Running repairs to the swimming pool

Got over to our French holiday Gite OK on Saturday night, a long drive down from Dunkerque but Liz doesn't like the dog being left "all alone" in the car for too long so it was the long drive for us this time.

When we got there I found that the swimming pool cover we'd fitted at Easter was torn and the water was looking rather green and mucky again.

Took the pool cover off, chucked in a generous amount of Chlorine Shock and Granular Flocculant and then changed the pump filter. There was a spare filter in the barn next to the pool chemicals but unfortunately none of the guests had changed it in a while so the old filter was rather slimy and blocked up.

Left the pump on overnight and by next morning a miracle had occurred, clean pool water ! It's amazing how well chlorine shock works at killing microbes in the water and turning a the pool clean again.

By that afternoon the kids were already in the pool enjoying themselves.

Later on we were sitting down outside when Liz noticed that one of the pool pump hoses was acting as a fountain and water was leaking out on the gravel. Looks like the plastic pipes get brittle with age in the sun and rather than being pliable and bendy they now gave ominous creaks when I moved them. Fortunately with all the different pumps we've been through with the pool over the years I have quite a collection of replacement pipes so was able to swap the broken one over.

PS: And in case you wondered why I'm writing on my blog rather than spending time with the family on holiday ... I'm currently sitting in McDonalds carpark in Loudeac accessing their free wifi (see previous blog posting about free McDonalds wifi and hat-tip to Bob Toovey for originally spotting this McDonalds service). The main reason for connecting up was to arrange a booking for the Gite for the first two weeks of September, but whilst I'm here I'll catch up on my emails as well.