Olivia came home and Christmas came to El Bosque

Hello again

Oli arrived home last night but we didn’t see her until late this morning as her boyfriend, José Luis, went to pick her up and they went straight to a party at a friend’s house where Susi was already there.

So at about midday I saw a vision appear from Olivia’s room: my beautiful daughter, sleepy eyed and somewhat afflicted with an English cold walking towards me. The hug was so so warm and long awaited. We had seen her about 3 weeks ago at Amanda’s house in England but even so have missed her so much.

There was a lot of catching up to do today and we had a big family lunch together – 7 of us, like old times. Oli has brought an arsenal of English chocolate bars, very much appreciated, but oh so fattening.

And then Susi suggested it was a good day to put up the Christmas decorations and we all immediately agreed. Normally we don’t do so in this house until a few days before Christmas but somehow today felt right, the day of Oli’s return. Also this will be our first Christmas in the new house which we have been looking forward to so much.

And here is our little tree all decorated but looking a little small in this big new house. Eladio has also put the outdoor lights on the most perfect looking fir tree just outside the front door. And, of course, as tradition dictates, we put on the tape of English Christmas carols, as we have done since we first got married, some 23 years ago.

Happy Christmas everyone.

Love Masha

Lunch at Jill + Paco's

Zenaida and Tapani

Susana and I
Hiya again,

Yesterday, that is Saturday, we had a lunch date at Jill and Paco’s house in Madrid and it turned out to be the first of our Christmas festivities this year.

Zenaida and Tapani were invited, as well as Susana Diaz Abarca and so were Ana and Tommy except that Ana mixed up the dates and thought the lunch was today and so never made it, unfortunately. So it was a real Nokia get together of HR and Comms with Legal missing.

Susana brought her two little boys, Pablo and David who had a grand time playing with Jill and Paco’s kids, Jacob and Isaac (or Jillón as he is called because of his golden locks which are so much like his Mother’s). Had the lunch date been next Saturday Zenaida and Tapani may well have been able to bring their baby daugther, Nereia who is due to be born this week.

Jill and Paco live in an attic flat in the middle of Madrid with a surrounding terrace which gives them an ideal view of Madrid roof tops. Paco, who is quite a decorator, also designed something I have never seen before; a window framed like a picture in the middle of their lounge. Quite spectacular!

Lunch started at about 14.30 and we got home at about 21.30, so as you can imagine the whole event was taken very leisurely. Paco gave me a glass of pacharán after lunch in a huge globe type glass where I think he fitted nearly half the bottle of pacharán. This really has been a week of drinking.

Yesterday’s lunch was really the start of our Christmas festivities. Jill’s flat was full of Christmas decorations, the pièce de resistance being the candy house her Mother had made for her grandsons; except that there was not much candy left on it.

As my camera has gone a bit caput, there are really two decent pictures one of Zenaida and Tapani and the other of Susana and me – before the pacharán came along!

Happy Christmas girls and thanks Paco and Jill for such a lovely lunch.

Cheers/Masha

An afternoon and evening with Finns and Swedes and back to Midnight Rose!

Hello again midweek,

Yesterday was one of those very rare occasions I drank quite heavily and today I am paying the consequences. It was the fault of the Finns and their Independence Day. And how was that I’m sure you want to know?

Do any of you ever bother these days to look in your pigeon hole to see if you have any written correspondence? Well, I hardly ever do because most of it’s junk mail. But yesterday I did look because I was waiting to receive some photos and lo and behold at 13.45 I opened an invitation from the Finnish Embassy in Madrid to a reception at the Ambassador’s private residence on the occasion of the Finnish day of Independence (actually today but it was celebrated yesterday) to be held that very same day at 14.30. I thought, I’d love to go but here I am dressed in jeans, not quite the right attire so I decided there and then to rush home, get changed in 5 mins (and I did it thanks to some help from Susi) and order a taxi to take me to the very posh Embassy residence in Puerta de Hierro. And, amazingly enough I actually got there, all dolled up, by 14.45.

You may wonder why I was invited to the Finnish Embassy. The answer is quite easy, the company I work for is of Finno Swedish origin.

And that’s where all the drinking started. met some old friends from my Nokia days from the Finnish Chamber of Commerce – hi there Tapani (Lankinen) and Paula (Strand). I also got to meet the very blue eyed Swedish Ambassador, Anders Rönquist and the lady Finnish Ambassador, Maija Lähteenmäki, the very young Finnish First Secretary, Teemu Turunen as well as a host of Finns whose names are equally unpronounceable. We got given things like meatballs in the cocktail and I very diplomatically asked whether they came from Ikea, but apparently they didn’t. And, then along came Pentti Tolonen, a colleague of mine from Nokia Networks and now a days, the Nokia Country Manager. He was as sweet as ever. It was funny listening to his conversation with my new boss, the former being a supplier and the latter a customer. I must say it’s a novelty for me being a customer!!

