Sunday 27th
April 2014
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| Shopping with Suzy on Saturday morning |
Hi everyone,
This week I
have been as busy as a bee. There has
been so much to do on the work front and at home; preparing for Suzy’s arrival
on Friday and so many other things. I
felt like “speedy gonzález”, only stopping to think for myself on my two hourly
walks per day.
We came back
from Montrondo last Sunday after a wonderful Easter break and the weather held
until we left. Just as I had published
last week’s “missal”, my sister-in-law sent me a photo of the view from their
kitchen of the village with a full rainbow.
Maybe there was a pot of honey or of gold at the end, but for me it was
the photo of the week. If you look
closely you can see another lighter coloured rainbow just behind.
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| The rainbow in Montrondo last Sunday after we left |
Since we
returned Eladio has been busy talking to builders and the town council for the building
license. In any spare time I have had I
have been researching rural and old fashioned type bathroom suites. In my mind I can see a black and white floor
with white tiling and old fashioned furniture, especially for our own bathroom
in the newly reformed house. One of the
elements just has to be a claw foot bathtub and here Eladio has gone all out to
find me one. And voilà, he did, from a small factory in the province of Toledo
and it is now on its way.
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At “home” (my
childhood home at 6 Heaton Grove) in England, all the bathroom furniture was
Victorian and we still regret enormously not bringing it all from the house
when my Father came to live with us. The
bath tub at home was enormous and I remember my Mother enjoying her baths there
when I would sit and chat to her, both of us smoking. So maybe my quest for old fashioned bathroom
furniture has something to do with nostalgia for the beautiful Victorian
washbasins we had in all our rooms with their old fashioned taps. In any case the quest for the rest of the
elements continues while the house hasn’t even been started on yet.
Monday was
quiet and busy with me working from home as usual. Olivia meanwhile was in Cartagena, a big town
in the province of Murcia. She had been
sent by TVE to report on the story of a civil guard who had shot a young man
and left him paraplegic after a silly brawl about a fight over a car
mirror.
Olivia is at
her best reporting on court cases and had learnt about the rather complicated
case and her reporting was flawless. She
was on at 11.40 and you can see the clip here if you fast forward to that
time. She was on again at 13.08 with an
update on how the trial was going which you can see on the same link if you go
to that time.
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| Olivia, my youngest daughter, reporting live for TVE from Cartagena on Monday |
I think I told
you last week that her cameraman that day was to be her boyfriend Miguel. That was certainly a plus for both of
them. She sent me this lovely photo of
the two of them by the TVE truck.
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| Olivia and Miguel "working together" on Monday in Cartagena |
On Tuesday I
had an important business lunch. It was
with Yoigo and the COIT (Spanish official college of telecommunications
engineers). It sounds like a boring
business lunch but it wasn’t because my great friend and ex Nokia colleague, Julio
who works part time for the COIT was also there. After the lunch we went to the College offices
to sign the agreement and official photos of the event were taken. I just love the one of Julio and myself with
the Spanish flag behind us. I cropped the photo so that just the two of us
appear in the photo. Great isn’t it? You may notice I was wearing the Zara “kaftan”
type dress I had bought the week before with a matching green summer coat from
the same shop I bought last year.
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| With my best friend Julio on official business on Tuesday |
That night was
the first leg of the Champions League semifinal between Atlético de Madrid and
José Mourinho’s Chelsea FC. Thus most
Spaniards, even if they were Real Madrid or Barcelona fans, would be behind the
Spanish team. Even I watched the match last night. I write a lot about football in my blog but I
have to confess I am not actually so interested in the play itself, although I
like to see the goals, as in the outcome and the competition. As the match started around dinner time, we
decided to eat in our room. Soon Olivia
joined us and found the scene so funny she had to grab us on camera and here we
are.
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| Candid camera: Photo Olivia took of us having dinner and watching the Chelsea Atlético Madrid match on Tuesday |
As there were
no goals the match was very boring, so whilst Eladio had his eyes on the screen
I started reading my new book delivered by Amazon this week, Mao’s last dancer,
the story I told you about last week. It
is going to be a great read and in the league of “Wild Swans, three daughters of China” from what I have read so far.
When I’ve finished it I shall pass it on to my Father who I know will
also be very interested in Li Cunxin’s life story.
Wednesday was
St. George’s day and I couldn’t help remembering my brother. My Mother always told me she chose that name
for her son in honour of St. George and the dragon. In many parts of the world it was celebrated
and very much so in the Barcelona area of Spain where the tradition is for men
to give women a red rose and for women to give men a book; a bit chauvinist I
think but a nice idea too.
I had no time
for thoughts of that English saint that morning when I had a very early start
that morning. You see it was results day
when TeliaSonera, Yoigo’s “mother company” was announcing the first quarter
financial results. I had to attend a
conference call at 8 and then watch the web cast of the conference call in
Stockholm at 10.30 as well as send out a press and internal releases. The
results in market share were good for Yoigo.
