Goodbye Suzy, New Year in Montrondo with slippery paths and new equestrian friends, “Intrepid apostles”, farewell 2014 and other things.

Cooking with the girls on Suzy's last day last Sunday

Hi everyone and Happy New Year to you all.

Today is the first Sunday of the New Year and my first post in 2015.  Just one week ago when I left off, it was Suzy’s last day with us.  It was of course 28^th December, Spain’s April Fools’ Day but when my Father woke us up at 7 in the morning instead of 8 I knew he wasn’t joking; he had just confused the time on his clock. 

Being “innocents’ day”, from a PR perspective we aimed to play a joke about Yoigo on our social media pages and even sent out a press release.  We were inspired by one of our new images (bananas and one single pear) and decided to announce that in the New Year Yoigo would be selling fruit and fiber and even distributing all the bananas from the Canary Islands!  I was glad to see we got some media coverage and lots of comments on social media.

Yoigo celebrating the diffference

But it was no joke that Suzy was leaving that day and I was determined to make the most of it.  We had our last meal together and we “girls” cooked it together.  The photo illustrating this week’s post is of Suzy, Oli and I cooking.  For the record Olivia made mushroom risotto which was delicious.

It was no joke either that day that another Malaysian airplane went missing, Air Asia over the sea of Java in Indonesia.  That was the main news this week.  A few days later bodies and wreckage began to appear of the more than 160 passengers and crew who perished last Sunday in an accident apparently caused by extreme weather conditions.

On Monday Eladio and I were going to Montrondo to join his brother José Antonio.  The idea was to inspect the progress on the house, spend a few days there and join the rest of the family for New Year’s Eve in León at Amancio, the restaurant we go to nearly every year. 

On our way, as tradition dictates, we stopped at Rueda, a small town famous for its white wine in the province of Valladolid, for a plate of Spanish cured ham and a glass of wine at Bodegas Palacio de Bornos. Here we are enjoying the moment.

Our stop in Rueda for a little something on the way to Montrondo  this Monday

We were glad to see some snow on the ground when we arrived and also happy that José Antonio had arrived the night before, thus warming up his house for our arrival.  The men went straight to inspect the building of the house whilst I quickly made our lunch.  As usual I was to be the cook.  When travelling to Montrondo you have to be very organized about meals and take all the necessary ingredients as there are no shops in the vicinity.  I am so organized I had even made up the menus for all the lunches and dinners from Monday to Thursday.  I think my efforts were appreciated.

Once lunch was ready to serve, l covered it up to keep warm and dashed to join the men to see the progress on the house. I had last seen it in November so there really was something to see and appreciate this time.  It is coming on nicely, especially from the outside.  The divisions of all the rooms have been made as well as the temporary staircases.  Finally it is now beginning to look as though progress has been made and I can begin to imagine what it will look like when it is finished.

The house is coming on nicely in Montrondo

After lunch, I managed to persuade the brothers to skip their usual siesta and take advantage of the sunlight as it gets dark at 6pm and off we went for a walk up the mountains.  It was cold but sunny and we enjoyed walking up the snowy path in our new boots.  However there were quite a few patches of ice and we had to step carefully because the path was very slippery in certain places.

Eladio and José Antonio on our walk up the mountains on Monday afternoon

Enjoying the snow in the mountains of Montrondo

We were amazed to see many animal footprints in the virgin snow as we climbed higher and higher.  At the beginning we thought they were dog footprints but soon realized they were very big, some even bigger than a hand.  We then began to imagine the big ones were from a bear and the medium sized ones from wolves.  Later I asked one of the villagers who confirmed that yes indeed there was a bear or even two and a pack of wolves in the area.  The prints were very fresh so it’s quite obvious the bear must have crossed the same path as us just a while before.  I don’t know much about bears but did know that in Spain there is only one type, the brown bear or “oso pardo” which mostly lives in the north of Spain and is an endangered species.  I would have thought it would be hibernating at this time of year but maybe climate change has altered its habits.  I later found out that there are 8 types of bear in the world with variations of some of them, the polar bear being the biggest.

Wolf and  bear footprints on our walk

On our way down we had to walk with greater care because of the ice and as usual, as I have a tendency to do so, I fell flat on my back.  Later Eladio tried to help me as I nearly fell a second time and whilst doing so he fell too.  We didn’t do any damage thankfully and lay there laughing as José Antonio took a photo of us. 

Slipping on the ice

We were home just as the sun had set and were not surprised to read on José Antonio’s outside thermometer that the temperature had fallen to -6ºc.  During the day whilst we were there it didn’t rise much above 0ºc which meant the snow on the ground never melted.

