After Barcelona, a school reunion and someone from the past.

Amanda (then Sharon) and me in Upper VI at St. Joseph's collge - 1975, our last year there.
Hi again

Life has been very quiet and back to normal after Barcelona. Last weekend we duly went out to dinner to celebrate St. Valentine’s. Of course, we went to our current favourite restaurant, La Vaca Argentina where we now nearly always ask “Amelia” for table number 16 or 18. Half of the meal was paid for with the loyalty card which is a very good programme. Last weekend we also purchased a colourful second hand Iraki carpet for about a fifth of its price which is now in pride of place in our main lounge.

This week has been busy with a big internal event I organised at work. I wasn’t sure what the turnout would be or the interest but judging by the numbers I should never have worried. I had lunch with my Swedish colleague Mikael and must have been very tired because when we left the restaurant I fell flat on my face!!!

The week was also full of media encounters; two visits to Intereconomía TV and a lunch with Javier Inaraja and Ana Pérez from Emprendedores and Quo. They are media friends from my previous job and it was superb to catch up with them again and chat in a relaxed way about the telecoms market.

This weekend has been quiet too except for some socialising. On Friday we went to dinner to Alberto and Olga’s new flat. Alberto was Eladio’s boss when they worked in the Ministry of Education a few years ago. You may remember a post entitled “Love is in the air” where I wrote about Alberto and Olga’s visit to our house last year when they had just fallen in love. Well they are still very much in love to judge by many details on Friday night, not lest the amount of times Alberto kissed Olga!!!

We also went out with Roberto and Maricarmen to La Vaca Argentina – ¿cómo no? It was a belated celebration of my birthday. Dinner with Roberto and Maricarmen is one of our favourite weekend pastimes. We are so much at home with them and always on a similar wavelength.

Eladio and Roberto

Maricarmen and me
When you hit 50 I think there is something that makes you want to revisit the past and seek out people from your youth. I think that because I can find no other explanation for my sudden interest in a school and University reunion. Before now these memories were in the back of my head only and now there seems a need to find some of the people in these memories that meant most to me.

When I was with Grainne in Barcelona recently she mentioned the St. Joseph’s Catholic College centenary year. I had already thought about a reunion with Helen King, Stephanie Mandzuik, Brenda Maher and Ellen Burns who all live in the Manchester area together with Amanda. So now I am considering a reunion around the centenary year. I have already visited the school site and seen there is a gala dinner on Friday 9th May. Come what may, Amanda and I will certainly go and she suggests we stay at the The Devonshire Arms which I think is a great idea. It is located at Bolton Abbey one of my favourite childhood haunts.

And talking about people from the past, I got an email from Andrew Dale right out of the blue. Andrew was a pupil at the famous Norwich Russian courses where my parents taught for many summers and where I learned many of the facts of life as I went every year from about the age of 12 to 20. I have many great memories of those courses. I myself never went to learn Russian. I just went along for the ride. It was a very international place and you met people from all over the world. In Andrew’s email he mentions Javier Solana, the ex Secretary General of Nato as having been on the course in 1973!! I specially remember the concerts my Aunty Masha put on at the end of the courses where I often played a leading part and sang. Oh, those were the days. Andrew’s email refreshed my memory but he very obviously remembers much more than me.
He reminded me that the last time we saw eachother was at Oxford railway station in 1978 where I had been to visit Amanda (then Sharon) which makes it 30 years since we last met! So you can imagine how surprised I was to receive his e-mail.

Andrew found me through my blog, would you believe. He is now married and lives in France and works in Geneva in the U.N. He has 4 children, the youngest called Olivia like my daughter. I trust we will be more in touch from now on.

And that’s all for the moment folks. Except that I have to say Happy 20th birthday to my niece Paula. ¡Felicidades mi niña”.

Next week will bring many professional encounters, some social ones too plus a big employee party organised by me which takes place on Wednesday.

Cheers for now

Masha

On the TV yesterday

Looking very serious
Hiya

Yesterday was quite special for me cos I appeared on a live TV chat show. The station was a digital one called "Intereconomía" and as the show was at 11.30 in the morning, I presume very few people saw it. It was however also broadcast on the radio at the same time, so who knows. The presenter was Luis Vicente Muñoz, an absolute darling of a journalist and a great professional.
Because it was Luisvi doing this, I immediately accepted the challenge. The programme which was the first of its kind brought in foreign professionials living in Spain to comment on the week's news. And there was plenty of news: Cuba, Kosova, the general election campaign in Spain, the proposal for a new tax for immigrants in the UK, etc. The guinea pigs for this first programme, apart from myself, were a lovely young Chinese girl called Lisa Wang who works for Inter China Consulting in Madrid and Francisco Berlin, a Mexican, who heads up the Association of Mexicans in Spain as well as an NGO for the integration of immigrants in Spain.

Picture taken by Eladio from the TV at home!
I don't know how well we did. You can judge that for yourself on the video (there was an error uploading!) All I know is that it was a great experience. You should be able to see it also here: Intereconomía TV (TV 22nd Feb 11.36)
Cheers/Masha

Barcelona and the Mobile World Congress

Hi

Last week was the Mobile World Congress (MWC), previously known as the 3GSM Congress. It is the biggest of its kind in the telecoms sector and people come from all over the world to attend. It used to be held in Cannes but nowadays it takes place in Barcelona. I heard from the taxi drivers there that this is the biggest conference of the year in Barcelona and that over 55.000 delegates attend. They also told me it’s the congress that moves the most amount of money! Well, it sure is big and it sure is noisy but I love going because I get to see so many familiar faces.

This year I took both girls with me for the ride. They were also going to work as “super promoters” at the Nokia party which is the biggest and most glamorous party at the MWC.

