✍Journal: Week 43, 2025.

In week 43 of 2025, my cousin Peter stayed with me for four nights. On the day he left, my friend Markus arrived for a one-night stay on his way to Madrid. I did a lot of walking and will have to rest more next week.

📝Monday, 20th October.

I woke up around 7:00 when my alarm went off, and it reminded me to take some antibiotics. I took the tablets, listened to my phone read the enews headlines to me, then got up, washed, and got a drink and some cereal. I published last week's blog on my website and then sat down at my computer to do the Wordle puzzle. Unfortunately, for some reason, the Wordle puzzle wouldn't let me log in to play this morning. I hope it returns soon so I don't lose my streak of correct guesses.

I suddenly remembered that I had to get some money for Dave for my TV box today. I jumped on my disability scooter, took a large bag of rubbish to the bin, and went to the ATM in Los Alcazares to withdraw some money. After withdrawing the money, I returned to my apartment and entered the bills on the ↗️EurobillTracker website. I had a cup of tea and tried to log in to the Wordle puzzle site again, but was still unable to do so.

After drinking my tea, I went to Mercadona to get some water and a couple of salads, a chopping board because my wooden one had split, and some Fairy Liquid. I wondered what I would remember to get as I set off for the shops and then onto Los Narejos to meet Martin. I went to EconomyCash to get some shopping, then met Martin at Pizzeria la Sombre. He arrived just after me, and his dad, Dave, arrived shortly afterwards. I gave Dave the money I had for him, and we all sat chatting. As we sat chatting, I received a message from DHL saying they had attempted to deliver my new disability scooter to my apartment and that it would be left at a local depot for me to collect. I was not happy that they hadn't told me it was coming; I would not have gone out if I had known they were delivering it a week early.

I didn't want to do any more washing up when I got home, so I ordered a takeaway pizza from Pizzeria la Sombre and took it straight home. After eating my pizza, I collected a spare key from my neighbour, Liz, to give to my cousin Peter when he arrived later. It made sense for him to have a key in case we got separated. As I sat back down, my alarm went off, reminding me to take my next lot of antibiotics. I took them and settled down in front of the TV for a nap, fully expecting to fall asleep. I wasn't disappointed, and I fell asleep for an hour.

I worked on my website and waited for my cousin Peter to arrive. His flight was on time, and I tracked his flight as it landed at Corvera. A short time later, he messaged me to say he had landed, was already through customs, and was in a taxi on his way to me. About 30 minutes later, he phoned me to tell me he was outside but couldn't see my door number on the video intercom. I said not to worry that I would walk downstairs and let him in. I walked down and opened the door to see him standing outside a house at the other end of my short street, on the opposite side from my apartment. I laughed, and he walked back to my apartment.

We went inside and sat, talking and catching up for hours. We hadn't seen each other since 🔗my sister got married 17 months ago.

📝Tuesday, 21st October.

I woke up when my alarm went off at 7:00 this morning. When I got up and went to get a cup of tea, Peter was already up and sitting in the lounge. I made us both a cup of tea. I had to go to the health clinic for a blood test. Peter said he would walk with me, and afterwards, we would get a cooked breakfast somewhere. We walked to the health clinic, arriving just as it opened. 

We went in and sat down inside. I was called through fairly quickly, and I had my blood test done by a young man who looked about 12 years old, overseen by a nurse who was probably only in his late twenties or early thirties. I felt very old. The test reading was a little high; my INR was 3.4, but this could be because of the antibiotics and strong painkillers I have been taking for the last few days. I will have to wait for the full results, which I will pick up tomorrow, to see if it affects the dosage of my medication.

We left the health clinic and walked towards Rio Nalon and the strip of bars and restaurants. Unfortunately, because we arrived early, the places I planned to take Peter for breakfast weren't open yet. We walked to NoName Cafe, ordered Coffee and Tostadas, and sat chatting. While we were sitting there, my friend Martin turned up. He was on his way to the lottery shop. He stopped for a coffee with us before leaving to get his lottery tickets. Peter and I left and walked towards Los Narejos to have a coffee at Cafe Prensa. As we walked through the estate, I showed Peter my original house in Los Narejos, and we then moved on to the Cafe, where we sat and had a coffee. At Cafe Prensa, we saw Christine, Bev, Theresa and Oyvinnd, who were already there.

