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| Grandpa being looked after by all of us. |
Hello again,
I wonder how
your week has been. Mine has had its ups and downs, but on the whole it has
been ok. At the top of my mind there is
always my dear Father, who, at the grand old age of 92, is now very frail and
needs constant attention. We took him to
the traumatologist on Monday because the pain in his leg was not getting
better. We thought he had a sprained
ankle but actually he has a sprain in one of the small bones in his left
foot. We were doing all the right things
to get him back on the mend so we just have to continue. I think he is getting better very slowly but
then what can you expect at that age. In
any case, he worries me and when I see him so uncomfortable I realize just how
much I love him. He is all I have left
on my side of the family and he is the only person to share the memories of my
childhood and of my immediate family, my brother George and my beloved Mother.
This week was
the 12th anniversary of the death of my Mother, something which will
have been on my Father’s mind the whole time.
It is a date neither of us will ever forget just as we will never forget
her. My Mother, as I have written
countless times in this blog, was unique in so many ways; someone who always
left an impact on you because she was larger than life and full of
contrasts. She was all the adjectives; daring,
lively, fun loving, religious, academic, creative, naughty, respectful yet
often lacking in respect, loving and affectionate and someone who knew how to
listen. In short she lived life to the
full, having come from a background worthy of a novel. She came from a Russian aristocratic family
who fled the Revolution whilst she was in her Mother’s womb. Born in the
Russian Embassy in Rome, the family later emigrated to Sofia in Bulgaria. Her 2 metre tall now penniless Father, Prince
Andrei Lieven became a priest and her aristocratic Mother, Sophie Stachovich,
suddenly had to look after 6 children almost
single handedly, when back in Russia she probably only saw them at bed
time. My Mother, Elena Lieven, was sent
to school in France at the age of 6 and did not return to Bulgaria until she
was 10. When the war came, she fled
Bulgaria, in fear of the takeover of communism, and made her way to Germany to
join her brothers Sasha and Kolya. When
the war ended, and her experiences there would be worthy of another book, she
found herself unable to return to communist Bulgaria. The decision she took then decided my future,
as in 1944 my Mother made her way to England, to learn the one language missing
from her repertoire of Russian, Bulgarian, German and French as well as a
smattering of Italian. Some 10 years
later she met my Father and they went on to be happily married until death did
them part on 1st October 1999.
So on Friday 1st October 2011, Grandpa and I and the girls,
who adored their Grandma, remembered her especially even though we all carry
her in our hearts every day. Mummy I
will always miss you.
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| My Mother, as I best remember her, watering her plants in the porch at 6 Heaton Grove, Bradford |
Grandma would
have been very proud of her granddaughters, Susana and Olivia this week. Oli appeared on TV again, which always gives
me a lift in morale. You can see the
clip here at This time she was reporting on Euro Disney recruiting
600 Spaniards for the theme park in Paris.
She came home armed with the visiting card of the CEO of Disney Spain
and I wonder if she realizes how much experience she is gaining. On Wednesday she told us that her contract
with TVE has been extended until next January.
We were so happy for her.
Suzy had great
news too. On Tuesday her bosses at
Aramark, the big American food services company she has been working for since
May, promoted her and made her a supervisor of a residence in Madrid. This will be in addition to her job as a
dietician for the company and will mean she will be working full time. She will continue to work from home. Suzy, we are very proud of you.
We decided to
celebrate both girls’ successes and booked a table on Friday night at La Vaca Argentina in Las Rozas where always go to when we want to celebrate something. Unfortunately my Father couldn’t join us and
he was sorely missed. But who did join
us was Alicia, my beloved god daughter, who came to stay for the weekend, and
Gaby, Suzy’s dependable boyfriend. The
picture the waiter took is very bad quality, but still it captures the happy moment.
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| Celebrating at La Vaca Argentina |
It was great
to host Alicia this weekend. On Saturday
morning, the girls in this house, went to Majadahonda to the famous flea market
and then to the shops in the main street where we also sat outside and had a
typical Spanish “aperitivo”, some white wine with a tapa. Here is a picture of
the 3 beautiful girls at the market. You
can see the rest of the photos of Alicia’s time with us here.
