Lunch with the Nokia girls, to Barcelona for my first press conference as a freelance communications consultant, Oh my God I turned 60, I’m getting a Mini One Clubman, birthday celebrations with the family and other stories

Sunday 12th February 2017

Me on my birthday on Wednesday at the Genaker Press Conference, ready to go.

Hi everyone. 


Well there is lots to tell this week.  It was a milestone as on Wednesday, believe it or  not, I turned 60! It was also a milestone in my  professional life as a fledgling communications consultant when I organized a press conference in Barcelona on the same day for my new customer, Genaker.

But let me start from where I left off on Sunday 5th February. It was a nasty rainy day and I worked most of it.  I can tell you that as a freelance communications consultant I am working much much harder than I ever did in my previous job. But I'm loving it and feeling motivated.  In fact I feel on top of the world.  That day, apart from drafting the Genaker press release in English for the upcoming press conference, I also worked on my website (yes WIP work in progress).  This is what it's looking like now. I am amazed that it already has some 700 page visits! Later in the week, my dear friend Jacky proof read it for me. Thanks my dear that is much appreciated. I also updated my LinkedIn profile and was delighted to get more recommendations.  My next job is to make visiting cards that match the website and my CV!  I have so much to do setting myself up as self employed you can't imagine. 

Monday was the first day for Suzy working for the NHS as a locum dietitian.  We were to hear nothing but good things about her new job.  She is enjoying it tremendously.  It is varied with lots of different tasks and a very nice welcoming team of dietitians.  I am so happy for her.

That morning I had a daunting task and it was to locate European and global telecoms media contacts to send the Genaker press release in English on Wednesday.  I knew about some publications like Euro Comms and Telecom Europe, Crunch and Wireless magazine but that was about it.  I got them mostly from internet but then I was helped by Beth S an ex colleague from Motorola who is now coincidentally working as chief of press for the association Genaker has just become a member of, TCCA - association for "critical communications" for professional users -  who gave me more names of journalists and their emails.  I was very grateful.  So what is critical communications you may ask if you are not a telecoms engineer like me?Well I've been finding out this week.  I thought Genaker was a professional mobile radio company (traditional walkie talkies) but no they are dedicated to "critical communications".  This is mobile communications for emergency and high security type teams where the communication in groups using avant guard solutions for walkie talkie type devices is critical. The strategy in this field is for the devices to be similar to smartphones but with a button for groups to talk to at the same time (push to talk, "PTT") and even using 4G networks. So what happens when there is little coverage I wondered.? Well, their traffic or use of voice is prioritised above all other users and the operators running the networks have to include something called "quality of service" whereby communication is guaranteed for emergency like teams. Have I explained myself?  I hope so.  So now I am hearing terms like "Mission critical communication solutions" and "Business critical communiation solutions".  No it's nothing like the walkie talkies that the police force, etc. traditionally use.   Not easy to communicate right? Well, here I am trying hahaha. I was to find there was even a magazine called Radio Resource Mission Critical Communications and I was delighted to see they ran our news on Wednesday in this article!!

I had a break from work, although my time was limited and I was on the run all day. On Monday I had a lunch appointment with my group of Nokia girls; a pre birthday celebration really.  Not everyone could come but that day I was joined by Juana, Fátima, Jill, Zenaida and Ana.  Lunch was at El Jardin de la Máquina in Pozuelo.  It used to be La Leyenda but has since been taken over by a new group and they have redone the whole place and it is looking lovely.

And here we are, the "Nokia Girls" having lunch around the table overlooking a beautiful garden.

With the "Nokia girls" at a pre birthday celebration lunch on Monday

The food was good under the new owners. I think we had artichokes and then I had a lovely piece of steak.  None of us was to order a dessert hahaha, until, suddenly a slice of chocolate cake with an M in chocolate drawn on the plate and a candle, appeared on the table. Wow it was for my birthday.

The slice of birthday cake in my honour at teh Nokia girls lunch on Monday

There wasn't just the cake, the girls gave me a present too and I was bowled over to open the box and find a beautiful Michael Kors watch. Isn't it just lovely? It was to be the best present I received for my 60th birthday. Thanks girls, I love it!

The beautiful Michael Kors watch my dear Nokia girlfriends gave to me at our lunch on Monday

I stayed on at the restaurant after lunch with Juana who was to help me install outlook or rather create a new account for me.  She is my own private IT assistant these days hahaha. Well, you see, she is a telcoms engineer and it all comes a lot easier to her. But I am extremely grateful for her help. It wasn't easy as the Yoigo one I had was still on my pc and would need removing.  In fact, I needed to get rid of all the Yoigo stuff from it without losing any content or programmes; something I would do on Thursday.

