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| Me with Baltasar, the "black" king at the Yoigo Childrens' party on Thursday |
Good morning everyone,
How has your
week been? Mine has been up and down, mostly due to stomach bugs, but more
about that later. Let me start with last Sunday.
Sunday was the
day the new direct high speed train railway line between Barcelona and Paris
opened. It was also the day Peter O’Toole died. Does this talented and ironic and
iconic British actor need any introduction?
He will be remembered most for his role as Lawrence of Arabia. When Eladio and I visited Jordan we saw where
part of the film was shot in the Wadi Rum Desert and where his desert hideaway
was. It was the perfect location for the
film.
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| Peter O'Toole as Lawrence of Arabia |
Finally last
Sunday the technicians from Telefónica came to install optical fiber, i.e.
superfast internet. For that to happen
we had to build a trench all the way across the garden to bury the cable. This is what the trench looked like. I was amazed to learn that optical fiber is
the same size as one single piece of hair.
Imagine!
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| The trench in the garden to lay the cable for optical fiber |
Unfortunately not
all could be done in one day, so the technicians promised to come back on Monday. And they did, but it wasn’t until the end of
the day that finally we had between 60 and 105 megabyte speed. It certainly
makes a difference.
I didn’t feel
well on Monday and was still recovering from the stomach bug which started on
the Saturday. It was a good job it was a
fasting day, although in any case I had no appetite for food. In the morning I was at work on various
errands and later in the day I started on preparations for our Christmas Eve
dinner by making and freezing loads of croquettes and perushki (Russian meat
pies).
I felt worse
as the day went on and Monday night was one of the worst in a long time with frequent
bouts of diarrhea and then at about 5 in the morning I was suddenly attacked
with cystitis, something the girls have always suffered but I had never had
before. I can tell you it is awful.
Thankfully there were some pills in Suzy’s bathroom which after an hour or so
did the trick and that awful burning feeling went away.
On Tuesday I
was on the mend, although I didn’t feel 100%.
In fact I still don’t. But I’m
hoping I will by Christmas Eve. Once
again I went into the office. There I
was delighted to see how the marketing department had decorated the bus stop
outside the office with Christmas greetings to all the employees which included
a list of all our names. This is what it looked like.
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| The Yoigo bus stop wishing all employees a happy Christmas |
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| Lunch with the ex Nokia girls on Tuesday |
That evening I
had another Christmas event to attend, a cocktail party hosted by my PR agency,
Ketchum, but frankly I just didn’t feel up to it. Instead I stayed at home and watched the last
episode (12) of season 3 of Homeland whilst Eladio was out teaching at the UNED
University. Of course I cannot include
any spoilers here in case you haven’t watched the last episode. All I can say is that it really surprised me
and left with rather an empty feeling.
On Wednesday
the big news was the death of the famous great train robber, Ronald Biggs. The train robbery took place in the 60’s and
is one of my first memories of news. He
was larger than life and escaped from prison and went to live in Brazil for
many years until giving himself up to return to England where he said he was
missing the British pint of beer.
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| Ronald Biggs enjoying life in Brazil. |
Wednesday
night was the Yoigo employees party which I had organized at a fashionable
venue in Madrid called Macadamia.
Wednesday was the first day I began to feel normal again so was able to
eat and drink. However the former gave
me a dreadful headache that night, as it often does. The party was a success and I heard later
that many people stayed on until 4 in the morning. Not me, I headed home at
around 1 in the morning. Here is a photo
of me enjoying the evening, or rather watching the young violinist, Pablo
Violín performing for us. He was just
amazing. At only 24 he is a permanent violinist
with the orchestra at the Teatro Real (Madrid Royal Theatre) and in his spare
time, plays at parties like ours. If you want to know what he sounds like, here
is a clip of him on You Tube.
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| Watching and listening enraptured to Pablo Violin at the Yoigo employees Christmas party |
You can see
all the photos of the Yoigo employee party here. I think it was one of the best to judge by
many of the comments made to me by the staff.
Thursday saw
me cooking again. This time I was making
the dessert for the annual Christmas dinner at home with Julio and Fátima who
were coming on Friday night. I decided
to make fruit trifle, my absolute favourite dessert. This is what it looked like. Notice Elsa got in the picture too!
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| The trifle I made for dinner at home with Julio and Fátima - notice Elsa looking on! |
On Thursday it
was the Yoigo children’s party. As
always it took place at the offices or rather outside as each year the number
of children coming increases. This year we had 170 children plus parents and
grandparents of course. This is the
party they look forward to all year.
