Our late November, early December villa maintenance trip.
We drove to Gatwick the night before our flight, to The Turret B&B with parking we have used several times. It's cheaper than airport parking only, for bed and a nice breakfast, reliable transfers to and from the airport.
From the pair of Virgin Gatwick - MCO flights, we chose our preferred option early flight out, late flight return. We booked non-exit extra legroom seats which were comfortable. Having checked in online with Alamo, we went straight to the garage. From the Intermediate SUV row we selected a Jeep Patriot for the second time, which we were pleased with. Even in 4 wheel drive mode its fuel consumption is reasonable.
As usual due to time difference we awoke early on our first morning. I went for a run lapping the lake in the dark. Halfway round my first lap I pressed my watch light button...and bang...I tripped over, grazing my knee. It didn't hurt, so I continued. I now have a purple scar.
After getting our pool leak fixed by American Leak Detection, described on another thread, I sorted out a Brighthouse saga...
In May, I had contacted Brighthouse after they increased the price of our cable TV, phone, and internet package; and agreed a reduction. The new deal included an internet speed upgrade. All appeared well until September and a power outage. By pure luck, our daughter and family were in the villa on a short stay. After power was restored, a message appeared indicating that the Brighthouse supplied router couldn't cope with the extra speed. I contacted Brighthouse and told them to reduce the speed, and I would request a service visit for new modem in December. I attempted to phone my son in law, but got a message that our phone was not in service...back to Brighthouse - apparently our package change resulted in them changing our phone number and not telling us...our number hadn't been reassigned, they reversed the change.
...I phoned Brighthouse to arrange the service visit which was ok. However I spoke to an unhelpful agent and supervisor who didn't want to honour our price agreement. I spotted a complaint escalation on the Brighthouse website "The Office of the President". I fired off an email, and was phoned by an empowered customer service lady who understood the issues, apologised, honoured our agreement, and knocked some money off our bill.
Next job was to replace our remaining half inch window blind. I bought a "luxury" 2.5 inch blind in Home Depot at the exact 58" width, which was cheaper and with less waste than a 2 incher.
On the Saturday, I set my alarm to get to the Clermont Waterfront parkrun for 7:30am start. This was an enjoyable run, and a nice change from my local UK 2 lap course which has a hill, and gravel that lodges in my shoe tread.
We then viewed and bought 4 flat screen TVs. From WalMart a 4K 55" LG for the lounge, plus 2 Vizios for bedrooms; and from BestBuy a 40" Samsung for the (to be refreshed) Den. Our last buying job apart from bedding and bits and pieces was a new cabinet from IKEA for the Den, which I assembled with no problem. We were very kindly given a great looking as new glass and chrome unit by a Lake Berkley friend for our new lounge TV.
We were left with 4 working old style TVs. We knew they would be unsellable. We didn't know that charities refuse them. What a waste. The 2 smallest fitted in our trash cans. I put the 2 larger TVs out kerbside the day before trash collection with controllers minus batteries and notes saying "working - please take or dump". The next morning, we were pleased to see them gone, and thought somebody had given them a good home...3 days later we were greeted by the sight of long term renters wheeling our 60 incher back down the road. The culprits claimed the TVs didn't work. When challenged, they lost the power to communicate in English and walked off. They have moved on from Lake Berkley now...good riddance.
Next trash collection day with the TVs out again. 2 operatives lifted the big telly halfway over the lip of the cart and crushed the top half, then pushed the rest in. Impressive.
We had some enjoyable evenings with friends. We went to a musical quiz night at House Of Beer in Clermont. The quiz master had obscure musical taste, we finished last, but I enjoyed a nice Young's Double Chocolate Stout.
I had developed a cold. I went for a run. I normally recover immediately - this time I didn't. Throughout our 2nd week I was feeling very lethargic, shivering, with a painful cough and no appetite. I am normally a steak hound, and always enjoy the vast selection of mid priced restaurants serving good food. I didn't want a full meal, but decided I wanted McDonalds...bad move - it was horrible.
Despite having had my usual autumn flu jab, I thought I had the manflu. I was given the ok to fly home by a WalMart pharmacist. Our return flight was only about 1/3 full. We each bagged a row of 3 extra legroom seats and had our best return trip ever with a good sleep.
2 days later I was still feeling weak and rough. Sue phoned 111, I was taken to hospital by ambulance, where after a night waiting in casualty, I was diagnosed with pneumonia (now fully recovered, and a "bonus" - the strong antibiotics restored my sense of smell which had been gone for a couple of years. I no longer need nasal spray). As I was lying in hospital not sleeping due to bleeping drips and groans from my fellow inmates, this song kept going through my head -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWhtdYq3B1I
We are hoping for a more normal "holiday" next time we are out for friends wedding.
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