This week was spent mainly in Los Alcazares but I did quite a lot. I made some videos, including my first attempt at underwater filming with my mobile phone. I ate out with friends, met other friends for a drink & watched a parade in Los Alcazares.

Week 33 of 2023.

Monday, 14th August.

I woke up at around 6:45 am today. I had a coffee & checked my messages before going to the Mar Menor at around 8:30 am for a swim. The water was beautiful today & there were not too many jellyfish as I swam out to the rocks. As I swam around the rocks, more jellyfish started to appear. They were all quite small & I assumed they are all younger ones. There were some nice big fish swimming around today & quite a few shoals of the yellow stripey fish, Salema Porgy, that are abundant in the sea here. I wasn't sure of the name of these brightly coloured fish so I looked it up & was surprised to find out that eating them causes hallucinogenic trips.

When I finished my swim, I went back to my apartment & had a shower. I was a bit fidgety & decided to go out early to have a look around Los Alcazares on my way to the office this morning. I went through some of the housing near me that I don't normally travel through. I like to see any new builds going up & it seemed there was some building work underway near the Garden bar as I passed by. I carried on through the estate coming out near Consum & going past the fun fair. The fun fair was all closed up & quiet, I wonder how much money the people running it must have to make to break even with the running costs for it. I wouldn't want to be living in one of the small cramped caravans that they use, in this heat.

I met Martin & Aria at Pizzeria La Sombra & we sat talking until about 2:30 pm. I then went to La Petit Bistro for a beer & saw a few friends there before I moved down to Harry's bar for a beer in the air-conditioned bar. When I had cooled off I went to the Asia Star Chinese restaurant & got myself a takeaway.

As I arrived home I found my parcel from Amazon at my door, I had forgotten it was coming today. I went inside & put the air conditioning on & ate the prawn crackers from my takeaway. I put the Manchester United v Wolves football match on the television, intending to eat the rest of my meal during the game. I then fell asleep, waking up in the second half of the game. I decided to have the takeaway tomorrow so I put it in the fridge before watching the remainder of the game. I didn't have a real interest in the game but I do have Manchester United's goalkeeper in my Fantasy Football team & was glad to see him keep a clean sheet in Manchester United's 1-0 win over Wolves. The extra points I got from this kept me at the top of the Fantasy Football League I am in.

800 m

Tuesday, 15th August.

I woke up at 7 am & got myself a coffee. As I sat at my computer listening to Radio 2, I could hear the very loud bangers going off, marking the beginning of the 51st International Garden & Sea Week, a week of celebrations held in Los Alcazares every year.

The parcel that arrived yesterday was talcum powder, I had read somewhere that it is very good for getting rid of ants. Something in talcum powder plays havoc with the ants' ability to find their way home so they can't lead other ants back. As a bonus, it kills any ants that eat it. Once the coffee had taken effect & I had woken up properly I spread talcum powder in all the areas of my utility room, balcony & kitchen where I had seen ants. It certainly smells better than ant powder or ant spray & it is a lot cheaper. My 200g tube of talc cost me €1.60.

During the day I did a lot of research on my family tree. I had previously discovered some court records for my great-great-grandparents, Daniel Morris & Maria Davies, along with three other members of their household, including their sons, Benjamin Morris & James Lewis Morris. They had been sentenced to prison for between 18 months & three months for fraud. This week I discovered newspaper articles for the court case & have been able to discover more about the crime they committed. I started to transcribe the newspaper articles & will add the details from these articles to the pages about my relatives.

I sat on my balcony in my reclining deck chair today, reading my Kindle. After a while I must have dosed off but when I woke up the sweat was dripping off of me & I could feel my heart racing. I decided to go in out of the sun & closed all the doors & windows to my apartment & put the air conditioning on. My balcony faces southeast & is in the sun all day. It is protected from any wind or breeze on three sides & is like a little oven. When I looked at the temperature on my new digital thermometer, that I have got sitting on the table on my balcony, next to all my cactus & succulents, the temperature had risen to 55°c. It was no wonder my heart was racing & that I was sweating. The location of the balcony makes it great in cooler weather because the sun keeps it warm but in the height of summer in the extreme heat we are having at the moment it can be dangerous.

This evening I checked where I had put the talcum powder down & it had worked. There were a lot of dead ants everywhere I had spread it. I had intended to go out to see some of the celebrations in Los Alcazares tonight but I still felt drained from earlier & as I had a day planned for tomorrow I stayed in & had an early night.

Wednesday, 16th August.

I woke up at 6:45 am today. I got a coffee & updated my website, removing old & out of date web pages from Google Index. At around 11 am I popped out to take some rubbish to the bin & some plastic to the recycling bin. It only took a few minutes & a short time later my friends Reinder & Frouk came to my apartment so that Reinder could fit some shelves for me.