When I was not out walking or cooking, my entertainment was my kindle and I was riveted reading Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith, a crime novel set in Stalin’s Russia.  A film was made of it and I tried to find it on Amazon to no avail.  Then very happily I found it for free on You Tube (all this once at home of course) here and look forward to watching it soon. I have now also bought the sequel The Secret Speech and hope it is just as good as Child 44. There is no internet in Montrondo, at least at my brother in law’s house, which for me is very frustrating and why I cannot spend more than a few days in the village.  It is frustrating from a work perspective as my work depends on internet but also from a personal point of view.  Rest assured we shall have internet in our new house as I consider it a utility as important as water or heating.

On Tuesday morning whilst my Fabada (Asturian bean stew) was cooking we made a full inspection of the house and all the “rooms” which are small but will be very comfortable.  We measured them all to see if the furniture would fit and thankfully it will. What won’t fit in the master bathroom is the claw foot bath tub we bought at my insistence.  However there and then we realized it would fit perfectly in our bedroom and there it will go!

We had an early lunch so as the brothers could have their siesta before it got too dark and we could go on another long walk.  This time they wanted to show me a different path the one that goes up the mountain called “la peña mala”.  However the track was very difficult to negotiate and felt more like a path for goats then for people.  What I did appreciate though was the great view of the village from this side of the mountains.  Here is a panoramic view of our beloved Montrondo taken from there.

A panoramic view of Montrondo from "la peña mala"

As the path was too difficult to walk on we had no other option than to go down to the village again and take the old path to Murias de Paredes, a shorter walk but very pretty and more comfortable for me as the terrain is flat.

On Wednesday morning I decided to go on the walk all the way to Senra and back, some two hours whilst the brothers pottered around the houses.  By the way you might be interested to see the compound where we all have our houses.  In this photo you can see the converted barn, then our house to the right, then Pili’s yellow house and far right José Antonio and Dolores’ house.  Ours, the stone house, is the original family house, the one we are rebuilding which as you can see is something of a “sandwich house”.  The only way of making it bigger was adding a third floor and building a porch and terrace.

Part of the Freijo family compound in Montrondo.  Our house is the grey stone one on the left.

On my walk I was able to download the photos and video I had been sent from my PR team in Madrid, as the mobile internet signal is a little stronger in Murias and Senra.  They were of a PR activity we had carried out the night before 30^th December, the “pre new year’s eve” event which takes place to make sure the clock in the Puerta del Sol would be working perfectly for the 31^st at midnight.  On New Year’s Eve at midnight Spaniards eat 12 grapes, one for every chime to bring luck for the New Year.  In the trial run on Tuesday night we gave out some 15.000 thousand bags, not of grapes, but of sweets – 11 bananas and 1 pear.  The idea behind this came again from the new image of bananas and one pear, stressing that Yoigo is different and bringing the difference to the people celebrating with bananas and a pear instead of grapes. You can see the video here.

Yoigo's big PR stunt at the Puerta del Sol on the rehearsal night for NYE.

Just as I was leaving Murias on the path to Senra I saw three lovely horses in one of the fields.  I was particularly attracted to this beautiful red horse which came to me immediately when I held my hand out with the only thing I had available, a piece of chewing gum.  I stroked it behind its ears which it seemed to enjoy and I decided to bring more sweets the next day.

A selfie with my new friend on the road in between Murias and Senra

The afternoon was ours for the having until the evening when we would get ready and dressed up to drive to León to join the rest of the family for the New Year’s Eve dinner.  We decided our walk would be up the normal mountain route (Cumbres de Omaña; the path to the highest peak in the area, “El Tambarón” which is 2.102m high).  There seemed to be even more ice than the on our previous walk and this time we were to fall again.  Just look how treacherous some of the path looked and how we had to walk on the side of the ice to continue.

Eladio helping me steer past the ice on the path in the mountains 

Just as we got to the bear and wolf foot prints Eladio thought we should turn round and walk back.  I think he was worried we might see them but we never did.  It was on the walk down that I fell, this time hurting myself quite a lot.  I hit the side of my face and my knee.  I then had to walk down hanging on to Eladio’s arm.  When we got to the fork in the path where you either take the gentle path called “el retorno” back to the village or the steeper one called “la cuesta de la bidulina” we had to decide which one would be easier. So Eladio being a galant husband walked down the latter and we watched from above as he fell flat on his back just by the spring “la Fuente de Antón”.  I commented to José Antonio that that was not the path to take.  When we returned, via “el retorno” and got home, poor Elaidio’s hip and lower part of his back was inflamed.  The next day he would have a bruise which covered most of his back. Thankfully he didn’t break anything.  I must admit we were a little adventurous going up the very slippery paths with wolves and bears in the area.  On the bright side they were beautiful sunny walks in the snow and wonderful exercise with the best air in the world for our lungs.

