Sunday 7th June, 2020
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| Happy to be out and about yesterday. Here having a coffee at Amasa bakery in Majadahonda |
Dear all.
I wonder how you are all doing in your different phases of coronavirus around the world. Here in Spain we are into week 12 of lockdown and in the Madrid area this has been our second week of Phase 1; the first stage in the lifting of restrictions. I keep thinking roll on Phase 3. Last week I told you that in Phase 3 we would be allowed free movement around the country but I was wrong. The rule is now from after Phase 3. We will just have to sit it out a,s for the moment, we cannot pack our cases, and drive away from the Madrid area. We are stuck here still. Home is not a bad place to be stuck but I am dying for a change of scenery. I am also dying for a change in routine. I am a bit fed up of making lunches and dinners for so many people and for such a long period. I really need a break.
The figures of contagion and the death toll for coronavirus from last night Saturday 6th June compared to last Saturday's figures, 30th May, were a lot better for Europe, except for the UK where the numbers are still rising. The total number of deaths in the UK is now over 40.000, the second highest death toll in the world after the USA. Brazil and parts of Latin America seem to be the hotspot now. As to Spain, Italy and France, the worst affected countries in Europe after the UK, they are on the decline. In Spain we have had hardly any deaths this week and very few new infections. Below are the figures from last night and from last week. The total number of deaths worldwide rose from 342.634 to 368.933 and the total number of infections worldwide rose from 5.372.822 to 6.099.052 in just one week.
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| Figures from last night Saturday 6th June. |
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| Last Saturday's figures - 30th June |
Again I feel sorry for those countries going through the worst part of the virus curve but also relieved that here in Spain things are so much better.
Last Sunday I felt exhausted; mostly because I had slept so badly. Even so I went on our walk and then at just before midday, our first group of guests since lockdown left. We then had to disinfect everything which took a while. Thankfully we wouldn't have another group until Friday so again the house would be just for us. On the one hand I want it full for financial reasons but on the other hand I really don't want anyone here at all. I just want peace and quiet.
Well at least I got that last Sunday. The day was quiet and pleasant. We even had a barbecue just for my Father, Eladio, Zena, our weekend carer who is now back, and myself. I got out some dubious steak which must have been in the freezer for a long time. So I was pleasantly surprised that it actually tasted delicious. My father can't eat steak because of his teeth or lack of them but then he was never was a meat man; far preferring his veg. So I gave him a "bitok" (small Russian style hamburger) and a huge jacket potato with some roast red peppers. He loved that.
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| Our barbecue lunch last Sunday |
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| Barbecue in the making |
Although we had the pool to ourselves that day, I didn't go in, preferring to read in the shade. At 5.30 I had my weekly Skype call with Adele and Sandra, my Uni friends who live in France and Belgium. That kept me occupied for an hour. I can't wait to see my friends in the flesh and we are dying for the lift of travel restrictions.
Just as our call was ending, Oli, Miguel and Elliot returned from their flat where they had spent the night while we had guests. Suddenly the house was full again of all their baby stuff, old and new. Would you believe they brought with them 3 types of swimming protective suits? I mean wouldn't arm bands just be enough? Apparently not. He now has a boat, the said equipment, a wet suit, sunglasses he won't wear and a sun hat. There is also a lilo. All of this has invaded the swimming pool area and is driving me mad. But of course it was lovely though to see the little baby and he was delighted to be back too.
It was up to me as usual to make dinner and soon I was in the throes of preparing a salad to have with ham, humus and crudites. Suzy rang while I was chopping the veg. I don't speak to her often and it's nice to see her when we do. She had been out and about that weekend where the weather was so warm in the UK. She is very much into playing her ukelele, doing yoga, biking, singing and spending time with friends when she can. That day she sent us a photo of herself playing this new instrument in a park where she had a picnic with her host, Sandra.
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| Suzy enjoying the sun and playing her ukelele in a park in London last Sunday |
I was glad to see her in good spirits.
The day finished with dinner around the table, the 5 of us together again. Miguel had to leave after dinner as this week he has been working in Valencia. That meant that Eladio and I would be on grandparent duty all week, taking care of Elliot while Oli worked. It was a bit daunting for us and would curtail our freedom but it's our duty to do our bit of course and I should not complain.
I later helped Oli to bathe Elliot. For some unknown reason he has taken a recent dislike to his bath and cries throughout but we just have to ignore his cries and get the job done. Thankfully he calms down again soon afterwards.
