Armistice Day, interviewed by “PR Noticias”, the top ten most powerful passports and the top ten most visited countries in the world, Olivia reporting on the story behind this year’s Spanish Christmas lottery advert, a visit to a funeral parlour, a surprise for Suzy, dinner with Ana and Tomy, a Hispano Russian English afternoon tea and other stories

 

Hispano Russian English afternoon tea with our new neighbours on Saturday

Hi everyone,

I hope you’ve all had a good week. Mine has probably been the busiest of the year so far, but it’s also been a lot of fun. 

Monday was a holiday in Madrid, thanks to the local patron Saint Almudena.  I spent most of the day working and poor Oli had to work too for her TV programme as TV programmes are rarely cancelled on bank holidays. 

Monday was also Armistice Day the day that marks the end of the First World War; the eleventh day of the eleventh month which ended on November 11^th 1918. It was probably one of the deadliest wars in history where 7 million people lost their lives in the conflict.  In the UK where Armistice Day is linked to Remembrance Sunday, the Tower of London put on an amazing display, designed by Paul Cummins, called “Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red” where there were 888.246 ceramic poppies planted in the moat to represent the life of every British military soldier who died in The Great War.  When the display comes down, don’t worry about the poppies as each and every one of them has been bought by members of the public as a keepsake. There is a wonderful video you can watch if you haven’t already seen it.

Poppies at the Tower of London

On Tuesday I had a 10 am meeting in Madrid with some of our PR and advertising agencies.  It rained cats and dogs and was so cold it felt like being in England hahaha. That morning too we sent out a press release announcing that Yoigo customers can now enjoy 4G roaming in the Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Estonia.  As I tweeted the news I got immediate response from other tweeters saying yeah fine but it would be very expensive.  I was happy to be able to reply that actually, no, there is no extra fee for using 4G and our roaming data tariff in the EU and associated countries is only 3.6 euros a day for up to 50mb.

It was on Tuesday that my interview with PR Noticias was published.  It came about after I was given the award as the best communications director in the Spanish telecoms sector.  I loved the headline they used from the interview: “it is unpardonable that a communications director does not have a twitter account”. I should have added “and use it”.  It's both text and video, the latter making me cringe when I hear my voice. 

Interview with PR Noticias

Lately I have been able to see more of Olivia live on TV as the end of my walk usually coincides with her programme (Aquí en Madrid – TeleMadrid 19.30-20h Monday to Friday).  So, on Tuesday I saw her reporting on a nasty case of child abuse but also an interesting one on how the control centre of the Madrid Metro works.

Olivia reporting from the Control Centre of the Madrid Metro this week

My curiosity was piqued when I saw a piece of news that day entitled, “the top most powerful passports in the world”.  I have always thought that colour was something to do with the importance of a passport, but this study had actually based the ranking on the travel freedom each passport allows (the number of countries they can visit without a visa).  You can read the findings in the link above.  I was pretty happy to see where my UK passport ranks – number 1!  Here are the top four positions: 1) UK, Sweden and Finland, 2) Germany, USA, Denmark and Luxemburg, 3) Italy, Belgium and Holland, 4) Spain, Ireland, Canada, France, Japan, Norway and Portugal.

The three most powerful passports in the world according to the study above.

On the same link I found another study, this time about the top 10 most visited countries and again my curiosity was piqued.  Spain came very high in position number 3, after France and the US! This is the ranking: 1) France 84.7 million, 2) US 69.8, 3) Spain 60.7, 4) China 55.7, 5) Italy 47.7, 6) Turkey 37.8, 7) Germany 31.5, 8) UK 31.2, 9) Russia 28.4, 10) Thailand 26.5.  Does it surprise you?  It does me.  I would have thought more people visit London than Paris but I must be wrong.

On Wednesday morning I had to go into Madrid again this time for a brainstorming session with my PR agency Ketchum to come up with creative and newsworthy ideas for a special PR Plan I have been asked to submit. The brainstorming continued over lunch at El Almirante de Bogavante where we were joined by Cris, Bea and Gloria from my events agency.

That evening I also watched Olivia on the TV.  That day she did a lovely report on the story behind the making of this year’s Spanish Christmas lottery advert.  It was filmed at a modest little bar in the humble neighbourhood of Villaverde, a working class area on the outskirts of Madrid.  The advert has been a huge success and has gone viral on internet like many other big brands’ Christmas adverts such as John Lewis, Marks and Spencer’s or Sainsbury’s (if you haven’t seen the latter they are good). The story is very emotional; the owner of the bar where the biggest lottery prize has been won, generously keeps a lottery ticket for a local customer who had forgotten to buy one.  The real bar is called La Muralla and is owned by a Colombian couple.  You can see the advert here and Olivia’s report on the story here.

Olivia reporting on the story of how the Spanish Christmas lottery ad was made 

On Thursday I had a long morning meeting in Madrid with my PR agency. It was a joint effort session working on the presentation of our PR Plan.  Afterwards I rushed to my next appointment in town, this time with the organisers and jury of which I am a member of the “Elocuent personal communication Prizes 2014”.  As soon as that was over, I rushed again this time to a lunch appointment with my events agency where we had another brain storming session, this time about an up and coming press event. On my way home, once on the elegant Velázquez Street I spied a beautiful red wool jumper in the H+M shop window.  I just had to have it.  Later I thought Olivia would love it too so left it on her bed as a present.  She wore it the next day and I know I can borrow it anytime from her.  It’s lovely to be able to wear each other’s clothes!

