Day Three – 13th August 2019

THE INDEX IS HERE

Considering this was only our second morning in Florida my notes tell me that I woke up at 5am, drank a bottle of water, passed some water and unbelievably went back to sleep. That’s rare for us on, we’re usually wide awake by 5am for a few days yet. In fact, we didn’t wake up till 7:30am which was brilliant.

As we laid in bed I showed Lynn an email that I’d just got on my phone from Eon asking for my meter readings. Now you know what energy companies are like, if you don’t give them a meter read within about 30 minutes, they relish the chance of giving you an ‘estimated’ reading. Have you noticed this reading is always on the high side?! Funny that, giving these companies the license to print money. Anyway, I was expecting her to say “How are you going to get meter readings from Florida?” instead she said something along the lines of “What the ‘F’ do you want me to do about it?”. I was hoping to amaze her with the note I had on my phone (taken the morning we left blighty) with both electric and gas meter reads but she ruined it! Yes, that’s right, I’m so tight I took a meter read just in case they tried to stitch me up with an estimated bill!

Once up and ready it was time for the beach, stopping briefly at 7-Eleven to get ‘breakfast’, which was donuts again. The beach was just a short walk away from the hotel, passing Gianni Versace’s house on the way. We didn’t loiter outside.

As you may remember we struck out on the beach chair and umbrella front but took some beach towels from reception and soon had a nice spot secured just yards from the clear blue (a lot clearer than the gulf coast) sea. I love being in the water as much as the kids do and was stripped down to the budgie smugglers in a matter of seconds. I grabbed my GoPro and plunged in, beating the kids by a couple of minutes.

I swam out about 50 yards in the crystal-clear water, looked down at the GoPro and saw the blue light flashing. Strange I thought as this is the Wi-Fi light and not only had I not switch Wi-Fi on this holiday, but I hadn’t even switched the camera on yet. Then it dawned on me (here’s the bollock dropped). As some of you will know the older GoPro cameras needed an external case to be waterproof. I had my waterproof case on but unfortunately, I’d left the open back on the camera which had allowed seawater to flood the bloody thing.

Given that it wasn’t switched on, I can only surmise that the flashing blue light was some sort of cry for help having been inundated with brine! I pulled it out of the water, gave it a shake and headed back to the beach. I’ve nearly forgotten to swap the back of the case numerous times before on holiday but this time I’d gone and done it. It was full of water. I took the battery out, gave it a shake and left it to dry out. Deep down I knew it was goosed though. I tried to console myself that I’d had this Hero 4 for a good few years now and taken a lot footage with it and I’d had my money’s worth.

We swam for the next few hours, some of us were quieter than others while we contemplated our actions of this morning but we still had fun. I took these photos later in the morning when I could face picking up a camera again. This one wasn’t waterproof so I stayed well back from the water!



















South Beach is a cracking beach, there’s no mistake about that. Given that the US summer holidays had been and gone it wasn’t too busy, but I can imagine it’s manic in the height of summer. The beautiful people had largely been replaced by regular people (ugly) except for us, obviously 😊

I’d had a walk over to Rip Curl later in the morning because I’d forgotten to pack my rash vest and when I returned, I found my family huddled next to a container full of beach chairs sheltering from the sun. Apparently, they were all too hot and had swam enough for one morning, so we headed back to hotel.

The plan had always been half a day at the beach and half a day of culture. We all showered, ate Cheetos and then caught an Uber across the intercoastal to the Wynwood district of Miami.



We were headed for Wynwood walls which is at the centre of the Wynwood Art District. This once rundown, dangerous area of Miami has been transformed through art (largely graffiti). We were here for Maddy, after retiring from swimming she has really thrown herself into her art.

It was a bit of a shame then, when we pulled up in our Uber the heavens opened. We ducked for cover in a shop to begin with and then made it into ‘Wynwood Walls’ art gallery (indoors) to wait out the rain.



We had to wait inside for half an hour or more. We dodged into the shop and the kids spent cash on see-through playing cards and a Wynwood walls colouring book.

My favourite indoors piece of art was this one and if I had a spare couple of grand it would have sat nicely in my study, but I didn’t, the kids had blown it all on playing cards and colouring books!



Eventually, the rain stopped and we got to explore the walls within the confines of Wynwood Walls.































I realise that was a lot of photos but this place is bloody impressive. Even I was blown away by some of this artwork.

When we had seen everything inside the ‘exhibit’ that is Wynwood Walls we branched out into the surrounding streets. You can see why this place has had a turnaround in fortunes as all the local businesses have bought into the mural concept and had their own commissioned.

We’ll start with ‘One for the dads’













I was about to write “I’m the philistine of the family, I love my science and technology and I’m not remotely arty’ but I realise that I like to take photos so I must have some sort of artistic bent. You get what I’m saying though, I’m not an art buff but I loved this place. I particularly liked the street area outside of Wynwood Walls. Maddy simply adored the place. I can see us returning.

Having spent the afternoon here, we caught another Uber back to the hotel.





Back at the hotel, the GoPro was still ‘goosed’ ☹ I didn’t dwell on it and ushered everyone into fresh clothes and out onto the street, I was starving. To be fair, we all were.



