✍Journal: Week 33, 2025.

Week 33 of 2025 was another sweltering hot week, during which I tried to stay out of the heat. I had a couple of deliveries and was pleased with myself when I put together a clothes horse to hang my washing on.

📝Monday, 11th August.

My morning started at around 8 am when the alarm went off. I got up, took a shower, and then got a cold drink. I took my medication and sat in front of the computer to check for any messages. I completed the Wordle puzzle and worked on my website for a bit, then left the apartment at 9:40 am, giving myself plenty of time to arrive at the health clinic to see the nurse.

When I arrived at the clinic, I sat down and began reading one of the books I had purchased the previous week, which focused on researching the genealogy of prisoners. I didn't have to wait long and was soon sitting with the nurse as she redressed my ankle. It looked good, and she didn't take long to clean it, redress it, and make me another appointment for Thursday. As soon as she had given me my appointment, I went straight back to the apartment. I had deliveries arriving, and possibly a collection company that would pick up my coffee machine.

I put my disability scooter away and went to my apartment, where I had a couple of pieces of Spanish tortilla for breakfast. I sat at my computer and began working on my website. Just before 1 pm, the man from Cecotec arrived and collected my coffee machine to take it for repair. Once again, he had no paperwork and could not provide a receipt for taking the machine, but he allowed me to photograph the work order on his mobile phone. After he left, I then returned to work on my computer. While I was working, I suddenly heard a strange noise in the apartment, which startled me enough to stop working to figure out what it was. The noise was my robot vacuum cleaner working. I am normally out when it cleans the house, and forgot it would start while I was in the apartment.

I stopped work at about 2 pm and got myself a Texas Wrap salad for lunch. The afternoon and evening were then spent working on my website, mainly adding OG tags to pages and then began the long job of deleting, adding or editing redirect links to old and current links on the website so that Google would hopefully begin to delete old pages from its index instead of me having to do it manually.

When I finished work for the day, I watched TV until I went to bed.

📝Tuesday, 12th August.

I got up at about 6:45,  took a shower and then sat at my computer with a cold drink. I took my medication, completed the Wordle puzzle, and got ready to go to the health clinic for my blood test.

I arrived at the health clinic around 7:45, and although there were a few people in front of me in the queue, most of them were there for full blood tests, and I was second in line for the Sintrom blood test. I saw the man who I thought was drunk the last time I had a blood test, and decided not to let him take my blood today, but as my turn to have my blood tested came, he left to go somewhere else. A lady performed my blood test using the pin-prick machine correctly and got it right the first time. The result was good, and my dose shouldn't change, but I will have to wait for the printed results from the blood lab to confirm.

I left the health clinic, and as I did, I saw my friend Rob outside. His dog had got his lead tangled around his disability scooter, and I helped him untangle it before we both left and went home. When I got home, I stopped briefly to pick up some rubbish. I took the rubbish to the bins and recycling to the recycling bin and then went to Cafe Prensa for a coffee.

At Cafe Prensa, I saw a few friends, Rob, Darren, Teresa, Christine, Steve and Bev. We all sat chatting for a while before leaving. I left and went the short distance to my health insurance office. I spoke to Sofia inside and told her that I wanted to cancel my private health insurance. I explained to her that the Spanish Public health system had surpassed my expectations and that I would stick with it rather than keep paying for private health insurance. She said that was fine, telling me that she would need it in writing or via email. I told her that I would email her tomorrow. Before I left, she informed me that the year's insurance coverage would run out in December and that my payments and coverage would continue until the end of the year. She also told me that if I ever needed help with anything, even just translating a letter or something, to call her and she would help me. She has been a great help to me over the years, and I will pop in to say hello to her every now and then, even when my insurance has finished.

It was about 11:30 when I left the ASSSA office, and I went to the nearby Chino to look for some postcards for the PostCrossing website. The Chino didn't have any, so I looked in the tourist office. The tourist office had hardly anything in it, and I wonder if anyone ever uses it. When I left the tourist office, I went to the new large Chino on the main road. It contained a lot of good stuff, but no postcards. I tried on a couple of shirts. The first shirt I tried was an XXL size, which was only a fraction too small, so I put it back and tried on an XXXL size. It was the same shirt, but it was way too small. I think the shirts and size labels must have no bearing on their real sizes. I gave up looking at shirts and went to the Pizzeria La Sombre.

At the Office, I met Martina and Dave, and we were joined by our friend Rob. After finishing a large bottle of water, I decided I was getting too hot and left earlier than usual. I said goodbye to my friends and went to a Chino shop on the main road by my apartment. I went inside and found some nice postcards that were only 50 cents each. I bought five and took them back to my apartment.

