New home help, 4 sisters reunited, Olivia reporting from Galicia, a 93rd birthday, the new Samsung Galaxy SIII, dinners with friends and family, a super moon and other things.

My father, enjoying the small pleasures in life on his 93rd birthday on 1st May

Hello again my friends,

Another Sunday is here and finally the sun is shining.  I am sitting at the kitchen table at my computer, like most mornings, with the dogs asleep at my feet.  Whilst I write I am syncing my Samsung Galaxy SII to Outlook, after having adventurously upgraded the software to Android 4, commonly known as Ice cream Sandwich.  Hopefully, amongst other things, it may improve its poor battery life. Meanwhile, the men, Eladio and my Father are in the dining room reading the Sunday papers, Olivia, I think is sleeping in her room, Susana will be at her lovely new flat and Ivanka is cleaning the house which is music to my ears. 

The dogs asleep in the kitchen

But let me recap on the week.  We have spent a good part of it finding new domestic help to replace Olga.  Olga was very good with my Father but was somewhat lazy and the house was getting dirtier and dirtier.  We found lots of women looking for jobs on a page called www.segundamano.es, many of them Rumanian or South American but some surprisingly Spanish.  They all told us the job market was on the decline for home help, most obviously because of the current crisis, as fewer and fewer families can afford it.   In Spain it is quite normal to have someone come in to clean and cook and do the laundry or even live in.  Of course we need all that with this huge house but more importantly we need someone to be here for my Father, who is less mobile after his hip operation last October.  We must have interviewed 6 or 7 women until we came upon Ivanka, a 59 year old Bulgarian lady who started on Friday.  So far she is doing a great job and we are happy to have her living with us and help us run our home. 

I don’t know if you know but Bulgaria is a country close to my heart, even if I have never been there, because it was where my Mother and Aunty Masha were brought up.  Their family, my grandparents and children went to live in Sofia in exile after having to leave Russia just after the revolution.  But that is another story, a story I will have to tell in a book when I retire; a book about my Mother and her family and how the revolution and Second World War scattered the family around the world forever.  So, of course you will understand now that I feel comfortable having a lady from that land join our family.  

Today is Mother’s day and I cannot help but remember my Mother and after writing about her Bulgarian roots above, I remembered a clipping I have which sends shivers down my spine every time I look at it.  It is a photo of the 4 sisters reunited after 46 years and was published in The Telegraph and Argus in 1991.  Just read the article and you will get a feel of what happened to my Mother’s family.  Amazing isn’t it?

My Mother reunited with her sisters 46 years on.

My Mother and my Aunt would have been delighted to meet Ivanka and speak in Bulgarian.  My Father, meanwhile, who knows 6 languages, has exchanged a few words of that difficult language, surprising Ivanka, also with his knowledge of that country he visited twice with my Mother after the Iron Curtain fell.

Olivia had left for Galicia on Sunday and was to be reporting live every day, except Tuesday, 1^st May which was a national holiday, for the programme she works for, La Mañana de la 1.  We missed her on Monday where she reported on a family from a small village whose house burned down. She went on to report every day with the help of the team that accompanied her: the producer, the driver, the cameraman and the technician.

Oli with the TVE team in Galicia this week

She thoroughly enjoys being a correspondent away from the TV news room she normally works from in Prado del Rey in Madrid.  Here is a photo of the TVE van with the equipment they use, including satellite.  Here she edits what they shoot from wherever they happen to be reporting and it gets relayed to the main studios. 

The TVE van with all the equipment Oli and her team use to relay back to the news room

That night, Pili and Andrés, my sister and brother-in-law, arrived in Madrid as they were travelling to Cuba the next day.  It was to be their first flight abroad ever and they had chosen Cuba as their destination to celebrate 25 years of marriage.  Cuba is a country close to Eladio’s family as it is where my Father-in-law, Antonio, was born when his family, from Galicia, emigrated there at the beginning of the last century.  He and his family returned to Spain when he was still small.  Later, Eladio’s great uncle, Constante, the brother of his grandmother on his mother’s side, emigrated to Cuba too.  The family remained in contact with Constante who later married in Cuba.  His daughter Rosa came to Spain a few years ago and since then we have all been in contact.  Pili, Eladio’s youngest sister, used to write to Rosa’s sister, Lecinia (the same name as their grandmother from Montrondo) and one of the reasons for choosing Cuba as their 25^th wedding anniversary trip, was to meet Lecinia and her family, including dear Rosa, who is now a firm friend of mine on Facebook. From what I hear they are enjoying their trip immensely.

