Tales from the Sunshine State

By Borry Porter

This is the fourth foray into the author's life experiences and this time the family unexpectedly fly across the Atlantic to spend a glorious time in Florida. It was unexpected because when they went to book the holiday their intended destination was Egypt! Florida was booked as a once-in-a-lifetime holiday but they all loved it so much that they returned every year for over twenty years, until Borry became too unwell to travel such a distance. Borry relates tales of the mountains of food, travel and getting lost, villas vs. hotels and of course the wonderful attractions. Welcome to the trans-Atlantic fun!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Aug 12, 2015
• ISBN: 9781514461938

Borry Porter

Born in East London in the middle of the twentieth century, Borry met her husband when someone else brought him as a guest to her eighteenth birthday party and thirty-seven years later she still considers him to be the best birthday present she has ever received. Borry initially obtained a degree with the aim of becoming a teacher. Unfortunately realizing too late that this was the wrong career choice became instead an Offender Manager for London Probation until she medically retired in May 2014. She is a very loving mum and nanna spending as much time as she can with her wonderful family.

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Copyright © 2015 by Borry Porter.

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Rev. date: 08/06/2015

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CONTENTS

AND THIS IS WHERE THE FUN BEGINS…

Let the life begin with a happy smile … lets yourself bloom life like a flower. Spreading happiness everywhere ¹

TRAVEL

Not all those who wander are lost … ²⁵

ACCOMMODATION

My definition of a good hotel is a place I’d stay at ³⁸

FOOD

… eat what you like and let the food fight it out, inside. ⁵⁹

ATTRACTIONS

I call myself The Amusement Park. That’s because I’m funny and scary at the same time. ⁷⁸

RIDES & EXPERIENCES

The world is like an amusement park. And when you go on it you think its real because that’s how powerful our minds are. ⁹⁸

HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS

Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see ¹²²

MARCHING EVER ONWARD

….. the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grief which we endure help us in our marching onward ¹³²

ENDNOTE REFERENCES

DEDICATION

As always, sincere thanks to my wonderful Ginger, my soul mate and the love of my life and our Tiddlers who have helped me to relive the wonderful memories in glorious Technicolour. This is the fourth foray into our memories and with their unending patience they provide just the right amount of nagging and unconditional love, despite what I write about them! My babes are always in my heart.

With sincere thanks to my publisher Xlibris for all of their help, support and guidance.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

OF BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR

Tales from the Seaside

published: November 2013

ISBNs:   (hardcover) 978-I-4931-1907-3

               (paperback) 978-I-4931-1906-6

               (electronic) 978-I-4931-1908-0

Tales from Elsewhere

Published: May 2014

ISBNs:   (hardcover) 978-I-4931-9476-6

               (paperback) 978-I-4931-9474-2

               (electronic) 978-I-4931-9475-9

Tales from Life

Published: November 2014

ISBNs:   (hardcover) 978-I-4990-9090-1

               (paperback) 978-I-4990-9088-8

               (electronic) 978-I-4990-9089-5

AND THIS IS WHERE THE FUN BEGINS…

"L

et the life begin with a happy smile … lets yourself bloom life like a flower. Spreading happiness everywhere" ¹

