Covid even changes our vocabulary, the non profit Oxford vaccine , precious time with Elliot, Trump grudgingly agrees to transition, football legend Maradona dies aged 60, family dinner and other stories.

 Sunday 29th November, 2020

Feeding Elliot with chocolate when he came for lunch last Sunday

Good morning, readers and friends. How has your week been? Let me tell you about mine which was much better than last week. 

A week ago today we were expecting Elliot and his mother for lunch and to spend part of the day with us as Miguel was working. Last Sunday I was getting over my cold and recovering some of the energy I had lost. We both still have it by the way but are slowly feeling better. Thus I got into family lunch mode and made a soup and fabada - the Asturian bean stew which everyone loves. It was a sunny day and things were looking good. They weren't looking good though for the virus, damned Covid. The second wave we are immersed in was taking its toll. That day the number of those who died worldwide jumped from 1.387.452  to 1.458.944 and the number of infected went from 58.5 million to 62.6. In Spain we seem to be finally over the peak but far from flattening the curve. The curve is considered flattened when there are just 25 people ill for every 100.000. That's going to take some time and of course Christmas is looming. Christmas will not be the same this year; although it probably will be for us as we are very few and of course Suzy won't be here this year (sniff:-). It will just be my father, Eladio, Oli and I, so only our "bubble".  Bubble is a popular term these days. 

Haven't you noticed all the new vocabulary or previously uncommon words becoming popular this year? The virus has even changed the way we speak, damn it. According to the Global Language Monitor, Covid is the top word for 2020 with Coronavirus coming a close second. For the Collins Dictionary the word of the year is "lockdown". The  OED (Oxford English Dictionary), has expanded its word of the year to several "words of an unprecedented year". Interestingly it reports that the word pandemic has increased by 57k% this year. The top Covid realated words include: Covid-19, lockdown, circuit-breakers, support bubbles, keyworkers, furlough and moonshot". 

Social distancing is very new to us, as are furlough, face masks, PPE, superspreader (!) and mask shaming.  We also have vocabulary coming from the new way of working; WFH (working from home). We have all discovered Zoom meetings and now we talk about workcation (holiday when you also work) and of course staycation. I think the list is endless but I hate this and all it means. 

Covid has even changed our vocabulary

But we have room for hope. The news right now is full of information about the new viruses coming and countries' plans to vaccinate the population. Last Sunday, Spain's PM announced the country's plans for its implementation. Basically it will be down to the local health centres - 13.000 of them dotted around the country. As to who will be given the jab first, it will obviously be the more fragile in our population and our health workers. Other countries are announcing their own plans and the US may well be the first country to benefit from the new vaccine as early as 11th December and the UK possibly even earlier. For the rest of us, the expectations are for the start to be in the new year. I sincerely hope there will be enough vaccines for the whole of the world, not just the first world. So far it seems only the "rich countries" have secured supplies. At the end of the G20 summit last weekend, the leaders there did however commit to making the vaccine available to everyone. I hope they do because it is in everyone's interest to eradicate the virus. If not everyone is vaccinated, the virus will lurk and continue to cause its very dangerous mischief. 

But last Sunday I wasn't thinking about a vaccine. I was looking forward to seeing Elliot again - and his mother of course. We are so lucky to be able to see him as often as we do - twice this week - compared to so many other grandparents all over the world who are deprived of contact with their grandchildren because of Covid. I do treasure every moment with him. They came just before lunch and we had some great fun and quality time with our little boy who turned 14 months old last week. He loves coming here. The house is so big and is full of interesting things and he is not careful with my ornaments, hahaha. This house is not baby proofed which is why he probably loves it hahahaha. He discovered my collection of ducks, many of them made of china. He tends to throw things around so we had to distract him. Thus I put him in front of the piano on the original piano seat. They belonged to his great great grandmother - my father's mother who was a pianist and who became a licenciate at the Royal Academy of Music in 1916. The piano is an heirloom and normally I wouldn't let a child near it but of course I made an exception with Elliot. He was very interested as you can see in the photo below.

Elliot sitting at his great great grandmother's piano last Sunday

It was lovely to have him for lunch and my father was amused at his antics. He had brought along some of his baby books which I showed to my father. They are interactive and some have music and I don't think he'd ever seen anything like them. He did, though, approve 100% as he is a great reader himself. I love Elliot's books and he does too, especially the ones with music. As soon as music is played he begins to dance and moves his arms. I wonder if he has inherited any musical talent from my family. Both sets of my grandparents were very musical. My brother was too. He used to play this very piano at our home in Bradford and even write songs which I would sing to while he played. I don't know whether he will go on to play the piano but he certainly loves music and starts bopping up and down to any tune bless the boy. 

