Mike Jones
<font color=993300>....nothing clever to say... ju
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2003
- Messages
- 1,372
The Cast:
Mike, 39, chief organiser, driver and brew maker
Heather, 40, wife and mum
Bethany, 11 (going on 20!), coaster addict, hates getting wet.
Adam, 9, (going on 8!), hates coasters (except BTMRR), LOVES getting wet!
DAY 12 MONDAY 29TH DECEMBER 2003
Todays plan: Shark teeth!
I dont seem to be sleeping as well here as I did at the Villa. Its not a problem, but as the beds comfy enough and we arent using the air-con, Im a bit puzzled as to why I am waking 2 or 3 times each night for the loo and a drink. Then I figure: I was hardly drinking last week, due to driving commitments, but here Im free to abuse myself and the broken nights are the result! I awake properly at 600am. Adam is also awake, so I make pancakes for him and brew coffee, which I take to the poolside. Its still dark, but very mild. I wake Heather with a cuppa and give Beth a shake, but they are both typically reluctant to surface. I jump around noisily, alternating between threats and cajoling until they give in. The pace still seems a bit slow, so I anticipate one of Heathers morning habits and start ironing clothes for her and the kids to wear, hoping to save a few minutes. Im not actually sure why Im rushing around, I think its just habit!
I watch TV to get the weather and news. The forecast is for another 75° day oh, the monotony! The news is US dominated as usual, with two lead stories: the US aid to Iran after the catastrophic earthquake, and Michael Jackson, who gave an interview last night, denying all wrong-doing, and re-stating that he would continue to sleep with children in the future! What a guy!
We emerge from the apartment about 830 and find that its CLOUDY! Whoa how did that happen?! Well, its warm enough, so we drive about 17 miles down the coast to Venice Beach. This is renowned as the best place on this part of the Gulf for finding sharks teeth. We park adjacent to the beach, which is narrower than Siesta, only about 20 yards or so from the dune grasses to the sea. Its also much coarser sand, which is full of shells of all shapes and sizes (and hopefully littered with teeth!) The beach extends quite a distance to the north and south and the backdrop is a mix of low and medium rise apartments and houses. The beach shelves gently and the wave action is quite rough, stirring up the surf-point with every breaker. There are a fair number of people on the beach, waiting for the sunshine, and a good number are mooching along the edge of the waves looking for shells or shark teeth. We all start to search for the treasure!
I quickly realise that it wont be quite as easy as Id assumed. The guide books give few clues about how you actually find the teeth, and its clearly not just a case of picking them up off the top of the sand! By experimentation, we discover that the best way seems to be by crouching in the waters edge (tricky, if you want to stay dry, as the sea is quite active!) and grabbing anything of the right colour or shape as it appears in the backwash. The kids bring a constant stream of items for identification no, Adam, thats a stone. No, Beth, thats a plastic spoon (only kidding, the beaches here are immaculately clean!) Heather gets first blood she finds a ½ inch, black, vaguely triangular tooth.
Quick lesson in the art of tooth hunting: according to the books, sharks continually shed their teeth and grow new ones. As they have hundreds of teeth at any one time, and therefore probably lose thousands over their lives, AND as there are probably millions of sharks and former sharks in and around the Gulf, there should be a lot of teeth knocking about for tourists to take home. The most common colour is black, which denotes prehistoric teeth (and these are more likely to be a bit worn by being pummelled in the waves for years) with white being the colour of recent sheddings. These are rarer, apparently. The sizes can be anything from a few millimetres up to a very rare 75 millimetres, with 10-15mm (1/2) being most common. Well, after about 1 ½ hours, weve found maybe 8 teeth between us, all black, all about ½, so that bits right then! The sun has burnt through now, and its hot! Heather and I sit on chairs weve brought from the apartments (beach chairs, silly!) and the kids start digging holes. They make a friend, Megan, 9, who is American and lives locally. She tells them that her granny lives in Blackpool, England, although shes never been there. Beth later reports that Megan was surprised to hear that we have cars in England all the period dramas and state visits on TV have given her the idea that we only use horses and carriages!
I watch in sick envy as a teenager starts to search for teeth using a colander! Thats cheating! (Where can I get one?) He has a lot more success than us, but only seems to be finding the same sizes and colours as we did. (A few days later, a local teen on Siesta Key told me that although hes been coming to the area all his life, (as his gran lives there,) and has a bucket full of teeth, they are ALL under an inch and 99% of them are black ones!)
