Day 8: Thursday 16 January

Today has been another busy day but not a particularly photographic one.

The day started for me with my third fitness run/jog and walk and there are some aches now, but that can be a good sign, he said optimistically!

Early morning weather report!

After a swim/Jacuzzi session and breakfast, it was time to get to Posner Park.  We needed some milk and we decided we'd also bite the bullet and replace the two bedside lamps in Bedroom 1 as one of them had clearly been knocked over in the past and the lampshade holder screw thread had broken.

Just before we set off, Alex our property manager, emailed us to say he would be in our area and could he see us around 11.30am.  He came on time and we spent the next two hours discussing things about the villa, including showing him our leak round the side of the house - in the equipment where the reclaimed water comes in for the villa's outdoor irrigation system.  Larry had recommended a plumbing firm and Alex said to try them, so we did.  No joy.  It went straight to the answerphone and then a message came up to say that their voicemail box was full.

Had a look at local recommendations and phoned Eric's plumbing who came out promptly and said they could install a rebuild kit costing around $55 all in for around $240 - ouch!  While has was looking at the problem he looked up and pointed out that our eaves were sagging and probably needed attention and I remember thinking OMG, whatever next?!

Alex had told us that the snowbirds coming in for 6 weeks as we leave have asked him to make sure that the pool screen panels are all A1 as they spend all their waking hours outside the villa and don't want any bugs to get in.  Having just had 3 roof panels done, let's hope that they don't spot the two which still have slight gaps!  It's another reminder not to have snowbirds in at this time next year.  They don't pay enough and tend to whinge about this and that!

Larry then came over to show us a book of samples he has for film to cover the windows to reduce UV penetration and also act as a thermal barrier and then we decided to unpack our latest villa upgrade item and start work on disposing of the endless cardboard which came with it and the cot as it's recycling collection day on Friday.

We ended up putting the new bedside lamps in Bedroom 2 and moving the very large ones in there into Bedroom 1 and we felt it all worked OK

Time was getting on by now so we thought it was time to get that online order in to Domino's.  Needless to say we had the usual problem here.  Try to pay on a credit card online and you'll struggle because you see, nobody can possibly have a credit card with a billing address without a US zip code, so I was reduced to using my US bank debit card.  One day it'll be possible to use that UK-based credit card online, but perhaps not just yet.

Another episode of The Crown, Series 2 rounded off the day and this time it was Elizabeth who nodded off first and then I did, and so the day ended!