Saturday and Sunday 13th and 14th June 2015
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| Walking up the steps from the beach to the Parador in Mazagón |
Hi everyone,
This week I am
writing my blog from the Ave high speed train which left Seville a short while
ago. It should be pulling into Madrid
Atocha station at 20.15 and thus I have 2.5h on my hands, the perfect time to
write this post.
Spain has
changed into another country since I first started coming here by train in the
late 70’s often by inter rail. There
were no high speed trains then, although the Talgo did exist. The stations were smelly, hot, dirty and full
of flies and the shops and food on sale not at all attractive. These were my thoughts as I waited at Seville’s
smart Santa Justa station whilst waiting for this train. In fact the shops are so nice I had a little
look around and came across these dresses at a boutique called Ale Hop.
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| Pretty summer dresses at a boutique at Santa Justa train station in Seville |
I wonder which
one you would have chosen. I chose the
pink one. It’s supposed to be for the
beach but it will be perfect for everyday use too if I wear a petticoat
underneath.
But let me
start from the beginning, where I left off last Sunday. Whilst Eladio and I were returning from a
wonderful long weekend in Montrondo, Oli was in Valencia with Miguel. They had a great weekend too and most of it
was spent on the beach. On one of the
nights they even had dinner on the Patacona Beach not far from the centre. Here is a photo of them enjoying the dinner
with friends of Miguel.
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| Oli and Miguel living it up in Valencia last weekend |
Meanwhile in
London, it was a sunny day. Suzy and her
friends had a barbecue together so finally I have a photo of my older daughter
to include in this blog – they are scarce.
She looks so happy in the photo with her friends, including Chati, the
Spanish nurse who was her partner in crime leaving Spain for their London
adventure two years ago.
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| Suzy enjoying the sun with her friends in London last weekend |
Monday was a
difficult day. I fasted of course which
in the end would give me an almighty headache that night. I had two meetings in Madrid in the morning
after which I met up with Miguel and Gloria from my events agency. We were sight inspecting Madrid roof terraces
for a big summer staff party at the end of June. It was so hot on the top of them that I felt
like fainting especially because I hadn’t had anything to eat. Not a god idea. I had another meeting as soon as I got home
too so was not able to get a moment’s rest in the day.
Olivia and
Miguel were back in the evening and we had dinner together. We then decided to ring Suzy. I have to admit we hadn’t spoken on the phone
since she left on 24th May. It turned out to be a good thing. Knowing both girls were going to Barcelona
this next weekend that was the first thing I said to Suzy. She replied, that I was wrong, that it was
next month. That’s when the fun began.
Oli’s idea was for them to go in June and Suzy understood July. Thankfully the next day, for an extra 100
pounds, Suzy was able to change the ticket.
It was a lesson for her I’m sure as it was for me too. It’s easy to make a mistake and buy a ticket
for a wrong date.
I woke up on
Tuesday after a dreadful headache which had kept me awake most of the
night. Thankfully it went away after
breakfast. We have been observing the fruit
growing on our greengage tree outside the kitchen. The tree is getting heavier and heavier and it
looked as if it some of the outer branches would break. To remedy that Eladio has tied many of them
up but even so it looks dangerously heavy.
This was the photo I took on Tuesday morning. The fruit won’t be ripe
until the end of July and I suppose that the birds will eat more than half as
usual. I love greengages. When I was
small we had a couple of trees in our garden in Ruskington. In Spanish they are called “claudia reina”
which really means the queen of plums which for me they are. The French call them that too. For the moment we will have to wait a month
or so until we can eat them. Last year
the tree produced more than 30 kilos of fruit most of which we took to
Montrondo to give out to Eladio’s family.
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| Our greengage tree heaving with fruit |
Tuesday was
better than Monday. I only had one
meeting that morning. For the record, I
am not a meeting fan nor a conference call person. I far prefer to contact people via email, phone
call or whatsapp but sometimes meetings cannot be avoided. I arrange as few as possible. Frankly experience has taught me that
probably 75% of meetings and conference calls are a waste of time as most of
the tasks at hand could be done by more efficient means; i.e. phone calls,
email or whatsapp.
