In Flanders fields, typhoon Haiyan devastates the Philippines, Oli and Miguel continue in paradise (Indonesia), clothes shopping again, the first dog to climb Everest, a trip to Barcelona and back, addicted to Homeland, Suzy receives a surprise visit in London.

Sunday 17th November 2013

Suzy and Chati (right) delighted with the surprise visit of Rocío and Pulgui (left) this weekend

Good morning everyone,

It’s Sunday again and the Indian Summer is over.  It is cold and raining and believe it or not the first snow has appeared in Spain.  Whilst England braces itself for the coldest winter in years, yesterday Montrondo, our beloved village, received the first snow fall.  It was a bit unfortunate for my sisters-in-law Pili and Adela who are both building houses and are at the moment just finishing the roofs but the snow beat them to it. In any case the village looks picturesque as you can see in this photo.

Snow in Montrondo, the first this year

But let me start from last Sunday when I forgot to record that it was Remembrance Sunday, more commonly known as Poppy Day in England.  Remembrance Sunday is held on the second Sunday in November, which is the Sunday nearest to 11^th November, Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of the First World War.  It was originally celebrated to honour the dead soldiers in that war but today it honours all the military who have died in conflict for their country.  I miss wearing a poppy here in Spain and was interested in its origin – I did know it’s because of the poppies that grow on the battle fields in France and Belgium but not much else.

Poppies to commemorate the First World War

Well, the use of the poppy was inspired by World War 1 poem “In Flanders Fields” which all English school children read at school.  Written by the Canadian doctor, Lt. Colonel John McCrae in 1915 after witnessing the death of his friend, a fellow soldier, its opening lines refer to the poppies.  I always loved the poem and share it with you here: 

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
      Between the crosses, row on row,
   That mark our place; and in the sky
   The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
   Loved and were loved, and now we lie
         In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
   The torch; be yours to hold it high.
   If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
         In Flanders fields.

On Remembrance Day people far away in the Philippines were mourning their own dead, over 2.000 who were killed by the vicious Typhoon Hiyan, locally known as Yolanda.  Up to two million people were affected in the worst natural disaster of its type in many years. 

Disaster in the Philippines

Our Sunday continued normally as you will have read in my blog last week.  I forgot to tell you that that afternoon our walks were increased with one member – Nubah, Dolores and José Antonio’s mongrel terrier who is staying with us whilst they are at a spa in Murcia with friends and family.  It’s not easy taking three dogs on a walk as you can imagine. I recorded the event here in this great photo of Eladio with all three dogs.

Eladio on our walk with the three dogs. 

Meanwhile, Olivia and Miguel continued their stay in Indonesia, a sort of paradise on earth from the photos I have seen.  However on Monday Olivia complained of the heat which seems to have produced flakey palms from Ubud a town located in the rice paddies. Here they were staying at a hotel with a very funny name: Frangipani Bungalows! It was 37ºc but Oli said because of the humidity it felt like 46ºc.  Suzy said not to complain and how she could not afford such a trip now.  You will be happy to hear Suzy was finally paid her first salary in her new job! Oli and Miguel would be staying later in the south of Bali at a place called Balangan at a wonderful bungalow hotel called La Cabane.  To me it looked like heaven. I have been enjoying their trip vicariously and loving their wonderful photos.  It is hard to choose which ones to post here as they are all so good.  But here is one of Olivia relaxing in the water with views of the Indian Ocean which I think was taken in Balangan.

Olivia in paradise

As I told you last week they have gone quite native buying local clothes.  The picture below was taken in Java I think where they will have been staying until yesterday.

Miguel and Olivia wearing local clothes in Java at a budist temple

What they seem to like best is meeting the delightful Indonesian children who are eager to have their photos taken. Here is just one of them. Today they are off to the remote Gili Islands for the last leg of their three weeks in Paradise.

Olivia with local children at the budist temple in Java.  She loves photos with kids.

Tuesday was a busy day for me.  I went into Madrid to meet Gloria and Julia from my events agency.  Madrid was a huge dustbin ground owing to the street cleaners’ strike which may be coming to an end now. We were to scout possible locations for the Yoigo Christmas activities. Naughtily on my way back at lunchtime I made a dash for Zara and HM and Cortefiel in search of a blue coat.  Well I got the dark blue coat at Zara for just 29 euros (amazing eh?).  This is it.  I wear a lot of blue so the coat will come in handy.

My new navy blue coat from Zara

Whilst at Zara I also found a great little black dress with transparent lacy sleeves.  I didn’t find anything at H+M but in Cortefiel I bought this beautiful dress which looks like a blouse and skirt.  Isn’t it original?

The skirt dress I bought at Cortefiel

I had also tried on a red tartan dress at Zara but they didn’t have my size.  Later I bought it online via my mobile and amazingly it arrived the very next morning.  Oh Zara you are a very efficient company. 

The red tartan dress I bought on my phone from Zara and which arrived in less than 24 hours.

So yes I bought a dress on my phone and later we watched a TV series using my hdmi cable attached to the TV and my PC.  Isn’t technology wonderful?  It was Isabel the series on RTVE about the Catholic King and Queen Isabel and Fernando.  I say technology is wonderful but it can be very frustrating too.  That day, the third using my new PC, a so-called browser “kidnapper” invaded my PC.  It was the horrible dosearches one which I just could not get rid of and my PC started behaving strangely so I took it into the office on Wednesday for the IT department to take care of.  It took the very efficient Esther the best part of the morning to finally erase it forever.  Thankfully it has now gone and I shall never ever again click on a box letting a navigator use my home page.  Since then I have found the box to click on not letting that every happen again as the experience was a technological nightmare.