We are tired now, due to the coolie, rice-planting posture weve adopted for most of the morning, so we clean off the sand and drive back towards Siesta Key. On impulse we continue past the island and arrive at Downtown Sarasota. We park easily enough on a lot near Main Street and take a walk. The Main Street area is fairly pleasant: tree-lined sidewalks with a variety of shops, cafes and restaurants. We stop for coffee and cakes at Pastry Art, 1508 Main Street. Very reasonably priced, with fresh cakes and a choice of quality coffees. We sit on a sidewalk table to enjoy the idea is that this pseudo-lunch will keep us hungry enough for a big scoff tonight! We cant do two normal (US) sized meals in a day.
According to a guide book, there is a community of artists living in brightly painted bungalows a few blocks away. Some of them open their doors to browsers and there are galleries to wander. We set off on foot, map in hand and find instead a collection of dilapidated timber, trailer-type homes and grotty shacks! As far as we can tell, we are in the right area, and we laughingly question the guide authors level of drug and alcohol abuse, but I feel uneasy for the first time since we came to the States and we make a tactical withdrawal back to the car! Undeterred, and protected by 2 tonnes of steel, we drive up and down the surrounding streets without success. We give up and head off back to Siesta Key.
Ignoring the failure of our cultural adventure, we are still a bit under whelmed with what (admittedly little) weve seen of Sarasota city, during a couple of drive-throughs and the walk today. The scenery is attractive enough, especially down near the waterside area, and the shopping streets seem ok, but there didnt seem to be any big focal point to hook us. With hindsight, I wonder whether Ive overdosed on places like Downtown Disney and Citywalk, where retail commercialism is compact and beautifully packaged. Sarasota is unquestionably a real place, and it probably needs more time to reveal its treasures. Part of the problem is our kids low threshold for wandering around anywhere that doesnt instantly scream fun. This may be one place Heather and I need to spend a couple of full days on foot, if we can ever get here without them!
Quick beer-stop at the Siesta Village Supermarket (wot, no Amber Bock? Had to settle for Bud). We arrived at the apartments around 300pm. Heather organised a washer load of clothes while Adam and I went in the pool until about 430. I suspect Beth was inside, desperately seeking Emerill again. We exit the pool at 430 for showers, after which Bethany and Adam escalate a play-fight to DEFCON 2. It ends with Bethany in tears (mostly of the bollock Adam please crocodile variety!)
We set off just after 5:00, arriving in the village at about 5:15. We are hoping for another Daiquiri Deck dinner, but as we are later than yesterday, we are expecting a wait for a table. It was very busy, but the hostess projected a 15 minute delay and suggested we sit at a table in the upper bar area. I had previously thought that this bit was kiddy-exclusive, as in the UK, but not so, apparently. We perched at a high, circular table on bar stools (which the kids loved!) and ordered drinks. (Pitcher of Bud for Heather and I, coke for Adam and Strawberry/banana smoothie for Beth.) Pleasant waiting, people-watching and listening to the rock music on the sound system. From up here we get a better view of the bar proper, which has a backdrop of slush type cocktail dispensers set into the wall. More of those later (literally!). Our pager goes off and we are shown to a table right on the front of the veranda. This is very acceptable, as we can watch the people and cars cruising past in the warm twilight.
Tonights order comprises: Adam - potato wedges, Bethany cheeseburger, Heather conch soup and shrimp past, and Mike gator bites (chunks of alligator tail in breadcrumbs!) and rare tuna sandwich w/fries. Delicious! The alligator tasted like gamey chicken to me. Cocktail time! Heather chose Silk Panties and I had Bango-Bango. Dont ask me what was in them, cos Ive no idea we did order another round though, so they must have been ok! Not a clue how much it all cost, as for some reason Ive forgotten to write it down! Hic! We leave the restaurant at about 7:15 and I think it would be nice to walk back along the beach. We walk along the street for a block, to the next access point. The road must have cut inland a bit here, as we pass a number of apartments and finally some very attractive beachfront condos before striking the sand. Its long past sunset now, but visibility is ok due to the moonlight and the whiteness of the sand. We wander back along the surf line, passing occasional dark shapes on the beach. Some of these are stunning sandcastles, which we photograph. Others materialise into couples, sitting on blankets and watching the waves. Very romantic! Back at the apartment we watch a bit of TV (Friends) and persuade the kids to bed by about 830. After all the alcohol weve imbibed today, we dont last much longer and are in bed by 915!
