Sunday 21st September 2014
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| All ready to go to the office on Tuesday morning |
Hi again
another Sunday in September. Today is
the 21st and the beginning of autumn. We have had autumn type weather most of the
week with intervals of showers but today it is sunny and I am sitting by the
pool writing my blog. Olivia is sitting
next to me learning French. She always
manages to surprise me.
Let me start
from last Sunday where I left off. That day after I had published my blog,
Alberto Contador won the Tour of Spain in a spectacular finish in Santiago in
the emblematic Plaza del Obradoiro. It
his is 6th great tour (3 Tours of Spain, 1 Giro and 2 Tours of
France). I was happy to hear the news
but between you and me my love of cycling has diminished over the years and
this time I didn’t even watch a stage on the television although I followed the
results in the news every day.
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| Alberto Contador celebrating his 3rd win of the Tour of Spain last Sunday |
Olivia was
back from Valencia with Miguel that night but too late to join us for dinner I
am afraid.
Monday of
course was my fasting day. It was on
Monday that I finally had my long telephone conversation with my dearest and
oldest friend Amanda. It had been her
birthday on 13th September and we had agreed to call each
other. We hadn’t spoken for such a long
time so it was great to catch up with her news.
We haven’t seen each other either for at least 3 years and I hope soon
we can put a remedy to that. I wonder
when. Amanda suggested when our house is
finished in Montrondo. Well that would
be marvelous. Meanwhile Eladio was off to the hospital in Móstoles for an
appointment with my Father’s urologist after his recent operation. Thankfully he is fully recovered from his
operation. He will be having a scan in
December as part of a routine check-up.
Monday was a
busy day in the Spanish telecoms market.
There had been rumours in the press about consolidation. Yoigo, the company I work for, as I pointed out last week, is on sale
again for the 3rd time and the papers were speculating that the
Spanish fixed operator Jazztel was interested in buying us. They also said Orange was interested in both
operators. That day I got many calls
from the press and was only able to give the standard answer that we would be
happy with whatever decision our shareholders made and that meanwhile work
continued as usual.
The next day I
woke up to a start. I was making my
breakfast at about 7.30 and saw many messages.
It seemed the night before, just before midnight, Jazztel had announced
that Orange was buying it and that one of the conditions was for the latter not
to buy Yoigo. I was astounded. At very
short notice I had to organize a staff meeting at midday as some members of the
board were in town and it seemed appropriate to address the staff who would
only have read the news in the media.
The photo illustrating this post is of me ready to go to the
office.
I was home for
lunch and on time to watch the midday news with Eladio.
The item that interested me most was the news that Ken Follett’s third
book in the saga and trilogy about modern history beginning with World War 1 as
seen and lived through the eyes of families in England, the US, Germany and
Russia was out that day. It is called
“Edge of Eternity” and follows “Fall of Giants” and “Winters of the World” both
of which I loved and devoured. I decided there and then to order the kindle
version rather than wait a week or more for the huge hardback to arrive. I was also considering that there really is
no more room in my library of English books so probably better to have the
e-book version. Of course it arrived
immediately. I started reading it that
evening and have been reading it most of the week. The only drawback about reading it on the
kindle is that it is difficult to go back and consult the front pages listing
all the characters and there are so many of them. And do I like it? Well yes but maybe not as much as the
previous books. Edge of Eternity starts
in the early 60s and is all about the Cold War and human rights for negroes in
the US with the characters living out events again in England, the US, Germany
and Russia. I love the parts where some
of the characters work closely with Kennedy and Khrushchev but I am not too
keen on all the events surrounding Cuba as that is not my favourite part of
history. No doubt Vietnam will be
central to the book but I haven’t got far enough yet to know.
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| I am enjoying reading Ken Follett's Edge of Eternity on my kindle |
Of note on
Tuesday my Lakeland online order arrived.