I broke my diet that day and ate chocolate. Naughty me. Oh how naughty but how nice. Before Oli and Elliot came that morning, Eladio and I did some emergency shopping at Carrefour Market and there I tried and failed to resist some of the Christmas confectionery. I controlled myself though and only bought a little bit. It was much appreciated. Even Elliot tried it and liked it.  Here he is, in my arms, while I am feeding him a small piece of chocolate. 

With Elliot last week

I grabbed the moment to ask Oli to take a photo as I don't have many of him with me. It's always me that takes photos of him with Eladio. I have chosen one of them as this week's feature photo to remember the lovely occasion. Elliot liked the chocolate but doesn't seem to have inherited my very sweet tooth which I got from my father, so far. Time will tell.

We all had a short nap and later rejoined in the library lounge. Miguel had come in between time but had to be off again at 6 pm. We all had a roaring time with Elliot and I played hide and seek with him which he adores. It was then time for his bath. He was reluctant to go in so his grandmother had to join him didn't she hahahaha? We caught up with Suzy just afterwards. She seemed in good spirits but still pines for Bali. 

Oli and Elliot stayed for an early dinner which I somehow rustled up and they were off by 8 pm. We adjoined to our bedroom and watched the news followed by "Salvados" all about media coverage on the former King Juan Carlos's financial misdemeanors. Soon I fell into the arms of Morpheus who usually rejects me but that night, except for one coughing episode, my quality of sleep was quite acceptable.

I woke up on Monday morning still with the remains of my cold but with a bit more energy. Early that morning I finished work on my 2021 family calendar and submitted it for printing. 

My 2021 family calendar in the making

We actually went out that morning; an unusual occurrence these days. We went to the big department store, El Corte Inglés, to return the pyjamas Oli had given her father for his birthday in September. He had suggested them as a present without realising he has about 9 pairs already (hahahha). He got a new memory foam pillow instead. We then drove to a shop called Taste of America which, as its name suggests, sells produce from the US. It does indeed but also stocks Christmas crackers which are hard to come by here. I normally buy them on Amazon but the transport costs are often higher than the product themselves. I came out with 2 boxes of 8 giant crackers each, pleased with my purchase. The whole shop seemed dedicated to Thanksgiving for this weekend. I spotted a woman buying the typical "pecan pie" (never tried it actually). Puzzled at seeing so many boxes of crackers around I asked her if they are popular in the US. She said "oh no, they are a UK thing". That's what I thought. Taste of America, actually owned by former Motorola colleagues, must want to cater to UK customers too. Eladio waited in the car while I made my choice, not being very interested in crackers. But oh, no, I thought Christmas is not the same without them. Saying that, I do wish the manufacturers, probably all Chinese, could up the quality of the novelties they contain. I am always trying to find crackers with better gifts but unless you buy them at Fortnum and Mason I suppose that is not possible. Maybe this year I shall sneak in better little gifts. 

Now I had my crackers and I had also ordered other Christmas essentials such as Christmas pudding, cranberry sauce and Paxo's sage and onion stuffing. In the same order I got a selection box for my father and a box of Quality Street. Just love the ones wrapped in purple paper don't you? It arrived this week  and is now being stored in ground floor pantry waiting for consumption. 

It was lovely to be out and about but it was all very socially distanced and nothing like our trips into the city to do our Christmas shopping other years. This year will be the first time we don't visit the traditional seasonal market in the Plaza Mayor in Madrid or buy our presents at Zara or similar. Last year we had lunch in town. This year we wouldn't dream of doing that. What a pity. 

I had some important work to do when I got back - the tweaking of a relatively important press release but as I had done my homework, soon the ball was in someone else's court. 

The good news that day came from the UK. The much awaited Oxford University vaccine to be manufactured by Astrazeneca, announced it was also in the final stages and that it had an efficacy of 70% or even 90% depending on the dose. 

