MANILVA THIS SUNDAY.

SUNDAY 26th FEBRUARY 2012.

We had a lie in on Sunday morning and after our tea and toast we got the Sunday Roast on the go – Chicken – with all the trimmings along with Brenda’s vegetables including creamed Leeks for a change; after freshening up we went for a short walk and sat in the warm sunshine down at the Mirador. We then walked back up to Bar Rojas and sat outside to have a drink and a Paella lunch which is freshly made and is ready about half past two; Brenda has a Tapas portion and I have a ‘ Ration ’ half portion. It’s the only way to eat Paella ! When we got back Brenda went up on the roof terrace to finish her book and I retired to the office to watch the football; I first caught the game between Arsenal and Spurs, it was the best game in ages, as I joined it Arsenal were 2-0 down and looked finished, by half time they had scored two good goals 2-2 game on ! In the second half Arsenal played some sublime football and saw Spurs out of the game with three more goals 5-2 the end result!! Up in Scotland at Murrayfield the Scots lost to France 23-17 in the Six Nations Rugby; It was then time for the ‘ Carling Cup Final ’from Wembley between Cardiff and Liverpool ; it started bad for Liverpool when Cardiff scored after 20 mins. and it took until the 60th min. for then to equalize with a goal from Skrtel, Carrol was taken off and Kuyt scored within five mins, to make the score 2-1 then Liverpool sat back and allowed Cardiff to score in last two mins 2-2 After extra time it went to a penalty shoot out – Gerrard’s penalty was saved and then Gerrard missed the penalty for Cardiff to give Liverpool the win – Anthony Gerrard Stevens younger cousin !! Luck Liverpool !!!
In the evening after dinner we caught up with the news and sport over here; Real Madrid won 0-1 with a Ronaldo back heel and Barcelona hung on against Atl- Madrid 1-2 so there is no change at the top of ‘ La Liga ’Madrid are ten points ahead. Sunday night is film night so we had a choice of films so we watched on TVE1 ( No Adverts ) “ Taken ” 2008 which starred Liam Neeson as a retired CIA agent trying to find his seventeen year old daughter in Paris,she had been abducted by Albanian crooks to be sold into prostitution – an all action thriller – one to watch.


Thought for the Day;


It is the dull man who is always sure, and the sure man who is always dull.


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MANILVA TODAY- CLASSIC CAR RALLY.

SUNDAY 17^th JULY 2011.

After a little lie in this morning we got ourselves ready and went up to Bar Rojas to get a front seat table under the Sonbrajo to watch the Classic Car Rally enter the village; Tim’s friend John Jones came up and joined us from his villa on the coast so we caught up with all his news,the Rally was due at 12-00 noon but did not arrive until 1-45pm ! The pictures below give you a taste of the Rally as the cars stopped in Calle Mar; the cars are 30 years old or more and are kept in condition as if they were new, just as we were about to order some Tapas John got a call from one of his neighbors to say that the man trimming and cutting his large Palm tree in his garden had just fallen off the ladder and hopefully only hurt his foot ! John shot off so he missed the Paella,Albondigas in Tomato sauce and the mini Fish Cakes with an Aioli Dressing !!

TOUR DE FRANCE 2011 UPDATE.

Yesterdays stage, the last in the Pyrenees, the Belgian rider Jelle Venendert took the mountainous trek, his maiden win. Meanwhile the rest of the leaders tried to brake Contador on the final climb, but didn’t. Stage 15 today took them from Limoux to Montpellior over 193kms and it was a flat stage; for the last half of the race Cavendish’s team led the peloton and he was guided to the front by his team-mate Mark Renshaw of the HTC Highroad team, before taking the inside and sprinting home for yet another win ! Win four this year and his 19^TH so far in the Tour ! The overall results remain the same and Cavendish is in the Green Jersey as you can see in the picture above,Monday is a rest day before that hit the Alps on their way to Paris.

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MANILVA ON PALM SUNDAY.

SUNDAY 17^TH APRIL 2011.

