To Barcelona for the Mobile World Congress 2010 and a warm welcome back

Me working from my hotel room in Barcelona on last minute press documents of course. However much planning and preparing you do there are always last minute changes.
Hi again

I’m a bit late with my blog this week because I have been on the go since last Sunday and only got back last night. I’ve got lots to tell you all.

Last Sunday morning Suzy and I went by the high speed train to Barcelona and were joined by Oli in the evening as she had to work. We nearly missed the train as we left the house too late so my travels started with a bit of an adventure.

The high speed train (Ave) is extremely fast and takes under 3 hours so we were soon in Barcelona and checking into our hotel which was great but turned out to be a complete organisational disaster. We had a triple room which they hadn’t prepared. They then lost my hotel voucher and subsequently the lovely red roses Eladio had ordered for my arrival as last Sunday was St. Valentines. I certainly wasn’t expecting any and they were very welcome. As I write to you, I have one of them saved and being pressed under a heavy book on my desk. I will treasure it in years to come.
My St. Valentine's red roses which Eladio had sent to the hotel and which they lost and finally found again. The thought certainly counted here.
After a quick down day salad we set off for a long walk around the town which also included a quick trip into the Maremagnum shopping centre which proved to be full of foreigners all there for the same reason as me, the Mobile World Congress which is the world’s biggest telecoms fair. But more about that later.

After our cold and energetic walk it was time to relax in the spa and have some Mother and daughter time together. If I can I always choose a hotel with a spa. I love the sauna most and I got that habit from my times with Nokia when I used to go so often to my beloved Helsinki.

In the evening I joined my TeliaSonera colleagues for the traditional get-together the night before the congress. This time it was at Bilbao Berria next to the Cathedral. It was great to see the likes of Birgitta, Anna, Kaisa and Cecilia. However I soon rushed off for dinner with Fátima at Cal Pinxo next to the Palau del Mar in Port Vell, one of my favourite areas in Barcelona. Fátima is my best friend and long standing colleague from Motorola and Nokia and it’s not often we have quality time together so dinner with her was one of the major moments of my time in Barcelona.

Oli and Suzy meanwhile were tasting the delights of Sushi with their Austrian friend Julia from the N-Gage tour days a few years back.

Monday was my lightest day work wise so I was able to have a fabulous breakfast with my girls (up day you see) and spend the morning working from my hotel room.

The weather though was pretty bad, cold and windy and threatening rain which turned out to be the tonic of this year’s congress, very different to the 20ºc of other years and so much for having chosen a hotel by the Barceloneta beach area!

My first professional engagement was meeting the bloggers we were hosting and who were being accompanied by the team from my PR Agency Ketchum. I duly met and greeted them at the very stylish Hotel Diagonal Zero where we had a quick stand up lunch together before going off to register for the congress. In the lobby of the hotel I bumped into an old colleague from my Nokia days, Eva Heller and it was great to catch up. We arranged to meet later but it didn’t work out. Everybody who is anybody is at the MWC but it’s so big it’s always difficult to find or meet people properly.

Once back at the hotel, I set aside some more time this time with both girls to enjoy the spa. Unfortunately when we returned to the hotel the key was no longer active. Thus I had to go down to reception in my bath robe and queue up at reception for another key to my utmost embarrassment. I later made a formal complaint to the hotel and am still wondering whether it reached the manager as their organisation has enormous room for improvement as I pointed out in my complaint.
My darling girls, Olivia and Susana, in the room with me. Going to the MWC in Barcelona just wouldn't be the same without them.
Monday ended with a lovely dinner with Grainne, my friend from school, at el Merendero de la Mari, next to Cal Pinxo in Port Vell again. Every time I go to Barcelona I make a point of meeting her. We go back a long way and then of course there is the chemistry, that vital characteristic of friendship. It was great

On Tuesday work began in earnest with the TeliaSonera press conference. Afterwards I walked a little round the fair to see what was cooking and my first port of call was Nokia Siemens Networks to see my old colleagues such as Julio, Emilio, Cristina or Oscar. Great to see you all as usual and thanks Julio for the Finnish Fazer chocolates for my Father which are always a favourite with us.

On my way out past Golla (another Finnish company and one which makes fantastic design bags for pcs and phone cases) I experienced the highlight of this year’s MWC. I came across my ex Motorola “buddies”, Jesus, Oscar and Nacho. I had not seen Jesus for nearly 4 years and being reunited again, if only for a very short while, was a very happy experience. We all started in the telecoms sector together and as Oscar commented on the photo I uploaded on Facebook, there was some 50 odd years of experience and happy moments in that picture.
The best moment of the MWC, bumping into Jesús, Oscar and Nacho, "my Motorola boys".
Tuesday afternoon was taken up with my bloggers with whom I had lunch before they went off on their guided tour of ZTE, Huawei and Samsung. In between meeting them again I got 10 minutes with another ex Nokia colleague, Claire Backhurst now working for Navteq. We packed into that 10 minutes one hell of a lot of great memories such as press trips to Marrakech where the famous chef, Heston Blumenthal, cooked for us or our countless trips to Helsinki for meetings with our colleagues. Great to see you Claire.

I was able to return to the hotel for a very quick freshen up before I joined my bloggers and some other people too to visit the Ericsson hall and go on a guided tour followed by their so called “social event” which in plain man’s language is a party. And what a party it was too. There I saw many familiar faces including Ana Manjón and my dear ex Nokia Networks colleague Pepe Comas. Our bloggers had a good time as you can see in this picture. We are by a car which has future technology which via mobile telephony will be able to avoid crashes. Imagine!!
Our bloggers at the Ericsson hall next to the car demo.
I went home really early, well actually the party started too soon. The Swedes live on a different timetable to southern Europeans and food was being served at 6 pm which is far too early for me. That suited me fine though as I had to be up really early the next morning for an interview with Expansion (Spain’s FT) and my boss’ boss who is number 2 at TeliaSonera. I hate early morning anything and this was an important activity. I not only facilitated the interview, I also did the translating which got quite technical sometimes, as well as the photography!! Here is the result as the article was published today, very long and juicy and quite favourable to Yoigo.

