MANILVA THIS WEEK.

TUESDAY/WEDNESDAY/THURDAY 24th/25th/ 26th JULY 2012.


On Tuesday morning I got a Skype call from Andy, his car needed a new battery and could I take him to Estepona for a new one ; so I picked him up and we shot across to the car Hypermarket. Brenda had an at home day as she had an appointment at the hairdresser’s, for the first time, at the top of our street in Calle Mar at 5-30 pm. Success – her hair is looking good and she saved 50 euros at the same time ! In the evening we had Pork Cutlets for supper with Lyonnaise potatoes before we settled down to watch the news.

Wednesday morning we went for a walk around the village with Cheta ; as you can see in the pictures below they have started to plant-up the new ‘ Plaza de la Vendimia ’ The bandstand was erected in front of the Old Town Hall ready for the theater concert in the evening and the work is still ongoing on the new Bodega y Vinedos . When we got back to the house I made my famous ‘ Beef Stew ’i.e., “ Scouse ” for dinner ; I managed to find/use eleven different vegetables along with the Potatoes – all to my ‘ Secret ’ recipe of my dear Mum ! ( with the addition of some Spanish ingredients ) In the early evening we were up on the roof terrace for our usual ‘ Tincture ’ when quit suddenly a large black cloud came over along with thunder and lightening ! We watched as it advancing towards us and dashed inside just as the heavens opened ! It was a typical Spanish cloud burst, not forecast. and was on for about half an hour; the outcome was that we discovered later that the concert had been cancelled ! No change in the weather, it’s still very hot and sunny. In the evening later on we watched a rather gruesome thriller “ Mind Hunters ” from 2004.it starred ‘ LL Cool J. Katherine Morris, Jonny Lee Miller and Val Kilmer – it was about FBI agents on a training exercise on a remote Government Island and what happens next !

THURSDAY 26TH JULY 2012 “ THE FESTIVAL OF SANTA ANA ” in Manilva;

In the morning at 8-00am the very loud fire crackers were let off to annouse the start of the Festival – the ‘ Patron Saint ’ of Manilva and all “ Anna’s ” ! In the morning there are games for all the young children up in Calle Mar, Tug of War, Bicycle races, Sprint races and water fights ! At lunchtime we took our friend Gillian over to the airport in Gibraltar as she was going back to the Isle of Wight to check on the sale of her house; on the way back we stopped in Sabinillas for the weekend shopping, we had planned to go to ‘ Morrison’s ’in Gibraltar but the queues were too long to get across at this time.

In the evening we walked up to Bar Rojas to grab a table as it gets very busy late on before the procession come along; Mano and ‘Anna ’ had just beaten us there, later Sally ‘Ann ’ and Dylan came along and then Carlos with ‘Anna ’ Mari and Fabio – all the “ Guerrero Clan ” in one spot at the same time – along with three ‘ Anna’s ’ Time to celebrate !! The pictures above show the Tableau of Santa Anna leaving the church of ‘ Santa Ana ’and then as it made its way through the village led by the Manilva Brass Band and followed by the civic dignitaries – this is very much a local Festival and all the children and ladies dress up in their finest ‘ Flamenco ‘ dress’s and costumes – it is our favorite one of all the festivals with a great family atmosphere as they all celebrate late into the night with singing and dancing to the Bands on he stage. We walked down to ‘ Bodega Augustin ‘’ with the ‘ Gang ’ for a late supper; we had a selection of Tapas, Russian Salad, diced Pork in Tomato salsa, Fried Calamari and baby Squid and Octopus and Prawn salad – the kids and Anna also had there special combination Burger and I had the Veal Escalope with Patatas Fritas and a fried egg ! We then retired down to Mano and Anna’s house just with them and cracked open a bottle of “ Ana Cordiniau Cava ” to finish off the night – we also managed to watch the Olympic edition of ‘ Absolutely Fabulous ’ – It is very, very funny don’t miss it !!
On the way back up to our house as we got near I put my had in my pocket for the house keys – no keys ! Panic then ensued ! Brenda had popped down to the house when we were up at Bar Rojas earlier and had given them back to me – we thought- we shot back down first to Bodega Augustin to check – no luck – so we tried to call Mano and Anna at their house no luck as they had gone to bed and set the alarm for Mano to get up early for work ! We then ran up to Bar Rojas to check were we had been sitting – no luck again ! Lumy and Manolo also could not help us so it looked like we would have to call the police and fire brigade to break in !! Just then Lumy’s eldest son appeared with them, he had found then on the pavement where I was sitting when he was clearing up - what a relief to say the least !!! The end to one “ Helluva “ Day in sunny Manilva .



Thought for the Day


May your pockets be heavy and your heart light. May good luck pursue you each morning and night.


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