couple in their 70s. But who knows. Out of a sense or responsibility I took them shopping to get food at Carrefour Market. I also took them to a "chino" shop (equivalent to Poundland) to find an adapter for their American 110 volt plugs. Later we realised that they would need a transformer but I wasn't taking them out again in my car. I hope they download Uber soon.
With my afternoon taken up with my guests, it was only at about 7 pm that I was able to relax by the pool with my book. Soon I was joined by the girls who later went for a gentle stroll as Oli needs to walk or so she has been told. Miguel stayed behind reading on one of the sunbeds. Our guests ate their food on the terrace and I had to lock the dogs in the kitchen as otherwise they would have sat by them begging for food hahahah.
We had a little chat with Josefina and her husband Oscar and I told them that their Honduran Spanish was very clear. Often different Latin American accents can be rather strong and different to Castilian Spanish but theirs is very clear. Oscar, the father and gynecologist, told us he had been taught by Spanish Salesian monk so maybe that is another reason his Spanish is so clear and easy to understand. He is very interested in history and soon he and Eladio were discussing the Spanish Civil war. They went to bed early as they had obvious jet lag, the girls and Miguel went to a friend's house for dinner and we were left "alone at home" again. It was another quiet dinner for us and then to bed for more Netflix which Eladio calls "our drug". Well I can think of worse drugs hahaha.
And today is Sunday. Will Rafa win at Flushing Meadows? But, more importantly, will there be any sign of Elliot? Hopefully by the time I write next Sunday I will be a grandmother. Me a grandmother? Am I that old? Can it be? Well yes it can although I still can't imagine it.
Now friends, this is it for this week. I hope you have enjoyed the read. Cheers till next time,
Masha
Our morning started with our daily walk with the dogs. It's great to have the company of Suzy these days before she returns to Bali at the end of October. It was a little chilly and she decided to wear a long sleeved top. I don't know where she dug it out but she came out wearing an old sweat shirt of mine; a Yoigo merchandising relic with the words "Soy Masha" (I am Masha) on it. That had me in stitches. I thought it was hilarious. Here she is.
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| Suzy wearing an old Yoigo relic of mine hahaha |
It was on Monday afternoon that I received the contract from my London publishers. I read it quite a few times and had some feedback to give them. Before signing it though, I sent a copy to a publisher friend and a lawyer friend to get their opinion just to make sure I'm doing the right thing. I don't have a lot of choice in the matter as this is the only publishing house of those that I have been in contact with, willing to publish it, but I must make sure that what I sign is reasonable. I'm not usually a very cautious person but in this case I must be. Cross your fingers friends and readers.
The day ended quite late and Eladio and I stayed up in bed watching "Traición" until nearly midnight.
Tuesday came, only 2 days to Oli's due date. Would Elliot come on time we all wondered? Well he didn't as the due date was Friday and it came and went. But surely it will be any time now. Tuesday was a very busy day work wise for me. I also had time to start updating the manuscript of the book about my father for submission to my publisher. Since I self published the first version, I have thought or learned more things that I am now able to add to the book. That finds me quizzing my father at lunchtime. He gets so happy when I ask him questions about the past and told me that that ot is what keeps him going and thanked me for it. I hugged him, kissed him, told him I loved him and that for me this was pure pleasure. I never used to hug and kiss my father - it just wasn't done but now that he so old it's a different matter. The story of where and what he was doing when WW2 broke out (told above) was new to me and I had to add it to the manuscript.
But before work, of course we went on our early morning walk joined by Suzy. Here she is with two of our dogs, Elsa the lab and Norah the beagle. I love the picture.
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| Suzy on our walk on Tuesday - here with two of our dogs, Elsa the lab and Norah the beagle. |
We caught up with the news on my iPad while eating our meal - very healthy one too; a plain omelet with steamed asparagus. The main international news came from Westminster when Boris Johnson lost the majority in the conservative party. The opposition and some of his own party members voted to take control in the hope of delaying Brexit and above all leaving the EU without an agreement. Events became even more heated the next day when MPs backed a bill to block a no deal Brexit. Johnson had hoped to call elections, too late to stop Britain crashing out of Europe without a deal but that looks as if it is not on the cards either. He has now been defeated on 3 counts and is looking weaker and weaker. But don't underestimate the guy. Anything could happen now.
On the home front, one of the biggest items of news this week was about the disappearance of a former skiing Olympic medalist, Blanca Fernández Ochoa. She comes from a family of skiers and her older brother Paco Fernandez Ochoa was the first Spaniard ever to win a gold medal in the Olympics. Believe it or not I know her or knew her as she once tried to teach me, unsuccessfully, how to ski. It was with a Nokia skiing incentive trip to Baqueira. She left her home in Aravaca, near where we live, on 23rd August and had not been seen since except on security cameras doing some shopping that day or the next. She had told her family she was going hiking in the mountains in the north. The funny thing is she left her mobile behind. Who would go hiking without their mobile I wonder? A few days ago her car was found at a car park in Cercedilla in the mountains of Madrid. Her family thought she may have had an accident but the police were also exploring other lines of investigation. It's a very high profile case. I only hoped she would be found alive. Very sadly, her body was found dead on Wednesday and the world of sport in Spain and elsewhere is in mourning. I was very shocked and my heart reached out to her family who will mourn her for the rest of their lives. The autopsy report has not been released but it is more than likely that she took her own life. How sad.
