Random thoughts from my holiday!

Latin people are courteous and nice (when in family groups).

Coloured people are courteous and nice, and so damn funny!

White people and not exclusively rednecks are not nice people!

Females of all ages and ethnicity will wear their Mickey Mouse ears 24/7!

Asian people (of all ages) will wear the full Harry Potter costumes and get into the story!

I am officially old and my knees are shot!

Universal Studios staff are miles better than Disney staff, and Disney staff are bloody good!

American women have dodgy tattoos, with no theme just random crap!

American food is good but I like Denny’s the best!

Americans may have large families, however they all act respectfully and have good manners!

I bought more T shirt’s than Imelda Marcos bought shoes!

My favourite T-shirt is my Frankenstein one!

My wife’s best T-shirt is “you say pyscho like it’s a bad thing”

Americans are not big on eye contact, unless being provoked, then its all about the eye contact!

Large groups of Argentinians cannot win an argument with one ex squaddie!

My wife knows how to piss me off over the fact that it appears that I cannot sleep for more than five hours a night, no shit Sherlock!  GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

This Flight Tonight – Another cunning plan.

 

This Flight Tonight – Another cunning plan.

 

12^th/13^th September.

And so, the final day begins, did I get a lie in? don’t be daft I was awake at 03.40, only a couple of hours in the dark before I could safely turn a light on without affecting the wife’s sleep, me jealous hell yeah, I am I wish I could sleep for more than 4 / 5 hours sleep a night, or even just the chance to be able to turn over and go back to sleep, ah well at least there’s snackettes! Finally, my Queen rises from her crypt and we start making the final moves, but first there is the need for one final breakfast, we both order the same as always and although not the best it also wasn’t the worst, I would give mine a consistent 8/10 over the ten days, well I liked it!

Back to the room, bags finally packed to our satisfaction, hang on where are the bloody locks for the bags, a mad scramble but they are safe and sound, bags packed, locked and straps on for identification, we just need to put them in the car, we each do a final sweep of the rooms, nothing left but to load the car, my hand luggage is going to be over as I have decided to put my books in my hand luggage, the two books weigh 6.5 kilo’s on their own, nothing we can do about it, it’s done now, room locked and then the car ride to the airport.

The route to the airport was not as direct as when we arrived, we had plenty of time on our hands, but we enjoyed it, silly chit chat, songs, singing spotting houses up for sale (a silly thing me and the wife do, please don’t ask) some more snackettes, travelling through the swamp land that is mainly Florida and then back into the land of the living, all the while trying to find a petrol station, the car needs to be returned full, we pass the airport make one final (in total panic) sweep of the area and find a petrol station, another $30 dollars fills the tank and we return it to the car rental, we chat with the guys taking the car back and head into the airport building itself, its relatively empty as we are there 4 hours before we need to be, check our bags in and yes they were well over weight and yes we paid an extravagant amount of money to get them on the plane (please don’t ask I felt violated handing my credit card over, mind you it’s the only time I did in the entire holiday), however the lady was lovely and gave us a couple of tips for our next outing (fingers crossed).

It’s a small provincial airport so we decide to get a meal in the only restaurant, it was better than we thought it would be, but it helped gobbled some time up as we waited for the building to fill up! Slowly like a tide coming in, small groups started to filter their way into the seating areas, we moved across to be closer to the gate, unfortunately the place was also filling up with Bin Dippers (look it up ) and the mood was starting to sour as our plane was delayed by around 30 minutes, lots of people kept going up to the counter, asking why, why, oh why, sit down and wait like good little muppets, the plane ride is always what spoils the holiday for me, people can be strange, the longer the waiting the sooner we realise this plane should actually just fly over Liverpool so we can kick them out as we go over, saves us landing!

