Sunday 19th
April 2015
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| We had dinner with friends from my Nokia days last night |
Hi everyone,
This week has
been busy which is how I like it, being the hyper active being I am and there
is lots to share with you.
I left off
last Sunday when I had just been on Cuatro TV national news talking about
whatsapp calls. I can now share the link
with you – here - In the end, as I
imagined, they edited the recording that so much of what I had said was cut
out. But that’s how TV works.
It was late on
Sunday night that I found out through my cousin Sophie who lives in France that
it was Russian Easter. She wrote on her
Facebook, Happy Easter including the words “Xristos Vaskresi” which mean so
much to me as my Mother was Russian Orthodox and I was brought up to celebrate
Easter the Russian way. “Xristos
Vaskresi” means “Christ has risen” and I well remember being taken with my
brother by my Mother and Aunty Masha sometimes, to the Ukranian church in
Bradford in the middle of the night to attend the Orthodox Church’s most
important celebration of the year. We
would buy and light a candle – once George my brother nearly set my hair on
fire!!! – and join in some of the singing. I loved the singing or chanting, the
candles, the smell of the incense, the icons and the whole ritual. I did not
understand much as Russian church services are conducted in what is known as
“Church Slavonic”. At one point in the
very long service where you have to stand up the whole time – no pews in
Russian churches except for the old and infirm – the parishioners walk around
the church all together with their candles chanting “Xristos Vaskresi”. It was very uplifting even for a child like
me. Afterwards we would go home to eat a
feast which would already be laid on the table.
The most common food my Mother would lovingly prepare was coloured
boiled eggs, kulich (a sort of tall cake with icing dripping on the top) and
“paskha” (a type of cheese cake). Thank
you, Sophie for reminding me last week.
Xristos Vaskresi to you too.
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| A Russian Easter celebration meal |
It was on
Sunday that Olivia posted a photo of herself and her boyfriend Miguel kissing;
apparently in honour of “international kissing day”.
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| Olivia and Miguel kissing |
Twitter seemed to think it was on Monday and
when I googled it I got all sorts of dates.
However I went along with Twitter and also posted a kissing photo; this
time of Olivia with our dogs Elsa the lab and little Pippa our irresistible 4
month old chocolate coloured miniature dachshund who may not have known it was
International kissing day but kissed each other anyway. Isn’t it lovely?
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| Pippa and Elsa kissing in Oli's presence on International Kissing Day last Monday |
Monday was my
fasting day. It was also the day I had
an appointment with the dermatologist – remember I had a sore on my breast
which scared me last week? It turned out
to be folliculitis, something quite difficult to get rid of. I think the fitbit I wear to measure my
activity and which I used to wear tucked into my bra probably caused it as it
must have broken the skin. She prescribed an antibiotic and cortisone cream
which seems to be doing the trick. I
also got another antibiotic cream for an infected stitch on the scar from the
operation on my broken ankle. That is
proving more difficult to heal whereas the sore has nearly gone.
On Tuesday
Eladio was taking me to see a well-known urologist for my chronic o.a.b which is a bit embarrassing to write about
here. Suffice it to say I went through some ghastly and very painful tests and
got a verdict I had already suspected.
My condition is completely sensorial; there is nothing organically
wrong. The treatment seems to be a bit
of a hit and miss thing as neither the well-known urologist, Dr. Esteban, nor
my urologist, Dr. Litton really know whether the treatment will work. Meanwhile I live with the condition and do my
best not to let it interfere with my happy life. The appointment was at a famous hospital in
Spain (Hospital Nacional de Parapléjicos de Toledo) the only one of its kind in
the country and it specializes in para and tetraplegics. It was quite a depressing place and I felt
very lucky as I walked along the corridors and saw all sorts of people in wheel
chairs or moving around on stretchers using their arms!