Tomorrow: Lazy beach day! (what do you mean, again?)
Mike
Mike, 39, chief organiser, driver and brew maker
Heather, 40, wife and mum
Bethany, 11 (going on 20!), coaster addict, hates getting wet.
Adam, 9, (going on 8!), hates coasters (except BTMRR), LOVES getting wet!
DAY 12 MONDAY 29TH DECEMBER 2003
Todays plan: Shark teeth!
I dont seem to be sleeping as well here as I did at the Villa. Its not a problem, but as the beds comfy enough and we arent using the air-con, Im a bit puzzled as to why I am waking 2 or 3 times each night for the loo and a drink. Then I figure: I was hardly drinking last week, due to driving commitments, but here Im free to abuse myself and the broken nights are the result! I awake properly at 600am. Adam is also awake, so I make pancakes for him and brew coffee, which I take to the poolside. Its still dark, but very mild. I wake Heather with a cuppa and give Beth a shake, but they are both typically reluctant to surface. I jump around noisily, alternating between threats and cajoling until they give in. The pace still seems a bit slow, so I anticipate one of Heathers morning habits and start ironing clothes for her and the kids to wear, hoping to save a few minutes. Im not actually sure why Im rushing around, I think its just habit!
I watch TV to get the weather and news. The forecast is for another 75° day oh, the monotony! The news is US dominated as usual, with two lead stories: the US aid to Iran after the catastrophic earthquake, and Michael Jackson, who gave an interview last night, denying all wrong-doing, and re-stating that he would continue to sleep with children in the future! What a guy!
We emerge from the apartment about 830 and find that its CLOUDY! Whoa how did that happen?! Well, its warm enough, so we drive about 17 miles down the coast to Venice Beach. This is renowned as the best place on this part of the Gulf for finding sharks teeth. We park adjacent to the beach, which is narrower than Siesta, only about 20 yards or so from the dune grasses to the sea. Its also much coarser sand, which is full of shells of all shapes and sizes (and hopefully littered with teeth!) The beach extends quite a distance to the north and south and the backdrop is a mix of low and medium rise apartments and houses. The beach shelves gently and the wave action is quite rough, stirring up the surf-point with every breaker. There are a fair number of people on the beach, waiting for the sunshine, and a good number are mooching along the edge of the waves looking for shells or shark teeth. We all start to search for the treasure!
I quickly realise that it wont be quite as easy as Id assumed. The guide books give few clues about how you actually find the teeth, and its clearly not just a case of picking them up off the top of the sand! By experimentation, we discover that the best way seems to be by crouching in the waters edge (tricky, if you want to stay dry, as the sea is quite active!) and grabbing anything of the right colour or shape as it appears in the backwash. The kids bring a constant stream of items for identification no, Adam, thats a stone. No, Beth, thats a plastic spoon (only kidding, the beaches here are immaculately clean!) Heather gets first blood she finds a ½ inch, black, vaguely triangular tooth.
Quick lesson in the art of tooth hunting: according to the books, sharks continually shed their teeth and grow new ones. As they have hundreds of teeth at any one time, and therefore probably lose thousands over their lives, AND as there are probably millions of sharks and former sharks in and around the Gulf, there should be a lot of teeth knocking about for tourists to take home. The most common colour is black, which denotes prehistoric teeth (and these are more likely to be a bit worn by being pummelled in the waves for years) with white being the colour of recent sheddings. These are rarer, apparently. The sizes can be anything from a few millimetres up to a very rare 75 millimetres, with 10-15mm (1/2) being most common. Well, after about 1 ½ hours, weve found maybe 8 teeth between us, all black, all about ½, so that bits right then! The sun has burnt through now, and its hot! Heather and I sit on chairs weve brought from the apartments (beach chairs, silly!) and the kids start digging holes. They make a friend, Megan, 9, who is American and lives locally. She tells them that her granny lives in Blackpool, England, although shes never been there. Beth later reports that Megan was surprised to hear that we have cars in England all the period dramas and state visits on TV have given her the idea that we only use horses and carriages!
I watch in sick envy as a teenager starts to search for teeth using a colander! Thats cheating! (Where can I get one?) He has a lot more success than us, but only seems to be finding the same sizes and colours as we did. (A few days later, a local teen on Siesta Key told me that although hes been coming to the area all his life, (as his gran lives there,) and has a bucket full of teeth, they are ALL under an inch and 99% of them are black ones!)
