A VERY HOT & 'STICKY' SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY;

THURSDAY 25^th/ JUNE 2015.

I was up early to welcome back ‘Reina’ for the day before the workmen arrived; they are working on the 3^rd/4^th floor which is now above our roof terrace on two sides, by next week we will be out of sight of the outside world with only a little bit of sky above our heads!

They have not stopped work all day and as you can see in the pictures above the 3rd/4th floor is going up along side our terrace,next it will be the walls,ceiling and roof! The last picture is our new view!!

After breakfast I shot along to the local bank to pay the water bill and then carried on down to our local butchers for some thick-cut ‘English’ style ‘Pork Chops - Baked’ for tonight’s supper which we are having with a selection of Brenda’s vegetables and just a few dry sautéed thick cut slices of Baked potato.

I was catching up with the WWW I found on Facebook that sometime yesterday Lee & Daniela had an accident in their new car, they are both fine but no news of the car yet, I will find out about what happened when ‘Reina’ is picked up this evening! Watch this space.It sounds like a bit of a 'coming together' in the car park in front of 'Iceland' so hopefully fixable! 

At the moment its ‘clammy’ in sunny Manilva as the sun is attempting to break through, it will be even hotter later reaching 30degs this afternoon, over Andalusia over the next few days and into next week its going to reach over 40degs inland – July is just around the corner!

We are having an ‘at home day’ catching up with the chores, well Brenda is, I’m up in the office keeping out of the way, checking the WWW – reading the newspapers, E-Mails etc.

Later this afternoon we will be back up on what’s left of our roof terrace for our usual ‘Happy Hour’ cocktails, reading and listening to Brenda’s Birthday CD - ‘Sixties’ classic hits – track 3- in all over 70 tunes that we can sing to as I play the music LOUD!

After supper we will settle down to watch the news, sport and weather updates before we find something to watch. Tomorrow morning we are picking Josie up on our usual shopping travels, we are going around to the surgery to make appointments for both of us for check ups, then down to Sabinillas to collect the papers from the English Bookshop, next Mercadona and finally the local market at the far end of the promenade to pick up some fresh flowers and plants ( Josie )

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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SUNNY MANILVA AT THE START OF ANOTHER HOT WEEK.

MONDAY 1^st/ JULY 2013.

This morning I shot round to the surgery first thing to make some appointments with our Doctor for updates and check ups; when I got back we went for a long walk around the village with dog as you can see in the pictures above, we don’t know when we will see her next as all the family are moving down to their ‘Campo’ in the valley below the village for the next few weeks – we will miss her terribly!

After the big exciting weekend of sport I’ am in the office this lunchtime catching up on the WWW; then this afternoon I will watch the ‘Tour de France’- stage 3 from Ajaccio up the hilly West coast to Calvi over 146kms – the picture’s from the helicopter coverage are spectacular and show how beautiful the Island is! They then transfer back to France on an hour long flight for tomorrow’s stage 4 which is a ‘Team-Time-Trial’ over 25kms around Nice.

Tonight for supper we are having a ‘Sexton Mixed Grill’ after raiding the deep-freeze; Steak, Lamb Cutlets, Pork Escalopes,Sausage,Smoked Bacon,Tomato,sautéed Mushrooms and Onions with a fried ‘Campo Egg’ on mine and some of last nights ‘Boulangere potatoes’!! That should keep us going until the next feast!!!

FILMS OVER THE WEEKEND;

We watched “ Great Expectations” from 1998 – the ‘Re-make’ with a young and gorgeous Gwyneth Paltrow,Ethan Hawks, Robert de Niro and Ann Bancroft in the main parts, it follows the story and keeps to the tale but is based in New York and down on the Gulf in Louisiana in modern times!!

Then we caught a film that you can watch again even if you have seen it before; “ Chocolat” from 2000 with the very ‘French’and beautiful actress Juliete Binoche with Lena Olin,Judy Dench,Lesley Caron and for the ladies Johanny Depp !It was partly filmed in 'Flavigny-sur-0zeran in Burgundy.

The late film on Monday on the film channel was a techno-thriller called " Virtuosity " from 1995 with Denzel Washington as the good guy and Russel Crowe as the bad guy?! Kelly Lynch and Kaley Cuoco play the mother and daughter mixed up in the tale!

Thought for the Week; See above.

