Ding dong bell ...someone's down the well

After almost two weeks with many intermittent “rain stops play” type holdups, the pool tiling is finally complete. My builders “second in command” and I have worked out inventive ways to use all but six single individual luminescent tiles! I plan to set these in a wood frame and take them back home as a memento and reminder on challenging days that a cool pool awaits us in our Cozumel home.

Once the tiling is complete the pool must remain dry for a week before water is added to allow the tiles to fully adhere to the inner surfaces. Quite a challenge since we are presently in the rain season! We now find ourselves in the odd situation of striving to keep water out of the pool.

The guys now rig the sun canopy to try to catch the rain, but it still seeps in and they have to bail it out by hand with sponge and bucket on a regular basis. We cannot use the floor drain as the system has no water circulation. Running a pump “dry” is a sure way to kill it. Fortunately we can use the sump pump when the rainwater reaches higher levels.

During this week of waiting the guys focus is on finishing other smaller projects. We plaster and paint the back wall and arch. Since we still have two or three boxes of the more plain, azul tiles to use up my builder suggests we add some around the wall base to protect the paintwork from splashing from the pool. I also add some around the poolside for decoration. We can then maybe use the remainder for the dive rinse tank. I suspected they would come in handy at some point!

This is also the ideal time for the builder’s son, the electrician and plumber of the family team, to tackle the all important cortina de agua fountain. Until now the fountain device has been hidden behind the vista maya rock. Now it is about to make its debut.

My builder has confidence he can cut the rock to reveal it again without hitch. I have been impressed by his expertise but will hold my breath for this, there are no markings to show the exact point to cut.

Cutting the rock one again produces a great deal of dust and is tough work. The rock must be cut but the plastic pipe within the wall must stay intact. As he cuts the pipe finally emerges. Once the pipe is out in the open he measures and then cuts the pipe to reveal the water container for the fountain. A tile is then mounted to the wall at a slight incline to the pipe. All goes without a hitch.

The last item to be tackled is the cleaning of the well which will supply our pool with fresh “cenote style” water. Earlier I asked how you would clean out this claustrophobic little hole in the ground. Well(?) …you just plop someone down there with a bucket for the debris and some cloro (bleach)!

The first time we did this I was horrified. The Victorian practice of using small boys to clean chimneys sprang to mind. It is usually a younger lad that gets sent down there. Firstly, because it’s a shitty job and the younger ones are usually at the bottom of the pecking order. Secondly, they are the only ones who will fit down there!

On this occasion, the muchacho (lad) chosen is a very amenable lad who is always up for a joke and a bit of fun while working ... as are so many of the workers here. Since I am constantly in the habit of suggesting alterations in the mornings when the guys arrive, he regularly teases me with "cambios ...cambios?" (changes changes?) when they arrive. To play along I often respond with some outrageous alteration suggestion.

Due to the alteration for the pool steps, the well is now even more claustrophobic. Once down there however, the lad obviously finds the acoustics very much to his liking and sings quite heartily throughout the whole process while my builder observes and shouts instructions down the hole to make sure he does a good job.

I watch the proceedings from the edge of the pool and obviously miss a joke or two since there is much laughter from some of his comments from the deep. Eventually he re-emerges and the well is clean again. To show gratitude … and also to somewhat appease my conscience … I usually give any muchacho chosen for this undesirable duty a good tip for his trouble.

The week flies by, and at last the pool is ready to fill!

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Urban myths and nursery rhymes

The well known nursery rhyme "Ding dong bell" is said to have emerged sometime in the 16th century, the phrase is even quoted by Shakespeare in a couple of his plays. It is suspected it is a simple lesson in morality for the very young. On first draft however, no one actually rescues the unfortunate cat down the well ... only in the later versions does a rescuer come along in the shape of little Tommy Stout. I guess cats were ten-a-penny in those days!

Another well-known rhyme "Ring a ring o'roses" is now being subject to some urban myth scrutiny. The more interesting version is that the rhyme dates back to the days of the "Black Death", the bubonic plague that preceded the Great Fire of London in 1665. Now some are saying this theory does not hold water and that the little ditty did not emerge till the late 1800's.

I much prefer the latter theory ...and do not believe those who say that it could not have remained undocumented for so many years. Stranger things have happened at sea ...but judge for yourself.

Ring a ring o'roses - the marks of the plague were a ring of raised spots

A pocket full of posies - early opinion suggested fragrances could overcome illness

Atish-you atish-you - sneezing was an early sign of plague (ashes ashes is the US version)

We all fall down - nuf said!