The weather was cranked up to the max last weekend when we finally hit 100º and the pool water to 86º. Those figures finally got me into the pool, but not for swimming - it turned into a "check the tiles" session, with a bit of light pan-scrubbing, and a plan for more drastic action later in the week.
First activity to was to remove baby skink which had taken up residence near the water line and seemed very happy there, waving his tail in the light wavelettes. "Can they swim?" was the question - and the answer was "like a bloody fish (ok, newt) as it slalomed across the water to avoid being caught. But I got it and put it somewhere safe ready for phase 2 which was the drastic bit of using acid to remove the calcium build-up on the above-water tiles, using a bent-handled brush and a washing-up bowl half-filled with the acid. Care is called for - and not just for skinks.
All done and hosed and prettified, but then I noticed that there was a bit of a "cal-bloom" on the below-water tiled sides of the pool, so out with very long-handled pool brush and scrub the sides.
In the course of part of that (with me actually in the pool), a bee was following me - and it duly fell in. So I fished it out, turned it on its feet and it then walked half the pool alongside me - mainly with me trying to ensure it didn´t fall back in.
Glad to say that G is making full use of the bee / aquatic facilities, so it is all worthwhile.
Another visitor earlier in the week was spotted in an unusual place - and hung around long enough for me to go and get the "good" camera and get this shot. Unfortunately he turned his head away at the crucial moment, but he had a strong yellow beak and is our resident Kestrel - usually only to be seen on the top of the pylon or scudding about looking for prey. I am impressed by the photographic qualities of my most recent iPhone, but nothing really compares to a good zoom lens!
Our neighbour has had a family of visitors for the last 4 weeks, but they have now flown too. How the hell a single bloke puts up with a 3-generational family of six (plus odd visitors) I will never understand. We are just counting down the days to September the first when most of the tourists naff-off back to France and Madrid and we can find the odd parking space in the village again (and get into the village at the "other end" without the 15minute traffic queue) - what pandemic??
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