A BREEZY BUT STILL VERY WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON TUESDAY.

TUESDAY 27^th/ JUNE 2017.

I was up early again this morning and after seeing ‘ Reina’ back with us for the day I took ‘ Scooby’ out for his first walk of the day, he’s settled in very well is eating & drinking, he’s real character, when we returned we all had a nice lie in before breakfast, after a quick freshen up we had our usual fresh fruit toast & tea.

See the picture below of ‘ Scooby’ waiting for his breakfast.

We then took both the dogs out for a good walk, ‘ Reina’ is back on her diet and is being made to walk more, we went along to the local ‘Tabacs’ in Calle Mar to top up both Mobile phones, I then stopped at the local Bank cash machine before going down to the butchers, I bought ‘ Escalopes of Chicken Breast, Albondigas & Chicken Wings’

See the picture below of little princess ‘ Reina’

Overnight, as forecast, a stiff breeze came along, this morning it’s still very warm & sunny but the breeze makes it very bearable to be out, 31 degs max today, 18/19 degs overnight, the rest of the week and over the weekend is going to hover on the 27/28 degs mark, as usual next week it’s more of the same but getting hotter again, watch this space.

For our supper this evening we are having, youv’e guessed,  ‘ Grilled Escalopes of Chicken Breast’ finished in a foaming Lemon Butter & Balsamic Vinegar sauce, finely sliced green Beans and thick-cut slices of Baked potato sautéed in butter, with a little Tomato salsa on the side. On Wednesday evening it’s going to be the ‘ Albondigas- Pork Meatballs ‘ served on a bed of Pasta, then on Thursday our favourite ‘ Grilled Chicken Wings.

Over in New Zealand the ‘ British and Irish Lions’ have just given away the win, in the final mid-week game, at half-time they were leading 7-23 but ended up drawing 31-31! The ‘ Second Test ‘ is on Saturday at the same stadium.

Over the past few months on ‘ Facebook ’we have been re-united with some old friends from the past, when they made contact, Jason & Donna Lloyd-Jones, Jason is our very old and dear friends, Bill & Stella’s oldest son, sadly Bill passed away a couple of years ago, Stella is living with her daughter, Rachel, down south. Donna was born in New Zealand and their two daughters, with dual nationality, both live and work in New Zealand, the folks are over there at the moment for birthdays etc and have tickets for the next two test matches! It’s a small world!!

Talking of ‘ Facebook’ Brenda also made contact with by a very old dear friend, when she was approached and then received a very nice letter from Sandra in Eastern Canada, they have since become very close, with lots of messages etc and now two ‘ Skype’ video calls, Sandra emigrated with her family well over 30 years ago, she has a son & daughter, both grown up and working away from home, her son is moving apartments this weekend in Toronto, Bill, her partner, is a supervisor on the Canadian High Ways.

See the picture below of the weather and conditions that Bill has to contend with!  Snow, what is that??!!

Sandra has a very long background in nursing, they are coming over to Spain on the 24^th September ( my birthday!) for two weeks holiday, they are starting in Madrid, then down to Cuenca, onto Valencia and then down to Granada before coming to stay here with us for the last week, they are booked into the ‘ Manilva Green Aparthotel from the 30^th September, we will then show them around the ‘ Costa Del Sol ‘ It’s our first  ‘holiday’ since we arrived 11 years ago, you could say that we are on one long holiday, that would be true!!  We are looking forward to meeting them, with lots to catch up, dining & wining and seeing the sights of Andalucia, we can’t wait, the countdown has begun!!

NB, On the 1st July it's the 150th Birthday of Canada,

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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

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A VERY HOT & SUNNY MANILVA ON MONDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEK.

MONDAY 26^th/ JUNE 2017.

