Sunday, 28th March, 2021
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| Our all important coffee time - me on Tuesday with my beloved mug. |
Good morning all. How are you feeling? Have you been affected by the clocks going forward last night in Europe? The change in the hour always leaves me a bit confused and today was no different. I far prefer the change in spring to the clocks going back in autumn. That's because we shall now have one more hour of sunlight. In our area of Spain, just outside Madrid, it's now light from 08.06 until 20.36. I love long hours of light. We have been lucky all this week as it has been sunny every day. I suppose that is the benefit of living in Spain. I don't think I could live in a country with few hours of light during the day. As a child, teenager and young adult when I lived in the UK, I just accepted British weather and dark days for normal, sun only being something I enjoyed on holiday in France or Spain. Today after 40 years in Spain I realise just how lucky I am. Spaniards take it for granted; I don't.
40 years. Oh my God. Have I really lived in Spain for 40 years? Well, yes, nearly. I moved here in 1981, in the summer. I moved from my home country in England to be with my boyfriend, Eladio, who I later married in 1983. I was 24 at the time and I am now 64. Eladio was 36 and is now 76. Where has the time gone? It has flown but life has been full, very full, of good times and bad but mostly good. I remember we both had a photo taken in the autumn of 1981 at a shop that no longer exists called "Simanco" in Cuatro Caminos (area of Madrid) soon after my arrival. Simanco was a bit like Woolworth, cheap and nasty but they had a good photo service. We got printed copies of course and we framed them. They still decorate our study today. I took photos of them to show you. I also posted my photo on Instagram this week and many people told me I look just like Suzy, my older daughter, or is it that she looks just like me. It's funny but I don't see the resemblance. Maybe you do. Here are our photos. What do you think?
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| Me aged 24 in the year I came to live in Spain - 1981 |
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| Eladio 40 years ago when he was aged 36. 1981, the year I came to Spain to live with him and then marry. Wow, hasn't time flown? |
We were quite a good looking couple I think. At least I always thought my husband was very handsome. I don't like his glasses very much but they were in fashion at the time hahaha. Today he no longer needs them.
Last Sunday was sunny too as it has been for weeks now and we went on our usual walk. We always do the same walk and I am yearning for new surroundings. But we are home bound because of Covid of course and can't move out of the province of Madrid. Covid dominates the news even after a year of living with it. I yearn too for the days when it is no longer a news item. Last Sunday the total number of infections was 123.488.430 and today it has risen to 127.321.712. Last Sunday the global death toll was 2.723.061 and today it has risen to 2.789.920. We are seeing numbers rise in many countries in Europe; France, Italy, Germany, Poland and Portugal for example. This is partly a direct result of the slow roll out of vaccines in the EU countries. Those countries with high vaccination rates (Israel, UK, US) are seeing the numbers going down. I wish I could tell you we have been vaccinated this week but we haven't. There is a battle going on between the EU and the UK vs a vs vaccine supply which is short enough as it is. It makes me sick to see rich countries fighting for supplies. We should all be in this together. Really we should.
The week has been full of news, not least the vaccine battle and Covid. However there is one piece of news dominating the headlines right now that is causing havoc with shipping. A huge Japanese container ship called "Ever Given" got stuck at the narrowest point of the Suez Canal, the largest shipping highway in the world. The blockage has resulted in ships, some of them with livestock on board, waiting to go through to take the alternative route via the Cape of Good Hope (12 days longer). It is estimated there are or were more than 160 ships waiting to go through. According to the BBC, the Suez blockage is holding up 9.6bn of goods a day! As I write Ever Given, the length of "four football pitches", is still stuck. The tailback in the arrival of goods is likely to put up prices on oil and many other products. The other news, no one is paying much attention about, is the violence resulting from the military coup in Burma, now called Myanmar. Since the coup, hundreds have been killed while protesting. It is a terrible story.
