Robby Senior reanimated

Lavinia, Thursday 6 August 2020

Just before the start of the second opening, after the lockdown, our faithful four-legged friend, Robby, the swimming pool robot, had given it the bride and groove. Well, not completely, but he turned out to have a very hard time working more than 10 minutes in one piece. Of course that is not tenable for Wim to check every 10 minutes and push him again. Unexpectedly we tried to get the guarantee proof from the Spaniard who had sold him to us. It was the same man who then converted the two swimming pools into saltwater electrolysis pools. So we had every confidence in him when he recommended a robot to us, and sold it. A new one, that is. But for some reason we were so careless – perhaps because we were so happy to get full help with that inhuman work of maintaining the two pools – that we never got any proof. Well, that’s what we think, because we don’t find it anywhere in our papers. I have to admit, that renovation period was so incredibly hectic that we never got around to collecting and arranging everything neatly. Did something go wrong there? I don’t know. Anyway, we tried every way we could to get David, the pool guy, to give us the warranty. But in vain. We just couldn’t get our hands on it. Since we only had two days left until the first guests arrived after corona, all we had to do was buy a new robot. Robby Junior was born. Suddenly it also became a robot that was a lot more powerful, and didn’t block at the slightest lump of a filter on the bottom. We would bring the Robby Senior in, to have a look at it. But that hasn’t come of it yet. Until this week our good, annual guest 😉, R., who knows everything about electricity took care of him. Admittedly, we’d dropped it, a little funny, if he wanted to take a look at it. And he wanted to do that with a lot of pleasure. When it came up again yesterday, he’d take a look at it the next day. But R. wouldn’t be R. if he knocked on our door barely 5 minutes later because it ‘didn’t let him go’. He actually wanted to start right away. It turned out to be quite a job, and R. had to disassemble him almost completely to do the investigation. R. bit himself into it, and didn’t want to stop until he had found the problem. And indeed, an hour or so later, Robby Senior was launched back into the water. He proudly ploughed himself along the bottom, past the filter-bulbs, up the stairs.

Unbelievable! He worked again! It turned out that hair and all kinds of dirt prevented the cleaning wheels from having enough power to turn. How lucky we are -should you say in Holland- with our selfless guests. It is not the first time I write this. But it’s just unimaginable how every guest here, in his own special way, contributes to the uniqueness of Lavinia. Sometimes we can’t grasp it, really.

It’s not only about people who actually do a job or help us physically, but also about small things.

This week we suddenly got a message from Yvon, you know, who made our whole vegetable garden weed-free, that they were on their way from their hometown here for half an hour, to the Netherlands because they were going to become grandmothers and grandparents of twins that same night. How special is that she sends us a message even before the twins are born? I don’t get it. Apparently Lavinia does something with people, apparently she touches them.

photo : Vecteezy

When S&R, Robby Senior’s reanimator, arrived last Friday, were their first words. “It’s like we’re coming home.” It almost made my throat crawl. It hit us deep in the heart. So nice to hear that.

Photo : Word Press

Going somewhere on holiday for a second time is always a bit of a risk, because it can also be very disappointing, because there are a different kind of guests, or just because you expected too much after you idealized it a bit the first time. So I have to admit that I have a double feeling when guests come back for the second time. In the meantime some people have been there for the second time, and I’m a little more reassured. Just like last year, they find here again the peace and coziness they were looking for. And the reunion is indeed like meeting old friends. With the big difference that we can’t cuddle now. And I find that so very difficult. To give a big hug, as a real welcome. Not a faint welcome with an uncomfortable two meters between us, but it’s is what it is. We could really see through that unreal feeling of distance, that the reunion was truly warm.

Once again we enjoy being with our guests, the wonderful evenings on the terrace, with the journalist – but not now because of holiday mode – and his wife, and with S& R. How nice to see that the journalist, who stays here for 3 weeks and goes to the beach almost every day, suddenly convinces the other couple to spend a day at the beach with them. And how, when the 4 musketeers, all with broad smiles on their lips, they come ‘home’ again.

Photo : IEX.nl

These are things we can get so much energy and satisfaction from. It doesn’t always have to be a big thing. Or to see how the journalist and his wife want to take every dash of sunshine with them and invariably enjoy an aperitif in the cosy corner of the sunset every evening. Cosy chatting, just, enjoying each other’s company. Taking time for each other. What a richness to see this, two people intensely enjoying very simple things of life.

Of course, there’s also the stuff of doom and gloom. Yesterday was one of those days. I don’t want to mention the market leader in travel organization by name, but there was another booking coming in through them. For 6 people this time. Because it is not easy to contact the booker directly through that channel, it took a while before we had direct contact with him via whatsapp. It wouldn’t be the first time that it is not clear to people that we are a purely naturist accommodation, so we always check this out with the future guests. As I already suspected, it was the same in this case. We indicated that we would cancel without any problem and at no cost. Apparently the man was not convinced of our sincerity, because he refused to cancel before he saw his money back. In the end it turned out to be hours of over-and-under apping to convince the man. He even threatened at one point that he would still come with 6 people, wearing clothes. And if we threatened to send him off the domain, he’d bring in the Guardia Civil. I have to admit. I didn’t really have a great feeling about it, more than that, he managed to frighten me completely, so I started to get very unpleasant towards Wim.

Meanwhile, there was nothing else we could do that afternoon. Away nice plans to relax a bit. In the end we had to bring in the cancellation ourselves, with the clear message that not a penny would be withheld, and forwarded the proof to the – in the meantime furious – Spaniard. Immediately after receiving it he calmed down. I, on the other hand, kept feeling the adrenaline until deep into the night. So it was a very short, interrupted and unpleasant night’s sleep.

But, today, I’m trying to put this shit behind me. Today we take a day for ourselves and try to go snorkeling, get a bite to eat, and do something else that’s still a surprise…

We will once again enjoy the beauty that Spain has to offer us, sun, sea and beach and conviviality…

Hasta luego,

Ana