Sunday 24th October, 2021
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| Walking again - slowly (here with my new hair cut - same style as always). |
Good morning all. How are you doing?
All is well here. Last Sunday saw us leave our new house in El Cuetu where we had been for a week's autumn break. It was sad to leave on such a lovely sunny day but we had to return. Just as we left I snapped a shot of Eladio saying goodbye to our house.
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| Goodbye Asturias |
I don't know when we will be back but hopefully soon. It won't be next weekend which is a bank holiday and it is booked but hopefully not long afterwards. When we go I hope the carpenter has made the new Dutch front door. Crossing my fingers.
We set off late and afterwards I realised we had left some stuff behind, namely the lovely blue jumper I got at the street market in Llanes as well as a cupboard full of dry food - silly me. We had our coffee late too as well as lunch. We booked a table again at Restaurante La Cueva in the pretty village of Alar del Rey in the province of Palencia. Here is Eladio sitting down to his meal. We sat outside as the weather was glorious.
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| Eladio at Restaurante La Cueva last Sunday |
It's a long journey back - over 5 hours - so we appreciated the stop. On the way we were delighted to receive a beautiful photo of pure sibling love where Elliot is holding his little sister Juliet. I just love it don't you?
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| Brother and sister, Elliot with little Juliet. |
But don't be deceived by his angelic looks. One moment he can be kissing her and the next throwing something in her face!
We were home by just after 18h and the first thing I did was go and greet my father. It was good to see him again and to hear from him that he had been well looked after. Hopefully soon he will get his Covid booster jab together with his flu jab but we haven't heard anything yet. I have to say he is a little frail these days; not his usual self and I only hope and pray he will be soon. Yesterday he gave us a shock. He didn't get out of bed all day and spent most of it sleeping. He looked so fragile. The good news is that he woke up a new man today. Oh, thank goodness.
This brings me to this week's Covid figures. In Spain, at least, there is a feeling that the pandemic is over because the figures are so low but it isn't. Worldwide this week the number of infections and deaths rose from 241.190.547 and 4.910.402 to 244.142.267 and 4.959.711. I often think it is a miracle that none of us got it and I really hope we never do. In the UK the figures go up and up and this week saw infections rise in one day to over 50k. The reason for such high figures has to do of course, as I wrote last week, with the lack of wearing face masks and keeping distance from other people. It may also be due, in part, to the waning of immunity as the UK was the first country to start the programme. But it was soon overtaken by other countries in Europe. Spain appears to be the country, together with Portugal, that has the highest vaccination rate in Europe. The German news outlet, Deutsche Welle explained the reasons behind Spain's success in a brief documentary which you can see here. It all boils down to people's trust in the health system which is very high and the concern of young people towards the elderly. Many Spanish families are inter generational. I am rather proud of my adopted country.
I was very proud too this week of a young Spanish tennis player, Paula Badosa who won the Indian Wells tournament, often called "the fifth slam". It was the tournament Emma Raducanu dropped out of in the first round as she searches for a new coach but there was success for another British player, Cameron Norrie who won the men's singles title. So great sporting news for both my adopted and birth countries.
That night I had a dreadful coughing fit again that had me up most of the night. Thus on Monday morning I sent a whatsapp message to my GP - bless her for letting me contact her that way - to prescribe the only efficient remedy I know for coughing which is codeine. Doctors are reluctant to prescribe codeine but I know from experience it is the only remedy. From that night on the cough has been kept at bay which is a huge relief.
The house seemed empty without guests except for our long term lodger, Felipe. But that wouldn't last as on Tuesday a party of Danish women would be coming. Ditte was bringing her daughter and a friend. She had stayed here before last month when she brought her son to the Spanish Basketball academy sponsored by the NBA and the Spanish basket ball premiere league.She had expressly asked if the pool could be open when she came in October. Normally we close it at the beginning of the month but have left it open for her. Besides the weather has behaved perfectly although it is not swimming weather for me. Ditte jokingly told me her daughter was a Viking and could bear the cold water hahahahaa. They seem to be quite a sporting family as Ditte and co had spent some time at a Crossfit camp in Málaga before coming here! Tomorrow they will be leaving. They are lovely guests and I do hope to see Ditte again.
