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1 December 2024
Alan Morris in Los Alcazares stood in front of some local street art.
Alan Morris in Los Alcazares stood in front of some local street art.

This week I continued to do lots of work on my photos, adding them to photo albums on my website. I did the important job of renewing my home insurance and got my disability scooter included in it. 

Monday, 2nd October.

I woke up at around 6:00 am today. I had a bank appointment at 9 am to arrange home insurance to replace what I already have, my account manager keeps telling me I am paying too much for my insurance so I guess I will find out this morning. I get a coffee and sit down at my computer to do a couple of hours of work before going to the bank.

I went to the bank and was there by 8:45 am. I was seen straight away and changed my home insurance company. It is very similar to my previous insurance but a couple of Euros less. When it renews it will cover my disability scooter as well. The law has changed and it is advised to get insurance for disability scooters. I asked my account manager to check that I had changed my credit card payments properly and she checked that I had. She also upped my limit in case I have any emergencies whilst I am away. I didn't put it up to the limit she offered but put it up to cover my expected holiday bills. I can put the limit down after I get back from my holiday.

As I left the bank, I saw my friend Rob and we walked to the cafe next to the town hall. I had a tostada with tomato for breakfast with a coffee. We sat chatting whilst having breakfast, and when finished, we both went home. When I put my disability scooter in the garage I put it on charge so that I can use it tomorrow if I need to. When I got inside I went to work on the photo albums for my website and made a Skype call to my Uncle Paul. I chatted with Paul for around half an hour, and when I finished talking to him I got myself some cheese and crackers. When I had finished my crackers I carried on working on my website.

At about 4 pm my new phone arrived and I spent the next few hours setting it up. It is a big improvement on my old phone, I guess that's the difference between a cheap phone and a mid-priced one. I managed to get it to connect to my new watch and it connects to all my Google accounts easily and downloads all the apps I had. It then had to update lots of apps, I guess this is because my older phone wouldn't accept the updates and this is why they stopped working. I had also ordered a set of wireless earphones to go with my laptop. After setting all of the old apps up and connecting the phone to my new watch. I will leave connecting the Bluetooth earphones for another day.

Tonight I continue working on the photos for my website.

Tuesday, 3rd October.

I woke around 8 am and got a coffee and got ready to go to the post office to collect a parcel. I had a message to tell me my parcel couldn't be delivered as it had the wrong address on it and it could be collected from the post office in Los Alcazares. I went down to the garage, got on my disability scooter and headed towards the post office. I parked outside and went in. There was a queue of people, but after about 15 minutes I was seen by a nice lady. She checked for my parcel and said there wasn't one. She then checked the DHL website which said it wasn't even in the country yet. I believe DHL have been sending me messages for someone else's parcel.

I went home to my apartment and put my disability scooter back in the garage. I knocked on the door of my neighbour Liz to see if she was okay as I hadn't seen her, or her car, for a while. She was fine but her car had a problem and was in the dealership for repair. I said I would catch up with her later in the week.

I walked to Buena Vista restaurant and got a tostada and a coffee. I sat there and ate my breakfast whilst I read my Kindle until around 11:15 am. I then decided that as I had given my legs a rest for a few days I would walk to the office to see Martin. I walked along the beach before cutting through the houses to get to the office. As I arrived, my favourite waitress, Rosa, saw me and came out with a bottle of water for me and a pint for Martin. Dave turned up a little later, and we sat chatting till around 1:30 pm when Dave left. He dropped me off at Rio Nalon so that I could get some shopping. I got myself a pizza and some chicken in the Economy Cash store and then walked home.

When I got back to my apartment I was puffing like a steam train and needed to sit down for a while to get my breath back. Once I was breathing slowly again I got myself the pizza for a late lunch and sat back down at my computer to work on my website. I decided that as my new phone was quite expensive I would order a protective case for it and I went on Amazon to order one that should be delivered tomorrow.

This evening I watched the Lens vs. Arsenal Champions League football match. Arsenal started very well and soon went into a 0-1 lead. Unfortunately, Lens got back into the game and deserved the win they eventually got, beating Arsenal 1-2. Arsenal will have to play a lot better at the weekend when they take on Manchester City.

I worked on my computer getting photos ready for my website photo albums until around 12:30 am and then went to bed.

Wednesday, 4th October.

I woke around 7:45 am and got myself a coffee before starting work on my website. The new case I ordered for my phone should arrive today I hope it arrives early as I have to deliver the external hard drive I set up for my friends Jacky and Alan sometime today. As I check my email I have an email from Fitbit. They have sent me an email containing my week's tracking results. I had to laugh as apart from plugging it in to charge I didn't wear it last week. The only figures on it are the steps I took when I unpacked it and plugged it in to charge completely. According to their figures, I did 9 steps last week. 

