Summer officially over at our house, week 2 of the Pronokal diet, Samsung hit hard, National Day of Spain, singer Bob Dylan wins Nobel prize for literature, Michelle Obama hits out at Donald Trump for sexual assault bragging and other stories.

Sunday 16th October 2016

Me the corporate woman, ready for battle this week

Hi again everyone,

It's been a pretty uneventful week.  My main priority now is my diet and it is sort of ruling my life.  I'm half way through the first strict phase and sticking it out.  I cannot say it is easy but I know it will produce the desired results.

Sunday was spent dieting of course and at home.  It was on Sunday that I found out about a famous French singer called Marina Kaye.  

Marina Kaye, the French singer and daughter of my friend Pasquale.

An Italian friend from long ago, Pasquale, who used to attend the Norwich Russian courses where my parents taught, found me on internet and wrote me an email. In that email he told me had a daughter called Marina Kaye who sang well.  Sang well?  She won the French equivalent of Britain's Got Talent aged just 13!  Today she is 18 and is most famous for her song Homeless.  He must be so proud.

The main news at the weekend was about Hurricane Matthew.  It left over a 1000 dead in Haiti, that already ravished and poor country.  It did damage elsewhere but Haiti was worst hit.  

Of note on Sunday we started watching a new TV series on Netflix, after having finished Season 4 of House of Cards.  It's Marcella, a UK detective series and pretty good but nowhere near as so as The Fall. I was jealous to hear that season 3 is being shown on TV back home.  Can't wait to see it.  

Monday was not the best day of the week.  It started with a complicated conference call come interview with a journalist about 5G technology.  The interview coincided with the news that our new mother company, Másmóvil, had reached an agreement with Orange for national roaming, to include fibre too.  But just a note was sent to the MAB (sub market of the Madrid stock exchange).  I wondered whether gone were the days when, with Yoigo, we would have organised a big event for the occasion. 

The worst news of the week came on Monday, my best friend F. had been "impacted" by the labour force adjustment plan after the purchase of Alcatel Lucent by Nokia.  It seems so unfair that they are firing more employees from Alcatel than from Nokia.  She is a single mother in her  mid 50's with a teenage daughter and a dependent mother living with her and has worked there for 16 years.  You would think they would choose more carefully who is to be "impacted" - that by the way was the word they used when the rang her to give her the bad news! Julio and I had lunch with her to talk over the situation.  F. is a trained lawyer and I know she will fight this battle and hopefully be readmitted. Meanwhile we are both there for her for morale support and advice.  Life is so unfair

It was lovely weather on Monday and on Tuesday but rain was forecast for Wednesday.  I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Eladio, helped by Salud, making preparations to close down the swimming pool for the season. That for me marked the end of the summer at our house at least. 

Eladio about to cover the pool for the winter

I always hate the moment the pool gets covered for the winter.  

It was certainly not summer in Zurich where Suzy had been for a 5 day visit to see a friend the girls had made in their recent trip to Nicaragua.  You can tell it was cold from the clothes the girls are wearing in the picture below.

The girls well wrapped up in Zurich

They returned on Tuesday. I haven't spoken to Suzy for a while so look forward to hearing her impressions of her short trip but expensive trip to Switzerland. It must have been even more expensive for her than I had forecast with the drop in the pound.  Since I wrote about the plummeting of the sterling currency, it has only got worse.  In some places it has a lower value than the euro and looks to be set on course to be on par with the currency the country never wanted to join. Maybe that was their downfall.

The pound is in deep "sh**".

That night was the premiere of Olivia's colleague Amaya Rey's first programme for Mi Cámara y Yo.  You see they do alternate weeks and on Monday it was her turn.  

Oli's colleague, co- reporter for Mi Cámara y Yo, Amaya R.

The stories in the programme were about lingering but successful corner shops in Madrid which you can see here. Next Monday will be Oli's turn and the stories will be about Madrid rooftops which I think I mentioned last week. 

A still from the programme Oli was preparing this week about Madrid rooftops

You can see the video clip promoting it here too.  Maybe you get sick of me promoting Oli and her TV programmes, but you see she is my daughter and I'm proud of her and she is part of this blog hahaha.   But most of all I'm happy that she is happy in her new job and gets on so well with many of her colleagues. She seems to be having fun which is great.  So pleased for you sweetie.

Tuesday brought good news.  It was the day of reckoning in my diet.  I had started the Tuesday before and it was time to weigh myself. I was delighted I had shed 2 whole kilos.  I had also lost 5cm around my waist.  I was as pleased as punch and the numbers on the scales were to spur me on for week 2.  It was good to see the diet was working.  I was making extra sure it would too by doing 2 walks a day instead of 1.  I hope and pray that on next Tuesday I have lost another 2 kilos but I won't know until then. Little did I know it but that would be the last day I did my walks in my shorts in the sun and the last day I read outside by the swimming pool in the early evening.  Yeah summer was about to be over. 

