Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain.

Summary: Week 23 of 2026 was a steady mix of website work, local walks, coffees, meals out, and coping with the heat in Los Alcázares. You caught up with friends, dealt with knee pain and noisy events, enjoyed some relaxed reading time, and marked a few highlights, including a viral video and celebrating Arsenal’s title win with a new shirt.

Monday 1st June

I woke up just after 05:00 and unable to get back to sleep I got up around 05:30 and started to work on my website. I worked till around 09:15 then shaved my head and took a shower. I was going to trim my beard but because I keep cutting big lumps out of it when the guide falls out, I will get it done at the barbers. It will be a first going to the barbers just for a bead trim. After shaving my head I took a shower and then got ready to go to the barbers.

I decided to get a coffee at Buena Vista and then go to the barbers. Just before 10:00 I walked to the restaurant with my kindle. I sat outside ordered a tostada with tuna and tomato and a coffee. It quickly arrived and I sat reading a book on my Kindle,  Full Bodied: A Francine Witt Mystery. I enjoyed breakfast and ordered a second coffee. When I had finished my coffee, I paid my bill and left, walking towards the local Barbers, Style Point.

When I walked in, I was seen almost straight away. A barber was working on one man, but a second barber appeared to trim my beard. He did a great job, and I felt great when I left. I can shave my head because I don't have to worry about any straight lines, but my beard is a problem. I have cut it wonky, taken bits out of it & not trimmed it straight. I was very pleased with the job they made, and I will continue to use them to trim my beard in the future.

When I left it seemed daft to walk home to come out again a short time later to go to the health clinic for my appointment, so I walked to the Garden Bar, bought a bottle of water and sat outside under the shade of a big umbrella. I was greeted by a few people that I know but didn't join them because I was only staying briefly before walking to the health clinic.

When I finished my bottle of water I walked to the health clinic, I was half an hour early, but I could sit inside where it was cool and read my book. I am always amazed by the Spanish appointment system, my appointment was for 13:00 and I wasn't seen till 13:30, with one person being seen before me for a couple of minutes. I think appointments are a time to arrive and wait not an appointment time. Once I was seen the nurse was very pleased with the wound on my leg. It has healed over and stopped weeping. I was told I could start swimming again but to wash the leg with soapy water afterwards. She told me to moisturise it every day as the skin is very dry and brittle, probably not helped by having it covered for the best part of two years, and that it was not necessary to go back unless it opened up again. I thanked her for all her help since she has been looking after me, left and walked home.

When I got home, I got some water to drink and did some work on my website for a while. In the afternoon I decided to celebrate Arsenal winning the Premier League by buying a new shirt. I know they are expensive these days, but I will wear an Arsenal shirt once every week for 2 years minimum, I can't say that about any other shirt I own. I went to the  Arsenal website and ordered the new home shirt, hopefully it won't take too long to arrive, and I can continue my habit of getting photos in an Arsenal shirt in famous places around the world when I got to Venice.

When my stomach started rumbling, I realised I hadn't eaten since breakfast. I decided to go out for an early dinner and then go for a beer at Harrys bar afterwards. I walked to Thai Aroi for the Menu of The Day, but when I arrived it was closed. I decided to go for fish and chips at Pearls Plaice on Rio Nalon and continued walking. It was getting hotter and my knee was beginning to ache after all the walking I had done already. When I got to the chippy, it too was closed. I walked onto Harry's bar and sat outside with Ian and Paul and got a bottle of water. I was puffed out and had to rest and catch my breath but after short rest I felt better. My friend Andy also turned up and we sat chatting. I got a beer and moved to a seat in the shade where I could watch the wildlife. I sat talking to a couple who lived close by at La Torre Golf and after a couple of beers I walked to the Caledonian bar.

I had a beer inside and sat watching four guys playing pool. As I was sat there my friend Ian walked in and got himself a drink and put one in for me behind the bar. After the men had finished playing pool I moved outside to sit and finish my beer. Whilst sitting there I had a message from some friends, Sal & Colin, who had seen me earlier and were still at Zarco's bar. I finished my beer and walked down to see them and had a beer with them. After chatting with them and finishing my drink, I made a slow walk home and as soon as I got home, I went to bed.

