From Stockholm to Andalucía, a surprise on the TV, man of the week, a cucumber crisis and other things.

The four of us enjoying a tourist horse and carriage ride in Seville on Saturday

Hello again my friends and readers.

There is just so much to write about this week, my trips to Stockholm and then to Seville and Córdoba and of course all the things that have happened in between to me or made an impact on me.  These include the Spanish revolution I wrote about last week. 

Eladio and I went to see it for ourselves at the Puerta del Sol last Sunday night after coming back from Montrondo.  The Puerta del Sol is both the geographical centre of Spain as a country but also of the movement also known as 15M (15^th May, the date it started).  I was bowled over at the sight of the peaceful camp type movement my eyes first saw as we came out of the Metro.  Now I knew what it was all about; thousands of mostly young people organized a bit like boy scouts were creating a revolution that hopefully one day will go down as part of Spain’s recent history, something that I will be always be able to say “I was there too. This is a photo of me, the one I like best of the collection I have now posted here on Facebook.

I joined the Spanish revolution on Election Day and was happy to see it for myself at the Puerta del Sol. 
 Now I can say "I was there"

Since our visit the movement has grown, rather than died down after the local elections which were won by a huge majority by the opposition party, the Partido Popular.  In Barcelona this week, the protestors were ousted out violently by the police of the emblematic Plaza de Cataluña to make way for the Barcelona football club fans in anticipation of their team winning the Champions League as this is where their victories are mainly celebrated.  This was much criticized in all corners of the country but thankfully they have been allowed to return after the celebrations took place yesterday.  For yes, Barcelona won their 4^th European Cup on Saturday night at Wembley against Manchester.  I am happy for them but will not hide the fact that I would far have preferred Real Madrid to win.  It annoys me to read that they are now considered the best football club in history.  Hang on a bit, I think that it is still Real Madrid who can claim that place with 9 Champions League cups to their credit against their arch enemy, Barcelona’s 4.  I think we ought to wait for Barcelona to have 9 cups before we make a similar comparison. Don’t you?

The day after our visit to the Puerta del Sol I was off to Stockholm to attend a conference on social media with the team of people from the Mother Company, TeliaSonera, who head this area in their respective countries.  Before leaving at lunchtime however, I had an important engagement in Madrid that morning to attend.  The Spanish Secretariat for Telecommunications (the SETSI) were announcing the participants in what is called a “beauty contest” (name for a tender or call for a proposal) for the allocation of frequencies.  In our case it was for 1800 mhz which can be used to build antennas (mobile phone coverage) for GSM, 3G and even 4G.  It is really important for Yoigo to get these frequencies in order to grow in Spain and offer better services to our customers.  When the envelope was opened we learned we were the only company contesting for this spectrum which virtually means we will get it but for the official announcement we shall have to wait until this Friday 3^rd June.  It really was a big day for Yoigo and the place was packed with the telecoms journalists and our name was in the papers and on internet on a big scale that day and the next.

The opening of the envelope at the Spanish Secretariat for Telecommunications.  A great day for Yoigo.

Thus I left Madrid for Stockholm with a bounce in my heels so to say.  I had to change planes at Berlin airport and it was a bit of a rush.  Also a new volcano, with the godforsaken name of Grímsvötn had erupted in Iceland and was threatening airline traffic again.  Two days later some UK and German airports, including Berlin, were closed as a consequence.  Luckily I was taking the direct flight back and the only effect the ash cloud had on me was an hour longer to our journey as we had to reroute to avoid it whilst crossing German air space.

I arrived just after 9pm and rushed to get a taxi to take me to my favourite hotel in Stockholm, the Skeppsholmen on the little island of the same name just off the centre.  There waiting for me was my colleague Gustavo from our PR Agency Ketchum. I had guessed the kitchen would close early so had asked him to order my favourite item from the menu, the typical Scandinavian prawn open sandwich.  So after checking in I walked into the dining room to find Gustavo at the table and my dinner already there.  This was it.  Not a very good picture but I can assure you it was delicious.

The open prawn sandwich that was waiting for me for dinner when I arrived at the hotel in Stockholm last week.

The day and a half of discussions with my colleagues, many of whom I was meeting for the first time were quite enriching.  It’s great to meet people who are equally interested in social media.  However whenever I scented a hint of fanaticism, I kept pinching myself and reminding us all, that social media is just another channel for communication.  Ok so it’s a two way dialogue but no need to make so much fuss about.  There is a lot of ridiculous hype around social media that is frankly a bit of an obstacle in understanding how to use it for your company, your customers and your and brand.  Our meetings were held at the lovely Skating Pavilion across the road from our hotel and on the tiny island of Kastellholmen.  I loved the building and its location. 