I had to rush home on Thursday evening to go with Eladio to the Funeral Parlour in nearby Alcorcón.  Sadly my new Russian neighbor, Katya’s Father had died whilst he and his wife Tanya were visiting them. You may remember I mentioned they were coming to have coffee with us a week or so ago. But that was not to be as Victor Sheynin (a famous Russian film director) aged 75 was very ill and died quietly in hospital in Madrid on Wednesday night.  He was to be cremated here and his ashes taken to Moscow for a full blown funeral with the Russian film industry. It was a very sad occasion.  As I commented to Katya, we are never prepared in life for the death of our parents.  R.I.P. Victor. I am glad I managed to see you for a few minutes last week and to say hello in my faltering Russian. I am sorry my Father never met you.  To cheer them up Eladio and I invited our neighbours to afternoon tea on Saturday afternoon.

I cheered up on the way home when I got a message from Olivia to say she had been allowed a day off on Monday 1^st December to be able to go with me for a surprise visit to London to see Suzy.  Once home I spent time on my PC buying our tickets.  We wanted to keep this as a surprise but over dinner both Oli and I agreed it would be better to tell Suzy so that she has something to look forward to.  On the other hand logistically it would be better all round as Suzy and Gabor don’t have a sofa bed in their lounge and if we had arrived late on the Friday night, we would have had to sleep on the floor. Suzy was overjoyed when she heard the news.  I am so excited.  I realized too that it will be the first time ever that Olivia and I will be in London together.  Great!  Later I heard that my sister-in-law Dolores and my niece Sara will be in London too the same weekend.  That is quite a coincidence but when I heard that another niece Paula and her boyfriend will be in London too, I was even more delighted.  We shall do our best to organize a family reunion in London that weekend.  Meanwhile I am mentally doing my packing in the cabin sized luggage Easy Jet allows you on board and in which you now also have to pack your handbag.  Flying these days is no longer the joy it was some years ago. 

Friday seemed like a time trial to me as I had so many things to fit in the day.  First there was my morning walk, then a conference call, then a meeting with University students who wanted to interview me for a project they are doing on crisis communication.  Then I had another conference call with Stockholm this time during my lunch hour!  After lunch I had to do the weekly shopping with Fátima and somehow squeeze in my second walk of the day before getting ready to go out to dinner with our friends Ana and Tomy.

The interview with the students was a lot of fun.  We met in a bar in Boadilla and they remarked that their teacher had said it wasn’t very professional to meet me in a bar and why weren’t they meeting me in the company headquarters!  Their answer came when they met me when I told them that I generally work at home and that these days you don’t need to go to work to be productive.  Even so their teacher has insisted on a photo with me at Yoigo, so I am arranging that on Monday.

With the students who interviewed me on Friday

The group of students was very sweet, asking me lots of theoretical questions about crisis communications.  I tried my best to tell them that in the real world we don’t use communications manuals and protocols, that it’s more a question of common sense. After the interview I asked them what their impression was and I was told that I had totally “wowed” them with my real life answers.  I would be interested to see their project.

The highlight of Friday was dinner out with Ana and Tomy at La Taberna de Elia in Pozuelo.  I used to work with Ana at Nokia where she was head of Legal.  Today she works for HP and is happily married with two beautiful children to Tomy the most entrepreneurial person I know.  Apart from other things, right now he is immersed in selling and distributing a revolutionary street cleaner to remove chewing gum from pavements!  Dinner was great, there was so much to talk about as we hadn’t seen each other as couples for many years, although I had seen Ana at some of our “ex Nokia girls lunches”.  We were excited to tell them about the building of our house in Montrondo. By the way a lot of progress has been happening lately and the builders are about to start on the walls inside.  I did a collage this week to show the back and the front of the house before work started and how it looks today.  We told Ana and Tomy that we would love to have them as guests in Montrondo when the house is finished.

Our house in Montrondo from the front and back - above as it is now and below as it was when we started.

We promised when we said goodbye that we would meet again soon and not leave it as many years as last time.  I sincerely hope that is true.

Dinner with Tomy and Ana on Friday was one of the highlights of the week

Meanwhile in London Suzy was having a night out on the tiles with two of her ex Spanish flat mates, Chati and Mónica. 

Mónica (left) Chati (in the middle) and Suzy (right) having a night out in London on Friday

They went to a Spanish place called Sevilla Mia in Tottenham Court Road and I was pleased to see Suzy say on Facebook the next day that she had no voice left.  I’m so glad she had a good time.  I certainly look forward to a good time with her when we go in two weeks’ time.

Saturday was busy but a great day.  I left Fátima to make our lunch and escaped with Oli on a shopping expedition to Centro Oeste in Majadahonda.  Oli indulged in two coats and a few tops whilst I only got a jumper, surprisingly from Pull and Bear where I never buy anything. 

In the afternoon our neigbours were coming for afternoon tea which was to be a Hispano, Russian and Anglo affair.  My Father was much looking forward to the occasion and was ready and sitting in his wheel chair in the lounge half an hour before they came. To entertain him I lent him my kindle to see if he could manage to read on it. He was which pleased me surprisingly.  Here is a lovely photo of him with my kindle.

