Golubtsy, a new CV, Congratulations Suzy on your new job, a brave new world as a freelance communications consultant, Theresa May meets Donald Trump, dinner with Pedro Delgado and other stories.

Sunday 29th January 2016

In one of Oli's minuscule dresses this week.

Hi everyone,

How has your week been? Mine has been what is now casually called a "game changer", I should add, in my professional life.  However I'll come to that later.

On Sunday last we had guests for lunch.  As Zena, our Ukranian weekend carer was here, I asked her to make one of our favourite Russian/Ukranian dishes, one my Mother used to make. It's stuffed cabbage and called "golubtsy" and is quite fiddly to make.  She par boiled the cabbage leaves and then stuffed them with rice, mince meat and onion and cooked them on the stove.  She made a delicious sauce to accompany them but that I didn't try as it looked full of calories.

Golubtsy, one of our favourite Russian dishes.

Our guests were Eladio's beloved brother (the next one down of the 5 siblings after my husband), Toño and his wife, Dolores.  We hadn't seen each other since we left Cuba and there was lots to catch up on.  Cuba is still in my mind as it was such a great trip for many reasons.  And this week, Claudia, Toño and Dolores' new daughter-in-law, sent me some of the photos of their wedding, the reason for our trip.

I particularly like these two, one a group photo and one of  me madly dancing with my nephew Miguel's lovely Cuban bride.

A group photo at Claudia and Miguel's wedding in Cuba this month

Me madly dancing with Claudia, the bride at the Cuban wedding this month

So of course we talked about the wedding and our time in Castro's Cuba. They also got to learn first hand about my losing my job.  Later in the afternoon we took all 4 dogs for a lovely sunny but chilly walk.  

Monday was back to work. That sounds funny doesn't it.  But really my job is to find a job or jobs now.  One of the important tools to do so was to update my CV or rather revamp it. One has to keep up with the times and mine had a format which I used 10 years ago.  Yep, it was time to change it. For this I visited Microsoft last week where my ex colleague Juana kindly helped me. By Monday morning the English version was ready.  This is what it looks like, at least the first part of it. I'm really happy with it. Now I have to translate it into Spanish.

My new CV which I'm very happy with.

I commented to Juana that day, after she had made some minor corrections to the format, that maybe I wouldn't need it as I had 2 freelance jobs in the pipeline.  One was with an American company based in Florida who want me to do the PR for the European launch and sale of their mobile phones and tablets. I had a con call that afternoon after which I wrote a launch plan to send to my new "client". Doesn't that sound grand haha?  I wasn't sure they would like it but later I would hear they did.  

Tuesday was a busy day as all days seem to be at the moment.  It's funny but I am busier now than when I was working. That, of course, is because I had been gradually relieved of all my functions. I far prefer to be a busy bee I can tell you. That morning I was to meet a friend and ex colleague from the sector who is also unemployed like me.  He is working hard to become self employed too and I wish him lots of luck. We met at Centro Oeste shopping centre and I am pleased to tell you that despite the temptation to go into Zara and the likes, I refrained from doing so.  Until I earn some money from my new clients, I won't spend a penny on clothes.  That's not quite true actually as my birthday is coming up and what do I want for my birthday? Well clothes of course for my new figure hahaha. 

There was breaking news on  Monday in the UK.  The High Court had ruled that Parliament must vote before the Government can trigger Brexit.  What was not so good is that this didn't include the parliaments of Scotland, Wales or Ireland, the  most interested parties.  

The best news of the day for me came from England too but it was personal news. My dear darling daughter Suzy who went to London to find her fortune as a nutritionist and dietitian nearly 4 years ago, has finally landed a job with the NHS. Rather, she has her foot in the door.  She will be starting on 6th February as a locum community dietitian for the North East NHS Trust Foundation and the job sounds exciting, much more so than her current one with Pronokal; plus the pay is a lot better.  Well done darling, congratulations, we are so proud of you. 