One particular odious person, kept hassling the counter staff, and guess what when he finally got on the plane, he did the same to the crew on the plane, unfortunately he ended up behind the wife, to say this person was an arsehole would be an understatement, arguing with my wife which stopped for a short while when I asked him what the problem was, punching the back of the wife’s seat and finally as he stood up pulling a great fist full of her hair, surprisingly the plane crew kept well out of the way, and didn’t wish to get involved at all, we couldn’t wait to escape the metal tube that brought across the Atlantic, why didn’t I kick off, well for a number of reasons which I slowly tumbled to, he was bigger than me, he was actually part of a much larger party (at least 12 adults and various kids) and why should I get banned from flying because of an obnoxious bin dipper, we escaped to the baggage claim area for them to end up behind me throwing me evil dirty looks, thankfully our bags came off quickly and we managed to withdraw from the group of arseholes with a modicum of dignity!

I wasn’t happy, and truthfully I’m still not happy now, I felt like a coward, I still feel like a coward, I’m no fighter but I wish I had smacked the big ginger bin dipper fair and square, to be truthful I know it wasn’t worth the crap, there was more of them and the road to least resistance the flight crew wouldnt have taken our side, so I will just have to fester and swallow what’s left of my pride (after the incident there’s not much I can assure you). We returned to the hotel with the same mini bus driver (he remembered us and yes, we tipped him again) claimed the car and got the hell out of dodge, with a stirring in our brains about a new cunning plan.

Traffic out of Manchester was horrific and as soon as we could we stopped for a second breakfast (burger king yum yum) the rest of the journey was uneventful, but I did fester (if I’m honest I’m still festering now) about the flight home and yes, I still feel as though I was the coward, I wasn’t and people have said I wasn’t, but it festers like Gollum festered for that one bloody ring! We got home and the wife slinked of to bed for a snooze, she certainly needed some peace and quiet, when she had recovered, we opened the bags and the house was covered in laundry, gifts and oooh look I found some snackettes!

All in all, it was a good holiday, just what the wife needed after the crap she had gone through (and is still going through) simply spoilt by that bloody bin dipper, however we were not about to let that spoil it in totality. Our first day back we collected the little dog, our youngest (who helped get the bags off up into the loft) I wandered off to the dentist ( a clean bill of health) life returns to semblance of normality, I don’t want it to, the wife has been through enough over the last couple of years, what with lock downs and all that crap, her mothers illness and subsequent passing, her ill health and mine, we have become comfortable living with ourselves, we have been out of the house once this year (to see 80’s Option a really good band) I’m trying to encourage her to go out more, even without me, she leads quite a solitary life at the moment and still massively stressed due to the ongoing legal issues that was left in her lap by the Kraken!

If you know my wife you wouldn’t recognise the person she is turning into (don’t worry she is still hangry! Have you seen who she is married to?)So the cunning plan is to our friends who know us, invite us out, invite her out, I want her to enjoy some life now that she can, even though with her current state of mind (stressed) we have decided a new cunning plan we are 60 next year so we have decided to go the whole hog and generally have a last blowout holiday (well its blown my savings completely out lol) and we have booked already to repeat the experience with a couple of upgrades, who knows when we will get the chance to do it again, but closer to home I need all of our friends (and I know some people do) to encourage the wife simply to enjoy life again I really do love her and I hate to see her stressed the way she is at times, life’s a pile of shit but we have to get on with it, so tell the world we are available for weddings, bar mitzvahs and afternoon drinkie poo’s (even though the wife doesn’t drink these days) gigs, visits to darkest North East England, I simply want my wife to get an injection of life so that she can start living again.

So that’s the holiday, written as if it was like one of my books (which I miss doing to be quite honest) cunning plans abound but, I cant get dynamite to get the wife kickstarted onwards in this thing we call life, the next couple of blogs are just about written and then I go silent through until the new year, when I have to take stock and go forward once more, with hopefully more music related blogs, reviews of gig and albums and biographies, and any other form of madness, hopefully keeping the numbers as consistent as they are now, so look to the skies for incoming, keep doing what you are all doing and spreading the disease, until the next blog…..Toodles!

Another Day in Paradise/The Final Countdown

Another Day in Paradise – Yet another cunning plan.

September 10^th.

