Week 9 of coronavirus lockdown in Spain, "Fauda", shopping online, RIP Ulpiano, 5% of the Spanish population have had coronavirus, remembering my brother George, roses from our garden, Elliot turns 8 months old and other tales of the week.

Sunday, 17th May, 2020

With my sweet Elliot who cheered me up on Friday when I was feeling down

Dear friends and readers.

I hope this post finds you all well, or as well as possible, given the circumstances. As I write we are ending week 9 of lockdown in Spain. Half of the country entered Phase 1 with some restrictions lifted but Madrid remained in Phase 0 as did Barcelona and other areas of the country. For us it was "life as normal" in lockdown, the only difference being we can go out for exercise but even that has its restrictions. Sometimes I feel as if life hasn't changed as lockdown is very bearable in our sprawling house and garden but then ever so often I realise just how much freedom we have lost and it feels similar to what house arrest must be like. Oh well,  I must soldier on and not lose my spirits. Funnily enough I found that difficult this week. 

Last Sunday's figures for those infected and those who had died were a lot better than during the run up to the peak but all in all the figures for Spain are dreadful. Last Sunday, Spain's total death toll was 26.478 compared to yesterday's reported figures of. 27.563 where you can see we are finally going down the curve.  Last Sunday, Spain's total number of infected was 262.783, the highest in Europe, compared to 276.505 today. Last week the total number of cases worldwide was 4.077.176 and the total number of deaths was 279.041. Last night these figures rose to 4.722.233 and 313.266 respectively. In Spain and neighbouring France and further away Italy, the numbers have dropped too.  Spain no longer has the highest death toll in Europe. That place has been taken by the UK followed by Italy, France and then Spain. As to the UK , my birth country, the figures rose from 215.260 and 31.587  to 240.161 and 34.466 respectively. It is interesting too to see how the number of people in Russia is now nearly top of the league with 272.043 infected. However, I don't believe the death toll of 2.537 reported by the Russian authorities which seems far too low. For comparison's sake, this was last Saturday's table and below that this morning's  table. 

The table for last week, Saturday 9th May 2020

The table for this morning

Coronavirus aside, on the whole, last Sunday was a lovely family day with some very decent weather. Since then it has turned for the worse and we have missed the sunshine and time by the pool. I suppose, though, the rain has been good for the grass. 

Last Sunday saw me working flat out in the morning for about 2 hours, drafting a press release to send to a bunch of people. I sent out version 1 and by Monday I was on version God knows what.  I always say, too many cooks spoil the broth hahahaha.   What always annoys me in my job as a communications professional are the comments from people who are not experts in communication  and who are often the most vociferous. I find that unfair as I have never been allowed or expected to make comments on work people do in finance,  sales, logistics, etc yet everyone gets to comment on PR. Some of them know damn all about my field yet comment as if they were experts. I often have the feeling too that they (and there are a lot of them) basically have little respect for PR professionals and just don't trust our judgement. Yet it is us who are the face of the company for journalists, it is our responsibility to field them off, feed them news, give them all the information they need and ultimately gain as much positive media coverage as possible. I don't like to tell you what happens when the coverage is negative as the onus is always on us. Yet we are not responsible for the final written word from journalists - this is not bought advertising space and we give them the company information which they can interpret or contrast as they wish.  No one who doesn't work in PR understands our job which is one of the most thankless ones in the corporate world. As to our roles in management teams etc, we are only really just about tolerated as there is a thinking that our jobs are easy. I wonder, though if they have ever thought, just how important the media coverage we gain for companies is. If it's negative, they are the first to criticise us and possibly the first to see the offending article. Yet if we manage to become trending topic on Twitter with the news we have released or gain lots of positive coverage, these vociferous individuals never ever give us a word of praise. It is often a very thankless job with much more responsibility than people think. That my friends is because PR can make or break a  company and on the whole is little understood. On the bright side at least this project kept me busy. 

When I wasn't working I was either cooking or reading. That day I made a trusted recipe for pork rib casserole which everyone enjoyed apart from Olivia who is slowly going off meat. My older daughter Suzy is a staunch vegan and Olivia is becoming more and more of a healthy eater, sometimes going to extremes. But when one day this week she commented that we don't eat enough vegetables I could hardly believe what I was hearing. Not wanting a confrontation I kept my thoughts to myself, wondering just how many more vegetables or fruit I could manage to fit in my shopping trolley when I do the weekly shop. I think I must be the customer at my local supermarket, Mercadona, who fills it with most with fruit and veg!! Aaaggh I thought. Over the years we have become more and more healthy eaters but there are extremes I will not go to. Later my daughter corrected herself by explaining that what she meant was that we should be eating a larger proportion of veg compared to protein. I think we already do but refused to get into an argument hahahaha. Anyway ......