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| The paraplegic hospital in Toledo |
It was on the
way there that I had a very old fashioned Spanish business experience which I
want to share with you as it really annoyed me and summed up just how backwards
Spain can be at doing business. I got a
phone call from an unknown long number and the person calling was the secretary
of a man who heads up a telecoms association in Madrid and who I know quite
well. She was calling from his office to
put me through to him on his mobile while he was somewhere else. My first thought was, if he was on his
mobile, why didn’t he ring directly? The
simple answer is prestige – his answer would be that he’s too busy a man to
have to make his own phone calls. When she tried to put me through to him, he
was talking to someone else which annoyed me even more. I replied rather curtly that I would ring him
direct later. I tried to ring later but
only got through to his voice mail. I
think Spain has a lot to learn from their business counterparts in the Nordics
for example where they go to work on public transport, pick up their own kids
from school, manage their own diaries and make their own phone calls. In Spain CEOS have everything done for them
and “work” from dawn to dusk rarely taking holidays and hardly seeing their
children. Reality is that they are not
particularly productive, going to long and expensive lunches and staying on in
the office just to be seen as it is frowned upon to go home at a reasonable
hour even if you have no more work to do.
Part of this culture is because of Spanish eating, sleeping and partying
habits which are all so late. Prime
time TV doesn’t start until 10pm, lunch breaks can be up to 2 hours in the
middle of the day – and no they don’t use the time to take a siesta - and it is
difficult to book a table at a restaurant for dinner before 9pm. I am lucky because I now work from home but I
pity city office workers who must be tired all the time. It also makes it impossible to have a good
work life balance. When will Spain learn from other countries in Europe that
their chaotic working hours only lead to a lack of productivity; not to mention
a constantly tired workforce? Part of the problem comes from the decision in
1942 to change the time zone.
Geographically we really should be aligned with UK time. You may see Spain as a place of getting up
late, long lunches (this part is truer of top business men) and afternoon
siestas (definitely a thing of the past) but the truth is that the workforce
have to put up with a very long and disjointed day. The average annual work hours are 1.686, much
higher than the UK, France or Germany as you can see in the graph below. I just hope that one day Spain changes its
archaic business habits such as ringing a person via their secretary as well as
their ridiculous working hours.
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| Working hours in Spain and other countries |
On the topic
of business, I was surprised by the news on Wednesday that my old company,
Nokia is to “combine” with Alcatel Lucent the French telecoms giant. I’m not sure if this is good for global
business or not. If the Finnish
company’s venture with Siemens was a cultural shock and didn’t work in the end,
I wonder what will happen with this Finnish French marriage. I feel for colleagues who work for my old
company and who fewer than 200 joining up with Alcatel which has a workforce of
900 or so people in Spain. One of President Holland’s demands was that there
would be no reduction in employment in France but there surely will be in other
countries. When two big multinational
companies get together there will always be duplicated posts and layoffs. On the good side the agreement will make
Nokia a bigger player in the infrastructure market, nearly as big as Ericsson
and it will allow them to enter markets such as the US or China where their
presence was limited. Under the new venture the company will be called Nokia
(they will have 70% or so of the joint company and the French the smaller
share) and will be calling the shots. I wonder if this means the rise and fall
and rise again of the company I love so much and which in Finland is one of the
things the people were most proud of? I
have copied the words of an article published by The Financial Times which you
can read here suggesting this is the reinvention of the Finnish giant.
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| The CEOs of Alcatel Lucent (Michael Combes) and Nokia (Rajeef Suri) the day of the press conference |
I’m not sure
whether this story has any resemblance to the script of the popular TV series
Game of Thrones which I have actually never seen; but there will surely be a
battle inside the new company for the top positions; or the thrones; which
brings me on to my next topic. That same
day at around the same time as the Nokia Alcatel press conference, in Brussels
the new King of Spain was meeting Spain’s 54 members of the European Parliament
including Pablo Iglesias. Iglesias, the
36 year old ponytailed leftist and leader of the anti-austerity party Podemos
whose increasing popularity with disgruntled Spaniards is changing the map of
political power, was to meet the King for the first time. Dressed in an untucked shirt and no tie he
handed a boxset of the series, Game of Thrones, to the perfectly attired King;
the King he seeks to unthrone if he comes to power in this year’s general
elections. He told the young King that
he would like the series and that it would give him “some keys to understand
the political crisis in Spain”. Felipe
VI politely replied that he had not seen the series and looked forward to
watching it. This tongue in cheek PR
stunt gave Pablo Iglesias just what he was looking for; front page coverage in
newspapers the world over. You may or
may not like the guy or his party, but you have to give credit where it is due
and this was a master class in PR; something he or his advisors can be proud
of.
