Meltdowns and Bah Humbugs

Blog Layout

Meltdowns and Bah Humbugs

Chris • Dec 07, 2018

We are treating ourselves to a beach day today, yes, in December!

table with check blue and white cloth spread with a breakfast feast and a fabulous sea view

Margot Kidder (RIP) the American Actress many years ago, suffered a terrible mental breakdown. She had spent months writing a novel but got herself into a bit of a mental pickle and her delusional state caused her to believe that the novel she was writing contained critical information that the CIA didn’t want publishing…so when her laptop crashed and she lost all her work, well, the poor woman went into a total meltdown, and was later found by search helicopters, hiding in a neighbour’s garden naked and front teeth missing – all of which was being broadcast live on CNN. She spoke about it candidly years later having made a full recovery albeit on anti-psychotic medications for the rest of her talented life.

Me? Well, I had a Margot Kidder moment this week. This very blog which you are reading disappeared off the face of the interweb. The reason? Simple – while doing a routine edit, I pressed ‘delete’ by mistake. There wasn’t an ‘are you sure?’ prompt, the ‘undo’ button showed but was greyed out (despite my pressing it over and over in ever increasing panic before realising the undo button just wouldn’t damn well work!). Yes, reader, I was moments away from knocking my front teeth out, stripping off naked and hiding behind the nearest wheelie bin on all fours and barking like a dog.

Fortunately, my years of corporate web publishing taught me to always back-up my work. So, composure regained – that’s what I did. Panic over. We’re back.

In other news, we are the 7th of December and Steve and I are treating ourselves to a beach day today, yes. Put that in your on-line back-up and smoke it. I watched from the terrace yesterday evening, a Spanish family who had set up on the shoreline from about nine in the morning. They had blankets for the kids, loungers for the adults, a little transistor radio (remember them?!) and cool boxes with food and drink. There they stayed all day and literally enjoyed every last drop of the beach until 7pm when they finally packed up and went home. – it was a joy to see.

Those of you who know the area well, will know that the naturist zone is nicely sandwiched between the golden sandy beach on one side, and the salinas (salt marshes) on the other. Although the salinas are outside of the naturist ‘zone’ – they are always worth the short walk to because there you will spot migrating birds including flamingos.

We often take a walk over there – it reminds me of a nature reserve I grew up by back in Blighty. We often wonder how many people appreciate what this oasis of nature holds. It seems it is appreciated, because the town hall have plans for it. A collection of viewing platforms, hides and a visitor centre with huge glass wall taking in the stunning views over the salinas is in the pipeline. You can view the computer generated film of what it would look like here.

Our opinion on it is mixed. We love the thought of this area being appreciated more, but my experience of nature reserves like this is that the paths and hides are discreetly placed around the very edges of the reserve – allowing nature to continue in relative peace, undisturbed by humans. The plans from the town hall look amazing, they really do. I was impressed at first, but on reflection, walkways, bridges and visitor centres are literally being carved right through the middle of the lakes. Already I can see people letting their dogs off the lead and chasing flamingos, kids screaming at whatever wildlife they get up and personal to…am I being bah humbug? Well, it is the season I suppose.

Happy festivities!

Steve and Chris offer two beautiful apartments to rent for the discerning naturist traveller. One is directly on the Vera Playa naturist beach, the other just a few footsteps away. See more. here