An Italian wins the 100m final in Tokyo, more fruit in our garden, dinner for two, the girls in Montrondo, Norah has been a bad dog, Belarus sprinter defects from Olympics and other stories.

 Madrid, Sunday 8th August, 2021

On our daily walk on Thursday morning - notice just how dry everything is. 

Good morning friends and readers this sunny day in August. I love the summer don't you? Thankfully we have had a respite from the heat wave this last week although the high temperatures returned towards the end of it.  Today we are off to Montrondo where it will be even cooler. Yes, we are off again. I always say a change is as good as a rest.

Rest I did this  week as it was very quiet. We didn't go out much and neither should we because of the spread of Covid thanks to the very infectious Delta variant. The numbers don't go down I'm afraid although at least in Europe we are seeing fewer deaths. Last week the total global numbers of those infected was 198.561.249 and the death rate 4.233.121. Today these figures have gone up to 202.987.420 and 4.299.760. Thus the race to beat the virus continues I'm afraid. We are even seeing a return of cases in China where draconian measures had almost eradicated it. However, the Delta variant has appeared there too and it seems the Chinese vaccines are not all what they are made out to be. In Australia where Covid had almost disappeared, it is back again and only about 26% of the population has been vaccinated. There is a surplus of Astrazeneca which no one wants and a shortage of the more desired Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. 

But we weren't thinking about Covid in our quiet little world last Sunday. It was a deliciously cooler day with the maximum temperature only reaching 28ºc. Thus our walk with the dogs was more pleasant than usual. It was a quiet day all round with no girls or Elliot. Oli and her family were travelling back from Pamplona where they had been to a wedding. No doubt they brought back the bridal bouquet Miguel caught. 

As I had a lot of time on my hands and not much to do, I turned to cooking and with Lucy's help I made lasagne including a vegetarian one for Suzy except that she didn't come in the end. I also made my famous potato salad. For the first time every my home made mayonnaise curled over and over again and I had to give up and use shop bought mayonnaise. I was missing an accessory from my Kenwood blender set and only when I got it would I be able to make mayonnaise again. Dinner was another delightful meal for 2 on the terrace washed down with a glass of cool Marqués de Riscal white wine from Rueda. Delicious. 

Who didn't have time on their hands were the men racing in the 100m final at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. I actually watched them race and was impressed. It was a shock win from an Italian whose name people now will be more familiar with - of course we all only really remember Usain Bolt. His name is Lamont Marcell Jacobs. But is he really Italian? Well, half as he was born in El Paso Texas to an Italian mother.  Most of the men competing were not originally from the country they were representing. But that doesn't matter. What I also noticed is that most of them were black. I am not racist but am not sure if I can use the word "black" - can I? That proves to me that black people are almost always faster than white people. Jacobs didn't break Bolt's record of 8.58 seconds but mastered the 100 metres in 9.8 seconds which was faster than Bolt in Río de Janeiro 4 years ago. I read that the dominance of black athletes is one of the most explosive issues in modern sport and that everyone is aware of it but no one mentions it. Well, I have, as it is totally obvious. Did you know too that the last white man to win the 100m race was a Brit, Allan Whipper? He did that in  1984. Since then no white man without African or African American ancestry has won the 100 metres at the Olympics. But did you know another thing? There are very few top black swimmers? Why is that I wonder. I really do. In this new very politically correct world, I do hope you won't judge me for my comments here. In my opinion I am only commenting the obvious and something most people wouldn't dare to say these days. Oh how I hate this new politically correct world where you have to measure your words without being branded a racist, a feminist or anything ending in "ist". 

A shock win for Italy - Lamont Jacobs won the 100 metre final

So if men can run 100 metres in 9 or 10 seconds I wondered how long it takes women athletes. The current world record is held by Florence Griffith-Joyner who took 10.49 seconds to run 100 metres in 1988. She is black too by the way.  No one has yet beaten that. So are men really that much faster than women? Not in my mind if we are talking about a second or two difference. Later in the week, another black man won the 200m race, one of 8 participants who were all black, proving my point. I wonder if the winner, Andre de Grasse of Canada pondered on whether black men are simply stronger than white men or faster. He was probably too happy clutching his gold medal. 

