A couple of weeks ago was Saturday the 29th of April, the day before my birthday. That warm afternoon here in Madrid, Sara and I had arranged to have some lunch on a terrace near my house before I left to celebrate my birthday a sizeable distance away. It was a lovely little catch up and one last blast of sun before I headed off to the UK for a week.

As we finished up our lunch, the waiter then showed up with a couple of pieces of cake decorated with candles and a little “Happy Birthday” plaque, something that Sara had planned and sorted out in advance. She’d also bought me a present, two lovely surprises which ended the fun meal as I had to head off to grab the train up to Madrid Airport.

I wound up arriving rather early, but that just meant I had time to enjoy an ice cream amongst the bright colours and pretty architecture. The flight was then as smooth as ever and I was at my parents’ house before midnight so we had a bit of time to chat before bed.

The next day was then my actual birthday! This meant a trip to Manchester, where we were met by Ellie and her partner Johann. We indulged in a bit of shopping and some impromptu piano playing before heading to San Carlo’s for a lovely meal together as a family.

This may be the first ever photo where me and my sister actually look alike.

The meal ended with yet another surprise birthday dessert, this time a tiramisu which the San Carlos staff brought over after seeing my ugly birthday badge that Ellie bought me and obliged me to wear. I guess in the end it wasn’t such a bad idea!

From the restaurant we headed up to the Northern Quarter and sat down in a cute little café for some coffees and dessert (for those who hadn’t been presented with surprise tiramisu). It was a chill way to end a busy day wandering around the wet streets of Manchester. It’s not a pretty city, but I do enjoy how chaotic it is!

Manchester is pretty ugly, but that’s what makes it so pretty.

This is a stolen shot taken whilst some gossip was being shared.

Upon leaving Manchester, I hopped not into my parents’ car but rather into Johann’s with him and Ellie. This was because we’d arranged for me to spend the night and following day in Sheffield with the two of them, my first visit since I nipped over while Ellie was studying as an undergraduate.

We visited her flat so I could drop my stuff off, headed to Tesco to pick up some food for later, and then wandered down to a local pub to have a drink outside as the weather was being surprisingly un-British: dry and not too cold (warm would be an exaggeration on my part).

After a quick drink at the pub, where I’d brought along a huge blanket to wrap myself in, the coolness eventually descended and we headed back to Ellie’s. We prepared a big platter of bites and settled in for a night chatting, snacking, and drinking some Appletiser out of champagne glasses.

The next day and it was time for us two siblings to do something together. Ellie had made a reservation for us to have brunch at Tamper Coffee, which was funny as it’s where I went with her last time but we’d no idea until after the fact (and when I searched for the blog post) because they’ve rebranded and changed locations since then!

I can confirm that they were still as good as ever, even if this time I grabbed something different instead of their famous banana bread. I enjoyed some poached eggs with pulled salted beef, with Ellie opting for a sweet brunch in the form of some very impressive (and equally delicious) French toast.

Another sibling selfie seeing as we don’t often have the chance to take one.

Once back at the flat, we rested for a short while before grabbing the car up to the Peak District. This area of outstanding natural beauty is just twenty minutes drive from Ellie’s place, which is a real luxury for someone living in the centre of a city! Sheffield is great.

After struggling for parking for a while – it would seem that the whole of Sheffield had the same idea as us – we finally parked the car and went for a wander around. This took us over the top of a dam and offered some lovely views over the water.

These water inlets have always unsettled me, as cool as they are.

From the peaks, we hopped back into Sheffield for a late lunch at my favourite pizza place in the UK and another place me and Ellie visited the last time I was in her city: Proove. The pizza was as excellent as ever but did make me fall fast asleep in the car ride over to Leeds afterwards!

In Leeds I bade goodbye to Ellie and Johann before hopping on a train back over to Burnley to rejoin my parents. The next day was also a bank holiday here in Spain, so me and my mum had arranged to spend the afternoon shopping and munching around the Trafford Centre, a huge shopping centre we used to visit when I was young.

