Sunday 8th
February
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| Happy with my birthday presents this morning |
Hi everyone
It’s Sunday 8th
February and it’s my birthday. I am 58
today, just 2 years away from the dreaded 60 milestone. Who would believe it? Certainly not me! So far it has been wonderful and it is only
the beginning. But let me tell you about
it later and start off from where I left off last Sunday.
Last Sunday
Oli went sales shopping and bought me a lovely grey cardigan from Oysho. How I would have loved to go with her, but as
you know I am still immobile due to the accident and operation on my
ankle. Suzy meanwhile was continuing her
visit to Nottingham. I was very pleased
to hear that she visited the “Ye Olde trip to Jerusalem” which is supposedly
the oldest pub in England and an old haunt of ours when I was at Nottingham
University.
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| The oldest pub in England which Suzy visited last Sunday in Nottingham |
That afternoon
I binge watched the now semi new Forsyte Saga TV series. When we watched the 1967 series at home in
England we had to content ourselves with watching one episode a week for months
and months. These days you can watch various seasons of nearly any series you
want all in one go. How things have
changed.
Monday was
spent like nearly every day since my accident: breakfast in bed (the biggest
advantage of being immobile), a very careful shower, working from my pc in my
new bed come office and later watching TV series. For my lovely daughter Suzy, however Monday
turned out to be a red letter day. She
didn’t know the expression and I explained that it meant a day of “special
significance”. What was significant for her that day was that she landed the
interim job she had applied for whilst waiting for her registry number as a UK
qualified dietitian to come through with the HCPC (health and care professions
council). She will be working for
Decathlon, the French sports retailer – the biggest of its kind in the world –
at the only store in London which is very near where she lives in Surrey Quays.
That will keep her busy, earning money and get her out of the house. I wish her lots of luck and hope she enjoys
the job.
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| A selfie from Suzy working at Decathlon |
On Tuesday I
was feeling down about being immobile and trapped. The prospects were not good either as I had
been told I would be in a cast for 2 or 3 months and probably not walking
properly until another 6. That day I
surfed the web a lot about the recovery length and got rather depressed in the
process. Then my friend Jackie told me
to be more positive and to look up how to speed the process up. I did just what she said and one of the
things I found out was the importance of my diet. I knew I had to be on a high
fiber diet but apparently the body needs a higher intake of calories than
normal for the bones to mend. That
doesn’t mean eating more, but eating more carefully. It’s amazing how my body has craved for fruit
and veg ever since the accident as if it knew what I should be eating to
recover. Of course I need a lot of
calcium too which I am having via milk and lots of veg but at the same time I
am steering clear of carbohydrates and sugary stuff as I don’t want to put on
weight whilst I cannot do my normal exercise.
Life continued
of course on Tuesday and from my small but connected world in my bedroom I was
amazed to read that Harper Lee, the reclusive American octogenarian author of
the literary gem “To Killl a Mockingbird” (Pulitzer Prize) of which 30 million
books have been printed since it was published in 1960 – made even more famous
by the film with Gregory Peck – was to publish its sequel.
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| Scout with Atticus in To Kill a Mockingbird |
Since writing
To Kill a Mockingbird (a novel of racism in Alabama in the 30’s as seen through
the eyes of a 10 year old tomboy called Scout and of how her lawyer Father
Atticus defends a black man wrongly accused of raping a white woman) she never
published another novel. However it
turns out that the manuscript for her first novel was found by a friend
recently. This first novel is about
Scout as an adult and some of her memories as a child about her Father’s law
case. At the time her publisher wrote
back to advise her to write another novel this time about Scout as a child and
the law case. And this is exactly what
she did. When her friend found the
manuscript recently and showed it to her, Harper Lee was very surprised it had
survived and sent it to close friends to get their opinion. They advised her to publish it and the rest
is history now or will be when 1 million copies will be printed in the US
shortly. I always loved her book, as did
my Mother. I think it was one of her
favourites. So, I for one am avidly
forward to reading the sequel which, as I say, funnily enough was written
before To Kill a Mockingbird. The new
novel is called Go Set a Watchman. Isn’t
that an extraordinary story?
