Summer is over, Madrid sunniest capital in Europe, The Queen died of old age, UK in economic crisis, measuring my sleep, Putin goes mad and annexes 4 Ukraine regions, 1st October, fun at the park with Elliot and Juliet and other stories.

Sunday, 2nd October, 2022

On the swings with Elliot yesterday

Good morning all. How have you all been? I have had my ups and downs, but nothing dramatic thankfully. Summer was over on 21st September, a while back, and that always gets me down. My favourite season is spring when nature comes to life again and the long summer months are on the horizon. I don't like the thought of the cold and dark winter months of November, December, January and February. I never did. But I can't complain now as we are having an Indian summer and today the temperature will reach 28ºc.  Not for nothing is Spain the hottest country in Europe and living in the centre of the country has its benefits. Madrid enjoys an average of 350 sunny days per year making it Europe's sunniest capital - along with Athens or so I read. 

Average monthly hours of sunshine in Madrid in one year

Last Sunday was not a good day. It seemed everything went wrong. It started with messages from Airbnb  vs a vs the unsatisfied guest who left two days early because of a minor issue of getting into the house which was sorted almost immediately. That had me explaining and re explaining to the Airbnb agent in the US, Veronica, my whole business basically. After thorough questioning, finally Veronica erred on my side. But that left wondering if the guest may take further measures although she really doesn't have a leg to stand on. She will though, be able to leave me a scathing review which will be unfair and I will have to dispute it with Airbnb. Even worse that morning was a 1 star review from a guest who wanted to cancel after making a reservation  but couldn't because she went for the discount option which is non refundable. Only 5 stars is considered good on Airbnb and I have a 97% average of 5 stars, the other 3% being 4 stars. So imagine getting just 1 star? That took my overall score down from 4.93 to 4.90. No big deal you may think but it is for me. I am a slave to reviews. They can make or break a host. I would dispute her review which I think is unfair as how on earth can she review her "stay"  on things like cleanliness, location, communication, accuracy and value if she never came? 

All that put me in a pretty bad mood. At least I had Eladio to commiserate with on our walk that morning. We came home to find our lovely Dutch family, our last guests of the summer season really, about to leave. I had called a large taxi for them at 12.30 which didn't come. So there we were outside in the street waiting for it and me calling the firm. Finally they sent one at 1.15 and we said our goodbyes. Dear Annelise, who had made the reservation, later gave me a glowing 5 star review which cheered me up a bit. 

I then had to rush to organise our lunch and also go and get petrol for my Mini which Suzy had used up but would need all this week. She has been going to Oli's house to get the children up to go to school as both parents go in early. I decided to find a BP petrol station as I had a 40 euro discount coupon and there began my odyssey. It's not that far from here but I got lost. Once there I had to register first with BP which didn't work at the beginning and took time. Then unbelievably I couldn't pay either with my watch, my phone or my visa card. I realised it had been blocked. All I could do was unblock it on the app and then drive to a cash point to finalise the procedure. And then I had to go back to pay at the petrol station.  Just everything was going wrong and I wasn't home until 3 pm when lunch is normally at 2.

Thankfully the afternoon was quiet. I had been a bit worried I had hardly any new reservations when just after my short siesta I got one from a Dutch couple - yes Dutch again. They arrived on Friday and would be staying for 8 nights. I then got a surprise booking from a lady from Chile. That cheered me up too. I have had more during the week, 3 guests from the US who arrived on Friday too, making for a full house once again this weekend, as well as a booking from deep dark Peru for the end of October, except that the booking was made by someone with a Scottish surname - mysterious. 

We had dinner alone - Suzy went to bed early (with The Crown believe it or not) as she had to be at Oli's house at 6.45. Worried she wouldn't wake up we put the alarm on. If the alarm is on I always find it even more difficult to sleep. On Monday morning I got up just after she left at about 6.20  -far too early.

I woke up after making a big decision. Finally the motivation had come to go on a diet and shed at least some of the weight I have put on in the last 6 to 9 months. I look at photos of myself 3 years ago or so when Elliot was born and the truth is looking at me. I have put on weight and have to do something about it. It was making me depressed but now I feel so much better for finally taking the decision. My "battle of the bulge" is a lifetime battle which often gets me down. Let me share a secret. A few days before coming to the decision I had a nightmare where my dear husband was shouting at me and telling me I was fat; something he would never ever do as he loves me anyway I am. The nightmare was telling me something  though and made me think and that was the defining moment. 

