A missed flight, Santander again, a second barbaric atrocity committed by the Islamic State, the last of the summer roses, a barbecue at home and other stories.

Sunday 7th September 2014

In beautiful Santander with its lovely flower beds

Hello everyone,

I can hardly believe another week has already passed and that summer is nearing its end. I can hardly believe too that once again I have been to Santander for this year’s annual telecoms conference.  Every year I go, I never know whether I will be going again the following year, so each year I try to enjoy it as if it were the last. And this year wasn’t going to be different although it got off to a bad start. 

I missed my 09.30 plane to Santander on Monday morning convinced it was leaving at 10.30.  This is the first time in my life I have missed a plane and I felt a complete idiot.  I was going through security at 09.15 at Terminal 4 when I realized the plane was actually leaving at 09.30, so started to panic.  I had more bad luck as the security officer asked me to open my suitcase as she thought there was liquid in it which there wasn’t.  Then I bolted for Gate K95 at the furthest end of the terminal only to see the boarding gate just shut in front of my eyes as I arrived.  I could see the plane on the tarmac but the ground hostess stuck to the rules and there and then I missed my plane.  There wasn’t another one until 8pm but it was full.  So I had no choice but to buy a ticket to nearby Bilbao which didn’t leave till 11.30.  Once in Bilbao I had hoped to take a taxi to Santander but the fare was astronomical so for once in my life I had to opt for a bus.  I could only get a seat on the 14.30 one and thus didn’t arrive at my hotel in Santander until 16.00h.  I felt as if I had spent the whole day travelling. But finally I was there. 

The weather was beautiful, my work was already done, so what did I do?  Yes you guessed right I crossed the road to my favourite town beach in Spain, El Sardinero.  There I grabbed a sunbed and after a quick bathe I lay and read a new book I had bought at the airport, Khaled Hossein’s latest novel,” And the mountains echoed”.  He is the author of “The Kite Runner” and “A thousand splendid suns” both of which I adored.  However his latest novel, also set in Afghanistan, is nowhere near as good, very rambling with a good initial plot which gets lost along the way and has a very disappointing end.  In a way it is a collection of short stories and I have never been a fan of short stories. Despite what I think there are some good reviews of Khaled Hossein’s latest novel. Getting a bit bored with it I went for the 40 minute walk from end to end of the lovely Sardinero beach. 

The Sardinero Beach in Santander, my favourite town beach in Spain.

Santander is one of my favourite towns in Spain, on the north coast with wonderful green and mountainous scenery.  The seaside town is one of the best kept in Spain with some superb architecture and beautiful flower beds along the pavements.  Despite there being a ferry service two or three times a week to Plymouth in the UK, I realized from comments from a friend on Facebook that Santander is only really known as a bank in England, not as a town.  So let me explain. The bank is called after the home town of the owner Emilio Botín, one of the richest men in Spain and father-in-law of world famous Spanish golf player, Seve Ballesteros.  So you would have thought that thanks to the bank’s branding the town would also be famous.  But there you and I are wrong.  It may be great branding but there must be something wrong with the marketing if this beautiful town is not well known outside Spain. Maybe that could be partially repaired as next week the 2014 Sailing World Championship takes place in Santander.  I don’t know much about sailing but can only imagine Santander being one of the best locations in the world for such an event.

There was a sea breeze which was quite strong so, despite the mild temperature of about 24ºc, it felt quite cool therefore at about 6.30 I headed back to my hotel across the road to have a shower and wash my hair in what I consider the best water in Spain for that purpose.  My hair always looks splendid after washing it in Santander or anywhere on the north coast really, much better than here in Madrid. That night I was to be free of any professional engagements so was able to go out to dinner with my great friend Fátima who was also in town.  I walked to her hotel at the far end of the beach and then we walked back towards the town.  We also walked back again after dinner and my fitbit was extremely pleased with me that day when it registered I had walked nearly 19km.  I think that’s my record.

A selfie of Fátima and I in Santander

Dinner was at La Posada del Mar, one of my 4 favourite restaurants in Santander which also include Zacarías, La Bombi and De Luz.  I am always made welcome at La Posada del Mar by the owner Tomás and his faithful group of waiters.

