MANILVA THIS WEEK.

MONDAY/THURSDAY 23rd/ 26th JANUARY 2012.

The forecast for the week is good but at the weekend there is bit of the wet stuff on the way, the first in the last four months; after our tea and toast, Brenda has Manilva Honey and I have Diet Strawberry Jam on mine, we went for a walk around the village with Cheta who has now fully recovered and is back to her normal boisterous self on Monday morning. Anna called in to catch up with all the news and gossip and later we spoke to Tim over in Old Colwyn to find out how he was after the run; he and his friends have raised over £ 2000 pounds for a hospice in North Wales but he has now hung up his running shoes, if fact he is going to loose them! So no marathons in London or New York!! Tim’s eldest daughter, Stacey, came up from London with her partner and their daughter Ollie for the race.
In the evening we had cold Chicken for dinner and then watched “ Die Hard 11 with Bruce Willis – he won as usual !

After our usual walk on Tuesday morning, we go different ways around and through the village, we called into the butchers and picked up some diced Beef for a pie but neither butchers had any Kidneys so it is going to be a Beef and Mushroom Pie. Brenda then had a cleaning and washing day so I retired to the office and watched on the BBCIPlayer ‘ Saturday Morning Kitchen and Something for the Weekend ’For dinner we had Pork Cutlets with our favourite Lyonnaise Potatoes and then watched some Spanish topical news on the TV.

Wednesday was another beautiful day as we walked around to the surgery; Brenda has now got two appointments at the Costa del Sol Hospital over in Marbella in February to get the results of her scans on her legs and check on her ointments and I updated our doctor on my checkup on the Prostrate and arranged for the tests and X-Rays in six months time, at the same time the nurse dressed a nasty cut on my leg which I got a few weeks ago on the car door – so we are both fine and will live to fight another day ! When we went for our walk later is was hot as we sat down on the Mirador on our ‘ Derby and Joan ’ seat. I had made the Beef and Mushroom Pie filling before we went to the surgery and finished cooking it when we came back to the house, I put the Puff Pastry top on just before it goes in the oven and brush it with egg wash,twice,before it goes in the oven – the baking smell of the pastry is divine ! We sat down to it with Cabbage and Carrots and Chips, even if I do say so – it was scrummy ! I had tweaked the recipe and added more herbs so it tasted divine !!

After dinner it was time for football; over in England Liverpool v Manchester City was the main match in the second leg of the ‘ Carling Cup Semi Final ’The score was 2-2 on the night but Liverpool won 3-2 on aggregate, Belamany hit a cracking goal for Liverpool and Jo Hart the City goalkeeper kept them in the game with some spectacular saves, Liverpool will play Cardiff in the final at Wembley.Here in Spain it was another ‘ Classico ’ between Barcelona and Real Madrid in the second leg of the quarter finals of the ‘ Cope del Rey ’Barcelona scored two quick goals at the start of the second half but Real Madrid came back late and scored two in reply !As usual the match was full of incidents but it meant that Barcelona won 4-3 on aggregate to go through to the next round. I ended up at Bar Rojas leading the ‘ Barca ’supporters and giving Manolo the Red Card !
The late film on the classic channel was ‘ Where Eagles Dare ’ from 1968 with Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood in the main parts – still good after all the years.

Today, Thursday, we were up early as we were taking Andy and Maria to the airport in Gibraltar; they dropped Charlie off in his cage on his stand and he has soon settled in, he is whistling and starting to talk already as you can see in the picture below; as we have Andy’s car for a week we called into Castillo de la Duquesa to pick up tickets for a council bash tomorrow lunchtime ( Free drink and a Tapas ) and so took some pictures of the castle and the village of the same name. The council has been doing some finishing work on the plaza and around the village with the colorful mosaics and the Roman Museum and the Fencing Exhibition is also looking good in the pictures below. The Fortress dates back to 8th century BC and the Roman site next to it go back to the 1st/5th centuries AD. The castle was built in 1767 under the reign of Charles 111 of Spain. The court yard of the castle is now used for amongst other thing wedding receptions, in fact Mano and Anna’s daughter Sally was the first bride to get married there a few years ago when Mano had the idea that it would make a rather special setting ! We stopped at the port of Duquesa and called into the English butchers were we found some Kidneys for the next time and also Calves Liver for another day. When we got back to the village we found television crews from the main TV channels in Calle Mar, they had been interviewing locals and had been in the Town Hall – we don’t know what it is about so watch this space – that’s what happens when we go out !

PS; Charlie is a bit of a character,he likes Monkey Nuts and Fruit ( Diced Apple ) Sunflower Seeds and Diced Carrots - so he is a fruit and nutcase !!


Thought for the Day;


Happiness is a gentle steering of the soul.


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