This week was a fairly quiet week again. It began with a coffee at the Las Claras Centre coffee morning and ended with Sunday lunch at Campbell Bar in Roda. In between, I had an appointment to have MRI scans done in San Javier.
Monday, 6th February.
I woke up feeling pretty good this morning. My cold is slowly going, and I seem to only have a small cough left. I have a coffee and then work on my website for a few hours before heading to the Las Claras Centre for more coffee and to talk to anyone I know there.
When I arrived, there were only a few people in Las Claras. I got a coffee and sat outside chatting with my friends Steve and Mandy for a while. When I had finished my coffee, I headed to my friend Stuart's house. Many years ago, he bought some wine glasses for me, and they were a joke for him. He was the first person to start calling me Sharky and helped to start off the story of my being bitten by a shark. The glasses have a shark on a stem in the middle of them. As you drink your wine, the shark will appear as the wine goes down.
After I had collected Stuart's wine glasses, I headed to the Mercadona store to do some shopping. Outside the store, I bump into my friends Jacqueline and Michael and have a quick chat. After I chatted with them, I headed into the store and did my shopping before heading home.
It is quite cold out today, and I am glad to get in and put my heating on to warm myself up. I spend the rest of the day under a blanket, keeping warm and watching films.
Tuesday, 7th February.
I woke up around 8 am today. I got myself a coffee and sat at my computer to work on my website. I got carried away with what I was doing on my website and didn't stop until my friend Sandra sent me a message at about 3:30 pm. Realising how late it was, I stopped work and got something to eat before sitting in front of the television for a couple of hours.
At around 8 pm, I went back to work on my website, finishing at around 11 pm. I looked up the weather for my upcoming cruise, and because it is going to be cooler in some of the places I am visiting and as I only have shorts that fit me very well, I went on Amazon and ordered myself two pairs of trousers for the trip. I ordered two pairs of trousers from the same place but in different colours. Both are in stock and being delivered by Amazon, but the two pairs will be arriving on two different days. I have no idea why, and if I try to get both delivered on the same day, they want to charge me extra. I will be home anyway and settle for two free deliveries on different days.
Wednesday, 8th February.
I slept well last night and didn't wake until around 8:45 am. For me, that is late. I worked on my website for a few hours in the morning before attempting to make a couple of chicken and mushroom pies in the afternoon.
The pies were fantastic. I ate one and will keep a second one for my lunch tomorrow. It rekindled my love for cooking, and I intend to do a lot more home cooking this year. It will, however, have to wait till I come back from my cruise now, as I am trying to empty my fridge and freezer before I go away.
My friend Jim came around today to borrow my tuxedo. Luckily for him, we are both very fit and have similar sculptured granite bodies. When he tries the tuxedo on, it fits very well and very much like myself when I wear it, he looks like he could be auditioning for the next James Bond. You are welcome, Jim Bond.
Thursday, 9th February.
When I woke up this morning, I got coffee and started working on my website. The update I had been working on is nearly complete, and I will soon be able to concentrate on the content rather than the navigation. At around 12:30 pm, my friend George came to pick me up and take me to San Javier because I had an MRI scan appointment.
I am used to having MRI scans but it must be quite a nerve-racking experience if you haven't had one before. They make you strip off, put on a paper gown and then lay on your back on a table with your head in a neck brace. They put earplugs in your ears, give you a tube to hold and press if you have a panic attack and then they put what I can only describe as a hockey mask on you. The machine then slowly moves you into a small cylinder that is very tight. Both of my shoulders scrape the side of the machine as I am manoeuvred into it. Then, even with the earplugs in, you are subjected to loud beeping, grinding, whistling and screeching sounds as the machine slowly moves backwards and forwards a little bit. I had the scan and was back out within half an hour. I was told I could get dressed and pick up the results tomorrow.
I looked for George, but he had disappeared. I began to wonder if what I thought was an MRI scan was actually an alien abduction and if I had been released into a parallel world somewhere. George could not be found and he would not answer any message I sent him. I went across the road to the Mercadona store and pondered my next course of action. Whilst I pondered and wondered how long the aliens would keep up this pretence, George returned. He had gone to check on an order for a new car as he hadn't realised I would be out so quickly. Apparently, aliens hadn't abducted me, and my story became a lot less interesting.