We had reached over 4 million customers but it had come at a cost in
profitability. In operator business you
always have to balance customer intake with profitability; never an easy
balance. At 12, I had another conference
call, this time with Finland, with my new communications boss, Tatu. Later I had another business lunch, this time
with Xavi, an ex-Motorola colleague. It
was great to see him. Thanks for the splendid lunch at La Española in Pozuelo
Xavi my friend.
It was on Wednesday after my evening walk that I
decided to write to The Local. This is
an online English written newspaper which has editions in many countries and I
find the Spanish version really quite entertaining. It explains local events well and is mainly targeted
at British people living in Spain, like me.
So when I read an article about Brits leaving Spain because of the
crisis, entitled “British expats flee from crisis-hit Spain” it rather rattled
me. On their Facebook page they asked
Brits to tell them why they were leaving and I suggested they also asked Brits
why they were staying. This is the
letter I wrote to them and which I share with you here, for you to understand
why I am staying here and not leaving.
By the way I got an answer and I think they will be quoting in me in
another article soon, so watch this space.
My letter to
The Local:
Hi
Yesterday I read your article about Brits leaving Spain (I read many
of your articles and find most of them very informative and entertaining).
It was also echoed on the news here. This morning on your FB page you
said you would love to speak to Brits who had left Spain to find out their
reasons for doing so. That sort of annoyed me as I think the
statistics are not very clear and can hardly imagine the British love affair
with Spain being over, despite the crisis, although of course some people are
leaving, either because they want to spend their final years back home or
because they can't find a job.
I suggested you also talk to Brits, like me, who choose to stay on so as to
tell both sides of the story and you asked me to write and tell you why I am
staying.
I am a British born woman who fell in love with Spain in the 70's in my
teens when my parents bought a ruin of a house in a remote village in the hills
of Alicante. I went on to study Spanish at University, fell in love and
married a Spanish priest and came to live in Madrid in the early
80's. I have had a bird's eye view of the development of this amazing
country from the times when Franco was in power, to the transition to democracy
and have lived through both times of economic boom and crisis. It
was never easy to get a job but I always managed and have gone from working as
a teacher of English to translator, to being part of marketing
departments of multinationals and latterly heading up PR in telecommunications
companies. I do not live in an English bubble and have never had the
need. I consider living in Spain like marriage, you carry on through the
good times and the bad if you love the country like I do.
Ok we have had a crisis since 2008 and of course it's tough for many people
but if you have a job here and a house, there is absolutely no need to
go. Life is great in Spain; the climate, the food, the people, the very
open society with far less rigid rules than in the UK for example.
Spain is also one of the most liberal countries in the world and has come a
very long way from Franco's times. Spaniards live life to the full;
enjoying work and play. You might also like to add that the siesta and
"mañana" attitude are clichés and things of the past. Healthcare
is of a very high standard. I wouldn't leave Spain for "all the tea
in China". The only home comforts I miss from the UK I can get
online. When I first arrived in Spain in the 70's you couldn't even get
corn flakes or fresh butter. Now everything is available.
So please also include in your story that there are English people staying
on in Spain who are happy to do so. The quality of life in Spain is
just too good for me to ever want to leave. Ask your other British
readers living in Spain and I'm sure they will agree.
That's all from me, hope my side of the story is relevant to you,
Best regards
I could have
added in the letter that Spain plays probably the best football in the world,
something Brits here will also appreciate.
Proof of that, once again, was that night when Real Madrid beat Bayern
Munich 1-0 in their first leg of the Champions League semifinal; although
ironically the winning goal came from a Frenchman, Benzema. Everyone here is
hoping for an all-Spanish final but that remains to be seen. Last year we wished for the same when both
Real Madrid and Barcelona were in the semifinals only to be beaten by Borussia
Dortmund and Bayern Munich (last year’s winner) in an all-German final.
Thursday was
another busy day working at home. There is not much to report unless you count
my two hour long walks, a visit to the chiropodist, food shopping with Fátima our
home help and other domestic duties.
Friday started
off early too. There were lots of things
to do in preparation for Susana and Gabor’s arrival late that night. I will have told you already that they were
coming for Suzy’s 30th birthday which is on Monday. First things first; upon Suzy’s request, I
made a big fruit trifle which we would have for lunch on Saturday. Then I went out on various birthday errands
which I can’t write about as I don’t want to include any birthday spoilers in
case Suzy reads this post before Monday. I wanted the house to look nice so I
gathered flowers of all types from the garden and filled our home with even
more colour. Suzy got some beautiful
yellow roses in her room which I also put in a vase on one of the tables in our
lounge. We even bathed the dogs so that
Norah and Elsa would be sweet smelling for Suzy’s arrival. I’m not sure they appreciated the gesture
hahaha.