The skating pavilion on Kastellholmen where we had our social media conference last week in Stockholm

The best thing about the conference was meeting my colleagues and they were from some diverse places.  If I remember rightly there was a representative or two from the following countries: Sweden, Norway, Finland, Lithuania, Estonia, Spain, Nepal, Georgia, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and last but not least, and this was a new country for me, Tajikistan.  Try locating these last on the map.  I couldn’t do it. 

With some of my social media conference colleagues in Stockholm last week.

Stockholm was at its most beautiful in the late spring.  Everything was green and the advantage of going at the end of May is the long days of light.  There was no time for tourism but just an hour or so for a walk into the town centre to visit shops such as Lindex or KappaAhl.  I did manage to get a pair of tight jeans (size 38 for the record!!) and a typical Scandinavian blue and white striped long sleeved t-shirt that are so in fashion this season.

I remember vividly the conference dinner on Tuesday night.  I had the privilege of sitting next to Vahdat, who is perhaps the most cosmopolitan person I have ever met. He is an émigré of Iran whose family left after the Shah died.  From there if I remember correctly he went to live in Afghanistan.  We spoke about that lovely book, the Kite Flyers and he told me how he related to it so much and how wonderful the Afghan people are.  I could imagine him in the role of one of the appealing little boys in the story. When the Taliban took over they left again, this time to Azerbaijan and afterwards to India.  His parents, both doctors, thought it was time to move to a more peaceful country and wanted to go to Canada but ended up in Sweden where Vahdat landed like an alien aged just 10 or 11.  It was fascinating to talk about immigrant issues in this democratic country which has opened its frontiers always to political refugees.  Now Vahdat is doing a spell in Nepal and again I had a wonderful conversation about that country which I fell in love with when Eladio and I visited it in 2009.  Our conversation took us to Guantanamo and to the fate of immigrants today, something close to my heart as my own Mother’s family suffered from the same fate, but in their case because of the Bolshevik Revolution.  Where you are born is not in your hands but determines the quality of life you will lead when you grow up. 

Too soon the great conference was over and I had to say goodbye to my new friends.  As we are all social media mad, we shall continue to be in touch albeit virtually until next year’s meeting which everyone hopes will be in Spain.  I would far prefer it to be in Nepal or Georgia but I am sure it will end up being in one of the Nordic countries.  In any case I will look forward to it again and to more interesting conversations with my new and exotic friends.

You can see the rest of my photos of my short but interesting trip to Stockholm here on Facebook (where else?).

No sooner was I back then I was off again on Friday, this time with Eladio and the girls. I did have the privilege of one day at home to wind down, sort my work out and generally recharge my batteries fortunately. I can’t remember the last time the 4 of us have been off on our own somewhere.  We were going to Seville and Córdoba and the trip was very promising.  I had been offered two free nights at the Hotel Fontecruz in the heart of the Jewish quarter in Seville, the Barrio de Santa Cruz and we in turn treated the girls to two nights with us.  Our trip there was memorable for the stop at a little village on the way in the province of Badajoz, called Torremejía.  We had left very late after 6pm as Oli had to be at the graduation of her master in TV journalism and the drive would be over 5 hours long so we stopped for dinner.  The only place we could find was a dingy little bar the waiter of which seemed a little reluctant to offer us food.  When I insisted he brought out a hand written note with charming spelling mistakes of the menu at 8 euros each for a three course dinner.  It turned out to be really good and we will remember that dinner for some time I’m sure.

The handwritten menu with spelling mistakes at the bar where we had dinner in Torremejia on our way to Seville on Friday

We arrived in Seville just past midnight and couldn’t believe it was 30ºc at that time of night.  It was impossible to find our hotel and we found ourselves lost and driving round streets where traffic is forbidden.  Finally we found a car park and walked with our luggage to the hotel.  I should add that Seville is notorious, like Naples, for street robberies and it would have been dangerous to leave the car in the street.  We were delighted with our rooms and whilst the rest of the family went straight to bed I went down to the open air swimming pool for a dip to cool off before following them.  I repeated the experience next morning, the following evening and on the morning we left too as the experience of having the pool to myself at a quiet time was something I didn’t want to miss.

Breakfast was superb and we all overate and also enjoyed the papers before heading to a morning of pleasant sightseeing.  I have been to Seville on numerous occasions but was a little overwhelmed and slightly annoyed by the hordes of tourists everywhere.  Seville did not used to be on the tourist map and was wonderful before the Japanese and Americans discovered it I’m afraid.  Thus we had to queue up to get tickets to see the Cathedral, the biggest Catholic Gothic one in the world. We also walked up the Belfry tower which is called the Giralda and dominates the city with its beauty.  We walked up the 35 ramps rather than steps and I found it very easy walking, probably because I have lost so much weight.