When I got to my apartment, I turned on the air conditioning and binge-watched episodes of The Resident on TV. I also did some research on the medication I take this evening. The medication has been making me short of breath in the morning after I take it, and I wanted to see if it could be responsible for it. I went to bed around 10:30 pm.

📝Wednesday, 13th August.

I woke at 5 am but was able to get back to sleep. I got up at 07:00.  I didn't take my medication this morning. After my research last night, I decided to try taking my medication before I go to bed rather than when I get up in the mornings.

I wrote the five postcards that I bought yesterday and got them ready to send to people in Finland, Belgium, Germany, Russia, and the USA. When I had written them all, I went out on my disability scooter and took them to the Los Alcazares post office. There was only a short queue, and I sent all the postcards to the different countries. I also bought a Once lottery ticket for a draw taking place on Friday. I also asked if I had any mail at the post office because I hadn't received any mail for over two months. For some reason, the post stops being delivered in the summer.

The lady behind the counter at the post office checked, and I did have two pieces of mail. My first postcard from the PostCrossing website had arrived, and it was from a lady in Virginia, USA. She must have looked at my website before sending me the postcard, as it featured pictures of Florida and included a nice note, saying she hoped it reminded me of my life in Florida. The card had taken 16 days to travel 6,477 km, although I didn't know how long it had been sitting in the post office. I will have to visit the post office regularly until the postman starts delivering to the apartment again. The second piece of mail from the Post Office was the debit card I had been waiting for, which I had been waiting for for around six weeks. It really pisses me off that the Spanish mail system holds mail rather than sends it out when it arrives.

When I got back to my apartment, I went on Amazon and ordered some felt pin boards to pin notes to in the lounge and kitchen. It was very hot again today, and an extreme heat warning had been given out, so I spent the rest of the day at home with the air conditioning on. For lunch, I got myself a sandwich with cheese spread and sliced turkey.

I spent the afternoon and evening working on my website, playing CIV VI and watching TV. Sometime during the evening, Amazon delivered a new clothes horse I was expecting to be delivered next Monday. I left it boxed up until I do my washing at the weekend, when I will put it up and use it for the first time. 

Before I went to bed, I took my daily medication.

📝Thursday, 14th August.

When I woke up around 8 am, I got myself some cereal for breakfast and watered all the plants on my balcony. Then, I got ready to go to the health clinic to have my ankle redressed. I went to the health centre on my disability scooter and parked outside in the shade of a tree before going in.

I didn't have to wait too long before I saw the nurse, and she quickly re-dressed my ankle and gave me a new appointment for the following Monday. After she had finished, I went to the reception desk in the health centre and collected my blood test results. Once again, I was pleased that the receptionist understood my Spanish and obtained my results for me, as well as provided me with the date for my next appointment. The result was good, and I don't have to go back until September 9th; the daily dose of Sintrom remains the same.

I left the health centre and on the way home, I stopped at the pharmacy near my home. I picked up my prescription tablets and left the pharmacy, but instead of going straight home, I stopped by the Economy Cash store to get a couple of shopping items. When I got home, I put the shopping away and then sat down to put my tablets in my pill dispenser. I was annoyed when I noticed that the pharmacy had given me the small tablet packs again. It doesn't make a significant difference in the cost of my prescription tablets, but it means I don't have enough to last four weeks and will have to get more tablets earlier than I should if they are given out in larger packs.

Because of the extreme heat, I spent the rest of the day indoors with the air conditioning on. I took my daily medication when I went to bed around 11 pm.

📝Friday, 15th August.

Today was another really hot day, with the heat reaching 40 °C on my balcony. I stayed indoors all day working on my website, adding OG tags to more pages and managing more redirect links on Google.

Tonight I watched the first game of the new Premier League season, Liverpool vs Bournemouth. It was a great game to watch, which Liverpool won 4-2. The scoreline flattered Liverpool, and they were lucky to win the game. Indeed, Bournemouth can feel hard done by and perhaps should have won themselves, given that Liverpool scored their third and fourth goals in extra time and Bournemouth had a goal disallowed.

I took my daily medication and went to bed around 10:30 pm.

📝Saturday, 16th August.

I woke up at 6:45 and, because I could not get back to sleep, got up at 7. As soon as I was up, I put a load of washing in the washing machine.

I spent an hour working on my website, deleting outdated redirects and updating others. At around 9:15, I walked to Buena Vista restaurant for breakfast, but it was still closed, so I continued to the No Name Cafe on Rio Nalon. I had coffee and a tostada and sat reading my Kindle. My current read is about tracing prisoners in jail, and the history of British prisons was fascinating, something you don't normally think about.

