Women outnumber men in Spain’s new government, a farewell dinner, Suzy left for Bali, off to Italy and other stories.

Italy, Sunday 10^th June  2018

Farewell dinner for Suzy on Wednesday night at Oli and Miguel's flat

Good morning all. 

Well how lovely to be writing and publishing this week's post from Italy. It's a country I have been to many times over the years and one I feel totally at home in. But it's a long time since I visited. If I remember rightly, my last trip here was to Rome in 2005. Spain and Italy have very similar cultures and Italian is not too difficult to understand if you know Spanish. I once did a short course in Italian many years ago so know some basic words and have enjoyed trying to speak it while I am here.

But let me rewind and return to where I left off last Sunday when Suzy was still with us. After finishing my blog, I had coffee with my Airbnb guests from Switzerland who you will remember were British and Spanish - delightful people. That morning Zena cooked and made her standard Russian/IUkranian dish - gloubsy - (stuffed cabbage rolls). The girls had been out on the tiles or rather Suzy had (until 7 in the morning) and we all had lunch together. We spent the afternoon together and I was very conscious that time was running out with Suzy and that soon she would be leaving.

Monday dawned and there was terrible news from the small central American country of Guatemala. The "Fuego" volcano erupted. Dantesque scenes of towns completely destroyed by boiling hot lava and people covered in ash after the horrific eruption when "torrents of super heated rock, ash and mud destroyed villages". The death toll is over 200 with many people missing. The picture of this poor man completely covered in ash seems to sum up the total disaster the volcano caused and is still causing.

Guatemala volcano

We are so lucky in Spain that we have no volcanoes, no tsunamis, or hurricanes or other natural disasters. Well, we have had the odd earthquake but nothing on the scale of the disastrous ones that happen in other countries. 

It was another cool day in Madrid. I saw my Airbnb guests off. Actually we sat at the table on the kitchen patio over a cup of coffee together. Magda and her partner Santiago and their boss Roger live in Neufchatel and are in the loudspeaker business big time. I think I told you last week that their equipment is used by the Bolshoi ballet! After signing my all important visitor book they left but I know they will be back in September. I love having repeat guests. Then I had to get down to work. I also had to cook and that day made vegetable soup and meat loaf. As I got the meat loaf out of the oven, it slipped out of my hands and on to the floor. Panic stations. I shooed the dogs out and got down on my hands and knees and scooped it all up and put it back in the baking tray and then into the oven. It didn't look great but tasted very good. Thankfully it had fallen on a clean floor haha. 

Monday was generally a very quiet day. I didn't see much of Suzy who was seeing countless friends that day. We are always on the bottom of her bucket list hahaha.  After an aborted walk in strong winds and rain, we came home to have  a frugal dinner and our day ended like it usually does, watching the TV from our bed; first the news and then our latest series. We were completely hooked to the Spanish series "Tiempos de Guerra" (War times) and binge watched it that night till nearly 1 in the morning. 

The next morning I was up as usual at 6 having only slept 5 hours. I think it's perfectly understandable then that I do need my daily nap after lunch, the wonderful Spanish siesta. 

As usual I read the news over my early morning breakfast on Tuesday as I do every day. This week in Spain has been all about the formation of the new Socialist government headed up by our new Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez (the handsome haha). I was no great fan of his but he has won me over this week after appointing so many women in his cabinet. The names were leaked gradually and very soon it was not only parity in the cabinet between men and women that we were to see but an actual majority of women. So hooray from me and from most women in Spain I imagine. 

Tuesday was not a good day for me. I spent the morning with Suzy doing errands but could feel what I thought might be cystitis coming on. For the record I've never had it before but I know how awful it is because my daughters suffered from it a lot in their teens. Then the second blow came via an email from Alitalia to inform me that my flight on Friday to Milan was cancelled. I immediately rang Edreams where I bought my ticket and they told me it wasn't cancelled. Who was I to believe? A few hours later while I was doubling over the loo in agony with full blown cystitis, I managed to take a quick look at Alitalia's Twitter and saw that my flight had been cancelled due to a strike on Friday. OMG what was I to do? It was already late by then and impossible to get through to Alitalia. Thankfully the next morning we sorted it out and I was able to get on another flight but one day earlier, on Thursday. As to the cystitis, Eladio, God bless him, went to the chemist to get me some Monurol (antibiotic) which soon took effect and I was better by the morning. For the record I wouldn't wish cystitis on my worst enemy hahaha. 

So, yes, I woke up on Wednesday feeling better. I spent a good part of the morning sorting out my flight situation, buying new train tickets from Milan to Voghera (near Pavia), packing and trying to leave everything in order before going off. Thus I found myself packing while Suzy was doing hers for Bali. In between we sorted out her CV getting it up to date, checking her flights too. I had lots of work calls too so all in all the morning was rather stressful. Lunch would just have to be leftovers again. Thankfully there were plenty of them after all my cooking at the weekend. 

The sun came out in the afternoon and Eladio and I were able to take the dogs for their walk. We came home to quickly get dressed to go out as we were going to Oli's house for dinner. Suzy was to sleep there on her last night in Spain as it's much nearer the airport and she had an early morning flight. 

This was Suzy getting out of the car with her huge rucksack and Eladio helping. I think it was then that I began to realise just how imminent my darling daughter's departure was. Up till then I hadn't really taken in that she has gone with a one way ticket and who knows when she will be back. Of course she will be back for Christmas as we cannot envisage it without her. Even so it's a long time. Then there's the worry of how she's going to make a life out there starting from scratch in a very different country and culture. She told me she was going out there because she wants to live a simpler life. I can understand that after 5 years in stressful London. Good luck darling. We are always here for you. 

