Sunday, 11th October, 2020
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| Sadly wearing a mask as we all have to inside and outside in Spain - here at the local market on Thursday morning. |
Good morning all.
How has your week been? Mine has been a lot better than the week before. The big problem I had and which I couldn't share with you was gradually lessening. But my problems are nothing in the wide scheme of things. I should count my blessings. Once again I have to report on how coronavirus is getting worse during its second phase since March. Spain leads the numbers of infected in Europe with over 800.000 cases. It is sad to see my beloved adopted country in 5th place worldwide. But others are catching up and we have seen figures increasing in a similar way in France, the UK and Belgium. Worldwide there are now over 37 million cases and the total death toll is 1.077.594. Many many people are in lockdown or suffering severe restriction of movement all over the world.
Last week Madrid went into semi lockdown after an order by the central government. The local government challenged the order and appealed to the courts and it was on Thursday that the Madrid court agreed that the "rules constituted an inference in people's fundamental rights", overturning the order from the central government. All this has happened just before a long bank holiday as tomorrow is Spain's national day. The government lashed back threatening to call a state of emergency for the Madrid region, bypassing the authority of the local government. Once again we are seeing politics get in the way of dealing with the spread of the virus. It all boils down to the fact that the central government is a left wing coalition and the Madrid government a right wing coalition. It was a complete shambles. On Friday after no agreement could be reached with the Madrid authorities, the Spanish Government called for a state of emergency in the capital and 9 towns in the suburbs. The general rules, except for freedom of movement, for the whole of the country though were upheld. This caused a huge hooha in all the nation.
In Madrid up to 4 or 5 million people are affected. Luckily for us we are not in this group as the area we live in on the outskirts of Madrid has a much lower percentage of cases and thus we had freedom of movement for the moment. Because of this we were able to go to our apartment by the beach this week. I was well aware how privileged we were compared to the majority of my fellow "madrileños". Lucky us. Lucky too that, so far, the virus has not touched us, except for restrictions. We continue to be careful but who knows whether we will get it. It's quite possible.
Last Sunday was not the best of days. I have been a bit down recently with lots of worries in my head; nothing dramatic but an accumulation of things has been the cause. Not the best of sleepers at any time, when I am worried my sleep is affected even more.
It was not a warm day and when we were half way through our walk with Suzy, Eladio and the dogs it began to rain and with nothing to protect ourselves, we turned back.
In the afternoon, the three of us did something different to what we would normally do on a Sunday afternoon. Suzy, ever worried about the planet and the future of our world, urged us to watch with her a new documentary come film from Netflix about the (negative) influence of social media on our lives called "The Social Dilemma".
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| The must see documentary which explores how the technology that connects us also controls us. |
In a nutshell it explains how the technology that connects us also controls us. If you haven't seen it, I urge you to. I am quite a heavy user of social media as many of us are so was a bit sceptical. I think we all know that when it comes to anything free on Internet, it is never free and that "we" are the product. We are all aware of targeted advertising and some of the dangers of social media to young people, to the way we vote and a hundred other things. Knowing this I am always careful to discern news from fake news and try to ignore the advertising. But not everyone does that, especially young people. I learned a frightening new term in the film called "persuasive technology" and I was aghast at the means to which the big tech firms go to make us addicts of their products (be that Facebook, Google, You Tube, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn or the latest Tik Tok) and to manipulate or anticipate our behaviour. That is evil. What can be done about it? It might be too late but I think governments have to regulate these companies. Should we all thus abandon social media, even whatsapp? In any case even if we do, these companies will sill target us in other insidious ways. There is no escape from Google nor from any of the pre installed applications in our mobile phones. In any case I don't think we should as we have to admit that social media, the internet and new technologies also bring enormous benefits to us which I think we wouldn't to live without anymore. The main benefit for me is contact with friends far away and instant contact at that as well as with the family of course. I think that is the same for everyone. Everything is instant these days but we should learn to distinguish real news from fake news. As someone who has worked in corporate journalism, before sharing anything I nearly always try to seek the source and contrast the news. That is one way to beat the manipulative technology and to stay informed. I could go on and on as this is a huge problem. So do me a favour, watch the movie, make your own conclusions and use social media carefully.
