December bank holiday, a VIP flying trip to Valencia, Christmas is coming, I need your votes please and lots of other things.

The highlight of my week, the pre public trip to Valencia on the AVE high speed train with Dircom.

Good afternoon my friends,

It’s Sunday again and here I am writing from my lovely desk, trying to get my thoughts together on the run down of this week.  Eladio is clearing the autumn leaves in the garden and my Father is having his siesta.  The girls have gone for a Christmas lunch with Suzy’s University friends.  I must include a photo below of the lovely cake Suzy made for the occasion.  As she’s on my diet, the Dukan diet, she won’t be eating any of it I’m afraid. 

The cake Suzy made today to take to a Christmas lunch with her University friends.

Today is a quiet day for me but not for Kattyand her family who have been in my thoughts all day as today is the day they are leaving the UK to live permanently in New Zealand.  I wish them a good trip and a very happy life there.  I also refuse to believe we will never see them again.  As I wrote on my cousin Katty’s FB wall this morning, their visit to us last month has left a lasting impression and created a bond between the two families that will remain forever.

So yes the week has been quiet.  I left off last Sunday and that evening we went out to dinner with our friends Roberto and MariCarmen to La Vinoteca in nearby Boadilla.  Monday and Wednesday were holidays which actually made the week a bit boring for me especially as we didn’t go away for the bank holiday.  So what did I do all week when I wasn’t working?

On Tuesday I went to have my eyes tested to see if I am suited for an operation.  I am far sighted (hyperopia) but also have presbyopia (the scientific name for losing eye sight as you get older).  I went through 2 hours of tests at the Clínica Aver in the centre of Madrid, including dilating my pupils.  The good news at the end of the tests is that yes I am suited for the operation.  The bad news however, is the cost, the astronomical amount of 5.500 euros.  Had I known the cost beforehand I probably wouldn’t have bothered going.   For the meantime, unfortunately, I shall have to continue to wear my varifocal glasses.  Friends say they look good on me but I hate depending on them so much.

On Wednesday Eladio and I did our first Christmas shopping and chose to go the Centro Oeste shopping centre in Majadahonda.  He really surprised me when he said that both he and my Father had already bought my presents.  Neither of them ever have a clue about buying presents, so unless they got some advice from the girls, I very much doubt that their surprise or surprises will be appreciated.  Just in case, I was able to persuade Eladio to buy me some fashionable laced brown boots which I later wrapped and put under the Christmas tree.  

The Centro Oeste shopping centre in Majadahonda where Eladio and I went Christmas shopping this week

Friday was the absolute highlight of the week as it was the day of the long awaited pre public ride on the new high speed train (Ave) to Valencia and back organised by Dircom, the association of Communications Directors to which I belong.  The train which will come into operation next week takes 1 hour 40 minutes to Valencia, some 391km from the capital.  It certainly has brought Valencia nearer to Madrid.  The downside is the price which people predict to be 80 euros for a single trip.  We left at 12.05 and were in Valencia just after 13.30h.  The Diplomatic Corps in Spain were also on the train and were greeted by the Mayoress of Valencia upon their arrival, the larger than life Rita Barberá.  From the Joaquín Sorolla train station we got onto coaches to take us to the wonderful Hotel Arenas by the Malvarrosa beach.  I had stayed here with Eladio in the summer and have only good things to say about this marvellous hotel.  Lunch, hosted by the hotel, was in the Zeus lounge overlooking the sea and here I had a dilemma. Was I going to break my diet and eat forbidden food, including the tantalising paella?  I debated the idea but soon threw it away and only ate the protein and vegetables leaving the delicious looking rice untouched on my plate. 

Me at the Hotel Arenas in Valencia during the Dircom trip on Friday. It's a great hotel.

At 16.15 we were back on the train, in club class of course, as the occasion determined.  The trip and event were great, the only drawback being I didn’t know anyone.  That’s probably because I don’t go to many of the Dircom events but I think I’ll be going to more in the future, especially if they are as good as the trip on Friday.  We arrived in Madrid at 18.45 and I felt I had been in some sort of dream. Had I really gone to Valencia, had lunch at the Arenas hotel, and come back in such a short space of time?  It really was what one could describe as a flying VIP trip and I’m sure people will prefer the train to the plane once the new Ave starts this  route.  I know I will.