Suzy and her father with her great big rucksack the night before she left for Bali

But we still had a few hours to be with her before we had to say goodbye. Oli and Miguel had invited us all for a farewell dinner. We got there early so as to spend as much time together as possible and also to help Oli and Miguel make dinner which was great fun. And here we are around the table on Suzy's last night, a bitter sweet end to her stay in Spain after leaving London.

A selfie at the farewell dinner

We had a lot to talk about at dinner, including the news of the formation of Spain's new socialist government. On Friday Pedro Sánchez formally announced all the names of his new cabinet members. There are to be 11 women out of the 17 members with women totally outnumbering the men. I read later that the Spanish government now has the highest percentage of women in the world. That's such great news. He's also some appointed some brilliant people such as Pedro Duque, Spain's famous and much loved astronaut, as the Minister of Science. Wow that was a stroke of PR mastery as was the number of women in his government.  During his press conference and audience with the King of Spain, he said his government was committed to equality and to Europe and to keep the economy going. I, for now, give him a  huge round of applause. In the formation of his government he has taken a giant step towards gender equality, something much needed in male dominated Spain.

Pedro Sanchez' new female dominated cabinet.

We also talked about Suzy's big adventure and ate delicious food too. All too soon the evening came to an end and it was time to say goodbye. I'm not a mother hen and love my girls to have freedom and come and go as they please but on Friday I felt very emotional hugging Suzy to say goodbye. I couldn't let go of her and, yes, I cried. She did too. We left feeling a little sad but also happy for her. I'm happy for her to "do her thing" and enjoy life. She's young, she's single and the world is her oyster. Her start in Bali would be at the Monkey House Surf Camp where in exchange for free accommodation (sharing with 5 on bunk beds!) she would be working 4 hours a day. The camp is run by a Spanish girl who is  a friend of a friend and they would be picking her up at the airport. I was pleased about that. 

Thursday was 7th June. Suzy would be leaving early that morning travelling through Munich and Singapore until she would land in Bali the next day. 7th June happened to be my Mother's birthday and I felt it was maybe a positive coincidence; as if she would be looking out for her darling grand daughter. I still miss my amazing Mother and think of her often, especially on her birthday.

However, I didn't have much time to think that morning as I was travelling too. I was to leave at 9.45 but before had to receive a team from a production company coming to do a photo shoot by our pool for a catalogue. The photo shoot was for VIPs, a famous fast food restaurant chain in Spain and had come through Airbnb.  I was a bit disappointed with the guy, Daniel, who made the booking as he didn't keep to his word and brought a team of about 13 people who totally invaded our place. He original agreement was for 5 people and just one morning. They broke one of our garden chairs and did not respect the agreement. So, no, the experience was not good. There was not much I could do about it as I was travelling so Eladio was left with dealing with them. 

I had a good journey to Milan, no issues thank goodness. I enjoyed the short flight and very naughtily drank a small bottle of Cune red wine with a packet of crisps followed by a kitkat. I would not be hungry until the evening. We landed in Milan to 27c which was very hot compared to Madrid. I was gong to take the taxi to the Stazione Centrale but spied a bus that only cost 5 euros to get there. 25 minutes later I was outside the station and wondering how I was going to lug my 18.5 kg suitcase up the steps at the entrance and everywhere else too. Well, Italian men are real gentlemen and I was helped at every stage without having to ask them. I am very grateful. In general the Italians are very friendly and I feel at home here. I can even get buy using Spanish of course, peppered with some Italian words I once learned on a short course many years ago. I'm sure if I came to live here I would learn the "lingo" fast. I soon found platform 22 where I was to catch the Genova train and get off a Voghera near Pavia. For the record the ticket only cost 6 euros which is pretty cheap too.

At Milan Stazione Centrale just as I got off the airport bus

Me being me, I talk to everyone I meet and on platform 22 I had an interesting conversation with 2 young Albanians. I know nothing about their country except that it was the last communist bastion in Europe. The young boy told me they have a population of 3 million but that half of it lives in Germany or Italy; sad. He also told me I must visit Albania as it is a beautiful country. Maybe I should put it on my bucket list. 

Soon the train came and I was helped with my luggage getting on. Interestingly, I sat next to a young Canadian girl doing Inter Rail. I told her I did it the second year it came into existence in the early 70's when it only cost me 33 pounds for a month's travel. She told me her ticket cost 400 dollars for just 6 days! That has changed. Christine is  nurse who has just graduated and is travelling solo. I asked where she was sleeping - we used to sleep on the trains and often on the floor hahaha - and she replied on "couch surfing". I know about it of course but did not know it was free. How things have changed since I did inter rail. We had no mobile phones, no whatsapp, no instagram and none of that. 

An hour or so later, I said goodbye to my fellow traveller as we were approaching my destination, Voghera. I couldn't believe it but when we arrived it was raining. Later I saw on the BBC weather forecast that the rain had come from Spain. Thankfully it would come and go during our trip and we were also to enjoy sunshine. But first I was to enjoy being met off the train by my darling friend and soulmate Sandra who was my great friend at Nottingham University as well as Adele who would be arriving on Friday. It had been a year since we saw each other, at my 60th bash at home last June. Sandra had come with her 92 year old Mother and Barney their dog all the way from Brussels by car!

