Month: August 2022

Respite Our Best Efforts

by mkingdon, posted in Walt Disney World

Of course the work isn’t finished, why would you even ask? A bit of activity happened, some no shows on a few days followed due to random “issues” and we still plod on towards the inevitable end or my death, whichever comes first as a merciful release.

Anyway, this is not something I wish to focus on this week. I have news. As a side note, you should be very grateful that I do have news, otherwise this week you would be reading an endless moan about drain blockages, leaking pipes (separate incidents on consecutive days) and the enormous stress and expense of resolving them.

One day last week, I think it was Tuesday, Louise appeared in my office/conservatory having made a decision.

She had been thinking, having been confined to bed for many hours with the Covid (yes, she has been stricken but luckily I remained uninfected this time). We needed a holiday she declared, and we could not go on indefinitely without one. She would find suitable respite care for her Mum and we were to go away, immediately, if not sooner.

I was tasked with finding something suitable and again, you may think my first port of call would be a trans-Atlantic flight but it was not. I spent a little while looking at European options, such as Greece and the like and presented a few options to Louise.

To cut a long story short, (it wasn’t that long, she just turned down all the non-Florida options and told me to book Florida) she forced me to go to Florida again. This was mid-morning on Tuesday. By that evening I had researched, planned and booked everything, right down to fast lane security at Manchester and airport parking and had checked into most of the hotels online. I am very good at this.

It may be a popular misconception that our continued patronage of Florida is all my doing, but if you consult the history of our trips, you will find that Louise is often the catalyst.

This will not be our usual trip. Firstly, it will just be Louise and me. Secondly, we will not be frequenting any WDW parks. I know this may shock you, or maybe not. This holiday is mainly for relaxing and the recharging of batteries, so the concept of having to be awake at 7am to battle for things just isn’t something we want to contemplate. I know I will inevitably plan more than I should, but this will be a much more relaxed affair, with pools, going with the flow, relaxing and eating lovely food being the watchwords.

It is a double-edged sword, as I know I will miss the WDW parks when we are adjacent to them, but equally, going to them without the girls, Tom and the boys would be very strange too. We will especially miss World Showcase and I suppose we could shell out for a day ticket, but then we have to worry about getting a park reservation and it’s just a hassle we don’t need.

We are going to stay in some nice places, enjoy the resorts and sneak in some Universal Front of Line park time towards the end.

So what is the plan? Well……assuming we get to go with the health issues of Mary and my Dad, (I have made sure everything I have booked is cancellable until as late as possible)…..

We fly on the 19th of September with Aer Lingus from Manchester. Due to work stuff I could not get out of, this was the earliest date I could come up with. It gives me just over three weeks to lose four stone though.

Our first three nights are at the Yacht Club. You probably know that this is one of my favourite places on the planet and some days spent around Stormalong Bay, and strolls around the Boardwalk with some added Jellyrolls will kick off the relaxation.

Then, despite not going to any WDW parks, we head to Port Orleans Riverside for five nights. I know little of this resort, but to be frank, at this late stage there was very little still available. I consulted a couple of those DVC resort availability websites, thinking I may rent some points, but there was literally nothing available for any of our dates. I had wanted to go to Vero Beach for a few days but there was zero availability.

Anyway, Port Orleans looks lovely and has a lot of eateries and activities along with the required pool(s). There is also the boat service to Disney Springs which will come in handy too.

Then we move to Universal and another stay at the Royal Pacific Resort for three nights, to do more pool stuff and to get our park fix, with the essential Front Of Line, which means we can dip in and out as and when we like, without worrying about lines, wait times or any of the overly complex nonsense that a WDW park now requires.

We end the trip with three nights at the Dolphin. We have never stayed at this resort or the Swan, but again location is the major draw here.

We fly home on the 3rd of October.

I have promised myself and Louise that I will not over-plan this thing. I may make the odd ADR but I really just want to be able to eat when we’re hungry and not have to be looking at the time and getting stressed about Louise making us late for everything! We’ll see how that goes!!

Excitement levels are low at this stage, as we know a lot can happen between now and then, but we are past masters at not knowing if we are going on a trip until the last minute, thanks to the pandemic, but we are both very ready for the break.

