A CRISP AND DRY SUNNY MANILVA ON FRIDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEKEND;

FRIDAY 5^th/ FEBRUARY 2016.

I was up early this morning to see ‘Reina’ back as Lee & Daniela had to be in work earlier than normal, as I got up I was not feeling as bright as normal, in fact I was a little off colour with aches & pains, feeling sick and very rundown, so we decided to cancel the shopping trip until tomorrow morning, I came back up to bed, ’Reina’ goes in her duvet across the foot of the bed and we had a nice lie in until the shop-goods delivery man came down our street dragging the pallet! I’m taking things easy for the rest of the day as I get myself sorted and back on the ‘straight and narrow

Overnight the wind picked up, as forecast, it was the Westerly ‘Lavante’ from across the Mediterranean, but by this morning it had dropped and although its a little overcast it still set to reach 18 degs by lunchtime, the weekend is staying settled and the start of next week is also looking fine.

So we are going to do our weekly shopping down in Sabinillas on Saturday morning at ‘Mercadona & Super Sol’ – then go and get our passport photos taken before carrying onto Sotogrande to go to ‘Iceland’ for the first time this year! We will call into the ‘English Bookshop’ to collect the local newspapers and also make an appointment with Steve, the owner, to arrange the documents for our new passports, he does all the work and sends it all off and they arrive in the post at our house, fingers crossed!

For our supper this evening we have decided to have “Goujons of Hake Fillet in a ‘Cruzcampo’ Beer Batter “ with Mushy Peas and twice-cooked Diced ‘Frits’ – lots of Lemon Wedges on the side and of course I will make some classic ‘Tartar’ Sauce a little later. See below.

Saturday night is ‘Steak Night’ after we find what they have in ‘ Mercadona’ – ‘Fillet, Entrecote or Rib on the Bone’?!  - then on Sunday its going to be the ‘Medallions of Pork Fillet’ with a sharp/piquant ‘Charcutiere’ sauce and ‘ Breton’ Style Potatoes with Red & Green Peppers and lots of vegetables, no doubt, from the ‘Vegetable Chef’! On Monday it will be ‘Pork Schnitzels’ with the rest of the Pork Fillet!

The missing Pension arrived in our Spanish Bank Account  this morning, after my second chase yesterday, sadly the ‘Euro’ has fallen again this week and is now at its lowest in over a year! Fingers crossed now that it starts to rise before our next two Pensions arrive later in the month!

At the moment I’m listening, as usual, to ‘Castle Radio FM 89.2’ on my second screen as I’m typing and posting the Blog, I’m going to chase up Andrew as at the moment he’s starting to promote some new shows over the forthcoming weeks/month – watch this space!

Last night after supper we found one of the ‘Bourne’ movies to watch with Matt Damon after channel hopping over on the BBC.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

..

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

A CLOUDY & OVERCAST SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY;

THURSDAY 4^th/ FEBRUARY 2016.

I was up first this morning to welcome back ‘Reina’ for the day, its a little cloudy this morning with just a little breeze, the forecast is still dry but a little cooler as the ‘Levante’ wind comes along the coast of the Mediterranean, over the weekend its picking up a bit and next week is starting to look settled ,the temperatures are hovering on the 17/19 degs mark for now but still very cold at night!

Yesterday I caught the gas bottle delivery man in the morning to exchange our bottle, the price of the gas bottle is still down, its controlled by the government, at the same time I checked with him as we have noticed that our consumption has gone up a bit, it turns out that at this time of the year, due to the big differences in the day/night temperatures, it causes some condensation on the bottles, which we have noticed!

I then came back up to bed for another little lie in as over the next couple of days we are out and about shopping, ‘Reina’ disappeared under her duvet in the office, I then, when we got up, rang our dear friend Jane over in England as overnight she had been back in hospital with her dear mother, Nan,( 96 years young!) who was not feeling too well again, she’s now back home and Jane is with her helping to settle her down, at the same time during the night Jane’s Shop/Bakery in Northwich was broken into by some local ‘Scumbags’ and her takings etc were robbed! Lots of love to Jane & Nan, we are thinking about you!