Rosa María, Eladio's cousin in Cuba

So on Monday we joined them in Madrid for dinner, on the eve of their trip to Cuba.  We went to La Vaca Argentina near the Plaza Castilla and enjoyed a wonderful family dinner together.  

Tuesday 1^stMay, was labour day of course and a national holiday in Spain, as in most parts of the world.  It was also my Father’s 93^rdbirthday and the highlight of the week for us.  Unfortunately Olivia was missing, enjoying a day off from reporting with her team mates in Santiago de Compostela. It started off with a special breakfast with Eladio and I when we gave him his presents and card signed by us all.  He looks so well for 93 in the picture that illustrates this week’s post, don’t you think?  Most of all I like the smile on his face. Suzy joined us for lunch, brightening up her grandfather’s birthday.  This is the cake I made for him, a heart shaped Victoria sponge.

The cake I made for my Father's birthday

Wednesday was a holiday in Madrid, the 2^nd May, to celebrate the uprising against the French in 1808.  Olivia, of course had to work and this time we did not miss her live appearance on the television.  She reported on gypsy squatters in new housing in Penamoa, La Coruña, quite an issue in the area. You can see the piece here if you click on this link and fast forward to 12.11h.

Oli live from La Coruña on Wednesday

Wednesday was a glorious day for the Real Madrid football club, as it won La Liga, Spain’s Premiere league.  It was also a great victory for Mourinho, Madrid’s coach as the notorious Portuguese becomes the third coach to win league titles in four different countries after triumphs with Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan.  That night was the last football match for me for a while, watching Madrid beat Atlético de Bilbao.

I was happy to see Madrid win this year's Liga

Meanwhile a live debate was going on, on French television between Sarkozy and Hollande who, from what I read the next day, spent most of the time accusing each other of lying.  We have yet to see who will win the general elections but in all probability it will be the socialist, Hollande.

A very ugly live debate with Hollande and Sarkozy.

 

Thursday was a busy day, back to work and with lots of activity.  Suzy spent the morning with us working from our house.  At midday we were to see Olivia live again on the television. She reported from a town we know in Galicia, Vilagarcía de Arousa.  There has been a new local law passed whereby passersby can be fined for obstructing the street, something the local people are up in arms about.  You can see the piece here if you go to minute 12.19h.

Olivia reporting live from Vilagarcia de Arousa on Thursday

In the afternoon, Suzy and I went to Pozuelo to the English shop to get cake ingredients for her birthday party which she would be celebrating here this weekend.  Blow of blows, it had shut down.  This is just yet another commerce we like to frequent that has shut down and of course is a real sign of the current crisis. 

Thursday was the day I discovered a new social network, Pinstagram.  You will be aware of Instagram, recently bought by Facebook for a cool million dollars.  Pinstagram is a sort of merge between Instagram and the increasingly popular Pinterest which has more than 11 million users, me being one of them.  At first I thought Pinstagram was a joke until I actually connected on Twitter with one of the founders from Silicon Valley, Pek Pongpaet.  You cannot imagine how honoured I felt to be in contact with him.  I told him what a great idea Pinstagram was and please not to sell it to Facebook.  He actually favorited my tweet!

If you are a techy or social media freak like me, you will enjoy Pinstagram a merge between Instagram and Pinterest

Thursday was a big day for Samsung Mobile, who has now overtaken Nokia’s top spot in the mobile phone market.  I cannot take that sentence lightly, as you will know, of course, that I worked for Nokia for 6 years when I was the Communications Director for Nokia Spain.  That was when Nokia were very much the number one and totally dominated the mobile phone market.  But yes the takeover took place, just as Nokia took over from Motorola, a company I worked for too from 1990 to 1999 when it went from being an unknown quantity in Europe to being the world’s leader in mobile phones. Today that place belongs to Samsung.  However I wouldn’t bet on that being so forever, as I have seen before.  However on Thursday, the worlds’ eyes, were on this company as it launched the much awaited for new Samsung Galaxy SIII from Earls’ Court in London, in the presence of 2000 journalists.  That’s the sort of clout Nokia used to command which I remember so well.  I contented myself on watching the event live on internet from this marvelous link.  Today mobile phone launches are world events with so much jazz and style at which the journalists lap up the news reporting on the new device like sheep, producing reams and reams of news any PR person would be delighted to achieve. 