Tuesday 2nd June

I got up this morning and got some water to take my tablets with. After taking my tablets, I had a shower and carefully examined my leg. The wound looked good and I cleaned my leg with a soft sponge and soapy water. Once I had finished showering and getting dressed, I put hydration cream all over the leg. Hopefully this will help it heal further and the skin will stop looking so dry and flaky.

I decided to work on my website for a couple of hours and then go out for a cooked breakfast somewhere later. Around 10:30 I got on my disability scooter and went to Porshchas bar. I had a large fry up and a large coffee and read my Kindle as I ate. When I had finished breakfast and my coffee and the book I was reading, I paid my bill and slowly went towards Pizzeria la Sombre to meet Martin. When I arrived it was still before opening time but the tables were out so I sat down at a table in the shade. It was getting very hot out and I was glad of a bit of shade. I started to read another book on my Kindle,  Alice, and waited for Martin. 

Inés came out and asked if I wanted a beer, I settled for a bottle of water with ice. Martin, Dave and Aria joined me at different times over the next couple of hours and we sat chatting. The heat was too much for me & at 13:30 I left and went home.

When I got home, I started working on my website again. I worked till around 17:00 then got some chicken wings to eat. After finishing them I watched some CNN news on TV and eventually went to bed around 22:00. Before getting in bed I close all the doors and windows up and put on the air conditioning and turned it down to 19 °C. I put the bed on the ceiling over my bed on low for an hour and went to bed. Luckily the room soon cooled down, and I was asleep quite quickly.

Wednesday 3rd June

I woke before my alarm and got up and took my tablets. It felt a little cooler outside this morning as I opened all the doors and window up but the thermometer said it was 22°C already and it was only 07:15. I sat down at the computer and began working on my website.

At arround 11:00 I jumped on my disability scooter and went to DIa to buy some ice cubes so I could try to make a  Frappe at home. I got a few other bits I though I would need and went home to put everything away. It was when I had emptied the bag and pit everything away I realised I hadnt got the thing I went out  for, ice cubes. I decided I could do without them for another day and decided not to go back out.

I continued working on my website and stopped around 13:30 for lunch. I had some chicken wings and a couple of bits of a seeded loaf with cheese spread on. After lunch I continued working until around 15:30 when I took a break. I switched on the TV to settle down in front of. I watched a few episodes of Police Interceptors before switching to watch a film,  In The Grey. It was a great film that I really enjoyed, watch it if you get a chance.

When the film finished I changed my bed linen and had intended going to be butat 22:00 there were still lots of screeming kids in the square outside. I carried on working on my website for a while, hoping that as it became dark some of the parents of the kids would take them home. 

Thursday 4th June

I woke up at 7:30. I got up took my tablets and did the Wordle puzzle before doing some work on my website. I worked for a couple of hours then showered and got dressed before going for a walk.

I walked along the promenade while it was still cooler. I had intended walking along to Rio Nalon but about half way there my knee popped out. In a lot of pain I cut up to the main road and tuened back towards home, cutting the walk short. As I approached Buena Vista I was also getting breathless so I stopped for a coffee and tostafa with tomato. I had breakfast and read my Kindle for a while and then went back home.

When I got home I really began to feel the pain and not wanting to cause any more pain to my knee I messaged my friend Wayne to tell him not to bother coming round. He was coming to help me move some furniture but I didnt want to risk doing myself any damage. I assembled the ingredients for some overnight oats. I added oats, protein powder, milk, banana, blueberries, raspberries and cinamon to two jars and put them in the fridge. I then used WhatApp to ring my friend Lawrence and we had a chat for a while. He arrives in Los Alcázares at the end of next week and will stay for 3 months, it will be good to see him again.

I put my feet up and did more work on my website before stopping to watch a film called  Is God Is. It was violent and although I understood the characters in the film I didn't think much of it. After watching the film, I had a salad with soft tortilla before going back to work on my website.

I stopped working on my website around 20:30. For some reason, I remebered I hadnt put any Greek yoghurt in my over night oats. I took them out of the fridge and added the youghurt to both jars before putting them back in the fridge.

My knee still hurt so I spent the rest of the day with my feet up watching TV.

Friday 5th June

Waking early I took my tablets and started work on my website. For breakfast I stopped for a coffee and had one of the overnight oats I had put in the fridge yesterday. After breakfast I continued working on my website, adding lots of photos to photo albums and reinstating some old pages.