The profit free new vaccine from Oxford (and Cambridge)

Maybe that is not as good as rivals Pfizer and Moderna. However the Oxford vaccine beats its rivals hands down in two areas. First it can be stored at normal fridge temperatures and second it is much much cheaper. Why is it much cheaper then? That's because AstraZeneca has promised not to profit from the vaccine during the pandemic. And on a permanent basis they have said that lower income countries will receive the vaccine profit free. Wow! That is so laudable coming from a pharmaceutical company. Did you read that? That for me is the most wonderful thing about the Oxford vaccine and its partner the Cambridge based pharmaceutical company. What good news to come out of the UK or so I thought until I learned later that there was no data for the outcome for the over 55's in the tests. The scientific community has complained that vaccine developers should publish their findings in The Lancet and similar and not by press releases. I can only agree to that. 

I discussed this with my friend Amanda when we had our Skype call that afternoon. We also discussed Christmas, just as Boris Johnson was announcing the new three tier restriction system. He was warning that Christmas will not be the same. Well, we know that don't we? I  was pleased that Amanda and Andy will be able to celebrate it with their kids. I know she is looking forward to that so much. I'm looking forward to Christmas too and am enjoying all the planning. Having something to look forward to is so important in life I always find. Later in the week Boris announced three households could get together for Christmas. The three tier system is very complicated and has been met with criticism even from members of the Tory Party. It's so difficult to sum up, I have resorted to a a picture from The Times I read on Friday. This explains the tiers. There are only three areas not in Tier 2 or 3 and they are Cornwall, The Isle of Man and the Isles of Scilly. 

Restrictions for the three tiers as described by The Times this week. 

It looks like it will be as strict or even stricter  in Spain. The central Government has proposed that only 6 people can get together and that's only for the actual festive days. Curfew to be from 1 to 6 in the morning making New Year's Eve celebrations short. As to Kings' Day (Reyes) on 6th January, that will be toned down too with no processions as we know them. How sad for children. However, this proposal has not been well received with the heads of the autonomous region and it seems now that each area will fix its own conditions. We shall see. 

Another king was affected by the pandemic on Monday. We ended the day learning that King Felipe VI of Spain has to self quarantine as he was in close contact with someone who tested positive. Later the King tested negative. People arriving in Spain from Monday this week onward  no longer have to self quarantine. However, they have to present a negative PCR test. I really think that is the way to go if we want to restore travel. Some airlines are already announcing that people will have to show proof of vaccine in order to fly. That's a good idea too. The problem is that the cost of the test can be anything up to 250 euros, often more than the flight itself.  Another problem is the timing. It's not always easy to get results within the 72 hour barrier. Even so, it makes travel safer and I can't wait to travel again. I don't mean across the world. Just to Montrondo, Santa Pola or El Cuetu would do, but that's not on for the moment. Madrid will close its borders from 4th to 13th December and Castilla León where Montrondo is located is also closed to travelers. 

So for the moment we are sitting tight at home and not going out much although when we do it feels thrilling. Just simple pleasures like having coffee out with friends or going to a shop seem like luxury. Food shopping is the new leisure hahaa. 

Tuesday came and I woke up to an Airbnb booking for our house - a young Panamanian man will be coming tomorrow and staying until 20th December. That came as good news. It will be funny though to have a guest in the house again.

On Tuesday, finally, Trump agreed to the start of transition to the new Biden government. Finally, I thought.  I think the world heaved a huge sigh of relief. However he still vowed to keep contesting the election results. The news came as Biden's win in Michigan was officially certified, another blow to Trump. The announcement came from the GSA (General Services Administration) and means that Joe Biden now has access to top security information and can prepare for taking office on 20th January. His first moves were to name some of his key people. I was happy to hear he had appointed the first "latino" (Alejandro Mayorkas) as his head of homeland security and Avril Haines, the first woman to head National Intelligence. He needs more diversity all round and not just a bunch of white men, however capable they are. 

Tuesday for us was a quiet day. We did the weekly shop - the new form of leisure in this new normal world - and then went on our first walk for a whole week. We really needed it and so did the dogs. I was busy working until lunch updating the press release to be sent out on Wednesday. Oli pleased us by joining us for lunch and without Elliot. Although we missed him, it did mean we could eat in peace hahahaha. 

Wednesday would be another quiet day. It was busy for me though as that morning I had to send out the press release for my customer, the fiber operator, Adamo. The story was a first for the company who has received 72 million euros in Government grants to further extend its network in rural areas. I worried whether we could get much media coverage as the news was already public, the Ministry involved, already having announcing it but only giving us green light on Monday. So, I was pleasantly surprised to see the articles trickling in during the whole of the day. That had me contacting journalists and checking my phone for much of the day. On our walk I often tripped up while holding Pippa's lead and checking my phone hahahaha. It was a sunny day but I hardly noticed it. 

