Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain.
Summary: I spent Week 28 in Los Alcázares juggling early swims, balcony gardening, website tweaks, World Cup matches, and the usual July heat. Between coffees, errands, and a few small wins, it turned into a simple but satisfying summer week on the Mar Menor.
Monday, 6th July
I woke up around 7:30 but my back ached and I didn't feel like swimming, so I got a coffee, did the Wordle puzzle and checked my computer for any messages.
As well as sounding an alarm to wake me up, my phone reads me the day's news headlines each morning, so I had heard the result of the England vs Mexico game straight after my alarm going off this morning. I decided to watch the game anyway and sat down to watch it on catch-up TV. I enjoyed the game and thought England played very well even when they went down to 10 men after having a player sent off. They won 4-2 and will play Norway in the next round, it should be a good game.
After the game I did a little work on my balcony but was quickly worn out and too hot to continue so I had a shower, got dressed and then went out on my disability scooter to go to Los Narejos to see Lawrence, Oyvind, Theresa and Christine for coffee. We sat and chatted for a while, and they all began to leave around 11:30. Lawrence and I moved to a table in the shade and continued chatting till 12:00 when I left to meet Martin at La Sombre Pizzeria.
I sat with Martin, Aria and Dave chatting and we were joined by Sean. We all sat chatting and I had a couple of beers as well as a big bottle of water. At about 15:00 I left and went straight home. At home I got a sandwich and shortly after finishing it, fell asleep for half hour while watching old episodes of NCIS.
Tonight I watched the Portugal vs Spain football match, but it wasn't very good, so I continued to work on my website at the same time. Spain won, 0-1, with a goal from Arsenals Mikel Merino, scored in the last minutes of the game. I had intended to watch the USA vs Belgium game. I would have normally been cheering on the USA but because of Donald Dumps interference in the competition I had changed my allegiance for the game, but I found I was too tired to watch the game and decided to go to bed and to watch it on catch up tomorrow morning.
Tuesday, 7th July
I woke up around 06:00 but fell asleep again. I got up and went down to the Mar Menor for a swim. I swam out to the rocks and back twice and then returned to my apartment for a coffee.
After drinking my coffee, I finally moved the fallen shelf off of my computer desk before then going to do a little work on my balcony garden before it got to hot. I managed to bag a few more old plastic pots up and weed a couple of plants. I moved the third wire stand I had, from my kitchen out onto my balcony and put a couple of plants on it. I then took down the old broken solar panel that used to power my balcony water ornament. It hadn't worked for a couple of years and had started to look tatty, so I moved it off the balcony to my hallway ready to take to the rubbish bins later. I do like to have the sound of running water and like to watch the water as it helps with my tinnitus so I may buy another one, but will get a smaller one, maybe one with coloured lights that will power up during the evenings.
My back was very sore, so I didn't work very long and retired inside to watch the USA vs Belgium game on catch up on TV. Mid-morning I got a message saying one of my deliveries had arrived at a nearby tobacconist. It annoys me when they don't attempt to deliver things to my home and simply drop it at a local drop point. I took a bag of rubbish from the balcony to the bin and then collected the robot hoover floor cleaning detergent that had been delivered to the tobacconist.
In the afternoon I continued working on my website and continued adding locations, summaries and image banners to my Peru tour pages. For my dinner I had a BBQ chicken thigh in a roll.
This evening I watched some of the World Cup football on TV while I exchanged messages with my friend Nic, who was waiting for a plane to go on holiday. Argentina made a very late comeback, from 2-0 down to beat Egypt 2-3. I think they were very lucky and were fortunate with some of the VAR and referring of the game. I didn't watch all of the Switzerland vs Colombia game and when Nic had to stop messaging to get on the plane, I turned the TV off and went to bed.
Wednesday, 8th July
I slept well last night and didn't wake up till my alarm went off at 07:30. I didn't feel very awake or ready for a swim, but I forced myself to don my swim shorts and go down to the Mar Menor. I took some bread with me sat in the water feeding the fish. The water woke me up properly and when I had no bread left, I swam out and back to the rocks twice before getting out, drying off and going back to my apartment.
On my way back to my apartment, I saw la grúa. This is what people in Spain call the municipal tow truck that removes illegally parked cars. I walked to the end of the road to see what was happening and saw a lady trying to get her car released. She had parked right outside the garage doors to my apartment block, stopping all of the residents with cars from getting in or out of the garage. There are big signs and road markings there telling people not to park and that they will be towed if they do. I think she got exactly what she deserved.
When I got back to my apartment I decided to start working on my balcony before it got too hot. I checked that there were no cars parked below my balcony and then started to wash it down and to water the plants. As I was working lots of people started arriving to do some sort of keep fit in a group of about 20-30 people. I watched them as I cleaned the balcony and watered the plants. I admired their enthusiasm and if they continue, I may join in with them, from the safety of my balcony.