On Monday I had lots to do. Most important of all was the food shopping - our cupboards were bare. That had us out and about to the chemist and Mercadona but also for our all important mid morning coffee at Alverán. I think we paid for everything on our phones. We are now heavy users of Samsung Pay, Eladio too. I have witnessed people paying on their phones now for a while but was a bit reluctant until Oli and Miguel began to do so too. Thus I installed it on my new Galaxy S20 and now I am addicted. Like "Bizum" (paying between friends using only their mobile number), using your phone to pay has become the norm. You probably know I worked all my career in mobile phones. In the early stages we were amazed by SMS messaging and could not envisage the use of instant messaging apps such as Whatsapp that we have today. I remember in Nokia there were whole departments dedicated to "mobile internet", "mobile TV", "mobile radio" and then later "camera phones" and even video conference calls. We could not have imagined in the late 90's when these things were being developed that they would become reality. These days there are very few things you can't do with your phone. Now I am paying with mine. Wow is all I can say and I wonder what is next.
We had a quiet and pleasant lunch with my father and then went up to watch the news and have a siesta. I took my first codeine tablet and did not cough although it gave me a strange sort of high feeling. I didn't sleep and could hear that Elliot and co had arrived. They were coming for dinner but I didn't expect them so early. But what a joy to see them. Every time we see Juliet we see how much she has grown. She now weighs 5 kilos - 1.5 more than when she was born just over a month ago. What a little sweetie she is. Eladio and I took turns in holding her.
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| Eladio with Juliet |
Elliot was ecstatic to see us. Oli explained that when they had picked him up from day care they offered to take him to the park but he had insisted on coming to "Booboo's house" (Booboo -a play on "abuelo", grandfather in Spanish- is Eladio). We had bought him a present in Comillas, a figurine of a bull to add to his collection of Schleich animals. I learned a while ago that the French investment company, Ardian that had bought Adamo, is the owner of Schleich. What superb toys they make.
We spent wonderful family time that afternoon and evening with our grandchildren and Oli and Miguel. Miguel is back to work so that he can take his full paternity leave when Oli returns in April but his return has been very gradual this week. He is a lucky guy and has a sort of sinecure in that as a cameraman for TVE he will generally be working one week on and one week off. That means every second week he is free. He is so lucky. When I sent a photo of my two grandchildren to my oldest friend Amanda, she remarked "I can't believe my old friend is a grandmother. Seems only yesterday we were hanging around outside the villas at school" (St. Joseph's college Bradford). I can't either.
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| Oli and family |
Elliot is generally very sweet towards Juliet. Possibly thanks to her sleeping most of the time he doesn't feel too jealous as he gets as much attention as usual. He liked his bull but at one moment he threw it into Juliet's pram. Thankfully it fell on the blanket on top of her. We do have to watch him hahahaha.
We had an early dinner and I made a healthy meal so as to keep to my diet (yes, still on it). I made my flag ship tuna fish salad with tuna, spring onion, sliced hard boiled eggs, tomatoes, lettuce, avocado and this time grated carrot. There was gazpacho to wash it down with instead of wine (ouch).
The family left early and we were in bed on time for the news - mostly about the volcano which is still causing damage to the island of La Palma. That night thanks to the codeine tablets I slept much better.
Tuesday came and brought what could be considered good news. I got an email from my immigration lawyer to tell me that my application for Spanish nationality submitted last January had been approved. The next step is to wait for an appointment with a judge to swear allegiance to the Spanish King and Constitution and give up my British nationality in front of a Spanish judge (ouch).
