SUNNY MANILVA.

MONDAY/ THURSDAY 31ST MAY/ 3RD JUNE 2010.

We are very truly in the summer mode now; it is getting hotter every day and at night the temperature does not go below 20degs.We now have the sun blinds down on all the windows and front door, at night we leave everywhere open and the mosquito plugs are switched on, all our summer clothes have come out, the menu is starting to change shortly! We do the shopping first thing in the morning before it gets too hot and we have the fans on when required but have not used the air conditioning just yet! Oh and yes are cold water drinking habits have improved!

At the start of the week we have had workmen in all over the house; the plumbers came on Monday and fixed the hot water in the kitchen, the pipes had become blocked with small stones after all the rain and power cuts, on Tuesday evening we had men on our roof terrace repairing the gutter that runs along the very old roof of the property next to us in the side street, this has caused some damp problems in the bathroom and kitchen and we also have some damp spots in the bedrooms and main lounge – the insurance people have been round and are coming to repair and paint them the week after next. The dishwasher is not working so they are sending somebody to fix it and we have just had fitted a new connection on the gas bottle, it was condemned the other day by the engineer. This means that we will be ready for our first visitors this year at the end of the month when Jeff and Annette are paying us a flying visit, all the way from Kuala Lumpur! We have not seen them for a few years since Jeff was working in London and all the family joined him; Jeff is Lyn’s son and we have known him and Annette since they came over for their honeymoon nearly 25 years ago and stopped with us in North Wales at the Seventy Degrees Hotel ! We have spoken to Jack and Lyn this week on a Skype video call and caught up with all their news and we also spoke to Annette last week; we then had a e-mail from her to say that they where going away to Panang for the weekend.

Yesterday we had a call from Caroline, over in Guadalmina, asking us if we could look after their villa for five days next week; so we going across very early on Tuesday and will be back late on Saturday night, we are looking forward to seeing the two dogs, Bruno and Abbie and the 8/ 9 cats , we are dropping Clive and Caroline off at the new airport in Malaga which opened a couple of months ago so this will give us a chance to find our way in and out. It also means that we will be giving their pool some serious attention!

Last night we had Braised Steak and Onions for dinner with Cabbage and New Potatoes; the dreaded word salads keeps cropping up so on the menu today, for lunch, is a Crab, Avocado and Egg salad, a Brenda special !

Thought for the day ;

A smile – is a sign of joy.
A hug – is a sign of love.
A laugh – is a sign of happiness.
And friends like us ?
That’s just a sign of good taste !!

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