Sunday 10th February 2013
I have played it over and over again. She says in Spanish “feliz cumpleaños Masha” (happy birthday Masha). Isn’t she lovely?
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| What a happy woman I was on Friday on my birthday with my red roses Eladio ordered from Interflora |
Hello again everyone
Today is the official
start of the Chinese New Year, the Year of the snake. “Gong Xi
Fa Cai” my friends. This week
being my birthday and prompted by my friend Sandra in Brussels, I looked up my
Chinese horoscope to find out that I am the “rooster”. Do you know what you are?
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| Today is the beginning of the Chinese New Year, the Year of the Snake |
The week has
been great, busy and fun. Monday saw me
at the office for a meeting with my PR team to see how we can improve our
activity on social media. We are doing a
good job but can always do better. I was
happy later in the week to hear that Yoigo is the 2nd most sociallydevoted brand of all brands in Spain on Facebook. It was interesting to see that our
competition (Orange, Vodafone and Telefónica) are in the top ten of the least
socially devoted brands. But, as I pointed out to my team, I want to be top in
other rankings too such as top content and engagement rate. Let’s hope we get there.
On Monday too
we had the pleasure of the company of Susana and it was day Olivia returned
from her skiing trip to Baqueira. Dinner together was a luxury as it always is
these days now that we are no longer together as often as when the girls were
younger.
The news that
day was about yet another corruption scandal, this time a sporting one, as if
we hadn’t had enough with Lance Armstrong and the Operación Puerto. The world heard via the Interpol that up to
380 football matches around the globe have been fixed – players and referees
had been bribed to fix matches and the mafia organizing this from Asia made
money betting on matches. The only good
news to come out was that no matches had been fixed in Spain, so for once Spain
was in the clear.
Nearly every
country has its scandals and very few, or none, are free of corruption. This week it was the turn of Germany where
the Minister for Education, Annette
Schavan, resigned. Her
crime was plagiarism when she did her PhD.
In Spain that would be sort of run of the mill and few authorities would
resign over something similar.
My own country
England was in deep trouble this week.
First there was the horsemeat scandal – horsemeat found in hamburgers
and similar food – which I for one wouldn’t have taken as seriously as some of
my compatriots. But it has generated
reams of articles and activity on social media, as well as lots of jokes. English wit has truly risen to the occasion
here and I have enjoyed following the story on twitter. I particularly like these twits:“Since the
horsemeat scandal I've been having my burgers extremely well done - they're
black beauties” and “Would you like some beef in your burger Sir?”
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| British wit at the horsemeat scandal is endless, this is just one example |
Much worse is
the Mid Staffordshire hospital scandal also in the UK, where up to 1.200
patients have died unnecessarily through atrocious lack of care. I hate to read the details but if you haven’t,
you can read about them here. I have always said that English hospitals are
grim places, having seen my brother not very well cared for at the dirty Royal
Free Hospital in London or my Mother spending the last weeks of her life on the
cancer ward at the Bradford Royal Infirmary.
I have to say she was not badly cared for but her surroundings were not
pleasant. On the other hand, hospitals,
both public and private, are much more pleasant and efficient in Spain. They are not perfect but we have no record of
lack of care or unnecessary deaths here.
I’m sure David Cameron, when he made an apology in Parliament this week,
must have felt enormous embarrassment as the world looked on in utter disgust
that something like this could happen in England, a country that is in the top
ten most prosperous in the world.
Equally
embarrassed I imagine Spain’s premier, Mariano Rajoy, must have felt when he
had to face the press for the first time since his own political corruption scandal
– the supposed slush fund hand outs to top party members, including himself, by
the former party treasurer, the now infamous Luis Bárcenas. He had to do so in the presence of Europe’s iron
lady, Angela Merkel and it must have been a very tricky situation for him. I am personally embarrassed by the scandal,
the biggest in politics in Spain for some time, but only one of many. We have yet to find out if the documents published
by El País are bonafide and who is lying here, the left wing newspaper or the
right wing ruling party, PP, who deny receiving slush funds. It is embarrassing when the news spreads the
world but of course inevitable. So I was
shocked to see this article by The Economist entitled “Another Blow”. In actual fact the article which describes
this and other corruption scandals in Spain, is not only objective but a very good
summary of what is happening here. I
encourage you to read it.
On Tuesday I
had lots of girly time, or what my Mother used to call “moments with Mummy”. Suzy was here for breakfast and I went
shopping with Olivia in the afternoon. We
had a very productive bit of retail therapy.
I found a fabulous figure hugging black and white lycra dress at
H+M. The picture below doesn’t do it
justice.
.JPG) |
| My new black and white lycra dress from H+M - love it |
Of course we
went to Zara too and here I jumped at this tapestry mini skirt. To go with it I chose an emerald green cardigan. Just love this outfit; so me.
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| Love my new tapestry skirt and emerald green cardigan from Zara |
We went to
Centro Oeste in Majadahonda. There is a
new little boutique there called “Cosas bonitas” or something like that and
here I found a great jumper with the word Love, the “o” being the peace
sign. I wore it on my birthday and got
lots of compliments. Apparently it makes
me look younger. If that’s true I shall
be wearing it a lot hahaha.
