An implant, VID of the week, on the road again: to Barcelona and Stockholm, good news for Yoigo, CV plagiarism and the revolution continues in the Middle East.

Me in my new black and white striped dress which I bought at Zara in Barcelona this week.  Love it!

Hi again everyone, this lovely sunny morning in Madrid. The cold seems to have retreated and we can expect temperatures of 18ºc at midday. That’s in sharp contrast to the cold in Stockholm this week, but more about that later.

I hope you have had a good week. Mine has been exciting although the start was not the best. On Monday I had an implant put in my mouth. As I lay on the dentist’s chair, I almost asked Dr. Garralda (the best dentist in the world by the way) to take a picture of the scene but it would have been ugly of course.

What made the session more palatable was having received an email from the Dukan diet team just before to inform me I was their VID (very important Dukanian) of the week. I had sent in my story but did not expect to get it published. After all millions, yes, literally millions of people are on this diet and my story is just a drop in the ocean. So imagine my surprise and pleasure when I saw my story featured on their front page. In the email the content team told me my story was a pleasure to edit as it contained lots of information and great pictures. I hope you think so too. This week I broke my diet completely because of my travels (you will understand why when you read about the meals!) and this morning my scales were not happy with me. I had put on 700 grammes. I’m not very pleased with myself but no worries I will lose that very soon I can assure you.

Me on the front page of the Dukan diet page, imagine!

The same day of the implant I had to go to Barcelona in the afternoon so I was not in a great state. I took the AVE (High speed train) with Bea from my events agency QuintaEsencia at 16h which arrived at the Sants train station in Barcelona at 18.45. From there we took a taxi to our hotel, one of my favourites in this city, called the 1898. It is the old Philippines tobacco company building in the colonial style which I love and is located on the Rambla, the most famous street in the city. The rooms are all decorated with black and white or green and white or red and white stripes; mine being the latter. You can see the view from my room of the Rambla here.

The view from my room at the 1898 hotel of La Rambla

The purpose of our visit was to visit many locations to choose them for events for our participation in the up and coming Mobile World Congress starting on 14th February. We had to find a place for lunch for our bloggers, a place for a private party and more importantly a place, near the fair, for our press conference, as the press always complain our locations are too far out. That evening we went to many, the first being a place called Tickets, patronised by the world’s most famed Chef and restaurant owner, Ferran Adriá. Unfortunately Tickets is not yet ready for opening. Even so we knocked on the door and it was opened and we got talking to the owner, a major restaurant owner in Barcelona and business partner of Ferran Adriá. He was rather taken with Bea and told her she looked like Julian Moore. We walked absolutely everywhere and in the end I was quite exhausted. Bea wanted to take me somewhere ultra modern for dinner but in the end I took her to one of my favourites in Barcelona, El Merendero de la Mari where we enjoyed a marvellous plate of rice. As you can understand I had to eat something soft because of the implant. You can see the amazing dish we shared here.

The wonderful rice dish Bea and I enjoyed at El Merendero de la Mari in Barcelona this week.

The whole of Tuesday was spent searching for more locations. In the end we picked X’Op de Dor for the blogger lunch and Brown 33, for the press conference, an amazing café on Paseo de Gracia. For the private party I remembered the girls’ Austrian friend they met on the Nokia NGage Team building event in Finland some years ago, who lives in Barcelona and owns a small bar called Leounge. So we decided to call Julia and go and see it. You know what? It was just perfect for our event so we decided there and then to hire it. Julia will be hosting us that night which will be great. It’s such a pity the girls won’t be coming with me this year, as they have done in the past.

We had actually finished by lunchtime so, on our way out of one of the last locations we visited, we happened by Zara in Puerta de Angel, Barcelona’s most commercial street. Remember I had been to Zara last week in Madrid with the family but hadn’t been able to try anything on? Well this was my chance for shopping this week. I had seen 2 lovely dresses, both black and white but one with horizontal stripes and the other with spots. I tried them on and they were both great on me. I didn’t only buy the dressesI,  also invested in a pair of probably the most beautiful red shoes I have ever seen. They have kitten heels which are apparently now in fashion and are the only kind of heels I can bear to wear. So I walked out of Zara with a great bag of new clothes, once again.

The black and white spotted dress I bought at Zara in Barcelona this week.

The beautiful red shoes I bought at Zara this week in Barcelona.

For lunch we went to another of my favourite places in Barcelona, Neichel near the Barcelona Football Stadium. I love this place and have got to know the owners over the years; a lady from León, like my husband, who married a French chef, Mr. Neichel. The place is really cosy with a terrace and swimming pool outside and the food is divine. They give you lots of little delicious starters and with your coffee they give you a plate of sweet delicacies. For me they were forbidden fruit but no way was I going to leave them behind so I brought them back for my Father who has a very sweet tooth and no problems with his weight. I have only inherited his sweet tooth I’m afraid. My weight problems I inherited from my Mother.  That's called "murphey's law".

Me outside the Niechel restaurant in Barcelona.  Notice the lovely lemon tree behind me.

We took the 16.30 AVE home and arrived at Atocha train station just after19h. Soon I was home and in time for the only family dinner of the week. My darling girls had realised that and made sure we ate together that night.

No sooner had I come back from Barcelona than I was off again the next day, to Stockholm again. The management team from Yoigo was invited to the TeliaSonera Mobility team management meeting on Thursday and Friday where the management teams from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were also attending. We took the only direct flight that Iberia and Finnair operate which leaves at 10 in the morning and gets you to Stockholm Arlanda airport at around 14h. For me it meant getting up at 06.15 in the morning so my day was going to be very long and tiring. It is cramped in tourist class and the flight is long and boring. I spent most of it reading Sarah’s Key which is riveting and helped fight the boredom, something I cannot stand.