When we left, it was still too early to go to the office, so we sat at the Corner bar. Peter had a beer, and I had a bottle of water. We were joined there by Martin, who had a beer. Just past Midday, we went across to Pizzeria La Sombre, and when Martin ordered beer for himself and Peter, I had a shandy. Dave soon joined us, and we sat talking. When Aria finished school and Kate brought her back, we all sat and talked. Aria is usually very shy and tends to hide from people she doesn't know, but Peter was so good with her that she sat and chatted with him as if they were old friends. It was nice to see her talking with someone, smiling broadly and laughing with Peter.

When we were about to leave, Kate offered to give us a lift so I didn't have to walk home. We accepted the lift, but I wanted to continue walking because I was still feeling pretty good. I got her to drop us off at Rio Nalon. I was going to take Peter to Harry's bar, where I used to go to watch the football, but it was shut, I guessed it was back on Winter opening hours. As we walked down the strip, we saw my friend Daniel, who walked with us to Buena Vista Restaurant, where we stopped for a drink, which Dan bought for us before leaving. Peter and I sat chatting there for a while longer before walking back to my apartment.

In the afternoon, Peter went out for a walk around Los Alcazares while I rested in the apartment. This evening we went to Buena Vista Restaurant for a curry. Peter polished his off in minutes, but because of my recent dental surgery, it took me much longer, and I couldn't finish most of the rice. We left the restaurant in time for me to watch the Arsenal vs Atletico Madrid football game. The first half was fairly even, with little goalmouth action. The second half was much better, and in just a 13-minute time split from 1st to 4th goal, Arsenal blew Atletico Madrid away, scoring four times to win 4-0.

📝Wednesday, 22nd October.

This morning, I had to go to the health clinic to have my leg dressing changed. Before I left, I showed Peter my kayak, and he went out on the Mar Menor for an exploration. I went to the health clinic on my disability scooter and walked inside. When I got to the nurses' room, the door was closed, and a notice was pinned to it. I was about to translate it with my phone when a lady spoke to me in English and told me that the nurse wasn't there and that I had to make an appointment at the reception desk to see her again.

I went to the reception, and the receptionist told me to go to another room and wait until my name was called to see a different nurse. I walked to where he had told me and sat down. There were four rooms, all with doors opening out together, and around three people were waiting. As people were called in to see a nurse or doctor, I sat waiting. More people kept arriving, and all of them were called in before me and replaced in the seats by more people. After waiting for an hour and a quarter, I had begun to feel a bit sick and felt I had better go home. I went to make an appointment, but there were about 20 people in the queue, so I left without one.

When I got back, my cousin had already finished his kayak ride. The way he had been talking, I thought he would be gone for hours and that I wouldn't see him until the afternoon. I sat down for a rest until I felt better. I had soon recovered, and the sickness I felt slowly resided. Peter and I went for a walk. Walking along the promenade in Los Alcazares to La Encancion and turning right to head towards the town hall. When we arrived at Estribor, we ordered a coffee and sat chatting. We ordered a second coffee and continued chatting, waiting for the lunch opening times that would allow us to get some lunch.

As we sat waiting, Peter asked the waiter to wind up the sunshade. We continued putting the world to rights, and as the waiter came past, delivering coffee to someone else, Peter asked him again to wind up the sunshade. The waiter's response to Peter's impatient appeal was comedy gold and reminded me of this sketch by Harry Enfield and Chums. He made a hand-down motion to Peter and said, "tranquilo, tranquilo," meaning calm down, calm down, and I burst out laughing and had to explain to Peter what the word meant.

Peter had been trying hard to learn Spanish, but his habit of using his phone so much and believing everything it tells him as gospel has made me laugh. Several times, he had shown me words he believed were correct, looked at me strangely when I had not heard them before, and told him a different Spanish word he should be using. Like England, Spain has many localised dialects, and Los Alcazares is a very localised version of Spanish. I think Peter may have started to believe me, but I Im not sure. He did seem to make up his mind on something and stick with it. We walked towards Ramón's restaurant, but when we arrived, a large group of Spanish pensioners was waiting outside. We went inside, and although there were places to sit, I didn't want to eat in a large, loud room full of Spanish pensioners. I suggested we go to a quiet little tapas bar I knew in a park, but as we went outside, I suddenly felt sick again and thought I'd better go home instead. I remembered that the takeaway food shop I use was just behind Ramons, so I took Peter there to get something to take with us.

At the restaurant, I had my regular peppered pork and chips, and Peter chose a fried fish and squid dish. We walked back along the street that ran parallel to the beach to stay out of the heat. When we got back to my apartment, I was still feeling a bit ill and decided to keep my meal for later when I felt better. Peter chose not to warm his meal up and ate the fish and squid cold before going back out for another walk. I tried to sleep while Peter was out, but I couldn't in the heat. It was 43ºC outside on my balcony, and it felt stuffy inside even with all the doors and windows open.

