The girls are back from India, a bout of sickness, new clothes, Halloween and Dorothy the chimpanzee

The girls with Summit their guardian angel in India, from left to right: Suzy, Rocío, Summit and Olivia
Hi again.

Today is Sunday 1st November and the good weather is still with us with temperatures around 20ºc which is wonderful for this time of year. We have just come back from our evening walk with dear Norah (as gorgeous as ever and if you don’t believe me look here) and it’s quite late to be writing my blog. The girls are having some friends round for drinks (Erika, Carolina, Rocío, Estefanía, etc) and my Father will be making his frugal dinner and probably eating my home made vegetable soup.
Norah was also happy to have the girls back.
So what has happened since last week? The major news is that my dearest girls, Suzy and Oli came back from India. They have had an amazing time, first in Delhi and the experience at the NGO for children where their friend Arancha works, then in Agra where they went to see the Taj Mahal. Afterwards they went to the Punjab in Chandigarh to stay with Sandeep’s family and in Ropar with Summit’s family. Summit was their guardian angel in India and made sure they had everything they needed.

Oli with a beautiful little Indian girl at Arancha's NGO.
Oli commented that he and the families treated the girls as princesses. They also visited Shimla, the so called “queen of the hills” in the mountains near Chandigarh and after their visit to the Punjab made their way by train to Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan. In Rajasthan they also visited Pushkar, that very hippy destination with the dirty but holy lake, and of course Jodhpur which Oli loved most. Their final stopping point before returning to Delhi to make their way home was Varanasi, the holy city by the Ganges where the famous cremations take place. They seem to have bought half the markets in India and I for one, got a lovely silver ring with a red stone which I love. Thanks girls!

The day the girls came home coincided with a terrible bout of sickness which came upon me last Wednesday night after having had dinner with my Swedish colleagues, Birgitta and Anna in Alcobendas. The bout started with a terrible headache and had me throwing up in the middle of the night until there was nothing left in me. I had to go into work on Thursday morning because I was to do a presentation for the Swedish girls who had come specially to see me. Somehow I drove to work but it was very soon obvious I could not stay on at the office so I ordered a taxi to go home and left my car at work. I continued throwing up in the taxi much to my chagrin. Eladio took me to the local doctor who immediately gave me an injection to get rid of the sickness and another one to get rid of the headache. I then slept for 2 hours and woke up with the sickness gone but the headache still there. In fact the headache did not go until yesterday Saturday and is still with me really. I’m not sure whether the bout of sickness was a migraine or something caused by what I had eaten. I tend to think it was the former. I have always suffered from headaches but in the past year or two have had similar attacks to last week’s. Migraine or not, I had a nightmare of a time and hope I won’t get another one ever again, except I probably will.

So yes I had a terrible migraine and was k.o. for two or three days, but on the bright side my diet seems to be working (now over 6kgs) and I am beginning to fit into my old clothes. But who wants old clothes? To cheer myself up I went shopping and bought a whole new range of clothes and enjoy wearing my new outfits. I felt very guilty coming home with so many bags but on the other hand I feel I deserve the treat. I do don’t I?

Oli didn’t go to her flat so we have had both girls with us over the weekend which has been great. On Friday we went to the cinema with Oli to see a Mexican film called “Sin Nombre”. It’s very violent but informative too and is about the Latina American Mara gangs (frightening) where disloyalty is paid for with your life, as well as the terrible train journey the immigrants from Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico take to try and enter the “promised land” which for them is the United States. You can see the trailer here.
Great but violent film, Sin Nombre.
Yesterday the girls got ready to go out to celebrate Halloween and looked great. Oli was dressed as a vampire type bride and Suzy as a horror school girl. Believe it or not she can still get into her old school skirt! I don’t particularly like Halloween and I’ve always considered it more an American celebration and as a child enjoyed Guy Fawke’s Day on 5th November and the English equivalent of Halloween, Mischief Night on 4th November. The girls, however, have been celebrating Halloween ever since they started school at St. Michael’s at the age of 3 and 4 and always enjoy it. You can see the full set of picture I took here on Facebook.
My halloween girls, ghastly but good.
The weekend is nearly over but it has been great to have the girls back. Today we had a lovely Sunday lunch all together outside, of course, because of the great weather. Eladio took this photo of the table which I had just laid and where my Father is sitting and enjoying a glass of wine before his meal.
The table laid for the family lunch today.
My final note this weekend is about a chimpanzee and not any chimpanzee. I read about Dorothy today, an ape from a zoo in Cameroon who had been mal treated. You can see in this amazing photo the moment when she was laid to death and how her fellow grief stricken apes mourning her death.
Rest in peace Dorothy. It is good to know that apes can feel the same grief as humans.

And that's it for this week. Cheers till the next.
Masha

Santander and post Santander, Norah's first social outing and other news

The wonderful Sardinero beach as seen from our hotel room
Hi again,

It’s true, I haven’t written for some time. Mostly that’s because I’ve been busy in Santander with Yoigo’s participation in the annual telecoms conference but also because this weekend I’ve been engrossed in “The girl with the dragon tattoo” by the now arch famous and recently deceased Stieg Larsson or “Men who hate Women” as it is called in the original Swedish version. If you haven’t read it yet, you are one of the very few and I urge you to get going. I have now ordered the next 2 books from the trilogy, more commonly known as “Millenium”. When they arrive I already know I will say good bye to my friends, my family, my work and, of course, my blog for a week at least.

