THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM A RATHER COLD SUNNY MANILVA ON ' NEW YEARS EVE 2017'

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A VERY 'CRISP' & COLD SUNNY MANILVA ON SUNDAY - ' NEW YEARS EVE ' 2017.

SUNDAY 31^st/ DECEMBER 2017.   “ NEW YEARS EVE 2017 “  

We had another nice lie in this morning before the church bells started calling the faithful; after showering we had our regular breakfast of fresh fruit, toast & tea before getting the day on the go.

‘ Chispa’ has been in & out over the past couple of days, we had not seen her over Christmas as Isobel has not been very well , so was not letting her out, yesterday Brenda took her for a walk (Chispa!) down to the local post office to post a card, this evening ‘ Reina ‘ is with us as Daniela’ has a ‘ gig’ down in ‘Puerto de la Duquesa’ – she’s being collected later. Then tomorrow evening we have ‘ Scruffy’ back with us for the evening, as Adrian & Rose are going to a party. Next week, at the moment ‘ Reina’ is with us for her normal four days from Tuesday.

On Tuesday morning I’m going down to Sabinillas to the ‘English Bookshop’ for a wedding card as some friends here in the village, James & Michala, are getting married over in Gibraltar, later in the week, they have been together for nearly 15 years, their two sons go to the local school, they are coming back to the village and having a little ‘ do’ in one of the local bars, it also happens to be on the same day as the ‘ Three Kings – Fiesta de los Reyes ’ celebrations, we are waiting to hear if/where the traditional procession is taking place this year?! Watch this space.

On the way back I’m calling into the garage to see Pedro, as he’s going to check the car out, as we are not very happy with a noise, from the front end, after the repairs etc, watch this space.

This morning has started a little cooler than yesterday, it’s overcast & cloudy and there is a stiff breeze, making it ‘ crisp’ to say the least, by lunchtime it’s forecast to only reach 17 degs+! Tomorrow and over the next few days we will be back to normal, warm & sunny hovering on the 20 degs mark, then next weekend we are in for a ‘ cold snap’ with the temperatures dropping down to as low as 11 degs, overnight 6 degs by Saturday/Sunday, with some of the ‘wet stuff’ still in the air! Very low and not normal for the time of the year. Watch this space.

See below a picture of the ‘Royal Liver Building’ at the Pier Head in Liverpool.

For our supper this evening we are having seared ‘ Medallions of Pork Fillet’ accompanied with a creamy ‘ Green Peppercorn Salsa ‘ with finely sliced Green Beans & ‘Pommes de Tere Rissolees’  – ‘ French Browned Potatoes ‘ – par-boiled then diced and sautéed in foaming Butter until crisp & brown all over!For our ‘ New Years Day’ roast we are having a ‘Topside of Beef’ from the English Butchers, with of course Yorkshire Puddings and ‘ Goose Fat ‘ Roast Potatoes along with a selection of vegetables.

This evening we will be celebrating two ‘ New Years Eves’ as usual, first we see in the ‘New Year’ here in Spain, we will watch the celebrations from the main square in Madrid, then an hour later, when we are tuned into “ Jools’ Annual Hootenanny ‘ to welcome in the New Year over in the UK,  we have just spoken to Lyn & Jack over in Melbourne to wish them a ‘ Healthy, Wealthy & Happy ‘ 2018, they were just going across to the residents club to see in the New Year over in Australia.

Tomorrow we are calling Sandra & Bill over in Everett, Ontario, Canada, to also give them our love and best wishes for 2018, we are expecting to hear that it’s very cold with lots of heavy snow, as on the news today it’s showing that ‘ Niagara Falls ‘ are freezing over, not very far from where they live!!





See below 'Everett ' today !! 

Thoughts for the Day ;  See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

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A WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON SATURDAY.

SATURDAY 30^th/ DECEMBER 2017.

We had a nice lie in this morning as the village is very quiet, no church bells, yet, no children going to school, no deliveries down our street, no traffic and no neighbours chatting, so far! After sorting ourselves out we had our normal breakfast of fresh fruit, toast & tea. We are taking things very easy today, Brenda is on one of her ‘ ing’ days – washing, drying, cleaning, watering etc and I’m up in the office/studio on the ‘ WWW’ catch’ing’ up with the ‘E-Mails, Facebook Messages, Skype, the Newspapers, BBC News etc!

It’s another glorious day down here on the ‘ Costa Del Sol ‘ – the sun was out early and the sky has cleared, there is a very light breeze so It’s warm on the sunny side of the street, very pleasant for the time of the year, 19/20 degs+ by lunchtime, tomorrow is the same but a little cooler, on Monday ‘ New Years Day 2018 ‘ it’s going to be warmer for the start of the week, sadly by Friday the forecast is for some of the wet stuff to return, going cold by next Saturday, watch this space.

See the picture taken earlier this morning showing the Bay of Colwyn looking towards Penmaen Head and on to Rhyl, North Wales.