I am sure it is psychological but ever since I pressed the button to book, I seem to have succumbed to absolute apathy for anything work-related. I had been hunkered down ready for the long haul through winter without a break and now I know we might be going away, I feel exhausted and can muster very little enthusiasm for anything related to what I do to pay the bills. I am a mard arse as I only went away in January, but it’s been a tough old time in many ways since. Well, that’s my excuse anyway.

It’s funny how our shortest countdown ever feels very far away right now.

Who knows by the time we get back in early October the work in the garden may be finished?

Till the next time…….

I’m “Enjoying” Your Holidays

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon

It will not be a huge shock to you that the ongoing work at the back of our house is still exactly that. Some progress was made, followed by a delay awaiting more materials, then some more progress. My guess last week, that aiming and hoping for completion around the end of August seems sensible, and it remains a possibility for now at least. There was crazy talk from our builder of being finished by next Tuesday or Wednesday but this isn’t my first rodeo.

I bemoaned the fact last week that this time in August has always been our WDW time. My social media confirmed that this is also the case for almost every Dibber and blog reader I am connected to on “the socials”, as every bugger was getting on a plane and walking up Main Street with little to no regard for my feelings on the matter. You are all selfish and should be ashamed of yourselves. As if you’re reading this claptrap if you’re in WDW.

Watching the parks as other folks do them feels weird. As you all know, because I keep bleating on about it, I have a strained relationship with them right now, but seeing Main Street and the rest of it stirs up the deeply rooted longing to be there. But I suppose I want to be back in the parks that I remember pre-pandemic and Chapek.

All these folks in WDW did also start to fuel my persecution complex as everyone there seems to be posting stuff like “Wow, the new Guardians is awesome, we rode it 76 times in a row with no queue” whereas on our last trip we struggled to get on the monorail without a fifty-minute wait.

As Chapek reads my blog every week of course, he’s probably blackballed me.

Back in the real world, Mary continues to battle on despite her health issues and now my Dad has joined in, not being very well for the last week or so and having to spend some time in hospital. I don’t like this and it can stop immediately, thank you. He’s only allowed one visitor, so I’ve only managed to talk to him on the phone a couple of times, but he does seem to be slightly better now and with a plan in place over the next few days to hopefully see some further improvement.

Woody the wiener continues to settle into the family unit. (Not a euphemism). I wouldn’t say he is fully house trained yet, but will now hold things until you take him out, if you take him out regularly enough. He’s doing OK. He is especially good at annoying the other animals in the house, and he has many to choose from.

His other speciality is causing carnage around the house and then falling asleep in it. Exhibit A.

He has had a weekend away this weekend, with Emily taking him over to Liverpool to her boyfriend’s. Nobody has enjoyed that more than our Cocker Spaniel Bean, who has not had to compete for attention for a few days.

Speaking of other pets, Loki our huge Maine Coon cat had to go to the vet recently as one of her already huge paws had blown up to the size of a baby’s head. The discussions led to talk of a CT scan, to see the root cause. Prices started at around £2000 for that so instead, we opted for £160 worth of pain killers and anti-inflammatories and the ability to continue eating. I suspect the talk of CT scans at thousands of pounds is just a softener so you feel like paying £160 for some Calpol is a bargain.

The paw does seem to be getting better/smaller and I wonder whether the bloody idiot got stung whilst tormenting some insect. It would be some form of cosmic retribution for the huge number of small rodents she has massacred and brought to our back door.

So the absence of any holiday plans continues and I’ll be honest, it’s beginning to sting a bit, much like Loki’s paw. You can tell my booking finger is itching to see some action as I seem to be watching endless episodes of A Place In The Sun just to see some sunshine, sea and beaches. My hiatus from vlogging continues but is softening as I have watched the odd Tracker video recently. This is all leading to some inevitable Veruca Salt moment at some point in the not too distant future when I stamp my feet and declare at loud volume that “I want a holiday and I want it now!”.

For now, we gird loins and other body parts and hunker down through the Groundhog days ahead of us and the relentless mediocrity of going to work every day.

