Businesswoman in Barcelona

05.04.19 — Barcelona

It’s been a while since I last dropped by my blog, and that’s due to a combination of things: since Em left I seem to have had a stubborn cold which is refusing to clear up, and I’ve been busy on a project at work which hasn’t left me much time to do all that much – but work and life in Madrid is fun enough in itself, so here we go with the latest…

Outside of the office I’ve managed to sneak in a few little outings, including a couple of evenings with Bogar. The first night I went to check out how he was progressing with the decoration of his new flat, and enjoyed a decent portion of a delicious Spanish omelette he’d made whilst I was there. We then met at my flat another evening, with me only being able to offer some cheese and olives – when I’m all bunged up I don’t feel like cooking all that much!

Wandering around my neighbourhood throws up some lovely spots.

Once I did gather some energy together to partake in a spot of cooking, I decided that there was nothing I fancied more than an Asturias dish known as chorizo a la sidra. This dish just consists of chorizo, which is then boiled in the region’s natural cider, with just a couple of laurel leaves thrown in for good measure.

In the end it turned out rather nicely, although not as nicely as the ones I’ve had whilst up in Oviedo – or indeed the one I tried up in the Basque Country over a year ago! I think that the trick next time will be splashing out a bit more on a proper fresh chorizo – I shall have to report back on how I get on the second time around!

Sometimes it’s worth peeping down some of the side streets of the city.

I have also had the excitement today of a new addition to my kitchen: my oven has finally been delivered! This sounds way more impressive than it actually is, for all it consists of is a small worktop oven which will just about allow me to cook the odd pizza, jacket potato, and, of course, the occasional cake.

Speaking of cake, the topic brings me nicely on to discuss what I can about my current project at work. “How on earth are these two things related?” I hear you ask, and all shall now be revealed…

The project involves a complete rebrand to a company based in Barcelona, and after some research into their office culture by checking out their social media pages, I noticed that they seemed big on parties and celebrating milestones. Whilst working on Photoshopping the logo onto various items to create the presentation for our proposal, I had the idea that we should apply the logo to a cake!

A search online didn’t throw up any templates which we could use to automatically generate a logo on a cake (shockingly), and so I rocked up to work the next day with a 1€ piping bag and a tupperware full of buttercream and then – to the amusement of everyone else in the office – set about piping out the two logos.

The true test of a logo’s effectiveness – will it cake?

After taking photos of the piped patterns, and a bit of Photoshop wizardry, we wound up with two decent-looking cake mockups to present to the client – which once again brings us rather nicely to the next part of the post – my trip to Barcelona to present to the client!

To say it was a visit would be quite the exaggeration as, after an hour delay on the train out from Madrid, we had zero time to see anything other than the inside of two taxis, the client’s office, and a quick five-minute dash around Uniqlo to pick up some t-shirts!

It was, however, a fun trip, and it was refreshing to work directly with clients and be entrusted with the task of pulling an important presentation together – I’m feeling more and more adult every day!

The only sad aspect of work recently has been waving goodbye to Manu, but we were sure to give him a proper send off, and all met in the city centre for a good few drinks and some roaring laughs well into the early hours! Another distressing element to the evening was that, during my walk home, I could not find a single open takeaway or even just a corner shop to grab some chocolate!

All this brings us up to today, and as you can tell, it’s been a rather busy week. This evening, then, I have just turned down the lights, christened my oven by heating up a pizza, popped on some music, and sat down to write this little blog post.

This weekend and next I’ve not got too much planned as my schedule begins to fill up wildly starting around Easter, but I shall attempt to squeeze another post in before I (hopefully) head off somewhere to spend the Easter holidays out of the city. Who knows where I’ll end up?!

Summer Begins & Em Visits

19.03.19 — Madrid

After updating you all with what my flat looks like in my last blog post, I figured I should explore a bit of what’s been occurring outside of said flat in this one! I must warn you though, a lot of it has involved sitting outside, drinking beer, and enjoying the rising temperatures…

A couple of weeks back I had Napo over for a catch up, and we eventually left my flat to head for the river in order to make the most of the suitably sunny Sunday. Just 10 minutes walk from my place sits Madrid Río, an elongated park constructed along the Manzanares River which runs through the city. After strolling through families and dog walkers – and dodging our way through a few close calls with people on roller skates – we sat ourselves down for a drink on one of the terraces.