On Wednesday I read a delightful piece of news.  If you know I love dogs you will understand why.  The story was about, Ruppee, a puppy which was rescued starving in a dump in India by Joanne Lefson.  She helped nurse him back to health until he was strong, healthy and capable of climbing mountains.  He has become the first canine on record to climb Mount Everest.  And this is him at the top.  Wonderful story eh?

Meet Ruppee, the first dog to climb to the top of Everest.

On Thursday I was up early to catch the 10.30 high speed train to Barcelona where I was to meet Gloria and Miguel to search for more locations; this time for our events at the Mobile World Congress in February.  I enjoyed the trip and was entertained part of the way, thanks again to technology, watching Jobs, the story of Apple’s Steve Jobs, a film my nephew Juan had downloaded for me.  I still had time after that to begin on Homeland and by the time we chugged into Barcelona Sants railway station I was hooked.  The series is marvelous and is about the CIA working on catching Al Qaeda terrorists.  The heroine, Carrie Mathieson, a bipolar Intelligence officer is convinced returning prisoner of war Nicholas Brody is a soldier turned terrorist by Al Qaeda whilst the whole of the US receive him home as a national hero.  If you haven’t watched it, just go for it, it’s one of the best TV series I’ve ever seen and will have you on tenterhooks throughout.

I am obsessed with Homeland

Our time in Barcelona was very productive as we found the perfect locations that very afternoon.  Thus we wouldn’t have to see any more venues the next day and would be able to come home earlier than planned.  Barcelona was at its best and the sun shined as it nearly always does in the Catalonian capital.  I stayed near the Paseo de Gracia, one of my favourite streets.  This was the view from my hotel room.

The Paseo de Gracia in Barcelona this week, so sunny and beautiful.

I was free in the evening to visit Grainne and Marcel, something I do every time I go to Barcelona.  You probably know I went to school with Grainne (an Irish name pronounced Graniya) and she is the closest I have to a sister and we are sort of kindred spirits.  I love being at their cozy home in Badalona and we spent a great evening together.  I had brought some food but Grainne had already made a marvelous minestrone soup and steak with béarnaise potatoes followed by strawberries.  I also got to meet Tommy, her puppy birthday present and the house was full of its toys, food and mats, as well as newspaper as it still is not properly house trained.

The next day we caught the 11 am AVE train where I spent the whole journey watching Homeland.  I was home by 14.30, on time for lunch with Eladio and my Father.  Fátima had made a delicious homemade pizza for my homecoming.  It tasted as good as it looks here.

Fátima's homemade pizza which we had on Friday for lunch, uuummmm.

In the afternoon whilst I watched more of Homeland, it rained and robbed us of our walk.  I did the weekly food shopping with Fátima and when we got home at about 6 it was already dark.  The days are getting shorter and shorter as we approach the winter solstice on 21^st December.  Later Eladio and I went out to dinner, this time to De Brasa y el puchero where we enjoyed our favourite dish there: “patatas revolconas”.  That is impossible to translate, so here is a photo for you to see what the dish looks like:

Patatas revolconas at De Brasa y Puchero on Friday night

And Yesterday was Saturday.  It was cold and rainy and I am embarrassed to tell you I spent most of the day hooked on Homeland.  I began to feel like bipolar Carrie, the intelligence officer convinced Brody is a terrorist.  I am too.  But I had to get up from the armchair to get ready to go out to dinner with Eladio.  We had a date with Roberto and Marícarmen, amicably divorced, and Juanjo and Justi at Zanadu a gigantic, overwhelming and noisy leisure and shopping centre on the road to Badajoz.  I wore my new skirt dress but don’t think anyone saw it as it was so cold I wore my coat most of the night.

We were home late and got up “late” for me, at least, at about 08.30 this morning.  I was determined not to watch any more of Homeland until I had written today’s blog post which I am doing now.  Hopefully we will get a walk in between the rain this afternoon and I will be able to watch it after that.

The news yesterday for us at least was that Rocío and Pulgui (Elena) had paid a surprise visit to Suzy and Chati in London.  I didn’t know anything about it until they posted photos.  I heard later that Olivia did.  Suzy was over the moon to see her “manada” (the name of the group of friends of the girls) friends and they will have been partying all weekend. The photo illustrating ths week's blogpost is of the four girls reunited in Whitechapel.

Rocio and Pulgui, lovely girls, are pictured here enjoying a British pint at The George, an old English pub opposite the Courts of Justice in Temple and where one of Suzy’s numerous flat mates, Mónica, works. They will be staying until Tuesday and I hope Suzy isn’t too busy with her events to host them until then.  

 

Pulgui (left with red lips) and Rocío (right) with a pint of beer at The George Pub in London

And that my friends, is all the news for this week.  I will sign off now, upload this and then go upstairs to make “pelmeni” (Russian ravioli) for lunch which my Father and I adore.

