This month in Florida is really a joy.
The weather has been beautiful and it makes it even more satisfying when I read about the snow storms up North and the 10 to 12 feet of snow in the Northeast.
Myschedule this month kept me close to home working with clients in Florida, Texas and a couple of Canadian clients that made the trip to Florida instead of me going to Canada.
So, I was very fortunate that I didn't get caught up in any of that travel mess in Chicago.
I really felt bad reading about those poor passengers that got stuck on the runway for ten hours on Jet Blue airlines.
I hope none of you got caught in any of those messes at the airports.
If you did, e-mail me and tell me about your bad experiences.
Speaking of bad travel experiences, I do have one to share with you.
We have some good friends (Jocelyne and Derek) that visit "The Villages" every year.
They are from Northern England which makes it very difficult for me to understand them sometimes.
This is especially true of Derek after he has had a couple glasses of wine...
They are quite a couple and both are good golfers, although Jocelyne seems to beat Derek more often than not.
They are both characters and quite a bit of fun on the golf course.
(Geez, just thinking about them makes me write with an English accent) They had to return to England a couple of weeks back as they are only allowed to stay in the States six months at a time.
I received an e-mail from Jocelyne explaining how they ran into a little trouble.
This is her story: Hello Tracy & Rick We heard about the tornados on the British lunchtime news, so we are thinking about you and hoping you are safe and well.
We had an excellent flight home and no troubles at all until we had to transfer between the international and domestic flights at London Gatwick.
We had to catch a another flight to reach our final destination.
An officious little worm told us that we could not travel on a domestic flight with more than one hand baggage (including my hand bag!).
Those buggers at the Florida airport could have warned us that the stipulations were different.
But, we didn't have that problem the last time we transferred at Gatwick now did we.
To top it off, this officious little worm didn't inform us of this policy until it was near time to board.
As a result, your friends Jocelyne and Derek were sitting on the floor of Gatwick Airport, hastily repacking three bags into two (small) ones.
It was quite a time for panic.
I just couldn't let them take any of my personal stuff now could I.
Derek, in all his brilliance, suggested that we put as many clothes on as possible from the extra bag.
He had concluded that we absolutely could not stuff three bags into two without removing some of the contents.
Derek had to board the aircraft wearing THREE jackets, four shirts and a pair of trousers stuffed down the ones he was already wearing.
I did the same with my three SWEATERS, but as I was not wearing trousers I could not help in the other direction!!Derek's jacket pockets (all three of them) were stuffed with all kinds of things including some new knickers I had purchased at Victoria Secret.
I only wish I had had my camera with me - it was bloomin hilarious.
People were giving us very strange looks.
One Lad, I could have socked him, had been watching us the entire time and made some crack to Derek about being a Mitchum man or something.
I asked a lady standing next to me what he was talking about as he walked away and she told me it was a tire company.
Imagine, some stranger calling Derek a TIRE.
American humor, I still have a hard time getting it.
But, Rick you know that as much as you tease Derek about his mid calf white socks he wears.
Then the unthinkable happened.
I became horrified as we walked down the ramp to board the plane and a rather old distinguished looking Scotsman grabbed my arm.
I turned quickly thinking it might be that little worm again as he said, "Excuse me Madam, did you drop these?" He was holding two pair of my knickers, one red and one black in his hand.
I turned bright red, as red as my knickers, mainly due to his smirkish grin that seemed to say "I wonder what you look like in these? I snatched my knickers from his hand and tried to hurry on to the plane but I was in a queue and couldn't go faster.
It was quite embarrassing especially since I could hear him chuckle every few minutes.
I wanted to challenge the airlines and not go through all this but Derek convinced me to keep quite (you know how hard that is) saying they may kick us off the flight.
Seems, we had no choice, and as soon as we had boarded the aircraft for our flight to Manchester, we "undressed" and repacked our belongings into the two carry on holdalls, and all was well.
We are both looking forward so much to our return in late November this year.
And I think Derek is looking forward to seeing me in my new knickers.
A big "thank you" for your very special friendship, and much love from Jocelyne and Derek -