The Giralda in Seville

The views from the top are spectacular.  We arrived just as the bells in the belfry struck 12 o’clock and the chimes were so loud we had to cover our ears.

The view from the belfry tower of La Giralda in Seville on Saturday. 

When we came down we promptly decided to take a tour of the city on one of the many horse and carriages that sell the tour to tourists.  It’s not cheap at 80 euros for an hour but well worth the experience.  Our gypsy driver with his thick Sevillian accent drove us through the Barrio Santa Cruz with its narrow white streets and out of the quarter to the Guadalquivir river where we saw the other most dominant monument in the town called the Tower of Gold and of course the famous bull ring, La Maestranza.  From there he took us through the pavilions of the different countries built for the 1929 Universal Exposition. Then we drove into the lovely Maria Luisa park and saw some of the 2000 different bushes and trees it holds as well as the monument to the romantic Spanish poet Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer.  Our driver even recited one of his poems and I was delighted as I had once studied Bécquer whilst at Nottingham University where I “majored” in Spanish.  Our next stop was the magnificent Plaza de España, the Spanish pavilion of the same Expo.

Just one section of the magnificent Plaza de España in Seville

Here I had great memories of a huge event Nokia put on in 2003 called Totally Board.  Totally Board meant a variety of board sports including skate boarding and snowboarding and fast downhill skiing with a huge snow ramp as well as loud music which appeals to that same youth. That day in September in Seville thousands of people gathered in an electric and magical atmosphere of old and new culture and of snow under a sun which generated some 40ºc at midday and all in what is probably the most beautiful square to be seen in Spain.

The Plaza de España in Seville when the Nokia Totally Board event took place in 2003 with its huge snow ramp.

Later we walked through more of the old streets of Seville, including the most famous of all, Calle Sierpes.  It was here in 1983, the year we got married, that I brought my parents to visit on a trip from León, through Portugal and Huelva and to the capital of Andalucía.  And it was in this street late at night when we were walking back from the Cathedral that a motorbike passed my Mother and the driver snatched her bag.  Eladio and my Father tried to run after it, Eladio shouting “ladrones” (thieves) but all we could do was go to the police station to report the theft.  There we found a crowd of other tourists in a similar situation and I remember being of great use to the police by serving as an unpaid translator for a night.  My Mother had lost their passports, jewelry, medicine and money.  I remember the next day begging at the British Consulate for replacement passports and after much pressure from us, as we had nothing to identify my parents, they were issued with passports which would be valid just for their journey back.  So being in the Calle Sierpes on Saturday brought back vivid memories of that most unforgettable experience.

The Calle Sierpes in Seville where my parents were robbed in 1983 and which we visited on this trip

For lunch we happened upon what turned out to be one of Seville's best restaurants, Casa Robles.  I can't recommend it highly enough.  The local gazpacho was just superb as was the rest of the meal.

My beautiful girls at Casa Robles in Seville on Saturday

The afternoon was spent with a siesta and in my case with my book by the pool.  I am reading and loving “American Wife” by Curtis Sittenfield, a novel based on the experiences of the wife of the last President of the USA, George Bush.  I can highly recommend it.  It was one of 4 books I picked up last week at Stockholm Arlanda Airport.

Later we wandered out into the streets of the Barrio Santa Cruz and then down to the Cathedral.  Here we decided to have a drink and chose a place I was familiar with from one of my last visits, the EME Cathedral Hotel.  It has a marvelous terrace with great views of the Giralda but was a bit noisy so we decided to have our drink in the hotel terrace right on the street and opposite the Cathedral.  Here we ordered mojitos and a piña colada.  Eladio, being the moderate sort of person he is, had a diet coke and there was nothing we could do to persuade him otherwise!

Having a cocktail on Saturday afternoon in Seville and watching the world go by

Over our lovely cocktails we watched the colourful world of Seville in May go by.  We saw tourists of course but also the beautiful Sevillian women, girls in first holy communion dresses and even small children practicing how to carry religious sculptures on a float as in the typical processions that happen in Seville mainly at Easter.  It is such an important tradition that small children are taught the art early on in their lives.

Sevillian children learning how to carry a float for the famous processions.

Olivia and Eladio soon rushed back to the hotel to see the final of the Champions League between Barcelona and Manchester but Susana and I were not so interested.  We joined them later and had hoped to order a meal in our room to watch the match only to find out that this was not possible. Thus Eladio and Olivia very generously forfeited the match to go out to dinner with us.  We went to the nearby Giraldillo and had a table outside in the Cathedral square, the most privileged one in town.  However the food was nothing great and the meal was very expensive.  So if you go to Seville, do steer clear of this restaurant.

