Monday 5th May 2014
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| Celebrating Suzy's birthday last Monday with a selfie |
Hello my
friends,
Wow last week
was probably the best week of the year so far.
That was mainly because Suzy came to celebrate her 30th
birthday but also for other reasons which you will find out about if you carry
on reading.
After I left
off last Sunday, Suzy was continuing her pre birthday celebrations with a
dinner party at home for the girls’ friends, commonly known as “la manada” (the
herd). It was on Sunday too that a young
girl called Carolina Marín became known as the Spanish queen of
badminton. A star in Asia but literally
unknown here, she “wrote her name into Spanish badminton history books” by
winning the women’s singles gold medal in the European Championship. This was yet another sporting victory for
Spain.
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| Carolina Marín, Spain's queen of badminton |
Sport and
sports’ victories are the norm these days in Spain but what is not the norm is
a racist incident in sport in this country.
So when a “fan” threw a banana at FC Barcelona player Dani Alves, last
Sunday at the game against Villarreal, he decided to eat it to the astonishment
and applause of the public. The episode
quickly turned into a worldwide anti-racism campaign after his team mate Neymar
posted a picture of himself on Twitter with his son and a banana.
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| Neymar posted a photo with his son after the racist banana episode |
Monday came and finally it was
Suzy’s official 30th birthday.
I was up early to make a wonderful breakfast for everyone, including the
girls’ boyfriends Miguel and Gabor. This was what the table looked like.
Unfortunately for you Olivia vetoed the photos of us at breakfast as she was
wearing pyjamas.
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| The breakfast table on Suzy's birthday |
After
breakfast we gave her our presents. The
star present was an album I had made for her with a significant photo of each
year of her life so that she could see how she has developed through the years.
The idea was mine but I have to publically thank Beatriz, Cristina and Gloria
for making it happen. Thanks girls,
without your help the end product would not be the same. You can see the video of the album here.
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| The inside cover of Suzy's special 30th birthday album I made for the occasion |
But of course
the main event of the day would be lunch which would be outside because of the
glorious weather. I had to work so ended
up buying a take away lunch from the superb Mallorca gourmet shop. I had bought the cake too, one of our
favourites, made of pastry, cream and raspberries. Olivia inspired us to take a super selfie photo
of all of us, including my Father and the cake which I have chosen to
illustrate this week’s blog post. We had
such fun taking it.
In the
afternoon I spent time with Olivia and Gabor by the still covered pool after
which I did two consecutive hour long walks.
Dinner that night was just the two of us. That day I was especially pleased to announce
our agreement with the Spanish College of Telecommunications Engineers which
came about thanks to my ex colleague and friend Julio. Here is a photo of us all when the agreement
was signed.
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| With Julio, far right, after signing the agreement with the COIT |
It was on Monday that
the new list of the world’s best restaurants was announced. Last year’s best restaurant El Celler de Can
Roca was “relegated” to the number two spot being overtaken by Noma, the Danish
restaurant. But Spain faired extremely
well, being the only nation with 3 restaurants in the top ten. Thus Spain continues to dominate the food
world when it comes to top restaurants.
Interestingly there was not one French representative, the nation that
used to dominate this list. For the
records, these are the top 10: 1) Noma – Denmark 2) El Celler de Can Roca –
Spain 3) Osteria Francescana - -Italy 4) Eleven Madison Park - United States 5)
Dinner - United Kingdom 6) Mugaritz – Spain 7) .O.M. – Brazil 8) Arzak – Spain 9)
Alinea - United States 10) The Ledbury - United Kingdom. I have only ever been
to one of them; Arzak in San Sebastian and forever remember the amazing gourmet
experience, although you will be interested to hear Eladio was not particularly
impressed!
Tuesday was
Suzy and Gabor’s last day so I decided to spend as much time with them as
possible. So did Olivia who actually
took last week off as a holiday. We went
to Villanueva de la Cañada to close Suzy’s old bank account in the morning and
here is the last pic of Suzy and I together.
Typically we are both looking at our phone screens.
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| The last photo of me with Suzy during her visit - last Tuesday |
I made lunch
for everyone but didn’t eat as I was fasting instead of Monday. I would also fast on Wednesday so as to be
able to enjoy my Father’s birthday meals on Thursday. Fasting two days in a row is no easy
task. Oli and I took Suzy and Gabor to
the airport where we said our goodbyes not knowing when we would meet
next. All I can say is that a great time
was had by all. Suzy’s birthday and
birthday visit were a complete success and filled our hearts with joy. I reflected on this when I went on two consecutive
hour long walks in the evening.
That night
Eladio and I and most of Spain watched a decisive football match. Real Madrid was playing the second leg of the
Champions League semifinal against Bayern Munich in Germany. The Spaniards beat the Germans a crushing 4-0
and got through to the final in Lisbon in May.
We wouldn’t know until the next day whether their opponent there would
be Chelsea or Atlético de Madrid. Madrid
will be looking to win “la décima”, their 10th victory after 12
barren years of never making it past the semifinals.