Over the years Borry has had some magnificent holidays, some breathtaking, some fun and some completely chaotic. She has wonderful memories of holidays which she had with her parents Harry and Gracie, some with extended family including uncle aunts and cousins, even the chaotic ones which due to the passage of time which seems to lend a fun tinge to the chaos. She has been to lots of beautiful places, home and abroad which she would love to revisit. She first visited Italy with her parents when she was a teenager although the much loved holiday acted as a catalyst for her losing her job². She has made return visits to the land of heavenly pasta and gelato on three further occasions, each time with the love of her life and constant sidekick Ginger. Borry and Ginger visited Norway for a wonderful sixteen day break after retaking their wedding vows on their thirtieth wedding anniversary. The glorious break was a lovely second honeymoon. Borry’s only disappointment was that they were not able to see the Northern Lights³ because they visited at the wrong time of year and were too far south in the country. Despite a terrible twenty-six hour North Sea crossing when everyone on the beautiful ship was sick, including most of the crew they had a majestic holiday full of waterfalls, glaciers, fjords, trolls, wonderfully fresh fish, tons of smooth and creamy wobbly blancmange and goats on grass turfed roofs⁴! Their holidays spent in the United Kingdom have, on the whole also been amazing experiences. Great Yarmouth in Norfolk has always been a family favourite where most of Ginger’s family eventually moved to. Borry, Ginger and the Tiddlers spend as often as they can there together and separately, although once forced to go home at the end of a lovely long awaited family get together it never seems like its been long enough. The West Country has also been a family favourite and they have holidayed from Dorset with its very rude huge chalk giant at Cerne Abbas⁵ who is carved into the hillside and who is believed to be a fertility symbol to Cornwall with its wonderful cream teas and fine sandy beaches. They have been through the caves in Cheddar Gorge⁶, even more caves at Wooky Hole⁷ and holidayed right into the toe of the United Kingdom. However despite all of the places which Borry has visited throughout her life there is one which stands out - HEAD AND SHOULDERS - above all others. They visited for the first time as an afterthought but love it so much that they made return visits for over twenty years. They only stopped returning when Borry’s kidney’s failed and her medical condition deteriorated to such a point that she could no longer undertake such a long and arduous journey because of her ongoing requirement for dialysis.

The family’s Floridian adventures started quite unexpectedly. It was not something which had been a family dream or an aim. Borry awoke one morning to find that their kind and friendly postman had brought her a very important letter. She was amazed to find that she had come into some money, it was quite a small windfall by windfall standards but large enough to make the family very excited. She managed to keep the news of her unexpected windfall to herself despite her excitement until the Tiddlers were in bed and asleep that night. Borry told Ginger her exciting news and they had a serious discussion. They had a lot of debts. They had stupidly taken on several lots of HP to furnish their home over the past few years, and when they found it difficult to cope with repayments as Borry gave up work to have the children they had taken a consolidation loan to pay off the HP and therefore lower the monthly payments. Unfortunately they even more stupidly spent the consolidation loan money on other more immediate debts and bills and did not pay off the HP, so now owed both lots of money and life gradually became even more difficult. Borry suggested that they use her windfall to pay some of the remaining HP which would then lower their monthly outgoings and give them breathing space each month, but she could tell that Ginger wasn’t listening to her and seemed to be in a daydream. She nudged him, kissed his cheek and asked him what he was thinking about. He said that he realised that as a family they had never been abroad and was thinking about how much the Tiddlers would enjoy a foreign experience. All of them had been to Europe at some point in their lives. Borry had been several times with her parents while Ginger and the Tiddlers had all been with their various school groups. Ginger looked into Borry’s eyes and asked her from her experience did she think that the Tiddlers would enjoy a foreign holiday. As Borry looked into Ginger’s beautiful sky blue eyes she knew that he was right, but what about their debts? Ginger explained his thoughts to try and get his wife on board with his idea. He explained that basically they had no spare money or savings, Borry said that she was well aware of that and said that she felt it was her fault because she was a stay-at-home-mum. She felt that if she worked, even part time then they would be able to manage better. After reassuring his wife that Ginger preferred her to stay at home with the Tiddlers while they were young, besides they could not afford the exorbitant child care costs for three children, even if Borry was working, he steered the conversation back towards his foreign experience idea. He explained that this money was completely unexpected, came through the letter box out of the blue and was something that they would probably never have again. If, as Borry suggested they paid household bills with the money it would be completely swallowed up, without trace and there would be nothing to show for it other than a limited peace of mind at the end of each month. After all, he reasoned it wasn’t as if they couldn’t usually (just) manage on their family income, although they barely had their heads above water but if they received a sudden tidal wave caused by an unexpected bill, or the car tax became due or their were necessary repairs involved in the MOT then the resulting wave hit the family with force. Ginger paused, took a deep breath and said that his idea was to use the money to take the Tiddlers on a once in a lifetime type of holiday. Although they all enjoyed their English holidays to Haven⁸ or Butlins⁹ each October it was never sunny, it was usually cold and damp and Ginger was ever grateful that these camps had lots of organized indoor activities to keep the Tiddlers occupied if the weather was unfriendly. Ginger explained that they would have to explain to the Tiddlers that the holiday would only be a once in a lifetime event, not something which they would be able to afford every year. Finally he looked at Borry who was sitting in silence and reassured her that he understood that the money was hers and he would agree with whatever she decided. His heart sank as they sat in silence. He knew that she was being sensible and the money should be used to pay off some of their debts. He would not put undue pressure on her but he wondered whether, when all was said and done and the money was gone whether it would make any real difference to their monthly finances.