Suddenly it was about 4 o’clock and a group of Finns from the Embassy all suggested we go to Midnight rose for drinks. They said it was the “in” place to be seen at. Well I knew that didn’t I so didn’t need much persuading.

And suddenly we were there and that’s when the caiparinhos and mojitos started flowing as well as something gorgeous called “Cosmopolitan”. I think I told my life story to a delightful blonde girl called Anna Terakivi- a young internee from the Embassy who reminded me of my daughters. Anna it was lovely talking to you. Actually it was another girl called Viivi Pitkänen who organised most of the night. Viivi is obviously very much acquainted with Madrid night life and lives near Plaza Santa Ana so she knew all the places to take us. The party grew smaller and we ended up in a group of 5 with Viivi leading us on. There was also a chap called Vesku, Pentti's friend in that group of 5. I had not drunk so much in probably 10 years. But actually I was surprised to see how well I took my drink. Luckily I knew today was a national holiday so I would have time to sleep off any possible hangover.

Viivi then took us for a tapas dinner at a very recommendable place called Alberto where we had the usual: tortilla, pimientos de padrón, chorizo, all washed down with a very rich Rioja. And they were all smoking non stop and last night I was so tempted to smoke just one. BUT I DIDN’T

And from there we went dancing. Yes, Anne, if you are reading this, I did go dancing. And guess what music we danced to? To Abba of course, Dancing Queen, Mamma Mía and the lot. What fun but towards the end of the evening I began to feel a bit like Cinderella and suddenly began to feel a little guilty. As I couldn’t order a carriage, I got Yellow Taxi to send out a car. And that was the end of the evening. Short but so very intense and good fun.

Thanks you Finns and Swedes for such a great night out. And Happy Independence Day which is actually today not yesterday.

Cheers till the weekend

Masha
PS NO PHOTOS OF COURSE FOR OBVIOUS REASONS

Midnight Rose and I met Il Divo

That's me leading the Q+A session at a press conference at Midnight Rose - I look so intense.

(The Me by Melia hotel, Midnight Rose and the Penthouse terrace at the top - the tower is their main suite)

(Urs Bühler, me, Carlos Marín (the best looking) and David Miller)


(And here with the Spaniard Carlos Marín - I would say divine)

Hi again,

Midnight Rose is one of those special places in life. My events agency, Mi Querido Watson - www.miqueridowatson.com -proposed it to me for the press conference for my company. It’s part of the old Reina Victoria Hotel in the Plaza Santa Ana in downtown Madrid. The old hotel whose façade has remained intact has been completely renovated inside to contain a fabulous new hotel, ME by Meliá, the Midnight Rose restaurant and bar and best of all, the Penthouse, the amazing terrace on top of the building which has incredible views of Madrid, plus all sorts of novelties, such as chill out beds.

I have now had the privilege of eating there a few times, once for the tasting, once for the actual event and once to take out my Swedish colleagues the night before the event. And finally last night I took Eladio there for dinner, as a treat from the owners. The food is amazing too.

And, yes, it’s true, I also met Il Divo there (www.ildivo.com). It was on the day of the event, last Thursday, I wanted to show my Yoigo colleagues the Penthouse before all the press arrived, for them to get familiar with the place. So up we went in the lift and who did we find on the terrace doing a photo shoot for Hola, but the Il Divo group. One was missing but I got to meet the Spaniard (Carlos Marín), the Swiss guy (Urs Bühler) and the lovely American (David Miller). I told them, truthfully, that they had been my Christmas present to a lot of people last year and they laughed and said how nice as most people told them they bought their music for their grandparents. They told me they had just released a new album called Siempre. So I think that will be an absolute must on my Christmas gift list this year.


Masha

Those pretty people who can they be?

Hi again

Yesterday I dragged Eladio to The Phone House Christmas party at Moma in Madrid. We didn't stay very long as it was so loud and we didn't know anyone. However I must congratulate the organisers on the wonderful idea of giving out all the guests wigs and party glasses.

This is how they looked on us this morning.

More news tomorrow.

Masha

Anne came for the weekend and Manuel's a Father

Manuel and Daniela. Father and daughter.