On Friday I did some more Christmas shopping, this time all for me, hahaha.  Before going on the trip I stopped at the Spanish department store, El Corté Inglés, to buy some accessories for my iPhone and new toy (Samsung Galaxy Tab).  They didn’t have everything I wanted but I managed to get a usb hub and card reader for my pc and a car charger as well as an extra pc cable and charger for my iPhone.  Later in the evening I bought the rest online at a wonderful page called Octilus.  Here I ordered a new case for my iPhone and a case, a screen protector and car charger for my Samsung Galaxy Tab.  I have been searching for these accessories for some time so am mighty pleased with the purchases I made on Friday.  I now have a drawer in my desk full of accessories.  I for one, when I look at them, think there could be huge demand for universal accessories.  I wonder if the day will ever come.

If Friday was the absolute highlight of the week, Saturday was definitely the most important day for this family.  Yesterday Olivia took the most crucial exam of her life in an internal promotion with http://www.rtve.es/.  There are just 5 places for reporters and nearly 100 aspirants; so pretty difficult to be one of the lucky people.  The lucky 5 people will get a job for life with Spanish TV.  She has been studying for weeks for this incredibly difficult 5 hour long exam.  The questions were all about general knowledge and the news and were really tricky.  There was a practical part too.  I wish her all the luck in the world.  Oli has always been a good student but the odds are not in her favour.  Meanwhile cross your fingers as her future will be decided by the outcome of this very important exam.  Good luck Oli, “whatever will be, will be” and if it isn’t to be, I know you have a brilliant future ahead whatever the outcome. 

Whilst Oli was preparing for her exam in the morning, Suzy and I went off to Tres Aguas shopping centre.  The excuse was to accompany Suzy who was going to buy two Christmas presents for an “invisible friend” party.  Eladio’s famous last words were “don’t spend anything”!  Well of course I didn’t obey and we went into lots of the shops.  I was very pleased with myself when I tried on a striped long cardigan at HM which looked great on me.  When I looked at the label and discovered it was an “s” I was pleased as punch.  I cannot remember buying an “s” for a long long time.  We also bought tights and leggings, the latter being a first for me.

And finally Christmas came to our home yesterday.  Whilst poor Oli was slaving over her exam, we got Eladio to bring up the Christmas stuff and Suzy and I spent a good part of the afternoon decorating our home.  We think it looks lovely.  It’s very us, a mixture of styles, but very Christmassy.  Now my Father is sitting next to the tree enjoying his cup of tea after the siesta.

Christmas finally arrived at our house yesterday.

As Christmas was arriving at our home, Eladio was out car hunting for a “new” second hand car for the girls.  He fell for one he saw and rang us to say he was coming with the owner to show it to us.  So out Suzy and I came into the street in our “at home” clothes to see the red Seat Ibiza TDI 1.9.  We didn’t have a choice in the matter as he had already made an offer which Ruben, the owner, had accepted.  Suzy and I took it for a short spin and very soon agreed that Eladio had found a great car for the girls. If everything goes ok, it should be theirs by the end of next week.   

Saturday, a very full day, in many ways, was also the social highlight of the week for us.  We had a dinner date with Elena and José Luis.  Elena is my special friend and neighbour to whom I have given lots of moral support in the past two years when she was looking for a job.  Our dinner last night was to celebrate her new position as Communications Director for Thyssen Krupp Europe, Middle East and Africa.  They came to pick us up and we drove to El Plantío where we had dinner at “El Descanso”.  The company was great and the food excellent so I look forward to strengthening this new friendship with more dinners out together in the future.

