THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM A VERY SUNNY MANILVA;

A VERY WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON MONDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEK;

MONDAY 16^th/ AUGUST 2015.

Back to normal this morning as the workmen arrived on site after the bank holiday weekend, we turned over and had a little lie in to start the week off; after our regular breakfast we had our weekly ‘planning’ meeting, it’s a quiet week with no social arrangements, so far, ‘Reina’ is with us as normal on Tuesday & Thursday, we are shopping early on Friday morning – the rest of week is ‘free’ so we are going to relax and basically do nothing!

PS; Daniela has just booked 'Reina' in with us for a week from the 28th December to the 4th January as she and Lee are going on their' Honeymoon' to New York!! Enjoy !!

The sun was out early and the sky is blue, there is just a little breeze making it very pleasant, its getting warmer later -35 degs- overnight 23 degs – the humidity is also creeping back up! The week ahead and over the weekend is getting even hotter, another ‘Helluva’ week here in sunny Manilva down on the ‘Costa Del Sol’

We went for a short walk down to the post office, first, and then called into the ‘Mayor’s vegetable shop for the local Plum Tomatoes to make my famous ‘Tomato Salsa’ – we then called into the local bank in Calle Mar before going down to the butchers to stock up; we are having Baked ‘Pork Chops’ this evening, I also bought some ‘Chicken Burgers & Chicken Wings’ for another day, at the same time I ordered a Boned ‘Shoulder of Lamb’ for the weekend, which he marinates for you in his own recipe!

When we got back to the house I shot up to the office to check out the WWW – one of our main Pensions arrived into our Spanish Bank AC this morning, it was down on last months quite a bit as the ‘Euro’ has dropped a little against last month! Next Monday we have our two yearly Pensions that arrive in our English Bank AC which we then transfer when the Euro is high! Watch this space.

Yesterday on ‘Facebook’ the old pictures of Liverpool it featured the famous “St George’s Hall” on Lime Street; it brought back many happy memories from my childhood growing up, at Grammar School in the city, later going to the Catering College at the top of Bold Street and then working in the city center during the mid 60s at the ‘Stork Hotel’ in Queens Square by the side of it. See below;

Once a year in August each year they uncover the famous “Minton Tile Floor” in the main hall, it is spectacular and when it was first seen in 1850 it was the largest ‘pavement’ of the famous tiles in the World, it is 140 feet long & 72 feet wide and contains over 30,000 tiles made at the pottery in Stoke on Trent. See the picture below.

On one of our first dates when I was ‘courting’ Brenda I took her to see it as then back in the early 70s as it was only on show every ten years back then! “ St George’s Hall” is Grade 1 listed and is one of the finest neo classical building in the World; one fact that not many people don’t know is that it was the first building in the World to be ‘Air Conditioned’ – the unique heating & ventilation system is in the basement - they do now!!

At my time at the ‘Stork Hotel’ I was the youngest Manager ever; I had a large flat opposite the hotel in a old building which was also had more staff accommodation, it overlooked ‘St Johns Gardens’ behind the hall; when the local ‘Assizes’ & later the ‘Crown Court’ was taking place in the ornate court chambers in the hall all the visiting defense & prosecuting QCs stayed at the hotel as well as the circuit Judges!

I used to go across in the afternoon to watch the trials taking place including some famous Liverpool murder cases, by then the death penalty was abolished so the Judge did not put the ‘Black Cap’ on to sentence them! They were first taken down to the cells in the cavernous basement before being transferred to ‘Walton Jail’

There is also a small but exquisite & lavishly decorated circular ‘Concert Hall’ with a Grand Organ, it has round stained glass windows and regularly played host to “Charles Dickens” who had many of his early readings there!!

PS; Speaking of Liverpool, early this morning the " Royal Princess" berthed at the 'Pier Head' with 3,600 passengers; see the pictures below of the ' New Ferry ' !!