On Tuesday
afternoon I fell asleep after lunch watching the midday news with Eladio. Normally I never take a siesta but these days
I seem to be waking up at 6.30 in the morning and am in need of more sleep. That at least was my conclusion when I woke
up two hours later feeling completely disoriented.
Wednesday was
my busiest day of the week. It was also
my dearest friend Sandra’s birthday. I
consider her my soulmate, my surrogate sister and wish I could have been with
her. No doubt her partner Jeffer will
have made sure she had a great day. Happy birthday darling.
I was very happy with the press clippings that day. Some media had leaked the regulator (CNMC) portablity data for May. The good news was that Yoigo had of course gained new customers. On the flip side, all the other mobile network operators had lost customers. Sometimes it feels like being David (Yoigo) against Goliath (Telefónica, Vodafone and Orange) but here is the picture to prove that this particular battle was won by Yoigo. It makes me very proud of our efforts.
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| Portability numbers for May. Yoigo (purple) is the only operator to gain customers. Blue (Telefonica). Red (Vodafone) and Orange lose them. |
I was
travelling to Seville that afternoon with Bea and Cris, the two sisters who own
our events agency, QuintaEsencia, but before I was to catch the 17h train I had
to fit in countless tasks. I had an
early meeting in the office for which I had to get up at 06.30. Then I had an important meeting in Madrid
with our PR agency Ketchum. It dragged
on for too long which meant that my colleague and I were one hour late for our
12.30 meeting in Yoigo. I didn’t leave
the office until 14.45 and hadn’t had any lunch. I had to go home first to pick up my luggage
then drive into Madrid to catch the train.
I was worried about the traffic but was lucky that I made it home in
just under an hour. I had to leave more
or less as soon as I had arrived, managing to shove a couple of spoons of rice
and fish in my mouth before leaving.
Then OMG I realized I was running out of petrol on the way to the Atocha
train station. I really thought I
wouldn’t make it on time but luck was on my side and I did; albeit by the skin
of my teeth.
It was on the
train when I could finally calm down and relax that I read with surprise a
report by TVE that Iker Casillas, the Real Madrid goalkeeper, was to leave the club of his life. He has been under a
question mark for some time now and I suppose this move is one of the results
of having lost the Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League to eternal rivals
Barcelona. For me, and most of Real
Madrid fans, not to mention the Spanish squad, he is a legend. I remember meeting him when I did an event
for Nokia when we launched a FIFA (yeah that organization which is riddled with
corruption and scandal) game for the ghastly games phone we had called the
NGage. Iker Casillas was our star
persona at the event. He was very young
and shy at the time but already the club’s goalie. He went on to become the team captain and a
very respected one at that. I for one am
extremely sorry to see him leave.
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| It's sad to see Iker Casillas go |
Thanks to my
new 4G Alcatel PC modem I caught up with lots of work on the train journey
out. We arrived in Seville where it was
much cooler than we had expected.
Normally at this time of year Andalusia is a boiling pot. We were to be staying at the Parador in Mazagón, a 1.5h drive in the province of Huelva. It is located on a cliff looking over a
stretch of unspoiled beach which is supposedly the longest of its kind in Spain
– more than 30km.
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| An aerial view of the Parador de Mazagón |
Being on top
of a cliff and overlooking the sea, the temperature was much cooler than in
Seville and I regretted not having brought more than a cardigan to cover my
shoulders in the evenings.
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| The buildings of the Parador itself are nothing special it is the grounds and location that make it so special. |
Over dinner at
the Parador Bea, Cris and I discussed our plans for the next two or three
days. We were on what you call a “site
inspection trip” in events jargon.
Really we had come out to inspect the terrain and places for a big three
day event at the beginning of October for our staff and partners. We have decided to take them on a short
pilgrimage to El Rocío (a pilgrimage as famous in Spain as “El Camino” but more
intense and far shorter which brings together more than a million pilgrims on
the 2nd day of Pentecost) and to visit Doñana, the Spanish nature
reserve which is the biggest of its kind in Europe.
The area of
Huelva is famous for strawberry growing.