George dropped me back at my apartment and said he would take me back tomorrow to collect the results of the scan. Amazon delivered one of the pairs of trousers I ordered earlier in the week in the afternoon. Annoyingly, it is again the wrong size. The only problem with buying from Amazon is you can not see that the labels on clothes are incorrect before they arrive. I immediately arrange to return them.
This evening, I went to bed early. The alien abduction must have kept me longer than it appeared, as I found that I was very tired.
Friday, 10th February.
I woke up just before 9 am today. The alien abduction yesterday must have worn me out more than I thought. I worked on my computer this morning before George picked me up to take me to collect my MRI scan results from yesterday. It seems strange in Spain that when you have a test, the results are given to you, not your doctor. It makes a lot more sense to me. I can't remember the number of scans, tests or x-rays I have had in the UK which I have never seen the results of.
After collecting the results, we stopped for a coffee at the Cafe Pyramide in Los Alcazares. As George and I sat drinking our coffee, a German man sat next to us and started to talk to us. I recognised his companion. The Spanish man with him has, at some stage in his life, lost a large part of his right arm, and I recognise him from the beach. When I swim during the warmer weather, I often see him swimming at the same time as I do. In my pigeon Spanish, I mentioned to him that I had seen him swimming, but he didn't recognise me. He tells me he swims at Plaza de Espejo, and I tell him I normally swim and then go to the Chiringuito El Lobo for coffee. After a little while, he looked at me and asked me, using gestures, if I normally have a shaven head and no beard. I laugh and tell him that I have indeed grown a beard and let my hair grow, and he realises who I am. I now have a new friend.
After George dropped me off at home, I realised I was getting cold, and because I did not want to catch a cold again before my upcoming holiday, I climbed under a blanket on the sofa and put the heating on. I looked online at George of Asda and ordered some more trousers and a couple of shirts for my holiday. They should be delivered before I go away. Only time will tell if they are sent in time. After today's excitement, I again have an early night.
Saturday, 11th February.
Not surprisingly, after going to bed early yesterday, I woke at 5 am today. I eventually got up, got a coffee, and worked on my website for a while before I put my washing machine on. Once the washing machine had started, I decided I had better clean myself as well and take a shower.
After taking my shower, I went out for a ride on my mobility scooter. It had looked very dark out earlier, and I didn't think the rain would hold off long enough for me to get out, but it did. It was, however, very cold and the wind that was blowing felt like it was driving icy spears through me. I went along the beachfront, looking at the dark storm clouds, before turning back towards home after I got to Club Nautica. I had thought about going for breakfast, but it was too cold to sit outside.
I stopped at the pharmacy on the way home and got double the amount of tablets I normally get for the month. I like to take two lots of tablets with me on holiday, one lot in my case and one lot in my carry bag, in case I lose one lot. After getting my tablets, I continued to the Economy Cash supermarket to get some bread. When I left, I quickly headed home to get out of the cold.
My second pair of trousers from Amazon arrived this afternoon. I can't believe that they delivered them as the order had already been cancelled. Their measurements are incorrect. This pair is even a different size from the pair that arrived earlier in the week but was allegedly the same size; they will all be returned.
The rest of the day is spent wrapped up in my warm apartment. I watch Arsenal grind out a 1-1 draw with Brentford. The VAR decisions were farcical again. The VAR admitted afterwards that he was wrong, but this didn't help my bad mood. I then binge-watched Homestead Rescue on television. I do love looking at the various places where people live off the grid. Some of them make me think about how wonderful it could be to do it, and others make me question people's sanity.
Sunday, 12th February.
I woke up around 5 am but got back to sleep, waking up again at around 9 am. I get a coffee before working on my website for a while. I then trimmed my beard, which was getting very wiry, before taking a shower and getting ready to go out for dinner at Campbells in Roda with my friend June.
Dinner was fantastic. I had roast beef with all the trimmings and washed it down with a couple of glasses of red wine. After we left, June stopped at the Lidl store so I could get some ice cream and then dropped me off at home.
The evening was again spent binge-watching episodes of Homestead Rescue before going to bed at around 10 pm.