The next morning after a late and lovely breakfast we packed and checked out and walked to the car park to pick up our car.  You can see the full set of photos of our visit here on Facebook.

Our next destination was the nearby city of Córdoba, a city I fell in love with when I first visited it as a student in 1980, over 30 years ago.  I loved and love the old Jewish Quarter with its white streets and beautiful patios.  I remember being pestered mercilessly by young amorous Spanish boys, something that wasn’t going to happen today.  Córdoba used to be the Moorish capital of Spain when the Moors ruled the country until they were fought off by the Spaniards and left in 1492 (the same date that Christopher Columbus discovered America and I can’t help adding here this phrase I learned at school and have never forgotten: “in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue”). In this same year the Jews were also expelled from Spain but there is plenty of evidence still of both their mark and that of the Moors on this quaint and magical medieval town, at least in the Jewish Quarter.  Like Seville, Córdoba was very hot, probably even more so and seemed to have even more tourists than the latter which again felt overpowering.  We took a walk around the old streets and fought our way past big groups of tourists to the most lovely of streets I have ever seen, the street of flowers, “calle de las flores” from where you can catch a glimpse of the Cathedral Mosque belfry tower. 

The stunning Calle de las Flores (Flower Street) in Córdoba

We would have to wait until after lunch to visit this magnificent monument as it didn’t open until the afternoon.  Meanwhile we had a table reserved at Córdoba’s flagship restaurant, the Caballo Rojo (red horse) where Eladio and I always go when we come here..  The girls were not that impressed and I suspect it’s not quite what it used to be.  In any case we enjoyed the thick gazpacho called “salmorejo” which comes from this part of Spain. Eladio of course had the oxtail, the most recommended dish on the menu and he didn’t complain.

Delicious salmorejo at the Caballo Rojo restaurant in Córdoba on Sunday

From the Caballo Rojo we walked across the street to the beautiful Patio de los Naranjos (orange tree cloister) which surrounds the cathedral cum mosque we had come to visit.

The Cathedral Mosque in Córdoba is spectactular

I have seen it many times but it never ceases to amaze me, from the inside more than from the outside.  Once a beautiful mosque known as the Great Mosque of Córdoba with its characteristic white and red arches, it was turned into a Christian Catholic Cathedral when the Moors left after the Spanish Reconquista but what they built has been left intact.  Thus you get a unique building that combines both religions in its architecture at least. 

Inside the Cathedral Mosque in Córdoba

Sufficiently filled with culture, food and too much heat for our liking, we left the city in the mid afternoon and drove home to Madrid.  You can see the rest of the photos of our quick visit to the beautiful and ancient city of Córdoba here.

It was great to be home and that evening we were in for a pleasant surprise.  Olivia had gone off to the cinema with her beau but had told us to watch a documentary report she and her fellow students had done as a project for the TV master degree and which was being showed on TVE.  We never managed to see it as it was probably rescheduled so I started making our dinner when Susana and her boyfriend Gaby called us urgently to the sitting room where they were watching the TVE1 evening news.  Suddenly I was watching my beautiful daughter Olivia on the screen talking about what the master degree in TV journalism meant to her in a short report about it on the national news.  You may be wondering why this would be on the news and the answer is that Spanish TVE sponsors and organizes the course.  Oli looked spectacular and everyone who saw her thought the same.  We are so proud of her.  Now after a short break (she’s gone off to London today for a 4 day visit with her Erasmus friends, Shino from Japan, Sandeep from India and fellow Spaniard Rafa) she will be working for 3 months as a trainee for the TVE 24h evening news programme with a famous news presenter she admires enormously, Vicente Vallés. I can only hope that they will take her on afterwards but that could be a pipe dream, however good she is, as TVE is not hiring people, rather firing them in these times of crisis.  In any case the experience will be fantastic.  Well done Oli!!!  By the way you can see it here on this link at minute 43 but you may have to buffer the video on your pc first. 

Vicente Vallés,  presenter for the TVE24h news programme who Olivia will be working with this summer

Later that night, inspired by our use of the pool at the hotel in Seville, Eladio, with Gaby’s help, removed the tarpaulin cover on our own swimming pool to get it ready for the summer.  Eladio spent most of yesterday filtering the water and generally repairing its condition.  So who was the first person to use it you may ask?  Not me as it was too cold yesterday but Olivia who enjoyed a nice long swim, despite the cool temperature.  Later the three of us went for our hour long daily walk with Norah, something Norah will have missed in our absence of course.