While the casserole was on the boil, I sat and read outside enjoying Jojo Moyes' trilogy ("Me before you", "After you" and "Still me"). I was first prompted to read "Me before you" after seeing the 2016 film on Prime Video. It makes for fun and easy reading. As the author is British I love the banter like dialogue in her books and am totally enthralled by her main character, the imperfect Louisa Clark. 

In my Skype call with Adela and Sandra that afternoon, we discussed these books which Adele had read and other books we have read and series we have watched. On most occasions we have similar tastes but not all. I was happy to hear from Sandra in Brussels that she had loved the "Anne with an E" series (based on Anne of Green Gables) as had we. I am now tempted to download the series of 8 books, a classical children's tale written by Lucy Maud Montgomery in 1905. 

Skyping with Adele (left) and Sandra (right)

I love our weekly video calls. They are such fun. After 30 minutes though I had to say goodbye to my friends until today, as it was time for our walk. Today's call has been scheduled a bit earlier so I look forward to a longer natter this time.

Eladio, Oli, Elliot, me and the dogs went on our new usual walk on the secret paths. Miguel stayed behind to do his tougher 1 hour workout with his friends on zoom. That night we had dinner outside and I can say it was more than "al fresco" as the temperature had dropped considerably. It was on Sunday last week that we said goodbye to summer weather for a while and braced ourselves for much cooler temperatures as well as rain which didn't go away until yesterday.  Eladio loves this kind of weather and I don't. It actually depresses me. I  would be happy for it to be in the 30ºs all year round.

That night we finished season 2 of the Israeli TV series on Netflix called "Fauda" (chaos in Arabic apparently) and started on episode 1 of season 3. If you are into this kind of genre, the series is basically about a special Israeli army unit  that pursues Palestinian terrorists and is a sort of two sided story of the Israeli - Palestinian conflict. It's not always the Israelis who win. I am hooked and especially like the main character, Doron Kavillo played by the Israeli actor and screenwriter Lior Raz who I think is one of the creators of the series. 

The poster for Fauda - the main character Doron in the middle is my favourite

Monday came and half of Spain entered Phase 1 of "deconfinement", meaning people could meet friends and family and also shops, bars and terraces were open at 50% capacity to maintain social distancing. Not so for us at home here. In all this time during lockdown as I can't go to shops, I do my shopping online apart from the food shopping.  I haven't done much shopping online as most of our needs have been covered. But I have done some. Last week our kettle broke down so I ordered a lovely  red Russel Hobbs one. It arrived with a broken handle which put a damper on my excitement upon receiving our new kettle.. Luckily now on Amazon it is possible to get a replacement online. This means a new product is delivered and the damaged one is picked up from your home which I think is most convenient. It was on Monday that my new replacement red kettle arrived and I love it. It matches well with my red Nespresso coffee machine which sits next to it:)

New kettle

I can't be accused of superfluous shopping as in my mind, having been born a Brit, a kettle is an essential item, mostly for making tea. I'm sure you will agree with me. I also ordered some string for Eladio for the garden to bundle up all the foliage he is removing. The string was quite weak but until ironmongers open again, the only choice was to buy it online. I made a wrong choice on Monday when I was tempted by a Facebook ad to buy a pretty blouse I most certainly don't need. I ordered it on a site called Floryday. Later I looked up reviews about the site and was disheartened to read it is Chinese and that orders take ages to arrive, that is if they do, and that the quality is not good. Well, I learned my lesson not to buy stuff from dubious websites. 

The beautiful blouse I ordered online and which probably may never arrive and if it does won't be as beautiful as in the picture. 

Lastly I ordered Oli's upcoming birthday present, a pretty rose gold coloured watch from a more reputable firm called Aristocrazy. Oli will be 35 next Friday and we all look forward to another family birthday to celebrate at home (of course).

