Sunday 25th October 2015
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| Jumping for the camera - autumn colours are amazing |
Hi again from Montrondo another Sunday in October.
Olivia and Miguel have just left and it’s time to write this week’s post.
Last Sunday at home it rained cats and dogs and even
our garage got flooded. It was a day to
stay inside which I spent mostly reading. Oli and Miguel meanwhile made a
carrot cake and we had a great dinner together.
Monday was my fasting day. In the morning Eladio’s family were at a
Notary in León where they were to be selling a plot of land they own in
Montrondo, called “El Estremadorio”.
Eladio did all the transactions with the family who bought it. They are neighbours of the plot so had an
obvious interest in its acquisition. The
family has lots of plots of land all around the village but this one was the
only one in the village itself with permission to build. I’m sure the rest are not worth a penny but
it’s nice to have them.
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| El Extremadorio, the plot of land we solde this week |
In the afternoon I was at the office for an interview
with my boss by a new online “paper” called Sabemos. I think it went well. It did actually as it was published the next
day and I was happy with the content. It
was at the end of the interview that the journalists and my boss mentioned an
event they were going to that night hosted by Ericsson at the Madrid Stock
Exchange (La Bolsa de Madrid). It was
6.45 when they said it and the event, the presentation of a book about the history
of the company in Spain and a formal sit down dinner, was starting at 8.30
p.m. I was invited too but for some
reason thought it was the following Monday.
That’s when the rush started as I had to go home in the traffic, put on
a party dress and set off for Madrid again.
I would have gone straight there if only I wasn’t wearing jeans. In any case I made it right on time but it
was a close shave. It was so nice to see
so many familiar faces from the sector, some I hadn’t seen for more than 20
years.
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| The Madrid stock exchange lit up inside at night. It's amazing. |
The dinner went on for ages as there were huge lapses
in between the courses, so I didn’t get away until past midnight. It was the first time I had ever been to the
Madrid Stock Exchange, an impressive building next to the Ritz Hotel and near
the Prado. However, I was disappointed
to hear that the transactions no longer take place there. Naively I found out that these days they take
place on internet and in no physical location.
Olivia later asked me if I had looked at the parquet floor and seen the
cigarette burns from the past. It was
too dark to see of course but I found it an interesting fact and could imagine
the brokers chain smoking whilst frantically trading on their feet. It’s funny how times have changed.
Also at the dinner was a friend and neighbour, Elena,
who had been the previous communications director at Ericsson. We drove home together and got lost in the
process. Don’t ask me why. All I know is that I didn’t get into bed
until 1.30 in the morning.
The next day I had to be up at the crack of dawn to
be well on time for the Yoigo press conference at FanFan, a new bar on the
Paseo de la Castellana. We were
presenting the local third quarterly results and they were good. Our sales had increased as had our ebitda but
they needed some explaining.
Unfortunately the night before Bloomberg had published an article saying
that our mother company was possibly going to sell us to a small mobile virtual
operator. Thus the focus wouldn’t just
be on the results which complicated my job a little. The event was beautifully prepared as usual by
my events company QuintaEsencia and I was delighted with how everything looked
when I got there half an hour before the start. I was also happy that we got a
full house with representatives from most of the major daily and financial newspapers
as well as both news agencies, Efe and Europa Press.
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| How the press conference looked just before it started |
It was Ana, the ex-editor of telecoms of Efe, who
commented later on this photo of me by the Yoigo photo call. “La rueda de prensa seria pero, como siempre, con el toque
tierno de Masha. Esa es tu imagen” which means “the press conference was
serious, but as always had Masha’s tender hearted touch. That is your image”.
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| Me posing by the photo call at the press conference |
It was her comment that inspired me to
include the words “a special press conference” in this week’s headlines. Thanks
Ana. Thankfully too we got some very
good media coverage which is what it was all about. But wow was I tired when I
got home. I always am after an important event. You can see the rest of the
photos
here.
