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| Ernestina with her birthday presents and cake flanked by Olivia, her grand daughter, Pitulines (Diana) her great grand daughter and Eladio on the right, her son. They represent the 4 generations present in the family at the birthday lunch in León this Saturday to celebrate Ernestina's 90th birthday |
Good morning
my friends this sunny Sunday morning in Madrid.
I hope you are all well. I am
extremely well as you will find out later.
But let me start from the beginning of the week.
On Monday I
had a meeting with Pedro G who used to work for my press clipping agency, PressTracking,
the people who monitor my press coverage.
Pedro left to work for JP Media and meanwhile PressTracking did not even
bother to tell me. I found JP Media to
offer better services and will be signing with them very soon and one of the
reasons I will do so apart from a better price and service is because of the
person I know. For me the most important
thing is the people who work in the agencies, not the agencies themselves. Some time, soon, I am expecting a call from
someone I don’t know at Press Tracking but by then it will be too late. So long
Press Tracking, hello JP Media.
On Monday too
I had lunch with two journalists from La Razón whom I have known for many
years, Emiliano C and Jesús. They chose
to go to Castellana DF, the place we last did a press conference in
Madrid. They thought it was the
restaurant which offers the best hamburgers in Madrid. That made me feel good because another
journalist, Ignacio C had complained at the time telling me he thought the
place was awful. When I mentioned that
to Emiliano and Jesús, they comforted me by saying that Ignacio always
complains about everything. Well I too
think Castellana DF offers the best hamburgers in Madrid, on a par with New
York even, and we had a great lunch in its comfy surroundings. They even had gin tonics after lunch on the
terrace but I’ve never been a one for gin tonics or for any kind of drink apart
from wine with a meal. We talked about
my Motorola and Nokia days and of course how Yoigo is doing. We had shared a lot of adventures together,
mostly in my former companies and know the telecoms sector very well, so
our conversation was interesting and dynamic.
It’s funny how companies come and go but people remain. That is actually what I like best about the
corporate world.
One Tuesday I
went with Suzy to MediaMarkt to buy electrical appliances for their new
flat. MediaMarkt had two promotional
days last week when you could buy without paying VAT, so she and Gaby took the
opportunity to purchase a fridge, a washing machine and a dishwasher. My contribution to their newly found
independence was for appliances for their new domesticity. They will now have to clean and wash for themselves
so I thought I might as well help them a bit.
Thus, for just over 200 euros, we chose an iron, a chopping machine, a
microwave, a juice maker, a toaster and a “minipimer” which I think is called a
blender in English.
On Wednesday,
the abuela (grandmother in Spanish) Ernestina, my mother-in-law turned 90. I just hope I reach her age in the same state
of physical and mental health and surrounded by a loving family. To celebrate, the whole family was to gather
on Saturday for a special birthday lunch in León. Meanwhile Eladio rang her to wish her a great
day which I’m sure she had.
On Wednesday I
had my company medical. To tell the
truth in all the 5 years with the company I have never once done one. There are two reasons, one being to have to go
in at the crack of dawn on an empty stomach for a blood test. The second is that I always dreaded the
scales. But this year I had no excuse as
I already had some recent blood test results and of course I no longer dread
the scales. The test turned out to be
pretty exhaustive including an electro cardiogram. When the doctor saw the blood pressure
results (12.6 and 62 bpm) she asked whether I was an athlete! Actually I have always had a low blood count,
the type athletes need to perform, so I wasn’t actually surprised when she
asked the question although I was tickled pink to have results like that not
long after my 55th birthday.
Thus she pronounced me fit as a fiddle. Hopefully this is so because of
having similar genes to my long living Father but it may also be because I am
in good shape as I go for an hour long brisk walk nearly every day in the year
and have been doing so for quite a few years now. It’s nice to know I am as fit as a fiddle and
I shall do my best to remain so too.
Thursday was
International Women’s Day and brought with it the first Yoigo get together of
the year, named by me Yoigo Mornings. It
was full house as usual.
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| There was a good turn out at the Yoigo morning on Thursday this week |
People round
the world were congratulating women and others were questioning that the very
existence of the day denoted inequality.
Well of course it does, because inequality between mena and women has always existed and always
will. At the Chinese bank my niece works
for, Sara, all the women at work were given a 200 euro tip to celebrate the
day. How nice! I didn’t get anything. However that day I did a good deed in that I
helped a homeless woman who had just lost the flat she was living in, her
boyfriend and her job to find another one.
I should say that my friend Fernando, equally touched by the story,
helped Mónica to find the job. She will become what today’s El País call “ni
mil eurista” (i.e. those who don’t even earn 1000 euros a month) but she will have
a job and will be able to pay for some sort of shelter over her head. I felt
good that day, having helped an anonymous woman from the comfort of my life at
least a little bit.
In the
afternoon, after my walk, I joined Olivia on a short shopping escapade to our
local “mall”, Centro Oeste. Here Oli
stocked up on heaps of things, whilst, I just bought this beautiful flowery
blazer from Zara. I have so many clothes
now, that I ask myself just when I’m going to wear it.
