Madrid Meander, Phone Theft and May signs Article 50 letter

Tue 28th March. Boarded the Tourist Sightseeing Bus for a tour of Madrid's sights, getting off at the Prada Museum to find a restaurant and lunch. I excused myself and wandered off on a meandering route through the side and back streets of Madrid centre, aiming for the Opera Metro station. I soon became fascinated with the tile paintings that adorned shops, farmacias and cafes en route. Anything from portraits of poets, animals to bread and meat in vibrant colours. I turned on Google tracking to record the twisted route and also took pictures of the road name tiles, not just for reference but because they were a delight.

After a welcome tea break at the Art Nouveau styled Taberna Tirso de Molina, with its numerous large tiled picture homages to Toulouse Lautrec, I finally reached the round Basilica of  of St Francisco el Grande. Going in, I was swept away by the fantastic painted and decorated interior. It was worth coming to Madrid just for this. Photography was permitted, so I spent a good hour there amongst the few visitors.

Squinting after emerging from the subdued interior lighting into the late afternoon sunlight, I was on the home stretch with a stop-over of the much busier Catedral de Santa María la Real de la Almudena. Forewarned by my aunt that it was a great disapointment after renovation, I found it a bit better than expected, with the modern windows catching my attention and photography. The Basilica still vastly surpassed it.

I thought I'd make my way back to the flat by Metro. The tube was full and I was squashed in a corner by three youths who disembarked after two stops. With my phone pinched out of my shirt pocket. I was fairly philosophical about the incident and bought some churros on the walk back from my station to the flat. There I phoned home and with Jane's help, went through the rigmarole of blocking the phone and changing crucial passwords. I think my aunt and uncle were more upset about the incident.

The advice was to report the incident to the police. With auntie's help, we set off to find the fabled police station 'close to Aluche metro station'. Apparently, the blue and white striped building was just along the road and unmissable. A quarter of a mile later and only after asking several other pedestrians we finally found the marvellous establishment. Guarded by two friendly but well armed policemen, they shook their heads at the futility of reporting a stolen phone. We persisted and they let us through to the next guardians to the outer sanctum and persuaded them to let us pass too.

By this time, the futility of reporting a phone without having its IMEI number had been impressed upon us. I phoned Jane again and on the off chance asked her to check if the old phone box had the information. This changed everything. We were rewarded with access to the Inner Sanctum, and a policeman who was looking forward to practicing his English. It was obvious that the chances of catching the perpetrators was infinitesimal but, they would be prevented from profiting from reselling it as the police kept a look out for IMIE numbers of phones on the second hand market.

The melancholy end of the day was topped with the pictures of Prime Minister Theresa May signing the letter initiating Article 50, ready to post it to the EU the next day.