On Tuesday morning I was up early as that morning at the conference it was Yoigo’s turn to make a presentation.  I always walk to the lovely conference centre in La Magdalena Peninsula called “Caballerizas”.  Every year you see the same group of people, top representatives of most of the big telecoms companies in Spain.  In a way we all consider this event a bit like the start of school after the summer holidays.  Thus I saw many familiar faces and greeted many colleagues from my past and present professional life.  This year our CEO couldn’t make it to the conference so our CFO had to take his place.  Our presentation was much more institutional than I would have wanted but we did get our messages through.  Afterwards my CFO was subjected to many questions from the big group of Spanish telecoms press present which he answered very competently. 

Later Yoigo hostesses distributed invitations to our 80’s party that night which is a party I organize for all the conference attendants and which is much looked forward to by everyone.

Yoigo hostesses giving out our 80's party invitations

I was free for lunch that day too as was my other great friend in Santander, dearest Julio, so the two of us had lunch at De Luz. 

Lunch at De Luz

De Luz is a beautiful English looking house with a lush garden, flowers and hedges.  It feels like having lunch at someone’s house, even though it is a restaurant.  It’s quite unique really.

The De Luz restaurant in Santander, more like a beautiful private home.

Later Julio treated us both to one of the best ice creams in town, sold at a kiosk by the beach called Regma.  The size of the ice creams is huge so you have to eat it quickly otherwise it melts all over you. 

The Regma ice cream kiosk by the Sardinero beach in Santander

I was free again until the evening so once again spent time on the beach.  The sea was quite rough and when I bathed in the water I was tossed under by the strong waves. Once again I walked the length and back of the beach so as to tot up more mileage on my fitbit. 

It was when I was walking into town later that evening with Carlos and Isa from my PR agency to attend a big dinner I had organized for some of our distributors, that I heard from Carlos that the IS had published another video with the beheading of a second American journalist.  I was shocked, just as I was shocked at the previous video of the beheading of James Foley.  Even worse this time, the perpetrator warned the next victim would be a British aid worker.  It is time to fight back, it is time to stop the tolerance of the west towards these fanatical jihadists who want to conquer the Muslim world and even reconquer the Spanish territory, Andalusia which was once invaded by the Muslims centuries ago.  So I was glad to read later that 10 nations have formed a coalition to combat I.S.  I wasn’t happy to learn that Spain is not included in this list as I think it should.  However signs of tolerance here may just be beginning to wane as Spain announced this week it may prohibit that most awful and degrading of garments, the burka that covers women’s eyes.

At dinner that night with some of my fellow Yoigo colleagues and distributors, much of our conversation focused on this new and barbaric terrorist group but then, as is normal, returned to topics in the telecoms world.  All this was over a most wonderful dinner served by the waiters at La Bombi under the close surveillance of César and his brother, the owners of the restaurant.

A display of some of the food at La Bombi restaurant in Santander

After the most delicious dinner, it was time to go to our own party, the 80’s revival we had organized in the main “tapas” square in town, Plaza de Cañadío.  The party took place at a street level discotheque called Loft.  It was great fun, well patronized and full of all sorts of fun activities, such as having to sit on a balloon until it burst.  The prizes were popular too.

The Yoigo 80's party at Santander this year

I had an enormous headache that night, probably because of the white wine at dinner, so surreptitiously made my escape at just past midnight.  I walked back to my hotel in order to clear my head and of course add mileage to my fitbit. I slept badly that night after all the stress of the preparations for our activities in Santander but happy that all had gone well.

The next day was Wednesday and time to pack and leave Santander once again.  You spend the whole summer organizing your activities there, they take place and suddenly it’s all over and you get a feeling of emptiness.  This time I was not going to miss my flight and left the hotel early in a taxi shared with Carlos, Isabel and a colleague, Gaby.  We were in Madrid by mid-morning and I was home for lunch after a quick visit to the office.  It was great to have lunch with my Father and Eladio and to be home again.