This we did in lots of style, stopping for toasties, cocktails, and eventually a pizza in between our wandering around all of the different shops. It was a lovely day out and a great chance to catch up with my mum.

The next day I was back at work, but I disconnected in time for me and my dad to also have a catch up, this time in the form of a walk around the countryside. We came across all sorts of interesting tidbits, from some young lambs to an abandoned house and even a random little hut in the middle of a stone wall circle.

For tea after our walk I went out to the Usha with Abi and Danni, where we had an absolute blast of a time catching up, opening my presents, and brainstorming future plans and trips as well as a little personal project we’re working on together. The three of us together are always a nuisance, we wound up laughing all night and then causing chaos in the car park!

To end my time in England properly, Amber then came to pick me up and take me over to her place in Rawtenstall after I finished work on Friday. We didn’t have time to faff around for long though, as we were then met by Jess so that the three of us could head over to Manchester together for an evening at the theatre!

The three of us had a lovely tea and a great catch up before the show began, with laughs and non-alcoholic cocktails aplenty to keep our energy levels up. The show was then fabulously devastating, touching on topics such as end-of-life care and dementia. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the audience!

To cheer ourselves up we wound up blasting S-Club 7 and the Vengaboys in the car all the way back to Rawtenstall, where we stopped off for some ice cream before Jess headed back home. I then spent the night in Amber’s wonderfully cosy house.

The next morning the two of us had a long chat in our pyjamas, I packed my bag, and then we headed just downstairs from her house to have some delicious brunch at a local Turkish restaurant. I then had a shower, picked up all my bits and bats, and Amber saw me off as I grabbed the bus back over to Manchester.

I then spent a rather relaxing evening in a (once again) drizzly Manchester. I had a snoop around some more shops (even though my bag was full to burst), grabbed some lunch at a little Italian café, and eventually wound up in Piccadilly Station to grab a train onwards to the airport and my flight back home to Spain.

I hope that it’s evident from all that I got up to and the fun photos that resulted that I had an absolute blast back in the UK. It was lovely to spend my birthday with family and friends in a way which made the most of the four-day weekend courtesy of Madrid’s public holidays!

I did Gijón last year and Manchester this year, so now it remains to be seen where I spend my birthday next year…

After an overcast weekend up in the north of Spain to celebrate Cami’s birthday, I was back down to a sunny Madrid which had been warming up since Amber came over to visit during Easter. With some new summer attire purchased and longer evenings with the sun beating down, the season of me walking back home every day after work is finally back upon us.

These wanders are not just a lovely way to relax and unwind after a busy day in the office, they also offer the opportunity to explore new streets of the city and come across new things that have popped up recently or that I’ve simply never noticed before. They take me through the tourist-filled city centre, the quirky neighbourhood of Lavapiés, and finally down to the relaxed ambience that is Arganzuela.

Between all these walks, I spent a lovely weekend around the city with some friends. I kicked this off with a visit to the gorgeous Círculo de Bellas Artes, a cultural centre in Madrid where I’d been invited to watch a performance by the Korea National Contemporary Dance Company. Dance isn’t something I’d usually chose to see, but I’m always up for something new, so I pottered along and joined Luis and a bunch of his friends for an evening there.

The architecture in the Círculo de Bellas Artes was an undiscovered gem for me.

The evening was organised by the Korean Cultural Centre and was an absolutely amazing experience, one which started with the grandiose surroundings of the Círculo de Bellas Artes. I’d only been previously in order to visit its rooftop terrace and its panoramic views over Madrid, but this time we were inside and under the huge decorate domes of its theatre.

Then came the two performances themselves, both of which were spectacular for different reasons. The first, Mechanism by Lee Jaeyoung, featured some awesomely timed synchronisation and a frantically high-energy finale. The second, Everything Falls Dramatic by Her Sungim, was beautifully pensive and melancholic. We were all left touched by the talent and the emotion conveyed throughout.

The finale of ‘Everything Falls Dramatic’ was delicate and touching.

