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| The girls and I in London last weekend |
Hi again everyone,
So much has
happened since I last wrote on Friday 28th November and today, the
first Sunday in December, is the day to tell you all about it. Let me add that the sun is shining as it has
most of the week although the temperatures are much cooler now as winter
approaches.
On Friday 28th
November I worked hard all day at home, leaving as much done as possible for my
upcoming events, so that I could fully concentrate on my time in London with
the girls. I left the house at 17.30 and
met Olivia at the airport. We were
flying with Easy Jet to Gatwick and our plane left at 21h, arriving at LGW at
22.30h. I nearly always fly by Easy Jet
to London because the price is reasonable and because there are many flights to
choose from. However I do not like their
new rule; if you don’t check in your luggage which is quite costly and which we
didn’t do, you are allowed one cabin bag only; i.e. your handbag has to go
inside. Our cabin luggage was full of
things we were taking for Suzy but would be pretty empty on our way back with
enough room for our intended shopping. I
soon realized how to skip combining my handbag with my onboard suitcase and put
the former in a duty free plastic bag with things I bought at the airport. Even Ryan Air these days doesn’t make you
combine your handbag with your suitcase.
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| A selfie on board |
We arrived on
time and Olivia followed me as I rushed through all the procedures of landing,
the most important thing being to get to the front of the passport queue. Thus we were on the Gatwick Express, thanks
to my prepaid internet tickets, in a jiffy and even arrived at Victoria Station
before Suzy was there to meet us. Just
five minutes later my darling daughter was there. I rushed to greet her as you
can see in this video Olivia had a cool enough head to take. It was a wonderful
moment. You see I think this has been
the longest time we have been apart. The
last time we saw her was at the beginning of August.
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| It was lovely to be reunited with Suzy |
Suzy who is so
savvy with how things work in London ordered a taxi via Uber as soon as we had
stopped hugging. This was to be my first
time and I was very impressed at the cost (half that of a black cab), the
service and the app itself. I have now
downloaded it at home but unfortunately where we live there are no cars
available.
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| Uber rocks |
Soon we were
at Suzy’s new flat in South Bermondsey (one train stop from London Bridge) which
she shares with her boyfriend Gabor and their flat mate, Stefania, an Italian
research biologist. Very sweetly Gabor
and Suzy gave us their bedroom and they slept in the lounge. We liked there home immediately, it is clean,
compact, warm, light and we felt at home immediately. We didn’t get to bed until 2 in the morning
and despite a comfortable bed neither Oli nor I slept very well; mostly due to
my snoring. Sorry Oli.
We had a
lovely breakfast together on Saturday morning and whilst both Gabor and
Stefania went off to work, we got ready leisurely and generally enjoyed just
being the three of us in Suzy’s flat.
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| Breakfast at Suzy's on our first day |
We had a lunch
appointment with Dolores my sister-in-law and her daughter Sara at one of my
favourite restaurants in London, the Turkish Grand Bazaar just off Oxford
Street. Dolores was in London too that
weekend as she was going to a 70th birthday party of a friend of
hers. Our trip started at South
Bermondsey station. Here you can see my
two lovely girls on the platform with the City in the background (the gherkin,
etc).
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| Ready to go on our first day, the girls at South Bermondsey train station |
We took the
train to London Bridge and from there to Green Park and then walked to Oxford
Street which was so packed we got away as fast as possible. We walked through the lovely St.
Christopher’s Place until we found the Grand Bazaar. It was a bit early so we took a walk around
the streets until it was time to meet Sara and Dolores. And there they were and we were all delighted
to see each other.
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| At the Grand Bazaar with Dolores and Sara, a great lunch |
Suzy has
turned vegan, much to my sorrow, but there was lots of choice for her on the
wonderful mezze menus. The food was
delicious. This is what some of it
looked like.
