Saturday, September 11, 2010
MANILVA.
WEDNESDAY/FRIDAY 8TH./10TH. SEPTEMBER 2010.
After the weekends excitement we have been taking things easy this week; the weather is hot and sunny with a little breeze, “ The Levante ”comes across from Africa and at this time of the year it makes conditions just right. This morning as I am typing this the temperature on the roof terrace is 35degs. – we know this because we have a painter giving the terrace a touch up with white sealant paint, all the local houses at the moment are being painted before the end of the sunny season just in case of another wet winter!
During the week we have caught up with Mano and Anna after all their excitement of having the family with them over the last two weeks; Mano has just fixed a new mirror on the wall in the second guest bedroom,ready for the sisters when they arrive next Wednesday. Brenda is on one of her cleaning mission’s all over the house so I am keeping out of the way !
We have also just started to eat full meals again with vegetables ( Salads are going off the Menu ! ) and Potatoes, this Sunday we are having Roast Chicken with all the trimmings ! Next week as the sisters are here all the old favorites will be on the menu; Chicken Curry, Braised Steak and Onions, Sausages and Mash, Beef and Vegetable Stew ( Scouse ) Pork Cutlets and Llyonaise potatoes and of course Sunday Roasts – Chicken, Pork and Beef and Lamb when we can afford them! All this with Brenda’s large selection of vegetables,Carrots,Green Beans,Cabbage,Cauiflower,Broccoli,Braised Onions, Roast Peppers and anything else she can find, my contribution will be all our old favorite Potato dishes;Boulangere and Chips come into the mind, first !
On Friday morning we went out to do the shopping and stock up for the visit of the Norah and Jenny; over the weekend we are going out on Saturday to a friends BBQ,Brian and his Finnish wife Lilli,live in a large apartment block on the edge of the village, she has a girl friend over from Finland and Brian is great friends with Carlos so it will be a bit of a party especially if Everton beat Manchester Utd. as Brian is a very big Blues supporter, even his dog is named Duncan. after Duncan Ferguson his Everton hero !
Of course I will be watching the Tour of Spain, the coverage is excellent from TV1/2 It’s the first time I have seen it and as it goes to places that you know it makes it more interesting, also our English rider ( A Manx Man from Liverpool ! ) Mark Cavendish is up for a hatrick of sprint wins today! Watch this space, also I will post a picture of Brenda this evening as she has had more blond color on her hair after we went across to Vidal and Gissy on Wednesday.
Thought for the Day;
Inside every old person is a young person wondering what the heck happened.
.
After the weekends excitement we have been taking things easy this week; the weather is hot and sunny with a little breeze, “ The Levante ”comes across from Africa and at this time of the year it makes conditions just right. This morning as I am typing this the temperature on the roof terrace is 35degs. – we know this because we have a painter giving the terrace a touch up with white sealant paint, all the local houses at the moment are being painted before the end of the sunny season just in case of another wet winter!
During the week we have caught up with Mano and Anna after all their excitement of having the family with them over the last two weeks; Mano has just fixed a new mirror on the wall in the second guest bedroom,ready for the sisters when they arrive next Wednesday. Brenda is on one of her cleaning mission’s all over the house so I am keeping out of the way !
We have also just started to eat full meals again with vegetables ( Salads are going off the Menu ! ) and Potatoes, this Sunday we are having Roast Chicken with all the trimmings ! Next week as the sisters are here all the old favorites will be on the menu; Chicken Curry, Braised Steak and Onions, Sausages and Mash, Beef and Vegetable Stew ( Scouse ) Pork Cutlets and Llyonaise potatoes and of course Sunday Roasts – Chicken, Pork and Beef and Lamb when we can afford them! All this with Brenda’s large selection of vegetables,Carrots,Green Beans,Cabbage,Cauiflower,Broccoli,Braised Onions, Roast Peppers and anything else she can find, my contribution will be all our old favorite Potato dishes;Boulangere and Chips come into the mind, first !
On Friday morning we went out to do the shopping and stock up for the visit of the Norah and Jenny; over the weekend we are going out on Saturday to a friends BBQ,Brian and his Finnish wife Lilli,live in a large apartment block on the edge of the village, she has a girl friend over from Finland and Brian is great friends with Carlos so it will be a bit of a party especially if Everton beat Manchester Utd. as Brian is a very big Blues supporter, even his dog is named Duncan. after Duncan Ferguson his Everton hero !
Of course I will be watching the Tour of Spain, the coverage is excellent from TV1/2 It’s the first time I have seen it and as it goes to places that you know it makes it more interesting, also our English rider ( A Manx Man from Liverpool ! ) Mark Cavendish is up for a hatrick of sprint wins today! Watch this space, also I will post a picture of Brenda this evening as she has had more blond color on her hair after we went across to Vidal and Gissy on Wednesday.
Thought for the Day;
Inside every old person is a young person wondering what the heck happened.
.
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
MANILVA NEWS UPDATE.
TUESDAY 7TH SEPTEMBER 2010.
