Month: October 2022

Sunday, 27th March, 2022

UK is back to 5 hours ahead. This Blog is being written at 3.00 pm (FT)/8.00 pm (GMT). We have completed over 3 hrs of exercise – gym/walk/swim – had a lunch of salad and salmon dip and are now resting before Dinner out. I apologise but I was so tired last night that I couldn’t manage any more. 

In the early evening, we drove to Sarasota Opera House for a Gala performance to celebrate the 40 year career of their Director, Victor DeRenzi. Champagne, wine and canapés to start.

The Opera House itself is quite delightful and relaxed although plenty of patrons dressed up in evening suits and bow ties for the event. We were smart-casual and comfortable with that.

Kevin had sent me a clip of an Elton John impersonator from a pub in Spain. I was hoping to reciprocate. Only after I had taken this photo did I see the instruction above the stage to turn our phones off.

The highlight for me was an audience performance of Verdi’s Va Pensiero to finish guided by the Italian libretti on a scrolling screen above the stage. I can’t help singing, thinking of sad experiences and crying at this point. I warned the man next to me who said he was the same which made me feel liberated. I sang my heart out and wept.

The Opera House looked lovely as we left to go to the restaurant M had booked. It was a Spanish restaurant called Columbia in Armands Circle by the beach. It had a fantastic menu which majored on fish.

I had the Pompano en Papillot which was delicious and we shared a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. Back home, I won Wordle getting EPOXY in 3 goes.

So we weren’t in bed until 1.00 am (FT)/6.00am (GMT) and were up at 6.00 am (FT)/11.00am (GMT) for the gym again. After coffee we go on an extended walk around the neighbourhood. In this delightful weather, the expensively built gated properties look delightful and exotic under blue sky and strong sunshine. We leave on Wednesday evening and land in Gatwick early on Thursday morning. It has been a good trip packed with worthwhile experiences. M&K have been very generous and made it really enjoyable.

Monday, 28th March, 2022

Happy 68th Birthday to Jane. Not sure whether she’s in London or Yorkshire but I send her best wishes from sunny Florida where thoughts of packing have started. We fly on Wednesday evening and land on Thursday morning.

I will turn the heating on to air the house before we get on the plane and the hot water on as soon as we reach the airport. We ‘walked round’ the outside of the house last night through the magic of CCTV (I’m so glad I thought of installing that.) across the internet.

Everything looks good. I even looked into the conservatory-kitchen by turning the lights on and off with my smartphone. I love it. Just as it is great to be able to put a letter together for Jane, turn it into an illustrated pdf and email it from my smartphone across the globe. No red phone boxes on the corner and pressing Button B now!

Kevin contacted me this morning as we walked to the post office. He had dropped his phone in the bath and was testing it out. He wants to know the funniest thing we did together at College. I am struggling to remember. Any ideas?

I have an old friend called Caroline who lives in Grotton, Oldham. She has no digital skills. Like so many of the wrinkly generation, she is rather scared of computers. She and I have exchanged postcards from all round the world for the past 35 years. I had a card but no stamp or postbox. We walked for 30mins to a post office and back in the sunshine. It was absolutely delightful.

When we got back onto the IMG campus, a worker had a baby racoon cornered outside the club house. He was trying to catch it in his cap and he asked for my help. The little, baby racoon was very frightened and was hissing at us and trying to fight back. I just had time to take a photo.

Tuesday, 29th March, 2022

Our penultimate day in Florida on this trip and it is turning into a scorcher. Alarm went off at 6.00 am and I was still tired from the night before. We went out to a waterside fish restaurant for Dinner. We ate outside. For the first time in a month, I got a mosquito bite. The sunset was beautiful across the ocean.

We had already done a supermarket shop at Publix supermarket to replace things we had consumed. I found the perfect box of chocolates for our hosts although the raw salt on the outside was a bit strong.

Kevin sent me this this morning and suggested I would ‘smash it’ in the gym. I’ve invited Julie – in the absence of other offers – to join me in the challenge.