Next week will be hectic as I am responsible for the programme of the visit of the TeliaSonera new CEO to Yoigo.  For me the programme is final but you never know what last minute changes there may be.  But more about that next week.

Cheers till then,

Masha

The heating and hot water are back, Olivia and Miguel in Indonesia, a photo shoot, a communications team meeting in Madrid, "If" by Rudyard Kipling, more tales of Suzy in London and other things.

One of the photos of me taken at the photo shoot this week

Hi everyone,

This week has been extremely busy for me, but now and then I was able to travel in my mind to Indonesia and vicariously enjoy Olivia and Miguel’s trip to that exotic part of the world which you will hear about later.

But first let me tell you that on Monday the plumber came and restored the central heating.  He had been a month before to set it up for the winter and had charged us some 300 euros for his efforts.  So little did we expect it to break down during the visit of Ziuka and Aunty Valya and on the eve of the All Saints’ bank holiday.  It’s great that we got the heating back on Monday but not so great that we had to fork out another 300 euros for his visit.  However I am now enjoying wonderful daily hot showers and I no longer have to wear thick winter pyjamas at night.  I should also mention that thankfully the heating and hot water broke down during quite mild weather.  Would you believe that this week we had temperatures of up to 22ºc on several occasions?  This week coming we are expecting yet another “indian summer”. Even so last week Eladio, with the help of Miguel, covered the pool for the winter.  It is now covered in Autumn leaves and looking a little sad.

This happened whilst Olivia and Miguel were leisurely finalizing their packing for their three week trip to Indonesia, to Bali, Java and the Gili Islands.  They were to take a Qatar Airways flight via Doha and would not be arriving in Bali until the next day; some 24 hours.  

Oli boarding on Monday at Madrid airport

Their first destination was Seminyak, probably the most well-known tourist area in Bali, where they would be staying at the Hotel Sarinande which looks lovely, to judge by the website. Poor Olivia experienced the worst symptoms of jet lag.  I told her that in my experience it is not so bad on the return journey.  Now I know she is over it and thoroughly enjoying the holiday. Since their arrival Olivia has sent us lots of photos. She has gone native, buying local clothes as you can see in this photo here.

Oli who has gone native in Indonesia, savouring the local environment

What Olivia loves best when travelling is meeting people, especially kids and some of her best photos are with children.  I specially love this photo of her greeting these people and touching a little girl’s hand, whilst they pray next to Goa Lawah in Padangbai.

Olivia loves taking photos of children on her travels

Miguel has followed suit and in this charming photo he is showing his camera to the kids he just taken photos of with Olivia.

Miguel with children in Bali

 They have stayed two nights in Seminayak from where they have moved to Ubud which is where they are now.  Ubud is located amongst rice paddies and steep ravines in the central foothills of the Gianyar regency.  One of Bali’s major arts and culture centres, it has developed a large tourism industry.  Their next destination is Java where after a night in Kuta their final destination will be the Gili Islands, but more about that next week.

Of note on Monday I made an order of some 60 crackers on a site called Uniquely CrackersOnline.  I had scoured the web for good online cracker sites that deliver to Spain; always looking for new and creative crackers with good gifts inside.  That is the most difficult part as they all seem to have similar rubbish inside.  In any case I now think we will have enough for all the Christmas and New Year festivities.  Christmas for me would just not be the same without crackers.  I’m sure, if you are English, you would agree.  

On an empty stomach due to my fasting day on Monday, I went into the office in the afternoon to meet with the photographer who would be coming into the office on Tuesday morning to do a photo shoot of my boss. We wanted to explore the possible locations for the photos, one of them being the rooftop at Yoigo.  Here we tried a photo of me next to the gigantic logo of the company and as it was very windy, this was the result.

Me on the rooftop at Yoigo

The next morning, whilst Eladio took Fátima to the doctor for a blood test to check her iron level – remember last week we discovered her hemoglobin was dangerously low – I left the house very early to be at Yoigo by 9.30 for the photo shoot. The photographer, his assistant and makeup artist were already there.  They seemed very professional.  Once we had finished taking the photos of my boss and another colleague, they did some of me too.  I needed new “official” photos as I had been using the same ones for ages.  I chose a lovely corner of the cafeteria with a colourful background for mine.  Above, illustrating this blog is the one I like best.  It yet has to be photo shopped and I am interested to see how that will turn out. The one below is of me standing up. I wanted my legs (from the knee down you understand) in the photo as recently I have come to believe they are one of my best features.  It’s funny when you get to my age (yes I’m 56!) how you become less self-conscious of yourself and begin to appreciate your best features.  When I was 18 I would never have thought my legs were good. Well they are.  However in this photo you can hardly see them unfortunately.

One of the photos taken at the photo shoot

After the photo shoot which took quite a few hours, I went into Madrid for a lunch appointment with Carlos and Isabel from my PR agency.  We were hosting a lunch for the new telecoms journalist, Emilia and her editor, Adrian, from the Spanish news agency Agencia Efe.  I had chosen a place I like a lot, Ten con Ten, but where it is difficult to get a table.  Most of our conversation, over a wonderful dish of pure oxtail hamburger, was about Yoigo and our agreement with Telefónica to offer fixed telephony.  Emilia is new to the telecoms journalist arena and is getting to know everyone.  

