Spring is definitely here and brought with it an active social life

Hi there,

Last week and weekend brought the Spring finally and the Spring weather, all of which means spending our time in the patios and garden rather than inside.

I had spent a hectic week of meetings and an evening event on Thursday – believe it or not for a “Blogger night out”, the only social part of which was a lovely lunch at Gino’s with Jill on Wednesday. She was looking lovely as usual and she was very obviously happy in her new job. I must say I envy her travelling.

The weekend was bringing guests which had Eladio and I sprucing the house ready for eating outside on the terraces. Also on Friday we had a new awning or canopy put in the kitchen patio which is where we had installed the new barbecue too and which we were going to use for the first time this weekend.

The new canopy
On Saturday our guests were Marivi, Francisca and Carmen Burgos, former colleagues of Eladio’s from his time with the Spanish Administration. They are three lovely ladies who are obviously good friends too. We spent a lovely lunch and afternoon together where they mostly chatted about old times.

Round the table are Carmen, Marivi (standing up), me, Francisca and Eladio
In the evening we went to Madrid to have dinner at José Antonio and Dolores’ house because Isidro – Eladio’s youngest brother – and Yoli were there to take back Sophie, my cousin Masha’s daughter from Paris who had been on an exchange with Alicia our youngest neice and also my God Daughter. Dolores put on a magnificent spread of sea food.

And Sunday was our quiet day. Susi went to a “Capea” or bull fighting party (actually with a medium sized calf!) and we put our barbecue to use for the first time.

My Father posing by the barbecue. He realy enjoyed the chorizo sausages!
This next Thursday my Father, Eladio and I will be off to the UK to visit Olivia for 4 days. We will be staying at a lovely hotel in Falmouth on the Cornish coast and are really looking forward to going to the UK again. So Boots, Marks and Spencers and Waterstones HERE I COME!.

More about that next week.

Cheers my friends till then,

Masha

Susi and the puppies

Hi

My daughter Susana just sent me this priceless picture of herself and the new puppies, Elsa and Killo. I could not resist posting it on my blog and hope you laugh when you see it, just as I did!

She was bringing them into the kitchen in their travelling box after a visit to the vet and just look how Killo is thanking her! Well he is a male after all.

All the best
Masha

A weekend in April; good weather at last, Oli going again

Hi again,

This weekend was a family affair. It was also Oli’s last weekend with us before going back for the final term of her Erasmus University exchange year in Cornwall. She will be off tomorrow but Eladio and my Father will be going to visit her at the end of this month and she will be back again permanently at the beginning of June. So we will hardly have time to miss her really.

On Friday evening we got a take away (Turkish food) and invited Roberto and Mari Carmen to watch a film at home with us. They came loaded with 3 bottles of wine and of course half way through the film Roberto, at least, was fast asleep. Upon Olivia’s recommendation we watched Nikita – a sort of cult French action film with a super hero woman. Suffice it to say it was ok.

On Saturday the girls were having a goodbye party for Olivia (there have been so many this year!) so Eladio and I thought it politically correct to go out. So out we went, after our constitutional daily walk of course, to see a rotten film by Robert de Niro called The Good Shepherd. It’s a very difficult to follow film about the CIA the plot of which revolves around the Bay of Pigs attack on Cuba but it has too many flash backs to possibly understand what the real story is. We were told the film would last 2 hours but it turned out to last 3, which of course made us lose our favourite number 7 table at La Alpargatería and had us having a very slowly served dinner way past 11 o’clock. So last night was not the best of nights out frankly.

Sunday had us having lunch outside for the first time this year as it was the first time the weather really permitted it. Lunch consisted of the girls’ party food left overs, all of which was pretty tasty. The best thing about left-overs is not having to cook! The puppies joined us; for company I mean. And while we were enjoying our lunch, they were enjoying Eladio’s shoe laces, as you can see in the picture.


The girls with Elsa and Killo
Sunday was also a day of chores, one of which was cleaning out the deep freeze in the pantry. I could not resist taking this one of Eladio with half his body inside it!

Cheers till next week friends,

Masha

An unexepected midweek trip to Montrondo, goodbye Virginia and and how mourning unites the family

The church in Montrondo
Hi again

Just as we had all settled into our routines after the Easter break, we received an unexpected phone call from Eladio’s younger sister Pili on Tuesday morning to say that Virginia had died the night before at the grand old age of 94.

As I write these words, a shiver goes down my arms. So who is Virginia you may ask? Virginia is Primo’s Mother. And who is Primo? Primo is my brother-in-law and husband of Adela, Eladio’s sister. Very far removed you will say and yes of course she is. But Virginia was a very special woman and it’s difficult to describe what I mean.

Virginia was born and is now buried in her beloved native Montrondo. And where or what is Montrondo? Well, Montrondo is to Eladio’s family a bit like what Macondo is to Gabriel García Márquez – the town that figures in “Cien Años de Soledad” (Hundred Years of Solitude). Montrondo is Eladio’s family village – a small place tucked away in a remote area of the mountains of León in north west Spain. Nowadays there are only 20 inhabitants but once upon a time it was a thriving village of approximately 300 people. Montrondo means everything to Eladio’s family and it is where they were all born. And Virginia was from Montrondo and lived there all her life. I met her the first time I visited Montrondo when I was Eladio’s bride and I always remember her hospitality and smiling face. Whenever I saw her that smile never left her face. She had the face, even in her 90’s of a good looking but naughty urchin or rascal who was never happier than in her old house in Los Palacios of Montrondo or digging potatoes in the orchard with Primo. Virginia was in a way a symbol of Montrondo and for me at least, now that she has gone, Montrondo will never be the same again. The Palacios will seem completely empty without her.

