2024, Week 48 journal.

Week 48 was tranquil in part due to being unwell halfway through. I did lots of work on my website, had lunch with one friend, and arranged to have lunch with another friend next week. I also got tickets to see Simple Minds next year.

Monday, 25th November.

I slept well last night, even after going to bed so early last night. I woke around 4 am, but after using the bathroom, I fell asleep quickly and didn't wake up until my alarm went off at 7:30 am. When I got up, I got a coffee. I sat at my computer and checked my email before posting last week's blog page to my website. I was expecting an ink delivery for my printer today, but when I checked, it looked like the delivery had been held up at Alicante airport, so I decided to risk going out to see Martin later.

For breakfast, I made a bacon, egg, and mushroom roll. Once I had finished breakfast, I attempted to make the final payment for my holiday in India. The money had been transferred to my regular account, and I was able to make it. I had been doing some research on my friend Martin's family tree, and I printed off a report listing his ancestors for the last seven generations to take with me when I meet him later.

Afterwards, I got on my disability scooter and went to meet Martin at Pizzeria La Sombre (The Office). When I got there, I was a bit late, but Martin hadn't arrived either. As I sat down, the barman brought me a drink, and I checked for any messages on my phone in case the delivery date had been updated for my printer ink. It hadn't, and as I sat down to start working, Dave arrived, and Martin arrived a short time later.

As we sat talking, a UPS driver arrived. I approached the driver and showed him the delivery details for my ink and asked him if it was, in fact, delayed or if he maybe had it with him. He checked online and confirmed that it would be delivered tomorrow and that he would deliver it. He told me that he would call me tomorrow to check where I was so that I didn't have to stay in to wait for the delivery all day.

I stayed with Martin and chatted until Aria arrived. Aria insisted that we all do a bit more work, so we sat down, chatting and discussing the problems of the world. When Aria and Martin left to go home, I went to the Avenida cafe/bar in Los Alcazares to chat with my friends George and Yvonne. George took details of my new appointment to go to the vaccination centre in Cartagena in December and said that he would take me to save me from having to go on the bus.

When I left, I went home and put the heating on in my apartment for a while to warm myself up. This evening, I arranged to meet my friend Debbie for coffee tomorrow at lunchtime and to go for a menu of the day meal somewhere. I spent the evening doing more research on my family tree and didn't get to bed until midnight.

Tuesday, 26th November.

I was still quite tired after getting up today after last night's family tree research. It took a couple of coffees for me to wake up properly, and when I did, I did the Wordle puzzle and checked online for my ink delivery. The delivery was coming today, and I decided not to meet Martin but to wait at home for the delivery before meeting Debbie. I spent the morning doing genealogy research, and at around 11:30 am, the UPS driver called me to check where I was and told me he would be there soon.

I went downstairs and waited for the driver. I collected the ink from him and went back to my apartment. I worked on my website till lunchtime and then left to meet Debbie. I walked along the beachfront and turned towards the town hall in Los Alcazares. I had just sat down and ordered a coffee at La Estribor next to the town hall when Debbie messaged me to tell me she had finished her meeting. I messaged her back and told her I was outside the cafe.

When Debbie arrived, we sat chatting and had a couple of coffees before going to get something to eat at Ramon's. The menu of the day was delicious and at a reasonable price. I had soup for my starter, pork filets and chips for my main course, and cheesecake for my dessert, and I washed it all down with a glass of white wine. Because Debbie didn't want her dessert, I ordered and ate her whisky ice cream as well.

When we had finished our meal and finished chatting, we left to go home. We said goodbye outside the restaurant, and as Debbie went back to her car, I walked to the J&G Cocktail bar for a swift pint before going home. I sat and had a quick chat with Yuan, said hello to my friend Ady and left when I finished my beer. I walked back along the beach to my apartment.

This evening, I watched the Sporting CP, aka Sporting Lisbon vs Arsenal football match. I wasn't hopeful that Arsenal would win or even manage to get a draw because the opposition hadn't lost at home for 18 months and was scoring, on average, four goals a game this season. I needn't have worried. Arsenal played very well and made Sporting CP look very average. Arsenal won the game 1-5, and hopefully, this result, along with the 3-0 win they had over Forest last weekend, will lead to them building a string of good wins.

