In the car, the radio has been left on Magic FM, despite it playing non-stop Christmas music. Our biggest complaint is that they only seem to have a playlist of about eight different tracks. We quite like the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, but have no idea why ‘My Favourite Things’ from The Sound of Music is deemed to be a Christmas tune and, quite frankly, we are now fed up with hearing it.
‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ is another one and includes the word ‘yore’ (an old word for year), which is not one that I think I have ever used outside of the song. The songwriters must have really thought about that lyric!
As mentioned before, I type this at speed (for me) and then let spell and grammar checkers sort out my words of wisdom. I sometimes think that my fingers are dyslexic, though, forgetting some basic rules of English. Although I have read recently that some of the English rules that were drummed into me at school are just rubbish – like ‘I before E except after C’. Apparently, there are whole sentences or phrases where each word disproves this, such as ‘Weird foreign neighbours seize eight beige sleighs’.
After that total distraction from today’s record of events, we had yet another morning of planned idleness, chilling by the pool and enjoying the fine weather. This was welcome, as the forecast is for a slight cooling over the next couple of days and, by the time we leave, for temperatures to be in the almost freezing low 20s. We are certainly not looking forward to the almost freezing weather back home.
We took our turns at gator watch of the lake behind the villa, but we haven’t seen one yet, nor any bobcats so far this year.
I boiled up some eggs for an early lunch for everyone and we were ready to leave for the afternoon at 1pm.
It took us less than 10 minutes to get to Bonanza Golf, which was just off the 192. I had purchased some more Groupon vouchers for less than a fiver each to play another mini-golf course. We had decided not to pay the extra for the all-you-can-eat CiCi’s pizza, which was an optional extra.
We were surprised by the size of the course and some of the holes, which were quite long and large. It was again well designed, with some tricky hazards and features. It also included lots and lots of steps up and down to complete the course which Karen never mentioned at all.
As usual, Karen, who was trailing after the first hole, decided it was all down to more luck than judgement. We agreed with that comment when, after nine holes, she was actually leading! By the end, though, normality resumed and order was restored when Neil and I finished up tied, even if I did try to ramp up the pressure on him to miss his last putt and let me win!
The course seemed to be family-owned and was well maintained. We would play it again, especially as it had another course to try as well.
From here, we drove to Celebration, where I grabbed a table by the lake whilst Karen and Neil fetched drinks from Starbucks. We sat there enjoying the weather, ambience and people-watching for probably longer than we should have. Again, we took our turn at gator watching, but nothing to report.
A quick whizz around Publix followed to get more fruit and milk before we had an hour back at the villa, where I read a couple of magazines I had forgotten I had brought from home.
At 5.30pm, we headed out again, this time up to CityWalk. I opted to take the much longer route up the 429 to avoid the tailbacks on the I-4, as it would be an easier, less frustrating drive. The aim was to arrive just after 6pm, at which time the parking became free.
We parked on level Spider-Man 456 and ambled along the long walk into CityWalk, which was busy with people all coming in the opposite direction from the parks, which were emptying as they approached closing time.
There was a lingering walk through the now enormous Universal shop. Many of the items on sale baffled Karen and me, as we were not au fait with many of the films or characters.
I had made a reservation in advance for dinner at the NBC Sports Grill & Brew, as in the past there had been long waits for tables at all the restaurants here. Tonight, they weren’t exactly overflowing and we could have walked into any of them, but we stuck with the original plan.
I ordered Buffalo Chicken Mac and Blue Cheese. Boy, was the chicken hot! In the end, Neil had to help me out with the chicken as, like a cartoon character, I would have had steam coming out of my ears and, if I had had hair, it would have been standing on end!
After this, we had a slow walk around the rest of CityWalk, stopping to look at the new Fast and Furious rollercoaster being built in Universal Studios.
A stop was made at Voodoo Doughnut for Karen and Neil to make a purchase. Previously, Neil has had to queue just to get in the door, but today the crowd levels meant they could simply walk straight in.
Carefully carrying the enormous pink box like a prize trophy, we started the walk back to the car and then drove back to the villa. Karen and Neil devoured the doughnuts with a beer, whilst I sipped the final bottle of wine we had in the fridge.
Karen watched the BBC 10pm news, despite the ribbing from Neil and me that the stories were already five hours out of date.
And with that, another quiet day in Florida was complete. It was meant to be a relaxing day after the late night before, and so it had turned out.
