Sunday 18th November, 2018
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| There was time on Wednesday for coffee with a friend and ex Yoigo colleague, Belén. |
This week has been busier than usual which is nice for a change as my life has been a bit too quiet over the last few months.
Last Sunday was of course the Centenary of Armistice Day. There was a large gathering of 60 world leaders in Paris leading the Remembrance Day, in a huge show of unity, including Emmanuel Macron, Angel Merkel, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. All the allies and the defeated were there except for one of the principal allies, England. Where was Theresa May in all this? Well, back in England with the Royal family who held their own Remembrance Day. I found that odd but maybe in keeping with the fact that England wants out of Europe. There has been no news of this in the media. Is it just me who has noticed this?
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| 60 leaders from around the world gathered in Paris on Armistice Day but where was the British leader? Whey wasn't she in Paris? |
I am pretty sure lower ranking British officials were there but it's not the same. In my view England could have held its own events in England presided over by the British Royal family and the Government leader and leaders could surely have joined their colleagues in Paris. It's funny isn't it when you think that one of the great lessons to be learned from WW1 and WW2 was precisely the union of nations and here is England who should have learned that lesson, ignoring the rest of the world. I don't like that.
In London, Prince Charles who this week turned 70, laid the wreath at the Cenotaph as the Queen and the rest of the royal family, dressed in black and all wearing poppies, looked on from a balcony nearby.
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| Prince Charles laid the wreath at the Cenotaph on Sunday for the second year in a row, on behalf of the Queen. |
It's the second year the Queen has handed over this task to Prince Charles in what maybe a sign of beginning to pass on some of her responsibilities to the heir to the crown. It's certainly not because she is too old as, at 92, she is often seen horse riding in the grounds of Windsor Castle. Who was missing was 97 year Prince Philip and I wonder why as he too has been seen horse carriage riding in the same grounds.
These were my thoughts as Eladio and I went on our walk with the dogs last Sunday morning. It was blustery but sunny and we enjoyed our walk, just as the dogs did. It was at about that time we heard from Suzy that she and Daus, her new Indonesian drummer boyfriend, have moved out of the very crowded accommodation they lived in, to a new flat. Suzy sent us the video and, yes, it's very simple but actually looks lovely with a wrap around terrace or balcony and is quite spacious. It has some furniture which looks very local and I like it. I hope they are very happy there. Thankfully their flat is on a second floor which I suppose helps in the rainy season.
Meanwhile, Oli, still filming in Austria, was at Mauthausen on Armistice Day with one of her "madrileños", a philosopher called Laura. It was fitting that they were visiting a Nazi concentration camp on Remembrance Day.
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| Oli at the entrance of Mauthausen on Sunday |
Mauthausen was known as the camp of the Spaniards. Of the 10.000 Spaniards who had exiled to France after losing the war to Franco, 7.000 of the estimated 10.000 Spanish republicans sent to camps, were sent to Mauthausen. Relatively little is known of this story in Spain today. The few survivors are not revered as the Jewish Holocaust survivors are and that is sad as there are very few left of them. They had a terrible time, the majority of them died but I was happy to read this week that they were known for their spirit and courage and strength of character. Thanks to the Spaniards there is a lot of documentary evidence of what went on at Mauthausen. I learned some of it last Sunday when I began reading a reputable historian's book (David Wingeate Pike) called "Spaniards in the Holocaust: Mauthasen, Horror on the Danube" but will not replicate the details here which are horrendous. There is a film out at the cinemas called The Photographer of Mauthasen which tells the story of how some Spanish inmates, including Francesc Boix, a Catalan photographer, risked their lives to smuggle out photographic evidence of what went on at this most notorious of camps. I have to see this film.
Later Olivia commented on her visit saying it was not just Jews who were killed. We all remember 6 million died at the hands of the Nazis. But what about the others of whom there were many? In an article from The Telegraph not so long ago, it claims the "Nazis may have killed up to 20 million" in a shocking new Holocaust Study. I looked for figures online and there are estimates that up to 4.5 million Soviet citizens, 2.8 to 3.3 Soviet POWs, 1.8 to 3 million Poles, 300.000 to 800 thousand Serbs, 270.000 disabled, 130.000 to half a million Gypsies, 80 to 200.000 Freemasons, 20 to 25 thousand Slovenes, 7.000 Spaniards, 5 to 15.000 homosexuals and 1.250 to 5.000 Jehova Witnesses all lost their lives in the Holocaust. So remember, the Jews had a terrible time and were the main target, but there were many many other people who went to a terrible death too. We should mourn them all.
