The sunshine state

Well I survived the flight.

In fact it was almost enjoyable. One small blip a couple of minutes after take off when it felt like the engines had stopped, but other than that all ok, which was lucky as I had managed not to be sat next to an attractive chap who wouldn't have minded holding my hand while I panicked mildly, and instead was next to a senior-parent age couple who bickered the length of the journey. The food was shockingly bad - some potato and sun-dried tomato salad in a mistard dressing (which surely should have been nice??), chicken curry and a strawberry cheesecake - but coming on the heels of a double vodka and diet coke and accompanied by a bottle of white wine, I ate it anyway. I managed to cram in 4 films, literally vibrating with laughter during The Hangover (which I saw earlier this year with the boy nextdoor but was more than happy to watch again), did some brain training on the ds, and had a bit of a listen to the iPod and then we were landing in sunny Florida.

Immigration seemed to take forever which I still don't understand as when I was called I whizzed through the electronic finger-printing and eye-picture palaver (oh how it took me back to the happy day of trying to cross the US border from Vancouver and facing fifteen minutes of aggressive questioning from a border-control man with the emotional empathy of a newt), rescued my case from the conveyor belt and headed out into the muggy heat. BB was there, ready to chauffeur me back to the hotel before introducing me to a work colleague and the three of us heading out for dinner where I was confronted with an enormous caesar salad with croutons the size of a small baby and which, despite my protestations that I really wasn't hungry, I almost managed to polish off.

Today was jetlag recovery day which saw me wander down to the hotel pool about half past ten to discover that I would be its only inhabitant for most of the day. I watched geckos climb trees and jump on to signposts, read, swam, sang along to the iPod, spotted dolphins frolicking in the bay, drank water, floated in the pool, completed some puzzles and turned a glowing shade of red, delirious that had I been at home I would have spent the day in work. BB suggested we finish it off by driving to the beach to watch the sun set across white sand and the Gulf of Mexico before heading to Frenchy's for grouper sandwiches and Bud Light Lime, which sounds rank but is actually a revelation. All in all, a pretty good friday, although my slightly warm back would currently suggest otherwise.

So it's an early night tonight, after a soak in some aftersun.