At midday I stopped and went to Buen Sabor to buy lunch. I bought two meals a poek in pepper sause with chips for lunch and a mixed meat spagettit for this evening. Both meals only cost €12 its great value and sometimes I wonder why I cook at home at all.

I went home and had the pork dish for lunch then continued working on my website. I adjusted some of the menus which may mean some broken links that I will jave to find but it will make the website easier to work on and more importantly give shorter URL´s. I reinstated the short trip I made to  Madrid & Barcelona, a trip that nearly killed me and one in which my mum died while I was in hospital in Barcelona.

I had the second meal I had bought at about 18:00 then continued working on my website. I finally stopped work at 21:00 and spent the rest of the night watching TV before going to bed around 23:00.

Saturday 6th June

I woke before my alarm today, got up, washed, got a coffee and sat down to do a few hours work on my website. I continued working till around 10:00 then took a break from the computer.

I collected several bags of plastic recycling waste, some cardboard and paper waste, & a normal bag of rubbish. I went out on my disability scooter and took the recycable stuff to the recycling bins and the general rubbish to a normal bin. Then I went back to my apartment, plugged my disability scooter into charge in the garage and then colelcted some amazon boxes to take back out to a recycling bin. Once I had finished getting rid of the rubbish I went back to my apartment.

The short walk had made me a bit breathless so I sat in my armchair and rested. I did continue working on my website and found some photos of me and my mum when I took her to my apartment at the Villages of Seaport at Port Canaveral in Florida. I deleted hundreds of duplicates from my Google Drive and then edited and added ones I like to my photo album for our  Queen Mary II Cruise and our stay at my apartment in Florida.

For lunch I got myself two chipata rols with cheese and ham and thenwent back toworking on my website. At around 16:00 I thought a cat was in pain outside but it was a band setting up in the square. They sounded terrible and were screeching rather than singing. The sound got so bad I had to shut all my doors and windows to try to deaden the sound. They were so loud I had to keep turning the sound on the TV up just to try and drown them out.

I contineud working on my website and treid to ignore the racket outside. The market that is there is quite good and I have used it a few times but I dont think whoever booked the group there today has heard them sing they are terrible. I continued working until around 23:30 and then stopped because my eyes were getting from staring at the computer screen for so long. Unfortunately I couldnt give me ears a rest form the noise outside.  I made a video recording of the screeching singer and posted it online complaining about the noise.

At around 00:30 the band finally finished and I was able to go ot bed and get some sleep.

Sunday 7th June

I was up later than normal this morning and I got a coffee and did the Wordle puzzle before checking for email messages. I was amazed to find that the video I had posted had had thousands of views instead of the normal one or two. Many peple were agreeing with me about the band. Others were just being personal and abusive to me, and it was quite obvious they had not watched the video or read what I had posted on Farcebook.

Many were from English people hundreds of miles away telling me to go home if I dont like it. To those people I would like to point out that I am home. To the people telling me its a Spanish Fiesta and to get used to it or leave I ask, what Spanish Fiesta has English Punk sung screeched at it for over 8 hours. The people that took the time to read my post realise that I wasnt complaining about Fiestas, I was complaining about one very bad singer. The people that bothered to listen to the video realised why I was complaining about it. If any music good or bad is booked it should be put on in an area away from a residential area that makes the noise echo and is louder further away from the music than it is directly in front of it.

Fiestas are great last nights garbage was not and that is the last time I will mention it.

For lunch today I walked along to Porschas bar had had the Sunday lunch, roast lamb with all the trimmings and for a desert I had an apricot bread and butter pudding. The lamb was great and although I enjoyed teh dessert I wouldnt describe it as bread and butter pudding. My friend Alison had messaged me to meet her at Buena Vista this afternoon so when my Kindle ran out of pwer, I walked home to charge it and to take a siesta before meeting Alison later.

When I got home I put my Kindle on to charge and sat in my armchair. The good food and fresh air promptly made me fall asleep. I woke up around 16:00 and after collecting my Kindle I walked to Buena Vista to meet Alison. I got a caramel Frappe and sat in the shade reading my Kindle. Alison was running late but arrived around 16:45 and we sat chatting till 18:30. 

When I left, I went back to my apartment and when I was home, I decided to have a break from the website work. I decided to play a computer game that I haven't played for a while. I played WhiskerWood and when I stopped and decided to have an early night, I looked at the time, it was 01:30. I went to bed and was soon sleeping soundly.