If our press conference was at 10 in the
morning, Netflix Spain’s was at 9 in the morning, so some of the journalists
went to both. The American TV streaming
service was launching in Spain that day and I didn’t hesitate to sign up later
that day. The first month is free so I
signed up for the premium service. I was
happy to see it work on the TV in our room.
The only thing I’m not happy with is the lack of subtitles in
English. Hopefully they will come
later. What is not good is that it won’t
work with our Ikea Uppleva smart TV in Montrondo as I found out later in the
week the hard way. In fact the smart TV
function of this beautiful Swedish TV is pathetic as you cannot get any of the
major Spanish TV apps such as Atresmedia or RTVE. I am now very much regretting
not having bought a mainstream brand and not the IKEA one. At the time we
bought it for convenience sake as it would be brought and installed here along with
lots of other furniture.
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| Netflix up and working last Tuesday evening |
I heard on Wednesday morning that the
night before “my programme” as I call the Yoigo episode of Undercover Boss, was
broadcast again on La Sexta. It was late
at night but even so had an audience of more than 1.1m people. Once again my mail, FB, twitter etc were
flooded with posts and messages which took me a while to answer and answer them
all I did. Thankfully this time people
on twitter were much kinder and I got some lovely feedback.
On Wednesday morning Eladio and I set
off to Montrondo. Now that I have internet in the new house I can work from
there. I have even set up a new office.
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| My new office in Montrondo |
As usual we stopped at Rueda for a glass
of wine and a plate of ham. Here is the
photo to prove it.
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| The pit stop at Rueda |
The day would have been perfect if our
minds hadn’t been on Suzy. At midday on
Wednesday she was admitted to Guys and St. Thomas hospital in London for an operation
with general anesthetic to remove a polyp on her vocal chords. She was told in England that she would be
able to speak afterwards although to go easy on her voice and in Spain doctors
had told her that she should not speak for at least a week. Who was she to believe? Thankfully it went well. She took 3 days off
work and told us that her voice kept coming and going which worries me a
bit. I was sad not to be with her for
the operation.
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| Suzy after her operation on Wednesday |
Anyway we got to Montrondo at about 2.30
and started unloading the car with all the stuff we had brought for the
house. We didn’t sit down to lunch until
4; due to a small accident in the boiler room / pantry. I went to get Pippa’s food from one of the
shelves when it came crashing down on me and a bottle of wine broke along with
a bag of lentils. You should have seen the mess. In the afternoon whilst Eladio installed more
and more lamps, I took Pippa for a walk to Murias as I needed some
exercise. The village and surroundings
were beautiful thanks to the wonderful autumn colours.
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| Autumn colours in Montrondo |
It was on the day of our arrival that we heard that Eva, my mother-in-law’s
first cousin had just died after being diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus just one month before. Eva was a beautiful, popular and charismatic
lady who I always thought was very special.
I saw her for the last time in July and little did I know that
then. I took this lovely photo of her
with my mother-in-law and I’m so glad I did as I now have a photo to remember
her. As tradition dictates in Spain, her funeral would be the next day. I was
glad that we would be there for her.
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| Eva with my mother-in-law in July |
On
Thursday I was up at 6.30; don’t ask me why.
Thus my day was long and productive.
When the sun rose at about 8.30 we were in for a glorious autumn day
with temperatures over 20c. I was glad
that Eva’s funeral in the village where she was born would be on a lovely sunny
day.
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| It was a beautiful sunny day for Eva's funeral. |
I had plenty of time that
morning to catch up on work in my new office. Meanwhile Eladio hung up the
pictures we had brought around the house. We had bought white frames for some photographs
that I had taken over the years of Montrondo and its surroundings and that I
had had enlarged and printed the week before.
I couldn’t think of anything more fitting to put on the walls. I want to
keep everything simple and with as little clutter as possible and we are happy
with the result.
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| We have decorated the house with pictures of Montrondo on the walls |
Whilst lunch (cocido) was
bubbling on my new induction hob, off I went to have coffee with my neighbour
Salo.