Meanwhile I must update my blog with my stay in Santander and what has happened since we got back. I say we, because, of course, Eladio went with me, as he does wherever I go. I can hardly imagine life without him. This year was my third with Yoigo but actually I have been going since 2000 with the odd exception.

I had a big party to put on for 200 people and an amazingly new and risky presentation at the conferences. Yoigo is different and so is its way of communicating. I have spent the better part of the last 2 months preparing for it and Santander was actually a dark cloud on my horizon that stopped me feeling completely free during my long holiday. What we did was an interactive video where we even gave out popcorn and t-shirts with the main message of our presentation, “Refarming now”.
Pop corn was certainly a first at the Santander telecoms conference.
We actually managed to wake up the “men in black” in the audience who even clapped. This was certainly a team effort and a lot of the credit goes to my PR agency, Ketchum and the fantastic production agency, Goodnews. Thanks guys, you know who you are.
The Ketchum, Goodnews and Yoigo team at Santander showing the t-shirts we gave out.
Needless to say the sailor theme party went really well too, thanks, once again, to my events team at Quinta Esencia. They went all out as usual and everyone had fun. People were kitted out with sailor hats and tattoos at the entrance, there was a tug of war, a punch ball machine which was forever in action, messages in bottles to be fished out of a pool, photos that could be taken with your friends in the Yoigo boat with a live parrot, arm wrestling with a strong man and strong women and of course lots to drink, all accompanied by a great DJ. The party went on till the early hours but I escaped, hopefully unnoticed, as I had to be up early and fresh and ready for our spectacular presentation the next morning.
The Yoigo sailor part was just great
Some of the journalists at our party, with me in the Yoigo boat.
I have been organising parties in the telecoms sector for nearly 20 years and have come to the conclusion that although they are great and my trade mark, I don’t actually enjoy them myself. Frankly I prefer smaller groups of people and would far rather be invited myself. I promise I would never criticise anything either!

Santander wasn’t all work though as one of my mottos is “all work and no play make Masha a dull girl”. So I combined both which is what I always try to do. Besides I love Santander, so going there just for work would have been a crime. Eladio and I, then, drove up the Saturday before and were joined by Andy and Amanda for their last weekend in Spain. They have had such a great time in Salamanca on their Spanish course they are seriously thinking of coming to live in Spain and most probably in El Bosque. That was a lovely piece of news.

We stayed where we always stay at the Silken Río Hotel just across the road from one of Spain’s best beaches, El Sardinero. That area is apparently Spain’s golden mile in expensive property so any plans of retiring there have now gone out of the window.
El Sardinero, as seen from our hotel room, one of the most expensive areas for property in Spain.
We were lucky with the weather as that part of Spain is touch and go, and spent as much time as possible on the beach, sunbathing, trying to swim in the waves and of course walking the beach from end to end many times. Santander boasts some of Spain’s best cuisine and so we introduced Andy and Amanda to the delights on offer at the Río Restaurant next to our hotel and to Zacarías, perhaps the best in town.
The four of us at Zacarías.
In a similar league, some say better, is La Bombi and La Posada del Mar. I love them all. However this year, we Eladio and I fell in love with a new place, Deluz, a British type mansion of the 50s, just up the road from our hotel where it feels like dining in the past. A most romantic place I must say.
Deluz restaurant in Santander, a spectacular house.
Andy and Amanda were very impressed by the Zacarias’ tomatoes, his trademark and grown exclusively for his restaurant. They cost the same as the best fillet steak but are so good Andy asked for some for his dessert!!
Very special tomatoes can be found at Zacarías
My dear friend Julio joined us on Sunday. We used to work together at Nokia and I first came to Santander with him in 2000. Every year we go we have photo taken and this is this year’s
This year's photo of Julio and I.
Now that we don’t work together we have to find moments during our stay to see each other. He came to the party, of course but my true celebration was on the last day with Julio and Eladio at La Bombi just before we drove home, exhausted but happy.
Eladio and I at the Bombi on the last day in Santander
On our way home which is now only a 4 hour drive thanks to the recently completed motorway, we stopped at Rueda for a drink but mostly to fill up on the excellent white wine at el Palacio de Bornos.

The first few days at home after Santander were a bit of an anti climax which is nearly always the case after a big event. It was nice though to be home again. We came home to big news from the girls. They are going to India in October on holiday! I’m delighted for them but worried about how much we are supposed to fork out for this jolly. We went for the first time this last Christmas and it was a big effort financially. I am excited for them though too.

Last Friday was quite a social day. I met my friend Elena for a coffee in the morning. She needed some cheering up. Looking for a new job at this stage in life is not easy. The important thing is to remain positive and that I know she is. In the evening we went out to dinner with Oscar and Juana who have just come back from 5 years in Mexico where they also formed their family. It was good to see them in person after reading about their lives virtually in Juana’s blog.

Saturday was a big day as we went to Colmenarejo for the long awaited barbecue reunion with Pili, Gerardo and their families. Unfortunately the girls couldn’t go (Suzy is busily studying for some of her final exams and Oli had gone to Barcelona to see Cold Play perform). Norah, our dog, was invited too and turned out, as expected, to be the star attraction with all the children. Norah had a bath before the visit as you can see here.
Norah getting ready for her first social outing. She didn't protest at all.
It was her first social outing and I was worried about her behaviour in the car and at their place. But she behaved perfectly. She was played with constantly all afternoon and never complained and she was also given a huge plate of left overs which she is never allowed and which made it a perfect party day for her too.
Norah enjoyed her day at Colmenarejo as much as we did but was utterly exhausted by the end of the day.
It was lovely to see these guys again and so good that we have found each other again. A good day was had by all and you CAN witness this by the photos I have posted in Facebook.

