The week running up to Christmas seemed to drag by & I felt quite lonely this year, despite spending every Christmas on my own, this year it seemed to affect me more.
Week 51 of 2022.
Monday, 19th December.
I slept badly last night, my tinnitus was very bad & I woke feeling grumpy & sorry for myself at around 10 am. I got a coffee & sat at my computer working on my website until I set off to meet my friend Martin at lunchtime.
I arrived at La Sombre Pizzeria on my mobility scooter after travelling there at top speed to test the new batteries. The power in them seemed to be fine & the battery didn't drain more than I would have expected it to, considering I had been out on it the day before as well. I was sitting talking to Martin when his Dad arrived for a chat. It was good to see Dave as he had been in hospital for a knee operation & hasn't been out long. Dave was picked up by Viv who took him home just as another old friend that I haven't seen for a while, June stopped by for a chat with us.
Whilst sitting there I saw my friend Christine. She admired the heated body warmer I had on & asked me for the details for it so she could get one. I offered to send her a link to it & if she liked it I said I would order one for her. Whilst we were chatting another friend, Lynda, whom I hadn't seen for a while stopped as they walked past. She shared the sad news with us that her husband Billy whom I used to drink with most weekends had died the day before. He was a very big man & will be missed by all that knew him, RIP Bill.
When Aria, Martins's daughter got off her school bus she came to see us before she went back home with her dad. I went with them & picked up some chutneys that Martin had for me. On my way home I stopped at the Mercadona supermarket to shop. Every time I go to get some shopping, the prices have increased. I get enough food to keep me going over Christmas & the New year, there are a few things they don't have but I can get them tomorrow in a different store.
When I get home I get myself something to eat before heading back out to meet my friend Darren who is bringing me some mince pies & a couple of steak pies. I meet him at the local bar/casino, Tiki Taka. We sit for half an hour talking before we both leave & I take my food home with me. I go to bed at about 10 pm hoping that I will be able to sleep a bit better tonight. Before going to bed I ordered the heated body warmer for Christine on Amazon & then I put some tinnitus-masking music on, hoping it will help me sleep.
Tuesday, 20th December.
The tinnitus has beaten me again & just after 2:30 am, I give up trying to get to sleep. I get up & do some work on my website. I design a header logo for the page about Mississippi & Tennessee on the page about my USA trip in 1980, upload it to the server & add it to the web page. It didn't take me long to design the logo but I do like it & I think it looks really good.
There is always someone else up who can't sleep, & today was no exception & I exchanged quick messages with some friends on Facebook between 3 am & 5 am, I hope they can get some sleep soon. I dropped off to sleep at about 7:30 am & slept until about 11 am.
When I woke I got myself some toast covered with creamy brie cheese & truffle, sliced salmon & scrambled egg, it was delicious. The rest of the day was spent watching Christmas films on television. One of the films I watched was called This is Christmas, if you haven't seen it watch it, it is brilliant, thank you for the suggestion, Sara.
I watched a couple of other films this evening before going to bed around 10:30 pm.
Wednesday, 21st December.
I woke around 7 am feeling much better than I have the last few days, I slept better & that probably helped. I get myself a coffee & use up my last bit of sliced salmon & have it on toast with creamy brie/truffle cheese & a scrambled egg. After a second coffee, I am feeling much better, I get myself a pot of tea & work on my computer for a while.
I am already getting excited about my cruise in February next year & after hearing back from MSC & getting an answer to a question I sent them, I spend some time looking at the added excursions I can book through them. I then book excursions for the days I am in port at Genoa, Barcelona, Tangier & Casablanca.
The order I made for my friend Christine on Amazon yesterday arrived at about 1:30 pm today. This afternoon I drifted in & out of sleep, I still need to catch up on some sleep but don't want to sleep too much in case it prevents me from getting to sleep tonight. This evening I watch television, flipping between channels until around 10:30 pm then go to bed.
Thursday, 22nd December.
For a second night running, I sleep better & don't wake until around 8:30 am today. I get a coffee & check my email before doing an hour's work on my computer. I have a few jobs to do today. I have to return a package to Euronics to go back to Amazon & whilst there I will pop into the Optometrist opposite to book an eye test. I have been having a few headaches recently & have noticed my eyesight isn't as good as it was.
Just after 10 am, I jump on my disability scooter & take the package I am returning to Amazon to Euronics. After they accept my package for return I cross the road & go to my local optician in Los Alcázares, Parra Optical. I ask if I can book an eye test & explain that I am blind in one eye & that I have been getting headaches. I tell him I wondered if I need a new pair of reading glasses.