Later that night I was to see Olivia and Miguel and we all had dinner together.  Whilst in Santander I had missed her live on the TV.  It was just lovely to be together again.  It was also good to witness the fact that my Father now seems nearly totally recovered from his operation.  He really is an amazing old soldier or should I say sailor as he was a Navy officer in WW2.

On Thursday my fasting was resumed as were my two morning walks.  Later I had to send reports on the media coverage obtained at the Santander conference as well as my monthly PR reports for the Board of Administration and our HQ in Stockholm.  Later that evening Eladio and I went to Ikea just to take a look at kitchens and bathrooms for our “new” house in Montrondo. It is early days, but we do want to be prepared for when the time comes. We want country style furniture and will be looking elsewhere but we did like this kitchen although everyone tells us to be careful about Ikea’s quality.  And here my feelings are divided.  I love the style, the price is good, but what will the end quality be like I wonder.

The kitchen we like from Ikea

On Thursday my Father’s day must have been brightened quite a lot when he received a long letter from Susana, handwritten and sent by post from London.  She sent it to him after his operation and with lovely grand daughterly love and concern.  Suzy that was lovely of you!  It made me reflect that no one sends letters anymore.  Of course we all have email and many other ways to connect instantly but there is something much more meaningful in a letter that these days is now nearly lost. 

Friday was quiet.  I went for my two morning walks, worked in the morning and went food shopping in the evening with Fátima.  I was back on time to watch Olivia on the television.  She did several reports that day but the most shocking one was about a 41 year old woman who is a University music teacher, who killed her two year old baby and then tried to commit suicide.  What an awful story. Olivia later told me the woman was a manic depressive.

Oli and her colleague Lourdes reporting on a very sad case on Friday 

I wasn’t to see Olivia again as she and Miguel went to Valencia for the weekend where he lives.  All I know is that they went to the beach and then did some clothes shopping.  I can imagine they also went for a run as they are a very sporty couple.

Meanwhile Suzy nominated me for the ice bucket challenge.  I got quite excited and started to think when I would do it and who I myself would nominate.  Eladio thought the whole idea was rather stupid as did my friend Sandra who said she would be quite happy to donate but didn’t want to get wet.  I actually now tend to agree.  Also I have learned, as I suspected, that many people, at least in Spain, are doing the challenge but not bothering to donate the 10 euros.  Maybe though the ALS association here is Spain hasn’t done enough to promote how to donate.  In the UK all you have to do is send a text message.  I am also seeing people doing the challenge but donating funds to other charities.  So, given all the above, I have decided not to take up the challenge.

Suzy and I spoke for quite a while on the phone on Friday and I was pleased to hear she has an interview on Monday and a couple of other openings coming her way.  I am keeping my fingers crossed for her.  Life in London for the unemployed is not easy as it is such a competitive and expensive place to live.  But I am sure in the end she will succeed.

On Friday evening Eladio and I went out to dinner to Ginos where of course we discussed Suzy’s situation and talked about a lot of other things which are on our mind at the moment.

And Saturday came and turned out to be the highlight of the week.  José Antonio and Dolores were coming for lunch and to spend the afternoon and evening with us.  We hadn’t seen them since we left Montrondo at the beginning of August and there was  lots to catch up on. 

In preparation for their arrival I pruned the roses with Eladio’s help and picked some of the loveliest red ones which I think will probably be the last of the summer roses.  Hopefully after the pruning we may just get another bloom before all the flowers in the garden go when autumn comes.

Red roses from our garden possibly the last summer roses this year

As I was up so early everything was ready well before our guests arrived which gave me time to relax by the pool with my new book also bought at Madrid airport on Monday.  Yesterday I started on JK Rowling’s new novel, Silkworm, written under her pseudonym Robert Galbraith.  The occasion was enhanced with a lovely mug of frothy coffee as you can see in the photo below:

A good book and a coffee by the pool, a wonderful way to relax

I’m not yet hooked on the book, finding it a bit slow.  I suppose after having read I am Pilgrim any other book will feel the same.