So starts another day in paradise, well ok its Florida, a little bit of a lie in, well ok sat reading in the room, not so much of a lie as a normal person would know, another breakfast, then back in the car, for a trip back to The Florida Mall, for a couple of small presents, we haven’t completely melted the credit card yet (but we have had a damn good go) we needed a couple of small presents and the wife wanted to have a final splurge, and splurge she did!

We finally used the mall’s food court, orange chicken and noodles for both of us, it was ok, wasn’t the best but it wasn’t the worst either, not that we have had bad food anywhere, I really do like the food in America, it’s just unfortunate that it likes me as well, it’s all been canny (that slang for nice for my foreign readers). We took it nice and slow and had a few sitting breaks along the malls simply because we were both knackered.

On one of our breaks I discovered that there was a Barnes & Noble book store close (books glorious books and Vinyl as well, now that was a nice surprise) so we decided to take a detour, I was drooling over the vinyl until the wife found the music book section, I quit while I was ahead, I bought two heavy duty Queen books, I could have spent a fortune thankfully I didn’t, although I do regret not buying Queen Innuendo as a double vinyl box set, for $34 when I checked at home it was £59 that’s considerably more, ah well there’s always next time! I’m not sure how I’m going to get them home, I’m definitely going to be charged for being overweight, that’s my luggage not me!

We travelled back for a lazy evening, we only sauntered out so the wife could have some ice cream, we went back to the room and quietly started making cunning plans for next year, yes, we have cunning plans for the next year! We then set about planning our packing seeing what was going where, we both had a good day, no falling out, no little bitchy comments a leisurely day, and packing practise, it might take a couple of attempts to get this right LOL!

 

The Final Countdown – Yet another cunning plan.

September 11^th.

Well, that was a surprise yet another early start, a lovely shower to kick start the day or at least my heart, we gathered our thoughts and headed for breakfast, it was ok, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had the previous eight times, maybe at some point I should have mixed it up a little, maybe I simply had omelette lag, not sure but it was yes, just alright! A couple of small tasks then we are both going to go into full Tetris mode and try and get everything into our luggage, it’s like trying to fit a pint into a shot glass, don’t know if we can do it, but we shall give it a go or at least die trying! Off in the car on a little detour to complete our little tasks, we ended back at Denny’s I had the same it was just as nice the second time around it was a more pleasant experience as we missed the lunch rush.

As we left the car park the wife had a small relapse of her sunstroke feeling decidedly sickly, neither of us were sure if she could hold it together, thankfully as we hurtled along the highway and saw Gaylords (see previous blogs) the wife was sure she could make it, no food for the victim once we got back I simply had some snackettes (what I wasn’t leaving them behind), as we were lying in the room we were hit by the first proper down pour of the holidays, and it was a doozy the wife filmed it, it was awesome the lightening spectacular as always, I’m glad we were safe in our room, but also glad we didn’t miss the storm, I do like the rain!

We did a final sweep of the room and decided to have an early (for us) night as we were both so excited to be heading home tomorrow…………………...NOT! little did we know that the storm clouds were gathering ahead of us and that the both of us didn’t see it happening, well at least not until it was too late, buts thats the tale of tomorrow, and it is a tale!

Breakfast in America – Yet another cunning plan.

 

Breakfast in America – Yet another cunning plan.

September 9^th.

Another early rise, I’ve given up hope of having a proper lie in,  but today was intended to be a rest day, travelling yes but walking, very little allegedly, I have given up on getting a lie in, it is what it is, my sleep pattern is simply what it is back home between 4/5 hours a night, if I want any more I have to crash in a chair after tea/evening meal, But the sun is shining so it was going to be a good day (so you bloody well think so) up and out for our usual breakfast, I do like the food in America, however if I was to stay in America for more than 14 days I would be the size of the goodyear blimp (I’m a glutton what are you going to do about it).