Right now Suzy and I are working and writing from our summer office right by the pool.  You can see from where in this picture below.  Nice place to work eh?  I certainly think so.

Eladio removed the cover and cleaned the water of our pool yesterday. 
The table you can see is where I work from in the Summer

I’m nearly at the end of this week’s late blogpost but still have some news to share with you.  Yesterday Suzy, Oli and I went to visit Elsa, the Labrador puppy we are getting soon.  You will remember we went to see it at Manolo’s house when it was 5 days old and tiny.  Well yesterday, now at about 17 days old, it had grown to 1.6kg and its eyes are nearly open.  Here she is in Suzy’s arms.  In this link you can see more photos of our visit yesterday.  We shall be going again every week now to watch her progress until we can finally bring her home when she is 2.5 months old.  Can’t wait!

Suzy and our 17 day year old labrador Elsa

On the news front, if last time I wrote the man in the news was the French banker Dominque Strauss Khan, this week it is definitely someone called Ratko Mladic. He was the author of the biggest massacre after the Second World War and was finally arrested after 16 years in hiding.  The massacre happened in Muslim Bosnia in 1995 in a place called Srebrenica.  Here some 8.500 boys and men perished at his hands and those of his henchmen, when he was the Bosnian Serb Army chief.  He has come to symbolize the Serb campaign of ethnic cleansing of Croats and Muslims along with the Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic.  Reading about Mladic’s crimes, I wholeheartedly agree with the term he is associated with, “The butcher of Srebenica” and am happy he will finally face a trial in answer to his crimes.  Unfortunately many Bosnian Serbs consider him a national hero. Thankfully the rest of the world doesn’t. 

Ratko Mladic, known as the butcher of Srebenica was finally caught last week and will be tried for his horrific crimes.

The other man of the week in the news since my last post was Barack Obama who with his popular wife Michelle went on a state visit to my country, the UK. I loved all the pomp and pageantry in the reception they were given by the Queen of England and just had to include this lovely photograph of the visit.  I think the main item on their agenda was what to do with Libya, or more concretely, the madman Colonel Gaddafi, but the visit also served to strengthen the already close ties between the two nations, as if no one knew these two countries are already  probably the strongest allies in the world on just about all fronts.

Barack and Michelle Obama visited the UK last week

The man of the week in Spain must surely be Alberto Contador for winning the Giro (cycling tour of Italy) on Sunday.  He was awarded the famous pink jersey called the "maglia rosa" and it was his second win in this country, much to the chagrin of the Italians of course.  Believe it or not in the ceremony they played the wrong national anthem of Spain.  This has happened on other sporting occasions around the world and is quite unexplicable and in my mind unacceptable in these days of internet where organisers should be able to get the right music at the touch of a finger.  In any case my hearty congratulations go to Alberto Contador.  I write that with a heavy heart though.  I was once part of the cycling world and am saddened to see the sport tainted with stories of doping, including Contador's own unresolved case which certainly puts a damper on what otherwise would be another magnicent page in the story of Spanish sport.

Alberto Contador, Spain's man of the week who won the Giro on Sunday

The news in Spain, apart from the 15M revolution and national politics, is all about what is now called “the Spanish cucumber crisis”.  10 people in Germany have died because of a bacteria called E.Coli which somehow was introduced into Spanish cucumbers exported to countries like Germany, Austria and Holland. Up until today it wasn’t clear whether the bacteria appeared in the deadly vegetable where it is grown in Spain or where it has been handled in the country it has been exported to.  Meanwhile the crisis has caused untold damage to Spanish agriculture, something the country certainly does not need in the current financial crisis.  I heard earlier that the results from initial tests prove that E.Coli was introduced outside Spain and I certainly look forward to the whole thing blowing over.  But of course I am terribly sorry for the damage it has caused as well as the loss of lives. 

Could hardly believe the story of the so-called "Spanish cucumber crisis" and we don't even eat this type here in Spain.

And with that hope in mind I come to the end of this week’s very packed blog post which I hope you enjoy as soon as I upload the photos, include the links and finally publish it.

Cheers my friends till next week.

Masha

Spring is here, more success for Spanish sport, people in our lives, my regional tour continues, preparations for New York and a dreadful mistake.

The first spring flowers in our garden this year, just this small bunch of daffodils, one of my favourite flowers.
Hi again,

The week has been hectic and full and I concentrated most of my energy on trips to Palma de Mallorca and Seville as part of the regional tour started last week in Valencia. The objective was to show a face at the Yoigo shop training courses and to meet the local press and tell them the Yoigo story with a local slant. But more about that later.