Thankfully Eladio was ok enough to go to León that night, so the three of us got ready and left Montrondo just before 8 in the evening as it would take us at least 1.5 hours to get to León, as the roads are dark and very winding.  Nearly everyone was at Amancio when we arrived.  However I had to stay in the car for a while to send some emails which I couldn’t send from Montrondo due to the lack of mobile internet.  In León Yoigo’s 4G was working perfectly and by 9.30 I was in the restaurant with all the family.

This year there were only 16 of us around the table which is probably the lowest number ever.  There have been times when there were nearly 30 of us.  In any case it was a lovely meal and great to be with the family. 

NYE dinner with part of the family in León 

Just before the chimes I rang Olivia quickly to wish her a Happy New Year.  I did not have the same luck with Suzy as the lines were busy.  Later I was happy to know she had spent the evening in the company of her closest Spanish friends in London such as Mónica and Chati.  Here is a photo of the 3 of them together.

Suzy celebrating NYE in style in London with her Spanish friends

She told me they had organized a dinner at Chati’s house and she had bought crackers. At about 10 they went to a pub to celebrate and at 11 o’clock English time  and 12 o’clock Spanish time they went out into the street to eat their 12 grapes listening to TVE which I thought was a lovely thing to do.

It’s funny but my year ended in León and began there as it has it has nearly every year since we were married.  We left the restaurant at past 1 in the morning and didn’t get to bed in Montrondo till after 2 which is terribly late for me.  On 1^st January 2015 I woke up at 9 am and after breakfast as the brothers cleaned the house ready to leave at 12, I went on my last walk to Senra and back.  This time I carried a pack of sugar free polos to give to my new equestrian friends.  Really I should have taken lumps of sugar or bits of bread but I didn’t have the former and didn’t think of the latter.

As we left the house just after 12 I asked Eladio to stop the car for me to say my proper goodbye to the horses.  This time José Antonio joined me whilst Eladio took photos of us.  As soon as I approached the fence, all three horses came to enjoy the polo mints from our hands. 

Saying goodbye to my new equestrian friends in Montrondo with José Antonio

On our way home we stopped at the Parador in Benavente where José Antonio treated us to lunch.  As usual we enjoyed the chick peas from Fuentesauco “garbanzos”.  Here is a photo of the two brothers at the Parador.

The two brothers enjoying lunch on New Year's Day at the Parador in Benavente

We were home by 6 and glad to see that everything was in order at home.  You see it was the first time we were leaving our new home help Gema alone at home with my Father.  Thankfully she passed the test.  She has now been with us for a month and will be staying on permanently, however long permanent means for a maid in our house.  We enjoyed dinner with Miguel and Olivia and we also had time to call Suzy and wish her a happy new year.  She sounded in good spirits.

On Friday we thought it was time to go to Ikea and order all the rest of the furniture we need for the new house in Montrondo.  We have already planned the furniture for the kitchen/dining and lounge area and needed some furniture for the 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.  The task ended up taking till past 4 in the afternoon and giving me a migraine in the process.  We came home and all I could do was to lie down in bed, take more pills which wouldn’t help and breathe in tiger balm. The next day I read in the facebook forum for the 5:2 “fast” diet that a possible remedy for migraines is salt.  I read this article and shall certainly be trying it out next time I have a strong headache.

I was a bit better by 7 pm so we went to do the food shopping.  I must say I miss doing the shopping with our previous home help Fátima as she took care of everything especially loading the car, unloading it and putting everything away once back home.  Because of my headache we skipped on dinner out on Friday night and just went to bed early.

Yesterday was Saturday and I woke up headache-free thank goodness.  I was full of energy and our morning was particularly productive and efficient.  I was up at 7.30, had my breakfast and went for my hour long walk, after which I prepared lunch whilst Eladio washed both dogs.  We then went out to buy lottery tickets for the next big Spanish lottery called “El Niño” (the child) which is drawn on 5^th January and which actually gives more prize money than the Christmas lottery “El Gordo”.  Whilst Eladio was buying the tickets I went to the post office.  When he told me later he had spent 280 euros I was aghast.  We could win a fortune but of course we won’t.  However dreaming is free so this morning on my walk I thought about what we would do if we won a million euros! 

After buying the lottery tickets we drove to Centro Oeste shopping centre to buy a new coffee machine and also buy a present for each member of the family for Kings’ Day on 6^th January, the last festive day of the season.  In Spain “Reyes” is just as important or more than Father Christmas and Centro Oeste was packed. 

