FLORIDA
SUNDAY 27TH SEPTEMBER 2015
I look out of the window and down to the traffic circle below us. People are scurrying along with umbrella's. The sky is grey. It is raining, the first rain we have had since the short shower we saw in Las Vegas. C volunteers to go for the car which is parked in a garage about a quarter of a mile from the hotel and I get our bags etcetera down to the lobby. After checking out I stand by the door watching for Cyril and after a few minutes he comes round the corner and pulls in to the kerb. It is raining so hard the road is half flooded and we slosh around loading the boot and getting pretty wet in the process. But then we are off, the wipers working overtime. We find our way on to Interstate 10 and for a while we travel north, water on both sides of us and still coming from above. Then we turn east and it doesn't seem long before we have left Mississippi and crossed in to Alabama and we pass Mobile, cross a bridge, the Gulf of Mexico over to our right in the distance. We have left the rain behind us, but it is still cloudy.
We stop for petrol and both walk in to the shop to pay. The chap behind the counter asks where we are from. He has an accent I can't identify but his english is excellent.
"I am from Nepal." He tells us.
"Nepal?" I say.
"Yes, it's where Mount Everest is."
"Yes, I know where it is - it's just I have never met anyone from Nepal before." I say. He is tall, about thirty and doesn't look anything like the Nepalese Sherpa's you always see when Everest is in the news. "What brings you here?" I ask.
"Work." he says. "Not much work in Nepal." He points at us both, "Europe - Britain - that is the place to be.'
"Why do you say that?" I ask.
"The culture." He says. "The art, the architecture." He looks around as if to make sure nobody is listening, and then says, in a low voice: "The people, they are much more sophisticated, not like here."
We laugh. Cyril says, "Why don't you live in Europe then?"
"I wish I could," he says, "It's very difficult to get a visa and a work permit - almost impossible."
We get on our way. The rain catches us up for a while but we leave it behind again and then we cross the State Line and are in Florida. We decide to stop for the night in Tallahassee, the State Capital and settle on the Four Points, one of the Sheraton chain.
MONDAY 28TH SEPTEMBER 2015
I looked up 'Tallahassee' as it is such an unusual word. It is a Muskogean Indian word often translated as "old fields" or "old town", and it likely stems from the Creek (later called Seminole) Indians who migrated from Georgia and Alabama to this region in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
I would like to look around the Capitol Building and the hotel receptionist gives us directions. It isn't far. We find it okay but it proves impossible to park and after driving around for ten minutes or so give up on the idea.
Tallahassee seems to be a pleasant city. It is not too crowded (except the car parks near to the Capitol Building) and we passed a couple of parks, very green, lots of trees and I found it quiet and rather attractive.
Back on Interstate 10 we drive east until we reach the junction with Interstate 75 and turning on to it we are now travelling south.
I'm returning to childhood, I think, because I fall asleep again. When I was three - nearly four - and I do remember that far back - I went to a little nursery school near to where we lived at that time, close to Blaise Castle, just outside Bristol. In the afternoons the teacher would place out small camp beds and in the afternoon we would lie down on them while we were read stories. Of course, we would fall asleep, like small children do. Now I'm doing it again - falling asleep in the afternoons. I don't really understand why this should be. I don't use nearly as much energy as I did, say, ten years ago, when I wouldn't think of going to bed before eleven or twelve o'clock at night. Now I'm ready for bed by ten o'clock and I'm falling asleep at two in the afternoon. It's all part of the ageing process, I suppose.
I don't like it.
When I awake we have passed Gainsville and have turned east again at Ocala and are on US 40. I offer to drive but C shakes his head, he much prefers to do the driving. We cross a bridge which takes us over the Inter-coastal Waterway and then turn right, the Atlantic on our left. We have now driven from coast to coast.
Driving through Daytona Beach we look for a motel to stay. There are half a dozen or more, and it is still out of season so prices should be reasonable. The winter season in Florida doesn't really get going until November. Booking in at a Best Western the receptionist offers us a room with sea views, a 'free' breakfast and an invitation to the 'Manager's Party' which includes snacks and a free bar between six and seven o'clock. I look at my watch, it is twenty to six.
