Coronavirus on the rise in Europe, sleeping dogs, Nadal equals Federer, Elliot comes to stay, Spain's national day, we caught a cold, a bit of fun with the girls and other stories.

 Sunday, 18th October, 2020

Loving Elliot. There is nothing comparable to a grandparent's love of his or her grandchild. My smile says it all.

Good morning everyone.

How has your week been? Mine has been quiet and has had some highlights as you will read after the update on coronavirus in the world. It continues to dominate all our lives. Numbers rise everywhere. No one is free of it. If last week it was Donald Trump who had it, this week we heard that football ace, Cristiano Ronaldo, also tested positive. In Spain we are possibly in the middle of the curve of the second phase but haven't reached the peak yet.  In the UK, Boris Johnson and his government introduced the three tier system to combat the pandemic ever growing there. Critics think it's unfair to the hospitality industry and that it comes late and is not enough as figures rise alarmingly. Here is the map of England divided into the tiers with the north in a much worse state and Liverpool with the highest number of infections; over 600 per 100.000. It was dreadful to see huge crowds partying on the streets of Liverpool just hours before lock down began. How crazy can you get?

Map of England and the three tiers

And below are the rules for the three tiers. The only areas with limit on movement are those in Tier 3. Later in the week it was announced that London would go into Tier two along with my beloved city York and my not so beloved Essex. 

The three tier system in the UK and the rules for each area. 

The government had hoped to make the rules clearer and the same as in Spain, everyone is confused. I follow the figures in the Spain and the UK very closely. Spain has far more many cases with over 900.000 and the UK over 600.000. Countries are judged on the number of cases whereas I think they should really be judged on the number of fatalities. That's the most important number. In Spain, that number is high at over 33.000 but in the UK with fewer cases the death toll is much higher at over 43.000. What is the reason for that I ask myself?  It is not a question being addressed by the media but I think it is revealing. The UK has a far higher population so should have more cases, but why are there more deaths than in Spain if there are more cases in my adopted country? In essence why are more UK nationals dying than Spaniards? 

This week we have seen the figures rise dramatically in other areas of Europe besides Spain. The figures for the Czech Republic, France, the UK, Holland and even Italy and Germany were on the rise giving the impression that in fact what has happened is that some of these countries are just a few weeks behind Spain. This week we there were days when the numbers of newly infected in France and the UK were above 30 and 20 thousand respectively. As to cases per 100.000, Spain is not at the top of the list. The top countries, in this order are: Czech Republic (581.3), Belgium (469.5), Holland (412.2), France (307.1), Spain (293.1), Portugal (140.2), Italy (86.9) and Germany (54.6). My source here was a chart presented by Olivia one morning this week. 

God knows what will happen when winter sets in and the flu season starts. Worldwide this Sunday the total number of cases stands at just under 40 million and the death toll is 1.114.636. God knows when a vaccine will be available. On the subject of vaccines, we have to get our flu vaccine soon. The nurse from the Health centre came to give my father his this week. They may be overloaded but they take good care of him. 

Last Sunday was a quiet day for us at least until the evening. It was a sunny day too although the temperatures dropped a bit. We took our lovely dogs for their walk and our walk of course and as usual on Sundays there were lots of cyclists. The dogs are always tired afterwards and as soon as they have drunk copious amounts of water they retire to their beds for a morning nap. I caught them on camera to show you. It's a beautiful sight for dog lovers. 

Our three dogs taking a morning nap after their walk last Sunday

They now have a bed each. It used to be that Norah and Elsa had a bed each, the larger one for Elsa our lab, usually grabbed by Norah our cheeky beagle. Pippa, our miniature chocolate coloured dachshund, shared Elsa's bed until last week in Santa Pola our neighbour Lucy gave us her ex cat's bed. She immediately fell in love with it although it is a bit small for her but she just curls up and fits in its softness. She also matches its colour, brown. Aren't they adorable?

Between Zena and I we organised lunch and then I was free to read or do whatever I wanted. After seeing the documentary about Edward VIII, great grandson of Queen Victoria,  who abdicated from the throne of England to marry the love of his wife, the twice divorced American socialite, Wallis Simpson, I was intrigued to know more about that time in history. While I was watching the documentary I realised of course that my father would have lived through the moment which shook the British crown. When Edward VIII abdicated in favour of his brother, George VI, the current Queen's father, my own father would have been 15 years old. I understand that the whole episode shook every corner of the Establishment. It has always been rumoured that the ex King, later the Duke of Windsor, had sympathies to the Nazi cause. This intrigued me too so I watched another documentary, "Edward VIII, the traitor king" on You Tube. If the story is true which it probably is, then he was indeed a traitor to his country. I then looked for a decent biography and came upon what seems to be the definitive one by historian Philip Ziegler.  I began reading it in in the afternoon. It's a bit heavy going and I haven't even got to the part where he meets Wallis Simpson yet. 

We were alone for lunch with my father as both girls had gone to have lunch at their great friend, Elenita's house. I had a short siesta but was soon awake and downstairs. It was sunny so I took my cup of decaf tea to the swimming pool terrace and plopped myself down on one our of our very comfortable sun loungers. It was so warm I had to take all my clothes off down to my bra and t-shirt. Pippa was with me and I spent a very pleasant time. When the sun moved away from the pool area, I took the sun lounger to the bottom of the garden in search of more sun to continue reading. I was joined by Eladio and we spent a quiet time there until the sun disappeared and it became cold.

While we were having a very quiet afternoon, Spain's number one tennis player and one of the world's best ever, Rafa Nadal, was playing the number one player Djokovic on the latter's favourite surface, clay, in the final of the French Open, more commonly known as Roland Garros. He beat him in three sets the first at 6-0 and his winning shot was an ace. What an amazing game. 

Nadal celebrating his extraordinary win on Sunday

When he lifted la Coupe de Mousquetaires for the 13th time in his life, he also became the player to equal his rival and friend, Roger Federer's 20 grand slam titles. Now they are on a par and are perhaps the best players ever to have walked the earth. What a win for Spain and what an achievement. No one has ever won the French Open that many times and to think that the Mallorcan won it for the first time when he was just 19 in 2005. Last Sunday, aged 34, he was on his best form ever. A BBC tennis commentator remarked that he was on such good form that even if two players were competing against him, the Spaniard would have won. Tributes poured in from all over the world and of those I saw the one I liked best came from Roger Federer. For the record this is what he wrote.