We travelled together and at check in I asked for a room with an extra bed. But, oh dear, we were told they didn’t have any. Luckily the bed turned out to be enormous. It was at least 2 metres wide and long so the 3 of us fitted in fine with plenty of room in between. The worst thing for me was the mattress. It was so hard I hardly got a wink of sleep the whole week. We stayed at the Hotel Eurostars Angli which is incredibly modern. The window took up one whole wall. I never got to fully understand how the lights worked or the remote controlled functions. The shower and bath needed an instruction manual which wasn’t there and one morning only boiling hot water seemed to come out of the tap. Great place but we are not going back, sorry.

The girls having breakfast in the room
The time in between professional activities was mostly dedicated to enjoying Barcelona’s culinary delights. In fact a lot of professional activities were too! I must thank my journalist friend Carmen Jané for all her recommendations which I followed religiously throughout the week.

So Sunday lunch had us eating at Agua, a great place in the Olympic port right by the beach. Julio and Paloma, my friends from Nokia Siemens Networks joined us for coffee and we captured the moment with a group photo on the beach itself. Paloma kindly offered to organise our registration passes and thus saved me from a 2 hour queue the next day at the Fira where the Congress was held.

On the beach in Barcelona
The evening was spent with my dear friend and ex school companion Grainne who lives in Badalona. I hadn’t seen her for at least 3 years and she’s always great company to be with. We went to her favourite steak place and then went back to her flat where we met her son Marcel who I hadn’t seen since he was 6 and he is now 23!!!

Masha and Grainne - Badalona, 40 years on!!!
The week was full of activity, one of the highlights being lunch with Carlos Prieto on Monday at Ca Pinxo. They have great sea food and the weather was good enough for us to eat outside. Carlos is an ex colleague from my Motorola days who now works for HP in Munich. He heads up sales for 3G integrated laptops in Europe. We reminisced a lot but specially about our cycling days with the Motorola Cycling Team. The names of Lance Armstrong and Hennie Kuiper came up, the latter very fondly too.

Carlos Prieto
Another highlight was coffee with dear Emilio Brambilla at the NSN hospitality suite at the Congress. Trying to find my friend Viivii was like playing hide and seek but we made it. I would loved to have seen more of my best friend Fátima who looked like she was going to have apoplexy at any moment with the stress of managing her customers’ registration passes. We did manage to get 5 minutes together at the NSN hospitality suite as you can see from the picture!

Fátima and me at the NSN hospitality suite
I took advantage of being in Barcelona to meet the Communications Director of the CMT (the Spanish telecoms market regulator). He works in the Mapfre tower which is a twin tower of the Hotel Arts. His office on the 29th floor has the most stunning views!!! We had lunch at another restaurant recommended by Carmen called Bestial and it really is “bestial”, meaning the best or the greatest in Spanish

We also managed to see dear friends Berk and Julia and went to L'Escola for dinner, this great catering training school restaurant. Berk who is Turkish I knew from Nokia. Nowadays he has a company which is supplying the likes of Zara and Bershka with textiles from Turkey and China. Wow Berk, I am impressed. Julia who is Austrian is a friend of the girls from their time in Finland and Spain on the N-Gage Tour. It was lovely to see the 2 of them again.

Dinner with Julia and Berk at L'Escola.
Midweek I treated the girls and myself to an hour long massage followed by a manicure at a great beauty salon called Augusta Natural on Vía Augusta near our hotel. This was a luxury but something much needed if I, at least, were to survive till Thursday.

Wednesday was my big day with 2 press conferences, one after the other in a Hotel in La Rambla. The first one was starting at 9 but we had to be there at 8 for preparations and the second one started at 12. I didn’t finish till around 15 when I went back exhausted to my hotel. Thankfully my business lunch that day was cancelled.

Wednesday night brought the celebration of the famous Nokia party. 3.500 people attended. I was told the tickets were worth more than 200 euros each, making the whole budget possibly over 700 million euros! That’s quite a lot for one night. As usual it was great. I was so excited to see so many familiar faces, old colleagues and friends that I never remembered to eat. I did remember to drink though and went a bit over the limit which I later regretted as I had a hang over during the night and in the morning!! I am getting too old for this.

My favourite Nokia boys (Dulanto, Pedro, Pepe Comas and Roberto) and me at the Nokia party. Great to see you!!
It was great to see: Agustin, JTB, Marianne, Peter Green, Roberto, Pepe Comas, Juan Dulanto, Pedro Molpeceres, Cristina Miranda, Michael Winkelmann, Philip Parfitt, Tuula Putkinen, Ben and a whole load of other people I hadn’t seen for ages.

The girls worked very hard that night with the Ramblas Digital team doing the interactive videos of the guests. I am anxiously awaiting mine.

That night and the next and final day of my stay in Barcelona – St. Valentine’s - I paid heavily for my sins of excess. My head was in a bad way. I was supposed to attend a conference at 14h but decided that enough was enough and it was time to go home. The girls’ flight was later in the evening. And you know the end of the story. Dear Eladio picked me up at the airport with a wonderful bunch of red roses.

End of story and a good time was had by all. See you next year Barcelona!

Cheers/Masha

Red roses, a first for St. Valentines

Hi everyone,

Just a quickie to record the fact that I got red roses for St. Valentine's for the very first time in my life.

Eladio went to pick me up at the airport yesterday when I came back from Barcelona and when he opened the boot to put my luggage in, lo and behold there was a bunch of red roses. Yes, red roses, wow. I was so surprised and so pleased.

You can see how pleased I was by the big smile on my face in the photo which I just had to have taken to capture the historical moment.

Thanks darling Eladio.

Hope you all had a great St. Valentine's. I was too tired to celebrate last night, but we will make up for that this weekend.

