This week was very quiet; I spent most of my time with my feet up watching the World Cup. But I did go out to see a show at Playa de Espejo outside my apartment. The girl playing with fire was very hot.
Monday, 21st November.
Today, I woke around 7:45 am, got a coffee, and sat at my computer, working for an hour or so before getting ready to go for my regular blood test at the doctor's surgery.
When I got to the doctor's surgery, I was seen relatively quickly, and there was a beautiful young vampire taking blood this morning. She held my hand as she found my veins very quickly and got what she wanted easily. It was all over too quickly for me. I left the surgery and went back to my apartment. As it began to warm up a bit, I ventured outside to the chiringuito for cheese and ham pancakes and coffee.
It made a nice change to sit outside and have breakfast at the beach, but the pancakes were nothing special. Next time I want breakfast out, I will get a full fry up. After breakfast, I go back to my apartment and put my feet up. Even the small amount of walking to the chiringuito makes my legs ache a little.
I watched the England vs Iran football match, and I was delighted with the way England played. England won 6-2, and Arsenal's Bukayo Saka scored two goals and was the Man of the Match. The refereeing decisions and VAR however were inferior. They didn't give England a penalty when Harry Maguire was rugby-tackled and bundled to the floor, but they did give Iran a penalty for a shirt tug. I think there must be someone measuring the time the ball is out of play, including any time the ball is not on the actual field of play, being kicked, or is not physically moving. How there was a total of 10 minutes of injury time in the second half is beyond me. The 14 minutes of injury time in the first half was excessive, but a lengthy injury to a goalkeeper explained some of it.
At 6 pm, I went back to the doctor's surgery room to see the nurse again. This afternoon, the regular nurse who had been looking at my leg was working again. She seemed very pleased with the way my left leg was responding to the treatment and happy that my right leg was also responding but would need more time. She covered my left leg back up with the compression stocking and covered the wounds on my right leg with dry dressing before putting the compression stocking back on.
It was getting quite cold outside when I left the surgery, and in the brief time I had been inside, it had become pitch dark. To celebrate the fact that my leg was looking better, I went to the Dia supermarket and bought some cashew nut ice cream. Then, I went back to my apartment to crash out on the sofa again.
I watched Wales vs USA in the evening game, and Wales were terrible in the first half and lucky to be only losing 0-1. In the second half, Wales were much better and deservedly got an equaliser and finished the game at 1-1. The 10 minutes of injury time at the end of the second half was an incredible amount of time to add on. I would like to see how these times are worked out.
Tuesday, 22nd November.
My alarm woke me at 8 am to take my first lot of tablets. I took my tablets, then got a coffee and headed to my computer. I must say that since I have been seeing the doctor about my leg, I have been sleeping a lot better. I don't know if that is because the treatment is working and is somehow helping me sleep more or if maybe I was more worried about my legs than I thought, and the stress is lifting a bit now. Either way, I feel better when I wake up in the mornings.
I type up my notes for the Asian pork dinner I made last week and post them to my website before getting ready to go out. I headed towards the office on my disability scooter and popped into the air conditioning company to price up a new air con clock and thermostat. The lady in the air conditioning office tells me it is impossible to change the clock and thermostat, so I will ask someone else who actually knows what they are talking about.
I then popped around to the office, where I met with Martin and Dave. We had a couple of beers whilst waiting for Aria´s school bus to arrive. After we had all said hello to Aria and finished off our beer, we headed home. After about an hour at home, I went to La Playa bar for a pint. I sat there talking to some people in the bar before heading home early in the evening. It got very cold very quickly, and I was pleased when I got in to be in the warm. I put a small pizza in the oven and sat down to watch the football. Within minutes, I fell asleep in front of the football. When I woke up, France had won 4-1, and my pizza had finished cooking. I was very grateful my new mini oven turned off when the meal was cooked, or I would have had an apartment filled with the smell of burnt pizza and black smoke. As it was, the pizza was still warm enough to eat, so I ate it whilst watching "I´m a Celebrity Get Me out of Here" and then went to bed.
Wednesday, 23rd November.
I woke at 8 am when my alarm went off so that I could take my first lot of tablets. I am unsure of the time of my appointment to see the nurse this morning, so after I got myself a coffee, I logged in to the patient portal. When I checked my appointment time, it was not till 10:20. I am glad I checked, as I thought it was 9:20 and would have arrived an hour early if I hadn't checked. I get myself another coffee and think of ways to amuse myself today.
At 10 am, I walked around to the doctor's surgery. It is not far, but I was a bit puffed out when I got there. I was seen quickly by the nurse, and she now only had to look at my right leg as the left leg was doing well. She cleans one open wound but is pleased that the other wounds are healing up. Something must be working. After treating my leg, she made me another appointment for Friday morning to have the leg checked out. As I left at around 10:40, I walked towards La Playa to have a coffee, but it was closed, so I went home and got myself a drink and some cornflakes. I have only walked a total of 1.6 km, but I am a bit puffed out. Hopefully, as I am able to walk a little bit more each day, I will be less puffed out, and my stamina will return. I listened to BBC Radio 2 through an application on my TV and started working on some articles for my website.
