28th Jan- A nice day with friends

The weather forecast for today was good and coincided with the visit of Adrian and Joyce from their home in Indian Shores which is about 75 minutes north of here.

They arrived a little late due to SatNav challenges as the equipment in the Jag would not accept the address as known to us but eventually they arrived just before midday after having been lost for a while. We sent in the garden overlooking the lake with a cup of coffee as we worked out a strategy for the day and at about 1300 we headed of to St Armands Circle where we went to a cafe ,where we have all been before ,and sat outside on the pavement chairs had some wraps which were very good indeed. We then started walking in the hot sun around the circle looking at the various expensive clothing and jewellery stores until we arrived at the 'Ben & Jerry's' ice cream parlour where we all indulged to varying degrees.

Jen and Joyce spent some time in the clothes shops whilst Noel and Adrian fiddled with the Sat Nav and then discovered what the correct address for the house should be and from there it was a piece of cake although of course by this time we knew the route home. At home we had a cup of tea in the garden watching the herons fishing and making nests before it started to cool down a little. We watched the CNN news for a while and then headed off in the direction of an Italian Restaurant Chain called Carrabba's where we had to wait for about twenty minutes as the place was crowded, with people even waiting outside. Anyway we had a nice dinner and Adrian and Joyce headed home around 9pm and we headed back for a little light TV watching.

This was a nice day with friends.

27th Jan- It’s his fault

We had a relative easy day with Noel sorting out his photos from yesterday and catching up with the Blog and then a short trip downtown for a walk and to look at some restaurants for an idea of where we would eat with Adrian & Joyce when they visit us tomorrow.

We arrived home after an early lunch so Noel spent a little time checking out the insides of his eyelids before a quick look at the news which was quite interesting today. Apple introduced their new I-Pad tablet computer and the shares went up immediately. On the other hand, Toyota America has a really serious problem. Just about all it's recently, US only, manufactured cars are suffering with a problem with the throttle pedal stuck in the on position. Not funny when you are doing 65 on a highway. They have tried to resolve it but so far have been unsuccessful and they will have to recall over 4.5 million cars to retrofit when they find a solution. And now the big news, they have had to stop and close all manufacturing plants in US and not release any more new cars from sales showrooms to customers until this matter is resolved. This decision has been taken by Toyota and nobody else but it will do their reputation some considerable harm. Needless to say all cars that are manufactured elsewhere in the world of similar models are not affected. There will be some ritual bloodletting over this once they find out who was responsible. Is it sabotage? I doubt it but their shares dropped 20 per cent over the last couple of days whilst the US car manufacturers are rubbing their hands with glee as their stock market prices increased and their dealers are overloaded with rubbish cars.

And now for something completely different!

We watched the US Government investigation into the failure and handling of the AIG Insurance company debacle where the US pumped in billions of dollars to save the company and combat an Armageddon in the financial markets. All this took place whilst on the Bush baby watch and so there is a certain partisan approach to the questions but they all keep saying we are all in this together and then make a statement which is the complete opposite. Timothy Geithner is the ex Financial Government whiz kid who seems to be getting all the blame for throwing away this cash to help keep this company and its global associated companies alive. It also becomes fairly clear that many of the congress persons (Senators) also have used this opportunity to appear on nationwide TV to berate the offenders- gee what a good guy I am. It makes you a little upset as there are about 50 Senators all asking the same or similar question and often rephrasing it so it looks like a new question but dear old Mr Geithner has to keep on repeating the same old answers while also keeping his head. They are all looking for a scapegoat and nobody wants to admit that all the hundreds of Senators sat in power for many years allowing lax controls over mortgage lending and the selling of bundles of loans around the world assuming that the housing prices would always go up and never down. Oh what fools men are!!!Who said that?

Actually Mr Geithner has in my view handled the questions well but then it's not my vote that counts. I also saw on the news today that the UK Attorney General at the Iraq enquiry seems to be implying it was Bush's legal men that changed his decision that the war was legal after all. It is very comforting to know that the UK relies on the legal profession which resides outside the country and so I will remember this when I get caught for speeding to be asked for my case to be held in Calcutta.

The Obama 'State of the Nation' speech lasted about seventy minutes and was not what many of the political forecasters had indicated. There was a view being expressed that he would try to take the middle ground a bit more and focus less on the health policy and more on jobs and the economy. They were sort of right except towards the end of the speech he really attacked the opposition for delaying programs for the sake of politics rather than the need to implement and so he called for them to work together on some of the financial and economic and environmental concerns. We understand there was clapping on 82 occasions during the speech although we did not count them and he used the 'I' and 'ME' many times which some correspondents did not appreciate.

But the speech contained all that was required and gave Washington and the various houses a kick up the arse and saying let's work together for the American people and not to satisfy your own privileged status. All of this appeared to be done without notes and was in our view a great and interesting speech and he came out fighting and kicking his critics. In our view, well done Mr Obama and he makes Gordon Brown look like a bloody idiot, which of course he is. So much for this special relationship that Brown talks about and was there a mention of UK, of course not, but Obama did mention India, China, Brazil and many others but not 'Little Britain'

26th Jan- The Ringling experience

It is a glorious day and with the sun shining and the sky without a cloud we headed off downtown to the Ringling Circus Museum and Arts Centre which is located on the seashore in Sarasota.

This Famous Circus organisation run by the Ringling Family which toured the USA in the early 1900's decided to make their winter home in Sarasota and purchased a very large plot of land where they built an amazing house mostly clad and surrounded by marble. Since those days the Ringling Family with their wealth have also became great benefactors to the people of Sarasota and they donated large amounts of money and time to assisting this area. There is now a college and also a large Arts Centre which occupies several hundred acres of space with amazing gardens with hundreds of statues and a large rose garden with a large gazebo in the centre. There is also a Circus Museum with many photos and clothing from their heyday circus day's and also a pantheon surrounded by statues to almost equal Rome. There is also a statue of David.

Anyway we spent several hours wandering around the gardens taking photos then sat for about 30 minutes on the veranda of the house overlooking Sarasota Bay, with the sun shining we could almost have gone off to sleep there. There is also an extensive gallery with some very famous name painters but quite frankly neither Jen nor I really enjoy looking at old masterpieces.