But the big news that day came from Argentina and soon spread world wide. Diego Maradona, perhaps the best football player ever or in the same league as Pelé, had died of a heart attack aged just 60. Argentina and the world of sport went into mourning, mourning for the football legend often called "el pelusa" owing to his generous locks of hair. His beginnings were very humble but he went on to win the World Cup for his country in 1986. That was the pinnacle of his career and the best moment for this football legend who will always be remembered. He was larger than life in nearly every aspect. 

Maradona holding the World Cup for Argentina in 1986

In the UK he is most remembered for thwarting their squad's side in the quarter finals of the 86 World Cup in Mexico, when he scored a goal later donned "hand of God". The referee did not see he had used his hand. The match had political taints as it was held just 4 years after the Falklands War and beating England was a huge moral victory too for the Argentinians. 

The "hand of God goal"

After the match the Argentinian striker famously said the goal was scored "a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God". Many years later he confessed that the most controversial goal in history was actually scored with his hand but that a goal is still a goal. He was though, forgiven for this as he was for everything although maybe not in England. Straight after the hand goal he went on to score what is considered the "goal of the century".  His life was full of ups and downs. He was the instigator of his own downfall being an addict to drugs, alcohol, sex and food. He is also linked to financial corruption and the Mafia. It was so sad to see his figure, reaching a weight of over 100 kilos at only 5.5 ft. going from bad to worse. His fame went to his famous head in detriment to his amazing talent. He could have been so much more in football. Even he himself mused once how much better he would have played had he not bumped into cocaine. But he was still loved by his countrymen. and football lovers everywhere. No doubt though there are mixed feelings about him in the UK. In Argentina he is a legend up there with the likes of Eva Perón. His fans in their millions said of him yesterday "Don't judge his life, judge him for what he brought to our lives". I love that. I am no football lover but I do love sport and remember his time in Spain when he played for Barcelona and Seville. Despite the pandemic, it was expected that up to a million people would pay their respects where he lay in state in the Casa Rosada in Buenos Aires the next day. RIP Diego. 

Our day ended talking to Suzy on skype. I doubt she even knows who Maradona was, not being a news or football fan. She was happy to tell us about a new project that has landed at her feet, a big translating job. I wish her all the luck in the world. She is being helped by my dear friend Jacky, pointing her in all the right directions. Thank you my dear from the bottom of my heart.

Thursday came and brought rain here.  It wasn't raining though in Buenos Aires where crowds gathered to mourn the death of their hero, Maradona. There were kilometre long queues to pay respects at his coffin which became violent as mobs brought down crowd barriers. The story of his death was probably on the front page of nearly every newspaper in the world. Oli had her part in this story when that day she read out some of them, like the one by L'Equipe, France's famous sports paper, below.

Oli showing some of the headlines about Maradona in the world's press

My personal favourite headline came from possibly my least favourite newspaper, The Mirror, but have to admit they are great at headlines. 

The Mirror's front page the day after Diego Mardona's death. 

The Mirror, correctly, described him  as: "a hero, a villain, a cheat and a genius". Thursday was also International day for the elimination of violence against women. Not many wanted to remember he had been accused of rape at least twice. Everyone preferred to remember his genius as a footballer. The news went on for days. I was stunned by the global outpouring of grief just everywhere. I have never seen anything like it since the death of JF Kennedy or Churchill.  Have you? Can you think of any other person in the world today who could command such a reaction? I can't. 

Apart from reading about Maradona and the world's news, I was very interested in reading news created by me, through the the press release I had sent out the day before. Well, I couldn't have been more delighted with up to 37 articles. I particularly liked the one in the paper version of Spain's top financial paper, Expansión. So I am reproducing it here as a pat on the back to myself.

Press clipping in Expansión reporting on the news I sent out to the media on Wednesday

I commented to Eladio at lunchtime that I had once again passed my test, the test of achieving coverage in the media with my press releases. It is always touch and go and even now at the end of my career, I still have my doubts. So, yes, that day I was happy with the results. I wasn't happy with the weather though. It rained all day and we couldn't go on our walk.