The good thing about this weekend is that spring is finally with us. Temperatures are going up and there is blossom and just a few spring flowers in our garden such as the lovely daffodils illustrating this week’s missal. Hopefully the cold will go away soon but I’m not sure about the rain as it is still with us even as I write now.

I left off in my last blog post when the girls arrived from Lisbon. From what little I have heard they had a whale of a time. I mean what 7 close friends of their age wouldn’t? There have been outrageous comments and photographs in Facebook on some of the activities and I prefer not to ask what went on. Here though is one of the more serious ones of my two girls together.
Oli and Suzy in Lisbon recently.
The day they arrived home, last Sunday, was another good day in the history of Spanish sport. Spain is becoming an important sporting power with wins in many disciplines. Fernando Alonso, the two times world champion of Formula 1, won the first race of the season in Bahrein, driving for Ferrari and thus set hopes high for winning this season’s championship after a three year dry run.
Fernado Alonso who won the first Formula 1 race of the season in Bahrein last week for his new team Ferrari.
The other Spaniard to bring success to sport on Sunday was the cyclist and two times winner of the Tour de France, Alberto Contador, who won the prestigious Paris Nice race in an all Spanish podium. It was his second win there, the last time being in 2007. I wonder if that is a prelude to him winning his third Tour de France this summer. Cross your fingers. I will.
A happy Alex Contador, the rider from Pinto in Madrid who won this year's Paris Nice cycling race.
There have been plenty of people in our lives this week. A neighbour, a young girl called Sandra, has been coming round to have chats in English with Suzy in preparation for an oral exam which I hope went well. It was good to meet a new neighbour as we hardly know anyone in our neighbourhood (urbanización in Spanish which has no proper translation).

Gloria, Fátima’s beloved niece, reappeared, in my life at least, after many years. I haven’t seen her since she was a child and then Fátima sent me a video of her in a TV programme about foreigners in Warsaw of all places and she has turned into a beautiful young woman. She is on an Erasmus scholarship there. I immediately added her as my friend on Facebook of course and it seems she is having a wild time in Poland. The next stage of her Erasmus is in Seattle. Aren’t University students lucky these days?

I also spent time with Elena, my out of work neighbour, with whom I enjoyed a coffee with “churros” (very fattening, sort of fritters which are delicious) over a nice long chat yesterday at a cafe down the road.

Tony Llompart also reappeared in my life after many years in Palma this week. He was a successful distributor in my years in Motorola and I saw him last at a cycling race there called The Challenge of Mallorca in the late 90’s. I will never forget how one whole Spanish cycling team bought phones with a discount from his company including the likes of Alex Zulle thanks to me. Amazingly today Tony has 8 Yoigo shops in the Balearic Islands and apparently many other businesses both there and abroad, including hotels in Latin America. He has done very well for himself.
Alex Zulle the Swiss rider who was in the ONCE cycling team.
This now brings me to my trip on Tuesday to Palma, the capital of Mallorca which is the biggest island in the archipelago called the Balearic Islands. I got up at 06.30 (heavens!) to catch the 09.45 hour long flight with my boss. We were to have a press meeting by the port, on the Paseo Marítimo at a great café called Cappuccino (not very original right?). The day was sunny and being by the sea just didn’t seem the right combination for work. Only 2 journalists turned up which rather surprised me. But then it transpired there had been some political financial scandal regarding the embezzlement of public funding by the local government which was obviously of much more interest to the local press than anything we could tell them.

We were soon able to make our way three or four buildings down the road to the Hotel Bellver on the sea front where the Yoigo shop keeper training course was going on. The shops on the way looked very enticing, great colourful beach wraps and other local handicraft but I didn’t get a look in unfortunately. It was at the course where I met Tony Llompart and most of his staff. After our chat to the group and a question and answer session we had lunch with all the people and afterwards had a group photo taken. At lunch Tony and I spent the time reminiscing about the past in the telecoms sector in Spain and remembering some of the key people and events. It was great to see him again. He had remarried (he is my age approx) and his newly-wed, an extremely young and beautiful ballet dancer Cuban wife was at the course too. You did choose well Tony.
The group photo of the Palma de Mallorca Yoigo point of sale course last week. Tony Llompart is the guy in black on the far left. I think you can pick me out wearing pink I'm sure. Tony's new wife, the young Cuban girl, is on my right.
On our way home at the airport I of course bought what most travellers buy there, the famous “ensaimada”, a sweet pastry delicacy which is a must when visiting Mallorca. I bought 2 small boxes and we have been enjoying it at home for breakfast until today.
Ensaimadas from Mallorca, delicious local sweet pastry.
No sooner was I home in the late evening, than I was off again the next morning and this time up even earlier at 05.30 and on my way to the airport to catch the 08.45 to Seville for the last of my regional visits. Seville is one of my favourite cities in Spain. It embodies the quintessence of Spain and being Spanish, at least in the eyes of people from abroad and has a certain magic about it. Above all it is beautiful, the streets are lined with orange trees, it is usually sunny and warm and many of the buildings are works of historical art like the Giralda (the cathedral bell tower) La Maestranza (the oldest bull ring in Spain) or the famous Hotel Alfonso XIII where one day I would like to stay. The people have impossible accents where they eat half of every word. They are, however, extremely hospitable. So, yes, it was nice to go to Seville.