"El Campo" - the centre of Montrondo
And on Tuesday night she died in the arms of her beloved son Primo, as a “fish when it leaves the sea” which is how he described it to me. So, of course, we had to go to her funeral to bare her our final respects. And the day of her departure could not have been brighter. The sun shone brightly on Montrondo as José Antonio, Eladio and I arrived just on time for the funeral on Wednesday morning. I think I have never seen so many people or cars in the village as I did that day. The funeral car was surrounded by her family and friends from near and far, all gathered together outside the lovely little church in Montrondo. That church also means so much to all of us and it is where we all gather together in the good moments and the bad. The men sit at the back and the women at the front and even though today is 2007 the tradition is never broken.

It was worth going to pay our last respects if only to comfort Primo and his family at such difficult moments for them. I seem to have been to so many funerals recently, my own Mother’s, my brother’s and then Eladio’s father’s not so long ago and each funeral brings back the memories of the last.

But the best thing about Virginia’s funeral was how it united our family. Thanks to her we met up with all Eladio’s brothers and sisters and even had lunch with his Mother whom we hadn’t seen since New Year’s Eve.

After the funeral we drove back to León and José Antonio, Eladio and I were invited to lunch at Pili’s house with Andrés, her husband and my favourite brother-in-law and their children, Paula and Mario who are hardly children anymore. Mario is about 17 and is 1.95 cm tall and of course plays handball nearly professionally. Paula is studying audiovisual communication at Salamanca University and is delighted at her newly found independence. Ernestina, my mother-in-law was also there and it was great to see her. And after lunch we were joined for coffee by Adela and Primo and their son Roberto and girlfriend Ana who are soon to be married.

Here are some pictures of the lovely lunch at Pili and Andres’ house. Thanks Virginia for reuniting the family and cheers forever. Keep smiling up there.

Lunch at Pili's

Love
Masha

A rather wet Easter 2007. Easter eggs and oranges

Hi again

So last week was Easter week and a holiday for us all, at least from Wednesday last. Eladio and I weren’t actually sure what we were going to do as the girls had asked for the apartment in Santa Pola. We were going to stay at home but at the last minute the girls decided to go to Benidorm to Copi’s flat which left Santa Pola free for us – I have to admit after some pressure from us! So as soon as I got back from work on Wednesday we quickly packed and got everything ready to leave, that is, my Father, Eladio and I.

We knew we were not in for particularly good weather as the forecast for the Costa Blanca was pretty dismal, but we thought that “a change was as good as a reset” and actually it was. We had to “weather” the traffic though as in Spain everyone goes on holiday and hits the roads at the same time which makes travelling at holiday time a bit of a pain. We kept being reminded by traffic authorities, through signs on the way, that last year 110 people had died on the road at Easter. That’s an awful lot of people! It made me worry about the girls who were travelling in 2 cars with friends at the same time as us, so I was constantly texting them to make sure they were ok!

We had a good 3 days together, generally relaxing, reading the papers, walking on the beach or making meals together. On Saturday we went to Benidorm to visit my Aunty Masha whom we hadn’t seen since last May. Aunty Masha was my Mother’s youngest and most beloved sister and now she is the only one left of the 6 brothers and sisters. She was house bound because of an infected toe, but, always up to an adventure, we covered the foot with a big sock and got her out of the house and to a restaurant by the beach for lunch. She was very happy to see us again and so were we. Aunty Masha will be 80 in September but to me she will always be my Mother’s glamorous and beautiful younger sister.

During a pretty disastrous lunch which took the waiters more than 2 hours to serve, the girls came from nearby Copi’s flat to see us. It was past 2 and they had just got up! What a wonderful life they lead! Saturday was the sunniest day and so afterwards we walked and my Aunt hobbled to the Vimi cafeteria – famous for where Eladio and I forged our relationship some 27 years ago!

Susi and Oli at the restaurant in Benidorm

Me smiling at Eladio at the Vimi Café

Aunty Masha
Once back in Santa Pola we took our evening walk on the beach and in the middle of it with a 30 minute walk to get back to the car , it began to rain and we got completely soaked; my poor Father too. And when we woke up on Saturday morning to even more rain we decided to return to Madrid. Actually we knew the girls were returning that day and it was an excuse to get back home for Easter day together.

Meanwhile I had got in supplies of English Easter fare from the local English shops: the typical Hot Cross Buns and chocolate Easter eggs mainly. We also bought about 15 kgs of local oranges from the outdoor market at 0.80 eurocents a kilo! They taste so delicious as they come straight from the trees to the market with no refrigerator storage or whatever happens to them till they get to the supermarket. You can tell from the picture here, just how fresh and natural they are.

Oranges straight from the tree

And here is one of the lovely chocolate Easter Eggs
The best thing about going away is actually coming back. Poor Henry (our cat) was missing for a while but came looking into the sitting room window on Sunday morning as José Luis (Oli’s boyfriend) was watching Fernando Alonso win the Malaysia Formula 1 Grand Prix. He has been a bit put off also by the presence of the new puppies too and probably feels a little unwanted. But now the puppies have been relegated to the garage, owing to their non stop “doings” in the kitchen which had become intolerable!