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| Some of the food at The Grand Bazaar - just look at the bread! |
Afterwards we
had mint tea and baklava on the street terrace where Sara took the photo
illustrating this blog. Soon they had to
leave and we decided to spend the rest of the day shopping. We ventured into H+M on Oxford Street but as it
was so packed we decided to go to Westfield Shopping Centre at the end of the
Jubilee Line. It was packed too but not
quite as much. Here we parted as I went
into Marks and Spencer and the girls went to Top Shop where Oli bought Suzy a
lovely grey coat in which you can see her in some of the photos below.
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| Me at M+S at Westfield shopping centre |
We decided to
have dinner at home and buy the food from M+S and here we chose produce that
would make a delicious bits and bobs dinner.
On Sunday we
had a leisurely breakfast again and then Suzy, Oli and I walked all the way to
Brick Lane. On the way we stopped for a
coffee at St. Katherine’s Docks which is a very lovely area just next to Tower
Hill. Here we took lots of photos and it
is difficult to choose one for this post.
But here you go, it’s a lovely one of the two sisters.
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| My girls at St. Katherine's Docks on Sunday morning. |
There were far
too many people in Brick Lane so we carried on until we reached Spitalfields
Market. Here we had lunch. Olivia’s and my choice was ….. yes you
guessed right; fish and chips.
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| Fish and chips at Spitalfields market on Sunday |
After lunch we
made a quick entry into Urban Outfitters where we didn’t find anything that
took our fancy and then made our way to Marble Arch. We were to meet my niece Paula, her boyfriend
Pedro and his brother at the entrance to Winter Wonderland; a sort of gigantic
Christmas fun fair in Hyde Park. I’m
sure it’s lovely if you go on a Monday morning but on a Saturday afternoon in
December the crowds were somewhat overwhelming.
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| With Paula, Pedro and his brother at Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park last Sunday |
In any case it
was great to meet up with more of our family who once again just happened to be
in London like us that weekend.
We parted at
Green Park and the girls and I made our way home, stopping to do more shopping
for dinner at Marks and Spencer’s. We were to be joined by Gabor and Stefania.
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| Dinner on Sunday night at Suzy and Gabor's flat |
After dinner
we played cards (sevens) accompanied by a wonderful box of M+S chocolates.
The next
morning was Monday morning and our plane was in the evening at 7pm which meant
we had most of the day to spend with Suzy.
We decided just to chill out together, instead of seeing the sights or
walking in London. We have done that a
dozen times and what we most wanted to do was just be together. After getting
ready and packing (me for Oli and I as usual), we went off to Tesco’s at Canada
Water a 20 minute walk from their flat.
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| Going to Tesco on Suzy's bike |
Suzy and Gabor
do their shopping on their bikes. That
morning we went with Suzy on her bike and met Gabor at Tesco. Here is a photo of Olivia trying it out.
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| Suzy shopping at Tesco |
Dave, Gabor
and Suzy’s friend who was in Olivia’s class at St. Michael’s school, came for
lunch and made steak for the meat eaters.
It was to be our last meal together.
Afterwards we sat on the settee playing sevens and eating chocolate.
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| Our last afternoon at Suzy and Gabor's flat |
Soon it was
time to leave. Suzy had ordered an Uber
taxi for 15.30 which took us to Victoria.
We caught the Gatwick Express immediately and were at the airport with
far too much time on our hands. The trip
back felt long and was a little sad after having such a good time in London
with Suzy. We were home at nearly
midnight but Eladio was awake to welcome us.
On Tuesday I
felt tired all day and had to make an effort to move. My early morning walk
felt very uphill. I had a meeting in
Madrid that morning with a magician.
Yes, a magician. I was meeting a
famous young Spanish magician called Jorge Blass who is well known around the
world. When he was very young he won the
prize for best young magician in Europe or was it the world. We were to contract his services for our
party on Thursday and had to brief him about his audience and the party. I had used him before twice when I worked for
Nokia; once at an NGage launch in the pretty Segovian village called Pedraza
and once for an employee Christmas party.
He remembered me as I remembered him.
He has an amazing number where he seemingly makes snow out of paper
dipped into water and I told him that the first time I saw him do that in
Pedraza I cried. I knew that his show at the Yoigo party was going to be just
great and it was as I will tell you later.
