We spotted '68 Special Elvis watching Las Vegas Elvis

Today was a lazy day – we did a little sun bathing and swimming before heading to Kissimmee Old Town for some crazy golf and finished the day watching some americans pointlessly driving down the high street.

This was described as “cruising” by the over excited announcer man (wittily playing “Here in my car” by Gary Newman) so I suspect this is a regular activity – I am not sure if it is the same 10 cars or if they get other cruisers along each time.

Our Old Town experience was not in vain, as we spotted there was a band due to come on at some point soon.   We hung around in front of the stage as the area filled up with people of a certain generation, and the air of anticipation grew. We started to think that perhaps the coming event would be something of significance – and we were right!

The band fired up and started to build up as the star of the show walked in from stage right: it was Elvis!

Well, no it was Dwight Icenhower.

He also started belting out the Elvis classics and as time went on, handing out freshly sweat clad scarfs to the ageing audience. The Colonel handing fresh, pre-sweated scarfs was a nice touch.

It was at this point we noticed that 68 Elvis was standing directly in front of us in full leather gear!   The amazing thing that has subsequently illuminated most of my Florida experience was that this was taken with absolute sincerity.

Simon is informed that the flight is delayed

The day started early (7.30, which for me on a Saturday morning is really early) to drop our car off at Mum and Dad’s before Dad gave us a lift through to Glasgow.   In return for a lift the get 2 weeks use of our Audi TT which Dad seems to be looking forward to a little too much, we will probably find he has planted it in a ditch upon our return.

No problems getting to the airport and check in was only slightly delayed when we confused them with the old baby on board but no seat required which although you would imagine is a fairly regular occurrence, the system was thrown by this freak event!

We the learnt of a slight delay, which as you can see from the photo, did not go down well with Simon!

The plane journey itself was pretty uneventful with April enjoying running down the aisles between groups in our party and eating her jelly snakes.   I think the Snakes on a Plane reference was lost on the four year old however.

One year old Violet only got slightly miffed towards the end of the flight which was a bit of a miracle given we landed well past her bed time UK time.

Sarah and I picked up our hire car, managing to sneak a cheap upgrade to a convertible… woo hoo!

30th April – 5th May 2009

Myself, Colin Valentine, James Davidson and Simon Beattie headed to the French Alpes to play a bit of golf.

It was great fun and thanks to The Thomas’s for letting us use their chalet in Saxias as a base.

James and I lost so I will not write any more about this ghastly event… here are some pictures!

Saturday 16th – Thursday 21st September 2006

Sarah, her little sister Suzie and Myself travelled to New York to meet with Suzie’s friend Nicola and take in some of the sites of New York city.

We arrived in Newark airport at around 15:00 on Saturday afternoon after a smooth journey from Edinburgh, via Amsterdam. We met Nicola who had flown in flown in from her holiday job in Florida.

We grabbed a cab and headed into the city to find the Hotel that we had pre-booked, the Hotel Carter on 42nd street. To our shock and amazment, despite our only stipulation when booking (with STA Travel) being easy access in a wheelchair, Hotel Carter has a flight of stairs leading to it’s 1st floor lobby. In what proved to be a blessing in disguise, as Hotel Carter is to put it politely a complete dump, Sarah and I had a hectic few hours as we scrabbled to locate another Hotel in the region.

Eventually, we found Hotel Edison which was more than adequate, perfectly located and good value.

Sunday, 17th September

A quick bus tour around the southern part of Manhattan did just the trick to get a feel for where we were in relation to all the major sites.

On the way to Battery Park, we took in Chinatown, little Italy, Grenwich Village and 5th Avenue.

From Battery Park, we took the Statten Island ferry so as to take in the New York skyline and a good view of the Statue of Liberty.

Monday 18th September

We set out early, heading in the direction of Central Park from our Times Square base, and grabbed some breakfast at the french style café Le Pain Quotidien which was very good.

A wander through Central Park that took in, not eintirely deliberately, statues of Robert Burns & Walter Scott

After a short panic, during which Sarah and Suzie were convinced that we completely lost, we popped out from Central Park just a couple of blocks from the Guggenheim museum – our intended destination. Although under restoration, it is a stunning building on the inside and the exhibition of Zaha Hadid’s work was well worth the visit.

• FAO Swartz
• The Empire State building

Tuesday 19th September

• Rockefeller Centre
• Statue of Liberty
• Ellis Island
• Ground Zero
• 5th Avenue

Wednesday 20th September

• 5th Ave
• Central Park
• John Lennon Memorial
• Trump Tower

I was up in highland surrounds for Kevin MacIver’s Stag do this weekend which was thoroughly enjoyable – Kevin in a revealing cat outfit, England losing and a boat trip on Loch Awe made for a great time.

I turned up recovering from a hang over of the previous night which made the journey across a little troubling to my stomach region but managed to hold on in there despite the treacherous roads and Kevin’s driving.

We were not the last to arrive, with the full number coming up to 9, Sean being the only one absent and was sorely missed. The full complement: Kevin, Martin, Alan, Steve, Graham, Dave, Jake, Neil & myself. Although Jake and Neil were forced into an early departure due to other Staging commitments, it must be a popular time to Stag.

Many thanks to Colin for lending me his projector for the the event, which was expoited to the full during the football watching that followed. It was not until the Saturday, however, that all 7 of us could appreciate England losing in wonderful 3m x 2m glory on the slightly stained and patterned walls of our accommodation.

Before we could enjoy Rooney’s stamping, we hired a couple of Canadian canoes and a motorboat to explore Loch Awe. Martin and Alan even took a swim, which was very admirable (or insane) given the temperature of the water! It really is fabulous countryside and seeing from the loch like that was great.

More to follow, with pictures.

Skiing in Val Thorens, 2003 (15th to 22nd March) – with my Sarah, my parents, uncle & aunt and the Towers family.