This week was quite quiet but I did catch up with some old friends & collect a trailer to help me move my kayak backwards & forwards to the beach. As long as September stays warm I may now be able to get out on my kayak more often.

Week 36 of 2023.

Monday, 4th September.

I woke up at around 7 am today, & had a coffee,  & then sat down at my computer & started to work on my website. At around 10:30 am I walked to my friend Vinces' house to collect the kayak trailer I had bought from him. Unfortunately, my knees have been playing up recently & my left knee popped out of its socket on the way there which made walking difficult & painful.

When I got to Vinces´apartment I realised I would not be able to walk back to my apartment dragging the trailer with me so we will have to find another way to get it back to my apartment. Vince & I walked around to the cafe bar next to the town hall for a coffee & I then caught a bus to Los Narejos to meet Martin at midday. I was glad I had gotten the bus at the town hall for two reasons, my knee was in a lot of pain, & I also noticed that the bus driver bypassed the bus stop where I usually get the bus. This would have left me standing there all morning if I had gone there to catch the bus today.

We sat chatting at the office & just after 2 pm Dave gave me a lift home. I had intended to do some cooking this afternoon & make myself some soup to go in the freezer. Because my knee was aching a lot I took some painkillers & spent the afternoon on the sofa with my feet up. This did however give me the opportunity to watch the Arsenal vs Manchester United football match again. I noticed what a load of rubbish Gary Neville talks when he is commentating, he is so biased towards Manchester United that he shouldn't be allowed to commentate when they are playing. If you had listened to his commentary with no picture & then watched the game without his commentary you would have thought they were two different games.

I did get a message from my translator today, she has managed to get an appointment to go to the town hall with me to figure out why they keep putting an embargo on my account for a bill that should be paid by direct debit. The appointment is for Wednesday this week so hopefully soon it will be sorted out.

Tuesday, 5th September.

When I woke up it was still dark outside but I got up & went to the toilet before checking the time. It was just past 7 am, the darker mornings were making it feel a lot earlier. I open my patio windows & can hear the birds singing in the trees outside as the sun slowly lightens up the morning. I update the version of PHP that my website runs on & then make a few changes to my website before getting a coffee & sitting in my massage chair to have a massage, which will hopefully help my aching back.

At around 10 am I met my neighbour Liz & we walked along to the Buena Vista restaurant for breakfast. I was feeling hungry when I got there & I had a medium-sized breakfast, 2 sausages, 2 rashes of bacon, 2 fried eggs, beans, tomato & 2 slices of toast all washed down with a coffee. We sat talking for a while & Liz mentioned that she was looking for a new washing machine & asked if I liked the one I had bought earlier in the year. I couldn't remember the name of my washing machine so when we finished breakfast I showed Liz the washing machine so she could do some research before getting one for herself. At around 11:45 am, Liz kindly gave me a lift to the office. This saved me from waiting around for a bus & I was soon joined by Martin, Dave & Aria.

At around 2 pm we all left the office I decided to walk home rather than get the bus. I walked past the La Zona bar & stopped to see if there was anyone I knew there but there wasn't so I continued walking until I arrived at Rio Nalon & the La Petit Bistro bar. By the time I got there, I was puffing like a steam train & my legs were aching. I had definitely done too much walking in the last couple of days. I sat outside the bar & had a couple of beers but it got too hot to be comfortable & I moved along to Harrys' bar which has great air conditioning. I sat inside Harrys´ bar, had a drink & read my Kindle whilst I waited for the first train of the evening to stop down the road.

I jumped on the train & sat talking with Connie. I stayed on the train as it worked its way through Los Alcazares & got off when it turned round & headed back towards Rio Nalon. I popped into La Playa bar & enjoyed the evening talking to some Spanish friends who were celebrating their wedding anniversary. I had a couple of beers & enjoyed eating some of the buffet that had been put on for their celebrations. At around 11 pm, I caught the train as it went back towards Rio Nalon & I got off of it close to my apartment.

Once in my apartment I got a large glass of water & put the air conditioning on. Once my apartment had cooled off a bit I went to bed.

Wednesday, 6th September.

I woke up at around 7:30 am, got myself a coffee & sat working on my website most of the morning. At around 12:15 pm, I set off walking to meet my translator, Lesley, at the town hall in Los Alcazares. I left early because I haven't been walking well recently & I got there early. The receptionist took one look at me as I arrived & asked me if I was okay & watched over me as I sat down. He must have thought I looked ill as he quickly got me a bottle of water & watched over me whilst I sat there puffing. I soon got my breath back & was able to tell him I had an appointment & was waiting for my translator.

At 1:15 pm Lesley arrived & we went through to the tax department. The bill I received a while ago was for local taxes because I have garage space. Why no one else could have told me this on my previous visits I don't know. Lesley also spoke to him about the embargo on my account. It turns out it was for tax on a car I sold back in 2005. Because the person I sold the car to never registered the car correctly when he bought it from me I still had to pay the outstanding road tax from 2019. I knew the car was scrapped years ago by a lady whose field it had been dumped on by some people who had been given it by the person I sold it too. The man was very helpful & between him &  my translator, I was able to find out that the car had now been officially scrapped & that if I paid the outstanding tax for the year 2019, there would be no more bills for it. I object to paying this but as the guy I sold it to has died, I have no chance of getting any money from him. His wife has refused to give me any money & has said that she will deny having anything to do with the car. The town hall clerk said that the car tax would be collected from my bank in the next few days but that I could pay the garage tax for my apartment with my debit card. I paid the bill & am now happy that it is at least dealt with. The moral of this story is, don't count on people, even friends, to fill paperwork out correctly or at all. If you buy or sell a car in Spain, get the transfer done yourself & get it done legally before you hand it over.

