Friday, February 28, 2014
" DIA DE ANDALUCIA" IN A CRISP AND SUNNY MANILVA;
FRIDAY 28th/
FEBRUARY 2014. “DIA DE ANDALUCIA”
FLASH NEWS
UPDATE;
Last night
at about 6-00pm I was taken rather not well with severe lower renal colic/bowl
pains; after trying all sorts of things including Brenda shooting around to the
chemists by 8-00pm it was no better and she had to call for an ambulance! So by
9-00pm I was in the ‘Costa Del Sol ’ hospital on the far side of Marbella
When you
first arrive at the Emergency department it seen very quiet as they sign and
tag you in, you then go through the doors to the large waiting room that is
full; you are assessed quickly and the ‘Triage system ‘kicks in so I waited for
about an hour to see the doctor, then another hour for an X-Ray, then another
hour to see the doctor again and get some treatment. The waiting room is rather
hot and full of ‘Sick’ people?! – Mainly is seems like severe flu symptoms and
minor injuries and it gets rather uncomfortable as you wait your turn.
Now for the
good news as I was looked after by a very nice nurse who turned out to be a
local lady born in the next street to us in sunny Manliva, many thanks to Gema
Lopez who soon had me on the road to recovery, her sister works in the Town
Hall, we know her aunty and all her family and of course she knows everybody
that we know in the village! It’s a small town/world!
By then it
was nearly 2-00am as we found a taxi outside the front entrance to take us home
to sunny Manilva after one ‘Helluva’ evening! A nice cup of tea and toast was administered
to me by my personal nurse, thanks Brenda for holding my hand xx
This means
that I’ am not out and out and about in sunny Manilva today to record today’s
festivities; I will post later some pictures as they appear from the council
photographer and Gary of the Resident newspaper! Brenda has just taken the dog
and the camera for a walk – watch this space as the village brass band is just
starting to march along Calle Mar.!!
As you can see above the assistant camera photographer/reporter has just returned after taking the pictures with dog in one hand and the camera in the other - well done and thanks to Brenda !
Meanwhile over in Australia the 'Gang of Four' have left Melbourne and are on the second leg of their adventure as they travel overland in the outback stopping at 'Kings Canyon' and then onto the famous 'Ayers Rock' Can't wait for the pictures.
As you can see above the assistant camera photographer/reporter has just returned after taking the pictures with dog in one hand and the camera in the other - well done and thanks to Brenda !
Meanwhile over in Australia the 'Gang of Four' have left Melbourne and are on the second leg of their adventure as they travel overland in the outback stopping at 'Kings Canyon' and then onto the famous 'Ayers Rock' Can't wait for the pictures.
On the food
front we did not have our second filling of ‘Braised Steak and Onions’ last
night and the planned menus have been thrown into somewhat of confusion!
Poached Eggs on toast for breakfast and back to bed for me today! Chicken soup with Melba toast for lunch - I'am being spoilt by the nurse!! Well after a good rest I'am up and feeling a lot better than this time last night,I had a shave and a shower and I'am feeling like a new man !
PS; Happy
‘Global Scouse Day’ to all the people of Liverpool all over the world; sadly no
scouse for me today so it will have to wait to next week!!
Thought for
the Day; See above.
..
Thursday, February 27, 2014
WARM AND SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY;
THURSDAY 27th/
FEBRUARY 2014.
No rush to
get up this morning so after our tea and toast we went down to Sabinillas for
the weekend shopping, the weather today is better than ever with a clear blue
sky and warm sunshine as the breeze has dropped – jackets not needed! It was a
large shop at ‘Mercadona’ then a quick call into the bank and paper shop before
we called into the garage to top up and give the car its first wash of the
year! After unpacking I went around to the butchers for our Saturday night ‘Steak’
Andy called
in at lunchtime with Maria so he has helped me book on-line an appointment at
the Traffic Department office in La Linea
Just a
quiet day at home today taking things easy and catching up around the house and
upstairs in the office on the WWW. Tomorrow it’s a bank holiday here in sunny
Manilva for the ‘Dia de Andalucia’ and more importantly for all good
‘Liverpudlians’ it’s “Global Scouse Day”!!
