A SUNNY MANILVA ON SUNDAY " SAINT DAVIDS DAY"

SUNDAY 1^st/ MARCH 2015. “SAINT DAVID'S DAY”

                                              “ DYDD GWYI DEWI ”           “ DEWI SANT”

A nice lie in this morning after yesterday’s festivities in the village, the sun is already out and the sky is Blue, the light breeze has dropped and after yesterday’s evenings Red sky it looks like we are in for another glorious day day down here on the ‘Costa Del Sol’ The forecast for the week ahead is more of the same and getting warmer.

The celebrations for ‘Andalucia Day’ being held in the village along Calle Mar were so much better than it being held down in the ‘Congress Centre’- most importantly it brought a lot of needed business to all the bars ‘Rojas.Nacho,Plaza,Ocana & Bodegon Andaluz’ They were all full well into the evening and doing a roaring business as the Granada v Barcelona football match was on later also!

We had a really enjoyable day and evening, along with all our neighbors, as we danced and sung our hearts out to the ‘Band of the School of Music’ on the main stage in front of the Town Hall, on the other stage all the Flamenco dancing took place from the various schools and later there was also a ‘Rumba’ band playing.

The Music School Band is made up with the ‘Profeserores’ with Fernando, the leader playing his favorite Bass Guitar, the Flamenco guitar teacher on a ‘Blue Fender Stratocaster’ the lady Trumpet player, who is excellent, a Trombone player and two teachers of the Saxophone along with Paco( Ringo) on the Bongos!

The main drummer is also a teacher and the Piano Teacher is classically trained! The singer is a local man and of course Isobel belts out all the songs in her particular style! Whenever I appear they shout out ‘Ola Malcolm’! The music is a mix of Samba, Rumba and Spanish ‘Hits’ along with some old favorites – they encourage you to dance, sing and throw you’re arms about – very enjoyable and a great day in sunny Manilva.

I was speaking to the Mayor, Diego, after the formal ceremony and found out the story about the ‘Roman Pottery Ovens’ It turns out the ‘Junta de Andalucia’ will not come up with cash that they promised, not even 50/50 - so the council had to make the decision to cover it to keep the weather out, they are going to put pictures, maps etc about the village on the metal scructure,we will wait to see how it looks – watch this space!

At the same time he also said that he would invite us as his guests to the opening of the new Sports Centre complex down in Sabinillas in a couple of months time. Speaking of which Barcelona beat Granada 1-3!And today Liverpool beat City 2-1 and Everton lost again to Arsenal 2-0 Over in Dublin Ireland beat England 19-9 with 'Jonny' Sexton kicking 4 goals( sorry!) 

So we are now getting ourselves showered and dressed up ready to go out for our ‘Sunday Roast Lunch’ later at the ‘Cocomo’ restaurant past Estepona on the ‘Golden Mile’See below;

On the way we are going to call into Estepona for a glass of something ‘sparking’!  We called into the 4**** 'H10 Estepona' for two nice glasses of chilled Cava,See the pictures below.On the way back we checked out the progress on the new 'Orchid House'

We have come back to a very warm and sunny Manilva after the most special Roast Lunch' at 'Cocomo' It is the finest Sunday Lunch on the 'Costa Del Sol - the setting is perfect and the staff and service exceptional. We started with a Prawn cocktail with Smoked Salmon for Brenda and I had the Cod Fishcakes with a light Curry Mayonnaise,Brenda had a very nice glass of Chilian Sauvigon Blanc while I was on my 'Cuba Libre'

For the main course we both asked for the Roast Sirloin of Beef ( Three slices!) 'Rare'and that's how it arrived,topped with a Yorkshire Pudding and resting on three perfect 'Goose Fat Roast Potatoes; the vegetable selection was cooked 'Aldente' and the Sugar Snap Peas were to die for - the rich 'Jus' gravy was just right! Brenda had a glass of Australian Rosemount Estate Shirez.We could not manage any desserts so no Jam Sponge with Custard & Ice Cream for me!! The 'Set 2 Course' menu is,wait for it, 12 euros and the Chef is 'Thai' !! See the pictures above.

The bookings for next week in ‘Doggy World Heaven’ have firmed up ‘Reina’ is with us on Tuesday & Thursday as normal and ‘Scruffy’ is back for the day on Tuesday and then on Friday as Rose is well and back in work.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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