From there my boss and I and Birgitta from TeliaSonera rushed to our press conference which was being held at the other end of town at Bestial on the beach near the Hotel Arts. I was not there but everything was under control thanks to my PR agency Ketchum and events agency Quinta Esencia. The conference was well attended and afterwards we did more interviews, including Reuters, all of which garnered us quite a lot of coverage.
My press conferences are always very relaxed as you can see from this picture.
Once it was over I could escape and rush back to the hotel to finish my packing and check out before 13h. Oli had had to leave earlier so Suzy and I went for a walk and for lunch as our train was not until 16.30. I repeated Cal Pinxo and this time the sun was shining and we were able to eat outside. I was also able to make my one and only purchase in Barcelona and bought a lovely false Prada bag from the Nigerian street sellers in Port Vell.
Suzy with me having lunch on the last day at Cal Pinxo. Catalan food is generally superb.
From there we walked back to the hotel, picked up our bags (7 pieces of luggage with all the stuff the girls had purchased including a coat from Desigual), hailed a taxi and made our way to the Estación de Sants to catch our train. I read a light novel by Mary Higgins Clark and Susana slept. Soon we were home and my dear Eladio had lit the fire for us to welcome us home and inaugurate the fire insert the chimney company had put in that very day. That was indeed a lovely welcome back.
The new fire insert which Eladio lit for our arrival back from Barcelona. A very warm welcome back indeed.
The next day Eladio and I were off to Brussels for my University reunion so there was not much time for unpacking and packing again or getting enough rest to charge my batteries for the next 4 days which I knew were going to be jam packed with fun activities.

My next post will be on that trip which deserves a single entry as it was so unique.

Barcelona was great as usual, except for the weather. It was lovely to have my girls with me and the satisfaction of a professional job well done. I have been going now for 4 years running with Yoigo. I always ask myself if I will be going next year too. I certainly hope so.

Cheers for the moment

Masha
PS Here is the complete selection of photos which I posted on Facebook.

Birthdays, Oli’s tales from afar, remembering George, a visit to the Red Cross, a new look, off to Barcelona and more.

Oli dressed up in the RTVE correspondent gear in Israel. I think that job would be her dream and it would certainly make mine come true. Spectacular eh?
Hi again and here I am writing on Saturday afternoon with a bit of a headache I’m afraid. The week has been good and started with a bang as Monday was my birthday. As a family, though we actually celebrated it on Sunday as I told you in my post last week. You can see here the photos of lunch at José Antonio and Dolores’ house and below is a photo of my nephew Juan and I making a toast as both our birthdays are on the same day.
Me with Juan my nephew celebrating our birthday which falls on the same day.
Oli arrived back from her trip to the Holy Land late on Sunday evening and poor Eladio had to wait for her for ages at the airport. Eventually the 4 of us started our birthday dinner at Mood (place we often go to) at nearly 11 o’clock at night which is even late for Spain. Oli had loads to tell about her trip, the highlight being Petra in Jordan, her swim in the Dead Sea and also the visit to the RTVE foreign correspondent office in Jerusalem. Below are just some of the wonderful photos she has of this memorable visit. Notice how happy she looks in all of them.
Oli in Israel with her friend Ana's camera.
Happy Oli in the Holy Land.
Oli with a Jordanian guard. I wonder who was more impressed.
Oli has very obviously inherited a love of travelling and meeting people from abroad from my side of the family. We all have or had itchy feet, my brother George being the prime example. I mean once he left home and said he was going to Paris. He ended up in Afghanistan and most of the trip was done by hitch hiking!

Dear George is no longer with us and it would have been his birthday too this week on February 12th. How can one ever forget one’s only brother, the golden talented boy that life was never kind to? George would indeed have loved to hear Oli’s tales from Israel as he too had once bathed in the Dead Sea with his beloved Sanya. As I write there is a lump in my throat. Remember darling George our birthdays when we were children?

My birthday was very quiet on Monday and spent quietly at home. In the afternoon I got a lovely surprise present from my the girls from my events agency in the form of a bunch not of flowers but of candy. It's so beautiful we won't dare eat it.
A spectacular bunch of candy arrived on my birthday from the girls at my events agency. Thanks Cris, it is beautiful but we will never eat it. How could we spoil it?
The day was filled with lovely messages from friends and acquaintances mostly on Facebook, the easiest way to greet people these days but still nice. I did get some text messages from very few calls. People ring less and less these days.

That however is not completely so for Yoigo customers otherwise the company wouldn’t grow and I am proud to recount here that this week our majority shareholder, TeliaSonera, announced during the publication of the Q409 results that we had reached 1.506.000 customers at the end of 2009. That is a lot of customers gained in just 3 years.

The week was busy work wise as I was working nonstop to finalise all the preparations for our activities in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress this week; a press conference, a trip of bloggers, interviews, etc. I will be going tomorrow with Suzy and Oli will join us in the evening. Monday night, my only free night, is engaged for dinner with my dear friend Grainne. We will be going to a great place called El Merendero de la Mari. But more about our trip to Barcelona in my next post.

The professional highlight of the week was definitely my visit to the Spanish Red Cross on Friday. We went there to give a donation for the Haiti tragedy. They are a great organisation and emanate reliability and credibility. We have agreed to sign an agreement to collaborate in future emergencies like Haiti. I admire organisations that make the world a better place and as I was sitting listening to them I realised how much I would love to work for them. But that will have to be in another life maybe.
Photo with the Red Cross on Friday. I'm happy we did our bit at Yoigo for Haiti, although I still want to do more.
And that brings me to the reference of a new look in the headline of this post. Well it refers to me actually. As I am losing weight, very gradually, I am also beginning to buy clothes again to renew my wardrobe. And on Friday, after our visit to the Red Cross, near the area of Cuatro Caminos in Madrid I walked past a boutique I used to frequent and on the off chance decided to go in. I bought some very fashionable leopard skin pattern trousers and the shop assistant suggested an even more fashionable smock and voila you have me in my new clothes smiling outside our house, funnily enough on my way to the dentist on Friday afternoon.
My new look, leopard skin trousers and a long brown smock. Fashionable I guess or so Suzy tells me.
And on that note I come to the end of this post. I must mention before I stop that today is our friend Robertos birthday too and that we will be going out for dinner to celebrate. It will also be our St. Valentine's dinner which is actually tomorrow. We are not great St. Valentine celebrators but a small part of me still hopes secretly that Eladio will give me a bunch of red roses tomorrow morning. Will he I wonder. Find out next week.