The garden has some truly amazing Banyan trees which spread and spread and are really impressive with their roots hanging down from perhaps twenty to thirty feet high with notices saying please don't touch. There is also a small cafe, also strangely called the Banyan Cafe, I cannot understand why, where we had a quick hot dog and Pepsi. There is also a very nice restaurant called the Treviso which overlooks the lake and gardens but this was a little more expensive than the hot dog and more than we wanted to pay.

We then headed back down University Parkway to the Target Superstore where Noel actually bought a pair of shorts, as he had failed to pack some before leaving UK, and also a new pair of lightweight trousers. They are trousers for golfers really and are very light and supposed to breath well, we shall see but after one day he still cannot play golf. Oh well let's see how the tennis shorts work. We also purchased two large mugs for our tea during travels as most hotels have small plastic cups which are totally unsuitable for the first cup of tea of the day.

We then went to Sarasota Crossing for some food shopping only to arrive a moment after two cars got rather entangled whilst entering the shopping mall. Oh I do wonder how you can do this so much damage to cars when travelling so slowly. Tonight we had fresh salmon on a bed of white rice and it was most acceptable. We then followed this with two sessions of 'Spooks' which was good to watch. After this we watched the adverts on TV for a while before retiring.

On Wednesday, the 27^th Jan, it's the Obama State of the Nation speech which we are looking forward to so watch this Blog tomorrow for our deep insight and review of his performance

25th Jan- A serious Man-indeed

The day was spent with a walk down through the Meadows where we sat at the lake watching the Terrapins lying in the sun, then on the way back there was this six foot Alligator on the lake bank also sunning itself unfortunately Noel did not have the camera with him. As soon as we got within about ten feet it reacted quickly and dived back into the lake and quickly swam away. Alligators do not attack humans unless they are themselves attacked and/or when humans feed them, then they can turn a little nasty, but they do like to eat the odd little dog it is said and so we keep watching.

The afternoon was spent at Starbucks using the WIFi and catching up to date with emails then we headed off to the 'Outback Steak House' for an early dinner before the cinema. The restaurant was offering a 2 for1 happy hour drink and so I said I would have a bottle of Chardonnay. The waiter looked confused and then came back later and said it only applies to a glass of wine and not bottles. Damn.

We both had the baby back ribs and a crab-stuffed shrimp starter, the meal was very nice and considering we eventually had 3 large glasses of wine each the bill was only around £ 35.00 which is not bad really. We headed off to the cinema and were a bit worried as the ticket cost is only two dollars each and we wondered what fleapit was waiting for us. Actually the cinema was not too bad although I think the projection and sound equipment may be a little old. The film was called 'A Serious Man' directed by the Coen Brothers who have made some excellent films in the past so we now go to see all the films that they make irrespective who the actors are. This time there are no well known actors but it is a very good film and briefly the story is as following. It follows a period of what you might call a mid life crisis for a Jewish father with a family of two kids. The kids play up at school, the neighbour keeps taking part of his garden, the wife decides to leave him or more to the point he should leave the house and stay in a nearby motel whilst the wife's new partner moves in to his house which he still has to pay for. After a month or so the new boyfriend dies in a car accident and the husband is now forced to pay for the funeral and also the younger sons Bar mitzvah is coming up and he is running out of money, what with all the legal bills for the car accident, the funeral and the Bar Mitzvah and then the uncle who also lives with them is arrested chasing little boys. The kids, all they do is complain that the TV is not working correctly and they even call the father at work to say that they cannot see particular channels and so can he come home and fix it. Talk about a life going downhill. It may have helped if you are Jewish, as many of the audience were, as when they were singing an obvious Jewish tune some of them joined in. There is a strong Jewish population in Sarasota by the way. But it was a good film and really quite funny.

It was a nice evening and as it was a bit late to start reading we decided to channel hop to find a good programme to watch before bed. This was extremely difficult, for almost twenty minutes we changed channels and all we got were adverts. The adverts on TV here are mainly for cars, restaurants selling large platters of food, and medicines which you should ask your Doctor about as it may improve your life. But all of the medicine adverts have riders which say this could damage your liver, heart, blood pressure, kidneys and perhaps even kill you but don't worry as it probably won't hurt too much.

It's Tuesday morning, we are off to the Ringling Museum and the sun is shining....

24th Jan- It’s a slow day in Weybridge

We took it a little slower today as we were both reading good books and somehow time flew by and then it was perhaps too late to go anywhere. In the morning Noel caught up with some emails and Blog writing and Jennifer a little clothes and bed sheets washing, so nothing to get excited about.

The weather was not too bad today and it was rather cloudy at times and rain is promised for tonight and tomorrow morning but it doesn't matter as we very little planned today.

Tonight on TV there is a programme called 'Holmes on Homes'. This series has been shown in the UK before and it is quite entertaining to watch how this guy sorts out people building problems. And this was the highlight of the day and so

'It's a slow day in Weybridge'

23rd Jan- Taking the doggie for a walk

Since we have been here in Sarasota and during our many walks we could not help but notice the 'new' posh thing for your little darling doggie is its own pushchair. I suppose that many of the dogs that people purchase here tend to be small perhaps due to being in apartments or small condos and when it comes for going for a walk, that perhaps a ten yard walk is equal to about 10 miles for a bigger dog. So if you want to go for a walk which is longer than ten yards then you have a problem which has now been solved by having a doggies own pushchair.

We have noticed many varieties of these chairs but when we first got here we thought that perhaps the dog was in the chair as the child was running around somewhere but when we realised that the average child's pushchair here is a 4x4 8 litre monster with sixteen wheels and built in TV with surround sound and a fully integrated Sat/Nav device and crash avoidance system, we then realised that our original thoughts could perhaps be incorrect. The average doggy's pushchair tends to be a little smaller with two sections. The lowest section is where the dog is if it's been naughty and is fully enclosed but when he has been a good boy you can go upstairs to the room with a view. Anyway back to our day.

Today we were promised a really beautiful day with lots of sun and really hot although when we woke up there was so much mist or fog you could hardly see 25 yards ahead. Anyway we left for downtown with the full understanding that the weather would significantly improve. We parked next to the marina and walked through it until we came to Marina Jacks Restaurant & Bar; which is a nice place to hang out when the sun goes down and of course have a nice meal. We then wanted to visit the local market and happened upon an Arts and Craft Market with perhaps a 100 stalls selling some beautiful handmade glass, jewellery and paintings etc, some of the pieces we would love to purchase and take home however we have no wall space left so it would be a terrible waste. There were some guys with a BBQ offering all sorts of steak and sausage and chicken and pulled pork sandwiches which really looked very good but as it was not yet lunchtime we gave it a miss. After leaving the Arts and Crafts fare we went to the Public Library as Noel needed a PC and printer with internet connection so as to print off some Hotel Booking stuff. The library provides the service pretty much free of charge except for the printing but there is a very complex system to get your print out including two computers, several references and then some money in the slot machine, but it all worked after help from the help desk. While we were there a young man went to the information desk and asked where the 'Self help Section' was, the information receptionist said they could not assist as it would be self defeating. Ha.