We are tired now, due to the coolie, rice-planting posture weve adopted for most of the morning, so we clean off the sand and drive back towards Siesta Key. On impulse we continue past the island and arrive at Downtown Sarasota. We park easily enough on a lot near Main Street and take a walk. The Main Street area is fairly pleasant: tree-lined sidewalks with a variety of shops, cafes and restaurants. We stop for coffee and cakes at Pastry Art, 1508 Main Street. Very reasonably priced, with fresh cakes and a choice of quality coffees. We sit on a sidewalk table to enjoy the idea is that this pseudo-lunch will keep us hungry enough for a big scoff tonight! We cant do two normal (US) sized meals in a day.
According to a guide book, there is a community of artists living in brightly painted bungalows a few blocks away. Some of them open their doors to browsers and there are galleries to wander. We set off on foot, map in hand and find instead a collection of dilapidated timber, trailer-type homes and grotty shacks! As far as we can tell, we are in the right area, and we laughingly question the guide authors level of drug and alcohol abuse, but I feel uneasy for the first time since we came to the States and we make a tactical withdrawal back to the car! Undeterred, and protected by 2 tonnes of steel, we drive up and down the surrounding streets without success. We give up and head off back to Siesta Key.
Ignoring the failure of our cultural adventure, we are still a bit under whelmed with what (admittedly little) weve seen of Sarasota city, during a couple of drive-throughs and the walk today. The scenery is attractive enough, especially down near the waterside area, and the shopping streets seem ok, but there didnt seem to be any big focal point to hook us. With hindsight, I wonder whether Ive overdosed on places like Downtown Disney and Citywalk, where retail commercialism is compact and beautifully packaged. Sarasota is unquestionably a real place, and it probably needs more time to reveal its treasures. Part of the problem is our kids low threshold for wandering around anywhere that doesnt instantly scream fun. This may be one place Heather and I need to spend a couple of full days on foot, if we can ever get here without them!
Quick beer-stop at the Siesta Village Supermarket (wot, no Amber Bock? Had to settle for Bud). We arrived at the apartments around 300pm. Heather organised a washer load of clothes while Adam and I went in the pool until about 430. I suspect Beth was inside, desperately seeking Emerill again. We exit the pool at 430 for showers, after which Bethany and Adam escalate a play-fight to DEFCON 2. It ends with Bethany in tears (mostly of the bollock Adam please crocodile variety!)
We set off just after 5:00, arriving in the village at about 5:15. We are hoping for another Daiquiri Deck dinner, but as we are later than yesterday, we are expecting a wait for a table. It was very busy, but the hostess projected a 15 minute delay and suggested we sit at a table in the upper bar area. I had previously thought that this bit was kiddy-exclusive, as in the UK, but not so, apparently. We perched at a high, circular table on bar stools (which the kids loved!) and ordered drinks. (Pitcher of Bud for Heather and I, coke for Adam and Strawberry/banana smoothie for Beth.) Pleasant waiting, people-watching and listening to the rock music on the sound system. From up here we get a better view of the bar proper, which has a backdrop of slush type cocktail dispensers set into the wall. More of those later (literally!). Our pager goes off and we are shown to a table right on the front of the veranda. This is very acceptable, as we can watch the people and cars cruising past in the warm twilight.
Tonights order comprises: Adam - potato wedges, Bethany cheeseburger, Heather conch soup and shrimp past, and Mike gator bites (chunks of alligator tail in breadcrumbs!) and rare tuna sandwich w/fries. Delicious! The alligator tasted like gamey chicken to me. Cocktail time! Heather chose Silk Panties and I had Bango-Bango. Dont ask me what was in them, cos Ive no idea we did order another round though, so they must have been ok! Not a clue how much it all cost, as for some reason Ive forgotten to write it down! Hic! We leave the restaurant at about 7:15 and I think it would be nice to walk back along the beach. We walk along the street for a block, to the next access point. The road must have cut inland a bit here, as we pass a number of apartments and finally some very attractive beachfront condos before striking the sand. Its long past sunset now, but visibility is ok due to the moonlight and the whiteness of the sand. We wander back along the surf line, passing occasional dark shapes on the beach. Some of these are stunning sandcastles, which we photograph. Others materialise into couples, sitting on blankets and watching the waves. Very romantic! Back at the apartment we watch a bit of TV (Friends) and persuade the kids to bed by about 830. After all the alcohol weve imbibed today, we dont last much longer and are in bed by 915!
Tomorrow: Lazy beach day! (what do you mean, again?)
Mike