Wednesday was the day the new US President, the clown, Trump, announced officially he will build the wall with Mexico, his main campaign message. His plans are to add a 2000 mile barrier to the wall already existing.  He also insists Mexico is going to pay for it which I very much doubt will happen.  Oh how I hate this man.  I hate walls between countries and this is one dreadful example. Later the Mayor of Berlin warned him against it whilst the Prime Minister of Israel told him it was the way to go. Well, it isn't.

A sad sight, part of the existing barrier between the US and Mexico. 

No doubt this is one of the subjects Theresa May would touch upon in her visit to the US. this week. She would be the first world leader to meet the newly elected President. The Times said that "bullish May will tell Trump they will lead the world together". If only Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan could lift their heads to see this new "special relationship".  It's beyond belief. 

On Wednesday I had my first meeting with my first "client".  For the occasion Olivia lent me one of her dresses.  I don't have new clothes but full access to her wardrobe which is nearly the same haha.  I wore the one in the photo illustrating this week's post.  It looked minuscule and I was amazed that I got into it. Well, that's the new me I suppose hahaha. Eladio was impressed with me in the dress with my new figure so took photos from the front and from behind. This is it from behind. 

Looking good from the back too hahaha

We met at the lovely English tea room, Living in London. We discussed their communications needs and it seems I will now have to explore the avenue of "tailored customer communication" as this is b2b business on a 121 level.  This is when I realised that in order to take on two freelance jobs I would have to become self-employed.  For me this will be a  brave new world from a professional stand point  as all my life I have been employed in the corporate world with all my needs covered.  I will be my own boss, a "freelance communications consultant"  but will it work out?  Will I have enough clients?  How the hell will I go about becoming one?  I spent some of Wednesday afternoon surfing the web on how to do it without renouncing my unemployment benefit. I came to the conclusion I needed a professional accountant's help.  But who to choose, how much do they cost, etc?  Oh my goodness, then a light lit up and I remembered my best friend Julio is self employed and spoke to him and now I shall be seeing his accountant of whom he spoke highly.  Wow I am on a learning curve here and beginning a new professional life. That night I spoke to my client in Florida and we clinched a deal for me to work for them for a monthly fee.  So of course I have to become self employed and must go about it as soon as possible.  Wish me luck. 

Both Suzy and I are embarking on a new phase in our professional life.  That's why this week has been a "game changer" as I said at the beginning. We spoke on the phone both on Tuesday and Wednesday night. That's news as all our communication is usually via whatsapp. Suzy was bubbling with joy.  As we were on the phone, she told us her flat mate, Anita, was making a special cake for their Argentinian friend Vicky's birthday celebration. It was to be themed on Game of Thrones. I asked for a photo of the two of them with the cake and this is what I got.

Suzy and Antia and The Game of Thrones cake

On Thursday I had a lunch appointment with a former colleague from our Motorola Days, Carlos C.  When we worked together he was just starting his career.  He is blonde and blue eyed and from Bañares in Alicante.  Once many years ago on a trip to Amsterdam for the Champions League final, an air hostess confused us as Mother and son.  It has been a standing joke since then and he always calls me "Mum" hahaha. I hadn't seen him for a long time and he has grown into a delightful man, now married and the proud father of 3 children. We come from way back and he knows a lot about the sector so we practically talked shop throughout the lunch which he insisted on paying for.  We went to La Txitxarrería in Pozuelo, one of favourites.  We had such a good time I forgot to take a photo. 

I found out later that that very morning Yoigo was holding its first press conference without me.  The event organisers, my darling girls Cris, Bea and Gloria sent me a message to say how they missed me. I heard there had been a lot of cost cutting with the event itself and that there wasn't even a screen to see the presentation on.  They were launching a new convergent offer and I was horrified to hear the "small print"; no tethering, no You Tube streaming.  So obviously they got some pretty negative headlines.  The next day they rectified but from a PR point of view it was a little late as the damage was done.  What else can I say other than that it wouldn't have happened in my day:-(

On Friday morning I woke up to the news that the programme I featured in in 2015 as Yoigo's Comms director had been aired yet again the night before.  It was like another stab in the back as I got so many positive and congratulatory messages and I had to tell everyone that I "no longer form part of the company".  It was very ironic and something I could have done without if I want to put the recent past behind me. 

