16th June 2016 Ten Years In Sarasota
I took possession of my condominium in Sarasota ten years ago today.
My pathway through retirement had been magical. I sold my condo. in Medford in two days. When I flew to Sarasota I bought a condo here within to days. That was in April. The purchaser in Medford was glad to delay the closing until June. The sellers in Sarasota were also happy with a June completion date.
All was going so very smoothly until I set out to fly from BOS to TPA via ATL using Air Tran.
The Air Tran desk in BOS was in a corridor, and it was a scene of chaos. Air Tran was canceling and changing flights at will. My flight had been canceled,
When I reached the front of the line I asked the clerk if I could be routed via Chicago. He said that Air-Tran did not fly in or out of Chicago. I told him that I had indeed used Air Tran to CHI.
"Are you calling me a liar?" he asked.
At which point a thirty something man in line behind me stepped up and said "He did not call you a liar, he simply stated that he had flown through CHI on A-T." Hurrah for him.
He and I got re booked on a later flight to ATL. By happenstance we each had aisle seats, and were side my side across the aisle. He was anxious to get home to his wife and son (somewhere in the American south west, and I to get to TPA. We had next to know time to make the connecting flights.
We arrived early in ATL (cheers), but the were parked on the tarmac for thirty minutes, meaning that we each had missed our connecting flights.
Then we went through the long and tedious process of securing flights for the next morning, and of being assigned Hotels.
Again, by happenstance, we were assigned to the same hotel. When we got there at about 11:30 p.m. he said "I need to talk with you". We chatted over a snifter in a nearby bar, and he, by then knowing that I was a Priest, poured out his heart and soul seeking spiritual counsel. (You never know).
Plan A had seen me in TPA on June 15th in good time to get a rental car and then drive to Sarasota.
Plan B meant that I would arrive in TPA at 10:30 a,m. on June 16th. That left me precious little time to get the rental car, and then drive to the Lawyer's office and sign the papers. (My Lawyer was shutting up shop that day at Noon). So, late that night in my good Realtor in SRQ got a call from me saying "help, would you meet me at TPA and drive me to the Law office.?"
That he did. Just as we drove into the Lawyer's Parking lot at 11:55 .a.m. my Realtor got a call on his mobile 'phone. It was from the lawyer. I heard my Realtor say "we are just driving in to your parking lot".
Phew we had made it just in time.
These have been a good ten years for me. I will celebrate with a soiree at my home with some of my new friends on Friday night. Then on Monday I will have lunch with Kay and Barbara who now live in Bradenton, but who were parishioners at St. Stephen's in Pittsfield, and with my splendid new (since 2006) Sarasota friends Rob and Charlotte,
They have also been good years for my brother Martyn and his son Sam, for my sisters Maureen and Jean and their husbands, Bern and John respectively, for my first cousin Janet and her partner Steve, for my niece Beth and her b/f Jordan, and for my niece Anne, her husband Stuart with their daughter Olivia, together with a host of my friends from Pittsfield and Cambridge MA, all of whom have been pleased that I retired to this little spot of paradise -
SRQ
My pathway through retirement had been magical. I sold my condo. in Medford in two days. When I flew to Sarasota I bought a condo here within to days. That was in April. The purchaser in Medford was glad to delay the closing until June. The sellers in Sarasota were also happy with a June completion date.
All was going so very smoothly until I set out to fly from BOS to TPA via ATL using Air Tran.
The Air Tran desk in BOS was in a corridor, and it was a scene of chaos. Air Tran was canceling and changing flights at will. My flight had been canceled,
When I reached the front of the line I asked the clerk if I could be routed via Chicago. He said that Air-Tran did not fly in or out of Chicago. I told him that I had indeed used Air Tran to CHI.
"Are you calling me a liar?" he asked.
At which point a thirty something man in line behind me stepped up and said "He did not call you a liar, he simply stated that he had flown through CHI on A-T." Hurrah for him.
He and I got re booked on a later flight to ATL. By happenstance we each had aisle seats, and were side my side across the aisle. He was anxious to get home to his wife and son (somewhere in the American south west, and I to get to TPA. We had next to know time to make the connecting flights.
We arrived early in ATL (cheers), but the were parked on the tarmac for thirty minutes, meaning that we each had missed our connecting flights.
Then we went through the long and tedious process of securing flights for the next morning, and of being assigned Hotels.
Again, by happenstance, we were assigned to the same hotel. When we got there at about 11:30 p.m. he said "I need to talk with you". We chatted over a snifter in a nearby bar, and he, by then knowing that I was a Priest, poured out his heart and soul seeking spiritual counsel. (You never know).
Plan A had seen me in TPA on June 15th in good time to get a rental car and then drive to Sarasota.
Plan B meant that I would arrive in TPA at 10:30 a,m. on June 16th. That left me precious little time to get the rental car, and then drive to the Lawyer's office and sign the papers. (My Lawyer was shutting up shop that day at Noon). So, late that night in my good Realtor in SRQ got a call from me saying "help, would you meet me at TPA and drive me to the Law office.?"
That he did. Just as we drove into the Lawyer's Parking lot at 11:55 .a.m. my Realtor got a call on his mobile 'phone. It was from the lawyer. I heard my Realtor say "we are just driving in to your parking lot".
Phew we had made it just in time.
These have been a good ten years for me. I will celebrate with a soiree at my home with some of my new friends on Friday night. Then on Monday I will have lunch with Kay and Barbara who now live in Bradenton, but who were parishioners at St. Stephen's in Pittsfield, and with my splendid new (since 2006) Sarasota friends Rob and Charlotte,
They have also been good years for my brother Martyn and his son Sam, for my sisters Maureen and Jean and their husbands, Bern and John respectively, for my first cousin Janet and her partner Steve, for my niece Beth and her b/f Jordan, and for my niece Anne, her husband Stuart with their daughter Olivia, together with a host of my friends from Pittsfield and Cambridge MA, all of whom have been pleased that I retired to this little spot of paradise -
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| From the Street (1) |
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| From the Street (2) |
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| Looking out from my Lanai to the Pond |
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| From the air. (A helicopter ride I took with my nephew Sam and his pal Toby. |
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| Today, and since the massacre in Orlando |
Next to no time, not next to know time!
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