2025, Week 20 journal.

Week 20 of 2025 began with the sad news that my good friend Pete King had passed away last week. RIP, my friend. We had a blast, and we created many great memories.

Monday, 12th May.

I was woken up at around 2:30 am by kids having a five-a-side game of football in the square and didn't fall asleep again till after 3 am. I got up around 9 am, feeling grumpy because of my disturbed night. I had a coffee and a bacon sandwich for breakfast before going to work on my website.

While I was working on my website, I got a message from my friend Jane in England. She gave me the sad news that my good friend Pete King had died last Friday. Pete was a bit older than I, and his younger brother Andy had actually babysat for my mum and dad,  looking after me and my sister when we were very young. We became very good friends later in life when I met him in a pub called The Portland in Fareham. He said hello and bought me a pint. Many years later, we would become very good friends, drinking together every week in the Hill Park Memorial Working Men's Club. We had some great times, Pete, and you will always be remembered fondly, especially our St Trinians school girl fancy dress night, and the occasional scrap we got into together.

During a break from working on my website, I messaged my friend Bob to see if he could trim my beard this week, as he forgot about it last week. He said he could do it straight away and was at my apartment 10 minutes later. I had my head shaved and my beard trimmed and tidied up. Bob did a great job, and I felt much better afterwards. When he left, I continued to work on my website all afternoon and evening.

Tuesday, 13th May.

I woke up around 7 am, took my tablets, and did the Wordle puzzle before doing some work on my website. At around 11:30, I walked to the health clinic to get the results of the blood tests I had last week and to hopefully get my INR regular blood test sorted out. I was puffed out when I arrived, but sat down and read my Kindle until I was called in to have my ankle dressings changed. The nurse dressed my leg and made me a new appointment for Friday before I went back outside to wait to see the Doctor.

When the Doctor called my name, I went in and sat in front of her. I showed her my phone, on which I had typed out my question about asking for the app that goes on your phone to make appointments and get blood test results. She huffed and printed out the results of last week's tests and told me I needed an interpreter all the time. She wouldn't tell me what the results were for or what they said, and threw the paperwork in front of me. She wrote me a prescription for 20 days' worth of Sintrom and for an ECG with the nurse and threw that in front of me as well before dismissing me. The ECG test was what the nurse had asked her to give me last week, and she just sent me back to the nurse for it.

I left, not knowing what the blood tests she had sent me for were for, or what the results were. When the nurse called me back in, she gave me the ECG test. She gave it to the Doctor, who again said nothing to me but gave me the ECG printout. She then started talking to the nurse in Spanish and called another young nurse in to ask me questions in English. They wanted to know why I wanted to take an INR test, and where I had been taking it. I explained that for the first three years that I was here, I had them there at the clinic and received printouts from them. I then transferred to a private clinic and had them there. They then asked if I had been in a hospital in Spain, and I told them I had been in a public hospital in Barcelona and San Javier and private hospitals in Murcia and Cartagena. The Doctor kept waving her arms and speaking in Spanish while the young nurse translated. She told me that they had no record of me on the system and that they needed me to have another blood test with a specialist to get a control test for my INR levels. I explained to her that that was what I thought I was supposed to have had last week. The nurse told the Doctor, but she left. The nurse asked me to give her a Spanish-speaking friend's phone number so that she could get the blood specialist to make me an appointment for a control test. I gave the young nurse the phone number of my neighbour, Liz and then left.

When I left the clinic, I messaged Liz just in case the blood lab had rung her before I saw her, and she didn't know what they were talking about. When I had walked back to the apartments, I stopped to see Liz and explained to her what had gone on and what the phone call she might get was about. I left Liz and went back to my apartment and got myself a burger for lunch.

I decided that tomorrow I would go to the ASSA office to speak to my health insurance company and see if they could help. It is, after all, the private clinic for which I pay my health insurance. 

Wednesday, 14th May.

When I woke up, I got myself a coffee and checked for messages on my computer before doing the Wordle puzzle. At about 10:15, I got on my disability scooter to go to my health insurance office in Los Narejos.