This afternoon, I took up my resting position on the sofa to watch some World Cup football matches. I loved seeing Japan beat Germany 1 - 2. The result was not luck; it was hard work, and they deserved the win. Next, I watched Spain beat Costa Rica 7 - 0, and they were no doubt the better team in this game. Finally, I watched Belgium beat Canada 1 - 0. Canada was very unlucky, and if they hadn't missed an early penalty, this game could have finished very differently.
Thursday, 24th November.
I woke at 8 am when the alarm went off to remind me to take my first lot of tablets. After taking my tablets, I got a coffee and sat down at my computer to type a message to the world on Facebook. After letting everybody in the world know that I was still alive, I got ready to go and do some shopping.
My friend Kate came to pick me up at 11 am to go to the Iceland store in San Javier. I got the porridge that I wanted, found some Dr Pepepr, my favourite drink, and bought two bottles. I also bought some mince pies and a Christmas pudding. You never know when they will come in handy.
We then drove along to Pinatar Park so that I could look for some new warm pyjamas in the two discount stores there. Unfortunately, they didn't have any men's pyjamas at all, so I will have to continue sleeping in my boxer shorts.
After we had finished looking around the stores, we went for coffee, drove back to Los Alcazares, and went to Cafe Julian on the beach promenade for coffee. It was lovely sitting opposite the sea, and as the sun warmed up, it became too hot to be wearing the oversized jumper I had put on earlier to keep me warm, so I took it off and enjoyed the sun on my face and the view across the Mar Menor.
When we finished our drinks, Kate dropped me off at home. I put my shopping away and then got myself a jacket potato with baked beans and grated cheese for my lunch. It was really nice. My air fryer really does a fantastic jacket potato, and it is so easy to make.
This afternoon and evening, I again watched the football on the TV. The fresh air and walking had puffed me out a bit, and I slept through most of the first games, waking up in time to see the scores but not much else. The Portugal vs Ghana game was quite good but was ruined by the Portuguese play-acting and diving again. The biggest culprit, of course, is Ronaldo. It must be strange for him, as he is one of the best football players in the world and probably the most despised. If only he could separate his two favourite sports, football and diving, from each other and do both separately.
After the football, I watch "I´m a Celebrity Get Me out of Here" before going to bed at about 11:30 pm.
Friday, 25th November.
I woke around 7 am and got myself a coffee and some porridge with banana and honey in it for my breakfast. Then, I sat down at my computer for a while. At 8 am, my alarm went off to remind me to take my tablets, which I did before working on my website for a while. At 9:30 am, my alarm went off to remind me to take my next lot of tablets, so I took them and then got ready to go to see the nurse at the doctor's surgery this morning.
Today's nurse was the male who you always see standing outside the surgery, smoking a cigarette. It doesn't look very professional, and I get annoyed that I am sitting inside and on time for my appointment, but he is outside smoking and late to my appointment time. Unlike the ladies, I have to tell him why I am there and help him remove the stocking. My outward impression of him is that he doesn't really want to be there and that my care isn't his primary concern, whereas the ladies are always on time and look after me well. After a swift look at my leg, he sent me on my way with an appointment for Monday. I hope that one of the ladies is working on Monday.
I walked back to my apartment and got ready to watch some football. My afternoon and evening don't go well. Wales are poor and are beaten by Iran, and England are very poor and only managed to get a very dull 0 - 0 draw with the USA.
I noticed during the day that speakers were being set up on the stage outside my apartment. After some investigation online, I found out that the local Town Hall is putting on a celebratory show tomorrow because the Mar Menor has been recognised legally as an entity in its own right. This will mean it has rights and will make it easy to protect. Farmers or anyone else who allows pollutants from their farms or buildings to run into it can now be brought to justice a lot easier.
Saturday, 26th November.
When I woke up, the sky was already brightening up, and the stage outside my apartment for today's show had been completed. I got myself a coffee and then walked down to my garage to put my disability scooter on charge.
I pottered about on my computer for a while before walking down to the beach to see what was going on in the square outside my apartment. I bought myself a new flag and a new t-shirt to support the Mar Menor, then sat and had coffee at the chiringuito. When I finished my coffee, I went back to my apartment and made a Skype call to my Uncle Paul to chat and see how he was doing.
This evening, I watched some of the France vs Denmark football match, and most of the Argentina vs Mexico football match. Between the two games, I went outside to Plaza de Espejo to listen to some music. When one band finished, I was looking at a stall selling necklaces and wristbands when I heard a bit of music I liked. It was a song from the film Pirates of the Caribbean, called "My Jolly Sailor Bold". When I looked around to see where the music was coming from, I saw a mermaid hanging from a triangular tower in the square and performing acrobatics. By the time I moved closer, she had finished but the beautiful creature did morph into a girl and came back to perform more acrobatics. I watched the girl perform different sets of acrobatics before going back to my apartment to see the football.
The football tonight was good in places, but the memory of the mermaid will remain forever.
Sunday, 27th November.
I woke before my alarm this morning, took my tablets and had a coffee before I sat at my computer to work on some of the videos I shot last night of the acrobatic girl in the square.
My knees have started to become very painful this week, and today, I was having difficulty just standing up without using my walking stick. I took some painkillers and remained on the sofa all day, apart from times when I was feeding myself or getting a drink.
I watched some football today and went to bed after watching the final of "I´m a Celebrity Get Me out of Here".