I rushed home after that, with a quick stop at the Corte Ingles, to make the watch strap smaller, and worked until 9pm when Eladio came back from his afternoon classes. I seemed to have so much to do and can hardly keep up with my lists.

Tuesday came and I was off to Barcelona for my first press conference after Yoigo.  I was joined by darling Gloria from QuintaEsencia my events agency who would set up the event itself. My job was all the press part. No way could I have done both on my own with only 3 weeks to prepare. I was to use "cabify" for the first time that day when I booked one of their taxis to the Atocha train station to catch the "Ave" (high speed train).  It's similar to Uber but with the advantage, at least here in Madrid, that you can book a cab in advance and there are plenty of them.

Both Gloria and I worked on the train throughout the 2.5h journey.  We arrived to 17ºc and sunshine in beautiful Barcelona.  We took a taxi to my hotel, the Catalonia Diagonal Centre which I loved. Thanks Miquel for booking me a room there.  The room was big with a very comfortable bed and had a terrace looking out onto the street, Balmes.  It was around lunch time and before our meeting at my new customer's offices at 4pm, we went to have a meal where we always go when in Barcelona; to "Cal Pinxo" by the Port Vell or next to the Palau de Mar right by the sea and port. Being much more weight conscious these days, I didn't order what I would have loved to eat; "fideua" (like paella but made of thin pasta) but had a sort of gazpacho followed by a salad.  And here we are, Gloria and I in the sun enjoying being in Barcelona.

After lunch was my first face to face meeting with Genaker with the CEO and founders, Miquel, Jordi and David all ex Nokia employees.  Gloria joined us and we went over the final materials for the press conference the next day as well as other projects I will be working on for them.  It was so nice to see my ex colleague Miquel who I consider much more a friend than a colleague and I am openly grateful to him for giving me the opportunity to work with him.  He and my second customer gave me the idea of becoming self employed as a freelance communications consultant. But Nokia is in both our hearts and when I spotted a Nokia flag in the meeting room, I had to have a photo with dear Miquel.  And here we are together.

With Miquel my first customer in his offices in Barcelona on Tuesday

Our meeting ended at about 5.30 and I had to rush off to the other end of town where I was meeting Toñi, a freelance journalist friend and her delightful 3 year old toddler.  Toñi has been a faithful friend always coming to my press conferences and events in Barcelona and the next day she would be there too.  Unexpectedly for me, we were joined by another close journalist friend, Carmen who works for a big Catalan newspaper, El Periodico de Cataluña.  I have known them both since my days in Motorola.  Toñi and Carmen have their own media portal called "Gadwoman" (a technological site for women) which I love and I think and hope is doing very well.  It's very fitting that they set it up, as they are both very techy women journalists hahaha. And here is a photo to remember that moment, the 3 of us together in Barcelona last Tuesday.

With Carmen (in the middle) and Toñi (right). Lovely to see them in Barcelona last Tuesday

Before winding down that day or night, I had to work hard contacting journalists to confirm their attendance the next day.  Gloria, helped by Julia from QuintaEsencia who was in town for another customer, did most of the hard work and it wasn't easy.  There are not as many journalists from the technological or economic sectors plus there are many other stories for them to cover. Whey would they find the story of Genaker interesting and come to the press conference if, for example, "Gas Natural" (the big gas company with its HQ in Barcelona) were holding a press conference at the same time the next day. Thankfully though by the end of the day we had a list of 9 journalists, most of them heavyweights. 

Thus I was able to wind down properly at dinner that night.  We chose to go to Acontraluz, a beautiful little place with a super terrace and garden where we had hosted the Yoigo party at the Mobile World Congress in 2015.  We had a lovely dinner reminiscing and telling Julia about all the years we had worked together with Gloria and her sisters Bea and Cristina since the 90's, from Motorola, to Nokia, then to Yoigo and now to Genaker and whoever comes next hahaha. It was lovely to be back at AContraluz and the owner remembered us.  Both Gloria and Julia insisted I have a glass of wine and that we should wait up till midnight for them to be the first to wish me a happy birthday. Their wish was granted and here we are in the taxi going back to my hotel at exactly midnight, when I turned 60.

Midnight on 7th Feb with Gloria and Julia just as the clock struck 12 and I was suddenly aged 60!

The girls hugged and kissed me and then the messages started.  I would not be able to keep up with them until a few days later. 