It has the biggest produce in Europe or even the world. The strawberries are finishing now and
surprisingly for me, the fruit pickers will now be picking the next crop of
fruit; raspberries, bilberries and blackberries. We heard from Paco one of our guides that
most of the fruit pickers are Romanian and Moroccan and in the past Polish or
from the Ukraine and that women from these countries have integrated well into
the society. There are many mixed
marriages and some of these beautiful, blonde young women caused local men to
divorce. Things seem to have settled
down now.
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| A Rumanian or Ukranian strawberry picker in Huelva |
These berries,
together with big black cherries are my favourite fruit but the first three are
not as popular in Spain as they are in other countries. I suspect that until recently most of them
were exported. However these berries are
creeping into the Spanish diet and the fruit growers of Huelva will now be
growing more. Fish is very popular here
too as in any coastal part of Spain. For
dinner on our first night we had this dish which comes from Huelva. They call it “prawn omelets” but they looked
more like fritters to me. Call them what
you may, they are delicious.
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| prawn and asparagus fritters - delicious |
The next
morning my biological clock woke me up at 06.30. Too early for breakfast I made
a cup of decaf in my room – that was all there was – and decided to walk down
to the beach for my morning walk. You
have to think about walking down and up the steps as they are steep and there
are many of them. Made of wood there are
150 up and 150 down of course. The photo illustrating this week’s post is of me
at the top of the steps after walking all the way up. To get an idea, this is a
picture of just half of the steps as seen from the beach below.
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| The rather daunting steps from the beach up to the Parador which I climbed many times during my stay |
I just have to
share a photo of the beach I walked along that morning as I did every morning
until I left today. It’s a marvel to
walk along a beach with no buildings, just cliffs and that seems never ending.
The sea here is the Atlantic, not far from where the Guadalquivir River flows
into it. I had expected it to be very
cold but it wasn’t.
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| The beach in the morning. I had it all to myself |
We had an
early start that morning and left for Doñana Visitor Centre at 08.30 where our
guide Jerónimo was waiting for us with one of the park’s green jeeps. The
Doñana National Park is a natural reserve in Andalusia spanning the provinces
of Huelva and Seville. It spreads some
543km2 of which nearly half are a protected area. You can only visit a small part of this area
which is made up mostly of marshland and sand dunes – Las Marismas where the
Guadalquivir river flows into the Atlantic Sea.
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| By the marshland in Doñana on Thursday |
Apart from
being a stopping point and breeding area for birds migrating from Africa, one
of Doñana’s missions is to protect endangered species such as the Iberian
Imperial Eagle – we saw one! – and the lynx.
There are some 20 to 30 of these wild cats but they are difficult to
see. The lynx is the queen of Doñana,
like the lion is the king of the jungle.
Unfortunately we didn’t see one.
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| By our jeep in Doñana |
The
biodiversity at Doñana is unique in the world or so we heard. The most exciting part for me was the
beginning which starts with the dune area near Matalascañas.
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| A stop in the dunes. Cris and Bea forever on their phones |
This area, as
with the rest of Doñana, cannot be entered without a visitor’s permit and
unless you are on an official visit, no cars or motorbikes can enter. The beach can be walked on by anyone and also
reached by bicycle. Some fishermen live on the beach as their huts belonged to
them before Doñana became a Nature Park.
We were lucky to see them bringing in their catch of the day.
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| fishermen on the beach at Doñana |
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| The catch of the day at Doñana |
We were lucky
on our tour to see wild boar, unusual cows, reindeers, fauns and their
offspring, as well as learn about the flora, the names of birds in English and
Spanish and to hear that English ornithologists got very excited when then see
a red billed seagull for example. People
come from all over the world to see the extraordinary flora and fauna of
Doñana. It really is a magical place.
The visit was
interrupted on the Castilla Beach – now called Doñana beach when we were to
cross the Guadalquivir river to the pretty town of Sanlucar de Barrameda which
is actually in Cádiz. It is famous for
its horse racing on the beach.
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| With our guide Jerónimo on the beach about to cross to Sanlucar de Barrameda. |
We crossed on
our own on a ferry which was just for us. There are some 4 or 5 and it costs 8
euros each way which I think is a robbery for such a short ride – not much more
than a minute or so. I wonder why they
don’t build a bridge.
