Sunday 7th
June 2015
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| Happy in Montrondo this weekend |
Hi again
everyone,
I am writing
once more from Montrondo where we have been staying for the weekend or rather
“bank holiday” except that in Spain the holiday is religious. Thursday was “Corpus Christi” and we have made
a long weekend of it.
When I left
off last Sunday it was to make fish and chips for the family lunch; definitely
one of our favourite meals and a consequence of my upbringing in Yorkshire in
England.
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| Fish and chips for lunch last Sunday |
It was a good
day for Spanish sport when Alberto Contador won the Giro (the cycling tour of
Italy) for the second time. He is the
best Spanish cyclist since Indurain, having also won three Vueltas and two
Tours – would have been three if he hadn’t been disqualified from one for
doping!
On Monday I
woke up to receive a wonderful email from afar. Out of the blue, an old pupil
of my Father who had taught him Russian at Bradford Grammar School in the late
70’s and early 80’s sent me an email to pass on to my Father. Jon, who went on to study Russian at
Cambridge University, was reaching out to my Father, his beloved teacher after
all these years and his words touched my heart; especially these: “he remains a
fond memory in the minds and hearts of his former pupils”. I think my Father was very touched too and
possibly surprised. Over the years he
has received similar emails from other pupils and it is amazing that he made
such a mark on them in their careers.
But then again that doesn’t surprise me as I know he was a remarkable
teacher. Thank you Jon. My father was very pleased to receive your
email and I shall be writing back soon on his behalf.
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| Bradford Grammar School where my Father taught French, German and Russian |
On Monday I
fasted as I would again on Wednesday. I
went into the office that day for an interview with my boss by the Spanish
edition of Forbes. Hopefully it will be
positive as the story line was about how the other mobile operators in Spain
are putting up their prices whilst Yoigo decreases theirs. Not for nothing are we a “low cost operator”
and low prices are part of our D.N.A.
On Tuesday I
was up at 06.30 in order to make it to the centre of Madrid for a 09.30 appointment. I was dressed in red and white that
morning. For the record my clothes were
from Zara, Lindex and Marks and Spencer.
An ex colleague asked on my Facebook wall whether I was going to the
Danish Embassy that day. Touché Lennart.
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| Dressed in red and white on Tuesday morning |
The meeting
was to be held at Ketchum, our PR agency where they would be presenting an
analysis of the regional and local election results. Here is a photo of Ludi talking about whether
the votes were won or lost on social media.
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| Ludi presenting Ketchum's findings |
One of the
most interesting points I came away with was the fact that all 4 national
political leaders had either bought or falsified twitter followers during the
election campaign. What a cheek! Equally interesting was the result that those
candidates who owned their own twitter page and interacted with the public more
were those who did best in the elections.
That afternoon
whilst I was working from home I got an unexpected phone call from Fátima, our
ex Moroccan home-help who we loved so much and who left Spain with her two
small children to live in France last December with her sister Oufa. She was coming to Madrid to renew her
passport. She could not afford a plane
ticket and instead came by bus, leaving the French city at 5 in the afternoon
and arriving in the Spanish capital at 11 1m the following day. She arrived in Moroccan attire, completely
covered up carrying a heavy ruck sack on her back and big hold all in her hand. It was a very hot and sunny afternoon and as
soon as I had greeted her, I made sure she removed her outer clothes. In her ruck sack and the bag she was carrying
gifts for us which of course she can hardly afford. We were anxious to know how
she and her children, 11 year old Zara and 6 year old Omar were getting on in
France. We were upset to hear that they
still cannot attend school until their legal situation is sorted out, so the
poor kids are stuck at home each day with nothing to do. So much for the French values of “liberté, égalité,
fraternité”. In
any case it was wonderful to see her again.
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| Fátima our visitor from Marseilles |
She stayed for
dinner with us and also spent the night.
