A STILL WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON FRIDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEKEND.

FRIDAY 1^ST/ NOVEMBER 2019.  “ DIA DE TODOS LOS SANTOS – ALL SAINTS’ DAY “

We had a little lie in this morning after all the excitement of last night’s ‘ Halloween’ in sunny Manilva, as we ran out of sweets, as all the local children, with their mothers, called at our door!

It’s a ‘ Bank Holiday’ today, so the village is quieter than normal, all the families go down to the ‘ Cementerio’ to decorate the wall tombs with masses of fresh flowers!

After freshening up Brenda took ‘Sunny’ out for her first walk of the day, meanwhile back at the house, as I was on the breakfast rota I prepared my ‘ Toasted Crispy Smoked Bacon Butty’ – as usual smothered in ‘ HP’ Brown sauce – open on brown for Brenda – with sliced/sautéed Mushrooms, for both of us, with mugs of hot/strong tea to set us up for the day ahead!

At the moment we are watching the 3^rd place play-off in the ‘Rugby World Cup’ from Japan, as Wales take on the ‘All Blacks’ – New Zealand – sadly Wales have just lost 17 – 40!

Overnight the breeze has picked up, this morning the sun has just broken through, leaving a few patchy clouds, by lunchtime it’s due to reach 25 degs+ staying dry & sunny, then from tomorrow and over the weekend, as the cold/wet ‘Atlantic’ front comes in, its’ going to be cooler, down to 20/21 degs with light to moderate ‘Rain’ forecast, next week is now looking the same, to start, wet & windy, hovering in the high ‘ teens’ - overnight down to 10/11 degs at times, then by next Thursday is going dry and sunny  up to and over next weekend, as the breeze drops, watch this space.

Yesterday lunchtime we finally made contact with Tim & Thea, over in Old Colwyn, North Wales, for a new catch-up. they are due back in Mojacar, in the middle of November, they are renting a property, so as Jo can fly in from Dubai and Ben from Manchester, over Xmas!

For our supper this evening we are having ‘Pan-Seared Fillets of Turbot- Rodaballo ‘ – finished ‘ A La Meuniere’ style – with foaming Lemon & Parsley Brown Butter, served with Broccoli Florets and Garden Peas, with Baby New Potatoes in their skins.

We are taking things very easy today, just relaxing and doing nothing, later we will channel hop and find something to watch, after I try to re-set the ‘IPTV’ system, which should be online, according to the systems controller! Watch this space.

PS; Check out the picture Blog below as well as the News Flash ! 

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A VERY ' CRISP' AND SUNNY MANILVA ON SATURDAY.

SATURDAY 5^th/ JANUARY 2019.

We managed a little lie in this morning, ‘Charlie’ stayed downstairs on the settees and then came up and joined us on the mat, by the side of the bed, first thing this morning, he then waits while we get ourselves up and ready, Brenda took him out for this first walk of the day around the lower village, she called into the local ‘ Sub-Post-Office’ to thank the Postmistress for the very quick delivery of the Jiffy Bag up to Tim & Thea in Mojacar.

When she returned, as she was on the breakfast rota, we had her famous ‘ Campo’ Poached Eggs on Toast’ – scrambled on brown for her, with mugs of strong hot tea. I then popped along to the main Supermarket in ‘Calle Mar’ to collect our “ Roscon De Reyes “ cake, for the ‘ Three Kings’ celebrations over the Bank Holiday weekend.

See below;

Yesterday evening the ‘ Three Kings ‘ – ‘ Melchor, Gasper & Baltasar ‘ arrived down at the ‘Santa Ana Iglesia ‘ to see all the children and receive their letters/request for their presents, this evening the main Parade of Floats comes along the new ‘ Calle Mar’ ( see the pictures later!) - after visiting Sabinillas and Castillo de la Duquesa first, led by bands and distributing lots of sweets/caramels at the same time, tomorrow is the actual ‘ Dia De Los Reyes ‘ when all the families celebrate and the children receive their presents.

See below;

This morning the sun has managed to break through earlier than normal, the sky is blue as the clouds have cleared away, there is just a very light breeze, so by lunchtime it’s due to reach 15 degs+ - still ‘ Crisp’ for the time of the year, tomorrow it’s going a little warmer all though the overnight temperatures are still down to 6/7 degs, - cold for the time of the year, next week is still looking dry and settled, with patchy clouds and sunshine, hovering in the mid ‘teens’ Watch this space.

See above a spectacular picture of the 'Menai Bridge' across the 'Menai Strait's' with ' Snowdonia ' in the background,taken yesterday in North Wales.