Lots of things have happened in the news of course.  I was especially interested to read about the Peruvian Spanish Nobel Literature Laureate for 2010, Mario Vargas Llosa’s time in Stockholm to receive the most prestigious literature prize in the world.  It seems he had a whale of a time and was accompanied by friends and family and thoroughly enjoyed the whole event.  At one stage though he fell when asked to pose in a difficult position for a photograph and on the day of the banquet he lost his voice.  Apparently he thinks he has the body of a young man and the strain of the week and especially the cold took a toll on him.  However he was all smiles throughout but also shed a tear or two, during his lecture, something which even surprised him.  His speech was wonderful, as apart from a great writer, he is also a fantastic orator as I well remember when I organised his Doctor Honoris Causa at the Universidad Europea de Madrid.  In his academic slecture about the importance of fiction for society, he also had time to mention his wife, Patricia and here is where he cried and the rest of the world, including myself, with him.  He had not allowed her to read the speech beforehand, and of course, when she heard what he said about her, she understood why.  And this is what he said (in Spanish).‎"Ella hace todo y todo lo hace bien", administra la economía, pone orden en el caos, mantiene a raya a los periodistas y a los intrusos, defiende mi tiempo, decide las citas y los viajes, hace y deshace las maletas, y es tan generosa que, hasta cuando cree que me riñe, me hace el mejor de los elogios: 'Mario, para lo único que tú sirves es para escribir".  Roughly translated this is: “She does everything and she does everything well, she looks after the money, she keeps the house in order, she keeps the press and the undesired away, she defends my time, decides what appointments and trips to make, she packs and unpacks the luggage and is so generous, that even when she tells me off, she makes the best compliment possible and says “Mario, the only thing you are capable of doing is writing”.

Mario Vargas Llosa who made a wonderful speech for his Nobel Prize in Literature.  The words about his wife brought tears to many people's eyes, including his own and mine.  What a charismatic man!

The other news of great interest this week also has to do with Sweden.  You will have been following the WikiLeaks affair I mentioned in last week’s blog.  Julian Assange, the founder and editor, was not only wanted by the US authorities but he was also wanted by the Swedish judiciary for apparent sex crimes committed in Stockholm in the summer.  On Tuesday he was arrested in Great Britain and is now sitting in Wandsworth prison.  So what is his crime you may ask?  I asked myself the same question and found the answer in a very good article in the Daily Mail describing exactly what happened.  Apparently the sex he had with two Swedish girls was forced but read on here and judge for yourselves whether you really think he deserves to be sitting in prison.  I certainly don’t.

And in the news here in Spain, here is something which affects my work and for which I would ask for your help.  It is a survey in http://www.eleconomista.es/ to find the best CEO in each sector.  If you click on this link and scroll down to the bottom you will find a section entitled "¿Quién es el mejor directivo del sector de las tecnologías y telecomunicaciones?" (Who is the best boss in the technology and telecommunications sector).  All you have to do is vote for Johan Andsjö by ticking his name and pressing “votar”.  Thanks my friends!

Now I have come to the end of this week’s blog post. Christmas is now on its way and this week coming I have two seasonal events to attend.  You will be able to read about them and other things next Sunday.  Meanwhile I hope you all have a great week.

Cheers Masha

Reunions, an anniversary, a new toy, a metro hero, Spain in a state of alert, the story of WikiLeaks and more.

With Javier and Xavi (pink shirt) at the Motorola Christmas dinner this week

Hi again,

Well yes it’s Sunday again and, in Spain at least, the beginning of a very long bank holiday to celebrate the Constitution and the Immaculate Conception. Suzy has gone off to Asturias with Gaby in a fun red jeep his boss lent him.

Suzy and Gaby off to Asturias in a red jeep yesterday. It was a surprise trip for Suzy

It was a surprise overnight trip for my daughter who only knew where she was going when they got on the motorway. And it was to Asturias in the north of Spain to a small village called Langreo in Ciaño, at least a 6 hour drive. They stayed at a charming little hotel called Peña L’Agua. If you look in the website you can even see the room they slept in called Las Mimosas.

The hotel Peña L'agua in Ciaño Asturias where Suzy and Gaby stayed last night

We have stayed at home, unusual you will say, but then we can’t always be travelling and it’s nice to lounge around at home and get rid of the week’s stress. In actual fact it’s quite a good thing we didn’t buy air tickets to go anywhere as we would have been grounded because of the wild cat air traffic controller strike which held the country to hostage on Friday and Saturday, but more about that later. We went out to dinner last night to De Brasa y Puchero in Boadilla on our own. I thought it was going to be with Elena and her husband José Luis but mixed up the dates in my diary. So I have a dinner date with them next week now to look forward to.

