This week started slowly but finished in a flurry. I met lots of friends on Caldero day, spent a few hours with friends whilst out shopping, had dinner at a Chinese restaurant with another friend, met another friend for coffee and finished the week at another friend's house having dinner.
Monday, 9th October.
I woke up at around 7:30 am, got myself a coffee and immediately started working on the photos for my website. By 11:15 am I had enough, stopped working on my computer, and set off to meet Martin at the office. I walked along the main road today, which is slightly shorter and was there by 11:50 am. Just as I got there Dave arrived, and Martin shortly joined us.
I hadn't had a beer here for a while and decided to have a couple today to celebrate Arsenal's big win over the weekend. We all sat chatting until around 2:15 pm when Arias's bus arrived. Martin took Aria home, and as Dave had left a little earlier than normal, I also decided to try to walk home. I set off but by the time I got to Rio Nalon and the bars there, my legs felt like jelly. I stopped at La Petit Bistro and sat beside my friend Sandy and a few Irish men I hadn't met before. We soon chatted like old friends, and the Irish men started forcing beer on me.
At around 4 pm, I decided to leave, and the two Irish men physically dragged me to the next bar down the street, Perlitas. They tied me to the chair so I couldn't leave and then continued to force me to drink more beer. I can't remember when I escaped, but I think it was about 7 pm before I set off. I don't remember stumbling home or going to bed, but I managed it all alone.
Tuesday, 10th October.
I didn't wake up until around 9 am this morning. This isn't surprising after yesterday's drinking session. I am not used to drinking any more, and drinking all day and not eating took its effect. When I did get up I got myself a coffee, showered and sat at my computer to check my messages.
At 10:30 am, my friend June took me to a Torre Pacheco garden centre. I didn't particularly want anything, but I like to look around a good garden centre, and the Jardimar was one I'd never been to. I loved all the plants and many pieces of stoneware they had there. I liked it more than I thought and spent nearly €50 on a bottlebrush tree, two small plants and a stone gecko lizard, which all got put on my balcony in my blossoming garden.
After we left the garden centre June dropped me at home so I could take the things I had bought to my balcony. She waited whilst I took everything in and then dropped me off at the office to meet Martin. Martin was already there when I arrived, and my friend Jim, who had flown in from Scotland yesterday, had come to join us. We all sat chatting until around 3 pm and Jim then dropped me back at my apartment. I was glad for the lift as my legs were aching from all the walking yesterday.
This evening, I sat and watched some films on television and went to bed at around 11 pm. I had trouble sleeping and didn't drop off till around midnight.
Wednesday, 11th October.
I slept very well last night but woke up a few times. I eventually got up around 6:15 am and got a coffee before working on my website. At around 9:30 am, I showered and got ready to meet my neighbour Liz for a coffee. I noticed a note slipped under my door when I finished my shower. Liz said she couldn't go for coffee as something else had come up. I cooked myself a full English breakfast at home. At around 10:30 am, as I was eating my breakfast, my phone rang, and I immediately knew, for some reason, that something was wrong.
Paul Clark and Alan Morris, we were always laughing together.When I saw the number and saw it was my sister's phone number, I didn't think for a minute that anything was wrong with her, Brett, or Holly. I knew before I even answered the phone that she was calling to tell me my Uncle Paul had passed away. I only spoke to him a couple of days ago, but I knew that was why she was calling. Sure enough, when I answered the phone, she told me the sad news that he had passed away during the night. He had been fine when I spoke to him, it is just another reminder that I should enjoy my life whilst I still can.
When Paul was 60, for his birthday present I paid for him to come to Florida with me for a week. We had some great times at my house in Orlando and Cocoa Beach. I think we even saw a rocket go up while he was there. These were good memories and will be the only things worth having at the end of our time. Be kind to each other and enjoy your time with your loved ones.
At around 11 am, I took a bag of recyclable paper rubbish to the bin. I then carried onto the Mercadona supermarket to get some shopping. I got enough for a few days as some of the shops may be shut for a few days from tomorrow. Tomorrow is a Spanish bank holiday and is also an important day in Los Alcazares as it is the 40th anniversary of its municipal autonomy.
I continued working on my photos and website in the afternoon and evening. Because my new phone is taking well over 24 hours to charge I ordered a new phone charger from Amazon and was surprised when they said it would be delivered tomorrow. This evening, I finally got through to someone at Costa Cruises and could pay for my cruise next month. I am now officially getting excited about it.