So in a way, last Sunday, was also a Remembrance Day for Olivia. I do wish I could have been with her.
We had a quiet day, following our routines which you must know off by heart, that is the routines when we are at home. Dinner was frugal - the diet continues - and that night we watched Jordi Evole's TV show which was not one of the best. We also watched a new film on Netflix which sounded promising: The Outlaw King about Robert the Bruce, King of Scots and his fight for independence in the 14th century. I have never been very interested in medieval history, far preferring contemporary history, so this film was not really for me, plus my knowledge of Scottish history is pathetic so I found it difficult to follow. Also, I hated the gruesome battle scenes. In general I dislike battle scenes in any film.
Monday came. It rained all morning so we left our walk for the afternoon. That morning saw us at the local fruit and vegetable market in Villaviciosa. There we filled 2 big crates of provisions to last us a week. Here is Eladio at the stall we usually buy from.
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| Eladio at the fruit and vegetable market on Monday |
Our main diet at home consists precisely of fruit and vegetables - lots of them - protein and dairy products as well as some cereals and pulses. We tend to steer away from processed or fried food as well as carbohydrates and sugar. Perhaps that's what obese people should do too. Monday, by the way was Anti Obesity Day. I was shocked at some of the statistics. Even in Spain, 4 out of 10 people are overweight and 2 out of 10 are obese. I am so happy not to be in these high numbers and a lot of it has to do with a healthy way of living; our walks and our diet. Here is a map of Europe where you can see the figures for yourselves.
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| The figures of obesity in Europe. |
I included lots of the produce we had bought at the market for our lunch and on the table you would have seen; home made vegetable soup from pumpkin, courgette, leek and carrots, peeled fresh tomatoes with parsley, grilled mushrooms, baked apples and a bowl of mixed fruit. Dinner would be a salad made with lettuce, onion, chopped orange and avocado and slices of lean duck.
It's not only the diet that is necessary to keep healthy. It's also activity and as you know we try to do a 1.5h walk every day. Our walk on Monday afternoon was rain free thank goodness and even the sun came out a bit. It was dark by the time we got home at 6.30 pm. The days are getting shorter.
Meanwhile in Austria, Oli was having her lunch/dinner. She had no time for lunch while shooting so made up for it at dinner. That day saw her trying out a local dish; gnocchi and pumpkin which she said was very typical in Austria. She tried their national dish too; "wiener schnitzel" on her second day there and said it was over rated. It probably is. After all it's only pork fillet fried in bread crumbs so nothing special and not very healthy.
That day she filmed the biggest historical armoury museum in the world which is one of Graz' claim to fame. I'm not sure I am into armories as such as I hate weapons and anything to do with warfare. And here she is with one of her "madrileños" at the "Styrian Armoury" on Monday afternoon, looking beautiful I have to add. After all I am her Mother and cannot be objective can I'
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| Olivia with one of her "madrileños" at the Styrian Armoury museum in Graz on Monday |
We watched the news after dinner and the first item was about the Californian fires. It is the worst fire ever in the region and the death and damage caused is horrendous; a death toll of at least 71, up to 1000 missing, 6000 homes burnt down, not to mention the number of evacuees. Imagine losing your life in a forest fire, imagine losing your house and home, imagine losing your loved ones? What a tragedy.
We got lighter viewing from our Amazon Fire TV streaming stick but couldn't find anything we both liked. We tried a few series and films until Eladio fell asleep. However, I got hooked on The Good Doctor and watched it until nearly 1 in the morning. I'm afraid it isn't Eladio's genre so I would have to watch it alone from then on.
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| Image from the California fires |
Tuesday came and it was to be a sunny and relatively warm day with temperatures reaching 18ºc. It was on Tuesday that I went to the hairdresser, something I don't really enjoy much, unlike most women, but I needed the dreaded roots doing as well as a cut. Thankfully there were few people at "Marco Aldany" (my hairdresser) in Boadilla and I was home at about 11 a.m, looking quite good. Here is the selfie to prove it.
As you can see I didn't change the hairstyle. It is a hairstyle that has stood me in good stead over the years and I wouldn't think of changing it.
