This week was a quiet one for me. I read a lot, worked on my family tree, saw a few friends and went out for dinner on Sunday.
Monday, 7th August.
I woke up at about 11 am today after too much celebrating after yesterday's Arsenal win. I had a coffee and sat at my computer checking my messages before walking to the bus stop to catch the bus to Los Narejos to meet my friend Martin. The bus was late, and I was beginning to think it may have broken down or the bus route times had changed since I last caught it, when it came down the road and stopped to pick me up.
I got on the bus, and it was travelling along the main road approaching a roundabout when a boy at the back of the bus began saying something in Spanish to the driver. As we approached the roundabout the driver changed lanes, and instead of heading to Los Narejos he went round the roundabout and began heading back towards Los Alcazares. The bus went back two roundabouts and then went around the roundabout at Rio Nalon where the boy got off the bus. He had missed his stop, and rather than just dropping him off at the next stop the bus driver had turned the bus back and dropped him off where he wanted to go. I have never seen or heard of anything like it before, and I can't imagine it happening anywhere else in the world.
I arrived at Pizzeria La Sombre at about 12:30 pm and was soon sat chatting with Martin and Dave. We had a good chat and were about to leave when Martin's friend Amanda arrived. She wanted to go for a drink, and as Dave had offered to drop me off on his way home she jumped in the car with Dave and dropped us off at Rio Nalon.
We walked to Rocco's bar, but we were the only people there apart from a family inside so we continued to Le Petit Bistro. As we walked along, I spotted the con man that keeps trying to cheat people and threatened some of my friends. I quickly gave Amanda my phone and got a photo of me with him. This was uploaded to lots of Facebook pages, including the crimes page and the local police site, so that people would now know who he was.
When we arrived at Le Petit Bistro we sat down having a chat outside in the sun. Amanda finished her drink quickly and went home. Before she left a few people I knew arrived, and I ended up sitting with lots of people I hadn't seen for a while, including John and Norma. We talked about different cruises and lost track of time. Whilst we sat there different people forced more beer down me. Anne, the lady who owned the bar, was celebrating becoming the sole proprietor of the bar and handed out finger food to all the customers.
Early in the evening, I walked back to Rocco´s bar, but when I went in and handed the barman money for my beer he told me that the beer had gone up 50 cents a pint and as it had only recently gone up 30 cents a pint I declined the beer, took my money back and walked back out. In a few short weeks, it had gone from being the cheapest bar to the dearest bar, and as there were so many other nice places to go, I took my money elsewhere. I walked to Harry's bar went inside into the cool air-conditioned bar and sat for a while until the next tourist train arrived at the bottom of the road.
I walked to the train stop and got on the train, I chatted to Bob and Connie and went down through Los Alcazares just to see where the train's new route currently goes before getting off near my apartment. As I walked towards the apartment I saw the chiringuito was open and stopped for a beer and a chat with the people that run it. As I got a beer a lady that I knew came over and started to talk to me, and I went and sat down to chat with her and her friends. We sat talking for a while before they all headed home. I finished my beer and asked the staff for my bill. They told me they thought I was with the three ladies and added my pint to their bill which they had paid without questioning it. It appears I owe the ladies a drink and a thank you for my beer.
Tuesday, 8th August.
I woke at 10:30 am. I got myself a coffee and some orange juice and sat down at my computer to work on some videos I was editing before walking to the bus stop to catch the bus to meet Martin. Once again the bus was very late. When I got on there were lots of Spanish ladies on the bus who all insisted on sitting on the aisle seats to chat across the aisle to each other whilst blocking the window seats. I walked to the back of the bus to stand near the exit door, and as I did a black lady who sounded as if she was American saw me struggling towards the back of the bus and got up giving me her seat. If you read this and recognise yourself, thank you for showing me some kindness and giving me your seat. I don't think you went far on the bus, and I didn't see you get off, but I appreciated you giving me a seat; thank you.
When I got to Pizzeria La Sombre, I sat chatting with Martin and his daughter Aria. As we were about to leave I realised I hadn't seen the bus come back round since I caught it this morning and it was supposed to be hourly. I started to check the bus timetable on my mobile phone but Martin called his wife Kate, and she said she would give me a lift home but that we would have to have another beer as she would be half or so getting ready. We got another beer, and as we finished and walked back towards Martin's home, Kate appeared to give me a lift home.
I would also like to point out what a lovely little girl Aria is. Martin and Kate, you have done a great job with her. As we had been sat talking today she had noticed that my leg was bleeding and was worried that I had hurt myself, she kept checking with me that I was okay. As we were walking back to their home she even took my hand to lead me across the pedestrian crossing. She reminds me of my niece Holly in the way that she always used to check that her Uncle was alright. Because she knew I had poor eyesight and bad legs, my niece always used to insist on helping me across the road when she was very young.
Kate dropped me off at home, and I cooled off in my apartment deciding what to have for tea. I decided I didn't want to cook as it was so hot and went across to the Hong Kong Chinese restaurant on my disability scooter and got myself a takeaway. As I returned to my apartment, I saw my neighbour Liz, and she asked if I could help her with her Internet connection tomorrow. I promised to call on her at 10 am tomorrow and continued back home to eat my takeaway. After having so many late nights recently, I waited for the apartment to cool off and had an early night going to bed at around 10 pm.
Wednesday, 9th August.
