A VERY HOT & SUNNY MANILVA AT THE START OF THE WEEK.

MONDAY 15^th/ JULY 2019.

We were both up very early this morning and after a quick freshen up we shot down to the main ‘ Medical Centre’ in Sabinillas for my emergency appointment with our Doctor, Natalia, for a review/check up, she has given me details to adjust my ‘Insulin’ injection, according to the daily ‘Blood/Glucose readings, monitoring it each day, at the same time she has prescribed another tablet to control the ‘ Herpes Zoster’ on my left-arm, the cream on my right-leg for the ‘Cellulitis’ is to continue, I’m going back next Monday morning, for another emergency appointment for another review/check up! Watch this space.

As we set off this morning the sun was out and blinding us, above a sparkling Mediterranean, there was a light breeze, the sky was cloudless, overnight it only dropped to 21 degs+ - by lunchtime it’s due to reach 33 degs+ ( Yellow Alert!) – tomorrow it will be a little cooler, down to the low 30s/high 20s, the rest of the week the same, before going back up to 33 degs+ by next Sunday, the following week is going to be another ‘ Hot-One’ – hovering in the low 30s, as the breeze stays low, watch this space.

This afternoon ‘ Scruffy’ is back with us in ‘ Doggy World Heaven’ for a few hours, and tomorrow unto Friday afternoon, as Adrian, has more Radiotherapy treatments over in the main Malaga Hospital, no doubt ‘ Chispa’ will be in & out to see her friend and us.

Over in Liverpool the Spanish ‘Pulmantour’ cruise liner“ Zenith “ was berthed at the Pier Head for the day.

See the pictures below taken from ‘ A Ferry Across The Mersey ‘

On the sports front over the weekend; Novack Djokovic was crowned the ‘King of Wimbledon’ as he beat Roger Ferderer, in an epic five hour battle, over five sets, in the first ever tie-break finish, his fifth Wimbledon title win, over at the ‘ British Grand Prix’ at Silverstone, Lewis Hamilton won his sixth ‘ British Grand Prix’ – the most successful driver ‘EVER’ – meanwhile down at ‘ Lords’ England won the ‘Men’s World Cup of Cricket’ – in the most exciting game of cricket ‘EVER’ – with a tiny wobble!

Today’s ‘ Stage 10 ‘ of the “ Tour de France “ goes from Saint Flour to Albi over a hilly 218 kms, before tomorrow’s ‘ Rest-Day’ See below;

For our supper this evening we are having the rest of Lamb Cutlets with a selection of Vegetables & Potatoes, as usual, at this time of the year, we are taking things on the Menu front, one day at the time.

Last night we settled down to watch the first episode of the last series of “ Poldark “ ( AidanTurner ) – once more into the britches, dear friends! With his ageless wife, Demelza ( Eleanor Tomlinson) – red hair flowing! Life in Cornwall is still drear m’dear! Elizabeth is dead, Jago is dead, the blind poet is dead? The baby daughter of the Doctor, is dead, Verity might as well be dead! George Warleggan ( Jack Farthing) is as bad as ever, hallucinating and at the same time starving the peasants, the young married couple have not consummated the marriage yet, as she had enough of the randy vicar!  Oh & yes there is a mixed-race new couple, ‘Irish Fire Brand & Black Slave American’  Meanwhile  ‘Poldark’ has saved the ‘ Kings’ life in an assignation attempt at the theatre, and has been recruited as a ‘ Spy’!! Watch this space.

Thoughts of the Day; See above.

A VERY WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON MONDAY AT THE START OF A ' HELLUVA' WEEK.

MONDAY 3^rd/ DECEMBER 2018.

We all had a little lie in this morning, ‘ Scoobie’ spent the night on ‘Reina’s ‘ Duvet with a rug underneath it, he’s settled in very well and is such a happy boy! After freshening up Brenda took him for his first walk of the day around the bottom of the village, meanwhile I was on the breakfast rota so we had ‘Toasted Crispy Smoked Bacon Butties’- open on brown for Brenda – smothered in ‘ HP’ Brown sauce with mugs of steaming, strong tea, when they returned.

See below ‘ Scoobie’ waiting patiently!

While we were getting ready we were listening to, as usual, to ‘ Castle Radio FM 89.2 & Online on the WWW’  with Andrew Charles on his ‘ Breakfast Show’ – the music Quiz was a ‘5’ second flash, which I didn’t get, but the clues helped, it was “ Thin Lizzy “ singing ‘Jailbreak’ – so we had a mention as the first correct answer this week!

At lunchtime ‘ Scruffy’ is being dropped off with us in ‘ Doggy World Heaven’ – it could be a sleep-over, depending how things go at the Hospital with Adrian. On Friday afternoon little prince ‘Paddy’ is due to arrive for his long weekends holiday, ‘ Chispa’ no doubt will be in & out all the time also!

