End of lockdown, operation beehive, off to Santa Pola, our sea view apartment listed on Airbnb, Elliot on TV and reunited with Suzy, the Brits flock to the beaches ignoring the virus and other tales of the week.

Santa Pola, Sunday 28th June, 2020

Enjoying the simple pleasure of having a cup of coffee at a café - here in Santa Pola on Thursday morning

Good morning everyone.

It's Sunday again but not just any Sunday. It's been a week since lockdown ended in Spain and it's been the first week of summer. And, oh, how hot it has been. Summer arrived with a vengeance. Thankfully we are here in Santa Pola at our cool and airy apartment where we can keep away from the heat. 

Yes, we are in Santa Pola. Finally we have had a change of scenery, something I dearly needed after more than 3 months of lockdown.  But let me go back to last Sunday, 21st June, the end of lockdown and the first day of what is being called the "new normality".

We should not forget that despite the crisis being over or at least kept at bay that it is still ravaging countries around the world and that it can come back at any time. Even in Spain where we hardly had any deaths this week, there have been small but controlled new outbreaks which are very worrying. Top of the league are US, Brazil, Russia and  India. If last week the total death toll was 464.610, it has gone up in one week to 501.393. As to infections per country, this has gone up from a staggering 8.8 million to an even more staggering 10.086.925. But here in Spain, at least, we could celebrate the end of lockdown which has been hard on all of us. I include myself but know that we have been free of its devastating effect and can be grateful that our time spent in lockdown was a walk in the park compared to many other people's. Even so, I needed a break. 

I did not get a break until Monday. I had to put up with Sunday which was a challenging day. At noon, our 6 hen party ladies were leaving and at 1 pm, 3 young boys were arriving. Thus we had just one hour to get the house ready before they arrived. We managed, just. At 1 pm sharp, Daniel and his 2 friends arrived. They seemed nice kids and loved the house. They were surprised to see we lived in it. Well we do and it's in the ad which lists our house as a shared one on Airbnb. The thing is, often, first time Airbnb users do not realise there are 2 kinds of lodgings, either an entire house or private rooms. Ours is listed as private rooms. They had not read the advert, nor my house information pack. They wanted to bring 3 friends to join them by the pool that afternoon. I do not allow free extra guests so negotiated a price. Later I wish I hadn't as the group turned out to be probably the worst we have ever had. Oh my God, how loud and noisy they were, not to mention untidy and very messy. They turned the swimming pool terrace into a veritable party or discotheque. While we lay at the other side of the garden trying to read above their noise, it felt like someone had organised a party at our house to which we were not invited. 

While they were partying I had a scheduled facetime call with my dear friends Kathy and Phil to whom I could complain loud and clear about these awful guests. It was nearly dinner time by the time we had finished and while Oli and I were making our meal, the beekeepers arrived to remove the hive under the drain hole on the pavement outside our gate. It was quite a spectacle again. Unfortunately the wax from the honeycombs had melted in the heat and fallen down the drain into the water taking most of the bees with it who would die. They saved as many as they could of the bees that were hovering around outside the manhole and then charged us 100 euros for the operation. In a way we paid for the show only as the bees had already drowned. Here are the three apiarists inspecting the drain hole.

Operation beehive

I must say though it was an interesting operation to watch and the end of the fear of bees stinging us. The post man would be glad too. 

Monday came and I was up at 5.30, probably because I was excited to be going to Santa Pola. I looked a the pool terrace before I had my breakfast. The guests'  stuff was all over the place  while they were sleeping off a hangover and I was appalled at how they had left the pool area. Thankfully they hadn't broken anything. It was just a mess with empty bottles and empty glasses everywhere and the furniture all over the place. This is just one of them to give you an idea, not to mention fag ends and all their clutter. 

 

Just some of the mess created by our Sunday Airbnb guests

I was furious but had to bite my tongue as if I gave them a lecture, retaliation could be a bad review from them which I don't want. That's the thing with Airbnb guests, you are always at the mercy of their reviews. Thus I limited myself to telling one of them gently that they had made quite a mess. He promised they would clean it up. These boys were young and don't know how to clear up anything. In the end they stayed till 12 on the dot and it was Lucy who had to deal with the mess. I gave them a scathing review later which they would not be able to see until they wrote theirs. I'm still waiting for theirs. 

I couldn't wait to see them go. I think they were our worst guests ever. Don't get me wrong, this case is not usual as nearly all our guests have been and are wonderful. Anyway they have gone now and will never come back as I have blocked them for future reservations.

We were waiting for them to leave so that we could leave ourselves for Santa Pola. It was with a huge sigh of relief  when at around 12.30  we left our house where we had been stuck from March and hit the road with Pippa to spend a week here at our quiet apartment. The mission here apart from a change of scenery has been to see if we can rent it out on Airbnb and get it ready for any potential guests this summer.  For that we needed someone local to manage the receiving of the guests, the cleaning, etc.

We stopped for lunch and it felt so normal; like life  before lockdown. But it wasn't. People wore masks, the tables were distanced and there was hand sanitiser at the entrance plus a host of often invisible measures to remind us life is not the same any more.  I remarked to a friend this week that we didn't know what we had until they took it away. I think we all now appreciate life so much more. I do at least. 

We got to our flat at around 5 pm. It took a while to settle in and we had to do a lot of cleaning. It was the girls who were last here and damn them they had left the fridge off and closed when they should know the door has to be open, otherwise it gets moldy. Well there was mold everywhere and Eladio spent an hour cleaning it. There are stains which won't go. We also had to clean the floor thoroughly as there was more dust than normal because, thank you girls, they had left a window open!!  Aagh. I think it took us 2 hours to get the apartment clean and ready for use. It was too late for a walk. Thus we sat on our lovely little terrace and contemplated the sea in the distance and the lovely Mediterranean garden in the middle of our block of flats which is shaped in a U.