Words from Federer for Nadal

I have to say his win on Sunday afternoon lifted my spirits and was good news for this country, good news we all need in these times of doom and gloom. 

The girls were coming for dinner together with Miguel and little Elliot. They would spent the night too. It was lovely having Elliot to stay again. We hadn't seen our 1 year old grandson for a whole week which is a long time at his age as he doesn't always recognise us when time has lapsed in between visits.  His progress week on week is amazing. If the Sunday before he already walked 4 or 5 steps unaided, he now walks quite well. He also now says "papa", his first words. It's funny to watch him as often when he says it he holds something to his ear as if he were talking on a mobile hahahahaha. He is now also saying "ma ma ma". They arrived just before dinner which we made all together in our guest free house.  Elliot especially loves the dogs and the magnets on our fridge. He prefers real food to his purees and knocked his puree dinner from his high chair during dinner hahahahhaa. Later Eladio entertained him reading to him from one of his first books, the touchy feely type. It was a gift from my great friend Sandra. He also loves the Very Hungry Caterpillar gifted to him by another great friend, Kathy. At home his mother reads him Joanne's Spot Book which he adores too. Here he is enjoying the moment with his grandfather to whom he is very attached and with his Aunty Suzy.

Reading with Elliot - last Sunday

It was a precious family moment. Later I helped Oli get him ready for bed and was happy to be back changing his nappy. Joy of joys he was to stay the night as Monday was a national holiday, the Day of Spain and neither Oli nor Miguel had to work. I bet they needed the break.

Later I hooked onto a new series, again about WW2 and  based on a true story. Called, The Heavy Water War (Kampen om tungtvannet) it is a Norwegian production about the Nazi's efforts to develop the atomic bomb sourcing heavy water from Norway. They were dependent on the heavy water to make the atom bomb and the efforts of the Norwegian resistance based in Scotland finally thwarted its supply. This was the reason the Nazis never managed to make the terrible bomb during WW2. If they had the world would be very different today. No doubt my father knows this story well from his time in Norway as head of disarmament when the Germans were driven out of the country. 

I was up at around 7 am on Monday morning. Monday was the first time I plucked up the courage to get on the scales after 2 weeks of dieting. I was actually pleasantly surprised with the result as I hadn't put on as much weight as I had thought after all the excesses during lock down and the summer. So, I tried on my size 12 M&S jeans and wow, they fit. That really spurred me on to continue with the diet. It was wonderful to discard my leggings and wear denims for a change. I only have about 6 kilos to lose and hopefully by then I will fit into all the size 10 jeans that have been collecting dust in my wardrobe  for a long time. Watch this space!

12th October is what is often called "El Pilar" in Spain and is a national holiday. It is not only the feast of Saint Pilar, the patron saint of Zaragoza, but also Spain's national day. It commemorates Christopher Colombus' arrival in America and it is therefore also known as Hispanic Day. Spaniards are not very good at unity nor in celebrating their national day, except for the Armed Forces. We do not have the spirit that is raised in France on 14th July or in the US on Independence Day. Only the far right were out  last Sunday waving the national flag when the Vox party held demonstrations all over the country against the current government. The Spanish flag instead of unifying the nation has a sort of fascist connotation and is associated with the far right of the political spectrum.  I always think that is a shame. It only seems to unite the country when used to fete sporting achievements such as Nadal's amazing win last Sunday. That is the only acceptable use of the flag by the mainstream population. In other countries on national days, people use their flag proudly decorating gardens and homes - think Denmark, France, Sweden, the US and the UK. Not so, I'm afraid in Spain, such a divided country. 

Spain's national flag with its right wing connotations and only used acceptably to celebrate sporting victories. 

Sadly, the words "nothing to celebrate" (#nadaquecelebrar) were trending topic on Twitter. Oh how I hate the way Spaniards lack a sense of unity and spend most of their time criticising their wonderful country. 

At home we were just thankful it was a holiday and could enjoy the company of Olivia, Miguel and little Elliot. Thus I was able to pick him up from his cot when he woke up. I love the feel and smell of a baby, our baby, when he has just woken up. He always wakes up with a smile and kept us smiling all day long. He came for a walk with us and our three dogs which we all enjoyed as, although quite cool, it was a lovely sunny day. 

Lunch was another family affair, one which my father enjoyed immensely. He adores his great grandson and that makes me happy. We all had a siesta afterwards apart from the young generation. While I was taking my nap, Suzy, Oli, Miguel and Elliot were out in the sunshine. I missed the girls singing and playing the ukelele. Oli knows how to play it now. They are both so musical and there is nothing that makes me happier than to hear them singing together and always in harmony. Later Suzy showed me a video of the two of them singing an interpretation of John Lennon's famous song; "Imagine". You can see it on my You Tube channel here. 

My girls singing together

By the time I was down it was cooler and the younger members were in the library lounge with Elliot asleep in his mother's arms. Soon he was in my arms just as he woke up and it was one of those delightful moments with my grandson, little Elliot, who we now call "the little boy". 

With Elliot in my arms on Sunday just as he had woken up form his afternoon nap.

They had the TV on and I was delighted to see they were semi watching Gone with the wind, one of my all time favourite films. It's so long of course and soon Oli and her family had to leave. 

Suzy, my darling daughter, had a meltdown when her sister and little nephew left. She has very mixed feelings about leaving Spain for Costa Rica. On the one hand she is looking forward to a new life but on the other hand she knows she is going to miss little Elliot so much, the darling of her life. I am lucky to have him near. To make her feel better, Oli suggested coming to lunch the next day. We shall also all be going together to our new house in Asturias, which the girls don't know yet, a few days before Suzy leaves and when our current guests have left. 

After a crisis I suggested a cup of tea - that all curing British habit when important things happen. So the three of us; Suzy, Eladio and I sat together in the last of the sun on the pool terrace talking about Suzy's future. Later we had dinner together and by then she had calmed down and so had we. 

Tuesday came and I woke up with a headache at 5 bloody 50, excuse my language. I soon realised that Tuesday was the 13th of the month. And so what you may ask? Well, Tuesday 13th in Spain is the UK's equivalent of Friday 13th, traditionally a so-called unlucky day. Thankfully our day was not so bad. 