Sunday was a true family day as we had the pleasure of Olivia’s company. She took an early train from Barcelona and was home just as we were having breakfast. I am still getting used to the idea that she has left home but as it happened in the summer and was a gradual process it still doesn’t really feel as though she has gone.

And that’s about it for this post. It is now Tuesday 8th September and this week is looking good. But more about that in my next post.

Cheers till then

Masha
PS here are all the photos from Santander

Sarkozy’s boots, Afghan women protest, Indian elections, Imagine never having been kissed at 48? Internet and me, my Danish princess and other stories

A star was born in England last week. Susan Boyle the new world media phenomenon.
Hi again

There has been lots of news this week that caught my attention. This was the week Sakorzy, the modern day Napoleon, put his foot in it and was caught off the air criticising both Barack Obama and the Spanish President Zapatero; the latter as weak and the former as dim. The only leader who came away unscathed was Berlusconi! More than his foot, it seems he is getting too big for his boots and it could take some time to live down this faux pas.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of France, a bit too big for his boots
This was also the week Afghan women demonstrated for possibly the first time ever. They may not be able to revoke the unacceptable new Shia family law which gives Shia husbands wide-ranging powers over their wives, who are not allowed to leave the house without their husband's permission or to refuse him sex without a medical excuse. But at least they got their voice heard, which is quite a miracle in this country where life for women is worse than in the dark ages.

Afghan Shia women protesting in Kabul, a very unusual scene.
In a country close to my heart, the sub continent of India, elections started this week and nearly 800 million people will be voting. Not surprisingly the whole process will take as long as a month. Will yet another Gandhi family member and descendent of Jawaharlal Nerhu win for the Congress party again? And if Indira Gandhi’s grandson Rahul gets elected, will he also be assassinated like his grand mother Indira and his Father Rajiv or like the Father of the nation itself, Mahatma Gandhi? Is the price of power worth paying for certain death one day at the hands of his own countrymen?

Rahul Gandhi, the Congress Party candidate in the Indian elections.
But above all it was the week a star was born and a dream came true for an unknown frumpy looking and astoundingly charismatic 48 year old Scottish lady called Susan Boyle. She took part in ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent programme last week and literally rocked the audience off its feet despite initial jeering at this plump and unattractive looking middle aged lady who admitted on stage that she was unemployed, unmarried and that no one had ever kissed her. The song she sang, I dreamed a dream from Les Miserables, has now been viewed over 20 million times on You Tube and Susan Boyle has become a world star. I, for one, am truly amazed by this dream come true and hope it all works out for the lovely and very authentic Susan Boyle. Her voice is fantastic, that is true but I wonder whether there would have been so much noise about this participant if she had been young and beautiful. Certainly not. What we all seem to like, to quote one of the judges, is the underdog story she portrays. There is also an element of the Cinderalla fable without the beauty which goes to prove that appearances can be misleading. As my dear Aunty Gloria used to say: never trust a man by his umbrella, it may not be his. Good luck Susan, you more than deserve it.

Another bit of news I have to report this week, is a video news piece that Oli did for RTVE.es with another colleague. It is about young and successful professionals who have to return home because of the credit crunch. I am pleased for her that this turned out to be the most seen video of the week on their website. I am not, however, pleased for those young people. Times are difficult for them.

Talking of websites, that leads me to my next subject which has to be Internet or rather Internet and me. I have to acknowledge I am addicted to quite a degree. It fascinates me and I spend my time on email primarily of course and on news items and the weather for example. My blog is my passion and this week I surpassed 20.000 visitors. That’s a lot of people following someone neither famous nor extraordinary like me. What is news about the visitors is the variety of countries they come from. You just have to click on the cluster map on the right hand side of the blog to see the list. The top 5 countries are Spain, USA, Finland, Mexico and India but boy are there some obscure countries after them.

Of course I am on Facebook and have been for some time and more recently I am on Twitter. I couldn’t believe that I was ranked 458 in the Twitter holic ranking for Madrid – possibly that proves Twitter has not yet taken off in Spain properly. If you don’t know what Twitter is read here. Actually when you update your status in Twitter it updates automatically in Facebook so you don’t waste time.

In Facebook you belong to a circle of friends. In Twitter, however, you can find anyone (unless you block them or they block you) and there are many high profile people out there using it like Bill Gates, Barack Obama, Britney Spears or Demi Moore (she tweeted that Susan Boyle had moved her to tears)to name a few. I was happy to find a whole load of old cronies from my Motorola Cycling Team days such as Lance Armstrong himself, Paul Sherwen, Kevin Levingstone, Graham Watson, Jim Ochowich, Rupert Guinness or Johan Bruyneel. Following their tweets brings me right back to the Tour of the Basque Country drinking pacharán with some of them. It’s great to have found them.

To quote the NYT’s article on Twitter above, it unleashes the diarist in you. I have to admit I have been a diarist on and off since the age of 6 so the diarist in me was already unleashed. More than that, these internet tools have made diary writing a joy and easier to be consistent about.

Finally I have my own channel on You Tube where I have some domestic videos of our trip to India and mainly of Norah, our new Beagle puppy I am besotted with. And this week I joined Digg which seems to be the next best thing after sliced bread in the online news world. Try it, it’s great. By the way you can find my You Tube and Twitter profiles added to my blog now (right hand side and quite low down).