Enough culture for now, with the ‘Baked Pork Chops’ this evening we are having a ‘Bouquetiere’ of fresh Vegetables along with some diced boiled Potatoes tossed with cooked diced Red Peppers, Tomato Frito & ‘Pimento Dulce’ ( sweet Paprika powder) – a mild version of ‘Patatas Bravas’! See below;

After supper we will catch up with all the news, sport and weather update before settling down to watch something on the TV after channel hopping.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

A WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON BANK HOLIDAY SUNDAY;

SUNDAY 16^TH/ AUGUST 2015.

We had a good nights sleep as the temperature & humidity have dropped a little, there was also a light breeze to make it bearable for a change, the only problem with that was that there was an all night ‘Rave’ down in the ‘Pabellon’ and the sound of the ‘DJs’ kept wafting in across the roof tops!

We managed a nice lie in this morning before getting up to our regular breakfast of Weetbix, fresh fruit & toast along with a mug of steaming tea; the sun is out, the sky is blue and there is just a little breeze to make it a rather pleasant start to the day ahead. The forecast for next week is looking good with more of the same and getting hotter as the week goes on.

                                                        'NASA' Photograph of the peninsula!

Yesterday afternoon & evening I managed to watch some live sport via the ‘First Row Sports’ channel and also using the ‘Filmon’TV channel for catching the ‘BBC/ITV/Channel 4’etc. I followed the ‘Premier League’ football (Everton) and then the ‘International Rugby Union’ as England beat France in a ‘World Cup’ warm up game. Later his afternoon I will watch the ‘Match of the Day’ as Manchester City welcome Chelsea!!                               

                                                  MANCHESTER CITY WON 3-0!!!

Fingers crossed that both PCs keep going a little while longer before I need to sort out the new system – a Stack with a new large Screen (24 inch) – a small second screen, new keyboard & mouse (preferred) – video camera & a new sound system! Den has sent me an E-Mail with all the ‘specs’ and Andy is going to help with the installation. Watch this space.

At lunchtime we are going up to ‘Bar Castillo’ for our regular ‘Paella’& a cool drink; this evening for our supper we are having some flattened ‘Chicken Breast Fillets’ dry cooked on the hot griddle plate with sliced Runner Beans & Baby New Carrots along with thick-cut slices of Baked Potato also dry sautéed. I’m making some of my famous ‘Tomato Salsa’ next week using some fresh Plum Tomatoes from the ‘Mayor’s’ Vegetable shop.

Next week in ‘Doggy World Heaven’ we are rather quiet as we only have ‘Reina’ with us on Tuesday & Thursday as normal, ‘Scruffy’ is booked in for the following weekend and then ‘Freddie & Bentley’ are back here on the ‘Vendimia’ weekend at the start of September. This Christmas ‘Charlie’ is with us for two weeks and ‘Scruffy’ for one week – at the same time! Not forgetting our daily visitor who calls in at any time during the morning or evening ‘Chispa’

We went up for our ‘Happy Hour’ yesterday on the roof box/oven/chimney and caught up with our reading while listening for a change to the ‘Forces Radio Gibraltar’ afternoon music show for a change; we will be back up today for more of the same!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

A VERY SUNNY MANILVA ON' BANK HOLIDAY' SATURDAY;

SATURDAY 5^TH/ AUGUST 2015.  “DIA DE ASUNCION – ASSUMPTION DAY”

This weekend is one of the major ‘Bank Holiday’ weekends here in Spain as they celebrate today the ‘Assumption of Mary’ – a major ‘Saints’ day in the religious calendar; it’s the height of the holiday season so the whole weekend goes mad all over Spain!

Late yesterday afternoon there were two major fires just down the coast before & behind Sotogrande, the first was in the slopes & hills to the west of Sotogrande and then another one broke out on the outskirts of Torreguadiaro, on the edge of Manilva, when a car in the car park of a large hotel burst into flames after an electrical fault, exploded and set more cars on fire before which then because of the stiff breeze set the surrounding country side on fire!!

