Oh, hell, I wasn't bragging about having a pool; I'd rather live w/out one actually, but it's part of the complex where I live.
I grew up on the coast, and miss it a lot. Living in Hollywood, I'm now near the coast, but it's just not the same thing as the Central Coast.
Hey, relax! I wasn’t intending to imply that at all.
To tell you a secret: when we were buying, we decided to look for places without pools. Pool, as in private villa, is wonderful; in a complex it means noise, thousands of additional kids from everywhere else, loud other-people’s music (only mine is good) and filth and additional expense for a thing one would inevitably find oneself shunning.
With time, many aspects of sunshine living that initially seemed attractive cease to be that remarkably easily. Beaches, for example, soon became a curse of sand in the car, in the house and everywhere else. Homes on the prima linea – front line - are the worst, especially off-season when the various stronger Mediterranean winds blow. The promenades look like desert scenes out of a spaghetti western with local varieties of tumbleweed and broken flowers from shattered pots racing across the desert/new beach that was the former, expensively paved summer walkway. As for the buildings, here, a click inland, we can get seven or so years between paint jobs; sand and salty gales strip paint and what it does to marine varnish on woodwork isn’t pretty either.
And yes, I appreciate that you miss the ocean; I would too, and that’s a factor that always raises itself whenever I think seriously about selling this place, something that for inheritance purposes would make a lot of sense. Then I ask myself, back in Britain, where would I find good ten-euro del dia lunches five days a week, followed by exhilarating if exhausting strolls down through the glamour world of yachts? Problems, always problems; ain’t nuttin’ perfect.
Rob C
