Week 6 of coronavirus lockdown, Anne of Green Gables, Spanish government back tracks and finally lets children out, The Queen's 94th birthday, World Book Day, flowers from the garden and other stories.

Sunday 26th April, 2020 - day 42 of confinement in Spain.

Me and my grey roots - Friday afternoon with little Elliot

Dear all,

As I write we are now in week 6 of confinement and it seems some of us have got used to lockdown although, no doubt, most people are dying for a relaxation of rules. I am for one. My father, though, who turns 101 next Friday (wow) hasn't noticed much of a change as his life is generally a quiet life of confinement. He is one of those people, a bit like Captain Tom Moore, who don't complain and just get on with it. Maybe it's because they went through WW2 or just because they are made of stronger stuff. My father has been through many tragic moments in his life, yet he has taught me that life continues. His way of coping is to appreciate the small positive things that life brings and to always look out for the beautiful things among the ugly ones and to enjoy the pleasures, however, small, that life offers. Eladio and I keep telling ourselves that we are privileged in lockdown compared to many people. Over 70% of people in Spain are stuck in flats, mostly small, while we swan in our 600m2 house with its 2500m2 of garden and a pool to enjoy when the weather gets better. Sometimes it feels that we are not in lockdown at all until we remember we cannot go out for exercise, we cannot travel to our two second homes or anywhere else and we cannot go out to dinner. These are the things I miss most. What I need most though,  as I keep telling you week after week, is a trip to the hairdresser hahahahhaahaha. When Oli took a photo of me and Elliot together that's when I realised just how awful my hair looks. 

Last Sunday I reported on the latest case and death figures world wide and in Spain. This time last week, the total number of cases world wide was 2.333.240 and a death toll of 160.318. In Spain the figures were 194.416 and 20.639 respectively. It wasn't so long ago Spain reached the figure of 1000 and that frightened me stiff. Last night's figures for Spain rose to 223.759 cases and a death toll of 22.902. Not far behind are France with 22.614 deaths and the UK with 20.319.  The UK jumped to that number from 15.604. Today the number of cases in the world has gone up to 2.902.708 and the total death toll stands at 202.179. Below is this week's chart and underneath the chart for last week.

Figures for Saturday 25th April 2020

Last week's figures

In Spain at least the curve is definitely descending with deaths in the 300's for the last few days. The other good news is that the number of those recovering daily is greater than the number of those newly infected. That means we are nearing an ease in lockdown. Last night, it was quite a surprise to hear from Spain's PM, that if deaths continue to go down adults will be able to go out to exercise on their own and families on walks together from next week, Saturday May 2nd. I say, roll on next Saturday. Spain is one of the countries with the strictest lockdown measures and after 42 days of confinement, people really need to get out.

Life continued, as it does, for us last Sunday. There had been a huge thunderstorm the night before but we woke up to a sunny day.  Oli, Eladio and I went on the secret walk again but making sure there was lots of space between us. Oli took Elsa, Eladio took Norah and I took Pippa. I was the only one unworried as both my husband and daughter felt bad for breaking the rules. In fact Eladio saw the police while crossing the world which made him run home and he got back before us. That would be the end of our secret walks on the lovely hidden paths behind the big houses here but not quite. 

I came home to make our lunch: Tika Masala curry with rice and some old naans which were a bit hard. It was all rather heavy and the chocolates at the end did not help. Lunch made me feel full all day after that. 

After a restoring siesta I got ready for a skype video call with my Uni friends Adele who lives in Orleans in France and Sandra who lives in Brussels. For about 1.5h we compared notes on lockdown in Spain, France, Belgium and the UK. We also speculated on what the easing off of lockdown would be like for us all. Sandra told us that in Belgium life did not feel as if she was in lockdown, so free are its citizens to go out and exercise, etc. It's a bit more difficult in France but even so people are allowed out to exercise and not just on their own. 

My friends asked after Elliot of course. Sandra, ever the Mother Hen, asked if Elliot's sleep had improved since she was here for New Year's Eve. Both Sandra and Adele were a little shocked that at 7 months old he was still sleeping in the same bed with his parents meaning they have not had a good night's sleep since he was born. Sandra had sent a link to Oli way back in January on how to teach a baby to fall asleep on its own. It was after the call I reminded my daughter gently as I didn't really want to interfere with her parenting. But I must have been a good influence as she read out the instructions - basically to leave it to cry until it sleeps in its cot - and later that night Miguel and Oli put them into practice. Believe it or not it worked. He cried for the first half hour but went back to sleep. He woke up many times, crying for a bit but then sleeping again. In the morning they were delighted to tell us he had slept the whole night in the cot. They carried on the practice all week and he got better and better. So thanks my dear friend Sandra for the tip. 

I spent time playing with little Elliot after the video call and Eladio played with him too as I made dinner that night. Here he is in one of the kitchen sinks with a box of matches in his little hands hahahhahaah. Maybe not the right thing to play with.

Elliot in one of the kitchen sinks on Sunday night

I have to say he is a laugh a minute. 

We had dinner earlier that night. Our dinners since the arrival of Oli and Miguel were getting later and later. I made our meal that evening - prawn, mango, avocado and lettuce salad, followed by strawberries and yoghurt.

Thus we were on time and in bed for the 9pm news. There was nothing new for me, just the awful numbers of victims of the crisis, doom and gloom about the economy and more speculation on how lockdown may be lifted.

That night we began watching a new series on Netflix - Anne with an E. It is basically an updated film version of the Canadian novel, Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery written in 1908. 

The book

I had read it as a child and loved it then and am loving the series now. It is apparently not completely true to the novel, rather to the essence of it so some purists are not too pleased. This series may be seen as childish for some but for me the story is timeless and the series beautifully made.

Poster from the Netflix series

If you are not familiar with the book, it tells the story of an 11 year old red haired orphan with loads of personality who is adopted by ageing siblings who live in Prince Edward Island in Canada. They had wanted to adopt a boy to help with the farm but a girl, Anne, is sent instead. They want to send her back but bit by bit she wins over their hearts as indeed she wins over the hearts of the whole town, Avonlea (fictional name). 

Thinking this was a somewhat childish series - it is and it isn't - I thought Eladio wouldn't be too keen. However, his heart was also won over by Anne with an E and we watched 3 episodes in one go, only switching the lights off at 1.30 in the morning. 

I read the book as a child and its rival The Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder. When I posted something about the series on FB a friend remarked that maybe I would like the Mallory Towers TV series.  Oh gosh yes. Mallory Towers was one of Enid Blyton's boarding school books which as a young girl I devoured. I also devoured the St. Clares and The naughtiest girl in the school books by her. I think I must have read nearly all the Enid Blyton books there were at the time. I also remember another wonderful book series about a boarding school (set in Switzerland) called The Chalet School by Elinor Brent-Dyer. I would love to read them again and wished I had kept my collection. Now they cannot be found for love or money. Well, some of them can but at extortionate prices I'm afraid.  I do hope though to see the Mallory Towers BBC series which for some reason they have spelled Malory with just one "l" as my friend Amanda pointed out to me on Monday. But I can't get the BBC here so will have to wait to see if I can buy the DVD. Oh yes, I used to love books about schools. 

I had a nasty bout of wind in my body that night which continued for a lot of the week for no apparent reason. I got pain and a bloating feeling even in the small of my back. At one stage I thought I had coronavirus!! I could not fathom what caused it. I do get these bouts occasionally but usually after drinking something fizzy which wasn't the case this week. 

I woke up on Monday to sunshine after another night of pouring rain. I had work to do that morning; work on the media coverage report for the press release I sent out for Adamo last week; the one about offering free internet to children of families facing financial difficulties. Gosh there were over 70 clippings, quite a record for not such a big project. However, I think the news was of great interest to the media especially during this crisis when we all know that children are not equal when it comes to schooling and confinement. 

On Monday, my dear cousin Katty, from "down under" New Zealand turned 50. I only wish I could have been with her to celebrate. All the family sent happy birthday videos, us included. So happy 50th my dearest. 

We went on our walk in the morning but as Eladio insisted it had to be in the garden, I gave in and thus we did our 21 laps in 45 minutes enjoying the sunshine. 