The next day I took her to the bus stop and here is a photo of the two
of us just before she left. Of all the
women who have worked in our house we got closest to Fátima who felt at times
like a surrogate daughter. We still miss
her.
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| Saying goodbye to Fátima |
I had another
meeting in the office that day followed by an appointment with my urologist for
another ghastly session of the treatment I am being subjected to. The worst thing about it is that afterwards I
get a sort of cystitis for about two hours.
I wish I could believe that it may work.
Part of the success of any treatment, is believing in it so I make
myself do so but at the same time have so many doubts.
In the
afternoon I did the weekly shopping with Salu.
We were home on time to watch Olivia on the TV presenting live once
again from the Madrid Retiro Park on the Madrid Book Fair (la feria del libro). She did a great job again but she didn’t
think so as she had apparently stumbled on a couple of words which I hadn’t
even noticed. My advice to her was not
to berate herself for what she thinks she does badly but to be happy with what
she thinks she had done well. In short
she has to love herself more. I also
told her that any live reporter can make a slip of the tongue as they are not
robots but people. Here is a photo of my
little daughter on TV that evening.
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| Olivia presenting the Madrid Book Fair this week |
That night for
dinner I made pizza for the first time in my life. I should add that I wasn’t going to be eating
it as I was fasting and that it was for Oli, Miguel and Eladio. Here is a photo of me just after taking it
out of the oven. When I posted the picture
on Facebook an old colleague asked me how I had made the base. I had to answer honestly that I had actually
bought it from my local supermarket. In
a way the question pointed out to me that I hadn’t really “made a pizza”, I had
just put the toppings on it and shoved it in the oven. Even so I was proud of the result.
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| I made my first ever pizza this week |
That morning
we did eat bread and drink wine but not because of Corpus Christi. Instead we had it at Rueda on our famous pit
stop on the way to Montrondo. If you are
an avid reader of my blog you will be familiar with the fact that we always
stop at Palacio de Bornos in the wine growing town of Rueda for a plate of ham
and glass of delicious white wine. Here
I am enjoying the moment.
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| Pit stop at Rueda on our way to Montrondo |
Another
ex-colleague wrote on my Facebook wall that he hadn’t a clue where Montrondo
was but that it was worth going to just for the pit stop. I heartily agree. However he doesn’t know Montrondo as it is
off the tourist track, a small village high in the mountains of León where
peace and beauty come together. It is my
husband’s family village where he and all his brothers and sisters were
born. We arrived at about 13.30 and were
greeted by Eladio’s brother José Antonio and his wife Dolores, as well as their
delightful mongrel dog Nuba. Pippa, who
had come with us, was happy to be back in Montrondo just as we were.
Pippa feels
very at home in Montrondo but I do wish she wouldn’t growl at my favourite
brother-in-law, José Antonio who is the owner of the house we are staying at
and who is the gentlest man I know. Here
is a series of photos of little Pippa exploring the terrain and finally falling
asleep.
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| Pippa feels at home in Montrondo |
Pippa had the
company of Nuba in Montrondo who is far more street wise than our little
dachshund. One of Nuba’s favourite
places to lie is on the rocks in front of their house. She was joined there by Pippa and I got this
marvelous shot of both of them.
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| Dogs on the rocks in Montrondo |
There was not
as much progress on the house we are building as we would have wanted but even
so I can now see what it will look like when it is finished and am now feeling
quite excited. A lot remains to be done
such as the floors, staircase, window shutters, kitchen etc. Hopefully all this won’t take too long and we
will be able to move in at the beginning of August. I sincerely hope so.
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| Progress on the house in Montrondo |
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| Toño and Eladio assembling the Ikea garden furniture in Montrondo |
When they were
ready, Dolores and I made a sort of afternoon tea which we all enjoyed together
outside as you can see in the picture.
