Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain.
Summary: Week 27 brought scorching heat, early‑morning swims, coffees with friends, website updates, plant shopping, and the disappointment of a cancelled Venice trip.
Monday, 29th June
I woke up around 07:00, it was already hot and sticky. I got up, got a coffee and got some overnight oats out of the fridge for breakfast. After breakfast I began working on my website and added the new headers and location details to the section about my Japanese holiday back in 2024. I much prefer the new banners I have designed using CoPilot and AI.
I left to meet Dave at the top of the road just before 12:00. I was a minute or so late, but Dave had waited for me, and we were soon on our way to meet Martin at Pizzeria la Sombre. I started off with a big bottle of water before having a beer afterwards. We sat chatting and one of my friends, who shall remain nameless for the time being, who I lent €10 about 3 months ago, stopped by and said he would give it back to me today. We all sat chatting and Dave and I left around 14:30.
I had to see my friend Paul who had arranged for his wife Wendy to take me to the airport on Sunday when I was supposed to be flying to Venice. I got Dave to drop me at Rio Nalon and I went to Harry's bar where Paul would be working later. I met the new owners, Vanessa and Ian, got a beer and then sat outside watching the world go by. It was getting very hot while I sat there and I got a bottle of water and put a sachet of electrolyte powder in it. The heat was getting too much for me, and I decided not to walk home and to wait for the local tourist train and to catch that home.
While I sat there Paul arrived and confirmed that Wendy could take me to the airport on Sunday. Ian arrived and we sat talking outside until it was time for me to leave and catch the train home. I had got the train time wrong and was early. I crossed the road and waited next to the Costa Narejos hotel for the train to arrive. Bob and Connie both got off the train to say hello when it arrived, and I was soon on my way home. Bob stopped the train and let me off at the top of my road and I was glad I hadn't attempted to walk.
When I got in, I immediately put the air conditioning on but fell asleep in minutes in front of the TV. When I woke up from my nap I was still shattered and after watching a bit of TV I went to bed early around 22:00.
Tuesday, 30th June
I woke around 07:00 but didn't feel brilliant. I felt very dehydrated even after drinking lots of water. I checked my emails and messages and did the Wordle puzzle. I had a message from Lawrence saying he was going to go to Buenavista for coffee and at 10:00 I went along to join him. We were soon joined by Oyvind, Teresea, Steve and Bev, I wondered where Christine was, but it seemed in the confusion of them all going to a different place for their morning coffee, no one had told Christine what they were doing.
The heat was getting too much for me again and at around 11:15 I left and walked back to my apartment, even with the air conditioning on I felt very drained and fell asleep a short while after getting in.
This afternoon the chairs I had ordered for Lawrence arrived, my chair didn't. It's so annoying when you make an order from the same company at the same time and it gets split and delivered at different times.
Tonight I watched the France vs Sweden game. France won 3-0 and it could have been and perhaps should have been a bigger winning margin. France had been my pick of the teams, and I still don't see anyone else beating them.
Wednesday, 1st July
I woke up at around 07:00, I got up and immediately got dressed for a swim and went down to the Mar Menor. I took a couple of bits of bread and sat feeding the fish before swimming out to the rocks and back. It felt good to be back in the water again and I feel so lucky to live within steps of the Mar Menor and to be able to go swimming in the crystal-clear water each morning.
After my swim I had a shower, got dressed and walked along to Buenavista for a coffee. Lawrence met me there and we sat chatting while I had a tuna and tomato tostada with my coffee. At around 11:00 we went back to my apartment and I helped Lawrence put the chairs I had ordered for him in his car. When he left I went back to my apartment, and continued to work on my website, this time adding new banners and locations to the section about my trip to India in 2025.
This evening I watched the England vs Congo football match. England played very badly and went 0-1 down and were lucky to equalise and then score very late in the game to win it 2-1. I don't think they will go much further in the competition playing like they did today. I am worried that all of the Arsenal players seem to be carrying injuries and look tired. They haven't had a break after playing around 65 games this season and they will hardly get anytime off after the world cup before they have to start pre-season with Arsenal. So far Arsenal haven't made any additions to the squad, but they have sold a couple of players, and I worry about injuries and fatigue affecting them at the start of next season.