My week was full of reunions and an anniversary and I love reunions. Also we had the visit of my dear brother-in-law Andrés who came to see two second hand BMW X3 cars. His visit  on Monday coincided with the Barça Madrid derby league match which disappointingly we couldn’t watch as it was only on pay TV. It was probably a good job actually as Barcelona beat Madrid a humiliating 5-0.

The first reunion was on Tuesday  when I had lunch with my ex Nokia girlfriends, Susana, Jill, Zenaida, Ana, Fátima and Juana. We went to De María, a great place but getting a bit pricey, in Majadahonda. Of course we all gossiped about how the company and our ex colleagues were doing and exchanged juicy rumours. It was great to see you girls, you are looking great!

Reunion Christmas lunch with my ex Nokia women colleagues this week

My second reunion was with another ex Nokia colleague whom I hadn’t seen since I left the company. It was great to see Carlos L.A., now Apple Iberia Country Manager for iPhone business. I couldn’t think of a better person for the job. Well done Carlos. It was great to see you too on Thursday. There is a lot of life outside that inferno as many of us have discovered.

The last reunion was a long planned Christmas dinner with my ex Motorola colleagues at Viancco in El Zielo shopping centre in Pozuelo. It was snowing on the way as it has been a lot in Spain this week but it didn’t settle. I got there at 9 on the dot and greeted other early arrivals, Nacho, Ignacio, Ruben and three Javiers, if you count Xavier. People were still arriving after 10 and we didn’t sit down to eat till very late. The restaurant was Italian and there was hardly anything I could eat on the menu so I ordered a salad and some meat which never came. I recognised nearly everyone but was sad not to see some missing people. Fátima who had promised to come never turned up but then that is not unusual in her. I sat next to Xavi and Javier and on the other side were Nuria, Juan Luis and Ruben. Most of the night we were laughing about early day Motorola episodes and could hardly believe 20 years had passed since we all started at our school of mobile telephony. Of about 30 of us at the dinner on Thursday only 3 still work for Motorola which tells a story in itself. Nowadays most of us are still in the sector, some of us at mobile phone operators and others at different mobile phone manufacturers. When we worked for Motorola it was the biggest brand in mobile phones. Today it is a shadow of what it was. The sector has transformed dramatically since we all started in the early 90’s. Here is a photo of me with Xavi (in a pink shirt) and Javier. I was feeling and looking great with my improved figure and wore my new Desigual t-shirt for the occasion. Here is the link to the rest of the photos of that great night.

One of the many fun moments during the ex Motorola Christmas dinner this week.

1st December was Yoigo’s 4th anniversary and we all went offsite to celebrate but also to present the staff with the results of the Yoigo 2015 project which will go live at the beginning of next year. The management team did 4 presentations in teams of 2. I was paired up with Juan Manuel and we had the exciting topic of values, mission and vision to present. We did a dialogue style presentation and had some pretty zappy slides, thanks to a lot of external help from Bea and Cristina. Thanks girls, the effort was well worth it. At lunch we were visited by our Yoigo “muñecos” (dolls) who brought on the giant birthday cake. Again they caused a sensation as they are very spectacular. Here is the group photo of all us outside the Hotel Rafael together with the “muñecos”. Ah by the way, that day we all learned a new word: “effisimplarency” which has a lot to do with our future. We registered the word in Wikipedia but unfortunately it was turned down.

The Yoigo employees on 1st December, our 4th anniversay, together with the Yoigo dolls (muñecos)

At the event we were all given a new toy, a Christmas present from Samsung, the new Galaxy Tab, the iPad rival. We were also given a free internet connection, the idea being to become more familiar with data. It didn’t take me long to unpack it and get started and I am now hooked. It’s smaller than the iPad but it has a big plus, it’s also a telephone.

My wonderful new toy, a Christmas present from Samsung to all the Yoigo employees.

