A GLORIOUS ' CRISP' AND VERY SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY.

THURSDAY 7^th/ FEBRUARY 2019.

I was up early and first this morning and after a quick freshen up and a light breakfast of fresh fruit, toast & tea I shot off down to Sabinillas to the ‘ Council’ Offices to get all our documents checked at the ‘Foreign Residents’ Department, by Maria, after yesterdays ‘ Brexit’ meeting, which was very well supported by the local ‘Ex-Pat’ community, the main point made by the ‘ British Ambassador’ – Simon Manley – was to be up to date with all of them!

All ours are correct and up to date, thanks to Maria for her kind attention, she also spotted that I needed to re-new my ‘Spanish Driving Licence’- so I called into the local office, next to the ‘Council’ Office and have made an appointment on Monday evening, they take your picture, sort out all the paperwork and send if off to the ‘Traffic Department’ in La Linea! 

While I was down in Sabinillas I called into the main ‘Medical Centre’ to make an appointment for my monthly ‘ V12’ injection, they fitted me in with the nurse tomorrow morning, when I’m down on my travels for the weekly shopping, watch this space.

The meeting was filmed and shown live on local TV Channels, it was also shown on the main ‘ ITN’ News last night, over in the UK, it was special because the ‘ British Ambassador’ was present, it’s the only meeting he has attended in Spain, it turns out they he is very impressed with the three local ‘Councils’ – ‘ Foreign Residents’ Departments, from San Roque, Casares and especially ours here in  sunny Manilva, a ‘ Feather in the Cap’ for Dean Tyler Shelton!

See below a picture of the ' British Ambassador' - on the right Mario, our Mayor and on the left the 'Chairman of the 'British Chamber of Commerce'

It’s another glorious day down here on the ‘ Costa Del Sol’ – there was a brilliant sunrise, the blue sky is cloudless and there is a very slight breeze, by lunchtime it’s due to reach 21 degs+ - still cold at night, down to 10 degs, tomorrow and over the weekend it’s going to be the same, next week is looking dry, settled, with sunshine and a few patchy clouds, going a little cooler as the breeze picks up, by the following weekend we could be in for some of the ‘wet-stuff’ – watch this space.

For our supper this evening we are having the rest of the ‘ Chicken & Mushroom Curry’ – with a ‘Timbale’ of Basmati Rice and twice-cooked ‘ Chips! On Friday it’s going to be a ‘Fish Supper’ – Saturday is ‘ Steak Night’ and then on Sunday we will be ‘ Roasting’ again, still TBC, watch this space.

We received yesterday a nice new update from Sandra & Bill over in Everett, Ontario, Canada, on Facebook Messenger, Sandra is back to 100% - it’s gone a little milder, so they were able to rinse off all the salt & sand from their vehicles, as usual they are out & about all the time, Bills Mum had a fall, she is now home from Hospital with her little Dog, we have arranged a ‘ Skype’ video call on Sunday at our regular time.

See below a picture of ‘Auston Matthews’ the ‘American Ice Hockey ‘ star who has just re-signed a new contact with the “ Toronto Maple Leafs “ – the folks ‘ TEAM’!!

At lunchtime we are going for short walk around the village, to stretch our legs, we ended up back at ' Bar Castillo' sat outside in the sunshine for a nice cool drink and some Tapas of ' Boquerones Frito' & 'Tortillita de Camarones ' - Fernando, the Leader of the ' School of Music' came along, with his son, Alejandro, the Trumpet player, who is playing another Concert at the end of April, down in the ' Casa de Torres Cultural Centre' with some of his fellow musicians.



This afternoon/evening we will catch up with all the ‘ Quiz Shows’ that we follow, then later we will channel hop to find a film to watch, last night we caught an old episode of ‘Morse’ and then ‘Vera’ for a change.

Thought for the Day;  See above.

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A CRISP AND SUNNY MANILVA ON WEDNESDAY THE LAST DAY OF 2014;

WEDNESDAY 31^st/ DECEMBER 2014.

I took ‘Scruffy’ out for is first walk of the day before coming back for our usual breakfast of Weetabix,toast ,fresh fruit and tea, ‘Reina’ is not with us today for  sleep over as planned, she’s coming at lunchtime tomorrow for a short while,’Chispa’is here already this morning rather earlier than normal and is eating some bones at the moment; meanwhile ‘Charlie’ is just waking up and starting his usual dawn chorus of his full repertoire of calls,whistles,sounds,with words and sayings after we take his cover off!

At lunchtime we went for a nice walk with both of the dogs down to the 'Mirador' at the bottom of the village.We sat on our 'Derby & Joan' bench over looking the valley towards the mountains and across to the 'Med'

Today we have another beautiful day here in sunny Manilva with a clear blue sky, the sun out early and no breeze, the forecast is for more of the same for the rest of the week and over the weekend getting a little warmer, its still very crisp and you have to wrap up well including ‘Scruffy’ in his Tartan coat! First thing in the morning its cold and later in the evening also, during the night it’s dropping down to 3/4degs at the moment.

Now for the bad news this morning, yesterday the ‘UK’ Government and the Minister of Pensions, Ian Duncan Smith stopped next years ‘Winter Fuel Payments’ to pensioner’s living abroad in various counties especially here in Spain, if you are living in Bulgeria,Finland or even Belgium you will still receive it but we are getting nothing! Its £100 per person and arrives in the bank account towards the end of November, the new law is based on overall temperatures in the country calculated against the temperatures in some part of Southern England at the same time! It does not take into account any very cold spells or local circumstances.

We have both paid our taxes since starting work at the age of sixteen and working all our lives until the age of over sixty never claiming any benefits and in our case paying two full council taxes on our house and apartments at the hotels!! We have electricity bills just like everybody else and in the winter you need some sort of heating on to keep the cold chills at bay, the Minister even went as far a to ‘Hint’ that the money was spent of drinking and eating!! This in our case is just not true, we have to budget just like any other pensioners and look after ourselves and maintain a decent style of life in our old age!

It was also a reminder of our origins and pace of birth and how we have worked all our lives in the country of our birth and paid our way at all times – it feels like a ‘kick in the face’ – to say that we are not happy is somewhat of a understatement to say the least!!

Rant over, for now so back to tonight’s supper – we are treating ourselves to ‘T-Bone’ steaks cooked on the hot griddle plate ‘Med–Rare’ with sautéed Baby Mushrooms, finely sliced Green Beans and twice-cooked ‘Frits’ before welcoming in the New Year here in a crisp and sunny Manilva – just the two old age pensioners ‘huddled’ together for warmth in front of the TV with ‘Scruffy’ & ‘Charlie’ for company!

                      

                                        “ FELIZ ANO NUEVO ”               “ HAPPY NEW YEAR ”
 
                               
                                  " FROM THE SEXTONS & SCRUFFY IN SUNNY MANILVA"

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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