I started week 35 of 2021 with my morning swim before going to the Chiringuito El Lobo for breakfast.

Week 35 of 2021.

Friday, August 27th.

This morning I go for my morning swim out past the rocks & onto the nets before returning & going to the Chiringuito El Lobo for a couple of coffees. After my coffee, I carry on setting up my new computer up. I realised yesterday that unlike laptops most PC´s have to have external speakers & have no webcam, so I quickly ordered some this morning that will be delivered tomorrow. 

After making my order for the computer parts I go to the doctor's surgery to collect the results of last week's blood tests. On the way back I go for a ride along the beachfront & stop off for a quick pint at La Playa bar. Shellie hands me a bag of books to look through & I select three to read when I finish the series I am reading on my kindle. After one pint I head home & continue to work on my new computer, transferring files & installing software.

This evening I cook myself a bit of steak, mushrooms & a fried egg. After dinner, I start to remove the software from my laptop that isn't needed on it anymore due to it being installed on the new faster computer. As always I lose track of time when on my computers & when I look up to get a drink it's dark outside so I stop working & spend the rest of the evening watching rubbish on the television.

Saturday, August 28th.

I woke early this morning, I am expecting the delivery of computer equipment at some time today. I go for my swim & straight after go home for a shower. I then go to the chiringuito for a coffee. I noticed when I was swimming that the SOS Mar Menor group were setting up speakers & stall early for today's planned ¨Hands around the sea¨ event. Whilst I have my coffee a drum band starts playing to people beginning to arrive for the event that is being held at 1 pm.

Typically my delivery arrives at 1:20 pm just as the event on the beach has finished, so I was unable to participate in it.  Arsenal kick-off against Manchester City at 1:30 pm & I am not looking forward to the game. Arsenal's entire defence, in my opinion, would have trouble getting in any other team in the Premier League. My fears come to fruition as within 15 minutes Arsenal are 2 - 0 down, both goals due to defensive errors. As my delivery of computer stuff has arrived I abandon watching the football & fit the new speakers & webcam to my new computer. I have already installed the WIFI & Bluetooth card to it & I am soon uploading my software to it & installing the virus protection to it. By the time I get back to the football, the game has finished & Arsenal had Granit Xhaka sent off & finally lost 5 - 0. It's not currently a good time to be a Gooner.

This evening I have a ticket to go & see Bonnie Tyler singing at the local sports centre. I go up there on my disability scooter & a queue is already forming. I avoid joining the queue but think there are around 50 people already in it. I go to the entrance to wait to go in & after around 50 people have entered I go in. The security had waved me straight through but I did wait till the people already queuing when I arrived, had gone in. Seating appeared to be on a first-come, first-served basis. There was no one at the end of the front row on the right-hand side so I parked my scooter next to the seat & transferred my bony backside onto it. I asked a few security people if my scooter was ok next to me & they ignored me.

There were two warm-up acts. A Spanish singing male group, who were singing English records in Spanish, followed by a Spanish girl group singing English songs in English. Both were very good, especially the girl group who sang more up-tempo music to get the crowd going. Bonnie Tyler was brilliant, it was the first time I have seen her live & I am glad I went. Luckily for me, I was one of the first people to try to get a ticket & I got a discounted ticket at 25€.

I think Bonnie must be an Arsenal fan as she summed up what being an Arsenal fan has been all about today when she sang ¨ It's a heartbreak¨.

After the concert finished I went straight home & went to bed. All the fresh air & excitement wore me out today.

Sunday, August 29th.

I was rudely awoken by some drunks on their way home at about 6:15 this morning. As I couldn't get back to sleep, I stripped my bed & put the linens in the washing machine. At about 7:45 am I went down to the Mar Menor for my swim, it was very quiet & peaceful, the sun breaking through the clouds at that time of the morning is truly beautiful.

After my swim, I feed the fish with some bread before going back to my apartment & having a shower. I have a pot of camomile tea & some porridge & banana for my breakfast & sit down to work on some videos I am making & updating my website. As always when I get on my computer time flies by & after only a brief stop for lunch, I realise it has gone 10 pm so I stop what I am doing, grab my kindle & go to bed to read.

