For her birthday last year I gifted V. two tickets for an "Afternoon tea" at the upscale Ritz near El Prado. She almost lost them because they were valid for one year, but through her skilled and calm coaxing she got them to extend them into a later date. That date was yesterday.
I was not invited (I had told her it was not the kind of thing I enjoyed, but it would be great to take her mother or another family member). However, that day V., my mother and myself attended an exhibition, and we had lunch afterwards. She had warned me she would be busy at 6pm and couldn't hang out longer. At lunch I asked why. She hesitated answering... I'm going to the afternoon tea you gifted me last year. Oh that's cool. I didn't inquire whom she had invited because I could read she was uncomfortable speaking about the matter, but later on she added she was going with her father.
Why don't we go together? she asked. Now it was my time to hesitate. "We can split the cost between the two of us" she said. "It's not about that, I know it was very taxing for you to get that deadline extended, and if we are denied because there's no space, I'm afraid we might ruin a pleasant moment. "No no no, she said, I promise if they tell us you can't join us it will be fine". Ok, if that's the case, then let's do it.
We took a crowded bus to the fountain of Neptuno, Madrid is amazingly crowded these days. We crossed Paseo de la Castellana into the Ritz, to find her father sitting on a bench, dressed very handsomely in a suit. He was surprised to see us, as he expected to have tea only with his daughter.
The guy at the entrance asked if we had a reservation to which we answered yes, and then he said "good thing, it's packed because it's a long weekend", and we worried a bit. At the reception they told us that they would have to see if they would be able to fit us in, and after a couple of minutes of waiting they told us to go through.
It was nice. This level of luxury is not completely unfamiliar to me, not through my family but through the family of my best friend, whom in younger years used to invite me along with them on vacations and such (God bless their soul). I made jokes about pinching the ear of my cup while sipping tea sitting straight and laughing while covering my mouth. The level of service was what I'm accustomed any day in Mexico, but in Spain it seems decadent.
V. remarked how in the end it all came together nicely. She's not the kind of person who enjoys getting into conflict, and the first person she spoke to was plain negligent. Somehow, days later this call made it to her superior who called V. to apologize and offer her a reservation at a date of her choice. That choice was yesterday.
I originally wrote about this event and a prelude to a conversation I had with her father, but now it's time to run: we're going to the Opera and I haven't dressed up. I'll leave the chronicle at this.