I started Week 28 of 2024 with a meal at Thai Aroi and had my first swim in the Mar Menor this year.
Monday, 8th July.
I got up around 8 am today. I got myself a coffee, checked for messages on the computer, did the Wordle puzzle and got ready to go and meet my friend Mike at Los Narejos. At around 9:30 am, I went out on my disability scooter to get some tablets at the pharmacy. After collecting my sintrom, I went to Aldi and got two salad bowls for my lunch tomorrow and Wednesday.
I then went to Los Narejos and met Mike. I had a coffee and collected the details of the giant Rockola jukebox he wanted to sell. I had promised to do some research online to see if it was something he could sell. Mike gave me the details and left a short time later. I continued to chat with the people outside the cafe until around 11:50 am when I went along to meet Martin at La Sombre Pizzeria.
I sat chatting with Martin and his dad, Dave. While chatting, my friend Debbie arrived and sat down with us. We all talked, and after a while, Kate came across the road with Aria. When Dave left, Debbie left a short time later, and I continued talking with Martin and Kate. We all decided to go to Thai Aroi for something to eat, and I headed home first and said I would meet them there.
I returned to my apartment and changed my T-shirt before going to Thai Aroi. When I got to the restaurant, Martin, Kate and Aria were waiting outside, and Aria ran towards me to hug me. We went inside to sit as it was still too hot to sit outside in the sun. After looking at the new menu we all chose different food. I ordered the Pad Thai Kung. The food was beautiful, and I loved all the different flavours. After eating our food, Kate, Aria, and I had some tapioca pudding for dessert. I will have to try and find a good recipe for this because I love it and would make it at home.
When we had finished our meals, we left and said goodbye before going home. Once home, I retrieved the salad I had bought and forgotten about earlier from the box on my disability scooter. I put the salad in my fridge and got a cold drink. I was soon fast asleep in the chair in front of the TV. When I woke up, I watched TV before going to bed around 11 pm.
Tuesday, 9th July.
I woke up at around 7 am. I got myself a coffee, checked for messages on my computer and did the Wordle puzzle online. I set Peggy, my robot hoover, off, and she cleaned my apartment. I found another box of electrical leads and cables and piled them up with the other boxes I had to sort through, promising myself that I would start to sort them out in the next few days and get rid of all the ones I didn't need any more.
At about 9:30 am, I set off on my disability scooter to go to Econmy Cash to pick up a delivery from Amazon, get some shopping and then go to the market for some fruit. Picking up my parcel was relatively easy at Economy Cash. I had to change some of the settings on my phone to allow the app from Amazon to work, but it only took a couple of minutes, and even though the instructions were in Spanish, I managed to figure it out. After I had picked up my parcel, I went around the store and got a couple of bits of shopping. I am quite a large man, but a lady in Economy Cash was at least three times my size, walking around in a stretchy leotard with extreme nylon stockings. Someone with her should have said something to her because it was not a good look. It looked as if she had forgotten to put her overgarments on. I can't believe nylon, spandex, and other man-made materials are that strong because it was being stretched in every possible direction. It did make me more determined to lose more weight, so for that reason, I thank you, whoever you were.
I took my shopping and parcel home and went to the Tuesday market for fruit. I bought two kilos of cherries, 8 giant oranges, a big bag of carrots and some large apples. I took all my fruit and vegetables home. I washed the cherries and then sat down and destoned them. It took around 45 minutes to destone the two kilos. I put the cherries in freezer bags and put them in the freezer. Next week I want to make some cherry pies and some cherry jam. I plan to make some carrot, coriander and orange soup next week and use the rest of the oranges for juice, to which I will add some ginger.
I worked on my website this afternoon before watching tonight's football. In the game tonight, France went ahead quickly but Lamine Yamal scored an absolute screamer of a goal for Spain to equalize. He became the youngest person to score in the competition's finals, and at only 16 years old he has the entire world at his feet. I hope he gets good advice and doesn't get burnt out before 20. Spain then scored a second goal and won the game 2-1. It was a great game and I only hope England can beat Holland tomorrow to set up a final between Spain and England.
Wednesday, 10th July.
I woke up at around 7:15 am today. I got myself a coffee and did the Wordle puzzle online before going to the Mar Menor for a swim. It was my first swim in the Mar Menor this year, although I did swim in the Pacific Ocean in April when I went snorkelling in Hawaii.
I took some bread with me, and when I sat in the water, I fed it to the fish swimming around me. They didn't get close enough to eat it out of my hand as they used to, but I expect they will start to eat from my hands again as they get used to me. The water was clear and warm, and after feeding the fish for about 15 minutes, I set off for my swim. I avoided swimming through the jellyfish I encountered but wasn't concentrating on which way I was swimming. When I raised my head to see where I was, I had swam through the gap in the rocks and was swimming towards the outer line of buoys that mark the area boats can not enter. I turned around and swam back towards the rocks, past them and back to the beach. It was great to see the different fish, crabs and even the jellyfish as I swam and I plan to get back to my routine of swimming every morning.
I was disappointed to see that the foot water showers on the beach were not working, and I sat down on the wall to dry off and brush the sand from my feet. After drying off a bit, I walked back to my apartment. I washed my feet in my bidet and removed my wet swimming shorts before having a foot massage while I sat at my computer reading the day's news. I took my tablets and had some porridge with banana, peanuts, raisins and honey. Once I had finished breakfast I had a shower and cut up and juiced the oranges I had bought yesterday.