Once we had been fed and watered, we bimbled back to the room to get sorted, a bit of spit and polish and my parting in my hair just so, we set off to join the horses on the highway, the intention was to find a couple of specific small presents for peeps, we had been looking but hadn’t been able to source them, we were going to have to trawl the gift shops that line the highways, or I should say used to, we had to go a little further than planned, we were however we were striking a blank, at one point these shops were everywhere, but about 80% of them have fallen of the face of the earth, the ones that are still there are usually pretty good, if you want some Tat, (we did).

Once we had travelled further afield then we had planned we decided to have lunch, we found a Denny’s on our travels ( I do like a Denny’s) its cheap(ish) and definitely cheerful we had a ten minute wait as we were there at the lunch time rush, we were soon seated we both decided on the Bourbon Chicken done in a skillet and it was bloody lovely, I scoffed the lot, thankfully I have a tendency not to do puddings, if I had done after my main you could have rolled me out like a barrel, so far the best meal of the holiday, we hadn’t had a bad meal but this one won hands down, as we left we noticed a thrift store across the road, should we have a look? well we might as well since we were here.

As we walked in the door there was the gift we had been searching high and low for, there was only one as well, so it was meant to be, yes we had to travel to find it but I do believe it was well worth it, and other twenty or so minutes looking at more tat than we need, we decided to fill the petrol tank as the car had to be returned with a full tank, we weren’t sure how big the tank was and we had done about 300 miles already, it came in at $30, if only it was this cheap back home, we then travelled back for some good old fashioned laziness, well actually I needed some good old fashioned painkillers, we passed Gaylords, a huge hotel out in the middle of Florida which meant that we had only about 5 minutes until we got back to the room.

However, we were soon headed down a path to our own destruction, as the wife was skirting around me (I’m not an ogre honest) about she wanted to do, it got to tea time and as I dragged us up to the food court she eventually  after nearly three hours of humming and hawing (just bloody tell me, this holiday was all about you and nothing else mattered but YOU!) we then had a heated argument over nothing, we then ended up in  the car in separate corners and we ended up once again at Disney Springs, which is huge, you can guess what state I was in by now, my knees protested with every step, we walked the full length of the bloody place it was meant to be a bloody rest day, by the time we got to the Earl of Sandwich I simply didn’t care as the pain was bleeding over the painkillers and I was in bloody agony, we decided to go in there and have a simple sandwich, which if I’m honest was bloody lovely, it romped in a close second to the Denny’s meal we had had earlier in the day, I will come back again when I’m not in as much pain and hopefully in a much better mood, to be honest I’m a bloke I have no idea what the wife thinks, she simply needs to tell me and I will follow the instructions given, tell me and its all good in the hood, don’t tell me and  this is the attitude that comes with the pain and agony that is my knees.

We both enjoyed our sandwiches, but by now I was a shell of a man and every step was like a knife in each knee cap, I was close to tears as I got back to the car, and I wasn’t sulking on the ride home I was simply in too much pain, I think the penny had dropped with the wife, as she was gentle with me for the rest of the evening, once we were back after our journey in the darkness, I took drugs and simply went to bed where I had a really strange nights sleep or that should read a sleepless night as I drifted in out of slumber, probably a combination of the drugs and the pain!

I did manage a slight lie in (which no doubt I will brag about in the next blog) I even managed to turn back over and go back to sleep until 08.30, take the fact that I never ever do that, hopefully this will better and argument free day, Ho Hum life goes on!

Bad Motor Scooter – Yet another cunning plan.

 

Bad Motor Scooter – Yet another cunning plan.

8^th September.

We awoke refreshed, well almost, I was suffering incredible pains in my knees, painkillers and the gel wasn’t working, the supports were to a degree and the walking stick (yes I know I’m a cripple) a little more, I didn’t know how I was going to manage another day in a park, maybe our strategy wasn’t as clever as we thought, but we soldiered on, back to the food court for our usual breakfast (if it’s not broke why change it) this was to be our last official day in a park, but rumbling stomachs needed to be fed!

