A VERY EXTREMELY HOT & SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY.

THURSDAY 23^rd/ JULY 2020.   “ NEW NORMALITY – DAY 32 “

Just a little lie in this morning after another rather late night, more later, after freshening up I shot down to the local ‘ Sub-Post-Office’ to thank the new lady, they rotate them on a two-monthly basis, after she delivered Lyn’s birth card yesterday, it was posted on the 05/06/20!

After Brenda spoke to her yesterday, on our way down to the ‘ Suma’ supermarket, she went back down to the main ‘Post Office’ in Sabinillas, before going on her rounds, and found it dropped/hidden behind a shelf! “ Thanks “  I took her a bar of Milk Chocolate (Spanish)!

PS; We have spoken to Lyn twice now, on the same day, as when we came up to bed last night, late, we called her again to tell her about finding her card!

On the way back I called into ‘ Cafeteria El Rincon De Alcantara’ to speak to the owner ‘ Paco’ who for many years worked as a waiter at our favourite restaurant, down in ‘Puerto de la Duquesa’ – the  “ Restaurente Macues “ – where we have celebrated over the years our birthdays, anniversaries, visits from our families, from Australia, Canada & the UK, as well as many dear friends, sadly it is ‘ NO MORE’ – it’s closed for good, as the old owner, William, who is from sunny  Manilva, has finally retired after nearly 40 years, after taking stock during the ‘ Covid 19’ crisis,  it was the first/only proper restaurant overlooking the Marina! It will be sadly missed!!

When I returned as I was on the breakfast rota I had my favourite ‘ Toasted Crispy Smoked Bacon Butty’ – 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 ended up in my Butty, with mugs of strong tea, as usual we were listening to ‘ mix106fm’ as the ‘ Mystery Voice’ quiz came on, I got it on my second guess, it we the great Shirley Bassey, see below the last two days correct answers, John Craven & Felicity Kendal.

We then made contact with our dear friends Tim & Thea, up in magical Mojacar, with a pre-arranged ‘Facebook’ messenger video link up, they are both fine & well, we had a good news catch up, then a very nice surprise as Jo, their daughter, was with them, she came online, she had flown from Dubai over the weekend, where she teaches English in an ‘ International ‘ school, see the picture below!

Last night it was the hottest so far, very close & sticky, this morning it’s already very hot & sunny, with a cloudless blue sky, so by lunchtime it’s due to reach 33 degs+ - overnight only down to 23 degs+ - the rest of the week and over the weekend it’s staying the same, next week is going to be another ‘ Hot-One’ leading up to the start of August, next weekend, hovering in the low/mid 30s, watch this space.

See below another picture of the ' Comet Neowise' - showing it in the sky, from the hills behind Old Colwyn, Colwyn Bay, North Wales last night!

Yesterday evening we went for our regular walk at around 7-00 pm, down to the ‘ Plaza de la Vendima’ – our seat in the shade was taken, so we came back up to ‘ Bar Rojas Sol Vida’ and sat on the shady side of the street for a nice cool/large drink, on the next table was a ‘ stranger’ in town, on his ‘PC’ - we spoke to him, Nathaniel, who lives in the country behind the coast, with his wife, was visiting sunny Manilva for the first time, so we had a nice chat/update on us, life in general etc, it was very nice to meet him and we are looking forward to seeing him again.

Then our friends, who live in the apartments below the village, came and sat with us, Lorraine, the international bestselling author of the ‘ DI Steraling’ series of crime novels, with her partner Chris, joined us for a nice cool drink, followed by more, in fact we went past our supper time, as we put the World to rights!

Just as we were about to leave a couple, Steve & Michelle came along with their two children and sat on the next table, so we had a nice chat with them also, they had driven down from Coventry, via the Portsmouth/ Santander ferry, over the weekend, without any problems, to their apartment in the same bloc, it was nice to meet them and we will look out for them when we are out & about in sunny Manilva.

It was then time to come home, late, after missing our supper, so we had our favourite ‘ Heinz Baked Beans on Toast, with a couple of meatballs thrown in - as we watched Liverpool beat Chelsea 5-3 and then receive the ‘Premiere League Cup’ for the first time in 30 years!

This evening ‘ night-off’ for the staff has been cancelled, so we are having the ‘ Albondigas En Salsa Tomate’ with Spaghetti! – ‘ Honest’!

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

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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A VERY HOT & SUNNY MANILVA ON SUNDAY.

SUNDAY 19^th/ JULY 2020.   “ NEW NORMALITY – DAY 28”

We managed another nice lie in this morning after yet another very ‘ sticky’ night, after freshening up we had our usual fresh fruit ( peeled/sliced Nectarines) toast & tea, here in a very sunny Manilva, down on the ‘ Costa Del Sol’!

