In week 6 of 2021, I had a new headboard fitted by my friend Reinder, whom I had asked to make me one from old pallets.
Friday, February 5th.
I woke up and got ready for a fun-filled day ahead. I carry on tagging files in Photoshop and prepare a beef stew, which I then put in the slow cooker for later. My friend Reindeer arrives at about 11:30 am with the headboard he has made for me from pallets to my design. He has smoothed all the wood off and finished it off with a light varnish. He brings it in and puts it in my bedroom for me. It looked absolutely brilliant and I was very pleased with it. The picture below shows it in place, although I had to put the linen back on the bed.
New headboard made from shipping pallets.
At 1 pm, I gave them the denuncia from the Guardia Civil that we got last week. I am really glad she was there. To start with, no one wanted to help; if she hadn't been there, I wouldn't have gotten anything done. Still, she managed to tell them what we needed, and they eventually took it forward to the Traffico in Cartagena after she added an extra note to the bottom of the documents.
In the evening, I tried out my beef stew. I say beef stew as it looked like beef stew, but the ingredients tell a different story. I didn't have the right ingredients, so I made it up as I went. It had diced beef, beans, a jar of bolognese sauce to replace tinned tomatoes that I didn't have, beef stock, beef gravy powder, oregano, chilli powder, onion, garlic, raisins and chorizo sausage in it. I left it on high for around 5 hours, then I turned it down to low, added frozen peas, sweetcorn and cauliflower florets and left for another hour. It tasted fantastic, I had two portions straight away and put three more large portions in the freezer.
This evening, I got a message saying that my new glasses were ready for collection.
Saturday, February 6th.
This morning, I went to a Chinese shop to get a few bits for the house before going to Aldi to do some shopping for the next week or so. After getting my food, I went to the Optician and collected my new glasses. I was very pleased with them; I could see to read better, they look better and fit better than my old ones. I got home in time to put all my shopping away before getting a pot of tea and sitting down to do some more photo tagging before this afternoon's football.
Once again, Arsenal ruined my weekend, going behind after about 80 seconds, they were unable to score themselves and lost 1-0.
Sunday, February 7th.
I started the day with a massage and a pot of tea, then began genealogy research. In the afternoon, I flicked between television channels watching different football and rugby games. I was pleased Wales won, it wasn't convincing, but it was a good start to the Six Nations competition. Whilst watching the matches, I was also doing my genealogy research and talking to my distant cousin, Jane, in Wales, via Farcebook. With her help, I was able to find a few leads in the St Dogmaels area of Pembrokeshire. I ended up working on the family tree until around 11 pm before I managed to pull myself away from it and go to bed.
Monday, February 8th.
This morning I woke early and couldn't get back to sleep. All the information I found out about my family tree was going round in my head, so I got up, had a massage and did a few hours of research before going out to collect the drugs I take to stop my blood from clotting. I should have gotten them last week and used my last ones up this morning, so I need some more. I walked to the pharmacy, collected the drugs and then continued to walk to the military base in Los Alcázares before turning for home, walking along the promenade along the beach.
As the beef stew was such a success last week, I made another stew today, but using pork, it was also terrific. I preferred the beef stew. At least I will have food in the freezer for a while when I can't be bothered to cook. Whilst in the kitchen, I brought out my juicer from the cupboard, dusted it and cleaned it ready to start using it again.
The walk this morning was great, but I am not used to it and find myself napping all afternoon, hopefully as I step up the walking, my energy reserves will start to build up.
Tuesday, February 9th.
Orange juicer.
After cleaning the juicer yesterday, I made a trip to the Tuesday market to get different fruit for juicing. I look for oranges and apples, as I already have carrots, and with some cinnamon, it will be a nice drink to start off my day. I also bought two more face masks whilst there, as I have mislaid the ones I bought previously. On the way home from the market, I stopped at Bastidos Bakery and bought a meat pie, tuna, tomato and egg pie and an apple pastry. Once home, I warmed up by having some of the pork stew I made yesterday and then juiced the fruit I bought this morning. I made up an orange, apple, carrot and cinnamon juice and put 2 litres in the fridge to cool off. Once chilled, I mixed it half and half with water for a very refreshing drink, which should last a couple of weeks.
Wednesday, February 10th.
I went for a walk this morning down to the military base and stopped off at Restaurante La Encarnación for coffee, tostada, and orange juice for breakfast. After my walk and breakfast, I did some more genealogy research before going to Rocco's bar to have a couple of beers. After not seeing anyone for ages, it was lovely to see some real, live human beings again, even if it was at a social distance. A couple of beers turned into a few and then a few more, and I ended up getting a Chinese takeaway on my way home. It was a lovely day, but I could tell I was not used to drinking any more. I must have talked my neighbours' ears off on the way back from the bar via the Chinese, sorry, Russ.
Thursday, February 11th.
This morning, I went to do some genealogy research for my cousin, Geoff, but I got a bit distracted by an email I received with some new Photoshop training. Before I knew it, it was gone midday, and I was supposed to be meeting a friend for coffee. My friend Mark also lived on his own, and because of this, we were able to meet for coffee without breaking any COVID restrictions. We had a quick coffee at Bar Corzola, which is very close to my apartment, before going to another Café close by for an Asiatico.
After a break of a couple of hours, it was back to the computer and the research for Geoff. Somehow, I managed to delete some records in the tree, but luckily, I do regular backups and have only lost this morning's work. I am glad I got distracted by Photoshop now, or I may have lost a lot of work rather than just a couple of links to census records.