So suddenly I was 60. Well, I didn't feel any different. In fact I don't think I look 60. Women today at 60 look a lot younger than our mothers or grandmothers did at 60. So I'm just one of the new generation of 60 year old baby boombers and feeling and looking good. I feel more like 40 with boundless energy and so much will power and motivation and I suppose "joie de vivre".  So yes I am 60 and accept it with grace but wonder how it happened and where the years have alk gone. 

On the big day, my 60th and the day of my first press conference as a communications consultant, I woke up at 5 in the morning with a big headache thanks to the wine the night before. I had plenty of time to have breakfast and get ready for my big day.  I was wondering how it would pan out. It was so wierd being in Barcelona on my birthday and I was missing my family with whom I would normally have been enjoying a celebratory breakfast. It was by the way also Jordi's birthday and David's daughter's.  Of course it was also Copi and Juan's birthday too.  I hope they all had great days like me. That morning, alone in my hotel bedroom, I had a present to open.  A little parcel had arrived for me at home a few days earlier with strict instructions not to open until 8th February. So I took it to Barcelona to open that day. My dear friend Jackie had sent me a book "Now we are 60" hahah and a lovely birthday card, both of which you can see in the photo below.



Jacky's original birthday card and book



Yes it was my birthday but my mind was only concentrated on the press conference.  I was worried, yes very worried, the journalists wouldn't turn up and that all our impeccable work organising the press materials and event itself would be for nothing.  It was touch and go mostly because the company Genaker is so little known outside its sector. That would make an awful impression on my new customer and would put any future work with them in jeopardy.

I arrived early at the location, the Restaurante Tuset near my hotel. It was the same place I had organised the Yoigo press conference at the Mobile World Congress in 2015 to launch the "Sinfin" tariff and which had brought me so much luck.

When I got there Gloria and Julia had already set everything up and it was looking beautiful.  All the press kits were arranged on tables for breakfast with "bunches" of tempting looking sweets". It was, by the way, Genaker's first set of merchandising I think.

The press kit for Genaker's first press conference

Miquel, Jordi and David soon arrived and we started a photo shoot using the special photo call we had made for the occasion.  But before we did it, Miquel who had brought his daughters, Laura and Nora along, presented me with a lovely birthday present, a bottle of pink Moet Chandon and a box of Belgian chocolates.  I was very touched. Then the shoot began with me clutching the presents. The photo illustrating this week's post is of me standing by the photo call.  

With my customers, holding the lovely birthday present from Miquel

 

Miquel, my friend, my ex Nokia colleague and now my customer

So everything was set up and we were ready but not one journalist had made an appearance. At 10.25 I was outside on the street with Gloria praying to the heavens they would turn up.  And they did, late of course, as is typical of journalists. One by one they came from El Mundo, Expansión, El Periódico de Cataluña, Netmedia, Gadwoman, La Vanguardia and most important of all; Agencia Efe, the main Spanish news agency.  A newswire from the latter would guarantee coverage in most of Spain's media and it did thank goodness.  Yep we only had 7 but as I said before, they were heavyweights.

The journalists at our press conference

And so it started.  First I welcomed everyone and then introduced the founders of Genaker and the story of the day, then I handed over the microphone to Miquel who did the presentation we had so lovingly made for them.

The press conference begins.

It went well and the news that Genaker , the Spanish mobile communications company, had been awarded an EU 1.3m euro grant for innovation went down well.  The company scored the highest marks out of 2000 competing from all over Europe.  There were plenty of questions and meanwhile I sent out the press release in English to the European media and the Spanish version to my data base.  In parallel we tweeted the news too.

When it was over and the journalists had left, all apart from Elena from the Spanish news agency who was writing her newswire, it was time to leave ourselves.  I was happy with how everything had gone as were my customers which for me, was the main objective.  Miquel invited Julia, Gloria and I for a celebration and birthday lunch. He couldn't have taken us to a better place than One Ocean Club in the Port Vell and literally on top of the sea. It is apparently the most fashionable place to be seen in Barcelona these days and it was new to me.  The sun was shining and lunch was to be wonderful.  Thanks Miquel for taking us there.

At One Ocean club in Barcelona where we had lunch on my birthday

Through the delicious food (I had a thai beef salad followed by scallops and coconut ice cream for dessert!) we talked non stop. I told the story of how I came to live in Spain and met my husband Eladio and Miquel told us his story of how he went to live in Finland, married a Finn and worked for Nokia and his return to Spain.  We talked so much, it was suddenly 4.15 and our train was at 4.30 so we had to rush but thankfully caught it by the skin of our teeth.

