This ad is from 2006.

The Madrid Metro is responsible for some of the best TV commercials (’anuncios’) shown in Spain. But I’ve said this before.

For the last two weeks Las Ventas, the ‘Wembley’ of bullfighting in Spain, has been under special renovation for this weekend’s Davis Cup clash with the USA. The Spanish tennis authorities had constructed a clay court in the bullfighting ring and a special press / hospitality centre attached to the east-wing of the Plaza de Toros. All this effort was to create a special atmosphere (and bring in lots of cash) to help their team win the important semi-final, and it worked.

On the Friday, Nadal won the first rubber and the intense atmosphere created by an extremely partisan local crowd helped pull David Ferrer through a tough 5-setter versus Roddick. 2-0 up from the first day, Spain lost the Saturday doubles, but on Sunday, Rafael Nadal beat Andy Roddick in straight sets (6-4 6-0 6-4) to give Spain an unassailable 3-1 lead in the tie, taking them through to the final where they will face Argentina or Russia.

A back street in Tetuan, north-central Madrid, at dusk. In the background you can see 3 of the ‘Four Towers’ development still being constructed in the very north of the city. The streets are deserted ‘cos the photo was taken on a bank holiday and most everyone was either on the coast or in the pub. I, myself, was heading towards a pub but, as usual, had got lost.

Tonight, at the Palacio de Deportes in central Madrid, Chris Martin and the gang came to play. The previous night (Saturday) the band had also played in Barcelona.

Both concerts were in aid of Oxfam and to publicise its campaign “Comercio con Justicia” (Fair Trade). Several lucky volunteers for this organisation got given free tickets.

Before the Madrid leg the band did a TV interview and Chris Martin was cheekily asked which city he preferred. He told the interviewer that this was a forbidden question. “There are two prohibited questions in this interview, yeah? You don’t ask about our relationships and you don’t ask about the Barcelona versus Madrid thing.” lol.

The majority of the concert was taken up with tracks from the Viva la Vida album but of course they bunged in a few of the classics from previous albums as well. It wasn’t the full-on concert and lightshow spectacular but it was as professional as always and everyone had a good sing-a-long and got sent home happy.

Lewis Hamilton’s best mate Fernando Alonso advertising a special monthly account for Banco Santander.

Fernando Alonso Marketing

This cardboard cut-out stands outside one of their branches in Nuevos Ministerios.

This is a cartoon sketch called Enjuto Mojamuto from the TV show Muchachada Nui, a half-hour programme consisting of unrelated sketches of a very absurd and surrealistic nature. Muchachada Nui started out as quite cult on channel 2 and has gone more mainstream over time, mainly as a result of the sketches being shared around on YouTube (take note Viacom). The humour is typical of what I call ‘Joopie Spain’ - a joopie being the Spanish way of saying ‘yuppie’ but in my definition meaning predominantly young, tech-savvy, city-living, independent people.

Finally something to cheer about here in Madrid. Last night Atletico de Madrid won through to the Champions League proper after destroying Schalke 04 by, err.. 4-0 - a most pleasing symmetry.

This second-leg match (following a 0-0 draw in Germany) was marked by a raucous full-house and the attendance of his holy fatness, Mr ‘hand-of-God’ Maradona. Escorted by some blonde tart, the drug abusing cheat watched events unfold from the directors’ box (called ‘el palco’ in Spanish). He witnessed a supreme performance from Atleti and an even better one by fellow countryman Aguero who pulled out a whole box of football tricks for the night, thoroughly confused the visiting club form Gelsenkirchen.

Such has been the lack of success for Atletico in recent years, qualification for ‘el Champions’ was seen as a decent excuse for some supporters to go dancing in the fountains at the Plaza de Neptuno - an act usually reserved for cup wins or league titles. Bless.

It’s 12 years since Atleti last qualified for the Champions League while over on the other side of town Real Madrid have qualified every year bar one. How dearly the striped-ones would like to put one over on the white-ones. Maybe this will be the year.

Sorry for the lack of posts these last few days. The terrible events at Barajas airport have put a downer on the whole city and this usually bustling, happy, positive place is, naturally, a bit subdued at the moment. I’ll let the weekend pass and resume blogging on Monday.

Que tengais un buen fin de.

M1

Club El Sol

Playing - Los Guapos (The Handsome Ones) - a tight four piece playing solid, driving rock n’ roll with a touch of indie. El Sol is one of the best known clubs in central Madrid for live bands.

Unheralded, and performing in a sport in which Spain had never won an olympic medal, Madrid born José Luis Abajo last night won Olympic Bronze in fencing (épée event).

It came from left-field somewhat for TVE, the national television station, who were busy covering the first round of basketball matches until José suddenly made his way into the semis and they quickly dispatched a team to cover his next two matches (or fights, or rounds, or whatever fencers do). It was worth the effort and as a total non-aficionado of this sport I was absolutely gripped. Abajo won in the very final seconds with a masterful display of defence and counter-thrust, and breaking the 12-12 deadlock.

It was the nation’s second medal - Samuel Sanchez won gold in the bicycle road race event on the opening day - and was Spain’s 100th in the modern olympics. They’re aiming for 21 medals this year, so only 19 to go in twelve more days of competition.