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| Cocido madrilñeo for lunch on Wednesday |
As she lives here permanently she
was the perfect person to get lots of local information I needed if we are to
come as often as we do. From her I found out when the food and bread vans come,
what time the bars open in Murias and Senra, which is the best restaurant in
the area and even what time mass is at the church. She would know as she is the
holder of its key. It was from Salo that I heard the funeral for Eva would be
at 5 that afternoon.
Just after lunch, Pili, Eladio’s
sister arrived. She had come with Primo,
Adela’s husband for Eva’s funeral. Adela
couldn’t make it as she was ill and Eladio’s mother is a little too frail to
travel to Montrondo and back in one day; although I know she wanted to be here
as she was very close to her cousin.
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| Pili and Eladio on Wednesday on our terrace |
We walked to the church
together where there was quite a gathering.
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| People gathering at the church on Wednesday for Eva's funeral |
The funeral cortege arrived
from Gijon (Asturias) where Eva lived with her daughter Lola. Her three
daughters were distraught as were her grandchildren. I hugged them as we all
did and I have to admit I shed quite a few tears. Afterwards we all followed the funeral
procession into the pretty little graveyard where Eva is now lying. R.I.P. Eva, Montrondo will miss you.
When Pili and Primo had left,
once again I took Pippa on the walk to Murias.
We went past the donkey and pony that she always barks at. I just wish she wouldn’t as they are such
lovely gentle creatures.
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| Pippa barking at the pony and donkey |
Just as I got back to the
village, the food van was serving its last customer, my neighbour “Carmina”. I needed a few things so called Eladio to
bring some money and whilst he was got him to take a photo of me with the owner
“”Gelo” (Angel) who told me he had seen me on the programme Undercover
Boss. It’s becoming quite embarrassing
as nearly everyone I meet says the same.
Anyway, here is the photo of me “shopping” in Montrondo which I find
quite quaint.
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| Shopping in Montrondo from Gelo's food van |
It was after dinner of my
homemade ham croquettes served with fresh artichokes that we heard on the evening
news of the ghastly
sword attack at a school in a town called Trollhattan near
Gothenburg in Sweden of all places. You just don’t associate news like this
with Sweden. But it happened and the
country went into shock as I did when I heard the story. A Nazi sympathizer dressed in a mask killed a
pupil and a teacher at a school in Trollhattan that day, as well as seriously
injuring others. 21 year old Anton
Lundin-Petterson chose his victims depending on their skin colour, attacking
only the dark skinned ones. Later he
died after being shot down by the police.
My heart goes out to all involved.
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| The masked racist sword killer in Sweden |
Meanwhile in Madrid on Thursday evening,
Olivia and Miguel were hosting a dinner with some members of the girls’ friends
known as “the herd” (la manada) as a sendoff dinner for Anita. Ana and Olivia went to University
together. Ana would be leaving Spain for
London this week where she would be joining her boyfriend who is currently
doing a master’s degree there. She will
be living in Lewisham, quite near where Suzy lives.
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| Ana's goodbye dinner |
On Friday Pippa and I got up a bit
later; at 06.50 – that’s what you get when you go to bed at 10pm. It was
another lovely sunny day.
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| It was a lovely sunny day again on Friday |
We so enjoy breakfast in our new house
as we do all our meals. Here is a photo
of the breakfast table on Friday morning.
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| Breakfast in Montrondo |
Eladio was busy that morning with the
builders. They had finished the house
but there were quite a few minor finishing touches to be done and which we had
asked the builders to do weeks ago. On Thursday they were asking for their
final installment and we told them that until they did the finishing touches,
there would be no payment. So guess what? Yeah, you are right, they were all
done that morning hahaha.
Eladio had lots of his own finishing touches to do;
not lest chop wood for the fireplace. This
is what it looked like that afternoon. I
was hoping we would have lit the fire but I can’t get him to do so. He says the
house is too warm; well of course it is thanks to the central heating, but I do
want to see the fireplace working just for the cozy effect it would
produce. One day, ….
