A VERY CLOSE & WARM SUNNY MANILVA ON FRIDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEKEND.

FRIDAY 25^th/ AUGUST 2017.

We were both up early this morning, Brenda saw ‘ Reina’ back with us for the day and I shot off on my travels, first to the local surgery to book an appointment for my blood tests etc, Monday morning, then another appointment with our Doctor for a check/up review and to arrange our appointment with the new Chiropodist, Monday morning also, ‘RESULT’

I then carried on down to Sabinillas for the weekly shopping, I called into ‘ Itzabar ‘ for my toast & tea before ‘ Mercadona’ opened, after a large shop in a very busy supermarket I went along to the Retail/Wholesale Fruit & Vegetables Market for some Baby New Potatoes in their skins, it’s changed hands after being in the same family for many years, not as good selection but still very good.

Next on my travels was the ‘ Ferreteria’s ‘ for a pair of step ladders, to be able to water/change the new wall pots, I then picked up the local ‘English’ newspapers in the ‘English Bookshop’-  it was then time to shoot along the promenade, to far end, for the fresh flowers & plants, finally I called into ‘ Super Sol’ for the ‘English’ essentials, before coming back up the hill through the vine fields, all the ‘foreign’ grape pickers are out, early, before the sun gets too hot.

While I was down in Sabinillas the ‘Chi Chi Pom Charanga’ Band ‘ started along the promenade announcing the opening of this weekend’s ‘Feria De San Luis De Sabinillas ‘ at the same time firing rockets into the sky. The ‘Feria’ is spread around the town and goes on until Sunday evening when it ends with a fireworks display on the beach.

See the band below;

Speaking of hot sunshine, this morning has started very cloudy & close, there is just a very light breeze, at times, I arrived back at the house like a wet rag, by this afternoon it’s due to reach 28/29 degs, staying the same over the weekend, the start of next week is now going to be wet & cold, reaching only 24/25 degs, so the rain will still be warm! On Thursday, just in time for the ‘ Vendimia Wine Festival’ it’s going back to warm sunshine, with no clouds, over the ‘party’ weekend, watch this space.

At lunchtime we went up to ' Bar Rojas' for a cool drink sat under the ' Sonbrajo' - which is being knocked down in September when the Council starts work on the re-development of 'Calle Mar'

Today’s ‘Stage 7 ‘ of the ‘ Vuelta a Espana 17’ goes from ‘Llira to Cuenca’ over 207 kms, the longest stage of the tour, Chris Froome made more time yesterday on his nearest rivals, and retained the race leaders ‘ Red Jersey’

See the route map below;

For our supper this evening we are having pan-seared ‘Fillets of Turbut ‘ dusted in flour, with lots of Lemon wedges on the side, Garden Peas, Broccoli Florets & Parsley New Potatoes, tomorrow night it’s going to be ‘ Grilled Fillet Steaks’ with all the trimmings and then on Sunday we are having, for a change, ‘ Baked English Pork Chops’ with glazed ‘Fuji’ Apple slices and ‘Rissole’ Potatoes using the Baby New Potatoes in their skins, parboiled, then tossed in foaming butter, with parsley, until golden brown on all sides!

Last night at around 11-00 pm we had a series of short power cuts going  on until 1-00 am, this means that we lost the TV systems, that now need resetting, Lee is calling in when they collect ‘ Reina’ this evening to fix the system, the computer system is back in working order, watch this space.

Now for some nostalgia/history from Liverpool, back in 1941, on May 4^th during the ‘ Blitz’ a barrage balloon was set on fire and landed on the deck on the ‘ Malakand’ berthed in Huskisson Dock, it was an ammunitions/bomb ship and was set alight, the local Fire Brigade, from Bootle, was called out to attend, including my father, Tommy Sexton, the ‘Ladder Man’ – it burnt all night and then in the morning it exploded, the firemen all stayed at their posts, only moving away at the moment when they could do no more, parts of the ship where blown over 2 miles into Stanley Park! There were fatalities but it was ‘ hushed up’ at the time, see the picture below of the totally destroyed dock & ship!

We are taking things easy over the weekend, relaxing, reading, eating & drinking, more ‘ ings’ but different this time!

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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