Just some of the lovely messages from anonymous people who saw me in the Spanish version of Undercover Boss for Yoigo on Thursday night.

Those were the thoughts on my mind as I answered anonymous people on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and my blog on my way into Madrid.  You see that morning my journey towards a "brave new world" was starting as I was going to see Paco B, my new accountant or a "fiscal advisor" as it is called here.  I would need a good accountant on my journey to become self employed and capitalise my unemployment benefit; all very bureaucratic things to do.  I always thought people who had an accountant were pretty important and now I have one too as well as a lawyer. You see I am on a learning curve after being axed from Yoigo.  He was a darling and put my mind at rest. All can be done and all will be done by his office.

I walked out feeling pretty good but I also walked out into the rain.  In fact it rained pretty much everywhere that day in Spain but also snowed a lot, this time in the north of the country.  I was delighted to hear there had been the first big snowfall of the year in Montrondo that morning.

Snow in Montrondo on Friday morning

I ached to be there to enjoy it but we can't go as Eladio gives his private lessons from Monday to Saturday every afternoon to his young pupil Sara who is not a good student I'm afraid. It frustrates him as he is such a good teacher but there was one good sign this week his tutoring is working in that she actually passed an exam in history of art the other day.  

I couldn't resist the temptation to walk into Zara which was across the road from my accountant in the Princesa Street in Madrid.  But believe it or not I didn't see anything that I fancied so made my way to the Metro Station and travelled to Colonia Jardín where I leave my car these days.  I was home just as "my men" had started their lunch.

I heard in the car on the radio whilst driving back that Rafa Nadal was in the throes of an epic 5 hour and 5 set semi-final against Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov which if he won would mean he would meet Roger Federer in the Australian Tennis Open this Sunday.  Well he won by the skin of his teeth to reach the first Grand Slam Final since 2014.  The score was 

6-3 5-7 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (4-7) 6-4.  With the likes of Murray and Djokovic out of the way it will be a great final for both men for whom the Australian Open has seen their astonishing comeback.  Nadal was overjoyed at his win. 

Nadal overjoyed after his epic win on Friday in the semifinal of the Australian Open

But he won't have much time to recover before the final unfortunately and here Federer has an advantage. Well as a Brit I should say: "may the best man win" although in my heart you all know on whose side I am hahaha.

And of course on Friday the much awaited for world meeting happened when Theresa May met Donald Trump.  In the airplane flying to the US in answers to the press she stated that "opposites attract". The British press were likening her future relations with the new President to those of the "special relationship" Margaret Thatcher had with Ronald Reagan. Whatever the case, the British Prime Minister will have to keep her real thoughts about him to herself as I can't possibly believe that on a personal level she has anything but negative thoughts about Donald Trump like the majority of the rest of the world.  And here they are shaking hands across the famous bust of Winston Churchill which Trump has replaced in the Oval Office. 

Theresa May and Donald Trump meet - the start of a new special relationship?

If only the great statesman could lift his head from the grave and tell both leaders what he thought of their terrible politics; the exit from the EU and Trump's threats to Muslims and the dreadful idea of the wall on the Mexican border.

Whilst Theresa May whose name was spelled wrong by the White House, without the "h", was wining and dining and giving speeches in Washington, my normal life continued. I did the afternoon shopping on my own and came back overloaded with the week's provisions.  I also worked on press lists for my new clients and was so caught up in the job and still at it after 8pm when suddenly Eladio reminded me we had a dinner date that night in Madrid with our friends Pedro Delgado of professional cycling fame and his delightful wife Ludy who hails from Villablino near Montrondo.  So I had to rush to get ready.  For the occasion I wore a newly discovered imitation Custo t-shirt which I had bought on my trip to China in 2004 with Nokia.  I also wore a lovely black Desigual coat Oli has lent me as nearly all my coats are far too big now hahaha.

