We both had a bit of a sleep in this morning. Bernie was up just before me and when I opened my door, he said, “About time!”. First on my agenda was a shower, I felt disgusting from yesterday and the warm shower rejuvenated me. As I was doing that, Bernie went into the Cracker Barrel to get our morning drinks. When I was done, I met him on the rocking chairs and we continued our routine from yesterday. His smoking was getting to me this morning and I told him so. He didn’t mind, I just sat a few chairs away. It was a cold morning, so I eventually left the chairs and stood in a patch of sun. When that still didn’t work, I admitted I wasn’t wearing enough clothes, so retreated to the van for a costume change.
Bernie eventually followed as I made myself some bacon and eggs for breakfast. He wasn’t partaking because he’s not a breakfast eater. We made a plan for the day to drive up to Sarasota for some more tennis, this time on clay courts to get Bernie in the zone for his tournament on clay next week. I navigated us there and Bernie followed. He was happy to have a “tech person” around to follow blindly. He called me when we drove right past the courts. Obviously I’m not the best navigator, good thing he was paying attention. We looped around, parked by the courts and walked in. There was a tournament going on, one which Bernie had elected not to play in because the organisers weren’t all that good and I could see why. When we asked if we could have a practice hit, they weren’t having any of it, despite the fifteen or so free courts. The best they could offer was “the wall”, a half-court with a wall to hit off. I sat around and watched a few matches and despite the age categories of 55+, it was some bloody good tennis and some of these guys took it very seriously! Bernie got talking to most people there and managed to score us some fruit from the player’s trough. I read Bernie’s book between points, enjoying the sun on the comfy couches the club had set out by the courts. I was easily the youngest person there by about thirty years.
Eventually I got restless, so I asked Bernie if I could have his racquet and balls to go to the wall. He came out to his car with me and we decided now would be a good time to fix the seal on his convertible roof. We took the top off and with my silicon and some tape, we stuck the loose gasket back on and stuck it in place to dry. Bernie got talking to another couple while I was working on the roof. He was still going by the time I was done so I fished out my racquet and some balls and left them to it. I’ve learnt this is perfectly ok with Bernie. When he gets going with someone, I wander off and he comes and finds me when he’s done.
I stayed at the wall for at least an hour, determined to get some resemblance of my old form back. By the time I was done, I could almost manage a decent double-handed backhand, once my most powerful asset! A few tournament players came and went to share the court with me and twice I had to climb the fence to retrieve balls I hit over. Bernie was the last to join me. He hit around for about twenty minutes before I was due for lunch and when I offered him some, he ordered a bacon and egg sandwich like the one I’d made this morning. Coming right up! We went out to the carpark and I cooked up his egg and bacon and made me a wrap. In that time, a tournament friend of Bernie’s came over and he pitched the story he’d been telling all day: that I was his illegitimate granddaughter from Australia, my mother born from hew mother’s one night stand with Bernie while he was in Australia fighting the war. It flew with some people!
When I handed Bernie his lunch on a plate, he had the gall to ask for mayo to put on it. I balked at him, asking for more when I’d already gone far out of my way. We get each other’s humour very well. He’d started talking to someone new, so I went back to the courts and found a good match to spectate. The 70s consolation final was almost over and the two guys playing were chirpy as ever, including me, their only spectator in their banter. Bernie found me a few games from the end of the match and we talked in hush voices as they played, both players full of praise for the other when they hit a good shot. They ended the game hugging, telling each other that it was opponents like them that made these tournaments so enjoyable. Nice to see.
The tournament was winding down, so we were finally able to get onto a court with two of Bernie’s mates, Rich and Matt. Bernie sidelined for the start, I think because Rich was being mean, so Matt, Rich and I played a few points, taking turns serving and it took me a good while to get used to the clay. That lasted about half an hour, then another court freed up so me and Bernie went onto it so Bernie could get some real practice in. He was the one in training for a tournament after all! We hit around a bit, then got stuck into a game. I had a better start this time, at one point getting four first serves in a row! We were tied up until 4-4, then I choked and lost out at 6-4, but I had improved! We finished right on 4pm which was my queue to leave. I had an appointment at an Apple store in Tampa, an hour’s drive away. I thanked Rich and Matt for the hit and said goodbye to Bernie, we arranged to call and meet up for camp later that night. We became instant travel buddies the moment we met.
The drive to Tampa actually took two hours with the horrific traffic and a toll bridge, but Jayne helped me while away the time when she called right on queue as I hit the first row of stopped cars. I didn’t stress too much about getting there on time, but was grateful when I turned up at the huge shopping mall, found a Colin Edwards park (a parking space right at the door when the rest of the lot is chockers) and managed to walk in the door where the Apple store was right around the corner. The store was packed but I was soon checked in at the Genius bar for my appointment. After half an hour of seeing all the people around me getting help, I was about to ask for assistance when the man beside me helping another customer asked if I was being looked after. When I said no, he apologised and said I’d been missed. When I told him I just wanted a clean reset on my Macbook Air, he multi-tasked away, helping his current customer and me at the same time.
Since I had him, I asked him all sorts of questions about the troubles I’d had with my iPhone and within seconds of looking at it, he told me that the screen the other people had used was not a genuine Apple screen which I was aghast to hear. I assumed all screens came from Apple and the “fix-it” stores just installed them. Nope, mine was some dodgy take-off screen and he suspected that my issues were down to the fact that the screen was non-genuine. ARGHH!!!! So angry, but I was happy this professional was telling me this. When I asked how much it would be to get a replacement phone, he told me $300, so that is good information to know for later. If the screen goes to shit again, I’m just going to do the $300 option, it’s not worth doing any more replacements.
With the other customer dealt with and my computer loading away, we chatted on, about Apple, Tesla, travels and the usual stuff. I was super grateful for his help, the service was second-to-none and every staff member in there is all about efficiency, something I like to see. We shook hands and I sat for a bit, doing some migration of files to the new computer, which was running like a well-oiled machine.
Starving (it’s now 7:30pm), I went to the food court and had dirty Chinese for dinner, working away on my computer while I ate. By the time I was done eating, I’d migrated over all the files I needed and it was ready to go! As easy as that. I called Bernie on my way back to the car but got his voicemail so drove south anyway. He called me back soon enough and told me where he was. He’d sussed out a good Walmart camp. I spoke to Dad on my drive down, telling him all about the mishaps and adventures of the past couple of days and he told me about the 14* weather and 100mL of rain down in WA, all with much laughing involved. Bernie called me again to make sure I knew where he was and twenty minutes later, we were reunited in a supermarket carpark where he’d just bought his dinner. We sat on a bench outside and talked (some more) while he ate and I hydrated with water after my Chinese. We had been keen for a beer since it was Friday night, but decided we’d have a quiet one at Walmart instead. By the time we pulled up and made camp, we weren’t even keen for that we were both so tired. When we parked, I checked on the Space X launch and found that it had been further delayed until 18th February. I would have to sleep on my plan to stay or go. I caught up on my blog while Bernie went in to Walmart to buy a headtorch, which I put together for him when he came back out. We make such a good team.