A DAMP SUNNY MANILVA ON SATURDAY;

SATURDAY 13^th/ DECEMBER 2014.

We all had a nice lie in this morning ‘Scruffy’ spent the night in his ‘little house’ on the floor then joined us on the foot of our bed when he was ready to go out for his first walk of the day; at the moment its dry but no doubt it will be a little wet later, overnight it rained and the forecast is for more of the same for tomorrow.

So after breakfast I shot back up to the office and settled down in front of the PCs to watch ‘BBC TV Breakfast News’ and then ‘Saturday Kitchen Live’ whist I’m typing the Blog; Brenda is having an at home day cleaning any thing she can find so I’m keeping out of the way just in case she attacks me with the ‘Cillit Bang’!

At lunchtime ‘Reina’joins us here in ‘Doggy World Heaven’ for a sleep over so she will sleep in her own duvet across the foot of the bed, meanwhile ‘Chispa’ has just come calling in between the showers and is playing around my feet with ‘Scruffy’ as I’m typing the Blog.

On our early evening walk with 'Scruffy & Reina' it was raining so we put 'Reina's' new coat/hoodie on - 'Scruffy' didn't bring his! See the pictures below;

Just a little sports report this weekend with all the football; over in ‘Premiere League’ today its Leicester v Manchester City then on Sunday the ‘Match of the Day’ is when Manchester Utd welcome Liverpool and on Monday its Everton v OPR. Over here in ‘La Liga’last night Real Madrid beat Almeria 1-4 and today Getafe welcome Barcelona.

This evening for our supper we are having ‘Entrecote Steak’ cooked ‘Med-Rare’ on the hot griddle plate with Sautéed Baby Mushrooms, finely sliced Green Beans and a little ‘treat’ of twice-coked ‘Frits’ Watch out for tomorrows supper when we are not roasting as we are having “ Lamb Shanks” in Minted Gravy with ‘Parisienne’Potatoes.

So this evening after supper and catching up with all the sports news around Europe I will try and find a film to watch as we had no success last night.

While I was typing the Blog Tim over in Old Colwyn came on the 'Skype' video with some exciting news; they have bought  an " Adria Motor Home " - its left hand drive and they are already planning trips down here next April and then in September they are going to go along the Northern coast of Spain anti-clockwise to Portugal ending up here again on their way home!! 

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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A VERY HOT AND SUNNY MANILVA ON MONDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEK;

MONDAY 25^th/ AUGUST 2014.

Up early this morning and after a quick breakfast I shot down to the underground car park and collected the car and then picked Den & Josie up to take them across to ‘La Lina De La Concepcion’ so as Den could catch his flight home from Gibraltar and Josie could go shopping at the same time, Den is back in work tomorrow morning and Josie is flying home a week on Tuesday, we are taking her to the new Bus Station in Estepona so I stopped this morning on the way back and jet washed the ‘Red Limousine’ so as its fit to take the ‘Queen of Skelton’ next week! See the pictures above, the last one taken by Josie, I must talk to her about ‘Composition’- the waste bin is not right!!

PS' The lamp post appeared in my picture of Gibraltar from no where!!

While I was out ‘Scruffy was picked up, he is back with us on Wednesday and Thursday and then on Sunday (possibley Saturday night!) – Little Princess ‘Reina’is here on Tuesday and Thursday so we have a busy week here at ‘Doggy Word Heaven’!

Yesterday lunchtime we had a surprise ‘Skype’ video call from Jack & Lyn over in Melbourne, it was to wish me “Happy Birthday” – the only problem was that it was the 24^th August when of course it should be the 24^th September! Before you ask I’m a very young 69 this year!!  It shows that the folks are thinking about me anyway – thanks! We then had a good catch up with all their extended family news.

The weather forecast for this week is looking very good with the temperatures hovering in the mid 30c! Every day I will be following the ‘Vuelta d Espana’ on ‘TVE 1’ – Yesterdays stage was from Algeciras to San Fernando outside Cadiz and today they leave Cadiz and go inland to Arcos De La Frontera.

Later this morning Mano is calling in to help with a little bank transaction which is rather complicated, we bank online in Spanish but sometimes we need help; later this evening he is picking Anna up from Malaga Airport as she has been back in England for a family funeral which turned into an extended stay.

Brenda has just shot around to the butchers and come back with a ‘Chicken Extravaganza!’ Livers for Tapas, Wings for Tapas or supper and ‘Escalope’ of Breast for tonight’s supper!! I will pan-fry them in foaming Lemon Butter with dry sautéed thick-cut sliced Baked Potatoes and finely sliced Green Beans, a little of my famous Tomato salsa on the side.