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| Suzy on the left with Ali in the middle and Oli on the right, at the market in Majadahonda on Saturday |
Alicia, I
think you know, is living in Madrid with my other niece, Paula. I hadn’t seen them since they moved in at the
beginning of September and then through a chance remark on Facebook, Paula
joined the girls and I for a bit of retail therapy on Wednesday afternoon at La
Vaguada, a big shopping centre not too far from where they live and only 15
minutes in the car from our house. We
had a great couple of hours together, with visits to Zara, H+M, Stradivarius
and Oysho amongst other places, and then enjoyed some delicious frozen yoghurt
at a Danone stand. Here is a picture of
the three beautiful cousins on Wednesday at La Vaguada shopping centre. I hope we can soon repeat the experience. Alicia couldn’t be with us as her Nursing
lectures are in the afternoons.
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| Shopping with Paula in La Vaguada, a great girly afternoon |
The 1st
October is a significant date for me, as it is also the date I joined
Yoigo. This year, though, is even more
important as it is my 5th anniversary with that great, Hydra Social
Media and Socialbakers, Yoigo is the 12th best brand in Spain at
managing its Facebook page. We beat our
competition to the ground as we are the only telecoms company to reach the top
20. That news certainly lifted my
spirits and came just when I needed it.
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| I was happy to see that Yoigo came out so well in the Social Media study above, 12th best brand in Spain at managing its FB page which is actually my responsibility:-) |
As always this
week there has been time for reading. The
weather continues to be great and we mostly read in the later afternoons by the
pool with my Father and the dogs at our feet. I finished William Boyd’s
Restless and am about to start on “Ordinary Thunderstorms” by the same author, whilst
Eladio is reading one of my favourites, the “Three Wild Swans; Three Daughtersof China”. Grandpa is reading “Bound Feet and Western Dress” also about
China. On the subject of books I must
tell you that my friend, Mariano Guindal, and the father of San, his Chinese
adopted son, whom Susana has been teaching for some years now, made his debut
as a writer this week. Mariano is a prestigious
financial journalist and for the last two years has been working on a book called
“El declive de los dioses” (the fall of the gods) which this week he presented
in public. It is the story of the transition
of the Spanish economy from the times of Felipe González to the current Spanish
Premiere, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, of which he was an exceptional witness. Susana brought us a signed copy from him of
which we are extremely proud. We actually saw Mariano on the television one
night in an interview about the book and we know there have been many more. I
have a feeling his book is going to be a great success which makes me very
happy for both Mariano and Mar, his wife and fellow journalist who is the book’s
co-author.
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| Mariano Guindal, our friend who made his debut as an author this week when he presented his book in public. |
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| Mariano gave us a signed copy. I am very proud of him. |
There was also
time for watching films and last night we hired the film Pan Negro, Spain’s
entry for the best foreign film in the 2012 Oscar’s. It is set in the Spanish post Civil war era and
I had been looking forward to seeing it but was actually disappointed. I didn’t like the story or the dialogue
between the children and thought all the actors were rather ugly. I for one don’t think it’s going to win in
this category.
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| Pan Negro, Spain's entry for best foreign film in next year's Oscars, a bit disappointing. |
On the topic
of the Spanish Civil war, I must mention something that surprised us all, one
lunch time, this week. My Father has an
amazing memory and it’s incredible to see just how lucid he is, despite
being unwell. We were talking about the
1st October being the anniversary of my Mother’s death. I pointed
out, of course, that it was also my 5th anniversary with Yoigo and
then Eladio said that it was also the date the Spanish Civil war ended. Here my Father perked up and corrected my
academic philosopher husband and said it had actually finished on 1st
April 1939. I googled this on my mobile
phone and soon saw my Father was right.
I then challenged him further and asked him which date the war had started
to which he immediately replied: 17th July 1936. Again he was right and I was very proud of
him, as I have always been.
And that folks
is it for this week.
Cheers till
next time
1 comment:
Ray Shaw S from Bradford GS remembers both your parents and would love to write to your father.
David Atkinson
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