As I got close to the ASSSA office, I saw some friends sitting outside Cafe Prensa, and as I hadn't had breakfast, I sat down with them and had a tostada and a coffee. We chatted for a short time, and when I had finished eating, I paid for my breakfast before going to the ASSSA office. Just as I left the cafe, the blood laboratory at Los Arcos hospital phoned me and gave me an appointment to have my "control blood test" on the 22nd.

When I got to the ASSSA office, I sat down to wait because Sophia was talking to someone else, and as I sat there, another couple came in. As Sophia finished talking to the first couple, she asked the second couple if it was a quick question they had, and when they said it was, she asked me if I minded if she spoke to them first. I told them to go first, waited a couple of minutes, and then sat down with Sophia when they left.

Sophia knew about my hospital stay and asked how I was. I explained the problems I had at the private clinic, with them telling me to go to the public health clinic, and then the problems I had with the doctor there on Tuesday. She told me that I was correct in thinking I could go to the private clinic for anything and that they should have helped. She also said it would be best to go to the appointment on the 22nd at Los Arcos to get the blood test sorted out and make sure my records were all correct.

We had a good chat about my health insurance and the public health system, and I said I would continue going to the public clinic more often and that I had decided to stay with my private insurance as well. I don't know what will happen if the agreement between Spain and the UK finishes and I have to stop using the Spanish public health system. It would be a lot more expensive to find private health insurance now, I am older, because the rate I currently pay was locked in about nine years ago and was tied to the age I took it out at and before any of the surgeries I have had since. I will try to see if I can get registered as disabled in Spain, so that I can transfer fully to the Spanish health system and not worry about what happens to my current public health cover if the UK removes my disability cover before I get to retirement age.

When I left Sophia, I got on my disability scooter and went to Mercadona to do some shopping. I got my shopping and went home along the beachfront. Once I had got home and put my shopping away, I got myself something to eat before going to work on my website for a few hours. 

At 5:15 pm, I walked to the local pharmacy to get the prescription the doctor had given me for Sintrom tablets and more blood pressure tablets. I gave the lady in the pharmacy my prescription, and she gave me my tablets. I was very pleased when I realised that, because I had them on prescription, I got the discounted price I am now entitled to. Instead of paying €16.70, all I had to pay was €1-67. The savings on my tablets and the money I could save by switching to the public health system over the private health system are something else to consider when I decide whether to cancel my private health insurance.

When I left, I saw my friends George and Yvonne sitting down at the Avenida Cafe next door, and I stopped to chat with them. I didn't bother getting a drink, and the staff didn't seem to mind. I sat with my friends chatting, and left them about an hour later and went home.

When I got home, I carried on working on my website until I went to bed at around 11 pm.

Thursday, 15th May.

I woke up at 4:30 am today. I tried to get back to sleep but couldn't and got up at 5 am. I got myself a drink and then did the Wordle puzzle. Today, there were too many possibilities on the puzzle and I didn't get it in my six attempts, bringing my 52-day winning streak to an end. I took my tablets and then began working on my website.

I stopped work on my website at about 10 am and took a bag of rubbish to the bin, and then carried on walking to the Buena Vista restaurant for a tostada with tomato and a coffee. I sat reading my Kindle for about an hour, but as it got busier and noisier, I paid and left to go home.

When I got home, I continued to work on my website. I had two cheese and ham rolls for lunch, but other than that, I carried on working on my website until around 6:30 pm. I managed to get a lot of work done and was very pleased with the changes I had made and the extensions that I installed on it, which allowed me to run different administration tests on it.

Friday, 16th May.

I had a few different jobs to do today, so when I woke up, I got up and had a shower straight away. After I had my shower, I got a coffee, checked my messages on my computer and then got ready to go out.

I got on my disability scooter and went to the Libera health clinic to see if they knew about a missed call on my phone. When I got there, one of the ladies took my details and looked at my phone and the missed call message I had. She looked at the clinic computer system and said she couldn't see any phone calls made to me. My favourite receptionist, Rosa, saw me and asked if she could see my phone, so I handed it to her. She looked at the number that Google had told me was their phone number and told me that it was actually the phone number for the Los Arcos hospital. The hospital must have called me before they actually managed to get me earlier in the week. I thanked her for her help and then got on my disability scooter to go to Avatel.

