THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

A CRISP & SUNNY MANILVA ON MONDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEK;

MONDAY 30^th NOVEMBER 2015.

Just a little lie in this morning as the workmen were in full knocking mode as they arrived; we had our usual breakfast and then sorted our week ahead out. I first put a small Ham on to boil which we will use for sandwiches and also in tomorrows ‘Chicken, Ham & Mushroom Tarragon Pie’ I then shot down to the butchers for some Escalope of Chicken for this evenings supper, I also bought a boned Leg & Thigh of Chicken to go in the pie mix and finally some Calves Liver for later in the week!

On the way back I stopped at the Chemists in Calle Mar for some prescriptions tablets for Brenda and then picked up three very large and beautiful Poinsettia’s from the local ladies charity stall, you can never have enough of them! The sun is just braking through and the sky is blue, its crisp and by lunchtime it will reach 21/22 degs, its still cold during the night so we are going into the ‘winter’ Duvet mode!

In ‘Doggy World Heaven’ this week ‘Reina’ is here as usual on Tuesday & Thursday for the day and then ‘Barny’ is back for a long weekend break on Saturday, ‘Chispa’ is in and out all the time and even called in last night after we came back from Puerto Banus and so she had her ‘Doggy Bag’ meal early” 

 As were getting ready we were listening to ‘Castle Radio FM 89.2’ as it was the ‘Pete Black’ lunchtime request show, I sent in a request and he played ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ by Van Morrison for my ‘child bride’! See the picture below before we set off.

Speaking of Puerto Banus, we had a ‘Helluva’ Sunday Lunch out at the ‘La Sala’ celebrity restaurant; the ‘Hotel Princess’ in Estepona was closed for pre-xmas holidays so we carried on to the restaurant, I left the ‘Ferrari – Red Fiesta’ in the hands of the Valet Parking ( complementary! ) – the car before  us was a Black Bentley that had just cut me up! As we were early for our booking we were able to sit outside on the terrace in the afternoon sunshine and had two nice glasses of chilled ‘Cava Rosado’ to start; we then found a nice table in the middle of the busy restaurant which already had a nice atmosphere with the ‘in crowd’ as the afternoon ‘Duo’ played in the main bar.

 The ‘Amuse Bouches’ that came along was some beautiful crisp ‘Pork Cracking’ with Apple sauce To start Brenda had a very nice & large Smoked Salmon parcel filled with Advocado and I had an excellent  Cream of Spinach Soup, for our main course Brenda chose the Roast Pork and I had the Roast Sirloin of Beef, they both came with very large ‘Guinness’ Yorkshire Puddings and resting on a bed of seasonal local vegetables of Red Cabbage, Mange Tout, Carrot & Parsnip strips and Broccoli florets, the Cauiflower Mornay was separate in a small bowl, I asked for an extra sauceboat of the excellent Red Wine Gravy and also some more of the Goose Fat Roast Potatoes!

My Beef was very good and Med-Rare as I asked for it, Brenda’s Pork was cut a little thicker than we like but was very tasty, overall very good and we would go again. Brenda had a nice glass of the House Sauvigon Blanc to start and their excellent House Rioja with her main course, I had my usual Bacardi & Coke as you can see in the pictures below!

In the early evening a six piece ‘Combo’ with two saxophone players started playing “ Mustang Sally “ followed by a up-beat version, by chance, of “Brown Eyed Girl” – so a dance was called for!! We ended with two glasses of the House Cava on the ‘house’!!

Overall we had a very nice time at ‘La Sala’ – its different to ‘Cocomo’ and the ‘Roast’ is not as good and could not be beaten and of course more expensive but we shall return again for the atmosphere & service.

PS, Andy Murray won the 'Davies Cup' for England for the first time in 79 years! Liverpool won 1-0 & Real Madrid won 0-2 and finally Rosberg won the 'Abu Dhabi Grand Prix'

PPS, The first of our 'Pensions' has just arrived in our new Bank account, and its up on last month as the Euro is also!

Thoughts for the Day ; See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

A WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON SUNDAY.

SUNDAY 29^th/ NOVEMBER 2015.

