A STILL WARM & SUNNY MANILVA, FOR NOW, ON MONDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEK.

MONDAY 16^th/ OCTOBER 2017.

We managed a little lie in this morning as the village was quiet, after a quick freshen up we had our normal breakfast of  ‘Weetabix’ toast, fresh fruit ( Banana ) & tea, we then collected the car from the underground car park/garage and popped down to Sabinillas to our Bank to arrange a transfer between accounts, I also called into the ‘ Movistar’ shop to thank the manager for his help and quick attention, last week, in arranging the instillation of the new ‘Fiber Optic’ system.

This morning the Contract workers have started in ‘Calle Mar’ by taking down all the road signs, rubbish bins etc along the street, next they will no doubt will start breaking/drilling all the pavements/street flag stones, watch this space.

The morning started grey & overcast but is now picking up, the sky has cleared and the sun is breaking through, there is stiff breeze blowing in from the sea, the start of the tail end of the ‘HurrIcane Ophelia’ that is brining in the wet stuff over the next three days, the tempreatures are still hovering in the mid 20s, 16/17 degs during the night, raising over the weekend, it’s been the hottest ‘ Autumn’ here in Spain, in living memory, in places, inland, reaching 35 degs, 10 degs higher than normal, watch this space.

This evening for our supper we are having the rest of the ‘Roast Chicken’ now with twice-cooked ‘ Chips’ ie; ‘ Chicken in the Basket’! On Tuesday its going to be ‘ Escalopes of Chicken Breast ‘ – then on Wednesday ‘ Grilled Gammon Steaks’ with all the trimmings. For Thursdays ‘ Banquet’ when Lee & Daniela are joining us, we are having ‘ Tapas’ to start, then my famous ‘ Braised Steak ‘ with ‘Hasselback ‘Potatoes & Brenda’s famous ‘Mashed’ Potato, Cabbage with Acelgas, Cauliflower Florets in a three Cheese sauce, etc – for the dessert it’s my famous ‘ Crepes’ with Maple Syrup ( the real McCoy!) and Vanilla Ice Cream.

This evening after supper we will settle down to watch the final episode of ‘Lair’ – earlier we will catch all the Quiz shows.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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A CLOUDY & OVERCAST BUT STILL WARM SUNNY MANILVA ON MONDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEK;

MONDAY 15th / AUGUST 2016.  “ DIA DE ASUNCION “

I was up first this morning to see ‘ Reina’ back with us for the day, she shot upstairs and ended up on the bed with Brenda for a little lie in, we then sorted ourselves out for the week ahead, which was easy as we have no plans, so far, it’s a busy week in ‘ Doggy World Heaven’ as ‘ Reina’ is here for seven days, with two sleep over’s as Lee & Daniela are away at a wedding on Friday/ Saturday, ‘ Scruffy’ is with us for a sleep over on Friday as Adrian & Rose are out at a party, ‘Chispa’ meanwhile is back into her old routine after her holidays and comes crashing in at different times of the day & evening! Brenda has just gone for her morning walk with her around the village, as recommended by our Doctor to help in the recuperation and strengthening of her foot & Leg.

The village is very quiet today as its the ‘ Dia De Asuncion’ religious holiday all over Spain, the Manilva ‘Feria’ also closed late last night after five days of celebrations which is taken very seriously by the locals!

This morning it’s a little overcast & cloudy, as forecast, but it’s still very warm making it rather ‘clammy’- as the week goes on its getting hotter with the sun back with us, for the time of the year its still rather comfortable but the night time is when it catches up with you, the fans are on all the time in the bedroom, lounge , kitchen and the office/studio!

We are starting the week, this evening, with ‘Cold York Ham’ from our local shop at the bottom of our street, its open, as usual, despite it being a ‘Bank Holiday’ here in Spain, with it we are having Baby New Potatoes in their skins & Garden Peas, a little Mixed Salad on the side. The rest of the week we will wait and see what come along, one day at the time!

Yesterday we watched all the sport on Spanish TV, British TV via ‘ Film On’ & the ‘ First Row Sports’ channel via the internet! At one time we were following the Olympic Golf on ‘TVE1’  (Justin Rose won )- the Liverpool match on the sports channel ( the ‘ Reds’ won!) the Olympic Tennis on ‘TDP’ ( Andy Murray won!) and then the Olympic Track Cycling back on the sports channel! ( Another ‘ Gold’ for Jason Kenny!) The remote control took a bashing!!