After lots of hugs we drove off to the hotel or so I thought. But no, we had to stop off at a low cost off license to buy lots of wine for our stay. And here is Sandra holding up one of the bottles we bought. I wanted to try prosecco but later, her brother, Paul, who is a local told us we had chosen the worst quality hahaha. 

Sandra buying wine just after we had arrived.

I have to tell you that it's quite an experience being here with Sandra in Italy as she is half Italian. What I can't wait for is to experience being with her in India where she was born (Bombay) one day. 

Soon we were at our hotel Le Vigne di Cornino in a small village called Fumo (means I smoke in Spanish hahaha) which is near Caseggio and a ten minute drive from her brother Paul's place Villa Arabella. We were to stay 2 nights in Fumo and 2 nights at Villa Arabella.

Our hotel for the first two nights

First things first and we went to greet Sandra's mother. Magda is amazing. She is 92, was born in Hungary and as a Jew was hidden by a gentile family during the 2nd world war and survived. She is the only holocaust survivor I know and I deeply respect her and love her. 

I settled into my lovely room which I would share with Adele when she came the next day and feeling very hungry was soon downstairs on the outside terrace of the hotel having a picnic with Magda and Sandra and Barney of course. 

Sandra and Barney

Barney is their doted upon dog who is very sweet and very spoiled. Paul, Sandra's brother who is the owner of Villa Arabella, had sent us hams of all sorts, delicious mini tomatoes, focaccia, bread and butter, hand picked black cherries and even some pastries. Off course we had this with superb local wine. The hotel doesn't have a restaurant and it was much nicer than going out. At around 9 pm, Nicky arrived by taxi. No bussing it for Nicky haha.  He spent more on the taxi from Milan airport than he did on the flight from London hahaha but then Nicky always does everything in style. Nicky is a childhood friend of Sandra's who was also born in Bombay and they lived in the same  block of flats in India. I knew Nicky from when I was at Nottingham University but hadn't seen him since so it was great to meet him again. There was a lot to catch up on as you can imagine.

Nicky relaxing with a drink after our impromptu dinner on the hotel terrace on our first night in Italy

We spent a lovely evening, eating, drinking and chatting until way past midnight. We also touched on the Brexit issue as we all have strong feelings about it as staunch remainers. We were all tired after travelling and were dying for bed. Before going to sleep I was glad to see a photo of Suzy she posted from Bali the day she arrived looking very happy.

Suzy in Bali on the day of her arrival.

My bed was very comfortable and soon I was fast asleep. 

Back home, my Jewish guests, the retired Judge and his sister had arrived. Later Eladio told me they were lovely guests. I am much looking forward to meeting them when I go back to Madrid tomorrow. It's funny but in our crowd here this weekend in Italian there are quite a few Jews among us and so of course the Palestine Israel issue came up as frequently as Brexit. 

I should mention that on Friday, Rafa Nadal, the King of Clay won his semi final match at Roland Garros and is now through to the final today where he will play Dominic Thiems, a young Austrian player who beat Rafa in the Madrid Masters, one of few players to beat him on clay recently. If Rafa wins today he will earn his 11th French Open. What a man! He is Spain's best ambassador. 

I must have slept very well on that night as I woke up at 7 the next morning. I had taken with me my new travel kettle, some instant coffee and even a packet of milk so I was able to enjoy a cup of coffee before I faced the world on Friday. After writing a bit of this blog, I showered, got dressed and went down to have breakfast with Sandra, her mother and Nicky. 

Sandra, Nicky and Magda at breakfast on our first morning

Barney was with us too. I love the fact that Italy is so hotel friendly, thus Barney was able to go with us everywhere and was even allowed to share a room with Sandra .If I had known that maybe I would have brought Pippa hahaha. I am really missing her. When I left, Eladio went to Montrondo for the weekend and I was later sad to hear he hadn't taken her with him. I do hope she behaved well with our Jewish guests as she does to tend to bark at new  people. 

As we were having breakfast, our common friend from Nottingham University, Adele and Sandra's friend Olivier from Paris were travelling to Italy. We would meet up with them for lunch in Pavia, a beautiful University town which we visited that morning.

We left for Pavia, famous for its University and its medieval covered bridge at about 10.30 and were soon there and walking the old streets. It was market day and the only thing I bought that day was an umbrella as the rain was still with us. It felt like I had brought the rain with me from Madrid. Thankfully it cleared up at about 2 pm and from then on we have had sunshine and warm weather hurray.

We visited many of the shops in Pavia. Sandra bought shoes, some brand she loves. I am not a brand person when it comes to clothes but she is. Here she is with her new shoes which look to me like sophisticated flip flops.

Sandra buying shoes.

We strolled the lovely old streets of Pavia in the rain and finally reached the "Ponte Coperto" (covered bridge). The bridge is perhaps the main symbol of the town and is a stone arch bridge over the Ticino river. 

The covered bridge in Pavia

Built in 1354, it was bombed by the allies in the war but was restored in 1945. It is actually also a replacement of a previous Roman bridge. For sure it is the main attraction of the town. I loved it. That morning we saw it in the rain but we would see it again in the afternoon in the sun when it looked so much nicer. I got some young Italian girls to take a picture of us and here we are. 

On the covered bridge in Pavia

From the bridge we tried to make our way on foot to a restaurant Paul had recommended, La Korte dei sapori persi but got totally lost and just couldn't find it, despite google maps hahaha. Here is Sandra asking some carabineiri the way but funnily enough for Italians they were not particularly helpful.