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| My new "love jumper" |
On Tuesday too
something funny happened. I looked at
our joint account on internet and lo and behold found a charge from
Interflora. Thus I guessed that Eladio
had ordered flowers for me for my birthday or for Valentine’s day. He didn’t know I had found out and I didn’t
tell him. I put this on my FB status and
got lots of comments, including one from my ex Swedish boss, who said he hoped
the flowers would be for me. Thus I
promised a photo of them when they came.
But I had to wait a few days before that happened. You will have to read on now until the end to
find out what happened!
Wednesday was
busy too. I had a meeting with my events
team, the two sisters Cristina and Bea from QuintaEsencia at Zielo, where we
always meet to brainstorm. We were to
discuss our activities at the up and coming Mobile World Congress at the end of
the month.
In the
afternoon after our walk, Eladio and I had a neighbourhood community meeting to
attend. We had received a letter about the
recent spate of robberies. You will have
read in earlier posts that because of this we have modernized our alarm system and
are putting in a doorbell video camera intercom (if that’s what it’s called in
English). We never go to community
meetings but this was important. Here we
learned that robberies have increased since the late autumn from two a month to
thirteen. The room was packed and we
were addressed by the head of the police for this area of Madrid, the head of
the security company in charge of this neighbourhood and the local councilor for
security. We were happy to hear that
three bands of robbers have been caught and that the robberies had decreased
but only slightly. We also learned lots
of tips on how to secure our home better and ward off thieves. We have always felt very safe living here and
have been quite careless, leaving the door open when we go shopping, not
putting the alarm on very much, but from now on we shall be much more vigilant. I suppose the robberies are very much a
sign of our times.
.JPG) |
| On Wednesday we attended a very packed neighbourhood community meeting about the recent spate of robberies where we live |
Thursday was
very much transition day for me, also my last pure protein Thursday on the
Dukan regime as tomorrow Monday, I shall be starting the 5:2 diet, otherwise
known as The Fast diet - remember I wrote about “intermittent fasting” last week.
So watch this space to see how I get on.
My “fast days” or rather semi fast days where I have to restrict my
calorie intake to just 500 (a quarter of a day’s ration) will be on Mondays and
Thursdays.
Of note that
day I went to the hairdresser to look good for my birthday and best of all
Susana stayed the night so as to be with me for breakfast on my big day.
And the big
day came and it was perfect. The wonderful messages on Facebook and whatsapp
kept coming through the day, as well as phone calls, text messages and emails. I had to go the office and even my boss who
is not into social media knew it was my birthday. My overall favourite message came late in the
day via my nephew Roberto who sent a video greeting from his 3 year old
daughter Diana. Isn't she lovely?
I have played it over and over again. She says in Spanish “feliz cumpleaños Masha” (happy birthday Masha). Isn’t she lovely?
Yes my friends
on Friday I was 56! Not much I can say
except that I don’t feel that age. When
I got home the much awaited flowers (red roses – my favourites) were waiting
for me with a little card that said “I love you” (as if I didn’t know). That’s when I owed up to Eladio that I had
been expecting them ever since I saw the charge on our bank account. He picked me up and whirled me round the room
and we laughed and hugged for a while. I’m
not sure my Father, who was looking on, realised what that was about. Well he will now when he reads this post.
Of all the
photos of my birthday the one with the flowers is my favourite so that’s the
one I picked to illustrate this week’s blog.
We shall laugh about the Interflora incident for years to come I’m sure.
Lunch was a
quiet affair. Suzy couldn’t be there but
Oli was (nice). My family led me to
believe there would be no cake (a must at all birthdays in this house) but
there was and here I am blowing the candles.
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| Me and the birthday cake, a surprise |
Afterwards I
got the first of my wonderful presents: Tous jewelry from my Father (a gold
plated heart shaped pendant with matching earrings and bracelet), silver
earrings from Tiffany from Eladio (under instructions of course) and a fabulous
pair of modern walking Nike trainers from the girls. You really feel you are walking on cushions
when you wear them. I was so pleased.
I spent more
girly time with Olivia in the afternoon with a trip to El Corte Inglés to change
the trainers for a bigger size but also to get ingredients for the girls to
make a tiramisu dessert for Copi. I should mention that Copi’s birthday is on
the same day as mine.
So many cakes
were made that day, but one was very special and deserves a mention here. It was made by Anita, the girls’ friend, for
Copi’s birthday party – see the picture below.
Anita is fast becoming a really good cake creator and I have even
suggested she should try her hand at becoming professional.
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| The amazing Hello Kitty birthday cake Anita made for Copi whose birthday is on the same day as mine. |
It is also my nephew Juan’s birthday too and
on Friday he had reached the grand old age of 30. That night as you will have
read in last week’s post, I had organized a family dinner to celebrate not only
my birthday but Juan’s too and also Alicia, my god daughter, who turned 21 on 2nd
February. It was to be at Naia, a bistro
in the old part of Madrid which is partly owned by my colleague Pedro.