Thursday, 12th October.
I woke around 8 am this morning, got myself a coffee and sat at my computer to work. At around 10 am, I met my neighbour Liz, and we walked along the beachfront to the Buena Vista Restaurant for breakfast. As I walked past, I saw my cousin Jill's husband, Peter, on the beach. Many people were already on the beach for the day's Caldero celebrations.
We sat down at the restaurant, and I ordered a medium-sized breakfast and the waitress asked if I wanted it with my normal. I said yes and laughed as she went to get me a coffee with milk. Liz and I sat chatting as we ate breakfast, watching people set up their areas for the day. At around 11 am, we walked back to the apartment block, and I went home to wait for my delivery. My delivery arrived at about 2:30 pm, and I put my phone on to charge immediately.
At about 4 pm, I checked, and my phone was charged completely. It was worth buying the new charger for the phone. I took some cold beer from my fridge and walked around to see Peter to give him a beer. I had a quick chat with him before moving down the beach, where I saw my friend Paul and gave him a beer as well as handing one to my other friend, Stuart, before then walking further down the beach to see my friends Dave and Viv who had a pitch set up on the beach. I joined them and sat chatting with them and a couple of their friends for a few hours. They kindly gave me something to eat and a couple of beers. I stayed with them until around 6 pm and then walked to La Playa bar to see some friends there.
I went into the bar, saw my friends Sean and Michelle, and sat with them. Another friend, Paul, who had been working in the bar, finished his shift and joined us. We all had a beer and a couple of shots of some pink liqueur before we left to walk back along the beach to where Peter was. I popped into my apartment on the way past to pick up another beer and then went to the beach, where I chatted with Peter until around 7:30 pm. I went back to my apartment and had something to eat: a piece of potato and onion tortilla. I then worked on my computer for a while until around 9:15 pm. I was getting fed up working so much and decided to return to La Playa bar.
When I entered the bar, it had already run out of draught beer, so I went to the bar opposite for a beer. I went to sit on the wall by the beach and saw my friends Gina and Willy sitting outside the bar, so I joined them. We sat chatting for a while, and Gina bought me a drink. As we sat there, my friend Ady arrived. The tables and chairs outside the bar were being cleared up, so at around 10:30 pm, we moved inside the bar. We sat with my friend Alan, and I bought him and me the last bottles of beer the bar had left. Gina tried to order a Gin and Tonic, but they had run out of that, so she had a glass of wine. Our friends Connie and Bob joined us and we all sat talking until the bar shut at midnight. Gina walked home with Bob and Connie while Willy and I walked along the beach. After I got home I sent messages to people on my computer and eventually went to bed at around 3 am.
Friday, 13th October.
I woke around 9 am and got myself a coffee. I had told Peter I would buy him breakfast this morning when he came to collect his car, but he never called, I guess he forgot me.
I spent all day at my computer today. I downloaded photos from an online backup and then set some software running on my computer to look for duplicates in the thousands of photos I now have. The problem with backing up, moving and editing photos in bulk is that you often get duplicates you don't need, which must be sorted out before I can complete my online photo albums.
Before I went to bed, I looked at some of the settings on my new phone. Now I have the ability to charge it quickly I can turn back on some of the apps that I had turned off. I set an alarm to wake me up and looked at the extra settings. Not having used it before, I set the Google Assistant to read my day's tasks, tell me about any appointments for the day ahead, and then tell me the local weather forecast before reading the news headlines.
When I thought I had set it all up I put the phone down and put it on charge before going to bed about 11 pm.
Saturday, 14th October.
I woke up at 6:45 am, fifteen minutes before my alarm was due to wake me up. When my phone alarm did go off and after I turned it off, a voice told me about the tasks I had planned for the day. The lady's voice told me I had no appointments before telling me the weather forecast for Los Alcazares. When the weather forecast was read, she told me about the world's news headlines. Although I didn't listen to the news this morning, I think when I set it up to read the news from a news station, I prefer it will be great.
After I got up, I stripped the bed linen, put it in the washing machine and turned it on. I also turned on my dishwasher before getting myself a coffee and sitting at my computer. I was soon using Google to work out how to change more settings on my phone. Whilst working, my friend Lottie messaged to ask me to dinner tomorrow. I have not been to Lottie´s house before, so it will be a nice change to go somewhere new. At around 10:30, I realised I was hungry and walked to the local spice shop to buy some bread. When I returned, I made myself a tostada with tomatoes and then sorted through and deleted duplicated photos on my computer.
