Sunday 17th
January 2016
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| "Boarding" the Titanic on Saturday with Eladio, Miguel and Oli. What a great exhibition |
Hi again,
It’s a cold,
crisp and sunny day in January, my Father’s favourite month of the year in
Spain. It’s not mine but I love the days
when it’s sunny. There has been snow in
many parts of Spain this weekend. Last
Sunday it rained here whilst it snowed in Montrondo. We haven’t been back since we returned on 4th
January but rest assured we shall be going soon to enjoy the snow. Meanwhile I make do with the photos posted by
Javi, the village’s youngest inhabitant, who yesterday went up the Tambarón
mountain and skied his way down. The
pictures were to die for. Here is the photo of the village covered in snow he
posted last Sunday.
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| Snow in Montrondo - can't wait to go |
This week I
returned to my Fast diet (5:2) where I fast on Mondays and Thursdays and eat
normally on the other days. I also went
back to doing 2 hour long walks a day and it is a battle to find the time as I
have been very busy. In the past 2 years
or so I have gradually put more weight on and now is the time to try and shed
it. The trick is not to eat too much on
the 5 non fasting days as time has told me. So wish me luck.
On Monday
whilst eating my rather unpalatable oat bran for breakfast, I read that David
Bowie had died aged 69 after a battle with cancer. He is hard to describe, a controversial
musical figure, born David Robert Jones in Brixton South London; a cockney boy
who was good at music and discovered his talent playing a recorder at school. Everyone knows who he is, except for my
Father. He asked the next day: “Who is
David Bowie?” and commented that The Daily Telegraph had dedicated 8 whole
pages to his life and death!” I just had
to say he was a famous “pop singer”, a term which my Father would understand
and a term and genre he always hated.
When I was a child and the Beatles and Rolling Stones emerged he was
against them and did his best to stop us listening to their music. I was brought up hearing they were anathema
and in a way that is sort of ingrained in me.
Recently Spotify have made available the song tracks from The Beatles
and I have listened to their hits on my walks this week but always deep down
feeling a little guilty as if it was wrong to like their songs. Well I do I suppose, but mostly the more
lyrical ones like Eleanor Rigby, Yesterday, Let it Be, The Long and Winding
Road and Strawberry Fields. As I
listened to these songs this week I reflected a little on my youth and thought
about my dead brother George who was a great piano player and loved and played
the pop songs of the times to my Father’s chagrin as he would have preferred
him to play classical music. I’m not sure because of this heritage whether I am
a Beatle fan but I am certainly not a David Bowie fan; although of course I was
sorry to hear he had died.
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| RIP David Bowie |
At breakfast
on Monday I just read the headlines about Bowie’s death, finding another piece of news far more interesting because it was about animals, my passion. The story was unique and could have come from
The Bible or the Aesop fable. In a
safari park in Shkotovo near Vladivostok in Siberia in Russia, there is a
Siberian tiger called Amur. It is fed
live animals once a week, mostly goats but a few months ago something unique
happened. Timur the goat was introduced
into Amur’s den and instead of eating it, they became friends. If you don’t believe
it just look at the photo of the two of them together or watch a video of them
playing.
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| The tiger and the goat living in peace |
They have been
friends for many months now and who knows if Amur will end up eating his friend
Timur or whether they will remain so.
Their story piqued my interest and reminded me of the verse in the Bible
about the wolf and the lamb. I looked it
up and found out it comes from Isiah 11.6 and this is the transcription: The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the
leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the
fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. Their story of
peace is something we should reflect on in these violent times of terrorist
attacks as I would realise later in the week.
On Monday too Spanish
Princess Cristina went on trial for embezzlement with her husband Iñaki
Urdangarin in one of the most high profile court cases in Spain ever, because
it affects the Royal Family. We know she
won’t be sentenced precisely because she is the sister of the King but just
that she is on trial shows that some things have changed in Spain and in the
world. I’m a bit naughty and would
secretly like to see her in prison as I suspect many Spaniards would. That’s
because there is a little bit of the anti-establishment in me; although I was brought
up by Conservative parents.
