In week 3 of 2021, I did a lot of Genealogy research and ordered some sausages from an online butcher.

Week 3 of 2021.

Friday, January 15th.

I dust off the Sharky mobile & head off for an action-packed trip to Consum for a few groceries & to get out of the apartment for a while. Due to the fact that all the streets were empty & that Consum only had a few customers I managed to get there, get my shopping & back in less than an hour. A pot of tea & an apple pastry at home will soon warm me up. I saw very little action & even fewer people.

A couple of days ago I saw an advert on Facebook for a local English butcher & thought I would try their January special for 20€. Unfortunately, they don't deliver for free for that small amount. Luckily, my friends, Sheila & Bernard were making an order & tagged my order onto theirs. It was delivered to them yesterday & today they brought my part of the order around to me, It was very nice to see some real people after not seeing anyone since Christmas day, 3 weeks ago.

I had offered them a cup of tea & Sheila accepted an ordinary black (builders) tea. Bernard however realising that I had loose tea shared a pot of chai cinnamon tea with me. He loved the taste of the tea & we end up chatting about the loose tea he had once made himself & our love of different teas. He asked me where I bought mine & ended up leaving me with a pack of unopened cinnamon tea that he bought off of me. 

Sheila had asked about some of my soup recipes that I often make & post online saying she had seen one that she wanted to try. As it happened I had made some of my chicken & vegetable soup last week & had some in the freezer. Bernard had his tea, Sheila now had a Tupperware container of my frozen soup to take home.

After so long without having a face to face conversation with a real human being it was nice to have company for a short time & they left with Sheila promising to deliver me a chilli & a spaghetti bolognese next time she makes them.

For tea I have the very thin rump steak included in the meat pack my friends had delivered, it tasted better than it looked but I wouldn't order steak from the company again on the basis of this one.

Saturday, January 16th.

I woke up at around 5 am & decide as I am awake & unable to sleep, I will have a pot of tea & a massage in my massage chair to alleviate the back pain I woke up with. I make my tea, put some citrus oil in the diffuser & start the day with a massage.

After about 3 hours of working on the family tree, I decided to go & perambulate. I put on warm clothes & a mask to walk along the beach towards the old Murcia airport.  I get to where the Spinosa centre is, sit on the wall for 10 minutes to catch my breath & then walk home.  There are a few people about either walking, jogging or cycling along the promenade & it is nice to see a few friendly faces as I walk.

I sit down for a while when I get in then make myself some brunch. An omelette with chorizo sausage, yellow & green pepper, cheddar cheese, onion & mushrooms followed up with a pot of tea. I feel much better after my exercise but will now be happy to sit down to continue my research before watching the football on television today.

Sunday, January 17th.

I spent a long day on my genealogy again today. Dinner was very nice, I steamed some broccoli & carrots, did gammon steak in the air fryer & topped it off with a homemade cheese sauce, all very lovely & very filling.  The highlight of the day however was eventually finding my chai tea leaves. I went to make a pot of tea & couldn't find them. After looking all over the kitchen for them, I then started checking the rest of the apartment, the balcony was checked, all cupboards in the lounge were checked, every cupboard & appliance in the kitchen were checked. I eventually found them on a table in the hallway going to the apartment door, I have no idea what they were doing there but I am glad I found them, I would have been really teed off if I had lost them.

Monday, January 18th.

This morning I went to the town hall to have a car that I used to own 14 years ago removed from the town halls registration of car owners. I sold the car to a neighbour after I had returned to the UK. Unfortunately for me he never registered it in his name & to make things more difficult he moved back to the UK & passed away in the UK.

After queuing outside in the cold for half an hour the lady I saw inside was very helpful. She tried to sort the problem out for me, it turns out that I have been paying the tax for it for 14 years & I thought it was council tax. She tells me that I need to go to the Guardia Civil tell them that it is not my car, fill a form in to send to the traffic department & that as we cant go to the traffic department at the moment that I can take it into the town hall who will forward it to Traffico & then remove me from the records which show me as the owner.