The middle of the week came, Wednesday, and with it came the beginning of the visit of my communications colleagues from the Mobility Services division of TeliaSonera, the mother company of Yoigo.  My colleagues, Kaja from Estonia, Daiva from Lithuania, Elina from Latvia, Charlotte from Norway and Nina, Karin, Linda and Anna from Sweden, all arrived that afternoon in Madrid and checked into the Hotel de las Letras on the famous Gran Via.  I was to host the all women team dinner later that night at Casa Lucio in the old part of Madrid and within walking distance of their hotel. Casa Lucio is a very special old restaurant in Madrid where you can meet kings and prime ministers (I once sat at a table and the ex-President Aznar was on a table nearby) and famous people from all over the world.  It is not haute cuisine and is nothing like El Bulli or other top Michelin star places now in Madrid. But Lucio is equally famous as the man, now in his 80’s, explained to us how he rose from being the errand boy over 68 years ago.  Today you can still sample the same recipes, the most famous being his broken eggs and chips.  Other traditional dishes are roast suckling lamb and pig.  We took many photos of the night, but the best one is of us together with the famous restaurant owner who told us that his restaurant was the most famous Spanish restaurant in the world!

With my communications colleagues from TeliaSonera at Casa Lucio with Lucio (in the middle at the back)

Afterwards I walked my colleagues back through the old streets of Madrid.  I was ashamed that they were to see the consequences of the street cleaners’ strike as we passed the usually beautiful Plaza Mayor which was full of papers and empty cans.  I showed them the kilometer 0 in the Puerta del Sol where all roads are measured from in Spain.  We went up the Alcalá street where I showed them the entrance to the old casino with its wonderful stair case, hoping that they would not notice the rubbish too much.  I then left them to drive back home and arrived at nearly one in the morning. The next day I would be up at 06.30 in order to be on time at the office on Thursday morning for our 09.30 start.

My colleagues arrived a bit late because of the traffic but were eager to have their photo taken at the entrance before going up to the board room to begin our meeting.  Juan, kindly, took this photo of us.

With my communications colleagues from TeliaSonera at the entrance to Yoigo

We spent most of the day in the board room talking and debating on various communications topics.  I had decorated the table with two splendid bunches of sweets which looked like flowers which proved very popular.  Angeles and Carmen took care of our catering needs and our meetings went well.  We finished just before 5 and my colleagues then went by mini bus into Madrid whilst I drove there by car.

Our meeting room - notice the bunches of sweets, a lovely touch my colleagues thought.

The next item on our agenda was cultural and team building.  We went on a walking tour of Madrid  - despite the noise and the rubbish – and our delightful guides who were historians showed us the main streets starting with the Gran Via.  I was delighted to see the tour was organized by an old colleague, Diego A who now heads up a VIP tour company in Madrid called “Madrid and You". I hadn’t seen him since my Motorola days! His wonderful guides had with them an iPad and could show us the pictures from the past of the buildings and monuments we were to see on our tour.  I learned quite a lot that evening about places I had passed many times without paying much attention.

Our tour ended at the Anciano Rey de los Vinos, an amazing old bar which actually has a tunnel that joins it to the Royal Palace.  Legend has it that King Alfonso XIII (who abdicated in 1931 when a Republic was formed, just a few years before the Spanish Civil War) used to walk through the tunnel to drink at the bar which I think won’t have changed much since those times. Here my colleagues and I tasted wines and tapas and were then blindfolded in a competition to see whether we could tell the difference between somontano, rioja or ribera wines.  Elina from Latvia won. 

The blind wine tasting competition at El Anciano Rey de los Vinos with Diego

After the competition and lesson in Spanish wine, we walked to where we would be having dinner.  It would be dinner with a difference at Fuentes y Bonetillo which specializes in “show cooking”.  Here we learned how to make Spanish ham croquettes and gazpacho, a banda rice (sort of paella without bits), ali oli mayonnaise followed by a wonderful biscuit dessert made with Spanish “turrón”. 

Kaja and Elina making Spanish ham croquettes at our show cooking evening

I think we all learned a lot as well as ate delicious food.  I left my colleagues drinking coffee, in order to get home not too late.  Even so I was home again after midnight and had to be up on Friday morning, once again at the crack of the dawn!

Our agenda on Friday was great.  We were to have an external speaker talk about excellence in communication.  For this, I had asked a professional colleague and friend, Víctor to do the honours.  I have known Víctor since my Motorola days as at both this company and Nokia he headed up the team from my PR agency.  Since then he has set up his own company called Elocuent (remember I told you last week about being on the jury for prized in personal communication he has set up in Spain?) and is on a mission to improve personal branding and communication in Spain.  

I was at the office early to receive Víctor but before he arrived another old mutual colleague and friend arrived. I was delighted to see Isidro M enter the cafeteria.  We used to work together at Nokia but today Isidro is the Country Manager for Sony Mobile.  When Víctor arrived I told him there was someone he would be delighted to see in the cafeteria. Thus, Isidro, Víctor and I had a wonderful few minutes catching up on our professional lives and remembering our time together when we worked at Nokia.

Víctor’s presentation was very moving and went down well with us all.  He centred his ideas round the Zara case and finished with the Communications Manuel in one page: “If”, the fantastic poem by Rudyard Kipling which if you know it or read it you will totally agree. He moved us so much in fact that there were a lot of red eyes around the room afterwards. Thanks Víctor, you were great! If has always been one of my favourite poems.  The Nobel Laureate wrote it in 1895 in tribute to the British imperialist politician Leander Starr Jameson and also as paternal advice to his son John who was later killed in the Battle of Loos in the First World War aged only 18.

