MANILVA TODAY AND THE VUELTA A ESPANA.

FRIDAY/SATURDAY/SUNDAY 27TH./28TH./29TH.AUGUST 2010.

As you can see below the Winery and the canopy in Calle Mar are finished ready for next weekend; the vat just needs a coat of white paint when the plaster is dry. In the morning we did the weekend shopping down in Sabinillas, the weather forecast is very hot and last night was one of the warmest and stickiest yet; as we came back I noticed that Zoë, in Manchester was online on Skype so we had a little chat and caught up with all the news, Graham has had a busy summer on the boat but is thinking of taking things a little easier next year and might even retire and join us pensioners! Later on Friday evening after supper we went up to Bar Rojas for nightcap and ended up there until 2-00am ! The football was on,Atletico Madrid beat Inter Milan in the Super Cup so that generated some excitement especially when I told the locals that many years ago they stayed at the Seventy Degrees in Colwyn Bay when they played Bangor City in the European Cup ! Sat next to us outside was a family and we ended up talking to them, it turned out that they are our neighbours in Calle San Vicente and live at the bottom of the street, it gave us a good chance to speak Spanish and also make friends.Marta,their eldest daughter, plays the Clarinet in the town band and shot off home to check out the blog page !

On Saturday we had some very unhappy news confirmed to us; last Saturday we talked to Joan, from Tarifa as it was her 92nd. Birthday, we had sent her a card and so we had a lovely chat and caught up with all the news as she is now living in England and see’s all her extended family; during the conversation she told us that Boo is going blind, we were very shocked and upset as we think the world of Boo and both love him to bits. I tried to speak to Chris and sent him text messages,e-mails;yesterday he called us and we had a long chat, he confirmed that sadly Boo has gone blind, we are heartbroken and very upset as he is so young and is such a lovely dog. On refection after we talked about it we realized that there were signs but we did not know at the time; he always took very great care coming down the marble stairs, he did not like the dark, one evening we had a power cut and he was out in the grounds and got lost, he took his time getting in the car but on the other side of things he chased the cats like mad around the garden and led Millie in all the chases along the fence and up to the gate! We don’t know if there is anything that can be done for him so we will have to wait and see.

Today we are taking it easy as the hot nights don’t give you much of a chance to sleep; I have just roasted a Chicken to have cold for supper and I’m going to watch the grand prix from Spa, the Motor cycle GP from the USA and Tour of Spain cycle race, Brenda is going on the terrace to get some peace!

VUELTA A ESPANA. 2010.

The race this year started in Seville and ends in Madrid on the 19th,September ! The opening stage was a team time trial around the streets of Seville at night; this is an innovation and generated large crowds as it started at 10-00pm under the street lights with extra flood lights along the route which criss- crossed the city and even went through the narrow streets of the “ Triana ” The winning team was HTC-COLUMBIA.and the winning rider was Mark Cavendish from the nine man team; he took the Red Jersey ( Like the Yellow Jersey in the Tour de France ) and today’s stage is from Saville to Marbella over 174km with a sprint finsh,ideal for Mark Cavendish who is the first British rider to lead the Vuelta a Espana in over 25 years !

PS;Mark Cavendish was surprisingly pipped on the line by a rider from Belarusia but retained the Red Jersey,Monday's stage over 157km is from Marbella to Malaga so watch out again!

Thought for the Day;

Why are pirates called pirates ? Because they ARRRRRRRRR !

How does a pirate keep fit ? GYM LAD !

What’s a pirates favourite cricket shot ? A SQUARE CUTLESS !

What was Captain Hook called before he lost his hand ? CAPTAIN HAND TENILE !

.