Last night after our steak supper we watched “Public Enemies” from 2009 in which Johnny Depp plays the notorious bank robber ‘John Dillinger’- the cop chasing him is played by Christian Bale and the love interest of Dillinger is played by Marion Cotillard.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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MANILVA AND THE ROMAN BATHS.

MONDAY/TUESDAY 24TH/25TH MAY 2010.

Monday was a good news day; during last week we received some paperwork from the Inland Revenue to do with Pension Annuity’s that we have paid back in England into our Ac.in Colwyn Bay; we then made contact with the banking support and after various checks we arranged for them to send us all the necessary documents; they arrived on Monday morning, which is very fast, so we made contact again and asked them to make a transfer to our Spanish AC.We were then very surprised when the transfer arrived in our account on Tuesday morning as it usually takes 4/5 days at least ! I then called the Inland Revenue and sorted out the currant situation with them; as I was in this frame of mind I then contacted the International Pension’s Claims Department as I am now in the four months to commence date for my pension starting, they are sending all the paperwork to finalize the process!!

On Tuesday we met Mano and Anna up in Bar Rojas at lunchtime; Mano is on holiday for a week, so we then decided to go out for a Menu Del Dia up in Casares; on the way Mano took us down to the Roman Baths in the Hedionda valley below the village, we have not been to them as the track to get there is not good for the Smart car; “ Los Banos Romano ” date back to the 1st.century BC. when Julius Caesar regularly took the waters and cured himself of a skin complaint, during his period as Governor of Southern Spain in the middle of that century. The waters have high sulphur content and the source is a number of springs which originate in the huge limestone ridge of the Sierra Ultera which runs behind the village. The baths original Roman construction can be plainly be seen, but a modern dome has been installed as well as a basking area where you can take in the sun in between plunges! On the way along the track you pass the very old small church of “ Ermito San Adolpho ” which is used by the village for religious ceremonies at this time of the year similar to the El Rocio.

We then headed up to Casares,named after Julius Caesar, to the Venta Curro which overlooks the white village; it is always very good and when we have guests staying with us we take them there; as soon as you sit down they place a large salad on the table with local hard bread, the menu is three courses so we had Gazpacho, Macaroni in a wonderful Tomato sauce and Potaje Gallego which is a thick soup with white Kidney Beans, Cabbage and Pork to start, Brenda had pan fried Dorada,Sea Bream, Anna had pan fried Chicken Breast, Mano had a wonderful Goat Stew and I had a Entrecote steak, all served with fresh Patatas Fritas !! For a sweet there are various choices and you finish off with strong Carajillo’s. On the table we had to drink the best thing at this time of the year,Tinto de Verano made with the red house wine,Casara lemonade and lots of ice! It is a family run bar and fills up with local workers during the week. One not to be missed so I am sorry that there are no pictures to show of the Baths and the Venta as it was a spur of the moment decision to go ! The picture shows Brenda with her new best friend, she comes calling every day, this started after we came home and the rains stopped, her owner at the bottom of our street, lets her out as it goes quiet and she is just gorgeous, she always has a different coloured bow in her hair every day,just like somebody typing this now! We don’t know her name yet; she has also made friends with Anna’s very small terrier Derek!

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CASA DEL ABUELO. DOG REPORTED LOST,THEN FOUND.

Friday 31st.October.

As forecast the rain started at 7-ooam and has not stopped since;when it rains in Spain it is always very severe and non-stop! As the morning went on it became time to take the dog out for his walk so I got myself a large waterproof with a hood and wrapped up to brave the conditions,with the umbrella up and the hood down I set of with the dog down the lane by the villa.It soon became a cloudburst and the lane was awash with flowing water cascading down like a river!In the meantime Bruno had disappeared into the mist along his favourite spots and could not hear me when I called and whistled for him to come back,every so often he appeared out of the mist and then shot off into the woods by the side of a steep drop down a grassy ,muddy bank only this time there was no sign of him for over 15mins as I screamed and whistled for him to come back! I then started to walk back towards the villa along the lane to the spot where he usually comes to us and we put the lead back on,no Bruno!!After another 15mins I was just about to go back to villa to get Brenda to come and help me find the damn dog when she came out looking for me,the dog had run home right at the start and she thought that it was me that had gone missing over the cliff into the woods when the dog came home without me!!!The dog is keeping out of my way at the moment and I’ve just been rubbed down and dried !!!!