On the sports front this weekend; over in the UK it’s the 3^rd Round of the ‘ FA Cup’ as Everton welcome Lincoln City, Manchester City are at home to Rotherham Utd and Liverpool travel to Wolverhampton Wanderers, over here the ‘ La Liga’ returns after the ‘Xmas Break’ as Real Madrid are at home to Real Sociedad & Barcelona travel to Getafe, the ‘ National Hunt Racing’ this afternoon is from Sandown Park.

For our supper this evening we are having a large ‘ Grilled Rib of Beef ‘ – cooked on a very hot griddle-plate ‘ Med-Rare ‘ – pink no blood, then left to rest before slicing it into fingers ‘ French’ style, garnished with seared Asparagus Spears & Button Mushrooms, served with whole ‘ French Green Beans and of course twice-cooked ‘ Frits’ – accompanied with a classic ‘ Bearnaise’ sauce.

Last night after supper we settled down to watch the final episode of “ Luther’ as the ‘ Detective ‘ fought with his demons, the killer went on a rampage, one hanging from a bridge, 3 or 4 bodies in a house, all of them with weird ‘face masks’ on, the gangster finally shot the hit man, as Luther released from a deep freeze Alice and his friend, but the gangster managed to frame ‘ Luther’ for the killing.

Then Luther and his Lady Partner Detective found the killers house, confronted him and Luther arrested him after nearly kicking him to death, as they were discussing the facts outside the house Alice, Luther’s psychopath ex-girl friend, arrived and shot the Lady Detective in the head! A chase followed as Luther was shot twice & stabbed by Alice, before he dropped her from a high scaffolding!! He was then arrested by his boss, who first took off Luther’s overcoat and put the hand-cuffs on him!! Is it the end for our ‘ Hero’ – watch this space, he might be able to still talk himself out of this problem?!

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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A LITTLE OVERCAST SUNNY MANILVA ON FRIDAY AT THE START OF THE BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND;

FRIDAY 6^th / JANUARY 2017. “ EL DIA DE LOS REYES -THREE KINGS DAY “

I was up first to see ‘ Reina’ back with us for the day, she’s back next week for her regular five days, Brenda grabbed a quick shower, I’m showering later, we then took ‘ Charlie ‘ out for his first walk of the day, his last with us until the next time he stays here in ‘ Doggy World Heaven’ He’s being picked later today when Brian & Jan return from Tenerife. See below ' Charlie'  waiting to see his mum & dad!

When we returned we had our Bank Holiday’ treat – ‘ Crispy Smoked Bacon & Fried Eggs ‘ with buttered toast and mugs of tea.

This morning has started a little overcast & cloudy, a ‘Levante’ breeze is due to blow in, making it a little cooler than yesterday, as forecast, the sun will break through later, the weekend is looking settled and next week we are in for another calm & sunny week down here on the ‘ Costa Del Sol’ Watch this space.

See the picture below, taken this morning, of the entrance to ‘Duquesa Port’ looking out to the Mediterranean.

Last night Matt, Michelle, Hollie & Charlie joined us under the ‘ Sonbrajo’ at ‘Bar Rojas’ to watch the parade of the ‘ Three Kings’ go past, the children were very excited and collected as many ‘Carameloes’ as possible.

They finally arrived!

We then had a light ‘ Tapas’ supper, Chicken in Salsa, Fried Eggs & for Matt & me Barbequed ‘Iberico’ Pork, sliced and all served with fresh ‘ Frits’ It was a typical ‘ Manilva’ family night with all the village out to enjoy the celebrations, we then came back to our house and tasted the ‘ Roscon De Reyes ‘ traditional cake, Hollie found the ‘Jesus’ figurine!  

See the pictures above giving you a little flavor of the festivities along 'Calle Mar' yesterday evening.

This evening we are joining the folks for supper, we are going down to ‘Puerto de la Duquesa’ for supper, the children ( and Matt !) want to go to the  ‘Mexican Restaurant’ as they had a nice meal there the other night.

And last night!

Yesterday evening later on we watched on ‘ITV’ the return of the gripping crime drama series ‘ Unforgotten ‘ We had not seen it before so we are looking forward to following it over the next few weeks, earlier in the day on ‘ Channel 4 ‘ the episode of ‘ A Place in the Sun - Winter Sun’ was filmed in Estepona, Manilva, Caseres Costa & Puerto de la Duquesa! It showed everywhere we know and even the apartment complexes.

They were looking for a holiday apartment for a ‘ Sri Lankan’ couple, as they saw various apartments the couple kept saying that they were not large enough, as every time they told the presenter about more family members that would be joining them! In the end they decided that they needed more money to find a larger place!!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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