Christmas Around the Corner

26.11.20 — Madrid

We’re now a mere few days from December, and I’ve begun to make plans for my Christmas trip home back to England, trying to keep an illusion of normality and repeat last year’s festive holiday. We’re definitely in the latter, wetter stages of autumn here, with grey skies and miserable showers marking a stark contrast from the stuffy heights of the Madrid summer.

Christmas, however, has come slightly early for me, as I treated myself to a new phone which arrived a couple of weeks ago. I splashed out in order to get myself one with a great camera, and so this post will be punctuated with many photos that I’ve been taking along the way! Let’s see if this new camera marks a noticeable change like my iPhone X did three years ago…

In between my days at work, taking photos out of the windows, Jhosef came over to have a snoop at my new toy and urge me to finally move all my data over to it. After an evening of drinking tea, holding a spa evening at home, and a quick trip to the office to pick something up, I finally made the switch to the new device, and off I headed for the rest of my weekend’s activities with its three new cameras in tow.

The proceeding week was as busy as usual, with plenty of working hard and playing hard. With the arrival of another member to the Erretres team, we took the opportunity to head out for a team meal, and I made plenty of time to relax back at home after long days in the office. This relaxation is made even more zen by the coloured lights, which I have added to even further, with a new lot installed under the desk of my home office.

There’s nothing like a relaxing evening in with some chill music.

These evenings in the office do have their perks, though, as the new space receives some lovely evening light and offers great birds-eye views over the boulevard below. The new location is especially great for spontaneous evening plans after work, which came in useful when me and Jhosef arranged to meet up one Friday for an end-of-week lunch.

Autumn has to be the best time to be starting out with a new camera.

After work that day, I haded down to the rental bike station which sits just on the eastern edge of the Parque del Oeste, which was looking resplendent in the afternoon sun as you can see above. Instead of grabbing a bike and heading straight home, I called Jhosef to see if he wanted to nip up to a rooftop terrace for a beer and a bite to eat, and so the plan was made.

We had lunch framed by this amazing view down Gran Vía, Madrid’s main artery, and then headed out on to the outdoor section of the terrace to take some photos as we watched the sun set over the west of the city. From here, I talked Jhosef into taking a bike with me back home, and so we flew down the steep slopes of the south of the city at full pelt as day turned to night.

I began that weekend with a spot of decorating my flat ready for Christmas. In keeping with my minimalist take on everything, I opted to try to kit my place out with the bare minimum, decorating my existing plants with lights and tinsel that I had spare from the year before. It’s a stark contrast from my university room, where more certainly was more, and I went so far as to build a winter wonderland atop my coffee table!

I am rather happy with my little Christmas trees, even if they’re not the right kind of tree.

Making the most of my cozy new setup, I invited Sara and Jhosef over for the evening, and we took the opportunity to ring Kevin for a catch up. Sara, Kevin, and I met up often in my final year at Leeds University, where the two of them were studying their Erasmus, and since then I’ve spent many a drunken evening with the two of them up in the north of Spain before Kevin sadly had to leave us to the US.

The day after, and capitalising on Jhosef’s new found taste for cycling, I insisted that we take a ride down the river, an activity which kept me as sane as possible once the lockdown restrictions began being lifted. Once we’d managed to find two working bikes which didn’t make funny noises or start jittering as soon as we picked up any kind of speed, we spent the afternoon making our way northwards along the river, ending our journey with a delicious roast chicken lunch at a Peruvian spot that we both always enjoy.

Once we’d devoured half a chicken and a whole lot of chips between us, we sauntered up Gran Vía in order to catch another bike back home. There I grabbed my laptop and set to work on a few things that I’d neglected to do during the rest of the weekend – drinks with Sara and outings with Jhosef had kept me rather distracted – before heading off to bed early to ready myself for the coming week.

I’m now currently enjoying a couple of days off work which I’ve taken in order to make myself a much-needed long weekend, but the three days I have worked have been as action-packed as ever. This was broken up lovelily by an evening spent at Hugo’s, where he whipped up a batch of delicious enchiladas for me and a few other friends, all washed down with a very strong Russian drink that his boyfriend had brought along!