You might be interested to know what I eat for the diet. Well here is a photo of my dinner last Tuesday which is pretty much the same every night.  It's very green isn't it hahaha?

My Pronokial diet dinner on Tuesday night

If Tuesday brought good news for me it brought terrible news for the Korean electronics giant and mobile phone main player, Samsung. Their recently launched Galaxy Note 7 had to be recalled due to exploding batteries.  On Tuesday after reports of more exploding phones from the replacement ones, the company decided to permanently scrap producing the flagship phone.  Ouch! 

The flagship Samsung Galaxy S7 gone up in flames. Terrible PR for the company and brand

That's pretty much a first in mobile phone history I can tell you and I know.  They have made huge losses financially but it's the long term that counts.  They issued the shortest press release I have ever seen which said: “For the benefit of consumers’ safety, we have stopped sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note 7 and have consequently decided to permanently stop production.”

 Their PR was very bad with a total lack of transparency and it will not only have damaged the company's pocket but it image.  I can only imagine Apple laughing in the sidelines.  Their pocket, by the way, or rather their market value was decreased in one go by 18 billion dollars!!!!! 

Wednesday was a "fiesta" or a "bank holiday" and a day off for Oli for once in her working life.  It was so nice to have her at home.  12th October is Spain's national day but it is not celebrated here like it is in France or the US and I have never understood why.  Spaniards are not proud of being Spanish. Well I think they should be. There is so much going for this country but Spaniards tend to criticise themselves and their country far too much. They are great grumblers yet lovely people.  

The Spanish flag people here are not proud of

It doesn't help that their flag is a symbol of fascism.  So there weren't many flags out on Wednesday except at the military parade for Armed Forces Day which is also held on this day and is presided over by the King of Spain. In fact the National Day of Spain is also Columbus Day, celebrating the anniversary of Columbus' landing in the New World on October 12th 1492.  Who didn't learn this phrase in history at school to remember the date? "1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue". It was also "El Día del Pilar" and Hispanic Day.  So lots to celebrate on Wednesday. Except that it rained.

The rain came finally and the summer was truly over.  I went from walking in shorts to covering up and wearing my sou'wester.  The temperatures plummeted too from 25c to 13c overnight. It was a bit of a shock.

Thursday was back to work. I had a big communications meeting at our new mother company's offices in supposedly nearby Pozuelo. However the traffic was so bad it took me an hour to get there.  The photo illustrating this week's post is of me ready and dressed to go; the corporate woman as if to battle. That is how I felt. There are not many top positions for women in the new organisation and one has to look good I'm afraid. 

It was on Thursday that the world was stunned to hear that the most revered prize in literature, the Nobel Prize, had been awarded to a singer and not a writer. It went to Bob Dylan. Most people equate him to songs for peace and more than one TV reporter made a lapse when announcing the news.  He is a huge figure in American music and maybe his lyrics are poetry, I don't know, but he is not a writer and in my mind the prize goes to the wrong person. The New York Times said "he's great but he's not a writer" and I totally agree with their article. Funnily enough he himself has not uttered a word of reaction yet.  I wonder if he will reject it? Who knows because he is quite a complicated character. I read that when he met Barack Obama he refused to have a photograph taken of the two together disappointing the President. 

Bob Dylan the song writer not the book writer.

I remember his songs when I was young, especially "Blowing in the Wind". I also lovd his folk songs but when I saw him in concert once in Lisbon I hated everything he sang -. it was all rock.  Let's wait and see what his reaction is. 

l don't know what the US First Lady, Michelle Obama, thinks about Bob Dylan but I do know what she thinks about Donald Trump and she has said so in an historic speech this week denouncing his sexual assaults without even mentioning his name. If you haven't watched it, then do, it's an amazing lesson. This is the link of her 9 minute attack on his shocking behaviour.  It comes in response to a video The Washington Post unearthed of his lewd comments about women in a 2005 TV show which you can also watch here if you haven't already seen it. Perhaps his most memorable and revolting comment in it is this: I’ve got to use some Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her. You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. Whatever you want. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything". 

