This week begins quietly & finishes with a grin on my face as my sister comes to visit & Arsenal wins to go back to the top of the Premier League again.
Monday, 12th September.
I slept very badly last night & I don't climb out of my bed till gone past 10 am today. Luckily for me, the office is closed today as the boss has to help his wife clean the garage out.
I go to the Dialprix supermarket today to get a few bits of shopping. I remember why I don't go there very often when I get there. The prices are higher than any other supermarket in the area & it doesn't have most of the things I want. I get a few bits & then head home along the beach. It seems to be very humid today & because of the heat & humidity & my lack of sleep last night I don't have the energy to do anything today.
I spend all day in front of the television, I try not to fall asleep so that when I do go to bed tonight I will sleep well. I put the air conditioning on to cool the apartment down & stay up till about 11 pm before going to bed.
Tuesday, 13th September.
I slept a lot better last night & woke at around 7:45 am. I had a coffee before I walk to the Doctors surgery to get my regular blood test, to test the coagulant properties of my blood. The nurse has a lot of trouble getting a blood sample & has to try several times & in both arms before getting any blood.
Whilst at the surgery I ask if they can give me an up-to-date certificate showing my COVID booster jab but I am told I have to go to the normal medical centre to get it.
When I leave the Doctors I walk along the beach to Chiringuito El Lobo outside my apartment. I have a coffee & tostada for breakfast & read my kindle for a short while. I meet an English couple who stopped for breakfast & ask me for any tips on buying property locally. We chat for a short while & I tell them that it is an offence to ride the bikes they have rented along the promenade & that if they are stopped they could be fined €300. I told them that the police often ignore cyclists but other times they fine everyone on a bike along the promenade. I get annoyed that the cyclist's arent told this when they pay to hire a bike from a rental shop. Remember not knowing the law is not a defence for breaking it, there are signs all along the beach.
After breakfast & after reading my kindle for a while I head off to the medical centre in Los Alcázares to ask about getting a printout of my COVID certificate. They give me a website URL that I have to register on to get it. I try on my mobile phone & receive a text message on my phone with a code to enter to get the certificate. I will try when I get home on my computer so that I can translate anything into English that I don't understand. I leave the medical centre & head to the office.
I sat at the office with Martin & Dave for a couple of hours before leaving to go home. On the way home I decide to go to La Playa bar to see if my friend Cara can translate the message I got from the COVID website. I have a few beers & ask Cara about the code & she confirms it is just a code to enter on the website. I talk to a few people in the bar before heading home, when I get in I watch a bit of television before going to bed.
Wednesday, 14th September.
I woke up at about 9 am today, I got a coffee & then went on the Internet to attempt to get my COVID certificate. It was quite easy & I now have an up-to-date COVID certificate printed out & on my phone. If you are a Spanish resident & need to get a copy of your COVID certificate, go to this website portalsalud.carm.es & you can print it off. You will need to be a legal resident in Spain & have your id number & a mobile phone number to receive a confirmation code.
It is a bit overcast today & a bit cooler. I turned on the water fountain in my balcony garden & spent most of the day reading my kindle on the balcony. Be warned if you see me on my balcony & shout to me you may see more than you expected as now the Spanish neighbours have gone back to their homes throughout Spain, I can sit out in just my boxer shorts. I read until after it has gone dark & the lights have come on, on my fountain, going back indoors at about 10 pm.
I did not get to sleep until around 5 am, I just couldn't get comfortable & even with the air-con running I felt too hot.
Thursday, 15th September.
I woke at around 9:45 am when some idiot trying to get access to an apartment in the block, rang every doorbell. If you are using a video entry system, please be aware that ringing a second doorbell stops the previous person from being able to open the door for you. Ring one door at a time & give people time to open the door. I saw the worker leave carrying all his tools away, he was unable to get in because he rang all the bells & stopped people from being able to open the door. Better still only ring the door of the person you want to see. Yes, I know Im grumpy this morning, it's because I didn't sleep well & had to try to open the main door to an idiot that wasn't even coming to see me.
