THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM A CRISP SUNNY MANILVA;

A GREY & OVERCAST CRISP SUNNY MANILVA ON SUNDAY;

SUNDAY 27^th/ DECEMBER 2015.

We had a little lie in this morning before taking ‘Barny & Charlie’ out for their first walk of the day, it was grey and overcast with a stiff breeze blowing in from the Atlantic which is thankfully keeping the rain away from us, for now! We will catch up with the weather forecast later for the week ahead, hopefully keeping dry and fine to see us into the New Year.

After breakfast we had our weekly planning meeting to sort ourselves out into 2016! Tomorrow morning ‘Reina’ is arriving very early for her weeks holiday with us as Lee & Daniela are off to New York for their belated ‘Honeymoon’( 1 year!) On Wednesday ‘Barny’ is due to be picked up when the folks return from their Xmas holiday skiing in Switzerland; ‘Charlie’ is with us until the following Monday when Brian & Jan come back from holiday over in Tenerife. I’m popping down to Sabinillas also on Wednesday to do some essential shopping, the ‘Menu’ planning meeting is tomorrow morning!

                                            " NEWSFLASH " " BREAKING NEWS "  " CASTLE RADIO FM 89.2 "

Sadly the local community radio station is having to 'close down' this evening due to Andrew the Owner/Presenter no longer being able to sustain the losses;our thoughts go out to him and his wife Karen who have provided a service to the people of the Manilva area, it will be sadly missed by all its listeners! On a personal front it means that my 'Blossoming' radio career in 2016 is over even before it started! Thank you Andrew for giving me the chance to broadcast live to the 'Masses' !! Watch this space.

PS, Andrew has just confirmed that there is a change in the game plan, its a short 'Hiatus' for a month or two to re group & restructure;many of the regular shows will continue so watch this space!!

For this evenings supper its ‘Cold Cuts’ time, we have the ‘Roast Norfolk Turkey’ ( think ‘Bernard Mathews!) ‘ Roast Rib of Local Beef’ which is ‘Pink’ and melts in your month and tastes delicious; we will have a ‘fry-up’ of the leftover vegetables & potatoes. I’ve given the ‘staff’ ( Brenda!) the day off so she’s pampering herself at the moment and we are going to take things easy for the rest of the day, at lunchtime I’m going up to ‘Bar Castillo’ for a ‘Take-Out’ Paella!

Yesterday afternoon I watched the excellent coverage on Channel 4 of the horse racing from Kempton Park when ‘Cue Card ‘ won the ‘King George V1 Chase’ in a thrilling race; over in the ‘Premiere League’ Liverpool won 1-0, Manchester City won 4-1 and Everton scored with the final kick of the game to win 0-1! Then in the evening after supper we watched the ‘Top Gear’ special of the high lights from the whole series before channel hopping.

I can't get into the old costume now!! ( 7 years ago ) 

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

A CRISP & BREEZY SUNNY MANILVA ON SATURDAY " BOXING DAY "

SATURDAY 26^th/ DECEMBER 2015.  “ BOXING DAY “

Just a little lie in this morning before we took ‘Barny & Charlie’ for their first walk of the day; its still crisp and dry but there is a stiff breeze blowing in from the Atlantic; its the tail end of the storms that are hitting the UK over the Xmas weekend, in North Wales they have severe flooding, we are due to speak to Tim & Thea this afternoon on the Skype video so we will no doubt get an update!

Both the dogs sleep all night ‘Barny’ on his bed in the lounge and ‘Charlie’ either on the settees or up in our bedroom on his duvet and then finally he joins us across the foot of the bed when its time to go out! ‘Chispa’ has been here all morning playing with them.

Its a normal day here in sunny Manilva with all the shops and bars open for business as usual, they do not celebrate Xmas & Boxing Day as we do, the big holiday celebration is the ‘Three Kings’ on the 6^th January when all the children open all their presents, the parade this year with all the floats and bands is on the Monday 4^th January 2016!