The new Samsung Galaxy SIII

Of course the new phone comes with the Google Android operating system, the system that today dominates mobile phones, much like Symbian did before. However, the VP of Samsung Mobile, Mr. J.K. Shin, did not as much mention Google in his opening speech.  So what is the new phone all about you may ask?  I was expecting just a better version of the Samsung Galaxy SII, my current phone.  But this one does much more.  To quote the BBC correspondent, this one has “all the bells and whistles”. In its TV commercial it says it’s designed for humans, something which seems a bit too obvious.  I mean what mobile phone is not designed for humans?  In a clear battle to beat Apple’s, Samsungs bête noire, just about everything you could possibly imagine has been packed into this lovely new device. Yes it is an evolution of its predecessor but does much more.  Its three best features appear to be its front cover which knows when you are looking at it, its share feature with other Galaxys (you just place one galaxy on top of another and the photo or whatever is automatically transferred) and something called Pop up Play whereby if you are watching a video, you can minimize and do something else on the device, like surfing, whilst continuing to watch the video in a smaller window. I, for one, cannot wait to own one.  

By now you have all understood that I am rather techy for my age.  Ah but I am classical too, so that night enjoyed a romantic drama film, Band of Angels,  with Clark Gable made the year I was born, 1957.  The story is fabulous, set in the time of the end of slave labour and the American Civil War.  Amantha Starr (Yvonne De Carlo) is the privileged daughter of a Kentucky plantationowner. After he dies, she learns that her mother had been one of her father's black slaves. Legally now property, she is taken by a slave trader to New Orleans to be sold. Hamish Bond, played by Clark Gable, buys her.  And thereby starts the most beautiful love story I have seen on the screen for some time.

Loved this film, Band of Angels

Friday was the day Ivanka started with us.  Once again Olivia brightened up our day with another live appearance on TV, this time from La Coruña before she returned home later that day.  This time she reported on a group of young people with Down Syndrome who had made a video clip to demonstrate that they were no more different than other human beings.  You can see the piece on this link if you fast forward to 11.37h.

Oli with the boys with Down Syndrome she reported on on Friday from La Coruña

On Friday we had a dinner appointment at a lovely modern restaurant of Navarra origin in Madrid, La Manduca de Azagra.  Julio, my friend and ex colleague at Nokia was inviting Fátima, Juana, Oscar, Eladio and I to celebrate his new found work. He is now a freelance consultant, as well as a University teacher amongst other things.  The dinner was wonderful, as was their company.  Oscar, Juana’s wife, both ex Nokia colleagues, had come straight to dinner after landing from Amsterdam and had bought the three women a lovely wooden tulip each.  Thanks Oscar!  And thanks Juli for a fabulous dinner.

Dinner on Friday was a treat.  Here with Julio and Fátima

Saturday was very busy with many preparations for Susana’s birthday party which in the end had to be held in the garage because of the rain. 


I made a cake, Susana made another, plus two or three delicious tiramisus and dear Ana brought an enormous decorated brownie of which there is so much left over we don’t know what to do with it.

The cake I made for Suzy's birthday party yesterday

Whilst the party was going on, for some 20 friends, Eladio and I made an escape and went to the cinema.  

Suzy's birthday party on Saturday held in the garage because of the rain.  The big cake in the middle was made by Ana

 We enjoyed enormously the French film, The Intouchables, a tragic yet comical film based on a true life story.  The official website describes it like this: “A true story of two men who should never have met — a quadriplegic aristocrat who was injured in a paragliding accident and a young man from the projects” (the projects must be the poor suburbs of Paris where many unemployed immigrants live).  What it does not say is just how superbly funny this film is.  Instead of being sad it has you laughing throughout.  It is a film I will remember for a long time and no doubt I will watch it again to appreciate the gags I probably missed or to hear some of them again.

