A family walk and a family photo, the world reaches 40 million Covid cases, Enid Blyton, some retail therapy, Pope supports same sex civil unions, off to Asturias, the clocks go back and other stories.

El Cueto Meré, Asturias,  Sunday, 25th October, 2020

A lovely photo of the family on our walk last Sunday

Good morning everyone.

Well, here I am in our new house in Asturias very early in the morning thanks to the clocks going back last night.. We came yesterday, the very day our first guests left, keen to show it to the girls. But before I continue, let me report on the latest developments of the damned horrible virus which is interrupting our lives and then wind back to last Sunday and the rest of the week.

That day and all this week the second wave of Coronavirus was the main news as it has been since last January and will continue to be so until some sort of solution is found, if only to live with it as it will never go away.  The situation as I write this morning is dire. The total number of cases and the total number of deaths so far are just under 43 million and 1.154.857. Europe seems to be the epicentre and saw both Spain and France pass the 1 million mark of those infected. The numbers are rising alarmingly and we have seen nearly half a million cases a day this week, half of them in Europe. We are seeing much higher numbers of infected in this second wave which can partly be contributed to the fact that far more tests are being done. It seems the virus  is more contagious this time round or is that people are not being as careful as they should? Despite restrictions, illegal parties have been going on everywhere. In Madrid alone last Sunday the police broke up 250 of them and no doubt many others went undetected.  In Spain as in the UK, my home country, the restrictions are unclear and different for different regions making them very hard to follow. The words in the air this week have been "state of emergency", "return to national lockdown" and "curfew". Curfew is always associated with war and I suppose this is a war but one against a virus with features which are still largely unknown. Hospitals are getting full, medical staff are off their feet but somehow the death rate is not as high as in the second wave, although it is on the rise. We were able to come to Asturias as freedom of movement, except for high risk areas in semi lock down, was still allowed and we were determined to make the most of it. Maybe we are being reckless having come here but I can argue that we have come from an area where social distancing is the norm and our village here, El Cuetu, has just 20 or so inhabitants. We are all supposed to keep to a bubble of 6 and our bubble is very clear; Eladio, the girls, Elliot, Miguel and me. We hardly see anyone else.  

Last Sunday was a crisp yet sunny day. That morning, quite exceptionally, all of us went on our usual walk with the dogs. Elenita, the girls' friend who had spent the night at our house, joined us on the walk. When I suddenly realised that we were all together, I asked her to take a photo. She took one of the best photos we have of the family all together including little Elliot and his father Miguel. I love it for what it represents. You may notice, 4 of us are wearing blue: Miguel, Elliot, Eladio and I. Oli in red and Suzy in white completed what reminded me of a country flag hahahaha.  I took one of Oli's little family too with Elliot standing up. He had got tired of his push chair, hahahah, although later he fell asleep.

Oli, Elliot and Miguel on our walk last Sunday

Once home the family began to dissolve as Oli and her boys left to go to their home. Thus it was just my father, Eladio and I for lunch. Suzy had another friend round, Pili a school friend and I hardly saw them. I rustled up something for lunch and spent the afternoon quietly reading until it was time for a scheduled Facetime call with our great friends, Kathy and Phil who live in Yorkshire.

Would you believe we were "on the phone" for 2 whole hours? I was sitting outside and when we finished I was cold to the bones. The content of our conversation was a little depressing. Naturally we spoke about Covid. When I asked them in what situation they were in, living in West Yorkshire, they laughingly told me they really didn't know which shows just how unclear the Covid rules have become in the UK. They are not so clear here either but a lot less clear in the UK. Kathy fears for her son, Tom's wedding in November where only 7 people can gather and reception will not be allowed. That is very sad. Kathy updated me too on her father Brian's throat Worrying and sad too is the fact that her father is ill and will need a lot of care.  The good news was that Phil's shoulder was a lot better after his replacement surgery a few weeks ago. We all longed to be together again but travel for them at the moment is difficult and not just because of Covid. 2 hours is a long time to talk and we even touched on the upcoming US elections. They, along with Covid, dominate the news. I asked my father who he thought might win, the Democrat, Biden, or the Republican clown, Trump. He didn't know. None of us does. The polls give Biden the lead but they did too 4 years ago with the democrat candidate, Hilary Clinton, and we all know they were wrong. So, anything can happen. 

We talked too about bl**** Brexit and whether the UK would really abandon talks and walk away with no deal and what that would mean. It's going to be one big shambles. We still don't know what will happen at the end of the year but I fear for the worst. That is why I am applying for Spanish citizenship. Not because I want it but because I want to have a EU passport and that is the only way. 

By the time our call was over it was time for dinner which we had with Suzy. She made a healthy type apple crumble but I swear I only had a teaspoon, not wanting to break my diet. 

We were in bed on time to see the 9 pm news on TVE, Oli's broadcaster to which we are always loyal. The figures for Covid were up again and in France there was a record number of newly infected, some 32.000, a figure which would reach over 40.000 for the last 3 days running. Equally worrying were the figures rising in Italy, Belgium and the UK. Oh God when will this be over? It is beginning to get very depressing. We forgot about Covid though when we watched a new film on Prime Video; "Angel of Budapest". The film is about the Spanish diplomat in Budapest, Angel Sanz Briz, who saved the lives of more than 5000 Jews by issuing them with Spanish papers. His efforts to help Jews escape Nazi deportation were made easier when he found an obscure law in the Spanish constitution of the time, whereby all descendants of Sephardi Jews (those who were expelled from Spain in 1492) had a right to Spanish nationality. He started with this group of Jews but was soon helping both Sephardis and non Sephardis. Years after his death, he was awarded the status of Righteous among nations by the Jewish authorities. He is sometimes called the  "Angel of Budapest" as well as Spain's Schindler. There is no need to tell you that this film was right up our street as you will be familiar with our fascination with WW2. It still lingers today.

I slept badly after that, my mind on so many things. I also think I was a little depressed about the Covid situation to which I do not see an end.

Monday, in the words of Scarlet Ohara, would be "another day" and a fresh start. I was up at 7.15 and was happy to watch Olivia on TV over breakfast. Her news though was again depressing as she mainly focuses on Covid data.  The world reached 40 million cases that day. Even Asturias, which seemed to have escaped the worst of the crisis, was seeing numbers on the rise. It's often Olivia on TV in the morning from who I get my updates. Here she is on Monday morning reporting the world's number of cases had reached 40 million!

The world reaches 40 million cases on Monday. 

On a totally different and much more positive note, Monday celebrated the Women Writers Day in Spain at least. I found that out when I looked up the trending topics on Twitter. I kept seeing Enid Blyton (1897-1968) and didn't know what was going on until I read that Spain was celebrating women writers over the years. There are far fewer famous women writers than men. However, I think that those of us who got hooked on reading as children, have the children's writer, Enid Blyton the prolific  British author,  to thank for that. She was a voracious writer whose books became bestsellers since the 1930s, selling more than 39 million copies and translated into 90 languages. When my family moved into our house at 6 Heaton Grove in Bradford, when I was just 7, our neighbours, the "Toczeks" were moving out and their children who were a little older than us, gave my brother George and I their whole Enid Blyton collection. George began reading them first but I soon caught up and we became addicts of her stories. The collections I liked best were the Secret Seven, The Adventure series and The Famous Five. She was also the author of Noddy which any children of the time no doubt remember.  Later I moved on to her boarding school book series, Malory Towers, The naughtiest girl in the school and St. Clares. I adored the school books and longed to be sent to a boarding school just to experience Enid Blyton's stories of midnight feasts! Her books were mostly written in the 40's and the language at the time was even old fashioned for the 60s but I loved it and I'm sure if I picked up one of her books today I would still enjoy it. My favourite characters are those from the Famous Five: George (Georgina), Timmy the dog (I longed for a dog as a child), Julian, Dick and Anne. 