In the afternoon I finished Child 44 and then after our second walk I decided to start on the Downton Abbey Christmas special 2014 which had arrived the previous day.  I would have preferred to binge watch it but I had to make dinner so now I have the second half to look forward to watching this afternoon.

Suzy meanwhile was biking her way around London with Gabor and friends.  I’m not sure where they went but judging from the pictures the bikes were hired in the centre of the city.  They were lucky with the weather and must have had a great time.

Suzy cycling with Gabor and friends yesterday in London

And today is Sunday and to quote my Father “blog day”.  As soon as I finish this post I shall start making lunch for everyone (English fish and chips today!).  In the afternoon you will not be surprised to know I will be going on my second walk and will be joined by Eladio and the dogs.

I must also mention that today I found out that my friend Javier, who is an avid reader of my blog, has published a book which as soon as I heard, I bought for my kindle.  It is entitled "Apósteles Intrépidos: Jóvenes que (además) creen en Dios" (intrepid apostles: Young people who, also, believe in God) and is dedicated to his youngest daughter who just recently announced to her parents that she did not want to be confirmed.  I shall be reading it with great interest.  Well done Javier, I’m very proud of you.

The book my friend Javier has just published and which I shall be reading very soon

So I have finished telling you about this week, but I haven’t quite finished this post. As it is the first post of the year, I would like to make a quick reflection and summary of what this year has been like; my farewell to 2014 which all in all has treated us very nicely.

As I said earlier, 2014 as always started in León with Eladio’s family.  The year will be remembered in the news for the Ukraine issue, the Islamic State, Ebola in Africa and its repercussions in Europe as well as the silly ice bucket challenge.  In football terms it was the year Real Madrid won “la décima” (the tenth time it won the Champions League).

For me it will be remembered for some significant birthdays.  Suzy turned 30, my Father turned 95 and Eladio, my gorgeous looking husband became 70 in September which seems unbelievable as he doesn’t look a year older than say 55! In 2014 perhaps our most exciting project was starting the rebuilding on the house in Montrondo.  It will also be remembered for quite a few trips; two to Stockholm, one to Lithuania, two to London to be with Suzy, as well as visits to Santander and Barcelona and days away with Eladio to Soria, Santiago and Doñana.  We also entertained friends from abroad. Kathy and Phil came to see us in March, Adele and Sandie and their partners came in May and Keith and Lorraine came in June.  The summer was super with time spent in Santa Pola with our friends Sandra and Jeffer and in Montrondo. 2014 was also the year Olivia changed jobs, leaving TVE after 8 years and joining Aquí en Madrid a programme made by Boomerang for Telemadrid. It was the year the King of Spain abdicated and Olivia had the privilege of reporting on the story the very day the new programme went live. It was the year of our 31^st wedding anniversary, the year my Father had a tumour removed from his bladder successfully and on a professional level it was the year I was voted best communications director in the sector. All in all it has been a good year.  I can only hope that 2015 will be just as good.  I do not want to be greedy and ask for anything more. I know I am a lucky person living a wonderful life and should not ask for more.  If I had to ask for anything it would just be health. If I could squeeze in another request it would be to finish the building of our house in Montrondo in a satisfactory way but I think that is a given.

So my friends, all that remains now is to thank you for following my life, for reading my posts every week and of course to wish you all a great 2015. 

Cheers till next week

Masha

“El Gordo” the biggest lottery in the world, a tragedy in Glasgow, Olivia interviews the family, our Christmas, Gael is born and other stories.

Saturday 27th December 2014

The four of us on Christmas Day

Hi everyone,

Here I am writing this week’s post on Saturday instead of Sunday.  That’s because tomorrow is Suzy’s last day with us and I don’t want to miss a minute of it.  Both girls will be out for lunch today with the “manada” with whom they will be spending the day. Thus now is the perfect time to write.

I left off last Sunday.  The sports news that day was that Real Madrid was the club world champion for those of you interested in football.  The girls had a long lunch with the manada and the kitchen was invaded from about midday to midnight.  Here is a photo of the whole group of them around our dining room table.

The "manada" at our house last Sunday

Sunday of course was the start of the winter and it was the longest night of the year, the winter solstice.  Thankfully now the days will start to get longer.  In any case we have been blessed with sunshine since Suzy came and I’m sure she appreciates it, as she surely has enjoyed the extra two hours of sun each evening.  Dusk in London is just before 4 in the afternoon whereas the sun sets here at about 6pm.

On Monday I fasted and went for my two walks as usual.  Suzy has been joining me on many of them.  I was also busy with the issue of a joint press release with Ericsson to announce our renewed contract for managed services of our network.  I spent some of my time making food for Christmas Eve and would continue doing so the next day too.  Oli was ill with a nasty cold which she still has.  However she was well enough to give me a helping hand with the croquettes and perushki (little Russian meat pies). 

