This week was a fairly quiet week and I didn't get any further than the bank in one direction and the office in the other direction.
Monday, 13th June.
I woke up late today, possibly because of the hours of conversation late into the night at La Playa bar last night. Luckily for me, the boss, Martin, has said today's office hours will be later than normal as he has to go to a meeting at his other office first.
I got to the office at about 1:15 pm and the meeting starts. Whilst at the office we are joined by an Irish lady called Maggy, who is looking for directions to the bus stop. As we are sat next to the bus stop, we are able to give her directions. Her bus isn't due for a while and she gets herself some lunch as Martin and I are also joined by Viv and Dave to continue our work. Dave and Viv leave and we are joined by Martin's wife and daughter, Kate and Aria. We all chat for a while before we all leave to go our own way, Maggy to the bus stop, Martin and his family go home and I head home on my disability scooter.
On my way home I cut down Rio Nalon and I see two ladies that I met last night in La Playa bar, I stopped off for a chat and a drink with them before heading home. As we are chatting they tell me about a lady they gave directions to earlier in the day, an Irish lady called Maggy, it really is a small world, it is the same lady I met earlier who joined me at the office before catching a bus. This evening I have an open sandwich of roast chicken with melted cheese. I must have accidentally sprinkled some sleepy powder on them, as soon as I finished them I fall asleep in front of the television. I woke up around 8 pm, watch some more television, and then have an early night. Unfortunately for me, there are a lot of late-night revellers walking past my home tonight and I am woken up by noisy motorbikes, car doors banging or people singing as they go home. At one point I am even woken up by a screeching cat.
Tuesday, 14th June.
This morning I was woken by the noise of some work that has started outside, the noise of a jackhammer breaking up brickwork means I will not be able to get back to sleep so I get up and work on my website for a while.
At 11:30 I have an appointment at the bank so I leave with plenty of time to get there before my appointment. As I am standing in the bank waiting to see my account manager, she leaves the bank. She comes back about half an hour later and asks if I am waiting to see her. I tell her that we had an appointment at 11:30, and she tells me that if I make an appointment online, although the bank sends me a confirmation of the appointment they do not tell her about it. This is possibly the most stupid thing I have ever heard. The bank insists on customers doing everything online or by the bank's app on a mobile phone and then doesn't internally share this information with the bank. She says she can see me if I wait until she has seen another woman in the bank. I wait another half hour and she then sees me. Luckily she can do what I ask straight away so I am happy with the result if not the hour wait to see her.
After being in the bank for so long I am late for work, I throttle up the Sharky mobile to full speed and I practically fly to the office. When I get there the boss informs me that his secretary wants to go to the beach so we are moving to a new office. I do a quick bit of paperwork and head to the beach office. I get there before the boss and sit down with my friend Suzi who reintroduces me to her sister. We sit there chatting and after a short time are joined by Martin, Kate and Aria. I spend a few hours at this new office, where we are joined by Neil, Suzi's husband. After spending way too much time in the sun I head home to cover myself in after-sun gel. I hope that it will stop my skin from peeling and that I didn't leave it too long before getting out of the sun.
This evening I watch the England game on the television. I am not normally someone to slate Gareth Southgate, the England manager, but today his decisions were terrible. England lost 0-4 to Hungary and at no time looked like scoring, Southgate played players out of position which made them look lost on the pitch. When England had a man, incorrectly sent off, he took an attacking player off and replaced him with England's worst outfield player for many years, Harry Maguire. This immediately backfired when Hungary passed the ball around Mcguire to score the fourth goal. I hope this isn't what we should expect in the World Cup later this year.
Wednesday, 15th June.
I get up this morning after a broken sleep last night because of the heat. I decide to go for my swim and head out to the Mar Menor. I had just swam to the rocks that I swim to and completed my aerobics when 4 Euro Fighters flew over the Mar Menor in tight formation. They then proceeded to make practice bombing runs over the airport for the next half hour. It was amazing to watch them fly directly over my head, approach the airport as if they were bombing it, and then wheel away and repeat this again.
All the time I was watching the Euro Fighters over the Mar Menor, in the sky behind them, over La Manga, I could see Spain´s Eagle Patrol performing their acrobatics, doing barrel rolls and looping the loop with full colours trailing behind them. Whilst watching the flying display from the Euro Fighters and Eagle Patrol I thought to myself that although this is great to watch whilst in peacetime how terrifying this sort of display would be to people in places like Ukraine and other war-torn countries at the moment. My biggest complaint is the noise of the jackhammer the local workers use in the morning at the moment which wakes me up early. It has no comparison to the noise and fear that comes with the heavy bombing and shelling these poor people are under constantly at the moment. I hope that all war around the world soon ceases and that man can find a better way to settle its differences.