Easter day was a long lazy family day with a big roast meal for lunch. After lunch Susi and I watched the Nun’s Story with Audrey Hepburn, one of my favourite films ever. Anyone who knows me well will know that my favourite genres are hospitals, convents and prisons. There must be something about institutions that attract me and I bet a psychiatrist would have a field day analysing why.

And now it’s back to work but very soon we will be off travelling again as we have a trip planned to Cornwall to see Olivia at the end of April.

Hope you all had a good break at Easter too.
Till next week. All the best
Masha

Weekend away at La Senda de los Caracoles

Picture of me outside the hotel on the first day - all dressed up for the cold and rain!

Eladio pictured near the village on our first walk from the hotel.
Hello my friends,

This last Friday Eladio and I went away for our long awaited weekend to the Senda de los Caracoles (http://www.lasendadeloscaracoles.com). In English it means: the snail route, not that we saw any snails though. It's a rural spa “hotel” in a very remote part of Segovia called Grado de Pico which is actually on the border of both Soria and Guadalajara. It’s about 150km from Madrid so only takes about 2 hours to get to. The weather forecast looked grim with rain and snow but in actual fact, although it was cold, we got quite a lot of sun and only a bit of rain.

We were supposed to be going with our friends Mari Carmen and Roberto but unfortunately they had to cancel at the last minute as Mari Carmen’s elderly father was taken ill.

The weekend was spent walking, using the spa, reading, touring the area and of course, eating splendidly.

The hotel boasts being the perfect place to get away from it all and “disconnect”. However what their advertising doesn’t say is that there is no mobile phone coverage, no internet and no TV in the rooms. All this “disconnection” was a bit much for me, specially no mobile phone – which is my permanent connection to my work and no TV in the rooms was a bit of a damper in the evenings.

On the plus side, the food was great and the spa facilities very relaxing. One felt at “home” immediately as the hospitality of the family owners was terrific. It was very quiet with only another 4 or 5 couples staying there. La Senda de los Caracoles has 16 double rooms, quite small but very beautiful, specially the surroundings. You literally have to cross a river (without a bridge) to get to it and it’s 1.5km from the village where apparently only 3 people live permanently. You really couldn’t get much more remote than that!

On Saturday we visited the beautiful villa of Ayllon in the province of Segovia, a walled medieval town about 20km from our hotel (http://www.ayllon.es/). And then we drove to Soria which was about 96km from Ayllón. On the way we visited the small cathedral town of Burgo de Osma which was a jewel of a place with its lovely Plaza Mayor and cobbled streets. (http://www.burgosma.es/)Soria, although a county capital is pretty small with only 35.000 inhabitants and apart from the old town has nothing much to see. We had a great lunch in the Plaza Mayor at a typical restaurant called “Mesón Castellano”. We ate “cochinillo” (suckling pig) and “cabrito” (baby goat or kid) which tasted out of this world; the wine did too, of course.

After lunch we made a dream come true for Eladio by visiting a place called Numancia on the outskirts of Soria. Numancia was the famous celtiberian township which was besieged by the Romans for more than 20 years before it was finally conqurered. There are only ruins left, of course, but there are reconstructed examples of a celtiberian house (2 centuries b.c.) and a roman house (2 centuries a.c). I must say when we returned to La Senda de los Caracoles, we appreciated the home comforts a lot more after seeing such a lack of them at Numancia!(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numantia)

On Sunday we took the route of the red and black villages to Riaza – another medium sized town in Segovia. These villages now have very few inhabitants and a lot of the houses have turned to ruin but they are quite picturesque from the roadside with the backdrop of the snow capped mountains of La Pinilla. After a quick stop at Riaza where we visited the church which was quite full owing to the fact that it was Palm Sunday, we drove on to Sepúlveda where we had roast lamb in one of the numerous mesones. Roast suckling lamb is the most typical dish in Segovia. Sepúlveda is a beautiful small town built high up on a hill above the gorge of the river Duratón (http://www.segovia-sp.com/sepulveda/hoces-du.htm). As is usual in Segovia the streets are cobbled and most of the village life is concentrated in the Plaza Mayor.

It was great to get away and pamper ourselves but just as great to go home. So after lunch in Sepúlveda we headed home eager to see the family and newly acquired puppies, Elsa (final name I think) and Killo.

This week the girls will be on holiday and come Thursday I will too, as will the rest of Spain.

For those of you away on holiday this week, have a great time.

All the best
Masha
PS Thanks Ana (Valdivieso) and Tomy for the recommendation of La Senda de los Caracoles

Finally got my red leather patent high heeled shoes!

Hi again

For those of you who are interested, here is a picture of my new red leather patent high heeled shoes which I finally got last week after at least 5 visits to the shoe shop, Lola Rey in Centro Oeste.

The feet in the picture are Olivia's. I haven't had a chance to wear them yet as the weather has not been good at all.

Thought I'd never get them but I did.

All the best
masha

Spring has come, Fernanda and Jerónimo's party and a new member of the family came from Jérez de la Frontera.

Hello again and this is my weekend update:

This week Spring came and brought with it the cold weather with lots of snow in the north of Spain. One day of this week when I was having lunch with my dear friend Susana Blázquez at the Annapurna Indian restaurant, we could see the snow drops falling outside the window to a backdrop of sunshine. That was something to look at.

