Sunday 15th November, 2020.
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| Wearing my poppy with pride on Armistice Day |
Hi again everyone. It's another Sunday in November my least favourite month. Most of the leaves are off the trees and are all over the lawn and the canvas on the swimming pool. It's so different from the summer when our house is at its best.
November is the worst month of the year for hosting guests at our properties. But add to that the Corona pandemic and you get zero guests which is harming our domestic economy big time and that is getting me down. The pandemic doesn't even let us visit our houses as most areas in Spain are in lockdown and movement between provinces or cities is more or less impossible.
There was some sunshine in the morning though when we took the dogs for their walk and got ours of course. There were only a few cyclists out. While walking we discussed where we want to live when I retire in two years time or after my retirement. We debated and debate whether to continue in this huge house which we rattle in and which is so expensive to upkeep. Will we sell it at some time and buy something smaller here and something bigger in Asturias than the house we bought in the summer or will we maybe give it a complete transformation? We can't decide. I suppose time will decide for us.
Sunday was a very quiet day. I missed the girls. We did skype with Suzy at lunchtime though and my father was able to see her for the first time since she left now over 3 weeks ago. Last weekend saw her singing on stage at a local live music joint (if that is the word). Good for her. She also met new people, another Spanish woman (Marta) and an American (Matthew) a very bearded young man who turns out to be a Trump supporter.
There are plenty of them as we know from the US election results. The world was still reeling from the outcome last Sunday when Joe Biden became President Elect, something Trump still won't accept. He will have to at some time and then America can move forward. It has to. The headlines of I guess nearly all the world's newspapers last Sunday were about Biden's win and Trump's loss. Newspapers had a field day to come up with inspiring headlines. I particular liked the Times (Times of London) headline: "Sleepy Joe wakes up America". Joe Biden sleepy? He may have seemed so during the campaign but I don't think there is anything sleepy about him and I do hope he wakes up America in a good way.
It was last Sunday too that Joe Biden and VP elect Kamala Harris set up their transition website called "Build back better" and I was especially interested to see their list of priorities which I totally approve of: Covid 19, economic recovery, race equality and climate change. They sure need to tackle Covid. If last Sunday the world had reached the 50 million figure of those infected and 1.2m deaths, this week the figures have risen again as they do week by week to over 54 million and 1.318.452. If you look at the country by country chart on the Worldometers coronavirus update site which I do constantly, it is the US that heads the global chart of nearly all the figures. Trump dismissed Coronavirus as a flu, took few measures, did not wear a mask and literally let his fellow citizens die in their hundreds of thousands, not seeming to care. Little did he realise that this would hit the US economy too and maybe his bad handling of the pandemic in the US is one of the reasons he did not win the elections.
So, this week again the main news has been the outcome of the US elections and Covid, Covid everywhere. It got me down a bit that day although I do try not to think about it. Sorry for ranting again. My dear friend Adele sent me a photo of her son Tom's wedding in France. Only 6 people including the bride and groom were allowed to be there. How sad. In the UK, unless you are dying you can't even get married so I am sorry for my friend Kathy's son who has now had to postpone his wedding twice. Sorry, I'm ranting on again. I do wish I had something more positive to report on.
Well, I could tell you about our lunch if you are interested in food, something that is a top priority in my life, in terms of loving eating. Oh I do love good food and have engaged in my own personal "battle of the bulge" all my life because of it. That day though the meal was not too calorific. Zena, our Ukrainian weekend carer, made us that delicious Russian and Ukrainian dish; "golubtsi" (stuffed cabbage rolls) for lunch. It's a dish both my father and I adore and a dish my mother used to make. Zena sometimes makes us "borsch" too and buys us frozen pelmeni (Russian type of ravioli) from Slav shops in the city.
