Another day in paradise should have been how we all felt as we woke this morning.
Except it wasn’t.
Instead, we were woken by the sound of torrential rain hammering onto the roof – a feature of being in an American villa. And the forecast was for it to continue for the next 12 hours.
Neil was so grumpy about it all. Nothing we could say could lighten his mood or outlook. He said he felt like flying home already. We understood that he had been looking forward to the trip for a long time and it is disappointing when you get a wet weather front, but there was nothing to be done about it other than try to make the best of it.
Florida is known as the Sunshine State, yet it is also very green and the greenery needs water. That’s just how nature works. We were here at the start of the ‘dry’ season.
After exploring our options, we settled upon going up to the other ‘outlets’ and getting that out of the way whilst it was wet.
Whilst getting ready, I also finally discovered the amount of my lottery win, as they had paid it directly into my bank account. Sadly, it meant I had to cancel my plans for a private jet home, as it only amounted to £5. It did mean that I no longer felt guilty about mentioning that I would be asking Kylie to join me, as I had been having second thoughts as to whether it should have been Nigella instead, as she would be able to rustle up some snacks on the flight home.
Around 10.30am we drove up to the outlets, which were understandably busy as everyone had the same idea of what to do in the rain. By the time we parked, the rain had eased considerably as we wandered around.
After the torrential downpour we had been caught in at Disney Springs, Karen was eager to find a more waterproof jacket, as her ‘cagoule’ had proved not to be up to the task. She tried a few on before settling upon one in the Columbia shop, which is exactly where I had suggested we should start looking. At least that’s her Christmas present out of the way.
Karen and I waited for Neil outside the Starbucks shop, having a drink in the now dry weather at one of the still damp tables. And waited. And waited. After being there for an hour, Neil returned and was even more grumpy than when he started, as despite apparently going into every shop, he couldn’t find exactly what he was looking for.
We were all now hungry for lunch and the vote was to head back via Target to get some items for lunch and the milk that was needed.
I dropped Karen and Neil at the door to Target whilst I drove to the next block to pop into ‘Five Below’, as I needed a new wire for the dashcam in the car. There was a loose connection in the one we were using. I was soon back in Target, walking up aisle after aisle for ages trying to find what I wanted, which took a silly amount of time.
Back at the villa, we had our lunch, which included the saved remaining portion of Gideon’s cookies.
We all chilled for a while before preparing ourselves to go out to the basketball up in Downtown Orlando at the Kia Arena.
For dinner en route, we had gone with Neil’s suggestion of trying Culver’s, which turned out to be a family-owned, McDonald’s-type franchise from Wisconsin. It was alright. We all had a burger, although I had mine with Wisconsin cheese curds rather than fries, and they were rather good. None of us had room for any of their frozen custard, but all agreed to come back another day to try it. Karen was also a fan of the restrooms, saying they were the cleanest she had been in at a takeaway-type restaurant.
It was then time to drive up to Orlando, a journey I was not looking forward to in the traffic. However, Google Maps this time took us around all the hold-ups and we suddenly found ourselves in Downtown Orlando, going into the pre-booked car park. It was all rather easy.
We followed the crowd, walking the five minutes to the Arena and, with less queuing than we suffer at Carrow Road these days, were soon inside and going up the enormous escalators that sadly Carrow Road lacks.
Our seats, although in the upper echelons, were on the front row and offered a great vantage point. It was Military Day and we had the usual tributes paid.
Basketball is still a bit of an enigma to me. It always seems to be played in third gear until the final quarter. There are far too many time-outs, and they last far too long. I assume that is to accommodate the TV adverts.
The lead in the game changed 11 times until the Washington Wizards started to pull away. They seemed to have a team of players who could all score points, whilst Orlando Magic seemed reliant upon just two. The Wizards ran out easy winners in the end.
Karen’s highlight was the half-time game of Simon Says, played at high speed between two teams of military personnel. The compere was very good at getting them to do the wrong things.
It was an enjoyable and experience to have had.
We made a swift getaway when the match ended and, despite my fears, it took only a few minutes to get out of the car park. Using the I-4 Expressway, we were home in 31 minutes, which was impressive.
Karen and I had a cuppa whilst watching the BBC 10pm news and then took the short walk to Bedfordshire.
