A busy week, an inaugural flight, sunshine in Stockholm, chutney for the Pope, a hit and run episode in Spain, Suzy has visitors in London and bought a bike as well as other stories.

Sunday 6th April 2014

Suzy on her new bike yesterday, happy as a sandgirl in London

Hi again,

Wow it’s Sunday again and the week has flown past.  It was definitely the busiest week of the year so far and quite action packed; just how I like it.

Monday, my fasting day, started off quietly.  Eladio bathed the dogs whilst I worked quietly from my desk on the ground floor. In the photo below you will observe Norah our beagle worriedly watching my husband bathe Elsa our Labrador.  It’s amazing how close these two dogs are and how Norah became Elsa’s surrogate mother.

Eladio washed the dogs last Monday

On my morning walk, once again I came across the flock of sheep which now seems to frequent the fields we go past.  I snapped a shot of a ram and the shepherd dog came running towards me aggressively which made me put some speed in my heels and regret the action.

The flock of sheep on my walk

It was during the walk I got a request to attend an urgent meeting later that afternoon to prepare the management team presentation for an illustrious visitor.  You see the next day was 1^st April and the mark of the beginning of the organization change in our mother company.  On that very day the new boss of the Europe region, my boss’ new boss was coming to visit Yoigo.  So off I went to join the meeting which would last till quite late in the evening.  As I drove home in deep traffic I realized just how lucky I am to be able to work from home and not face the traffic daily commuters have to on a daily basis.  Spaniards may start work later than their European counterparts but they sure do work much later hours, many of them not getting home till past 9pm.

That night Barcelona was playing Spain’s top of the “Liga” team, Atlético de Madrid, at the Nou Camp in the first leg of the Champions League quarter final.  The result was a 1-1 draw which seems to be the norm recently when these two teams meet.  However it was a good result for the Madrid team as the aggregate will put them in a good position when they meet again next week.

Tuesday was 1^st April and of course April Fools’ Day which I sort of missed out on this year.  I was up at 5.45 to be in the office by 8.30 when our meetings were to start.  As the traffic can be so bad I left the house early, only to arrive at Yoigo at 07.30.  It was still dark and the lovely colour changing neon light of the Yoigo logo was lit up. I caught the orange one as you can see in the photo below.

Thus I caught up with my emails quietly from the cafeteria before it even opened only to be the first in the queue for coffee when it did. My main focus of work that day was the issue of a press release to announce that Yoigo now has 4G coverage in all Spanish capital cities (nice eh?) and in 220 towns, most of them with over 70k inhabitants. I’m still gleeful that Telefónica, the biggest operator in Spain, is roaming on our 4G network when we are the smallest network operator in the country. 

I spent the whole morning in the office with the management team giving an overview of the company to the new head of Europe.  Funnily enough he is a Finn and worked for 27 years with Nokia before joining TeliaSonera.  So we had something in common as I too worked for Nokia as most of you know. 

The highlight of his visit was a staff meeting which are called Yoigo Mornings at the company.  Getting the staff to ask questions is always a challenge but we managed at least 3 after which there was “a mingle” with food and drinks as befitted the occasion.

A moment during the Yoigo Morning on Tuesday 

We had lunch out and took our visitor to El Filandón, a lovely place near the office. I really must take Eladio there one day.

It was no joke that night when Real Madrid beat Borussia Dortmund 3-0 at the Bernabeu in their fixture of the first leg of the Champions League quarter final but we couldn’t watch it on TV as the match was only available on pay per viewL. I well remember being at the Champions League matches when I worked for Motorola and we sponsored the Champions League.  Those were such fun days!

On Wednesday I was up early again although not as early as on Tuesday.  I was off to Stockholm from the newly baptized “Madrid “Adolfo Suárez” Barajas Airport” and had been lucky to get a seat on the only direct flight there run by Iberia.  I only realized when I was on board that I was on the inaugural flight.  We were offered chocolates and champagne for the occasion!  I was excited to learn that finally there was a direct available flight from Madrid to Stockholm but disappointed to hear that it only runs on Wednesdays and Saturdays.  The direct flight takes only 3.15h whereas when you have to fly through another airport it takes about 7 hours and is a very long haul.  When I arrived at Arlanda airport, the flight leaving for Madrid, the flight we had come on, was festive too with lots of red balloons and I was happy to see a familiar face, my ex colleague Claes, who was taking that very flight.  We hugged and laughed at the coincidence.  Nice to see you Claes, bet you got champagne and chocolates too!

