A RATHER ' FRESH' SUNNY MANILVA ON MONDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEK.

MONDAY 28^th/ JANUARY 2019.

We had a long lie in this morning after a ‘ windy’ night, after freshening up we had our usual light breakfast of fresh Orange Juice, fresh fruit ( Banana ) toast & tea, we then agreed the ‘Menu’s’ for this week, tonight it’s ‘ Cold Chicken’ with the leftover vegetables & potatoes, on Tuesday we are having ‘ Grilled Gammon Steaks’ – then the ‘ Dish of the Week ‘ on Wednesday is going to be ‘ Braised Sliced Beef in a rich Mushroom & Onion Salsa ‘ – Thursday it’s ‘ Omelettes of Choice’ – Friday is ‘ Fish Night’ – Saturday ‘ Steak Night’ and Sunday is still TBC, watch this space.

This morning the sun broke through earlier and the sky is now clear & blue as there is a stiff breeze, by lunchtime it’s only going to reach a ‘ Crisp’ 15 degs+ - down to 8 degs overnight, the next couple of the day are staying the same but then on Thursday it’s going a little colder with the ‘ wet-stuff’ hitting us, as the wind gets up, hovering in the low ‘ teens’ – on Friday, at the moment I’m going to get rather wet when I’m out on my travels for the weekly shopping, over the weekend it’s then picking up, by Sunday the sun will be back in sunny Manilva, next week is looking settled & dry, with patchy clouds, with sunshine, hovering in the mid/high ‘ teens’ – watch this space.

See below some pictures from yesterday when a storm hit North Wales on the far-end of the promenade in Colwyn Bay, at the end below Old Colwyn, where Tim & Thea live!

PS; The ' Birthday Card ' that I posted on Friday morning at the local ' Sub-Post Office' in the village, has just arrived this morning at ' Norah's in Runcorn, UK - now that's a ' RECORD' !! 

We are having a ‘ stay at home day ‘ resting & relaxing ‘ – ‘Chispa’ will no doubt be calling into to see us, still no guests with us in ‘ Doggy World Heaven ‘ – we are missing all of them, we will read the local newspapers and then settle down on the settee to watch the TV, catching up with all the ‘ Quiz Shows’ that we follow, later after supper we will be watching the next two-part episode of ‘ Silent Witness ‘ on BBC 1.

Thoughts for the Day;  See below.

...

A DRY & NOW SUNNY MANILVA ON MONDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEK.

MONDAY 11^th /APRIL 2016.

I was up early this morning to welcome ‘ Reina’ back for the day , she’s with us everyday this week, I then went back to bed for a another nice long lie, we then had our regular breakfast and sorted ourselves out for the week ahead, this morning we are showering and washing our hair, the rest of the day we will be taking things easy, tomorrow I will pop out to the local shops for some essentials and then on Wednesday we are going out for dinner, it looks like its going to be ‘ Thai’ at our favourite restaurant in ‘Duquesa Marina’- watch this space.

At lunchtime Man & Anna called in for a good gossip and chat!

Its starting to get a little sunnier this morning and the short term forecast for the week ahead is looking settled, we will check out the full forecast on the lunchtime weather forecast on ‘TVE1’ – its mild & dry at the moment with just a little breeze, good drying weather so I’ve put out some washing up on the roof ‘patio’ in the sky! See below the sunrise over the Mediterranean this morning.

PS; Its just rained and the washing and me are now soaked!!

This picture was taken from the top of 'Mount Snowdon' yesterday showing one of the may 'Tarns - small lakes'

For our supper this evening we are having ‘ Cold Roast Loin of Pork’ with lots of ‘Bramley’ Apple sauce and a fry up of the leftover vegetables and potatoes; for the rest of the week we are going to raid the deep freeze as we are, as usual, well stocked up!

Last night after supper we settled down to watch the next episode of “ Undercover “ on BBC 1 – this week, as the story unfolded, with lots of flash backs from twenty year before, the plot started to come to light and the police involvement in the death of an activist was shown, the husband was an undercover cop from the start when they first met, they are now happily married and she has just been appointed as the new ‘ Director of Public Prosecutions’ – he’s now been approached by his old corrupt police bosses to spy on his wife, again, watch this space.

