MANILVA - LONDON OLYMPICS,

FRIDAY 3rd/ AUGUST 2012.


We were up bright and early yesterday as Brenda had her first appointment with the nurse down at the surgery ; it took longer than we expected she had to do the double blood pressure test again – we then carried on down to Sabinillas for the weekend shopping, it was by then very busy in the supermarket as it is the height of the summer season both with Spanish, English and other foreign visitors. We then popped around to the butchers for our Saturday night Steak. It was then time to go and pick Gillian up from the bus station in Marbella after her flight back to Malaga – to say that it was hot is an under statement – it was very hot ! As you drive along the coast road you can see all the beaches packed and the ‘ Chringuitos ’ doing a roaring business !! When we got back to the village it was as usual dead, all the shutters are down and nobody with any sense is out until later in the evening, us included as the Chef had decided to have the night off ! We had a very nice supper up at Bar Rojas, Brenda had the ‘ Gallo Frito ’ ( John Dory in Tempura Batter ) with a homegrown, out of the campo in the morning, Tomato and Garlic salad and I had again the ‘ Lomo a la Plancha ’( Pork fillets cooked on the grill ) with ‘ Huevos Frito and Patatas Fritos ’ ( Egg and Chips ! ) with lots of Lemon ! We rang Tim on the mobile over in Old Clown to catch up with all his news, he follows ours now on the blog.Later down in Sabinillas it was the new festival on the beach ‘ La Noche de Luna ’ a ‘ White ’ beach party with music and dancing and lots of fire lights and floating candles ! It is also the time for the local ‘ Feria’s to start; this weekend it is in Casares and next weekend here in Manilva. Later we caught up with all the news including a “ Helluva ” day and evening at the Olympics in London.

OLYMPIC NEWS UPDATE ;

Over in the Veledrome Victoria Pendleton grabbed the ‘ Kerin ’ Gold Medal which made up for her disappointment at her disqualification in the Team sprint 24 hours earlier; it is a form of motor-paced cycle racing which was first raced in Japan back in 1948 for gambling purposes ! It takes place with nine riders behind a ‘ Derny/Motorcycle which increase its speed from 25kms to 45kms before braking off and the riders then sprint to the line over the next three laps reaching speeds of over 70kms ! Later Britain’s so called ‘ Fab Four ’of cycling smashed the World record in the Team Pursuit to retain the Gold medal won in Beijing for years earlier, two of them Ed Clancy and Geraint Thomas were in the team then with a certain Bradley Wiggins ! He was in the Veledrome to watch the racing and got a standing ovation when he entered with his family !! Earlier over in Eaton Dorny the British pair of Ann Watkins and Katherine Grainger won the Gold medal in the Double Sculls rowing, sadly over in the Aquatics Centre Rebecca Adlington only got a bronze medal to go with her other bronze in the pool in the 800 meters free style but in the same race Spain’s Mireia Belmonte Garcia won the Silver.Adlington won the Gold in Beijing four years ago but was beaten this time by a 15 year old wonder swimmer from the USA – Katie Ledecky ! Micheal Phelps won his 21st Gold Medal in the pool ! At the Tennis Andy Murray beat Djokovic to meet Federer in the final,Sharapova meanwhile will play Serena Williams in the ladies final. Down at Falmouth in the sailing Ben Ainslie is in a prime position for Gold in the ‘ Finn ’ class to win his fourth successive Gold ! Sadly in the Ladies Football the British girls were dumped out after a shock defeat by Canada 2-0.
The Olympic Stadium opened today for the Athletics ‘s competitions ; it looks stunning and was packed to the roof ( Sorry covering ! ) Jessica Ennis is well on the way in the Heptathlon after five of the seven events and is leading in the points standing; See the pictures above to give you a small taste.

PS; As I’am typing this Britain has just won another Gold medal in the rowing; the Men’s Four ! And now in the Women’s Lightweight Double Sculls we have won another Gold medal – I can’t keep up with it all !!



Thought for the Day;



You can have anything you want if you are willing to give up the belief that you can’t have it.



..






.