A sandwich lunch plus some walking around and a little shopping and we headed back to check out a cinema we had not seen before on University drive. Its right next door to a 'real English Pub' selling steak and kidney pie, fish and chips, sausage and mash and Pizza?

The cinema was quiet and we were surprised at the low cost, it was $1.00 matinees and $ 2.00 other times anyway we plan to go next Monday and perhaps have a dinner in the steak house across the road as we do not fancy the English pub food.

Rib eye steak and salad tonight was again excellent (thanks Costco and Whole Foods!), with a little whisky beforehand to get the juices flowing. We then listened to two episodes of the Radio 4 'Friday night is Comedy Night' with Sandi Tostvik and the 'News Quiz' all very funny at times and well worth listening to. To end the evening we watched some more crime thriller programs where you know he did kill his wife and child but there was no real evidence to prove it. This was followed by police picking up a very well known family man who spent lots of time with charity projects and also helping at his church. He turned out to be a failed Wall Street Trader who having lost lots and lots of money decided to rob banks to get money so as to avoid his wife finding out that he had lost his job. Not unreasonable I thought. Considering the amount of public money going into Banks in the last year it's about time we all got some back. So Weybridge Lloyds TSB, be on your guard.

Whilst writing this stuff on Sunday morning, the 24^th Jan, there are hundreds of Harley Davison Motor Bikes passing on the road which is about 200 yards away, must be a party going on somewhere, if only we had brought our leather jackets ,jeans ,tattoos and piercings....

A final note, Noel has just piped up "You know Alister Cooks 'Letter from America'? Was it the first Blog?"

22nd Jan- Terror threat level raised in UK

But first the day's news. Jennifer was having her hair sorted this morning and so Noel would do some email and start looking at hotels for our forthcoming journey to Austin, from Sarasota to Austin is about 1200 miles, possibly 1800 miles if we use the Sat/Nav. It actually rained quite hard this morning just before we left home and appeared to have rained overnight as well but as the day went on the weather steadily improved.

I had the usual problems with the Starbucks internet and I started talking to a guy sitting next to me, I asked his advice and after a short discussion he said, "as its only for a couple of weeks, if I put the codes on your machine you can get free wifi from AT&T, Sprint and several others". That was very nice of him and it made a big difference as the AT & T network was considerably faster than the Keiva Juice people next door. By this time Jennifer had returned from the hairdressers (beauty salon it's called here) and together we started looking at Hotels in Tallahassee (the Capital of Florida)and also New Orleans and several other places. Noel has a couple of hundred thousand Hilton Points which we will exploit to the full on this trip and so the first Hotel booked is a Hampton Inn, Part of the Hilton Group.

We finished our food shopping and then Noel was also looking to buy some short shorts but here they seem to come below your knees (not a good look for Noel), whilst others are so gaudy he fears he may be taken for the other side. Next, a trip to Best Buy to try and locate a new camera bag was successful and then back home for tea etc by which time we had blue skies and it was getting quite warm.

Whilst watching the CNN News tonight they started talking about how UK has raised the threat level to the highest for some time and there must be a reason for it. Bearing in mind that at home you hardly ever hear of the terror threat level this was quite interesting but then again I have another theory. It was only yesterday that the Iraq Enquiry announced that contrary to earlier information Gordon Brown and Ed Milliband are due to be interviewed before the next General Election rather than afterwards. So what could they do to try and prove 'that they was right guvnor'? perhaps to raise the terror threat level and say "this is what we are fighting for in Iraq and Afghanistan". Unfortunately it does not wash as this is exactly the same trick that George Bush pulled on the American people on several occasions during his past presidency.

Oh well, this no doubt means even more security at airports whilst the terrorists disguise themselves as illegal's in Calais and ride under the immigration bus home to Dover each night.

20th Jan- A day trip to Venice

After a good breakfast we headed off to Venice via the Petrol station which is always a slow job as UK Credit Cards do not work in the US Credit card fuel pumps. You are required to put in a US Zip code which relates to the address where your credit card is billed. As they only accept numerical codes and our UK postal code starts with KT 13 it totally confuses the machine, so when you need petrol you have to visit the office first and leave your credit card, then get some fuel and then go back and sign. All good stuff really.

Jennifer was driving today so with Noel's navigation skills and with some luck we finally made our destination. After leaving Sarasota on the Tamiami Highway heading South we came across a small farmers market, there was about 5 times as many people as stalls and what there was for sale was not great but we did stop to find out more and take some photos. On to Venice and on the main road we noticed a large RV (Recreational Vehicle) display on the other side of the road which we decided to stop at on the way back.

Venice was fairly quiet and it's not really a large town but it does have some history, see photo. We wandered around for about 90 minutes and took some photos before having a light lunch of Bruschetta and Chicken Ceaser salad in a little cafe and we sat on the boardwalk to eat. Along the road was a nice ice cream parlour where Noel indulged whilst Jennifer looked on with disgust but with a certain amount of jealousy. We then drove down to the beach area which seemed to be busy and lined with Condos and houses but decided this was not for us and so we headed back to Sarasota and arrived at the RV shop which was massive. It had RV's built on bus chassis and then we looked at the 5^th Wheelers which were very large and by this time we were being pursued by a sales lady and so with some story of possibly buying later this year she took us on a tour of many of the Rv's they had in stock. Some of the layouts we liked but pretty much all of the vans were very dark inside with heavy wood and dark curtains and furniture as against the much lighter vans that we get in Europe. Prices for these machines are extremely low at the moment and considering the size and fixtures, one had three 42 inch TV's, we thought the pricing was excellent compared to Europe Standards.

On to Whole Foods for some fish and a little internet. Although I knew that Sky had updated my telephone line and broadband yesterday I did not realise that the security code on our voicemail had been changed. On calling SKY they did not know what had happened either and so for fun I tried again using 0000 and it worked, so now I have changed it to a new code and can now see my phone voicemail on the web.