Once in Stockholm, where the weather was cold but tolerable with a temperature of around 0ºc Degrees, warmer than on my last trip, we took a taxi to the hotel where the Kick Off meeting was taking place. I would have preferred to be in the city centre, but the Marriott Courtyard hotel, a brand new modern hotel nicely designed but with no character whatsoever, was located on the outskirts. The view from my room was disappointing and in sharp contrast to Barcelona. I think they were either building a new office block or flats. Either way the view was very uninspiring. The architecture of the hotel was uninspiring too as you can see in the photo below.

The Marriott Courtyard hotel where we stayed in Stockholm this week.

The rooms were big and very much in the Swedish modern style, lots of wood and glass and tiled bathrooms, and of course very warm. This is a picture I got from the hotel website but actually my room was identical to it. Now you can see where I spent 2 nights this week, not bad at all. But if I could choose I would stay with the more romantic and stylish 1898. Wouldn’t you?

One of the rooms at the Marriott Courtyard Hotel in Stockholm.  Mine was identical.

The plan though for the afternoon and evening was very exciting, at least parts of it. We took a taxi to the TeliaSonera offices for the Spanish management team to see; some of whom had never been there. I, of course, have been quite a few times and know lots of familiar faces. It was good to see my ex Nokia boss, Thomas, who is now head of External Relations, as well as Bengt, Cecilia, Eva, Lars Ake and Andreas and of course Ove.

From here we walked towards our next destination and stopped in some Telia mobile phone shops. To tell you the truth I would have far preferred to take a look at women’s clothes at Lindex but there was no chance, specially travelling with so many men. The only other woman in our group, Cristina, felt likewise. Our next destination was a Stockholm tourist hit, the Ice Bar I had actually visited on my last trip here. However I was game to go again as I think the place is fantastic. Here is a picture of the 9 of us in our thermal ponchos (designed to keep us warm and not to let off body heat that may melt the ice either) ready to go in.

The group photo at the Ice Bar in Stockholm, such a fun place to go to.

You can only have vodka as the place is owned by the Swedish vodka company, Absolut. I didn’t mind as I actually like vodka (remember my Russian blood?) but there was no vodka and orange to be had. Instead I had it with mango which was delicious. You cannot spend more than 15 minutes in the ice bar because of the cold, so soon we were outside again and off to our next destination, the Stockholm City Hall.

Stockholm City Hall

Here we had a table reserved at the marvellous restaurant inside called Stadshus Kallaren. It is at the Stockholm City Hall that the Nobel Banquet takes place every year and here we were served the Nobel menu for 2010 using the same cutlery, gold rimmed glasses and white and gold china as at the banquet.

My dinner place at the Nobel meal at the City Hall, identical to the Nobel banquets.

It was amazing to think that I was going to eat the same menu as the Nobel Literature Laureate, Mario Vargas Llosa this year. I had imagined a copious dinner of many courses, but luckily it was just 3 and they were delicious, especially the dessert and wines. You can see what the menu consisted of in the picture below.

The dinner we had at the City Hall, the very same menu as at the 2010 Nobel Banquet.

The evening didn’t end there as we had one last date that night. We were to meet the expats who had worked at Yoigo and had now returned to TeliaSonera. So we took a taxi back to the Marriott Courtyard hotel where we were to meet up at the bar with Ake, Robert, Cecilia, Karin, Anna, Arne and Viktoria. You can see the group photo here. It was great to meet them all again, although some were missing, like Mika, unfortunately.

We had drinks with the Ex Yoigo expats at the bar of the hotel. It was great to see them again.

I was exhausted after a very long day so went back to my room, hopefully unnoticed. I was to be up again the next morning early again too, at around 6.30 because Thursday 4th February was a big day for the company. The management team unfortunately was to coincide with the group’s results for Q4 and the full year 2010. So why was this important you may ask? Well, we had known for a while, but it was only on 4th February that TeliaSonera was going to announce publically that Yoigo had reached breakeven. This is what I posted at around 07.30 that morning on Facebook: “Today is a historic day for Yoigo. In TeliaSonera's year end results they have announced that Yoigo reached Ebitda breakeven, in just under 4 years, the fastest operator to do so with the lowest funding ever. Congratulations Yoigo!!!!!”. The day was going to be busy for me too. I had a conference call at 8am with the TeliaSonera HQ and then had to coordinate with my PR Agency back home, Ketchum, the communication on this in Spain. We had to issue a Spanish press release to the media and also send an internal release to the staff. On top of that I had to find out what the Group CEO was going to add to the news at the 09.30 press conference. He had only words of praise for Yoigo and it was our day I can tell you. We had reached breakeven and well over 2 million customers. He said that we had done a fantastic job and that had deserved the right to play the second half of the game, i.e. to continue to grow. And grow we will, I have no doubt at all. We are going to build on our success, not just rest on our laurels. Many people doubted that Yoigo would ever be successful and there was much criticism both in Sweden and in Spain. But you know what? We always knew we would deliver what we set out to do. Was it easy? It may look easy but it was damned difficult and it’s true we have done an amazing job. It was also said at the press conference that Yoigo was no longer on the TeliaSonera selling list, which was music to my ears and also for the Spanish market. Well wasn’t that good news? It was published in all the media in Spain and I followed the news on my mobile phone throughout the kick-off. However my job didn’t end in the morning. I was on the alert all day, adding to my tiredness, as we had 4 interviews scheduled with Spanish media later in the day and you always have to be on your toes when dealing with journalists.

Yoigo made history this week by reaching break even in just under 4 years!

