Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain.
Summary: Week 34 in Los Alcázares was a mix of sunrise swims, website updates, fitness routines, and quiet moments that helped me reset. A warm, personal snapshot of my August days as I kept pushing toward better habits.
Monday, 17th August
After not getting to bed yesterday or rather today, until after 03:00, I didn't wake up until midday today. I wasn't feeling great after too many beers, & too much sun yesterday. I got a coffee and then ate some of the overnight oats I had in the fridge before showering and getting ready to go and see Martin.
I arrived a little before 13:00 and got a big bottle of water to drink. I sat chatting with Martin and Dave, but it was too hot, and I still didn't feel great, and I left and went home just after 14:00. When I got back to my apartment I put the air conditioning on and lay on my sofa to watch TV. I fell asleep fairly quickly and spent the afternoon and evening drifting in and out of sleep as I watched TV.
I cooked a couple of chicken thighs for my dinner in the evening and then sat watching TV until I went to bed at around 22:30.
Tuesday, 18th August
I woke around 07:00 this morning and felt a lot better than I did yesterday. I got up and got ready to go for a swim. Just before 07:30 I walked down to the Mar Menor for my swim. It was a lot quieter as I swam today. There were a few people arriving by the time I finished an hour later, but it wasn't as busy as it was last week. I prefer it when it's quiet, as it's easier to swim, and I don't have to swim around a string of people sitting in the water chatting.
After my swim I returned to my apartment, had a shower, got a coffee and sat down and ate some overnight oats for breakfast. I remembered the Waffle maker I had ordered last week and had been delivered on Sunday. I unpacked the parcel that had been sitting in my apartment for a couple of days. I put it in my kitchen and will try it out this evening. I spent the rest of the morning working on my website. For lunch, I had some chicken wings and immediately after I walked to the nearby park to use the static bike for a while. I am determined to lose more weight. I did 20 minutes cycling and then had a short rest before walking back to my apartment.
I spoke briefly with my friend Rispa today. She is planning to travel around Europe in her camper van next year and hinted that she may be able to get down to Murcia. It would be great to see her again, we seemed to be the first people swimming at every opportunity in Australia, and she continued that on in several places we visited in New Zealand.
This afternoon I started watching a film on TV but fairly quickly fell asleep on my sofa. I woke up after about 20 minutes and as I continued to watch the film I realised I had seen it before. I switched it off and watched Sky Sports News as I worked on my website. I continued to work until I had a protein shake for my last meal of the day and then stretched out on the sofa watching TV again. I watched lots of rubbish TV and because I was still tired I went to bed at 22:30.
Wednesday, 19th August
I woke up feeling refreshed at 06:00. It was too dark to go swimming and I sat waiting for the sun to come up enough to go. I did the Wordle puzzle and as the sun began to come up I walked down to the Mar Menor.
The sea was beautiful and very flat today, and there weren't many people in the water, which made swimming easier. As the sun began to come up, however, the sun was directly in my eyes as I swan out to the rocks. After my first lap out to the rocks and back, I changed to swim out to the rocks on my back, so the sun wasn't blinding me as I swam, and swam back on my front. My arms were aching a lot today, and I think I may have been doing too much swimming. I will see how I feel tomorrow morning before going out swimming, I may have to have a couple of days off to give me arms longer to recover than the one day a week I have been giving them.
When I went back into my apartment I had a shower, got dressed, had a coffee and ate some overnight oats for breakfast. I needed a couple of things from Mercadona, so I rested for an hour and then went out on my disability scooter to get the shopping I wanted. When I got my shopping I went home and after putting the shopping away I sat resting.
I spent the rest of the day vegetating in front of the TV. I did a little work on my website and kept an eye on any football transfer news. In the evening, it was announced that Arsenal had signed Ezri Konsa from Aston Villa, subject to a medical. He will be good cover and competition for the injured William Saliba. I think they still require a new attacker, but only time will tell. I went to bed early at 22:00.
Thursday, 20th August
Because my arms arms have aching, I decided to take a break from swimming for a couple of days and to do a bit of extra walking if I can manage it in the heat. I got up at around 07:00 and got myself a coffee. While the coffee was being made, I emptied the dirty water tank on my robot cleaner and topped it up with clean water. I also watered all the plants on my balcony before it got too hot, and the water just boils and damages the plants roots.