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| My application for Spanish nationality has been approved |
When I told my husband and daughter Olivia they said "congratulations" but I didn't feel happy at all. I received the news with mixed feelings. I only applied for Spanish citizenship because of Brexit, mostly because I wanted back EU citizenship which was stripped away from me without my having a say in the process - I was not allowed to vote. Truth to tell I will give up my British nationality in words only to the judge but no one is going to take away my UK passport away as the UK does not recognise Spanish law on this point- in Spain dual nationality is not allowed with the UK but it is in the UK. So yes, I finally got approval. The whole process which is not yet finished started in December 2019 and has taken nearly 2 years so far. The paperwork was impossible to face alone without a lawyer and the cost so far has been over 1500 euros. It's not easy to navigate the process and not easy to get Spanish citizenship. I reckon the process is designed to put people off. I have lived here since 1981 - so 40 years and when I married Eladio in 1983 I would probably have got Spanish nationality automatically but didn't need it or want it at the time. Over the years with so much immigration it has got harder and harder and being married is not the route to take as there have been so many false marriages for people to get citizenship. As to the exams on Spanish law and culture and the language, they were an insult to injury. Not all Spaniards would be able to answer all of the questions such as how many MPs are there in Melilla. As to the language test I should not have been subjected to it (more than 5 hours long) as I am bilingual and have a degree in Hispanic Studies. But I had to bear all that in order to get an EU passport and all because of Brexit. So yes, big news this week which I received with mixed feelings. I am not looking forward to having to swear to a judge. Watch this space for when that happens.
It was on Tuesday that Ditte, Mae and Alina were arriving but meanwhile, my Mexican guest, Gustavo, wrote to ask if he could come and visit. He had been staying here while we were in Asturias and wanted to meet us. Gustavo had come from Mexico City to see his granddaughter who is studying Sports journalism at the Uni nearby. He had stayed on in the Madrid area and asked if he could come that day. I was very flattered he wanted to meet us and I was curious to meet him too. Gustavo is a retired pilot for the Mexican state airline Aeromexico and an interesting person to meet. We spoke about our "hosting business" and how we have met so many people from all over the world and made so many friends, people who return again like my Danish guests this week. No doubt Gustavo will come again to see his granddaughter and will stay with us too. As an ex pilot he can get as many free flights with Aeromexico as he wants. That is possibly the best job perk that exists. Before he left we had to have a photo - I always like to remember my special guests. Many you do not remember but there are those you never forget.
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| With my Mexican guest, Gustavo |
Just as Gustavo was leaving, Ditte and co arrived. As she had been before there was no need to do a tour of the house, only give her the keys. Shortly the three women were by the pool and sunning themselves. Maximum temperature that day was about 25c and my Danish guests said it was about 7c in Copenhagen and raining:-(
We had our lunch shortly afterwards and the only thing to report about the rest of the day was a visit to my dentist, Dr. Garralda, who I have been going to for over 35 years. He and I are more or less the same age and I have complete faith in him. He will be putting in a double crown next month so all good.
I slept well again that night thanks to the codeine tablet ("Codeisan") and was up early on Wednesday morning. That morning after my breakfast, reading of the headlines and ablutions, I set off very determinedly to the big French sportswear outlet, Decathlon. I was not going to get sportswear but to get casual and warmer clothing for this time of year. On my list were puffer jackets, fleeces and leggings and I got them all in less than 20 minutes. I think that's the first time I have consciously bought new clothes this year. It's not that I am short of clothes - I have plenty but many don't fit (ouch) and some are getting old - namely my M+S fleeces and my Uniqlo puffer jacket (I lost one and the zip is broken on the other). In the old days I would never have gone to Decathlon but because of the pandemic I have got used to wearing lounge clothes so that's where I went. I bought everything in blue and grey but dared on a yellow jacket which I know goes beautifully with blue. I don't buy much in yellow but I think I will be wearing it a lot.
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| Shopping at Decathlon this week |
Of course all these clothes are perfect for our walks except that for the moment with an injured knee I have to take it slowly. I think my knee is getting better gradually so I decided to try out a short walk with Eladio and Pippa the next day to test my knee and see how I felt. I really need the exercise.