Finally I was able to go back to my room and change for the evening’s dinner at around 18h, some 12 hours after I had got up. And wow was I tired. However I had the kick off dinner ahead of me and had to be ready for mingling at 18.30 and dinner at 19.30, in the same room I should add as the day’s conference. By the way I wore my new black and white spotted dress for the first time that evening and felt a thousand dollars. I felt a little cooped up though as I hadn’t left the hotel premises since the night before and wasn’t going to do so until the next day at noon. So no walks for me during this stay I’m afraid.

The conference facilitators were very organised and communicated with us via sms internet links; very technological I must say. I got a message to tell me which my table for was for that night and also a picture of who my partner would be, a Finn with an unpronounceable name and who liked skiing and fishing, the 2 activities I’m not particularly interested in. However when I got to Table One, I was met by Rolf, a very likeable Norwegian who had me for a partner in his sms message. To his left was Soren from Denmark who spoke perfect English as he was brought up in England. Also on the table were Ingrid, Carl, Tiit, Indre and my partner Juha. I must say we had a whale of a time; so many nationalities and some great personalities too. The entertainment was good also. A Swedish woman singer accompanied by a woman pianist sang with a superb voice but she also imitated famous singers. So there she was suddenly singing like Barbara Streisand and in the next breath like Montserrat Caballé! The highlight of the evening came from the Swedish business unit though. A semi professional team of the most diverse members sang and danced on stage about their business unit in Swedish. I didn’t understand any of it but thoroughly enjoyed their show. I think we will be following suit sometime in Yoigo as the performance was hilarious and made a huge impact. I’m not sure I want to be in the group though as I have absolutely no rhythm.

Members of the Swedish business unit performing at the Kick Off dinner this week.

There were drinks after dinner, but again I crept away as I needed to sleep after such a long and stressful day. On Friday I was up early, as always, because I just can’t sleep past a certain time, so went to have breakfast early too. I was joined by Anna, the communications head, someone I get on with very well and we tried to make a shopping date for Barcelona. I doubt she will make though or will she? Will you Anna???

The conference was to continue until midday but I was more interested in reading the headlines of the coverage on Yoigo’s results than listening to the speakers. That was probably very rude of me but then again the content of the second day didn’t have much in it for me and the coverage was much more important for me. Believe it or not, lunch was at 11.45, in sharp contrast to lunch time in Spain which generally starts from 14h. And then in the blink of an eye the whole conference was over, at least for us from Spain and we had to take a taxi to the airport at 12.30 to catch the only direct flight to Madrid which leaves just before 15.

As we were leaving it was snowing and I couldn't resist taking this snapshot to remember it.

It was snowing in Stockholm when we left.

Everything went smoothly at Arlanda airport as it usually does and there was plenty of time for shopping. Here I had a bit of a field day. So what did I get? Well, the usual plus some more. I bought lots of Swedish and Finnish chocolate for my Father, a prawn salad for dinner at home (just love the Swedish prawn sandwiches and salads), smoked salmon and more cloudberry and lingonberry jam for my Father. The “plus some more” refers to a unique handbag I bought and which I had seen on my last trip. I saw someone at the conference with it and that was probably what spurred me on to buy it. The bag is from the “Spring Deer Collection” by the Swedish brand Ceannis and is made of fake fur and I love it. It’s just unique. You can see a photo of it I got from their website. I wonder whether you like it?

The wonderful fake fur Ceannis bag I bought on Friday at Stockholm's Arlanda airport.

Again the flight was boring and cramped but relieved somewhat by my book. I also slept on and off and played patience on my Samsung Galaxy Tab, anything to while away the time of this long flight. We arrived at around 7pm and I was home by about 8pm. The girls were out beginning their weekend social life so I was just greeted by my Father, Eladio and of course Norah. The prawn salad for dinner was as good as expected.

And so the next day, Saturday, I finally woke up in my own bed, the best in the world with its 1.80cm memory foam mattress. I actually spent Saturday morning working to catch up on any lost work in the week. In one of the mails in my inbox there was a CV from someone called Nuria who wanted to work in communications in Yoigo. I knew I couldn’t take anyone on as I am a one woman show and don’t need any assistance which I outsource from my PR and events agency. In any case I took a look at the CV out of curiosity. When I started to read and saw the format I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was nearly identical in form and a lot of the text to my very own CV. This girl had obviously copied mine, nearly literally. I just cannot get over the fact that she had the audacity to send it to me and to ask me for a job. It was sheer plagiarism and I still don’t know where she got it from as my CV is certainly not available on the web as it is in my word document. Needless to say I wrote to her, caustically commenting the similarity and telling her that the communications function was a one woman show and that I was never going to hire anyone.  I wonder what she will answer. Bit of a cheek don’t you think?

But I also had time to relax and finally go on our blessed walk, so good for my body and soul. In the evening Eladio and I went to the cinema to see The King’s Speech which is nominated for an Oscar, the story of which is right up my street. The mistake was seeing it in Spanish – no good – but I won’t be able to see it in English until the video comes out. I liked it but found the role of George VI, the current Queen’s Father, just a little too negative, cross and tense. You wished he would relax sometimes but then again his problem, the stuttering, hampered his whole life. I can’t wait to see the film again in English.

The King's Speech, a great film but not to watched in any other language than English.

And today is Sunday, another quiet day to relax after my hectic week of travels. Today we are going, all the family, yes, My Father, the girls, Eladio and I, to lunch at José Antonio and Dolores’ house to celebrate Juan’s and my birthday which is actually next Tuesday. I’m really looking forward to it as I love our family get-togethers which are far and few between these days unfortunately.