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| Pablo Iglesias giving the King of Spain the boxset of The Game of Thrones |
I’m sure my
daughter Olivia, a TV reporter, would have loved to report on that story. That
afternoon (or should I say evening?), Olivia was home, early for Spaniards – at
around 8pm - and together we watched one of her reports on the TV programme she
works for “Aquí en Madrid”. It was about
“lock bumping”, a lock picking technique that seems to be in fashion with
burglars. As a reporter for the
programme Olivia has to be prepared to report on nearly anything and hardly has
any time to prepare herself on the different subjects she is confronted
with. It was funny to be with her
physically and at the same time see her on TV.
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| A snapshot of Oli on TV reporting on "bumping" key locks |
The news that
interested me most on Wednesday though was about 70 being the new 50; something
I had heard about before and totally agree with. The article in both The Times and The Daily
Telegraph confirmed my suspicions that people in their 60s and 70s are not
considered so old anymore and that middle age lasts until 74. This is good news for my wonderfully young
looking 70 year old husband Eladio who has now suddenly become 50. I wonder if
the same applies to other ages. Is for
example 50 the new 30? If so I am now
only 38. Wouldn’t that be great! On a more serious note this is all because we
are healthier, less dependent on others, more mentally agile and of course live
much longer lives. I must say I was very
happy with the findings in the research on old age reported on in this
article. In my view it’s all about
ageing gracefully and healthily, wanting to look and feel good. I maybe 58 but I don’t feel it. I have my beautiful daughters to keep me
looking good, I love to wear nice clothes, have well-manicured hands, keep the
roots of my false blonde coloured hair at bay and feel beautiful when I leave
the house to go out. But not only that,
I try to eat as healthily as I can by doing my two fasts a week and my daily
walks. You will be happy to hear though
that I am no fanatic and can easily be seduced by a piece of cake or a biscuit;
especially it if comes from Bettys!
On Thursday
morning I had an appointment with a young student who wanted to interview me
for a University project on how Communications Departments work at big
companies. I met Irene at a café bar
nearby and it was difficult to get her to use the more familiar “tu” form
rather than the more formal “usted”. She
was in her 20’s and didn’t know that 70 is the new 50. I should have told her. The session lasted a
couple of hours where she got a lesson in practical corporate communications as
opposed to the theory she was being taught in the subject. Here is a selfie of Irene and I just after
our meeting. It was a pleasure to help
her.
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| Not a very good selfie with Irene who interviewed me this week on how a corporate communications department works |
It was on
Thursday afternoon that the whole of Spain was shocked to hear of the arrest of the ex IMF chief Rodrigo Rato. In Spain
he is better known for being the Minister of Finance and Vice President under the
Government of José María Aznar and head of the Bankia bank which became famous
when it had to bailed out with European funding under his management. His home
and office were being searched by the Fiscal authorities as he is suspected of tax
fraud, money laundering and concealment of assets regarding his personal wealth
which is estimated at 27 million euros.
This has come as a blow to the PP party in power and will not help them
win the elections at the end of this year.
Spaniards are used to, yet fed up with politicians’ ambitions for
personal gain and I think the Rodrigo Rato case is really the straw that may finally
break the camel’s back in their mind.
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| Rodrigo Rato being pushed into a police car by a police officer this week |
Friday was
perhaps my busiest day. It was the only
day of the week I went into the office but as the meeting was at 13h, there was
a huge traffic jam returning home afterwards as a lot of Spanish companies have
Friday afternoons off starting from about 15h.
The meeting itself was very interesting.
It was with two representatives from the Swedish Commercial Office; two
ladies with the same name; Malin. The
meeting was in preparation for Yoigo’s participation in an event to take place
at the Swedish ambassador’s residence next month. The Ambassador is, by the way, another
woman. When I heard this from the two
Malins, I wondered to myself just how many female ambassadors Spain has and
that Spain could learn a lesson or two from Sweden in many aspects of life.