Last Sunday was a quiet day for us. Apart from the walk we didn't go out and of course had no visitors. Lunch was a quiet affair too and I catered to Eladio's wishes by making a chick pea and meat stew. My husband loves country food and even more so if it is eaten with a spoon. That's why I make so many soups, stews and casseroles. Not for him fine dining, nouvelle cuisine or Michelin star restaurants. I once took him to the world famous Arzac restaurant in San Sebastian, the cradle of gastronomy in Spain, and he wasn't very impressed. People flock from the world over for a place at a table at Arzac - in fact San Sebastian is at the top of gourmet lovers destinations - but my husband would far prefer a "menu of the day" with things like tripe on it. In that we are both very different. I love fine dining, top Michelin star restaurants and above all the creativity in the cuisine as well as the way it is served and the decor. I was very lucky to go to many top restaurants around the world thanks to my job as a Communications Director when I worked for Motorola, Nokia and Yoigo but gone are those days as are the days of travel for business. A former colleague, Veronica, posted a list of the countries she had visited on the Beyond Nokia Facebook group page while working for the Finnish mobile phone company. I tried to make my own list too and I think this is it: Shanghai, Mexico City, Budapest, Prague, Helsinki, London, Paris, Stockholm, Santiago de Chile, Copenhagen, Cape Town, Marrakech, Nice, Cannes, Monaco, Munich, Berlin, Hannover, Tallinn, Cambridge, Milan, St. Petersburg, Athens and Los Angeles to name a few. I traveled to many of them multiple times and we traveled in style too. All long haul flights were in business class and we stayed at the finest hotels. As to Finland, I travelled to Helsinki on many occasion and also visited Kuusamo and Rovaniemi in Lapland. Thanks to Nokia I came to love Finland and the Finns. I still consider Helsinki my second or third home in Europe. Those were the days. Today I can only dream.
The highlight of the day was my two hour Facetime video call in the afternoon with Phil and Kathy which is now a weekly call. I love catching up with them. Even Eladio joined us for a little while. Phil was a teacher of Spanish and loves practicing the language with my Spanish husband. I always look forward to these calls and they always make me long for Yorkshire where I spent my formative years and where they hail from. I have a bucket list of places I want to visit when we go again and this week Kathy mentioned the "Yorkshire bumps" near Keighley. I asked her to add them to the list. My bucket list would include all my old haunts from when we lived in Bradford and some more. First and foremost would be my mother's grave at Charlestown Cemetery in Shipley. I would want to see Bradford City Centre, our old house (6 Heaton Grove), Bolton Abbey, The Strid, Haworth, home to the Brontë's, Skipton, Ilkley, York (including Betty's tea shops), the Dales which would have to include a hearty pub lunch with steak and ale pie on the menu, as well as the coast; Whitby, Robin Hood's Bay, Scarborough and anywhere else on the way. The list is endless. Oh, how I miss Yorkshire. Again I can dream.
The day ended with me watching more of the addictive TV series Outlander. Season 2 is nowhere near as good as Season 1 but as I am now so familiar with the characters, I just had to keep on watching. It's a good trick for mental evasion.
Monday dawned. The weather got better and there was some good news about the now much maligned AstraZeneca vaccine. The results from a US trial of the vaccine deemed that the jab is both safe and highly effective. The study was performed on 32.000 volunteers . It proved to be 79% effective at stopping Covid and 100% effective at preventing people dying. That was great news. Oli picked it up, from the BBC, by the way and was one of her stories of the day. I saw her announcing the news.
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| Oli reporting on the favourable report on the Astrazeneca vaccine on Monday |
So, for once there was good news for the Anglo Swedish vaccine. That didn't last long as the very next day, another medical body in the US, the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious diseases said it "had been notified by the trial's data and safety monitoring board that "it was concerned by information released by AstraZeneca on initial data from its Covid vaccine clinical trial" It went on to say that the Board "expressed concern that AstraZeneca may have included outdated information from that trial which may have provided an incomplete view of the efficacy data". So one day its efficacy is high and the next day we hear it may not be as the data was incomplete.
Later I read though that the real test of the vaccine would come from the FDA after it makes an exhaustive study. Meanwhile, in Europe, where supplies run thin and there is a battle with the UK on exports, I saw a poll on people's trust in the vaccine in the biggest countries in Europe, including the UK. This is it.
