A STILL GREY & OVERCAST ' FRESH' BUT NOW DRY SUNNY MANILVA ON WEDNESDAY.

WEDNESDAY 25^th/ MARCH 2020.  " STATE OF ALARM - DAY 11 "  

This morning we were woken up by the gas bottle delivery man blowing his horn! I shot down and exchanged our bottle!! ( Government controlled price)  After freshening up we had our usual toast & tea, for a change I had local homemade ‘Pueblo Bread’ ( pre-thick sliced) which was very nice, with local Butter and Spanish Strawberry Jam (Diet Fresas)



See below;

Overnight and earlier this morning we had another rain storm, which has now passed over us again, so It’s dry, overcast, cloudy & ‘ Fresh’ at the moment, by lunchtime it’s forecast to  only reach  13 degs+ - overnight down to just 9 degs+ - tomorrow and up to Sunday we are in for a dry, sunny spell, hovering in the mid/high ‘ teens’ – 17/19 degs+ - sadly next week it’s going to be back to a wet & windy colder week, as the breeze stiffens, still up in the mid ‘teens’ with moderate to heavy rain and thunder by next Thursday, on the long-range forecast the following week is at the moment looking a lot more settled and dry, watch this space.

See below a stormy Mediterranean yesterday down in Sabinillas.

“ CORONAVIRUS UPDATE – COVID 19 “ 

As I have been typing/posting today’s Blog two ‘Council’ lady workers ( usually street cleaners) have just come down our street spraying sanitizer, I ‘ thanked’ them for the job that they are doing, see below.

Today also the ‘ Council’ have acquired a new ‘ Fumigation ‘ vehicle that is now following after the Water Wagons/Fire Brigade, have washed down all the streets and then being sanitized by hand! See below.   

Our local lady Dentist has dropped off all her stock of face masks, gloves, overalls and especially eye/face protectors, to the main ‘Medical Centre’ in Sabinillas.


The Mayor, Mario, with the head of the Medical Centre.

See below the streets of sunny Manilva in ‘ LOCKDOWN’ !

After we thanked Leah yesterday for shopping expedition, she is looking after us like her own ‘ Grandparents’ – as she calls us, she sent a picture of little ‘ Miss Bella’- our little  ‘ Granddaughter’ who is missing us !!



 See below;

For our supper this evening we are having a simple  “ Sausage & Mash “  - ‘English Pork Sausages’ ( Iceland) pan-fried on a very hot griddle-plate and served with a rich ‘Red Wine, Onion & Shallot Gravy’ with Brenda’s famous ‘ Mashed Potato’ & Garden Peas.

Tomorrow it’s going to be ‘ Omelettes of Choice ‘ with Baked Potato.

The routine of ‘ Lockdown’ is not too hard for us, as we take things easy all the time anyway, staying inside most of the time, relaxing, with one another, the only thing that we miss is of course is all our guests in ‘ Doggy World Heaven’ – going for walks around the village and stopping outside ‘ Bar Castillo Bar Rojas Sol Vida’ – sat in the warm sunshine for a nice cool drink & ‘ Tapas’! Watch this space!!

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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A VERY WET ' SUNNY MANILVA' ON MONDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEK.

MONDAY 2^nd/ DECEMBER 2019. 

We managed just a little lie in this morning after all the excitement of yesterday, after freshening up we had our regular light breakfast of fresh fruit ( Bananas) toast & tea, before setting of on our travels, across to the ‘ Costa Del Sol Hospital’ past Marbella, for my lunchtime appointment with the ‘Prostate Consultant’ for my review/check up.

After a short wait in a very busy waiting room we were called in to see our regular Consultant, he confirmed that my ‘PSA’ blood reading is up, above the control line, as we feared, after all my problems earlier in the year, he’s put me on a six month review/check up, again, and if the reading is up again then I will have to have my 4^th & final ‘Biopsy’ – as I’m will then be reaching the end of my age/check periods etc, watch this space.   “ RESULT “

In ‘ Doggy World Heaven ‘ this week, little ‘ Miss Bella’ is back with tomorrow morning for the day, she’s then back next Monday/Tuesday as normal, on Thursday morning ‘ Sunny’ is back with us for a short four day break, being collected next Monday morning, then on this coming Sunday ‘Chico’ is due to arrive for his short five day break, being picked up on the flowing Thursday the 12^th – when we are going on the ‘Pensioner’s’  coach trip to see the ‘Xmas Lights’ in Malaga.

