2024, Week 49 journal.

In week 49 of 2024, I met a few different friends, some of whom I hadn't seen for a while. The weather started to drop quickly in the evenings, and my heating began to be put on more regularly. 

Monday, 2nd December.

I woke late this morning at nearly 9 am. I got a coffee, did the Wordle puzzle and did some work on my website to put back some of the work that I had lost over the weekend. I didn't realise how late it was because I was working on my computer and when I realised how late it was, I rang Dave to ask for a lift to the office. Unfortunately, he was in the hospital waiting to see a doctor. I apologised for bothering him and instead went to work on my disability scooter.

I arrived at the office a couple of minutes late, but Martin was also late, so he would never know. When Martin arrived, we sat chatting, and his dad, Dave, arrived from the hospital with his wife, Viv. We all sat chatting and left around 2:30 pm. I decided to pop into the J&G Cocktail bar on the way home. I stopped in for a quick beer and then went back to my apartment.

Once I got in, I had some lamb for my dinner, followed by one of my homemade apple and raisin crumbles with custard. The food knocked me out, and I fell asleep in my chair, waking up about an hour later. I carried on doing more work on my website and stopped around 8 pm. I wanted to watch a TV series that I could binge-watch. I searched and found one called Blindspot. I watched the first four episodes before going to bed. It was brilliant.

Tuesday, 3rd December.

I woke up at a more normal 6 am today. I got up and had a coffee before doing the Wordle puzzle and then doing some work on my website, adding details for my newly discovered 3rd great-grandmother, Mary Hughes.

At around 11:15 am, I left home and walked to the office in Los Narejos. I took the walk slowly but arrived a little early, so I walked to Cafe Verdilli for a coffee. I ordered a coffee and saw my friend Steve outside, so I sat with him for a chat while I drank my coffee. At about 12:20, I finished my coffee and walked back to the office to meet Martin. Dave joined us a short while later, and we sat discussing what we would do if we won the lottery, travelling the world, remembering old times and people we knew.

When Dave left, I grabbed a lift off of him, and he dropped me in Los Alcazares. I walked to J&G Cocktail for a quick beer before walking home. Things didn't quite work out like that, though, and I got chatting with people I knew, people I didn't know, and friends I hadn't seen for a while. I saw my friend Clara in the bar, and she said she would meet me to act as a translator for me when I went to the health centre tomorrow. We arranged for me to call her when I was ready. I didn't leave until gone 9 pm, and I was able to make an excellent impression of the well-known pissed newt as I walked home. While walking home, my knee gave way, and I was glad I had my walking stick to catch me.

I managed to get home without getting lost, falling over or banging into anything and as soon as I got in, I put the heat on and got under a blanket in my massage chair to watch TV for a while. I watched more episodes of Blindspot and went to bed around 11 pm.

Wednesday, 4th December.

When I got up this morning, I had a coffee and then realised I had no milk, so I had to have it without. I do not like it much without milk and will switch to tea until I get some milk for my coffee. I checked my messages, did the Wordle puzzle, and pottered about until around 10:30. Then, I walked to Avenida Cafe to meet Clara. I ordered a coffee and a tostada and rang Clara. She said she would be with me shortly, and I ate my tostada while I waited.

When Clara arrived, we chatted briefly and then walked to the Health Centre. Clara gave the girl my letter from the Spanish health department and my TIE card. The girl looked through some files, studied her computer, and then told me that I needed to show her my Padron. I hadn't been told this before, and I will now need to get an updated copy of it from the Council Office. When we left, Clara told me to ring her when I got it, and she would come back to the Health Center with me.

Clara went to meet someone else, and I looked at the time and didn't think I had enough time to walk home for a coffee and get back out to go to La Playa bar to meet my friend Wayne by 1 pm, so I went straight to the bar. I sat outside and ordered a coffee. It was quite probably the worst coffee I have ever had. I didn't know if it was the coffee or the milk, but it was vile.