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| Zena's golubtsi, delicious |
Zena had her own personal tragedy last week. She told us last weekend that her brother had died that week of a heart attack aged just 60. We were so sorry for her. She is the sad story of the result of a need to emigrate to the "west" for a so called better life while having to sacrifice her own family life. Well, her own brother did that too but he did not come to sunny Madrid. Instead he went to live in Norilsk in the Tundra in Siberia where earnings are generally high. It is one of the the world's most northerly cities and is the largest city built on permafrost inside the Artic Circle. Basically you couldn't go much further north in Russia. It's 1800 miles away from Moscow and not easy to get to. In the winter you can go by plane and in the summer by train or ferry too but never by car.
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| Location of Norilsk in Siberia |
It is one of the coldest towns in the world with temperatures reaching below 50 degrees celsius in the winter. It has what is called a sub arctic climate with very long severely cold winters(snow for up to 270 days a year) and very short mild summers. So why the hell do people go to live there or why is it a city at all I wondered? It seems for money, as wages are high here. Most work in nickel. I read that the buildings and infrastructure for mining nickel and other minerals was done by Gulag prisoners. Norilsk was originally one of Stalin's gulags. Imagine. Nickel smelting causes such pollution it affects the populations' health dramatically. No wonder that the average life span is 10 years less than in the rest of the world. What an awful place to live and what an awful place to die. Zena's brother who had a heart condition, died of a heart attack on the street just as he was returning from a visit to the hospital. My heart went out to her and to him. RIP. My father was sorry for his carer and being an expert on most things Russian, of course had heard of Norilsk. For me it was the first I had heard of it. No, not a city to put on any travel bucket list I think. I read that only 200 people a year travel there for tourism.
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| Norbilsk in the the northern most part of Russia in Siberia. |
It is not only difficult to travel to but as a foreigner you also need special permission. On Wikivoyages I read that "because of its strategic importance for nickel ore processing, Norilsk is a closed city and special permission (except for Russian and Belarussian nationals) is needed for travel, which will likely be denied unless you have a really good reason" No wonder only 200 people a year get to visit it.
I actually managed to sleep a siesta on Sunday, 2.5 hours which was a record. Of course that meant I would not sleep well again that night, for the third night in a row. When we woke up, Eladio and I turned to Prime Video and Netflix and found an interesting Israeli film called "A borrowed identity". About a young boy from the Arab community who makes it to a prestigious boarding school in Jerusalem and the problems he has integrating into Jewish society. It was just up our street.
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| Interesting Israeli film |
We stopped our viewing to have dinner - a bowl of my rather too spicy creamy red lentil soup. It's delicious and very healthy but next time I shall put in much less cayenne pepper and cumin so that it is not too hot on the taste buds. My brother George who used to devour vindaloo curry at the Kashmir in Bradford - the UK's first curry house - would probably have loved it.
The news was no news to us that night so we turned to TV streaming again. I found an amazing film based on an equally amazing true story; The Whistleblower. It really disturbed me as it has some horrific scenes. It tells the story of US Police officer, Kathryn Bolkovac who was assigned to the UN peace keeper forces in Bosnia as head of gender issues. She uncovered a sex trafficking organisation which horrified her. As she continued her investigations it became clear that many of her fellow workers, UN personnel and personnel from the DynCorp contractor were heavily involved. They should have been in charge of keeping peace and restoring order in Bosnia after the war but many did quite the opposite and their bosses turned a blind eye. No one wanted Bolkovac to uncover what could damage the image of the UN peace keeping forces. She was dismissed. Thankfully she was able to retrieve many of the files and went with them to the BBC in London. In her book and in interviews Bolkovac suggests the practice still goes on all over the world and that about 2.5 million people are trafficked every year.
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| An extraordinary story and film |
Certainly sleep did not come easily after watching the The Whistleblower.
Again I was up an hour earlier, at 5.50, on Monday morning, again thinking it was 6.50. Thus I was bushed for most of the day. It was a holiday in Madrid - the capital, not the province - La Almudena - Madrid's patron saint. For those off work there would be no enjoying the bank holiday as all travel outside Madrid is forbidden and if you live in one of the 41 or so lockdown areas, it probably meant just staying at home. .
