09 September – Chilling and Shopping at the Premium Outlets

4:30 am finds me awake, but I am alone again 🙁 as "Mr Snorry-Head" had made an appearance during the night and Pat had obviously retreated to the quiet of the other bedroom!! I don't want to turn lights on or make a coffee as Pat is still asleep in spare room with door wide open. So, like yesterday I type up the previous day's events into note form for the diary and surf the net, in a very limited fashion, for an hour or two, fortunately there is a bottle of diet coke that I can drink, rather than trying to make a coffee!

7 o'clock arrives and Pat wakes, so I make a tea and a coffee, and we sit outside and decide on a lazy day at the pool with some mall shopping thrown in. Nothing too onerous, trying to recharge the batteries. We also need some dishwasher powder (it is provided by the Fountains) so ring and request some.

We each have a quick shower, and decide on the need for a scrunchy for Pat as the flannel didn't do the trick. We apply sunscreen (and in Pat's case the activator oil) and we are off to go poolside! We decide to go via floor 2 where there is a recycling area, however there are no signs pointing out where it may be within the floor, in the foyer, so I start walking down one of the aisles. About halfway down I meet a maid or some such – and when I ask where the recycling area is she takes the bag off me and says I will do it for you. I walk back to Pat – who asks "well where is it" – and I realise that I didn't find out so going to have to find it anyway another day.

It is now 9 o'clock and we are poolside, and it is already quite hot. The smoking area unlike last time is now set-back on a piece of grass – so decide to sit closer to the bar area where there are ash tray type waste bins. I set up the lounge chairs as Pat enjoys a ciggy, and then she comes over and we settle down. It is very warm and sunny, I just chill and Pat reads. Feel myself drifting off a bit and Pat then tells me to turn over as 45 mins in same position is not good! As it is so warm, we swim a bit too – well I splash more than swim, but it seems to chill me quite a bit – well I don't feel as sleepy.

Just before mid-day, and before we burn too much, we decide to have some food – and bacon and egg rolls are the order of the day. The washing up is put into the dishwasher, a final drink and we decide to head off.

It's now 2pm and we are down in the car and head towards Walgreens where we should be able to get a scrunchy. Being a chemist type shop we might also maybe get some dactacourt for Pat's ears which are itching, and we had left it in the fridge in the caravan. Walgreens is just down International Drive although we almost are forced to take the long route as there was an I-drive bus in the lane we needed which kind of got in the way. Fortunately, we got ahead of it and turned right, just in time and turned into the car park and arrived.

We got out and into the shop – looking around – got to the area where dactacourt might be – couldn't see it - we had hoped that although it was a prescription drug in the UK it might be available over the counter here, as surprisingly there are lots that are available. Asked a member of staff who was shelf-filling, who gave us a completely blank look but pointed us towards the pharmacist. She also looked a little blank – so I guess that dactacourt is a trade name in the UK only. – and when Pat explained the issue, she pointed us to some creams which while not as effective would do a reasonable job. We picked one that hopefully will help. We carried on walking around and picked up a few bits, including some after sun (hey might come in useful), a scrunchy and a couple of bottles of coke for me. Pay at the till and we head out into the heat. It is so hot that when I touch the plastic disabled badge, in the car, it is red hot from being in window, and it almost burns my fingers.

So, we now decide that to head to the real shopping for the day. Try and search on the Sat Nav for the Orlando Premium Outlets. Now it's not as easy as typing in that name – so loads of fun (really?? - ED) but finally find it and follow instructions.

It takes us there and we pull in, but it doesn't look familiar to Pat. I know we are in the right area, so we jump out and go for a walk to find a map and yes, it is the outlets – only just an offshoot! So we will drive across to where the main section is, after visiting the Hanes store (they do the underwear that we both like – no not like Victoria's Secret or Ann Summers, just very comfortable and hard wearing day to day undies!) We are looking around and I find my boxer briefs and yes cheaper than Walmart – and Pat got some undies for Louise and found some for herself but like last time the gusset was too big. There were packs that had what looked like the nix she wanted but were sealed in such a way that not easy to see the gusset (ooh er madam!!) The very nice lady comes over – and she opens it for us – commenting on the lovely colour of the pair that she opened up – and yes the gusset is perfect - Pat's words not the ladys! She takes everything we have picked up and goes to the counter while we continue to browse.