We were in bed early and I think I fell asleep early. I woke up far too early at 04.07 but forced myself to try and sleep again which I think I managed to do as the next thing I knew I was awake and it was 7.05.

Monday came again and may it continue to do so for a long time. It was a very busy day for me with lots of admin work for our little renting business. My phone didn't stop all day. I was able to relax just for a short while when the girls came for lunch. Elliot and Miguel joined us later. I had some free time with them and enjoyed my grandson. While in the garden I stumbled across our grape vine which has never really bore much fruit but oh my, this year is another story. Whether the grapes will be sweet or not we don't know. If they are it will be a race against the birds. We also found figs growing on 3 of our small fig trees. Those I want to eat when they are ripe as I love figs.

A very green picture (haha) - our grapes and Eladio dressed in green carrying Elliot to the swings

Oli and family had to go very soon as I got a sudden reservation for a family of 6 at this house. That was good for the business although it spoiled our peace. I had had a cancellation so it was very welcome. I also got two more reservations for Santa Pola when I unblocked the calendar which by mistake was marked as occupied. That night too I got a cancellation from a British guest - my first - for our house in Asturias. She wrote to say she was worried her government (Bojo's) was going to spoil her holiday plans so, just in case, she cancelled. But no worries, the vacancy was immediately snapped up the next day. If she, Angela, had waited a few more days for news from the government on international travel, then maybe she wouldn't have cancelled. 

So  a family of 6 - a mixture of  people from Venezuela, Brazil and the Dominican Republic-  arrived at around 7 and were soon settled in. You can't imagine the amount of  food and booze and cold drinks they brought or that most guests bring. But then they did have 16 and 17 year old kids with them who must eat them out of house and home hahaha. It makes me realise just how healthily or little we eat in comparison. That is of course because the older you get the less you tend to eat. 

We had our dinner on the kitchen patio and they had theirs by the pool. We were in bed early and they were in bed late but we never heard them. They were a well behaved group.

Tuesday came and my work continued. I did stop though to go out for a coffee with Eladio. We took Pippa with us as she seemed to bother some of the younger guests. 

Coffee with my husband and Pippa on Tuesday morning

That was the highlight of our day. Simple pleasures are what contribute to happiness. My father always taught me that. Don't you agree? The rest of the day was very quiet, despite having a family of 6 staying.  They spent most of the time by the pool while we spent most of the time in our study or our air conditioned bedroom. 

The other highlight of the day was seeing Suzy who returned from her 2 week stint at her friend Marta's house, looking after it while she was doing the Camino de Santiago. But she would only stay one night as on Wednesday the girls went to Montrondo with their friends and sisters, Elenita and Chati. So that night there were 12 people sleeping in our house. Imagine!

I didn't  sleep well. The darned thing is that I slept through half of the film we were watching and then woke up and couldn't fall sleep again after it finished. That often happens to me. We watched the film based on the book by Jojo Moyes called The Last Letter from Your Lover. We loved it so much we watched it twice but even so I never saw the whole of it because of my intermittent sleep. I have now downloaded a sample on my kindle. I had read some of Moyes books and they are good so I now look forward to reading this one. Are you keen on her?

I slept fitfully. I still have a sort of lumbar ache that started the night after my first AstraZeneca jab. I fear it is near the kidneys and when I am lying in bed in pain and unable to sleep I worry the vaccine has affected my kidneys or my spine.  Has it? I do hope not. I was so worried on Wednesday morning that I booked an appointment with a neurologist at the local private hospital. In Spain if you have a private insurance you don't have to go through a GP and can make an appointment directly with a consultant. Thus I was able to get an appointment for that same day in the early evening. Gosh a consultation with a neurologist! Sounded ominous. I hoped it was nothing. 

Wednesday was another quiet day at home, even if we were 11 people in the house. That day Suzy went off to Montrondo accompanied by Oli and the sisters. We didn't hear much from them. Before they left we were on our morning walk and then doing the weekly shop. As we were having our morning coffee I was delighted to get my first September reservation for our apartment in Santa Pola. The guy who had booked seemed very interesting. Called Vaidas he is from Lithuania, lived 16 years near Cambridge (my birth place) in the UK and now lives near us in Madrid. We have decided to meet when they return from Santa Pola.