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| Harper Lee the author of To Kill a Mockingbird |
A much worse
story hit the news that day too. IS –
those savage and brutal jihadists, issued a ghastly video showing how they burned alive the captive Jordanian pilot, Kasasbeh in a cage. The release of the video came days after the
beheading of a second Japanese hostage within a week. Isis had vowed to kill
them unless the Jordanian government handed over Iraqui Jihadist and “would-be
suicide bomber” Sajida al-Rishawi both on death row in Jordan. The deal collapsed when IS did not show proof
of the pilot being alive. I have not
seen the video and refuse to watch this barbaric act. I am disgusted at this new form of terrorism
as the whole world is too. The two
Iraqui prisoners were executed in Jordan in a wave of retaliation from this
country which is a target of IS because of its involvement in fighting the IS
in Syria. Later I read that the pilot’s mother died of sorrow. I can wholeheartedly understand that.
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| The awful death of the Jordanian pilot at the hands of IS |
On Wednesday
Eladio took me to the hospital for my appointments for x-rays, a changing of
the dressing on my leg and a visit to the orthopedic surgeon who had operated
on me. I was expecting a new cast to be
put on. But no, Wednesday turned out to
be a red letter for me also. I was
amazed when the doctor told me my bones were healing super-fast and that the
cast was to be taken off there and then.
His instructions were that I was to be immobile for another 2 weeks
after which I was to visit him again. I
was also told to do ankle exercises to strengthen the muscles and I am doing
them religiously.
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| Doing my ankle exercises with a super elastic band which is perfect for the purpose |
He said that in 2 weeks’ time I would be able to walk with
crutches bearing weight on my leg. I
know I could not use crutches in a hopping style but I’m sure I will be able to
manage them if I can put weight on both legs.
I was ecstatic at the news and any depression I had lifted there and
then. I came home in a much better mood
delighted to have the heavy cast off my leg. It’s good to know that my recovery
period will be much shorter than expected.
I can now begin to envisage myself at the beginning of March in
Barcelona for the Mobile World Congress and even better, in Finland for the
bi-annual European Comms meeting I was so looking forward to. I still don’t know if I will be able to go
but the doctor said maybe I could if very little walking is entailed. So please keep your fingers crossed. On the
way home in the car I began to digest the good news about my recovery and in my
mind I started making a list of all the things I want to do when I can walk
again. This is the list which is not in any particular order apart from the
first item:
Go for my
walks, make it to Barcelona for the MWC, join the European team I belong to in
their next meeting in Finland at the beginning of March and spend the weekend
before with Anne in Salo, go to Montrondo, go to the snow in the mountains
outside Madrid, have my nails done, go shopping with Oli, go see Suzy in
London, a trip to Yorkshire and tea at Betty’s, go for a drive in my new car
which will be ready for picking up in Feb, Visit Gael, Juan and Cristina’s
newly born baby boy, go and see Oli’s newsroom and meet her lovely colleagues
who sent me a present and fantastic get well card, shop at Naranjas de la China
where Ketchum ordered the super fruit and flower hamper they sent to me, shop
at España en la Mesa where JP Media ordered the lovely gastro hamper they sent
me, have dinner and shop at Platea, the new Gastro centre in Colon where my
events agency QuintaEsencia bought the super vegetable hamper they sent to me, go
the office and see my colleagues, personally pick up little Pippa, the puppy
miniature dachshund coming from Granada, lunch out with my friends Julio and
Fátima for a belated birthday celebration, dinner at DStage with Juana and
Oscar, Visit Nottingham University with my friends and co students Adele,
Sandie and Sue, where I studied and
where I haven’t been back since a year after I graduated in 1980 and many
etceteras.
Once I was
back in my bed come office with a new positive mind set, up came Eladio bearing
a parcel. I couldn’t believe it. What another parcel? I have received so many presents, visits,
good wishes I feel overwhelmed. The
parcel was from one of my dearest readers, a person I have known since I was a
child in Yorkshire and person I am coming to love more as the years pass. Dearest Jackie had sent me a box of Yorkshire
goodies: sweets, biscuits and tea for my birthday. This is me delighted with Jackie’s parcel.
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| Opening Jackie's birthday present |
The big
international news on Wednesday was of course the horrific story of the Taiwan
Trans Air plane that crashed into a river in Taipei. Of the 58 passengers only 15 survived. The footage of the accident was very
shocking. I’m sure you have seen how the
plane comes over a road with lots of cars and just manages to avoid them
swerving into the Keelung River. There
have been quite a few awful crashes recently in this part of the world and I,
for one, would be very hesitant to buy a ticket to fly with Trans Air or
Malaysian airlines. I’m sure you would
too.