I was
brought up on the tradition of Scouse and taught by my mother at an early age
to make it, she used to deliver a bowl of it to the ‘Stork Hotel’ in Queen
square and leave it with the Head Hall Porter for me to collect if I was busy!
I still have her bowl to this day and we use it to serve potatoes and
vegetables in it for our guest’s – tonight it has the Cabbage with Acelgas in
it to have with more of the delicious ‘Braised Steak and Onions’ – day two!
Last night
we watched for a while as it was on for nearly five hours the “ Carnival of
Santa Cruz de Tenerife ” – the capital of the ‘Canary Islands’ This is when the
indoor part of the festivities takes place with a very large and lavious floor
show and the special ‘Tableau’s’ that are on wheels and form the costumes
of the various candidates trying to
become the “ Queen of the Carnival” Each year they are more elaborate and there
is a theme,2014 its ‘The Cartoons’!
Before
catching the Carnival we caught up with all the sports news, in an unbelievable
game in the ‘Champions League’ Real Madrid beat ‘FCSchalke 04’(?!) 1-6 in the
first leg with Bales,Ronaldo and Benzema all scoring two goals! Meanwhile over in Turkey Chelsea could only
draw 1-1 with Galatasary
Thought for
the Day; See above.
..
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
CRISP AND WARM IN SUNNY MANILVA ON WEDNESDAY;
WEDNESDAY
26th/ FEBRUARY 2014.
We were up
bright and early this morning and picked Josie up to take her across to ‘La
Linea De La Concepcion’ so as she could catch her flight back to Manchester
from Gibraltar airport – see the picture above; she then catches a train to
Middlesbrough before getting home to Skelton above Whitby! We are looking forward
to seeing her again next time she is over with her husband Den at the end of
March after her great adventure by train for her birthday! Please let us know
so as we can arrange to pick you up!!
The weather
today is crisp and warm with bright sunshine; that’s why you can’t see the
‘Rock’ in the picture above!
I then
called into the Traffic Department office opposite the border to check to see
if my Spanish driving Licenses had arrived; it had but you have to make an
appointment on-line to exchange and collect it!! Nearly there – watch this
space. We then called into McDonalds for a Sausage and Egg Mac Muffin and tea!
On the way back we called into ‘Super Sol’ for our English shopping.
When we
came back to the house I made the ‘Braised Steak and Onions ‘for tonight’s
supper; I first sauté off a lot of sliced Onions, dust the Braising steak in
seasoned flour and brown it off, its then time to make the sauce with chopped
Onions, Garlic, Carrot, Turnips, Leeks, Celery, Baby Mushrooms and Green Beans
– all sweated off, the secret ingredients added including Tomato Frito and then
de-glazed with a large slug of Brenda’s red wine; I adjust the seasoning,colouring
and consistency after adding a rich Beef & Vegetable stock before I then
put the dish together ready to go in the oven tonight to finish cooking! Brenda
made a dish of her famous Mashed Potato which also goes in the oven later to
brown and crisp. She also has Cabbage with local Acelgas.
Later this
morning the first set of pictures arrived on Facebook from Australia
Last night
after watching the football we then found a film to watch “ Forces Speciales ”
from 2011 – it’s a French film with a little English and Persian spoken – its
about a hostage rescue operation by French Special Forces to free a captured
famous lady journalist who has been kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan;
Diane Kruger plays the journalist and Djimon Housou, Beniot Magimel,Mehdi,Tchaky
and Raz Degan are in the strong cast, what makes it rather different is that it
is very realistic and show’s the French Elite Unit who were trained by an
actual French Special Forces Naval Unit,
the weapons and technology are right up to date and the story is very gripping
and you need to watch it right up to the end!
Thought for
the Day; See above.
..
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)