After our normal breakfast we sorted out our shopping list as we need to go to ‘Mercadona, Super Sol & Iceland’ as we are staring to stock up ready for when Tim and his mate arrive later in the month for their short-break golfing holiday! We are  also getting our passport photos taken as we now need to arrange for our new passports, Steve in the ‘English Bookshop’ is helping us, he does all the work etc Watch this space. We also started to plan the menu’s for the next few days, this evening we are having the rest of the Chicken Curry with Rice & ‘Chips’- then on Friday evening we have some Hake Fillets, Saturday will be ‘Steak Night’ and then on Sunday we are going to have ‘Medallions of Pork Fillet’

I’ve just come off the phone again with the ‘International Pensions Service’ help-line in Newcastle upon Tyne as my Pension has still not arrived in our Spanish Bank Account after chasing it on Tuesday morning, it now sounds like it has been sorted, fingers crossed, it will also revert to the regular 4 weeks payment plan! Watch this space.

As I’m typing the Blog I listen to ‘Castle Radio Fm 89.2’ via the ‘IT’ connection on my second screen, at the moment Andrew has managed to secure the future of the station, for now, with the help/backing of the ‘Castle Media Group’ and some of his regular shows/presenters are coming back on air soon, so I’m hopeful that I will be able to get back ‘on air’ with my Classic Radio Show in the not too distant future, watch this space.

During the afternoon/early evening we watched various quiz shows/programmes on ‘UK TV’ before coming back after supper to the Spanish TV where we caught the late film, “ Taken 2 “ from 2012, with Liam Neeson killing/shooting/stabbing etc every ‘baddie’ in sight as he hunts for his wife in Istanbul! We start our early evening watching, as usual, with our ‘Happy Hour’ drink, at this time in the lounge in front of the TV as its not warm enough at the moment to go up to our new roof patio (ex-terrace!)

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

..

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

A STILL WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON WEDNESDAY;

WEDNESDAY 3^rd/ FEBRUARY 2016.

Brenda was up early this morning to get herself ready to go down to the surgery for her check-up appointment with the Doctor, I followed just as ‘Reina’ came back for the day, the sun was out and although its a little cloudy it will clear before lunchtime and the sun will make it warm – 18/19 degs, the forecast for the rest of the week and over the weekend, at the moment, is looking settled and dry.

When Brenda returned, with a clean bill of health, we treated ourselves to ‘Crispy Smoked Bacon Butties’ with a mug of steaming tea; I then got the ‘Chicken Curry’ on the go for tonight’s supper, its my usual secret recipe with five different curry powders and five different pastes as the base of the sauce, chopped Onions, Mushrooms, Apples, etc, with Dessicated Coconut help along with various other ingredients go to make it one ‘Helluva’ Curry! With it we are having Basmati Rice & Garden Pea along with some sliced Banana.

‘Chispa’ has arrived as usual and is playing around the house but ‘Reina’ is not interested and is staying in her duvet in the office as I’m typing/posting the Blog. ‘Charlie’ is back with us for a week at the end of February as Brain & Jan are going away for quick weeks holiday.

Yesterday afternoon Mano & Anna called in for a chat and gossip, they have both had the flu for the past two weeks, which they say they caught off me when we collected them from the airport over in Gibraltar! Mano is looking for a job over in England, for a couple of years, before he retires, it will help with his part ‘English Pension’ - they are both a little tried of the Spanish lifestyle/politics etc.

Before supper last night we watched a new series on BBC 2 as Michael Portillo set off on his “ Great American Railway Journeys “ starting at ‘Grand Central Station’ in New York and taking in the sights and sounds of the city including Manhattan etc. After supper we caught the second part of the final “ Silent Witness “ as it reached an exciting climax.

One of the Pensions didn’t arrive in our Spanish Account on Monday so I chased up the ‘International Pensions Service- Hot Line’ in Newcastle, it was technical fault that they sorted out in the next couple of days, watch this space, usually when its late its because there is a ‘Bank Holiday’ in the USA as they bank with an American Bank?!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

..

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

A WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON TUESDAY:

TUESDAY 2^nd/ FEBRUARY 2016.

I was up first again this morning to see little Princess ‘Reina’ back with us for the day; the sun is out and the sky is blue, there is no breeze and by lunchtime it will reach the ‘heady heights’ of 18/19 degs, over the next few days up to the weekend its staying dry and clear if not a little colder as a stiff ‘Levante’ wind comes in from the Mediterranean for a change!

We had a little lie in before breakfast, I then shot down to the butchers and bought some Chicken Wings, for another day, a boned Leg& Thigh of Chicken to go into tomorrows Curry and for tonight’s supper I bought ‘Escalopes’ of his best Steak and when I got back I made a plain ‘Braised Steak with lots of Onions’ With it we are having the rest of the Baby New Potatoes in their skins and local Carrots with Baby Brussels Sprouts.

As I’m typing & posting the Blog each morning I listen to ‘Castle Radio FM 89.2’ via the WWW on my second screen, I’m still waiting to hear when my programme is going to be ‘live’ on air, watch this space. Fingers crossed!