Whatever she's on, keep it the hell away from me! 😱 pic.twitter.com/k254dNjj9m

— PilgrimChris (@PilgrimChris) March 28, 2022

I suspect that, at the age of 71 (almost) and with a hernia repair in the offing, Boogie Bounce would be a bit of a stretch but I’m willing to give it a go!

It is 29C/85F at 4.00pm (FT)/4.00pm (GMT). We are going out to eat AGAIN this evening. Nice as it is, I will be glad to eat a home-cooked meal that is ingredient and calorie controlled in the next few days. Glad to get back under control without temptations.

Wednesday, 30th March, 2022

Glorious morning for our last one in Florida this trip. I’ve done 2 hrs in the gym and it is now 9.00 am (FT)/2.00 pm (GMT). Our flight this afternoon has been altered slightly and we now fly from Tampa Airport at 18.50 (FT) arriving at London Gatwick on Thursday at 8.00 am (GMT). When we land, we will try to carry on as if it is a normal day, following UK times.

M&K have been incredibly generous and they saved the best until last yesterday. We ate out at the delightful Shore Restaurant at a table with a real view.

We will have a walk in the glorious sunshine for about an hour, return to shower, change and complete the packing before M&K drive us to Tampa Airport for our flight. See you on the other side.

Actually, a lovely little friend popped up on the path by my foot to say goodbye. It would have been rude not to have taken her picture.

Thursday, 31st March, 2022

Wednesday evening in Tampa and Thursday morning in Gatwick. Tampa Airport is quite basic and parochial. We dropped our bags and went through security quickly. Few people and well organised. We went to the one Business Lounge – The Admiral Club – but it isn’t up to much. We certainly wouldn’t have paid the fees people pay if they use it privately.

The British Airways terminal is plastic and brash and very limited in its facilities. It wasn’t very comfortable.

The newspaper headlines generated by the government were all about masks being dropped on flights but BA made it clear they would remain compulsory in the airport and on the plane. Very easy flight. Business Class makes it very comfortable. The ability to sleep on a bed really makes the difference. The biggest problem is constant eating and drinking with no exercise.

Within 5 minutes of landing and as I stood around the Baggage Reclaim area, a Whatsapp message came in on my phone from Kevin wanting to know how I was. I appreciate that. Soon after that, Dr John Ridley texted to welcome me home and give me a link to a university talk he was giving which, he says, includes a reference to me. It will have to wait until tomorrow.

Back in the UK by 9.00 am (GMT)/4.00 am (FT), our taxi was waiting for us and we were home for 10.00 am. The car had been stationary for a month but started immediately and the brakes hadn’t seized as we drove off to Sainsburys where we were absolutely shocked by the empty shelves. After the abundance of America, our supermarket looked positively 3rd world. Very few fresh vegetables and very light on milk.

Back home, tiredness was beginning to set in but I tricked my wife into accompanying me on a 10 mile walk out in the sunshine. It is now 7.00 pm (GMT) / 2.00 pm (FT) and I am really tired but I am determined to make this a normal, UK-time day just as I was determined to complete my fitness target. It is mind over matter in the end. My mind is strong even if my body is failing.

Friday, 1st April, 2022

Happy new month. Up late this morning. By 8.30 am, the day was absolutely gorgeous with blue sky and strong sunshine. Still feeling quite tired. Having my hair cut and doing my exercise will probably be the sum of my activities today.

Been absolutely lovely to hear from so many friends acknowledging our return to UK. Kevin sent me a cartoon this morning. For many years I used P&O ferries from Hull – Zeebrugge en route to Greece. Kevin told me it was snowing in North Yorkshire yesterday and is freezing there this morning. It may be beautiful down here but still relatively cold. I was delighted to check my fig trees this morning and they are leafing up well.

I received ‘welcome home’ greetings from Julie and an introduction to an 18 certificate publication that she seems enamoured with at the moment. Freezing in Bridlington this morning apparently – a beautiful coastline but so often too cold for me. I definitely feel more suited to Florida sunshine and warmth.