Monday 22^nd December is a very important date in Spain. It’s when the Christmas lottery “el gordo” is drawn.  It is the biggest lottery in the world and it is typical to buy tickets for your friends and family.  Unlike other lotteries there is not just one jack pot but several prizes and the winnings are distributed amongst thousands of people.  A “décimo” (a tenth of a ticket) which is what most people buy costs 20 euros and if your number coincides with the first prize you win 400.000 euros. For the first time ever I know someone who won this year.  Well done Javi, I’m very pleased for you. Eladio won a modest 180 euros which he immediately went to spend on the next biggest lottery in Spain, “El niño” (the child) which is drawn on 5^th January.  Many people in all parts of Spain were celebrating winning El Gordo on Monday.  We have never won a significant amount but as I heard one winner say on the television; “if you don’t buy a ticket you don’t win”.  So we shall try our luck again next year as we do every year.

People queuing up to buy a lottery ticket for El Gordo

In Scotland on Monday no one was celebrating; instead they were mourning their dead after a dustbin lorry lost control and crashed into pedestrians in George Square killing 6 people.  3 of them came from the same family.  From what I have read it seems the lorry driver had a heart attack.

The Glasgow bin lorry crash

On Tuesday I spent some quality time with Suzy.  We went to do the Christmas food shopping and Tuesday was the first time the five of us had lunch alone together for a very long time.  It was lovely to see all of my immediate family around the table.

Wednesday was Christmas Eve which in Spain is as important as Christmas day or more.  Their main Christmas meal is on the evening of the 24^th.  In our house we respect both the Spanish and English traditions.  Olivia was back to work that day, although she was still suffering from a bad cold.  She was doing a report on the use of credit cards at a shopping centre not far from where we live, Gran Plaza 2 in Las Rozas.  We decided to go and see her there which we did only to find out that she wanted to use all three of us for her report. We were not to be interviewed by her as  her family but as "spontaneous shoppers". In a way we would be helping her as it is always difficult to persuade passersby to volunteer and talk to a TV camera.  I was very eager to be interviewed by my daughter and was the perfect candidate as my purse is bursting to the seams with credit cards and shop receipts.  Suzy and Eladio were more reluctant but enjoyed the experience in the end. In these three photos you can see Olivia interviewing us.  The report came out yesterday and you can see it on this link at the beginning if you go to where it says 19.33h on the screen.

Olivia interviewing Suzy

Olivia interviewing her father

Olivia interviewing me

On the topic of interviews, there is a huge issue in the news around a film made by Sony Pictures called “The Interview” which is a parody of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.  About 10 days ago Sony’s computers were hacked which led to the Hollywood studio cancelling the release of the film.  The US blamed North Korea for the cyberattack.  Then the latter suffered an internet outage (although that wouldn’t have affected much of the population as internet is the privilege of very few in that cruel country) for which North Korea blamed the US.  Perhaps the original cyberattack was not a good idea as it gave the film much more publicity than it would ever have and now the whole world can see it for free as Sony has decided to release it on internet in a stand to defend freedom of speech.  I am certainly going to watch it to see what all the fuss is about.  You can too if you go to this link.

The film by Sony which was cyberattacked

I spent most of the afternoon finishing preparations for our Christmas Eve meal which was to consist of what we call in our family “a bits and bobs meal”: potato salad, lobster salad, bacon rolls, “perushki” (little Russian meat pies), croquettes and foie.  There was to be no proper dessert as we would be eating “turrón” (Spanish nougat eaten only at Christmas) and chocolates.  Suzy made her own vegan variety of food and this is what the table looked like.

Our table on Christmas Eve

The best moment was the cracker moment and here is a fun selfie we took of the five of us.  It was difficult to take it as we were laughing so much and had glasses of champagne in our hands, including Olivia’s who was the photographer of the moment.

The cracker moment selfie

We all read out the jokes which were better than the presents inside the crackers.  Here is Grandpa reading out his with his magnifying glass which we thought was hilarious.

My 95 year old Father reading his cracker joke with a magnifying glass on Christmas Eve

One of the best was: “why did the doughnut worker leave his job?  Because he was fed up with the “hole” business.

Later we played trivial, the girls against the parents.  When Miguel joined us they were leading but it was late so we decided to go to bed.  The next item on the Christmas agenda was to fill the girls’ stockings and put them outside their bedrooms. This has been a tradition for me since I was a child and I always threaten to put an end to it but the girls always insist.  So once again there were stockings for the girls.

