2025, Week 24 journal.

In week 24 of 2025, I attempted to increase my limited exercise, but I encountered a problem with my aching knee, which meant more rest at the end of the week.

Monday, 9th June.

After getting up today, I got myself a coffee, sat at the computer, did the Wordle puzzle and wondered how to step up the amount of exercise I have been doing. I decided to walk a bit further each day. In hindsight, I should have thought about this more and planned my walks for earlier or later in the day when it's cooler.

After having some cereal for breakfast, I decided to walk to the office this morning. I left home at about 11 am and first took some rubbish to the bin and then strolled to Los Narejos. I took my time and broke the journey up by taking a 10-minute break on the way. I arrived at La Sombre Pizzeria around 11:45, and although I was puffed out, I didn't feel as bad as I had on previous walks there. I had arrived early, but the waiter knew me by now and was happy for me to sit down outside to rest and get my breath back. I sat down on our usual table, got my breath back, and he finished setting up and cleaning the tables. Once he had finished, he asked if I wanted a drink, and I requested a large bottle of water with ice and lemon.

The waiter brought my water to me, and as he did, Martin arrived and ordered a drink. A short time later, we were joined by Dave, and we all sat chatting until Dave left to go home. Martin and I ordered a beer and continued chatting till around 3 pm, and then both left to go home. I walked towards Rio Nalon, and because my knee was beginning to ache, I stopped at La Zona Bar, where I saw my friend Michael. I got a beer and sat chatting with him for an hour. I messaged my friend Kate to see if she could give me a lift later on, and then continued to walk towards Rio Nalon. I got to the strip and went inside the new Roccos to cool off in their air-conditioned bar. I had a drink and cooled off before walking down to Harry's Bar. 

There were a few people I knew at Harry's Bar, and I sat talking to people there for a few hours. I hadn't heard from Kate, so I messaged my friend Bob to check that the tourist train was running. If it were, I wouldn't have to walk all the way home, and my knee was now throbbing, and I was in a lot of pain. I didn't get a message back from Bob, but as I sat outside Harry's Bar, I heard the distinct sound of the train's horn as he went past at the bottom of the road in the opposite direction. This meant I had a few minutes to get to the end of the road to catch the train home, so I walked to the bottom of the road and waited for it to return.

Sure enough, the train was soon back, and I was able to climb aboard and ride the last section of my journey back home. After I got off the train at the end of my road, I went back to my apartment and sat down to rest my knee. I watched TV for a little while, but didn't stay up long, and then went to bed after turning on the fan in the bedroom to cool it down a bit.

Tuesday, 10th June.

When I woke up this morning, I felt much better, and my knee no longer hurt. Because of this, I decided to walk to meet Martin again. This turned out to be a mistake. I sat at my computer to drink my coffee and do the Wordle puzzle. As I sat there, my phone beeped, and it was a reply from my friend Kate saying she couldn't give me a lift home. When I looked closer at the timings of the messages I had sent her yesterday afternoon, it appeared she had received my message at 7 pm. However, I sent it at about 5 pm, and it also appeared she replied at about 7 pm, although it had only just arrived on my phone at 10 am today. Phones do seem to have a life of their own, I don't think I can be the only person who finds their mobile phone not receiving or sending messages on time or finds their phone has been turned to silent, or the screen brightness has been turned to zero, so you can't see the screen.

After having a coffee, doing the Wordle puzzle and getting ready to go out, I decided to get my lottery tickets for the week on the way to meet Martin. I walked to Rio Nalon and decided to have breakfast at the Tipsy Thistle. I sat and had breakfast, and when I finished, I decided to catch the bus if it turned up to save me walking the rest of the way to Los Narejos. As I walked to the bus stop, the bus went past, and I had missed it by less than a minute. As I saw it go past the end of the road, I turned to go back to the lottery shop, and as I did, I saw Martin sitting at Cafe Parking. I joined him for coffee, and he told me that his dad would be driving past the end of the road, so I should call him for a lift. I drank my coffee and called Dave and arranged a lift. When Martin left on his bike, I walked back to the lottery shop and joined a big queue outside.

I had to queue for around 15 minutes to get my lottery ticket, and when I had it, I walked back to the Cafe Parking and got another coffee. As I finished my coffee, Dave called to tell me he would be leaving home and would be by shortly, so I walked back to the end of the road and waited outside the Avatel office for Dave. As I stood there in the full midday sun, I began to feel a bit dizzy. I kept holding onto the lamp post and tried to see if I could spot Dave's car coming, but couldn't see it. At the same time, I waited there, a delivery lorry parked right on the roundabout, blocking my view of any cars coming down the road.