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SUNNY MANILVA ON FRIDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEKEND

FRIDAY 31^st/ MAY 2013.

Another early morning as I had an appointment at the surgery; this time we had a very positive result as our new doctor, our old one has moved down to Sabinillas,arrived and I was first on the list to see her, Maria! She updated all my details from the three consultants, adjusted my prescriptions, gave me the once over and then sorted Brenda out at the same time, she is having the full works checked out next week, Blood and Urine tests and Blood pressure taken – then she is going back for a review as she has not had one for a while. I then called into our chemists in Calle Mar and picked up the new tablet’s, I also had my Blood Pressure taken, which was fine and then my weight checked – I’ am down again ! In fact I have lost 1 stone in old terms !! So good news all round.

We then shot down to Sabinillas for the weekend shopping at both supermarkets, called into the bank and the ‘Ferretaria’for some light bulbs, collected the papers from the English bookshop, exchanged our books for two more ‘Patterson’s’ and posted another birthday card( Watch out in North Wales!) The pictures above show that Bank Street has had it’s first coat of Ashphelt,next week they are doing the garden work and painting the road markings; After getting back to the house we unpacked and then went down to the our butchers were we picked up the Steak for Saturday evening, I also got some ‘Calves Liver’ for next week and Chicken wings for Tapas.

Today is definitely the hottest so far as the breeze has dropped and the forecast for the weekend and into next week is even better – we will be reaching the 30s and higher!

Tonight for supper we are having ‘Goujons of Hake’ made with fresh Breadcrumbs from the local Bakery with Garden Peas, square Chips, Homemade Tartar sauce and lots of Lemon juice! One of our neighbor’s has just dropped off some fresh ‘Campo’ Eggs that still have the Chicken ---- on them !  We will then catch a good film as Friday is the best night on lots of the main channels.-- " Terminator 2 Judgement Day " from 1991 with Arnold Schwarzenegger ( Hasta La Vista - Baby ! ) Linda Hamilton,Edward Furlong and Robert Patrick as the other one ! 

Thought for the Day; See above.

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MANILVA OVER THE CORPUS CHRISTI WEEKEND.

SATURDAY/SUNDAY 9th/10th JUNE 2012.

We are now into our ‘Summer ’ regime as it getting hotter by the day so we have changed our shower times, have the fans on more and are wearing fewer clothes ! The menu is also changing to lighter dishes – honest ! We will be going out for a walk later in the evening and during the day we are keeping them shorter and in the shade, Brenda can only stay out on the roof terrace for a short time and then goes under the sun umbrella. At lunchtime we went up to Bar Rojas for a cool drink under the Sonbrajo as there was a light cool breeze coming down from the mountains behind the village. The medieval Market is on all day and the wandering bands keep on playing and at certain times let off very loud fire-crackers. In the football in Poland/Ukraine Germany beat Portugal and in a surprise Denmark beat Holland – both 1-0 ! After supper of Steak and Chips we settled down to watch a film on TVE1 – “ Red ” – it stands for ‘ Retired Extremely Dangerous ’and was for a change only made in 2010 ! It stars Bruce Willis and wait for it – Helen Mirren.John Malkovich,Morgan Freeman,Brian Cox and Richard Dreyfuss ! It is described as an action/comedy – watch it and see !!

Today after a little lie in we got tonight’s dinner on the go; Roast Shoulder of Lamb studded with Garlic and Rosemary and finished in the oven on top of Boulangere Potatoes and Brenda’s vegetables, Cabbage with Alselgas,Glazed Carrot and Turnips and Garden Peas. We then freshened ourselves up and went up to Bar Rojas for a Paella Lunch and afterwards we watched the tennis from Paris, yesterday Sharapova won her first French Open and today its Nadel v Djokovic; Nadel is two sets to one up at the moment-play suspended due to rain. Bradley Wiggins has just retained his crown in the mountainous week long 7 stage ‘ Criterium du Dauphine ’ bring on the Tour de France whish starts on the 30th June ! Tonight its Spain v Italy – watch this space- Oh dear 1-1 and Ireland lost to Croatia 3-1. The good news is that Hamilton won the Canadian Grand Prix ! This morning we heard some action up in Calle Mar – it turned out that it was the ‘ Corpus Christi ’ celebration when the children parade through the street dressed in their White Communion costumes and different Tableau’s are made by the villagers in the street as they throw flower- petals on the route. It is a very big religious festival in Spain and the most famous takes place in La Orotava on Tenerife. The pictures above show are small procession in Calle Mar which I just managed to capture !