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| Afternoon tea in Montrondo with the new Ikea garden furniture. |
To work off
Olivia’s delicious carrot cake, not to mention the Mr. Kipling Battenberg cake
I had brought for our stay, Eladio, Pippa and I went for a walk to Murias along
the old path. The countryside is at its
best at this time of year and the walk would have been a delight for any
botanist as there was a true symphony of beautiful and colourful wild flowers
all along the way. I made this collage
of the pictures I took of the pretty flowers.
I think my favourite are the pink wild roses and the “poor man’s” small
white and yellow pansies.
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| Just some of the beautiful wild flowers that blossom at this time of year in Montrondo |
The sheer
variety of colours is a joy to the eye.
Just look at this photo of Eladio by a bush of yellow flowers on the old
path.
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| Eladio on the flowery path to Murias |
The photo
illustrating this post is of me on the same walk where little Pippa managed to
be included. The truth is she follows me everywhere; even to the bathroom where
I have to lock her out and she cries until I open the door to come out. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.
On our way to
Murias and back we stopped to talk to some of the villagers including Eulogio,
Acacio and dear old Quico, the Father of Lourdes. What a nice man he is. Also on our way out of the village we went
passed Genaro`s house where our builders are working on his kitchen. I had heard about Jenaro’s legendary flowers
in his garden there but had never seen them. His little garden felt like a
miniature “secret garden”, tended and kept lovingly by its owner.
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| Jenaro's secret garden in Montrondo |
On Friday
morning I was up at 7.10, rather than 6.30 which seems to be the norm these
days. After breakfast I took Pippa for a
walk all the way to Senra and back.
Eladio joined us for a cup of coffee at the only bar in the area, Cumbres
de Omaña. Here he is enjoying the moment.
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| Elado having a cup of coffee in Senra |
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| The fabada I made in Montrondo this weekend |
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| Eladio and his brother Toño cutting the grass in Montrondo the old fashioned way with scythes |
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| Olivia left and her team at the Madrid Book Fair on Friday |
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| Pippa on one of the walks in Montrondo |
Lunch for the
11 of us was at Pili’s house and both Yoli and Adela had made chickpea soup
with all sorts of funny parts of meat that have never attracted me but which
Eladio and his family adore, like ear, pigs trotters, tripe etc. My contribution to the lunch was Eton Mess for "sweet" which everyone loves.
Another walk
took place in the afternoon, this time, just the women; i.e my sisters-in-law
and I and the three dogs, Nuba, Pippa and Pili’s dalmation. Here is a not too good selfie taken by “God’s
Rock” (“la peña de dios”) but it at least captures the moment.
A good day was
had by all, even for my frail 93 year old Mother-in-law whose memory is
failing. Towards the end of the day she
received a visit from her first cousin Eva, aged 83, who resides in the
beautiful seaside town of Gijon in the north of Spain. Here is a photo of the two cousins who spent
the time talking about the past as is normal in this part of the world.
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| My mother in law Ernestina with Eva her first cousin (left) in Montrondo yesterday |
At about the
same time the match was finishing I stepped outside the house to take in the
evening air. I was amazed that at 10.15
it was full daylight. Here is a photo to
prove it.
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| Montrondo at 22.15 last night - it was still light |
Soon our time
in Montrondo will come to an end. After
lunch we have to head back home as I have a very busy week ahead of me. But I shall go home feeling fully relaxed and
ready to face whatever comes.
Before I end
this week’s post, I must not forget to mention that today 7th June
would have been my dear Mother’s birthday.
She lives on in my heart of course but oh how much I would have wanted
her to live longer to see her adored granddaughters grow up and for her to be
part of our daily life. No doubt my
Father will have similar thoughts today.
Mummy I miss you and wish you could be with us. I would love you to see the house in
Montrondo, to meet Pippa, Norah and Elsa and most of all to be company to Daddy
who misses you more than any of us. I
wish I could be a strong believer and think that one day I will join you “up
there”. Who knows? Maybe I will.
And so my
friends, I leave you until next week,
Hope yours is a good one,
Masha
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