A WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON FRIDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEKEND;

FRIDAY 24^th FEBRUARY 2017.

We were both up early this morning as Brenda had her appointment down at the surgery with our Doctor, Natalia, for her review/check up, ‘Reina’ has had two at home days, ‘Namia & Leo’ had a good night, they are eating well and this morning we took them with us to the surgery, they are being collected later this evening by the Swedish ladies, I sat outside with them in the warm sunshine, we then went down to the local market by the sports ground for the fresh flowers and some new wall plants. Next week ‘ Reina’ is back with us for her normal five days and on Tuesday ‘ Charlie’ is back with us for a week, ‘Chispa’ will no doubt be calling in to see her friends.

As forecast today has started dry, clear, with a blue sky & no breeze, by lunchtime it’s due to reach 21degs, over the weekend we have more of the same and next week is starting to look settled and even a little warmer, watch this space.

See below pictures of ‘ Storm Doris’ hitting Colwyn Bay yesterday with more damage to the Pier. Just to remind Tim & Thea what they are missing?!

Yesterday afternoon we had a surprise ‘ Skype’ video call from Tim & Thea, they are on a site below the grand white village of ‘ Mojacar ‘ below Almeria, it’s a mountain top village as well as ‘Playa’ on the coast, they love the area as it’s got a lot of things going on, we had a good, long catch up with all their news and gossip, they have no plans at the moment as to which direction they are going, watch this space.

See below pictures of the ‘ Mojacar ‘

For our supper this evening we are having ‘ Deep Fried Fillets of Hake ‘ in local breadcrumbs served with homemade ‘Tartar’ sauce, Mushy Peas & twice-cooked diced ‘ Frits’ – lots of Lemon wedges on the side. On Saturday it’s going to be a large ‘Grilled Entrecote Steak’ served ‘ ‘French’ style and then on Sunday we are going to have a Roast Chicken from the ‘ Rotissserie ‘ in Calle Mar.

This morning I’ve been talking on the ‘ Skype ‘ video to Andrew, the owner and main presenter on ‘ Castle Radio FM 89.2 & WWW on the Internet’ We had a nice long catch up with all his news and gossip, he is working on new shows on the station with new presenters, he is due to come up to sunny Manilva in the next couple of weeks to install the necessary equipment in my studio/office so as I will be able to back broadcasting  ‘ live’ on air with my ‘ Sir Malcolm’s Classic Show ‘ on Saturday lunchtimes, I will be able to produce my show from up here in sunny Manilva, I’m also to be featured on the ‘ International Speak Like a Pirate Day’ show later in the year! See below;

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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A BEAUTIFUL CRISP & SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY:

THURSDAY 25^th / FEBRUARY 2016.

We both had a good nights sleep after all the excitement of the last few days, Brenda has settled into a routine down on the large settee which I have made up as the bed, meanwhile I’m upstairs all on my own in our large bed with nobody to keep me warm! I was up at 9-00 am to see ‘Reina’ back for the day, she shoots into her duvet and stays there for most of the day, ‘Chispa’ has been in later this morning and has been playing around the house with her girlfriend.

After breakfast I had a nice shave & shower, that was needed, we are now thinking how to give Brenda a ‘Bed Bath’ – I can’t wait! I then shot out down to the butchers for this evenings supper ‘ Escalope of Chicken Breast’ which we are having with some crushed Carrots & Turnips and whole Baby Green Beans, the girl likes her vegetables, she also has a small bowl of small diced Celery to nibble during the day as well as Black Grapes, her favourites,  I then called into our local shop at the bottom of our street for some essential fresh vegetables and fruit, it was then time to check and clean out the fridge before we made up the shopping list for tomorrow morning.

Yesterday afternoon the new Passports were dropped off by a courier just two weeks to the day since we did the documents down at the English Bookshop, now that service, thanks to Steve!

Early this evening our friend Andy called in to see Brenda,then Mano & Anna arrived at the same time so we had a house full, after they left we have had some of our neighbours calling in as they passed.

This morning here in sunny Manilva we have the most perfect day, the sun is out and the sky is Blue, there is no breeze and by lunchtime it will reach 19 degs, over the last couple of days its been up to 20/21 degs!

Now for the bad news, tomorrow an ‘Artic’ Front is coming our way with rain & wind, over the weekend its going to get even more wet and windy as well as a lot colder, this means that I’m going to get drowned as ‘ Charlie’ is arriving for his weeks holiday on Saturday and he goes out 4 times a day – well he is a ‘Water Dog’- and he loves getting wet!!

