A VERY ' SHARPE' & SUNNY MANILVA ON FRIDAY AT THE START OF THE ' BANK HOLIDAY' WEEKEND.

FRIDAY 3^rd/ JANUARY 2020.

I was up very early this morning and after a quick freshen up I shot off on my travels, down to Sabinillas, on the local Bus, from outside the ‘Wine Centre’ I then waited for the ‘English Bookshop’ to open and collected the newspapers and a ‘New Year’ card, I walked along to the ‘ Ferraterias’ for some light bulbs, before coming back to ‘Mercadona’ for a little shop, it was very quiet and I was soon back out and jumped into a taxi and shot along to the far-end of the promenade, to the local ‘Market’ for our fresh wall plants, after unloading back at the house I went along to the local Bank in ‘ Calle Mar’ to pay the electricity bill.

For breakfast I had a well-earned ‘Toasted Crispy Smoked Bacon Butty’ – smothered in ‘ HP’ Brown sauce – open on brown for Brenda, with mugs of hot tea!

This morning started very ‘ Crisp & Fresh’ but clear with a blue sky breaking through, as there was a light breeze, the sun has broken though now, with a few patchy clouds, so by lunchtime it’s due to reach 18 degs+ - overnight still down to only 9 degs+ - over the ‘Bank Holiday’ weekend it’s staying the same but a little cooler, next week is also staying the same to start, hovering in the mid’ teens’ with sunshine and patchy clouds, until the next cold, wet & windy ‘Atlantic’ front comes in next Friday, with strong winds and moderate to heavy rain over next weekend, watch this space.

The ‘ Three Kings ‘ parade is on Sunday evening at 6-00 pm ish! It has been confirmed on the ‘Council’ web page/Facebook and in the local newspaper! Monday is an official ‘ Bank Holiday’ all over Spain as they celebrate “ Three Kings Day – Dia de los Reyes “ as Gaspa, Melchor & Baltasar arrive !

Yesterday it was our dear friend ‘Tim’s 75^th birthday, as you can see below, he was out celebrating in magical Mojacar with Thea & Jo, before she goes back to Dubai,  Ben had gone back to Manchester after Xmas, the ‘Paella’ looks rather special!

On ‘ Xmas Eve’ our very dear friend ‘ Joyce Baby’ from Chester, called us from her house up in ‘ Alhaurin el Grande’ behind Malaga, where she is staying, as usual, over the ‘Xmas/New Year celebrations, we had a good catch up with all her news and are going to meet up with  her in the next two weeks, it’s her turn to come down to see us in sunny Manilva!

Meanwhile over in Melbourne, Australia, Lyn was taken out for lunch with a " Furphy Beer " - a ‘Pint’ or two, with Annette & Deb, as you can see below, Annette was taking the pictures!

Over in Ottawa, Canada at the New Year celebrations Lanner was out with her friends & Blake ‘ partying’ as you can see below!

Just a quick update of the first football results of the ‘New Year 2020’ – Everton lost at Manchester City 2-1 and Liverpool beat Sheffield Utd 2-0  to make it a full year without losing in the top flight and maintain their 13 point lead at the top of the ‘Premiere League’

For our supper this evening we are having ‘ Goujons of Hake Fillet’ – coated in breadcrumbs from the local Bakery and shallow-fried in Vegetable Oil until crisp & golden, accompanied with Homemade ‘Tartar’ sauce and lots of Lemon wedges, served with ‘ Mushy Green Peas’ and triple-cooked ‘ Chips’

Last night we watched the second episode of “ Bancroft “ – the last part is this evening, as she showed her true colours! Two more ‘ Killings’ as a young Detective was shot dead and a gangsters mother ‘ fell’ from a window! Her son was arrested for the first two murders?! We will find out this evening the truth, watch this space.

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

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A NOW ' CRISP' & SUNNY MANILVA ON ' THIRSTY' THURSDAY.

THURSDAY 2^nd/JANUARY 2020.

We had a nice long lie in this morning, in fact we overslept, as for the first time in a long while we have no guests staying with us in ‘ Doggy World Heaven’ – ‘Pucci’ went home yesterday evening.