I was happy to see sunshine in Stockholm.  In fact the sun shone throughout my visit making the Scandinavian capital more attractive than ever.  It was quite chilly though for me and I regretted not having brought my gloves.  The Swedes behaved as if it was midsummer, some of them not even bothering with a coat! I took a taxi to my destination, the delightful little island of Skeppsholmen (“skepps” is shipbuilding I think and “holmen” means islet or little island).  I have worked for a Swedish company for nearly 8 years but have never bothered to learn the language, something I think I should have done when I joined Yoigo.  Maybe I will, you never know, it could be one of my biggest new objectives. I kept looking at words whilst I was there this week and realized I recognized many of them or could at least guess what they meant. 

Skeppsholmen Island  - to the right and smaller is Kastellholmen and in front is Djurgarden

Skeppsholmen is a small island just off the town centre and easily reached by crossing a wooden bridge with golden royal crowns and is about a 10 minute walk from the Grand Hotel.  I checked into my home away from home in Stockholm at the Hotel of the same name as the Island where I always try to stay.  I love staying there because of the location which permits me to go on long walks to the city and back but also because the hotel which I think was an old prison or army barracks is a wonderful place to be.  It’s very Scandinavian with wooden floors and simple decoration but very homely too.

Skeppsholmen Hotel

As soon as I had checked in, unpacked and connected to internet (like breathing for me, hahaha), I set off on the wonderful walk along the Baltic Sea with views of Gamla Stan (the heart of the old town), past the Grand Hotel and through a beautiful park on my way to the shops.  There were many signs of spring but also flowers everywhere and I kept stopping to take pictures. I particularly love the flower arrangement outside the hotel.

Flowers outside my hotel

I was heading to Galerian (shopping centre) to see my favourite shops Lindex, Vero Moda and Kappahl. These are brands you don’t see in Spain, they are quite low cost and the style is very Scandinavian (lots of cotton, blue, white and striped garments). Here I had a field day.  Once back at the hotel I spread my purchases out on the bed and took a photo.  You will notice I am mad about stripes!!

The clothes I bought in Stockholm at Lindex and Kappahl

The clothes are both for me and Olivia as we seem to have a similar taste. They are not for Suzy though who prefers a different style.  I promised her I would buy her some new clothes when she comes for her 30^th birthday at the end of this month.  Can’t wait darling!

Dinner was alone at the hotel dining room, but not completely alone as I whatsapped with Suzy, my eldest daughter who lives in London, throughout my dinner.  This was the dining room, not a good picture, but you get the feel right?

The dining room at the hotel

As usual I had my favourite dish there and in Sweden, the shrimps on toast which is called “skagen”.  Dessert turned out to be the “pièce de résistance”: toffee tart with raspberry sorbet.  Wonderful eh?

My delicious dessert at the hotel on Wednesday night.

I went to bed early, eager to watch series 2 of Mr. Selfridge I had ordered from Amazon.co.uk.  I was loving every minute of it but when I put disk two in to my pc, it was faulty so I had to make do with the BBC World News.  I was a bit cross with Amazon and still have to contact them to get a replacement.  I had hoped to sleep well that night but that wasn’t to be, don’t ask me why, except that I can tell you I am a very light sleeper waking up many times during the night.

I was up early the next day at around 7 and as my meeting wasn’t starting until 12, I decided that I would take the boat to the island across the way, Djurgarden (literally “animal garden” but really the “royal game park” - everything is “royal” in Sweden).  Djurgaden is home to the famous Vasa museum, the boat that sunk and is perhaps Stockholm’s top attraction.  I have seen it once and wasn’t planning to go again, preferring a walk around Skansen the open air museum of the history of Sweden.  I adored the little boat ride, catching the boat at the little jetty a few minutes’ walk from my hotel.

My boat arriving at Djurgaarden

Once on Djurgarden Island I made my way to Skansen only to find it didn’t open until 10.  It was sunny again but freezing and my fingers froze as I took the time to check in using my mobile on my Air France flights back to Madrid via Paris on Friday. I didn’t have much time to walk around Skansen so chose to visit the old high street, the centre of the park and the Scandinavian animals.  On my way past the children’s zoo I was delighted to see this peacock opening its wings to court a “peafowl”. I had to look up the word for female peacock which is apparently a typical question on crosswords!.

The peacock courting the peafowl at Skansen on Thursday morning

Usually when you try to catch a peacock with its feathers open it closes them but not this time as it was the mating season. 