They sat without speaking for several minutes and Ginger tried to focus on the television programme which was playing quietly in the background when he felt Borry slide her hand into his. He looked at her as she suddenly seemed to explode! She started bouncing up and down on the sofa, which was a trait she had carried over from childhood when she was excited, and she was speaking so quickly that Ginger had to slow her down to understand what she was actually saying. He was amazed that she was clearly in favour of his holiday idea, he didn’t think that she would be. He leant forward and kissed her with some difficulty as she was still bouncing. He asked her where she would like to go for their holiday, he didn’t have anywhere specific in mind because his thinking hadn’t gone that far. He attempted to stop Bouncing Borry and asked her to think about it while he went to the kitchen to make them both a drink. When he returned she said that she felt that it might be a good idea to ask the Tiddlers where they would like to go. They could have a family discussion and then make a family decision, Borry said that she didn’t mind where they went as long as the windfall covered all expenses. Ginger agreed and the following day once the Tiddlers were in school Borry went to the local travel agent and obtained a pile of holiday brochures which she left in strategic places around the house for everyone to look at.

For the next couple of weeks when the Tiddlers were not at school and had some free time none of them were ever seen without a holiday brochure in their hands. There were several minor injuries sustained which were caused by a lack of attention as people walked around the house without watching where they were going and misjudged where the impending doorway was, wandering aimlessly into the door frame or walking through the patio doors into the garden and missing the step thereby wrenching or twisting an ankle or scraping a heel as they dropped several unexpected inches into the garden. The investigation into possible holiday locations also caused some heated discussions between the Tiddlers which were soon mended as soon as the brochures were swapped between them for different ones. Minds were changed on a daily basis! Borry and Ginger watched the progress and discussions with humour and interest until eventually Ginger called order on the proceedings. He and Borry had been spending evenings sitting together and looking through the brochures but had more or less decided that they would allow the Tiddlers to choose the holiday location and would go where the Tiddlers directed them. Ginger informed the Tiddlers that they would be having a family meeting on Friday evening after dinner to decide where they wanted to go on holiday and then once a decision was made they would go to the travel agent on Saturday morning and book the holiday.

Dinner on Friday evening was eaten in silence. Very unusual for the Porter household, but everyone was thinking about their choice of holiday location and wondering where their ultimate choice would be. They were all sitting in the living room with the holiday brochures in the middle of the floor. Even the pets had settled in the living room with them, the cats Odie and Garfield were lounging in their usual position, on top of Teddy the long haired German Shepherd puppy in front of the gas fire which was on low. Borry always thought it was funny when she walked into the lounge and saw them in a heap. They were all young animals but the family had acquired the kittens several months before the puppy and felt that they were blessed that the pets all got on so well. The kittens were a brother and sister and had accepted Teddy without question when he was brought home as an eight week old ball of fluff. He was now several months old and was growing, was getting huge but hadn’t grown into his huge flapping paws or floppy ears yet, one of which was nicely upright but the other remained loppy and sideways. The cats had accepted him as if he were just another brother, and Borry loved them all for it. Once the family had decided on a holiday location and had set a date they would have to ensure that the pet vaccinations were up to date (another unexpected expense) and then book them all into a boarding kennels for while they were away. Borry was beginning to realise that the holiday lark peripherals could be expensive, but she supposed that it was all part and parcel of owning pets, after all she would want them all to be safe.