Love to you all
Masha

My birthday, Mallorca, meeting Mr. Cervera, a late cake and other things

The girls having coffee at Mallorca
Hi again my friends

This week has been very busy again; I seem to be working like a slave recently. But you know me, I generally enjoy my job and always appreciate a challenge. I have also been preparing for the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week which, of course, has added some of the pressure. Plus I had a PR crisis as some newspaper in Sweden decided to fabricate the news that my company was up for sale in Spain. The news spread like wild fire both in Sweden and in Spain and I had a heavy time trying to put the media straight with the added difficulty that TeliaSonera our majority shareholder was publishing its Q4 results the next day and we were in the middle of what’s called in PR a “silent period”.

I did manage some quality time with my family though, as you can appreciate from the picture of my stunning girls at a lunch this week at La Leyenda together. It’s a great moment to be a Mother now that they are in their early 20’s and still live at home. I’m dreading the moment they will leave but it has to come one day soon. Meanwhile family life couldn’t be better.

Friday was my birthday. Last year I celebrated my 50th, so this year wasn’t going to be anything out of the ordinary. However, birthdays in our house are very special and there have to be, at least, a present, a card, a meal together and, of course, a cake with candles.

I worked for a couple of hours on Friday then went into Madrid with the girls on some errands, namely giving in Susi’s project on “fluidization” at her University, La Complutense, visiting a shop called Vicente Rico to buy some hawaian outfit for a party at Copi’s tomorrow and finally getting some birthday food from our favourite delicatessen shop, Mallorca. You can see just how good it is from the photos here.

A close up of the sweet display at Mallorca

A view of the inside of Mallorca
As I am quite proud of Susi studying at La Complutense I wanted to take a picture of her outside the Chemistry Faculty where she had to give in her project. But she wouldn’t let me and obviously felt embarrassed that someone who knew her might see her. So, I ended up taking one of Oli in the car outside the Faculty!!

Oli in the car outside the Chemistry Faculty waiting for Susana
At Mallorca we bumped into an old boss of mine from my first job at Defex – how can I confess here that my first job was with a company that exported arms? – Alvaro Cervera was and is a charming red haired gentleman with a constant twinkle in his eye whose origins were in the Spanish Navy. He is still involved in the same industry and is probably still selling ships and airplanes to Saudi Arabia. Seeing him again was a bit of a visit to the past, at least, in my mind.

So lunch at home was all sorted out with the Mallorca food but the funny thing was that when it was time for one of the essential ingredients of the day, my birthday cake, Eladio suddenly realised he hadn’t gone to pick it up and, of course, the pastry shop was closed. There was no option but to have it one day late!

Yesterday afternoon took Eladio and I to an industrial estate in Valdemoro on the outer limits of the province of Madrid and pretty far from here. We went looking for a bargain priced giant wooden table and chairs we had seen on internet for the kitchen terrace. The place was full of stuff I suspected may well have come off a lorry to judge by the prices. We also picked up a great square patterned colourful shirt for Eladio costing 3 euros as well as a pair of designer jeans for 15 euros only.

My birthday ended with our usual walk and then dinner at La Vaca Argentina again.

Dinner together on my birthday
So, today, Saturday 9th, was when we had the cake with the candles, except that Eladio actually managed to lose the ones he had bought with the cake and we had to resort to a short used one. It didn’t matter because the cake, a Sacher torte, was delicious.

Eladio in the 3 euro shirt bringing in my "late" birthday cake with Susana
I would like to thank all my friends and relatives for the lovely text messages, e-mails, messages on Facebook and, of course, phone calls: Dolores, Juan, José Antonio, Miguel, Fátima, Ludy García, Ana Valdivieso, Blanca, Gustavo, Cristina, Ludy Blanco, Paloma, Cristina, Marta Acebo, Alicia my goddaughter, Yoli, Sumit, Anne and Keka. I really hope I haven’t forgot anyone. Someone special did forget me though and that was Julio Navío. We have spoken about the incident on the phone today and he knows he will have to do quite a lot to make up for it!!! Ha, ha, ha.

Ah, and I would also like to say Happy Birthday from here to Juan my nephew and Copi whose birthdays were also yesterday. Hope you had a great day!

Tomorrow Oli, Susi and I will be hitting off to have a great time in Barcelona together. More about that when we come back.

Cheers till then
Masha

All's quiet on the home front, Nancy Reagan hairstyle, we went shopping for string but ended up buying new clothes and other things.

Phoebe sleeping peacefully on her new blanket
Hi again

Well yes, on the home front things have been very quiet this week with hardly anything of real interest to tell you. On the work front I have had quite a difficult time from a PR perspective and have hardly lifted my head from my computer the whole week which has been quite exhausting mentally and even physically.

However there has been time for lunch with my agency PR Ketchum to thank them for the good job they are doing. We went to Aspen in La Moraleja which I highly recommend. Funnily enough one of their star dishes is a hamburger but the best one you will ever have! There has also been time to cut my hair (yes, and dye my ****** roots). This may not seem important but it is because this time I changed hairdressers because I’m not very pleased with my local one. My hairstyle, to quote my friend Julio, is like Nancy Reagan’s, in that it hasn’t been changed for the last 20 years and that’s how I want it to stay. So, to do so, this time I went to El Corte Inglés.

Ah, and yes, I bought some new clothes. You see I have now been on a diet for nearly a month and there has been some weight loss. It’s not a lot but enough to feel like buying new clothes. Actually buying clothes was not on the agenda. Eladio and I went on Saturday to buy some string to tie up the branches from the trees he has been pruning. When we were having a coffee in the shopping centre before going into Carrefour to get the string I spotted some very important words at my favourite clothes’ shop, Cortefiel. It said “Remate Final” which means the end of the sales. And, while he was buying the string, I went in. Funnily enough I ended up buying stuff from the new season and nothing from the sales. Buying new clothes always gives me a great lift in morale.

