It's early, in the morning, I'm still slow and my eyes are a little stuck. I have to go out and with a coffee and a cool shower I'm sure I'll start the day better. I open the tap and the weak stream diminishes until the water stops coming out. Okay, something that no longer surprises me because it is part of our daily life, the water cuts. I get dressed, I'm going to connect the cistern motor that I have outside and I'll be back.
While I shower, I start thinking about the times we have to read in the news that these towns are without water today and these others tomorrow. That, week after week and month after month. I have in my imagination the page of the newspaper with the news and the photo, either of the facade or of the Canal Gestión offices.
I prepare coffee thinking about whether the day will come when the news tells me that Puerto del Carmen or Playa Blanca are without water, but it won't happen, in such touristy settings it would be something dramatic, imagine the bad press, the Daily Mail on the front page with tourist phobia and water cuts, negative statements from our visitors in sensationalist debates on television in their country... Stop, stop.
I leave the house and see Diana, my neighbor, who is coming from walking the dogs, and I ask her about the water. She tells me that she doesn't know if it's a cut or a breakdown in the neighborhood, of course, that's another one, we have the Canal Gestión breakdown telephone number in favorites, they put some very pleasant little drops of water as a melody when you're on hold.
Apparently, Canal Congestión plans to apply a significant price increase despite the worsening of the service, and also wants to demand an improvement in its economic conditions, just for the sake of asking.
When I talk about worse service, let it be clear that I am not talking about the workers, who are friendly and hardworking. The company and its contractors are the ones who are worsening the situation month after month and year after year.
Someday they will have to explain to us, both the socialist government and the coalition government, although some of us imagine it, why, after continuous breaches, no forceful measures have been taken with the concession to this company. Deal after deal, rags and more dirty rags, San Ginés in the Senate and María without water on the farm.
María is a friend who has a small farm in La Villa, in the afternoon-evening we have arranged to meet at home for a drink and a snack.
Among many other things we talk about, I ask her how she is doing with the water. I know they had been without water for the field for two months, yes, two months. Previously they were given one day on the weekend, and not always, to water and fill the tanks they have, now they had been without even that day for two months.
She tells me that any type of cultivation is impossible like this, that everything has been ruined. She cultivates for home, to eat, and it is a big problem for her, I can't imagine what it must be like for a professional farmer who is not even allowed to work, who ends up throwing in the towel and being forced to dedicate himself to something else related, of course, to tourism, which is in the basket where all the eggs are put; goodbye primary sector.
Chatting with her and her partner Carlos, we find it very difficult to understand that we conejeros have been so abandoned with water. We find it very difficult to understand that for our rulers it is more important to fill a swimming pool in Fariones than to water the potatoes in Los Valles, that it is more important to have the golf course nice and green than to water the watermelons in Soo, that the shower of the visitors is more important than that of those of us who live here.
María and Carlos are leaving now, it's late and I accompany them to the door. I tell them to see if they have luck with the water next weekend and their faces are of disbelief.
I close the door and go to see if there is running water yet and, by the way, to check how the cistern is.
