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 |
 |
| New cushions for our sofas |
 |
| Elliot on our walk yesterday with his father and grandfather |
 |
| Oli yesterday on our walk |
 |
| Elliot with his grandfather by the horses on our walk yesterday |
No comments:
Post a Comment