Sunday 27th January 2013
 |
| The girls and their group of friends they call "la manada" off to Fresnedilla de la Oliva on Saturday for a goodbye weekend for Dave (in the striped jumper) who is leaving for Brazil. |
Hi everyone and welcome back. This week’s blogpost is full of news and
looking back it has been a good week all in all.
On Monday
morning I had a conference call with Stockholm.
You probably don’t know but I avoid conference calls like the plague and
only accept them very occasionally.
However I couldn’t get out of this one, about our plans for the upcoming
Mobile World Congress at the end of February in Barcelona. The funny thing was that I was on line for
about 5 minutes until my Swedish colleagues joined; quite unusual for them to
be late. Afterwards I drove to the
office for meetings. Of interest was the
second meeting which was with the Chinese manufacturer of mobile phones, ZTE,
about a possible joint launch of a new smartphone. The Chinese were fast entering this market
and now dominate much of it. When I
first started in the telecoms sector, it was the Americans and Nordic companies
who dominated.
I missed
Olivia on the television that morning.
She had gone to Valencia on Sunday and would be working there all week
with her cameraman boyfriend Miguel and I think they make a great team. She did a live report about a very sad story of
an abused baby in Castellón. She hates
this sort of news and so do I. You can
watch her here on this link if you go to 11.34h.
The news on
Monday of course was the 57th presidential inauguration in the
United States and Barack Obama’s swearing in on the commencement of his second
term of office. The funny thing is he
had to so in private on Sunday afternoon because the Constitution says that was
when his office begins but as it was not a good day to do so publically, the
live ceremony would take place the next day when, also, all Americans would
have a day off to watch and celebrate the occasion. In the private ceremony the main news was
that his daughter Sasha remarked afterwards that he had done a good job and
“didn’t mess up” in reference to his having to repeat part of the oath in the
first Inauguration Day when he missed some words out.
I didn’t watch
him swearing in on Monday but most of the world did. The biggest news I have seen seems to be
about how Beyoncé mimicked the national anthem instead of singing live. I suppose she must have recorded it
beforehand and preferred to lip synch just in case something went wrong. But I’m sure she now regrets the decision
after worldwide criticism.
 |
| Barack Obama at his swearing in ceremony and Beyoncé lip synching the national anthem. |
On Monday in
Spain there was much warning about snow forecast for the next day and there
were warning signs on the roads in Madrid whilst the capital prepared for this
unusual occasion. I woke up hoping to
see snow in the garden but was disappointed.
After breakfast it started to sleet and a few moments later it
snowed. Unfortunately the snow fall
lasted under 5 minutes and that was the end of the story. I was very jealous seeing photos posted on Facebook
by my friends in Yorkshire of the snow that had fallen there this week. When Kathryn commented that her school had
been closed, that reminded me of the good old days in Yorkshire when they used
to shut down my school, St. Joseph’s College and we would have great days off
enjoying the snow.
 |
| Snow in Keighley West Yorkshire this week |
I drove later
to the office for the weekly management team meeting and the traffic was pretty
dense, because people were worried about the snow that never came. I was meeting Julio and Fátima for a belated
birthday lunch nearby but Fátima, so frightened of the snow, refused to leave
her house! I ended up picking her up and
the two of us had lunch in Boadilla at one of my favourites: El Buey. We had a
great girly lunch and agreed to meet up soon again this time with Julio.
Finally
Wednesday came and my awaited trip to Barcelona. I was going on a site inspection trip to
scout for locations for a party and press conference for our participation in
the Mobile World Congress at the end of next month. I always travel these days on the high speed
train which takes under three hours to reach Barcelona. However, I was astounded to see that the
ticket cost 300 euros, a lot more than the airplane and more expensive than a
flight to London for example. This was my first work trip without lugging my pc
and my first high speed trip using my adored iPad. With it I was able to deal with my emails,
look up the places we were going to site inspect and of course use Facebook and
Twitter. With work out of the way I was able to enjoy the rest of the journey
watching television. Yeah, thanks to the
BBC iPlayer I watched three hilarious episodes of Benidorm, a series about
English people on holiday in that tacky resort town which I know so well
because my parents bought a house in the mountains some 20km inland in the late
70’s – those were what we call “The Callosa Days” and saw my beginnings in
Spain and which you can read about here.
There
may have been no snow in Madrid but there was plenty in the countryside on my
train journey. It was sunny too and I
captured the scene with my iPhone.
 |
| The snow I saw from the train going to Barcelona on Wednesday |
Whilst
I was on the train Olivia would be reporting live again from Valencia, this
time from Denia in Alicante; an amazing story about a false doctor who had been
practicing for five years until he was detected. I was able to watch the piece later on this link. You can too if you go to 11.37h.
 |
| Olivia live on TVE1 on Wednesday reporting on a false doctor in Denia |
A
funny thing happened on the train. Just
as Olivia was reporting live, a team of TVE ambled towards me. They were doing a story on the prices of the
high speed train (apparently to be decreased shortly) and I agreed to be
interviewed. The journalist was Antonio
Parreño who Olivia later told me she knew.