We didn't even notice it was a holiday and went about our normal business which included our morning walk.
There was good news that day; a light at the end of the tunnel in the announcement by Pfizer (US) and BioNtech (Germany) that their vaccine against Covid, in the final phase of clinical tests, was or is 90% effective. The main news was that "it works". I hope it does. Pfizer is getting all the publicity and credit for this breakthrough but the truth is it was a Turkish couple, the founders of BioNtech, who are the minds behind the virus. But their company needed funding for their research and they got it from the US pharma giant Pfizer. We really owe this good news to Doctors Ozlem Tureci and Ugur Sahin. They are Turkish immigrants in Germany and The Guardian described them as "children of long-maligned guest workers from Turkey" and that the success of the company they founded was a "shot in the arm for Germany's Turkish community". In my opinion it makes the whole story so much more human. Who cares where the scientists came from or what their nationality is? Secretly though, I am pleased for the Turkish couple and the Turkish community in Germany.
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| The companies developing this first vaccine |
Pfizer, taking nearly all the credit, described it as a major victory in the war against the virus. The news was much welcomed but caution please as it won't be on the market for a while and we do not know how long immunity lasts in a person nor whether it be available for everyone. But it is a big step forward. Testing was done on over 40.000 people. It was also comforting to hear that the side effects were not dangerous. The company or companies as this seems to be a joint venture, expects to roll out up to 50 million doses this year, enough to protect 25 million people and to produce up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021. Apparently this vaccine consists of two jabs and one of the difficulties is its distribution as it has to be kept at below 70ºc. Of course other companies, quite a few in fact, are also in the race to find a vaccine to protect us from Covid. It's just that Pfizer's is at the most advanced stage. Finally we had some good news allowing us some hope for a better future, especially now during this terrible second wave of the virus. The stock markets reacted with furor and soared after the news, many of the companies belonging to the tourism and aviation industries. Oh wow, wouldn't it be great to be able to travel again? If I was pleased with this news, I was not at all pleased with the behaviour of Pfizer's CEO, Albert Bourla, who sold 62% of his shares earning 5.6 million dollars after he announced the vaccine breakthrough. This sounded like a scam, using inside information for personal gain. The company clarified this was part of a pre-planned sale of his shares notified in August. But don't tell me he didn't know about the vaccine then? For me this was opportunistic greed, quite shameful really making money in this greedy way when so many people are suffering in the pandemic.
There was good news for me too that day when I got my first reservation on Booking for our house in Asturias. It came as a big surprise as I had only listed the property the day before. This is it by the way - ah and if you are a reader of this blog you are welcome to book direct and at a discount.
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| Casa del Cuetu |
Ok so the reservation is for August but it's a glimmer of light in my own personal tunnel. If you are a corporate employee working from home and with no family ties, it's the perfect place to get away from it all and to be able to work remotely and in peace. As I have probably pointed out before, Asturias is part of what is known as "Green Spain". If you want to know more about the region, the other day I found a great article from The New York Times. You can read it here.
There is not much more to tell about Monday, a quiet day for us, so let me move on to Tuesday. I actually slept better on Monday night (finally). I must have been exhausted after 3 bad night's sleep. I was awake at 6.50 and fed the dogs - always my first task. I had something to look forward to that day; Oli and Elliot were coming for lunch (hurray).
I made sure we had a lovely lunch and made my new creamy roast pepper and carrot soup with coriander for starters. The main course was my "bitki" (Russian hamburgers) with an assortment of vegetables. Oli said it reminded her of our meals when she was small. They arrived shortly after our walk at about 1.30. We hadn't seen them since they parted from El Cueto on 1st November. Now that Elliot is nearly 1 year and 2 months old, he recognises us immediately and it was a delight to hold him in my arms again. Oh but he is so heavy. Their arrival brightened up our day and was the highlight of the week I have to say.
