This week was spent mostly indoors with a cold.
Monday, 9th January.
As soon as the doctor's surgery opened today, I went for my regular blood test to check my anticoagulant levels. I hadn't seen the lady before, and she complained a lot about my poor veins. She looked at both arms several times before going into the left arm to get my blood sample. After she had gotten what she wanted, I went home to have coffee and some porridge for breakfast.
I went to the Las Claras Centre in Los Narejos this morning. I used to go to a coffee morning on a Monday most weeks, but I got out of the habit of going and want to start going again. I need to start getting out more as I am losing touch with so many people that I used to see quite regularly. I went to the coffee meeting and saw a few people I hadn't seen in months. It was good to see them again, and I will endeavour to go every week now.
After going to the coffee morning, I continued to Pizzeria La Sombre to meet my friend Martin for our weekly catch-up and to have a few beers. It was a subdued meeting today as we are both feeling a bit under the weather from a cold.
After leaving, I went home via the D´Pollo takeaway near me to get something to eat. The rest of the day was spent tucked up under my blanket, trying to keep warm.
Tuesday, 10th January.
Today, I spent the entire day at home working on my website. The cold caused me to have a tickly throat and headaches that didn't want to go away. I was treating it with lots of lemsip drinks and tablets, as well as drinking lots of water to keep hydrated. The only time I left the house was to return a parcel to the Euronics shop near my apartment.
Wednesday, 11th January.
Once again, today, I had continuous headaches throughout the day. The tickly throat was easing up, and the sniffy nose was getting much better. I worked on my new website design all day but don't seem to be able to make much headway. The lemsip is making me drowsy, and I keep making mistakes and having to go back to correct them.
Thursday, 12th January.
This morning, I worked on my website for a while before going to see my friends Pat and Sandra in Barrio de la Fuensanta. It was great to see them both again. We sat chatting and had a cup of tea and a cake, and the time flew by. When I left, I thought I had been there for a short visit, but when I got home, it turned out I had been away from home, travelling included for around 3 hours.
I felt much better just getting out of the house for a while and seeing some friendly faces.
Friday, 13th January.
When I got up this morning, my headache wasn't as bad, but I had run out of lemsip, so I went to the local pharmacy to get the Spanish version. A pack of 10 Lemsip in the UK costs about £4, but in Spain, Frenadol, the equivalent, costs me €10.95. It is a bit stronger, but that's a big difference. I hoped this cold cleared up soon.
I worked on my website for a few hours and had a breakthrough with what I was trying to do. The change in the menu system looks like it will work, and I will continue working until around 2 pm when I stop for lunch. After lunch, I fell asleep for a few hours before continuing to work on my website. I didn't work on it for too long as I was very drowsy after taking another Frenadol. I watched TV for a while before going to bed early.
Saturday, 14th January.
Today was again spent indoors trying to get rid of the cold I have. I did a lot of work on my website and watched some football on the television.
It was disappointing to see that Chelsea had managed to buy a player that Arsenal was hoping to sign. They offered the selling club more money for him and doubled the wages that Arsenal had offered him. Although I am disappointed he won't be playing for Arsenal, I am glad they didn't break their budget for an as-yet unproven player. I wondered if, after all his self-promotion of his desire to join Arsenal over the last few months, he would remove the posts from the internet and if he would no longer be supporting and watching Arsenal games on television every week.
Sunday, 15th January.
I spent the day working on my website and got a lot done, but I still had a few problems with the new layout and navigation that I haven't been able to fix yet.
This evening I watched the Tottenham vs Arsenal football match, and I was very pleased to see Arsenal play very well and win 0-2. As soon as the game finished, I went to bed and had an early night.