It was the Scandinavian animals I most wanted to see and I was in luck as the brown bears had just come out of hibernation.  According to the signs they were still a bit sleepy but they seemed quite playful to me.

Brown bears at Skansen

I suppose the most Scandinavian of animals is the elk or moose (in American) and I was rewarded with this close up of a magnificent example.  It had no antlers yet which I thought must be a much less cumbersome situation for these huge mammals.

One of the elks at Skansen

I had to curtail my visit as I had a sudden PR issue to deal with; nothing alarming, just a press release by a partner who nearly sent it out without our go ahead. Thank God for mobile phones as I was able to deal with the issue in the middle of a park in Stockholm. Once that was sorted it was time to catch the boat back to my hotel, put some make up on, don high heeled shoes and take a taxi the head office.

I was at TeliaSonera well on time.  It was a big day for communications people in the office, or at least for the European team of which I am a part. We were to have a rounding off meeting with the old team and then a get together with the new team after which all the Communications staff in the building would join us for a mingling session (that very corporate word again) or party.  We met on my favourite floor, the 7^th floor which is the top floor of the building and has some great views of the Stureplan square below.

Stureplan as seen from the 7th floor at TeliaSonera

Here my colleague from Denmark, Mette, who will be with me in the new team, took a selfie of us both.  Someone later posted on her FB: “two powerful women”.  I’m not sure we are but we are close colleagues.

A selfie with Mette my colleague from Denmark on the 7th floor of TeliaSonera

Timo, my dearest colleague from Finland who will no longer be in my team, took this selfie of us both for old times’ sake.  I will miss you Timo, thanks for the photo and thanks for all the good times.

A selfie with Timo my colleague from Finland

Whilst we were having our meetings a much more important meeting was going on in The Vatican. The Queen of England and consort Prince Philip, were meeting the new Pope.  It was to be a private visit, unlike the visit of Barack Obama last week, so we never got to hear what they spoke about.  I was amazed to hear the Queen was about 15  minutes late for the half hour meeting; something pretty unheard of for her.  Later I read that instead of 30 minutes, due to her lack of punctuality, the Pope cut short the meeting after just 17 minutes.  Tit for tat I call that.  We may not know what they talked about but we did hear about the gifts they exchanged.  The Queen gave the Argentinian Pontiff a hamper of produce from Buckingham Palace including honey, whisky and chutney.  I rather doubt this Latin modern Pope will know what chutney is.  If you don’t it’s a delicious sweet sauce of Indian origin that became popular with the British during the Raj (British rule in India).  I particularly love mango chutney. We had it today for lunch with chicken and rice.

The Queen and Prince Philip with the Pope exchanging gifts.

But back to Stockholm.  Towards the end of the “mingle” at the office, I decided to leave early in order to get my full daily exercise.  Generally I try to get in two walks a day and do about 12 to 14km a day, all recorded and registered by my wonderful little wearable device, my “fitbit”.  So off I went – you may remember I had donned high heeled shoes, but I had a pair of trainers with me to change into.  I walked from Stureplan towards the Grand Hotel and from there I decided to add extra mileage by walking all around beautiful Gamla Stan.  I stopped at Stortorget (big square in Swedish) to take a selfie against the beautiful houses in this oldest square in Stockholm.

A selfie at Stortorget (big square), Stockholm's oldest square

From there I made my way past the Royal Palace back to the Grand Hotel from where I walked across the bridge and to Skeppsholmen.  When I reached the hotel I checked my fitbit to see how many kilometres I had done so far that day (my fitbit records every step I take during the day) and it was about 12k.  It was 8pm and I decided to do two or three more kilometres.  My feet took me across another bridge to the even smaller island of Kastellholmen (bet you guessed what that means didn’t you?  Yep, small castle island).  I walked all the way around it as far as I could and then on the only road inside the island which takes you to the beautiful red castle from which the island gets its name.  Below is a picture of the island and castle I took that morning on the boat coming back from Djurgarden to Skeppsholmen.  Pretty isn’t it.

The red castle on Kastellholmen as seen from the boat in the morning

Satisfied I had walked enough that day, I entered the hotel at about 8.30 when my fitbit registered over 14km, my record of the week.

I was pleased with the results on my fitbit on Thursday

Thus I had a small but well deserved dinner again in the elegant dining room of the hotel, my last night in Stockholm. Later that night I had to deal with requests from Spanish press on our position on an issue from the European Parliament who have proposed an end to roaming costs for customers travelling in Europe.  That was not easy to deal with but managed to get the correct statement from our head office.