The garden by our apartment

I went down with Pippa to inspect the gardens which looked in great shape. I was also curious to see if the pool was open and what restrictions there were. Actually there was just one family there. I would go the next day. Everything looked normal and lovely. I always appreciate that we bought a seaside apartment in a quiet and secluded gated community. It's lovely here. I took a few photos with a view to adding them to the listing I want to create on Airbnb. This is one of the pool which overlooks the sea.

The pool was looking great

It was more difficult to capture the photo of our apartment as they all look alike. 

Our apartment - the one one on the top floor 

Ah and this is the entrance to it from the front.

The main entrance to our apartment.

Here too is a view from inside.

Inside the apartment

 Best of all is the view of the Bay of Alicante and especially at night. 

The night view of the bay of Alicante from our apartment

I came back to the flat to spend peaceful time with Eladio on our terrace. We made a simple dinner then watched an episode of Line of Duty before turning in.

Tuesday was a very productive day. The mission we had come for - put the apartment on the market via Airbnb, was accomplished. We spoke to our neighbour, a Venezuelan lady called Lucy, about managing potential guests and the apartment, including cleaning it and changing the sheets, etc. It turns out she also manages 2 properties locally so is familiar with the job. I spent the day taking photos and she came to talk to us later in the afternoon to come a final agreement. 

But first things first and in the morning we went down to the beach. We had expected to see certain policies in place vs a vs Covid, but apart from a poster on the street and the fact that the showers were not working (point of possible infection), everything seemed normal. In any case our beach is not usually crowded and when we went down at 10 am, there was hardly anyone there. How marvelous to go into the sea and feel the cool water on our skins and to bathe for the first time since last summer. It felt like freedom again and was a joy to experience. Spot Eladio in this shot I took that morning.

Our first bathe in the sea on Tuesday morning

We went in a few times and then sat and read in the shade and a while later walked to the end of the beach to get some exercise and enjoy the views. I love our dune surrounded beach. There were a few other walkers but it was easy to maintain social distancing. 

Our beach

Wanting to avoid the midday sun, we left at about noon and went home. Before going in for a shower, I always love taking a dip in the pool. At the pool there was hardly anyone and it had been beautifully renovated and was looking very tempting. I had to have more photos for my Airbnb listing. In the end, of all the photos I took, I chose this one as the main photo for the listing.

View of the pool and apartments. 

I couldn't stay long as we had to go shopping to buy food for lunch and for our stay. We went to the proverbial Mercadona. It was so pleasant to shop for 2 rather than 7 people and a whole lot cheaper I should add.

After lunch I took a short siesta and then at 5 pm, had my weekly video call with Amanda. It was great to talk to her from somewhere different, rather than our house where we had been confined since the beginning of lockdown. I had to cut short the call at 6 as my neighbour Lucy was coming to talk about her role in managing the renting of our apartment on Airbnb.

We soon came to an agreement and then we showed her the apartment, where everything is and how stuff works. From her experience I think she will do a good job. The main thing is that she is always here so it doesn't matter at what time guests arrive. As soon as she had left, I set about creating the ad which I did in a jiffy. It was up and running by dinner time and then I kept tweaking it until I was satisfied. This is it by the way. If you want to rent it you can get in touch with me direct and you will not have to pay any fees. What do you think? Do you like it? We do. It has been our holiday home for 21 years but it's expensive to keep up and any income we get from renting it will give us a bit of pocket money and help to maintain it. 

I was so absorbed with making the ad, it was late by the time we had dinner. Eladio fancied fried eggs - he was brought up on them😅 - so I made them for him. We both read on the terrace afterwards until it was time for bed.

Wednesday came. It was pretty much a repeat of Tuesday; i.e. we did the same things. We were down by the beach by about 9.30 and were surprised to see many more people than the day before. It turned out it was a bank holiday in the area for Saint James (San Juan). This also meant shops were closed so our plan to go into Santa Pola in the afternoon would have to be postponed.

Eladio on the beach with our 20 year old beach seats and parasol and an old Yoigo towel. 

I spent the afternoon reading and announced to Eladio that I finally felt relaxed after so much tension caused by 3 months of lockdown at home. While I read, he cleaned the windows (good man) and did some bed linen laundry in preparation for potential guests. So far no bookings which sort of worries me. Then I thought as my target are the British tourists, they may well book later when things are clearer about travel in and out of the UK. That day we heard the EU may not allow in US travelers because of Covid. Ouch. The latest news from the UK is that people will be able to travel to selected EU countries, including Spain, Italy and France, from 6th July. 

Meanwhile that day, Oli was organising a report on the reopening of pools post Covid and she used the swimming pool at her block of flats. She also used her partner Miguel and little Elliot. Both would appear in the report for her programme, España Directo, on TVE at 19.30 that evening. I thought that was very exciting. Elliot on TV, wow!. Here they are during the photo shoot.

Miguel and Elliot during the photo shoot

Elliot behaved perfectly and was a natural poser. He always is. We watched Elliot and Miguel's appearance in the evening with great excitement. It was funny not only to see Elliot on TV but his father too. As a cameraman, it's unusual for him to appear on camera. I have to say he did it very well. Here are two photos I took during the report. They are a bit unclear as it's not easy to take a still photo of something on TV.

Miguel with Elliot being interviewed on TV

Miguel with Elliot in the water during the TV report

Suzy would see it too as that morning she was finally flying back from London. She would also be reunited with Elliot whom she hadn't seen since the middle of March. We won't see her until tomorrow. I felt a bit guilty about not being there when she arrived and for having left for Santa Pola last Sunday knowing we would miss her arrival. But I, at least, had such a need to get out of Madrid and I knew we would see her for a while this summer, so I tried not to feel like a bad mother.

It was Oli and Miguel with Elliot who picked her up at the airport. She arrived to messages from friends insisting she had to have a coronavirus test as they were worried she had picked it up in London and could pass it on. She doesn't know if she had it but her flat mate did. In any case that was 2 months ago. I felt sorry for Suzy getting that reception. She must have felt like an outcast. She would do the test the next morning and would have to wait 6 days for the results. Luckily Oli was not so strict and Suzy was allowed to hold and touch Elliot. She was so happy to see him. Of course he did not recognise her after such a long time but they were soon fast friends again as you can see in the photo below. She played her ukelele for him and he loved it. I wish I had been there for the reunion.

