The clocks went back, return home from Tarifa and to our routines, another deadly high speed train accident in Spain, Pippa fighting for her life and other stories of the week.

 Madrid, Sunday 1st November, 2026

Reunited with Pippa at the hospital on Friday afternoon 

Good morning from Madrid. What a week it has been!

Our two week road trip ended last Sunday when we returned from Tarifa. The clocks had gone back and I, at least, felt rather disorientated. First we had to get used to it being 2 hours ahead in Morocco when we left Ceuta. Then we had to get used to it being 2 hours behind in Spain when we landed in Tarifa and the next day, when we woke up there the clocks had gone back an hour. I didn't know whether I ws coming or going. After packing, we went in search of breakfast which we found in one of the few local bars open at 7 am. It was in the old town, not far from our lovely hotel Convento.

This was where we had breakfast in Tarifa last Sunday, the day we returned home

We then had to go and get the car which was parked about 1km away and drive it back to the hotel to load it with our luggage. Unknowingly, my husband left one of the bags behind and thank God it was only the one holding my coffee press, tea, coffee and various daily supplements and some cooking equipment and not the bag with all our devices. Needless to say, I had to replace it all this week on Amazon.

We had a long drive ahead of us; more than 700km and although the sat-nav insisted on taking us through Mérida, we changed that to going via Córdoba which is all motorway. We only stopped for petrol and then lunch at Despañaperros, a dramatic river gorge that separates Andalucia in the province of Jaen from the next region; Castilla La Mancha.

We were home by 6.30 when it had just turned dark. That's the part I hate about putting the clocks back as they make it darker in the evenings. And there was sweet Pippa to greet us and, of course, Tana, without whom, we could not run our small rental business. Oh how lovely to be reunited with our dear 11 year old -soon to be 12 - miniature chocolate dachshund. She looked so well, none of us could envisage she would suddenly be at death's door on Friday this week. Oh what a scare she has given us. Suzy was not here but we would see her the next day. She told me later that now she has her life back. Indeed she does.

It took a while to unpack and settle in although that took a little longer. I met some of our guests, notably Keith and his son Finn from Galway, Ireland. What great people and how nice to be able to speak my native tongue to them all week. I love the Irish and the lilt in their accent too. I also met two lovely Peruvians, a mother and her daughter who were very happy with our place. 

Before going to bed we gave Pippa a much needed bath and I brushed her teeth. It was early to bed and how lovely to sleep in our own bed, for me, at least, the most comfortable in the world. And it was good to be the three of us in the bed too. Pippa had slept on Tana's floor but far prefers our comfortable mattress and being with us. 

We watched the news and were horrified by the violent protests in Barcelona, mimicking those in Paris and other cities. It seems to me that the protesters were out to enjoy being violent, ransack and loot shops and attack the police with no political motive whatsoever. I read later there is a horrible group called Blocus, among others,  who are hell bent on causing violence and disruption and wrecking whatever is in their sight. This is street terrorism at its worst and has to be stopped. It happened in other cities this week such as in Bilbao where sympathiers of the ETA terrorist group joined in the violence. There may be more to come as Blocus (led by a young Moroccan man, at least here in Spain)  threatened to carry out similar attacks on Halloween last night.  These street attacks have no room in the Spain I know and I am appalled at what is happening. Thankfully, the Spanish police thwarted all attempts of violence. However, similar protests went ahead in France and in Germany where shops were looted. This has to stop.

Monday dawned and I must have been so exhausted, I actually slept a whole 8 hours. That hardly ever happens but my body must have been in dire need. That morning I met my French guests, Sophie and her husband from Marseilles who had been here before but always in our absence.  It was a sunny morning and the weather has been unbeatable this week, considering it is now the beginning of November. 

There was lots of news that morning. Lula had won the elections in Brazil against Bolsonaro junior who first disputed the results and then promptly left the country for the USA worried he might be put in jail for money laundering or similar. The opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Maria Corina Machado finally returned to Venezuela with the help of Trump I suppose. Real Madrid beat Barcelona in the latest "clásico" and seem to be doing better under Mourinho who has been their coach on and off over the years. In Serbia the long serving and authoritarian Alexsandar Vucic, was ousted by a student movement. So there is hope for Serbia and maybe this country can finally join the EU. I would love the UK to rejoin and amazingly there is talk about it. Finally Alex Burnham is addressing the elephant in the room. There were elections in Israel too but although Netanyahu hasn't gained the majority, whoever forms the government won't change things and the people of Gaza will continue to suffer. A nasty piece of news I read this week is that Meghan Markle's father is suspected to be a sex offender of the grossest kind. 

