The war with Iran continues, Trump has his eyes on Cuba, time with Elliot and Juliet, an old photo turned into a video with AI - scary and other stories of the week.

 Madrid, Sunday 22nd March, 2026

Not a very happy face this week

Good morning all. 

It has been a stressful week as you will read. On the world scene, the war with Iran continues into its third week and is not looking good. Trump can see no way of unblocking the Strait of Hormuz to let ships sail which in turn decreases the amount of oil for the world. I honestly think Trump has bitten off more than he can chew and that this will turn into another war of attrition. Did he really need to attack Iran together with Israel?  Now he is talking of boots on the ground, Israel is bombing gas infrastructure and any leader they can find and Iran in turn is bombing energy infrastructure in the Gulf states and US bases. The UK, meanwhile, has given permission to the US to use British military bases for strikes against Iranian missile sites and to protect international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Thankfully, so far no country has agreed to help Trump in that task directly. Why would they? It's not their war and it would be sending naval personnel straight to their death. This morning I read he has now threatened Iran with obliterating Iran's power plants if the Strait of Hormuz is not opened within the next 48 hours. Would he really do that?

Life continued somewhat peacefully on the home front for the first half of the week. Last Sunday we had guests leaving and changing rooms which kept Tana busy. We would not be able to run this little business without her. We went on our walk in the sun and had churros which sort of defeated the object and we did that again today as you will read later. 

We had Olivia and the kids for dinner which is always a bit like feeding time at the zoo at their age, hahahaha. She needed our help this week as Miguel was sent to work in Valencia covering the "Fallas" festival. If you haven't heard of it, it's a huge festival that displays and then burns giant sculptures called "fallas" (also ninots). The fiesta goes on for a full week and if you like crowds and loud bangers then it might be your thing. It is not mine. 

Monday came and it was another sunny day. The workers supposed to be replacing the ground floor parquet came to inspect it and informed us they would come back to do the work on Wednesday. They also said the job would be finished in one day. It wasn't. By Friday they hadn't finished which had me worried stiff about guests coming and I had to change everyone's rooms. Hopefully they will finish the job tomorrow. 

While they came to inspect the floor, Eladio went off to renew his driving licence which involves a test of eyesight and dexterity. Once you get to 80 they only renew it yearly. I have to do mine next February and it will only be for 2 years. For everyone else under 65 the renewal is for 10 years. So I call this age discrimination.  We were both worried he might not pass owing to the macula degeneration he suffers but I am very happy to announce that he did pass. I dread the moment his licence is not renewed. He would be housebound and reliant on me to go anywhere. Not fair.

The highlight of Monday was my weekly Facetime call with my dear friend Amanda. We discussed our upcoming trips together and family news. We also expressed our frustration with Trump's warmongering. He drives us bonkers. He is now threatening Cuba. He went as far as to say it would be a "great honour to take Cuba". 

I am sure Eladio's cousins, Lecinia and Rosa who live in Havana are appalled. They are, as most of the population is, fierce supporters of the Cuban communist regime. Lecinia and Rosa are the daughters of Roche whose father Constante was Eladio's grandmother's brother. Constante left Montrondo in around 1920 and never returned. Roche and Rosa have been to Spain but Lecinia, a retired dentist, has never been here.. Now that she no longer has to care for her elderly parents, she is free to come. Both sisters have a Spanish passport so that is not the issue. I just wonder if and when she comes, what she will think of how we live in Spain compared to Cuba. It will be a huge cultural shock. When Roche came he refused to visit the centre of Madrid, only wanting to see Montrondo and whatever he saw here he refused to let it interfere with his deep rooted communist beliefs. Rosa tells me no oil has entered Cuba since Venezuela fell. She blames Trump and the US but is blinkered when it comes to recognising that they live under a dictatorship and maybe Cuba's situation is the fault of the their longstanding revolution which has only led to poverty.  I will always remember our visit to Cuba in January 2017 to attend Miguel and Claudia's wedding. While we were there we visited Roche's home and met Lecinia for the first time. Here are the two sisters in a photo I took of them at the wedding of my nephew Miguel.

Eladio's Cuban cousins Lecinia and Rosa, photo taken at my nephew Miguel's wedding to a Cuban girl in Havana in January 2017, 9 years ago. 