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| The flowery blazer I bought at Zara with Oli this week |
On Friday I
acquired yet another item I don’t need. At my local seamstress, García y Limón, in the high street of Villaviciosa, they have taken to selling custom
made bags by the apparent ex workers of the Spanish luxury designer brand
Loewe. They sell, supposedly, just the
same models but at 10 times less the price and without the logo. So here I was happy to have ordered the very
classical Amazonas model, which I have always wanted but could never afford at
1.400 euros which is what it costs in the original boutique in Madrid’s most expensive street, Calle
Serrano. And here it is. I’m no expert,
but it looks great.
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| My new "Amazonas" bag, a copy of the famous Loewe handbag |
Being Friday
it was our night out. Eladio wasn’t
feeling very well and there was no particular film I wanted to watch so we just
went out to dinner. We chose the nearby
De Brasa y Puchero and shared a plate of “patatas revolconas” (sort of mushy
potatoes cooked in paprika with peppers) and a “sobrasada” delicious sausage. Later we heard that the English restaurant,
La Pérfida Albión, we frequent has shut down.
That’s now two of our favourite restaurants no longer available. We
shall have to widen our choice by looking for new places.
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| De Brasa y Puchero, the restaurant Eladio and I went to on Friday night |
The next day,
Saturday, was the highlight of the week.
Eladio, the girls and Gaby and I were off to León for my mother-in-law’s
90th birthday. We were to
spend the night too. It was very
special to be going this time as for the first time in years the girls were
coming too. Needless to say we stopped
off on route, as habit dictates, for a plate of ham and other cold cuts with
delicious white wine at Palacio de Bornos in the Rueda wine growing town in the
province of Valladolid. I must say I
love this place. We also bought two
boxes of wine for our wine cellar and some biscuits for my Father.
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| Eladio with "the girls" in Rueda on our way to León on Saturday |
We got to León
just before two and drove to Pili and Andrés’ house. Soon the whole family was together at a new
bar come restaurant in town called El Establo de Omaña (the stable of Omaña –
the part of León where Montrondo is located).
It is owned by Roberto, the grandson of our neighbours in Montrondo and
it is a delightful little place, decorated with a horse theme as befits its
name. Rosi, Roberto’s mother turned out
to be a great cook. She made a sort of
thick fish and potato soup followed by the proverbial roast lamb which we
always have at all our family celebration meals.
We were 24
gathered around a huge table, with Eladio’s Mother in the middle.
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| The young generation at the lunch on Saturday in León |
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| A lovely photo Oli took of Suzy and I at the birthday lunch in León on Saturday |
I had brought a box of party poppers, great
little items to make any party festive and they were of course a success,
although the table looked like a litter tip at the end! The 24 of us represent quite four
generations, from Diana (or Pitulines), Roberto and Ana’s two year old daughter,
right up to my 90 year old mother-in-law.
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| The older generation at El Establo de Omaña where the lunch took place on Saturday in León |
Just after the
second course Ernestina was given three bunches of flowers, one from Rosi, one from
the grandchildren and three roses from her great grandchildren. From us, adults, or the older generation, she
was given a beautiful watch to replace the one she has probably worn forever.
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| Happy Ernestina at her birthday lunch on Saturday |
It was a
wonderful meal and gathering and I, at least, liked the place so much I spoke
to Rossi and her son Roberto about holding the family dinner there on New Year’s
Eve. Let’s hope we do.
Eladio wasn’t
feeling very well. So when he heard that
José Antonio and Dolores were returning that very day, he decided we should
leave with them. The girls stayed behind
and came back in our car today. I was a
bit upset as we were all having a great time, but understood of course. So at just after 19h we set off home, José
Antonio driving in the front with Eladio and Dolores and
I in the back with little Nuba, their delightful mongrel dog.
We caught Olga
at home painting her nails in the lounge watching the television, but I decided
to leave any conversation about that until later, as I was in no mood for
telling her off. She is so good with my
Father but not very good with the cleaning I’m afraid.
Today has been
quiet. I think I have caught the
beginnings of a cold from Eladio and just hope that we will be well by next
Thursday when we will be going to Yorkshire for a long weekend, including my school
reunion dinner. I can’t wait!
For me today
is a quiet day but for the victims and families of the victims of the Madrid 2004 train bombs, today is the 8th anniversary of that terrible
event, the worst terrorist attack in the history of Spain. Like all big events that touch your life, I
always remember what I was doing at the time.
I was in Segovia with my fellow members of the marketing and
communications team at Nokia, holding a goodbye dinner for my dear Finnish
friend Anne. No doubt Anne will be remembering too that fatal next morning when we
woke up and heard about the attack.
And on that
sad but unforgettable note, I wish you all a great week ahead.
Until next
time
Masha
PS You can see the rest of the photos of this weekend's trip to León here
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