My Father trying out my kindle whilst waiting for our visitors to arrive for afternoon tea yesterday

Soon Julio, Katya, her Mother Tanya and their very well behaved boys Fiodor and Ivan aged 11 and 7 respectively arrived.  Russians never come empty handed and in they walked with a cake, a box of chocolates and some Russian fridge magnets (little do they know I have a collection of fridge magnets!). The photo illustrating this post which was taken by Olivia is of all of us together at our house yesterday.  It was a great opportunity for my Father to practice his Russian of course, although as he is very hard of hearing he couldn’t join much of the conversation.  I tried to involve him as much as I could and when the boys were eating the raspberrries and bilberries I tested my Father’s Russian by asking him what “bilberry” was in Russian.  His answer was “chernika” which was right according to our guests although apparently there are two names for the small and larger varieties.  Really his memory is amazing and is perhaps the secret behind his ability to learn so many languages.  He is fluent in English, Russian, French, German, Norwegian and latterly Spanish; something very unusual for a British person I should add.

There was so much to say, so many things to learn about each other but I suspect we have neighbours who will become our friends.  You may be interested to know that they are TV advertisement producers and that they met on a set in Andorra.  I sincerely hope Katya and I, who are now linked on Facebook, can become good friends.  It was so exciting for us to have Russian visitors.  It reminded me of my darling Mother Yelena Andreivna who I would have died for to be with us yesterday. I told our neighbours part of her story, the most poignant part being when she left Bulgaria in her early 20’s to escape to Germany during WW2 and said goodbye to her beloved Father, Andrei Lieven whom she was never to see again. On my walk this morning I shed a few tears for my Mother.  One day I promise I will write her story.

To add a fun note to the story of the afternoon tea, when our neighbours left, we went out into the street to see them off.  Meanwhile Elsa and Norah our dogs managed to get into the lounge and polished off half of the leftovers! Trust them.  Fátima told me later that Norah was the culprit. She usually is hahaha.

Today is Sunday and it is sunny and clear.  At breakfast I looked up a book Tomy had recommended about a Muslim from Iraq who had converted to Christianity and all the problems that entailed.  The book is called “The Price to Pay” by Joseph Fadelle and is now downloaded on my kindle ready for me to start reading this afternoon.

The next book I will be reading on my kindle

Before my morning walk I had to work on final touches of my PR plan and then come home to write this post.  Luckily again for me, Fátima who has left for her two days off, has prepared our lunch which will be a Russian dish (glupsy – stuffed cabbage in tomato sauce) one of Olivia’s favourites.

Meanwhile in London, Suzy just sent me a photo of her Czech friend Jane.  They had just made a vegan cake together with Gabor.  I am a little upset that Suzy has now gone from being a vegetarian to being a vegan but can only respect her decision.

Suzy and Jane this  morning

Next week promises to be busy too with lots of trips to the office and meetings, one with the students for a photo with me at Yoigo tomorrow.So, I shall leave you now to go and have lunch with the family.

Hope you enjoyed the story of this week and “see” you again next Sunday. Cheers till then

Masha.

Nik Wallenda the tight rope daredevil, to Barcelona and back, the horrors of North Korea, Suzy in Cambridge where it all started, Sunday 9th November; Remembrance Sunday, a pseudo referendum in Catalonia, the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and other stories.

 

In Badalona on Wednesday night with Grainne

Hi everyone,

Here I am again another Sunday writing my weekly diary.  The week has been busy with lots happening on the home front and in the news.

Last Sunday we came home from a great weekend in Montrondo where the weather behaved perfectly.  Just as we left though the clouds formed and rain began and it poured down on most of the journey home.  There was a lot of traffic because of All Saint’s Day, as many people, like us, had made the journey to their villages to place flowers on the graves of their loved ones. 

Meanwhile in Chicago, often called “the windy city”, a tight rope walker called Nik Wallenda became famous the world over for crossing the city’s sky line with no net to catch him if he fell.  The wire was 454ft long and went from the Marina Tower West, up a 19 degree incline, to the Leo Burnett building on the south side.  Not only did he successfully complete the walk with winds up to 30mph, but he did it again, this time blind fold!  60.000 people watched him live and many more on TV and all through the week his feat has been international news. 

Nik Wallenda, crossing the Chicago skyline blindfolded last Sunday!!

I had never heard of the 35 year old tight rope walker but later read he comes from an Austrian family where the “profession” has been in the family for over 100 years.  Some of them fell and were injured, his grandfather died, but Nik Wallenda, who has done other daredevil crossings over the Grand Canyon, the Niagra Falls and even over shark infested waters, so far has kept his balance.  If you haven't seen the video of his brave feat, here is the link. 

Monday was my fasting day and I had a headache throughout.  In the evening after our walk, instead of reading which is what I usually do, I decided to cook, the only thing you can do when you have a headache.  I made “perushki” (little Russian pies), “bitki” (Russian hamburgers), lentil stew Spanish style and a cream of vegetable soup.  It was to keep the family fed for a few days and part of it I froze for “rainy days”. Part of it, though, was enjoyed by Eladio, Miguel and Olivia at dinner that night.

On Monday I managed to see a TV report Olivia did on fraudulent electricity bills.  She thought it was a very boring topic but actually it was very informative.