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| Olivia and Elliot when they came for lunch on Tuesday |
Elliot had already eaten at the nursery and wasn't keen for us to eat, wanting our attention. Thus we took it in turns to eat and in between time entertained him. Thank goodness for the little tricycle we had bought for his 1st birthday. But he is at his happiest in his grandfather's arms as you can see from the photo below.
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| Elliot delighted to be in his grandfather's arms |
They only stayed an hour as Elliot needed his nap and Oli needed time at home. She is rushed off her feet at the moment, with her job and looking after a one year old. We had some mother and daughter time in her bathroom as she removed her makeup from her TV appearance that morning. She looked so glamorous when she came but makeup can be tiring as many women know. In her room at home, she found a parcel on her bed. It contained a ukelele that Suzy had ordered for her just before she left for Costa Rica. Oli was pleased but is still wondering how to tune it.
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| Oli with her ukelele |
When they left we watched the news we already knew what was coming and again I fell asleep - again for 2.5 hours! I woke up with pain in the joint of my thumb on my left hand. I know it's from arthritis and I have a special bandage to wear which immobilises it. However, it leaves me with only one hand to use; thankfully the right hand. I had to take anti inflammatory tablets as well as pain killers and Eladio had to help me with the usually easy tasks of cutting tomatoes, etc for our salad for dinner. That night I slept relatively well and was awake at 6.15 on Wednesday morning. Thankfully it only gave me trouble for a few days and this particular bout seems to be over.
Wednesday was 11th November. On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, armistice was signed between the allies and the Germans and thus marked the end of the Great War. It became known as Armistice Day and later Remembrance Day to remember all those fallen in war, including of course WW2. In the UK people wear a poppy to mark the date and last year my friend Jacky sent me two poppies as they are not to be found in Spain. Thus on Wednesday I was able to give my father his poppy to wear. Here he is wearing it proudly. He was most happy to receive it.
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| My father wearing his poppy proudly on 11th November. |
Of course my father could never forget. He was born in 1919 just 2 years after the Armistice and of course he fought in WW2 as I have told you countless times. Here he is in his Navy officer uniform looking so dapper. I just love that photo.
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| My father, a Naval officer in WW2 |
If you haven't read the biography about his life that I wrote on the occasion of his 100th birthday, here is the link to the ebook on Amazon. My publisher in the UK is taking ages to make it available but meanwhile it can be found online.
Another friend, Joanne, sent me the most beautiful poppy in the form of a ceramic brooch last Christmas, which I would wear proudly too that day. Thank you Jacky and Joanne.
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| Joanne's ceramic poppy brooch. |
I wore it for the first time when I went to the doctor that day. Eladio took a photo of me wearing it and I have chosen the close up as this week's feature photo.
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| Proudly wearing my lovely enamel poppy on Armistice Day |
A friend on Facebook pointed out that I should have been wearing it on my left lapel, not on my right. I had no idea there were rules on how to wear it. I did a bit of research on internet and it seems it doesn't matter where you wear it so long as you do so proudly. To quote internet, this is what I found out: "Many people say you should wear it on the left side of your coat or clothes, showing that you keep those who died close to your heart. It's also the side that military medals are worn. Others say men should wear it on the left and women on the right, like a brooch. The Queen wears hers on the left". My friend turned my picture round (the feature photo) so the brooch is on the left. I shall take heed for next year, especially to follow what our dear Queen does.
It was funny to be dressing up to go out. I only venture out to the supermarket or on our walks so going to the hospital was a sort of occasion. No worries, my friends, it was only a routine check up with the gynecologist. She had all the reports from my blood, boob and bone tests hahhaa and thank you God, all is well. I wonder how many of the women she sees aren't as lucky. I left feeling good.
On my way to the car I got more good news; minor but good news and good news, my friends, these days is scarce. I had passed the Spanish language test needed to proceed with processing Spanish nationality. I had no doubt I would pass but it all took so long.
