MANILVA

THURSDAY 16th/ MAY 2013.

This morning we have been for a walk with dog, it is ‘Crisp’ but we are very lucky as the rest of Spain has severe rain, wind, hail and snow – it’s May- Tomorrow,Friday it is forecast to be went and windy - our front door shutter has just blown down! So we are having a catch up day at home and taking things as they come!Brenda is washing all the wall tiles in the house so I'am in the office working!

Yesterday afternoon on TVE2 there was a documentary about the “ Antikythera Mechanism ” – it is an ancient analog compute designed to calculate astronomical positions; it is made of bronze and is kept in a museum in Athens, it was recovered in 1900,by sponge divers from the wreck of the same name off the island of Antikythera but its significance were not understood until a century later. A professor from Cardiff University led the study with academic’s from around the globe to unfold the mystery of what is did and how it worked! They credit its invention, probably to the school of ‘Archimedes’ and it dates back to the early 1^st century BCE – it just looks like a lump of aged bronze, as you can see in the picture above but the programme showed how the uncovered the true meaning of what it was! The details of the construction are mind-blowing and it was fascinating to see the ‘Brains’ arguing over the details down to the number of teeth on the main gears – 223 – a prime number !

This afternoon it is stage 12 of the 'Giro d'Italia' from Longarone to Treviso over only 134kms - watch out for a sprint finish with Cavendish! It's raining 'Italian Cats and Dogs again !! Mark Cavendish has just won today's stage 12 into Treviso above Venice in spectacular style in the heavy rain - it's his 100th professional race win! The bad news is that Wiggins crossed the line 3min and 30seconds behind the leaders and now has no chance of winning the race!! In fact on Friday morning Sir BradleyWiggins has had to retire due to a severe chest infection.

In the evening after our Braised Steak, which was delicious, the steak from our butcher is very tasty and the rich sauce with the vegetables including the White Beans that we soaked over night with the Lentils is to die for we watched the football – Benfica outplayed a tired looking Chelsea in the first half and it looked like it was going into extra time before the winning goal on the 93^rd minute! Torres played like he did in his days at Liverpool and his goal in the 59^th minute to take the lead was well deserved; Petr Cech saved superbly and the winning goal from a Mata corner was taken very well by Ivanovic.

Next to look forward to is the final of the ‘Copa del Rey’between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid on Friday at the ‘Santiago Bernabeu’ in Madrid – the last time the met in the final in 1992 Atletico won 2-0!

Thoughts for the Day

In every triumph there’s a lot of try.  You must do the things you think you cannot do.  To get what you want, stop doing what isn’t working.

..

.