A VERY HOT & NOW SUNNY MANILVA ON WEDNESDAY.

WEDNESDAY 24^th/ JUNE 2020.   “ NEW NORMALITY – DAY 3 “

Just a little lie in this morning after another eventful night ( more later) – after freshening up we had our regular toast & tea to start another day here in sunny Manilva, down on the ‘ Costa Del Sol’

It’s started a little cooler today as there is a light breeze, the clouds are clearing and the sun is breaking through with a clear blue sky now showing, by lunchtime it’s due to reach 26/27 degs+ - overnight down to 20 degs+ tomorrow is looking the same, then on Friday and over the weekend we are going up into 30 degs+ - with lots of very hot sunshine, next week at the start of July we are for a ‘ Hot-One’ – all week hovering in the low 30s, by the following weekend reaching 35 degs+ - overnight not dropping below 21 degs+ Watch this space.

We are still going out for walks twice-a-day in our time slots, we sit in ‘Calle Mar or the Plaza de la Vendimia’ – in the shade and take in the fresh air, as at the moment we don’t have any guests in ‘ Doggy World Heaven’

Yesterday evening we went down to the ‘ White Goods’ shop at the bottom of the village, for a new small fan for the kitchen, as we now need all the fans on around the house, yesterday evening the ‘ IPTV’ system went off-line again, so after supper with no ‘TV’ to watch we went for a walk along ‘Calle Mar’ – as we reached the top of our street, who was sat outside ‘ Bar Rojas Sol Vida’ but Big Brian & Andy having the ‘ Burger & Frits’- so we joined then for a ‘ night-cap’ – Brian is suffering from a bad leg/knee as last week, after one of our sessions, he fell down a work hole, on his way home, at the junction, which was not properly covered!

Then as we went home down our street, with Andy, who was going to look again at the system, he slipped/fell over and fell badly on his knee, by the side of the Town Hall, where there is nasty side/slop to the cellar, that has caused accidents before! Brenda then went into her ‘ Nurse’ mode and treated Andy, sadly he had no luck with re-setting the system so he’s coming back this morning, so ‘ fingers-crossed’ he is able to sort the problem out and re-set the ‘ IPTV’ system, watch this space.  

                                                                          “ Talk about the walking wounded “ !!

“ Bar Rojas Vide Sol “ has built up a very good business over the past few weeks, after the ‘ Lockdown’ on Bars was opened a little, the two Fabio’s have not had a day off since, the ‘Pizza’s are flying out of the door and they have built up regular Spanish & English ( drinking)  customers, including locals that we don’t normally see sitting & drinking, last night ‘ Mario’ the Mayor and his wife, together with friends, all of which we know, had a late night ‘ session’ – I pointed out to Fabio ( the birthday boy) who he was, so he took the opportunity to have a picture taken – for ‘PR’!

See below;

Meanwhile the ‘ Rottisserie ‘at the end of ‘ Calle Mar’ has extended the business, it’s now “ El Petaña – Asador-Burger “ – with a new menu and seating outside & upstairs! 

See below;

The ‘ Council’ are busy working on all the beauty spots and around sunny Manilva, preparing for the summer ‘hoards’ – cleaning the promenade, trimming all the Palm Trees ( needed -see pics ) etc, setting up the Beach rules etc, as well as the usual washing, sanitizing and humidifying all the streets, the forecast if from the 1^st July there will be over 100 hundred flights a day arriving at ‘Malaga Airport’ – including the ‘ British’ – who will now not need to self-isolate for two weeks, when they return home!! Watch this space.

For our supper this evening we are having, for a change ‘ Grilled Brochettes of Turkey ‘ – diced Turkey with sliced Red & Green Peppers, Shallots and Baby Mushrooms ( marinated in Olive Oil & Herbs) – resting on a bed of Brenda’s famous ‘ Basmati Rice’ – with a pool of ‘Tomato’ salsa and served with finely sliced ‘ French’ Green Beans.

“ STAY SAFE & WELL INSIDE AT ALL TIMES – IN SELF-LOCKDOWN HERE “

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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A ' FRESH ' AND VERY WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON TUESDAY.

TUESDAY 16^th/ JUNE 2020.   “ STATE OF ALARM – DAY 94 “

Another little lie in this morning before we freshened up and had our regular breakfast of toast & tea to start the day in the right direction, as usual, as we were listening to the ‘ Lockdown Party’ show on ‘ Castle Radio FM 89.2 & Online on the WWW’ – today’s ‘ Mystery Voice’ is another hard-one, that I’m still working on, yesterday’s was the  Australian actor ‘Hugh Jackman’ – I knew it, but the clues were all about New Zealand?!  

We have another beautiful day down here on the ‘ Costa Del Sol’ in sunny Manilva, the sky is already bright blue and cloudless, as there is still a light breeze, the sun is out and by lunchtime it’s due to reach 27/28 degs+ - overnight down to 17/18 degs+ - about normal for the time of the year, over the next couple of days and the weekend it’s staying the same, going a little hotter as the breeze drops, lots of hot sunshine all the time, with just a few patchy clouds, hovering in the high 20s, by Sunday 30 degs+- when we will be out & about celebrating Brenda’s birthday, next week is now looking like we are in for more of the same, very settled, light breeze’s, sunny and clear skies, watch this space.

See below a picture taken yesterday of the view down to Gibraltar and across to Africa!

Yesterday evening when we were out for our walk we could see across the valley, the first ‘ Fire’ of the season, it closed the road up to Casares for a while, there were two helicopters out, as was the Fire Brigade from the village, and the ‘National Fire Fighting Services’- who brought it under control after a few hours, see below.