Cheers and have a great week. I certainly intend to as apart from Barcelona there is Brussels to look forward to on Thursday and a lovely reunion with my dear University friends Adele and Sandra over a long weekend with our respective partners; a Frenchman, an American and a Spaniard, hahaha.

Masha

TVs and fires, interviews, social engagements, recipes, birthday celebrations and Oli back from Israel.

The finished birthday cake with far too much cherry jam and whipped cream in the middle.

Hi again

Here I am on the first Sunday in February and tomorrow is my birthday. The celebrations will be mostly today as Monday is a not a very suitable day for birthdays and also tomorrow is one of our down days. But more about the preparations and celebrations later on.

This week has been all about getting our TV signal to work better at home, as well as the fireplaces and there are lots of social engagements to mention as well as other things, but let me start at the beginning.

I actually went into the office 4 times this week which is quite a record for me and that even included Friday, something I never do. I am getting busier as the Mobile World Congress approaches in Barcelona and I will in fact be travelling there this time next week with my daughters Suzy and Oli. On Monday I went in for a meeting with my PR agency to prepare our PR plan for this year (a bit late I know, but better late than never). On Tuesday I went in for a weekly general meeting which took me 1.5h to get to and then lasted 5 minutes. To say that was a waste of time is an understatement. On Wednesday I think I also wasted my time going in. You would think not if you hear that it was for an interview with Time magazine. However I get the feeling that when we said no to the advertising the interview may well not get published. I have seen this happen before with other big international publications such as Der Spiegel, The Economist or Fortune 500. Very unprofessional and a bit sad for the trade is how I see it. I refuse, however to resort to advertising to get editorial published. Maybe I am old fashioned but I don’t think so.

On Thursday I had an interview myself which sort of tickled me pink. I mean you are supposed to be out of the job market when you are past 35 or 40 in Spain and we are in a recession with few jobs about, yet the headhunters continue to call me occasionally. That’s probably a good sign for my profession. It was for a global PR position with a top Nordic renewable energy company based in Madrid and sounded quite challenging. I turned it down though of course as right now I have it as good it gets and the headhunter actually agreed with me. I did however pass on the contact to my friend Elena the one I have coffee with once a month and whom I am trying to help find a job. I hope they give it to her.

On the home front the TV and fireplaces have been this week’s issues. We have 6 televisions in this house (far too many I know) but the signal is pretty bad and always has been despite all the aerial technicians who have been coming and going since we moved in, in 2006 and of course charging us a fortune. The bottom line is we can’t see some of the national channels and we have to do something about it before the end of analogue TV which is set for 1st March this year or so they say.

We have had an aerial man (David) in and out of the house all week trying to improve the signal. He has been up and down the roof, changed the aerial and made other technical adjustments but it seems we are back at square one. It’s very frustrating and I don’t know if there will be a solution. We are also putting in (when David gets round to it) a satellite dish for my Father to be able to enjoy British news programmes.

Talking about TV, I discovered I can watch it on my iPhone (which I am extremely happy with by the way) and was absolutely bowled over. Who then doesn’t want TV on their mobile phone? I think I might. In the car the other day whilst Eladio was filling the tank I downloaded the RTVE application and low and behold I could watch their 24 hour news programme TV 24 horas. It cannot, however, replace home TV for obvious reasons so we shall continue to battle at home until the signal works on time for 1st March.
Mobile TV (streaming) in my iPhone, very impressive.
The other headache has been our fireplace. In my blog post last week I said that Eladio had confirmed both fireplaces worked ok because the smoke went up the chimneys correctly. So on Monday he bought a range of new fireplace accessories and this week he lit one of the fires. So there we were, my Father, Eladio and I enjoying our books by the fire in the lounge and very happy with ourselves. Suddenly though there was an explosion in the chimney and very soon the whole house was filled with smoke. The house still permeates with the smell and we are now considering installing a fireplace insert. We would love to have the simulated gas fires you get in England (so cheap and so clean) and in fact brought one over only to find they are impossible to install in Spain because of the stringent gas laws here.
The lounge fireplace which we lit for the first time this week. Unfortunately it produces too much smoke in the house.
That brings me to the social engagements of the week and there have been many. On Friday I had lunch with my Nokia girlfriends, Jill, Zenaida, Susana and Ana at Clericó, an Argentinian place in Herón City. As usual I got lost going there. Unfortunately Fátima couldn’t join us (as usual should I say?). It was a great girly get together and nice prelude to the weekend. They are all doing fine. Ana is immersed in being a Mother and juggling her life work balance which is pretty difficult when you are a legal counsel for a big company like HP and have 2 small children. We all vowed to see each other more often. I hope we do. Girlfriends are important in my life as they are most of us.

On Friday I had 2 social engagements as in the evening Eladio and I also had a date with Gerardo and Irene and their spouses. They were the kids I lived with and taught English to back in 1979, imagine. It’s lovely to have reconnected again after so many years. We went to a great Portuguese restaurant called Transmontano where the speciality is “bacalhau” (cod) in all its different varieties. The next date will be at our house in April. I look forward to that.
The Portuguese restaurant Transmontano has the best bacalhau (cod) in town.
The weekend has been great so far. Yesterday we woke up to a hot air balloon going past our house. It was a lovely sunny day and I got some great pictures.
The hot air balloon that flew past our house on Saturday morning, a sight for sore eyes.
Afterwards Eladio took me out shopping for my birthday. He’s a great husband but no specialist in presents so we went to choose together. We started in Cortefiel where I bought some clothes in the sales and then went to Spain’s top and only department store, El Corte Inglés. Here we or he bought me charms for my Monet and Pandora (now complete) bracelets as well as a lovely lumberjack type shirt by Lloyd’s (ha ha ha that’s my surname).
But we also got the ingredients for my cake. Or rather mine and Juan’s as tomorrow is also our nephew and Eladio’s god son, Juan’s birthday and today we are going to have lunch at their house for the first time in years I would say. It’s going to be lovely because all of them will be there, Miguel, Sara and Juan and of course the parents, Dolores and Eladio’s brother José Antonio. Unfortunately Oli will be missing as she only gets back tonight from Israel. We will however be going out with her tonight for dinner at Mood to celebrate my birthday too.
The birthday cake ingredients.
And that brings me on the making of the cake, hence the reference to recipes in my headline. The birthday cake I made yesterday is our speciality and one both Suzy and I often make for birthdays. It’s very simple. You make or buy the sponge. The cake has 2 layers and in the middle you put jam (I like cherry but you can put what you want) and thick whipped cream (the more the merrier for my Father). The top layer gets covered with thick white icing (tate and lyle of course) and then decorated with M+Ms).