Until shops open again I am limited to buying online. I almost always use Amazon because they are so reliable but balk at the thought that I am contributing to make the company even richer. Most firms around the world have been affected very negatively by the crisis but the likes of Amazon, Netflix and telecoms companies have been making a killing. Those losing out include mostly the travel industry, including Airbnb which has given me a substantial monthly income over the last 3 years that I am now sorely missing. More than half of their staff have been laid off. Hopefully when this is all over, the industry, including Airbnb, will get back on its feet.

I did my shopping online on Monday but I also went to the chemist physically. I wanted to pick up free masks the Madrid government is offering to all the local population. I decided to walk the 3km to pick them up but once there I balked when I saw the enormous queue outside.

The endless queue outside my local chemist on Monday

I decided not to join it and spend maybe 1.5h to get the free masks. So I turned on my heels and walked home, deciding to go back in a few days time when hopefully the queues will have disappeared. 

When I got to our street, there was a big lorry by the tree that had caused our telephone line to be cut. The local police had sent it. The two men in the lorry had cut the big branch down but told me someone else would be coming to remove the debris. I thought that was pretty quick. I was also relieved to see they hadn't damaged the newly restored telephone line in their efforts. Eladio told me later that they nearly did. 

The branch of the offending tree now removed and chopped up

I picked up some letters from the post box; not that there are many these days.  Among them was one from my father's Teachers` Pensions people. I knew what it was immediately. Every year they send a letter with a form to be signed by my father and a witness. Basically it is to prove he is still alive and it always annoys me. It means my poor 101 father with his arthritic fingers has to painstakingly sign the form. 

In the post too was a DVD I had ordered (also on Amazon) of the film A town like Alice, based on one of my favourite all time books - by Nevil Shute. I would have to dig out a DVD player as we are now so used to streaming.  

I came home to have a coffee with my husband and daughter. It was then I heard the daily figures for the crisis and was happy to hear they had gone down even further. But I was extremely upset to hear at lunchtime that day from Eladio that a well known Montrondo villager, Ulpiano, had succumbed to the disease. Oh dear, I was shocked. Ulpiano, an ex miner, a formidable man with lots of personality was only 72 or so and is now gone. I knew him well and we always spoke; such a cheerful and friendly man. Eladio commented sadly that no doubt his condition after being a miner for so many years was the main contributory factor. But I wonder how on earth he caught the virus as he lives in an area where there is hardly any contagion. He died, sadly, in the ICU of the hospital nearest to his home in Villablino, Ponferrada. No doubt there will be a funeral for him in the village but with few people attending due to the restrictions.

RIP Ulpiano

He will be sorely  missed in the village. I feel very sorry for him and his family. It's hard to write RIP Ulpiano because I never expected to. He is the first person I know of first hand who has died of the virus and this certainly makes me look it in the face and feel anxious. 

In my weekly skype call with Amanda that afternoon I told her about Ulpiano. She was shocked. So far, she has been lucky and doesn't know anyone who has died of the virus. We spoke about the ease of lockdown in both our countries and we both agreed that Boris Johnson's new plan is very confusing. Neither of us was happy with the scrapping of the slogan "Stay at home, save lives, protect the NHS" in favour of "Stay alert, control the virus and save lives". Coming out of lockdown anywhere in the world has to be done with great care and precaution.

The highlight of Monday was our dinner together. I am loving our lockdown dinners where we all chip in and generally mingle in the kitchen with the noise and company of the baby and the dogs. Eladio loves nibbling on pistachios before dinner and sometimes I join him and even have a small glass or Rioja - we are enjoying a brand called "Azpilicueta" which I can highly recommend.

I was awake early on Tuesday morning and had lots to do.  I had to start on another press release which was  a little more complicated than the other one. That would keep me busy too for most of the morning. Miguel did the main shopping that day, although I would have to go out on Wednesday as he didn't really stick to the list as most men don't hahaha. But I much appreciated his contribution. I made the lunch which was on the boil while I was working. I made "cocido madrileño" which translates badly into "Madrid soup or casserole". Really it is a mixture of all sorts of meats, vegetables and chickpeas - the main ingredient- which you make into a two course meal: soup from the broth with vermicilli and the rest as a main course and separate from the broth. Everyone loved it and there was loads left over.

Tuesday was not really a good day. I think it was the worst day of the week and my spirits were down.  I had a really low point that day and felt down in the dumps. The rain which robbed us of our walk was probably one of the reasons but there were others.  Thus I decided to watch my new DVD, "A town like Alice". Thankfully Miguel and Eladio helped and soon we had two DVD players to choose from. The film is very old and is in black and white but I still loved it although it is not a patch on Neil Shute's book.