At the weekend we didn’t do much apart from domestic chores, reading, listening to music and going for our daily walk. We did, however, go out to dinner on Saturday and it was not to La Alpargatería but to La Vaca Argentina, one great place to have meat. We always go to the one in Las Rozas which is an all time favourite with us
I devoured one and a half books this weekend which I had ordered through Amazon.com not so long ago. They are about the Holocaust which is a subject that forever fascinates me. To read a survivor’s story is a privilege in history. There were so few of them and it is so important that their stories be told in order to give a lesson to humanity. It is terrible to think that very soon there will be no survivors left. If you are interested these are the books I am talking about:
Alicia, my story
I have lived a thousand years

On a happy note, Oli went to Cadiz with two of her friends this weekend to take part in the Carnavals which are quite famous there. They went dressed as cave men and women!!!

Poor Susi stayed behind because she still has exams. In Spain the most important exams of the year are in February. However she will be finishing tomorrow and on Sunday the 3 of us will be going to Barcelona. I’m going for the 3GSM Congress and they are coming along for the ride. We are going to have a great girly week in between work, of course. One of the highlights of our trip to Barcelona will be dinner with Grainne the night we arrive. But more about that when I return.

The final note of this week’s post is to say Happy Birthday to Laura and Alicia, my nieces. Ali is also my Goddaughter. Amazing to think they are now 24 and 17. Ali is the youngest of 13 grandchildren and to think that she is now a real “señorita” makes me realise just how fast time is passing. ¡Felicidades chicas!

Cheers till next week

Masha

The History Boys, a fresh look for my Blog but I didn’t read the instructions, did I and no news from Stephanie yet ……………..

Hiya again

Well this weekend has been extremely quiet and I have practically nothing to report. Eladio and I are still feeling a bit under the weather so we have spent most of the time resting, reading, listening to music. The only thing of note was watching the fantastic film sent to me by Amanda called The History Boys, based on the play by Alan Bennet. It’s the story of a group of A level students at a Grammar School in Yorkshire in the 80’s who are taking the Oxbridge entrance exam. It is a comedy, with some pretty strong language, but also a story of human emotions including some quite erotic homosexual moments. It is a great British film. As I went to school in the north of England at around that time I can relate to this film a lot.The History Boys

Oh and yes, as I have had quite a bit of time on my hands I decided to freshen up my blog. I had had the same design since I started it back in September 2005 so it was about time for a change. I use Blogspot which is quite simple but unfortunately when I changed the template I didn’t read the instructions properly so I never saved the old template. Thus I lost all the widgets or tags as they are commonly known. I.e. I lost the links to my friends’ blogs, the translation application, the web counter, the number of visitors online counter as well as the map of where my visitors come from.

It has been a pain to restore them all and I am still having trouble restoring the link to Facebook. Re the others, I think I am there.I hope you like the new image. I do.

And on Friday I wrote to Stephanie and copied Brenda and Amanda suggesting a weekend reunion in Manchester. I have been checking my mail ever since but no reply yet from Stephanie.

Cheers and let’s hope this week will be a good one.

Masha

Long time no write, lots to tell you, a black week in general, friends, voices and music from the past. Oh and Oli got a Cum Laude

Is this Tarzan?
Hi again

I haven’t written for 2 weeks but that’s because I’ve been very busy work wise and also I’ve been ill with a flue virus which I didn’t know I had till the other day.

So let me recap on what has happened since I last wrote.

At least 2 weeks ago I had lunch with Fati and Julio to celebrate her birthday. She took us to the Albufera and we had the best fideua I’ve ever had. If you thought paella was good, you should try Fideua. It’s the same but made with pasta. Umm.

And yes, Eladio and I went to the cinema last week to see Love in times of Cholera which was actually a bit disappointing. As the author is Gabriel García Márquez I should have suspected the story to be a bit fantastic to say the least. But still it is worth seeing, just not the love drama you expect.

Eladio finally got a replacement needle for our old record player and we have been able to listen to music we haven’t heard for years, such as Bruckner’s Mass Nº 3 in F Minor which I sang at St. Joseph’s College School in 1973!!! It took me back years. However as the record was not in a very good state, I went and ordered it on Amazon.co.uk. I also ordered a record I haven’t heard for over 25 years and which used to be an all time favourite at University: Joan Baez’s “Gracias a la Vida”. I cried tears of nostalgia listening to Rosiñol and De Colores. I went straight back in time and in my mind to my room at 10 Church Avenue in Nottingham in 1979!!

Talking about Nottingham in 1979, I got a call from Sandie, yes Sandra Lizioli, one of my best friends from Nottingham University. Sandie, whose Father was Italian and Mother is Hungarian, was born in India, went to school in the UK and now lives in Brussels. Sandra is great!!!! She rang me last Saturday to tell me she was meeting up with Sally Hughes in Brussels that very day for lunch. She and I haven’t seen Sally since we left University in 1980. Sally was a house mate at 10 Church Avenue and today she is a lawyer living in Lincoln and has 3 sons. Sandra and I have spoken about organising a Church Avenue reunion this year in Nottingham. How about it girls? We just have to find the other Sally and get Gillian to agree.

Eladio and I had dinner with Roberto and Mari Carmen at Los Pescaitos last weekend to celebrate her birthday. That occasion, I am afraid, was the start of my feeling ill. I slept badly that night and the headache that had started 3 or 4 days earlier got more and more intense.

Meanwhile Eladio got what we thought was gastroenteritis and Monday last turned out to be “Black Monday” which then turned into Black Tuesday, and so on. I got gradually worse with pains all over and a bad stomach and finally I went to the Doctor on Wednesday. She took one look at me and described my symptoms before I opened my mouth. It turns out there is an epidemic on but my version is the light one, as is Eladio’s. She told us the average duration of the flu was 7 to 12 days. As that was day 6 or 7 I realised I had another 6 to go!!! Oh, poor me!

