Diary of a Spanish Holiday Home Owner

On our development we have six different pools to choose from.  Some are large, some are smaller and one is specifically designed for the toddlers.  Some people swim in the pool all year round but we tend to restrict ourselves to the months between May and September when the air is constantly warm and the water is refreshingly cool.  There is nothing like being sat by the pool relaxing with a good book or your iPod and knowing that you can have a cool down at any time.  Shall I have a beer or shall I go for a swim? probably be the biggest decision of the day.

 

 

The best pool is directly behind us, but I would say that wouldn’t I.  Out of the main door, thirty five steps and you are there.  It is great for our seven year old son who would honestly spend every part of every day in the pool if he could.  It is great fun for him and therapy for us parents who take it in turns to totally relax when it is not our turn to keep an eye on him.

Harry actually learnt to swim this summer.  He started by trying to lift his legs and splash as much as he could.  That didn’t work so he gave up and we tried something else and we bought him a snorkel and mask whilst on a day trip to Tarifa.  We love Tarifa but that’s another story.  He started off by standing in the shallow end and dipping his head under the water.  Once he got used to that he started throwing himself forward until, without realising it, he was snorkelling and swimming for real.  Up and down and across the pool for hours just searching for everything and nothing.  We had to explain to him what he was doing and that he was actually swimming, but it took another couple of weeks before he was confident enough to swim without the snorkel.  There is no stopping him now.

I love the fact that you can go for a swim at anytime and tend to go out first thing every morning before breakfast to see how many lengths I can do.  I’m more of a runner than a swimmer so I started off at three lengths, progressed to ten and then twenty and maybe even thirty on a good day.  I have never been able to do it again but one day I actually managed fifty.  I just got carried away with the peace and quiet of it all.  When it got difficult I just thought how lucky I was and took a look around me at how lovely everything was and just carried on.

I would like to share with everyone a lesson I learnt the hard way. In this case it was on a trip to Toronto but I am reminded of it often and every time we travel out to our apartment in Spain.

It was a while ago now, but it was a Saturday morning and my wife and I were due to fly out to Toronto. I was travelling for my work for the week and Katie was going to check that her credit card worked okay in each and every one of the main stores in the Eaton Centre. As it happened our friends were also in Toronto at the time so the idea was that we would meet up for the weekend and do the touristy bits before I reported to the office on the Monday morning.

 

We arrived at the airport, checked in, had a little look around, headed for the departures gate and that’s when we realised that we didn’t have any of our passports. How did that happen, we had them a minute ago when we checked in !!!!!

The first call for us was the check-in desk who informed us that this happens a lot and they normally fall off the desk and down onto and under the luggage belt. After 30 minutes of unsuccessful searching in and around the belt it was off to the information desk. They also told us that this happens a lot but were totally unhelpful apart from saying time after time, where did you see them last !!!!!

Anyway we emptied the carry on case at least 5 times which is where I normally keep the documents.  Time went on and then the inevitable happened as they unloaded us (or whatever the jargon is), took the baggage off the flight and told us we were not flying and to come back when we had a passport.

I know it is not life or death but unless you have been there and its happened to you I can’t tell you how sickening and upsetting that feels.

Eventually we arrived home, made endless telephone calls and made arrangements to go to London on the Monday to queue up all day to get a replacement passport and we rebooked our flights for Tuesday. Our weekend break with our friends disappeared in front of our eyes and I was going to have to fit five days work into three.

That evening we sat there feeling sorry for ourselves and then started to unpack the luggage. With all the bags clear it became obvious to Katie that the carry on case still had something in it even though it was empty.

... and there they were our passports which had somehow gone down inside the lining of the carry on case, out of site but still there none the less. We were committed now to the Tuesday flight but at least we didn’t have to travel to London on the Monday.

There were two main results of this, firstly Katie never lets me look after the passports or any other documents when we go travelling. Secondly, and most importantly, the lesson we learnt is that things really are normally where you think they are.

I just wish that the staff at the information desk had sat and calmed us down and made us investigate further when we were checking the bags. There have been many occasions since when things have gone missing, including mobile phones and wallets. They seem to have gone forever but by keeping at it and continually looking where you know it to be, we have always found what we were looking for. If you haven’t done this yourself then try it next time it happens and you will be amazed how things turn up where you thought they were even though you have checked so many times before and they weren’t there.

It’s amazing what can happen to a mobile phone when it falls off of the car passenger seat while you are driving, but that’s a story for another day ......