Lost in Pavia

So we did the most practical thing and took a taxi to the restaurant. Soon Olivier and Adele were with us and our group was complete. I have to say there was something very special about the restaurant. We noticed a picture on the bottle of olive oil of Pope Bergoglio with the owner and thought it was a trick. When we asked  him, out he came with a full blown photo of him with the Pope in Rome with this oil. He told us he was the official supplier of the oil to the Pope. I was quite impressed and had to take a picture of him with the photo.

The owner of the restaurant in Pavia who is the official supplier of olive oil to the Pope

We also had to have a photo of him with us around the table as we were about to start our delicious meal.

Lunch in Pavia on Friday

It was here I had my first plate of pasta during this trip to Italy and it was divine. The restaurant's ravioli were the best I have ever eaten.

Pasta, delicious pasta

We had walked quite a lot in Pavia that morning but of course Adele and Olivier hadn't seen anything so we walked the streets again, the main aim being to see the old university founded in 1361. It may be old and prestigious but it was rather run down. And here are my friends during the visit.

Visiting the University in Pavia

From the University we walked towards the covered bridge to show it to Adele and Olivier and came across another gem of the city, the 11th century San Michele Maggiore church. According to Wikipedia it is "one of the most striking examples of Lombard Romanesque style churches.

San Michele Maggiore church in Pavia

From there we walked to the covered bridge and this time we didn't get lost. As I said before it looked far lovelier in the sun than in the rain and we took lots of pictures including the one below of me enjoying the moment.

By the covered bridge in Pavia

Soon it was time to go home. Being a Friday afternoon there was lots of traffic and it took a while. Once in our room Adele and I relaxed and wound down after a long day. I spoke to Suzy who had arrived that morning in Bali except that when we spoke it was 6 hours later for her and she was about to go to bed.  She is happy at the Bali Monkey House Surf camp and sharing a room with 5 Indonesian workers and they all sleep on bunk beds. She sounded in great spirits  but was very  tired because of the jet lag. She will be working there 4 hours a day in exchange for free accommodation. Her work is to make breakfast in the morning from 7 to 11. The next day she told me she made omelets for guests from Spain and from Australia. 

For us, it was time for dinner and from Fumo we drove to nearby Caseggio to another restaurant recommended by Paul, the Azetium where they serve the most amazing pizza. Well just look at how it is made.

Pizza in Caseggio on Friday night

It was a happy group that sat around the table at Azetium about to eat one of these amazing pizzas.

Dinner at Azetium in Caseggio. I love this photo of the 3  of us

We also had  photo taken of the 3 of us, above, the "class of 76" from Nottingham University. Isn't it lovely that we are still friends?

You may be wondering what we had for dessert after the pizza. Well being in Italy, the obvious choice for me at least, is ice cream (gelato). Sandra had to take her mother home so Adele, Olivier and I who had come in a different car, walked from the restaurant to the the Gelateria Vitoria our friends recommended. I was happy to see they had my favourite flavours, pistachio and coconut. There was some sort of fair going on with a man singing and a market but when we walked around the stalls we couldn't believe the tacky junk that was being sold. I was a bit surprised as I thought Italians had a lot of style. 

We were soon back at our hotel and once again sat outside on the terrace drinking wine. We talked more about Brexit and then the Israel Palestine issue as well as many of the world's problems including jihadism. As my friends live in France and Brussels it affects them quite a lot as you may imagine. But as we couldn't solve the world's problems, were tired, had drunk too much wine and needed our shut eye.

On Saturday we woke up to glorious weather and the temperature reached 30c yesterday. Adele and I had to pack as we would be moving to Vila Arabella (Paul's place). We would split up in the morning as the "boys" wanted to visit another nearby town but we girls wanted to go walking in the hills near Villa Arabella. We would meet again in the afternoon.

So by about 11.30 or so we reached Paul's amazing villa in the local vineyards with superb views. His place which is also a bed and breakfast is just out of this world. 

Villa Arabella

The pool at Villa Arabella

Here we were greeted by Paul who I also had not seen for 40 years, his wife Arabella who is half Italian and half English. Also there were their delightful daughter, Ambra, her husband Tomaso and 4 year old little boy, Pietro. Sandra, Adele and I did not want to disturb them so off we went up into the mountains to go for a walk and enjoy the views which were and are amazing. We left the car on the road and climbed up into beautiful scenery which reminded me of The Sound of Music. There we sat in the grass to enjoy the views and took lots of pics as I always do. And here I am having my very own "Maria" and "the hills are alive with the sound of music" moment hahaha.

My Sound of Music moment yesterday

It was hot but also very humid so we didn't walk far. Instead we decided to go down the road to the village of Montalto to have lunch at the Ristoriante Italia. It would also be where we went for dinner last night with everyone. On our way down we spied a cinquecento car which looked pretty old but in a great state. It was yellow and  very symbolically Italian and I had to have a photo of it. 

The yellow cinquecento I spied in Montalto

I just loved the simple restaurant with its amazing views. We were served by a beautiful young woman from the Dominican Republic, Ana, who had married the owner of the restaurant and it was great to speak Spanish to her. We had a simple meal but above all we had quality time together. Here are Sandra and Adele yesterday at our lunch table in Montalto.

Lunch yesterday in Montalto

We took loads and loads of photos and my favourite is this one of Adele and I which I shall treasure for a long time. How can we be 60? I don't feel it and can't really take it in.