Olivia reporting on customer complaints of electricity bills on TV this weeek

On Tuesday I was up early for a 10 o’clock “breakfast” meeting in Madrid at a fashionable café called “Dray Martina” which I thought was a funny name and should really be written “Dry Martini”.  There must be a story there.  The meeting was very productive and it was a nice sunny morning and I enjoyed being in town.

Wednesday 5^th November of course was “bonfire night”, really called “Guy Fawkes’ night” but I was hardly aware of it as since I have l lived in Spain I have never celebrated it here.  But once I realized, memories of my childhood experiences came to me of my Father letting off fireworks in our garden or attending the street bonfires and of home-made toffee or baked potatoes which are, or at least were in my days, some of the traditional food eaten that night. 

It was on Wednesday that I went to Barcelona.  I was up early to catch the 10.30 high speed train which would arrive in the Catalonian capital at 13.15 with just one stop in Zaragoza.  I was going there to look for locations for two events I will be organizing at the beginning of March during the Mobile World Congress; a party and a press conference.  Gloria and Miguel, from my events agency QuintaEsencia, were already there and had scouted some previously selected locations to show me.

On the way I began reading an amazing book I had downloaded on my kindle; the story of Shin Dong-Hyuk who was born inside a terrible prison camp in North Korea and is the only person ever to escape from Camp 14.

What a book!

My interest in the fate of North Koreans began with the book I read recently by the BBC journalist who visited the country pretending to be a teacher.  He gave some insight into the terror state run by the Kim family but he was only able to see what the official tourist guides would let him see, although he does include information from North Koreans who have managed to escape, all of them through China as it is impossible to enter South Korea.  Whilst reading Shin’s story which had me gripped and has had a big impact on me, I read a reference to another defector’s story called The Aquariums of Pyongyang which tells Kang Chol-Hwan’ account of imprisonment in the Yodok concentration camp.  This book got into the hands of President George W. Bush (the father) who later invited Kang to the White House and described the book as “one of the most influential books I read during my presidency”.

The book I am reading now

What really upsets me whilst reading these accounts is that the world looks the other way whilst the Kim absolute dictators (Kim Il-Sung (1948-1994) Kim Jong Il (1994-2011) Kim Jong Un (2011-) rule over their subjects with much more than an iron fist.  The outside world is only worried about their nuclear weapons, South Korea would like to reunite the two countries but is not really keen as it would cost them a lot of money like it did Germany, but just no one seems to care that these Hitler like monsters starve most of their population and hundreds and thousands are banished to concentration camps the Nazis would have been proud of.  Society is built on casts of people depending on how loyal they are to the party and their own family backgrounds.  If someone commits the terrible sin such as watching a South Korean dvd, they will be banished to the camps but also their families. Those who commit the crime are “irredeemables” and get the worst treatment whilst their families are considered “redeemables” and their treatment is only slightly better.  Here they are programmed to become “squealers” and live on a diet of just three types of root vegetable where rice is considered a luxury. Most of them are in the camps for life which is why Shin’s story is utterly amazing.  The world looked the other way during the Second World War whilst the holocaust happened and is again looking the other way whilst innocent people live and eventually die in the gulags of North Korea. 

Grandfather, Father and Son, the frightening Kims of North Korea

Reading Escape from Camp 14 kept me occupied throughout the train journey.  It was sunny when I arrived at the Sants train station.  From there I took a taxi to my hotel and then walked to the restaurant called Windsor where Miguel and Gloria were waiting for me. We had a lovely lunch there on the terrace.  It was sunny and a bit warmer than in Madrid.  In the afternoon we saw many locations and must have walked over 12km but unfortunately none of them seemed suitable.  Thankfully we would have the next morning to look at more.  So, exhausted with all the walking and visiting, I made my way back to my hotel. I passed Mango and decided to have a little look as I had recently been to Mango when I went shopping with Anne my Finnish friend and had seen lots of things I liked. I never used to like this shop or find anything suitable and wondered if something had changed. One of the shop assistants confirmed my suspicions by telling me that the designers were a completely new team.  There and then I indulged in two dresses and a cardigan.  You will not be surprised to see that one of them is a striped jersey dress!

My new dress from Mango

That evening I had a dinner date with Grainne my friend from our Bradford days who lives in Badalona.  She has just moved house and now lives on the sea front with her son Marcel and “baby”, Tommy, her little dog.  It was great to see her as always.  The photo illustrating this post was taken by her whilst we had dinner at “La Bota de Aragón”.  We were the only diners.  Every time I visit Barcelona I try and see Grainne and this time would be no exception.  It is great to catch up on our news and being with her feels like being with the sister I do not have. 

Grainne and the love of her life "Tommy"

I took a taxi back to the city. I was wondering what the locals thought about the so-called illegal referendum and asked my taxi driver whether he was going to vote. I had seen many Catalonian flags in favour of voting which is happening today, 9^th November. As it was declared unconstitutional it has been turned into a botched sort of consultation.  My taxi driver said he would as if it was the most normal thing in the world.  I then asked him where he would be voting (something not very clear) and he said in different places from usual elections; like schools.  I didn’t dare reply that actually schools were the usual location for elections.  After that I kept my mouth shut only to congratulate him on Barcelona’s win against Ajax in the Champions League!