Still, all our work on the house will be finished by the middle of next week…..right?

Till the next time……

Dig, Doug, Dougie

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon, Walt Disney World

Apologies for the lack of blog last Sunday. We had a lot on and let’s face it, nobody cares.

I was inundated with one message asking if I was still alive, so thank you.

I doubt there are many other blogs where you can receive regular digging updates. It’s a niche market, but I’m happy to tackle it.

More digging has happened. We now have two “tiers” to complete the many other tears all this work is driving us to. To be fair, it has been relatively painless so far, for us at least. The digger driver did have a couple of interesting/terrifying moments in the smaller digger he used to do the final bits of shaping etc, as he traversed the moonscape that is currently our back garden, but the digging, at least involving the big machinery is done. Anything else will be done by hand now.

That is a relief in itself as just getting that sort of heavy machinery into position had the potential to upset the neighbours, damage property and see our field make an appearance in our kitchen.

We spent all week awaiting the delivery of all the materials so the reconstruction could begin. As with everything else in the country these days, building materials have become akin to precious metals and bugger all happened until yesterday as we awaited the delivery of rare commodities like wood and sand. The builders estimate about a week of work to get things complete once stuff arrives, so let’s say two and hope we’re somewhere close to done by the end of August. It’ll be lovely to look out at our new outdoor space through the drizzle and fog of Autumn.

The other news since we last “spoke” was our wedding anniversary on the 3rd. Twenty-six years of marriage and twenty-eight together. People often say things like “where has the time gone” in these circumstances. I know where it has gone. Mainly working, many lovely holidays and the usual mix of ups and downs. Literally, cest la vie.

In other news, and the latest “you couldn’t write it” episode of my life, one evening last week as I returned home from walking the dogs, I spotted some movement near our kitchen bin. What followed was twenty sweaty minutes of Louise and I trying to catch a mole that no doubt one of the cats had brought home and then lost or got bored with. It’s at times like these that you realise how much furniture you have, as the poor little bugger scuttles from one piece to another. Eventually, I threw some tupperware over it and took it outside to hopefully find its way home and not to another cat. We named him Doug. It felt appropriate.

To complete the Dig, Doug, Dougie trilogy, the latter has been a little unwell this week but a visit to the docs confirmed it was nothing serious. He was off his milk, which based on his track record to date, was very unusual. Anyway, he is on the mend and back to staying awake all day, smiling at everyone and eating.

With it being mid-August now, by rights I should be boring you to tears with the detailed coverage of our last-minute preparations for a WDW trip. This time of year has, more often than not, been our time of choice to visit Florida. It isn’t possible this year at this time for many reasons and for Louise and I, we just don’t know when it may be again with Mary needing the care she does. Respite care is not an option as the worry whilst away wouldn’t make for a relaxing time.

I’m not sure I’m ready to tackle WDW again yet anyway to be honest. It seems the more time that passes since our January trip, the less I feel inclined to combat the complicated mess that is visiting a WDW park. It’s like some mild form of Genie+ PTSD. Maybe it is better now? If you’ve been recently I’d welcome your feedback.

The CEO this week confirmed the one call I got right during the pandemic. The park reservation system is here to stay. As I guessed, this is just too useful to Disney in terms of their planning, cost management and ability to staff the parks, or perhaps more relevantly, limit the number of guests aligned to how many CMs they have available.

I don’t mind this too much. As someone who plans their days months in advance, mainly so we can eat where we want to, the chances of us rocking up to a park that’s full and having no reservation are slim to none. What I do object to is having to be awake and on-line around 6.30am to fight for the chance to pay extra money for Genie+ to have any chance of riding anything that resembles a headliner.

With a good number of new rides open or about to, this is only going to get worse. It may be years before folks get to ride a “new ride” even if they visit annually.

With no prospect of a holiday any time soon, the main reason I need to get one booked is that it is typically the only reason and motivation to lose a few pounds and let’s just say I should book about a dozen holidays to generate the weight loss required right now.

Let’s reconvene next Sunday with hopefully, news of a very nearly finished back garden. What could possibly go wrong?

Till the next time…..