Friday night was a stay in night where we, Eladio and I, hired a film and had a take away for dinner. We watched United 93 – about the plane during the 11th September that was high jacked and then taken over by the passengers to stop it crashing into the Pentagon. It was quite claustrophobic and of course, very realistic. I actually don’t really recommend it but Eladio was impressed.

On Saturday while I had the episode with the red high heeled patent shoes Eladio went to look at barbecues for installing in the garden. This house has everything but funnily enough it lacks a barbecue. Of course, Eladio ended up ordering one of the very best they had at Leroy Merlin. It’s so big it probably does chops for 20 so it will be great for parties this Summer. Hopefully it will be installed here in about a week or 10 days.

In the afternoon we went to a small party at the Hesperia Hotel in Madrid held by my dear Mexican friend Fernanda Navarret to present her first born son, Jerónimo to her friends in Madrid. Fernanda went back to live in Mexico last Spring and to have her baby there. I had only seen photos and didn’t really think I would be seeing her again so soon. She had come to Spain to accompany her parents on holiday here which was also an excuse to show her new baby to all the friends she had left behind in Madrid.

Fernanda looked radiant and Jerónimo, so beautiful he could have been a girl. It was lovely to meet her Father, Don Carlos who was actually born in Madrid in C/Arenales in 1932. He gave us a short version of his life story and how he had married Fernanda’s Mother, the daughter of the then Minister of Health in Mexico. Quite a lovely encounter. However just an hour and a half with Fernanda shared with over 20 people was certainly not enough time together so we will be meeting up for a long girlie lunch this week before she goes back where we shall be able to catch up on what we have both been up to since we last saw each other a year ago.

Me, Fernanda with Jerónimo and Eladio

Jerónimo in his father's arms, Paco.

Jerónimo in his grandmother's arms, Fernanda's Mother.
In the evening we met up with Roberto and Mari Carmen for dinner at our usual place, La Alpargatería, and our usual table, number 5. Dinner with them is always a relaxing affair. Next week we will be going together to the country spa called La Senda de los Caracoles. There will be a full report in next week’s post about that.

Suzy was away this weekend because she went to Jérez (of sherry fame) with her boyfriend Gaby who is from there. It was the motorbike championships which he adores but they had also gone to get a puppy from an aunt of his for his new house in Madrid. There had been talk of this puppy for a while before they went and apparently the puppy was a boxer. As the weekend progressed so did news of 2 puppies they were bringing back. It seemed Suzy could not resist a little white one with a black patch on her eye. Eladio and I didn’t really want the responsibility of having a dog again but know we wont’ be able to resist a month old puppy. Suzy and Oli swear they will be take complete care of it but that, of course, remains to be seen. So lunch today was all about what name it would get. My favourites are Patch, Rosie, Poppy or Polly.

Just as I had finished writing this post, in walked Susi and Gaby with the new acquisitions - see the picture below. Of course, they are so sweet that any opposition from Eladio and I was swiftly dispelled. However it was made very clear that the girls would take complete care of it/them - it seems Gaby's puppy Kiyo will be staying for a little while until they move into their new house. This, of course, includes cleaning up all their "doings".

Kiyo and Polly/Patch/Donna (not yet decided) sleeping in their box in the kitchen. Polly/Patch/Donna has the big patch on her eye and is lying horizontally.
It was funny to see stylish Henry's reaction (our cat). He's such a coward and is absolutely frightened of them that now he prefers to stay outside for the moment at least!

And last night the clocks went forward so we lost an hour of sleep but the good thing is that there will be more daylight now. As I am writing now, it is 20.30 and still light, so great, Spring is really coming now.

Cheers for the moment.
Masha

A voice from the past.

A bird's eye view of Nottingham University campus - Trent building and the lake are what I remember most.

The famous Trent building

Hi again,

On Friday my dear friend Adele Brierley rang me. Adele and I went to University together and lived in the same flat with friends in the second year. Adele went to live in France while I went to live in Spain and she had 4 boys while I had 2 girls. The most dreadful thing is that we haven’t seen each other since her first child Jonathan and my first daughter Susana were born. That was at her parent’s house in Boroughbridge nearly 23 years ago!!! We have written to each other every now and again over the years and have had the odd natter on the phone and always with the promise of making the effort to see each other again some time. But time goes on and the time to see each other never comes.

Last week Adele wrote to me to tell me her new email address and she wrote that all was fine but she was so busy and had no time to write. It was lovely to hear from her but I wanted to know how she was, what she was doing, how her boys were – so I wrote back to say we had to make time for each other. And lo and behold, the darling beautiful, curly, smiling red haired 1.75cm tall Adele rang me on Friday afternoon and we chatted for at least one and half hours as we had so much to catch up on. We also had time for University day memories such as when we had chocolate egg eating competitions or one of our flat mates, Wombat, got lice in her hair!

She is fine, remarried to her psychiatrist (that is a story in itself) Bernard and they live in a town house in Orleans. Adele is a teacher of English and goes to her lessons by bicycle which compares very favourably for her with my 50km away office which can take a 2 hour drive to get to! Her boys Jonathan, Ben, sorry I can’t remember the 3rd boy’s name and Tom are all at different stages of their studies.

Ever after the conversation she has remained very much in my mind and I really hope that they do come and see us sometime soon. I told her about my reunion with Sandie – another mutual University friend – a few months ago. It’s so funny to have known each other as students and to meet again as mature ladies (a euphemism for middle aged).

Darling Adele, thanks for ringing and coming back a little into my life. You were never forgotten!