Dinner was at La Vaca Argentina in the city centre.  It had been renovated since our last meal there and was really nice.  Our friends were on time for a change and we had a great meal together.  They too had suggested the dinner to hear my story of my job loss.  They are so sweet.  Here we are together round the table. 

Dinner on Friday night with Pedro Delgado and his wife Ludy.

They were keen to know about our recent trip to Cuba and had nearly joined us but decided not to at the last moment.  I broke my diet that night as prescribed by my doctor. Oh how wonderful to be able to enjoy a glass (or two) of lovely red wine.  Thankfully I didn't get a headache later.

On Saturday, thankfully my body clock allowed me to sleep until 7am as we had gone to bed at 1 a.m. It was by the way the Chinese New Year, so Happy New Year to any Chinese readers here on my blog. 

After my morning walk, Eladio and I went to Centro Oeste shopping centre in Majadahonda to buy my upcoming birthday presents from him and my Father.  We started with a cup of coffee together.  So far, so good. The first shop I chose to go into was Massimo Dutti and that's when my dear husband who hates clothes shops, decided to leave me to buy my own presents and sit outside waiting for me. Well he had a very long wait.  The best thing about shopping yesterday was that absolutely everything I tried on fit me. I kept going for the "m's" but soon realised they were too big so nearly everything I got was an "s". I was flabbergasted. I didn't find much in Zara except for 2 jumpers.  But I did find a lovely see through embroidered blouse which they only had big sizes.  So there and then in the changing room I ordered an "s" online.

The beautiful see through embroidered top I ordered from Zara online on Saturday

Whilst Eladio waited, I went into other shops.  At a little boutique I found a gem of a red tartan jacket and at Cortefiel a skirt which I bought in both shocking blue and black.  

We came home for lunch with my Father after which Eladio and I had our afternoon siesta and were joined by little Pippa.  My husband went off to his afternoon class and I spent part of the time cooking. I made vegetables to last me the week: artichokes, leeks, cauliflower and runner beans. As I was cooking, my friend Juana alerted me on whatsapp that I was on TV once again.  For the umpteenth time the programme, El Jefe Infiltrado (Undercover Boss) featuring me for Yoigo was being shown that afternoon, just a few days after the last time.  Twice in one week!  It was yet another stab in the back and doesn't help the healing process of getting over losing my 10 year job with Yoigo.  On the bright side again I got some lovely messages on twitter such as this one. And there were lots more on FB, LinkedIn, etc. It's so damned ironic.

Another lovely message from a TV spectator

I tried to ignore my thoughts and concentrated on cooking. I was joined by Zena. I had asked her to bring some beetroot (difficult to find the fresh one around here) and make borsch for us this weekend.  Borsch is perhaps Russia's most famous dish as it is in the Ukraine where Zena comes from.  Half way between a stew and soup, the ingredients are: meat, beetroot, carrots, potatoes and cabbage. Then it is typical to add "smetana" (sour cream). I was looking forward to eating it for lunch today as indeed was my Father.  

Zena's borsch which she made for Sunday's lunch.

Every time Zena makes borsch for us, I am transported back to my childhood when my Mother used to cook it for us. 

That night we started watching a new series on Netflix, "Revenge" an American production which is loosely based on the Count of Monte Cristo.  Its a bit of a soap opera but highly entertaining with lots of "goodies" and "baddies" hahaha.

"Revenge" our latest series on Netflix

Today, Sunday, I was up at 6 as seems to be the norm these days.  Over my breakfast of coffee, fruit and oat bran I read the news.  I was most pleased to read that Spain's famous ice skater, Javier Fernández, had won the European Figure Skating Championship for the 5th time in a row held in Ostrava in the Czech Republic.  Wow that is quite an achievement.  Let's see if he can win at the World's again too which will take place in March in Helsinki.

Spain's ice skating champion Javier Fernández who won the European  Championship for the 5th time in a row yesterday

But today all eyes will be on the tennis final at the Australian Open where Rafa Nadal will meet his old enemy, yet friend, Roger Federer.  No one dares place their bets as both men are still the kings of tennis. I am waiting to know who wins with baited breath and keeping my fingers crossed for the Spaniard, one of Spain's best ambassadors ever.