                                                        " MALCOLM & BRENDA'S 44th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY"

We started the day with a nice lie in, well its the 44^th wedding anniversary after all! We then had for our breakfast treat ‘Scrambled ‘Campo’ Eggs on Toast & Smoked Salmon’ with a nice glass of chilled ‘Bucks Fizz’ made with a local Cava. See below.

Start the day as we plan to go on I say; later we are showering and freshening ourselves up, then selecting the trousseau’s  before we head out on our travels down here on the ‘Costa Del Sol’ We are calling into the ‘Estepona Princess’for a nice glass of their ‘House Cava’ on the way across to Puerto Banus to go to the ‘La Sala’ celebrity restaurant for a late Sunday lunch with live music!

Its clear and dry and there is no breeze, as forecast, later it will warm up and the sun will be out as we drive along the coast road by the side of the sparkling Mediterrnean; ‘Reina’ slept in her new duvet across the foot of the bed and is being collected later. She’s back on Tuesday & Thursday as normal and on Tuesday Lee is joining us for supper as Daniela is away in London on business.

Yesterday we watched sport for most of the day and then in the evening we caught ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ In the ‘Davies Cup’ the Murray brothers won in a very exciting match, over in Abu Dhabi at the’Grand Prix’ Rosberg grabbed the pole position in the final second, there are some people over there, who we know, from the English Duquesa Marina ‘crowd’ Then Barcelona won 4-0 with a spectacular goal from Suarez in the early kick off, over in England Everton drew with Bournemouth 3-3 after going into the lead in the 5^th minute of extra time only for Bournemouth to score on the 8^th minute! Manchester city won 3-1. Oh and yes over in Germany the British Boxer Tyson Fury, from Manchester, beat Kiltschko and won three world Heavyweight titles!!!

Watch out for some pictures later as celebrate our 44^th wedding anniversary in style, our wedding was on a Monday, all those years ago, it took place in the Model village of Port Sunlight at the ‘Bridge Inn’ as I was the Resident Assistant Manager, our dear friend Jane’s dad, Bert Horsley, was the Manager that I worked for and learned so much from, he also told me to marry Brenda – in his words “ Don’t miss her”! See the picture below of the hotel.my flat was on the left,first floor, with the large bay windows!

The wedding took place in the'Christ Church' next to the hotel and our best man was Fred Mellor, a born & bread Port Sunlight ‘boy’ He died tragically very young and left our dear friend Carol with their three children, he was buried at the church as was Carol some years later and his eldest daughter Yola was married in the same church – lots of happy memories as well as sad ones over the years.See the church below;

                                                                                                      AND FINALLY 44 YEARS LATER;

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

A CRISP & CALM SUNNY MANILVA ON SATURDAY;

SATURDAY 28^th/ NOVEMBER 2015.

A nice lie in this morning as the village is quiet and there are no workmen on the site; I then got up and put the gas bottle out ready for the delivery man to call with the new one, he carries it through to our back store, the price which is controlled by the government is also down! Its another fine day here in sunny Manilva with no breeze so it will warm up by lunchtime, tomorrow is also fine and next week is now looking settled with sun and clear blue skies, we can’t complain for the beginning of December!! ( 22 degs! ) 

For breakfast we had ‘Campo’ Fried Eggs with crispy Smoked Bacon with lots of buttered toast and a mug of steaming tea.

This afternoon ‘Reina’ is being dropped off for a sleep over with us here in ‘Doggy World Heaven, she’s back next week on Tuesday & Thursday as normal then ‘Barny’ is back with us for a long weekend break. 'Scruffy' has just been booked in for a sleep over on the Saturday night also!

Yesterday at lunchtime we bought our Xmas Lottery ticket for the ‘El Gordo – The Big One ‘ from the local Tebac, it costs 23 euros a ticket (with tax) and is the next too biggest lottery draw in the World – fingers crossed and watch this space! On the 22^nd of December we could be ‘Millionaire’s’!!

