MANILVA AT THE END OF THE WEEK

THURSDAY/FRIDAY 26^th/27^th MAY 2011.

Thursday morning was grey and overcast as forecast but it still warm 24 degs. and at night it is also getting warmer as the temperature does not drop as much; after our tea and toast we went for a walk around the village with Cheta,on the way back we came back along the old lower by-pass which is now finished with the new paving stones,kerb and seats, the new hand rail in Calle Padre Mariano is also now ready as you can see in the pictures below. The Sports City picture was taken from a newspaper cutting and a more comprehensive one will follow. In the after noon I watched the Giro D’Italia and Brenda was on the roof terrace as the sun came out; we then met up in the chill our room for cocktails and listened to Howlin Wolf, Otis Rush and Buddy Guy !For supper we had our version of a Burger Kings Wopper,fresh homemade Pork Burgers from our local butcher on Burger Baps,crisp Coz Lettuce, sliced Plum Tomatoes, raw chopped Onions, melted Gouda Cheese slice’s and Frits ! Rather nice !!

On Friday morning we popped out down to the supermarket in Sabinillas for the weekend shopping; we then called into the English Bookshop to send a birthday card in the quick post by Royal Mail and also pick up the English language newspapers. It was hot and clammy to start but as the day went on the sun came out; after unpacking we went up to Bar Rojas for our regular lunchtime drink as we take in the tranquility sat out side and read the daily Spanish newspaper, this week I managed to only get one thing wrong in the news, I thought that a politician was standing for the post of leader of PSOE but she was in fact not standing !  Mano and Anna called in early in the afternoon so we arranged to have a Beef and Mushroom Pie for supper on Sunday made with the Beefsteak from Morrison’s in Gibraltar; Brenda went out in the sun, the locals are now starting to comment on her colour ! I watched the Giro D’Italia mountain stage which went by Lake Como and then up into the Dolomites,Contador’s team covered him all the way and controlled the race from the front, as they reached the last climb to the finish he took over and saw off his rivals, as the went through a long tunnel one rider broke away, he was no threat to Contador overall so he let him go, with a kilometer to go he clicked into another gear and caught him up and with only a hundred meters to go he could have easily have won but he “ Gave ” the stage win to the breakaway rider,Tiralongo,it turned out that he was the oldest rider in the field and had been a “ Worker ” rider for another team for twelve years and had never won anything ! It was a very magnamanous move and went down very well with the Italian fans and Tiralongo went mad !

For dinner we had picked up two 16oz fresh Soles which I pan fried in Lemon Parsley Butter and garnished with local peeled Prawns, Brenda had Green vegetables,Broccoli,Beans and garden Peas and some very nice New Potatoes, “ Scrapers ” with unsalted Butter ! Delicious !! We then watched a German/American U- Boat film with Spanish sub titles !

Thought for the Day;

I trust that everything happens for a reason even when we’re not wise enough to see it.

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