2023 was a year that reminded me how quickly life can change, through travel, friendships, health scares, laughter, loss and the small routines that keep me grounded. These journals became my way of remembering the days I might otherwise forget: the walks along the beach, the coffees with friends, the long hours rebuilding my website, the trips that lifted my spirits and the quiet weeks when I wasn’t at my best. Looking back, this collection feels like a snapshot of who I was throughout the year, one week at a time.
Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain
Summary: A week of long walks, swims, meals out, knee pain, late nights, helping friends, fixing laptops, enjoying time with Cindy, and dealing with acid reflux. Plenty of sunshine, plenty of fish feeding, and plenty of socialising.
Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain
Summary: A week filled with long swims, coffees, meals out, friends visiting, late nights, festivals, computer repairs, new furniture, and a few aches and mishaps along the way. Cindy settled into her holiday, and I enjoyed plenty of time in the Mar Menor.
Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain; Alicante
Summary: A week of doctor visits, new medications, kitchen upgrades, swims in the Mar Menor, deliveries, website work, a trip to Alicante to see Bob Dylan, and welcoming my friend Cindy for a two‑week stay.
Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain
Summary: A week of medical tests, family time, swims in the Mar Menor, meals out, deliveries, furniture rearranging and football. I also welcomed my sister and her family, enjoyed time with friends and dealt with a few aches, leaks and sunburn along the way.
Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain
Summary: A quieter week spent recovering from my cruise bug, meeting friends for coffees and meals, swimming in the Mar Menor, sorting out insurance and deliveries, and welcoming my sister and her family to Los Alcázares.
Location: Mediterranean Sea; Italy; Sardinia; Spain; Los Alcázares
Summary: This week marked the final days of my Costa Diadema cruise, with visits to Italy, Sardinia and Mallorca. After returning to Valencia, I spent the weekend recovering from dehydration and exhaustion, doing washing, sorting holiday photos and enjoying a great Sunday lunch before watching Arsenal finish the season in style.
Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain; Valencia; Mediterranean Sea
Summary: A week of deliveries, errands, cruise preparations and plumbing frustrations. I spent time with friends, sorted out travel documents, fixed (and failed to fix) leaks, and ended the week by beginning another Mediterranean cruise.
Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain
Summary: A week that began with worry about friends, brought sad news, involved errands, deliveries, repairs and coffees, and ended with Sunday lunch, football and an unexpected karaoke performance.
Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain
Summary: A week of errands, coffees, deliveries, friends, football and a royal coronation. I ordered a new computer table, dealt with delivery chaos, enjoyed meals out, met friends for drinks and finished the week with a great Sunday lunch and an important Arsenal win.
Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain
Summary: A steady week of coffees, walks, website work and family‑tree research. I enjoyed time with friends, dealt with calls from the DWP, booked another cruise and ended the week with a good Sunday lunch and some storm‑watching.
Location: Los Alcázares, Spain.
Summary: A week of website work, socialising with friends, helping with tech issues, cooking pies, visiting bars, dealing with DWP frustrations and enjoying football, reading and warm weather.
Location: Los Alcázares, Spain.
Summary: A productive week with my TV being wall mounted, lots of website work, moving furniture, helping friends with tech issues, a trip to the Murcia Spring Flower Festival and a busy weekend of football, photos and socialising.
Location: Los Alcázares, Spain.
Summary: A slow week while I felt under the weather, working on my website, watching the Masters golf and football, and dealing with Amazon deliveries and a TV bracket.
Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain
Summary: I began the week meeting friends and finally got my push bike working again. Midweek I welcomed an old friend who stayed for a couple of days, and the week ended with me waiting to hand over keys to a neighbour’s apartment.
Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain
Summary: I started the week slowly but gradually did more walking as the days went on, probably too much, as my legs became swollen again. I ate out four times, met friends, worked on my website and enjoyed some lovely meals and good company.
Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain
Summary: This week I finally started feeling much better. The swelling in my legs went down, I stopped taking painkillers, and I slowly got back into my normal routine of website work, meeting friends and getting out and about.
Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain
Summary: This week marked the end of my Mediterranean cruise. After returning home, I spent the rest of the week in pain with swollen legs, resting in front of the television and slowly recovering.
Location: Mediterranean Sea, Italy, France, Spain and Morocco
Summary: This week was spent on holiday aboard the MSC Lirica, sailing around the Mediterranean and visiting ports in Italy, France, Spain and Morocco, including my first-ever steps on the African continent.
Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain
Summary: This week was spent helping friends, sorting out jobs in my apartment and preparing for my upcoming cruise. At the end of the week, I travelled to Alicante to join the MSC Lirica for my Mediterranean and Moroccan holiday.
Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain
Summary: This was another cold week, with meals out at three different restaurants, a night listening to a friend sing, and ending the week celebrating my friend Alan Bond’s birthday at La Playa bar.
Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain
Summary: This was another fairly quiet week. It began with coffee at the Las Claras Centre and ended with a lovely Sunday lunch at Campbell’s Bar in Roda. In between, I had an MRI appointment in San Javier and spent most days keeping warm, cooking, and working on my website.
Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain
Summary: This week began slowly as I continued recovering from a cold. I saw a doctor about my tinnitus, spent most days keeping warm indoors, and finished the week by receiving the documents for my upcoming holiday.
Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain
Summary: This week began with my 56th birthday, a milestone I never expected to reach. The rest of the week was spent battling a persistent cold, keeping warm at home and working on my website, with only a few short outings when needed.
Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain
Summary: This was a quiet week spent recovering from a stubborn cold. Most of my time was spent indoors working on my website, keeping warm and resting, with a short outing on Friday for a few beers at a local bar.
Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain
Summary: This week was dominated by a lingering cold that refused to shift. I spent most of my time indoors working on my website, resting, and trying to recover, with a few short outings to see friends and run errands.
Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain.
Summary: This week began with meals out and a trip to La Zenia Boulevard, then quickly turned into a battle with a heavy cold. Most of the week was spent indoors keeping warm, drinking lemsip and working on my website while trying to shake off the worst of the cold.