After freshening up I made Brenda stay in bed for the morning as she has a painful knee joint, I gave her fresh fruit(sliced Banana) with brown toast and a mug of tea, meanwhile I made myself a ‘ Toasted Crispy Smoked Bacon Butty’ – smothered in ‘HP’ Brown sauce, with a mug of strong/hot tea.

On the ‘ Andrew Charles Breakfast Show’ on “ Castle Radio FM 89.2 & Online on the WWW”  the ‘Music Quiz’ came on, it was a long 19 second, in reverse track, which with one of the cryptic clues I got straight away, it was ‘ Aled Jones’ with “ Walking in The Air “ I’m in the draw, again, tomorrow morning, watch this space.

Tomorrow morning I’m going down on the bus to Sabinillas, as we need a few more items from ‘ Mercadona’ – I will first pick up the newspapers from the ‘ English Bookshop’ – then catch a taxi and go along to the local market at the far-end of the promenade to pick up some fresh wall plants, before coming back up to the village in the taxi.

This morning it’s still very grey & overcast, with a slight breeze, so the clouds will be slow clearing, by lunchtime only reaching 15 degs+ overnight down to 9 degs, the coldest day so far this year! ( Hic!) Tomorrow and over the first weekend of 2020, it’s staying the same, dry & settled, with sunshine and patchy clouds, hovering on the 15/16 degs mark.

Next week is now looking a little more settled and dry to start, with warm sunshine, as the next ‘ Atlantic’ front is now not due to hit us until next weekend, so we are in for more of the same, as now, during the week, before it goes colder and wet, with the wind getting up to gale-force by next Saturday, watch this space.

For our supper this evening we are having ‘ Grilled Chicken Wings’ with finally sliced ‘French’ Green Beans and Baked Potatoes, on Friday it’s going to be a ‘ Fish n ‘Chip Supper’ - then on Saturday Brenda is going to have her favourite ‘ Confit of Duck Leg’ and I’m having a ‘ Grilled Rib-Eye Angus Steak’ – for a change on Sunday we are having a late ‘ Brunch’ – with the ‘ full-works’ – watch this space.

At the moment we are checking with the Council, when is the ‘Three Kings Parade’ as in the programme of ‘Xmas’ events it shows it on Saturday at 7-00 pm, but I have just be told it’s on Sunday?! Watch this space.

We have ordered the traditional ‘Rosca de Reyes’ cake from the local Bakery, see below.

Last night after supper we settled down to watch the three-part police/drama series, over the next few nights ‘ Bankcroft ‘ with two grisly murders to start, the only problem is that you need to have seen the previous story line in the last series, to follow the latest ongoing story line, as it unfolds, watch this space.

We have the glasses but sadly not the bottle ! 

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

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A NOW ' FRESH' AND SUNNY MANILVA ON WEDNESDAY - ' NEW YEARS DAY 2020'

WEDNESDAY 1^st/ JANUARY 2020. “ NEW YEARS DAY – DIA DE AÑO NUEVO “

We all had a nice lie in this morning after a late finish last night, ‘Pucci’ came up with us and slept all night on ‘Reina’s’ duvet at the foot of our bed, after we freshened up we took him out for his first walk of the day, I also let the ‘New Year’ in when we returned, as usual, by tradition I had a piece of bread, matches etc in a bag, with me, yesterday evening, earlier on there was some locals setting off loud ‘Bangers’ so we gave him his calming tablet and another one later, which worked fine, as the night went on and into the New Year, he’s full of the ‘joys’ this morning, he will be collected later this evening.

 In ‘ Doggy World Heaven’ over the first two weeks of the ‘New Year’ we have no guests, as little ‘ Miss Bella’ is at home, Leah is on holiday!

When we returned we had for our breakfast some freshly squeezed local Orange juice, with a cool glass of ‘ Cava White Label Codorniu Anna ‘ with ‘ Campo’ Scrambled Eggs on Toast topped with diced Smoked Salmon!

