In Week 37 of 2024, I had several trips to the doctors for blood tests, which left my arms black and blue, and I had dinner with my friend Debbie at the Masala Cottage restaurant in Los Alcazares.
Monday, 9th September.
I woke up around 6 am this morning. I did drop off to sleep again for about an hour and then got up. I got some water to take my tablets with and then sat at my computer to check for any messages.
At 8:45, I set off for the doctors' surgery for my INR blood test. Once there, I checked in, and I was seen relatively quickly. Unfortunately, the young nurse who was there today always had trouble getting any blood from me. She tried three times but didn't think the blood she had managed to get would be enough. She sent it off to the blood lab anyway, probably hoping that if it had to be done again, she wouldn't be working when I came in next time. After the blood test, I went back to my apartment, plugged my disability scooter in to charge in the garage, and went to my apartment to take the last of the Typhoid tablets I had to take before my holiday.
An hour after I had taken the last Typhoid tablet, I was able to have something to eat, and I got myself some breakfast. I had half a tin of baked beans left in the fridge, and I had them on toast. It was a strange breakfast, but it tasted okay. I don't know if it had anything to do with the multiple attempts to get blood from me this morning or the typhoid tablet I had taken, but I developed a headache after breakfast. Just before I left home to meet Martin, I took a paracetamol, hoping the headache would clear up quickly.
I went to meet Martin, and by the time I got there, my headache had gone. While I was there, I saw Sean and asked him if he could fix a new fan for me if I ordered it. He said he could. I sat chatting with Martin and Dave till around 2:15 pm, and then I went to the Mercadona store to get a salad for my dinner. I got my salad and went straight back to my apartment.
When I got back to the apartment, I put my disabled scooter in the garage and charged it. When I got in, I searched Amazon for the fan light I wanted. Timing is everything, as they say, the one I wanted was €109 a few months ago. Now the summer is on its way out, I managed to get it for €86. It should be delivered on Wednesday, so hopefully, I will have it installed soon.
This evening, the nurse who had taken my blood this morning rang me to tell me that the blood lab had been in touch and that the sample she had sent in was too small. She made me a new appointment for tomorrow morning, and they will have to have another go at getting more blood from me. I spent the evening watching TV and trying to work out what the smell in my apartment was. I did work out what It was after a couple of hours. It was the lemon mosquito repellent I had put on my legs this morning. For some reason, the smell of lemons had grown.
I had a chicken thigh with the salad I bought earlier before going to bed at around 11 pm.
Tuesday, 10th September.
I woke up at 7 am today. I got up, got a coffee and took my tablets. I sat at my computer and checked any messages I might have had overnight. Whether it is true or not, I don't know, but I was once told that drinking water before a blood test can help, so I began to drink cold water before I went back to the doctors' surgery to let the nurse try and get blood from me again today.
Just before 9 am, I walked to the doctors' surgery for my blood test. I didn't have to wait long, and as I thought might be the case, it was a different nurse today. She was aware of the difficulty yesterday's nurse had, however, and remembered how bad my veins are at giving up blood. I showed her the horrible bruises that had come on my arms overnight after yesterday's failed attempts at getting blood. The nurse first tried my right arm but couldn't get any blood at all. She then tried my left arm and couldn't get any blood. She finally attempted to enter a vein between the knuckles of my left hand. This time, she was able to get just enough blood for the test to take place. She put cotton wool and plasters on all the entry points she had tried and told me not to do anything with the hand she had got blood from in case it caused it to bleed. This made walking with my stick difficult, but I did my best not to put too much pressure on the wounds as I then walked to the Buena Vista restaurant for some breakfast.
I had a coffee and a tostada for breakfast and sat reading my Kindle till around 11:15 am. I then walked back to my apartment and got on my disability scooter to go and meet Martin. I went to La Sombre Pizzeria and sat talking to Martin and Dave till around 2 pm. Then, I went straight back to my apartment. I got myself a chicken thigh with mixed veg and new potatoes for my dinner and sat down at my computer.
I added some more photos to my website and tried to post a link to it on Facebook. For some reason, every time I tried to post a link to the day I went to Skagway in Alaska on Facebook, an automated check on the link removed it, and a warning about my post popped up. It did this for the photo page and the page with the details of my day in Skagway. I messaged Facebook to tell them I disagreed with the decision, and I hope that the links will be reinstated.
