US Diary #3

Drove out to Clearwater today. Man, is this place Paradise!! The drive over was pretty good, not too busy, even past Tampa (which can be hell, I know, I’ve queued - a kind of M62 car-park for middle-Florida). Did a steady 85, well, the Americans do it and I’ve got a nice big car. Found a nice spot on the beach, and there were dolphins playing out in the bay. The sun was scorchio, and the boys played under a the shelter of an umbrella. Took them down to paddle in the ocean, and they giggled and threw shells at each other. Ollie, who’s only 2 and a bit, giggled like a maniac and did funny little dances in the surf. We also played wave-splashing, and the boys built sandcastles with their buckets and spades. Aww.

Anyway, my wife and I were here about 5 years ago, and went to an ace little Greek restaurant facing the beach. Well, it’s still there, only more "fast-foodicised" now, and looking a lot different, more modern and plastic. Went in for lunch anyway, but some of the same original Greek staff were there, and we picked Souvlaki platters which were just absolutely scrummy. I was asking the waitress about the old Greek place, and she knew what I was talking about so this wasn’t just some drunken figment of my sun-fried zombie imagination. Had the best, just the best meal I’ve had in the US for a long long time. Forget steak, forget pizza and burger smush. This was great traditional, um, Greek food. In Florida.

Back to the beach, read some more Bill Bryson (I just love his outlook on both the UK and US, and his statistics are, amusingly, amusing) and Sonia proceeded to turn lobster pink. I mean, real neon nuclear legs. Finally, after frying like eggs in a pan, we checked out some MuckyDonalds ice-creams and headed back to the villa, just creeping under the evening rush-hour by the whisker of a cat’s tail. Or something. Got back to the villa and had a much-deserved cold Budweiser, and a funny dancing session where we applied cold cream to our burnt bits (the kids, obviously, escaped this because we had them syrup-smeared in Factor Stupido).

Ported over my photos, which are just cracking. The white beaches of Clearwater are pretty hard to beat. And couple that with Greeko-Americano food? Can’t beat it bubba.