Whilst the sponge was baking I made the weekly soup. I thought I ought to record this, one because it’s delicious but two because it’s become an intrinsic part of our diet and is what my Father has for dinner every night. It’s very simple. You cook the vegetables (in this case, pumpkin, carrot, potato, leek and onion). Then you liquidise them with a splash of milk, olive oil, pepper, salt and parsley. And here is the result.
My pumpkin and vegetable soup, delicious, even if I say so myself.
That brings me to this morning when we had a lovely birthday breakfast as you can see in the picture of Gaby and Suzy. You might also notice the Emma Bridgewater pottery we ate off, lovely stuff. Our birthday breakfasts always consist of using the best tablecloth and serving hot croissants, Danish pastrys, fresh orange juice and cappuccino coffee.
Gaby and Suzy at the birthday breakfast this morning.
You can see the rest of the photos of the making of the cake and this morning’s breakfast here.

And that brings me to the end of this week’s blog post. I should also mention that Suzy’s exam went fine on Monday, so keep your fingers crossed for the next one which is on 11th February. Also Diana continues to grow and delight her parents and on 4th February she was one month old. Isn’t she lovely?
Our grand niece Diana was 1 month old on 4th February.
Oli will be back tonight from her 10 day trip to the Holy Land which has been a great experience for her. I asked her what made most impact and she said definitely Petra in Jordan as well as swimming in the Dead Sea and also visiting the RTVE correspondent’s office in Jerusalem. I’m sure they would be my highlights too. We are dying to see her and specially see her photos taken with reflex digital camera her friend Ana lent her for the trip.

And so my friends I leave you till next week and hope you all have a great one.

Cheers/Masha

Finally an iPhone, the holocaust remembered, Olivia in Israel, a bit about religion, retirement at 67 and more.

Memorial ceremony last week at Auschwitz to mark the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the most famous and terrible of all Nazi death camps. A replica Arbeit Mach Frei sign was put up to replace the original which was stolen recently. We all know what those sad and ironic German words mean: Work makes you free. Well it didn't make the poor Jewish and other prisoners free ever.
Hi again

Well here I am on yet another Sunday writing my blog. Sometimes it’s not easy to be consistent and I often have to force myself to sit down and write. Today is one of those days, plus I’ve got a headache which never helps. Two things keep me motivated to write; one, no way can I give up now if I have been writing for over 4 years weekly and, two, I sort of hope that one day my grandchildren, if I have them and I trust I will, may want to read it, to find out about their family and past and also to read about these times. Who knows?

And on that pensive thought, I begin this week’s post. As I write, my Father is upstairs enjoying a cup of tea in the kitchen and reading the second of the Millennium books, “the girl who played with fire” (Eladio is now beginning the last of the trio). Eladio is checking our two fire places to see how well the smoke goes up the chimney which I have been nagging him to do since we saw one at our friends’ house last night. We have lived her now since 2006 and have never used them, mostly because Eladio is worried about sullying the walls with the smoke. His verdict as I write is that the smoke goes up beautifully. So I am now looking forward to sitting and reading by the fire one day. Suzy is studying hard for a big exam tomorrow on Food Technology. I wish her a lot of luck. She only has 2 subjects to pass to finish her very complicated degree so tomorrow is important.

The week has not been anything special, quite normal I would say for us at least. So what have I been up to that is worth recording?

The week started well with a meeting on Monday to present my PR report for 2009. I think we did an awful lot of good things that helped the Yoigo brand. That was one of the only two days I went into the office physically. Yeah, I know, I’m so lucky to be able to work from home but also much more productive. My work life balance is perfect of course but don’t get me wrong, my superiors get their pound of flesh from the work I do for the job. Another plus for them is that I never switch off, practically never.

On Monday I got some good news from my nephew Juan who has landed a trainee job with Burson Marsteller, the number one PR agency in the world. I worked closely with BR for many years whilst at Motorola and know that it is the best school for learning the skill and climbing up the PR ladder. Good luck Juan, you deserve it.

Tuesday was the second day I went into the office, this time for the weekly development meeting; not that interesting for me, but nice to see colleagues I don’t often see. Tuesday was also the day I invited my team from our PR Agency Ketchum to our annual beginning of the year lunch. It’s mostly to thank them for the good work done the year before and to start the new year with a bit of a bang to get us motivated. Thanks Blanca, Ludi, Gustavo, Carlos and Isabel, you are a good team and I couldn’t my job in the same way without you. We had lunch by the way at La Máquina in La Moraleja, great place with excellent food.

Wednesday 27th January was a normal day for me but not for Apple. It was the day they chose to unveil the iPad, what Steve Jobs, their CEO, described as their most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device. They didn’t need to do an advertising campaign as they are masters at PR and had all the newspapers in the world writing about it for free. So what is the iPad? Difficult to describe but it’s a bit like a big iPhone without the phone and wonderful for surfing the web, listening to music, reading books or watching films. It measures nearly 10 inches and the starting price is 499 US$. I want one, of course.
Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, who proudly unveiled their latest "toy" the iPad last week.
On Wednesday 27th January I also decided that whilst the world was gushing about the iPad, it was about time I had an iPhone which has actually been in the market for 2 years but is still the most desirable phone around. Most people know me as the “cell phone queen” (not really true) but of course if I worked for Nokia I couldn’t use one. The added difficulty is that the device is linked, at least in Spain, to a line with the incumbent operator Movistar. Non sim locked versions exist but are very expensive. So how did I get one? Easy actually and I should have thought of it before. I ordered one with Movistar which is the operator I have for my private number. I just had to sign up for 18 months permanence and a minimum consumption of 25 euros per month and voilá the price was only 124 euros. I picked it up at the Spanish department store, El Corté Inglés on Thursday. A girl in the queue looked a bit surprised and warned me that I might have difficulties setting it up (because of my age presumably!). Little did she know who she was talking to? I found the episode slightly amusing but also annoying to think she thought I was too old for an iPhone.
An iPhone, still the most desirable mobile phone in the market.
So do I like it? You bet. The surfing experience is fabulous. It has some downs but the ups are so good that they compensate. The downs are the Bluetooth which only works in cars I think, the camera is only 3 mega pixels and some things you simply can’t do. On the up side the applications are fast and the surfing experience especially with social networks has no precedent with any other mobile phone I have ever used. I think everyone should have one it’s so good. Plus the look and feel is plain lovely.
The first photo taken with my iPhone. The quality is nothing special as the camera only has 3 mega pixels. I thought you might be interested to see it though as it's my desk at home where I spend so much time at my pc.
Wednesday was the day Apple chose to launch their new product. They probably didn’t realise it was also the Holocaust Memorial Day. I didn’t either and there I was on the very same day beginning to read the book called The last seven months of Anna Frank, the symbol for me and for most people of the suffering of the Jewish people at the hands of the Nazis. Spurred on by the death of Miep Gies who died recently I had ordered this book, her own memoirs as well as the BBC TV series about Anna Frank and my Amazon package arrived that day which was quite a coincidence I thought.