If life in Cuba looked very difficult in 2017 I dread to think what it is like today. Shortages doesn't even begin to describe the dire situation of the country, so near yet so far from the USA:

Tuesday dawned and it was another sunny day. I knew something was up with Suzy although she masks it very well. We had to look after the kids in the afternoon, pick them up from school and take Elliot to athletics. We took Juliet to the park afterwards and were later joined by Oli who had picked up Elliot after her French lessons which she takes so seriously.  Here is a quick photo I took of Juliet about to go on the zip line. There were no zip lines when I was young and I wonder if I would have been as daring as Juliet when I was 4. She shows a lot of courage.

Juliet at the park on Tuesday afternoon getting on the zip line. 

They stayed for dinner and it was during dinner that Miguel sent me a video version of the photo on my Whatsapp profile. It's a lovely photo of the girls when they were about 6 and 7 or 7 and 8. They used to love their evening bottle of milk and would drink it sitting on the kitchen top. Let me share it with you.

An old photo of the girls.

And here is the video that Miguel, my son-in-law, turned it into using Artificial Intelligence. 

The video made with AI

It's quite scary really as these days it is nearly impossible to know what is original and what is fake. In any case I did find it a lot of fun and watched it over and over again. When the girls were drinking their milk with Ginger our cat next to them, none of us could envisage such a thing as Artificial Intelligence. I use AI mode on Google for nearly everything these days and if I am not satisfied with the result I tell the robot what I need; be that summarise the text, send me the links, a photo, etc. It is quite incredible. At the same time AI is not infallible and still makes mistakes. So I have to watch out and be discerning. Soon it will probably be perfect. As my friend who invented the AI robot, Handled, who posts this blog here, says, if I wanted Handled to actually write my blog, it could. But I don't want that do I? Not me but many others do I am sure. Scary as I say.

Wednesday dawned. Just as the floor men came, Suzy had such a crisis, even she agreed I should ring the emergency services which is what I did. She has been in hospital since then and doesn't want to see us, yet. We are beside ourselves but I won't go into any detail as it's not fair to her. I was worried too she would lose her job so I did all I could to get a sick note sent to her employers who have been very understanding. Hopefully next week she will be more stable and able to come home. Meanwhile we are destroyed but trying to muddle on.

I don't know how I did it but I managed to make dinner for the kids that night but even they couldn't cheer me up.

Thursday 19th March was Father's Day in Spain but poor Eladio didn't get to celebrate it. We were not in the mood. The floor hadn't been finished and I had guests coming which put my nerves on edge. 

Once again in the afternoon we had to pick up the kids, take Elliot to athletics after which we went to the park again, the best place for them to be. Eladio had to leave an hour later to pick Elliot up as Oli was otherwise engaged that night as an Emcee for a United Nations World Tourism Organisation event in the city. She was not in the mood of course but had to do it. Thus we had the kids until very late that night. They ate well and then we bathed them and bath time went on forever so as to kill the time. We dressed them in old pyjamas  which are now too small and then deposited them on our bed. I put Peppa Pig on so they wouldn't play up. Elliot was asleep by the time his mother came but she later told me Juliet was full of beans and up until past 11 pm. Oh what energy she has.

Friday was uphill too. I had a constant lump in my throat which I still have. But I cannot break down. What good would that do? Yet how can I be happy when my daughter is angry, isolated, lonely and depressed? I can't. But I have to carry on just the way my father used to and my mother. In the afternoon we went to see her during visiting hours. I knew she didn't want to see us but we had to be there. We came home with a heavy heart and to add insult to injury got lost on the way.

Saturday 21st March marked the first day of spring. On our walk I suggested to Eladio we go and have chocolate and churros to improve my mood at least. Later Oli and the kids joined us which made it fun. Here is little Elliot drawing while his  grandfather who he still calls Booboo (sometimes), looks on. 

Elliot drawing while Eladio looks on at the cafe yesterday

It was quite a pick me up to have their company. Oli was going out to lunch and leaving the kids with her babysitter, Sophie. We walked home quietly and enjoyed lunch on our own served to us by dear Tana.

Once again we went to see Suzy in the afternoon and once again we came back without seeing her. She will come round I am sure but it will take time. My heart goes out to her.

It was lovely to talk to Phil and Kath, our friends from Yorkshire, in the early evening. They have just come back from a wonderful trip to Costa Rica. It must be beautiful but is not somewhere I want to go as I once had to bail Suzy out. We had a lovely heart to heart. It's at times like this that one needs friends. Thank you Kathy and Phil. 

And today is Sunday and we have no plans. Even if we had we can't go anywhere at the moment. The sun will be out again today which always brightens my mood. 

So my friends, that's it for this week. Not a good one. Life is full of ups and downs and I should be used to it by now, I suppose. 

Anyway, cheers till next week,

Masha