I began to feel unwell and unsteady on my feet, and moved out of the sun into the shade. As soon as I did, I saw Dave's car parked behind the lorry. I walked towards it and got in, and was glad to get out of the heat. Dave turned the air conditioning on, and I started to cool off. When we got to La Sombre Pizzeria, we were lucky and could park right next to the restaurant. As I got out of the car, I felt dizzy as the heat hit me again. I caught myself on the car door and then took a couple of steps to sit down at the restaurant. I ordered a large bottle of water and sat with Martin and Dave, and tried to slow my breathing and heart rate. I began to feel a little better as the cool water began to rehydrate me. Viv arrived a short time later and asked if I was okay, as I looked a bit pale. I told her I was beginning to feel a bit better, but I could see that she was keeping an eye on me. 

I felt very withdrawn and didn't participate much in the conversation when my friend Bernard sat down to talk. I barely said a word to him. I slowly started to feel a little better, but the sun was too much for me. Viv left after telling me that the colour did seem to be returning to my face, and Dave said he would give me a lift all the way home. After we left, Dave dropped me right outside my apartment, and when I got in, I opened all the windows and doors to let some air in and turned the fan on to cool me down. I watched some TV, and soon I felt my body begin to cool down. When I checked my Fitbit app, my heartbeat had soared at the times I had been feeling unwell, but was returning to a little bit above its normal resting rate.

I spent the rest of the day relaxing in my armchair in the cool, and tonight I watched the England vs Senegal friendly football match. England were far too friendly and played abysmally. In contrast, Senegal played really well and deserved to beat England by more than the 1-3 scoreline they ultimately won by, becoming the first African team to beat England.

Wednesday, 11th June.

I hadn't been up long and was drinking a coffee and doing the Wordle puzzle when my friend Lawrence messaged me to see if I wanted to go to Cafe Prensa for a coffee. He said he would be along shortly, and after I had taken a shower, I walked outside to wait for him. When he arrived, I jumped into the car and we drove to Los Narejos and Cafe Prensa. When we arrived, Theresea and Christine were already there, and we joined them at their table.

I ordered a coffee and a tostada with tomato for breakfast, and we sat chatting outside. A short time later, our friend Darren stopped for a quick chat, and Steve also joined us after dropping Bev off at the airport. When we left, Lawrence said he wanted to buy a lottery ticket, and I suggested showing him the lottery shop in Los Alcazares, as it would be a shorter distance for him to walk from a car park spot than the one in Rio Nalon would be. I showed him the way, and we were lucky to find a parking spot very close to the lottery shop. Lawrence liked the area there because it was cooler due to the shade over the paved area and had more Spanish influence than Rio Nalon. We only stopped long enough for him to get his lottery ticket, and he then dropped me off at home.

I hadn't been in long when the postman arrived with a parcel from Amazon with the new screen protector and case for my phone. Unfortunately, it was too small for my phone. I rechecked the order, and I had made the correct order; it just didn't fit. I expect the seller either sent the wrong size or wasn't aware of the different phone sizes between closely named models. I immediately initiated a return to Amazon and will have to take the parcel to a drop-off point to be collected by Amazon tomorrow.

I took it easy again this afternoon and this evening, but I did add a couple of extra Jamaica information pages to my website for places I had visited years ago when I went to Jamaica on holiday. I decided to walk to the Thai Aroi restaurant for dinner. I love the flavours of their Thai menu, and it isn't too far for me to walk. I arrived around 6:30 pm and was quickly seated. I ordered the Massaman Gai dish, which is, and I quote, a sweet and tangy coconut curry with tamarind, potatoes, cinnamon, galangal, peanuts, and chicken. It is served in a bowl and resembles a soup more than the thick curry I had grown accustomed to in India. I only ordered a mild version, and it was quite hot enough for me and tasted delicious. I plan to visit once a week for a meal, as I love the beautiful flavours and aromas of the food they serve. To drink, I had the Avocado milkshake, which I enjoyed, and it helped with the heat of the curry.

When I finished my meal, I paid the bill and took a short walk along the beach back to my apartment. I watched a bit of TV before going to bed around midnight.

Thursday, 12th June.

I got up around 7:30 this morning. I got a coffee, did the Wordle puzzle and worked on my website for a while. Just after 10 am, I left home and walked to the Euronics store to return the parcel that Amazon had delivered the previous day. I walked along the beachfront and cut up by the Rambla to the store. The helpful staff quickly took the return, and I left to continue walking to my bank.