After such a fabulous show, we were keen to make the most of the warm evening, so wound up having some beers on a terrace before heading to a restaurant. There, we shared a tonne of food, had some more drinks, and had a great laugh as I got to know everyone else.

Me and Luis then wandered back home, partly because we couldn’t be bothered dealing with the night buses (called ‘búhos’ meaning ‘owls’, which I think is cute) and partly because we wanted to get our step count up before the clock struck midnight. It was a great chance to catch up and a wonderful end to a wonderful evening.

The next day I’d arranged to meet up with Sara and her friend Andrea, who was visiting Madrid for the weekend. I met them up at the Templo de Debod, a great spot to watch the sun set over the mountains, and we headed out for a quick drink and then a lovely Italian meal at a spot that and Sara and I have been visiting for a few years now.

The three of us had a whale of a time over pizza and thus arranged to meet up again the next day to hold a picnic in Retiro, Madrid’s main Central Park. I thus spent the morning whipping up some hummus, salad, and putting the finish touches to a carrot cake that I’d baked the day before in order to celebrate Sara’s birthday.

The Madrid Marathon then put a spanner in the works as I tried to catch the bus up to the park: the bus simply never showed up. A round of loudly verbalised complaints about the lack of notice advising us of the cancelled service then ensued – the Spanish equivalent of the simple British tut – and I wound up having to get a taxi up to the park.

Once there, though, we had a lovely afternoon. Irene joined us and between the four of us we’d brought way too much food (a classic) and so spent a good hour getting through it all. We then played a round of Uno, engaged in a spot of sunbathing, and listened to some music as the afternoon became the evening. It was the perfect way to end a relaxing weekend.

As I usually do in spring, I showed everyone how to make daisy chains.

Thus concludes my weekend of enjoying the lovely springtime weather around Madrid. This would be the last weekend I spent in the city for a couple of weeks, but more on that in my next post!

Some surprisingly (and worryingly) early heat here in Spain allowed me to go for some wanders around the city, which I outlined in my last post. It also meant that it was the perfect time to welcome Amber to the city, who was headed back for the first time since she last visited nearly six years ago! How time flies…

To receive her in style, I hopped on an early train up to the airport and caught her just as she was looking for me in the arrival hall. The two of us then grabbed the train back, installed Amber in my flat, and spent the rest of the day wandering, eating, and relaxing around the city.

In the evening, we headed up into the city centre as I was keen for Amber to catch one of the Easter processions. Easter here is called Samana Santa (literally “Holy Week”) and I had my first experience with it whilst here as an intern back in the day all those years ago. Many streets are closed off for processions to pass through, which involve church members carrying intricately fabricated statues of various catholic figures through the city.

After some drama looking for a bar in which to await the procession’s arrival, we had a coffee and then made our way down to the procession route. There, things were very tense. The procession was late, the sun was beating down, and we saw our fair share of people pass out with the intensity of the whole affair. Quite the introduction for Amber!

The procession finally arrived, with horsemen, the cloaked figures (called nazarenos) seen every Semana Santa, and finally the two images: firstly of Jesus (below), then of Mary. As ever, it was an intense sensorial experience, with the beating drums, the loud brass band, the smell of incense, and the visual spectacle unfolding on the street.

The next day we opted for a much less intense approach, hopping from terrace to terrace to have drinks, eat snacks, and bask in the sun. We stopped by the greenhouse near my flat, watched the sunset from the park that Ellie always loves to go to, and wound up having some delicious food in the city entre before heading back home for an cheeky spa evening at home.

The greenhouse is a spot I always forget to visit until people come to see me.

The day after was suddenly Amber’s last day in Madrid, so she packed her bag in the morning before we hit the streets out for one last outing. Hopping on the bus, we wound up in Retiro, where we had a wander around and had another drink on yet another terrace. I wasn’t complaining, it’s not often I manage to sit still and sunbathe!