With Adele yesterday at lunch

After our lovely lunch,  it was time to head back to Vila Arabella and join Sandra's family around the pool. Soon we were joined by Nicky and Olivier. It was warm enough to bathe and would be my first dip into a swimming pool this year.

With Adele by the pool yesterday

It was a great lazy afternoon in the sun by the pool. 

The next item on the agenda was pre dinner drinks so at about 6.30 Adele and I went up to our room - the blue room - to get ready. For the occasion I wore my lovely embroidered black transparent long jacket which Suzy wore recently. Here I am with my dearest girl friends ready to go out last night.

Ready to go out last night. 

Well what a blast it was last night. I have not been drunk for many years but last night I got quite tipsy, or rather "pissed" to quote Adele hahaha. We were at a big table at the restaurant with 4 generations from Magda down to her great grandchild Pietro. I took this lovely photo of her with her son Paul, his daughter Ambra and her son Pietro.

The 4 generations at the table last night. 

God how the Italians eat. Last night we had 4 courses, anti pasti, pasta, meat and then dessert all washed down by bottles and bottles of wine. It was such a fun evening which no one wanted to end. But end it did and at about 11 we left. That meant I was in bed quite early and this morning I woke up at 5.15. 

It was amazing to wake up at Villa Arabella and have it to myself. And now I am writing this post from the kitchen patio which you can see in the photo below.

This is where I am writing from this morning

People are coming down to the kitchen now and soon it will be breakfast so I must finish and sign off. Today is Sandra's 60th birthday and it will be a day of celebrations. Of course you will hear all about it in next week's post. Wishing my dearest friend and soul mate Sandy a wonderful day, I shall leave you now to join everyone for breakfast made by Paul.

Cheers then everyone until next Sunday.

Masha

Airbnb guests from all over the world, Spiderman hero in Paris, raining cats and dogs, my royal mug collection, celebration dinner, new Prime Minister for Spain and other stories.

Sunday 3rd June 2018

With my best friends Fátima and Julio at the celebration dinner on Thursday night

Hi everyone,

It's Sunday again and blog day. 

Last Sunday we spent another lovely family day together and more time in the garden reading and chatting. It was the day my 2 French guests, Camille from Bayonne and her friend from Brest left. They had driven all the way from France just to spend 2 nights here and one day in Madrid. That's a pretty long drive I must say. They left another great review in my new guest book and later on Airbnb. 

The day ended with dinner just the four of us which is pretty rare these days but it was just great. Oh how we are going to miss Suzy and how she is going to miss us too but to Bali she will go and there is nothing we can do to stop her. All we can do is wish her well and support her from afar. 

Monday came and brought with it my first ever Airbnb reservation from Saudi Arabia. Saleh, his wife and their 4 kids (9, 11, 16 and 19) will be coming for the first week of July which is now practically full as is August. It will be interesting to meet them and to hear their version of life in that most backward country for women. I wonder if the women in the family will be wearing burkas or burkinis. The number of countries our guests have hailed from in the past year and few months is mind boggling. Of the upcoming 13 reservations I have, only 3 of them are from Spain which makes for a majority of "foreign" guests. Yeah the money is good for sure as our finances are not what they were when I had a full time job and we need it but meeting guests from all corners of the world is also a wonderful opportunity. My mother would have approved and in a way I am following in her footsteps as we at home used to have international lodgers on many an occasion. In fact she bought our huge house in Heaton Grove with its 20 rooms with them in mind. My Father with an equal interest in all things "foreign" (hahahaha) is always asking where my next guests are coming from and also which will be Oli's next destination in her TV travel programme. She told me yesterday it might be Tampa in Florida. Lucky her. 

It rained all day on Tuesday as it would do again during the week. We have had rainy weather now for weeks and weeks and it doesn't look as though it's going away any time soon. It rained so much that day and on Tuesday that we had to skip our walks. Thankfully we were able to resume them on Thursday and Friday. Last year we had a heat wave. I do wish we could have one again. 

It was back to work for Oli on Monday but we had Suzy with us for lunch. It was back to work for me too that morning as I had lots of work to catch up on after spending so much time with the family the week before.

In Spain the main news was about the upcoming motion of no confidence tabled by the PSOE (socialist party) against Mariano Rajoy's PP party after the sentence of the huge corruption scandal (Gurtel case). Abroad it was about a young immigrant from Mali who lived illegally in Paris. When he saw a toddler hanging on for his life on a fourth story balcony he didn't hesitate to climb up the building to rescue him. 

Spiderman in action

I'm sure you've seen the video of him making the impossible climb but just in case you haven't here is the link. Mamoudou Gassama has been hailed the "spiderman hero".  The story went viral and soon afterwards he was rewarded with a meeting with the French President, Macron to give him a medal for the rescue.

Mamoudou Gassama  with French President Macron

He will also be given French nationality and a job with the Paris fire brigade. I've read the story and loved it but deep down feel that the young man from Mali has had to pay a very high price for his new legal status. If you look at the picture closely of him climbing to rescue the toddler you may also wonder like me why the person standing close to the latter didn't just pick him up. It's funny but none of the news on this story mentioned who that person was. In any case, it's an uplifting story and there are not many of them these days. 

