A WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY - " ST PATRICKS DAY "

THURSDAY 17^th MARCH 2016.  “ ST PATRICK'S DAY “

                                                          See Dublin all ' Green' last night !

I was up very early this morning to see ‘Reina’ back with us for a long day, she’s not being collected until later this evening; ‘Chispa’ has also been in already to see her and will no doubt be back later to play. We then had a little lie in before sorting the day ahead out, for breakfast this morning we had ‘ Crispy Smoked Bacon Butties’ with a mug of steaming tea, we then did the shopping list for tomorrow morning visit down to Sabinillas.

Brenda is now using her crutches and getting about downstairs, she has also tried a few steps without them to see how her feet are, so far so good, so by the weekend it will be time to try going up the stairs for the first time in nearly five weeks! She will then be able to have a shower and wash her air as well as finding something to wear, it will also be time for her to go to bed with her husband!!  The ‘ Day & Night Nurse’ is nearly redundant as well as the Housekeeper and Cleaner!!  The ‘ Head Chef’ is being retained,for now!! Watch this space.

We have another fine day here on the ‘ Costa Del Sol’ with bright, warm sunshine and a clear blue sky, there is a little breeze but its still very pleasant here in sunny Manilva; its staying the same over the weekend and for next week’s ‘ Semana Santa ‘ week of religious festivals and parades, leading up to the Easter Weekend’ they are forecasting some of the wet stuff on Monday & Tuesday but then dry and sunny for the rest of the week. See below some pictures from North Wales once again showing it at its finest, looking towards 'Penmaen Head' above Colwyn Bay and across the 'Bay of Colwyn'!

As I’m typing the Blog I’m listening to ‘ Castle Radio FM 89.2 & On-Line’ as its the classic ‘ Sixties’ Show, at the moment they are playing ‘ Some Other Guy by the ‘ Big Three’ which is one of the tracks on my playlist! I’m still hoping to get ‘live on air’ sometime in the not too distant future with my ‘ Classics Show’ – watch this space.

For our supper this evening we are having ‘Omelette’s’ – Brenda is having Cheese and I’m having Mushroom, on Friday its fish and Saturday is ‘ Steak Night’ – then on Sunday we are having ‘ Shanks of Minted Lamb’ with Baby New Potatoes.

This afternoon we will be glued to the TV as we watch the third days racing from the ‘ Cheltenham Festival’ – this coming weekend is a big sports extravaganza with ‘ Football, Rugby, Racing & the return of Grand Prix’ staring in Melbourne.

Last night after watching all the ‘Quiz Shows’ I was channel hopping and found on the ‘ Paramount Film Channel’ what turned out to be a very good, award winning, crime drama series, showing  back to back episodes, “ The Fall “ from 2013 . first shown on ‘BBC 2’ its based in Belfast and is about a serial murderer and stars the very watchable Gillian Anderson as a senior Police Detective brought in to take over the inquiry, with James Dorna as the ‘ killer – with a great supporting cast, there is also at the same time a police corruption case within the team and the ‘ Belfast’ baddies are running around assassinating the ‘ Cops’!!

The pictures of Liverpool below show the famous ‘ William Brown Street’ with the ‘ Walker Art Gallery & Museum’ the ‘ County Sessions House’ and the ‘ Steble Fountain’ as well as a different view of ‘St Georges Hall’ taken last night.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

A WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON WEDNESDAY.

WEDNESDAY 16^th/ MARCH 2016.

As usual ‘ Reina’ arrived at 9-00 am and she shot into her duvet, we had our normal breakfast and then got ourselves freshened up, Brenda then bathed her feet, they are both looking a lot better, back to normal, we will try their strength a bit later when she goes on the crutches, meanwhile I started to get ready this evenings supper “ Beef Curry “ on the go, Brenda is in charge of the ‘Basmati Rice’ !

We are back to normal as the sun was out early and the sky is now blue, there is no breeze and looks like we are in for another fine day, the forecast for the rest of the week is settled and hopefully the weekend will also be fine.

After lunch we will be watching the second day of the ‘ Cheltenham Festival’ – yesterday was very exciting with some great wins, its the best National Hunt Racing in the World, it was a fine day at ‘Prestbury Park’ and it was packed , the new stand looked terrific.

Then after supper we settled down to watch the final episode of “ Happy Valley “ – it was very gripping, as most of the story lines were solved, it leaves some questions un-answered, is there going to be another series?! The acting is top notch and the story lines are very true to life, the Yorkshire area comes over as unchanged with all the grey stone houses and everybody know everybody business, Sarah Lancashire gives another award winning performance as the gritty Police Sergeant who has all sorts of family problems to handle at the same time! Last nights episode we a bit of an anti-climax but no less very watchable.

See below a couple of pictures from North Wales showing the sunset over Colwyn Bay and the ‘Menai Bridge’ between Anglesey and Bangor on the coast with the snow covered mountains of ‘Snowdonia’ in the background.