For lunch we had my trusted "bitki" (Russian meat pasties) with lots of vegetables. I then had a 2 hour siesta, making up for some missed sleep. I was nearly late for my weekly skype call with Amanda but made it. Over a cup of tea we nattered for about 1.15h; she in Devon and me on the outskirts of Madrid. I always enjoy our calls where, like my calls with Adele and Sandra, we comfort each other during our confinement. 

Miguel and Oli made the dinner that night - vichysoisse followed by ratatouille which is called "pisto" here and a fried egg.  Dessert for Oli and I was fresh raspberries with a couple of spoonfuls of Pastoret yoghurt (divine). 

While they were preparing it, Oli was being amused from his high chair by Eladio juggling a punnet of raspberries. Elliot thought this was highly funny and so did we. Oli captured him on camera and here you can see the video of him chuckling away. I love his chuckle. 

Again we were on time for the 9 pm news - all about the flattening of the curves, lockdown etc. That day one of the things people were speculating on was that people over 65 should be shielded and stay indoors until there is a vaccine. Gosh that is age discrimination and would be awful for us. As Eladio is 75 that would mean we could never go on holiday or out to dinner together for what? 1 year? A year and a half? I certainly hope this is never put in place. If people have to be shielded, the criteria should not be age but physical health. In any case I think people should be able to decide for themselves. 

That night we watched 2 more episodes of Anne with an E until it was time to sleep.

Tuesday 21st April dawned and it had rained again all night and would rain on and off all day. I wondered when I would get our walk in. In the end we went for our walk in the garden in the morning fearing it would pour down with rain in the afternoon which actually it didn't. This month and last month have been so rainy it's depressing. I keep saying I can't wait for the good weather and I can't.

Tuesday was the Queen's birthday, the day she turned 94. Happy Returns of the day your Majesty. Wow 94, that is something.

The Queen turned 94 this week but there were no celebrations

For the first time in 68 years, the Queen  did away with the traditional royal gun salute thinking it inappropriate during the pandemic. She has also done away with celebrations for her second birthday - the official one - in June so there will be no Trooping of the Colour this year. This means she will only celebrate one birthday this year, like all of us common or garden mortals.  I'm sure that doesn't bother her as much as missing Ascot as we all know she is a great horse expert and fan. So, no, there was no fanfare and no family gathering. To mark the occasion, Buckingham Palace released rare footage of the Queen as a young girl never previously seen before. In lots of the images there are animals including horses of course. Here is one I particularly like.

The Queen aged 4 on a Shetland pony given to her by her grandfather 

The photo was published by the Royal Trust on Twitter and is of the Queen aged 4. She was given a Shetland pony by her grandfather King George V. She took riding lessons at Windsor and was able to ride alone when she turned 6. Today she still rides in Windsor Park but not in confinement I suppose.  I have always loved horses too but never got lessons as my parents were frugal teachers and not particularly animal lovers. I, on the other hand, share the Queen's love of animals and today have my own menagerie; 3 dogs and 1 cat. I have often told Eladio I would love to have a donkey (or a pony) but he thinks I'm bonkers. Maybe I am hahahaha but I do love donkeys.

I worked a bit that morning too, compiling the media report on coverage from the press release I sent out last Friday. All in all we garnered 75 articles which if you compare to advertising spend sums up more than 200.000 euros. Wow I was so pleased and so was my customer Adamo who got such a lot of visibility for their great new project. The press coverage of course reached readers who in turn took steps to take up our offer which was the whole purpose of the press release; something I am very glad about.

It was on Tuesday that the Spanish government who had been hinting for days on new rules for children during confinement as part of their lockdown easing off. People were dumbstruck, especially parents, when it was announced that children under 14 would be allowed out but only accompanying their parents on errands already allowed; i.e. to the supermarket, chemist and bank. Parents were furious as they want children just to get fresh air which is something they won't get at supermarkets which are already crowded and a source of contagion.

Images like this emerged on twitter in protest 

So big was the backlash that a few hours later, the Government had to backtrack and announce that from today children (under 14) would be allowed out for walks. They will be allowed out for one hour only and within a radius of 1 kilometre from where they live and always accompanied by one adult who can take out a maximum of three children. The children will have to maintain social distancing, so no swings or visits to the park.  Like many other people, venting their anger mostly on twitter, I was dumbstruck by the stupid new announcement. Is our government really that stupid? Well, it seems it is but thankfully they listened to criticism. So what about over 14 year old's I asked myself. Well, apparently they were already allowed out (not to exercise) to go on restricted errands. Nobody knew that and it's not as if a 14 year old can be expected to do the family shopping. I am happy children can now go out for a walk, albeit an accompanied and restricted one but I think all age groups should be allowed the same privilege as it is not only children who are suffering in confinement.  Thus Elliot will be officially allowed out as from today but only with one parent. Oli and Miguel can get around that though by one of them taking one of our dogs. However, they will still have to be careful as dogs are only allowed out within a distance of 200 metres from their home. These rules make sense in high density areas but not in sparsely populated areas such as where we live. One size rules do not fit all but I suppose it is difficult for the government to apply different rules for the whole country.

At least little Elliot is not suffering from confinement in our house with its big garden.  He went on the swings again that afternoon and Oli captured him on camera. Have you seen how much he has grown?

Elliot on the swings at the end of the garden - Tuesday afternoon

Tuesday was a very quiet day with none of us leaving the house of course. There is not much to report except that Elliot had spent another night through in his cot (hurray) and that we all kept to our routine which you are already familiar with.

Wednesday came and it would be the day I went out shopping this week.  It's amazing how the groceries deplete with 6 of us in the house, not to mention 3 dogs and a cat.  Shopping for 6 people, three dogs and a cat and alone is quite a challenge and my trolley was overflowing by the time I reached checkout at Mercadona. It was mostly full of fruit and veg and even the cashier was surprised. I'm not as we go through it like rabbits hahaaha. After Mercadona I drove to the more upmarket Carrefour Market to get fish, good wine and some goods the low cost supermarket does not stock. I did not experience any queues at all thankfully. My friend Kathy who lives in Keighly, West Yorkshire, told me yesterday there were queues outside their local Sainsbury's of more than 50 people!

It was a lovely rain free day and the sun came out at times, although most of the day it was cloudy but not cold. We all enjoyed being outside and once again Elliot went down to the swings. I love seeing them put to good use after all these years. Here is a selfie of Oli and her little family out in the garden by the swings that day.

Oli with her family by the swings at the end of the garden on Wednesday

It was the perfect weather for gardening and that's just what Eladio did. He had the help of Miguel when it came to mending one of his electric saws and also to sheer some of the very invading hedges. Here they are together in what looks like, to quote my friend Joanna, a jungle. It did in a way and still does as there is more work to be done. Otherwise the garden will just get wilder and wilder.

Eladio and Miguel gardening

Oli had finished work by about 5.30 and came out along with little Elliot. I know the fresh air is doing him a world of good. Here they are together watching Eladio and Miguel working in the garden.

Oli and Elliot in the garden on Wednesday afternoon

I'm not into gardening myself but do like to see it spruced up and looking nice. My favourite flowers are the roses. My second favourite is the mock orange blossom. Ah but I love purple lilac too and the snowball roses which are coming out now. The first roses to bloom were the yellow ones, my favourites too. For some people yellow roses bring bad luck and they are also equated with jealousy. But for me they symbolise happiness, joy and the coming of summer - thus their sun colour. Every time I go on our walk I go pass them all and inspect them to see which ones are flowering first. It's usually the yellow ones that come first and on Wednesday they were already blooming.

The yellow roses - the first of our roses to bloom this year

While the men sheered the hedges in the afternoon, Oli, Elliot,  the 3 dogs and I, broke the rules again and went on the private secret walk behind the big houses in our neighbourhood. It was a joy to walk along a narrow path in between long grass scattered with giant daisies, bluebells and poppies. I especially love the poppies, famous for their seeds that produce opium. I learned that from my mother when I was a little girl. She used to sprinkle poppy seeds on her home made bread and told me they produce opium. I thought it was very daring of her but of course it wasn't hahahahaha.

We came back to more free time - there is oodles of it  - and to make an early dinner. Well, actually, we asked Lucy to make some Spanish tortilla and we did the rest.