On Tuesday our food supplies were depleting after so many people in the house. It was as if the vultures had been hahha. There was no option but to do some emergency food shopping before our weekly shopping. We went off in the sunshine and just as we were leaving Mercadona it began to pour it down. It was torrential rain with little rivers forming on the tarmac of the car park and we had to wait for quite a while before we made  a dash for the car to load our provisions and drive off.

The flooded car park at our local supermarket on Tuesday

Of interest on Tuesday, my latest royal mug arrived, the one commemorating the wedding of Harry and Meghan Markle. I added it to the collection of royal mugs my maternal great grandmother began in 1904 with  the coronation of Edward XIII believe it or not. My Grandmother continued it although I am missing the coronation of George V and the current Queen and my Mother added to it too with all the marriages of the Queen's offspring. I shall be searching the web for second hand mugs of the coronations I am missing and have already seen they are cheap and easy to find. The royal mug collection sits proudly in our dining room next to my Mother's favourite icon, one she smuggled out of Russia in the 60's.

My royal mug collection which has just increased with the arrival of my latest which commemorates the marriage of Harry and Meghan Markle. 

You probably think I am a huge royalist. Well I am and I am not but I do like collections hahaha and this is one I am particularly proud of. 

That morning after the shopping I finished updating the PR plan I had done for my new customer and sent it off. It felt like a huge load had fallen off my shoulder and now the ball is in the court of the customer. I hope they like it. I do. 

Suzy was home for lunch again on Tuesday. She has had a busy schedule of meeting lots of friends so having her for lunch in between  was a treat. In the afternoon we went to the Corte Inglés together to get her PC mended, the one I had bought her for her birthday the year before. She complained it worked very slowly. We both learned a lesson from the IT support service who told us the most common problems with PCs is caused by interrupting new software being updated. So we would always let the updates go on and restart the PC afterwards. 

Of note on Tuesday I got my first Airbn reservation, not to sleep at our house but to use the pool for a photo shoot which will be used in a catalogue. We agreed on a special fee and also  copy of the photos. They are coming next week and that will be another interesting experience in my Airbn hosting role. 

On Wednesday I had the pleasure of Suzy's company before she left for Alicante. We went on errands together and had coffee too. Here she told me she was a little scared about her upcoming adventure and that she would miss us a lot; as if she hadn't in London. I told her that we too would miss her but that if it didn't work out there would be no loss in pride if she comes back. I also promised to gift her a ticket back to Madrid for Christmas. I mean Christmas would just be not be the same without her and she has to be here with us if our family is to be complete. We then went to the new Lidl where Suzy was much impressed with their BIO section. They get bigger and bigger these days. In the queue we had a hilarious moment when a fellow shopper recognised her from the TV programme she had been in the week before. Oh the power of TV and don't I know it as the programme I featured in, Undercover Boss, has been aired about 20 times and people still write to me hoping I can give them a job which I can't. It's rather frustrating to hear it's been on again as of course it's related to Yoigo which I would rather forget about as I get on with my new life. 

Just before our lunch, Eladio drove Suzy to the station. She was taking the AVE (high speed train), using my loyalty points by the way (:-)) to Villena near Alicante. She was going to see the girls' friend, Merce, who lives in Yecla and who they first met when we bought our apartment in Santa Pola in 1999. Later she sent us a photo of her with Merce, her little boy and her sister.

Suzy in Yecla with Merce

If at the beginning of the week I got a reservation from a Saudi family, on Wednesday I got a new reservation from Israel believe it or not. What a contrast. They will not coincide which is probably a good thing. The Israeli guests are a retired Judge and his sister who are coming to visit their mother who lives nearby but in a tiny apartment. I sent him my house information pack later by email writing that we had been to Israel in 2010 and loved it to which he replied; "I am glad to hear you have found Israel interesting (with all troubles around (sic))". It will be equally interesting to meet these Jewish guests to get their version of the conflict in Israel. 

Early on Thursday morning the motion for the no confidence vote against Rajoy began at 8.30 in the morning and would go on all day. His speech was fabulous but it would not help him keep in power because the members of parliament had already decided on their votes. He could have read out the bible or recited the alphabet over and over again; it would not have made any difference. His opponents were just hell bent on kicking him out, fed up of the institutionalised corruption in his party which he has largely ignored and which has caused his undoing.

Rajoy during the debate on Thursday

My husband sat glued to the TV watching the debate unfold. The Spanish lower camera, "El Congreso" (Parliament) is so divided in seats as you can see in the picture below and it was touch and go as to how the voting would go; either ousting Rajoy or Sánchez becoming President. I think Rajoy thought he would win thanks to the 5 Basque moderate separatist party votes but he would be proved wrong. 

The Spanish parliament seats - so fragmented

The PSOE has only 84 seats and the motion had to be won by 176 votes. Sánchez had the support of the far left party Podemos with their 67 seats. The PP had the support of Ciudadanos making for 166, short of 10 votes. To win, Sánchez needed the support of the separatists, including the radical Catalans. He has been much criticised for making deals with the separatists as who knows what he has promised to them in exchange for their votes in the motion. What was clear though was that even if he did win, he would govern in a minority and would have his hands tied by both the Basques and Catalans. Spain is divided and always has been. It's sad. 

By midday the PNV (Basque party) announced they would support Sánchez. When Rajoy heard this, stunned I imagine, he left the Lower House and went off to have lunch with his closest allies for 8 hours. His absence was much criticised. No doubt during that long lunch he and his closest supporters spent the time debating whether he should quit before the final vote. If had done so, he would have had to call elections and would have stopped Sánchez from becoming Prime Minister. In the end he did not quit as we all know. There was still hope he would do so before the voting began the next morning but the man is stubborn as we well know and that did not happen. 

