Omicron on the rise, babysitting for Juliet in the streets of Madrid, Olivia presenting at an awards ceremony, Elliot's class in quarantine, cooking for a festive lunch and other stories.

 Sunday, 19th December, 2021

Me showing off my home made French fruit tart in the kitchen on Saturday morning

Good morning again everyone. It's just one week to Christmas. Are you excited? I wish I was and I am doing my best but this year is just not the same. . 

It's not the same anywhere really these days. I think we all thought we were past the worst of the Covid pandemic but then came the Omicron variant. It is many times more infectious than the Delta variant but so far seems not quite as deadly in that it doesn't generally affect the lungs. The country bearing the brunt at the moment is the UK. This week saw daily highest records of over 90.000 new infections in one day. Soon Omicrom will be the main cause. As if Boris Johnson and his government didn't have enough on their plate at the moment, and now this. I suppose it is a distraction from "partygate" - the scandal of the Tory Government Christmas parties last year when everyone else was supposed not to mingle. This week with the new wave on top of the Delta wave and not really enough people double jabbed and only a third of Londoners (amazing), Johnson is hell bound on a new vaccination programme to make sure everyone gets a booster jab. No doubt he thinks this mission will be a distraction from all his other problems. But no it won't. As he continues to lie through his leadership, the latest blow is losing a seat in the North Shropshire by elections which has always been in the hands of the Conservatives. His party is losing faith in him,  something the public lost a long time ago. The trouble is there is no alternative, no knight in shining armour, who could take over and do a proper job of taking the UK out of its myriad of problems, the biggest being the sorry state of the NHS as well as Brexit of course.  Just yesterday his minister for Brexit, David Frost, resigned. Apart from not being able to do his job - who could? - the Mail on Sunday reported he had resigned because of "growing disillusionment with Johnson's policies" That will be yet another nail in the Prime Minister's coffin and a sign that some time, sooner or later, he has to go. 

It was this time last week that Boris Johnson announced a ramp up for the booster vaccine, promising 1 million a day until the end of the year.  Many have been jabbed but not a million a day and this morning I read of a leaked NHS email with warnings about the supply of vaccines in the coming week owing to transport problems. Dear God, could it get worse?  I was amazed to read the Army would be on hand. I get it that the NHS can't cope, so why on earth doesn't the government approach this new vaccination programme differently and not put pressure on the health system? It shouldn't all have to go through GPs. In general in Spain, vaccines are not administered via the local health system. They are administered in great big vaccine centres and in some hospitals. Thus there is less need to sacrifice other necessary health care. 

All over 50's and 60's and children from 11 to 5 are being vaccinated here this month. It will soon be the turn of those over 40 and all those who were previously vaccinated with the UK Swedish vaccine, Astrazeneca which no one seems to want these days. If only the UK government had poured money into the NHS instead of this vaccine. Silly me, I hadn't caught up on the news and was wondering why I hadn't received a message for my booster jab. It occurred to me to use the Public Health App and voila, I easily got an appointment. This system for booking the appointment had been in place since 3rd December but I had missed the news - probably because my mind was on other things - my own quiet little hell. The two nearest available slots were on 24th and 26th December and I chose Boxing Day. I shall have to be careful until I get my 3rd dose as this new variant is extremely contagious and only with a 3rd dose will I get more protection.

But back to my story. Last Sunday, our squatter, "he who should not be mentioned", came for much longer than usual. He continued this behaviour during the week which worries me.   He is constantly on my mind and I keep asking myself that if he hardly sleeps here (he didn't until the last 2 or 3 days)  then why does he want to continue coming?  Even he can't be happy as when he is here, he tries to avoid us. When he wants a cup of tea, he opens the kitchen door carefully and if we are inside, he retreats. Is it really just to have the last word, a one up on us,  is it because he enjoys making our life hell or is it that he isn't happy with his new home whether that may be.   

He was here this time last week when we went for our walk -the first in a long time. We enjoyed the sun. There have been dreadful floods in the north of Spain but Madrid was dry. Sunday all in all was an extremely quiet day. We didn't go out to dinner, we didn't have anyone over and I, at least, felt a bit like a recluse.

