Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain.
Summary: Week 39 of 2026 brought slow breakfasts, good friends, long walks, website work, and late‑night gaming, a simple, real week lived out in the September heat of Los Alcázares.
Monday, 21st September
I woke up late today at about 07:45. I checked for messages on my laptop, published last weeks blog on my website and then decided to go for breakfast at the Buenavista restaurant. I picked up two bags of rubbish, a normal rubbish bag and a recycle bag of plastic. I went out on my disability scooter and took both bags to the different bins in the street.
After dropping the bags off I went to Buenavista and ordered breakfast. I had a medium cooked breakfast and coffee and sat reading my Kindle. It was beautiful and quiet, and I was thoroughly enjoying my morning. It couldn't last and as people started to arrive and talked loud enough to let everyone know what they were doing and what their problems were, I left.
I went to the Mercadona store and got some shopping. When the people at the till saw me in the queue they opened a till for me and I didn't have to wait at all. I was soon on my way home and once home I put my shopping away, got some water to drink and sat down to rest for a while before continuing to work on my website. Its funny how some things remind you of completely unrelated things occasionally. I was listening to the radio and a song reminded me of a time when I was in Las Vegas as a kid and was visiting Wet ´n´ Wild. While I was there the duo Jan and Dean put on a show. The song on the radio this morning wasn't one of theirs or even a Surf style song but for some reason it reminded me of the day I saw them live. I wrote the story up for the website and spent the whole day working on various bits of the site again.
For dinner in the evening I cooked some chicken and pepper skewers before starting to play my favourite game on my computer, Whiskerwood. I played the game until about 23:00 and then went to bed.
Tuesday, 22nd September
I woke around 06:45, got a drink, took my medication and did the Wordle puzzle before surfing the internet and working on my website. I completely forgot I was supposed to be meeting my friends Jim and Donna at Buena Vista today. I got a message from Jim at 11:00 asking if I had forgotten. I admitted I had and said I would walk along straight away.
When I got to Buena Vista Jim was sat on his own. Donna is known for being late, but I was surprised I had beaten her there after I forgot completely. I hadn't been sat down long when Donna did arrive. We sat chatting for a while before ordering breakfast and drinks. We had not all met for years, and it was great catching up and having a good chat. It was around 13:30 when Jim had to leave to meet other friends and I asked if he could drop me at La Sombre so I could see Martin. Donna said she was going past and would drop me off and we all left Buena Vista.
It was around 14:00 by the time I got to La Sombre to see Martin. He was still there as were Dave, Aria and Martins sister Lol. We sat chatting and when Dave went and took Lol with him, Aria, Martin and I moved tables. It was sweltering sitting at our regular table, and we moved to a table that was in the shade. We carried on chatting and when Martin and Aria left to go home I left to head in the direction of my apartment.
I was shattered by the time I got to Rio Nalon and stopped for a bottle of water in Harry's bar. While I was there, I swapped messages with my friend Debbie, and she came to the bar to join me for a drink. We sat chatting for a few hours and had a few drinks before I left her and her dog, Gonzo, in the bar and walked home.
When I got home I got some water to drink to cool off, turned the TV on to watch, and promptly fell asleep.
Wednesday, 23rd September
I got up late about 10 today. I did the Wordle puzzle while I sat in my armchair but apart from getting myself food occasionally, all I did, all day was play Whiskerwood on my computer. Yesterday's long walk, the heat, and the beer had worn me out. I was concentrating on the game so much I didn't realise the time, and it had gone 01:00 when I eventually went to bed.
Thursday, 24th September
I was up late again today at about 09:00. I basically repeated yesterday again. I sat in my armchair, got myself food when I was hungry, and played Whiskerwood on my computer until going to bed around midnight.
Friday, 25th September
I was up at a more regular 07:00 today. I slept well and felt refreshed when I did wake. I had a shower, took my tablets and did the Wordle puzzle. I surfed the internet until Jim picked me up at 10:30 to go to what used to be Club Nautica and is now called Armonía. We parked in a nearby street and walked back to the restaurant to meet Dave and Doreen.
Our friends were already there, and we joined them at a table inside. The restaurant had had a big paint job, had carpet laid over the boards and had a whole new look. I thought it was strange that they had laid carpet over the pier boards. The service was very slow, and the food and drinks were very overpriced. My eggs Benedict was bacon and egg on toast with hollandaise sauce. The quality wasn't good, and my coffee was half the size of the one I get in other places for the same money. I don't think anyone was impressed by their food, and we all agreed the service was terribly slow, and we had to ask several times to get our drinks and food. It wasn't even that busy. When we left I had had enough and decided I wouldn't be going back again.
Jim dropped me off at home and I spent the rest of the afternoon surfing the Internet and playing Whiskerwood on my computer. At 18:00 I walked to Thai Aroi, a restaurant near my home. I love their food and decided to treat myself. I had a great Thai dish and a beer and the service was great. What a difference a couple of hours and a different restaurant can have on your memory of one day.
I left the restaurant and walked home. When I got home, I played Whiskerwood on my computer again until 23:30 and then went to bed.
Saturday, 26th September
I woke up about 08:00, put some clothes washing on and then had a shower and got ready to go out. At 10:15 I went out on my disability scooter to meet Debbie at the Madness café.