So concludes my little overview of the past few weeks of outings around Madrid. As I say, I’m hoping to spend Christmas and New Year back in England, but we’ll have to take things as they come in these uncertain times. Either way, I do hope to be back with another post before then, so I shall be back very soon…

Evening Walks & Indulgent Spreads

09.11.20 — Madrid

Another fortnight has passed and a lot has happened, both in my own life and in the world. From the move to the new office to the long awaited end of the Trump era, it’s been a busy couple of weeks which have flown by once again, so it’s time for me to bring a quick update on what I’ve been up to in between times!

As I say, the move into November has marked the first few days in Erretres’ new office space, which has been a healthy mix of socially-distanced work sprints, video calls from every corner of every meeting room, and plenty of time spent trying to work out where the big plates are stored in the new kitchen. With a couple of new members joining the team, it’s also been a great chance to socialise, with various lunches held both in the office and in its surrounding restaurants.

As well as the restaurants, the new location also offers quite a few other perks, one of my personal favourites being the ability to grab a bike home from the nearby BiciMad (Madrid’s city bike network) station. The two-minute wander to the station takes me to the edge of the Parque del Oeste, with its spectacular view over the west of the city – hence its name, which means “Western Park”. It’s a spot that I frequented a lot with Ellie and Johann when they visited a couple of years back, as there’s always a good sunset to be enjoyed if you catch it just at the right time.

Last weekend was a lovely three-day break thanks to Spain’s celebration of All Saints’ Day, which was – of course – preceded by Halloween. To celebrate Halloween this year, we’d to get a little creative, and so Danni, Abi, and I borrowed an idea from earlier in lockdown: a virtual fancy dress quiz! Once again we’d hold an online quiz with the three of us connecting in full costume, and the results were as hilarious as last time!

After a miserable performance in the Halloween-themed quiz, I spent the Sunday after cycling around the city once more. My little route took me up to the north of the city and to the British shop to stock up on Vimto as I’d nearly run out – disaster averted!

As I said, I then had the Monday off too in order to relax, but Sara was having none of it, and dragged me out of the house and up to the north-west of the city for some lunch. After meeting up outside the rather impressive headquarters of the Spanish Air Force, we wandered around some of the streets of a neighbourhood I’d never properly explored, and wound up sitting down for a delicious lunch of spring rolls and huevos rotos (chips with fried eggs on top, but in an odd twist, these ones came with chicken and caramelised onion instead of the usual cured ham).

I would have gotten closer for a better photo but I didn’t dare approach the gate.

After some cheeky lunchtime vermouths with Sara, which then naturally turned into a full afternoon’s worth of drinks and nibbles, the working week begun. It was a busy week for my team, but it made Friday all that more rewarding and led us beautifully into another long weekend!

I kicked off the bank holiday break with a meal with Jhosef, his sister, and her boyfriend on Friday night. The four of us wound up in a lovely restaurant in Chueca that I’d visited with Jhosef a few months back, where we tucked into a garlic-prawn-filled tortilla de patatas (Spanish omelette) and a plate full of morcilla (blood sausage), fried peppers, and quail’s eggs.

It was nice to see the old Schewppes neon lit back up.

This was proceeded by a rather calm Saturday, which involved me heading out for the weekly shop and proceeding to deep-clean the flat – a couple of rather mundane things that I actually quite enjoy. A trip to my local supermarket, Mercadona, is always good fun, and I don’t mind scrubbing my shower if I can listen to Lorde on full blast whilst I do so!

Sunday was much more animated, however, as I’d arranged to host brunch at my flat. Initially I’d just invited Sara, who agreed to bring along a bottle of vermouth to share, but upon realising the sheer quantity of food that I’d prepared, I thought it best to invite Jhosef along too!

The issue of excess food didn’t really get resolved in the end, however, as Jhosef also brought along an absolutely delicious lasagne which we all shared alongside the vast spread that you can see above. After sitting around and chatting whilst we did our best to finish the feast, the vermouth soon kicked in, and before long we were all singing along to a playlist of some of the most iconic Spanish classics.

After Jhosef had to head off, me and Sara popped the coloured lights on and danced some of our energy off to the timeless tunes of the Vengaboys, reminding us of the many nights we spent drunkenly dancing to cheesy 90s and 00s hits in Leeds together with Kevin. After exhausting my playlist of songs from my very British childhood, the two of us crashed out on the sofa, grazing on the leftovers from brunch whilst we watched a couple of episodes of Derry Girls and brought our most excellent Sunday to an end.