As I am very outgoing, when I am in the mood I chat to taxi drivers and try to talk about things relevant to the area I am in and in Seville there were 2 topics to mention. The first was the loss the night before of the Seville Football Club to the Moscow CSK team in the Champion League quarter final. So I gave my commiserations and was later astonished to bump into the actual Moscow coach, Leonid Slutsky at the EME Catedral Hotel where our media meeting was to take place. When I was told who he was I plucked up courage and said in haltering Russian; “well done” (ochen xorocho). I think he was most surprised.

The second topic was bull fighting. There is a move in Spain to possibly abolish it which, of course, in the south in Andalucía and specially Seville, is unthinkable as it is a way of life. So I tried out the thought on my Sevillian taxi driver. He snorted that it was impossible and there were more important things for the authorities to think about than abolishing this historical Spanish tradition. I, of course, said no more.

It took more than 40 minutes to reach our destination in the heart of the old town, driving through many narrow streets but we were well on time and so I took the opportunity to stretch my legs and enjoy the sunshine and take a few snaps of my surroundings before the media arrived. As we were right by the Giralda I was in a lucky place for photography. Here is the result which you can see in this photo album on Facebook.
Me by the Giralda (the famous Cathedral bell tower) in Seville this week.
Only two journalists came, once again, but we got quality with Clara from El Correo de Andalucia and Eli from El Diario de Sevilla. The interviews took place on the terrace of the EME hotel (great place by the way) which has superb views of the Giralda and the Seville skyline. It was a moment which made me realise how lucky I am to have the job I have.
Clara and Eli, the journalists who interviewed my boss this week in Seville.
From the EME hotel we made our way to the Yoigo shop training course at the NH Viapol hotel. There were 2 groups of 20 people from shops in the area including Extremadura. There were many young people and there was great enthusiasm within the groups. They were happy to meet us from the HQ and we were equally happy to meet the people who sell our products on the high street and to answer their questions, queries and doubts.
The group photo of the Yoigo point of sale course attendants this week in Seville.
When I eventually got home on Thursday night after 2 days of intensive travelling and meeting people and sticking to strict time schedules I flopped to bed with a pretty bad headache which remained with me throughout the next day. Before that though I went to see my Father who was already in his room to say goodnight and ask how his day had been and also tell him about mine. I was very sad to hear that that morning he had fallen in his room and was unable to let Eladio know. When he didn’t go down to breakfast Eladio went to see him and found him lying on the floor where he had been for at least an hour. It was nothing serious and he hadn’t hurt himself. The problem is he is not so steady on his feet anymore. We are investigating into an alarm product for him to be able to press and alert us as well as possibly getting someone to live in permanently. This May he will be 91. On the bright side he is very alert, enjoys his reading and listening to music and of course his food and specially Spanish wine.

Thursday was spent organising my work. But I also got time to go the gym for my second swim and spa session of the week (how I love that) as well as our walk. I came home to a package I had ordered from Amazon.co.uk which contained the Shoah 9 hour documentary film about the holocaust made by the French director Claude Lanzmann in 1985. It had been recommended to us by Adele and Sandie and also I had listened to an interview with Claude Lanzmann recently on the radio. We have yet to sit down and watch and digest even more information about the Nazi horrors to the Jewish race, a subject that will forever fascinate me.
Shoah the famous 9 hour documentary on the horrors of the holocaust with interviews with both survivors and torturers by Claude Lanzmann which I have yet to see.
On Thursday I also tried out my new mobile phone, this time a Samsung Galaxy GT-1750 which is an Android (Google) phone and has to replace my old and faltering Nokia N95. It is taking me some time getting used to like all new phones. What I have noticed that is great is that the battery has lasted 3 days so far without recharging, something unthinkable with Nokia phones. I have it in white which I prefer to black (why do they make so many black phones? For men I imagine!) and it is extremely light. Of course I still have my iPhone for my private line and would advocate iPhones for all mobile phone users. It is simply the best period.