Thursday of course was Thanksgiving in the US and it was painful to watch people traveling all over the country despite the pandemic. I am curious to see too how this American festival is slowly spreading its tentacles to other countries, just as it did with St. Valentines and Halloween. I don't get it. The day after Thanksgiving is always Black Friday, another symbolic day that for a few years now has more than spread the globe. More than a one day spree shopping, retailers are making it a lot longer, I suppose to counteract their loss from the pandemic. This year consumption is down, especially on the high street. I'm not sure what the percentage of sales is online but I suspect it is higher than 40%. Amazon is the biggest winner here. 

Friday came and I largely ignored Black Friday. I am against it really. However, in the end I gave into temptation when my son-in-law Miguel told me that night that our favourite coffee brand, Oquendo, was selling their bio degradable Nespresso compatible capsules at a 25% discount. So there and then I ordered 25 boxes of 10 capsules. I am beginning to realise just how expensive it is to maintain a Nespresso machine. However the coffee it makes, especially with Oquendo (from Asturias), is sublime. While I can, we shall continue to use it. 

On Friday we had something to look forward to. Oli and Elliot were coming for lunch again. Whoopee! Even better, they stayed on and were joined by Miguel and slept over night. They brought a breath of fresh air and joy to the house. It rained that day again so there was no walk. Thus I turned my hands to cooking and made a roast red pepper and carrot soup followed by a rather dry lasagna I'm afraid. In the afternoon I went with Oli to take Elliot for a routine vaccination. Kids today are so lucky that there are vaccinations for all those deadly diseases which killed children until the second half of the last century. My father lost his brother to polio which would not happen today. When I was a child there were vaccines for small pox and polio but not for mumps, measles or chicken pox, all of which most children got. Measles was dangerous. I remember having it myself and the high temperature and days in bed with the curtains closed. It was said children could turn blind. A vaccine for another deadly children's illness, meningitis, didn't come onto the market until the early 80's. So Elliot is very lucky today. Soon too we shall have a vaccine for Covid 19.

I spent some time watching more of Call the Midwife thanks to the box set that arrived this week. I had to watch it in the lounge as our smart TV is too modern for the dvd player. If it's smart it should work with a dvd player but it doesn't. I was soon interrupted by Oli and Elliot though and we changed to "Peppa Pig". I think it's charming and I would have loved it as a child. I love the fact that Peppa has a brother called George as my own brother was called George. It is so much more sophisticated than what was available to me on TV as a child. We didn't actually get  a TV (black and white of course) until I was about 5 or 6. We were living in Ruskington in Lincolnshire at the time. I remember "Listen with Mother" which always started with the the presenter saying "Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin". I also loved Andy Pandy and The Flower Pot men. How times have changed. For the better? Not always. 

Dinner was a family affair on Friday night. Lucy made three small and delicious Spanish potato and onion omelets which we had with ham and salad. We washed it all down with Asturian cider poured from our cider pump "Isidrin". Here is my family around the table. Only Suzy was missing but we had the privilege of talking to her on skype earlier on in the day. 

Friday night's family dinner

It was a substitute for going out to dinner really, something we don't do these days thanks to Covid. Eladio doesn't like going inside places in case we catch it and I don't either. I do, though, miss going to restaurants. 

Saturday came and I was up at 6 in the morning. At about 8 am, while I was writing my blog I was joined by little Elliot. He loves sitting on my lap at my computer and touching the keys. I was a little afraid that he may screw up some of the settings by mistake and tried to distract him otherwise. I did so with my lovely blue tooth cordless headphones Suzy gave to me for Christmas some years ago.  I turned to Beethoven's 9th symphony and popped the headphones on his head. He was amazed. It was the first time he had experienced headphones and I had to have a photo. This child loves music and friends have told me he should be listening to Mozart for better brain development. I must look up why and suggest it to his parents. 

Elliot mesmerised listening to Beethoven on my head phones yesterday

While he was listening to music and playing on my PC, Oli had sent out his father to buy churros and porras (the thicker version) and chocolate for their breakfast. This is a very Spanish tradition at weekends and Oli and Miguel adore them. I do too, so even though I had had my oat bran I couldn't resist one porra, one churro and a tiny bit of thick liquid chocolate. We later went for a walk, all together, so hopefully I worked at least the churro off. 

We were alone for the rest of the day when Oli and her family left for lunch at Elenita's house. It was a quiet day and I spent the whole afternoon watching most of season 6 of Call the Midwife with Pippa curled up on the sofa next to me. Bliss!

It is now Sunday and let's see what the day brings. So let me wish you all a good Covid free week ahead, friends and readers. Cheers till next week,

Masha