I was reminded yesterday that it was 40 years to the day since we travelled to Hongkong to live and work for 11 years. Forty years on, I’m still following Ian to strange places round the globe.
We got the usual friendly welcome at Orlando Airport.
‘You guys bringing any food into the United States?’
Well no, not after the time I brought some lovely, air-dried, vacuum-packed Waberthwaite bacon as a present for Ted and had it confiscated.
Anyway, Ian thought it wise to admit that he was in possession of a number of Rington’s tea bags.
‘Ah, tea.’ The US Customs official’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly. ‘We had some great tea, once. Then someone tipped it into the ocean. You guys have a great trip.’
Our first impressions of Florida, it has to be said, were not that favourable. It probably isn’t best viewed from the motorway, on a grey day at a temperature of 7C. Wednesday we drove 150 miles to look at two boats. The first one was being sold because the owner’s partner had decided after a trial run that cruising wasn’t her thing. It wouldn’t be mine either, in a boat where the storage space consisted of one six-inch wide wardrobe and a 9inch wide cupboard.
The next viewing was rather different. Mrs Current Owner had stipulated that if she was going to live in it for 2 or 3 months at a time, certain requirements had to be met, and not only did these coincide with mine, but Mr Current Owner had acceded to all demands, resulting in a very nice boat indeed.
So the next day we made an offer to buy Carina, subject to survey and sea trial, which has been accepted! Woo hoo!
Today the sun came out and we drove over to St Petersburg to pay a deposit and sign the contract. The ‘comfort station’ on the front street caught my eye, and a gentleman who saw me take the photo insisted on telling me the story.
In 1913, a builder was commissioned to build a new church, to be known as Great St Mary’s. When the project was complete, the Catholic Church (allegedly) refused to pay on the grounds that it didn’t have any money. A couple of years later, the city council advertised for someone to build some new public conveniences. The builder won the contract, and built the comfort station as a miniature replica of the church..now referred to by the locals as Little St Mary’s.
Little St Mary’s, St Petersburg, Fl
Finally, on the way to our current hotel at Sarasota we passed over the Sunshine Skyway bridge. As Ian says, it’s not every day you see a cable-stayed bridge, is it?
talesfromtheamericanwaterways 
Well what a lot achieved in such a short time Jane. I see you are fulfilling a well recognised role as ‘reluctant spouse’ but with all those home comforts you will soon feel more settled x
Jean you’re very perceptive! 🙂
The boat is lovely though and I’m cautiously optimistic that the sale will go through without any problems. The survey and sea trial is scheduled for next Wednesday – we go on the boat while that’s being done, so it will be an opportunity to get an idea of how it handles etc!
Well I had a glance at the webpage for the journey and the ‘R.S.’ featured quite prominently. The wise skipper was advised to go to some lengths to keep her (usually a her) happy and I see that Ian is following this advice. Also you stack up brownie points as you go along to be traded in for treats of your choice at regular intervals!
Yes, I’m taking a long-term view and the list of treats is quite long 😉
Sounds exciting! What sort of boat is it and where do plan to go?
It’s a 38′ trawler Pam, quite spacious with a nice cabin, galley and a sitting area upstairs. I’ll post pics when the deal is finally closed! We’re planning on doing the Great Loop – will also post links to the site when we’ve got a laptop sorted. Hope all’s well with you and Geoff.
Sounds great Jane. We would like a picture of the boat! and Peter would like more boat details please.
So glad you managed to get the tea thro customs-vital stuff.
We really enjoy.your blog, so keep it coming-no news here!
S
Thanks Sue, I’ll post pics when it’s definitely ours! Not managed to use the tea bags yet as the motels we’ve stayed in have only filter coffee thingies! However ‘hot tea with milk please’ does seem more readily understood in Florida than in the other parts if the US we’ve been to 🙂
Well I think you’re both very brave Jane. This may be a silly question, but couldn’t you just have HIRED a boat??
Angela, the short answer is ‘no’ 😀
We think we’re quite brave too. In the Sir Humphrey Appleby sense of the word 🙂
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