A still from the video where Donald Trump made these lewd remarks

In Michele Obama's speech she said: "I can't believe I'm saying that, a candidate for president of the United States bragged about sexually assaulting women." and I can't believe it either.  As I listened to her during my first walk on Friday morning, I remembered with shame and disgust the times I was assaulted sexually when I was a child, by our postman, Mr. Fox, and as a young teenager by our vicar, pillars of society you would have thought.  Luckily I was able to get out of their clutches before anything worse happened but I will never forget those moments.  I wonder how many women reading this will have suffered similar experiences. At work too I was groped at on various occasions in my first years in the corporate world and I can tell you it was not nice. Wow, right now I feel as though I have come out of the closet and told you my innermost secrets.  You see I have never spoken about this before but when I heard Michelle Obama's speech I thought it was time I did.  I really hope that this sexual predator will receive punishment for his behaviour as more and more women who were attacked and groped by him are coming out and exposing him and hopefully taking him to court. He would never get my vote and I guess that after this scandal many women Republican voters will have second thoughts.  If this was a world which was more fair to women I would like to see Michelle Obama as President of the United States.  Maybe one day she will be and women around the world will be glad.  

Onto a totally different subject, Spanish bureaucracy. This week I found out that the two times I had been unemployed did not figure on my employment register (vida laboral), wiping out 2 years from my retirement pension  - yeah already thinking about retirement; well I will be 60 in February and that's no secret unfortunately. 

The important "vida laboral" or life work record needed in Spain for retirement purposes.

So I had to start a battle with Spanish bureaucracy; no mean task as the years in question are 1999 and 2005.  On the telephone I was told to go to the "Tesorería" (Treasury) of the Social Security organisation and file a complaint. But first we went to the Unemployment Agency (Inem) where I used to get my "dole" in Majadahonda to get a certificate to confirm the years I was unemployed and receiving money from the state. There no one was able to inform me of anything as there was no reception desk.  Also there were huge queues so off we went to the Tesoreria in Pozuelo. Here we didn't wait  long but the visit was a waste of time as here we were told to go to the Unemployment Agency, where we had just been. What we did find out that was we had to get an appointment on the phone via a bot (machine) talking.  The machine informed me the agency that corresponded to our address was in Alcorcón and finally I got an appointment for next Monday. Couldn't all this have been done in the first phone call? Spanish bureaucracy is very kafkian. I remember my first years here trying to get a work permit and residency and things don't seem to have changed much since then. Cross your fingers for Monday.  I also found out this week that to get a full pension you have to have worked for 37.5 years.  If you count the 2 years I am fighting for I have already totted up 34 years so just 3.5 to go. But actually it's not only the amount of years but the age you are that counts. The law has just changed from 65 to 67 but thankfully we are in the transition period and I will be allowed to retire at 65.  So all thoughts of early retirement due to having worked more than the years needed blew right out of the window this week.  Unfair!!!!!

Being on a diet, we didn't go out to dinner on Friday night and won't be for quite a while in the future. Instead we watched a film on Netflix which I found thrilling.  It was called "The Body" and is a Spanish film starring Antonio Resines and Belén Rueda. 

Finally the sun came out yesterday, Saturday.  After my 2 walks on the trot, I went out to buy wrapping paper and ribbon for Laura my niece's wedding present. Yes, we have yet another wedding to go to and it's for another niece. Laura and Dani will be married next week quietly in a registry office but there will be a nice informal family lunch to celebrate their nuptial tie next Saturday in León. We look forward to that. Oli and Miguel will be going too and we shall be able to spend some time together in Montrondo enjoying beautiful autumn walks. Eladio and I are no expert present wrappers. We did the best we could and this is what it looks like. 

The result of our present wrapping efforts for Laura's wedding present

I can't say what's inside until the bride and groom open it next week.

Saturday was spent very quietly.  Oli had a busy social life this weekend and only came home yesterday for a short while before going out again. 

Oli with Pippa when she came to see us shortly on Saturday afternoon

Pippa, as you can see in the photo, was happy to see her, just as I was. 

And today is Sunday and I have come to the end of the tales of my week. I shall now be going on my two walks and look forward to reading quietly in the lounge with Pippa at my side this afternoon.

Next week will be very busy, so it will be good to charge batteries before it starts.

Let me then wish you all a great Sunday and good week ahead,

Cheers till next time/Masha

To Málaga, pre-wedding celebrations, Paula and Pedro's wedding, a day with the girls at the Málaga Golf Parador, home again, Oli and her new programme, "Mi Cámara y Yo", 1st October anniversaries and other stories

Saturday 1st October 2016

The 5 of us reunited at Paula and Pedro's wedding on Saturday in Málaga

Hi everyone,

Here I am writing early in the morning on the day of Paula and Peri's wedding, here at the Parador Málaga Golf whilst everyone sleeps.  To put it in context, Paula is the daughter of Eladio's youngest sister, Pili.  She is just 3 years younger than Olivia, so the girls are very close to their beautiful cousin. It's cool and the sun isn't up yet.  It will be a long day, the day of my niece Paula and her fiancé from Málaga, Pedro's long awaited wedding. All the family is here, well nearly.  Most of them arrived yesterday except for Juan and Olivia.  