We had had a lovely family day and I counted my blessings as I am so lucky to have nearly all my family with me and access to the outside. Sometimes we even forget we are in lockdown and that is good.  Often I think confinement for us is quite pleasurable with lots of family time but that of course is because we have not been touched by the virus. If we had been, things would be very different. There is a lot of tragedy out there and fate has spared us so far for which I am very grateful. Even so there will be a before and after time as this pandemic is the biggest event ever in our lives and we shall never forget it, being marked by it forever, just as our parents were marked by WW2.

Thursday came; another day in lockdown. Roll on May when some measures of lockdown will be lifted. Again I am hoping the hairdressers open then as I imagine many of you are too. In France, my friend Adele is on a waiting list for when hers opens again.

My friend Joanne reminded me it was St. George's Day, the patron saint of England and sent me a lovely flag of my home country. My brother George was named after him.

It was St. George's Day on Thursday - the patron saint of England

In a way St. George's Day is England's national day. My friend also reminded me what I already knew, that St. George was a soldier in the Roman Army who killed a dragon and saved a princess. He was an early Christian martyr and endured torture while defending his Christian faith. While it may not be true, legend has it that he slayed the dragon, later to be equated with the devil, on English soil in Uffington Berkshire.  However there has never been proof that he ever visited England or that he was even a Knight. It was said no grass grew where the dragon's blood trickled. He was not English at all but was born in the 3rd century AD somewhere in Turkey and died in the Roman province of Palestine. The real reason for him becoming the patron saint of England is very hazy. His legend was possibly boosted by returning soldiers from the Crusades. It was King Edward III who is believed to have recognised him as England's patron saint in the 14th century. He was canonised in AD 494 and the feast day of his namesake has been celebrated in England for hundreds of years on April 23rd which may have been the date of his martyrdom.

Thursday was also World Book Day. Facebook reminded me that one year ago that day, on World Book Day last year, I had sent off my father's biography for print to be on time for his 100th birthday. Oh how time flies. This week, in anticipation of my father's 101st next Friday 1st May, his old Cambridge college, Selwyn, wrote to say happy birthday and asked me to send them a photo of him celebrating. That was so kind of them. Thinking about it I'm so glad that my father's 100th was last year when life was normal and not this year during the pandemic. Otherwise  all the things we did for him would have been nearly impossible, including printing the book. This was the cover.

The cover of my father's book which I sent to print one year ago on 23rd April, World Book Day

I wish I could tell you my book has been a success but right now the publication of it in the UK is on hold because of the pandemic. It is available on kindle (here) and will be coming soon in paperback at Waterstones (here).

Lots of people posted photos of their book cases at home in confinement. Realising we have so many, I decided to show off mine too and then included some of my father's. He has so many books they take up all his room. He had many more but threw out a lot when he moved from Bradford to Madrid in 2005. His shelves include the whole works of Russian literature which he bought with my mother when we lived in Ruskington. His favourite Russian author is Chekhov. Being a linguist he has books in many languages; Russian, English, French, German, Norwegian, Spanish, Dutch, Danish and a collection of the Teach Yourself a language series so popular years ago.

Two of my father's old bookcases in his room 

We have lots of books too although not as highbrow as my father's. I have a veritable library of books in English which are in the TV lounge, the one we never use.

My own English library

I was brought up in a reading family. My mother was very intellectual but also enjoyed bestsellers and she had a spate when she read most of Agatha Christie's novels. In the next moment though she would be reading either Tolstoy of Dostoyevski. My reading journey began when I was about 7. Our next door neighbours, the Tocheks, were moving out and their older children gave George and I their book collection. That's when we both discovered Enid Blyton. We devoured every book our neighbours gave us and then once a week we were given pocket money to buy a new one, usually at "Busby's" in Bradford. My tastes have changed of course. Today I like novels but my favourite genre is biography. On our shelves we also have lots of dictionaries, encyclopedias, atlases and travel guides although many of them are out of date now. Sadly I cannot fit any more books into our house so for a few years now have been using a kindle which probably has about 1000 books in it. The travel books and some of Eladio's philosophy books, as well as all my Nottingham University Spanish and Portuguese little library are housed in our study. I took the photo of some of the shelves there yesterday and very appropriately Eladio was reading while I snapped with my camera.

Our study has lots of books too

Of course being in confinent during lockdown is very condusive to reading and I for one have found a lot of solace doing so. Right now I am still reading Abdul and Victoria, having parked Churchill away for later. I should be using the time to write my mother's book but precisely because of the pandemic which worries me so, my mind is not at rest and I cannot write. I can only hope inspiration returns when this is all over. Who knows when that will be?

Our day was pretty similar to most of our days in confinement. It was partially cloudy with some sun and thankfully did not rain. The highlight was talking to Suzy on whatsapp video after our siesta. She was sunbathing in London believe it or not (on the terrace of her friend's flat). It's her birthday next week and we had sent her some chocolates (Thornton's) and some Spanish Albariño wine (Terras Gaudas). She had received the chocolates which had already been eaten hahahhaa but not the wine. She confirmed she will be coming to Madrid at the end of May or beginning of June before heading back to Bali. She found a flight for 15 euros from London to Madrid which surprised me. I had thought that firstly there were no flights and secondly that flights would be expensive during and after the pandemic.

Later we went on our walk in the afternoon and were joined by Oli and Elliot. Miguel prefers to work out (gym style) and does so with friends on Zoom which is so much in fashion now.

Oli made dinner that night from a delicious recipe for stuffed aubergines Turkish style. I helped her and learned how to make them while doing so. This was the result and they were delicious. I shall be trying my hand at them another time.

Oli's delicious stuffed aubergines.

The day ended with more of Anne with an E episodes on Netflix. It is rather childish  but is delightful at the same time.

Friday came and the sun shone again. I had noticed on my walks around the garden that both the sweet mock orange and guelder-rose bushes were already in full bloom.

Our sweet smelling mock orange blossom which always blooms at the end of April

One of our two guelder rose bushes. Love this snowball like rose

So excited was I to see them in bloom that I went out into the garden in the early morning to pick flowers for the house. I particularly love the sweet smelling mock orange blossom which is sometimes called English dogwood. The  botanical name is Philadelphus Coronaries. This flower always reminds me of the girls's first Holy Communion celebrations when we lived at our other house. I adore the smell which slightly reminds me of the smell of jasmine. I also love the snowball type roses called a guelder-rose. Its  botanical name is Vibernum Opulus. This rose type flower resembles a snowball; thick and white and oh so beautiful. Yes I love flowers yet I don't know much about them. While out picking flowers for the house and for my father, I also cut some of the first roses, my favourites, the yellow ones. Here are the vases ready for distribution around the house.

Flowers from the garden for distribution around the house

During confinement I am finding lots of pleasures. You already know that I find a lot of solace from cooking and reading. As I wrote above, I have always been a reader so when there was a Facebook challenge to post photos of the covers of 7 books, 1 per day, of books I love or have had an impact on me it was a hard choice. The challenge has been doing the rounds and in my case was thrown at me by my soul mate Sandra. Book 1 was by the British author, Nevil Shute. Published in 1950, "A town like Alice" became his most loved novel. My Aunty Gloria had a library of books from a book club that we inherited after her death. It was my mother who started reading some of them among which she found "A town like Alice". It tells the story of a young woman (Jean Paget)caught in WW2 in Malaysia and who is sent on a march around the country by Japanese soldiers. Many of them die in awful conditions. But it is also a wonderful love story. The book is loosely based on the true story of a group of Dutch women made to march in Sumatra, Indonesia. I have read it countless times and now that I have remembered it, I may read it again soon.

One of my all time favourite books

On day 2 of the challenge, I posted the cover of another favourite book; Wild Swans: 3 daughters of China cc

A book that had a profound impact on me and which I must read again

This book written by Jung Chang tells the story of three generations of Chinese women, her grandmother, her mother and herself. It thus tells the story of modern China from before Mao Tse-Tung, his reign and the end of it. What a story. Again you see this is another biography, but this one is firsthand.

As to cooking, that morning I made up a recipe from some chicken breast I had in the fridge. I looked for recipes but in the end make up my own. I floured the chicken, fried it in butter and added stir fried onion, leeks, chicken stock and then some yoghurt, coconut, sultanas and almonds. Served with rice it was delicious and I got a lot of compliments.