The family discussion was strangely structured. Everyone took turns in explaining where they wanted to go and giving reasons why they wanted to go there while the others listened without interrupting. Once each of the Tiddlers had spoken it seemed that Jamie and Jan had decided separately that they would like to go to Egypt. Danny wanted to go to Spain because he had seen in the brochure that there was what looked like a huge water and theme park near the coast and he felt that if they went there, they would spend a lot of the time either on the beach, in the sea, on pedaloes or hopefully, in the theme park. Always a gruesome child Danny explained that he would love to go to a bullfight so he could see whether any bullfighters would be gored by the bulls. Borry was not as keen on the idea of going to Spain as the others seemed to be. She had been to Spain as a teenager with her parents Harry and Gracie¹⁰ and a good time was had by all. She had very fond memories of the excursions, the drunken wine tasting and the country and its friendly inhabitants as a whole. She had also been very keen to attend the excitement of a bull fight, but had not taken into account the inherent violence and what she had perceived to be terrible cruelty of the proceedings and had cried all the way through six fights which took place over one very long and extremely hot afternoon. Borry decided to keep all of this information to herself until a definite location had been decided and then tell the Tiddlers how she felt about bull fights, then if they decided that they still wanted to go to one she would stay at the hotel around the swimming pool while Ginger accompanied them. After Danny’s holiday pitch Jan and Jamie were both very excited at the thought of the theme park but felt that Spain was a long way to go for one theme park, no matter how large and exciting it might be. They stuck to their choices of an Egyptian holiday, viewing the pyramids, boat trip along the Nile and a different culture to experience. Danny nodded, accepting the choice of his older siblings stoically because he very much liked the idea of going to the pyramids, there might even be some dead bodies, mummies, for him to look at although Jamie attempted to soften the blow by explaining that visitors were no longer allowed to go inside the pyramids because of erosion damage which was being caused by the condensation from the breath of visitors, and anyway all of the mummies would now be in museums around the world, not lying in situ. However, Danny could not be deterred, that it until Borry who had been looking at requirements for visits to Egypt in the holiday brochure mentioned vaccinations, there seemed to be quite a few and although they were not compulsory they were highly recommended. Jamie who had always been needle phobic went slightly green round the gills and Danny almost collapsed at the thought of having vaccinations to go on holiday. However, Jan, Borry and Ginger nodded and said that if the Egyptian holiday was booked then they would book a course of the required vaccinations¹¹ so they would be safe to travel. Danny decided in that instant that he no longer wanted to go to Egypt, dead bodies or not and would prefer to go to Spain instead but the decision was made, Egypt here we come!

The following morning they were sitting in the reception area of the local travel agent waiting for an advisor to become available. They were surprised at how busy the shop was and how varied the holiday locations were which people were travelling to. It was a small shop and they could hear everyone’s conversations and there were some very interesting holidays being booked. Borry was sitting directly in front of a young couple who were booking what sounded like a Caribbean wedding for themselves and ten guests. It sounded wonderfully romantic and Borry gently slid her hand into Ginger’s as the memories of their lovely wedding came back to her. Ginger had obviously been listening to their plans also and as he held Borry’s hand he leaned toward her and kissed her on the cheek much to Danny’s disgust as he tutted and shook his head causing Jan and Jamie to giggle. They heard a cheery female voice call next lucky people please as she stood and indicated the chairs in front of her desk. Ginger stood and still holding Borry’s hand led her to the vacant chairs. They were followed by Danny who perched on Borry’s lap as Jan and Jamie sat together in the waiting area but focusing now on their parents conversation with the advisor.