As I worked a man and a lady pulled up under my balcony. There was water running over the edge before they arrived and they looked up at me expecting me to turn the water off. After waiting for the dirty water to stop running and realising I wasn't going to stop just because they didn't want their clean car to get wet, they moved the car up a bit and pulled it further back so the water wouldn't hit their car. I wondered why they pulled under the water in the first place. If they were so short sighted, they couldn't see the water falling or puddles on the floor, they should not be driving.
When I had finished, I went back inside, got a coffee and while I waited for several deliveries that should have arrived yesterday, I continued to work on my website. During the day the first of the deliveries arrived, three t-shirts. They all fitted great.
At lunchtime I got something to eat and then continued to work on my website. While I worked my Amazon delivery arrived. I had ordered two new beach towels with built in pockets to put things in. When the towels arrived, I unpacked them to see that they were okay. They were horrible. They were like large chamois leathers that people use to clean their car with. The pockets were not pockets but separate bags. I instantly bagged them back up and made a return application to Amazon. Once this had gone through, I went back to working on my website.
As I sat working my doorbell rang, which is unusual because you can't get into the apartment block without a key. I thought it might be my final delivery, but it wasn't. It was two Spanish people, who with my limited Spanish and their limited English appeared to be telling me they had rented an apartment here. I told them that the apartment block they were looking for on the key fob was correct but didn't know which apartment they were looking for, who could help them, or how they would get a key to the apartment itself. They left and I hoped they found out which apartment they were supposed to be renting.
I went back into my apartment, closed all my doors and windows and put the air conditioning on to cool the apartment down. Even in the shade on my balcony, at 17:00 it was still 38°C. I was still waiting for one delivery and hoped I wouldn't fall asleep and miss the delivery.
I spent the evening binge watching old episodes of NCIS.
Thursday, 9 July
When I woke up around 7:30 I didn't feel like going for a swim, but I forced myself to go down to the Mar Menor and to swim out to the rocks and back a couple of times.
After my swim I showered and got ready for Lawrence to pick me up to go for a coffee. We sat chatting with Oyvind, Theresa and Christine. When we left Lawrence took me to the Meta Chinese store so that I could buy some ice cube trays. It made more sense to buy some of these to make my own ice cubes every day than it does to keep going out on my scooter to buy ice at a store and hope it didn't melt by the time I got home.
As I sat working on my website I could hear a low noise and wondered what it was. As I stopped what I was doing I concentrated on the noise to try and work out where it was coming from. As I looked around I saw my new robot mop and hoover cleaning the apartment. I had forgotten I had set it to clean my apartment twice a week and it was carrying out a clean of the apartment.
The evening was spent watching TV, swapping messages with Nic, and working on my website.
Friday, 10 July
I woke up around 06:00 today but fell asleep again and woke up when the alarm went off at 07:30. I didn't go swimming today because I had an appointment at the doctor today to see what they could do about a skin tag I have that I want to get rid of.
I took a shower, took my tablets and got ready to go the doctor. At about 09:15 I left home on my disability scooter to go to see the doctor. I had arranged to meet my translator, Sean, outside. I arrived a little early and saw that the doctor wasn't there but there was a note on the doors telling patients to go and see another doctor. Sean and I went in and with Sean translating for me the doctor examined me and told me he would arrange for me to have an operation to freeze the skin tag off at Los Arcos. The doctor saw that my leg was bleeding, I told him it was only bleeding because I had rubbed it too hard with a towel after my shower, but he told me to see a nurse anyway.
Sean and I walked back to see my nurse, and she was happy to see me straight away but told me that the doctor had ignored the notes on the system and sent me to a different nurse. While I waited, Sean went back to the reception and switched the appointment to see my regular nurse.
She cleaned my leg, dressed it and told me to go back on Monday to see her again. It didn't look bad to me, just a normal scratch but it's better to be safe than sorry. She told me to refrain from swimming till it had healed over again and told me to keep out of the sun, so it doesn't dry out. She also made me an appointment for next Wednesday, to see my doctor about my hip that is still hurting a lot. The doctor this morning had checked and told me that the x-rays I had taken showed arthritis in it but nothing else. Sean noted the time of my appointment to see the doctor, so he could come with me to translate, and we then left.
When I left, I went to ATime4AChange to see if they took electrical goods for the charity they support. I had asked, HAH if they wanted the goods but once again, they hadn't even replied to me. Keith told me they did and would sell them on behalf of a local charity and that he was happy to pick everything up so that I didn't have to struggle to take it to them. I will make a list of everything and send it to him.
