Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain.
Summary: A busy week in Los Alcázares filled with website work, long days transferring files, coffees with friends, late‑night World Cup matches, and steady progress getting life back into a comfortable rhythm.
Monday, 8th June
I woke feeling good this morning. I got up, had a coffee and immediately started working on my website. I had one of the overnight oats I had prepared for breakfast. I do like them, I was surprised how good, cold porridge can taste.
After discovering that the Greek yoghurt in my fridge had got blue growths on it, I threw it away and decided to get some more today. I decided I would go to see Martin at Pizzeria la Sombre for a short while, get some groceries on the way home and wait at home to see my friends Lottie and Alison later in the day.
As I sat chatting with Martin, Aria and Dave at La Sombre, my friends Frouk and Reinder arrived to have lunch. I was very aware of how the sun had affected me last week, making me feel unwell, so I had covered up with lots of suncream today and stayed in the shade. I decided just after 13:00 to get the few bits of shopping I wanted and set off on my disability scooter. Martin had told me that Consum had one of the things I needed so I headed there.
Consum didn't have what I was looking for but as I was there, I got a couple of things that I needed. Consum prices seemed a lot higher than Mercadona and I won't be going back in a hurry. As I left the store I saw my friend Wayne outside. We chatted for a while, and he said he would help me move a couple of bits of furniture later in the week. I then continued on my way and went to Economy Cash for the Greek Yoghurt I hadn't got in Consum. After getting my shopping I went home.
As I was putting my shopping away my friend Alison called to say that she was at La Sombre with Lottie. We arranged to meet later in the day, and she said she would message me when she and Lottie where ready and that they would go to Buena Vista restaurant. I sat in my armchair to cool off and promptly took a nap. My alarm woke me up around 16:00 and just after I had a message from Alison and Lottie saying that they were at Buena Vista.
I walked to Buena Vista and sat with Alison and Lottie. It was great to see Lottie as I hadn't seen her for a long time. We had something to eat and a couple of drinks while we sat chatting.
I love chatting with Lottie, she and I have been to so many of the same places around the world and I love listening to her stories about her travels and she always very politely listens to my stories of my visits to places she has also been to. Today we talked about my Australia and New Zealand trips earlier this year. She and I both agreed that Cairns was one of our favourite places to visit in the world and I showed her some photos of me on the Great Barrier Reed and Cairns itself.
We all left Buena Vista at about 18:30 and I walked along the beach to my apartment. When I got home, I sat and watched TV for a while before cooking some pork ribs for my dinner. I ate my ribs and then very quickly fell asleep in the armchair. When I woke up about an hour later, I was still tired. I tried to watch TV, but my eyes kept closing and I stopped trying to stay awake and went to bed around 22:00.
Tuesday, 9th June
I woke around 07:00 today and after having a coffee and waking up properly, I did the Wordle puzzle. I talked to my neighbour Christine for a while via Farcebook messenger. Last night she had been kept awake by kids playing football outside late into the night.
For the idiots that aren't aware, kids kicking footballs against a wall, screaming and shouting all night, in an area surrounded by apartments that echo, is not a fiesta so don't bother to send me vulgar rude messages or suggest I go home to Britain. Many British people seem to believe they are hero keyboard warriors these days and believe everything they read on Farcebook or see on YouTube clickbait sites. I don't care what your beliefs are but do not think you can abuse me by sending me vulgar and personal messages, especially if you haven't taken the time to read my blog or watch and listen to my videos.
Before you judge someone, pause long enough to imagine their life.
Think about the weight they carry, the worries they hide, the battles they fight in silence.
If you had walked the same path, felt the same losses, and faced the same fears,
you might understand why they act as they do.
So, judge gently and let compassion lead the way.Modern paraphrase inspired by Mary T Lathrap’s poem “Judge Softly”
After typing a few notes up I got myself another coffee and got myself a tostada with tomato. Then I juiced the oranges I bought last week and put a jug of fresh orange in the fridge to drink during the week.
Mid-morning Martin messaged me to say he was going to Buena Vista for a coffee so I stopped working on my website and went to meet him there. Before I left I home I picked up a cardigan that had the wool coming apart and a pair of shorts that I bought that have an incorrect button size fitted on them. Kate had said she could fix them so I took them with me to give to Martin to take to Kate.
We sat outside looking out over the beach and started chatting while we both had tostadas and coffee. We finished our food and coffee and left to go to Martins house. Martin shot off on his bike and I went at a slower pace and caught up with him at his house where Kate was waiting to collect the clothes. She took them and I told her I needed a new button and asked if she could use the wool in the cardigan but she said she could repair it and Id be able to use it again.
Afterwards Martin and I went to Pizzeria la Sombre for a beer. We sat chatting for hours and were joined by Dave, Sean and Aria. Kate came over later on and had already fixed my cardigan and my shorts and gave them back to me. Mid afternoon I walked to the bar next door and left the person reading the quiz a sarcastic note asking him to read the quiz louder so we could hear as the beer was cheaper where we were. I dont think he saw the sunny side of my sarcastic note.
When we left the bar I went along to Harrys bar for a beer and sat chatting with a young holiday maker. A young Chelsea fan. We sat talking about Chelsea, Arsenal and the World Cup. Just as I was about to leave Martin sent me a message but I couldnt understand what he wanted other than I thought he was back at Pizzeria la Sombre, so I went back there to see him. He wasnt there when I arrived but as I was sending him a message he turned up. His bike innertube had burst out of its tyre and he would have to take it to the bike shop to get it repaired. We stopped for 1 drink and then both returned home.
