MANILVA AND GUADALMINA.

MONDAY/SUNDAY 7TH/13TH JUNE 2010.

On Monday we sorted ourselves out and packed as little as possible for our five days over in Guadalmina looking after the villa; we did take some food with us, Curry and Braised Steak, which we had saved and frozen so as we did not need to shop over there.

We had to be up early on Tuesday morning as Clive and Caroline had to be at the airport in Malaga by 9-00am;we dropped them off at the new terminal which is very impressive and on the way back picked up some essentials for Joan, Clive’s mum, and dog food. The villa has now been refurbished and is looking very good; the weather was warm and sunny and we soon hit the pool and then relaxed on the terrace over looking the large garden.In the evening we had Fillet Steak, salad and Baked Potatoes for dinner, courtesy of Clive and Caroline and then settled to watch English TV. We only miss a couple of programmes like QI and are now back into watching all the Spanish TV channels.

Wednesday started OK but later there was a little light rain and drizzle as I picked up the cleaner and then went over to Estepona and picked up Gissy;she came to do Brenda’s hair and have a spot of light lunch as we caught up with all her news; they are very busy and some days do two gigs. We did not go in the pool and had a problem with the Solar Heating system; no hot water in the villa! Curry and Rice for supper out on the terrace as it is still warm and the terrace is very sheltered before we watched the concert from South Africa at the start of the World Cup ended the day.

Thursday morning and the weather was back to normal, warm and sunny as I contacted the water engineer, the old gas boiler is there for emergencies and the water was soon back on, later the Solar system kicked back in, it seems that it is not working as it should and they are looking into it! The gardener was in all day and later Joan’s companion called in to look after her, in the early evening the hairdresser came to do Joan’s hair so it meant that we had all had the works during the last two days. The two dogs, Bruno and Abbie are no problem; they have their own pen in the grounds and the run of the villa and garden all the time, except when the gardener is working! The two house cats, Tiger and Sam come and go as they please, the six wild cats are fed out in the garden and the fish in the pond only need a little food, once a week. In the evening we had our Braised Steak and Onions with Baked Potatoes before we watched the opening ceremony of the World Cup.

Friday morning started with the window cleaners doing a very good job, in fact too good a job as Brenda had walked into one of the large terrace windows the day before; no damage to the window or Brenda ! We then popped out to the shops for the weekend goods and bought some Rump Steak from the English butchers down in Guadalmina. The pool called when we got back and then after dinner we watched the start of the football with the South Africa v Mexico match, shame that South Africa did not win in the last minute when they hit the post, the sound from the horns “ Vuvuzelas ” would have been even louder !


We had a quiet day in the villa on Saturday and picked Clive and Caroline up from the airport in the evening; their plane was over an hour late arriving; the system at the arrivals has changed and Mano had given me a few tips, we ended up waiting in the garage by the new terminal and when they called we picked them up from the departure terminal which is lot easier and beats the system ! This meant that we did not see the England v USA. Match, no great loss as England played terrible and Robert Green, the goalkeeper dropped a clanger! We then charged back to Manilva in the Smart car and ended up in Bar Rojas for supper of Fried Fish, Fried Eggs and Patatas Fritas The picture below give you just a taste of the week over in the villa.

Today we are taking things very easy at home and are going to watch the Grand Prix later from Canada; we are not having our usual Roast today, the chef’s are having the day off !

Thought for the day;

I was born modest; not all over, but in spots !

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