Olivia wasn't able to get away early from work on Friday and couldn't take the AVE (high speed train) until 9 pm, thus missing the pre wedding dinner. For her new programme Mi Cámara y Yo, she did two reports yesterday. The first one was about a restaurant that serves insects for meals. Imagine. Even worse to make the report a bit more fun, my dear youngest daughter had to eat the ghastly bugs which you can see in the photo below.

Oli doing a report on a restaurant that serves insects for meals!

In the afternoon the subject of her filming was a military themed event location with tanks and all sorts of army equipment.  Here she dressed up in  a bullet proof vest.  I can hardly imagine Oli in the army hahahaha.

Oli in the army hahahaha

Suzy had arrived from London the night before.  Eladio and I set off early on Friday morning in our car with José Antonio and Dolores.  It was to be just over a 5 hour drive.  We stopped on the way at Despeñaperros, the gateway to Andalusia for a cup of coffee and a bite to eat. Friday, by the way, was Eladio's official birthday and we were to celebrate it all day.

A selfie at the bar in Despeñaperros on our way to Málaga on Friday

The family were all sleeping in hotels in Málaga  - the group of cousins at a small hostal called Vida Mía which belongs to the groom's family.  We preferred to be nearer the beach and had booked 2 rooms at the Parador Málaga Golf. Paradors are state run high quality hotels, always in splendid locations.

We were bowled over by the location of this Parador as soon as we arrived at around 2 pm.

The view of the Parador grounds from our room

The rooms are really nice and are built in blocks of two floors with views of the pool and sea or the golf course.

This was the block our rooms were located in.

Eladio on the ample balcony of our room

It was time for lunch when we arrived so as soon as we booked into our room we made our way to the restaurant, choosing to sit outside as the weather was superb - about 26ºc.  You wouldn't believe that Autumn had come.

Lunch at the Parador on Friday

This superb salmorejo was served as an appetiser

Eladio and I loved our choices but Toño and Dolores who went for the economical season menu were rather disappointed.

If I have to fault this Parador, it's the proximity to the airport with the frequent sounds of the planes flying over. Otherwise it's perfect.  I felt like moving in.  I far prefer to be here surrounded by the beautiful grounds overlooking the sea then in the loud and crowded centre of the city. Málaga is the 6th biggest city in Spain with a population of approximately 600.000 people.

After lunch we wandered down to the beach where there was a private area for the guests of the Parador.  It was very clean and being the end of the high season relaxed and inviting. The water was neither cold nor hot.  It was a fantastic feeling to be there and breathe the sea air and take in the views.

The two brothers on the beach at the Parador - Toño and Eladio

A super moment.  On the beach at the Parador

My 3 companions, Toño, Dolores and Eladio went off afterwards for a lie down.  I preferred to read my book by the pool, occasionally taking a dip.

The pool at the Parador

At around 8 pm we were to meet Suzy in Málaga at the hostal where all the cousins would be staying, Vidamía, in the centre of town which as I mentioned is run by the groom's family.  I had seen Suzy in August but Eladio hadn't seen her since April.  It was to be a lovely reunion.  It was great to see her looking so happy and beautiful and surrounded by the family. She was in her element!!!!

Father and daughter reunited in Málaga on Friday night.

Happy to be reunited with Suzy on Friday night

We then all bumped into the family group on the streets nearby.  There was to be a family dinner, one for the "grown ups" at a bar called Cantarranas and a stand up buffet party for the younger members of the family and various friends of the bride and groom at the bar next door.  Both were great dinners but the young people's party seemed much more fun.  There I was reunited with my ex Nokia friend, Marta and her husband Fran.  For the record Marta is head of communications for Aegon Spain and she is also the bride's boss.  Here we are together.

With Marta, my ex Nokia friend and Paula, the bride's boss on Friday night at the pre-wedding celebrations

Ours was a sit down dinner; all the family on the bride's side and some members of the groom's who of course are from Málaga.

At the dinner for the older members of the family on Friday night

When the meal ended, Eladio's middle brother, Alejandro got out his accordion and that's when the fun began.

Alejandro playing the accordion on Friday night at the pre-wedding dinner

Everyone started to sing and dance. The younger members from the party next door soon joined us and the whole family danced a "jota", even my husband Eladio.