The day ended with us watching 2 more episodes of "Madres" (Mothers) on Prime Video. Thankfully that night I didn't sleep too badly and was up at 6.40 on Monday morning. I still needed to catch up on my sleep as I think that's what's making me feel so bushed the whole time.
I couldn't think about myself though on Monday as Eladio and I were on grandparent duty from 9 to 5.30 every day this week. We took him for a walk and usually after a few minutes in the push chair he falls asleep. On Monday, though, he cried for half an hour before succumbing to morpheus. Pushing him up the hill on the way back and in the sun was tough for me. Now that Elliot can crawl, he is happy to do so quite independently on the kitchen patio. He has to wear long trousers as his knees get sore. We had to remove tempting and dangerous objects, such as all the bottles of wine and oil on a shelf his level in the kitchen. He then found the tub with the dogs' water, splashed around and got drenched and had to be changed. Later in the week he knocked over a huge pot of hydrangeas but thankfully it didn't beak. Oh, yes, he was fun but needed our undivided attention. Thankfully there were two of us.
I was relieved of grandparent duty at 5.30 (hurray) when it was time for my weekly Skype call with my old school friend Amanda who lives in Devon. It was bliss to talk to her for 1.5h. We are always on the same page, agree on most things and of course go a long way back. Again she told me she was indignant about the Dominic Cummings affair. We both reflected how we had been brought up in staunch conservative households but that now neither of us like the Tory government leading (or rather not leading) the country. We were also brought up to think of the Americans as our allies, a sort of extension of the UK, but how deeply disappointed we are now at what the country has turned into. We are both shocked at the violence going on, the behaviour of the police, the racism and of course the behaviour of D. Trump. So yes, we spoke of politics surrounding the Covid-19 and also about people's behaviour now that lockdown rules are relaxing.
I think our call finished at 19h so there was not much time to do anything before dinner - no reading for example. I caught up on the news though and was delighted to read that day, not one corornavirus related death had been reported in Spain. What wonderful news.
We had dinner quietly outside with little Elliot who ate everything we fed him and then some more. I love to see him eat and enjoy life, chuckling at Eladio making faces at him or when we feed the dogs their evening treats. But what he doesn't like now as I salid earlier and hasn't since last week, are his baths. He has taken to a sudden distaste or even hatred of his daily bath. He goes in screaming and comes out screaming and we have no idea why as until last week he used to love his baths. I did a lot of research on internet the next day to see if I could find any solution.
Tuesday came and we were on grandparent duty again. Far away in America, the riots and demonstrations caused by the cruel death of George Floyd at the hands of a masochist and racist police officer, Derek Chauvin, escalated all through the country. It was quite frightening to watch. A lot of the country is in curfew. Donald Trump threatened to send in the army. His response to the killing of the black man and to the demonstrations has been criticised the world over. On Internet there was a campaign called "Black Tuesday" where people posted black. Following the crowd and because I am disgusted with what happened, I posted a single black photo too. The slogan for the movement against racism has now become known as "Black lives matter". A bit like the "Me too" movement, I have a hope and feeling it may well become the turning point in the issue of racism in the US. The movement actually began in 2013 but has become a very powerful and global one since the death of George Floyd.
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| Black lives matter - the movement against racism in the US which has seen a surge in popularity after after the cruel and racist killing of innocent George Floyd. |
Our day was very quiet, the only protests coming from Elliot at times but baby type protests. We took him for his walk. Pushing his pram up the steep street home, as I said, is quite a challenge. A delivery man saw me and commented how he would like to help. I told him I was a grandmother looking after her grandchild while his mother worked. He sympathised and called me a "super abuela" (super grandmother). Am I, I wondered? Well, not really. Thankfully there are two of us to look after little Elliot when his mother is working but 5 whole days have taken their toll as we are no longer spring chickens. There was little free time for me which I so need. Luckily he likes to crawl and spends quite a lot of the time on the floor. He is, of course, at dog level and it's funny to watch the scenes created like the one below. I look at him and just wish he could have the company of other babies which he needs so much.