I made a healthy lunch for the 4 of us, including fresh fish and vegetables - a staple meal in our home. Later we watched the news - more on the dreadful California fires. One bit of news that interested me was about sport - well you know I love to follow sport. On Tuesday Real Madrid appointed Santiago Solari(Argentina, aged 42) the permanent manager after being brought on board temporarily when Lopetegui was sacked 2 weeks ago. The appointment comes after 4 consecutive wins for "los blancos" since Solari took over. Let's hope the team continues to do well. 2 weeks ago, Solari was Madrid's B team coach and no doubt he never thought he would be in the running for the top job, one of the top football coach posts in the world. I wish him luck. In Madrid, the two rival teams, Real and Atlético are now both coached by Argentinians; curious.
Meanwhile Oli was filming a beautiful castle in Graz ,the "Eggenberg Schloss". It is closed in the winter to visitors but the palace opened its premises just for her TV team. She loved it.
The palace which dates back to 1460 was given its Baroque expansion in 1625 and is one of the most important in Austria .It looks absolutely out of this world. Here, by the way, is a photo of the outside. In the picture with Olivia is one of her "madrileños".
Our walk that afternoon was a real pleasure, the sun was out and it wasn't cold. However, when we got home, very suddenly, poor Norah became ill. She couldn't even climb the stairs and I had to carry her. I tried to give her a painkiller wrapped in a rasher of bacon and she refused it. If Norah refuses food there is always something wrong with her. She worried me all night and I was on the point of taking her to the vet but we decided to see how the night went. Amazingly, she was completely ok the next day, ate her normal food and seemed her usual self. I think it may have been the 6km walk that strained her. Perhaps at her age, nearly 10 and her back problem, she should go on much sorter walks.
Shortly after our walk, my new Airbnb guests arrived, 2 gentlemen from Valencia, engineers in their 50's I guess, who had come to play golf at the magnificent Santander world HQ golf course the next day. They were really nice people and they told me they were bowled over by the house. That was great. I wouldn't see them until the next morning.
There was news of a possible final Brexit deal agreed, at least technically, by Theresa May and Brussels that night. It remained to be seen whether the Cabinet members would agree on it and whether it would go past Parliament. I wonder. In the end there is complete shambles as neither remainers or leavers are satisfied. I am surprised Theresa May is still in office actually.
The film we watched that night, Manchester by Sea, was depressing and not recommendable. By the way it has nothing to do with the city in the UK, rather a small town in the US.
Wednesday came and it was a big day for me. That morning I had a kick off meeting with my new customer for which I will helping them with a big PR project for their launch and PR activities. I was quite excited to be getting ready to go out, put on makeup, wear a suit and drive off to a meeting in an office. It was a pleasant change in my way of working as usually all my work is done from home sitting quietly at my PC wearing a pair of jeans and a jumper. So that morning I put out all the stops and think I looked quite good when I was about to leave. Eladio loved the "transformation" and had to have a photo. Here it is.
The meeting was in Las Tablas, 38km from our house but as I left after the traffic at around 9.40, I was there just 25 minutes later. I even had a parking space booked for me at the offices and by 10.15 I was sitting with my new customer, 2 guys who I used to work closely with at Yoigo. It was a delight to see them, to admire their new offices and to hear all the developments of their ambitious project. It's a pity I couldn't take photos but I can't give the game away before the announcement. I was a bit shocked to hear the announcement will be next week, meaning I will have little time to prepare for the supporting PR activities. We finished the meeting at 11.45 and then I rang another ex Yoigo colleague and friend, Belén, who still works there as a lawyer. She was my lawyer when I worked there; well my lawyer for all the communications activities, mainly the approval of my press releases. Belén is much younger than me and still in her 30's but we became friends from the very beginning. We met at Starbucks in the Diversia centre in Alcobendas, round the corner from Yoigo and just a few kilometres from Las Tablas and spent a wonderful hour together catching up on each other's lives. I do so love this positive thinking, free spirited lawyer friend. Most corporate lawyers are all a bit negative when it comes to communication but she was quite the opposite, always positive, always supportive and above all she responded fast. I do miss her. Of course we had to have a photo taken and we asked a passerby to do the task. I chose the picture of the two of us as the main photo for this week's post in honour of Belén and al lmy ex Yoigo colleagues. The company maybe completely different today but the 11 years I spent there were perhaps the best of my professional career and I have fond memories.