Great film The Intouchables

Afterwards we had dinner at Ginos, as we can no longer go to our favourite restaurant La Alpargatería which shut down, thanks to the crisis again.  We were joined by our friends Roberto and MariCarmen.  A few months ago they went their different ways after many years of marriage but in an amicable way.  It was great to catch up on how they have got on since and to do so over a delicious dish of pasta and lambrusco wine.

Whilst we were having dinner, we totally missed the “super moon”, which has been reported on hugely in the press.  Last year I saw it but this year I missed it unfortunately. They call it a super moon because it appears larger than normal, I think because it is nearer the earth.  When I was a child I used to love seeing the moon in the early evening at dusk and used to call it “pink boony”.  Those words have remained in the family ever since.  Here is a photo of the extraordinary event for the records.

The super moon I missed last night was much in the news today

And today is Sunday and I have reached the end of this week’s tales.  It has been a quiet day with a family lunch with both girls which always makes me happy and of course, our daily walk with the dogs.  The week ahead promises to be busy, with no bank holidays or trips to look forward to.  But of course you will hear about it in next weeks’s blog post.  Meanwhile I hope you have enjoyed this one.

That’s it for this week then folks.

Cheers Masha

April showers, more football, interior decorating, a special cake, Suzy’s birthday, Olivia off to Galicia and other stories

Suzy and her birthday cake

Hello again,

It is Monday morning and the last day of April and here I am writing my blog from the kitchen with the dogs asleep at my feet.  Sorry I didn’t write yesterday but we spent the afternoon with Susana helping her get her new flat in order and there didn’t seem to be another free moment in the day.

It’s Monday and it’s raining as it has been raining most of the month.  There are sayings both in English and in Spanish about rain in April; “April showers” and “Abril aguas mil”, which reflect that rain at this time of the year is very normal.  We haven’t had proper rain in Spain since the autumn, therefore it is much appreciated.

But let me start from the beginning.  Last Monday saw me in the centre of Madrid, in the Gran Vía to visit our new media clipping company, JP Media.  There I got to see how media clippings are done and the truth is that the written press clippings are read by people, line by line, as you can see here in the photo I took of their “news room”.

The JP Media clipping room

Tuesday brought with it more football.  That evening Barcelona was receiving Chelsea for the return match of the semi finals of the Champions League.  My Father watched the match with us and thoroughly enjoyed Olivia’s screams when Barcelona scored a goal, although they went on to lose the match.  That meant that Barcelona this year will neither win La Liga or the Champions League, a shame for probably the best team in the world. However, I don’t mind, as, if I am fan of any football team that is Real Madrid.  But then you probably already know that.

My Father watching the football with Olivia and Eladio

For the records that day, I must share with you a photograph collage that a friend of Olivia and Susana made of them and their group of friends.  They all appear here as mermaids from a photo of the marvelous Disney film.  The Little Mermaid was a great favourite with the girls when they were small and they used to act out the parts, reciting huge paragraphs off by heart which they still know today.  Susana has been forever enamoured with mermaids, something all her friends know, so the collage by Dave made a huge hit with us all on Tuesday.

The wonderful Little Mermaid collage.  Can you spot Olivia and Susana?

Wednesday brought with it more football.  Madrid was receiving Bayern Munich in the return match of their semi final of the Champions League.  Madrid played well at the beginning and seemed to dominate the match but things went sour in the second half and the match ended with a penalty shoot out.  The Germans won in the end, a terrible ending for hopes for a place for a Spanish team in the final and both my Father and I refused to watch the shoot out as it was just too much tension.  The result was very depressing for Madrid fans, but on the bright side, Mourinho’s team will be winning La Liga this year.  I always say it is better to laugh than to cry, so here is a photo which should do just that, make you laugh.  Let me translate the Spanish: Ronaldo says to Messi: See you in the final of the Champions League and Messi replies, at your house or mine? 

Neither Barcelona or Madrid got through to the finals. In this photo Ronaldo says to Messi: "see you in the Final of the Champions League"  and Messi replies: "at your house or mine?"

Thursday saw us at Suzy’s new flat in the morning. We went to take all sorts of things she needed.  I couldn’t stay long as I had to go to the office but Eladio spent most of the morning doing lots of needed handy work.

Whilst Suzy was decorating her new flat, we were redoing her now empty bedroom.  As you know we got everything in Ikea.  We then had the room painted in a light cream colour by our handyman, Antonio.  And this is what Suzy’s old room now looks like.  I am very proud of our efforts.