But for us, life was back to normal as were our routines.  We went to have coffee at Alverán and then did the shopping as the cupboards were pretty bare. As Suzy says, there is always food in the house when we are at home.

Doing the shopping on Monday

We also took the car for a good wash. Here is our lovely new T-Roc in the car wash.

Washing our car on Monday which got so dirty on the road trip

Life has got very sophisticated even for washing your car. In the old days children would wash their parents' car and get paid for it as an "odd job". That wasn't my case as my parents never had a car.

Tana made our lunch and it was wonderful not to have to make it, serve it, or wash up afterwards. It was siesta time in the afternoon and at 5.30 my time, Amanda and I had our weekly Facetime call which we didn't interrupt during our road trip. In any case, it was good to catch up again. 

Oli, Miguel and the kids came for dinner that day. We hadn't seen them since before we left so it was good to be reunited. We served them soup and "perushki" (little Russian flaky meat pies), made by Tana to my mother's trusted recipe. We will see them again tomorrow which is a holiday for All Saints and both Miguel and Olivia work. I look forward to that.

Tuesday saw us resume our walks with Pippa who I am sure had missed them.  Knowing what we knew later, maybe we shouldn't have taken her. 

Suzy went into town to get hair extensions and she completely changed her look. She is happy with it but says the plait underneath itches a lot. She is happy to have long hair again which I only remember her having as a teenager and never so long.

Suzy's new look with hair extensions

She went in with red hair and came out with black hair when her real hair colour is brunette.  I also went to the hairdresser but did not get a new look. I have had the same look for years and years. I needed to dye the roots and give it a good cut. It was while I was at the hairdresser that I felt the beginnings of cystitis once again, or what they call dysuria with ever more frequent visits to the small room all the time. So had the bacteria come back again? All we could do was to go to A&E and report the issue. I took the latest culture with me and told them I had had 4 different types of antibiotics since 22nd September and that every time I finish the bout the dysuria comes back. The guy who eventually saw me said "we are killing the bacteria but don't know what is causing it". I suppose that is it. In any case, he prescribed more antibiotics which I am on now for 10 days. I had seen a urologist before our road trip and had an ultrasound on my bladder and kidneys this week to rule out a possible cause which would be urine retention which thankfully I do not have. I am seeing the urologist on 5th November so let's see what he has to say as this is a bloody awful problem I could do without.

I was back on time to meet and greet a new guest, Lucía, have a cursory dinner and fall into bed. 

Wednesday came and I was up at the crack of dawn, at 5.45 having only slept about 4 hours thanks to the dysuria and the discomfort. I was cheered up though when I got on the scales for the first time in a month and during my last week on Mounjaro. It must have helped as despite all the Moroccan food, including nougat and baklava, I had actually lost more weight. The scales told me I weighed 58.7kg (9.3 stone), down from 59.6 the last time. I have lost a total of 7.9kg (1.2st), down from 66.6 in May when I began my second journey on Mounjaro. I was very pleased and sought out some old but small size trousers which I can now wear with a belt!! That means my waist is smaller too. I was very happy with this piece of news. 

I was terribly upset though when I learned of a new high speed train accident that happened that morning at around 8.30 am. 69 people died when one high speed train on the way to Seville from Madrid crashed into another high speed train on the same side of the track but not moving. It happened in Urda in the province of Toledo. How on earth could this happen in 2026 with the safety systems in place? I quote The Economist here when I say "Spain's high-speed network, the world's largest after China, was once a source of national pride. Now Spaniards are in shock". Indeed we are. So what are the causes? Multiple I should say and mostly due to a lack of maintenance.  However the government are laying the blame on one poor controller who gave the order for the first train to continue at normal speed after the safety system called LZB had shut down and all 6 trains in the area had halted. The LZB signalling system is obsolete and was put in place in 1992 with Spain's first high speed network between Madrid and Seville. The Government, or rather the Minister of Transport, Oscar Puente, was in charge of changing it to a much more modern system for which they obtained funds from the EU. They told the latter the new system was in place but it wasn't. So first the signalling system crashed but then the backup system called ASFA also failed and was blind to the fact there was another train 25km away. The second train, an Iryo, was not able to restart and was stalled on the track when the controller gave permission for the first train, a Renfe train, to continue at normal speed and it crashed into the other train. And all this is the fault of one man? The fault is of a system that allows for human error. The country is in shock. With general elections coming up, this is not good news for Pedro Sánchez or Oscar Puente who should have resigned when the previous crash happened in January killing 46 people on that same track but for different reasons. This government has squandered money and has failed to keep in perfect state its railway system, until now, one of the best in the world. You can understand crashes like this happening in a third world country but not in Spain in 2026. What else can I say? I am appalled and embarrassed too. And I will not be travelling on a train here until it is safe to do so. Right now it isn't.