On Friday I was up at 7, enjoyed a cup of coffee in my room before packing and getting ready to check out and leave.  I had a 9.30 meeting at the head office with my new Finnish indirect boss.  In multinationals you always have a direct boss (important, the one who decides your salary raise, hahaha) and an indirect boss who is usually the head of the department you belong to in but at head office.  We had a good chat, quite frank and relaxed really.  I think the new team will work fine and I look forward to our next face to face meeting, far more than conference calls which actually, if you know me, will understand I am not fond of!

We finished at 10.15 and as my plane wasn’t leaving until 13.15, I decided to leave my suitcase and pc at the office and go for my day’s walk as there would not be another chance that day.  So off I went again, walking in the sunshine on the same route as nearly every day, towards Gamla Stan, past the Royal Palace, to Skeppsholmen and back to Stureplan. Again it was a beautiful sunny day and the city looked its very best, as you can see in this photo below.

The bay of Stockholm in the sun on Friday

I was happy to see I did 8k when I finished.  The rest of the day was spent at airports, Stockholm and Charles de Gaulle Paris and on two very congested flights.  We were late leaving both cities and of course I was late home, arriving at Madrid Adolfo Suárez Barajas at 8pm.  Then I had to pick my car up from the office and drive home.  There was an accident on the M40 ring road so I wasn’t home till nearly 10pm.  Friday was a very long day.

It was lovely to be home, see Eladio, my Father, Olivia, for just a few moments as she was leaving to go out to dinner with her boyfriend Miguel, and of course the dogs.

As I was waiting to get off the plane earlier I caught up with the day’s news on my mobile and was astonished to read about a very high profile hit and run episode in Madrid that afternoon. A famous right wing Spanish woman politician who used to govern Madrid, Esperanza Aguirre, referred to very fittingly by the Spanish version of “The Local” as Spain’s “iron lady”, had parked in a bus lane in the centre of Madrid to get money out of a cash machine.  The local police saw her and tried to fine her. The determined lady decided to ignore them and drove off and as she did so she knocked one of the policeman’s motorbikes over. The story has become huge news and has led to many jokes online. 

There have been endless jokes about Esperanza Aguirre's hit and run incident on Friday afternoon

The politician later said she had driven off to avoid photos being taken with the police.  That’s rather a lame excuse.  Criticism has been enormous.  A colleague of mine likened the incident to a quote from George Orwell’s Animal Farm, a quote I love and have known by heart ever since I read the book as a teenager: “all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others”; meaning that Esperanza Aguirre is more privileged than the public at large although she shouldn’t be.  I hope he is wrong and she gets due justice for the scandalous hit and run episode last Friday.

It was on Friday night that Suzy would be seeing her best friend Elena in London.  Elena and her parents were going to visit Elena’s sister, Chati, the girl who went to live in London with Suzy last May and who now works there as a nurse. Suzy was delighted to see Elena again and posted this lovely photo of the two of them.

Elena (long hair) and Suzy my eldest daughter reunited in London on Friday evening.

As I had been away most of last week, on Saturday it was time to turn my attention to running the house.  Fátima, our living in home help, has been on holiday but was coming in on Saturday morning to help my 94, soon to be 95, year old Father with his shower.  Meanwhile Zena, our ex Ukranian cleaner, was coming in that morning to clean the house. I was looking forward to the latter as Zena is the best cleaner in the world and I knew that by the afternoon our home would be spick and span.  Meanwhile I left to do the weekly food shopping.  I bumped into Fátima at the bus stop and she helped me with the shopping. 

There was time also in the morning for a voice chat with Suzy.  She told me she planned to visit the Science Museum and or the Natural History Museum that day with Chati, Elena and their parents.  So I was happy to see photos of that visit this morning when Suzy posted photos of their time together on Facebook.  I particularly like this one of Suzy with Elena. I pointed out to Olivia that I thought Suzy resembled my Mother a bit but of course I was referring to my Mother when she was young (the same high cheeks) so maybe Olivia didn’t see the resemblance.

Elena and Suzy (right shorter hair) at the Natural History Museum yesterday

Lunch yesterday was the best; real Yorkshire fish and chips and mushy peas all made by yours truly.  It was a joy to have lunch with the family and have the pleasure of the company of Olivia and Miguel after so much time apart.

