This week, I swam quite a bit, met a few friends, and booked myself onto another cruise, this time going from Barcelona, Spain, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. At the end of the week, I had a severe bout of Acid Reflux, which caused some pain.
Monday, 3rd July.
I guess I must have needed the sleep but I didn't wake until about 8:45 am today. After waking up, I got a coffee and took this morning's tablets before sorting this week's tablets into my tablet dispenser. Because I now have to take a variety of pills at different times of the day, I have written them down so that I continue taking the correct ones at the correct time, in the right amount.
At about 10:30, I decided to go and see my friend Mike, who has coffee in the mornings in a cafe in Los Narejos. I went on my mobility scooter to see him, and by about 10:45, I had arrived and was sitting with him and the group of people he had coffee with. He looked frail, but I was pleased to hear he finally got a disability scooter. For some reason known only to him, he still drove the short distance to the cafe and walked from his van to the cafe. It probably takes him longer to walk from the car to the cafe than to go from his house directly to the cafe on his disability scooter.
He asks me about a cover for his disability scooter and I tell him I will look for one on Amazon for him. I sit talking with him until he leaves to go shopping. If he had used his disability scooter, he wouldn't have had to stumble around the shop, I will have to try to persuade him to use it more now he has it. Once he does he will get used to it and find he has the freedom to go out more. I talked to the others there when he left before going to La Sombre Pizzeria to meet Martin.
I sat chatting with Martin and Aria, his daughter, and when I left, I stopped at the Mercadona store to get my shopping. I got lots of fruit for my breakfast. I go home and put my disability scooter in the garage, but when I try to use the lift to get to my flat, the lift is out of order. I walk up the first flight of stairs carrying my heavy shopping bags before I realise I won't make it in one go. I have already started puffing and am out of breath. I stop at my neighbour´s apartment on the first floor and ask her to watch one of the shopping bags before I struggle up the stairs with the other two. I drop them off and return downstairs for the third and heaviest bag. When I get there, I am very short of breath but struggle back upstairs with the bag. I put it on the floor in the kitchen with the other two bags, got a glass of water and sat down to get my breath back.
Two hours later, I woke up in front of the television. I must have sat down and gone to sleep straight away. I felt a bit better but was still a bit puffed. I look at a message on my phone and see that my friend Gail has sent me a cruise schedule to look at. I will look at the details tomorrow when I am more awake and on my computer to see it more easily.
I have chicken wings for supper but spend the rest of the day watching television on the sofa.
Tuesday, 4th July.
I woke up at about 7:45 am today. I still felt drowsy, so I got a coffee and sat at my computer to check my messages. I took my tablets, and when I had woken up properly I walked down to the Mar Menor to swim. After my swim, I saw my friends John and Diane at the chiringuito and sat and briefly chatted with them. Whilst sitting there, another friend, Andrew, who used to run the chiringuito arrived. It had been so long since he had seen me that he didn't recognise me with my beard. We briefly chatted before I left and returned to my apartment.
After a shower, I got some cereal before going to the Economy Cash supermarket. I got my shopping, including some ant spray, and returned to my apartment. This is the first year I have had ants in my apartment and I sprayed around the areas where I have seen them and hope this will kill them off quickly. I noticed that my Uncle Paul had logged onto his computer in the UK, and I called him using Skype to see how he was after his heart attack last week. I was pleased to hear he is feeling better and settling into his home again. His friend and cleaner, Hyacinth, was there with him when I rang and told me she would make sure he did what the Doctor told him to do.
This afternoon, I started looking at new cruise holidays I am interested in. My friend Gail had messaged me about one she liked the look of and wanted to know if I wanted to go on it. I had seen one that sailed across the Atlantic to Brazil for a little extra money, ending in Rio de Janeiro, another place on my bucket list. I had checked flight prices and hotels in Rio and had to decide between the two trips, one in September going to the Greek Islands via Venice and one in November going to Rio de Janeiro.
This afternoon, the heat got too much for me. It got over 40ºc on my balcony and was around 30ºc in my apartment. Because of the cost of running the air conditioning in my apartment, I hadn't turned it on yet this year, but in the afternoon, I capitulated and finally turned it on. My apartment soon cooled down, and I felt much better. I think the heat has been making me lethargic over the last few weeks, so now it is on; it will probably remain on, at least in the heat of the day and at night, so I can sleep better.
Wednesday, 5th July.