Once on board, I started seeing all the online press coverage from the event. Wow that was a thrill.  I spent most of the 2.5h non stop journey trying to send photos from the photo shoot to newspapers.  It was very frustrating as the mobile phone coverage on the train is extremely poor. I would have loved to read and answer all the birthday messages, more than 190 on Facebook and nearly 70 whatsapps but that would have to wait.

We arrived at the Atocha train station at around 7pm and I ordered another efficient Cabify taxi and was home just before 8pm. That day I was wearing the lovely Custo designer dress I had bought after copying Olivia.  Well, guess what?  When I got home I found her wearing hers. It was such a funny moment.  Here we are mother and daughter wearing the same dress on the same day. What a laugh.

Oli and I wearing the same dress on my birthday hahaha

I couldn't believe the amount of presents waiting for me on the sofa in our study/office.  Then Eladio arrived and it was time to open them.  In the middle, my darling Danish princess, Pernille, once our au pair, called me to wish me a happy birthday.  That was the most important call of the day. Thank you my darling. I love you and hope you and Thomas will come to my official 60th birthday party at home in June.

Normally we open our birthday presents at a breakfast birthday together but that was not to be.  There was a very big one I was told came from my events agency QuintaEsencia and oh how lovely it was; a box with the number 60 on it and all the kit they thought a communications consultant would need including a personalised note book and visiting cards, along with a photo of us together, a mug, a big smile sign, an apron and last but not least, an invitation to have lunch on Monday at De María in Majadahonda. I was literally bowled over.  This is what it looked like. They are so creative.  Thank you girls so so so much. I loved the box and all the content.

The beautiful 60th birthday kit from QuintaEsencia

Then I opened Oli's presents, a lovely dress, a belt and a dressing gown.  Of course I knew what Eladio's presents would be as I had bought them myself haha; two mini skirts, a very British red soldier like jacket and 2 jumpers from Zara. I immediately put on the black mini skirt and black jumper with pearls on it for dinner. We would be going to El Buey in Boadilla to celebrate.

Meanwhile however, our very first Airbnb guests arrived, Camilla and Julia from Italy.  This is my Airbnb advert by the way. They were here to do a course on sports physiotherapy as part of their degree at the nearby UEM University where Olivia studied. They were lost, as is not surprising in this maze like neighbourhood, so I grabbed the Yoigo mini and went to find them.

Dinner was good and quiet and it was nice to be alone with Eladio and Oli finally on my 60th birthday. Just Suzy and my Father were missing. That night I was literally exhausted and fell asleep soon although, as usual, the next day, Thursday, I was awake at 6 a.m.

I woke up to more press coverage including the international press which made me so happy.  I couldn't believe just how much there was for such a small company.  Yes, I had achieved my objective of beginning to build their public image. And I hope I can do even more for them.

Just some of the media coverage garnered for Genaker from the press conference

I had loads to do that day, including going to Yoigo for the first time since before I was fired. I had to take in my pc which they had let me keep and it needed being cleared of the Yoigo profile but keeping all the other content which I had. Dear Marius from the IT department did it for me.  It was strange going there again.  A few weeks ago I didn't want to go as I felt so down after being axed but Thursday was different.  I was a new woman with my life on a new path and things looking good. It was just so wonderful to see and greet my favourite colleagues, Dragutin, Antonio, Belén, Tony, Pedro, María, María Luisa, Gonzalo, Ana Isabel, Juan and many more.  In fact I stayed there most of the morning and agreed with many of them that in a couple of weeks time I shall host a goodbye dinner with all of them.  You see Yoigo is still in my heart, the good parts that is, after 10 exciting years.  The first 6 while my ex CEO Johan was there were the very best and I shall always remember them.

I came to have a quick lunch then had to spend time restoring a lot of things on my pc, the centre of my work of course.  I had to install an antivirus and many other things. Thankfully Juana was there on the other end of the phone to help with a problem with opening some of my files.  I also talked to my fiscal advisor and was horrified to hear that as a freelance I would be having to pay 1000 euros per month for social security.  To become one I would have to capitlise the dole but would be a lot worse off for doing so. Being an "autónomo" - self employed - here has few advantages.  So my future is not looking so rosy after all.

On Friday morning it snowed. Amazing right? It was so cold and wet but the snow didn't settle as it never really does in Madrid. At 10 a.m. I had a meeting with Robert, the policeman from Gibraltar.  He had seen me on TV and wanted to sound me out on an idea he has to relocate British companies to Spain after Brexit.  I'm not sure how I can help him apart from offering my communications services which I told him about.  When he left I stayed behind at the lovely Alverán cake shop and ordered my birthday cake for the family celebrations on Saturday. I also bought a tray full of croissants, etc for breakfast the next day.