After wandering back to my flat, during which the sky treated us to a gorgeous pink and purple sunset, said weekend ended and the working week began. It turned out to be a bit of a chilly and damp week, but that didn’t bother me too much, and it certainly didn’t dampen the spirits of all those who turned out for the International Women’s Day march through the centre!

A baroque building lit by the orange sun is reflected in a puddle on a grey pavement.

A blue sky above a graffiti-covered stairwell lit by the setting sun.

The women’s march, I was happy to see, was a huge success – it warmed my heart to see people of all ages and walks of life take to the streets in union against inequality. I would have loved to have joined them, but I was instead held up for much longer than expected when returning a duvet to IKEA – typical. The only bit I managed to catch was the chaotically busy scenes in the main train station, Atocha, as I tried to drag my new duvet back home – needless to say I ended up walking it!

The proceeding weekend saw me wandering down to the river once again, only this time to check out the stalls and music of the Matadero Design Market. There, I met up with Bogar, Filip, and Napo, and we all caught up over some food truck grub and a couple of beers.

Another working week then passed, and the Friday I had been waiting for for weeks finally came around: the day of Em’s visit! After her early flight from London landed, I had her head to the centre, and we were soon reunited after (what I have just calculated by looking back over my blog posts) 10 months! The last time we saw each other now was when I visited London back in May last year. How time flies!

Anyway, we met in the Plaza de España before heading down to the Erretres office to have a snoop around, meet the team, and for Em to leave her bag. As I soon set back to work, she headed off to explore the royal palace and the surrounding area, but we were quickly reunited as I handily finish work at 3pm on Fridays.

After a slap-up menú del día lunch near the office, we hopped on a train to my flat and suddenly it was time: time to premiere the sofa bed!

As you can see from Sleeping Beauty above, the bed went up easily and wasn’t all too bad, but we’d other stuff to check out before it was time to head off for the night!

After checking out the city’s skyline from a rooftop terrace, we set off on a wander around the centre, stopping for churros, a trip to the market, a wander through Plaza Mayor, some sherry in a traditional bar, and eventually a delicious Venezuelan dinner at one of my favourite restaurants. Once back home, we sat chatting for even longer with a drink in hand – the amount we had to catch up on was pretty impressive – and eventually headed to bed.

The following morning began with a trip down to the Matadero to check out the design exhibition space and wander by the river. After working up an appetite during our walk along its banks (stopping for a beer along the way, naturally) we headed northwards and to Casa Dani, one of my favourite spots for a proper Spanish menú del día.

This pink neon crown was one of my favourite finds. I want one.

Once we’d dined on a delicious array of proper Madrid grub, we meandered southwards once more and through the various pretty streets of Chueca and Malasaña. As the sun reached its height in mid-afternoon, we were sure to stop for a cheeky vermouth and sangría on the rooftop terrace of Mercado de San Antón, making the most of the opportunity to take our coats off!

After some retail therapy and further drinks along the way, we wound up down at the Temple of Debod to watch the sun set over the west of the city. We then headed to a favourite taco spot of mine, but that turned out to be absolutely rammed, and so we made spontaneous alternative plans, heading through Lavapiés and eventually grabbing some sharing dishes in a little restaurant along the way.

The next morning all too quickly hailed Em’s last day in the city, but I had some relaxing Sunday plans to keep us moving. After a relaxed breakfast, we headed off on the bus to pick up a bike, and spent what remained of the morning cycling around the picturesque Parque del Retiro – much like what I dragged Ellie & Johanne and my dad into doing when they visited!

I must be getting good at this – I took this photo without falling off my bike!

We followed this with some lovely bao at one of my favourite spots – a firm favourite of our friend Luisa when she visited – and a cheeky ice cream for dessert. Wandering back down to Atocha and its curious indoor tropical gardens, we found ourselves heading back to my flat to pick up Em’s stuff.

We made it back up to the airport in good time – and it was a good job we did, as the check-in process Em had to complete when we got there didn’t make much sense to either of us! Once the hassle was over, I hugged Em off as she headed off through security, and I headed back to my flat alone once more.

Needless to say that I had a blast whilst I had Em with me in the city, and the past few weeks of improving weather have put a further spring in my step. I have to say it – I am really happy to be back here in Madrid once again!