In the afternoon I went to the hospital for my appointment with a neurologist, my first ever. I felt rather sorry for a mother sitting in the waiting room with her very obviously handicapped child. I walked into the surgery to find a very young doctor. I told her I was sure I was wasting her time but had used Dr. Internet to explore why I was experiencing back pain which I connect to the AstraZeneca jabs. She did a thorough check and told me the pain had nothing to do with the jabs but gave me an appointment for a double MRI. It's difficult to explain the pain but it's a bit like a stitch in your side which won't go away. I will know more when I do the MRI on 27th August. I could have got an earlier appointment but I didn't want to ruin my holiday in La Rioja. The good thing is that it doesn't seem anything serious. I remain convinced though that the pain is a direct consequence of my anti Covid jab - the not very popular AstraZeneca vaccine, at least in this country. 

I came home to make our dinner - dinner for two on the huge table on the kitchen patio. It was hard to believe there were now 11 people in the house. We were lucky to have some quiet time.

Dinner for two on Wedneday night. 

I love our dinners on the patio terrace in the summer. They are the highlight of the day. That night I made a simple salad which we had with ham and washed down with a new bottle of Palacio de Bornos - white wine from Rueda. I had ordered a box of 6 that arrived that day. 

I slept on and off that night and was up at 7.15 on Thursday. The temperature would rise to 35c that day, becoming rather unbearable. Thus we went on our walk as early as possible but even at 9.30 it felt warm and I came back sweating (hate that word). As I had no feature photo yet for this week's post, I got Eladio to take one of me on that walk. I am wearing the new striped shorts I bought in Villablino when my husband forgot to bring the luggage (not going to happen today). I also bought a pair of matching espadrilles. I do look all striped. I notice too how the weight is piling on and that I am doing nothing to stop it. I should. I know. 

We had to go yet again to that little repair shop in the nasty suburb of Móstoles; this time to pick up the new accessories for my Kenwood blender. Without it I cannot make mayonnaise nor chop onions. It was good to have it back. On our way home we stopped at El Corte Inglés, Spain's flagship department store. We went to buy teaspoons of all things. Ours were dwindling and I wondered, a bit like socks disappearing in the wash, where the hell they had gone. Let's see how long these last now.

While there we had a coffee and a naughty but nice Danish pastry at Starbucks. I like and don't like Starbucks. I hate the fact that we need an American coffee chain in Spain, the country where coffee is great but then I also like Starbucks because of its variety and comfort.

We came home to have leftover "fabada" for lunch but I wasn't hungry. Meanwhile the girls were having a lazy and relaxed time in Montrondo. For the first time in nearly two years, since Elliot was born, Oli who is now over 8 months pregnant, was having time off from her baby and partner, that is, until Friday when they would join the girls in our village. I think she needed the time off to sleep properly and rest. I would. I got a photo from Suzy - notice they are wearing warm clothing as the temperature in Montrondo will have been at least 10 degrees less than in Madrid or more. People think the whole of Spain is hot. It's not. 

The girls (and Nana - Elenita's dog) in Montrondo this week

The afternoon was quiet. The highlight was a facetime call with my dear friend Kathy in Keighley, West Yorkshire. They were not having such good weather. It was good to catch up. We spoke a lot about meeting up again but that all depends on the new and not very clear travel rules in the UK. That day it was announced that France was off the "Amber plus" list meaning double vaccinated people won't have to quarantine on return to the British Isles. Spain remained on the Amber list which was  a relief for the tourist industry here. What was not too clear was the need or not to have to take a Covid test upon return. Try reading the instructions on the Foreign Office page about travel. Nothing is clear. Kathy had looked up journeys on the Euro tunnel as they would like to take their camper van to France but said it kept crashing. No doubt, that day, many Brits were trying to book holidays in Europe. I do hope our friends can come and see us some time this summer even if it is at the end of September or in October.