Eladio took Norah our beagle off to the vet for her now weekly check up after her recent health problems. Meanwhile, I worked on a press release but ended up spending about 1.5h trying to send money to my daughter Suzy using Transfer Wise, a nearly commission free international money transfer service, a bit like Paypal but much cheaper for international transfers. It is not at all easy to use  but I finally managed. I also had to prepare for the arrival of a new guest. Adrian, a repeat guest came to stay on Tuesday for 4 nights. He arrived in the afternoon and was happy to be back. You may be interested to know he is a professional tattooist. That is not a profession I admire as I was brought up by my father to equate tattoos with drunken sailors. Today of course tattoos are much in fashion but I still hate them. Not Suzy though who has many on her body. She was more interested in meeting our new guest than I was haha. 

Oli and Elliot were coming for lunch which would brighten up our day. But there was hardly any food in the cupboards so Tuesday ended up being food shopping day. By the time Oli and Elliot arrived the food was bought, packed away and lunch made. It was delightful to see Elliot for the third day on the trot and this time he knew where he was immediately. He wanted to be in all our arms bless him. 

I immediately took him to see his great grandfather who always loves to see him. It was at that moment that my father pointed to a photo of my mother on his desk, one I had printed for him recently on the anniversary of her passing away. I was taken aback when he suddenly asked me: "Who is this woman?". Oli was with me and she was shocked too. We immediately told him it was "Mummy" and his wife. I then showed him a photo of her when she was young and Oli got out a photo of their wedding day. I think that cleared it up for him. Then at lunchtime he suddenly asked me: "Can you tell me who my children are?" I was devastated and I suppose he was too. I immediately replied that I was his daughter and that my brother had been George. He seemed placated and apologised for not remembering. Well, he is 101 and it is totally understandable but even so it was a sort of turning point. Thankfully the next day he remembered and the poor man even apologised for his lapsus. Then at lunch time I reminded him I was his daughter to which he replied "and who is your mother?" Again I brought out photos to remind him. I felt so sad. I also feel sorry for him too as very suddenly our newspaper delivery company told us that The Times was no longer distributed in Spain. It was the same for The Daily Telegraph and the only UK newspaper they could deliver was The  Financial Times which my father described as "boring".  Until now he spent his  whole morning pouring over The Times and that can no longer be which worries and upsets me. He still reads El País, the Spanish newspaper but it is not the same. To make up for this I looked for new books from my own library for him to read and found a biography of Alexander I and one on Churchill. He chose the former. I was happy to see him reading it that afternoon. His love of Russia and history are still intact and I breathed a sigh of relief. 

After this episode, in the little time left before lunch which is always strictly at 2 pm in this house, we played with Elliot  and he was delighted to be reunited with his tricycle.

Elliot prefers to push his tricycle to riding it hahahaha. 

He loves coming to our house and we love having him here. Oh how he brightens up our life. There is nothing comparable to grandparent love as, I imagine, all grandparents know. It's a love and feeling only to be understood when you become a grandparent.  I think my smile says it all in this week's feature photo of me holding Elliot on my lap and hugging him. He loves hugs and constantly tries to hug the other toddlers at his nursery who generally end up falling on the floor as he is rather big for his age. Hahahahaa. That day Oli sent us a photo of him at the nursery with the other toddlers. He is now loving it.

Elliot at the nursery

No doubt Elliot feels our love and is happy to be with us whenever he comes. 

Elliot in his grandfather's arms on Tuesday when he came to lunch

Unusually for him, he is not smiling in these photos. He always poses when you call him to take a photo and usually smiles. That's probably because he has  been a little "poorly" this week with congestion and a bit of a cough and was not his usual self. We think he had a cold - God forbid Covid. Thankfully there was no temperature. 

In the afternoon Suzy and  I accompanied Oli and Elliot to the local health centre for a routine vaccine and check up. There was to be no vaccine though because of his "cold" until next week. The doctor measured and weighed him and he is a whopping 11 kilos measuring 79 cm. The doctor said that many babies double his age were that size. He is really big. Children's weight and length these days are measured by percentile, the average being 50%. Elliot's is 90%! He already wears clothes for a 2 year old yet he has only just turned 1. That of course may change as babies and children do not develop equally. It is an indication though that he will probably be a "big boy". 

Thanks to damned Covid, neither Suzy nor I could accompany Elliot and Oli into the clinic and had to wait outside. We did so in a sunny park with our hated masks on. The park was lovely and was full of all sorts of gym apparatus. I spied some bike pedals at the foot of some of the benches and had to try them out. Here I am when Suzy caught me on camera ahhahaha. A bit like the trampoline in the boulevard the previous week in Alicante, the child in me is always attracted to these sort of things. 

Silly me trying out the bike pedals on the bench on Tuesday

When Oli and Elliot emerged from the health centre we drove to our favourite coffee and bakery shop, -Alverán. There we had some quality mother and daughter time together while little Elliot slept. It was lovely to be out and about, something I haven't done for a while and it was wonderful to be with both girls. As Suzy's departure date for Costa Rica comes closer - 30th October - she needs that time with us and we need it with her.

We were home by about 6.30 when she had to give her weekly online English lesson to Olga, her deaf pupil and I changed into my evening wear (i.e. my pyjamas hahahhaha) and sat in the lounge reading the Edward VIII biography. Eladio joined me and soon it was time for dinner which the three of us had together with the dogs, as always, at our feet. Later Suzy and I had more quality time together and spent nearly an hour talking in her room. It was therapeutic for both of us. When I went upstairs to join Eladio in bed he was watching a stupid football match between Spain and Ukraine. I didn't give a fig about it and turned to my kindle to read more about the fascinating life of the Prince of Wales, later to become King and then the Duke of Windsor.

On Wednesday I was awake at 6.20 in the morning. A friend had recently recommended eating 2 kiwis for dinner as kiwis are rich in serotonin and antioxidants. I read the body uses serotonin (the "happy chemical" like endorphins) to synthesise melatonin, the hormone that regulates sleep. I have tried it but am not sure it really works. 

As always I watched Olivia on TV at 8 am when she is always on. I saw her many times that morning as she was still doubling her job. Thankfully her colleague who is in charge of social media was back on Thursday after her confinement. I should add she tested negative. 

