My Condition & Frame of Mind: The past few weeks had been a mixture of pain and pleasure. Pains suddenly arose, which left me incapable of walking, lifting my left arm or having any enthusiasm to exercise. The pleasure part were periods when I could walk, move my left arm more effectively and do some exercises. Needless to say, I had some good days and some bad. The “invisible harness” kept me from any natural movement again, which was really frustrating. However, each day I was able to push myself a little more in spite of the obstacles of my daily restrictions. I tried to convince myself that all the past efforts and getting beyond the pain barrier would eventually be worth it. Help!
Spasms Night or Day: Apart from the usual outbreaks of my leg and arm contorting, brief spasms and foot twitches during the night, these occasions sometimes occurred during the day too! On some days, as I sat back to relax, all of a sudden my leg would have the uncontrollable jitters and shakes! If these sudden attacks hadn’t been funny at certain times, I could have cried with embarrassment.
Our Daft Cat: I’ve mentioned our daft dog, Oscar, but one of our cats is equally nuts. “Lucky”, our black cat, liked to stay at home, had started the habit of sleeping in a peculiar position wedged between my two pillows above me. No wonder I ended up in bed without a pillow!
Tuesday 4th July
New Independence Day: This day marked the UK coming out of their lock down restrictions and some businesses tentatively going back to work. Of course it was the usual USA Independence Day, so I fumbled to create a small piece of artwork to mark both days for celebrating.
The following day, I was really surprised to read in the media of the amount of illegal gatherings in the USA and the UK. After less than 24 hrs., since the UK had relaxed the lock down rules, there were photos and reports of large crowd gatherings, which unsurprisingly later ended up with a number of cases of infections. The USA also continued to experience problems of large gatherings and demonstrations. After all the restrictions over the World! What kind of “stupid” were these people?
Tuesday 7th July
Happy Birthday Colin: It was Colin’s Birthday so I posted, “My Husband and best friend who has loved, cared and protected me since the day we met over 34 years ago”. The photo of us, was when we celebrated our 25th Anniversary a few years ago.
Wednesday 8th July
My First Professional Haircut: It was so lovely for my hair done professionally again (sorry Colin, had to avoid you & your office scissors this time.) I was desperate for my hair to be dyed and cut. Hannah, the stylist, did a great rescue haircut. I had to keep my mask on at all times, also when they dyed and washed my hair! The mask was pretty hot to keep on, however, it was nothing in comparison to the poor staff that had to wear theirs all day.
When I waited for my hair to be washed, it was just typical that I had a sneezing fit. Although everyone were really polite and helpful, I felt that I had this imaginary sign of “unclean” hanging from my neck. Such an embarrassment!
Anyway, it was great when I was able to show off my new hair style when I met Colin and friends for social drinks around the corner after.
Thursday 9th July
Beach Lunch: We had a pleasant beach lunch with our friends Alan and Denise. It was lovely to bump into my fellow golf buddies, David and Barbara, there too.
Colin and I later joined Alan and Denise for a drink at the Granada Bar, where we met up with other friends. It was a great afternoon of non-stop giggles.
Saturday 11th July
My First Week with Arm Behind My Back: This was the first week that I could move my bad left arm behind my back. Apologies about lack of bra in photo but you could see that I felt pretty chuffed.
Ellie’s 18th Birthday Bash: I rested most of the day because Matt and Andrea hosted a special 18th Birthday party for their beautiful eldest daughter, Ellie. We wondered on what could we give as a present until Colin pointed out that whenever I brought over my curry puffs for their barbeques, Ellie had eaten or coveted most of them. We got a pretty candy striped hat box and I made plenty to fill it to the top, just for Ellie. She seemed pretty pleased with our gift.
The party was so special and spectacular. There was a violinist playing his electric violin as the guests started to arrive to cocktails and canapés. We were offered a fabulous buffet while we were entertained by the Jersey Boys tribute group, a singer, D.J. and finally Johnny Baker on the keyboards at midnight. I even got up to dance to a few songs! It was such a wonderful and magical night.
Monday 13th July
Face Masks made Compulsory: We got the news that it was compulsory for face masks to be worn at all times in public areas. It was alright to dispense with them in a bar or restaurant. This meant that we had to wear our masks while we went for our walks, were in the car or walked from the car to a bar or restaurant. Because of the anti-mask protests, there was no more tolerance of individuals refusing to use their masks, or they would get an instant fine or, under extreme situations, would face arrest. I could understand the new rules but it felt strange to be out in the fresh air with stifling masks on in the heat, yet we were permitted to take them off in an enclosed bar or restaurant premises. Sorry, but I couldn’t understand the logic in that.
Thursday 16th July
New Arm Exercise: I had been collecting pebbles from our beach walks, so I used some of them as weights to show how I tried to strengthen my left arm and grip. Of course Colin had to show off his tomato plants too. I made sure that I also exercised the right arm, otherwise I would eventually end up with a right skinny arm and my left looking as if it belonged to “Mr Muscles”.
Virus Spikes: We had disturbing reports of virus “spikes” occurring, which resulted in reports of Barcelona, California and Florida that went into quarantine lock down. Naturally, as Chuck and his wife, Inki, lived in California, I was concerned about the spread of infection in that area. Funnily enough, I hadn’t been as concerned about the quarantine nearer to home, in Barcelona. Our area of Andalucia, was given the “green light” and had still maintained a good level of statistics, so we were still safe.