After taking a shower, I jump on the Sharky mobile and go to the pharmacy to get my tablets. My face got too much sun yesterday and despite putting on lots of after-sun gel, my skin is still very sore. I put more gell on and decide to spend the afternoon out of the sun today. Instead of going to play petanque at the beach, I watch Jurassic Park films on the television.
When I played petanque in previous years we always played earlier in the day before the sun got too hot. Because the place that has organised the beach petanque is a bar that doesn't open until the afternoon, they are playing in the full heat of the day on the beach. This is too warm a time for me and I think I will give petanque a miss during the hours that it is being played on the beach, I will play later in the year when the sun is not so strong.
Yesterday I met someone who gave me some advice on which setting to use my air con on to keep cool. I got a magnifying glass and a torch out this evening and managed to find the correct setting, I put the air con on to cool my apartment down before I go to bed.
Thursday, 16th June.
I woke at a more normal time today, I head out to the Mar Menor at about 7:45 to do my morning swim. After my swim, I take a shower and then make myself a full English breakfast. Two scrambled eggs, two rashers of bacon, two sausages, plum tomatoes and baked beans, all washed down with a couple of coffees.
This afternoon I try to keep out of the oppressive heat and stay indoors out of the strong sun. I feel too hot to cook so I go to D´Pollo and get myself a portion of peppered pork in a creamy sauce with chips for my tea tonight. To keep my sweet tooth happy I also pop into the local supermarket and get some ice cream and some bananas for my protein shakes.
The evening is spent keeping out of the sun, I stay inside with the air conditioning on.
Friday, 17th June.
I woke later this morning and don't have my swim till around 10:15 am. The water is lovely and warm and soon refreshes me from my sleepy state. Once again it is going to be very hot today and I will stay out of the heat as much as possible.
The entire day was spent inside after getting back from my swim. I worked on my website and set Peggy off hoovering the apartment. At 7 pm I went on to my balcony to read but it was too hot and I came back inside and put the air conditioning on, it was 40°c on the balcony.
Saturday, 18th June.
I woke up at about 7 am today. I put one lot of washing in my washing machine and then went down to the Mar Menor for a swim.
I had heard from different people different stories that the nets that always used to be put up to stop jellyfish, either had or hadn't been put out this year. To satisfy my curiosity I swam past the rocks near my apartment and on out to the buoys that mark the area that boats and jet skis should keep out of. These buoys are what the nets would be attached to if they had been put out. When I got there I was pleased to see that the nets had not been set up.
The quality of the water this year is a huge improvement from last year and I could see all the way to the bottom of the sea a good distance below me. Fish were swimming all around and I only saw one jellyfish when I accidentally swiped my hand through it as I swam past. I did my water aerobics out by the buoys and then swam back in.
After taking a shower I cooked myself a full English breakfast in my new oven/air fryer. It only takes 10 minutes to do the bacon and sausages in it and they come out beautifully. With it, I had fried eggs, baked beans and plum tomatoes. It was gorgeous and I am pleased I swam before eating. I wash it all down with a pot of green mango tea whilst working on my website for a few hours.
This evening is spent keeping cool in my air-conditioned apartment.
Sunday, 19th June.
I woke around 7:30 and got ready for my morning swim in the Mar Menor. This morning I am going to take my snorkel and swim around the rocks looking at the wildlife under the water.
This morning my swim was beautiful, warm, clear and very refreshing. I saw many Sea Cucumbers, a Jellyfish, some spaghetti bryozoan (an invasive seaweed type thing), lots of Cockles, an Oyster, some Hermit Crabs and many types of fish including Dorada, Sardines, Bass, Bream, Mullet and more that I could not find the names for. I will try and find my underwater camera and get some video of them soon.
This afternoon I went to the Chiringuito El Lobo outside my apartment for a pint. I sat and read my kindle for an hour before the heat got too much for me and I then returned to my balcony where it was a lot cooler. My balcony is in shade on 3 sides and I get a breeze from the sea blowing across it. I sat there reading before going in to get ready to go out with my friends Bernard and Sheila. They are emigrating to New Zealand next week and we are going out for a meal before they leave.
We go to Veni restaurant in Los Alcázares, the meal was quite good but unfortunately, Bernard didn't feel too good and went home early. Sheila and I continued to chat before we moved on and went to Zarcos bar for a cocktail. After a great evening, Sheila dropped me at home and I wished her and Bernard all the best in their new life in New Zealand.