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| The unlit fireplace |
It was at about 6.15 in the evening when I was coming
back from my walk with Pippa that Olivia rang me. She and Miguel had decided to surprise us and
come and spend the weekend with us and of course see the house which they had
only seen when the rebuilding started.
It was wonderful news and I rushed home to tell Eladio and to get
everything ready to welcome them. I made
a special dinner and laid the table with much love. This is what it looked like.
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| The dinner table laid for Oli and Miguel's arrival |
They arrived at about 10 pm and we welcomed them with
open arms. They loved the house at first
sight as they did the ensuite room they slept in. It was super to have them. Happiness would
have been complete had Suzy been with us too.
We drank to her health at dinner.
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| Dinner on Friday night with Olivia and Miguel |
On Saturday we made a day of it, packing in as much as
possible. It started with a family breakfast. Then Oli, Miguel and I set off
with Pippa for a walk to Murias but then we went further and to Senra as well –
all in all just under 8km. Eladio stayed behind clearing the surroundings of
the house and chopping more wood. It was
a glorious day.
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| Walking with Olivia |
Miguel who is a TV cameraman, brought along his good
camera and took some super pictures. I have to admit, most of them were of
Olivia as is natural. I particularly like this one of her.
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| Beautiful Oli in Montrondo |
On our way we bumped into Manolita, one of the 11
permanent inhabitants in Montrondo and whom we know very well. So of course we
had to have a photo with her too.
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| Oli and I with Manolita |
I had taken bread with me to feed the horse, the pony
and the donkey and Olivia would be joining me in this wonderful activity. Miguel took this photo of me offering some
bread to the grey horse.
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| Feeding the grey horse |
Then it was Olivia’s turn to feed the horse and the
pony. The donkey was too shy or too slow to come or maybe it was because of
Pippa’s barking.
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| Oli feeding the donkey and the pony |
Oli was so happy she needed to jump for joy or rather
she likes to jump for the camera and is very good at it. Here she is jumping in the air with me and
Pippa looking on just before we approached Murias.
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| Oli jumping for joy whilst Pippa and I look on |
There we had hoped for a cup of coffee at the Palloza
bar but it still wasn’t open. We also
wanted to buy bread as we would have missed the bread van in Montrondo whilst
we were on our walk. Here we are at the
traditional and very old fashioned bakery which makes the most delicious
bread. I spied a big pie and thus
ordered one for us to pick up
tomorrow.
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| Buying bread at the old fashioned bakery in Murias |
We had a coffee at the bar in Senra, Cumbres de Omaña,
whose owner is not well known for his good manners. Once back in Montrondo we popped in to see
Adela and Primo who had arrived for the weekend. Just before going home for
lunch, we went to Ulpiano’s house to buy some eggs. We spent quite some time there admiring his
hens and taking a peak at his two huge pigs whilst chatting to him and his
friendly wife Serafina. We bought a
dozen eggs which were put in the box by Serafina from where they had just been
laid. You couldn’t get fresher or better
eggs.
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| Buying eggs from Ulpiano and Serafina |
We shall be going back tomorrow to buy a sack of
potatoes from him too.
Later Adela and Primo came for coffee. It had rained in the morning a bit but the
sun was now out and Oli, Miguel, Eladio and I were keen to walk up into the
mountains. Primo was to be our “Sherpa”
and geography teacher for the 2.5 hour walk up the mountains and back and off
the track where he showed us lots of hidden gems.
I was careful as I walked up the steep path as it was
here that I had broken my leg in the snow in January on what is known here as “la
cuesta de la bidulina”.
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| Walking up the hill where I broke my leg - with Eladio and Primo |
The autumn colours were amazing. The birch trees which only grow from 1.500
high were spectacular as was the “Abedular” the birch tree forest, one of the
biggest of its kind in Spain.
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| El Abedular - the birch tree forest |
Miguel brought his camera and took some spectacular
photos again but I had to get one of the two of them and here it is. Eladio is
in the background taking photos too as the scenery was to die for.