Dinner was leftovers and and we ate it inside of course as it was too cold to be on the kitchen patio. The day ended with us watching another 3 episodes of Fauda.

Wednesday came and my spirits lifted a bit as the rain seemed to recede and a few rays of sun made their appearance.  That was the day I did the rest of the weekly food shop. It was a much easier task this week as Miguel had already done half of it. Donned with the proverbial face mask of which we now have quite a few and my rubber gloves, off I went in my Mini. I had been using Eladio's or rather my old Nokia car - a 16 year old S60 Volvo - as Suzy had left my Mini high and dry. Thankfully Eladio filled the tank the other day, the only day he has been out since confinement began. I went to Mercadona for the basics, to Carrefour Market for certain items and to next door BM for the more gourmet stuff, including fresh hake from the Cantabria region. I came home with my load and it was all hands on deck to unpack and put the food away. Our fridge was so full it would hardly shut. Oli later took a photo.

Our very full fridge this week

I have to admit I felt a little guilty on the amount spent and the quality of our food. Of course there are 7 of us in the house plus 3 dogs and a cat so we have to get a lot of stuff if we want it to last a week. But what makes me feel guilty is the kind of provisions we get, some quite luxurious. I recently saw a documentary about poor people in lockdown who can no longer afford their rent or  food and have to rely on food banks. I saw food boxes being taken to homes and the difference between their content and the content of my shopping bags was what made me feel guilty at my good fortune. I would say that more than half of our shopping is always fresh produce and I didn't see any fresh produce in the charity food boxes.

Miguel was making chicken curry when I got back while little Elliot was having his nap and sleeping like an angel in the lounge. It was our mid morning coffee time, a sort of "elevenses", except that it was 12 0'clock in Spain and I enjoyed my home made Nespresso capuccino. While drinking my coffee, I scrolled Facebook for a while and was annoyed that once again the social media platform was reminding me of trips taken a year ago. This week it reminded me of an amazing trip to Hong Kong 3 years ago.

Me in Hong Kong 3 years ago. Oh when will we be able to travel again? 

It was nice to remember of course but all these Facebook memories of past trips only make me realise just how much we have lost. Oh, when will we be able to travel again? What will life be like after lockdown? It will certainly be different and nowhere near as good. The thing is that we did not appreciate what we had before. Lockdown has made me, at least, realise just how lucky and happy we were before the crisis, except that we took it for granted. When we were reveling on New Year's Eve, the day the first news of the virus came out of China, little did we know what was coming.

The sun came out in the afternoon, brightening our spirits and we all seized the opportunity and went off on our walk. With all the rain the vegetation was amazing. I told Eladio we could have been in a jungle in some place like Costa Rica - so maybe I shouldn't complain so much about not travelling and appreciate the beauty of the new places I am discovering where I live?  I keep thinking that we won't be able to leave Spain for holiday and will have to make do with a "staycation" but maybe that's not so bad as there are plenty of places to discover in this marvelous country. This week there has been talk of borders being lifted or not lifted, of putting people into quarantine for 14 days in some cases like in the UK. The EU, hoping to salvage tourism in some way this summer has advised the EU should not keep borders shut but who knows what will happen? So, for the meantime, I am enjoying our make believe "Costa Rican jungle" hahahahaha.

We were home early and I had plenty of time to read on my own before heading to the kitchen before dinner. That evening I finished the last of the Jojo Moyes trilogy - "Still Me" and I am now sorely missing the main character Louisa Clark. What would I read next I wondered?

I came down to the kitchen to find Miguel and Oli in the throes of cooking and Eladio entertaining the baby.

Oli and Miguel making torrijas on Wednesday

They were making very fattening "torrijas" which are popular here at Easter.

The offending "torrijas" (a sort of French toast)

Miguel loves them. I sort of like them but would have preferred him not to make any more fattening food. Recently I was very hurt when Lucy our home help took a look at me and remarked that I had put on weight adding that Eladio had too and making a reference to his stomach. I can't tell you how hurt I was but I knew she was right. We had been eating very sensibly until Oli and Miguel came. Most of the time they are very healthy eaters as I wrote above, but they often break their own rules. So I didn't really want any torrijas that night but ate one out of politeness. For the main course they had made equally fattening croquettes to which I added a healthy salad hahahaa. I swore that the next day we would have steamed fish and vegetables!