Brenda is preparing all the ingredients for the ‘ Ensaladilla Rusa – Russian Salad’ that I will make later, she boils the new potatoes, that I then dice when cold, boils and crushes the ‘Campo’ Eggs, dices the Red Pimento (Tinned) & Tuna (Tinned) – finely she boils the Garden Peas & Frozen Baby Carrots ( then chopped) – and chops some fresh Parsley,  the ‘ Head Chef’ then comes along and mixes all the ingredients in a large bowl, with the Mayonnaise ( Hellmann’s!) – not forgetting to season, with Salt & White Pepper, a classic version/recipe of the dish!

At lunchtime, when we are out at ‘Bar Castillo’ for a nice cool drink and Paqui’s famous Paella, I will pop along to the Rotisserie ‘ El Pastaña ‘ to collect the ‘Roast Chicken’ for this evenings supper, which we will have with the Russian Salad & Mixed Salads ( Tomato, Beetroot & Carrot ) – served on a bed of crisp long-leaf Lettuce, with crusty local Bread!

We are in for another very hot & sunny day, the breeze has dropped, as forecast, the sky is clear & blue, so by lunchtime it’s due to reach 28/29 degs+ - overnight back down to 21/22 degs+  - next week is going to be a ‘ Hot-One’ – hovering in the high20s/low 30s, by Wednesday reaching 35 degs+! – with lots of very hot sunshine and very light breezes, the following week will be a little cooler, back down in the high 20s, as the breeze picks up, watch this space.

See below a picture taken this morning, by a old friend/customer, Nigel Roberts, the newsagent, of the promenade in Llandudno – deserted!

And normal !

Just a quick update on the football result; sadly Manchester City, didn’t play well and lost to Arsenal 2-0 – as Mikel Arteta, the new Manager, outmanoeuvred his mentor Pep Gaurdiola, today in the second Semi-Final Manchester Utd play Chelsea.

Our friend Andy called in yesterday, on his way home from work and managed to install all the ‘BBC TV’ programmes onto the system that we currently have, which is only ‘ITV’ so far, we now have lots of options/contact details, so next week will progress them further, either using the ‘ Fire-Stick’ or installing a ‘ Box’ – then connecting to a new IPTV ‘ system, or another, watch this space.

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

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM A VERY SUNNY MANILVA;

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A VERY HOT & SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY.

THURSDAY 9^th/ JULY 2020.   “ NEW NORMALITY – DAY 18 “

No lie in this morning after another very ‘ clammy’ night, after freshening up it was my turn on the breakfast rota so I had my favourite ‘ Toasted Crispy Smoked Bacon Butty ‘ – 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, with our usual mugs of hot/strong Tea.

We were listening to the ‘ Lockdown Party’ show on “ Castle Radio FM 89.2 & Online on the WWW” – over the past two days I have guessed the correct answers, Rob Brydon & Mary Berry, but this morning’s is a little harder, I have had 3 attempts so far! Watch this space.

Overnight the breeze has dropped, the sun was out first thing and the sky is cloudless and bright blue, it’s very hot & sunny, so by lunchtime it’s due to reach 31 degs+ - overnight down to 18 degs+ - tomorrow a little cooler, over the weekend staying warm & sunny, hovering in the high 20s, next week is now going to be settled, very warm all week, staying in the high 20s, with lots of sunshine and light breezes, with a few patchy clouds at times, keeping it a little cooler, the following week is now going to be the ‘ Hot-One’ – all week in the mid 30s – at times up 35/36 degs+! Watch this space.

Over in Liverpool, on Sunday the liner, the ‘Viking Sun’ arrived and berthed at the Pier Head, for technical repairs, after being hit by a storm in the Irish Sea, it has a skeleton crew of 77, who have not been allowed to disembark, see below some ‘ Drone’ pictures taken yesterday!

Just a quick update on the latest football results; over in the ‘ Premiere League’  Manchester City won 5-0, Liverpool won 1-3 and  over here in ‘La Liga’ Barcelona beat city rivals Espanyol  ( Mano’s team) 1-0 – at the same time relegating them! There are still 4 games to go, with Real Madrid still 4 points ahead.

So today we are taking things very easy as the ‘ Head Chef & Second Chef’ have been given the night-off, as usual, at this time of the year, no doubt they will be ‘ out on the town’ this evening, going up to ‘Calle Mar – turning left for ‘Spanish’ ( Bar Castillo) or right for ‘ Italian’ ( Bar Rojas Sol Vida) – watch this space.

On our last walk of the day, last night, we bumped into Andy, going into work at the ‘ Manilva Green Aparthotel’ as the Night Manager, he’s going to call in, when he has the chance, to try again to set up a working ‘IPTV’ system, so far with no luck, as at the moment we only have ‘ITV’ ( Soaps etc ) – ‘ Fingers Crossed ‘ – ‘Plan H ‘!

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

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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