Our guests were making a barbecue that afternoon as it was the birthday of one of their party. I was mortified to hear that Norah, our insatiable 12 year old beagle, had stolen and gobbled down their two birthday cakes as well as a meat pie. Oh my God, that is too much food for her. She also ate some of their sausages. We had warned our guests over and over again to keep food out of her way but guests aren't as vigilant as us unfortunately. Beagles have an appetite problem in that they never get a signal to tell them they are full - or whatever the scientific word for that is. Norah has done this over and over again and each time I am mortified. But Thursday was about her limit. I had never seen her looking so swollen. I was even worried she might die from over eating. It has been heard of so we are monitoring her carefully. This was her the next day, sleeping off her indulgence and probably feeling sick. There would be no food for her on Friday and she hasn't really touched her food until this morning. 

Norah sleeping off her over indulgence after eating our guests' birthday fare

Thursday was a good day for Spain  who were lagging behind in the Olympics medal table. A new sport was included in Tokyo - mountain or rock climbing - well up a wall - in which Spain did well. This is a combined test of climbing to include three disciplines: speed, bouldering and lead climbing. I had to google that I'm afraid. Eladio and I watched the end of it marveling at how these men dashed up climbing walls in seconds. The good news was that Spain's 18 year old Alberto Ginés won gold. Wow! He was like a monkey as were the others.

Alberto Ginés who won gold for Spain in climbing at this year's Olympics

What a sport. I was glad for him and for Spain. Spain struck gold twice that day when Sandra Sánchez beat Japan's Kiyou Shimizu, in the spiritual home of this sport - "kata". It was unbelievable that a  Spanish woman (39) could do that. But she did. 

Sandra Sánchez in action on Thursday when she won gold for Spain. 

The big news coming out of Tokyo this week though has been about an athlete from Belarus who defected to Poland. It sounds like something from the 60's when often sports figures from communist countries did that. But this is 2021, the Cold War is supposed to be over, yet this has happened. Sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya defected after refusing to return to Belarus over threats to her family her grandmother told her about. It seems she was reprimanded by Belarus authorities after posting a video on Instagram where she complained about being entered into a race without her knowledge. Her downfall was criticising her coaches for negligence. It took just that for her to have to defect to another country. I think that says a lot about human rights in Belarus. I feel sorry for her and for her family. The only good part of this story was that her husband was able to reunite with her in Poland. But they will probably never be able to return to their homeland and who knows how this will affect Krystsina's family. What a sad state of affairs. 

Krystsina Tsimanouskava after defecting. 

Today is the last day of the Olympics. Not that I have been following them a lot but I have followed the main stories. But it's Krystsina's story that will remain in my mind as will the story of the US gymnast, Simone Biles who was also much in the news. She is the most decorated gymnast of all times so when she announced she was pulling out of some of her specialities owing to mental health issues, her story became huge news in good and bad ways. In my opinion it was good to have her story out in the open. Mental health issues should not be taboo. I was also happy when she did compete in the beam discipline and won a bronze medal. This year's Olympics brought good and bad stories and were certainly different in many ways from other years, not least because of Covid.

However the biggest story in Spain that day was about football and not the Olympics. The Barcelona football club announced that Lionel Messi (needs no introduction) would not continue with the club, the club of his life. The reason? The club is in debt. Oh, come on really and does Messi really need so much money? I for one didn't really care about the story. Rumour has it he will move to PSG (Paris). 

Friday came and our guests were leaving. The house wouldn't be empty for long though. We had to prepare for a French family of 6 coming on Saturday but it did mean we had the place to ourselves for once. Lucy did all the cleaning and Javier, the swimming pool maintenance man came to do the pool. I would do my bit later, pruning the geraniums and other flowers surrounding it. Our guests had broken one of our best wine glasses (note to hide them from guests in the future), one of the sunbeds as well as the canvas material on one of the garden chairs. The guests were gracious about it though and gave us 60 euros. We looked for a new sun bed online and actually found an identical one at Leroy Merlin (the DIY store). So that's where we went that morning to get a replacement. Eladio didn't want to go to El Corte Inglés to find a replacement wine glass. Instead, we went to have a coffee at Manacor. I came home to make lunch - bacalhau à brás again. But nobody was complaining.

After a short siesta I decided it was our turn to enjoy the pool and we had it to ourselves which is a rarity these days. We both went in the very clean water. Here is a photo to prove Eladio went in, something he doesn't do too often.

