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.