Our Grandson Christopher James Denovan-Smith is ONE YEAR OLD Today

Well we will continue to remember the 13th January for quite some while as Jennifer and I were in France, Rouen actually for a short winter break prior to Noel’s next operation due on the 8th of February.

We had decided to leave Rouen for a day trip along the River Seine and as Joanne was due to have her baby on 29th January we thought no problems about being away from home at this time, Only we was wrong!!. The shenanigans of that day are blogged already last year but on returning to the Hotel we received a call from Joanne announcing the birth of Christopher. So one year old today and with a party planned for Sunday 14th which unfortunately we will miss by being away in the USA. However we do have a photo of the Birthday cake

SO HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTOPHER-HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY
For us in Florida it was a quiet day with some swimming and relaxing after a long days in Port Charlotte where our step count was very good but we both felt a little tired after the day. In the the afternoon we went to Walgreens Pharmacy to pick up a few things, some they had and some required prescription, apparently you need a prescription to purchase Voltarol which surely cant be correct but will have to check. Its been a lovely warm day today but the temp will be going up and down over the next week however for tomorrow Sunday we plan a pretty quite day again, a swim before lunch and then a call to the family in Shepperton to see how Christopher's parity went.
We continued watching ‘THE CROWN’ on Netflix and we are at the point where the ‘Duke’ is on a world trip apparently opening the Commonwealth Games in Australia but checking on the local women en-route, not sure how accurate this is but his life was rather difficult to imagine really. We also watched the first part of ‘The Night Manager’ which is also  very good, and so we have a few good nights TV ahead of us. Tomorrow the temperature in the morning will be about 5 C bumping up to about 17 C then the rest of the week will be warmer.

A semi relaxing week

Well the week has been filled with lots of doing nothing to a day out to Port Charlotte.
The weather has been quite good this week and so we have spent quite some time by the pool and some swimming of course and lunch by the pool of course.
We had a visit from a large bird, photo taken through Lanai so perhaps not as clear as it could be.

We came to use the BBQ and discovered that it was quite filthy obviously not cleaned for several weeks, possibly months, and so we complained and the response was not quite what we expected. First of all they were sending somebody round that afternoon and he never arrived or even the next day but at 08.30 on Friday the lady boss turned up and she tried to explain the BBQ can get very rusty in the Florida weather but as I showed her it was nor  rust but a great big thick layer of fat and meat juice and no doubt BBQ sauce, I had cleaned the actual grill by this point as we wanted to use it, but she also went on to say that you don't actually cook on where this muck was, I was incredulous by this statement and told her so. Later in the day she popped round and left a small present as an apology. Her excuses about lack of time and the owner does not pay her to do this I told her was not my problem as we had contract with her company. Oh well that’s the end of that saga.

We also visited the local library so that we could complete the on-line check-in in for our Caribbean cruise as we needed to print boarding cards and baggage label's.. Its a very nice library and it was quite busy with about 16 Pc’s available for free use and you have to pay fro printing which is no problem. A visit to Publix Supermarket took place a couple of times and then on Friday a day out to Port Charlotte.
Port Charlotte is about ten miles South of where we are staying and we wanted to visit the Shopping Mall as it would appear that Noel needs to have a jacket and tie for the cruise and he did not bring either. So after trolling around Macy’s and a couple of other stores we found the required jacket in J C Penny and at a 60% discount, and what with two for one offer’s (bought two shirts) and tie and pair of socks for less that we would have to pay for a jacket in Macy’s. We then had lunch in Ruby Tuesday’s and it was excellent and the amount of food on the plate was about right, not like the Venice lunch, and the quality was also very good.
Following lunch a further look around the Mall which was not busy, perhaps because it was Friday, and then we went to the Cinema to see a film called ‘ Darkest Hour’ with Gary Oldman playing Winston Churchill and the prosthetics were brilliant and the acting was also superb, well worth the visit. The fun thing was at the very end of the film just prior to the credits the screen informed us the Churchill stayed in power for five years after the war, that Neville Chamberlain died about six months after Dunkirk  and that Viscount Halifax who was a thorn in Churchill's side and was all for negotiating surrender with Hitler got posted to the British Embassy in Washington DC to which the all American audience, excluding us, all laughed out loud.
Then home and we watched a film on Netflix called a ‘Trip to Spain’ quite humorous really but some lovely places they visited including so we have also been to.
We plan a quiet weekend in the house and will visit Sarasota either next Monday or Tuesday. Right now Noel is monitoring the Chelsea vs Leicester game.