Reinder fitted 3 small shelves for me in the utility room & a large shelf in my dining room. Whilst Reinder fitted the larger shelf I cleaned up the utility room. I mopped up the talcum powder & all the dead ants & then cleaned the floor again with some floor cleaner. It looked a lot better, was ant free & now smelt better too. I was going to mop & clean the kitchen floor as well but the heat & small amount of exercise in the heat had made me feel a bit ill so I decided to leave the kitchen mopping until tomorrow. 

Reinder, Frouk & myself were all going to dinner together but the heat had got to me. I asked my friends if they would mind waiting whilst I had a shower to cool off before going & they said they would wait & go down to the Chiringuito El Lobo for a drink whilst I showered. As soon as they went I jumped in the shower & cooled myself off in a cold shower. The water brought my temperature down & I soon felt & smelt a bit better. I put fresh clothes on & went down to the chiringuito to find my friends.

When I got down to the bar, Frouk & Reinder got up & we walked to their car a couple of roads away. The beach was packed & there were no nearer parking places for them to park. We drove to San Javier & went to Yamami Kitchen Chinese restaurant. I have been there a few times & always had great food. If you've never been there I recommend it, the menu of the day is a great deal. We all ate from the menu of the day, I had Mongolian pork skewers for my starter, spicy pork with noodles for my main & a very nice lemon ice cream/sorbet for my dessert.

After finishing our meal my friends dropped me home. It was very hot again & when I got indoors I was pleased I had put the air conditioning on before I left earlier. My apartment was lovely & cool as soon as I walked in. I sat down on my sofa, switched the television on & was very quickly asleep.

At around 8 pm, I got myself a few chicken nuggets & cooked them in my air fryer. I ate them & watched a bit more television before beginning to tidy my lounge up. Now I have a nice bookshelf fitted I have no excuse not to tidy up the rest of my belongings. I won't try to do too much at once in the heat we are having at the moment, I will do a little bit at a time.

Thursday, 17th August.

I woke up later than normal today at about 8 am. I slept well last night & after performing my morning ablutions I was ready for the day ahead & I got myself a coffee, took my tablets & ate some cereal. I sat at my computer working on some graphics for my website until around 10 am & then went to the Mercadona superstore to get some shopping. As I left to go shopping the postman delivered a parcel, it was the package I was expecting tomorrow.

I got most of the shopping I wanted & then went straight home. I will have to get the things I couldn't get at Mercadona in Economy Cash tomorrow. It was already getting hot when I got home so I stuck the air conditioning on before opening the package from the postman. It was the waterproof phone holder & lanyard I got for my mobile phone. It should enable me to go swimming with my mobile phone & use it to shoot video of the jellyfish or fish underwater. To test it I filled it with tissue paper & put it in a sink full of water, weighted it down & left it there. I then continued to update the graphics on the genealogy section of my website, adding logos to each person's page to graphically show what country they were born in.

This afternoon I continued to mop the floors of my apartment. It hurts my back to sweep or mop so I can only do a bit at a time. I mopped the floors in the kitchen & cleaned up the talcum powder I had put down to kill the ants, it seems to have worked as there don't appear to be any since yesterday. After cleaning the kitchen I mopped the floor in the bathroom & gave the shower floor a good clean with some disinfectant which helped to clean some of the stains that were on it. I have a stool in the shower in case I need to sit down & it leaves rust spots on the shower unit floor, but I managed to clean most of them up or make them a lot harder to see at the least.

When I had finished mopping the floor of the toilet & kitchen I went back to the bathroom. I took out the phone bag from the water in the sink to see if the tissue I put in it earlier had remained dry. It worked, the tissue was completely dry & I now feel confident to use the bag & lanyard in the sea with my mobile phone.

For my dinner this evening, I made myself a salad of beetroot, cucumber, & grapes. I made a honey mayonnaise dressing for it & cooked a chicken thigh in my air fryer to go with it. It all tasted fantastic & I did enough salad to last a few days. This evening I received a letter in the post telling me that I have got another embargo put on my bank account for an unpaid bill from the town hall. All of my bills are made by direct debit & I haven't missed a bill since I moved in 8 years ago. I think the town hall must have changed the day they take the money as every month recently I have noticed all the apartments seem to be getting the same letter in the post where previously no one has had a bill by post. I will try to get to the town hall tomorrow to discover what the problem is.

Friday, 18th August.

I woke up today at about 5:45 am & couldn't get back to sleep so I got up, got a coffee & some orange juice & sat at my computer doing some genealogy research until around 8:30 am when I went to my Doctors surgery for my INR blood test.

The nurse had real trouble finding a vein this morning. She first tried the right arm & couldn't find anything & moved to the left arm. She had no better luck with the left arm & moved back to the right arm. With her third go & the third needle stuck in me, she managed to find a vein & got enough blood to send to the blood laboratory. She called me to the computer screen & typed an apology into Google Translate because she had trouble finding a vein.

When I left the Doctors surgery I went along to the Economy Cash supermarket & got some Green Tea with Aloe Vera, a couple of bits of chicken & some pastries to treat myself with as I had been such a brave boy when the nurse stuck three needles in me this morning. On my way home I passed my friend Martin & said hello as he cycled off to work. When I got home I got myself some cereal & another coffee before settling back down at my computer to continue my genealogy research.

