Masha Lloyd

If you have read the biography of my father you will understand that I had quite an extraordinary upbringing. I was born in England (Cambridge) and am half English and half Russian and married a Spaniard and live in Spain. That makes me some sort of cultural and international cocktail and I often wonder what nationality I really feel I am. English of course because I was born there but I feel like a citizen of the world. As for my daughters, born in Spain, they have English, Russian and Spanish blood making them an even more explosive cocktail.

My life is a lot less extraordinary unless you count having married an ex-Catholic priest. In a way, I have followed in my parents’ footsteps and have a very happy marriage and family with my rock solid husband Eladio, and our adored daughters Suzy and Olivia.

Life has treated me very well. After graduating in Hispanic Studies at Nottingham University in 1980, I met Eladio that summer and I moved to Spain a year later to live with him and have lived in Madrid ever since. He is 12 years older than I am but you wouldn’t notice as he never seems to age. We got married in 1983 and since then our life has had its ups and downs but mostly I have been very lucky. On the whole I am very happy with my lot and have no complaints.

My career started with teaching English to Spanish children but it was obvious from early on that I hadn’t inherited my parents’ skills at teaching so I turned to the corporate world. I started in an administrative and translator role in a dubious Spanish company. My first job was with Defex. When I applied for the job I had no idea the company exported arms but as jobs were scarce I took it. I spent eight years in an exciting but immoral world, at least for me. On the plus side it took me to arms exhibitions in exotic places such as Athens, Kuala Lumpur, Ankara and to visit even more dubious banks in London during the Iran Iraq war. My next job was with Cadbury Schweppes, the drinks part, not the chocolates unfortunately. I found that extremely boring as I have no love of fizzy drinks. It was in 1990 when I entered the telecommunications sector, just as mobile phones were about to take off. It was in this sector I developed my whole career. It hasn’t been easy being a woman in a man’s world in Spain. However, with much dedication and hard work, I became the head of communications of Motorola, the communications director of Nokia and latterly the communications director of Yoigo, a Swedish owned mobile phone company. Those were great corporate years when I travelled a lot. Working for Finnish and Swedish companies I came to love the Nordic countries, just as my father does. In 2017 Yoigo was bought by another company and most of the management team was made redundant. Thus I found myself about to turn 60 and unemployed. I had to start from the beginning again. This time I followed in my mother’s footsteps and, after the girls left home, took lodgers into our huge house which has many spare rooms. I turned to Airbnb and since I started in January 2017, this house, like my parents’ house in Bradford, has become an international hub, with guests coming from the four corners of the earth. Many of these guests have become friends. Thankfully Eladio doesn’t have to serve them meals like my father.

I also became a freelance communications consultant and now work for various companies on and off and from home. In reality, now I have the perfect work life balance. I am able to spend time with my husband who is retired, with my father, and with the girls when they are here. Thus I have had time to embark on my first book, the story of my father as he enters his hundredth year.

In my free time I love walking with our dogs, Elsa the labrador, Norah the beagle and little Pippa, the apple of my eye, a miniature chocolate dachshund; I also enjoy reading, cooking, and dinners out with my husband and friends. I love travelling too which of course I have inherited from my parents. My family comes first though after which comes my next great passion, my blog.

I am not a complete stranger to writing as I have been writing a blog since 2005. You can follow our lives here: http://mashalloyd.blogspot.com. It is my passion and I write a post every Sunday without exception. My father gets given a hard copy as soon as I publish a new post and is my most loyal reader.

I have enjoyed writing this book so much that I may now embark on the story of my mother who in life always overshadowed my father and has tried to do the same in this book. Her story is even more fascinating…

Masha

Madrid July 2019

You are welcome to write to me via email: masha.lloyd@googlemail.com

And follow me on my blog: http://mashalloyd.blogspot.com