PALM SUNDAY PARADE “ PROCESION DE LA BORRIQUITA ( THE DONKEY )

I was up very early ( 7-30 ) by our standards now ! Brenda came along a little later as we got ready for our Sunday Roast dinner so as we could have the rest of the day free; Roast Chicken,Herb Stuffing,Crispy Smoked Bacon,Broccoli and Cauliflower Mornay,Carrot Batons, Sprouts with Bacon sippets,Baby Green Beans, Garden Peas and of course Goose Fat roasted Potatoes together with a rich finger licking Gravy ( Brian and Lilli we missed you ! ) We then got ourselves showered and dressed up to go down to the Church of Santa Ana for the mass and blessing of the vines; On the way down we bumped into the Mayor,Antonia who was walking her Grandson,Valentino, her son is Valentino and her husband is Valentino ! Outside the Church Amelia ,Juan’s wife was having no luck getting her Granddaughter ready! The pictures below show the day as it progressed in the streets of Manilva; The Tableau of “ La Borriqita ” sets off from the church with the band leading and all the children and dignitaries following; as they reach the Town Hall the band led by Fernando lines up and the Mayor and Councilors form a line as the Tableau arrives, The village is packed, outside Bar Rojas we had claimed the best seats with Mano and Anna, Megan and Millie and some other friends,Barbara,Peter and their three lovely children.Manolo and Lumy from Bar Rojas were very proud as their younger son ,Paco was one of the bearers of the Tableau. Later we walked down to Bar Augustine ( The Office ) as they are the hot in place for Tapas; it was very busy and noisy and we were soon severed with a selection of all the Tapas on show, sadly we missed the Sunday Paella! That’s for another day !!

In the evening Mano and Anna, Carlos with Fabio, Megan and Millie joined us for Sunday dinner as we ended the day in true styly up at Bar Rojas for Carajillo's, the pictures are above.

PS; We phoned Tim at his retirement party at the local Golf Club on Saturday evening, he has ( well his Daughter Jo ! ) has just posted the pictures on Facebook with all his family and old friends.

Thought for the Day;

It’s very strange when the life you never had flashes before your eyes.

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READING.

Sunday 5th July 2009.

We had a lie in after the day before and strolled down to breakfast as it does not finish until 11-30am and took a walk along the banks of the Thames, Joan had her usual Tea and toast in her room; Joan’s grandson Stephen, who is a lighting technician in the London theatre land and his partner who is an wardrobe mistress also called in to our hotel as they where staying in the Premier Lodge next door and we took them in the Mini bus back to the Bottle and Glass for the family BBQ in the afternoon, The weather was sunny with a little breeze as we sat around in the garden and all the family caught up with all their news and chatted with Joan who they had not seen for some time. Later I dropped Chris down to Henley on Thames so that he could pick up his car, at first I had an heart attack as it was Royal Regatta week and the last day of the festivities and the town would be very busy and congested; his car was on a large car park on the edge of town but I still ended up having to go right through the main street and down to the Thames past the old bridge and had some spectacular views of the Regatta but I did not have the camera with me, sorry! In the evening we had supper in the restaurant after another super day with the family.

ESTEPONA/MARBELLA

Fri/Sat/Sun.13th/14th/15th April.
As the weather has picked up-warm and sunny,we have after our morning dip
been out on the scooter to the marina and beach on Friday and Saturday along
with some supermarket shopping; The weather on Saturday was hot enough for
us to go out on the scooter in our shirt sleeves,we had lunch in the Flower Square
in Estepona at our favourite restaurant were we had Fried Monkfish and Fried
Chicken Breast with Fresh Frits! On Sunday Vidal and Gisela called in and asked
us to be their guests at the Beach Bar in Marbella in the late afternoon,so we jumped on the bus and went to the Tapas Bar by the beach and then joined them
in Ray's Tropical Bar-see the picture below of Vidal performing in his exotic out-
fit! After his spot his brother Felix and his German girlfriend Martina, who perform
all over the coast and also travel all over Europe as "Adam and Eve"!-they play all
types of music with backing tapes and Felix on Guitar and along with Martina sing-
ing as well as Felix, they are also very professional and get the audience joining
in with them;that is untill the local Police called in and stopped the show even though
the bar owner had the right license !! We had the bars Rum Punch all night and the
owner Ray who is also the cook gave us for supper his special "Jerk "Chicken Legs
and Pork Ribs along with savoury Fried Rice!! We came home in Vidal's car as per
normal,feeling no pain!