This week I saw a lot of friends, listened to some Christmas Carols sung by Spangles Ladies Choir & went for the Annual Christmas swim in the Mar Menor.
Week 51 of 2023.
Monday, 18th December.
I woke up at around 7:30 am, got a coffee & worked on my website till around 10:45 am. I was happy to see the sun out this morning & decided to go out on my disability scooter & take a slow ride along the beach to the office today. I left home at about 11:10 am & after travelling the full length of the beach I turned up towards the office when I got to Spinosa, I arrived at the office at 11:45 am.
As soon as I arrived I sat down got my Kindle out to start reading & Rosa brought me out a pint. Martin was late for work & turned up at about 12:10 pm. We sat talking until Aria arrived on the school bus, we had a quick drink & Martin got a taxi for him & Aria to go to La Petit Bistro where Kate would be singing with Spangles. I jumped on my disability scooter & met them there.
As soon as I arrived at La Petit Bistro I went inside & found Martin & Aria sitting next to where Spangles were set up. I sat with Martin & Aria & listened to Spangles sing some Christmas Carols. Unfortunately, one lady singing next to me had to stop as they were singing. She had a bought of coughing but the rest of the group carried on & were very good. After a couple of songs, the ill lady came back & continued.
When the group finished we moved outside & sat in the sun for a while talking. As the ladies gradually left to go home, Kate, Martin & Aria went home, leaving me there. I went inside & sat talking to my friends Paul, John & Norma before going to talk to my friend Alan when he finished calling bingo. We were joined by his better half, Jackie & continued talking for a while before we all left to go home.
When I got home, I put the heating on, settled down in front of the television to watch the television & went to bed early at around 10 pm.
Tuesday, 19th December.
When I got up this morning I had a coffee before going to Economycash to get some shopping. When I got home I sat down at my computer, checked my messages & then worked on some of the hundreds of photos for my website.
I worked all day on my website finishing at around 7 pm. When I finished I watched a few hours of TV before going to bed early.
Wednesday, 20th December.
Today was another day that I didn't leave the house & I spent all day working on my website.
Thursday, 21st December.
I got up around 6 am & continued to work on my website. At around 10 am I took a break for coffee & whilst I was looking at messages & posts on Facebook, I saw that Tom Jones was appearing in Murcia in July next year. I have seen him in many places, Murcia, Orlando, London & Las Vegas & love to hear him sing. I have been lucky enough to have met Tom Jones a couple of times & in Las Vegas he sent me a couple of beers whilst I watched the show. Seeing that he was appearing in Murcia, I quickly went online & managed to book a front-row seat for his show & get a local hotel, within walking distance of the Bullring, for the night. It is the first of many things I hope to be able to do next year.
After booking the show & hotel I met my neighbour Liz & we walked along to the Buena Vista Restaurant for breakfast. We sat talking for a few hours before leaving so that I could be home for a delivery I was expecting from Eurodrop Foods. My order was delivered a short time after I got home & I put it all away, it should keep me going for a while, I love their bacon & Cumberland sausages & buy them in bulk.
This evening & afternoon was spent watching films on the television.
Friday, 22nd December.
When I woke this morning it was very cold in my bedroom, even though I had been leaving the warm air on all night. My bedroom has two large walls that are outside walls & they do stay cold for a long time. I got myself a coffee & a bacon sandwich & then sat at my computer to look for a small efficient room heater on Amazon.
I found one that looked good, it was small & moved around on a swivel to heat different parts of the room. It also had a timer so that I could leave it on & get it to turn off after a certain time. The best thing about it though was that it had a thermostat that you could set so that it went off at different temperatures. It was on sale at €50 so I ordered one. I also ordered a cutlery basket for my dishwasher as I don't like the very shallow shelf it has for cutlery at the moment.
This afternoon I did a lot of work on my website, finishing quite a few of the pages about my holiday & then posting links to them on Facebook. At around 6:30 pm I walked along to La Playa bar to get some fresh air & to see my friend Alan. I stopped for a short time, around half an hour & then went back to my apartment to have an early night.