On Thursday morning I enjoyed my breakfast in a very quiet dining room but then suddenly a young couple came to sit at the table next to me.  The woman was dressed in a complete cover up burka and I wondered how she was going to go about having her breakfast whilst her uncovered husband tucked in to a plate piled high with food.  In the end she didn’t eat as I suppose she would have been embarrassed trying to lift up the flap over her mouth.  In places like London I’m sure she wouldn’t but you must know that, for now at least, in Spain there are very few women dressed like her.  I was furious at the scene and felt like telling the husband off but of course didn’t dare.  To add to my frustration I couldn’t take a photo either.  No doubt she later had breakfast in her room but that was no consolation for me I’m afraid.

I had a good two hours on Thursday morning to get up to speed on my work, pack and check out on time to meet Gloria and Miguel who had more locations to show me.  This time I liked every one of them and by 13h, we had chosen the two we liked best.  Our train wasn’t until 16.25 so we walked to the Port Vell (old Port) to have lunch at Cal Pinxo which is a favourite of mine in Barcelona.  Here we had lunch outside; amazing for November.

Lunch at Cal Pinxo with Miguel and Gloria

We enjoyed our lunch so much, chatting away that we left a bit late to pick up our luggage from the hotel and be at the station on time.  We caught the 16.25 high speed train (AVE) literally by the skin of our teeth but we caught it; two minutes before it pulled out of the station!  It was a bit of a lesson, so it won’t happen again I promise myself.

On the journey back I finished reading Escape from Camp 14 and started on The Aquariums of Pyongyang and in no time we were at the Atocha train station in Madrid.  It was 18.55 when we pulled in.  The trip back was 2.5h only as the train was direct. I really do love the Spanish “AVE”.

It was on Thursday that Whatsapp (instant messaging service) that so many of us use, myself included, introduced the blue double tick (or check) which now means your message has been read.  Before that there were two types of ticks; one grey one which meant the message had been sent and two grey ones which meant it had been delivered although many people thought the latter meant it had been read. There has been a lot of fuss and criticism about this but I don’t really mind.

Whatsapp introduced the double blue tick on Thursday which is proving unpopular

On Friday I had lots to do, workwise.  I was delighted to hear from Suzy that she was going to Cambridge for the day with her friend David and new friend Riley, a Canadian dietitian she had met when working for Apple. 

Suzy with her friends in Cambridge on Saturday

I reminded her she had once been there when she was a baby with my parents.  You see Cambridge is where it all started. My Father studied German and Scandinavian languages at Selwyn College (a Church of England college – after all he was the son of a clergyman) and it was in Cambridge that he met my Mother, a Russian refugee, at the secret Russian courses for the Armed Forces and possible future spies where they both taught.  They married in Cambridge and bought a house at 291 Milton Road (I didn’t remember the number but my 95 year old Father did!) which is where I was born in 1957.  So I encouraged Suzy to visit the colleges, go punting and see the bikes which are everywhere and to see the town with the eyes of someone whose whole family started there in Cambridge.  I think she did and loved the city although it rained all day.

Suzy in Cambridge

I had a quick lunch that day with my Father and Eladio but had to rush off quickly as I had a 3.30pm meeting in Madrid to visit a spectacular location for a launch event in December.  Then I went to see a new venue called Casa Carolo which is part owned by Bea from my events agency and which will be opening shortly.  I loved it Bea, specially the décor.

On Friday night Eladio and I went out to dinner as we usually do.  This time our choice was La Vaca Argentina in Las Rozas where we were greeted by the staff like old friends.  It was a super dinner to wind off a very busy week.

On Saturday morning at breakfast I was very moved to read a story about a dying woman who was reunited with her horse for the last time at a hospital in Wigan in the north of England.  The whole thing was organized by the hospital’s “bereavement liaison specialist”.  Just to know that hospitals have someone specialized in bereavement is amazing.  I wish they had them here in Spain.  No way would anyone at a hospital here bring you your horse to say goodbye.  There is a lot less respect for a animals.  Not so long ago, the dog “Excalibur” belonging to the Spanish nurse with Ebola, Teresa Romero, was put down without her consent.  So I loved this picture and story which I want to share with you here.

The most touching story of the week

Sheila Marsh, a terminal cancer patient at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary in Wigan, was granted her last wish by arranging a visit from two of her horses.  The 77 year old woman, hardly able to speak, gently called her favourite horse, Bronwen who came up to her and nuzzled her cheek, his way of giving her a kiss to say goodbye.  Sheila has worked with horses all her life and her last wish was beautifully respected by the hospital staff in Wigan.  That’s a lovely story isn’t it?

And today is Sunday 9^th November, not just any Sunday, it is Poppy Day or Remembrance Sunday.  The poppy is a very English thing but I still have one I bought a few years ago sitting on my desk.  My feelings and wishes go out too to all those who fought and fell for the United Kingdom.

The English poppy to celebrate Remembrance Sunday 

Today is also the date of the Catalonian pseudo referendum. So far I don’t know what is happening there; whether the central government has done anything to impede the illegal voting. We shall know more by the end of the day.

Much more interestingly today is the 25^th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.  It was on 9^th November 1989 that the wall was broken and finally the East Berliners and East Germans, could walk across to freedom.  On that night Angela Merkel, aged 35, left the GDR for West Berlin and said her life changed forever afterwards.  Of course it did in many ways, but I bet she never thought that night that one day she would be the German Chancellor.

