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| Suzy in sunny Avila today (at the Plaza Mayor) |
Hi again my friends,
What a week it has been in all senses, full of
political news as well as tragedies in the United States, good news for Yoigo
and lots of things happening on the home front.
On Monday the
world woke up to hear that Hugo Chavez’s successor Nicolas Maduro had won the elections in Venezuela but by a very small margin. His opponent, Hector Capriles, called for a
recount after 3000 or so “incidents” in the voting which the new Government
rejected and later in the week Maduro was sworn in. There have been protests every since and it
remains to be seen how the situation will progress. It is certainly a questionable victory that
the democratic countries are not happy with.
I for one would have liked to have seen an audit take place.
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| Nicolas Maduro |
On Monday,
when the wonderful weather continued, as it was to do all week, Eladio got out
the summer furniture for what we call our “outside dining room”, the patio
outside the kitchen where we enjoy our meals in the good weather.
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| My first meal outside this year was on Monday |
Whilst we were
enjoying dinner that night outside, albeit a very frugal meal for me as Monday
was my fasting day, the news was breaking about bombs at the Boston Marathon. We were amazed to hear on TV
in bed later how homemade bombs, using pressure cookers (the Spanish Fagor
brand), killed three people and injured and maimed for life many of the
spectators and runners. I mean
terrorism, if that’s what it was – and we didn’t know at the time – just
doesn’t go with sport.
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| The Boston Marathon which was bombed by two Chechen brothers |
The news
continued through the week of the repercussions of the terror and how the US
police and FBI finally caught up with the culprits. They were two young brothers, Tamerlan
Tsarnaev and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, of Chechen origin aged 26 and 19. They were
spied on the public cameras wearing black and white caps and people who knew
them identified them immediately and alerted the authorities. It is yet to be found out why they targeted
the Boston Marathon, one of the big five, and it will be some time before we
know. Tamerlan is now dead after a
shooting fight with the police and his younger brother who managed to get away
but was caught a while later, was shot in the throat and is clinging for life
in a Boston hospital and obviously because of the wound will be unable to talk for
sometime if he recovers.
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| The Chechen brothers |
There have
been articles about Tamerlan and Dzhokhar, but one which caught my attention
was written by David Remnick and published in The New Yorker and analyses the
story behind the woes of the Chechen people and the story of the Tsarnaev family. It all boils down to Stalin who in the middle
of the second world war declared this region’s people disloyal to the USSR and
banished them from their homeland in the northern Caucasus to Central Asia and
Siberia. Many did survive but the
Tsarnaev family finally found themselves in Kyrgyzstan and some ten years ago
moved to the US. The rest of the story
you know, how Tamerlan did not adapt and yearned for his roots and eventually
became a fundamentalist. He committed this awful crime and is now dead. And you know what? I just think it is all the
fault of one of the worst dictators to ever walk the earth, Joseph Stalin. If you think Hitler was worse, talk to my
Father who knows his history and will tell you that the latter devil massacred
many more people than the former some of whom were Chechens and whose ancestors
bear a grudge still today. In my
readings to document this story, I was fascinated to find out that Chechens who
turned to Islam in the 15th century, speak Russian with a thick
accent and that their own language is called “Noxchiin Mott”. I wonder whether the two now famous brothers
who perpetrated the horror of the Boston Marathon spoke that language or
whether they were more familiar with English after having spent their formative
years and done all their schooling in the US, the true melting pot of the world
and supposed bastion of democracy.
Tuesday saw me
thinking about the Boston bombings but busy at the office in the morning. Tuesday was also the day the news of this
year’s Pulitzer prizes was announced. I
was happy to hear that a Spaniard, Manu Brabo, had won the Breaking News Photography prize. The prize was awarded
to him and his team from the Associated Press for their “compelling coverage of
the civil war in Syria, producing memorable images under extreme hazard”. You can see the full collection here, but the
one that stands out most is of a Syrian man crying whilst holding the body of
his son.