Elliot and his Aunty Suzy reunited on Wednesday

Because there is not enough room at Oli's flat, Suzy went home to our place. She later rang us and we spoke for a long long time.

Her call had interrupted us watching Line of Duty. I carried on afterwards and got so enthralled with it I binge watched until nearly 2 in the morning. I did so on my own as Eladio is not so keen on the series.

I obviously did not get much sleep that night as I was up at 7 in the morning. It was Thursday and we were looking forward to going to the local fruit and veg market across the road where our apartment is. 

The visit to the market is always a highlight of our stays here and it was on Thursday too. The market was much quieter than usual and there was lots of space between stalls. I vaguely looked at the clothes but didn't dare touch them and thought that if I tried anything on, it would cause a problem for the stall owner, so I didn't buy anything. However, Eladio did. The Moroccan stall owner let my husband try on t-shirts and he had to try 2 or 3 before he found 2 that he liked which he bought for 6 euros each. We also bought honey and some amazing pistachios from Iran which we later enjoyed that evening over a glass or Rioja each. Our main objective was to get fruit and veg. Usually the prices are low and mostly the produce is locally sourced. Prices had gone up but they are still lower than in the supermarkets. The price of food has gone up a lot since lockdown. I wonder if you have noticed. We got a variety of summer fruit including black figs and black cherries and all sorts of vegetables including fresh asparagus we would have for dinner that night.

At the fruit and veg market on Thursday morning

You may have noticed I mentioned Iranian pistachios. Well, I did and I bought them precisely because they were from Iran. Usually we buy the odd bag of these delicious nuts from Mercadona but did you know that those that grow in Iran are supposed to be the best in the world? I knew that long ago. When I worked for that dubious arms company, Defex, my first job in Spain, we had an Iranian agent who procured arms from Spain for his country. The agents who procured arms always got huge commissions. I remember once a Nigerian agent who got 100% commission on a munition order which shocked me at the time. I got to know quite a few of these agents and remember the one from Iran bringing me boxes of caviar, lovely Persian wooden objects and once he brought me a  great big bag of pistachios. He told me they were the best in the world. They were amazing. So when, nearly 30 years, I saw a bag of Iranian pistachios at the local market in Gran Alacant, I just had to have them. They are far superior than any I have tried since those the Iranian agent for Defex gave me all those years ago. You see, I had never forgotten. 

That morning we did not go to the beach as we had some errands to do in Santa Pola. Who did go to the beaches and in their droves were the Brits as that day was hottest day in the UK so far this year with mercury rising to 32ºc. The Brits must have gone mad as literally hundreds of thousands were reported to have flocked to the coast. Bournemouth beach was in the news for the crowds there which made it look even fuller than Benidorm in August. Just look at this photo. Have the Brits gone mad? Have they forgotten that we are in the middle of a pandemic? Are there no rules or regulations about accessing beaches in the UK like the ones we have in Spain?

Bournemouth beach on Thursday - unbelievable

The crowds who went there ignored all social distancing. Not only that, they left a huge mess behind. Is it so difficult to pick up your stuff after a day out? I just don't get it. 

Rubbish on Bournemouth beach

I was appalled at the news coming from my home country, the UK, which has the highest death toll in Europe (over 43.000) and where the virus has not yet been fully controlled. If people continue to behave like that they will no doubt have to go back into lockdown.

In comparison, Spaniards, in general, are behaving as they should and observing social distancing at the beaches. Each province or town has its own rules to control the number of people going to the beach. Here where we are staying our beach, "Playa de Arenales" and the one next to it "Playa Carabasi" are literally empty compared. People  are being far more careful and I should add, more civilised. This is a picture of our beach which is a stark comparison to the one in Bournemouth. I was gobsmacked at the news coming out of England that day.

Our beach in comparison

So no, we didn't go to the beach that day and even if we had it would have been very quiet. Instead, we went into Santa Pola to do some errands after dropping off our fruit and veg at the flat and picking up Pippa. We parked in the old town and first things first, went to have a cup of coffee (café con leche in our case) in the main square next to the castle. That felt so good. Such a simple thing as having a coffee out now feels like a luxury after 3 months of confinement. Eladio took a photo for this blog and I have chosen it as this week's feature photo - me with a great big smile on my face enjoying a coffee out with my husband. 

On our way home we stopped off at the offices of the administrators of the buildings where we have our apartment. It was to get new keys for the swimming pool. While there we were happy to learn of lots of improvements being made to the installations. At the beginning of October we were told that the lift in our building will be changed for a new one - about time too. The lifts are old and awful and I hate them and I can't wait for them to be changed.

Once home, I set about making a simple lunch and then, after the news, I resumed watching Season 3 of Line of Duty and must have binge watched at least 4 episodes.   We didn't venture out that afternoon or evening and after dinner - prawns cooked in garlic and asparagus - we started watching Season 2 of the New Amsterdam series on Prime Video. In between I had a long video call with Suzy. I can't wait to see her again.

She told me about the new guests this weekend - a group of 6 guys, who, thankfully seem to be behaving much better than last weekend's. It was good that Suzy was there to take care of them and it was great for me to get a break from hosting. 

I went to bed at a more civilised time that night and was awake at 6.45 on Friday morning. That morning we skipped the beach again as we had things to do in the flat. My main job here was to sort out all the bed linen and towels and to choose 2 sets for each room. That took me a while as I had to get out every sheet to see which bed it belonged to. We had piles and piles of old towels and bed linen so the job took me a while. We then hit the road and drove a few kilometres to a pottery shop we know and love. We needed a few plates for the terrace to replace those that had fallen during storms and a few other items. We got what we needed and then drove into Santa Pola. There we had to get copies of the apartment keys for Lucy and the guests and do a few other errands. We parked by the port and walked along the sea front where we later had a another coffee out. I was interested to see the fishermen mending their nets. Santa Pola may be a national tourist destination but it is still a fishing town. Eladio posed with Pippa for this photo I took so as to capture the fishing men at work too.