When I got to the Avatel office, I showed the girl working there the message saying that the Spanish Health System app wouldn't work on my phone. She looked at it and said that it was because my phone wasn't Spanish. I told her it was and that they were my provider, and she told me that my phone itself was not a Spanish one, and that is why the health app wouldn't work. I left the shop a bit displeased that I would have to spend money on a new phone, and went to Economy Cash to buy a couple of groceries that I wanted. When I got my groceries, I went to an ATM and withdrew some money before going home.

When I got home, I worked on my website for a couple of hours before I went back out to have my leg dressed at the health clinic. I left in plenty of time to get to the clinic and went on my disability scooter. When I got there, I was early and read my Kindle while I waited. The person seeing the nurse was there for a long time, and I was about 40 minutes late going in. I was seen and had my ankle redressed, and the bad experience I had there with the doctor earlier in the week was quickly forgotten. I was happy that the nurse was so pleasant and did such a good job again. She actually introduced me to a friend of hers who spoke English while I was there, and we talked briefly before I left to go home. I asked them about my appointment time at Los Arcos because I thought that midday was too late for a blood test. She put my mind at rest and said that the test I was going for could be done at any time.

As I was getting on my scooter outside the clinic, I saw my friend Sean and had a quick chat with him, and then I went to the Dia supermarket. I only wanted a Chinese soy sauce for the fish I have and want to use tomorrow. I didn't find the one I wanted, but I found a Teriyaki one and bought that instead. I took my sauce home, and as soon as I got in, I decided to see how much a new phone would cost. It would not be very easy for me to continue to book appointments or get blood test results for my INR blood tests if I couldn't use the app to do it on my phone. I was even more pleased to find that Google had a sale on the Google Pixel 9a that I was looking at. Down from €799.99 to €569.99, it was still a lot more than I wanted to pay. I put my phone details in to see what sort of trade-in value my Google Pixel 7a had. It would give me a €325 trade-in value, which I was astonished at, as I only paid €299 for it. I decided to trade it in and get the new one while the trade-in value was so good, and they had a sale on. When I went to make the purchase, the Google website told me that I had a €100 credit from somewhere, and they applied that to my purchase as well, which meant the new phone that was initially priced at €799.99 was only costing me €144.99. I made the purchase and was told that it would arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday next week.

In the afternoon, I worked on my website before getting ready to go out tonight. My friend Jim was coming to help me take some cardboard to the recycling bin before we joined more friends for dinner. Before Jim was due to arrive, I managed to get all the cardboard in the garage lift and take it outside, where I piled it out of the way, but somewhere we could load it into the car when he arrived. It was too much for me, and I had puffed myself out doing it and sat on the boxes to wait for Jim. When Jim arrived, it was obvious there was more cardboard than we could get in the car. We loaded as much as possible in the car, along with a lot of polystyrene packaging, and put what was left back in the garage. By now, I was puffing like a steam train, was short of breath and felt a bit faint. I sat in the car, and Jim drove us to the bin. We only just managed to get all the cardboard in the bins, and we decided not to go back for the rest and to leave it for another day. I couldn't have done any more lifting by now and felt a bit rough.

Jim drove us to Roda, where we met our other friends, Dave and Jayne, and Dave and Doreen. I sat for a while, getting my breath back, while Jim got us a drink. We all sat chatting and catching up. We chatted about our health, old friends, and places we had all been in the past. After an hour, we all went across the road to Campbell's bar for dinner. While my five friends all had fish and chips, I am not a lover of cod, and I had pre-ordered steak and ale pie with sweet potato mash. Because I suffer from acid reflux, I have been trying to see what sets it off, and one of the things that seemed to do it is potato, hence the reason for swapping chips for sweet potato. The meal was great, and the sweet potato didn't bring on the acid reflux that often comes with the start of any meal, and I was able to enjoy my meal without it. Thanks for the suggestion, Martin, it worked.

