We're back

We arrived back this morning, after flying overnight, so are suffering some kind of jetlag, as well as the effects of packing so much into two weeks. We experienced just about everything that Central Florida and especially its theme parks has to offer - which is a lot - and could not have been more impressed with the way Florida is able to deliver relentless entertainment.

Although everything is on a large scale, it's the detail that's most impressive, with everything being meticulously designed and planned - especially at Disney. We had forgotten just how magical places such as the Magic Kingdom could be, but were also impressed with the non-Disney parks, such as SeaWorld, which provided us with a fantastic day.

The only drawback is there is too much to take in, and after two weeks of wall-to-wall fun, coming home seemed like returning from another planet. You can't quite believe that you were actually there.

I celebrated my 47th birthday during our stay - appropriately with my favourite day of the holiday, which we spent at Kennedy Space Center. Even in Florida, where there is something to impress you, everywhere you look, this was an especially stunning place to be.

We were even more struck by the American determination to satisfy customers than on our other visit to Florida, back in 1990. Then, everybody wanted you to "Have a nice day," but now nice isn't good enough, so everybody tells you to "Have a great day."

So we did - 14 of them. I took nearly 1,800 pictures, which I have only just started sifting through, with the intention of turning it into a digital scrapbook of our American adventure. Watch this space.

On the fiddle

The desire to practise doesn't come so readily to Holly as it does to Sean, but she does work hard at music when the time comes, so she's deserved it.

When kids first learn violin, you have to smile and say it sounds nice when really it sounds like somebody is strangling the cat, but Holly is well past that stage and can produce a nice tune. And another benefit of being at this stage is she doesn't just play classical stuff now - though that's nice enough - but has progressed to what I call 'fiddle' rather than 'violin' music, including folk music. And you can't have too much of that.

0-0-Sevenhampton

Yes.

In the rain?

It wasn't raining when we started.

And you left a nice, cosy pub - the Rat Trap, where you had a big meal - to cycle to a graveyard?

Not just any old graveyard. It was at Sevenhampton, where Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond books and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, is buried. He lived in the village from 1960 until he died in 1964. For three years of that he was having his house renovated (there's a little avenue that leads to it from the church). We planned to do this trip a month ago, as our monthly Lads' Night Out (LNO), because that would have been closer to the centenary of Fleming's birth, but it was too wet then. By the way, the pictures make it look like it was dark, but it was still light.

You're a big fan of James Bond, then?

No, I hate the films. I've never actually watched one all the way through because the bits of them I've seen always seem to me like a load of far-fetched nonsense. I've watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, though, and seen it on stage in the West End. Come to think of it, that was a load of far-fetched nonsense, too.

And then, when you'd finished skulking around this grave of this author you don't like and you've never read, you - let me get this right - sat around in a bird hide, knocking back barley wine?

Well, we were cycling through Nightingale Wood and thought we'd stop and have a bit of refreshment, which Percy brought with him in his saddlebag. We had a look inside the hide and, just then, it belted down with rain, so we all went inside and stayed there for about half an hour.

So you were watcing the wildlife?

No, it was getting dark.

Just drinking, then, like a load of old winos who'd come in out of the rain?

We did see a bat.

Then what?

Well, it finally stopped raining, so we cycled to the Carriers' Arms in South Marston. We would have stopped and looked at the cottage that used to belong to a much better writer, Alfred Williams, but it was too dark and the owners might have got suspicious.

Did you stay in the pub until closing time?

Yes. They were playing The Wurzels. I think they were trying to get rid of us, but it was nearly midnight when I got home.

And you expect people to believe all this?

Here are the pictures to prove it...

Wimbledon - second service

All 27 panoramas
Just the Wimbledon panoramas

Wimbledon - and not so much of the common

This was the VIP day for two that Julie's brother, Steve, had won, but couldn't go on because he is away with his wife, Lynne, on holiday - during which they have celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary. I've never been that much of a fan of Wimbledon, to be honest, but the occasion, the atmosphere and the chance to see some great players up close - after all, I do play tennis myself, unlike most Wimbledon watchers - made it a big attraction.

We set off at 6.30am to try to beat the traffic, giving us four hours to arrive in time for the champagne reception at 10.30am, but, amazingly, we were late. This was because of roadworks at Sunbury, where massive tailbacks were caused because one guy with a pick axe was working on the path! It was his van that was blocking the carriageway. At least it meant we missed the tennis traffic, so when we arrived at Wimbledon, we soon found our reserved car park. We dropped the car off, right outside the Gatsby Club - a luxurious marquee, set up on the cricket ground across from the All England Club's grounds - while somebody came out and parked it for us. It was the first - and will probably be the last - time in our lives that somebody has parked the car for us.

