A VERY HOT & SUNNY MANILVA ON MONDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEK.

MONDAY 4^th/ MAY 2020.   “ STATE OF ALARM –DAY 51”

After freshening up, as usual, on a Monday morning I’m on the breakfast rota so I had a ‘ Dockers Butty ‘ – a ‘Toasted Crispy Smoked Bacon Butty’ – smothered in ‘ HP’ Brown sauce – open on brown for Brenda, with some of her favourite sliced/seared Button Mushrooms, tossed in the Bacon juices with a knob of Butter, some of which made it into my ‘ Butty’ – with mugs of hot/strong Tea, to start the 8^th week in ‘LOCKDOWN’ –here in a very sunny Manilva.

I then Masked/Gloved up and shot along the local Bank in ‘ Calle Mar’ to pay the Electricity bill, when I returned Brenda was Masked/Gloved up and went out for a short walk ( half hour) around the bottom of the village, this evening in our ‘ Pensioners Slot’ we will go down to the ‘Plaza de la Vendemia’ for another half-hour, before coming back up to the house and ‘ Clapping’ outside at 8-00 pm, as we do each evening!

The sun was out first thing and the sky is already cloudless and bright blue, with just a slight breeze, so by lunchtime it’s forecast to reach 25 degs+ - down to 16 degs+ overnight – the rest of the week and over the coming weekend is staying the same, with lots of warm/hot sunshine, going up to 28/29 degs+ by Wednesday, as it did yesterday afternoon, with a few patchy clouds at times, together with light breezes, it will be hovering in the mid/high 20s for the rest of the week - overnight only down to 17/18 degs+ - the flowing week is at the moment looking a little cooler, as the next ‘Atlantic’ front comes in, bringing with it some ‘ Wet-Stuff’?! Watch this space.

Yesterday evening we made contact with Sandra & Bill over in Everett, Ontario, Canada, on a pre-arranged ‘ Skype’ video link up, they are both fine & well, Sandra is still working from home ( a full 40 hrs) and Bill is out as usual, they were sat outside in the back yard/garden, taking in the fresh air and sunshine ( 17 degs+) – we toasted Bill with ‘Cava’ for his birthday today, as they had a glass of ‘ Bucks Fizz’! I took the picture below with the camera, off the video screen!

As we and they expected ‘Air Canada’ have cancelled their booking in October, they have given them a 24 month credit, so they have gone to ‘Plan B’ – they are now planning to come over to Spain, in a year’s time, and will be here for Bill’s 60^th Birthday! A lovely idea and something to look forward to!!                               


                                                 “ STAY SAFE & WELL INSIDE – LOVE “

Meanwhile over in North Wales this morning they had beautiful start to the day, as you can see below, showing the ‘ Snowdon Horseshoe’ with a spectacular view across the lake!

Here in a very sunny Manilva, down in the valley below the village, the river from the ‘Thermal Roman’ springs/baths, was also looking at it’s best !!

“ CORANAVIRUS UPDATE – COVID 19 PANDEMIC”

All quiet this morning  as ‘Phase 0 ‘ takes hold, here down on the ‘ Costa Del Sol’ with lots of the ‘Policia Local & National, Guardia Civil & the Army’ out & about on foot, in cars and helicopters, as well as on Quad bikes and flying drones! Making sure that we all follow the latest ‘ LOCKDOWN’ regime!!

The ‘ Council’ Cleansing department ( 8 ) were out if force this morning, led by our neighbour Antonio, who is in charge of the department,  along ‘Calle Mar’ re-stocking with the sanitize chemicals, in their full white Hazard suits, as they set off to spray all the streets, I ‘ Thanked’ him and all of them for their hard work, especially in the hot sunshine!  

For our supper this evening we are having ' Pork Schnitzels' - flattened Pork Fillets, coated in breadcrumbs from the local Bakery, shallow-fried in Vegetable Oil, until crisp & golden, accompanied with lots of Lemon wedges and topped with a ' Campo' Fried Egg- 'Holstein' style, served with 'Spaghetti Milanese' ( Tomato salsa & sliced Smoked Ham)  & whole Baby 'French' Green Beans.

The Menus for the rest of the week have been agreed; tomorrow it's ' Grilled Gammon Steaks' with 'Chips' - on Wednesday I'm going to make, for a change, a ' Ragout of Pork' - my version of the old classic, ' Veal Stew'  using Baby Mushrooms and assorted  Peppers, with a White Wine creamy sauce, Thursday is a 'leftovers' day and on Friday it will be a ' Fish N' Chip' supper,  as usual on Saturday it's ' Steak Night'  - finally Sunday is still TBC, watch this space. 

“ STAY SAFE & WELL INSIDE AT ALL TIMES AND WHEN OUT KEEP YOUR DISTANCE  WITH YOUR MASKS/GLOVES ON”  

As usual we will be watching a lot of TV, channel hopping all the time. to find good programmes to watch, as well as following the ‘Quiz Shows’ and series that we catch all the time.

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

...