Later we watched more of our latest TV series, "Traición" the script of which is becoming a little far fetched and were asleep quite early.
Wednesday came. It brought the best international news of the day. Finally the Chinese backed down and gave into the demonstrators in Hong Kong who have been fighting extradition to mainland China. That day the Governor of Hong Kong announced the bill would be suspended (but not withdrawn). That's one could step forward. However, protesters say it is not enough. They say the territory is supposed to have a separate justice system under one country and that's how they want to see it stay. No doubt then, the protests will continue.
The other big news that day and this week in fact has been about Hurricane Dorian. Later it made its way to North Carolina but no longer category 5 before heading for Canada. First it hit the Bahamas causing such devastation that 90% of the houses on Grand Bahama were destroyed.
Life continued quietly here with no signs of the arrival of little Elliot. I had lots of work to do on Wednesday which kept me occupied much of the morning. Suzy was busy too with both her morning online English lessons to Chinese children with Dada and new face to face lessons with a company called "La Casita de Inglés" where she is teaching 4 year old Spanish children. She is loving it.
We had a very similar day to all others. I managed to get most of my work out of the way in the afternoon and was able to sit under the trees by the pool with Eladio.
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| Where we love to read in the afternoons |
I finished Conclave by Robert Harris - highly recommendable by the way and started on a new book. I am a sucker for biographies as you know and am now devouring the new biography on the Mountbattens, Lord Louis (Dickie) and Edwina his wife. I just can't put it down and am enjoying every page I know. Called The Mountbattens, their lives and loves, it is by Andrew Lownie and contains information never revealed before.
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| My book of the week |
Thursday was to be a busy day. That morning we went on our walk. I then rushed back as I had to send out a press release at 11 am and have lunch on the go before that and also say goodbye to our lovely Dutch guests, the young couple Eline, Vincent and their toddler son Johan. They were off to Valencia which seems an ever more magnet for tourists. Our next guests, arriving the same day, had been visiting Valencia too and were driving to Madrid and would reach us in the early afternoon. They were a middle aged couple from New Jersey in the US touring Europe to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. They are originally Indian and are from Calcutta. They were also a lovely couple.
I didn't get work out of the way until lunchtime or so I thought. After our US guests arrived, I spent time on my PC updating the manuscript of my father's book which I have to get to my London publishers by 1st October. That day I sent them my comments on the publishing contract thanks to feedback from an Spanish publisher friend, Javier and a lawyer friend, Mónica. Their feedback was invaluable. Thank you both.
There is not much more to tell about Thursday. It ended with us in bed watching more episodes of Traición.
Friday came, 6th September and it was Oli's due date to deliver little Elliot. I wondered if he would really arrive that day. But no, he didn't. That day my pregnant daughter had an appointment at the hospital. She was told that not so little Elliot now weighs a whopping 4 kilos. That is 8.8lbs and if he is born in a week or two then his weight will go up even more. There is a possibility that because he is a large baby, Oli may have to have what she doesn't want, i.e. a cesarean. In any case she has another appointment next Friday so let's see although you never know, he may be born before that day comes. We're all waiting in excited anticipation.
On Friday we heard of the death of the ex dictator of Zimbabwe, a man my father thoroughly disliked, Robert Mugabe, aged 95. We also heard that Hurricane Dorian hit the North Carolina coast trapping hundreds after its nearly total destruction of Grand Bahama. Boris Johnson got a further hit that day when The Lords passed the bill to stop a no deal Brexit and when the opposition refused to agree to a General Election which if he won would have given him power to crash exit the EU. I'm very pleased about that. He has no other option for the moment than to ask for another extension from the EU if there is no agreement on a deal before 31st October. That gives Brexit a breather for the moment but who knows what will happen. On a much happier note, Rafa Nadal has cruised through to the US Open final and if he beat the other finalist, the Russian, Medvedev, he would be one grand slam behind Federer's 20. It would also be his 4th US Open title. With both Federer and Djokovic out of the way, he was the favourite at Flushing Meadows this year. He will play the final today. I am crossing my fingers for him.