Eladio and Pippa by the port in Santa Pola - notice the fishermen mending their nets

It was over the cup of coffee that I chose my moment to tell Eladio about a surprise holiday trip I had planned for our wedding anniversary at the end of August. The other day he had mentioned the pretty little village of Obidos in Portugal which we visited with my parents on a trip round Portugal the spring before we got married in 1983. Obidos got me thinking and I looked at making a reservation at the famous Pousada, the castle of Obidos. It seemed fully booked so I then remembered we had stayed at the fishing village of Nazaré, a charming little place which we always remember, especially the hotel on the beach front. So on Thursday while the news was on,  I found the hotel I think we stayed at, the Ribamar, and I booked three nights. Over our coffee the next day I told Eladio of our plans and he was delighted. Now that is something to look forward to as well as our 6 nights in Asturias in July. 

We drove home on the narrow coastal road between Santa Pola and Gran Alacant, excitedly talking about our trip to Portugal. I used our gas oven for the first time and thankfully my salmon and leek parcels came out fine. The afternoon was spent quietly. Eladio did more cleaning (bless him) while I read and later watched more of Line of Duty until it was time to get ready to go out to dinner.

Being Friday I had booked a table for dinner and chosen our favourite, Maria Picola on the road to Elche. Actually my favourite is La Finca but at over 100 euros per person it's a bit over our budget. But we shall go again one day. Maria Picola was looking as lovely as ever. It's an old house surrounded by nature - beautiful flowers - with a great big but romantic terrace. We have been going for years.

Our favourite restaurant in the area, after La Finca

We were the first guests there. I was happy to see all the post Covid precautions in place, especially the distancing of the tables. Here is Eladio at ours. 

Eladio at the restaurant, Maria Picola, on Friday night.

We had a great meal as always and were home by about 10.30. I rang Suzy to check how she was but also to check on how our new set of guests were - another group of 6 young boys or men. I was relieved to hear they were much better behaved than the group last week.

Before going to bed we sat on our terrace enjoying the cool air until it was time for shut eye. I was awake at just before 6.30 am on Saturday morning. 

Yesterday morning we went to the beach again. We went early at just before 9.30 so as to avoid too many people. For some in Spain this weekend will have been the start of the first week of their holiday and we worried that  the-up-till-now semi empty beach would fill up. We heard someone say that we were only allowed on it in turns of 4 hours and there were plenty of police around. We hadn't heard anything and in any case would not be there for more than 3 as we like to leave at around midday to avoid the hottest part of the day. There were more people than the rest of the week and no doubt, today, Sunday there will be even more as it is on Sundays that the locals spend the day at the beach. Thankfully, though, social distancing was respected. The water was great with some waves to ride on and enjoy. They weren't too strong though so we were also able to swim at leisure. We sat on our old beach chairs under the old parasol which I would really like to replace with some new beach kit. We read for a while and then took a walk to the end of the beach and back. We were up by our apartment by before 1 pm and again I enjoyed a dip in the pool where there were more people than usual but only about 4 small groups. 

The rest of the day was spent quietly in our apartment. I had a hell of a long siesta; about 3 hours which I suppose helped me make up for lost sleep. Later I binge watched the whole of season 4, the last available on Netflix, and was up till past 1 am but I just couldn't stop watching. I had to find out who the baddies were 😀. It's a great series and I'm going to miss it now. 

Today is Sunday and our last full day here as we shall be going home tomorrow. We don't like to leave my father for too long and of course we are dying to see Suzy again. We are already planning a trip to Montrondo next week so maybe I shall be writing next week's blog from there. 

Meanwhile my friends, I wish you all the best until next Sunday,

Masha

c

ç

Week 14, final week of lockdown in Spain, the end of State of Alarm, grandparent duty, Elliot turns 9 months old, lunch out with friends, goodbye Vera Lynn, Campaign "Spain for sure", the apiarist and other stories.

Sunday 21st June.

On grandparent duty this week - here feeding Elliot his breakfast on Friday morning

Dear all.

Today couldn't be a happier day. This Sunday, 21st June,  marks the end of the State of Alarm in Spain which started on 14th March, a date I shall never forget. In this country we experienced one of the strictest lockdowns in the world. We also were one of the hardest hit countries in terms of number of cases and the death rate. We were once the country with most deaths after Italy. Other countries have taken over now as the virus has spread around the world.

Last week and the this week the US still heads the rankings. This week the number of cases worldwide has increased from 7.812.145 to 8.847.808 and the death toll went from 430.230 to 464.210. 

Last week's figures

Last night's figures

As you can see the two countries dominating the chart are no longer Italy and Spain but the US and Brazil. 

In Spain the numbers hardly budged. That was what probably inspired the country's PM, Pedro Sánchez, to announce that in agreement with most EU countries, borders would open a week earlier, on 21st June, that is TODAY my friends. They will open too to other countries slowly from 1st July. That is great news for us all and for tourism but we shall have to be on the watch for new outbreaks.  I am hoping that this will be good news for my Airbnb business too, the one at home and the one I am planning for our apartment by the sea. 

Last weekend's Airbnb guests left at midday - 12 noon is my checkout time - and we went on our walk. It was a sunny day but the temperature only reached 25c. We had the house to ourselves all afternoon until Oli and her family arrived in the evening. Elliot seemed delighted to be back. As soon as they had brought everything in  - lots of food and baby stuff, Miguel had to drive back to Valencia where he has been working this week. He is tired of coming and going there and looks forward to being transferred permanently to Madrid in September. Only then will he and Oli and little Elliot be able to lead a normal family life. 

We would be on grandparent duty all week while Oli worked, mostly in the mornings. We had planned to go to Santa Pola today but have to wait for Miguel to come back tomorrow before we can set off. 

