A NOW VERY WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON MONDAY AT THE START OF THE FIRST WEEK IN OCTOBER !

MONDAY 1^st/OCTOBER 2018 !

NEWS UPDATE;   WE ARE BACK !! 

Good Morning from sunny Manilva, well nearly sunny, as it’s a little grey & overcast to start, after a quick freshen up Brenda took ‘ Chico’ for his first walk of the day, he sleeps all night on the marble floor under the bed, it’s the start of his second week, he’s with us in ‘ Doggy World Heaven’ until a week on Friday, when they returned we had our usual light breakfast of Weetabix’ fresh fruit, toast and tea, it was then time to plan our menu’s for the week ahead.

This evening we are having ‘Pan-Seared Escalope’s of Chicken Breast’ finished with a Balsamic Vinegar & Lime Butter Salsa, with Glazed Carrot Batons & Broccoli Florets, accompanied with twice-cooked ‘ Chips ‘ – “ Posh Chicken & Chips “! On Tuesday evening it’s going to be a ‘Soft Mixed Grill’ with sautéed Potatoes, then on Wednesday I will be making my now famous ‘Chicken & Mushroom Tarragon Casserole’ with a selection of fresh local vegetables and Baked Potatoes, Thursday is find something in the fridge day and on Friday we will be having a ‘ Fish’n Chip Supper’ with Mushy Peas, as usual Saturday will be ‘ Steak Night’ and then on Sunday we will be ‘Roasting’ – TBC!

This week in ‘ Doggy World Heaven ‘ we have ‘ Chico’ with us, he very easy to look after, he eats very well, is great company and walks at our ‘Pensioner’ pace, to all his regular spots, he gets on with all the other dogs, ‘ Chispa’ has been joining us on our various walks, last week little princess ‘Reina’ was with us for just one day, this week she is not joining us, but next week she will be here for 4 days from Monday.

Over last week we had a lovely warm & sunny, hot at times, weather front over us, down here on the ‘ Costa Del Sol ‘ – this week is starting a little grey & overcast but by lunchtime, when the sun break through it’s due to reach 31 degs+ - there is stiff breeze arriving by Wednesday, making it a lot cooler, down to 23/24 degs, overnight 17/18, keeping it more bearable at night time, but still with the fans on when required! Next week is looking warm & sunny, with patchy clouds, hovering in the mid 20s, with just a small possibility of the ‘wet-stuff’ – by the weekend when the folks are due to arrive from Canada, back to dry, warm & sunny, fingers crossed, watch this space.

See the beach, this morning, down at the far-end of Sabinillas, with just a few locals about!

 NB; We are at the moment, this afternoon, in the middle of a very heavy rain storm with thunder & lightening despite it not being forecast and it's still 31 degs*! 

Now for a catch-up with last week, after all the problems, hopefully all finished now, just waiting for our new Debit Cards to arrive in the post & to hear from the ‘Fraud Department’ of our Bank!!

Monday 24^th:

In the evening we jumped into a taxi and went down to the ’Puerto de la Duquesa Marina’ and had, as usual a lovely meal at the “ Kinnaree Thai Restaurante” for my 73^rd birthday, to start their excellent ‘ Steamed Prawn Dim Sum & Thai Vegetable Spring Rolls’ with ‘ Hot-Sauce’ – Brenda had the ‘ Stir-Fried Lamb Fillet with Chilli Oil, Lemongrass & Basil Leaves ‘ with her favourite ‘ Vegetable Chow Mien Noodles ‘ – I had my usual, the ‘Massamen King Prawn Curry’ *** with the excellent ‘Three Delights Egg Fried Rice’ – finished with a drink on the ‘house’- Brandy for Brenda and a Caramel Vodka for me!

See the pictures below,

Tuesday 25^th:

 We joined Jane, for her 70^th birthday celebration with her husband Alfred, sat outside in the warm evening late sunshine, outside ‘ Cafeteria Nacho’ with a group of their, ex-pat friends, including Adrian & Rose ( Scruffy) for a nice glass of chilled Cava and lots of drinks( on the host!) – with Nacho’s excellent ‘ Assorted Montaditos ‘ – Tapa-sized bread rolls -  ( Chicken, Pork & Bacon & Cheese)  with lots of crispy ‘ Frits’ on the side, we took a small cake and sung ‘ Happy Birthday ‘ in English, later in Spanish, a very pleasant evening, as the local joined in as they passed by.

Wednesday 26th :

The ‘ Council’ announced that they are going to install ‘Pedestrian Traffic Lights’ on the main roundabout down in Sabinillas, it has 7 junctions/cross-over’s, so it’s going to be interesting to see how it works, especially at the height of the season!  Watch this space.

See below;

Thursday 27^th:

The new ‘ Calle Mar ‘ was opened to traffic, for the first time, there is a weight restriction and no parking, on either side, from Monday ( 8-00 am) to Friday ( 2 00pm )  - closed for all traffic over the rest of the weekend! There is a dedicated space for the Chemists & Hotel Ocaña, they have also changed the traffic flow, our street and the next one along, by ‘Bar Castillo’ are now one-way-down and Calle Iglasia ‘ has been changed to one-way- up! Watch this space to see what happens !!

See below;

Friday 28^th:

I popped down to Sabinillas for the weekly shopping, a small one, as we had no Debit Cards, just a little cash!

Saturday/Sunday 29^th/30^th September: 

A big sports weekend;

 Manchester City won 2-0, Everton finally won 3-0 & Liverpool drew 1-1, over here, Barcelona had a lucky draw 1-1 & Real Madrid a goal- less draw with Atletico Madrid, Lewis Hamilton won the ‘Russian Grand Prix’- when his team-mate let him pass, on team orders!

Over in Innsbruck, Austria, it was the ‘ World Road Race Championships ‘ as finally the Spanish rider Alejandro Valverde, won the Rainbow Jersey, after a monstrous final climb, to a sprint finish with three other riders! He’s been previously on the podium six times!!

Meanwhile in Paris, at the spectacular ‘ Le Golf Nations’ golf course, in front of huge, noisy, partisan, crowds, as usual, the Europe team, with some new young rookies, beat the United States, mega-team 17 and half point to 10 and a half points to with the ‘ Ryder Cup’ back!  The two Spanish players, Rahm & Garcia, beat Fowler & Woods, Molinaria hit the winning ball and on the final hole of the day Swedish  rookie/golfer Alec Noren hit a spectacular long winning put!!

So we are back to normal, for now, we are just starting to get rather excited, as on Sunday the 14^th October Sandra & Bill are due to arrive from Everett, Ontario, Canada, down here on the ‘ Costa Del Sol’ – to stay in an apartment down in Sabinillas for two weeks, after flying into Spain, via Barcelona ! Watch this space.

PS; Just a quick update on the Bars along ‘Calle Mar’  ‘Bar Rojas’ is back to opening all the time, with a ‘ Menu Del Dia’ at lunchtime, ‘Cafeteria Nacho’ is also back to normal, from today ‘Bar Castillo’ is re-opening as well as ‘Hostal Ocaña’- after their holidays, ‘Cafeteria Plaza’ is open as usual as well as ‘Bar Lucano’ at the top of the street.

PSS; Norah & Jenny are on holiday over in Menorca, the smaller Balearic island, staying at a hotel outside Mahon, they flew there on Saturday, for ten days, enjoy and have a great time in the sun, fingers crossed!

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

...