MANILVA START OF THE WEEKEND AND SEMANA SANATA.

THURSDAY/FRIDAY 29th/30th MARCH 2012.


Well it was a little overcast on Thursday morning but it brightened up later; when we came back from our walk Mano and Anna called in to catch up the village gossip, Mano had been painting around at Carlos’s house at the start of the week. The forecast is more of the same over the weekend, well it is the start of the “ Semana Santa ” week of parades and celebrations and is does not have a good record of fine weather in the past. Over the last few days I have been reading a hardback book that Anna gave to Brenda to read; it had no jacket cover so there was no information about the author and her other book’s. It is a very easy read and a very good murder mystery called “ Monument to Murder " So after finishing it I went onto Google and Wikipedia to do some research; the author’s name is ‘ Margaret Truman ’ – it turns out that she was the only daughter of ‘ Harry.S. Truman ’ the President of the USA back in the fifties ! All her books started with the word ‘ Murder ’except this one that was published after her death in 2008. See the Picture above.In the evening for dinner we had for a change a frozen Chicken pie that we bought in Marks and Spencer’s over in the shopping precinct in Marbella.It was baked from frozen with egg wash over the Puff Pastry as instructed and was rather nice;we had it with peas and crisp square chips ! Meanwhile the Europa League football Quarter final first leg matches was taking place; the match of the night was at Schalke4 ( Germany ) v Athletico Bilbao – Bilbao won 2-4 after the ex Real Madrid and Spain captain Raul who now plays for the German team scored two brilliant goals to make it 2-2 at half time ! The two other Spanish teams still in the competition, Valencia and Athetico Madrid are still in with a chance also. The big game tonight ( Saturday ) here in Spain in ‘ La Liga ’ is Barcelona v Bilbao which is also the ‘ Cupa del Rey ’ ( Kings Cup same as our FA Cup final ) later in April ! The late film was another epic classic, “ Ben Hur ”made in 1959 ! With the most famous sequences in cinema history – the nine minute chariot race !! Charlton Heston wins every time !!! See the pictures above of Charlton Heston smoldering with Haya Hareeet.

Friday was our shopping morning down in Sabinillas; we had an eventful little morning when everything didn’t seem to go right, problems with my new Debit card, petrol cap would not come off, couldn’t find the right Easter cards, did not have the picture frame that we wanted etc. All was resolved eventually ! On the way back we stopped at the Ford Garage in the village and arranged to get all the small problems on the car fixed next week. it had brightened up as we got back to the house and so we ended up at Bar Rojas with Mano and Anna for a lunchtime reviver ! In the evening we walked around to the church for the opening proceedings of the ‘ Semana Santa ’week; outside we rubbed shoulders with all the civic dignitaries and after the High Mass had finished we sat down to listen to the Band Concert to introduce the music that would be played at the various processions over the next eight days ; Fernando read the presentation as the new young conductor lead the band. Also the whole event is taking place this year in memory of ‘ Jose Castillo ’the Master of one of the Brotherhoods who died at the end of last year, he was very well liked and all the tributes were very moving. The Music also was very moving, the band played exceptionally well with some very fine solo performances from the lead trombone and trumpet players and the whole proceedings ended when Fernando lead them to a great crescendo, the sound in the church is just unbelievable ! The pictures are below but no sound - sorry !! A very special evening which we finished off with a late supper up in Bar Rojas ( The Chef’s night off ) Lumy looked after us; Brenda had her favoutite Deep Fried John Dory with Tomato salad and I had Flattened Chicken Fillets a la Plancha topped with a fried egg and Lumy’s famous ‘ Patatas Fritas ’ Just another great night in Manilva.


Thought for the Day;

The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.



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