I started feeling much better this week; the swelling in my legs had gone down, and I was no longer taking painkillers.
Monday, 13th March.
I woke early, around 6 am, after a good night's sleep. I worked on my website for a few hours and had some muesli with kiwi yoghurt for breakfast. At about 8:45 am, I went to my doctor's surgery for my regular INR blood test. I did not have to wait too long today. I saw a new nurse who took a little while to locate my vein before painfully extracting the required blood from my arm.
When I left the doctor's surgery, I went to the Economy supermarket to buy a few groceries. After taking my groceries back to my apartment, I worked on some photos for a while, preparing them for my website before I left to meet my friend Martin at Pizzeria La Sombre at midday. I was not ready to have a beer at the office today but sat chatting with Martin, Kate, Dave and Lesley until around 2:30 pm. I enjoyed my bottle of water, but I guess Martin enjoyed his beer more.
When I left, I returned to my apartment and had a couple of chicken rolls for lunch. The afternoon was spent watching television with my legs raised on the sofa, and after resting, I did some more work on my computer. I downloaded the results from this morning's blood test and sorted out my tablets for the next four weeks before going to bed.
Tuesday, 14th March.
I woke up around 6:30 am and continued updating my website. I set up the navigation for my photo albums on my website. The navigation has to be changed for all the albums so that they show in the new navigation system I have made for the website, and hopefully, over the next week or so, all of my photo albums will again start to show up correctly.
At 9:15 am, I went out on my disability scooter. In May 2021, my friend and neighbour Russ died, and for some reason, mail arrived for him at the apartment block this week. The people in his apartment now obviously didn't know who he was and placed his mail on top of our mailboxes in the apartment block. I didn't open the mail but crossed his name and address out and wrote across the front and back of the letters that he had died and that the letters needed to be returned to the sender, circling the senders' address on the back of both envelopes, before putting them back in a local postbox. I hope they find their way back to the originating senders.
After putting the letters in a mailbox, I went for a ride on my disability scooter. The sun had come out, and it was getting warm earlier now. I went along the seafront before heading towards the Los Alcazares indoor swimming pool. I have put a lot of weight on since I stopped swimming every day, and the sea is still a little cold for me to swim in the mornings. I go inside and ask how much the swimming pool costs and am told it is €3 for a ticket to swim once, €23.40 for a 10-ticket book, and €36 for a 20-ticket book that can be used over 3 months. Happy with the prices, I told myself I would use the pool every morning until it was warm enough and vowed to return soon to get a 20-ticket book.
On the way back to my apartment, I went along the main road and stopped at a pharmacy to collect the one tablet I did not have enough. The tablets I had to buy are called IDEOCalm and are supposed to help my tinnitus. The only problem is I have to take them for about 3 months before I should expect to see any change, and they cost me €27 for a box that will last me 30 days. This means I could end up paying €81 for tablets that do not affect my tinnitus. Tinnitus does stress me out and prevents me from getting to sleep easily, and at this stage, I will try anything to get rid of it.
After dropping my tablets off at home, I head to La Sombre Pizzeria to see Martin. I arrived, and Martin was already there, working very hard. His sister Lesley and dad Dave arrived shortly after I did, and we sat having a drink and chatting. Martin left to pick his daughter Aria up from the school bus, and just as I left, I noticed he had left a set of Bluetooth earpieces on the table. I picked them up and took them across the road to his home. I dropped the earpieces off and then headed home via the beach.
When I got in, I had something to eat before napping on the sofa. This evening I watched some of the Manchester City vs RB Leipzig football match on the television. Manchester City was fantastic, and Erling Haaland scored five goals before he was substituted with half an hour still to go. I hoped Manchester City didn't continue this form into the Premier League, as it will make it hard for Arsenal to win the league.
Wednesday, 15th March.
I woke up around 6:45 am. Before working on my website, I got myself a ginseng coffee and some muesli.
While working on my website, I remembered that today was the day that tickets to see Bob Dylan in Alicante in June go on sale. I quickly logged onto his website and bought myself a front-row ticket. They are not cheap, but I have always wanted to see Bob Dylan live, and this will probably be my only chance to see him live. I decided to stay overnight in Alicante and booked into the Hostel la Lonja overnight and booked a bus to get there at lunchtime the day of the concert and to come home the following day.
