Driving To Florida ? Why Not !?

Greetings from not so sunny and certainly not so warm Leeds, England. In fact right now, it's pouring down and 57F outside.

But it's home.

Mind you, since returning I've had a few problems; turning on the water caused a flood in the loft thanks to a hole in the pipe leading to the hot water tank. It poured down into the middle bedroom like a vertical tsunami but by dashing down to the stopcock like an aged Usain Bolt and turning off the water supply, not too much damage was actually done. A friend then came over and mended the pipe and water flowed to the tank again.

Sadly that wasn't the end of the water related issues as this morning I couldn't use the shower pump so I guess air got into the pipework and the motor wasn't happy dealing with air rather than water and decided to pack up. I still have a bath so I can still be clean until such time as the pump bursts (unfortunate choice of verb there) back into action or gets replaced. Hopefully the former and hopefully very soon.

Last night, being a wuss, I turned on the electric blankie to warm up the bed. I'd been up for 34 hrs by then so when my head hit the pillow, I was asleep. This wasn't good really as a few hours later I woke up thinking the pipe had burst again as I was feeling a bit moist ! No such drama and it was simply that the electric blankie had been slowly broiling me and I was just covered in bodily fluids.

TMI, I know.

Off went the blankie and I slept like a log (why DO we use that expression ??) till 7:30am when it was time to get up and take the car for its annual service and test so it could be taxed. All cars here over 3 years old must be tested and just about every part gets checked out. After passing, I took it to be taxed and so now it's all legal again and I don't need to duck below the wheel when a police car approaches.

Over the next few days I'll be trying to remove 6 months of dust from everything and everywhere - oh ok, maybe 7 or 8 months worth as I'm not really very house proud. Lets face it, as long as the fridge, cooker and tv work and I have water, food and the internet, I'm pretty much sorted here. Dusting, polishing and vacuuming generally take a back seat......a very far back and usually dusty back seat. Priorities y'know.

Oh and whoever tells you that dust is just dead skin that's fallen off the human body, well my house has been empty for 6 months and it has lots of dust.

Florida seems a long way away right now. And that reminds me............

When chatting with the kid (19 years old) in the car dealership this afternoon, he was very interested in my life in Florida. He asked lots of questions and when I said I'd love to have my little Renault Clio over there, I couldn't quite believe what he said next.

"So can't you drive it over there ?"

My brow furrowed. Maybe he didn't mean what I thought he meant ! Then as if to remove all doubt, he added........

"Or could you take a ferry ?"

I spluttered. I really did.

I said "to Florida ? Florida in America ?"

He then asked how far it was by plane and I said 8 hrs.

"Oh" he said. "And how far in distance ?"

"Well by plane it's 4300 miles"

"Oh" he said "I didn't know it was THAT far"

Now I could've overlooked his lack of detailed knowledge about the distance and flight time but how on earth he thought I could drive there is just beyond me. And a ferry ?

Well it gave me a laugh anyway and added to my thinking over the last 24 hrs. That no matter how badly off you think you are, there is always someone worse off.

And I think I found him this afternoon - he just doesn't know it yet !