As I had no photos of Adele I decided to illustrate this post with pictures of our old University and when I looked it up in Google I was pleasantly surprised to see that Nottingham University is now in the top 10 of the British league of Universities which is something to be proud of I suppose. I also looked up our old Hall of Residence, Florence Nightingale, of the famous British nurse fame. It looks just the same except that it has been mixed since the year 2000. People like Adele and I made sure there were plently of boys there in our time and I remember one memorable fire drill that took place unexpectedly during the middle of the night and how all the boys caught there walked sheepishly out into the grounds, covered in blankets! In our day the bedroom walls were painted purple! What a good time we had!

Florence Nightingale Hall, our Hall of Residence in our first year at University.

In search of red patent high heeled shoes.

Hi everyone:

When Anne (Nenonen) was here last week we went shopping to Centro Oeste where we visited Lola Rey, one of our favourite shoe shops. I had no intention of buying any shoes nor did I need any until I spied my life long fantasy: a pair of red patent high heeled shoes! They were just the sort I have always wanted and have never had. Oh, yes I’ve got red shoes, have had many pairs of red shoes, but not patent red shoes. I remember as a child my Mother buying me a pair of red shoes which I put on immediately and walked out of the shop with them on. And when I went to bed I put them on a chair at eye level height so’s I could see them as soon as I woke up without having to get out of bed. So yes, I have always loved red shoes. There is something about red; it’s probably my favourite colour.

So how awful it was to find out they didn’t have my size!! I asked if I could order my size and yes I could, just had to leave a deposit and return one week later with the slip of paper. Well, I couldn’t wait a week could I, so returned on Thursday after work. But they weren’t there. Never mind, I was told, they would definitely be there on Saturday and I agreed to ring before. On Saturday I rang but they never answered so I thought they must have been too busy to pick up the phone. As we had to go into “town” anyway – to Majadahonda – Eladio dropped me off while he went to look at barbecues. In I went with my crumpled slip of paper which I gave to the gormless looking shop assistant who had “sold” them to me and who, of course, didn’t remember me or my red patent high heeled shoes. He disappeared into a very disorganised looking storeroom and I stayed outside wondering whether they would be there or not. Well my luck was not in. The gormless shop assistant’s boss told me she was terribly sorry they had been mislaid at the warehouse they were supposed to have come from!!! But not to worry as she herself would go and pick them up personally and they would be ready for picking up that afternoon. Oh well, I thought, at least I can pick them up this afternoon on our way to Fernanda and Jerónimo’s party. However, it was not to be or maybe the shoes were not supposed to be mine as just as we got home they rang me from the shop to say they hadn’t been able to pick up the shoes because of some emergency. They assured me though that they would be in the shop on Monday. Somehow these red patent high heeled shoes are eluding me. When I go on Monday with my crumpled slip of paper, for the 4th time, I think I will have very little hope of finding those so desired red patent high heeled shoes I so desire.

More news tomorrow.

Dinner with Anne and Graciela, The five day headache, Oli came back, Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns and The Bad German

Hi again

Well this week would have been better without the 5 day headache and even as I am writing here, it’s still there in the background; just won’t go. It started on Wednesday night when I went out to dinner with Anne and Graciela to La Txitxarrería in Pozuelo and is still with me today. It took me to bed on Friday afternoon in the middle of a visit from Manuel, Paola and little Daniela who had come to see Anne. I guess it will go eventually but I’m afraid it does take the beans out of me.

Girly dinner at La Txitxarrería in Pozuelo on Wednesday night
So, yeah, Anne came to stay for the weekend as part of an extended business trip. It’s always lovely to have her as she’s like part of the family. Her stay coincided with Oli’s return from Falmouth for her Easter holiday. Both of them were instructed to bring English chocolate Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns (typical currant buns with a cross on the top which the English have for toast on Good Friday and ONLY available in the UK). So we now have a huge pile of both.

Anne and I went shopping on Saturday morning for food for lunch but also to Centro Oeste, her local shopping centre when she lived in Majadahonda. I wasn’t supposed to buy anything but ended up with a beautiful black and white vintage type jacket and a pair of red patent high heeled shoes (very sexy for a 50 year old!!!). Lunch was a full family affair as we had both girls and both boyfriends (welcome back too Pepelu) and the food was typically Spanish to cater for Anne’s craving for Spanish cured ham and tapa type food. The piece de resistance though was American, in the left over brownies Susi and I had made the week before. So after that the only thing any of us could do was take a siesta. Actually I half slept through an old TV favourite film from the girls' childhood, “The Little Princess” – the perfect Saturday afternoon.

In the evening Anne, Eladio and I went to see The Good German to quench our thirst for Second World War films. It turned out to be a complete flop of a film despite George Clooney and Kate Blanchett. It is set in post-war Berlin where an American military journalist is covering the Potsdam peace conference. He gets drawn into a murder investigation which involves his former mistress and his driver; all incredibly complicated and mysterious. It’s a sort of Casablanca style imitation vintage film made in black and white which had me half a sleep before the middle. So I’m afraid I’ve renamed it The Bad German as you can see in the title of my post this week.

Dinner was at Mood again, great food but a little noisy.

And today has been a typical Sunday; most of the morning cooking and washing which are the usual weekend household chores. I’m a bit late with my blog today as the oxtail stew I made this morning took longer than planned. Well I did have a Jacuzzi in the middle of cooking I must admit so I suppose that’s why.