We were back in the car for another trip (and $30 parking, the robbing…...let’s not go there) as we slowly moved through the morning traffic we both decided that the wife had had an awesome idea, not that I wanted to go along with it, to be honest my manliness was sulking all the way too Universal Studios, but we agreed to avoid any more pain, stress and arguments, that not only was the wife going to hire a motor ability scooter so was I, something I didn’t want to do for me, but my ego was defeated as was I really, I couldn’t have done another day where I did in excess of 29000 steps, I was getting slower and slower each day and it was badly impacting on the holiday.

I’m not going to lie it wasn’t cheap, but as I walked towards the hire place I knew that we had made the best decision, (although I’m not sure how I got the slow one and the wife got the Gran Prix version) I was asked if I needed a lesson, I know my way around them as I used to service them in a previous existence, as soon as we set off we knew that we had made the right decision, we covered so much ground a lot quicker, my ego was still crushed, I hate the idea that I’m getting older and I’m crippled more with each waking hour, but we covered so much more ground, I was happier in a strange kind of way, we couldn’t afford to do this every day, but as a one off for me it was acceptable (just) I still felt guilty but it meant we could do everything that we wanted with no more pain, no fighting between ourselves and if truth be told it was probably my favourite day in the parks.  

In 4 short hours we bought more T- shirts, including a lush Frankenstein one for me and a Dracula one for the wife, we had a second breakfast and afterwards I sat and watched the crowds while I was scooter watching, it was a struggle when we headed back to the hire place to give them up , but it was a wise choice getting them as it’s a long walk back to the car from Universal and we were both crippled by the time we managed to get there,  we would have never made it around the parks without them, we took refuge in a Starbucks at the halfway point (fruity things not coffee) but we were relieved when we finally managed to place our aching bones back in the car! We pulled out as the first rain of the holiday arrived; we were soon back out on the highway heading to our next port of call.

We headed back to the Disney (downtown) Springs shopping plaza but to be honest we were disappointed as we were looking for a fridge magnet that had been requested, but it was like they no longer existed. We knew that we would need to come up with a cunning plan if we were to find our prize, Disappointment pushed aside for the time being we headed to Walmart as we needed to get some more supplies, and maybes just a little more vinyl (two Metallica albums in coloured vinyl) now it may look like we were buying a lot of supplies but we weren’t we simply didn’t want to over do it, basically because I would have scoffed the lot, me with my reputation I know, little and often was the order of the day!

Tonight we intend to chill and relax, the parks are behind us now, its all abought doing sweet bugger all, I need my  knees to have some sort of semblance of resting, otherwise I might need a mobility scooter permanently, yes my ego was massively shredded, but I’m not stupid enough to ruin the holiday over my vanity, that’s why I’m being open and honest about hiring one, I don’t know how the wife copes she suffers worse than me (I mean she has to put up with me) bless her, we have some small cunning plans as to where we intend to go and what we intend to do, but lets see how it goes, I can see the end of the holiday in sight, let’s try and get there with as little drama as possible, and yes I know I have just jinxed us!                (I know how this ends)

Out of Control – Yet another cunning plan.

 

Out of Control – Yet another cunning plan.

7^th September.

A good night’s sleep for once, I was going to say I felt refreshed but I didn’t, I was in pain with my knees (they felt destroyed) I struggled up to have a shower, once cleansed I took painkillers and used painkilling gel on my knees, my supports groaned as I pulled them on for another days work, a slow hobble for a light breakfast and then off to be the first in line for the bus as we went to yet another (Disney) park and again we were going to use the bus, the wife will be getting a reputation, lol, we got there with plenty of time to spare, as we stood in the early bird queue we met a lovely family, husband, wife and three kids, one with the same issues as the grandson, we were soon ushered through the gates (we only stood for about 20 minutes, unfortunately about 19.30 minutes too long).