Then it was inside for all the champagne and wine you could drink - which, in Julie's case, wasn't much before she started to become incoherent. We had tea, coffee and orange juice while listening to a trio of elegantly dressed lady jazz players, and were waited on, hand, foot and finger. Soon it was time for lunch - pate for starters, strawberry and cream cheese cake for pudding and, in between, cheeseburger and chips. That's right - cheeseburger and chips, which was a strange thing to find on the menu for possibly the poshest meal I've ever had. I had to read it three times before I could believe it. Obviously, it was like no burger you've ever tasted before and, like the whole thing in general, was excellent. If anything, it was better than I'd expected as I'm not usually one for fancy food, but everything was perfect.

When we'd finished dinner, it was time for the tennis, and we only had time for the five minute walk to the Centre Court rather than having a look around first. Going to the Centre Court for the first time is a strange experience because it's so familiar from about 40 years of seeing it on telly every year. But even stranger is that while all the other stadiums I've visited have seemed smaller in real life, the Centre Court seemed bigger than it appears on telly. Nevertheless, the court itself is, obviously, very small, so you still get the sense of being in somebody's back garden. We had excellent seats, being about half way back, on the corner where the players come onto and go off the court.

The first game on was the number three seed, Novak Djokovic, against Marat Safin, which turned out to be the best of the tournament so far as Safin upset the odds and won easily, in three sets. Djokovic served two consecutive double faults in the first game and never really seemed to be in the right frame of mind for it. Both players, though, had impressive serves that were regularly over 120mph. Watching professional tennis for the first time live, I was surprised that the serves didn't look as fast as the speed-o-meter in the corner of the court said they were. That's not to say they don't whizz around, but what surprised me most was players' ability to return some serves that looked unplayable. They just seem to throw their racquet at the ball and somehow it goes back. As with all live sport, you appreciate the game more when you're actually there and can see the bigger picture, such as the subtleties of the spin and flight that players are able to put on the ball. The telly can't get this across, but it does see the detail. For instance, when we got home, Sean said the camera kept on zooming in on a woman in the crowd during the Federer game (see below) who caught a ball and was holding on to it surreptiously, hoping nobody would notice, so she could take it home as a souvenir - all of which we were unaware of.

One thing that you are aware of - more than on telly - is the effeciency of the ball boys (and ball girls) who are sometimes so fascinating to watch that they distract you from the tennis.

After the match, we decided to pass on the next one, a ladies' singles, because we wanted to walk around the rest of the grounds and also had a date back at the Gatsby Club for tea. Just walking around is fascinating, and we couldn't resist buying some used championship balls which were played with yesterday, and will be used when we next play tennis. We also saw the referees' office, where some of the ball boys were hanging around, presumably waiting for their next match. After coming out of the shop, we went back for tea, where we passed on the champagne this time. They brought out plates of sandwiches, cakes and scones, orange juice, chilled water, tea/coffee and a bowl of traditional Wimbledon strawberries and cream, and the waitress asked if there was anything else we'd like. I said I couldn't think of anything else there was to have.

We then headed back to the tennis and, with impeccable timing, arrived back at our seats on the Centre Court as Roger Federer was warming up for his match against Robin Soderling. As he is bidding, this year, to win Wimbledon for a record-breaking sixth time in a row, he is obviously the master and easily beat Soderling, but as well as being effective, he also struck me as very cool and stylish in everything he did, so that was another treat.

By the time Federer won it was 6.45pm and we couldn't believe how quickly the time had gone, and as soon as it finished, the Centre Court began to empty, with around 90 per cent of people going out. We stayed to watch half a set of a ladies' doubles match. In theory, you are not allowed to change seats, but once past the steward, you can more or less sit in any empty seat in your section, so we took the chance to sit lower down and directly behind the umpire. We wanted to sit right down in the front row, to see what it was like, but they wouldn't let us.

We finally left the Centre Court to have another walk around the outside courts and I was surprised that even at 8pm it was difficult to see anything because all the courts were packed with people, and there was still tennis going on, everywhere you looked. We walked up to Henman Hill and I went round taking a few more pictures before we finally left for home, the journey taking less than half the time it had the other way.

There are loads of pictures here.