I went to bed a short time after the game finished with a big smile on my face.

Wednesday, 27th November.

This morning, I woke up and got a coffee before sitting at my computer and doing the Wordle puzzle. I sat at my computer and continued to do my genealogy research and mid-morning, the postman arrived with my mail. I was pleased to see that a debit card had arrived from the bank in England but disappointed to find it was one they had sent a long time ago and had already cancelled because it hadn't arrived. I kept it in case they needed any information from it and went back to my research.

As I was working, I had an email from JustYou saying that my payment for the holiday had arrived, and they attached all the documents for my trip to India. I am now officially excited about going to one of the most interesting countries in the world. I tried to get my e-visa for my entry into India but discovered you can't apply until the month before you go. When I attempted to get it, I remembered the trip advisor telling me that I had to apply the month before I went when I booked the trip, so I wasn't worried. I did spend some time looking at the hotels I would be staying in and was pleased to see on my paperwork that I had been given free access to the executive lounge at Heathrow, and that assistance had been pre-booked to help me get to the plane from check-in.

It was starting to get cold in my apartment, and outside, it was overcast and grey, so I put my heating on to warm myself up. I had a very relaxed afternoon. I sat in my chair with a blanket over me and continued to research my family tree. It's strange when you finally bust through a brick wall in your research, and hundreds of new people appear in your tree. I quite often wonder how many of them knew each other. In tight-knit communities, I would imagine many knew each other or at least passed on the street without ever knowing they were related. 

This afternoon, I played Civilization VI on my computer. It occupied me for many hours, and I was able to stay warm at home.

Tonight I watched the first half of the Liverpool vs Real Madrid game. I was expecting lots of goals, but it was 0-0 at halftime, and after working on my family tree all day, my eyes were very sore. I turned the TV off at 10 pm and went to bed.

Thursday, 28th November.

I woke up a couple of times during the night to use the bathroom but got back to sleep quickly both times. When I woke up just after 8 am, I got up, got a coffee and sat down at my computer. I did the Wordle puzzle and got the word on my 5th go. I thought today's word was spelt differently, so I was lucky to get it.

After the coffee had kicked in, I took a shower and then collected all the plastic recycling to be taken to the bin. I got on my disability scooter and took it all to the bin on the way to the Mercadona store. At Mercadonna, I bought some coffee because I didn't want to be left without any like last week. I also bought a few groceries, including some freshly squeezed oranges and some coriander, so that I can make some carrot, coriander, and orange soup tomorrow. I used to make this for my mum and haven't made any for a while, so I look forward to tasting it when it is made.

When I got home from my shopping trip, I put my groceries away and ate a burger I had bought in Mercadona. I do think their €3 cheeseburgers are good value and taste good. Why anyone would buy one from Burger King or McDonalds is beyond me. When I had finished my burger, I sat in my armchair and continued the game of Civilisation VI, which I had started the day before.

During the evening I saw that the group Simple Minds were playing in Murcia in July next year, so I quickly booked a ticket to see them. I remember when I was a teenager, they were a huge group, and I have great memories of dancing away to them in Fifth Avenue nightclub in Southsea. My mate Dave Hardy and I used to go every week, twice a week, most weeks. As I was reminiscing, I thought of Dave and messaged him to see if he wanted to go. He did, and after booking another ticket, I now have a guest for a long weekend in July.

My apartment was getting colder again tonight, so I put my bedroom heater on relatively early to warm it up before I went to bed. Just before I went to bed, I received a message from my friend Gail asking me to get her a ticket to see Lionel Richie next year. I told her to message me in the morning in case I forgot and went to bed at 10 pm.

Friday, 29th November.

I didn't sleep very well last night. Something I ate, probably the chicken, went right through me, and I was up twice during the night to run to the toilet. When I got up just before 7 am, I had to run to the toilet again. I got some water and sat down at my computer. A few minutes later, I was running to the toilet again and had to suffer as my bottom made a perfect impression of Niagra Falls, dropping thousands of tonnes of water over the edge.

I was soon back at my computer but didn't think I would be leaving the apartment today. My first job was to contact the hotel I had booked for the Simple Minds concert to make the booking for two instead of one. They replied I would have to make it via Booking.com, so I went online and cancelled the booking for one and made it for two. I sent Dave a message to tell him the tickets had all been bought and the hotel booked. It is a long way off at the moment, but I'm looking forward to seeing my old friend again after so long.