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| Jorge Blass the young Spanish magician making snow on stage |
That afternoon
all I could do was sleep for 2 hours and go for my second walk. I then worked a bit more on my two events
whilst waiting for Olivia and Miguel to have dinner together.
On Wednesday I
was refreshed and spent practically the whole day working on the last minute
details of my two events the next day, a press conference to announce our
revamped image and new tariff and a big party in the evening to celebrate the
new image and Christmas with our staff and many of our partners. We were to be some 300 people.
Finally
Thursday arrived and I at least was ready.
All the documents; two press releases and a presentation were finalized
after many drafts and the lists of confirmed journalists and guests for both
events were done and ready. All that remained to do was to execute the two
events in one day; events which my agencies and I had been working on for many
weeks. It was going to be a very long
and stressful day so I was up early and went on my walk to charge my
batteries. Later in between the two
events I did my second walk too just to feel fresh for the evening.
37 journalists
attended our very uniquely organized press conference where our CEO dressed up
as an Indian apache chief. (Some headlines in English: http://www.telecompaper.com/news/yoigo-revamps-image-unveils-5gb-data-tariff-for-eur-19--1053357). It took place at a new restaurant in Madrid called
Casa Carolo which is partly owned by Bea from my events agency, QuintaEsencia.
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| A few shots from our jam packed press conference |
The
tariff we announced is called the never ending tariff and appears in a spot
with a sausage dog with a never ending body, part of the new image. The
dog (Nick) from the ad was present at the press conference!
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| Our sausage dog ad. The dog's name is Nick |
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| Me with Nick at the press conference |
Our new image
keeps the essence of Yoigo’s values and logo but changes the positioning to
“long live the difference”; i.e. Yoigo is different to the other operators and
so are our customers.
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| Our new image |
We had a field
day using some of the elements from the new campaign and image; giving out
banana shaped usbs, making bunches of sweets where all were of one kind except
one single sweet. We even got a
wonderful cake maker, Ana, to make a giant sausage dog cake.
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| Ana and her giant sausage dog cake for our press conference |
We had a great
photographer that day and of all the photos he took of me, I think the one
below sums up just how happy and content I felt when everything was over. Just before our press conference Google Spain
held their own where only 8 journalists turned up and yet Yoigo, the 4th
mobile network operator gathered nearly 40!
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| Very happy at how our press conference went |
The press
conference which started at 1pm didn’t end till 4.30. Then I had to rush home
to get changed, go on my walk, come home, shower and get ready to go out again
to the second event of the day, our big party to celebrate the new image and
Christmas. Thankfully my dearest friend Fátima was picking me up and would
drive me home. Julio would be joining us
too and Olivia my daughter would be there to give me a hand, as well as her
friend Ana, the incredible cake maker and it was lovely to have them with me.
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| With Fátima, Julio and my daughter at the big Yoigo party on Thursday night |
The event took
place at a singular location, a round marquee on the campus of the Madrid
Complutense University called “Domo”.
All of its inside is a 360º screen and it is unique. I think there are only three of its kind in
the world. On the outside we used the
cowboys and Indians theme again and people could enter via a wigwam or a cowboy
camp. Some of the Indians and cowboys were even on horseback.
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| The set up outside the event venue for our party |
Inside was
just as spectacular. We set up a Christmas corner with lots of prizes, the
waiters dressed differently (women with rollers in their hair, people dressed
up as doctors, firemen, etc) and there were tables and chairs for those who
wanted to sit and have their cocktail dinner.
After the presentation of the new brand, the cocktail party started and
then for me the best part of the night begun, Jorge Blass’ magic show. Gloria and I were at the front enjoying every
moment. Here you can see us cheering at
the end when he finished his act making snow appear in the whole marquee. It was just amazing.
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| Gloria and I ecstatic at Jorge Blass' performance |
One of his
tricks was to make our new mascot appear, a miniature chocolate coloured
dachshund puppy called “Yoigo”. I fell
in love with Yoigo as you can understand here from this lovely photo.
