In one way or another, everyone goes a little crazy.
However, it’s challenging to let your creative side run wild when you live in an apartment. The walls are too close together, the neighbors are too inquisitive, and your imagination is stuck—even in a three-room apartment.
But once you enter a home with a garden, well, that’s another else entirely. Some undertakings take a gloriously unexpected turn, ideas flow, and the mind wanders.
A triplex with a balcony has always been a fantasy of one of my pals. He desired to sit there, gaze over his property, and idly watch the neighbor in a bikini with his hands in the potatoes. He spotted the neighbor in his undies, sipped coffee on the balcony, and built it. Never did it rise again.
Another constructed a second pavilion so he and his pals could play ping-pong and pool. They arrived one or two times. and for six years, the tables have been covered with a tarp.
I will, however, tell you about a third man today. An ordinary man who works and is always seen with his hands in cement or grease. He raises three children, makes a good living, works as a masonry contractor on the side, and continues to drive a beat-up Opel.
And this guy… he had an idea that none of us anticipated.
He appeared in his lawn one day carrying a huge concrete ring. It’s not what you use for a septic tank or well. No. This one has a diameter of perhaps 2.2 meters. He also put two of them in a stack.
To avoid damaging the lawn, he began by excavating by hand. After that, he installed metal mesh, XPS insulation, and gravel to level the ground. and filled a huge slab with it.
The neighbors were perplexed as they passed by and said, “Why are you installing something like that?” Don’t we all have the sewer here?
– Is that a bunker? A silo for missiles?
They looked over. No connections, no pipelines… The mystery grew more complex.
He then began tiling the interior one day. The pieces gradually fell into place: this man had recently constructed a miniature pool. a 1.5-meter-deep basin with a diameter of 2.2 meters. sturdy and unbreakable. And surprisingly tasteful.
The most bizarre aspect? Transport, hoisting, concrete rings, and mosaic (which he had rescued from a building site) all cost him 140,000 forints, which is essentially nothing.
Not a single crack. No upkeep. No chance of blowing up in the cold. There is just one restriction: using a pump to drain.
He keeps the water clear in the summer by adding a little chlorine and using an outdated filtration system. Last year, his dog damaged the pump while swimming with the kids, but everything can be cleaned in fifteen minutes with a brush and a Kärcher.
Pool owners are said to be happy both when they install their pool and when they remove it. However, this is unquestionably an exception. He and his children both find it enjoyable. And me… I’m actually beginning to believe that having a small swimming pool of my own this summer wouldn’t be all that horrible.
What are your thoughts? Is it brilliant, or is it completely insane?