I woke up a little after 7 am today. I got myself a coffee and took my tablets before walking to the Mar Menor for my swim. The wind is pushing dark clouds across the region, and the waves and tides in the sea are stronger than normal as I sit in the water to feed the fish. I see no fish swimming around, so I throw the bread, hoping the fish find it. The swim takes me longer than normal because of the wind and tide, and I only see a few jellyfish today. The tide must have taken them away to the South of the Mar Menor.
After my swim, I returned to my apartment for some breakfast. After breakfast, I shave my head and beard. My beard is very uncomfortable in the heat. Bald is beautiful and more comfortable. I then go to Correos to drop off my parcel to be returned to Amazon.
I spent some time this afternoon deciding which of the two cruises that I looked at yesterday, that I like best. After much consideration, I decided that the Brazil trip is the one I will be doing next and I go online to book it. I booked it online but am unsure if it was booked correctly, and leave a message for them to call me back. I sit at home waiting for the call and watching the sports news on television.
At about 4 pm, I get a phone call from Costa Cruises and they can confirm that my booking has gone through. I then go online to look for a hotel at Copacabana Beach in Brazil. I figured that after travelling all that way I may as well make the most of it and spend some more time looking around Rio de Janeiro whilst I am there. I book a hotel for 5 nights on the famous beach and then go back online to look for a flight back.
There were many flights for less money, but I ended up booking one with Iberia Airlines, which flies directly from Rio de Janeiro to Madrid. The cost is more but the time to get back to Spain is less than a third of some of the cheap indirect flights and it includes all my luggage, food, entertainment and choice of seat. Feeling very excited about my next trip, all I have left to do is work out how to get to Barcelona for the first leg of my trip and how to get back from Madrid after it has finished. I will use Renfe to book the necessary trains in the next week or two.
Thursday, 6th July.
I woke at 7 am today and immediately got myself a coffee, and once I had finished it I went for my swim in the Mar Menor. The sea was much calmer than yesterday, but thousands of jellyfish were in the Mar Menor. I often post on Facebook that I am going for a swim and ask if people want to join me. The jellyfish joined me this morning, and I didn't even know they used Facebook.
I cut my swim short and only swam to the rocks and back once, as I have my friend Jacquie popping around today so that I can fix a problem she has on her Facebook account. Once I returned to my apartment I had another coffee and some cereal and got ready for Jacquie to arrive. I deleted the thousands of emails Jackie didn't want from her account, removed all the unwanted groups from her Facebook account, and arranged a meal with her and Alan next week.
After having two trout fillets for dinner, I researched my family tree in the afternoon. I did them in my air fryer and have to say it tasted fantastic. I will be doing more fish in the air fryer. I was just about to sit down and watch television when my friend Alan Bond messaged me and asked if I would meet him for a drink at La Playa bar. I messaged him back to tell him I would meet him there and then walked along the promenade.
We sat chatting all night and eventually left just after 12 am when Alans´ wife, Diane, came to pick him up. I walked back along the Promenade to my apartment. I got home, got myself a cold drink and went straight to bed.
Friday, 7th July.
I woke up around 8 am today and got myself a coffee. I was going to go for a swim, but the wind was blowing waves across the Mar Menor, and I decided against swimming as it was a bit rough. I sat at my computer and tidied up my email account, deleting thousands of emails that I no longer need and labelling others to make it easier to find and sort them in the future.
When I finished the administration work on my email account, I went onto the Movelia website and booked a bus to Murcia in a few weeks to see Rod Stewart. I will stay overnight and come home the following day, so I booked my return bus trip home simultaneously. I think booking a coach or bus in Spain is very easy and the cost is very good. Later in the month, I must book a bus to take me to Murcia again when I see Simply Red.
Just before midday, my friend June came to pick me up to take me on a magical mystery tour in her car. We went to a small pizza restaurant on the seafront at Torrevieja called Pizzeria D'ban. It was quite pleasant, and we sat chatting and had a coffee before heading back toward Los Alcazares. On the way, we stopped at The Lucky Lion bar in Cabo Roig, I had a Radler beer and enjoyed the beer but didn't think much of the bar. I don't understand why, when there are such lovely places to sit and enjoy the day, people choose to go to sit in a car park next to a roundabout and busy road.