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| The Trans Air crash in Taipei on Wednesday |
But the news
that made most impact on me on Wednesday and the following days was of the snow
in our beloved Montrondo. There have
been tremendous snow falls in most of the north of Spain; some of them quite
historic, but in Montrondo it snowed this week more than it has for some 40 or
50 years. If you don’t believe me, just
look at this photo of one of the 15 or so villagers, José Antonio, as he shovels away
the snow to make some sort of path.
Literally he is up to his neck in snow. That
is a lot more snow than you would even find in Lapland or northern Sweden right
now.
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| Villager José Antonio from Montrondo up to his neck in snow this week |
Here is
another photo, this time of Manolita, perhaps Montrondo’s most loved
neighbour. She is smiling whilst
shoveling away as much snow as she can so as to reach her hens to get their
eggs. Snow usually leaves Manolita quite nonplussed as she is used to it, but
even she admits this snowfall is one of the biggest she has ever seen.
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| Manolita clearing the snow in Montrondo this week |
The villagers
are snow trapped in Montrondo. Salo, who
lives there, told me the snow plough managed to clear the road from nearby
Murias but that there was so much on either side of the road it was difficult
to pass. That meant the bread vans from
Senra or Murias couldn’t make the delivery.
So the local hero, Javier, the youngest villager, put on his snow shoes
and made it down to Murias where every day this week he has bought bread and
taken it back in his ruck sack to be delivered to each and every neighbour in
Montrondo. He really is the local hero. I love seeing his photos on the Montrondo
group page in Facebook. If it wasn’t for my foot we would have gone there in a
shot this weekend. I am just hoping the
snow stays until my foot gets better and I can witness with my own eyes this
historical snow fall in “our” village.
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| Javi the local hero delivering bread to all the neighbours in snow trapped Montrondo |
I must say I
woke up feeling a lot more comfortable without the cast on Thursday
morning. Olivia was off at the crack of
dawn to do a report on the snow in a village called La Hiruela about 90 odd km
from Madrid. On the way they were
trapped in the snow and had to be helped.
Even the snow plough itself was trapped.
I’m not quite sure how they got out but they had quite an adventure. This
is a photo of their car being pushed in the snow.
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| Oli and her TV crew trapped in the snow outside Madrid this week |
Many cars were
trapped on that road and many more in Spain this week. Thankfully Oli and her TV crew made it to La
Hiruela where Olivia interviewed a shepherd who showed her a baby lamb that had
been born that night. Olivia was
surprised it had lived in such freezing conditions. The shepherd explained that it was thanks to
the ewe’s milk, without which it would
certainly have died. Here is a photo of
Olivia trying to report on the snow in freezing cold and very windy conditions.
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| Oli reporting on being trapped in the snow this week |
Believe it or
not on Thursday afternoon I got yet another parcel. This time it came all the
way from Finland and was from my dearest friend Anne. She had sent me a lovely birthday card and a
pair of white mittens she had made herself for me, which of course made them
even more special. Thanks my sweetie,
really hope to be able to wear them with you in Finland if I make it in
March. Here is a photo of me delighted
with yet another present; mittens from Finland.
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| Delighted with the homemade mittens Anne sent me from Finland for my birthday |
Friday was a
busy day. My boss had a live interview
with the Spanish Cope radio at 9 am about the company’s performance and the
mobile phone market in general. That’s morning radio prime time and the
programme, La Mañana, has nearly a 1 million listeners so the interview was
important. I felt very frustrated not to be by his side but had organized everything
remotely which is the only way to do things when you can’t move. I listened to the interview and was very
pleased with the questions and answers.
He was pretty word perfect and there were no gritty questions thank
goodness. You can listen to the
interview here on this link (in Spanish of course).
On Friday I
was happy to have an email from my oldest best friend, Amanda. We went to school together and have been
friends since we were 10 years old. It
was great to get her news. I replied immediately and told her lots of things I
would never dare put here as you can possibly imagine. Whilst looking out for good TV series to
watch whilst I’m immobile, a few people had recommended a series called “Last Tango in Halifax”. I wasn’t sure it was
my cup of tea until Amanda recommended it in her emails. She knows my taste, so I went for it and
downloaded the first 2 episodes. I have
devoured them but unfortunately the quality of the other episodes is not too
good so I decided to order the box set of the 3 series from Amazon and can’t
wait for it to arrive next week. Last
Tango in Halifax is a great British TV series supposedly set in Yorkshire –
Skipton, Harrogate and Halifax (although disappointingly the Harrogate scenes
are shot in Lancashire) about two families.
