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