For moving day, we had a plan which was thrown a tad when we found that the outlets we planned to visit didn’t open until noon. The clocks going back for us for the second week had Karen quite confused as to whether she would have to move her clocks back twice. Honestly to think we trust her to with the education of children.
Anyhow I was up at 6.30am in time to watch the city match live on Sky Go from Carrow Road. I wish I hadn’t bothered. Karen went into the shower at kick off and by the time she came out we were two ‘zero’ down. We were dire. I felt sorry for the manager and hope that the board put him out of his misery sooner rather than later. In a week where the accounts were published and the extent of the debt was seen, I must also start to wonder about the competence of the ‘grown ups’ who are supposed to have fiscal control.
At full time we went to Breakfast which was busy and it felt as though there were different types of people in there. This seemed more like people on holiday as opposed to the weekdays where there were lots of people staying because of work. We were back to cheese omelettes today. I will be glad to be able to cook my own porridge tomorrow.
Back in the room we packed up and checked out of the Hotel. At 10am we were heading towards the Ellenton Outlets about 40 minutes away and not too far out of the way for our drive to Kissimmee.
We were far too early for the shops to be open and went to wait at a Starbucks opposite. Karen tried to get me a breakfast tea with cold milk on the side. She came back unknowingly with an Earl Grey tea topped with steamed milk. I took it back and explained slowly I wanted a Breakfast tea with milk on the side. This time they got closer as when I took the drinks back to our table outside, I found I did have Breakfast Tea but with even more steamed milk in it as well as a separate cup full of more steamed milk. I swore a lot.
Despite it resembling a milk shake rather than a proper cup of tea, Karen said she would drink it as well as her own rather than have me go back and make a scene. Starbucks obviously train their baristas to make coffee but fail completely in telling them how to make tea’s. I feel another complaint coming on.
In writing that it struck me what a first world problem that is. Especially when there is so much trouble in the world and so many people in real fear for their lives as opposed to whether their tea is made correctly. The news programmes over here are full of the Israeli conflict although the coverage does seem to be more balanced than I thought it would be. It is important to hear both sides of the story. Whatever it is just horrible and the whole world needs to work out a peaceful long-term solution that recognises both sides needs and right to exist and live. All this whilst the conflict in Ukraine just carries on in the background as well.
The outlets were just opening as we arrived. After heading the wrong direction initially, we headed to the Colombia shop. Karen found several things and I thought I had found a cheap golf shirt. I left Karen to pay whilst I sat outside. When I checked the bill, I found that not only was the golf shirt full price but also a long-sleeved shirt Karen had bought was not half price as she thought. So less than 2 minutes after paying for the items we duly returned them with many apologies for our mistakes.
It was then time to drive the 94 miles to the villa. The roads were quite busy in parts but we made good time. We decided to do a big food shop to set us up and went via Publix. Here we seemed to spend lots of money for very little. We are really noticing the cost of living increases here.
Then it was onto the villa. The villa was far too big for our needs but when I booked it, I had no idea how many of us would be here.
We choose the enormous master bedroom with an ensuite larger than our bedroom at home, a large dressing cupboard and our own balcony. That left Neil with a choice of 4 bedrooms when he got here. The TV in the Lounge is 85inch and we have a beautiful view over the lake. None of this satisfied Karen though who had forgotten that I could not get one the other side of the Lake facing South which is always her preference hence lots of moaning for a while.
We ate some hot food we had got from Publix before settling in and unpacking.
Then it was time to go to collect Neil from the airport after filling up with petrol on the way. His flight landed early and it was just after 1 hour later he was waiting outside the terminal for us to pick him up.
It was lovely to see him and although he tried not to show it, we could see how pleased he was to be here as well.
Back in the villa we cooked him a pizza and watched a bit of TV before retiring for the night.
