Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain.
Summary: A recap of week 35 in Los Alcázares, daily Mar Menor swims, breakfasts with friends, stormy skies, website updates, fruit shopping, and planning my next trip.
Monday, 24th August
When I woke up today, I went for my regular morning swim. When I had finished my swim I showered and got ready for a relaxing day.
I decided to make some waffles today, until now, I still hadn't tried to use my new waffle machine. I made some cinnamon waffle mix but because I had never made any before I made far too much I could have used half the mixture of saved half for another day. They did taste fantastic, and they were straightforward to make. Not wanting to waste any of the mixture I did eat all the waffles. I guess that ruined the diet for this week.
I spent the rest of the day working on my website and in the evening I watched the Fulham vs Chelsea game. It was excellent and Chelsea looked like they could score at will at the start. Fulham pushed back after the first 30 minutes, and it strongly suggested that as good as Chelsea's attack is, there defence still needs strengthening. The game finished Fulham 2, Chelsea 3.
Tuesday, 25th August
I was up early and as soon as it was light enough I went for a swim. After my swim I went back to my apartment, showered, dressed and then walked along to the Buenavista café for a cooked breakfast. While I was sat eating breakfast my friend Martin arrived, and we sat talking for an hour.
After breakfast, I went home and got my disability scooter and went to meet Martina at Pizzeria la Sombre. It was very hot there, and I left after an hour and went to the Mercadona store to get some shopping on the way home.
At home, I had a chicken Burger for lunch and then began working on my website and my server. The server required a couple of software updates, but they were easy to do and didn't take too long.
Before going to bed I heard back from Amazon about the skull shaver I had bought off the site. Although the seller hadn't responded to my messages, Amazon did and said they would refund my money completely. I packed the broken shaver up and ordered a new one.
Wednesday, 26th August
I was up before the sun again today and pottered about until it was light enough for me to go for my swim. After my swim I went straight home, took a shower and then went to an Amazon return shop in Los Alcázares to return the broken skull shaver.
When I had returned the shaver I stopped at La Conga café in Los Alcázares and had a tostada and coffee. It was lovely, and I will go back there more often. When the weather gets cooler I will try walking their for breakfast.
After breakfast, I went to my bank for my appointment to transfer some money. Unfortunately, the lady I was supposed to be seeing had an emergency at home and had not arrived. I asked if I could reschedule and the manager said he would help me if I could wait a couple of minutes. As I sat waiting the lady I was supposed to be seeing arrived. She apologised and said she could see me straight away. She quickly helped me do the transfer I needed to make and after taking a note of when I would be away on holiday, so I could use my cards abroad, I left to go home.
This afternoon Lawrence took me to Dos Mares. I had a €10 voucher from using Bing as my search engine to use and wanted to get a new shirt with it. I found a T-shirt I liked, picked up some groceries and went to the till. They accepted the voucher, but I had to log in to the app on my phone to use it as they couldn't accept the printed voucher. I didn't know the password and had to pay and keep the voucher for another time.
When Lawrence dropped me at home, I investigated the voucher more. I realised that in my haste and confusion at the till, I hadn't noticed that the PIN code I needed to use to log in to the app was on the printed voucher. Oh well, lesson learnt for next time.
This evening I rang my brother in Law, Brett to ask him about the wetsuit he had used in the Mar Menor. We chatted for about half an hour and were just about to finish the call when my sister got in from work. I spoke to her for a while and when I finished speaking to her, I went onto the Amazon website to order a wetsuit. I had done a lot of research on sizing and different makers and was hopeful I would get a good one.
Thursday, 27th August
This morning I went swimming and did my now regular three laps to the rocks and back. As soon as I finished I went back to my apartment, took a shower and walked to Buenavista to meet Lawrence for a coffee.
Unfortunately as I approached the café, the waitress saw me and told me they had no electric due to a power cut and couldn't serve me anything. Lawrence had just driven up in his car, so I walked to his car, got in, and we drove to The Arches in Los Narejos to have coffee there. We had a chat and a coffee and Lawrence then dropped me back at my apartment.
This afternoon I worked on my website before walking to the local park and using the static bike there for twenty minutes. As I was using the bike I could see large dark storm clouds coming over and it started to rain. Luckily, for me, the equipment is under pine trees and I didn't get wet. As I finished the rain let off a little and I was able to walk home without getting to wet.
Tonight I carried on working on my website and watched the gigantic storm that was lighting up the sky outside with terrific lightning.
Friday, 28th August
This morning I went for my regular swim at around 07:30. I walked down to the Mar Menor and swam out to the rocks and back three times. My friend Lawrence had said he was going to go swimming but he never turned up.
After my swim I went back to my apartment, showered and walked along to Buenavista for breakfast. Lawrence did come along to the café and we sat chatting. I had to pick up a parcel at EconomyCash and Lawrence drove me there and waited while I collected the parcel and then dropped me off at my apartment.
This afternoon I worked on my website until I again walked to the local park to use the static bike there. I did a 20-minute session on the bike and then walked back to my apartment.
This evening I watched the Crystal Palace vs Manchester City football match.
Saturday, 29th August
I woke up very early today. I put a load of towels in the washing machine, loaded the dishwasher and put it on. As soon as the sun had come up enough for me to see where I was going, I walked down to the Mar Menor for my swim.
I swam to the rocks and back three times before going back to my apartment for a shower. By the time I had finished showering and got dressed, the washing machine had finished, and I hung all my towels up on the clothes horse in the spare room. I put another lot of washing in the machine and set it running.
I walked back down to the chiringuito outside my apartment. It has been taken over by new people and is now called Telik 2. The coffee was good and the tostada was OK, but I don't like the tomato on it. They use a food processor to chop the tomato and all you really get is a tomato froth. My tostada had a good portion of tuna on it, but I do prefer the Buenavista's tostada.
After breakfast, I went back to my website and continued working on my website. In the afternoon I went to Mercadona to get some shopping, most of which was fruit and vegetables. I have been eating a lot more fruit recently and have been eating plenty of nectarines, which is like the peach but with a smooth skin not a rough skin.
Before going to bed, I decided that I didn't want to risk arriving late for my flight from Alicante to Barcelona in November. I went online and booked an overnight stay in a hotel near the airport in Alicante, the night before I have to be at the airport. That way I can get up and get an Uber straight to the airport in the morning.
Sunday, 30th August
I was woken up several times by noisy kids during the night and didn't wake up as early as I usually do. When I weighed myself, I was disappointed to see no change on weight this week despite extra swimming and adding static cycling to routine. I couldn't understand this and asked Co Pilot what could have happened. It explained that because I hadn't taken a rest day my body was inflamed and storing water. I decided to rest today and didn't go for my swim. I hoped CoPilot was correct and it drops again next week.
I checked bus times to Alicante for my overnight stay. It was going to be better to get a bus to the airport and Uber from there to the hotel, so I booked a BAM bus from the top of my road to get to the airport on 31st October. I will get an Uber from there to the hotel.
I spent the rest of the day working on my website and watching various football matches before going to bed around 22:30.
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