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| On the boat crossing the River Guadalquivir to Sanlucar de Barrameda |
Once in
Sanlucar, we went on a horse and carriage ride around the town. It turned out to be not as pretty as we
thought and the drive too long. Our driver,
a young teenager, and his mother who I think were gypsies disappointed me
because they did not give us a guided tour, so we spent an hour driving around
a town without knowing what we were seeing on the way. We had lunch at one of the possible locations
for our event, El Bigote, one of the best in town we were told. We took the boat again after lunch where
Jerónimo was waiting for us. The tide was down and he was to drive us along the
sea all the way to Matalascañas, some 30km.
It was a terrific ride. What I
didn’t like was seeing a dead whale, a dead turtle and a wounded alcatraz on
the way. Thankfully Jerónimo warned one of the guards as we exited Doñana and I
hope someone went out to help the bird which had got caught in a fish hook.
Once back at
the hotel I was able to catch up on my work.
It was that evening that I got a phone call from a Spanish journalist,
Antonio. He was going to write an article about Yoigo and wanted my comments. I
could hardly believe what I was hearing when he said he had heard from reliable
sources that our Mother company was in talks with Virgin to sell Yoigo. I told
him I couldn’t comment and immediately alerted both my boss and the group head
of communications. The next day out came
the article and I of course got lots of phone calls from journalists hoping we
would confirm or deny the news. I’m a bit fed up with living with these sorts
of rumours which started practically from the day the company started business
in Spain, now nearly 9 years ago.
On Friday it
was time to visit El Rocío, a beautiful white village located in the middle of
Doñana. As I was being introduced to Manuel, Miguel and Fátima, our guides, I
could hardly appreciate the beauty of the place as I was answering calls from
the press about the “possible sale of Yoigo to Virgin”. It was most frustrating. Still I managed to
get a photo of the Church of the Virgin of the Rocío, an object of devotion by
all “rocieros” and of course the pilgrimage itself.
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| The beautiful church in the village of El Rocío |
Soon we were
in another jeep, this time to explore the possible route we would use for our
own “Rocío” pilgrimage in October. The
pilgrimage is part devotion, part good time.
The people travel on foot, on horseback, on horse driven tractors and
carriages. Every now and again they stop
for a rest, to eat, drink and dance – called “rengue” in this part of Spain.
Some may pray but many go along for the fun and dance. We were in for a surprise when the jeep
stopped and we saw a horse and carriage.
It was for us and we were delighted.
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| Our horse and carriage on the Rocío path |
We were to
travel on it for a while and then stop for a “rengue”. Indeed we did stop and
it was all prepared for us; a guitar player and two women dancing
flamenco. There was also a table with
the local wine “manzanilla” accompanied by ham and chorizo. Wow it was great
and we shall do just the same for our party of people in October.
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| The "rengue" that awaited us after our horse and carriage drive |
Our last “rengue”
was at a typical Andalusian “finca” or estate.
Here I was in my element stroking all the dogs and seeing horses and
bulls. The thatched roof house in the
centre was beautiful. But most beautiful
of all was meeting this adorable Labrador puppy.
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| I fell in love with this little chap on an estate near El Rocío |
I fell in love
with it immediately. When I posted the
photo on Facebook I got many comments from people thinking it was a new member
of our family. It wasn’t of course as it
has an owner, the owner of the “finca”.
Once back in
the village “la aldea de El Rocío”, we inspected houses for accommodation. We
had to see quite a few as we will be some 250 people. The houses belong to the “hermandades” or
brotherhoods of the different towns that do the real Rocío each year. They are all similar, with shared rooms and
it’s going to be a challenge to organize the accommodation.
Friday
afternoon was mine for the taking. I had
decided to stay until today. So I was
able to relax a bit and enjoy the hotel and beach. It was not very warm but even so I went on a
long walk on the beach.
It was
yesterday afternoon that I heard that the King of Spain had stripped his sister Cristina of her Duchess of Palma title.
