I have not been doing my weekly update this year & have decided to continue it this week. It helps with my memory & gives me something to do when I have my morning coffee.

Week 18 of 2022.

Monday, 2nd May.

I woke up around 7 this morning & after moaning to myself about an aching back I decided to get up for a coffee. I got myself a coffee & then sat down at my computer, which I do most mornings, to check my email & work on my website. After my coffee, I get myself a lemsip with honey in it. I have had flu for over 3 weeks but the lemsip cocktails do seem to be helping & I just have a bit of phlegm & a small cough left now.

I have a new kettle being delivered today, is it just me or does anyone else find that kettles in Spain don't last very long? This is about the 4th kettle I have had in the last 4 years I have been here, I can only remember having one kettle in the UK. This time I have given up trying the electric plug-in kettles & I am trying a free-standing kettle that can be used on an electric hob. It's cheaper than the other kettles I have bought & I hope that as it has fewer electronic parts it may last longer. I just hope that I don't have to wait until 10 tonight for it to be delivered.

This morning I cleaned up my kitchen & then arranged to send back a toilet seat I bought from Amazon. It is a nice bamboo seat but the fittings on it can not be changed to fit the toilet bowl I have. After arranging that I set Peggy, my robot hoover, off to vacuum the apartment. It has been fondly named Peggy after my dear mum, who used to, it seemed, enjoy nothing more than cleaning & dusting her little boy's apartment whenever she visited.

For my lunch today I made myself fish & chips in my air fryer & washed them down with a lemsip cocktail to try & shift the last remaining bit of phlegm from my chest before I go away at the end of the week. Just as I was about to sit down for my lunch, Amazon arrived with my new kettle. I will place it in my new kitchen this afternoon & test it out later when I have a pot of tea & watch tonight's football.

This afternoon I was feeling well enough to decide to go out to get myself some ice cream. Off I went on my disability scooter to my local supermarket but when I got there it was shut. I couldn't remember it being closed before & went to another shop. It was only when I got there & found that it too was closed that I remembered that today is a bank holiday & that the shops would all be closed.

This evening was spent watching the Manchester United v Brentford football match, before having another Lemsip cocktail & going to bed.

Tuesday, 3rd May.

I woke up around 7:30 this morning. I got myself a coffee & then sat down at my computer. I have an email from Correos telling me to expect a parcel delivery in the next few days. I am expecting a small parcel today from Amazon & can only assume that is what it is. Rather than wait all day for it, I will risk going out & if I miss it I can pick it up at the post office later in the week.

My mobile phone has been playing up again so I went to Avatel to see if they could fix the problem. Luckily I was seen immediately as there was no one waiting. Quickly they told me I needed a new sim card, it would be my 4th one this year. They put a new sim in my phone & tested it assuring me it was all fixed, my fingers are crossed it lasts longer than the previous ones.

I then cycled on to meet my friend Martin at the office, La Sombra, where we meet once a week to go over some paperwork & to discuss any problems. After discussing 2 or 3 good points Martin went to pick his daughter up from the bus & I went on to   La Zona Terraza. I see a friend that I haven't seen for a while, Terry, & sit down with him for a chat & a pint. We are joined by Martin, who has just done his shopping & is stopping off for a quick beer to stop him from dehydrating on his way home & Jim who joins us when Jo arrives to work at the bar.

I leave my bike locked up at La Zona whilst I get some shopping for my dinner at Mercadonna & then cycle home. After having my dinner I settle down to watch the Villarreal v Liverpool football match on the television. Villarreal is 0-2 down after the first leg but plays very well & after a poor performance from Liverpool in the first half of this game, the score is 2-2. Jurgen Klopp must have read Liverpool the riot act at halftime because they play a lot better in the second half, scoring 3 goals & win the match 2-5 on aggregate to get to the final.

Wednesday, 4th May.

I woke this morning with a blocked nose & decide to stay in & continue taking the lemsip to fight off the remnants of the flu that I have been suffering with for weeks. When I sit down at my computer with a lemsip I notice that it is raining & that there are dark clouds overhead, staying in will not be a discomfort today.

I spend the whole day working on my website. I am updating the photo albums so that I can add extra information to the photos in the future & make it easier to navigate around the photos. 

This evening I watch the Arsenal ladies beat Tottenham ladies 3-0 before switching over to watch Real Madrid make a stunning comeback against Manchester City, beat them 6-5 on aggregate & go on to meet Liverpool in the European Champions Final.

Thursday, 5th May.

When I woke today it was overcast & raining, a good reason to stay indoors with a lemsip, stay warm & hope that this flu will soon be gone.