The family dancing on Friday night to the music of Alenjandro playing the accordion

The two parties began to mix on the street outside and here we got to talk to everyone.  Suzy and I were especially happy to see the Father of the bride who had been given permission from the doctors to travel to his daughter's wedding.  He will be operated on when he goes back, in about a week's time. Here he is with Suzy. I have to admit he is one of  my favourite brother-in-laws and one of Suzy's favourite uncles.

Suzy with Andrés, the Father of the bride.

At about midnight the parties broke up. After all we had a long day ahead of us on Saturday with the wedding starting at 12 noon at the St. Augustin church in the centre of the city.

Olivia arrived too late for us to see her on Friday night. She didn't get to Málaga until 11.30 and exhausted from all the filming that day, went straight to the Vidamía Hostal.

We returned to our oasis of peace at the Parador and thankfully I got a good night's sleep, although I woke up with an almighty headache, even though not a single drop of alcohol had passed my lips the day before. After my nasty migraine the weekend before in Montrondo, I will not be drinking any alcohol for quite a while now.  After a couple of coffees and writing about Friday's trip and pre-wedding celebrations, as I had got up so early there was even time for a walk on the beach which was practically empty.  What a beautiful location this Parador enjoys.

We had a leisurely breakfast and oh what a wonderful choice there is at the Paradors. We had to be at the church by 12 and there was plenty of time to get ready. By 11.30 we were all dressed up and ready to leave by taxi which would take us into the centre of town, to the beautiful St. Augustin Church where the wedding would take place.

Eladio and I ready to leave - me in my trusted shocking blue wedding outfit and Eladio in his years' old suit hahaha.

Dolores and Toño ready for the wedding.

We got there early and there was time to get a proper look at the church from the outside before all the wedding guests, some 180, arrived.

The St. Augustine Church

Slowly people arrived. The wedding was supposed to start at 12 but was late - well we are in Andalusia after all where the pace is live is much slower than in Madrid.  My daughters looked lovely. They had both gone to the hairdressers before getting ready.  Here I am with Suzy.

With Suzy at the church

Miguel and Oli looked the perfect couple and I kept wondering if they will ever get married.  I would just love to help them organise a beautiful wedding.

Miguel and Oli

We were all waiting outside for the groom to arrive.  He was a little late and came in looking delighted with his Mother at his arm.  We all clapped when they came.

The groom arriving with his Mother (la madrina)

Pili, the bride's Mother, looking lovely in red was clapping too as they arrived.  In Spain there is no best man. The two most important people after the bride and groom are his Mother (la madrina) and her Father (el padrino).

Spanish weddings are a bit chaotic and protocol often goes to the wind but on Saturday everyone was in the church when finally the beautiful bride and her Father came in followed by the bridesmaids. There was much attention to detail at this wedding which Paula and Pedro had been preparing for more than a year.  I especially liked the way they had prepared the presentation of the wedding rings.

The wedding rings

By the time they arrived I was already crying. I get so emotional at weddings but at this one especially so as it was our family and I have known Paula all her life. She is one of the  most loved cousins.  Thus Eladio had to take the pictures of their magical arrival.

The bride Paula and her Father Andrés coming down the aisle.

The ceremony or mass was very long but beautiful.  This is the moment when the couple, finally married, looked around and when we could see them face to face. What a radiant couple.

Just married.

Suzy was given the honour of giving out the packets of confetti to the guests and here she is at the entrance of the church with the basket.

Suzy giving out the confetti.

Whilst the bride and groom were having photos taken inside and signing their wedding certificate there was plenty of time outside to take photos of the family. We took photos of each individual family and the one of us is the one I chose to illustrate this blog.  You see the 5 of us were reunited and together at Paula and Pedro's wedding. Thank you bride and groom for bringing all the family together.  And here is one of just the 4 of us; not often together either.

The 4 of us reunited at Paula and Pedro's wedding on Saturday

Soon we were all called in for the official family wedding photos.  I think I must have got in the way of the official photographers, but I didn't care and snapped away all day.

With the uncles and aunts

With the cousins

At long last out came the bride and groom and we all threw tons of colourful confetti which the little bridesmaids enjoyed immensely hahaha.

The confetti moment

Finally it was time to leave the church to catch the buses to the wedding party venue, the lovely Hacienda Del Alamo on the outskirts of the city.

We all went by bus but the bride and groom left in a vintage car!!

The bride and groom leaving in a vintage car

The "hacienda" was the perfect location.

Eladio and I at the wedding party location upon arrival.  I just loved the two "Ps".

I loved the two "Ps" at the entrance.  There was so much attention to detail which I, as an event manager, appreciated.

They even created a logo for their wedding. This is it.

Just some of the attention to detail at the perfectly arranged wedding on Saturday

The wedding party which started at about 2.30 p.m . would go on until past midnight. It started with a cocktail party in the grounds of "La Hacienda".