Sunday lunch. Gaby, Manuel, Paola, Eladio, me, Anne

Graciela, Anne and I at Dantxari

Eladio and his tripe (callos)

Hi

Friday brought me my darling Finnish friend Anne, ex Nokia colleague and boss, for the weekend. We hadn’t seen each other since the Summer and had a lot of catching up to do. We have spent the weekend so far in a very family way. Friday was lunch together and on Saturday morning she went with Eladio and I to a fabric shop to order some fabrics for my Mother-in-law’s room plus our own room. She was a great help and inspiration, specially as she’s in to interior decoration and I am certainly not.

On Saturday evening we went out for dinner with Graciela – the ex Advertising Manager from Nokia and spent the most of the evening bitching about our time there – poor Eladio got a bit fed up. The restaurant, Dantxari, off Plaza España, had been recommended to me by Julio and I must say we all gave it 9/10. The food was Basque and had all the typical Spanish fare that Anne so loves and Eladio too, cos he couldn’t choose between pig’s trotters, tripe or ox tail!! In the end he ate tripe – revolting for me as a Brit but a delicacy for a lot of Spaniards.

Sunday being Sunday, we prepared a roast – roast beef, Yorkshire pudding and all the trimmings. We were 8 for lunch as Manuel and Paola came with their sweet little baby Daniela. She behaved perfectly and didn’t cry once. Ana Valdivieso came for coffee – another ex Nokia who is now in HP and is their legal counsel. Slightly awkward situation as Manuel was Anne’s ex and she and Paola had not met!!

The day was rounded off with our daily walk which we actually subjected Anne to every day of her stay. But she never complained.

That’s about my news for this weekend.

Cheers/Masha

Weekend in the UK with Amanda and family - seeing Olivia again. Meeting Roger too!

Visiting Sheila and on the walk with my Father and AmandaIn the kitchen with Roger
Jake, Oli, Susi and Cord

Shopping with Amanda
The 4 of us and the 5 kids together




Hiya

Finally the weekend we had all been waiting for came. Oli went to the UK on her Erasmus University exchange on the 18th September so we hadn’t seen her for 2 months – well Susi had the weekend before and we were all meeting up at my friend Amanda’s house in Surrey for the weekend. Amanda and I go back a long way, to when we were 11 and made friends at our first day at senior school.

The four of us, Daddy, Eladio, Susana and I caught an Air Madrid flight to Gatwick on Friday afternoon and were met there by Amanda and Oli in the pouring rain. There was a slight hitch in that Amanda couldn’t find her car for about half an hour! Oli was looking gorgeous and it was so nice to hug her tightly after 2 months of not seeing her.

We got to their lovely new home in Surrey to meet up with the rest of the family - I must warn you this is a “blended family” (like Los Serrano in Spain) in that Amanda and Andy were previously married and both bring 2 children each to the marriage, Cordelia and Jake and Johnathan and Jane respectively. Unfortunately Johnathan who is at University couldn’t make it. Cord is 17, and Jake and Jane are both 16. It had just been Jane’s birthday and we were witnesses to the wicked presents she had been given. I went up to our bedroom to get the camera and realized the bed had a huge bulge in the middle. I sort of thought there might be some bedding underneath and pulled back the duvet. And what did I find? Yes, a blown up naked man doll with a huge erection! I howled with laughter and brought him downstairs to join the party – see the photos. The trick was played on me by Jake and Oli. Thanks kids! The “doll” – a present to Jane for her birthday was called Roger! You can just see Roger to the left of Jake in the kitchen picture above. You are not getting a full blown picture as it is too rude!

The evening had started off on a good note, so we then started on the wine. We had taken over 12 bottles as a contribution for the weekend – Andy and Amanda are heavy wine drinkers !! – but unfortunately one broke in Susi’s suitcase and you don’t have to imagine the smell and clothes. Amanda prepared a beautiful lamb casserole and we all sat round their lovely wooden table in their gigantic kitchen.

Saturday was a day crammed with activity. First we went to Guildford for some quick shopping – M+S and Boots of course. At M+S Eladio, the girls and I bought loads of yummy sruff for Saturday’s lunch as our contribution to the food. So we had prawns, Orkney crab meat, pate, mackerel, raspberries, avocado salad, plus lots of lovely ham and smoked salmon Amanda had. This was not washed down by wine as this time as I wanted to avoid a siesta in the afternoon. Instead we went for a beautiful Autumn walk with the dogs. After the walk the kids stayed behind to watch Breakbone Mountain (is that what it’s called - Oli corrected me in a comment, sorry it's Brokeback) and we went to see Amanda’s mother, Sheila at her new residence – a wonderful block of assisted flats for the elderly in Aldershot which actually resembled a 5 star hotel more than anything else! It had just been her 80th birthday but she was blooming.

