A postcard from my mother to Olivia, my new Samsung Galaxy S25+, to Santa Pola for the week with Suzy, work and play, happy moments and places and other stories of this week.

 Gran Alacant, Sunday 18th May, 2025

 

A happy moment this week in Santa Pola -happy too with the camera on my new phone, the Samsung S25+

Good morning everyone from our pad in Gran Alacant, near Santa Pola where we came on Tuesday with Suzy for a few days. We came for work and for play as you will read.

Last Sunday we were stilll at home The highlight of the day was our morning walk; firstly because it was our first in a while and secondly because it was so beautiful because of all the wild flowers blooming at this time of year. Everything looks so green owing to all the  rain we have had and which is highly unusual for Madrid. I had to take a photo of Eladio surrounded by the flowers to share with you. This is it.

 

Eladio surrounded by some of the wild flowers on our walk last Sunday with Pippa

The grass in the garden had grown so much Eladio had to mow it again and that is a huge job as the plot is 2500m2. I keep urging my husband to get a gardener to do the job but he refuses. Meanwhile, Suzy did a big job of making her room which used to be Oli's, more hers, something her sister wouldn't like. But, of course she had to do it. Gone forever is the poster of Audrey Hepburn. But found was a lovely post card from my Mother to Olivia dated 7th November 1998. In it she advises Oli to tell Suzy to be nicer to her hahaha. It was such a treasure to find that I have to share it with you in today's blog post. 

Found, a postcard written by my mother to Olivia dated 7th November 1998.

In 1998 my mother was 78, 10 years older than I am today and Olivia was 13. Olivia had written to my mother telling her to get better but sadly she died just under a year after writing to her granddaughter. Our girls adored my mother as she adored them. If only she had met her great grandchildren, Elliot and Juliet. 

On Sunday there was news of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine to be held in Istanbul on 15th May but they didn't come to much as Putin never went, sending some of his minions instead. Trump now says he and Putin have to meet for peace to happen. I wonder....

On Monday morning I weighed myself as I do every fortnight since I started "on the pen" - i.e. taking Mounjaro. I was pleased to see I had lost another 1.3kg. In total I have lost 7.8 kilos which is over a stone and I don't have much more to lose. There is a lot of misconception  about these new weight loss drugs which were first developed for diabetes. There is a lot of news too and new discoveries of other benefits from these new drugs. This week The Times published an article suggesting they hold the key to longer life. It was the leading article in Tuesday's edition which you can read here if you can get past the paywall. In it I read "Research suggests drugs such as Mounjaro could delay age related illnesses and halve heart attack deaths, even in those who are not obese". That's fabulous but how long can you be on it and what happens when you come off it I would like to know?

We were out of the house early that morning to accompany Suzy to see her therapist, something that always makes her anxious as she says she does not believe in the system. But it actually went quite well and hopefully soon she will be going to the outpatient hospital and also to group therapy. She needs all the help she can get. 

While that was happening, the new Pope, Leo XIV, was giving his first press conference. I was very disappointed that it was a press conference where the press couldn't ask questions. I am not happy either to see him wearing a great big gold cross and debating whether to return to the opulent Papal quarters. Today is his inaugural mass which will be attended by world leaders. It seems he likes the pomp which I wish he didn't. They say he is following in the footsteps of Pope Francis but it doesn't seem so when to comes to the trappings. Of course he is his own man and there never will be another Jorge Bergoglio I'm afraid. 

On our way home from the hospital we went for a coffee to Manacor. That was when I decided I needed to get a new mobile phone. My 4 year old Samsung Galaxy S20 FE was running out of juice with battery power at 35% at 11 in the morning.  So off I went to El Corte Inglés and invested in the Samsung Galaxy S25+. I chose the new Samsung Galaxy because of the capacity (512gigas) and long life battery. In the afternoon I had a new toy to play with and so far I am delighted with it. I specially love the camera but the best thing is the battery lasts a whole day and I am an intensive user. I am now the proud owner of a new iPad and a new mobile phone. When I worked in the industry all my phones came free. Maybe I should have appreciated that more at the time.

Tuesday was the day we set off but first I had a routine appointment with the dermatologist in Pozuelo which meant we couldn't leave until about 11.30. The car was full with most of the space taken up by a 50 inch TV we got free from Movistar. It's a JVC, so not great but will do nicely here.  It was to be Suzy's first time back since she left in October to come and live with us so I knew she would be facing a lot of demons. But we had a nice lunch in the  cafeteria of the Parador near Albacete and a smooth drive here. While having lunch I took one of my first pictures on my new phone. I tried the portrait mode on Eladio and this was the result.

 

One of the first photos I took with my new phone - the Samsung Galaxy S25+

We got here to find out the lift was not working after the blackout on 28th April last. It was the same with internet which was a problem of course. 