I felt the wife was willing me to go quicker (I couldn’t)we were still at the ride (something to do with Avatar don’t ask I don’t know simply I don’t care) at the front of the queue, I took the wife’s bag and her stick, and told her where I was going to be sat (please take note because the wife didn’t) and off she hobbled, I then sat down in the spot I said I was going to sit as the park got steadily busier and the ride now had a huge queue, me I sat and watched all the freaks (I say that in a good way) I put my sunglasses on as it got brighter and drank my water, and I continued to people watch, all the while there was a steady stream of people coming from the ride but I didn’t see the wife, then I noticed a member of the park team with someone obviously searching for somebody (you can see where this going can’t you) methodically working their way through the crowd, yes it  was the wife with the cast member, I hadn’t moved an inch, but I was happy to see that wife was distressed at not being able to see me, again I will make the statement that I hadn’t moved a muscle, once we were over the hump and the wife was calmer, we decided to sit a little longer so the wife could refresh herself, we sat and talked to a couple from Sunderland, who were really nice (who knew) we sat chatting for around about 45 minutes and slowly meandered through the park.

Again, we were going to do two parks, so we caught the bus back to our room had a small rest then headed out again, we were again hopeful of a better afternoon we didn’t really have much hope! We entered our second park of the day and we could see straight away it was going to go to rat shit, the queues were huge, this was by far the busiest park we had been into, we were soon at each other’s ankles biting as we went, I was now in full spiteful mode, my knees weren’t helping, I’m ok when I’m on the move (well kind of) but if I have to stand in one place the agony is unbelievable,  we were both crippled we were both thirsty and to be honest we both wanted to kill the whole world, some of the rides that the wife was hoping to go on had anywhere between 45 to 90 minute waiting times, even she didn’t want to do those times, finally we decided to go on the test track, I thought I could handle a simple go around a circuit, “erm that’s not what it does” “Oh Fuck” then after about a 20 minute stand I then was shoved into a car/buggy, I couldn’t find the seat belt, I knew I wasn’t going to like this, and for once I was right I absolutely hated it, as soon as it took off my ears popped and thankfully I was deaf, that didn’t stop the sensation of wanting to vomit, why the hell did I agree to this, I was way off the beam now I was glad to stumbled (I did find the seat belt just before it hurtled off into space like a bloody rocket) out of the bloody thing , it was official the afternoon was shot before this fiasco but was officially totally scuppered, I was using a stick at this point it wasn’t helping at all, we headed back to the bus to take us back to our lodgings.

I wasn’t happy that we had argued (although I’m surprised that it actually took so long) it had to happen, we both said things that we regretted ( I hope we both regretted them) it felt like the old angry me was just below the surface, the one that really doesn’t give a rats ass and damn the consequences, so let’s draw a veil over that portion of the afternoon and leave it at that, we surrendered to food, snackettes, painkillers, and drifted off in an air condition prison cell, tomorrow back in the car and Universal Studios, hopefully tomorrow will be better it couldn’t get any worse than this afternoon got!         Could it?

These Colours Don’t Run! – Yet another Cunning Plan.

 

These Colours Don’t Run! – Yet another Cunning Plan.

6^th September.

Wow, possibly the best night’s sleep I have had since we were away, just over 6 hours, a little more than normal for me but what a difference it has made, I had a lie in, well kind of, woo hoo, the wife was in better shape as well, hopefully this is the start of something (or have I just jinxed myself) off to the food court for the usual breakfast me and my western omelette and tatter tots and the wife waffles with extra bacon, yum yum! Back to the room to look our best and then to the car as today its all about Universal Studios, I’m sure we have got this!

We don’t need google today we know where we are going although we are aware that a lot more has sprung up around the park, we got there as the parks opening, but damn its $30 to park the bloody car (WTF) the last time we were here it was $6! We parked in our spot and wandered in towards the park, there’s a security layer before you even get to the park itself, even the security guards get screened, the entrance is still the same it just seems like its “BIGGER” or am I just getting old, don’t bother I know the answer, we go to the ticket booth the lovely Ed helps us, and is great like a lot of the staff in the parks even in they are pissed off they don’t show it, it does make a difference when we go there.