That’s it for updates for now – I shall be back very soon with more from the streets of this dusty old city just as soon as I have the time!

Casa Briggs

12.03.19 — Madrid

After last week’s post diverged quite spectacularly and took you to Asturias for a snoop around an abandoned factory, I shall now pick up from where the post before left off: with my mission to decorate my flat before Em’s visit – which has now changed from “just less than a month off” to a mere three days away!

Thankfully, I’ve got all the essentials in, and I am ready to receive guests like the little old lady that I secretly am. It’s been quite a process though, involving many a trip to IKEA, and then even more when I realised I had bought the wrong thing on two separate occasions. They say that IKEA is testing for couples moving in together, but I managed to have many an argument with my very own self. An accomplishment? I guess.

Anyway, seeing as I’ve not much else to report back on, I took a few photos of my flat to show you all what I’ve put together with the little money I have, so here we go!

We’ll start off in the living room/kitchen, where I’ve kept the yellow of the feature wall, complimenting it with the grey sofa bed and black and white highlights. I like to be strict with my colours, but I have allowed some green in with the addition of plants to breathe a bit of life into the space.

The only thing I feel I am missing here is maybe a couple more cushions and a little coffee table to pop drinks on. I’d also like to get myself a rug in time, but it turns out that rugs are way more expensive than I ever thought, so that might have to wait a while…

We now turn to face the other side of the room and the kitchenette, which I am trying to keep as clean and tidy as possible. As there’s plenty of storage and I’m just one person, I can hide pretty much everything away when not in use. Here all I’m missing is an oven, but I’ve already got tabs on a mini tabletop oven which I shall buy next month: I sense some cakes coming!

This is one of my favourite plants. She is called Leah.

Heading through the door and down the corridor, we pass the bathroom and utility areas, but I shan’t bore you with those: we’ll move straight into the other main space, my little bedroom. The flat already had a lovely wooden headboard and a black mesh ceiling lamp installed, and so I’ve once again run with the existing colours, kitting my bed out with white sheets and popping in a black bedside table (home of Beatrice the Bamboo).

Sticking to a look of wooden textures, plants, and neutral colours, I also had a flash of inspiration as I walked home past the fruit shop one evening. I saw that the guy was piling up crates to be picked up as rubbish, and so I made a beeline for them and grabbed a couple. After hauling them up the stairs along with my shopping (which was probably quite traumatic for my neighbours), I popped them together and made myself a free, improv, and zero-waste side table!

I popped Alice the Aloe Vera on there, along with another candle, and it’s probably now my favourite detail in the entire flat! A little bit annoying that the prettiest thing was also the cheapest, but I’m happy to have brightened up an empty corner.

That’s pretty much it in terms of photos of my new place, and so pretty much it for this blog post, but I’ll be back next week to report on the upcoming weekend of shenanigans as Em flies in on Friday morning. I hope she’s prepared for lots of terrace drinks and lots of my favourite food spots…

The Abandoned Ceramics Factory

03.03.19 — Oviedo

Last summer I embarked on a road trip with my good friend Kevin, and it was so varied that I had to break it down into three parts here on my blog: Part 1 around Oviedo, Part 2 around Cabo de Peñas, and Part 3 in Bilbao. In the first instalment I spoke of a trip around an abandoned factory in a small Asturian town, and I have finally (only six months late) got round to editing the photos and piecing together this little post about what went down.

If you’re a keen reader, you might remember that I wound up doing something similar back in 2017, when I reported on a snoop around an abandoned hotel after a trip to Portugal which happened two years prior. Six months is an improvement on two years, right?

Anyway, let’s move on to the subject at hand: this factory. We arrived by car, parking on a piece of grassland nearby (Asturias has plenty of spare grass). Wandering over, we stumbled through some trees and found ourselves in the grounds of the place. The factory itself looked nothing extraordinary from the outside, just a large industrial building with broken windows and painted in a questionable shade of mint green.

It was inside, then, that things started to get interesting. The false ceiling was all but missing, and the fallen panels littered the floor amongst rocks, insulation, papers, and an array of what revealed conclusively the factory’s former purpose: ceramics.