From there we went back to Amanda’s place to find Susi crying her eyes out over the film but more than ready for another shopping spree. This time it was to their local Sainsbury’s to stock up on Christmas fare – crackers, Christmas pudding and all the other trimmings. Then it was time for dinner again and we started on more wine. Amanda served a lovely recipe of Jamie Oliver (a well known young English chef who is quite a celebrity) – crusty chicken with garlic, beans, chile and tomato – I got the chile, thanks Amanda.

This morning we got up early to have a family breakfast. We had to leave at 12 for Gatwick but managed another family walk with the dogs – Poppy and beautiful Rosie – along lovely Surrey autumn leaf lanes. The good byes were emotional but happy because of the great time we had had. Oli was leaving just after us to catch a train from Guildford to Falmouth with loads of changes. The journey was going to take her at least 8 hours. We will be seeing Oli quite soon though as she will be back for Christmas on the 9th December.
It was a bit of a rush to Gatwick and even more of a rush at the airport with no time for duty free shopping unfortunately. I nearly cracked up at customs when I saw the man was called “Roger” like Jane’s doll.

The flight back was uneventful but unfortunately upon arrival 2 of our suitcases were missing. Fortunately they have been traced and will be delivered tomorrow lunchtime.

Thanks Amanda, Andy, Jake, Cordelia and Jane for a great, great weekend.

Love
Masha

Ex Motorola gathering

The group of Motorolans from the early 90's

On Thursday night I went to the gathering of the Ex Motorola employees from the early days – 1990 – 1995. We call ourselves the Analogue Generation. Motorola started in Spain in 1990 and we were a very enthusiastic team of people who started it up from scratch in a society who didn’t know what a mobile phone was. When I say started up, I mean that, from the very beginning with hired offices and a very small team. For most of the people Motorola was their first job and a lot of them were then in their early 20s then.

Today most of us are all still in the telecoms sector and we have representatives in Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Orange, Vodafone, Yoigo, Telefónica and of course some of the original team are still with Motorola.

The organizers, Nuria, Pepe and Vicent – and a big thank you to them from me from my blog – put in some hard work first to find us all and then in the wonderful way they organised it. We were given a special sweat shirt for the occasion which we all wore proudly the night through. First we played bowling and then went on to dine at a great Argentine restaurant. But just before dinner they put on a video where they had used photos of us all which we had sent in with nostalgic music and funny captions. The video was a true masterpiece and had us all in stitches. We all looked so so young compared to these days. We were also given a copy each – thanks again Vicente.

It was such a good event that we have agreed to repeat it again next year.

Cheers/Masha

Susi and Oli - a weekend in London

Hi

This post is for my daughters Susi and Oli who have just spent the weekend in London. Oli travelled from Falmouth and Susi from Madrid and they stayed at their pied a terre which is Miguel's flat in Marble Arch - a very posh place according to Susana.

They did all the usual touristy things as you can see from this small selection of photos. They had a fabulous time.

Love you darlings.

Mummy

The Retiro Park today

Hello again,

I just couldn't resist including this post in my blog about the Retiro today. The Retiro park is Madrid's Hyde Park or Central Park and is at its best on a Sunday morning when the Madrileños go for their Sunday walk, all dressed up with their kids and family. We used to go there with ours when they were small and when we lived in the centre of Madrid.

Today was amazing because of the weather, 16ºc and so sunny. The foreigners, and there were loads of them, were all in shirt sleeves.

Here are some pics, including one of a great side show which is what the Retiro is all about on a Sunday morning.

Write again next week.

Love/Masha

A heavy social life this week. It all started with Sandra

Hi again

So, yes, Sandie finally made it to our house last Sunday night, after an hour driving round in the taxi in El Bosque, the area where we live. We hadn’t seen each other since Susana was 8. So if Susana is now 22, that makes it 14 years! Funnily enough we thought we both looked quite good for our age – bubbling with life as usual. Unfortunately Jeffer, Sandra’s boyfriend couldn’t make it that night but when we met him on Monday night his first comment was “like peas in a pod”. And it’s true, Sandie and I are peas in a pod in our attitude to life and how we enjoy it. So Sunday was a lovely family dinner, made by Gaby and Susi – thanks kids – so that we could have more time with each other as there was so much to catch up on.

Monday we went out to dinner with Jeffer and Eladio and I got a bit lost in Madrid and couldn’t find the car on the way home. We ended up having dinner at La Taberna de Lucio as Casa Lucio was closed. The prize dish is “huevos estrellados” which roughly translated is broken fried eggs which is actually, as Sandie pointed out, just that. They were not impressed with that dish, although they were with some of the others.