I was up early this morning to welcome back little princess ‘ Reina’ for the day, she’s here every day except Thursday, at lunchtime ‘ Scooby’ is due to arrive for 12 days, he’s been before on his holidays, then on Saturday ‘ Chico’ is joining us for a sleep-over, his first, meanwhile ‘ Chispa’ has already been in this morning checking things out! Another busy week in ‘ Doggy World Heaven ‘

After a quick freshen up we had breakfast, a open toasted, crispy, ‘Smoked Bacon’ Butty for Brenda and I had a toasted Butty with crispy ‘Smoked Bacon’ & topped with a ‘ Campo’ Fried Egg for me, with mugs of steaming tea, to start the week in the right direction.

Brenda then popped down to our local sub-post office to post some birthday cards etc, watch out Jenny, for the family pictures, on the way back she called into the Chemists for the rest of her prescription tablets.

It’s already 26 degs this morning, the sun was out early and the sky has cleared and is bright blue, by this afternoon it’s forecast to reach 35 degs+! ( NOW 37 DEGS+!)  The rest of the week is settling back down to around the 29/30 degs mark & through the weekend, next week we are in for more of the same, but hotter, watch this space.

Over the weekend all the local civil dignitaries attended the official laying of the first stone along with a time capsule of the new ‘ Estepona Hospital’ – it’s on our side of Estepona and will be very beneficial to sunny Manilva, cutting out the round trip of over 100 kms to the ‘ Costa Del Sol Hospital’ past Marbella. Long overdue, we can’t wait!

This evening for our supper we are having Cold Smoked Ham with my famous ‘ Ensaladilla Rusa  - Russian Salad ‘ – the rest of the week we are taking one day at the time on the menu front, watch this space.

We have no other plans/appointments, so far, this week, I will be out on my travels down to Sabinillas on Friday for the weekly shopping, the car is still tucked away in the small square around the corner, I ‘ turned’ it over yesterday afternoon , it started first time, which is good news, there is still no sign of the underground car park re-opening, I will check with my ‘Council’ contacts this week ( Mario, the Mayor!)

After supper last night we settled down to watch the next episode of ‘ Poldark’ – he escaped the clutches of the rabid revolutionaries in France, his arch enemy corruptly employed his new role as a magistrate to further his relentless social climbing, meanwhile his wife took to the bottle ( Laudanum) Back at home Poldark’s pregnant wife acted on her own, she gave away his best barn to her brother, he meanwhile rebuffed the advances of a lusty innkeeper over in France before coming back, after secret meetings, bribery, arrest & deportation, with a piece of paper with a few names on it, showing that the missing Doctor was still alive in prison! Watch this space.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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" KINNAREE THAI RESTAURANTE " IN ' PUERTO DE LA DUQUESA ' ON SATURDAY EVENING.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM A NOW BACK TO NORMAL SUNNY MANILVA;

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A STILL VERY WARM & SUNNY MANILVA WITH A LITTLE RAIN ON SUNDAY.

SUNDAY 25^th/ JUNE 2017.

We managed just a little lie in this morning after the hottest night so far, after freshening up we had a light breakfast of fresh fruit, toast & tea. We then planned our day ahead, which was easy, as we are doing nothing, taking things easy, keeping a low profile, staying as cool as possible!

We are in for another ‘ hot one’ today, the sun was out and the sky blue, there is a little breeze,  at the moment it’s a little over cast but no sign of the wet stuff, that was forecasted, by this afternoon its due to reach 30degs+ - on Monday 34degs+ - then the rest of the week is hovering in the low 30s! Watch this space.

PS; We have just had thunder, lightning and rain! It’s still very warm including the rain!! 

At lunchtime we went along to 'Bar Ocana' for a change for a cool drink & Tapas, Brenda had the Grilled Swordfish and I had their excellent ' Paella '

For supper this evening we are keeping it very simple ‘ Grilled Minute Steak ‘ – a flattened ‘ Entrecote ‘ steak with just a few twice-cooked ‘ Chips’ on the side, with Dijon Mustard, next week it’s going to be one day at the time, keeping it simple and plane, watch this space.