It contained 3 rotary whisks and 4 toast tongs to be used at home, our
flat in Santa Pola and Montrondo of course. Both are items totally unavailable
in Spain. Lakeland is a great English
kitchenware store I discovered with Suzy when I was in London in August. My very old rotary whisk which we had had at
home in Bradford finally broke and I needed a replacement. A rotary whisk, if you don’t know what it is, is a
manual whisk which is great for whisking small things quickly such as eggs for
a fluffy omelet.
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| My new rotary whisk from Lakeland |
The magnetic toast
tongs are just the trick for getting toast out of a toaster without burning
your fingers or having to use a knife. If you are interested here
is the link. You will see they are very
cheap but I can tell you they are incredibly practical.
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| Lakeland's magnetic toast tongs |
The highlight
of Tuesday was dinner at home on the terrace with Olivia and Miguel. I made delicious mini fillet steaks with
wonderfully tasting tomatoes smothered in thick dark green olive oil. I got full marks for that meal that night
from Eladio.
Wednesday was
a quiet day with not much to report. It
rained and the temperatures went down and I found myself reading in the evening
by the pool with my dressing gown on.
Gone I think are the days when I come back from my walk in the evening
to swim and take a shower outside. I
haven’t yet removed the towels and shower gel but I might have to soon.
Thursday was a
big day in the history of the United Kingdom.
The referendum for independence in Scotland was to take place that day.
It was the biggest news in Europe I think and everyone followed it closely,
myself included. I had mixed feelings. I
love Scotland but didn’t really want it to disunite from England for various
reasons. And neither did the British
government nor the opposition in England. Even the Queen told people to think
carefully before they voted. It must be said the British Government allowed the
referendum never thinking that Scotland would vote for independence. However as the time came closer polls were forecasting a narrow win to the Yes camp so the British
government rallied round in a last minute panicking mode to campaign for a No vote,
promising all sorts of autonomous measures which they will now have to keep to. The Yes group called Better Together made
last minute efforts to swing the result in their favour calling on ex PM the
Scot Gordon Brown to campaign and he made the speech of his lifetime. Andy Murray, like the Gasol NBA Catalonian
basketball players, via twitter showed he was in favour of independence. We wouldn’t know the result until the next day. What we did know was that the turnout would
be very high.
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| There was a lot of tension around the referendum leading up to the day of voting |
Meanwhile in London,
Suzy, totally unfazed about the referendum was at a birthday party in their
house for one of their flat mates, Luana, an Italian girl who I met when I
stayed there in August. Poor Luana has a
tiny room which she described to me as a cage. I was furious to know she paid
400 pounds a month for what really is smaller than any prison cell I have ever
seen, albeit only on television.
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| Suzy with flat mates and friends celebrating Luana's birthday this week |
We woke up on
Friday to know the results of the Scottish independence referendum. Thankfully
for a lot of people the No voters had a majority, not that big, but sill a
decisive result. The final tally was Yes: 1,617,989 (45%) No: 2,001,926 (55%). Glasgow was
the area which voted mostly yes whereas other parts of Scotland, notably the
Shetland Islands, as my Father had predicted, voted predominantly against
independence. So it can be concluded that the United Kingdom will remain united,
although a new chapter in UK history is about to unfold as David Cameron must
honour the devolution pledge he made to the Scots and which he has also offered
now to Wales and Northern Ireland. The
issue continues and tension is definitely in the air as the West Lothian question
continues to be unsolved and which refers
to the debate in the United Kingdom over whether members of parliament from
outside England – from Northern
Ireland, Scotland and Wales – can vote on matters that affect only England
whereas English MPs cannot vote on their matters.
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| The Scottish referendum results. |
This week when following the news of
the referendum I came across a great video explaining the referendum and its
history. It’s supposed to be for non-Brits
but for me it was a learning experience.
This is the link if you are interested.
That night Eladio and I went out to
dinner as we always do on Friday nights.
This time our choice was the quasi Italian restaurant Ginos where I
devoured a plate of delicious pasta.
