This week was spent entirely in Los Alcazares, mainly in my apartment, working on my website. I did get out a couple of times to meet friends for a drink and a chat, but it was a relatively quiet week.
Monday, 21st August.
I woke up at around 8 am today, had a coffee, orange juice and cereal, sat down at my computer, and started editing some videos for my website. This took me until around 3:30 pm when I finished and published them. Then, I did some work on the genealogy section of my website. For my dinner, I cooked myself a turkey breast in the fryer and had it with mashed potato, carrots, sweetcorn and peas. It was very nice and I had finished and cleaned up just in time to watch the Crystal Palace vs Arsenal football match.
Arsenal won 0-1 but played around 30 minutes with only 10 men after having a player sent off. The referees' decision was ridiculous, and I could only question how Takehiro Tomiyasu got two yellow cards and a red card for an innocuous pull on a shirt and taking too long over a throw-in, but Jordan Ayew, who was kicking players up in the air the whole game only got one yellow card.
Tuesday, 22nd August.
I woke up early today, at around 6:15 am. I stripped the bed linen from my bed and put it in the washing machine. I then got myself a coffee and worked on my website until the sun rose and made it light enough for me to swim in the Mar Menor. I swam to the rocks and back twice before I started to tire a little and decided to finish up and go back to my apartment for breakfast.
After returning to the apartment I had a shower, got some breakfast and then messaged my friend Lesley Burns to hire her to come to the town hall with me to see why they had put an embargo on my bank account. Sometimes, when I go to the town hall, they are very good, but a few people who work there try to make everything difficult. With Lesley translating for me, at least I know I will get the right information and be able to sort the problem out.
I had decided that the very slow little notepad I had bought earlier in the year wasn't good enough to replace the old laptop that I used to take with me wherever I went travelling, so I went onto the internet and ordered a new laptop from PC Components, where I buy a lot of the electronic equipment I have in my home.
I had forgotten to charge my disability scooter again and decided to get an early bus to go and see my friend Mike for a coffee before meeting Martin for a drink at the office. I walked to the bus stop just before 11 am to get the next bus. The bus dropped me off at around 11:20 am, and I walked around to see Mike. Unfortunately, Mike and all of his friends had left before I arrived, so I walked back to Pizzeria La Sombre to wait for Martin and read my Kindle. Martin and Aria arrived, but it was too hot for Aria, and after half an hour, Martin took her home before returning. Just after he returned, his Dad, Dave, arrived and was followed shortly after by Viv. We sat talking, and when we all went to leave, Viv dropped me off near my apartment.
When I got in, I decided to cook some chicken nuggets for dinner, but when I checked the cooking guidelines, I realised I had misplaced my reading glasses. I messaged Martin to see if he could check at the office and I messaged Viv in case I had dropped them in her car. Martin messaged me back to tell me Viv had got them in her car and that as he would see his Dad and Viv later, he would pick them up and drop them off for me.
I had some overcooked chicken nuggets for my tea, and around 7 pm, Martin dropped off my reading glasses for me. It wasn't until I didn't have them that I realised how often I used them. The evening was spent watching series three of the Johnathon Creek TV series.
Wednesday, 23rd August.
I woke up at around 7:45 am today. I got a coffee and sat down at my computer and did a lot of work on my website. My new laptop arrived around 2 pm, and I unpacked it. I must have made a mistake when I ordered as two computer bags were sent, so I contacted PC Components and arranged to return one.
The afternoon was spent setting up the new laptop. I removed the pre-loaded software that came with it and then installed the software that I usually use and loaded the virus software that I use. This took quite a while, and I finished working on it at around 5 pm It will mean that I can update my website whilst I am away from home on my holiday in Brazil later this year.
This evening, I watched a few more episodes of Johnathan Creek before going to bed early at 10 pm.
Thursday, 24th August.
I woke up at 8 am today. I got myself a coffee some Aloe Vera, and water to take my tablets with and then sat at my computer checking messages and doing my regular website checks before swimming in the Mar Menor at around 8:45 am. I swam out to the rocks and back twice and then returned to my apartment for a shower and a shave.
After my shower, I went on my disability scooter to the store in Rio Nalon where you can return deliveries. I took the parcel into the shop, handed it to the staff, and showed them the QR code PC Components had sent me for the return. They took the parcel, and my phone number and that was all done. It is easy to return products you don't require or have a problem with. When I left the shop I went to Economy Cash, got myself some bread and condensed milk for my coffee, and then went home.
When I got home I continued to edit and upload graphics for the genealogy section of my website. I did this until around 5 pm and then took a break from my computer. I had a meat pastry for my tea, and after watching some television for a couple of hours I went back to work on my website.
Friday, 25th August.
I woke up at about 7:45 am today. I had a coffee and then went to the Mar Menor for a swim. The water was cloudy today, and the algae has increased a bit. It is not as bad as it has been in the past and seems to have grown as the amount of jellyfish in the water has decreased. I finished my swim and returned to my apartment, got some toast and jam and then continued to carry out more administration on my website.