As I sat outside, killing time, my friends Karen and Colin walked past. They sat down for a chat, and we talked about our different holidays. They told me about the Alaska cruise they had booked to go on and asked if I had any tips. I told them about the short walking tour I had been on at Skagway and the helicopter flight I had taken onto the Mendenhall Glacier from Juneau.

The time passed very quickly while we talked, and at 1 pm, my friend Wayne arrived. We all continued talking for a while before Wayne and I left to go for lunch at Casa de Papel. We walked to the restaurant and found it closed. I had seen it had reopened this week after a short break and was surprised to see it closed. When I checked this on their Facebook page, I found out that the only day they are not open during the week is a Wednesday. We walked a little further and went to Ramons instead.

The meal was okay this week. The salad was good, as always, and the veal stew starter I had was fantastic, but I didn't think much of the grilled chicken that was the main course. It was very bony and looked like a selection of chicken wings and other bits of the carcass rather than a piece of chicken. The cheesecake was lovely, as was the glass of wine. Wayne and I chatted for a couple of hours before leaving and walking to J&G Cocktail for a game of pool and a beer.

When we arrived, we got a beer and chatted while waiting for the pool table to become available. As we chatted, our friend Andy arrived with a girl named Sandra. We stood around chatting and drinking our beer. Wayne and I had a couple of games when the pool table became available. It soon became apparent that I hadn't played for many years and that my eyesight was getting worse. I had to put my glasses on to see the cue ball on a couple of occasions, but this didn't help with seeing the longer shots. Wayne won both games, and I realised I would have to practice more and get my eyes tested again soon.

We all left around 5 pm, and I walked home along the beachfront. When I got home, I put the heating on and watched a few episodes of Blindspot before getting ready to watch the Arsenal vs Manchester United game. I tried to get a short sleep as I was pretty tired, but I could not drop off.

Arsenal played quite well, but so did Manchester United, and Arsenal couldn't break down United's defence. At half-time, the game was 0-0. In the second half, Arsenal stepped up their game, playing quicker and with more drive. They won the game with two goals scored from corners, and Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya made a fantastic save to keep Arsenal ahead at 1-0. The win was Arsenal's fourth in a row after a poor spell of games, and I hope they can win all their games in December. On paper, they should win them all, but the reality is often very different.

I went to bed after the game, but after laying in bed, wide awake and not feeling like I would drop off to sleep, I got back up and watched episodes of Blindspot again. My legs were aching, and this was causing one of them to twitch now and then, which stopped me from sleeping.

Thursday, 5th December.

I stayed in my chair all night last night, unable to drop off to sleep. I had watched Blindspot all night. At 7 am, I went to bed but only managed to get a couple of hours of sleep before waking up again. Just after 9 am, I got up, took my tablets, and attempted to do the Wordle puzzle. I did manage to complete the puzzle, but my overtired brain did not function properly this morning.

Luckily, I had no plans for today and did have food in the house, which meant I didn't have to go out. I stayed in my pyjamas all day, watching TV. During the afternoon and evening, I dropped off and got some sleep, but probably not more than a couple of hours throughout the day.

I went to bed at 10 pm, hoping that I would be able to drop off.

Friday, 6th December.

I woke around 7:30 when the road sweeper came past my apartment. I slept very well last night and felt much better for it. I got up and got myself some breakfast. I used a glass to make a round hole in a slice of bread and then put the bread in my air fryer on some baking paper. I sprayed the bread with some olive oil and broke an egg into the hole in the bread. I seasoned it and then put grated cheese and mushrooms all over the bread and egg. I placed the "bread hole" back over the egg and placed the cheese on that as well. I put the air fryer on and baked everything for 10 minutes before lifting it all out.

It tasted lovely, and I washed it down with a pot of Jasmine and peach green tea. I had nothing planned again today and decided to take it easy again. My legs were still sore after the walking I had done earlier in the week, and I will have to rest them before I do more walking.

This afternoon, I wanted to make myself a carrot and orange soup. I chopped an onion and then opened up the carrots I bought a couple of days ago. I was disappointed to find that, just like the previous bag I opened, they were turning mouldy, and I had to throw them away.