I was home on time for our morning coffee and walk. Later that day I had two Skype calls, one at 5 pm with my dear friends Sandra and Adele and one with my dearest daughter Suzy in Costa Rica at 6 pm. That kept me busy and on screen for 2.5 hours. Suzy was feeling a bit down and lonely. Life is tough for her at the moment as everything is new and she doesn't know anyone in Jacó. But I have all faith in her that she will be up to the challenge and this is one new experience for her which hopefully will be beneficial. She still pines to return to Bali but that for the moment because of Covid is off the cards.
It was dinner time by the time I had finished and I managed to make "gambas al ajillo" (prawns in garlic) despite the pain from the arthritis in my thumb joints. There was good and bad news on the TV while we had our dinner. On the one hand, the Spanish government, had finally submitted to pressure and reduced the VAT on the price of face masks. Later in the week they also reduced the maximum price. I think the other announcement from the government was a good move too. Visitors to Spain from "high risk countries" will have to have passed a PCR test to enter the country. I think all countries should do this and maybe if they did travel could resume in some way. The bad news were the figures for deaths and new cases. That day Spain passed the 40k mark and the UK passed the 50k mark. But it is France and now Italy who are presenting the highest number of daily cases now. The situation is dire.
Spain was playing Holland that night but Eladio didn't get to watch the match. Instead we turned to TV streaming and came up with a film called "Invader" (or Invasor). It tells the story, apparently based on a true story, of a Spanish military doctor in Iraq who is nearly killed in an attack which leaves numerous civilian victims. The authorities try to cover this up but Pablo, the doctor, is determined for the truth to come out. Not sure it is up your street but it was our sort of film. You may have noticed we nearly always prefer biography to fiction based films or series.
I didn't sleep too badly that night and was up at 6.30 on Thursday morning. I was very busy that day. I spent a lot of the morning - the early morning - listing our new house in Asturias on various holiday home platforms. I also had to organise a video conference interview with a journalist and my fiber operator customer that afternoon and prepare for it.
I had a bit of light relief that day when Oli sent us photos of Elliot eating pancakes with chocolate. Oli adores pancakes and so, apparently, does Elliot. Here he is eating one and getting very sticky in the process. Oh he is so funny. He will soon turn 1 year and 2 months old but is as big as an average 2 year old boy and even Primark clothing for two year old's are becoming small on him. He is quite the little boy now and beginning to develop his own features with less and less of a baby face.
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| Elliot enjoying pancakes with chocolate haha |
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| Suzy at the "Miro" in Jacó, Costa Rica, on Thursday |
If I was a happy mother that day, my heart went out to an anonymous refugee mother from Guinea-Conakry who lost her six month old baby Joseph. It happened in a frightening rescue operation in the Middle East, off the coast of Libya. The Spanish ship, Open Arms, with a very limited crew had to rescue over 116 migrants when their boat capsized. 5 died, including little Joseph. His mother was rescued first and once on board, her harrowing screams could be heard as she shouted "Did you see my baby? I lose my baby! Why me? Where is my baby?". Can you imagine her horror? I can't. The whole scene was filmed and was seen on news programmes the world over.
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| Desperate cries by the mother of baby Joseph |
Her baby was found and rescued but shortly afterwards died on board. What a different life for poor baby Joseph compared to my pampered and western born grandson, Elliot. Why is life so unfair? It usually boils down to where you are born and that itself is something that will never change. I shall never forget the image of Joseph's mother screaming out for him, unable to help. It is a mother's worst nightmare. I am such a lucky mother in comparison, although like Joseph's mother and all mother's I am only happy when my children are safe and happy.
When my work was finished that evening there was time to talk to both of my daughters. Oli rang me with Elliot who always cuts us off as he loves to press the "red button" hahahhaa. With Suzy it was via a lot of audio messages - her favourite way of communicating. Both girls were fine and if they are fine, I am fine. I'm sure all mothers and fathers reading this will agree. I self invited ourselves to Oli's place for dinner the next night, offering to make and take the food for dinner. It would be something wonderful to look forward to.
