Dorothy Cottrell

I came to Spain seven years ago. It was like a half-way house. After so many years living abroad, this was still being abroad but not working. My task was to look after my two grandchildren while their parents were at work. What fun we had when we were together. There were weeks when I would take each of the kids to their after-school activities on four of the five days. (I have to say that my Spanish has not reached a high level because I seem to spend most of my days speaking in English.) It seemed to happen all at once – the kids suddenly grew up. They both want to be with their friends, not their grandma, which I totally understand and am happy about. Santi goes to guitar lessons and he decided he wanted to walk there on his own. Adri’s Art classes are on Saturdays. I wasn’t needed to take them to activities any more. My thoughts kept drifting to Scotland. I have to be there each December/January to help my son and his business partner with their Christmas orders. I also thought how much I missed tutoring Maths but my Spanish is not up to doing that here. I do enjoy helping Adri but Santi is good at Maths and needs no help. I thought of all the opportunities there are in Scotland to do charity work. I made up my mind. I would arrange to sell my property in Scotland and buy somewhere in Glasgow. Of course, nothing is easy these days. As December got closer, we decided it would be best for me to rent a flat in Glasgow until everything was sorted out. That was not easy either as so many people seem to be looking for places to rent these days. Then, there it was, the perfect flat. Thanks to my son and his wife viewing flats for me, they found one that I can move into at the end of November. Of course, it will be very sad to leave family and good friends here in Spain but I will always be able to come back for holidays.

We had two amazing family holidays this year. At the start of April, the family here and I drove down to Portugal while my son and his family flew there from Scotland. We had rented a beautiful villa with a swimming pool. It was remote but quite close to Barcelos. We visited lots of local places like Braga, Povoa de Varzim and Vila de Conde and we had a day in Porto. Otherwise, we were to be found playing games in the garden of the villa, lying in the sun by the pool and eating at a large table outdoors – all thanks to the good weather. The pool was chilly but none of the swimmers seemed to mind. Everyone had a great time. In October, I flew to Scotland. My oldest granddaughter, Holly, had been to see a number of universities with a view to studying Medicine next year but she had not been to the University of St. Andrews. She and I travelled there by bus. It was an enlightening day for both of us. For me, it was like going back in time and, for Holly, it was like going forwards in time. The next day, my daughter, Susan, Holly and I to flew off for our holiday to Egypt. The holiday was hard work, with very early rises and tons of walking, but it was absolutely amazing. Our first day was spent in Cairo, all around The Pyramids, with Susan and Holly going inside the largest one. We also visited the Papyrus Museum and an Essence Emporium. We had a very early flight to Luxor the next day where we joined the cruise ship that would sail us to Aswan, with stops along the way. After lunch, we joined a small tour group and our guide and off we went to see the temples at Karnak and Luxor. Another early start to visit the Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut’s Temple. We sailed overnight to Edfu where another temple was waiting to be explored. More sailing to Kom Ombo where we took a walking tour of the temple and the Crocodile Museum. The next day was a very long but very spectacular day. We set off at 4am for a four-hour drive to Abu Simbel. It was just wondrous to see the two temples. The four-hour drive back ended with us swapping to another vehicle and a guide showed us the Aswan High Dam. He then took us to a small boat and we went out to an island to visit the Phileas Temple. I am usually not good with boats but I loved the Nile Cruise and was sad to leave the ship where we had made good friends but we had to fly back to Cairo. A lady guide took us to Saqqara where we saw lots of interesting things, the Step Pyramid being the highlight. Susan and Holly went into a number of the pyramids and tombs. After lunch, we went to the Cairo Museum. A lot of the things have been moved to the new museum which is still not open but we were lucky to see all the glorious things that came out of Tutankhamun’s tomb. We had a more restful two days before flying back to Scotland and, five days later, I flew back here.