We had a delightful afternoon all together outside in the garden. I kept asking myself; is this confinement? Really all our days begin to resemble a normal Sunday. Eladio mowed the front lawn that day. The grass is growing at such a speed because of the intermittent rain that he can hardly keep up.

Eladio mowing the front lawn on Friday. Notice Pippa in the picture

Elliot is loving it outside as there are so many stimuli for him. He just chuckles and smiles all the time and is a pleasure to have as company in confinement. As you can see below he loves the grass and the dogs. I'm so glad there have been no issues with them over him. What has happened is that they have immediately recognised him as "one of the pack" and that is good.

Elliot stroking Norah with Oli looking on and Pippa lying down peacefully in the sun

Oli and I took the dogs on their walk through the lovely pretty paths behind the houses. When we got back Miguel had returned from some shopping. It's not that we really needed anything but he had bought food to make more chef like meals. He is such a good cook. That night saw him making fried artichokes. Wow.

Fried "flower" artichokes in the making

Being Friday night we all indulged and I had wine and chocolates which are not a good combination but for once I did not get a headache.

Saturday came and again it was sunny and we spent part of the day outdoors. The morning was spent cooking. Miguel was making our lunch - his famed boletus risotto and some "torrijas" (like French toast). The excuse was to make them to take round to our neighbours after they had brought us the Russian Easter fare, but of course he made many more which we would also eat.

Miguel's torrijas

Spurred on, it was that morning I tried my hand at making flapjacks. I had seen a post from Bradford Grammar School where the school chef made them in confinement. He said they were a school favourite. Well they are a favourite with me too and I hadn't eaten one for years, so yesterday was the day to have a go at making them. I watched his video on You tube and with a bit of help from Olivia made quite a big batch.  I did not have any golden lyle syrup and used honey instead. The trickiest part was taking them out of the tin without them  crumbling. That's why the shapes are not exactly perfect.

My attempt at flapjacks

I have to say they were delicious. I ate one in the afternoon and as the main ingredient is oats, I felt full until dinner time.

The afternoon was quiet and the repeat of most days. Yesterday afternoon we did our walk around the garden while Oli and Miguel tried to watch a film - not easy with a baby. By the time we were on lap 10 or so, they were on the kitchen patio feeding Elliot his afternoon fruit. Oh how he loves to eat hahahahhaa. Every time we came around to where they were, we were welcomed with an excited hand gesture and huge smiles. Here is Oli feeding him a puree made of raspberries, bilberries and apple and his face was covered in it. I had to have that picture hahahha.

Elliot having his afternoon tea outside yesterday

Our walk finished at around 7.15 pm. I always call the time between the end of the walk and dinner "my time" to read, talk to friends, scroll on my phone etc. Yesterday during "my time" I facetimed with Phil and Kathy in Keighley. I always love to talk to them. I was so glad to hear that Brian, Kathy's father is a lot better although we shall never know if he got the virus. William, one of Kathy's four sons and who is in confinement with them together with his son Charlie aged 8 and partner, Katrina, told me he had visited his grandparents that morning. I think he does their shopping. I loved it when he told me that his grandmother had put on some lipstick in confinement and remarked to her grandson Will "so that he (Brian) still finds me attractive". Isn't that lovely?. Their love story beats many loves stories we may read about or see on film. The very fact that when 89 year old Brian was faced with the choice of being admitted to hospital when he fell ill a week or so ago, or to go home, and he  said "I want to go home to be with my wife" proves his marriage vows. May God keep them safe.

Oli and Miguel decided on the menu for dinner last night which was fried eggs and chips - not so healthy but oh so delicious. It was late to bed last night and so we only got the tail end of the news; the best news being that very likely we shall be able to go out to exercise individually and on walks as a family as from next Saturday. As I said at the beginning, roll on 2nd May. Fingers crossed too that the curve continues to descend for this new measure to be put in place.

I have now come to the end of this week`s tales and will leave you now until next Sunday. Wishing you all well; keep safe my friends.

Till next time, cheers
Masha

Week 5 of coronavirus lockdown, Boris Johnson leaves hospital thanking the NHS and "foreign nurses" and is recovering in luxury at Chequers, Easter Sunday in confinement, get better Brian, Andrea Bocelli sings to the world, Oli back to work (at home), meet Captain Tom Moore, the 99 year old British veteran walking to raise funds for the NHS, Elliot turns 7 months old, my first face mask TV interview, Happy Russian Easter and other tales of the week.

Sunday 19th April, 2020, day 35 of lockdown in Spain. 

During the Europa Press TV interview on Friday morning at home. No amount of makeup or brushing of my hair could cover up my ever increasing grey hair and wrinkles from age and confinement. I look tired and old. 

Good morning friends and readers.

How are you all doing in confinement around the world. Hopefully you are coronavirus free and sticking it out as best you can. I feel for all those who have fallen sick, those who died and for their families. This virus is no joke, despite all the jokes going around.

We are now at the end of our 5th week of lockdown here in Spain. 5 whole weeks of confinement. Who could have imagined that ever happening in our lives and in the world over?  Our worlds have changed completely. We are living a historic moment, something that will go down in time that affected the whole world and that we couldn't fight against in time to save lives because the enemy was an invisible and unknown nasty little virus. The last time this happened was with the Spanish flu in 1918, more than one hundred years ago. Then an estimated 50 million people died. Today hopefully the figure will be lower as today hygiene is better and our hospitals are more equipped though not well enough to cope, as we have seen in countless images from health workers everywhere. Here in Spain many people blame the government. But the government is also facing something unprecedented and I wonder if those who are blaming it could have done better. They say the government acted too late. There was a study released this week that showed how the deaths would have been far less if Spain had gone into lockdown one week earlier. The government ordered lockdown when we had only 124 deaths and even so should have done so earlier. Other countries reacted much later, the big example being the US, now top of that most terrible league of numbers of infected and dead. So, yes I do blame the government for calling for lockdown on 14th March. However, I do not blame the government as much for the lack of hospital protective gear. Countries the world over are competing for it and there is not enough to go round. However, what I question every day when I look at the statistics, is why oh why does Spain together with Italy have the highest number of deaths per capita?  The numbers are mind boggling. With over 190k cases and more than  20k dead, that gives Spain a mortality rate of nearly 400 deaths per 1 million inhabitants compared to 54 for Portugal, 35 for Germany, 9 for Greece, 71 for the USA, 4 for South Korea, 6 for Romania, 20 for Canada and less than 1 per million inhabitants in Japan. Meanwhile, using a different way of calculating the deaths, our chief medical officer, Fernando Simon, says that the mortality rate in Spain is 10%. He is either lying or he is wrong. You only have to look at the rows in the charts above and divide the number of deaths between the population of each country to get the right answer and the answer for Spain is that we are at the top of the league for death mortality and that is something I cannot get my head around. The Spanish government are like ostriches, burying their heads in the sand whenever they get a question during the daily press conferences as to why Spain has more deaths than all the other countries in the world, except for Italy. They come up with generalities that do not satisfy me.  The answer probably lies my friends, because of a lack of provisioning for hospital protective equipment and certainly a lack of testing. Other reasons of course are the large number of elderly in Spain and the fact that extended families live together, but that is not the whole picture. 

Thankfully though, now in Spain we have passed the peak and the need for protective gear is not as crucial as before. Even so the numbers are still dire. If last week when I wrote, this country had a reported number of 161.852 infected cases and a death toll of 16.353 today the numbers are 194.416 and 20.639. The worldwide numbers last week were 1.760.971 cases and over 107k dead. Today those numbers have increased to 2.332.471 and 160.784. That is a big increase on last week. .

Below you can see the chart of the top countries affected published yesterday night and underneath the chart published the Saturday before. It's so depressing.

Chart Saturday 18th April

Last week's chart dated 10th April 2020

Last Sunday was Easter Sunday and perhaps the strangest Easter Day in our lives. No one could go to church, no one could attend Easter processions, such a huge part of the culture and traditions in Spain. We are not church goers but Easter Day has always been important to me. That night I heard someone say on TV that one of the reasons for the economy taking a plunge is that we are no longer buying things we do not need. Of course we are not. We only buy food and spend money on the basic necessities at home; water, electricity, internet and mobile phones. Do we need anything else I ask myself? Well, I, for example desperately need a hair cut and a lot of other people do too. But is that essential? Well, not now but for me it soon will be. I have noticed people on television with longer beards and longer hair that could do with their hair cutting too but we shall have to wait. 