Suzy's "new" old room, as it looks after our interior decoration efforts.

I have never considered myself good at interior decorating.  I know what I like but am really no good at the decorating part, although I try.  Suzy, on the other hand, who has  a very particular taste, seems to be a natural at home decoration.  Like me, she loves colour, and mixes strong colours together, something I don’t really dare to do.  This, for example, is how her bed looks at her new flat, totally different to the style we have used for her “old room”, but lovely too, I think.  Which style do you prefer; the classical style of the room above or the colourful style chosen by Suzy?

Suzy's colourful bed and bedroom in her new flat

On Friday I started preparations for Susana’s birthday the next day.  She was to be 28 and of course at an age when it is time to move on.  I have felt funny all week.  She has just moved out but I am not used to that yet and it gives me an empty feeling. She has only been back home to take more and more things to her new flat and each time she has done so, it felt like another stab in my stomach.  I totally understand she has to move out and support her one hundred percent but it is still sad.

I made her a beautiful birthday cake.  The recipe came from our old Trex cookery book, a book I have been using to make cakes since I was a small girl.  My Father used it too, to make biscuits many years ago and Susana has gone on to use it also.

The Trex cookery book I have been using since I was a child.  It was my parents and was published in 1956.

The recipe for her cake is the recipe which you can see below for the Victoria Sandwich, a classical cake recipe. The page, as you can from the photo, is much stained from use over the years.

The dog eared page in the Trex cookery book of the Victoria Sponge recipe

The cake came out marvelously as you can see in the photo below, rising to perfection; something that doesn’t always happen.

The cake, just out of the oven

And, after some careful slicing in two to fill the sandwich with whipped cream and bilberry jam, I made pink icing and decorated it with fresh raspberries.  This was what it looked like when I had finished.

The finished "special cake" for Suzy's birthday

As I was making Suzy’s birthday cake, news was breaking that Pep Guardiola, Barcelona’s coach, said to be the best ever of the dream team, was leaving.  If anyone has any doubts that this is because of Barça not winning this year’s league or Champions League, they can be dispelled.  Guardiola, who has been with the team since he was a player, is going to take a sabbatical as he totally burned out.  It was a very sad story for Spanish football and he will be much missed.

It's goodbye from Pep Guardiola and a sad day in the history of Spanish football

That evening, Friday, we had a dinner date with José Antonio and Dolores, in Madrid.  We went to Quënco, a place that means so much to Eladio and I as it was where we held our wedding party nearly 30 years ago.  We have been back on a couple of occasions but José Antonio and Dolores hadn’t.  When I rang to make the reservation, Nimes, the owner and daughter of the lady from the Andalusian family that has always run the place, remembered me and referred to me as the “English bride”!  She gave us a warm welcome when we arrived and we felt very much at home.  Quënco, a family run place, is quite a humble looking restaurant but the food is fantastic and we realised just how popular it is when we saw the tables filling up after we arrived.  We will be back in the summer and look forward to eating outside in the lovely terrace where we held our wedding party on 21^st August 1983.

Quënco, the restaurant where we held our wedding party in 1983 and where we went to dinner on Friday evening

Finally Saturday came and with it the celebration of Susana’s birthday.  She arrived for a family breakfast and all 5 of us sat down just before 10 am to a feast of croissants, ensaimadas, pain au chocolat and other delicacies.  This is when we gave her our presents, a laundry basket and towels, very needed for her new home.  She will be getting many more presents next Saturday when she will be having a huge party to celebrate her birthday with her friends.  That will be held at home, this home, rather than her new flat as I think more than 30 guests will be coming.  But, more about that next week.

Suzy at the family breakfast on her birthday on Saturday

Later, whilst Oli went back to bed, having come home after 5 in the morning, Eladio and I went with Susana in the pouring rain to Ikea to get more things she needed for her new flat.

At Ikea on Saturday, Suzy and Eladio

With the car full to the brim with kitchen utensils, bedding and lots of what I call Ikea “bits and bobs” we returned home to make Suzy’s birthday lunch.  I prepared what we also call “bits and bobs” for that too, always a favourite with all of us, consisting of mini gourmet hamburgers, Olga’s croquettes, homemade potato salad, salmon and prawns with avocado pears and of course the piece de resistance, my cake.  The photo illustrating this week’s blog post is of Susana blowing out the candles.