Events took place, as they do every year, at Auschwitz and elsewhere to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp. Every year fewer and fewer survivors attend as they got older and die. Soon there will be none left which is why it is so important that we never forget what happened. Photos like this are a testimony to that. I find it difficult to understand people who negate the fact. It was truly horrible but it happened and that should never be denied.
More than a million people died at Auschwitz
Wednesday was also memorable for us at least because of the showing on TV of the first of a two part series on Adolfo Suárez, the first democratically elected president in Spain after the death of Franco and who will go down in history for his remarkable role in the transition period from dictatorship to democracy in the late 70’s.
Adolfo Suárez, Spain's first democratically elected President after decades of dictatorship under Franco. Suárez will go down in history for the major role he played in the transition from dictatorship to democracy. Sadly today he doesn't remember the part he played as he suffers from alzheimer.
Thursday was perhaps my busiest day and most interesting day of the week. It started with a meeting in town with a gentleman called Ronnie who actually heads up Inq Mobile for Europe from his London base. It was great to talk to a Brit who’s been in the sector for about the same amount of time as me. Ronnie, it was a pleasure.

After that I had a meeting with our advertising agency, El Laboratorio, one of the most creative I have ever known. The idea was to get as much information from them as possible on the creation and development of the Yoigo cartoon dolls they use in our advertising to do a PR pitch on the story. The dolls are actually hand-made out of paper to start off with a bit like Wallace and Gromit are made first with plasticine and they are an intrinsic part of our brand.
Some of the Yoigo cartoon dolls we use in advertising, they are an intrinsic part of the brand.
As I was in town I took the opportunity to have lunch with Oli and it was nice to have some quality time together. We talked about all sorts of things, including my own Mother, her Grandmother and after we parted I received a lovely message telling me she thought she had reached the stage of her youth when she began to love her parents again!!!!! Halleluya is all I can say.

On Friday Eladio took Oli to the airport as she was flying to Israel for 10 days with her school friend Begoña to see another school friend, Miad, of Iranian origin, who is working for the Bahai World Centre in Haifa. The messages we have received so far transmit a very happy Oli. Like me, like her Grandfather, travelling is obviously in her blood. I am dying to see some photographs.

Eladio and I are now definitely on for a trip to Israel and Jordan in September and we have been looking at maps to understand the local geography as well as local travel agents’ websites to see what’s on offer and what to visit. The more we think about it the more we want to go.

Our motive is purely cultural, not at all religious although we both have, of course Eladio much more than me, a very strong background in religion. Both my grandfathers were priests (one Anglican and the other Russian Orthodox), two of my mother’s sisters were Russian Orthodox nuns (Olga in Sophia Bulgaria and Dara in New York), I was baptised in the Russian Orthodox church, I went to a Catholic school, I went to an Anglican church during some of my teenage years and it is in this religion that I was confirmed. Religion was actually one of the A’ levels I studied and then I went and married a Catholic priest. I mean that is one hell of a religious background right? We, however, are not religious at all. So do I believe in God? That’s a big question and I don’t even know the answer myself.

The weekend has been quiet too, I have been reading my new books, doing domestic chores (not the ironing or the cleaning thank goodness as dear Zena, our Ukranian home help does that), such as cooking and going for walks with Norah.

The highlight of the weekend was dinner at Juana and Oscar’s yesterday. They were colleagues at Nokia and while I was there, went to live in Mexico where their two children, Santi and Patricia were born. They came back to Spain in the summer. Fátima and Julio were also invited and as it was a sort of housewarming dinner party, I bought them a kitchen gadget I have always found very useful, an electric knife. Their new flat is a true home that Juana has worked at with great love but also a lot of dexterity since they moved in. It’s lovely, one of the nicest things being the fire place, hence my nagging at Eladio to light fires in our home.
Juana and Julio at the dinner at Juana and Oscar's place last night.
On the international news front, stories from Haiti still hit the newspapers but this topic is no longer front page news. A few more people have been rescued which seems impossible after such a long time. The earth there still trembles and I read that there have been more than 50 quakes since the first one, although of a lesser scale. I have also read that 75% of the capital, Port au Prince needs to be rebuilt and awful stories of prisoners and mentally handicapped people wandering around the rubble. Imagine.

One piece of local news was not good for me this week; the proposal by the Spanish socialist government to prolong retirement to the age of 67. That would hit me badly. I worked it out today that I would have worked 42 years by then as I started work in 1982 aged 25. That’s a lot of years worked. I will be 53 next month, on the 8th of February and I cannot imagine myself going on for another 14 years. I hope the measure does not prosper but it might. Right now there are 4 million people unemployed in Spain which is nearly 20% of the population, one of the highest rates in Europe. It seems to me if older people go on working so long young people will have less of an opportunity of finding a job. It’s a sort of catch 22 situation. On the other hand retirement at 65 came into effect some 100 years ago when the life span was shorter and pensions were needed for fewer years than they are now. Maybe that has to be addressed so that there is enough money for us all when we retire.

And on that dismal note, I finish this week’s blog post. I hope you all have a great week.