It’s a big sports weekend and now that we have English TV as well we are spoilt for choice; this afternoon its the qualifying for the last Grand Prix of the season from Abu Dhabi, then the ‘Davies Cup’ Tennis is on as England play Belgium in the final, actually its Andy Murray against the rest of the world as he wins all his games and so England are in the final for the first time! 

Later I will be watching the Horse Racing from Newbury on Channel 4 as its the ‘Hennessy Gold Cup’ In the football over in the ‘Premiere League’  Manchester City welcome Southampton and Everton travel down to Bournemouth, then tomorrow Liverpool are at home to Swansea; meanwhile over here Barcelona are at home to Real Sociedad and then tomorrow Real Madrid travel to lowly Eiber. All the football is live on the ‘First Row Sports’ channel which I can also now watch on the new system!

Last night after supper we channel hopped on English TV and watched our now usual Friday night selection, this evening we will catch ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ as it had only 4 weeks to go to the final.

For our supper we are having ‘Entrecote Steak’ cooked on a very hot griddle plate ‘Med-Rare’ with sautéed Baby Mushrooms, finely sliced Green Beans and of course some twice-cooked ‘Frits’ – then we will settle down to find a good film to watch.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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" FALLOWFIELD STADIUM " MANCHESTER IN THE 50s/60s

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

A CRISP & SUNNY MANILVA ON FRIDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEKEND;

FRIDAY 27^th NOVEMBER 2015.

We were up early this morning and after a quick breakfast we shot down to Sabinillas in the ‘Red Ferrari – Fiesta’ listening to the new radio! The sun was out early and it was not cold, just crisp, by lunchtime it will reach 21/22 degs, over the weekend its staying fine and the start of next week is now looking settled and getting a little warmer. Its a beautiful day down here on the ‘Costa Del Sol’

I called into our new bank for some cash and then collected the local newspapers from the ‘English Bookshop’ before doing our main shop in ‘Mercadona’ We then shot along the promenade for some fresh flowers & plants before finally calling into ‘Super Sol’ for some English essentials.

When we returned to our house I went along to the chemists for my prescriptions, keep taking the tablets, as our Doctor says! We are taking things easy today as we are out playing on Sunday as its our 44^th wedding anniversary, we have booked a table at ‘La Sala’ the celebrity restaurant over in Puerto Banus.

At lunchtime we went up 'Bar Castillo' and had a very nice 'al-fresco' Tapas lunch sat in the warm sunshine under a bright blue sky taking in the sights, sounds, & aromas of sunny Manilva.

For our supper this evening I’m making my famous ‘Seafood Risotto’ with large Gambas & Prawns, Shrimps, Cod, Mussels, Crab, Saffron Rice with diced Red & Green Peppers, Garden Peas, White Wine ( thanks Brenda !) and a rich Fish stock. See below;

Just some more memories from the 50s/60s with my Dad ‘Tommy Sexton’ One of regular rides/ day out was when we used to go over to Manchester down the East Lancashire Road to go to the “ Fallowfield Stadium’ – the home of the ‘Manchester Wheelers Club’ - to watch the  track cycling on the concrete oval 509 yard outdoor track with 30 degs banking; it was when the World Champion was the legendary Reg Harris and all the great champions of Belgium, France & Italy used to race against him in the sprints!

It was the forerunner of  indoor ‘ ‘Velodrome Cycling’ As it happens the commentator at the time was the now ‘infamous’ Jimmy Savile'!  Now not a lot of people know that, they do now!! See the pictures above of the track and Reg Harris in his 'Rainbow' Champions  jersey as well as his 'Carlton' team jersey,my dad road for the same team, but for distance races, and had a special 'Carlton' bike which he once let my ride when I was old enough! The picture of the two riders 'standing still' on their pedals was the classic move by sprinters to get the advantage and could last for over 20 minutes!

Last night after supper we watched a Clint Eastwood produced & directed movie with him starring also called ‘Gran Torino’ from 2008; its a drama with Bee Vang, Amhey Her, & Christoper Carly about a old grumpy veteran with a heart, the title refers to his old car, the classic Ford muscle car the ‘Gran Torino’ Watch it right up to the end.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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" LIVERPOOL DOCKS " " GLADSTONE GRAVING DOCK & THE MAMMOTH "