And so my friends I come to the end of the tales of this week. As you have read, I am beginning a new journey to become a freelance communications consultant.  Wish me luck on my travels as I will need it.

Meanwhile let me wish you all a happy and relaxed Sunday.

Until next week,
Masha.

Undercover Boss (El Jefe Infiltrado) premiere, the repercussions and then to El Rocío for the annual Yoigo summer party, Eladio in Montrondo, Suzy dressed in bin bags to escape the rain in London, Oli and Miguel back from Ibiza and Formentera and other stories.

Sunday 20^th September 2015

Me as me in the programme the Spanish version of Undercover Boss

Hi everyone

I think this week has been one of the most intense and exhausting for as far back as I can remember, at least in the past few years but it has also been very happy overall.  This week brought with it the premiere of Undercover Boss in which I was starring (what a word) and the week the big Yoigo summer party took place in wonderful and magical Andalusia; El Rocío, Doñana and Sanlucar de Barrameda.  I came back hoarse but happy late on Friday night but with the satisfactory feeling of a job or jobs really well done.  My mission was to create another wow event and for the employees and suppliers to have the time of their life and that mission was happily accomplished. Once back home I now feel emotionally, mentally and physically drained but overall very happy.  More about the actual event later on ok.

The nerves began already on Monday, the day before the programme was to be broadcast.  I was a bundle of nerves as although I was happy with the content I didn’t know what the reactions from our employees and suppliers would be like; not least the approximately 2 million viewers.  But I had to concentrate on work which is the best way to take your mind off any worries.  Both Yoigo and the TV channel La Sexta sent out their respective press releases on our part in the Undercover Boss.  Finally in the release we would reveal my undercover identity. I was to be Melanie Norris a divorced fruit seller from London with an unemployed 25 year old daughter supposedly taking part in a TV contest whereby I would be working in Spain for Yoigo. The photo illustrating this week’s blog is of me as Masha Lloyd in the programme whilst the one below is of Melanie Norris. 

Me as Melanie Norris in the programme

And below is the transformation of the two women. A lot of people said they liked me with long brown hair but not me I’m afraid.

The transformation

This is Yoigo’s press release.  I had an interview that morning with Colpisa, which is the news agency for most of Spain’s regional newspapers.  Later it was published not only online in all of them but also printed in at least 27 local newspapers in full colour including this photo which seemed to be the most popular of all the scenes in the show; me learning how to repair a mobile phone hahaha.

One of the 27 articles in the written press

Finally Tuesday arrived, my big day, the day of the premiere of the programme.  It wasn’t going to be broadcast until 10.30pm which is Spanish prime time; probably the latest TV prime time in the world.  Meanwhile the TV channel was promoting our episode heavily and here is one of the “promos” as they are called here and here is the other.  I was devastated to hear that on the same night there would be football, none less than Real Madrid playing in the Champions League.  The football would finish just before my programme began but on a different channel which meant many spectators would probably switch off the TV after watching Real Madrid win.  In any case I heard later that the Yoigo episode had a 10% share, higher than the week before and that it rose to 15% towards the end, over 2 million people.  I also got figures from our Press Tracking company and their very conservative estimate for what the hour long programme would cost in advertising terms was over 3 million euros.  Bear in mind you cannot buy 1 hour’s advertising and as this was not advertising but pure company content the real value is far higher.  In the end we reported a total audience of nearly 15 million people – TV, print, online and twitter and an equivalent advertising spend of just under 4 million euros.  To think the whole project just cost us the prizes worth some 40.000 euros our return on investment was 100 percent. It was amazing publicity for Yoigo and something which no advertising money could ever buy. So you see the power of PR is often much bigger than a marketing campaign.

But let me get to the broadcasting of the programme itself. My friends who had appeared in it were coming to watch it with Eladio, Salud and I and I prepared a lovely buffet dinner.  Unfortunately just as they were arriving Norah managed to eat the whole plate of the best Iberian ham.  Lucky her!

