I've brought a pool to the land of pools. Taking a pool to Corfu is the Ionian equivalent of coals to Newcastle. I've never been to a place with so many of them, and all bright blue, just like mine.
Of course, mine is only five feet in diameter, and inflatable. It's a paddling pool for the 18-month-old twins. I was given it by a friend who, when she heard we were spending a fortnight in a Corfiot family villa with a pool (Direct Greece, 0870 5168683), immediately suggested I packed an extra baby-sized one. She said it would keep the twins chirpy and cool, and stop them pestering to go in the proper grown-up swimming pool, which would need more vigilant supervision and be far harder work.
Unlike the adult pool, the paddling pool is also, of course, mobile, and I shift it with the sun so it's always in the shade. It has even been down to the beach with us, filled up by buckets. It has proved to be almost as useful as our trusty garden fence, which also accompanied us to Corfu, and which I wrote about last week.
When we all venture into the swimming pool, the twins wear floaties swim and float suits - bathing costumes with inflatable pouches at the front and back - which make them look like Tweedledum and Tweedledee. The boy doesn't enjoy the sensation of bobbing up and down in the water, and is happier in a simple rubber ring. But the girl has taken to her floaties suit like a duck to water, and is swimming independently in it.
We had other buoyancy aids, but last night we left them out at the side of the pool and they were all torn to shreds. My nine-year-old blamed a six-fanged lilo-eating monster, but I know the real villains - the island's large population of wild tabby cats.