I spent 5 weeks in Glasgow, in December and January, helping my son and his business partner with the Christmas orders. It was hard work but was really enjoyable. What was not enjoyable was the weather, with temperatures dropping as low as -11C. The pavements were like skating rinks and just getting from the house to the car was scary. Sitting watching my grandson playing football was when I felt coldest but it was a joy to see him playing so well. By the time the family arrived from Spain, it was not so bad but it did rain a lot. There were special moments – especially when my 6 grandchildren all got together and I have a wonderful photo of them all. They are now aged 10 to 16 and are all so successful in their different fields of expertise. I cannot believe that I am now 70. What a great birthday I had this year! My daughter, Susan, treated me to a weekend in London which was amazing. We saw the 29,005th showing of ‘The Mousetrap’, had great meals out, met up with my wonderful friend, Elspeth, walked through Hyde Park and then there was a special treat – the Afternoon-Tea Tour Bus which consisted of a 90-minute tour of central London while eating afternoon tea. Bliss! After flying back here, the celebrations never seemed to end with a Skype call to the family in Glasgow, a joint party for my birthday and my grandson’s 14th birthday and meeting up with lots of friends here who kindly gave me presents. Other celebrations are still to come with a family holiday to Portugal in April and another to Egypt in October. This year would have been our Golden Wedding year. Sadly, that was not to be but my family and friends have certainly made up for that by making me feel very special in my 70th year. Thank You All!!

It had been some years since my last stay in London so I decided to have a 2-week holiday there followed by 2 weeks in Seville in September. My great friends in London, with whom I stayed, are now a wonderful family of 4 generations and are all a joy to be with. There we were doing to usual things I have missed, especially going into the centre of London to see a show and eat out. This time, there was even a surprise as we walked into Leicester Square and found ourselves in the middle of the excitement of a world premiere about to take place. The film was ‘Ticket to Paradise’. If it hadn’t been for large boarding, we would have seen George Clooney and Julia Roberts close up but we settled for watching them on a big screen. All that was usual then changed when the Queen died. A great sadness descended over London as well as many places around the world. We went to see the floral tributes and saw everything being set up for the funeral. Meanwhile, my daughter, Susan, paid her respects at St. Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh. Her daughter, Holly, had met the Queen when she opened the Queensferry Crossing Bridge and Susan had taken a photo of the hearse carrying the Queen’s coffin as it exited the bridge on its way to Edinburgh. I was in Seville when the funeral took place and I watched it on BBC World in my hotel room. I found lots of things to see in Seville. My favourite things were seeing the tomb of Christopher Columbus in the spectacular cathedral, seeing the amazing Plaza de Espana, the huge, wooden “Mushrooms” sculpture and eating lunch in the Hard Rock Cafe which was in a beautiful building and had very interesting memorabilia. I also have to mention that the family and I had a lovely holiday in Asturias in July when we visited a safari park which was as good as Busch Gardens (without the roller coasters) and an interesting dinosaur museum. There were lots of places to visit amid the gorgeous scenery of Asturias. Now my thoughts turn to Glasgow where I will be spending 5 weeks in December/January helping my son and his business partner with the Christmas orders. It’s a “labour of Love”.

I have always been very proud of my daughters and son. They have achieved so much in their lives and will continue to do so in the future, I’m sure. Of course, they also gave me six amazing grandchildren, three granddaughters and three grandsons who are now aged from nine to fifteen. In their short lives, they have also achieved so much – at school, in sporting activities and through all being very creative. In the last few months, both of my grandsons in Scotland have signed to play for pro-youth football teams. My oldest granddaughter achieved straight A grades in her Prelim exams and the second oldest was given a Maths award. My bilingual, half-Spanish grandchildren constantly amaze me with their command of both English and Spanish plus learning the Galician language and French at school. I am very lucky to have been blessed with such a wonderful family.

After another trip to Glasgow at the start of December and working hard there, helping with Christmas orders, a series of celebrations started. There was Christmas followed by New Year when all the family got together in Scotland. We came back to Spain just in time for the ‘Three Kings’ Day’, celebrated on the day of Epiphany. That was closely followed by my daughter’s birthday, my birthday and it will be my grandson’s birthday in a few days. Just before my birthday was my daughter-in-law’s birthday in Glasgow. Of course, my birthday was also a day of celebration for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee as she has now reigned for 70 years. Not quite my 70th birthday though! Since returning to Spain, it really has been sunny Spain every day which has been a treat. After a difficult two years, I hope that 2022 will be a better year for us all.