And here we are all ready to watch it.

Watching the show with my friends

Thanks Fátima, Marta, her husband Fran and Gloria for coming.  You made up for Suzy and Oli’s absence.  Oli was watching it with Miguel from their apartment in Ibiza and was full of praise at the end. As most of the spectators we all laughed and cried and afterwards the repercussion was just amazing. I think I was still reading tweets, posts, whatsapp and emails until past 1 in the morning. Since the programme my Klout score has gone up from 60 to 66.  Klout measures a person’s influence on social media and that is a very high score, within the top 10 of social media influencers.

My Klout score went up from 60 to 66 this week thanks to the show

The next day my twitter feed grew, some of the comments being downright nasty but I also got some lovely ones from people I knew and people I didn’t.  I think I now understand the frustrations of famous people who are hit out at by nasty trolls on their twitter.  There were some great articles too and I think my favourite is the one from a techy blog called Movilonia (la verdadera cara de Yoigo – the real face of Yoigo) which was a joy to read.  You can read it here. I just loved the photo the journalist included of Pippa our Yoigo mascot in the article which you can see below.

Pippa in the show

Another good one was from an interview I did with an influential marketing blog called Reason Why.  It was entitled “Así funciona realmente Yoigo” (this is how Yoigo really works).  There was also a more personal one about me from PR Noticias (PR News) called Masha Lloyd from Comms Director of Yoigo to aLondon fruit seller in Undercover Boss! But best of all were emails from anonymous people who just wrote to say how much they loved the programme and what a wonderful lesson they had learned from me in the advice I gave to the participants; to fight for what they want and to do so always with a positive attitude.  They are perhaps what made it all worth it. Thank you.

If you didn’t manage to see it, here is the link to the programme.  However you have to live in Spain or have a Spanish IP address to see it. Otherwise you can see parts of it on You Tube (just google Masha Lloyd Google).

The day after the programme, Wednesday, I had to catch the midday high speed train to Seville to get to El Rocío ahead of the guests, just over 200 people.  Luckily I met up with two colleagues on the train.  Manuel who is head of logistics and is from Seville took us to lunch and then drove us to El Rocío where our party would start.  Unfortunately it rained that day in most of Spain even down south but we were lucky that from the next morning onwards the sun shone non-stop and the weather was very warm.

El Rocío is a unique place in Spain in the province of Huelva and looks like the Spanish Far West.  It is officially a horse town so there is no tarmac.  El Rocío is located near or in Doñana, the biggest nature reserve in Europe. It is the destination of a famous pilgrimage called El Rocío where more than one million people take part coming from all over Spain in their horse driven carriages or old fashioned gypsy carriages.  We were to be doing our own Rocío and as you will hear later this was the first summer party where I managed to get all of Yoigo to go into a church. You see the final part of the pilgrimage is entering the Hermita (church in El Rocío) to venerate the Virgin and when a group of “rocieros” sing the haunting song “La Salve”. If you’ve never heard it, listen to it here.

El Rocío is a unique place in Spain

We all slept in houses belonging to the “hermandades”, or pilgrim associations from different parts of Spain. They are simple but very pretty with their patios and wooden steps. Here is one of the houses our guests slept at.

One of the Yoigo houses in El Rocío

Meanwhile our guests were on the high speed train on their way to Seville.  Amongst them were 5 of the participants from the programme.  They themselves had their own moments of fame as you can imagine.  I was told later that everyone at the Madrid Atocha train station recognized them and wanted a photo of them. I was really looking forward to welcoming Miguel, Patricia, Sara, Sergio and Javier my fellow partners in crime in Undercover Boss.  Miguel, the phone repairer got the most fame as his scene with me was probably the funniest, especially when I broke a phone on purpose to see how he reacted. Since the programme a fan club was set up for Miguel in Facebook and now has over 500 fans.  He is the guy in the photo in the newspaper article above.  And here are the 5 of them on the train just not believing their luck.