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| Trust in the AstraZeneca vaccine is not high in Europe |
Of course the trust is low with so much conflicting news and much of it negative. People don't know what to believe any more. Spain announced that day that the maximum age for administering this vaccine was to go up from 55 to 65. That means I could well get it. Of course there will be no choice. I shall get what I am given. To add even more fire to the flames, I read on Thursday that more women then men get side effects. The Dutch News website reported on the finding in Holland that women under the age of 65 (and that's me too) are around twice as likely to develop side effects than those that receive the Pfizer. These include: headaches, muscle pain and tiredness. It won't fare well with me then as a chronic headache sufferer. Oh dear. Again I ask myself what a dreadful PR job the Anglo Swedish vaccine makers are doing. Again I doubt they even have a PR team. A company's reputation lies with good PR. Of course though good PR can only happen when the company product is good. I know that as it has been my profession for many years.
My father's nurse came that morning to look at his leg. She uncovered the bandages and it looked much the same to me - with a gigantic black scab. Patricia reckoned the plastic surgeon he was to see on Thursday would probably remove it. But he is not suffering and his leg is not infected so we are grateful for that.
The nurse came just after our walk and our coffee time. Eladio and I usually have a mid morning coffee together at around 12. This was Eladio enjoying his coffee on one of the benches on the kitchen patio. He is looking very dapper except for his slippers and socks hahaha.
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| Coffee time on Monday |
Coffee time for Eladio and I is a mid morning daily tradition the two of us enjoy. During the day we are both rather independent so these moments together are important. Other moments together which are conducive to good communication are our daily walks. I have always heard that you have to keep the flame going in romance or marriage. We strive to do just that while maintaining our independence. I don't think either of us could live cooped up together somewhere small. We love being together but also need our space. Our "coffee time" is one of the rituals that bring us together so I have chosen a photo of me with my coffee - in one of the lovely mugs from Oli's TV programme, as this week's feature photo. As to the coffee, it has to be the best. We use "Oquendo" recyclable Nespresso compatible pods. The strength is intense and I add to mine milk foamed with my manual milk frother - a combination of skimmed and soy milk. Eladio has his with still milk (always soy) and he adds a generous spoonful of honey. I also often use my lovely Emma Bridgewater mugs but have noticed lately that many are missing. Are my guests stealing them I wonder? I really don't have the answer.
If I have coffee in the mornings, I have a cup of decaf tea in the afternoon, always from one of my Emma Bridgewater mugs. Having been born in Britain I have my tea with milk - in this case semi skimmed and no sugar. I am one of those tea drinkers who puts in their milk after brewing. Do you pour your milk in first or after? It's one of those silly things Brits are divided on. My skype calls with friends always coincide with my afternoon "cuppa" at around 5.30 my time. Monday afternoon was Skype time with my friend Amanda - my oldest and closest school friend - who lives in Devon. My husband always wonder how we fill 2 hours with conversation. Well, we always do and we even have quite a few laughs. I love my friend's sense of humour. She always makes me laugh and I always make her laugh. Laughter is the greatest tonic during bad times like these. Our subjects ranged from weather to cooking, from travelling to dialects in Scotland.
I had read that day there is a
fourth unknown language called Doric in Scotland. It is the fourth language or dialect after English, Gaelic and Scots. That got me wondering what the difference was between Gaelic and Scots. This is the answer that I obtained from Google: "
The main difference between the languages is that Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language with ties to Old Irish, while Scots is a Germanic language descending from Old English". Doric is spoken mostly in North East Scotland (Aberdeen land I think) but apparently does not have the same prestige as Scots or Gaelic. Its origins come from the language of the Anglo Saxen invaders and there are connections to ancient Greek. To illustrate the language I found this photo where you can see the difference between Doric and English.
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| Doric and English - weather words |
Interesting don't you think? I found the
article about Doric on the BBC and it probably wouldn't have interested me much but it does now as I am watching the series Outlander set mostly in the 18th century in the Scottish Highlands. The subject interested my friend Amanda too as she and her husband often go to Scotland on holiday. Even my Oxford learned friend had not heard of Doric. I wonder if my father has? He is a great lover of Scotland too where he was based for most of WW2.