After the interview I sent a whatsapp message to my friend the sports
presenter Sergio Sauca who promised to let me know when the report would be
broadcast. So far it hasn’t come
out. But watch this space. My comment in the interview was that I
thought the ticket was extortionately expensive and that if I had to buy it
myself I would think twice about taking the AVE (high speed train) and that if
tickets were cheaper these trains would be much fuller.
We
actually arrived 30 minutes late in Barcelona because the train had to slow
down because of ice on the rails, but luckily it was sunny in the Catalan
capital. I took a taxi to my hotel, the
1898 where I always stay in Barcelona. It’s on the Rambla and a stone’s throw
from the Plaza de Cataluña. I quickly
checked in and then took a taxi to where I was having lunch with Gloria and
Miguel from my events agency, QuintaEsencia.
We had chosen another favourite, the Agua restaurant by the beach and
next to the Hotel Arts. Amazingly we ate
outside.
.JPG) |
| The Agua restaurant in Barcelona right by the sea, a great location |
We
then had a very productive afternoon visiting all the recommended venues for
the party and press conference in February.
I was finished by 6 pm and had plenty of time until my next engagement,
dinner at Grainne’s house in Badalona later that evening. I went to school with Grainne and her sister
Brenda in Bradford so we go back a long way and I can never visit Barcelona
without meeting this amazing charismatic woman of Irish origin. In order to keep to my Dukan diet I bought
some of the food: ham and steak from the Corte Inglés which I enjoyed with
Grainne and her son Marcel at their cozy little flat in Badalona, a suburb of
Barcelona. We had such a good time
catching up I’m afraid I forgot to take any photos.
The
next day I worked from my hotel room until time to check out. We were to have lunch in the Barceloneta area
at Cal Pinxo and it was such a lovely day, I decided to walk there from my
hotel. Here Gloria, Miguel and I enjoyed
another meal outdoors and remarked just how much we love Barcelona – except for
the local language of course.
.JPG) |
| With Gloria at Cal Pinxo in Barcelona on Thursday |
We
caught the 15h train and I spent most of the journey being entertained on my
iPad. I watched another hilarious
episode of Benidorm and also two episodes of a wonderful BBC period series
called London Hospital. If you know me
well you will know I love hospital stories, although I hate hospitals in real
life.
I
was home in the early evening, a bit too late for our walk unfortunately. I had been sticking to my Dukan diet in
Barcelona and was very cross to see the result on the scales the next day: I
had put on half a kilo. Since then I
have cut back on the oat bran biscuits and fruit yoghurt and luckily today,
Sunday, I am back on track.
Friday
was a quiet day at home, working, food shopping and general routine stuff. In the morning we watched Olivia report from
Calpe, a town close to Callosa by the way.
It was another awful story, this time about how a Moldavan woman was
killed by her partner, the third case of female genocide this year in Spain.
 |
| Olivia reporting from Calpe on Friday |
On
Friday too we were getting ready for visitors.
A friend from the past, very much involved in our Callosa Days, Andy was
coming to stay with his daughter Charlotte who will be living in Madrid for 6
months to learn Spanish. Andy got to
know my family at the University of East Anglia in Norwich where my parents and
Aunty Masha taught at the Russian summer course every year for about 10 years. These intensive courses were a highlight of
my youth as I used to go along for the ride.
In those days it was not easy for students of this language to go to
Russia and this course became very popular with students of all ages and from
many countries. Andy, a schoolboy from
the North of England, joined the course 3 times and won the prize for best
student each time. Being a pretty brainy
chap he then went on to study Russian and Philosophy at Oxford. One of those summers he joined us afterwards at
Callosa. I remember him as a lanky
awkward boy not used to “foreign food” but today he is a mature husband and
father of 4 children living in France and working in External Relations for the
United Nations in Geneva with the International Labour Organisation. His memory
is much better than mine and according to him the last time we met was at the
train station in Oxford in 1978 when I was saying goodbye to my friend Amanda
who studied there.
So,
on Friday, my Father and I were to see him for the first time in 35 years. His beautiful daughter Charlotte, 20, is the
age we were when we last met! He was
keen to see my Father as he said my parents were very instrumental in his youth
and a great help and inspiration. They
both taught him at Norwich and he remarked just how colourful and fun my
Mother’s classes were. I can imagine as
she was very charismatic.
Suzy
and Olivia joined us for dinner – I hadn’t seen them for a week – and we had a
truly international family dinner and even my Father joined us which made us
all happy.
 |
| Andy and Charlotte at dinner at home on Friday night |
The
next morning after breakfast we took Andy and Charlotte on what I call our
“special occasion walk” in nearby Boadilla.
