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.