On the offline front, yes I mean, here at home, the week began with Anne leaving after a great Easter weekend. On Monday night we went out with Graciela and Eduardo to a nice little tapas place in Boadilla called Vinoteca. Congratulations go to them as they are expecting a baby boy. I wonder who will get their way: Eduardo with Eduardo or Graciela with Mateo? I expect the latter. The four of us are now all ex Nokians so had a great time gossiping about old times as well as new events. I must say the Nokia slogan “connecting people” and the internal one “reuniting colleagues” are both true. The best thing about my nearly 6 year stint as the PR Manager for Nokia Spain was the people I met.

Anne went back to Finland and as we are quite a globe trotting family, I suppose it is no surprise that Suzy went to Denmark on Thursday. She went with Rocío to visit Estefania who is there on an Erasmus University scholarship and they were joined on Friday by two other school friends, Erika and Carolina. Suzy is having a great time. They are riding bikes to go everywhere and are very pleased with the modern Scandinavian style residence they are staying at. Of course Suzy went with her friends to see the Little Mermaid, a fairy tale character she has always equated with ever since she saw the Disney film as a child. Suzy and Ariel and Ariel and Suzy have a strong relationship.
That unique and lovely statue of the Little Mermaid, inspired by Hans Christian Anderson's tale rests by the sea in Copenhagen.
In Copenhagen there lives a real princess, at least for us. I refer here to Pernille, the lovely golden girl who came to live with us in 1991. She was 19 and as she reminded me last night on the phone, I was just 35. The girls were about 6 and 7 and she was to be their au pair. That was the beginning of a life time relationship and of a person who has a permanent place in our hearts. Pernille married her childhood sweetheart, Thomas and they have two little girls called Julia and Alberte. Suzy met them yesterday for the first time and also saw Pernille and Thomas for the first time since their wedding. We all went to that fairy tale wedding in 2000 as you can see here in the photo. Pernille, we miss you. Please come with your family and see us this Summer as you said you would last night.

The girls at Pernille and Thomas' wedding in Copenhagen in 2000.
Suzy will be back tonight and I’m dying to see photos of that encounter. Meanwhile here are some of her in Copenhagen.

Suzy and the Little Mermaid
Suzy on her bike in Copenhagen.
Next week she will be celebrating her 25th birthday and there will be a big party here on Saturday. Andy and Amanda will be her for that as they are coming to Spain to visit Salamanca to look for accommodation for a course in Spanish they will be doing in August. Also Marta and Paula will be here, passing through, on their way to Liverpool (tourism is big there these days. Who would have believed that a few years ago?). So next week we are going to have a full house. What fun. What Suzy doesn’t know about (and she won’t read this so I’m not worried) are the amount of surprises in store for her that day.

We’re going to have fun.

More, next week. Cheers till then,

Masha

“Todo va bien”, everything is fine and the wrong places at the wrong times.

Blossom in our garden, the first sure sign of Spring.
Hi again

Another week has passed and it’s a sunny Sunday in March. I am sitting at my pc wondering what to write. I just commented that to Eladio and he suggests I tell you “todo va bien” (everything is fine) so I decided that would be the title of this week’s post.

He is actually right that everything is fine. I cannot complain. We are the lucky ones. Not so lucky is my Ukranian cleaning lady, Zena, who has cancer. She is my only worry and I have been wracking my brains how to help her. It’s amazing to see how she still comes to clean even when she is having chemotherapy and it makes me feel terrible. I so understand the fate of immigrants from the story of my Mother’s family. Luck in life very much depends on where and when you were born. I was obviously born in the right place at the right time and Zena was not.

Talking about places, Paula and Miguel, my niece and nephew are in Cuba this week, although they won’t see each other. They will however both see Rosi, Eladio’s distant cousin who visited us recently and who was also born in a challenging place, like Zena. Paula is there with student friends to celebrate their mid way degree studies (a very Spanish habit called crossing the Ecuador) and Miguel went yesterday for a short holiday with some friends who found a cheap ticket.

Funnily enough now 4 members of Eladio’s family have crossed the Atlantic to Cuba in America as Spaniards call Latin America. It’s interesting to observe how the Anglo speaking world means North America when they say America whereas the Spanish speaking world mean Latin America. I suppose the origin of this Spanish habit comes from when they discovered America.
Paula, Rosi and her daughter Maria Carla on the right this week in Havana.
Meanwhile, Juan, Miguel’s brother is trying to make his fortune in London. Juan is a very enterprising chap and his first job was doing a video for his sister’s flatmate who is the marketing manager for a publishing group. The video shows how older people are catching on to internet. I think it’s great. He’s now got to do one on an ex Russian republic whose name doesn’t even ring a bell. I’m sure he’ll make a great job of it. Meanwhile enjoy the video which was probably shot in Hyde Park.

This week in Spain has been marked by the good weather but it was also the 5th anniversary of the 11th March train bombings which cast a shadow on the week in general. It was also a week when the peace in Ulster was threatened by new attacks by splinter groups of the IRA. The victims of these attacks were also in the wrong places at the wrong times.