Here is a photo collage I made myself of some of the photos taken on Susana's birthday, not as good as Dave's but nice anyway.

A collage of some of the photos of Suzy's birthday

Sunday was quiet with Suzy at her new flat.  Oli was missing too as she had slept with Suzy.  Their cousins came from León to see them for a short while.  They had originally been invited by Susana to spend the birthday weekend with her but in the end preferred to spend their time in Madrid as they hadn’t been to the capital for some time. We never got to see them unfortunately.

Lunch was just the “three oldies”, my Father, Eladio and I.  In the afternoon we went to see Susana, for Eladio to do more handy work.  He spent the time putting up shelves and mirrors and carrying out other minor tasks around her pretty little flat.  It is looking nice and cozy.  This is a photo Suzy posted in Facebook last night of one of her favourite corners.  Again, as you can see, there is a lot of colour, her typical style.  

Suzy's new flat is looking lovely.

Of note yesterday, Sunday, it was the first anniversary of the English royal couple, Kate and William.  A very happy anniversary comes from these pages to the popular royals.  

It was the first anniversary of the popular royal couple's wedding yesterday

This week will be quiet, with just “the oldies” at home.  Olivia will be gone too as she went yesterday to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, as a correspondent again for the TV programme she works for.  We will miss her but hope to see a lot of her on the television this week, which I myself will be reporting on in next week’s blog post. So watch this space.

The week will be even quieter as there are two holidays, tomorrow 1^stMay and on Wednesday, 2^nd May, a holiday in Madrid to celebrate the uprising against the French in 1808.  The highlight of the week will be my Father’s 93^rd birthday tomorrow, 1^stMay where will be joined by Susana, at least, to brighten up the birthday.  

I hope you all have a good week.  Cheers till next time,

Masha

The King said sorry, shopping at Ikea, lots of football, a wedding and other things

My beautiful daughter Suzy, dressed to go to Caju's wedding on Saturday

Hello again,

It is Sunday afternoon again and it’s time to write my blog.  I am writing at my desk at home whilst everyone seems to be taking a siesta, that most noble of Spanish sports.  When I say everyone, I mean the whole family; Grandpa, Eladio and both girls.  We all had lunch together for the first time in a while which is always a pleasure, but especially so on a Sunday, the day of the Lord as it is often called.

The week has been so, so;  good in parts, like the story of the Curate’s egg, a quote my Mother used to use a lot and which I like so much.  I wrote about it once in a post which you can read here. Ah, and here comes the illustration again, from that most English of publications, Punch.

An expression we use a lot in our family comes from this picture called "True Humility" by George du Maurier. It was originally published in Punch in 1895 to illustrate the "curate's egg" joke. The conversation goes like this: Bishop: "I'm afraid you've got a bad egg, Mr Jones"; Curate: "Oh, no, my Lord, I assure you that parts of it are excellent!"

 

On Monday we woke up to the news that Argentina had seized the Spanish oil firm Repsol, or rather 51% of the shares of the branch called YPF they have in that country and which was legally bought from the Argentinian government many years ago.  It has been in the news ever since and is the topic of most conversations at work and at home.  Much echo has been made of this illegal measure by Cristina Fernández, the country’s President, in the world’s press.  I’m not sure how things will work out as right now the European Union is supporting Spain and will be taking measures in reprisal for the outlandish mode in which this happened.  Time will tell, but the gesture will do no good for relations between the two countries, both immersed in their own financial crises.

Cristina Fernández de Kirchener, President of Argentina

Tuesday was not the best day on the home front and unfortunately I have to censor myself here as, however transparent I am, some things I cannot put into writing for all to see.  Tuesday was not a good day for Real Madrid either who lost to Bayern Munich in Germany in the Champions League semi final.  It is only to be hoped that they play better on their own turf in the return match this coming Wednesday.  Who knows they may meet either Chelsea or Barcelona in the final, although Barcelona lost to Chelsea too in their semi final the next day.  That was the beginning of this week’s football for me, as I was subjected to watching or trying to watch three matches.  Eladio likes football more and more and the only alternative is go and read a book on my own which I think is a bit selfish and antisocial.  That evening, to cheer me up I decided some comfort food was in order and went to get a McDonald’s meal for us all to eat whilst watching the match in the lounge together.  I can assure you it was heavenly. But then you know that don’t you?