As I come to the end of this week’s blog, I must once again mention that the unrest in the Middle East continues. The Egyptians have taken to the streets demonstrating for democracy and calling for the 80 odd year old Mubarak who has been in power for decades to resign. They have taken a hold of the main square and the unrest has been much similar to that of Tunisia just before. The whole world is watching to see if Mubarak will finally leave now, as other Arab countries begin similar protests. There is a real revolution happening in the Middle East and I am watching it with delight but at the same time with a worry that in some places the Islamist fundamentalists may take over the current dictatorships. Both are bad but the former is more frightening. Will we ever see democracy in the Middle East? The protesters want it and so do I.

There is a real revolution going on in Egypt and the whole world is watching to see whether Mubarak will resign.

And on that note, I leave you for this week. The week coming up for me will be hectic with lots and lots of work but then again work has never frightened me. I will not be travelling until the following week and look forward to celebrating my 54th birthday on Tuesday 8th February with my lovely family. I already know what my present is; a night for the whole family at a Parador at the end of February. Aren’t I lucky?

Hope you have a great week,

Cheers my friends/Masha

PS here is the full collection of my photos of Barcelona and Stockholm.

Swine flu, mission accomplished and the week I went to Stockholm again, to the land of snow and smörgåsar.

At the Ice Bar with Bea in Stockholm this week

Hi again

This week has been great although it didn’t start well. Monday was the first day after the Christmas holidays and I went into the office with my cold which I just couldn’t shake off. As I wrote last week, we had a cold since the 24th December. I was tired of nursing it at home through Christmas which this year seemed a bit long to me and I was raring to get into some action. So in I went into the office for the first time in two weeks for a meeting with my events agency to go over the script of the prologue to the 20 minute video on the inside story of Yoigo I have to have ready by the beginning of February. And that’s when I really began to feel ill. When I got home I took my temperature and saw that it was nearly 38ºc. I had resisted going to the doctor until then as I thought that all I had was a winter cold. As I was off to Stockholm on Wednesday I decided to go and it was a good job I did. The doctor told me I had swine flu with bronchial complications; i.e. the beginning of bronchitis and she prescribed me antibiotics. She told us that there was an epidemic of a slightly less virulent type of what is known here as “gripe A”. The difference between a normal flu and swine flu, at least the one I have or had, is that the latter is longer than the former. Otherwise the symptoms are pretty much the same. I went back home and straight to bed to sleep off the temperature for which I took a paracetamol. The next day I felt much better, the same as during the rest of the cold, without the temperature. So, being the hyper active person I am, I decided to go into the office again for the first management team meeting of the year which I didn’t want to miss. I wasn’t worried about my swine flu being contagious as nearly everyone around me had had or had a cold anyway. It’s amazing that there is an epidemic of swine flu and that the authorities are not communicating it. As one friend of Olivia’s commented on Facebook; “swine flu is no longer in fashion” and I suppose that is true as no one seems to worry about it anymore. I suppose that’s probably because, in the end,  it is no more dangerous than normal flu.

On Wednesday morning, the day I was going to Stockholm, I got on the scales as I have been doing 2 or 3 times a week since 24th September. And the news was great; I had reached my target weight of 64.2 kilos. In fact I was under at 63.9. It was mission accomplished for me of the cruise phase of Dr. Dukan’s wonderfully effective diet. Now I have to start on the consolidation phase so as to maintain the weight. I will be able to introduce new foods and will only have to do one protein only day per week. The consolidation phase will last some 6 months and will still be quite strict but will allow me to have one celebration meal per week, whoopee. I’m sure that the celebration meal will take place at La Alpargatería on Saturdays.

For the record here is a before picture which you can compare to the photos of me now and to the one below. It was taken just over a year ago before I started the “up and down diet” through which I lost some weight but put some of it back on after our trip to Israel and Jordan. It was after the latter that I started the much more effective Dukan diet.

The before picture: Fat me, August 20009

And here is the after photo, taken on 17th January 2011.

And this is the after picture, 22. 5 kilos later. I've gone from size 48 to size 42, that's size 18 to size 12!!!

There is a difference now of some 22.5 kilos!!!! For my English reading friends, that is the equivalent of approximately 3.5 stone! I am very pleased with myself and feel a different person. I now fit into everything I try on at the shops and that, my friends, is a good feeling. I also intend to keep this weight and the consolidation phase will be the first step in accomplishing the objective.

The day of mission accomplished was the day I went to Stockholm. I was going to film four interviews for the Yoigo video with people from TeliaSonera, Yoigo’s mother company, who had been instrumental in the story of Yoigo. TeliaSonera is a Nordic mobile operator which is the dominant operator in Sweden and Fiinland with operations in all the Nordic and Baltic countries, Eurasia, Turkey, Russia, Nepal and Cambodia, as well as Spain. I was accompanied by Bea from our events agency, Quintaesencia, as well as by Angel, the video editor, who I kept calling César, and Ramón, the young cameraman.We caught the only direct flight there is from Madrid which leaves at just after 10 in the morning and arrives at about 14h. It was snowing when we arrived and there was snow on the ground and it was at least -5ºc. That didn’t stop the airport from operating perfectly. I thought to myself that maybe the Swedish staff running Arlanda airport could teach the British staff at Heathrow a lesson or two in clearing snow for planes to take off and land.

So we arrived in the beautiful land of snow on a great adventure. Our taxi took us past traffic free motorways where we saw many snow ploughs and there were no problems in driving. The secret is that all Swedish vehicles have special winter tyres that they change in the spring for summer tyres. No cumbersome snow chains for the Swedes then.

We checked in at a small boutique hotel called Hellsten, not far from the centre.