Monday was a better day. I was with Suzy in spirit as she was getting the children ready for school. All went well and they didn't cry once. That made me happy. I love the way they love her. It fills my heart. She has done a great job this week. 

One of the first tasks that morning was to dispute the nasty and revengeful 1 star review on Airbnb. I have never asked them to remove a review and had heard it is extremely difficult. But I was in luck as they sympathised and amazingly, they removed it there and then. Good oh. I am still awaiting a nasty review from the American guest I wrote about above. 

On my mission to lose weight, off I went after our walk - also on a mission to make sure I do 10.000 steps a day - to do the ood shopping. I stocked up on huge amounts of fruit and veg for my new diet. I wonder how many I have been on in my life? I always yo yo but luckily am still able to lose weight when I put my mind to it. I had coffee with Suzy at Manolo Bakes and resisted the croissants. We went there instead of Alverán as damn it, that nasty man Felipe Turover, our ex KGB spy squatter was there again. We had thought he had moved out of the area but apparently not.

We came back to unload the shopping and I set about making a healthy lunch - baked salmon with leek and peas sprinkled with dry dill - couldn't find any fresh dill. Dear Lili, our  24 year old new Paraguayan house keeper must find the food we eat here so foreign to her. I keep telling her she can make her own food and will buy her the ingredients. So far she seems ok with what we have to offer. I feel guilty employing such a vulnerable young girl and my heart aches every time I remember she has left a 2 year old baby behind. What must be going on in that poor head of hers I often wonder.

In the afternoon I spent some quality time on my own by the pool lying on the lovely wicker sofas which are usually reserved for guests. We would be guest free until Wednesday night and I wanted to take advantage of every moment. Suzy interrupted me with an invitation to go with her to the park to be with Oli and the babies. I was delighted and off we went. We had some quality time too with little Juliet and Elliot. He is so into the comic series "Paw Patrol", I get mixed up with all the characters and he tells me I don't know their names hahaha.

We had dinner on the kitchen terrace at Suzy's insistence as it was a bit cold for Eladio and me - at about 21ºc. Then again it was early to bed and it was early to rise on Tuesday morning when I was up at 6.20 shortly after Suzy left for Oli's house.

We kept to our routine that day and went on our morning walk. My new Samsung smart watch tells me it is 4.7km which is not bad for a daily walk I suppose. The rest of the day was quiet, my highlight being lying on the wicker sofas by the pool again in the afternoon with my book.

My reading spot this weekend

I felt too lazy to go and join Oli and the kids at the new park. I wished I had when my younger daughter sent me photos of Elliot with his "new friends" - some girls a little older than him who thought he was "muy mono, un poco travieso" which translates into "he's so sweet but a bit naughty". Too right. They had helped him down a slide which he didn't dare come down.  I should have been there rather than reading my silly book and doing nothing. However, there is an art to doing nothing and sometimes it's quite enjoyable.

Elliot holding hands with his new friends. 

And here is the video of him when he comes the down the scary slide bless him. 

Elliot coming down the scary slide

Evening entertainment was seeing Spain play Portugal in the Uefa Nations League - a new competition I'm not familiar with. Apparently Spain had never beaten Portugal for 19 years but that night they did.I didn't see the goal as while Eladio watched, I read my book.

Because of the match, the news was short that night, but enough to confirm what I already knew, the far right in Italy had won the general elections and a woman, Giorgia Meloni will be the new PM. Politics in Italy don't interest me at all as prime ministers never last much longer than 18 months. I don't like the "far" of anything in politics though. I also knew about the men escaping mobilisation in Russia in their thousands and of course the crash of the pound against the dollar and euro and the growing economic crisis in the UK.  All my life as a child, there were 2 dollars to the pound - no longer so, I'm afraid. England seems to be in one big mess. There are rising prices everywhere in the world, mostly thanks to the madman Putin. His latest game is to sabotage the gas pipe - Nord Stream - that supplies gas to Europe (mostly Germany) and to hold sham elections in the pro Russian areas of Ukraine, which like the Crimea, he wanted to annex to Russia.  My mother would turn in her grave.