Eladio in the pool with Pippa watching 

We read quietly on the old and new sunbeds - I hogged the new one - and exchanged news we had about the girls in Montrondo. By then Elliot had arrived and seemed to be enjoying himself. He was also to meet his second cousins for the first time and there are plenty of them. I couldn't wait to see him myself. We will today. 

It was Friday and getting late and I hadn't booked a table for dinner out. It was Eladio who made our choice of restaurant that night. He found a place called "O Carro" with cuisine from Galicia in the north of Spain. That's where we went. Was it good? Well, a bit like the curate's egg; "good in parts". Actually the right expression is "parts of it are excellent". 

Eladio at O Carro on Friday night

The mains were enticing but not the starters or desserts. I nearly always judge a restaurant on its puddings and O Carro did not come up to standard.  Thus we would have our "pudding" at home when we got back. Just as we left the restaurant someone called my name. I turned to look at a relatively young woman with her partner and didn't recognise her at first. But then I did. She is called Elena H and was a journalist with the Spanish newspaper El Mundo. She is now freelance, like me I suppose. We both reminisced about a press trip to Finland which must have taken place in the early 2000s and about having dinner at Helsinki's swankiest restaurant where we ordered a bottle of one of Spain's most expensive wines, "Vega Sicilia". We both remember the waiter taking away the bottle when it wasn't empty. We protested and insisted on drinking the dregs. Hahahahahha. Elena and her family live nearby and we have agreed to meet for coffee after the summer. Oh those Nokia days, those amazing press trips to exotic locations were such a luxury I will never forget them. I took press all over the world to places such as Shanghai, Los Angeles, Marrakech, as well as all over Europe and multiple times to my beloved Helsinki. It was good to meet Elena again.

Once home, I had ice cream out of a tub of Magnum, Bridget Jones style. Eladio had the last of the apricots. You may have gathered, that unlike my father and I, my husband does not have a sweet tooth. We then watched a delicious Spanish film set in the Alicante region in the 70's. It reminded me of my first experience of Spain which was in the same region and same era- just before Franco died. Still wide awake when it finished we turned to Netflix and chose a new series; "Hit and Run". It's actually an Israeli series and made by the same production team as "Fauda". I love the main actor, "Dorum" in Fauda and "Segev" in Hit and Run. His real name is Lior Raz and he is "hot" to use that term which is so in fashion now. It's funny really as he is not my type but there is something very sexy and manly about him. 

Sleep came more easily that night and I woke up on Saturday morning just before 7 a.m. My first task after breakfast was to register my new guests arriving that day at our house, El Cuetu, in Asturias, on the Guardia Civil (police) register. It  is such a bore but has to be done. If I don't I could incur a fine of 600 euros per person or even lose my tourist licence. 

We only went out in the morning to the chemist to get stuff for my father in our absence and came home to a very quiet house. It wouldn't be quiet for long though. At 15.30, sharp my French family arrived: Fabienne and her husband Alex and their children aged 18 to 8 called (I think) Matisse, Ben, Zoe and Candice. If you are interested they are from Saint-Palais-sur-Mer and are also Airbnb hosts. They all speak Spanish and English, as well as French of course, except for little Candice. Thus I only had her to practice my French with. They seem  a lovely and well behaved family and soon after they had settled in and had their first bathe, they left the house to explore the city. Finally, some guests who weren't permanently at home. As soon as they left we went up to the pool ourselves. I bathed and Eladio didn't. As we were alone I indulged in "skinny dipping". I am very fond of skinny dipping. Eladio took photos and I think this  I can safely share this one but please don't try to enlarge it ok (hahahaha).

Me, skinny dipping yesterday evening

We spent the time chatting by the pool and just before dinner I went to get an opened bottle of Bornos white wine from the fridge and some pistachios. It was such a relaxing moment. Dinner was leftovers on our own on the kitchen patio. We were in bed early and eager to continue watching "Hit and Run". Again I kept falling in and out of sleep so later will have to rewind a couple of episodes.

The wine did not go down well and I was awake during the middle of the night with a headache and again at about 5.45. I couldn't sleep afterwards so I got up at 6 and here I am now finishing off this post about the stories of the week which has not been very exciting. There hasn't been much to tell but I still hope you enjoyed the read.

So my friends I shall leave you now until next Sunday.

Have a good week. Cheers,

Masha