Thursday 2nd July
I got up at around 7:15 before my alarm went off. I went for a swim, managing to swim out to the rocks and back again. After my swim I went back to my apartment, took a shower, got dressed and had a coffee.
I spent all day trying to keep cool and worked on my website. I added descriptions to my photo album from Tokyo. It is a very long job but, bit by bit, I am getting my website where I want it to be, in the way it looks and can be navigated.
Friday, 2nd July
During the night, in the early hours of this morning I was woken by a loud crash. I thought a car had hit something outside but in my sleepy state I couldn't focus myself and went back to sleep. I got up around 07:00 and as I walked into my lounge, I realised what the loud crash had been early in the morning. The bookshelf that I had all my family tree research books on, above my computer, had pulled off the wall and crashed onto the computer table, throwing books and Nik Naks all over the place. Luckily nothing seemed broken, but it made my already untidy living room, look even worse.
I decided it could wait and went for a swim. I swam out to the rocks and back and using my snorkel floated around looking at the fish. I fed the fish a stick of bread I had bought. It wasn't long before they started to circle me again, as they did a few years ago when my sister used to feed them with me.
After feeding the fish and finishing my swim I went back to my apartment and took a shower. At around 10:00 my friend Rab messaged me to tell me I could deliver my old disability scooter to him. A friend of his had bought it and given him the money for it. I took it round to him, collected the money and walked back to my apartment. It was already getting very hot again and I couldn't see myself doing much more today.
I moved a lot of the books that had fallen off the wall with the shelf and after realising that I would never read many of them again, mainly recipe books, I boxed them up to take to a charity shop.
This afternoon I had message from the airline I was supposed to be flying to Venice, with on Sunday. Because of strikes in Italy, by more or less everyone in the airline industry, my flight to Italy had been cancelled. I had to cancel the return flight, a ticket for the performance of Vivaldi's Four Seasons I was supposed to be going to see and cancel the hotel.
Cancelling the return flight was very straight forward and my money should be refunded within 10 days. The ticket to see Vivaldi's Four Seasons was easy to cancel and the money was returned to my account immediately. So quickly in fact that my phone beeped to tell me the money was back in my account almost immediately. The Hotel however, refused to refund my money and suggested I make a claim against the airline.
I contacted my Insurance company, and they said I could make a claim, but when I tried to their website was not working and I will have to try again later. I was very disappointed not to be going away but did remember to contact Paul to tell Wendy I wouldn't be going and didn't need a lift to the airport.
This afternoon I went to Buenavista with Lawrence who bought me a beer to cheer me up after missing out on my holiday. We chatted for a while and he ran me to Mercadona to pick up a couple of bits of shopping before dropping me at home. I only bought a few things but got 3 different types of the Mochi that Debbie had introduced me to last week. I also gave a box to Lawrence to try.
This evening I purchased a rope bracelet online that has a whales tail as a large clasp. It is from a company that helps look after the animals in our oceans, and as well as the bracelet it includes a tracker on a whale so that as it spends its life swimming the world I will be able to track it on an app on my phone. I love things like this and get to help protect the whales as well.
I watched the Australia vs Egypt game on TV tonight. It wasn't a great game but was very close. It went to extra time and then penalties. Egypt won the penalty knock out and went through to the next round and I went to bed.
Saturday, 3rd July
I woke at 07:00 and got up at 07:15 and got a drink. I checked my messages online and did the Wordle puzzle before going down to the Mar Menor at 08:15. I swam out to the rocks and back twice. The water was beautifully clear and very calm and I felt refreshed when I got out and sat on the beach wall for a couple of minutes afterwards.
When I got back to my apartment, I took a shower, got dressed and then put a load of washing in the washing machine and set it running. I got a coffee, some cereal and sat down at my laptop to work on my website for a while. Around 11:00 Lawrence arrived to take me to look for some plants, and we went first to a garden centre in Torre Pacheco and when I didn't see what I wanted there we went to San Javier.
I did find the succulent I was looking for, a type of Sedum that grows well in the heat on my balcony without me having to worry too much about care. I bought two and a further four small cacti. On the way to the till to pay, I saw another indoor plant that I liked and I bought that as well. I am and always have been a sucker for good plants. After dropping the plants back at my house, we went out for lunch.