As I couldn't make the soup, I added four chicken thighs to the onions, poured some olive oil over them and fried them, browning the chicken. Once this had been done, I added a handful of chopped coriander and some new potatoes from a jar, along with a jar of Moroccan cooking sauce and let it simmer for 30 minutes. Once it had cooked, I cooked some rice in the microwave and then had the Moroccan Chicken with some rice. It was beautiful, and there was enough to save some for dinner tomorrow.

I spent the evening watching TV and doing some more research on my family tree.

Saturday, 7th December.

I slept well again last night and woke up at 7:30 am when the alarm went off on my phone. I got up to turn it off as I had left my phone in the lounge. I stripped the linen from my bed, put it in the wash basket, and placed the clothes in the basket in the washing machine. I sat at my computer with a large glass of orange juice and did the Wordle Puzzle.

I went to the Mercadona store around 9:30 am to get a few bits of shopping. I got the groceries I wanted and went straight home. After I put my disability scooter in the garage, took my shopping upstairs, and unpacked it, I realised I hadn't got the onion I wanted. Instead of going back to Mercadona, I walked to the small Asian store near my house, bought a single onion, and returned it to my apartment.

I got myself an early lunch and had two chapati rolls with cheese ham, and some Ranch dressing. After making them, I placed them in my sandwich toaster and toasted them for three minutes. They turned out really good. The toaster I have doesn't make good toasted sandwiches because of the size of bread in Spain, but the ones made using the chapati rolls come out cooked to perfection and will make a big part of my meals going forward. Tomorrow, I will make some soup and a couple of chapati rolls to go with it, which will make a beautiful evening meal.

I binge-watched more episodes of Blindspot in the evening and at night. It is a series I can't stop watching, and I highly recommend it. I went to bed around 10 pm and remembered I hadn't made my bed up, so I had to put fresh linen on it before getting in it and going to sleep.

Sunday, 8th December.

I slept well again last night and didn't get up till around 8:30 am. I got myself a coffee, had some cereal for breakfast, and did the wordle puzzle. After a second coffee, I went into the kitchen to make the carrot, coriander, and orange soup I had been meaning to make for a few weeks.

Carrot soup and lamb chapati.The soup recipe was very basic. I chopped up and put an onion in a pan with a bag of carrots that I also chopped up. When they softened a little, and the onion browned a little, I added a handful of chopped fresh coriander and a litre of vegetable stock. I brought the mixture to a boil and then simmered on low heat for an hour before blending it with a hand blender. Then I added a cup of fresh orange juice, stirred and reheated it all.

The soup smelt fantastic and tasted great. I had a bowl of it for lunch with two roasted lamb chipatas. I was absolutely stuffed after eating my lunch, and because the Fulham vs Arsenal football match would be starting soon, I put off cleaning up the kitchen and sat in my massage chair to watch the game.

Unfortunately, although some would say, fortunately, I had read the start time of the Arsenal game wrong and turned the TV on during halftime, and Fulham were winning 1-0. Arsenal played well in the second half, having both good and bad luck. Good luck came when they had a narrow offside decision that went in their favour, and they equalised, bringing the score to 1-1. Bad luck came in injury time when they had a narrow offside decision go against them, and a winning goal was disallowed. The game finished 1-1, and I don't think Arsenal will catch Liverpool now.

Arsenal must buy a centre forward in January if they want to win anything. I have been saying this, it seems, for around six transfer windows, and they still haven't bought one. If they don't buy one this year, I think a top-four finish is all they can hope for.

After the game, I was going to watch the Tottenham vs Chelsea game, but I watched Blindspot again and just checked the score for the game on my phone. I am now up to series three of Blindspot and am finding it difficult to watch anything else. The story is excellent, but they must have used up more blanks than any other TV series in history with all the gunfire in it. I have to turn the sound down every time there is a fight in the show, as the sound seems to go up a few decibels every time there is any fighting or gun action.

I watched TV until around 11 pm and went to bed after putting my bedroom heater on.