The receptionist smiles and says, "You couldn't have timed it better!"
Most of the guests at the 'party' are getting on a bit, as they say. A Canadian lady, sitting at the bar, tells us: "We come here every year." She points to a table where several sixty and seventy year old men sit drinking and talking. "They are in a fishing club, they love coming here."
We talk about the Canadian health service, much like the NHS by the sound of it. We compare it with the U.S. system, which seems to awfully complicated to me but amounts to the fact that if you haven't got personal insurance, or work for a company that provides it and you become ill - well, you are on your own, mate. If you are over 55 (as I understand it) you do get free health care - except you don't, because you still have to pay for a proportion of the cost for which insurance has to be taken out, so it isn't really 'free.'
TUESDAY 29TH SEPTEMBER 2015
We have breakfast, load the car and get on our way, the last lap of our "tour' of the United States. We seem to have left the rain behind as above us are broken clouds, patches of blue and it is very warm again. We drive south, cross the Inter-coastal Waterway again and take Interstate 95. By one o'clock we are picking up bread, milk, and other groceries from Publix in Palm City and by one-thirty we are in Stuart unloading the car and opening up the flat at Circle Bay.
C opens up the storm shutters, switches the water and electricity on. I switch the fans on and open the louvered screen and pull the sliding doors back. The view across the St Lucie River is as pleasing as it was that first day we saw it. A million Pounds worth of boat sails past as I watch. The sun is out, a few scattered cotton wool clouds above. We have covered over 6000 miles criss crossing the United States. It's been terrific. Wonderful - good word to use, it really has been full of wonder.
We are here until the 16th November, so more parties to go to, more people to meet, friends and neighbours to say "hello" to. When we do get home we are going to need slow down and have a rest.
Maybe I should take a vacation.
Oh heck, I'm beginning to sound like a Yank...
SUNDAY 27TH SEPTEMBER 2015
I look out of the window and down to the traffic circle below us. People are scurrying along with umbrella's. The sky is grey. It is raining, the first rain we have had since the short shower we saw in Las Vegas. C volunteers to go for the car which is parked in a garage about a quarter of a mile from the hotel and I get our bags etcetera down to the lobby. After checking out I stand by the door watching for Cyril and after a few minutes he comes round the corner and pulls in to the kerb. It is raining so hard the road is half flooded and we slosh around loading the boot and getting pretty wet in the process. But then we are off, the wipers working overtime. We find our way on to Interstate 10 and for a while we travel north, water on both sides of us and still coming from above. Then we turn east and it doesn't seem long before we have left Mississippi and crossed in to Alabama and we pass Mobile, cross a bridge, the Gulf of Mexico over to our right in the distance. We have left the rain behind us, but it is still cloudy.
We stop for petrol and both walk in to the shop to pay. The chap behind the counter asks where we are from. He has an accent I can't identify but his english is excellent.
"I am from Nepal." He tells us.
"Nepal?" I say.
"Yes, it's where Mount Everest is."
"Yes, I know where it is - it's just I have never met anyone from Nepal before." I say. He is tall, about thirty and doesn't look anything like the Nepalese Sherpa's you always see when Everest is in the news. "What brings you here?" I ask.
"Work." he says. "Not much work in Nepal." He points at us both, "Europe - Britain - that is the place to be.'
"Why do you say that?" I ask.
"The culture." He says. "The art, the architecture." He looks around as if to make sure nobody is listening, and then says, in a low voice: "The people, they are much more sophisticated, not like here."
We laugh. Cyril says, "Why don't you live in Europe then?"
"I wish I could," he says, "It's very difficult to get a visa and a work permit - almost impossible."
We get on our way. The rain catches us up for a while but we leave it behind again and then we cross the State Line and are in Florida. We decide to stop for the night in Tallahassee, the State Capital and settle on the Four Points, one of the Sheraton chain.