Tuesday will have been a great day for Massoud Hossaini, an Afgan photographer with AFP.  He won a Pulitzer award, in the breaking news photography category, for his photo of an Afghan girl screaming after a suicide bomb attack in Kabul.  The photo was described as heartbreaking.  You can judge for yourself when you see the reproduction below.  The terrible thing is that Tarana Akbari, the 12 year in the photo is screaming after the attack which saw seven of her family killed including her seven year old brother Shoaib. 

Massoud Hossaini's Pulitzer award winning photograph

And on Wednesday, the 74 year old King of Spain, Juan Carlos I, said sorry as he left the hospital after the emergency operation on his hip  His words were: “Lo siento mucho, me he equivocado y no volverá a ocurrir”.  In English that would be: “I’m very sorry, I made a mistake (was wrong) and it won’t happen again.  You probably know he was apologizing for galavanting off to Botswana to kill elephants on a safari whilst the people of his country are suffering one of the worst crises of their history. This episode has caused much criticism in Spain, a lot of it online and of course the King will have been given the clippings. According to Pilar Urbano, the King and Queen’s biographer, it was the Queen herself, his advisors and his son Crown Prince Felipe who advised him to apologise.

The King when he said sorry!

The apology has been well received by most, with some 70 or so percent satisfied with the gesture.  However more than 50% thinks the Spanish monarchy has been much damaged by the incident and I tend to agree here.  The King was apologizing for the elephant incident but there are other things he should be apologizing for, not least the corruption scandal his son in law Iñaki Urdangarin is immersed in and in which he may well have been involved in himself.   What is much more latent, though, is his ongoing affair with the German princess by marriage, the apparently spectacular 46 year old socialite Corinna Zu Sayn-Wittgenstein.  The King, a typical Borbon, has had many extra marital relationships but this one seems to have broken the straw on the camel’s back for Queen Sofia, his Greek wife,  who for some time now lives a separate private life from the King, only appearing on official occasions.  Up until now the written press had avoided commenting on the “affair” until this week, when the story has hit the front pages of the main newspapers and now the whole of Spain knows who Corinna Zu Sayn-Wittgenstein is.  Next month will be the King and Queen’s 50^th wedding anniversary and it has still not been decided how this will be celebrated.  I think it would be a total sham if it was.  In many people’s minds, it is time for the King to abdicate and for his son, Prince Philip and journalist wife, Leticia Ortiz, to take over.  Perhaps that is what was being discussed when the Queen urged the King to say sorry, maybe to save what was at stake, the crown, his crown and future as King of Spain.

The King with his nearly official mistress the German born Corinna Zu Sayn-Wittgenstein

Thursday was a long and busy day.  It was the 1^stQuarter results which were published by TeliaSonera at the unearthly hour of 07.30h Stockholm time.  My first mission of the day was to take part in a conference call with the HQ and then agree on the text for the local external and internal releases.  The good news was that Yoigo had reached 3.2 million customers and that is despite the crisis in Spain.  To top that, the best news really was that Spain is now the 4^th most important contributor within the group, having bypassed countries like Norway. In the afternoon I went to the office for a very long meeting.  When I left after 19h I gave thanks to God for letting me work from home and not having to face the awful traffic every day.  There was an accident on the M40 and I was not home until 20.30!  1.5h on the road was pretty boring and frustrating I can tell you.

That night I was subjected to football again, this time Barcelona who was playing and would lose to Chelsea.  The TV lounge was occupied with Olivia and her friend Dave watching a DVD, so we had no option but to have our dinner and watch the match in our bedroom.  Oli came in at one stage and thought the sight was quite funny – well it was – and took this photograph.

Watching football in our room

Whilst we were watching the football, Cristina from my events agency QuintaEsencia, a keen reader of this blog was giving birth to her third child, Alvaro who was born in the early hours of Friday morning.  Welcome to this world  Alvaro and congratulations Cristina and Javier.  Cris later sent me a photo of what she called her little "doll´.  I'm not very keen on babies, but he looks absolutely lovely.