After a well-deserved siesta Eladio and I took the dogs for a walk and we couldn’t believe just how warm it was.  The weather is becoming warmer and warmer here and next week we can expect temperatures in the late 20s.  Even so, Spaniards will still be wearing coats, unlike the Swedes!

Whilst we were on our walk, Suzy sent us a video of her on her new bike.  She has been thinking about buying one so as to cycle to work and back every day and she must have bought it just after our chat that morning.  A single journey takes about 30 minutes and is conducted mostly on bike lanes, thank goodness.  I think it is a great idea.  Later I got a great photo of her on her new bike and wearing a helmet; the one illustrating this week’s post.  A helmet is not obligatory but is good for safety.  She then of course bought a padlock and a basket for carrying things.  My Mother who used to ride a bike when were young would have been very proud of her granddaughter.

Later we went out to dinner, i.e. Eladio and I.  We chose La Escondida, our latest favourite.  We couldn’t understand why there were only 2 tables occupied, ourselves and just one other couple.  And then we cottoned on.  The answer was football.  The three “Liga” leaders, Atlético, Barcelona and Real Madrid, were all playing important matches last night, so I suppose few people would be going out for dinner like us.  Maybe they all have pay-per-view?  In any case I heard later that all three had won their matches and are still in the same positions.  It will be interesting to see who finally wins this 9 month competition. 

And today is Sunday and I have nearly got to the end of my tale. So far it has been like most Sundays.  We went for our morning walk and then had lunch, except that I nearly burnt the chicken as I left it in the oven whilst we were on our walk.  Olivia has gone with Miguel to his parents’ house where they will be celebrating his birthday one day in advance as he will be leaving for Valencia this evening.  Happy birthday dear Miguel. I shall be going for another walk later today and expect it to be even warmer than this morning. 

Tomorrow will be another day. I have to go into the office to welcome a Swede from Riga which I will tell you about next week.

Meanwhile I wish you all the best, till next time,

Masha

PS You can see the rest of the photos of my trip to Stockholm here

Spanish sport does it again, a trip to Stockholm, hacked, Suzy in Paris, home again, walking, cooking and other tales of this week.

Cooking lasagna in the kitchen on Saturday morning.

Good morning my friends this wonderful sunny day in January – at least here.  

How has your week been?  Mine has been busy with a great trip to Stockholm but it also had its hiccups as I was hacked whilst I was there.  But more about that later.

Let me start where I left off last Saturday.  After I had written my post, there was great news for Spanish sport, first from Chile and then from Budapest.  In Chile the toughest rally in the world, the Dakar, ended with good news for Spain in a double win.  Nani Roma won the car rally 10 years after winning the motorcycle race and Marc Coma won the motorcycle race for the 4^th time.  How many nations can perform such a feat as they did last weekend?

Nani Roma left and Marc Coma right celebrating their double win for Spain at the Dakar Rally last weekend

Spain is great at sport, perhaps it is the top sporting nation in the world currently.  This week Nadal beat Federer to get through to the final of the Australian Open which he is playing today.  If he wins it will be his 14^th grand slam victory and second win at the Australian Open.  Yes Spain is great at football, tennis, car racing, golf, basketball, handball, cycling and other sports, but it has never been great at winter sports such as ice skating.  Well that changed too last weekend when Javier Fernández won the European Figure Skating Championship for the second time in a row in Budapest. 

Javier Fernández making ice skating history for Spain last weekend.

Suzy meanwhile, who is not interested in sport, was continuing her long weekend in Paris with her boyfriend Gabor.  She told us all, that she had fallen in love with Paris where she had only been once when she was about 12.  Here is a lovely photo of her by the Moulin Rouge in Montmartre.

Suzy by the Moulin Rouge in Paris last weekend.

On Sunday she met up with Cynthia, the girls’ French friend from the Nokia N-Gage training camp they attended in Finland about 10 years ago.  The Finnish company was once again true to its catch phrase: “Nokia connecting people”.  Here is a lovely photo of the two girls reunited in Paris last week. 

Suzy reunited with Cynthia in Paris last Sunday

On Sunday of course I set off to Stockholm.  It took me most of the day as there are no direct flights at the weekend. I flew through Munich and arrived in the late afternoon to find it was dark and cold of course (about -3ºc) with snow on the ground.  I was really looking forward to the snow so as soon as I had checked into my hotel, the Stureplan, next to the company (TeliaSonera) offices in the heart of the city, I wrapped up and went on a long walk.  Off I went and my destination was the small island of Skeppsholmen which you get to via a bridge of the same name, just past the Grand Hotel with views of the old city when you walk along the pathway bordering the Baltic Sea.  The evening was beautiful and the snow conjured up a sort of peaceful silence. 