Amanda and always end up talking about our past, our school days at St. Joseph's college- a catholic grammar school in Bradford (West Yorkshire) run by Irish nuns. We remembered the girl who used to bully me and put the fear of God into me- Catherine Redmond and even tried to find her on Facebook. It's difficult to find women in England on FB as of course when they marry they change their surnames. We also spoke about the Irish connection with the school - both the nuns and the girls. I was inspired to talk about it after having read an
interesting article in the T&A (Telegraph and Argus - Bradford paper) on the history of Irish migrants in Bradford. I remembered another Catherine, Cathy Staincliffe, a much nicer girl and now a famous British author. I always remember Cathy telling me her mother was Irish and had given her up in adoption as in the 50's and 60's in Ireland being a single mother was not a possibility. We remember her well as she played the main part in our school play, Faust, as Faust himself. We googled her and found that she is still a beautiful woman today as well as quite a famous author.
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| Cathy today |
Her story of adoption has a happy ending if you wish to read it
here. She wrote a book I read a few years ago loosely based on her story called Trio. You can find it
here. Amanda told me she was always in awe of Cathy as we called her then. I wasn't (Today she goes by Cath and not Cathy). I liked her and she intrigued me. I am so glad she went on to have a happy life and be so successful.
Amanda and I could have chatted on through the night but we had to stop at 8 pm my time, our dinner time. It was a quiet dinner, just Eladio and I, quiet as our day had been and days are now during the pandemic.
Who had a more exciting day was our little grandson Elliot - or not so little as he is enormous for his age (18 months). That day the eagerly awaited scooter cum trike or bike his father had ordered had arrived. Miguel, his father, is always looking out for the latest gadgets, toys, etc and had spied this new toddler vehicle being used by other fortunate children and got one for Elliot. It arrived on Monday and Elliot loved it. I can tell that by the photo his father sent. Here he is trying out his new vehicle.
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| Elliot on his new vehicle - a cross between a scooter and a tricycle. |
We went to bed at the usual time and watched the news and later I binge watched more of Outlander until nearly 3 in the morning. Oh how naughty.
Tuesday came and for once we had something different to look forward to. We were going to El Pardo - a pretty village about 5 km outside Madrid and near where the King lives. It is also where Franco used to live and we once visited his Palace and saw his bedrooms and bathrooms, etc. First though we had our walk, our "coffee time" and then a quick visit to get my Mini's first MOT. I have had it for four years now after leaving Yoigo but we hardly use it.
From the MOT centre we left for El Pardo at around 12.45 on a beautiful sunny day. Our friends were already there when we arrived .Benito and Loli are a married couple and ex teachers who we first met when "we lived in sin" in the progressive working class area called "Saconia", another suburb of Madrid. I can hardly believe that that was 40 years ago and that Benito is now 80 and his very young looking wife, Loli, is 76, like Eladio. We have kept in touch over the years but hadn't seen each other for probably two years. It was great to be out seeing friends. I felt like a child going into a sweet shop with some pocket money on a Sunday. We have hardly socialised since the first lockdown so Tuesday was a very special day. Before having lunch at
El Gamo, the most famous restaurant in El Pardo, we took a stroll in the gardens of Franco's palace. We were so engrossed in talking, I forgot to take a picture so have found one on internet for you to see.
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| Franco's palace in El Pardo |
By 2 pm we were sitting at a table on the terrace of El Gamo ready for a lovely lunch together. Eladio was a little worried it wasn't open enough and he was probably right as it got fuller and fuller of people - mostly pensioners.
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| Eladio, Benito and Loli at lunch on Tuesday at El Gamo in El Pardo |
We went for the menu of the day which was magnificent. I had fresh prawns followed by suckling lamb, my favourite meat. This was it.
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| Suckling lamb the Spanish way - lunch at El Gamo |
After lunch we drove up the road to El Cristo de El Pardo to another restaurant, a rather big one, called El Torréon, with loads of outside space where we had a coffee. We lingered over it until about 5.30. Spanish lunches can be notoriously long. That's when we made a day of it, said our goodbyes and drove off home. It had been a wonderful day out. Loli and Benito had insisted on treating us so it will be our turn next. I am determined it won't be another 2 years before we see them again.
We came home feeling pretty stuffed. As soon as I had changed my clothes and taken off my make up I was on our huge bed watching more of Outlander. Neither of us were hungry for dinner so we skipped it. We were soon in our room again watching the news and that night there was no staying up late watching my series. I was so bushed I fell asleep early and although I was awake at 4, at 5 and at 6, I finally got out of bed at 7.15.
