Wednesday, December 31, 2014
A CRISP AND SUNNY MANILVA ON WEDNESDAY THE LAST DAY OF 2014;
WEDNESDAY
31st/ DECEMBER 2014.
I took
‘Scruffy’ out for is first walk of the day before coming back for our usual
breakfast of Weetabix,toast ,fresh fruit and tea, ‘Reina’ is not with us today
for sleep over as planned, she’s coming
at lunchtime tomorrow for a short while,’Chispa’is here already this morning
rather earlier than normal and is eating some bones at the moment; meanwhile
‘Charlie’ is just waking up and starting his usual dawn chorus of his full
repertoire of calls,whistles,sounds,with words and sayings after we take his
cover off!
At lunchtime we went for a nice walk with both of the dogs down to the 'Mirador' at the bottom of the village.We sat on our 'Derby & Joan' bench over looking the valley towards the mountains and across to the 'Med'
At lunchtime we went for a nice walk with both of the dogs down to the 'Mirador' at the bottom of the village.We sat on our 'Derby & Joan' bench over looking the valley towards the mountains and across to the 'Med'
Today we
have another beautiful day here in sunny Manilva with a clear blue sky, the sun
out early and no breeze, the forecast is for more of the same for the rest of
the week and over the weekend getting a little warmer, its still very crisp and
you have to wrap up well including ‘Scruffy’ in his Tartan coat! First thing in
the morning its cold and later in the evening also, during the night it’s
dropping down to 3/4degs at the moment.
Now for the
bad news this morning, yesterday the ‘UK’ Government and the Minister of
Pensions, Ian Duncan Smith stopped next years ‘Winter Fuel Payments’ to
pensioner’s living abroad in various counties especially here in Spain, if you
are living in Bulgeria,Finland or even Belgium you will still receive it but we
are getting nothing! Its £100 per person and arrives in the bank account
towards the end of November, the new law is based on overall temperatures in
the country calculated against the temperatures in some part of Southern England at the same time! It does not take
into account any very cold spells or local circumstances.
We have
both paid our taxes since starting work at the age of sixteen and working all
our lives until the age of over sixty never claiming any benefits and in our
case paying two full council taxes on our house and apartments at the hotels!!
We have electricity bills just like everybody else and in the winter you need
some sort of heating on to keep the cold chills at bay, the Minister even went
as far a to ‘Hint’ that the money was spent of drinking and eating!! This in
our case is just not true, we have to budget just like any other pensioners and
look after ourselves and maintain a decent style of life in our old age!
It was also
a reminder of our origins and pace of birth and how we have worked all our
lives in the country of our birth and paid our way at all times – it feels like
a ‘kick in the face’ – to say that we are not happy is somewhat of a
understatement to say the least!!
Rant over,
for now so back to tonight’s supper – we are treating ourselves to ‘T-Bone’
steaks cooked on the hot griddle plate ‘Med–Rare’ with sautéed Baby Mushrooms,
finely sliced Green Beans and twice-cooked ‘Frits’ before welcoming in the New
Year here in a crisp and sunny Manilva – just the two old age pensioners
‘huddled’ together for warmth in front of the TV with ‘Scruffy’ & ‘Charlie’
for company!
“ FELIZ
ANO NUEVO ” “ HAPPY NEW
YEAR ”
" FROM THE SEXTONS & SCRUFFY IN SUNNY MANILVA"
" FROM THE SEXTONS & SCRUFFY IN SUNNY MANILVA"
Thoughts
for the Day; See above.
..
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
A STILL CRISP AND SUNNY MANILVA ON TUESDAY;
TUESDAY 30th/
DECEMBER 2014.
I was up
early this morning as little princess ‘Reina’ was being dropped off for the
day, at lunchtime ‘Scruffy’ is arriving for a two day sleep over and of course
‘Chispa’ will call in some time this morning to see who of her friends is here!
‘Charlie’ the ‘African Grey’ Parrot is settling in, he’s here for the week
until Saturday as Andy & Maria have gone to see her family in Seville then
at the end of the following week after the “Three Kings” celebrations on Tuesday
6th they are going to England to see Andy’s mum for a week; this
means that we could have ‘Charlie’ with us for three weeks! See his picture below;
Today the
sky is blue and the sun is out but it’s still very crisp and you need to wrap
up well with a hat and scrarf, the same weather is with us for the rest of the
week but none of the wet stuff is due and it’s going a little warmer by the
weekend.
Last night
we had a very nice evening with Andy & Maria; it was our ‘Xmas Party’ night
as we exchanged table presents and pulled the executive Crackers (Iceland
Today is
definitely an at home day so ‘we’ are catching up with the chores, I’m up in
the office on the WWW and Brenda is as usual busy around the house in full
‘ing’ mode! We will go for a short walk later with the dogs.In fact we went for a long walk with all three dogs as it went warmer as the day went on.
Over in
England the football is at its height in the ‘Premiere League’ during the
festive celebrations while over here the ‘La Liga’ closes down for the holiday
period until the New Year and they all go on expensive holiday’s world wide! Liverpool won 4-2 City
On the menu
front tonight we are having pan-grilled ‘Chicken Wings’ with a little mixed
salad and a Baked Potato, then tomorrow evening we have treated ourselves to
‘T-Bone’ steaks and on New Years Day we are having ‘Lamb Shanks’ in minted
Gravy – the new ‘health regime’ will kick in on Monday 5th January
2015 – honest Josie! – By the time you arrive on the 16th we will be
shadows of our former self’s!!
This
evening after supper we will catch up with all the news, sport and weather
details before settling down to find something to watch.
Thoughts
for the Day; See above.
..
Monday, December 29, 2014
A VERY CRISP AND SUNNY MANILVA ON MONDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEK;
MONDAY 29th/
DECEMBER 2014.
We were up
early this morning and after a quick breakfast we shot down to Sabinillas for a
top up shop, we picked up the papers and then hit ‘Mercadona’ It was rather
sharp to say the least but the breeze has dropped away, its very crisp with a
clear Blue sky and the sun is out, by lunchtime it will reach 15/16degs! It’s
going to be cold for the next few days but no sign of any wet stuff on the
horizon!
Over in Australia Melbourne New Zealand
So we are
no going to sort out this evenings supper when Andy & Maria are joining us;
“Baked Pork Chops – English Style” with my famous ‘Charcutiere sauce’ Brenda is
preparing Cauliflower Florets in a three –Cheese sauce, glazed Carrot Batons
and finely sliced Green Beans, I’m making some ‘Breton style’ Potatoes- cooked
diced Potatoes tossed with diced Onions and Red & Green Peppers.
To start we
are having some light ‘Tapas’ and for our dessert it’s a platter of Éclairs
&Profiteroles garnished with Strawberries.
Andy is
bringing ‘Charlie’ his African Grey Parrot who is staying with us for the week,
then tomorrow it’s the start of a busy week over the New Year holiday here in
‘Doggy World Heaven’ with both ‘Reina’ and ‘Scruffy’ back with us.
This
morning the Pensions started arriving in our Spanish Bank account, the ‘Euro’
is strong at the moment so it was up a little which is good as the other
pensions are due in at the start of January 2015!
Thoughts
for the Day; See above.
..
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