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| Olivia's face said it all as she was about to go live to report on the train accident in Santiago |
Hi everyone,
Everything was
normal this week until the terrible train accident in Santiago de Compostela in
North West Spain on Wednesday night, the worst in Spain in 40 years and the
worst in Europe in 25 years. But let me
start by telling you what happened before that.
On Sunday, we
had the pleasure of the company of Olivia and Miguel for lunch. As usual Suzy
was missing, as she is now living in London.
She seems to be living a sort of renewed student life and enjoying herself
enormously. Last Sunday saw her at
Richmond Park. She has had fantastic weather ever since she left Spain in May
and she and her friends are enjoying discovering London’s wonderful parks.
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| Suzy by the ice cream van in Richmond Park last Sunday |
In the photo
she is queueing up for an ice cream. The
picture brought back memories of my childhood in England when the ice cream van
would visit our neighbourhood. You would
know it was there when it jingled a tune in the street and we children would
come out shouting excitedly: “the ice cream man is here” whereby our parents
would fork out for us to indulge. Ice cream
is my overall favourite dessert, pudding or sweet, whatever you want to call
it. The main offering the ice cream man
had to make was of the soft type with a chocolate flake inside which was called
a “99”. Ice cream vans were very much a fixture of my childhood in England and
I am glad to see that they still are a feature of British life. I wonder whether Suzy had a “99” and if she
experienced the same thrill as I did when I was a child.
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| This is what a 99 ice cream looks like |
Later that
day, Olivia was off again. This time she was being sent to Galicia to report on
the news there for her programme, La mañana de la 1. Little did she know what was awaiting her. She was accompanied by her friend Dave and
off they went in his car in the middle of the afternoon for a very long
drive. Their journey was not incident
free as it turned out that they punctured some 150km from their destination,
Santiago, the capital of Galicia and the seat of the holy shrine of St. James
which so many pilgrims walk to on the Way of St. James (the “camino”). Unable to
change the tire they had to call a toll truck. The driver and mechanic said
they had another tire about to puncture and that he would have to tow the car
into Santiago. Meanwhile they had to
take a taxi to their hotel which must have cost a bomb.
On Monday they
would have woken up in the hotel Olivia always stays at when in Santiago, the 5
star Obradoiro. The story she covered
that morning was in far away Lugo. Here
she interviewed a woman whose house had been damaged by the town council. I missed the live report but was able to
watch it later via streaming.
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| Olivia reporting from Lugo on Monday |
That morning
saw me at Yoigo for various routine errands I had to attend to at the
office. Always loving wearing my new
clothes, that morning I chose to wear a yellow outfit I had bought at Zara, a
very unusual colour for me. However I am
quite tanned at the moment and yellow looks better on me than it would if I was
the usual white.
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| Me in yellow on Monday |
I had quite a
few comments when I posted the picture on Facebook. I was most surprised at one from my childhood
school friend Brenda who said: “you look so like your Mum it’s untrue”. It was sort of nice to read although I never
thought of my Mother as good looking or that I even looked like her.
I had bought
the yellow outfit to match a beautiful yellow handbag Olivia’s boyfriend Miguel
had bought for me, also from Zara. This
is it and I love it.
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| The yellow leather handbag Miguel bought for me at Zara |
Monday of course
was the day Kate Middleton was admitted to St. Mary’s hospital to give birth to
her baby. The whole world was looking forward to the end of what has become
known in the British press as “the great Kate wait”. It wasn’t until the early evening that we
knew she had given birth to a baby boy.
The baby boy born at 4.24pm who weighed 8lbs 6oz. (3.7 kg) will one day
be King, after his Grandfather Prince Charles and his Father Prince
William. I think though he will probably
have to wait until he is about 80 for that to happen. The fact that he is a boy will make things
easier for Royal legislation and there will be no need to revoke the Salic Law
which would have happened if the Great Kate Wait had turned out to produce a
baby girl.
England went
crazy with joy and British pomp was at its best that day, although the
important baby’s name was not to be announced until the next day. As tradition dictates, staffers posted a
bulletin on a wooden easel in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace.
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| The easel announcing the royal baby's birth at Buckingham Palace |
American press
reported on an official royal crier announcing the birth, except that he turned
out to be an unofficial one.
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| The fake royal crier announcing the baby's birth |
The British
press had a field day with the announcement, vying, as usual for the best
tongue in cheek headlines. My favourite
is the one from The Sun which needs no further explanation.
