A STILL VERY ' CRISP' & SUNNY MANILVA ON FRIDAY, AT THE START OF THE WEEKEND.

FRIDAY 17^th/ NOVEMBER 2017.

I was up early this morning and shot off on my travels down to Sabinillas for the weekly shopping, after a quick freshen up, I called into ‘ Itzabar’ for  toast & tea before ‘ Mercadona’ opened, after doing the shopping I walked along to the ‘ English Bookshop’ to post a birthday card, it could be you! -  I also collected the local ‘English’ newspapers.

I then dropped down to ‘ Puerto de la Duquesa’ to call into the ‘ English Butchers’ and ordered the ‘ Xmas’ Turkey, ‘ Crowned ‘ along with a Loin of Pork, with the skin/fat on, for ‘ Crackling’! Finally I shot along to the far end of the promenade to pick up the fresh flowers from the local market, before coming back up the hill, through the vine fields, to our house to unload.

Next I went to our local garage and spoke to Pedro, he’s taking the car across to the new ‘ ITV- MOT ‘ inspection complex over in Estepona, this afternoon, ‘ fingers crossed’ for a good result, watch this space.

We have yet another glorious day down here on the ‘ Costa Del Sol’ – the sun was out early and the ski is bright blue, there is no breeze but it’s still very ‘ crisp’ in the shade, it’s due to reach 18/19 degs by lunchtime, over the weekend it’s staying the same and next week is now looking settled, warm & sunny, hovering on the 20 degs mark, very pleasant for the time of the year, watch this space.

In ‘ Doggy World Heaven’ this weekend we are ‘ doggy free’ – ‘Reina’ is back with us next week, for four days, from Tuesday, we have lots of bookings coming up, ‘ Chico ‘  is back and of course ‘ Charlie ‘ is with us over ‘ Xmas’ – not forgetting ‘ Chispa’ who of course comes crashing in & out all the time!

At lunchtime we went along to ' Bar Castillo' but sadly Juan is away on holiday for the weekend, ' Plan B' was ' Bar Ocaña' but it's closed on Friday, so it was ' Plan C' - ' Cafe Plaza ' for a change, sat on the warm, sunny side of the street, we had nice cool drinks and a little selection of Tapas,all very tasty and well presented, we shall return, watch this space. 

See below the classic " Dom Ruinart Rose " that was served on the first inaugural passenger flight of of ' Concord' back in 1976, we had a customer from the ' Hotel Seventy Degrees' who was on the flight and gave us a bottle as a way of thanks, ' Happy Memories'!

For our supper this evening we are having Deep-Fried ' Goujons of Hake Fillet ' with Mushy Peas & twice-cooked ' Chips' - 'Homemade' Tartar sauce on the side, tomorrow night it's going to 'Grilled Fillet Steaks' with all the trimmings and then on Sunday it's my famous 'Smoked Chicken & Three Green Bean Risotto' 

We are having another quiet weekend taking things very easy, the Council’ have all sorts of things going on during December, leading up to Christmas, this year, for the first time, there is going to be a “ Manilva Gastronomic Food & Wine Festival “ taking place on the ‘ Plaza de la Vendimia’ over two days, at the start of the month, with music & dancing, see the poster below.

There are various trips out, including the one to see the ‘Xmas’ lights turned on in Malaga, which I booked for the other day, there are ‘Flamenco Concerts’ taking place in the ‘ Casa De Torres Cultural Centre’ in the next street to ours, and of course the ‘ Xmas’ Carol Concert in the Church, it’s all happening in sunny Manilva this December, watch this space.

Last night we watched on ‘BBC TV 1’ the start of a new series written and produced by Kay Mellor, ‘ Love, Lies & Records ‘ starring Ashley Jensen. It all takes place in the ‘Greater Leeds Registry Office’ – about the lives and loves of the staff, a very good opening episode, one to follow.

See below a very ' Happy ' 'Sir' Malcolm live on air from the ' Castle Radio FM ' Studio, the show could be back ' on -air ' very soon, watch this space!

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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