One slight technical hitch was when the Tennis was just reaching a gripping moment in the third set, the Spanish ‘TDP’ sports channel cut off and went over to watch the Ladies Handball with Spain v Unganda?! The Golf was very exciting as it all came down to the last hole, the Liverpool game was excellent despite them letting in three goals after scoring four! We also caught all the high lights as the ‘UK’ won more Gold medals in the Gymnastics & Sailing!!

The Track Cycling over in the Velodrome in Rio is building up to a climax after Jason Kenny won his fifth Gold Medal in the Men’s Sprint, Becky James set a new Olympic record to qualify fastest in the Woman’s Sprint and Mark Cavendish started to aim for his first Olympic medal in the ‘ Men’s Omnium ‘ which takes place over two days and six different events on the track, he came sixth in the scratch race over 15kms ( 60 laps!) – he was second fastest in the individual pursuit & seventh in the exciting ‘Elimination’ race over 40 laps with the last rider over the line, every two laps being ‘ eliminated’! He is third after day one, its all worked on points scored, watch this space.


PS; The Council' have arranged this afternoon for the ' Bank Holiday' a ' Water Slide & Splash ' down ' Calle Botica' the next street along from ours and the longest & steepest, see the pictures above!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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A VERY HOT & SUNNY MANILVA ON WEDNESDAY;

WEDNESDAY 29^th / JUNE 2016.

I was up early to welcome ‘ Reina’ back with us for the day, we then all went back to bed for a nice lie in until the gas bottle delivery man came down our street; ‘ Chispa’ called in for her breakfast and to say ‘hello’ to her girl friend, after our regular toast & tea we did the shopping list for tomorrow morning, we are having an at home day today taking things easy, Brenda is catching up with the ironing and I’m upstairs in the office/studio on the WWW.

Today its clear and sunny to start, the sky is bright blue and there is just a little breeze making it very pleasant, by lunchtime its due to reach 29/30 degs, during the night its hovering on the 22 degs mark. The rest of the week and over the weekend is forecast for more of the same and steadily getting warmer, by Saturday its going to be in the mid 30s. See the picture below of the sunrise over the Sabinillas beach this morning.

This evening for our supper we are having ‘ Grilled Chicken Wings’ with a Mixed Salad & Baked Potato, tomorrow it will be something simple and then on Friday I’m making my famous ‘ Seafood Risotto’ – on Saturday its ‘ Steak Night’ and then on Sunday we are going to have a ‘ Roast Chicken’ from the ‘Rotisserie’ in Calle Mar.

In the afternoon and early evening we are watching the Tennis coverage from Wimbledon on BBC 1/2, the football is back tomorrow, its the ‘ Quarter Finals ‘ – come on Wales! Over in Runcorn Jack & Lyn are taking things easy staying with Norah at her house, see below a picture of the ‘ Chester’ Tour Bus taken by a friend yesterday.

We still have our ‘ Happy Hour Cocktails’ in the early evening but sadly the roof patio in the sky is not now suitable, we stay in the lounge, with the fans on, the shutters up and the door ajar, all very un-‘Spanish’ as the locals don’t come out until later!

We have started to gather all the information together for the ‘ Spanish Citizenship’ Mano, who will ‘ Sponsor ‘ us, is sorting out the paperwork & checking all the details and Daniela is also helping, she has a Spanish Passport, as her father is Spanish,  she is also going to be one of our ‘ Sponsor’s’ – she has also offered to help us with the transfers of our ‘Pensions’ by using a system over in England that arranges everything online at better rates, she is an ‘Accountant’ and works for a company in Gibraltar, watch this space.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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A LITTLE COOLER BUT STILL VERY HOT SUNNY MANILVA ON SATURDAY;

SATURDAY 25th/ JULY 2015.

We we had a well deserved long lie in this morning for two reasons, first there was no sounds from the village of any work taking place and secondly it was a lot cooler during the night as a stiff breeze (wind!) which was not forecast came along during the evening and carried on into the night time thankfully!