Thus on Monday it was Eladio, Elliot, the dogs and me on our walk. The walk is about one hour long and Elliot never fails to fall asleep after 30 minutes. That day he slept for 1.5h, including an hour at home when we got back,  which meant  we had some free time and I was able to get on with making vichyssoise for our first course for lunch that day. We had it outside in glorious weather - neither too hot nor too cold. 

Olivia caught me on camera making the vichyssoise

In the afternoon grandparent duty continued although Oli was more in charge but I still wasn't really able to read. Elliot, tired of his toys, gravitates to all the places he shouldn't and that are now within his reach. We did not want him to gravitate to where Eladio had relaid a tile that had come unstuck and which my handyman husband had worked on that morning. I had to have a photo of him to show you another of his skills; that of bricklaying😀. I often wonder what he cannot do with those skillful hands of his. He is the complete opposite of my parents who, in general, were not good with their hands; especially my father. I am somewhere in between them and always need help from Eladio. 

Eladio bricklaying

Elliot especially loves to play with the soil in some of the large plant and flower pots just outside the kitchen. That day he stood up while playing. He is standing up more and more and I have a feeling he will be an early walker.

Elliot standing up and playing with the soil

That day he got covered in soil over and over again and had to be dragged into the kitchen to have his hands washed and sometimes his clothes changed. Here he is covered in it. I commented to Oli that maybe he would like a sandpit (I'm sure he would) but she said he had enough stuff. She is probably right.

Elliot playing with soil and covered in it. 

In general there is not much to tell about Monday. I was so looking forward to our get away to Santa Pola, the day seemed to drag on just as the week has. During dinner I was busy with more Airbnb bookings and queries. One lady frustrated me by asking many questions just before and after booking 7 guests for one night - Wednesday - a group wanting some relaxation time after lockdown. It was only after making the reservation she said she would be bringing 2 more guests. She hadn't read my rules which state only people booked to spend the night can come. We to-and-froed, messaging on the Airbnb chat app and she had me busy answering for more than 1 hour. In the end I rang  Airbnb to cancel her booking as I knew she would be trouble. Much less trouble was another booking from a guest who will be repeating. He and his girlfriend have booked 10 days at the end of September. It's so funny how different guests behave when making a reservation. I always know that those who ask endless questions are generally the ones who will give me the most trouble.

So when I finally hit the sack I was shattered mentally. Thankfully, the rather silly film, Up in the Air, with George Clooney, took my mind off things and even though the film is silly, just looking at the most handsome man in the world for a an hour or so, was pleasing to the eye and I was able to disconnect from all the things that worried me.

Tuesday came, our last Tuesday in lockdown and our last Tuesday on grandparent duty until the second half of August. We took Elliot on his walk and true to his routine he fell asleep half way through. We came back at around 11.30 our mid morning coffee time. Oli joined us. As you will have read in earlier blog posts, you may know I specialise in making a great home home made capuccino from my Nespresso and Judge milk frothing jug. Whenever we eat or drink something Elliot is extremely interested. As Oli's coffee is made with soy milk, she thought it would be ok for him to try the froth  and he loved it. Of course he got a milk froth moustache so I had to get that on camera while he was on Eladio's lap. Isn't he funny?

Coffee time on Tuesday - Elliot with his milk froth moustache hahahaha

The rest of the day was all pretty much routine. The highlight  was my 1.5h long Skype call with Amanda. Oh, how I enjoy them. We spoke a lot about our careers and how important it is for women to be financially independent from their husbands. My mother instilled that in me and I instilled it in my girls. I would hate to depend on my husband for money and want to feel free to buy whatever I fancy within limits. Never one for numbers - more for letters hahahahhaa - I don't look at prices when food shopping and I never want to have to do so. I had to in our younger years when we were paying a mortgage and private school bills and I wouldn't want to go down that path again.

We consider ourselves extremely lucky to have survived this pandemic -. so far - both health wise and financially. The loss of Airbnb income was a bit of a challenge but thankfully it has picked up now and things should go well, barring a second wave. No, we don't want a second wave of coronavirus but it could well happen. In Peking that day there were new outbreaks - apparently imported from Europe - and even New Zealand which was Covid free, reported 2 cases that came from the UK. On the bright side we are hearing that a vaccine could be available at the end of the year. We have also heard that in the UK a steroid based drug called "dexamethasone" could save up to 30% of the lives of those on ventilators; i.e those suffering most from the virus. The discovery was made by Oxford University researchers. 30% is not enough of course. We want a drug that is more effective, but it's a step in the right direction.

Let me move to Wednesday now. That day we had a lunch date; our first one since before lockdown. That day too was the day Elliot turned 9 months old. Wow, how time has passed. He is so big now and will soon be one years old and walking and beginning to talk or not far off. I had to have a photo of him to mark this day. Here he is crawling over the threshold between the kitchen and the patio which he can now do alone. He loves to tug at the rubber which is there for insulation and which drives Eladio mad hahahaha. But when you see his little face smile - and he always smiles for the camera - all you can do is forgive him.

Little Elliot turned 9 months old on Wednesday

He is such a happy and sunny little soul and has brought us endless joy. I cannot envisage life without him. He is such fun to have around and brightens up our days. As he is always at floor level, that means he is also at dog level and is forever crawling near them. He loves the dogs but has to learn to stroke them gently. The other day he bit Elsa's ear. Being a lab, she didn't budge and can put up with everything. Thankfully he only has two emerging bottom teeth so the bite probably did not hurt. Pippa, our miniature dachshund is wary of him and Norah, the beagle,  tends to ignore him hahahahah. When she doesn't ignore him is when he is eating a crust of bread and is always on the lookout for him dropping it which he often does hahahahaha. We call our beagle "Norah the food snatcher"😅. Just a few moments before I took the photo of Elliot to mark his 9th month, I spied the three dogs all lying on the grass in peace so I had to capture them on camera to share with you today. Of course you will only be interested if you are dog lovers. As you can guess, in this house, we are great animal lovers. No doubt Elliot will follow in our footsteps. 