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| In love with little Yoigo our new mascot |
After the show
Jorge Blass stayed on to have a drink with us and it was lovely talking to
him. He started learning magic when he
was 12 and was inspired by Tamariz, a very famous Spanish magician. He also studied psychology and you can tell
that helps him gain his audience although his charismatic eyes seem to do it
all. He is so special.
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| With Jorge Blass after the show with Ana, my daughter and Cristina |
By 1 in the
morning I had had enough. Everything had gone so well, I felt ok to leave. So off we went quietly, Fátima and I to get
her car and drive home. I didn’t go to
sleep until 2 in the morning telling Eladio all about the party which I think
is possibly one of the best I have ever organized. Thanks Bea, Cristina, Gloria and Miguel
(QuintaEsencia), thanks Isabel and
Carlos (Ketchum) for being such a great team.
On Friday it
felt like I had a non-alcoholic hangover.
I was so tired after so much tension and stress but happy that my events
had been a success once again.
It was on
Friday that Suzy launched her new website where she offers dietitian
services. Take a look. I like it.
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| Suzy's new website |
I did the
shopping in the afternoon with Eladio and in the evening I was too tired to go
out to dinner as we usually do on Friday night.
So was Oli, so she and Miguel joined us for dinner which in the end was
much nicer than going out to dinner on our own.
On Saturday I
woke feeling refreshed. Saturday 6th
December was Constitution Day as well as Independence Day in Finland. It was finally a day I didn’t have to do any
work, apart from cooking of which I did a lot. I made bean stew (fabada),
chicken noodle soup and cream of vegetable soup for lunch and for dinners this
week.
On Saturday
morning Gloria came to see us and brought little “Yoigo”, the new mascot which
is hers. The idea was for Eladio to fall
in love with it and let me have one too as originally we had planned to have
two. He immediately understood what our
ploy was about and said no but eventually warmed to the idea with the condition
that the new puppy would be our responsibility, i.e, Oli’s and mine to which we
agreed immediately. Here is a collage of
little Yoigo’s visit.
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| Little Yoigo came to visit and met Elsa and Norah |
I was worried
how Norah our beagle and Elsa our Labrador would react but it went fine as you
can see in this lovely video.
On Saturday,
Zena, our ex Ukrainian cleaner came to clean the house as Fátima our home help
had serious problems. She arrived one
night this week with her two children, Omar aged 6 and Sara aged 10. Since her sister who used to look after them
has found a job and she had split up with her husband, the two children were
alone at home. The neighbours called the
police and she was warned they could not be left alone at home. Thus she came to our house with them asking
if they could live with us. We just
couldn’t say yes so suggested she took a few days holiday to sort out her
problem. And on Saturday she came again with the children and announced they
were leaving for Paris to live with her other sister, Oufa who used to be our
home help before her. I’m so glad she
sorted out her problem but of course that left us without a home help. However
she had found a replacement, the mother of a friend of Oufa called Gema who
came with her daughter Saida to see us yesterday afternoon. She seems suitable
as her last job was looking after an elderly lady who has now died. Gema will be starting tomorrow and Fátima
will come too to show her the ropes. I hope it all works out. We shall miss
Fátima dearly; she is such a lovely person and looked after my Father so
well.
And today is
Sunday and has been quiet. I have been
writing my blog, making a delicious full roast lamb lunch where we joined by
Oli and Miguel.
Meanwhile in
London, Suzy met up with our one and only adored Danish family, Pernille,
Thomas and their two daughters Julie and Alberte. Pernille was the girls’ au pair when they
were little and we have been in touch ever since. This is a photo of them together this
afternoon. I wish they had been in
London last weekend instead of this one and then we would have seen them too.
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| Suzy with Pernille and her family in London today |
Tomorrow is a
holiday in Spain (the Immaculate Conception) and it will be nice to relax a bit
more after these events and before the next ones. Quite a few are in the
cooking but more about them next time.
Meanwhile I
wish you all a great week,
Cheers Masha
PS Here is the full collection of photos of our trip to London.
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