In Week 31 of 2024, I spent a lot of time working on my website. The highlight of the week was getting physiotherapy on my bad knee.
Monday, 29th July.
I woke up at 7 am today. I checked my messages on my computer and went to the Mar Menor for a swim at about 7:45 am. I swam out to the rocks and back and then filled the little pot I took with me with small shells to take back to my balcony to decorate my plant pots.
I showered, dressed, and sat at my computer with a coffee when I returned to my apartment. I tried logging on to the new video hosting site I had signed up for. I hoped it would help me when hosting my videos. It kept switching to a previous version and wasn't working properly. I sent the company several messages and had to wait for their reply.
At 11:45, I set off on my disability scooter to meet Martin at Pizzeria La Sombre. When I arrived, I got a bottle of water and sat outside. Martin arrived a few minutes later, and we sat chatting with Dave, who arrived a short time later. For some reason, the place was inundated by flies this morning, and they were all over my legs. After a while, I decided I couldn't take the flies and left to head home.
On my way home, I stopped at the Mercadona store and got two salad bowls and a pasta bowl. When I got home, I had the pasta for lunch. I watched the TV for a while, and this evening, I had a piece of chicken with one of the other salad bowls for my dinner. When I checked my messages, I had one from the company about the video hosting, which showed they hadn't read the message because all they did was send me a link for another piece of software I owned.
Just before I went to bed, I checked my messages to see if I had received another reply from Vidello about their software. There was still no reply, and after some thought, I told them I wanted to get my money back for the software under the 30-day rule. I emailed them and then went to bed at about 10:30.
Tuesday, 30th July.
I woke up at 7 am. I didn't want to swim today as my back was still aching. It wasn't as bad as it had been, but as the sea was choppy, I decided not to swim. I checked my messages and had one from Amazon telling me free video hosting was already at 85% of its free limit. This had to do with the Vidello package, as it is the only thing linked to it. I cancelled the AWS to avoid getting a bill from them and then checked my other messages. I had a message from Vidello about the video hosting package. They had processed my cancellation and refunded my money to my credit card. It was a shame that this package didn't do what I wanted, as I do not love how YouTube lets you share your videos.
After reading and dealing with my messages, I got on my disability scooter and went to the Economy Cash store for some milk. I got my shopping, and on the way home, I stopped at the Buena Vista restaurant for a tostada and a coffee. I stayed there for a while, enjoying the sun on my back and their beautiful coffee before heading back to my apartment. As soon as I got into my apartment and unpacked my shopping I realised I hadn't got the milk I had gone out for. I will go out for it again later. I had two slices of toast with avocado dip and fried egg for my lunch. It was delicious.
This afternoon, when I had finished working on my website, I downloaded the new video editing software package I had chosen. Last week, I used some software called OpenShot to edit my videos, but while it was very good, it wasn't quite what I was after. I had investigated many other software packages and settled on one with a steep learning curve. It seems to do everything I want. I found some online tutorials for it and started watching them.
The first video I started to watch was just a basic introduction to the software. It was nearly five hours in length, and I didn't watch all of it before I went to bed at midnight, but it blew my mind away about what was possible with the software. No doubt this will take a long time to master, but I have the time, and it will keep me out of trouble.
Wednesday, 31st July.
I slept late today, surprised to see it had gone 9:40 am when I woke up. I got myself some fruit juice as I still had no milk and sat at my computer to check my messages. I am meeting Lisa for lunch later, so I won't start work on my website because I know I will lose track of time when I do.
I left the house at about 11:30 and walked along the promenade before cutting up near the Costa Narejos Hotel and walking through the housing estate. As I walked through the housing estate, I started getting very puffed out and had to sit in the shade under some trees in a small park. The first bench I went to sit on was swarming with ants, and not wanting to be eaten alive; I moved on to the next bench. I stayed there for a few minutes until I got my breath back. Then, I continued to La Ola Bar, where I met Lisa to pay for our coach excursion to visit the Jumilla Wine Fest in a few weeks. I got myself a bottle of water and waited for Lisa to arrive. Once she had arrived, we paid Begona, who organised the trips.
We sat and chatted till around 1:30 pm, and then Lisa drove us to Thai Aroi for lunch. I had already booked an inside table and was glad I had when we arrived as it was very hot outside. We had a lovely meal, and the service was great. We even got a discount because I follow their Facebook Page. When we finished our meal, we sat outside talking, and I had a beautiful Pina Colada cocktail before heading home.
It was still hot out, and after the short walk from the restaurant, I was glad to be in my apartment and put my air conditioning on. I sat and watched TV most of the evening but did some work on my website on my laptop. I went to bed early, at around 10 pm.
Thursday, 1st August.
I woke up at around 7:30 this morning. I checked for messages on my computer and then walked to the Mar Menor for a swim. I swam out to the rocks and back and then floated around while I picked up some more sea shells for the pot plants on my balcony.