Olivia on TV on Wednesday

Olivia is becoming a real expert on Covid data in Spain. Each night she pours over data to report on the next morning. 

Wednesday was a quiet day all round. We only went out once and that was for our walk. I felt very tired when I got back which was unusual. I even had to lie down and sleep just before lunch. That was not normal as even though I don't sleep well at night I am never tired during the day. In the afternoon Eladio and I had planned to go to Ikea to get some cushions for the sofas at our new house in Asturias. But Eladio wasn't feeling well with all the usual symptoms of a cold. Oh God was this our Covid moment we both wondered? Thankfully we had none of the usual Covid symptoms; cough, temperature, breathing problems, lack of sense of taste or smell, etc. So instead of going out we retired to our bedroom to watch TV. Eladio had put the central heating on for the first time since before the summer and I felt very snug under my mother's home made patchwork blanket.  We finished the enthralling Norwegian series and then started on a film of a completely different genre. "Sand Storm" is set in Southern Israel and is the story of forbidden love between a Muslim girl and a Muslim boy but from a different tribe. My heart went out to them. 

We stopped for dinner. A good sign was that we were both hungry. While having dinner we watched the news. Following Covid news is as addictive as the best series on TV but there is no happy ending. The news that day was dire. In France with over 22 thousand new cases that day, Macron called for a new state of emergency and imposed curfew on  Paris and many other cities with all that implies. Barcelona also went into partial lock down with the closure of restaurants and bars causing havoc with the hospitality industry. Even Asturias, the shining example of how to deal with the virus, the local government there told the population to isolate in their homes. The figures are still low in that region but on the rise. We hope that doesn't mean we wont' be able to go next week.

That night Eladio whose cold was worse than mine - not sure I ever had one - fell asleep really soon after the news. Thus I could choose to watch whatever I wanted and in English on either Netflix or Prime Video. I guiltily watched "Fifty shades darker" - obviously a film Eladio would have hated - and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I was up at 6.35 on Thursday. It was to be a quiet day, a day when Eladio and I didn't feel 100% and which had me worrying about Covid. But I had good news early in the day. Finally, Hacienda, the Spanish equivalent of the Inland Revenue, had paid my tax returns. They should have done so back in July and I was beginning to worry they were doing a check on my accounts. That was a great relief. It was soon tempered though by a call from my accountant to tell me the amount I had to pay in tax for the third quarter (July, August and September) which amounted to a third of the tax returns. Dammit. I indulged myself and celebrated by buying 3 DVDs on Amazon of films I want to see again and which are not available online. They were: Gone with the Wind, Dr. Zhivago and Gandhi. These three films along with The Sound of Music are my top four ever. They all mean a lot to me. It was after seeing Gandhi many years ago that Eladio and I were inspired to visit India for our 25th wedding anniversary some 10 years ago. 

Feeling a bit under the weather, we skipped our walk that morning. I cooked instead. Needing some lemons to make artichokes I had to drop what I was doing and drive to Mercadona to get some and a few other items of course as one never goes to a supermarket just to buy one thing. I'm sure you agree. Oli surprised us by coming for lunch again but without Elliot. She preferred not to interrupt his eating and sleeping routine at the nursery. It was funny to have her alone. She left soon after lunch though to return to what she calls "her men". We would see her and Elliot and Miguel this weekend again.  At 16.30 I had an appointment for the last of the tests for my annual "MOT" (aka annual gynecological check up). This was for a bone density scan. I think it measures the minerals in bones and detects osteoporosis. I got the results the next day in my health app but couldn't interpret them. I will have to wait to find out when I see my gynecologist next month.

I was home quite soon to find a woman called Inma visiting who I did not know. Believe it or not she was looking for accommodation. Someone had sent her here. She told me she thought our house was like a palace. I was flattered. 

Later Suzy and I started on Gone with the Wind until it was time for dinner. Neither Eladio nor I slept well that night because of our colds or at least we thought we had a cold. Time will tell.

I was awake with a headache at 7 am on Friday morning - not bad for me. After my first cup of coffee it soon went and I was able to concentrate on things I had to do. I had  a sudden task when my London publisher sent me the near to final manuscript of my father's book. They have been so slow - like caterpillars. I immediately sat down to go through it and thankfully there were very few things to correct. I sent it back within the hour. Again we didn't go for a walk as both of us were still feeling under the weather. Because of this I decided the best thing to do was to rest in bed and watch a film. I watched the Professor and the Madman starring Mel Gibson and Sean Penn and loved every minute of it. It's based on a true story. This is a short description I found on internet if you are interested: 

The film is about professor James Murray, who in 1879 became director of an Oxford University Press project, The New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (now known as the Oxford English Dictionary) and the man who became his friend and colleague, W. C. Minor, a doctor who submitted more than 10,000 entries while he was confined at Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum at Crowthorne after being found not guilty of murder due to insanity.

Lunch interrupted me and I was soon at the table with my father and Eladio. We are hardly every joined by Suzy as at around our lunch time she is giving her online lessons to Chinese children. Our lunch time is nearly their dinner time. When she goes to Costa Rica she has worked out that because of the time difference her classes will begin at about 5 in the morning! 

Oli of course gets up even earlier at 4.30 but her day finishes at about 13h or so. She came in the afternoon with little Elliot to brighten up our lives and because later we would be going out to dinner together - whoopee, we haven't done that for a long time. 

The girls had to do one of those damned birthday videos which have become so popular. They like doing them though. This one was for Chati, Elenita's younger sister who turned 34 on Friday. There could be no birthday party - those days are over. Suzy rummaged in our  chest full of disguises we have collected over the years. She found some baby outfits and soon both she, Oli and Elliot were wearing them hahahhaha. What a laugh. Here they are about to have the video taken by me.

Fun with the girls and Elliot

It was the huge dummies that came with the outfits that had us laughing most. Later we found a sunny spot in the garden and sat on Elliot's play mat together. Suzy played the ukelele and we sang songs like Imagine and Let it Be until it got too cold. We retired to the library lounge - often called the "cat lounge" because that's where Phoebe, our elusive cat, comes in the mornings for her food. Elliot was asleep for a while but soon woke up and we enjoyed his company. He is so funny these days, saying "papa" all the time while putting his hand or an object to his ear as if he were speaking on the phone. He is so attracted to remote controls and phones. Suzy took this lovely photo of him. Isn't he gorgeous?