After some lunch near home and then a quick drink whilst we waited for the train, I waved Amber off as she headed back to the airport for her flight back home to the UK. It was lovely to have her over and obviously sad to see her go, but before she did so we’d made plans to reunite when I’m back in the UK in the near future.

Until then, Bam!

After some time outside of Madrid, namely in Prague and then my hometown Worsthorne, it was nice to be back in Madrid for a few weeks before the Easter holidays came around. With the temperatures now averaging a decent 20°C during the day, the season is well and truly upon us for making the most of all the city has to offer.

The very day I arrived back from England the weather was absolutely lovely, so I allowed myself to be talked into an evening having a drink on a terrace with Sara and Eric. I headed up to their neighbourhood once I’d finished unpacking and we spent a lovely evening chatting away and watching the sun set over the road that the two of them live on.

The sunset over Atocha was made more dramatic by the huge cloud.

All this moving around and the differing temperatures between places did have its downsides, however. At one point I wound up stuck at home for a week with a stinker of a cold, but I made the most of this down time to install some new colour-changing lights in my flat. Just when I thought I could fit no more in!

By night I feel like I live inside a 1980s video game.

After a few days of solitary confinement in my now much more intricately lit house, I was once again right as rain. Now there was no excuse to avoid walking back home in the sun before the summer really kicks in and things get way too hot to bear. One of these walks took me through the local neighbourhood of Lavapiés, where I was delighted to see the trees in bloom and the colourful bunting out in full force.

These must have been a nightmare to install…

In between all this there was also plenty more stuff going on: Luis’ birthday bash, evenings with Pedro around my neighbourhood, the traditional Spanish Easter processions down my street, and much more. I just didn’t have time to take any photos of it all… I feel like I’ve not had a moment to take stock and realise where I am or just exactly what’s going on recently!

I did get a chance to remedy this, however, with a very special visit just last week. More on that, though, in my next blog post…

After my weekend in Prague a few weeks back, my next trip out of Madrid was to take me back to my parents place in the UK for a few days. This trip back to my home village, Worsthorne, was extended in the end so that I could attend my grandad’s funeral. He died a few weeks ago, so my visit also had a rather somber purpose.

On the bright side, this meant I would have chance to spend some quality time with my family and also catch up with some friends along the way. Before I headed off to the airport, I’d already made some plans for some meals out and a little trip over to Leeds to end my week back in the UK.

My trip began, as they often do, with a train from my neighbourhood up to Madrid Airport, where the setting sun was bathing the lovely Terminal 4 in a warm glow. From there I hopped on the bus to the rather less exciting Terminal 1, where I wound up hauling my backpack to and fro as they kept changing my boarding gate.

They eventually settled on a boarding gate and the ensuing flight was lovely in its quietness and uneventfulness. My dad then whisked me back to Worsthorne, the little village where I grew up and where my parents still live.

As my mum was working the next day, me and my dad headed out to spend some time together. Parking up by the canal, we took a stroll down the bridleway until we diverged off the beaten path and ended up traversing some fields before heading back up to the car. It was a lovely walk and a chance to explore some of the countryside surrounding Burnley that I’d not seen before.

The next day it was my dad’s turn to work and so time for me to spend time with my mum. The two of us spent some time lazying around the house and having some lunch together before heading down to Crowwood, a gym and spa complex. There we spent a good while in the hot tub, I swam a few lengths, and then we’d to head off in order to pick my sister up from the train station.

With my sister now in Worsthorne too, she dragged me out for what was initially going to be a quick wander around the village to make the most of a fleeting moment of sun. Both the sun and Ellie persisted, though, and so our quick walk turned into a couple of hours trailing over the fields and through the forests of my pretty home town.

I thought our plan was to turn back once we reached the first reservoir, but in the end we headed onwards and upwards to the second before beginning our descent back home. It was a lovely chance to catch up with Ellie amongst some beautiful surroundings though. Sometimes there’s nothing like a trip back to where you grew up!

We then spent an evening in as a family before the funeral the next day. As you can imagine, it was a very somber day full of reflection but also celebration, with lots of my extended family and me exchanging stories and anecdotes at the reception after the ceremony. A highlight for me was being asked to be a pallbearer, a touching moment and one last gesture to say goodbye.