Tonight is Tilapia (fish) with mashed potato, peas and corn and an evening of reading and rubbish US TV.

21st Jan- A good fast walk

 

It was a little more cloudy this morning but the weather is improving every day now and the temperature is expected to reach around 75 degrees F (25 C) but strong winds are expected.

Nevertheless we togged up and walked the 2.5 miles to the Sarasota Crossing shopping Mall as Jennifer would like to book a hair appointment and also Noel need's to visit the Bank. Our walking speed must have been faster than last time as we trimmed about 15 minutes of the journey there and it took about 55 minutes. We did our little jobs and then looked around the shops for a while and even in the Electrical shop (Like a Dixons) we found the people so friendly and ready to offer advice on touring and places to visit. It would appear that 'Mardi Gras' is on in New Orleans as we pass through in mid February which prompted us to start planning the next bit of our trip to Austin as we need Hotels in New Orleans we had better book them soon.

A quick smoothie in Keiva Juice and then we headed back at perhaps a slightly slower pace and by the time we were got back to the house at around 1 pm it we were rather hot and in need of a shower. A very good walk indeed and we will continue with this every other day as we always seem to need one day to recover in between.

The rest of the day we read books and then we had some of the delicious Lamb Chops that we had purchased last week in Costco and it was a lovely meal.

We watched another episode of 'Spooks' again and enjoyed that very much before watching a programme about police work on TV about the first 48 hours after a murder is committed. This was a little gruesome as it covered a story about a Guatemalan male who was found cut up in plastic bags floating in Miami Bay. Anyway after a one hour programme with about 15 minutes of adverts the end came and they did not have a clue who did it. So it was a bit of an anticlimax really.

The recent state race in Massachusetts has caused some concern for the Obama camp, this was a state where the Senator was always from the Kennedy Family and following the recent death of the last Kennedy in the Senate it was hoped that the state would remain with Obama and he flew in to support the new candidate only it failed quite miserably and the opposition won. This messes up Obama's new healthcare plan as it was already skating on thin ice and now by losing an important vote in the house make it far more difficult for Obama to introduce his programme . All this boils down to the fact that, the have's do not want to pay for the have not's ,as the plan is to raise taxes to cover the cost of healthcare for the 50 odd million that are currently not covered. No doubt the bill will be watered down to appease the opposition who will then claim it was their plan anyway. We may criticise the NHS but make no bones about it this helps the majority of people well. The challenge to the NHS is to control all those people who arrive in the country just to be treated, as well as the illegal's.

As I write this on Friday morning is has just stopped raining after quite a heavy downfall.

 

19th Jan- A slow day in Weybridge, Florida

Lots of sun again this morning but we planned a quiet day. Noel's new pills were giving him a little trouble but perhaps that will pass soon.

We needed some shopping, nothing serious and also to find an internet connection. So we arrived at Starbucks where on the last visit we had opened an account for the internet which covers all Starbucks Coffee shops and it would appear that actual connectivity is provided by AT&T. The signing up process was not too bad and registering the account was also easy but each time you finished one step there were four more to handle, a bit like some of the Bank call centres. So I spent about 15 minutes trying to get this sorted whilst sitting next to me was a chap clearly using the wireless network, so I asked him what to do. He replied that Starbuck's link was a hassle to connect too but next door the Keva Juice store also has internet and he was using that connection instead of the Starbucks. So that's what we did as well.

So we checked all the emails, the weather in UK and also the news to see what is going on. In the UK there is the Iraq enquiry where we see that Geoffrey Hoon has admitted that the troops were sent to Iraq without the correct equipment due to shortage of cash. I seem to remember that all of this was denied at the time by Blair and his bunch of w*****s called the cabinet. How dare they do this to our people?

In the USA there is the Government Investigation in to the financial crisis and this is on TV each day with some new piece of shocking information coming to light from the Banks and Insurance Companies and also the Home Loan companies. At the end of the day it was like one big snowball that had no substance and quickly melted the moment it came under pressure. The CEO's of the Banks etc are all apologising for their huge salaries and bonuses whilst proclaiming that it was always somebody else's fault. The Committee appointed by the Government is a mixture of Republic and Democrat leaders and some reliable finance people and they appear to be giving those appearing a tough time in the dock. I am not sure if it's the same in the UK with the Iraq enquiry.

Tonight we are having English Bangers and mash. The Whole foods store in Sarasota was selling this English style sausage and we are sure they will be good. We may go to Venice tomorrow, the one in Florida that is, it's about 30 miles South of here.

18th Jan- You are enigmatic he said

Just before we left the UK Noel was suffering from a minor lower abdomen infection which the Doctors had treated and all seemed well and so we left on 5^th Jan in anticipation of no further setbacks. In the last couple of days however some of the symptoms have returned and as we are currently static in Sarasota Noel thought it would be better to look into the matter now rather than wait until we are on the road to Austin when it is not easy seeing Doctors unless of course they stand by the side of the road waiting for business, a bit like American Lawyers really.

The Sarasota Memorial Hospital operates a walk-in and stretcher out service and so we headed off down University Parkway until we reached the Hospital and registered. Once registered you pay your USD 140.00 for the consultation and then you are taken to a private room where a young girl trainee asks you some questions and then carries out blood pressure and blood oxymeter (we think that's how it's spelt) check and finally a thermometer in my mouth at which point she told me she was an Aston Villa supporter. Did my blood pressure rise?

After a further 20 minutes wait a very nice male doctor appeared and went through the same questions again and asked about symptoms, such as why is the Sat/Nav not working, how many times do you get up at night etc etc and then carried out a check of my abdomen. Then after a few more personal questions like, who is the captain of Chelsea FC, how old is your wife (the answer to which thank heavens I knew) he said, after due consideration, his final conclusion was that the reason for my small aches and pains is that "It is 'Enigmatic'". Wow thank god for that, I exclaimed and I am very glad to hear the good news but what do you really mean. He went on further to explain, "I don't know what the problem is" he said. This was not really good news, as there are now two of us with the same challenge. Anyway after prescribing a slightly different pill to the one that I am currently taking he said "if you go to the Publix supermarket store chain they will not charge you". Even better I thought I don't have to pay because I am enigmatic. But at least seeing the Doc meant I felt a lot better even without the pills.