At about 12:30 pm, I decided to take a break from my research & decided to look at some of the places I will be visiting on my upcoming cruise to Brazil. After looking at the excursions available through the cruise company, Costa Cruceros, I booked several trips.

1. A panoramic tour of Cadiz in Spain.
2. A cable car excursion to Las Canadas del Teide National Park on Tenerife.
3. A tour of Recife & Olinda in Brazil.
4. A tour showing the history & traditions of Salvador de Bahai.
5. A trip to Ilheus & the Tijuipe waterfall.

It is fair to say that I am now getting quite excited about this trip. It won't be the longest distance I will have travelled to my destination for a holiday, which was my trip to Peru at over 6300 miles when I lived in England, but it will be further than my trip to China from England, which was over 5000 miles. This trip, leaving Barcelona & going to Rio will be the most Southerly place I will have visited on our beautiful planet.

The afternoon & evening was spent back on the computer doing more family tree research & adding details to my website.

Saturday, 19th August.

I woke up at around 7:30 am, got myself a coffee & an orange juice. I checked my computer for messages & then went down to the Mar Menor to see if I could video some fish & maybe some jellyfish.

I put my phone in the new waterproof pouch I had bought & already tested for water leaks. Although I had tested it I was still nervous about trying it out for the first time with my phone in it. I swam out to the rocks & swam around & over the rocks shooting video as I went. I swam back to the beach & went to Chiringuito El Lobo for a coffee & Tosatado. I checked to see if the waterproof pouch had protected my phone & if it had, if the camera had managed to shoot anything through the plastic case, that I could use.

I ate my tostado & was pleased to see the pouch had indeed protected my phone from the water. Unfortunately, without my reading glasses, I couldn't see if the video or photos had come out clearly through the plastic. I returned to my apartment & began to download some of the videos & photos to my computer to look at. At first glance it looked as if some had come out okay, some had not come out at all & some of the videos had been shot at double or triple speed, Im not sure how I managed that, it will be a learning curve. I left the videos being uploaded to the computer, one of them was around 25 minutes in length, & returned to the chiringuito with my Kindle, I had to pay for breakfast, so I might as well have a pint & read for a while, while it is updating.

Video clips of my morning swim & the jellyfish.

I sat at the Chiringuito reading & the book I was reading, took my mind off the time & I sat there a bit too long without any suncream on. I got a bit sunburnt. I returned to my apartment & had something to eat before carrying on working on my website. At around 7:45 pm I stopped work & walked to the main road through Los Alcazares to watch the ¨International Festival of the Garden & the Sea Parade¨ as it passed close to my apartment. I found an empty spot to sit & wait for the parade to come past.

It was not a huge parade & it passed by without too much fuss. It was good to see my cousin Jill & her husband Peter on top of one of the floats, even if Peter did hit me with some of the sweets he was throwing for the children. I liked to see the parade with people all dressed up & I liked that a lot of the parade floats gave away fruit & vegetables to the adults & toys to the children. What I didn't like was the way a lot of people seemed to be following the parade grabbing everything they could get their hands on. Bigger children were literally pushing smaller children out of the way to fill sacks up with sweets & toys, whilst some adults did the same following the fruit & vegetable floats. I saw one woman grabbing anything & everything as she filled a full-size shopping trolley up with stuff. I expect a lot of the stuff will be resold at markets or taken away by people from out of town. I did shoot a bit of video of the parade which you can see below.

Video of the 51st Annual Parade of the Sea & The Garden.

After the parade finished I walked down to the beach & went along to La Playa bar to watch the Manchester City v Newcastle United football match. I watched the game & sat talking to my friends Bob & Connie until the early hour of the morning & then I walked back along the beach to my apartment. As I got to the chiringuito I noticed all the tables still out & people sitting drinking & talking so I stopped for a beer. They served me a beer & as I sat down I realised I was the only person there, the other tables had paid their bills & gone. The tables used to be put away & you had half hour to finish your drink before they closed. Now they do not put the furniture away & they had finished up for the night. I quickly finished my beer & went back to my apartment & went straight to bed.

800 m

Sunday, 20th August.

I woke up late after yesterday's late night, at about 10:30 am. I got some cereal & a coffee & sat down to start editing the videos I took yesterday.

At midday, I stopped work to watch the England ladies play Spain ladies in the Women's World Cup Final. Some of the play was really good & I enjoyed the game. I think Spain deserved to win the game 1-0 but I have to give credit to the English ladies who never stopped trying until the last minute. After this game, I watched some of the Premier League games that were being played today. Aston Villa beat Everton 4-0 & should really have won by a bigger score as Everton were terrible. I watched bits of the West Ham Chelsea game but not a lot of it as I binged watched more episodes of the Alan Davies series Jonathon Creek until I finally went to bed at about 11 pm.