Then we did something exciting.  Eladio and I went to the BMW showroom in Madrid, the biggest in Spain, to see Luis Felipe, the guy who sells all the cars to Yoigo and from whom we got my now ex BMWX6.  He was so welcoming. I wanted a mini but was also interested in seeing what other cars were on offer; the kilometre 0 types or even second hand ones. He wanted me to buy a BMW Series 1 but I wasn't for it. We went for a basic Mini One but with all the extras; automatic drive, sat nav, rear parking camera, etc.  There were various models and it was Eladio who insisted I get a superior one with all my extras, the Mini One Clubman. It was more expensive than what we had budgeted for but Eladio said I deserved it hahaha. How sweet of him. There and then I gave him a huge hug in the show room in front of all the sales guys. I saw it there in pepper white (sort of ivory) and fell for it. And there and then we ordered it.  It will take 2 months to be delivered. I was delighted. Later I realised that this car would be the first brand new car I had ever bought for myself, as all the others have either been second hand or company cars.  The Mini, still made in Oxford, although by BMW, is such a British car and I think suits me to the tee.  Don't you. This is what it looks like.



On Friday we ordered a brand new Mini One Clubman for me with all the accessories



We were home really late for lunch but happy with our morning.  In the afternoon Eladio went off to his classes and I went on my walk with Pippa.  At about 7.30pm just as I was getting into my pyjamas, Oli rang to ask if I would accompany her to the Centro Oeste shopping centre where she had to buy a black handbag for Copi's birthday from her and Elena and Elena's boyfriend Antuan.  Centro Oeste is a dangerous place to be as there are so many temptations.  We looked for bags but before Oli bought one, we bought clothes at a lovely little boutique called La Provenza. There I fell in love with a pair of skinny jeans covered in pearls. I couldn't believe I could get into them. Oli would be wearing them for Copi's birthday, along with my new watch and several other things of mine too hahaha.  We also got some food for dinner and for my birthday lunch at Carrefour and came home to have a great meal with Eladio. Before we watched Netflix we had a long chat with Suzy thanks to whatsapp and we were so pleased to hear how happy she is with her new job. You deserve it darling. She told me that her new boss called "Pavita" (little turkey in Spanish hahahha) who may be Indian, is very happy with her having said she, Suzy, is very enthusiastic and that they need enthusiastic people in her team of dietitians. She even got her NHS email. Well done my sweetie.

The family birthday breakfast on Saturday morning was as good as it gets. I stuffed my face on croissants, donut, toast with butter and "napolitanas" (a chocolate pastry).  And here I am doing so hahaha.

Saturday morning birthday breakfast

The day was busy. I had to do the food shopping in the morning, pick up my cake and make the lunch.  Lunch was Oli's choice as I just couldn't think what I wanted. It's funny after so much dieting I should have cravings but I don't. In the end we had home made mini hamburgers with chips. Very naughty but very nice. It was accompanied by a vintage bottle of Rioja Ramón Bilbao 2011, all very wow and fitting for the occasion.

Birthday lunch on Saturday

The pièce de résistance was not the wonderful fresh fruit, fresh cream and white chocolate birthday cake from Arvelán but the candles Oli got for it.  Oh my they were fun. Oli took a video of me lighting them which you can see here. It really was a hilarious moment and I love her video of me getting as excited as a child. You see I've always loved fireworks.

The hilarious birthday cake moment yesterday

I hadn't eaten so much in ages and all I wanted afterwards was a long siesta which I got.  I didn't wake up until 5.30.  I worked for while until Oli came back from the hairdresser when we went on a much needed walk together with Pippa.

Last night we started watching Season 2 of Happy Valley on Netflix, the detective series set in my beloved Yorkshire and starring Sarah Lancashire. I think we watched 2 episodes and then fell asleep.

I was up early again this morning, although slightly later than usual, at 6.25.  The Italian girls were leaving and I offered to drive them to the University as it was raining and they needed to be on time for an exam that morning.  By car it's a 5 to 10 minute drive but by bus it is a lot longer. They told me they would be back as they loved the room, our house, the dogs and said I was very kind. Well that was nice and it's good to know I shall have them again as guests. They were my first airbnb guests and just the sort I would like to host.

And today is 12th February, a significant date in my mind. It was my brother George's birthday or would have been as he sadly passed away of melanoma in 2001.  Poor George, I just wish he had been as lucky as me but he wasn't. He lives on in my heart as he does in my Father's. I will be remembering him all day.

