Our little patch of rural Mallorca – our finca – is not blessed with a swimming pool. Several neighbours around us have a pool, but we couldn’t add one to our property if we wanted to, as the land is protected. During the heat of July and August I often think it must be lovely to be able to jump into a pool to cool off from time to time.
But there’s an upside to not owning a pool – especially after a ‘weather event’ (don’t you just love all those expressions that British TV weather presenters drop into their forecasts?). The ‘weather event’ earlier this week was a storm which brought sand from Africa up to Mallorca, and dumped it with a load of rain on those of us who were foolish enough to leave our washing out on the line overnight! This doesn’t happen too frequently, fortunately – leaving the washing out, or raining mud – but it does make a horrible mess.
Mud, Mud, Not so Glorious Mud
Going outside the morning after the night of the mud rain – as locals often call it – we found terracotta-tinged smalls on the washing line, and persianas and white-painted metal garden furniture that were splattered with reddish dust. And worse still, as far as The Boss was concerned, the car was covered in dry muddy streaks.
Dried mud rain on our car – a challenge too far for any automatic car wash!
It’s bad enough to have to re-do the washing, clean the car, and wash down the window shutters and outdoor furniture (still to be done), but cleaning the layer of sand from the bottom of a swimming pool must be horrendous. So, I’ll stick to the Mediterranean for my summer dips, thank you.
Jan Edwards Copyright 2013
Jan,doe’s that mean i no longer need sand from our favorite builders merchant,i can just dig it out of my above ground temporary plastico (that’s Spanish you know) pool,if it’s still there!
Hope you are both well,i’m off to a game fair later with big son and daughter in law.
Look forward to seeing you soon take care.
Mike x
Galmes will be distraught at the lack of sand sales! Err, think the pool is still there, but we’ll stroll down and have a look sometimes this weekend. Lovely weather at the moment, but set to change. Hope the game fair was fun – sorry to hear you’re not coming over for a while. We’re looking forward to seeing you again! Jan x
How come your land is protected and not your neighbours? If you wanted a pool there is the above ground pool that do not need permission. Another local solution is to apply for permission to build a deposito for irrigation, which can double as a pool. There are almost always solutions to find the way round bureaucracy.
Anders
Our neighbours with a pool are on the other side of the lane, which is the demarcation point
for the protected area. Frankly, we’ve had enough dealings over permissions with the local
ayuntamiento and couldn’t face going through it again. We’ll stick to the Med for our swimming!
And avoid having to clean up the results of the red rain . . .