Elliot on Friday

We all had plans that night. Suzy was going to Elenita's house and Eladio, Oli and her family and I were going out to dinner. We had booked a table at the Moroccan joint near us, El Tuareg. Eladio was worried about sitting inside but I wasn't as the tables were very spread and the doors wide open. Thankfully I went warmly dressed. We love the food there and usually order the same, starting always with humus and pita bread and ending with mint tea and baklava. We even brought some back for Suzy. Olivia had found 150 euros in her knicker draw in an envelope. She was so delighted to have found the money that she treated us all to the dinner. How can you lose 150 euros I wondered? It turns out it was my father's Christmas money to her from last year. 

We were home by about 11 and while Oli and Miguel put Elliot in his cot, we retired to our room. I was a bit tired and cannot remember for the life of me what we watched. I was awake at 3, then 4 and 5 am and finally got up at 6.22. I was down first and thus fed the dogs before having my first cup of coffee. 

I was shocked to read that a young Russian terrorist from Chechenia, had beheaded French school teacher, Samuel Paty, just outside Paris. The teacher had included cartoons of Mohammed in a class about freedom of expression. That was his crime. That is no crime but some Muslim fanatics think it is. France and the world were shocked. I was too. What a dreadful thing to happen, how barbaric can you get?

It was lovely to have Elliot with us again that day but it wasn't for long. In fact, soon I was pretty much alone. The girls had gone to have "girly time" and lunch together, Miguel had taken Elliot to his parents' house for lunch and Eladio went to have the Volvo serviced. Thus I went on my walk in brilliant sunshine listening to my favourite classical music from one of my Spotify lists. 

The highlight of the afternoon was a Skype call with Sandra and Adele, my University friends. You probably know Sandra lives in Brussels and Adele in France. Here is a photo of them during our call.

Yesterday's Skype call with my dear friends Adele and Sandra

We had lots to catch up on. Sandra's dear mother, 96 year old Magda had been taken into hospital recently suffering from a lack of sodium which had left her very confused. Thankfully she is home again and better. We greeted her during the call. Being from Europe's Covid hotspots, France, Belgium and Spain and with our British descent, our conversation focused a lot on the latest figures and measures for these countries.  I was shocked to find out later that that day France recorded the largest increase in cases in any one day since March with more than 32 thousand cases. The UK reported about 16 thousand and little Belgium nearly 9 thousand. Even Italy hit 10 thousand. None of us can see the end coming soon. It's dire to live through. Adele is a University teacher and is hating her job at the moment as most of the lectures are online. I can understand that. For years now we have seen each other at least twice a year either in Brussels, Italy, London, France or Spain but because of Covid this year's reunion is a foregone conclusion. I wonder when we will next meet in the flesh. I do so love these "girls". 

I love my girls too and when we finished our Skype call, it was time to make dinner with them. Elliot and Miguel came just when the table was laid. Oli had bought all sorts of enticing (i.e. fattening) items for dinner but I kept to salad and hams. Oh, but I did have half a glass of the wonderful Luis Cañas Reserva wine she also bought. 

Eladio and I were in bed by about 9.30 and watched the tail end of the news and later turned to Netflix as there is so much rubbish on terrestrial TV. There's a lot of rubbish on Netflix and Prime Video, you have to separate the wheat from the chaff and there's a lot more chaff than wheat, at least for us. 

Today is Sunday and everyone is here but by lunchtime Oli and family will have gone and the house will be quite. I think it will be a quiet day too as Sunday's usually are. 

I am now at the end of the tales of this week. I wish you all the very best until next Sunday. If things go according to plan, I shall be writing from our new house in Asturias.

Cheers everyone until then,

Masha

State of Emergency in Madrid, The Social Dilemma, back in Santa Pola in search of sun, the parrot woman, Elliot's first steps, market day, a new lift, "Plaza de los Luceros" Alicante and home again.

 Sunday, 11th October, 2020

Sadly wearing a mask as we all have to inside and outside in Spain - here at the local market on Thursday morning. 

Good morning all.

How has your week been? Mine has been a lot better than the week before. The big problem I had and which I couldn't share with you was gradually lessening. But my problems are nothing in the wide scheme of things. I should count my blessings. Once again I have to report on how coronavirus is getting worse during its second phase since March. Spain leads the numbers of infected in Europe with over 800.000 cases. It is sad to see my beloved adopted country in 5th place worldwide. But others are catching up and we have seen figures increasing in a similar way in France, the UK and Belgium. Worldwide there are now over 37 million cases and the total death toll is 1.077.594. Many many people are in lockdown or suffering severe restriction of movement all over the world. 

Last week Madrid went into semi lockdown after an order by the central government. The local government challenged the order and appealed to the courts and it was on Thursday that the Madrid court agreed that the "rules constituted an inference in people's fundamental rights", overturning the order from the central government.  All this has happened just before a long bank holiday as tomorrow is Spain's national day. The government lashed back threatening to call a state of emergency for the Madrid region, bypassing the authority of the local government. Once again we are seeing politics get in the way of dealing with the spread of the virus. It all boils down to the fact that the central government is a left wing coalition and the Madrid government a right wing coalition. It was a complete shambles. On Friday after no agreement could be reached with the Madrid authorities, the Spanish Government called for a state of emergency in the capital and 9 towns in the suburbs.  The general rules, except for freedom of movement,  for the whole of the country though were upheld. This caused a huge hooha in all the nation. 

In Madrid up to 4 or 5 million people are affected. Luckily for us we are not in this group as the area we live in on the outskirts of Madrid has a much lower percentage of cases and thus we had freedom of movement for the moment. Because of this we were able to go to our apartment by the beach this week. I was well aware how privileged we were compared to the majority of my fellow "madrileños". Lucky us. Lucky too that, so far, the virus has not touched us, except for restrictions. We continue to be careful but who knows whether we will get it. It's quite possible. 

Last Sunday was not the best of days. I have been a bit down recently with lots of worries in my head; nothing dramatic but an accumulation of things has been the cause. Not the best of sleepers at any time, when I am worried my sleep is affected even more. 

It was not a warm day and when we were half way through our walk with Suzy, Eladio and the dogs it began to rain and with nothing to protect ourselves, we turned back. 

