Monthly Archives: June 2016

24.06.16 — Journal

Danni & Abi Visit

Rather than sitting in my bed melting in the summer heat, I thought I’d instead decided to sit in bed and melt in the summer heat whilst typing up a blog post whilst the red-hot underside of my MacBook burns my thighs. All this is worth the sacrifice though, as I am excited to report that two of my favourite people, Danni and Abi, came to visit me here in the sunny Spanish capital for a good few days just this past weekend!

The high school gang reunited

After snatching them from the airport and heading through the city, I had to nip back to work for the afternoon, but in the evening we were sure to grab some delicious tacos and margaritas and wander the night away in the evening heat. Once we’d had enough, we all headed back to the hostel together, as I lived with them for the five days to make it easier and cheaper for us all.

The next day I headed back to work once more, leaving the troublesome twosome alone to explore the city and shop to their hearts’ content, but sooner or later they arrived at the studio to pay a visit – and naturally everyone had to stop working to have an aperitivo on the ping pong table…

Getting used to Spanish life

During the weekend we spent time wandering round some of the picturesque areas of the city, binging on some lovely food and generally sitting around sipping drinks and having a catch up about what’s been going down back in Burnley and Leeds.

A street near Fuencarral
A view from Retiro

Sooner or later it was Sunday, and of course we walked out of our hostal right into the throws of a big Catholic parade making it’s way down the street, a little like every day of Semana Santa. We followed the smell of incense and the huge effigy being paraded down the high street for a short while, but then we jumped on the Metro and headed towards Casa de Campo for a food market I’d discovered on Instagram…

Sunday parade

The food market in question was Madreat, and consisted of a huge area of food trucks and bars in the middle of the greenery of the Casa de Campo in the west of the city. I grabbed some Peruvian food, Abi and Danni grabbed hotdogs, and we sat down to soak in the rays and have a good old relax…

Sitting around in Madreat
Food trucks galore
Delicious food in the sun

After finishing off our food, we grabbed some ice cream as the heat of the day wore stronger, and sat in the shade of a tree to chatter away and take a selfie (naturally), all before heading back towards the Metro to visit the Matadero down in the south and have a tinto de verano by the river.

Us two and our ice cream
Casa de Campo

Just like that however, it was their last night here in the city, so we all got packed up and headed down to Ópera and Royal Madrid to soak up the last of the sun and enjoy the calm ambience of this laid back city.

The three of us in Ópera

The two of them are now back on home turf, and I have managed to get to my new flat after an evening of carrying my ever-heavier suitcase right across the city. I am now living right next to my work in a shared flat with three lovely Spanish girls, and we’ve already had a good couple of evenings laughing and chatting away in both languages – which can get quite confusing!

I leave you now as I have to get showered for an impromptu picnic by the temple, but I shall pop this photo of the spire of the Royal Palace which I can see peeping out over the trees from my window. What a lovely view!

A view from my window
15.06.16 — Journal

Sunny City Skulking

Today, fellow readers, I am very pleased to be writing to you whilst I being caressed by the cool breeze of my very own air conditioning unit – but all this luxury came from a right royal fiasco in which I realised I hadn’t booked a flat for the dates when I needed one, and hence had to jump on the first thing I could find which I could afford – which just happened to be a lovely modern room in some student-style accommodation in the east of the city. Oh well…

As I basque in the excitement of Danni & Abi’s visit in two days time, for the past week I have been sensing quite acutely the sudden spike in temperatures, but I somehow managed to survive a day peaking at 36° whilst commuting in my jeans. The sun may be doing it’s worst and the air conditioning unit at work may sound like it wants to break through the ceiling under the strain, but the strong light and bright evenings have made for some beautiful photo opportunities…

Waiting for the bus

As you can see, the metal chairs are out on the streets and the trees are in full bloom, and the area around work benefits from the relief of a slight breeze. The best time of day during this weather, however, is in the evening once the sun has set but the air is still pleasant, and to this end I managed to snap a couple of lovely pics of the royal area of Madrid basking in the embers of the day’s sunlight.