I don't want to leave on a sad note, so let me tell you that today we shall be having lunch with Benito and Loli, our friends from the days we first came to live in Madrid.  We look forward to it.

And I am looking forward to another busy week which will start with a lunch with QuintaEsencia on Monday. Of course you will hear all about it in next week's post.

So, cheers till next Sunday everyone,

All the best/Masha

My new website and first new client, goodbye to my company car and Oli's first new car, hello Dilan Alexander and other stories.

Sunday 5th February 2017

My new website http://mashalloyd.es

Hi everyone,

Oh my God what a week it has been for me, very busy and emotionally draining but I will come to that later.

It would have been an emotionally and physically draining day for the 2 kings of tennis on Sunday, Rafa Nadal and Rogerer Federer. They played the final in the Australian Open and it was very close.  The Swiss gentleman won in the end but in a 5 set match.  Well done for him although I was sorry for Rafa.

It was a wet day here and quiet too, the perfect day to set up my new website. This is something very necessary for my new life as a freelance communications consultant.  I did not know where or how to start so just googled "build your own website". I took first choice and that was www.simplesite.com. It was pretty easy but not cheap by the way. I have been working on it on and off all week and have come to realise its design and structure restrictions.  This is it by the way, now nearly finished but not quite. I managed to get http://www.mashalloyd.es  You see this is what they call WIP in the corporate world hahaha and it means "work in progresss". 

I got lots of feedback; one to include more images which I am doing and the other on the technical aspects.  It seems I haven't chosen a good website builder for many reasons so I will probably migrate to wordpress which I have been told is easy to use and more google friendly as well as less restrictive.  Oh well it was a lesson.  

I managed to get in my 2 walks of the day, one with Eladio and the dogs. It was borsch for lunch made by Zena our Ukranian weekend carer which was delicious.

On Tuesday I wasn't the only one up at the crack of dawn. Oli and Miguel were up too at 6 in the morning as Oli had to travel to Cáceres that day. She was going to film a castle there for her upcoming programme on Mi Camara y Yo about palaces and castles for sale, a very tricky subject as there don't seem to be many of them.

Oli filming on location in Cáceres this Tuesday

Meanwhile I spent most of the day working on my master media and journalist list.  I had many all over the place but not up to date and ready to use.  This list of course is my know how and part of my professional assets, one of the most important.  I also worked on the presentation for the upcoming press conference in Barcelona next week. I can now tell you I am collaborating with a company called Genaker which is actually a spin off of the Nokia R+D centre in Barcelona headed up by the nicest engineer in the world Miquel T.  At the moment I am living and dreaming Genaker and doing it all alone. I have Miquel to thank for that and it means I'm so busy I have little time to mourn losing my job. I feel so happy and motivated I can hardly believe this is happening to me.

My first "client" is Genaker. 

If you are wondering what they do, they sell professional mobile secure communications; i.e. walkie talkie systems and devices to all sorts of sectors and in 15 countries by the way. The one that most comes to mind of course are the police forces and similar.  Theirs is a new world but not entirely foreign to me as when I worked at Nokia they sold similar products. The future for this industry is walkie talkie enabled mobile phones working on 4G networks with no need for any other infrastructure.  

Working on the press conference may sound easy but it's not and now I have only myself to rely on when in the past I had a press agency, Ketchum to do the groundwork; write the draft press release, q+as, presentation, make up the media list, send the invitation, do the confirmations, then on the day post the news on social media and send out the press release nationally to hundreds of journalists and then of course the media report with all the clippings.   All I had to do before was supervise and turn up on the day. For me it was a bit daunting to suddenly have to do everything myself, a real challenge.  But I am doing it and quite well too. All I need now is for lots of journalists to turn up at the event and for lots of journalists to write articles. The event is going to fall on my birthday, OMG my 60th by the way. That's a bit unfortunate but there was no other date available.

In the afternoon I had a phone call from, yes, a policeman, from Gibraltar of all places.  Robert had seen me in the Undercover Boss TV programme and found me on LinkedIn.  He wants to meet me to talk about an idea he has for a new business.  I don't think I'm the right person but we'll see when we meet next week in Madrid.  He rang me from a boat by the way hahahah. 

I got yet another stab in the back that afternoon with a phone call from HR from MásMóvil, the company that has bought up Yoigo and made me redundant.  They want my lovely BMW X6 company car back. Well of course they do but that leaves me without a car.  In the agreement they had promised to give me another car to use until 10th March which should give me time to buy one myself.  But they offered me a bl**** hugely Yoigo branded Mini which just turned my stomach.  I mean if I want to leave Yoigo behind and go on to the next step in my life the last thing I want is a car with a huge logo of the company that just fired me.  I protested but was told there was no other car available. I wonder. 