I woke up to another sunny day on Wednesday when the temperature would rise to 20ºc. Wonderful. We both commented on our walk that good weather always lifts your spirits and makes you feel good as opposed to rain, cold weather and clouds or fog. It's so true. We had a literal spring in our step as we took our walk that day. I had to be back on time to leave for a medical appointment. It was a follow up appointment at the Quirón hospital with a maxilofacial consultant. She had to take a swab from my mouth to send it to the laboratory to determine whether the mitosis (oral thrush) from my mouth had gone. I'm not sure it has but won't know for 10 days.
The rest of our day was pretty much the same as most days in these times. There was a distraction when our latest guest arrived. Abdel is from a city in Canada called Mississuaga near Toronto and is a student of dentistry at the nearby University. Of course his studies have been interrupted because of Covid but he is now back for the rest of the term. He chose our house to stay for a few nights and from where he will look for long term accommodation. I found him charming and a very well mannered young man and I know he will cause me no problems. I was happy to have another guest apart from Felipe. Next week we have a small group coming for three days at Easter. Rest assured all of you, we keep our distance and that is easy in our huge sprawling house. We often don't see any of our guests for days. Meanwhile I am gathering reservations for both our apartment by the sea near Santa Pola and our "new" house in Asturias called El Cueto. I now have 6 bookings for July and August for Santa Pola and 3 for Asturias. They all come from Booking so let's see if there aren't too many cancellations. I am much more familiar with Airbnb and am puzzled as to why all the new reservations are coming from Booking. Let's hope they all work out.
Before retiring to bed that night to watch the news and more of my beloved series Outlander, I had a longish skype call with my lovely daughter Suzy who you will know lives in Costa Rica for now. I hadn't spoken to her properly since the beginning of the month. She has her days, bad and good and I feel for her so much on her bad days. I feel helpless as a mother. Thus I was happy to find her in good spirits that night. She was making dinner for her and her boyfriend - Eric is from Nicaragua and they have been going out for 4 months now. I hope he treats her well. I really do. They are both looking for a flat to move into together and I hope it works out for her.
I caught the tail end of the news after my call. I reached the part where they were reporting on increasing numbers of Covid in Spain. The increase is very slow but it's clear. We need more vaccines to be administered and it's not happening, at least here in Madrid. But it wasn't all bad news that night. I watched a story about a young Polish countertenor with an amazing voice. I had never heard of him and I'm so glad I have now.
Jakub Józef Orlínski from Poland is a 30 year old unique Baroque singer with a voice from heaven. He also practices break dance. I suppose that is quite modern for an opera singer. What to hear him sing and experience ecstasy? Watch and listen
here. He is definitely worth looking at too. He looks like a Greek God. I wonder if you agree.
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| This week I discovered the Polish Counter tenor Jakub Józef Orlínski. Wow! |
He was interviewed on the news that night and he mentioned he was inspired by The King's Singers when it comes to Baroque music. I had heard of them but not listened to them. Out of interest and from Orlinski's recommendation I found them on Spotify and now have a playlist from one of their marvelous albums. Oh what a wonderful singing group.
This week I discovered too the existence of a 13 year old Russian prodigy, a pianist called Daria Korotkova who no doubt soon will become one of the most famous pianists in the world.
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| Daria Korotkova the 13 year old Russian prodigy pianist soon to be discovered more widely. |
No doubt as musicians, both Orlinski and Korotkova will be fans or at least admire or be inspired by Maria Callas, the American born Greek opera soprano and world's best and most famous opera soprano singer ever.
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| Maria Callas - La Divina. She may not have been beautiful in the normal way but she had an elegance and beauty of her own. She was both beautiful and ugly at the same time. Funny. |
Why I am mentioning her you are probably wondering? Well after the news that night we saw a documentary on the life of the "La Divina". And, oh how divine she was when she sang. But her life was like one of her operas, so much tragedy and happiness all mixed together. She was La Divina but she was also a very tragic figure. Her love for Aristotle Onassis tortured her. She would have given up singing to marry him and have children but it was not to be. I was astounded to learn she died alone in her flat in Paris of a heart attack aged just 54. Maybe she died of a broken heart. However, she has left the most incredible legacy and it's wonderful that we can still watch and listen to her today. If you want to be reminded of her voice,
here she is singing Puccini's O mio Babbino Caro. It's breathtaking as she was.
