A BREEZY, WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON SUNDAY:

SUNDAY 9^th / OCTOBER 2016.

We all had a nice lie in this morning until the church bells ringing out to call the ‘faithful’ to Mass awoke us! ‘Pax’ has slept all night on the floor mat by the side of our bed, last night he did lie on his bed in the lounge in front of the TV for a while ( see the picture on yesterday’s Blog!) -  he’s eating everything, drinking a lot of water and is very ‘regular’ on his walks, on our first walk this morning we met some other dog walkers, local & friends, he’s settled very well into our routine and enjoyed his trip out yesterday lunchtime up to ‘Bar Castillo’ for lunch ( Fresh local ‘ Salmonettes ! ) -  the latest news is that ‘Bar Ocana’ is reopening on Monday back under the owner, Fran Ocana, with his wife, watch this space.

After returning from our walk this morning the ‘ Second Chef’ produced her famous ‘ Campo Poached Eggs on Toast ‘ with mugs of steaming ‘ PG Tips’ to start the day in the right fashion, see the picture below.

We have yet another glorious day down here on the ‘ Costa Del Sol’ – the sun is out, the sky is blue and there is a light breeze, perfect, for the time of the year, its still warm and it looks like we are in for more of the same next week.

See the picture, below, of the sunrise over the ‘Stone Quarry Pier’ at Llanddulas below Penmaenhead, Colwyn Bay, North Wales, this morning.

At lunchtime we went for a short walk along ' Calla Mar ' and ended up back at ' Bar Rojas' sat under the ' Sonbajo' in the warm sunshine, for a cool drink, Brenda had a very nice, large,glass of 'White Riojo & I had my normal ' friendly'  ' Cuba Libre' -as we talked to Susanna she confirmed that the Council is over the next 5/6 months closing ' Calle Mar' to commence the work/landscape etc on making the street a pedestrian only zone, we had heard the rumours but none of the local Councillor's would confirm anything when I spoke to them! It means that her ' Sonbajo' will be knocked down and all the Bars along the street will loose, for now, their outside seating?! Watch this space as I'm calling into to see the Mayor in the morning!!

Just a quick update on the sports results; England could only manage a 2-0 win over lowly Malta and at the 'Japanese Grand Prix' Lewis Hamilton made yet another bad start to end up third.

For this evenings supper I’m making my famous ‘ Smoked Chicken & Three Green Bean Risotto ‘ – the ‘ Second Chef’ is currently preparing the Broad Beans(skinned) Fine French Beans ( small Batons) & Diamond Cut local Beans, this evening I will make the traditional ‘Risotto’ using Spanish ‘ Arborio’ Rice from Valencia, finely chopped Onion, the secret ingredients, a good ‘ glug’ of Brenda’s White Wine and then slowly added, the very rich Fish & Vegetable Stock; then near the finish I add the diced Breast & Leg of Smoked Chicken along with all the beans, adjust the seasoning and then add some grated Parmesan Cheese, a dash of Cream and chopped Parsley, finally, garnished with  the Asparagus Spears! See below;

Last night we watched before supper ‘ Strictly Come Dancing’ – then later we caught a interesting programme over on BBC 2 as Michael Palin interviewed the renound Author & Travel writer ‘ Jan Morris’ at her home in Llanystumdwy on the ‘Lyyn Peninsula’  in North Wales, what made it rather interesting was that we met her back in 1971 when we were the Managers of the famous Mountaineers Hotel ‘ Pen-Y- Gwyrd’ at the foot of Snowdon. Our first job after we were married!

She was friends with the owners as she was the ‘Times’ reporter on the successful  Everest expedition in 1953, when she was ‘James Morris’!  Hillary & Tenzing’s team planned the attempt at the hotel and practised their climbing, we also met the Doctor and other climbers from the expedition in the ‘ Everest Room’ in the heart of the hotel, happy days and many memories.

See below a picture from the early 1900s of the” RMS Mauretania “ berthed at the landing stage in Liverpool, she was the largest and fastest liner in the World, at the time, for many years, not a lot of people know that, they do now!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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