On the home front and as the title suggests, life went on as normal and we enjoyed the good weather with walks with Norah whenever we could.
Norah and Suzy ready for the walk, look at the lovely blossom on our drive
Suzy has been sunbathing most afternoons and would text me to join her and Norah by the pool. Often I would find Norah lying on the sun bed and Suzy sitting on the floor. Norah is definitely living in the right place and is a very spoiled puppy.
Suzy and Norah sunbathing this week. Look who's on the sun bed!
Oli has been busier than any of us this week and on Friday proudly attended her first press conference. It was the presentation of Pedro Almodovar’s new film “Abrazos rotos” which was preceded by the press premiere. I later read that it was the most numerous cinema press conference ever held with 300 journalists attending. There was great interest in the new film, of course, but equal interest in seeing Penelope Cruz for the first time in public after winning the Oscar. Here is Oli’s chronicle (in Spanish) which at one stage was on the front page of RTVE. I am looking forward to seeing the film when it is launched to the public next weekend.
Penelope Cruz, Pedro Almodóvar and Blanca Portillo at the press conference for his new film "Abrazos Rotos" this week.
This week I further corresponded with my distant Lieven cousin, Tanya, in New Zealand. She sent me photos of herself and family and it is uncanny to see the similarity in looks, the blonde hair and wide faces, wow!

The weekend has been quiet and marked by the good weather too. Thus we got out some of the garden furniture and had our first barbecue of the season on a lovingly laid table in the garden in front of the kitchen which is really our summer dining room.
Eladio grilling the chorizos etc for the first barbecue of the season with Norah placidly enjoying the sun nearby.
Tonight we are going out with our friends Roberto and Mari Carmen who, no doubt, will have lots to tell us about their trip to Turkey.

And that’s about it for this week. As you can see everything was fine, “todo bien”. Let’s hope this week coming up will be just as good.

Cheers for the moment,

Masha

An uneventful week, news from a distant relative in New Zealand, discovering Boadilla and a weekend without my laptop.

The Palace of Boadilla.
Hi again

Well we are now at the end of the first week of March and luckily the good weather made an entry this weekend. The week was freezing with blustery winds and we thought the winter would never end. However things brightened and this weekend has been lovely.

As I said in the title, the week has been uneventful in that nothing special happened. I had lunch one day with my best friends Julio and Fátima to belatedly celebrate my birthday. Thanks guys for the lovely necklace and ear rings, as well as the good gossip together. I do miss working with you!!

I’m not quite sure which day it was but early in the week I got an email out of the blue from an unknown distant cousin in New Zealand! Julio thought that was quite fascinating and once again encouraged me to write a book (I will my dear but probably when I retire). I must write back to Tanya. She found me on the Lieven page of Wikipedia where I had left a comment asking for the authors to get in touch with me as I wanted to find out more about my Mother’s Russian aristocratic family, the Lievens. Apparently Tanya’s grandfather, a Lieven Prince, left Russia in 1917 and escaped to Australia. I must find out which Lieven he is and how he was related to my Mother’s Father. I have yet to write back so more on that in a later post. I supposed it is quite fascinating to discover you have a cousin in the antipodes whose descendents also went into exile thanks to the Bolshevik revolution. So actually my week was not quite as uneventful as my title promises.

The highlight of this week for me was my visit to the Spanish Ministry of the Interior. I went there on Wednesday morning for the presentation of the new campaign for prepaid card users to be identified. The presentation was made by the Minister himself, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba , a politician who has been in and out of government posts since Felipe Gonzalez’s days in the mid 80’s. He’s a true survivor and whether you like him or not, a very clever man. It was interesting to see him live and the best part, at least for the journalist in me, was when the media asked him questions on issues other than the new campaign, such as his views on the election results in the Basque Country or the problems of immigrants coming illegally into Spain on make shift boats via the Canary Islands. His answers were very “political” in that he didn’t seem to answer any but just played with words which sounded clever. He would not take the bait on the Basque question for example.
Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, the Minister of the Interior.
And, yes this week we have local elections in Galicia and in the Basque Country. The latter had a very surprising result as the socialists won enough votes to govern there, although they will be needing the support of their arch enemies, the right wing Partido Popular. They have ousted the pro independent party, “PNV” who have been in power for decades and who are suspected of supporting the Basque terrorist movement, ETA. So change has come to the Basque Country and has brought much hope with it for many people.

The weekend too has been uneventful but full of activity. We have been living in or around Boadilla del Monte, a small country town on the outskirts of Madrid, for 20 years now. We knew of its famous forest or wood but had hardly ever walked there. Suzy and I decided to go for a walk there during the week and so I returned with Eladio on Friday and Saturday, so lovely did I find the walks. I say walks, rather than walk, as there are many paths and we have now got lost twice.
The Boadilla forest - El Bosque de Boadilla, what a magical place.
To get there we parked near the Palace which is Boadilla’s main landmark. It is a beautiful building built in the 18th century by the Spanish architect Ventura Rodríguez for Philip V’s son, the Infante Don Luis. Unfortunately today it has gone to seed and needs serious renovation. What has been renovated though is the esplanade in front of it which we discovered too was nearly finished. We also discovered a new restaurant right in front of the Palace to which Eladio and I went on Friday night and I must say it was good and a nice change from La Vaca Argentina or La Alpargateria. It hasn't got a website yet as it only opened a week or so ago and is called El Palacio Restaurante Asador. So, yes, we have sort of rediscovered Boadilla this weekend.

I have had more time to do so perhaps because I have been without my laptop this weekend. Unfortunately it developed a nasty virus on Thursday and is in the “sick bay” at work. Leaving it behind on Friday was like leaving my baby behind. I somehow don’t know how to live without it or without internet. Right now I am writing from Eladio’s computer, so I’m not quite without Internet.

My other baby, of course, is Nora. Nora got her third vaccination on Saturday and since then is no longer living in the kitchen. I think we are all thankful for that, including her as she now has the whole garden to play in. Of course, as the weather was better she is thoroughly enjoying her new adventure. Spring is definitely on its way to judge too by the blossom on the trees.

