Sunday, 1st February, 2026
 |
| Lunch in León on Monday with Eladio's siblings and partners |
Good morning again my friends this first day of February. I am very happy to see the end of what has been a rather dismal month of January. It has been cold and miserable and I only hope we get better weather in February.
Last Sunday, at least, was a sunny day. Elliot had a race that day and came second in his group. Well done my dear boy. His father, Miguel, I heard, got quite emotional.
Elliot came second by a millisecond
I rather wish we had been there but Oli never told us. Later Suzy and I commented on how sporty Elliot is and how neither Eladio nor I brought Suzy and Oli up to be sporty. As Suzy said, it's a bit late now. Oh dear.
We were pretty much alone that day as Suzy was out working and had lunch with Oli and Elenita. I had a nightmare during my siesta and nearly missed my weekly call with Amanda. She more or less woke me up which was a good thing. A good thing came out of our call too. We had planned to take Andy and Amanda to Seville and Doñana in May when I was with them in December. The next day I booked an apartment for 4 nights in Seville and rooms at the Parador de Mazagón for 3 nights and Amanda booked the flights. That will be something lovely to look forward to. Our friends are very into nature and birds and keen to visit Doñana, Spain's biggest nature reserve and the biggest wetland in Europe I think.
We also spoke about a reunion with our BGS pals from the early 70's after a chat earlier this month with Mark. We hope to meet up in Yorkshire in June. Wouldn't that be wonderful and something else to look forward to? I hope it works out.
Monday came, the day we were going to León and back in the day. Eladio and I had to meet all his siblings and their partners at a Notary. It was to finalise getting deeds for all our houses and plots of land in Montrondo. Once it was just a farm owned by their parents and I don't even think they had deeds for that. Big thanks to Eladio's sister Pili who has been working on this for more than a year and it was very complicated as I would learn at the Notary.
I was up at the unearthly hour of 5.40 and we left the house at 8.30. It was a wet and cold day and would rain throughout. It even snowed in the mountains of Madrid as we passed the long tunnel. Thankfully there was more rain than snow as we do not have winter tyres nor do we have chains. We got to León at around 12, an hour before the appointment. After parking in the Plaza de Santo Domingo we walked up the main street Ordoño II until we found the location. With time on our hands we had coffee at a marvelous cafe called Valkiria. Just before 13 we all met outside and we were quite a crowd; Eladio, the oldest of the 6 siblings with 4 partners. The whole thing took about 2 hours as there were so many documents to produce and identities to check. We were finished by 15h and Pili had booked a table for lunch for all of us at Pico Pico in the old part of the city. It was wonderful to escape the cold and rain and to eat something as we were very hungry. Pico Pico had a great menu of the day and it was an enjoyable lunch. As it's not often the 6 brothers and sisters; Eladio, Toño, Adela, Alejandro, Pili and Isidro, get together, only about once a year in the summer in Montrondo, we took photos. I chose one of them for this week's feature photo. Here is another.
 |
| Lunch in León last Monday |
We had to leave at around 5 as we had quite a long journey home; about 3.5h. It was smooth driving and Eladio is a champ driver so we were home at about 8.30. There were Suzy, Tana and Pippa waiting for us. We skipped dinner and went straight to our bedroom to get ready for bed and watch the news. Eladio was soon asleep. I envy his ability to sleep so fast and so well. I was suffering a bit as I still had (and have) a cold and that day a bit of an earache.
Tuesday 27th was the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitzh-Birkenau and International Holocaust Remembrance Day. That is 81 years ago and I was happy to still see some survivors present although they are dwindling and soon there will be none left. But we must never forget and keep their memories alive. That is what the Remembrance Day is for. I was born 12 years after but WW2 has forever marked me as a person and still does today. I was brought up on stories of the war by my parents and I met many survivors in Bradford where we lived, mainly Polish but also German Jews and being told how so many of them lost their families. That remained with me always. The
Toczeks were our neighbours at 7 Heaton Grove and only recently did I read how Paula's father and twin brother escaped the Holocaust and came to England as Jewish refugees.
It rained all day and we didn't leave the house. In fact we hardly left it all week apart from León on Monday. Suzy said it was like hibernating and it was.
The big news on the international scene that day was what was being called the Mother of all trade deals, a big trade deal between the EU and India. It comes after the recent agreement for a trade deal between the EU and Mercosur. It's a sign of bad relations with Trump's America if we have to look elsewhere for trade. Another sign was Starmer's trip to China this week looking for another deal. Trump's America is in dire trouble. This week was the aftermath of the killing by ICE officers of protester and nurse Alex Pretti in Minnesota. Trump sent his border Tsar who has lukewarmly agreed to deescalate but we have yet to see it. Meanwhile, protests are ongoing in major US cities. The way Trump cracks down on immigration is a warning sign of a fascist state.
Meanwhile in Spain, quite the opposite is happening. That day, our left wing PM Sánchez announced that the approximate 500.000 illegal immigrants living here will be made legal fast. They only have to have been in the country for 5 months. You would think he really cares about the immigrants. He doesn't. It's just a ploy to get his far left partner, Podemos, happy with this move, to agree in exchange to let Catalonia take charge of immigration in the region. That in turn is to make his other partner, the far right separatist party, Junts, happy too. He needs them to be happy in order to vote in his favour when he presents new bills as he does not have a majority government. And that is how he governs. Anyway, it will make the illegal immigrants happy. Nearly 20% of Spain's population which has increased to 50 million, are immigrants. Soon they will be able to vote for Sanchez' socialist party. He knows what he is doing - but not always as we shall see.
