During week 52 of 2023, I spent most of the time inside my apartment trying to shove enough tablets inside me to get rid of a cold.
Monday, 25th December.
I didn't wake up as early as I did as a kid on Christmas day. As an adult who lives independently, there isn't much point in getting up for anything on Christmas day. I had been invited to a friend's home for Christmas dinner before I went on holiday to Brazil, but it wasn't mentioned again and I guess she forgot my invite to hers for dinner when she got an invite to someone else for Christmas dinner.
I got up around 10 am and felt a bit lousy and was full of cold. I got a pot of tea and climbed under a blanket to watch films on the TV. I had intended to go to Rocco's bar at some point during the day as it is always open, but as I didn't feel too good and didn't want to give my cold to anyone else, I stayed home.
At midday, I stuck a large gammon joint in the oven. I intended to have roast potatoes and all the trimmings with it, but I couldn't face cooking it all and ended up having roast gammon sandwiches for my Christmas dinner. I want to make a stew or soup this week, so I put a pack of white beans in water to soak overnight.
After dinner, I climbed underneath a blanket on my sofa and spent the day drifting in and out of sleep whilst watching the TV. By 10 pm, I had enough Christmas cheer and the couch and went to bed.
Tuesday, 26th December.
I felt slightly better this morning when I woke up around 9 am. I got a coffee, switched the TV on to see what was happening in the world, and climbed under a blanket on the sofa.
By midday, I was feeling a little better. I think the tablets I use for flu or cold, Ilvico are working, but not quickly enough for me. I am the world's most impatient person, generally early for everything, and I hate feeling so worn out and tired. I felt well enough to get out of my pyjamas, shower, and put some clean clothes on.
To kill time, I stripped my bed linen from the bed and put it all in the washing machine. After doing this, I was worn out again, so I napped on the sofa. As evening approached, I woke up, and I got myself a gammon sandwich and a hot Bovril drink.
After eating, I removed the clean bed sheets from the machine and remade my bed before going to sleep at about 9 pm.
Wednesday, 27th December.
Still feeling under the weather today, I asked my neighbour Liz to take me around the corner to Tecnyshop to pick up my new electric heater. When I got home, I set it up in my bedroom and was delighted with the heat it threw out and the operation of it. Hopefully, it will keep the chill out of the bedroom at night without me heating the whole apartment all night.
Not wanting to have gammon sandwiches daily, I made myself a healthy stew. I did not want to spend hours cooking, so I used a pre-made vegetable stock, added the soaked pack of white beans and added 500g of butternut squash. I put in some onion salt, pepper and garlic powder before boiling it on the hob. Once it had boiled, I let it simmer for half an hour and tested the squash to see if it had softened.
The squash had softened nicely, so I got myself a bowl of the stew and some bread and butter. It tasted lovely, and I had a second bowl. I put the rest into six bowls and let it cool down before putting it in the freezer.
The rest of the day was spent watching films and sleeping on the sofa.
Thursday, 28th December.
I woke up today and felt a little better. I got a coffee and worked on my website for a while. Realising that it would be cold for a while to come I went on Amazon and ordered a woolly hat to keep my head warm when I do feel like going out. I also ran out of omega-3 tablets last week, so I ordered more fish oil tablets to keep me going next year.
I had heard you should feed a cold and starve the flu, so I ensured I did today. For breakfast, I got myself bacon, egg, mushrooms and beans. For lunch, I had a cheese, bacon and mushroom burger; for dinner, I had another helping of the stew I made yesterday.
The rest of the day was spent watching films.
Friday, 29th December.
I woke around 7:30 am today and immediately got myself a coffee and sat down at my computer to work on indexing pages for my website on Google. At around 9:30 am, I went to Tecnyshop to pick up the hat I ordered a couple of days ago and the dishwasher basket I ordered last week. They had both been left there yesterday, so I got on my disability scooter to get them.
When I got there the lady in the shop recognised me and handed me my parcels without me having to ask. She commented how cold it was outside so I unwrapped my new woolly hat, agreed with her about how cold it was and put it on straight away. I then took my other parcel home.
When I dropped the parcel at home I took some recyclable plastic to one bin and cardboard to another recycling bin. I had intended to go to Mercadona to shop but realised I had not picked up my wallet, so I went back to my apartment, climbed under the blanket and spent the day at home again instead.
Saturday, 30th December.
This morning I got myself some breakfast, a bacon sandwich and a coffee when I woke up around 7:30 am. After breakfast, I added details to my website for the day I spent in Salvador, Brazil. At about 10:45 am I went to Mercadona, got some shopping, and went straight home.
When I got home, I got myself an early lunch. I just grilled some chicken and cheese wraps I bought this morning. I felt better after going out and wondered if I could go out for a drink when my friend Pat rang and asked if I wanted to go for a Chinese tonight. I agreed and then worked on my website some more.
At around 6 pm, I showered, shaved and got ready to go out. At 7:15 pm, I went outside just as Pat pulled up, and I jumped in his car. We went to Jardin III for a meal. I have been there a lot but was not impressed tonight. The service was abysmal. We ordered our first couple of dishes, but they arrived at different times, and by the time my duck had arrived, the rice that I had requested to go with it had gone cold. Pats beef dish didn't arrive at all. We ordered some more dishes, and once again, we had to wait a long time for them, and they all came separately.
The restaurant was about half full, but they only seemed to have two people serving. We could hear the chef having a loud argument in the kitchen all night. At times, everyone in the restaurant could hear him shouting at someone. When our next order arrived, Pats chilli beef had miraculously turned into a beef curry, and my garlic shrimp looked and tasted like they had been cooked with batter on; then had the batter removed before they were sent out. The taste was not that good, and if this had been the only time I had been there I probably wouldn't be back. Every other time I have been there, it has been excellent, so I will go back, but not for a while.
We asked for our bill, but even this seemed to be a problem and we had to wait quite a while to get it and to pay it. When we settled the bill, Pat dropped me off at home before going home. It was great to see him again, and I enjoyed our chat and catch-up, but the meal was not good.
I intended to watch MOTD tonight but had only been in a while and fell asleep on the sofa, missing most of it, so I went to bed.
Sunday, 31st December.
I woke up early at around 5:30 am today, and unable to get back to sleep I got up, got myself a coffee and started working on my website. I generally felt better, but my blocked nose seemed to be worse, which was strange as the cough had almost disappeared.
I got myself a bacon sandwich around 10 am and then napped in front of the TV for half an hour before I continued working on my website. I finished off the page about my excursion to Ilheus and Tijuipe in Brazil and did some work indexing more of my pages on Google.
This afternoon I watched the Fulham vs Arsenal football match on the TV. I was thrilled when Arsenal went into a rapid 0-1 lead, but that was as good as it got. Arsenal were terrible and never really looked like scoring again. Fulham were a lot better, scored two goals and deserved the win. This was Arsenal's second successive defeat in the league, dropping them to 4th place. Two games ago, they were top. I hope the owners realise that they need a striker at the very least if they want to push on and win the league this year and do well in the Champions League. Next week, their first game of the New Year is against Liverpool in the FA Cup. I hope they do better and show more commitment next week and next year.
I had intended to go out tonight, I was going to go to Harry's bar, have a drink and wander around. I was going to visit The Celt bar and Rocco's bar but decided against it because I still had a blocked nose and didn't want to go out in the cold. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed myself on New Year's Eve anyway so I stayed at home, watched some of the repeats on TV and had an early night when I went to bed about 11 pm.