The optician tells me he can give me a free eye test if I have the time. He takes my reading glasses & measures them to see what size glasses I currently use. He then tests my good eye & checks my bad eye. He tells me my long vision is very good & then tests me for my shorter vision. He takes all the details from the tests & compares them to my current glasses before he tells me that my current glasses are perfect for my eyesight & that there is no reason for me to get any new glasses at the moment. I am very happy with this result & impressed that he tells me so. If he had told me that I needed a slightly different set of glasses I would have bought a new set, so I congratulate him on his professionalism & honesty. I will continue to go here in the future for any new glasses I do need.
When I leave the optician I head towards Los Narejos where I am meeting my friend Christine to take a parcel to her. I meet her & a group of other friends at a cafe & deliver her parcel to her before sitting & having a coffee. It is nice to see my friend Mike again & we chat briefly, he is quite quiet & I do worry about the silly old bugger.
I leave the cafe & get some shopping on the way home & go to the D´Pollo takeaway shop on my way home for something to eat. I have just got in & have started eating my dinner when Christine rings me to let me know that her husband is very happy with the body warmer that she bought & that she will give me the money for it next week. I arrange to meet her for coffee next Tuesday.
This afternoon & evening I stay warm indoors & watch some more films.
Friday, 23rd December.
I slept very well last night & didn't wake until around 8:30 am. I feel quite good & get myself a coffee before sitting down to work at my computer. When I take my tablets I realize I only have enough tablets left for a few days for two of my regular medications so I will have to go to the pharmacy later to get some more.
Around 10:30 am I go to the pharmacy to get my tablets & after I have got them I take a trip to the Mercadona store to get the last couple of bits of shopping I need for Christmas. I take my shopping home & check to see if I have any mail as I go into the apartment block. I have a letter from the DWP in the UK so I quickly fill out the form they have sent me & head to the post office in Los Alcázares to return it back to the DWP before the post office shuts.
When I get there the lady that serves me is unfortunately the lady that seems to think her job is to be awkward. She takes the letter from me & starts to weigh it to calculate the cost of postage to England. I point out to her that it is postage paid anywhere in Europe & that it says this in several languages on the envelope. She argues that it is not valid in Spain even though the lady working on the till next to her confirms that it is valid. She gets up & takes the letter into the office next door where she can be heard asking someone there if it has had the postage paid. They tell her it is good as it is & she begrudgingly comes back out & tells me I don't have to pay. This woman is the most obnoxious & awkward woman I have ever met in a post office in any of the places & countries I have lived, how she keeps her job is beyond me. I head home along the beach & when I get home I have a couple of ham rolls for lunch.
The afternoon is spent cleaning my kitchen ready for a day of cooking tomorrow whilst the evening is spent in front of the television.
Saturday, 24th December.
Well, it's finally Christmas Eve, I woke up around 7 am & have to say I have never felt less Christmasy. Most years I have Christmas on my own & I don't mind too much but this year it seems to be dragging on forever & I will be glad when it's all over. I get myself a coffee & two bacon & egg rolls for breakfast then I sit down at my computer to check for any messages before I start some cooking.
At about 11:00 I go through to my kitchen & start cooking some mince for the cottage pies I am going to make. Whilst the mince is cooking I start to prepare some of the vegetables for the chicken & vegetable soup I am making next. The smell of the mince cooking is beautiful, I had forgotten how nice the smell of good food cooking is & how much it cheered me up as the smell permeated through my apartment. Whilst the mince is simmering I put a rotisserie spit through my whole chicken & then put it in my mini oven on the rotisserie to cook.
Whilst the food is cooking I make a pot of green jasmine & peach tea & settle back down at my computer. By 1:30 pm I have 3 large cottage pies prepared & one large chicken cooked in the rotisserie. I leave the pies to cool off before putting two of them in my freezer, leaving one out for my dinner tonight. I take the chicken out of the rotisserie to cool off before I pull it apart to use in my chicken soup.
This evening I watch a couple of films before going to bed around 10:30 pm.
Sunday, 25th December.
Happy Christmas, bah humbug. Unfortunately, I have been kept awake all night by a stomach ache & have had very little sleep. The really unfortunate thing is that I do not know what has caused it & in case it is something I ate yesterday I will have to throw away everything I cooked yesterday. I ate one of the cottage pies so it could have been that, I also ate some of the chicken so it could have been that. It could have been one of the eggs I had for breakfast, any one of the ingredients in my cooking, even the ice cream I ate or just a mixture of the food I ate but I am not willing to gamble on being ill again.
I spend most of the day wrapped up under a blanket on the sofa. I watch some films & manage to get a bit of sleep & during the evening when my stomach stops rumbling I chance eating a few crumpets & a few biscuits but apart from water, I consume nothing else. I go to bed at about 9 pm & hope that I feel better tomorrow as I am supposed to be taking part in a swim in the Mar Menor at lunchtime tomorrow. One thing that I have learnt today is if I cook several different food items to put in the freezer, only eat one of them during the day, that way if I am unwell after eating, I will know what caused it & only throw one thing away.