A NOW ' FRESH' AND SUNNY MANILVA ON WEDNESDAY - ' NEW YEARS DAY 2020'

WEDNESDAY 1^st/ JANUARY 2020. “ NEW YEARS DAY – DIA DE AÑO NUEVO “

We all had a nice lie in this morning after a late finish last night, ‘Pucci’ came up with us and slept all night on ‘Reina’s’ duvet at the foot of our bed, after we freshened up we took him out for his first walk of the day, I also let the ‘New Year’ in when we returned, as usual, by tradition I had a piece of bread, matches etc in a bag, with me, yesterday evening, earlier on there was some locals setting off loud ‘Bangers’ so we gave him his calming tablet and another one later, which worked fine, as the night went on and into the New Year, he’s full of the ‘joys’ this morning, he will be collected later this evening.

 In ‘ Doggy World Heaven’ over the first two weeks of the ‘New Year’ we have no guests, as little ‘ Miss Bella’ is at home, Leah is on holiday!

When we returned we had for our breakfast some freshly squeezed local Orange juice, with a cool glass of ‘ Cava White Label Codorniu Anna ‘ with ‘ Campo’ Scrambled Eggs on Toast topped with diced Smoked Salmon!

See below;

We then came upstairs to the office/studio and first called Lyn, over in Melbourne, on the ‘Skype’ audio call system, she was at home on her own, as Jack had moved into the ‘ Respite Home’ for two weeks, she goes along to see him each day, as the Home is not too far away, she is relaxing and taking things very easy, catching up with her sleep,  she is  safe and well, as the severe ‘Bush Fires’ have not reached them, down on the coast/bay, despite it being very hot, we then called Jenny and then Norah at the same time, finally we made contact with Sandra & Bill over in Everett, Ontario, Canada, on the ‘ Facebook Messenger’ to answer their message and arrange a ‘ Skype’ video link up later today!






At lunchtime on our walk with 'Pucci' we ended up back at 'Bar Rojas  - Sol Vida Pizzeria' - which was the only bar open, we sat in the sunshine outside and had nice cool drink, a fine large glass of Italian White Wine for Brenda and a ' Helluva' Cubra Libre for me, Leah & her husband Ryan came along, she had just picked him up from Malaga airport, after flying in from the UK, so they joined us, with little ' Miss Bella ' as we took in the sights & sounds of sunny Manilva on 'New Years Day!

Yesterday evening we had a nice surprise guest call in to see us, just after we had finished our supper, our dear friend ‘ Big Brian’ – he was  just going to have one drink but we managed to persuade him to stay and see in the ‘ Spanish New Year’ with us!

I found him some cold sliced ‘Beef’ fingers with a few Green Beans, as a little starter,  then we had ‘Xmas Pudding’ with Vanilla Ice Cream & the first fresh, local Strawberries of 2020, followed by warm ‘ Mini Mince Pies’! The Xmas Puddings were excellent, small individual ones, that you pop in the Micro-Wave for 4 minutes, then leave to rest for 1 minute! At midnight here in Spain, by tradition you eat 12 grapes on the strokes, as you make a wish! The Red wine flowed, followed by my ‘ Cooking Brandy’ served in warm cut-glass Brandy Glasses, for Brenda and Brian, while I on was on the ‘ Cuba Libre’s!

Brian then headed off home, to the top of the village, as he had to be in work, in Gibraltar, this morning for 6-00 am! We then settled down to see in the ‘ New Year’ over in the UK as we watched ‘ Jool’s Holland’s Annual Hootenanny ‘ over on BBC TV 2 – with Ruby Turner, Brittany Howard, Rick Astley, Tom Walker and the Stereophonics & Stormzy!

This morning has again started a little grey & overcast with a light breeze, so hopefully by lunchtime it will clear, leaving a few patchy clouds with sunshine, reaching 16 degs+ - overnight down to 9/10 degs, staying the same over the next couple of days and the weekend, at the start of next week we are in for more of the same, before the next cold, wet & windy ‘ Atlantic’ front comes in by next Tuesday, bringing with it a ‘ Cold Spell’ with moderate to heavy showers for the rest of the week hovering in the low/mid ‘ Teens’ at times, down to 12 degs only, as the wind could be up to ‘ gale force’ at times, watch this space.

On the sports front today; in the ‘Premiere League’ Manchester City welcome Everton and tomorrow Liverpool are at home to Sheffield Utd, this afternoon the ‘ National Hunt Racing’ is from Cheltenham & Musselburgh!

For our supper this evening we are having ‘ Grilled Medallions of Pork Fillet’ garnished with seared Button Mushrooms and accompanied with a sauceboat of a creamy ‘ Green Peppercorn’ salsa, served with our favourite whole Baby ‘ French’ Green Beans & Broccoli Florets, along with the classic ‘ Rissole Potatoes’ – Boiled Baby New Potatoes, in their skins, then tossed in foaming Parsley Butter, until crisp & golden all over!

We are taking things very easy today, walking ‘Pucci’ later, over lunchtime, then this evening settling down to watch the ‘New Year’s Day’ TV, a new three-part police/drama series, over the next three evenings,  which is starting ‘ Bankcroft ‘ featuring Sarah Parish, as the well-respected Detective Superintendant.

As I have been typing/posting today’s Blog I have been listening to, downstairs, the annual ‘New Year’s Day Concert ‘ – live from the ‘Golden Hall’ of the ‘Musikverein’ in Vienna, as the ‘Vienna Philharmonic ‘ plays an array of polkas, waltzes & gallops by the ‘ Strauss’ family, finishing with the Wold famous  ‘ clapping’  “ Radetzky March “ by Johann Strauss!   

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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