Our hotel, the Hellsten.  They were removing the snow from the roof in this picture as they were doing all over Stockholm when we were there.

Very soon we met up to explore the terrain and to buy the boys proper winter coats as they had come with totally inadequate clothing. I have been to Stockholm some seven times before so I knew the main streets and was eager to show my companions beautiful Stockholm, often quoted as the “Venice of the north” because it is located on canals and on the Baltic Sea. I never knew or know which is a canal, Lake Mälaren or the Baltic Sea as Stockholm is divided into various islands. Soon I found our way to the longest and perhaps most famous pedestrian street in the city, which has the unpronounceable name of “Drottninggattan”, meaning Queen’s Street. Here Angel and Ramón found great winter jackets at great prices at Helly Hansen, a Norwegian brand of sports clothing which was new to us.

Angel and Ramón after buying proper winter coats in Stockholm as soon as we arrived.

So now suitably clad, we carried on down Drottninggatan towards the old town called Gamla Stan. Here we walked through a very touristy street which I actually love and find very quaint. It is called Västerlånggatan, another unpronounceable name, which actually means “the western long street” and is full of lovely little shops. Bea walked into one of the tiniest ones to buy some thick woolen socks to line our boots. Later I went back twice to the same shop to buy more socks, some warmer gloves and a winter hat for Eladio for our walks on cold days. We had a table booked for dinner at 20.30 but we were hungry so I took my friends to the oldest square in Stockholm called Stortorget. It means big square but actually for these days it is quite small. Stortorget houses the Swedish Academy and Nobel Museum and here thousands of tourists flock to see the coloured typical houses of the 17th century which are a sight to see. I took my friends to a bar called Misteln where I had been before and which you can see in the picture below. It is in the green house on the left.

The coloured 17th century houses tourists flock to see at the Stortorget square in Stockholm.

Later we would go back to film there and here is a picture of Bea and I outside Misteln which became our centre of operations on Friday.

Outside the Misteln bar in Stortorget with Bea

It was at Misteln that I introduced my friends to the Swedish or Scandinavian concept of open sandwiches called smörgåsar as Mica later told me. We shared the one I like best, made of prawns, hard boiled eggs and mayonnaise as well as a platter of Swedish food including cheese, herrings and salmon. Notice the Swedish flag on the latter, something which would be impossible here in Spain. None of us, I am afraid, were very fond of the herrings, so typical of this part of the world. And here are the marvelous dishes they served us to quash our hunger before going for dinner. I went on, as did Bea, to eat a prawn “smörgåsar” every day for lunch for the duration of our stay.

The lovely smörgåsar sandwiches.  Notice the prawn one on the left, I had one like that every day!

To work off the smörgåsar before dinner, I took my companions to see the Royal Palace and harbour by the Grand Hotel. It was so cold very few people were walking in the streets. It got even colder in the big open spaces and somewhat more bearable in the smaller streets. So we huddled our way back to Gamla Stan and then towards Sluessen, the lock between Lake Mälaren and the Baltic sea, made even more famous by Stieg Larsson in the Millennium trilogy.  Our destination was the Gondolen bar and restaurant, 30 metres above the lock and with some of the best night views of Stockholm. It is also a gastronomic delight and features in all the guide books. The bar is a treat in itself and you don’t have to have dinner at Gondolen to enjoy ti. I love the way the waiters are dressed, in pseudo tartan waistcoats and so we had our photo taken with one of them who was as tall as most Swedes.

The "four musketeers" at the Gondolen bar with a spruce and stylish waiter.

Bea enjoyed a cosmopolitan cocktail and in the picture below she looks like she was a walk on part in “sex in the city”! By the way I got the tip about cosmopolitans at Gondolen from my Swedish friend Mica. If you are reading this Mica, thanks! Once again, to work off the food we walked home in the freezing cold which took some 40 minutes! Hopefully all the walking in Stockholm consumed some of the extra calorie intake as I broke my diet whilst there to celebrate my mission accomplished new weight.

Bea enjoying a cosmopolitan cocktail at the Gondolen bar near Sluessen

Thursday was spent choosing the places to film. The idea was to film the people in  emblematic places in Stockholm to add a Swedish flavour to the video. We had all agreed the day before that Stortorget was certainly to be one of them. So we went to the Misteln bar to ask for their collaboration and they were very agreeing and helpful. The second location we chose was the bridge in between the Swedish Parliament, the Riksdag, and Gamla Stan, the old town. From here there are beautiful views of churches with spires and the Town Hall. Amazingly the water that flows below was nearly all frozen.

Very well clad for the minus zero temperatures at the Riksgatan bridge near the old town

We had lunch nearby at a Swiss café called “Schwiezerkonditoriet” on the tourist ystreet Västerlånggatan and once again we ate a prawn smörgåsar sandwich. We decided that this lovely café I had discovered on an earlier trip with Eladio, would be our other centre of operations for the interview with Cecilia by the Parliament bridge. They also agreed. I must say the Swedes I have known and the ones we met last week were all very accommodating. Below is a picture of the charming café. If you look closely you will see a photograph of the Royal wedding couple. The Royal family in Sweden is well loved and there are pictures of the Royal family in many places, including a welcome picture at Arlanda airport!

The lovely Swiss café in Gamla Stan where we spent so much time. 

On Thursday we also went to Stureplan, the “posh” area of Stockholm full of office buildings and expensive shops. We went to film the outside of TeliaSonera and I particularly liked this scene with the snow and bicycles which employees obviously use to go to work even in the snow. In the afternoon, after a rest from so much walking in the freezing cold, we worked hard on the script. There is so much to do for this video and we have only finished the script of the prologue, so in a way have hardly started.  Help!