Returning to the pound, all my life too I remember the Queen's portrait on coins and pound notes. I also remember before the pound went metric that I'd often find coins with portraits of former kings and queens. I always wondered if they were worth more than their face value.  I suppose it will get some taking used to seeing the new King's face on coins and notes. This week the Royal Mint released  the "first official effigy of King Charles III on a coinage collection honouring Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II".  You may or not notice that in contrast to his mother, Charles's face looks to the left while the Queen's looked to the right. I read that there is a tradition by the Royal Mint for the profile of a new monarch to face in the opposite direction to their predecessor. What a funny tradition. 

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First new coins with the face of the new King

• I also read that Prince Charles liked the design by Martin Jennings and had approved it over a year ago. My goodness that made me realise just how many details there must be in the planning for the death of The Queen and Prince Charles' accession to the throne. I'm not sure I would like to approve a portrait of myself with such a sinking double or triple chin. 
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Of course his effigy or initials will go on other items, including letter boxes; not that many people send old fashioned letters these days. But I used to and a lot and I have kept many. I was also a keen stamp collector. Letter boxes too around England are not always of the new Elizabethan Age. I always found it exciting to find a VR (Victoria Regina aka Queen VI) on a letter box. It was, of course, during her reign that the first stamp, the Penny Black, came into use in about 1840. 

A letter box in England with the letters VR, referring to Queen Victoria. 

I suppose that the new King's initials   -or rather his royal cypher - will also appear on phone boxes. I also wonder whether the iconic red letter boxes and red phone boxes which are symbols of England will survive the digital age. I hope they do if only for the sake of history. 

Another change the new king has made is his cypher - a cypher is a sovereign's monogram which consists of his initials and name - in this case Charles and the title, Rex - Latin for King - with a representation of the crown. The new cypher was announced too this week. 

The King's new cypher announced this week

This, by the way, will be the new image for government documents and letter boxes. The main difference with the Queen's cypher is in the crown. Charle's crown is a version of the Tudor crown, last used by King George VI, while the Queen's cypher featured a version of St. Edward's crown which was used for her coronation. St. Edward was Edward the Confessor who reigned from from 1042 to 1066. Wasn't 1066 the date of the famous battle of Hastings? I think it was.

Returning to the Queen and her recent death which I cannot get over as it is so recent, this week her death certificate became public. You can see it here.

The Queen's death certificate

In it we learned she had died of "old age". Those same words, but in Spanish, are on my father's death certificate. When she died on 8th September last I wondered what the cause was. We had only known about her mobility issues but was there some other underlying physical cause? If she really died of old age, then probably no. I rather think she died of a broken heart. After her beloved other half, Prince Philip, died in April last, although she tried to go on, I think she no longer had it in her. What do you think? Another interesting fact we learned from the death certificate, registered by Princess Anne, by the way,  is that Her Majesty actually died at 3.10 pm. However, Buckingham Palace only announced the death at 6.30 and apparently the new PM was only informed at around 4.30. There with the Queen when she died, apart from her doctor, who signed the certificate, were her 2 elder children, Princess Anne who was staying with her and Prince Charles who was in Scotland. Her other children - Princes Andrew and Edward  and grandchildren Princes William and Charles - all got there after she died. I'm glad she was with at least 2 of her children, like I was with my father. I wasn't able to get to my mother's bedside before she died and always, always, regretted it. For me it was a present from God to be with my father when he died. It made it all so much more natural and, however sad, there was something spiritually comforting about it. 

None of this was on the news in Spain, or not much. Any news this week about England has had to do with the dire economic situation after Liz Truss and her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng announced their new financial plans. I can't begin to understand the complexities of the new tax cutting mini budget but can see how people will suffer so much because of rising prices. The Economist which is neither left nor right wing, published a scathing article on How not to run a country. Lizz Truss (not to be trusted) is unable to explain the crisis she has caused in her first weeks as Britain's new PM. She was hard pushed to explain her reasoning in a series of local radio interviews where frankly she bluffed her way through and sounded worse than Boris Johnson. I honestly think as JRR Tolkein once wrote, it looks like we are "out of the frying pan but into the fire". The latest poll showed the Tories have totally lost it as Labour leads by 33 points. 

Front page of The Economist this week - How not to run a country

Many, including MPs from her own party,  are questioning how long her leadership will last. I wonder too. 

I think I fell asleep quite early after watching the news. That night I wore my new Samsung smart watch to measure my sleep. I thought it would be an interesting experience to measure how badly I sleep and come up with a chart. This is it. 

My sleep chart

It looked like I had slept 8 hrs 14 minutes but no. It was the watch screen that showed me the quality of sleep which you can see below.