Lunch was to be a simple barbecue but dessert was to be raspberry syllabub made from a Jamie Oliver recipe with my own finishing touches.  I would hate to know how many calories each generous portion contained. 

The raspberry syllabub I made for lunch on Saturday

Our guests arrived just as Eladio lit the barbecue and we had a nice quiet lunch outside, if you discount the very annoying flies which seem to be invading our meals outside at this time of year.  Afterwards we spent our time sitting by the pool reading and talking.  Before sunset we took Toño and Dolores on our new walk which I think they liked even more than our normal walk.  Dolores, like us before, was tempted with the prickly pears and was later to regret that decision and had to use my tweezers to remove them.

Setting off on our walk yesterday

Dinner with no flies was more enjoyable than lunch; a very simple meal of salad, Spanish ham and bread followed by mini chocolate ice creams (delicious).  The house seemed very quiet when our guests left and being the early birds we are we went straight to bed.  I, as usual, fell asleep with the television on.

Today is Sunday, it is Fátima’s day off (well today and tomorrow) and there are just 3 of us in the house until Olivia returns tonight.  I shall be making our lunch soon and afterwards will be continuing with my book, Silkworm.  Then we shall go for our second walk when the sun is down, after which Eladio will drive to the station to pick Olivia up from the train station.  I shall stay at home making our dinner.

Tomorrow will be another day and another week.  There are no trips programmed so it will be very quiet. As you know I always like a bit of excitement on the horizon so I will just have to make do with some routine for a change. 

Meanwhile my friends and readers, I wish you all a great week ahead.  Till next time

Masha

Feeling like Phileas Fogg, Santander again, Microsoft bought Nokia my old company, home again, a birthday weekend with the Maher sisters in Badalona and other stories.

With three of the Maher sisters at Grainne's birthday party this weekend in Badalona

Hi everyone,

Well this week I felt like Phileas Fogg, the character in Jules Vernes “Around the World in 80 days”, as I have been travelling nonstop since the beginning of the summer.  My trip started in Santander at the beginning of August.  It continued to Montrondo and then home again before we went off again this time to Santa Pola in Alicante.  It was home again from Santa Pola and a few days later we were off to Peñacaballera in Salamanca. Our next destination was London where we had a blast celebrating our 30^th wedding anniversary and visiting Suzy.  We came home at the end of August and then last Tuesday I was off again this time to Santander for the annual telecoms conference which I will tell you about later.  I came home last Thursday and believe it or not the next day Eladio and I went to Barcelona for a 60^th birthday party.  We were home yesterday but it won’t be for long because this next weekend we will be going to the beach again, this time to Campello (Alicante) with our friends Julio and Fátima.  It will be home again for one night and then the following day, next Monday, I will be off to Stockholm for a communications meeting with my TeliaSonera colleagues.  So now you know why I feel like Phileas Fogg.  Having never read the book I don’t know how Jules Verne’s character travelled, but my voyages have been by car, by airplane and by train. To tell you the truth I’m a bit tired of travelling and could do with a long stint at home.  But it’s not to be. As Olivia said to me this morning when I told her I felt like Phileas Fogg, “good for you” and “enjoy”.  Well I always do “enjoy” so I shall heed my younger daughter’s advice of course.

The last time I was home since I last wrote was on Sunday, the first day of September.  Olivia came back from Menorca, where, for the record, she had coincided with her cousin Juan – the world is truly a small place.  We had the privilege of her company and Dave’s that day when I made my famous Chicken Korma curry.  Oli played tennis with Dave that day and the following – she is truly sporty I have to say.  Meanwhile we spent a quiet day with the dogs.  You might know that Toño and Dolores’ mongrel dog Nuba is staying with us whilst they are in China.  So the house has been full of dogs.  The best photo I got on camera of the three of them playing together is this.

Nuba, Elsa and Norah playing together

I should expand on Toño and Dolores’ trip to China – a ten day tour which includes time with their daughter, my niece Sara.  We have been following their travels via whatsapp and this is a photo Toño posted which I wanted to share with you here.  After all, my travels pale in comparison to theirs, this year at least.  I think they have had a great time but we all laugh as Toño would never have gone there if Dolores hadn’t dragged him, far preferring to spend as much time as he can at their home in the family village, Montrondo.