Our three dogs. From left to right: Pippa the miniature dachshund, Norah the beagle and Elsa the labrador.

Both the dogs and Elliot were soon on their walk that morning. This time Olivia joined us although she kept having to stop to take work related phone calls.

For once that day and possibly for the first time since before lockdown, I did not have to make lunch. During lockdown and until now I have been making lunch for 6 or 7 people every single day. So it was nice to actually go out for lunch for a change. I did though prepare the first course for Oli, my father and Lucy - my broccoli, mushroom and carrot soup. Thus I didn't really get off scot free from that day's meal. Perhaps the difference for me was actually having lunch out that made the difference in our routine. Oli keeps saying our days are all the same; a sort of Groundhog day when we seen to be in a time loop. I totally agree and that is why it was special to go out to lunch with friends this week; to do something different for a change. Routine is good but if it's the same every day for 3 months it can become stifling. 

We had a lunch appointment with our friends, Roberto and Mari Carmen. He was a teacher colleague of Eladio's and his wife is a pharmacist with a chemist shop in a town on the outskirts of Madrid. They divorced a few years ago but maintain a very civilised relationship. I was eager to hear about Mari Carmen's experience as a pharmacist during the coronavirus crisis. Her lockdown was very different to ours and to most people's as she had to work in the thick of it, exposing herself to danger. She told us that 20 chemists have died in Spain!  She also  told us about all the health protection steps she had to take which were many, her worries, the hard work and nights of night duty, people frantically buying any medicines they could (just in case) and how exhausted she was, not to mention short staffed. Her daughter who will one day replace her was on maternity leave and another member of staff was off because of suspected corona which thankfully in the end he didn't get. I did not envy her; I could only admire her. Thankfully the worst of it is now over.

We had a pleasant lunch together. Our friends had reserved a table at a local branch of an Italian chain of restaurants, La Tagliatella. The last time I had been there was with my dearly departed friend, Fátima. Oh how I miss her. The food was good, the service slow. We asked for water 3 times but never got it. We had lots to catch up on; especially in the grandchild sphere. They now have 4 grandchildren to our 1 grandson. Here we are together at the end of a long and pleasant lunch out.

Lunch this week with our friends, Roberto and Mari Carmen.

We didn't get home till 4.30. Oli had to cope with Elliot on her own. Luckily we were able to get a siesta and I slept until nearly 6.30!!! Unbelievable! That of course meant I would not be able to fall asleep until very late that night.

We spent what was left of the afternoon with our daughter and grandson until it was time for dinner. Neither Eladio nor I were hungry for obvious reasons but I had to rustle something up and made coleslaw which we had with ham, followed by delicious nectarines.

I helped Oli bathe Elliot who now loves his bath and then it was time for some TV entertainment. That night we restarted Line of Duty and now I am loving it.

Thursday came and our Groundhog week was coming to an end. Actually, though, Thursday, of all the days of the week was a bit different as I got out and about. I did the weekly shopping (whoopee) and went to the hairdresser in the afternoon.

It was on Thursday the world learned that England's wartime sweetheart singer, Dame Vera Lynn, died aged 103. She was just two years older than my father and would have been about his age when she became famous for singing to the forces in her clear bell like voice. Born in the East End to a plumber father she rose to heights she could never have foreseen to become a national treasure, up there with with the likes of Churchill or the Queen Mother, an icon, never to be forgotten. 

Vera Lynn as a young woman

She sang for the forces at home and abroad, with inspiring songs giving hope to them and sending a message of comfort. Most were missing home and she knew that. Perhaps her most famous song is " We will meet again", along with "The white cliffs of Dover".  

Vera Lynn singing to the Forces during the war

These songs have remained popular forever after. If you haven't heard her then I urge you to listen and watch her singing " We will meet again" live during the war in this video.   It brought a lump to my throat. The Queen, herself a great fan of the British singer, made reference to her when trying to lift the spirits of the country at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, saying in her address "we will meet again". This shows that her songs still reverberate with the nation in 2020 just as they did during the war. Dame Vera Lynn's spirit lives on and will live on forever. She was everyone's sister or girlfriend, the woman men wanted to marry. Vera Lynn, who remained active until the very end, was living history and I for one feel bereft at her passing away. I was not of her generation, yet am a child of WW2 and I mourn her death, the loss of a symbol of hope and someone who embodied the best of all British values. RIP wonderful lady, who will be remembered always. 

I thought about her and what she meant to the nation during the war as I did my food shopping and imagined what it must have been like for Colditz prisoners of war who listened in to her BBC programme clandestinely. She lifted the forces and nations morale just when it was most needed. I did my shopping thinking that we are now comparing lockdown to the privations of WW2 but they are nothing like it. Lockdown cannot be compared. We have all the luxuries we need and no problems with communication, not to mention we have all the food we need. There is no rationing and we do not have bombs coming down on our cities, nor do we have the menace of Hitler to fight. 

No doubt my grandparents and their generation would be stunned at all we have, especially our bulging fridges, like mine that day after I had done the shopping. In the war, oranges were a luxury. We, on the other hand, have all the fruit we want. When I say "we" , I should say, a majority because it is very true that I am in the lucky camp, the camp that has not been badly affected by the crisis. Of course it has hit the poor hard and I am  talking not just about a health pandemic but an economic pandemic too.

These were my thoughts as I rushed about shopping and came home with a huge load to unpack - my least favourite activity, along with cleaning floors (that I hate). 

My second outing of the day was to the hairdresser in the early afternoon. I hadn't been since 4th May, the first day they were open. The health measures are still in place; only one customer per employee, wearing masks and even disinfecting shoe soles before stepping inside. I was there for just under the 2 hours it took to see to my roots, have a hair cut and blow dry. My hairdresser, Bella Brazil, had put its prices up during the crisis and I forked out 84 euros which is a lot for Spain. 

