I started week 33 of 2021 feeling a lot better than I had in a long time. Last week's visit to see the gastroenterologist, although not complete, has left me feeling a lot better.
Friday, August 13th.
I woke up early today feeling much better than yesterday. By 7:30 am I am already swimming in the Mar Menor, I swim out past the rock formation & on out to the nets. I swim back in & return to my apartment for a shower & a shave.
For breakfast I have porridge oats with a banana, it was lovely & I feel ready for the day ahead of me. I go to have my haircut but the barber is not yet open so I go to the bank. I have been having trouble logging on to the bank website & after waiting around 30 minutes for the lady in the bank to finish her telephone call I am invited to sit down. I explain what the problem is & she explains that as the bank is changing from Bankia to Caxia the log on details have changed. She resets the telephone number that they have on record for me & then puts the bank's app on my phone before resetting my login details for me. Whilst there I check that my IBAN details are correct as I have to make a payment to my account & do not want the deposit going missing. The lady helping me, excitedly tells me that she will arrange for me to see someone about investing the money I am depositing next week. I guess they must get some sort of bonus, I just hope that it will mean the bank charges they charge me for having an account with them will soon disappear.
After the bank visit, I go round to a local chino shop where I buy two hanging baskets for my balcony. I had two made for me by my friend Reindeer, unfortunately for me when I gave him the size I wanted I didn't take into account the weight of them when full of soil & plants. They were so heavy that I could not hang them. I will move the table that is on my patio & never used, into the spare bedroom. This will give me more room to create a garden on my balcony, it will also allow me to use the large planters that Reindeer built for me. I will be able to put them on the floor in the space that the table currently takes up.
I repot my Christmas Cactus (Schlumbergera), splitting it up into two different hanging baskets. I hope that it will take & fill the pots out nicely before they start to flower around Christmas, they should look fantastic in the baskets hanging from my balcony. I also repot the small Aloe Vera plant I have into the larger pot that the Christmas Cactus was originally in. Later in the evening, I water all the plants well before watching Arsenal's first game of the new season on the television.
Just before the game Arsenal announce that their three first-choice strikers are all ill & that they will be playing Folarin Balogun as our main striker, it will be his debut & he is only 20 years old. Arsenal has 3 players that are 29, 28 & 26 the rest of the team are all between 18 & 20 years old. Brentford gets revenge on Arsenal, who relegated them from England's top division 74 years ago tonight, they deservedly beat Arsenal 2 - 0. Arsenals youngsters didn't play too bad but it is obvious to anyone watching that Arsenal need a new goalkeeper as soon as possible. Bernd Leno is not the best & his constant moaning undermines any confidence the defenders may have had in him, his distribution is terrible & he is just not cut out for a top premier league team.
After the game, I have an early night & quickly fall asleep.
Saturday, August 14th.
I woke early again today, feeling well & I am soon in the Mar Menor for my swim. Once again I swim out past the rock formation & on out to the nets. I swim back in & return to my apartment for my shower before jumping on my disability scooter & going to the Tipsy Thistle for a small English breakfast.
When I get home I get some water & sit on my balcony reading my kindle until it gets too hot. I know it has got too hot because my Kindle suddenly declares it is too hot & that it is going to shut down. I go back inside & spend the rest of the day watching various football matches. Arsenal started today firmly rooted to the bottom of the table, in 20th place, but by the time the day finished, they had managed to climb up to 17th. I am hoping that after tomorrow's games, we may have struggled up another position & begun our climb away from relegation.
Sunday, August 15th.
I am up early again this morning & go for my morning swim before 8 am. As I make my way into the sea I listen to the marching band playing & the fireworks being set off. I didn't realise the Spanish took that much interest in my swimming routine but it is nice of them to come out & cheer me on. After my swim this morning I have a shower, have some breakfast & then go out to the chiringuito for a coffee.
At lunchtime, I go to Campbells for a roast beef meal. I go up on my disability scooter, it is very hot & I am glad I didn't go on my pushbike in the heat. The meal was lovely but unfortunately, I got affected by my acid reflux mid-way through my meal. As soon as I had stopped hiccupping I was able to continue to finish both my roast dinner & my pint before heading home.
On the way home I stopped at the supermarket for ice cream & milk. They didn't have any milk so I got two lots of ice cream, you can never have too much ice cream in the freezer. My friend Bernard would be proud of my milk/ice cream switcheroo. When I got home I had ice cream, banana & yoghurt, just to cool me off. On my balcony, the temperature was 45oC or 113oF so I closed the windows, pulled down the shutters & stuck on the air conditioning whilst I watched today's football from the sofa.
Monday, August 16th.
I am sleeping a lot better since my hospital visit last week & I woke feeling quite refreshed this morning. I went for my morning swim & again swam out to the nets before turning back. After swimming back I went to the chiringuito for a coffee before going back to my apartment.
