A VERY WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON SATURDAY.

SATURDAY 18^th/ AUGUST 2018.   

We had a nice long lie in this morning, the village was very quiet and the church bells didn’t start until later! After freshening up Brenda was on the breakfast rota, so we had her famous ‘ Campo Poached Eggs on Toast’ – Boiled for her, with Toast Fingers, and mugs of strong/hot tea, to set us up for the weekend!

I then popped along to the local Bank in ‘Calle Mar’ for some cash and on the way back called into the Chemists for a couple of my prescription tablets, ‘Chispa’ was waiting to welcome me back, she came running up our street, she’s in & out all the time looking for her friends, we are waiting to hear when little princess ‘ Reina’ is back with us next week, we also have a new dog coming to see us next week, he’s a 3 year-old miniature Pinscher, he could be with us in ‘ Doggy World Heaven’ for his holidays in September, watch this space.

The latest news on the ‘ Euro’ is not good, it’s at it’s lowest exchange rate, since we arrived her in Spain, all those years ago, very nearly 1 for 1?! Our Pension & Bank transfers each month are dropping all the time, with no sight of it creeping back up, at the moment, all due mainly to the on-going ‘Brexit’ negotiations, as well as ‘ Trumps’ text messages etc! We are now down nearly 33%!! Watch this space.

This morning the sun broke through earlier and the sky is clear and bright blue, there is a slight breeze so in the shade it’s still cooler, by lunchtime it will be 29 degs+ tomorrow is the same and then next week is now looking warm & sunny, hovering in the low 30s, partly cloudy at times and on one of the forecasts the ‘ wet-stuff’ is showing again?! Watch this space.

See below this morning’s ‘Moscatel’ grapes that have just been picked by our neighbour!

Brenda is washing/shampooing her hair in the downstairs bathroom, I’m up in the office/studio on the ‘WWW’ reading all the news, checking all the ‘ E-mails, Facebook messages etc, before typing/ posting today’s Blog.

On the sports front this weekend we have the return of the ‘ La Liga’ football over here in Spain as Barcelona welcome Alaves and tomorrow Real Madrid are at home to their neighbours Getafe; 

Meanwhile over in the ‘UK’ in the ‘Premier’ league Everton are at home to Southampton, on Sunday Manchester City welcome Huddersfield Town and then on Monday Liverpool travel down past the M1( on the train!) to play Crystal Palace.

For our supper this evening we are having a large ‘ Rib of Beef – on the bone’ grilled on a very hot griddle-plate ‘ Med-Rare’ and left to rest, before taking it off the bone and carving it into fingers ‘ French’ style, garnished with seared Asparagus Spears & Button Mushrooms, served with whole ‘ French’ Green Beans and of course some twice-cooked ‘ Chips’ – accompanied with the classic ‘ Bearnaise’ sauce & Dijon Mustard!

This evening after supper we will channel hop to find something to watch, later we will go for nice walk along the new ‘Calle Mar’ taking in the cooler night air, as well as the sights, sounds & aromas of the village, sitting on one of the new seats, with no cars or motorbikes roaring past!

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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A WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON SATURDAY.

SATURDAY 30^th/ DECEMBER 2017.

We had a nice lie in this morning as the village is very quiet, no church bells, yet, no children going to school, no deliveries down our street, no traffic and no neighbours chatting, so far! After sorting ourselves out we had our normal breakfast of fresh fruit, toast & tea. We are taking things very easy today, Brenda is on one of her ‘ ing’ days – washing, drying, cleaning, watering etc and I’m up in the office/studio on the ‘ WWW’ catch’ing’ up with the ‘E-Mails, Facebook Messages, Skype, the Newspapers, BBC News etc!

It’s another glorious day down here on the ‘ Costa Del Sol ‘ – the sun was out early and the sky has cleared, there is a very light breeze so It’s warm on the sunny side of the street, very pleasant for the time of the year, 19/20 degs+ by lunchtime, tomorrow is the same but a little cooler, on Monday ‘ New Years Day 2018 ‘ it’s going to be warmer for the start of the week, sadly by Friday the forecast is for some of the wet stuff to return, going cold by next Saturday, watch this space.

See the picture taken earlier this morning showing the Bay of Colwyn looking towards Penmaen Head and on to Rhyl, North Wales.

At lunchtime we went ups to ' Bar Rojas' for a nice cool drink sat in the very warm sunshine, Mano came along and joined us, we had not seen him for 4/5 weeks!

