Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain
Summary: A week of knee trouble, town hall battles, genealogy breakthroughs, breakfasts out, long walks, noisy nights, storms, films, and a brilliant Arsenal win over Manchester United. I also collected my kayak trailer, reorganised my garage, and enjoyed time with friends.
Monday, 4th September
I woke around 07:00, had a coffee and worked on my website. At 10:30, I walked to Vince’s house to collect the kayak trailer I bought from him. My knees have been bad recently, and my left knee popped out of its socket on the way, making walking painful.
When I reached his apartment, I realised I couldn’t drag the trailer home, so we needed another plan. We walked to the café bar near the town hall for a coffee, and I caught the bus to Los Narejos to meet Martin. I was glad I caught it there, my knee was hurting, and the driver skipped my usual stop.
We chatted at the office until just after 14:00, when Dave gave me a lift home. I planned to cook soup, but my knee was aching, so I took painkillers and rested on the sofa, watching the Arsenal vs Manchester United match again. Gary Neville talks absolute rubbish when commentating, he is far too biased towards Manchester United.
My translator messaged to say she had secured a town hall appointment for Wednesday to sort out the embargo on my bank account.
Tuesday, 5th September
I woke just after 07:00. The darker mornings make it feel earlier. I updated my website’s PHP version, made a few changes, then had a massage in my chair to help my back.
At 10:00, I met Liz for breakfast at Buena Vista. I had a medium English breakfast, and we chatted for a while. She asked about my washing machine, so I showed it to her afterwards so she could research one for herself. She kindly gave me a lift to the office.
At 14:00, we all left. I decided to walk home. I checked La Zona bar, saw no one I knew, and continued to La Petit Bistro. I was puffing like a steam train when I arrived. After a couple of beers, it got too hot, so I moved to Harry’s bar for the air conditioning.
I caught the first tourist train of the evening, chatted with Connie, stayed on as it looped around, then got off near La Playa bar. I joined some Spanish friends celebrating a wedding anniversary and enjoyed their buffet. At 23:00, I caught the train back and went home for water and air conditioning before bed.
Wednesday, 6th September
I woke at 07:30, had coffee and worked on my website. At 12:15, I walked to the town hall to meet Lesley. I wasn’t walking well, and the receptionist immediately asked if I was okay, brought me water and watched over me until I recovered.
At 13:15, Lesley arrived, and we went to the tax department. The bill was for local taxes on my garage space. The embargo was for road tax on a car I sold in 2005. The buyer never registered it, and although the car was scrapped years ago, I still had to pay the 2019 tax. The clerk confirmed the car is now officially scrapped, and once I pay the 2019 tax, there will be no more bills. I paid the garage tax by card, and the road tax will be taken from my bank.
The moral is simple, never trust anyone else to do the paperwork when buying or selling a car in Spain.
I walked home slowly along the beach, my knee buckling several times. I put the air conditioning on and rested the rest of the day.
Thursday, 7th September
I woke at 07:00, had coffee and did genealogy research on my 3rd great grandfather, Thomas Tincknell. Time flew, and suddenly it was 10:00. I went on my disability scooter to the pharmacy for my anti‑coagulant and acid reflux tablets.
I drove along the promenade and saw Liz and her son James on the beach. After a chat, I went to Buena Vista for coffee and tostada, the best in Los Alcázares.
I went to Economy Cash for bread and bananas. My scooter was nearly out of power when I got home, so it needed charging.
In the afternoon, I continued genealogy research and found census records for my 3rd great grandmother, Sarah Jane Puddy. I knew very little about her until today. Time disappeared, and before I knew it, it was midnight.
Friday, 8th September
I didn’t sleep well, waking repeatedly from dreams that continued where they left off. At 08:15, I got coffee and messaged the person I had been dreaming about to check they were okay.
I created a new “newspaper clips” section on my website for articles about my ancestors. The first was a criminal case involving several of my great‑great grandparents.
I went to Mercadona on my scooter. Kelvin phoned, wanting a drink, so I met him and Colin at Rocco’s. Later, Ady messaged to help me collect the kayak trailer.
Clara drove us to Vince’s garage to collect it. After locking it safely in my garage, I bought Ady a beer at La Playa bar. Vince asked me to keep his garage key safe.
I took the train to Rio Nalon, chatted with friends, and Wayne accidentally broke the arms off my reading glasses. I’ll need new ones. I watched TV at home before bed.
Saturday, 9th September
I didn’t get up until after 10:00. My back was aching, so I had a massage. I decided to do nothing today and had a Humphrey Bogart film day, watching Casablanca, The African Queen, The Maltese Falcon and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
Sunday, 10th September
I woke at 07:00, put washing on and ran the dishwasher. My back still ached, so I had another massage before working on my website. My broken glasses were held together with cord, so I’ll need new ones tomorrow.
I reorganised my garage, lifting my kayak onto the trailer and arranging everything so my e‑bike, kayak and scooter all fit properly.
I moved the charging point for my robot vacuum cleaner, Peggy, to under the sofa near the Wi‑Fi box. She vacuumed the apartment perfectly and returned to her new charging point.
In the evening, I watched several episodes of Poirot before going to bed. It will be my new binge‑watch series for a while.
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