A VERY CRISP & SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY.

THURSDAY 1^st/ NOVEMBER 2018.     “ DIA DE TODOS LOS SANTOS “

Another short lie in this morning after a good un-interrupted night’s sleep, as the severe storm had moved away, it started in the late afternoon, with lots of fork lightening & thunder, that shook the house, then it rained, non-stop, for over three hours, so no children out ‘door-knocking’ for Halloween!

Today, here in Spain, it’s a ‘ National Bank Holiday ‘ for ‘ All Saints Day ‘ a day of remembrance in honor of all deceased relatives & friends, when they decorate the graveyard with many flowers.

After freshening up, as the ‘ Head Chef’ was on the breakfast rota, we had his now famous ‘ Toasted Crispy Smoked Bacon Butties’ – smothered  in ‘ HP’ Brown sauce – open on brown for Brenda, with mugs of strong ‘Tetley’( thanks Sandra!) tea!

We then got the shopping list ready for tomorrow morning, when we are out on our travels down to Sabinillas, for the weekly shopping, Brenda is going along to the ‘ English Bookshop’ for her main family & friends Xmas Cards! Watch out you could be on the list!!

This morning the sun has broken back through and the sky is clearing, with just a few patchy clouds, there is a light breeze, making it still ‘ crisp’ but sunny, raising to 18/19 degs by lunchtime, over the next few days its staying the same, even getting a little warmer, as the weekend goes on, hovering on the 21 degs+ mark, warm for the time of the year, next week is now looking a little more settled, but cooler, as the breeze gets up, with just the threat of the wet-stuff at times, watch this space.

See below the “ Ffestinog Railway “ trains crossing the ‘ Cob’ yesterday out of Porthmadog and down from Blaenau Ffestiniog, in North Wales.

At lunchtime we went up to ' Bar Rojas ' for a nice cool drink & Tapas, we sat in the very hot sunshine, taking in the tranquillity of sunny Manilva on a beautiful day! 

For our supper this evening we are now having the rest of the ‘ Chicken & Mushroom Tarragon Casserole’ with more ‘ Parsley New Potatoes’ – the fresh, local ‘Brussels Sprouts’  were very tasty and were cooked to perfection by the ‘ Vegetable Chef’ – I’ve never eaten so many! 

On Friday it’s a ‘Fish n’ Chip’ supper, then on Saturday it will be ‘ Steak Night’ – we are now going to have a ‘ Roast Local Chicken ‘ on Sunday with all the trimmings, the only problem is that the ‘English Butcher’s’ are still waiting for their ‘ Duck-Fat’ delivery?! ( Roast Potatoes) Watch this space.

Last night after supper we settled down to watch the first episode ( the second is tonight) of “ Dark Heart “ – a crime/revenge drama based in London, strong stomachs are called for, as the main Detective ( Tom Riley )- called back from his holiday, investigates sadistic vigilante killings, of justice-evading paedophiles, with torture and a blow torch used!

The Detective has his own problems, he drinks too much, lives in the abandoned house of his brutally slain/murdered parents, the killer was never apprehended, 16 years ago, he has a sister, who is being knocked about by her boyfriend and a partner ( Anjli Mohindra) in the Police squad who fancies him, as well as a girlfriend! We can’t wait for tonight’s episode, as there is another killing, this time with a ‘ Chain-Saw ‘ !!  Watch this space.

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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A STILL WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON SUNDAY;

SUNDAY 13^th/ NOVEMBER 2016.  “ REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY “

We managed another nice lie in this morning before getting the day on the go, Brenda gabbed a quick shower, I’m in later, we had our usual breakfast of fresh fruit, toast & tea before getting this evenings supper on the way, ‘Roast Leg of New Zealand, South Island, Lamb’ – studded with Garlic cloves & Rosemary, with ‘finger-licking’ Pan Gravy, lots of Mint sauce on the side.

The ‘ Second/Vegetable Chef’ has prepared Cabbage with Alselgas, crushed Carrots & Turnips, Broccoli & Cauliflower Florets in a three Cheese sauce and Garden Peas, along with ‘ Turned’ Duck Fat Roast Potatoes and I made a large dish of our favourite ‘ Boulangere’ Potatoes to go in the oven this evening. 

See below the ' Vegetable Chef's' selection!

We then watched the ‘ Remembrance Day’ service & parade from the Cenotaph in Whitehall, London. It’s a beautiful day in London, clear, dry, bright sunshine & calm, the two minutes silence was breathtaking, the music of the ‘Massed Bands’ is very moving, the stories told and the people involved was thought provoking, one little piece of history was that the ‘Commander’ of the Royal Navy detachment on parade, in the prime position as the ‘Senior Service’ was a descendant of ‘ Captain Bligh’ ( Mutiny on the Bounty!)