A trip to Venice, the one in Florida

As many people are aware with so many immigrants in the USA from all over Europe, plus of course other places, many of the places here have European town names. So just near us in Venice and and also Naples and it was Venice that we decided to visit.

The sun was shining and the temperature is rising again after a rather chilly bout and by the time we left at about 11.30 the temp was about 18 C and due to rise to possibly 21 or 22, now that's what we want. We headed north to Venice and it took about 35 minutes as the roads are very good in Florida and so far never blocked like the M25 and we arrived in Venice and drove around for a while and parked by the sea front which was not really inspiring and so we went to the old Historic part of town, and walked around there for a while. There were a number of restaurant on the road but many virtually empty except one big place with the usual loads of TV screens showing American football and the like but the tables were quite busy and so we opted for there.

So we ordered the coconut shrimps for a starter to share and the the mixed seafood grill, and it was really excellent and the amount of food they give you on a plate is quite ridiculous and we shall remember in future to share both the starter and the main course as neither of us could finish of all the food on the plate. So after letting the food go down and understanding that restaurant prices here seem to be about 15% higher than we are staying whilst the recommended  tip is anywhere from 18% to 22%, at least 2% higher than near us, Venice is expensive place to live and very popular.
We continued with some walking after lunch and then as the sun was nice and warm, showing 22C on the car temp gauge we opted for returning home and sitting on the patio next to the pool.
About two hours after the meal it looks like either the coconut or there might have been some garlic on the seafood so it caused Noel a few problems for about an hour, what a shame as the food was excellent.
We shall an evening of TV from our new Amazon TV Fire Stick where we can also get films of Netflix and so the choice of what to see is endless.
Tomorrow is a not much more than shopping and cleaning, how exciting can life get?

Goin’ cruis’n tonight!!

Well we had easy day about the house in the morning and finalised our hotel requirements leading up to our Holland American Lines Caribbean cruise and we needed to find Hotels for a total of five nights, three before the 4th of Feb and two after we return. This we have done and have booked two nights in Clearwater, which is north of here and then a night in Fort Lauderdale in advance of the cruise,.

Jennifer did some house sorting and we plan to give the place a bit of clean on Monday and just wanted to know what is is here in the way of cleaning stuff, chemicals and cloths etc., and so we have that sorted we had a nice lunch of Alaskan Cod with , I must say, lovely mashed potatoes from a potato brand you don't really get in the UK and finished with a nice apple strudel with chocolate ice cream, really excellent.

We left the house at around 4pm to check out one of the many golf clubs on this estate to find out if they had a decent bar and restaurant but the one that we visited did not and so we departed for the old Historic Town of Englewood where we had read that tonight will be Crusi’n night, not of the gay type, but with classic and other vehicles. So we found the place and there several hundred people standing around sipping beer whilst cars of all types were either parked or crusin’ up and down the street and those with a particularly noisy exhaust system, seem to do is the most. There was a guy in a truck playing music from films and if you guessed the the name of the film you got a free beer. Anyway we wandered up and down taking photos and looking at the people and cars as they moved up and down the street and after about 90 minutes it started to feel a little chill and so we headed home to watch a fil and have a nice smoked salmon sandwich.

A nice day and very interesting to see so many old cars including an old Morris Minor Countryman.

Where does time go- The last few days just went!!

Well I seem to have missed blogging for a few days and on one hand we have been taking it easy, on the other hand we have quite a few things to do.
Well we have booked this house until the end of January and have 16 days to do something else in Florida but as we have discovered, and so we have spent some time on the internet looking at other houses to rent , checking out Hotels and also Caribbean Cruises and after all is said and done we have decided on a Cruise with Holland America Line leaving from Fort Lauderdale on 4th February and returning on the 14th Feb. An so we needed to book hotels between leaving the the current house and whilst in between arriving back at Fort Lauderdale and leaving on the flight to London on the 16th should we decide to go. So hopefully it should be good and works out price wise in line with good resort Hotels in Florida nice places but include the food and Jennifer has no cooking or shopping to worry about.

