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

..

A VERY HOT & SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY.

THURSDAY 13th/ JULY 2017.

I was up this morning, first thing, to see ‘ Reina’ back with us for the day, she’s’ back tomorrow morning and then next week it’s only two days, Wednesday & Thursday, she went back to sleep on the bed and we carried on and had a little lie in, after our regular breakfast Brenda is washing her hair after showering, I’m doing the same later, as we went downstairs the front door was rattling, it was ‘ Chispa’ letting us know that she want’s to come in, normally during the day the door is open and she just crashes in!

Our friends Brian & Jan have just booked ‘ Charlie’- the water dog, in with us at ‘Doggy World Heaven’ for his late two-weeks summer holiday in the middle of September as well as a short break weekend in October, we cant’s wait to see him back with us, he’s a lovely dog and great company.

We then got the shopping list ready for tomorrow morning when I’m going down on the early bus to Sabinillas for our weekly shopping, this evening ‘ Chico’ is being dropped off for his long weekend break, he’s with us until Tuesday evening, he’s no problem, a little character and gets on with the other dogs, also next Tuesday evening ‘ Scruffy’ is back with us for a sleep over, this means that this evening we can’t go down to the ‘ Casa De Los Torres – Cultural Centre’ for the ‘Fusion Flamenco’ show, as it’s the ‘ Chef’s & Staff night off we are going along later, with ‘ Chico’ for a light Tapas supper to ‘Bar Castillo’  and I will pop down and try and get some pictures, watch this space.

After a very hot & sticky night this morning the sun broke through early and the sky is clearing, there is just a little breath of air, it’s going to be a ‘ hot one’ later, inland Spain is experiencing very hot weather, the records are being broken, today, around the area of Jean its forecast to reach 47 degs+! 50 degs is even possible!!  Over the weekend down here on the ‘ Costa Del Sol’ its staying on the hovering on the 30 degs mark, next week is going to get steadily hotter, watch this space.

Yesterday at the Tennis at Wimbledon it was all happening, Andy Murray was beaten, in five sets, for the last two sets he had a serious hip injury, that he has been carrying for a while, then Novak Djokovic had to retire with a injury to his elbow, meanwhile Roger Ferderer cruised into the semi-finals with a trademark display.

Today in the ‘Tour de France’  it’s day one in the ‘Pryenees’ as Stage 12 goes from Pau to the mountain top finish in Peyragudes over 215 kms, in the last 100 kms there are five punishing climbs, yesterday the German sprinter Marcel Kittle won again, his fifth sprint win is this year’s Tour, I can guarantee that he won’t win today’ - in fact he will be lucky to finish!!

See the route maps below;

See below some pictures taken the other night of the famous celebrity restaurant in Estepona ‘ Robbies ‘ it’s been going for many years and was the favourite restaurant of Cilla Black, where they had a permanent table reserved for her with her favourite ‘Pink Champagne’ on ice! We went there with friends when we first arrived down here on the ‘ Costa Del Sol’ all those year ago, another visit is due! Watch this space.

Last night after supper we settled down and watched a movie on the ‘ Kodi’ film channel ‘Inferno ‘ from 2016, another mystery thriller written by Dan Brown, it stars Tom Hanks, reprising his role from ‘The De Vinci Code & Angel & Demons’ – you couldn’t tell the difference as it’s the same type of story!

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

..

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

..

A VERY WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON WEDNESDAY.

WEDNESDAY 12^th/ JULY 2017.

I was up early, again, this morning to welcome back ‘Reina’ for the day, she is now with us on Friday as well, Lee & Daneila have a shift change, next week we are waiting to hear when she will be with us next week, she shot onto her duvet and had a little lie in with us until the gas bottle delivery man came down our street blowing his horn, after freshening up we had breakfast, for a change we had ‘ Weetabix’ – I like mine ‘ crisp’ and Brenda was having hers ‘mushed’ as she has a irritating ulcer which is giving her problems chewing, she is popping along to the Chemists in ‘Calle Mar’ to get some help.

So for our supper this evening I’ve cancelled the ‘Gammon Steak’ and we are now having Omelettes, Cheese for Brenda and Mushroom for me, tomorrow night it’s the ‘ Chef’s’ night off so we are going along to ‘ Bar Castillo’ for a  light ‘ Tapas’ supper, ‘ Chico’ is now arriving on Thursday evening which means that we won’t be able to go the ‘ Casa del Torres’ Cultural Centre for the ‘ Flamenco Fusion’ concert, I will pop down and get some pictures, Chico’ is with us until next Tuesday evening, ‘ Chispa’ has just come in for breakfast and is up in the office/studio as I’m typing the Blog.

The sun has just broken through and the sky is clearing, there is a slight breeze, overnight it’s hovering on the 20/21 degs mark, the rest of the week is staying the same 30 degs+ but then next week it’s forecasting a ‘ Heat-Wave’ –  going into the mid 40s, which will be interesting as we are already in one?! Watch this space.

See below a spectacular drone picture of the village of Beddgelert, in the bottom right, in the valley below ‘Mount Snowdon’ which is out of shot on the left, at the head of the valley past the two lakes is where the ‘ Pen-Y-Gwryd Hotel ‘ is situated. We managed the famous ‘ Royal Goat Hotel ‘ in the village, back in 1972/3.