Before the
dinner, I had another date. It was with
Keka, my ex Nokia colleague and something of a protégé who now lives in
Galicia. She was in Madrid with her new
boyfriend Fernando and wanted us to meet him, so we agreed to do so at Naia, an
hour before our dinner.
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| With Keka (Esther) and Fernando at Naia on Friday |
They were
sitting at a table at the entrance when we arrived and after our hugs she handed
me a beautiful bouquet of purple orchids.
They are now gracing the centre table in the lounge and every time I go
past them I smile and remember Keka.
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| Beautiful orchids from Keka for my birthday |
It was great
to see Keka again and lovely to see her in love and happy. We parted promising to visit them in La
Coruña, a town I have only visited once many many years ago.
By 9.30pm
there were 11 of us round the table – all the representatives of Eladio’s
family who live in Madrid. This was
really a first, the first time the 11 of us were to have dinner out
together. For the record we were Eladio
and I, his brother José Antonio and his wife Dolores, their son Juan with his
girlfriend Cristina, Alicia, our god daughter, Paula our niece and her
boyfriend Pedro and of course our girls, Suzy and Oli.
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| The younger generation at the family birthday dinner on Friday |
The dinner was
good as was the company and atmosphere we created. Once again there were birthday presents and I
was very fortunate to get a digital AV adapter for my iPad from Juan and
Cristina which we have yet to try out on a TV, a linen tablecloth for our
outsized dining room table from Dolores and José Antonio and last, but not
least, a beautiful silver plated necklace by the Spanish designer Purificación
García from my nieces. Suzy promptly
borrowed it to wear at Copi’s birthday party afterwards and I have yet to try
it on myself.
There were two
people missing at the dinner on Friday but very much in everyone’s
thoughts. They were Miguel, Dolores and
José Antonio’s son who lives and works in London and of course couldn’t be with
us. Also missing was Sara (Sarita) their
daughter who had flown to Burma the week before on a journey which will take
her to China to spend a year brushing up her Mandarin. I even got a birthday message from her and
told her we would miss her that night. I
think her greeting was from one of the furthest places of all those I received
that day. She also sent me some photos –
one of which I am publishing below. Have
a great time Sarita, next time send me some photos with you in them ok.
.JPG) |
| A scene from Burma sent to me by my niece Sara on my birthday |
If Friday was
important to me because of my birthday, it was much more important for Carnival
lovers around the world as the 8th February marked the commencement
of this year’s Carnival celebrations. I
was not brought up on the tradition and am not a great one for wanting to get
dressed up. My sisters-in-law, Adela and
Pili and Pili’s husband Andrés are quite the opposite and look forward to Carnival
as if they had been brought up in Brazil. All through the weekend they have
been posting photos dressed up in their costumes on whatsapp and I particularly
like this one of Adela and her junior school pupils. She is the clown in the middle of the
picture.
.JPG) |
| My sister-in-law Adela dressed as a clow (in the middle) celebrating Carnival with her pupils on Friday |
On Saturday
the birthday celebrations continued. I
was blessed with a belated family birthday lunch with both girls here. We were
joined by Juli and in the afternoon whilst we were sleeping our siesta, the
three of them were working on creating a photo collage for their friend Dave
who, as I wrote before, is leaving Spain next week to find his fortune in
Brazil. I wonder if he will be on time
to see some of the famous Carnival celebrations there.
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| The girls and Juli making a photo collage for their friend Dave to take to Brazil |
Last night we
had a dinner date with my ex Nokia friends, Juana and Oscar, Julio and
Fátima. Juana had made the great choice
of reserving a table via the El Tenedor restaurant website, at El Café de Oriente in the Madrid Costume museum.
Once again I was to receive more birthday presents which contributed to
this birthday being the perfect one, the best in many years. I repeatedly told
them and everyone to watch out for my 60th birthday in four years
time, promising fireworks and whatever is needed to create the party of the
century. I must add that the food was
out of this world as well as the setting.
We all agreed we would be back, especially in the summer where we look
forward to dinner on the terrace in the splendid gardens and artificial lake that
surround the museum.
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| We had a great dinner with out friends Oscar, Juana, Julio and Fátima yesterday night |
And today is
Sunday, the start of the Chinese New Year.
It is also Oufa, our Moroccan home help’s 30th birthday. We surprised her with a card including a
generous financial contribution and some special make up. It was lovely to see her face light up and
here her comment how happy she was. She made
a great cake to take home to have with her sisters, one I hope she makes for us
too one day – it looked like pure chocolate, delicious!
It is a quiet
day, a day on which I count my blessings, not just because of the perfect
birthday but because of the wonderful family and friends I have who contributed
to making it perfect. Thank you
everyone.
And so another
week has ended and my story has come to an end.
I hope you had a good week too and wish you all the best for the one
coming.
Until next
time my friends,
Masha
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