Tomorrow morning Brenda has an early appointment at the surgery for a good check up with the Doctor, the only problem at the moment is that we don’t have a regular Doctor, after all the changes, so we can’t get some continuity at the moment. She’s taking all her files and prescriptions to help her get her points across so hopefully she will be able to sort things out, watch this space.

Last night we walked down to the surgery for our appointment with the Chiropodist to see to us both, its costs nothing as its part of the ‘Junta de Andalucia’s’ Health system, it turned out that it was not our regular young lady but a more senior Chiropodist that has worked here for many years, after sorting our double appointment out, it was marked down for only one of us, she was very professional and ended up doing a brilliant job for both of us, our toes, nails and feet have never been so good! We walked home feeling very relaxed and comfortable and this morning after checking them we are both very content & happy, I know it sounds rather ‘sad’ but being comfortable in your old age is most important!

In the afternoon we watched for the first time in many year on Channel 4 “ Countdown “ followed by “ A Place in the Sun “ which was in Mijas just down the coast past Marbella, then after supper we caught the first of a two part episode of “ Silent Witness “ on BBC 1- the second one is this evening.

Later the late film over here on the Commercial Channel ‘La Sexta’ was “ Catch Me If You Can “ from 2002 & directed by Steven Spielberg, its a true story, a biographical crime drama, about a young con man who successfully cons millions of dollars, it has a mega-cast of Leonardo DiCaprio as the con man, with Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen & Nathalie Baye.

Duquesa Marina this morning;

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

..

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

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

MONDAY 1^st / FEBRUARY 2016.

I got up this morning and welcomed ‘Reina’ back with us for the day, she’s with us everyday this week, we then went back up to bed and had a nice lie in listening to the Castle Radio FM 89.2 Breakfast Show, the sun was already out and the sky is blue, there is no breeze so we have another perfect day here in sunny Manilva on the first day of February! The rest of the week is starting to look settled with more of the same, the overall temperature today is set to reach 21/22 degs, its still cold at night dropping by 11/12 degs – but we can’t complain!!

We had our usual breakfast of fresh fruit, Weetabix, toast and tea to set us up for the day ahead; we then rang our ‘Personal HSBC Banker’ to arrange for one of our ‘Pensions’ to be transferred from our English Bank Account, as usual on the first of the month, we now have a new online system to do this but I need to study and practise it first, the other ‘Pension’ today is transferred automatically into our Spanish Bank Account. Of course they are both down, considerably, due to the present low exchange rate of the Euro! Its the Chinese economy again as well as the price of a barrel of Oil, the UK Government trying to renegotiate with Europe and the forthcoming elections in the USA ( Trump for President ?!)  Watch this space.

At lunchtime we went for a short walk and ended up at 'Bar Castillo' sat outside in the warm sunshine with a clear blue sky above taking the sights and sounds of sunny Manilva, we had a nice drink and some fine 'Tapas' suggested by Juan.

For our supper this evening we are having ‘Cold Roast Leg of Lamb’ with a fry-up of the leftover vegetables and the rest of the ‘ Boulangere’ Potatoes, the New Zealand Lamb is very succulent and tasty especially with the Garlic Cloves flavour& Rosemay! PS; It was also cooked perfectly ie ‘Pink’ – by the Executive Head Chef! – even if I do say so myself!!

As I was typing the Blog Tim came online on the ‘Skype’ video so we had a good catch up with all his news, they have been away for Thea’s birthday over the weekend, the flew to Barcelona from Liverpool and then caught a bus to Lleida in Western Catalonia to see Jo who is working and living there, Ben went with them as well so it was a nice family get together, they caught the fast train back to Barcelona and landed at Liverpool last night ‘sideways’ and going ‘up & down’ as the latest Atlantic Storm ‘Henry’ was hitting the North West!! At the end of February Tim and his mate Dave are coming over to stay with us for a long ‘Golf’ weekend, flying into Gibraltar, watch this space!

Last night after supper we watched “ Invictus “ from 2009, a movie produced & directed by Clint Eastwood, its the story of Nelson Mandela, played by Morgan Freeman, as nobody else could, and the South African Rugby Captain, Francois Pienaar, played by Matt Damon, a little ‘small’ for the part, who won the World Cup in South Africa in 1995.The title comes from a British Poem that Mandela had been inspired by during his 27 years in jail.

See below some pictures taken over the weekend by our Dentist, Victor, with his new camera on a spectacular 'colour' setting, is shows the Duquesa Port and some of the Murals around the village!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

..