Sunday 6th July 2014
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| Me on the vintage round about we hired for the Yoigo Summer Part |
Hi everyone,
It’s Sunday
again and time to write my blog. The
week has been very eventful. Three of
the biggest sporting events have coincided this weekend; Wimbledon, The Tour of
France and The World Cup; the first two taking place in England but more about
them later.
Last Sunday we
returned from Montrondo and brought back Eladio’s mother who is staying with us
for a fortnight. It was a bit of a
squeeze in the back of the car where I sat with José Antonio and Dolores.
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| My 92 year old mother-in-law, Ernestina who is staying with us for 2 weeks and who spends most of her time knitting socks for us all. |
It was nice to
see my Father and Olivia when we got back as well as the dogs. Nuba, Toño and Dolores’ terrier mongrel, was
to stay with us this week too as they were going away. I must say our house resembled a senior
citizens’ and dogs’ home all of this week.
We hardly saw Olivia but when she was here at least she, and her
boyfriend Miguel, lowered the average age of the residents, thank goodness.
Monday was
quiet and my first fasting day of the week as usual. I must say I missed Fátima our home help when
she went away for her two days off. It
meant Eladio and I had to take care of everything. That day Eladio picked fruit from our
garden. We have an abundance of
different types of plums and here are the small red ones he picked. The best ones are yet to come and the greengage
tree is the heaviest of all. We have
never seen so much fruit of it. A gust
of wind blew down one of the heaviest branches and I think the dogs are semi
enjoying the unripe fruit within reach of them.
No doubt the birds will get at the greengages as they did with our
peaches of which they left us just one, very annoyingly. But no way are they going to be able to eat
all the greengages thank goodness.
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| Fruit from our garden, damsels I think |
We all watched
Olivia that evening reporting on a special layby for Muslims travelling back
from France, Belgium and probably Switzerland all the way through Spain to
Morocco for their annual summer holiday.
The layby was one of the stops for them to rest, fill their tanks and of
course pray, believe it or not.
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| Olivia reporting on the muslim layby and rest stop outside Madrid on Monday |
On Tuesday I
was invited by my friend and cycling legend Pedro Delgado who won the Tour of
France in 1988, to the presentation of his new book “A golpe de micrófono” at
the Fnac bookstore in Callao in the centre of Madrid. The book was about his experience as a TV,
radio and sports paper cycling journalist which he has been for 20 years now
since he quit cycling.
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| The invitation to the presentation of Pedro Delgado's new book. |
I suggested to
Olivia that her programme report on the new book and they agreed. They were especially interested in his
opinion of the upcoming Tour starting this weekend. So there I witnessed my own TV journalist
Olivia covering the story of my friend, the Spanish cycling legend, Pedro
Delgado’s new book. I was literally
tickled pink. Pedro being the darling he
is, made no fuss when Olivia’s programme insisted on her doing the live report
just as his presentation was supposed to start.
It was great to see many familiar faces at the presentation, not least
his lovely wife Ludi and three beautiful boys.
Ludi’s pretty mother was there too as well as lots of Delgado fans of
which there a legion in Spain as the ex-cyclist seems to be just as popular
today as when he rode.
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| Olivia reporting live at the presentation of Pedro Delgado's new book |
I was well
aware during the presentation that the world’s number one tennis player, Spain’s
top ambassador for sport, Rafa Nadal, was playing his third round at Wimbledon
and of course expected him to win. But
that wasn’t to be so. He was shockingly
knocked out by an Australian newbie, the 19 year old Nick Kyrgios who is ranked
144 in the world and was playing his first Wimbledon championship. He beat the Spaniard 7-6, 5-7, 7-6, 6-3 and
he seemed to do so entirely based on his incredibly fast and blistering serve
which is the best way to win on grass.
Wimbledon for me has now lost interest.
Today, Sunday, is the men’s final and Federer will be meeting
Djokovic.
Wednesday was
a busy day for me, like all of this week.