I ate my meal around 17:00, and Peter returned around 18:00. He went back to Buena Vista restaurant and got himself a pizza, which he ate at home. We spent the evening catching up, and during our conversation, Peter told me he liked cultural tours. I asked where he had been on holiday. He had taken his kids to Mexico many years ago, but had not been anywhere else. He wanted to travel all over Italy but had made no plans. I suggested a couple of places in Italy I had been to recently, but he didn't want to go on a cruise and was adamant that, having never been on a cruise ship, they weren't for him. He also didn't want to use public transport or go on an organised trip. It should be a great trip when he decides where he wants to go and actually goes. I suggested places like India, China, and Peru to him because I know he doesn't like America, but none of them appealed to him. I think his cultural travels will probably be based on the Isle of Wight.

We continued chatting till around 23:00 before I went to bed.

📝Thursday, 23rd October.

When I woke up this morning, I felt better than yesterday, and at 9:30, Peter and I walked to Rio Nalon so that Peter could get an English breakfast. I knew I would only be able to eat a small breakfast, but Peter managed to wolf a large breakfast down before I had eaten half my smaller one. We sat in the restaurant talking until around 11:00 and then set off for the apartment, walking back along the beachfront.

The walk had worn me out, and I had to rest again, but Peter went back out. I told him about the wetlands near the air force base, and he took his camera to photograph them and some of the wildlife. I spent some time working on my website. Peter didn't return until late in the afternoon, and I guess during his exploration of Los Narejos and Los Alcazares, he must have got lost and had to stop in a bar to ask for directions or two.

I had tried to eat a small salad while Peter was out, but the mouth ulcers that seemed to be forming had prevented me from eating it. Peter asked if I wanted to get a pizza, but I couldn't eat. He went to Buena Vista and got one, and brought it back to the apartment. We sat chatting all night again. My German friend, who would arrive just after Peter left in the morning, messaged me with his probable arrival time. Peter checked his taxi for tomorrow morning, and I went to bed around 22:30.

📝Friday, 24th October.

I woke early today and felt better when I got up. I got up and did the Wordle puzzle. As I sat at my computer, Peter woke up and, after packing his case, joined me. We chatted for a while, and when his taxi arrived and he left, I went to EconomyCash to get some more water.

While I was out shopping, my neighbour Liz messaged me again to say one of our neighbours had had our water tanks cleaned. She seemed to have overlooked the fact that I had been in touch with the management company all week. She wasn't aware that I let the water company in this morning, and she continued to slate the management company and Los Alcazares in general.

I have never met anyone who is as negative about everything as Liz. She is always rude to people, including me. Most of the neighbours, English and Spanish, refuse to speak to her, and on a couple of occasions, I had stopped talking to her because she had been rude to my guests or friends, but I had still helped her when she asked for help. On more than one occasion, she had asked me to get her things at the shops, and I had because, in her words, she had been too ill to go out. On several of these occasions, I had discovered that she had gone shopping herself within 30 minutes to an hour of my return. She had told me on numerous occasions that our apartment block is a dump, our neighbours are fkwits, and that Los Alcazares is a shit hole. She has been telling me since she moved in how much she hates it, and I wonder why she doesn't just move to a nice apartment, in a nice area, with nice neighbours who love and appreciate her negativity about everything.

On my way home, I stopped at the Lottery shop to collect a parcel from the company who were building my new disability scooter, and took it home. I unwrapped the parcel at my apartment; it included a nice mug and a simple pen, and was to apologise for the delay in delivering my disability scooter.

My friend Markus messaged me to say he would be leaving Murcia at 12:30 and arriving in Los Alcazares in the afternoon. I sent him the name of the bus stop to get off at and, when I estimated his bus would arrive, I walked to the stop to meet him. I arrived early and sat at the bus stop, reading my Kindle until the bus arrived. When Markus arrived, we walked back to my apartment. I gave him a quick tour of my small apartment, and we sat down to talk.

At around 16:00, we walked to the Buena Vista restaurant and had a beer sitting outside. When we finished our beers, we went to Rio Nalon for a few more beers and to get a meal. We stopped at Harry's Bar and, after one beer, we walked the length of the strip, reading the menus at all the restaurants. We chose the ↗️Milo Gastronomica restaurant, and both chose the Menu of the Day. I had brie cheese with jam as a starter; it was very nice, and the chicken breast stuffed with mushrooms for my main was also very nice. For dessert, I had cheesecake. It tasted ok, but it wasn't a cheesecake. It arrived in a small pot, resembling a mouse, with crumble liberally sprinkled on top. I really hate "deconstructed" food. Markus paid for the meal, and we went to Roccos bar to say hello to Rachid. The barmaid who used to work there was hanging around outside. She looked very much worse for wear, and I could only think she was high and drunk; everybody she spoke to was trying to avoid her. I think she was just hanging around waiting for someone to buy her a drink. Markus and I played pool, but didn't stop long before leaving.

