When we collected the car and drove up from Miami the warning light came on showing low tyre pressure. Not a problem, so we thought, and called to a garage to pump it up. All was fine until we reached the island and it came on again. We pumped it up again and rang Alamo. They where really helpful and asked us to take it to the Firestone garage in Sarasota who would sort the problem out for us. So this morning we called in and at first the guy wanted us to pay for the repair as Alamo don't pay the bills apparently?, when we refuses and said we would ring Alamo, he backed down and booked us to come back at 2.30pm.
As we had to be back for the tyre repair we decided to go and look at Longboat Key and Anna Maria Island. Some thing I have observed over here is the style of houses. in the UK, the housing estates all have houses of a similar style, if we want to change that style, we have to ask for planning permission and have to keep theses changes in keeping with the rest of the estate. I like this, I find it pleasing to the eye. Over here anything goes. I have seen homes in Italian and Spanish style villas, a beautiful bright white and blue villa that would look at home on a Greek Island, one story bungalows and typical Floridian style villas. Houses painted, pink, yellow, bright green and blue, but I love them all. Against the bright blue sky they all look wonderful and I long to peek behind the doors as to what the insides are like.
Driving up Longboat Key it is apparent this a a very affluent area, the lawns and gardens are well kept, boats on the drive ways for those homes that don,t have a mooring and some absolutely massive houses that leave me green with envy. We stop off a few time to admire the view and see pelicans diving for fish, little sandpipers running around in the sand and some rather exotic red and yellow birds the likes of I have never seen before. It is still quite cool and windy, the sea is fairly choppy and not many people on the beach. Again the dolphins allude me. Where ever we go, I just miss them. Anna Maria Island is adorable, the little church looks to be covered in white icing, the little clapperboard shops are all brightly painted and very welcoming. We buy ice creams, (a muddy snicker and turtle) and eat them whilst walking up the Pier. It is really windy and quite cool. Still there are people fishing off the pier but no fish biting. Just the ever present Pelicans waiting for an opportune moment. Still no dolphins.
I drove us back down the island, the car is an absolute pleasure to drive, I can see us fighting over this. We went back into Sarasota to find some lunch, but as we were running out of time we called into Publix for a deli sandwich. These are delicious, made to order, we had Philli Steak. If you have never had one, the server first takes onions, mushrooms and peppers (or what ever you want) and fries them on a griddle. Shen then adds a very generous portion of slices of beef, whilst this is cooking she prepares the Sub roll, all the different salads you can think off, plus pickles, Parmesan, garlic powder, Herbs etc then adds cheese to the beef until it melts, and puts it all in the sub roll. OMG it was delicious, we for a drink and crisp combo and I think it was $7.99. We will be having another one before the end of the holiday!
We took the car back to Firestone and they could find nothing wrong with the tyre, so they re beaded and sealed it, and off we went back to Sarasota. I was having serious caffeine withdrawal by now, so called in to a cafe for coffee, some how the carrot cake ended up on my plate too. We had a walk down to the harbour to look at the sculptures. I was so pleased to see Unconditional surrender was back, we saw this statue on our last visit, it is so lovely. I have photos but no way of uploading them until we get to Pam's Vila in Orlando. We wandered around the harbour looked at some serious fishing boats, but as the sea was so choppy decided the best place for us was dry land. We headed back to the the island and as we arrived back at the unit the warning light came back on "check tyre pressure."
So this morning when we got up, Mr M went out to the car and the tyre is completely flat. We rang Firestone who gave us the number for a tow truck and they agreed to pay to have it towed back in. So here I am sat in the unit typing up my trip reports and Mr M is off somewhere trying to get the car fixed. We had hoped to go to Sanibel Island today but it now all depends on what time he gets back.
Bye for now, I'll keep you up dated.
PS thanks for all your comments, they are appreciated.
Diane.[msnsmile]
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