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| British press at its best announcing the royal birth |
Part of the
Great Kate Wait was waiting for a first glimpse of the baby. That happened
quite quickly as Kate Middleton spent only one night in the exclusive Lindo
Wing of St. Mary’s Hospital. She
appeared together with Prince William wearing a beautiful blue and white
spotted dress which was much commented on as being similar to the dress Lady
Diana wore when she first appeared in public to show baby Prince William. What was also very apparent in the appearance
was the baby bump which has also been in the news. I think she was brave to show it off. After all
why hide a perfectly natural physical state?
I mean it’s not as if it can disappear overnight.
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| Happy Kate and her bump with Prince William showing the baby as they leave the hospital |
The next day,
Tuesday, I had a lunch appointment with Marta, an ex colleague from Nokia who
now heads up the communications department at a big insurance company. Marta is an avid anglophile and also happens
to be pregnant, so of course we talked about the royal baby. Marta has already chosen the name of her baby
girl which will be born at the beginning of October. It is to be called Alejandra.
That was not
the case of William and Kate whose baby was nameless when it was shown to the
world that morning. The big question of course was what they would call it. I hoped it would be called George like my
brother. If so, the new baby could
become King George VII. My brother was
named George after the patron saint of England but also after the current Queen’s
Father, King George VI. My Mother always
told me how she joined the crowds in London to mourn his death in 1952. There were bets on all the possible names of
past English Kings: Charles, Henry, James, Edward, etc. I was thus delighted when I heard that the
new royal baby was to be called George; George Alexander Louis. He will be known as His Royal Highness Prince
George of Cambridge. That’s rather nice
too as my dear brother George was actually born in Cambridge where my parents
met and married and where we were born.
Again the
English press had a field day with the announcement of the name which happened
on Wednesday evening at 6.20pm. Quite a
few of them used the well known English expression: “by George” that I thought
most fitting for the occasion. I now look forward to buying a royal mug to
commemorate the occasion when I go to London in August. This mug will be the
continuation of a collection of royal mugs started by my Grandmother and continued
by my Mother and myself.
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| My royal mug collection |
Earlier on
Wednesday Olivia told a typical story for her TV programme. This one was about a chef in La Coruña who
was teaching a group of mentally handicapped young people how to cook. Similarly to Master Chef, the best person in
the group will get a job in his restaurant.
You can see the clip here if you go to 13.25h
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| Oli and the budding chefs in La Coruña on Wednesday |
That night
when we were on our daily walk, I checked my mobile phone and saw the terrible news. A semi high speed train, known as
Alvia, had derailed and crashed 4km outside Santiago on its way from Madrid to
Ferrol on a deadly curve. It apparently
approached the curve at full speed, some 190kmph rather than the obligatory 80.
The death toll in the first few minutes was rising rapidly from 10, to 20 to 30
and upwards. I immediately thought of Olivia who was in Santiago and sent her a
whatsapp. Being the journalist she is, by
then she was on her way to the scene of the tragedy. That night Eladio and I skipped our usual
bathe and rushed to watch the live coverage of this terrible accident. By then the death toll was at 50 and we were
watching how the courageous neighbours of the small village of Androis were
rescuing survivors even before the ambulances arrived. I had only eyes and ears that day and the
following for news of the accident.
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| A scene from the train crash in Santiago on Wednesday night |
We woke up the
next day to the news that over 70 people had been killed and that some 40 were
critically injured. That was 25th
July, the day of the Patron Saint St. James, Santiago and would normally have
been a day of huge festivities in the Galician capital. However, festivities were cancelled and I can
only imagine that this date will always be tinged by the sad memory of the
terrible train accident in which 79 people lost their lives. It remains to be seen how well the critically
injured fare.
Olivia’s
journalistic skills were to be put to the test on Thursday and Friday mornings
as La Mañana de La 1 dedicated the entire programme to the accident. This was, after all, the biggest news she had
ever reported on and the most traumatic.
The photo illustrating this week’s blog was taken by Dave and the
expression on her face sums up the enormous tragedy of this terrible accident and
the toll it has taken on Olivia.
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| Olivia working from the scene of the accident |
She was on the
TV live every few minutes and even though she later told me she felt like
crying the whole time, she managed to keep a professional face for the camera. She reported on the rescue work going on at
the scene of the accident, interviewed village helpers, as well as a
fire fighter and also reported on the reestablishment of the train line amongst
many other stories that emerged from the traged.