I was then supposed to spend this Monday off advancing the design of my new website and writing (and translating) this blog post, but in the end I found myself dragged to IKEA by the need for a desk lamp and the thought of more gratuitous spending in order to further fill my flat with plants. Said mischief was managed, and so my desk setup is now complete and I have welcomed a whole eight new additions to my plant family!

I thus once more bring together another update looking at the past fortnight of shenanigans, of which I’m sure there will be many more as I inch slowly but surely towards Christmas. I’m still hoping to head back to England to spend a week or so with my family, but with England’s descend into a second lockdown, we’re all just having to take things one day at a time.

Missing bonfire night this year has also been a bit of a sad one, as I always remember the many nights spent at bonfires all over the place with my family, and then in Leeds in later years with friends. I also feel like it’s the only annual event that we celebrate in England which is 100% British without being related to any key dates of the current monarchy. But hey ho, and to quote my dad: never mind, we’ll just have to make the bonfires twice as big next year!

To conclude: Halloween is over, Bonfire Night has come and gone, and with it so has Trump. With him on his way out and only Christmas left on the 2020 calendar, things are looking up. Although I do have to recognise that I’ve been very lucky compared to many, I think we’re all ready for this year to come to a swift end!

Autumn in Madrid

25.10.20 — Madrid

I point-blank refuse to believe that it’s just been two weeks since I last posted on here, as it seems like I’ve crammed enough errands and outings into the past fortnight to bring me up to the end of the year! Be it a quick visit to the Erretres office or a leisurely stroll around the city centre, I’ve been making the most of the last days of mild weather before winter hits, so let’s get stuck right in…

An event dominating my escapades recently has been Erretres’ move to our new office space! After hauling my iMac down the road as an intern four years ago and then playing around on the dry pool bed of our last office, this marks the third change of office that I’ve been part of. This move sees us head back into the city centre, and a space near Argüelles in the north of the city.

To prepare for the move, I made one last visit to our old office in order to pack up my desk and other belongings, and also bring my iMac back to my flat. This was because I wanted to buy myself a monitor, and didn’t know what size to go for, and so off I popped with my 27″ iMac in an IKEA bag that I’d found in a cupboard in order to make a comparison at home. It must have looked odd, as I bundled the huge computer – wrapped in a towel and shoved into a plastic bag – into the back of a taxi after having waltzed out of a huge house in the outskirts of Madrid.

After having decided on the screen that I wanted and placed the order, it was time to celebrate Jhosef starting his new job. This was marked with a shopping trip to pick him up a new suit, and then a huge plate of tacos to share!

My next trip out was with Sara, who took me to a fabulous Italian restaurant near her house – which is also handily in Argüelles – where we tucked into some delicious stone-fired pizza. We headed back to her place after our meal, where I met her housemates and polished off a decent part a bottle of vermouth, before heading home and spending the morning after with a bit of a heavy head…

Said heavy head wasn’t about to hold me back, however, as I had dessert to prepare. Me and a couple of colleagues had arranged to meet for lunch in one of their houses, where she’d prepared a huge helping of cocido madrileño, a traditional Madrid chickpea-based strew. I’d been left in charge of dessert, for which I prepared a huge batch of torrijas, a cinnamon-flavoured sweet which I first made as an intern at Erretres after having first tried one back in 2016, and which always go down a treat!

Once I had my torrijas made, I headed off and enjoyed a lovely meal, all washed down with a lovely few glasses of red wine. We spent a good while chatting away into the evening, helped on our way by a selection of cheeses and a glass of gin and tonic.

One back in my flat, and with my new screen unboxed, I headed into the next working week with my new desk all set up and in place. It’s certainly given my poor old neck some relief and made my working days a lot easier, even as we prepare to begin working in the new office.

After a lazy Saturday messing around on my new setup, I decided to get out of my flat and wander around the city to see what I could see before the cold winter begins to bite. This little walk took me to the Barrio de las Letras, Madrid’s literary quarter, where I stopped for some coffee and cake before mooching around some of the independent shops which line it’s pretty little side streets.

After my solitary wander, I headed back to the city centre and up to the Chueca district, where I met Hugo and Sergei for a drink and some snacks. Whilst on a quest to find some old lightbulbs to start a collection here at home (an old obsession of mine), I found a few little interior design shops that I’d never seen before, and managed to hunt down some old coloured incandescents.