I woke up on Thursday after a better night's sleep. But Pippa didn't. As always, I was up early and picked her up off the bed and walked out and down the stairs to the kitchen. I realised she was stuck on the stairs so picked her up and took her down. I then took her outside and realised she could not put her weight on her back paws. So I put her in her bed in the kitchen and when she didn't want to eat or drinkI realised there was something very wrong. Could it be a pinched nerve or could it be IVDD, a disc problem common in dachshunds and which would require an operation.  I couldn't get an appointment with her vet until 6 in the evening. Suzy came with me and her vet, Lola, was in doubt too. She gave her an anti inflammatory injection and pain killer and said to come back on Friday if she wasn't better. She also gave us the names of the centres she recommends for IVDD surgery. I took her home with great care and lay her on the floor on her blanket and saw she was very groggy and poorly, probably from the injections. 

Friday came and she looked bad. Her eyes were glassy too and she wouldn't touch her food. I rang the Vet Hospital (UAX) not too far from here and got an appointment with the neurology department at 11 am, almost sure she had IVDD. We took her in her bed which we put onto the back seat of the car so as not to lift her. 

Pippa at the Vet  Hospital on Friday morning. 

Soon we were called in by a specialist vet called Federica who is Italian and seemed very professional. She is used to dogs with disc issues and as soon as she put Pippa on the floor she ruled it out. She noticed it wasn't just her back paws that were paralysed but also the front paws and her face too. Dear Pippa could not blink or close her eyes. She concluded almost without doubt that Pippa had a horrible disease I had never heard of called "Polyradiculoneuritis". In humans it is called Guillain-Barres syndrome and in dogs ACS or Coonhound Paralysis. She explained it is an auto immune disease which attacks the nerves and muscles. The immediate worry was that her diaphragm would not work because of the paralysis and she would stop breathing. Oh God, I broke down crying while sitting on the floor next to Pippa and asked Federica if my dog was going to die. She said there was a 50% chance. Meanwhile, they did a lot of tests to rule out anything else. Pippa, of course had to be admitted and we left to go home while she was fighting for her life. I felt distraught.  However, 2 or 3 hours later Federica rang me with relatively good news. Pippa had tested positive for Hypothyroid Polyneuropathy in the blood test results and explained that both diseases have very similar symptoms of paralysis. That didn't mean she was out of the woods and they needed to see if she would respond to her first dose of levothyroxine. We were told she could still stop breathing and I received an email asking for consent to intubate and put her on a ventilator if this happened. Oh my God!  As this was no longer a neurological problem but  an underactive thyroid they changed vets and one called Sara rang me with the latest news.  I wanted to know why this hadn't been detected by Federica and was told it only came out in the blood test. In any case I got a complicated explanation of her condition which I hardly understood. 

A while later, at around 5 pm, Suzy and I were going to see Pippa during visiting times and would meet her new vet. When we finally saw them both, we were given good news. Pippa was responding to the medication and while with us she finally ate something and with gusto. She was delighted to see us but still paralysed of course. 

Reunited with Pippa on Friday evening.

We were told her prognosis was guarded but to me she looked a whole lot better. We went again yesterday and were told she had recovered the feeling in her back paws although she still couldn't blink. She now has conjunctivitis and her eyes look bad but that is not dangerous. She had eaten again and we were told she would be discharged today. However, she will need a lot of care, with the eye drops and medication, being fed, etc and moved every couple of hours. She will also need rehabilitation at home and at the hospital. They don't know how long it will take for her to walk again but she is on the road to recovery. To think we almost lost her. She is so much part of the family I don't want to imagine her leaving us. We love her so much as you probably all know.

On Saturday we were on our own. I hardly saw our guests. I did some cooking in the early morning and made vegetable soup and a chickpea stew for my husband who loves spoon food. We also went out to do more shopping as, believe it or not, we were running out of fresh food. The rest of the morning was spent visiting Pippa and after lunch we had a siesta.

Eladio reunited with Pippa yesterday 

Well, I only rested. At around 5 I had a lovely long video call with my friend Kathy and it was great to catch up on her and Phil's news. I do wish we saw each other more often. 

Somewhat relieved about Pippa's condition, I slept better last night. Yesterday was Halloween which I, of course, completely ignored as I hate it.

Today is Sunday and she is coming home. We will have a quiet day for sure.

That is it from me for now this week. I hope I haven't bored you with my story about Pippa. Other people's kids and pets don't usually interest anyone, so I am sorry if I have.

Hopefully, next week I will have more uplifting news for you all.

Cheers till then, all the best, Masha