Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain.
Summary: Week 26 was a mix of swims in the Mar Menor, website tinkering, coffees at Buenavista, noisy San Juan nights, Amazon deliveries, and catching up with friends. It felt good getting back into routines, fixing little problems, and enjoying the small moments around Los Alcázares.
Monday, 22nd June
When I woke up, I took my medication with some water and then ate the overnight oats I had made up last night. Unfortunately, I had used up all the milk making them so I couldn't have a coffee. I checked for messages on my computer and did a little work on my website and even had a look at a Vivaldi Four Seasons performance that I could go and see when I'm in Venice. I also looked at a couple of local tours I could take but decided to wait until I was there to book anything.
I messaged Martin to tell him I wouldn't be able to meet him today or tomorrow because I was expecting deliveries but that I would be going for coffee at the Buenavista restaurant because I could get back from there quickly if Amazon were close. Then I walked along to the restaurant, ordered a large coffee and sat reading my Kindle. The book I´m reading, Alice, is very deep and there is a lot of underlying comparisons with real life in it, I had difficulty following some parts of it and then it just sort of cleared up, like the clouds in an overcast sky, and I understood the story. It was well written and I like it, but I don't think it will be to everybody's taste.
After drinking my coffee, I decided to go home because there seemed to be hundreds of flies about today, something I luckily don't seem to get to bothered by at home. I walked home got some water to drink and sat down to work on my website. While I waited for my delivery to arrive, I found myself thinking of the Vivaldi Four Seasons performance in Venice again. It could be something I regretted if I didn't see it while I'm in Venice, so I went onto the Booking.com website and booked a ticket for the show.
This afternoon I worked on my website, at around 15:00 my new robot hoover arrived. The delivery driver put it in the hallway for me, and I will unbox it and set it up in the next few days. I went back onto the Amazon website because I had remembered something I wanted that I keep forgetting when I go shopping. I ordered four bags of oats so that I can make oat flour to make some recipes when my new mixer arrives and to let me keep making the overnight oats I have come to love. While I was online, I also saw an advert for Old Spice underarm deodorant. I used to love the smell of the scent, so I ordered the deodorant to see if it's as nice as I remember it.
Before the football came on, I walked to get pizza, but when I get there, I remembered that it doesn't open on Mondays. Instead, I continued walking and went to the Dia store and got cheese, ham, and pita bread rolls. I walked home and had a couple of the rolls for tea my tea and finished typing up my notes on the Southern States Tour. I then watched the Argentina vs Austria football match. Lionel Messie missed a penalty but still scored twice. When that finished, I watched the watched the France vs Iraq game. At half time there was a huge lightning and rainstorm and the game was halted. It didn't look like it would start again anytime soon so I went to bed.
Tuesday, 23rd June
I got up this morning and took my tablets. I checked the score for last night's France vs Iraq game. It had restarted two hours later; I was glad I hadn't tried to stay awake. France won 3-0. I did some more work on my website, rearranging the navigation for it. I was pleased as I had finally figured out how to get it to work correctly the way I wanted it to work. I think the tablets I am taking to help my memory, concentration and give me energy are slowly kicking in because I am finding I can concentrate for longer, remember more and I am not so sluggish in the afternoons.
At around 09:45 I walked to the Buenavista restaurant and had a coffee and tostada for breakfast and read my Kindle for a while. I was bothered by hundreds of flies again so I didn't stop long before going home and continued to work on my website, adding a new Short Trips section which will have my short holidays on it. I hadn't realised but it's now two years since I went to Marrakech with my friend Lisa and I moved my blog about this trip to the new section.
The Amazon delivery arrived this afternoon and I put all four packs of oats into a large container in my kitchen. I smelt the Old Spice deodorant and although it didn't smell anything like I remember it, it was quite pleasant and I will use it. I was then able to go out on my disability scooter to get some shopping. I went to the Mercadona store and got a lot of shopping, including things that will allow me to make some more dishes of my own, like cottage pie that I can then freeze.
This evening the San Juan celebrations were being set up in the square outside my apartment. The music was quite good, and I didn't mind listening to it as I watched the Portugal vs Uzbekistan game. When the England game came on, I shut the noise out by closing the doors and windows to my apartment. I could still here the music, but it wasn't too bad. I watched the England vs Ghana game, but it wasn't very good and finished 0-0 at midnight.