I then posted links to my day visiting the Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier in Alaska, and these posts went through with no restrictions whatsoever. I have no idea why the other links failed, and Facebook, in its wisdom, does not give you any reason for the removal of the posts.
This evening I watched the England vs Finland football match on TV. England won the game 2-0 and didn't really look like they were ever going to get a different result, but it also wasn't that entertaining because of the defensive game that Finland employed against England.
I went to bed at about 11:45 pm.
Wednesday, 11th September.
I woke up at 1 am this morning, and as much as I tried, I could not get back to sleep, so I got up and did some more work on my website. I edited lots of photos and posted them in the Tongass National Forest photo album on the site. At around 3:30 am, I finally went back to bed.
I woke up at 8:30, got up, got a coffee and sat at my computer to continue working on my website. I had to wait for the delivery of my new light/fan today, so I couldn't go out until after it had been delivered. I got myself some scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast and had another coffee. I continued working on my website and photos until around 4 pm.
My Amazon delivery arrived late in the afternoon, and as the delivery man did last week, he phoned me to tell me he was outside the apartment. I told him to ring the door number on the entry system so I could buzz him in. He asked me what number he had to buzz, and I explained that it was the number on the address of the package he was delivering. He rang my bell, and I let him in. I don't think he was so stupid that he couldn't figure out where to deliver it; he didn't want to have to bring the parcel in. Well, guess what, Mr Delivery Man, I pay a charge to have my parcels delivered so you will bring them to me.
After the delivery had arrived and I had finished what I was doing on the computer, I looked at the time and realised that by the time I got to either of the places I had been invited, the people would be leaving. So I'm sorry I didn't make it to your birthday celebration, Paul, and I'm sorry I didn't get out for a beer with you, Colin, and Kelvin.
At 4 pm, I sat in my chair to take a break and promptly fell asleep watching TV. I woke up about 40 minutes later and continued watching TV until I went to bed at 11 pm.
Thursday, 12th September.
I woke up at 5:45 am and couldn't get back to sleep, so I got up and got a coffee and some cereal. Once I had woken up properly, I felt pretty refreshed this morning. I had a go at the Wordle puzzle, and I guessed it on my third attempt. After I had finished my cereal, I made a backup of my website before downloading and installing an extension that was supposed to help speed up the website. I was a bit wary of using it, which is why I made a full backup of the website first so that I can reload it if it doesn't work.
At 11:15 am, Alison and Lottie arrived to take me to my Doctor's appointment in San Pedro. I realised I left my health insurance card at the Doctors surgery when I had my blood tests on Tuesday. Alison took me to the surgery in Los Alcazares so I could ask if they had my health insurance card. Unfortunately, they didn't have it. When I got back in the car, Alison drove me to my health insurance office in Los Narejos to see if they could help.
The lady I usually see, Sofia, wasn't there, but the lady there was very helpful. She registered me for a digital card that I could store in Google Wallet on my phone. She also arranged to have a replacement card delivered to the office next week as well. Because I couldn't get to the appointment on time, I asked if she could call the surgery and explain that I couldn't make the appointment on time. She did this for me and arranged another appointment for next Thursday.
When I left, I explained to Alison and Lottie what had happened, and we went to Buena Vista restaurant for a coffee and a sandwich. We sat chatting for a while, and when Alison and Lottie left, I walked back along the beach to my apartment. I spent the afternoon and evening watching films on the TV and editing my website.
Friday, 13th September.
I woke up several times during the night but managed to get back to sleep. I finally got up at 8 am. I got myself a coffee and checked for messages on my computer before I attempted the Wordle puzzle online. I had some porridge with cherries for breakfast, and at about 11 am, I got on my disability scooter and went to the Mercadona store to get some shopping.
When I got home, I unpacked and stored my shopping before continuing to work on my website before stopping to see if I could find out what was wrong with a tablet that Alison had asked me to look at. It seemed that someone had returned the tablet to its factory settings, wiping everything off of it. I contacted Samsung and spent an hour or more talking to them to try and get it set up again, but they couldn't help unless I had the email address or PIN code for the original owner. I got a reference number from them for the case they had started and wrote down the details so that Alison could ring them to finish getting it unlocked.
I had a salad with some chicken for lunch. I saw an advert for the new series of the Tulsa King. Having not seen the first series yet, I decided to binge-watch the series. I spent the rest of the evening watching the series, and I became hooked very quickly. I managed to pull myself away from the TV at about 11:45 pm and immediately went to bed and fell asleep.