The cocktail party

We were soon joined by the bride and groom for whom there was yet more confettii hahaha.

The bride and groom arriving at the cocktail party

It went on for quite a while and I must say the canapés and finger food were out of this world.  There was loads of time for mingling, talking to the family and meeting other guests.  I was very happy that my friend Marta, Paula's boss, had come too.

With Marta my ex Nokia friend, both in blue, at the wedding

I don't think we went into the lunch until nearly 4 pm - Spaniards do everything late hahaha.  It took place in a beautiful glass porch like building and we were all on tables named by cities. Ours was León and the girls' was Havana (in honor of Miguel and Claudia)

The setting for the lunch

Me with Andrés, the bride's Father

I couldn't have chosen a better menu.

The bride's Mother with her bouquet at the lunch

Suzy and Oli at the lunch

The first course was lobster, my favourite.

But of course we couldn't start until the principal actors, Paula and Pedro arrived. They entered the dining area to a fanfare of music and their male friends waving toy swords.  It was both funny and emotional.  Paula and Pedro then awarded us with a long kiss and I and  many others, broke down in tears. I just couldn't stop crying from joy and emotion. I really have to say this was the best wedding I have ever been too.

Paula and Pedro awarding us with a long kiss at the entrance to the lunch

The lunch wasn't just about eating.  Paula and Pedro had arranged many emotional events, such as the arrival of flowers for their Mothers.

Flowers for the Mothers of the bride and groom

There was an interval for presents for the Fathers too and very unusually for a Spanish wedding, plenty of speeches. Being a very traditional wedding the cake cutting moment was full of emotion too.

The beautiful wedding cake

After cutting the cake, Paula gave her cousin Laura, the next one to be married, the figures of the bride and groom on top. We all clapped and cried throughout the lunch which went on until nearly 7 in the evening.  Afterwards we were all invited to go outside to dance and drink; neither of which did I indulge in but it was nice to change locations and get the chance to mingle again.

Inside the ball room there was yet another surprise.  Photos of Paula and Pedro were shown and then a video was played with greetings from all of us. This time the surprise was for the bride and groom who were delighted.

By 9 pm, Eladio, Tono, Dolores and I were tired and ready to go.  Leaving the party in full swing, we left in a taxi to come back to our haven of peace, the Parador Málaga Golf. Here I was relieved to take off my wedding attire, especially my make-up and chill out on our lovely terrace before falling asleep in bed watching part of a film I didn't even know was about.

I am writing again in the early morning, the day after the best wedding I have ever attended.  10 out of 10 to the newly wedded couple.

But it hasn't all ended.  Today we will be joined by Miguel, Oli and Suzy and will spend the day at the Parador together.

If the wedding had been a long and hectic day, Sunday was to be relaxing.  It was also to be a gift from the heavens as we were to be joined at the Parador by Suzy and Oli.  Toño and Dolores preferred to spend the day in the city with their offspring. We are much more "country mice" and looked forward to a day by the pool and beach; the four of us together.  It is not often we are alone together. After packing Eladio and I settled by the pool which we had practically to ourselves.  Here is Eladio swimming in the round pool.

The empty pool at the Parador on Sunday

The girls didn't arrive till past 1. Coming from their very modest hostal in town, Oli asked us, tongue in cheek, whether we were feeling comfortable at the parador haha.  Indeed we were and wanted to share it with them.  They immediately joined me in the pool this time.  I was delighted to have the two of them with me and not have to share them with everyone; apart from their adored Father of course.

In the pool at the Parador with my girlies on Sunday

The whole weekend was about family, the wedding and of course eating. Soon it was time to eat again and we had a family lunch at the Parador Cafeteria, surrounded by British golfers haha.

A lovely relaxing and delicious lunch with Oli, Suzy and Eladio at the Parador on Sunday

We only had a few hours left after lunch to be together as we had agreed to leave with Toño and Dolores at 6.30 pm.  Oli would be returning at 8 by the high speed train and Suzy's Ryan Air flight to Stanstead wasn't departing until 10 that night.  We returned to our sunbeds, Oli put some music on and we relaxed, talked and read.  Toño and Dolores arrived early and both men were in need of a siesta. We women on the other hand preferred a walk on the beach. When I told Suzy that part of it was nudist, she took off her bikini.  When we got to the nudist beach I suggested we do some "skinny dipping" but only the two of us were game for it.  It was the best moment of the day and one of the most hilarious (the most hilarious would come later hahahah).  And here we are skinny dipping as it is called today.

Suzy and I skinny dipping at the beach in Málaga on Sunday, what a wonderful feeling!

