A VERY WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY;

THURSDAY 14^th / JULY 2016.

I was very early to welcome ‘Reina’ back with us for the day, we then all went back to bed for a nice lie in as the village is quiet, no deliveries and no children out playing as its too hot; after breakfast we sorted the shopping list out for tomorrow morning, ‘Reina’ is back tomorrow and is with us until Monday as Daniela is flying over to England for Lee’s mother’s wedding, then the week after next Daniela’s sister, Maripaz, is coming over here for her wedding, Daniela is the ‘ Maid of Honour ‘

Today has started, as forecast, overcast & cloudy but still very warm, its starting to clear and by lunchtime it will be back to normal in the high 30s – then each day over the weekend its getting hotter and into the 40s! Watch this space.

This evening for the ‘ Chef’s Night Out ‘ we are going up to Bar Castillo for a Tapas supper and then down to the ‘ Casa de Torres ‘ Cultural Centre to see the ‘ Tango Concert ‘ At the moment the Council workmen are erecting all the poles/posts along Calle Mar to be ready in time for all the festivities in the village over July & August, they hang lights, sun covers, signs etc and are then used for the ‘ Vendimia Wine Festival’ at the start of September.

See below some pictures from old Liverpool that brought back many happy memories, the famous ‘ Stork Hotel ‘ Queens Square was originally the family home of the ‘Roe’s’ hence Roe Street in the center of the city, I was the youngest manager ever back in 1965/66, the other picture shows the classic ‘ Overhead Railway ‘ that ran along the docks, in the background is the Dock Entrance to the Mersey Tunnel, as a young child back in the 50s I was taken for rides on it with my Dad, happy days, happy times and many memories!

Today’s Stage 12 of the “ Tour De France “ is from Montpellier to near the summit of ‘ Mont Ventoux ‘ finishing at the ‘Chalet Reynard’ as there are very high winds forecast, its the classic climb for ‘ Bastille Day’ – the last time on the mountain in 2013 Chris Froome won the stage! Watch this space, see below the route map.

Yesterday we watched the excellent coverage on BBC 1 as the David Cameron resigned and Theresa May became the new Prime Minister, it was very interesting as the day unfolded and history was made, the ‘Euro’ has picked up this morning, so fingers crossed that it keeps on the up & up, one of our ‘ Pensions ‘ on Monday was at it lowest transfer rate in nearly ten years and we are now down nearly 40%!! Watch this space.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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A VERY SUNNY AND STILL WARM SUNNY MANILVA ON SATURDAY;

SATURDAY 16^th/ MAY 2015.   “INTERNATIONAL FAMILY DAY”

No lie in needed this morning as we have a leisurely day ahead just pottering about doing nothing – because we can! For breakfast the ‘Breakfast Chef’ produced her famous ‘Campo Poached Eggs on Toast’ along with a mug of steaming tea to start the day in the right direction! See below;

I’m back upstairs in the office on the WWW as I make my usual check of what is happening around the World as well as checking out the E-Mails & Facebook before typing and publishing the Blog; we have a quiet weekend in ‘Doggy World Heaven’ before we get rather busy this time next week when ‘Charlie’ arrives on his holiday as Brian & Jan go on theirs to Liverpool then ‘Reina’ is also with us for a long weekend break the following weekend as her mom & dad are away in Edinburgh !! Not forgetting that ‘Scruffy’ will be back with us after his mum has also been away. Oh and yes a certain ‘Chispa’ will be here every day!

Its started a little overcast this morning but no doubt I will pick up by lunchtime, as forecast, the weekend is getting warmer as we go into next week as May settles back down to normal with the temperatures come back down to the mid 20s.

Last night after our ‘fish supper’ we settled down to watch a good ‘cat & mouse’ thriller “ The Contract ” from 2006 starring Morgan Freeman & John Cusak with Jamie Anderson – check out who is the ‘baddie’ and who is the ‘goodie’!