Approaching the island of Skeppsholmen last Sunday night.  I enjoyed a walk in the snow on the island.

I reached the boat stop on the island and turned round to walk all the way back to Stureplan.  I must have walked for over 2 hours.  I came back through the park just off the Grand Hotel plaza area to find people skating on an outdoor skating rink.  I can skate and was slightly tempted but decided against it.  If I hadn’t been alone, maybe I would have tried.  Also I was hungry and looking forward to room service whilst watching series 2 of The Paradise which I had bought recently on Amazon.  However that was not to be as I found out the restaurant was closed and there was no room service. Thus I had to walk out again in the cold and find somewhere to eat alone; not an attractive prospect.  I happened upon a French Bistro called Zink Grill on Biblioteksgatan which looked very inviting and there I had a wonderful meal accompanied by my friends on Facebook.

The Zink Grill in Stockholm during the day time.

Whilst Suzy and I were having dinner in Stockholm and Paris respectively, Olivia was returning home from Andorra via Valencia.  On Sunday evening she dined in company, with friends from the “manada” who according to Eladio filled the house.  That, I commented to them on whatsapp, is how I like the house to be; full of people and cheer.

Monday morning was mine for the taking.  I was free until 14h when I would be meeting my communications colleagues at the company headquarters.  So off I went again for a long walk.  This time I walked along the famous Drottninggatan Street (Queen Street), all the way to the old town, Gamla Stan.  From there I made my way via the Royal Palace to the square again where the Grand Hotel is located.  Once again my destination was the beautiful island of Skeppsholmen.  That day my fit bit (remember the wearable device I have that monitors all my activity during the day) recorded I had walked 14.55km and had burned 2.265 calories.  I am delighted with this device and am forever competing with myself to beat my own records and stopping to sync it with my phone to find out how much I have walked so far.

My fit bit statistics last Monday after so much walking in Stockholm.

Walking in Skeppsholmen during the day was lovely as this time I could really appreciate the snow and the views. As I walked on the path along the Baltic Sea it felt like being in the country, even though the city is a stone’s throw from the island.

Snow on the ground on the Island of Skeppsholmen on Monday morning.

It was midday by then and I had two hours left until my meeting.  I decided to do some shopping at Lindex (a sort of Swedish Zara) in Galerian where I bought a jumper for Olivia and yet another blue and white striped long sleeved top for me.  Afterwards it was time to eat something. I had spied a lovely cafeteria called Vienna (Wiener Caféet) in Biblioteksgatan and decided to have my favourite meal there: an open topped prawn sandwich which is called “räksmörgås” in Swedish. 

My favourite Swedish dish "räksmörgås" which I had for lunch on Monday

It was while I was eating that my friend Fátima rang to ask if I was ok.  She said she had received an email from my gmail account saying I was stranded in Cyprus!  I realised immediately that my account had been hacked.  This was the email the hackers sent to my approximately 1000 email contacts.

The email the hacker sent to all my contacts on gmail.

Those who replied got another email asking for them to send me 1000 euros to a Western Union account in my name!  Suddenly I was inundated with calls and messages on all the platforms with my friends and contacts warning me I had been hacked and some of them worried and even offering me money.  Very soon I got a message from google on my work email to say my password had been changed and that if I hadn’t done it which of course I hadn’t, to reset it and recover my email account. That was one big hassle.  Of course I didn’t have time to do it there and then at the Vienna Café as I had to rush to my meeting.  Meanwhile I was totally incapable of enjoying my “räksmörgås” which I had to leave unfinished.

During the meeting about our activities at the upcoming Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, my mind was not on the meeting but on solving the hacking.  Once I re-established the gmail account I realised the hackers had not only sent out the emails hoping to make some money, but they had been very spiteful and had deleted all my emails of the account I must have had since about 2005.  They didn’t stop there.  They also added an “e” to every email address making it invalid, they created another email with my name at Yahoo and changed the settings so that all emails I received at my google address would be copied there.  I then saw that all my emails were being sent straight to my spam folder.  They had even changed the information on my signature and the number for my mobile phone contact.  Thankfully help was at hand.  Our lovely CIO at Yoigo, a commanding officer from the Spanish Civil Guard, helped me reconfigure the settings.  However, no one so far has been able to help me recover the emails. Google maybe a great company in that it has wonderful products, but they are vulnerable and there is no customer service to contact when you are in trouble, just forums where you can post your problems with no guarantee of an answer.  I found out that the hacking happened at 11.15 that morning via a Blackberry phone through a server in Lagos Nigeria!  Imagine!  I still do not know how the hackers acquired my password. They also acquired my Facebook password but thankfully didn’t do any damage there.  Since then of course I have changed my passwords but I have also added extra security so that my accounts will never be hacked again. 

