HOT AND SUNNY MANILVA ON FRIDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEKEND;

FRIDAY 2^nd/ MAY 2014.

Today we are back to normal in a very hot and sunny Manilva after yesterday’s little morning ‘Hiccup’; after our usual breakfast we went and picked the car up from the underground car park and first went down to the local market by the sports complex for some fresh flowers and plants, then we shot down to Sabinillas ,called into our bank and then the English Bookshop which is now fully opened and stocked and looks very impressive. We then did our usual shop in the supermarket before coming back up to the village through the vine fields which are looking better each day.

After unpacking I shot around to the butchers for our Saturday night ‘Steak a la Plancha’ and showed him the pictures from last night of the ‘Burger Towers’! Tonight for our supper we are having our latest favorite fish classic from the past, again; “ Fillets of Hake Meuniere ”with Saffron New Potatoes and Garden Peas. On Sunday we can’t make our minds up at the moment between Roasting a Chicken or Lamb Cutlets ‘Boulangere’ –watch this space.

Later in the morning we went for our morning walk with the dog as you can see in the pictures above including the new plants on display outside the house, arranged by Brenda who also took the pictures in her role as assistant camera person!

In the bookshop this morning I was talking to the owner Steve and enquired after a local author who lives in the village, we bump into her when we are out walking the dog as she’s out with hers, she lives in the top of the village with her husband and is a friend of Den & Josie – ‘Mary Chiappe’ – she has published a series of books in the ‘Bresciano Mystery’ series based in Gibraltar in the 1800s,’ Cabbages and Kings’ a compilation of essays, ‘A Handful of Poems’ a book of light verse and ‘The Grapes of Warmth’ which is an autobiographical account of her life here in sunny Manilva over the past twenty years!

She has an interesting past as her forefathers came from Sicily and her foremothers were Spanish peasants with gypsy blood, at the age of 25 she made a brief foray into politics when she became Gibraltar’s first woman ‘Minister of Education’ – she is bilingual and has spent a life-time teaching English, she also is a columnist for the ‘Gibraltar Chronicle’

Steve is looking out for a copy of ‘The Grapes of Warmth’ for me, he did find a rare copy of ‘The Murder in Whirligig Lane’ from 2010 which happens to be the first in the series! - so I’ am just about to start reading it and will then ask her when we next meet to sign it for us!

PS; The view of Liverpool brings back many happy memories; the 'Royal Liver' building on the far right and the large building in the front is actually a ventilation tower for the old Mersey tunnel - it was designed by an old school friend's grandfather before the war !

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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