TeliaSonera in Stureplan. Notice the bicycles in the snow employees use to go to work even in this weather

Dinner was at a favourite restaurant of mine in Stockholm and one I learned about on a press trip with Nokia some years ago. It's called  F12 and is on 12 Fredsgatan near the Parliament. We were going to have the 11 course gastronomic tasting menu but were told it would take 3 hours. So we went for the smaller 5 mini courses and you know what? It took 3 hours! However we didn’t mind and even got talking to our neighbours, two Americans on our right who recommended the Ice Bar we would later visit, and the exuberant Maija and very Swedish looking Karen on our left. Maija was a wine journalist and Karen a wine importer; a good combination eh? We got lots of tips on what to do in Stockholm from these charming ladies. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to take any of them up but I will certainly try to on other occasions. F12 is great but rather slow but then I knew that.

Guests we made friends with at F12, Maija in pink and Karen.  In the picture too, Angel who I kept calling César

Friday was our big day and it started early. We met Cecilia, the ex Marketing Manager of Yoigo, at Schwiezerkonditoriet. Whilst we were in the café, the most bizarre thing happened; in walked a Japanese film crew filming a scene for a Japanese TV travel show; so we weren’t the only ones filming in the area! As soon as Cecilia and I had agreed on the questions, out we went into the cold and snow to the bridge for the filming. It was snowing whilst we did the interview. Luckily Cecilia was to the point on all the questions and we hardly needed to repeat any. From there we made our way, this time by taxi to take all our gear, to TeliaSonera for our appointment with Andreas at 11. Luckily for Andreas and for us, of course, the interview was held inside, sheltered from the minus zero temperatures, because we wanted to use the great logo in the entrance of the building.

Me looking very colourful in red at TeliaSonera

Andreas is head of Investor Relations and when Yoigo was launched he was an analyst who was skeptical of the company investing in Spain. However of course time has taught us all that the adventure was to be successful and now Andreas believes otherwise. As he was a true professional the interview was over in a flash. My next appointment was coffee with Birgitta at a café in the nearby Sturegallerian where we exchanged information on various projects. She’s always a pleasure to be with.

Our next interview wasn’t until 2 which gave us time for lunch at the afternoon’s centre of operations, the Misteln bar in Stortorget. Here once again I indulged in a prawn smörgåsar sandwich!! Soon we were joined by the dashing Norwegian Arne who had been head of sales and marketing at the start up phase of Yoigo. Arne had prepared his own questions and had rehearsed for the interview; a true professional once again. I think he was a bit dismayed to learn the interview would take place outside the bar. We wanted to get the Swedish atmosphere into the picture, so there we had him sit on a wicker chair with a blanket on his knees and a steaming cup of coffee on the table. I have a feeling Arne thoroughly enjoyed the interview. Well I must say it was quite fun.

The interview with Arne outside the Misteln bar in Stortorget. I look quite the reporter here.

Just as the interview with Arne finished along came Ove for the final interview we had to do in Stockholm. Ove had been head of operations at Yoigo from the start until this last summer. This time the interview took place in the middle of the old square with a view of the coloured houses. This interview was perhaps the most awkward of all as cars kept coming past, even a helicopter flew above our heads and finally there was a very annoying Swedish toddler playing in the nearby snow who was making an awful noise and whose parents couldn’t keep quiet. However I think the footage we got is more than sufficient for our 20 minute video.

It had been a truly long, intense and very cold day but now our work was over and we could relax. It was Friday evening and Bea’s boyfriend, Jordi and his sister Nuria, were coming for the weekend. I was going back the next day but the others were staying until Sunday. Spurred on by the American’s suggestion, we decided to go to the Ice Bar he had suggested. I wasn’t that keen as I had already seen an ice hotel once in Finnish Lapland and thought the whole idea was a bit too touristy for my liking. However, I was wrong, and ended up thoroughly enjoying it and getting tipsy into the bargain! At the entrance they kitted us out with a sort of thermal poncho with gloves at the end and in we walked into this fun and freezing bar. In the ponchos, however, you don’t feel the cold.

All kitted out to go into the Ice Bar in Stockholm.  It was such fun.

Everything is made of ice, the seats, the tables, the bar, the glasses, you name it, it’s made of ice. As the bar is owned by the Swedish vodka company Absolut, the only drink served is vodka. However I didn’t mind as I quite like vodka, maybe owing to my Russian blood, and asked for vodka and orange. Not surprisingly I felt quite tipsy when we left. I’m not used to drinking spirits and hadn’t eaten for many hours, but maybe the below zero temperatures increase the potency of alcohol. It must be that because as we walked to the restaurant for dinner, the feeling slowly left me. I must say it was fun whilst it lasted.

My vodka and orange at the Ice Bar, even the glass was made of ice!

Dinner was at Grodan near Stureplan, recommended to us by a fellow diner at Gondolen, an elegant Swedish gentleman who my companions swore was trying to flirt with me. I promise you I didn’t even notice! His recommendation turned out to be a great success. We all loved Grodan and Bea and I, followed by Nuria, once again had Norwegian lobster (much cheaper than in the rest of the world) and more prawns, this time in a salad. Yes, now you all know that Bea and I love prawns and lobster! And of course, Sweden is the country to eat them.