The main plot is how the two septuagenarian
grandmother and grandfather of the respective families meet up after 60 years
when they had once been sweethearts. It’s
a mixture of drama and comedy in the best British way, so I’m devouring it and
loving the Yorkshire settings and accents and the portrayal of modern day life
in Yorkshire.
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| Loving Last Tago in Halifax |
On
Friday afternoon I was blessed with another visit. My dear ex Nokia friend Ana came to see
me. I appreciate that as she has such a
busy professional and personal life with two small children. Thanks Ana for making the time and the
effort. I loved our 2 hour gossipy chat
catching up on our lives. It meant so
much to me. We forgot to take a picture
so I asked Ana to send me one to illustrate this part of this week’s post. This
is dear Ana.
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| Great to have a visit from my friend Ana on Friday afternoon |
On
Friday too I got some photos of Pippa – the miniature smooth haired chocolate
coloured dachshund who will soon be part of our family – end of Feb. They are not very good photos but the best I
have. The breeder Antonio, to whom I
spoke on Friday, obviously knows lots about these dogs but is not a good
photographer. I was happy to hear that
Pippa has a lovely disposition. We can’t
wait to see her and hold her in our arms. Waiting for you little Pippa with all
the love in the world.
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| Little Pippa is growing |
Believe
it or not, on Friday, Eladio had insisted on taking me out for dinner, to get
me out of my pyjamas and out of bed. He
was right I suppose but it was a big effort.
My leg no longer hurts so it sort of made sense but it did feel strange
dressing up and putting makeup on. We
borrowed my Father’s wheel chair for the occasion and I felt very funny being
wheeled down the street and into the restaurant. Oli and Miguel were waiting for us when we
arrived. I felt a bit self-conscious in a
wheel chair but soon forgot I was in one and enjoyed the dinner
enormously. We went to Zurito in Pozuelo
which serves lovely food. That night, I
broke my diet but who cares? Miguel took a lovely photo of Eladio which Oli
posted on FB adding that we were still in love “35 years later” which some people
interpreted as our anniversary. It wasn’t
though. For the record we have been together since the summer of 1980 but got
married in 1983. What is true is that we
are still in love and will always be.
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| Out to dinner with Eladio on Friday night, my first outing since the accident |
I took one of
Oli and Miguel too. You can judge for
yourselves if they are in love from the expression on their faces. Expressions say it all I think when they are
sincere.
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| Oli and Miguel at dinner on Friday night |
Yesterday
Saturday was a quiet day for me at least, no outings of course and no
visits. And once again I received a
present. This time it was a beautiful
bouquet of red roses from my friends Juana and Oscar. It was another early birthday present. I can’t
thank them enough. Red and yellow roses
are my favourites so I was delighted with my present.
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| Red roses from Juana and Oscar for my birthday |
And finally I
have got to Sunday, the most important day of this week as it is my
birthday. I have to thank Eladio and my
family and friends for making it so special.
I am overwhelmed with all the messages, posts, whatsapps, phone calls
etc and can’t thank you all enough. The
day started with a lovely birthday breakfast as all our family birthdays do. The photo illustrating this post is of me
with the presents, a wonderful fruit and flower hamper from Olivia and Miguel
(Naranjas de la China) and the black Michael Kors bag I wanted from Eladio and
my Father. Miguel was using his new
camera and took some great photos of my birthday. Perhaps my favourite is this
one of me with Eladio.
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| At breakfast this morning with Eladio |
Lunch was to
be special too. We made it all together, a simple but delicious meal of fillet
steak, chips and salad. Here I am frying
the chips whilst talking to Suzy on the phone. That was the most important
birthday phone call of the day for me as you can imagine
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| Cooking and talking to Suzy on the phone - the best birthday phone call of the day |
Lunch of
course was followed by the birthday cake moment. Eladio had ordered my favourite, millefeuille with fresh cream and raspberries on the top. Here are the four of us by the cake enjoying
that moment.
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| The birthday cake moment at lunch today |
So
you see it’s been and it’s being a wonderful birthday, despite my limited
mobility. But I know now that the progress will be faster and that I have so
much to look forward to when I can walk again.
Wishing
you all a good week ahead, cheers all till next time,
Masha
PS
for those of you who aren’t direct friends and want to follow my blog on
Facebook here is the link. I welcome you
to like the page and join the conversation. I would love to hear from you there, know who you are where you come from, why you read my blog and welcome your comments.
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