A wander around the north of Chueca led me to find some quirky little shops.

That weekend ended with a lovely Sunday evening spent in Retiro, Madrid’s main park, with Jhosef. The two of us headed up to the idyllic spot on a bus, before wandering around the artificial lake, stopping by the Crystal Palace, and taking a leisurely stroll around the outside of the park. As darkness fell on Madrid, we left the park for home, stopping off at a churrería (churro stand) for some freshly-fried churros and a thick chocolate dip – bliss!

It’s churro time.

The next week began and saw me headed off to Argüelles for my first two days working from the new office. The new space is absolutely lovely, with balconies over the street below and a plethora of spacious rooms to work in. Although I was working alone in a room due to the limited capacity, it was nice to be in a different environment, and heading out for lunch with my colleagues was a lovely return to some kind of normality.

This, however, doesn’t constitute a full return to the office, and so I’ll still be working from home frequently for a good while yet. To keep up the good feeling of being out of the house, I’ve been heading out in mornings and evenings around my local area, snapping the odd photo of the dawn or evening light.

This weekend has kicked off with quite a busy Saturday, as I heeded up to the Chamberí Market with Jhosef, Sara, and my colleague Blanca. There, we met with another colleague, Jesús, who owns a burger restaurant on the market. Both me and Sara had heard talk about the place, El Toril Gourmet, and we certainly weren’t disappointed – we had some of the best tequeños (Venezuelan cheese sticks) and burgers (ranging from pulled pork to ribs) in Madrid!

After this, Sara, Jhosef, and I wandered back through the streets of Madrid, stopping off at a terrace in Cheuca for another drink. I then dragged the two of them into a shop to buy myself a dressing gown, before the three of us headed off for a quiet Saturday evening at home.

Now at home and lovely and cosy in my big fluffy bata (dressing gown), it’s time to bring this blog post to an end. I hope to have some new news over these coming weeks, as we’ve got two much needed three-day weekends in November!

The Second Lockdown Hits

10.10.20 — Madrid

With my last post focussing firmly on the inside of my flat, this post looks to my time out in the streets and hidden corners of Madrid. This is something that I’ve had to make the most of seeing as the looming prospect of a second lockdown has since become a reality. This new lockdown is – mercifully – less restrictive than the last, as it mainly concerns travel in and out of Madrid, and doesn’t leave us cooped up in our houses.

Without further ado, however, let’s delve into the past week’s worth of antics, which began with a bike ride which took me from the northernmost point of my local metro line, all the way down the eastern corridor of the city, and then back home. Starting in Moncloa, I sped off downhill through the Parque del Oeste, taking a little diversion which led me to discover a lovely bike trail along a less developed section of the Manzanares River.

I never knew about this hidden little cycling path and lovely patch of greenery.

From there I had to double back on myself before I ended up out too far away from home, and then proceeded to cycle my usual route along the river, past the Matadero, and back up the hill to my apartment. I was a little dubious as to whether I should have been following some of that paths that I did, as I did wonder if they encroached on some of the neighbourhoods of Madrid that have been in selective lockdown for a week or so now, but nobody stopped me so off I went!

Another evening was spent at a colleague’s house, when I headed up to her lovely flat in the centre to pick up some packaging samples for a new project at work. Upon arrival I was delighted to be invited to stay for tea (dinner, in standard English), and soon found myself plied with tortilla de patatas (Spanish omelette), jamón (cured ham), and a delicious homemade cream of pumpkin and carrot soup, amongst other goodies.

After chatting the evening away with her family, I returned home full of food and tipsy on cider – as every evening should end!

The next evening I headed out with Jhosef to celebrate his job offer at a company here in Madrid, where we headed up to a rooftop terrace for some drinks and pinchos, small dishes of food from the Basque Country. The evening was short but enjoyable, but I didn’t have long to wait for my next reunion, however, as I’d arranged to meet up with Sara who has moved to Madrid from Gijón in my beloved northern region of Asturias!

I last saw Sara two over two years ago now when I was last up in Oviedo just before Kevin left for the US, and so you can imagine my excitement when she messaged me to let me know she was now in Madrid! The two of us arranged to meet bang in the centre of Madrid, at the Puerta del Sol, below the iconic statue of Madrid’s infamous symbol: el oso y el madroño, “the bear and the strawberry tree”.

