A VERY CRISP BUT SUNNY MANILVA ON FRIDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEKEND;

FRIDAY 18^th/ NOVEMBER 2016.

I was up early this morning and after ‘ Reina’ was dropped off for the day, she’s back next week for four days only as Brenda has another appointment at the Hospital for more X-Rays on Tuesday morning, I then went around  to our local surgery to make an appointment with our Doctor ( Wednesday morning ) - for Brenda, to update her with all the news/results etc. I then carried on down to Sabinillas to our Bank, again, our ‘Online Banking’ system is still not showing the new ‘Savings Account’ details, watch this space.

Next I did the main weekly shop in ‘ Mercadona’ & picked up the local newspapers from the ‘English Bookshop’ before carrying onto the ‘English Butchers’ in Puerto Duquesa to order our Xmas Turkey, I also bought some goodies to go away in the deep freeze and for tomorrow night’s ‘ Steak Night’ for a change ‘ Rump Steaks’ I then shot along to the local market at the far end of the promenade to buy fresh flowers & wall plants and the first ‘ Poinsettia’ of this year! Finally I called into ‘ Super Sol’ for the English essentials, it was then time to come back up the hilly to sunny Manilva and unload back at the house.

This morning the sun was out early the sky is clear & blue with no clouds, there is no breeze making it very crisp, first thing, later its due to warm up reaching 23 degs, over the weekend the ‘Atlantic’ front is starting to make a difference, its going a little colder and by Monday there is the threat of some of the wet stuff, watch this space.

Yesterday evening we went across to the ‘ Costa Del Sol Hospital’ just past Marbella for Brenda’s appointment with the Kidney Consultant, on the way in, at the main desk, I checked/confirmed the extra surprise appointment for next Tuesday morning for another ‘X-Ray’( not Barium!) for Brenda, we then went upstairs to the ‘Kidney Department’ where the very nice lady ‘Kidney Consultant’ was waiting, she took us through all the details and was very thorough with her Diagnosis, she confirmed that Brenda has had some severe Kidney damage earlier in the year due to trauma etc after her foot accident, caused by circulation problems, blood pressure and using pain killers, especially ‘Ibuprofen’ Our own Doctor stopped both of us using it straight away but the damage was already done! ‘ Paracetamol’ only or pain killers prescribed by her!!

Her Kidney readings are now showing a lot better, after all the recent tests etc, she will not need any treatment but she said that Brenda has to loose some weight, 5/7 kilos, exercise everyday, eat less and get her Blood pressure down below 140/90 - cutting out her Gin & Tonics, White & Red Wine are OK! She has also adjusted her prescriptions to help & confirmed that our own Doctor had reacted with the correct adjustments over the past few months a great ‘ RESULT’

All this means that on Monday we are both staring a new health regime with daily exercise on our new ( over a year) but yet unused exercise bicycle in the ‘Chill Out Room’!  I’m reducing the portions, more ‘Vegetables & Salads’ will be on the menu, the ‘ Cocktail Hour’ Gin & Tonic will be changed to wine, we are taking our blood pressures daily and will start weekly ‘weight in's’ - watch this space.

We then came back along the coast road to ‘Puerto Banus’ and went for a ‘ Celebration’ supper to the celebrity restaurant ‘La Sala’ – I dropped the car off, with the valet parking guy, in between the ‘Black Bentley Convertibles’! The restaurant was very busy and the ‘Hostess’ offered us ‘inside or out’? We choose ‘ out’ and sat on the terrace with the  ‘ flame’ heating lamps, it was cool but very pleasant as there was no breeze on a starry evening.

We ordered two glasses of the house ‘Cava Rosado’ and perused the menu, the House ‘Cañapes’ arrived – excellent ‘Croquettes’  To start we shared the House ‘Dim Sum’ with three dipping sauces, Brenda ordered the ‘ Dish of the Day ‘ – ‘ Baked Fillets of Sea Bass ‘ filled with large prawns and resting on a bed of grilled vegetables, Red & Green Peppers, Courgettes, Aubergine, Asparagus etc with a  savoury ‘Mushroom Salsa’ on the side and a Balsamic Reduction stripe! A very good glass of the House ‘Sauvignon Blanc’ helped! I had the ‘Grilled Angus Fillet Steak’ – ‘ Med-Rare’ topped with Garlic Butter and garnished with Cherry Tomatoes, Wild Mushrooms and an excellent ‘ Bearnaise’ sauce on the side, of course with a ‘ basket’ of the House ‘ French Fries’!

Everything was perfect, cooked correctly and very succulent & tasty( the steak!) – the  service was quick and attentive, the South African Head Waiter talked to us and ‘hovered’ A very nice relaxing evening sat outside in the middle of November down on the ‘ Costa Del Sol’ – we also got a 10% discount with our Club Card!! The restaurant is closing on Monday, for a week, for refurbishment, we shall return, soon, to check it out! Watch this space.

At lunchtime as it was so warm & sunny we went up to ' Bar Rojas' for a cool drink, we had to take off our jumpers in the very hot sunshine even sat under the ' Sonbajo' - we then were then tempted to have a couple of 'Tapas' - Susanna's 'Chicken Croquettes & Pork in Salsa Tomate' - both delicious, with local bread.

On the menu this evening we are having ‘ Dry Grilled Fillets of Hake’ with Garden Peas & Parsley New Potatoes, keeping it simple.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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