MANILVA.

Saturday 14th June.

Yet another hot and sunny day as the summer season sets in and the forecast is for it to get even hotter as the month goes on.We are making plans to cook up on the roof terrace as the kitchen annex where the electric hotplate is not very big and gets very hot when I am cooking up a storm!The electric oven in the main kitchen which has taken a bashing over the last few months with all the roasting is also going to be given a rest as we change the menus for the summer season!! We are going to use our small portable gas BBQ, and an electric hot plate and set them up on the roof terrace on the side which goes into the shade in the afternoon as the sun moves round and we will eat outside.Brenda is starting to go really brown as she is spending a lot more time on the terrace. Meanwhile I am planning where to put the fans and a large portable air conditioner in the house as well as when to use the air conditioning unit ! We are going to sleep in the guest room if it’s not in use! As it also has a large ceiling fan ! We have also now started to drop all the shutters on the windows and door-Spanish style which cuts out the natural light but does make a difference.

Sunday 15th June.

Sunday is cooked breakfast day so we had some local Bacon and Eggs as we got up late in the morning.Mano and Anna are not coming for dinner as Anna has found some jobs for Mano to do round the house on his first day off for quite a while! In the afternoon we went up to our favorite bar in the village and had the small prawns on sticks which are very good and cheap! As we have to watch the coppers at the moment until the Winnebago sells! In the evening for supper we had Chicken salad and watched the football on TV. Which is getting very interesting and exciting as the Spanish team is looking very good ! We also sent off some birthday greetings to Brenda’s nephew, Jeff who is travelling around Europe at the moment with his wife Annette on a five week holiday- six/seven countries so far ! and to our dear friend Zoe in Manchester who is probably away helping her husband Graham on the executive yacht on which he is the captain.What a life!!

Monday 16th June.

In the morning we called into our Spanish bank in Estepona and also at the same time we called into the office of the Sur in English to re book are adverts,over the weekend I had noticed that in the paper there is a monthly photographic competition on line so I have with a little bit of difficulty posted some of my pictures on the web page which is controlled by an administrator and they have been accepted and are already on the newspaper web page when we looked this morning! Watch this space yet again as another string to the bow is happening!!
We went to check out the Winnebago and at the same time they are getting us some quotes for the insurance on the Smart car and to change the plates to Spanish as we have to do this when we sign the resident papers in August. We then called into to see Vidal and Gissy on the site as we don’t see as much of them as we would like as they are now playing a lot more gigs and caught up with all their news.In the evening we had Lamb chops baked in the oven on Boulangere potatoes ,the butcher cut the chops especially for us and we had a really nice meal accompanied with the local Rioja! We have also found some Spanish Cassis in a wine shop in Estepona for our Kir Royale’s to go with the very cheap but excellent local Cava! I have booked a table for Sunday lunch at the Beach House restaurant on the far side of Marbella for Brenda’s birthday,it’s the first time that we have been out on her birthday for a very long time and we are looking forward to somebody else cooking lunch! All our friends are working so we are going to catch up with them as and when over the weekend.