Saturday, 23rd December.
I woke up around 7:30 am this morning. I got a coffee & sat at my computer reading messages & just looking at what was going on in the world.
At around 11:30 am I packed a towel & some shorts & clothes in my rucksack & walked along the beach to Playa Carrion for this year's Christmas Swim. I arrived at Mementos Cafe expecting to get a coffee & to see lots of people I knew sitting there. Unfortunately, it was closed, the beach had a few people on it & the entrance to the swim was being set up though so I walked a bit further to a chiringuito on the beach. I had a very cold coffee there, I won't be going back in a hurry, & then walked back to the start point of the swim.
Lots more people were milling about & I saw a few people I knew. I asked my cousin Jill to watch my rucksack & then went in the water for a paddle. The water was freezing & I wasn't looking forward to jumping in when the swim started. I saw my friend Andy & had a chat with him before introducing him to my friend Jacqueline whilst I had a short chat with her. I then moved to stand with my friend Craig who was also doing the swim again.
We had to wait for quite a while but eventually, we got to go in for the swim. Mario, Los Alcazares Mayor, led us off, dressed as Mario, from the Mario Brothers arcade games, he jumped in first. I was about 20 minutes behind him & when I jumped in, the shock of the cold water was horrible. The water was very shallow this year & I could have stood up quite quickly but I decided to swim in as far as I could because it was warmer in the water than it was half out of it with the wind blowing.
As all the swimmers left the Mar Menor we were handed a towel to dry off & keep. We were also handed tickets to get some chicken soup with a dumpling in it & some churros with chocolate sauce. I queued up & got my soup & a can of beer & quickly ate the soup & dumpling to warm me up. I then collected my churros & chocolate & went to collect my bag from Jill.
As I sat on the wall to eat my churros Peter, Jill, Greg & Jenny all left but I spoke to my friends, Sean, Michelle, Paul, & super Gooner Clare. We all had a chat before they left & as I sat there my friend Bernice & her friend Sharon joined me. We talked for a while & then moved along the beach to another Chiringuito. We had a beer & sat chatting about the different cruises we had both been on this year. Whilst there I changed out of my swim shorts & put on some warmer clothing.
When we had finished our drinks we walked along to La Encarnacion where Bernice & Sarah had something to eat & I had a piping hot Asiatico coffee. We sat there talking until around 3:30 pm & then walked along the beach to La Playa bar. We sat outside talking & were joined by Dawn & we stayed outside until it started to get a bit colder & moved inside.
Inside the girls were enjoying themselves but I decided to go home, have a shower & warm up. I walked home had a hot shower & put some warmer clothes on before having a sandwich & then walked to Rio Nalon to Harry's Bar to watch the Liverpool vs Arsenal game. As the game started I was joined by an Irish couple & we started chatting about football & darts. I enjoyed a great game & was glad Arsenal had held on for a 1-1 draw away at Anfield but was a little disappointed they hadn't won.
When the game finished I said goodbye to my new friends & walked up to The Celt Bar to see if Bernice & Sarah were there for the karaoke. I didn't see them as I walked in but I did see my friend Kristin sitting at the bar. I joined her at the bar & we sat chatting all night, we kept discussing what song we could sing together on the karaoke but we talked about it for too long & the karaoke finished. Bernice & Sarah had been there but I had been sat with my back to them. Bernice came up to me & said hello before she returned to Sarah & they danced along to a singer. I continued chatting with Kristin until I realised the bar was shutting. I said goodbye & then walked back to my apartment.
When I got home I was glad I had left my heating on as it was beginning to get very cold. I got myself a drink & then went straight to bed.
Sunday, 24th December.
I woke up this morning with a horrible cold, my nose was blocked & I was sniffing a lot. I had nothing planned today so I spent the whole day under a blanket on the sofa watching rubbish Christmas TV before going back to bed at about 9 pm.