After the funeral, Ellie went back to Leeds as she’d to work for the rest of the week, and so the three of us remaining headed back home to Worsthorne. There I’d to then work for the rest of the week, which I did from the back room with my legs wrapped tightly in a blanket.

On Thursday evening I’d made a plan to see Abi and Danni after I last saw them when I came home over Christmas. We met up at Ellis’, a burger joint in the centre of Burnley, where we had lots of food and lots of laughs. It was great to get a bit of comic relief after some somber days, with the tears this time coming from the three of us wheezing over the stories that were told!

The next day my sister headed back over to Burnley again. She arrived whilst I was napping and awoke me with the news that Jemma was coming to pick us up in ten minutes. I had to jump out of bed, splash my face with cold water, and shove a hat on just in time for our lift up to the pub for the evening meal.

This meal saw me, Ellie, Jemma, and Lucy reunited for the first time for at least a couple of years. Jemma and Lucy were our neighbours when we were younger and so are some of the oldest friends I have. We had a great chat and updated each other on what were were all up to, as well as making some plans for them to visit me in Madrid and a night in at Jemma’s place watching Pippi Longstocking, the film we always loved to watch together when we were kids!

I love this photo of Jemma, Lucy, and me, even if you can tell I’d been rushed out of bed!

Back home the next day, the four of us mooched around all morning before my sister, my dad, and me headed out for some post-lunch coffees at HAPPA, a lovely little horse rescue and café in the countryside near my house. From there, they dropped me off at Hebden Bridge, a lovely train station where I grabbed a train over to Leeds for the last stop on my weeklong trip back to the UK.

I then stayed with Em and Lincoln for a night, which gave us time to have a catch up, head out for some lovely pizza at a local Italian, and then spend a brief moment together in the morning before I had to call in an favour and ask them to drive me to Manchester Airport. There were seemingly no trains running!

So this brings us to the here and now, where I’m sat in Terminal 3 of Manchester Airport as the priority passengers begin to board. With a bit of luck I’ll manage to quickly check this post over and publish it before I go, but if not – see you on the other side!

When my sister Ellie came over to visit towards the end of last year, she brought with her a film camera that she’d been using to document some of her holidays from last year. After exploring the city, meeting up with friends, and both cooking and consuming some good food, I was keen to see the snaps once she’d had them developed.

Just a month or so ago she finally got them developed and sent me a copy of them over. I loved them, and so asked if I could share them on here as a little look back over our autumnal shenanigans. So without further ado, here they are!

I hope you enjoyed the photos as much as I did, they’re a fun and unfiltered look at a great few days we spent together in Madrid. To read all about it, be sure to check out the original post from October last year. For now, I leave you with this little look back and promise that normal programming with resume shortly!

Well, after some weeks of quiet I’m still here, I’m still in Madrid, and it’s still bitingly cold. After returning from Gijón, we had a week or so of milder weather, but just these last few days have seen temperatures plummet back into the minuses. It’s not as bad as when Storm Filomena passed through a couple of years, but it’s well enough to keep me indoors for the time being.

I did brave the cold one weekend, though, as I’d agreed to act as tour guide for some special visitors to the city. After I’d had an absolute blast at their wedding last summer, Jess and Adam came to visit Madrid for a few days! Before I could meet up with them, I’d arranged to visit La Casa Encendida with a few colleagues. I’d been meaning to drop by this cultural centre in my neighbourhood for years, so it was lovely to finally get a look around and enjoy the warmth of the sun on its rooftop.

From there, the four of us stopped by a terrace and enjoyed a couple of vermouths before I’d to head off and meet Jess and Adam, who’d just arrived in the centre and were waiting to be allocated a room in their hotel. Jess came out and found me waiting for them outside and we got chatting, but once they’d been given their room key I headed up to the hotel’s rooftop terrace and had year another glass of vermouth whilst looking over the city. Not a bad Sunday at all!