It was quite an astonishing move to take and was interpreted by most as
a punishment for her and her husband the ex-Duke of Palma, Iñaki Urdangarín for
their involvement in corruption and money laundering activities for which they
are both on trial. Cristina who turns 50
this weekend and who now lives in Geneva, shunned by society, will still be a
Princess or Infanta as they are called here but she no longer forms part of the
official Royal Family. Meanwhile, her Mother, the Queen Mother Doña Sofia, has
gone to visit her in Geneva to celebrate her birthday. The King’s sister must be feeling
embarrassed, humiliated and above all repentant of her involvement in the
events that lead to this most astonishing move by her own brother. There is not
much loss of love between myself and the Spanish Royal family nor with any
Royal Family really. I believe the institution is archaic for our times.
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| The King with his now estranged sister Cristina |
Coincidentally
that very same afternoon, there was an announcement from the Madrid Town Hall
where we learned that Manuela Carmena, the political icon of anti- corruption, had
reached an agreement with the PSOE socialist party to become the next mayor of Madrid. The 71 year old new mayor who is
backed by Podemos, was a labour rights activist during Franco’s times and is a
leftwing former judge. It was a historic
day for politics in Madrid as this agreement put an end to 24 years of conservative
rule (PP) in the capital. Her first moves are to make sure poor families get
enough food to live, reduce house evictions, create employment for the youth
and clean up the city. I am interested
to see how she carries out her manifesto and wish her lots of luck.
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| The new mayor of Madrid Manuela Carmena, set to change many things |
As I was
having dinner that night my “girlies”, Olivia and Suzy were on their way to
Barcelona. They were going to stay with
Laura, their great friend from their girl guide days (scouts here – no division
between the sexes). They were keen to
spend time with her before she gives birth to her firstborn baby next
month. The next day, Saturday morning, I
got a lovely photo of the girls together in Barcelona. They had similar weather
to me in Huelva – 20c, not much more – which is unusual for this time of year
in Spain. There have been terrific
storms all week and even flooding in Madrid. I suppose the fault lies with
global warming. Who knows?
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| The girls with Laura in Barcelona this weekend. |
I got more
photos during the day and this is probably my favourite. Laura sent it to me and it is of “my little
girlies” walking together along the streets of Barcelona hand in hand with their backs to the camera. Isn’t it sweet? I wish I could be with them.
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| My little girls walking together hand in hand this weekend in Barcelona |
Saturday
morning was my last in Huelva. As usual I got up early and went for a walk on
the wonderful and nearly deserted beach.
Here is the photo to prove it.
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| On my early morning walk on the beach yesterday |
I wasn’t
leaving until midday. It was during
breakfast that a small PR crisis erupted.
I was sent a link to an article on a news site where Yoigo was accused
of a breach in security with its voicemail service. According to the article the breach comes
from using the factory set pin code and not changing it. That was rather a stupid explanation as the
same happens with all sorts of services and it is up to the user to change the
password. The worst part of the article
was a totally false explanation that because of this breach, hackers could
access people’s whatsapp. I was furious
to see our name damaged in this article.
Only our company was mentioned when all operators in Spain use the same
practice. It took me all morning to sort
the whole thing out, getting the correct information from our head of customer
care, making a statement, etc. Finally
the owners of the portal who I know very well, edited the article to make it more
general, removed our name from it and thankfully did the same with the story
about hacking whatsapp.
Instead of
dealing with this PR crisis, I would have loved to enjoy my last morning at the
Parador by the sea which had been my objective for staying an extra night but
that was not to be.
Now it is
Sunday and I am writing from home. There
is no place like home and it was great to come back last night. Pippa was the
first to greet me. She had missed me
whilst I was away as had Norah. How do I
know? Well, they wouldn’t eat. Thankfully this morning, things are back to
normal and both of them ate their breakfast whilst I enjoyed mine in the
kitchen; orange juice, kiwi, 2 crumpets and a cup of coffee. There is nothing like breakfast at home.
And so my
friends, I have reached the end of the story of my week which as you can see
has been very busy but also quite exciting.
Next week will be busy too and I look forward to the visit of Peter who heads up
group communications with our mother company, the Swedish Finnish operator
TeliaSonera. He has visited all the
group’s operations and Yoigo is the last on his route. I hope we will not be the least and that he
gets a good impression from his visit.
Cheers all
till next week
All the best
Masha
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