Just a quick update on things general; it is now been the hottest summer on record for nearly 70 years down on the Costa del Sol, it was the night time temperatures not dropping that has made it the best sunny Manilva that the locals can remember !
The countdown is on to Brenda’s two sisters flying into Gibraltar in the 15th and of course my countdown to the 24th when I become a pensioner, the Spanish bus pass is in the post!
VUELTA A ESPANA 2010.
Yesterday was the first rest day in this years Tour of Spain; the overall standings are a Spanish rider Anton Igor is in the red jersey but with only 3 seconds separating the top three riders it is very close,todays stage 10 is over 176kms. from Tarragona to Vilanova I la Geltyu with the very steep climb over the Le Rat Penat near the end, the current temperature for the riders is 35degs. !
The stage has just been won by a Spanish rider,Imanol Erviti, Tomorrows stage over 208km.,the longest in the tour takes them into the mountains of Andorra.
Wednesday's stage to Pal in Andorra was won by the Spanish rider Igor Anton when he broke away on the final climb,he is now the overall leader.
VUELTA NEWS FLASH; THURSDAY 9TH SEPTEMBER 2010.
Mark Cavendish won the 12th stage of the Tour of Spain to complete a memorable feat of individual stage wins in all three grand tours;the victory in the 173km.ride from the tiny principality of Andorra in the Pyrenees moutains to Lleida in north -eastern Spain was Cavendish's 20th grand tour win overall. Igor Anton still retains the Red jersey.
PS; Mark Cavendish has just won todays stage 13 from Ricon de Soto to Burgos over 197km. also !! It is possible that he will go for the third win on the row on Saturday.
.
.
.
Just a quick update on things general; it is now been the hottest summer on record for nearly 70 years down on the Costa del Sol, it was the night time temperatures not dropping that has made it the best sunny Manilva that the locals can remember !
The countdown is on to Brenda’s two sisters flying into Gibraltar in the 15th and of course my countdown to the 24th when I become a pensioner, the Spanish bus pass is in the post!
VUELTA A ESPANA 2010.
Yesterday was the first rest day in this years Tour of Spain; the overall standings are a Spanish rider Anton Igor is in the red jersey but with only 3 seconds separating the top three riders it is very close,todays stage 10 is over 176kms. from Tarragona to Vilanova I la Geltyu with the very steep climb over the Le Rat Penat near the end, the current temperature for the riders is 35degs. !
The stage has just been won by a Spanish rider,Imanol Erviti, Tomorrows stage over 208km.,the longest in the tour takes them into the mountains of Andorra.
Wednesday's stage to Pal in Andorra was won by the Spanish rider Igor Anton when he broke away on the final climb,he is now the overall leader.
VUELTA NEWS FLASH; THURSDAY 9TH SEPTEMBER 2010.
Mark Cavendish won the 12th stage of the Tour of Spain to complete a memorable feat of individual stage wins in all three grand tours;the victory in the 173km.ride from the tiny principality of Andorra in the Pyrenees moutains to Lleida in north -eastern Spain was Cavendish's 20th grand tour win overall. Igor Anton still retains the Red jersey.
PS; Mark Cavendish has just won todays stage 13 from Ricon de Soto to Burgos over 197km. also !! It is possible that he will go for the third win on the row on Saturday.
.
.
.
MANILVA VENDIMIA SUNDAY 5TH SEPTEMBER 2010.
SUNDAY 5TH.SEPTEMBER 2010.
We had a little lie in after the two previous late nights; breakfast was tea, toast and Nectarine’s as we sorted ourselves out for the day ahead. We had decided to have a brunch before we went out for the rest of the day;Bacon,Eggs,Sausage,Mushrooms and Sauté Potatoes soon put us right to take on the world and Manilva’s Vendimia !
The village fills up from 12-oclock and it kicks off at 2 -00pm when the two bands start, they then play for the rest of the day until midnight. All the bars and Sonbrajo’s are full to bursting point and the dancing starts in front of the main stage; during the day at different times they give out the Vendimia hats, they are thrown to the dancing crowds and there is a mad scramble to catch them, they are very much prized and we got our two as we both dived into the melee! We had planted again our glasses at Bar Rojas and had our first but not last Gin and Tonic and Bacardi and Coca Cola! We them moved along the main street and visited all the party Sonbrajos to collect all the freebies and drinks, at the Mayors we started to use our free vouchers which we had enough of to keep us going for the rest of the day; everybody was also serving food and at two of them including Bar Rojas had the very large Paella’s on the go, sorry but I missed getting a picture as I was being interviewed on Manilva TV! I managed once again to get on the TV, they have camera crews filming all along the street and as I now know the presenter it was easy to get on, as my Spanish is improving I was able to answer some of the questions in Spanish and the rest was translated by the presenter.