Whilst Eladio
had a siesta – he can as he is semi-retired – I had loads of work to catch up
on before I could go for our walk and then do the weekly food shopping with
Eladio. The walk was like every day and
the sun shined as it has a lot recently since spring began. I have a lovely photo to show you of that
particular walk. I entitle it “the dog
walkers” which is what we are but of our own dogs. I think the one of Eladio with all three is
just the best don’t you?
It was while
we were doing the weekly shopping that Olivia posted a photo on the family
whatsapp and which I particularly like.
A colleague had taken a photo of her preparing for a live report in
Madrid. It was to be about the return
match between El Deportivo de Coruña and Atlético de Madrid after the killing
of a fan by the River Manzanares at the hands of a gang of football hooligans
in the first match. The story of course
was unpleasant but I love the photo of Olivia sitting by the river lost in
concentration with her note book and phone.
In the picture too are vital elements for any TV reporter; the
microphone, a hair brush and her makeup.
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| Oli deep in thought preparing for a live report on Friday afternoon |
Eladio and I
went out to dinner that night to La Txitxarrería. At the same time Olivia was relaxing at home
having dinner with friends from “la manada” (herd in English) as the girls’ group
of friends refer to themselves as. Meanwhile Suzy was in Denmark with Gabor her
boyfriend. The tickets to Copenhagen were her Christmas present to him and they
would be staying for three nights with what we consider “our Danish family”;
with Pernille, her husband Thomas and their little girls Julia and
Alberte. Pernille was our au-pair when
the girls were small and she was like a Danish princess. She married her first and only boyfriend
Thomas who she started going out with when she was a young teenager. They have built a wonderful home together by
the sea outside Copenhagen. Today
Pernille is a nurse with a great career and Thomas works for Microsoft. They are busy people and we don’t see them
often but they mean so much to us.
Pernille touched our hearts forever when she spent a year with us as an
au-pair. When they married all 4 of us
went out to their fairy tale like wedding and on the few occasions over the
years that I have been to Copenhagen on business trips I have been to see them.
Suzy and Gabor are having a wonderful time with “our Danish family” to judge by
the photos they have posted on Facebook.
Here are two of my favourites.
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| Suzy with "our Danish family" this weekend. |
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| Suzy with Julia and Alberte in Denmark this weekend |
When Oli saw
the photos she commented that she and I should go out to stay with “our Danish
family” too. Yes we must. I would love that.
And Saturday
came and it was to be busy too. We were
having visitors for the first barbecue of the season and we also had a dinner
engagement that night with friends from my Nokia days.
We had hoped
for good weather. Yes the sun shone but
it was not very warm; perhaps 18c. In
any case we dared the weather and cleaned and prepared the kitchen patio and
swimming pool terrace; well Eladio did with Gema’s help. This is a photo of how
they looked afterwards.
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| Preparations for our visitors and the barbecue on Saturday |
José Antonio
and Dolores, my brother and sister-in-law, were coming for lunch and were
bringing with them their guests from England, Enid of South African origin and
Kenneth who is English. Both of them
live in Norwich, a town very close to my heart, and were or are still teachers.
Norwich is
close to our heart because it was at East Anglia University that my parents
used to be teachers at the yearly 3 week long summer Norwich Russian Courses
from the early 70’s. I remember going
along with them nearly every year from the age of 12 until Susana and Olivia
were born. I loved the city which is where my Aunty Masha went to live. I well remember the campus of the University
and staying in student accommodation at Norfolk or Suffolk terrace, the lovely
seaside towns nearby such as Cromer or Sheringham, not to mention the Norfolk
Broads or the city itself. Norwich has a
beautiful cathedral, a castle and a lovely old cobbled street called Elm
Street. Norwich is also famous for its
covered market which we often went to – they sold lovely ice cream there. Enid and Kenneth told me that it is the
oldest covered market in England. My Father and I were delighted to have
visitors from Norwich after all our memories of our stays there every summer
for so many years. It was also a great occasion for my Father to be able to
chat in English at lunch with “new” people.
