Fletch
04-02-2005, 06:01
Friday 7 January
Andrew woke us up at around 7am – I’m surprised he slept that long, but we had “kept him going” until 9pm, so I guess that paid off. We had a breakfast of toast and marmalade from the very basic welcome pack, finished off with some chocolate chip cookies. We were all hungry and were tempted to set off in search of a famous American all you can eat breakfast, but had been asked to wait in as the villa manager was coming to make sure everything was in order and to get us to sign some paperwork.
While we were waiting for him to turn up, I started unpacking (too tired last night to unpack anything but the basic essentials). Andrew has a gastrostomy and receives formula feed through the night and also during the day if he won’t take anything by mouth. The company who supply us with the feed and equipment had sent all his supplies direct to the villa for us, so we didn’t need to use up valuable luggage space with all his feedstuff. It was there waiting for us at the villa when we arrived, so I had made his overnight feed and put his spare pump into the battery charger overnight. The company had provided me with a transformer to enable me to charge the pump but it appeared that the battery was not charging.
We had set up an account using John’s credit card to enable us to ring home from the villa phone, so I used it to ring the company in England to inform them and ask their advice. They offered to send another transformer by air mail, but we decided we would buy some batteries and see how much life we got out of them.
When the manager arrived, it turned out he was an electrician by trade, so he had a look at the transformer we’d been given and found something had burnt out in the plug! Luckily, I had inadvertently packed the charger we use in England, so he rang the local branch of Radio Shack and asked if they had a transformer in stock – they only had one, so he asked them to put it by for us.
He was a really nice guy and was helpful in so many ways – he’d brought us a great map of the area and made sure we were orientated to the major tourist attractions, Walmart etc.
After he’d gone, we decided to go to Walmart for some food, and spent a fascinating hour just looking at all the unfamiliar food stuff. We stocked up with essentials (ie water, wine and beer!!! plus some food as well[msnwink]) and had a quick look at the clothes. I bought some hair straighteners which were amazingly cheap and are actually better than the ones I use at home! The Florida frizz had struck already so these were a necessity for me.
We then carried on up Oren Brown to the junction with the 192. Radio Shack was right across the road from the junction and, in our naivety, we followed a local (presumably) who was attempting to cross the carriageway despite the heavy traffic in both directions. Needless to say, he got across no problem, while we had to stop in the middle of the eastbound carriageway due to the fact that the tiny gap he’d slipped through was suddenly filled by a huge truck bearing down on us[msnscared]. Amazingly, none of the cars who had ground to a halt to our left even sounded a horn – I am sure there were a few choice words (******* tourists! etc). We all averted our gaze from the left side of the car [:I]and prayed for a gap to our right, while Andrew clapped his hands in glee at the close proximity of all these cars (vehicle watching comes a close second to door swinging in his list of favourite things to do). After what seemed like a lifetime, a gap miraculously appeared to our right and we zipped across the carriageway into the parking lot of Radio Shack. We all decided that a good plan in future would be to look for the next properly marked left turn, or traffic lights, and double back on ourselves if we needed to be on the other side of the road for anything!
We picked up the transformer from Radio Shack, then decided we would turn right onto the 192 after our ordeal and follow it to the junction with Poinciana Boulevard. Fifteen minutes later, safely back in the villa, we s
Andrew woke us up at around 7am – I’m surprised he slept that long, but we had “kept him going” until 9pm, so I guess that paid off. We had a breakfast of toast and marmalade from the very basic welcome pack, finished off with some chocolate chip cookies. We were all hungry and were tempted to set off in search of a famous American all you can eat breakfast, but had been asked to wait in as the villa manager was coming to make sure everything was in order and to get us to sign some paperwork.
While we were waiting for him to turn up, I started unpacking (too tired last night to unpack anything but the basic essentials). Andrew has a gastrostomy and receives formula feed through the night and also during the day if he won’t take anything by mouth. The company who supply us with the feed and equipment had sent all his supplies direct to the villa for us, so we didn’t need to use up valuable luggage space with all his feedstuff. It was there waiting for us at the villa when we arrived, so I had made his overnight feed and put his spare pump into the battery charger overnight. The company had provided me with a transformer to enable me to charge the pump but it appeared that the battery was not charging.
We had set up an account using John’s credit card to enable us to ring home from the villa phone, so I used it to ring the company in England to inform them and ask their advice. They offered to send another transformer by air mail, but we decided we would buy some batteries and see how much life we got out of them.
When the manager arrived, it turned out he was an electrician by trade, so he had a look at the transformer we’d been given and found something had burnt out in the plug! Luckily, I had inadvertently packed the charger we use in England, so he rang the local branch of Radio Shack and asked if they had a transformer in stock – they only had one, so he asked them to put it by for us.
He was a really nice guy and was helpful in so many ways – he’d brought us a great map of the area and made sure we were orientated to the major tourist attractions, Walmart etc.
After he’d gone, we decided to go to Walmart for some food, and spent a fascinating hour just looking at all the unfamiliar food stuff. We stocked up with essentials (ie water, wine and beer!!! plus some food as well[msnwink]) and had a quick look at the clothes. I bought some hair straighteners which were amazingly cheap and are actually better than the ones I use at home! The Florida frizz had struck already so these were a necessity for me.
We then carried on up Oren Brown to the junction with the 192. Radio Shack was right across the road from the junction and, in our naivety, we followed a local (presumably) who was attempting to cross the carriageway despite the heavy traffic in both directions. Needless to say, he got across no problem, while we had to stop in the middle of the eastbound carriageway due to the fact that the tiny gap he’d slipped through was suddenly filled by a huge truck bearing down on us[msnscared]. Amazingly, none of the cars who had ground to a halt to our left even sounded a horn – I am sure there were a few choice words (******* tourists! etc). We all averted our gaze from the left side of the car [:I]and prayed for a gap to our right, while Andrew clapped his hands in glee at the close proximity of all these cars (vehicle watching comes a close second to door swinging in his list of favourite things to do). After what seemed like a lifetime, a gap miraculously appeared to our right and we zipped across the carriageway into the parking lot of Radio Shack. We all decided that a good plan in future would be to look for the next properly marked left turn, or traffic lights, and double back on ourselves if we needed to be on the other side of the road for anything!
We picked up the transformer from Radio Shack, then decided we would turn right onto the 192 after our ordeal and follow it to the junction with Poinciana Boulevard. Fifteen minutes later, safely back in the villa, we s