I hadn't bathed in the sea in my birthday suit since once doing it with Eladio some 35 years ago and when we did it it was night time.  On Sunday we did it in full daylight.  I loved the sensation and both Suzy and I laughed throughout the experience.

We were to laugh even more, not long afterwards. As we were leaving the Parador, after checking out, the girls went ahead of us. They walked right through a group of British men golfers standing and I noticed how their eyes goggled at the sight of my beautiful girls.  I couldn't resist saying to them: "Nice sight eh?" to which they replied "oh yes".  I then laughed and proudly told them they were my daughters.  As we got to the car I told the girls what had happened. Oli swore to apologise to the golfers on the way back into the Parador where they would spend more time until their train and flight and explain that their Mother was undergoing psychiatric treatment.  I laughed till I cried as we left in the car to drive back to Madrid. 

It was a long journey back; longer than on the way out as most of the journey was in the black of the night.  We stopped for dinner at Despeñaperros at a great roadside restaurant and hotel called Alfonso VIII.  We didn't get home until 1 in the morning.  I went straight to bed with little Pippa who had missed us enormously.

It had been a grand weekend and the best wedding ever. Thanks Paula and Pedro and Pili and Andrés for uniting us all in Málaga and for reuniting me with my whole family.  You can see all the photos I took at the weekend in two separate albums: 1) The journey and pre wedding celebrations 2) the wedding day

Monday was a real anti climax after the excitement of the weekend.  It was like coming back to real life after being inside a Hollywood movie or similar.

Oli was the only one going back inside a movie or rather a TV programme. That morning for her new programme, Mi Cámara y Yo, she did a piece on Egyptian mummies and  other necrophiliac things at an anthropological, forensic and criminal science musuem in the medical faculty of the Complutense University. She sent us this rather macrabe photo with a skull or rather skulls. It is run by a prestigious forensic doctor who does it as a hobby.

A photo of Oli filming a rather macabre piece for television on Monday morning

That morning I had a medical appointment with a doctor, thankfully not a forensic one hahahah,  at a clinic in Majadahonda which prescribes the Pronokal diet.  As you know Suzy works at a Pronokal clinic in Harley Street and told me it really worked.  The doctor on Tuesday did too. I was worried about the scales as I hadn't been on any for years - just hate the scales.  But actually the figure was much lower than I thought and I don't have to lose that many kilos.  I would have loved to start the next day but first I had to do a blood test and take the Doctor the results the following Monday.  So I will have to wait another week and whilst I am waiting I am sort of eating whatever I want; you know the pre-diet attitude right? Well, I've got it hahaha.

On Tuesday morning I did the blood test and by Wednesday afternoon the results were available to download online.  Everything looks just fine, except that my cholesterol is 203 which is borderline.  We'll have to fix that. 

Oli meanwhile had finished all the filming for the first report and would be spending the rest of the week at the production company (Torreón) helping editing the programme and preparing for the next one which will be about amazing attic locations in Madrid.  They were also preparing the advertising of the programme's comeback and you can see it here. It will be broadcast on Monday 3rd October at 23h on Telemadrid. If you can't see it, it can be viewed online and I will post the link as soon as it is available. . 

Promotion for the new programme, Mi Cámara y Yo, for which Oli is one of the 2 street reporters.

The big news on Tuesday was that Colombia had signed a peace treaty with the FARC guerrillas after more than 50 years of violence.  

Work went on and I've been quite busy this week.  That day I had a conference call to come up with a new communications plan.

We went out to dinner that night (part of my pre-diet attitude as there will be no more dinners out once I start hahhaha) and I chose a place called Tanteo in Majadahonda which serves great tapas.  For the occasion I was wearing the wonderful black and white espadrilles Paula and Pedro had given out at their wedding.

The espadrilles from Paula and Pedro's wedding.

It's quite the custom in Spain to give comfortable flat shoes out at wedding for women suffering wearing their high heels, like me last Saturday. But these were extra special.  I love them. 

Oli joined us for dinner and came home to sleep too. Her new workplace is as far away from her new flat as from our house and as this week is Miguel's working week with TVE in Valencia, she would come again the next night and the next. It was lovely to have her back and to hear all her news about the new job.

Thus on Wednesday morning I had breakfast with her. Pippa did too, or rather she sat in Oli's arms at the kitchen table.  

Breakfast with Oli and Pippa

We are all newsreaders at breakfast and that morning I read that Shimon Peres, the ex President and PM of Israel and one of the founders of the country, had died aged 93. He was a Nobel Peace prize winner although I am not sure he brought much peace to the region.  Some say there was a lot of blood on his hands.  