PS; Nadel duly won when play resumed on Monday morning - his 7th French Open Win !


Thought for the Day;


Helping you think Thoughts you’ve never thought before.


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MANILVA START OF THE WEEK.

MONDAY/TUESDAY/WEDNESDAY 6^th/7^th/8^th JUNE 2011.

After the most beautiful day on Sunday the weather forecast for Monday was grey, cloudy and severe thunder storms! Luckly they passed us by, just, but in the rest of Spain starting from Jaen upwards there were floods and outside Barcelona hailstones the size of tennis balls! Needless to say we had a day at home and caught up with the chores and then settled down to read our books, Brenda is reading a book recommended by Anna, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” by Stieg Larsson which she is really enjoying, tragically Larsson did not live to see the phenomenon his four books have become ! Meanwhile I’m on another Karen Slaughter crime thriller. As we hit the chill out room for our early evening drink I selected for a change 70s Soul music as on Sunday evening on TVE2, late on, there was an excellent BBC2 produced programme showing non stop soul music live concerts taken from the archives, especially Old Grey Whistle Test and Jools Holland featuring all the great names inc.Sister Sledge,Fontella Bass, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Curtis Meyfield,Aretha Franklin and even “ Ann Sexton ”singing ‘ You’ve  been gone too long ’ Honest ! In the evening we had cold Chicken for supper.

Tuesday morning was a lot brighter and as the day went on it became hot and sunny; we got ourselves freshened up and set off to the hospital over in Marbella with plenty of time to spare as the parking at the hospital is a nightmare ! I had an appointment with a consultant to check out and if necessary operate on the Cyst on my middle finger; we went in early and he was very helpful and explained all about the procedure but he recommend that as it was not necessarily always successful and I would even probably loose my nail he thought that it was best to leave well alone as he assured us that it was a non miligment Tumor Mixoide ! So we are back to Nurse Sexton pricking it with a sterilized needle every so often !! She loves it !!! For dinner we had Pork Cutlets in a Lemon Butter sauce with Lyonnaise Potatoes before we watched the football, Spain were playing Venezuela over there, they won 3-0 nil after beating the USA in Boston on Saturday 4-0 nil ! The football they played was out of this world, literally.

Today I made a Chicken Curry in the morning and then we went for a walk around the village with Cheta; we bumped into Anna in Bodega Augustine so we had a drink and caught up with all her news and gossip as we had not seen her since Sunday ! She is off to Tenerife on Saturday for a few days as her Grandaughter,Jordan has the lead part,Sandy,in the theatre school production of ‘ Grease ’ which is on in the main theatre on the Island ! We are babysitting Derick while she is way as Mano is working.After our Chicken Curry supper we watched this weeks classic film,on TV,Cool Hand Luke with Paul Newman.

Thought for the Day;

Drink nothing without seeing it, sign nothing without reading it. An old Spanish Proverb !

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MANILVA TODAY.

THURSDAY 30TH SEPTEMBER 2010.

Last night we rang Norah and Jenny to check that they got home safe and sound; they did but are not happy with the wind and rain! This morning the washing machine is nearly taking off, it’s on its sixth cycle and Brenda is now out on the roof terrace doing the ironing, not her favourite job so I am keeping out of the way!
Mano, Anna and Carlos called in at lunchtime to catch up with any news, we have asked them to join is for dinner, Roast Loin of Pork, on Sunday with Jane who arrives on Friday morning. The weather forecast is very good, hot and sunny and going above 30degs. for the weekend, I’ve been in the kitchen and have made a Provencale sauce for tomorrow night, we are having Scampi with Rice, and tonight we have English Lamb Cutlets as a treat so I have made some Boulangere Potatoes to go with them.

This morning we received two more cards in the post, they had been posted at the start of last week and normally they would have reached us just in time; the post from us to England from our local post office is now taking a average of four days and we can get post sent by express Royal Mail to get there the following day by a special arrangement with the English bookshop down in Sabinillas for only one euros ! Thanks to Tim and Thea over in Old Colwyn for their special card and also to Kelvin and Gaye in Ruthin, he reminded us that it only felt like yesterday when we had the big party for my 40th birthday! Now there’s a story for another day !

Thought for the Day;

Be careful what you choose. You may get it.


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