When I returned to my apartment, I showered and got myself a protein drink before heading out on my disability scooter. I went along the beach until I got to La Encarnacion Hotel and then turned to go to the bank to get some money at the ATM. When I left the bank, I went to the pharmacy and got two lots of Sintrom and Omeprazole to save me from returning so often. As I returned to my disability scooter, I noticed a message from my Health Insurance Agent, Sofia. She had messaged me that my clinic had called her to tell her they could fit me in to start the physiotherapy on my knee tomorrow at 3 pm. I just had to confirm that the time was good for me.
I left the pharmacy and went to my clinic to confirm my appointment for tomorrow. But when I saw Rosa, the receptionist, she explained that my appointment was in the opposite clinic. I went to the other clinic, and the receptionist confirmed my appointment. She said she would see me the next day. Strangely, the clinic providing my physiotherapy is also my dental clinic. When I left the clinic, I went straight home.
I worked on my website for a while and added my appointment to my calendar so I would not forget it. At lunchtime, I stopped work and got myself a cheeseburger. The afternoon was spent surfing the internet and watching TV. The heat was quite intense outside, and I was glad to be able to stay inside with the air conditioning on. I went to bed early at 10 pm.
Friday, 2nd August.
I woke up at 4:45 am this morning in a lot of pain and was unable to get back to sleep, so I got up. I got some orange juice and a coffee and then sat at my computer to work on my website. I listened to Radio 2 to the Owain Wyn Evans morning show. The pain from the gout in my toe was out of proportion to the size of the toe. It amazes me how such a small thing could hurt so much. I took a painkiller with orange juice and made a note to myself to drink more coffee, which is supposed to help and to add cherries to my diet, which I know helps from previous bouts.
When it was light enough, at about 7 am, I went down to the Mar Menor for a swim. I swam out to the rocks and back and floated near the shore, collecting shells for my plant pots. When I returned to my apartment, I put the shells on my balcony and showered. After showering, I had a coffee and went to the town hall on my disability scooter. I can go right into the town hall on my disability scooter, but the wheels make a horrible sound as I go over the marble floors.
Once inside the town hall, the man at reception gave me a ticket for my turn to get a copy of my Padron. I sat and waited for my number to be shown on the screen, and when it was, I went to the table shown on the screen. I gave the lady my TIE card and showed her the S1 form in case she wanted to know what the Padron was for, but she didn't want it. When she had done the paperwork, she asked for the €3, and I gave her the cash. She said something I took to mean they can't accept cash, so I gave her my credit card to pay the €3. She took the €3 via my credit card and returned my paperwork and the copy of my Padron.
When I left the Town Hall, I stopped to get some milk on the way home and returned to my apartment. Once inside, I had some muesli for breakfast and then sat at my computer to try to enter my application for the Spanish Health System. It took me about half an hour, but I think I did it all correctly, and I got an email to say it had been received and a reference number. Once I had finished, I worked on my website for just over an hour and then had pasta and salad for lunch. This afternoon, the event put on by the town hall in Plaza de Espejo started to set up. There was no seating or large stage to be put up, just loud sound checks all afternoon and evening. Why do they need such loud sound checks for dance lessons?
At about 2:40 pm, I got on my disability scooter and attended my physiotherapy appointment at the local clinic. I was a bit early when I arrived, but the receptionist took my details, and I was shown into the clinic's physiotherapy room and given a seat. I had sudden flashbacks to the times back in 1990 when I was in hospital in Portsmouth for months. After my car accident and resurrection, my parents were told that I was paralysed from the neck down and would be a cabbage for the rest of my life, unable to do anything for myself. I was in intensive care for a long time, and as I became less ill, I was wheeled to the physiotherapy rooms, where I was taught and helped to walk again. The clinic's physiotherapy room today brought all those memories back to me, and I realised how lucky I am to still be alive, even if sometimes I don't feel it. Even the young physiotherapist brought back memories of the wonderful physio I had at the Queen Alexander Hospital. Like her, today's physio had long blonde hair, was beautiful and had a very caring manner. She put me at ease while she seemed to sense how painful my injuries could be. Although it isn't really funny, I do find it amusing that most medical people take one look at my right leg and the obvious injuries on it and expect that to be the leg I have problems with. Today, the physio didn't do that. She concentrated on the leg I was there for treatment on. She asked a few questions about my other injured leg and its pain and was interested to hear that the nerve was damaged and that I couldn't feel her hands on my right leg, but she concentrated her time on my left leg, my reason for being there.
I was a bit worried that the physiotherapy might be too much for me. I imagined the nurse twisting, stretching and pulling my leg around and making me do gruelling exercises. It was nothing of the sort. Indeed, I was seated the whole time she worked on my leg. I had three types of treatment. The first was an electrotherapy treatment involving a large TENS device, which she attached to my left knee. She asked if the current running through was too much, and I told her it was fine and that she could turn it up a bit more. After it had been running for a few minutes, she asked if I was comfortable and if she could turn the level up a little more. After the electrotherapy and acupuncture treatment I had on the NCL Spirit a few months ago, it was fine, and I told her she could turn it up. She turned it up, and although I could feel the current running through me, it didn't hurt.