Cheers till next week
Masha

Dreaming of travelling, more on Haiti, the end of La Señora, the Queen of suspense, and other news.

The final reconciliation of Angel and Victoria in the last episode of La Señora on Monday was thwarted by the script writers with their unexpected tragic ending.

Hello again and another week of January has passed. The year is starting slowly and the weather, grey and dull and rainy, certainly does not help raise ones energy level or morale. December was so busy compared and I am getting a little bored and looking forward to action.

Action, of course, comes from travelling, our favourite activity. The world map I ordered from www.amazon.co.uk arrived to replace the one Oli took to work. I also bought a new map of Europe and this is what one corner of our kitchen looks like; a sort of Geography class where we can dream of travelling by looking at all the possible destinations.
The maps on our wall in the kitchen with which we all travel in our dreams.
My trips coming up are to Barcelona on 14th February for the Mobile World Congress. The girls will be joining me which has now become a tradition. As soon as I get back I will be off to Brussels with Eladio for the reunion with Sandra and Adele, fellow students and house mates at Nottingham University. Then in March we have New York to look forward to. Oli, by the way, will be visiting the Holy Land next week with her ex school friend Begoña. They will be staying part of the time with Miad who they both went to school with and who now works in Haifa. We too will very possibly be visiting the Holy Land, though in September, a quiet month for me. We are definitely an itchy feet family, as my Father described my brother George when we were young. It’s quite obvious the girls have inherited them from me and their Grandfather.

Unfortunately poor Grandpa, my dear Father, can only dream of travelling at the moment as now his feet won’t let him. Recently they have been giving him problems and his mobility is rather hampered. We suspect the operation on his toe may not have been a complete success and the joint that was supposed to have been cured seems not to be. He frightened us this last week when one morning he was not in the kitchen early as is his custom. Of course that got me extremely worried so when I knocked on his door I was relieved to see him sitting in his chair. But he couldn’t get up and spent that day in his room and we feared a rapid decline in his well being. Slowly though he is moving again and right now I can hear German military marching music coming from his room, a sure sign he is feeling better physically and mentally. We will, however, make an appointment to see a specialist. It’s easy to say “what can you expect at the age of nearly 91?” but he has always been healthy and walking is a way of life for him. He has always been a great traveller and it is my hope he will get better soon and we will include him in our plans for travelling somewhere he likes this year as we do every year.

Where we will not be going is to Haiti I’m afraid. The situation after 13 days is only just beginning to stabilise but aid took too long to get through. Right now the US forces have more or less taken over the running of the country if that’s what you can call it. Latest estimates are that over 100.000 people have died. Hiati was further hit this last week as another earthquake (6.0) caused more destruction. On the bright side they are still rescuing people from under the rubble. So far 132 people have been rescued and every day there is a story of another miracle. I can’t understand how they could have survived and the newspapers do not explain. They must have had water nearby. This last week a 7 year old boy called Kiki became world famous as he stretched out his arms as if in victory but actually to be handed to his sobbing Mother, from the rubble he had laid under for 8 days. His smile is contagious and a smile of victory.
Kiki, the 7 year old boy who survived after 8 days under the rubble from the Haitian earthquake. He holds out his arms in victory or in joy to to be handed to his sobbing Mother. A true miracle.
Haiti, already one of the poorest countries in the world will have to be reconstructed. Funnily enough Olivia went yesterday to the Spanish International Tourism Fair (Fitur) and surprisingly came across a small stand promoting travel to Haiti. And promoting travel was the Haitian ambassador in Spain herself so Oli took the chance to interview Madame Yollete Azor-Charles, a charming lady and passionate about her country. This is the interview. It transpires that Madame Yollete, just hours before the earthquake, was in the middle of a meeting about how to improve buildings in Haiti to withstand earthquakes and hurricanes. She is now on a mission to convince the authorities that the country's capital, Port au Prince, should be reconstructed elsewhere. Let’s hope people’s enthusiasm and solidarity for the Haiti cause lasts long enough for that to happen. I am on your side Madame Yollete.
The Haitian ambassador in Madrid who Olivia interviewed at the Fitur exhibition on Saturday.
But maybe I should start at the beginning of the week if I want to reach the part in my headline about La Señora, or rather the end of La Señora as last Monday night was the last episode. La Señora for you people not living in Spain is Spain’s best drama series I have ever seen in all the years I have lived here. It is set in the north of Spain in Asturias and begins in 1920. Above all I love the scenes on the cliffs where most of the secret amorous encounters take place. One day I swear I will visit the place which I think is called Cuerres near Ribadasella in Asturias in the north of Spain. As I wrote before in my blog, it has all the the ingredients I love, romance, history, marvellous scenery and clothes of the era, superb characters and an impossible romance between the beautiful Señora (lady) Victoria and a working class boy, Angel who is forced into the priesthood to avoid any relationship with her.
The beautiful cliffs in Cuerres, Asturias, where Angel and Victoria always met. One day I will go there.
On the rebound she marries the Marqués (Gonzalo) who is the evil protagonist of the series but whose Achilles heel is his absolute love for her. Both Victoria and Angel suffer throughout the series and only in the last episode do they finally get together something all the spectators were hoping for. In the end it is discovered that the Marqués had killed her Father and that he was an imposter and even a bigamist. Angel finally leaves the church and with the coast clear he and Victoria had a future to live for. Unfortunately the script writers of the series spoiled it all by killing Victoria off to the wrath of most of the spectators including myself. On the website forum there is huge criticism of the ending, the main feeling being that we have to suffer enough in real life to have bear an ending like this. I totally agree. The funny thing is the series is going to continue (but not until the end of the year:-)) but I cannot imagine it without the beautiful, generous, independent, courageous and loving Victoria.
Why did La Señora have to die? The scene where Angel carries Victoria, already dead, and her family and servants come running to her.
You can see more photos from the last episode here.

Monday with the tragic end of La Señora was a wash out. Tuesday brought with it the annual Nokia Spain press lunch. As you know I worked for Nokia for 6 years in Spain and was their Corporate Communications Manager. I left in very unfair circumstances, something which hit me hard at the time and has left a wound which will probably never really cure, although the job I have today is even better. I get invited because I am a mobile phone operator communications manager. I was attending for the 4th time and went with mixed feelings as I do every year. It took place at a rather dismal location called Teatro Quinto on the outskirts of Madrid and was a simple affair, very different to the unique events I used to create for the media in Nokia.