Me at my desk at home.  The first picture taken with my new toy, the Samsung Galaxy Tab

So lots of events, but I’ve been good with my diet as I have been from the very start at the end of September. I’ve now lost nearly 11 kilos since then and have only 3 kilos to go!! When I am motivated I have the will power to do anything. My worry is will I be able to sustain it? I sincerely hope so and will definitely try harder this time, although Christmas will be a challenge. Meanwhile I am enjoying my new figure and am forever buying clothes at the little boutique near here; lots of woollen pinafore dresses which are so in fashion and also warm for this cold weather. I also bought some great flat heeld black Wonders boots to wear with my pinafore dresses. Instead of thinking about my next meal I now think about the clothes I am going to wear the next day. Suzy says I’m obsessed. Maybe, but it’s working and I’m so happy.

Whilst I was having my encounters a lot of things happened in the world. On Thursday the FIFA announced the countries to host the World Cup in 2018 and 2022, Russia and Qatar respectively. England and Spain were competing and were upset to lose and I was too for them. It is evident, but not in the rules, that the countries which have never hosted the event have more chances of winning. In a sort of sour grape attitude, the press here and in England said it was oil and petrol money which had been the winner. Maybe, who knows?

The piece of news I liked best this week was one of heroic action. It happened on Friday at the Puerta del Angel metro station in Madrid and the whole episode was caught on the security cameras and has now been viewed the world over. A man lost his balance and fell on the rails. People were in alarm and of course a train could have come in any moment. Suddenly a man jumped to the rescue and pulled the victim away to safety just as an incoming train was about to run him over. Later we heard that the hero was a young off duty policeman called Angel who didn’t think twice before he jumped. He has only been in the police force for a couple of months but explained that he was trained to act like that and that he jumped to the rescue instinctively. He will be awarded a medal but I wonder who the victim was and why he lost his balance, or rather why he didn’t try to get up when he fell over. Was he attempting suicide? Eladio remarked to me today that you never read about suicides in the media here and that there is probably an unwritten agreement not to report on them. I wonder if that is true. You can see the video of what happened here, if you haven’t already seen it. It’s breathtaking.

The heroic rescue at the Madrid metro on Friday

That was the piece of news I liked. The news I didn’t like was the wild cat strike of the Spanish air traffic controllers which halted practically all air traffic in Spain from Friday evening until yesterday afternoon causing havoc. Air traffic controllers work only 30 hours a week and can earn between 200.000 and 1.000.000 euros a year and are becoming famous in Spain for their discontent and consequent disruption. “There is not a lot of sympathy for them in a country with 20% unemployment” to quote the Daily Telegraph correspondent in Madrid. The government had to take very firm measures and unbelievably declared a “state of alert”, literally militarising this group of people. In a state of alert if they didn’t work they could have been sent to prison. So they had no option but to be marched back to their posts and get on with it. The wild cat strike started at the beginning of the bank holiday stranding hundreds of thousands of passengers. I feel very sorry for all of them but thankful that for once we were not travelling anywhere. Things are gradually getting back to normal but this is an episode which won’t be forgotten easily.

The Iberia fleet of planes grounded this weekend because of the air traffic controllers wild cat strike

On an international level, the episode which will never be forgotten and is the biggest news item in all media is the story of WikiLeaks and how Spc. Bradley Manning, described as a 22 year old “public homosexual activist” downloaded and released classified information to the now famous website, as a a way to get back at the United States military over its policy regarding homosexuality. WikiLeaks (the site may not be available anymore but you will find it on Facebook) then released the more than 250.000 copies of the U.S. diplomatic cables with candid assessments of world leaders and secret details of nuclear and antiterrorism activity to the world’s leading newspapers. Politico.com says this “represents the most embarrassing and potentially damaging disclosure of American diplomatic material in decades”. The editor and spokesperson of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, is in hiding, as probably the most wanted person in the USA. He is not just wanted for the releasing of the documents. To make the story even more film material and juicy, he is also wanted in questioning for sex crimes. I would not like to be in this man’s shoes at the moment.

Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks editor and spokesman

I have now come to the end of this week’s blog. I have a quiet week ahead with a holiday on Monday and Wednesday. Despite the bank holiday, or “puente” (bridge) as it is called here I’ll be working because I have a lot of preparations for the Yoigo Christmas activities. As for our own Christmas preparations, it is still early days.

That’s it for this week then folks. Hope you have a good week and have enjoyed the post,

See you next week,

Masha