This week saw my cruise come to an end, and I spent the rest of the week in pain, resting in front of the television.
Monday, 6th March.
This morning, I woke up in another port in Malaga, Spain. A first for me as I had never been to Malaga before.
Tuesday, 7th March.
Today, I woke up in Alicante at the end of my cruise. After leaving the ship, I spent the day with Helen. We had a walk around and some lunch before I caught a bus back to Los Alcazares, and Helen went to the airport for her flight back to Scotland.
Wednesday, 8th March.
I woke up this morning in a lot of pain. My legs have become very swollen over the last week. I had noticed that the longer the cruise went on, the worse my legs got, but not wanting to miss seeing any of the places I visited, I persevered with a mix of painkillers and cocktails to assist with the pain.
Now I am home, I still have painkillers, but the cocktails have disappeared. I will have to lose some of the weight I put on whilst away. I certainly didn't go hungry whilst away, enjoying a cooked breakfast nearly every day, having a nice lunch on all days at sea and great dinners every day.
I spent a few hours sorting through the photos I took on holiday, but most of the day was spent in front of the television with my feet up. My knees were having trouble supporting me at all. Luckily, I have my disability scooter to take me to the chicken shop around the corner from my house. I got myself some lunch and stopped off at Mercadona supermarket for a few rolls and a few bits to ensure I had food for the rest of the week.
Thursday, 9th March.
Today was once again spent with my feet up and resting. My legs are both still swollen, and my dodgy ankle is still clicking and making scraping sounds as I walk. They are all very painful. There is no point in seeing a doctor about it as he will tell me to rest until the swelling has gone down a little and he can see it.
As if the bad legs weren't bad enough, I seem to have caught a bug. This causes me to shuffle as quickly as possible toward the toilet more times than my legs would like me to. This evening I watched the Sporting Lisbon vs Arsenal game in the Europa League. It was a topsy-turvey, edge-of-the-seat game. Arsenal went 0-1 in front, only to go 2-1 behind before finally getting a 2-2 draw to leave the return game at Emirates Stadium next week finely balanced.
Still in pain, I took some painkillers and went to bed early.
Friday, 10th March.
I woke up around 9 am today after sleeping very well last night. The swelling in my legs has gone down quite a lot, and my stomach is settling down, but I do not want to risk doing too much. I reluctantly let my friend Kate know I wouldn't be able to attend Martin's birthday meal tomorrow night. It would be painful for me to sit in a cramped restaurant for a long time and unfair to the restaurant if I passed on a stomach bug to other people there.
The day passed slowly, and I watched some television before going to bed early.
Saturday, 11th March.
I remained indoors all day again today apart from a visit to the local chicken shop on my disability scooter to get some lunch. Today's most exciting news was that my stomach bug seems to have disappeared, and the swelling in my legs has once again gone down.
I finally have the energy to unpack my suitcase this evening and sort my washing into piles, ready to put in the washing machine tomorrow.
Sunday, 12th March.
The day is spent washing all my dirty clothes and watching films before watching football in the afternoon. The strangest film I saw was Operation Fortune. It had a few big stars and was a bit of a spoof film. It took me a long time to determine if Hugh Grant was playing the arms dealer in it. It was a different role for him, humorous but funny, and I wondered if the voice had been dubbed. It definitely won't be what you are expecting from him, but Jason Statham is Jason Statham in whatever film he is in. Good entertainment film worth taking a look at.
The Arsenal game finished Arsenal 3, Fulham 0. The game was over by halftime and could have been, and maybe should have been a much bigger score. Arsenal was brilliant and Fulham didn't have an answer to Arsenal's slick passing. The match was won before halftime, but Fulham did make a game of the 2nd half with a much-improved performance. The win meant Arsenal kept the 5-point gap between them and second-placed Manchester City at the top of the Premier League.
Although most Arsenal fans will by now be dreaming of the first Arsenal Premier League win in 19 years, I am remaining a little cautious and hoping there will be no fall in performance in the remaining games. It was great, however, to see Gabriel Jesus return from a knee operation, and I am hoping that he can spur us on to a Premier League Title and maybe even win the Europa League.
On a side note, I wonder if the surgeon who operated on Gabriel Jesus´s knee would be interested in coming to Spain to work on my knee. I could be fit to start in the opening game of next season if I get the operation done quickly.