I came home to approval of my new look and spent the rest of the afternoon with my family, Eladio, Oli and Elliot who kept us amused until dinner time.

That night we continued watching Line of Duty. Eladio fell asleep but I kept on watching and finished Season 2 in 2 nights. I think I was up till 3 in the morning and woke up just 4 hours later feeling like something the dog had brought in.

It was Friday, the last day of grandparent duty, and the day of the arrival of this weekend's guests; a group of 6 girls who were coming for a hen party. I dreaded them but thankfully they would not arrive until late at night. Part of the day was spent getting the house and garden spruced up for their arrival. That meant Eladio had to mow the lawn again. As he did the front lawn, Elliot looked on with utter fascination. It was something he hadn't seen before.

Eladio mowing the front lawn and Elliot looking on with fascination

Grandparent duty for me means making the his food, feeding him, changing his nappies and dressing him as well as playing with him and taking him on our walks. It is wonderful to be able to do these things and our bonding is thanks to Coronavirus, one of the few benefits of lockdown. I am very conscious that most grandparents have been separated from their grandchildren while we have been the lucky ones.

That morning I made a smoothie for Elliot from a bit of banana and a few strawberries and cherries. He loved it. That's the photo I have chosen for this week's feature photo. I hope one day when Elliot is older he will love to see these photos. For me they will be a keepsake of his time as a baby and a delightful one too.

It was a warm day on Friday with the temperature rising to 30'c. It will go up and up from now and is expected to reach 40ºc soon which I don't like at all. I'm happy with temperatures from 25 to 30ºc. That meant time by the pool in the afternoon and Elliot went in the water with his mother. He was wearing his full swimming suit and a sun hat and Oli took this delightful photo of him. His eyes are stunning; eyes that capture your heart. I remarked to my daughter that he would be a candidate for baby modelling agencies as he literally poses for photos. What a darling.

Elliot in his swimming outfit. Just look at those eyes

And here he is in the water with his mother.

Elliot in the water with his mother on Friday. Spot Pippa in the picture too.

I would have loved to have joined them but was busy supervising the state of the guest rooms and putting flowers and fruit in them as arrival gifts. My guests love the flowers and fruit they find in the rooms. I was also busy on something more tricky. We had an internet outage that day from the morning until the evening. I tried to contact my provider, my old company, Yoigo but soon realised the problem was with the Telefonica network which they lend out to Yoigo; the fiber optic one that provides fast internet. It seems Telefónica had a major network crash in most parts of Spain. There was no explanation, however, on their Twitter feed so customers kept complaining. I was worried there would be no wifi for our guests which could be a problem as it is included in my ad. Thankfully all was restored by about 8 pm, before their arrival.

When my domestic and internet fixing duties were over, I turned to my phone to browse the latest news. I came upon the story of the Spanish government's campaign to lure tourists back post Covid. I loved the video where many famous Spanish personalities spoke about the virtues of Spain - mostly food, etc. Did you know that Spain is the 2nd most visited country in the world after France? I was surprised but it is true. Did you know that 84 million people visited this country last year? Wow! 18 million of them were Brits and I suspect the video of the campaign was targeted mainly at them. The campaign is called "Spain for sure". As a Brit I see that as meaning "Spain without a doubt". In Spanish however, "sure" means that but it also means "safe" so the campaign was supposed to be a play on words and transmit safety and trust. However, the Ministry of Foreign affairs had not done its homework and used the word "safe" thinking it meant "secure" which it doesn't. I wonder who the hell their ad agency was and why someone didn't check the English. In the video which you can see here, up to 20 supposedly famous Spanish personalities extol the virtues of Spain. Some of them will be known abroad, but the majority won't. These are just some of them who spoke in the video: Rafa Nadal, Pau Gasol, José Andrés, Isabel Coixet, Fernando Alonso, Ana Botín, María Blasco, Sara Baras, Ferrán Adriá, Andrés Iniesta, Edurne Pasabán, Valentín Fuster, los hermanos Roca, Carolina Marín y Teresa Perales.

Some of the faces in the video targeted at attracting holiday makers to Spain post Covid 19. 

I wonder how many of these people you know?. Even if you are Spanish you may not know them all. I didn't know everyone but if you are not Spanish you may only ever have heard of Nadal and Fernando Alonso. If you are a football fan you will know who Andrés Iniesta is - the man who scored the goal that brought victory to Spain in the World Cup 10 years ago.  However,  only if you are a basketball fan will you know who Pau Gasol is, a legend in Spain and in the US where he plays in the NBA. As to the rest you probably don't know many more. The people who did the video, should, in my mind, have used more universally known Spaniards such as Antonio Banderas, Penelope Cruz or even Almodovar. I don't know whether the campaign will help attract more holiday makers post Covid. I do hope they come anyway and if they do come, in their droves again, I only pray that we do not get a second wave of the dreaded virus.

Soon it was time to get ready and go out for our weekly Friday night dinner. For this week, Oli and I looked for restaurants on The Fork app and came up with a new one for us; "El Viejo Fogón" in nearby Majadahonda. It had great reviews so we were hoping it would be a restaurant we liked and would want to go back to. We were not disappointed. In fact we loved it. We had a table on the pretty terrace right by the street which wasn't so pretty but it was great to be outside. We took photos for the occasion. Little Elliot was given a high chair from where he ate his food, brought by Oli and heated up and served in a posh little bowl for the baby. I made it by the way and he loved it too.

Elliot enjoying his dinner out on Friday night

I had to have a photo of Eladio and me too and Oli obliged. We felt so happy that night. We had lots of things to celebrate, especially the end of lockdown and the fact that we have not been affected. What else could we wish for?

Eladio and I at dinner on Friday night at El Viejo Fogón

If we liked the place, we liked the food even more. My favourites were the shredded frozen foie and the oxtail canelloni. Oh, and the brownie too☝.