The Cathedral by evening
The Royal Palace sleeps

Just this evening I was sat in the Oriental Gardens enjoying the evening ambience, when the sky was suddenly filled with dark grey clouds, which naturally I took as a warning of imminent downpour – but I was informed that they come and go frequently here and rarely signal rain. The contrast of the sun illuminating the buildings and the sky in it’s eerie darkness provided an interesting mood…

Someone upset the Gods

I am, as I said, now tucked up in bed after a lovely evening visiting my ex-hostess from my old flat, Pilar, with whom I stopped for a caña and a chat as I picked up a bag full of snacks that I’d left at hers over a month ago… Oops. We have arranged to meet up once again soon for a proper drink and some tapas and as we say here, lo que sea – meaning whatever might take our fancy!

Until then, though, I have to pack and prep for the arrival of Danni & Abi just this Thursday… Did I mention I am excited!?

10.06.16 — Travel

Burnley Youth Theatre in Spain

Every now and then I like to add a soundtrack to my posts, and this one’s is Hello by Martin Solveig. Click here to play it in another window while you have a read through – you’ll see why as you read on.

In my flailing efforts to get my blog back up to date, I’m back with the news that just last weekend my good friends from Burnley Youth Theatre Jess and Amber (Bam) landed at the stupidly named Aeropuerto Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas, which I tend to just call Madrid Airport.

Having talked about it way back when I was working with the Design Council and Burnley Youth Theatre, we used to dream about how cool it would be if I ever got the chance to work out in Madrid, and now here I was all stupidly excited and making a sign for the dramatic airport greeting…

Welcome Jess & Bam!

After lots of screaming and hugs at the airport, we headed down to the Metro and got on our way to check in at the hostel, and then I set them off exploring whilst I headed back for work, where we met up just before closing so that they could meet the lovely team and have a snoop around the studio space.

Looking over Madrid

After milling around in the studio, we headed out into the centre for the evening, grabbing some tapas and finding ourselves getting dragged into participation in a Spanish pub quiz! I somehow managed to translate our way through it, and although we didn’t win so much as a free shot, we had lots of fun and ate lots of lovely food.

The beautiful streets

Another day of exploring the city and eating delicious Mexican food ensued, and before we knew it Saturday had arrived and we were trawling the shops for contributions to a lunch that the owner of my flat, Cati, had graciously invited us to. We were very honoured to have been invited to join the family gathering, and so we grabbed a bottle of red wine and a generous helping of jamón iberico to share and hopped on the bus to the flat.

A Spanish feast!

Once there the Spanish feasting began, with delicious homemade tortilla española (courtesy of Cati and a bag of potatoes from Galicia), jamón, wine, homemade hummus, gazpacho, bread, cheeses, and salad. It was truly delicious, and we snapped this kind of awfully blurry but lovely selfie to remember the occasion by!

Us, Cati and family

Then we retreated to my room so I could change my shoes and shirt, all in preparation for something super exciting – a huge music festival! As Erretres had done the brand design for the first ever Utopía Festival here in Madrid, we were all offered free VIP tickets, so I grabbed some for us three to attend on the Saturday night, where we’d party with David Guetta, Alesso and Martin Solveig!

Obligatory hand-in-air photo

We headed on foot (which may have been a mistake in the relentless afternoon heat) to the university campus where the festival was taking place, and after jumping the queues with our tickets, wound up relaxing on some picnic benches and outdoor sofas in the VIP area.

Typical festival selfie

We arrived as Solveig was playing, and soon ended up in the little front-row area, dancing and singing along – especially when he played one of my all time electronic favourites, Hello, which you’ll be listening to if you followed my advice at the beginning of the post… or it may have finished if you’re a slow reader.

Looking back over the crowds
A lovely photo courtesy of Jess
A lovely photo courtesy of Jess

After another spot relaxing and working out the bar’s token system, we headed back to the main stage as night fell and David Guetta was due on. Suddenly there he was, and we were deafened by a great mix of classics and new material, including the official Euro 2016 anthem that he’s just released – it was the first time it’d ever been played here in Spain, and everyone loved it! Here’s a link to listen, but it’s just not the same as live in front of 20,000 people!

The stage by night

All too soon, though, it was getting late, and we all conceded that we really didn’t know much of what Alesso was playing, so I devoured a burger and we headed back home past a sea of light. We all decided not to rush up on Sunday morning, and after a nightmare trying to hail a cab (after a festival we should have preempted that one a little better) we were all home in bed.