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| The Spanish Princess Cristina and her husband entering court on Monday |
On Tuesday I
went into the office to do various errands and see people for projects I am
working on. It was whilst I was there
that Isis chose to attack tourists at the Sultanahmet square in Istanbul one of
the major landmarks of the city. Once again they used the suicide bomber method
which makes me cringe. 10 German
tourists were killed in this attack; an attack that will do damage also to
Turkey’s all-important tourist industry.
I mean who hasn’t been to the Sultanahmet Square if they’ve been to
Turkey and walked from there to the Blue Mosque or the Hagia Sofia Mosque? We stayed at a hotel opposite many years ago
and our hearts go out to the ancient city which has so much to offer. I was very sorry to hear the news.
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| Sultanahamet Square in Istanbul |
On a lighter
note that day an interview was published with me on my thoughts on
communication in this day and age. A
journalist called Mar C. who I have known for many years and who works
freelance interviewed me some months ago.
I had completely forgotten about the interview. It’s very classic me, giving all my secrets
away and saying what I think in plain language.
If you are interested you can read it in Spanish here.
On Wednesday
we woke up to a whatsapp message from Suzy greeting us from Tenerife in the
Canary Islands. She has been there on holiday all of this week with her friends
Chati and two Monica’s. We haven’t
spoken to her but have seen some photos of her looking to be having a great
time.
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| Suzy having a grand time with her friends in Tenerife |
It must be her
3rd or 4th visit there.
The nly island I have ever been to is Gran Canaria and that was some years
ago just before Christmas time. I was not very impressed. Yes the weather was good
but there were too many tourists but it was all very dry and there was not much
to see. I don’t know why but the Canary
Islands have never been high on my list of places to travel to.
That morning I
was up early as I had to be at Yoigo for a management team breakfast starting
at 9.45. It took me nearly 1.5 hours and
as I drove in the dense traffic I listened to the radio. That morning the only news in Spain was the
opening of Parliament and the vote for the parliamentary speaker. In Spain this title is much more highfalutin:
“President of Congress” (the lower house). It is the 3rd highest
authority in the land and the news was that the post for the first time in
history would go to a member of a party which had not won the elections; in
this case the PSOE. It was seen as a
possible first step in a coalition with the winning party PP who do not have
enough seats for an overall majority, together with the votes of the new
centre party Ciudadanos. The post went to Patxi López, a famous PSOE
MP from the Basque Country. His rival was Carolina Bescansa from the
anti-establishment party Podemos. She didn’t
win but stole the show by taking her 6 month old baby Diego in a pram to the
opening session. She was making a
statement about the work life balance but has received much criticism as she
has no need to take her baby to work if there is a crèche at the Spanish
Congress.
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| Carolina Bescansa of the anti establishment party Podemos on the first day of Parliament with her 6 month old baby Diego who she breast fed in public. |
Her story was
told the world over with voices for and against. To make a further statement she even breast
fed her baby in public. Was that really
necessary? Isn’t breast feeding something
very personal and private? How can you possibly concentrate on voting in Parliament
whilst you are breast-feeding I wonder?
It doesn’t seem fair to the baby. My own opinion is that she used her
baby for political reasons; something I don’t think is right. I would far prefer her to fight for longer
parental leave for both men and women and that the solution to the work life
balance is certainly not taking your baby to work. How can you pay full attention to your work
when your baby needs your full attention too? Enough said.
Anyway, back
to my trip to Yoigo. Here I joined my
team members for a breakfast hosted by our one Swedish member Urban. He had brought
along churros and also homemade cloudberry jam.
He told us cloudberries are the gold of the forests in Sweden and in
Finland of course too. Cloudberries are like a yellow raspberry or blackberry
but taste tart. These delicate wild berries grow in the northern hemisphere in
high latitudes and can withstand up to -40c but also need the sun. That’s
probably why they are not mass produced. I’m not very keen on them but my
Father loves them. Urban very kindly
gave me the remains of the jar to take home for my Father who I hope is now enjoying
it on his toast each morning.