This evening for our supper we are having a large ‘ Entrecote Steak ‘ cooked on a very hot griddle-plate ‘ Med-Rare ‘ and then left to rest, before carving it into fingers’ French Style’ – garnished with seared Asparagus Spears & Button Mushrooms and accompanied with ‘Bearnaise’ sauce, whole Baby French Green Beans and of course twice-cooked ‘ Chips’

On the sports front the weekend over in the ‘Premier League’ Everton have the long journey down to Bournemouth, Liverpool welcome Leicester City and Manchester City are going down the M1 to play Crystal Palace, no football over here in ‘ La Liga’ as they have a seasonal break, this afternoon we will be watching the ‘ National Hunt Racing ‘ from Newbury, Haydock Park & Tauton!

This evening we will channel hop and try to find something to watch, the ‘Xmas’ programmes on the main terrestrial channels are not good, the old classic films have kept us going! Watch this space.

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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A STILL WARM & SUNNY MANILVA, BUT VERY ' CRISP' DAY ON SATURDAY.

SATURDAY 25^th/ NOVEMBER 2017.

We started the day with a nice lie as the village is very quiet and all the barriers are up, closing ‘Calle Mar’ and our street, the locals will move them later, so as they can get about the village over the weekend. The Contractors’ are working very slowly, yesterday there was just three men with a new wheelbarrow, a shovel & brush, moving rubble from one side of the street to the other! At this rate they will still be here this time next year!! Watch this space.

Yesterday lunchtime we went along to ‘ Bar Castillo ‘ for a nice cool drink sat on the outside of the barriers in the warm sunshine, Juan had set up two tables/umbrellas in defiance! The problem next week is when the threatened ‘ wet stuff’ arrives, it will turn into a mud bath all along the street, watch this space.

As usual the morning has started bright & sunny, ‘crisp’ in the shade, by lunchtime it’s due to be around the 23/24 degs mark, then tomorrow the ‘ Atlantic’  front is due to come in, bringing with it cold & wet weather for all of next week, unseasonally dropping to below 10 degs during the night! Another duvet will be called for, watch this space.

See below a picture taken this morning, by a drone, showing the ‘Liver Buildings’ and the city of Liverpool, the white building on the left, shaped like the front of a liner, is the ‘ Atlantic Tower Hotel ‘ – the first of the new hotels, built back in the late 80s, I was up, twice, for  the ‘General Managers’ job, after leaving the ‘ Hotel Seventy Degrees’ – but sadly missed out, twice!!

For our supper this evening we are having a large ‘ Entrecote Steak ‘ – cooked on a very hot griddle-plate ‘ Med-Rare’ then left to rest before slicing it into ‘ fingers’  ‘French’ style, garnished with seared Asparagus Spears & Button Mushrooms, accompanied with a sauceboat of the classic ‘ Bearnaise’ sauce, with whole Green Beans and of course twice-cooked ‘ Chips’ on the side. On Sunday I’m preparing my now famous & special “ Lancashire Hotpot “ made to my own recipe, watch his space.

Last night over in Malaga the spectacular ‘ Christmas Lights ‘ in ‘Calle Larios’ - in the centre of the city, where turned on with a twice-nightly ‘Son et Lumiere’ show, we are going across on the ‘ Pensioners ‘ coach trip, the week after next. Watch this space.

See below a little ‘ taster’ of what we are going to see!

This weekend is another busy sports extravaganza; it’s the last ‘Grand Prix’ of the season in Abu Dhabi, the final weekend of the ‘ Autumn Internationals ‘ Rugby Union has Scotland v Australia, England v Samoa, Ireland v Argentina and the ‘ clash ‘ of the day, down in Cardiff, at the Millennium Stadium, as Wales welcome the ‘ All Blacks’ – over in Australia, at the ‘ Gabba’ in Brisbane, the first ‘ Ashes’ game is under way as England try to retain them! Also in Australia, next weekend it’s the Final of the ‘Rugby League World Cup’ when England play Australia!!

On the football front; over here in ‘La Liga’ Real Madrid welcome Malaga and the ‘ Match of the Day ‘ tomorrow is when Barcelona travel down the coast to play Valencia, who are second in ‘ La Liga’ at the moment,  over in the ‘ Premier’ League in the ‘UK’ the ‘ Match of the Day’ is when Chelsea travel up to ‘Anfield’ to play Liverpool, Everton have the long trip down to Southampton and then tomorrow Manchester City cross the ‘Pennines’ to play Huddersfield, finally over on ITV the ‘National Hunt Racing’ excellent coverage is from Haydock Park, between Liverpool & Manchester, next to the M6, & Ascot.

Last night we had a TV extravaganza as we caught various Quiz shows, then ‘Have I Got News for You & QI’ before the ‘ Graham Norton Show ‘ and then lastly ‘Would I Lie to You ‘

Thoughts for Day; See above.

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