And here is the full poem for you to enjoy:

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Our meeting ended early at 11.30 as some of my colleagues had a long haul back to their respective countries.  Others like Karin and Elina were staying in Madrid for the weekend. You can see the rest of the photos of their visit here.

Before I left the office I picked up my new pc – the one I am writing with now.  The other one was over 3 years old and beginning to crash a little too often.  I hate the pain of changing pc’s, but this time the experience has been nearly painless, thanks to the great IT guys at Yoigo: Manuel, Marius and Esther who did everything for me.  I felt and feel privileged.

I came home on time for lunch with Eladio and my Father.  In the afternoon I went shopping with Fátima to buy the weekly food.  Of course I bought more stuff than usual, food for her to take back home to her children this weekend who from what I hear do not eat well enough.  Thanks to me and the local private doctor I am taking her to, Fátima is now learning that eating is not just about satisfying your hunger but about eating the correct food: protein, fruit and vegetables, as well as cereals and food with a high content of iron and vitamins something she had no idea about. I was appalled to hear her children do not drink milk and live off a diet of pasta and tomato sauce!  No wonder she has anemia and no doubt they do too. 
 

That evening, Friday evening, Eladio and I went out to dinner.  Eladio was amazed I was in the mood to after such an exhausting week, but I was.  I must be eating the right things too as I seem to have boundless energy!  Well I got even more energy at Gino’s that night thanks to the wonderful plate of “paglia y fieno”.  

On Saturday morning I accompanied Fátima to the doctor to get more blood test results.  This time they had checked on her iron which unfortunately they had forgotten to do before.  The good news was that her very low hemoglobin had gone up from 7 to 8 in just a week.  However she has a long way to go until she reaches the normal range for a woman of her age which is between 12 and 16.  Her iron was very low as we suspected, just 19 when the normal range is 50 or over.  The doctor said she has to continue to eat well and take the iron and vitamin supplements and in three months both values should increase.  There is a tiny spot of pink in her normally yellow cheeks since she has started the strict protein and iron diet and I now think she is on the mend.  But, she did give us a shock I must tell you.

It being Saturday I had decided to make “cocido”, that typical Spanish winter stew like dish made with chick peas, all sorts of meat and bones and vegetables.  Cocido is the sort of meal to have with lots of people so we invited José Antonio (Eladio’s brother who lives in Madrid) and his wife Dolores to lunch.  They came and brought Nuba who will be staying with us for three weeks while they are away having a great time at a spa hotel in Murcia with some of their friends and Dolores' family.

We spent a great day together. Whenever they come, they join us on our walk.  Afterwards we had a light dinner together in our dining room made of fresh green beans and artichokes – some of which Fátima ate too of course.

And today is Sunday and it has been very quiet.  As it was Fátima’s day off, I cooked again – I have to admit I find it very relaxing especially when there is no pressure of tight meal times.  Today I made roast lamb the English style with all the trimmings.  Dessert was the usual: Eton Mess.  Afterwards I was rewarded with my Father’s compliment when he said it had been the perfect lunch.  Thanks Daddy, I’m glad you enjoyed it.

Sunday roast lamb today

Olivia continued to send us great pictures from Ubud of her in a rice field, of Miguel carving wood, of her grinding coffee the old fashioned Indonesian way and of the two of them off on a bicycle excursion.  It seems they are having a grand time and I’m happy for them.

Meanwhile Suzy sent us a photo from London we were really pleased to see.  She had met up with Patrick, a boy who she and Olivia had met when they went to England to stay with my friend Amanda in Wells nearly 15 years ago.  They hadn’t seen him since but thanks to the power of Facebook had kept in touch.  Patrick who is now living in Bombay was back in London to renew his visa in India and last night they met, together with 7 of his English friends, according to Suzy.  Oli and I immediately told Suzy to put Patrick in touch with Sumit, our Indian friend who lives in Bombay too and works for Bollywood.  Here is the photo of Suzy with Patrick and two of her Spanish girlfriends.

Suzy's reunion with Patrick in London this week

I spoke once to Suzy this week – I have to admit I am not very good on the phone, but of course we are in touch every day via whatsapp and Facebook. She had sent us a photo of herself last weekend together with a colleague when they were working at a wedding organized by her events agency.  She is very happy with her new job, especially when she is at the Oxo building where she is the head supervisor of events.  We were not so pleased to hear from her that her new employer had forgotten to pay her first salary this week which I can only imagine she was much looking forward to.  They will do so next week of course, but it must not have been a nice feeling for poor Suzy after a month of intensive work at her new job. 

Suzy at work last week supervising a wedding at the Oxo building in London

I can’t wait for my visit to see her in London at the beginning of December with Adela, my sister-in-law, for whom it will be two firsts; a first flight and a first time in England.  It’s great to have a trip to London to look forward to and Suzy has many plans for us.  

And so my friends, I have now come to the end of the week.  It’s time to say thanks for reading my blog and to wish you all a great week ahead.  Mine will be busy and I have a trip to Barcelona to look forward to on Thursday and Friday.

