Week 50 of 2021 started quietly after a lot of shenanigans last week.

Week 50 of 2021.

Friday, December 10th.

Today I woke around 8 am, get a coffee & prepare for a long hard day doing nothing very much at all. At around 11 am I visited my friend Colin to give him some advice on a computer & phone problem. After chatting for a while we both jump on our trusty chariots & ride to Rocco's bar for a swift beer.

After one beer I head home where I continue to work on my website for most of the rest of the day. By evening I had enough of computer work & settled down in front of the television, I relax watching two of the Lord of the Rings trilogy before going to bed.

Saturday, December 11th.

I slept very well last night & after getting up this morning I got a pot of camomile tea. I have not been drinking much of it lately & my leg has begun to ache more. If you suffer from leg cramps or swollen legs as I do, I find drinking camomile tea regularly does help. 

I always do my washing at the weekend as electricity is cheaper, this morning I put some clothes in the washing machine. Being very green & cost-conscious I even lower the temperature by 10 degrees, as advised to do by an Ariel advert I saw last week. I drink my tea, check my email & generally potter about until I am ready to go & do some shopping.

I take the Sharky mobile out along the promenade & up to the Mercadona store. I get my shopping & I am soon back home having a cheese & ham roll for my lunch. I do like the fresh rolls from Mercadona. This afternoon I watch one of the many Ancient Alien tv programs before watching the Arsenal v Southampton football match.

Southampton was the better team at the start of the game until Arsenal scored one of the goals of the season. Starting in their own penalty area they quickly worked the ball up to the Southampton penalty area. Bukayo Saka crossed the ball into the area, where it was met by Alexandre Lacazette who slotted it home into the back of the net. This was shortly followed by a header after a comical attempted cross from Kieran Tierney, who appeared to stand on the ball before hitting his cross against a defender, then heading the ball across goal for Martin Odegaard to head the ball home from close range. Gabriel Magalhaes had a goal disallowed for offside before finally scoring with a header in the second half to give Arsenal a 3 - 0 win. The game wasn't all one-sided with Aaron Ramsdale making several fantastic saves. 

This evening I watched ´Im a celebrity get me out of here´, on the tv. It really is garbage but you do find yourself watching to see so-called celebrities make fools of themselves. After it finished I watched MOTD to see Arsenal's goals again before going to bed.

Sunday, December 12th.

I got up in time to watch MOTD again this morning whilst having two bacon & egg rolls & a coffee for breakfast. After breakfast, I worked on my website for a while before finally clearing up my kitchen.

I was going to go out to watch Diana sing at La Playa bar this evening but I just could not warm up today. When it was time to go to the bar I found that I just could not stop shivering so I wrapped myself up under a warm blanket on the sofa & stayed in with the heating on instead. I hope it is just a one-off feeling & that I am not coming down with a cold or flu.

Monday, December 13th.

I woke up early this morning but was able to get back to sleep, I finally got up at around 8:30 am. I made myself a coffee & checked my email at the computer. I feel a lot better this morning than I did yesterday evening & I am hopeful that I will be fine for the rest of the Christmas period.

I am going to the Post Office this morning to pick up a parcel from my niece. I am taking my neighbour Liz with me to translate, this way if they do try to charge me a lot of money I will know why & for how much before I accept it. When we are seen at the post office it turns out that I have to fill a form in, post it by registered post back to Madrid, where the parcel is held at customs, to get my parcel released. The parcel should arrive in about a months time & any duties due are payable to the postman on arrival.

After going to the post office we head off to Julian's bar on the beachfront for coffee & a tostada. We sit there for a while before heading home. Back at my apartment I pick up my sunglasses & head off to the Office for this weeks meeting. I am expecting to be in trouble as it will be the second week running I will have been a bit late. After a while, though we have to move the location of this weeks meeting due to logistical reasons, we relocate to LA´s bar to continue the meeting.

After a fruitful business meeting, I depart & stop off at the Mercadona store on the way home for some shopping. When I get home I eat my tea before settling down in front of the television for the evening.

Tuesday, December 14th.

This morning I have an appointment at the bank to sort out some problems & some investments. I arrive at 9:30 am for a 10 am appointment. Because the lady I was due to see has left the bank I am now appointed a new account manager & finally get to speak to her at about 10:30 am. She is, unfortunately, assisting the bank manager to do his job & my problems take longer than they should. She finally gets my old debit card removed from my account & the new combined debit & credit card working. She even takes me outside to the ATM to make sure it works. We discuss my investment opportunities & she mails me some literature to read before seeing her again about my investments. She tries in vain to get the bank's app to work on my phone but is constantly unable to get it to work. She tells me that she will look into the problem & send me another appointment for next week, where she will install & test the app & go over my investments with me. 

I leave the bank & go home to check I can still login to my account. It tells me there is a problem & my password has to be reset. I email my new account manager at the bank to make another appointment to see her on Thursday.

This evening I walk to La Playa Bar where I sit chatting with friends & have a few beers.

Wednesday, December 15th.

I get up & get a coffee this morning & I am sitting watching the news on television when the doorbell sounds. When I look at the video entry system there is a delivery driver there. I buzz him in & am given the ink for my printer that is supposed to be arriving tomorrow. Good news really as otherwise, I may have still been in the bank when it arrived. 

Until it's time for tonights Arsenal football match I spend the day sorting through some paperwork. I find my COVID jab certificates then install one of the apps, that show your COVID jabs as a ´passport´ on my mobile phone. I then scan the bar codes on the certificates & I am delighted to see my jab information appear on my phone. It was very quick & very easy to install & get set up. If I can get to the centre where booster jabs are given tomorrow morning I will go along & get my jab.

This evening I watch Arsenal v West Ham, which is a big game as if Arsenal win it would mean they leapfrog West Ham into fourth place in the league, albeit temporarily until other teams have played their games in hand. Arsenal are playing without Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang today again& he has been stripped of the Arsenal Captainancy, a decision I believe is a correct one, as Captain, he should be setting a good example to younger players, he was not.

Arsenal played very well & beat West Ham 2 - 0. The score should have been higher but the West Ham goalkeeper made some fine saves & saved a penalty. Aubameyang was not missed at all & I hope he doesn't walk straight back into the team for the next match. The team played as a team tonight & didn't appear to be carrying anyone, which they haven't done when he has played recently.

Thursday, December 16th.

I woke up early today, I get up get myself a coffee & sit at my computer updating my website. Whilst at my computer I go to the Correos website to track the paperwork I sent to the centre in Madrid that is holding a parcel for me. According to the tracking system, it arrived the following day, the 14th of December, I will now have to wait to see how long it takes for them to deliver the parcel to me.

I set off this morning to go to the health centre in Los Narejos to get a COVID booster jab. When I got to the place there was a queue around 3 sides of the building. As it was cold I continued on to see my friend Bernard, to have a cup of tea. I sat chatting with Bernard for a while & eventually left to go back to see if the queue had gone at the clinic. As I approached the clinic the queue for the jab was still huge & people were being turned away if they didn't have an appointment. As I didn't have an appointment I went straight home, I will try to find out how I can make an appointment online & try again next week.

When I got home I was beginning to get cold, as soon as I got in I put my heating on, had a coffee & put on a tuna pie for my lunch. It was then that I remembered the appointment that I had at the bank this morning, I messaged the bank & got the appointment rescheduled for tomorrow.

This afternoon I spent time running various checks on the code of my website & correcting any errors that were shown up by the tests. This evening I watched the Liverpool v Newcastle games on tv. Liverpool did win 3 - 1, but it was not the easy win Liverpool supporters were expecting.