On Christmas day I was woken up by Olivia at 7 in the morning.  She had gone into Suzy’s room to open the presents in the stockings and I joined them.  I think it is the first time I have ever seen them opening them.  I was not allowed to take a photo though as the girls were in their pyjamas.

Next came breakfast which I prepared with loving care in the dining room with our best china.  I had bought some croissants the day before and this is what the table looked like. 

Breakfast on Christmas morning

After breakfast it was time to open our presents. There seemed to be so many this year and it is always the moment we all look forward to most at Christmas.  As Miguel was with us I asked him to take the traditional photo of Eladio and I just before starting.  This is the result:

Eladio and I on Christmas Day just before opening the presents

Later he took one of me with my girls to remember the occasion. I love it.

With my girls on Christmas Day whilst opening our presents

I think we were all very pleased with our presents.  Amongst many other things I got a lovely white handbag by Michael Kors.  One of my presents to Eladio was a traditional duffel coat which looks great on him.

My lovely new handbag from my Father and Eladio

Both Suzy and I coincided by giving selfie sticks which we had both bought on Amazon.  It turned out mine worked better on our phones and I felt sorry for Suzy.  I think the selfie stick has probably been one of the most popular Christmas gifts this year.  However I am not very impressed with mine. It’s a bit heavy so the phone moves and you end up with slightly blurred photos. 

I spent the rest of the morning making the Christmas lunch which would be a traditional English Christmas day meal, except that I substitute turkey for a special chicken which I think is called “pullet” in English.  The trimmings were: cranberry sauce, sage and onion stuffing, sprouts, peas and carrots, roast potatoes and gravy. The girls’ friend Juli joined us as he does most years and the photo illustrating this week’s blog is of the four of us around the table at lunch on Christmas Day.

Of course we went for a walk in the afternoon to work off some of the excess.  Later we watched a film with the girls in the lounge with the fire on.  Unfortunately the film was not very good but it was nice to be together.

And yesterday was Boxing Day which is not celebrated here. However Olivia had the day off for once.  We decided to go to the shops to return or exchange some of the gifts the girls got and were joined by Miguel.  It was a lovely morning together.  Once again in the evening Eladio and I enjoyed the fire in the lounge together with the dogs and watched a film, another disappointing one.

For the records yesterday was also the 10^th anniversary of the 2004 Tsunami which hit 13 countries and killed 280.000 people.  Who does not remember seeing the news on Boxing Day in 2004 of this terrible natural disaster?

And today is Saturday, Suzy’s last day with us.  As I said the girls have gone off to have lunch with the “manada”.  The news of the day though is that Gael was born early this morning.  Gale is the first son of Juan, Eladio’s godson and son of José Antonio and Dolores. His wife Cristina gave birth to their first grandchild early this morning after being admitted to hospital yesterday.  So we have a new Christmas baby in the family.  If Cristina is recovered by tomorrow we plan to go and see the new baby on our way to taking Suzy to the airport.  I do hope Suzy gets to see her cousin’s baby before she returns to London.  Welcome Gael to the Freijo family and to the world. No pictures I’m afraid as I have seen one but wouldn’t dare to publish it here without permission.

It has been a lovely family Christmas which is not over yet of course. There is still New Year’s Eve to come.  We shall be going to Montrondo on Monday to join José Antonio and, hopefully Dolores too.  Eladio is keen to see the progress on the new house.  On Wednesday we shall travel by car to León to have dinner with the family at Amancio a restaurant in the city which is where we usually celebrate the New Year.  But of course I shall be telling you all about that next week.

Meanwhile my friends I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season and I wish you all a great new year.

Cheers till next week

Masha

Goodbye Fátima, hello Gema. Little “Yoigo” part of the team, the longest train in the world arrives in Madrid full of Christmas presents, personal shopping at Ikea and a break in in my car, parties in Madrid, Queen Fabiola of Belgium’s funeral, Christmas came to our house and other things.

Sunday 14th December 2014

Christmas came to our house on Saturday

Hi everyone, we are well into December now and the weather has been awful.  It’s raining hard right now so I have put off my walk until later.  So here I am writing this week’s post.

Last Monday was a national holiday in Spain and even Oli had a holiday. Even though it was a holiday I woke up early.  My body clock is programmed for me to wake up between 7 and 7.30.  It was a cold and frosty morning but at least the sun was shining on my walk.

It was a cold frosty but sunny walk on Monday morning

That day I took some time to do some Christmas shopping online as well as make and order a family desk top calendar which I make every year.  Monday felt very much the aftermath of the two big events I had the week before, the press conference and the big Christmas party to launch our new image.  You can see the photos of the former here and the photos of the latter here too.

