Know it sounds funny But I just can’t stand the pain
This morning when I got up my leg pain had eased slightly. Whether through taking the painkiller (which is really just a longer lasting anti-inflammatory) or the gel, I really don’t know. I decided to take another one today along the regime of other tablets I take to try to keep myself moving.
The sun was out and blue sky greeted us as we had breakfast at home. Just as well as Karen would have been annoyed today as it seems the weather at home is glorious at there moment as well. We both got in the pool which is cooling by the day now that the heating is switched off. We both agreed that this would probably the last day we could both just get in without hesitation. In fact I think Karen will continue doing it for longer than me as I am a real whimp when it comes to getting in cold water.
The plan today was to go out after the Norwich game against Man Utd which kicked off at 10am local time. I was hoping to find it on the TV rather than having to search for a ‘stream’ on the laptop. I was therefore very pleased when I found it on one of the sports channels and managed to watch it in HD on a 70inch screen. It was a good game to watch and I was bouncing around the lounge shouting when we equalised but the final result wasn’t to be. We deserved at least a point. If only we had played like that in a few other matches then we would not be already doomed for relegation. However, I think it augers well for next season.
As soon as it had finished we headed out. Our destination was Kissimmee Lakefront Park, something we had never heard of (only completed 2014) before seeing it whilst flicking through some channels a few weeks back of one of these programmes where Brits try and buy property abroad (no idea what it was called).
To get there and to avoid traffic, rather than use our USA Sat Nav I put the address into the Waze app on the phone. I cannot praise this app enough. It uses proper dynamic traffic information and routes you accordingly. It is also free to use, although it does require a data connection. As I have free USA roaming on my SIM deal then that’s no problem for us currently.
It took us an interesting but traffic free route and we were soon in downtown Kissimmee. What a transformation and revelation this was, nothing like the soulless place we had visited many years ago. Even better there was plenty of free parking under cover out of the sun.
The Lakefront itself was very nice. There were lots of people just hanging around enjoying the sun, having a walk, playing games or fishing. There were lots of large open shelters from the rain and sun that you could book and hire out for parties and they were all full of people decorating for their own events.
We walked out in the sunshine to the lighthouse and then made our way to the marina where we sat for a while sharing a bottle of diet coke on a veranda. The café itself served the marina and was also a shop for fishing tackle and was nothing special looking. However, the view was lovely and what made it even more special was there was a guy on the veranda playing an electric violin to backing tracks (including ELO). He was really good and really made the violin ‘sing’. We sat there far longer than we anticipated before deciding to walk back along the waterfront to have a wander along the quaint revitalised main street.
All the buildings had been done up and looked like how a main street would have looked like in America over 100 years ago. It was all rather nice. There were several local coffee shops with shaded seating areas. One really took Karen’s fancy so we grabbed a table and a Latte for her and sat for a while whilst listening to the saxophonist they had playing in the courtyard area. Again, it was lovely. They even played the ‘Raschica’ tune which amused me.
Waze then took us a completely different traffic avoiding route back to the Villa. I could even start to enjoy the driving here again if this carries on.
We both lounged by the pool for a couple of hours reading our Kindles before deciding to head out for the evening.
Today we thought we would try ‘Cheddars’ a new restaurant we had seen which promised ‘cooking made from scratch’, which was quite close to us. Although busy we were pleased they seated us within 10 minutes.
The service from our ditsy older waitress was not good. (I’m being polite here – at home she would have been long retired but over here if they have no pension they have to still work).
She seemed to have a problem with anything and everything, we had no idea what she was really talking about. Karen ordered a coffee.
When she brought it over, it was stone cold. We got some excuse about the machine and then another about the filters. The coffee was delivered to me despite Karen ordering it. I could tell straight away it was cold. Karen politely complained and asked for another. The replacement was delivered again to me and so I handed it to Karen. A few minutes later I was asked how the coffee was, and I said again it was Karen who had ordered it. It was like Karen didn’t exist.
We had ordered our food at the same time. After waiting 20 minutes I asked where our food was and she claimed it was just behind an order for a table of 13 that had just come out and it would be next. We then saw lots of other orders being taken to different tables. I gave it another 20 minutes before asking a manager what had happened to our order. She apologised and went to check and brought the food straight out. Karen’s theory was that the waitress hadn’t submitted the order until I had asked the first time.
The only redeeming thing was that the Blackened Shrimp Alfredo we had both ordered was very good and almost worth the long wait.
From here we drove to the Disney Boardwalk where we easily parked and made our way in. The whole boardwalk was as busy as we have ever seen. The atmosphere was really good as we walked around. On the Epcot bridge we could hear the concert taking place within Epcot. Tonight, it was the ex-lead singer from the group Boston. Sadly, he didn’t perform the one song that I could recall from them whilst we were listening.
Karen was envious of all the ‘rich’ people we could see in Epcot who had bought entrance tickets. I wasn’t, I was just happy to be here walking and people watching. We continued our walk around the lake and came to a bench we thought that might be could to watch the fireworks from. Neil had suggested that with the new firework show that we may not be able to see much but we thought it worth a try.
Our positioning was excellent and we had a really good vantage point. They went on for far longer than we expected and were worth watching.
Back at the car and weary of our return from Disney Springs two nights ago we asked Waze for directions home. It didn’t let us down with its chosen route and there were minimal traffic hold ups.
After a glass of wine, we watched a bit of some TV programme about Americans buying beach homes on deserted islands off South Carolina before retiring. I’m pleased to say that the throbbing in my leg is definitely subsiding for the moment.