Toño and Dolores with Sara in China

That Sunday I swam in the pool as I have done most days this summer but this time I tried to get Elsa, our golden Labrador, to join us.  I have only ever seen her in the pool from pictures sent to me by Juli, the girls’ friend, so this time I tried to get her to join me.  I was only partially successful as you can see from the photo.

Coaxing Elsa unsuccessfully into the pool with me

Sunday 1^st September will go down in British television history as the day David Frost, that quintessential English journalist, died.  I well remember him on the BBC and have always thought Spanish journalists could take a leaf out of his book when it comes to nailing politicians or putting them in a corner.  The latter are far too lenient when it comes to interviewing public personalities.  

But Sunday 1^st September family news was more important to us.  It was the day Mario, my very tall and good looking nephew debuted with Ademar, the León handball team which plays in the first division.  We were all very proud of him and I had to record this news in my blog. Well done Mario.

Mario in the Ademar handball team kit

On Monday I worked from home and was very busy finalizing Yoigo’s communication activities at the telecoms congress in Santander, the most important in the year’s agenda for our sector.  Later that day, as usual, Eladio and I went for our hour long “power walk”.  It was a bit of a challenge taking three dogs with us, as you can see in the photo Oli took of us when she spied us as she returned home in her car. She thought we looked very funny.  Do we?

Eladio and I on our walk with the three dogs - sort of challenging

And on Tuesday we all woke up to the news that Microsoft, the internet giant, had bought Nokia the previous number one mobile phone manufacturer from my beloved Finland.  It shocked many people but for me and my ex Nokia colleagues, it was a very emotional piece of news.  What can I say? How do I feel? Well I worked for Nokia when it was at the top from 2000 to 2006 and in a way forged my career there.  I had good times and bad, so my feelings were mixed when I read the news.  The news was not unexpected really as both companies had entered a joint venture not so long ago.  To me it seems quite probable that the ex Microsoft employee Stephen Elop’s, mission when he was appointed CEO of Nokia was for the company to decline and make the purchasing price for Microsoft much lower than it was when he joined.  After all Microsoft paid a lot less for the Finnish company than it did for Skype.  Does that make sense?  Well in my analysis I think it does.  It also paid a lot less (5.5 billion euros aprox) than Google paid for Motorola a while ago.  For me it seems ironic that now both the companies I once worked for – Motorola and Nokia, in less than a lustrum have been bought up by their once arch enemies.  I felt sad for Nokia really but was not surprised.  They just lost the momentum and went from bad to worse and have been overtaken since by the likes of Apple, Samsung and the new and coming Chinese manufacturers.  The latter should learn from what happened to Nokia and not make the same mistakes.  In simple terms I think that the mistakes are basically a wrong technology direction but even more importantly a lack of listening to your customers and the arrogant behavior of a top player.  These three together are a disastrous recipe.

Much has been written this week about the news. There have been jokes too and I particularly found this picture a clever piece of work.  You might like it too.

A joke about Microsoft buying Nokia but it wasn't a joke

On a personal note, many of my ex colleagues posted all sorts of comments but the one I liked best came from my dear Finnish friend Anne. She was once my boss at Nokia and we had so much fun together.  I couldn’t have put it better. She wrote this: “ref to big N news today; it´s like when your family breaks up and then a few years after one of the parents re-marries. Break up is sad and takes time to process, maybe there is a little hope of things getting back to what it used to be. But no, that wedding invitation puts a stop to any silly ideas you might have had. Life´s gotta move on. So am joining the many ex´s in expressing my gratitude for the great ride back in the day and wishing good luck to all”. I couldn’t have put it better and want to join her in thanking Nokia too for the ride, it was great.  I travelled the world with Nokia: all over Europe, Chile, Mexico, South Africa, Shanghai, Morocco, you name it I was there with journalists on some very exotic trips.  I organised and went to some amazing events too.  I have just dug out a photo together with Anne when Nokia staged their incredible “Totally Board” snow event in blazing sunshine in Seville in 2004 I think.  Here it is, for you Anne.  Thanks Nokia for connecting people the company’s best trait.