On Tuesday I spent the whole day at home working on the press conference documents. That day there was yet another article about me being made redundant - I can't get away from my association with Yoigo. Well, after all it was 10 years there and I was a founding employee who put her heart and soul into building the brand. Some people tell me I was the soul of Yoigo and I think I possibly was.  I didn't really like the article. Here it is by the way. As I was making dinner that night I saw and read that they had a huge problem with their network which according to some articles had crashed.  I wonder how they dealt with that communications wise. 

That night I slept really badly. In fact it was the second night in a row where I only got about 4 hours sleep. Despite taking sleeping tablets I think I am so raring to go and so hyperactive with so much on my mind that it's nearly impossible to relax.  

One of the reasons I didn't sleep well was that the next day I was facing the "theatre" of court, or rather settlement with Yoigo out of court. Whatever the thing - here it's called SMAC (servicio de mediacion, arbitraje y conciliación) and it's not a nice place to have to go to.  I had to be there to meet my lawyer and another colleague at 8.15.  So I had to get up at the unearthly hour of 5.30.  I would be using my lovely BMW X6 for the last time that day as after the SMAC I had to give it in.  

It was Wednesday 1st February, not the best start to the month I can tell you.  It was to be my first time in court in over 25 years, the last time being when I left Motorola.  But in that case I had the nicest lawyer in the world, Iñigo Sargadoy.  The appointment at the court was much harder than I had thought. They made a huge mix up with the text of my agreement where they included a figure of one of my colleagues instead of mine who, by the way, was getting double what I was. They had to change it. Then there was a fight over a clause and I just felt I was doing more to defend myself than my lawyer.  Sorry but I'm not impressed with him.  He got rather uppity with me which was hardly the thing to do if I was his client and was going through what I was going through. He later stated that his work had been impeccable. I disagree as he has not been able to change one iota of the terms but I wanted to avoid any confrontation and didn't say anything. No doubt his fees will be enormous at 170 euros an hour but I don't think he is worthy of them.  

Like a lamb to slaughter on Wednesday 1st February - at court

Once out of that ghastly place and with a curt goodbye to the lawyers, I rushed to take the metro to Colonia Jardin. From there I would drive home to pick up Eladio and we would go together to take back my BMW which we will sorely miss.  Just as I was approaching home, he was coming back from his walk. He took this photo of me, the last time I was to drive my company car.

Me driving my lovely BMWX6 for the last time on Wednesday

I was not looking forward to giving it in, nor meeting the HR people who would take it away and lend us the Mini with the huge logo. I have only driven automatic cars in the last 8 or so years and knew it would take some time to get used to a manual one again. I shall very much miss the parking camera and fantastic sat nav system.  Eladio drove us back in the mini which I felt rather hostile to. Don't get me wrong, I love minis and am even thinking of buying one as my new car, I just hate the huge logo on it. 

My "new car" for the next month - what a joke

I came home to have a super quick lunch with the men and then carry on with my work. That afternoon I had to send out the online invitation to journalists one by one, all of them in Barcelona. It was pretty difficult to do so on gmail and I really must get outlook for work purposes.  Here, my dear friend, Juana, who works at Microsoft, the makers of outlook, will help me once again. I love her support both emotional and technical.

This by the way is the invitation I was sending. I was hoping the catch of the company being a spin off of the Nokia R+D centre and its success story with its products would work. 

The invitation to the press conference next week

Well it seemed to, judging by some of the responses.  Others were not successful as lots of the mails bounced back, possibly because of using gmail - it would either not be delivered as it would be considered spam. That's why I definitely need outlook. I worked hard all afternoon, living and dreaming Genaker haha.  Pippa was faithfully tucked up in the corner of the sofa next to my desk which you can see looks very busy hahaha.

Working hard

On Thursday I worked hard all day on the upcoming press conference. I took a break, however, when one my best friends  came to see me.  It's very sad to have to tell you she has just been diagnosed with colon cancer which has spread. This week coming she will be starting on chemotherapy.  What can I say except that I am heart broken for her. I did my best to cheer her up but that wasn't easy.  She is being very strong. I cannot mention her name because there are members of her family who do not know her situation and I do not want them to find out here.  She will have my full moral and physical support. What else can I offer her? God life is a bitch sometimes. The next day would be International Cancer Day and I would be more sensitive to it compared to other years because of my friend.