A scene from 25 years ago today when the Berlin Wall finally fell

I have a piece of the 150km wall my parents brought me from Berlin.  It came with a piece of paper authenticating which I have lost.  However I know it comes from that wall of shame and it graces our lounge and reminds me of what communism did to the world every time I look at it.

The piece of the Berlin Wall that my parents brought me just after it fell and which graces our lounge

Today will be quiet as most Sundays are at home.  Soon we will be having a family lunch with my Father, Eladio, Oli and Miguel prepared in advance by Fátima who has now gone home for her days off.  Later I shall join Eladio and the dogs for another walk.  We have a third dog with us at the moment, Nuba who belongs to José Antonio and Dolores who are now in Argentina on holiday.  Here is a great photo of Eladio who I baptized “the dog walker” on one our walks yesterday.

Eladio the dog walker!

Meanwhile my friends, I wish you all a great week ahead,

More from me next week, cheers till then

Masha

Olivia in Valencia, Gone Girl the film, a 25 hour day, the good weather continues, corruption in Spain, an interview on the radio, a “Chinese” girly lunch, Suzy counselling on nutrition in London, All Saints’ Day weekend in Montrondo and other stories.

Sunday 2nd November 2014

Me on a walk in the mountains around Montrondo on Saturday morning.

Hi everyone.

It’s Saturday evening and I am writing from Montrondo, from José Antonio and Dolores’ kitchen.  Everyone has gone now and Eladio and I are alone and as I have a couple of hours to spare before dinner, it’s the perfect time to start this week’s chronicle as tomorrow we will be travelling back to Madrid.

But let me start from where I left off from last Saturday.  None of the girls were at home on Saturday, Suzy lives in London now as you know and last week Olivia went with Miguel to spend the weekend in Valencia where he lives and works as a cameraman for TVE.  They had superb weather as we did too.  Being in Valencia the obvious choice was to go to the beach.  And here they are enjoying the sun.

Olivia and Miguel enjoying the beach last weekend in Valencia.

As I told you on Saturday evening we went to see the film Gone Girl after I had read the book.  For the record it stars Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris and was directed by David Fincher. The book keeps going back and forwards in time so it could not have been easy to adapt to a film. However a pretty good job was done and I enjoyed it. The truth is though that, as in most cases, the book is better. 

We went to see the film last weekend after I had read the book

Whilst we were at the cinema the “Clásico” was taking place: a Spanish “Liga” match between the rival teams Barcelona and Madrid at the Real Madrid stadium, the Bernabeu.  I was extremely pleased to hear the latter had beaten the Catalan team 3-1 as we left the cinema. I later read that it had been watched on TV by over 400 million spectators around the world. I was not one of them but happy all the same.

On Sunday morning we woke up to what would be a 25 hour day as the clocks went back in the early morning.  The day felt so much longer and every time I looked at my watch I realized I had an extra hour to myself.   I spent most of the day reading by the pool as it was so sunny.  Here is a lovely photo of dear Elsa, our faithful Labrador, at my feet.

Elsa enjoying the sun with me by the pool this week

In fact the weather has been just great all month; this week specially.  Most of the days it was in the mid to high 20cs, which is amazing for the end of October.

The weather in Madrid has been amazing in October. 

We were expecting visitors that morning, our new Spanish-Russian neighbours, Julio and Katya.  Katya’s parents had arrived from Moscow on Friday night and they were coming to see us and meet my Father who was looking forward to brushing up his Russian.  Unfortunately that was not to be as Katya’s father fell ill and had to be taken to hospital.  I think he has spent most of the week there but should be home now and I do hope we get to meet them before they return to Russia.

In the evening Eladio drove to the train station to pick up Olivia who was returning from Valencia on the “Ave” (high speed train).  I made dinner for the three of us; a tuna salad which looks like this:

My tuna salad, a favourite dish at home

We enjoyed it together as we watched the very popular journalist Jordi Evole interview Pablo Iglesias, the head of the new Podemos party which grew out of the 15^th May “indignant” movement.  He is a teacher of politics from the Madrid Complutense University who wears a pony tail and has some great ideas to rid Spain of corruption and is gathering huge momentum.  His party is now edging towards taking the socialist party’s (PSOE) second place in Spanish politics. 

On the topic of corruption, on Monday a huge embezzlement scandal emerged as the country heard that local governments in towns in Madrid, León had been caught with their hands in pots of money; doing what I suspect local politicians do in nearly every town in Spain; i.e. sign contracts with local companies in exchange for hefty illegal commissions.  The country is sick and tired of politicians making money on the side illegally whilst almost 25% of Spaniards are out of a job.  It is scandalous and the current government and opposition party are unable to do anything about it.  Meanwhile Pablo Iglesias’ Podemos party gains more and more supporters.

Tuesday was a great day.  On Tuesday my Father got to wear some new trousers and shirt I had given him.  I thought it was time to throw out his old M+S and Corte Inglés trousers which we had bought for him quite a few years ago.  Fátima, his carer, was as pleased as he was and sent me this photo of him in his new clothes.  I think he looks so elegant for all of his 95 years!