On Monday Fátima came with her two children, Sara aged 10 and Omar aged 6.  She brought with her our new home help Gema and the idea was for her to show Gema the ropes.

Fátima our home help with her children.  It was sad to say goodbye to her on Monday

In the end Fátima has sorted out her problem of working with us and leaving the children at home alone by deciding to go and live in France with her sister Oufa, our previous home help.  They will be going at the end of this month.  We will sincerely miss dear sweet and troubled Fátima who has looked after my Father so lovingly.  I wish her lots of luck in her new life.  Hopefully we shall see her before she goes.

On Tuesday I fasted and went into a meeting at Yoigo.  Meanwhile Olivia went into work and took with her one of the “bunches” of sweets we had made for the events.  Her colleagues were delighted that I had “sweetened” their morning.

The Yoigo bunch of sweets Olivia took to work on Tuesday morning

Tuesday of course was Gema’s first day on her own.  She is 52 and has 6 children, all grown up, three live in Morocco and three live in Spain.  She wears a headscarf and on Monday was wearing red leggings and looked very strange.  It must be difficult for her to get to know our huge house.  She made quite a few mistakes the first day, such as misplacing the Emma Bridgewater sugar bowl which finally turned up with the olive oil.  I had asked her to make a salad and a fruit salad and was aghast when I saw she had put the avocado in the latter rather than the former.  Then I found the ice cream we had had for lunch in the fridge rather than the deepfreeze.  However her attitude is great and she seems to clean quite quickly.  I think she needs time to settle in.  Let’s see how she gets on this week.

On Wednesday the longest train in the world arrived in Madrid from China. The “Yixinou” express left the city of Yiwu in Eastern China on November 18^th, passing through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany and France.  The journey was 13.000km long and five times as long as the Orient Express.  It came piled high with Christmas presents and arrived yesterday 21 days after it departed China.  It will return to China filled with Spanish produce such as cured ham, olive oil and wine.  It made quite a sensation in the media.  The Times wrote that the train took 10 days less than a ship would have done which I found a bit funny as Madrid is nowhere near the sea.

The longest train in the world which arrived in Madrid on Wednesday

Meanwhile I went off to a meeting in Madrid with members of my team from the events agency QuintaEsencia and PR agency Ketchum.  I took the time before the meeting to go to an English shop in Madrid called “Living in London” to buy Christmas fare such as crackers, cranberry sauce, sage and onion stuffing as well as two boxes of Thornton’s milk chocolates.

At our meeting we were joined by “little Yoigo”, the new company mascot whose carer is Gloria who is one of the owners of QuintaEsencia.  Here she is at the meeting with her sister Bea with the puppy in her arms.

Gloria (left) and Bea at our meeting in Madrid on Wednesday with "Little Yoigo" who is another member of our team

 Little Yoigo is like another member of our team. Wherever Gloria goes, the puppy goes too.  I can’t wait until we find one for us.

After our meeting we went off to have lunch at El Almirante de Bogavante to celebrate the success of the events the week before.  Here is a photo of all of us around the table.

Lunch with my two teams on Wednesday in Madrid

 On Thursday Eladio and I had an appointment at Ikea to go on a personal shopping expedition for all the items in the kitchen come dining room and lounge for our house in Montrondo that Raquel and her team from A Doble Altura had designed for us.  Raquel’s company offers personalized interior decoration services to Ikea customers at Ikea in San Sebastián de los Reyes, the only service of this kind in the whole of Spain.  We had a great time going around with Paula choosing all the elements of the room they had designed.

When we came out and opened our car we saw that someone had broken the smaller triangular back window and broken into the car.  The back seats were full of broken glass and Eladio’s burberry coat had been stolen.  It was not a nice sight.

We had to make a police report because hopefully the insurance will cover the loss of the coat which cost us over 1000 euros a couple of years ago.  That took up most of the afternoon. Thankfully, as the car is a company car, the window will be replaced and I won’t have to worry.  But that day we learned a lesson; that is never to leave anything visible in the car when you park it.

On Wednesday evening I was going to the annual TecNavidad Christmas party organized by the telecoms press and which is sponsored by all the companies in the sector including Yoigo.  Its main purpose is to raise funds for charity but it is also a great occasion for people from the sector to get together. It was starting at 9.30 pm so I had plenty of time to get ready.  Then suddenly on Facebook I saw an open invitation to an after work drinks event at Casa Carolo where we did our press conference and which is partly owned by Bea, one of the three sisters who own our events agency, QuintaEsencia.  There and then I decided to go and join them before going to “TecNavidad”.