I knew Markus liked karaoke, so I took him to the 19th Hole Bar. We both had a Guinness, and a short time after arriving, he got up and sang "Molly Malone." We chatted about the places we had travelled to in Brazil when we met on the 🔗Costa Favolosa. After a while, Markus got up and sang another Karaoke song. When we had finished our beer, we left and went back to Harry's bar for a last beer and to watch the end of the Leeds vs West Ham football match. When it finished, we left and walked home along the beach. Twice on the walk home, my knee gave way, and I managed to catch myself on my walking stick but had to rest on the beach wall for a short time. We continued on and arrived home around 23:30. 

I got some water, took some painkillers, and after chatting with Markus for a short time longer, I went to bed.

📝Saturday, 25th October.

I woke up feeling quite good this morning. Markus was already awake and sitting in the lounge, and we chatted until the Buena Vista restaurant opened before walking there to get breakfast. I had a coffee and a tostada with tomato, and Markus had a small English breakfast. I kept checking my mobile app because Amazon was making a delivery to the apartment today, and while checking, I saw a message from a chippy I had called for a quote to put a new kitchen in for me. We arranged for him to call in the next half hour, and after finishing breakfast, Markus and I walked back to my apartment.

At around 11:00, Lez arrived at my apartment, and I showed him my kitchen, explaining what I wanted. It was obvious that he knew what he was talking about, as evidenced by his questions to me and his replies to my questions. He took numerous measurements, made a few suggestions I liked, and after showing me a selection of worktops, units, and door handles, he left, telling me he would send me a quote for the job.

At 12:00, I took Markus to the bus stop where he needed to catch a bus to Murcia, for his train to Madrid and a flight for the next part of his adventure, a short stay in Turkey. As we arrived at the bus stop, my phone beeped to tell me that the Amazon driver was on his way to my home. I said my goodbyes to Markus and went back to my apartment to wait for my delivery. I didn't have to wait long and was soon drinking a pot of tea from a blend of Himalayan green tea leaves, which had been stirred with my new set of teaspoons.

When I left a review for the Amazon delivery driver, I noticed that Amazon had marked my Disability Scooter as delivered. I went onto the customer service section and explained that I was more than happy with the response the seller had given me for the late arrival of my new disability scooter and that they had been helpful throughout my purchase, that the disability scooter wasn't going to be delivered until sometime in November and asked why it had been marked as delivered. I spoke to three customer service representatives and was eventually assured that everything was fine. The disability scooter would arrive when the seller had told me, and it was just an error that had shown it as delivered. If anything does happen, I at least have this in writing from Customer Service. They also told me my 3-year Amazon warranty would start when I received it, not from the purchase date.

I had a very restful afternoon watching episodes of ↗️Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. It had been nice to see my cousin Peter after so long and great to see my friend Markus, but because of the dental work I had done last week, I should maybe have rested more than I did this week, and I was now pleased that my guests had gone and I could take it easy. I didn't watch any football this afternoon, but I did keep an eye on the scores to see how they would affect my Fantasy Football team. Most of my players were playing in Sunday's games, though. I finally went to bed a lot later than I intended, at about 00:45.

📝Sunday, 26th October.

I woke up early and must have slept well, as I couldn't remember getting up at all during the night. I got a pot of green tea and then worked on my website. I stopped working at about 9:30, had some cereal with Greek yoghurt, and sat in my armchair to relax for a while.

I spent the whole day resting. I watched some TV, worked on my computer, and watched the Arsenal vs Crystal Palace football match. The match was fairly even, and Arsenal won 1-0, but it was tough for them. Luckily for Arsenal, most of the teams around them had poor results this weekend, and they finished gameweek 9, 4 points clear of Bournemouth in 2nd place. Tottenham had won again and climbed to third, while Sunderland also won and were now in fourth place. Liverpool lost their fourth game in a row and now sit in 7th place, just behind Manchester United and Manchester City, who occupy 6th and 5th places, which suggests that this season is going to be a tough one, with teams at the top constantly switching places.

My eyes and mouth ulcers were still sore, but I tried to stay awake as long as possible because the clocks went back an hour tonight, and it would make it easier tomorrow if I went to bed late.

Health and exercise metrics for week 43 of 2025.