Against my urologist’s recommendations I had a small glass of red
wine. Since he banned alchohol from my
diet I have tried it a couple of times only to find out that it doesn’t seem to
affect my OAB at all. On the contrary it
helps me sleep better. I am looking
forward to telling him that at my next appointment, hahaha.
Saturday came. After my walk I spent part of the morning
making a typical Madrid winter dish, “cocido”. I left everything cooking and to be switched
off by Fátima at the appropriate time and left the house with Olivia to go
shopping. We went to Centro Oeste for
Olivia to buy Eladio’s birthday present.
I have already bought mine and my Father’s. Naturally whilst we were there we ventured
into Zara. Amazingly for once I didn’t
buy anything.
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| What Madrid "cocido" looks like |
In the afternoon we spent some
quality time sitting, reading and chatting by the pool where we were joined by
Olivia for once. It was the perfect
occasion to call Suzy which we did. She
told us she is moving out of Canada Water to their new flat in South Bermondsey
this Monday coming. Later she sent us a photo of the beginning of their
packing. I recognize the striped towels
in the picture which I bought many years ago at the market in Santa Pola.
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| Suzy is moving house tomorrow |
Later Olivia joined me on our new
walk. It was on our way back that a
beautiful fox crossed our path stopping at a short distance to stare at
us. We were so taken aback we didn’t
react in time to take a photo. It is the first time we have seen a fox on our
walk. I remarked to Olivia that so far
on my walks I have seen the following fauna: eagles, vultures, rabbits, sheep,
snakes and even the odd wild boar. Then
just a few minutes later it crossed our path again and once more stood looking
at us. This time we had the presence of mind to take a photograph before it
disappeared. Oli’s photo was better than mine and this is it.
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| The beautiful fox Olivia and I saw on our walk yesterday evening |
Later Eladio regretted not having
joined us and this morning when the three of us went on our walk with the dogs,
we hoped to see it again but we didn’t.
I do hope it appears again.
And today is Sunday and as I said at
the beginning of my post autumn is here. That always makes me sad as there is
only the winter to look forward to now.
You probably all know that my favourite season is the summer and I just
hate to see it go.
The news today in Spain
is that a second Spanish citizen has contracted that deadly virus Ebola. You will remember the first one was Miguel
Pajares a 75 year old priest working in Liberia who later died. Manuel García Viejo, aged 69, working in the
same order as Miguel Pajares is a priest too but also a doctor and as I write
he is being repatriated to Spain from Sierra Leona to be taken care of at the
Carlos III hospital in Madrid. No doubt Olivia will be reporting on the case
tomorrow on TV. Meanwhile Ebola continues to be a deadly threat in Africa with
more people dying every day and no known cure or vaccination available yet.
Next week is going to be
exciting. On the one hand it is Eladio’s
birthday. This year he changes decades
and amazingly he will be 70 on Tuesday and lots of exciting things will be
happening that day. I can’t really begin to believe that my husband is going to
be 70 when for me and many other people he looks much younger. This is him today with Olivia and the dogs on
our walk this morning. He doesn’t look
his age does he?
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| Eladio, Olivia and the dogs on our walk this morning. |
On the second hand I have an
exciting trip coming up this week. On
Wednesday I am travelling to Vilnius for a meeting all day Thursday with my
communications colleagues from other countries in Europe. I shall be returning on Friday so have just
two nights in the Lithuanian capital of which I know very little. The Lonely Planet guidebook of the Baltic
countries my Father has lent me will come in handy and make great reading on the
flights out. Naturally there is no
direct flight to Vilnius from Madrid.
Going out I will fly via my beloved Helsinki but very frustratingly I
will be at Vantaa airport for less than an hour – so near yet so far. Of course I shall be writing about my
impressions of Vilnius in my next blog post.
Meanwhile I wish you all a great
week ahead. Also I wish lots of luck to
Suzy in her moving house and early happy returns to my wonderful husband
Eladio.
Till next week my friends,
Cheers Masha.
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