A NOW OVERCAST AND DAMP SUNNY MANILVA ON SUNDAY !

SUNDAY 17^th / APRIL 2016.

We all had a little lie in this morning, ‘ Reina’ went to bed in her duvet in the office last night and stayed there until we got up this morning, she is very easy to look after and is into our routine, she comes along when we are eating and has her little nibbles, she has a good appetite and eats everything you give her! She is being collected at lunchtime and is then back with us next week for her normal five days, Monday to Friday, on Tuesday‘ Scruffy’ is back for a sleep over, we hope that ‘ Chispa’ is now going to be calling in again after being in ‘quarantine’ for her half yearly season!

For breakfast this morning Brenda’s famous ‘ Campo Poached Eggs on Toast’ re-appeared on the menu, as you can see in the picture below.

For supper this evening we are having grilled “ Medallions of Pork Fillet “ with finely sliced Broad Beans & Carrot Batons and my famous ‘ Lyonnaise’  Potatoes also back on the menu for the first time this year! I use sliced Baked Potatoes, with their skin on, browned off, the sliced Onions are sautéed in foaming butter and then added to the pan to finish cooking, lots of finely chopped Parsley ( Brenda ! ) This also means that tomorrow night we are having ‘Escalopes of Pork Schnitzel’ with the rest of the Pork Fillet.  See this evenings supper below;

A quick update on the ' Moffatt's on their travels; they have already reached, after just over a week in France, Spain, and are in Lleida outside Barcelona visiting their daughter Jo, who lives and works in the town, Its been the hottest spot in Spain over the last week, 26/27 degs or more!

The sun has broken through earlier this morning and the breeze has dropped, at the moment its clear and getting warmer, ( see above! ) - the forecast is looking settled for next week but we could still have some of the wet stuff if the threatened tail end of the Atlantic storm hits us! See the picture below taken last off the coast, last night, and looking back to Manilva!

Next week we are keeping things easy and relaxing, Brenda is going to start on some short walks along ‘ Calle Mar ’ after we find some shoes for her to wear! On Tuesday evening we both have an appointment with the local ‘Chiropodist’ down at the surgery, we will go down in the car as its just a little too far for Brenda to walk at the moment. On Friday I will be out on my travels for the weekly shopping, Brenda is also due a visit to her hairdresser for the ‘ full works ‘ so we will plan that in the following week, we also need to go back to the jewellers in Estepona as the carriage clock that was repaired at ‘great expense ’ is not working!! Watch this space.

At the moment I’m listening to the ‘Pete Black Request Show’ on ‘ Castle Radio FM 89.2 & Online’ as I’m typing the Blog, he plays in a band with Andrew, he’s the keyboard player and Andrew is on the bass guitar, he’s from South Wales ( Carmarthen!) and is also a very good cook with a video page on Facebook! He broadcasts from his studio in his apartment in Duquesa Marina! I’m starting to work on more programmes for my two hour show and have arranged a meeting with Andrew to finalize all the details etc, re commercials, pro-mo’s and sound effects!! Daniela & Lee are on stand by to install all the equipment & programmes onto my system, watch this space and then listen out for the details of the first show!!

Just a quick update on the sports results from yesterday, Everton could only draw 1-1, again, Manchester City beat Chelsea 0-3 and Real Madrid won 1-5 at Getafe and Rosberg has just won the ‘ Chinese Grand Prix’ Last night after supper we watched ‘ Britain’s Got Talent’ on ITV before catching a late film over on TVE 1.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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WARM AND SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY;

THURSDAY 12^th/JUNE 2014.

We had just a little lie in this morning after testing a new alarm on one of the phones as we are going to be passing in/exchanging in all our old ones next week when we change the phones; the sun is out and it’s starting to get warmer by the hour.

Today we are having a quiet day a home pottering about catching up with the chores, meanwhile I’ am up in the office on the WWW!