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| One of the winning Pulitzer prize photos by Manu Brabo |
I think the
thermometer was at its highest this week on Tuesday. I went for walks on my own
in the afternoons in the middle of the week as Eladio has his UNED tutorials
then. I probably recorded the highest
temperature on Tuesday afternoon on my walk as you can see in the photo below.
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| My warmest walk this week |
It was on
Tuesday afternoon that I found out we would be having an English neighbour.
Imagine that for me! As I came back from
an errand, I met two women just outside the house next door which has been on
sale for quite a few years now. It has
been difficult to sell not just because of the crisis but because the house,
more of a shell really, is unfinished and will need a lot of work and money to
become a proper home. We began to talk
in Spanish and I immediately recognized the English accent of one of the
women. Kate too was very surprised and
pleased and told me she had made an offer for the house and that it had been
accepted. I invited my new English
neighbour and her friend in for a “nice cup of tea” on our outside dining room
table and here we introduced ourselves properly. Kate is a teacher of English at a local
school and is married to a Spaniard, like me of course which tickled us both
pink. Her husband is from the north of
Spain and works in the telecoms market the same as me. So they are just like us; an English woman
married to a Spaniard and with similar professions. In their case she is the teacher and in my
case Eladio is the teacher. I look
forward to their moving in and having an English neighbour and hopefully a
friend but I think it will take some time because of the work needed doing on
their new house.
Wednesday was
an important date in the history of Great Britain. It was the day of Margaret Thatcher’s “ceremonial funeral” (one
step down from a state funeral) and it was of course broadcast in its entirety
on television.
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| Margaret Thatcher's coffin fittingly draped with a Union Jack flag |
Many of us
have been following the news of her death and not unsurprisingly the nation was
divided in its sentiment as it was during her premiership and indeed for much
of her life. There were those who
mourned her death and those who celebrated it.
I am sort of in the middle. I was
a teenager when she came to power and I lived through the major events when she
governed such as the Miners’ strikes, when she removed the school milk
allowance and was called “Thatcher the milk snatcher”, the bomb attack on her
own life during one of the Conservative Party conferences, the war with
Argentina over the Falklands and of course her downfall which had much to do
with the proposal of the “poll tax”. I
think she became just a little too regal or full of herself especially towards
the end of her last government. So yes,
she did some good things and some bad things.
She will be very much remembered for some amazing public speaking and
celebratory quotes. I think the most
famous quote of all is when she said “the lady’s not for turning” at a
Conservative Party Conference in 1980.
It has now become a Thatcherite motto and even a name to describe
Baroness Thatcher which is why I have chosen it for this week’s headline. The full declaration was the following: “you
turn if you want to” but “the lady’s not for turning” in reference to her
opposition to the liberalization of the economy that her predecessor, Ted or
Edward Heath had urged. Another quote I read this week and loved was this:
“Being powerful is like being a lady. If
you have to tell people you are, you aren’t”.
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| A quote I particularly like from the late Margaret Thatcher |
I didn’t see
the funeral but read about it as being the biggest funeral for an ex British
Prime Minister since Winston Churchill and the first one since his death that
the Queen attended. People lined the
streets to view the funeral cortege.
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| The route of the funeral procession |
One thing that
struck me of the funeral was the reading by her young granddaughter Amanda,
aged not yet 20 who read flawlessly at the funeral service. When praised on her performance she was to
comment that it was “in the blood”. I’m
sure her grandmother would have been proud to hear her, although I wonder what
she would have thought about her pronounced American accent.
But not
everyone was mourning her death that day.
I particularly found funny this picture I found which reflects the
sarcastic negative sentiment some people have about her figure.
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| Amanda Thatcher reading at her grandmother's funeral, a flawless performance |
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| Some people wished the Iron Lady a rest in rust |
So yes on
Wednesday, the lady who was not for turning, that most charismatic, loved and
hated English woman figure who was part of my growing up years in England, was
finally laid to rest. I am not one who
would like her to rest in rust, just in peace and to have her place in history
if only for one major achievement: being the first woman premier both in
England and in Europe. RIP Maggie.