We were on time to see the tail end of the news. The main item was about the preliminary findings of a mass antibody  prevalence test in Spain. For the test, 90.000 people from 36.000 homes were chosen carefully to represent the demographics of the country and give the government a sort of snapshot of the pandemic. The main findings, so far, show that 5% of the population have been infected by the virus; nowhere near the 60% needed for "herd immunity". That's a lot of people from a population of 45 million: 2.350.000. In some areas such as Madrid - the hardest hit - the percentage was 14% but in areas like Murcia, The Canary Islands or Asturias, it was only 2% One third of those infected were asymptomatic. The study shows that over 90% of cases have gone undetected and that the average mortality rate of the virus  in Spain is between 1 and 1.2% which is actually lower than expected.

An X-ray of the findings of the test in Spain

The day ended with us binge watching 3  episodes of the final season of Fauda. We were so hooked and the series is so intense, especially season 3, that I found it difficult to sleep afterwards. Most of season 3 is set in the Gaza strip which must be one of the worst places to live in the world. I jokingly suggested to Eladio that our next holiday destination could be there hahah, then on to Yemen, Irak and Syria. No way of course. I was hoping to go to Scotland this summer but coronavirus has put a stop to that. I particularly want to visit The Shetlands and The Orkney's where my father was stationed during the war. These islands that have held a lifelong fascination for him and by osmosis or whatever, I have always wanted to go and visit them. Hopefully we can go there next summer. I can dream can't I?

On Thursday morning I woke up to rain. It rained all morning but finally there was a respite which allowed us to go for our afternoon walk. Not much happened on Thursday. Well, actually, not much happens any day. In lockdown it's as if every day was a Sunday and that we are living in a time bubble that doesn't seem to advance.  So yes, I went through the motions: getting up, having breakfast, writing my blog, taking a shower, preparing our lunch and working on my two press releases which seem to be taking an awful long time to go through the various editing filters necessary to get to the final versions. In the afternoon I couldn't sleep my siesta so got up to watch the end of the 1956 film, A town like Alice. It may have been a blockbuster when it came out but it hasn't aged well. The worst thing about this film is that it ends when the two protagonists meet in Australia and misses out on the end of their story, when Jean Paget grows the homestead of Willstown until it almost resembles Alice Springs, their marriage and their life which they live happily ever after. I then read a bit more, having chosen to go back to another of my favourite books from times gone by; "The Willow Cabin" by Pamela Frankau. I was interrupted by Oli who came down with little Elliot who had been behaving like a little rascal (haha) demanding constant attention. I sat him down on his blanket in the grass, making sure it was nowhere near any of the dogs' "business" and he played happily for a while until our walk. Both lunch and dinner were healthy meals that day with no more "torrijas" - well at least for Eladio and I - We took a plateful to our neighbours who I hope like them.

The big question on all our minds that day was whether Madrid would go on to Phase 1 of "deconfinement" tomorrow. All indicators that day told us it wouldn't which dampened all our spirits just a bit more.

The best part of the day came after dinner when Eladio and I devoured the last 3 episodes of Fauda. We were then  determined to watch it from the beginning again, starting with episode 1 of season 1 which at the time I didn't really like or understand.

I didn't sleep badly that night (sigh of relief) and was up at 6.40 on Friday morning. Friday was 15th May, the anniversary of the death of my dear brother George, my only sibling. In Spain it was the day of the patron saint of Madrid, Saint Isidro but I had nothing to celebrate. Twice a year I write about my brother here on my blog, on his birthday, 12th February and on the anniversary of his death, 15th May. Both dates are etched in my mind forever, a bit like "1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue".  He is etched in my mind too and I carry my dear brother in my heart.  Every time I write about him I always post the same photo. Taken by an Italian student photographer in the mid 70's at the Russian Norwich courses held at the University of East Anglia where my parents taught for years, it is the best photo that I have of the two of us and, sadly, I don't have many.  This is it and I know you have seen it many times but for me it means so much.

George and me in the mid 70's

In that photo I was probably 18 and George 20 at the time. Who would have known then that my brother would have died so early, aged only 46 and of melanoma 20 years later? It hurts me still to think of his illness, such a cruel type of cancer and that he left this world too early. As I said I don't have many photos of us together nor of our family unit with my parents. The photo of the 4 of us at my wedding in 1983 is definitely the last one I have of us and here it is.