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| I filled the house with flowers for Suzy's arrival |
I felt happy
and excited whilst preparing for Suzy’s visit.
The other day Olivia had been copying some of our old photos of when
they were small, like the “photo from the past” I posted last week and she dug
out another wonderful photo, this time of me with both girls. I put it on FB that morning in honour of Suzy’s
arrival and I am happy to share it with you here too. It was taken in our first Madrid house in the
Calle Francisco Silvela in 1986 when Suzy was 2 and Olivia was 1. Suzy later
told me she remembered the giant pink rabbit in the picture. I got some
wonderful compliments on my looks which was great for my ego too. But I specially love the “bubbliness” on Suzy’s
face. It just sums her up when she was a
toddler, happy and full of life.
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| This week's photo from the past. 1986 with Suzy aged 2 and Olivia aged 1 |
Ok so on
Friday I was happy and excited. However
Friday also marked the end of an era for the telecommunications industry and
for me too. It was the day the Nokia branded phone division was to become Microsoft Mobile. For an ex Nokia employee,
like me, that was especially poignant news.
I can only imagine how hard that must be for current Finnish Nokia
employees. I have often written about my
times working with Nokia and as a company it was just the best in terms of
culture and employee welfare and here I am referring to the company, certainly
not Nokia Spain which was a different story completely.
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| The end of an era |
The sports
world went into mourning on Friday evening.
The ex-Barcelona coach, 45 year old Tito Vilanova died after a long
struggle with cancer.
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| RIP Tito Vilanova |
Condolences
came from all around the world.
Especially ironic was a tweet from Chelsea FC from “the special one”. It is not surprising he should be sad too but
then I think he must regret forever his antics when he got into a brawl with
him, poking him in the eye and calling him “Pito” instead of “Tito” (pito also
meaning “penis” in Spanish) as if he was a nobody, during the 2010 Spanish
Super Cup won by Barcelona. His tweet
made no mention of the incident on Friday when he wrote: “On behalf of Chelsea
Football Club I send my deepest condolences at this most difficult time".
To fill the
time until Suzy and Gabor’s arrival at midnight, Eladio and I went out to
dinner. Unfortunately all our favourite
restaurants on The Fork are no longer available. In the end we went to Ginos to have pizza and
pasta. The day seemed endless until it
was time to go and pick Suzy and Gabor up.
Luckily they were on time and as they didn’t have to wait for any
luggage, soon my darling daughter was in my arms. That night we all went to bed very late but
very happy.
Saturday was
the highlight of the week, the happiest day so far. It started with breakfast all together in the
kitchen. Both girls were with us and
both boyfriends too, Gabor and Miguel. I quickly prepared the food for the
family lunch: homemade Spanish lentil soup, fish to be baked in the oven
accompanied by fresh peas and artichokes and Suzy’s favourite, mashed potatoes.
The dessert would be my trifle. Thus I
was free to go out shopping with the girls.
We went to
Gran Plaza 2, one of the bigger but more manageable shopping centres. First and last stop for me was Zara. Here I bought a lovely red summer coat I don’t
really need but couldn’t resist.
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| My new red coat from Zara |
Olivia very
generously bought all the clothes Suzy chose as part of her birthday
present. What a generous daughter I
have. The photo with Suzy illustrating this week's blogpost is of us shopping in Zara.
We all had a
huge siesta afterwards, tired from so much emotion and from having gone to bed
late the night before. Later Eladio and
I went on our walk with the dogs which I would repeat an hour later. The girls meanwhile were getting ready to go
out to Suzy’s 30th birthday party at a place called Euphoria which
belongs to one of their friends. Copi
and her boyfriend Miguel came to join them in their preparations, or rather
Copi made up both girls as she is an expert in face makeup. Meanwhile both Miguels made dinner for the
group.
They were
going out to a great birthday party but we just stayed at home and went to bed,
feeling exhausted and a bit flat really.
It wasn’t until today that I got to see photos of the party. Everyone
who was anyone in Suzy’s circle of friends and family were there, including her
cousins, Juan, Sara, Alicia and Paula and their partners. I love this photo of them together although
unfortunately Juan had left when the photo was taken. I think I heard them returning this morning
at around 4 so a good time must have been had by all.
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| Suzy's 30th birthday party yesterday in Madrid with some of her cousins |
Celebrations
will continue today and tomorrow. I have
always said that Suzy’s birthdays are like Indian weddings, they go on for a
week or longer. In fact she will be
having another one in London on 2nd May. Meanwhile today we will be having a family
barbecue so when I sign off I shall start preparing for that.
Tomorrow will
be her official birthday but of course I will tell you all about that in next
week’s post.
So cheers till
then
Masha
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