Dinner that night was quiet - just the two of us, as usual now. And as usual we had the news on during our meal. The main topic of course was about Covid with rising numbers everywhere, depressing, depressing. What caught my attention though that day was a piece of news which is actually not that new but I only heard of it on Thursday. The news is that the next James Bond will be a woman. The black woman actress, Lashana Lynch is to replace Daniel Craig and star as 007 in the new Bond film, "No time to die". What? Really? I am all for gender equality and for raising the profiles of women, especially black women but maybe this is pushing the limits. I mean, can you imagine Little Red Riding Hood suddenly becoming a boy or Father Christmas becoming Mother Christmas? Let's give her a chance but I'm not sure Ian Fleming would be pleased as his 007 is a man and has always been played by one. It's a pity we can't hear the opinion of Sean Connery who sadly passed away recently.
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| The black woman actress, Lashana Lynch is to replace Daniel Craig and star as 007 in the new Bond film, "No time to die" |
Friday came and it was Friday 13th, never a date I like. I hoped nothing unlucky would happen. In actual fact two major news stories emerged from my home country, that day and that coincidentally happened on a Friday the 13th. The first story was the death of 74 year old Peter Sutcliffe, better known as the Yorkshire Ripper. and possibly England's most gruesome serial killer ever. He died in hospital of Coronavirus. Someone said that was one good piece of news to come out of Covid. I couldn't agree more. After his reign of terror in Yorkshire from 1975-1980 he has spent the rest of his life in prison. Peter Sutcliffe lived in Bradford, the city I grew up in and where I went to school. In fact his house was very near ours and after his trial, I remember driving to see it with my mother and aunt and feeling the shivers. That man caused terror for all women in Yorkshire and Manchester. I was just a young student at the time but remember to this day the culture of fear he caused. He killed 13 women between 1975 and 1980 and badly injured 7 more. These are the women he killed. For their families life would never be the same: I hope they now find some sort of closure.
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| The women he killed |
I'ts rather coincidental that on the same day, Friday 13th, too, the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson's chief aide or advisor, Dominic Cummings was finally ousted from Number 10. I can say good riddance too but for very different reasons. This man who is supposed to be an "aide" became a hated figure both inside Number 10 and outside. He will be remembered by insiders for his reign of fear, macho culture and series of communications crises and he will mainly be remembered by the public for the flouting of his own Covid rules when he drove to Durham during lockdown. The story was headlines for weeks, especially the tale of his visiting Barnard Castle to test his vision. I think Barnard Castle will always be related to this supposedly very clever man who in the end wasn't clever at all. Usually an aide in politics is pretty anonymous but this man, the mind behind the Leave Campaign and Getting Brexit done, became the story. He had too much influence on the PM and created a culture of fear according to insiders. For very different reasons, I was happy to see him leave. He was caught doing so on Friday evening.
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| The end of Dominic Cummings? Photo of him leaving Downing Street on Friday evening |
The end of his reign came about after weeks of infighting that saw his colleague, Lee Cain, head of communications fired. The story is long and I'm sure you all know about it but the bottom line is the that his "instant departure" came after he was accused by Bojo of briefing against him. In my opinion the Prime Minister depended on him for too long and should have seen him for what he was. I think the PM's girlfriend, Carrie Symonds, was the person who finally made him see the truth and I can only hope that some good can come out of his departure. All this comes at a time when the government should be focusing on fighting coronavirus and not on internal political fighting. Maybe Brexit followers will not agree but then he didn't even get that right did he? I mean there is still no deal and time is running short. I can't begin to guess what sort of professional future he will have
So Friday 13th, in my mind brought some good news. It was a very ordinary day for me. I did a lot of cooking that morning for our lunch and to take dinner to Oli's house that night. Lunch would be carrot, pumpkin and mushroom soup followed by pork rib casserole. For dinner I made one of my signature dishes; potato salad. It is a dish my mother taught me to make, the recipe having been passed on by her Russian father who got it from a Swiss cookery book published more than 100 years ago. All my life this dish has been served on special occasions. This is the end result.
