Another week closer to Christmas!

1:00pm Sunday 16th December 2007

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Not far from Christmas now and the unseasonably warm weather continues here in Florida. Good for tourism that’s for sure. . .all those folks that thought they’d spend Christmas at the theme parks in Orlando must be cheering their socks off.

We are in the middle of a drought. There is a canal behind our house that links with the sea but you can’t get out to the sea as there are weirs in the way and I’ve never seen it with less water in it. Not helped by the fact that every house that backs up to the canal gets their irrigation out of the canal. While the Northern part of the country is experiencing really bad winter storms with ice and loads of snow, we had our first rain yesterday that we’ve had in more than a month. It wasn’t too significant but we are hoping with the cold front that’s predicted to arrive tomorrow we might get some additional rainfall. Even then, I don’t think watering restrictions will be lifted. The biggest fear is that we will experience what Southern California had this summer – brush fires. Florida winters tend to be dry anyway and so Spring could certainly be exceptionally dry. We are in an area with a lot of undeveloped, over grown property. Fingers crossed the rains come.

Hubby passed his driving test – he described the test as farcical. A junior clerk who processes tax disks all day gave him the test; he was done in 10 minutes time. I am convinced that because he’s been driving for 40 years they considered him experienced and just took him out for a test to say he’d been. Anyway, that’s a relief for him to have that over with. Though I am still smarting that it took me 4 attempts to get my license in the UK. Just doesn’t seem very fair!

We are getting involved in some activities here in our community. There is a British American club that meets for darts three times a month and a regular meeting once a month. It’s strictly social. We are going to their Christmas dinner dance next week. As it happens they were electing new officers when we went to the first meeting and they didn’t have anyone volunteer for the position of treasurer. . .so. . .hubby is a chartered accountant and was pleased to accept the position for 2008. They are a very friendly bunch and I look forward to some fun activities with them.

It’s getting to the time of year when the snowbirds (as we call them) are arriving in droves from the North. These are the people that are fortunate enough to own two homes or a home and a caravan and they escape the worst of the winter weather in their home towns by moving South each year. The roads are busier, the queues at the grocery stores are longer and getting a seat in a restaurant at dinner time is nearly impossible.

I fear hubby is a bit homesick at the moment though he says he isn’t. But I can see that he’s a bit low, no doubt missing his kids. I experienced it for five years, mostly around the holidays and mostly when the kids were busy with their own lives and didn’t have time to write. It’s a vague feeling of just feeling sad or low, you can’t quite put your finger on just what’s wrong. . .it passes if you keep busy. . .better find something we can do to help him feel a bit more cheerful.

Until next time. . .