Overnight the next cold & wet ‘ Atlantic’ front came, it rained all night and this morning we managed in between showers to go out on our travels, it was very grey & overcast with lots of dark black rain clouds on the horizon, there was just a very light breeze, keeping the temperature down to 15 degs+ - so it looks like we are in for the ‘ Wet-Stuff’ all day and tomorrow, as we left the Hospital the heavens opened and at the moment we have another heavy rain storm, the first ‘ wet day’ in nearly ten months! From Wednesday onwards it’s now looking unsettled with showers & sunshine, with patchy clouds, hovering back in the high ‘ teens’ by the weekend, overnight down to 10 degs+ - staying dry & sunny, next week it’s forecast to be dry and sunny,at the moment, watch this space.

Just a quick update on the sports results from over the weekend; Everton lost 2-1, Liverpool won 2-1 & Manchester City only managed to draw 2-2 – so Liverpool are 11 point ahead in the ‘Premiere League’ – over here in ‘La Liga’ Barcelona won 0-1 & Real Madrid also won 1-2. Lewis Hamilton won the ‘Abu Dhabi Grand Prix’ – his 11^th win this year!

This coming weekend here in sunny Manilva it’s the annual ‘ Xmas Gastronomic Food, Wine & Music Festival’ – based in the ‘ Plaza de la Vendemia’ from Friday to Sunday.

See below;

Yesterday on a news page I spotted the  “ Zhen Hua “  – a ‘Heavy Load Carrier’- arriving from Shanghai,  arriving in the Port of Antwerp, to drop off the two Green ‘ Container Cranes’ –  the three Red ones are then on their way to the River Mersey and the Port of Liverpool!

See below;

And arriving in Liverpool this afternoon!

This evening for our supper we are having ‘Escalopes of Chicken Breast’- seared on a very hot-griddle-plate, finished with a Lemon & Balsamic Vinegar Butter Salsa, served with finely sliced ‘ French’ Green Beans and my classic ‘ Pommes de Terre Rissolees’ – Baby New Potatoes, boiled in their skins and then tossed in foaming ‘Parsley Butter’ until crisp & golden. The ‘Menu’s for the rest of the week are still TBC, watch this space.

We are catching up with all the ‘Quiz Shows’ that we follow, this afternoon/evening, then after supper we will channel hop to find something to watch, on Saturday evening later on we caught, over on ‘ BBC Four’- after watching the next back to back episode of ‘The Sinner’ – two programmes on “ Jeff Lynnne’s ELO “ – showing Jeff Lynne with his band, the ‘Electric Light Orchestra’ – the first was recorded in the small ‘BBC 2 Radio’ studio ( 350 persons only!)  earlier in November, and the second at his ‘ Wembley or Bust’ concert, back in 2017,  in front of a sold-out crowd of 60,000 fans! The sound and music was out of this world, as his group of ‘Old Rockers’ sang and played their hearts out, reproducing all his hits, with the same perfection and sound as the original recordings! His voice was mesmerising and the ‘ stage-presence’  and atmosphere was just unbelievable! Catch them!! 

  

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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A NOW VERY ' CLOSE' AND SUNNY MANILVA ON TUESDAY.

TUESDAY 8^th/ OCTOBER 2019.

We didn’t have a very good night’s sleep as it was hot and sticky after yesterday’s very hot day – 32 degs+! – then first thing this morning the goods delivery man made a lot of noise, past our house, as he slides the pallets down the street, to our local shop! 

Brenda got up to see little ‘ Miss Bella’ back with us for the day, she’s very quiet and not her usual ‘ full of life’ self, after having the ‘ spayed ‘ operation last week, we are keeping her very quiet, at the moment she is staying in the office/studio with me, Brenda took ‘Winnie’ out for her first walk of the day, she, as usual, slept all night on our bed, we are keeping them apart, for the moment, later little ‘ Miss Bella’ is due her tablet, watch this space.