The last family photo - my 6 ft tall brother George on the far right on August 21st 1983. 

My 6 ft. tall brother was wearing a suit for the first time ever when my father bought new suits for the wedding  for himself and  for George.  I had never seen my brother in a suit till then and he looked amazing  but he had no shoes to go with them. I don't remember how we sorted that out. Many of you know that my brother was a troubled boy who got into drugs and became a schizophrenic in his late teens. He was a constant source of worry to may parents. Yet he was a very talented boy, handsome and excellent at sport, music and languages; especially languages. My parents were amazing linguists but I think he was an even better one. He just seemed to pick up a language as you do a tin of food from a shelf. He only needed to pick up a musical instrument too and soon mastering, alone,  how to play it.  I had none of his talents yet was dealt more luck in life which is so unfair. Many of my memories of him are related to horrible events but there are some good ones too. I remember him playing the guitar or piano and writing songs and me accompanying him with my singing - I had a good voice in those days. I remember how we would sit up late at night talking and smoking endlessly. I remember sticking up for him when he was bullied at school which happened a lot. He had his dark moments but was gregarious and very outgoing and would speak to anyone; from prince to pauper. This he inherited from my mother and I  loved that about him. I also loved his beautiful blue eyes, his marvelous athletic body, his smile which was so endearing - women flocked to him - Above all though he was a gentle  boy with the same inner goodness as my father. He would never have hurt a fly. He was fascinated with current affairs and travelling was at the top of the list of things he loved to do. Well, we all inherited my parents' "itchy feet" but he got it stronger than I did. Once he said he was going to Paris for the weekend and ended up hitch hiking to Afghanistan. The next we heard after months of absence was when we got a telegram from the British Embassy in Kabul to say he was in hospital with cholera! He came back looking like a skeleton. But my brother loved to eat and had a stomach for mountains of food and was soon back in shape. He could eat whatever he wanted and, unlike me, never put on weight. His favourite food was curry. We both loved curry and our first taste of it was at the legendary Kashmir restaurant (if you could call it that) in Bradford where he would choose the hottest, "vindaloo" in contrast to my choice of the mildest; "korma". George was dealt a terrible set of cards and I was dealt the best when it comes to the type of life we would lead. For that I always feel guilty and only wish I could have given him some of my cards. Maybe I thought more about him on Friday but I think there is not a day that goes past when I don't remember him. The photo of the two of us in Norwich taken so many years ago hangs in a frame above my bed. It is there for a purpose; never to forget my brother. RIP George. If only you had lived longer. Love you forever.

With a heavy heart I got on with Friday which was a down day like Tuesday. The weather didn't help with so much rain that it robbed us of our walk again in the afternoon. No exercise during lockdown is not good for the body or the mind. It was another day in lockdown since the state of alarm was decreed on 14th May, now over 2 months. That day there was another stab in the back, as if I needed any more; the news that Madrid (and Barcelona and Castilla León) will not go on to Phase 1 tomorrow. No, we shall have to wait another week to be able to go to restaurants and bars or see friends and family - two of the most wanted items on our list of desired freedom. Another stab in the back came - for tourism - this time, when Spain announced that all people arriving in the country have to go into quarantine. So there will probably be no international tourists this summer which puts paid to the reopening of my Airbnb business. The final stab in the back of the day came when my accountant rang to inform me of the amount of tax I have to pay this quarter. Friday, as you can see, was not a good day.

Yet Friday wasn't all bad. I was cheered up when I went to the gate to receive a delivery and inspected my roses again. As Eladio was dealing with the delivery of fuel for the heating, I inspected my roses in bloom and admired them. I took so many photos, too many to post here, so made this collage for you to see them too.

Some of our wonderful roses - now nearly all in bloom - they cheered me up on Friday

I was snapping away at the roses and didn't pay much attention to the delivery by the fuel man until I saw Eladio paying him. He had made a big order as the cost of fuel has gone down a lot - one piece of good news - but I was alarmed when I saw him neither wearing a mask nor maintaining the minimum 1 metre social distancing rule. I think he totally forgot, possibly because he never goes out on errands. Here he is breaking the rule.