UK Restaurant Bookings Problem: I was sorry to read about famous chefs Tom Kerridge and Paul Ainsworth ranting about how they each had various bookings of a total of over 20 people in one night but they never turned up. These selfish individuals never had the courtesy to ring to cancel. None of them thought about what it meant to these restaurants to re-open after quarantine, their careful preparation, the expectation and potential earnings from these reservations, especially when they had to pay staff wages, rent and costs etc. As Colin and I have been in that industry, we totally empathized with these chefs / Owners.
Friday 17th July
“Early Doors” Back: It was so nice to meet up with our golf buddies, Gill and Brian, for “early doors” drinks and catch up at Gregorios after such a long time. Later, Colin and I went on to to see Adria and Dolores in the Villacana complex. It was also great to see the familiar faces of some of our other mates there and catch up after so long.
Cold Night Showers: The weather became uncomfortably hot over the past few weeks. Although we had a fan situated at the base of our bed and air-conditioning in the bedroom, the heat was so unbearable at night, I had several freezing cold showers to cool myself down. At times, by the time I went back to bed, I had dried off and was too hot again, so had to go for another cooling shower!
Saturday 18th July
Another “Linda Moment”: Colin took me shopping to our local Lidl supermarket. As we entered with our trolley, there was an area with fresh plants for sale. Colin just had to grab a few as I hobbled off into the distance to get whatever was on our list. Later, when we started unloading the shopping into the boot (trunk) of the car, Colin handed me a plant and said, “I don’t know where to put these”. I was rather puzzled and replied, “on the back seat then?”. He became irritated and snapped, “I meant in the garden, you twit!”. How was I to know?
Monday 20th July
COLIN THE SCAVENGER: On our way back from the beach, Colin spotted a framed trellis left against the Park Beach bins. He saw a gardener and asked if they were getting rid of it. The gardener said “OK” for Colin to take away. What a sight he made during the rest of the walk! Good find though because it was the perfect size and colour for our back terrace. Somebody’s rubbish turned into our new treasure.
Tuesday 21st July
FRIENDS REUNITED: Great get together at El Velerin Beach Bar yesterday for a well over due lunch and catch up. The boys played golf in the morning and the “Naughty Girls” joined them for the afternoon. It was a lovely fun reunion of mates, especially as we hadn’t met up together in such a long time. Colin and I had really missed their company.
Continue with the Magazine?: Colin and I were concerned about the news of the increased infections in certain areas of Spain. We intended releasing an August / September issue of the magazine fairly shortly. After we had to suspend our business back in march, it was a tough decision to proceed or not, especially after the latest UK tourism blow to Spain. Our magazine surprisingly came up with 84 pages of advertisers, instead of the normal 96 pages. We had only a small number of cancellations since the recent restriction news, which was pretty lucky when we took into account the amount of business closures since lock down.
Friday 24th July
MY INDOOR “PEBBLE BEACH”: We had collected lovely pebbles from the beach on each days of our walks together since the freedom from lock down. I created an indoor pebble memory on my office floor.
Virus Outbreak Again: The news hadn’t been great as we heard of more cases of infections in Spain. The UK government placed Spain on a “black list” of areas not to visit and suddenly announced a 14 day quarantine for British tourists when they returned to the UK after midnight. This instantly created travel chaos and an uproar of protests as many British citizens had less than 24 hrs. to decide to face the quarantine on their return from Spain, cancel their current or future holiday plans. This was not good. Although we were quite isolated from the spread in our region, the news had not been good for Spain in general.
It was hard for our area to understand why the British government had placed such a “blanket ban” against Spain, when it could have been judged on regional results like ours in the Costa del Sol. This seemed to be another rash decision, however, the British government motives seemed against foreign travel and encouraged citizens to remain in the UK for “staycations”.
LUNCH GET TOGETHER: At last got together with more good mates for a Chinese meal at the weekend. Colin and I hadn’t seen Pauline and Barry since the last New Year’s Eve party, so it was really great to see them and catch up on news since then.
Please view next last page 34 at link “End of Blog & Achieved My Goals”: https://www.rebootinglinda.com/34-end-of-my-blog-achieved-my-goals/
CONTACT FORM: Please leave a comment …..
We would love to hear from you and appreciate if you will “Share” your comments or experience with us. This will help us make a compilation of stories to help others to give hope and encouragement for their journey to recovery.
Your email address will not be published. Please fill in the form below with a brief description of your experience so we can contact you for more details.
Great photos and videos enhanced your blog as usual. It was a wonderful birthday photo of you and Colin….of years gone bye! Ellie’s birthday video was outstanding and I’m sure there were a lot of people who wished they had been there instead of viewing the video. Really enjoyed the funny exchange between you and Colin about “where to put the plants”! Keep it up, your misunderstandings are always interesting and like I said “funny”. Keep up the good work!
Awwwwww – Thank you so much. I am pleased you enjoyed the photos and video. Yes, we were lucky to have been part of Ellie’s party. It was a special night, especially as others haven’t been able to gather like this in other parts of the world. I’m sure Colin and I will have many more “Linda Moments” in the future 🙂 Hope you are both well. LINDA xxx