A VERY COLD, WET AND WINDY SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY.

THURSDAY 23^rd/JANUARY 2020. 

We had a long lie in this morning after another stormy night, after freshening up as I was on the breakfast rota I treated myself to a ‘Toasted Campo Fried Egg (2) Butty’! Brenda has her usual brown toast, with mugs of hot/strong tea, she then shot out along to our local  Chemists in ‘Calle Mar’ for our prescription tablets, I called into the local Bank for some cash, at the same time, as it is at the moment dry.

As we were getting ready we were listening to the ‘ Andrew Charles Breakfast Show’ on “ Castle Radio FM 89.2 & Online on the WWW” as this week’s ‘Music Quiz’ came on, I got it straight away, it was ‘Queen’ with ‘ You’re My Best Friend ‘ – so I’m in the draw, again, on Friday morning!

On the way back I asked the local Policeman, on duty outside the Town Hall, to come and see the open/protruding drain cover, at the top of ‘Calle Botica’ - that caused my nasty fall the other day, I asked him to report it to the ‘Council Department ‘ responsible ‘ASAP’ – all the Councillors are away in Madrid at a ‘Tourism Conference’ - including the Mayor, Mario!

Meanwhile over in a very snowy Everett, Ontario, Canada, Sandra & Bill have opened/prepared the ‘ Hot Tub’ just in case I make it over, for treatment/recuperation, if only! Yesterday a ‘Hot Shower’ helped with the stiffness/pain, it feels a little better today.

See below;

Yesterday evening at around 8-00 pm we had a very severe ‘ RAIN STORM/CLOUD BURST ‘ as the heavens opened, we had a ‘ River’ running down our street, it was just reaching the top of our step, thankfully the main street drains (3) across the street, above and below us worked!

See below a very grey and wet ‘Calle Mar’ yesterday evening!

                                                                                                                   

This morning, at the moment it’s staying dry, but with the forecast of more of the ‘ Wet-Stuff’ to arrive back later, it’s grey and overcast, with a light/cold breeze, so by lunchtime it’s only going to reach 12 degs+ - overnight down to 9/10 degs, over the next couple of days we are in for more of the same, staying wet & cold, which means that we will get rather wet, tomorrow morning, when we are out on our travels, down to Sabinillas, on the local bus, for our weekly shopping etc!

Sadly all over Northern Spain ‘Storm Gloria’ has been the worst ‘Snow Storms’ in over 60 years, with the loss of 10 lives, yesterday it hit Malaga!

From Sunday and all of next week, we are now in for a more settled and dry time, down here on the ‘Costa Del Sol’ as the next ‘ Atlantic’ front comes in, bringing with it a lighter breeze, with patchy clouds, a clearing sky and sunshine and no ‘RAIN’! It will be back up into the high ‘ Teens’ – 18/19degs+ still overnight a little cool, watch this space.

Yesterday evening we had a nice surprise guest join us for a late supper, our dear friend ‘ Big Brian’ – we has asked him for supper but had not heard from him, he had a ‘ Helluva’ weekend as he went back to the UK’ for the funeral of his best mate, in Runcorn, on Tuesday morning when he arrived at ‘Manchester Airport’ to fly back to Malaga, he had booked online, on the wrong dates, so there were no available flights back, he had to be back in work at 6-00 am on Wednesday morning, so the only option was to fly to Lisbon, Portugal, then catch a flight to Malaga, taking over 11 hours, with a 3 hour stop-over in Lisbon! We saw a picture on ‘Facebook’ of him at Lisbon Airport, and wondered what was happening?!  

Yesterday evening as he arrived home, after work, at 8-00 pm, he got caught in the ‘RAIN STORM’ and was drowned, so he let us know that he would be late arriving, after changing into dry clothes, he eventually made it and was very grateful for his ‘ ‘Comfort Food Supper’! For our dessert he brought us box of the famous/classic ‘Pastel de Nata – Custard Tarts’ of Lisbon, from the original shop!

See below;

For our supper this evening we are having our favourite ‘Pan- Seared Chicken Wings – Alitas de Pollo’ – with finely sliced ‘ French’ Green Beans and ‘Mashed Potato’!