My flight on Saturday was at 15h, which gave me some free time in the morning. Guess what I did? Go to a museum? Noooo. I went shopping and Bea and Nuria came with me of course whilst the boys had a late breakfast. I took them to the big shopping centre called Gallerian. Here I bought a dress and some jeans at one of my favourite Swedish shops, Lindex. From here we crossed the road to take a glimpse inside the very exclusive NK department store and left rapidly to go to the pedestrian street called Biblioteksgatan, recommended to me on my trip in October by my colleague Belén. Here Bea and Nuria enjoyed Urban Outfitters whilst I bought a long red cardigan and scarf at another favourite of mine, the Danish brand Jackpot. Our shopping finished at Sturegallerian where we all bought fur accessories at a place called Monroe. I bought a very flashy bright pink fur and material long scarf, like Maija was wearing at F12. When Susana saw it she said, “yes Mummy that is very you”. It might be a bit over the top but I love it.

I said goodbye to Bea and Nuria as well as to Jordi, Angel and Ramón and made my way with my purchases to check out at the hotel. I had to fit all the things I had bought in my suitcase which was no easy task. I even
tried standing on it but there was no way it would shut. In the end I decided to take out my favourite pillow (yes I travel everywhere with my feather pillow from home) and carry it in a separate bag. So I had to get in the taxi and travel with a big suitcase, my heavy pc bag, my heavy handbag and a light but bulky bag with the pillow. I can just never travel light!

I was driven to the airport by an Iranian taxi driver, so took the opportunity to “interview” him too. I always find it fascinating to talk to immigrants. He told me what I knew, that oof a population of some 9 million, 1 million were immigrants  with many from Irak and Iran. He told me had come 27 years ago just after the Sha died during the Ayatollah Homeini’s reign of terror. We both agreed on the excessive government of the so called “Peacock king” and he told me that the latter’s family had left Iran wtih 13 billion dollars, which was probably equivalent to all the money of the country. He has never once been back and doesn’t dare to go in case he gets arrested. I asked him how life was for immigrants in Sweden. I again knew the answer, the state takes care of everything and he told me that all his needs were catered for. He said that there was no problem in finding a job, buying a house, keeping a family, going on holiday but that that was not “living”. He said he felt he was not from Sweden as there was very little integration with the local people, but that he didn’t feel as though he was from Iran either because his mentality had changed. He had a sad look on his face and I totally understood him coming from an immigrant background myself, on my Mother’s side.

Once at the airport, everything was easy because I had already checked in and was carrying my boarding pass. I bought some chocolate, a local newspaper, some lingonberry and cloudberry jam for my Father and some smoked salmon for the family. Of course it was lunch time and time to have my very last prawn smörgåsar sandwich before boarding the plane. I slept for at least 3 hours and spent the last hour reading Ken Follett’s Fall of Giants. I was dying to be home and get through all the arrival hassle. I was home just after 19h and happy to greet my Father, Eladio, Susana and Olivia and Norah of course.  I had brought back woolen socks for the girls and the hat for Eladio.

After unpacking, as I felt quite rested, having slept through most of the flight, I suggested going out to dinner and Eladio happily accepted. So last night, I enjoyed pasta at La Alpargatería, as a sort of final concession to my breaking the diet during my time in Stockholm. Today I did a pure protein diet and tomorrow will start the new consolidation phase.

Today, Sunday, has been spent quietly at home. We went for a walk in the morning with Susana and Norah. The girls were out for lunch at Elena’s, so there were just the three of us for lunch at home. This evening we will be meeting our friends Roberto and MariCarmen. And tomorrow it will be back to normal and I will be working hard on the video script with Bea and Angel.

As you can see, this week was great and the trip to Stockholm fun and successful. There is hardly a sign of my swine flu and I'm feeling much better.  Now I must leave you to edit and copy this and add the photos and publish this blog post before we go and meet our friends. I wish you all a great week,

All the best Masha
PS You can see the rest of the photos of my trip here.

Battling with Dr. Dukan, a general strike in Spain, 4 years at Yoigo, Suzy joins the workforce, good news for my friends, remembering my Mother and other things.

My Mother and I in 1980 outside the porch at 6 Heaton Grove on the day of Amanda and Richard's wedding.  She is dearly missed.

Hi again

It’s now October and autumn has really begun although you wouldn’t notice that here as the sun is still shining, the temperatures are in their mid 20’s and I, at least, am still wearing summer clothes. To tell you the truth I have been trying on mid season and winter clothes to see which of them I can get into for when the weather gets cooler.  That’s something I always do when I’m on a diet. The objective of fitting into a certain jacket or skirt always motivates me to continue my diet.

And food has been on my mind all week. It’s nearly always on my mind around meal times, of course, but when I’m on a diet I tend to think about it most of the day which is a huge drag. The reason now is the new diet I am following, or rather battling with, the Dr. Dukan diet, that I told you about last week. It’s based on alternating pure protein with pure vegetable days with no oil, fat, sugar or carbohydrates on either.  This is easier said than done I can tell you. It’s sort of easier to follow during the week when you are busy but the weekends are the hardest. The most unmotivating thing is to see that the scales don’t move a day or two after huge efforts and that stagnation sets in. Well today the scales told me good news. I have lost 2.6kgs (that’s 5.7lbs) since I started just over a week ago and that gives me the fuel to continue. But the battle has only just begun.

Talking about battling and fuel, there was a big general strike in Spain this week on Wednesday 29th September which in the end only brought part of the country to the halt. The unions and workers were protesting about the recent labour reforms the Government has taken because of the huge recession Spain is in with 20% of people unemployed. In fact it was the European Union who imposed most of these reforms and there is thought that should have been even more stringent. Really then the strike was not going to have much influence and I don’t think it will.

The General Strike on 29th September in Spain is not going to change much here.