Life continued for our family as life does, come what may and Suzy, totally uninterested in Spanish politics, was enjoying the beach in San Juan with her friends and ex Whitechapel flat mates, Chati and Mónica. Thankfully for them there was no rain in that part of Spain (south east coast - the Costa Blanca). 

Thursday 31st was an important day for me too. That morning I had an appointment with the eye specialist who had performed cataract surgery on my eyes on 26th March (right eye) and 2nd April (left eye), Dr. Castillo from the Quiron Hospital. He had also inserted intraocular trifocal lenses which were supposed to restore my eye sight completely. As you know, I have had a lots of post operative problems with dry eye syndrome etc. That fortunately has cleared up. My right eye seems to have quite good vision and I was able to quit glasses after the second operation. However, the sight in my left eye never improved and I have been back many times. Each time tests were performed on the retina, the macule and also to determine whether the lenses were in place correctly and I was prescribed different eye drops. That morning the tests were repeated and this time I insisted on a vision test to see what was wrong with my left eye which has cloudy and blurred vision. The Doctor, supposedly one of the best ophtamologists in Spain, found that my left eye still had astigmatism and had absolutely no explanation as to why. If he doesn't know why I wondered, who does?. He prescribed glasses (again) when at my first appointment with him before the operation he told me I could trust him as he does more than a 1000 operations a year, bla bla bla and I did trust him. I'm not so sure now. He wants me to wear glasses for 3 weeks to see how my left eye responds. He vaguely hinted that I may have to have a different lens put in or laser surgery. I left the hospital with even less sight as they had dilated my pupils and feeling rather depressed. The operation on my left eye had been a failure. Thankfully I can see quite well out of my right eye although the vision there is not perfect:-(

I came home to find a doctor and a nurse there too who had come to visit my Father to examine a nasty wound on his leg after his recent fall. They prescribed antibiotics and healing cream. They have also prescribed new sleeping pills as my poor 99 year old Father does not sleep well at all even with strong sleeping pills. I was happy to hear the nurse and lady doctor comment how well my Father was looked after.  No way could we have 2 nonagenarians who need full time care although some consider it our responsibility as one is a full time job, not to mention the cost. 

We had lunch together while the vote of no confidence debate was continuing. But, perhaps the biggest story that day was the announcement of the departure of Zinedine Zidane, the French Algerian born, football star who was Real Madrid's manager for the last few years. Just 4 days after garnering his 3rd European Cup for them, he shocked the football world telling them he was leaving. That was not good news.

Zidane announcing he was leaving Real Madrid on Thursday

So what were his reasons? He said that if RM were to continue to win they needed a change and that he needed a change too. I think it hurt that his team had done so badly in La Liga. He has no intentions of managing another team this next season. However, there is a strong possibility he could be the next manager of the French Squad. A humble and brilliant man with a great sense of humour and highly admired by the players, he will be sorely missed. 

The news of his leaving was probably nearly as important as the fate of the Spanish government. Often in Spain, football, especially Real Madrid, and politics go hand in hand. 

Thursday was a long and interesting day as you can see and there was more to come. We went for our walk as we always do, weather permitting, and just as we got home, our new set of Airbnb guests arrived. They would be repeat guests. I love it when guests come back. So, on Thursday, I greeted Marga and her partner Santiago who are Spaniards living in Switzerland and their colleague, Roger. I greeted the latter in French, telling him my Mother was Russian, my husband Spanish and my Father English - all this in French, until he admitted he too was British. Amazingly, his parents, like mine, met and married in Cambridge. We have hardly seen these 3 guests since they came. Roger told me they make loudspeakers for big organisations, including the Bolshoi ballet and were in Madrid on business. 

Thursday would end with a celebration dinner. My friend Julio, from my Nokia days, had invited Eladio, myself and Fátima, our mutual friend, also from Nokia, out to dinner. He had chosen one of my favourite restaurants, "Filandon" to celebrate with us his new appointment as a professor of the UNED University. I'm so proud of him. We were to be there by 8.30 and, as usual, Fátima was late but then she always is. It was one of the best dinners I have been to in a long time, because it was with my closest friends with whom I always feel totally relaxed. The food at Filandon is out of this world in my opinion. For dessert I chose their lemon meringue pie which I know I shall be ordering again as I just fell in love with it. It was divine.

Dinner at Filandon on Thursday night

Friday was the 1st June but it felt like 1st March, weather wise. I was woken up by the dogs barking at 5.55. I understood why when I opened our bedroom door to find Phoebe our cat there who had remained in the house all night. 

I had a busy morning with lots of errands to do. It felt like a marathon race. The first stop was the chemist to get my Father's prescriptions. Then to Vision Lab to order my glasses. That was not a happy errand. From there we went to Centro Oeste where we stopped for a coffee before we went into Carrefour to stock up on decaf tea - the only place I can find it. Our last stop but one was to El Corté Inglés to pick up Suzy's PC. While there I got a gel protective screen for my new Samsung S9 Plus. Amazingly these days, they can print the covers to perfectly fit the screen, although it's not cheap.  Hopefully, now, if I drop my phone again it will be protected, unlike my previous phone the S7 with its curved screen which I broke. 