My elegant 95 year old Father in his new clothes

Tuesday was a busy day for me.  At 12.30 I had a live radio interview in Madrid with a station called Onda CRO which belongs to PR Noticias (one of the only two media dedicated to PR and communications in Spain).  I was to talk about the prize I got recently as best communications director in the telecoms sector and also about my work in communication at Yoigo.  The interview lasted at least 15 minutes and I had the time of my life answering the questions.  I felt so at home and comfortable with the subject.  You can listen to the interview here (if you understand Spanish).  Later I did a video interview which has yet to be published so watch this space. I’m not sure I liked listening to my voice afterwards and realize I speak far too fast although I did make a conscious effort to speak slowly.  But once I get going I do tend to talk like a machine gun haha.

I enjoyed my radio interview this week

It was a lovely sunny day in Madrid and I had an hour and a half to play with before my next engagement: a “Chinese” lunch in Madrid.  So I decided to walk to the restaurant, “Ten con Ten” which was quite a distance.  On my way I passed our old house in Madrid where Eladio’s brother, José Antonio, and his wife Dolores live.  They were leaving for Buenos Aires the next day on holiday so I rang the bell and up I went to see them and wish them a good journey.  Both my nephews were there too; Juan and Miguel.  I was invited to lunch but had to decline and told them I was actually having lunch with their daughter Sara and two Chinese girls.  That was sort of funny.

You are probably wondering why I was having lunch with Sara and two Chinese girls. Let me explain.  To start with my niece who works for the Bank of China in Madrid is very proficient in Chinese as she lived and studied there for over 2 years.  A while ago I introduced her to Lisa W who heads up a Chinese firm in Spain similar to a chamber of commerce.  I knew Lisa from having appeared with her on a TV programme a few years ago. The other Chinese girl is Gia, a friend of Lisa’s and colleague of mine who works for ZTE the Chinese phone company.  I thought she would be another good contact for Sara to practice the language with.  When I got to the restaurant all three of them were chatting in what I suppose was Mandarin.  I was delighted to hear from Lisa and Gia that they were very impressed with Sara’s knowledge of their language.

Lunch with Sara, Lisa and Jia.

Lunch with these young girls who are not much older than my daughters was a sheer delight after the radio interview experience.  I was able to relax with them and enjoy the meal which I can tell you was superb as Ten con Ten’s cuisine is one of the best in town. 

Meanwhile in London Suzy was continuing with her temporary counselling job in nutrition at Apple’s headquarters.  Do you remember I told you she had counselled an employee called Angel who was an ex colleague of mine at Motorola?  Well they arranged to meet and he invited her to lunch this week.  I never got a photo unfortunately but here is one of Suzy counselling at the offices where he works.

Suzy working as a freelance dietitian in London this week

Wednesday was a quiet day. The only thing of interest I did that day was go into Madrid again to site inspect more venues for our Christmas party.  I’m still not sure where it is going to take place but have a vague idea.  Fortunately there is still time to find the perfect location.

Thursday was a very busy day as it was what I call a press release day.  That morning we were announcing to press and customers that we will be opening our 4G network to prepaid customers from 3^rd November. That is quite a first as most operators only offer 4G to postpaid (contract) customers.  A press release entails quite a lot of work, the most important being that everyone involved inside the company, mainly the legal department, is ok with the wording.  Then it has to be uploaded to our press page so there is a link to the document.  Finally the release is sent out to the media but then I get hands on and email every journalist to remind them of the news.  The next part in the communication chain is posting it in on our social media pages.  Then you wait to see the reaction; i.e. followers’ comments on the company’s posts and most important of all, the online media coverage.  The next day you hope for some offline (written newspapers) coverage but in the end what counts today is the online media.  In between all this you must not forget the most important public of all; your own employees and send out an internal release.  There is nothing worse than an employee reading company news in the media and not having been informed previously.  In my mind employees are the most important ambassadors a company can have.

That very same day a consultancy firm called Iteligent published a report on the online reputation of 6 operators in Spain.  I was stunned so see that Yoigo had the best online reputation. Measurement comes from positive and neutral mentions in forums, blogs and social media.  We come first even if only just. I think this is our reward for all the efforts we put into online communication.  Part of it helps that I am a bit of an online addict which I’m sure you are aware of!

I was happy to see Yoigo has the best online reputation of all 6 operators in Spain, - although only just!

Friday came and Eladio and I were off to Montrondo for the All Saints’ Day weekend.  In most of the western world people would be celebrating Halloween, a festival I detest and see more as a US invention that has permeated other cultures and for me it was not the culture I was brought up on.  In England when I was a child we celebrated Guy Fawkes’ Day or bonfire night with fireworks on 5^th November.  Our equivalent to Halloween was Mischief Night on 4^th November. 

All Saints’ Day in Spain (1^st November) is the day people remember their dead and take flowers to their graves.  The Spanish way of doing this was well portrayed by Pedro Almodóvar in the film “Volver” with Penelope Cruz.  The scene at the beginning of the film shows the women of the villages sprucing up the graves in the cemetery and placing flowers on the graves of their loved ones who had passed away.  We were going to Montrondo to do precisely that, to take flowers to Eladio’s Father’s grave in the little cemetery in the family village.

However our main mission was to see the progress on the house we are restoring and which we hadn’t seen, apart from in photos, since we were last there in August.  We were going to stay alone in José Antonio and Dolores’ house and would be joined by some of the other members of the family on Saturday for a family lunch together.  Eladio and I set off at about 11 with a carload of food (no shops in the area) and luggage, boots and thick anoraks expecting rain which was the forecast.  It turned out to be wrong and we have cool temperatures but beautiful sunshine since we got here.  As is the custom we stopped on the way at Rueda (a wonderful white wine growing area in the province of Valladolid) for a glass of their delicious wine and plate of ham.  Here is a photo of me happily tucking in.