The first book in the Famous Five series by Enid Blyton

With part of our weekly spending money, George and I would go to Busby's in Bradford (an old department store) and buy a new Enid Blyton book each which we would then exchange, meaning we had two of her books to enjoy every week when we were children. I wondered if she had any children and whether they read her books. I got a mixed response which you can read in an interview of her two daughters, Imogen and Gillian. I also learned that Enid Blyton did not have a happy childhood herself and that was maybe why she sought refuge in book writing. 

I wondered too whether her language of the 30s, 40s and 50s had withstood the pressure of time  and it seems there have been changes over the years to make language more gender neutral and up to date. I was aghast to hear things like Mother and Father have been changed to Mum and Dad, tinker to traveller, swotter to bookworm and that Anne now plays with teddies instead of dolls. I do wonder what Enid Blyton would have thought of that. Thankfully though I think copies of her original versions can still be bought. For me it is pure sacrilege to adapt an author's language to current day language. Can you imagine Jane Austen or the Brontë books being submitted to the same barbaric action? Thankfully no. I only wish I had kept my collection although I do still have a few of my original Enid Blyton books. As I said it is thanks to this most famous woman author that I owe my love of reading, one of the biggest pleasures in my life. I really don't think there has ever been anything like it again, except perhaps for the Harry Potter series, by another woman writer, J.K. Rowling. Blyton beats JK Rowling though for the sheer number of books she wrote, some 762 between the 1920s to the early 70s - some posthumously.  She had and has her critics though and when I began reading her books teachers were not too enthusiastic. She has been accused of being too simplistic, repetitive, sexist, racist and a snob. Whether that is true or not, I don't care as I loved her books and they started me on my reading life. So it was wonderful to remember her this week on Women's Writers Day.

The other equally prolific English woman writer was of course Agatha Christie and her books too have withstood the pressure of time. My mother, although more of an intellectual than me as well as far more cultured, devoured her books. I was never so keen. My mother's taste for books went from Agatha Christie to Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky.  She would read anything, not my father though whose taste has always been high brow. My parents had the whole collection of Russian literature which my father still has today. 

I think both Enid Blyton and Agatha Christie would have been very familiar with what I have been reading this week, the biography of Edward VIII. I have finally got to the bit where he falls in love with Wallis Simpson and when George V passes away and he becomes one very unhappy King of England.

I always read when I can in the afternoons, doing everything else in the mornings. Well, that morning saw Eladio and I at the chemist to order a flu vaccine, at Mercadona for food shopping and more excitingly at Ikea to buy some pretty cushions for the newly covered sofas at our house in El Cuetu (Asturias). The covers are light beige/off white, so I think these will do perfectly. Do you agree?

The cushions are for our newly covered three piece suite at Casa del Cuetu, our new house in Asturias

It was lovely to be at Ikea on a Monday. We chose to go that day to avoid people and there were very few. Of course I had to get a few more things, very few, as it's impossible to visit Ikea and only come away with the things on your list. I mostly shopped at the Swedish food store; meat balls, veggie balls, lingonberry jam to go with them as well as cloudberrry jam, chocolates and biscuits for my father.

Once again that afternoon I had a skype call, my weekly call with Amanda. As with Sandra and Adele and Kathy and Phil, that took up 2 hours of my time but was the highlight of the day. As we met when we were about 10 and went to school together, we used to swap Enid Blyton books too by the way. My dear friend was well and in good spirits, having just come back from a lovely holiday in Wales. She and Andy were back by the skin of their teeth as that day it was announced the whole of Wales was going into lock down. Oh dear. When we watched the news later, we heard more cities and towns were in the same boat. In Spain it was the turn of Burgos and Aranda del Duero. Later it would be the turn of both Paris and Rome!

Tuesday came and brought rain for the first time in many weeks. A storm called "Bárbara" had hit much of the peninsula and we were robbed of our walk. Basically it rained all day which I suppose was good for the level of water in the reservoirs around Spain. We didn't go for a walk but Eladio dared the weather to take Norah, our beagle, for her weekly check up at the vet. I bared it too when I drove to Carrefour to get more provisions. I came home to make a different sort of soup for lunch that day. Inspired by my friend Amanda I bought red lentils and then looked up various recipes online. Called "creamy red lentil soup", this is the one I found and made. With a slight taste of curry, boy was it delicious. I forgot to take a photo but this is a bit what it looked like. 

Creamy red lentil soup

I really made it for my vegetarian daughter, Suzy, but we all enjoyed it. Olivia and Elliot joined us for lunch (joy of joys) as my younger daughter had to take her son to the health centre for a routine vaccine later in the afternoon. Thus they spent the afternoon with us which brightened up our lives as lot that day. He is so sweet, affectionate and very very curious about everything around him. He is of course adored by us and Suzy had to capture us on camera looking over as Oli changed his nappy. 

Watching as Oli changed Elliot

We all gathered in "Suzy's room" and he couldn't decide whether he wanted to go exploring or be in Eladio's or my arms. 

In his grandparents' arms

Pippa was with us of course as you will have gathered from the photo of me with little Elliot. Thankfully Pippa treats Elliot as a member of the family as she can be aggressive; but not so with our grandson.

When they left I moved to the lounge to continue reading the biography of Edward VIII and Eladio went back to his "youtubing". It was just the two of us for dinner that night as Suzy had to give a private English lesson while we were eating. We watched the news during dinner and the main news was the government's proposal of imposing a curfew in Madrid, like Paris and Brussels and some cities in Portugal as well as the whole of the North of Ireland, or even in the whole of Spain. The problem, similar to Manchester in the UK, is that in order to do so, the Spanish government has to have the support of other parties, mainly the right wing PP opposition party. On its own it can only call impose a curfew as part of a state of emergency and a state of emergency can only last 2 weeks. If the government wants to extend it further it needs the support of other parties and its extension has to be voted for in parliament. The governments power is limited in this way, so let's see what happens. It all depends too on the support of the heads of the "comunidades" (Spain's equivalent to German "lands" or Swiss "cantons") and the opposition parties. Manchester, in the end did enter the strictest tier, Tier 3, despite opposition from the city's Mayor who was demanding financial support in order to approve the move. It's all so worrying. What worries me is that because of politics, this country is not united in its fight against the virus. At work, both Oli and Miguel had taken the Covid test  and tested negative. Suzy will have to take the test too 72 hours before she leaves for Costa Rica.

Wednesday came and I was expecting a guest. Doctor Castillo from Mellila - a Spanish city in Moroccan territory, was arriving that night. He had come to see his son who lives virtually round the corner. Hurray we had a guest amid all the restrictions of Covid. He nearly didn't come as Melilla is one of the places in Spain with most cases but in the end decided  he would. Everything would be made Covid free for his stay, including masks and hand sanitiser in the hall for his arrival. I hoped he would approve. He was a lovely guy and I hope he comes again. 