MONDAY 28TH SEPTEMBER 2015
I looked up 'Tallahassee' as it is such an unusual word. It is a Muskogean Indian word often translated as "old fields" or "old town", and it likely stems from the Creek (later called Seminole) Indians who migrated from Georgia and Alabama to this region in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
I would like to look around the Capitol Building and the hotel receptionist gives us directions. It isn't far. We find it okay but it proves impossible to park and after driving around for ten minutes or so give up on the idea.
Tallahassee seems to be a pleasant city. It is not too crowded (except the car parks near to the Capitol Building) and we passed a couple of parks, very green, lots of trees and I found it quiet and rather attractive.
Back on Interstate 10 we drive east until we reach the junction with Interstate 75 and turning on to it we are now travelling south.
I'm returning to childhood, I think, because I fall asleep again. When I was three - nearly four - and I do remember that far back - I went to a little nursery school near to where we lived at that time, close to Blaise Castle, just outside Bristol. In the afternoons the teacher would place out small camp beds and in the afternoon we would lie down on them while we were read stories. Of course, we would fall asleep, like small children do. Now I'm doing it again - falling asleep in the afternoons. I don't really understand why this should be. I don't use nearly as much energy as I did, say, ten years ago, when I wouldn't think of going to bed before eleven or twelve o'clock at night. Now I'm ready for bed by ten o'clock and I'm falling asleep at two in the afternoon. It's all part of the ageing process, I suppose.
I don't like it.
When I awake we have passed Gainsville and have turned east again at Ocala and are on US 40. I offer to drive but C shakes his head, he much prefers to do the driving. We cross a bridge which takes us over the Inter-coastal Waterway and then turn right, the Atlantic on our left. We have now driven from coast to coast.
Driving through Daytona Beach we look for a motel to stay. There are half a dozen or more, and it is still out of season so prices should be reasonable. The winter season in Florida doesn't really get going until November. Booking in at a Best Western the receptionist offers us a room with sea views, a 'free' breakfast and an invitation to the 'Manager's Party' which includes snacks and a free bar between six and seven o'clock. I look at my watch, it is twenty to six.
The receptionist smiles and says, "You couldn't have timed it better!"
Most of the guests at the 'party' are getting on a bit, as they say. A Canadian lady, sitting at the bar, tells us: "We come here every year." She points to a table where several sixty and seventy year old men sit drinking and talking. "They are in a fishing club, they love coming here."
We talk about the Canadian health service, much like the NHS by the sound of it. We compare it with the U.S. system, which seems to awfully complicated to me but amounts to the fact that if you haven't got personal insurance, or work for a company that provides it and you become ill - well, you are on your own, mate. If you are over 55 (as I understand it) you do get free health care - except you don't, because you still have to pay for a proportion of the cost for which insurance has to be taken out, so it isn't really 'free.'
TUESDAY 29TH SEPTEMBER 2015
We have breakfast, load the car and get on our way, the last lap of our "tour' of the United States. We seem to have left the rain behind as above us are broken clouds, patches of blue and it is very warm again. We drive south, cross the Inter-coastal Waterway again and take Interstate 95. By one o'clock we are picking up bread, milk, and other groceries from Publix in Palm City and by one-thirty we are in Stuart unloading the car and opening up the flat at Circle Bay.
C opens up the storm shutters, switches the water and electricity on. I switch the fans on and open the louvered screen and pull the sliding doors back. The view across the St Lucie River is as pleasing as it was that first day we saw it. A million Pounds worth of boat sails past as I watch. The sun is out, a few scattered cotton wool clouds above. We have covered over 6000 miles criss crossing the United States. It's been terrific. Wonderful - good word to use, it really has been full of wonder.
We are here until the 16th November, so more parties to go to, more people to meet, friends and neighbours to say "hello" to. When we do get home we are going to need slow down and have a rest.
Maybe I should take a vacation.
Oh heck, I'm beginning to sound like a Yank...
