E. Cosgrove
02-04-2005, 17:37
22nd March
Despite the melatonin I slept badly, a combination of jet lag and busy thoughts. At 6.45 it was clear that there was no more sleep for me so I got up to peep out of the window. The sky was overcast but at least it wasn't raining, and there it was, the beautiful conservation view that we could not see on last nights dark arrival, things were getting better already
David was awake as well so we decided to take a swim. When we removed the pool cover we found that although the water was not freezing you had to get straight in and swim to keep warm. At this point I reurgitated ( no not literally[msneek]) everything I had read on the forum about pool heating and instructed everyone ( by this time Helen and Stu had joined us)to be vigilant about use of the pool blanket. The heat had probably been on less than 24 hours and it would get warmer. I was proved right...thankyou everybody....as within 48 hours it was like swimming in a warm bath. As we swam, large patches of blue sky began to appear, now this really felt like a holiday in Florida![8D]
When we left the pool Nat was already up and showered, she was quickly to learn that when the villa was occupied by 10 peple 1st up got the hottest shower, this got even Nicola out of bed on a few occasions[msnwink]
We sat around on the lanai with cups of tea and bowls of cereal whilst the "kids" dragged themselves from the pit one by one. Helen turned on her phone to find a text message from Sophie (who was arriving that day) to say she had been upgraded from economy to Upper Class, would we ever hear the end of this?
Eventually everyone was up and fed, Jonathon was disappointed to find we were not eating breakfast out, a common holiday tradition, but the logistics of getting 11 people up, out to breakfast and on to the parks before lunchtime would have been nightmare.
Today's plan was for the kids to go to Seaworld whilst the adults got on with "villa Jobs" and picked up Sophie from the airport.
Stuart had not yet got his "bearings" so David volunteered to drop the kids off. Nicola left the villa in a somewhat half undressed state and still putting on her makeup whilst Kitty denied any responsibility for being her sister:D
Helen, Stu and I, cleared away the breakfast pots and then we set about checking the inventory for the furnituure package. We were the obvious things missing like a dining room chair and handles for my bedroom furniture but also some several smaller items as well. I rang the company as I had had most of the dealings with them but when I was getting nowhere, Stuart took over the conversation, polite but firm, they promised to get back to him that day but never did ( more about this later!;))
Next we investigated the plug sockets trying to work out which ones related to which wall switches, swapping around the plugs for the lamps and labelling the switches. By the time David arrived back it looked as if we had done very little but in the event we had never stopped.
David and Stuart started to investigate the snagging list, whilst Helen and I started to unpack all the shopping that David and I had done in Jan. We had not had time to wash the pool towels and those that had been used this morning had covered us all in fluff, so it was also time to check that the washer and drier worked...they did:)
It was lovely to find that Terry (MC) had fixed all the wardrobe doors so that they were shutting properly and not hanging off, and by 11.20 the boys had done all they could without tools.
We were expecting a visit from the guy who had fitted our security alarm so that we could pay him and sign the contracts for monitoring, we didn't have a firm time so we rang and left a message to say a call after 2pm would be best. We had to be at home by 2 pm as we had an appointment with a rep from the builders to sort out outstanding problems.
We set off for Walmart on the US27 with a long shopping list. Unfortunately we hadn't bargained for roadworks on the Northbound side and the journey took us much longer than expected, leaving us not too much time to s
Despite the melatonin I slept badly, a combination of jet lag and busy thoughts. At 6.45 it was clear that there was no more sleep for me so I got up to peep out of the window. The sky was overcast but at least it wasn't raining, and there it was, the beautiful conservation view that we could not see on last nights dark arrival, things were getting better already
David was awake as well so we decided to take a swim. When we removed the pool cover we found that although the water was not freezing you had to get straight in and swim to keep warm. At this point I reurgitated ( no not literally[msneek]) everything I had read on the forum about pool heating and instructed everyone ( by this time Helen and Stu had joined us)to be vigilant about use of the pool blanket. The heat had probably been on less than 24 hours and it would get warmer. I was proved right...thankyou everybody....as within 48 hours it was like swimming in a warm bath. As we swam, large patches of blue sky began to appear, now this really felt like a holiday in Florida![8D]
When we left the pool Nat was already up and showered, she was quickly to learn that when the villa was occupied by 10 peple 1st up got the hottest shower, this got even Nicola out of bed on a few occasions[msnwink]
We sat around on the lanai with cups of tea and bowls of cereal whilst the "kids" dragged themselves from the pit one by one. Helen turned on her phone to find a text message from Sophie (who was arriving that day) to say she had been upgraded from economy to Upper Class, would we ever hear the end of this?
Eventually everyone was up and fed, Jonathon was disappointed to find we were not eating breakfast out, a common holiday tradition, but the logistics of getting 11 people up, out to breakfast and on to the parks before lunchtime would have been nightmare.
Today's plan was for the kids to go to Seaworld whilst the adults got on with "villa Jobs" and picked up Sophie from the airport.
Stuart had not yet got his "bearings" so David volunteered to drop the kids off. Nicola left the villa in a somewhat half undressed state and still putting on her makeup whilst Kitty denied any responsibility for being her sister:D
Helen, Stu and I, cleared away the breakfast pots and then we set about checking the inventory for the furnituure package. We were the obvious things missing like a dining room chair and handles for my bedroom furniture but also some several smaller items as well. I rang the company as I had had most of the dealings with them but when I was getting nowhere, Stuart took over the conversation, polite but firm, they promised to get back to him that day but never did ( more about this later!;))
Next we investigated the plug sockets trying to work out which ones related to which wall switches, swapping around the plugs for the lamps and labelling the switches. By the time David arrived back it looked as if we had done very little but in the event we had never stopped.
David and Stuart started to investigate the snagging list, whilst Helen and I started to unpack all the shopping that David and I had done in Jan. We had not had time to wash the pool towels and those that had been used this morning had covered us all in fluff, so it was also time to check that the washer and drier worked...they did:)
It was lovely to find that Terry (MC) had fixed all the wardrobe doors so that they were shutting properly and not hanging off, and by 11.20 the boys had done all they could without tools.
We were expecting a visit from the guy who had fitted our security alarm so that we could pay him and sign the contracts for monitoring, we didn't have a firm time so we rang and left a message to say a call after 2pm would be best. We had to be at home by 2 pm as we had an appointment with a rep from the builders to sort out outstanding problems.
We set off for Walmart on the US27 with a long shopping list. Unfortunately we hadn't bargained for roadworks on the Northbound side and the journey took us much longer than expected, leaving us not too much time to s