I was home by 13.30 and eager to tell Eladio all about my exciting morning. It meant of course I had to start work immediately and my head was full of all the tasks I had to do. There was no siesta or reading for me that afternoon. Instead, I worked fast, only stopping for our daily walk. We did not take Norah because she had been so poorly the day before.
Dinner was a light affair - tuna fish salad, after which we retired to our room to watch the news and then a film. The main news that day was of the approval of the British cabinet of a new deal for Brexit. It's difficult to understand what it really entails and details are only emerging now but as I said above, it doesn't seem to satisfy either side.
Eladio soon fell asleep but I watched the TV until very late. As I watched alone, I was able, for once, to see a series in English. I watched The Good Doctor again and am loving it.
I think I fell asleep at past 1.30 and on Thursday morning I was awake at 5.40 but made myself stay in bed until 6.30. Thus I slept only 4 hours. Not enough.
On Thursday I had to work all day, on a press release, on a press invitation and a host of other things related to next week's PR activities. It felt good even though I was quite pressured and would have little time to make everyone's lunch and above all I wanted to be free by the time Olivia arrived back from her trip to Austria. I was a bit overloaded and stressed out and having only slept 4 hours the night before did not help at all. I got a headache and couldn't shake it off for a couple of days.
I can only commiserate that Theresa May would have felt a lot worse than me that day when she presented her latest Brexit plan, full of the end of "freedom of movement". I hate her for that. Her cabinet had apparently supported the nearly 600 page document the night before but by the morning when she was presenting the plan in Parliament, they began dropping like flies. It's a shambles and I don't think there is a good way out, unless another referendum takes place. I suspect though that even if it does, the leavers will win but not be satisfied and we will be back to square one. It's not easy to leave the EU and even if the UK does so with no deal or a bad deal, it will be turning it's back on its closest and biggest market and have to look elsewhere, something rather daunting. It's just one big mess. I am surprised the woman hasn't resigned yet but she is very stubborn. I can't imagine her going down in the history books as a good politician can you?
Somehow lunch that day appeared on the table. I hardly had time to prepare anything as I was so intensely focused on my work, but somehow it did. I tried to have a siesta afterwards to catch up on some sleep and I think I managed about 15 minutes. Eladio had to go for a routine medical check up, thus I went on our walk on my own with Pippa. It was spitting with rain but luckily there was no downpour. And then a beautiful rainbow appeared It was a full arc but I couldn't capture it all on camera. I did however get a bit of it in with little Pippa to be spotted in the background.
Just as I was walking up the hill towards the fields, Oli was driving home with her car and we met. I was sorry that my walk coincided with her arrival but was so in need of the exercise, I would have to see her later upon my return. I was able to greet her properly when we did return and it was just great to see her. She had bought me some lovely Christmas decorations from Austria as well as chocolate for us all. We had some quality mother and daughter time together and I was very interested to hear her opinion on Austria and what the visit to Mauthasen had been like - harrowing was the answer of course.
That night we prepared dinner together which the 3 of us would have in the kitchen surrounded by our 3 dogs. Thankfully Norah seems to have got over her episode of feeling unwell and is back to her usual self. We know she is her usual self when she begs or steals food hahaha.
Later the 3 of us spent time in the big lounge. I put on soft lighting, lit some candles and played music - Barbara Streisand singing classical songs. The atmosphere was magical. We were waiting for our new guests, an English couple from London; Eva and Nigel. They were coming to see their son Alex, who is teaching English in Boadilla, nearby, in his gap year. They didn't arrive until 9.15. It was a total coincidence but Eva's ex husband had been to stay with us too about a month ago, also to see his son and Eva had booked our place without ever knowing her ex, Richard, had been here. Their son Alex of course recognised the place as he had been here with his Father. It was a big coincidence. I settled them in while Eladio was watching the Spain Croatia match for a place in the next round of the UEFA Nations League. I wasn't interested and spent more quality time with Oli in her room. I was a little disappointed to hear Spain lost 2-3 to Croatia. Spain now need England to draw with Croatia in order to qualify. It looks touch and go to me.
I had another guest or guests coming that night at 2 a.m. in the morning. It was Alba, my student in women's pelvic health who was coming with her boyfriend. But I wouldn't see them until Friday morning. This weekend we have a full house; a good thing.
It was late to bed for us and I was dreading another sleepless night but thankfully I slept a bit better, maybe getting 6 hours sleep. We watched an episode of one of Spain's favourite TV series, "Cuéntame". I had totally lost touch with the story of the Alcántara family but quickly caught up. It was a good episode.