Quality of sleep

So I was awake for 1h 38m and thus slept for 6.35m. Of those 6.35 hours,  light sleep took up nearly 50% of the cycle. REM (rapid eye movement) was 1h 45 and deep sleep only 53 minutes. Well I always knew I was a light sleeper. My overall score was 75% so maybe my results were not that bad. For fun I also measured snoring and as you can see below I spent nearly 2 hours of my sleep snoring away. Hopefully my cold had something to do with that and I don't snore as much. I should get Eladio to wear my watch one night to measure his sleep (and his annoying snoring hahaha).

My snoring!!!!

I was up far too early on Wednesday morning. It must have been a few minutes after Suzy left for Oli's house. It was a funny day all round. The night before I went to bed with pains in my chest, neck and back which I attributed to wind. It felt like wind but still hurt the next day. I thought a walk would help release the wind but it didn't and I was in pain from beginning to end. I honestly don't know how I managed it. Once home I began to worry I was having a heart attack or Covid. Eladio took my blood pressure which was a bit higher than usual but not abnormally so. Covid proved negative so it had to be wind. I was in pain most of the day and making lunch was a huge challenge but only I could make it. Lili and Eladio can't cook and Suzy won't make meat (we had chicken casserole). Suzy thinks the wind is from eating so much veg and that my body is detoxing. Maybe.

At 4.08 pm I had an appointment with the gynecologist about my prolapse. As I was feeling so bad - my nasty cough which refuses to go away didn't help, my dear husband drove me there. He also accompanied me when I went into the see the very nice and capable young doctor. He was the one who saw me at A&E. He confirmed what he had found then but this time did a deeper exploration and came to the conclusion that my muscles are quite strong. Thus he thought physiotherapy would do the trick with no need for an operation. He seemed more worried about my damned overactive bladder, something I have lived with since I was a young girl. He suggested the physiotherapist might want to consider a new treatment called "tibial neuromodulation" - some sort of electric shock patch on your leg where the nerve is that goes to your bladder. Well why not I thought as I have tried everything else with no success. I walked out with an appointment to see the pelvic floor physiotherapist at the end of October. It could have been earlier but I didn't want it to coincide with the visit of our dear friends Kathy and Phil who are coming from 13th to 25th October.

I had a Facetime call with them afterwards to get up to speed on each others' lives and to talk about their upcoming trip. Even more excitedly we talked about my trip to Yorkshire in November. The excuse is to attend a reunion event at my old school, St. Joseph's College on 19th. The next day I bought tickets and will be flying out on the 16th, returning on 23rd November. I am going alone which will be fun.

There was still time to rest before dinner and I did so curled up on my bed and beginning Season 5 of The Good Doctor. I love that series.

I watched it after dinner too while my husband fell asleep early having missed his siesta. I didn't monitor my sleep that night as doing so means my watch doesn't get charged. I was awake very early on Thursday morning

I did not feel much better on Thursday so skipped the walk. Instead we went food shopping for more fruit and veg and some protein - eggs, ham, chicken and steak (yes red meat - sorry). I had to make the lunch again while Lili helped me put things away. We had brought her salary in cash for this month which she seemed very pleased with. I asked her if she wanted to send it to Paraguay but she said first she needed to buy some clothes. Of course, she had come here when it was much hotter and must be freezing now. So in the middle of making a soup and boiling vegetables for lunch, I marched her upstairs to my walk in wardrobe. She is tiny - probably hovering between a size 8 or 10 and is definitely an XS. Well, I have lots of size 10 and XS clothes from when I weighed a lot less, so gave her all I could find, mostly clothes from either M&S, Zara, Lindex or H&M. I even found a super smart white padded jacket which looks lovely on her. I hugged her when I saw her wearing a relatively new H&M red fleece which she looked beautiful in. It was good to see a smile on her face. I now have to ask Oli if she has any old trousers or leggings for Lili as mine were far too big - even the size 10's. 

I spent the whole of the afternoon in bed again watching more of The Good Doctor until it was time for dinner - something very frugal owing to my diet. Our new guests- a couple who reside in Rotterdam but have been traveling the world on Airbnb, arrived late at night. It was dark and raining which is so unusual here. It's not the same showing this house in the sunshine than when it's dark and raining. In any case I think they were overwhelmed by the size of it. They will be here for 8 nights. The rain disappeared the next day.