When I arrived at the bank, I thought I saw that my account manager was on her phone and appeared to be busy, but the lady next to her seemed to be available. I sat down and explained to her that I was unable to log into my account and that the phone app wasn't allowing me to log in either. She quickly reset the password and verified that it was working. For some reason, it wouldn't work for her either. I told her I was relieved that it hadn't worked for her either, because I always feel like a complete fool having to ask for help to log in. At least knowing that it hadn't worked for her either made me feel like it wasn't my fault. She had to provide me with a completely new ID code and password, but she rechecked it on my mobile phone and had me choose a new password to use, and then rechecked that as well. Before I left, she gave me her phone number and that of my regular account manager and told me to call if I had any other problems. The staff at Caixia Bank are brilliant and are always very helpful.

When I left the bank, it was starting to get very hot outside again, and not wanting to have any more dizzy spells, I kept to the shade in the backstreets for my walk home rather than walking along the beachfront in the full sun. As I walked home, my friend George phoned me. I was puffing a bit and was having trouble making out what he was saying. George has a powerful Scottish accent that I have trouble making out at the best of times, not having a good connection made it even harder, but I thought he said he was leaving to go back to Scotland tomorrow. I told him I was out walking and would get back to him when I got home.

When I got home, I sat down and rested for a while. I was pretty hungry by now, but it was too hot to have something cooked for lunch, so I had a bowl of cereal with Greek yoghurt, raisins and walnuts. It tasted great and was just what I needed. I began to add descriptions to photos in the photo albums on my website. Unfortunately, changing the format of the photos to a new, faster-loading, and smaller file-size format recently meant I had lost the descriptions attached to the old-format photos, and I have to reenter the descriptions for over 6,300 photos on my site.

I also messaged George this afternoon to see if he and his wife, Yvonne, would be going to the Avenida Bar at their normal time this evening. I thought I would go and say goodbye to them before they went back to Scotland. He told me they would be there around 5 pm, and I messaged him to tell him I would see him there. I tried to take an hour's nap before leaving to see George and Yvonne, but I didn't fall asleep. Just before 5 pm, I walked the short distance to the Avenida bar. My friends hadn't arrived when I got there, so I got myself a drink and sat down outside to wait for them.

They arrived a short time later, and we sat chatting. It turned out I had completely misunderstood what George was saying on our phone call this morning when I was out for a walk. They currently have no plans to return to Scotland and are, in fact, awaiting the results of some medical tests in Spain. They had been having trouble translating some paperwork, so I offered to scan the documents and run them through Google Translate, allowing them to send copies back to their family in the UK. We sat chatting for quite a while, and it was pretty pleasant as the sun went down and the temperature cooled. 

We had a few beers and chatted until after 9 pm. I was surprised how quickly the time had passed when we all left. It didn't take me long to walk the short distance home, and as soon as I got in, I put two ham knuckles in my air fryer to reheat. Within 20 minutes, I was sitting in my armchair, eating my supper and watching TV after finishing my meal. I checked for any messages on my computer, did a little more work on my website, and went to bed around 11 pm.

Friday, 13th June.

I was woken up in the early hours of the morning by some idiot shouting at the top of his voice in the square. It didn't last for too long, and I'm not sure if he was arguing with someone else, arguing with himself about something, or if the police had arrived to move him on. However, it quietened down after about 30 minutes, and I was able to get back to sleep.

I woke up again around 7:30 am and got up for a cup of coffee. I completed the Wordle puzzle online and began working on my website. I stopped at 11:30 and went for a walk to the nearby Dia store to get some rolls. I bought a cheap pack of rolls that I didn't particularly like, but they were all that was left, and I didn't think my knee would allow me to walk to any of the stores on Rio Nalon. I consoled myself by also buying some very nice tiramisu-flavoured ice cream before walking back to my apartment.

When I got home, I got myself a crunchy chicken burger for lunch. As I ate the burger, my friends George and Yvonne called to say they would be round in half an hour. I had told them I could help them scan and translate some medical documents, and they were going to bring them round to me. They arrived 30 minutes later, and I scanned the documents, translated them from Spanish to English using Google Translate, and printed the translations for them. They gave me a bag with some melons in it that they had brought round for me, and we chatted for a short time before they left. I began to sort through the bags of electric leads I have been meaning to sort through for months.

I had a tablet that I didn't use, and was looking for a power lead for it. When I found the lead, I ensured the tablet was charged and reset it to its factory condition. I thought it would be ideal for my friend Kate, her laptop is old, heavy and doesn't work correctly. She is going to England on holiday soon, and it would be ideal for her to have and to take with her. After ensuring everything was okay, I messaged her to see if she wanted it, and she was happy to accept it. I promised to take it around to her tomorrow.