I was expecting a delivery of new printer ink today. It was scheduled to arrive between 11:45 and 15:45, but not trusting to the driver arriving on time, I thought I had better stay home until it did. For breakfast, I made myself a protein shake and then sat at my computer to continue writing up the pages for my Australia holiday. I am usually good at writing my trips up quickly, and I have already done some of this trip, but I am finding it difficult to write about this trip. I think it is because I miss Nic, and writing about the trip just reminds me of her. Hopefully, I can finish the Australia section soon and then move onto the New Zealand section of the trip, which she didn't go on.
Mid-morning, I got an email from UPS saying that they had attempted to deliver a parcel and that I hadn't been home. They went on to say that they had dropped it at a local tobacco shop, where I could pick it. I was very annoyed as I hadn't left home. I was about to leave to go to the shop to pick the parcel up when the delivery arrived. I have no idea how they got everything so mixed up, but I was delighted not to have to go to the shop to pick it up. If only Spanish Deliveries could be relied on.
For lunch, I cooked a chicken thigh and had it with some ali oli potatoes that I had bought yesterday in Mercadona. After eating lunch, I continued working on my website. I added more descriptions to photo albums from my National Parks & Monuments tour of America. The ones I worked on included:
This afternoon and evening, I continued working on descriptions and alt tags for the photos in the photo albums on my website. For my meal in the evening, I had a chicken salad with tortilla wraps. After I had eaten it, I walked to the park near the tennis courts. I used the static bike there and did a 20-minute session on it. After completing the session on the bike, I had a short rest and then continued my walk. I walked through the park, and walked down to the main road, crossed it, walked to the beach promenade and then turned and walked home. Walking in the evening was a lot easier, and although I was puffed out, I found it easier because the temperature had dropped to a more manageable level. I will have to try to keep doing this exercise outside of times when it's too hot. As the summer slowly fades away, it should become easier.
Once home, I rested for a while, watching TV until I went to bed at around 23:00.
Friday, 21st August
I woke up without the need for my alarm today, at around 06:45. I got up and sat checking for messages on my laptop. At 07:30 when the sun had come up just enough for me to swim, I walked down to the Mar Menor and went for a swim. I swam out to the rocks and back, managing to swim my regular 1.2 km. I noticed that the water was very cloudy today as well as being a lot cooler. I don't know if it had rained last night, but the cooler weather will be welcome.
After my swim, I returned to my apartment and took a shower. I got dressed, cooked myself a sausage sandwich and had a coffee. I took all my pills and then sat working on my website for a while.
Ar around 15:00 I walked to the nearby park and did 20 minutes on the static bike. I have only done this a few times, but the twenty minutes is getting easier every time, and I am not as tired as I was when I started. When I finished I walked home, I got myself a chicken salad with tortilla wraps for lunch and then continued to work on my website. I stopped work around 18:00 and had a wholemeal chicken roll for dinner.
This evening I watched the opening game of the football season. Arsenal vs Coventry. I was hoping for a good win from Arsenal but as always, I was nervous before kick off. I always think that newly promoted teams are the worst teams to play at the start of the season because they all want to show what they can do and will run and run and run. I needn't have worried, Arsenal played very well and won the game 3-0. The easy game gave them the opportunity to bring on all the subs they could so as not to risk any returning players playing too much time and getting injured. The goalscorers were Havertz, Saka and Odegaard. The new left-winger Tzolis was brilliant, and I really think when he settles in to the team more he will be a real handful in the Premier League. As it was, he supplied plenty of chances and got an assist for the Saka goal. I went to bed as soon as the game finished.
Saturday, 22nd August
I woke up at about 06:30 and went back to sleep. When I woke up again at 07:40 I had backache and remembered why I never stay in bed once I've woken up in the mornings. I got out of bed and sat at my computer and checked for messages. My back was in a lot of pain and I decided not to go for a swim because swimming sometimes makes my backache worse.
Instead of my swim I worked on the images in two more photo albums from my National park & Monument tour of America in 2011. I added descriptions to the photos in the following albums:
When I had finished working on the albums I got ready to walk to the Buenavista restaurant for some breakfast and to meet my friend Lawrence. I ordered a coffee and tostada with tomato and tuna and was reading my Kindle when Lawrence arrived. We sat chatting for an hour or so and Lawrence said he would help me move a table and cabinet in my apartment.