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| My potato salad. |
We went early to Oli's house, our only real outing of the week. It was great to be at their little flat and to see Elliot who was delighted to see us. Apart from the food we had brought - green salad, potato salad and home made apple crumble, Oli and Miguel provided delicious ham and croquettes - another Spanish tapas favourite. To accompany the food we drank cider we had all bought in Asturias and we took along our cider pump ("Isidrín"). It was a very hearty dinner but a happy one too. Elliot was not hungry having eaten loads of fruit mid afternoon. Thus he interrupted our dinner, as usual, going from one person's arms to another's. Here he is with his grandfather who he adores.
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| Elliot with his grandfather on Friday night when we went to Oli's house for dinner |
After dinner we played with him in his toy corner. He has some very sophisticated toys I have to say and absolutely everything he needs and more. Lucky little boy. When we left he knew to say goodbye by waving his hands, something he has learned recently. I wondered when we would next see him and hoped it would be soon. We are very lucky to be able to have access to him during Covid. Other grandparents are deprived of access to their grandchildren and that must be very hard.
We were home early at about 10 pm and caught the middle of the film, The Pelican File. I had seen it before years ago but soon fell asleep. I was up on Saturday morning at 6.30 and it would be a very quiet day.
Saturday was a miserable day weather wise and we never left the house. Oli and her little family braved the elements and went to a local park. I got photos, including this one, from Miguel. Oli told me she just needed to get out as all she does is go from home to work and back.
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| Oli and Elliot out in the rain yesterday |
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| Suzy (right) with her friend Marta in Jacó yesterday |
I should have been with a friend too, my friend and ex Nokia colleague, Juana, who turned 50 yesterday. Of course Covid has put a stop to all parties and celebrations. Hopefully when this is all over or some day in the future we will be able to celebrate together. Her family went all out though to make her day special. Oscar, her husband, together with her son, Santi, made an amazing 1.5h video for her with more than 100 of her friends contributing. Wow! Here she is: 50 and looking fabulous.
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Fabulous Juana turned 50 yesterday |
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The farewell dinner for Fátima a year ago with her ex Motorola colleagues. |
This month has been and will be difficult for me with all the memories from last year which led up to her passing away; something I have never really been able to accept. She accepted it though. This is what she wrote to me on Whatsapp on 5th November last year: "My dearest, don't be sad. We all come to this world to leave it. It's my turn now to take that step. I do so in peace and feeling very fortunate and thankful for the life I have had, but above all fortunate and grateful because life brought me the best friend one could have. Thank you my friend for always having been there for me". Oh, how I miss her.
So yes I was a bit down yesterday. The weather didn't help. I suggested to Eladio we should follow that lovely Spanish tradition of "sofa y manta" - literally being on the sofa and covering yourself with a blanket when the weather is bad and supposedly reading or watching something on TV. We didn't just watch something, we watched one of our favourite films ever, Richard Attenborough's 1982 film, "Gandhi" played brilliantly by Ben Kingsley.
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| One of our favourite films ever |
That film had such an impact on both us it prompted us to visit India on our 25th wedding anniversary. Yesterday was a revisit to the film we have seen many times but which always fascinates us. We spent over 3 hours of the day watching it. If you haven't seen it, I urge you to watch it if you are at all interested in the history of India's independence from the British Empire and the terrible partition which divided Muslims and Hindus even more. That of course is the background of the film but it is the life of Gandhi that most fascinates me. The very clever man, Albert Einstein, described him thus: "Generations to come will scarcely believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth". I can only agree.
Both Eladio and I agree that it is difficult to find films so good as Gandhi. Our other favourites are Dr. Zhivago and for me Gone with the Wind and The Sound of Music. Epic films seem to be a thing of the past. We did get hooked last night on a new series on Netflix - a Spanish series; "The favourites of Midas" yet it is just another suspenseful who dunnit type of TV series.
Today is Sunday and it's another dreary day. But of course you will hear all about it in next week's post. Meanwhile my friends, take care, keep well and stay safe.
Cheers till next Sunday, Masha.
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