And now Anne has gone, back to London and tomorrow to Helsinki; what a globe trotter she is. I used to be to in my previous job but now my business trips are few and far between unless you count driving from Villaviciosa de Odón to La Moraleja, of course.

Cheers my friends until next week. Have a good one.

Masha

Going to the Cinema, the influence of communism and the Second World War. Spring is in the air. Anniversary of 11th March Madrid train bombings

Hello again

The week has been quiet so when the weekend came we felt a need for going out and what better than going to the cinema and then out to dinner on our own or with friends? So on Friday we were just the two of us and on Saturday we were joined by Eladio’s beloved brother, José Antonio and his wife Dolores. It’s thanks to Dolores that I first met Eladio, so she is someone very important in my life – but that story is for another time.

On Friday we went to see The Lives of Others which won this year’s Academy Award for the best foreign language film. Frankly it’s one of the best films we have seen for a long time. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's film is about the horrific system of observation in the former East Germany.

When I told Susi my daughter what the film was about – basically life under the Communists, she opened up my eyes to really how much my life has been influenced by Communism and the Second World War. The fact is both my parents were affected by both and at home the topic of conversation always revolved around them. So many of our guests and visitors were of the same condition; either Poles who had survived the war, Russian friends who had survived the Leningrad Seige, Soviets visiting the UK and telling the tales of life under communism (queuing up for bread or milk, empty supermarkets, …), my Mother’s stories of being imprisoned by the Germans in Berlin, her cycling around Vienna in a dare devil game when it was being bombed or my Father’s medal for having contributed to the liberation of Norway when he was a young Lieutenant in the British Navy. But all that’s another story too.

To gain some sanity we went to Mood for dinner afterwards and spent the whole time talking about the film which had made so much impact on us both.

On Saturday Susi and I made brownies and I must say they were the most successful we have ever made – actually I am not the best cake maker in the world. And in the evening, after our daily constitutional (walk), we went to see The Departed with José Antonio and Dolores. It is the Martin Scorsese film which won four Oscars this year, including “Best Picture”. It stars Jack Nicholson and Leonardo Di Caprio, amongst others. It’s all about the Irish mafia in Boston in the 20’s and is extremely violent. Actually none of thought that much of it and would have preferred to see “The Good German” – another Second World War film to feed our permanent interest in the subject. Food for thought was at La Alpagatería but that you must have guessed by now.

Not much mention of the girls this week. Susi sent me a message at just before 10 am this morning from her bosom friend Copi’s house, not to expect her for lunch. The way to interpret that is that her night out finished just after 9 am this morning. Oh to be young again!

Oli will be back next Friday for her Easter holidays. We are dying to have her home. Her room is so, so empty without her. Her Erasmus University Exchange programme will soon be over really as she will be returning definitively to Spain at the end of May.

And we will also be welcoming my dearest Finnish friend, Anne, next weekend. Friday was her birthday which she celebrated with my other dear Finnish friend Anne Marjut who was here with us last week. Hi girls, hope you had a great time this weekend in lovely Somerset together.

Meanwhile Spring is in the air. And here is a picture to prove it – Eladio, holding the reluctant Henry, against the backdrop of one of the trees in blossom in the garden.

The only sad note today, Sunday, is that it is the anniversary of the 11th March Madrid bombings. Who will ever forget?

Cheers until next week.

Masha

Visitors, surprise party for Tomas’ 40th, Eladio and the breathalyser and love is in the air

Hi again

This weekend has been quite hectic socially and with even more visitors than usual. On Friday, Anne Marjut, a Finnish friend came to stay for the weekend. She works for the company that does Nokia’s promotional material and had come to Madrid for business and extended the visit for a girly weekend with me. Girly occupations are basically shopping and eating, as well as chatting, all of which we did a lot of this weekend. We did rest also though and Anne sunbathed by the pool twice over the weekend, something none of us here at home would be seen dead doing with only 20ºC however sunny it is. We, meanwhile, practiced the Spanish national sport of having lovely long siestas.

Anne Marjut preparing the fruit platter for lunch on Saturday

Lunch at home on Saturday - picture taken by Anne Marjut
On Saturday, the night of the total lunar eclipse, we went to Tomas’ surprise 40th birthday party organised by his darling, extrovert and extremely vivacious wife Ana Valdivieso. Ana had been preparing the party for weeks and seemed on the point of a nervous breakdown trying to keep the secret from the very curious Tomy. There must have been over 60 guests and we were all instructed to arrive just before Tomy, to put the lights out and sing Happy Birthday. Cars were also supposed to be parked away from the house – Ana’s parents’ place – so as to avoid any suspicion. It was worth all the effort because Tomy was duly surprised (see the picture to prove it) and the party was a great, great success. I spent quite a part of the evening drinking some very lovely cava and when Fátima asked Ana’s father for another bottle of “cava” he politely corrected her to say it was actually Moet Chandon!!! Very nice it was too. As was the food of which there was far too much even for 60 people. Tomy is the youngest of 11 brothers and sisters and Ana had had the help of his numerous amount of sisters for the catering so, of course, there ended up being an abundance of everything. I don’t know who made the ham croissants or the prawn vol au vents but my congratulations from here to the cook or cooks. Excellent!!

Tomy arriving at the party with Ana at the door.