After Callas I turned to Outlander until I fell asleep rather late - I think it could have been 2.30 am in the morning. That shows just how hooked I am on the series.
On Thursday I was up at 7ish after only a few hours sleep and I had a long day ahead of me. The main task was to take my father to the hospital, the state of the art public Hospital Rey Juan Carlos. My father had a follow up appointment with the plastic surgeon for his leg bruise at 14.45 and his GP had ordered an ambulance. It arrived far too early, at 12.30 and we were at the hospital one hour behind schedule. Thus our lunch would be very late that day.
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| The Rey Juan Carlos hospital in Móstoles |
We had an hour to spare so before getting my ticket for the appointment - everything is automised there and can be baffling - I took my father for a stroll outside in the sun and for him to see the very modern hospital. Sadly it is where my bosom friend Fátima died. It is also where my father was operated on for bladder cancer and given care after his various falls - including the head injury last September. I have to say the hospital is marvelous at least in my experience. By 13.30 we were sitting in the waiting room waiting to be called. I took a photo of my father to record the occasion. Of course he was wearing his mask as I was wearing mine.
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| My father in the waiting room at the hospital on Thursday |
We didn't have to wait long. Covid protocol doesn't allow patients to be accompanied unless they are children or have mobility problems. So I was able to go in with him in his wheelchair. The plastic surgeon with the help of nurses, managed somehow to transfer my father from his chair to the couch where they took a look at his leg and decided what to do. The scar was all necrosis, i.e. black and dead skin with no skin left underneath. The surgeon removed it and told me that some time later my father would need an operation for a skin graph. Poor man I thought. They then proceeded to bandage his leg with great care. I took note so as to tell Lucy, his carer, exactly how to do it. We have to change the bandage every 48 hours and have a follow up appointment on 8th April. We then went to ask for an ambulance for the return journey. I had to go back by car. We had quite a long wait and weren't home until about 15.45. Both my father and I were starving. I was tired too and I imagine my father was as well. I spent the afternoon resting and watching more of Outlander.
Meanwhile, Oli and her family were out and about. They had taken Elliot for a walk with his new scooter. He must have got tired of it at some stage to prove from a photo my daughter sent me and in which Miguel is carrying the very modern scooter. This is it.
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| Elliot and his father - carrying his new and very modern scooter |
I didn't see my new guest at all that day but I did see Felipe. He had brought me some lovely waffle biscuits filled with caramel. He always brings me thing and I always offer him food. He was very happy to try my "bitki" (Russian type hamburgers) this week. The singular is "bitok". I make them from my mother's recipe (minced meat, bread soaked in milk, an egg, chopped onion and seasoning) and freeze them in batches. They always come in handy when I don't know what to serve.
I was far too tired to watch anything that night. The news wasn't on as Spain was playing Greece in a football match in which I had zero interest. I was much more interested to see part of a travel programme on a town called
Yakutsk in East Siberia in Russia. It is supposedly the coldest large city in the world. It is about 450 km south of the Arctic Circle. The people living there looked semi Chinese to me. They are not of course. The Yakuts, are are a Turkic ethnic group from Russia. How they manage to live with temperatures often below 40ºc in the winter I do not know. They can't even have indoor toilets or running water as the pipes freeze. What a life! It may be an interesting place to visit as a tourist but I could not live with that climate. Luckily their summers are warm. In the table below you can the see the daily average temperatures. It may be of interest if you ever plan to visit Yakutsk, haha. I read that only 2000 people a year visit this very remote city in Russia.
I must have fallen asleep at around 10 pm. My sleep was restored when I got up at 6.30 on Friday morning.
Unlike the Yakuts, I woke up to a very mild temperature on Friday morning. It was to be a busy day; shopping day. Eladio and I went off on our errands visiting the chemist for bandages, etc for my father and then to Mercadona, Lidl (to find Easter eggs) and Carrefour. Coffee time was on the agenda of course and being Friday we had it at Alverán, one of our favourite cafes. Just as we got back with our shopping my father's nurse, Patricia had arrived. I was on time to be with her while she examined my father's leg and re bandaged it giving us new instructions on how to proceed going forward. It didn't look too bad thankfully. My dear father has never complained even when they removed the dead skin which must have hurt.
