✍Journal: Week 32, 2025.

In week 32 of 2025, my usual nurse returned to work at the health clinic, and I was pleased to see her back.  I had another quiet week spent trying to avoid the heat, but did meet my friend Debbie for coffee one morning.

📝Monday, 4th August.

After getting up and attending to my morning ablutions, taking my medication, checking my email, and completing the Wordle puzzle, I had some cereal for breakfast and then began working on my website. I added more OG tags to many of the website's pages, ensuring that the correct image and text are displayed when the pages are shared on social media. The outcome seems somewhat hit or miss, and it takes a while for some images and text messages to be processed through social media's cache memory.

At 1 pm, I visited the nurse at the health centre. I was glad to see my usual nurse had returned from her summer holiday. There was nothing wrong with the young, beautiful nurse who had stood in. She would keep changing the cream used on my ankle and didn't seem to want to clean it too roughly. My usual nurse seems a lot more determined to get the wound to shrink and heal, cleaning it thoroughly every time. She seemed to tut and shake her head to herself when she looked at the wound today. She gave it a good clean, covered it up and made me an appointment for Thursday.

When I left the health clinic, I went to see Martin at the office. I sat with him for about 30 minutes before ordering myself a pizza and taking it home when it arrived. When I had put my disability scooter away, I went back to my apartment and cut the pizza into pieces. I intended to eat half for lunch and save the other half for dinner later, but it tasted so good and I was so hungry, I ended up eating it all.

I spent the rest of the day watching TV and relaxing in my air-conditioned apartment.

📝Tuesday, 5th August.

I got up around 8 am today. I took my pills, checked for any messages online and did the Wordle puzzle, then messaged Martin to see if he wanted to meet for coffee. I remembered he was going to get his lottery tickets this morning and would be in Los Alcazares. I told him I would be going to Buena Vista for breakfast if he wanted to meet me.

I walked to the restaurant along the beachfront, sat down, and ordered a coffee and a tostada. As I sat there reading my Kindle, Martin arrived. We sat having a chat while watching the wildlife that was already preening itself and strutting along the beach or splashing in the water.

Martin left when he finished his coffee, and a short time later, I went back to my apartment to work on my website for a while. Just before midday, I left home and went to meet Martin and Dave at La Sombre Pizzeria in Los Narejos. We all sat there chatting for a couple of hours before Aria walked over to meet us. She was very proud as she had walked across without her mum following her. Mum checked her at one end of her short journey, and Dad watched her from the other side of the road, but she did cross the road on her own as we watched on.

When I left the office, I went to Harry's bar and Roccos bar, but both were quiet, so I continued on to J&G bar in Los Alcazares. I stopped there for a beer and attempted to do the quiz. The questions were not too difficult, but I didn't quite understand the concept of the quiz. It was great fun, but I will have to ask how to do it correctly before I try it again next time. I left after failing to attempt the quiz and went back to my apartment.

After cooling off a bit, I read a message from a genealogy email I had received from the Lost Cousins group. They had sent a link to some books that were on offer on Amazon for Kindle, and after reviewing the books, I purchased a couple to aid my research. I bought two books, called "Tracing your Prisoner Ancestors" and "Tracing your Army Ancestors". I had discovered several people among my research who had spent time in prison, and quite a few who had been in the army. I wanted to know how to research more effectively for records of their time in either setting.

📝Wednesday, 6th August.

When I got up to work on my website this morning, I could not access it, and it seemed to have disappeared entirely. I contacted the hosts, and they had to reinstall a backup of it. I had to redo some of the work I had been doing over the last couple of days, and they couldn't tell me what had caused it, but at least it was back up and running.

I spent the day working on my website and went to bed early.

📝Thursday, 7th August.

At around 4 am, I was woken up by some people in the square outside. One of them was shoving and shouting very loudly at someone with him while a group of others appeared to be trying to calm him down. They moved in a huddle as kids at school used to do when following a fight in the school playground. They ended up below my window, and the shouting and pushing got louder and more forceful. I tried to see who they were, but in my sleepy state and in the poor light, I couldn't make out their faces. After a few minutes, the guy who seemed to be the main protagonist moved off, and it quietened down.

Unfortunately, around 15 minutes later, he returned, and it appeared that he had summoned backup, as two more cars of people arrived. Again, I couldn't see well enough to see what was going on, but the shouting continued, this time for about 10 minutes. I had returned to bed when I heard another car pull up, and softer voices began speaking. I'm not sure if it was the police, but everything quietened down straight away, and I was able to get back to sleep.

I got up around 8:00 am, showered, and had some cereal for breakfast before heading to the health clinic. I arrived early and sat, reading my Kindle until I was called in. The nurse cleaned the wound, and it appeared to be getting better to me. She put cream, a gauze, and a plaster on it and then looked at my other leg, which had a red mark on it. It doesn't hurt or even itch, but she applied an ointment to keep the skin in good condition and gave me a small bottle to use at home.