The 5 participants from the show on the AVE high speed train on their way to El Rocío on Wednesday

I booked into my house and unpacked after which I switched on my PC to read more tweets or articles from all the repercussion that we got from the programme. It was to say the least overwhelming.  Then I got ready for our first party which was to be a dinner at the Hermandad de Pilas

The Hermandad de Pilas where the first night party took place

It was at “Pilas” where I finally got to greet the 5 participants in the programme and here is a selfie of us there just before the sit down dinner.

A selfie in El Rocío with the Undercover Boss participants

The evening went off very well.  It was not just the place and super food which people loved but also the entertainment provided by the local women who sang beautifully as well as the master class in flamenco dancing.

Meanwhile Olivia and Miguel were enjoying life in Ibiza where they were staying at an apartment for 5 days before moving onto the quieter island of Formentera.  Here is a lovely photo of Oli on the beach with a new hat which she actually later lost on the ferry going to Formentara when it was blown away by the wind.

Oli in Ibiza this week

It was Suzy that most made me laugh that night.  She was of course in London and couldn’t come and help me at the Yoigo party this year.  I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw this photo she had posted of herself on Facebook with no explanation when I came back from the party at the Pilas Hermandad.

Suzy dressed up in a bin bag to fight off the rain on her bike in London

I know she likes to dress in quite a bohemian way but I really thought that here she had gone too far and this couldn’t be a new London fashion could it?  She later explained she was wearing a bin bag to fight off the rain whilst cycling to work and back.  I’m sure you will have laughed too at the photo.  It could not be funnier and had me in stitches in my hotel room when I left the party at Pilas after midnight. The rest of the party I heard later carried on until much later, some not going to bed until 6 in the morning!

They must have been very tired on Thursday morning as we were to meet at 10 am at Pilas to take the bus to our departure place from where we would bein our Rocío or pilgrimage.  We were greeted with food and drink such as manzanilla or fino, local dry sherries, as well as with a rociero group dressed in flamenco outfits who would be our entertainment during the pilgrimage.  It would be a 10km drive or walk with 3 stops, one of them being for lunch.

The Rocío being greeted by the group of Rocieros

I chose to walk the first two parts of the pilgrimage along with Ludi, Isabel and other companions.  Here is a picture with the two girls from my PR agency Ketchum.

With Isabel and Ludi on the pilgrimage

For the last part I joined the pilgrimage on one of the horse carriages.

One of the horse carriages

As we were approaching El Rocío the horse carriages went very fast and competed with each other worrying me there might be an accident but thankfully there wasn’t.

We got to El Rocío just after 5 pm and all of us followed a group of singing rocieros as we walked to the Hermita (church).

Entering the church in El Rocío called La Hermita

Once inside we all admired the altar which is magnificent.

The altar in El Rocío church

For me the highlight of the whole day was when the Rociero group sang the “Salvé”.  I got goose pimples and actually shed a little tear from the emotion the whole scene caused in me and I can only imagine all of our guests must have felt the same.

The Rociero choir singing "La Salvé" in the church 

The Rociero choir who wanted a photo with me as they'd seen mme in the show on TV and I wanted a photo of them because they sang so beautifully.

We were all exhausted afterwards and in need of a shower after all the dust from the long walk or drive.  We had about 4 hours to rest until the last party which would be held at another “Hermandad” this time the one called Sevilla or El Salvador.

My events agency had decorated the big patio beautifully.  Seats and tables were made out of hay stacks giving a real village feel.  We had also set up side shows with village games such as hitting the pot and winning a cheese, a bottle of wine. The booby prize was water inside those ones without a prize. 

Hitting the pots game was by far the most popular game at the party on the last night.  It was inspired by the one played in Montrondo at the Santa Marta fiesta.

The highlight of the night and perhaps for me the main highlight of the 3 days was an equestrian show by Carmelo Cuevas. His horses come from the Jerez Royal school of horse riding considered to be the best in the world and equal to one in Vienna.  As Carmelo Cuevas representative pointed out to me most of the horses at the school in Vienna hail from Jerez.  There were 3 numbers, two of which were when the horse literally danced with a flamenco woman dancer. But the best number for me was when Carmelo Cuevas rode his magnificent white horse to music.  Again, like during the Salve, I shed a few tears of emotion.  The show was magnificent. Wow is the only word to describe it.

