Week 28 of 2021 was expected to have some very high temperatures & I intended to do even less than I normally did.

Week 28 of 2021.

Friday, July 9th.

I have a tostada & coffee at the beach after my swim this morning. I sit & talk with Andrew at the chiringuito & he told me that there is to be a free gipsy flamenco show on the stage outside my apartment tonight. During the day I watch as the stage is built up & as lighting & a sound system are added. As the day passes, an area is fenced off in front of the stage & seats are placed at a distance from each other for specially invited people to sit. Invited by whom I don't know as I have not even seen any advertising for this event.

After the show starts at around 10:30, I had a walk around the fenced-off area & decided that it was too busy for me & that I could get a good view from my balcony & hear the music equally as well. I went back to my apartment, poured myself a spiced rum & settled in my reclining beach chair on my balcony. The music was quite good & the flamenco dancers were very good, the show finished around 1 am, I was surprised at how quickly the crowd & the noise disappeared after the show.

Saturday, July 10th.

I slept very well after last night's, sitting on my balcony listening to the Flamenco show & didn't get up till gone 10 am. I went out for a swim in the Mar Menor & afterwards had a coffee & tostada at the chiringuito. This afternoon I see that my friend Alan Bond is singing at La Playa bar, not far from my apartment, so I decide to go along & listen to him sing tonight.

This evening I walk along the beach to La Playa bar, find myself a comfortable seat & listen to Alan sing & play a variety of different songs. It was a great night & I really enjoyed it. When the bar shut I walked back along the beachfront with Shellie, leaving her at her front door before walking past the chiringuito outside my apartment to go home.

As I walked up the narrow paved road to my home, I became aware of someone behind me & as I quickly turned around, a very young youth, dressed all in black swerved around me on an electric scooter narrowly missing me. I do not know if he had intended to try & mug me but there was no reason for him to be so close & after my recent mugging, I have become more vigilant when walking home. I would just like to advise people to be more vigilant whilst they are out & about, especially later in the evening when it is dark.

Sunday, July 11th.

I woke early this morning & pottered around on my laptop for a while before deciding it was too hot to cook dinner & that I would go out for Sunday lunch instead. I decided to go to my friend Mike's bar in Roda, Campbell´s bar. At around 13:00 I set off on my disability scooter & took my time to get there, enjoying just being out in the sun. When I arrived I saw Mike & my friend Martin, the chef, I ordered a pint & a roast lamb dinner.

Outside Campbell's bar is a lovely area where you can eat & drink undercover from the full glare of the sun but I sat inside the bar by the air conditioning unit. My lunch quickly arrived & everything about it was fantastic, I really enjoyed the meal & after having a short break & ordering another pint I then ordered a bread & butter pudding which was also very good.

After my meal, I went home to watch a film on the television & unsurprisingly promptly fell asleep on the sofa before waking up an hour later & restarting the film.

Monday, July 12th.

I had a coffee & tostada for breakfast at the chiringuito this morning before going to see my friend Martin at La Sombre bar at lunchtime. I sat talking to Martin for a few hours before heading home. On the way home I stopped off at the chiringuito for a swift pint & met a Spanish man & his wife. He used to be a Dr & seeing the scarring on my leg he asked what caused it. When I told him what caused it, he told me that I was very lucky to be alive as it was a very serious condition. To celebrate my living through Necrotizing fasciitis he bought me a drink or two & we sat chatting for a while before I headed back to my apartment.

After having a sandwich I again fell asleep in front of the television, before heading off to bed for an early night.

Tuesday, July 13th.

This morning I arrange to meet the lady who cleaned my apartment. When she cleaned my home she knew I had been mugged & cleaned the apartment telling me to pay her when I got my bank card back. This morning I arranged to meet her at Café Prensa in Los Narejos. I got there at 11 am & joined my friend Mike for a coffee & tostada. A short time after Mike left my cleaner arrived & I was able to give her the money I owed her. Although she was a very good cleaner, communication between us was very difficult & seeing this would be a problem going forward I decided to hire a different cleaner with whom communication would be easier

After paying the cleaner I moved around to La Sombre to have a chat with my friend Martin. I sat talking with Martin until he went shopping with his family. I then moved to LA's Family Bar & Grill where my friend Amanda was sitting. We had a drink before moving on to La Zona with a detour for her to show me her house & for me to show her where I used to have a home very close to hers. We stopped at La Zona bar for a pint before moving on to Rocco's bar for a pint. We had a great afternoon catching up & after making sure that she got to her friend's house safely I carried on onto my apartment.

When I got home I watched a film called 'My Spy' it was a very funny film about a big hard war veteran, who became a spy, get demoted to look after a lady & her daughter, they all fell in love etc, etc, etc. The storyline like all good Hollywood Romcoms was very far-fetched but the acting from the two main characters, the burly soldier/spy & the little girl was great & I thoroughly enjoyed the film.

Wednesday, July 14th.

I got up early this morning & had a lazy morning. I was due to have a reflexology session today but phoned Julie & postponed it as my stomach was making very strange noises. I spent most of the day sitting on or rushing to the toilet but late in the afternoon I cooked myself steak & mushrooms & had it with some shop-bought potato salad.  It seemed to settle my stomach enough to stop me from running to the loo every 20 minutes & I just had a lazy evening & an early night. 

Thursday, July 15th.

I woke up feeling much better & after having a pot of tea I went round to the local barber to have my hair cut. After my haircut, I stopped off at the chiringuito outside my apartment for a coffee. Whilst there my friend Sheila & Bernard messaged me to say they were having breakfast at chiringuito Principado further up the beach & asked me to join them. I went to meet them along the beach & we had a good chat over coffee & I got an invitation to their house for dinner next week. 

I spent the rest of the morning at home, having a salmon burger for my lunch before going to meet my friend Debby for the quiz at La Zona bar. I arrived at La Zona & met with Debby & her husband Keith just as they had ordered lunch. After lunch the quiz started, Keith left & we were joined by Debby's neighbour Pat. We did very well in the first three rounds & must have been in the top two teams at the halfway stage. Unfortunately, that was as good as it got & we went downhill very quickly, we knew only three answers in the next round & wiped out in the last round, losing any score we had gotten for that round. 

After the quiz, my friend Ken joined us for a while. I really enjoyed the afternoon, sitting in the sun, laughing a lot & catching up with old friends. After leaving La Zona I went home, had another salmon burger for tea watched one of the many American house remodelling shows on the television & then went to bed.