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| Elliot crawling at dog level |
When I am on duty watching him crawl, I can't help but admire our flowers by the kitchen patio. The hydrangeas are nearly in full bloom and the geraniums are at their best. But we also have some cacti. I am no great fan of them and neither is Elliot by the way. I tell him they are called "prickly plants" and show him how they prick my fingers. He laughs and turns away as if he doesn't want to touch them. But there is one that is intriguing and beautiful as it has a ring of pink flowers like a crown at the top. I do wonder what it is called. Maybe you know. I have tried nature apps but nothing comes up. This is it. It is sublime.
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| Just look at the perfect little pink daisy type flowers topping this cactus. It is so beautiful I had to share it with you. |
In the afternoon when she has finished her work, thankfully Olivia takes over. While I spent most of the afternoon answering Airbnb enquiries and there have been a lot of them, she went in the pool with Elliot and tried out what I call his "swimming contraptions" - you know, the ones that take up so much space around the pool terrace😁.
He liked the first one best. It's a sort of rubber ring but he sits in it and only gets his feet wet. This is him with it on in the pool and he loved it.
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| Elliot in his sophisticated boat like rubber ring |
One of the others is is a sort of ring that goes round his neck and looks strange to me. He hasn't tried it yet but after the one above, he was given a go in a sort of floater that leaves his legs and arms free. It's amazing how he instinctively went into doggy paddle style. I do wish his father would teach him to swim so he hasn't got to wear all this funny modern, safe swimming gear hahahaha. He didn't like this one so much when his face got wet. That probably reminded him of bath time which as I said above, he now hates. Funny little boy.
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| Elliot in his other swimming protective floating whatever it is (hahaha) |
There was more good news on the decline of the virus in Spain on Tuesday. For the third day in succession, the health ministry did not present one death. Contagion was also lower but not so low as to slip our guard. I really hope there are no more deaths and that infection is down to the minimum. Then life will return, but not as we know it of course. It will be the new normal. I wonder if life will ever be what it was like before the virus spread from China in January.
There is not much more to say about Tuesday so let me move on to Wednesday. It was a quiet day too and much a repeat of the day before except that it was shopping day. After our walk I went to Mercadona to fill a trolley worth of food for another week in confinement. I left the outing to Carrefour Market and BM till the afternoon when I went with Oli. The highlight of Tuesday was my facetime call with my dear cousin Katty in New Zealand. I so miss her and this year there won't be a cousinade and she won't be travelling to France to see Luc, her older son, her mother Zuka (my first cousin) and her grandmother, my 94 year old Aunty Valya who was the wife of my mother's youngest brother Nicky. That is such a pity. I hope maybe when Suzy comes we can drive to La Teillée to see them. Katty had bad news for me when she told me about the sudden death from a gliding accident in New Zealand of a friend of her mother, Tony. Tony and his wife Suzanne - he's British, she's a New Zealander) have a house near Zuka but live part of the year in New Zealand. I was so sad as they are/were a lovely couple. He was just 70 or so and I think had been a pilot. In a way, I saw history repeat itself. Zuka lost her husband Bruce when he was 59 and has had to get on with life on her own and now that will the fate of Suzanne. How sad for her to lose her life time partner. RIP Tony.
But Katty had good news too about her lovely family and I was happy to hear about each and every one of her family, including little Ruby, her youngest child who I adore. They were able to see Elliot for the first time during our call and coincidentally he was wearing a babygro (with kiwi birds on it) that she had sent Oli, along with an enormous amount of lovely clothing.
As soon as were back from our walk off I went to Mercadona, my dreaded shopping trip of the week. Eladio stayed behind to take care of Elliot. In any case I didn't really need him as shopping is not his forte. But he's great at unloading the car when I come back, hahahahha.
In the afternoon I resumed my grandmother duty and sat with Elliot while he crawled semi peacefully on the tiles of the kitchen patio. As he loves boxes - most children do - I gave him an old Amazon box and watched as he played with it. He was delighted. It's so funny that babies and children often prefer boxes to their own toys but that's how it is. It goes to show they don't need much. Here he is with his box.
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| Elliot happily playing with his box |
It's easy to take photos of Elliot as he is a natural poser. You only have to call his name and he will look up, stare at the camera and smile. He did that in the photo above and in the video I took of him playing with the box which you can see here.
He later bathed in the pool again with his mother while Eladio and I looked on happily. I looked but I was also trying to read - mission impossible with Elliot hahahahaha.
Later Oli and I flouted the confinement rules and went out shopping together to get the rest of the stuff from my weekly shopping list. It was nice to be out together. No one said a thing about us shopping together which shows things are relaxing. Once again that day, the Spanish health authorities announced no deaths. No one really knows if that is true. How come there were no deaths for so many days running?