We are into our ‘ Derby & Joan’ mode, taking things very easy, staying warm and relaxing, inside, out of the cold, windy and wet weather, watching the TV and channel hopping,

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM A VERY WET & WINDY SUNNY MANILVA;

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AN IN BETWEEN SHOWERS DAY IN SUNNY MANILVA ON SATURDAY.

SATURDAY 20^th/  OCTOBER  2018.

We had another little lie in this morning, after a night of very loud storms, with severe thunder and white fork lightening & cloud bursts, it then stopped and has just started again this morning, after a quick freshen up, as we are showering later, Brenda popped down to the local ‘Sub-Post Office’ to chase up some missing post, which they are dropping off on Monday ( Hopefully!) - on the way back she called into the ‘Fruit & Vegetable’ Shop, as well as our local shop, to top us up with all the essentials, for tomorrow ‘ State Visit & Banquet’ ! Watch this space.

Brenda was on the breakfast rota, as usual on a Saturday, so I had her famous ’ Campo’ Poached Eggs on Toast, Scrambled for her, with Toast fingers & mugs of strong tea, we then went on the ‘ Skype’ video to Jack & Lyn, over in Melbourne, Australia, for a chat & catch-up, they are both well and in good spirits, as usual, we have arranged to call them back, in the next few days, at the same time, 11-00 am here – 8 -00 pm over there, when Sandra & Bill will be with us in the house, watch this space.

At the moment the rain has stopped, but the forecast for the rest of today & tomorrow is still looking very wet, it’s hovering in the low 20s, overnight 17/18 degs, next week, fingers crossed, on some of the forecasts, the sun is due to break through and the sky will be clear & blue, giving us a chance to get out & about on the ‘ Costa Del Luz ‘ as well as around here on the ‘ Costa Del Sol ‘ Watch this space.

We have just had a call from Sandra, she and Bill went across to Estepona, yesterday afternoon, they parked down in the Marina and then walked around the old Town and ended up in ‘ Orange Square’ for a drink & snack, in between the showers, see the pictures below.

This evening we are picking them up from their apartment down in Sabinillas and will then go along the promenade to the ‘ Argentinean Steakhouse’ – “ Restaurante El Estribo “ for our ‘Saturday Steak Night’! – “ El Estribo “ is just about to open a new one, on the road going out along the coast towards ‘Sotogrande’!

Last night on the ‘ Graham Norton Show ‘ we caught one of my favourite acts of 2018, “ Christine And The Queens’ who first appeared on  ‘ Later with Jools Holland ‘ back in 2017, when you have a moment check out songs  ‘Tllted, Girlfriends’ & the latest song/track  ‘5 Dollars ‘ – you must watch the videos, as her dancing, with the ‘ Queens’ is part of the whole experience!

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

A VERY WET, BUT STILL WARM SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY.

THURSDAY 11^th/ OCTOBER 2018.

I was up early this morning to see little princess ‘ Reina’ back with us for the day, she shot into her duvet, as usual, I then carried on down to Sabinillas on my travels, for our weekly shopping,  meanwhile Brenda took ‘ Chico’ out for his first walk of the day, he spent the night under our bed and then on ‘ Reina’s duvet!

Overnight the ‘wet-stuff’ hit us, this morning it started again, but only light as we both set off, I called into our Bank to thank them for the very quick response, from the ‘Fraud’ Department, to our problems over the past couple of weeks, I then had a quick tea & toast in ‘ ItZabar’ before doing our main shop in ‘ Mercadona’ – I called into the ‘ English Bookshop’ for the local newspapers, then shot along to the office of ‘Helicopteros Sanitarios ‘ to pay the half-yearly payment for our Emergency Health Care Cover, before coming back up the hill, just as a ‘ cloud-burst’ broke over sunny Manilva!

As usual, when it Rains in Spain, it “ RAINS “ – as I unloaded back at the house, even with an umbrella, I ended up like a downed rat! After putting the car away in the underground car park, even with my waterproofs on I was again wet to the skin, when I came home, the only good part is that the rain is warm ( 24 degs+) !!