As you know,
in this blog, I comment on important worldly events but also on the mundane,
often the trivia of our lives, so don’t be surprised about my next story. Whilst Margaret Thatcher was being laid to
rest, Eladio was giving our dogs their fortnightly or rather monthly
bathe. And here is a photo of dear Elsa
stoically putting up with the warm water and soap which I sometimes suspect she
secretly likes as she puts up no opposition.
More trivia
that day for you, but important for me: my new Clarks red and blue shoes
ordered online the day before arrived just as the dogs were having their baths.
So why is that important you may ask? Well, I have ungainly and funnily shaped
feet, rather too wide and cannot wear dainty shoes to be found in the shops
here for Spanish women with elegant feet.
Clarks, the good old English shoemaker, makes shoes which are good for
imperfect feet like mine; i.e. they are slightly wider and generally more
comfortable. I needed some blue shoes
and some red shoes to go with all the new outfits I keep buying and this week I
found just what I wanted on www.clarks.es,
shoes in those colours with medium sized heels which would fit the bill. And they arrived on Wednesday and were a
perfect fit. All I can say is 10/10 for
Clarks for making shoes that are nice (not beautiful but pretty enough), that
fit me, are not too expensive and are delivered almost for free the day after
purchasing them.
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| Elsa having a bath this week |
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| Red shoe, the model I bought from Clarks online this week |
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| Blue shoe, the model I bought from Clarks online too this week |
My dear girls
were back on Wednesday night from their four day break in Tenerife. You may remember me telling you last week
that they had gone with Rocío, Erika and Anita to stay with their school friend
Estefanía who now lives there. From what
they told us when they came back it seems much time was spent on the El Médano
beach and relaxing at Estefanía’s home.
For the record here is a photo of them having lunch together one day. It must have been Anita who took the photo as
she is not in it.
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| The girls with their friends in Tenerife last week |
They were home
for a late outside dinner that night, having been picked up at the airport by
Olivia’s boyfriend Miguel who had come to join her for the rest of the
week. I went all out, or rather Oufa
went all out to make a special dinner. I’m
sorry now we didn’t take a picture to capture the dinner we prepared for their
return. They told us it had been warm in
the Canary Islands but not quite as warm as here. Ironically the islands are now going through
a heat wave with temperatures over 30ºc.
Suzy commented it was Murphy’s Law.
I suppose it was. In any case
they came back quite brown from sunbathing on the beach which they later told
me was rather windy.
Of interest on
Thursday I went out shopping in search of a full cover for my iPhone which I
dropped at the beginning of the week. If fell on the screen side which is made
of glass and it splintered. Funnily enough it still worked but it was difficult
to see text or photos. When I posted the
photo below on FB I got comments from ex Nokia colleagues to say that didn’t
happen to Nokia phones. I don’t know if
it does but it is true that I never broke the screen of any of my Nokia
phones. I am lucky I work in the
industry as I soon got a replacement phone whilst mine is being mended. But I decided I didn’t want it to happen
again because of the fuss of restoring all the information, pictures and
applications which can take a few hours and went in search of a full
cover. I went to the Apple store at Gran
Plaza 2 but didn’t find anything suitable there. In the end it was at The Phone
House that I found a lovely white leather case which is now protecting my
replacement phone.
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| My broken iPhone a sorry sight |
When I told
Suzy I was going to Plaza Norte 2 for a case for my phone, she commented I
would be doing some clothes shopping too.
She was right. I just couldn’t
resist going into H+M and Zara and at the latter found a great black and white
checkered blazer and matching skirt. So “me”
the girls told me me later.
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| The black and white checkered blazer from Zara |
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| The blast at the fertilizer plant in West, Texas this week |
Friday was a
very busy day for me and a great day for Yoigo.
