Last night our viewing pleasure took in both ends of the intellectual spectrum. We started the evening with The Theory of Everything, the highly acclaimed life story of Stephen Hawking. It was very enjoyable and of course it showcases an extraordinary life of a chap who was blessed with an incredible gift of intelligence and cursed with a very cruel disease. It was very impressive that he still carried on with his career despite the challenges his disease inflicted upon him, but more incredible was the way in which his wife coped with a load of kids, looking after her husband and getting her own PhD.
Once that had finished we moved from the sublime to the ridiculous and watched some Eurovision. It is always silly, over the top and cringeworthy but last night’s seemed quite dull to be honest. Where was the hermaphrodite clown on stilts wrapped in tin foil singing in operatic style about a hedgehog? Europe seems to be forgetting what the contest is about. All this trying to write proper songs, performed by people who look normal is just not on. Unfortunately (I think) we missed the UK entry but I shall take the two points we received as an indication of the quality of it.
In planning news, I haven’t booked our Daytona night yet. To be honest, I haven’t had a great deal of time to get it done this week with work being annoyingly insistent on my attention. More crucially I also need pay-day to roll around before pressing the book button. This scope creep is a persistent problem for us serious Florida holiday planners. As the booking and planning usually takes place over a prolonged period, what tends to happen is that things get added as you go. Once you’ve planned everything else within an inch of its life the mind wanders to other possibilities, and in my case, the thought process usually goes something like this….
No, we’re spending enough already, we should probably not do that……..Well, we’re going all that way so we may as well do it whilst we are there. It is the ultimate upsell, like when Currys try to flog you a warranty for your £30 toaster, and we all do it to ourselves.
Time is rattling along at a fair old pace, shown by it being June very shortly. So during June, it will be ESTA time and hopefully we’ll get both the Daytona hotel sorted along with the tickets to the Daytona Cubs which are all of $8 each. It could well be the best value night out in Florida. The last bit (possibly) of research beyond that is to find a golf course. Whenever my Dad comes along it is traditional to undertake a round of golf. I play regularly, at least twice a year, every year, and usually one of those rounds is in Florida. We usually play at Highlands Reserve, but I think we’ll have a change this year so I need to have a look around at the courses close to our villa.
Then of course, thoughts will turn to less glamorous aspects such as airport parking. It usually ends up being cheaper than a mini bus to and from the airport and of course it is better to be under your own steam once you have landed back in the UK. After a night of no sleep on the plane, waiting an hour for your cases and then emerging into the cold grey Manchester morning, the last thing you want to do is have to ring the taxi company to find out why your carriage isn’t sat waiting for you. He will of course have “just turned the corner at the top of the street”, which means he has just got out of bed and you’ll be stood in the drizzle for forty minutes wanting to commit actual bodily harm.
These holidays don’t just happen, clearly.
To come full circle in this post, I need to tell you about a hidden gem that we have been enjoying on Netflix. We had never heard of it, as it has none of the promotion or indeed word of mouth of other Netflix hits, but it is a belter nonetheless.
Damages has a great cast, including Glenn Close and Tate Donovan. It has some great plot lines and unexpected twists, so if you are looking for that next binge watch addiction give it a go. There are five seasons, so fill your boots. No doubt we shall be doing so this evening.
Till the next time…..
Mkingdon's Blog 