After I left the town hall I had a very slow walk back along the beach to my apartment. I felt very hot & my left knee buckled under me a couple of times but I got home safely & immediately put the air conditioning on. I spent the rest of the day with my legs raised up on the sofa, resting.

Thursday, 7th September.

I woke up at 7 am today. I got myself a coffee & started to do some genealogy research on my 3rd great-grandfather, Thomas Tincknell. As is normal, I lost track of time & it was soon gone 10 am. I stopped what I was doing & got on my disability scooter to go & get some tablets from the pharmacy.

I got my anti-coagulant tablets & tablets for my acid reflux from the pharmacy & then drove my scooter along the beachfront promenade. As I went past my apartment block I saw my neighbour Liz & her son James on the beach. I stopped for a quick chat before I carried onto Buena Vista restaurant for a coffee & tostada with tomato. The coffee here is great & the tostada here is easily the best in all of the cafes I use in Los Alcazares. 

After finishing my breakfast & reading my Kindle for a while I head off to Economy Cash to buy some bread & some bananas. Once I have got my shopping I head back to my apartment. As I approach my garage I realise my disability scooter is nearly out of power, It will have to be charged before I use it again.

This afternoon I sit back down at my computer working on my genealogy. I discovered some census records for my third great-grandmother, Sarah Jane Puddy. Until today I had known very little about her so today's discoveries filled a big hole in my research. As is always the way with genealogy research it transported me through time both back in history looking at records & forward in time because the next thing I knew it was midnight & I stopped what I was doing & went to bed.

Friday, 8th September.

I didn't sleep well last night, I had some fitful dreams that had me waking briefly before falling asleep again only for the dream to leave off where it had ended. When I woke at 8:15 am I got myself a coffee & messaged the person I had been dreaming about to check that they were in fact okay. 

This morning I worked to set up a new section to the Genealogy section of my website. This part is for "newspaper clips" about people in my family tree. The first clip I have put on it is for a criminal case with some of my great-great grandparents & my great grandparent on it. After doing this for a few hours I took a break & got on my disability scooter to get some shopping at Mercadona.

As I was doing my shopping I received a phone call from my friend Kelvin who is currently in Los Alcazares on holiday. He wanted to meet for a drink & I arranged to meet up with him at Rocco's bar. On my way home from shopping, I stopped at Rocco's bar & met Kelvin & Colin & we sat talking for a couple of hours. Whilst sitting with them I got a message from my friend Ady who is going to help me collect a trailer for my Kayak. I left Kelvin & Colin & took my shopping home before I went to meet Ady at La Playa bar. 

I met Ady at the bar & another friend, Clara, drove us down to my friend Vinces' garage to collect the trailer. We got the trailer & Clara drove me back to my apartment to wait for Ady to drop off the trailer. Once the trailer was safely locked up in my garage I went back to La Playa bar to buy Ady a beer for helping me out. Whilst there Vince messaged me & asked me to keep the key to his garage safe at my home.

There was nobody at La Playa bar so I got the train back to Rio Nalon where I saw some friends & had a chat with my friend Wayne. Somehow Wayne accidently broke the arms off of my reading glasses which means I will have to get another pair as I can't see to read without them.  Once home I sat watching some television before going to bed.

Saturday, 9th September.

I didn't get up until after 10 am this morning. My back was aching when I did get up so I got a coffee & sat in my massage chair & had a massage to help relieve the pain.

After my massage, my back still ached a little & I decided to do very little today. After looking through the films on my IPTV box, I decided to have a Humphrey Bogart day. I stretched out on my sofa & watched Casablanca, The African Queen, The Maltese Falcon & The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

Sunday, 10th September.

I woke up this morning at around 7 am. I put some washing in the washing machine, put my dishwasher on & then because my back still ached a bit I took a massage before settling down at my computer to work on my website. My reading glasses had to be held around my head with a bit of cord to prevent them from falling off of my nose. I will have to buy some new ones tomorrow as I need them to read my Kindle, my phone messages & to work on my website. I am hoping they may be able to use the glass in new frames to save some money but I will take an eye test at the same time in case they need upgrading.

I spent some time in my garage today arranging my parking space. I was able to raise my kayak up off of the floor & put it on the trailer that I had bought from Vince. I had to move my kayak & bike around a bit so that they don't overlap my space but my E-bike, kayak & Disability scooter all now fit the space well & are all secure.

This afternoon I moved the charging point for my robot vacuum cleaner. I had placed it in the spare bedroom where it was out of the way but it didn't run correctly from there. I can only think that the number of walls between it there & the Wi-Fi box interfered with the signal somehow. I moved the charging point back into the lounge but placed it on a wall under my sofa. There it is out of site & close to the Wi-Fi box. After I had moved the recharging box, I plugged Peggy back in, charged her up & then let her go around & vacuum the apartment up. It all went well & she returned to the newly positioned charging point straight afterwards.

This evening I watched several episodes of Poirot on the television before going to bed. There are lots of episodes of this easy-to-watch series & it will be my binge-watch program for some time.