Borry left the talking to Ginger rather than bombard Ms. Travel with lots of excited information all at the same time and slid her arms around Danny to stop his excited jiggling as Ginger started talking. He told Ms. Travel that they had come to book a family holiday and wanted to go to Egypt. Ms. Travel’s expression changed, became more concerned and seeing this Ginger stopped talking. She had noticed this boisterous family as they arrived and knew that the other two children who remained in the waiting area one of whom was a pretty teenage girl were also part of the family. Ms. Travel asked whether they wanted to go to an Egyptian resort such as Sharm El Sheikh but Ginger was firm. They wanted to go to the real Egypt, the old parts, the markets, the pyramids and temples and if possible a few days on a boat on the Nile. Ms. Travel looked very awkward and shuffled in her seat as if it were heating up underneath her bum, she shuffled the paperwork in front of her, looked at her computer screen as if for reassurance then running out of ideas she looked firstly at Borry then at Ginger. She lowered her voice, leant forward and asked again whether they were sure that they didn’t want to go to a resort rather than the real Egypt. Ginger, confused by Ms. Travel’s sudden odd demeanor leaned slightly back in his chair and unsure of what to say having made their needs clear just nodded. He was surprised when Ms. Travel leaned even further forward across her desk, Ginger couldn’t help feeling that if she came any further forward she would have been sitting on top of the desk. Ms. Travel beckoned him toward her, Ginger looked at Borry before the three of them leaned toward her. She lowered her voice and looked around her at her closest colleagues and a wandering member of staff before hissing theatrically that she could not in all good conscience recommend that a young family travel to Egypt, especially with a young child (indicating Danny) and a pretty young girl (indicating Jan). Looking around surreptitiously again she continued that Egypt would not be an appropriate holiday destination for a family, that is unless they would reconsider going to a resort.

Ginger was surprised by Ms. Travel’s demeanour and even more surprised by what she had said. It was clear from her strange behaviour and tone of voice that this was her own view and clearly not that of the company who employed her. Ginger felt that it was also not the view of the British Government because if they had felt it was dangerous for families to travel to Egypt they would say so, or ban travel to that part of the world. However, Ms. Travel was clearly spooked by his request to book a holiday there and as he watched her slide off of her desk back into her hot seat he looked at Borry who shrugged. Ms. Travel with her voice still lowered suggested that the family go away to reconsider their choice of holiday destination then come back to see her and she would be happy to book for them, however if after reconsidering further they decided that they still wanted to go to Egypt then … she hesitated … she would book the holiday for them, but it was clear from her concerned tone that it would be grudgingly. Ginger nodded and the family left the shop and walked slowly through the shopping mall toward the food court. The morning’s excitement which they had all been infected with when they left home had evaporated to be replaced by unexpected anticlimax. They had decided to have a further family meeting while eating an early lunch to see whether they had a second preference for a holiday or whether they needed an extra week to look again at all of the holiday brochures.

They were sitting around the table in the noisy food court with the mingling smells of fish, burgers, Chinese and Indian food tantalized them while deciding what each of them would like to eat although none of their minds were really on the food choices. Once their meals had been chosen and purchased they reconvened at a table away from the centre of the room where they hoped they would be able to eat and chat in relative peace. Danny who was relieved that the hated vaccinations appeared to be out of the picture attempted again to push his choice of Spain. It was a fairly close destination and he felt that he was on a winner because of the excitement of a conjoined theme and water park in the area of the destination. The Tiddlers had previously been to Thorpe Park¹² with various youth groups to which they belonged, Borry and Ginger hadn’t. The family had been to Pleasurewood Hills¹³ on the Norfolk coast within a few years after the park had first opened and although set in very pretty extensive grounds there wasn’t very much there in the way of thrill rides, and although the family enjoyed their visit they had never returned despite visiting Norfolk frequently to be with family. All of the Tiddlers very much