Harry Potter is the order of the day but I am going to try one or two of the gentler rides I cant do anything that will screw with my middle ear, it renders me deaf and I feel incredibly nauseous, we soon meander (that’s my way saying we were slow) up to the Harry Potter  plot and I grab a seat while the wife goes off, its not full yet simply because it’s quite early, I find a seat that’s a little shaded and do what I seem to do best and that’s watch all the brilliant freaks who are out in the park, a few peeps come and go but after about ten minutes there’s a rather unhappy looking chap who parks his butt and looks me up and down as if he doesn’t trust me, I don’t care one of us will be long gone before too soon, or so I thought, this guy (about my age but wasn’t European) kept giving me the evil eye(to an extent I wasn’t really watching him that much) soon his family/friends/rent a crowd, turned up and all the bags he was looking after went to the right individuals , until the small children saw another ride and they wanted to go on that, the rest of the party stayed.

It was at this point an English chap wandered up to me and asked if I knew what the waiting time was for the ride that wife had disappeared off on, I replied that I thought it was around 15 minutes, he thanked me and wandered off to join the queue, at this point my swarthy friend decided to speak to me, “ inglese” I responded with a cheer smile and said that I was indeed English, to which he grimaced and replied “Malvinas” to which I replied “Falklands” “Malvinas” a little louder “Falklands” I replied in best polite but firm voice, he stood up and almost (and I mean almost) shouted “Malvinas” at this point his party were looking a little disturbed they had come to have a good time not to charge over Goose Green! At this point I had had enough and in my best RSM voice I replied still sitting down(I couldn’t have stood even if I had wanted to) “Falklands, you outnumbered us then and you outnumber me now but I won’t back down, so do what your troops back in the day and surrender, I served, so bugger off” the rest of his party herded him away and they avoided my gaze, he wandered off muttering to himself while the women of his party scolded him, the whole thing lasted no more than about 45 seconds, he wasn’t bothering me and I wasn’t bothering him, I have no idea  what his beef was but I had stood my ground and was all the happier for it, about 5 minutes later two of the biggest (and I do mean big) of the parks security team came around the corner, looking for me by the looks of it, and asked me if I had been having issues with a group (great this were I get me and the wife kicked out of the park in under an hour) I told them about the discussion, and they replied ”don’t worry someone reported them to us and we kicked them all out” erm ok “Did you serve?” I did I replied “SEMPER FI” they replied and it made me chuckle, I do like how the Americans are grateful for everyone in their military, its 42 years since I served but I still felt an immense amount of pride!

The wife turned up as they were walking away and wondered why I had a grin on my face, I don’t think she was too happy, but hey we didn’t get kicked out so all is good in the hood, we explored more Harry Potter World, she had another go another ride (tame was her opinion) and we decided to try and get an early(ish) lunch, we ended up in the Three Broomsticks, were there was an early assignation attempt as the seats are for people smaller than me, as I fell backwards from a height, I wasn’t impressed, but I was when I realised it wasn’t just me that it was happening to, an Asian lady who sat next to us actually disappeared under the table, I was also disappointed that there was only non-alcoholic cider being served (I didn’t mind) but it should have said on the menu, the grub was ok, if not a tad generic, but it filled a hole, off we went for more Harry Potter shenanigans, and eventually ended up on the King Kong ride, which I enjoyed,, my knees by this time were starting to suffer, I was worried about he wife, yet it’s me who struggled from the get go of the holiday!  The fact that I have been averaging 27000 steps I knew I was going to crash and burn sooner rather than later.

As the day went on I got slower and slower, and I’m not ashamed to admit I was using a stick to get around, I should look for a vet once we leave the park see if they will put me down, we had done enough and did the slow walk back to the car, but the time we got there I could barely get my butt in the car, on the drive back we were in heavy traffic and about a mile up the road I could see a plume of smoke, oh a fire, and I’m not even at work, sure enough it was a bus fire all under control by the time we passed it and got on our merry way, I was more concerned as to how I was going to get out of the car at the other end, more than the bus on fire! I hope that’s not a sign for when we get back on Disney transport to go to one of their parks, (Animal Kingdom), tonight’s going to be a lazy night as my knees are truly battered, when I get home, I must try and talk to a Dr about my knees (yeah right).