We swung left and into the only room whose interior wall was still standing. It looked to have been renovated shortly before the factory’s eventual demise – if it weren’t for the gaping halls where bits of the main ceiling had fallen through, it could have been mistaken for a recent addition. Here we waded through yet more broken roofing tiles and rotting ephemera and past a large container which, although collapsed and shattered, still held a lot of what I assume was ceramic powder. Not risking disturbing the unidentified material, we moved swiftly on.

A broken container full of white powder sits in an abandoned factory.

I didn’t fancy disturbing the unidentified white powder.

The next room had a much more industrial feel to it, and a little wander around the two large structures in the centre of said room revealed them to be a couple of furnaces. In the corner of the room the pile of unfinished ceramics was much denser, but the suspicious white and fluffy insulation around the furnaces had my asbestos warning senses tingling, and so we opted to move on once again without much further investigation.

A pile of unfinished ceramics sit in the corner of an abandoned factory.

The next perilous-looking doorway led us into the biggest single space in the whole factory, and what I can only assume was the warehouse. The vast space was filled with an even more varied array of debris, from ceramics to broken electronics and even the soggy remains of folders which documented orders and invoices from years gone by. It was surreal to think that such personal details could have been left to decay in such a public space.

An abandoned factory warehouse, with bricks in the foreground and decaying walls covered in graffiti.

Further into the space, we stumbled across crates full of half-baked ceramics and a particularly interesting half-pyramid which had been carefully stacked on the floor. It was hard to tell whether this was done whilst the factory was still in operation or whether it had been put together by someone passing through, but I do err towards the idea of it having been made more recently: I see no good use for storing any kind of product like that.

An abandoned factory warehouse littered with debris.

Heading backwards out of the warehouse, we suddenly found ourselves exposed the elements as we passed by a section whose roof had totally collapsed. Not wanting to hang around under the precarious structure for too long, I took a few photos of some of the more interesting stuff I found littering the floor, and we headed back through the warehouse to explore some more.

The structural failure of the room in an abandoned factory. The roof has totally collapsed, allowing shrubbery to grow in the ruins.

Greenery is seen through a collapsed doorway.

An almost complete ceramic teapot sits on a rotting crate in front of some shrubbery.

Passing through the space, we arrived at the other side of the factory, and to an area dominated by what I assume were office spaces. We passed through what looked like a canteen/recreation area and on into a room containing an array of generators around a central staircase. I gauged that the concrete stairs were plenty sturdy enough to ascend, but I wasn’t too confident about the floor above – especially having seen the total structural failure in the other end of the factory.

A broken ceramic teapot sita atop a wooden palette.

Against my better judgement, up we headed and into what turned out to be a storage loft. This space was one of the more intriguing of the factory, purely due to the sheer density of the ceramic moulds and tools which had been jammed into the rafters and then left abandoned. Wrangled metal bars knotted between piles of upturned moulds told me that shelving must have once held a lot of the wares, making optimum use of what was quite a compact space.

A roofing panel collapses, allowing light in to reveal an abandoned factory room full of ceramic moulds.

Back on ground level, we headed further into a labyrinthine succession of smaller rooms. Passing by further bags of unidentifiable powders, we clambered through an upturned workshop and past a cabin with a calendar showing the current month as January 2003. Could that be when the place closed its doors for good?

A wall shows a decaying calendar dated 2003.

A doorway through an abandoned factory leading to a room full of graffiti.

An abandoned workshop with shattered windows.

We soon found ourselves exploring the final cluster of outbuildings on the far side of the factory, which proved to be smaller, darker, and somehow creepier than the main factory itself. I felt a strange sensation as I wandered through that area, and so I didn’t really think to take any photos – I’ll have to let you imagine the dark corners of the abandoned shower facilities and changing rooms.

With the creeping unease brought on by this final stage of explorations and the rumble in our stomachs growing louder, we decided to call it a day for our wanderings around the abandoned factory. Heading back to the car, I remember how me and Kevin chatted on and on about how we’d much rather be out doing something like this than your typical holiday activities – I am always down for some alternative entertainment!

You can check out the rest of the trip’s activities here:

How To Adult

24.02.19 — Madrid

It’s been a fortnight since my last blog post, and one week since I moved into my new flat, and boy have the two weeks been busy! When I’ve moved flats around Madrid in the past, I’ve only ever had the logistical problems to worry about, which weren’t usually too much of a drama as I could fit all my stuff into one suitcase. This time, however, there’s been much more to sort out.