Susana, me, Fátima and Anne at Tomy's party
On the way home, after sighting the moon which at 1.30 in the morning was nearly completely covered in red, we happily said goodbye to our hosts and friends and drove home with the help of our new sat nav. Actually we still managed to get a bit lost as we were having too much fun in the car and listening to El Divo to bother listening to the lady’s instructions. Fátima was highly amused but quite impressed with the technology so I think she will be acquiring one soon too. Then just as we were nearing Boadilla we got stopped by the police and Eladio was asked to blow into the breathalyser. And I thought, that’s it, we’ve got caught, we’ll get fined as I was absolutely sure he had drunk well over the limit. But miraculously the result was 0.0%, quite inexplicable but very relieving for us all.

And today Sunday, after quite a long lay in, I prepared a big roast meal – can’t get away from the English tradition even after all these years - because we were having visitors again. Eladio’s ex boss, Alberto was coming with his girlfriend, Olga whom we hadn’t met before. So once again there was a visit of the new house which is actually not so new any more as we moved in more than 9 months ago! Their visit coincided with a lovely sunny day so instead of the usual siesta, we took them on our daily walk. Their newly found love was so obvious to all around them but blended in beautifully with the sunny day, the blossom on the trees and the birds singing. Very romantic, I must say.

Alberto and Olga - the History of Art teachers - love is in the air
Cheers until next week my friends.

A quiet week in February

Hiya

Looking back on this week and comparing it to the one before, this week has been very quiet and actually a bit boring. After recovering from the excesses of my birthday celebrations and Barcelona, I am ready for activity again. But this week was not to be and unfortunately next week doesn’t look very promising either.

Workwise the week has been mostly about planning with not much action and I have worked mostly from home as I didn’t have very many meetings to attend. The highlights of the week were lunch with my best friend Fátima where we spent most of our time talking about diets and lunch with two very close journalist friends from ABC, one of whom I have to thank for his help in finding my current job. Thanks Antonio!

The weekend has been pretty usual too with just one social event. That was Friday night when we went to the cinema and out to dinner with our friends Roberto and Mari Carmen. Guess which restaurant? Well the answer is easy; our usual, La Alapargatería. When I ring to make the reservation I don’t even need to say my name as they recognise my voice and depending on the number of people we are, they always know which table we want; 5 or 7.

The film we went to see was The King of Scotland which is about the rise of Idi Amin Dada, the famous dictator of Uganda in the 70’s but seen through the eyes of Nicholas Garrigan. He is a young semi-idealistic Scottish doctor who comes to Uganda to assist in a rural hospital. Once there, he soon meets up with the new President, Idi Amin, who promise a golden age for the African nation. Garrigan hits it off immediately with the rabid Scotland fan, who soon offers him a senior position in the national health department and becomes one of Amin's closest advisers. The story ends with the famous episode of the highjacking by the Palestinians of an aeroplane which is forced to land in Entebbe Uganda. Hopefully tonight both the film and the actor who plays Idi Amin will win an oscar as it is one of the best I have seen in a long time; that is if you can stomach some of Amin’s atrocities.

We have had some friends of Susana’s for the weekend, Merce and Josema from Yecla who were also here in September. As usual they brought us some lovely products from Murcia; wine, fairy cakes and funnily enough a delicious Tiramisu.

Yesterday Eladio and I went a bit mad buying pictures. We were out shopping for something completely different and came across a shop which had just the sort of pictures we were looking for. They are of zebras, African people, a huge flower and a view of Madrid from its most famous street, La Calle de Alcalá.

And as I love having something to look forward to, I have bought tickets and booked hotel rooms for a stay in Cornwall to see Oli at the end of April. Also, I have booked rooms for a weekend away with our friends Roberto and Mari Carmen at a wonderful country inn called La Senda de los Caracoles in Segovia which is also a spa. We shall be going at the end of March. Thanks Ana for the tip – just look at the place: www.lasendadeloscaracoles.com

And now I must leave you to attend to the roast in the oven. Today we will be 7 for lunch and it wouldn’t do to serve up burnt roast chicken!

I think I might have bored you today with so little to tell in my blog but there is not much more to report from a quiet week in February. I hope you had a good one!

Until next week my friends.

Cheers Masha

3GSM Barcelona 07

Susi in La Rambla

Me in La Rambla

Reuniting colleagues - Nokia Networks Spain team 2000

Susi and me posing for an mms postcard at the Nokia party

Emilio, me and Patricio - the Chilean connection
Hello again,

So what’s 3GSM you may ask? Well it’s actually the biggest telecoms congress in the world and it was held in Barcelona last week. Anyone who is anyone is telecoms goes, so it’s the best place in the world for networking.

Yes, of course it’s all about work and new products and services but for me it’s all about meeting colleagues old and new. In the company I worked for before we had a few sayings which were Connecting People, Disconnecting Families and Reuniting Colleagues and I like the last one best! It was great to see Marianne, Yolande, Tia, Suvi, Ben, Thomas, Xavier, Eva, Anna and a whole load of other ex colleagues again.

From what I could gather, the 3GSM congress this year was all about internet in your mobile phone, also about mobile TV and to some extent newish technologies such as Wimax. And of course, Windows mobile. But I’m sure you don’t want to hear about the congress but about what I did for fun.

And yes, there was quite a lot of fun. I took Susi my daughter with me as she had a few days off after her exams and was going to the UK on Thursday with her friend Merce from Alicante to see Oli in Falmouth. So there we were the 2 of us in a splendid hotel, the Eurostars Grand Marina in the port of Barcelona for 3 nights and when I wasn’t working we were playing.