John Ridley really took prize billing last night when he sent me a link to his talk which he performs all round the country on a regular basis. I’d known about this for quite some time but he chose last night to let me know that I was featured in it including a bonkers college photo. He sent me the link by text and I’ve added it to the graphic which advertises his talk. If you click the photo with sound on, you will be able to open the talk. Don’t get too excited, it is just a gentle homily of everyday folk but it would mean something to a Riponite.

The link is also here but it is a bit ‘clunky’ so you need to give it a bit of time to load. I’m sure John would be pleased if you did. I did cringe a bit when I listened to a talk that included my 1971 hairstyle and the story of a wig but I am not really too embarrassed. 

The one thing out of the mountain of mail that was waiting on our doormat when we got home and which gave me some concern was this.

I have no idea what any of it means or how serious it is but it sounds imminently life threatening. I am going to seek a meeting with my GP to discuss it. She will spell it out in words of one syllable to a biologically illiterate idiot like me.

Saturday, 2nd April, 2022

Beautiful morning bright, sunny but cold. No real frost which had been forecast. My exercise routine is being hampered by a problem with my treadmill. There was a power-cut while we were away and it looks as if a surge afterwards may have damaged the computer board inside it. The electrics are dead completely. Looks like I’m going to be pounding the pavements for a few days until I can get it fixed.

And that’s what I’ve been doing this morning. It’s pleasant but cold. I am still struggling with the tiredness of travel and the adjustment of time. Forced myself to stick to normal routines and local timings but feel vaguely zombie-like under the surface. Can’t help comparing UK with America and feeling we are so far behind the times of development and luxury, of technology and choice, of general wealth and life chances. It was quite a revelation.

Back in UK scenery, there is a lot to enjoy when it warms up. Trees are starting to open. The grass is growing wildly. Photinia hedges are popular down here and grow really well. Along our walk they are everywhere. Still, I can’t stop thinking about the next escape – France or Greece. I feel there is little to keep me here.

Having a pre-op assessment on Monday and looking at booking flights/hotel to Athens in June with, maybe, France in April/May. Strange feeling not being wanted / not belonging. All will depend on the operation dates.

Addendum: While media warn people of steeply rising power prices, British Gas quietly returned to our Bank Account £150.00 which we had in credit with them. It is really helpful to travel and to manage our heating, hot water and lighting remotely.

Sunday, 20th March, 2022

Up at 6.00 am and out at the gym by 7.00 am. We are going to have a quiet, ‘home’ day so I needed to put in 3hrs work. By 10.00am, I was given freshly squeezed orange juice and yoghurt with a banana for my breakfast. Shower and Blogging. At 12.3opm (FT)/4.30pm (GMT), I’m going to watch Tottenham v West Ham on Sky Sports on my laptop. Apparently, M is cooking chicken for Dinner tonight. It will be nice to eat at home rather than a restaurant for a change.

At the risk of boring you, I thought I’d put on a couple of photos from yesterday. Firstly, M&K’s Winter Home or as we are now calling it, J&P’s Summer Home. It has 3 kitchens for goodness sake and a cinema room to die for. They are having a pool and jacuzzi put in and there are acres of beautiful countryside to walk in.

America could never get the idea of Brexit. The entire country is made up of generations of immigrants. The Irish are so populous and so celebrated because they were central and instrumental in building industrialised USA but there is an area called Venice, LA and another called Naples, L because the architects had spent early stages of their lives in those places. There are lots of Poles and Russians here who will remember St. Petersburgh, Russia as Leningrad but nobody seems to hold that against them. They are assimilated US citizens.

Thought I’d share with you a joke that is swirling round social media. Even in the USA, where petrol is half the price of UK, there is indignation at the rising cost of filling a car.

In the UK, there is genuine pain for some people managing their daily commute, driving to their holiday home or whatever.

Monday, 21st March, 2022

Another lovely morning begins at 6.00 am (FT) and, in time for a 7.00 am start, we are walking a couple of hundred metres to the gym through immaculately maintained fern and palm fringed gardens. As we walk, four, huge eyes stare at us from a tree, They belong to two, baby racoons about 5ft up in the crook of a tree and they spot us walking and try to reach out, to make a connection. It is incredibly touching. I am so wrapped up in the moment that I forget to get my camera ready to record it.