By chance we then went over to BBC2 to see how the ‘ Masters Golf’ from the spectacular ‘ Augusta ‘ course in the USA; as it happens it was the moment when the defending champion Justin Spieth, who was leading by five shots, then lost over the next three holes nine shots including two drops into water, one into a bunker and another into the trees! This meant that there was three Englishmen in the top four, Paul Casey, Lee Westwood and Danny Willet?! ‘Danny Willet, from Yorkshire, went on to win the famous ‘ Green Jacket’ by 3 shots with a last round of 67! It was very gripping with spectacular golf at the famous course, he only just made it to the tournament as his wife gave birth only ten days ago!! He's the first British golfer in 20 years, since Sir Nick Faldo, to win the Green Jacket!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

..

ITS ALL HAPPENING IN SUNNY MANILVA THIS EVENING;

MANILVA AT THE START OF ANOTHER WEEK.

MONDAY 1^st/ APRIL 2013.

Today in Spain it is a normal day, no Bank Holiday  so after our tea and toast I popped into the Town Hall next door to update our ‘ Empadronamiento’ documents as they have to be re-newd every two years; job done as Mario our local councilor took me into the correct office and told them to look after me! We then went for our normal walk with the dog around the village, the weather this morning is clear blue skies and the sun is out, the temperature is 20degs. but I’ am afraid that there is some of the wet stuff to come later in the week.

As we turned the corner at the top of our street coming along Calle Mar towards the Town Hall was a protest march. The locals getting agitated, it was the local branch of the ‘UGT’ Union, the largest Union in Spain protesting about redundancies and job losses which were highlighted last week when the Mayor Antonia was accosted by a reporter from CH4 Spain and asked about them and also about her giving jobs to her daughter, amongst others! See the pictures above.

We then carried on around the village in the warm sunshine and I took the pictures of the on-going work on the ‘Plaza Pozo Del Rey’- this morning they were just starting to deliver the children’s play area equipment. It looks like all hands to the deck as there are workmen all over the place.

At the moment as I ‘am typing this I am watching the Chelsea v Manchester Utd. FA Cup Quarter final reply on ITV on the other PC. Score to follow later! Brenda has just put the washing out on the roof terrace as it is an excellent drying day; this afternoon we are going to catch up with reading and for supper later it is cold Roast Lamb, we love cold roast meats and we have also some Boulangere Potatoes and left-over vegetables to use up.

PS; Chelsea 1 - Manchester Utd. 0 ! So Chelsea play Manchester City in the FA Cup semis-final at Wembley next !!

Thought for the Day;

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit, Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

..

.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

MANILVA START OF THE WEEKEND.

THURSDAY/FRIDAY 4^th/5^th AUGUST 2011.

Well Thursday was a hot one with very little breeze so we had a lazy day at home until Anna called in again and we ended up at Bar Rojas for a lunchtime drink; in the evening we ended up at Bar Rojas again as we found out at the last moment about the Children’s concert as you can see in the pictures below. As we got back into the house the ‘Tudors ’was just finishing, we don’t think that the fifth wife has had the chop just yet! The late night live jazz was the Festival in Vitoria-Gasteiz which is inland from Bilbao, the main act was Jaime Cullum who sang and played his heart out, he is a non stop all go performer and had four very good versatile musicians backing him.

PS; She didn't come to a sticky end-its next week-we have just seen the trailer !

Today we went down on our regular shopping run and then back up to the village, we collected lots of flowers, some for the house, some for Antonia, Carlos’s wife’s mother who has just had the pins removed in her leg after a nasty fall and finally a nice bunch with a card and a balloon for the young Russian couple who run the Internet Café in Calle Mar,Nikita and Olga, who have just had a baby daughter called Eva. They have had a good week as Nikita won the draw last night in Bar Rojas for the whole Lamb ! We have just come back from taking in the sights and sounds of Manilva on what is turning out to be the hottest day this year, even the locals are saying ‘ Mucho Calor ’so it must be hot ! We are going to have a Tapas supper tonight up at Bar Rojas and then watch the second concert of the weekend,50s 60s and 70s hits – we don’t know if it is Spanish or English songs – watch this space !

Thought for the Day;

When you go to buy, use your eyes, not your ears.

.

SUNNY MANILVA THIS WEEK.

MONDAY/TUESDAY/WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY/FRIDAY 10TH/14TH JANUARY 2011.

