20200205 – Beaches, Dinner With Friends, Shooting And Kayaking

Early start as I’m off to Pickleball. Alsas get to the sports centre, 6 pickleball courts but no one there. Abandon hope of playing pickleball today.

After lunch, we set off to Sand Key Park and the beach. Wendy sets foot in the sea, so brave, only a paddle. Too cold for me. Nice beach but not really our cup of tea so we have a stroll along the beach with a view to having a coffee in one of the nice hotels. Sadly there’s a river in the way so no coffee.

In the evening we drive over to Joe and Donna’s (friends from PC who live in Oldsmar) then we all set off for dinner at Southern Fresh in Safety Harbour for dinner. Awesome pork dish, just how I like it, the slightly burned outside and plenty of it.

Finally, we finish watching Succession. Another one that I hope they don’t do another season, it really has started to lose the warring family plot.

Lazy morning. Just the excitement of a supermarket trip.

After lunch I drive over to Joes and we go shooting. Bizarre they need to see my ESTA before they can let me shoot. Supposedly federal law, not that they seem to bother in Utah. Good choice of guns. Love Joe’s standard 9mm, same as the Park City gun, and even more accurate. 1911 combat style 45 is awesome, easy to shoot, flattering and pleasing accuracy results. Not as big a kickback as I expected, but wow what a mizzle flash. As for the small 380, god only knows where the dum dum bullets went, shattered my good shooting performance.

Sushi for tea and then Netflix. We’ve seen all we want to see on HBO so will be cancelling my free 7 dya trial.

Lazy and frustrating morning trying to cancel Wendy’s Santander account. Major password issues; usual crap software; poor HCI; then to top it all won’t let me transfer all of my funds out. After an hour and accepting my transfer request, I’m told “not allowed” to contact us. Then to be told we’ll have to go into the branch to do the transfer. So much for an online banking site. As you can probably imagine I’m madder than a Taliban trying to cross the street during a gay pride parade. After kicking off I finally get through to the security department, who after the third batch of inane security questions do the transfer, but I have to go into the branch to close the account. That’s their loss then they can continue to service a zero balance account.

After lunch we take a drive down to Safety Harbour. Have a pleasant stroll around a lovely little town. Stop off for a Starbucks, really have gone off Starbucks just lately. Their coffee always seems a tad bitter or burnt. The only good news is the consistency, but give me Volcano coffee range any day.

Come across a sandwich shop and get a classic Reubens with a double dose of corned beef. US corned beef is nothing like our fat globuled version, it’s more like pastrami. At last I get an awesome Reubens for my tea, I’ve been mithering for one ever since we arrive, the haute cuisine of American junk food.

After more battling the technology I get my Smart DNS working, it seems that software has it in for me today, and get to watch Silent Witness on BBC.

Leisurely morning as usual.

Drive up to Tarpon Springs to go kayaking with Joe and Donna in these see-through kayaks. More like a canoe and as the water is so murky there really isn’t much benefit to them. Get to see Manatee snouts as they surface for air and a couple of Dolphins. Awesome weather clear blue sky, no breeze and warm. Wendy goes for a stroll around Tarpon Springs whilst we’re all on the water. Alas no really much there to see.

In the evening we meet up with Joe and Donna for dinner at the Lucky Lobster Co in Dunedin – not really that lucky considering how much lobster we eat. Great food, great company, and the wine wasn’t too bad. Finally, get to have some scallops as well as a lobster roll. They were delicious.

Back home we sample yet another white wine. This time it’s a Muscato, so sweet it makes your eyes water. Not to my liking, but Wendy likes it.