It was on Friday that Putin announced the results of his sham elections in 4 Ukraine regions: Luhansk and Donetsk in the East and Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in the south. He announced with great ceremony that the people there had voted to be annexed to Russia. People there had often been forced to vote and these were not legal elections of any kind. 

The 4 regions Putin annexed illegally this week

The world stood by and watched with horror. But you know I keep thinking that when he did the same with Crimea in 2014, we did nothing. But what can we do when you have a madman like Putin at the helm? He announced the news with angry speech and diatribe against the west. Of course the west will never recognise the annexation but where does that put us now, especially when Putin is still threatening to use nuclear weapons? He hasn't actually got 100% hold on the 4 regions which are still being fought for by the Ukrainian forces. The carnage is beyond belief. This week we heard of a missile which killed many civilians in Zaporizhzhia. The war has now escalated. When and how will it end? People in Russia have come out to protest now that the war is on their doorstep with massive mobilisation of young men who do not want to go to war. This week The New York Times published an article "We are losing the war", where they had access to thousands of conversations from Russian soldiers calling their loved ones.  In these calls, each and everyone of them sound exasperated and furious with the situation they are in; many of whom thought they were being sent to do military training. In many of the conversations which are transcribed these young men who do not want to die killing Ukrainians, criticise Russian military tactics and equipment. Many of them are freezing and don't have enough to eat.  Putin knows he is not winning the war but he will not give up. The only solution I can come up with is "off with his head". 

My Friday was quiet with lots of guests coming and going. I could hardly believe we had 8 people here that night. Let me tell you where they are all from: Spain, US, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Holland and Algeria. The Dutch and Algerian couple are what you would call "digital nomads" these days. Jazmina told me she and her Dutch husband had left Holland about a year ago to travel in Europe where they live at Airbnbs for about the same as it would cost to rent a flat in Rotterdam. He works remotely and his petrol is covered for by his company. There are more and more digital nomads in the world, especially since Covid. I find the idea intriguing. Jazmina also told me that Holland is a very expensive country for young people who can't afford the rent or to buy a house and that she had a friend who lived in her car! I told her that it was the same in Spain except that young people who can't move out, continue living with their parents until their late 30's. Life is difficult for young people these days. 

My morning was difficult too - or rather a little frustrating. I felt better cold  (and wind) wise and that morning drove to El Corte Inglés - Spain's flagship department store and where I had bought my "new" Samsung Galaxy S20fe a year ago. The problem? The internal memory was at 97% and the problem was not with photos or videos it was a storage location called "other" which wouldn't let you see the breakdown. I suspected it was the storage and cache of apps but that can't make up to over 220 GB out of a total 256 GB memory. The Samsung staff there were puzzled too but Samsung only has one repair centre in the whole of Madrid - their bad - So all I got from my trip was an appointment with the repair centre in downtown Madrid the next day. I had already been on the phone to Samsung Customer Service whose only suggestion was to reset the phone to factory settings. That was the last thing I wanted to do. My last resort would be the Samsung repair centre. It had terrible reviews on Google so I wasn't very hopeful. 

My afternoon was calmer and quiet, until I got a sudden last minute booking for the only room left - the green room - for a couple wanting to check in that evening at 10.30 pm. Thankfully the room was ready and there wasn't much to do until they came. But it did mean we went to bed very late. Entertainment was a new TV series about Empress Sissi of Austria  called "The Empress"  -remember the one with Romy Schneider? For looks alone, no one can beat Romy Schneider and the German actress, Devrim Lingnau, playing Sissi, is nowhere near as beautiful. The series is a bit silly and exaggerated but no doubt the court of the Austrian Empire at that time would have been impossible for any young girl entering it, much worse than the experiences of Lady Diana, Sarah Ferguson or Queen Bee Meghan Markle (sorry can't stand the woman)

I was up at the unearthly hour of 5 am on Saturday morning. I just couldn't sleep anymore. I felt a whole lot better and if I hadn't had to go into Madrid to the Samsung repair centre, I would have gone on our walk. I was going to go by metro but Eladio preferred to accompany me by car, afraid, he told me later, I might fall on the stairs and escalators! I'm not that old hahahaha. We drove to Callao (near the Puerta del Sol) and were at the Galaxy Store in the Corte Inglés by 10.10 and were received immediately even though my appointment was at 10.40. Gabriel (S) was the technician who took care of my case and was an absolute darling and a complete professional. His diagnosis of the 97% internal storage was a glitch in a software update which can happen. Thus he had to restore it to factory settings which I had hoped to avoid. However, he helped me through the whole process and made sure I left the store with my phone content exactly as it was before, bless him. While we waited for apps to update, etc, he suggested we went  to have a coffee and we did. We went to Starbucks and brought him back a giant latte. He couldn't believe a customer had done that. We chatted a lot through the 2 hour long process and he explained why the centre had such bad reviews - people only come with problems - he has a point. He said he preferred to mend phones in a lab rather than face the public. He was, however really happy to have me as a customer. We are now friends on Instagram. When I left, happy with his wonderful service, I gave him a hug in thanks. He did such a good job, I later left a glowing review in return for such good service. 