The documentary had quite an impact on me. The documentary also detailed how we are all addicted to our mobile phones and I am too - big time. While watching it I had to resist picking up my phone. But real life and not virtual life returned and when we had finished it was time for dinner. Suzy, Eladio and I had it in the kitchen with the dogs at our side, getting tidbits occasionally from us and keeping us company. We were in bed watching the news later and then more episodes of "Desaparecidos" (Disappeared on Amazon Prime). If social media is addictive this series is too. It was also a sort of pacifier for the problems running through my head and I found myself watching episode after episode until it was past 3 in the morning.
I was up late then on Monday morning at around 7.30, the day of our departure to our apartment near the sea and near Santa Pola. As I read the news on my iPad after watching Oli on the TV at 8 am, I was interested to see my Google news feed. It was full of articles about the documentary The Social Dilemma and about Mary Queen of Scots. That shows you Big Brother is watching you as only Netflix could have known I had seen the documentary that night as I did not share anything about it on social media. As to Mary Queen of Scots, well, I found the articles interesting. I saw too that Facebook had issued a statement with their response to the documentary. They would wouldn't they? On the other hand I argued with Suzy that when we make an opinion on something we should also contrast the news or the story and investigate a bit more as well as look at both sides of the argument. Not all is black and white. This is their statement.
Oli sent me a phòto of her and Miguel at work. This week he was one of the cameramen in her programme; "La hora de la 1". It was quite a coincidence and I think it must have been lovely for them. They also have Elliot nearby at the TVE nursery called "Peque Prado". Oli is up at 4.30 to be at work at 5.30 but Miguel goes in later so drops Elliot off at the nursery. Oli finishes work at around 1.30 and Miguel at around 3 which is when they pick up our grandson. He is now finally enjoying his time at the nursery. Here they are together at work.
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| Miguel and Oli at work on Monday |
Their life is much more balanced now that Miguel has left Valencia and will be working for TVE in Madrid at Prado del Rey permanently.
We only saw her on TV once that morning as we were getting ready to leave for Santa Pola. We decided to go as the weather forecast was pretty good for this week. We went in search of sun and also a bathe in the sea, our last this year. Pippa came with us, of course.
The road to Alicante, the A3 was pretty empty and we had a smooth journey. We stopped for a picnic lunch and this time went off the motorway in search of somewhere decent to set up our table and chairs. We chose the small town of Chinchilla where we had our picnic in a park. There was no one else around. Here is Eladio about to sit down to enjoy our simple meal.
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| Our picnic lunch on the way to Santa Pola |
It was a lovely sunny day and we arrived to 25cº at our apartment. We had to carry everything up the steps as the lift wasn't working. It wasn't working for a good reason as finally new lifts are being put in to replace the horrible old ones. Actually the technician let Eladio try it out and we were delighted to see the new lift in action. We were also pleased to see our neighbour Lucy who had cleaned and prepared the apartment for us. No longer do we have to clean it every time we come or go. We were both happy to be back.
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| Back in Santa Pola |
Pippa was too. She was delighted also with her new bed; a bed Lucy gave her which used to belong to a cat she had.
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| Pippa has a new bed in Santa Pola |
After unpacking and settling in we spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on our terrace, reading and soaking in the warmth from the remains of the sun. It was so much warmer than in Madrid. We were hungry by 8pm, the time we usually we have dinner and made a simple meal which we enjoyed together on our own.
We watched the news too and it wasn't good. In Spain now over 5 million people are in some sort of lock down. That day we passed the 800.000 contagion mark, the highest in Europe. The towns of León and Palencia were added to those in lockdown. That is where Eladio's 95 year old mother lives in a residency for senior citizens. I don't think she has been out in the street since the pandemic started and now no one can visit her. It's a very sad story and one we are now familiar with.
Donald Trump, infected with Covid as we all know, seems to be faring well. That day, still supposedly in hospital, he took a drive around the hospital to show his supporters he was doing well. He was criticised for exposing his body guards to the virus. He later announced he was better and that people should not fear coronavirus! Damn the man for saying that. Of course we should all fear it. Now over 1 million have died because of it.