So a quick trip to Sarasota Crossing shopping Mall and a visit to Publix enabled me to get the new pills and let's see what happens. We had to wait for the pills for around 30 minutes so we headed off to Starbucks where I enquired about their free wifi. It is free she said providing you put credit of $ 5.00 on a Starbucks card. So I said it's not free then but she said YES it is free but you have to pay the five dollars first.

In the afternoon we went for a walk through a different part of the Meadows Estate down a street called Windsor Park where there are some really lovely large detached houses with plots of around one acre each. Some are overlooking the lake and a couple are for sale. I don't think we can afford to ask how much they are but they will not be cheap for sure.

Tonight Jennifer cooked a Sarasota Omelette which is like a Spanish omelette but without the potatoes and red peppers or onions and stuff. Which reminds me of a restaurant menu in Bradenton recently where the breakfast menu showed the following item.

Mushroom Omelette (filled with mushrooms and egg) Whoa!!

17th Jan- Sarasota to Bradenton Beach

Boy did it rain last night and the thunder and lightning went on for a couple of hours at least. Well this morning the sun was shining and there was lots of blue sky around and so after our usual cup of morning tea we headed off to a little cafe we know at St Armands Circle to have breakfast and also use the wireless internet connection to send out a few emails etc.

They do an excellent breakfast sandwich at this little place and whilst we were sitting in this cafe checking emails another middle aged couple arrived and sat next to us. They had two laptop computers which they turned on. At that moment I was on Skype talking to my sister in Salcombe, it was only when I had finished my call that we started to talk to this other couple. In fact it was the same couple that we saw in Whole Foods last Friday using the internet connection and they had recognised us and said ' Hello we saw you in Whole Foods last Friday' and from this small comment we were there for another 90 minutes chatting.

This couple have an on-line internet garden design company which, if you send them the details of your plot, will design a garden and recommend gardeners who can fulfil your dream. Being a purely internet company, which means they do not need an office, they have decided to move around the world six months here and six months there and from each location they set up an internet connection and conduct their business. So in fact it does not really matter where they are to earn money. Their service appears to be highly respected and Alan and Ricky are now designing a garden for Will Smith the Hollywood actor. Alan's wife Ricky is from Australia which is their next destination as they plan to spend six months in Cairns and so it did not take us long to start talking about our travel experiences in Australia and beyond. The time flew by and then we departed to continue our day which was intending to drive up the coast a little. So we left St Armands Circle and headed up via Long Boat Key to Bradenton Beach where we stopped and took some photos before stumbling upon a Subway store where we had an excellent light lunch. This town had a small but historic area with houses of the colonial age which looked to have been kept in pristine condition.

We took a slow drive back through the many condo blocks and Hotels and resorts which line this route plus the occasional 'senior living areas' whilst the sun shone down, it was a very nice warm day. There was a short delay at one point where there had been quite a significant accident, but god know how, as the road speeds are restricted to 35 mph and there was hardly any traffic on the road at all anyway. The car was a write off and the cops were in control and so we just passed by and wondered how this could happen.

We had planned to have steak and salad tonight but we did not have any salad and so dropped in to the Publix Supermarket at Sarasota Crossing where we met Francis, the 87 year old bag packer and had a bit of chat, this guy is a great character and really good to talk to.

The steak was great and washed down with a glass of red wine polished off an almost perfect day. Not sure what we will do tomorrow but perhaps a long walk is called for, in order to work off the steak.

Friday 15th Jan- Joanne and Tim have their house – AT LAST!!

We were very pleased to learn this morning that Joanne and Tim have finally secured their new house in Shepperton and hope to move in on Feb 19th which is exactly the day we get back from the States so it looks like we may have a rather busy time that day. After waiting for what seems an eternity finally they have a date on which they can begin to organise their life.

As it was time to check all the emails etc we headed off to the Whole Foods Supermarket in downtown Sarasota. We discovered this shop by chance the last time we were here and we were so impressed by their displays of fabulous organic produce that Noel took some photos which are hanging on our walls at home. This year we have tried their fresh seafood and fruit which is fabulous though rather expensive, for treats only.... They also have free wifi so we can get online and some excellent chocolate chip cookies to munch whilst on line. So with cups of tea and cookies in hand we called Joanne on Skype and discovered that they were already on their second bottle of Champagne. We also rang Mike & Pauline, our neighbours, for a chat and then headed home to The Meadows.

The area we are staying in is called 'The Meadows' and is a huge area with a low population and comprises of three Golf Courses spread over many acres of land. The houses are of varying sizes and pretty much all of them have a golf and/or water view. I believe the site was built by the English builders Taylor Woodrow and the roads and areas are named after English towns and counties and so we are in Weybridge near Surrey Lane. Rings a bell?

The TV news is full of the very bad earthquake in Haiti and the US government seems to be leading the charge to send aid and help to those who have suffered. This matter has been worse when considering that there has been a corrupt Government for many years whilst the criminals seem to outweigh the rest of the population. During the past ten years the US Government has pumped in almost five billion dollars to help the Government improve the infrastructure and support of its people but somehow ten years later most of the money is unaccounted for except that a number of senior people do not seem to be suffering. The aid which is also given to the poor families often is in the way of equipment but this gets stolen from them by criminals. 4000 serious criminals have escaped from the jail which collapsed in the earthquake and you can guess what they are up to right now.

It would appear the previous government, when trying to avoid any anti government lobbying, used to round up people at random and shoot them in the town square to prove that the government should not be messed with. Good stuff AY?? The US will immediately pump in $100 million dollars of immediate aid and there is general dismay that China is only going to give $ 4.4 million in aid. It would appear that Haiti has refused to recognise China in the past and only has political links with Taiwan.

That's the political bit for today.

While driving home today suddenly the Sat Nav sprang in to life and tracked us through the Meadows Golf course (from hole to hole) whilst we were naturally on the main road. I am not sure where they make the TOM-TOM Sat/Nav but it certainly prefers golf courses to travelling on a main road.

It's been quite a bit warmer today and the weather forecaster on Fox TV said it was 75 F in Sarasota and tomorrow we may expect a little rain. Let's see but we will no doubt go for a walk somewhere and if it stays warm then we may head for the swimming pool and think of the cold weather in England.

Tonight's exotic dinner was Champignon au natural sur la omelette avec petit pois et corn suivre chocolat et vanilla crème glace. All washed down with a glass of single malt.