Jess and Adam then joined me for another drink before we headed back down to street level and began wandering around the city. I showed them some of my favourite areas to eat and drink, but the streets were thronging with people and all the bars were packed out. I later learned that this was due to a huge protest that had finished just as we were setting off on our tour of the centre.

In the end we wound up sampling some of the local dishes in my local neighbourhood, after which we headed to mine for another drink and so that the two of them could see Casa Briggs, my humble abode here in the city. We then headed back to the centre for a meal at a tapas restaurant I knew they’d enjoy, followed by a visit to a sherry bar which turned out to be closed for a private event. We took that as divine intervention and headed back to our respective abodes for the evening.

It was lovely to show the two of them around and I was even happier to later learn from Jess that they’d enjoyed their time here in the capital. I hope to have them back over soon!

The next week saw the beginning of some of my culinary adventures, from a lovely caprese salad that I threw together to an early batch of torrijas, a Spanish Easter tradition. I first made these sweet cinnamon delights back in 2017 when I first lived in Madrid as an intern, the story of which has been retold again and again by my colleagues and goes something like this: one day my colleague Luis brought a torrija to the office that he’d bought, I tried it and liked it, and that same weekend I set about investigating how they were made and threw together a batch myself. I then brought them into the office and various colleagues insisted that I had done a better job of them than their own mothers!

The secret to my recipe is to add as much sugar and cinnamon as you dare.

That weekend I had some other plans which involved cooking as little as possible while eating as much as possible. This began with a trip to Sara’s house, where we were joined by Rocío for a night in with some wine and homemade pizza. It didn’t quite go to plan as we wound up so deep in gossipy conversation that we forgot about the pizza and it turned out a bit crispier than perhaps we would have liked, but we had a fab time all the same!

The next day I met up with Luis and we headed into the centre to join Carmen and participate in her photography project. This began with an initial photo shoot on the street, after which me and Luis went for some breakfast. We were joined there by more friends, with whom we wound up visiting an amazing bakery (I grabbed a chocolate croissant and Luis some bread similar to the loaf me and Megan bought in Montreal) and then treated ourselves to some new plants in a florists next door.

Whilst we waited for Carmen to wrap up, the group of us wound up in a nearby bar for some vermouth (my tipple of choice, in case you hadn’t noticed) and some little bites of food. As often happens here, this then turned into hours of snacking and chatting once Carmen arrived.

After having had lunch without even realising, Luis, Carmen, and I hopped in a taxi and down to Carmen’s house to carry on our afternoon of merriment. We put on some old silent movies, poured ourselves a glass of wine, and spent the rest of the afternoon munching on some jamón, cheese, and homemade bread that Carmen had made. Bliss!

The next day I spent at home cooking and cleaning. I made a lovely (even if I say so myself) batch of lentejas a la riojana, a lentil dish made with pork and chorizo and garlic all things tasty. I also popped some chicken wings in the oven according to my colleagues recipe, and they came out rather tasty too: even if they were an absolute sticky mess to eat once in the office!

At work, I had a lovely morning one day thanks to a visit by a bunch of design students from Valencia. I always remember the giddy excitement of having talks by top designers from local studios whilst I was at university, so it was an honour to sit and share our work and my experience with them all as well as answer their questions. I can only hope they found it as interesting and nutritive as I found it enjoyable!

This weekend is being a quiet one so far after a rather busy week. I’ve been catching up with people back in the UK and all over the world, organising my life a little bit, and even re-grouting my shower. Adult life is a never-ending list of tasks! I was rather proud of my breakfast yesterday though, which for once tasted as good as it looks in the picture!

I’m now sat waiting for Sara to head over for an afternoon of tea, sandwiches, and perhaps a cheeky vermouth. I’ve made a batch of coronation chicken and some biscuits for the occasion, but I’m missing a bowl of cheese and onion crisps as the my local British shop has closed down. I only discovered this after a cold bike ride down there this morning – what a disappointing way to start one’s Sunday!