With my dear friend Anne  - just one of the great moments with Nokia

That morning when I went to work for an early meeting before I left for Santander, I was hit with sad news.  One of the Yoigo family, José Luis, from the technical department, had died the night before from a sudden heart attack.  He was only 40 and leaves behind a very sad family. My own heart went out to his family and his colleagues at work who were devastated. It was truly a sad day for Yoigo. 

Life went on of course and it was with a heavy heart that I made my way to the airport to catch the small airplane to Santander in the north of Spain.  I was greeted with sunshine and soon made my way to the hotel, the one I always stay at, the Silken Río opposite the Sardinero beach.  This is the view from the hotel.

The view of the Sardinero beach from my hotel window in Santander

I had lunch with Julio after which I worked from my room. There was time though for a wonderful walk on the beach that afternoon.  The day was dedicated to Julio with whom I have been coming to Santander for at least 13 years now.  That night I walked into town with him and his friend Luis and we enjoyed a wonderful dinner at one of our favourite restaurants, La Bombi.  Here is a photo of us there.

With Julio in Santander

Wednesday was busy and I spent most of it working from my room. That afternoon I sent out a press release to communicate our great new mobile tariffs – the “infinitas” where for our postpaid customers, voice is now totally for free and they just have to choose how much data they want.  We also launched the advertising campaign which you can see here.

That evening, before the traditional Yoigo party for all the participants at the conference, I hosted a dinner for our distributors at the nearby restaurant De Luz, which is a beautiful English style house and garden.  Here is the photo I took just as I entered the path to the restaurant.

Casa De Luz in Santander is a very special place

After dinner a vintage car came to pick us up – it was all part of our Great Gatsby themed party which was to take place nearby at Buenas Noches Santander, a great venue right on the beach and opposite our hotel.

With my team from the PR Agency Ketchum by the vintage car we hired for our Great Gatsby part in Santander

I think this year’s party was possibly the best we have ever hosted in Santander.  You can judge for yourselves from this set of pictures.  One I particularly like is with the group of journalists who report on all the news that comes from the telecoms conference we were all attending.

With some of the telecoms press at the Yoigo Great Gatsby party in Santander

People partied until past four in the morning but I made a discreet exit at around one in the morning as the next day I had to be up early and bright and fresh for our presentation at the conference.  It went off well but the conference was running late and I had to leave the mini press gathering with my boss afterwards in the hands of Carlos from my press agency Ketchum, if I was to catch my plane to Madrid.  Luck had it that Julio and Luis were on the same flight and we enjoyed a humble sandwich for lunch at the airport before we took off.

You can see the set of photos I took at the conference this year on this link.

 I was happy to see the papers the next morning when Eladio showed me El País, before I had even seen our daily clipping service.  There was a lot of expectation in Santander about Yoigo offering fixed services and that was what had been discussed after our presentation.  I am happy with the media coverage we achieved, especially this particular clipping.

I always get a kick out of good media coverage for Yoigo like this in El País last week

But my mind was soon on to other things as Eladio and I were off to Barcelona that morning and we had to rush to catch the AVE (high speed train) which was leaving the Atocha train station at 10.30.

It was Eladio’s first journey on the AVE and he was thrilled.  My job has taken me many times on this train and to Seville and Valencia and I no longer feel thrilled but always enjoy the trip.

It was Eladio's first trip on the AVE (high speed train) on Friday and he was impressed

The journey (621km track) takes just under 3 hours to Barcelona and the maximum speed is some 300km/h.  Spain, as you probably know, is one of the leading nations in the world in high speed railways.  You will probably remember the recent train accident in Santiago but let me tell you that that train was not technically a high speed train or rather the track wasn’t.  Eladio and I were happy to know that all the top safety measures of both were in place on our trip on Friday.

