Just a quick update for anyone who isnt going out to CdA for a while. We returned late last night and have had a great 10 days at the apartment. The weather was terrific- very hot, through mid morning till late afternoon. The breeze made all the difference though as the afternoon progressed. We have used our aircon occasionally but did have my Mum with us and at 78 she found the temperatures a bit on the high side sometimes. We also managed by opening the windows and allowing a cross breeze and as we are a 1st floor apartment we could leave the bedroom windows open behind the shutters during the night- though we do plan to have fly screens.. In the mid day it was often too hot for us up on the roof terrace even with a breeze and the canopy but our lower terrace shades over as the day progresses and that proved ideal. The roof top solarium really comes into its own late afternoon and evening.
For us the fly's were a minor irritation, so nothing like our son reported from mid June. That said, generally, we did eat inside- mostly due to having a 78 year old with us who still works on the 'tea is at 5.30pm at the tea table' premise! However she was more comfortable and cooler doing that ( although we were very daring and left the door open) but when we come back in August we'll go mad and eat late on the terrace!!
The pool was lovely, about body temp once you were in and we saw lots of people using it. Whilst our garden is no where near fully occupied there are certainly more residents and visitors there. Several Spanish families appeared late Friday for the weekend and we saw quite a few of the lower apartments having/or have had canopies fitted and have furniture out. All of which gives a much more 'lived in' buzz.
The gardeners seemed to have been out in force, lots of extra watering. They do seem a tad obsessive about cutting the grass though. Three PW type gents had a walk around the Jardin on Thursday, with a clipboard and seemed to be checking the state of the shrubs and the water sprays. As a result the trees that look like they have a lot of dead foliage were all cut back on Friday. Hopefully this has also occurred in the other Jardins. It a bit disappointing that along the entrance boulevard there seems to be huge patches of dead grass and many shrubs looking worse for wear- though that just seems concentrated on the main road side of the boulevard and the 'inside' grass and shrubs of the boulevard look better and well watered.
We could see that the golf course is being regularly watered and often saw people in the distance working on it or trundling about in their trucks/ buggys. Wondering if PW are just tidying up the outer reaches by completing the road that should have accessed the Golf Suites. As nothing has been built around that entrance its all scrub land and not as attractive as they wuld have planned. Possibly they are just improving it by finishing of the access road and putting in some planting- is it just another way to access the Foro and eventually the golf club?
Pity the Foro didnt open whilst we were there- but it was good to still have the small supermarket so close. Didnt even get to the 'Surgery' this time. Hopefully by our next visit in a few weeks the Foro will open, the exterior looks much improved by the trees and shrubs. We didnt hear anything about the temporary golf club being moved to the Foro- though it makes some sense if they have such a big space built but unused. It would add to the atmosphere in there.
The security men looked and waved and came to the door of their office each time we arrived or left but no-one challenged us. We did see them in cars on the inner and outer roads but cant comment on how efficient the security is.
Met up with Jackie(scapa) and had a chat over a late night glass of wine. And also met with Will and Jackie (Bilbo)- thanks Will for rescuing me from carrying those chairs up our stairway!
So another visit over- cant wait till the next time.