I got on with my day, a black day for Spain which passed the million mark of those infected with Covid. Partly this is due to the 11 million CPR tests taken and to University students holding illegal parties and ignoring the restrictions. Spain is now the country in Europe with the highest number of cases but France is just behind as is the UK. France reached the million mark too this week. Governments everywhere are imposing all sorts of restrictions but none, so far, has resorted to a total lockdown again except for Northern Ireland. I was sorry to see South Yorkshire added to the list, not least because my friend Kathy's son, Tom,  has planned his wedding there  after having to cancel his big wedding in Manchester - how in semi lock down - in the spring.  Other areas of Spain were affected too such as Zaragoza, Huesca and Teruel as well as the wine growing region; La Rioja. For the moment Asturias seems to be safe as is the area where we live but anything can change at any moment as the virus continues to cause its havoc.  The idea of restricting movement say from midnight to 6 in the morning (curfew) is to stop the bottle parties happening. I think they will still happen even if "off licences" close early. Rules are always easy to break as students could just buy the alcohol during the day and hold their parties earlier than midnight or all stay the night together in student accommodation. So, yes Spain is at the top of the list of those infected. Yet if you examine the figures carefully, you will find that the percentage of deaths is lower than countries such as the UK, Italy, Holland or Belgium. Belgium's death rate is one of the highest in the world. As I wrote above, it seems the death rate in this second wave of Covid is lower than in the first wave; although that could change any time. That has to be because older people are more shielded and because medical staff are now more familiar with the virus. 

It was just on that very black day that that the minority far right wing fanatical party, Vox, chose to hold its no confidence vote in parliament against the government. No way could it prosper as the party only has 52 MPs and in my mind it was a total waste of space and time, precious time that should have been spent fighting Covid and not squabbling with politicians. One of Spain's biggest problems when it comes to fighting the virus is the polarisation of politics. Only when this country fights in unity and in the same direction can we beat it. I do wish the politicians would realise that. Eladio who loves political debates spent nearly all day glued to his PC watching the debates for the no confidence vote. Thankfully it didn't go through when the MPs voted on Thursday when only the 52 Vox delegates voted for it. That left their party looking rather stupid. What a damned waste of time. 

I did something totally different that day. Bored of political debates and their squabbling, it was on our early morning walk that I decided I needed some retail therapy - aka clothes shopping. Inspired by my friend Amanda's mention of having bought some new "joggers" (basically track suit trousers), I thought I would like some too. I later heard they are very much in fashion and I hadn't even heard of the name. I did some googling of what was on offer at H+M, Zara and Primark and by 11.15 I was on my way to a big shopping centre not so far from here; "Plaza Norte 2". It was lovely to be out and about and in a shopping centre. Perhaps it's not the safest environment but on a Wednesday morning it was pretty empty. I suspect most shopping centres are quite empty in these times. I first went into H+M and soon had an armful of joggers and jumpers. But I was thwarted when I saw the changing room was closed. I wasn't going to buy clothes I couldn't try on. Since shops opened again in the spring in Spain changing rooms are open and people can try on clothes which are later sanitised so I was surprised to see the changing room closed at H&M. Thankfully the changing rooms at both Zara and Primark were open and it was there that I bought my clothes. I found the most wonderful green pine coloured joggers at Zara which I think are the most comfortable trousers I have ever worn. I only wish they had them in more colours as I would have bought more. Of course joggers have come into fashion since lockdown as women are probably more into home lounge clothing than office wear. As I spend a lot of time at home I am now more interested in lounge wear myself. These are them.

Delighted with my new joggers

At Primark there was not much choice of joggers - I suspect most of them were sold out but I found two lovely jumpers or rather a jumper and a cardigan to go with my joggers. 

I was  pleased with my purchases when I got home. I immediately put on the joggers and matching cardigan, in the same way I would wear new shoes straight after buying them when my mother took me shopping when I was a child. Wearing something new that I like always perks me up. Plus as I have lost a bit of weight I had no problem with the clothes that I tried on and which all fitted me. But wow doesn't sizing differ from shop to shop. At Zara I had to buy a size L and at Primark an S and XS. I imagine at H&M that would have been an S or an M. Gone are the days when I had to buy an XL, thank God. 

While I was doing something as trivial but uplifting as enjoying retail therapy, something much more profound happened on Wednesday. It was that day we heard that Pope Francis admitted his support of same sex "civil unions" (not marriage) and for them to even form families. Wow that was one big step for the church. It remains to be seen how the "curia" react as under current Catholic law or doctrine, gay relationships are seen as "deviant behaviour". That has to change and soon. No doubt the Argentinian pope will have his detractors. I admired his gesture though and thought at last we have a forward thinking Pope in the 21st century. Some may say this was high time coming and of course it is but his support for same sex unions of any type is a huge gesture coming from the Catholic Church. 

Pope Francis shows support of same sex civil unions. 

His remarks were his clearest yet on homosexual relationships. They came during the making of a documentary of his life directed by Evgeny Afinekvsky. In the documentary he says "Homosexual people have a right to be in a family" and continued "They are children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out or made miserable over it. What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered". Even as Bishop of Buenos Aires he supported civil unions for homosexuals but has always been against marriage as such. In the documentary he is seen encouraging two gay men to attend church with their children. Good for him although I wish he would support marriage. Step by step I would say. I only hope that the next step will be to admit women into the church as priests. Another important step would be to allow priests to marry. The Catholic church is probably the only religious organisation that forbids it. Anglican, Jewish, Muslim and  Russian Orthodox priests can all marry but not Catholics. I am testimony of this being the granddaughter of both a Russian Orthodox priest and a Church of England vicar.  What is evident in my mind is that the Catholic Church has to keep up with society and move into the 21st century. Pope Francis is at least leading the way with his comments this week. 

That night we watched the new Rebecca film, based on the book by the famous British woman author Daphne du Maurier. I could well have added her when I spoke about women authors above. My mother devoured her books especially loving Rebecca written in 1938 and Jamaica Inn. Me too. It was Hitchcock who brought it to the big screen in 1940 and  it was an immediate success. I had always loved Hitchcock's version and have seen it many times. Thus I was very interested to see the remake which premiered on Netflix on Wednesday night this week. Competing with Hitchcock even 80 years later is still difficult to judge by the critics. They were  not happy with it at all but I actually rather liked it. That's possibly because I love the story.

Poster of the new Rebecca film

I hadn't heard of any of the actors in Ben Wheatley's new adaptation; Lilly James as the unnamed Mrs. de Winter, Armie Hammer as Maxim de Winter and Kristin Scott Thomas as the terrible antagonist, Mrs. Danvers who, like Mrs. de Winter, doesn't have a first name either. I suppose it must have been difficult to compete too with their Hitchcock counterparts, Joan Fontaine, Laurence Olivier and Judith Anderson. I think Lilly James and Kristin Scott were fine but I was not so happy with the interpretation of Maxim de Winters. He should have been an older man and more aloof. In any case I enjoyed the film immensely from beginning to end. Interestingly, both Hitchcock and Ben Wheatley changed  the book's ending. In my mind a film based on a book should be as near to the book as possible. But that is not always so. 