I walked back to the apartment and moved anything that was in the way or may get broken in the move. As I sat down to wait, Lawrence called to tell me there was nowhere to park and that he would come down to my apartment earlier tomorrow morning. He should be able to park earlier in the day, then we can move the furniture and go for a coffee afterwards. I got myself a drink of the Hibiscus tea I bought last week. I have made a large jug of it which I keep cold in the fridge, it's nice, and allegedly it can help with my diet, so I am happy.
Around lunchtime a DJ started playing in the square outside my apartment, he was terrible, loud and loved the sound of his voice. The Los Alcázares Town Hall need to stop putting on loud DJ's all through the summer, it’s ridiculous. They are stopping music everywhere else and putting it on, in a residential area, at least four times a week, in the square outside my apartment. The music doesn't stop until around 02:00, I suggest they try living in the areas before putting events on.
This afternoon and evening I watched football on TV out of the corner of my eye while I worked on my website adding new navigation menus to the cruise section of my website. I also messaged my friend Bob. Last week he had said he could trim my beard and give me a haircut, and I wanted to know when he would be able to do it. He messaged back a while later to say that he would come to my apartment tomorrow to do it.
I watched MOTD on TV, just to see the Arsenal goals from yesterday again and went to bed as soon as it finished.
Sunday, 23rd August
I woke around 05:30, used the bathroom and went back to bed. I woke again when the alarm went off at 07:15. I weighed myself to see how my diet was going. I wasn't as hopeful of any meaning full weight loss this week because I had not gone swimming on three days because my arms and back ached, and although I had started to use the static bike in the park I knew it wasn't as good for weight loss as swimming. I was therefore, pleased when I saw I had lost another 0.4 kg. The third straight week I have managed to lose weight.
Buoyed by the news I had at least lost weight again, I got ready to go for a swim. Although it was light out it still wasn't light enough, and I checked for messages and did the Wordle puzzle on my laptop. After completing the puzzle I glanced up and saw that the sun was up enough for me to go swimming. I grabbed my snorkel mask and walked down to the Mar Menor. I swam out to the rocks and back 3 times without any stops, forgoing the water aerobics I had been doing because I felt that the exercise on the static bike does a similar thing.
After completing my swim I went back to my apartment. I had a shower, got dressed and then stripped the linen from my bed and put it in the washing machine. I sat down at my computer and continued the work I had started yesterday, adding new navigation menus to pages on my website. I was expecting a message from Lawrence to say he was on his way as he had said he would come round early to help me move some furniture.
When Lawrence arrived we moved my dining table, dresser cabinet and fridge into new positions. It will make my life a lot easier and all I have to do now is sort through the final bags of old electric leads and other junk and I will have a nice tidy apartment to live in. Hopefully, I won't get the urge to move stuff around any more.
I took my bed linen out of the washer dryer and dumped it back on my bed to make later. We then walked along the beach to Buenavista restaurant. I had my regular large coffee and a tostada with tomato and Tuna while Lawrence had a couple of iced coffees with milk. We sat talking until around 12:30 and then left. I walked part way back to where Lawrence had left his car and then turned and walked back to my apartment. Even the extra few steps will help me with the keep fit drive I am on. Once home I closed all the doors and windows and put the air conditioning on before I sat down in front of the TV and continued working on my website.
My friend Bob came round just after 15:00 and gave my beard a trim, and we chatted for a while before he left. I watched TV until 19:00, when I got myself some ham, cheese, and cucumber sandwiches to eat. Once I had eaten them I rested for a short while and then walked to the park to go on the static bike. When I arrived, there was a Spanish man sat on the static bike making phone calls. He wasn't working out, just sitting on it, why he couldn't sit on one of the benches I don't know. I tried to use the Nordic walking machine, but I was unable to get on with it. I used the rowing machine for a short time but because of all the swimming I have been doing recently it quickly began to make my arms ache. Not wanting to strain my arms I quit and walked back to my apartment. I hadn't done much but at least I was moving for about 40 minutes and it all counts.
When I got in, I sat down to rest for a while before making my bed with the clean lining from this morning. I vegetated in front of the TV and went to bed around 22:30.
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