Yesterday evening on the River Mersey in Liverpool there was a spectacular fire work display, from a barge anchored in the middle of the river, to celebrate the departure of the ‘ Queen Elizabeth ‘ from the landing stage/terminal, the pictures below were taken from the Restaurant ‘Panoramic 34 ‘ at the top of the ‘ West Tower ‘

The Tennis at Wimbledon was all action as Johanna Konta reached the last four and Novak Djokovic roared into the quarter-finals under the roof on the Center Court as it was raining!

At the ‘Tour De France’ Stage 10 the German sprinter Kittel won the flat stage, his 4^th stage win this Tour, if Mark Cavendish had still been in the Tour he would have won at least three of the stages, today Stage 11 is from Eymet to Pau over 204 kms, another transitional stage moving the race to the foothills of the Pyrenees, with a sprint finish, again! Watch this space.

See the route maps below;

Meanwhile over in London King Felipe VI & Queen Letizia left Madrid in the glorious sunshine and arrived to a downpour, on the ‘ State Visit ‘

Last night after supper we watched a movie on the ‘ Kodi’ film channel, “ Kingsman: The Secret Service “ a spy action-comedy film, a cross between ‘ The Nights of the Round Table, James Bond & the SAS’ ! Colin Firth is Galahad, Mark Strong as Merlin, Michael Caine as Arthur, Taron Egerton as the new ‘ Kingsman’ Sophie Cookson as ‘ Lancelot’ and Samuel L. Jackson as the ‘ baddie’ with his assistant Sofia Boutella as the ‘ Gazelle’

PS; In the lunchtime post today we had another post card from our Swedish friend Lillemor to let us know that she will be back soon, thanks! Keep them coming, from all over the World!

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

..

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

..

A VERY SUNNY MANILVA ON TUESDAY.

TUESDAY 11^th/ JULY 2017.

I was up early this morning to see ‘ Reina’ back with us for the day, when she arrived she was wet, the Council workmen were washing down ‘Calle Mar’ as she arrived, after drying her she joined us on the bed for a little lie in, we then got up as the ‘Council’ water wagon came down our street, I always say ‘ thank you’ to the men as they are washing down our street and the local ‘ Barios’

For our breakfast we had fresh fruit ( Nectarines) followed by ‘ Crispy Smoked Bacon Butties’ – open on Brown, as usual for Brenda, with mugs of strong tea. We then sorted our day ahead out, which was easy, as we are happy doing nothing, because we can!


See the picture below of the ' Queen Elizabeth ' sailing up the River Mersey this morning, past Crosby beach were I used to play as a child, on her way to Liverpool to berth.

It’s clear and bright this morning, the sun was out early, there is a ‘hint’ of a breeze, making it a little cooler, for now, 28/29 degs+ - the rest of the week and over the weekend is staying the same, getting hotter by the weekend, next week is looking like a very ‘ hot one’ – watch this space.

Just to think of something a little cooler, see the picture below of the mountain ‘ Trayfan’ in the Snowdonia range, it’s behind the very famous ‘ Pen-Y-Gwryd Hotel’  at Nant Gwynant, it was the training & planning base for Sir Edmund Hillary successful attempt in 1953 to climb Mont Everest, where we were the Managers, our first job , after getting married back in November(29^th) 1971! 

We climbed it in the snow & ice in the middle of December, later in early January 1972, we were taken up Mount Snowdon, in the winter snow by the then World’s greatest  climber Joe Brown, considered the foremost rock climber and mountaineer of his generation, a memorable day when we were the only people on the top, above the clouds, coming back down Brenda was first over the edge, followed by me and then Joe on the end of the ropes!

See the hotel below with ' Tryfan ' behind in the distance;

Yesterday evening we made contact, on the Skype video, with the ‘ Moffatt’s’ – our dear friends Tim & Thea, over in Old Colwyn , North Wales, we had a good catch up with all their news, they have sold the Motor Home and bought a large Caravan to go back on the site in ‘Mojacar Pueblo’ later this year, it can take guests, watch out!

See the picture below of them out at the “ Bryan Adams “ Rock Concert over the last weekend in  Eirias Park in Colwyn Bay.

This evening for our supper we are having a ‘ Fish & Seafood Pie’ that I made last week and put away in the deep-freeze, I will pop it in the oven this evening, we are having on the side Green Peas and a Baked Potato.

Yesterday afternoon and into the late evening we watched the Tennis from Wimbledon, the final match was Rafa Nadel v Gilles Muller ( Lux ) – a epic five-set as Rafa fought back from two sets down before losing a fifth match point, after four hours 47 minutes – 15-13! ( no tie-brake!) Today it’s Stage 10 of the ‘ Tour De France’ from Perigueux to Bergerac over 178 kms- a sprint finish, see the route below;

This coming weekend down in ' Castillo de la Duquesa ' its the Annual Feria ( Fair) on Friday, Saturday & Sunday, earlier this year there was a vote in sunny Manilva to go back to the old way of having three separate 'Ferias ' - one in Castillo, one in Sabinillas and one here in sunny Manilva, we all voted yes!

Later after supper we watched Sunday’s episode of ‘Poldark’ as he was on the rampage in France, to save his friend the doctor, he succeded and also brought home another noble man’s son, one of his old friends was killed, meanwhile back at home a toady vicar was trying to woo his niece, the bad guy was still trying to discredit him, he’s the world’s most evil step father at the same time, all this means that Poldark can get on with the business of loving two women, out-smarting the bad guy and find a new cause to get behind, ‘ Allez, Ross, Allez’!!

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

..