Saturday, 14th September.
I had a broken sleep last night and finally got up at 8:30 am. After having a couple of mugs of coffee and doing the Wordle puzzle, I stripped the linen from my bed and put it in the washing machine. After setting the washing to clean, I had a late breakfast and early lunch at 11:30 am. This didn't work out too well. I had a bit of cheese to use up and a few slices of onion to use. I decided to have a toasted cheese and onion sandwich. After I had made the sandwich and put it in the toasting machine, I began loading my dishwasher, ready to set it up and running. As I cleared the kitchen worktop, I found the onion slices sitting on a plate and realised I hadn't put them in my sandwich. My toasted sandwich was cheese without onion.
After eating my sandwich, I typed up my notes for my final holiday days when I went to Hawaii and Alaska. For lunch, I had a sandwich. I didn't want to overeat as I would be eating out later. I sat down in front of the TV this afternoon to watch some football before going out to meet Debbie. For some reason, all the UK channels on the TV became unavailable, and because I was fed up with being sat indoors, I quickly showered. At 5 pm, I walked to Rio Nalon to have a beer before I met Debbie.
When I got to Harrys' Bar, I saw my friends Andy and Wayne and sat with them with a bottle of Radler beer. We sat chatting until about 7 pm, and I managed to make my bottle of beer last till I left to go and meet Debbie. I walked from Harrys' Bar to the Masala Cottage. I got a seat outside and ordered a beer.
At around 7:30, Debbie arrived, and we sat outside for a while, chatting and having a drink. As we sat chatting, my friends Lisa and Archie turned up. They were also going for a meal in the restaurant and after saying hello they went inside. A short time later, Debbie and I walked inside and found our table. I ordered a beer, and Debbie ordered a bottle of wine. We quickly decided what we wanted and ordered our meal. I had a fish pakora starter, which I shared with Debbie, and we split a portion of coconut rice to go with our meals. I had a chilli chicken dish that was fantastic and one of the best dishes I have eaten. We sat chatting while we ate our meals, and before we finished, Lisa came to say goodbye as she and Archie left. Once Debbie and I had finished our meals, we asked for our bill and paid for dinner. I really enjoyed my meal and will have to come back more often.
When we left, Debbie decided to get a taxi home, and I walked with her towards the taxi rank before crossing the road as she went for her taxi. I decided, as it was still only about 9:30 pm and that there was no TV to watch at home, that I would have a beer before going home. I walked to Harrys' bar and had two bottles of Radler before continuing to walk home.
Once I got home, I got a drink of water and went straight to bed.
Sunday, 15th September.
I was woken up at 3 am by a group of people in several cars shouting outside my apartment. I managed to get back to sleep before being woken up by the road sweeper at about 7 am. I managed to get back to sleep again and got up at 9 am. I got myself a coffee and sat down at my computer to attempt the Wordle puzzle. As I sat at my computer, I saw a message from my friend Tony, who was at the Buena Vista restaurant. I was supposed to meet him for coffee and had forgotten in my sleepy state. I put some washing in the washing machine before I forgot, and then I quickly washed and got dressed before walking along the beach to the restaurant where Tony was waiting for me.
As I sat down, the waiter approached me and handed me something. When I looked, it was my health insurance card. It must have fallen out of my pocket when I had coffee there after my blood test on Tuesday. I was pleased to have it returned, but it didn't really matter as I had cancelled it and got a new card being delivered next week.
We had some coffee, and I had a tostada with tomato for breakfast. When we left, I walked back to my apartment, and when I got home, I checked to see if my TV was working again. It was, so I watched the last two episodes of the Tulsa King before settling down to watch the Tottenham vs Arsenal, North London Derby. Arsenal had a few of their best players missing due to injury and suspension but still managed to beat Spurs 0-1. It was the third match in a row that Arsenal had beaten their old foes at White Hart Lane. Bragging rights stay with Arsenal, at least until the return game at the Emirates Stadium.
This evening, I had a bit of steak with fried onions, mushrooms, and an egg for dinner. After eating, I cleared up and decided to watch the football game again on catch-up TV. When I watch Arsenal in live games, I get pretty worked up and quite often miss some aspects of the game. In a crucial game like today's, that feeling is multiplied, so if I watch the game again, I can watch it feeling a lot more relaxed. I watched the game again and went to bed around midnight.