When I got back to my apartment, I continued the very long job of removing all my files, photos and videos from my Google back up. I had to do it all before the end of the month and move them all to my server, so I don't lose them. I swapped messages with my friend who had gone to a Take That concert in Sunderland and I dared her to storm the stage and sing in front of everyone.
Wednesday, 10th June
I woke late this morning and fell asleep again after turning off the alarm that me woke up. I stayed in bed till around 08:30. I didn't feel brilliant after yesterday's beer. Having stopped drinking for so long I can't drink like I used to. I will have to stop drinking again. Now that I can swim, I want to feel good when I wake up in the mornings, and to feel like swimming every morning.
I spent all morning transferring files from a Google server to my server, it was going to take a long time. I took a break at lunchtime and went to Buen Sabor to get some meals. I bought chicken curry with rice, chicken in cheese sauce with chips and a ham egg and potato dish, all three meals for less than €18. I took them home and as I hadnt eaten anything and was very hungry, I immediatly ate the ham egg and potato dish. It was very good but because I was still hungry I then ate the chicken in chips, it was also delicous.
I spent the rest of the day transferring files from Google to my server. When the England vs Costa Rica friendly football match came on, I listened to the game on TV but continued working. England won the game 3-0 and during the game I ate the chicken curry and rice I had bought earlier. I stopped working around midnight. I had heard from a friend, she had asked me if I had ever been to Vietnam and I told her I hadn't but hoped to go one day and that it was on my bucket list.
Thursday, 11th June
I woke just before my alarm this morning. I had slept well and woke refreshed. I sat at my computer and transferred more files from the Google Server to my laptop and then to my server. I had received another message from a friend last night saying she wanted to visit Vietnam, and I replied that I wanted to do a trip that also took in Cambodia so that I could visit Angkor Watt at the same time. Her questions had me thinking about the best time to visit and I used Google to look up the best time for me to visit. It suggested at the end of November so I may look at going in November next year.
I had been working longer than I realised when I stopped for a coffee at midday. I got a drink and ordered a new blender from Amazon so I can blend smoothies and iced coffee drinks. The old blenders I have bought never lasted long and didn't seem to be great quality so I used AI to find a good model that would do what I wanted and would last longer than the cheaper ones I had previously bought. When I looked on Amazon there was a 25% sale on the one I picked and I could also get an extended guarantee for it for €5. I ordered one with the extended guarantee.
At lunch time I made the excuse that I didn't want to cook before my new blender arrived and again went to Buen Sabor for a takeaway. This time I got pork in pepper sauce with chips and a ham and pasta dish before returning home. I ate the pork dish straight away and saved the pasta dish for this evening.
In the afternoon I continued removing photos from my Google Drive and adding them to my own server. I was realising that for some reason Google had made thousands of duplcates of my files. I still had to download them all and add them to my server to make it easier to sort through them and I continued to remove them all. I continued with this job until I went to bed around 23:00.
Friday, 12th June
I woke before the alarm again but felt better for a good night's sleep. I immediately got up and had a coffee. I then did the Wordle puzzle and then continued working to download all my photos from Google to my server. I stopped around 13:00 and got a toasted sandwich for lunch, after eating my sandwich I put the dishwasher on and then went back to work moving files off of Google Drive.
I worked all day on my Google Drive, but it took even longer than I expected. I didn't realise what the time was until the America vs Paraguay World Cup game on at around 03:30 Saturday morning. I continued to work on the files whilst I watched bits of the game. America won 4-1 and I went to bed around 05:45.
Saturday, 13th June
I got up around 9:30 after around 3½ hours sleep. I had a delivery arriving today and didnt want to miss it by sleeping all morning. I got a coffee and continued working on the files I had been transferring yesterday. At around 11:00 I got some muesli and then carried on working.
At around 13:30 the delivery still hadn't arrived, so I stopped work and got a cheese and ham toasted sandwich for lunch. After lunch I began playing WhiskerWood on my laptop. At about 15:00 my cousin Jill messaged me to invite me to meet her and some friends who were all outside in the square. Unfortunately, the delivery didn't arrive until 17:00. Once it had arrived, I cooked myself two chicken breasts marinated in Greek yoghurt and masala curry paste. When they had finished cooking, I ate one and wrapped the second one so it could chill down before I put it in the fridge to eat tomorrow.
At 19:00 I had finished dinner, done a bit of tidying up, juiced some oranges and was ready to watch the World Cup football. Having only a few hours' sleep last night I expected to be asleep in the armchair fairly quickly. I started to play WhiskerWood and before I knew it, it was half time in the Qatar vs Switzerland game. At half time I went into the kitchen and made up 4 jars of overnight oats, with oats, protein powder, cinnamon, banana, blueberries, raspberries Greek yoghurt and milk. I put all four in the fridge and returned to my armchair to continue my game and to watch the football.
The Scotland game started at 00:30 and I watched it kick off. Then promptly fell asleep, only waking 20 minutes later when the game stopped for a water break. I decided my eyes wouldn't stay open and went to bed.
Sunday, 14th June
I didn't wake up till after 09:30, no surprise after so many late nights watching football. I felt terrible and decided not to keep watching the very late football matches in the World Cup unless England were playing. I got myself a coffee, had one of the jars of overnight oats I had in the fridge and then started to work on the files I had spent days transferring from Google to my server.
The files had transferred correctly to my server, and Google had synchronised to show that all the files had now been removed, and my locked account had had its restrictions lifted again. I began sorting and storing the files correctly on my server, a job that would take days if not weeks. There were thousands of duplicates, but I hoped that having everything on my server would help me find them and delete the duplicates.
I half watched some of the evening football matches while I worked on the photos on my server. I worked until around midnight and then went to bed. Not an early night but a lot better than the last few days where I had stayed up to Watch World Cup football matches.
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