I'm sure Oli as a journalist would have loved to cover the story, but she had to get on with editing and promoting the new programme.  Here is a moment when she and the other reporter, Amaya Rey - who joined on Monday - are being filmed for the website promotion.  Both girls are stunning don't you think?

Oli and her colleague, Amaya Rey, the other reporter for the programme, being filmed for the web promotion

On Thursday I had a meeting with my events agency, QuintaEsencia.  They wanted me to see their latest project Q-Shop or rather the showroom which is at their premises on C/Lagasca 33. You can buy their stylish and fun products there or order them online on the link above.  Here is Bea, the mastermind behind the new project owned by the 3 sisters, Cris, Bea and Gloria, showing me Q-Shop.

Bea showing me the showroom of Q-Shop

Funnily enough that day I was wearing white and black and as you can see all the products that Q-Shop sells are black and white. Even the wedding espadrilles are black and white hahahaha.

We had a good meeting after the summer break which continued through lunch at a restaurant nearby called No.  Funnily enough it belonged to Jaime A., who works for a bigger rival events agency and who worked for me when I was both a Motorola and Nokia. It's  a small world. It was nice to be in town again but no way would I ever want to live in the centre of Madrid again.  I am definitely a "country mouse" and so is Eladio. 

Oli came back that evening for a short while only - she would be going out to dinner with her "manada friends" - as she would be sleeping at her flat that night because she had to be up at the crack of dawn on Friday morning.  That day would be very long starting with a morning of photo shoots of her and the other programme reporter.  Then in the afternoon she would be doing more shooting, this time for work on the second report she is now preparing; one on spectacular attics in Madrid.  

I am living her glamorous new TV adventure vicariously. However she doesn't see it that way and complains a lot about the long hours and the stress and that she has no time for her own life; not to mention time for sport and exercise.  There's not much I can answer to that. She is right but at the same time she is in a medium that other journalists would die for. 

On Friday she spent most of the day in a photo shoot together with her new colleague, Amaya.  They are both the lead reporters for Mi Cámara y Yo and will be doing the weekly reports alternately.  You see it takes at least 2 weeks to make just one.  

Olivia during Friday's photo shoot.

Here with her fellow lead reporter during Friday's photo shoot

The photos were for the promotion of the programme and it was lovely to see the latest one on the website with Oli coming out of a tank hahaha.

Oli coming out of a tank, one of the ads to publicise the new programmee hahaha.

Friday was a quiet day for us.  I had work to do; we communicated the comeback of our Sinfín 20 giga promotion for the month of October which I know will please new customers. 

The weather was good again as it has been all week.  It seems as though the summer doesn't want to go.  I even bathed in the pool after our walk yesterday.  I have to admit the water was freezing.

That morning I wore a lovely bangle that my friend Irene had given to me when they visited us in Montrondo.  I love it.  It reminds me of India.

The lovely bangle Irene gave me and which I wore for the first time on Friday

I would wear it again that night when we went out to dinner with our friends, the amicably divorced couple Roberto and Maricarmen.  We went to Ginos and could well have eaten al fresco.  They used to be our closest married couple friends and we went on many trips together.  When they divorced that stopped and I missed them.  Now it looks as though we will enjoy more of their company on our Friday nights out to dinner and hopefully they will visit us in Montrondo soon.  

And today is Saturday and the 10th anniversary of my job with Yoigo.

It's 10 years today at Yoigo.

The photo in the badge was the one taken on my first day with the company.  How time flies!  Where has the time gone?  It has been a great journey and let's see where it takes me now we have new owners.

On a much sadder note today is the 17th annivesary of the passing away of my Mother. 

My amazing Mother in the mid 90's

I wrote this on Facebook just a while ago and copy it here because it sums her up just as she was: 

Today is 1st October a sad date for us.17 years ago today my extraordinary vivacious bohemian fun loving intellectual Russian born Mother who spoke 6 languages and would talk on equal terms to princes beggars or priests passed away. She left a gaping hole which can never be filled. Love you Mummy and remember you today and always.

We  miss her every day, especially my Father.  When I wrote the word "extraordinary" it was not an exaggeration, she really was. Born Her Serene Highness Elena - pronounced "Yelena" (Helen) Lieven, the 4th of 6 children to a noble Russian exiled family who fled to Bulgaria her whole life was one big adventure.  This is the adventure I shall write about in a book when I retire.  

It's now the weekend and I shall leave off here to enjoy the time with Eladio and Olivia.  We have been invited to lunch today by Gerardo and the rest of my "Spanish family" but of course I shall be telling you all about that in next week's post.

Meanwhile my friends, enjoy your weekend.

Cheers till next time/Masha