On Facebook there were lots of pictures & reports posted, it made the National news and was declared a major incident, all the local Fire Stations were called out including ours here in the village; as you can see in the pictures below the Helicopters & Emergency Water Planes were called into action – the pictures were taken by Gary of the ‘Resident’ newspaper.See below;

Last night we had a ‘Helluva’ night on the town (village) We went along to ‘Bar Castillo’- to start, as at lunchtime when we called in for a drink we saw some very nice looking ‘Chuletas de Cordero’ – Baby Lamb Cutlets, so I ordered 4 as a Tapas – we took along some ‘Mint Sauce’ and introduced Juan to it as a ‘Salsa’! They also had some strips of ‘Belly Pork’ so we tried two small ones – all cooked ‘a la plancha’ – the Pork was served with Lemon wedges – Delicious!!

Juan has got some more help in along with his family, as he’s so busy, two local ‘Senoritas’ are now running around the place giving it even more atmosphere & excitement!!

We then came back along to ‘ Bar Rojas’ for our ‘fish supper’ – but there was a problem as Keino could not get his new TV to work – there was an important match on – so the place was dead and had no atmosphere – we cancelled our supper and shot back along to Bar Castillo, who had the match on and the place was ‘bouncing’- we went inside for a change and joined all the locals to watch the game; it was the first leg of the ‘Spanish Super Cup’ as Athletic Bibao welcomed Barcelona to the ‘Cathedral of Sound’ – sadly Barcelona lost 4-0 with Aduriz scoring a hat trick!

While we were watching the game we had a ‘ration’ plate of more of the ‘Lamb & Pork’ with some excellent ‘frits’ on the side – we staggered back to the house along Calle Mar feeling no pain!

The second leg is on Monday back in Barcelona?! The ‘La Liga’ then starts next weekend, who do Barcelona, play in their first game of the season? – none other than Athletic Bilbao – back at the ‘Cathedral of Sound’ up in Bilbao!!

Meanwhile over in the ‘Premier League’ in the UK Everton travel all the way down to Southampton today, Manchester City welcome Chelsea tomorrow in the ‘Match of the Day’ and then on Monday Liverpool welcome newly promoted Bournmouth to Anfield!  

After a little well deserved lie in this morning ‘Scruffy’ was dropped off for the day, we then had a late breakfast of Fresh Orange juice followed by ‘Campo Fried Eggs’ with  crispy ‘Smoked Back Bacon’ with lots of toast and a mug of steaming tea!

We are taking things easy over the weekend and will go out for our now regular ‘Paella’ at lunchtime tomorrow; this evening we are having ‘Entrecote Minute Steak’ with all the trimmings for supper before finding a good film to watch after the news, sport and weather round ups.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM A VERY HOT & SUNNY MANILVA;

A VERY HOT & SUNNY MANILVA ON FRIDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEKEND;

FRIDAY 14^TH/ AUGUST 2015

We were up bright & early this morning and after a quick breakfast we shot down to Sabinillas for our weekly shopping; I first called into the bank for some cash, we then called into the ‘Ferraterias’ for a new shower head, next it was the ‘English Bookshop’ to exchange some new books, post a birthday card and some bits & pieces.

‘Mercadona’ was mad busy, at the height of the season, even the underground car park was full, we then went into the large Furniture/Electrical goods shop for a new iron for Brenda ( most important!) before calling into a new ‘Chinese Fashion Shop’ were Brenda had spotted a nice pair of casual Blue slip-on loafers for me- thanks!

Next we shot along the promenade, with the Mediterranean simmering in the morning sunshine, and picked up some fresh flowers before our final port of call at ‘Super Sol’ for some English essentials; we then came back up the hills through the vine fields with this years crop of the ‘Muscatel Grapes’ now for sale. After unpacking back at the house we sorted our selves out for the day & weekend ahead.