I was up on Friday morning at about 6.15 and after breakfast, dived straight back into my work. I would be very busy again that morning but as I started early I was able to go out shopping with Eladio to our dearly beloved Mercadona supermarket. Here we stocked up on food for the next week. I came home to do more work before going into Madrid again, this time for a lunch appointment. Eladio took me to the station where I would take the metro and Oli would be picking me up from the restaurant near Plaza Castilla after lunch. I felt very privileged.
Lunch was with my former Nokia girl, or should I say women colleagues. We are a group of 9 who try to meet about 3 times a year. On Friday there were 5 of us; Susana, Juana, María Jesús, Jill - the only one who still works for Nokia - and myself. Neither Fátima, Marta nor Ana could make it and the 9th member, Zenaida went to live in Finland a year or so ago. Lunch was at Restaurante Puerto Madero just off "La Castellana" (one of Madrid's main thoroughfares) and we met at 14.30. Well, I was there at 14.30 and the rest were a bit late.
It had been Juana's 48th birthday this week and we would be celebrating it with her. I remember when she was probably not even 30 when we first met and worked together at Nokia. Today she is a stunning, self confident, incredibly capable and passionate woman and mother of 2 children approaching their teens. It seems like yesterday when I first met this smiling lovely girl who wold become my friend. It was great to catch up with my dear friends and ex colleagues and our lunch was far too short. At 16.30 Oli came to pick me up and I said goodbye to the "Nokia girls" as our group is called.
Olivia and I were off on a shopping expedition to Plaza Norte 2 - a big shopping centre - in Majadahonda. We were there by about 5 pm so with plenty of time as the shops in Spain generally close after 8 and a lot of the big ones at 10 pm. It was Oli who "needed" new clothes. I had no intention of buying anything - my wardrobe is chock a block - but succumbed when I fell in love with some of the clothes. Our first stop was H&M. Oli was looking for jumpers and I resisted temptation. Here she is coming down the escalator with one of the items in her hands. She is wearing the thick orange winter jumper I bought at H&M with Kathy in York last January when it was so cold. It looks lovely on her.
It was at Zara that I fell in love with a glittery gold long blazer - for party wear - and a tartan coat type jacket. I am a sucker for tartan and happy to know it's in fashion at the moment. I tried to resist but when I tired them both on they were a perfect fit and I couldn't resist them. Here I am holding the 2 items in my hands with a Cheshire cat smile on my face.
Oli bought lots more than me, including 2 amazing coats. We both have very similar tastes and the good thing is that we can use each other's clothes most of the time, so, no doubt, we shall be lending each other the new coats and jackets we bought on Friday
On our way out, amazingly, I bumped into a pretty young woman who called out my name. I couldn't quite recognise her and then I did. It was a girl called Marta Grandes who worked with and for me at Motorola some 25 years ago. She was in her early 20's then and is now 48 and we hadn't seen each other since we both left the company. She was a great girl to work with; enthusiastic and passionate and I often wondered what had become of her after Motorola. We spoke about our "Motorola days" in marketing and reminisced especially about our involvement with the company's cycling team. Well, today she is the proud mother of 4 girls aged from 23 down to 12. She was as lovely as ever and I was very happy to bump into her. We have now exchanged phone numbers. Oli took this photo of us with wide smiles on our faces. It was great to see you Marta. I have lots of wonderful memories of working with you.
It was a great chance meeting. By about 7 pm Oli and I were finished with our shopping spree. It reminded us of our time together alone in the summer when Eladio was away. We called it "baching it", i.e. enjoying a bachelor's life together. Well on Friday we "batched it" too hahaha.
Before we left we had to have a selfie to remember our "baching it" shopping expedition and here it is.
By about 6.30 we were done and on our way home. We got there with plenty of time before dinner and unusually for me, showed Eladio our new clothes, the results of our wonderful retail therapy session. I had felt a bit guilty but Oli said I fully deserved to buy new clothes, something we haven't done for a long time. There is nothing better I like than shopping sprees with my daughters and I can't wait for Suzy to come home in December for the 3 of us to enjoy one together.
Dinner was to be giant prawn salad, so quickly I cooked them and later Eladio and Oli together peeled all 24 of them, a job I hate. I did the lettuce and avocado hahaha. We enjoyed a lovely and healthy meal together before we went upstairs. And before going to bed, Pippa and I spent quality time with Oli in her room. I was in bed at about 10 pm and just plain tired to concentrate on anything on the TV. I think I must have fallen asleep by about 11. I was up on Saturday morning at 6.11 after rather a fractured night's sleep. However, I was feeling good and relaxed on Saturday and looking forward to our weekly French lesson.