After freshening up we had our usual light breakfast of ‘ Weetabix’ for me and brown toast for Brenda, with mugs of tea, Brenda then popped out to the Chemists, along in ‘ Calle Mar’ for a new prescription tablet ( see below) – on the way back she called into the local shop, at the bottom of our street for a few essentials.

Yesterday afternoon we had a phone call from the ‘ Costa Del Sol Hospital’ asking if we would like to come earlier for Brenda’s appointment with the ‘ Heart Consultant’ – at 6-30 pm instead of 8-30 pm?! We said YES!

We set off, but for the first time in a long while, we hit a large traffic jam, before the tunnel under San Pedro, we only just made it, Brenda went into the Hospital and I sat outside in the shade with ‘ Winnie’

Brenda went straight in and was then ‘hooked up’ to the ‘ECG’ – before the very nice lady ‘Consultant’ gave her a very thorough check-up, her ‘ Arrhythmia’ is still giving her a little concern and her blood pressure was up, she has adjusted her medication and prescribed a new tablet, that she says will help settle her down, Brenda has to go back, next April, for two check-ups, an ‘Electrocardiogram’ and the first a ‘ Holter’ Test?!  

Tomorrow lunchtime we are back across at the Hospital, for her review/check-up with the ‘Kidney Consultant’ – she has to show her all the documents from the ‘ Heart Consultant’ as all the prescribed medications/prescriptions cross-over, then later in the month Brenda will go back to our Doctor, Natalia, after she returns from her annual holiday, to pass on all the reports etc! Watch this space.

After a rather ‘ stress full ‘ drive along the very busy coast road, at that time of the day it’s like a ‘race track’ – the sun setting as you come back, is blinding, doesn’t help,  and then Brenda’s update, we decided to drop off down to ‘Castillo de la Duquesa’ to “ La Taberna 2 “  and go for their ‘ ‘Early Doors’ two course special.  

It was beautiful evening as we sat outside on the terrace, as nice cool drinks came along, as we choose from the Menu, Brenda had to start the ‘Warm Goats Cheese with crispy Bacon’ and I had their excellent ‘Tomato Soup’ – for a change Brenda ordered the ‘Braised Lamb Shank in a Red Wine Jus’ – which was very succulent and tasty, as usual I had their excellent ‘ Sirloin Steak ‘ – Med-Rare’ with a sauceboat of the ‘Black Peppercorn’ sauce, with, youv’e guessed , crispy ‘Chips’! As usual excellent service, overlooked by the very attentive lady owner, Debbie.

At lunchtime we went for a walk with both of the dogs, we bumped into our friend Andy, sat outside ' Bar Castillo ' so we joined him for a cool drink, he's joining us for supper on Thursday evening ( Chicken Curry ) and he will at the same time help me to book an appointment to take the car to the Estepona 'ITV - MOT' station, for it's annual test! watch this space

For our supper this evening we are ‘ Grilled Mini Brochettes of Turkey ‘ which have ‘Red & Green Peppers’ I add diced Mushrooms & Shallots, they are served on a bed of Brenda’s special ‘Basmati Rice’ with on the side ‘ Broccoli Florets & whole Baby ‘French’ Green Beans’ - with a sauceboat of Tomato Salsa.

This morning has started, as forecast, partly cloudy and a little overcast, the breeze has picked up a little, so by lunchtime it’s due to reach only 24 degs+ a little close & ‘ clammy’ - tomorrow and Thursday are looking the same, then on Friday, when I’m out on my travels, patchy rain is possible, over the weekend settling down again in the low 20s, overnight going down to 17/18 degs – next week we are in for more of the same, with light to moderate rain on some days, partly cloudy and sunny, hovering in the low/mid 20s, watch this space.

This evening after supper we will catch the final episode of the “The Capture “ on ‘BBC TV ONE’ – last night as we came back to the house, it was also the final episode of “ A Confession “ over on ‘ ITV ONE’ – I’m not posting the ends, so as you can find out yourselves what the outcomes are !!  

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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