This week the weather over here in sunny Manilva has been spectacular; every day we have had the sun out all day with clear blue skies, no breeze and the temperature rising above 20 degs every day ! We have been out walking with Cheta as Brenda’s ankle is a lot better and we are starting to get our strength back although Brenda has still got a nasty dry cough, today we also stopped at the chemists in the high street and had our blood pressure tested by Miguel the chemist; both fine so we live to fight another day ! The pictures below show Manilva over the last couple of days at its finest. We have the same weather over the weekend and into next week so tomorrow we are going down to the watch some football at the stadium.

On Monday and Tuesday we took things easy and just pottered about the house; we got up early on Wednesday morning as I had a couple of messages to do around the village and so on the way back I picked up some steak to make a Beef stew; twelve different vegetables went into it along with diced potatoes and all sorts of secret ingredients ! Scouse !! The smell was soon wafting up the street and Liili spotted on Facebook what I was making so they ended up joining us later, she was working a twelve hour day over in Fuengirola and Brian was on a day off; he went out at lunchtime to meet Andy and Carlos and ended up having a seven hour “ Meeting “ down in Morena’s bar! Needless to say a late dinner became an early supper as Andy also joined us, he had just comeback from Christmas and New Year over in England with his family. With the Scouse we had some Cabbage and Baby Beetroot along with some local wine to help things along.

We have also been able to sit outside Bar Rojas at lunchtime and take in the lunchtime tranquility of Manilva; under the Sonbrajo which has now come even more into it’s own as the smoking ban came into law on January 2nd so it is ideal for all the smokers, at the moment Brenda is into her second week of not smoking ( Due to the cough ! ) Today we have been down to Sabinillas to do the shopping and pick up the papers; we have also left a message on Facebook for Jeff and Annette over in Kuala Lumpur as their home back in Australia is in Brisbane ! We hope everything is OK as Annette was going over at the end of the month to visit her family – we are thinking about you both, all our love.

PS; We have just come off the Skype video ( Sun - Morning ) and have spoken to Jeff and Annette in Kuala Lumpur,their house in Brisbane is ok and thier son Paul also,Annette is a Brisbane girl and all her family are also ok ! They have just spent the weekend in Borneo and Jeff is off to Tokio,Japan on business next week - what a life !


Thought for the Day;

Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious.


.

MANILVA ANOTHER WEEK.

TUESDAY/MONDAY 27TH.JULY/2ND AUGUST 2010.

After the weekend in Manilva and a late night on Monday we took things a little easier over the next few days as we settled back into our routine; the weather continues to stay very hot and at night it only drops a few degrees, we are now in our full summer mode and go for a walk later in the evening after supper at about 10-00 o’clock.

Thursday evening was the last of the music nights outside the school of music here in Manilva, which have been a great success and we hope that they are going to put more on in the future; the council have a whole lot of cultural happening’s at this time of the year including over the last few weeks a very large screen on the beach in Sabinillas showing Spanish films and over the weekend they had live music, singing and dancing in the square to groups and copla singers, next week it is the Manilva Feria down on the feria ground which takes place over four days and as well as the fair there are all sorts of competitions and even a Motocross event on the track by the quarry.

On Friday morning we went down to Sabinillas to do the shopping and pick up the papers; it is now a lot busier with holiday makers and the roads and beach are full by the early morning, back in our street a lot of our neighbour’s are away as at this time of the year they all go for a couple of months to their “ Campo’s ”in the country; these are smaller cottage style buildings with land where they grow vegetables and keep chickens etc.So we have not been getting as much free fresh vegetables as usual !

We went for our walk on Saturday evening and called into Bar Rojas for a nightcap; as we sat under the sonbrajo Brian and Andy called in for one, Brian had been chucked out of the apartment as Lilli and her younger sister, Sophia who is over on holiday from Finland were having a girlie night in and Andy, who we have not seen for a few weeks as he has started a new job, was out for the first time in a while.

Sunday morning I roasted a Chicken and we had it cold with salad and new potatoes for supper and then watched a film on TVE2 about Cuba, starring Andy Garcia which was OK. I caught up with Facebook and e-mails on Monday as well as the blog, we have not seen or heard from Mano and Anna for over a week; Mano has been working on the drains and damp course outside their house during the day and Anna has had a bad back but they are now out and about again, as I am typing this we have just come back from Bar Rojas after catching up with all the news.