We were going to Barcelona to join my ex school friend Grainne for her 60^th birthday party in nearby Badalona, a dormitory town on the coast of some 200.000 inhabitants 15 minutes away from the capital and where she has lived since she came to Spain more than 30 years ago.  It was going to be a real school reunion as her sister Brenda (one of my best friends at St. Joseph’s college which we joined when we were aged 11) was coming too with her husband Ian and two of their three beautiful daughters, Laura and Beth.  Also coming were their two older sisters, Anne and Susan.  I hadn’t seen the four Maher sisters together since their mother’s funeral in 1972, more than 40 years ago. She died when she was 56 and the tragedy of her death made an enormous mark on all the girls. I was a living witness to how it affected Brenda mostly as we were very close and I used to go to her beautiful house in Redburn Drive in Bradford most nights to study with her. The Maher family was very much a part of my teens, so it was wonderful to be reunited, this time with all four sisters, as well as Brenda’s daughters and Anne’s husband Harry and Susan’s husband Oli (Oliver). Another school friend was coming too, Ellen and her husband John, so the weekend turned out to be not only a wonderful birthday but also a great school reunion.

Grainne had booked those of us she couldn’t fit into her flat, into a simple but very comfortable hotel right on the beach, one of two only in Badalona. I’m not quite sure why but for some reason Badalona has been kept away from the tourists and the beach seems to be used only by locals which we found quite refreshing.  We booked into the Hotel Miramar but as our room with a terrace and sea views wasn’t quite ready we decided to cross the railway line via the tunnel and go across to the only restaurant we could see on the beach.  It was the very unattractive looking “Doncella de la Costa” but boy was their “fideua” (like paella but made with thin noodles) delicious. This is what it looked like before we polished it off.

Fideua at Doncella de la Costa on Friday in Badalona.  It was fab.

We spent the afternoon, or what was left of it, on the beach sitting on our hotel towels and enjoying the sun until it decided to disappear.  We bathed too but not a lot as it got deep very quickly and the waves were quite strong – indicative probably of the storm coming the next day.  As you can see in the picture, the clouds were already gathering.

On the beach at Badalona on Friday afternoon

Later we went back to our simple but comfortable and big room to get ready to go to Grainne’s pad for dinner with her family.  Grainne is the most welcoming, warm and charismatic person I know and she had thrown a wonderful party ahead of the official birthday celebration taking place the next evening.  We spent a great evening on her terrace where I laughed until I cried together with her sisters and their friend Maggie.  All I can say is that it was one of the best nights I have had in years.  This photo of Grainne, Brenda and I cracking up with laughter says it all.

Laughter is always guaranteed with Grainne and Brenda

The quality is not great and that’s probably because we were all laughing so much. Here is another picture of that great evening, this time with more members of that wonderful impromptu party.

Fun and laughter with the Mahers and their friends and family on Friday night at Grainne's place

Saturday was a full day.  It started with a splendid breakfast with Grainne’s sisters at the hotel, after which I went shopping to the Calle de Mar. I was in search of something summery and comfortable to wear as my jeans were boiling.  I found a great pair of blue cotton trousers very soon and then visited Grainne and Brenda and co for a quick cup of coffee.  The rest of the morning was spent with Eladio by the swimming pool at the yachting club opposite our hotel where we relaxed on sun beds for a minimal entrance fee of 3 euros each thanks to an agreement with the hotel.  We were soon joined by Anne and her lovely husband Harry. 

Eladio at the pool by the beach at the Yacht Club in Badalona on Saturday morning

Lunch was there too where this time we had a sea food paella and it was just as good as the fideua the day before. This was the creamy paella we enjoyed on Saturday and which we just couldn’t finish this time.

Paella just for Eladio and I on Saturday in Badalona at the Yacht Club

Just as we joined Anne and Harry again and who have different eating times, it began to rain so we all headed back to the hotel.  It rained and poured and we were worried Grainne’s party that night on the beach at the Paradis “chiringuito” would be washed out.  We spent the afternoon relaxing in our hotel room where we watched the televised Olympic Games candidacy competition for the 2020 Olympics between Madrid, Istanbul and Tokyo. The decision wouldn’t be made until the voting later that night.  It was only when we were at the party that we found out that Madrid was knocked out in the first round.  Tokyo was the winner in the end. We were disappointed but not surprised, suspicious that it was because of the economic crisis Spain is in the throes of.  This was the third disappointment for Madrid and I suspect that the “competition” is usually decided beforehand and would suggest the Olympic Committee do away with this ridiculous process and just decide for themselves which city is the next one to host the games. I am sure a lot of Spaniards agree with me. 