MV Eurodam of Holland America Line

we have had one day out touring around to Boca Grande and Gasparilla State Park and it was quite nice and some very expensive houses by the side of the water which you can see when crossing the bridge. From there we headed to Manasota Key and drove all the way along the island strip with nice houses either side but no sign of any damage caused by the Hurricane last last year. We stopped in a Diner for a snack lunch and the chicken breast in a burger bun was really excellent and perhaps one of the best we have ever had, would go back If I can remember where it is. When topping up the fuel in the car its always a bit of a hassle as unlike UK when you can fill up and walk to the payment station, in US you can put your credit card in but it would accept cards from overseas and so you have to go to the payment counter and leave you card, walk back to the car and fill up, then back to the payment station each time having to wait in a queue. However this time the petrol pump data entry pad was not working and so we had to call out the guy from the payment station who seemed to know less than I on how it worked and in the end had to change pumps, what a palaver.
On Wednesday night we had a steak BBQ, the steaks we bought from Costco on the way here are great except the first one we tried we were not to impressed but we had just purchased them and perhaps it was not hung enough or to cold, however this was was really good and cooked to perfection with a grill I am not used to but it really turned out well.
We decided to order and Amazon fire stick so that we could watch programmes without the usual hundred of Adverts which you get on USA television but the one we brought from UK could not seem to understand it was now in USA and did not work properly and so when the new one arrived we hoped all would be well. Well it wasn't and after about 30 minutes on the phone to the excellent support  we discovered that due to using a UK based credit card it assumed you were inn UK not USA, however matter is now resolved and the Amazon prime choice together with a months trial of Netflix will provide more TV and films we ever watch.
We also had to wait for a courier envelope to arrive from the UK containing some urgent paperwork which Noel needed to sign and then return it back to France and so it arrived and we had to find a courier office somewhere and there happened to be one right next door to the Publix Supermarket we use and so twenty minutes in the shop and all was done. Total cost of courier from Uk and Back for one small envelop is about £ 85.00 which is a lot of money but we cannot rely on the normal post for a thing like this. Oh well. This courier office was also across the road from the Super Day Deli and Pizza joint where we had decided to visit to test a pizza for lunch. What a place it was and it was so busy and they had a huge amount of staff serving so they must do a big trade. Compared to the pizza joint next to Public which was empty this one was very active and so we bought three large slices of various pizza’s and two large chocolate éclairs and came back to the house and sat in the sum  by the pool end enjoyed the food.
Well that's about it at the moment and its Saturday lunchtime when writing this and we are off to the old town of Englewood later this afternoon to watch the Cruisin’ party of old cars, should be fun
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Lets go out for lunch

Well the grey and wet weather has set in a bit, its a bit chilly by Florida standards but not to bad for us. The house is very nice and with a few little niggles but nothing to worry about. eg the shower takes about five minutes to get warm and so there a complete waste of water whilst is gets warmed up, such a shame when you waste so much water.
Anyway we decided to have lunch out today and after loo9king at Trip Advisor we settled on a place Leverocks Grill which is only about 15 minutes away by car and overlooking a marina and the sky was a little bit blue for a while

. Jennifer had the crab cakes and Noel the Calamari, this is the first time in two years that he has dared trying fried foods and slightly nervous as to the outcome, and then we both had the ribs and FRIES of course and the portions here are always so large that initially we forget to share a single dish but always learn from the experience. However we could not manage any desert and the tummy was full. There was a lot of food for the 60 bucks we paid but most enjoyable. However tipping in the USA is quite with an absolute minimum of 15% with the norm 20%  whilst in the really big cities its more like 30% and if you don't pay up watch out for a knife in your back.
Still waiting for the company unblocking my phone to advise what is going on as it should not take so long.
After having such a large lunch and evening snack was off the menu apart from a bowl of crisps and some water and three episodes of ‘The Crown’. This is an excellent series and really gives the viewer a great insight in to the shenanigan's of Royalty.
Its a little cooler tonight and so wrapped up warm with a blanket, very comfortable.