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| A new haircut on Tuesday |
I made a healthy lunch for the 4 of us, including fresh fish and vegetables - a staple meal in our home. Later we watched the news - more on the dreadful California fires. One bit of news that interested me was about sport - well you know I love to follow sport. On Tuesday Real Madrid appointed Santiago Solari(Argentina, aged 42) the permanent manager after being brought on board temporarily when Lopetegui was sacked 2 weeks ago. The appointment comes after 4 consecutive wins for "los blancos" since Solari took over. Let's hope the team continues to do well. 2 weeks ago, Solari was Madrid's B team coach and no doubt he never thought he would be in the running for the top job, one of the top football coach posts in the world. I wish him luck. In Madrid, the two rival teams, Real and Atlético are now both coached by Argentinians; curious.
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| A smiling Santiago Solari who was appointed permanent RM coach on Tuesday |
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| Oli inside the magnificent Eggenberg Palace in Graz, Austria |
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| Oli and her "madrileño" outside the magnificent Eggenberg Schloss in Graz, Austria on Tuesday |
Shortly after our walk, my new Airbnb guests arrived, 2 gentlemen from Valencia, engineers in their 50's I guess, who had come to play golf at the magnificent Santander world HQ golf course the next day. They were really nice people and they told me they were bowled over by the house. That was great. I wouldn't see them until the next morning.
There was news of a possible final Brexit deal agreed, at least technically, by Theresa May and Brussels that night. It remained to be seen whether the Cabinet members would agree on it and whether it would go past Parliament. I wonder. In the end there is complete shambles as neither remainers or leavers are satisfied. I am surprised Theresa May is still in office actually.
The film we watched that night, Manchester by Sea, was depressing and not recommendable. By the way it has nothing to do with the city in the UK, rather a small town in the US.
Wednesday came and it was a big day for me. That morning I had a kick off meeting with my new customer for which I will helping them with a big PR project for their launch and PR activities. I was quite excited to be getting ready to go out, put on makeup, wear a suit and drive off to a meeting in an office. It was a pleasant change in my way of working as usually all my work is done from home sitting quietly at my PC wearing a pair of jeans and a jumper. So that morning I put out all the stops and think I looked quite good when I was about to leave. Eladio loved the "transformation" and had to have a photo. Here it is.
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| All dressed up and ready to go on Wednesday morning |
I was home by 13.30 and eager to tell Eladio all about my exciting morning. It meant of course I had to start work immediately and my head was full of all the tasks I had to do. There was no siesta or reading for me that afternoon. Instead, I worked fast, only stopping for our daily walk. We did not take Norah because she had been so poorly the day before.
Dinner was a light affair - tuna fish salad, after which we retired to our room to watch the news and then a film. The main news that day was of the approval of the British cabinet of a new deal for Brexit. It's difficult to understand what it really entails and details are only emerging now but as I said above, it doesn't seem to satisfy either side.
Eladio soon fell asleep but I watched the TV until very late. As I watched alone, I was able, for once, to see a series in English. I watched The Good Doctor again and am loving it.
I think I fell asleep at past 1.30 and on Thursday morning I was awake at 5.40 but made myself stay in bed until 6.30. Thus I slept only 4 hours. Not enough.
On Thursday I had to work all day, on a press release, on a press invitation and a host of other things related to next week's PR activities. It felt good even though I was quite pressured and would have little time to make everyone's lunch and above all I wanted to be free by the time Olivia arrived back from her trip to Austria. I was a bit overloaded and stressed out and having only slept 4 hours the night before did not help at all. I got a headache and couldn't shake it off for a couple of days.
I can only commiserate that Theresa May would have felt a lot worse than me that day when she presented her latest Brexit plan, full of the end of "freedom of movement". I hate her for that. Her cabinet had apparently supported the nearly 600 page document the night before but by the morning when she was presenting the plan in Parliament, they began dropping like flies. It's a shambles and I don't think there is a good way out, unless another referendum takes place. I suspect though that even if it does, the leavers will win but not be satisfied and we will be back to square one. It's not easy to leave the EU and even if the UK does so with no deal or a bad deal, it will be turning it's back on its closest and biggest market and have to look elsewhere, something rather daunting. It's just one big mess. I am surprised the woman hasn't resigned yet but she is very stubborn. I can't imagine her going down in the history books as a good politician can you?
