Waffles, Walmart & waggy tails
Woke up to find I had the villa all to myself. I had a vague, sleepy recollection of Mr Fiennes heading off birding at some horrendously early hour - which is fine by me as long as I'm allowed to go promptly back to sleep!
The previous occupiers of the villa had left quite a lot of food behind, so I perused the kitchen for anything vaguely breakfast-oriented and came up with a vanilla yogurt - note to self, must go food shopping later. Decided to have said yogurt on pool deck and watch for dolphins/manatees in the canal.
A telltale beep of a car horn and a key in the lock, told me that Mr F was home far sooner than I expected. I think his rumbling tummy must have been the cause for his early return as he suggested waffles for breakfast. With my lowly yogurt long forgotten, all I could do was nod enthusiastically.
You may be wondering why we were not on our way to Cape Canaveral by this point. A fault in one of Endeavour's heaters meant today's launch was cancelled. The latest update states the next attempt won't be made before Tuesday 10th May. There's a very small chance we might just catch it but...anyway, watch this space!
We'd driven past a 'Waffle House' yesterday and so off we set to discover it's delights. The menu contained a mighty miscellany of marvellous things from buttermilk waffles to prime rib. We both plumped for classic waffles with bacon - prime rib being a tad too much for 9am we felt. With our bottomless coffee mugs full to bursting, we happily munched away whilst deciding whether coming back everyday would be a bad thing.
A massive Walmart was across the street so it seemed just the right place to grab some supplies. On the way, however, I spotted signs to 'Pet Supermarket'. After a bit of persuasion (although a lot less than you might think), Mr F pulled into their car park. You wouldn't believe the veritable bounty they stocked! In the end, we had to drag ourselves out with just 2 peanut-butter dog biscuits, a doggie ice-pop and a new fancy collar for the dog about town. The rest will have to wait until the next trip!
Now, if we thought the pet shop was well stocked, we were blown away by the wonders found in Walmart. Everything was super-sized, with bottles of juice too big to lift without mechanical support and papayas larger than my head. We purchased both. Also on our conveyor belt today were a seedless watermelon, some chocolate marshmallow donuts for Mr F and a 'small' 1lb bag of pretzels for me. And man, was there a lot of choice - it's not a bad thing I know, but you can have too much of a good thing can't you? When there's an entire aisle of peanuts, it's time to stop and reassess! When we came to pay, we were asked for ID - that hasn't happened since I was at university! We assumed it had to do with the beer we'd bought and so asked what the drinking age was. We were told 40. I'm gonna assume this was incorrect as after checking Mr F's driving license, she still sold us the beer - unless, of course, Mr F is trying to hide a few years from me!
Whilst enjoying our lunchtime bagels back at the villa, we watched a guy across the canal, wash his dog. This animal was the most placid creature I've ever seen. A Golden Retriever, who stood perfectly still whilst he was shampooed and then rinsed off with a pretty powerful hose. He even wagged his tail (but oh so gently) when his face was hosed down! My dog on the other hand...the idea just doesn't bear thinking about!
The afternoon was spent reading and swimming and occasionally, swimming and reading, just to mix things up a bit. Not one to often expose my skin to sunlight, I'd forgotten just how dazzlingly pale my skin is. The decor of the villa follows an all-white theme and I even stand out against that backdrop. Hooray for private swimming pools is all I'll say!
No. of dolphins seen: 0
No. of manatees seen: 0
No. of alligators seen: 0
No. of pies eaten: 0
No. of drugged dogs being washed: 1