At midday my friend Jim called, he was going to get some shopping and asked if I wanted to go. After sitting at my computer for so much this week, it would be nice to go out and I said I would. Jim picked me up about 15 minutes later, and we drove to Pinatar Park so that Jim could pick up a few things before we went to Dos Mares to go to Carrefour.
Alan Morris, Donna Walsh, Jimmy Chin Chorro.I didn't need anything but got more coffee capsules for my Nespresso machine, which were on sale. I went and joined the end of a long line of people waiting to go to a till, but as I got there, one of the ladies on the tills got up, walked towards me, undid the queue rope and waved me straight through so I didn't have to queue. What a good result that was. As Jim and I walked towards the exit, we saw our friend Donna with her mum and stopped for a quick chat. When we left Donna, we went upstairs to get a drink, got a coffee and sat down. Just after we sat down, Donna and her mum arrived, got a drink and sat down with us. It was great to see them again as I don't think I've seen Donna or her mum for over a year. When we finished our drinks, we all left the shopping centre and Jim dropped me back at my apartment.
When I got in I took my bed linen out of the washing machine and put it on my bed before placing a second lot of washing in the machine and setting it off to wash my clothes. I then sat on the sofa to watch the Wales vs Argentina rugby game. Before the match, my friend Pat messaged me and asked if I wanted to go out for something to eat at a Chinese restaurant. It was great timing as I was wondering what to have for dinner tonight but didn't feel like cooking.
The rugby started great, with Wales going into a 10-0 lead, but Argentina came back and went into a 10-12 lead. Wales fought back again to lead briefly at 13-12 before Argentina pulled it back to 13-15. With Wales pushing to get the winning points with a few minutes to go, they played a loose pass, which the Argentina team pounced on and raced through for a try and conversion to win the game. It wasn't the result I had hoped for, but it was a good, hard-fought game.
Just before 7:30 pm, Pat picked me up, and we drove to the El Jardin Chinese restaurant in Los Narejos. It is an all-you-can restaurant but not a buffet. You order the dishes you want, and they bring them to you. We ate as if neither of us had eaten for months. We must have eaten around 16 or more dishes between us. We tried 5 or 6 different chicken dishes, a beef dish, a duck dish, dumplings, spare ribs, spring rolls and about 4 dishes of garlic prawns. It was all washed down with a couple of beers, and we sat chatting until around 11 pm. When we left, Pat dropped me off at home, and I got myself some water before retiring to bed around midnight.
Sunday, 15th October.
I woke up around 6:45 am. I got up and made a coffee before sitting at my computer to work on my photo collections. I hoped that today I could get a lot more of them sorted and then edited to put on my website. As I sat at my computer I received a message from my friend Jacquie asking to meet for breakfast.
At 10 am I walked along the beach to the Buena Vista restaurant and sat and waited for Jacquie. I didn't have to wait long, and we sat and had a coffee while chatting for nearly two hours. At 12 pm, I walked back to my apartment to discover I had a message from my friend John who is currently in Majorca but hopes to get to Los Alcazares at the end of next week. I replied to his message and then worked on my website.
At 1:45 pm, Jim picked me up, and we drove to Lottie's house in Roda. After finding the finca, Alison came to the gate to let us in. We drove through the gates and parked on the driveway. Alison led us up to Lottie's garden, where we met Lottie. We were soon sitting in her garden having a drink and eating some tapas of cheese and ham. We chatted for a while before moving to another table in the garden, where we ate dinner.
Dinner started with a lovely salad that I enjoyed. It was followed up by the best paella I have ever eaten. It was a mixed paella with lots of meat and seafood. I ate far too much, but I did have enough room to squeeze in some mixed fruit with ice cream. It was all fantastic and was washed down with lots of beer. We all sat chatting in the sun, and I thought it was about 5 pm when we went to leave, but it had gone 7 pm. I'm sorry if we overstayed our welcome, Lottie. The food and company were fantastic, and the time flew by.
We all said our goodbyes and Jim dropped me back at my apartment. I intended to watch a film, but the good food, beer, fresh air and conversation had worn me out, and I went to bed at about 9:30 pm.