Enjoying a glass of wine and plate of ham in Rueda on our way to Montrondo on Friday

We decided to have lunch in Pandorado, a small village not so far from Montrondo.  I love the name which in English means “golden bread”.  We ate at a little restaurant called Rhesty which was ok but not as good as expected.  We had a very light lunch and arrived in Montrondo at around 3pm.  We went straight to the house to see what work had been done since we last saw it.  The builders started on 20^th May but we know they are building other houses in other villages so progress has been a bit slow.  However we really liked what we saw.  Here is a collage of the front and back of the house and some of the inside. 

A collage of shots of some of the progress on the house in Montrondo

Later the builders came (3 brothers called Benito, Recaredo and Santiago) and we must have talked to them about details of the house for at least 3 hours. We are satisfied with the quality and how they are going about restoring the old family home.  Eladio made them promise it would ready to live in at the end of March.  I don’t know if I believe that. Only time will tell.

It was nearly dark when we finished inspecting the building and only then did we start on unpacking and heating the house.  Whilst we were in the middle of it, Eladio’s sister, Adela and his Mother, Ernestina arrived.  Later we had dinner at Adela and Primo’s cozy little house and enjoyed time together talking until quite late.

On Saturday morning, as is now a tradition in the mornings when Adela and I coincide, we went for an early morning walk to Murias and back. Everyone else would be arriving at about midday.  After breakfast I prepared the first course for our lunch as well as two desserts.  Then Eladio and I decided to go on a walk up to the mountains and enjoy the autumn colours in the sun. It was a superb day.  As is usual when you leave the house you always bump into the villagers; people from Eladio’s past.  Two neighbours were on their way to the cemetery to put flowers on their parents’ grave, I assume, so we stopped for a chat and I got a great photo to illustrate what All Saints’ Day means in Montrondo and Spain.

Eladio with some of the villagers in Montrondo on All Saints' Day

We went past the village common known as “el campo” here and also greeted another neigbour, Ulpiano.  He went to school with Eladio but never left the village and is a farmer here.  His eggs and potatoes are renowned in the area.  Here is a great photo of the two of them.

Eladio with Ulpiano who he went to school with in Montrondo. 

We walked up the hill and took a different path to the usual one; thankfully less steep, passed a corner called “el retorno”.  From here you have great views of the village.  We both took loads of photos and were happy to see that we could just spy our house being built.  Can you spot it?

Beautiful Montrondo with autumn colours

The autumn colours and sun made the walk just a delight and I wanted to take photos of every scene there was, such as this great one of Eladio:

Eladio on our walk in the mountains on Saturday morning

We got as far as “el abedular” (cluster of birch trees) and were delighted to see horses grazing free in the fields.  I just wished we had had some apples or carrots to give them.  There was one beautiful dark horse on its own in a field and I spent at least 15 minutes coaxing it to come and touch my hand. I was so happy when it did.  But it didn’t bother with Eladio when he tried as by then it realized we had nothing to offer.  Today we are taking up a bag of apples from the trees near our house.

Eladio with "my horse"

We were back in the village at about 1pm and happy to see Pili, Yoli, Isidro, Alicia, Laura, Alejandro and Carolina had arrived.  Lunch was to be had at Adela’s house and she was making roast lamb for us all.  After lunch it was the perfect time to walk to the cemetery to place flowers on my father-in-law’s grave.  Here are just some of us on our way.

On our way to the cemetery on All Saints' Day in Montrondo

Once there we all gathered around Antonio’s grave and I took a photo which you can see below.  It was very much an “Almodovar” moment in time as it always is on 1^st November, All Saints’ Day. 

By my Father-in-law's grave in Montrondo on All Saints' Day

Some of us later meandered down to the river and across fields, some of which belong to the family but very soon the family gathering was over and we were left alone in the village.  It was too early to have dinner, so off we went up the mountains again on a different walk to a place called “los secretos.  That day I must have walked over 15km.  We walked down to the village again planning to relax and read in the house before dinner but I used the time to start this post as you know.  Later we had a quiet dinner together before it was time for “early to bed”.

This morning I was up earlier than Eladio as usual and went on the morning walk to Murias and back on my own.  Here you have a selfie of me to prove it.  I so wanted to show you the lovely autumn colours on the old village path.

A selfie on my walk this morning 

I came back to enjoy breakfast with Eladio and we have decided to stay for lunch.  After finishing the text of this post (can’t upload it until I have internet at home in Madrid), I shall prepare our lunch (lamb curry!) and then we shall go up the mountains again, this time with a big bag of apples for the horses. 

We shall be leaving after lunch and of course will arrive home after dark.  It will be nice to see my Father, Oli and the dogs and to sleep in our own bed although I must say the bed we sleep in at Toño and Dolores’ house is extremely comfortable.

The week ahead promises to be busy.  On Wednesday I shall be off to Barcelona on a site inspection trip and look forward to seeing my dear Irish friend Grainne.  “Bit of craic” as she would say!

Meanwhile I wish you all a great week ahead.  Cheers till next time

Masha