My mind was on all this news on our walk in the morning but once home, my mind turned to other things. I was to have a very busy day. That night I had decided it was high time I got a new computer. My 7 or 8 year old Windows 7 HP Pro Book I had inherited from my time at Yoigo is about 8 years old and kept crashing this week. It was getting slower and slower and only one of the USB ports worked. I had no option but to buy myself a PC for the first time in my life. All my others had been given to me at work. So that morning after our walk, I drove the car to El Corte Inglés, Spain's only real department story but always a place to shop with quality. I wanted a PC laptop, not a Mac as I am used to PCs. I chose an HP probably because all my past PCs were HP. In about half an hour I had purchased a 15 inch red HP laptop with a storage memory of 512 gigabytes. I was tempted to buy a 17 inch model with a larger storage memory but thought that the former would be fine for my needs. After all, I only really use my PC for my work which is mostly emails and documents, for my blog and for my writing and storing of photos. I also got a Microsoft Office pack, a McAfee anti virus, an external DVD player, a new mouse and an external USB adapter. I had expected to pay about 1000 euros but paid quite a lot less as the laptop came at quite a good discount. Ah and one of the deciding factors on the model I chose my friends was its colour - red. I have always had black laptops and was delighted to be the owner of a bright red one. Even the mouse matches it hahaha. This is it. It is also a lot lighter than my old Yoigo PC.
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| My new PC which I am delighted with. |
The whole afternoon, apart from an hour long conference call at 17h, was dedicated to setting up my new laptop. That was a new experience too as in the past at work all the PCs I owned had been set up for me. I had the added difficulty of using Windows 10 for the first time and it's rather different to Windows 7 which I am very used to. It took me a while to get the hang of it and to get rid of the dreaded and unwanted Microsoft search engine, Bing. Who wants Bing when you've got Google? By late afternoon my new laptop was ready for using. I had copied all my files from my Windows 7 laptop and had installed all the necessary software.
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| My new laptop all set up and ready to go and I love it. |
In the morning on Friday I had a chat with our Indian/US guests at breakfast and was rather flattered when Indranil said "oh you're an author". He must have seen my father's book lying around. Me, an author? Well, I suppose I am. Funnily enough, it turns out he is an actor! They are a lovely couple.
I didn't feel like going out to dinner on Friday night. Besides, I had started my healthy diet on Monday and didn't want to break it too soon. It was just Eladio and I for dinner again and we had a delicious prawn and pineapple salad. Later we watched the news and watched another episode of "Tración".
Saturday came. I was up at 5.30 in the morning. I just couldn't sleep any more. That morning it was only me on the walk. Suzy was busy working and Eladio wanted to mow the lawn. But before my walk, I saw my Indian guests off. They wanted a photo with me; imagine. Here we are, me in my dressing gown and unwashed face hahaha.
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| Seeing off my Indian Airbnb guests |
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| Indranil's 5 star review |
I only saw the end of the 3 pm news - equivalent to midday news in the UK hahaha as everything happens later in Spain. I didn't get my siesta either as I was interrupted by messages, phone calls and at about 4 pm, the arrival of Josefina, her husband Oscar, an gynecologist, and their son Oscar who at the age of 40 has come here to study at the UEM University. I'm not sure I heard right when he said he was going to study nuclear medicine. The three of them are staying here for 10 days and their main mission is to find accommodation for Oscar "junior" who is not so junior. They did not hire a car as they said with a Honduran driving licence they weren't able to do so. Thus they will have to rely on Uber and on buses. I don't see them on buses really as they are a couple in their 70s. But who knows. Out of a sense or responsibility I took them shopping to get food at Carrefour Market. I also took them to a "chino" shop (equivalent to Poundland) to find an adapter for their American 110 volt plugs. Later we realised that they would need a transformer but I wasn't taking them out again in my car. I hope they download Uber soon.
With my afternoon taken up with my guests, it was only at about 7 pm that I was able to relax by the pool with my book. Soon I was joined by the girls who later went for a gentle stroll as Oli needs to walk or so she has been told. Miguel stayed behind reading on one of the sunbeds. Our guests ate their food on the terrace and I had to lock the dogs in the kitchen as otherwise they would have sat by them begging for food hahahah.
We had a little chat with Josefina and her husband Oscar and I told them that their Honduran Spanish was very clear. Often different Latin American accents can be rather strong and different to Castilian Spanish but theirs is very clear. Oscar, the father and gynecologist, told us he had been taught by Spanish Salesian monk so maybe that is another reason his Spanish is so clear and easy to understand. He is very interested in history and soon he and Eladio were discussing the Spanish Civil war. They went to bed early as they had obvious jet lag, the girls and Miguel went to a friend's house for dinner and we were left "alone at home" again. It was another quiet dinner for us and then to bed for more Netflix which Eladio calls "our drug". Well I can think of worse drugs hahaha.
And today is Sunday. Will Rafa win at Flushing Meadows? But, more importantly, will there be any sign of Elliot? Hopefully by the time I write next Sunday I will be a grandmother. Me a grandmother? Am I that old? Can it be? Well yes it can although I still can't imagine it.
Now friends, this is it for this week. I hope you have enjoyed the read. Cheers till next time,
Masha
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