“ CORANAVIRUS UPDATE – COVID 19 PANDEMIC”

It’s our last week in ‘LOCKDOWN’ here in Spain, as from next Monday the 22nd June the ‘New Normality’ starts, still with rules ie; wearing Masks etc, we are still going to remain ‘ low-key’ in our own self  ‘ Lockdown’ for now, until things settle back to a more normal life & times, over the next few months, watch this space.

This evening before our supper we have just arranged to make contact with our dear friends Zoe & Graham, over in Manchester, on the ‘Face Time’ video link-up, as we have not been in touch with them for a long while, the last time was in 2006, just before we left on our travels, when we stayed with them at their cottage, in Marple Bridge, except by ‘ Cards’ on birthdays & Xmas! 

See below; - us sat in Zoe & Grahams garden - taken by Zoe!

Zoe worked for us at the ‘ Hotel Seventy Degrees’ in Colwyn Bay, as our ‘ Sales and Marketing Manager’ – Graham ( Pinch )who has ‘ Cornish’ fishing background, was a ‘Captain’ on private yachts, based in Puerto Banus, here in Marbella, over in Palma, Mallorca, and in Lanzarote, all of which we visited them on, they went all over the Mediterranean also including Monte Carlo – ‘ Happy Days & Memories ‘  

See below;

For our supper this evening we are having ‘ Grilled Spanish Pork Loin Steaks’ garnished with seared Button Mushrooms & glazed ‘ Fuji’ Apple slices, served with Glazed Baby Carrots and Braised Cabbage with Acelgas, and the classic ‘ Pommes de Terre Lyonnaise’ – sliced/boiled Potatoes and thinly sliced Onions, sautéed in foaming Parsley Butter, until crisp & golden.




In the style of Lyon, the gastronomic capital of France, where many years ago we stayed and visited, over a long-weekend, three World famous ‘ Michelin *** restaurants - the great Paul Bocuse, the famous Troisgros brothers and our favourite George Blanc at Vonnas.

More ‘ Happy Times & Memories’

                                                      “ STAY SAFE & WELL INSIDE AT ALL TIMES “

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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AN EVEN HOTTER AND VERY SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY.

THURSDAY 21^st/ MAY 2020.   “ STATE OF ALARM – DAY 68”

After freshening up, as I was on the breakfast rota, I had my favourite ‘ Toasted Crispy Smoked Bacon Butty ‘ – a ‘Dockers Butty’ – made with thick-sliced White Bread – smothered in ‘ HP’ Brown sauce – open on brown for Brenda, with her favourite sliced/seared Button Mushrooms, tossed in the bacon juices with a knob of Butter, some of which made it into my Butty, with mugs of hot/strong ‘PG Tips’ Tea, to set us up for the day ahead.

We then ‘ masked/gloved’ up and Brenda took little ‘ Miss Bella’ for her first walk of the day around the bottom of the village, I called into the underground car park to turn-over the car, I then popped in to the ‘ Suma’ supermarket to stock up with the essentials, Brenda was waiting outside and helped me carry the bags back up to the house, she carried on along to the local Chemists in ‘Calle Mar’ for our prescription tablets and finally went down to our local shop for the fresh fruit & vegetables!

Tomorrow morning our dear friend Leah is going down to Sabinillas to ‘ Mercadona’ for our main shop, for the last time, she will then collect little ‘ Miss Bella’ - before she moves into her new apartment in Gibraltar on Saturday.

See below little ‘ Miss Bella’ relaxing on our bed this morning!

We were out early this morning for our shopping to beat the hot sun, we were wrong, it was out first thing and there is no breeze, the sky is cloudless and blue, so by the time we set-off it was already warm & very sunny, by lunchtime it’s forecast to reach 29 degs+  - overnight only down to 19 degs+ - tomorrow and over the weekend, it’s going to be a little cooler, as the breeze pick up a bit, still hovering in the mid 20s, next week we are in for a settled week of hot sunshine, with a few patchy clouds at times, the overall temperatures still in the mid 20s – 24/25 degs+ as the breeze stiffens a little, keeping it ‘ Fresh’ and very pleasant, at the same time, watch this space.

“ CORANAVIRUS UPDATE . COVID 19 PANDEMIC “

Late last night the ‘ Prime Minister’ Pedro Sanchez managed to find enough support/backing in the ‘ Congress – Parliament’ to win the vote, for a fifth extension to the ‘ State of Alarm’ to be extended to June 7^th – he is still planning to ask for one last extension until late in June, watch this space.

Today, Thursday, the new obligatory use of face masks comes into law, as the personal protective equipment must be worn in all public places – open and closed – where social distancing cannot be respected.

See below;

PS; The Mayor, Mario, announced yesterday that we have a new ‘ Chief of the ‘Policia Local ‘ – as Francisco Luque, the brother of our friend Araceli, has retired – it’s Juan Montero, who has worked for 31 years in the force.

See below; ( picture taken before ( Lockdown ) ! 

     

For our supper this evening we are having the rest of the ‘Braised Beef & Vegetable Casserole’ with glazed Carrot Batons, Brenda’s famous Mashed Potato and a few once-cooked ‘ Frits’ ( Frozen) Tomorrow evening it’s a ‘ Fish N’ Chip’ Supper – on Saturday we are having the old classic ‘ Entrecote Pizzaiola ‘ – a Caper, Anchovy, Shallot & Garlic ‘ Oregano’ Tomato sauce, Sunday is still TBC, watch this space.

                                         “ STAY SAFE AND WELL INSIDE AT ALL TIMES “

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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