So cheers until my next post,

All the best, Masha

The most honest city in the world, St. Jude’s storm, sixty million Spanish phones monitored by the NSA, my beloved Yorkshire, the visit of Ziuka and Aunty Valya, Russian food, no hot water or central heating and then no water and other news.

At The Valley of the Fallen near El Escorial with Ziuka and Aunty Valya on Friday

Hi again everyone,

Well it has been a week to remember and I have lots to tell.  So let me start.

On Sunday after writing my blog, Suzy sent me photos of her visit to Little Venice, a place near Paddington with lots of canals.  I had heard of it but have never been, so it may well figure on our agenda when Adela, my sister-in-law, and I go to London at the beginning of December.

Suzy at Little Venice in London last Sunday

It was on Sunday that I read a piece of news that fascinated me.  It was a study made by the Reader’s Digest to find the most honest city in the world.  They had dropped 192 wallets in 16 cities around the world to see how people would react.  Each wallet contained 50 dollars, a telephone number, a family photo, coupons and business cards. I was not surprised to read that Helsinki is the most honest city when 11 out of 12 wallets were returned.  In Mumbai 9 out of 12 were returned, in Budapest and New York 8 out of 12, in Moscow and Amsterdam 7 out of 12, in London and Slovenia 5 out of 12, in Bucharest, Rio and Zurich (!) 4 out of 12, in Prague 3, in Madrid 2 and in Lisbon 1.  So Lisbon is the most dishonest city in the world from this study where only 1 person returned the wallet.  Funnily enough it was a Dutch couple who returned it there.

On Monday Londoners and people in Wales and the South of England woke up in the wake of a very strong storm baptized St. Jude, the patron saint of lost causes which was on Monday.  5 people died and a lot of destruction was caused by the winds.  People were left without electricity, public transport was called to a halt and the whole of the country was prepared for much worse.  In the end some called it a storm in a tea cup, but if people were killed because of it, I think it was more than that.  Suzy sent me this photo a friend of hers had seen of a tree falling on a car near where they live.

Some of the damage the storm caused in London on Monday

The news in Spain that day was that 60 million phones had been monitored in just one month by the NSA.  This came after the story of Angela Merkel’s Nokia phone having been bugged by the same organization as had phones of some 35 world leaders.  We are in the midst of the news which has been leaked by the very brave Edward Snowden now in exile in Russia, who worked for the NSA and has since let the world know that the Americans are listening in to the rest of the world.  I was asked by Spanish journalists what an operator’s responsibility in this case is.  We have to safeguard our customer’s conversations and we encrypt the systems, but no system in the world is free of espionage I am afraid.  Most of us suspect all our governments were and are in the know and it is thanks to Snowden that we are all now aware to what extent this practice takes place.  

The news I was most interested in that day though was our own.  Yoigo announced it now has 4G coverage in Barcelona, Alicante and Seville, in addition to Valencia, Málaga and Madrid.  By the end of the year we aim to have 4G coverage in all towns with over 70.000 inhabitants.  A colleague of mine did a speed test that morning in Barcelona and the result was spectacular as you can see in the photo below.

Our 4G network working in Barcelona this week

The family news that day was that I bought Suzy’s air ticket for when she comes home for Christmas.  She will be coming on 22^ndDecember and leaving on the 29^th – in time to spend New Year’s Eve in London.  We very much look forward to her being with us as Christmas without her would have been very sad.

Not so long ago I was astonished to read that my beloved Yorkshire had been the winner of this year’s Travel Awards as best place to visit.  Well on Tuesday this week it went up a notch to become one of the top regions in the world. Yorkshire, which is sometimes called God’s own country, was voted the third best region in the world in the Lonely Planet’s 2014 best in travel list.  I was so proud that my beloved Yorkshire had got this recognition.  I am told it has become a “cool” place to visit.  I do hope that doesn’t mean there will be hordes of tourists now at some of my favourite destinations such as Bolton Abbey, the Strid wood, Skipton, the Dales, Harrogate or the moors.  I also hope that doesn’t mean the price of property will go up as I don’t rule out buying a cottage to spend part of our time in some idyllic Dales village one day when we retire. In case you are wondering what the top ten regions are, this is the list: 1) Sikkim, India, 2) The Kimberley, Australia, 3) Yorkshire, UK, 4) Hokuriku, Japan, 5) Texas, USA, 6) Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and Zambia, 7) Mallorca, Spain, 8) West Coast, New Zealand, 9) Hunan, China, 10) Ha’apai, Tonga.  I can only imagine villagers from the remote parts of Yorkshire reading the news in the local papers and saying “oh by gum”. In fact I felt like saying it myself when I read it and wondered if it meant there may be a narrowing of the famous north south divide ……

Me by the Strid in Yorkshire on our last visit there in 2011

I didn’t talk about Yorkshire at lunch that day which was with a journalist, Pilar.  But of course we did talk about the NSA listening to the world’s conversations and reading our emails and postings on social media.  We had lunch at a wonderful place, the Casino de Madrid which funnily enough is actually not a casino.

Later I met Gloria and Miguel from my events agency, QuintaEsencia, when we visited the location for a show cooking event I will be holding next week.  The communications team from TeliaSonera Mobility Services, our mother company, will be meeting in Madrid and one of the things we will be doing is learning how to cook Spanish food.  I do hope the evening goes well at Fuentes yBonetillo.