Work wise the week was quiet, too quiet really and I have spent more time than necessary working on closing my PR report for Yoigo for 2009. I would far rather already be working on my 2010 plan. Thus I had time to go the dentist twice. I probably wrote that on the night of the snow and on our way to Julio’s dinner, my crown fell out. Tuesday was my 3rd visit, this time to measure my teeth for a new crown (hate that part as it always makes me feel sick) but it was aborted as I was made to wait more than an hour. Thus I went back on Friday and thankfully the measurement part is now over. I think I have 2 more visits which all seems a lot for just one tooth. I also had time to go to the hairdresser, something most women love but which I hate, nearly as much as the dentist. However it was time to hide the roots (oh yes when you are in your 40's onwards you have roots in your hair which is the grey or white area you have to dye every now and again unless you don’t mind showing yourself to the world with your natural greying hair. I do not). So why do I hate it you might ask? Basically because I find it a waste of time, one of those tasks you have to do, like filling the car tank but which I don’t particularly enjoy. Plus I don’t really like anyone else touching my hair. Hopefully the hairdo will now last me a couple of months. What I have retained is the cut; short at the back and longer at the front.

Friday was my most active day. I met my friend Elena for churros (very fattening sort of delicious fritter cum donut). It was my up day so shouldn’t have mattered however lately I am not losing as much weight as I should. I know that’s because I ‘m eating too much on both the up days and down days. That will have to stop. Elena needed some cheering up in her job hunting but it’s not easy. I wish her lots of luck but mostly a positive attitude and a will to enjoy her time despite not having a job. But that’s easier said than done.

On Friday too I had a girly lunch with Suzy and Oli and we went to Ars Vivendi in nearby Majadahonda. It’s a nice cosy little place with excellent Italian food. Friday was certainly a day for food as in the evening Eladio and I went out for dinner too. We went to Mood where we spent the last of this month’s restaurant vouchers that are a job perk. We got back home in town to see the second half of film we have watched over and over again through the years called “Los Santos Inocentes” - (the holy innocents) about rural Spain in the 70’s and the domination of the landed gentry over the peasants who worked for them. It is a masterpiece directed by Mario Camus and based on the book with the same name by one of Spain’s best living writers, Miguel Delibes.
Los Santos Inocentes, one of my all time favourite Spanish films.
This week was also the week I discovered a new writer and now want to read anything by her I can get my hands on. A chance remark from a friend in Facebook about a book called “Daddy’s little girl” by Mary Higgins Clark had me order it on Amazon.co.uk. As I read it and praised the author in my Facebook status another friend commented, “ah yes, the Queen of suspense”. And indeed she is. Her books are basic “who dunnits” but superbly written and keep you hooked from the first page to the last and are thus hugely entertaining. Since then I have ordered more and the other day read my second book by her called “Where are the children” which I highly recommend. I am now well into my third called “A stranger is watching you”. And because I have become hooked on her books, this very morning I ordered another 4 or 5. It's not exactly high brow but I am like my Mother and can enjoy both.

And now I must leave you to carry on reading “A stranger is watching you” and enjoy the rest of this Sunday which is fast coming to an end.

I hope you all have a great week. Me too, I very much hope.

Till next time
Masha

The week Haiti was devastated by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake, a personal implication and other news.

A ray of hope in the midst of the catastrophe, 2 year old Redjeson Hausteen Claude being lifted out of the rubble by the Spanish fireman and rescuer Felix del Amo on his first mission abroad.
Hello again,

My blog last week was all about the snow, but whilst we were enjoying it on Monday, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake almost devastated the impoverished and poorest country in the American continent, the small French speaking nation of Haiti located together with the Dominican Republic on what is known as the “Spanish Island” in the Caribbean. Haiti has suddenly become the country the whole worlds’ eyes are on as happens only when countries like this suffer natural catastrophes. The United Nations has already said it is the worst tragedy they have ever had to face. The UN itself, or rather the MINUSTAH (the UN Mission for stabilisation in Haiti) lost many members of its mission when its own building was also destroyed.
The building of the UN mission in Haiti which was totally destroyed by the earthquake last Monday.
It is difficult to calculate the destruction and the exact death toll in a country whose population can only be guessed at (some 10 million) as there are no registers for the living or the dead. Statistics of the dead fluctuate between 40.000 and 150.000 and buildings destroyed appear to be one in every three. In a country which has a history of natural disasters and where over 70% live below the poverty line with less than 2 euros per day, Monday’s earthquake seems especially unfair.

Aid is taking its time to help the desperate and sometimes violent population as there is a total lack of coordination and a scarcity of petrol to transport the aid and chaos reigns at the airport of Port au Prince, Haiti’s capital and the border with the Dominican Republic.

And here I am writing this Sunday afternoon 5 days after the quake and feeling totally involved. You will ask why. For more than one reason is the answer. Of course events like this, and I specially remember the Tsunami on Boxing Day in 2004, always have an impact on me. But when we remembered that Carolina, our neighbour of many years at our last house, was living in Haiti, we suddenly felt involved. Carolina works in Haiti for the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and is married to Luis Eduardo, a Venezuelan, who works for the UN Mission there too. They have 2 little girls called Carlota and Ximena aged 3 and 1 year old.
Luis Eduardo holding Carlota and Carolina holding Ximena just as they stepped off the Spanish repatriation flight from Haiti. They were lucky to survive the earthquake.
We were very happy to hear they had survived and when Olivia who, as you know, works for www.rtve.es heard this, she immediately got in touch with the family to cover their story. Carolina’s parents Dulcinea and Eduardo and their son and daughter Eduardo and Graciela collaborated from the start and Olivia even went with them to meet Carolina and her family off the repatriation flight organised by the Spanish Government yesterday, a very emotional moment. Tears come to my eyes just by looking at the photos and my heart goes out to Dulcinea and Eduardo who have literally gone through hell as they did not get news of their daughter and family’s survival for 48 hours. Finally she was able to send them a text message which said: “we are all ok, terrible catastrophe, kisses”. Imagine!
Carolina reunited with her family. The joy and emotion on the faces of Carolina and her Father Eduardo are so vivid as is the relief on the face of Dulcinea, Carolinas Mother as she holds her grandchild tight as they all came off the plane which repatriated them from Haiti. This family were our neighbours for nearly 20 years in our last house. Our hearts go out to them and we are so relieved that Carolina, her husband Luis Eduardo and little girls Carlota and Ximena survived the catastrophe.

