Sunday 24th June, 2012
“Something to
look forward to”, summer came and the semantics of Midsummer, football and the difference
between a French and Spanish omelette, lunch at Suzy’s and more.
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| Lunch at Suzy's flat on Saturday was the highlight of the week |
Hi everyone
It’s Sunday
morning. This time last week we were
travelling back from France, a trip that we were looking forward to for months
and that is now over. You look forward
to things for so long and then they are so quickly over. Someone once said to me, Javier a sports
journalist friend, that actually there is more joy in the planning than in the
event or activity itself. There is a
famous quote: “focus on the journey not on the destination” but I don’t
remember the author. They are probably right and Eladio and I always say how
nice it is to have “something to look forward to, however small. Having something to look forward to gives
you a good positive feeling which I suppose is a taste of happiness. So here
you have me planning more things, another “something to look forward to”, such
as a trip to London in August and savouring the idea. But more about that later.
The week was
quiet, dominated by the Euro Cup quarter final matches, something which my
Father especially is enjoying. The matches, for him are just that; “something
to look forward to”. For him watching
the football is a change in his routine, adding a bit of spice to his quiet
life.
The quarter
final matches took place on Thursday, Friday and Saturday interrupting our
daily walk but even I didn’t mind. When
I wasn’t interested in the matches, I continued reading the Fifty Shades
trilogy, very thrilling. I finished it
on Saturday morning and now look forward to another book by the now famous
English woman author, E.L. James who I think will now write the book from
Christian Grey’s perspective rather Anastaia Steele’s. So I hope, “Meet Christian Grey” comes out
soon.
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| EL James, the author of the Fifty Shades trilogy |
The men
enjoyed watching the Czech Republic play Portugal on Thursday. Portugal, with striker Cristiano Ronaldo on a
winning streak, won by 1-0 taking Portugal through to the semi finals. On Friday they watched Germany beat Greece by
4-2, much to the Greek’s chagrin who chanted things like “you may have the
euros but we have a heart” to the amazement of German Chancellor Angela Merkel,
who put forward preparatory meetings for the European Union summit, to attend
the match taking place in Poland.
The next
quarter final match was yesterday, between France and Spain and was to be held
in the Ukraine where no authorities from either country were to attend in
protest against the former P.M. Timoshenko being in prison in suspicious
circumstances. This match was by far the
most interesting for us of course, as Spain is our home country. Spain had never beaten France in an official
match so the statistics were against us.
However La Roja, played a great game last night with Real Madrid’s, mid
fielder, Xavi Alonso, making his 100th appearance for Spain,
garnering 2 goals to take Spain through to the semi finals. It will be against
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal, a player the Roja know well.
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| Xavi Alonso celebrating his first goal against France in the Euro Cup Quarter finals last night |
There was much
emotion behind this match and many jokes on internet, as well as a spirit of
Spanish retaliation against French criticism in the recent past about doping in
Spanish sport. One I particularly like
is a photo of the difference between a Spanish omelette (made with eggs and
potatoes), much bigger than its French equivalent, the plain omelette which in
Spanish is always called a “French omelette”.
The caption has a double meaning and says “No nos dopamos, lo echamos
más huevos”, a rough translation being: “we don’t dope, but put in more eggs”
(eggs also meaning guts). I personally
always prefer a Spanish omelette.
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| The French and Spanish omelette joke that circulated on internet before the match |
So
yes, Spain beat France in a great match for Spain by 2-0, making the Gauls
leave the Ukraine with their tails between their legs. It was a great moral victory for Spain
against their upbeat neighbours. We now
look forward to Spain doing the same with their other neighbours, Portugal next
Wednesday and playing Germany and either England or Italy in the final. England plays Italy tonight, so that remains
to be seen.
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| England play Italy tonight in the Euro Cup Quarter Finals |
I
was pleased to read a twit from England’s former striker Michael Owen after the
match vs France which said: “Nothing I’ve seen has made me change my mind. Spain to win it beating either England or
Germany in the final”. If he’s right, I
only hope it’s Germany they beat and not my other homeland England.
We have all
been looking forward to summer too and it finally came on 21st
June. The Scandinavians look forward to
what is called “Midsummer” more than anyone as this festivity is for them
nearly equal to Christmas. Here you can
see a great video of how the Swedes celebrate.
Midsummer is the longest day in the year, after which the days get
slowly shorter. It is also called the
“solstice”. I have never understood why
it is called “Mid” summer if it actually falls at the beginning of summer. The semantics here are strange. But they were unraveled by my linguist
friend, Andy who explained that the word “mid” actually comes from the German
or old English “mit” meaning “with” and not “middle”, so Mid Summer means “with
summer”. Now I understand. In the north of Spain and in many other
countries it coincides with St. John (San Juan) and is often celebrated with
bonfires. In the Nordic countries, where
it is called “midsommar”, the maypole (symbolizing fertility) always makes its
presence.
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| A maypole is always present at Swedish Midsummer festivities |
At our home,
the summer weather had already come, but you know it’s really here when the
hydrangeas are out. Eladio planted many
of them when we first came to live here and they always bloom at this time of
year.
