Day 24 - A Wave of Relaxation

This morning, once again, we had the luxury of no specific set plans, and so, whilst we awoke slightly earlier than yesterday, there wasn't a great deal of the morning left to greet us. Once we had gathered our thoughts and come to our senses, we were again treated to an ideal breakfast - this time sausages, eggs, toast and fresh fruit were the order of the day.

As the early part of the afternoon came upon us, we proceeded to pull our full, hard-working efforts into 'flaking out' on the couch. This, for our British readers, essentially means that we didn't do a lot - we just had an enjoyable time relaxing, catching up with Bob and Mary, and discussing Google's plans for a new web browser (the expert opinion is that its function and style appear good, but it's completely unnecessary in a saturated market). If you were to come to Bob and Mary's, also, you would realise that once you're sitting in front of the window, it's fairly hard to get up; mainly due to the spectacular views of San Francisco bay that are visible though it. After reluctantly standing, then, we persuaded ourselves that it would be a good idea to attempt some basic tasks such as showering and changing.


This risky gamble paid off, and once changed, we could then relax again, and also indulged in a bite to eat (the rumours are that two beef and egg sandwiches were consumed somewhere along the line), deciding finally to get up for good and take a dip in Bob and Mary's outdoor pool. The 'dip' actually turned out to be more of an aquatic marathon, with several hours of water-based entertainment following. The action, as you can see from the video below, included the eargerly-anticipated 'additional dive' from this year's Olympic men's finals (Joe, after much thought, went with the backwards half twist with a wave), some impressive freestyle frisbee performances, and....a bit of actual swimming too.

Circa 7pm, we were called in for tea, and so finally dragged ourselves out, and quickly dried off. We then had a great evening meal together (OK, we'll tell you this one too - it was Sirloin Steak with a selection of mashed potato, peas and bread...rounded off with a dessert of strawberries and cream), and kept our political radars in check by getting the latest from the Republican National Convention.

We then prepared to turn our attention more towards the Galactic Republic...as, yes, we had decided to make our first ever visit to a US movie theater (we're adopting that spelling because we're here) to see, of course, the new star wars film. 'The Clone Wars' was playing in the local theater down at 'Larkspur Landing', and so, leaving plenty of time to get in before the crowds, Bob took us down and dropped us off. We entered the relevant screen, choose the best seats in the house, and waited for those crowds. Then we waited some more. We needn't have worried. The staff at Larkspur had clearly had word that the J's were on their way, and so reserved each seat for our comfort and viewing pleasure. There wasn't another soul in the house, and so we sat back to enjoy our private 'critics' screening. Five minutes before the film (midway, obviously, through discussing the events at the end of the preceeding 'Star Wars'), however, we were struck dumb by an unexpected pleasure. The teaser trailer for 'Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince' burst onto the screen, and since neither of us had seen it yet, and both of us are, admittedly, quite big fans...it was a truly hair-raising, goose-pimple inducing event. Clone Wars itself was also very enjoyable, and our critics' conclusion is that it had done what it set out to acheive, and was a fun Star Wars spin-off, which was aesthetically thrilling, and gave some new depth to the saga.


And now, having chattered about both screen spectaculars, here we are - yes, sitting down and chilling out, looking forward to another lie in as wind-down week continues.

That's all for now folks,


J with extra J sauce