When I left the clinic, I went to Mercadona and got some shopping before heading back to my apartment. It had got very hot again, and after turning on the air conditioning in my apartment, I did some more genealogy research and watched some TV.

📝Friday, 8th August.

I woke up feeling quite refreshed this morning and quickly checked for any messages before doing the Wordle puzzle online and having some cereal, then getting ready to meet my friend Debby. I left home around 10:30 am and took a bag of plastic recycling to the bin. It seems I have to get rid of at least three times the amount of plastic as any other rubbish. I dropped the rubbish in the bin and continued to No Name cafe on Rio Nalon.

When I arrived at the cafe, I parked my disability scooter in the shade of the building and sat at a table next to a table where my friend Mick was sitting with his mum. We chatted briefly and I ordered a coffee, a tostada and a bottle of water. My breakfast arrived about the same time as Debby, and she ordered herself a beer. I quickly finished my tostada and coffee, and Debby ordered another beer while I sat drinking my bottle of water. Debby told me about the problems she was having, including getting the furniture she had ordered for her new home delivered. I was looking for the waitress to get the bill, and Debby called her over, but before I could ask for the bill, Debby ordered another beer.

I slowly finished my bottle of water, and when I managed to catch the attention of the waitress, I asked for the bill. When it arrived, Debby insisted on paying for my coffee, tostada and bottle of water. We said goodbye to each other, but instead of going shopping, I decided to go straight home to get out of the midday sun. It was already about 35°c, and it was very humid. When I got home, I opened all the doors and windows to let some air in, pulled the curtains halfway across to provide some shade and put the ceiling fans on. I wanted to see if they would keep me cool enough so I wouldn't have to turn on the air conditioning.

I had no energy all afternoon and spent the time binge-watching episodes of The Resident. It is a series about a cocky young resident doctor in an American hospital. Some of the acting is terrible, but the storylines are quite good, and some quite sad. It is worth watching if you are at a loose end.

Before going to bed tonight, I cashed in some points from my internet searches and got a €5 Amazon voucher. I put it towards a set of travel bags that my friend Dave showed me when he was here. They are bags that, when zipped up, compress the clothes inside, allowing you to store more in your case. The set I got looked good on the website, and I hope it looks as good when I see it for real and that it does the job it's supposed to do. It will make my travel adventures a lot easier. The delivery is supposed to arrive on Monday, so I hope it doesn't arrive while I am at the health clinic.

📝Saturday, 9th August.

I woke up at about 6:45 am today. I got up, stripped the bed linen from my bed, and then put a load of clothes in the washing machine. Once the washing machine was running, I loaded the dishwasher in the kitchen and set that running. I got myself a pot of oolong and ginger tea and then sat down at my computer to check for email messages and work on the Wordle puzzle.

After completing the Wordle puzzle, I proceeded to the Cecotec website. The coffee machine I bought from them has stopped working again. They didn't repair it properly the last time it was returned, and the milky coffee function is not working. The machine has now stopped working completely and no longer serves black coffee. I am very glad I paid the extra couple of euros for the extended warranty. After going on the website, it was easy to arrange a return to the service department, and I now just have to wait for them to collect it.

After boxing up the coffee maker and ensuring it was ready for collection, I showered and then downloaded six more books to my Kindle before going to do some shopping. Mercadona was packed; I really hate shopping when there are so many people around. I don't understand why families have to all go shopping together. I find the summer shoppers in stores consist of:

• The Shopper:  A person who has a list and wanders around the store in a haphazard manner, picking items off the shelves and out of the fridges, checking them, and then passing them to the Trolley Pusher.
• The Trolley Pusher:  A person who follows the Shopper as closely as possible, making it easy for the Shopper to put items in the trolley without having to turn. The Trolley Pushers' second job appears to be blocking all access to the goods on sale in the store by parking themselves lengthwise behind the Shopper and preventing access to the goods for any other shoppers.
• Family:  This typically refers to a group, rather than a single person. Their job is to mill about the Trolley Pusher, making it more difficult for other Shoppers to get past or gain access to goods. This group typically consists of two subgroups.
  • Older people:  This group consist of parents, friends, or husbands, some of whom may also be part of the Trolley Pusher Group. These people are usually here for a social gathering, to meet friends in other Family Groups surrounding the Trolley Pusher. They have no other job other than to block aisles and infuriate other shoppers as much as possible.
  • Children:  This group consists of the children of the Shopper and possibly the Trolley Pusher. None of them wants to be there, most of them would prefer to be at home, and none of them contributes in any way to the shopping experience, other than to piss off other shoppers by getting in the way and slowing the whole Shopping experience down.