We were home by about 10.30 and found the 6 women having dinner on the pool terrace all dressed up in Minnie Mouse outfits. I do wish I had taken a photo, hahahaha.We left them to it and went up to bed. Eladio and I lay in bed talking about our lives for ages until finally sleep caught up with us at past midnight.

Saturday came, 20th June, which is this year's summer solstice, the longest day of the year. In Scandinavia it is known as Midsummer and is celebrated everywhere. In Spain it is the feast of St. John but the usual beach celebrations with bonfires may not take place because of Covid.

It was to be a very warm day. After writing my blog and uploading photos, I went into the garden in search of Oli, Eladio and Elliot who were not in the kitchen. Of course they weren't; they had gone down to the swings with our grandson. He loves them and it is good to see them being put to use again. When he got off, he stretched out his arms for me to hold him and give him a good morning hug. I happily obliged. Oh how I love him. Oli took a photo and here I am in my dressing gown and unwashed face holding Elliot. My wrinkles are much in evidence but the happiness of holding Elliot who looks so happy too makes them pale in comparison.

Holding Elliot after his time on the swings on Saturday morning

There was some excitement to report later on. I may have mentioned we have a beehive under a drain hole outside the house, on the pavement and next to the letter box. I will have told you the police, the firemen and various bee experts came to see how they could be removed. The town hall informed us it was up to us to get them removed as they consider the pavement outside our house as our property (how convenient for them). Bees are an endangered species and cannot be killed - the fine is 6000 euros! - Yesterday morning, an apiarist aficionado, a retired man called José Miguel who has beehives in the area came to inspect the bees. He came dressed in the appropriate clothing and I had to have a photo. José Miguel happily posed. After all it's not often one sees an apiarist and it's a first for us to have one coming to our house.  Here he is in his bee protection gear. No doubt it could be of use against Covid too😉.

The apiarist

He told us the bees were not the aggressive type and that one of the reasons was that they were not guarding any honey as honey is produced in the autumn. That was good to know and if I see the post man I will tell him as he is frightened of putting our post in the letter box next to a swarm of bees. Oli took a video for José Miguel as he lifted the drain hole and they could see up to at least 8 honeycombs. Imagine. The process for removing them, protecting the queen bee  and taking them elsewhere is complicated and expensive and we will be hearing from our apiarist when we come back from Santa Pola. I thought that was an interesting story to include in this week's post. 

When José Miguel had gone, Oli, Elliot and I set off in the car to nearby Boadilla. Instead of going on a walk we decided to have a coffee out, hoping our favourite coffee shop, Alverán, would be open. We were in luck, it was. We had a fine time out, at Alverán and walking the streets and looking at the shops but it was already very hot. We cut short our little expedition of returning to normal life and set off in the car again, this time to Mercadona, our local low cost supermarket. I needed to get some items that didn't fit in my trolley or had forgotten to buy when I went shopping on Thursday. It was Elliot who went in the trolley this time; a first for him and he loved it. I loved seeing him and had to have a photo to share with you. 

Elliot in the trolley at Mercadona - a first for him

We came home to unload our shopping and then have lunch in the dining room as it was far too hot outside. By the time we had finished, Lucy had gone and Zena, our weekend carer, had arrived. Meanwhile, Katya, my Russian neighbour, brought over a parcel from Amazon addressed to me which had been delivered to her house by mistake. It was an ice lolly making set I had ordered. One day this week Oli was making a smoothie for Elliot and I commented how nice it would be to freeze the fruit mixture and make ice lollies. We opened the parcel after lunch and there and then made the mixture for the lollies from strawberries, raspberries and black cherries. Within an hour or two they were ready and they were delicious. Elliot didn't say so but you could tell by the mess on his face that he loved his. They were the perfect antidote for such a hot day and I will be making more over the summer and experimenting with different fruit.

My fruit ice lollies

While our hen party guests were by the pool splashing to the sound of loud music, we were in the garden sitting and reading. Ol's University friend, Anita, came to visit and would stay for dinner. While making an early one for us - 8 pm -  Elliot was doing his usual crawling around and going for the places and areas he shouldn't. The other day he tipped over the very heavy bucket of water for the dogs, getting himself drenched. He also loves the soil in the plants and Eladio took this great photo of him which he entitled "the gardener". He may well become one if he continues watching his grandfather at work in the garden. 

Elliot the gardener

It was Anita who helped Oli bathe Elliot that night and oh my was he in need of it, hahahaha. Thus I was free to watch the news with Eladio. It was yesterday that the Spanish government announced that now the British will also be allowed into Spain from today as they consider the UK still part of the EU - I reckon it's because they need their custom. It remains to be seen what happens with the 14 day quarantine rule for entry into Britain. For us it's good news as there should now be no trouble with Suzy travelling home next week on 24th June. She had planned to be here until the end of July and then to spend a month in Cambodia (!) from where she would until the Indonesian borders open again. Last night I heard the South East Asian country, Cambodia, will be imposing a 3000 dollar fee for entry so I think Suzy's plans to live there for a while are now thwarted. For the moment she can't wait to be back in Spain.

Today is Sunday and I am dreaming of traveling too. From today, when new normality kicks in, we shall be able to so inside Spain and to most countries in the EU. From 1st July Spain will open its borders to other countries but we don't know which they are yet. Facebook reminded me this morning that one year ago I was in The Cotswolds with my dear friend Amanda and her husband Andy. It was part of our tremendous trip to the UK and Ireland in search of my father's roots. The photo that came up was of me in that most beautiful village, Castle Combe, which has been used in films and is like a picture postcard. 

In pretty Castle Combe in The Cotswolds one year ago.

We will only be traveling to Santa Pola tomorrow but after confinement and such a strict lockdown, that's good enough for me. All I want is a change of scenery and tomorrow I will get that.

No doubt you will hear all about it in next week's post. Now it's time for me to sign off and get on with the day. Our 6 hen party guests will be leaving at 12 but there will be no respite as 3 more guests will be arriving just one hour later. It will be a squeeze but we will manage.

Cheers then everyone, until next Sunday,

Masha