Some of the nonsense I’ve had to sort out this past week has included ringing the electricity company to change over the contract, contracting and organising the installation of fibre internet, various trips to IKEA to pick up essentials such as a mattress and cutlery, and a lot of toing and froing as I stocked up on supplies from Mercadona. I even managed to get myself empadronado, meaning I have properly registered my address with the local government – which may sound minor, but with the amount of times I have tried and failed, it’s a big accomplishment for me! It really has been a week where I’ve discovered just how to adult.

The sky sometimes puts on a show on my way back from work.

The big task though – the move to my new flat – turned out to be pretty easy in the end. I packed my suitcase in the morning, had an argument with a bus driver who wouldn’t let me on because the case was “too big” (even though the bus was pretty much empty), and eventually grabbed the Metro to my new pad.

As I’d already dusted the place and moved the mattress into position a couple of days in advance, I was able to arrive and unpack at a lovely leisurely pace. In the afternoon I did a big shop to fill my cupboards with some food to get me going, and then nipped back to IKEA to pick up towels, pans, and a few cheeky plants for decoration.

The next morning I was excited to make my daily porridge breakfast using my new pans, and it was when the hob started beeping at me when I realised that I’d been stupid and bought two pans that didn’t work with an induction hob. I made myself a rather picturesque alternative breakfast, but then it was back to IKEA again in order to exchange them. You live and learn!

A lovely breakfast tainted by the thought of having to make yet another IKEA trip.

Once I’d sorted that little issue out and bought myself another plant to make myself feel better, my first week commuting from my new flat begun. We’re pretty busy in the office, and so outside of work hours I’ve been keeping myself social and occupied to keep my mind off all the projects.

One of the more spectacular events of the week was a 360° video mapping installation to celebrate 400 years of Plaza Mayor, the big central square in Madrid. I met up with Bogar to check it out, convening in the plaza at 7:30pm as the streetlights were extinguished and the show began!

The only photo I took really does the event no justice, as it was a stunning immersive journey through the 400-year history projected onto the four façades of the square. Accompanied by a matching soundtrack and some cool spotlight effects which lit up the sky, I included a video made by the local council which should give you a taste of what it was like.

Afterwards, we headed up to the north of the centre to escape from the crowds and have a delicious slap-up tea of subs and pulled pork fries at La Casa Tomada, the restaurant where Bogar works.

Thursday marked the day of my appointment to register my address with the council, and so off I trotted to the very north of the city. I had to make a trip further even than the airport, to an area called Barajas, as it was the only office with a slot which wasn’t months ahead!

As I arrived at the metro station, I thought of Dani, my art director from back when I first started at Erretres three years ago, as he lives in the area. I was considering taking a photo of the sign to send to him as I ascended the escalator, when who should show up waving from the downwards escalator but the man himself!

After a quick sprint back up to ground level, we stopped for a super quick catch up for a couple of minutes. It was lovely to find out what he’s been up to, but we had to cut it rather short as I had an appointment to make and he couldn’t be late for work. I stopped for a quick coffee and some breakfast, and then meandered the streets of the rather quaint neighbourhood as I headed to the oficina de atención al ciudadano – the office I had to go to in order to file the paperwork.

After successfully sorting the papers there, I headed back to the office and got straight back to the plenty of design work that needs doing. A nice break did come, however, in the form of a studio visit by a local college. Me and Luis spent an hour with the students presenting our projects, recounting what it’s like to work in a design studio, and answering a plethora of questions that they had. It was as useful for me as it was for them, though, as it was yet more exposure to presenting in Spanish – something I’m slowly doing more and more of. I think my A2 Spanish teacher would be proud!

With that I bring us to the end of the working week and up to this weekend. Yesterday I found myself making another trip to IKEA to grab a few more things and choose the sofa bed I am going to buy just as soon as I get paid. It can’t come soon enough, too, because my friend Em has just booked to visit in less than one month! I had better get this place looking more like a home!

I shan’t share any more photos of my flat until I’ve got the sofa in and everything nicely decorated, for I’ve a vision of how it’ll look in my head and I don’t want to spoil the surprise! That said, this week looks to be very busy in the office, and so I won’t be back with updates until next weekend at the earliest. Until then, ¡chau!