My stomach was still rumbling, but I was hungry, so I had some porridge with a spoonful of honey in it at around 9:30 am. I fell asleep in my chair after eating it, and when I woke up an hour later, I felt a little better. I had another bowl of porridge with honey and then had another sleep in my chair. I woke up around 11:30 am feeling a bit better but still tired and a little weak. I decided to have a lazy day watching films on TV and to eat small meals throughout the day to make sure my stomach could handle them.

I had a cheese and ham roll for dinner tonight and tried to watch the Brighton vs Southampton game, but a mixture of a boring game, a bad stomach and feeling tired meant that I went to bed before the first half of the game finished. I hoped that a good night's sleep would help me feel better tomorrow.

Saturday, 30th November.

I woke up feeling a lot better than I did when I went to bed early last night. I stripped the linen from my bed, put it in the washing machine, and then got myself a coffee. I did the Wordle puzzle and read all the messages on my computer via Facebook, email, messenger or WhatsApp. I wanted to watch a couple of football matches today, but I also wanted to write more about my holiday in Japan. It seemed that writing up my notes about the holiday was taking a lot longer than the holiday took itself. This could be because the photos from Japan are all edited separately, but my lack of energy and ability to get up and go seems to have slowed me down as well.

The longer the morning went on, the better I felt, and at midday, I made myself a toasted cheese and ham sandwich. I did some more genealogy research and made a couple of discoveries about my 3rd great-grandfather, Charles Jones, including when he was married, who he married, and details for five more of his ten children.

I made lots of adjustments to my website and cooked myself fish and chips before settling back to watch the West Ham vs Arsenal game on TV. Arsenal were brilliant in the first half, but at one point, West Ham decided to make a fight of it. Arsenal were winning 0-4 after 36 minutes, and then West Ham scored two quick goals to launch a comeback. Arsenal scored a fifth, and at halftime, the score was West Ham 2, Arsenal 5. The second half couldn't stay at the same tempo as the first, and it looked like both teams had decided to settle for the halftime score. The game finished West Ham 2, Arsenal 5, and Arsenal moved into second place behind Liverpool in the Premier League.

I stayed up to watch the game again on MOTD and went to bed after the game had finished.

Sunday, 1st December.

When I got up today, I had coffee and decided to install an icon package that I had bought on my website. I backed up the website in case of emergencies and sent the web hosts a query asking how to install the package. The web hosts said that they could install the FontAwesome package for me, so I let them, thinking it would save me work.

I did the Wordle puzzle and got myself some breakfast before going back to do some more genealogy research. Midmorning, my website hosting company messaged me to tell me the icon package had been installed correctly for me. After finishing the research, I went to look at my website to check if the extension was working correctly.

When I looked at my website, it was unavailable. The hosting company hadn't checked what they had done. I contacted them and told them that they had done it incorrectly and that my website was now unavailable. A few hours later, they messaged me to apologise and told me that it was now working correctly. I took a look at my website, and it all appeared to be working, so I carried on editing the website pages with the new icon package.

After working on the website for a few hours, I noticed that the package wasn't working correctly. After spending hours looking for the problem, I decided that the package had not been installed as per FontAwesomes' instructions. The only way to correct it was to roll the site back to before the hosting companies failed installation. I did this myself but was not happy as it meant that I had lost all of the work I had done today since doing the site backup. I restored the site and got the icon package working from the FontAwesome site. It wasn't how I wanted it to work, but it will do until I work out how to install the font package myself.

This evening, I attempted to watch the Liverpool vs Manchester City football game. I couldn't believe how bad Liverpool made Manchester City look. Liverpool won the game 2-0, and Manchester City were better in the second half, but in reality, they were nowhere near the performances they were putting in last year. Pep Guardiola has just signed a contract extension at Manchester City. I'm left wondering if the City owners regret this now.

After the football match, I bought an add-on for the Civilization VI game that I play and started playing the game. I love playing all the different countries I have been to in the game. Although it is only a game, it is a way of passing time. I find it very relaxing and quite educational, as much of the history in the game is spot on. I eventually couldn't keep my eyes open any longer and went to bed just after midnight.