This week I spent most of the time trying to recover from my holiday in Brazil. I rested my leg and worked on my website, but I did get out for dinner on Sunday.
Monday, 4th December.
Today, I woke around 10 am and felt a little better but the cold I caught since leaving Brazil had left me with a cough, a blocked nose and a congested chest.
I went to the office, arriving at around midday. I spent a couple of hours with Martin and Dave before heading home and putting the heating on.
I had an early night, going to bed around 9:30 pm.
Tuesday, 5th December.
I woke a little earlier, around 8 am today. Full of cold, I had a coffee and worked on photos for my website until I left to see Martin and Dave at the office at midday.
After catching up with Martin and Dave I went to the EconomyCash store on my way home to get some chicken and a few bits of shopping before heading back to my apartment to carry on working on my website photos.
This evening I watched Arsenal play Luton on the television. It was a fantastic game for the neutrals but a real nail-biter for this Arsenal fan. Arsenal won 3-4 which was a bit hard on Luton. Declan Rice got the winner in the 7th minute of extra time, and the Arsenal fans, players and manager went mad celebrating so much that Mikel Arteta got a yellow card for celebrating too much.
After the game, I went to bed, shattered but happy.
Wednesday, 6th December.
I woke up later than usual today at about 8:30 am. After getting a coffee and checking for messages, I walked along to the Buenva Ventura restaurant, had a cooked breakfast and sat talking with my neighbour Liz. We sat talking until around 11 am before going back to our apartments.
I spent the rest of the day sorting through photos I took on my holiday to see which ones I should put on my website.
Thursday, 7th December.
I slept late again today and didn't wake up until around 8:30 am. At around 10:00 am my friend Pat messaged me to see if I wanted breakfast at the Buena Vista restaurant. I met him there and we both had a full English breakfast before we left and went to a charity event at Roda bar.
At Roda, I saw my friends Reinder and Frouk selling some of their wonderful stained glass ornaments before getting a coffee and sitting down with my friends Mike Campbell and Martin for a chat. We sat chatting for a while until they had to go and open the bar up, and I was then joined by my other friend Mike, I seem to know lots of Mikes. Pat joined us for a coffee, and we left when Pat had to pick up a lemon tree from a friend who lived nearby.
After Pat dropped me at home, I spent the day working on my website and added photos to albums for my holiday in Brazil in November.
Friday, 8th December.
I woke at 7:45 am and got myself a coffee. I felt better this morning. I think the cold has gone, and I am suffering from the long journey home last week. I spent the day working on photos for my website and started to type up my notes to add details of my holiday in Brazil to my website.
I worked all day on my website, and when I had enough, I watched some films on the television and went to bed just after 11 pm.
Saturday, 9th December.
I woke around 7:30 am and decided that I would spend another day in my warm apartment as it was cold. I spent all day working on my website and watching football matches.
Liverpool beat Crystal Palace during the day to leapfrog Arsenal to the top of the league. In the evening game, Aston Villa, with the help of some deplorable refereeing decisions and even poorer VAR decisions, beat Arsenal 1-0 to ensure Liverpool stayed top of the league.
Whilst I agree with most of the VAR decisions in football this year, it is the way the law of football has been written that needs to be changed as soon as possible. It is beyond belief that Arsenal's goal was disallowed for handball when it was deflected onto Havertz's arm by a handball by an Aston Villa player. If the handball by the Villa player wasn't given, why was the deflection onto Havertz's arm given as handball?
This season's games are being ruined by the inconsistent use of VAR and the way that referees and linesmen are using VAR as an excuse not to make decisions.
Sunday, 10th December.
When I got up I had a coffee and immediately started to work on my website. I worked until around 12:30 pm and then went to wait for my friend June to pick me up for dinner at Campbell Bar in Roda.
We had a great dinner, and Lauren, our waitress, talked us into having a piece of lemon curd pie afterwards. June had taken me to the airport when I went on my cruise in November and had picked me up from the train station when I got home. To say thank you for helping me out, I bought dinner today. Once again, thank you very much, June. After dinner, June dropped me off at my apartment, and I went in to watch the afternoon and evening football matches.