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| Oli and Miguel on the walk in the mountains on Saturday |
Primo wanted to show Miguel the part of the river
where people come to do rafting and canyoning but the path looked too steep and
treacherous for me.
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| Eladio, Primo and Miguel coming up the treacherous path from the river bed |
The end of our walk up into the mountains was just
past the Abedular where you can first spy the Tambarón mountain, the highest
peak in the area; some 2.100 metres. Unfortunately the “peak” which is actually
flat was mostly covered by clouds.
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| You can just spy the highest peak in the mountains, El Tambarón from behind the clouds |
After our 3 hour walk into the mountains, we were
looking forward to making fried eggs and chips with Ulpiano and Serafina’s
fresh eggs and boy were they good. By
the end of the day everyone was tired, except for me. I seem to have boundless energy and don’t
need many hours of sleep. Oli and Pippa
were especially tired.
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| Oli and Pippa tired after a long day of walking |
Last night the clocks went back which meant we gained
an hour. I tried to sleep late but was
wide awake at 7 this morning which of course would have been 6 am the day
before. It was Oli and Miguel’s last day
and we wanted to make the most of it.
Before going on our last walk to Murias and Senra, Oli
and I made lunch. Together we made chicken korma curry and Oli learned how to
make it. We both enjoyed using our new
kitchen.
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| Oli cooking chicken korma in our new kitchen on Sunday morning |
Eladio spent the time reading the news on his tablet
and Pippa, as you can see in the photo below, seemed to be interested in what
he was reading haha.
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| Eladio reading the news on his tablet with Pippa on Sunday morning |
We all enjoyed the autumn colours again and stopped at
appropriate places for photos like La Peña de Dios (God’s rock) which is where
Montrondo ends and Murias begins. I love this photo Miguel took of me with
Eladio and Pippa.
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| Walking yesterday with Eladio. Pippa always has to be in the picture haha |
It was nice to be walking with Olivia too and to spend
quality time with her like we did this weekend.
Here I think in the peace and beauty of Montrondo she recharged her
batteries to return to her demanding TV job in Madrid.
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| Walking yesterday with Eladio and Olivia |
Just as we were approaching Murias we were stunned by
the yellow leaved poplar trees and the path that leads eventually to Fasgar. It’s
beautiful isn’t it?
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| The yellow tree path |
Here is where we did the funny jumping photo which
illustrates this week’s blog. If you look closely at my face it’s awful but the
picture is so much fun. It’s “fun-tastic” to quote my German friend Veronica.
We came back exhausted from the walk and very
hungry. The curry was delicious and we
polished it all off. Not much later, at
16h, Miguel and Olivia left for Madrid leaving us alone but happy our new
little house. We set about washing the sheets and towels and Eladio cleared
more building leftovers from around the house whilst I started on my blog.
As I was writing, I whatsapped Suzy to ask for
permission to reproduce the photo of her after the op and which she kindly gave
me. Funnily enough she was with Chati
and Anita who, as I wrote above, went to live in London this week. Suzy sent me
this photo which I am happy to post here.
I wish Anita lots of luck in her new adventure in the UK. If any of you
who are reading this and live in London are interested, Anita makes the most
amazing cakes so if you have any events coming up, let me know and I’ll put you
in touch.
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| Anita (middle) with Suzy my daughter and their friend Chati (right in grey) in London yesterday |
And here my friends I have come to the end of this
week’s tales. Tomorrow I shall be
working most of the day and then in the afternoon we shall be setting off for
Madrid again. I have a busy schedule from Tuesday and we won’t be back here
until the 6
th of November. We
will be joined by our friends Ana and Javier and look forward to being as good
hosts as them when we have been to stay with them at their country house in
Peñacaballera in Salamanca. But thereby
lies a new story for a later blog post.
Meanwhile, I wish you all a great week ahead,
Cheers till next time
Masha.
PS You can see the full collection of photos of our stay in Montrondo here.