Somehow lunch that day appeared on the table. I hardly had time to prepare anything as I was so intensely focused on my work, but somehow it did. I tried to have a siesta afterwards to catch up on some sleep and I think I managed about 15 minutes. Eladio had to go for a routine medical check up, thus I went on our walk on my own with Pippa. It was spitting with rain but luckily there was no downpour. And then a beautiful rainbow appeared It was a full arc but I couldn't capture it all on camera. I did however get a bit of it in with little Pippa to be spotted in the background.
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| The rainbow and Pippa on my walk on Thursday |
That night we prepared dinner together which the 3 of us would have in the kitchen surrounded by our 3 dogs. Thankfully Norah seems to have got over her episode of feeling unwell and is back to her usual self. We know she is her usual self when she begs or steals food hahaha.
Later the 3 of us spent time in the big lounge. I put on soft lighting, lit some candles and played music - Barbara Streisand singing classical songs. The atmosphere was magical. We were waiting for our new guests, an English couple from London; Eva and Nigel. They were coming to see their son Alex, who is teaching English in Boadilla, nearby, in his gap year. They didn't arrive until 9.15. It was a total coincidence but Eva's ex husband had been to stay with us too about a month ago, also to see his son and Eva had booked our place without ever knowing her ex, Richard, had been here. Their son Alex of course recognised the place as he had been here with his Father. It was a big coincidence. I settled them in while Eladio was watching the Spain Croatia match for a place in the next round of the UEFA Nations League. I wasn't interested and spent more quality time with Oli in her room. I was a little disappointed to hear Spain lost 2-3 to Croatia. Spain now need England to draw with Croatia in order to qualify. It looks touch and go to me.
I had another guest or guests coming that night at 2 a.m. in the morning. It was Alba, my student in women's pelvic health who was coming with her boyfriend. But I wouldn't see them until Friday morning. This weekend we have a full house; a good thing.
It was late to bed for us and I was dreading another sleepless night but thankfully I slept a bit better, maybe getting 6 hours sleep. We watched an episode of one of Spain's favourite TV series, "Cuéntame". I had totally lost touch with the story of the Alcántara family but quickly caught up. It was a good episode.
I was up on Friday morning at about 6.15 and after breakfast, dived straight back into my work. I would be very busy again that morning but as I started early I was able to go out shopping with Eladio to our dearly beloved Mercadona supermarket. Here we stocked up on food for the next week. I came home to do more work before going into Madrid again, this time for a lunch appointment. Eladio took me to the station where I would take the metro and Oli would be picking me up from the restaurant near Plaza Castilla after lunch. I felt very privileged.
Lunch was with my former Nokia girl, or should I say women colleagues. We are a group of 9 who try to meet about 3 times a year. On Friday there were 5 of us; Susana, Juana, María Jesús, Jill - the only one who still works for Nokia - and myself. Neither Fátima, Marta nor Ana could make it and the 9th member, Zenaida went to live in Finland a year or so ago. Lunch was at Restaurante Puerto Madero just off "La Castellana" (one of Madrid's main thoroughfares) and we met at 14.30. Well, I was there at 14.30 and the rest were a bit late.
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| This week's Nokia girl lunch |
Olivia and I were off on a shopping expedition to Plaza Norte 2 - a big shopping centre - in Majadahonda. We were there by about 5 pm so with plenty of time as the shops in Spain generally close after 8 and a lot of the big ones at 10 pm. It was Oli who "needed" new clothes. I had no intention of buying anything - my wardrobe is chock a block - but succumbed when I fell in love with some of the clothes. Our first stop was H&M. Oli was looking for jumpers and I resisted temptation. Here she is coming down the escalator with one of the items in her hands. She is wearing the thick orange winter jumper I bought at H&M with Kathy in York last January when it was so cold. It looks lovely on her.