Because the store was so busy today, I abandoned my shopping expedition halfway through. As I managed to swerve a Family group, blocking not one but two aisles, I saw a till with only one single person in the queue. I immediately cut short my trip, and as I joined the queue, the lady in front of me was leaving, and I was served immediately. The lady on the checkout helped me back my bags of shopping, took my money and smiled at me as I left. I glanced behind me and saw that the queue behind me was now about six people deep. It was impossible to tell exactly how many shopping lots that was, as the Shoppers had the Trolley Pushers behind them and the Family groups milling around and wandering, looking for items the Shoppers had forgotten.

I made my way out of the store to find my disabled scooter blocked in by bicycles and shopping trolleys. Three more things that wind me up at the store during the summer.

• Why do people abandon their shopping trolley right outside the entrance to the store, blocking the way for shoppers and their entourage to enter or exit the store? Especially in the case of Mercadona, the shopping trolley park is located next to the entrance. Another 5 steps away, the trolley could be put back where other shoppers could find it, not blocking others.
• Cyclists who lock their bikes to a fence directly outside the shop entrance block the entryway and exit. There is a designated area for bicycles that is clearly marked and equipped with security cameras, ensuring the safety of bikes. It is clearly marked, and cyclists, yet again, are only thinking of themselves.
• Lastly, and one that really winds me up is car drivers who sit outside the store blocking the carpark roadways and entrance and exit to the store with their cars. If told to move, they tell people they will only be a minute while they wait for their partners. Park your car in a designated space to avoid blocking the entrance and exit. This way, your partners can get in and out more easily and return to you quicker. If you think the underground car park is too difficult to get into, you probably shouldn't be driving anyway and should stop and hand your driving licence back to the authorities.

Once I had moved enough trolleys to reach my disability scooter, I placed my bags on the arms and foot panel of my scooter and made my way past badly parked cars and pedestrians walking in the road to avoid them, then made my way home. I had considered stopping for breakfast on my way home, but it was getting too hot to be sitting in the direct sun again, and I returned to my apartment. When I got home, I put my disability scooter away in the garage, plugged it in to charge, and went up to my apartment, where I immediately turned on the air conditioning.

After putting my shopping away, I had a cold drink and some toast with avocado spread and an egg on top for breakfast. I conducted a bit more genealogy research and then binge-watched additional episodes of The Resident before the Arsenal vs Athletic Bilbao friendly football match. The game wasn't on TV, and Arsenal, for some reason, did not provide live radio commentary for any of their pre-season friendly games. They did, however, have score updates on their website at Arsenal.com, and I kept glancing at that while continuing to watch TV. Arsenal won the game 3-0, with new signing Viktor Gyokeres scoring his first goal for the club. The other two scorers were Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz.

When the game finished, I had a salad to eat and then watched TV for the rest of the day, stopping only to eat some chicken drumsticks later in the evening. I watched the James Bond film, No Time to Die, which I love. There was very loud music being played in Plaza de Espejo up to midnight again. I do not mind live events, but why do they have to have them so loud in a built-up residential area, and why do they have to finish so late? Los Alcazares Town Hall needs to start looking after the people who live here all year as much as the tens of thousands who turn up every summer and make a nuisance of themselves for a couple of months.

The heat today and all the days moaning about everything wore me out, and when I went to bed at about 12:45 am, I fell asleep despite the loud partygoers still milling around in the square outside.

📝Sunday, 10th August.

I woke up at 4 am and 7 am, got up to use the toilet, but then went back to bed to sleep. I finally got up around 8:45 am, had a cold drink, took my medication, and did the Wordle puzzle. After getting ready to go out, I walked to the Buena Vista restaurant for a coffee and a tostada. It wasn't that busy, but the staff were very slow today, and when I did get my tostada, the tomato served with it was more water than tomato. I won't bother going back until the hoards of tourists have left and they don't have to eek out the tomatoes so much. Strangely, as I sat there reading my Kindle and waiting for my bill, I overheard some Spanish people at an adjacent table complaining about the service and the tourists. I guess to them, unless they recognise me, I am just another tourist from England, not a full-time resident of 10 years. After waiting for around 30 minutes for the bill and giving up waiting for it, I counted out some change that would cover it and left it on the table as I went. I can understand slow service when the restaurant is busy, but there was no excuse for it today because it wasn't busy.

When I got back to my apartment, I typed some notes up on my website before deciding to have an early lunch at 1 pm. I had a salad wrap lunch and then sat down to watch TV. I continued watching series 2 of The Resident. There were some great episodes, and if my mum had been sitting with me watching, I would have had to keep passing her boxes of tissues for all the sad moments in the program; she would have bawled her eyes out.

Tonight, I watched the film "As Good As It Gets," starring Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt. It was a great film, and although I was very tired, I kept watching because I had to see how it finished. I went to bed around 12:45 after the film finished.

This week's exercise.

This is the exercise I managed this week.

Walking is measured by the steps taken.