Last night we spoke to Joyce over in ‘Alhaurin el Grande’ to wish her a safe journey and thank her once again for a ‘Helluva’ day over in the town last week; we can’t wait to go back when she is next over – if she will have us?!

We have just had our weekly planning meeting ready for the shopping tomorrow, paying the water and electricity bills next week, our airport pick-ups ( Gillian & Josie) – shopping at ‘Leroy Merlin’ for a shutter for the front door and most importantly Brenda’s ‘ Birthday Bash’ a week on Sunday!!

On the dog front Chispa has just come calling and is playing around my feet as I’ am typing the Blog and Scruffy is here on Friday for a ‘Sleep-over' We went for our usual walk with the dog and bumped into Anna and Sally Ann so we had a good chat and gossip,earlier Mano called into the house to check on any progress with the Mobile phones - they have been turned off and we have had some details of the new discounted rates - result - fingers crossed!

Tonight we are having the rest of the ‘Chicken Casserole’ which I have to say was rather delicious, not just me but also Andres down at Bodegon Andaluz’ who commented on the picture on Facebook after I took a ‘Taster’ down to him!

This evening its the opening ceremony of the "World Cup Football" from Brazil followed by the first game - 'Brazil v Croatia' - 3-1 to Brazil!

Last night we found a film to watch “ Bel Ami ”from 2012 – a period drama based in Paris with Robert Pattinson in the title role as the ‘Grand Seducer’ with the very watch able and alluring Uma Thurman, Kristin Scott Thomas and Christini Ricci receiving his attentions! When then watched the latest round of the ‘Spanish Master Chef’

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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MANILVA START OF THE WEEKEND.

FRIDAY 8th JUNE 2012.

The weather forecast for over the weekend is sunny and hot and into next week it is more of the same; we went down to Sabinillas in the morning and did the weekend shopping and picked up the papers, on the way back we called into the local market for some fresh flowers and then stopped at the butchers for some ‘ Plancha ’ steak for Saturdays night dinner. We had to get back to the house through the back streets as Calle Mar is closed for the “ Medieval Market ” this weekend.Cheta's in and out as usual during the morning and sometimes calls in the evening when she smells dinner being cooked ! We are back into our routine and Brenda is back on the roof terrace in the afternoon; I have caught up with the Blog and the WWW. and at the moment I’ am following the “ Criterium du Dauphin ” – it is the last major stage cycle race before the big one starts at the end of he month – “ The Tour de France ” At the moment with two stages to go Bradley Wiggins still leads, as he has done from the first stage – he won the race last year and looks in very good form going into the ‘ Big One ’ ! In the evening the football “ Euro 2012 ” kicked off from Poland and the Ukraine !? The opening match was incident – packed as the co-hosts Poland were held to a 1-1 draw against the Greeks ; then the Russians totally outplayed the Chech’s and won 4-1.On Sunday evening it is Spain ( The Champions ) v Italy and on Monday England play France who have won their last 22 matches !! Later in the evening before supper we went up to check out the Medieval Market along Calle Mar; the pictures below give you a little taste of it but the sounds and smells you can’t get ! The pictures above show the Mayor, Antonia and the councilors at the official opening ceremony. For supper we had Pan Fried Fillet of Hake with New Potatoes and Garden Peas and accompanied with a rich Tomato sauce that I made at lunchtime. Over the last couple of days the late film on the Paramount Channel has been “ The Godfather ” trilogy in sequence from 1972,1974 and 1990 ! On TVE1 last night it was “ The Last Castle ”starring Robert Redford as a general you ends up in an army prison run by a brutal governor played by James Goldolfini ( The Soprano’s )

Thought for the Day;


It is terrible to speak well and be wrong.


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MANILVA OVER THE WEEKEND.

SATURDAY/SUNDAY 19th/20th MAY 2012.