Being Easter Day I had looked forward to eating the 2 chocolate eggs I had acquired from Amazon some time ago. I felt a bit guilty thinking that they weren't essential. However, I comforted myself thinking that they were really if we wanted to try and live as normal an Easter as possible during confinement. So later I ate them with guilt and with pleasure - not all of course as I shared them with the family. 

But back to the beginning of last Sunday. It was a sunny day and after publishing my blog, my dear older daughter, Suzy, rang me from London where it was sunny too. We hadn't spoken for a while. I think she rang at around 9.30 am my time. She told me she had gone outside to have her coffee (and a fag) as all the other people in her flat were sleeping and that they sleep late. I didn't say anything but thought to myself that she wouldn't have had that problem if she had decided to stay here. But there you go. She seemed cheerful but is determined to return to life in Bali when air traffic is restored. I am worried for her as I know that her life could be in danger there. 

It was on Sunday morning that Boris Johnson was discharged from St. Thomas' hospital. What a sigh or relief both for him, his family, the government and the nation in general. The Prime Minister made a speech thanking the NHS for saving his life.  I wonder if he remembers that he was one of the politicians who voted against giving nurses a pay rise in 2017? Ironically he also personally thanked two non national nurses, Luis Pitarma from Portugal and Jenny McGee from New Zealand who looked after him in Intensive Care.  It escaped no one's attention that he was thanking two non national nurses who belong to the NHS. It also escapes no one's attention that the NHS would not have been able to cope with this crisis if it wasn't for all the non British staff that help to make up its numbers. Aren't they the very people he wants to send back because of Brexit I ask myself? So why did he mention them? Only he knows the answer. Some have suggested this is an indirect message of the delay in implementing Brexit which has now been relegated to the bottom of the pile of the government's worries as it tries to fight the battle against Covid-19.

He was taken to the PM's country residence, Chequers. They couldn't have thought of a better place for his convalescence. It will take quite a while for him to return to work as he really has to rest now.

Chequers, the magnificent weekend retreat for British Prime Ministers since it was first occupied by Lloyd George in 1921.

Chequers was given to the nation in 1917 by a conservative Minister, Sir Arthur Lee and Lloyd George was its first occupant. Set in the Chiltern Hills, far from the city, it is the perfect place to rest. Margaret Thatcher's daughter, Carol, called it a "boutique hotel" but with top level security and the perfect weekend retreat. It's also the perfect retreat to convalesce with its views of fields of sheep not to mention its heated indoor swimming pool and renowned chef. It is a privileged place for privileged people. Again and again the virus is showing the enormous difference in class in how society is experiencing lockdown and confinement. 

I wonder who accompanied him for his Easter lunch that day and what he ate.  We were together as a family and I went all out and made a proper Easter Sunday roast with chicken and all the trimmings. I still had one packet of Paxo's sage and onion stuffing and two small jars of Colemans cranberry sauce to go with the meal which was much appreciated.  They were leftovers from a big online order I made for Christmas.

Roast chicken and all the trimmings for our Easter Sunday lunch

The afternoon was sunny too. That day Oli was wearing one of my summer dresses; a lovely flowered yellow one I got from H&M last year. I wonder if it still fits me? Maybe not after all the chocolate I ate last week.  Oli and her little family spent the afternoon by the pool. By then she was in a bikini! Unfortunately the pool is still closed and looks a bit ugly with the tarpualin covering it which is full of green and slimy water. I can't wait for the better weather when it will be removed. 

Being outside is doing Elliot the world of good. He has many more stimuli here compared to the little flat in Valencia. He has more faces to see, people to interact with, the dogs of course, not to mention our great big garden. He is so happy all of the time and always cheers us up. Here he is smiling away in the arms of his grandfather last Sunday afternoon.

Two happy people last Sunday, little Elliot and his grandfather

I joined Oli and co by the pool with my cup of tea. Eladio went off to do more gardening or rather gather together all the leaves and weeds, etc, that had to be tied up and placed in the street to be picked up by the local services people on Monday morning.

By then we had moved to the kitchen patio. I sat outside on the new benches in the sun while Miguel started making torrijas in the kitchen. Torrijas are like French toast and are very typical in Spain at Easter. Here he is in the throes of cooking them. Miguel too finds great solace in cooking and he is very good at it.

Miguel making "torrijas" last Sunday

Miguel is missing his parents and at Easter is used to his mother making the "torrijas". Of course he is missing them and they are missing Elliot. I am so privileged and lucky to have both my daughter and grandson with us. 

At that moment I  was about to go on my walk when I received an alarming message from my friend Kathy who lives in Yorkshire. We went to St. Joseph's College school together and are very close. I was alarmed to hear her father, Brian, who is aged 89, had been taken into hospital with suspected Covid-19. Oh my God I thought, how awful. I also wondered how on earth it had happened as he and his wife have not moved from their house in 5 weeks, only opening the doors to receive the food their daughters, Kathy, Liz and Deborah leave for them on their door step. But of course they have carers to look after them so that can be the only way for them to have been in contact with the virus. Kathy then rang me distraught with the news. Her dear father who I know and loved the moment I met him, was in A&E with the beginnings of pneumonia and looking like he had the dreaded virus after initial tests.  Once there he was given the choice of staying there or going home.  The choice was dire and difficult for an old man to take on his own especially as he was feeling very unwell:  1) be admitted into a covid ward where he would definitely get the virus although he may not have had it when he got to the hospital or 2) return home with a "package". A package meant a district nurse visiting him and medicines. The medicines turned out to be morphine and tablets to ease the agony of not being able to breathe. The dear man chose to go home to be with his wife, the love of his life. Later he told his daughter he had the impression the hospital didn't want him there! Sending old people home with palliative care for them to die without treatment is paramount to euthanasia in my mind. They never did a covid test on him which left his family worried; covid tests only being done if patients are admitted to hospital. What a dreadful situation. He is his wife's carer as she has alzheimer's but who would care for him I ask myself? It is risky for his daughters to go in the house and help out as they are not exactly spring chickens either. I am hoping and praying for both of them. Later Kathy sent me a photo of her father back home and looking happy to be there. God bless him. His great passion in life, by the way, is roses. He has a huge collection in his garden and used to be a rose judge at the prestigious Yorkshire Show. I really hope Brian gets better and recovers soon. 

Get better soon Brian

The news rather sobered me. The virus is getting closer to us all. More and more of us now know of cases yet weeks ago we didn't. Later in the week I heard form Kathy that her father Brian was better; i.e. his pneumonia didn't seem to have got worse and she and her family think he does not have the virus. Thank God the man chose to go home otherwise he would have got the virus in hospital and probably died there. Doesn't bear thinking about. 

After finishing our walk, I came back in and knew I wasn't hungry for dinner. How could I be? I had asked Lucy to make one of her tortillas and I had a tiny slice with a bit of salad. But of course there were Miguel's torrijas to try and the last Easter Egg. Too much chocolate gave me indigestion and I had to take a Rennie during the night. 

During our walk I had missed a very important event that happened worldwide, a message of peace and hope  at Easter during confinement. That evening the Italian tenor, Andrea Bocelli, sang alone and accompanied just by an organist at the Duomo cathedral of Milan. His 30 minute "Music for Peace" concert was streamed worldwide to a captive audience. I listened and watched it the next morning and did so twice as I was so moved. His solo performance was stunning and was accompanied by images of empty cities such as Bergamo, Milan, Paris, London or New York. His performance of Amazing Grace at the end, standing on the steps of the Duomo by the empty square was truly moving. If you didn't see it, I urge you to because it is beautiful and uplifting. This is the link to his performance on You Tube. 

Andrea Bocelli singing to the world outside the Duomo Cathedral of Milan on Easter Sunday 

I think his amazing concert will have filled people's hearts and comforted them on a day that is so important to Christians, Easter Day. I thank him for his gesture. It certainly moved me. 