Monday, August 30th.

I woke early & go for my swim, whilst I am treading water at the nets a helicopter flies slowly overhead, it appears to be looking for someone. In case they think I am in trouble I start swimming back into the beach. As I swim in the helicopter moves off & begins to hover over the beach further off, they must be looking for someone as they stop, hover for a while, then move on & repeat. I do not see them airlift anyone & they eventually move out of sight.

After my swim, I go have a shower before going to the chiringuito for a coffee & tostada. When I have finished my breakfast I go to the bank to get some money for bills I have to pay later in the week. The bank was packed with queues out of the door so I go to a different ATM but that is not working. I decide to go visit my friend Mike for a coffee at Cafe Prensa & go from Los Alcázares to Los Narejos & I am there in time to see him for coffee & have a chat with another friend Tess.

After chatting with them I move along to Pizzeria La Sombre to see my friend Martin for a few hours. I sit & have a large bottle of water & a chat with Martin before heading off to get myself some lunch at Mercadoona on the way home. I pick up some of their ribs & potato for lunch & a tub of ice cream for dessert, I know how to splash when I need to. I get home have my dinner & then play a game of Civilization on my computer. I lose track of time & finish my game & decide to have an early night.

Tuesday, August 31st.

I am late going for my swim this morning & the water is quite choppy as the wind has picked up. Because I find it difficult to swim face-first into the waves I switch to doing a hybrid, backstroke breaststroke type of swimming action. This gets me out to the nets without swallowing too much water. After a brief rest while I tread water & get my breath back I resume my normal breaststroke to get back to the beach. With the wind & waves coming from behind me it is fine & I am not swallowing water or getting blinded by the waves as I swim in. After having a five-minute rest I go home for a shower.

After my shower, I check my email & head down to the chiringuito for a tostada, coffee & a bottle of water. I sit there for a few hours reading my kindle before heading back to my apartment for lunch of curried salmon with rice.

In the afternoon I start the long & laborious job of starting to catalogue the photos I have taken through the years. I start my running the face recognition program in Lightroom & begin the task of checking the people it recognised & who it thought they were. I eventually stop at about 10 pm, turn the computer off & go to bed.

Wednesday, September 1st.

When I woke this morning at 4:30 am I immediately sent my sister a "pinch & a punch for the first of the month"  message, she so loves receiving them.

There were dark storm clouds overhead & a strong wind blowing when I went outside & I decided to not go for a swim. Instead, I walked along the promenade down to the military base then turned around & headed back towards the Hotel Encarnacion. As I approached the hotel a few raindrops started to fall so I decided to stop for breakfast.

I ordered my tostada, coffee & orange juice & settled down to read my kindle under the cover of the hotel. I was soon glad I had stopped  & gone into the covered area at the front of the hotel overlooking the beach, rather than sitting outside where I normally do. Within a few minutes, the sky had opened & it was pouring with rain. Luckily for me, there weren't too many people inside & no one seemed to be bothered about me taking my time to eat my breakfast. When the rain eventually stopped I picked up my kindle & headed home, luckily for me the rain was headed the other way & I didn't get caught in it on the way home.

The 3.6 km walk took more out of me than I imagined it would so I rested up for a few hours before going back on my computer & continued the work I started yesterday, sorting through my thousands of photos.

Thursday, September 2nd.

I woke fairly late for me & went down to the chiringuito for breakfast before my cleaner, Lesley arrived to clean my apartment. I sat there reading until Lesley was due to arrive & then left to go back to my apartment. Lesley had beaten me there by a few seconds & whilst she made my apartment look clean & shiny I sat on my balcony & continued to read my kindle.

After Lesley left I took a visit to the local Chinese store & bought myself a new flower pot, I will need a few but they are easier to carry one at a time. After getting back to my apartment I transferred one of my lavender plants into it. It looked much better in its new pot & I decided to transplant the 2nd lavender plant the same way tomorrow.

This evening I watch the Hungry v England football match. The first half wasn't very good but the second half was much better & England won the game 0 - 4. After the game, I read for a while before going to bed.