Just a quick update on the sports results so far this weekend; Lewis Hamilton  took the pole position for today’s ‘ Azerbaijan Grand Prix’ in Baku, after a stunning lap under pressure. In the ‘ Aegon Championship’ Tennis Final at Queens Club in London, Spain’s Feliciano Lopez takes on the Croatian player Marin Cilic.

                                                   “ Brenda’s ‘Second’ Birthday Celebrations “

We set off down to ‘Puerto de la Duquesa’ in a local taxi,  which we called from Sabinillas, he over-charged us the ‘ Holiday Makers’ rate, on the way back up to the village after midnight, we jumped into a taxi in the Marina and it turned out that it was a local driver, that we know, he charged us the ‘ locals’ pre-midnight rate!

We bumped into Andrew & his wife Karen ( Castle Radio FM 89.2)  so we sat with them in the ‘ Heavens  Bar ‘ and took in the sights and sounds of the Marina on a very busy Saturday evening, we then waited over 30 mins to be even approached for our order, just one young girl serving( under pressure) Normally  we would have walked out, the ‘ Cocktails’ arrived after another long wait and were very disappointing, to say the least, not a good start to the evening, which then went from bad to worse.

I went to take a picture and realised that I had left my very special ‘ Sony’ camera on the back seat of the taxi! Panic followed, Andrew called the taxi company and asked for help to find the driver, with no luck, on a long shot, after nearly 45 mins since we were dropped off, I went to the taxi rank and made enquires, as I was talking to the drivers I noticed at the back of the queue of taxis the driver that had brought us down! “ RESULT “  The camera was still on the back leather seat, he had not noticed it and thankfully had not had another fare!!

See the picture below of a very happy couple!!

The good news is that this coming week Andrew is finding time to come up to my office/ studio to install the broadcast systems onto my computer system, meaning that I could be back on air ‘Live’ broadcasting from my studio, in the heart of sunny Manilva, with my programme on a Saturday lunchtime, for two hours, from 11-00am “ Sir Malcolm’s Classic Saturday Session “ 

On the ' Pete Black Request Show ' he has just played the same track for ' Lady Brenda! Watch this space!!

We then walked along and up to the ‘ Kinnaree Thai Restaurante’ where we were greeted by the lady owner, as long lost family! She has reserved the best table in the house, by a open window, on the front overlooking the marina on a balmy Saturday evening, the drinks arrived with savoury crackers and we chose from the extensive menu.

See the views below;

To start we had ‘ Thai Chicken Springrolls Prawn Rolls ‘ with a sharp Chilli sauce and their excellent ‘Steamed Prawn “ Dim- Sum “ For our main course Brenda fancied Duck so she choose the ‘ Crispy Roasted Duck’ with a sweet chilli sauce accompanied with Thai Noodles with vegetables, I had my usual ‘ Large Prawns in a Messaman curry sauce ‘ with their excellent ‘ Three Delights Egg Fried Rice’ 

See the pictures above.

Brenda had a half-bottle of her favourite ‘Marquis de Casares Green Label Blanco ‘ At the end, with the coffee, we had ‘on the house’ a Brandy & Peach Schnapps, sat on the next table were a very nice couple that we got talking to, Brendan & Janet, with their two lovely daughters, they are from Dublin, with an Irish/ American heritage, they have a place along the coast and come down at various times during the year, nice to meet you and we enjoyed talking to you.

We then jumped into the taxi to come back up to the village, the night was not over as all the local bars were still busy, well after midnight, as the locals come out in the slighter cooler night air, we joined Manolo & Lumy sat outside ‘Bar Rojas’ for a night cap and chat, as we were leaving, after reminiscing, Lumy produced a jug of her famous ‘ Gazpacho ‘ that she had just made, all the ingredients came from their four’ Campos’! You drink it in a tall glass with ice, not as a cold soup !! 

We got back home feeling no pain just before 2-00 am after a ‘ Helluva’ evening!!

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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" NOCHE DE SAN JUAN " SABINILLAS BEACH ON FRIDAY EVENING.

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