Warm at 7.00 am (FT) – 22C/70F, it gets really warm as the sun comes up. We did just an hour in the gym this morning and then another hour walking in the area.

It is just before 6.00 pm now and the temperature is still 30C/86F. This is the sort of climate I absolutely love. We’ve been up for 12 hrs, done 11 miles walking and are going out to eat at a restaurant on the quayside.

Dave Weatherly, an old College friend, sent an early morning photo of his walk around the nature reserve in Bolton. Heavy frost comes as quite a shock from this distance.

Even more of a shock is news from Athens. In earlier years, we might well have been driving through the Patras – Athens – Piraeus area this time in March as we arrived at our house in time for Greek Easter.

Certainly wouldn’t have been pleased to see this. In fact, in all those years travelling there, we have never seen it at this time of year. I suspect that Florida has never seen a frost never mind snow!

Tuesday, 22nd March, 2022

This is how a wonderful day starts. We are forecast to reach 30C/86F today but outside the gym at 7.00 am the temperature was already 22C/70F and humid.

After 2hrs work the walk back revealed this little chap. He was going the wrong way and we reset his journey towards the water. By the time we returned to check, baby turtle had disappeared. Love babies. Always been denied them. Is it an old man thing? Must be in my dotage!

I am cooking tonight. My signature dish – Risotto. I’m going to do at least two, maybe three: Mushroom Risotto, Broadbean Risotto, Prawn Risotto. It will be accompanied by fillets of fish – salmon, sea bass, grouper, etc. and salad. Looking forward to the challenge. Actually, prefer this to eating out. The challenge of beating the professionals is half the fun.

Out to Publix supermarket for quite a big shop of fish, wine and salads. The thing I like about this, apart from sourcing different products, is meeting people. Every counter I come to, I get chatting to people and, by the time I’ve gone, I have a large proportion of their life history. This afternoon, I met Chuck, a retired builder aged 68 who has 3 kids and is divorced. He used to live in Minnesota but retired to Florida for the climate. I met a really lovely girl called Maria at the check-out just packing bags. Aged 25, she was pretty, intelligent and interested in other people. She said this was her only job but it can’t have been enough for her.

We bought far more than we needed because everything looked so nice and interesting. This jar of minced, fresh garlic in olive oil is fantastic. I’m taking some home and I’m going to source it from UK if I can. The total bill came to $280.00/£211.00 which is quite high for the last couple of meals we will cook here. We only have 8 days left until we fly but you only live once.

Wednesday, 23rd March, 2022

The meal went well last night and we enjoyed cooking. I have been developing a head cold for a few days since returning from New York and it seems to have reached a peak today. I am a typical man – rarely ill but really ill when I am. I have still done my early start and full exercise routine completing 11.6 miles plus a swim but I will be unbearable for the rest of the day. Things are stomping all over the inside of my head and I have to wait for them to resolve themselves. I am going to stay at home and Blog and write to people.

It is Pauline’s sister and her husband’s 65th Wedding Anniversary. Can you imagine that? Of course, they are both very, very old and wrinkly but still breathing. I had to make a card for them last night.

Apparently, 65 years of marriage should be celebrated with blue sapphires. We are working on the principle that they are so gaga that they won’t know that.

Dan’s current girlfriend is a trainee lawyer from Boston. They are flying up there for the weekend – as students do! My boyhood friend, Jonathan, has lived in Boston for 40 years. Last night Pauline phoned her relative, Andrew, who is a chemical engineer with a doctorate and who I last saw in my classroom in the early 1970s. He has lived in Boston for 30 years. Next trip will have to include a flight to Boston to meet up with these people.

Little Andrew Jones was a shy, polite and delightful little lad to teach. His parents have lived in Littlemore, Oldham for more than 60 years. Andrew now looks exactly like his dad. Really scary how that happens. Still, it will be good to meet up with more people from my past.