This year we had a show called ratatouille but also a donkey for them to
ride and then the traditional 3 Kings. I
was enamoured with the donkey called “elegante” and which came from
Zamora. Here I am trying to get on
it. I finally made it with a bit of
help.
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| I'm a rather big child! - Trying to get on the donkey at the Yoigo childrens' party on Thursday |
The photo
illustrating this week’s blog is of me with Baltasar, the “black” king, who is
always my favourite.
I got home
exhausted and very hungry as it was my fasting day. So I ravished my single omelette and tomato
before going to bed. Eladio was out at
his only Christmas party event, with the UNED University.
Friday was a
busy day. Finished with all the
corporate Christmas events, finally I was able to concentrate on our own
Christmas. The house was decorated, I
had bought most of the presents and prepared menus but still had to get some
presents. So I invited Eladio to go Christmas shopping with me, not always a
good idea as he keeps telling me not to spend too much at Christmas. He says
that every year and I don’t take a blind piece of notice. Actually I did all the shopping whilst he
looked on. It was my fasting day so I
left him having lunch at the Corte Inglés cafeteria whilst I went in search of
my present from him and my Father! It’s always like that. They are dear men but have never had a clue
about present buying. I got myself a wonderful
camel coat, a garment I have always wanted.
Finally on Friday I got Eladio to put the lights on the tree outside. He had been putting it off for a while. He needed me to hold the ladder at one stage and I must have left the door open as later I found Norah in the kitchen gorging on one of the cheeses I had brought home as part of two of the lovely Christmas hampers I got. I reckon Norah ate a whole half cheese!
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| Eladio at the top of the tree putting up the Christmas lights. |
That evening
Julio and Fátima were coming for dinner but first I had to do the weekly food
shopping with Fátima (our home help with the same name as my best friend coming
that night). I was home just on time to
put the finishing touches to our meal, or rather put the soup on and cook the
fish and béarnaise potatoes. Luckily the
dessert was made. But of course I had to
lay the table too. Apart from the best
china, I put out crackers, party poppers and wonderful green gnomish style
Christmas hats.
And here we
are around the table with our Christmas hats.
It was a great dinner and a great tradition. Our next meeting will be on 11th
January for another annual tradition, dinner at Julio’s which the girls and my
Father used to come to but no longer do or can.
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| Dinner at home on Friday night with Julio and Fátima |
On Saturday,
21st December, Solstice, or the first day of winter, was unfortunate
for Eladio. We were going to get up
early to drive to Montrondo to meet the builder and then go on to León to have
lunch with the family and pick up the abuela (my mother-in-law) who would be
spending Christmas with us. Well, all
that went out of the window, as Eladio woke up feeling sick and was sick at
around 7 in the morning. Upon his first
bout he said he was ok and we could go but after his second he agreed we just
couldn’t go. The poor guy had a stomach
bug like mine. We are not sure whether
it was a virus or food poisoning. Whatever, he spent most of the day in bed
being sick and with a temperature. I
left him in bed to go out and buy the very last presents needed for Christmas
as well as a lovely poinsettia which now graces our lounge.
Miraculously
he woke up this morning feeling fine.
Today is the lottery day, or rather the day of the big Christmas lottery
called “El Gordo”. Olivia has had to go
to work as it is her TVE programme that will be covering part of the broadcast and
the story of the winners. We have 8
tickets between us which if any of them is a winning ticket could bring up to
40.000 euros each. Who knows? The Christmas lottery is Spaniards’ biggest
Christmas tradition. When I first came
to live here I couldn’t understand why Eladio spent so much on the tickets when
we were poor as church mice. But now I
do, and as I write I have the 8 tickets next to me and the TV on. I am crossing my fingers we may win
something.
But of course
my lottery winning today is having Suzy back for Christmas. My darling daughter will be arriving tonight,
late, from London. The three of us,
Eladio, Oli and I will be going to pick her up and I can imagine the tears of
joy that we will shed when she arrives.
She will be here just for a week and we will have to share her with lots
of people, but that’s ok. Our own
Christmas will be complete when she arrives. Welcome darling, I can’t wait to
have you back.
So, all that
remains for me to do now is to wish you all a wonderful Christmas. Ours is looking good, nearly everything is
ready. Next week when I write it will be
over, but of course there will be New Year’s Eve to look forward to. Looking forward to something is the spice of
life. I’m sure you agree.
Cheers
everyone,
Happy Christmas,
Masha
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