Over the weekend in Melbourne, Australia, all the family arrived to celebrate  on Sunday ‘Lyn’s’ birthday, it’s actually this Tuesday, see the picture below. “ Happy Birthday “

Tomorrow lunchtime I’m going across to the ‘ Costa Del Sol Hospital’ past Marbella, for my annual appointment with the ‘ Prostate Consultant ‘- on Wednesday morning Brenda is going down to the main ‘ Medical Centre’ in Sabinillas for her appointment with our Doctor, Natalia, for her review/check up, Then on Friday I will be out on my travels back down to Sabinillas for our weekly shopping, not forgetting that this week we have two ‘ Bank Holidays’  - on Thursday the  ceremonial “ Constitution Day “ and on Saturday it’s the religious “ Immaculate Conception Day “

Not forgetting my appearance, as the local ‘ Sage’ on “ A Place in the Sun “ on Wednesday afternoon on Channel Four, over in the UK, a “ STAR” is born!!

Over the coming weekend down on the ‘ Plaza de la Vendemia’ we have the three-day “ Gastronomic Food & Wine Festival “ taking place inside the large Marquee, starting with a live free concert by a well known Flamenco singer, there are ‘Baking & Wine’ competitions as well as assorted food & drink stalls, all the time with the local Xmas ‘ Parrandas’ Bands (8) playing, with various local choirs singing and lots of Dancing, the ‘Wine Museum’ & Theater is also open. Watch this space.

See below;

We have another glorious start to the day and week here in sunny Manilva, after a spectacular red sky sunset yesterday evening, the clouds have cleared and the sky is bright blue, with just a very slight breeze, by lunchtime it’s due to reach 22/23 degs+ - overnight down to 15 degs, the rest of the week and over the weekend is looking the same, with warm sunshine all the time, hovering in the low 20s, sadly next week on all the local forecasts it’s showing a change, with the return of the ‘ wet-stuff’ going heavy at times and colder also, not good news as we are going to Malaga next Thursday, on the ‘Pensioner’s’ coach, to see the spectacular ‘Lights & Music’ display in ‘Calle Larios’ Watch this space.

See below a picture showing Gibraltar & Africa in the distance.

Meanwhile over in Everett, Ontario, Canada, the folks have local thunderstorms, as it’s a bit warmer, Sandra & Bill have sent us a long Good News’ message on ‘Facebook’ Messenger – the special news being that the ‘ Masses’ (8) are coming, for the first week in October, they have booked a four bedroom Villa down in ‘Manilva Beach’ – their flights etc will be discussed/booked later! We are very excited all ready !!

See below as ‘Christmas’ has arrived in Everett. They get their trees from outside the back door!

Over breakfast we had our weekly ‘Menu’ planning meeting; this evening it’s ‘Posh Chicken & Chips ‘ – ‘Escalope’s of Chicken Breast’ pan- seared in foaming Lemon/Balsamic Vinegar Butter, with twice-cooked ‘ Frits’ – on Tuesday we are having ‘Grilled Lambs Liver & Pork Sausages’ with an Onion & Mushroom Red Wine salsa, Wednesday is going to be ‘Grilled Gammon Steaks’ – topped with ‘ Campo Fried Eggs, for our Thursdays supper we are having ‘Fried Chicken Wings’ with Baked Potato, Friday is a ‘ Fish n Chip ‘ supper, and as usual on Saturday we will be having our ‘ Steak night’ – Sunday is still TBE, watch this space.

This weekend, while we were out & about, we noticed that  ‘Calle Mar ‘ had been left open, not closed, for traffic, as usual, but still with no parking on either side, it turns out that all the local businesses ( 6 bars/ 5 shops) have been giving the Mayor, Mario ‘Earache’ -he told us as he passed us outside ‘ Bar Castillo’ on Sunday.

His eldest Son, Mario Jnr, was with him and he told us that he has been accepted into the ‘University of Granada’ on a five year course to become a ‘ Chemist ‘  – which is what he told us he wanted to be when we were giving him ‘ English’ lessons. “ Congratulations “  

This afternoon/evening we will be catching up with all the ‘Quiz Shows’ that we follow, last night we caught the last episode of “ The Little Drummer Girl’ on BBC 1, it was very gripping & exciting, I won’t give the plot away, watch is to find out, it does keep to the book!

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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AT THE MOMENT A DRY AND COOLER SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY.

WEDNESDAY 17^th/ THURSDAY 18^th/ OCTOBER 2018.