Thoughts for the Day; See below.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

A OVERCAST BUT STILL WARM SUNNY MANILVA ON TUESDAY;

TUESDAY 15^th / MARCH 2016.

After seeing ‘ Reina’ back with us and settling her down we had our breakfast, ‘ Crispy Smoked Bacon Butties’ with a mug of steaming tea, it was then time for me to shoot out on my travels around the village, I first stopped at our local bank in ‘Calle Mar’ for some cash from the machine, I then went down to the butchers and stocked up for the week ahead, I bought some Calves Liver for our supper this evening which we are having with English Pork Sausages, Smoked Bacon , sautéed baby Mushrooms,'French' Fried Onions, Broccoli florets and Potato wedges; for tomorrow nights ‘Curry’ I bought some of his excellent diced steak for a change, to go away in the deep freeze for another day I have two sorts of his Homemade Beef & Chicken Burgers and also some Chicken wings! See or supper below; 

I then called into our local shop at the bottom of our street for fresh fruit & vegetables, household goods, essentials and ‘ goodies’! While I’ve been out & about I have been asked about Brenda by all our local neighbours ( 12 – so far!) This morning its a little overcast with clouds but still no breeze and its warm, the forecast up to the weekend is looking settled and even getting a little warmer . 20/21 degs!

It was then time after putting everything away, with Brenda’s help, to take her bandage off her right foot, she then bathed her feet in warm soapy water, later we are going to use our ‘Foot Spa’ – at the moment she is relaxing with her feet up – next it will be time to try the crutches for the first time – watch this space. After this the next challenge is the stairs so as she can go to the bathroom for a shower and finally get back to our comfy bed!

This afternoon we will be watching the “ Cheltenham Festival’s first day of racing on Channel 4’s excellent coverage, then later this evening after supper its the final episode of “ Happy Valley “ – its going to get rather exciting and no doubt gripping?! Last night Brian called in for a chat and good gossip as well as a catch up with all his news.

The pictures below of Liverpool show the famous ferry boat ‘ Royal Iris’ on the River Mersey, the 'Pier head' with the latest  ships berthed and the ‘ Princess Dock’ taken last night.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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" ST GEORGES HALL " LIVERPOOL.

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA:

ANOTHER WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON MONDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEK.

MONDAY 14^th / MARCH 2016.  “ COMMONWEALTH  DAY “

‘Reina’ arrived as normal this morning, she’s here for five days this week, she is no problem, she goes in her duvet up in the office during the day and in the afternoon comes down on the settee with Brenda, she is not a great lover of walking too far, in fact yesterday Daniela & Lee took her on a ‘Charity’ walk along the promenade in Sabinillas and Lee ended up carrying her most of the way! No doubt ‘ Chispa’ will come calling later, she rattles the door, and we let her in to play with her friend!

For breakfast this morning I squeezed some local Oranges and put the juice into the deep freeze to chill quickly, we then had our usual toast & tea to start the day off; we then had our ‘Menu’ planning meeting, this evening we are having the rest of the ‘Smoked Roast Chicken’ – cold  with an Avocado & Tomato salad, tomorrow morning I’m going down to the butchers and on Wednesday its ‘ Curry Night ‘ in sunny Manilva.

The sun is now out and the sky is blue, there is no breeze so its a very pleasant start to the day, the forecast for the week ahead is looking settled for now, we will check the forecast later on the early afternoon news; I’ve just put the washing out to dry up on the roof patio.

This week its the high light of the ‘National Hunt Racing’ season as the “ Cheltenham Festival “ starts tomorrow with five days racing of the most exciting jumping meeting in the World at Prestbury Park; the excellent coverage on ‘ Channel 4’ this year is further enhanced with the 20 times retired ‘Champion Jockey’ – ‘ Sir Anthony McCoy OBE ‘ joining the commentary team!

Last night after supper we watched the ‘ Six Nations Rugby Union Championship’ as Scotland beat France 29-18 with Stuart Hogg scoring two tries, it mean that England have won the Championship and on Saturday evening in Paris they play France and when they win they will have the ‘ Grand Slam’ ie; beating all five teams!

We then caught the next exciting episode of “ The Night Manager “ on BBC 1 its very gripping as the story unfolds, spying, arms running, murder, intrigue and last night ‘ S-x ‘! Tim Huddleston ( the next James Bond ?) is excellent, Hugh Laurie is very threatening as the ‘ Baddie’ and Oliva Colman is very watchable as the love interest ( S-x!) !!

Above I have posted a picture Blog of St Georges Hall in Liverpool, its Grade 1 listed and is the finest ‘Neo-Grecian’ buildings in the World. It shows the main Concert Halls famous ‘ Minton’ tiled floor ( 30,000 !) which is usually covered with a wooden floor, and also the recently refurbished small Concert Hall in all its glory

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See below a different view of Liverpool taken from the top of the ‘ Anglican Cathedral’ down the River Mersey to Liverpool Bay and the wind farms.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;