✍Journal: Week 44, 2025.

Discover my week 44, 2025 journal: daily life, friends, food, health updates, and expat experiences in Los Alcázares. Insightful stories, routines, and reflections from Spain.

📝Monday, 27th October.

I woke up around 6:30 today. I felt better after a good night's sleep, but my eyes were still a little sore. I got up, checked my computer for messages, then did the Wordle puzzle before updating my website and publishing last week's journal.

I decided that my very straggly beard needed a trim. I shaved my head and then carefully trimmed my beard, a task that proved challenging with only one eye to gauge my progress. I then took a long shower, just sitting in the warm water and relaxing for a short while afterwards. After I had taken care of myself, I sent a message to the apartment management company to confirm that our water was safe to drink again. I hadn't received any official news from them yet, and didn't want to risk drinking it if it wasn't potable yet. I then got on my disability scooter and drove to the pharmacy to get some more tablets. When I arrived, there was a huge queue, and because I had enough for the next few days, I didn't stop; instead, I went to the Mercadoona store to get some salad and milk.

After collecting the few bits I needed in the store, I left and went to Pizzeria la Sombre to meet with Martin and Dave. We sat chatting for a couple of hours. It was nice and warm when the sun wasn't behind the clouds, but the temperature dropped quickly whenever the clouds blocked it. I left Martin and Dave at 13:45 and headed straight home. My eye was sore, and I thought I might need to rinse it out in cold water before going back out tonight to meet a group of friends for a curry.

As I got home, the apartment management company confirmed that the water at the apartments was now potable. I let my neighbours, John and Christine, know, as they didn't know and had visitors arriving today. I got myself a chicken roll for lunch and, after eating it, decided to set up my new coffee machine. I had missed my morning routine of getting myself a coffee when I woke up, and I looked forward to getting back to it.

It took me a while to go through the initial setup of the coffee machine, and I then made my first Café Latte. I set the correct coffee grind size, ground the beans, and made the coffee. Then I put the milk in the milk dispenser, set the desired amount of froth, and then steamed the milk. I put all the milk in the mug, I think it could have done with about half the milk I used, but it tasted great. Over the next week, I expect to discover settings that I prefer and experiment with the various types of coffee I can make. For now, I am happy that it works and makes a nice coffee.

My friend Pat responded to a message I sent him earlier and said he would pick me up at 19:00 to take me out to meet our other friends for dinner tonight. I closed all the doors and windows in the apartment because it was beginning to feel a bit cold, and then sat down to rest before going out later.

Just before 19:00, I left my apartment, walked to the main road, and waited to be picked up by Pat. After he picked me up, we drove to the Masala Cottage and met our friends in the Trebol bar next door. Martin and Bernard were there already, and the others soon joined us. The service was terrible, so we gave up waiting and went inside to find a waitress, and then we made her come out. I think the rest of the people there were glad we were there because nobody seemed to have been served. We sat talking until after 20:00, then went into the Massala Cottage. We were lucky again, and the seven of us were all sitting at a round table, which made conversation easy. We all ordered our meals and were soon eating popdums with sauces and chutney. For my starter, I had the fish pakora, which I enjoyed. It came with a small salad, which made me feel like I had eaten healthily for the day. For my main, I had chicken korma. It was lovely, and there was so much that I couldn't eat it all, but the staff boxed it up for me to take home. 

When we had finished, we all had a shot of either brandy or Baileys and toasted our friend Mike Maloney, who would have been with us if he hadn't passed away last week. RIP, Mike. You will not be forgotten.

When we left, Pat dropped our friend Paul off at home in Roda before taking me back to my apartment. It was only when I got inside and went to the kitchen to get a drink that I remembered my takeaway. I had left it in the footwell of Pat's car. I messaged him to let him know it was there; it would have stunk up his car if left in it overnight.

I was pretty tired and didn't bother watching any TV. I took my tablets and then went straight to bed at 23:00.

📝Tuesday, 28th October.

I got up when my alarm went off at 7:30 this morning. I felt good and think the relatively easy day yesterday helped with my recovery. I was excited to test out my new coffee machine again, and I adjusted the settings for my coffee this morning. I made a medium-strength coffee and used less milk, yet it still had the same amount of froth. It was very nice and I was very pleased that I made the step up to the new coffee machine. It is one that, once I get used to using it, I will be happy to make coffee for my friends.

I completed the Wordle puzzle, but I started off poorly, not getting any correct letters. On my second attempt, I got one correct letter, but it was in the wrong place. On my third attempt, I made a mistake and placed the one letter I had put in the wrong spot in the same place. I got a second letter on this go, though. On my fourth attempt, I thought of my niece, Holly, and gambled with her name, and it was correct; I got today's Wordle puzzle with a good par 4 score.

While doing the puzzle, my friend Pat messaged me. he had taken my Indian curry into his house last night and put it in the fridge. He said he would come by later in the day and drop it off at my home. It meant I didn't have to think of what to have for dinner later. It's good to have such good friends as I have. At around 11:40, I left home on my disability scooter to meet Martin at the office. I arrived just after midday and sat down with him. Already there, Sean and Lou sat chatting, and we were joined by Dave, Rob, and around another six people, including Terry, who had taken a fall the previous day and broken his elbow. It must have been very painful, and he had spent time in hospital and had to go back to have work done, but he bravely came into work and had a beer or two.

