A WARM & VERY SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY.

THURSDAY 24^th / MARCH 2014

I was up early again this morning and after freshening up we had our normal breakfast before ‘ Reina’ was dropped for the last time this week; I then shot out on my travels down to Sabinillas, through the vine fields, with the mountains to the left and the Mediterranean sparkling in the early morning sunshine, see the picture below showing sunrise this morning!

Its the most glorious day here on the ‘ Costa Del Sol’ with clear blue skies and no clouds, there is no breeze and it was warm as I set off for our weekly shopping, tomorrow everywhere is closed, today most place are also closed including the Town Hall, the forecast has now settled down over the weekend and into next week, the rain has gone away and so for the last two parades on Sunday it will be warm and sunny; at night its still crisp & cold so I will have to wrap up later this evening when I go up to Calle Mar to follow the ‘ Jesus Nazareno’ midnight parade – see some pictures tomorrow!

I called into our bank first and then stopped at the ‘English Bookshop’ for the local newspapers and a retirement card, guess who?! I then hit’ Mercadona’ and fought my way through the ‘masses’ – it was very busy and every man or women for them selves! The new ‘ Fish Market – Counter’ is open so I bought a very nice ‘ Rodaballo – Turbot ‘ for ‘ Good Friday’ which they took off the black skin for me, I also treated us some very fine & fresh large ‘ Gambas’  as you can see in the picture below.

After unpacking back at the house we sorted our menus out for the next few days and over the weekend; this evening we are having ‘Omelette’s’  Cheese for Brenda & Mushroom for me, our neighbour Anna dropped of our ‘Campo’ Eggs last night and also a bag of fresh Lemons, Alselgas and Broad Beans all from her ‘ Campo’ in the valley below the village.

On Friday I’m going to bake the whole ‘ Rodaballo’ and grill some of the Gambas to garnish it with, Saturday its ‘ Fillet Steak again and then on Sunday evening something simple as we are roasting on Easter Monday “ Roast Leg of New Zealand Lamb studded with Garlic & Rosemary “ with lots of fresh vegetables and my famous ‘ Boulangere’ Potatoes!

With our morning cup of tea this morning we had the first of the ' Hot X Buns' . toasted with lots of Butter, Daniela got them from 'Morissons' in Gibraltar for us! 

So this evening after supper we will watch the first episode of the third series of ‘ Line of Duty’ before I go out to follow my ‘ Brotherhoods’ procession.

The pictures below show a different view of the River Mersey, the last remaining ‘ Light Ship’ now a museum and the ‘Party’ ferryboat earlier this year passing the ‘ Love Locks’!

And finally the " Albert Dock " in all its glory !

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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DAY 7 COUNTDOWN TO THE GREAT ESCAPE.

Friday 26th March 2010.

For the next few days over the weekend and into next week the weather forecast is a lot better; no rain or wind just a little cloudy with blue skies and warm sun, the storm has missed us again and is heading through Portugal, Northern Spain, France and across to the UK ! This morning down in Tarifa it was gorgeous as we went for the weekend shopping and then on to the clinic, the doctor said that Brenda’s wound was very much improved; she is still going everyday to have the dressing changed for about another week so we will have to call into our clinic in Manilva to arrange things past next Thursday, if required.

This evening we are having the small Dab Soles for dinner as they had just come onto the fish market; over the weekend on Saturday we going to have Steak and Frits and for Sunday lunch it is Loin of Pork; on the phone to Mano and Anna the other day, Anna suggested that she would buy a Leg Of Lamb for Easter Sunday, our first back in Manilva as they have missed our Sunday roasts over the last year ! It will take us a little while to get back into our routine in the house as we have grown accustomed to the villa especially the space; when we have people around to eat in Manilva our table when we have ten around it means that we have to open the front doors and the person at the end of the table is out on the street !

Last night we caught up with Tim and Thea over in Colwyn Bay,Tim was away on a international schools conference over in Berlin for the week so his daughter Jo answered the phone and we caught up with all her news; she is going to university in Liverpool after her gap year and is really looking forward to moving to the halls of residence in September, Every Sunday Brenda calls Jenny to see how she is and at the same time catch up with her and Norah’s news over in England,

Thought for the Day;

Since it’s the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.

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