This weekend here in Spain its a Bank Holiday down here on the ‘ Costa Del Sol’ as its the “ Dia de Andalucia “ on Sunday and a local Bank Holiday on Monday. All of Andalusia celebrates the founding of the  autonomous Region back in 1980, the Council are erecting the stage at the top of Calle Mar ready for the celebrations, the local Brass Band procession, with dancing and singing as well as lots of food & drinking takes place from noon until midnight, this year we will not be out & about as you will have guessed, if its raining, as forecast, they  will move all the celebrations down the large ‘Pabellon’ by the sports ground. Its also ‘Semana Blanca’ week when the schools are closed.

PS, Its also a very important day in Liverpool on Sunday !!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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A BREEZY & WARM SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY.

THURSDAY 3rd/SEPTEMBER 2015.

I was up first to welcome 'Reina' back for the day,she shot upstairs and has gone to sleep; the workmen on the site are finishing off the plastering on the back walls above our roof box/chimney and our neighbour's patio terrace,they have tiled both our parapets with new tiles ( see below) and are going to also paint the terrace walls white( next week?!) when they are painting the four new walls! Meanwhile the workmen fitting in a new bathroom to our neighbour opposite are making a great deal of noise as the grind/cut the tiles while they are singing!

After breakfast we sorted ourselves out for the day ahead, Brenda is shampooing her hair and then showering and I will then have a shave and shower; we are having a nice easy day at home taking things easy as we have, by our standards, a busy weekend ahead.

It's another glorious day here in sunny Manilva,the sun is out,the sky is Blue and there is just a little breeze,its reaching 34 degs later, the nights are a little cooler also, so we can get some sleep for a change. The weekend is looking good with more of the same for the " Vendimia Festival.

'Doggy World Heaven' is busy as 'Charlie' arrives at lunchtime tomorrow for a 2/3 day sleep over, the 'Freddie & Bentley' are due on Saturday for a two day sleep over. Lee & Daniela are now going to the 'Gibraltar Music Festival' on Saturday & Sunday evening so we now have 'Reina' with us also on Saturday for a sleep over and all day Sunday until late! i.e 'FOUR' dogs on Saturday night!!!!

We are going down to Sabinillas for our weekly shopping first thing on Friday morning. On Friday evening we are going out on the town ( village) before it gets 'mad' for our usual 'Tapas' al fresco supper as its the Chefs & Staff night off!

The " Vendimia Festival" parade is on Saturday evening before the two bands start for the singing and dancing, we are keeping a 'low profile' this year so there will not be may pictures; then on Sunday we will pop out for a short while to see the horse parade and the grape crushing in the early evening, again keeping a 'low profile' during the day as the village goes wild! I've decided not to crush the grapes this year as its becoming rather dangerous at my time of life, so I'm leaning it to the youngsters for a change!!

On the Menu front this evening I making a 'Broad Bean & Smoked Bacon Frittata' for our supper with a Mixed Salad and some 'Frits'! See below;

Then tomorrow morning after we come back from the shopping I'm making a large pan of 'Chicken Curry' - its become a tradition for the festival weekend! On Saturday evening we are having our usual 'Entrecote Steak' with all the trimmings.

Today's Stage 12 of the " Vuelta d'Espana15" starts in Andorra and reaches Lliida after 175 kms with a downhill finish and only one mountain to climb! Yesterdays dramatic stage was marred when Chris Froome was knocked over into a barrier at the start of the first climb, he managed to get back into the race with the help of his team mates but could only finish nearly 8 minutes behind his rivals after the 6 climbs, it sound like he will have to retire injured today as he's on crutches! Watch this space.He has just abandoned this year race with a fractured bone in his foot!

We will try and go up for our 'Happy Hour' this afternoon after the workmen go home for the weekend, it will give us a chance to catch up with our reading and at the same time listen to another local radio station as sadly 'Castle Radio FM 89.2" has gone off air after its main broadcasting computer system blew up!! They are hopefully back  'live' on Monday?!

                                                                     Sadly missed !

After supper we will channel hop to find something to watch.


Thoughts for the Day; See above.


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A VERY HOT & SUNNY MANILVA ON SATURDAY;

SATURDAY 20^th/ JUNE 2015.

We had a nice easy lie in this morning with no workmen and the village is quiet after last night concert; we walked down after supper and stayed for a couple of hours, it was packed, as it was a balmy evening under the stars. See some pictures above of the Choirs, Flamenco School & later the Professors of the ‘School of Music Band’ with our friend Isobel singing!

