Protección Civil for Almuñécar/Herradura has issued its figures for July, concerning First Aid at its four beach posts: La Herradura, San Cristóbal, Puerta del Mar and Velilla. Jelly-fish stings are up, which is hardly surprising as there are more people around to be stung, so to speak.

Anyway, whereas 478 bathers were treated for their stings during the first fortnight, 1,247 were similarly treated during the second half of July.

But it can’t all be put down to there being more ‘targets’ in the water, because during the whole of July 2011 only 671 people were treated for jelly-fish stings. In other words, nearly three times more bathers were treated July 2012 than July 2011.

For those who prefer to treat their own ‘war wounds,’ Protección Civil says that the best way to treat a sting is to press a piece of cotton wool or medical gauze, soaked in vinegar to the affected area, which is the quickest way to absorb the venom.

Here is the ‘casualty list’ from July: Jelly-fish stings, 1,725, injuries, 98, lost persons 6, calls to the police 13, transfers to the medical centre 11 and rescue boat launched 26.

You know, it is not as if a jelly-fish shoal has ever turned up on one of our beaches before, is it? It’s not a case of, “Oh look – what’s that? Never seen those bloody things before.” No, because they have been turning up for the last five years, at least, so one wonders why hasn’t the Town Hall done anything about it, other than sending out a despondent lunatic with a butterfly net on a motorized skiff?

It doesn’t matter how stubborn holiday makers can be about spending their hols on a beach; they will not saunter around for ever on an uneven stretch of small stones dotted with beach umbrellas, if they can’t jump into the water, without being mugged by a herd of psychopathic, transparent mushrooms. They will eventually at some point conclude, “bugger this for a lark, I’ll sign up for rural tourism next year.”

Having nice clean beaches, functioning beach showers and toilets is simply not enough – people have to be able to bathe in the sea, so it’s time to come up with a plan, is it not?

(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)