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.