It was the 1st quarterly results day and they were published by
our majority shareholder, the Swedish telecoms operator TeliaSonera at 7 that
morning. At 8h I was attending my first
conference call with the communications staff in the group and at 08h.30 the
second one, this time with the head of the Mobility Services division which
Yoigo belongs to. The other countries in
this group are Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and
Estonia. The news for Yoigo was good and
it was my job to communicate it quickly to the press and employees in Spanish. Yoigo’s sales had increased by 19% vs the
same quarter in 2012, a sort of wow in these times of crisis.
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| It was good news for Yoigo on Friday |
One good thing
about being busy on Thursday, my second fast day of the week, is that it took
my mind off food. I had to be in the
office for a meeting with my boss to go over an important agenda for next
Monday and to discuss some other important upcoming projects I am responsible for.
Some of the items discussed at the meeting had me working a lot of this weekend,
but I do not mind. I hardly distinguish my work time from my private time and
always prefer to have lots of projects to deal with being the busy bee I am.
That evening,
Eladio and I went out for dinner as we often do on Friday nights. The restaurant we went to was new and one
that had been recommended by Juana for a lunch engagement some of my ex Nokia
women colleagues and I will be having next month. But intrigued by her recommendation, we
decided to try out Xa Casa Picón in Majadahonda on Friday. The pretty building it is housed in is one I
am very familiar with having driven past it many times and one I have always
liked. It used to be a furniture shop
but is now a restaurant. It certainly
lived up to our expectations and also the positive reviews I had seen on
Foursquare and Trip Advisor. We will
definitely going back if only for the “salmorejo” which was out of this world.
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| Xa Casa Picón, the restaurant we discovered on Friday |
Saturday was
probably the best day of the week. Both girls were to be here for lunch which
always makes me happy. Because of the
good weather we were to have the first barbecue of the season.
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| Eladio cooking the barbecue meat on Saturday |
I have to
admit the temperatures went down this weekend but it was still sunny if a
little cool, and even so our first family barbecue was a complete success.
After lunch
Suzy went off to a rural hotel near Avila with her Russian friend who we call
Vladimir, although his name is actually Emil.
Today she sent me some photos. The one illustrating this week’s blogpost
is of her sitting in the beautiful main square of Avila, the “plaza mayor”. The one below is of her standing by the walls
of the town. We expect her home this evening.
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| Suzy by the walls of Avila today |
I should also
mention that on Saturday too Olivia and Miguel who are becoming keen short
distance runners, did a 10km race. It was in aid of mental health and here they
ran with a friend from Montrondo called Jorge who had a terrible car accident
some years ago but is now a keen runner.
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| Olivia ready to run the 10km race on Saturday |
Last night we
were invited out to dinner. Olivia’s
boyfriend, Miguel, invited the three of us out to dinner for a belated
celebration of his birthday. We went to
a great place called Sibara in Majadahonda.
They serve fish and chips amongst other things and which of course I
chose. It was a good occasion to get to
know Miguel a little better. Apart from
being an engineer and cameraman for TVE he is a keen sportsman and especially
loves swimming. In May he will be
swimming the 30km stretch between Ibiza and Formentera which will take him some
10 hours to do. I don’t think I could
even swim for an hour without stopping so am very impressed with his new
challenge.
And now it’s
Sunday again and the sun is shining and we are having a nice relaxing day. When I say we I do not refer to Olivia who
right now will be finishing an exam for a fixed job in Melilla with TVE. She works for TVE but does not have a fixed
contract, but this opportunity is a shot in the dark as there will be many
contenders and only one vacancy. In any
case we wish her all the luck in the world.
Tomorrow will
be very busy for me with an important series of events I am involved in at
work, including lunch. Thus I shall put
off my normal fasting Monday until Tuesday.
I will leave
you now to enjoy a walk with Eladio and the dogs and some quality time with
Suzy who has just back from Avila. I
wish you all a great week
Meanwhile, all
the best
Masha
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