Monday came, Easter Monday. For us it was just another day in confinement but for Oli it meant back to work. She did not go back the work in the way she had imagined of course, thanks to the crisis. She went back to work but from home. She has taken over Suzy's big bedroom to which we have added one of the dining room tables from our home at 6 Heaton Grove in Bradford. I think it came from my father's study. Her work has changed too. Obviously she can't do live reports from home so is coordinating the stories other reporters have to cover. She would far prefer to be out in the streets covering the biggest story of her life, but her life is safer at home with Elliot.  I walked in the room to see how she had set up her work space and mentioned the room was a bit of a mess. Her answer was "but it's our mess"! Oh well, what can I do?

Miguel was now fully in charge of Elliot as he has a month left of his paternity leave. However, whenever I can, I step in and play with my lovely grandson. We have such fun together.

I love playing with Elliot

Other people were not as lucky as Oli and had to go out into this frightening new world to work. They were the non essential workers from industry and the building sector whose work had been interrupted for 2 weeks over Easter. Masks were being given out to them on a massive scale at big transport hubs. Other countries were slowly starting to relax some of the lockdown restrictions. For example Austria started opening some shops and so did Italy. In the case of Italy, the region of Lombardy still so hardly hit, held off and won't be opening any other shops than those they consider essential for some time.In the opposite direction, from France, we heard that Macron announced lockdown to continue until 11th May. Schools would gradually open again and the Universities will open in September. There is no talk yet in Spain about when we shall ease out of lockdown. but lots of talk of how it could be.  I think many people would be happier if we were allowed out to exercise if only for an hour a day. The worry is mostly for children who as I write have now been confined at home for more than one month.

Easter was over for us and so was eating chocolate for me hahaha. I have made much healthier meals too since last Sunday. The weather behaved that afternoon and I sat outside in the sun reading my latest book. I have put Churchill aside for a while and swapped him for "Abdul and Victoria". You may have seen the film about Queen Victoria and her Indian servant. It was the film that inspired me to read the book and it is fascinating. Abdul Karim, a Muslim prison clerk in India, was sent to London to wait on the Queen for the Jubilee celebrations. Queen Victoria had just been appointed Empress of India, a title she was delighted with. Unfortunately though she could never visit the country for security reasons. But what she could do was to bring a part of India to London and that's what she did when she brought the young Karim to her court, so eager was she to learn about India. No one could have imagined just how much he would go on to mean to the mourning Queen who had just lost her favourite court member, John Brown. John Brown, her adored husband, Prince Albert's Gilly, was a great help to her when mourning her beloved husband. So happy was the Queen with her Indian servant who made her curry and taught her Urdu, that she gave him the title of "Munshi" (teacher) and promoted him to the rank of a noble much to the disdain of both the court and her family who hated him through and through for his influence on the monarch and, let's face it, were a bit racist.  When Queen Victoria died, the Munshi and his family were reviled by the court, the Queen's letters to him burned and he and his family were sent back to India in disgrace. Thankfully the generous Queen had provided for a well to do life for her Munshi in India. It is a fascinating story that the royal house of Windsor has somehow wanted to keep quiet. Thankfully though, the Munshi's diaries were saved and smuggled to India and allowed the author of the book, Shrabani Basu, to be able to document the story which has only come to light really after the marvelous film. I'm sure the old Queen would be happy and her Indian servant too.

I do love that period of history. Did I ever tell you that history was my favourite subject at school? We had a marvelous teacher, Miss Scorer who lived near us. I think I had a bit of a crush on her.

Tuesday came and it was another day in confinement but not just any day; it marked one month since lockdown started in Spain. When I speak to Suzy and she asks how we are I don't really have much to tell her as our days are nearly always the same. But that is a blessing. My father always used to say "no news is good news" and I agree.

Oli went to her desk to work at around 10 a.m. and at one stage was in the middle of a meeting when Elliot needed feeding. That was easily remedied as you can see from the photo below.

Oli, the true working Mother hahahaha. 

Thankfully Miguel is there to rescue Elliot and let Oli get on with her work. Elliot who turned 7 months old on Friday, is so much more alert than before. He responds to his name, turns his head to look at things and actually plays with his toys. He has also discovered his voice and can be quite loud at times hahahaha. He is easy to entertain so long as he is not hungry or sleepy, bless the little boy.

Elliot smiling at the camera 

I spent a lot of the morning cooking - my solace and therapy in confinement. What did we have that day? Ah yes, home made chicken noodle soup, followed by "bitki" (Russain hamburgers) with veg and chips (no chips for me though).

That afternoon was my weekly Skype call with my oldest school friend, Amanda who lives in Devon. We had a good old natter for about an hour. I do look forward to our calls.  She mentioned Skype  calls with her family and extended family when they play quizzes. It seems many many familes in the UK are playing quizzes online. I would love that but my family are not quiz fans hahahaha.

While I was on Skype, Eladio was mowing the lawn. The grass was was so long I wondered if his lawnmower could cope with it but thankfully it did. Miguel took a great picture of my husband on the job. I was not happy to see him doing it in wearing one of his best white shirts!!

Eladio mowing the lawn on Tuesday afternoon

Just as he had finished the clouds opened up and it poured with rain and then  hail. That stopped us going on our walk which I found frustrating. If only the good weather would come and then life in confinement at home would  be much more joyful.  The bad weather doesn't help my mindfulness.

What did help my mindfulness was watching a lovely period drama called The Ottoman Lieutenant, that night on Netflix. It is a beautiful love story between an English nurse and Turkish Army officer, she a Christian and he a Muslim; an impossible love story set during the outset of WW1 in Turkey. The film has been criticised for not portraying properly the story of the massacre of the Armenians. I'm afraid my knowledge of that episode in history is scant and I am no judge. But oh how I enjoyed the romanticism of this beautiful film.

Wednesday came, the middle of the week and it does seem time is passing very slowly during confinement; not perhaps though for Captain Tom Moore.  It was on Wednesday that the amazing story this now famous WW2 veteran hit the the news. This 99 year old who was born in Keighley, West Yorkshire, wanted to do 100 laps of the 25 metre path around his house before he reaches 100 at the end of this month. His campaign which I suspect was run by his adoring daughter Hannah was dubbed "Tom's 100th birthday walk for the NHS". He would do the laps in chunks of 10 each day.  Note this is no easy feat for the nonagenarian as he walks very slowly with the help of a walking frame.  He started raising funds on this page and initially wanted to raise 1000 pounds to go to the NHS in their fight against coronavirus. He is also grateful for the NHS helping him overcome cancer and for the successful operation performed on his broken hip.  However, his story went viral and within a very short space of time he had raised millions of pounds. By Thursday morning it had gone over 12 million and grew and grew. Today it stands at a staggering 39 million and is still growing.  The story of this incredible hero of our times and of past times, contrasts with a lot of doom and gloom tales of the crisis and for me is an inspiration to help believe kindness still exists.  I wish there were more people like Captain Tom Moore around. There are of course but also many people who moan and groan at confinement. Better than moaning is just to accept and carry on.   This story should be an inspiration to us all. I salute Captain Tom Moore and thank him for his efforts and for cheering us all up.

Meet Captain Tom Moore, then and now. What an inspiring story. 

I told Oli about the story which I hadn't seen in the Spanish media yet, and suggested her programme cover it. She loved it, I hope the programme editors and director do too.

It was Miguel's turn to do the shopping that day. I spent the time while he was away in charge of entertaining little Elliot. But soon I had to make the lunch and Eladio took over. He loves being with us and reaches out his little arms to be picked up. When he is in my arms, he reaches out to Eladio and when he is in Eladio's arms he reaches out to me. One morning this week I took him down to my father's room to say hello and he even stretched out his arms for his great grandfather to hold him. Isn't that sweet?

In the afternoon we all went on our walks. Eladio and I with Pippa in the garden and Oli, Miguel and Elliot went further afield taking Elsa and Norah with them. They went across the field opposite our house on very hidden paths. I suppose in a way they broke their confinement but I see no threat whatsoever walking with dogs on those tiny hidden little paths. Elliot needed the walk as much as his parents and the dogs. They carried him in their baby ruck sack and when they returned he was fast asleep. When Oli shared this photo of him asleep in the little sack, Suzy commented "a baby or a giant?" He is so big. That made us laugh.