Our last stop was Mercadona for the weekly shopping and then home to make lunch. By the time we were home, the voting in the motion of no confidence was over and Pedro Sánchez had ousted Rajoy by 180 votes against 169. He was to be and is now the new Spanish Prime Minister. Dubbed Mr. Handsome - he's not bad looking - the ambitious and stubborn 46 year old ex basketball player, Sánchez, backed by the separatists and far left party, stunned himself and everyone else by becoming Prime Minister. He now has to form his minority government and rely on the support of the Catalans and Basques. It's now goodbye to Rajoy. Corruption in his party was his downfall. It may also be that of Sánchez as his PSOE party in Andalusia is embroiled in a huge case of embezzlement and when that sentence comes out, who knows what will happen. I love Spain but I hate its corruption. I am keenly reading the international press to see the reactions outside the country and one article from Bloomberg (international financial news agency) gave me hope. Entitled "Spain's crisis is desperate but not serious" it explains that due to Spain's fast growing economy and the PSOE party's allegiance to the EU, there is room for hope despite the political scene being somewhat unstable. In Italy things are far worse.  

My favourite piece of news though that day was seeing a video at a press conference at Roland Garros (French Tennis Open) of the German player Alexander Zverez being questioned by a Yorkshire journalist. Johnathan Pitfield with quite a strong Yorkshire accent - though there are stronger - asks the German a long question about tennis to which the latter replies "where are you from buddy?". When Pitfield replies he's from Yorkshire there is laughter and Zverez says he hasn't understood a thing but loves the guy's accent. Pitfield tries to draw the questioning back to tennis and when he says to Zverez: "you love tennis", he replies "not as much as your accent". This had me in stitches. If you are from Yorkshire and haven't seen it, then here is the link .

The German tennis player who had trouble with the Yorkshire journalist's accent at Roand Garros this week

That afternoon we had a respite from the rain. The sun came out, briefly, but long enough for us to go on our walk. When we got home, Oli was back to stay with us for the weekend and we had the pleasure of her company for dinner that night. Dinner, for once, was on the terrace outside. 

I was happy to hear on the news that night when we got into bed that the Trump Kim Jong-Un summit is back on for 12th June. Now that is news. 

Saturday was another rainy day. It was also the day Sánchez was sworn in as Prime Minister. For the first time ever in Spanish history, the new head of government did away with the bible and crucifix. The ceremony was very short but long enough for me to notice there was just one woman in the picture (she's behind the king so you can't see her). Let's hope Sánchez puts lots of women in his cabinet. Ah and let's hope he can keep the Catalan separatists at bay and let's also hope he calls elections soon as the Spanish people did not vote for him. 

Sánchez sworn in as Spain's new PM

While that important ceremony was being performed and Sánchez was visiting the Moncloa Palace where he will be living soon, I made lunch, ordinary spaghetti bolognese (spag bol as we call it at home). I made it early as I wanted to go out shopping with Oli and not be stressed about making lunch. We spent a lovely morning together. Sadly we went to get my new glasses - or rather my old red glasses with a new lens for my left eye and a neutral lens for my right eye. I'm wearing them now as I write and I'm not sure I actually see better with them than without. We then went to Stradivarius (Zara's younger women's brand and cheaper too) to pick up a blouse I had ordered online. While there I fell in love with a black and white polka dot soft blazer and just had to buy it for 19.99 euros. This is it. I think it is out of stock now and I am not surprised.

My new blazer

There were lots of things we liked at Stradivarius where I don't normally shop. Oli seemed to buy half the shop hahaha. From there we ventured dangerously into other shops and boutiques and then had a nice mother and daughter cup of coffee together. Our last stop was to Verdecora (garden centre). I was in search of new cushions for the terrace chairs at Santa Pola but didn't find any. Instead I bought more roses for our garden. Oli took a photo, my first photo with glasses on again aagghh.

With my roses and glasses

We were home for lunch with my Father and Eladio. Afterwards we all had a siesta, Pippa too but she couldn't decide whose bed she liked best, Oli's or ours. I had to have a picture of her "queening" on our beds hahaha.

Pippa lying in prime position on Oli's bed

Pippa lying on our bed with Eladio

I didn't sleep at all although I could have done with some shut eye. Instead I watched my current favourite series, "Tiempos de Guerra" (War times), a Spanish series about the war in Africa in the early 20's to maintain the enclave of Melilla. I am loving it.

I watched it until it was time for our walk. Off we went in the sun but soon thunder threatened and strong winds came followed by very cold rain. We had no option but to turn back on our heels and head home as fast as possible. Soon after we were home, Suzy arrived from Alicante. Oli had been to the hairdresser and got a new hair style. I love it and it's a bit like mine I think. The girls were going out to dinner to celebrate a friend, Rocio's birthday so they had to dress up to go out. I was going nowhere and, dressed in my "evening wear", i.e. my nightie and dressing gown, I watched them getting ready, offering all sorts of items from my wardrobe. This was them just before they left, looking gorgeous.

My gorgeous girls ready to go out last night

For us it was a quiet evening; a simple supper followed by the news and more of our latest series. 

I didn't fall asleep until about 1 and was awake this morning at 6.05 which means I shall need a siesta. It was very gloomy when I woke up but now as I am finishing this post, the sun has come out. Let's see for how long.

Next week Suzy will be leaving for Bali but also next week I shall be publishing my blog from Italy where I am going to join Sandra who will be celebrating her 60th birthday. No doubt these will be the main stories in next Sunday's post.

So I will leave you now to get on with the day. Cheers to you all and have a great week,

Masha.