A COOL & OVERCAST BUT DRY SUNNY MANILVA ON FRIDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEKEND;

FRIDAY 2^ND / DECEMBER 2016.

I was up & out first thing this morning on my travels, Brenda saw ‘ Reina’ back with us for the day, ‘ Scruffy’ is with us for a sleep over on Saturday night, ‘Chispa’ is in & out in between the showers as normal. I called into our Bank to thank the ‘Accounts’ manager for finally sorting out our online banking system.

I then went to ‘ Mercadona for our main weekly shop, I walked along to the ‘English Bookshop’ to post the cards to Australia, collect the local newspapers & ‘TV’ Times, I picked up some extra Xmas cards, a leaving card for our dear fried Brian, who is going back to the ‘UK’ to live & work in Stoke and a birthday card for our friend Tim!

PS; The ‘ Moffatt’s, Tim & Thea, have been spotted in a garage having repairs to their motor home, after a little research it’s in ‘San Pedro del Pinatar’ in the ‘ Murcia ‘ region above Catagena?!

See Tim below overseeing the repairs!

I then came back up the hills to sunny Manilva , we don’t need fresh flowers and the wall plants at the moment are taking a bashing in the storms, I unloaded back at the house and took the chance to check the Oil & Coolant in the car after all our travels down on the ‘ Costa Del Sol’

As I went down to Sabinillas the sun was just breaking through, overnight the rains has stopped and we are in for a dry day, then for the rest of the weekend and into next week we are in for more rain storms, the ‘bonus’ is that it’s still warm, 18/19degs - so the rain is warm!

Yesterday afternoon we had another cloud burst with severe thunder & lightening, at one stage we had a flood in our bathroom coming through to the office/studio, it was coming in by the window, it was closed & locked and it looks like there is problem on the roof terrace/drains, possibly due to the new building, after mopping up putting towels down to dry, I called our maintenance people to come and check ‘ ASAP’! Watch this space.

The ‘ Menus’ for the weekend have been agreed; this evening we are having ‘ Goujons of Hake Fillet’ in a ‘ Cruzcampo’ beer batter, homemade ‘Tartar’ sauce on the side,’ Mushy Peas’ & diced, twice-cooked ‘ Frits – on Saturday it’s ‘ Grilled Entrecote Steak’ with ‘ Pont Neuf’ chips and then on Sunday we are ‘Roasting’ – ‘Loin of Pork’ with a Mixed Herb stuffing, a selection of vegetables and ‘Duck Fat’ Roast Potatoes!

This weekend is defiantly a ‘stay at home’ time, we are going to take things very easy, keep ourselves warm, eat, drink and be merry!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

...

A CRISP & DAMP SUNNY MANILVA ON SATURDAY;

SATURDAY 13^th / FEBRUARY 2016.

We managed a nice lie in this morning until the gas bottle delivery man came down our street blowing his horn! For breakfast we had Brenda’s famous ‘Campo’ Poached Eggs on Toast with a mug of steaming tea, its still rather damp and overcast with a little breeze but hopefully it will pick up later as the sun brakes through, the weekend is looking settled and next week its more of the same for the moment.

I then settled down to watch on BBC 1 TV ‘Saturday Kitchen Live’ before shooting up to the office to type and post the Blog, as you can see! Later this afternoon ‘Scruffy’ is back with us and will possibly stay for a sleep over, no doubt ‘Chispa’ will call in as well.

See below a picture taken yesterday of the magnificent St George's Hall in Liverpool at it best !

For our supper this evening we are having a large Grilled ‘Entrecote Steak’ cooked on a very hot griddle plate ‘Med-Rare’ then left to rest before slicing it ‘French Style’ into finger-thick slivers, garnished with Baby ‘Turned’ Mushrooms & finely sliced Green Beans with some twice-cooked ‘Frits’ with a sauceboat of ‘Bearnaise Sauce’ on the side. See below.

.

This afternoon its a sports watching day as the ‘Six Nations Rugby Union’ is on again as Ireland ( come on Jonny Sexton!) travel to Paris to play France and later down in Cardiff at the ‘ Millennium ( Principality ) Stadium’ Wales welcome Scotland; tomorrow England fly to Italy.

Also this afternoon I will be following the Horse Racing on ‘Channel 4’ from Newbury & Warwick. Meanwhile in the ‘Premiere League’ Everton welcome West Brom and then on Sunday Liverpool travel down the M6 to Aston Villa and Tottenham will pass them as they come up to play Manchester City! Over here in La Liga’ Real Madrid are at home to Atl.Bilbao and on Sunday Barcelona welcome Celta De Vigo.

Last night we channel hopped over on BBC 1/2 watching various Quiz shows before a very interesting documentary about the region of ‘Svalbard’ in the Artic above Norway, its in 24 hour darkness for the winter with the temperatures down to minus -40 degs and then for a couple of months in July & August its high summer with 24 hours a day of warm sunshine and light!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

..