Tuesday was a rest, going out wise, but on Wednesday evening Eladio and I went to his first Yoigo do. My new company had organised an evening out for the employees and their partners and had taken over a bar in Madrid called La Consentida. We had loads of fun, getting to know my new colleagues and drinking volumes of wine and I must say the food was delicious. We were such a mix of nationalities, it seemed like the United Nations, but that’s what’s so nice about my new company.

On Wednesday evening we also took Susi to the airport as she was off to London to spend the bank holiday – until this Saturday – with her beloved sister Olivia. Olivia was traveling to London from Cornwall and the two of them were staying at Miguel’s, their pied a terre in London. How lovely for them.

Thursday was actually a national holiday so I spent a quiet day at home with Eladio, Susi and my Father. In the evening Eladio and I went to see a film I had long been wanting to see: The Queen; oh so British. It would have been much better to see it in English but I had to make do with Elizabeth II and Tony Blair talking in Spanish. The film took me back to my roots like I never thought possible and there I was crying throughout over the death of the People’s Princess, Lady Diana. Really, though, it is very very well done and I highly recommend it, but probably more to British people.

Friday I worked but explaining my day to Eladio made me see what a lovely job I have. It was spent visiting all the proposed locations for the press conference and launch party I am organizing for Yoigo for December. It included a lovely lunch from the events agency and I also came home with a bunch of flowers - something to do with work but impossible to explain here.

Another very important thing happened on Friday in that Eladio and I went to the BMW garage to get the GPS installed. We had seen these work in other people's cars, but never imagined how they were going to change our life! We are very impressed and now don't know how we lived without one before. It is so useful and such fun. Long live technology!!

And yesterday Eladio and I went to the cinema to see the film he was dying to see: Gal which is about a huge political scandal of state terrorism which occurred under the last Socialist Government in Spain where state paid police were entrusted with the killing off of members of the Basque terrorist organization ETA. I wasn’t particularly looking forward to it, but in the end found it very informative and not as violent as I had expected.

Today we are having lunch at José Antonio and Dolores’ house in Madrid, so we shall probably go for a nice walk in the Retiro first. Susi is not joining us as she came home in the small hours after returning from London pretty late last night.

Well, we now have next weekend to look forward to as on Friday, Eladio, my Father, Susi and I will be traveling to London to stay at Amanda’s house (my childhood friend) where we will meet up with Olivia. We are dying to see her as we haven’t seen her since 18th September. It’s going to be a very short visit – arrive late Friday, be there all Saturday and return mid morning Sunday – but we will enjoy it to the full. I am also looking forward to a quick visit to Sainsbury’s and Marks and Spencers, of course.

So that’s it for this week which has been very busy and intense with lots of things happening socially. The best of all was seeing Sandie again who was looking great!!

Unfortunately the photos are **** but they are all I have.

Write again next week.

All my love
Masha

Weekend in León

Yoli and the cats

Pili, Yoli, Adela and Eladio at Alejandro's place.

Hi

We spent a very wet weekend in León with Eladio’s family. On Friday, Eladio, my Father, Susi and I left the house in the early evening and faced enormous traffic leaving Madrid. It rained all the way, as it did the whole weekend.

We stayed with Eladio’s youngest brother’s family, Isidro, Yoli, Laura and Alicia. They had prepared a scrumptious dinner for our arrival which we enjoyed together as we hadn’t seen each other since the Summer. After dinner Susi and Laura went out and we watched the TV with a lovely drink of Pacharán which, unfortunately had me asleep within 5 minutes and gave me a strong headache for the whole night and the next morning. I will never learn that strong drinks are NO good for me.

The next day was spent visiting all of Eladio’s family in their respective houses. We started at Adela’s where we met up with Adela, Primo and my Mother-in-law. Next we went to Pili’s for a lovely lunch of roast lamb. Then we all went to Adela’s son Roberto’s new house where we had tea and cakes. Finally we ended up at Alejandro’s new house where there was coffee and cakes, again! So, before dinner and in order to survive, Yoli, Isidro, my Father, Eladio and I went for a long walk – about 7 km, so as to work up an appetite for dinner. We all went out for dinner to a lovely place called Michaela; lovely except that we weren’t very hungry.

I couldn’t resist taking pictures of Isidro’s family’s cats, Lolita and daughter Tati; such fun and so sweet.