We set aside some time for shopping and Susi did some tourism. The most I got in was a walk down the Rambla which was as beautiful as ever. We were lucky with the weather as it was around 20º C and upwards most of the week.

The nights were the best with quite a few parties, the best, of course, being the Nokia party and that’s the night we were out longest. It was held at the Museum of Catalán Art at the top of Montjuic with fabulous views of Barcelona at night. There must have been more than a 1000 people and tickets were like gold to get hold of. With my connections I managed to get 4 and took Susi and 2 Finnish friends, Viivi and Hanna. The dinner was great with buffets of Spanish, Mexican, Japanese and Italian food, not to mention the chocolate buffet and the drinks, champagne most of the night. The funniest bit was when a Greek chap, based in Teheran told me I was beautiful – in front of my daughter!! Having just celebrated my 50th birthday that came as quite a compliment.

As the night went along I bumped into many familiar faces which was such a pleasure. It was great to see you Pepe Comas, Pedro Molpeceres, Roberto Sanz, Miquel Teixidor, Luis Ríos, Tia Matthews, Michael Wittenberg, Emilio Brambilla (el chavalín), Patricio Valenzuela, Cristina Miranda, José Luis Pérez from Siemens and a friend from my Motorola days, Stephen Green from Satama, Ikka from the Ngage tour, …..I also met a host of great new people including a Dane dressed like a Mexican whose name I think was Johan. He was such fun.

From there a big group of us went to Luz de Gas for after party drinks. Luz de Gas is the place I always end up at in Barcelona. And there we danced the night through (yes I did Anne!) and drank lovely Mojitos. The night ended after 4 o’clock when Susi and I went exhausted to bed. The next day was the end of the fair which was actually a good thing as I had been on the go since the 8th February and my body needed a rest.

From Barcelona Susi went on to Alicante from where she was flying to Bristol with Merce and from Bristol they were hiring a car to drive to Falmouth. The poor kids ended up at Oli’s place at 4 in the morning. Well, they are young and can take it.

And I came home on Friday to home sweet home and in need of a good rest in order to build up energy again for work next week.

Cheers till next week.

My 50th birthday, otherwise known as the Indian Wedding

The belly dancer

Eladio and I at the Arab restaurant

Amanda and I in the kitchen when they arrived.


The food

Me and the magician Nelo

Walking in Boadilla on Sunday morning

Amanda and me at the tapas bar "El Bierzo" in Boadilla

The younger generation at the Txitxarrería where Andy and Amanda took us for dinner on the last night.

And the older generation at the same dinner.

Susi and Oli, my beautiful girls at La Txitxarreria.
Hi again

It was actually on the 8th February and I haven’t updated my blog since the 7th as I haven’t had a quiet moment to myself since then.

The 8th was the family celebration with a lunch at home and a Mallorca bought birthday cake. It was just the 5 of us, Eladio, Susi and Oli, my Father and me. They had bought me a hilarious singing birthday card with a lady showing her legs! I got some lovely presents from all the family.

In the evening Eladio and I went to the Medina Mayrit Arab Baths (http://www.medinamayrit.com/template.php?l=en&m=2&s=1) for a Turkish bath, massage, dinner and show – belly dancer. It was certainly an experience and a place I had wanted to go to for a long time.

On Friday my dear friends Andy and Amanda came to join us for the celebrations. They hadn’t seen our new house so that was something new for them. We spent the afternoon catching up on our news and then took them to dinner to our favourite place, La Alpargatería.

Saturday was a full day of preparations, cooking and getting ready for the party. My catch phrase all day long, was “there are 45 people coming, so do you think this is enough?”. Eladio took Andy and Amanda out in the morning to buy Andy a Spanish classical guitar and they came back with a beauty of an instrument.

People arrived from 21h onwards and we welcomed them all warmly. We ate and drank to our heart’s content and dear Copi (Susi’s bosom friend) was making Mojitos in the kitchen – yummy. We had a mixture of people, family and friends from my Motorola and Nokia times as well as the girls’ boyfriends and closest friends. We were quite a multicultural lot and my Father had a great time talking to the Finns, my friend Gustavo of Canadian origin and Monica’s husband who is German. So did Amanda I think. I got lots of great presents – thanks everyone – the most original of all being an original copy of the Times printed the day I was born, from Susana and Gustavo. Amazing!

The evening ended with a magician’s show which actually lasted nearly an hour and a half but had us mesmerized b y the most incredible tricks Nelo (that was his name) made.

When nearly everyone left, Andy, Amanda, Eladio, the kids, the boyfriends, Copi and Carolina sat around eating up the birthday cake and having a final drink. It was then that I got out my old school reports and started reading out some of the comments which were hilarious. You might not know but Amanda and I were at school together (St. Joseph’s College, a convent school in Bradford). There were some priceless remarks like: “she rarely swims”, “lacks PE equipment”, “would do better if she concentrated” and some even worse! It’s actually quite surprising to think that out of my whole class, I probably did better professionally than most in the end but I must admit, I was an awful school pupil!

Sunday was a quiet day when we took 3 walks to work off the food and alcohol of Saturday but then the walks were actually made so we could get in some tapas at Boadilla in the morning and go out to dinner to La Txitxarreria in Pozuelo in the evening.

It was great having Olivia, Andy and Amanda over for my birthday which was one of the best, despite it being my 50th.

On Monday we all woke up early because Andy, Amanda and Oli were returning to the UK and Susi and I were off to Barcelona. You can read all about our trip to Barcelona in my next post.

Cheers
Masha