I managed to spend that afternoon in bed feeling ****** lousy and if I swear on internet, that means it was really bad. I have to thank dear Eladio for taking wonderful care of me. The massages were the best!!

The worst thing about this week was that on Monday, with my flu, I had to give a public presentation at a Branding Conference by Marcus Evans for marketing professionals. I have decided I will never do a public presentation again. The conference organisers are a mafia. They charge attendants over 1000 euros but do not pay the presenters. We presenters spend weeks thinking about and preparing the ****** presentation which only takes up our time and, of course, gives us no money. So no, never again.

Yesterday I began to feel better and managed to attend the Nokia Spain annual January press lunch. It was a better feeling than last year. Again I sat with the other mobile phone operator Communications Manager, plus my successor at Nokia. The party was good, just a different style from what I used to organise.

And today I had lunch with my dear friend and ex Nokia colleague, Marta Acebo – the link to her blog is on mine. She visited my office and got given a nice pack of goodies and then we went off for a lovely girly gossipy lunch. Marta is starting a new job on Monday and I wish her loads of luck, although I know she won’t need it. Un beso Martita.

Talking about friends, Amanda has been in touch and it seems she and Andy and her brother Simon and his wife Gill will be over to see us at the end of February for a great Anglo Spanish weekend at our home. That’s going to be fun. Thanks Amanda for sending me the History Boys – described by you to me as “a bit of northern nostalgia”. I look forward to seeing that.

The voice from the past was from Stephanie Mandzuik (now Stephanie Wright). I got an email from her 2 days ago to which I still have to reply. Stephanie and I went to school together in Bradford and I haven’t seen her since. So an e-mail, nearly out of the blue, with a recap in 20 lines of the past 3 decades was quite a shock. Apparently she lives near Brenda Maher and Helen King, both classmates at St. Josephs. I have kept in touch erratically over the years with Brenda but had no news of Stephanie or Helen. I am now thinking of a girly reunion in Manchester where Brenda, Helen, Stephanie, Amanda and I could have a blast. How about it girls????

My final note is of praise for my daughter Olivia who, like Susana, is going through the worst exam period of the year. Oli announced very casually the other day that she had got a “Matrícula de Honor” (sort of cum laude) in journalism. We are very proud of her. Suddenly she seems to have gained a wonderful talent for writing which I can only imagine will grow. Well done darling!!!

So that’s about it for the moment. I’ve told you nearly everything that has happened and that is publishable of the last 10 days or so and reading it over makes me realise how intense this time has been in many ways.

I don’t have any pictures to illustrate this blog, except for one of Eladio pruning the trees during one of his better moments this week. He is not Tarzan but maybe sometimes he likes to think he is!!!

Cheers till the next post

Masha

Cats, cooking, the cinema and important decisions

Hi again

This week has been mostly about cats, cooking and the cinema but there have also been some important decisions taken in my life.

Dear Phoebe was operated on Wednesday and the whole episode has been quite traumatic for her. We picked up her after she had woken up from the anaesthetic but was still drowsy and couldn’t walk properly.

Phoebe when we picked her up from the vet
She must have been in some pain and obviously not trusting us for what we had done, she very soon disappeared. We found her later in cupboard under the stairs behind the suitcases but she was to disappear again later on in the evening when she ran out of the kitchen door and into the dark. The mistake was mine and I felt very guilty, specially as she did not appear again until mid morning the next day. We were so worried she would be run over or attacked by a dog as she is so un streetwise. Thankfully now she is home and safe and recovering from her operation and seems to have forgotten the bad time she had. The only good thoughts I have about this is that we have saved her from a life of constant motherhood.

Our 2 lovely neutered pets, Phoebe and Henry living a cats’ life, sleeping on the newly upholstered window seats!
The highlight of the week was lunch with my PR Agency to celebrate the new year. They took me the Hotel de las letras in Gran Vía which is quite a chic place with semi Asian cuisine. They have the best white wine from Rueda I have ever tasted!

The weekend has been back to normal after the Christmas period. I did some cooking for relaxation, more than anything and came up with the best chicken and mushroom pie ever. And today I made some excellent prawn and crab stuffed peppers. I got top marks from the family for both creations! I am absolutely convinced that the best food is cooked when you are relaxed and enjoy what you are doing. It’s a bit like plants; if you look after them lovingly they grow well. Anyway, believe me or not, here is a picture of the pie. The flower and leaves are courtesy of Susana.

Back to normal also means going to the cinema again. On Friday we saw Atonement and yesterday we saw The Last train to Auschwitz. They are both great films in their own way. Atonement is obviously more entertaining with its story of love, passion and guilt. The last train to Auschwitz is as horrific as its title suggests and is a little claustrophobic because the story begins and ends on the train. I am now looking forward to seeing the Kite Runner which should be out soon as well as the film based on the book “Love in the time of Cholera” by Gabriel García Márquez which will be out next week.

Back to normal also means going to La Alpargatería restaurant again. It was there we went on Friday for dinner after the film and sat at our usual table, number 7 where we had our usual dinner. Well, Eladio actually tried something different on the menu, but I did not!

Talking about dinner, that brings me on the subject of decisions. Since Tuesday I have decided to go on a diet like 65% of the population after the excesses of Christmas and not just Christmas. And what diet is that you may well ask? Well, it’s quite simple: breakfast: a glass of orange juice from one orange and coffee with milk; lunch: free choice (so I end up eating what I want); dinner: a piece of fruit and a yoghurt. And that’s it. The exception is dinner out once a week on either Friday or Saturday. Keep your fingers crossed this works because if it doesn’t I’m in trouble and will have to find some other solution to this widening with age which seems never to stop.