Thursday came. It was a quiet day. We went on our walk and were lucky to escape the rain. The terrain was a bit muddy though. To cheer myself up that afternoon I watched Dr. Zhivago, that wonderful but rather loose adaptation of Boris Pasternak's novel which earned him the Nobel Prize for Literature which the Russian government didn't let him accept. 

One of my favourite films ever

The novel was banned for many years in Russia but was devoured the world over as was the film. Made in 1965, I remember the effect it had on me as a child and I have loved it forever afterwards. Although my Russian born Mother, liked it she did criticise parts of it such as the actors making the sign of the cross the wrong way round or  misspelled Russian words on some of the revolutionary banners.  Overall she loved it too. Many years later she visited Pasternak's grave accompanied by the President of the Russian Union of writers. I don't remember his name but my mother remembers him telling her it was his signature that forbade Pasternak accepting the Nobel prize and that he had felt guilty every after. I have watched it countless times but the last time was years ago and it was wonderful to see it again this week. Who can resist a young Omar Sharif (Dr. Zhivago) and a young Julie Christie (Lara)? Eladio thinks she is the most beautiful actress ever. I had a problem with the DVD I had bought on Amazon. Unbelievably it had been badly taped and Part 1 was missing. I got Amazon to ring me (no easy feat) and had a very long conversation with a  young South American customer service agent. It was obvious he had never heard of the film set in Revolutionary Russia but then again he is far too young to have ever bothered to see it or even be interested. Maybe he will now. Frustrated with the DVD problem in the end end I actually hired it on Amazon Prime for 3.99 euros which gave me 30 days to watch it. Needless to say I watched the whole of it (200 minutes) that afternoon and evening. Eladio watched the second half with me. I love the actors Tom Courtenay (Strelnikov) and Alec Guinness (Yevgrav Zhivago)  too. As to the soundtrack, "Lara's theme" it is one of the best film soundtracks ever. My brother used to play it on the piano shortly after the film came out. Oh it was great to watch Dr. Zhivago again.  I suppose part of my love of this film and story has to do with my own Russian roots.

We stopped half way to have dinner together. Suzy was with Oli so we were alone again. We didn't see our guest at all that day. Dinner was a quick affair of leftovers and then it was time for the news and the second half of Dr. Zhivago. Each day this week the news about the spread of the virus has got worse and worse. That day Spain recorded some 20.000 cases, France over 40.000, Belgium 13000, the UK 21.000 and Italy over 16.000. The Spanish government together with the heads of the Autonomous Community chiefs held a meeting that day to debate curfew or no curfew. It was still hanging in the air that day and still is today as I write. 

Fortunately we had Boris Pasternak to thank afterwards for turning our thoughts to the Russian revolution and an impossible love story and away from the depressing news of the virus.

Friday came and it would be a busy day. I spent a lot of the morning making food for lunch and to take to Asturias so as not to have to cook too much. By 11 we were on our walk, by 12 I was having my mid morning coffee and by 12.15 we were out again. We went to the health centre to get a urine test kit for my father whose blood and urine will be tested on Monday - just to make sure everything is ok. It was all very organised vs a vs Covid and luckily I hardly had to wait. From the health centre we went to the chemist to get prescriptions for my father and then to Mercadona to do a big shop for food to leave at home and take to Asturias. The last thing I wanted to do here after arriving yesterday was to go food shopping. Lunch was like a buffet menu. The choice was chicken noodle soup (sopa de cocido), "cocido" (chick pea stew) and three different soups; white bean and rosemary, roast red pepper, carrot and coriander and my favourite, curried red lentil soup. 

Meanwhile Oli was at the TV studio reporting on the new restrictions and movements by the autonomous and central government. We were worried a state of emergency or alarm would be decreed for all the country. It was not. The Madrid government though did announce a curfew in all of the Madrid area from midnight to 6 a.m and imposed partial lockdown on certain areas or towns. We breathed a sigh of relief when our town was not on the list. 

I had done my work in the morning and the afternoon was mine for the taking. It was raining outside so I read in the lounge with Pippa on one of the sofas (lucky her). Eladio joined me later and we had an early dinner before retiring to bed to watch the news - news we already knew - I can't remember what we watched after that as I actually fell asleep early. I woke up at 2 am and then slept again until 6.15. That was a good night's sleep for me.

Yesterday I had to pack for Asturias and take a whole load of food. We are not sure how long  we will be staying but before going home we will have to go past Montrondo to prepare the house for the winter. Oli, Miguel and Elliot made their own way here and Suzy will be coming some time today. How wonderful to be all together in our new house in El Cuetu and how lovely for the girls to finally see it. 

Our drive was smooth and we only stopped once for a coffee and then for our picnic. It was cold and blustery at the soulless patch of land we found on  a byway, but we enjoyed our sausages, tortilla, gazpacho and fruit. It was about 8ºc when we had lunch but when we entered the province of Asturias, magically the number rose to 22ºc. The feeling was amazing. We arrived to the quiet little village of El Cuetu  at about 4 pm yesterday and everything was in order and clean thanks to our neighbour Loli.  Here is Eladio bringing in our suitcases.

Arriving yesterday

As it was such nice weather we sped around the house putting everything away eager to enjoy time before nightfall. One of the jobs was to put the new Ikea cushions in the lounge. Lovely I think don't you? Pippa obviously does as she jumped up onto the sofa as soon as the new cushions were there. 

New cushions for our sofas 

Within the hour we were all done. With time on our hands before Oli, Miguel and Elliot arrived an hour later or so, we made a cup of tea and sat and drank it on the terrace. It felt great to be back. It was wonderful to greet our daughter and her family shortly afterwards and soon Elliot was in our arms. They came loaded with food too and lots of baby paraphernalia, of course. They loved the house which pleased me immensely. They too were keen to unload everything and have time for a walk after their long drive before it got dark. Yesterday, before the clocks went back, it got dark at nearly 8 pm; not so today of course. Elliot loved the walk too, far preferring using his little legs to being in his push chair. Here he with his father and grandfather, his first time in El Cuetu, our new village.

Elliot on our walk yesterday with his father and grandfather

Oli was delighted to be here, not just to stay at the new house but because she was on holiday, her first since she returned to work in March. She was in desperate need of some rest after a very stressful beginning with her new programme and of course having to get up every morning at 4.30 . Here she is breathing in the lovely fresh air here and surrounded by the mountains. 

Oli yesterday on our walk

I spied some horses and was keen to show them to Elliot. He looked intrigued. Here he is with his grandfather by the horses, one of my favourite animals by the way.

Elliot with his grandfather by the horses on our walk yesterday

Soon it was time for Elliot's dinner and ours of course. There was plenty of food to choose from and we made a delicious dinner which was accompanied by a bottle of local cider which we finished off between the four of us. 

While Oli and Miguel tried to put Elliot to bed, Eladio and I watched the news. That night the clocks were going back which meant  we went to bed far too early. I was devastated to realise I had left my sleeping pills at home and knew I was in for a bad night's sleep. It was terrible. I slept very little and kept waking up. Finally I got out of bed at 5.55 which of course was yesterday's 6.55. I woke up to rain. The forecast is for rain all day so I don't know what we will do today. Suzy will be driving from Madrid to join us and hopefully she will get here by dinner time. Thankfully she will be able to bring me the pills I left behind and I will get a better night's sleep tonight. 