Well we start another year 2018 lets make it better

We start the new year with renewed hope for peace and well being around the world, yet I fear it will not be this way.
From a personal point of view that last year was tough but improved steadily through the last three months of the years and so we hope that the health will continue to improve over the next few months and so we say a ‘Happy New Year’ to all our readers.
we had an easy day starting with a morning swim before breakfast which was most enjoyable and the first swim for Noel for quite some while for reasons that are well known.  we had some roast pork for dinner with roast potatoes and veg and some chocolate ice cream to round it off, however the Choc ice cream we have is not so nice so may get dumped and we can get a different variety.
The weather here is changing over the next few days and we expect a little rain and being a bit cooler but this is not unusual in Florida as many years ago we did have the same experience.  
We have started the watch a NETFLIX series called ‘The Crown’ which is very good indeed and gives a great insight into the challenges of the Royals over the years and I guess we are about halfway through the first series so we have hours of watching ahead over the next few weeks. I am still trying to find a way to watch premier league football but so far without success.
Still having a little trouble with the Amazon Fire stick that we brought with us, it works for Netflix and a couple of other things but it works, then the next days it doesn't??? Oh dear may have to find different solution

A quiet time at home

We decided to have a quit day at home listening to music, swimming and resting around the pool area and we had Ham sandwich for lunch with lots of sun beaming down on us, time for a little kip now and again.
We had been able to by some Weetabix for breakfast which is good for Noel and so what with some yogurt and bananas this helps him keep to a diet which to some may be a little boring but for him its quite necessary. Following breakfast Noel got out his camera and took a few photos around the house and garden and the small river going by outside where you are advised not to swim in case of Alligators taking a bite out of you, no chance mate.

Alligators are basically scared of humans and would walk away unless disturbed or cornered but they do invade golf courses and roads from time to time
Noel was finally able to sort out the Amazon TV Stick and although we cannot get UK programmes as they are restricted we can can get lots of film channels including Netflix where you can get one months free viewing, not bad really as we only need less than one month.
In the evening we enjoyed a Roast Cold chicken Salad with some ice cream to finish and a glass of Chardonnay and then watched the James Bond move Spectre which is very good and then that polished off our New Years Eve and we were in bed before the clock struck twelve. There were some local fireworks going off but not many as we are in a restricted zone where it against the law to make a noise after 22.00 hrs

Getting unpacked and understanding the house

A nice lie in this morning  and afterwards we spent some time emptying the suitcases and then Jennifer opened every draw in the kitchen( and there are lots of them) so as to discover what kitchen equipment we have available and there is quite a lot.
Prior to leaving the UK Noel had purchased a SIM card for use in USA and a fraction of the cos charged by EE/T-Mobile while in the USA. T Mobile wants about £ 5.00 per day whilst the Sim card from Lycamobile works out at £ 28.00 for tons of free calls and data and so he tried it in his phone and kept getting a rejection as it required a code??. After communicating with the supplier it appears that Noels Samsung phone is ‘Locked’ and it needs to be unlocked and se he had found a local company who could this. So off we went to McCall Road to I-FIX phone repairs and they entered all the data and it can take a day or more for the code to be returned and so we should have come back after a couple of days considering its NYE and shops will be closed on Monday.
On the way back we went to Publix Supermarket for the some top up shopping and then back for a light lunch and an afternoon rest to try and rid ourselves of the jetlag.
We had also brought along our Amazon TV Fire stick which should work in USA and the idea is that we can watch some decent series and films without the hours of adverts which is standard for US TV programming unless you are on the Public channels which have a restricted list of programmes.Well it almost worked and we got some programmes but not all but now as it was getting a little later and still a bit tired we decided to leave it until tomorrow and have another go. However we were able to get one programme and so was able to watch a film called the ‘Hurt Locker’ which is very good.
And then to bed.

