A VERY HOT & SUNNY MANILVA ON MONDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEK.

MONDAY 12^th/ JUNE 2017.

I was up early this morning to welcome back little princess ‘ Reina ‘ for the day, she’s back on Wednesday for the rest of the week, on Tuesday she is at the Vets to have her toenails cut, under anesthetic, ‘ Chispa’ has been in & out all the weekend, we all then had a little lie in before getting the day on the go, after freshening up we had ‘ Crispy Smoked Bacon Butties ( open for Brenda!) with mugs of tea, it’s a quiet week ahead for us, tomorrow morning Brenda has her appointment with our Doctor, Natalia, for the results of the blood tests etc and at the same time a review/check up, then of Friday I’m out on my travels down to Sabinillas for the weekly shopping.

This week is going to be a hot one, the sun was out early and the sky has cleared, it’s bright blue and thankfully there is a little breeze, making it bearable, the hot weather is hitting us earlier than normal, it looks like we are in for another record breaking July/August, in parts of inland Spain its already in the 40s! The alerts are starting to change to ‘ Orange’ and there are warning flashes on all the news programmes, the night-time temperatures are also rising, during the day we are expecting to level out at 30 degs+ here. Watch this space.

Just a quick update on the sports results from the weekend; Rafael Nadal won his 10^th ‘ French Open Tennis’ title as he took apart Stan Wawrinka in the three straight sets, playing the best tennis in his life, Lewis Hamilton won the ‘ Canadian Grand Prix’ as he led from the start to the finish, he was untouchable. Over in New Zealand the ‘ British & Irish Lions’ won in a hard fought win over the ‘Crusaders’ In the ‘ FIFA World Cup ‘ qualifying games England has a lucky draw against Scotland and Spain won, meanwhile England’s Under-20s won the ‘World Cup’ beating Venezuela 1-0!

For our supper this evening we are  having the rest of the ‘Barnsley Lamb Chops’ with the ‘ Boulangere ‘ potatoes and a fry-up of the left over vegetables, tomorrow night it’s going to be ‘Pan-Seared Calves Liver’- the rest of the week is TBC, watch this space.

Our ‘ Pensions’  transfers cycle has started this morning, into our Spanish bank account, the ‘ Euro’ is at it’s lowest in nearly 8 years, so this morning’s was the lowest ever, not good news with more transfers to come over the next few weeks! Watch this space.

Last night after supper we settled down to watch the first episode of Poldark’ – he’s back, his smoulder is older but our hero is no less bolder! It all took place under a full-moon eclipse, a bolting horse, a curse by candlelight, two deaths and the arrival of two brothers, of Demelza,  the birth of a baby, a  surprise marriage that was not consummated, a new governess, a happy Bank Manager, the mine is prospering, the land thrives and finally a pregnancy! All in the first episode!

See below an aerial view over Liverpool showing all the landmarks.

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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A VERY HOT & SUNNY MANILVA ON MONDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEK;

MONDAY 13th/ JULY 2015.

The workmen arrived as usual first thing this morning and commenced to knock the hell out of the building! We can't now see what is happening as they are either inside working on the staircase or on the top floor?! Den is going to take a picture from his back terrace so we can see what is going on/up! See below - thanks Den!!

                                                    Our roof terrace is in the middle left !!

We turned over,with true 'British' disdain, and had a nice lie in until the village woke up properly; after our regular breakfast we planned the week ahead - no plans - as we are taking things very easy and doing nothing - waiting for something or someone to happen!!

In 'Doggy World Heaven' 'Reina' is back with us on Tuesday & Thursday; we have put the word out that we available to take another dog on Facebook, by word of mouth and friends recommendation's! Watch this space.

On the menu front we are taking each day as it comes,this evening we are going to have Grilled 'Gammon Steak' topped with a fried 'Campo Egg' Garden Peas and just a few Potato Wedges for a change.

                                                     It's the hot weather - I'm dreaming!!

