" GASTRONOMIC FOOD & WINE FESTIVAL " AND ' XMAS LIGHTS' ON FRIDAY.

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A VERY HOT & SUNNY MANILVA ON WEDNESDAY.

WEDNESDAY 11^th/ JULY 2018.   

We had a little lie in this morning after another very hot night, for all of us, ‘Prince Paddy & Chico’ stayed on the marble floor and then as usual ‘Paddy’ came up on the bed for the last hour or so. Tomorrow morning little princess ‘ Reina’ is back with us for the day, ‘ Chispa’ is crashing in and out all the time to see all her friends.

We then took ‘Paddy & Chico’ for their first walk of the day, down the shady side of the street, with a nice breeze blowing up towards the village, I carried on to the underground car park and went down to Sabinillas to the main ‘Medical Centre’ to drop off Brenda’s report from yesterday, to our Doctor, Natalia, at the same time I made an appointment, for this afternoon, to have my monthly ‘B12’ injection.

This evening we have a new dog coming to see us ‘ Maisie’ – hopefully she will be with us for a week’s holiday at the start of August, watch this space.

As we set off down ‘ Calle Mar ‘  this morning, the ‘ Council’ workmen from the ‘Gardens Department’ have started preparing all the square areas along the street to place the new flower/tree displays in, yesterday when we were returning from the Hospital we bumped into the Mayor, Mario, our neighbour, he confirmed that it would be happening today! He also said that everything would be finished in time for the Manilva ‘Feria’ at the end of the month, this weekend down in ‘ Castillo de la Duquesa’ it’s their ‘Feria’ – next month Sabinillas have their ‘ Feria’

As I said, this morning there is slight breeze blowing in from the Mediterranean, making it very pleasant in the shade, it’s still very hot in the sunshine, hovering on the 31 degs+ mark by lunchtime, at the same time it’s bring across the ‘ Sahara Heat Wave ‘ that by the weekend will make it a lot warmer, in the high 30s/low 40s, next week is going to be very hot & sunny, hovering in the mid 30s, overnight on the 21 degs+ mark, watch this space.

On the sports front today; this afternoon we will be watching the ‘Tennis’ from Wimbledon and ‘ Stage 5’ of the ‘Tour De France’- from Lorient to Quimper over 205 kms, an ‘ up & down’ day as you can see in the route map below.

This evening it’s the Second Semi-Final of the ‘World Cup Football ‘ over in Moscow, Russia, as Croatia play England for place in the Final on Sunday.

For our supper this evening the ‘ Head Chef’ has been given the night-off, as well as tomorrow evening with the ‘ Staff’ – we are having a light supper in front of the TV! On Thursday its’ going to be a light Tapas’ meal up in Calle Mar’ – on Friday it’s ‘Fish Night’ and on Saturday ‘ Steak Night’ – then on Sunday as it’s the ‘World Cup Football Final ‘ at 4-00 pm, we will have a late supper ( TBC ) - as we have arranged to call Sandra & Bill on the ‘ Skype’ video at 7-00 pm ( usually 6-00 pm!)

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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A VERY,VERY HOT & SUNNY MANILVA AT AT THE START OF THE WEEKEND.

FRIDAY 6^th/ JULY 2018.

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We were both up early this morning and I grabbed a quick freshen up and then shot out with ‘Paddy ‘ for his first walk of the day, down the shady part of the street to the ‘ Mirador’ –  he had slept all night on the marble floor, meanwhile back at the house Brenda was getting herself ready. I then collected the car from the underground car park and picked Brenda up at the bottom of our street, we then shot down to Sabinillas through the ever growing ‘Green’ Vine Fields, on our travels for the weekend shopping.

I dropped Brenda off at the main ‘ Medical Centre’ for her appointment with our Doctor, Natalia, for her review/check up, I  carried on to ‘ itsZabar’ for a quick toast & tea, before ‘Mercadona’ opens at 9-00 am. As I was finishing the shopping Brenda came along, she had called into the ‘Ferreteria’s’ for a couple of things, before stopping at the ‘ English Bookshop’ for the newspapers and a birthday card.

Our Doctor, Natalia, was very happy with all her tests, all her readings are showing a steady improvement, she adjusted her medication tablets a little, she checked her lungs and gave her the ‘thumbs up’ – this is a great “ RESULT’ as she goes across to the ‘ Costa Del Sol Hospital’ on Tuesday lunchtime for her appointment with the ‘ Kidney Consultant’, watch this space.

We then carried into the local market, at the far end of the promenade, for some fresh flowers & wall plants, finally on our way back up the hill we called into ‘ Super Sol’ for the ‘English’ essentials, after un-loading back at the house I put the car away in the garage.

The sun was out as we set-off down to Sabinillas, above a sparkling Mediterranean, the sky was clear & blue and the breeze had dropped, we are in for a hot weekend, hovering on the 30 degs+ mark, overnight 20/21 degs, next week the ‘ Sahara Heat Wave ‘ is due to hit us on Monday, on top of the already hot weather, so it’s now forecast to go up to 40 degs+ - in places 45 degs! Watch this space.

Yesterday evening, on the ‘ Head Chef & Staffs’ night-off, turned out to be a ‘ Helluva’ night! We went along to ‘ Bar Castillo’ – which was very busy, for our ‘Tapas’ supper, we found a nice table and settled down to take in the sights & sounds of sunny Manilva.

Our drinks arrived as we bumped into some friends, Adrian & Rose ( Scruffy!) and Lllona, from Dublin, with her two small children and her grown’ up daughter, her husband Mick had gone back to Dublin for work, they have a house in the top of the village, then one of our neighbours, Encarna, from our street, joined us to show us some pictures from a wedding over the weekend, our local shopkeeper’s daughter was married in a mountain village behind Rhonda.

We then ordered a small selection of ‘Tapas’ to start, followed by two ‘ Combo- Platters’ – Lamb Steak, Fried Egg & Frits for Brenda and Pork Loin a la Plancha, with Green Pepper, Fried Egg & Frits for me! Our friend Andy then arrived and joined us for a drink, followed by some of his local Spanish friends, who we know. ‘ Let the Party Begin’! Then ‘ Big Brian & his Dad, the ‘ Duke of Runcorn’ came along and joined in, they had been out all day down in Sabinillas and after a small ‘ Siesta’ were back out on the town!

‘Paddy ‘ loves being out especially when he’s the centre of attention, everybody loves him, he sits on our knees taking in all the admiration! He’s a little ‘ Star’!

We then had two surprise guests come along, Mano & his son Carlos, Carlos had just finished work down at ‘ La Taberna 2 ‘ in ‘Castillo de la Duquesa’ where is the duty manager, so they called in for a cool night-cap, with all of us, the ‘Guerrero ‘ boys soon had the party in full-swing, we left at 1-00 am as it was getting rather loud!! All three of us had a ‘ hot’ but good night’s sleep.

For our supper this evening, as the ‘ Head Chef & his Staff’ are back on duty, we are having ‘Pan-Seared Fillets of Haddock’ – a la Meuniere style, with Broccoli Florets & Garden Peas with Parsley New Potatoes, on Saturday it’s going to be ‘ Grilled Sirloin Steaks’ with all the trimmings, on Sunday we are waiting for the ‘ Head Chefs’ suggestion watch this space.

This afternoon/evening we will be watching the ‘Tennis ‘from Wimbledon and then the first two Quarter Final matches of the ‘ World Cup Football’ from Russia, as Uruguay play France and then Brazil take on Belgium.

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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" FERIA QUEENS PARADE " ON SATURDAY EVENING IN SUNNY MANILVA.

Brenda in the background in her yellow summer dress!

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