In the afternoon, the three of us did something different to what we would normally do on a Sunday afternoon. Suzy, ever worried about the planet and the future of our world, urged us to watch with her a new documentary come film from Netflix about the (negative) influence of social media on our lives called "The Social Dilemma". 

The must see documentary which explores how the technology that connects us also controls us. 

In a nutshell it explains how the technology that connects us also controls us. If you haven't seen it, I urge you to. I am quite a heavy user of social media as many of us are so was a bit sceptical. I think we all know that when it comes to anything free on Internet, it is never free and that "we" are the product. We are all aware of targeted advertising and some of the dangers of social media to young people, to the way we vote and a hundred other things. Knowing this I am always careful to discern news from fake news and try to ignore the advertising. But not everyone does that, especially young people. I learned a frightening new term in the film called "persuasive technology" and I was aghast at the means to which the big tech firms go to make us addicts of their products (be that Facebook, Google, You Tube, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn or the latest Tik Tok) and to manipulate or anticipate our behaviour. That is evil. What can be done about it? It might be too late but I think governments have to regulate these companies. Should we all thus abandon social media, even whatsapp? In any case even if we do, these companies will sill target us in other insidious ways. There is no escape from Google nor from any of the pre installed applications in our mobile phones. In any case I don't think we should  as we have to admit that social media, the internet and new technologies also bring enormous benefits to us which I think we wouldn't to live without anymore. The main benefit for me is contact with friends far away and instant contact at that as well as with the family of course. I think that is the same for everyone. Everything is instant these days but we should learn to distinguish real news from fake news. As someone who has worked in corporate journalism, before sharing anything I nearly always try to seek the source and contrast the news. That is one way to beat the manipulative technology and to stay informed. I could go on and on as this is a huge problem. So do me a favour, watch the movie, make your own conclusions and use social media carefully. 

The documentary had quite an impact on me. The documentary also detailed how we are all addicted to our mobile phones and I am too - big time. While watching it I had to resist picking up my phone. But real life and not virtual life returned and when we had finished it was time for dinner. Suzy, Eladio and I had it in the kitchen with the dogs at our side, getting tidbits occasionally from us and keeping us company. We were in bed watching the news later and then more episodes of "Desaparecidos" (Disappeared on Amazon Prime). If social media is addictive this series is too. It was also a sort of pacifier for the problems running through my head and I found myself watching episode after episode until it was past 3 in the morning.

I was up late then on Monday morning at around 7.30, the day of our departure to our apartment near the sea and near Santa Pola. As I read the news on my iPad after watching Oli on the TV at 8 am, I was interested to see my Google news feed. It was full of articles about the documentary The Social Dilemma and about Mary Queen of Scots. That shows you Big Brother is watching you as only Netflix could have known I had seen the documentary that night as I did not share anything about it on social media. As to Mary Queen of Scots, well, I found the articles interesting. I saw too that Facebook had issued a statement with their response to the documentary. They would wouldn't they? On the other hand I argued with Suzy that when we make an opinion on something we should also contrast the news or the story and investigate a bit more as well as look at both sides of the argument. Not all is black and white. This is their statement. 

Oli sent me a phòto of her and Miguel at work. This week he was one of the cameramen in her programme; "La hora de la 1". It was quite a coincidence and I think it must have been lovely for them. They also have Elliot nearby at the TVE nursery called "Peque Prado". Oli is up at 4.30 to be at work at 5.30 but Miguel goes in later so drops Elliot off at the nursery. Oli finishes work at around 1.30 and Miguel at around 3 which is when they pick up our grandson. He is now finally enjoying his time at the nursery. Here they are together at work.

Miguel and Oli at work on Monday 

Their life is much more balanced now that Miguel has left Valencia and will be working for TVE in Madrid at Prado del Rey permanently. 

We only saw her on TV once that morning as we were getting ready to leave for Santa Pola. We decided to go as the weather forecast was pretty good for this week. We went in search of sun and also a bathe in the sea, our last this year. Pippa came with us, of course. 

The road to Alicante, the A3 was pretty empty and we had a smooth journey. We stopped for a picnic lunch and this time went off the motorway in search of somewhere decent to set up our table and chairs. We chose the small town of Chinchilla where we had our picnic in a park. There was no one else around. Here is Eladio about to sit down to enjoy our simple meal.

Our picnic lunch on the way to Santa Pola

It was a lovely sunny day and we arrived to 25cº at our apartment. We had to carry everything up the steps as the lift wasn't working. It wasn't working for a good reason as finally new lifts are being put in to replace the horrible old ones. Actually the technician let Eladio try it out and we were delighted to see the new lift in action. We were also pleased to see our neighbour Lucy who had cleaned and prepared the apartment for us. No longer do we have to clean it every time we come or go. We were both happy to be back. 

Back in Santa Pola

Pippa was too. She was delighted also with her new bed; a bed Lucy gave her which used to belong to a cat she had.

Pippa has a new bed in Santa Pola

After unpacking and settling in we spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on our terrace, reading and soaking in the warmth from the remains of the sun. It was so much warmer than in Madrid. We were hungry by 8pm, the time we usually we  have dinner and made  a simple meal which we enjoyed together on our own. 

We watched the news too and it wasn't good. In Spain now over 5 million people are in some sort of lock down. That day we passed the 800.000 contagion mark, the highest in Europe. The towns of León and Palencia were added to those in lockdown. That is where Eladio's 95 year old mother lives in a residency for senior citizens. I don't think she has been out in the street since the pandemic started and now no one can visit her. It's a very sad story and one we are now familiar with. 

Donald Trump, infected with Covid as we all know, seems to be faring well. That day, still supposedly in hospital, he took a drive around the hospital to show his supporters he was doing well. He was criticised for exposing his body guards to the virus. He later announced he was better and that people should not fear coronavirus! Damn the man for saying that. Of course we should all fear it. Now over 1 million have died because of it. 

I slept really well that night, catching up on some lost sleep. I was looking forward to going down to the beach but first we had to get provisions. Thus we drove to the proverbial Mercadona to stock up. I commented to Eladio that is so much cheaper to shop for 2 than to shop for 5 and he agreed. I didn't have to make lunch that day as I had brought some leftovers (lentil soup and Zena's "gloupsy" - a Russian dish which is basically stuffed cabbage leaves). At about midday we were down on the beach, a pretty deserted beach in brilliant sunshine. How wonderful it was to be back on our lovely beach. There were a few groups of people; mostly retired people I thought and everyone sat well away from each other. The water was cold but not too cold to enjoy a bathe and the sea was so  calm it felt like a lake. We had to go into the water separately because of our "valuables" - my phone, our two kindles, Eladio's watch and the car keys. 