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| When the hydrangeas are out you know summer is here |
The week has
been full of planning for me, or rather last minute preparations for two big
events I have coming up next week. On
Wednesday we have a press conference together with Spotify and fittingly it
will take place at the Hard Rock café in Madrid. It’s something we have been working on for a
while and hopefully will bring us some good PR results. Personally I think that the Yoigo and Spotify
brands make a great fit.
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| Yoigo and Spotify will be holding a joint press conference next week. I think the brands fit so well. |
And then on
Thursday we have the annual Yoigo summer party, the origin of which comes from
the Swedish roots of the company, something I used to do at Nokia too, what
with the Finnish roots. This project or
party is huge, in that I have to gather as many sponsors as I can through my
colleagues, to finance the party. Some
20 odd are on board now. They get to
send representatives, making up more than half the numbers. Actually this year the list of guests is
about 320, the mail address list being a total nightmare. This year we are doing a typical Spanish
“fiesta” in a village outside Madrid in the mountain area called Hoyo de
Manzanares. We will have bumper cars, a
village band, a waltzer, churros, you name it, it will be there. I only wish I could enjoy my own
parties. I tend to enjoy them when they
are ending and everything has gone ok. Then I can relax but boy am I tired the
next day. You may think that’s because
of the late night or alcohol but actually at my own parties I don’t usually
drink. Besides I am being strictly Dukan
these days before our holidays in July.
The reason has more to do with after the event tension I am sure.
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| It'll be the Yoigo Summer Party next week too |
The highlight
of this week was Saturday when we were going for lunch to Suzy’s new flat. That was certainly something my Father was
looking forward to, because he hasn’t been out of the house for a long time but
also because it would be the first time he was to see Suzy’s cozy little
pad. Oli couldn’t join us as she had end
of season lunch with the colleagues from her TV programme. In the end most of the food was brought by
us, but Suzy did make some splendid Russian “pelmeni” with “Smetana” for my
Father and herself. The photo illustrating this week's post is of the lovely lunch at Suzy's house.
Her friend and
neighbour Eladio had given Suzy some Swiss chocolate for my Father, knowing he
has a very sweet tooth. These were
quickly finished off after lunch with coffee as was the pistachio nougat I
brought back from France. My Father was
impressed with Suzy’s neat little flat which is perfectly equipped and very
modern. Whilst we were there, Eladio put
some finishing touches, fixing things she needed putting on the wall for which
he had taken along his handy black and decker.
Today too has
been a day to look forward to as we were expecting guests for lunch. Eladio’s
recently operated brother, José Antonio, his wife, Dolores and their little dog
Nuba were coming for lunch and to spend the afternoon with us. Juan, their youngest son joined us too, but unfortunately
there were no “girlies”. Suzy had a very
late night and was tired and Olivia left in the morning for Galicia where she
will be reporting for Spanish TV all week until her return next Friday
evening. I look forward to seeing her on
the television. That will probably be
the last time for a while as her programme will be suspended in the summer
until 1st September, although there is a small question mark as to
whether that will happen or not. In any
case, I know she will thoroughly enjoy this last week and then she will have
two full months of time off. She has
plans to spend part of it on inter rail with a friend from the programme, Bea,
a producer. That will be exciting.
The afternoon
was spent by the pool and I must say today has probably been the hottest day of
the year so far. I saw someone put up a
picture on FB of a thermometer in Madrid that marked 42ºC. So I was in and out of the pool all
afternoon. We could only sit under the
trees in the shade and even then if it was very hot. In the early evening I prepared an afternoon
tea tray for everyone with my favourite Emma Bridgewater pottery. Here you can see José Antonio and Eladio
around the table, just before we poured the welcome cups of tea.
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| José Antonio and Eladio by the pool this afternoon |
I have come to
the end of the week now but before I sign off, I must tell you about the trip I
have planned to London in August, another trip to look forward to. It will be
another reunion with my friends from Nottingham University, Sandra and Adele
whom we were with in France last week.
But this time we will be joined by Sue Chappel, another friend from
University who I haven’t seen since our mide 20’s. Sue is now living in Australia! It all came about after an exchange on
Facebook where I heard that out of coincidence both Sandra and Sue would be in
London around 15-18 August. So I proposed that Adele and I go out to London too
and hold a proper reunion, just the “girls” that is, without our husbands or
partners. And the idea was accepted
immediately and now both Adele and I have booked our tickets and we all have
something great to look forward to.
In actual
fact, I’m a lucky lady as I have lots of trips to look forward to this summer. In July Eladio and I will be off to Verin and
then Sanxenxo in Galicia. From there we
will go to Montrondo for the annual family gathering. In Montrondo we also look forward to a visit
from our friends Kathryn and Phil from Keighley. Then of course, after a quick return to
Madrid, Eladio and I will spend a few days at the beach in Santa Pola. London will be straight after Santa
Pola. It promises to be a great summer.
On that happy
note, my friends, I leave you until next week and of course, meanwhile wish you
all a great summer too.
Cheers
Masha
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