Wednesday came and I was quietly reading the news while having breakfast when suddenly it began to snow. Snow is big news in Madrid as it hardly ever makes its presence. IA says it happens about once in 5 years. Storm Kristin brought it apparently. Every day this week we seem to have had a different storm and I can't keep up with the names. Eladio and I watched the snow with pleasure. Tana who is from Paraguay, watched it with elation as it was the first time she had ever seen snow. It began with a few flurries and then snowed heavily for about 2 hours. I caught it on camera of course to share in this blog. Here is a video and a couple of photos.
 |
| Snow on Wednesday! |
It was lovely to enjoy it from the comfort of our warm home but it apparently caused chaos in the city as Madrid is not prepared for snow. They even blocked the A6, the motorway to the North West which we drove on on Monday. If the meeting in Leon had been on Wednesday we wouldn't have been able to go. Fortunately or unfortunately after about 2 hours it was over and soon it disappeared but I loved it while it lasted.
I spent part of my day fighting with Airbnb over a complicated guest who had booked for one person but was bringing another one and didn't want to pay extra. I also enjoyed episode 5 of Season 2 of the Night Manager. Today I shall devour episode 6.
Thursday dawned and the rain continued but not a snowflake in sight. That day I also booked another jolly, 2 nights next week at the Parador in Gredos to celebrate my upcoming birthday with Eladio. That is something to look forward to also. Something else to look forward to will be lunch at De Maria in Majadahonda on St. Valentine's Day this month where I booked a table that day. I love that place.
We went out only on an important errand and I had a coffee out or rather inside at Alverán and then we rushed home to escape the rain and the cold.
That evening a religious funeral was held in Huelva for the 45 victims of the terrible train crash which is still the main news in this country. Our left wing PM Pedro Sánchez did not go which I think is shameful. It was claimed he doesn't go to religious services which is BS. I think he was afraid of being accused by the families of the victims for his part in the crash; i.e. the failure of his government to keep the tracks maintained. The King and Queen went and they did a good job. The government still wants to organise a state funeral but wants it to be non religious. Ridiculous in a former Catholic country. We all know that most of the families of the victims would prefer a mass as they are believers as many people are in Andalusia where they are from. What problem does Sánchez have with that I ask?
On Friday it stopped raining and the sun came out. Whoopee. We went and did the food shopping to fill the fridge and cupboards again. Of note that day I had my first guest from a country called Reunion near Madagascar which belongs to France. Aurelien is a delight and has come for lectures in sports physiotherapy. Oli later asked in jest whether they have many reunions in Reunion. I have no idea.
Sadly one more of the victims of the crash died that day in the Intensive Care Unit in Córdoba, making the death toll rise to 46. Sad!
It was very sad too to hear that it was little Bobby's funeral that day. My heart goes out to his parents, grandparents and family. He will never be forgotten. God bless him.
On a happier note, Oli and family came for dinner as they often do on Fridays. And here is our little minx Juliet in my bed showing me her sweets. Bless her, she gave me her last one which I shall keep for her.
 |
| Juliet in my bed with her sweets when she came yesterday with Oli and family |
I made semi home made pizzas with salad for everyone and a grand time was had by all. I love having them over for meals together. Next Sunday they will be coming for my birthday lunch and I shall be making the customary fish and chips which we all love for birthdays.
When they went, we retired to our room to get ready for bed and watch the news. One big item was about Carlos Alcaraz. This week I have been quietly following his progress at the Australian Open and am very happy about how the 22 year old Spaniard, who is number one, is doing. That day he played against the German Alexander Zverez. It turned out to be the longest semi final in the history of the tournament. Overcoming dreadful cramp, Alczaraz finally won 6-4, 7-6, 6-7, 6-7, 7-5 which took over 5 hours. Interestingly he will meet Djokovic today in the final. The 38 year old and 24 time grand slam winner amazingly beat number two Jannik Sinner in a thrilling match that also went to five sets. Djokovic was heading home but his last two opponents had to retire. Thus he was given another chance and has had a long time to recover. So who will win of the two oldest and youngest players at the tournament? It will be a battle of titans. You all know who I am routing for. May the best man win I should say.
The other news was the new release of Epstein files, more than 3 million pages, 2000 videos and 180.000 images included. That is an awful lot of documents to trawl through. The key revelations are shocking but not unexpected. In the files there are hundreds of mentions of Trump and a terrible allegation of him having raped a 13 year old girl for whom there is a witness. As to Andrew, the former Prince, there are new photos of him. In them he is positioned on all fours over a woman with a leery look on his face. There are mentions of the sexual involvement of Bill Gates, Richard Branson and Elon Musk. This is big and I hope they get their comeuppance. I hope I am right when I include the words watch out Trump and watch out Andrew in my headline. They will probably get away with it but the world now knows. Some of the stuff is heavily redacted but not all and more revelations are to come when those involved finally read and watch everything. Wow what monsters live on this earth.
On Saturday, the last day of January it was our friend Phil's 70't birthday. Wow, that is quite a milestone. He and Kathy will have enjoyed his day I hope. Love to you both and congratulations.
The sun came out again and we went on our only walk of this week but we do hope to go again today. It was a quiet day for us. Good news came yesterday from Venezuela, when the new President, Delcy Rodriguez announced an amnesty law for all political prisoners. That is the one good thing that has come out of Trump's incursion in that country. Let's see how long it takes for the remaining 700 or so people imprisoned by Maduro on trumped up charges of treason. I hope it is soon
Today is Sunday 1st February and yes, it is raining again. So not so sure we will go on our walk.
And that's it for this week from me.
Cheers to you all until next Sunday,
Masha