On Saturday morning after our Poached Eggs on Toast we went down to the Sports Hall to watch the Rhythmic Gymnastic Competition; Before we left we got in touch on the Skype Video with Jack and Lyn in Melbourne, we had a lot of news to catch up with them, Lyn’s eldest daughter Annette Rose’s son Daniel and his partner Christine had a beautiful baby boy ‘ Kyan ’ on Friday so its Jack and Lyn’s third Great Grandchild ! Lyn has not been too well with Bronchitis and one night got up to go to the bathroom and had a nasty fall as she had a coughing fit; we then brought them up to date with all our news and the news from England from Jenny and Norah. This meant we arrived at the Gymnastics late and missed Barbara’s two girls Megan and Leah take a first and second place in their class – the pictures below show the older competitors doing their thing ! No sport in the afternoon to watch on the PC but over in the Giro d’Italia Mark Cavendish had his third stage win and is now the leading rider in the points table. In the evening after our Steak and Chips supper we watched the final of the ‘ Champions League ’between Bayern Munich and Chelsea ; it so happened that it took place in the ‘ Alianz Arena’ Bayern’s home ground; Bayern took the lead but then missed a penalty after Didier Drogba had fouled Robben; Petr Cech saved the penalty and also two more in the penalty shoot out, I read an article yesterday about how he had studied all the Bayern’s players taking penalties ! Brilliant !! Drogba scored with a bullet header to equalize before converting the crucial penalty for Chelsea’s win !!! The Germans did not take their loss well – in fact they took it very badly and un- sportsmen like ! The other strange thing was that John Terry the Chelsea Captain who did not play in the match, he was suspended, was then allowed to go up and receive the Cup – he was dressed in his full kit including shin pads and sponsor’s boots, this morning in all the English and German newspapers he has been mocked and lampooned online – it was not right ! The late film was “ Striking Distance ” from 1993 starring Bruce Willis and Sarah Jessica Parker in a crime thriller filmed on location on the ‘ Ohio ’ river in Pittsburgh USA. – It has a twist at the end !

Overnight we had heavy rain as forecast and on Sunday it was cold and overcast all day; after getting our Sunday Roast ready – Topside of Beef – we then freshened ourselves up, when I’ am in the shower I play on the PC through the speakers and sub-woofer as loud as possible the “ Musicovery Interactive Web Radio Station – you can choose from four sorts of mood for your music, I choose ‘ Energetic ’ then from eighteen Genres – I choose ‘ Blues ’and finally you select the decade – I ‘am still in the 50s ! So it’s Jimmy Reed, Memphis Slim, Albert Collins, Muddy Waters, Otis Rush, Bo Diddley,Little Walter, and Elmore James and so on ! The office, the bathroom and the house rocks !! We then made contact on the Skype Video with Ben over in Old Colwyn to wish him “ Happy Birthday ”on his 18th ! We also spoke to Tim on the Samsung earlier and there is a possibility that he and Jo are going to come over to see us in June – watch this space- we are very excited to be having visitors ! In the afternoon after our Bacon Butties I watched on the BBC IPlayer the “ Saturday Morning – Best Bits ” – watch out for ‘ Beef Bourguignon’ on the menu in the next couple of weeks; in the meantime in the next valley to Manilva the “ World Match Play ”golf has been taking place at ‘ Finca Cortesin ’over the last four days – Northern Irelands Graeme McDowell was narrowly beaten by the Belgian player Nicolas Cossaerts in the final round. In the evening we invited our friend Gillian to join us for dinner as she is going back to the Isle of Wight on Thursday for a week to celebrate her birthday with her family and friends, we had a good old chin- wag and told her lots of tails from our past life ! The late film was called “ Extreme Measures ”from 1996 and Sarah Jessica Parker ( Again ! ) was in it along with Gene Hackman and Hue Grant – it is a medical/murder thriller. The pictures below show the crane that was finished this morning down in the Plaza Pozo Del Rey as the wind has dropped – we have discovered that they are constructing a two storey under ground car park and then the new square and children’s play area will be on top ! So defiantly watch this space !!

Thought for the Day;

It is a wise man who asks “ Why ? ” And don’t be afraid to ask “ What If ? ”


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