When I got home I had had a message from the delivery company asking what the problem with the delivery was. I told them that the problem was that there had been no delivery and they messaged back again to say they would check with the driver. I made myself a coffee frappe and sat down at my computer to do some work on my website and added next weeks appointments to my diary.
This evening I watched the Spain vs Belgium football game in the World Cup. It was a great game in which Spain took the lead, only to have Belgium equalise. In the last minutes of the game, Arsenals Mikel Merino popped up in the box to stab home the ball when the Belgium goalkeeper could only parry it away. The goal sent Spain through to a semi final match against France. I think whoever wins that game will win the world cup.
During the game, Nic sent me photos from her holiday in South Africa. It made me very jealous as I saw the photos and video of how close the lions, elephants and other animals actually came to the small jeep she was in. I'm not sure how brave I would have been, at night in a jeep without high sides, as lioness strolled past looking for food.
Saturday, 11th July
I woke up early this morning at about 06:45. I couldn't go swimming, so I got a coffee and checked my computer for messages. I exchanged messages with Nic, about her game drive in South Africa, did the Wordle puzzle and put a load of washing in the washing machine before I began to do some work on my website.
At 09:45 I walked to the Buenavista restaurant to have a tostada with tomato and tuna for breakfast. I ordered it with a large coffee and sat waiting for Lawrence to arrive. While I read my Kindle he messaged me to say he would be late because he was picking Rosa up and bringing her with him. I had finished breakfast by the time Lawrence & Rosa arrived so I ordered another coffee. We sat chatting for a an hour and then all left. I walked back to my apartment, closed all the doors and windows and put the air conditioning on.
For lunch I made myself a cheese omelette it was very nice. I had been going to have mushrooms with it, but they didn't look very good, and I didn't want to risk eating anything that would make me feel ill and threw them out. I continued working on my website and while I was working, I received some photos from South Africa from Nic and swapped messages with her for a while. I spent the afternoon watching TV. At around 16:00, the noise outside started getting very loud as a marching band began playing and a few other musical noises could be heard. Luckily for me the Pride Parade, which would start in the square outside, would be leaving and heading into town later.
I remembered the washing I had put in the washing machine and took everything out of the machine and put it all away. Later in the evening, Nic sent me a few more photos from South Africa and I watched more episodes of NCIS while I waited for the England vs Norway game to start. It was quite a good game, but England's plans didn't go to plan as Norway took a 1-0 lead. England levelled the game before half-time when Jude Bellingham equalised. In the second half both teams could have scored but didn't and it went into extra time. Once again Jude Bellingham became England's hero and scored a late goal and England were able to hold on for the win.
Sunday, 12th July
I woke at around 08:00 and checked for messages, Lawrence had left me a voice message but because he sent it so late my mobile phone had already switched to silent and I hadn't heard the message last night. He had gone to the pub to watch the football and wondered where I was. I think he must have mis understood me yesterday when I told him I wouldn't be going to the pub to watch it because it was too hot and that I would watch it from home.
I watered all the plants on my balcony and then washed the balcony down. I began to put my new rocking deck chair together. The instructions weren't very clear, but I managed to get it put together. Unfortunately, I managed to knock over one of my clay plant pots, breaking it. I will have to replant the cactus I put in it earlier in the week. By the time I had finished the chair, it was too hot to be sitting outside or clearing the balcony up and I went back inside and put the air conditioning on.
As I sat recovering from the heat my friend Debbie messaged me to see if I wanted to go to hers for dinner later. The timing couldn't have been better, it meant I didn't have to cook anything and her cooking is always fantastic. I sat cooling off and watched TV before having a shower and getting ready to go to Debbies.
Just before 16:00 I set off on my disability scooter to Debbie's home. I had been walking a bit more recentley but the heat was making it difficult to breath if I did too much. It must have been over 40°C and I decided to follow the heat warnings and not walk outside in the heat. I stopped at the Dia store near me and got some beer and a bottle of wine, then continued to Debbies. As I arrived two people were stood outside and asked me if I was Debbie's friend and going for dinner. I told them I was and they introduced themselves as Steve and Dot. Dot took my shopping from me, and I headed off to find a ramp I could use because a car was parked across the one outside Debbies home. I soon returned and Debbie let us all in. We were greeted inside by Yvonne and were soon all chatting.
Dinner was fantastic and after dinner we sat outside chatting. After sitting in the sun for probably too long I said my goodbyes to Steve, Dot, Yvonne and Debbie and went home. Even on my scooter, whipping along at high speed, the heat was oppressive and I was glad to get back in my air-conditioned home again. I watched TV for a while, chatted with Nic and looked at more of the photos of South Africa she sent me.
After such a good meal, this evening, the work this morning, and the oppressive heat, I was shattered and went to bed around 22:00.
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