Today is a rest day in the " Tour de France" in Pau before the first mountain stage tomorrow from Tarbes to the top of 'La Pierre-Saint-Martin' on " Bastille Day" over 167 kms. See the top ten standings after the first week below;

This morning one of our Pensions arrived in our Spanish Bank Account; it was up a little on last months as the Euro has remained up despite the 'Pesky' Greeks playing 'hard ball' over the past couple of weeks!

We are of course still having our 'Happy Hour' but at the moment we are staying off the roof terrace as its a little dangerous as they are working above our heads!

This evening after supper we will catch up with all the news,sport and weather updates; today it's very hot & sunny and the forecast for the week is getting hotter both during the day and night, at night its now 'sticky' all the time and as we move around the house during the day it gets more and more overwhelming - we will survive!!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.


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A OVERCAST BUT SUNNY MANILVA ON MONDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEK;

MONDAY 8^th/ JUNE 2015.

I was up early this morning as ‘Scruffy’ was being dropped off first thing as Rose had an appointment at a private hospital in Malaga for a scan/check up, he’s being collected after lunch; he’s then back with us on Saturday & Sunday lunchtime – ‘Reina’ is with us on Tuesday & Thursday as usual and then on Sunday as Lee & Daniela are going to a wedding. We will go for a walk with him and Chispa later.

We ended up at Bar Rojas for a nice cool drink and met three English people who are staying at their apartment in the same block as Den & Josie's, we had a nice chat & gossip about the village,nice to meet Janet,Pauline & George. We look forward to seeing you again!

Speaking of Den & Josie, in the lunchtime post, when we came back down to the house there was a postcard from them when they went to 'Durham Cathedral' - thanks - they must have read the Blog! Keep them coming as we love receiving them from around the World!

At the moment it’s a little overcast but by lunchtime the sun will brake through and we will be back to normal, the week ahead is looking good with more of the same and getting hotter; no sign of any workmen this morning, perhaps I’ve scared then off – I think not – after Saturday’s disturbance and me going out and giving them my thoughts in Spanish with a few English expletives added!!

No plans, so far, this week; we will be out on Friday for our shopping, then on Saturday morning it’s the start of the local ‘Romeria Festival’ which commences with a parade through the streets an ends up by a very small church in the valley below the village, next to the ‘Roman Baths’- the celebration is for all things Spanish as well as ‘Harvest Festival’ time with a lot of Religion added!

At the same time in the ‘Council Chambers’ next to the Police Station it’s the ingurgitation of the new Mayor, Diego Jose Jimenez along with all the new and some ‘old’ Councilors taking their seats on the ‘Manilva Town Council! Watch this space.

A sports update; yesterday Lewis Hamilton won the ‘Canadian Grand Prix’ but the main news was over in London at the ‘Velodrome’ as Sir Bradley Wiggins broke the World Record ‘1 Hour Time Trail’ as he rode around the track, against the clock, and reached 38.8 miles ( 54.52ms) !! It’s an unbeavlable time and the concentration and effort needed is exceptional, in the final 15 minutes he’s riding just on his memory as he breaks through the pain threshold and is nearly in a coma – honest!!

Later this morning I’m making a ‘Broad Bean Frittata’ for a change to the Russian salad, this evening we having the rest of the ‘Rotisserie Chicken’ – cold, with a fry up of Vegetables & Potatoes. We will then settle down to catch up with all the news, sport and weather forecasts for the week ahead.

Last night the film we found was “The Tourist” from 2010, a romantic thriller with Johanny Depp as the American ‘Tourist’ Angelina Joile as a English lady, over dressed and a terrible accent, Paul Bettany & Timothy Dalton as the cops and Seven Berkoff as the nasty English gangster – all the action takes place in Paris and then in Venice around our favorite, the ‘Hotel Donieli’!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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SUNNY AND STILL WARM MANILVA AT THE START OF THE WEEK;

MONDAY 21^st/ OCTOBER 2013.

Well we had a very nice supper last night with Gillian and Lillemor, I walked then back down towards the complex where they live, it was still warm and balmy after mid-night! So this morning we’ve had a little lie in before facing the clear-up, well Brenda is as I’ am as you can see upstairs in the office catching up on the WWW!