Unfortunately, the game finishing was a cue for the noise levels outside to double and instead of the singers that had been on a DJ started up and all he did was shout, scream and play records that went boom, boom, boom. It was terrible, the windows shook in my apartment and I could not sleep. He eventually finished sometime around 02:00 Wednesday but the kids outside kept shouting, screaming and I think fighting till around 06:00.
Wednesday, 24th June
My alarm woke me up at 07:00. Unsurprisingly I felt terrible and had a terrible headache. I lay in bed for a while before getting up, washing and getting dressed. I took a painkiller for my headache and went downstairs to get on my disability scooter.
For some reason the disability scooter would not go into reverse which meant I had to walk to the health centre for my blood test. I set out for the health clinic and was glad it was a bit overcast. It was already around 28°C and I was a bit puffed out by the time I got there. Luckily for me there was no queue and as soon as the person already having their blood test had finished, I was seen next. The blood test was done quickly and the result showed I had an INR of 2.3, almost perfect. I stopped briefly at the health centre to get my breath back and then walked home.
When I got home, I checked for the details of my disability scooter purchase and sent the company a message via their website to ask them to send someone out to repair it. Then I continued working on my website until I received a message from Co-Pilot telling me I had used up my allowance for generating banner images. I looked at purchasing more credits, but it can wait while I do other work on the website. I began deleting more duplicate photos on my server and had a late breakfast, some cereal and a coffee.
In case my disability scooter isn't fixed for a while I plugged in my old disability scooter to charge its battery. I was glad I hadn't sold it yet. Once it has charged, I will clean it and get it ready to sell when the new one is repaired. Once the scooter was plugged in, I went back to my apartment and set up the new robot hoover and mop. It seems much better than the old one and I like the fact that it is self-cleaning. I set the base station up in my hallway next to my freezer as it will be out of the way there. I will have to see if the Wi-Fi range is good enough to reach my bedroom from there before I finally leave it there for good. I plugged in the base station, filled up the water store, attached the two mops and brush to the hoover and downloaded the app to my phone. Once it had been set up, I sent the robot to fully charge at the base station. Then I went round the apartment picking up things from the floor and opening all the doors for the robots first run later.
By the time I had finished I was puffed out and very hot. I closed all the doors and windows and put the air conditioning back on and sat down to watch a film. Mothers Pride. The film was very funny, and I recommend it to anyone. I must have fallen asleep a little after it finished and I woke up an hour or so later.
I set the robot mop going and instantly realised what an improvement it was over the last one. It stopped several times during the clean, to go back to the base station and to clean the mop heads. It was picking up the dust and mopping at the same time, it was quite quiet and didn't stop me watching TV or make me have to turn the sound up to cover it. When it had completely finished it went back to the base station cleaned itself again and then began to charge. I lifted out the dirty water container, it was filthy, I emptied it, put it back and refilled the clean water container. I will have to work out how to program the robot to come on an automatic rota and then see how often a week I should make it run. I am already very happy I got it, the floors everywhere look and feel fantastic.
At about 18:30 I decided to get a pizza and walked to the pizza parlour round the corner. It was shut again although according to the times on the door it should have been open. I walked back along the beach to my apartment and when I got in I settled on having a salad with tortilla wraps for tea.
This evening I watched TV and did some work on my server. Feeling tired after last nights late night I went to bed around 22:45.
Thursday, 25th June
I woke around 05:00, went back to sleep and woke again when the alarm went off at 07:00, I had forgot to reset it from yesterday. I turned the alarm off and went back to sleep for another hour. I got up just after 08:00, took a shower then got dressed and made a coffee. I sat in my armchair, checked for messages on my laptop and then did the Wordle puzzle.
I surfed the Internet for a while. I registered two postcards that I had received, one from Finland and one from the USA, on the Postcrossing website and left to walk to the Buenavista restaurant just before 10:00 to meet Lawrence. I got a tostada and a coffee and began to read my Kindle. Lawrence arrived a little while later and we sat chatting and I had another coffee.
Just before midday, Lawrence came with me to my apartment to look at the switch on my disability scooter. The company that had supplied it had told me to try WD40 on the switch to see if it would fix the problem with the reverse gear not being found and Lawrence had brought some WD40 round for me to try to fix it. We did as Revelco, the disability scooter company had suggested, and it worked straight away. Lawrence then followed me up to my apartment so I could show him my new robot vacuum cleaner and so I could order a couple of things for him on Amazon. Once I had ordered his stuff for him, he drove me to the health clinic to get my blood test results and next appointment date.