It was a gorgeous evening, red hot in fact and we walked up to the Espanola Way which is a couple of blocks North of where we were staying. We had planned on having Tapas tonight but when we got there, the restaurant we had researched prior to this holiday wasn’t even open!



Undeterred we continued north and then onto Lincoln Road (which is a pedestrianised road full of food and shopping). We all really fancied Spanish/Cuban food still and as we passed a Spanish restaurant called Tapelia. It was very reminiscent of a Spanish restaurant anywhere in the Mediterranean.

Just like a restaurant on the Costa’s, there was a bloke outside trying to tempt you in. I asked if he had any special offers and he duly replied, “Si señor, we have specials this evening, come on in”. I knew he was lying but it was the right answer at the time, I wanted Paella! So we went in.

It was a nice little restaurant. We haven’t been to Spain for years and years but it was very authentic, even down to Julio Iglesias playing softly in the background. We had drinks and then me and the kids shared paella which while not cheap (nothing is in Miami) was excellent! Lynn had a bloody goats cheese flatbread because she can’t resist anything with goats cheese on!













After dinner we browsed the shops a bit before heading south again back to the hotel to freshen up.









Once near the hotel we ducked into our favourite local 7-Eleven for the kids. Here is our first Stranger Things reference of the holiday. The kids wanted to get Wild Cherry Slurpees made famous by the aforementioned TV show. There are more e-numbers than water in these things.



I picked a fight with a halfwit in 7-Eleven and was later lambasted by Lynn for being nasty to this bloke as he was ‘harmless’. What happened was we got our Slurpees and walked over to the counter to find this bloke stood about 10 yards back from the counter waiting to be served. I sussed he was waiting and stood behind him. The problem was, people who didn’t have the manners that us Brits simply looked at him, thought ‘halfwit’ and walked up to the empty counter and got served. This happened two or three times and eventually I had say “Howay mate, every ≈≈≈≈≈≈ is cutting in front of you, you’re stood too far away” obviously in an annoyed North East accent. I’m not sure he understood as he had a poor grasp of English and sounded eastern European. Anyway, I didn’t have to pick him up and throw him at the counter and he moved while having some sort of girly hissy fit.

I literally would have been stood there all night but according to Lynn I was picking on him. In hindsight it’s probably not a good idea starting a fight in a 7-Eleven given how many people get shot in them! 😊

Slurpees secured and free of bullet holes we headed back up towards our hotel and Ocean Drive. The intention this evening (our last night in SoBe) was to have a walk down Ocean Drive and see (and photograph) the art deco hotels lit up in all their neon splendour. Would you believe it though, within seconds of getting back to the hotel to pick up my camera the heavens opened again.

We would end up rained off for the night. I don’t think Lynn was that bothered, she was shattered and was sound asleep through the Americas Got Talent, which me and the kids watched with drinks and snacks.

Then the storm knocked Direct TV off in the hotel which is an absolute disaster in our family! That’s where my notes end for today and I’d like to think we chatted during the TV blackout but we will have played on our phones and then fallen asleep.

Today was a perfect mix for us, beach and swimming in the morning (apart from my dropped bollock), an excursion in the afternoon and then out for really lovely meal in the evening.

Miami…….done (We will be back).

Tomorrow – A day trip to the Keys

PS. A big shutout to Mr Gardner and rest of the All Saints Posse . Thanks for reading along
(Some of the teachers at Lauren and Maddy’s school are Dibbers)

A fab day, that artwork looks amazing. Can't believe how grown up the girls look now, (You and Lynn haven't aged a bit!)

Loving your accidental reason to upgrade you trusty GoPro

A great read as always 🙂
Miami looks fab, we love a 7-Eleven, that’s where you see the real America. Thanks for posting

A great day in Miami despite the rain

JOAN

Oh No - a soggy Go Pro
Now that would really have set me back for a few days. Good to see you did not sulk nor indeed mourn, for too long anyway.
That artwork is incredible

Might be something we need on our high streets here instead of boarded up shops.


As for Eon and 7-11 guy , they belong in the same place

Art Deco night lighting at South Beach is amazing along with the architecture.

Great day and a fab visit to South Beach - glad you noted how expensive it was too

Sounds like a great day, a morning at the beach and a great afternoon and evening browsing and enjoying the local area.
Shame about the Go Pro

Wynwood Walls look amazing - I've been reading a book based in Miami and the Walls are mentioned so it is good to see them here!

Great day, aside from the death of the GoPro 😞 Miami is on my to-do list and when I go I'll definitely be making a visit to Wynwood Walls, it looks amazing.

The incident in 7 Eleven reminded me of a time I was stood in a queue at a 7-11 at the south end of I drive near the turning for the Premium Outlets.
I was minding my own business waiting to pay for some milk and two blokes in front of me suddenly launched into a full on fist fight. I stood like a rabbit in the headlights whilst the assistant yelled at them to 'take it outside man' and they ignored him and carried on swinging punches at each other. After what seemed like ages but was probably a few seconds I carefully placed the milk on the nearest shelf and bolted for the door just as a cop car with sirens blaring pulled onto the forecourt. Crazy. 😮

Amazing art.I remember your daughter being a very keen swimmer x