I woke at around 8 am and got myself a coffee. I finished editing my videos from the Simply Red concert and uploaded them to my YouTube channel. I noticed that my leg had bled on my bed again last night, so I went on Amazon to order some spray cleaner that would clean the dry blood from my bed. Whilst ordering it I also saw that they had a special offer on washing machine tablets so I ordered some of them as well.
At just after 10 am I went downstairs to see my neighbour Liz to see what I could do for her. As it happened she had already contacted her internet provider, and they were going to send someone to try and fix it for her. We sat chatting for an hour and a half before I went back to my apartment.
This afternoon and evening I published my journal for last week on my website and then just watched television. I kept flicking through the channels to keep an eye on any transfer news from Arsenal. It appears Arsenal has sold their number two goalkeeper, Matt Turner and bought another one, David Raya. The new keeper is a great keeper and should push Arsenal's number one goalkeeper, Aaron Ramsdale for the number one spot. There are also lots of unproven stories about Arsenal selling a few other players, so it could be quite busy for them over the next month when the transfer window finally closes.
Thursday, 10th August.
I woke up around 7:15 am today. I got myself a coffee and scoured all of the Arsenal transfer news again. It would seem that Arsenal have done some amazing business with David Raya from Brentford. News has started to come out that rather than buy him they have done a deal to get him on loan for a year with an option to buy him next year if it works out. An amazing deal for Arsenal for one of the Premier League's best goalkeepers, not sure how they pulled that off.
After getting my football news fix, I entered a lot of my web pages onto Google to get them indexed and then proceeded to enter many of them into Bing so that they get entered into the Microsoft search results as well.
This afternoon I finished reading my current book whilst sitting on my balcony, even at 9 pm in the evening the balcony temperature was in the high 30°c. I went to bed early at around 10:30 pm.
Friday, 11th, August.
I woke at around 8 am and had a coffee whilst checking my messages. At around 9:30 am, I went to the Economy Cash supermarket to get a few bits of shopping and then went straight home to wait for my delivery today.
The delivery man arrived mid-afternoon and dropped off my order. It was a liquid to clean dry blood off of clothes and fabrics. I put some of the liquid on the marks on my bed where my leg bleeds when I am asleep. I followed the instructions, leaving the liquid to soak into the affected areas for a while before checking on it later on. When I checked, some of the marks had gone, but others hadn't, so I added a bit more liquid to the blood spots and left it for a short time before going back and wiping the affected areas with a wet flannel. I was very pleased to see it worked, I will try it on the bed linen itself on some spots that haven't come off in the wash.
This evening I watched this year's opening Premier League game of the season between newly promoted Burnley and reigning champions Manchester City. The result was an expected one, Manchester City won 0-3 and Erling Haaland scored a couple of goals. What I didn't expect was the great performance from Burnley. I think the scoreline flattered Manchester City, their undoubted scoring ability was there to be seen but Burnley took the game to them and controlled large portions of the game. I think Burnley will cause a few teams problems this year.
Saturday, 12th August.
I woke at around 7:45 am and got myself a drink before I checked my messages. I then went to put some washing in the washing machine. Then I remembered that my washing machine tablets are being delivered today so I will have to wait to put it on later.
I pottered about doing nothing at all until the delivery of my washing tablets arrived. Once they had been delivered I put some washing on and also loaded up my dishwasher, and set both machines going in a race to see which would finish first. The dishwasher won the race, the washing machine coming in 2nd but a long way behind.
I watched some of today's football. I enjoyed watching most of the Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest game. Arsenal scored two great goals but then seemed to run out of steam in the second half, allowing Forest to score a goal. Arsenal then looked nervous until the 8 minutes of extra time was finished, and they could celebrate the win. I watched bits of the other games but couldn't get interested enough to watch a whole game all the way through. I was pleased to see that my Fantasy Football picks for my team, Sharkys Gooners, did well enough to be top of the Fantasy Football League I am in. I think it is the first time in the 8 years I have been doing it that I have ever got to be in the top spot. I don't think it will last long but I will bask in the deserved glory for a short time anyway.
Sunday, 13th August.
I woke up at about 7:30 am. I got myself a coffee took my tablets with some mango tea, and did a bit of family tree research before going for a swim in the Mar Menor. It had been a while since my last swim but I swam out to the rocks and then swam around them, looking at the different fish. I did see a few jellyfish but nowhere near as many as there have been, I don't know when the "jellyfish season" ends.
After my swim, I went back to my apartment, took a shower and then settled at my computer to do more genealogy research. Before going out for dinner with my friend June I put some washing in the washing machine. June picked me up at 12:30 pm so that I could get some tablets before we went for dinner. We drove to San Javier to a pharmacy, and I collected my tablets for the next few weeks before we continued on to Roda to go to Campbells' bar for Sunday lunch. I had the lamb, and June had the chicken and the food, as always was very good.
After we had finished our meals, June dropped me off at home, and I watched some football on the television. It was only Tottenham playing, and I fell asleep halfway through the game. I woke up at the end of it and tried to watch some of the Chelsea vs Liverpool game but it couldn't hold my interest, so I watched a couple of episodes of a series called Jonathan Creek starring Alan Davies. It is quite an amusing program that is easy to watch, and I quite enjoyed it.
I had intended to have an early night but sat up watching the first series of Johnathan Creek till 1 am and then went to bed.