Around five o’clock we made our way back to Bar Rojas and got a table right on the street to watch the Andalucian Horse display; this year there was over 70 riders and their horses who parade up and down Calle Mar under the canopy which has the fine cool mist spraying down on them in the middle of the street, they also get the horse’s to dance and prance in front of the crowds as they ride along as you can see in the pictures below. More drinks followed as it started to get near to 7 o’clock and the climax of the Vendimia; they fill up the winery with the grapes that were collected and the crowds mass around ready for the proceedings to start! All the Town Councillors are at the back to watch over things as the two young nominated crushers take there place and start the process off which you can see in the pictures; then at the right moment and after a health and safety warning from them I climbed in to a great cheer and round of applause from the crowd, lead by Brenda!! I had changed into my special wine crushing shirt and had the new 2010 Vendimia hat on, the pictures below just give you a little idea of the day but you can’t feel the atmosphere which by then is really electric and very, very noisy at the same time. As I climbed down all the councilors lead by the Deputy Mayor Salvador Zatano,hugged and kissed me, thanks especially to Paqui Lopez,who organizes the Vendimia,Mario Jimenez,Diego Urieta,Diego Diaz and Diego Quiros from the cultural department for a “ Helluva ”weekend. I am now officially the second Englishman, and the oldest to crush the grapes, remembering that I was the first two years ago! Next year I hope to become the first pensioner and the third Englishman, that is if I am still able to climb in!!
Meanwhile the band on the main stage starts up again and by now the crowd has gone mad, we retired to the house for a little supper and than shot back out to finish off the night at Bar Rojas; just a quick mention to two people,Luisa who is a friend of Lumi and was helping her in the kitchen, she spoke to us as she was leaving with her husband and was very nice, earlier in the street Gabriel who teaches music in the school and who we had met before when Fernando introduced him at a band concert had a long chat with us, in Spanish and English and was very complementary of the blog and our input into village life. Well that was yet again another “ Helluva ”weekend in sunny Manilva,
.
We had a little lie in after the two previous late nights; breakfast was tea, toast and Nectarine’s as we sorted ourselves out for the day ahead. We had decided to have a brunch before we went out for the rest of the day;Bacon,Eggs,Sausage,Mushrooms and Sauté Potatoes soon put us right to take on the world and Manilva’s Vendimia !
The village fills up from 12-oclock and it kicks off at 2 -00pm when the two bands start, they then play for the rest of the day until midnight. All the bars and Sonbrajo’s are full to bursting point and the dancing starts in front of the main stage; during the day at different times they give out the Vendimia hats, they are thrown to the dancing crowds and there is a mad scramble to catch them, they are very much prized and we got our two as we both dived into the melee! We had planted again our glasses at Bar Rojas and had our first but not last Gin and Tonic and Bacardi and Coca Cola! We them moved along the main street and visited all the party Sonbrajos to collect all the freebies and drinks, at the Mayors we started to use our free vouchers which we had enough of to keep us going for the rest of the day; everybody was also serving food and at two of them including Bar Rojas had the very large Paella’s on the go, sorry but I missed getting a picture as I was being interviewed on Manilva TV! I managed once again to get on the TV, they have camera crews filming all along the street and as I now know the presenter it was easy to get on, as my Spanish is improving I was able to answer some of the questions in Spanish and the rest was translated by the presenter.
Around five o’clock we made our way back to Bar Rojas and got a table right on the street to watch the Andalucian Horse display; this year there was over 70 riders and their horses who parade up and down Calle Mar under the canopy which has the fine cool mist spraying down on them in the middle of the street, they also get the horse’s to dance and prance in front of the crowds as they ride along as you can see in the pictures below. More drinks followed as it started to get near to 7 o’clock and the climax of the Vendimia; they fill up the winery with the grapes that were collected and the crowds mass around ready for the proceedings to start! All the Town Councillors are at the back to watch over things as the two young nominated crushers take there place and start the process off which you can see in the pictures; then at the right moment and after a health and safety warning from them I climbed in to a great cheer and round of applause from the crowd, lead by Brenda!! I had changed into my special wine crushing shirt and had the new 2010 Vendimia hat on, the pictures below just give you a little idea of the day but you can’t feel the atmosphere which by then is really electric and very, very noisy at the same time. As I climbed down all the councilors lead by the Deputy Mayor Salvador Zatano,hugged and kissed me, thanks especially to Paqui Lopez,who organizes the Vendimia,Mario Jimenez,Diego Urieta,Diego Diaz and Diego Quiros from the cultural department for a “ Helluva ”weekend. I am now officially the second Englishman, and the oldest to crush the grapes, remembering that I was the first two years ago! Next year I hope to become the first pensioner and the third Englishman, that is if I am still able to climb in!!
Meanwhile the band on the main stage starts up again and by now the crowd has gone mad, we retired to the house for a little supper and than shot back out to finish off the night at Bar Rojas; just a quick mention to two people,Luisa who is a friend of Lumi and was helping her in the kitchen, she spoke to us as she was leaving with her husband and was very nice, earlier in the street Gabriel who teaches music in the school and who we had met before when Fernando introduced him at a band concert had a long chat with us, in Spanish and English and was very complementary of the blog and our input into village life. Well that was yet again another “ Helluva ”weekend in sunny Manilva,
.
Monday, September 06, 2010
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