We arrive at the counter after a while, but she is busy and doesn't notice us for a bit. Finally, she comes over and as she is ringing it up asks if we would like to join their VIP club, which means rather than getting 50% off the second package (it was a bogo50%off) it would be bogo60%off, all for an email address and zip code - postal codes are acceptable! She also enquired if it was a birthday month – to which we said yes and that was a further 10% off! We almost bit her hand off….

We go back to car, although somewhat laden down, with bags and a fuller wallet than we might have had (OK so I used a credit card – but you know what I mean) and drive over to the "other side" and try and find a parking space, it is really busy! However, we managed to get a disabled bay right beside the sheriff's car. Also, we have managed to park right beside the Nike store which is good as that it probably where we may make our bulkiest purchase!! We will hit that store last.

As we get out of the car there are a couple of drops of rain, nothing much, and it stops almost as quickly as it started, but it felt like it would be more. A refreshing drop of cooling rain, but not enough to dampen our spirits. We head off into the complex and navigate towards the food hall where the information desk is where we can exchange the coupon we had received from the concierge at the Fountains when we arrived for a book of coupons!! We look at the booklet but there is no coupon for Nike – and basically all the other offers are not great -so really worthwhile – NOT. Then again, we don't need coupons to shop, do we?

Walk around and into Toys'R'Us outlet where they have Lego. There are some Stars Wars including one with BB8 – but none of the Lord Of The Rings or The Hobbit, which are Pat's Lego of choice. 🙁 We decide against buying any Lego today, but who knows about another day's shopping?

As it is so warm, we need to have a drink and there is a kiosk, but I end up queuing for ages, just for a coke and a Bud light. We sit down and begin a favourite time waste of ours that is people watching. Once the drinks are finished, we continue our walk around. We pass the silliest stall – it is selling clothes sets for dogs and is called Dog Land. We take some piccies to share with Jackie and Phoebe,as they have a dog that would look so perfect!

After circumnavigating the whole area, we arrive back at the Nike store. We split up, and I find two great pairs of trainers for me, but I need a pair of their "try on socks". Find some and bingo – right size in the trainers! Pat finds some sandals for herself, Louise and Dee, but there is a lack of colours in their size (all US size 6!) but they are good value though!

We drive back to Fountains, again no disabled bay, and we unpack the shopping. Pat takes some photos of the sandals to share with Louise and Dee. A couple of the Dog Barn are posted on Facebook. We also go back poolside for an hour or so which is very relaxing as not too hot in fact it is fairly cloudy and looking quite ominous.

We sit by the smoking area, although Pat cannot easily put out her ciggy as the grass in nothing like ours so she can't manoeuvre the wheelchair over it. We watch as the staff blow up a very large inflatable for the kids – basketball, football (grid iron), baseball, frisbee, darts etc. It has a big globe in middle that keeps flopping over until it is fully inflated. Was kind of funny watching it.

As the clouds continue to get heavier, we head back to the apartment to sort out and put on some more washing. I also decide on a bath but don't use the spa part. I get out fairly quickly for me – and Pat cooks the steaks we had bought, for dinner. As we enjoy the meal, we discuss perhaps going to Busch Gardens on Monday but we will see how we feel a little closer to the time.

The meal is superb the steak is cooked to perfection, and we fill the dishwasher. Pat decides to have a bath, but when she tries to turn on the spa – nothing happens! After getting the room changed the main reason for change is not working! Pat just has a normal bath. We try some of the new after sun – and I have to say it's very soothing with a cooling smell.

The washing has finished – so it is put into the dryer – ensuring that no bikini type material is included. While the cycle is going – we settle down and watch "Secret life of pets". I am feeling a touch sleepy, in fact I start to doze and manage to miss a good bit, but stick with the movie. The dryer needs checking so stop the film to sort it out, then back to the end of the film.

I make a drink, and Pat has a ciggy then does her game for a bit outside, and as I lay on the bed, I fall asleep. I wake about 1 o'clock to find the bed still empty with the light still on. I get up but all the lights are off, so Pat must be sleeping in the spare room again. I go back and turn off the light and fall asleep yet again.