So my friends, that's all for this week.  Hopefully next week's blog post will be more positive. I promise not to rant on too much about coronavirus but I have to admit it got me down a lot this week. 

Cheers till next week, Masha.

 

 

 

Coronavirus on the rise in Europe, sleeping dogs, Nadal equals Federer, Elliot comes to stay, Spain's national day, we caught a cold, a bit of fun with the girls and other stories.

 Sunday, 18th October, 2020

Loving Elliot. There is nothing comparable to a grandparent's love of his or her grandchild. My smile says it all.

Good morning everyone.

How has your week been? Mine has been quiet and has had some highlights as you will read after the update on coronavirus in the world. It continues to dominate all our lives. Numbers rise everywhere. No one is free of it. If last week it was Donald Trump who had it, this week we heard that football ace, Cristiano Ronaldo, also tested positive. In Spain we are possibly in the middle of the curve of the second phase but haven't reached the peak yet.  In the UK, Boris Johnson and his government introduced the three tier system to combat the pandemic ever growing there. Critics think it's unfair to the hospitality industry and that it comes late and is not enough as figures rise alarmingly. Here is the map of England divided into the tiers with the north in a much worse state and Liverpool with the highest number of infections; over 600 per 100.000. It was dreadful to see huge crowds partying on the streets of Liverpool just hours before lock down began. How crazy can you get?

Map of England and the three tiers

And below are the rules for the three tiers. The only areas with limit on movement are those in Tier 3. Later in the week it was announced that London would go into Tier two along with my beloved city York and my not so beloved Essex. 

The three tier system in the UK and the rules for each area. 

The government had hoped to make the rules clearer and the same as in Spain, everyone is confused. I follow the figures in the Spain and the UK very closely. Spain has far more many cases with over 900.000 and the UK over 600.000. Countries are judged on the number of cases whereas I think they should really be judged on the number of fatalities. That's the most important number. In Spain, that number is high at over 33.000 but in the UK with fewer cases the death toll is much higher at over 43.000. What is the reason for that I ask myself?  It is not a question being addressed by the media but I think it is revealing. The UK has a far higher population so should have more cases, but why are there more deaths than in Spain if there are more cases in my adopted country? In essence why are more UK nationals dying than Spaniards? 

This week we have seen the figures rise dramatically in other areas of Europe besides Spain. The figures for the Czech Republic, France, the UK, Holland and even Italy and Germany were on the rise giving the impression that in fact what has happened is that some of these countries are just a few weeks behind Spain. This week we there were days when the numbers of newly infected in France and the UK were above 30 and 20 thousand respectively. As to cases per 100.000, Spain is not at the top of the list. The top countries, in this order are: Czech Republic (581.3), Belgium (469.5), Holland (412.2), France (307.1), Spain (293.1), Portugal (140.2), Italy (86.9) and Germany (54.6). My source here was a chart presented by Olivia one morning this week. 

God knows what will happen when winter sets in and the flu season starts. Worldwide this Sunday the total number of cases stands at just under 40 million and the death toll is 1.114.636. God knows when a vaccine will be available. On the subject of vaccines, we have to get our flu vaccine soon. The nurse from the Health centre came to give my father his this week. They may be overloaded but they take good care of him. 

Last Sunday was a quiet day for us at least until the evening. It was a sunny day too although the temperatures dropped a bit. We took our lovely dogs for their walk and our walk of course and as usual on Sundays there were lots of cyclists. The dogs are always tired afterwards and as soon as they have drunk copious amounts of water they retire to their beds for a morning nap. I caught them on camera to show you. It's a beautiful sight for dog lovers. 

Our three dogs taking a morning nap after their walk last Sunday

They now have a bed each. It used to be that Norah and Elsa had a bed each, the larger one for Elsa our lab, usually grabbed by Norah our cheeky beagle. Pippa, our miniature chocolate coloured dachshund, shared Elsa's bed until last week in Santa Pola our neighbour Lucy gave us her ex cat's bed. She immediately fell in love with it although it is a bit small for her but she just curls up and fits in its softness. She also matches its colour, brown. Aren't they adorable?

Between Zena and I we organised lunch and then I was free to read or do whatever I wanted. After seeing the documentary about Edward VIII, great grandson of Queen Victoria,  who abdicated from the throne of England to marry the love of his wife, the twice divorced American socialite, Wallis Simpson, I was intrigued to know more about that time in history. While I was watching the documentary I realised of course that my father would have lived through the moment which shook the British crown. When Edward VIII abdicated in favour of his brother, George VI, the current Queen's father, my own father would have been 15 years old. I understand that the whole episode shook every corner of the Establishment. It has always been rumoured that the ex King, later the Duke of Windsor, had sympathies to the Nazi cause. This intrigued me too so I watched another documentary, "Edward VIII, the traitor king" on You Tube. If the story is true which it probably is, then he was indeed a traitor to his country. I then looked for a decent biography and came upon what seems to be the definitive one by historian Philip Ziegler.  I began reading it in in the afternoon. It's a bit heavy going and I haven't even got to the part where he meets Wallis Simpson yet. 

We were alone for lunch with my father as both girls had gone to have lunch at their great friend, Elenita's house. I had a short siesta but was soon awake and downstairs. It was sunny so I took my cup of decaf tea to the swimming pool terrace and plopped myself down on one our of our very comfortable sun loungers. It was so warm I had to take all my clothes off down to my bra and t-shirt. Pippa was with me and I spent a very pleasant time. When the sun moved away from the pool area, I took the sun lounger to the bottom of the garden in search of more sun to continue reading. I was joined by Eladio and we spent a quiet time there until the sun disappeared and it became cold.

While we were having a very quiet afternoon, Spain's number one tennis player and one of the world's best ever, Rafa Nadal, was playing the number one player Djokovic on the latter's favourite surface, clay, in the final of the French Open, more commonly known as Roland Garros. He beat him in three sets the first at 6-0 and his winning shot was an ace. What an amazing game. 

Nadal celebrating his extraordinary win on Sunday

When he lifted la Coupe de Mousquetaires for the 13th time in his life, he also became the player to equal his rival and friend, Roger Federer's 20 grand slam titles. Now they are on a par and are perhaps the best players ever to have walked the earth. What a win for Spain and what an achievement. No one has ever won the French Open that many times and to think that the Mallorcan won it for the first time when he was just 19 in 2005. Last Sunday, aged 34, he was on his best form ever. A BBC tennis commentator remarked that he was on such good form that even if two players were competing against him, the Spaniard would have won. Tributes poured in from all over the world and of those I saw the one I liked best came from Roger Federer. For the record this is what he wrote.

Words from Federer for Nadal

I have to say his win on Sunday afternoon lifted my spirits and was good news for this country, good news we all need in these times of doom and gloom. 