I have installed “2 step security” whereby you access your email account not only with your password but with a code which is text messaged to your phone.  You add your pc as a “trusted computer” and thus don’t have to add the code every time.  Anyone trying to access your account from a different computer or mobile will not be able to do so without the code.  You can read more about how to do this here.  Other accounts such as Hotmail, Yahoo, Facebook, etc, have similar extra security tools which I have now installed.  It seems password “pawning” is rife.  This week one fifth of the email accounts of the population of Germany were compromised (i.e. hacked) so look out and add that extra security to yours if you haven’t already.  I think maybe as I travelled through Germany that is when my password could have been pawned but I will never know.  All I can say is that the feeling is horrible.  You feel violated, naked and attacked.  Until Monday I was rather lack about internet security but after the hacking attack, my attitude has changed, for the better. There are some nasty people out there hoping to make money from innocent people like me and they are spiteful as you have seen.  So beware my friends, beware.

After the meeting we had some spare time which of course I had to spend on finishing solving my hacking problem!  We were to meet again later and walk to Nybrogatan 38, the restaurant where we were to have a goodbye dinner for our Norwegian colleague, Oyvind who was leaving the company and even changing sectors – yep he’s going to the food sector.  We will miss him. He was one of the most senior members and also a lot of fun. I asked my Finnish colleague Timo to take a photo of me next to Oyvind opening his presents to remember him and you can see it below. Thanks Timo (better late than never hahaha).  Later I left the group slightly early as I wanted to get a good night’s sleep and I walked back to my hotel accompanied by the delightful Irene, a beautiful Swedish colleague in a wonderful mink coat – something you don’t see much in Stockholm. 

A photo with Oyvind (opening his presents) at the farewell dinner in Stockholm on Monday night

The next day was Tuesday and it was the end of my trip and I was going home.  I had breakfast but not completely alone as during the meal I communicated with my family via Whatsapp.  Eladio sent me a “selfie” of him and Olivia having breakfast at home which comforted me.  Suzy sent greetings too and we all looked forward to a breakfast together again sometime soon.

The "selfie" Eladio sent me of him and Oli having breakfast on Tuesday morning at home.

Again it took nearly all day to get home.  I caught the 9.50 flight from Arlanda to Frankfurt and must mention that it was at the flight gate that I got the Swedish newspaper, the Svenska Daglabdet and the main German paper, Die Welt (the world) for my 94 year old polyglot Father.  I am very proud of him and his knowledge of languages, amongst many other things. I wonder how many other people of his age are so mentally fit and can read in 6 languages like him (English, Russian, Norwegian, French, German and Spanish). Not many I am sure.

The Swedish and German newspapers I got at Stockholm airport on Monday morning for my Father

At Frankfurt I had an hour to kill and as it was nearly 14h I decided on lunch.  The problem was that the only restaurant near my gate was a Japanese one, not my favourite food. But there was no choice so I ordered a chicken curry dish with rice. It turned out to be delicious.

My Japanese meal at Frankfurt airport - notice I asked for a knife and fork!

What was not delicious was having to put up with 3 Japanese companions eating at the same table.  They were eating a Miso soup and were making awful disgusting noises.  Funnily enough it was the two men who were eating in this disgusting way, not their woman companion.  Thankfully they were in a rush and had to leave their meal half way through so I only had to put up with their disgusting eating for a short while.

On the flight to Madrid I continued watching the end of The Paradise Series 2 which had kept me entertained on all of my flights to and from Stockholm.  I arrived home in the middle of the afternoon to sun and much warmer temperatures than in Sweden of course.  I was home by about 5 and unpacked and went for my walk alone as Eladio was away invigilating exams at the UNED University, something he did every afternoon last week. We had dinner together when he came home and that night I slept like a lamb in my own wonderful bed.  I say slept like a lamb as my fit bit told me the next day that I had only woken up 3 times which is the least amount of times I usually wake up and which can go up to about 9 times.  I know now thanks to my fit bit that I never sleep longer than 2 hours in one go. 