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| Oli at H&M on Friday |
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| With my two lovely items of clothing I got at Zara on Friday |
On our way out, amazingly, I bumped into a pretty young woman who called out my name. I couldn't quite recognise her and then I did. It was a girl called Marta Grandes who worked with and for me at Motorola some 25 years ago. She was in her early 20's then and is now 48 and we hadn't seen each other since we both left the company. She was a great girl to work with; enthusiastic and passionate and I often wondered what had become of her after Motorola. We spoke about our "Motorola days" in marketing and reminisced especially about our involvement with the company's cycling team. Well, today she is the proud mother of 4 girls aged from 23 down to 12. She was as lovely as ever and I was very happy to bump into her. We have now exchanged phone numbers. Oli took this photo of us with wide smiles on our faces. It was great to see you Marta. I have lots of wonderful memories of working with you.
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| Meeting Marta after more than 25 years. How time flies |
Before we left we had to have a selfie to remember our "baching it" shopping expedition and here it is.
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| Selfie with Oli after our shopping trip together on Friday |
Dinner was to be giant prawn salad, so quickly I cooked them and later Eladio and Oli together peeled all 24 of them, a job I hate. I did the lettuce and avocado hahaha. We enjoyed a lovely and healthy meal together before we went upstairs. And before going to bed, Pippa and I spent quality time with Oli in her room. I was in bed at about 10 pm and just plain tired to concentrate on anything on the TV. I think I must have fallen asleep by about 11. I was up on Saturday morning at 6.11 after rather a fractured night's sleep. However, I was feeling good and relaxed on Saturday and looking forward to our weekly French lesson.
On Saturday morning, before everyone else was up, I did some work to get it out of the way so as to be with my family. I also had to make time for doing our French homework. Oli and I did it together or rather compared our exercises. They were about the difference between "meilleur" and "mieux". I think I have got it now. You use meilleur with bon and mieux with bien. Helene was on time as always. She went over our exercises which were mostly right and then we dived into the next two chapters in our French book, all about hesitating or not being sure about things at the hairdressers. That was funny as I had been to the hairdressers that week as had Eladio and Oli was going that afternoon. I was interested to learn that a "ponytail" in French is "queue de cheval" and that "fringe" is "la frange". I knew, of course, that a "haircut" was a "coupe de cheveux" and a hairdo "coiffure". The thing is it's very unlikely I shall ever go to a hairdresser in France to use this vocab hahaha.
Our lesson went on for nearly 1.5h instead of an hour and when Helene had gone, I had to quickly finish making the lunch. Once again a miracle appeared on the table - grilled chicken with mushrooms and lots of vegetables, including sprouts, my Father's favourite veg.
We had a long siesta which meant I caught up with a bit of lost sleep. Thus our walk was late and we came back in the dark. During the walk I got a new Airbnb reservation from someone who seems to be Chinese and living in Athens but with his is it her name in Chinese characters and no references or previous review. Thus I was found messaging him or her all the way back on our walk. I still don't know who he or her is, but his or her name is Wong Haw (hahaha) so maybe it's a man. Wong comes on Monday with someone else for 2 nights. It may sound risky to you and it does to me but many people book using Airbnb for the first time and are hesitant to upload a photo or details of themselves. So far out of more than 160 groups of guests, we have not had any problems. Let's hope it's ok with Wong and that nothing goes wrong - sorry just had to make that pun hahaha.
Later I spent some time with my English guests, Eva, Nigel and Alex who, by the way, live in Dorset. I made them a restaurant reservation last night and also recommended places to visit today. I think they will be going up into the mountains to El Escorial and also to visit the nearby Valley of the Fallen where Franco is still buried. They have brought a car and I was puzzled to see them ordering a taxi every night to go out. They explained it was so they could drink. In Spain people drive in their own cars to restaurants and the driver will probably just have one small glass of wine. When I said that they smiled and told me they expected to drink a lot more. Oh the Brits are funny aren't they or is it me finding them so after having turned into a Spaniard?
We had dinner at home, just a salad and some "lomo" and went up to watch the news and the TV and fall asleep. We started on the new Narcos season, this time about Mexico. It's ok but I can't stand the Mexican language, or rather the "rude" words in Mexican which neither Eladio nor I really understand. Let's see if we continue this series. I was asleep by about 11, then woken up by Eladio after a ghastly nightmare - hate them and thankfully went back to slumber land soon afterwards only to wake up 2 more times before I finally got up this morning at 6.15. It may sound awful but for me it was quite a good night's sleep hahaha.
And today is Sunday, 18th November and only a month or so to Christmas. Wow! But I have lots to do before starting on our plans for the festive season. I even have work to do today for my customer. Thus I shall leave you now, as I usually say, to get on with the day.
Wishing you all a great week ahead, cheers till next Sunday.
All the best Masha
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