You can read the article Oli wrote here (in Spanish). In short Luis Eduardo was lucky to survive as in the moment of the earthquake he was not in the UN building but of course lost many of his colleagues. Carolina was at work when it happened and miraculously was able to get out unscathed physically but emotionally very shocked. Their little girls too survived although Ximena has refused to eat since.

Luis Eduardo who appeared yesterday on Informe Semanal (the top Spanish news programme of the week) together with some of Carolina’s colleagues as she was in no state to take part, told viewers he flew to Spain to bring back his wife and children but that within a week he would be returning to Haiti as “there is a lot of work to be done”. A very special man transcends here. Oli also organised their appearance on the programme and has been totally involved in their story and in this infernal disaster.

For my part I have contributed just a bit by communicating and coordinating with the Spanish Red Cross my company Yoigo’s efforts to do our bit. The first measure taken was to offer free calls for all our customers to any number in Haiti. Of course we are aware that most lines will probably be down so we took another step by setting up an SMS premium number for our customers to send messages. If they send the letters CR to the number 5280 we will donate the cost of every message (1.04 euros incl VAT) to the Spanish Red Cross for aid in Haiti. In fact I have spent the better part of this weekend on this project and feel happy to have done so. As it’s the weekend I have only been able to post this on Facebook and Twitter but tomorrow Monday we will publish it further.

There have, however, been a few rays of sunshine in this disaster. After the 72 hour mark it is very difficult for anyone to survive under the rubble without water. One case, the rescue of the 2 year old boy, Redjeson Hausteen Claude, made the headlines round the world with the photo of the Spanish fireman Félix del Amo, on his first mission abroad, lifting him out to hand him over to his Mother. The face of the little boy tells more than a thousand words and I bet Félix del Amo will keep this moment forever in his heart. Félix, I would have done anything to be you at that moment. I take my hat off to you and the other rescuers. This is the picture that illustrates my blog this week and I chose it because I would prefer to have this image in my retina to remember the Haitian disaster than any other and there are many horrific ones.
A miracle and ray of hope in the Haitain disaster - the 2 year old boy, Redjeson Hausteen Claude, being handed to his Mother just after being rescued by the Spanish fireman Félix del Amo and his colleagues.
Andrea Loi, a Chilean worker for the UN in Haiti, was not so lucky. Andrea was a friend of a friend of mine, Paola and we have been thinking about her all week. As I write now I heard her body has just been found. She must have been a colleague of Luis Eduardo. How terrible.

Writing anything after this seems banal. But actually there are 2 pieces of news this week that also had an emotional impact on me and they are to do with the 2nd world war, a topic which forever fascinates me as I think you already know and they are certainly not banal.

Miep Gies did not live to hear about the earthquake as she died aged 100 on the same day, last Monday 12th January. You probably know she was Otto Frank’s secretary and the person who kept the Frank family and friends fed and cared for during their terrible time in hiding in Amsterdam. Miep Gies, a wonderful woman, was actually the person to pick up Anna Frank’s diary when they were caught and she gave it to Anna’s Father after she died. Miep Gies wrote her own memoirs in a book called Anne Frank Remembered which is well worth reading. Published in 1947, the Diary of Anne Frank became the best-selling non-fiction book in the world for reasons we can all understand. I mourn Miep Gies’ death of course as I have always admired her courage.
Miep Gies, the Dutch lady who cared for the Franks and their friends during their hide away during the 2nd world war, and who became the guardian of Anne Franks diary died on Monday 12th January, the same day as the Haitian earthquake, aged 100.

Another survivor of the Nazis and there are not many left, was Helen Lewis, who died just 3 days after Miep Gies on 15th January aged 93.
Helen Lewis, the dancer whose talent delivered her from almost certain death at a Nazi concentration camp died last week aged 93.

I read Helen’s amazing story in her book called “A time to speak” which I also highly recommend.
She was a dancer whose talent actually delivered her from almost certain death at Auschwitz. May she rest in peace and I say that from the bottom of my heart.

Now it’s time for a piece of good news in this blog post, something to cheer it up. So what better than a sports victory? You probably know I am sports’ enthusiast too so was very happy to hear that the bi world car rally champion, Carlos Sainz, has just won the Dakar Race and is the first Spaniard to do so. That is a great feat and another great sports victory for Spain. I’m happy for him and for this country of course.
The Spanish hero, Carlos Sainz, the first Spaniard to win the Dakar car race.
This week which for me has been dominated by the Haitian disaster otherwise went past in quite a routine way. I lost a crown in my mouth so will now be visiting the dentist to complete treatment for a new one. I ordered some more Emma Bridgewater pottery to increase my ever growing collection. Here you can see a couple of photos of what it looks like now. Actually I broke one of the mugs I just received and promptly ordered more. I am getting addicted. As a lot of EB fans say, “there is nothing nicer to eat off” and in part I agree.

My Emma Bridgewater collection as it looks now after the arrival of my new order. Lovely to eat off.
So what else did I do this week? I went into the office for a couple of meetings and work wise the beginning of this year seems to be a bit slow. I had lunch with my Events Agency team, Quinta Esencia at a new place in town called Castellana DF, thanks Bea, Cris, Gloria and Nuria. I also had lunch with my Press Tracking agency (thanks Víctor and Pedro) at one of my favourites near home, in Boadilla, called El Convento and with Suzy at El Buey. And yesterday Eladio and I had a nice quiet dinner at La Vaca Argentina. So, yeah, a lot of eating; ah but I’ve been careful and kept to my Up and Down diet which is working slowly but surely.

Finally and on another gastronomic note, I received this month's wine from my wine Club. I belong to Spain’s biggest one which is called Vino Selección and the wine I got this week is lovely. It’s called Idrias and is from the Somontano region, great. Every month there is a different collection of wine to order if you want.

And that is it for this week. Let’s hope that from now till next Sunday aid begins to get through and Haiti starts to emerge slowly from the worst catastrophe it has ever experienced and which has made such an emotional impact on me.

Until next week
Masha