Before I left, Pat stopped by on his way to the office to tell us his weekly joke, before he continued to the Corner bar for the quiz that he plays every week. After Aria had stopped in to say hello on her way back from school, I left on my disability scooter and went straight home.

When I got home, I had a Texas salad with wraps for lunch. I then sat watching TV for the rest of the afternoon. For my dinner this evening, I ate yesterday's leftover Indian meal. It was as nice tonight as it was the previous night. Tonight I used the new steamer function on my coffee machine to steam milk for a Horlicks. It worked very well, and I imagine it will get a lot of use. I was very tired and my eyes were still sore tonight. I was having trouble keeping them open and went to bed very early, around 21:00.

📝Wednesday, 29th October.

I slept well last night, but was woken up around 00:15 by loud people talking under my bedroom window. Of all the places these youngsters can go, why do they have to talk and congregate outside residential buildings? Luckily, I managed to fall back to sleep after a while. I woke up at 6:45 and got myself a coffee using the new coffee machine. I am slowly getting used to it and enjoying different drink styles.

I did the Wordle puzzle, getting it correct in a respectable four guesses. The app on my phone for my Oura ring informed me that it had collected enough data to show me my 🔗chronotype today. It told me that I am a morning type, but not to the extreme and that I enjoy the occasional late night as well. I believe I already knew this. It also told me that I need more rest and can't burn the candle at both ends anymore.

I had a message from my good friend Jim, who is in Spain for a break. He is trying to visit me, but is having car trouble, so I will expect him when I see him. After I had a second coffee, I went to the post office to mail two postcards to people I had been allotted by the ↗️PostCrossing website. After mailing the postcards, I went to the pharmacy and picked up my prescription and some mouthwash for the mouth ulcers I have had since my root canal operation. When I returned to the apartment, the garage elevator was malfunctioning again, stuck open and unable to move up or down. I parked my disability scooter at the apartments' entrance, went back to my apartment, and emailed the lift company again.

For lunch, I cooked myself some chicken wings in the air fryer. I received a message from my friend Lauren in the afternoon, and she had managed to book me an appointment to see the nurse for tomorrow, after I missed my appointment last week. This afternoon, I took a nap in my armchair, but my eyes were still very sore. Jim messaged me telling me he had his car back and would pick me up on Friday so we could go and get breakfast somewhere.

Mid-afternoon, I tried to go to EconomyCash, but the battery on my disability scooter wasn't charged enough to get there. I managed to get home just as it stopped working and was relieved to find the garage lift functioning again. I put my disability scooter in the garage and plugged it in to charge.

This evening I watched the Arsenal vs Brighton Carabao Cup game. Arsenal put a team out consisting of players who hadn't played much, if at all, this year and some very young players; Max Dowman was only 15 years old. At the start of the game, Arsenal looked a bit shaky, and Brighton had a few chances to score, but didn't. Arsenal grew into the game, and they became more confident. Ethan Nwaneri, 18 years old, scored the first goal, and late in the second half, substitute Bukayo Saka scored a second goal, giving Arsenal a 2-0 win. Max Dowman was brilliant and looked older than his 15 years. His football was fantastic and exciting to watch, and he is already showing that he is not easy to knock off the ball.

I had intended to watch the draw for the quarterfinals of the competition, but I was too tired and went to bed as soon as the game finished.

📝Thursday, 30th October.

I woke up when my alarm went off at 7:30. I got up, had a cup of coffee, and completed the Wordle puzzle, getting the correct word on my second attempt. I took a shower and then had a second coffee before starting to work on my website for a few hours.

At around 12:30, I went to the health clinic on my disability scooter. I sat inside and read my Kindle until the nurse called me in. She again had a trainee nurse with her who spoke English. When she took the dressing off my leg, she said "Madre Mia" to herself. I guess she didn't like the look of the wound. She cleaned it up, and it did appear to have grown a little. She called another nurse in to examine it, and she gently picked at it with a pair of tweezers, removing bits of scab. They discussed it and called the doctor in, who examined it and took photos. With my limited Spanish language skills, I was able to tell they didn't like it and were discussing treatment. I heard the doctor and both nurses discussing compression dressings, and sure enough, after the nurse finished cleaning the wound and applying cream and dressings, she wrapped it in a compression bandage. When it was finished, she made me a new appointment to go back again next Monday.

When I left the health clinic, I went to the Mercadonna store on my disability scooter. I bought some food, mainly fruit, fish, and ingredients to make soup with next week. Once I had finished all my shopping, I went back to my apartment. I was pleased to see that the garage lift was still working. After putting my scooter in the garage, I went up to my apartment, put my shopping away, and had some cheese pasta to eat.

I did some work on my website this afternoon and began investigating and researching media servers that I could use to host all my photos and videos. The external hard drives I use are filling up quickly and are slow. I would like faster file servers that I can access both on the home network via Wi-Fi on my laptop and remotely on my mobile phone. Over the next few weeks, I will conduct further research and obtain a quote for setting them up.