On Wednesday I
was expecting Juan Carlos the dog trainer to come. He was to help us make the dogs keep to heel
on our walks but I’m afraid he failed to turn up. Eladio was not at all in favour of hiring his
services so I’m afraid I have given up in this area.
At lunchtime
Olivia and I went to Madrid to visit the new Zara flagship store in Madrid’s
most prestigious shopping street, Calle Serrano. We had a lot of traffic to confront and it
was difficult to park. We both remarked
we far preferred living outside the city after the all the effort of getting
there. Once inside I think our
inspiration for shopping had waned but we felt obliged to buy something. I was not particularly impressed with the
size of the store, having hoped it would be something like M&S at Marble
Arch but it was much smaller. I ended up
buying a lovely blue bag but nothing else.
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| The blue bag I bought at Zara's new flagship store in Calle Serrano |
After lunch
Olivia was off to stay with her boyfriend in Valencia where he lives. She was looking forward to time on the
beach. I spoke to her yesterday and she
told me she had a great time but that there was a lot of wind. Unfortunately she never took any pictures for
me to include in this week’s post.
It was on
Wednesday that The Local (Spain) published their article on whether it was time
for Brits to leave Spain or not. If you
read my post last week you will know I wrote to them to tell them I would not
be leaving and why. So I was very
“chuffed” to see they included most of my comments. You can read their article here.
That night we
found out who Real Madrid would be playing in the Champions League final in
May. Amazingly Atlético de Madrid beat Mourinho’s Chelsea 3-1 at Stamford Bridge.
This will prevent “the special one” from having his revenge on Real
Madrid which he left on ugly terms. For
the rest of the football world the final will be the first time two teams from
the same town meet together. May the
best team win and here I mean Real Madrid, our team. The outcome will be on 24th May in
Lisbon. Cross your fingers for Real
please in this all Spanish final.
Thursday was 1st
May, Labour Day and was a holiday in Spain and in most of the world. Most
importantly to us it was my Father’s 95th birthday. This year the girls couldn’t be with us but I
made it as nice a day as I could for my Father.
First there was a splendid breakfast with “chocolate and churros”
followed by the traditional birthday card and presents.
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| Giving my Father his presents at the special breakfast I prepared for him on his 95th birthday on 1st May |
For lunch I
made lasagna which I think is one of his favourite meals. We had it outside as the weather continued to
be pleasant. The main moment of the day
of course was the birthday cake. Here is
a photo of my Father blowing out his candles.
I can only hope and pray that we will continue to celebrate his birthday
for many more years.
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| My father blowing out the candles on his birthday on 1st May |
1st May was also Vappu day in Finland. I
asked my Finnish friends to send me photos of them in the traditional white
student caps and Timo obliged. He also
told me that the Finnish festivities of the 1st May are celebrated
in Helsinki, at least, at a big open air picnic at a place with the unpronounceable
name of “Ullanlinnanmäki”, a hill in the Kaivopuisto park by the sea. Vappu celebrates student graduations but
student or not everyone seems to participate.
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| My friend and colleague Timo wearing the customary white cap on Vappu Day in Finland on 1st May |
After lunch
Eladio and I left for Montrondo where we would be spending the 1st
May bank holiday with some of his family.
Friday 2nd May would also be a holiday for “madrileños” like
us. We weren’t just going for fun as we had important tasks to complete in our
path to rebuilding the old house we have “inherited”. We were to meet builders
and discuss estimates as well as clear out the old house for when the
refurbishment happens, hopefully this very month.
We arrived in
the late afternoon, just on time for a walk to Murias with Dolores, Juan,
Cristina and Sara. Meanwhile Eladio met
one set of builders who I was able to talk to when I came back from our walk.
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| At the "peña de dios" with some of my family walking to Murias on Thursday evening |
That night we
didn’t get a good night’s sleep. The
alarm went off at home and Fátima our home help didn’t notice. So the security
company tried to ring Eladio. He didn’t
take the call at midnight as the number was unknown. Then we heard from Olivia who was away in
Valencia and who they had called too but of course she couldn’t help. They tried all our numbers to no avail. We eventually got through to Fátima but she
wasn’t much help either. It was worse
for Olivia who got phone calls from the company until about 3 in the morning. We can only imagine that Fátima left the
garage door open and the dogs went in, but we shall never know. It’s a bit worrying to think what would have
happened in our absence if instead of a dog in an open garage, thieves really
had got in. Well thank goodness they
didn’t but we shall have to be more cautious next time.
The forecast for
weather in Montrondo was pretty bad with lots of cloud and rain but thankfully
the “weather people” got it wrong and we had glorious sunshine throughout. Spring is now much more noticeable there and
everything was green. On Friday morning
I went for a pre breakfast walk to Murias and back as I would every day until
we left on Sunday.
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| Taken on my walk to Senra with Sara - notice the beautiful blue sky. There is no pollution here. |
We came home,
had breakfast, made some preparations for lunch and then I was off again, this
time with Sara, Dolores’ daughter, to Senra (the village after Murias) and back,
some 8km all in all. On our way we
bumped into Pili, Eladio’s youngest sister, and my mother-in-law Ernestina, as
well as Pili’s lovely dalmation, Trébol who were driving to Montrondo from
León. They joined us for a cup of coffee
at the only bar in Senra, Cumbres de Omaña.