I settle down at my computer & continue to adjust the way my website shows my photos. It involves a lot of work on the backend that no one ever sees & means a lot of the photos have to be reloaded to the site or moved around on the server to be used by the new pages I am designing. I do enjoy this & when I look up & think about getting some lunch t is nearly 7 in the evening. I stop work, make a few sandwiches & move to the lounge to rest & watch some of tonight's football on the television.

Friday, 6th May.

I woke up this morning & make my coffee before checking my email & message on Facebook. Afterwards, I take a shower & then get the Sharky mobile out to go & get some drugs at the pharmacy.

I am nearly out of Sintrom & Omeprazole & have run out of lemsip. I go to the pharmacy to get my tablets & get a lemsip replacement that is sold in Spain called Frenadol. It doesn't taste that good but I put some honey in it & a splash of spiced rum. It tastes better, & hopefully, it works as well as lemsip & I am soon feeling ready to run a marathon. Please note I said feeling ready not that I would run a marathon. On the way home I stop off at a local bakery to buy a cake to help me take my medicine.

When I get home, I sit down at my computer to make some adjustments to a menu that I am designing for my friend Shellie who has a local bar called   La Playa. After finishing it, I go to the bar with a printout of it to show her. I leave it with her to make any notes about changes that she may want & head home for some lunch. For my lunch, I have some beef stew that I made last week & that I had put a few portions of in the freezer.

This evening I go to Rocco's bar to take some photos of my friends, Matt & Jo's, engagement party. I stay around 2 hours before heading home.

Saturday, 7th May.

I woke up early & work on Matt & Jo´s photos from last night. After selecting the best ones I edit them, resize them & send them to Matt. I also print a few off for Matt & Jo & drop them off at Rocco's bar along with a photo I printed for Rachid. When I get back I make the changes Shellie wanted to be made to her menu & email the finished file to her.

I then go out to pick up my delivery of two pairs of shorts which will be just in time for my trip to Cordoba. When I get them home I try them on. They are so small they will not get much further than my knees, so they will have to be returned & it looks like I won't have new shorts for my trip away. 

This afternoon I watch football on the television, I watch Chelsea draw 2-2 with Wolves, before then watching Liverpool draw 1-1 with Tottenham. Neither result was great for Arsenal but neither was that bad either, we can get two points closer to Chelsea if we beat Leeds on Sunday & move further away from Tottenham if we win.

Sunday, 8th May.

I am woken by my alarm at 6:45 am this morning. I quickly have a shave & a shower & finish packing my case. This morning I set off for a trip to Cordoba to see the Patio Festival. One of my neighbours had said she would take me to catch the coach at The Arches in Los Alcázares, we were to leave at 8:20 am. I messaged her at 7:45 am to say I would be down soon, at 8:15 am I knocked on her door & couldn't get an answer. I called through her window & still could not get an answer, I knocked on her door again & fearing she was out, & at 8:25 am I knocked on my other neighbour's door, panicking that I would miss my coach.

Luckily for me, he took me straight away & as we were leaving, the coach company called me to tell me they were already there but would wait as they were a bit early. Thank you John you saved the day.

When I got to the coach my stuff was loaded on & we set off. As we were driving down the motorway I got a message from my neighbour who was originally taking me to tell me she was sitting in her car in the garage. I messaged her back to tell I her I had already left, & as I couldn't get a reply from her my other neighbour had taken me. I soon got a rude reply in return that I will treat with the response it deserves & ignore it.

We stop off about an hour & a half into the journey for a comfort break before continuing on. As we get back to our seats the guide asks me if I would move to the front of the coach so that a lady at the back can stretch out. I move to the front seat where I can stretch out a bit myself & actually see where the coach is going. At around 1 pm we stop for another break to get a drink & food but I don't fancy eating, we are back on the coach within the hour & head off towards our hotel in Cordoba.

We are dropped off around the corner from our hotel, the   Hotel Selu, as it is on a back street which is too small for the coach to get down. We walk a short distance to the hotel. I have stayed here before & am hoping I don't get the same room as before as it was horrible. After trying my key several times it opens to let me in & I am pleased to say it is a nice room with everything I need.

After unpacking my case I listen to the 2nd half commentary of the Arsenal v Leeds game, Arsenal won 2-1 & they are getting closer to qualifying for the Champions League again next season. I then walk around the corner for something to eat at   Mercado Victoria. I get a plate of rice & chicken at the local food court. I wash it down with a beer & as I am still hungry I get a burger on the way back to the hotel.

On my return to my room, the key card for my door is not working again so I have to go back to the front desk to change it for a new one. With a nice new shiny door key, I return to my room. Once again the new door key will not work & I have to get it changed again. This time, 3rd time lucky, I get into my room.

After a long exhausting day doing very little, I update my website then retire for an early night with a bottle of water & my kindle. I am in bed by 9 pm, I must be getting old, last time I was in Cordoba was for the Flamenco Festival, shows did not start till midnight & went on till about 6 am the following day.