We had something to look forward to that night. We were going to Oli's place for dinner and they would be making us dinner. It was lovely to go out but even lovelier to be reunited with Elliot. He was pleased as punch to see us. He had lots of toys to show us and we reveled in playing with him. Eladio caught me on camera with him in his play corner as you can see in the photo below.
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| Play time with Elliot on Friday night at his place |
Dinner was splendid - home made pizzas. Eladio played with Elliot too and also read to him, which is what he loves most. Here are the two of them together. When I posted the photo on social media some people said he looks like his grandfather. Does he? I'm not sure.
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| Eladio reading to Elliot at his place on Friday night |
Elliot has acquired so many possessions since we were last at his flat. I particularly liked his new blue chair and I got him to sit on it so I could take a photo. He posed as he was holding on to a piece of sweet turrón (Spanish nougat) for dear life. Isn't he cute?
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| Elliot on his new blue chair holding on to his sweet turron for dear life |
But the evening drew to an end and at about 10.30 pm we left to drive home in the dark. Soon we were in bed and watching a talent show. Later I watched more of Outlander until about 1.30.
Saturday dawned. It was to be an historic day for the family. Oli messaged us to say their offer for a flat they wanted to buy had been accepted. Wow. That was excellent news. They have been house hunting for about 2 months now and finally found the flat that suited them. It suits us too as it less than 3km from our house. From the advert I could see it was a very modern flat in a very modern complex - typical of property for young couples with families these days. The flats are 4 story high blocks of which there are 9 in a huge complex including swimming pools, padel court, play area, picnic area, gardens, etc, etc. It also has a concierge and is very safe for children. We were invited to go with Oli and her family to see it that afternoon at 6. How exciting for our daughter and her family. If all goes well they will be moving in at the end of May so will have everything ready for the summer and of course for the arrival of the new baby. Oli's words when she sent the message were "Habemus casa". The real words should be "habemus domum" - we have a house. We are so happy that they have now got onto the property ladder. We wish them all the luck in the world and a happy life in their new home.
Yesterday Miguel went with Elliot to his parents' home for lunch. Oli was coming here but first the two of us went out on a small shopping expedition - what joy. She needed to buy some birthday presents for Elenita and I needed to buy fresh fish for dinner. It was lovely to be out and about with her alone - good quality time with my younger daughter.
Later in the day we left the house to be picked up by Miguel and Elliot to go and see the new flat. It's so near us we were there in a jiffy. Before entering the complex I had to have a photo of Oli and family outside the main entrance. Here they are.
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| Miguel and Oli with Elliot in her arms outside the main entrance to their new home |
They went up alone to see the house again and talk to the owners, a young couple with two small children while we explored the gardens and complex with little Elliot. Below are photos I took of the flat and surroundings.
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| Photos of the flat and surroundings on our visit there yesterday with Elliot. He enjoyed the swings and play area. |
My conclusion of the complex is that is an excellent environment to bring up young children who will make lots of friends and enjoy the installations together. Later we went up to see the flat for ourselves. The flat was built in 2016 so it's very new and incredibly modern. There will be no need for any changes except for painting it before they move in. Oli and I hate the current decor which she plans to change. Eladio and Miguel thought it was fine. Well, they would hahaha.
We were home by about 7.30 happy with the visit and the occasion. It really was an important day in the lives of our family. We came back to make a delicious dinner of tortilla (Spanish omelet), smoked salmon and salad which we had with Elliot who wanted to try a bit of everything. He has such a good appetite and is a joy to watch eating.
The day ended on another musical note when we watched the lovely musical talent show: "Prodigios". It ended at 12.45 which of course was already 1.45 am as the clocks went forward last night. I later watched more of Outlander and this morning woke up at 7.50 (new time). I was the first one up and fed the dogs before I was joined by little Elliot and family.
Today will be another sunny day and a quiet one I expect. Of course you will hear about it in next week's tales.
Meanwhile, let me wish you all a good day and week ahead. Cheers till next Sunday,
2 comments:
This week's narrative was like a fairy tale. Congrats to Oli on her new flat and next baby. And congrats to you and Eladio on your 40 years in Spain together. Till next Sunday, Rosa
Thank you so much Rosa. Just saw this now. Thanks too for reading my blog. Lots of love to you all.
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