Lighters (i.e. iPhones) out

On Sunday their return journey was approaching scarily fast, and so we spent the day chilling out at El Rastro, then heading back to Chueca to sit for a big chat and drinks on the roof of the Mercado de San Antón. It was a lovely chance to find out about what’s been going on back at the theatre, in Burnley and just in England in general – I do get quite disconnected living and working here!

Shameless vanity image
The troublesome threesome

As I said, all too soon Amber and Jess had to leave the city back for home, and so we spent the final evening having our 5000th tinto de verano (similar to sangría) and plate of patatas bravas (a Spanish potato dish) down by the river, before emotional goodbyes had to be said as I jumped in a taxi back to the flat.

I have since been told that Jess has spoken so highly of Madrid that her parents are coming out in a few weeks on a visit of their own! ¡Hala Madrid!

08.06.16 — Journal

Mamá y los Tíos

Once again I am here late and I have gotten quite bored of apologising, so I shan’t. Look at me, dropping my English manners and stuff – according to the guys in the studio I am españolizando – meaning becoming Spanish in my ways. Anyway, on with the news…

I was recently joined by more of my family here in Madrid, after my dad’s visit a good few weeks back, when my mum, auntie and uncle drove up from my auntie’s flat down in Murcia (south of Spain) to visit the city for a few days. I met them at my local Metro stop, Ópera, and we were soon out and about in the city having tinto de verano (a bit like sangría) and a good old catch up.

My auntie and mum by the palace
My auntie's birthday present for me

Unfortunately we had a super busy day at work with client meetings galore, so they couldn’t drop by the Erretres studio, but we were sure to go out for lunch and take a wander round the city, exploring all that it had to offer.

Me and my mum

In the evenings we headed back to where they were all staying down in the south of the city, which I thought was a bit of a pain as I live towards the north, however I managed to sneak into the hotel which meant that ever evening we were able to head to a tiny local bar in the district and get some authentic and super cheap tapas and drinks away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

A walk through Retiro

Whilst there I acted as translator, and we had a lovely time chatting to the guys at the bar and munching our way through some delicious tapas, including lots of friend seafood which my mum was very brave to try! We enjoyed it so much that one evening we stopped by for our main dinner…

A nice tree

I really don’t have much else to report on their visit, as we spent most of our time trawling around bars and chatting and catching up and resting! After a round of farewells on Line 1 of the metro, they were soon on their way back to the south and I decided to have a relaxing few days, exploring the area around my new flat down by the river…

The view from my balcony

I recently moved in with a lovely mother and son duo here down by Madrid’s one and only river, and I have a fabulously spacious room with a gorgeous balcony view (above) set in a lovely peaceful neighbourhood. I recently picked up Khaled Hosseini’s masterpiece A Thousand Splendid Suns, so one evening I thought I’d take it down by the river (which you can just make out the edge of on the photo above) to relax and get lost in the pages.

A view from the river

I didn’t actually get that much chance to do my spot of reading once I was down there though, as I was taken in by the amazing views towards the royal cathedral and the general relaxing ambience of the riverbanks. I do thoroughly recommend the book, however – I recently finished it and I had to take a good few minutes to fully compose myself once I’d finished. Find out more about it here.

By the river
Life in technicolour Spain

I also spent an hour or so visiting one of Madrid’s big tourist pulls, but something I am not too interested in personally not being a fan of football, the home of Real Madrid – Estadio Santiago Bernabéu. I was quite impressed by the sheer scale and brutalism of the building when I arrived, and with it being Sunday I didn’t get chance to go inside, but here’s a couple of pics for anyone who might be interested…

Looking up the facade
The stadium from the back

Other than that I haven’t much news – work is busy busy busy and I have been spending any free time relaxing and tidying my flat! I have sorted my next flat out for after Abi & Danni’s visit – which I just revealed as Danni’s surprise 21st birthday present! There is a little bit of good and bad news though – starting with the sad news that Thuy has recently left work at Erretres to pursue new exciting things. Here’s a photo of the table of dreams in the studio!

Dream team at Erretres

The good news, however, is that I went to a park and there was lots of daisies so obviously I gathered as many as I could and made a daisy chain crown and walked home pretending I was Lana Del Rey. Yes.

Oh my gosh, look! It’s Lana del Rey!

Lana Del Rey