I slept really well that night, catching up on some lost sleep. I was looking forward to going down to the beach but first we had to get provisions. Thus we drove to the proverbial Mercadona to stock up. I commented to Eladio that is so much cheaper to shop for 2 than to shop for 5 and he agreed. I didn't have to make lunch that day as I had brought some leftovers (lentil soup and Zena's "gloupsy" - a Russian dish which is basically stuffed cabbage leaves). At about midday we were down on the beach, a pretty deserted beach in brilliant sunshine. How wonderful it was to be back on our lovely beach. There were a few groups of people; mostly retired people I thought and everyone sat well away from each other. The water was cold but not too cold to enjoy a bathe and the sea was so calm it felt like a lake. We had to go into the water separately because of our "valuables" - my phone, our two kindles, Eladio's watch and the car keys.
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| Going into the water for our first bathe on Monday |
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| Eladio going into the water for his first bathe on Monday |
Silly me, I had forgotten to bring some sun cream. I actually thought we wouldn't need it but realised we did when on our walk to the end of the beach and back, both our backs felt as if they were on fire. The highest temperature that day was probably 27ºc, perfect.
After enjoying 2 hours or so reading, bathing and walking on the beach, we left to go home for lunch. The warmest part of the day is from 12 to 16h which is just when we have lunch and our siesta. I commented to Eladio that we were wasting those sunny hours but he didn't think it was important. He is not into sun bathing and doesn't like the heat too much. That's understandable as he hails from a cold mountain village in the north west of Spain. I might come from cold and rainy England but I love the sun. I am, though, very wary of sunbathing as my own brother George died of melanoma.
We didn't go out again for the rest of the day. In any case I had work to do. That afternoon I spent time drafting a new press release for a customer. I felt good afterwards and also very hungry. I had been so busy I hadn't noticed the time and when we sat down to eat our tuna fish salad it was much later than usual. We watched some of the news and the main topic was Trump's triumphal exit from hospital converting it into a campaign for votes. The stupid man downplayed the virus again and removed his mask. Would you believe he said "Now I'm better, and maybe I'm immune"! He is not immune as he has got the virus for God's sake. He even urged Americans to go back to work and told them not to fear the disease and that he would be back campaigning soon. How can he tell the population not to fear the disease which has killed so many of his countrymen? His words are an insult to his fellow Americans who don't all have access to the state of the art medicine he has. But how convenient for his campaign.
Disgusted with him and fed up of negative news about Covid, we turned to Netflix. I watched the last episode of "Desaparecidos" and later read in bed until I fell asleep.
Wednesday was definitely the warmest day of our stay with temperatures rising to 28c. It didn't get warm until about 11 am so we waited until then to go down to the beach. Meanwhile we had Oli's programme "La Hora de la 1" on and were able to watch her live from the comfort of our apartment. The presenter of the social media part of the programme was in quarantine which meant Oli had to double her act and do her colleague's job and her own job for the 10 days while the former was away. That must be very stressful but she is managing. She was on and off the screen continuously.
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| Watching Oli live on TV from our apartment |
No doubt she would have preferred some time off and would envy our stay in Santa Pola. She hasn't had a holiday this summer due to her new job and doesn't know when she will get one. We went down to the beach, determined to enjoy the sand and sea with such good weather, at about 11.30 and were there until nearly 2 pm. Here is Eladio carrying our chairs and parasol going down the wooden walkway to our favourite beach, the one nearest our apartment.
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| Going down to the beach on Wednesday morning |
We soon set up camp and had plenty of space to choose from which made social distancing very easy. I do love the beach in October with good weather and few people.
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| Eladio on the beach on Wednesday morning |
We bathed in crystal clear blue water and it was wonderful. We read too on our beach chairs, the ones we keep in our car the whole time, and then walked to the end of the beach and back. I soon noticed a woman walking too but she stood out as amazingly she had two parrots perched on her shoulders as she walked. I was intrigued. She, her parrots and her companion were just a few paces behind us and when we got to the end of the beach, I approached her as I couldn't resist asking her about the parrots. Tina, the parrot woman, was very friendly and was happy to talk about her birds. She has 9 of them at home, all Yako parrots that hail from Kenya - grey parrots with a huge red tail. She was carrying Frida and Goyo and Friday¡ uttered a few words to us. She was happy for us to have a photo taken with her and I jumped at the chance. After all, it's not often you have an encounter like this. Tina told me she had been obsessed with birds since childhood and that her dream was to travel to Kenya to see the bird life there. Her birds are so well trained, they do their business in the bathroom before leaving the house! She adores them and it was obvious she did. Here we are with Tina and her parrots, Frida on her left shoulder and Goyo on her right shoulder. She has to wear a towel around her neck so their claws don't hurt her skin. What an encounter. It was unique and quite amusing. After all you don't often see someone taking two parrots for a walk on the beach do you?
