This back yard creature must be kept under constant chemical constraint, or it risks becoming more liability than assetGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailI’ll call him Bruce. He’s any of the 3.1 million Australians living in a house with a pool or spa. Over my long career in hardware, listening to the woes of so many Bruces, I’ve discovered that owning a pool is not all fun and bubbles at cocktail hour.In the beginning, it wasn’t so bad. On first viewing his bayside property, Bruce already believed the agent’s claim that by far the most desirable addition to any home is a pool. It did look nice, glistening blue in the back yard. And weren’t the kids rapt. But now, years later, Bruce isn’t. Continue reading...