See below;

We then came upstairs to the office/studio and first called Lyn, over in Melbourne, on the ‘Skype’ audio call system, she was at home on her own, as Jack had moved into the ‘ Respite Home’ for two weeks, she goes along to see him each day, as the Home is not too far away, she is relaxing and taking things very easy, catching up with her sleep,  she is  safe and well, as the severe ‘Bush Fires’ have not reached them, down on the coast/bay, despite it being very hot, we then called Jenny and then Norah at the same time, finally we made contact with Sandra & Bill over in Everett, Ontario, Canada, on the ‘ Facebook Messenger’ to answer their message and arrange a ‘ Skype’ video link up later today!






At lunchtime on our walk with 'Pucci' we ended up back at 'Bar Rojas  - Sol Vida Pizzeria' - which was the only bar open, we sat in the sunshine outside and had nice cool drink, a fine large glass of Italian White Wine for Brenda and a ' Helluva' Cubra Libre for me, Leah & her husband Ryan came along, she had just picked him up from Malaga airport, after flying in from the UK, so they joined us, with little ' Miss Bella ' as we took in the sights & sounds of sunny Manilva on 'New Years Day!

Yesterday evening we had a nice surprise guest call in to see us, just after we had finished our supper, our dear friend ‘ Big Brian’ – he was  just going to have one drink but we managed to persuade him to stay and see in the ‘ Spanish New Year’ with us!

I found him some cold sliced ‘Beef’ fingers with a few Green Beans, as a little starter,  then we had ‘Xmas Pudding’ with Vanilla Ice Cream & the first fresh, local Strawberries of 2020, followed by warm ‘ Mini Mince Pies’! The Xmas Puddings were excellent, small individual ones, that you pop in the Micro-Wave for 4 minutes, then leave to rest for 1 minute! At midnight here in Spain, by tradition you eat 12 grapes on the strokes, as you make a wish! The Red wine flowed, followed by my ‘ Cooking Brandy’ served in warm cut-glass Brandy Glasses, for Brenda and Brian, while I on was on the ‘ Cuba Libre’s!

Brian then headed off home, to the top of the village, as he had to be in work, in Gibraltar, this morning for 6-00 am! We then settled down to see in the ‘ New Year’ over in the UK as we watched ‘ Jool’s Holland’s Annual Hootenanny ‘ over on BBC TV 2 – with Ruby Turner, Brittany Howard, Rick Astley, Tom Walker and the Stereophonics & Stormzy!

This morning has again started a little grey & overcast with a light breeze, so hopefully by lunchtime it will clear, leaving a few patchy clouds with sunshine, reaching 16 degs+ - overnight down to 9/10 degs, staying the same over the next couple of days and the weekend, at the start of next week we are in for more of the same, before the next cold, wet & windy ‘ Atlantic’ front comes in by next Tuesday, bringing with it a ‘ Cold Spell’ with moderate to heavy showers for the rest of the week hovering in the low/mid ‘ Teens’ at times, down to 12 degs only, as the wind could be up to ‘ gale force’ at times, watch this space.

On the sports front today; in the ‘Premiere League’ Manchester City welcome Everton and tomorrow Liverpool are at home to Sheffield Utd, this afternoon the ‘ National Hunt Racing’ is from Cheltenham & Musselburgh!

For our supper this evening we are having ‘ Grilled Medallions of Pork Fillet’ garnished with seared Button Mushrooms and accompanied with a sauceboat of a creamy ‘ Green Peppercorn’ salsa, served with our favourite whole Baby ‘ French’ Green Beans & Broccoli Florets, along with the classic ‘ Rissole Potatoes’ – Boiled Baby New Potatoes, in their skins, then tossed in foaming Parsley Butter, until crisp & golden all over!

We are taking things very easy today, walking ‘Pucci’ later, over lunchtime, then this evening settling down to watch the ‘New Year’s Day’ TV, a new three-part police/drama series, over the next three evenings,  which is starting ‘ Bankcroft ‘ featuring Sarah Parish, as the well-respected Detective Superintendant.

As I have been typing/posting today’s Blog I have been listening to, downstairs, the annual ‘New Year’s Day Concert ‘ – live from the ‘Golden Hall’ of the ‘Musikverein’ in Vienna, as the ‘Vienna Philharmonic ‘ plays an array of polkas, waltzes & gallops by the ‘ Strauss’ family, finishing with the Wold famous  ‘ clapping’  “ Radetzky March “ by Johann Strauss!   

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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