The weather forecast for tomorrow and over the weekend, when the folks, from Canada, arrive on Sunday, is now looking dry, with patchy clouds, then sunny & warm, hovering in the mid 20s, overnight 16/17 degs+ - next week we are in for more of the same, with just the treat of the wet stuff, from time to time, as a light breeze brings in the various weather fronts, the following week, on the longer range forecasts is also the same, watch this space.

I have just had the Producer on from   “ A Place in The Sun “  - they are filming the episode, next Wednesday afternoon, with a new Presenter, Jean Thompson, in the ‘ Plaza de la Vendimaia ‘ in front of the ‘Grape Crushing Pit’ – which has the Mosaic Tiles of me, along with the Mayor Mario, our neighbour & Diego, the Ex-Mayor & Councillor! I will be the ‘ local with knowledge’  - A  ‘ Star ‘ is born, watch this space.

See below;

Due to the weather we are not going out this evening, the ‘ Head Chef & Staff’ night off has been cancelled, after all they have two-weeks off, starting from Sunday, we will only call on them when needed! So for this evening’s supper we are having ‘ Omelettes of Choice ‘ – three Cheese for Brenda & ‘Paysanne ‘ for me! – with twice-cooked ‘ Stringfellows ‘




'Happy Memories' from times past! 

It’s definitely a ‘stay at home day’- so will be taking things very easy, taking ‘ Chico’ out in between the showers, he’s due to be collected tomorrow evening, we are going to miss him terribly, as he’s a real character, very gentle, great company and gets on with the other dogs, he’s due back with us at ‘Xmas’ for two weeks. This evening, after supper, we will be channel hopping to find something to watch.

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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A STILL VERY WET & OVERCAST SUNNY MANILVA ON SUNDAY.

SUNDAY 18^th MARCH 2018.

We all had another little lie in this morning, ‘Chico’ took his turn on the bed and ‘ Scruffy’ slept in his bed all night, the rain has not stopped since yesterday lunchtime, we got caught, again, in the storm on our evening walk, last night, with the dogs, as well as heavy rain it was blowing a gale, Brenda lost her umbrella and was not a happy bunny! When we came back to the house we were all drowned!!

This morning it was still raining hard so we decided to wait to see if it cleared,we treated ourselves to ‘Toasted Crispy Smoked Bacon Butties’ – open on brown for Brenda with mugs of strong tea, it then stopped so we got the waterproofs back on and braved the elements again, both the dogs were by then desperate, they have been very good, half way around our walk, the skies opened again, we came back, once again ‘ wet ‘ to the core, the dogs stay on the large bath towels to be dried!

On Monday morning little princess ‘ Reina’ is back with us here in ‘ Doggy World Heaven’ for just the two days this week, ‘Chico’ is due to be collected on Wednesday morning, there is still no news from Adrian & Rose in Hospital over in Marbella, ‘ Scruffy’ is being very good, as usual, is eating very well and keeps me company all day, as usual, watch this space.

It looks like the wet stuff is with us for the rest of the day, tomorrow and for the rest of week leading up to ‘ Palm Sunday’ and the start of the ‘ Semana Santa ‘ week of religious celebrations up to ‘Easter Sunday’ it’s now looking dry & sunny, a little cooler, hovering on the 15/16 degs+ mark, overnight down to 9/10 degs, just about normal for the time of the year, fingers crossed, watch this space.

See below a picture taken this morning of the main ‘A 55’ leading into North Wales!

Just a quick update on the sports results from yesterday; Everton won 1-2 & Liverpool won 5-0 with Salah scoring 4! Wales just about beat France, down in Cardiff 14-3 and England lost, again, 15-24 to Ireland!  

This evening for our supper we are having ‘Pan-Seared Medallions of Pork Fillet’ accompanied with a sauceboat of a creamy ‘Green Peppercorn Salsa’ – served with Glazed Carrot Batons, Whole French Baby Green Beans, with our favourite ‘ Lyonnaise Potatoes ‘ – sliced, boiled potatoes and thinly sliced onions, sautéed in butter with parsley.

Last night after supper we settled down to watch the next two, back to back’ episodes of the Danish crime thriller  “ Below the Surface “ – I won’t give away the story, watch it, it’s rather exciting!

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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