This week started slowly and ended in a lot of pain, but one in which I saw an old friend for the first time in about 10 years.
Monday, 16th October.
I woke up at around 6:30 am. I got myself a coffee and immediately started working on my website. After a few hours of work on my website, I walked to the Buena Visa restaurant for breakfast. I sat and read my Kindle until around 11:15 am and then walked to the office to see Martin.
Just before I met Martin, my leg gave way underneath me, and I was lucky to catch myself on my walking stick. The knee immediately began to ache, and I began to wince. Martin said I looked in pain, but after a short while sitting down, the pain subsided a little. We sat chatting for a while, and Martin told me that the office would be closed next week because he had some real work to do on Tuesday and a prior engagement on Monday.
As we were leaving to walk home, Kate arrived and offered me a lift. As my knee had been aching this morning, I was delighted and accepted the lift home.
This afternoon, I worked on my website and discovered that the hosting company no longer supports Joomla. They say they do but will not answer my Joomal questions. It does seem very poor form, as they were a Joomal host when I signed up with them, and now they don't want to support it.
I scour the internet, looking for solutions and go to bed around midnight.
Tuesday, 17th October.
I spent the morning looking for a solution to help me with my Joomla website problems and decided the only way to fix the problems was to buy some backup software and try to fix the problem myself.
I spent the rest of the day investigating what the problem could be before buying some software to help me solve it. As I now had sore eyes from reading online documents all day I decided to do the backup tomorrow when I feel fresh.
Wednesday, 18th October.
I installed the backup software on my website before I tried to figure out what was causing all the problems. I then tried to back up the website, but the site crashed again.
Once again the hosts were unwilling to help me with anything and blamed the crash on the backup software and told me to contact the backup software provider and blamed the crash on his software. This, even though I have been telling them for a while, their servers are not running up-to-date versions of Joomla or PHP.
When I told them this, they asked why I wanted to update the software. I told them that PHP notified me it needed updating, and they said they would fix it. They then roll it back to a version that does not even have security fixes installed, making my site vulnerable to viruses and attacks.
I contacted the backup software developer to see if he could help me, and when he discovered who my hosts were, he told me that he used to work for them and left because of the poor standard of Joomla support they offer. He completely refunded me for the money I spent on the backup software. When I explained, I had very poor service with the company and was going to move my website, he offered me a 30% discount if I wanted the software when I moved the hosting of my website.
Thursday, 19th October.
I spent much of the day today investigating which web hosting companies are best for Joomla websites. I found a company I would like to use and asked the company I have been using to supply me with the codes I need to move my website.
The current hosts then tell me that I can do it all from my site's control panel, but when I try, it crashes the server again. I contacted them again, and they reinstated the site, telling me I had failed to follow their instructions. Having had enough of my website this week, I decided not to do any more work until the host has been changed.
Friday, 20th October.
I decided not to do any work on my website, and this morning, I had a coffee before going down to my neighbours' apartment. Liz has said she will take me to a local garden centre because I need to get some compost for my plants and some stones for the pots so that the soil doesn't get washed away when I water them, it will also make them look nice.
We were approaching the garden centre when my friend John Parr called me to tell me he would be at my apartment in an hour. I had forgotten that he and his girlfriend said they would be coming, so I told him I would return soon.
I went to the garden centre with Liz and bought 5 more plants, a bag of potting compost, white decorative stones and three small buddhas in a see no, hear no, speak no evil pose that I couldn't resist. We were soon back at the apartment, and as I picked up the heavier bag of stones and soil, Liz picked up my small plants and brought them to my apartment before she went home.
I had just finished putting the plants on my balcony when John rang to say he was outside, so I went downstairs to meet him and his girlfriend, Tony. I took them up to my apartment and showed them around and we sat talking until we decided to go and have a beer. We walked to Roccos on Rio Nalon and waited for someone to serve us. As no one came out, I went in. Unfortunately, no one was inside, so we left and walked to La Petit Bistro.
Alan and Tony sat at La Petit Bistro in Los Alcazares.
Alan, John and Tony sat at Buena Vista restaurant in Los Alcazares.
Alan, John and Tony in La Playa bar in Los Alcazares.
We sat at La Petit Bistro, had a few drinks and chatted about old times before moving to Perlitas bar, then Harry's bar and on to Buena Vista restaurant, where we sat outside and had a meal. After our meal, we walked along to La Playa bar and sat for a while before John and Tony left to go back to their camper van I stayed a short time to finish my beer and then walked home.
Saturday, 21st October.
I woke up around 8 am and got a coffee before sitting at my computer to check my messages. I went to use the toilet, and I heard my phone ringing. When I returned to my computer, I picked up my phone and saw that I had missed a call from John. It was about 9 am, and I walked down to where the campervan was to offer them a coffee or breakfast, but as I walked towards the back of the van, it moved off. My knee was in a lot of pain, and all I could do was shout, wave and shuffle after it, but I couldn't attract their attention, and they drove off.
I sent John a message to wish him a safe trip and went back to my home to take some painkillers for my knee. At around midday, I walked to Rio Nalon where I saw a friend and sat chatting with them outside Pelitas bar and had a few beers. I went down to Harry's bar to watch the Arsenal vs Chelsea game, which finished as a 2-2 draw.
By now, the pain in my knee was getting quite bad, so I had a rum or two to kill the pain. I stayed for a while, and I slowly walked back to Perlitas bar. My knee began hurting again when my knee popped out whilst walking around and I was hardly able to stand on it. I asked the staff to get me a taxi and as well as ordering me a taxi they watched over me whilst I slowly walked to it. My stick wasn't helping anymore, and I knew that if I tried to walk far, my knee would give way completely. The taxi picked me up and dropped me off at home, and after taking some painkillers, I went to bed.
Sunday, 22nd October.
I woke up around 9 am, and my knee was still in pain. I decided to spend the day on the sofa with my leg raised, but it didn't help, and I had to keep taking painkillers. I found it difficult to stand; my knee was so swollen.
I spent all day on the sofa, but every time I got up, my knee hurt, and it gave way a couple of times during the day as I struggled to the bathroom or kitchen. I watched football on the TV throughout the day, taking painkillers and drifting in and out of sleep.
I went to bed early in a lot of pain and had to take more painkillers to get to sleep.