I have had good service and coffee there before today but today it was rubbish. When I arrived, Debbie wasn't there and after waiting about 15 minutes I finally had my order taken. Debbie arrived about 15 minutes later and after another 10 minutes the same waiter asked her what she wanted. She told him she wanted to see a menu and had to repeat herself several times before he went and got her one. When she ordered he asked me if I wanted something. I told him I was still waiting for the coffee and tostada I had ordered earlier, and he said he would go look for it.
When my tostada arrived it was a soggy bit of bread that had hardly been toasted with liquidised tomato instead of shredded tomato and the tuna was bland and tasteless. I was starving and couldn't wait any longer and ate it. Debbie had ordered salmon and avocado slices on toast. When it arrived it was guacamole on top of the salmon and a soggy bit of toast. She didn't eat more than a couple of mouthfuls and fed some of it to Gonzo. The food was bad quality and expensive. Obviously tourists who are the main customers must like it, but I won't be going back. It made two days running I had met people for breakfast and had poor food, I will stick to going to Buena Vista in the future.
Before going home I went into EconomyCash and got some rolls and a whole chicken for my dinner tomorrow. When I got home, I put the clean towels from my washing machine on the clothes horse in my spare room to air and put another lot of washing in the washing machine. I sat in my armchair and accidentally knocked over my cup of water. I got up straight away and mopped it up. As I walked back through the kitchen I noticed a bit of a stain on the floor, so I mopped the kitchen floor. As I reached for the bucket to carry it out to empty it, I knocked it and the dirty water all over the kitchen floor. I mopped it all up again, emptied the bucket, cleaned the outdoor sink near my washing machine, and cleaned the floor of my outside utility room. I then set my robot hoover running and set it to mop again after it had hoovered the whole apartment.
I got myself a couple of ham and egg sandwiches for lunch and sat down to rest and play Whiskerwood. I noticed that my robot hoover was making a small noise so checked the machine didn't have anything in the dust collector rattling. After cleaning the compartment and filter it sounded even worse. I couldn't see anything wrong so used YouTube to look for videos on how to clean the filter. I had cleaned it okay but put the filter back in incorrectly, and it was the filter that was causing the noise. I put it in correctly, set it to recharge and went back to my Whiskerwood game while it charged.
Once the robot had charged completely it went back to hoovering the apartment and once finished it mopped the entire apartment again. I'm not sure if I had worked harder than the robot, but I was knackered and spent the rest of the evening listening to football commentary of the England vs Spain football match while I played Whiskerwood. The football match finished England 2, Spain 3 and I went to bed as soon as the game finished.
Sunday, 27th September
I was woken at 04:00 by drunk teenagers being dropped off by friends right under my balcony. They always get dropped off there and then spend hours in Plaza de Espejo until they get picked up again by their parents or friends. I got back to sleep despite the loud teenagers talking and shouting while they sat at the closed chiringuito. I was woken up at 07:00 by either parents or friends picking up the drunk teenagers again. Because the day was light enough I was able to see them today. It appeared to be a few boys with very drunk girls who couldn't walk without being held up. They were picked up, and it went quiet for a brief period until the dog walkers started arriving with dogs that bark at each other. They wake up anyone who wasn't woken up by the drunk kids being picked up.
I always find it funny that one of the areas in the square covered in synthetic grass is a spot where the kids lay all night chatting. It is funny because when they leave it is the same bit of synthetic grass that the dogs urinate and defecate all over.
I got up and emptied the dishwasher that had run overnight putting everything away and finally relocating the cups, mugs, and glasses to the correct cabinet in my lounge diner. I put numerous dishes, pots, and pans in the dishwasher and set it running. I cleaned off my electric hob and put it back in the draw it lives in when I'm not using it and then made myself a coffee before sitting down and doing the Wordle puzzle.
After doing the Wordle puzzle I tidied up the kitchen some more and put more things in the dishwasher and put away some cleaned items. I played Whiskerwood for a while and at midday I prepared chicken, potatoes, and sweet corn for my dinner. The small chickens I buy are big enough for me to get two meals from. When it had cooked I split it onto two plates, one for eating straight away and one for the fridge to eat tomorrow. It tasted great, and I was pleased I had made the effort to do some cooking. After eating, I put the dirty dishes in the washing machine and prepared some potato and leek soup for the slow cooker. I prepared it all but didn't put it on because I want it to cook overnight and have the apartment smelling great when I get up.
By the time I had finished getting everything ready and clearing up after, I was puffed out, even my watch had sent me a congratulatory message on the walking I had done. I hadn't left the apartment all day but decided I had done enough exercise for the day. I watched the Denmark vs Wales football match. Denmark won the game 2-0 and when it finished I turned the TV off and went back to playing Whiskerwood.
I was pleased with all the little jobs I had managed to do around my apartment today and decided to order a few bits for it on Amazon. I have a couple of nice indoor plants, but I don't like the pots they are in, so I ordered some plant pot holders which will hide the horrible old-looking plant pots. I also ordered some plant pot holder stands which will raise them off the floor, so I don't have to lean over as far to water them, which makes my backache, and a large new water dispenser for my fridge. I like the hibiscus tea I have been making and intend putting the homemade hibiscus tea in the old water dispenser and have the new one full of water sat next to it. Giving me plenty of cold water and hibiscus tea to drink when I want.
When I was too tired to stay up any longer, I turned my computer off, went into my kitchen and turned my slow cooker onto low. The soup I had prepared earlier, should cook overnight. I went to bed at around midnight.
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