The girls were coming for dinner together with Miguel and little Elliot. They would spent the night too. It was lovely having Elliot to stay again. We hadn't seen our 1 year old grandson for a whole week which is a long time at his age as he doesn't always recognise us when time has lapsed in between visits.  His progress week on week is amazing. If the Sunday before he already walked 4 or 5 steps unaided, he now walks quite well. He also now says "papa", his first words. It's funny to watch him as often when he says it he holds something to his ear as if he were talking on a mobile hahahahaha. He is now also saying "ma ma ma". They arrived just before dinner which we made all together in our guest free house.  Elliot especially loves the dogs and the magnets on our fridge. He prefers real food to his purees and knocked his puree dinner from his high chair during dinner hahahahhaa. Later Eladio entertained him reading to him from one of his first books, the touchy feely type. It was a gift from my great friend Sandra. He also loves the Very Hungry Caterpillar gifted to him by another great friend, Kathy. At home his mother reads him Joanne's Spot Book which he adores too. Here he is enjoying the moment with his grandfather to whom he is very attached and with his Aunty Suzy.

Reading with Elliot - last Sunday

It was a precious family moment. Later I helped Oli get him ready for bed and was happy to be back changing his nappy. Joy of joys he was to stay the night as Monday was a national holiday, the Day of Spain and neither Oli nor Miguel had to work. I bet they needed the break.

Later I hooked onto a new series, again about WW2 and  based on a true story. Called, The Heavy Water War (Kampen om tungtvannet) it is a Norwegian production about the Nazi's efforts to develop the atomic bomb sourcing heavy water from Norway. They were dependent on the heavy water to make the atom bomb and the efforts of the Norwegian resistance based in Scotland finally thwarted its supply. This was the reason the Nazis never managed to make the terrible bomb during WW2. If they had the world would be very different today. No doubt my father knows this story well from his time in Norway as head of disarmament when the Germans were driven out of the country. 

I was up at around 7 am on Monday morning. Monday was the first time I plucked up the courage to get on the scales after 2 weeks of dieting. I was actually pleasantly surprised with the result as I hadn't put on as much weight as I had thought after all the excesses during lock down and the summer. So, I tried on my size 12 M&S jeans and wow, they fit. That really spurred me on to continue with the diet. It was wonderful to discard my leggings and wear denims for a change. I only have about 6 kilos to lose and hopefully by then I will fit into all the size 10 jeans that have been collecting dust in my wardrobe  for a long time. Watch this space!

12th October is what is often called "El Pilar" in Spain and is a national holiday. It is not only the feast of Saint Pilar, the patron saint of Zaragoza, but also Spain's national day. It commemorates Christopher Colombus' arrival in America and it is therefore also known as Hispanic Day. Spaniards are not very good at unity nor in celebrating their national day, except for the Armed Forces. We do not have the spirit that is raised in France on 14th July or in the US on Independence Day. Only the far right were out  last Sunday waving the national flag when the Vox party held demonstrations all over the country against the current government. The Spanish flag instead of unifying the nation has a sort of fascist connotation and is associated with the far right of the political spectrum.  I always think that is a shame. It only seems to unite the country when used to fete sporting achievements such as Nadal's amazing win last Sunday. That is the only acceptable use of the flag by the mainstream population. In other countries on national days, people use their flag proudly decorating gardens and homes - think Denmark, France, Sweden, the US and the UK. Not so, I'm afraid in Spain, such a divided country. 

Spain's national flag with its right wing connotations and only used acceptably to celebrate sporting victories. 

Sadly, the words "nothing to celebrate" (#nadaquecelebrar) were trending topic on Twitter. Oh how I hate the way Spaniards lack a sense of unity and spend most of their time criticising their wonderful country. 

At home we were just thankful it was a holiday and could enjoy the company of Olivia, Miguel and little Elliot. Thus I was able to pick him up from his cot when he woke up. I love the feel and smell of a baby, our baby, when he has just woken up. He always wakes up with a smile and kept us smiling all day long. He came for a walk with us and our three dogs which we all enjoyed as, although quite cool, it was a lovely sunny day. 

Lunch was another family affair, one which my father enjoyed immensely. He adores his great grandson and that makes me happy. We all had a siesta afterwards apart from the young generation. While I was taking my nap, Suzy, Oli, Miguel and Elliot were out in the sunshine. I missed the girls singing and playing the ukelele. Oli knows how to play it now. They are both so musical and there is nothing that makes me happier than to hear them singing together and always in harmony. Later Suzy showed me a video of the two of them singing an interpretation of John Lennon's famous song; "Imagine". You can see it on my You Tube channel here. 

My girls singing together

By the time I was down it was cooler and the younger members were in the library lounge with Elliot asleep in his mother's arms. Soon he was in my arms just as he woke up and it was one of those delightful moments with my grandson, little Elliot, who we now call "the little boy". 

With Elliot in my arms on Sunday just as he had woken up form his afternoon nap.

They had the TV on and I was delighted to see they were semi watching Gone with the wind, one of my all time favourite films. It's so long of course and soon Oli and her family had to leave. 

Suzy, my darling daughter, had a meltdown when her sister and little nephew left. She has very mixed feelings about leaving Spain for Costa Rica. On the one hand she is looking forward to a new life but on the other hand she knows she is going to miss little Elliot so much, the darling of her life. I am lucky to have him near. To make her feel better, Oli suggested coming to lunch the next day. We shall also all be going together to our new house in Asturias, which the girls don't know yet, a few days before Suzy leaves and when our current guests have left. 

After a crisis I suggested a cup of tea - that all curing British habit when important things happen. So the three of us; Suzy, Eladio and I sat together in the last of the sun on the pool terrace talking about Suzy's future. Later we had dinner together and by then she had calmed down and so had we. 

Tuesday came and I woke up with a headache at 5 bloody 50, excuse my language. I soon realised that Tuesday was the 13th of the month. And so what you may ask? Well, Tuesday 13th in Spain is the UK's equivalent of Friday 13th, traditionally a so-called unlucky day. Thankfully our day was not so bad. 

Eladio took Norah our beagle off to the vet for her now weekly check up after her recent health problems. Meanwhile, I worked on a press release but ended up spending about 1.5h trying to send money to my daughter Suzy using Transfer Wise, a nearly commission free international money transfer service, a bit like Paypal but much cheaper for international transfers. It is not at all easy to use  but I finally managed. I also had to prepare for the arrival of a new guest. Adrian, a repeat guest came to stay on Tuesday for 4 nights. He arrived in the afternoon and was happy to be back. You may be interested to know he is a professional tattooist. That is not a profession I admire as I was brought up by my father to equate tattoos with drunken sailors. Today of course tattoos are much in fashion but I still hate them. Not Suzy though who has many on her body. She was more interested in meeting our new guest than I was haha. 

Oli and Elliot were coming for lunch which would brighten up our day. But there was hardly any food in the cupboards so Tuesday ended up being food shopping day. By the time Oli and Elliot arrived the food was bought, packed away and lunch made. It was delightful to see Elliot for the third day on the trot and this time he knew where he was immediately. He wanted to be in all our arms bless him. 