The day ended well, however, when Oli and Miguel came home bringing Oli's first new car. It is the first car she has bought herself after the Seat Córdoba was a write off due to the recent accident. And here she is just a few minutes after going to collect her new Ford Focus.

Oli and her new car. Congratulations darling

That night Eladio and I watched a film on Netflix called Child 44. It is set in Stalin's Russia in the 50's and is a chilling mystery story. I had read the book and was riveted by the film. Eladio liked it too as it was our sort of genre. 

A good film to watch on Netflix

On Friday I finally tried out the Yoigo Mini.  I was a bit hesitant as I hadn't driven a manual car for years.  I went up and down our local streets and soon got the hang of it.  It's very nice, apart from the bl**** logo but oh how I miss my wonderful BMW X6. There is no comparison. 

Oli meanwhile was in another car, her cameraman's and they were off to a village in the province of Zaragoza. That day she was to film a castle on sale. The 78 year old doctor who owns it lives in Italy and had flown over especially for the TV report. He is mad about castles and has quite a few. Oli told me he was selling it to fund a hospital he wants to build for the poor in Nepal. He sounded a nice guy until I heard he was on to his 3rd wife who is 30 years younger than him. Quite a personality it seems. Here he is with Oli outside the castle he is selling.

Oli with the owner of the castle for sale in the province of Zaragoza.

The one in question is on sale for 900.000 euros if you are interested.  It was built in the 15th century, above a 10th century chapel and the owner has restored it completely inside and out with furnishings and decor of the 15th and 16th century. What he has not put in is central heating so if you want to buy it and live there you might contemplate putting it in hahahaa.

That morning we were in shock when we heard from one of Eladio's brothers, Alejandro that his wife, Carolina was about to give birth.  Like the wife of the Italian doctor, she is more than 25 years younger than my brother-in-law who has two boys her age or older.  We didn't even know his wife from Paraguay was pregnant!!!!  So imagine what we felt when he told us their baby was born.  The baby is to be called "Dilan Alexander".  That sounds so funny in Spanish. In any case we are delighted to welcome a new member into the family. So welcome Dilan to this world. Hope you have a great life.

Our new and unexpected nephew Dilan Alexander was born on Friday

So the girls have a new cousin. We were all in shock yesterday at the news. I mean it's good news but we had no idea "Dilan" was coming haha. In a way that is typical of Eladio's brother to keep the news from us and tell us nearly after the event. He did it too when he married Carolina. In this case it was 5 minutes before hahahaha.

We had a lot to celebrate on Friday; Oli's new car, Eladio's pupil  passing 3 exams since he started teaching her, my new "customer" as well as the receiving of my severance pay. How better to celebrate than going out to dinner?  We decided on La Vaca Argentina which is now called plain La Vaca, the one in Las Rozas.  We were joined by Oli and Miguel and drove to the restaurant in the Mini hahaha.  

Dinner at La Vaca on Friday night - here with Oli.

Being Friday night, it was my time to break the diet and break the diet I did.  I had artichokes with foie gras, a piece of bread (first in months), followed by steak and then naughty naughty, a brownie shared with Oli. All of this was washed down by a wonderful bottle of wine (Azpilicueta) we shared.  It would give me a headache the next day but was well worth it. 

Saturday came and it was the most relaxed day of the week. I was up at 5.30 - just too early and corresponding by mail with Genaker.  You know I haven't worked so hard in years. People tell me if you are self-employed one works much harder.  I think it's true. But that meant the day was much longer and I got lots into it.  I worked in the morning but managed to get 2 walks before lunch.  The highlight of the day was a long whatsapp call with my dear friend Sandra from Nottingham University who lives in Brussels.

Whilst everyone had spaghetti bolognese I had my plate of thin steak and vegetables.  Very unusually for me I joined Eladio for a siesta. Incredibly I slept from 3 till 5.30pm. Well maybe I needed the sleep. Later that evening I tried on some skinny dresses which were just slightly tight before Christmas.  Now they are loose!  It's amazing. On Friday night I even wore a Zara size 10 (38 here) pair of black jeans that Oli  lent me and they weren't even tight hahaha.   Since when have I been able to fit into a size 10?  Well I don't remember.

And today is Sunday, "blog day" as my Father calls it. I shall publish this, print a copy out for him and then get ready for my first walk of the day.  I have to work today on the English version of the Genaker press release.  I also have to continue translating the English text on my website into Spanish. 

So I shall love you and leave and get on with the day. 

Have a good Sunday everyone,

Cheers/Masha