This week was very quiet, spent mostly 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, I got a coffee & sat at my computer working for an hour or so before getting ready to go for my regular blood test at the Doctors surgery.
When I got to the doctor's surgery I was seen quite quickly & there was a very pretty young vampire taking blood this morning. She held my hand as she found my veins very quickly & got what she wanted easily, it was all over too quickly for me. I left the surgery & went back to my apartment. As it began to warm up a bit I ventured outside & went to the chiringuito outside for cheese & ham pancakes & a coffee.
It made a nice change to sit outside having 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 & put my feet up, even the small amount of walking to the chiringuito has made my legs ache a little.
I watched the England v Iran football match & I am delighted with the way England played. England won 6-2 & Arsenals Bukayo Saka scored two goals & was Man of the Match. The refereeing decisions & VAR however were very poor, they didn't give England a penalty when Harry Maguire was rugby tackled & 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 long injury to a goalkeeper explained some of it.
At 6 pm I go back around to the Doctors surgery to see the nurse again. This afternoon the normal nurse who has been looking at my leg was working again. She seemed very pleased with the way my left leg was responding to the treatment & happy that my right leg was also responding but would need more time. She covered my left leg back up with the compression stocking & covered the wounds on my right leg with dry dressing before putting the compression stocking back on it.
It was getting quite cold outside when I left the surgery & 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 along to the Dia supermarket & bought some cachu nut ice cream & then went back to my apartment to crash out on the sofa again.
I watch Wales v USA in the evening game & Wales were terrible in the first half & lucky to be only losing 0-1. In the second half, Wales were much better & deservedly got an equaliser & finish 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. I take my last lot of tablets & go to bed.
Tuesday, 22nd November.
My alarm woke me at 8 am to take my first lot of tablets. I take my tablets then get a coffee & head to my computer. I must say that since I have been to see the Doctor about my leg, I have been sleeping a lot better. I don't know if that is because the treatment is working & is somehow helping me sleep more, or if maybe I was more worried about my legs than I thought & the stress is lifting a bit now. Either way, I feel better when I woke up in the mornings.
I type up my notes for the Asian pork dinner I made last week & post it to my website before getting ready to go out. I head towards the office on my disability scooter & pop into the air conditioning company to price up a new air con clock & thermostat. The lady in the air conditioning office tells me it is impossible to change the clock & thermostat so I will ask someone else who actually knows what they are talking about.
I then pop around to the office where I meet with Martin & Dave, we have a couple of beers whilst waiting for Aria´s school bus to arrive. After we have all said hello to Aria & finished off our beer we all head home. After about an hour at home, I pop to La Playa bar for a pint. I sit there talking to some people in the bar before heading home early in the evening. It has got cold very quickly & I am pleased when I get in to be in the warm. I put a small pizza in the oven & sit down to watch the football. Within minutes I fall asleep in front of the football, when I woke up France had won 4-1 & my pizza has finished cooking. I am very grateful my new mini oven turns itself off when the meal is cooked or I would have had an apartment filled with the smell of burnt pizza & black smoke. As it is the pizza is still warm enough to eat so I eat it whilst watching "I´m a Celebrity Get me out of here" & then go to bed.
Wednesday, 23rd November.
I woke at 8 am when my alarm went off for me to take my first lot of tablets. I am unsure of the time of my appointment to see the nurse this morning so after I get myself a coffee I log in to the patient portal. When I check my appointment time it is not till 10:20, I am glad I checked as I thought it was 9:20 & would have arrived an hour early if I hadn't checked. I get myself another coffee & think of ways to amuse myself today.
At 10 am I walk around to the Doctors surgery it is not far but I am a bit puffed out when I get there. I am seen quickly by the nurse & she now only has to look at my right leg as the left leg is 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 makes me another appointment for Friday morning to have the leg checked out. As I leave at around 10:40 I walk towards La Playa to have a coffee but it is closed so I go home & get myself a drink & 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 & my stamina will return. I listen to the BBC´s´s Radio 2 through an application on my TV & start working on some articles for my website.
This afternoon I take 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 & they deserved the win. Next, I watched Spain beat Costa Rica 7 - 0 no doubt the better team in this game. Finally, I watched Belgium beat Canada 1 - 0, Canada were very unlucky & 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 & sat down at my computer to type a message to the world on Facebook. After letting everybody in the world know that I am still alive I got ready to go & get 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 & also found some Dr Pepepr, my favourite drink, & bought two bottles. I also bought some mince pies & 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 to sleep in my boxer shorts.
After we had finished looking around the stores we went for a coffee & drove back to Los Alcázares & went to Cafe Julian on the beach promenade for a coffee. It was very nice sitting opposite the sea & as the sun warmed up it became too hot to be wearing the big jumper I had put on earlier to keep me warm so I took it off & enjoyed the sun on my face & the view across the Mar Menor.
When we had finished our drinks Kate dropped me off at home. I put my shopping away & then got myself a jacket potato with baked beans & grated cheese for my lunch. It was really nice, my air fryer really does do a fantastic jacket potato & they are so easy to do.
This afternoon & evening I again watched the football on the TV but the fresh air & walking had puffed me out a bit & I slept through most of the first games, waking up in time to see the scores but not much else. The Portugal v Ghana game was quite good but was ruined by the Portuguese play acting & diving again. The biggest culprit of course is Ronaldo, it must be strange for him, being one of the best football players in the world & probably the most despised. If only he could separate his two favourite sports, football & diving, from each other & 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, & get myself a coffee & some porridge with banana & honey in it for my breakfast. Then I sit down at my computer for a while. At 8 am my alarm goes off to remind me to take my tablets, which I do before working on my website for a while. At 9:30 am my alarm goes off to remind me to take my next lot of tablets so I take them & then get ready to go to see the nurse at the Doctors 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 & I get annoyed that I am sitting inside & on time for my appointment but he is outside smoking & late to my appointment time. Unlike the ladies, I have to tell him why I am there & help him remove the stocking. My outward impression of him is that he doesn't really want to be there & that my care isn't his main concern, whereas the ladies are always on time & look after me well. After a very quick look at my leg, he sends me on my way with an appointment for Monday, I hope that one of the ladies is working on Monday.
I walk back to my apartment & get ready to watch some football. My afternoon & evening don't go well, Wales are poor & are beaten by Iran & England are very poor & only manage to get a very boring 0 - 0 draw with the USA.
I notice during the day that speakers are being set up on the stage outside my apartment. After some investigation online I find 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 & will make it easy to protect. Farmers or anyone else who allow 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 is already brightening up & the stage outside my apartment for today's show has been completed. I get myself a coffee & then walk 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 & a new t-shirt, supporting the Mar Menor, then sit & have a coffee at the chiringuito. When I finish my coffee I go back to my apartment & make a Skype call to my Uncle Paul to have a chat & see how he is doing.
This evening I watch some of the France v Denmark football match & most of the Argentina v 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 & wrist bands 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 & performing acrobatics. By the time I moved closer she had finished but the beautiful creature did morph into a girl & 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 & 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 & today I am having difficulty just standing up without using my walking stick. I take some painkillers & remain on the sofa all day apart from times when I am feeding myself or getting a drink.
I watch some football today & go to bed after watching the final of "I´m a Celebrity Get me out of here".