Friday was a holiday in Spain to celebrate Father’s day and of course all people with names related to Joseph. So all Josés and Josefas and Pepes and Pepas were probably celebrating their birthdays yesterday. Certainly Eladio’s brother, José Antonio, was with his family in Montrondo. Felicidades José Antonio. At home there is no tradition for Father’s or Mother’s day, possibly because I was not brought up to celebrate them in England by my unusual and academic parents. All my other friends did of course. We went out to dinner not to celebrate St. Joseph's day but to enjoy a meal out with our friends Roberto and Mari Carmen. On a mission to go to different places, this week I booked a table at a Portuguese restaurant called Lisboa Antiga in Majadahonda, possibly influenced by the girls’ trip to Lisbon last week and my love of Portugal from my student days there. We had been before but not for a long time and were very happy with the choice. One Portuguese dish I love is called Bacalhau à braz and they do it perfectly there. Boy will we be going back. It’s highly recommendable with its discreet Portuguese decor, quiet atmosphere and background nostalgic Fado music.

Yesterday, Saturday, was a down day (yes I am still on the up and down diet and losing weight very slowly but still losing it) and I spent part of the morning making my family tree on Genes Reunited which I got on to via Friends Reunited. I got most of the information from my Father whose memory on dates and places of birth and marriage and death of his family members is amazing. It’s a pity you can’t see it as information can only be accessed via messages to other tree owners. It was a very interesting exercise.

Also interesting was the film we watched last night, The secret of their eyes (El secreto de sus ojos), the Argentinian film by Juan José Campanella starring Ricardo Darín and Soledad Villamil that was awarded the Oscar for the best foreign film recently. It’s highly recommendable and has an extremely surprising end.
The film, The secret of their eyes which won this year's best foreign film at the Oscars recently.
Next week Eladio and I will be going to New York for a short holiday as I am sure I have mentioned in my blog before. It is a first for both us and of course New York is a must on anyone’s desired holiday destination list. I have had very little time to plan anything but have invested in the Lonely Planet Guide and got some recommendations from friends. I have been printing our electronic tickets and hotel reservation as well as applying for a travel authorisation from the US Department of Homeland Security as advised to me by my ticket provider, Expedia in an email recently. I imagine this is just the start of the security procedures to enter the US which have always been strict and imposing. I can understand the rules but what I don’t like is how they are applied and the attitude of the immigration staff that have the right to refuse you entry if they don’t like the colour of your shirt or the colour of your eyes. I am certainly looking forward to our trip but not to going through immigration especially at JFK airport.

Amongst the recommendations my friend Juana sent me was the purchase online of the New York pass. I had a quick look at the web site and very soon was convinced it was worth buying. With the pass you avoid the queues (lines in American English:-)) and it includes access to about 55 of the main attractions in the city including the Statue of Liberty, the MOMA museum and many other well known places which I will be seeing for the first time. But more about that of course in my next blog posts which I will probably write from the Big Apple itself.

Now I come to the end of this week’s entry and to the last item in my headline, “a dreadful mistake” which you are probably wondering what it means. On Tuesday last when I was returning from Palma, in a town near Paris a group of Spanish Basque ETA terrorists were attempting to steal cars from a garage. They were interrupted by French policemen (gendarmes) who tried to stop them. In the exchange of fire started by the terrorists, the Gendarme Jean Serge Nerin, aged 52 and father of four children was fatally wounded. He is the first French policeman to die at the hands of ETA. One terrorist was caught and the others got away.

The terrible mistake occurred when the French authorities released a video of the supposed terrorists shopping at a supermarket near where the attack happened. The photo and video was on the front pages of newspapers all over the world.
The supposed ETA terrorists who turned out to be Catalan firemen in France this week.
However, the men in the photo were not the terrorists but Spanish firemen doing innocent shopping for a leisure trip they were planning. They went through 5 hours of interrogation by the French police and were only released yesterday. I read today that a retired French policeman had reported them because of their age and group number and because they spoke Spanish. That was a dreadful mistake and my heart goes out to those innocent men who must have gone through hell. The search continues for the terrorists who escaped.

The only good thing to come out of the event is the increased collaboration between the French and Spanish authorities to eliminate ETA. I look forward to that day.

Meanwhile I have to get on with mundane things this Sunday, the first day of spring. Thankfully it is an up day and lunch will be more exciting than yesterday's plate of vegetables. What am I preparing then you may want to know? Today I will be making roast chicken legs with a honey sauce, umm delicious.

Hope you all have a great day today and week ahead of you.

Cheers
Masha