Going into the water for our first bathe on Monday

Eladio going into the water for his first bathe on Monday

Silly me, I had forgotten to bring some sun cream. I actually thought we wouldn't need it but realised we did when on our walk to the end of the beach and back, both our backs felt as if they were on fire. The highest temperature that day was probably 27ºc, perfect. 

After enjoying 2 hours or so reading, bathing and walking on the beach, we left to go home for lunch. The warmest part of the day is from 12 to 16h which is just when we have lunch and our siesta. I commented to Eladio that we were wasting those sunny hours but he didn't think it was important. He is not into sun bathing and doesn't like the heat too much. That's understandable as he hails from a cold mountain village in the north west of Spain. I might come from cold and rainy England but I  love the sun.  I am, though, very wary of sunbathing as my own brother George died of melanoma. 

We didn't go out again for the rest of the day. In any case I had work to do. That afternoon I spent time drafting a new press release for a customer. I felt good afterwards and  also very hungry. I had been so busy I hadn't noticed the time and when we sat down to eat our tuna fish salad it was much later than usual. We watched some of the news and the main topic was Trump's triumphal exit from hospital converting it into a campaign for votes. The stupid man downplayed the virus again and removed his mask. Would you believe he said "Now I'm better, and maybe I'm immune"! He is not immune as he has got the virus for God's sake. He even urged Americans to go back to work and told them not to fear the disease and that he would be back campaigning soon. How can he tell the population not to fear the disease which has killed so many of his countrymen? His words are an insult to his fellow Americans who don't all have access to the state of the art medicine he has. But how convenient for his campaign.

Disgusted with him and fed up of negative news about Covid, we turned to Netflix. I watched the last episode of "Desaparecidos" and later read in bed until I fell asleep. 

Wednesday was definitely the warmest day of our stay with temperatures rising to 28c. It didn't get warm until about 11 am so we waited until then to go down to the beach. Meanwhile we had Oli's programme "La Hora de la 1" on and were able to watch her live from the comfort of our apartment.  The presenter of the social media part of the programme was in quarantine which meant Oli had to double her act and do her colleague's job and her own job for the 10 days while the former was away. That must be very stressful but she is managing. She was on and off the screen continuously. 

Watching Oli live on TV from our apartment

No doubt she would have preferred some time off and would envy our stay in Santa Pola. She hasn't had a holiday this summer due to her new job and doesn't know when she will get one. We went down to the beach, determined to enjoy the sand and sea with such good weather, at about 11.30 and were there until nearly 2 pm. Here is Eladio carrying our chairs and parasol going down the wooden walkway to our favourite beach, the one nearest our apartment.

Going down to the beach on Wednesday morning

We soon set up camp and had plenty of space to choose from which made social distancing very easy. I do love the beach in October with good weather and few people.

Eladio on the beach on Wednesday morning

We bathed in crystal clear blue water and it was wonderful. We read too on our beach chairs, the ones we keep in our car the whole time, and then walked to the end of the beach and back. I soon noticed a woman walking too but she stood out as amazingly she had two parrots perched on her shoulders as she walked. I was intrigued. She, her parrots and her companion were just a few paces behind us and when we got to the end of the beach, I approached her as I couldn't resist asking her about the parrots. Tina, the parrot woman, was very friendly and was happy to talk about her birds. She has 9 of them at home, all Yako parrots that hail from Kenya - grey parrots with a huge red tail. She was carrying Frida and Goyo and Friday¡ uttered a few words to us. She was happy for us to have a photo taken with her and I jumped at the chance. After all, it's not often you have an encounter like this. Tina told me she had been obsessed with birds since childhood and that her dream was to travel to Kenya to see the bird life there. Her birds are so well trained, they do their business in the bathroom before leaving the house! She adores them and it was obvious she did. Here we are with Tina and her parrots, Frida on her left shoulder and Goyo on her right shoulder. She has to wear a towel around her neck so their claws don't hurt her skin. What an encounter. It was unique and quite amusing. After all you don't often see someone taking two parrots for a walk on the beach do you?

Eladio and I with the parrot woman, Tina. 

We only wished we could take Pippa on our trips down to the beach but dogs are not allowed - so unfair. She was delighted to see us when we returned and after a quick shower I made a simple lunch of grilled fish and caramelised red peppers. 

On Wednesday afternoon I had my weekly skype call with my dearest friend, Amanda. I think she is also my oldest friend. We chatted until nearly 7 pm. I love our calls and so does she. It was after the call that I could catch up on my whatsapp messages and was delighted to see Olivia had sent us a video of Elliot. It wasn't just any video. It was  a video of him really walking, probably for the first time properly. Last week he was able to take about 4 or 5 steps alone and now he can walk unaided for far longer. I am happy to show the video of this important moment in his life. This is the link. He now also says "Papa" by the way, his first words. We will be seeing him tomorrow and I can't wait. 

Having finished watching "Desaparecidos" on Netflix there was nothing of interest I wanted to watch. In any case Eladio wanted  to see the friendly match between Portugal and Spain which was on that night. I wasn't at all interested and read outside on the terrace instead. It must have been a boring match as no one scored, not even Ronaldo. 

Thursday came and it was a very full and pleasant day. We had a quiet morning watching Olivia doing her double job on TVE. She was in the studio live countless times. She has become such a professional. Soon it was time to go the market which comes to Gran Alacant on Thursdays. We always love going to buy locally sourced and produced  fruit and vegetables. It is always a highlight of our stays here. We bought big juicy oranges, small bananas from the Canary Islands called "plátanos", grapes, avocados, mangoes, plums, apples and tomatoes, enough to take home and last us for a while. 

Eladio at the market on Thursday

We went early so as to avoid too many people, something we all tend to do these days. We came back with our bags and bags of fruit and veg, had a cup of coffee and then went down to the beach as we did every day. Again there was plenty of space for social distance and we felt safe. 

That's actually Eladio in the sea on Thursday but I don't think you can see him. He's just a speck on the horizon.

