A VERY 'CRISP' & SUNNY MANILVA ON SATURDAY.

SATURDAY 23^rd/ DECEMBER 2017.

I was up early this morning and shot out on my travels down to Sabinillas for the weekly shopping, I had a quick toast & tea in ‘ Itzabar’ and then was the first customer at the main door of ‘ Mercadona’ – I did our main shop and then shot back up the hill through the vine fields to a very ‘ crisp’ & sunny Manilva.

Meanwhile Brenda had taken both the dogs out for their first walk of the day, ‘Chico’ had slept in his bed all night and ‘ Charlie’ was by the side of our bed on the rug, ‘Chico’ is being collected later today and Charlie’ is with us until next Wednesday lunchtime, ‘Reina’ is coming for a sleep over tomorrow night, ‘Xmas Eve’ – ‘ Chispa’ as usual is in & out all the time!

We have another very cold & ‘crisp’ day down here on the ‘ Costa Del Sol’ – the sun is out and the sky is bright blue, there is no breeze so it’s a beautiful day here in sunny Manilva, 16/17 degs by lunchtime, 8/9 degs during the night, the weekend is looking the same and the wet stuff forecast for ‘ Christmas Day’ has moved away, next week is now looking dry & settled, with just the threat of some of the wet stuff in the air, getting a little warmer, 19/20 degs, as the week goes on, watch this space.

After a quick cup of tea we made contact with Jack & Lyn over in a very hot Melbourne ( 35 degs+) – we first called them on the ‘ Skype’ landline and then talked to them on the ‘ Facebook Messanger Video’ via Lyn’s tablet/phone, Lyn’s son, Jeff and his wife Annette, were visiting them from Brisbane, so he went to their ‘IT’ System and sent a request to our new ‘ Skype’ address, I opened our second screen and we made contact, they had been trying on the old one, it worked and so now we are back in contact with them via the ‘ Skype’ video, we are calling them over the Xmas period, Lyn is also going to call Norah and arrange to speak to her & Jenny via ‘Facebook Messanger Video’ - while Jenny is with her for her 70^th birthday!



Sadly the folks over in Australia have not yet received our Xmas cards that we posted at the ‘English Bookshop’ on the 1^st December, we also posted Lyn’s birthday card at the end of November and it has still not arrived! Over in Canada, when we spoke to Sandra yesterday, she had still not received her Xmas cards also posted at the same time!! It’s very upsetting, Norah & Jenny have also only just received theirs in the past few days, as we still keep up the tradition of cards to all our family & dear friends, as they do to us!

This evening for our supper we are having ‘ Grilled Fillet Steaks ‘ cooked on a very hot griddle plate ‘ Med-Rare’ and then left to rest, garnished with seared Asparagus Spears & Button Mushrooms, with a sauceboat of creamy ‘Green Peppercorn’ Salsa on the side, with whole Baby Green Beans and our favourite ‘ Pont-Neuf’ chips ( Doorsteps!)

During Sunday I’m going to roast the ‘Turkey’ and make my famous finger-licking Pan Gravy, we will then on ‘ Christmas Day’ prepare the vegetables, potatoes, stuffing, pigs in blanket etc!

Later in the evening, Xmas Eve, we are having for a change, ‘ Braised Lamb Shanks’ in a Mint Gravy ‘ with assorted vegetables and Brenda’s famous ‘ Mashed’ Potato and my special ‘ Rissole ‘ Potatoes!

Just a quick football update; last night Arsenal drew with Liverpool 3-3, the early kick-off today is Everton v Chelsea, come on the ‘ Blues’ ( Everton!) and later Manchester City welcome Bournemouth, over here in ‘ La Liga’ it’s ‘ El Clasico’ as Real Madrid welcome Barcelona to the ‘Santiago Bernabeu’ at lunchtime!

PS; BARCELONA WON 0-3 !!!

This evening after supper we will channel hop and find something to watch.

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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A BEAUTIFUL DAY HERE IN SUNNY MANILVA ON TUESDAY;

TUESDAY 9^th/ DECEMBER 2014.

I was up early this morning to welcome ‘Reina’ here for the day, I then after settling her into her own duvet on our bed shot around to our local post office to post the rest of the Xmas cards. The three sisters cards have arrived,last year the one from Lyn in Australia did not make it! 

It’s another beautiful day here in sunny Manilva with already clear blue skies and the sun out, there in no breeze and its getting a little warmer each day towards the weekend.

We have just been for a walk with 'Reina' & 'Chispa' down to the park and on the way back I bought two more 'Poinsettia's' from the Charity ladies in Calle Mar, we now have five!( flowers not ladies!) 