At lunchtime we went ups to ' Bar Rojas' for a nice cool drink sat in the very warm sunshine, Mano came along and joined us, we had not seen him for 4/5 weeks!

This evening for our supper we are having a large ‘ Entrecote Steak ‘ cooked on a very hot griddle-plate ‘ Med-Rare ‘ and then left to rest, before carving it into fingers’ French Style’ – garnished with seared Asparagus Spears & Button Mushrooms and accompanied with ‘Bearnaise’ sauce, whole Baby French Green Beans and of course twice-cooked ‘ Chips’

On the sports front the weekend over in the ‘Premier League’ Everton have the long journey down to Bournemouth, Liverpool welcome Leicester City and Manchester City are going down the M1 to play Crystal Palace, no football over here in ‘ La Liga’ as they have a seasonal break, this afternoon we will be watching the ‘ National Hunt Racing ‘ from Newbury, Haydock Park & Tauton!

This evening we will channel hop and try to find something to watch, the ‘Xmas’ programmes on the main terrestrial channels are not good, the old classic films have kept us going! Watch this space.

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM A SUNNY MANILVA;

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A ' CRISP' & SUNNY MANILVA ON FRIDAY AT THE START OF THE ' NEW YEARS ' WEEKEND.

FRIDAY 29^th/ DECEMBER 2017.

I was up early this morning and after a quick freshen up I shot off on my travels down to Sabinillas for the weekly shopping, I had a toast & tea in ‘ Itzabar’ before ‘ Mercadona’ opened, after the main shop I walked along to the ‘English Bookshop’ to post a birthday card and collect the local English newspapers, next I stopped at ‘ Super Sol ‘ for the English essentials, before shooting back up the hill through the vine fields, after unloading back at the house I put the car away in the Council car park, It’s going in for a check up on Tuesday morning, I spoke to Pedro yesterday, as there is a noise that we don’t like coming from the engine?! Watch this space.

No ‘ Reina’ this morning as Daniela is working from home, as her car broke down on the way to work yesterday morning, she’s back with us New Years Eve, ‘ Scruffy’ is coming for the evening on New Years Day, next week ‘Reina’ is with us on Tuesday, for four days, we are also waiting to hear if ‘ Bo’ is back with us for 2/3 days, watch this space.

The sun was out first thing this morning as I was dropping down to Sabinillas, the ‘ Mediterranean’ was sparkling, for a change, the sky had a red glow, with some clouds in the distance, there is a light breeze, making it still pleasant on the sunny side of the street, it’s due to reach 20degs+ by lunchtime, over the ‘ New Year’s’ weekend it’s going a little warmer and next week is now looking dry & settled with sunshine, hovering on the 22 degs mark, 11 degs during the night, watch this space.

See below the far end of the promenade in Sabinillas yesterday evening.

And the beach this morning !!

For our supper this evening we are having ‘ Goujons of Fillet of Hake ‘ using breadcrumbs from the local Bakery, with Mushy Peas and twice-cooked ‘ Frits ‘ – Homemade Tartar sauce on the side, with lots of Lemon Wedges! Saturday nights ‘ Steak Night’ is going to be a large Entrecote’ with all the trimmings, on Sunday, New Years Eve, we are having ‘Medallions of Pork Fillet’ with a creamy Green Pepper Salsa – for ‘ New Years Day’ we are roasting – ‘Topside of Beef ‘ with Yorkshire Puddings and Goose Fat Roast Potatoes etc!

This evening we will be channel hopping again as the ‘Xmas ‘programmes are not very good, as usual, yesterday we watched three classic old films, “ The Vikings “ from 1958, with Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh & Ernest Borgnine, we still sing along to the music! – then “ The Heroes of Telemark “ from 1965, again with Kirk Douglas, Richard Harris, Michael Redgrave & Ulla Jacobsson, a true story about Hitler’s attempt to make an Atomic Bomb, and finally “ The Man Who Never Was “ from 1956, another true story, with Clifton Webb, Stephen Boyd, Robert Fleming, Gloria Graham & Josephine Griffin, about the body of dead man, dressed in military uniform, with fake invasion papers, dropped off the coast of southern Spain by a submarine, to deceive the German agents in the area about the invasion of Italy, ‘ Operation Mincemeat ‘ was the most successful wartime deception, it happens to be in the newspapers this morning, as details have just been released about the spymaster that planned it!! They don’t make films like these today!!

We must thank all our family and friends all over the World, for all the Christmas Cards, that are still arriving, our local postman has been very good, one or two surprises, the cards are in the post! Australia and Canada especially, all arrived here in sunny Manilva, sadly ours to them have still not arrived, despite being posted on the 1^st December by special post, I checked again with Steve at the ‘English Bookshop’ this morning, watch this space.

PS; Don’t forget that we still look forward to receiving ‘Post Cards ‘ when you are out & about in 2018!

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM A NEARLY SUNNY MANILVA;

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