Friday 28th November 2014
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| Looking forward to being with Suzy in London this weekend |
Hi everyone
You will be
wondering why I am posting this week’s blog on a Friday instead of Sunday. The
reason is that tonight I am going to London with Olivia to see Suzy until
Monday, so thought I ought to summarize this week and tell you all about our
trip next time.
It has been a
very busy week indeed as I have two big events next week, a press conference
and a party on the same day for 300 people.
You can’t imagine the amount of detail that goes into organizing
them. My intention is to finalize as
much as I can before I leave for London and right now I have a quiet moment to
write this week’s post.
Last Sunday I
was delighted to see the interview Top Comunicación had done with me about my
career in PR in Spain on the occasion of the prize I got recently from ADSL
Zone where the journalists voted me best Communications Director in the
sector. If you can understand Spanish
here it is.
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| A screenshot of my interview on the Top Comunicación site |
Monday was my
fasting day. I went into the office,
this time for an interview with my boss for a video blog to be published in El
Economista. Later Susana who used to be the account executive of Llorente y
Cuenca, my PR agency when we started up Yoigo, came to have a coffee with me at
Yoigo. Susana is now the Communications
Director of ITP a big aeronautical company that makes engines for
airplanes. It was great to catch up with
her.
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| With Susana H at Yoigo on Monday |
Monday ended
sadly. That afternoon Copi (the girls’
friend since they were very small) told us her godmother Ernestina, aged 69,
had died of cancer that afternoon.
Ernestina, who I knew very well from school events, was much more than a
godmother to Copi, she was like a second mother. That evening Eladio, Olivia and I went to the
funeral parlour in Boadilla to pay our respects. Next week we shall be going to the
funeral. You see Copi is a very special
person in our lives. She is like an
extended person in our family and we love her very much. It was a very sad end to Monday.
Tuesday saw me
in the office again for a very long management team meeting. I came home feeling extremely hungry as I
hadn’t had a bite to eat since 6.30 in the morning. After my evening walk I
just managed to see Olivia reporting on robberies in Madrid street cafés. As I
got out of my bath to quickly watch her, there she was sitting at the end of
our bed watching herself on TV which I thought was very funny.
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| Olivia reporting on robberies in street cafés this week |
On Tuesday I
robbed some time myself to watch episode 1 of Downton Abbey Season 5 which
arrived last week. I would love to binge
watch the whole series but am too busy for words. I must say I thought the first episode was
very entertaining.
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| I am loving Season 5 of Downton Abbey |
On Wednesday I
was as busy as a bee again but had plenty of time for everything as I got up at
6.30 which seems to be the norm recently.
Thus I got in my first hour long walk early and took a break during the
day for my second one. I always come
back feeling energized. It’s so true
that exercise releases the endorphins that make you feel happy as well as
keeping you fit.
It was on
Wednesday that the builders of our house in Montrondo sent more photos to Eladio. They are now working on my porch, the porch I
so wanted. It looks just as I wanted it.
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| The porch is coming along nicely in Montrondo |
Yesterday
Thursday was busy too but again I had time for everything as I was up at just
past 6 in the morning. Eladio was off to
Montrondo with his brother to meet with the builders about many of the details
of the building, not least, the final decision on the partitions of walls of the
three floors. Fátima prepared food for
them both and I, as usual, packed his suitcase.
It’s funny whilst he is in Montrondo with his brother this weekend, I
will be in London with Olivia and Suzy and will meet up with José Antonio’s
wife, my sister-in-law, Dolores and her daughter Sara who will also be in
London at the same time. We shall also
meet up with Paula, another of my nieces, and her boyfriend Pedro and family. As Yoli, another of my sister-in-law’s,
commented: “The Freijos in London” – Freijo being my husband’s family surname.
So far I haven’t heard a word from Eladio, no calls, no messages, mostly because
the mobile signal there is very limited.
Yesterday’s
highlight was a tasting lunch at a wonderful building called The House of
Velázquez (Casa de Velázquez) on the campus of the Madrid Complutense University
building. I was tasting the food for our
big party next week together with Miguel and Cristina from my events agency,
QuintaEsencia. We also took the time to
go over very many of the details of next week’s events.
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| Casa Velázquez, a beautiful building |
Yesterday of
course was Thanksgiving, that big American traditional holiday. Olivia did a
report on an American family in Madrid preparing the traditional dinner which
always includes turkey. You can see it
here.
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| Olivia during her report on Thanksgiving |
Meanwhile I
was shopping at Mercadona with Fátima, our home help when I came across a group
of American students. I looked at the
contents of their trolley and noticed there was no turkey and commented on this
to them. They replied forlornly that
there was no turkey to be had at Mercadona.
So I suggested they might find turkey legs at least at the local
supermarket up the road. I offered to
ring and see if they had any. They did
and the students were very grateful. I
think that was my Thanksgiving good deed of the day.
I have never
celebrated Thanksgiving as it is not an English tradition, however it is
getting increasingly popular in Spain.
Also popular now is something called Black Friday (a sales day the day
after Thanksgiving) and that has even caught on in Spain. I noticed too that it
has also become something of a tradition in England and that Marks and Spencer's
will have a 4 day long “Black Friday” coinciding with our visit. I’m looking forward to that.
That night,
Olivia and I had an ordinary dinner whilst Americans around the world were
having their Thanksgiving dinners. In
bed alone that night I took advantage of Eladio’s absence to watch two more
episodes of Downton Abbey.
And today is
Friday and it has been raining non-stop all day, preventing me from going on my
walk. I was up early and took Olivia by
car to the metro station and we will meet up again this evening at the
airport. I can’t wait!
Meanwhile work
continues on my events next week.
Yesterday we sent out a physical invitation to 100 journalists inviting
them to the press conference and party. The
claim on the invitation was “come and discover why Yoigo is the pear” (pear in
Spanish means both the fruit but also exceptional or amazing. These days in the
UK they would probably use the slang word “sick” or the “the dog’s bollocks”. In any case we had sent the invitation with a
real pear and all morning I have been monitoring twitter for reactions and they
have been great. Of course we also sent
an online invitation, just in case some of the boxes with the real pear got
left in receptions rather than delivered to the journalist in the newsrooms.
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| The Yoigo "pear" invitation we sent to the press |
Now my quiet
time is over and I must get on with more work.
So I shall publish this now whilst wishing you all a great weekend and
week ahead.
Till next time
Masha
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