And the other decision regards our silver wedding anniversary trip. Our choices were Africa, China, Vietnam, Israel and India but not necessarily in that order. Really we both wanted to go to India. It has been my dream, at least, ever since I saw the film Gandhi by Richard Attenborough. I am attracted by the colour, by the people, by the music, by the food, by the culture, yet know so little about the country. I got some very valuable advice from Olivia’s wonderful Indian friends, Sandeep and Sumit who strongly advised us that August was the worst month to travel in India because of the heat. So after much debate we have decided, that yes, India is our destination but that we will not go in August which is when our anniversary is but in December just after Christmas. So now we have a whole year to plan the trip of our lifetime.

Just before I finish this post, I must say Happy Birthday to my dear sister-in-law Sanya whose birthday was on Monday and also Happy Birthday to my best friend, Fátima whose birthday it is today.

And that’s all for the moment folks.

Have a good week.
Cheers/Masha

Poor Phoebe, I hope she doesn't feel like this

Hiya again

Dear beautiful Phoebe was taken to the vet this morning to be neutered. She is only 6 months old and this was her first trip away from home. We took her in the cat transporter which she hated from the moment she entered it.

It was very difficult to get a picture of her as she wouldn't stop moving, trying to get out, even though she was on my lap and both Eladio and I were making soothing noises.

Poor Phoebe in the cage

Eladio making cooing noises - actually saying "musina"

Anyway we have left her at the vet and will be going back for her later tonight. Meanwhile I received a funny email from Anne about mental health and the illustration was so appropriate to how poor Phoebe is probably feeling, that I had to use it for this post.

Cheers till later
Masha

Family gathering for t 3 Kings’ day, goodbye Christmas, congratulations Mario and "reise fieber"

Susi in the morning of the 3 Kings' day by the tree. Funnily enough the 3 Kings brought us a few goodies this year!
Hi again
Just as we thought our visitors were over for this Christmas, we got a surprise call on 4th January from Alejandro, Eladio’s younger and somewhat unpredictable brother at times. Pili and Andrés had just left for Mérida and we were not expecting anyone else for a while. Alejandro rang to say they were thinking of either going to Galicia or Madrid for Reyes (The 3 Kings). Eladio said he was welcome anytime, of course, but would he please let us know his final plans for the sake of logistics. And they did come, but at about midnight the next day when we were just going to bed!!!

We were very pleased to welcome them and settled them in for the night after sitting and chatting for a bit. José Antonio and Dolores were coming the next day for lunch, so 3 of the 6 brothers and sisters would be together for the final Christmas festivity.

Lunch was thus a big affair as we were to be 9. So I made very British roast lamb and trimmings which I hope they liked. I was not without help as Marisa lent a very welcome hand.

In the afternoon we spent time in our candlelit lounge and Alejandro played my Grandmother’s piano, much to the delight of my Father. To work off the lunch and get some appetite for going out to dinner, we took our visitors on our daily walk which we extended in length for the occasion.

Dinner was at Los Pescaitos, the place we discovered with Amanda in Boadilla and a good dinner it was in all respects. Some of it was spent reminiscing on how I had met Eladio which was, of course, through Dolores. She reminded she had told me at the time that he would make a great husband!!! Well, she wasn’t wrong there was she.

Eladio, Alejandro and Toño at Los Pescaitos

The 6 of us at Los Pescaitos

Toño and Dolores very romantic together. You look great.
And today, 7th January is a national holiday which for us has been spent resting a bit after the excesses of Christmas. Today we also put away all the decorations, lights and trees which is such a sad affair. And here are the pictures to prove it.

Eladio putting away the Xmas stuff

Tomorrow will be the start of a new chapter in our lives. The girls have to face stiff annual examinations (some final) and I have a lot of work to do preparing for media activities at the 3GSM congress in Barcelona next month, to mention just one heavy task coming up.

Eladio and I have something to look forward to and that is our still unplanned 25th wedding anniversary honeymoon. Will it be China, will it be India, will it be Vietnam, Africa, where will it be and when? I am already travelling in my mind and each time I visit flight pages such as edreams, for example, I begin to feel the “reise fieber”. I don’t know if that’s how you spell it but it’s a German term my Mother used to use every time we used to travel and is equivalent to “butterflies” in your stomach from the excitement of travelling.

There will me more about that when we have done some more planning.

Just before I sign off, a word of congratulations to Mario and his Castilla León handball team who won the championship played this last week in Mérida. They beat Madrid to play the semi final against Galicia. They then beat Galicia and faced Cataluña in the final which they won yesterday. It is a great feat to be national champions.

Cheers till my next post.

Masha

Visit to El Escorial, New Year’s Eve in León, snow, lunch in La Moraleja, surprise visit from Pili, visitors from Moscow plus birthday greetings

Hi again

Well it’s still Christmas and there is one festivity to go still which is the Three Kings' day on Sunday 6th January. Unfortunately after that we will have to take down all the decorations and get on with cold and non festive January which is always difficult.

The day before Eladio’s mother, Ernestina’s visit came to an end, we took her and my Father to the Valley of the Fallen (Valle de los Caídos) where Franco is buried and to El Escorial nearby for lunch and a visit to the famous monastery. Her visit has been full of outings in contrast to her other visits and this is because she is so much more mobile after her hip replacement operation in the Summer. We all had a good time on this outing. Even though Eladio and I are very familiar with both locations they represent such important times in Spanish history that they are forever fascinating.

Eladio and his Mother in the sun at the Valley of the Fallen
New Year’s Eve was spent in León, as it has been ever since we married with NO exception. As I write the “NO” in capital letters something in my mind tells me maybe next year we will do something different!! We went on our own this year as the girls preferred to party in Madrid and their staying behind was an excuse for my Father to rest at home quietly which is quite understandable as he is 88.

The journey was pleasant and we had lunch on the way at the Parador in Tordesillas. I’m sure that doesn’t surprise you. I think it was Eladio’s Mother’s first time and I know she enjoyed it.

