Hello again, and here is the first newsletter from 2024. How time flies!
The new year started in the historical town of Paraty, at our friends’ big house, there for a New Year party. Belar (Belamino) and Ana are fabulous hosts and we had many trips out on Belar’s lovely boat. Lots of swimming, jet-skies, eating and drinking.
After that we came back to Sao Paulo and then flew to Miami to spend some time there. The first Miami event was at, of all places Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach!
Through our friends Knut and Leticia, we had met Jill and Ron, who live in Boca Raton! Ron is known as Ron 'Pack', because his company makes package for big companies like McDonalds. We’d had dinner with them in Miami and also up in Boca. Somehow, we got elevated to the top-table and invited to Ron’s birthday party at Mar-a-Lago. Knowing that I once canvased for the Labour Party and cannot stand Trump, Carol agreed that we would go on only on one condition – no politics!!
The place is as you would expect, way, way over the top, dripping in gold and plastered with pictures of him!
[young Ron and his cake!]
But it was a fun event and I was sat next to the birthday boy and we got on really well and when Carol was not listening I did put him right on a few political issues! 😊
We had rented the apartment out last year, to a rich guy from New York. It seemed like a good deal, the rent income was very high, but then we were faced with the prospect of getting all of our clothes and things back from the storage place. As everything was all packed up into 35 cardboard boxes, I decided that it could not be too hard to rent a van and bring it all back. I made the reservation well in advance, and on the day we had agreed, I went to the van rental only to be told that they don’t accept UK drivers! Luckily, I found a replacement very quickly and also discovered that paying with Amex gives you free insurance. Happily for me, Carol does have a fancy Amex, so the problem was solved.
Moving was hard work, and it took many days to empty the boxes.
Next up was Carol’s 60th birthday, don’t tell anyone as it is a secret! Carol still reminds me of the time when we were at a hotel in Trancoso one new year and the receptionist thought Carol was my daughter!
To celebrate, we went with Victor and Cesca to a fabulous hotel/spa on Little Palm Island, which is one of the Florida Keys, close to Key West. It's about 3 hour drive from Miami, so we rented a party van to take us there...
It’s a small island and the only thing on it is the hotel. We made a really nice birthday dinner for Carol on the beach.
Cesca did all the decorations and had lots of old family pictures on display. Carol loved it. The plan was to have a few days there and then go and stay in another hotel in Key West, but Cesca had a bad flu, so we had to return to Miami.
Then, on the following Saturday, we went up to Fort Lauderdale to see the fabulous “Flock of Seagulls,” with a Depeche Mode tribute band too. Carol danced and sang along to every song. She was in paradise!
Soon after that, it was Bobby’s birthday, so we all went for dinner at a brand-new Japanese restaurant close to our apartment. It was a lovely evening, apart from the air conditioning units mounted on the wall above us that started spraying water on everyone on the wrong side of the table. I was on the right side! 😊
Carol and Cesca then headed to Europe to have wedding dress fittings in Paris, Madrid, and London.
Then they went on to Seville to visit the wedding venue. None of which I could help with, so I stayed in Miami and played tennis. Some views from my office...
Whilst the cat was away, I wanted to take a trip on my big, white Ducati 1200S. I had a big group of friends when I lived in Denver, and Dion had since gotten married and moved to Melbourne, Florida. Dion manages a big steak restaurant there now, so I decided to ride up and visit him. Dion was my pool buddy in Denver; we played a lot and entered a few tournaments together and even won $$$ a couple of times! I rode up to Melbourne on a Friday afternoon. It’s far, about 3 ½ hours, and I checked into a nearby cheap motel. We then met at a very big pool hall; there must have been 40+ tables in there.
We started a tab, and it was beer and pool all night! Super fun. His wife came by to say hello, and we had a fun evening. We had many beers, and I knew I would have a bit of a headache in the morning, so I stopped at a gas station and got a couple of bottles of sparkling water to rehydrate. Back at the motel, I was disappointed to not find a bottle opener. But there was a solid granite counter, and with the bottle correctly positioned and a solid whack with my shoe, I was soon in bed enjoying the water. Things then went rather downhill when I woke up groggy, very thirsty, and in need of the second bottle of water. I followed the same plan as the night before, but this time, when I whacked it with my shoe, somehow I managed to break off the head of the bottle, and a big chunk of glass was buried deep in my left hand, between my thumb and forefinger ☹.
Pulling out the shard of glass left a deep, “C”-shaped cut in my hand, which proceeded to gush blood. This I was able to stop by pinching the skin together with my right hand. But what to do now? I knew I needed a doctor, but how to find one and get there was a problem! Luckily, I keep a load of plasters in my wash-bag. Somehow, I managed to tape up the cut with about 20 plasters! I was then able to locate a nearby urgent care facility. Riding there was not much fun, as every time I pulled in the clutch to change gear, it caused some leakage. The doc patched me up properly, but then I had the long ride back to Miami. It wasn’t too bad, as I am pretty good at changing gears without using the clutch, so I got home safely. But the bad news continued, as the next morning, I woke up with a sore throat and Covid! ☹☹
While Carol was away, I had arranged to fly my daughters, Tara and Sarah, over to Miami to hang out with me. This is the Murano building, looking out over the marina...
Tara arrived first, about 5 days into my Covidness. We were very careful, and happily, she did not contract it. Tara loves art, so we headed to the Wynwood, the art district of Miami.
Then we went on a canoe safari...
Sarah arrived a couple of days later, and I had a great time with the girls.
They are both really good roller skaters, so we had a lot of fun skating up and down the boardwalk next to the famous South Beach, with me following on a bicycle!
<< See some rollerskating video >>
We had dinner to celebrate my birthday early.
Then the following week, Carol was back to celebrate it on the day, at Hakkasan, one of my favourite restaurants. I spent the whole day with the old Beatles song going round my head. “…when I’m 64!”
Next, we went back to São Paulo, with Carol even busier with wedding plans. I stayed at our country home most of the time, playing tennis with my ball machine.
In mid-March, I flew back to London, but Carol was again touring Paris and Madrid for final fittings, so I went to Miami for a couple of weeks to escape the cold weather and played tennis almost every day. When I returned, the big wedding was looming large. We went to Harrods to pick out my jacket for the pre-wedding party, a nice little bugundy D&G...
Carol took the Eurostar to Paris for the day to collect some dresses. We got more from London, then we went to Madrid to collect the final ones. We went to Belar’s big meat restaurant there and had lunch with an old friend Danny, who studied Economics with me at Sussex University, he now lives in Madrid. Madrid was very nice, clean, had good food and good wine, and was cheap compared to Miami or London.
Finally, we went to Seville and stayed in the most amazing hotel, the Alfonso XIII. He was King of Spain in 1929 when he ordered the hotel to be built, but the revolution kicked him out 3 years later!
There were 550 guests for the welcome party on Thursday, this is us arriving:
My brother and his wife, nephew Tom, sister Lin, and daughters Sarah and Tara came. It was great to have so many family members there to share it with. The wedding on Saturday was at the cathedral, and there were crowds of people outside, as well as press! It was amazing. Then buses took the 680 guests out to the wedding party, which was simply magical. The dinner was wonderful, then the Gipsy Kings sang for us, and we drank, sang, and danced until 6 am!
<< See my wedding picture gallery here >>
This is the link to the main wedding picture gallery:
<< Main wedding picture gallery >>
I hope you can get signed up and view them. It is not possible to describe the wedding; it was just amazing.
Now we are happy to rest a little. I’m back in London, staying a few days in Mayfair and flying soon back to Miami.
That’s the news so far in 2024!
Lots of love,
Peter