When the electrotherapy treatment had finished, the nurse asked if she could give me cold ultraviolet light therapy. I agreed, and she applied cold gel to my knee and surrounding area before massaging it with a device that seemed to have no current coming from it, although it was connected to a power source. I felt nothing while she did this, except for the cold gel and gentle massage technique. After this treatment had finished, she cleaned my knee and the area she had been massaging and asked me if I was okay to continue so that she could then give me electromagnetic therapy. I again agreed, and she wrapped my knee in a large set of magnets, connected a low current to them and left them on my knee. I again couldn't feel anything.
Once the third and final treatment had finished, she packed up the magnetic knee pad and told me she had finished and said for me to come back next Monday for more treatment. When I left, I got on my disability scooter and returned home.
The music in Plaza de Espejo tonight started well before the advertised 10 pm, but the singers and dancers all seemed to be having a great time. It was great that people were being shown how to dance, the exercise alone will help many of them. However, why do they feel it is necessary to put on a loud DJ once the dance lessons have finished? In the last couple of years, the music events at the Plaza de Espejo have been getting increasingly frequent and louder and louder and later and later. Are there no nightclubs in Los Alcazares where this type of music event can be staged? Maybe the Ayuntamiento Los Alcazares could consider ensuring that loud events after midnight are staged away from built-up housing estates. I invite the Mayor to spend the night at my house the next time a loud DJ plays in Plaza de Espejo. Maybe after that he would again consider if it is the right place to have loud music at that time of night. After these events, people leaving the area and hanging around afterwards are noisy and always wake me up. Still, at least the large groups of people deter the teenagers that are normally in the area smoking marijuana and partying till early morning.
I finally managed to fall asleep around 3 am.
Saturday, 3rd August.
I woke up around 8 am today. I still felt tired, but I got up and got a coffee. The first thing I noticed was how much better my knee felt. It was swollen but not in much pain like it normally is. I pottered around on my computer for a few hours. I did the Wordle puzzle, worked on my website, and watched more educational videos about video editing before getting another coffee and some porridge with cherries, yoghurt and protein powder for breakfast at about 10:30 am.
After breakfast, I put my bed linen in the washing machine. I found some smelly conditioner stuff that I was given with the machine. I had never used it before, so I decided to try it. It was only enough for one wash. It was a demo pack. When I put my bed linen in the machine with the washing machine tablet, I also threw in the conditioner and turned the machine on.
I worked on my website in the morning. While looking at some Facebook posts, I saw one from the Town Hall saying that they were going to put what I assume are CCTV cameras in Plaza de Espejo outside my apartment. I am very happy that they will be doing this and hope that it will stop the drug takers and kids hanging about outside all night, creating a disturbance and making a mess. I stopped for lunch at 2:30 pm. I had some sliced cheese, ham, and scrambled eggs and then returned to work on my website.
I caught up with some of the sleep I lost last night this afternoon. When I woke up, I made my bed with the clean linen in the washing machine. It smelt very nice, and I must get more of the conditioner I used. I don't know if the conditioner helped, but the blood stains that I hadn't been able to get out previously had all gone as well. I watched TV and worked on my website until I went to bed at midnight.
Sunday, 4th August.
I did sleep quite well last night. I was woken up a few times by the kids in Plaza de Espejo screaming and shouting, but I managed to get back to sleep quickly. When I finally got up at 6:45 am, I got a coffee. As I opened my patio doors, I noticed that the police were outside trying to get the kids to go home. The kids were shouting and swearing at the police and didn't seem to care that the police wanted them to move on. They did move off, but as soon as the police left, they started drifting back. They were all quite young, and the girls were as noisy as the boys. I wonder why their parents don't care where their young children have been all night.
On a brighter note, my knee feels better this morning. Two days after my first lot of physiotherapy, the swelling has gone down, and the pain has been reduced. I spent most of the day working on my website. I am making thousands of very small changes to the code that most people wouldn't notice, but I hope it makes a difference in the site indexing in Google and Bing. The job is monotonous, and I stop for lunch at around 1 pm and have some chicken coated in honey and pepper.
When I stopped for lunch, I went to the garage and plugged my disability scooter into the charger. I also attached a sign to the scooter basket. My friend Martin gave me the sign with a "Beware of Sharks" notice to replace the old, worn-out "Save The Mar Menor" flag. When I had attached the sign with cable ties, I returned to my apartment for lunch.
After eating some chicken cooked with honey and pepper, I continued working on my website, but my backside was getting numb from sitting in the same position for hours. At about 3 pm, I took a break and watched TV for a couple of hours before continuing to work on my website. I used my laptop to work from my massage chair and be more comfortable.
I continued working until about 11 pm, then stopped and went to bed.