Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain
Summary: I spent the week juggling clinic visits, preparing for concerts, battling the heat, meeting friends for coffees and meals, and doing a huge amount of genealogy and website work. I had a couple of worrying moments with the heat and my heart rate, but also enjoyed some great social moments, a concert trip to Murcia, and the excitement of Arsenal finally signing a proper striker.
Monday, 7th July
I woke at 08:00 when my phone rang. I thought it was my alarm, but it was Lawrence calling. After a shower and coffee, I called him back, and he offered to take me to the clinic for my ankle dressing and then for coffee. At 09:15, he picked me up and dropped me at the health clinic.
The nurse cleaned the wound, which looked good. She tried to give me a 10:00 appointment for Wednesday, but I reminded her she had already booked me for 09:30 last week. She checked and laughed when she saw I was right. Afterward, Lawrence and I went to Café Prensa and joined Christine, Theresa and Oyvind.
Later, he dropped me at Rio Nalon, and I met Martin and Dave at No Name Café. It was boiling hot, so I stuck to bottled water. Sean kept us waiting for ages, which irritated me. When Dave finally dropped me home, I turned on the air conditioning and fell asleep in my armchair. I spent the evening working on my family tree.
Tuesday, 8th July
I woke at 07:00, showered and went to the clinic for my Sintrom test. The reading was perfect. I returned home and worked on genealogy until 11:30, then went to EconomyCash for rolls and pasta salad before meeting Martin at La Sombre.
Kate and Aria arrived back from holiday. Martin walked Kate home and left Aria with me. Dave joined us later. When I got home, I made ham and cheese rolls and watched TV. I messaged my friend Dave, who is supposed to stay with me next week, and he finally replied. I played CIV VI until nearly 23:00.
Wednesday, 9th July
I woke before my alarm but stayed in bed until it went off. After coffee, I went to the clinic for my ankle dressing. The nurse saw me immediately and gave me a new appointment for Monday. I collected my Sintrom results, which confirmed my dose was back to 4 mg a day.
My scooter battery was flashing low, but I didn’t charge it because I’ll be away for a couple of days. I updated my calendar, made a bacon roll and messaged my friend Gail about meeting before the Lionel Richie concert.
I added new genealogy pages and updated OG tags on my journal pages. After lunch, I fell asleep. Later, I printed my concert and bus tickets, panicked when I couldn’t find the Europe ticket, emailed the venue, then found it five minutes later. I watched PSG beat Real Madrid 4-0 in the Club World Cup.
Thursday, 10th July
I woke at 06:55 and turned off my alarm before it rang. After coffee and a failed attempt at Wordle, I cooked chicken in the air fryer to make rolls for my trip to Murcia. I packed my bag, updated my website and did some genealogy research.
Just after midday, I left for the bus stop to travel to Murcia to see Europe at the bullring.
Friday, 11th July
I returned to Los Alcázares at noon, walked home and immediately got a cold drink before collapsing into my armchair. I fell asleep quickly and woke late in the afternoon.
I listened to the TV for background noise to help with tinnitus, had lunch and dinner, and spent the rest of the day doing nothing except playing CIV VI. Before bed, I went to the garage to charge my disability scooter.
Saturday, 12th July
I stripped the bed and put the linen in the wash, then had coffee and did Wordle. While browsing Bluesky, I discovered I could change the feed settings, which delighted me. I hope to find more people to chat with there.
I went to EconomyCash on my scooter, dropped rubbish and recycling off, bought groceries and tea, and returned home to the air conditioning. I had pasta salad for lunch and chicken rolls for dinner.
Tonight, I watched “Man of Steel”, which was excellent. Afterwards, I entered some notes on Eurobilltracker and discovered PostCrossing. I loved the idea and signed up. I received three addresses to send postcards to and will post them on Monday.
I made my bed with clean linen and went to sleep around 23:00.
Sunday, 13th July
I was woken at 05:00 by noisy kids saying goodbye outside. I got back to sleep and woke at 08:45. After coffee and Wordle, I discovered my banner images were too small for social media previews, so I remade this week’s banner at 1200 × 630 and added it to the blog page.
One thing led to another, and suddenly it was 15:30. I fixed internal website issues and installed a new comment system. Too hot to cook, I had muesli with a banana.
I tidied the spare room for my friend Dave’s visit next week and hung up clothes I had forgotten about. I moved laundry around, had a chicken salad for dinner and played CIV VI.
Tonight, I finally heard the news I had been waiting for: Arsenal have agreed a deal for Viktor Gyokeres. Along with Kepa Arrizabalaga, Martin Zubimendi, Christian Nørgaard and Noni Madueke, Arsenal are building a proper squad at last. It feels good to be an Arsenal fan again.
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