Visitors, surprise party for Tomas’ 40th, Eladio and the breathalyser and love is in the air

Hi again

This weekend has been quite hectic socially and with even more visitors than usual. On Friday, Anne Marjut, a Finnish friend came to stay for the weekend. She works for the company that does Nokia’s promotional material and had come to Madrid for business and extended the visit for a girly weekend with me. Girly occupations are basically shopping and eating, as well as chatting, all of which we did a lot of this weekend. We did rest also though and Anne sunbathed by the pool twice over the weekend, something none of us here at home would be seen dead doing with only 20ºC however sunny it is. We, meanwhile, practiced the Spanish national sport of having lovely long siestas.

Anne Marjut preparing the fruit platter for lunch on Saturday

Lunch at home on Saturday - picture taken by Anne Marjut
On Saturday, the night of the total lunar eclipse, we went to Tomas’ surprise 40th birthday party organised by his darling, extrovert and extremely vivacious wife Ana Valdivieso. Ana had been preparing the party for weeks and seemed on the point of a nervous breakdown trying to keep the secret from the very curious Tomy. There must have been over 60 guests and we were all instructed to arrive just before Tomy, to put the lights out and sing Happy Birthday. Cars were also supposed to be parked away from the house – Ana’s parents’ place – so as to avoid any suspicion. It was worth all the effort because Tomy was duly surprised (see the picture to prove it) and the party was a great, great success. I spent quite a part of the evening drinking some very lovely cava and when Fátima asked Ana’s father for another bottle of “cava” he politely corrected her to say it was actually Moet Chandon!!! Very nice it was too. As was the food of which there was far too much even for 60 people. Tomy is the youngest of 11 brothers and sisters and Ana had had the help of his numerous amount of sisters for the catering so, of course, there ended up being an abundance of everything. I don’t know who made the ham croissants or the prawn vol au vents but my congratulations from here to the cook or cooks. Excellent!!

Tomy arriving at the party with Ana at the door.

Susana, me, Fátima and Anne at Tomy's party
On the way home, after sighting the moon which at 1.30 in the morning was nearly completely covered in red, we happily said goodbye to our hosts and friends and drove home with the help of our new sat nav. Actually we still managed to get a bit lost as we were having too much fun in the car and listening to El Divo to bother listening to the lady’s instructions. Fátima was highly amused but quite impressed with the technology so I think she will be acquiring one soon too. Then just as we were nearing Boadilla we got stopped by the police and Eladio was asked to blow into the breathalyser. And I thought, that’s it, we’ve got caught, we’ll get fined as I was absolutely sure he had drunk well over the limit. But miraculously the result was 0.0%, quite inexplicable but very relieving for us all.

And today Sunday, after quite a long lay in, I prepared a big roast meal – can’t get away from the English tradition even after all these years - because we were having visitors again. Eladio’s ex boss, Alberto was coming with his girlfriend, Olga whom we hadn’t met before. So once again there was a visit of the new house which is actually not so new any more as we moved in more than 9 months ago! Their visit coincided with a lovely sunny day so instead of the usual siesta, we took them on our daily walk. Their newly found love was so obvious to all around them but blended in beautifully with the sunny day, the blossom on the trees and the birds singing. Very romantic, I must say.

Alberto and Olga - the History of Art teachers - love is in the air
Cheers until next week my friends.