It was the day before the annual Yoigo summer party and I had lots of
last minute hiccups. On Wednesday I
fasted rather than on Thursday so as to be able to enjoy the food at the
party. Again we watched Olivia live on
TV. This time she reported on the
killing of a young Danish girl at her hostel in the centre of Madrid at the hands
of a Belgium who later admitted to the ghastly crime. It was big news in Spain that day.
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| Olivia reporting on the detention of the 33 year old Belgian in Madrid who had killed a young Danish girl recently. |
Finally my big
day arrived, Thursday 3rd July, the date of this year’s Yoigo summer
party which was to be held at a wonderful location called Las Jarillas. I had managed to get 28 of our partners and
providers to fund the party which would be attended by over 250 people. But all was not well as we were expecting
huge rainfalls during the day and evening and I thought our party would be a
wash out. Thus we had to get a marquee and resort to plan b of having the
cocktails, dinner and after dinner activities inside rather in the wonderful
gardens. I had to make a big decision as
whether to go ahead with bringing a beautiful vintage roundabout all the way
from Valencia. In the end we did bring
it. The photo illustrating this week’s
post is of me on the lovely roundabout.
It felt like being in the Mary Poppin’s film as a lot of guests
commented.
The weather was
threatening all day and in most of Spain.
In the afternoon there was a freak hailstorm in Madrid, so unusual in
July. Even the outer ring road, the M40
was blocked for over an hour. Much
damage was done. There were similar
hailstorms in other parts of Spain making some villages turn completely white
from the huge and extensive hail stones.
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| Clearing the hail after the freak storm in Madrid on the M40 on the day of the Yoigo Summer Party this week |
The weather
forecast for 8pm which was when our party was to start was for rain. As I left the house, Eladio looked at the sky
and told me he didn’t think it would rain that evening. He was right.
In the end our wonderful party was not a wash out. Quite the opposite really, it was a huge
success. People enjoyed the roundabout,
the cocktails, the amazing dinner, as well as the musical group called Fe de
facto y flores or something like that, as well as the tombola, casino and
endless free drinks. Here is collage of
just some of the shots from the party.
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| A collage of photos of the Yoigo Summer party this last Thursday |
I was not able
to see Olivia on the TV that day as I was on my way to Las Jarillas. Thus I missed her report on the Spanish
melons grown in Villaconejos in the province of Madrid, supposedly the best
melons grown in Spain. However I was
able to see the report the next day. You
can too if you click on this link and don’t mind watching a few adverts before
the report starts!
Friday was of
course 4th July, American Independence Day which I of course do not
celebrate but I wished a happy 4th July to my American friends on
Facebook. I was pretty tired on Friday as I usually am after an event I have
been working on for a long time is finally over. I went for a walk with Eladio in the morning
before it got too hot and took this lovely shot of my husband combing Elsa our
golden Labrador who once again is shedding hair from one of her coats. I didn’t know until recently that this breed
has two coats; one for water resistance and the other for keeping warm. Elsa seems to love the attention and keeps
very still whilst Eladio grooms her.
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| Eladio grooming Elsa on our walk on Friday |
Eladio and I
went out to dinner that night for the first time in a long time. We enjoyed dinner at La Vaca Argentina and
found out afterwards that the teams we didn’t want to win, won the quarter
finals. Germany beat France and Brazil
beat Colombia. In the latter Neymar
fractured a vertebra and will be out for the rest of the World Cup. The next day, Saturday, again play went the
wrong way for us when Argentina and Holland beat valiant Belgium and Costa Rica
respectively. The next matches will be
the semifinals. On Tuesday 8th
July the hosts, Brazil will play Germany and on Wednesday 9th July
Holland will play Argentina. Like
Wimbledon, I have now lost interest in the World Cup. Everyone
I know, including myself, doesn’t seem to want Brazil to win. I wonder why.
That day was
Suzy’s last day at Oxo. She has left in
seek of a better job with the NHS and hopes to start working as a dietitian in
July or August. That night she and Gabor
spent the night at Stansted airport as they were to catch an early morning
flight to Santa Cruz de Tenerife where Gabor is from. She sent us a photo of her new haircut. It’s the only photo I have of her this
week.