Meanwhile up on the roof terrace its;

For this evening’s supper we are having ‘Entrecote Steak Maitre D'Hotel’- Chilled, seasoned Parsley Butter with a touch of Lemon juice - cooked on a very hot griddle plate ‘Pink’ with on the side Sautéed Baby Mushrooms with finely sliced Green Beans and of course twice-cooked ‘Frits’ & Béarnaise sauce.See below;

Back to the weekend and on the sports front here in ‘La Liga’after the Judges ruled that they could not strike Real Madrid travel across to Espanyol in Barcelona and also on Sunday when Barcelona are in Madrid to play Atl.Madrid in what could be the title decider, if they win!

Meanwhile over in England in the ‘Premiere League’ West Ham welcome Everton and tomorrow Manchester City travel down to Swansea but the ‘Match of the Day’ is today when Steven Gerrard plays his last ever game at Anfield as Liverpool welcome Crystal Palace later this afternoon.

                                             Steven Gerrard - " Red for Ever " 709 Appearance's.

Over in Italy in the ‘Giro d’Italia’ Alberto Contador with a dislocated shoulder retained the leaders ‘Pink’ jersey and today’s mountain stage over 186kms from Fiuggi to Campiteio Matese will be a real challenge for him!

After supper we will watch the very good sports round up from around Europe on the ‘Cuatro’ channel before finding a film to watch.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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CLEAR CRISP AND WARM IN SUNNY MANILVA ON BOXING DAY;

THURSDAY 26^th/ DECEMBER 2013.  BOXING DAY.

This morning we all slept in until 9-0am – thank god! Today as forecast it has totally changed so the first walk of the day with Charlie was fine, clear and crisp with a blue sky and no wind!! Today we are having a ‘Derby & Joan’ day at home after yesterdays festivities; after our breakfast of tea and toast we got our ‘Boxing Day’ supper on the go; Roast Entrecote on the Bone’ – see the picture above as it came out of the oven – cooked ‘Rare’!!

Brenda’s vegetables are Brussels Sprouts with Smoked Bacon snippets, crushed Carrots & Baby Turnips, Roast Parsnips in local Honey, Garden Peas and Baby New Poatatoes,the Duck fat Roast Potatoes are today rough cut into chunks for a change! A rich pan-gravy and giant Yorkshire puddings will also help with our special Boxing Day supper; while we getting things read Chispa came crashing in as she had missed not being able to get out yesterday.

Later at lunchtime we all went for a nice walk in the noon-day sunshine around the village; everything is normal today here in sunny Manilva as its not a ‘Bank Holiday’ here in Spain; the bin wagon was collecting the rubbish last night as I took Charlie on his late walk, this morning the street cleaners are busy, the shops and some of the bars are open and the workmen are out on all the latest projects around the village.The postman also delivered some more cards- they are starting to mount up! See the pictures above of the New ‘Plaza Pozo Del Rey’ including the water feature working.

This afternoon later I will watch on the large PC the big match of the day over in England Man City v Liverpool as it’s the late kick-off; at the moment Everton are hosting Sunderland as well as Big Brian, his family and mates!! See the picture above of the famous ‘Gwladys Street’end at Goodison in which as a very young boy I used to go on my bike to my Auntie’s!

Oh dear - Big Bri will not be happy this evening and will no doubt be out drowning his sorrows!! Everton 0 - Sunderland 1 The late result was a fine win for; Manchester City 2 - Liverpool 1 - it takes then to second position in the Premiere League behind Arsenal after their nine out of nine wins at home for City!! 

This evening after our special supper that we are looking forward to we will settle down to watch the news and then find a film to watch; see the picture above of the table creaking under the weight,I could not fit the Gravy Boat on ! The Beef was to die for,very tasty and tender and cooked to perfection - even if I do say so myself !! A very fine Rioja helped make it a meal to remember.

PS; the answer to the Christmas Picture is; ‘Gwrych Castle – Abergele’ the Grade listed 19^th century Country House built in 1819!!

Thought for the Day; See above.

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