We had a nice lie in this morning as overnight, as forecast, the rain storms hit us, the first cloud burst late last night shook the house –  “ The Earth Moved “! – It then rained all night, as usual here in Spain, when it rains it ‘ RAINS ‘ with a vengeance! All this means that we and the folks are having an enforced quiet relaxing time, at home and in their apartment, wrecking all our plans, hitting Cadiz was next on the agenda, watch this space.

After freshening up we had our favourite ‘Toasted Crispy Smoked Butties’ – open on brown for Brenda – smothered in ‘HP’ Brown sauce, with mugs of strong tea, to set us up for the day ahead. We got a small shopping list ready, for when I have a moment to shoot down, on my travels, to Sabinillas, for the weekly shopping.

Just as I was settling into the office/studio to go on the ‘ WWW’ and catch up with Blog, the ‘ Skype’ video call went off, it was Tim & Thea up in ‘Mojacar’- making contact, after a little while, with all their news etc, Jo, their daughter, who lives and works in Madrid, came down on the bus to see them last bank holiday weekend, when they returned to the caravan, last month, they had a problem with the hot water boiler, it had burst, so they had to source and find a new one, ‘ASAP’- and have it fitted, they have been following all our news on the Blog. 

Now for the good news, they are coming down to see us for ‘New Years Eve’- for a day or two, it will be very nice to see them, they will stay with us, on the ‘Full, All Inclusive Rate ‘! Watch this space.

Sadly the weather forecast for the next ‘ 96’ hours, as they said on the main news, is not good, we have moderate to heavy rain with us for the next few days and over the weekend, as a new ‘Atlantic’ front hits us, over Spain in general it’s a lot worse, here down on the ‘ Costa Del Sol’ it will still be hovering around the 20 degs, + mark, down to 16/18 degs at night, next week things are due to pick up, fingers crossed, so we will be out & about again, with the folks, watch this space.

PS; Back over in Everett, Ontario, Canada, it’s snowing!!

WEDNESDAY 17^th/ OCTOBER 2018.

We were up bright and early and after freshening up we shot down to the ‘Plaza de la Vendimia’ to meet the film crew and the new presenter, Jean Thompson, I was ‘made-up’ and then ‘ miked-up ‘ – ready for my appearance on ‘ A Place in The Sun’ as the local – ‘Sage’ with all the knowledge, it was all filmed in front of the ‘Mosaic Wall Murals’ on a beautiful sunny day, in fact my first words were  “ Welcome to sunny Manilva” as I raised my arms to the sky! The House that the couple were being showed is just around the corner, at the bottom of our street, so they filmed them passing our House!

See below the pictures of the filming.

It went very well and at the end, the producer/camera operator said ‘ Thanks very much, that was a perfect’! So I’m now known as ‘ ONE TAKE SEXTON’ to my adoring public!!  I called out ' Cut' as there was no ' Clapper Board Man ' !! Later as they were filming the local area and views, they got us with Sandra & Bill, sat outside ‘Bar Rojas’ for our morning Tostada & Coffee, meaning that Brenda, Sandra & Bill could be on the show, as ‘Extras’ Watch this space.

We then headed off to Tarifa, and after finding somewhere to park we walked into the centre of the town and had a coffee at the locals ‘ Cafe Central’ to take in the sights and sounds, as they passed us by, we then walked into the old part of town past all the ‘ Hippy’ shops, to show the folks the ‘Fish, Fruit & Meat Market’ before seeing the old Castle down by the side of a sparking Mediterranean, next to the Harbour, where the ‘Fast Ferry’ to Tangiers had just left.

See below;

We ended up in the main square and chose a little ‘ French Bistro’ that we had been to before, we had a lovely ‘ Two Course - Menu Del Dia’ – sat in the hot sunshine.

Next we headed along the coast to ‘ Bolonia’ and had nice cool drinks, sat in a ‘ Chiringuito’ on the beach overlooking the white sandy bay.

See below;

On the way back we stooped at the ‘ Mirador de Estrecho ‘ – on top of the mountains to take in the view of the ‘ The Straits of Gibraltar ‘ and across to the ‘Atlas’ Mountains in Morocco, Africa!  An end to another perfect day down here on the ‘ Costa Del Sol & Costa de Luz’  with Sandra & Bill.

In the evening we went down to the new ‘ Fish& Chip Shop ‘ – Skippers’ down on the promenade in Sabinillas, as our regular port of call ‘ Marlow’s’ is closed for refurbishment, we had their excellent ‘Haddock & Chips’ with Mushy Peas and Homemade Tartar sauce, two small for the girls and two large for the boys, with nice cool drinks, sat outside tin the cool night air as the Mediterranean, crashed in!

See below!

We are catching up with all chores around the house, Brenda has been out to the local shop and the Chemists, at the moment the ‘ wet-stuff’ has stopped and the sun is trying to break through there are still black clouds around, so we will have to watch and see what happen later.

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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