The effort it takes to maintain a swimming pool hardly justifies having one. Or does it?
Pools are nice, but...
Swimming pools are nice to have. Especially if you're a kid when you can splash around all day in summer (except when your mother tells you can't swim after eating).
When you're a grownup there's nothing like a refreshing dip in the pool on a hot day, particularly when you're hot and sweaty. And it's quite a nice place to lounge around drinking gin & tonics. But that's probably 0.5% of the time.
The rest of the time it just lies there, seething. How else does it suddenly flare up with some nasty infestation or deplete one of its essential chemicals? One day it can be sweet and loving, all blue and clear. The next it's a green monster, taunting you.
A Christmas surprise
We've had some builders doing alterations on our house. One area where they worked is right near the pool. So, of course, this was the place where wall plaster went flying into the pool with gay abandon. But I was proud of the pool—it seemed to hold up well and stayed sweet and loving throughout its ordeal. But then, just before Christmas, it seemed to get indigestion and started turning a nasty brownish colour. It lost its sparkle. It went dull and sad.
So I galloped off the pool people with a sample of water and emerged with an armful of chemicals. These were duly dispatched and lo and behold, within a day or two all looked good and swimming on Christmas Day was enjoyed. It was once again a happy pool and we enjoyed its company and I like to think it was pretty fond of us too.
Not feeling well, again
But then long days of lounging about had to stop and I can't help feel the pool felt rejected. So just over a week ago, 
The lady doing the test looked at the result on her computer screen and a haunted look seemed to come over her. Oh-oh, I thought to myself, this doesn't look good. It was the look of a mechanic after you've brought your car in because there's a squeak or a knock and he examines the engine. He looks up, looks down, sighs, shakes his head mournfully and then turns his shocked eyes on you to spill the bad news.
The news was bad. “Nothing”, she said, “is right. Nothing.” She showed me the reading—indeed it all looked dismal.
14 January
I was given a complex set of instructions and told to come back when they were completed. Two days later, with scant improvement, I trudged back to pool shop with a sample of the nasty water. The results were hardly better. But I was encouraged by the lady who considered this to be all part of the master plan and said all would be soon well.
16 January
From bad to worse
I came straight back and dispatched the chemicals into the slightly murky and cloudy water. Within 10 minutes, the monster was unleashed. It reacted in fury and turned a nasty green colour. I phoned the pool lady in a state of shock, and she professed to be mystified, explaining that she had never heard of such a turn of events.
Green!
17 January
I was to leave it for 24 hours and come in with another sample. So, tensely gripping the monster fluid, I waited stoically for the verdict. Big trouble. Don't know what caused this. Flocculent. We won't charge for this. What!
18 January
So after adding the flocculent and leaving it to settle for a day, we awakened to this sight:
Settled muck
Which meant I had to vacuum it up:
Mucking about
All's good?
Thankfully, it looked much better the next day. But still, the pool was still holding out—it wasn't completely clear. But I felt much better now. It seemed that I might just need a bit of clarifier and then happily lounge around with gin & tonics, even though it was Monday morning.
Looking better
The pool lady looked worried. No this can't be. She tried to calm me by saying there were just a few final adjustments to be made. She then took me through a long list of chemicals to add with different filtration times and.... It was just so dispiriting.
21 January
The final adjustment chemicals!
With trepidation in my heart, I went out to look at it this morning.
That's better!
Okay, I didn't break out the hard liquor, but I did have a refreshing swim. Glorious.
But as I was getting out I could have sworn that I saw a patch of green in the corner.