One last thing to mention is Nan’s 90th birthday during last week, Jane’s mum, who we have known for over forty years from when I worked for her husband Burt at the Bridge Inn in Port Sunlight, Brenda and I met there and it was Burt who told me to marry Brenda as she was such a good catch !! Happy Birthday Nan, health and happiness to you from us both.

Thought for the Day;

Success is the result of good judgment,good judgment is a result of experience,experience is often the result of bad judgment.

.
.

MANILVA THIS WEEK AND THE ROMERIA.

WEDNESDAY/SUNDAY 26TH/30TH MAY 2010.

After all the excitement at the start of the week we had a few days of taking things easy, reading, relaxing on the roof terrace, lunchtime drink at Bar Rojas watching the world go by and I watched the “ Giro D’Italia on the TV; Cycle racing is covered all the time on Spanish TV and is very spectacular with the helicopter pictures in the mountains particularly good; I’ve not seen the race before and the Italian Alps stages were unbelievable as they went over the Passo Di Gavia,the highest race peak, Cadel Evans from Australia was second on this stage, the leader in the tour is an Italian Ivan Basso and it finish’s today.

On Friday we had a call from Clive over in Guadalmina asking us to look after their villa and animals during November and the start of December ,for five weeks, he and Caroline are going away on holiday. We are going to call on them and make arrangements in the next few weeks. The weather is getting hotter every day and it is now warm at night, this weekend it will be over 30degs. as the breeze has dropped; Mano and Anna have been calling in to see us and meeting up in Bar Rojas as Mano is off on holiday all week, this evening we are having Roast Chicken with all the trimmings for dinner, Anna has just called in with their grandson Fabio, who is growing up, he wanted to sit down and have his dinner when he saw everything ready !

Saturday morning we went down to do the weekend shopping and when we got back I made a Beef Curry for supper; in the early evening we walked down to Santa Ana church to see the start of the procession for the “ Manilva Romeria ” This weekend Manilva celebrates its annual romeria in honour of Our Lady of Fatima, they start in the village and then walk down to the chapel of San Adolfo close to the La Hedionda Roman baths, it lasts till Sunday evening with the municipal music orchestra playing, live music from a group and today a special mass officiated by Manuel Roldan,the parish priest.

The procession this year was lead by a parade of Andalusian horses with their riders in traditional costumes,the horses are all pure breed and prance and dance as they go along Calle Mar,the whole village follows with all the children around the statue.The pictures below will give you a little taste of the evening procession.

Thought for Today; You are your Ultimate Master.

.

MANILVA.

Friday/Sunday 9th/11th January.

Friday 9th.

After our day out with Joyce we stayed local on Friday morning and picked up what we needed for the weekend in the local supermarket and butchers.As I caught up with the blog we received an e-mail from France;every year at this time the Batard family send us “ Bien Cordialment” Josiane and Joseph are the people that looked after us on their site in the village of Maisdon Sur Serve outside Nantes when we broke down on our way to Spain at the start of our travels. They are wine makers and their vineyard is in the centre of the Muscadet region where they make and produce various Muscadet Serve Et Maine Sur Lie under their label “ Domaine Des Croix”When we stopped at their vineyard it was just after the grapes had been picked and we had the chance to taste the first pressings at the time!Our very best wishes go to the Batard familyfor 2009.In the evening for dinner we had Braised Steak and Onions with Mash and Cabbage,comfort food par excellence!

Saturday 10th.

As you will see below on Saturday we found ourselves at the football stadium in the warm sunshine watching the Cadet Football Tournament, as we had a long walk around the village to stretch the legs!When we got back to the house we had more live football on the TV to watch much to Brenda’s dismay !! For supper we had some lovely double Lamb Chops roasted on Boulangere Potatoes before we settled down to watch a late film,in Spanish, as it helps us with our learning the language more quickly.

Sunday 11th.

We walked down to the stadium at lunchtime and caught another match which you will have read about and seen the from the pictures above.On our way back we called into Bar Rojas for are usual Sunday glass of Rosado and we had a plate of the house “ Albondigas” with Frits to warm us up after watching the match.Tonight we are having a quiet night at home after another great week here in Manilva on the Costa Del Sol!