We left mid morning today as we had to be home on time to get ready for my dear friend Sandy who is coming to dinner tonight. Sandie and I went to University together and have kept up over the years less frequently than we would have liked. So I think tonight will be the first time I probably 15 years! Sandi – really Alessandra Lizioli is half Hungarian and half Italian, was brought up in India and went to school in England. Today she is living in Brussels. There will be more on the visit after tonight with lots of photos of course.

Dying to see you darling.

Cheers
Masha

Halloween 2006 and Susi gets dressed up again

Hello again, mid week.

I could not resist taking this picture of Susi on her way out to a Halloween party tonight (it's already 11.45 so I suppose she will be back in the early hours of the morning - oh to be young again and have the stamina!)

Susi has loved dressing up since she was a tiny kid and here she is at 22 still enjoying it.I must say she looks great.

Tomorrow is a holiday - All Saints' Day, so we shall enjoy a bit of a lie in and a relaxed family day together. José will be off to see Oli tomorrow for a long weekend, so I know they will be having a great time.

Bye till next time.

Masha

Shopping with Susi, the ex-Motorola gathering and a relaxing weekend.

Hi

Friday I went speed shopping with Susi in Centro Oeste to buy a present for her boyfriend Gaby who is 21 today. The excuse was to buy him a present, but I managed to get in a red jumper from Cortefiel and a white one from Zara. And we also bought ourselves a lovely handbag each from Accesorize. Oli if you are reading this, we will do the same, I promise, when you come back from Falmouth for Christmas.

Meanwhile, 2 ex-colleagues from my Motorola days are organizing what they call the “First Analogue (Etacs) Generation Convention”. About 28 or 30 of the original staff will be meeting on the 16th November for a night out bowling and dining. We have been asked to send old photos for the occasion plus photos of how we look today. I have dug out quite a few out but the one I am most proud of is with Induráin (the five times winner of the Tour of France) where I am giving him a phone (the Flare) made specially for him. He was a guy who never smiled, but there he was smiling beautifully. The photo was taken at least 12 years ago.


This was the recent photo I chose to send in. It was taken in Arzuaga a couple of years ago.
The weekend has been quiet as usual with not much to report. We have been doing the usual, reading the papers, going for our walks and similar stuff I love and which gives me energy for the week coming.
Cheers till next week. M.

Miguel back from London, family gathering

Hello again

One of the highlights of the week was taking my favourite nephew out for lunch. Miguel works in London for City Bank and was here for a week’s holiday. We went to a place called Fast Good, a brilliant place for eating. It is owned by Spain’s top chef, Ferran Adria and it serves simple good quality, gourmet food in the same way fast food chains do. As don’t know anyone well enough at work to go out with yet, it’s where I eat alone the days when I don’t have a lunch engagement.

This weekend we had a lunch for Miguel and his parents, José Antonio (Eladio’s next brother down) and Dolores. Miguel hadn’t seen our new house, so this was the occasion. Just to be simple I made “cocido madrileño” again, my speciality and perfect for a wet Autumn day.

Today will be quiet: reading the newspapers, writing a post for my blog, making the lunch. Then I have to update Oli’s anti-virus programme and buy a ticket for Susi to visit Oli in November. Susi plans to go out on the 8th Nov to the 12th which is a bank holiday. We will be seeing her on the weekend of the 17th November where we will all meet up at Amanda and Andy’s place near London. CANNOT WAIT!

I have a very busy week coming up. Let you know all about it next time.

Cheers/Masha

Busy again, The Hispanic Bank Holiday, San came for lunch and Henry/Courtenay and Mao Tse Tung!

Hello again,

This week was busy work wise which was quite expected. Tuesday was my first public appearance with the press and I must say it was lovely to see the familiar faces of those I consider my “friends” – Ana, the 2 Antonios, Balta, … It was on the occasion of our first public phone call on the Xfera network, quite a milestone on the way to the commercial launch in December.

Luckily we got a break this week as Thursday was a bank holiday. It was the Pilar (Saint – and there are many in Spain thank goodness!) as well as the Hispanic day when the Spaniards celebrate Columbus discovering America (In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue …). Eladio and I went to the cinema with Roberto and Mari Carmen to see the new film about the Borgia family. It was pretty violent with some quite incestuous scenes but on the whole a good historical film. Afterwards we went to the Alpargatería, as usual, for dinner.

And this weekend we had the joy and privilege of meeting San again. San is the adored Chinese (Manchurian to be correct) son of Mar and Mariano, our journalist friends and neighbours. They work for La Vanguardia where Mariano is the chief editor for Madrid. We hadn’t seen San since last Christmas which is when he was adopted. He was 3 and a bit then and didn’t know any Spanish, of course. He has come along so well, gained 10cm at least and speaks Spanish perfectly. In fact his parents are worried about his forgetting Chinese and yesterday he was taken to the Chinese school in Madrid for his first lesson there. It turned out to be a traumatic experience. San wanted to leave as soon as he saw the place and it was so obvious it reminded him of his orphanage days in China. So from now on he will be having private lessons at home.