Cristina's new "doll", baby Alvaro born on Friday morning

Friday was very busy and pretty productive too.  In the Morning I had a date at El Mundo.es for a live online interview with my boss.  I love these kinds of interviews because you have to be fast and on your toes and come up with frank and imaginative answers to the questions posed by the readers.   It is pretty exhausting too but I think we did it quite well.  If you can read Spanish you can read it here and let me know what you think.

The El Mundo newsroom on Friday morning

Then we had to rush back to the office as we had another interview, this time on the telephone with the Spanish news agency, Agencia Efe, about our results the day before.  This was more relaxed as it was with Ana.G whom I have known for years and who is a very professional and extremely decent woman.  

Eladio and I spent the afternoon at Ikea getting everything needed to furnish Susana’s now empty room.  Thursday was officially her last night at home, although her leaving seems to be very gradual, thank goodness.  We spent most of the afternoon there buying a double bed, bedside tables, curtains and what seemed like enormous amounts of bedding.  Of course being at Ikea I had to visit the food store and stock up on lovely Swedish fare, including Ikea’s most popular product of the whole store, “meat balls”. 

The bed we bought from Ikea for the room Suzy has left empty

In the evening I invited Eladio out for dinner, after our walk of course, to La Vaca Argentina.  I imagine no one from Repsol would be dining there, hahahaha.  We hadn’t been for a while and they had changed some items on the menu.  We were delighted to see they had added “salmorejo” to their first courses.  Salmorejo is a sort of thick gazpacho with chopped eggs and ham and it is a favourite with us.  This is what my dish looked like.

The salmorejo we ate at La Vaca Argentina on Friday night

 

On Saturday, Suzy, who had slept at her new flat for the first time, was off to a wedding in Toledo.  She was going with her beloved school friends, Rocío, Erika, Estefanía, Copi and others to see Caju, the first friend from their class, to tie the knot, marry her beau, called Coti (not sure what his real name is). 

Caju and Coti newly wed on Saturday, the wedding Suzy went to in Toledo

Suzy came back today, Sunday, just in time for lunch with wonderful tales of a great wedding which was fun and creative, so much so that she got to bed at 8 in the morning and came home with little or no voice.  The photo illustrating this week’s blogpost is of Suzy ready and dressed for the wedding, taken from the hotel they stayed at in Toledo.

Whilst Suzy was at the wedding, Eladio and I had to return to Ikea for things we had forgotten the day before.  It is very difficult to go to Ikea and get just what you want.  I think it is designed so that you always leave paying much more than you had ever anticipated.  On the plus side you always come home with delightfully practical and beautifully designed products.  

And yesterday, Saturday, there was more football.  It was what is commonly known in football language worldwide as “el clásico”, i.e a match between Spain’s biggest rivals, Barcelona and Real Madrid.  It was a pretty decisive “clásico” too as Madrid’s winning La Liga depended on it.  That would be no easy feat for Mourinho’s men as they would be playing in el Camp Nou, where they haven’t won since 2008.  This match, as happens more and more, was only to be seen on pay tv which we do not have, so Eladio had to suffice with following it on the radio.  So we missed watching Real Madrid beat Barcelona 2-1 and become virtual winners of this year’s Liga.

A great photo that illustrates so well "el clásico" as posted on Facebook by my Uzbeki colleague, Davron, a fan of Barcelona

The news about “el clásico” now brings me to Sunday and back to the present and nearly to the end of this week’s blog.  It has been a lovely sunny day and we had the pleasure of the company of Olivia most of the morning.  She joined us on our walk and here is a lovely photo of our dogs when they encountered a new friend, a pretty looking terrier who was seemed an equally enthusiastic a canine as our own.

Our dogs Elsa and Norah met a new friend on their walk this morning

Lunch today, as I told you, was all together.  Whilst we were enjoying our meal, Nadal, who is plagued with a knee injury, was playing Djokovic in the Montecarlo Master Series final.  I am pleased to end this week’s blogpost then with the news of the Spaniard’s win against the Serb by 6-3 6-1. For the records it is his 8^th win in Montecarlo in succession.

Nadal and most of Spain, happy at his win against Djokovic in Montecarlo today

Well done Rafa!

And that’s all for this week my friends. I wish you all a great week ahead.

Cheers till next week Masha