A VERY ' CRISP' & SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY.

Thursday 21^st/ DECEMBER 2017.

I was up early this morning to welcome back ‘ Chico’ for a two-day sleep over, he’s being collected later on Saturday afternoon, we then slowly sorted ourselves out before our normal breakfast of toast & tea, we then shot back down to Sabinillas as there was a technical problem with the arrangements we made yesterday, now OK, Brenda then wanted to call into the Wholesale/Retail ‘Fruit &Vegetable Market’ for the Xmas essentials, Parsnips, Brussels Sprouts, Baby New Potatoes, Assorted Nuts etc.

We have another glorious day down here on the ‘ Costa Del Sol ‘ again, the sun was out early and the sky is bright blue, it’s warm in the sunshine and ‘ crisp’ in the shade, there is no breeze so It’s very pleasant to be out & about, the next few days are the same even getting a little warmer by Xmas Eve, next week is looking settled but still with the threat of some of the wet stuff on Tuesday/Wednesday, watch this space.

For our supper this evening we are finding something to have with ‘Chips’! Friday is going to be a ‘ Fish n’Chip’ supper, Saturday is ‘ Steak Night’ and on Sunday we are having Braised ‘Lamb Shanks’ in a Mint Gravy, for Xmas Day it’s, you’ve guessed, Roast Turkey with all the trimmings and for a change this year we are having on Boxing Day - it’s going to be a Roast Loin of Pork with ‘ Crackling’!

Yesterday evening we walked down to the ‘ Iglesia Santa Ana Church’ for the ‘Christmas Concert ‘ performed by the Manilva Brass Band with the Choral Ensemble, the first part of the programme was conducted by Alejandro Antiñolo, the son of the leader of the Band, Fernando, the highlites being ‘El Murcielago’ by Johann Strauss & ‘Sleigh Ride’ by Leroy Anderson, the second half was under the leadership of Fernando with a special performance of ‘ Chiquitita’ by ABBA and ‘ Happy Day’ by Edwin Hawkins’ with the choir led by our friend Isobel singing the leading melody, one ‘ Helluva’ concert with as usual finished at the end with the traditional ‘ Radetzky March ‘ – the famous’ Clapping Song ‘! – conducted by ‘Paco ( Ringo)  our friend, who is the oldest member of the band and is of course the drummer!!

See below all pictures of the concert;

When we returned we settled down to watch the final very exciting episode of “ Peaky Blinders “  as they narrowly escaped their most perilous situation yet! The ‘ Gypsy ‘ boxer won the fight but two ‘Mafioso’ hit men ‘ killed’ the oldest brother and were then killed themselves by the gaggle of family members. ‘ Changretta ‘ came to Birmingham to claim the empire but had been outwitted by Tommy, who has sent the younger bother to New York to make an arrangement with Mafioso’ gangs including Al Capone! He was then battered nearly to death, before the oldest bother reappeared to shoot him in the head, he had not been ‘ killed’ and his funeral was faked!

Tommy then had a breakdown, but came back with an ‘idea’ – he lied to the lady union leader and found out all the details about who was behind the General Strike, he then informed the government and was rewarded by being put on the ballot paper and winning an election to become the local Labour MP!  He returned to the family mansion in the country and they all celebrated.

The final season to come with the threat of the American crime families, the Army & the Crown all after him will be exhilarating to say the least, the best drama on British TV with phenomenal acting, strong and delicate writing and impeccable production design, watch this space.

At lunchtime we went up to ' Bar Rojas' for a cool drink and sat outside in the very hot sunshine! As we were taking in the sights & sounds of the village a delivery van came along and dropped off the brand new Pizza Oven for the new 'Pizzeria' which is due to open at the start of January in the old 'Bar Andaluz' - two doors down from our house - our dear friend Dominico, from Italy is behind the new venture and we wish him all the best for 2018 !! 



See the pictures below as the oven was moved into the bar with the help of the locals! 

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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A GREY & OVERCAST AND VERY DAMP SUNNY MANILVA ON FRIDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEKEND;

FRIDAY 10^th/ FEBRUARY 2017.

I was up early this morning to see ‘ Reina’ back with us for the day, she’s coming for a sleep over on Saturday night, I then shot out on my travels down to Sabinillas for the weekly shopping, I first called into our bank to sort out a problem with a new ‘ Pin ‘ number on a new card, it’s now working. It was then time to go to ‘ Mercadona’ for our main shop and then call into the ‘ English Bookshop’ for the weekly newspapers, I shot along to the market at the end of the promenade for the fresh flowers & wall plants, I then topped up the petrol as we are out & about next week, back at the hospital on Wednesday, after dropping off all the goods back at the house I put the car away in the underground car park.

Overnight the rain arrived and this morning it’s very grey & overcast, also a little cooler, I managed to miss the rain in between the showers, the weekend and into the start of next week is looking rather damp, to say the least, the ‘ Atlantic’ front is going to be with us for a little while, watch this space.

See below a picture taken yesterday evening of the lower roundabout in Sabinillas with it’s new ‘ Lighthouse ‘

This evening for our supper we are having an old classic from the past, ‘ Fillets of Hake 'a’l’Orly ‘ – deep fried in ‘ Cruzcampo Beer Batter ‘ and served on a base of my rich ‘Tomato Salsa’ with Mushy Peas and of course twice-cooked ‘ Frits’ Tomorrow evening we are having ‘ Grilled Entrecote Steak’ with all the trimmings, on Sunday evening it’s going to be ‘ Medallions of Pork Fillet’ with ‘ Charcutiere ‘ sauce, then on Monday  evening we will have ‘ Pork Schnitzels’- our ‘ Valentines’ Day Menu ‘ on Tuesday is going to be ‘ Tournedos Rossini ‘ followed by ‘ Strawberries Romanoff’ !

Another bit of Liverpool nostalgia; the picture below shows the ‘ New Brighton Tower ‘ it was built in at the end of 1898 and was 567 feet tall, taller than Blackpool Tower, it too was on top of the ‘Tower Ballroom’- again like Blackpool, it was dismantled for scrap in 1919, the ballroom burnt down in 1969, I went to go to see the ‘ Beatles’ play there in the early sixties, on many occasions, my Mum & Dad told me about the tower.

Last night after supper we settled down to watch the final episode of the ‘ Unforgotten’ on ITV; ie, three killers, two cops and one perfect ending. The key to the murder lay in historic sexual abuse, the reveal was that there were three corpses and three killers ( Mark Bonnar, Rosie Cavaliero & Badris Timimi, all excellent) – they all arranged to murder each other’s abusers and then alibi each other! The two cops, the always watchable Nicola Walker & Sanjeev Bhaskar, cast effectively against type, were also excellent and Wendy Craig & Bill Patterson had small but crucial roles as parents nursing long-buried secrets.

In the end the two policemen decided not to pursue the culprits, for both procedural and moral reasons, they asked the question, ‘ Do we send them to prison to be punished?!’ The answer was an unequivocal no, bad policing, perhaps, but the perfect ending!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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