Mother and son at lunch in Tordesillas
The New Year’s Eve dinner was held at the same restaurant as last year, Zuloaga in the heart of downtown León. This year we were far fewer than usual; the girls were missing as were Roberto and Marta and their partners. However my crackers, masks and annual present raffle once again cheered up the party. Two things though were amiss, one was the lack of heating on a minus zero centigrade night and the other was the poor quality food. Somehow I think we won’t be going back to the same place next year.

Primo and Isidro with my Christmas market (Plaza Mayor) disguises

Toño and the reindeer hat

Sara, Laura and Paula

Alicia and Juan, great glasses!
One always looks forward to New Year’s Eve but in a way, after the “grapes” at midnight things tend to become a lot less fun and I, at least, only really want to go to bed. However one is expected to go out for drinks and “party” and I never really want to. We managed to get to bed at about 3.30 and slept till 11, on time to have breakfast with Alejandro and Marisa in front of the wonderful New Year concert from Vienna. That for me is always a New Year’s Day must and this year was to be no exception.

I woke up to yet another message on my phone to see a friend (Lars) from Sweden had sent me a photo of himself in the snow in Stockholm. So I could hardly believe my eyes when I drew the curtain to find it had also snowed in León. I quickly took a photo of myself to send it to Lars for him to see that it had also snowed in Spain!!!!
PHOTO SNOW LEON
Before leaving León, we had lunch with Eladio’s younger sister Pili and her husband Andrés. Their daughter Paula who is nearly 20 obviously has a different view of New Year’s Eve as she returned home at 10.30 in the morning!!! Thus we did not have the pleasure of her company for lunch. Neither did we have their son’s Mario who had gone to Mérida to play in the Spanish youth handball championship. The bus taking the Castilla León team had left at 10 in the morning; Mario had been partying till 5 but some of his team mates went straight from the discotheque to the bus in their suits and ties!!!

Thursday brought a lunch with a long lost colleague, Eusebio, at my favourite restaurant Aspen in La Moraleja, that oh so posh area of Madrid! Eusebio and I had both worked at Motorola but had not seen each other for 10 years!! He now works for the competition and is a grandfather - a very young one at that. Thanks Eusebio for a lovely lunch and it was lovely to bitch about you know who.

As I was in La Moraleja I dropped into the delicatessen called Embassy and bought a traditional Roscón de Reyes (sort of round sponge cake) for the Three Kings' day plus some great home made turrón as we were having guests from Moscow at home the next day.

Just after that we got a surprise phone call from Pili to say she and Andrés were coming to stay the night on their way to Mérida to see Mario playing on Friday morning. That meant a few preparations such as heating their room, making their beds and, of course, preparing a nice evening meal. Pili and Andrés were to be in luck in that respect as we had done the weekly shopping that very morning.

It was lovely to have them and the evening was quite magical; a beautifully laid table and then drinks in the candle lit lounge with Christmas lights and great Diana Crall music playing in the background.

They were off pretty early this morning and we got up to prepare them a nice breakfast but also to start more preparations, this time for lunch for my cousin Sasha and his Moscow family, Masha, Sasha, Edward, Ana and Ana. Wow, we were gong to be 10!!!

I spent the morning cooking “cocido madrileño” (sort of stew made of chick peas, potatoes, carrots, cabbage and various types of meat – you drain the broth and make a soup out of it with vermicelli and serve the rest without any liquid as the second course). Eladio drove to Madrid to fetch them as even though it was Sasha’s second visit here, he would never have found our place. He is a very clever chap but as he himself admits, has no orientation skills, despite being a professional tour guide! I think he just needs a sat nav.

He brought with him his step daughter Masha whom we had once met when she was a teenager some 15 years ago, her husband Edward, their 4 year old daughter Ana and their accountant, another Ana. They brought with them a host of Russian goodies including caviar!! Lunch was a melée of eating, conversation, mixed languages, going out to smoke (at least 6 times) and chasing the cats as Ana the little girl was far more interested in Henry and Phoebe than in her soup which is understandable for a 4 year old. I think my Father thoroughly enjoyed himself and was able to practice his Russian. Masha, who had never met him, said his Russian was perfect, completely accent free and that she had never heard a foreigner speak such good Russian. I must say I was proud to hear that.

Visitors from Moscow
And all too soon the visit was over as they were going out in the evening to a Flamenco show.

And so now we are alone, as I write, but not for long because tomorrow Alejandro and Marisa will be coming to stay and on Sunday, the Three Kings’ Day (Reyes) José Antonio and Dolores will also be joining us for lunch. So, as you can imagine, I will be cooking again soon ………………….

Just before I finish this post, I must congratulate my niece and nephew Sara and Roberto whose birthday it was on 31st December as well as Mari Carmen whose birthday was yesterday 3rd January. We have yet to celebrate the latter.

And that’s all for the moment folks.

Happy New Year just once again,

Masha

Links to new friends' blogs

Hiya

I have just added the links to 3 friends blogs you might find of interest (quite far down on the left hand side of this blog). I follow them a lot, so guessed you may be interested too.

Jorge,based in Madrid writes (in Spanish) about communication mostly from the PR agency angle.

Roberto, based in London, writes about all sorts of stuff, but a lot about business, often, e-business and new technology

And Camilla, based in New York, writes about food and includes loads of great recipes and restuarant recommendations.

After all blogging is often about linking other blogs, so I thought it was about time I added some good ones.

Hope you enjoy them,

Cheers till later
Masha

Happy New Year

Hi everyone,

Today is New Year's Eve and Eladio and I are off to León to celebrate it with his family tonight.

And here is a great picture, done for me by Fátima and which comes courtesy of Nokia Siemens Networks, to say Happy New Year.

Well in fact, I am posting a couple more, because they are great.