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| Cloud berries |
If on Tuesday
ISIS attacked in Turkey, on Thursday it attacked in Jakarta at a busy shopping
centre. At least 8 people died; the 4
attackers, 3 Indonesians and 1 Canadian. Are we getting immune to this kind of
terrorism which can happen at any moment in any place in the world?
Friday was a
busy day. I had a meeting in Madrid at
11 with my events agency to scour locations to find a venue for a press
breakfast we will be holding at the end of the month to present the financial
results for 2015. Again I was up early
but this time even before the crack of dawn at 6.22. I decided to go for my first walk of the day
and left in the cold and dark at 7.30.
The sun only rose on my return. I
got home, had a shower, did my executive look transformation and set off for
Madrid. My first place of call was a café restaurant called El Perro y la Galleta. It is unique in that it allows
people to take their dogs; something practically unheard of in Madrid. That I suppose is why the name dog (perro in
Spanish) is part of its name.
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| Loved this bar |
I arrived
early and went into the sunny bar only to be greeted by two people I hadn’t
seen for many years, Alex and his wife. They are a German couple we met at
Amanda and Andy’s wedding many years ago.
They have lived in Spain for 10 years and we have seen them on and
off. I must say that apart from being
lovely people their professions are very high profile too. Diana is a brain surgeon and Alex is or was
until recently the CEO of a branch of Bertelsmann in Spain. It was lovely to see them again and I wish I
had taken a picture.
Soon Gloria
and Julia from my events agency, QuintaEsencia, arrived. I loved the place and sort of knew from the
beginning it would be the venue we would choose. But before taking the decision
we visited another 4 or 5 places. We walked
everywhere. It was sunny of course but
wow was it cold when the wind blew.
Thankfully I was wearing my Swedish fur scarf which can be turned into a
hat. We finished early so I suggested we
went to have a drink at nearby Platea, a gastro centre I had heard of but had
never visited.
It was
superb. We entered via the fruit and veg
shop entrance where I just had to stop to buy some expensive black cherries
from Chile and miniature bananas for Oli.
Here I am in my Swedish fur headscarf paying for the fruit.
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| Buying fruit at Platea on Friday |
The shopkeeper
commented that this green grocer (are they still called that in the UK?) was
the most photographed in Spain. I wasn’t
surprised as the display was as good or better than any I have ever seen
including Fortnum and Mason or Harrods.
The variety and origin of the produce was amazing.
Platea was
once a cinema but has been turned into a huge gastro centre, unique in its kind.
There are shops or stands selling the most high quality food which you can buy
to eat there or take away. The idea is
to buy food from various shops, such as the Basque tapas one (pinxos in Basque)
and sit down anywhere you want and be served a drink. This is just what Gloria, Julia, Bea – who joined
us later – and I did. It was a marvelous
experience and I highly recommend anyone coming to visit Madrid who is reading
this, to go along and visit. For someone
like me who loves top quality food and drink, Platea was a real gastronomic
discovery.
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| With Bea, Gloria and Julia at Platea on Friday |
That night
Eladio and I had dinner at La Vaca Argentina, no gastronomic discovery as we go
there very often. We usually love the food there but on Friday night we were
disappointed. I don’t know what went
wrong or why but the food was just not on the same level as usual. The meat was tough, the order was wrong and
part of it was served very late. Maybe
they have a new chef. I’ll have to find
out.
We went home to
watch the end of Prison Break and I was disappointed with that as well. The ending was not what I expected but no
spoilers; just that I did not like the end.
It made me cry but not in a nice way.
Saturday was
the best day of the week by far and the best Saturday in a long time. We did something totally different and it was
thanks to Olivia. This week she did a TV
report on the Titanic The Exhibition at the Centro Cultural de la Villa, Fernan
Gómez (Plaza de Colón). She came home
enthralled telling us just how good it was.