Talking about blossom, we went to see the new German film by Dorris Dorrie, Cherry Blossoms. It’s a story of a long married couple whose children have grown up and moved away. They seem to have no time for their parents in their busy lives. When Trudi dies, her husband Rudi visits their son in Japan, the country she always wanted to go to. Here he witnesses the cherry blossom festival and the film ends with a pilgrimage to the snow topped Mount Fuji. The film is about love, time and death but somehow doesn’t convince me although parts of it are very moving.
A scene from the film Cherry Blossoms
And that’s about it for this week really, except to mention that I have now fully booked our Summer holiday to Yorkshire in July including the flights, the hotels and the car. We will be staying in Haworth and Robin Hood’s Bay and hopefully will be joined by Amanda and Andy. No doubt we will be visiting our favourite haunts such as Ilkley, Harrogate, Bolton Abbey, the Yorkshire Dales and of course the Yorkshire coast around Whitby. We will of course be visiting our old house and our neighbours as well as my Mother’s grave which I know will be hard for my Father specially. On the bright side I am really looking forward to the cliff walk between Robin Hood’s Bay and Whitby amongst other things. So now we have something lovely to look forward to.

Cheers till next week.
Masha

The Hollywood connection, a very social week, in love with Norah, Primo won a car and a course on DTV for the elderly.

Norah in her bed and surrounded by her toys, all bitten to pieces of course.
Hi again

I left off last Sunday when we were going out to dinner with Roberto and Mari Carmen. Funnily enough we went to a restaurant called “Hollywood” which is where I got the title for this week’s post. The day afterwards they were going on holiday to Turkey with Roberto’s brother and wife. Luckily for them, they were not flying via Amsterdam as this week a Turkish Airlines plane crashed at Schipol airport upon landing and 9 people were killed.
The Turkish Airlines crash
The “Hollywood connection” also refers to this year’s Oscar Academy Awards which took place last Sunday just as we were having dinner with Roberto and Mari Carmen at a restaurant of the same name.

I would have loved to have been in the real Hollywood to see Penelope Cruz take the first ever Oscar for a Spanish actress, albeit the “supporting actress” category and for a film and role I am not enamoured with, Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona.

She was great in her speech when she mentioned her humble origins, the town of Alcobendas, which coincidentally is where the Yoigo offices are. She was also great when she spoke in Spanish and offered to share her Oscar with those who were watching her and felt a part of it. She was quintessentially Latin and emotional and I love her for that.
Penelope and her Oscar for best supporting actress. Well done!
Equally great or emotional, and don't forget she's British, was Kate Winslet who could hardly believe she had won the best actress award for her role in The Reader. I loved her speech about rehearsing in the bathroom from the age of 8 with a bottle of shampoo and when she asked her Father to whistle in the audience so she knew where he was!
Kate Winslet giving her speech after being awarded this year's Oscar for best actress
The biggest winner of the night however was Slumdog Millionaire which got 8 Oscars including best film and best director. Funnily enough I had managed to see it the Friday before and agree it was a great film but am not sure it deserved so many awards.
The cast and crew from Slumdog Millionaire receiving the Oscar for the best motion picture.
And on Monday I returned to Hollywood, not in California I am afraid, but in Majadahonda. It was for a girly lunch with Ana, Jill, Fátima and Zenaida. Some of us were late, Zenaida and Jill because they went to the “wrong Hollywood”. Ana had to leave early and Jill was in a conference call for part of the lunch so all in all it was not really relaxed. It was not relaxed but it was happy as we were partly celebrating Ana’s new pregnancy. She is into her 6th month and is expecting a baby boy who will be called Tomy after his Father. Incidentally it was Tomy’s birthday this week, so double congratulations go to him from these pages.

I was out and about a lot this week and had lunch too with Pieter at the luxurious golf club in La Moraleja and also with three journalist friends, Miguel Angel, Chema and Aitor. I took them to Sua in Madrid which was not as good as last time. I also had coffee with Elena, my friend and ex colleague who is also my neighbour. And on my way to coffee with Elena I bumped into Edu and Graciela and was pleased to hear that they were also expecting. This must be the time of year I thought to my self.

I am not expecting as such but have my own baby and am totally in love. With whom you will ask? Well with Norah our beagle puppy which turned 3 months this week. She has added so much to our lives since she came, not lest having to clear and clean the kitchen every morning, afternoon and night. But she’s worth it.

We took her for her first walk on Monday and she took to it like a dog to a lead, excuse the pun and she loves her “walkies”. We are lucky in that she walks well and doesn’t pull at her lead or get too waylaid smelling nasty looking objects on the way.

What she likes best is to be on a lap or in our arms, as you can see from this typical breakfast scene I snapped when no one was aware this week.
The breakfast scene with Norah on Suzy's lap which is where she likes to be.
This weekend brought with it more film watching and dinners. On Friday Eladio and I went to see the Curious case of Benjamin Button. We were a bit put off by the trailer but the film turned out to be magnificent if a bit long. It’s based on a story by Scott Fitzgerald about a man who is born in his eighties and ages backwards. Brad Pitt does a great performance. The terrible thing is that when he is 80 he meets a girl, Lucy, who is probably 5 or 6. Eventually they fall in love but time is against them. It is she who nurses him to death when she is nearly 80 and he is a baby. I was quite amazed that the American film academy only gave this film minor awards.
A scene from The curious case of Benjamin Button
Afterwards it was so late that we could only go down the escalator from the cinema to our all time restaurant, La Alpargateria who were reserving table number 7 for us even though we were over an hour late.

