Pool Fantasy

 POOL REALITY 

Children splashing with  laughter, pure enjoyment on their faces . A tropical heat, an in-pool bar and a (few) cold Bacardi and coke . Relaxation , not a care in the world. That is the picture of the perfect swimming pool. Perhaps possible if the pool is not your own .

 Proprietorship fundamentally changes all that ; pools are an awful lot of work. On holiday the behind-the-scene effort is fortunately  not visible , but with a pool of your own , then you are that effort . 

It starts with construction, which at first thoughts you would think was the major job. Our son’s new pool , albeit not large at 2.6m by 6 m , was  constructed in an incredible three days : 

  Day 1: large lorry mounted digger drops small digger into garden .This excavates for pool , large digger removes spoil onto lorry.

Day 2 : Fibre glass pool arrives , lowered into position by crane lorry ; edges of pool strengthened with concrete . 

Day 3 : Plastic box complete with pump, filter and valves connected to pool pipe work . Pool filled , ready for swimming ! Impressive. 

The team install two pools a day in the summer, with longer daylight hours. There must be a big demand for new pools in this part of France.

A pool requires plenty  of water . A decent sized pool will need the equivalent of 200 days water usage for a family of four . Then there is the need to replace evaporation and water lost through cleaning filters . During periods of drought , that  water may not be available from your water company. For us that is not a problem , or option, as we have no connection to mains water ( too far away). The existing 10 m deep well could not provide enough , so a 100 m deep borehole was required.  

With a drying climate , we still need to be careful with water . So to minimise evaporation, the pool was fitted with a floating cover , which also warms the water. This needs to be unrolled then re-rolled  between pool use. The pool also has a winter cover to exclude leaves during the off season.

To keep the water clean in the summer, a pump and sand filter remove the bits and dissolve chlorine for disinfection. An underwater robot is needed to clean the floor and walls , usually twice a week . Surface debris is partially removed by the pump , but still needs net removal. The sand filter needs weekly backwashing to stay clean. 

All done? ; now I can lie back and enjoy . Ah, not so simple! All this hardware doesn’t last for ever :

... the pump’s water seal needed replacing as did the seal on the multivalve.

... the electric pump timer and it’s capacitor both needed replacing.

... Leaks from  the fibre glass  pool liner  need periodic sealing , and twice substantial repair . 

... A major leak from the outlet pipe work required excavation and repair . 

... Flooding of the house basement from the pool pump was narrowly avoided . So a separate pool house was built , and pump relocated .

 All this work requires a period of recuperation . What better than lying by a pool , in the sun and with drink in hand . Perhaps I can forget all the work that enabled that.

Coordinated digging

Flying Pool

A Year On

A beach in Collioure , a glorious Monday  but with hardly anyone around ; the latest ‘couvre-feu ‘ in effect. A now tranquil scenery reclamed from the hoards, but a disaster for the 'commercants'. Was it only  13 months  ago that the virus impacted lives so fundamentally, starting with the first lock down ?

Our response to this forced isolation was intense garden activity , and the establishment of a potager . The threat to the supply of toilet rolls was a  media event  ; so perhaps we would have difficulty with fruit and veg. The reed beds meant we could use recycled water and there was a space amongst recently planted fruit trees . Confined to a 1 km radius , digging could provide an outlet for spare energy .

As with all our projects , this one grew in extent and expense .Chancellors are currently spending stratospheric sums to maintain economies ; so I have followed their example . Concrete paths , greenhouse , wind break , birds netting ; let alone fertiliser , plants and seeds. This is an  investment in the future ; our children's , paid for by savings in our overseas holidays .

The area under cultivation has grown four fold ; that was an awful lot of couch grass to be removed , involving deep digging and microscopic removal of every last morsel . Twelve months of perpetual effort ; not forecast.

But now I can sit back and enjoy , hopefully , the fruits of all this effort.  More so in the evening ,as with no cars and planes , human noise has virtually disappeared . Swish, swish , the hypnotic rhythm of the sprinkler; a blackbird rummaging amongst the mulch of wood chippings; cicadas starting their evening call.  A relaxation earned is so much more pleasurable .

 Moving On

 The first physical manifestation is the arrival of acres of cardboard and yards of sticky tape. Familiar shapes of home transform into giant brown blobs or into a series of indistinguishable boxes. For domestic relocation , a van fills the street  outside to cart all to its new location . For international transfers, a ubiquitous container is the transfer medium. We are moving again .

Newly married , we decided to invest in a freezer so as to preserve the allotment produce and take advantage of bulk purchase of meat . The salesman tried to sign us up for a life membership for a new freezer centre ; but we opted for just the freezer . Not just any freezer , but an almost commercial size one that minimised purchase tax . The delivery men almost failed to transfer it to our first floor flat and through to a spare back room .

 Filling it involved weekly trips to the Central Market ,at close when bargains could be had ; then  to be delivered in rucksack, by bus. Purchase of ‘half a pig’ , was just that , including half a head . I am sure it winked ; so it went to a grateful dog . That freezer enjoyed six  different garages , so moving was less stressful . The puzzle was that at its end, some twenty years later , it still contained frozen gooseberries from a much earlier time . The move was international now , so freezer and fruit were left behind .

Different countries offered new purchasing opportunities , so part container allocation grew to filling a 40 ft one ; 60 + cum metres . Despite leaving for a new assignment with just suitcases , we invariably returned with a container. Repeated international trips filled both house in France, children’s houses and also the garage .Abroad , packing involved a small army over several days . Unloading in France, it was two men with a forklift truck, leaving in time for dinner.

This week that cardboard again arrived ; spare and newly purchased furniture packed up ready for shipment in an opposite direction; for family relocation to the southern hemisphere this time . After twenty years we can finally see the end wall in the garage ! The container was topped up with continual deliveries following internet purchases ; getting stuff is far too easy  . Of note was four years supply of Cola Cao ( the Spanish cannot be without it ) and the ultimate in eco mattresses ; comprising coconut and seaweed, allegedly edible for ultimate disposal ?  .

Aquisition , then moving on, is a family preoccupation .
 

Its only Polite !

…..Polite to let them in first or give up your seat to ladies and the elderly . “David ! what are you doing ?” said a shocked mother who just witnessed her son try to board the bus in the order of the queue. In Southport , the Lancashire retirement capital, ladies board first ; I had just returned from Birmingham  where no such custom existed.

 We had just visited an amazingly preserved Roman amphitheatre located in the middle of the Tunisian desert : El Jem. The official entry fee was in cents , but the guide would offer a private tour behind the scenes for a few dollars buckshee ; initiative exemplified . The train was crowded as it rocked back to Tunis and ,to my consternation,  a lady many years older then myself , offered up her seat . In Arab custom , it’s very much a man’s world.

The waiting area in the laboratory had been zoned to minimise the spread of Covid . If all the people visiting were sick , or testing for something ; then this was indeed a sensible precaution . However the layout was puzzling as there were two adjacent seats . So I remained standing . To my horror , a young lady stood , offering up her seat to the apparently elderly gentleman now standing . Oh dear , it seems as life is catching me up !!