Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain
Summary: The first week of 2024 began with a lingering cold, gentle walks, website work, cooking, football, and your first live match in Spain. A slow but determined start to the new year.
Monday, 1st January
I woke around 06:00 but managed to get back to sleep until my alarm went off at 07:00. I stayed in bed another 45 minutes before getting up for coffee and porridge with banana and blueberries. I am determined to shake off this cold quickly and not let the miserable end of 2023 drag into 2024.
I worked on my website for a few hours, finishing my last post from week 52 and indexing more pages on Google. Google will not serve pages in search until they are indexed, and as you can only manually index around ten pages a day, I do it daily.
Determined to fight the fatigue I have felt for weeks, I decided to start walking every morning. This time I will keep the walks short so I do not overdo it. At 11:00, I went for a gentle walk along the beach, up towards the doctor’s surgery and back along the main road before returning to my apartment. My knee was sore and I was puffing like a steam train, but I felt better for getting out.
Back home, I made ginger and lemon tea and ordered new software to help me learn how to make short videos and advertising memes. For lunch, I had a chicken burger before sitting down to play The Bard’s Tale for half an hour. When I next looked at the clock, it was after 19:00. The game is simple but addictive.
I watched Liverpool vs Newcastle in the evening. It was a great game for neutrals but ruined by poor refereeing and VAR. Liverpool won 4–2 and stayed top of the league. I hope Arsenal buy a striker soon. After the match, I put the heater on in my bedroom and went to bed.
Tuesday, 2nd January
I woke around 06:00, used the bathroom and went back to bed until 08:00. After coffee and porridge, my neighbour messaged to say I had mail. It was a letter from the DWP dated 21 November asking me to return it by 21 December. I received it thirteen days after the deadline.
I called the DWP and waited in a queue for 42 minutes. The lady who answered told me my claim had already been cancelled. She took my details again and said the correct department would call me back.
At 13:30, I went to Economy Cash for groceries. On the way, I saw George and Yvonne, who also seemed to have colds. In the shop, I bumped into Moira, who I had not seen for ages, and she also had a cold. After shopping, I went home, put the heating on and had a roll and lemon and ginger tea before working on my website.
My daily email from The Fussy Librarian arrived, and I downloaded eleven free Kindle books. I also checked air fryer prices online. They have dropped a little, and I want a new one to replace my two older ones. I will sell the old appliances and clear out my cupboards.
In the evening, I played a game on my computer and watched TV before going to bed at 22:30.
Wednesday, 3rd January
I woke around 06:00, went back to sleep and got up at 07:00. My cold felt looser, and I was coughing up phlegm again. I wished my sister Karen a happy birthday and cleaned my kitchen ready for cooking later in the week.
I had porridge with honey and blueberries, then walked to the rubbish bin. It still amazes me how different rubbish collection is here compared to England. In Spain, you simply take your bag to the nearest bin whenever it is full, and it is emptied every night.
I worked on my computer, played a game for an hour and had two chicken rolls for lunch before doing more website work.
In the evening, I watched the World Darts Championship final between Luke Humphries and Luke Littler. It was a brilliant match. It reminded me of the night I hit my only 9 dart finish against Mike Campbell in Fitzers. After the darts, I had a warm Horlicks with milk and honey and went to bed.
Thursday, 4th January
I woke around 06:00, went back to sleep and got up at 07:00. After coffee and orange juice, I indexed more pages on Google. I took my tablets, emptied the dishwasher and made myself a cooked breakfast of sausages, bacon, egg, fried potatoes and toast with strawberry jam.
At 10:45, I met Paul and he drove us to Cartagena to buy tickets for Sunday’s Copa del Rey match between Cartagena and Valencia. It will be my first live match in Spain and my first since seeing Southampton vs Arsenal in 2015 when I was still in a wheelchair.
After we got the tickets, Paul dropped me home. I had lunch and spent the rest of the day tagging photos using face recognition software.
Friday, 5th January
I woke around 07:00, had coffee and orange juice and checked my messages. My cold is improving, but I stayed home to keep warm. I had porridge with blueberries and honey, plus toast and jam.
At 10:30, I went to Tecnyshop to collect my omega 3 tablets, then bought red peppers from Dia to go with the aubergines I already had for soup. Back home, I felt tired again. The temperature dropped, so I had a sandwich and hot Bovril for lunch.
I worked on my computer until 17:00 and had chicken and chips for tea. I spent the evening under a blanket watching TV until 22:00.
Saturday, 6th January
I woke at 07:00. My nose was clear, but I had a tickly cough. I had coffee, orange juice and porridge, although it tasted wrong because I forgot to add honey.
I did some washing and put the dishwasher on before playing a game. At lunchtime, I made soup using aubergines and red peppers. It tasted bland, so I added tinned tomatoes and blitzed it again. It tasted better but more like a pasta sauce, so I froze it for another day.
In the afternoon, I had a coughing fit that hurt my ribs and stomach. I decided not to go to Stuart’s birthday party, even though eighty people were going. I wanted to be well for the football tomorrow.
In the evening, I watched a film called Saltburn. It had great reviews, but I thought it was terrible. I went to bed afterwards.
Sunday, 7th January
I woke around 06:00, went back to sleep and got up at 07:30. After coffee and tablets, I made a cooked breakfast of sausage, bacon, tomato, mushroom and fried egg. I spent the day indexing website pages and writing up my first day at Copacabana Beach.
At 16:15, Paul picked me up in a minibus with two of his friends. We collected Jim and continued to Cartagena. We had a beer outside the ground before going in. Inside, they only sold water, which was strange.
The seats had a great view, but the steps were uneven and had no handrails. Cartagena scored first and led 1–0 at half time, but a harsh red card changed the game. Valencia equalised before extra time.
While I was in the bathroom, Valencia scored again to make it 1–2. The goalkeeper should have saved it. The game finished 1–2, and Valencia went through.
We got back to the minibus quickly. Paul dropped off Jim, then me, then the others. At home, I put the heating on, had cheese on toast and went to bed.
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