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| Olivia with a very serious face reporting on the accident |
At about
midday on Thursday a video taken by the track side camera, leaked probably by
employees, showed the world how the accident happened. The footage of the train hurtling around the
bend before flipping on its side is hair raising. It was removed from You Tube but can be found
elsewhere on internet. If you haven’t
seen it, take a deep breath before you click here.
On Friday morning
Olivia interviewed the prestigious and well known BBC presenter Tim Willcox
onsite for the BBC who told her that the news of the train crash was the
biggest news item that day. Tim Willcox,
who studied Spanish at Durham University, spoke in quite passable Spanish
during the interview here which you can see if you fast forward to 13.36.
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| Olivia interviewing the BBC news presenter Tim Willcox on Friday |
Later, Olivia
had a moment of glory as the world watched her interviewed by Tim Willcox for
the BBC. My Father, Eladio and I watched
her on our satellite BBC World News as Susana watched her on the BBC UK news
from London. One of Tim’s questions to
Olivia was whether she would be taking a train soon to which she replied that
she had been on that same train a while ago but she would not want to take it
now. Unfortunately I cannot find the clip of the interview so a photo of her on
TV will have to do.
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| Olivia being interviewed on the BBC on Friday |
Our conversation
at dinner that night at La Vaca Argentina, was mostly about Olivia’s ordeal and
the terrible accident. I was hoping she
would be returning to Madrid on Friday but she rang to say that she would be
staying as she had to be in Santiago the whole of next week to report on the
aftermath of the train tragedy.
Everything
after the train accident seems to be irrelevant and banal. However life goes on as it always does. Hopefully Olivia will have rested now and be
ready to report again next week.
Meanwhile our lives continue normally.
It has been a very quiet weekend with no girls and no visitors.
Yesterday
Saturday I went to do some local shopping.
And that’s about all I have to report for Saturday. However something important did happen in the
family yesterday. It was my
brother-in-law, Andrés’ birthday and he spent it in Montrondo. This is a photo of him working there with the
usual big smile on his face.
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| It was Andrés' birthday on Saturday which he celebrated in Montrondo |
I look forward
to celebrating his birthday with the family next weekend during the big annual
family get together in Montrondo. It
will be the first time Susana will be missing but to make up for that Olivia
will be taking her boyfriend Miguel along for the first time.
Last night on our walk I asked Susana for another photo for this week's blog. This is what she sent me: a photo of herself with her head covered with a plastic bag, accompanied by Chati whose head is clad with a scarf, to protect themselves from the rain. They were on their way to a barbecue which I hope was going to be undercover. It is quite obvious from the two photos of Susana in this week's post, just what fun she is having in London. Hum, I hope she is having similar fun job seeking too, not just partying (sorry for the Motherly comment dear if you read this).
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| Suzy and Chati, protecting themselves from the rain on their way to a barbecue in London yesterday |
Today is Sunday
and the house is even quieter than yesterday as Fátima our home help has left
today for her weekly rest. She will be
back on Tuesday morning. She really is making
a difference in this household and in a way is company for me as the girls are
not here. When she came she hardly knew
any Spanish and in just over a month her knowledge of the language has improved
enormously. We also enjoy her Moroccan
cooking. Yesterday she made a delicious
chicken and potato dish accompanied by an extraordinary carrot salad. I asked her to prepare today’s lunch so that
I wouldn’t have to cook. So we look
forward to one of the dishes she excels at: lamb tagin with caramelized prunes
and fried almonds, all accompanied by her yellow coloured spicy rice. After that I think we will be having a very
long siesta. There will be no bathing in
the pool afterwards as the weather has cooled down by about 10c in the last two
days.
Next week will
be very busy for me work wise until Wednesday.
Yes, great, on Wednesday I start my summer holiday and Eladio and I will
be going off to Santander for a few nights.
Then on Saturday we will drive to Montrondo to join the family for the
annual get together – the big lunch on Saturday when nearly all the family is
present – some 25 people. It is funny to
think that by this time next week it will be over. So my friends, there will probably be no
update from me next Sunday as I will be chilling out in the family village for
a few days.
Meanwhile I
wish you all the best,
Cheers till my
next post
Masha.
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