Well I have always been fascinated with the story of the sinking of that
amazing ship. I was brought up on it,
even though it happened in 1912 and I was born in 1957 but of course there were
many survivors still telling their stories until the last one, possibly Eva
Hart (1905-1996) who was 7 when it sank and whose story you can watch here. As there were too few lifeboats for all those
on board and priority was given to women and children in the first and second
classes only she and her mother survived.
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| Eva Hart one of the last Titanic survivors with her parents the year they sailed. Only Eva and her Mother survived |
My
grandparents of course were alive and young when it happened and it has
featured in countless books and films, the most notable one being by James
Cameron with Kate Winslet and Leonardo di Caprio. It was this film that captured the hearts of
many, because of its story and music, not least our daughters, Eladio and I
too, when we went to the premiere some 15 years ago. Who doesn’t love the haunting music, “my
heart will go on” or the story of Rose and Jack? Spurred on by Olivia’s recommendation I
bought two tickets for Saturday morning. Oli and Miguel, as journalists were
lucky enough to get free press passes.
So off we went
to Madrid together as a family outing on a lovely sunny day; quite a treat and something
we don’t do often. I only wish Suzy could have been there. She would have loved
it. I remember her being very affected by the film and watching the death scene
of Jack in the cold sea over and over again.
In the photo
illustrating this week’s post there we are starting the Titanic experience
which is possibly the only way to describe this exhibition which is highly interactive
and very emotional. I shed many tears
throughout the visit although in the picture of us “boarding” I am smiling.
I can’t begin
to tell you just how good and well done it is.
It is an exhibition that is touring the world and is superbly
created. I usually hate audio guides,
but these were excellent with great acoustics and and haunting descriptions;
from the birth to the death of this great ship and through the telling of the stories
of the lives of many of its victims and survivors. Also on show were many objects which made the
whole story come alive; some of them which had never been on exhibition before. The recreation of the first class passageway
and suites, the cabins of second and third class are perhaps the highlight of
the exhibition as they are so well done.
In the picture below Oli, Eladio and I are standing in the first class passageway.
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| Eladio, Oli and I in the first class passageway during the exhibition |
We came out
1.5h later emotionally drained, ecstatic with the visit and extremely
hungry. Guess what? Platea is located just across the road from
the Exhibition, so I took Eladio, Miguel and Oli to see it. We went through the fruit and veg shop. It
was quite busy inside but Oli and I couldn’t resist the Basque tapas. So we ate
a “pinxo” each and shared 2 glasses of the most delicious Rueda white
wine.
From Platea we
walked towards Calle Barquillo. We were
going to Casa Carolo for lunch. It’s a
restaurant part owned by Beatriz, a friend and we were there to try out the new
menu from the new chef, Tania. Here is
Oli enjoying the moment
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| Oli yesterday having lunch at Casa Carolo |
For me the
best dish of those I tried was the “cochinillo deshuesado” (suckling roast pig
with the bones removed). It was out of
this world.
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| This dish (cochinillo deshuesado) is a must at Casa Carolo |
As we walked
back to the car park in Colón Square Oli, Miguel and I went into a little shop
called “Nice things”. I didn’t mean to
buy anything but couldn’t resist some flat blue suede boots. Oli nearly bought the whole shop haha. We came home at about 5.30 and all of us had a
siesta as we were tired and sleepy from the exertions of the outing; or more
like tipsy from the lovely wine at Casa Carolo.
Eladio and I woke up at ten to 7 in the evening of all times and I
subjected him to more of Downton Abbey which I think he is beginning to
like.
We had
actually had a light lunch at Casa Carolo, so by 8pm, Eladio and I were hungry
again and had dinner. It was yesterday
that we started on our second and last Christmas ham. Here is Eladio starting
to cut it with the 3 dogs drooling away at his side.
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| Eladio and the dogs yesterday - he's opening the new ham. |
And today is
Sunday and I have got to the end of the story of this week. It has been a good one. I can’t
complain. Next week will be busy too but
of course you will hear all about it next Sunday. Meanwhile, my friends and
readers, I wish you all the best until then.
Cheers Masha
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