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| Eladio and I with the parrot woman, Tina. |
We only wished we could take Pippa on our trips down to the beach but dogs are not allowed - so unfair. She was delighted to see us when we returned and after a quick shower I made a simple lunch of grilled fish and caramelised red peppers.
On Wednesday afternoon I had my weekly skype call with my dearest friend, Amanda. I think she is also my oldest friend. We chatted until nearly 7 pm. I love our calls and so does she. It was after the call that I could catch up on my whatsapp messages and was delighted to see Olivia had sent us a video of Elliot. It wasn't just any video. It was a video of him really walking, probably for the first time properly. Last week he was able to take about 4 or 5 steps alone and now he can walk unaided for far longer. I am happy to show the video of this important moment in his life.
This is the link. He now also says "Papa" by the way, his first words. We will be seeing him tomorrow and I can't wait.
Having finished watching "Desaparecidos" on Netflix there was nothing of interest I wanted to watch. In any case Eladio wanted to see the friendly match between Portugal and Spain which was on that night. I wasn't at all interested and read outside on the terrace instead. It must have been a boring match as no one scored, not even Ronaldo.
Thursday came and it was a very full and pleasant day. We had a quiet morning watching Olivia doing her double job on TVE. She was in the studio live countless times. She has become such a professional. Soon it was time to go the market which comes to Gran Alacant on Thursdays. We always love going to buy locally sourced and produced fruit and vegetables. It is always a highlight of our stays here. We bought big juicy oranges, small bananas from the Canary Islands called "plátanos", grapes, avocados, mangoes, plums, apples and tomatoes, enough to take home and last us for a while.
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| Eladio at the market on Thursday |
We went early so as to avoid too many people, something we all tend to do these days. We came back with our bags and bags of fruit and veg, had a cup of coffee and then went down to the beach as we did every day. Again there was plenty of space for social distance and we felt safe.
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| That's actually Eladio in the sea on Thursday but I don't think you can see him. He's just a speck on the horizon. |
I hoped to see the Parrot woman on our walk again but we didn't. We were up in our flat a couple of hours later and soon sitting down to a very simple lunch.
It was in the early afternoon while chatting to my neighbour Lucy who looks after our apartment that we both realised the new lift that had been put into our block of apartments was finally working. A new lift wow! You might not think that is at all interesting but it is. You see the lifts in these buildings had not been changed since they were built some 30 years ago and they were in a dreadful state. They were so awful we just didn't use them and I was embarrassed about them as they gave the building such a bad image. Thus I was delighted to see the new lift up and working and to try it out for the first time.
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| Trying the new lift for the first time |
Later when we went out Eladio tried the lift too and this is his photo hahahaha.
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| Eladio trying out the new lift |
We were going to Alicante, the capital of the province, a beautiful city by the sea which boasts one of the best climates in Spain. At 7 in the evening that day it was 25c, so different from the north of Spain. We went for a doctor's appointment but had plenty of time on our hands to take a short walk in the city. The appointment was in the centre so we walked down a long boulevard (Avda. Federico Soto) until we came across a beautiful square with a huge monumental fountain in the middle. We had never seen it and had to ask the street cleaner what it was called. She answered "Plaza de los Luceros". It's actually a a sort of roundabout in the middle of the city and at the same time a small park. How come we had never seen it if I have been coming to Alicante for so many years? I suppose that's because we mainly go the area by the port and the famous Explanada boulevard and rarely enter the centre of the city.
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| The ornamental fountain that dominates the Plaza de los Luceros |
We then googled the square and found out it is the most symbolic and important square in Alicante, where all the important events of the city happen. The fountain and statues were built by a local sculptor called Daniel Bañuls in 1930 and at the time it was called Plaça dels Cavalls (horses square). It later became known as Plaza de Cataluña and even Plaza de la Independencia but today its official name is Plaza de los Luceros although locals apparently call it "the horses" (Los Caballos). The sculpture has 4 horses covered in fruit and it represents the importance of both horses and water in ancient times. I wondered why it was called Plaza de los Luceros and read that it comes from a verse in the famous Fascist anthem in Franco's times: "Cara al Sol". Eladio having been brought up on that song at school still knows all the lyrics today. "Lucero", by the way means a star which shines brightly. Eladio says it also means the "dead". What I didn't find out was the reason the square was given its present name but obviously it has to do with Franco's times. No wonder the locals call it "the horses".