I woke up to rain on Wednesday and wondered how to fix the internet which we shared with our neighbour Lucy. A techie friend of hers had set it up a few years ago but he wasnt' here to fix it. In any case it was unstable and I was determined to get our own internet which I did in a record 2 days. I found a local fiber operator called Fibernet. They had an offer of 600mb at 20 euros a month and could come on Thursday morning at 7 am to install it. I was a bit wary of such a good price and the offer to come at 7 in the morning the next day. But they did and a 9 am it was working. Brilliant!

I had more work scheduled that morning. An authorised electrician was coming to inspect our electric installation as we need more capacity for all the new stuff we have bought; air con, electric water heater, etc, etc. He came and we found out our installation was about 40 years old and the whole apartment needs rewiring. We got the estimate the next day and it's expensive but absolutely needs doing. They will do the job on Wednesday in our absence. So you see our time in Santa Pola was divided between work and play. After his visit, we were able to enjoy the rest of the morning and went to have coffee by the beach in Santa Pola, near ther port. I got Suzy to take pictures of us by the tourist sign. This is one of them.

 

A silly picture in Santa Pola on Wednesday

We then went to Lidl to get a few items to top up on provisions and had a quiet lunch and a very relaxing afternoon. The weather was so so, but got better as the week progressed.

Thursday 15th was the anniversary of the passing away of my dear brother George who died of malanoma aged 46 in 2001. He is forever in my heart. Bless you George. I think of you often and miss you. Life was cruel to you and that hurts. 

15th May is a holiday in Madrid in honour of the city's patron saint, San Isidro. Our grandchildren were dressed up for the occasion in the traditional "chulapo" costumes. Women wear embroidered shawls, dresses with polka dots and men wear checked caps and waistcoats. Chulapo apparently means people from the popular classes or probably working class. And here are Elliot and Juliet dressed so. 

 

Juliet and Elliot dressed up for San Isidro on 15th May which is a holiday in Madrid

After the internet installers had left, we went to print out the QR code for guests coming and then drove down to the beach to have coffee at La Milla on the promenade. That was one of my happy moments of the week. I think you can see it from my face in this week's feature photo. Here is another one.

 

A happy moment, coffee on Thursday at La Milla by our beach

It was bliss to be in the sun by the beach and I took more photos as we left La Milla. I particularly like this one of Eladio with Pippa who he is holding a bit dangerously, hahaha.

 

By our beach on Thursday, another great photo taken with my new phone.

It was the perfect moment for a walk on the beach while the sun was out. We walked to the very end, to what I call "our rock", one of my happy places in this world. Whilst there we ordered fuel for the boiler at home - there is no rest for the wicked hahaha. On our way back it began to rain which is highly unusual for this area. It wasn't very pleasant but thankfully it wasn't cold. We came home to dry off and to wash Pippa who was covered in sand, hahaha.

Friday came and the weather was much better with the temperature rising to 24ºc. We did a bit of shopping and went for coffee to La Milla again. This time our walk on the beach was more pleasant and I got a photo by our rock to share with you. 

 

On our rock, one of my happy places

Ah and here is one of the beach which was probably full of "madrileños" enjoying their "puente" or bank holiday.

 

Our beach on Friday morning

I had a quiet afternoon until I had to ring Booking because of a glitch on their Extranet. That took me over an hour. Gosh Booking is so much more difficult to navigate than Airbnb for hosts. I will not bore you with the details. I rewarded myself afterwards with wine and pistachios on our terrace, another of my happy places. This is the view after the large tree was felled. Finally we can see a bit more of the sea and the pool.

 

The view of our garden, the pool and the sea from our terrace, another of my happy places

Wine and pistachios with my husband always make for happy moments too. 

Just before dinner, I took the first of my last 4 jabs of Mounjaro which I am going to space out now, taking one every fortnight instead of every week, so as to wean myself off the drug slowly. Apparently, you can't do cold turkey. 

Saturday came all too quickly and it was another sunny day. Suzy did her own thing and walked down tot the beach while we went to the weekly market in Santa Pola to stock up on fruit and  veg to take home.  I love that place too. We bought huge oranges, mandarins, strawberries, cherries, apricots, mango, mini melons, lettuce, amazing tomatoes, lettuce, broccoli and I can't remember what else. To remember the moment I took a photo of Eladio by the stall where we got the oranges.

 

At the weekly market in Santa Pola yesterday

Once we had bought all we could carry to the car, we drove out of the town towards the old coastal road. We parked at the beginning of it and walked along another happy place of mine, a promenade by the sea which leads to a bar called Ca Pacorro where we often go for coffee. I forget to take a photo I'm afraid. At around 1 pm we drove to pick up Suzy and come home to have lunch. 

The afternoon was quiet and I took the time to write most of this week's blog post which I hope you don't find boring as not much has happened really this week.

And today, Sunday, we are driving home. Next week will be quite exciting as on Thursday 22nd May, Olivia turns 40 which I can't quite believe.  

So that's it from me for this week. Wishing you all a great Sunday, cheers for now,

Masha.