I worked on my website all day finishing at around 8 pm so that I could watch the Chelsea vs Luton football match on the television. Chelsea won the game 3-0 but the scoreline rather flattered them, and playing as they did in this game, they won't win anything this year.
Saturday, 26th August.
I woke at 6 am, got a coffee, put some washing in the washing machine and sat down to work on my website, whilst at the same time taking a foot massage from my circulation improvement machine. I could still hear all the kids outside in the square but I think the sight of light coming on in my apartment must have scared these nocturnal creatures because they soon all started to scamper away back to their dwellings to seek refuge from the light. I wonder if they are all vampires and can only come out at night.
I went for a swim at around 8 am before the beach, and the sea got busy. There will be a concert all day in the square outside my apartment and I imagined it would get very busy very quickly today. I saw my neighbour Liz on the beach and chatted with her before swimming to the rocks and back several times.
After my swim, I had a shower, sat at my computer, and continued to work on my website. I finished adding new headers to all of the genealogy sections. I had a couple of open cheese and turkey breast toasted sandwiches for lunch and then walked to Rio Nalon at about 3:30 pm. I watched the Arsenal vs Fulham game in Harrys' bar with my friend Jacqui. We watched the game which finished as a 2-2 draw. Mikel Arteta has been trying out new defensive formations but they are not working, I hope he switches back to the tried and tested back four soon or Arsenal will not win anything this year.
Graham Lomax, Jacqui Carpenter and Alan Morris in The Celt bar.After the game, Jacqui and I went to Perlitas bar and sat outside having a few drinks and chatting in the sun. When we left Perlitas bar we went to The Celt bar where we met Graham, stopped for a drink, and chatted with him. The afternoon had now turned into a bit of a pub crawl, and after leaving The Celt we stopped at Rocco's bar for a couple of drinks. We sat outside talking to some friends, John and Roz before Jacqui went home. I walked to the top of the road with her before I turned around and returned to sit with John and his family. We finished our drinks before walking down to Zarco's bar for a cocktail. I had just enough time to drink a Pina Colada before leaving to catch the last train back towards my apartment.
When I got home, I considered watching MOTD on the television, but the beer I had drunk throughout the evening and night, persuaded me to go straight to bed instead and within minutes, I was fast asleep.
Sunday, 27th August.
I woke up late today at around 10 am. Not really a surprise after yesterday's unexpected pub crawl. I got up and had several coffees to clear my head before sitting at my computer and doing some indexing work for my website on Google.
At around 1:30 pm I put a bit of pork in my air fryer to cook it for my dinner. While cooking dinner, I was looking at a Welsh Facebook page and saw a photo of someone from 1915 who could have been part of my family tree. Whilst looking at it a lady commented that the person who I had been looking at was her mother. I asked her a couple of questions and found that the lady in the photo was the person in my tree, which made the lady I was talking to a distant cousin. I was telling another cousin about the lady, and when she looked at the lady's details on Facebook she realised that she went to school with the lady's daughter and that they never realised they were related.
The bit of pork that I cooked tasted fantastic, and I will post the recipe on my website in the next couple of days. I spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening working on my website and watching some of the days' football matches.
I walked down to see my friend Alan Bond perform his karaoke at La Playa bar at around 9 pm. I didn't sing myself this week, I like to give people some time between my singing sessions to allow their ears time to recover. There was one man there who sang a song from " A Star Is Born" by Lady Gaga. He did a great version of it which I loved, the song always brings a tear to my eye so I have shared the original from the film for you to listen to. If you haven't seen this film version you should watch it, it is fantastic.
I walked home just after 12 pm, and after checking for messages I rewrote a post from a friend of mine and then reposted it myself. I leave you this week with that post.
Barely the day has started and it's already six in the evening. It is only just Monday and it's already Sunday.
The day is past, the month is already over, the year will soon be gone. Already 40, 50 or 60 years of our lives have passed. We realise that we have lost our parents, and friends, and we realize it's too late to go back.Let's try, despite everything, to enjoy the remaining time we have. Let's keep looking for activities that we like, put some colour in our grey and let's smile at the little things in life that put smiles on our faces and joy in our hearts.
Despite everything, we must continue to enjoy, with serenity, the time we have left. Let's try to eliminate the later, I will leave it for later, I will do it later, I will think about it later. We don't understand that later, the coffee will get cold, our priorities will change, the charm will be broken, our health will not be good. The kids will grow up and our parents will get old and leave us. Promises will be forgotten, the day will become night and life will end.
It's often too late, let's leave nothing for later. We can lose the best moments, the best experiences, the best friends, and our family. The day is today, the moment is now, live today, don't regret what you didn't do, what you didn't ask. Live each day as if it's your last. Love, live and laugh. If I haven't told you lately, I love you.