While I was there, our waitress, Lauren, slipped me her phone number so that I could call her to help when I needed someone to translate for me when I went to the doctor or anywhere else I needed help. The other guys in our group were all very jealous that she had given me her phone number and not them. Tough luck, guys. By the time we left and Jim dropped me at home, it was 10:30 pm, and I didn't feel up to taking the cardboard to the recycling bin. Jim must have read my mind and said he would help me shift the last bit another day. I went into my apartment and watched TV for half an hour before going to bed.

Saturday, 17th May.

When I woke up, I felt a lot better than I had when I went to bed. Moving the large boxes full of cardboard, initially on my own, probably wasn't a good idea yesterday. I got myself a drink, took my tablets and did the Wordle puzzle. I struggled doing the puzzle this morning and scraped through when I got it on my sixth and final attempt. I sat at my computer for a couple of hours, surfing the Internet, and then I messaged my neighbour Liz to tell her I was going for coffee if she wanted to join me. She told me she would, and I walked downstairs to meet her.

We walked along to the Buena Vista Restaurant and got a seat in the shade because Liz doesn't like the sun. I ordered the combined breakfast, coffee, tostada with tomato and a glass of orange juice. We sat chatting and enjoying breakfast for around an hour before we went back to our apartments.

When I got back to my apartment, I stripped the linen from my bed and put it in the washing machine. I then sent a message to Lauren with the details she needed to check my appointment at the blood laboratory at Los Arcos next week. I sat at my computer and started to work on my website, but as I was working, I got an email from my friend Pete King's daughter, Tara. She had messaged me through my website to tell me about her dad's passing away last week. I told her that I had heard the sad news, and she told me that she and Pete had only been talking about me the week before he passed away, about a fancy dress we both attended. Tara and I swapped email addresses and messaged each other for a little while. I sent her some photos I had of Pete and me when we were dressed as St Trinian's schoolgirls, and I thought I would post them here.

We shared many good times, Pete, RIP, my friend, save me a place at whatever bar you are sitting at now, we never could agree if we would be going up or down when our time came.

This afternoon, I cooked myself a seafood stir fry and ate it while watching the FA Cup final between Crystal Palace and Manchester City. I was, of course, supporting the underdogs and hoped Crystal Palace would win. I was delighted when they scored and even happier when they clung on to win the game 1-0. It didn't seem right that this game wasn't the last game of the season. I hope that in the future it is restored to its usual place as the last game of the English football season to bring the curtains down on the season and signal the start of the scramble to sign new players before the following season.

I watched Dr Who after the football, and whilst I hope that I am not in any way anti gay or racist, I do think that turning Dr Who into a gay black man is getting a bit ridiculous and I wonder how long it will be before he is reincarnated as an animal and wanders the universe protecting animal rights.

After Doctor Who finished, the Eurovision Song Contest started. I did chuckle when one of the hosts told a man moving props to push it straight. Then, she looked at the camera and said that straight wasn't a word used very often at the Eurovision Song Contest. Some of the songs were quite good, but the majority were garbage, and the scoring system is flawed as a song contest scoring system. The scoring is a popularity competition between the mainly LGBTQIA+  community; the whole show seems to be designed for these days.

It was no surprise to see that the English all-girl group scored zero points from the audience, and I wonder why the UK even bothers to enter. The competition is no longer about the singing and the performance. As bad as the show was, I found myself compelled to watch to the end to see if the woman from Israel could win; she came close, but in the end, she was beaten by the singer from Austria and came second. What can I say about the Finnish entry "Ich Komme" or I´m Coming.

Sunday 18th May.

I slept until around 8 am today after staying up late to watch the Eurovision Song Contest yesterday. I got up, got a coffee and did the Wordle puzzle. I was fortunate when the first word I chose had its first three letters correct, and on my second attempt, I got the correct word.

I began working on my website, as is my usual routine, and stopped around 11 am for a break. I got myself a couple of bits of toast with avocado and a poached egg on top. When I had finished, I went back to work on my website administration.

I stopped working on my website early in the evening and got myself a chicken stir fry for my meal before watching the Arsenal vs Newcastle game. It was a challenging game, but Arsenal won 1-0 to guarantee they will be playing Champions League football again next season.