I immediately took him to see his great grandfather who always loves to see him. It was at that moment that my father pointed to a photo of my mother on his desk, one I had printed for him recently on the anniversary of her passing away. I was taken aback when he suddenly asked me: "Who is this woman?". Oli was with me and she was shocked too. We immediately told him it was "Mummy" and his wife. I then showed him a photo of her when she was young and Oli got out a photo of their wedding day. I think that cleared it up for him. Then at lunchtime he suddenly asked me: "Can you tell me who my children are?" I was devastated and I suppose he was too. I immediately replied that I was his daughter and that my brother had been George. He seemed placated and apologised for not remembering. Well, he is 101 and it is totally understandable but even so it was a sort of turning point. Thankfully the next day he remembered and the poor man even apologised for his lapsus. Then at lunch time I reminded him I was his daughter to which he replied "and who is your mother?" Again I brought out photos to remind him. I felt so sad. I also feel sorry for him too as very suddenly our newspaper delivery company told us that The Times was no longer distributed in Spain. It was the same for The Daily Telegraph and the only UK newspaper they could deliver was The  Financial Times which my father described as "boring".  Until now he spent his  whole morning pouring over The Times and that can no longer be which worries and upsets me. He still reads El País, the Spanish newspaper but it is not the same. To make up for this I looked for new books from my own library for him to read and found a biography of Alexander I and one on Churchill. He chose the former. I was happy to see him reading it that afternoon. His love of Russia and history are still intact and I breathed a sigh of relief. 

After this episode, in the little time left before lunch which is always strictly at 2 pm in this house, we played with Elliot  and he was delighted to be reunited with his tricycle.

Elliot prefers to push his tricycle to riding it hahahaha. 

He loves coming to our house and we love having him here. Oh how he brightens up our life. There is nothing comparable to grandparent love as, I imagine, all grandparents know. It's a love and feeling only to be understood when you become a grandparent.  I think my smile says it all in this week's feature photo of me holding Elliot on my lap and hugging him. He loves hugs and constantly tries to hug the other toddlers at his nursery who generally end up falling on the floor as he is rather big for his age. Hahahahaa. That day Oli sent us a photo of him at the nursery with the other toddlers. He is now loving it.

Elliot at the nursery

No doubt Elliot feels our love and is happy to be with us whenever he comes. 

Elliot in his grandfather's arms on Tuesday when he came to lunch

Unusually for him, he is not smiling in these photos. He always poses when you call him to take a photo and usually smiles. That's probably because he has  been a little "poorly" this week with congestion and a bit of a cough and was not his usual self. We think he had a cold - God forbid Covid. Thankfully there was no temperature. 

In the afternoon Suzy and  I accompanied Oli and Elliot to the local health centre for a routine vaccine and check up. There was to be no vaccine though because of his "cold" until next week. The doctor measured and weighed him and he is a whopping 11 kilos measuring 79 cm. The doctor said that many babies double his age were that size. He is really big. Children's weight and length these days are measured by percentile, the average being 50%. Elliot's is 90%! He already wears clothes for a 2 year old yet he has only just turned 1. That of course may change as babies and children do not develop equally. It is an indication though that he will probably be a "big boy". 

Thanks to damned Covid, neither Suzy nor I could accompany Elliot and Oli into the clinic and had to wait outside. We did so in a sunny park with our hated masks on. The park was lovely and was full of all sorts of gym apparatus. I spied some bike pedals at the foot of some of the benches and had to try them out. Here I am when Suzy caught me on camera ahhahaha. A bit like the trampoline in the boulevard the previous week in Alicante, the child in me is always attracted to these sort of things. 

Silly me trying out the bike pedals on the bench on Tuesday

When Oli and Elliot emerged from the health centre we drove to our favourite coffee and bakery shop, -Alverán. There we had some quality mother and daughter time together while little Elliot slept. It was lovely to be out and about, something I haven't done for a while and it was wonderful to be with both girls. As Suzy's departure date for Costa Rica comes closer - 30th October - she needs that time with us and we need it with her.

We were home by about 6.30 when she had to give her weekly online English lesson to Olga, her deaf pupil and I changed into my evening wear (i.e. my pyjamas hahahhaha) and sat in the lounge reading the Edward VIII biography. Eladio joined me and soon it was time for dinner which the three of us had together with the dogs, as always, at our feet. Later Suzy and I had more quality time together and spent nearly an hour talking in her room. It was therapeutic for both of us. When I went upstairs to join Eladio in bed he was watching a stupid football match between Spain and Ukraine. I didn't give a fig about it and turned to my kindle to read more about the fascinating life of the Prince of Wales, later to become King and then the Duke of Windsor.

On Wednesday I was awake at 6.20 in the morning. A friend had recently recommended eating 2 kiwis for dinner as kiwis are rich in serotonin and antioxidants. I read the body uses serotonin (the "happy chemical" like endorphins) to synthesise melatonin, the hormone that regulates sleep. I have tried it but am not sure it really works. 

As always I watched Olivia on TV at 8 am when she is always on. I saw her many times that morning as she was still doubling her job. Thankfully her colleague who is in charge of social media was back on Thursday after her confinement. I should add she tested negative. 

Olivia on TV on Wednesday

Olivia is becoming a real expert on Covid data in Spain. Each night she pours over data to report on the next morning. 

Wednesday was a quiet day all round. We only went out once and that was for our walk. I felt very tired when I got back which was unusual. I even had to lie down and sleep just before lunch. That was not normal as even though I don't sleep well at night I am never tired during the day. In the afternoon Eladio and I had planned to go to Ikea to get some cushions for the sofas at our new house in Asturias. But Eladio wasn't feeling well with all the usual symptoms of a cold. Oh God was this our Covid moment we both wondered? Thankfully we had none of the usual Covid symptoms; cough, temperature, breathing problems, lack of sense of taste or smell, etc. So instead of going out we retired to our bedroom to watch TV. Eladio had put the central heating on for the first time since before the summer and I felt very snug under my mother's home made patchwork blanket.  We finished the enthralling Norwegian series and then started on a film of a completely different genre. "Sand Storm" is set in Southern Israel and is the story of forbidden love between a Muslim girl and a Muslim boy but from a different tribe. My heart went out to them. 

We stopped for dinner. A good sign was that we were both hungry. While having dinner we watched the news. Following Covid news is as addictive as the best series on TV but there is no happy ending. The news that day was dire. In France with over 22 thousand new cases that day, Macron called for a new state of emergency and imposed curfew on  Paris and many other cities with all that implies. Barcelona also went into partial lock down with the closure of restaurants and bars causing havoc with the hospitality industry. Even Asturias, the shining example of how to deal with the virus, the local government there told the population to isolate in their homes. The figures are still low in that region but on the rise. We hope that doesn't mean we wont' be able to go next week.

That night Eladio whose cold was worse than mine - not sure I ever had one - fell asleep really soon after the news. Thus I could choose to watch whatever I wanted and in English on either Netflix or Prime Video. I guiltily watched "Fifty shades darker" - obviously a film Eladio would have hated - and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I was up at 6.35 on Thursday. It was to be a quiet day, a day when Eladio and I didn't feel 100% and which had me worrying about Covid. But I had good news early in the day. Finally, Hacienda, the Spanish equivalent of the Inland Revenue, had paid my tax returns. They should have done so back in July and I was beginning to worry they were doing a check on my accounts. That was a great relief. It was soon tempered though by a call from my accountant to tell me the amount I had to pay in tax for the third quarter (July, August and September) which amounted to a third of the tax returns. Dammit. I indulged myself and celebrated by buying 3 DVDs on Amazon of films I want to see again and which are not available online. They were: Gone with the Wind, Dr. Zhivago and Gandhi. These three films along with The Sound of Music are my top four ever. They all mean a lot to me. It was after seeing Gandhi many years ago that Eladio and I were inspired to visit India for our 25th wedding anniversary some 10 years ago. 