On Wednesday my exciting new order of mangoes and avocados was supposed to arrive direct from a fruit farm in Málaga called Dehesa de Cutar.
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| The mango and avocado box I ordered |
I was lured by an ad on Instagram - I don't click on many - that piqued my interest. Marketed by "Crowdfarming" and Tropiterranean (tropical fruit from the Mediterranean), it allows private customers to buy direct from the farm and to enjoy fruit and veg picked straight from trees. Mine was from a farm called Dehesa de Cutar in the province of Málaga. Also the produce is ecologically farmed - Suzy would approve - and looked enticing. The estimated delivery date was 20th October but it never came. I blame that on their delivery partner, the Spanish state postal service, Correos, notoriously inefficient. That skewed my dinner plans. I had not bought either fruit when we did the shopping on Monday and thus our salad that night lacked avocado; for me an essential ingredient.
I just hoped it would arrive on Thursday and it did. I was happy with the box but not too happy as both the mangoes and avocados were brick hard and would need more far more than the recommended 2 days to ripen. Today is Sunday and they are still hard(:
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| The box of mangoes and avocados that arrived on Thursday |
The mangoes and avocados arrived just after "our walk" - yes, that day I attempted a walk for the first time since my knee injury. I joined Eladio and Pippa for just the first part of it and walked gingerly in case I made it worse. I didn't and don't know whether it is good for my knee to walk or not to walk. The doctor I saw last I had said I could walk but not go on walks. So I took it gently. I had to have a photo to record the moment.
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| An attempt at my first walk after injuring my knee three weeks ago. |
I was wearing one of the Decathlon fleeces and the soft cotton leggings I also got on my shopping splurge. I don't think I look too bad but need to lose more weight. What I noticed too when I enlarged the photo is just how white or too blonde my hair looked - not to mention the dreadful wrinkles around my eyes and especially on my jaw and neckline. I couldn't remedy the latter but I could remedy the former as that afternoon I had an appointment with my new hairdresser, Conchi. It was at 3.30 so I missed my siesta. The next day I went on another short walk I got Eladio to take another photo to compare my hair - I look much better as you can see in the photo which is this week's feature photo. I haven't changed my hairstyle for possibly more than 25 years. The style has remained the same although my hair now is slightly shorter. My friend Julio once commented I was like Nancy Reagan who also kept the same hairstyle for most of her life. Every time I have dared to change it I was never happy and always went back to the style I have today - my style which is rather conservative.
I was home by 5ish and surprised to find Oli and family had come to visit, unannounced but it was a pleasant surprise.
The day was warm with the temperature reaching 20ºc - and it will continue to be so until the beginning of November. So, we are still enjoying our Indian summer. Elliot would have liked to go in the water but we persuaded him not to and took him to the swings instead. I caught him unaware on camera in the garden by the pool at the steps that lead to the sunken garden where the swings are. It's such an autumnal photo. What a handsome boy he is.
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| Elliot in the garden with autumn leaves all around |
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| The ageing emiritus King with his mistress, Corinna Larsen |
What next I wonder? King Juan Carlos, I suppose, has brought this upon himself with all his shenanigans improper of royalty. It is reported he is bored stiff in his luxury house in an island off Dubai and that he wants to come home. But I don't think Spaniards want him back. I, for one don't. Before all his scandals he was highly praised for his role in bringing democracy to Spain after Franco died but his greed for money and women have overshadowed any good he ever did. What a sorry story. He is now 83 or 84 so I suppose his libido doesn't matter any more.
At a very tender age, the former King was brought from his exile in Portugal to Spain by Franco, the ex Spanish dictator. Franco groomed him to become his successor and to continue his legacy. No doubt Franco never thought the boy's libido would bring him down from his throne one day. That night Eladio avidly watched a new documentary on the life of Franco which is a hit on Netflix in Spain. Called Franco: The brutal truth about Spain's dictator it is a German production.