See below the pictures taken this morning in Old Colwyn of their service of ' Remembrance'

Over here the weather has remained the same, the morning started dull & overcast but by lunchtime the sun broke through and the sky was blue, there is still no breeze making it calm & warm, 23 degs!  It’s still cool during the night, the ‘ Atlantic’ front due to arrive tomorrow is now looking a little more settled with no rain, for now, watch this space.

See the picture below taken this morning of the ‘ Albert Dock’ in Liverpool also looking very calm and still!

Next week in ‘ Doggy World Heaven’ little princess ‘ Reina’ is back with us for three days, Monday, Wednesday & Friday, ‘ Scruffy’ is with us for a sleep over on Wednesday night, we have two appointments at the ‘ Costa Del Sol Hospital’ – on Tuesday afternoon its Brenda’s ‘ Ecogram’ on her Kidneys, then on Thursday evening she’s back with the ‘ Kidney Consultant for all the results and hopefully a ‘ Diagnosis’ Watch this space! 

I have an appointment with our Doctor on Wednesday morning for a review/check up before I have more Blood tests etc re my return visit to my ‘Prostrate Consultant’ in the middle of December, watch this space, again!

Last night before supper we watched ‘ Strictly Come Dancing’ and after supper we settled down to watch the ‘ The Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance ’ from the ‘Royal Albert Hall’ – again very moving as the nation paid tribute, led by the Queen, to those who made the ultimate sacrifice “ Lest We Forget "

A quick update on the sports results; England beat South Africa 37-21, Wales won 24.20 against Argentina, Ireland won 52-21 against Canada and Scotland lost again in the last minute to Australia 22-23! Lewis Hamilton is on the pole position at the ‘ Brazilian Grand Prix’ today and is praying for ‘ Rain’ – this afternoon we will be watching the racing from Cheltenham, it was very exciting yesterday, the ‘ Channel 4’ coverage is excellent, what will the ‘ITV’ coverage be like when they take over on January 1^st 2017?!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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WEDDING UPDATE FROM AUSTRALIA.

Monday 30th March,

THE WONDERFUL AND MAGICAL WEDDING OF JACK AND LYN;

The pictures below have just come via an e-mail from Annette,Lyn’s daughter and will give you a little look at the wedding of the year;there are a lot more pictures on Facebook posted by the all the family but I can’t transfer Facebook pictures! The vintage Chevy,1955 BellAir took Lyn from her house to the wedding at Jack’s house, Jeff Lyn’s only son gave her away and he is also pictured with his wife Annette and his daughter Kate who has blossomed into a lovely young lady since we last saw her in England,not that she wasn’t then! The pictures of Jack and Lyn,exchanging rings,signing the register and cutting the cake follow on with then some more pictures of Lyn with her Great Grandchildren,Bethany and Livia and one of her Grandson’s “ Little” Michael! The wedding certificate can then be seen before the picture of Cameron,one of Jack’s Grandchildren leading the singing on his guitar.One “ Helluva ”day in McCrae Australia!

PS; I couldn't resist taking the picture's of Africa this afternoon,as you can see!

MANILVA.

Monday 7th. July.

Today was a day to remember for all sorts of reasons; we were awoken at 7-00am. when our antique bed crashed to floor with no help from us! We discovered that the iron support frame had rusted and the bar that carried the main spring frame and board had cracked.We have Vidal coming along tomorrow to help us to repair it as it will need some new screws and a metal bracket fitted to get us back to normal! Later in the morning as I was setting up our Spanish house phone,I had found on the internet a English translation of the Telefonica manual so know we can use it hands free and have everybody’s number preset in the memory,our dear friend Tim phoned to say that he was coming to stay with us for ten days in August after he has been on holiday with the family to Crete- to finish off his tan! Then just after lunch our dear friend Carol phoned to say that she was a grandmother for the third time! Ben her son and his partner Andrea have a beautiful baby daughter called Freya Olivia born a few days early,at 9-10am,mother and daughter both fine! This is Carol’s third granddaughter as both Yola and Michelle her two daughters have beautiful baby girls as well. I rang Ben on the Skype phone and caught him at home in Preston to wish him and Andrea all the very best,at the same time Brenda was speaking to Carol in Willaston.The Skype phone is also back up to date with the latest edition just downloaded and the payment details changed to our Spanish bank account,the sound is much better and there is no feedback,so watch out for a call! To see the picture of the new baby just click on the link below.