So happy to have a full internal storage memory back and my phone settings just as they were after it had to be restored to factory settings yesterday at the Samsung phone repair centre in Madrid. 

I came home feeling good. I could have reset the phone myself  but would have taken a lot longer than him and no doubt would have duplicate files or something missing. He did a superb job but oh my, technology is not as simple as it was. I am 65 and can manage quite well because I have worked in telco, but I imagine that is not the case with most people in their 60's or more. 

I was on time to make our lunch - bitki with loads of veg and it was just the three of us, Eladio, Suzy and I. All of our 8 guests who I imagined had come to use the pool, were out which was a bit of a change.

I realised around lunchtime that it was 1st October, a date which means a lot to me. Eladio told me it was the date of the end of the Spanish Civil War. For me though it is the date my mother died; 1st October 1999, 23 years ago. 23 years ago wow! It is also the date I joined Yoigo, 1st October 2006. She was no longer alive to see my career flourish or many other things. I am still mourning for my father who left us on November 8th last year. During the siesta I had a nightmare where my mother, my brother George and Suzy figured. I don't remember what I dreamed about but I woke up sobbing my heart out. Eladio realised and woke me up. 

With my mother, Elena Von Lieven and my dear brother George - Norwich (University of East Anglia) circa 1977). 

I sobbed for my mother I am sure but possibly more for my dear brother. Mummy died aged 79 which is early but dear George lost his life aged 46, far, far too young. Anyway, let's not dwell on that. 

I had agreed with Oli to join her and the kids in the afternoon at the park called Miguel Angel Blanco in Boadilla. And what a park; a spectacular, modern park which has just been built near their flat. Someone rated it the best park in Madrid. I think it is the best I have ever seen. Olivia goes there most afternoons when Miguel is working. I got Eladio to join me again as we hadn't seen Elliot and Juliet, nor our younger daughter, for a week or so. Perhaps the best attractions are the multiple slides, a bit like helter skelters but designed as if they were for Spider Man. That's what Elliot thinks anyway and he is so into Spider Man hahaha. Here are some pics for you to see.

That's Elliot up there!

The multiple slides of different sizes at the park yesterday. See if you can spot Elliot and Eladio

Elliot loves them although he is as bit scared of some of the higher ones. He went up countless times and we had to be there as he came through the giant metal chute.

Elliot coming down the giant slide

Everything is designed with safety for children in mind and even the floor is made of cork. It's perfect for Juliet to crawl on. While Elliot was on the slides, Eladio took care of Juliet. 

Eladio with Juliet yesterday at the park

Obviously the attractions are for children, not for adults, but that didn't stop me going on a big round swing with Elliot which I found lots of fun. Elliot wanted to be pushed hard; not me. I got a bit dizzy hahahaha. Here is one of me with Elliot and Juliet. It's a pity you can't see her face.

With my babies on a big swing yesterday at the park - what fun. 

We spent a couple of hours having fun with our grandchildren at the park until it was time to leave - around 7.30 - to go home for dinner. We will see Olivia and the babies for lunch today and I am in the throes of making a big "cocido madrileño" (chickpea stew of sorts). 

The weather was so mild we had dinner outside. There were no signs of our guests who were all out. That night we watched the film, The Guard of Auschwitz on Amazon Prime . It is supposedly based on a true story about an SS officer, an architect tasked with building a more modern gas chamber. He was a fervent follower of Hitler until he faced this task which he could not stomach. I have done a quick Google search to find out how true the story is and couldn't come up with anything. We couldn't stomach much of the film either as it was just too cruel. Horrible. 

Thankfully though I slept quite well and was awake this morning at 6.15. Right now my guests are all asleep, lunch is on the hob and as soon as I am ready, I shall go on my morning walk with Eladio and Pippa.

Cheers my friends then, until next Sunday.

God bless you all,

Masha