After our normal breakfast we sorted out this evenings supper/dinner; the ‘Roast Rib of Beef’ went in the oven first and then we got ready all the vegetables & potatoes; Crushed Carrots & Turnips, Cauliflower & Broccoli Florets in a three-Cheese sauce ,Brussels Sprouts & Parsnips and some Garden Peas for me! Not forgetting the Goose Fat Roast Potatoes of course and a rich Beef Pan Gravy! See the picture of the Roast Rib of Beef as it came out of the oven!

Today its a traditional football day over in the UK in the ‘Premiere League’ but over here all the teams in ‘La Liga’ are on a two week holiday! Liverpool welcome the leaders of the league Leicester, Manchester City are at home too Sunderland and Everton travel across the Pennines to Newcastle; this afternoon I will be watching the Horse Racing on ‘Channel 4’ as its the “ King George VI Chase “ from Kempton Park outside London, sadly tomorrows “ Welsh Grand National “ from Chepstow has been cancelled due to flooding!

Last night after supper we watched the  final ever episode of  “ Downton Abbey “ on ITV1 – we have only seen a few of the last episodes over here but is was nice to see it end with happiness all round!!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR XMAS DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

A WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON XMAS DAY HERE IN MANILVA;

FRIDAY 25^th/ DECEMBER 2015.  “ FELIZ NAVIDA “ “ HAPPY CHRISTMAS “

I was up early this morning because I still get excited and can’t stay in bed! I sent a request into ‘Castle Radio FM 89.2 & WWW’ first thing as Andrew was live on air from the studio in Castillo de la Duquesa on the ‘Breakfast Show’ ( 8.00AM.- 10.00AM) I then went back to bed with the ‘child bride’ and we listened to the show, played ‘LOUD’ from the office! 

My request was for a very old classic from back in 1956 “ Buona Sera “ by Louis Prima – it turned out that he’s a fan of Louis Prima and his band “ The Sabbi Allstars “ play some of his tunes in their set! We, of course, were singing along and then went into our ‘ Horizontal Dancing’ mode – but not too energetic as we have in the past broken our old bed – twice!!

We then dressed up in our ‘Santa Hats’ and took ‘Barny & Charlie’ for their first walk of the day, at the same time bringing some ‘Xmas Cheer’ to sleepy Manilva! The sky was blue and the sun was out, there was no breeze so its another perfect day here in sunny Manilva- 19/20 degs by lunchtime.

When we returned we had our normal Christmas Day breakfast of Scrambled ‘Campo’ Eggs with Smoked Salmon along with a nice glass, or two, of ‘Bucks Fizz ‘ made with a local Cava! We then got our Xmas Day supper/dinner on the go; the Turkey is cooked and the gravy made so we then prepared the rest of the banquet! From the Vegetable Chef its Baby Brussels Sprouts with Smoked Bacon Sippits, Carrot Batons, Wedges of Honey Roasted Parsnips and Garden peas; I made the savoury Mixed Herb & Chestnut Stuffing and the ‘Pigs in Blanket’ – at lunchtime we are having Brenda’s special “ Prawn Cocktail “ with another glass of ‘Bucks Fizz’ See below;

At lunchtime we went for a nice walk around the village and ended up at 'Bar Castillo' which was open, we sat outside in the sunshine and had a nice drink taking in the sights and sounds of sleepy Manilva and wishing all the locals 'Felix Navidad'

We would like to wish all our family & friends around the World and here in sunny Manilva “ A very ‘Happy’ Christmas and a Healthy and Wealthy New Year “

Last night we watched the Final of “ Master Chef – The Professionals “ and then channel hopped over in England and over here in Spain.

Thoughts for the Day; See above,

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" XMAS CONCERT " IN THE CHURCH ON WEDNESDAY EVENING;

And some more!

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;