We came home to unpack, make Elliot's dinner and to rustle up our own dinner. I made a duck and orange salad which we had with home made coleslaw. The latter was just divine.
It was then time for Elliot's bath and we put into practice one of the remedies I had read about for babies who suddenly hate bath time. The remedy was me getting into the bath tube with him and using a shower rather than him sitting in the water. He still complained and Eladio had to help by making funny faces so as to distract him. However, he didn't cry quite as much as previously.
Soon he was sitting on our bed in his kiwi babygro and playing with my toothbrush and my tube of indigestion tablets (hahahahaha). We were not able to watch the news but did enjoy 2 more episodes of "Madres" until I was falling asleep at around midnight.
I got quite a decent night's sleep - just under 6 hours and was up at 6.22. The weather had changed and the temperatures dropped from the high 20's to the low and mid 20's but that was fine with us. The last thing we want now is a heat wave. Thus we had a much cooler walk that morning, another walk when Elliot slept half way through it.
I was less busy on Thursday so had time, while Eladio looked after Elliot, to make our lunch of my style coq au vin which everyone loved, except my father who doesn't like chicken. He got a small Spanish tortilla instead.
Part of the afternoon was spent taking care of Elliot and part of was spent on a video conference call with colleagues from Adamo who wanted to update me on a new project which I will be helping them with; i.e. the PR part of it. Here I am waiting for my colleagues to appear on our Google Meet call. Most people use Zoom or Skype but my customer is a fervent advocate for all things Google. Thankfully the signal was good.
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| During my conference call on Thursday afternoon |
Video calls for meetings are the new norm. The new norm is also to work from home and that day both the colleagues I was in the meeting with were sitting in their homes. Isn't that weird but wonderful. I am a great advocate of working from home and I sincerely hope that one of the benefits of the outcome of the virus crisis is that it will become the "new normal". I find it far more efficient and it makes it far easier to close the gap on our work life balance.
As soon as my call had ended, I joined Oli and Elliot while he crawled all over the place. We then had another video call but this time a family one. Suzy rang us. She was making quiche at the time and we had a good natter. She loves to see how Elliot is developing and growing and can't wait to hold him in her arms. We can't wait for her to come too. Not so long now if her flight keeps to it's latest schedule of 24th June.
Then it was time for dinner and Oli and I made a delicious meal of Miguel's ham croquettes, fresh artichokes, some of my left over coleslaw which were followed by delicious peaches and nectarines that are now in season. Our dinners outside on the kitchen terrace are often the highlight of the day. I thought you would be interested to see a scene of what they look like. They always start with Elliot being fed while the dogs are being given their evening treats. He always finds it funny.
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| Dinner outside on Thursday night and so typical of our life in lockdown |
In a way our dinners outside are always a sort of family celebration and have come to be part and parcel of our life in lockdown. They are the most joyous moment of the day, when we all get together and also eat delicious food. I think that because of lockdown I have always made a special effort for all our meals so as to compensate in some way for our lack of freedom of movement. If we can't go out, at least we can eat well. And, we are the lucky ones. Not everyone can do that.
Friday came and more guests would be coming. 2 young couples from Madrid (we can only get guests from Madrid) would be arriving at 4 pm; Yago and his girlfriend Alejandra, a young Canadian called Jennifer and her partner Rafa. That meant everything had to be spick and span again and we had to remove all vestiges of baby stuff from all around the house. The day started as every day has this week on grandparent duty, with a walk with Elliot. Once home, Eladio went off to clean the pool and I inspected the rooms, cut flowers and prepared plates of fruit to put in our guests' rooms. That's my personal touch which I do for all Airbnb guests. I have always loved finding fruit, chocolate or flowers when I check into a hotel room so I thought my guests would too.
On the topic of flowers, it is at this time of year that the garden is at its best and when most of the flowers are in bloom, like these hydrangeas. I'm more than sure that they help to give a great impression to guests arriving for the first time.
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| Our beautiful hydrangeas just outside the front door to our house. They are so decorative. |
That morning Facebook reminded me once again of my friendship with my dearly departed Fátima. It was a photo of her with our friend Julio and myself. We had been to a restaurant to celebrate his birthday. For many years until her death we always went out for lunch together to celebrate our respective birthdays. When the photo was taken last June, none of us could have known that my friend would die in December. How cruel life is.