Fuel delivery on Friday

If the roses cheered me up, so did little Elliot. Oli took a break mid morning for a coffee and I spent some time with her and my darling grandson. He is totally oblivious to the crisis and lockdown and is doing splendidly. He is such a smiley little tot and I love him so. Oli took a few shots of me with him, one of which I have chosen as this week's feature photo. One day we will look back and remember these lockdown times with our grandson and tell him how privileged we were to have him with us when so many other grandparents couldn't see their grandchildren.

Fauda cheered me up too, or rather took my mind off darker thoughts, when we started to watch it from the beginning again in the afternoon when the rain was coming down heavily. We watched two episodes then I went downstairs to make the dinner with Oli and Miguel. Miguel made flower shaped fried artichokes and I made "gambas al ajillo" (prawns with garlic) but with giant prawns. These are two of my favourite dishes so dinner was a hit for me that night.

Saturday came. I got an unexpected video call in the morning from Suzy from London which cheered me up.

A snapshot of Suzy during our video call yesterday. She looks so beautiful

Suzy is stuck in London trying to return to Spain but it seems it's mission impossible. She left here just before lockdown in Spain to stay with her friend Sandra, a nurse, and when the pandemic had not really taken off in the UK and there was no lockdown there.  Then poor Sandra lost her sister who died suddenly in India and Suzy found herself living with Sandra's extended family who were mourning their loss together. It's not the best situation for our daughter who feels as if she is intruding. She bought a cheap Ryan Air flight which would have had her here by now except that it keeps being cancelled and delayed. The latest expected date of departure was 29th May but yesterday it was rescheduled to 24th June. I suggested she took the Eurostar and then a train from Paris to Madrid but it works out to be very expensive and also there is no guarantee the trains won't be rescheduled too. For the moment Suzy is stuck in London I'm afraid.

Suzy told me that in London they have been having some fabulous weather - unlike here which is strange. However, yesterday saw the end of the rain at least for the next 10 days. It wasn't exactly warm but I was just glad it wasn't raining. From today onward the temperatures will begin to rise and will sore to 30ºc next week when maybe I shall take my first dip. Lockdown with good weather is much more tolerable and I know the sun will lift my spirits.

It did yesterday when we went on our walk in the morning through the jungle like paths we take. Nature now is at its best and the vegetation has grown so much because of the mixture of sun and rain, sometimes the paths are difficult to walk along, but oh so beautiful. I said earlier they remind me of a Costa Rican jungle. They also remind me of beautiful English countryside. It is hard to believe that these paths exist on the outskirts of normally very dry Madrid. Just look at the photos below and you will believe me.

Beautiful nature on our walk yesterday

Beautiful paths we walk along with some amazing flora and fauna - lots of butterflies and rabbits.

I didn't have to bother about making lunch that day as we had so many leftovers. We ended up having another buffet lunch which was followed by the news and a siesta - as always.

Later I read outside with my cup of tea and then Oli and I went shopping. Yes, we broke the rules and went together in my car. Oli so needed to go out and do something different and all we could do was go to a supermarket so off we went. It was Oli's first time shopping with a mask and it took her some time to register just how shopping has changed.

Oli's first time shopping with a mask and gloves

We had to pretend we weren't together. The masks helped as people couldn't see us talking. It felt strange to be so sneaky and a bit wrong to have broken the rules. We brought back lovely fruit and veg - yes more fruit and veg - including some summer fruit which is beginning to appear at the supermarkets, namely apricots and peaches. Even though Elliot has no teeth, he adores sucking at fruit and especially likes apricots which are my favourite summer fruit after black cherries.

After a delicious dinner, we all retired to our own quarters, Elliot to have a bath and be put to bed and we to watch the news. After the news we came across a documentary about Hitler's most intimate circle and then we watched a most violent Italian film about the mafia, "Subarra" which later I wished I hadn't watched.

Sleep came with great difficulty but it came. I was awake at 4 in the morning and then at 5.30 and got up at 6. And here you have me now writing the end of this week's post.

Today Elliot turns 8 months old; quite a milestone. He is beginning to crawl and it's wonderful to watch his development day by day. Soon he will be 1 years old and we will ask ourselves just where time has gone? We shall always certainly remember our time in lockdown being brightened up by Elliot's company, a privilege in the circumstances.

Today the temperature will rise from 20ºc to 24ºc so that means we can resume our meals outside. Today we shall be having what is now a weekly barbecue in lockdown.

So my friends, it's time to wind up the tales of this week and get on with the day; another day in lockdown.

Wishing you all the best, cheers everyone until next Sunday,

Masha.