I worked till around 11:30 am when I received a message from my new friends, Kathy and Tony, whom I recently met on my cruise. They were in a store near my home in Los Alcazares and wanted to meet for a drink. They were in ATimeForAChange where their son Chris works, who, as it happens, I am already friends with.
I walked around to the store and met them there. We decided to go to a new bar/restaurant near my apartment on the beachfront, Buenavista. We walked to the beach and along the promenade. As we passed by my apartment, I pointed out my apartment to them and then showed them around inside. After showing Kathy and Tony my apartment, we continued onto the Buenavista Restaurant, a short walk further on. Kathy and Tony had something to eat, but I just had a drink. The menu looks very good, and I will be coming back. It is my closest bar and restaurant.
The small walk seemed to have worn me out, and my legs felt fine, but I was tired and had to nap for an hour on the sofa. I watched television before going to bed at around 10 pm this evening.
Thursday, 16th March.
I woke up around 6:15 am today. I got a Ginseng coffee and some muesli before sitting at my computer to work on my website. I prefer working on my computer first thing in the morning because I can concentrate better than in the afternoons.
I worked my way through editing lots of my holiday photos today. I left the apartment to do a bit of shopping at the local Dia supermarket in the afternoon. On my way back, my friends George and Yvonne called me from the Pyramide bar as I crossed the road. I walked over to see them and had a small beer while chatting for a half hour. I then went to do my shopping, before going home and getting myself some dinner of chicken and salad.
Tonight I watched the Arsenal vs Sporting Lisbon football match on the television. I was elated when Arsenal took the lead, amazed when Sporting scored a fantastic goal to equalize, disappointed when the game finished level and depressed when Sporting won the penalty shoot-out after the game to knock Arsenal out of the Europa League.
Friday, 17th March.
I had intended to go out for a pint to celebrate St Patrick's Day today, but my legs still ached a little bit, and the wind that had picked up along the beach was quite cold, so I stayed home all day. I did some work on my website, typing up my holiday blog pages and working on more photographs, but other than that, I did nothing.
Saturday, 18th March.
Once again, today, I didn't leave the apartment. I continued to rest my legs and work on my website. I went online and ordered a few bits for my kitchen on Amazon. I ordered a new glass measuring cup, egg poacher, and cheese grater. I love poached eggs, and I have tried all the different ways of poaching them but found I couldn't get them as nice as my old egg poacher used to make them. Unfortunately, my new kitchen had an induction hob when I moved to Spain, which my old egg poacher wouldn't work on.
I had an early night tonight and was in bed by 10 pm.
Sunday, 19th March.
I woke up at around 6:30 am and continued to work on my website as soon as I got up. My friend Jacqueline had messaged me to ask me to meet her and her partner Michael for a coffee this morning at 11 am. I was getting ready to walk down to the clothes charity bin with some old clothes when, at 10:30 am, she messaged me to tell me they had already arrived at La Encarnacion.
Not wanting to keep my friends waiting, I got on my disability scooter. I dropped some rubbish in the recycling bin and some clothes in the charity clothes bin, then continued to La Encarnacion to meet them for a coffee. It was good to see Jacqueline and Michael again, and after we finished our coffee, we went to my apartment. I showed them both around before leaving my disability scooter and walking to the Buenavista restaurant around the corner from the apartment. We sat chatting there for an hour or so while drinking before we parted, and I returned to my apartment.
When I got in, I received a message saying my Amazon delivery had been. I had missed it, but the message said it would be delivered tomorrow. I got some dinner and then sat down to watch Arsenal vs Crystal Palace on the television. Arsenal played great football and won the game 4-1 with some terrific goals by Bukaya Saka, Granit Xhaka and Gabriel Martinelli. It extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to 8 points, as Manchester City won't play until after the International break.
My friend Alan Bond was playing at La Playa Bar that evening, so I walked to the bar to see him. Unfortunately, Alan was not feeling well and had to cancel his appearance. Thousands of disappointed people were sad that Alan hadn't appeared, but they all wanted to wish him well and hope he recovered quickly. While I was sitting in the bar having a quick pint, I received a phone call from Amazon, and they told me that they were at my house trying to deliver my parcel again. I explained that because they had said they would try tomorrow, I had gone out, and they agreed to try again tomorrow. I finished my beer and headed straight home.
I sat up and watched MOTD and the highlights of the Arsenal game before going to bed. I'm happy that Arsenal is at the top of the league with an extended point gap over the other chasing football teams.