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| Suzy's new haircut the day before she left for an 8 day holiday in Tenerife. |
They will be
spending 8 days in the Canary Islands and I look forward to hearing what they
have been up to.
Meanwhile on
Friday night Olivia and Miguel had left Madrid for Santa Pola where they were
to stay the weekend. The reason for
going was because Miguel would be taking part in a deep swim race from the
small island of Tabarca to Santa Pola very early this morning when the sea is
at is calmest. We haven’t received any
photos from them either but look forward to seeing them again tonight.
So on Saturday
we were all alone with my Father and my mother-in-law. That day the Tour de France was starting and
amazingly it was to start in “God’s own country”, i.e, my home country
Yorkshire. Yorkshire is definitely the
most beautiful area in England, even if I say so myself. I am so pleased the rest of the world
watching the race will realize that too.
It is great publicity for Yorkshire and the people from there have risen
to the occasion in a magnificent way.
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| Le Tour in Yorkshire, the first two stages |
The first stage,
“le grand depart”, started in Leeds and ended in beautiful Harrogate, passing
through the most wonderful Yorkshire towns, such as Ilkley or Skipton and of
course through the spectacular Dales. I
really wished I could have been there amongst the crowds of spectators,
reported to be over 2 million all along the route.
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| The Tour de France going past Ilkley yesterday in West Yorkshire. |
There were
many hopes for the yellow jersey to be won on the first stage by England’s Mark
Cavendish in Harrogate where his Mother lives.
Spectators included the royals, Kate Middleton, Prince William and
Prince Harry as well as David Cameron, the Prime Minister. Yorkshire had gone all out to make this a
festival of Yorkshire but the stage ended in tragedy as Cavendish trying to
sprint to the finish line first, pushed another rider and ended up on the
ground himself. He crossed the line
minutes later holding his midriff and collar bone in obvious pain. This morning he went to the start in majestic
York for the second stage which would end in Sheffield and go through some of
my favourite places, such as the home of the Brontë’s, Haworth, but there and
then he announced he would have abandon the Tour. What a shame.
However the Tour continues and the final stage in England will be from
the town I was born in, Cambridge, ending in London from where it will cross
the channel to its natural home in France.
It is quite amazing to see how popular cycling has become in
England.
In the
afternoon, after the stage finished we had the pleasure of the visit of my
niece Sara and Cristina, Sara’s brother’s partner who I was happy to
congratulate on her pregnancy. They had
come to pick up Nuba who would be returning to life in a flat in Madrid rather
than life with our dogs in our massive garden.
I have to add that Nuba was not at all pleased about leaving and had to
be picked up to be put in Cristina’s car.
Yesterday
night, Eladio and I had an exciting evening to look forward to. We had been invited to Tomas’ 50th
birthday party where the women had to dress in black and white, the idea being
that when he was born in the 60s life was black and white as it was
indeed. Tomas is the husband of Irene
who is a member of what I consider “my other Spanish family”, the family I
lived with for a year when I was studying Spanish in Madrid in 1978. It was great to see them, as well as Irene’s sister
Julieta, her brother Gerardo and his wife Vicky and their brother “Toti” and
his wife Sonsoles who live in Tenerife where Suzy is at the moment. Pili their
Mother was away on a cruise in Russia and Lucía their youngest sister was also
missing. It was a great evening. I now
regret not having taken any photos for this week’s blog but look forward to the
photos Tomas should be sending us all soon, taken by his son Tomas’ delightful
girlfriend whose name I cannot remember with an impressive looking Canon
camera.
And today is
Sunday, the last day of the week and I have come to the end of the story of
this week. Fátima went off early and won’t
be back until tomorrow night. Eladio and
I were up a little late and after making everyone’s breakfast went off for my
first walk of the day. I hope to do
another one after publishing this blog as thankfully today is not quite as hot
as yesterday.
Next week
should be quiet and I feel so relieved now one of my biggest projects of the year
is over and was successful.
I will leave
you here now, wishing you all the best until next time,
Cheers Masha
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