Monday came and I had things to do. This week has been our turn to take Elliot to school and collect him in the afternoon as Miguel is working. It was Eladio's job to take him and mine to pick him up. He still doesn't like going to school and often cries. My husband comes home feeling like a criminal. I, on the other hand, get greeted with huge smiles, hugs and kisses. I love picking him up. It was my high of the week until Thursday came as you will read. 

We went to do some physical Christmas shopping  - most of our purchase are online - and it should have been a happy occasion but I just wasn't in the mood. Part of the job was getting something for me which is always my duty but I didn't find anything I liked at the normal stores: Zara, H&M and Primark. I did get things for the family though. In the old days our Christmases were quite lavish with huge piles of presents. Not this year I am afraid. 

We came home for lunch made by Lucy bless her and soon I was picking up Elliot. I wasn't able to spend the rest of the afternoon with him, Oli and Juliet as I had a dental appointment at 5.30. I thought it was to put in the new crown but unfortunately it was just for the fitting. I shall have go back in January for a final appointment. 

Tuesday came and that morning I managed the whole of our one hour long walk which I hadn't done since September before slipping and getting water on my knee. The joint had felt a lot better and I dared to do the whole walk. I would regret it later as the pain came back. That morning I had yet another appointment related to my new identity in Spain after getting nationality. It was at the local town hall to change the information on their register. What I really wanted was to figure on the electoral roll for when there are elections. I haven't been able to vote properly since I left the UK in 1981 - 40 years. However, I was told by a clerk that when elections came up I should go to the Town Hall again to make sure my name was on the list with the right identity. So what was the trip for then I asked myself? Just more bureaucracy. We then went to Social Services in another building to take my father off their list. . I hate taking his death certificate for this sort of paperwork. Will it ever end?

I had to pick up Elliot again that afternoon but instead of taking him to his house I was to bring him home as I had to accompany Oli into the city. Eladio was in the street waiting for us and his little grandson jumped into his arms. Oh how trusting and loving he is.

Elliot with his grandfather on Tuesday - smiling for the camera

I had 20 minutes with Elliot before I had to leave and I entertained him showing him all our animated Christmas decorations of which I have quite a few - a collection in fact. Every year, apart from this year, I add one item to my collection. Elliot was ecstatic and started to dance, making us join him. Bless the little tot. He lifted my spirits. I took a quick video which you can see below. 

But soon I had to disappear and join Oli. Eladio would have to babysit for Elliot and he had a crisis - there were none of his nappies at home and my husband had no option but to use one of Juliet's hahahaa. He had another crisis when two people turned up to buy my father's old wheelchair. He didn't expect two people to arrive and asked them to come to an agreement among themselves. How funny. I am glad to see the chair go as it was a constant reminder of my father's demise and death. I hated him having to use it after losing his mobility. For a man who had walked all his life, it was his prison. Yet he never complained.

Juliet seems to take after he great grandfather too as she never complains. She was a pleasure to be with that afternoon. I was to be her babysitter while Oli did the job of MC for an awards event organised by the Madrid Convention Bureau that night in the city centre. It took place at the beautiful building belonging to the Musuem and Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. We went by taxi and as soon as we got out we spied the most beautifully decorated building ever - the Metropolis building which is now a Four Seasons Hotel. It was so funny to suddenly be in the middle of the city with all the Christmas lights and decor. 

Four Seasons Hotel in Madrid

We went into the beautiful Fine Arts Museum where Oli had to go and rehearse. I decided I would do my babysitting outside until Juliet needed breast feeding. That's when I spied a wonderful street concert playing. There were 3 violinists, 2 cello and 1 base player. Juliet seemed to enjoy it until the wonderful music lulled her to sleep

The street concert that kept me entertained in Madrid on Tuesday while Oli did her presenting job and I babysat for Juliet

It was such a treat to be entertained thus and many people stopped to listen. I couldn't thank the group more for making my babysitting task less boring while my dear granddaughter slept.

