WARM BUT SLIGHTLY OVERCAST SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY;

THURSDAY 10^th/ APRIL 2014.

We had a nice lie in this morning as the street was very quiet, the sun is trying to get through the haze again but the forecast for over the weekend and into next week is fine with with warm sunshine and clear blue skies; last night we had an E-Mail from our new German friends Doreen & Claus to say that they are driving down from Bremen this weekend so we will catch up with them next week.

This coming weekend its finally the official opening of the 'Plaza Pozo Del Rey' on Saturday evening so we will pop along to check out the car park underneath - pictures on Saturday.

Next week is ‘Semana Santa’ week with all the processions from Monday to Easter Sunday; hopefully this year it will stay dry, it’s also a long Bank Holiday weekend as Thursday & Friday are the holidays this year! On Monday lunchtime Josie has asked us for a light lunch on their large balcony at their apartment below us; We are picking a Swedish friend of Lillemor’s up from the bus station over in Marbella on Tuesday evening and then on Easter Sunday we are taking Den & Josie to Gibraltar airport to catch their flight home.

So today its an at home day catching up with the chores, washing, cleaning, polishing, de-frosting, dusting, ironing etc and any other ‘ing’ that Brenda can find! Meanwhile I’ am up in the office ‘checking’ out the WWW!!

We are going for a walk later with the dog and will pick something up from the butchers for tonight’s supper; Brenda has requested Salmon for our Friday ‘Fish Night’ so I’ am thinking of making an old classic dish from the past ‘Salmon en Croute’ – wrapped in Puff pastry and baked in the oven with a Hollandaise sauce on the side watch this space. ‘Steak a la Plancha’ on Saturday and on Sunday we are not roasting so I will think of something possibly a ‘Smoked Chicken & Broad Bean Risotto’!

So this evening we are having marinated 'Brochettes of Pork' served on a bed of Basmati Rice,diamond cut Green Beans with my famous Tomato salsa in the side; the 'Brochettes' are made with Red & Green Peppers,Mushrooms and Onion slices! 

This week has been a very important week for football with the Quarter finals of the ‘UEFA Champions League’ – Real Madrid lost at Borussia Dortmund 2-0 but went through 2-3 on aggregate,Chelsea won 2-0 so it was 3-3 on aggregate but they went through on the away goal rule, then last night Atletico Madrid stunned Barcelona as they won 1-0 - 2-1 agg and went into the semi-final draw before Manchester Utd lost at Bayern Munich 3-1 – 4-2 agg! Hope you are following all this – I will ask questions later !!

Last night on TVE1 the second series of Spanish ‘Master Chef’started; tonight its ‘Soap Night’ after the news.

PS; The pictures above show a ' Statfold Barn's' - " Hudswell Clarke - Lautoka No 11 " on the Welsh Highland Railway this morning on a test run - spectacular shots of the train and North Wales!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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