Anyway, back to Grainne’s birthday party.  Whilst we got ready to go out, thankfully the rain ceased and we were happy her birthday on the beach would be a dry event.  We left the hotel to find the rest of our friends at a bar opposite.  Soon the four Maher sisters were together in all their finery and this is the photo I took of them.  It’s great isn’t it? 

The 4 Maher sisters are just as colourful in life as they are in this  picture taken of them on Saturday just before Grainne's birthday party at Paradis in Badalona

From left to right they are standing in order of age downwards.  Far left is Susan who lives in Ireland and looks just like their Mother and who has jet black hair even though she is in her mid 60s, followed by Anne who lives in Manchester, then Grainne from Badalona and on the far right, my class mate Brenda who is a nurse and lives in Manchester too. 

The party was fabulous. All of Grainne’s important friends were there and the atmosphere she created was unique.  The food was superb too and we spent the night talking English and Spanish. Anne made a great speech all about the different men in Grainne’s life and I had the honour of translating for her non English speaking friends. The photo of me with Grainne, Brenda and Anne at the party is the one illustrating this week’s blog and I love it.  It was just great to be with the Maher sisters this weekend.  As I said to them all, I just hope we don’t have to wait another 40 years.  I suspect we won’t.

Eladio and I, being the early birds we are, left early and went to have an ice cream on the Rambla before we returned to our hotel room.  The news that Rafa Nadal had got through to the US Open final where he will meet Djokovic today, somewhat lessened the disappointment at Madrid not winning the Olympic candidacy for 2020.  The irony here is that if Spain had been judged for its sporting prowess Madrid would have won hands down. But that wasn’t to be so.
 

We were up early on Sunday too and enjoyed breakfast with Ellen and John.  Later we had to pack and get ready to go but before leaving we went to Grainne’s flat to say goodbye to everyone.  Grainne, if you read this, it was a fabulous weekend, thanks for inviting us and I hope to see you here in October as you promised.

Our train was leaving at 13h from the Sants train station in Barcelona and we bought our lunch at the station to enjoy on the journey.  Afterwards I napped for a while and very soon we were slowing down and entering Atocha station. Here we paid a hefty parking fee (over 80 euros) and drove back home in the warm sun.  It was great to be back again to be greeted by the dogs and to greet the people at home; my Father, Fátima, Olivia and her friend Dave.

And today is Monday 9^th September, the day most Spanish schoolchildren go back to school.  Friends of mine have been posting photos of their small children in uniform throughout the day which made me nostalgic for the days when Suzy and Olivia would pose for our camera on their first day back after the holidays.  I have a photo of them together every year but especially like the first one taken in 1988 when we had just moved into our previous house.  The school was then called Alonso Madrigal after which it turned into St. Michael’s and where the girls, I think, were very happy pupils.  This is them in autumn 1988 when they were 3 and 4 years old.  Weren’t they cute?

Suzy and Oli's first day at school in Boadilla in 1988 they were just 4 and 3 years old

In a way Olivia had her own particular first day at work today, in that she has a new timetable which I gather she is not very happy about.  Instead of working from 07.30 to 14.30 she now starts at 12.30 midday and works until 21.30. On the bright side she will be able to sleep longer in the morning.  Suzy doesn’t have a job at the moment since she left for London in May.  But last Friday she had an interview with a catering and party design company in London which I think went very well.  So maybe, cross your fingers, she will be experiencing her first day at work there too very soon.

And that my friends, is it for this week.  I look forward to a quiet few days at home until we go away again this weekend, this time to Campello near Alicante which you will read about in next week’s post.  Meanwhile I wish you all a great week,

All the best 

Masha 

PS You can see more photos of our stay in Badalona this weekend here.