At the health clinic I collected the printout with my Sintrom dosage and my next appointment date, which isn't for five weeks. I left and Lawrence asked if I wanted to get lunch somewhere, but it was too early for me to be eating again already and he dropped me home. As I went into the apartment block I saw and spoke to my neighbour Liz briefly, I hadn't seen or spoken to her since January, and she had apparently fallen last week and hurt herself. She introduced me to Pedro, a Spanish man that she pays to take her shopping and who helps her with odd jobs. He works for a Spanish version of Help at Home.
I went back to my apartment and was glad to be back in the cooler air. It was getting too hot outside. I worked on my website for a while and around 13:30 I took some paper recycling to the recycling bin. I went on my disability scooter to make sure it was working correctly but was glad I had used it because the heat was getting very oppressive. On the way back I stopped and got a pizza at Dillons Kebab and pizza. Once I was back home, I ate half the pizza and saved the other half for my tea tonight. Before starting to work on my computer I cut up the bananas I had bought earlier in the week and put them in the freezer to use in my smoothies. I also made up some overnight oats to put in the fridge and have for breakfast tomorrow.
This evening I did more work on my website until the football came on and put the TV on to watch today's games. I wasn't really watching much of it as I worked and ate the rest of my pizza, but when the Germany game came on, I stopped work to concentrate on the game. It was a good game, but at 1-1, I decided that I was too tired to watch till the end of the game and I went to bed at around 23:30.
Friday, 26 June
I woke around 05:00 but went back to sleep and woke again when the alarm went off at 07:00. I got up at 07:15 and decided today was a good day to try and start swimming again. I got my swim shorts on, collected my swimming mask and snorkel and went down to the Mar Menor.
The Mar Menor was beautiful, and it felt good to be back in the water after around two years. I had not been swimming because of my health and the fact that the nurse had told me I couldn't swim with the open wound on my leg. When she had discharged me from her care a few weeks ago, she had told me I could swim again. I sat in the water until my body had become used to the temperature and then swam out to the rocks. I noticed how much clearer the water was than last time I had been swimming and how much more sea grass there was. The rocks were covered in it and it all looked much healthier. After reaching the rocks I turned round and swam back to the beach. Not wanting to push myself to hard to quickly I did just one lap out to the rocks and back, a distance of around 400 metres. I will repeat this again tomorrow and over the next few weeks and months build up the distance I swim. Two years ago, I had been swimming 2000 meters every morning.
I went back to my apartment, took a shower and got dressed. I got a coffee and ate the overnight oats I had prepared last night before going to bed. I sat down at my computer and went on the Amazon website again. After swimming I had noticed that the strap on my swimming mask was broken and just hanging on. I didn't want to have it fall off while I was swimming so I ordered a new mask which should arrive today. I began working on my website while I waited for the three Amazon deliveries, two for me and one for something I had ordered for Lawrence yesterday.
I began to sort through the stuff on my dining table. I've been sorting through it for years now and still haven't thrown anything out, just in case I need it. I found a few things I could easily sell and put adverts for them on Farcebook and put one advert on the Wallapop website, something I've never used before. For lunch I had a salad and then went back to work sorting through things. I didn't get very far.
I took an extended nap in the afternoon and when I woke it was very hot, so I closed all the doors and windows and put the air conditioning on. My friend Debbie invited me to her home for dinner on Sunday. She is a wonderful cook and I accepted the invitation straight away.
Tonight I watched the Norway vs France game. It was very one sided and France won easily. The final score margin of 1-4 really should have been a lot higher. During the game, at about 21:30, Amazon delivered my third parcel of the day, my new swimming mask. I went to bed as soon as the game finished. There was a bit of noise outside in the square tonight, but it wasn't too bad and I managed to fall asleep fairly quickly.
Saturday, 27th June
I woke up around 05:00, used the bathroom and then went back to sleep. I woke up when the alarm went off at 07:00. I got up, got my swim shorts on and went down to the Mar Menor.
The water was beautiful again. My new swimming mask was great and gave me a good view of all the fish and a single jellyfish as I swam past it and out to the rocks and back. As I was approaching the shore, I saw my neighbour, who bought and lives in the apartment my sister used to rent. He and one of his friends had the same idea as me and were adjusting their snorkel masks before going for a swim. We talked briefly before they went swimming and I went back to my apartment.