It was only later that she asked Pili who we were and if we were from
the area. It’s sad her memory is
going. She realized her mistake later,
so all is not lost, she just has occasional relapses.
We had been 7
for dinner the night before and on lunch on Friday the number increased to 10
with the arrival of Pili, Andrés and my mother-in-law. We all chipped in with different dishes to
share. As usual there was far too much
food.
After everyone
had had a siesta – not me, I was reading my book “Mao’s last dancer” in the
sun, I persuaded a group of us to go on a trek up the mountains. By the end of the day I would have walked
more than 24 kilometres! Once you get
over the first three incredibly steep ramps you can enjoy the rest of the
walk. The views are wonderful. I never
tire of them. There was still some snow
on the mountain tops but a lot less than last time. Here is a photo of us on the walk. Eladio was the photographer.
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| On the trek in the mountains on Friday |
Happy to read the
statistics on my Fitbit, that day I burnt nearly 3.000 calories.
On Saturday
after my early morning walk with Dolores, Eladio and I hit the road destination
a small village near Bembibre about 1.5 hours from Montrondo. One of the builders wanted to show us a
country hotel he was building and we took the opportunity to clarify many
aspects of his estimate. We were home by
2.30 and just on time for lunch. Today
the numbers increased to 14 as Isidro, Eladio’s youngest brother, and his wife Yoli
had come for the day as had Adela, Eladio’s oldest sister, and her husband
Primo. They brought more food and we had
a sort of wonderful buffet lunch.
In the
afternoon I was hoping to go on another trek up the mountains but Pili
intervened. She got us all started on
emptying the old house and transporting things to the restored barn next door
where we will be cooking in the summer whilst our house is being rebuilt. We threw out so much stuff we had accumulated
over the years. There was a moment of
hysteria when a mouse was found in the pantry.
By about 7pm
we had finished for the day, so bereft of the walk up the mountains, Dolores
and I set off for Senra, to add another 8km to the kilometres we had walked in
the morning to Murias and back. It was
sunny again and the tan on my face and arms increased. The rest of me, though, is still white!
Meanwhile in
London Suzy was continuing her birthday celebrations. She organized a BBQ at their new house and
celebrated her 30th birthday together with her new Czech friend Jane
who was celebrating her 25th year.
Later they went into London to celebrate more. Here is a photo of part of the group.
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| Suzy celebrating her 30th birthday for the last time, this time in London. |
Sunday was our
last day in Montrondo but we enjoyed it to the full. It was only after the early morning walk and
breakfast that we all realized Sunday was Mother’s Day in Spain. So we all congratulated Eladio’s Mother. I waited for messages from my lovely
daughters which eventually came through.
Thank you darlings.
We decided to
stay for lunch and enjoy the morning. Dolores and I went for another walk to
Senra and back whilst Eladio, Toño and Pili removed more stuff from the
house. The “kids”, Sara, Juan and
Cristina left early as they had plans that day in Madrid. I made lunch for
everyone as I did most days. We had
fabulous steak with chips made from potatoes grown in Montrondo, followed by Eton
Mess, my favourite dessert which I made every day when we were there and which
proved immensely popular with everyone.
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| The Eton Mess dessert I made in Montrondo - in fact I made it every day and it was hugely popular |
We were all
ready to leave by just after 16.30 and set off a bit worried we might run into
heavy traffic at the end of the bank holiday. But we were in luck, it was not
too bad and after having left Toño and Dolores in Madrid we were home by 9pm,
too late to write my blog of course. Olivia
wasn’t at home as that morning she had flown from Valencia to Santiago de
Compostela in Galicia where she will be reporting live for TVE1 this week. Eladio
took Fátima to the bus stop with the weekly food shopping I provide her with so
her kids are better nourished and we spent the rest of the evening unpacking,
making a very light dinner and falling asleep in bed with the TV on, in need of
a rest after the exertions in Montrondo. By the way you can see the rest of the photos of our stay here.
This morning,
Monday morning has been busy. I was up early and had a conference call with my
communications colleagues. Then we sent out a press release on an agreement
with a new insurance company for our customers to insure phones at Yoigo shops.
There was time
though to watch Olivia live on TVE1 from Pontevedra in Galicia. It was to be our highlight of the day. Eladio, my Father and I watched her live at
11.46 and she was on TV for about half an hour reporting on the case of a
violent drunkard who attacked people at a hospital in Vilanova de Arousa where
his elderly Mother had been admitted.
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| Olivia reporting from Galicia this morning |
I am fasting
today as I will be tomorrow. I want to
get my two fasting days over before my beloved friends Sandra and Adele come
from Belgium and France with their respective partners, Jeffer and
Bernard. They will be staying until
Sunday and are in luck because the temperature will be in the very high
twenties and we will be opening the pool for their visit. My blog post next week will be full of news
of their visit.
Meanwhile I will
leave you until next time, wishing you all a great week,
Masha
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