On Wednesday, my second fasting day of the week, there was finally some good news about Spain in the “foreign” press.  The BBC reportedthat Spain had ended a two year recession with 0.1% growth in the last quarter.  We have also read reports that Bill Gates has invested in Spain recently, so that must be a good sign.  I do hope it at least means the beginning of the end of the recession we are all fed up with.  

I went for an early walk that day, so as to be free to greet our guests.  That day, my cousin Ziuka (born in France of Russian descent but living in England) and her Mother, my Aunty Valya were visiting us.  Ziuka is the daughter of my Mother’s beloved younger brother Nicholas (Dydya Kola to me) and she hadn’t seen my Father since he left England in 2005.  My Father and Aunty Valya are the two surviving spouses of my Mother Elena and her 5 brothers and sisters. I hadn’t seen my Tyatya Valya (Nichola’s wife) who lives in Paris, since 1999 at my Mother’s funeral so this was to be quite a reunion.  They are important to me of course, but you have to understand that as I hardly have any family left apart from my Father, their visit was going to be a big event.
 

They were driving from Biarritz and would be reaching us in the early evening.  Ziuka’s sat nav played a trick and left her some 12km from here on the wrong street, so off I went in my car and tried to find it with my sat nav which finally I did.  It was lovely to see them and to see how well my 88 year old Russian born Aunt is.  I observed at dinner how she smokes and drinks wine, is very mobile and leads a full life and I thought she is the perfect role model for me!  To me she seems eternal.  We enjoyed a great family dinner and Olivia joined us later which of course brought down the average age around the table. 

Aunty Valya aged 88 smoking and drinking coffe outside the kitchen

On Thursday after sending out a press release on our new prepaid tariffs, I took my cousin and Aunt into Madrid.  Aunty Valya had last been there some 50 or 60 years ago, so I imagined she would see things very differently.  We started our walk around the old city from Gran Via, walked down Preciados and to the Puerta del Sol where I showed them the kilometer 0.

Aunty Valya and Ziuka in the Puerta del Sol on Thursday morning

From the Puerta del Sol we walked to the Plaza Mayor where we sat and enjoyed a drink in the sun and continued talking to catch up on so many years.  From the Plaza Mayor I took them to the Arco de los Cuchilleros and down the steps to the surrounding streets where we walked past Botín, the oldest restaurant in Madrid and to our destination.  We were to have lunch at Casa Paca which I think they enjoyed.  

After lunch, we made our way to Atocha to a Russian shop called "Tienda Bravo" which I had heard existed.  We took a while to find it and were delighted to see it was open although it was not yet 17h, the afternoon opening time.  Here we bought pelmeni (Russian ravioli), Smetana (sour cream) to go with them and other typical Russian products such as halva.  Aunty Valya got a compliment from a Russian girl shopping there who commented her on her beautiful and probably pre revolutionary Russian.  I knew from my Mother that “soviets” apparently do not speak it so well.

Ziuka in the Russian shop in Madrid on Thursday

From Atocha we made our way to Lavapies, a working class district in Madrid where lots of immigrants live.  I was in search of halal meat (muslim) for our live in home help Fátima who worried me because she eats very little protein.  Here at a Bangladeshi shop I stocked up on 1.5kg of mince meat with onion and coriander already mixed in and 10 chicken legs.

The Bangladeshi shop in Lavapies where I bought halal meat for Fátima

Armed with our purchases of Russian and Muslim food, we made our way home.  Here Valya was able to take a little siesta followed by countless cups of tea and Ziuka was able to wind down by playing candy crush. Meanwhile Eladio and I went on our daily walk with the dogs.

After the walk I took Fátima to the doctor as the laboratory had rung the day before to say that in the results of her analysis which I had taken her to do on Tuesday, her hemaglobin was dangerously low. We immediately thought she must be anemic.  The doctor who had the results was very alarmed and nearly sent her to hospital.  That would have been a huge problem as she is not yet legal and does not yet have a health card.  In the end, after much questioning it turned out she is lacking in iron and her low blood count is due to a loss of a lot of blood through her monthlies and a lack of correct eating.  She has now been put on a protein and iron diet with supplements of course and from Thursday evening every meal has to contain protein and iron as well as vegetables and fruit and lots of milk.  I also think a main cause could have been the very damaging effects of Ramadan in August.  Fátima was very upset and I must tell you I feel like her Mother and am looking after her as if she was my daughter.  She admitted to me that her children don’t eat well either, that they don’t drink milk and often eat just pasta and tomato sauce.  I was so alarmed that when we went shopping this week I purchased a suitcase full of food for her to take home, full of the food her children need: milk, eggs, sardines, tuna fish, lentils, fruit and vegetables.  I cannot help the rest of the world but I can at least help her and her family and I intend to do so.  Finally this morning, when she left, there was a slight colour of pink in her normally very yellow skin. I dread to think how many other poor people affected by the crisis must also be suffering from anemia.

Dinner that night was Russian and Spanish food.  I had made “perushki” (little meat pies), followed by croquettes for our visitors which I knew they would appreciate.  I do wish Fátima could have eaten the perushki but part of her problem is that she cannot eat the same meat as ours as it has to be halal. Well now she has halal meat thank goodness.