Elliot asleep after his work on Wednesday

Who did break confinement and was caught out was Spain's former Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, well known for his love of exercise and sport. The left wing TV channel La Sexta reported on him leaving his house in sports gear and aired footage of him going on a walk. I reckon they probably had their cameras outside his house waiting to pounce on him if he left it. He should of course be leading by example but unfortunately he is not.  However, as I write about this, I can't be sure whether this was for real or not as there is so much fake news around. There have been comments that the images of the former President were taken in 2019 and not now. I really did doubt he would flout the rules that way.

On the topic of confinement and dogs that day I read another piece of news that tickled me pink. It was about a 7 year old miniature chocolate dachshund, "Rolo", who is the spitting image of Pippa. Well, it seems dogs are delighted that their human owners are in confinement and at home. Rolo, particularly so. When dogs are happy they wag their tails. Well, Rolo was so excited he wagged his a bit too much until it sprained. His owners had to take him to the vet for him to be operated on. This is another story that has gone viral and rightly so. I am happy to report that Rolo is now on the mend and to quote his owner, his "wag ability" is nearly all back.

Rolo who sprained his tail from too much wagging from the excitement of having his family at home for confinement.

I was so touched by the story and that Rolo and Pippa are so look alike, that I posted a photo of Pippa  on Instagrama and tagged Rolo, sending greetings from  one dog to the other You can read the full  story here. Thankfully that is not going to happen to Pippa in confinement as she is used to us being around always. God bless little dachshunds.

Miguel made dinner again that night; a Moroccan style chicken dish with baked pumpkin and roast red peppers. He also made a batch of cookies called "roscillas" which are like little fried doughnuts but harder. I am glad to tell you I did not resist temptation.

Dinner was late and thus we went to bed late. It's difficult to find something we really like on Netflix or Prime Video. I am tempted by Vanity Fair but it sounds a bit eccentric. I remember reading Thackery's most famous novel at St. Joseph's college, my school in Bradford but don't remember much about it. Instead we watched a film called The Buddenbrooks which is based on a novel by the Nobel Peace prize winner,  the German author, Thomas Mann. Eladio didn't like it but I did despite the negative ending.  This is the link to information on the film which by the way is the 2008 version. There were two more made in the 50's and 70's.

I couldn't sleep afterwards. I kept thinking of some new work I had to do the next morning. When I have important work pending, I need to do it and get it out of the way, otherwise I lose my peace of mind. That's what happened that night.

Thus I was awake early on Thursday morning and as soon as I had had breakfast and read the headlines, I got down to my work and by 9.30 had sent off a new document. That meant I would be relatively free until I got feedback. The ball was no longer in my court.  However, it would be tossed to and fro all day, keeping me quite busy. I have to say I am very thankful I have work to do, first because it brings in the earnings and second because if gives me something to do and takes my mind off the crisis we are living.

I had just finished my work when I got a phone call from my neighbour, Julio. He wanted to give me a loaf of bread either he or his Russian born wife, Ekaterina, had baked. Wow what a lovely gesture. We greeted each other at  a distance of course. I asked how the family was coping and they are doing well. However, Julio thinks they all had coronavirus at the end of January when they came down with a nasty flu which he now attributes to the virus as there were two positive cases at his boys' school. Later I repaid the gesture by taking around some of Miguel's "roscillas". And wow was the bread delicious. It had sultanas and figs inside and even I tried it even though I am steering away from bread during confinement. We had eaten it all by the time I remembered to take a photo.

I spent time cooking again that morning and made shepherd's pie which I thought Oli and Miguel might like as they have never tried it. I'm glad to say they did.

Again that afternoon we were robbed of our walk as it rained all day. Where it didn't rain was in England where they are experiencing much nicer weather than here. It was on Thursday that Captain Tom Moore finished his heroic birthday walk and walked the last steps of his 100 step objective. He did so escorted by a guard of honour of the 1st Batallion Yorkshire Regiment (the modern day incarnation of his former Duke of Wellington Regiment). As he reached his "Finish line", he was asked how he felt. He smiled and looking at the soldiers around him, said he was "surrounded by the right sort of people".

Captain Tom Moore reaching the finish line of his garden and escorted by a guard of honour of the 1st Batallion Yorkshire Regiment. 

He had positive words to those watching when he said "you've got to remember that we will get through it in the end, it will be alright".  He then added: "the sun will shine on you again and the clouds will go away". His daughter Hanna said "he is a beacon of hope in dark times and I think we all need something like this to believe in and it's for such an amazing cause". The whole country is in awe of his feat, some calling for a knighthood for the old soldier,  a proposal to fly a spitfire in his honour on the day of his birthday, while others although praising his fund raising, criticised the government for its lack of funding of the NHS pointing out it shouldn't have to rely on charity or on individuals to find ways to fund the British health system. They have a point. Whatever your thoughts are though I'm sure you are with me in thinking that Captain Tom Moore has done more for the country's morale than anyone else these days. And morale will be needed even more now as on Thursday the British government announced a further 3 week lockdown after initial lockdown started on 23rd March.  I salute Captain Tom Moore as no doubt my 100 year old father, also a WW2 veteran hero, does too. No doubt too my father would have loved to join him on his walk which sadly he can't as he is no longer mobile although I'm sure he was with him all the way. Captain Tom Moore has now said he will continue to walk as long as people keep giving money.

But we couldn't go on our paltry and non fund raising walk that day due to the rain. Instead we stayed inside and read and listened to music and played with little Elliot. Here he is with his mother and grandfather and seemingly interested in one of his first books. It's what is known as a "touchy feely" book for babies and was given to him by Sandra.

Elliot enjoying his first book with adoring mother and grandfather looking down

The day ended with me making an elaborate dinner from what I could find in the fridge and with some leftovers. During dinner I had to leave my frying pans a couple of times and with my kitchen gloves on, attend to work and the preparations for the publishing of a press release the next morning. I was multitasking, a characteristic I am well known for hahahhaa. Later at dinner, I succumbed to our neighbour's bread, to a glass of red wine and also to the last but one of the Cadbury's creme eggs. I couldn't resist. That day we all moaned a bit because of the rain and expressed our desire for the crisis to be over as soon as possible. I told Oli I wanted to go shopping (not food shopping), go out for dinner, go for a long walk in the countryside, travel to Montrondo, Santa Pola and further afar and she expressed similar desires. Above all we really miss going out to dinner. But, my friends, we shall stick it out and have little reason to complain about our situation as it could be far worse.

Our entertainment that night was a Polish film on Prime Video called "Edges of the Lord" about a young Jewish boy taken in by a Polish farming family during the Nazi occupation of their country. I liked it although it was a bit naive and innocent with most of the main characters being children. Eladio wasn't so keen. He is hard to please.

I got a better night's sleep on Thursday and was up at 6.40 or so on Friday raring to go as I had to send out a press release at 10 am. I only hoped we would get some press coverage as there is so much news these days that it's difficult to get what is called a "share of voice" but I would try. The press release was to announce a project by Adamo, a fiber internet operator, who, wanting to help with the crisis, as lots of companies do, was offering free fast internet to children from families with financial needs. This is to help them finish their school studies during the crisis. The crisis has taught us all that not everyone has the same advantages and that is true for children too. Adamo wanted to help in the way it can by connecting people who need it most. Other big companies with much bigger budgets are able to purchase tons of hospital material but, being in another league, this was our humble contribution which I hope helps bridge the gap of inequality for some children. I really wasn't sure how the press would take this but was in for a very pleasant surprise. They loved it. This, by the way, was the press release and here is the link to the project called "Adamo Ayuda".

Image of the Adamo campaign

Having done all I could to get the news out in the media, or thinking I had, off I went to do the weekly shopping. I was wearing a mask as is the norm now. Here is a horrible selfie of me with my mask given to me by Oli from her employees (thanks).

Shopping with my mask on Friday. I look like something from out of space!

It was while queuing up at the shops that I hit bingo with the media coverage and had to rush home. I had asked Oli for her contact at Europa Press (Spain's number two news outlet) as my usual contact hand't responded although he would later. Europa Press TV loved the news in my press release and offered to send over a reporter and TV camera to film me explaining it. What they filmed would then be distributed to media all over Spain interested in the story; mainly online media who want video content to accompany articles but also any TV broadcaster too. I had hardly got home when they arrived with just 5 minutes to drop the shopping, have a coffee (important), put a dash of make up on and brush my hair. It was the first time I had put make up on in more than one month and it felt strange. If only I had washed my hair. But no amount of brushing my hair or make up could hide the grey roots and wrinkles on my face, all caused by the coronavirus crisis.  Damn it.