Go West young Man

We left the Hotel about 10.00 and decided on a brief beach tour before driving West. The beach looked very busy with people tanning themselves whilst the bars and restaurants were also quite busy serving late breakfast and coffee and some a few beers.
We are still getting used to our new SATNAV and at one point just leaving Fort Lauderdale Jennifer was looking at the map and Noel  glancing at the Sat Nav and realised we had missed an important turning on to Interstate I-75. This was most likely due to have the SAT NAV View with a top down view rather then the 3D view which is often better. Anyway we did a u-turn and headed back the correct way. The Sat Nav had said there where toll roads on the route and did we wish to avoid and so we said yes, but when we got to the point of leaving the I-75 and taking the route plan the road exit was closed for road works and so we ended up on the Toll road anyway.

We stopped mid-route for the Loo’s and to buy some water for the car and then continues on the way to initially Naples and then on up to Fort Meyer where we stopped at the large Costco store to purchase our basic rations for the next few days. It was a large store and the usual layout with big TV’s at the front and pricing was so low?? compared to the price we pay in the UK.  We had a quick hot dog and did our shopping and then headed North though Fort Meyers and then on to Rotonda West and briefly stopped at the Public supermarket for the last bits of shopping.
We found the house and opened up, they key was in a key safe outside the front door, and let ourselves in and we were duly impressed with the size and feel of spaciousness and that it was light and white, colours that we like.

So within the hour we had part unpacked, had a shower and opened a bottle of Chardonnay and sat on the patio by the pool before Noel BBQ’d a large rib eye steak actually it was getting a bit dark and the lighting by the BBQ was not too good and so it was a bit of hit and miss but it was great with a glass or two of Malbec.
We watched Television for a short while, actually we watched some adverts with some programming in the middle and then it gets so bad, Oh for the BBC.
So off to bed we go and lets see what tomorrow brings.

The sun is shining and it 26 degrees Centigrade

The Hotel breakfast buffet was quite busy and why they serve breakfast from 06-00/09.00 beats me as it was very crowed at about 08.30 when we arrived. Usual stuff of hot and old food and you could ask for an omelette to be specially made for you. Noel waited in the queue and and decided to not wait for fried eggs but take the scrambled with the usual scrunched up thinly cut bacon with some strange looking sausages which we were quite fatty and not to our taste.
Following breakfast we took a taxi to the Sixt Rental Car Agency to collect our vehicle, we wanted a Toyota Camry

but they could not [provide this and so upgraded us to a KIA Sportage which is fine. We then did a tour of Whole Foods and Target to try and find a chill bag so that when we do our food shopping tomorrow we have somewhere to put it.. We go back to the Hotel and we were sort of hungry and although they have restricted lunchtime menu it was great for us. So we sat  by the pool and Noel enjoyed a burger and fries and Jennifer some pasta and meatballs with a nice glass of Chardonnay to wash it down.

We both needed a rest and so went back to the room and and had a lay down for about two hours and then considered if we wanted to join the free snack and drinks party in the evening but in the end decided against it and spent the rest of the evening watching a bit of TV watching a very interesting, but old, documentary about Gianni Agnelli the CEO of FIAT Cars watching him though his life before and after Fiat. It was most interesting and was quite long and so after about two hours we gave up and went to sleep with the usual breaks duty to time differences.
The beds in the Hotel were quite comfortable but the Hotel needs some sever TLC.
Tomorrow we leave for the West Coast of Florida and find our home for the next almost five weeks.

We are off to Florida

Not really an early start as the taxi would only pick us up at around 11.45 and take us to Gatwick Airport. We had spent the last couple of days taking down Christmas Decorations and also moving furniture from the Bar area  so that the carpet cleaner when he comes in the New Year has a clear run to try and remove some rather ugly red wine stains.
The usual traffic on the M25 and it was very bad if you were on the clockwise  side as it was at a snails pace and also the same on the Northbound M23 from Gatwick.
However we arrived at the Airport in plenty of time  and found the Norwegian Airlines check in area and was astounded to see so many people, apparently they had some European flights delayed due to bad weather and so there were many people now trying to check in. We were going to the USA which had a separate check in area and as we were in the Premier Class we checked in and got rid of the suitcases within about five minutes.