Knowing that I will need a translator to accompany me to the Guardia Civil I contact my friend Jo who said she will help me & go with me. I just have to wait till she can take me later in the week. Whilst I am sitting at home waiting for my warm air/air con unit to be serviced, the company ring to say they can not make it & will call me later in the week to make another appointment.

Whilst waiting for my dinner to cook this evening my phone beeps with a message telling me my delivery from George at Asda in the UK will arrive between 6:45 pm & 7:45 pm. I sit back eat my chicken served on chorizo, mushroom & peppers & wait for my parcel to arrive. my parcel arrives at 7 pm but is 1 item short & I have to complain & send them an email telling them. The parcel does contain pyjamas that I am pleased with & will keep me warm whilst lazing at home doing my genealogy research. It also has two pairs of jeans that I can wear instead of wearing shorts everywhere.

Arsenal powers their way into the fourth round of the FA Cup with a 3 - 0 win over Newcastle so the day ends happily.

Tuesday, January 19th.

Once again I was up early at 5;30 am doing genealogy as I couldn't sleep. Breakfast is two slices of toast with scrambled eggs.

My friend Sheila was popping around with some home-cooked food for me today but was held up & messaged me to say she would have to leave it until later in the week. Instead of the promised Chilli or Spaghetti Bolognaise, I have chicken thighs with cottage cheese & a celery stick for my dinner. 

In tonight's football, Southampton beat Shrewsbury to go through & play Arsenal in the fourth round of the FA Cup next Saturday, my birthday, let us have a nice present you Gunners.

I stay awake until 2 am Wednesday morning to watch a genealogy webinar. Whilst it is interesting, the gentleman running it spends too much time talking about stuff that won't really help me & I end up switching it off & going to bed at about 2:30 am.

Wednesday, January 20th.

I woke up late after last nights webinar, at around 9:30 am, which is very unlike me. Breakfast is a banana & blueberry protein shake. The day many of us have been waiting a long time for, Trump leaves the White House & steps down from his Presidency of the United States of America. I wonder what mischief & mayhem he can cause in his last few hours in control.

This morning I receive an email from George at Asda to say the missing dressing gown from my order has been sent out today. I hope it doesn't take another two weeks to arrive.

I went out for a walk & to buy a potato for my dinner tonight. I only managed to get to the next road & was so puffed out I realised that I wasn't going to have the breath for a walk today. I turned around & went back to my garage for the Sharky mobile.  After getting the scooter I set off for a trip along the beach but after a short while realised I was still having trouble breathing properly so I turned around got a potato at my local Indian grocery store & went home. I was absolutely freezing so I put the heat on, make a cup of tea & settle down in front of the television to try & warm up.

After warming up & having some homemade chicken & vegetable soup I feel much better. I decide to stay in the warm & continue doing my genealogy research. I watch the inauguration of President Biden today & I was very moved by the speech made by American poet & writer Amanda Gorman. It did bring a tear to my eye & I hope that President Biden's time as President can be as impressive as this beautiful young woman's poem.

Thursday, January 21st.

I woke up late today at about 9:30 am, I think the early mornings & late nights doing research & watching genealogy webinars caught up with me. Shortly after I get up, my friend Bernard dropped off a spaghetti bolognese and a chilli that his wife had made for me. I will have the chilly tonight in a jacket potato & put the spaghetti bolognese in the freezer for another day.

I went shopping at Aldi in the morning, got some fruit for my protein shakes & lots of meat for my keto diet.

Whilst sitting at home this afternoon the company that was supposed to service my warm air/air con unit on Monday called to ask if they could come & carry out the service. This was good for me as I was in any way & won't have to wait around for another appointment. The unit was soon serviced by a man following all COVID protocols & to my delight the price has not increased since the last time it was done 2½ years ago.