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

FRIDAY 16^th/ FEBRUARY 2018. “ THE CHINESE NEW YEAR OF THE DOG “

I was up first this morning and after a quick freshen up I shot off on my travels down to Sabinillas for the weekly shopping, all along the vine fields they are burning the dead branches, the smell of the smoke is quiet intoxicating, as you drive down the road.

Meanwhile back at the house Brenda looked after ‘ Chico’ – who as usual slept all night across the foot of the bed, she took him for his first walk of the day, he’s with us until Tuesday, ‘Reina’ is back with us next week for four days and on Wednesday ‘ Scobby’ arrives back with us for 5/6 days, as usual ‘ Chispa’ is in and out all the time to see all her friends and us! ‘ Doggy World Heaven’ is open!!

I did the main shop in ‘ Mercadona’ and then walked along to the ‘English Bookshop’ for the local newspapers, I then called into the local garage and gave the car a jet wash, before calling into ‘ Super Sol’ for the English essentials, after unloading back at the house I put the car away in the underground car park and then had a quick cup of tea & toast before retiring upstairs to the office/studio to go on the ‘WWW’ and type/post the Blog.

This morning the sun was out early and the sky was bright blue as I set off down to Sabinillas, there is just a very slight breeze, at the moment it’s still ‘ crisp’ but by lunchtime, no doubt, it will be warm in the sunshine, hovering on the 17/18 degs+ mark, tomorrow it’s going to be even nicer, reaching 20 degs, then sadly, on Sunday, the unsettled weather is due to hit us, going colder with some rain, next week is now looking the same, with the rain at times heavy, for the rest of the week, watch this space.

At lunchtime went for a nice long walk with 'Chico' around the bottom of the village, in the hot sunshine, and ended up on the old lower by-pass, so we called into 'Bar Pedreta' and had a nice drink and some excellent ' Tapas' (4) - all for 9-50 euros! 

This evening for our supper we are having ‘ Posh Fish’n Chips’ – Fillets of Hake dipped in a ‘ Cruzecampo Beer Batter ‘ – then deep-fried, accompanied with a ‘ Homemade Tartar’ sauce and lots of Lemon Wedges, with Mushy Peas & twice-cooked hand-cut ‘ Chips’

On Saturday it’s going be my version of the classic ‘ Steak Diane ‘ using trimmed ‘ French’ style ‘Entrecote Steaks’ and for our ‘Sunday Roast’ I have, for a change, bought a ‘ Campo’ Corn-Fed Chicken’- the Spanish version of the classic French 'Volaille de Bresse ' - which we are having with an ‘ Apple & Herb’ Stuffing along with a large selection of local fresh vegetables, of course, my famous ‘ Goose-Fat Roast Potatoes’ & finger-licking Pan Gravy!

Sadly Lee was not able to sort out our multi-channel ‘TV’ System, there is a major problem with the support codes etc?! Hopefully he’s working on it, I’ve had E-Mails arriving with new support ticket codes, so ‘ fingers-crossed’ he’s able to get it working before the start of the weekend, watch this space.

PS; He's calling in this evening as he has found the problem ! 

Just a quick update on the ‘Contractors’ working on the redevelopment of ‘ Calle Mar’ – which is now totally closed, as  ‘Phase 2 ‘ begins, after speaking to our friend Mario, the Mayor, they are now forecasting that the works won’t be finished before the ‘ summer’?!

All the new stone paving/flagging is ready in Seville and the work will start at the top of the street and work down past the Town Hall- past the top of our street and on down to the junction, all this means that the celebrations of ‘ Andalucia Day ‘ ( 28^th February) will now take place down in the  ‘Pabellon Centre’ by the sports complex, the ‘ Carnival ‘ celebrations, usually next weekend, are yet to notified where they are taking place and after speaking to a ‘ Brotherhood ‘ friend the ‘ Semana Santa’ religious parades over the pre ‘Easter Week’ will be taking place in other parts of the village, watch this space.

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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