Once home I had a shower and got dressed. I had a message from my friend Lawrence saying he couldn't make it for the swim. I unpacked my new Ninja blender and set it up. Unfortunately, the blade, which is very sharp, sliced my finger as I put it in the machine. I will have to be careful how I handle it in the future. It took a few minutes to work out how to use it but I soon had it working. I put the ingredients for my milkshake in, frozen banana, raspberries, blueberries and Greek yoghurt, milk and protein powder. The new machine worked out what I had put in it and then ran, blending everything perfectly and stopping automatically. It was the creamiest milkshake I'd ever made.
I sat down in my armchair with a coffee and my shake and did the Wordle puzzle, checked for messages and got ready to try to sort out more stuff and possibly put more things for sale on Farcebook and Wallapop. I took my laptop off of sale on Farcebook, the only people who had asked about it where chancers who didn't want to pay me what it is worth. I used CoPilot to see what I should be selling it for and relisted it on Wallapop.
I swapped messages with a freiend, talking about my trip to Venice and her trip to South Africa, which if both teams keep winning will mean she will be in South Africa for a semifinal between England and South Africa, something which I know she would hate.
I began to add pages to my Australia tour section of my website but stopped when the England vs Panama game came on TV. I watched the whole game but was unimpressed by England. Although England won 2-0, I think Panama were unlucky and should really have scored two or three goals themselves. England's defence was terrible and until the second half began they didn't really look like scoring either. As soon as the game finished, I went straight to bed.
Sunday, 28th June
I didn't get up till 08:00 today. I got up slowly with a bit of back ache. I put my swim shorts on, picked up my snorkel mask, took some bread from the kitchen and went down to the Mar Menor.
I sat in the water and fed the bread to the fish. They didn't come too close today but as I sat there, I could see them start to come closer and to start eating the bread. I expect the more they get used to me again, the closer they will come. I set off on my swim, looking at the fish below me. When I looked up, I had been swimming in the wrong direction and had nearly swum past the rock reef. I decided to try and swim a bit further today and swam past the end of the rocks, turned and swam the length of the rocks till I was opposite the Buenavista restaurant back on the beach. Then I turned again and came back on the beach side of the rock reef before swimming ashore. I was a bit puffed when I got back but I had only just started swimming after a two-year break and was pleased to have done the 800-meter swim.
After catching my breath on the wall next to the beach, I returned to my apartment, had a shower and got dressed. I took out a pot of overnight oats from the fridge and put on my coffee machine to make a cold pressed coffee so that I could attempt to make myself a Coffee frappe with my new blender. I sat and ate breakfast and when I had finished, I attempted to make the frappe. It tasted ok but it wasn't as creamy as I would have liked and I will have to experiment to get it better and buy some caramel syrup to go in it as well.
At 14:30 I walked to Debbie's house for Sunday dinner. I took along a bottle of wine that I remembered her and our friend John used to like, The Guvnor. It was very hot walking there and I was puffed out when I arrived. Debbie let me in and I sat getting my breath back while she continued to cook while we waited for Yvonne to arrive. As always, Debbie's cooking was amazing. We had roast lamb and roast pork, the best roast potatoes Ive ever had, beautiful cauliflower cheese, mixed veg, red cabbage, and for desert Mochi, a Japanese dessert stuffed with ice cream and raspberry sauce.
We sat chatting until the early evening and I left at around 19:45. I was walking home when I realised that I didn't have any money and that as I was getting picked up in the morning to go and see Martin I wouldn't have the opportunity to get any. Instead of going straight home I cut down Rio Nalon and withdrew some money and then stopped at Harrys Bar for a drink.
It was nice to see quite a few people I hadn't seen for a while and lovely to talk to a couple of friends at Harrys and at the bar a couple of doors away, Perlita's Bar. While sitting outside I was keeping an eye on the South Africa vs Canada football match and began talking to a couple on another table. After talking for a while I moved to join them and we continued talking for a couple of hours. As we talked the gentleman told me about their friends' dad who used to live in Los Alcazares and used to swim a lot and had even swum to the islands in the Mar Menor a couple of times. I suddenly realised they were talking about my friend Terry. He was a lovely man and called me boy and told people I was his son after I stopped someone from attacking him once many years ago. It was amazing chatting with the couple and learning how Terry's daughter, Debbie and her husband Kevin were doing, but more amazing was the fact that if I hadn't mentioned my swim this morning we would all have parted without knowing we had good friends in common.
After the game finished my new friends left to go home and I left a short time later. It was still very hot out as I got home just after midnight and I was glad I had left the air conditioning running when I went out. I got a drink of iced water and went straight to bed.
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