The magnificent equestrian show at the party on the last night.

The evening was fabulous but I was exhausted and made a quiet exit just after midnight a bit like Cinderella.  I heard later that people left earlier than the night before as they must have been very tired too even if they are younger than I am.

The next day was Friday and the last day of our summer party.  Eladio meanwhile was in Montrondo with his brother José Antonio. They went hoping the carpenters would have come to finish the staircase and put in the doors but they never turned up. In any case there was lots of work Eladio wanted to do on the house; mainly install all the lamps and bulbs we had bought from Ikea the previous week. They were lucky with the weather that day and later on I got this fabulous photo of Eladio high up in the mountains where the two brothers went on a very long walk.

Eladio on a walk in the mountains of Montrondo this week

125 people from our group went to visit Doñana early in the morning.  Having already seen it I joined the second group which would be going to Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Cádiz on the other side of the River Guadalquivir on Doñana four wheel drive buses all along a 20km stretch of natural beach, the longest of its kind in Spain.  The experience was unique especially as it was a lovely sunny day.

The drive along the Doñana beach in the 4 wheel drive buses was simply amazing. 

When we got off the bus we took the boat across the river, another highlight of our trip.

On the boat that crosses the river Guadalquivir from the Doñana beach to Sanlúcar de Barrameda

We arrived a few minutes later and got off on the beach at Sanlúcar to be greeted by a group of waiters offering us sherry and tapas.  We then all got into horse driven carriages to be taken to our final destination, the Barbadillo Bodegas on the other side of the town.

On the horse carriage in Sanlúcar de Barrameda on Friday

Here we met up with the other group and enjoyed a short cocktail party in the grounds of the Bodega.  The last item on our agenda was lunch all together at the winery where I was the MC even though I was nearly running out of a voice to speak. I had to announce the video that had been made of the first two days of the party. The rest will be completed and I will post it online next Monday.  The grand finale was a raffle for prizes left over from the night before; lots of bottles of wine, a ham, 20 chorizos and two mobile phones.

It was an exhausted but happy group that left the Barbadillo bodegas to board the bus that would take us to Seville to catch our charter AVE (high speed train) that would leave at 19.45 and arrive at Madrid Atocha at 22.15. 

I was home after 11 and greeted by Salud.  Unfortunately my Father had been ill and had been sick. Thankfully he is better now and there was no need to call the doctor.  But it was Pippa who gave me the best reception.  Her enthusiasm and happiness to see me lasted well over an hour before the two of us hit the sheets and went to sleep.

Yesterday was Saturday.  Eladio wouldn’t be back until tonight and Oli and Miguel were arriving yesterday evening.  So I had most of the day to myself to recover.  After breakfast I went for a walk and spent most of the day reading the Clifton Chronicles in the shade by the pool.

Oli and Miguel had a lovely time in Ibiza and Formentera.  Oli was especially impressed with the smaller island. It’s a sort of paradise although it seems to be invaded by Italians in the same way Mallorca is invaded by Germans and Brits.  Here is a photo of the two of them in Formentera.

Oli and Miguel in Formentera this week

And today is Sunday.  Oli and I went for a walk with the three dogs, quite a challenge as the leads get entangled and Norah and Pippa get very frisky if they see a bike or another dog.

Oli with the dogs this morning 

The rest of the day has been quiet.  I have been writing my blog on the table by the pool and Olivia has been reading. Salud made our lunch; homemade pizza and salad.  Meanwhile Eladio is still in Montrondo. It’s so strange to be in the house without him.

Next week will be a lot less intensive but challenging too.  I have a press lunch and a PR pitch meeting so the week could be quite tense work wise.  But of course you will hear all about it next week.

Wishing you all the best, cheers till next Sunday

Masha

PS You can see more photos of the Rocío Summer party here on Facebook.