Sat 16 Jan- Ali the alligator is back

We awoke this morning and it was a little grey out there but certainly warmer than previous mornings then when looking out over the lake there was this blob which looked like a floating log but when it turned sideways you could see it was an Alligator of about 8 feet in length. I thought that once I had taken a shower and got dressed I would get closer to the lake and take a photo but he must have known something was up as he cleared off. We also think that as he has not been here since we arrived he must have been hiding from the cold. Oh well perhaps tomorrow he will surface. Shortly afterwards a truck turned up showing they were pest clearance experts and we thought that perhaps, given that he had nets on the back of the truck, he would attempt to catch it, but no such luck. He was here to check on the termites traps. What a disappointment.

Normally the alligators are left alone and only captured and moved if they get aggressive and try to eat a pet dog or similar or if somebody starts to feed them then they might get out of the lake and race you to the door of your house. So people just ignore them and they seem to ignore us as well.

Late morning we headed by car down to the mall as Jennifer has still got some cold symptoms which needed some medicine, then we headed over to Wynn-Dixie Supermarket to purchase some pork chops for this evenings dinner plus a few other bits and bobs.

By mid afternoon we were ready for a walk and so headed off to the shops in 'The Meadows' well I say shops but there is not much here. There is a ladies hairdresser, a barber, a massage parlour run by a Thai family where they also do pole dancing at night for the over 70's and also a couple of restaurants, one is a pub, the other is an Italian and perhaps we may try them out sometime (the restaurants that is and not the Thai joint). The walk to the shops took about 45 minutes each way and we were able to see a different area of the estate with large bungalows overlooking the golf courses and lakes etc and plenty of room between the manicured plots, we decided that it's a great place to live and Clive has chosen well with his investments although prices are a little low at this time. A two bedroom condo like ours is around £ 100 K and there are cheaper one bedroom places right up to 5 bedrooms with lots of space.

Noel cooked the pork chops a'la champignon sur la onion mit zur peas and it really tasted good. Tonight we will watch some more episodes of the BBC series called 'Spooks' as the trouble with American TV is that the programs are now beginning to interfere with the adverts and so it is no fun watch TV here, oh for the BBC even if we have to pay three times what we pay now providing they don't employ Jonathan Ross anymore.

Alan Sugar for Prime Minister I say and Geoffrey Robinson for Foreign Secretary and I would give the Chancellorship a good crack of the whip and reduce child maintenance from the third child onwards and you would have to pay for schooling out of benefits. Also VAT should be increased to 22.5% so that all people share the burden and not only the middle class and above.

See you tomorrow for another exiting up to the minute report from the west coast of Florida.

NEWS FLASH - whilst finishing up this blog it has started to rain with lightning and thunder.

Wed 13 th Jan- A nice day out

It was very cold again last night and there was frost on the grass outside the condo but we understand that the heat is on the way back, at least the sun was up and shining bright.

Our plan today was to go down town for a walkabout and also find a WIFI location so as to send and receive our emails. We have borrowed a TomTom SatNav from our friends in Indian Shores and were anxious to try it out and so Jennifer set it to St Armands Circle. So off we went following the instructions to the letter and apart from a late call to turn right when we were 5 yards from the right turn. Turning late at 35 mph can upset the drivers behind a little as there was the odd horn blowing.

We arrived OK and had a good walk round, down to the beach which was empty of people but the white sand in the sun looked enticing and we would have gone swimming but we had forgotten our swim suits. However this may be an excuse as the temp in the sea is around 10 degrees and perhaps a little chill.

We had lunch in a cafe that we visited last time we were here, the sandwiches are very good, before taking a short walk to Ben & Jerry's ice cream parlour. We thought we'd see if they had any ice cream left, which they did, so we enjoyed the tasting very much. Then off to downtown Sarasota where we visited the Whole Foods supermarket, Jen did some food shopping and Noel used the free internet connection for a short while. This is a great shop, they also have a chain in and around London and they specialise in organic products, they are a little expensive but oh so good. Next, off to the Publix Supermarket near our house for some final shopping of the day. We wished to purchase some fish and the guy behind the fish counter looked rather old to be there, anyway at the check-out I recognised the guy that bags the food from our last visit three years ago and starting chatting to him, he remembered us as well. He is not so young either and so I asked him how old he was and he said he was 85 but Jack on the fish counter is 92. Wow this is great for the old folks who can still get a job at that age and no doubt it keeps them active and the brain working, we should try this at home and get rid of the illegals.

Tonight we have planned a Salmon and Shrimp salad with a little Pinot Grigio to wash it down.

It was a lovely day out and let's hope tomorrow is warmer.

Thursday 14th Jan- Time for a walk

The weather forecast today is for lots of sun and much warmer than the past few days with expected high's of 20 degrees C or 70 F and as we needed a good walk today to stretch the muscles and rather than repeat our previous walk we decided that we would walk down Honore Avenue until we reached the Target Store near the Sarasota Crossing Mall, it's about 2.5 miles from here roughly each way. So off we trotted, actually more like a fast walk really and it took us about 75 minutes to reach almost our destination by which time it was getting warm and so we stopped at Starbucks for an iced coffee and a little sit down.

Whilst enjoying our coffee outside the shop there were a mother and daughter talking in a typical loud way about the daughters current romantic challenges where she had divorced or perhaps separated (we did not know which) and she was looking to buy a new condo and although, as she said, she had 'beautiful credit' it soon became obvious that she was looking to borrow some money from her mum. We think that perhaps she still lived with her ex and kept talking about still being f******g married which she repeated over and over again. We left after five minutes as we could not take it anymore. I guess it's a bit like an Adult Coronation Street with some really good swearing thrown in for good measure.

The 'Target' store is huge and sells most things you can think of except perhaps coffins as non were in evidence but from TV's to washing up liquid and bicycles to toothpaste, you want it and boy have they got it. It's about the size of two football pitches and easy to get lost. People have been known to go missing in here for weeks on end as it's so large.

Lunch was at the 'Firehouse Sub' which is a chain of stores set up by ex firemen and they sell really good sandwiches etc, which we will no doubt visit again. The walk back was a little slower as neither of us would admit to the other that our legs were beginning to get tired but it was a great walk of about 5 miles and then some extra stuff around the stores. The Sat Nav now appears to be not working at all as it spends all its time looking for a GPS signal. Even standing in the middle of the Target car park and holding the bloody thing in the air for ten minutes did not improve the situation at all. We had planned to use it to check how far we had walked Oh well back to a map and a wife sat nav.