But it was getting cold and nearing 6.30 pm when I had to take Juliet inside. To get to the auditorium I had to go past wonderful paintings, some by Rubens with cherub like babies a bit like Juliet. She would have made a great model for the painter. I was taken to Oli's dressing room which was magnificent. She had just finished rehearsing and took her daughter to her breast.

Olivia with Juliet backstage

I kept thinking what a wonderful place to be in but I wasn't going to see my beautiful daughter in action. During my career I have created and managed many events so was not used to being behind the scenes. This time it was my daughter in the driving seat and I could not have been more proud of her. But there was time to see the stage which was easily accessed through the dressing room and there I took photos of my daughter ready to go. 

Oli ready on stage

She looked great in her long black dress - one she bought for her presenting jobs. Good for her. I only wished I could have seen her live but that wasn't to be. But I did get sent a copy of an email from the organisers praising her for her efforts and saying they would be hiring her again. I am not surprised.

Juliet and I left just before the event started and returned to the festive streets, the live concert and all the people teeming around in a Christmas spirit. The academy is on the famous Alcala street, a stone's throw from La Puerta del Sol. But I avoided that like the plague - never better said - because of the crowds. I do not nor did I want to get Omicrom. No thank you.

 We were not home until past 9 pm and my husband had had his dinner. Thus I just opted for two baked apples. I thought the scales would have budged down more than they did the next day - only 100 grammes which is not fair given the effort I am putting in to shed weight before Christmas. I was luckier on Friday morning when I had lost another 400 grammes. It takes such effort to budge. 

Wednesday came and it was not a good day although parts of it were. The beginning was depressing. Oli, Eladio and I had to be at the Magistrates Court at 9.30 am. Thus I was up at the crack of dawn. The mission?  A useless one really: to ratify our appeal against the left wing woman judge who had deemed our squatter ok to continue living (unlawfully) in our house. That was part of our penal law suit. It won't go anywhere. We have higher hopes for the civil law suit. 

We were soon outside and Oli and I decided to go and do the rest of the Christmas shopping as we had time on our hands. We had a few good moments before we got more bad news. The highlight was a wonderful café con leche at our local shopping centre. The other was choosing jumpers at Oysho - love that store which also belongs to Inditex (owners of Zara). While we were in Etam buying a nightgown for me Oli got bad news. A child in Elliot's class had tested positive for Covid. That meant the immediate closing of his class and the class next door. It also meant Elliot had to self isolate for 10 days at home with his mother and Juliet. In turn that meant we wouldn't be able to see them until Christmas. Oli immediately cancelled her lunch plans that day and bought two Covid tests at the chemist. We immediately drove home and that was that. We won't see them again until Christmas Eve. What bloody bad luck. 

So as you see Wednesday was not a good day. The night was bad too. We had put on the alarm as we always do these days now that we are alone and our squatter wasn't sleeping here (or so we thought) - he generally just comes each morning to take possession of his room and to make a statement. Well, at 12.30 when we were both fast asleep the alarm went off. We thought it was the cat but when my husband opened our bedroom door he was confronted with our squatter who had obviously decided to stay the night that day. Blast the man whose name shall not be mentioned. Needless to say it took me a long time to fall asleep again. We felt downright violated. Horrible.  If my mother were still alive she would probably describe our situation as "shitty, could be shittier". She had a great sense of humour. But there is nothing funny about this situation as I'm sure she will agree.

If my mother is looking out for us from above I'm sure she would have wished that Thursday would turn out better. It did turn out better. That morning both Eladio and I had an appointment with our hairdresser, Caty. She has moved her premises to a tiny location in a small street in the village nearby.  Eladio had a wash, cut and blow dry and even had his eyebrows fixed and I had my roots done, a cut and a blow dry - and all for 29 euros between the two of us. We came out looking good I suppose or at least it made us feel better. Our next stop was a coffee together at the nearest cafe we could find with chairs in the sun. Eladio took this picture of me with my new hair cut. Notice the style is always the same. I haven't changed it in  about 30 years. Eladio mourns the long hair I used to have but at my age that wouldn't look good anymore.

