MAILVA TODAY AND HAPPY MEMORIES FROM THE PAST

THURSDAY 9^th/ MAY 2013.

Another terrific day in sunny Manilva as we got up this morning, by tomorrow it will be 28degs; we are having a lazy day pottering about the house, later we will go for a walk with the dog around the village. See the picture above of the road markings being painted in Wall Street, as we came along Calle Mar there was workmen fitting out the new supermarket, it turns out that it belongs to Antonio who has the ‘Ronnie Barker – Open all hours’ on the other side of the road! When we came back we caught up with Tim on the Skype video after his holiday in Majorca last week with Thea.

On Tuesday when we were down in Sabinillas we called into the new private medical practice ‘Sabimedic’ set up by Emilio our Doctor/ Deputy Mayor as I had noticed in their sales leaflet that they are offering the service of issuing driving licenses and many other ad-on services! My English driving license is due for renewal within the next year and at present to get a Spanish license we would have to go over to La Linea next to Gibraltar and go through a very busy and difficult multi-office two days to get one! Not any more, as the practice is offering, by appointment to issue them along with eye tests, etc. all on the same day for the same fee!

Today’s Stage 6 in the Giro d’Italia is over 169kms from Mola Di Bari to the town of Margherita Di Savoia named after the first Queen of Italy and of course also the famous pizza in the colours of Italy, it goes along the coast and should be won by a sprinter – watch out for Cavendish! And yes Mark Cavendish won the stage with excellent team work and a great lead out to the finish!!

The other evening we were watching a programme on TVE1 about Russia and Brenda jokingly said I suppose you have been there as you have been everywhere else in the past! She was referring to my travels with my Mum and Dad, from the age of 5 back in 1950! It started when we went to Ostende in Belgium from Liverpool on the ‘Red Rose’ train from Lime Street, then on the ‘Boat Train’ to Dover and caught the ferry over; this was the way we started every trip, I can remember it like it was yesterday and all the trips in the next ten years! I do not know how my father arranged them all to this day, we went by train all over Europe and when in the different places we always visited other parts of the country.

The following year we went back to Ostende and went to Bruge and Brussels where we saw the famous ‘Mannekin Pis’! Next we went to Holland and stayed in the sea-side resort of Scheveningen and visited Amsterdam where I got my first taste of ‘Frits’ with ‘Mayo’ The following year at the age of 8 we went to Barcelona on the train across France, we went up to the Monastery of Montseraat, down the coast to Sitges where I had my first Paella and to a Bullfight in Barcelona. Germany was next on the list; we stayed in Cologne where I ate ‘Goulash’ for the first time! We ended up in ‘Berchtesgaden’ and went to see Hitler’s ‘Wolfs Lair’

Everywhere we went we always ate local food. It was then the turn of Austria where we stayed in Innsbruck and I had my first taste of 'Wienerchnitzel' and went across the ‘Brenner Pass’ to Italy. By the age of 11 I was in Switzerland in Interlaken and trying the National dish of the Swiss - Potato Rosti - with a fried Egg on top! We went to Lausanne and Geneva, everywhere still by train- this time we went up into the Alps and went on a train up to the ‘Jungfraujoch’and then on a cable car to the top where we walked through ice caves into Italy! The next adventure was to Yugoslavia, before it broke up, Marshall Tito was still in power and it was a communist state – we stayed in Ljubljana and went down to the coast to Trieste. By the age of 14 I went to the Italian Lakes – ‘Lake Maggiore’ – water skiing, many years later when staying in Switzerland with Carol’s daughter we drove across the mountains and down to Lake Maggiore for lunch- I recognized the roads and the frontier from over nearly fifty years ago! Trips to Locarno, Lugano,Lake Como and Milan – all memories to this day that will stay with me forever.

PS; Jenny has just been on the phone to say that her and Norah have managed to get on the same flight to Gibraltar with Jack and Lyn ! We can't wait to welcome them all back to sunny Manilva!!Later this afternoon I joined Brenda up on the roof terrace for our evening 'Cocktails' - we also started to read our next 'Patterson's' - such an easy read as the words are big and the paragraphs short!!

Tonight for supper we are having Chicken Curry from the deep freeze that I have added too before we settle down to watch a film.

Thoughts for the Day;

We do not remember days, we remember moments. The richness of life les in memories we have forgotten. We must always have old memories and young hope.  The true art of memory is the art of attention.

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