We got home around 4 pm and lay exhausted on the settee and watched the news. There is a strong anti-Obama feeling going on at the moment with his public approval getting lower each day. His public health bill has been watered down by the various factions and when you see some of these idiot Senators on the TV, it becomes clear that they do not want Obama to succeed where Bush failed and they will stop at nothing to stop this bill. The US economy seems to be improving although unemployment is still climbing although other indicators are showing rising inventory in Companies and higher productivity whilst the Dow is climbing back up. One item hitting the papers is that although all of the US banks have now paid back the money to the Government after being bailed out last year, and they even paid a high interest rate on the money, they are still to be heavily taxed for the next year or so to teach them to be more careful in future. There is currently a Government investigation in to the 'games the bankers played' and this is causing many white collar Bank CEO's to squirm in front of the TV cameras as their misdemeanours come to light, needless to say the press are lapping it up. Strange however is the fact that the major American car makers who also received huge government loans and have not paid them back are not being pressured at all at this time to return the cash, perhaps the auto makers who are based in Obama's original home town have something to do with it.

House prices are very low indeed in this and many other states and for those with spare cash, now is the time to buy as it won't get any better than this for a long while to come. We are thinking of buying a one acre plot of land next to the beach at Sarasota where we can place our caravan although we have still not worked out a route from Walton on Thames to Sarasota yet as the b*****y Sat Nav won't work. Ha

Sunday 10th Jan until Tuesday 12th

It is still very cold here, the weather forecasters keep on saying it's the coldest for 100 years or so and there has been a thick frost most mornings.

Sunday was a brighter day but still with a strong wind blowing and temps in the lowers 50's f we headed off to Costco in Clearwater to start to buy some of our food which we will need for the next almost three weeks. Then we returned to Indian Shores and lounged for the rest of the day but went out to a great seafood place up the road called 'Crabby Bill's' where Noel enjoyed the in-season snow crab and Jennifer a good plateful of fish and chips and then back to the house for bed.

We left the house around 0930 and drove South, the roads were deserted, where is everybody?, and even though we took a slightly slower route to Sarasota it only took just over 90 minutes and one hour later we were fully ensconced in Clive and Heathers nice house overlooking the alligator lake but we think the alligator has gone deep as it too cold. On the news there have been cases of many fish dying due to the cold weather and also a number of house fires including one where an elderly couple took their gas BBQ inside to heat up the house which then filled the place with carbon monoxide apart from starting a fire?.

We visited the shopping parade and went to the Publix supermarket but were disappointed to note that the cinema had closed and also the excellent ice cream shop is no more, what a disappointment.

Dinner on Monday was some really excellent Costco rib eye steak and a salad with a glass or two of plonk to wash it down.

Tuesday we did a long walk through the Meadow's which is the name of the area and found the tennis and Country Club and the new pool and hot tub but neither of which we usable as it was so cold, we will have to wait a little. The rest of the day we spent relaxing and enjoying some time reading and Noel cooked some rather large lamb chops which we again had with salad. We finished the eveing watching two episodes of 'Spooks' on the PC.

Tomorrow we are going down town to find a wifi connection as there is not one locally available and this means we will check mail every other day or so. Noel has looked at the mobile wireless dongle but its expensive £90 for 20 odd days and so it's back to Starbucks on a regular occasion.

Sat 9th Jan. An easy day as the weather is poor

What a change of weather, it had been cold but now its going down to freezing for a day or so but should then improve by the middle of the week. There is great concern about the orange crop which is almost ready for picking but could be ruined if this cold weather continue.
Anyway we took the car back to Hertz at Clearwater and then came home for a coffee and a light lunch before we headed off to a large shopping mall about ten miles away. We needed to stretch our legs but did not have the wet weather gear that we would need locally and so a fast walk up and down the mall was good. We did not have a shopping list but somehow spent $ 100.00 it must be that Jennifer had a secret list of which the mere male was unaware of.
So we spent a couple of hours at the mall and then headed back to the condo in Indian Shores and Adrian cooked a really delicious pork fillet and then we spent the evening just chatting before going to an early bed.
Lets hope the weather is better tomorrow as we plan a shopping visit to Costco to stock up on a few items for our next three weeks in Sarasota

8th Jan-The Kennedy Space Centre and then to Indian Shores

We left the Hotel about 0830 and drove the 30 odd miles to the J F Kennedy Space Center which is where they launch all the rockets and people to the moon and beyond.
It is spread over many hundred's of acres and you are required to travel by bus to the main tourist visitor center for security reasons. Upon arrival we were subjected to a thorough bag search and also put through the metal detector looking for any dangerous items. The tour lasts about three hours and is well organized and you get to see all the main parts including the launch pad from about two miles away as well as going past the tallest single story building the world. The building has a US flag on the side and its largest painted US flag ever painted.

The Saturn rocket area is so impressive and also are all the supporting presentation areas with quite a number of short ( 8-10 minute) films explaining what happens prior to a rocket launch. A launch is planned in early February and the rocket and the shuttle was already attached and this is moved almost three miles along a path on a special carrier and this rocket et al weighs about 18 million pounds- Wow.. We then visited the IMAX 3D cinema and watched a film about moon walking (not the Michael Jackson one) but a film of previous moon walks and the film was very impressive. If you visit Florida this place is far better than any Disneyland side show.
After the most expensive Hot Dog ever, we headed off via Orlando in the direction of our friends who live in Indian shores on the West Coast. The weather at the moment is poor and we encountered rain and low cloud and the tops of buildings in Tampa were obscured by low flying cloud. We arrived with Adrian and Joyce around 6 pm and did a quick change and headed off the Clearwater Yacht Club for dinner with friends, some of who we had previously met on an earlier visit and others who joined the Bruges trip.
The band was playing and so Jennifer and I did a little dancing and we headed home just before midnight and really ready for bed. The weather tomorrow is due to be rain and cold, not good for Florida.

7th Jan Miami to Melbourne Florida

We left the Hotel around 09.00 to go over to Airport to collect our Hertz Rent car. This entailed taking the Hotel shuttle in to the Airport Central to connect with the Hertz shuttle back to their place which was already busy when we got there and we had to wait for about 45 minutes before getting served and then did not get the car we had previously ordered. Such is life.