It certainly looks like this week going to be a little cooler with some of the wet stuff, then back to normal by the weekend; we are having our anti-flu jabs on Thursday lunchtime but have no other appointments or plans for the rest of the week so we are taking things easy, chilling out and relaxing – as per normal!

We have just come back from a good walk down to the 'Mirador' at the entrance to the village,on the way I called into the car park and moved the car,the free parking for locals is 72 hours,they don't seem to enforce it or have video camera's but just in case I move it to another space,this morning that meant the one next to it!We then sat on 'our' seat on the Mirador and took in the sights and sounds of a very sunny and hot Manilva - we think they should put a Brass plaque on the seat saying " The Sextons sat here from - "!!

After our tea and toast we have sorted out the menus for the week; this evening’s supper will be Cold Roast Loin of Pork with a fry-up of the leftover vegetables and potatoes, tomorrow we are having the Calves Liver with Smoked Bacon and English Pork sausages and a new ‘dish’ of sliced shallow fried in Virgin Olive Oil Potatoes which are then layered in a baking dish with Bacon sippets and a little stock and baked in the oven till crisp! Then on Wednesday its ‘Albondegas, Meatballs’ cooked in a rich Red Pepper and Tomato salsa with Spaghetti, Thursday meal will be Omelets of choice with chips before a ‘fishy ‘ Friday!

All last week we were able to go up on the roof terrace for our ‘Happy Hour’ but it looks like we will be using the chill-out room this week; as we are coming to the end of the ‘Patterson’ books we are going to change to ‘Jack Higgins’ – try one out and if we are into it we will then carry on as there are lots of them!

This evening after supper we will catch up with news and weather forecast on TVE1 then find something to watch.

Thought for the Day; See above.

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CLOUDY WITH WARM SUNNY BREAKS IN MANILVA TODAY;

MONDAY 30^th/ SEPTEMBER 2013.

This morning we were up with the ‘Crickets’ – over night we had a little rain as they come out afterwards so we had a chorus as we set off to the surgery as I had an appointment with our doctor to update all my results and check my prescriptions; we killed ‘Two Birds with One Stone’as Brenda updated her details and prescriptions also and had her eyes checked as she has been suffering with them – she recommended that we stop at the opticians in Calle Mar and have a free eye test on the way home as well as some eye ointment and drops when needed.

Brenda is picking up the results later, as she walked in and they saw her right away, she now needs glasses for everyday as well as the reading glasses that she already has and she also is going to arrange an appointment at the hospital over in Marbella to see a consultant as there is a history of Glaucoma and Cataracts in her family.

At lunchtime Anna called in as their electricity is still not back on,Mano is at home waiting for the engineers to arrive! We then went for a walk with Chispa and bumped into Sally Ann,Barbara and Anna having a coffee in Bodega Augustin before picking the kids up from school; for our snack/lunch today we had all the salads from the buffet last night,it reminded us of the good-old days back at the Hotel70" when we used to serve a old fashioned " Hors D'oeuvre" trolley !!

While we were out we also bumped into Valentina from Foreign Residents Dept. She has invited us to the official opening of the 'Plaza De la Vendimia' and the Wine Museum in the Wine Centre on Saturday 12th October; at the moment that are painting the centre in the official Blue & White Manliva colours.

The weather forecast is OK with some clouds but still warm and sunny at times with the possibility of rain near the end of the week; we have been very lucky down here on the ‘Costa Del Sol’as the rest of Spain has had severe rain storms! We have dropped the shutters and closed the windows but it’s still warm at night so we don’t need more sheets at the moment! We will have our ‘Happy Hour’ in the chill-out room, read and listen to music from the PCs – ‘LOUD’!

This evening for supper we are having Grilled Gammon with fried Eggs and Pineapple, Garden Peas and crisp twice-cooked Chips, then we will watch the news and weather forecast and find something to watch.

Thought for the Day; See above.

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