Feeling a bit under the weather, we skipped our walk that morning. I cooked instead. Needing some lemons to make artichokes I had to drop what I was doing and drive to Mercadona to get some and a few other items of course as one never goes to a supermarket just to buy one thing. I'm sure you agree. Oli surprised us by coming for lunch again but without Elliot. She preferred not to interrupt his eating and sleeping routine at the nursery. It was funny to have her alone. She left soon after lunch though to return to what she calls "her men". We would see her and Elliot and Miguel this weekend again.  At 16.30 I had an appointment for the last of the tests for my annual "MOT" (aka annual gynecological check up). This was for a bone density scan. I think it measures the minerals in bones and detects osteoporosis. I got the results the next day in my health app but couldn't interpret them. I will have to wait to find out when I see my gynecologist next month.

I was home quite soon to find a woman called Inma visiting who I did not know. Believe it or not she was looking for accommodation. Someone had sent her here. She told me she thought our house was like a palace. I was flattered. 

Later Suzy and I started on Gone with the Wind until it was time for dinner. Neither Eladio nor I slept well that night because of our colds or at least we thought we had a cold. Time will tell.

I was awake with a headache at 7 am on Friday morning - not bad for me. After my first cup of coffee it soon went and I was able to concentrate on things I had to do. I had  a sudden task when my London publisher sent me the near to final manuscript of my father's book. They have been so slow - like caterpillars. I immediately sat down to go through it and thankfully there were very few things to correct. I sent it back within the hour. Again we didn't go for a walk as both of us were still feeling under the weather. Because of this I decided the best thing to do was to rest in bed and watch a film. I watched the Professor and the Madman starring Mel Gibson and Sean Penn and loved every minute of it. It's based on a true story. This is a short description I found on internet if you are interested: 

The film is about professor James Murray, who in 1879 became director of an Oxford University Press project, The New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (now known as the Oxford English Dictionary) and the man who became his friend and colleague, W. C. Minor, a doctor who submitted more than 10,000 entries while he was confined at Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum at Crowthorne after being found not guilty of murder due to insanity.

Lunch interrupted me and I was soon at the table with my father and Eladio. We are hardly every joined by Suzy as at around our lunch time she is giving her online lessons to Chinese children. Our lunch time is nearly their dinner time. When she goes to Costa Rica she has worked out that because of the time difference her classes will begin at about 5 in the morning! 

Oli of course gets up even earlier at 4.30 but her day finishes at about 13h or so. She came in the afternoon with little Elliot to brighten up our lives and because later we would be going out to dinner together - whoopee, we haven't done that for a long time. 

The girls had to do one of those damned birthday videos which have become so popular. They like doing them though. This one was for Chati, Elenita's younger sister who turned 34 on Friday. There could be no birthday party - those days are over. Suzy rummaged in our  chest full of disguises we have collected over the years. She found some baby outfits and soon both she, Oli and Elliot were wearing them hahahhaha. What a laugh. Here they are about to have the video taken by me.

Fun with the girls and Elliot

It was the huge dummies that came with the outfits that had us laughing most. Later we found a sunny spot in the garden and sat on Elliot's play mat together. Suzy played the ukelele and we sang songs like Imagine and Let it Be until it got too cold. We retired to the library lounge - often called the "cat lounge" because that's where Phoebe, our elusive cat, comes in the mornings for her food. Elliot was asleep for a while but soon woke up and we enjoyed his company. He is so funny these days, saying "papa" all the time while putting his hand or an object to his ear as if he were speaking on the phone. He is so attracted to remote controls and phones. Suzy took this lovely photo of him. Isn't he gorgeous?

Elliot on Friday

We all had plans that night. Suzy was going to Elenita's house and Eladio, Oli and her family and I were going out to dinner. We had booked a table at the Moroccan joint near us, El Tuareg. Eladio was worried about sitting inside but I wasn't as the tables were very spread and the doors wide open. Thankfully I went warmly dressed. We love the food there and usually order the same, starting always with humus and pita bread and ending with mint tea and baklava. We even brought some back for Suzy. Olivia had found 150 euros in her knicker draw in an envelope. She was so delighted to have found the money that she treated us all to the dinner. How can you lose 150 euros I wondered? It turns out it was my father's Christmas money to her from last year. 

We were home by about 11 and while Oli and Miguel put Elliot in his cot, we retired to our room. I was a bit tired and cannot remember for the life of me what we watched. I was awake at 3, then 4 and 5 am and finally got up at 6.22. I was down first and thus fed the dogs before having my first cup of coffee. 

I was shocked to read that a young Russian terrorist from Chechenia, had beheaded French school teacher, Samuel Paty, just outside Paris. The teacher had included cartoons of Mohammed in a class about freedom of expression. That was his crime. That is no crime but some Muslim fanatics think it is. France and the world were shocked. I was too. What a dreadful thing to happen, how barbaric can you get?

It was lovely to have Elliot with us again that day but it wasn't for long. In fact, soon I was pretty much alone. The girls had gone to have "girly time" and lunch together, Miguel had taken Elliot to his parents' house for lunch and Eladio went to have the Volvo serviced. Thus I went on my walk in brilliant sunshine listening to my favourite classical music from one of my Spotify lists. 

The highlight of the afternoon was a Skype call with Sandra and Adele, my University friends. You probably know Sandra lives in Brussels and Adele in France. Here is a photo of them during our call.

Yesterday's Skype call with my dear friends Adele and Sandra

We had lots to catch up on. Sandra's dear mother, 96 year old Magda had been taken into hospital recently suffering from a lack of sodium which had left her very confused. Thankfully she is home again and better. We greeted her during the call. Being from Europe's Covid hotspots, France, Belgium and Spain and with our British descent, our conversation focused a lot on the latest figures and measures for these countries.  I was shocked to find out later that that day France recorded the largest increase in cases in any one day since March with more than 32 thousand cases. The UK reported about 16 thousand and little Belgium nearly 9 thousand. Even Italy hit 10 thousand. None of us can see the end coming soon. It's dire to live through. Adele is a University teacher and is hating her job at the moment as most of the lectures are online. I can understand that. For years now we have seen each other at least twice a year either in Brussels, Italy, London, France or Spain but because of Covid this year's reunion is a foregone conclusion. I wonder when we will next meet in the flesh. I do so love these "girls". 

I love my girls too and when we finished our Skype call, it was time to make dinner with them. Elliot and Miguel came just when the table was laid. Oli had bought all sorts of enticing (i.e. fattening) items for dinner but I kept to salad and hams. Oh, but I did have half a glass of the wonderful Luis Cañas Reserva wine she also bought. 

Eladio and I were in bed by about 9.30 and watched the tail end of the news and later turned to Netflix as there is so much rubbish on terrestrial TV. There's a lot of rubbish on Netflix and Prime Video, you have to separate the wheat from the chaff and there's a lot more chaff than wheat, at least for us. 

Today is Sunday and everyone is here but by lunchtime Oli and family will have gone and the house will be quite. I think it will be a quiet day too as Sunday's usually are. 

I am now at the end of the tales of this week. I wish you all the very best until next Sunday. If things go according to plan, I shall be writing from our new house in Asturias.

Cheers everyone until then,

Masha