MANILVA SEMANA SANTA.

MONDAY 5th. APRIL 2010.


We arrived home on Saturday afternoon at about 4-00pm as we stopped at the supermarket to pick up some essentials; the weather was gorgeous, it was the best day by far with blue skies and the temperature was 25degs. We unpacked the Smart car outside our front door and started to air the house as we pulled up all the shutters and opened all the windows; as we were just getting clear Mano and Anna called in to welcome us back to Manilva,a few drinks later and we were feeling no pain ! They went off as Mano had to get to bed as he is working as the night manager at the Manilva Green Aparthotel so after a little more sorting out we went up our street to Bar Rojas for some supper; they welcomed us with open arms as did all our neighbours next to us in our street. We sat outside and took in the peace and tranquility of the village as we watched the world go by, for supper Brenda had a Frito Pescado cooked in a very light batter and I had Eggs Frito and Patatas Fritas,the eggs were still in the Chicken in the morning and the potatoes were still in the ground ! They always serve on the side of the plate roasted Garlic cloves which Brenda ate with glee; we had moved inside as the match on the TV was Barcelona v Atl-Madrid,it got very noisy as Barcelona murdered Madrid ! We went to bed and slept the sleep of the content!

As we woke on Sunday morning the sun was out and the blue skies did not have a cloud in the sky; our first job was to get Brenda’s wound seen to so we walked around to the surgery and we struck lucky; there was a duty Doctor and a Paramedic and they checked out Brenda and redressed her wound, which is looking a lot better, we then made the arrangements to see the nurse during the week and have the Anti-Tetanus booster jab. The village was already busy as all the locals .dressed in their finest made their way down to the church; we had a coffee in the main street and then went to the church which was full to capacity and also all the crowds had gathered outside to see the procession. It was a beautiful day with clear blue skies and the temperature rose to 25degs.again,the air was filled with incense from alter boys as the came out onto the steps and the crowds all applauded as the Tableau of the Virgen del Rosario was brought out to start the procession; in the pictures below you cam see the main street and the town hall earlier in the morning, then the Tableau leaving the church, the Mayor is saying hello to us and in the next picture the town council and the Padre are leading the walk behind the village Brass Band which leads the procession in a slow march, meanwhile we made our way back to Bar Rojas were they were finishing the Paella,Lume the owners wife is on the left, we got a prime seat outside and Anna came and joined us as the Tableau reached the town hall on its first pass, and the next picture shows the band leader after they turned around at the bottom of the village leading them back along Calle Mar towards the top of our street, in the final picture Juan our friend is in the sunglasses next to last on the left as he carries the tableau along with about 40 other lodge members. The afternoon then gets going as all the bars fill up with all the families and as we sat outside lots of the locals came up to us and welcomed us back as we sat enjoying the Paella,we then walked down to the house and Brenda went up on the roof terrace and I had a little siesta !

In the evening I made some savory mince for a Cottage pie for today, which Brenda has just finished with her famous mash and for supper we had flattened Breast of Chicken cooked in a foaming Curry butter sauce with baked potatoes.

Today we have been catching up with all the chore around the house ( Brenda ) and I have been in the office sorting out the e-mails and Face book messages, then bringing the blog up to date, as you can see ! the only problem being that we have been having power cuts all day and I was very lucky to manage to save the work as I went along; this morning we had a Skype SMS message from Kuala Lumpur,from Jeff and Annette to say that they are coming to see us at the end of June for a very quick visit ( Two Days ) so we called them back on the Skype video and had a long chat with Annette, Jeff was away on business in Hong Kong and South Korea,she brought us up to date with all their news including that their daughter Kate, who is 21 this year, is in Canada and they are visiting her at the same time when they come over to England. Tomorrow we have a little running around to do for light bulbs and things including getting my Spanish mobile back into English as it at the moment in Russian !!