Shortly after I got in my friends Reindeer & Frouk turned up. Reindeer helped me move the table that I had on my balcony into my spare bedroom. The room hasn't been used for a while & I am going to put some of my computer equipment in there on the table. My printer can be used anywhere in the apartment as it is a WIFI printer & it is the first thing I move onto the table, it is shortly followed by my digital drawing pad. When I am doing my artwork from now on I will do it in the spare room, this will leave the table I was doing my artwork on, ready to be used for what it was meant to be used for, eating dinner.
I sit on my balcony for a few hours reading my kindle until it gets too hot then go indoors, close all my doors & windows & turn on the air conditioning whilst I watch a film & then work on my website. For lunch, I have some chicken wings & then go back out onto the balcony to carry on reading my kindle. For those of you that have a kindle, I get all of my books for my kindle for free. I use a website called 'The Fussy Librarian' which sends me an email every day with listings for free books on Amazon, if you have never seen it take a look.
This evening I have something to eat that until I bite into it I do not know what it is. I bought it a few days ago thinking it was chicken with grated cheese on it. However, when I look at the label I realise I have picked the wrong thing up & that I have no idea what it is. I put it in the oven at 190oC for 20 minutes, then take it out to see what I have. It turns out to be half an aubergine stuffed with mince & covered with cheese. It tasted absolutely fantastic & I will have a go at making some for myself. After eating my tea I am now, nil by mouth until I have my set of blood tests tomorrow morning.
Tuesday, August 17th.
I woke up before my alarm goes off this morning & get up early. I have been told to make sure I drink at least 1 litre of water before I go for my blood tests this morning so I immediately pour myself some water. I sit & check the news on the television & on the internet whilst drinking lots of water. My appointment is at 8:00 am so at around 7:50 am I set off on the short walk to the doctor's surgery.
I am first in the doctor's surgery, in fact, I follow the receptionist in. I sit down as I am a little puffed out & when she has turned the lights on & is ready to start work she walks over to me to collect my appointment slip. I am quickly checked in & she gives me the paperwork to give to the phlebotomist. I soon have my blood taken & I am soon walking back to my apartment. As I left the doctor's surgery I noticed the sign at the Pharmacy was showing that it was 28°c already, at only 8:20 am, it is a bit cloudy this morning & very humid.
After lunch, I go to the ASSSA office to ask if they can confirm my hospital appointment later this week & next month. They don't have the confirmation yet but promise me it will be fine & that they will email me the confirmation. After seeing the insurance agent I pop along to Café Prensa for a coffee. I see my friend Mike there & have a brief chat before he leaves to go home to walk his dog. On my way home I stop at Mercadona to get some lemonade & a few bits that I need before continuing home.
When I get home I put my shopping away & eat the barbequed ribs that I bought for my lunch. I sit on my balcony reading my kindle & watching the wildlife. As it gets hotter I go back into my apartment to read Just after I have gone in my friends Keith & Dave message me to tell me they are at the chiringuito outside & ask me to join them for a drink. I walk down to the chiringuito & order myself a Tinto Verano, unfortunately, Andrew the owner tells me he has to change the barrel & that there is only enough for 95% of a glass. He tells me he hasn't time to change the barrel but that the glass he has poured is no charge. I take my drink to where Keith & Dave are sitting under a tree in the shade.
Much to Keith's disgust Dave & myself start talking about football, Keith is a West Ham fan & finds football very boring & gets fed up with the conversation very quickly. Some very loud domino players set up next to us, for some reason they can not sit anywhere else in an empty square & set up tables very close to us. The loud banging of the dominoes & their chatter gets too much for Dave so we all finish our drinks & move on to another bar, El callejón de las brujas.
We sit chatting & have a drink whilst Keith has some food. It is nice sitting in the shade listening to the noise the fountain close by makes. At around 6:45 pm we head off back to our own homes & I go back to my balcony to read my kindle.
Wednesday, August 18th.
This morning I go for my swim in the Mar Menor, I swim past the rock formation, out to the nets & back again. After my swim, I return to my apartment to have a shower & a shave then walk to the local barber for a haircut. I have to wait whilst someone else has their hair cut but I have my kindle with me & read whilst I wait. I soon had my head shaved & when I leave the barber I walk back to my apartment along the beach.
At lunchtime, I make myself a bacon, cheese & egg burger & switch the television on to see if there is any transfer news for Arsenal. To my delight, there are strong rumours that Arsenal has reached an agreement with Real Madrid to buy the Norwegian player Martin Ødegaard. I will be happier still when Arsenal officially announce the signing. The rest of the day I spend reading my kindle in my air-conditioned apartment. I don't remember the heat affecting me as much as it has done this year, even when I lived in Florida.
Thursday, August 19th.
I go for a swim early this morning before getting back to my apartment & having a shower before Lesley my cleaner arrives to clean my apartment. Lesley arrives a bit early & after letting her in I leave her to clean the apartment whilst I go to the chiringuito for a coffee, a bottle of water & to read my kindle for a while.
After a couple of hours, I go back to my apartment & take Lesley a coffee from the chiringuito as I don't have coffee in the apartment. She stops long enough for her coffee before continuing to clean the apartment. After Lesley leaves, I sit on my balcony reading for hours before eventually having my dinner & then having an early night as I don't want to oversleep tomorrow because of my hospital appointment.