So we were able to catch up on some much needed sleep,it was still hot but bearable,as normal for this time of the year; this morning, later, the Council workmen were back on the cherry picker repairing the damage caused by the wind to the canopy and fairy lights so as they would be ready for tomorrows " Santa Ana Festival"

One result to announce is that the Council have put out three new flags Spanish,Andalucia & Manilva, on the Town Hall after me chasing the Mayor,Diego and our local Councillor Maria earlier in the week! It works to have friends in high place's!!

We had our regular Saturday morning breakfast of 'Poached Campo Eggs on Toast' before sorting our selves out after last nights ' night on the town' which turned into a bit of an evening to say the least; we started at Bar Rojas and then moved on to Bar Castillo where we then had a 'Helluva' session!

It all started as normal with some very nice Tapas from Juan's new menu including Paqui's Pichon de Gambas,Empanades,Croquettes & deep-fried Spanish style savoury 'Won Tons' in Filo Pastry!!

Then our dear friend Brian came along and joined us, he was on one of his all day out in every bars 'Benders' and was in fine form,next Sally Ann came along and joined us so we had a good catch up and gossip with her at the same time,then Carlos also joined in the party as the drinks flowed! We wound our way home along Calle Mar Mar feeling no pain very happy!

So today we are taking things very easy and getting our selves ready for tomorrow 'Celebrations' which is always a 'Big Day' in the village; In the morning the children have games in the street,then the religeous side takes over with a Mass in the Santa Ana Church followed by the Procession led by the Manilva Brass Band before later there are live bands on the two stages into the wee small hours!

This afternoon I will be watching the "Tour de France" Stage 20 from Modane to the top of the classic and infamous Alp D'Huez over 110 kms. Britain's Chris Froome leads the Colombian rider, Nairo Quintana by 2 min 38 secs as they first go over the feared 'Col De La Croiox De Fer' and finish up the 'Alpe D'Huez! with its 21 hairpin bends! See the map below;

This evening after out 'Happy Hour' cocktails up on the roof terrace ( no hard hats needed!) we are having for our supper 'Entrecote Steaks' trimmed and flattened into .'Minute Steaks' that I cook on a very hot griddle plate 'Med Rare' with sauteed Baby Mushrooms & some small Green Peppers that our neighbour Anna has just passed in, along with a Baked Potato and a Mixed Salad on the side.

We will then settle down and catch up with all the news,sport and weather updates before finding a film to watch.



Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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A CRISP AND SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY;

THURSDAY 15^th/ JANUARY 2015.

I was up early this morning to welcome little princess ‘Reina’ back for the day, as usual she shot upstairs and went into her duvet across the foot of our bed, I followed her shortly and we all had a nice little lie in; then after breakfast it was time for Brenda to wash her hair and shower and then it was my turn for the same as well as a shave!

Today the sun is out already, its crisp first thing but warms up nicely later and by lunchtime it will be 19/20deg, but then the cold front is hitting us over the weekend and there is some of the wet stuff about then its starting to get back to normal at the start of next week.

We are taking things easy today as tomorrow we have a very busy day down here on the ‘Costa Del Sol’ – we are up early in the morning and will do our regular shopping and messages, then at lunchtime we have a lady coming to groom/cut etc ‘Chispa’ – later we are going across to the pick up Josie from the airport in Gibraltar in the early evening, her first official ‘Royal’ visit of 2015 to see her very loyal subjects over here!

Afterwards we are then going in the other direction to the airport in Malaga to pick up Andy & Maria after their holiday over in the UK, we are using his car which has been parked in the underground car park for the week, he will pick ‘Charlie’ up on Saturday morning, we are going to miss him as he’s been with us for three week’s, he’s no problem to look after and is good company to have around.

So this evening we are going to hit the fridge and find some leftovers for our supper before settling down to catch up with the news, sport and weather details, its not a good film night so we will channel hop and find something to watch.

The picture below taken with my camera off the small PC screen shows the view along 'Winston Churchill Ave' from the frontier into Gibraltar at lunchtime today; there is another camera showing the queue's coming out,the pictures are provided by the Gibraltar Government but can'show the actual frontier crossing beacause of Legal/EU restrictions!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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