WARNING: If you’re prone to envy, this post might not be for you.
It’s still April and Oscar, Will and I had our first swim of the year in the pool today. It’s also our hottest day so far, hitting 28C (82F) this afternoon. The pool is an invigorating 19.5C so it makes for a bracing swim until you eventually become numb to the cold. I’m not complaining – it is already too hot for me to sit in the sun for more than 15 minutes before needing to get up and find some shade.
We headed out to the pool around 1pm and as we sat on the loungers, I remarked that the setting very much reminded me of our Grecian holidays and the only thing missing was the Cuba Libres (rum+coke+lime), our drink of choice there. After soaking up a few rays, I ran out to Brantome for rum and after lunch, around 4pm, we mixed up a batch and had them out by the pool. Sharon joined us there and Oscar was the first to take the plunge. He loves to swim but is a bit freaked out by the pool since he can’t see the bottom so has some trepidation about getting in. He has to walk down a step, then along the wall that separates the kiddie area and finally he throws himself in when that runs out. He loves to chase sticks at any time but the combo of water + sticks sends him nuts and at one point, he went rampaging around the pool and into the garden for a minute or two in a fit of mania.
Next into the pool was Will. He stayed in for a good 15 minutes before I dared take the plunge. I only lasted a few minutes but it’s a nice sensation to feel warm immediately after stepping out of a pool. Around 6pm we moved on to vodka-based cocktails as well as the lovely green. We spent a bit of time reflecting on where we were at this time last year: had decided to move out here, didn’t have a place to live, weren’t sure what was happening on the work front. Thankfully, it worked out extremely well considering today is Wednesday and by all rights, we should really be at work, shouldn’t we?