I watched a few educational videos on YouTube before getting myself a salad for lunch. This afternoon I had a nap before continuing to watch more YouTube videos. During the evening, I got a message from Mel, a friend I made when we visited China in 2014. It was great to hear from her and talk again after a long time without talking. Hopefully, we will meet again or share more adventures on another holiday.
I got myself a burger for dinner early in the evening. Because it was still hot, I shut all my doors and windows, pulled some curtains across to block out the sun in the bedrooms and put the air conditioning on. It has been hot today, and the heat seemed to suck the energy out of me.
Before the football came on tonight, I went online and made the last payment for my holiday in Japan later in the year. I don't think it will make any difference, but I wanted to pay it early in case they changed their mind about the 20 % discount I had been given on the price.
I did enjoy the football tonight especially the first half. Although Holland went 1-0 in front, England equalised to make it 1-1 with a Harry Kane penalty. I believe it was never a penalty, and VAR was wrong to get involved. It looked more like Harry Kane kicked the Dutch player's foot than the other way around. With minutes left, Gareth Southgate brought on Ollie Watkins and Cole Palmer. A short time later, Cole Palmer passed the ball to Ollie Watkins in the penalty area, and he scored the winner to put England through to the final against Spain on Sunday. The result was deserved, but I felt the Dutch were unlucky to have given the penalty away. I genuinely believe England could win the competition by playing boring football. What then for manager Gareth Southgate? Will he be sacked or praised as the only England manager in my lifetime to win anything?
Thursday, 11th July.
I didn't sleep particularly well last night and woke up several times during the night. I eventually got up around 7:30 am and got myself a coffee and orange juice before sitting at my computer. I read my messages, and at 8:30 am, I walked downstairs to the beach to swim.
I sat in the Mar Menor, feeding a slightly stale roll to the fish around me before swimming out to the rocks and back several times. I felt fine and could have swam further, but I didn't want to over-stretch myself after not swimming for a long time. I got out of the water and went back to my apartment. I got another cup of coffee, read more messages on my computer and started to work on a short animated video of a cowboy telling a joke.
I sat there for longer than I intended but was quite happy with the short video when I finished it. This is the video I made.
After completing the video, I posted it on YouTube and Facebook and got some porridge. It was midday when I got the porridge, so I guess it would be brunch rather than breakfast. I spent the rest of the day catnapping and watching TV.
Friday, 12th July.
I woke up several times in the night because of the heat and the sound of noisy kids in Plaza de Espejo. I must bite the bullet and leave the air conditioning on overnight. It may cost a bit in electricity but at least I would sleep better. All I would then need is for the Chiringuito El Lobo to start packing their chairs away at night, and maybe the kids would all stop gathering there at night.
I got out of bed at about 7:50 am and got myself a coffee. When I woke up properly, I did the Wordle puzzle and took my tablet with orange juice. I had a second coffee and then went to the Mar Menor for a swim. I swam to the rocks and back several times this morning and felt much better for my dip in the Mar Menor.
Once I had returned to my apartment and showered, I went to the Economy Cash store for groceries. I didn't get a lot and was soon back at home. Around lunchtime, I got something to eat and then sat at my computer. I tried to work out how to get the article tags on my blogs to show how I wanted them to in my website URL. I knew it must be simple but couldn't work it out and after scouring the internet for a solution for hours I couldn't find one. In a last attempt to find out how to do what I wanted, I logged on to a Joomla Forum and posted my question on the site. Within ten minutes, someone had posted a reply telling me how to do it and it was easy. As the saying goes, I hadn't seen the woods for the trees. Per Yngve Berg, you are a true Joomla Master and a gentleman.
I was excited about my discovery and wanted to see it on my website. Unfortunately, this meant I sat at my computer till around 1:30 am, editing my website tags and adding them to the content pages for my website.
Saturday, 13th July.
I didn't wake up till around 8:15 am today. That is late for me and was probably due to me working late on my website last night. The air-conditioned bedroom also helped. After getting a coffee, I put some washing in the washing machine and then got some breakfast.
After breakfast, I sat back down at my computer and continued working on my website, adding more tags to the pages and editing some of the graphical displays I had put on over the last week. I stopped for lunch around 3 pm and returned to work after eating. Once again, I continued working late into the night, not stopping until around 2 am.
Sunday, 14th July.
I didn't wake up until after 9 am today. The long days working knocked me out, and I slept like a log last night. When I got up, I stripped the bed and put the linen in the washing machine before sitting down to continue working on my website.
For lunch, I mixed a big bag of salad with two small tins of tuna in tomato and a tin of mussels and ate about a third. I put the rest back in the fridge. I continued working on my website until this afternoon and had more salad, leaving one more serving for tomorrow. Before the football started this evening, I still felt hungry, so I had some porridge with mixed fruit.
Spain deservedly won the game 2-1 as England again sat back and played poorly. They have the players to beat any team in the world but manager Gareth Southgate sets them up all wrong and insists on playing some players that should have retired after the last tournament. I hope now that Southgate will quit, that Harry Kane will retire from International football and that a new manager can come in and play to our young player's strengths and build on what the team has achieved. Too many good players were either left at home or refused to play for the management team we had at this tournament.
I watched the news after the game and saw that in America, an attempt on Donald Trumps' life had been made but been unsuccessful. After watching the news headlines, I thought about a design change for my website, and so I would not forget it in the morning, I went back to work on my website until 2 am.