After breakfast, I went home and slowly put together the clothes horse, placing it on my balcony. It wasn't difficult, but the heat outside made me short of breath, and it took me a while. Once it was put together, I put the washing that had just finished on it to dry. I was pleased with my efforts and sat back inside with the air conditioning on. As I recovered, a gust of wind caught the washing on the clothes horse and twisted it over, causing it to lean against my plants, and I had to straighten it up again. I moved it inside the apartment so it wouldn't be blown over again, and then I sat and watched TV.

It didn't take the washing long to dry, and after putting it all away, I moved the clothes horse into the spare bedroom. The frame had twisted and become loose. I don't think I could have put it together properly, and I will have to review it all again before using it again. 

This evening I watched the Aston Villa vs Newcastle football match. It was a terrible game until one side had a player sent off. It became a bit better and more interesting, but still ended in a 0-0 draw. When it finished, I continued working on my website and watched the Wolves vs Manchester City football match as I worked. This game was much better, and Manchester City played well, winning 0-4.

I took my daily medication and went to bed around 11:30 pm.

📝Sunday, 17th August.

I woke up around 6:45 am today. I got myself a cold drink and did the Wordle puzzle online, then checked my email and message apps.

I felt quite good this morning, and I am convinced that it is due to changing the time I take all my medication. When I started taking the tablets for hypertension, I asked the doctor if it mattered what time I took them and if they could be taken at the same time as my other tablets. I was told it didn't matter what time I took them, as long as I took them at the same time every day. Because I have a poor memory, I started taking them as soon as I got up, and it became a routine that was easy to remember. I never really got on with the hypertension tablets and was always short of breath and found my heart racing after taking them. I conducted online research on them, and the results indicated that although the information I was given was correct, taking them before going to sleep at night appeared to be more beneficial. I decided to take the hypertension tablet at night. I also researched the Sintrom I take for blood thinning, and it stated that it is better taken at night before going to bed. Because of this research, I switched the time I take my medication from when I wake to when I go to bed. In the short time since doing this, I have felt more alert, had more energy and been breathing better.

At 8:30 am, I walked along the beach to the Buena Vista restaurant. Although online it shows as opening at 8:30 am, it was closed with all the shutters down again. I continued to Rio Nalon and went to the No Name Cafe. I had a coffee and a tostada and sat reading my Kindle. It was very pleasant and not too hot. Just after I had ordered a second coffee, a group of around 14 English tourists arrived and immediately began rearranging the café's tables so they could sit together in one group. I wonder why it is so necessary for such large groups to sit together for such a short time while they have a coffee. 

I paid my bill and walked back towards my apartment. It was about 9:45 when I walked past the Buena Vista restaurant, and it was open. I suppose the opening times listed on the Internet are an hour off, and whoever is responsible for their digital advertising needs to update them. If people keep turning up to find it closed, they will leave and not return. I went back to my apartment to wait for my Amazon delivery, which included a set of pins/tacks to use for pinning things to my new pin boards.

I continued to work on my website and listened to Michael Ball on Radio Two. I deleted some more old redirect links and then started adding descriptions to my photos from the NCL Spirit, which I took during my cruise from Hawaii to Alaska. I stopped around midday to cook myself a breaded chicken fillet for lunch. The walk this morning must have made me hungry; I just hope I didn't fall asleep during the football game this afternoon after eating.

After lunch, Amazon made the delivery I was waiting for. The pins were brilliant. I bought ones with big wooden heads that are easy for me to see with my poor eyesight. I pinned up my prescriptions and lottery tickets on the board I had put near my computer. I put the postcard I received last week on two boards in my lounge/hallway, and pinned some cooking recipes to the board in my kitchen.

I watched the Chelsea vs Crystal Palace game in the afternoon. It was a 0-0 draw, and I think Crystal Palace were unlucky not to win, but I didn't mind as the 0-0 result gave me good points for my Fantasy Football side. I watched the Manchester United vs Arsenal game, which Arsenal won 0-1, but I think they were lucky to win. Arsenal looked a bit leggy, and their passing wasn't great, while Manchester United, I felt, played better. The man of the match award went to the Arsenal goalkeeper, and I think that tells you all you need to know. Arsenal were lucky to get all three points.

Before going to bed, I continued working on my website, deleting over 800 outdated links from the Google Index. I finished working around 9:15 pm and then watched TV until I went to bed around 11 p.m.

This week's exercise.

This is the exercise I managed this week.

Walking is measured by the steps taken.