MANILVA AND REAL MADRID.

Friday 2nd May.

We left the house at 7.30am to make sure we had plenty of time to reach the airport in Malaga as you can get caught in bad traffic jams on the Auto- via and it makes a difference of over an hour! Brenda had a lie in so we said our goodbye’s to Jane in the house as at the airport it is drop and run as they don’t let you stop outside the departures exit; Jane has promised to come back soon and we are looking forward to seeing her again,mean’while we have put Jane’s pictures from her mobile phone which she posted on her Facebook page on her return onto the blog-page below,check them out ! In the evening for supper we had a very large Dover Sole which we bought from the local mobile fish van who comes round in the morning and grilled it then finished it off with a lemon butter sauce and local boiled potatoes and fresh Asparagus;we actually bought two soles for 12 euros ! and saved the other one for another day.

Saturday 3rd May.

Today was very hot and sunny as we caught up with the jobs around the house so we had a late brunch as we were due out in the evening at a gig with Vidal and Gissy at The International Club of Estepona. The evening was a Caribbean themed supper and music extravaganza so we dressed up accordingly and headed on down to the club! The picture below shows Vidal on his steel drum;during the night he was playing mainly Caribbean tunes so we heard for the first time a lot of new numbers to us as he normally plays all sorts of songs and requests. The club is for ex-pats and is run by the members who also bring guests along and is for English speaking people only! The Editor of the in house magazine, Brian Buckley Creaser,spent some time with us explaining about the running of the club's various committee’s ! A “ Jolly “ good time was had by all.

Sunday 4th May.

After a late start we had for breakfast scrambled eggs and smoked salmon and went for a lunchtime stroll down thru the village to see Mano at the Aparthotel. It was the hottest day so far this year and with not a breath of air it soon reached 28oc.! After a cooling Tinto de Virano on the terrace the rest of the family appeared and we found out that Mano could get away for a couple of hours in the evening so we hastily arranged for them to come round for Sunday dinner;we arrived back very hot and bothered as we only had a small Chicken so I pulled out some Chicken breasts and set to work with the help of Brenda to get dinner ready for six o’clock! Mano left at eight o’clock as he had to get back to finish off and lock up.As we tidied up later the phone went and it was Mano,he was in the main local bar and was watching the football The matches in the evening here don’t kick off till 10-pm our time and tonight’s turned out to be a classic ! Real Madrid were playing away at Osasuna near Bilbao and if they won this match they also would win the league as well. The whole village including wifes,girlfriends and children were watching it on the large screen TVs. We soon joined in as the bar is just down the road from us.It was a balmy evening and the people were out in their hundreds as the whole village supports Real Madrid except one mad man! As the match went on and Real Madrid lost a lot of chance’s the atmosphere got more electric with every minute and when Osasuna scored in the last two minutes the only man cheering was the mad man ! Then Real Madrid equalized in injury time and the village and us went wild ! But it was not over as four minutes into injury time Real Madrid with the last kick of the game scored again !! The place went mad with the Cava being sprayed all over the place and the local youths and old men jumping in the fountain outside as you can see in the photo’s below ! The mad man was tossed in the air and nearly hit the ceiling !! Later as more people came out to celebrate in their cars blowing their horns the main street was blocked and the music carried on,On TV the Real Madrid team was followed all the way back to Madrid ,even on their plane and the crowds in the centre of Madrid went wild when they appeared on the open top bus at 3-30am! ONE “ HELLUVA “ NIGHT !!