This morning for breakfast I was treated to Brenda’s famous ‘Campo Poached Eggs on Toast’ with a mug of steaming tea; we then shot down to Sabinillas for a ‘Good Luck’ card for Lumy and also picked up a nice flower display for her as tomorrow evening we have been invited to a ’Surprise’ party up at Bar Rojas for her and Manolo’s last night!

The large tableau as been built on the beach front in Sabinillas ready for the ‘Noche San Juan’ festival on Tuesday evening/night - see the picture below.

Today is going to be a hot one as its already very warm and sunny and by this afternoon we will be breaking the 30degs mark again, for our ‘Sunday Roast’ lunch out tomorrow at ‘Cocomo’ - we have booked a nice table in the shade, before we are going to call into the ‘H10’ Hotel in Estepona for a chilled glass of their finest Cava!

At lunchtime we went up to Bar Rojas for a cool drink sat under the 'Sonbrajo' chatting with Lumy,the new Mayor Diego was also there with some colleague's, so I took the opportunity to give him the Blog details and  at the same time put my first complaint in for some new friends in Calle Utopia  who are having some sleepless nights due to the very late noise from the Bar by 'Plaza de la Vendimia' Watch this space!!

We are having an easy day at home before all the excitement for tomorrow’s celebrations down here on the ‘Costa Del Sol’ ‘Chispa’ has just come cashing in and is playing around my feet as I’m typing the Blog; last night I started to introduce the new Councilors to the Blog as they are also new to the village, the new Deputy Mayor Antonio, who we do know, was there with his very posh smart phone! Watch this space.

Next week in ‘Doggy World Heaven’ Scruffy’ is with us on Monday and then later in the week TBC. ‘Reina’ is with us as normal on Tuesday & Thursday. We also have two pick up runs in the ‘Red Limousine’ from the bus station over in Marbella on Monday & Saturday night, both late, to collect first Josie and the Den! The ‘Queen’ is back – “Long Live the Queen” (and her Consort)!

For our supper this evening we are having ‘Grilled Entrecote Steaks’ cooked on a very hot griddle plate ‘Pink’ with a side of sautéed Baby Mushrooms, finely sliced Green Beans and for the last time for a while twice-cooked ‘Frits’

The dreaded “D’ day is approaching on Monday with an official weigh in followed by a new regime of healthy eating along with the diet and lots of regular exercise on the bicycle in the Chill-out room!! Watch this space.

We will be up on the roof terrace later after the sun moves round for our ‘Happy Hour’ After supper we will catch up with all the news, sport high light’s and the weather forecast before settling down to watch a film.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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LIVERPOOL AND THE PIER HEAD;

A VERY CRISP AND SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY;

THURSDAY 22nd/ JANUARY 2015.

Just a little lie in this morning and then after a quick breakfast we shot down to Sabinillas for the weekly shopping, we called Josie to see if she wanted to come and she jumped at the chance, so we all did our necessary shopping and messages and we then shot back up the hill to unload.

Today its very crisp and sunny with more of the same to come over the weekend and into next week, we are very lucky as the rest of Spain is covered in snow!

No dogs today, except ‘Chispa’ who was waiting when we got home to welcome us, she jumped in the car as she loves going out in it! ‘Reina’ is here tomorrow for the day and ‘Scruffy’ is arriving at lunchtime for a two day sleep over until Sunday.

Brenda is having a catch up day with all the washing, drying and ironing before we settle down for a nice day at home; tomorrow morning I have my re-appointment at the surgery and I will then pick up some fresh flowers from the local market.

While we were down in Sabinillas this morning we checked out that the ‘Sabores’ Restaurant & Tapas Bar, on the promenade in front of the Mediterranean, to see that it’s is open next week as we are planning to take Josie out for her fare-well lunch as she fly’s back next Friday.

Of course she is joining us for our Sunday ‘Roast’ this week when we are having ‘Roast Leg of Lamb with Boulangere Potatoes’ with all the trimmings, we are having a ‘Fishy’ starter and a surprise dessert – watch this space!

This evening for our supper we are having pan-griddled ‘Chicken Wings’ with Baked Potato and a nice Mixed Salad, on Friday its going to be fish and then on Saturday its ‘Steak Night’

After supper we will channel hop to find some thing to watch, we have over one hundred channel’s to check out including the Moroccan TV stations and now Gibraltar TV, they all translate with the push of a button!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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A SHOWERY AND SUNNY MANILVA ON FRIDAY AT THE START OF OUR " ANNIVERSARY" WEEKEND !

