Hello, Hello, Hello From Sunny Florida!! (From Hereford Times)

Hello, Hello, Hello From Sunny Florida!!

2:25pm Wednesday 10th October 2007

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So, here we are at long last in our home in Florida. When I last wrote we were just about to move from Belmont to complete hubby’s emigration to the states. It feels like an eternity when in reality it’s only been about 6 weeks.

The move, which happened in three parts went fairly smooth though at our age at the end of it we were exhausted. Our first stop towards leaving the country was Warrington, near Manchester to stay with hubby’s daughter and her new husband for a week. That first night in they had gone away for the weekend and it was probably a good thing in that we were so exhausted we couldn’t have carried on a coherent conversation if we tried.

Hubby doesn’t like to see jobs undone. . .so with his daughter and her husband working full time there were lots of things for him to keep himself busy. Also we were house sitting while the double glazing folks got their new windows installed. We had a couple of trips out, one to Blackpool just so I could say I’d seen it. Gosh it was bitterly cold and grey that day, the pictures I took look very wintery. That said, I don’t think I am too keen on Blackpool anyway.

At the end of the week we went on to Reading to meet my stepson and his girlfriend. We took the train up to London and went to see “Stomp” – very entertaining and a memorable last trip to the city. We also went the next day to meet the girlfriends parents, wouldn’t be surprised if there were wedding bells too far down the road.

Finally we were on our way to Florida on the 4th of September. Poor doggie got shoved in a crate built just for him (not that this fact made him any happier about being in a crate). Our plane was about an hour late leaving so when all was said and done he spent about 17 hours closed in. Some silly rule at the other end that prevented customs officials from letting him out of the crate to have a wee. Needless to say he was one happy dog when we rescued him. Getting hubby through immigration was fairly easy – easier then we expected.

We rented a house not to far from our own home. Ours was let out to holiday makers until the 29th of September. The house we rented was dreadful – I couldn’t bring myself to walk across the absolutely filthy carpeting in my bare feet! The refrigerator had been wiped out but barely and I could go on and on. Never with good conscience could I let out a house in this condition! Not one glass matched the other and it was the same with the dishes and flatware. . .honestly it looked like someone went to a car boot sale and bought the mugs for tea one at a time. At the end of the day it made our own house look like a palace so when we finally escaped it was with a sigh of relief.

Despite encountering cling on weed seeds that seem to stick like glue to the dogs coat and discovering sand spurs that are actually WORSE than the cling ons because you hurt yourself removing them, dog seems to have settled in. He gets a bit stressed still when he need to go out, probably afraid that with all this moving we might forget to come back to him but hopefully he will soon know that he is a Florida dog.

I didn’t expect to miss England and have come to the conclusion that I would very much like to combine the best of England with the best of Florida so I could have it all. Selfish cow that I am!!

U.S. post offices can’t hold a candle to the Royal Mail (at least when they aren't on strike). You can put a letter out to mail on Monday and it might show up where it was addressed to on Thursday or Friday. I miss the lovely prepared meals I could buy in Tesco. There are that many around here in the states and those that are have very high price tags and aren’t all that nice. I miss our neighbours. . .no one knows us here so if we encounter anyone they say hello but you can’t have a good moan about the weather or talk about the new pavers next door but one is putting down. Yes, I know, it’s early yet. . .I guess I just wish I could have taken everyone to Florida with us.

So while we wait for our ship to come in. . .literally as we are waiting on delivery of our personal effects which were coming by sea (ETA possibly mid November), know that while we are missing the onset of autumn with cooler, wetter weather, we do miss Hereford and it’s people. Should anyone want to get in touch with us our new email is read27@comcast.net. Bye for now!

P.S. I suppose it would be hateful to say I wrote this sitting on the lanai in my bathing costume trying to keep cool. . .THAT my friends is WHY we moved to Florida. That and $2.00 to the sterling pound.