My new hair cut - over coffee with Eladio on Thursday morning

From there we drove to Ikea, said to be the biggest in Europe. We went to get  a new dining service for Oli and Miguel for Christmas. I wanted to visit the food store to get salmon, jam and prawns and was disappointed to see it very scaled down and no jam or prawns. 

From Ikea we drove to Boadilla to pick up this year's Christmas calendars from our local printer. Once in our car I opened them and was disappointed to see there were mistakes so we drove back and now I have to wait for the corrections to be made. I only hope they will be ready by Christmas Eve.

We came home to have what turned out to be a vegan lunch: broccoli soup and lentil stew which wasn't very filling but at least it was hot and good winter food for cold weather.

The highlight of my afternoon was Skyping with Amanda. We hadn't spoken for 2 weeks. Of course I only really had bad news to convey but it was good to get it off my chest with my best friend. She didn't have much good news either with lots of health issues, made worse by the state of the NHS. We both agreed England is not what the country we knew as children when we first met at St. Joseph's - our Catholic grammar school in Bradford, when we were about 10.

Meanwhile Oli was trying to cope on her own with both children. Suddenly she sent us a photo of our old house in Río Tajo, Boadilla, where we lived from 1988 to 2006. I wondered why she was there. Well, she had done what many parents do when their children won't take a nap or fall asleep, she drove her kids around for them to do so and it worked.

Our old house which Oli visited on Thursday afternoon

She then visited the girls' old school - St. Michael's - which was a short walk away from our old house. She told me she felt very emotional. I was also when she wrote what a wonderful childhood they had had. I think they did.

Later when her partner Miguel was back home, there was fun to be had at their new house. Miguel decided on a race between three month old Juliet and 2 year old Elliot. Poor little Juliet, she is far too tiny to be riding Elliot's scooter I thought but loved the video which you can see here on You tube if you can't see it below.

It's a good place here to add  Elliot's official school Christmas photo which Oli sent me too this week. I think he looks lovely don't you? I am probably biased but I do think he is a very handsome little boy. If only I had had this photo on time for my Christmas calendar.

Elliot's official Christmas school photo - love it

I saw all this while starting Downton Abbey over again for perhaps the third time but it's one of those series I never tire of. I have finished all my hospital series and not finding anything else to entertain me enough to take all my troubles off my mind, I decided Downton would be my comfort series for the next few days or weeks.

That night with the alarm on again, we were not interrupted by "he who shall not be mentioned". I did have a nightmare though and woke up. As I couldn't get back to sleep again, I continued watching my favourite series.

Friday came and it would be shopping day;a lot of it for Christmas meals. I am very organised about Christmas and have to do lists, menu lists as well as Christmas present lists so that all will be ready on the day. In Spain the main festive days or nights are Christmas Eve and Kings' Day (6th January) and most children will get something symbolic from Father Christmas but their main presents on Kings' Day. At our house we observe both English and Spanish traditions and thus we get to celebrate Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Eve of course and "Reyes" (Kings' Day). On my lists was food for a festive family lunch on Saturday when my brother and sister in law would be coming, as well as dinner at home with our friend Julio. When Fátima was alive we created a tradition of dinner at our place around Christmas and dinner at Julio's around King's Day. When she died in 2019 we didn't have the heart to continue the tradition. Last year we couldn't because of the pandemic so this year we are continuing it and I think that is a good thing. It's good for my mental state to be preparing for Christmas meals for family and friends. I love the preparations and they take my mind off other things; things you know about.

There was time for coffee at Alverán where Eladio thinks I have shares. There I ordered stuff for our Christmas morning breakfast and soon we were home with nearly all the Christmas food shopping done. We had also done some shopping for Oli which Eladio took to her - standing only at the door (sad). I had to go to the hospital for yet another appointment; this time to remove the stitches from the wound on my back after surgery 2 weeks ago. It's fine now.