FRIDAY 28^th/ NOVEMBER 2014,

“Charlie” was up early this morning and promptly got into bed with us for a quick nap before I took him out for his first walk of the day in the light rain, when we got back to the house we both had to be dried off by Brenda and stay on the large towel as instructed!

Overnight we had more storms and at the moment its just light showers in between dry spells; yesterday morning up the coast in Torremolinos they were hit by a classified 1 ‘Tornado’ with lots of damage and Marbella was the wettest spot in Spain!

Anyway after a quick breakfast I shot out down to Sabinillas to go to ‘Mercadona’  for our main shop, it has an underground car park which is great in this damp weather, meanwhile Brenda stayed at home to look after ‘Charlie’ I was lucky as going down and coming back to the house it was dry! The forecast for Saturday is more of the damp stuff but its then clearing and the sun is back for Sunday and into next week!

At lunchtime ‘Scruffy’ is arriving for just the afternoon, he knows ‘Charlie’ – they are good friends - so they will be no problems, all the dogs in fact get on very well and it gives then some added company to be together. Yesterday ‘Reina’ was full of sprits after her ear operation on Wednesday and played with ‘Charlie & Chispa’ - ate all her food and looked for more!

For supper this evening we are having ‘Fillets of Hake in a Duglere sauce’ with finely sliced Green Beans and Saffron New Potatoes, I will make the classic sauce later after blanching in hot water and then refreshing in ice cold water the Tomatoes to make the ‘Concasse’(diced and seeded) to go in the white Wine Cream sauce.

Last night over in Germany in the ‘Europa League’ qualifying match Everton beat ‘VfL Wolfsburg 0-2 so go into the next round of the knockout stages – Brian ‘Charlie’s’ dad will be very happy when he picks him up tomorrow lunchtime, he traveled to see them with his mates, all true blue Everton supporters like ‘Big Bri’ – they went via Madrid to Frankfurt and then by train to Hamburg!

This evening after supper we will find a film to watch, last night because of the storms we kept loosing the signals as we tried to follow a couple of films due to the severe storms hitting us and effecting the reception!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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A VERY HOT AND SUNNY MANILVA ON FRIDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEKEND;

FRIDAY 8^th/ AUGUST 2014.

NEWSFLASH; BRIAN & LILLI HAVE ARRIVED IN SUNNY MANILVA – MORE TO FOLLOW!

We were up and out after a quick breakfast and shot down to Sabinillas for the shopping; we picked up the papers and then hit “ Mercadona” Next it was the English butchers in Duquesa for the ‘Gammon Steaks’ and some nice ‘Lamb Steaks’ - we then went to the market on the far end of the promenade in Sabinillas to pick up some fresh flowers as our local market in Manilva did not have any.

After unloading we were just sorting ourselves out when who should walk in the door but Lilli – what a lovely surprise! They had driven down from Girona yesterday( 11hrs) and arrived here in sunny Manilva at 11-00pm last night; they have settled into a flat of friend( Jesus) which is just two streets below us, So we went up to ‘Bar Rojas’ where Manolo & Lumy made us most welcome and joined them for breakfast – just like the good old days!

Their two dogs ‘Duncan & Penny’ are fine and ‘Chispa’ came along with us as she does not like to miss anything. Brian starts work on Monday on a five day week 9-5 for three months on a training programme,Lilli has to go back to Finland next week to finalize some business commitments. We have asked then to join us on Saturday evening for an ‘Entrecote Steak Supper’ depending on what happens to them as they settle into the village! Watch this space – see the picture above of their return ‘Abbey Road’ crossing like the one we took on the day left – but in the reverse direction this time!!

At lunchtime Mano & Anna called in for a good chat and gossip; this evening it’s the ‘Feria Queen’s Parade’ along Calle Mar and then on Sunday the council have arranged an extra ‘Fiesta Day’ along Calle Mar from 1-00pm with music, singing and dancing – they have listened to the local business people and locals including us as we were not happy with nothing happening up here in the village during August! We wondered why the stage had gone up early and the street sun cover canopy’s had gone up also – now we know why! Thanks for listening!!

‘Scruffy’ is here for the afternoon and then back next weekend for a sleep –over and ‘Reina’ is back into her normal Tuesday & Thursday visits.

Tonight after the parade we are having ‘Goujons of Hake Fillet’ with Garden Peas and twice-cooked square Chips for our late supper. We will then catch the late film.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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