I couldn't resist this invitation on Thursday evening

 As I never usually go out in the evening Bea and her sisters were amazed and I think pleased that I turned up.  Little Yoigo was there too and I spent most of my time there with him in my arms. 

Soon it was time to go to the other event where I would be joined by my colleague Belén who is a lawyer at Yoigo but also the head of Corporate Social Responsibility.  It was nice to see familiar faces and greet them in an informal atmosphere.  We didn’t stay long as we were very hungry and in the end decided to go back to Casa Carolo and have some dinner.  Here is a girly photo taken there.  It was a really nice evening.

At Casa Carolo on Thursday evening - I am holding "little Yoigo" in my arms

 On Friday I took my car into the office to be serviced and for the back window to be mended.  I was lent a lovely Range Rover to use until I get my own car back.  It was going to be our toy this weekend although we haven’t used it much.

That night we decided on La Txitxarrerría for our Friday evening dinner out.  They have a great menu but I always choose the meat which I think is superb.  Here I am with a nice glass of cider about to attack my meal.

Dinner at La Txitxarrería on Friday evening

On Friday in Brussels the state funeral for Queen Consort Fabiola took place. The popular Spanish Queen of Belgium who died aged 86 on 5^th December reigned for 33 years and was born in Madrid in 1928.  Her full name was Fabiola Fernanda María de las Victorias Antonia Adelaida but everyone called her plain Fabiola.  She was the wife of Baudouin, the King of the Belgians who died in 1993.  The couple did not have children so the crown passed to her husband’s younger brother King Albert II.  I was happy to hear there was a Spanish flavor at her funeral in the Belgian capital at the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula.  Her cousin Blanca Ahumanda played the castanets while the choir sang the “Salve Rociera” a hymn of praise to the Virgin of the Dew (Virgen del Rocío), the most popular virgin in Andalucia. I later read that this had been at the request of the Dowager Queen before she died.  I didn’t know much about this Spanish Belgian Queen but was interested to read about her linguistic skills.  Apparently she was fluent in French, Dutch, English, German and Italian as well as her native Spanish; something quite unusual for a Spaniard as the people in this country are not renowned for their skills in learning languages. Fabiola was obviously the exception.

Queen Fabiola in her hay day

 On Saturday I was finally able to dedicate some time to our own Christmas. I was up early as always and went for my early morning walk before the rain came.  Saturday was an important day too for Gema who was to shower my Father for the first time. It was to be her baptism of fire.  I came home to find she had taken him upstairs and given him breakfast but for some reason hadn’t showered him. Thus she had to take him up again and Eladio and I waited outside with baited breath just in case he fell.  Thankfully all went well and we were so relieved.

Olivia and I later went Christmas shopping.  This was my first physical Christmas shopping expedition as I have done a lot of it online already.  We went to Decathlon and then to El Corte Inglés.  In a single morning I got everything I needed to get for Eladio and my Father.  We came home to have the chicken curry I had prepared earlier.  Meanwhile Eladio had brought up all the Christmas decorations and had put up the tree and the lights.  It would be up to me to do the rest.  I started on the rest on my  own whilst everyone else was having a siesta and then suddenly decided to stop as it was very sad to do it on my own.  Also I have a nasty cold at the moment so decided to have a siesta too and then get Eladio and Olivia to help me with the rest of the decorating later.

When we got up I put on some Christmas carols, Olivia decorated the tree, I put up other decorations and put candles in their place whilst Eladio stuck the lovely Swedish paper cutouts on some of the windows.  The lounge looked lovely afterwards and the photo illustrating this week’s blog is of a panoramic view of the lounge.  Here are some more photos of how Christmas came to our house this year.

Some of our Christmas decorations

After our efforts we would have gone for a walk but it was raining heavily.  Thus we decided to watch a film and Olivia and I chose one of several TV dramas I had ordered from Amazon this year.  We chose The Fall and we binge watched nearly all of it until midnight, only stopping to have dinner.  It’s a superb thriller about the hunt for a serial killer in Belfast.  Dinner was a treat as I made pancakes at Olivia’s request.  Here is a photo of Eladio and I tucking in.

Tucking into pancakes last night

 And today is Sunday and the rain continues as I told you at the start of this post.  Thus we prolonged our breakfast in the kitchen together.  I was writing my blog and Eladio and Olivia were reading the news.  Then Olivia rang Suzy and it nearly felt as though she was with us.

Eladio and I at breakfast this morning

 She will be next Sunday and we can’t wait.  But before she comes I have so many things to do workwise, mostly involving the Yoigo children’s party which takes place on Thursday.

Now I have told you all about our week, it is time to publish this post and start thinking about preparing lunch and hope that the rain will remit and we can get some exercise today.  So cheers my friends until next week,

Masha