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| One year ago this week - the three of us; Fátima, Julio and I, out to lunch to celebrate Julio's birthday. Oh how we miss her. |
Just before our walk, the newspapers arrived. Since lockdown only the Spanish newspaper, El País, was being delivered. My father's subscription to The Daily Telegraphy was stopped and was the only thing that affected him in lockdown. That was quite a big issue for him as he spends most of his morning reading the papers and although he read El País, I knew he missed his English paper "big time". I was gutted he wasn't getting his daily ration of UK news in the form of an English newspaper. He has been well shielded and kept safe but I knew he was missing out on a big part of his day. I had rung the delivery company on many occasions but was told that for the time they were only delivering the Spanish press, that was until I called again this week. I was told The Telegraph was not delivering yet but the FT was. The FT would have done but it would not be my father's choice. So I asked about The Times, the paper he used to get delivered for years when I was a child in Bradford. I was told it could be delivered but would always be the next day's edition. I had no choice but to go for that. Then I got a call on Thursday to say that actually The Times would be the day's edition and would be delivered starting on Friday morning. So when it arrived I walked triumphantly into my fathers's bedroom and study to give it to him personally. His words upon seeing it were "Good heavens". That meant he was delighted. I had to have a photo of him beaming and holding the precious newspaper. I was so happy for him. As it was such a big occasion in his quiet life, I posted the photo on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and tagged The Times telling them the story. I think he may well be the newspaper's oldest reader in Spain.
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| A happy man - my father when he got The Times on Friday morning |
Now he has something to look forward to every morning. I cannot conceive of my father without a daily newspaper in his life. He has always had one delivered; ever since I can remember. We were very much a family that watched the news together and talked about politics and what was going on in the world at meal times. We were also what I call "a reading family". Being a reader and follower of the news is something I milked as a child.
While my father was reading The Times, I got on with domestic tasks and grandparent duty. After our walk I made the lunch - vichyssoise again followed by fish with cauliflower and roast pumpkin. I had a very short siesta before our guests arrived at just before 4 pm. I showed them round the house - the usual tour - and then went down to the garden to read in the shade under the elm tree. I soon had to resume grandmother duty as Oli had a meeting and asked me to come up and get her baby. He was asleep so I gently took him out of her arms and came downstairs to find his push chair to take him out into the garden with me; hoping all the time he would remain asleep. I was in luck and he slept for over and hour allowing me to read and have my cup of tea in peace. I was later joined by Oli, Elliot and Eladio and we spent a quiet afternoon in the garden while our guests enjoyed the pool.Elliot enjoyed playing in the grass and he just loves being taken to the swings by his grandfather who he dotes on. Here he is looking a lot older than his real age (8.5 months) on the swings that were bought many many moons again for his mother and her sister, Suzy.
It was on Friday that the Ministry of Health informed which provinces or areas in Spain would move on to the new phases in their progress towards the new normal - the end of lockdown here. Whoopee, Madrid progresses to Phase 2 starting on Monday. Phase 3 is the end of the ease of lockdown and from 1st July we shall start the new normal which means we will be able to travel in Spain anywhere we want and very probably abroad too. Most of the country are progressing to Phase 3 where they will enjoy even more freedom. In reality Phase 2 is not much different from Phase 1 but means that shopping centres, cinemas, theatres, etc will be open, albeit with limited forum. It also means we can go for our walks at any time we want.
The rest of the day panned out as usual. We did not go out to dinner that night but made our own delicious meal which we had again on the kitchen patio. Our day ended watching a film called "Official Secrets". It is a true story about a GCHQ worker, Katherine Gun, who leaked a top secret document to The Observer. The document was a request by the US "for compromising intelligence on diplomats from member states of the Security Council who were due to vote on the the invasion of Iraq in 2003". Basically it was a campaign to get them to vote for the war. We got a bit interrupted when Eladio had to go down to help our guests get the fire burning for their barbecue. He had to do that last week as well (hahaha). I did not sleep well that night.
I was up early yesterday, at before 6 am. The house would be silent until 8 which is when Oli gets up. That morning we had planned to go to the posh little town of Majadahonda, near where we live, to go their Saturday market and have a coffee outside. It was to be our first time out and about and it felt so strange. Sandra, my friend from Brussels, had sent us a couple of fashion face masks and it was the time to wear them. Thanks my darling. They are much nicer but as you have to put a filter inside them they make for difficult wearing. We took this photo to record the moment.