I hoped to see the Parrot woman on our walk again but we didn't. We were up in our flat a couple of hours later and soon sitting down to a very simple lunch. 

It was in the early afternoon while chatting to my neighbour Lucy who looks after our apartment that we both realised the new lift that had been put into our block of apartments was finally working. A new lift wow! You might not think that is at all interesting but it is. You see the lifts in these buildings had not been changed since they were built some 30 years ago and they were in a dreadful state. They were so awful we just didn't use them and I was embarrassed about them as they gave the building such a bad image.  Thus I was delighted to see the new lift up and working and to try it out for the first time. 

Trying the new lift for the first time

Later when we went out Eladio tried the lift too and this is his photo hahahaha.

Eladio trying out the new lift 

We were going to Alicante, the capital of the province, a beautiful city by the sea which boasts one of the best climates in Spain. At 7 in the evening that day it was 25c, so different from the north of Spain. We went for a doctor's appointment but had plenty of time on our hands to take a short walk in the city. The appointment was in the centre so we walked down a long boulevard (Avda. Federico Soto) until we came across a beautiful square with a huge monumental fountain in the middle. We had never seen it and had to ask the street cleaner what it was called. She answered "Plaza de los Luceros". It's actually a a sort of roundabout in the middle of the city and at the same time a small park. How come we had never seen it if I have been coming to Alicante for so many years? I suppose that's because we mainly go the area by the port and the famous Explanada boulevard and rarely enter the centre of the city.

The ornamental fountain that dominates the Plaza de los Luceros

We then googled the square and found out it is the most symbolic and important  square in Alicante, where all the important events of the city happen. The fountain and statues were built by a local sculptor called Daniel Bañuls in 1930 and at the time it was called Plaça dels Cavalls (horses square). It later became known as Plaza de Cataluña and even Plaza de la Independencia but today its official name is  Plaza de los Luceros although locals apparently call it "the horses" (Los Caballos). The sculpture has 4 horses covered in fruit and it represents the importance of both horses and water in ancient times. I wondered why it was called Plaza de los Luceros and read that it comes from a verse in the famous Fascist anthem in Franco's times: "Cara al Sol". Eladio having been brought up on that song at school still knows all the lyrics today. "Lucero", by the way means a star which shines brightly. Eladio says it also means the "dead". What I didn't find out was the reason the square was given its present name but obviously it has to do with Franco's times. No wonder the locals call it "the horses". 

We had to have photos of course and here is Eladio posing for me.

Eladio in the square. 

We continued to walk along the boulevard enjoying our stroll. We went past a game area which included a little trampoline which I just had to try out. Eladio wouldn't have been seen dead on it but the child in me always comes out in moments like that.

In the boulevard leading up to the beautiful square

Once the appointment was over we headed back to our apartment which is about 12km away, not too far at all. Pippa was waiting for us and dinner had to be made as we were both starving.

I touched base with the girls, chatting with Oli who sent us a lovely photo of Elliot that day when they went shopping and later on the phone with Suzy who seemed in high spirits (great).

Elliot on Thursday out shopping with his mother 

We later watched an interesting film about Charles Darwin called Creation on Netflix. When he wrote his book The Origin of Species, he challenged God and the church and changed the way people thought ever since. But for him it was a torment to discover the origin of the species was not the work of God and that's what the film centres on.  It also centres on the impact the death of his older daugher Annie has on him. You might find it interesting. 

Once again that night I slept well and was awake at 7.30 on Friday morning, our last full day at our apartment. While the big debate was going on in Madrid whether to call a state of emergency in the city and some surrounding towns, we continued our routine. We had elevenses as usual which we call "coffee time". Here is Eladio enjoying his coffee on our terrace, the best feature of the apartment. Pippa is on his lap bless her.

Coffee time at our apartment

Later we went down to the beach for the last time to enjoy a bathe and walk. There were far more people as it was a local bank holiday. We were back in our apartment at around 2 and had a simple lunch again, sausages with runner beans. I had run out of food but as we were leaving the next day I had to make with what there was in the cupboards. It was at midday on Friday that the Spanish government called the State of Emergency in Madrid (the capital and 9 suburban towns). The afternoon was quiet. We slept, read and chatted and I spoke to both girls. I was delighted to catch Elliot having his dinner. He was preferring the chips to his vegetable puree hahaha which I could understand.

Soon it was Saturday morning and after breakfast, packing etc, we set off for Madrid, picnic in hand. We left the apartment at about 11 am and at around 14h we were having our picnic lunch. We stopped at a nameless petrol station and set up our chairs and tables under some trees. As usual, I had to have a photo. 

Our picnic lunch yesterday on our way home.

We only had 100km or so to go when we finished and were home by about 4 pm. It was great to see my father and Suzy again as well as the dogs.  I had brought my father a stash of English sweets: polos, bounty bars, Turkish delight and Cadbury flake. The girls would get some jelly babies and a Terry's chocolate orange. I have been on a diet now for 2 weeks so won't touch any of it although I ache to do so. I love English chocolate bars and sweets as much as my father. 

There was plenty of time to unpack and then I spent quality time by the closed pool reading and chatting to Suzy. We were soon joined by Eladio and part of our conversation centred on her move to Costa Rica at the end of the month. Wow that will be a big change in her life. 

We had dinner together in the kitchen and made some of the "pelmeni" (a sort of Russian type of ravioli) which Zena, our Ukrainian weekend carer, had bought for us at a Russian shop in the city) which we had with home made smetana and fresh dill. It was delicious. When I eat pelmeni I always remember my dear Russian born Mother making them. 

We were in bed early and by chance watched a very interesting documentary about Edward VIII, his abdication because of his divorcee girlfriend Wallis Simpson, and what that meant for the Crown. More sinister was the story of his leanings towards fascism and involvement with the Nazis.  

Soon after I fell asleep and did not sleep badly at all. I was up at 7.10 this morning and happy to be in my own bed or rather in the most comfortable of all our beds in our different houses. I wish one day we could have a similar bed with a great big smart TV on the wall in our bedrooms in Montrondo, Santa Pola and El Cueto but that's not going to be happening any time soon hahahahaha.

I am now at the end of the tales of this week and it's time to sign off, publish this post and print a copy for my most loyal reader, my dear father. So cheers everyone until next Sunday. I hope you all have a great week.

Masha

dd