I worked on the photos for my website this morning. Jacky messaged me to rearrange my visit till tomorrow. At around 11 am my delivery arrived but when I tried to fit the new case I ordered, to my new phone, it was far too big. I now know that the Google Pixel 7 is a lot bigger than the Google Pixel 7a, who knew? I arranged to return the case straight away and ordered another one, ensuring it fit the phone I had. I then continued working on my website.

At around 3:15 pm, I took a break from my work and decided to walk to the stationary shop on Rio Nalon to return the phone case to Amazon. I take a slow walk to the shop but when I arrive it is closed, I forgot they close for a siesta. I see my friend Joe outside his bar, Perlita´s, where he is cleaning and preparing for this evening's opening time, I have a quick chat with him and he tells me the stationary shop reopens at around 5 pm. I decided that rather than walk home with my parcel, to come back almost as soon as I got home, I would get a pint and sit reading my Kindle.

I walked to La Petit Bistro, got a table in the shade, ordered a pint and sat reading my Kindle. A nice Irish lady there introduced herself to me and began talking to me. Unfortunately, she was standing on my blindside and I assumed she was talking to someone else and continued reading my Kindle without answering her. A little later she tried again but as I had stopped reading and she had moved slightly I could now see that she was in fact talking to me. I spoke to her for a while before returning to the book I was reading on my Kindle. I ordered another beer and had finished by the time the shop reopened.

I walked across to the stationary store to return my parcel but the young man in the store didn't have a clue on how to accept the parcel to be returned. He told me to come back in 3½ hours when his friend, whose shop it was, would be back and would be able to take the parcel. I was not going to go back to the bar for 3½ hours so I walked home. I will have to return the parcel later in the week, I hope I remember to go in the morning.

Once home I cooked myself some chicken for my meal and then carried on working on my computer until around 11 pm and then I went to bed.

Thursday, 5th October.

I woke up after only a few hours' sleep and couldn't get back to sleep, so at 2:15 am I got back up and carried on working on the photos for my website. I worked until around 5 am and then went back to bed. I woke at about 9 am, got myself a coffee to wake myself up properly and then continued to work on my website.

The morning went by quite quickly, in my dreamy half-asleep state I still managed to get quite a lot of work done on my website. In the afternoon Jacky called to rearrange the hard drive delivery for tomorrow, this suits me as I can return my parcel to Amazon and then continue to her house to take the hard drive around to her.

The rest of the day was again spent setting up the new photo albums on my website. I have now added hundreds of photos correctly to the albums, and they are there to be looked through. I have mainly been working on photo albums for my cruises but have done a couple of other albums as well. Although the photos can now be seen, I will go back to add full descriptions to each of the photos in the near future. I am adding the photos first as that is the difficult part and needs to be done sitting at my computer, the adding of descriptions can be done from my laptop, from anywhere.

I finish work around 10:30 pm and go to bed to catch up on my sleep.

Friday, 6th October.

I woke up at 7:45 am today. I slept much better last night and feel a bit more like my normal self. I got myself a coffee before checking my computer for any messages. After drinking my coffee I took a shower and then picked up my unwanted parcel to return to Amazon. I went down to the garage to get my disability scooter.

As I got to my disability scooter one of my Spanish neighbours was already waiting for the car lift so I would have to wait for him to leave to call it back to get out. As I backed up on my scooter he called to me through his van window and insisted that I use the elevator first as he was in no hurry. I thought this was a very kind act, it is sometimes the little things that people do that make you feel better. 

I thanked him and got in the elevator, went up to the ground floor and went towards the shop where I had previously not been able to return my Amazon parcel. As I pulled up on my scooter at the front of the shop, the man who was normally there saw me coming and stopped me before I got off my disability scooter. He had seen the parcel I was returning and told me to stay sitting down as he could bring the machine to register the return out to me and take the parcel from me to save me from getting off my scooter. The parcel had soon been registered, and the telltale ping came from my phone to tell me it had been accepted and I could then leave to go to my friend Jackie's home. Once again someone's small kind act had cheered me up and after a few days where I had been feeling a bit down, their small thoughtful acts had cheered me right up.

As I went up Rio Nalon I saw two more friends, Jim, who I hadn't seen for years and Fi, who I hadn't spoken to for a few months. Their smiles and conversation had me smiling again. Being stuck indoors all week had got to me more than I thought and the four people who had spoken to me or helped me in a small way had me smiling and cheerful again. 