A moment during the interview with my awful hair and wrinkles.

Needless to say I had no time whatsoever to prepare in any way for the interview and just had to rely on the information in the press release which of course I knew as I had written it. Noelia, the journalist and the cameraman whose name I cannot remember, were both wearing masks and the TV interview on Friday morning was to be my first ever TV face mask interview.  I didn't wear a mask myself as I was the standard 1 metre away (I hope so) and my voice could not be distorted in the interview. It felt so funny. Miguel, Oli's cameraman partner, was there to do a photo shoot. See the photo below of the interview in my study. I suggested we do it in my study rather than in the garden which I did not want to show off to people as it would give the wrong message.

During the rushed and "face mask" TV interview in my study on Friday morning

The interview lasted less than 10 minutes as thankfully we didn't have to repeat any of my replies to the journalist's answers. As soon as Noelia and her partner had left, it was time for lunch and I was starving.

I was tired too and could have done with a few hours of sleep but I was too tense and was on the watch out for all the media coverage coming out. And God, I have never seen so much. I won't get the full report until Monday but it looks like being one of the best media reports in all my working years. A lot of it is thanks to EP TV. So thanks Pablo and thanks Oli. I commented to Oli that it was great that she had been able to help me. Up till now it has always been the other way round. Her answer was that the news was good enough to have gone out without her help. I'm not so sure about that.

Just some of the results after googling the media coverage - I was overwhelmed

On our walk that afternoon in the garden I commented to my husband just how happy and satisfied I felt at a job well done. I would celebrate later with a glass of red Merlot while Miguel and Oli made their flagship pizza. This was my portion of which I could only eat half hahaha.

Home made pizza for our dinner on Friday night

Finally I was able to wind down when we went to bed - late - and watched another film on Netflix. It was "The 15.17 train to Paris" directed by Clint Eastwood and is based on a true story.  A group of Americans foiled a terrorist attack on board a train from Amsterdam to Paris a couple of years ago. I remember hearing the story. The film though seemed to be more about the group's lives as children and young adults in the US than on their heroic efforts on the train. But the film served its purpose of keeping us entertained.

Saturday came and brought good weather. It turned out to be a fabulous day, the best perhaps of all our time in confinement. For the first time during the crisis it felt like a "normal" day and my mind was at rest. The sun was out which would help lift our spirits. Recently I joined a group on Facebook called "View from my window" where people from all over the world who are in confinement share photos of the view from their houses or windows and comfort each other during the crisis. I shared a photo that morning, my first. It was taken from the green room terrace of Oli, baby Elliot, the dogs and Eladio enjoying being outside in the kitchen patio. This was it.

View from my window

I couldn't believe the feedback I got, hundreds seeing the photo and people in their tens commenting from all over the world. Wow, I love this group. Thanks Geraldine for inviting me to it.

Miguel had gone to his parents' house to help them install a new washing machine and was to see them for the first time in 5 whole weeks. I gather the reunion was quite emotional. He came back later armed with lots of lovely home made  knitted jumpers for little Elliot as well as some more Spanish Easter cookies (pestiños).

Meanwhile, I organised lunch, left Lucy to it and went on a walk with my family. That day we dared to go out of the house but would take very quiet and hidden paths behind the houses, most of which are highly fenced and hedged. Oli carried baby Elliot - all 10 kilos of him - in her baby rucksack and carried Pippa on her lead. I took Norah and Eladio took Elsa. Both Eladio and Oli felt guilty for breaking the rules but I did not as where we walked we hardly saw a soul, apart from about 2 small groups like us. We kept to the country paths which were so beautiful in the spring with the wild flowers at their best; poppies, large daisies and Spanish bluebells. When we came back, Oli commented she would have paid money to go on that walk. Spain, is the only country in Europe now that does not allow people, including children, to go out and exercise. Yet it lets people out to buy tobacco.

We came home to enjoy family time, have a mid morning coffee and then we skyped with Suzy in London. She seems fine but is having problems with her PC which is a difficulty in these times, especially as she has to give her English lessons online. I gave her a few ideas of what to do; basically reboot it. She is learning to play the ukulele to accompany her own singing and is also doing yoga daily. She seemed in good spirits but realises she would be better off here with all the space we have and is planning to try and come back in May. I hope she does. Her idea is to come to Spain for a little while and then go back to Bali permanently:-( - when she can that is.

Having gone on our walk in the morning, we spent the afternoon, or the rest of it after our siestas, with Elliot and family and in the sun.

I was having a cup of tea when our dear friends Kathy and Phil from Keighly Yorkshire video called us. We ended up using Facetime - a first for me (on my iPad). It was great to talk to them and to Will, one of Kathy's sons, his boy Charlie and partner Katrina. We had a great natter and promised to call again next Saturday. How I love this contact with my friends during confinement.

Meanwhile Miguel was home and had brought back with him all sorts of luxury foodstuff for dinner that night and for the "larder", as if we didn't already have enough but it was very much appreciated. That night Miguel and Oli would treat us to a luxury Saturday night dinner at home. We joked about dressing up for the occasion but of course we didn't.

They did some baking too, making a pumpkin sponge cake and apfelstrudel.  It was around this time that my neighbours rang the door for the second time this week.  Ekaternina, my Russian neighbour  and her son - think it was Fiodri - were at the gate bringing us typical homemade Russian Easter fare as today is Russian Easter. I was over bowled by their generosity and had to take a picture.

Ekaterina and Fiodr with the Russian Easter fare

The "kulitch" and coloured eggs

Me showing the wonderful Easter fare to my family

That was so lovely of them. The mini ones were specially for my Father which I thought was so sweet. We shall have to reciprocate.

Just before our luxury dinner, the Spanish Prime Minister was live on TV.  He was announcing a further extension, the third, I think (I've lost count) from 26th April to 9th May. He also announced, without the precise details, that finally children will be allowed out from 27th April, albeit with great precaution. That's good news for children but comes very late. I wonder if we adults will be allowed out to exercise so we don't have to go on secret walks and feel guilty. Let's see.

Dinner was late again - it always is with Oli and Miguel - but was amazing. We had the most sumptuous fillet steak with salad, washed down with Azpilicueta Rioja wine and followed by homemade just-out-of-the-oven apfelstrudel and ice cream. But the dinner didn't end there as Miguel had also bought a gigantic box of Nestle chocolates which, although full, I couldn't resist - especially the white chocolate variety.

We were in bed late after a wonderful day. I thanked Oli and Miguel for the luxury meal and said we would reciprocate next Saturday night. All in all, a great day was had by all.

Today is Sunday 19th April and it is also Russian Easter Day just as it was our Easter last Sunday  and Orthodox Christians around the world will also have to celebrate at home. The words most Russians will be saying today will be: Christ has risen (Христос воскресе) to which people reply: Truly he has risen (Воистина воскресе). My mother was Russian and very religious in her own way and Easter was celebrated at home when George and I were children with all the fanfare of this most holy of Orthodox feasts. I well remember the excitement of being woken up in the middle of the night to go to the midnight and dawn Easter service at the only Orthodox church there was in Bradford. I remember the incense, all of us holding candles and the singing, oh the singing was wonderful, albeit in "Church Slavonic" which I did not understand. Christ has risen was chanted endlessly towards the end of the service when the worshipers followed the priest round and round the church. The atmosphere was amazing. I remember how well my darling Aunty Masha sang with her soprano voice and my joining in. I also remember my brother George burning my hair during one of the services. We would then go home to a table laden with Easter fare which we would eat in the very early hours of the morning. My mother would have prepared lots of kulitch, paskva and dyed eggs which we helped her to boil and dye. Kulitch is a sort of Easter cake like a panatone but much taller and covered in icing sugar. Paskva is a sort of thick sweet cream cheese which as I don't like cheese, I wasn't keen on. So I am glad to have Ekaterina's Russian Easter fare today which remind me of my Russian roots and childhood. Thank you Katya.

Now my friends I have come to the end of the tales of this week. Keep safe and cheers till next Sunday,

Masha.