We had to have photos of course and here is Eladio posing for me.
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| Eladio in the square. |
We continued to walk along the boulevard enjoying our stroll. We went past a game area which included a little trampoline which I just had to try out. Eladio wouldn't have been seen dead on it but the child in me always comes out in moments like that.
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| In the boulevard leading up to the beautiful square |
Once the appointment was over we headed back to our apartment which is about 12km away, not too far at all. Pippa was waiting for us and dinner had to be made as we were both starving.
I touched base with the girls, chatting with Oli who sent us a lovely photo of Elliot that day when they went shopping and later on the phone with Suzy who seemed in high spirits (great).
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| Elliot on Thursday out shopping with his mother |
We later watched an interesting film about Charles Darwin called Creation on Netflix. When he wrote his book The Origin of Species, he challenged God and the church and changed the way people thought ever since. But for him it was a torment to discover the origin of the species was not the work of God and that's what the film centres on. It also centres on the impact the death of his older daugher Annie has on him. You might find it interesting.
Once again that night I slept well and was awake at 7.30 on Friday morning, our last full day at our apartment. While the big debate was going on in Madrid whether to call a state of emergency in the city and some surrounding towns, we continued our routine. We had elevenses as usual which we call "coffee time". Here is Eladio enjoying his coffee on our terrace, the best feature of the apartment. Pippa is on his lap bless her.
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| Coffee time at our apartment |
Later we went down to the beach for the last time to enjoy a bathe and walk. There were far more people as it was a local bank holiday. We were back in our apartment at around 2 and had a simple lunch again, sausages with runner beans. I had run out of food but as we were leaving the next day I had to make with what there was in the cupboards. It was at midday on Friday that the Spanish government called the State of Emergency in Madrid (the capital and 9 suburban towns). The afternoon was quiet. We slept, read and chatted and I spoke to both girls. I was delighted to catch Elliot having his dinner. He was preferring the chips to his vegetable puree hahaha which I could understand.
Soon it was Saturday morning and after breakfast, packing etc, we set off for Madrid, picnic in hand. We left the apartment at about 11 am and at around 14h we were having our picnic lunch. We stopped at a nameless petrol station and set up our chairs and tables under some trees. As usual, I had to have a photo.
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| Our picnic lunch yesterday on our way home. |
We only had 100km or so to go when we finished and were home by about 4 pm. It was great to see my father and Suzy again as well as the dogs. I had brought my father a stash of English sweets: polos, bounty bars, Turkish delight and Cadbury flake. The girls would get some jelly babies and a Terry's chocolate orange. I have been on a diet now for 2 weeks so won't touch any of it although I ache to do so. I love English chocolate bars and sweets as much as my father.
There was plenty of time to unpack and then I spent quality time by the closed pool reading and chatting to Suzy. We were soon joined by Eladio and part of our conversation centred on her move to Costa Rica at the end of the month. Wow that will be a big change in her life.
We had dinner together in the kitchen and made some of the "pelmeni" (a sort of Russian type of ravioli) which Zena, our Ukrainian weekend carer, had bought for us at a Russian shop in the city) which we had with home made smetana and fresh dill. It was delicious. When I eat pelmeni I always remember my dear Russian born Mother making them.
We were in bed early and by chance watched a very interesting documentary about Edward VIII, his abdication because of his divorcee girlfriend Wallis Simpson, and what that meant for the Crown. More sinister was the story of his leanings towards fascism and involvement with the Nazis.
Soon after I fell asleep and did not sleep badly at all. I was up at 7.10 this morning and happy to be in my own bed or rather in the most comfortable of all our beds in our different houses. I wish one day we could have a similar bed with a great big smart TV on the wall in our bedrooms in Montrondo, Santa Pola and El Cueto but that's not going to be happening any time soon hahahahaha.
I am now at the end of the tales of this week and it's time to sign off, publish this post and print a copy for my most loyal reader, my dear father. So cheers everyone until next Sunday. I hope you all have a great week.
Masha
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