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 & a chat but it was a relatively quiet week.

Week 34 of 2023.

Monday, 21st August.

I woke up at around 8 am today, & had a coffee, orange juice & cereal & then sat down at my computer & started to work on editing some videos for my website. This took me until around 3:30 pm when I finished & then published them. Then I did some work on the genealogy section of my website. For my dinner this evening, I cooked myself a turkey breast in the fryer & had it with mashed potato, carrots, sweetcorn & peas. It was very nice & I had finished & cleaned up just in time to watch the Crystal Palace v 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 & I could only question how Takehiro Tomiyasu got two yellow cards & a red card, for an innocuous pull on a shirt & 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 & put it in the washing machine. I then got myself a coffee & worked on my website until the sun came up & made it light enough for me to go for a swim in the Mar Menor. I swam to the rocks & back twice before I started to tire a little & decided to finish up & go back to my apartment for breakfast.

After going back to the apartment I had a shower, got some breakfast & 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 there are a few people who work there who try to make everything difficult. With Lesley translating for me at least I know I will get the right information & 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 & 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 & decided I would get an early bus to go & see my friend Mike for a coffee before going to meet 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 & I walked around to see Mike. Unfortunately, Mike & all of his friends had left before I got there so I walked back to Pizzeria La Sombre to wait for Martin & sat reading my Kindle. Martin & Aria arrived but it was too hot for Aria & after half hour Martin took her home before coming back. Just after he got back his Dad, Dave arrived & was followed shortly after by Viv. We sat talking & 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 went to check the cooking guidelines I realised I had misplaced my reading glasses. I messaged Martin to see if he could check at the office & 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 & that as he was going to see his Dad & Viv later he would pick them up & drop them off for me.

I had some overcooked chicken nuggets for my tea & 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.

800 m

Wednesday, 23rd August.

I woke up at around 7:45 am today. I got a coffee & sat down at my computer & did a lot of work on my website. My new laptop arrived around 2 pm & I unpacked it. I must have made a mistake when I made the order as two computer bags were sent, so I contacted PC Components & arranged to return one of them.

The afternoon was spent setting up the new laptop. I removed the pre-loaded software that came with it & then installed the software that I usually use & loaded the virus software that I use. This took quite a while & I finished working on it at around 5 p.m. It will mean that I will be able to 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 & water to take my tablets with & then sat at my computer checking messages & doing my regular website checks before going for a swim in the Mar Menor at around 8:45 am. I swam out to the rocks & back twice & then went back to my apartment for a shower & 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 over to the staff & showed them the QR code PC Components had sent me for the return. They took the parcel & my phone number & that was it all done. It is easy to return products that you don't require or that you have a problem with. When I left the shop I went to Economy Cash & got myself some bread & some condensed milk for my coffee & then went straight home.

When I got home I continued to edit & upload graphics for the genealogy section of my website. I did this until around 5 pm & then took a break from my computer. I had a meat pastry for my tea & after watching some television for a couple of hours I went back to work on my website.

800 m

Friday, 25th August.

I woke up at about 7:45 am today. I had a coffee & then went down to the Mar Menor for a swim. The water was a bit cloudy today & it looks like the algae has increased a bit. It is not as bad as it has been in the past & seems to have grown as the amount of jellyfish in the water has decreased. I finished my swim & returned to my apartment, got some toast & jam & 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 v Luton football match on the television. Chelsea won the game 3-0 but the scoreline rather flattered them & playing as they did in this game, they won't win anything this year. 

800 m

Saturday, 26th August.

I woke at 6 am, got a coffee, put some washing in the washing machine & 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 & can only come out at night.

I went for a swim at around 8 am before the beach & the sea got busy. There is going to be a concert all day in the square outside my apartment & I imagined it would get very busy very quickly today. I saw my neighbour Liz on the beach & had a chat with her before swimming to the rocks & back a couple of times.

After my swim, I had a shower & then sat at my computer & continued to do some work on my website. I finished adding new headers to all of the genealogy sections. I had a couple of open cheese & turkey breast toasted sandwiches for lunch & then walked to Rio Nalon at about 3:30 pm. I went to watch the Arsenal v 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 & tested back four soon or Arsenal will not win anything this year.

After the game, Jacqui & I went to Perlitas bar & sat outside having a few drinks & chatting in the sun. When we left Perlitas bar we went to The Celt bar where we met Graham & stopped for a drink & a chat with him. The afternoon had now turned into a bit of a pub crawl & after leaving The Celt we stopped at Rocco's bar for a couple of drinks. We sat outside talking to some friends, John & Roz, before Jacqui went home. I walked to the top of the road with her before I turned round & went back to sit with John & 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 & night, persuaded me to go straight to bed instead & within minutes I was fast asleep.

800 m

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 & had several coffees to clear my head before sitting at my computer & 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. Whilst dinner was cooking I was looking at a Welsh Facebook page & saw a photo with 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 & 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 & when she looked at the lady's details on Facebook she realised that she went to school with the lady's daughter & that they never realised they were related.

The bit of pork that I cooked tasted fantastic & I will post the recipe on my website in the next couple of days. I spent the rest of the afternoon & early evening working on my website & 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 version of the film you should watch it, it is fantastic.

I walked home just after 12 pm & after checking for messages I rewrote a post from a friend of mine & then reposted it myself. I leave you this week with that post.

Barely the day has started & it's already six in the evening. It is only just Monday & 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, & friends, & 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 & let's smile at the little things in life that put smiles on our faces & 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 & our parents will get old & leave us. Promises will be forgotten, the day will become night & 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, & 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 & laugh. If I haven't told you lately, I love you. 😍😘