We enjoyed lunch together (cocido madrileño plus tiramisu) and a great afternoon with San on the swings and best of all on Susi’s boyfriend Gaby’s motorbike. That was San’s maximum pleasure of the day. Just look at that smile!! In the photo on the table he is flanked by his Mother, Mar, on the left and Gaby on the right.

The funniest bit of the day was when Mariano was talking to my Father about Mao Tse Tung and Mariano was calling him Henry (our cat’s name) instead of Courtenay (his real name). I am still laughing at the memory of it. I had to remind Mariano that my Father’s name was Courtenay. What a laugh!

Cheers till next week my friends
Masha

My first week – just like I’d never been away. Plus Pedro, Ludy and Enrique.

Hiya

How would I sum it up? Exhausted but happy. The worst thing is the traffic. If I leave at 07.30 in the morning I get to the office at 09.20, nearly 2 hours! However if I work at home during the rush hour which I did on Friday it takes 30 mins.

On Wednesday I travelled to Stockholm for meetings with the Communications people on Thursday and it felt a bit like “going home” to my Nokia days. I rang Anne from the taxi who was in Salo (Finland) and I came back on Finnair so I felt quite at home. I must say though that the Swedes were very hospitable and much warmer than I had imagined. As one Spanish friend said to me: “ well they are a bit nearer the sun”.

I feel as though I have been operative from day one but then that is the only option. The new company is preparing to launch its services at the beginning of December so the preparations are very intense and I had no time to indulge in long inductions. No, I just had to start work which is just how I like to do things. My announcement went out on Thursday morning and I was quite amazed at the reaction from the press; just so positive and warm. They made me feel so welcome back to the “sector”, like I’d never been away.

The week was long and intense so I have been appreciating this weekend more than usual. Friday I took the family out to dinner to celebrate. We went to our usual restaurant where we always feel so at home – La Alpargatería. Oli was very much missed as was José Luis. However José was on his way at the time to Bristol to visit Oli so we knew she was going to be fine.

Picture taken after dinner - a bit dark I'm afraid.
Last night we went out with our dear friends, Pedro, Ludy and Enrique. Stubborn as usual, I insisted we went to La Vaca Argentina where, it turned out, we were not that well treated. We were 15 minutes late and they had taken the table away which meant they wanted to turn us away as the place was soooo full. We finally got a table but it was the lousiest they had. But, anyway, the food was good and it was great to see each other again. For those friends of mine who are reading this and don’t live in Spain, Pedro is actually Pedro Delgado, a pretty famous guy in Spain. He was a professional cyclist and won the Tour of France, Tour of Spain and many other races too. But apart from his sport’s fame, Pedro is what I think is charismatic. He is so sweet and normal that everyone is attracted to his personality. Ludy, his beautiful wife, comes from the same area as Eladio so they have a lot in common. Ludy is the wonderful Mother of 3 small children, including boy twins. So she has a lot on her hands. Enrique is their friend who is fast becoming ours too. Enrique is in the legal profession and got to know Pedro and Ludy through his love of cycling. But actually his love of cycling has had him housebound since the beginning of August when he fell off his bike and had to have his leg operated on and a plastic bone put in (prosthesis).

Today will be spent with the family resting in readiness for the hectic week coming up. On Tuesday I will make my first public appearance with the media which I’m actually really looking forward to.

Cheers till next week

Masha

Elena’s celebration – 50 years of religious life

Hiya

On Saturday, Eladio and I, as well as José Antonio and Dolores were invited by their cousin Elena to her “Bodas de Oro” which roughly translated, is the celebration of her 50 years devoted to Christ. We don’t see her much but when Eladio was younger, she and her family had quite a lot of influence on his life.

The celebration started off with a mass where Elena renewed her vows as a nun. It was funny to see how none of the nuns present were below the age of 60!! After the mass there was a lunch held in the convent which was actually quite raucous for a nun type event. We even heard shouts of “Viva la Novia” (Long live the Bride)!

The group picture is quite interesting. I hardly know any of the other people but Eladio does. In the middle you can see Elena to the right of Eladio.

I couldn’t resist taking this other picture of Eladio opposite the table to me at lunch. I think you will agree, he looks great in a suit and tie.

Cheers/Masha

The Housewarming party that turned into a celebration dinner.