The rest of the weekend was taken up with walks with Norah, family lunches and dinner at Mood on Saturday night. When we came back from Mood last night there was an email from Adela, Eladio’s oldest sister, to tell us Primo had won a car in a draw with his local paper, El Diario de León. As he says in the article he has been buying the newspaper for the last 20 years, so this is sweet compensation. He was given the car, a Citroën C1, yesterday in León. You can read about that here too. We look forward to celebrating his lucky win when we next go to León.
Primo and the new red Citroën car he won in a newspaper draw.
This weekend I have also been planning a trip to Yorkshire in the summer. We plan, my two men and I, to stay in Haworth, the home of the Brontë sisters and Robin Hood’s bay, that picturesque smugglers’ village, at the end of July. Hopefully we will meet up with Amanda and Andy and Jill and Simon and all walk down memory lane together. After all this is where we all spent our formative years and my Father being the boys’ teacher must have had something to do with their upbringing too.
Robin Hood's Bay, a picturesque fishing village famous for smuggling on the Yorkshire coast.
And that’s it for this week, except for one last thing. I saw this video posted by a friend on Facebook and wanted to share it with you as it’s so funny. It’s supposed to be a guide for elderly people in the United States on how to switch from analogue to DTV. So, as the Americans would say, Enjoy.

Cheers till next week,

Masha

Barcelona, the MWC, parties, men in black and meeting old friends. Culture, Catalán and home again.

Me on the rooftop of Casa Mila (La Pedrera) by Gaudi on Paseo de Gracia in Barcelona.
Hi again

This time a week ago I was writing my post on the high speed train to Barcelona. The week went by really quickly and I came home exhausted but happy on Thursday evening.

So what did I get up to in Barcelona.? Well, of course, I went for the MWC and most of my week was taken up with activities around the congress but I did a lot of other things too.

The trip started with the TeliaSonera get together on Sunday evening at the Reunion Café near the Rambla. Thankfully that was a quiet start which meant an early night. Here I met up with my European colleagues over tapas and wine.

Oli joined me on Monday and we shared a room at the Hesperia President Hotel on the Avda. Diagonal which is very central. As I walked out on Monday morning I realised it was just across the road from my favourite night club (well actually the only one I know) called Luz de Gas; quite a coincidence. As a treat for Oli’s arrival I organised a massage for her and for me in our room on Monday evening and a very nice Colombian lady did a great job of relaxing our muscles and also giving us tips on how to keep fit.

On Monday evening we went out to dinner with Grainne and her son Marcel. Grainne and I go back a long way as we went to school together. She lives in Barcelona so every time I go we make a point of meeting up. We went to Agua, one of my favourites and had a very spirited night where we spent most of our time laughing.
Grainne and Olivia
Meanwhile the MWC was going on. Here I saw lots of old and new colleagues and made a point of visiting the Nokia Siemens Networks hospitality suite which is always my point of reference. I also visited the Nokia press outfit and greeted old colleagues and the Golla stand (great Finnish designer of mobile phone and pc bags) where I picked up a lovely pink camera case for my new Canon (unfortunately dropped by Oli in Amsterdam and remarkably still working!). I also visited Palm to see Xavi as well as Genaker to see Miquel. MWC for me is about seeing people. It’s actually quite difficult to see the people you want to as everyone is busy and the place is seething with people. I never managed to see Claire despite our numerous phone calls and was distressed to hear she had been robbed on her last night in Barcelona! The crisis has affected the congress in that fewer people went this year. Each taxi driver had a different estimate but overall I think there were about 10.000 people less than last year when approximately 60.000 attended.

On Tuesday morning it was the TeliaSonera press conference which I went to just in case there were questions on Yoigo which of course there were. I was also busy with final touches to our press materials for our own press conference the following day. But before that there were some parties to go to.

The first party was the Ericsson splash out at the Fira itself. Wow was that big. However it started at 18.30 with dinner which was far too early for me. I didn’t really know many people so soon made my way back to the hotel to join Oli and wait for Gloria and Ana from the events agency as we were going to another party and then on to dinner. We went to Miquel’s bash at the Xalet de Montjuic, a wonderful location with great views of Barcelona “la nuit”. We caused a bit of a sensation, 3 pretty girls and I walking into a male dominated party and they would hardly let us leave. I always call the MWC “Men in Black” and if you went you would understand why! When we finally got away we made our way to another great restaurant in Barcelona called Nichel where once again ours was the only all female table.