When I arrived at Jackie's, I sat down and had a cup of tea, with both her and Alan. I then showed her how to put the external drive she had asked me to buy for her, into her laptop. I showed her the folders I had already set up for her to store her documents, videos and photos in. I then showed her how to set up her folders and promised that when I got back from my holiday, later in the year, I would give her and Alan some basic computer lessons. I used to give basic computer lessons to people in the council library in Fareham when I lived in England. It was called The Silver Surfers Club and was very popular, teaching people the basics of using their computers and laptops. I will definitely set up something similar here to help people.

After leaving Jackie I went into the Economy Cash superstore to get something for my dinner before going home. Once in my apartment, I ate my lunch, and when I had eaten it I went back to work on my computer. I worked until around 7 pm and then got myself some dinner. I thought about going out for a drink after dinner but decided to stop at home and continue working on my photo albums. I ended up working until around midnight before going to bed, my eyes were getting sore and I had to take a break from the computer.

Saturday, 7th October.

I woke up at around 7 am today, I got myself a coffee and checked my messages before deciding to go for a walk while it was still relatively cool outside. Before going out I stripped the linen from my bed and put it in the washing machine and set it to run. When I went for my walk, I walked along the promenade until I got to the Encarnacion Hotel. Then I turned up and walked to the main road through Los Alcazares before turning and heading back towards home.

I stopped next to some of the street art near my home and took a photo of myself there (the one at the top of this page) before continuing towards home. As I got to the Mar Menor Bodega, where I would normally turn to go to my apartment, I remembered that my cousin Jill had told me about a shop that took parcels that were to be returned to Amazon. It was apparently behind the Bodega, and as it would be my local pick-up and return centre for Amazon parcels I turned to walk that way to check where it was. I quickly found it and then went home, the shop would indeed be much closer for me to use.

When I got home I prepared some more photos for my website photo albums before stopping for lunch. After finishing my lunch I took my bed linen out of the machine and remade my bed before settling down to watch some of today's Premier League football matches. I watched the Luton vs Tottenham match, and despite going down to ten men when Yves Bissouma was sent off for a second bookable offence, Tottenham managed to get a 0-1 win and go to the top of the Premier League.

My friend June rang me this afternoon to see if I wanted to go to Campbell's for Sunday dinner tomorrow. I had already got a chicken out of the freezer for tomorrow's dinner but we did arrange to go out on Tuesday morning for a coffee and a trip to a garden centre in Torre Pacheco. I watched the last game of the day´s football, a nil-nil draw between Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest. It wasn't a great game but the scoreless game helped out my fantasy football team as I have a Crystal Palace defender in my team this week. I had to make a lot of changes to my team this week because of injuries and suspensions. Hopefully after the international break, the injuries will have cleared up.

After the game, I carried on working on my photos, preparing them to go on my website, eventually going to bed just after 11 pm.

Sunday, 8th October.

I woke around 7:30 am and got myself a coffee before starting work on my computer. After checking for messages I had a second coffee and then decided, in my coffee-induced euphoria, to go for a walk whilst it was still cool. I got dressed and headed to the main road where I turned and walked into Los Alcazares, past the town hall, and eventually turned and walked to the beach at Club Nautica. I then walked along the beach back to my apartment where I got myself a large glass of water and sat at my computer to rest and get my breath back.

After a sit down to get my breath back, I decided to put my chicken in my air fryer to cook. It has a rotisserie fitting so I will be having rotisserie chicken for dinner today. Whilst sitting at my computer working I get a message from Amazon telling me my delivery for tomorrow will now arrive today at sometime before 10 pm.

I worked on my website all morning and Amazon delivered my parcel at around 11 am. For dinner I had the chicken I had cooked, it looked good, it smelt good, and it tasted great. 

In the afternoon I kept flicking between channels on the television and watched bits of both the Brighton vs. Liverpool game and the West Ham vs. Newcastle game. Both games ended up in a 2-2 draw. Next up was the Arsenal vs. Manchester City game. I didn't have much hope of Arsenal winning as they hadn't beaten Manchester City in the Premier League for eight years. Arsenal played well, and both teams defended very well. With just 5 minutes remaining Arsenal made the breakthrough when substitute Gabriel Martinelli got a deflected goal to give Arsenal a 1-0 lead. They managed to keep the lead and finished up as winners, beating Manchester City 1-0.

I stayed up long enough to watch MOTD and see Arsenal beat Manchester City again before going to bed in a good mood.

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