Thursday, 24th March, 2022

Heavy rain over night. Out at 7.00 am on a very humid and steamy morning. After 90 ins in the gym, an hour out walking and 30 mins in the pool and I feel I have done my commitment for the day. Out on the walk, there was a dead and mangled armadillo which had obviously been caught crossing the road. I’ve still never seen a live one.

This afternoon we did my least favourite activity – shopping. We went to a huge outlet shopping ‘mall’. I get tired walking round one shop never mind 51! It looked a bit like a 15th century, cloistered monastery but it was encompassing so many well know outlets.

To keep me on side and interested, we visited a huge Trainer warehouse of a Skechers shop which you needed to be fit just to walk around.

I bought a new pair of trainers for $100.00 which works out slightly cheaper than back home plus 6 pairs of trainer socks.

We were joined by Dan and his girlfriend. We ended the afternoon/evening by eating Dinner at a delightful Italian restaurant where I had prawns and scallops – absolutely delicious! They are flying down to Boston for the weekend and we are flying back to UK on …. Wednesday night and arrive back on Thursday morning. It will mean a whole month gone. It’s amazing how quickly it has flown by.

Good to see the Chancellor’s Economic Statement falling apart within 24 hrs and to watch Johnson an uncomfortable and isolated figure at the NATO conference. For the first time since I was student, a British Prime Minister was not needed or invited to take centre stage amongst the elite of Europe. His despicable analogy of Brexit with the invasion of Ukraine has left him isolated and humiliated. There will be more to come as the economy tanks and inflation rips the heart out of the British nation.

Friday, 25th March, 2022

Lovely morning of warmth, sun and exercise. For some strange reason, things and friends in England have been playing on my mind. Walking round my head. I have no idea why. I am just a sad individual. The children have flown to Boston for the weekend. Pauline is roasting salmon for Dinner for the adults.

We are going to Sarasota Opera House tomorrow evening for the Jubilee Concert to pay tribute to Maestro DeRenzi’s 40^th Season as Artistic Director. Tickets for the performance and the Prime table at dinner will only cost $10,000.00 but …. we decided not to purchase them. We decided to go for the more modest $50.00 tickets in front of the orchestra.

Kevin and I have been chatting today. He sent me some obscure Kevin-joke-Fact as an intro to conversation. I shouldn’t complain. He is obviously keen to rekindle and bolster an old relationship and he is trying his best.

I really want to reaffirm old relationships because I think they are important and contribute to giving our lives meaning across time. For that reason, I’ve continued to talk to Kevin, Nigel, Julie, John and Brian to share my life events with them. I have already agreed that we will meet up once more in October if not before.

Before then, we fly home on Wednesday/Thursday next week after a lovely month here. M&K have gone out of their way to entertain us. We are extremely grateful to the young people. In the next few weeks, I’m hoping to have a hernia operation, make a couple of trips to France, spend a week in Athens and, maybe, even return to Florida. It is strange but I feel much more comfortable in these ventures when I have a secure base of friends back home.

For a traveller, my sense of place and geography is terrible. If you open this map, the blue spot marks Tampa area where we are set in the Gulf of Mexico and so close to Cuba and the Bahamas. It really is idyllic.

Saturday, 26th March, 2022

Lovely warm and sunny morning. Just got back from a long walk. I am a naturally friendly person. I can’t control my inclination to communicate. Some people shun me but most welcome the contact. I speak to people in shops, in the street, even service people I speak to on the phone. I am interested in them and their lives. My wife says I can find out more about a total stranger’s life in a few minutes than most people divulge about themselves over decades. It’s all about showing an interest.

This morning, a man with a walking stick passed us going the opposite way. Eventually, we turned round from our walk and headed back and we passed the man and walking stick returning from his walk. His style was a little laboured and his stick was used for support. As we recrossed, I said with throwaway cheeriness, “Glad to see you made it to your turn round point.” That was all the invitation he needed to talk for the next 20 mins. He was 85 years old and said we were ‘just kids’. His origins were in Northern Ireland. He taught Biology for 40 years and was married to an Italian nurse.

We will almost certainly never meet that man again but the time we talked was enjoyable and instructive. These moments of human interaction are what illuminate a life.