Wednesday morning was the Yoigo press conference breakfast which we held at a great little Catalán bar cum restaurant called Matamala on Rambla de Cataluña, not to be confused with La Rambla which unfortunately some people did! The turn out was amazing, some 24 journalists and the atmosphere created was very us, in that it seemed more like a meeting of friends. So much so was this that some of the journalists stayed on to write their news wires which we were to see published on line whilst we were still clearing up!
Behind the scenes, Gustavo and Carlos removing the photo call after our press event
I wasn’t free until midday but when I was I went with Oli to the Port Vell for lunch with Martita, an old friend from my Nokia days who happened to be in town on business. We went to a great place recommended to my by Julio called El Merendero de la Mari. It was good to see Marta in great form and happy in her new job. We were lucky to be able to eat outside and enjoy the Barcelona sun. Marta and I
In the afternoon Oli and I had time for culture. We walked from the Port Vell all the way to the Casa Mila (also known as La Pedrera) in Pº de Gracia and visited this gem of a building built by the famous Catalán architect Antonio Gaudí.
Casa Mila or Pedrera on Paseo de Gracia by Gaudi.
I had visited it before but was equally fascinated. Here we visited every nook and cranny and took photos of nearly everything we saw, specially on the roof top with its incredible mosaic encrusted chimneys and view of the unfinished cathedral, the Sagrada Familia, also by Gaudi and perhaps his most famous building.
Oli on the rooftop of Casa Mila
Wednesday evening brought with it the party I had been organising for weeks for my ex Nokia Networks colleagues from our stint together from 2000 to 2004. And here I had help from the girls at Quinta Esencia with the activities. Thanks to Marc, we went to a great place called Raco d’en Cesc, recommended by the Michelin Guide and frequented by local politicians and football players. What a great find it was too. If you ever go, be sure to ask for the duck canaloni with foie sauce which is heavenly.
The ex Nokia Networks party - group photo, oh such fun!
The girls had made a great poster and badge for everyone based on the Cartoon Networks logo and characters. Also we held the ex Nokia Network awards where we voted with giant hands for all sorts of fun categories, such as “the most missing person”, “the person who sent the longest e-mails”, “Mr. most suitable bachelor 2000” etc. I was very surprised and flattered to win the Miss Nokia Networks 2000.
The Cartoon Networks poster where each one of us was a cartoon character!
The evening was such fun and we all made speeches on what our time with the team meant to us and remembered all sorts of things which had us all laughing endlessly. But the evening had to end and when it did we of course went for a night cap. And where did we go for the night cap? To Luz de Gas of course. A good time was had by all and we have all agreed to repeat the experience next year. We shall certainly be going back to Raco d’en Cesc.

Thursday was ours for the taking and we had all day to enjoy Barcelona as our train wasn’t leaving until 5 in the afternoon. After a leisurely breakfast and packing, we left our suitcases in reception and made our way on foot to the Picasso Museum in the old quarter (el barrio gótico). On our way we visited the Palau de la Música, a singular and very beautiful building in itself. We both enjoyed the Picasso museum and learned a lot about him and his work. He was very prolific and started painting seriously from the age of 15 going from a classical style to his own type of impressionism right through to cubism, including his blue and pink periods. He was pretty obsessed with the Spanish painter Velázquez to judge from his copies of the old masterpieces to over 50 versions of the Meninas. He sure was prolific! He was also obsessed with women and was married several times. What an amazing guy!!!
The Picasso Museum
The reference to Catalan is a must for me in this post. In Cataluña the official language is Catalán and, mainly for political reasons, Castilian Spanish is slowly being eradicated. You hear both languages in the street but in the state schools Catalán is dominant, so much so that many parents complain. As a Spanish speaker I can understand a lot of Catalán but cannot talk it. It is like a mixture of French, Spanish and Latin. In Spain you are supposed to respect it and it is politically incorrect to criticise or laugh at it. However a lot of people living in Cataluña are immigrants from South America or Spaniards from other areas and do not speak it. I was in stitches when I saw a sign saying “Pis en venda” which actually means “Piso en venta” (flat for sale) but which could be understood as “pee for sale” in Spanish!! That’s a very strange business I thought to myself. I asked my Colombian masseuse what she thought of the language and she didn’t hesitate to say “Español mal hablado” (Spanish spoken badly). I heard similar remarks from two taxi drivers. This is the last thing that Catalan politicians want to hear but they are blind to the fact that this is actually true.

From the Picasso museum we made our way to a very popular restaurant called Bestial right by the sea and next to the famous Arts Hotel. We had a quick lunch and an even quicker walk on the beach before we rushed to our hotel to pick up our luggage and drive to the train station only to find out that our tickets were for Wednesday and not Thursday!! So we had to get another ticket and take the next train. In 2.5h hours we were at Atocha station in Madrid and half an hour later at home and in time for dinner with the family.
Oli on the Ave, the high speed train, going home. She was watching Slumdog Millionaire on her mac.
It was lovely to be home again, to see the family but most of all to see my lovely puppy Norah. She is now completely recovered and has grown a lot.

On Friday I got back into the swing of being at home, caught up on my work and had lunch with the family. In the evening Eladio and I went to see Slumdog Millionaire, a film from the British director, Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) which is nominated for the Oscars tomorrow and which I really wanted to see as it is set in India. I loved it. If you haven’t seen it, this is what it’s about:
Jamal is an 18 year old from the slums of Mumbai who against all odds is on the brink of winning the top prize on Who Wants to be a Millionaire. He’s accused of fraud but then tells twelve stories which piece together his life, explain how he knew the answers and finally uncover the reason why he went on the show in the first place (from the Slumdog Millionaire fan club in Facebook).
The enchanting Jamal as a small boy in Slumdog Millionaire
Afterwards we went to a new Lebanese restaurant near home in Boadilla called La Cachimba. It was great, inexpensive and superbly decorated. We will be returning.

On Saturday we took Norah for her second vaccination and she behaved beautifully. She loved the outing even though it was in my arms. The thing is she cannot go out of the house or for a walk until she has had her third vaccination and that isn’t for another two weeks. So she’s getting a bit frustrated all cooped up in the kitchen. We try to make up for this by supplying her with all sorts of toys or holding her whilst trying to read the newspaper which is not easy. Today she had another bath. I’m not sure she’s very keen but she sure looked lovely afterwards!
Norah, posing at the vet
And that’s about it for this week. It has been a very full week but, as always, it’s great to be home. Tonight we are going out to dinner with Roberto and MariCarmen but more about that in next week’s post.

Cheers/Masha
PS you should be able to see more photos of Barcelona here: