✍Journal: Week 46, 2025.

Discover the week 46, 2025 journal of Alan Morris, me, from Los Alcázares, daily life, health updates, local outings, and reflections captured with warmth and detail.

📝Monday, 10th November.

I woke up around 6:00 this morning, and since I was wide awake and not tired, I got up, made a coffee, and checked my computer for messages. I got a second coffee and finished my blog post from last week, adding a photo before posting it on my website.

I took a shower and got ready to visit the nurse at the health clinic to have my leg checked and dressed. It would be interesting to see what it looks like after wearing the compression stockings every day since my visit last Wednesday. I took my Kindle with me and went to the garage, got on my disability scooter and drove to the health centre. As I passed my neighbour Liz´s apartment, she called out to me & I said I would pop in later when I had finished my chores and health clinic visit.

While waiting to see the nurse, I had a phone call from the manufacturer of my disability scooter. They said they were still waiting for the delivery of the lithium battery, but that as soon as it arrived, they would complete the scooter's build and deliver it. I asked them to tell Amazon that it had not been delivered yet, and they agreed to include that in the message that Amazon would receive about my query.

I then went to see the nurse and quickly had the wound on my leg cleaned and redressed. The nurse also advised me to get a different type of compression stocking, as one that went around the foot would be more effective than one that only covered the leg.

When I left the health clinic, I drove towards Los Narejos to meet Martin later. On the way, I stopped at a Chino shop to look for some new mugs. I wanted big ones that I could make my Horlicks in. I stopped at Meta Market and, after browsing the huge store and dodging the Christmas decorations they were putting out, I found two large mugs that would hold 450ml. They were plain white and had a good-sized handle to fit my chubby fingers, so I bought them. They were only €1.99 each, compared to the two old, chipped, and smaller mugs that I had seen in the charity shop last week, which had been €2 each. I thought they were a good price and would go back there again for anything else I need.

I left the Chino shop, and it was still too early to meet Martin, so I continued to Cafe Prensa to get a coffee and a tostada. When I arrived, I saw my friend Christine and sat down with her. After I finished, I paid my bill and went to La Sombre Pizza, where I joined Martin & his dad, Dave. We sat chatting for a while, but it was a little cold sitting in what can sometimes be a bit of a wind tunnel.

I left Dave & Martin at about 13:15 and went to EconomyCash to buy some rolls, a couple of their crunchy chicken burgers, and a loaf of bread. I left the store and went straight home, put my shopping away, and then took a bowl of the soup I had made the day before down to my neighbour, Liz. She was pleased to take the soup & we sat chatting for a while until I realised how late it was. At nearly 15:30, I left to return to my apartment to get something to eat.

I made myself a couple of pork fritter sandwiches and had a bowl of soup with them. After I had finished, I sat in my armchair, put my feet up and began to play WhiskerWood. I played the game, sent a couple of messages to my friend George and watched a bit of TV before eventually going to bed around midnight.

📝Tuesday, 11th November.

I got up before my alarm this morning. I had a wash, got a coffee, did the Wordle puzzle, checked for messages on my computer and got ready to go to the health clinic.

I decided to walk to the health centre. I walked past the queue of people at the door and made my way inside to the small room where my INR test would be taken. There were two people already having their blood test & one of them was out quickly. It turned out he was Scottish and we chatted briefly, exchanging comments about our old age before I went in & had my blood test. The plebopthalmologist performed the test, and my INR reading was 1.9, which was okay, maybe a little low. I left the health clinic and walked home. I got myself a glass of water once I got home and sat down at my computer to work on my website for an hour before I had to leave to go to the dentist.

I left my apartment and walked the short distance to the dental surgery. I arrived 30 minutes before my appointment and sat in the reception reading my Kindle. As I sat there, a woman next to me in the waiting room had her mobile phone switched on, and it kept going off, which was very annoying. However, it reminded me to switch mine to silent before I went in to have the filling done. When I was called in, the nurse and the dentist made me comfortable and began working in my mouth. I wasn't given any painkilling injections, which I was surprised about, but the filling was soon done and I didn't feel any pain at all. When everything was finished, the dentist asked if I wanted to make an appointment to have two implants done for the two missing teeth I have. I declined; everything was painless, but I couldn't see any point in having an operation that wasn't necessary. I have had the two teeth missing for years, and I manage to get by without them; the size of my stomach and weight can attest to that.

When I left the clinic, I picked up some more tablets at the pharmacy, but it was too early to get all of them yet. I really hate the fact that my prescription isn't for enough tablets to last a month. I will have to get the doctor to make me a larger prescription for my Sintrom tablets, and I will need extra to take to Australia and New Zealand next year. I walked home and waited to hear from Dave to see if he could pick me up. I worked on my website while I waited to hear from Dave, but by about 12:15, I hadn't heard anything and guessed he hadn't seen my message. I decided to try to get to the office on my disability scooter.

As I left my apartment to go down to the garage, my neighbour John was just leaving his apartment. He had to go to San Javier and was driving, luckily for me, and he gave me a lift to the office on his way. Just as I arrived at the office, I saw Dave arrive in his car. I also saw my friends Alan & Jacquie and went to say hello to them both. I had to advise Jacquie that a private message she had sent to someone and received replies from, using WhatsApp, had accidentally been made public as a status, and that all her contacts had seen it. I was able to show her how to delete it and explain what she had mistakenly done, but also advised her that it was likely that everyone she knew had already seen it. We spoke briefly & agreed we would have to get together soon.

When Alan and Jacquie continued to the Corner Bar to do the quiz, I sat down with Martin and Dave. I had noticed while showing Jacquie how to delete her message that I had not turned the sound back on my mobile when I left the dentist. I also realised that this is why I hadn't seen the message from Dave saying he would pick me up, or heard the phone ringing when he called me as well. I apologised to Dave for my mistake and explained what I had done. Luckily for me, he wasn't mad at me and would still give me a lift home. We all sat chatting and were joined by Kate and Aria before Dave and I left, and he dropped me off at home.

I spent the afternoon and evening working on my website or playing WhiskerWood on my laptop. I spoke to my sister in the UK this evening and asked her if my niece Holly had had her baby yet, but she hadn't. My sister promised to message me as soon as she had.

📝Wednesday, 12th November.

After waking up, I got a coffee and checked my computer for messages. I reverted to taking my tablets in the morning, rather than at bedtime, today. It didn't seem to matter that I kept the tablets on my bedside table; I still occasionally forgot to take them. I had to go to the hospital today to see the consultant that I was supposed to see last week, but didn't because he had been called away to an emergency. At 9:15, I rang my friend Andy to confirm that he had remembered that he said he would take me and translate for me. He had remembered and said he would pick me up on the main road at 10:00.

Just before 10:00, I walked to the main road and waited for Andy. He picked me up just after 10:00 and we drove to Los Arcos hospital in San Javier. We parked in the car park, walked across to the hospital, and were shown how to check in and receive a patient number, which would be displayed on the screens when it was my turn. It was incredibly easy, and we went up to the waiting area outside the consulting rooms. It wasn't long before we were called in.

There were two nurses, and while one nurse removed the dressing from my leg, the other spoke to Andy, who translated for me. The consultant popped into the nurses' room from his adjoining room to look at the wound, and he said there was no need for me to have any antibiotics as the wound was looking okay. He spoke to the nurses, who redressed the wound and gave me a small pot and a tube of cream to take with me when I visit the health clinic tomorrow. They gave me another appointment to see them again on November 18th, before I left, and I wondered why I had to take a urine sample to the health clinic the next day.

Andy dropped me off at home and said he would take me to Primark to get some tracksuit bottoms in the next week or two. I need some to wear now that the temperature is dropping. I can't keep wearing shorts in the cold. The tracksuit trousers will also be more comfortable to wear when I travel to Australia and New Zealand in January. I told Andy that when he took me shopping, I would buy lunch as a thank you for his help in getting me to the hospital and translating for me.

I got myself some lunch, and after finishing it, I walked to the health clinic to collect the results from my blood test, which I had taken on Tuesday. For some reason, they have alternated the dates which I take a slightly lower dose of the Sintrom tablets. I collected my INR test results and then asked the receptionist if they could arrange for me to have the Flu and COVID jabs there. She said they could and made me an appointment for 20th November.

After returning to my apartment, I continued working on my website and then checked the prices of NAS drives on Amazon. I want to stop paying Google for the extra cloud space I have; the recurring annual fees are no longer affordable. I found that Amazon had some good discounted NAS drives that looked good. I read all the reviews on them and decided to splurge and buy one, getting two 4TB hard drives, so I could set up my own media and backup server to use instead of Google Cloud. The outlay wasn't cheap, but it will mean I no longer have to pay the annual Google fees and will be able to set my computer, phone, laptop, and TV to all use the NAS drive. It will also provide me with remote access, allowing me to back up my phone's photos and holiday videos from anywhere in the world. I arranged for it to be delivered to my apartment on Friday because I already had an order arriving then, for some full-size compression socks that the nurse at the health clinic has told me to wear to help my leg heal.

This afternoon and evening, I continued to play the WhiskerWood game on my computer. The game is still in development, and it appears that they are making small adjustments to it on a daily basis in response to user feedback. That is probably why I was offered it at a discounted price. Whatever the reason, it gives me something to pass the time and keeps me out of mischief.

📝Thursday, 13th November.

When I got up this morning, I had a cup of coffee and checked my computer for messages. I had a message from my sister telling me that I was now a Great Uncle, my Niece, Holly, had her baby daughter last night, and both were well and recovering in the hospital. My new Grand Niece is named Nola Jean Renshaw. The name "Nola" is of Celtic origin, derived from the Irish name "Fionnghuala" or "Fionnuala," which means "fair shoulder" or "fair-shouldered one." The name carries the connotation of beauty and fairness. In Irish mythology, Fionnuala was one of the four children of Lir, a godlike figure. The name "Nola" can be seen as a modern variation of this ancient name, carrying with it a sense of mythical beauty and grace. I like to believe that it is just a variation of my name, Alan, written backwards; after all, I did attempt to get Holly to call her daughter Lanesra, which is 'Arsenal' backwards. Her second name, Jean, is in memory of my mum, Holly's Grandma.

At around 9:45, I walked to the health clinic to have my leg redressed by the nurse. I had looked at the small pot that the hospital gave me yesterday and realised that it already had liquid in it and that it was not for me to pee in to provide a urine sample. I examined and translated the writing on the small pot, and it indicated that it contained some type of acid. I took the acid, the tube of cream and the notes the hospital had given me to show them to the nurse. I didn't have to wait long before I saw the nurse in the health clinic. I handed her the notes, the tube of cream and the acid. She read the notes, and the young trainee nurse, who spoke very good English, explained that the acid solution was to help clean the wound, and the cream was to be applied to the wound afterwards. She also instructed me to take it with me every time the wound was examined. She also told me to keep wearing the compression socks that I had put on, as they will help.

When I left the health clinic, I walked back to my apartment and left the pot of acid and the cream there, placing them in a small bag with the notes to make them easier to carry when I go back and forth to the health clinic and hospital next week. I decided to walk to the Buena Vista restaurant for breakfast. I took my Kindle and walked along the promenade, sat at a table outside the restaurant, and ordered a coffee and a tostada with tomato. I sat enjoying my breakfast and reading my Kindle in the sun. When I had finished, I paid my bill and walked back to my apartment.

After getting back to my apartment, I spent a few hours working on my website before stopping for lunch. I was quite hungry, so I cooked myself two crunchy chicken burgers in buns for lunch. They were great, but more filling than I expected, and I was stuffed by the time I finished eating them. After lunch, I decided to take a break from working on my computer and watch a film called "Playdate". The film was likely a reworking of the story behind "Kindergarten Cop," starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. It had a strange reworking of the reason the kid was in danger and how he had been rescued, but it was humorous with lots of fighting and shooting in what was really a film made for young boys to take their dads to see at the cinema. I quite enjoyed it, but it wasn't one I would go back to, unlike the brilliant "Kindergarten Cop", which was a lot better.

This evening I watched a second film that I found fascinating, called "↗️Roofman". Based on an unbelievable true story, Roofman follows Jeffrey Manchester, an Army veteran and struggling father who turns to robbing McDonald's restaurants by cutting holes in their roofs, earning him the nickname "Roofman." After escaping prison, he secretly lives inside a Toys "R" Us store for six months, surviving undetected while planning his next move. But when he falls for Leigh, a divorced mom drawn to his undeniable charm, his double life begins to unravel, setting off a compelling and suspenseful game of cat and mouse as his past closes in. I would recommend this film, particularly the interviews with real people from the story, which are a brilliant addition at the end. I highly recommend this film.

I remembered, late in the evening, that England were playing Serbia in a World Cup Qualifier tonight, and after I got myself a Horlicks, using steamed milk heated by my new coffee machine, I watched the second half. England were winning 1-0 at halftime, with Bukayo Saka scoring in the first half. I started watching the game at the start of the second half. They scored a second goal in the second half when substitute Eberechi Eze scored. Along with Declan Rice running the midfield, Arsenal's three England players made a big impact on the game. I went to bed as soon as the game finished, but found I couldn't drop off to sleep for a while with lots of thoughts running through my head.

📝Friday, 14th November.

I woke up early, around 6:00. I tried to get back to sleep, but I couldn't stop thinking about ways to rearrange my living room, particularly the layout of the furniture. I want to rearrange it before setting up the new NAS drive that arrives today, and I've thought of a way to make the furniture fit better, allowing my computer equipment and, more importantly, the power leads and connection leads to sit and connect everything up. I thought of a way to make it work better for me and got up to check the new ideas out before I forgot them.

I had a quick look at the leads connecting my computer and thought my idea for the new layout would work and make life easier for me going forward. The main problem was that the TV couldn't be moved as it was attached to the wall by a big fixed bracket. After considering the relocation of some furniture for a while, I thought the new plans would work. I got myself a coffee and checked my computer for messages. I didn't want to start moving furniture around too early in case the noise woke any neighbours, but at 9:00, I could hear builders outside and figured I could start moving the furniture around. I sent my neighbour, Liz, a message to see if she could help me. I didn't need help moving the furniture, but I may need help navigating the area if the leads get tangled, and I didn't see them before tripping on them. I moved some of the large furniture and swept the floor, and began moving some of the computer equipment to its new position in my apartment. Liz arrived just after 10:00, and I got us both a coffee while I caught my breath after the exertion of moving the large chest of drawers in my lounge.

Liz went back to her apartment when I thought I no longer needed her help. After placing the TV and its attached boxes where I wanted them and attaching them to the router, I took a rest. Amazon delivered my new server and the two hard drives I had bought to go into it, and I immediately unpacked them all and built, connected and set up the server. It was easier than I had assumed it would be and didn't take long. I discovered that I could connect the server to the computer via Wi-Fi, so I temporarily set it up this way to begin working on it. I set the server up and left it running its checks overnight.

📝Saturday, 15th November.

I slept well last night, and when I got up, I checked on the server, and it appeared to be working correctly. I got a coffee and started installing some of the server software that I wanted to use. I had bought the server primarily to store my photos and videos, so when I installed some photo software on the server, I began transferring the photos from my external hard drives to the server. After working for a few hours transferring photos, I decided to go for a walk before the whole day passed me by.

I left my apartment, walked along the promenade to the Rambla, turned, and walked to the main road. Then, I walked back along the main road towards the road that led back down to my apartment. When I got back to my apartment, I treated myself to scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast and washed it down with another cup of coffee.

I then spent the rest of the day working on the new server, uploading photos to it and setting up a filing system for the photos that would make it easy for me to find what I was looking for. I started organising the different photos into folders, categorising them by country. I hope that the addition of the tagging system and facial recognition will help me keep the photos correctly filed.

I left the server running, hoping that the photos would copy correctly and be moved to the correct folders that I had begun to set up. I watched a couple of films on TV and went to bed at around midnight.

📝Sunday, 16th November.

I slept well again last night and woke up when the alarm went off at 7:45. I got up, turned the alarm off and got a coffee. I checked the new server and sat down to try to learn more about the photo software it had installed. I quickly discovered that it had very good facial recognition and also recognised all the tags that I had previously assigned to my photos, which would save a lot of work. It also detected all the photos that had location data attached to them via the camera of the mobile phone that had taken them. This made storing them in country-specific folders very easy, and I was able to quickly select and move all the photos with attached country data.

I also noticed that a couple of videos that had been uploaded to the server by accident had been recognised as video files. I will have to learn more about it, but it appears that adding my videos and storing them in a similar way to the photos will be easier than I initially thought.

Knowing that I probably wouldn't go for a walk this morning if I didn't, I stopped my work on the server at around 10:45. I left it running and hoped that it would continue detecting faces on the photos I had uploaded. I walked along the promenade to Rio Nalon, in search of somewhere to stop for a coffee and possibly breakfast. I stopped at NoName Cafe, ordered a tostada with tomato and a coffee. I sat and ate my breakfast, then read another chapter from the current book I Im reading on my Kindle, ↗️Cemetery View.

I decided after breakfast that I had walked far enough for the day and went straight back to my apartment, rather than taking a more circuitous route. When I got home, I got some water to drink and sat back down at my computer. I typed up some notes for this week's blog post and checked that the virus scan I had set running on my new server was functioning properly. Seeing that the virus scan was still running, I sat in my armchair, put my feet up and continued to watch TV.

I spent the rest of the day and evening watching TV and occasionally checking on my server to see if it was still running the jobs I had started. At about 13:00, my friend George called to see if I wanted to meet him and his wife, Yvonne, for a drink at the Avenida bar. At 14:00, I walked to the Avenida bar and met with George and Yvonne. We hadn't seen each other in a while and sat chatting for about three hours. We all left the bar just after 17:00 and went home. When I arrived at my apartment, I cooked myself some sausages for dinner. They were very nice, and after finishing the meal, I sat in my armchair with my feet up and watched the Albania vs England World Cup Qualifying game. England won the game 0-2, setting a new record for the number of consecutive games they had won without conceding a goal.

This evening, I watched a couple of old films that I had seen before, but found relaxing to watch before going to bed. 

Health and exercise metrics for week 46 of 2025.