We took the dogs and it was their first time together in the car. I had expected them to behave badly but they
were ok. The walk was magnificent, with
the sun and the view of the snow capped mountains outside Madrid. In fact it got warmer and warmer and we had
to take our coats off. So much for snow,
it reached 17ºc, a lot more than our visitors’ home town near Geneva I guess.
 |
| Out walking on Saturday morning with Andy and Charlotte in El Bosque de Boadilla |
After such a long walk we treated
ourselves to drinks and tapas at lovely bar called La Lonja de Boadilla
opposite the palace. I was wondering how
the dogs would behave but they sat quietly at our feet.
 |
| Tapas with Andy and Charlotte, Eladio and the dogs in the sun in Boadilla on Saturday morning. |
Lunch yesterday was the last meal together
as Andy and Charlotte left to spend Andy’s last afternoon with his daughter in
sunny Madrid. We said goodbye but knew
it would not be another 35 years until we meet.
We hope to see Charlotte whilst she is Spain and her family when they
come to visit at Easter.
The
house seemed very empty afterwards. The
girls were not there. They had left to spend the night at a rented cottage in
nearby Fresnedilla de la Oliva with their friends. They call their group “la
manada” or the herd and they are very close knit. It was to be a goodbye event for Dave, their
friend from school who is leaving Spain to find his fortune in Brazil. Many young Spaniards are leaving Spain as the
job market is so desperate here. Suzy
herself will be going to London in May, also to find her fortune. It just remains for me to say “farewell and
good luck Dave”. The photo illustrating this blog is of the “manada” just about
to set off.
They
(Suzy, Oli, Elena, Elena, Rocío, María,
Carolina, Ana, Dave and Juli) posted photos all afternoon from their lovely
cottage which is located in a field with donkeys (my favourite four legged
animals) just half an hour’s drive from where Suzy lives. I haven’t heard much since. I will probably
not see Suzy until next weekend but am expecting Olivia back this
afternoon. It won’t be for long though
as tonight she will be travelling to Valencia.
Tomorrow she will be going with her boyfriend Miguel for a week’s skiing
in Spain’s most up market skiing resort, Baqueira.
 |
| The girls at the cottage in Fresnedilla de la Oliva this weekend. |
On
a normal weekend we would have gone out to dinner but yesterday was a PP (pure
protein) Dukan day, so we stayed in, had an early dinner and went to bed to
watch the news. The best news was about
sport. A Spaniard from Madrid called
José Fernández (equivalent of Joe Smith in English!) had won the European men’s figure skating and became the first Spaniard ever to win a gold medal. I later read that he lives and trains in
Montreal, Canada, which I suppose is one of the skating capitals of the
world. I have yet to see his performance
which I hear was amazing.
 |
| Javier Ferández, the Spaniard from Madrid who won the European figure skating gold medal in Zagreb yesterday |
Now
is the time to write about other sports news that has interested me this
week. First there was the Bradford City
football team’s first too this week. This is the football team of the city I lived
at in my formative years. Their feat is
being in the 4th division and getting through to the final of the
League Cup (now called Capital One Cup) by beating Aston Vila. They will now play Swansea City in the final
at the most iconic of football venues in the world, Wembley. I really hope they win on 24th
February. Even if they don’t, they will
still have made history for the club.
 |
| Bradford City FC fans celebrating their win over Aston Vila to get through to the final in Wembley |
Today
Sunday, there are two sporting fixtures that interest me. First there is the Australian tennis final
which Britain’s Andrew Murray is playing now against Djokovic. If he wins he will make history for Britain. So please cross your fingers. The second is the final of handball world
championship in Barcelona today when Spain meets Denmark. You will have no doubts as to which side I am
on, so please cross your fingers again my friends.
And
right now I am taking a break from writing this post as we are off to have
lunch in Madrid at Eladio’s brother’s house, José Antonio and our sister-in-law
Dolores. We don’t often visit them, but
today is special as it will be the last time we see their daughter Sara for a
long time as next week she is going off for an extended stay in China. My niece is yet another young Spaniard who is
going to seek her fortune in another country.
It is a country she is familiar with as after University she spent two
years there learning the language.
Again, then, I say goodbye and good luck. Soon it will be Susana I will be saying
goodbye to, but luckily London is nearer than Peking.
And
now I am back at my desk from lunch in Madrid and have found out that Murray
lost to Djokovic. We had a lovely time together and were joined also by Juan,
Sara’s youngest brother and also Eladio’s godson. I wish I had taken a photo for this week’s
blog, but sort of hesitated as I know Sara doesn’t like her photo being
published on internet. We have all
agreed to meet again for my birthday on 8th February and which is
also Juan’s birthday. Sara, of course,
will be in China and we won’t see her again until the Summer.
And
now I will leave you. You have all this
week’s news and as Olivia has just come back, I want to spend some quality time
with her before adding the internet links to this post as well as the photos
and all the palava (a good word for my Spanish friends – a slang word for “hassle”)
of uploading it and publishing it.
All
the best then till next week
Masha
PS If you haven't heard Spain won the Handball world championship - another great sporting victory for Spain!
No comments:
Post a Comment