A GREY & OVERCAST START TO NEW YEARS EVE SATURDAY IN SUNNY MANILVA.

SATURDAY 31^st / DECEMBER 2016.  “ NEW YEARS EVE “ “ NOCHEVIEJA “

We all managed a little lie in this morning, ‘ Charlie’ slept upstairs with us, on the floor, ‘ Reina’s’ duvet and then the bed, he’s back to normal, we watched him very carefully last night, he’s back to his old self, he’s eating & drinking well and enjoying his walks, he came with us to ‘Bar Castillo’ for our ‘Tapas’ lunch with Michelle and the gang and was made a big fuss off, ‘Reina’ was also making a big fuss with him giving him lots of kisses, he has his half-tablet twice a day as usual, today we are keeping him inside and very settled. ‘Reina’ is back next week for four days from Tuesday as it’s a ‘Bank Holiday’ on Monday in Gibraltar and here.

We are staying at home today and have no plans for this evening, after supper we will watch the ‘ Spanish TV ‘ New Years Eve programmes and at midnight eat our traditional ‘12’ grapes on the chimes, I’ve taken down our post box so as not attract any large ‘ Bangers’ ( local youths) – over the past few years we have had two blown up! Then one hour later we will have our second ‘New Years Eve’ celebrations as we watch ‘ Jool’s Holland’s ‘ Hootenanny ‘!

I took him for his first walk of the day along ‘ Calle Mar ‘ – the council workmen have erected a inflatable finishing line outside the Town Hall as the 2.5km ‘ Charity Fun Run/Walk ‘ around the village is due to finish later. See below & above.

It’s a little overcast & grey this morning, no doubt the sun will break  through later, there is a little light breeze making it rather crisp, tomorrow is the same and then next week it’s due to pick up a little, no rain is forecast, for now, watch this space.

I treated us to the full ‘English’ breakfast this morning, well crispy ‘Smoked Bacon & Fried Eggs’ with toast & tea, this evening we are having ‘ Grilled Entrecote Steaks – on the Bone ‘ cooked on a very hot griddle plate ‘ Med-Rare’ then taken off the bone and left to rest before slicing them ‘ French’ style, garnished with Button Mushrooms & Asparagus Spears, finely sliced Green Beans & the classic  twice-cooked ‘ Pont-Neuf’ – Doorstep Chips! Tomorrow’s Leg of New Zealand / South Island ) Lamb is coming up to room temperature, I will stud it with ‘Garlic Cloves & Rosemary’ later before leaving it a ‘Virgin Olive Oil’ marinade over night.

On the sports front this weekend; over here there is no football as the ‘ La Liga ‘ closes down for the holiday period, today in the ‘ Premiere League’ the ‘ Match of the Day ‘ is when Liverpool welcome Manchester City’ – sadly there is no ‘National Hunt Racing’ on the TV today, for the first time in nearly 40 years, as ‘Channel 4 ‘ contract has been taken over by ‘ITV’ and they don’t start broadcasting until tomorrow?! ‘ Cheltenham & Mussleburgh ‘!

Finally we would like to wish all our family & friends all over the World a very “ Peaceful, Healthy, Wealthy & Happy New Year “ – Love Malcolm & Brenda in sunny Manilva. xxxx

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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CAMPING PARQUE TROPICAL -ESTEPONA

Saturday 29th December.
As it was dry we serviced the Winnebago and did all the chores as the next few days were for playing ! In the evening we had the lobster for supper with some salad and new potatoes,which was very good after we found some crackers and picks to get at it.We then watched a DVD to finish off the day.
Sunday 30th December.
It was bright and sunny so we went off to the market on the marina at Estepona and sat in the warm sun as the world past by,it was very busy with holiday people eating in the restaurants and shopping along the front in the stalls;we then went up to Manilva to see Mano and Anna,Anna was feeling a lot better so Brenda had a chat and a drink whilst I went up to Carlos's house with Mano to watch the football on Spanish TV.It was Manchester City v Liverpool ! The result was a draw, so it was honours even.On the way back we stopped at one of our favourite restaurants “Le Menorah” for dinner.For starters we had a selection of small individual tapas followed by Monkfish with langustine on brochette served with fried peppers and frits.The perfect end to a loverly day!
Monday 31st December.
We got up late and had a light breakfast to start the day as we had planned to spend the evening with Vidal and Gissy who were not working untill the afternoon on Tuesday ,we had not made any plans except to enjoy ourselves! We started the evening with a very nice bottle of pink champagne,then went down to the marina at Estepona and ended up in the very good Chinese restaurant on the front where we had a selection of starters and main course's washed down with warm Rice wine! We then popped in to see some friends and saw in the new year in Spanish style- eating 12 grapes on the 12 strokes of midnight! As the fireworks went off along the coast we toasted in 2008 with Moet.The evening then changed into a “Hot” card game of Blackjack with a ex-professional croupier running the game!! Later we went down to a friends of Vidals beach bar on the far end of the bay in Estepona which was loud and noisey-Spanish style and had more drinks including Raspberry beer!! We ended up back at the Winnebago for some of Brenda's famous G/Ts and Cubra Libre's to finish off a “Helluva” night at 5-30am!!