I suggested Cabo de Palos, and we drove the long way round so I could show Lawrence a few different places that we could try cheap Menu of The Day options during the week. By the time we got to Cabo de Palos it was packed and we couldn't even get a parking space let alone a table to eat at anywhere. We decided not to stop and to try again another day during the week. I may even take my snorkel equipment and go for a swim in the Mediterranean before hand. We headed back to Los Alcázares and Lawrence dropped me at home. When I got in I cooked myself a chicken thigh and had it in a sandwich.
After dinner I was watching TV when a friend contacted me and asked me if I wanted to go on holiday with her next year. I of course said yes and started looking at it in more detail. It looks fantastic and I hope we do get to go. We will have to talk more about it when she returns from her next holiday. It did make me laugh we both get so excited about our holidays we start looking at the next one we want to book, before going on one we already have booked.
I contacted my insurance company about my cancelled holiday this afternoon, and after some confusion, including my computer shutting down while I was talking to them, it turned out I can make a claim. Using AI I found that the airline are responsible for paying me back for the hotel I had booked and now cant stay in because the airline cancelled my flight. It also checked my flights and told me that I am due between €250 & €600 compensation because they cancelled the flights with such short notice. I got all the details of how to claim and the claim form and AI even said it could help me fill the form in and write the letter. I will do it on Monday morning and send it straight away.
My friend Conrad, who I met on my cruise to Brazil contacted me this afternoon, and we talked briefly and then I settled down to watch the Canada vs Morocco game on TV. Morocco won 3-0 and went through to the next round.
Sunday, 5th July
I got up just before 07:00 this morning. I should have been excited about going to Venice later but as I was not now going because of the cancelled flight, I went for a swim instead. I was in the Mar Menor swimming by about 07:30, the water was beautiful, clear and quite calm. I swam out to the rocks and sat on the rocks for a few minutes, just relaxing listening to the noise of the town as it began to wake up.
I swam back to the beach then turned round and swam back out to the rocks again. Once again, I rested for a few minutes before swimming back to the beach. I rinsed my feet under the water tap on the beach and then walked back to my apartment. I stopped briefly and said hello to my neighbour's daughter before going home. When I got in, I made myself a banana, blueberry, raspberry, protein shake for breakfast. I decided rather than shower and then work on my balcony doing some gardening, I should do some work first.
On my balcony I moved some wire stands from the side of the balcony to the front and placed some pots on the top of them. I planted the two Sedum plants I bought yesterday, in one of the pots and set it in position on the top of one of the wire stands. The sedum will look great when they start to fill out and they wont be harmed by the strong sun that my balcony gets all day. I repotted the Swiss Cheese Plant I bought into a slightly bigger pot and put it inside my living room. The dark green contrasts beautifully with the pale yellow of my walls.
The small bit of work, on top of the 800-meter swim this morning had made my back ache so I stopped working and took a shower, I got dressed and then sat in my armchair to rest for a couple of hours, before walking to Porscha's bar for my Sunday dinner at 13:00. I continued to work on my website. At 12:30 I walked to Porscha's bar, taking my Kindle with me to read for a while before Lawrence arrived.
When I arrived, I got a pint of beer and sat down and began reading my Kindle. When Lawrence arrived, we sat chatting for a while before ordering dinner. I ordered lamb but a short time later the waiter returned to tell me there was no lamb this week. I changed my order to pork and Lawrence ordered a steak and kidney pie. We ate dinner and sat chatting for quite a while and after I paid, Lawrence dropped me at home. Dinner was good but I hope they dont stop doing lamb because I can cook everything else at home very cheaply and wont bother going for anything else.
I sat watching TV at home and soon fell asleep. When I woke up about an hour later, I was very hot and sticky. I closed the doors and windows and put the air conditioning on. I had intended to watch all tonight's football and started to watch the Brazil vs Norway game. It was a great game, but I felt very tired and at half time I decided to go to bed. I had turned my alarm on to wake me up so I could watch the England game but changed my mind and turned it off. There was a bit of noise from Spanish kids outside, but I was so tired I fell asleep and slept right through the noise.
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