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| Wearing Sandra's fashion face masks |
There was no difficulty choosing which one to wear. As Sandra predicted I chose the striped one and wore blue and white striped clothing to match (even my espadrilles) and Oli chose the flowery one.
Unfortunately the market was only open for fruit and veg and we had enough of that in our fridge so we did not go in. Hopefully next Saturday the rest of the stalls will be open. From the market we walked towards the main thoroughfare of the town, the "Gran Via". It was so strange to see normal life on the streets and I felt like a bear coming out of hibernation. It was strange but exhilarating to be there. We even went into a clothes shop. Here I am enjoying the moment.
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| Shopping on Saturday and not for food for once. |
It was weird to be in a clothes shop after only having been allowed to shop for food during these last 3 months. I didn't get the shorts (they did not fit😬) but I did get a nice white t-.shirt which of course I didn't need. We continued walking along the Gran Via and had to stop for a photo by the town hall which is surrounded by flowers. Here are Oli and little Elliot in his push chair. For him it must have been a strange and new sensation too as he has only left the house to go on walks and once out to dinner.
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| Oli and Elliot in Majadahonda yesterday |
Oli wanted to show me her favourite bread shop, Amasa, just at the other end of the Gran Via. I was happy to go along with her; after all we had all the time in the world and it was a beautiful sunny day. Amasa is her favourite bakery and we were able to sit outside in the shade and enjoy a cup of coffee. That's the photo I have chosen for this this week's post. Finally we could take off our masks which are nwo obligatory here. I took one of Oli and Elliot too who behaved perfectly. He also enjoyed the outing.
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| Oli and Elliot at Amasa where we had coffee yesterday |
On our way home we stopped at the big Carrefour in Centro Oeste but the queue was just so long we decided to go home. We had dinner in the dining room so as to leave the kitchen patio to our guests although they did not have their lunch (a second barbecue) until past 4 pm!!!!
Again we spent the afternoon in the garden by the Elm tree and were even joined by my father briefly. Elliot is progressing from crawling and is now trying to stand up. He did so yesterday and promptly fell but I was amazed that he stood up without holding onto anything. I have a feeling he will start to walk quite soon.
While our guests were by the pool, we had our dinner on the kitchen patio including some of Oli's bread from the bakery and then it was time for bed or rather time for Elliot's bath. I got in with him again and that tactic for getting him to like his bath again seems to work. It does mean though that I have had to get in the bath with him every evening. But I will do what it takes, hahahahaa.
Today is Sunday but it's not just any Sunday. It's 7th June and would have been my dear mother's birthday. She died too early, aged 79 on 1st October 1999 and would have turned 100 today. She is forever in our hearts. She is also a lot on my mind as I had started research to write her biography but lost the material when my PC crashed, got a bit disheartened and then when coronavirus came I just couldn't concentrate. That makes me feel guilty. I have to tell her story as it is fascinating. Besides I want Elliot to read it one day. She would have adored him and he would have adored her. While writing my father's book I came across one of the very few photos of her when she was young. It was taken in Feldkirch (Austria) in 1945 just after the war when she worked for the French Control Commission helping displaced people. It's funny but my father also worked for the Control Commission but in Germany and for the British. His role was catching Nazis and helping to establish a democratic political party. Their lives would cross when in the early 50's they met in Cambridge where they both taught at the secret spy school run by the government to teach Russian to future spies. The full name of these secret courses held in Cambridge and other places in the UK was the Joint Services School for Linguists (JSSL), and it was a major Cold War initiative. There is even a book about the courses and my parents are mentioned in it. This is the link to it.
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| My mother in Feldkirch (Austria) just after the war when she worked for the French Control Commission helping displaced people. |
She herself was a displaced person, unable to join her parents in Bulgaria which became communist and had been imprisoned by the Gestapo in Vienna. So when she met my father she found stability and happiness. As I always say, she was the most charismatic, cultured and fun person I will ever have known and I miss her every day. RIP Mummy.
My mother would have approved of my Airbnb business as she loved people and used to have lodgers at 6 Heaton Grove. Our current guests will be leaving today at 12 noon and after that the house will be ours again until next weekend.
Now I have reached the end of the tales of this week which I hope you have found entertaining. So that's it from me for this week. Wishing you all the best, cheers,
Masha.
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