When we finished our drinks, we drove back towards the Unica Garden Centre in San Javier, but we arrived an hour before it reopened, so June dropped me off at my apartment. When I got home, I got a cold drink, put the air conditioning on in my apartment, and sat on my sofa to watch television. At about 7:30 pm, I got myself something to eat. I had a chicken thigh with salad and followed it up with a fruit salad with 1 apple, 2 bananas, blueberries, greek yoghurt and honey mixed up and allowed to chill in the fridge for an hour before eating. The chicken salad and the fruit salad were wonderful, and I had enough fruit salad left to save some for tomorrow.
Saturday 8th July.
I woke at 7 am and got a coffee before sitting at my computer to check my messages. After I finished my coffee I put some washing in my washing machine before I went for an early morning swim in the Mar Menor. I took some small bread rolls and fed them to the fish before swimming to the rocks. Once again, thousands of Jellyfish were in the water, some swimming along on their own and others floating in large groups. They look beautiful as I swim through them, admiring how they move through the water. I have started to swim using my full face mask with snorkel, it allows me to see the fish and jellyfish easier and means I can keep my head under the water to see them better. I brush aside a few jellyfish to make my way through the larger groups to get to the rocks I sit on.
I notice as I swim backwards and forwards that the amount of jellyfish seems to reduce and I wonder if the fall in jellyfish numbers in the water is linked to the increasing number of Spanish ladies sitting in the water talking loudly to each other. The ladies are a lot more problematic to get around. They always seem to move to position themselves in my path, whereas the jellyfish float along with the currents. I also noticed that the jellyfish were prettier and made no noise.
I finish my swim and return to my apartment to shower. My first lot of washing is still in the washing machine, and I stack the dishwasher ready to put on this evening after I have cooked and eaten my evening meal. I get some cereal and eat that before working on my family tree for a while. I go down to La Playa bar at lunchtime to drop off a Save The Mar Menor flag to my friend Clara, she is going to stitch some strong eye holes into it so I can hang it from my balcony.
This afternoon, I message my friend Pat to see if he wants to meet me to watch England vs Spain U21´s in the European Championship final later. He arranged to pick me up at 5:30 pm, and we will then go to Rio Nalon to watch the game in one of the bars. At 5:25 pm I walk to where Pat will pick me up. I can't believe how hot it feels; it is uncomfortably hot, and I am glad Pat offered to pick me up because walking in this heat would have been very difficult for me.
When we get to Rio Nalon, we stop at Perlitas Bar, and Shannon puts the game on the television. We sit outside, and I am pleased to feel a strong breeze blowing up the Road to keep us cool. Paul, Wayne, and Andy joined us as we watched the game. The game finished with a penalty save from the England goalkeeper in the sixth minute of extra time. England won the game 1-0 and are European Champions. Pat left us and went home, and a short time later, Paul left us as well. Andy, Wayne and I sat chatting for a while before Wayne left, leaving just me and Andy sitting outside the bar chatting. We eventually left and walked to Rocco's bar, where we continued chatting until early in the morning, when we both left to go home.
Sunday, 9th July.
I didn't wake up until around 10 am today, very late for me. I sat at my computer this morning, working on my family tree and website. At 12:45 pm, I went downstairs, where my friend June picked me up for dinner at Campbell's bar in Roda. About halfway through my meal, my acid reflux returned very strongly and I couldn't finish my meal. I was feeling a bit of pain in my chest as well as the rising acid, causing me to hiccup continuously. I asked Lauren, our waitress, to box up what was left of my dinner and asked June to take me home because of the chest pain.
As we were about to get in the car, I thought I was going to bring up acid, so I went to some nearby wasteland to throw it up. After hiccuping a lot, the acid reflux calmed down without me being sick to stop it. I got back in the car and June drove me back towards my apartment. Unfortunately, before we got halfway home, I could feel the acid building up again, and June had to pull over to allow me to throw up. As soon as the acid had left my stomach, I felt better, and June could take me the rest of the way home.
I stuck the air conditioning on this afternoon and slept on the sofa. When I woke back up, I got myself some cereal. I had read that muesli can help acid reflux. Because the acid reflux was still causing me discomfort, I hoped the muesli would settle the acid in my stomach. It did help, and I was much more comfortable after eating it. Later in the evening, I had the last bit of fruit salad I made yesterday. It filled me up and also seemed to help the acid reflux settle down.
People have often asked me what brings on Acid Reflux. It is many different things; unfortunately, it seems to be everything I like to eat. This link will help you learn more about Acid Reflux and what can bring it on.
At night I watched two films: The Second Best Marigold Hotel, one of my favourite films and another called Papillon. I liked both films, but I think the book Papillon is better than the film.