I find it fascinating as it tells the story of Franco from birth to death and with it Spain's history during that time. Eladio is more critical as he says it's very one sided against Franco. Of course as you know Spain is divided when it comes to politics and this led to a Civil War never to be forgotten. However, my husband was born in the post war era under Franco and can't help also seeing the good things the dictator did. He is no fascist. In fact my husband is a philosopher so always tries to look at both sides of the story. In Spain there are no definitive authors on the country's recent history as they are all one sided. It's funny but it is English Hispanists who have written the most trusted history books on Spain and these include Paul Preston and Antony Beevor, both of whom are interviewed extensively in the documentary. Even so Eladio doesn't trust them. I do, not because they are British - or maybe - but because they will at least be a bit more neutral than any Spanish historian can be. Maybe too this has to do with the fact that when I did Hispanic Studies at Nottingham University I was surrounded by British Hispanists. They were a funny group. I remember doing my final oral exam with one of them whose Spanish accent was not good. In general their Spanish is perfect as is their knowledge of Spain but they don't seem to worry about their pronunciation. I am convinced I did not get a distinction in Spoken Spanish because of that and if a Spaniard had been the examiner I would have. I did, by the way, get a distinction in Spoken Portuguese; a bit of a feather in my cap for all it's worth.
That was the big news in Spain, at least for me. Worldwide, the cinema industry went into shock when it heard that Alec Baldwin fatally shot the director of photographer on the set for his film Rust in New Mexico that day. Halyna Hutchins died and director Joel Souza was injured when Baldwin was handed a supposed "cold gun" by the film's "armourer" (person in charge of weapon props) but it was loaded with a live round. However that happened we still don't know. No one is going to press charges. They don't need to. Baldwin already has his punishiment. He is distraught and this will never go away. What a dreadful accident to happen. I can't begin to imagine the pain Halyna's family must be going through.
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| Alec Baldwin moments after the fatal shooting. He will never get over this. |
Friday came and the sun shone again. I never take the good weather for granted here as I was brought up in wet and cold England. Thus I had my mid morning coffee outside sitting on a bench in the sun - what bliss. We had a couple of errands to do and soon the morning was over. Friday evening was the highlight of my week. We were going to have dinner with "my Spanish family". If you want to know their story here is a post I wrote when Gerardo, the father died in October 2007.
I went to to live with the Gonzalez-Galvez family in September 1978 when I had my year in Spain as part of my studies in Hispanic Studies. I was supposed to teach the children English. Gerardo and his wife Pili had 4 children, Gerardo, Irene, Julieta and Toti. Gerardo was about 14 at the time and Irene maybe 12. We became incredibly close and still are today. I consider them "my Spanish family" and they made up at least half the guests at our small wedding in Madrid in 1983.
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| With my Spanish family at our wedding. |
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| Photo of the reunion dinner with my Spanish family |
I guess we must have fallen asleep at about 2.30 am. I was up at 7.30 yesterday morning which didn't make for many hours of sleep. Who hadn't slept well was my father for some reason. He worried us stiff yesterday when he wouldn't or couldn't get up. So Lucy stayed this weekend as she is such an excellent carer. I kept looking into his room while he slept. Thankfully he was able to eat but spoon fed. I didn't know what was wrong with him. I suppose it is just his age - he will be 103 next May. His condition overshadowed my day - a day with the family that he missed as Oli and co came for lunch and stayed all afternoon. It was great to see them again but my happiness was not complete.
I got an excellent night's sleep last night as did my father. He surprised us again when he woke up this morning all perky and raring to go, asking for the newspaper. He is himself again thank God but he did give us a shock.
Today will be another sunny day and I will go on my short gingerly walk which I'm not sure is good for my knee which feels stiff. I can actually see the swelling on my knee. I wonder how long it will take for the water to be absorbed; hopefully not too long and I can resume my hour long daily walks.
So, my friends, that's it for today. I have come to the end of the tales of this week which has had its ups and downs. Who knows what next week will bring? That's life isn't it?
Cheers then till next Sunday,
Masha.
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