Back to normal in the village after the long Bank Holiday weekend with the street cleaning machine busy, the water wagon washing the streets down and the local council workers trimming all the trees ‘Pollard’ style! The Xmas lights in Calle Mar are up and working and ‘Papa Noel – Father Christmas’ has arrived already at ‘Calle San Vicente 1’ - as you can see below; over the weekend we put our Xmas decorations up so we are now into the Xmas spirit and looking forward to the Christmas holidays,food,wine and festivities!

Today is our very dear friend Brian’s birthday so we would like to wish him all the very best for the year ahead “Cheers” – ‘Big Bri’! We will toast you later – have a ‘Helluva’ time when you can, love Malcolm & Brenda xxxx

For our supper this evening we are having grilled ‘Gammon Steak’ topped with fresh Pineapple and a ‘Campo’ fried Egg – Garden Peas, sautéed Baby Mushrooms and a ‘bucket’ of twice-cooked Frits – don’t forget the HP sauce on the side!

Last night after supper we channel hopped as there was no good films to be found, this evening we will watch some live ‘Champions League’ football and then hopefully have a better night than last night.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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WARM CALM AND SUNNY MANILVA AT THE START OF THE BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND

FRIDAY 6^th/ DECEMBER 2013.

We had a little lie in this morning as things are really quiet in the village, no deliveries, nobody working in the Town Hall, no school children and no motorbikes or cars – it’s a bank holiday “ Dia De La Constitucion ” – ‘Constitution Day’ – this means that the whole weekend turns into a major holiday all over Spain; the weather forecast for the weekend and into next is still looking good with clear blue skies, sunshine and only a little breeze – 18/20 degs - for December – not bad ! The warmest place in Europe now for the last few weeks!!

Brenda after breakfast washed her hair and a nice leisurely time pandering to her self, then it was my turn for a shave and shower, meanwhile I got tonight’s supper ready – ‘Goujons of Hake’ with homemade Tartar sauce and square chips, then I cooked off Mano’s take-a-way and he collected it at lunchtime as he was out walking his dog; we went for a nice walk down to the entrance to the village in the warm sunshine with the two dogs.

Over in the UK yesterday the gales and storms seemed to hit most places as well as Jane in Northwich, we rang Jenny over in the Wirral last night as it was hit in the afternoon, she was fine; in North Wales there are floods around where Anna is staying in Denbigh and over in Colwyn Bay they where hit really badly, we tried calling Tim last night and this morning but his phone does not seen to be working!

Yesterday evening down in the square in Sabinillas the ‘Christmas Market’ was opened and the lights were turned on there and here in the village; see the pictures above taken by Gary of ‘The Resident’ newspaper. Brenda is working herself up to writing the cards and the Xmas decorations are out upstairs waiting for the right moment to put them up!

After our supper this evening we will find a film to watch, there are lots on all the channel because of the bank holiday.

Thought for the Day; See above.

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MANILVA.

Monday/Wednesday 24th/26th November.

On Monday morning we called into the bank to set up the Internet Banking page on the PC.so we can follow the transfer of the payments from Germany and then called into the Hypermarket to buy some Christmas Decorations for the house as the ones that we have got are too small as they came from the Winnebago.We bought our first tree and all the decorations but as we had a discount voucher, that we had earned from the last three months,it cost us practically nothing! The tree is now in the lounge with all the lights on it and Brenda has done a marvelous job of decorating it,also the chill out room had had the treatment as well;we have Poinsettia’s in all the rooms so the house has a lovely Christmas feeling. Just as we were going out we had a Skype call from Australia,it was Lyn, so Brenda was able to have a long chat as it costs nothing,Skype to Skype! For supper we had Pork Cutlets from the butcher in the village and then caught up with some reading,we have a English Bookshop down in Sabinillas which exchanges books and buys back from you the books that you have bought from them at the same time so it costs very little for our reading! The weather is changing for a couple of days in the middle of the week but it is still sunny during the day,on Tuesday on the way back from shopping we called into see Mano and Anna to check on the Xmas arrangements as e-mails have been flying between here and Tenerife,with Sally Ann in her business mode,to make sure that we miss nothing! Mano and Anna in the evening joined us for dinner as we had Braised Steak and Onions,Cabbage,Mashed Carrots and Swede,Mushy Peas and the famous Brenda Mashed Potatoes all washed down with a fine Rioja and followed with music and dancing as we listened to the I Pod in its Speaker dock! Today as we checked the Spanish Bank account,on line, the first payment had been transferred and the second one will be in by the end of week,we hope!We have been asked to house sit by Clive and Carolyn this weekend for a few days from Friday to Friday,so we are fitting it in with our prebooked night out at the Marriot Resort on Saturday( Our Wedding Anniversary) As we were out and about on our travels the door handle of the Smart Car broke but as we were near Vidals we called in and he has arranged for his garage to order the part and fix it. Tonight is curry night,you can smell it at the top of the street!