obligatory poolside picture

Okay, so this one doesn't include knees or feet in the foreground. Maybe later...It was 92 degrees according to that Fahrenheit system, which I make is about 33 Centigrade.

today we visit Harambe

This time we're off to Harambe, in East Africa.

We'll be catching the train to the reserve and then hopping aboard a high-sided truck to bounce our way across the savannah, on the lookout for wild life.

The baboons around the station could be mischievous, and the train itself is something from the Victorian age. At least the truck looks as if it doesn't need anything very sophisticated to repair it.

Sure enough, there's the first giraffe, and close by are a few more. The rhinoceros decided to stand in the middle of the road until a few of his chums came along so that they could move away together to new spot of mud.

There's a couple more, preparing for one of those bookends poses.

And then, around the next corner, a lioness. She'd grabbed a great lookout spot on the rocks, but there's unlikely to be much movement until the sun drops further.

I think we'd better get back into a safer area before the sun gets much lower.

Brooklyn, Telegraph Hill and Newbury Street in five minutes

Okay, now we're off to Brooklyn, and maybe San Francisco.

They are only a few steps apart in Hollywood Studios, and even if the old British phone box has gone, there's a Chinatown SF one to replace it. Nearby there's the Golden Gate Bridge, seen here in a view with accompanying Telegraph Hill that you wouldn't get in the real San Francisco.

Then again, turn and look back along the same street, and it could be Newbury Street, Boston?

fast pass plus

The Fast Pass Plus system helps get around the parks at a good speed.

We decided we've reached a kind of Zen Mastery level of the parks now, skipping from one mountain ride to another, whilst slotting in a few of the shows too.

By the evening, we needed a rest for ach day's 9-10 miles of footwork. I've loaned out my fitbit, but still have 19,000 steps recorded for one day and 17,000 for another.

Today, for recovery, we headed along to the Contemporary, to their Californian Grill, which serves fine food and also is a fantastic place to watch the fireworks across at Cinderella's Castle.

That'll be the castle on the left...

Café Bustelo

It makes a change from our usual road trips, to this time to be in one place for enough days to get in some provisions.

“Bustelo, Marlboro, banana by the bunch” - Oops, that's the Rent lyric. Ours (obtained from Publix, of course) would be coffee, breakfast, that kind of thing.

inside space mountain

A minor hiccup at Space Mountain, when the ride was stopped.

You don't really ever get to see the inside of this ride normally, what with it being in outer space.

Snacking in Florida

Memo to self: Local snacks are quite large. This was supposed to be for one person. Be very careful.

band of explorers

Fully technological, with our whizzy bands for Access All Areas. Normally I'd say more about the technology, but on this occasion I will just call it magic.

steaming towards the magic

Of course there's only one proper way to enter the Magic Kingdom at the start of a visit.

Although many will favour the monorail, I think the steamboat is the right way to arrive at the start of an expedition.

about not losing the car

Even with the photo of the parking zone, it is helpful to remember the type and colour of the vehicle.

I still can't remember what type it is, and I thought it was grey, but it is officially blue.

leave it till tomorrow to unpack my case

"Flew in to Miami Beach, B O A C"

I know, a reversal of the usual lyric, but we're in Florida for a few days.

Last time we were in Miami Beach was a couple of years ago, on the way to the Keys.

We stayed in the hotel that they used in that episode of The Sopranos, when the New Jersey gang met the Miami gang.

Whenever I see Scarface or one of those Miami movies I have to do the 'been there!' when I recognises certain scenes. The picture shows the hotel next door to the one with the staircase from Scarface. The actual 'apartment block' has been Johnny Rocketed.

This time , for us, it was a quick stopover as we were on route back to a more northern part of Florida.

Joan Armatrading at the Barbican

I haven't written about any music gigs lately. Yesterday we were along to see the great Joan Armatrading in the intricacies of the Barbican. This was the 120th gig of Joan's current tour and the first time she's performed a tour completely solo.

An immediately recognisable singing voice and some rebuilds of well-known songs as well as a few less familiar. Joan plays a tidy lick on the guitar too, weaving acoustic, slide, jazz, blues and stinging rock into the set. She accompanied a few songs by piano and modest loop and synth for a couple of the very familiar tracks from the set.

I'd last seen Joan Armatrading at Glastonbury where she was playing a bluesy set on the Jazz stage. Here, for the Barbican, she mixed it up using a small selection of guitars (including what looked like a blue Variax) and the keyboard.

I realised just how much I'd listened to both of my vinyl copies of her early albums over the years and was treated to several tracks from them, mainly re-worked for the solo performance as well as some full-on dialled-to-eleven guitar work in other numbers.

Joan is clearly very comfortable performing and with around 40 years of touring she's met and played with many well-known folk. About half way into the set she kicked back and gave us a slide show of some of the moments along the way. Elton John, Paul McCartney, her MBE, a one-to-one with Nelson Mandela all featured as well as small stories about being photographed by Annie Leibowitz, Robert Mapplethorpe, Patrick Lichfield. And to round it off - yes - a cartoon strip in the Beano.

It was a fine crowd in the full house too, warm applause when she arrived on stage, singing along when she asked, creating an encore for which she waited patiently on stage.

A great evening of entertainment from a powerful performer. And I just found the Beeb's recording of 'Love and Affection' from Glasto.