Lunch was late - what did we eat? I can't remember - I managed a short siesta but at least rested and spent the rest of the afternoon cooking with the help of Lucy. I made the pastry for a French fruit tart I was making for our lunch on Saturday while Lucy did my "perushki" - Russian meat and rice pies - and a must at Christmas.

I do remember what we had for dinner:  grilled fresh hake with garlic and parsley - delicious and then it was bed time. Again the alarm went off and again it was because of our squatter. My husband found "him" in the kitchen and feeling very annoyed asked him when he was leaving (we are not supposed to communicate with him). His answer was "pronto". That can mean anything, a year, months, who knows. Damn the man. A new episode of Spanish Princess about Catherine of Aragon took him off our minds. It's not a bad series. I slept fitfully but got some rest.

Yesterday I was up at  6 am and Pippa and I had the kitchen to ourselves. Eager to prepare the festive lunch (prawn cocktail, apricot stuffed lamb shoulder with rosemary roast potatoes and my French fruit tart), I finished off the tart and was very proud of myself. I have always loved this French tart but have never made one myself. It's not too difficult. Perhaps the pastry (pâte sucrée) is the most difficult part.

My home made French fruit tart

I got Eladio to take a photo of me with the tart and have chosen it as this week's feature photo for want of another one. 

As to the lamb, well the stuffing was easy (apricots, rosemary, dates, pistachios, bread crumbs, orange zest, lemon juice). What was not easy was closing the joints and putting them through a roasting net. But I managed. 

Spreading the stuffing on the shoulder of lamb - a boned shoulder of course

The difficult part - getting the stuffed lamb joints into the roasting net

I had the whole morning to prepare the festive lunch and I went all out and enjoyed every moment. Soon my prawn cocktails were done too. I read that this famous starter is having something of a come back. It has always been my favourite. The ingredients were lettuce, prawns, thousand island sauce, strips of mango and pomegranate. I decided on the latter when I realised our avocados were far too hard. Here is the end result.

My fancy prawn cocktails 

With the Christmas lights and music on, I then turned to laying the table for the first of our festive meals this season. Laying the table and cooking for 4 is quite relaxing and there was no rush. I decided on a very old Christmas table cloth my mother had bought me at El Corte Inglés many, many years ago. The dining set was one of our best - our Villeroy & Boch  fruit basket design which is now discontinued. We haven't broken one piece since we bought it at least 15 years ago. The wine glasses were from the set we bought when we first got married and are cut glass - my mother always said they had to be cut glass - and of course crackers and candles. This is what the table looked like before we sat down.

Table laid for our first festive meal this season

Our guests and their dog, Nuba, arrived just as everything was ready. We had a great meal. The prawn cocktails were perfect, the stuffed lamb was good too although could have done with more salt. As to the tart, I was a bit disappointed with the pastry which I thought was too thick and not really sweet enough. Either I shall rectify that next time or just buy ready to bake pastry. 

We then spent time in our gorgeously decorated lounges. It was such a relaxing afternoon when I even forgot at times about my troubles. Before it got dark we took our guests and their dog on our no longer new walk - but new for them - through the woods. We hardly saw anyone, just a young man and his dog. We invited our guests for dinner but actually none of us was hungry after such a filling lunch. Next time it will be at theirs in the centre of Madrid where they still live. We lived in the same block of flats when we first got married and were there for just 5 years - that seems a lifetime ago.

We had been expecting guests that day; a couple from Murcia. But they never came and only wrote to me late in the evening. The best type of guests are those who cancel at the last minute as there is no refund for late cancellations. They would have been our last guests of the year. Thus it was just us for dinner and a very small dinner it was too; a bit of soup and some fruit for me before we tucked in. I fell asleep over the news, woke again at 3 am and then at 6. Amazingly I slept one more hour and was up at 7 am.

Today my friends is Sunday. Next Sunday will be Boxing Day and Christmas Day will have passed. Soon it will be a new year. I can only hope it will be better than this year. As to Covid, well that won't be over. Pfizer predicts it won't be gone until 2024. So hang on in there everyone.

It just remains for me to wish you all a very Merry Christmas until I write again,

Cheers Masha