We could pay for this

Apart from being uncomfortable, the high temperatures and humidity we have suffered will provide the perfect conditions for a ‘gota fria’. A warm sea may be good for bathers now but we could end up paying for it at the end of the month into early September.

As in Britain last winter, the drainage systems here are not built to cope with heavy downpours. Roads flood, underpasses block and basements fill up with water. We all know the areas that are most vulnerable and try to avoid them. That doesn’t help the people who live in those places though who complain every time they are flooded.

Our main problem used to be the pool box which part filled with water every time we had heavy rain. It is impossible to understand why that should happen. My answer eventually was to tape over the holes in the bottom of the box to stop the ingress of water. Of course that also prevents any water in the box getting back out as I have fond out to my cost.

The outlet joint to the pool pump started leaking a little whilst we were in Portugal so I tried to tighten it back up when we returned. I thought I had it solved until three days later when Pam found water gushing into the box. I quickly turned it off but too late the damage was done.

I had the failing joint replaced but alas the water had got into the pump and the bearings were shot. Although the pump still worked, it was very noisy and so had to be replaced. I would not have minded so much if it had been the original ten year old pump but it was a replacement from only 15 months ago.

Over the last couple of years we have spent quite a bit on that pool. First the pipe from the skimmer had to be replaced, then we had the sand in the filter changed for glass. The cover on the filter exploded dramatically one day and it took me three attempts to get the new one to seal properly. Just as we were about to have the pool re-grouted, the original pump seized up and so that had to be changed. Now, as I said, we had one of the pipes in the box renewed and another new pump.

You could say our pool is like money down the drain.