It was for me too of course.
Their visit to
Madrid was just a part of their itinerary of celebrations of their 50th
wedding anniversary this year. Imagine!
They looked so fit and young that I could hardly believe they had been
married for 50 years. They are a very interesting couple, we had lots in common
and we got on with them famously. I was particularly interested in Enid’s story
of how her family had to leave Durban in the early 50’s because of
apartheid. Even when Enid married
Kenneth they could not go to South Africa as a couple as she is black and he is
white. They were only able to do so when
apartheid came to an end in the 90’s.
Fancy. It couldn’t have been easy
to come from warm South Africa to cold and damp London in the 50’s and adapt to
British life. Enid and Kenneth have three sons.
Two of them are identical twins, Jon and Phillip. On our walk later in the afternoon Enid told
me the story of how Jon, the elder by 20 minutes, managed to get on Big Brother
in the UK when he was in his 20’s and became very famous afterwards. His surname is Tickle and if you live in
England I’m sure you know who he is. It
can’t have been easy for his family.
Enid also told me that when the show started, her son Jon warned her on
the phone to leave Norwich that weekend as there would be a hoard of media
around their house which is how it turned out.
What a story, don’t you think? It
cracked me up I must say.
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| José Antonio and Dolores, their visitors from England, Kenneth and Enid and Eladio |
While we
chatted in the sun around the pool, Eladio and José Antonio got on with making
the barbecue – sausages, fillet steak and lamb.
This is a photo of the two brothers by the barbecue.
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| Eladio and Toño doing the bbq yesterday |
Everyone was
very polite about the food but I realized it was rapidly getting cold in the cool
air even if it was sunny. Afterwards we
spent the afternoon drinking tea and coffee, having the odd Bettys’ biscuits. At one moment in the afternoon I was upstairs
and suddenly heard my Grandmother’s old Broadwood piano being played in the
lounge. Kenneth was playing it and even
though it was out of tune it was wonderful to hear it being played. I was impressed to hear that the piece he was
playing was of his own composition. So apart
from an Oxford graduate in Chemistry and a teacher of mathematics, he is also
an accomplished musician. I was
impressed.
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| Kenneth playing the piano at home yesterday |
The day ended with
a wonderful walk with the dogs in the sun and breeze on a new path we have
discovered on our walk. Because Kenneth
had blisters on his feet due to so much walking in Madrid he stayed behind but
was happy to be left alone to read my Father’s Daily Telegraph whilst we were
away. You can see the rest of the photos of yesterday here.
When our
visitors left it was time to get ready to go out again, this time to dinner at
Zurito in Pozuelo with our friends from my Nokia days. The photo illustrating this week’s post is of
us all together. Dinner was with Juana
and Oscar, Fátima, my friend, ex colleague and neighbour, Julio who used to be
their boss, Eladio and myself. I was quite tired at dinner after being outside
all day and had partially lost my voice from so much talking in the cool
weather but thanks to the wonderful food and company I soon forgot the
tiredness and when we finally left the table it was one in the morning. That’s late even for Spain I can tell
you.
Thankfully
today is Sunday and I could sleep until 8 instead of my usual 7 in the
morning. Also thankfully Gema is here
too – she will be taking her two days weekly leave from tomorrow instead of
Saturday – so she made today’s lunch, leaving me time to write my blog and
relax. It was lamb, artichokes and potatoes made in the Moroccan style which is
one of her best dishes.
As I write,
everyone in the house is resting. So now
when I have finished publishing this post, I shall be sitting outside by the
pool with my kindle and reading the latest book I have downloaded: “We got the water, tracing my family’s path through Auschwitz” by Jill Klein. Her Father,
Gene Gabriel Klein survived and is still alive today and it is his story and
that of his family that she tells in We got the Water.
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| The book I am reading now on my kindle |
And that is
now the end of the stories of this week, the things that I did and the things
that interested me. I hope you enjoy
this week’s tale. Until next week my
friends and readers,
Cheers
Masha
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