Today the sun was out first thing so its going to be a hot one in sunny Manilva, the sky is blue and there is just a little breeze to make it bearable, for now, its getting hotter over the weekend and next week is starting to look like a record breaker!

This afternoon we will have our ‘Happy Hour’ either up on the roof box/oven or in the chill out room before the sun hits it in the late afternoon; we listen to the local Radio Station and catch up with our reading, at the moment we are into ‘Simon Kernick’ and have been recommended by Steve in the bookshop to try ‘Michael Connelly & Harlan Coben!

This evening we are out on the town ( village) as it’s the ‘Staffs & Chefs’ night off! We are going along to ‘Bar Castillo’ first for some light Tapas and then later we are back at ‘Bar Rojas’ were we have ordered some fish (Rosado,Swordfish,etc) for Brenda’ supper! No doubt we will need a few cool drinks to keep us going!!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM A VERY SUNNY MANILVA;

A VERY HOT & SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY;

THURSDAY 13^TH/ AUGUST 2015.

I was up early this morning to welcome back ‘Reina’ for the day; the workmen had arrived just before and are all over the building working on the walls and rooms, a fresh delivery of sand & bricks arrives each morning. Tomorrow they are not here as they have a long weekend off!

It’s already hot and the sky has cleared so the sun is out and it’s gradually getting warmer over the weekend; it’s still hotter than normal for this time of the year and the night time temperatures are staying around the 27 degs mark, the humidity is the problem, it’s the highest it’s been in living memory!

After our usual breakfast we showered & freshened our selves up ready for the day ahead; Brenda is in one of her ‘ing’ modes so I have retired to the office to check out the WWW. and update the Blog.

Our friend Andy called in to check out both of the PCs – the small one had come back on so he just did some memory clearing – the large ‘Dell PC’ which was not working is now fixed, ‘Google Crome’ is back on and all my favourites are working including ‘ Microsoft Word’ where I type and post the Blog! RESULT!!

PS; The only thing not yet back on is the ‘SKYPE’ video as I can’t remember the old password so I’m going to have to re–register it later – WATCH THIS SPACE!!

As this was all happening our handyman ‘Joaquin’ arrived to fix the burst hot water pipe under the floor in the downstairs toilet; he’s found it with not too much trouble as the specialist engineer had marked the spot! He has only had to take up/dig out one of the large Marble floor tiles to get to it and we have some spare tiles stored on the roof which are the same! Fingers crossed that he encounters no other problems!!

Yesterday in the post we also received a very nice ‘Aerogram’ from Jane’s mum, Nan, who was 95 years ‘young’ last week; she always replies with all her news after we send her the Birthday card, she has a very distinctive style of wrighting and you can see her personality & humour coming out – she has not changed in over the 46 years that we have known her! Lots of love to you Nan, good health and thanks for all the very happy memories xxxx

We went up for our ‘Happy Hour’ yesterday on the roof ‘Box, Compound, Oven or Chimney’ – whatever you want to call it! I now know what a ‘Chicken’ feels like as it goes in the oven to roast! It has cut out what little breeze there is and in now acting like a chimney! We will not be beaten and are working on ‘Plan B’ for the plants pots and Mosaic tiles! Watch this space.

We have just had a call from Rosie to ask us if we could look after ‘Scruffy’ for the day on Saturday – no problem – we are going down to Sabinillas on Friday morning for our regular shopping and tomorrow evening it’s the ‘Chef’s’ & ‘Staff’s’ night off again so we are going out on the town ( village) for supper.

This evening we are having Cold York Ham (local from the small store in our street) with ‘Campo Fried Eggs (just arrived) and for a treat some twice cooked Chips (local Potatoes from the Mayor’s vegetable shop)!

We will then catch up with all the news, sport and weather up dates before settling down to find something to watch.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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