From there, we walked and chatted away non-stop for a good few hours, passing by the city’s cathedral, which looked absolutely resplendent in the evening sunlight. Along the way, we stopped for a caña (small beer) and some tapas atop an upturned barrel in the street along the way, where we caught up on each other’s news and gossip from the past couple of years.

The area around the palace and cathedral always looks dreamy at this time of day.

I’ve always been a fan of the pink sunsets that Madrid enjoys.

From the centre, we descended through Lavapiés and down to my neighbourhood, where we gorged on two of my favourite plates from my favourite local bar: chopitos (fried squids) and huevos rotos (chips with fried eggs and cured ham). We then stopped off at my flat, where we enjoyed a vermouth to end the night whilst messing around with the coloured lights.

A few days later, I took myself out for a trip through the city, which involved cycling up to the Chueca neighbourhood (the gay centre of the city, where I stayed the very first time I visited this city) and then passing through Malasaña. After passing through the streets of this kooky neighbourhood for a while, I stopped off for a fully loaded pitta at a lovely little spot my friend had recommended.

After this delicious lunch – which reminded me of the many evenings spent in Belgrave Music Hall in Leeds, where we’d often hang out and eat delicious food and sip on ciders as students – I went in search of some of Madrid’s most delicious vegan donuts. I was saddened to learn upon arrival at the shop that they’d all sold out, but I wasn’t particularly mad, as I’d enjoyed a lovely saunter around a neighbourhood of the city that’s not a typical haunt of mine.

To end a busy week of work and escapades in the city centre, I paid a visit to the British shop to pick up some Vimto, which I’ve since got Jhosef hooked on to also. I enjoy these little evenings out to the north of the city, where I take the opportunity to do a spot of reading on the bus, before cycling back through the city centre and back home.

This brings to a close my updates from the last couple of weeks here in Madrid, where we’re back on alert as we’ve been put back into an estado de alarma (state of alarm) due to the rising coronavirus cases. I’ll be heading out to visit some friends over this long weekend, but we’ll be wearing masks and socially distancing and keeping the numbers of people down to a bare minimum – we’ve all to do our bit!

Until the next update, ¡chau!

An Exercise in Flat Lighting

04.10.20 — Madrid

This year, most of us have spent a lot of time at home. With the strict lockdown which came into force in Madrid earlier this year, I have seen much more of my inside of my flat than ever before, and so have strived to make the place as welcoming and comfortable as possible.

If you’ve followed my blog in the past, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of lights – be it to illuminate a castle created by my dad, holding a karaoke disco in our car, or to decorate my university room with LED strips aplenty. Whenever I move into a space, I always adjust the lighting somewhat, as I find that I can’t relax without having the space properly lit.

This led me to install my current system of home lighting. For a while now, most of the lamps and other light fittings – oven hood included – have been connected to my phone via a combination of an IKEA Hub and Apple’s HomeKit, meaning I can adjust the brightness of most of the lights in my home at will, setting different “scenes” depending on the time of day and my mood.

Naturally, though, I couldn’t stop there, and so bought myself some coloured LED strips from IKEA to accompany a few that I brought over from England and which had once been installed in my university room. During quarantine, I set about designing and installing a comprehensive setup with these lights, such that the entire colour of my house can be changed with just a tap on my phone.

An important aspect of said setup, however, was that they should be completely invisible when not activated. I love the idea of being able to activate a host of coloured lighting to create different moods in my flat, but I didn’t want the inclusion of such a system to in any way compromise the clean and minimal look I have strived to create.

I thus designed a system which is completely inconspicuous when not activated, with the series of hidden LED strips providing full coverage throughout my house. Whether installed behind furniture, mounted along crevices in the architecture, or even inserted to blend in with the stalks of a plant, the activation of the coloured lights is as shockingly unexpected as it is aesthetically pleasing.

This all leads me to the series of photos below, which document some of my favourite corners of the flat as they are bathed in shades of red, pink, purple, and blue. Of course the colours can be changed, and I’ll definitely take more photos at some point exploring this, but for now do enjoy some snaps of this palette that I’ve been using so often as of recent…

Now it’s time to see if I add any more, as I’m currently setting up a new desk and computer setup in my living room now that remote working is becoming a bit part of the new normal. For that, and to see the place lit up in various other colours, be sure to stay tuned!