We left the Airport and immediately got lost, Boy how I hate Airports with limited signage but we eventually made it back to the Hotel to collect our luggage and head North in the direction of Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Centre. The journey took us up via lots of small towns on the local road but after a while we realised we would not make our destination unless we hit the I-95 Freeway which we joined about 80 miles North of Miami and shortly afterwords came to a grinding stop as there had been a serious car accident. How is it possible for two cars to hit each other on almost an empty road (by UK standards that is) and one of them had rolled over several times and ambulances and police and fire engines in the hundred's were heading for the scene.After a delay of about 20 minutes we were on our way again and eventually at about 5 pm we arrived at the Doubletree Suites Hotel on Melbourne beach. We had a great sea view which quickly disappeared as it got darker and also colder. We decided that we would eat in the Hotel rather than troll up and down the strip.

The Hotel restaurant was extremely quiet and only three other people eating, I think there was more restaurant staff than guests but the food was really quite acceptable indeed and Jennifer had the mixed seafood grill and Noel the scampi and pasta all washed down with a glass or two of Chardonnay.

We both slept extremely well and this was good as Jennifer was beginning to suffer from a cold it seems but when we looked at the Internet and discovered what it was like in the UK, boy is it bad there

A day out in Miami

The sun was shining over Miami as Helmar picked us up from the Hotel. A full 'American Breakfast' was very good indeed and helped kick start the day as during the night, I guess around 3 am the fire alarm went off with lots of bells and whistles and voices instructing you not to use the lifts. Two minutes later we discovered it was a false alarm but it disturbed us at a time when naturally we would be waking at home.

We sat in the car for a while kicking over old times and people we had met etc and it was really very nice. Helmer had decided, and we fully agreed, on a long tour of the best and occasional 'worst' of Miami. Over the next few hours places we visited were Coral Gables, famous for the amazing 'Biltmore Hotel, Little Havana where we had lunch in a Cuban restaurant. Noel had a pork roll and Jennifer and Helmar had the 'Cuban Sandwich' which turned out to be ham and cheese.

We also visited the Cuban memorial and also an amazing church right on the waterfront. Miami is full of non English speaking people and everywhere there were Spanish signs and restaurants. We also visited Doral, Key Biscayne and we then drove up Collins Avenue where the famous Art deco buildings are. They have been beautifully restored into Hotels and bars and restaurants and then also to Coconut Grove. We may not have done the tour in this order but these are places we visited and on Key Biscayne we had the opportunity to drive past some of the most expensive houses in the area with their own helicopter pads and boat docking facilities, Oh how the other half lives. Makes my little rowing boat seem quite unimportant.

We walked around a marina with many bars and restaurants but quite frankly you are spoilt for choice as there are these facilities everywhere as far as the eye can see. There are many expensive condominiums overlooking the sea however the age group tends to be of people in later years except in the bar area.

We had visited earlier in the day a restaurant called the 'Rusty Pelican' with great views over the high buildings in downtown Miami beach and so we headed back there for a great dinner and enjoyed the excellent seafood and a couple of glasses wine, we all had a great evening. Helmar took us back to the Hotel around 1030 pm and so we checked email for a few minutes and then headed up to bed as we were quite ready for it. It had been a long, but very enjoyable day in excellent company, and so we went to bed quite tired hoping that the alarm would not go off again.

I would mention that the current temperatures in Miami are extremely low at this time and there are great fears about the orange crop which could easily be affected by the cold temperatures of around 10 degrees Centigrade and sometimes lower, down to freezing some nights. Let's hope that it doesn't last for long.

Off to the Florida SUN

An early start to the day compared to what we have been accustomed to recently as the Taxi was arriving at 0845 to take us to the Airport. Security was very tight and they checked everything very well and then at the gate the checked it all over again. We left about 40 minutes late but according the Captain, and I guess he should know, the flight time was about one hour shorter than planned and we would expect to arrive on time.

The Virgin beds made the journey very comfortable and for lunch we even enjoyed Bangers and Mash after a couple of drinks at the bar. We arrived 15 minutes early and the process of getting through immigration and collecting baggage, the worst part of any journey, only took about 45 minutes and we were on our way to the Sofitel at Miami Airport. The hotel had been recommended by a good friend and business colleague and the staff were very friendly and also helpful in every way, quite unusual sometimes in the big country.

We had a couple of drinks in the bar and the hotel lobby and bar was a little cool but to be expected as the weather in Miami and Florida in general is the coolest the have experienced I think for about 100 years they reported on the TV. There is nothing quite like a good homemade hamburger and fries and a couple of glasses of plonk to set you up for a night's sleep.

Should we visit Miami again this Hotel is well worth remembering? The only complaint was that the speed of the internet on the free access was very slow to what we are used to, but never mind it enable us to check our emails and news and then to discover how the weather had radically changed since we left about 15 hours earlier. Airports were closed and thick ice and snow, boy we were lucky to get away by the sound of it.

Tomorrow we are meeting up with Noel's ex business colleague Helmar and we hope to look around the town with him. And so to a well earned bed

 

New Years Eve 2009 - Serious damage to the Wine industry

New Years Eve was celebrated with our neighbors in a very classy style. The order of the evening was Black Ties for the men and a Tiara's for the ladies and the party group looked really posh. The evening started out by testing the Saint Veran 2006 , a nice little wine with and excellent dry taste whilst Mike supped a little glass of Glenmorangie. Toni provided beautiful goats cheese souffle starter which went down very well with the 2007 Chablis and after a short break we moved on to Jennifer's excellent chicken with aubergine and cheese which was well supported by the Spanish Baron De Ley Rioja and then followed a large choice of cheeses from Pauline and two delightful deserts from Heather. As New Years Eve approached we all started to pace up and down as we watched the total UK budget being spent on about 12 minutes of fireworks by the British Airways London Eye, it was a great sight to see. It's a great pity that the fireworks did not reach the Houses of Parliament and create a little Guy Fawkes night as this would have made our evening complete. At midnight there was lots of dancing to 'Auld Lang Syne' some festive kissing and some nice chilled Champagne and followed by some traditional Hogmaenay dancing with Mike performing his well rehearsed Irish dance routine. A few hours later it was beginning to get a little late and so our guests departed having demolished a considerable amount of French and Spanish wine and these counties grape growers will now need to go in to overdrive to re build inventory stocks that are now sorely diminshed. Thanks everybody for making this a wonderful night
A happy new year to all our readers