This evening I had no energy for anything and took it easy, sitting in front of the TV and spending the night channel surfing.

📝Friday, 31st October.

I got up just after 6:00 today. I brewed a pot of green tea and worked on my website, editing the pages about my cruises on the 🔗Costa Toscana and the 🔗MSC Lirica. I did the Wordle puzzle and got ready to be picked up by my friend Jim to go for breakfast.

Jim arrived around 10:30, and we drove to Los Narejos to go to Kitchen 16 for breakfast. I was looking forward to seeing what it was like, as it was always closed when I had visited previously for breakfast. Jim picked me up, and we drove to Kitchen 16, where we sat outside in the sun. Breakfast was quite good, but I think I prefer the one served at the Tipsy Thistle. We sat chatting for a while, and a few friends stopped by to say hello to us as we conversed. When we left, we went to the Buena Vista restaurant on the beachfront to have a coffee.

While we sat chatting, I received a telephone call from Los Arcos hospital, which gave me an appointment time for Monday, but the message was unclear about what it was for. I said my goodbyes to Jim and went to see Sophia at my insurance company to see if she could call them and help. I walked back to my apartment, retrieved my disability scooter, and went straight to see Sophia. She kindly called the hospital back for me and confirmed the appointment time, place and reason for it. The health clinic had sent the hospital a photo of the wound on my leg, and they had decided I should see a surgeon/consultant and had made the appointment. It's a shame the clinic hadn't bothered to tell me. I have to see the nurse on Monday morning, so I will be able to ask her about it before the lunchtime appointment at the hospital. When I got home, I sent Lauren a message to see if she could take me to the hospital and translate for me if needed. I also checked the bus timetables and discovered that I would have plenty of time to see the nurse at the health clinic and still arrive at the hospital in Los Arcos on the bus afterwards.

I went home after getting the appointment details and sat down to watch a film, "↗️Eleanor the Great". It was a really good, sad and funny film and I would recommend it to anyone. It was about a Polish Woman and her memory of the concentration camps, but it had a different way of putting the story over that was very clever.

This evening I had a message from Jez with the quote and a date he could fit my new kitchen. I agreed to have it done and ordered a new sink that I wanted Jez to install, as well as a new two-ring, freestanding induction hob to replace the old three-ring, built-in hob that is currently there. The new design for the kitchen will provide me with ample preparation space, making it more enjoyable for me to cook at home, something I enjoy but currently lack the room for. Jez said he would be able to remove the old kitchen and install the new one at the start of December. The time frame works well as the sink isn't available for delivery until the second or third week of November.

This evening, I watched another film and went to bed as soon as it finished, around 22:00. 

📝Saturday, 1st November.

I woke up and got up at 7:00 today. I got myself a coffee, completed the Wordle puzzle, stripped the linens from my bed, and put some washing in the washing machine. Once the washing machine was running, I decided to take a short walk while I still had the energy. I walked to the beachfront and along the promenade to the fishermen's memorial, then turned around and walked back to my apartment. I had intended to go a little further, but my knee popped out while I walked along the promenade and became quite sore.

When I got home, I settled at my computer and downloaded the new version of Affinity to my computer. I had just begun learning the old version and would now have to learn the new version. I signed up to trial the AI functionality, but I may not keep the AI functionality after the free trial period. I received a message from Lauren stating that she couldn't take me to the hospital on Monday. Trying to think of anyone who could help, I remembered my friend Andy had advertised translation services, so I messaged him. He replied that he could take me, and we arranged for him to pick me up at midday on Monday.

I watched the Burnley vs Arsenal football match today. Arsenal easily won the game 0-2, with Viktor Gyökeres and Declan Rice scoring the two goals. Declan Rice played brilliantly throughout the game, but I thought the game may make some fans think what a big difference Viktor Gyökeres makes to the team. He was substituted during the break, and Arsenal seemed toothless without him in the second half. The work he does off the ball really became apparent when he wasn't there.

📝Sunday, 2nd November.

I got up at 7:30, had a coffee, completed the Wordle puzzle, and started working on my website. I only intended to do an hour's work, but when I stopped for breakfast, it was around 11:00. I cooked myself breakfast: bacon, mushrooms, beans, a fried egg, and plum tomatoes. It was lovely, and afterwards I went back to work on my website.

I worked for a couple of hours generating and comparing images for the photo album pages on my website. After building around a dozen different album cover images, I decided they weren't good enough and deleted them all again. For lunch, I made myself a chicken thigh sandwich and then continued working on my website. I replaced all the photo album cover images with one image to give the website, in my opinion, a better look. I altered the photo album navigation slightly, hopefully making it quicker to navigate, but most users shouldn't notice any real difference.

This evening I watched the Manchester City vs Bournemouth football match before going to bed. Manchester City won the game 3-1, but it wasn't as one-sided as the score suggested. There is still hope that the Manchester City machine is not yet working to its full potential.

Health and exercise metrics for week 44 of 2025.

My weight gain this week was disappointing but not unexpected because of the limited exercise I had after such a hectic week the previous week.