I work on my website until around 3 pm, today I added maps & descriptions to the photos for day 10 of my holiday in China. I went to get some milk at the Economy Cash supermarket but whilst there I fell prey to a shopping trolley dumper. What is a shopping trolley dumper I hear you ask? I went into the store for my milk but when I got home I discovered that my shopping bag had my milk & 4 chocolate doughnuts, 2 chocolate pastries, 4 croissants, a Murciano pie & some ice cream in it. I will own up to the milk but all the other items were put in my shopping trolley without my knowledge by a trolley dumper, someone who puts goodies in other people's shopping. Oh well, I guess I will have to eat them now.
This evening I watched television, I watched the West Ham game because the Arsenal v PSV Eindhoven football match had been cancelled. West Ham was not convincing though they did win 2-3.
Friday, 16th September.
I woke up feeling better after a good night's sleep, I had a coffee & then put on my snorkel & mask to go swimming in the Mar Menor. If I wear a mask I can see any Jellyfish coming & avoid them. Now the Spanish crowds have gone home it is a lot quieter & my swim was very enjoyable, I managed to swim out to the rocks & back 3 times.
After my swim, I go back to my apartment, have a shower, get a coffee & go back to adding more maps & descriptions to photos on my website. It is a lot of work but I have noticed that my website is now beginning to show up in Google searches, so the work is worth it. After lunch of cheese & ham croissants, I carry on working on the images on my website.
This evening I get fed up not going out so I jump on the tourist train & go up to Rio Nalon for a drink. I go into Rocco´s & I am soon talking to an Irishman & we are soon putting right all the world's wrongs. A little later I am joined by an old friend, Jim, who I have not seen for years. We have a pint in Roccos before heading down to Perlitas where we have a beer, Jim heads off & I join my friends David & Paul who with a few others are on an unofficial stag night for David. After finishing our beer we head back to Roccos, sit outside & have another beer. I leave the group at Rocco's & walk back down the street to catch the last train home at 11:15 pm. I had a good night out & it was great to sit & chat with some of my friends again.
Saturday, 17th September.
I get up around 8 am today. I am all excited as my sister, Karen & her other half, Brett are arriving today. They have rented an apartment in the same block as mine & the owner is dropping the key off to me at 10:30 am.
At 10:30 the key is dropped off & around lunchtime Karen & Brett arrived. I show them around their apartment before we go back to mine for a coffee. After we have caught up & had a hug we go outside to the Chiringguito El Lobo outside the apartments. We have some lunch & a drink before Karen & Brett head off to the local shop for some groceries & I head back to my apartment to watch some football & have a siesta.
At 6:30 pm I meet Karen & Brett & we walk to the Massala Cottage for a meal. It was still very hot & I was puffing like a steam train by the time we get there. At least when we get inside they switch the air conditioning on & I get my breath back before we all order our meal. I was supposed to come here for a night out a few weeks ago but couldn't make it, I had spent time studying the menu at home & picked out something new to try then. As I hadn't gone & hadn't tried it, I ordered it this time. I had the Masala Cottage Special with vegetable rice & Punjabi Raita, it was very nice.
When we all finished our meal we walked to Rio Nalon & went to Zarcos for a cocktail, Pina Coladas all round, before getting the tourist train back home again. When I got in I watched Match of The Day on television before going to bed at 1 am, Sunday morning.
Sunday 18th September.
I woke around 7:30 am this morning. I was going to go swimming in the Mar Menor & feed bread & croissants to the fish but the wind was quite strong & was blowing up waves. It wasn't good swimming conditions & you couldn't have seen the fish swimming around you so I messaged Brett that we should postpone our swim till the wind died down a bit.
I then got a coffee & sat at my computer to work on my website. This afternoon I cook myself a pizza & settle down to watch the Brentford v Arsenal football match on the television. Arsenal played brilliantly & won 0-3, at the end of the game they even bring on a substitute who made history by being the youngest ever player in the Premier League. He only played for the last few minutes but he was only 15 years & 180 days old. The Arsenal fans were singing to him ´You're going back to school in the morning´.
I enjoyed the Arsenal game so much that I waited till MOTD came on again at midnight & watched the game again before going to bed.