Have a great one! Ours just has to be good because 2008 will also be the year of our Silver Wedding Anniversary. Imagine, 25 years!!!

All my love and the very best to you all

Masha

Christmas should begin with “F” as it’s all about family, friends and food! “F” for mystery fish and thanks Mercadona!

Eladio and I with happy Christmas faces at Julio's annual dinner on Boxing Day
Hi again

Here I am writing my blog now that we are well into Christmas. And what have I been up to for the last 10 days? As I think back, it seems Christmas is all about family, friends, food and, of course, presents.

It all started with an invitation to the Ericsson Christmas party in the town of El Molar at the famous caves on 19th December. It was a great do but as I’m not a real party animal, I came home early as I had Christmas at home to prepare and I was a bit behind this year.

The next day, Eladio and I ventured into Madrid by car to pick up his Father’s old radio from a repair shop in La Latina, in the heart of old Madrid. It turned out to be a bit of an odyssey as the Christmas traffic was horrific. From there we went to José Antonio’s house to pick up Eladio’s Mother who was coming to stay for Christmas.

This is Eladio’s Father’s radio which he has inherited and means so much to him. According to the the man who mended it is a jewel of a radio and was manufactured in the 40’s.
Saturday was the annual Christmas lunch at home for Fátima and Julio. This year Fátimas’ Mother and daughter also joined us; so we were 10 round the dining room table. I decided on a “light” lunch, in preparation for what was to come later, so prepared baked fish. The fish part proved to be a bit of a mystery. I had everything ready for lunch and it was time to prepare the fish when I just couldn’t find it even though the day before we had bought 10 fresh fillets which should have been in the fridge. Well, they weren’t, so our conclusion was that we must have left it at the supermarket (Mercadona). However, it was already 1.30 and my guests were coming within the hour. Luckily I had quite a lot of frozen fish which I got out and hurriedly unfroze. Meanwhile Eladio rang the supermarket. And amazingly, within the hour, Mercadona had delivered 2 whole filleted hakes (merluza) direct to our door. I have to add we had nothing to prove we had left the fish there and neither did we ask them to bring us more fish. They just believed our story! That is real customer service for you!!! Full marks Mercadona.

Gloria, Susi and Fátima's daughter, Fátima.
And on Sunday, we had guests again, but this time for tea. So in the morning we went to the Plaza Mayor with my Father and Eladio’s Mother to see the traditional Christmas market. The traffic was horrendous again and it took Eladio over an hour to park. Meanwhile, I waited with the “abuelos” in a bar for Eladio to come. The wait proved a little incidental as I kept ringing Eladio to find out when he was coming but he never answered. Later it turned out his phone was switched off and there I was imagining him kidnapped or attacked. Luckily he wasn’t and we were able to make some fun purchases, as you can see in the picture.

Fortunately our afternoon guests, Juana and Oscar, brought the food with them; delicious snacks from Mallorca. We hadn’t seen them for over a year and we were to meet their new offspring, Patricia who is 9 months old. Julio, who is the Godfather of Santiago, their 2 year old, had brought the children their Christmas presents which kept them well occupied most of the afternoon. The family, who I know from my Nokia days, now live in Mexico City. In fact you can follow their lives through Juana’s blog; the link to which is on mine below. They are flourishing in Mexico and having a great life, as you will see from the blog.

A lovely afternoon was spent with Juan, Oscar, Santiago and Patricia
And suddenly it was Christmas Eve, that most important date at Christmas for the Spaniards and what they call “Nochebuena”. Nochebuena is celebrated with a family dinner which is the most special dinner of the year when you get out the best china and table finery you have. So I spent the 24th cooking most of the day. I cooked so much stuff that we have been eating it for the last 4 days which, of course, is a great advantage as I don’t have to cook any more. We are now totally fed up of potato salad, bacon rolls and cold turkey.

Christmas Eve dinner
Christmas day is the most important day for the English at Christmas and I have followed the traditions I learned from my Grandmother all my life. The girls have a stocking full of small goodies then we all have a special breakfast together. And after it is time to open the presents and this is what we all look forward to every year.

Unwrapping the presents from under the tree is the best moment of Christmas and the one we all prepare for weeks in advance or months in some cases. The important thing here is the quantity rather than the quality; so we all give each other lots of little things, but nothing over the top ever.

Photo of the tree moments before opening the presents on Christmas day

Everyone ready to open the presents on Christmas morning
And as Christmas lunch is the most important meal in the English calendar, there I was cooking again most of the morning. And here the menu cannot be altered like it can on Christmas Eve. So, of course, I made roast turkey and all the trimmings and Christmas pudding with white brandy sauce like I have done every year of our married life.

On Boxing day, we were invited to the annual dinner at Julio’s house. This year we were only 5: Julio, Fátima, Susi, Eladio and I but the dinner was as big a success as ever. An intrinsic part of this dinner is the exchange of presents and the wishes we make for the new year; all of this, of course, to the sound of laughter from beginning to end. Thanks Julio for another great dinner this year!

Susi with Anne's lovely Santa sack full of our presents for Julio and Fátima
And today, we took the “abuelos”, my Father and Eladio’s Mother, to El Pardo to see the palace there and have lunch out at El Gamo. El Pardo was built in the 16th century as a royal hunting lodge. It was never used to live in permanently until the late General Franco took up residence there in 1940 until his death in 1975. And from the 80’s it has been used as the residence for heads of state visiting Spain, the latest being Mohamed Gadaffi only a week ago.

Eladio and his Mother posing by the El Pardo Palace.
And that is what we have been up to this Christmas so far. I have also been working, but of course, at half steam due to the holiday season.

Very soon we shall be off to León to spend New Year’s Eve with Eladio’s family as we do every year. But more about that next week.

Meanwhile, I wish you all a fantastic 2008.

Masha