This afternoon, I took some time looking at holiday insurance packages online. My current annual insurance policy covers multiple trips for up to 50 days each, and it expires next month. I will need to purchase a new one. I received a price quote from my current insurer that includes all my medical conditions. Many people opt for the cheapest option or fail to disclose preexisting conditions to the insurer. If you don't tell insurers about preexisting conditions, you are just throwing your money away and are putting your health at risk. I also opted for worldwide coverage, which included cruise coverage. The price came to €443, but I had upgraded to the best coverage rather than regular coverage and also upgraded it to cover single items in my luggage up to € 1,000, and I also got the no-surcharge cover. It's a significant amount of money, but it will cover me thoroughly for my travels, which I hope to continue in the coming year.

After getting the price for my insurance, I found myself researching two trips for tours to Australia and New Zealand next year. I spent some time on the Internet reading the itineraries for the two trips and also printed the itineraries off to read later. I have to ensure I have the money to go on the trips first, but I hope to have some finances sorted out soon and be able to book a once-in-a-lifetime trip.

This evening, I had a second crunchy chicken burger for dinner and followed it up with some of the ice cream I bought earlier. I spent the evening watching TV before putting my dishwasher on a timer to clean my dishes during the early hours of the morning when the electric is cheaper, and went to bed around 10:30. Because I had been woken up several times by kids outside, I closed all my windows tonight and put the fans on for an extended time delay shut down period before going to bed.

Saturday, 14th June.

I woke just after 7 am and got up and got myself a coffee. When I went into the kitchen, I could hear the noise of my dishwasher running. It had come on correctly using the delayed start setting I had set last night before going to bed. When I checked my email, I found a message that I assumed came from someone on my trip to India, as it mentioned one of the other people on the trip. It didn't specify who they were, though, and there was no indication in the email address because it appeared to have been sent using a mobile phone's email facility and didn't include a proper email address either. I sent a quick reply asking who it was and hope they reply telling me their name.

When I finished my coffee, I got a second one and got some muesli with Greek yoghurt for breakfast. I also chopped up the melons that George and Yvonne brought me yesterday. I put some in my cereal and froze the rest to use in smoothies. I then began working on my website, adding logos to the tag pages. I got a bit carried away editing my website and finally stopped around 1 pm. I then messaged my friend Kate to see if she was home so I could give her the tablet I had promised.

I sat in my armchair working on my website all afternoon. I had intended to go for a walk today, but the hotter it got, the less inclined I was to go outside. Kate didn't get back to me until 3:30 pm, and by then, it was too hot to take the tablet to her. I said I would take it to the office on Monday and give it to Martin to give to her when he went home.

For dinner tonight, I cooked some fish and chips. As soon as I started eating the chips, my acid reflux flared up. I slowed down and took breaks between mouthfuls and was able to eat the meal without bringing up any acid from my stomach. I think it must primarily be potatoes that cause my acid reflux, but mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes don't seem to cause it.  I continued working on my website until around midnight. I closed all the doors and windows, put the fan in my bedroom on and went to bed, hoping to sleep all the way through the night.

Sunday, 15th June.

I was surprised when I woke up today to find it had gone 9 am. I got up, got myself a coffee and opened all the doors and windows in the apartment to let some air in. I guessed that something was going on in the square again as I could hear Spanish voices over a tannoy through the doors to my balcony. I completed the Wordle puzzle and then had some breakfast.

After breakfast, I conducted research on my three times great-grandfather, Richard Wilde, and my three times great-grandmother, Elizabeth Prescott. I was able to locate them in some census records and began adding the census record information to their pages on my website. This took me longer than it used to because, instead of just adding the details of them from the census, I am adding details for the entire census record on which they appear. I added a module for each page of the census records I found, along with the details of everyone else on each page. I am doing this because I have noticed over the years that many relatives live on the same street and sometimes move in with other relatives. I have also found younger relatives living with older siblings in some census records. By placing everyone on the census in one module for my website, I only have to enter the information once. I can link to the module from each person who appears on it, rather than reentering the information multiple times. Additionally, I can link the places on each module to the extra information about places my ancestors have lived. This will again make it easier in the long run, but will require more effort in the short term.

I stopped for a break around 5 pm and had some fried chicken with mushrooms for my dinner. I paired it with mushrooms to avoid the frozen chips that had triggered my acid reflux the previous day. I experienced a slight bout of reflux after eating my meal, but it wasn't severe. Slowing down my eating pace allowed me to eat without too many problems. As soon as I had finished dinner, I returned to my research, but this time I moved to my armchair and used my laptop to do the work, so I wouldn't develop a backache from sitting in the same position for too long. 

I tried to watch some of the Club World Cup football tonight, but the coverage kept freezing and wasn't very good, so I watched reruns of old quiz programs before going to bed at 10:30 pm.