We were given ticket ‘s to the ‘One Lounge’ but when we got to the lounge entrance there was about twenty people waiting to enter and clearly it was full up and so we went to the restaurant and had a glass of Sancerre and some Salmon and prawns which was excellent but hugely expensive. By the time we had finished our meal they were calling the flight and off we went down the travellators to the other side of the airport, it seemed, and a few minutes later we boarded. The  Aircraft a Boeing 787 Dreamliner which had arrived much earlier that morning was about twenty minutes late being brought to the gate and so we boarded a bit later than expected and then we had to wait some more until finally the last passenger arrived who was not looking to good and had to be escorted to her seat. She looked confused and kept on getting up and talking to the service crew but finally sat down.
The aircraft was pushed back on to the carriageway and started its engines and no doubt the crew were doing the their final checks and then this woman was up and down again and finally there was a big discussion with her and then  the Captain  came out of the cockpit whilst another passenger who was a Doctor also attended. Anyway she sat down and the Captain went back in to the cockpit and then a few minutes later he made the announcement that we would be returning to the gate to offload a passenger who longer wished to travel, flight fright we understand. And so we returned to the gate and stopped engines and they brought out the gate and the lady got off and then so we had to go through the same procedure again to leave. So overall we left about two hours later than scheduled. Lets hope they charge her a lot of money for the delay etc.
We had chosen Norwegian Airlines as they have not a bad reputation and their Premier Class from a seat and space perspective is much better than Virgin or Ba whilst the pricing is a lot lower. We would not normally use premier economy on long flights based on our experience's with BA and Virgin and we would normally travel Business Class but the price differential was horrific. BA and Virgin to Miami wanted about £ 5800 business class return with no cancelation or flight changes whilst Norwegian was £ 2400 with the free option to change or cancel up to 6 hours before flight, no choice then.
The seats were very comfortable and plenty of leg space and even thought this was almost a ten hour flight, and what with the earlier delays we were in the seat for about eleven hours' so not bad really. Food was basic and Ok but because of Noel’s particular food requirements he had purchased some baguette rolls from Pret a Mange in advance of the flight just in case he could not eat the food on board.
We arrived in Fort Lauderdale and they parked the aircraft on a stand which was a pain, and then the Immigration games began. It looks like they are trialling a new electronic system where you stand in front of a machine which reads your passport, asks you for finger prints and then finally takes your photo and then issues a bit of paper which says you are clear to go. Only you are not free to go so after waiting about 20 minutes to get to a machine, others would wait a lot longer we went round the corner and there was another long queue to go through the same procedure again with a real live Immigration guy , so add another twenty minutes. 

So from aircraft arrival to being able to leave was about ninety minutes, very slow compared to other airports in the US. Oh well.
We found the Limo driver to take us to the the Embassy Suites Hotel where we arrived at 23.30 instead of the planned 21.00 . So quite a long day really and glad to be in bed.
Lets see what tomorrow will bring.

Christmas is Coming

Well Christmas is nearly upon us after an eventful year with a new Grandson Christopher in January this year whilst Noel's health seemed to improve with quite a few ups and down's en-route, but that is life.
Following a Christmas with family we are due to travel to Florida for a few weeks where we have rented a house on the Gulf Coast in a nice area complete with private swimming pool which hopefully will get lots of use, We wanted to get away from the cold weather and start the new year without all the threats from the past.
Our Norwegian Cruise was good on the scenery front but we did not rate the shop much, too many people all trying to get served so we wont do that again.

For many years we hosted late in the year a themed  party which stopped due to Noel's illness and now he is getting back on track we restated this a couple of days ago and it was a raging success as the photo will show. Unfortunately we did not get everybody that we asked due to various valid reasons but we all enjoyed the fun even though the carpet got a little trashed with a complete glass of red wine. Perhaps we may change the carpet in the bar to a more suitable color like burgundy so red wine spots wont show.
So now we are looking forward to some sun and relaxation and will blog on a regular basis. We fly to Fort Lauderdale Airport and stay for two nights and then head to the Gulf Coast with some shopping en-route and we are both really looking forward to the trip

See you in Florida