On Thursday night, after the trip to Madrid, the walk and the doctor episode I was looking forward to a hot shower after dinner.  I got into the shower but only cold water came out.  We then realised that neither the central heating nor the hot water worked.  The problem was that we would have to wait until Monday to get it mended as Friday was a bank holiday and at the weekend the plumber who had apparently put our central heating in order recently for the neat sum of 250 euros, wouldn’t be available until Monday.  So we just had to grit our teeth and wear warm clothes. Thankfully the weather was pretty benign. In fact it was sunny throughout the stay of Ziuka and Aunty Valya.

We enjoyed the sun by the swimming pool in the mornings and here is a picture Eladio took of Ziuka and I on Friday morning enjoying our coffee and Ziuka her cigarette.

Chatting in the sun by the pool with Ziuka

Friday was All Saints’ Day and a holiday in Spain. On Friday Eladio joined us and we took Ziuka and Aunty Valya to visit the Valley of the Fallen (El Valle de los aídos), the monument to fascism that mourns the nationalists (those on the side of Franco) who lost their lives in the Civil War.  The amazing cathedral built into a rock and huge cross above it which is visible for miles, were built by the republican prisoners (the enemies of Franco), many of who died in the attempt.  It was started in 1940 just after the bloody war and finished in 1959.  The photo illustrating this week’s blog post is of me with Ziuka and my Aunt outside the Basílica.  Here Franco is buried and not surprisingly his is a very austere tombstone.  For the records, this was a purely cultural visit as I am no fan of Franco in case you wondered.

At the Valley of the Fallen on Friday morning

After the visit, we made our way to the nearby El Escorial, that pretty little village in the mountains some 60km from Madrid where Philip II built his austere palace more commonly known as the Monastery of El Escorial.  We drove around the huge building before parking and making our way to Charolés where we were to have lunch.  Charolés, the best restaurant in town, did not disappoint and here we enjoyed a wonderful family meal.  

We came home in the early evening to rest and then to do the weekly shopping which I always do with Fátima.  Ziuka and Aunty Valya joined us and I soon realised that the shops were closed as it was a national holiday.  So we decided to have a cup of coffee and I think all four of us enjoyed the outing.  I later realised we were talking a mixture of French, English and Spanish, just as we did throughout their visit.  I could add to that Russian of course.

That evening I made pelmeni for dinner, our overall favourite Russian food.  This is the photo of Ziuka’s plate.  When I posted it on Facebook a Spanish friend commented that I do like funny food.  Little does she know that pelmeni are not funny.  My mother used to make them beautifully and the dish brings back so many wonderful memories.  The first time and only time I went to Russia (St. Petersburg in 2005) that was what I ordered at the restaurant on our first night there.  Today you can buy them frozen at Russian shops and they are nearly as good as my Mother’s.

Delicious Russian pelmeni and smetana (sour cream)

On Saturday morning after another leisurely breakfast with my French/Russian family and after another lovely coffee and chat with Ziuka by the pool, they had to leave.  We all went outside to say goodbye and wave them off in their Peugeot 405 with a British registration plate. I do hope they come to see us again soon.  It was a wonderful visit.  You can see the rest of the photos of their visit here.

They would have loved to have stayed for lunch that day when we had pelmeni again.  But we also had “borsch” (Russian beetroot, meat and vegetable stew).  I had asked Zena, my ex Ukranian cleaner, to make some for us and Fátima and I picked it up at my friend’s house, also called Fátima, where she cleans now.  I paid her handsomely for her job and we all enjoyed the proper Russian meal yesterday.  We were joined by Olivia and Miguel who of course was trying Russian food for the first time in his life. For the record we had my freshly homemade apple crumble afterwards.

And this morning, Sunday, we woke up to no water.  Now we had neither central heating, nor hot nor cold water.  I thought that if Murphy’s law ruled, soon we would have no electricity but thankfully that didn’t happen.  As I commented to Miguel, I could do without all of them so long as internet workedJLife continued without water and I took Fátima to the bus stop with her huge suitcase of food.  Once there I popped into the local shop and bought 12 litres of water as we had been told we might not have water all day.  Then I bought some churros (Spanish breakfast fritters), porras (a bigger version) and thick chocolate for Oli and Miguel’s breakfast. After all it would be their last but one breakfast with us for three weeks as they are going on holiday tomorrow  to Indonesia. They will be visiting Bali, Java and the Gili islands.  

Later I went with them to their local gym.  They were going to swim but I was going to use the installations for a modest fee of 5 euros to be able to have a luxurious shower and wash my hair.  Lunch today was all together and we all enjoyed Fátima’s homemade pizza.

 

About to have a shower at the gym in Villaviciosa this morning after our water had been cut off

The water came back at about 5pm after they had mended a burst pipe in the street so we were able to wash up, or rather Eladio was:-)  We have just come back from our walk and I am coming to the end of the tale of this week, which as you will appreciate has been one to remember, because of the wonderful visit of my French/Russian family.

And here I will leave you to go and prepare my Father’s frugal dinner before having our own and watching “Salvados” a great investigative TV programme we try not to miss on Sunday evenings. 

Next week should be memorable too as I am expecting the visit of my communications colleagues from the Baltic and Nordic countries and will be busy with them from Wednesday to Thursday.

So wishing you all a great week, cheers till next time

Masha