I did not go on strike and have never gone on strike and in fact celebrated 4 years with Yoigo a couple of days later on 1st October. How time flies, literally, and how much we have done to gain a place in the highly competitive mobile phone market in this country. I have enjoyed the journey a lot and like many other people at the time could hardly believe the success Yoigo would have as the 4th mobile phone operator in Spain, competing against its 3 giant competitors. But here we are 4 years later, with only 91 employees, nearly 2 million customers and about to become profitable. It’s a real success story. When I joined Motorola in 1989, no one had heard of the company. Just a while later it was number one in selling mobile phones in Spain. I left just as its decline began. I had a similar story in Nokia leaving in 2005 just before their decline began. It’s a big of a joke, but a previous boss of mine once said: just follow Masha. Funny isn’t it?

And who entered the job market this week was my older daughter Susana as I told you last week. She started one day before the strike and has now had 4 days of experience as a member of the workforce. I hope she gains lots of know-how at Adecal and that her time there helps her up the professional ladder.

Good news for my friends in the title of this week's blog post has to do with the job market too. The day after the strike I had a morning coffee appointment with my friend and neighbour Elena. We have been meeting once a month since she lost her job as Communications Director with Ericsson Spain over two years ago. After having had two similar experiences in my own life, I knew exactly what she would be feeling like and just how difficult it would be to find another job. So I decided to help her in the only way I could, by being with her and keeping up her morale. I was therefore delighted to hear from her on Thursday that she had landed a job as Thyssen Krupp’s Comms Director for Spain and Southern Europe. She is 52 and back in the job market and head over heels with joy and relief. It means a new lease of life and I am so happy for her.  It’s funny also that before I joined Yoigo I actually had some interviews for that very same position but they didn’t choose me as they thought my background was too consumer oriented. They were probably right as I didn’t really fancy the position. However Elena has just the right profile. I wish her lots of luck and enjoyment in her new job too.  Well done Elena! In the end you did it yourself.

My friend Elena when she was telling me the good news about her new job as Comms Director for Thyssen Krupp.  Congratulations couldn't be more in order for her.

The other friend who has also landed a new job is my ex colleague  Juana whose blog you can find in the section “my friends’ blogs”. She’s done extremely well after one year back from their time in Mexico to find a job as Account Manager with Microsoft who is based in nearby Pozuelo, very near where she lives. Now that’s a good company to work for. Congratulations Juana too. 

If 1st October was the day to remember joining Yoigo, it was also the day to remember my dear Mother’s passing away and that will always be so.  My Father remarked that he had been a widow now for 11 years. Yes 11 years ago my amazing, unique, extrovert, multi lingual, somewhat academic and Bohemian mother of Russian aristocratic background died of that most feared disease, cancer. She is often in my thoughts but mostly so on her birthday, 7th June, and on the anniversary of her sad death on the 1st of October. In life you are prepared for many things, but the death of your parents is something you are never prepared for and can never really get over. God bless you Mummy, I miss you. We all miss you.

Life goes on of course and that’s what this blog is all about. I may have told you last week that I have now been writing it for just over five years since September 2005.  So what else is there to tell you about this week?

We still remember our holiday in Jordan and Israel of course and life after that has been a bit flat to tell you the truth. We had bought back from Amman three cushion covers in the pattern of the cushions we saw everywhere in the Bedouin tents and in other places. I took them to have zips put in as well as the filling and yesterday I went to pick them up. They are now gracing this room, the “IT room”, to quote my Father and from where I am writing to you now. This is how they look and they are there to remind us of our lovely trip.

A bit of Jordan in our home.  I had  zips and filling put in the cushion covers we bought in Amman and they are now gracing the red sofa in our "IT room".

You probably know I am a great reader, mostly of biographies, World War II survivor stories and “mislit” and recently I didn’t have anything to lay my hands upon that was of great interest. It’s important to have a good book to read always, but especially when you are on a diet. It takes your mind off food! So I went to my book shop, http://www.amazon.co.uk/ and the first thing I saw recommended was Tony Blair’s “The Journey”, the autobiography of his time as Prime Minister. I also ordered "Nella Last’s War", the extraordinary diary of Nella Last, a middle aged housewife during the Second World War in England. Lastly I couldn’t resist getting another Auschwitz survivor story, probably spurred on by our visit to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, written by a non Jewish Rumanian woman called Olga Lengyel.  It is called "Five Chimneys" and is both an amazing and horrowing story.

A Journey, Tony Blair's autobiography which I got from Amazon.co.uk this week.

I also like films so last Sunday, just after  Fernando Alonso had won the Singapore GP, I watched the horrific film Precious about an obese and very unlucky black girl who lived in Harlem. It made me realise just how lucky I am and for a moment also how much thinner I am too!

Precious, a horrific story about an obese black girl from Harlem. You couldn't have a worse life than her's

Just as it was finishing our friends Roberto and Mari Carmen came to join us for our daily walk. Our walk has become an essential part of everyday life and  hardly a day goes by without it. Norah, of course, thoroughly enjoys it. Even she has got a bit thinner since we came back from Israel and Jordan as whilst we were away the poor dog didn’t leave the house once. She likes to meet other dogs on the way, like these two delightful terriers.

Norah's friends, two lovely terriers we often meet on our walk.

After the walk we went out to dinner. It had to be a place where I could get fat free protein and oil free vegetables. So where did we go? Certainly not to the pasta place La Alpargateriá, but to La Txitxarrería in Pozuelo. The meat there is out of this world, highly recommendable.

I had another protein and vegetable lunch out  this week with a colleague from work, Juan. It turns out that he is also following the Dukan diet and has already lost 11kgs. Thus we spent the better part of our lunch at Aspen talking about diets.

Therefore I end my blog on the same note as it begun, the story about my diet. My life is all about diets and I just wish I had been born with a thinner constitution and could now be writing about something else instead of diets.

C’est la vie!

Cheers till next week my friends.