I’m not sure how it got to October already. The year is flying by. It has been dominated by three things. The main thing for me has been Brexit. It meant I had to apply for Residency here in Spain or, if I left the EU, I would only get a 90-day visa when I came back in again. Luckily, I took a friend called Juan to the government office when I first applied. Basically, all the official did was shout at us. It was horrible and Juan said we should leave but the man did give me another appointment. Juan and I went off to have lunch with his wife to recover. We went a second time and the woman was much nicer but she didn’t seem to know what to do. I had to prove my income was over a certain amount a year and had to pay for documents to be translated. I had also had to buy medical insurance. When Juan’s wife asked how it had gone, we were not sure. However, my application was approved and, after 2 trips to the main police station, I received my card. Yeah! Of course, Covid has been on everyone’s minds this year. I was double vaccinated but didn’t let my guard down. Here in Spain, we had to wear masks everywhere outside our own houses for about a year. We don’t have to wear them outdoors any more but most people still do and we have to wear them in shops, on public transport, in cafes when not eating or drinking and anywhere where there are lots of people around. They vaccinated all the kids over 12 before school started last month but they all still wear masks at all times in school and each class is a “bubble”. They are going to start vaccinating 5-to-11-year-old kids but, again, masks will be worn at all times in school and the classes will be “bubbles”. Last July, I was supposed to visit friends in Barcelona but the trip was cancelled. I finally went there this summer and had such a nice time with friends I originally met in Singapore and then we met up in London a few times after they moved there. Their amazing son was born in London but they moved to Barcelona when he was a few months old. Meeting him for the first time was a joy. At 2 years 5 months, he speaks to his dad in Italian, his mum in Spanish, is learning the Catalan language at nursery and he knows a lot of words in English too. I enjoyed the sights of Barcelona as I had not been there before. I wore 2 masks in the airports and on the planes and I wore protective masks at all times unless I was in my hotel room or at my friends’ flat. (They were both double vaccinated but had also tested positive some weeks before so their immune systems were in good shape!) Not only am I booked to go to Glasgow again this December but my daughter and grandkids here are also booked to go just after Christmas to spend New Year in Scotland. Hopefully, it will be less stressful than my trip last year. Take care and stay safe all.

I would like to wish anyone reading this a Happy New Year. Take care, stay safe and stay strong in 2021 please!

Each December, I like to go to Glasgow to help my son and his business partner in their busiest month. This year, however, was a bit of a challenge. A friend said that the title of my latest book – ‘In a Class of Her Own’ – was an appropriate title for my book and it did feel like that as I wondered who else but me would take a 3-plane journey from Northern Spain to Glasgow during a global pandemic? There were flight cancellations and airport changes, timing the journey to the airport after the Spanish nightly curfew and an important online form to fill in, print and carry on the journey but, after changing planes in Madrid and Heathrow, I finally arrived safely in Glasgow. After 14 days of quarantine in my son’s house, I finally started work and, boy, did we all work hard! Orders were flooding in every day and it was great to see the business thriving and to be part of that, if only in a very small way, through my proofreading twice a year remotely and my hard work for the month of December. We all had an enjoyable Christmas although it could only be spent with part of our family due to restrictions. Too soon it was time to leave. This proved to be even harder than getting there in the first place. I spent so many hours on the phone talking to B.A., I felt as if some of the wonderful people I spoke to were new-found friends. It was impossible to get a PCR test because of the holidays so I only had one option. The first task was to persuade the woman at Glasgow Airport to check myself and my luggage as far as LHR. Once there, I collected my luggage and joined the queue for my pre-booked LAMP test. I had to wait 90 minutes for the result but it felt good to have the certificate in my hand and I was able to board the next 2 planes and I finally arrived home. I had left my son’s house at 4am and got home at 9.30pm Spanish time but what a joy to be home – before Brexit and before Madrid Airport was closed because of snow!

I haven’t checked all the websites but I know that my latest book is now for sale and I have my own copy. I had no idea that it would be published so quickly as I had planned to send copies to people for Christmas. I cannot thank the publishers enough for their kindness, patience and understanding and their efficiency in producing the wonderful finished product. I didn’t plan to make the book as long as it is. I hope it is not boring to read. It certainly wasn’t boring living through all the experiences in the book !

I must be getting old. I found it so difficult to proofread my latest book. There have been a number of reasons. It is much longer than my previous books. I was able to proofread them on hard copies but printing this one in order to proofread it did not seem like an environmentally-friendly idea. I found it difficult to remain fully concentrated on the task in hand when it was on my screen. The next problem was that I had changed all the names of the characters on which the book was based and I even changed some genders too. Keeping track of all that was very difficult at times. The final problem was that it was one thing to live through all the experiences in the book without having to read about them over and over again and relive them. I got to the stage where I just had to stop and hope that I had found all the mistakes but I am still breaking out in a cold sweat at the thought of all the mistakes I could have missed. (A Million Thanks to my publishers for being so patient with me.) Of course, there will probably not be a great number of people who will read the book. Especially with this one, I wrote it to document for my six grandchildren what a crazy life their Nana had lived – and survived !