This week, I had a few jobs to do, such as helping some friends and a few jobs in my apartment, before heading to Alicante to join my cruise ship over the weekend.
Monday, 20th February.
I woke up and got a coffee at around 7 am. I worked on my website for a few hours before heading out at around 10:30 am to help my friend Jackie with an email problem. I chatted with Jackie and Alan while making some updates to her notepad. I managed to get it working temporarily and left her, promising to return in a few weeks to give her some computer lessons.
When I leave Jackie and Alan, I go to Pizzeria la Sombre for a beer with my friend Martin. His dad, Dave, and wife, Kate, join us for a while. We chat for about 90 minutes before we pay the bill, and all head home. It always amazes me that soft drinks cost as much or more than alcoholic drinks these days. It would be interesting to see a breakdown of the costs of soft and non-alcoholic drinks to see if bar and restaurant owners justify or inflate these prices to increase their profits. I find it hard to believe that a 12-fluid-ounce soft drink should cost as much or more than a 20-fluid-ounce beer.
I head straight home after leaving Martin, and once I get back to my apartment, I heat the Sunday lunch I didn't eat yesterday and have it for my dinner today. The rest of the day is spent lazing on the sofa. My leg is a bit swollen from the walking I did the last few days, so resting will do it some good.
Tuesday, 21st February.
I woke up around 7 am today. I got a coffee and then worked on my website for a while before washing and cleaning my kitchen. It looked grey outside, and I had to watch the weather to go out later.
I worked on my website without taking a break until around 11:40. When I realised the time; I went down to the basement to get my disability scooter from the garage and set off to meet Martin. As the garage lift stopped and the doors opened, I went outside on my scooter and realised it must have been raining as there were large puddles of water on the ground. My computer is set up next to a window so I can see what is going on, but I was working and concentrating so hard this morning that I hadn't even noticed the rain against the windows.
Luckily, the sun had come out, and I could use my scooter to meet Martin. We chatted for a while, and Dave and Kate joined us. At 2 pm, Martin and Kate met Aria on the school bus, and I headed home. As I went down Rio Nalon in Los Alcazares, I saw my friend Amanda and stopped to chat with her. Some other ladies joined us for a while before they all moved on somewhere else to play bingo. I finished my drink and then went home.
I stopped on the way to my apartment at the Dia store and got some bread to make a sandwich, and when I got home, I watched the television for a while. I watched Live at the Apollo with some funny comedians before bed at around midnight.
Wednesday, 22nd February.
I woke up at around 7 am this morning. I got up and immediately put some washing in the washing machine. I had lots of washing to do before I went on holiday on Friday.
After washing the first lot in the machine, I got a coffee and sorted through the old plastic containers in the kitchen. I always keep plastic containers from takeaways to store soups or food in. I now have more than I use, so I put a lot of them in my plastic recycling bag to throw out. I then got myself a coffee and sat at my computer for an hour, working on my website.
In the afternoon, my friend Alan Bond popped around with some sound system equipment he was trying to connect to his phone and computer. After swearing and head-scratching, we eventually had to read the instruction manual. It turned out that the USB port we were looking for on the front of the device is now a USB-c port. It does the same thing but is smaller and looks different to the older USB port. Once we downloaded the manual for the equipment and discovered this, we were very amused. We laughed so much that we cried. What fun we had. Unfortunately, neither of us had a USB-c lead, so Alan will have to purchase one before he can make the necessary firmware update to his sound system.
After Alan left, I got Peggy, my cleaner, to go around the apartment and vacuum everywhere. I got the good news this evening that my DWP payment has finally gone into my bank this week and should now go in regularly every 4 weeks. This will allow me to get a proper cleaner to help me with the jobs I find difficult.
This evening, I got a message from the delivery company I have been waiting for all day, which tells me my delivery will be made tomorrow.
Thursday, 23rd February.
I woke around 6:45 am and got myself a coffee before sitting at my computer to work on my website. Most of the work I have been trying to do is now finished, and I have also found some Joomla extensions that help add open graph data to the code on my website. I am very pleased by this find as it was easy to set up and incorporate into my website. It will now make sharing pages from my website much easier and automatically add relevant data to search engines and social pages.
I spent the day pottering around the apartment, making a list of things I would need to pack tomorrow for my holiday. I go to D`Pollo to get something for my lunch to save me from cooking. This evening, my friend Bob came around to chop off my platinum-blonde curls, leaving me with my more usual prison haircut to go with my now clean-shaven face.
I intended to go to bed early, but I was too excited about my holiday to sleep, so I did a little more work on my website before going to bed sometime after midnight.
Friday, 24th February.
I woke up around 6 am but lay in bed until around 7:30 am. I got up and had a coffee, worked on my website, had another coffee, and then packed my case. I was ready to leave in the afternoon. I took the spoilable food that I had left to my neighbours and then took my rubbish to the bins.
When I got back, I could not find my telephone, and in a panic, I knocked on my neighbour's door and asked them to ring it. We could hear it, and when I followed the sound of the ringing, I found it in my spare room. When I was working on the computer in there, it must have fallen out of my pocket, and as I slid my chair back, it must have pushed it underneath the bed.
I left for Alicante this afternoon for my Mediterranean and Moroccan holiday.
Saturday, 25th February.
Today, I joined my cruise ship, the MSC Lirica, in Alicante and sailed off on my holiday around the Mediterranean.
Sunday, 26th February.
Today was spent at sea, sailing across the Mediterranean to Genoa in Italy.