This week started off slowly & ended in a lot of pain but one in which I saw an old friend for the first time in about 10 years.

Week 42 of 2023.

Monday, 16th October.

I woke up at around 6:30 am, I got myself a coffee & 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 & read my Kindle until around 11:15 am & then walked to the office to see Martin.

Just before I met Martin, my leg gave way underneath me & I was lucky to catch myself on my walking stick. The knee immediately began to ache & 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 & Martin told me that the office would be closed next week because he had some real work to do on Tuesday & a prior engagement on Monday.

As we were about to leave to walk home, Kate arrived & offered me a lift. As my knee had been aching this morning I was delighted & accepted the lift home.

This afternoon I worked on my website & discovered that the hosting company don´t support Joomal anymore. They say they do but will not answer any Joomal questions that I have. It does seem very poor form as they were a Joomal host when I signed up with them & now they don't want to support it.

I scour the internet looking for solutions & go to bed around midnight.

Tuesday, 17th October.

I spent the morning looking for a solution to help me with my Joomla website problems & decided the only way to fix the problems was to buy some backup software & 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 am feeling 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 & hey presto the site crashed again.

Once again the hosts were unwilling to help me with anything & now blamed the crash on the backup software & told me to contact the backup software provider & 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 that it needed updating & they said they would fix it. They then roll it back to a version that does not even have security fixes installed which makes my site vulnerable to viruses & attacks.

I contacted the developer of the backup software to see if he could help me & when he discovered who my hosts were he told me that he used to work for them & left because of the poor standard of Joomla support they offer. He gave me a complete refund for the money I spent on the backup software & when I explained I had very poor service with the company & was going to move my website he offered me a 30% discount if I wanted the software when I had 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 that I would like to use & 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 & they reinstated the site telling me I had made an error when following their instructions. Having had enough of my website this week I decided not to do any more work on it until the host has been changed.

Friday, 20th October.

I decided not to do any work on my website & 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 & 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 just approaching the garden centre when my friend John Parr called me to tell me that he would be at my apartment in an hour. I had forgotten that he & his girlfriend had said they would be coming so I told him I would be back soon.

I went to the garden centre with Liz & bought 5 more plants, a bag of potting compost, a bag of white decorative stones & a set of three small buddhas in a see no, hear no, speak no evil pose that I just couldn't resist. We were soon back at the apartment & as I picked up the heavier bag of stones & soil, Liz picked up my small plants & brought them up 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 & his girlfriend Tony. I took them up to my apartment & showed them around & we sat talking until we decided to go & have a beer. We walked to Roccos on Rio Nalon & sat waiting for someone to serve us, as no one came out, I went in. Unfortunately, there was no one inside either so we left & walked to La Petit Bistro.

We sat at La Petit Bistro, had a few drinks & chatted about old times before moving to Perlitas bar, then Harry's bar & on to Buena Vista restaurant, where we sat outside & had a meal. After we had our meal we walked along to La Playa bar & sat for a while before John & Tony left to go back to their camper van & I stayed a short time to finish my beer & then walked home.

Saturday, 21st October.

I woke up around 8 am & got a coffee before sitting at my computer to check my messages. I went to use the toilet & whilst there I heard my phone ringing. When I went back to my computer I picked my phone up & saw that I had missed a call from John. It was about 9 am & 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 & all I could do was shout, wave & shuffle after it, but I couldn't attract their attention & they drove off.

I sent John a message to wish him a safe trip & 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 & sat chatting with them outside Pelitas bar & had a few beers. I went down to Harrys' 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 & I slowly walked back to Perlitas bar. My knee began hurting again when my knee popped out whilst walking around & I was hardly able to stand on it. I asked the staff to get me a taxi & as well as ordering me a taxi they watched over me whilst I slowly walked to it. My stick wasn't helping anymore & I knew that if I tried to walk far my knee would give way completely. The taxi picked me up & dropped me off at home, & after taking some painkillers I went to bed.

Sunday, 22nd October.

I woke up around 9 am & my knee was still in a lot of pain. I decided to spend the day on the sofa with my leg raised but it didn't help & 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 & it gave way a couple of times during the day as I struggled to the bathroom or kitchen. I watched football on the television throughout the day, taking painkillers & drifting in & out of sleep.

I went to bed early in a lot of pain & had to take more painkillers just to get to sleep.