Hi,

I had had a dinner party planned for Friday night for a few friends who didn’t make it to the first one. When I signed with Xfera I decided to turn the housewarming party into a celebration dinner. So I promptly doubled the numbers by inviting more friends. In the end we were 16 for dinner. It was the 1st indoor dinner we have had at the new house. We put 2 tables together and, of course, had to use 2 dinner services. One of them was my Grandmother’s which, according to my Father, had not been used in 60 years!!!!

The guests:


It was lovely to welcome darling Jill and her husband Paco. Jill is the HR Manager of Nokia Spain (I always introduce her as the friend who dismissed me from my job) and has become a good friend since I left. But she has also been a bit of an HR coach to me this year. So thanks Jill for your great support. It was also nice to welcome Zenaida and her dishy partner Tapani. Z works with Jill and has also been a great support to me this year. She is pregnant and expecting a little girl quite soon. Ana and Tommy also came as they are always included in our social events. Ana who I got to know in Nokia is the Legal Counsel for HP Spain. She and her amazingly good looking husband Tommy got married last year. Then came the permanent fixtures, Fátima and Julio who are my very best friends. Fátima and I go back a long way and became friends when we first worked for Motorola in the early 90’s. And, at long last, we had the pleasure of the company of my dear (photographer) friend Rafa. Rafa and I also go back a long time and met in my cycling days in the early 90’s. Unfortunately you cannot see how good looking he is, as he took the photo. You might remember him from one of my posts – as the spaghetti monster. Rafa, has a great appetite for food! And then came dear Alexander and Diane. Alex is a friend of Amanda and Andy’s. He works for the same company as Andy – Bertelsmann, is German and is based here in Madrid. We met at A + A’s wedding last year and have finally met up here in Spain. Diane is his lovely girlfriend, who, believe it or not is training to become a brain surgeon!!!

Alex and Diane relaxing after dinner
And, of course, we had the young contingent: Susana, my older daughter, her boyfriend Gaby (who doubled as a waiter that night) and Oli’s boyfriend José Luis. He is part of the family and although Oli is away in England, it seemed right to have him with us on Friday night.

I hope everybody ate well. We prepared home made gazpacho, boeuf strogonof and then a choice between trifle and tiramisu. We also drank quite a lot – or at least I did. For the occasion I opened the last magnum bottle of Quercus!!

The party began to break up at about 2 but Fati, Rafa, Alex and Diane stayed on for a while and Eladio and I ended up going to bed after 4 in the morning.

Needless to stay the next day I was in no good physical state to go to Eladio’s cousin, Elena’s 50 years celebration of religious life. But more about that in another post.

All the best/Masha

And then I got to choose – 2 jobs in one week, from the French to the Swedish!

Hello again,

I think most of you know that I have been looking for a job this year. You will have followed from my blog that my main activities this year were concentrated on selling our old home and buying a new house, amongst many other things. I devoted the time on my hands to my immediate family: we brought my Father from England to live with us – plus all his books and family furniture. Eladio and I had time to travel and took the opportunity to visit Istanbul and Rome in the autumn and the winter. I cooked endlessly, did many domestic chores but also kept up with friends and all in all spent a pleasurable and relaxed year with the family.

But once my personal objectives were achieved, I was itching to go back to work but finding a new job was not an easy task. My age was against me, plus the fact that there are very few Communications posts; just one per company and most of them are filled. Eladio is witness to the fact that I did all in my power to get my name and CV in the market and a good CV it was too, both in packaging and content.

And in the end I had 2 job offers that actually coincided in time. The worst thing was that they didn’t actually come at the same time, so I accepted the 1st one and started work last Monday with a French telecoms company. I worked 4 days only. On Wednesday I went to Paris to get to know the people and just as I walked out of the meeting I had a call from the other company. For the record I had given up on that company and thought they wouldn’t offer me a job which is why I accepted the job with the French!! The other company is Swedish and they are starting up in Spain as a mobile phone operator and will be the 4th operator. From a professional point of view working for this company was a step up in my career. Unfortunately the French company didn’t see it that way and went ballistic!!! In fact they were very rude and put the phone down on me. Their reaction was a bit of a damper but it was not unexpected. I did not, though, feel comfortable as quitting after 4 days is not my style, especially as they had treated me so well and had welcomed me with their arms open.

I have told just a few people, but word has spread and on Friday my mobile phone was jammed with messages from ex colleagues and journalists welcoming me back to the sector. I got the firm offer on Thursday night and agreed to start this Monday coming. So at least I had Friday to relax and celebrate.

One of the nicest messages came from a journalist who wrote: “justice has been done”.

Cheers/Masha