Wednesday was a quiet day. It was also a fasting day and on Wednesday, to keep up with the high statistics of my wearable device (fit bit) I went for a walk twice, once in the morning with Eladio and the dogs and on my own in the afternoon where I was accompanied by my great collection of classical music thanks to Spotify.  This whole week has been about walking and walking, walking a lot in Stockholm and walking twice a day at home nearly every day since I have come back!  It feels so good.  It was on Wednesday evening that I finally saw Olivia who I had not seen since she left for Andorra.  Miguel her boyfriend had come to stay this week too. 

Thursday was very busy.  I was up early to go with Olivia to Iralta Films, a production company who will be doing her video book.  I left her to it there at about 11.15 as I had an important appointment at 12 at the Faculty of Media Studies at the Madrid Complutense University.

I was attending the Elocuent Prize Giving ceremony there as one of the jurors.  The prizes were for best communicators in as many fields as you can imagine.  There were two categories, “pop” prizes voted on by the public at large on internet and “top” prizes awarded by the jury. 

The jury at the Elocuent Prize Giving Ceremony on Tuesday

The best thing about the event was seeing familiar faces I hadn’t seen for a long time, such as Ramón Pradera who was the MC or Vicente F.B, a journalist friend from way back.

With my friend Vicente at the Faculty of Media Studies at the Complutense University on Tuesday a.m.

Friday was quiet, the only to activity to record being our dinner out that night.  We used The Fork (El Tenedor) again to book a table with 40% discount at La Terraza Escondida in nearby Pozuelo.  We have been there twice now and I think it will become one of our favourite restaurants as the atmosphere is so cozy, the staff welcoming and the food superb.  I look forward to taking our friends Phil and Kathy from England there when they come at the end of February.

On Saturday I slept badly and was awake early.  Once awake I am not the sort of person to stay in bed. So I was up at 7 and had breakfast on my own in the kitchen with the dogs. This is what I had; lovely healthy food with a great cup of real coffee and foamed milk.  Actually it is what I have for breakfast every day when I am not fasting.

My breakfast on Saturday morning  - notice the iPad on the left, very much a part of it.

My morning was very productive.  After breakfast I set about making lunch and had decided upon homemade beef and vegetable lasagna.  Eladio who loves to see me cooking in the kitchen took the photo which illustrates this week’s post.

Later, wearing the black jumper with white hearts Eladio’s brothers and sisters had bought me for Christmas, the two of us went off to the Centro Oeste shopping centre to buy a birthday present for my friend Fátima.

Wearing the jumper Eladio's brothers and sisters bought me for Christmas.

We got home on time for the first walk of the day and then lunch with my Father.  I think both men enjoyed my lasagna.  The weather yesterday was wonderful and when we went on our second walk in the afternoon the weather application on my iPhone told me it was sunny and 16ºc. Well that is something for January.

The weather in Madrid on Saturday

On Saturday nights we usually stay at home but yesterday was different.  We had been invited to dinner at José Antonio and Dolores flat in Madrid, the block of flats where we used to live too many years ago.  It was a wonderful quiet dinner, just the four of us and Dolores had made a delicious fish dish followed by apple crumble and fresh pineapple.  They impressed us with a pineapple slicer and corer which I never knew existed. Well they do and they are great and cost very little as I have seen on Amazon, just a few euros. No doubt we will be investing in one soon too.

A great gadget for coring, slicing and pealing pineapples

We were home after 12, very late for us but the occasion was worth it.  We had a lovely dinner and spent most of the time talking about our village Montrondo and the family of course.

And today is Sunday, Oli and Miguel have gone off for a bike ride, Fátima has just left for her days off and won’t be back until tomorrow evening.  Hopefully we will all have lunch together.  Tomorrow will be busy. Eladio will be off early and I have a conference call at 08.30 with Stockholm and then I have to go to the office for a mid-morning meeting. 

Oli and Miguel out on their bikes this morning.  

Now it’s time to leave you. I’m sure you know what I’m going to do now after writing this week’s blog.  Well yes you are right, going for our first walk of the day. I’m back now and just on time to add a photo of the walk, a moment when our dogs Elsa and Norah met an Afghan hound.  See how sunny it was.

On our walk this morning we met an Afghan hound which is pretty unusual.

Cheers till next time

Masha