Three winters ago, I had a Tuesday ruined by a water cut I didn't know was coming.

Cleaners arrived at 8 am for a full property handover. A new short-term tenant was scheduled at 2 pm. Deposit on the line. The water cut started at 9 am. Ended at 4 pm. Nobody told me. The comunidad — homeowners association — had posted notices in Spanish three weeks earlier. I'd walked past them daily.

Cost me €400 in fees, a day of crisis management, and the uncomfortable realisation that being organised doesn't matter when you're reading the wrong information sources.

Here's what changed: I started treating operational intelligence like calendar maintenance. Not heroic—systematic. Fifteen minutes Sunday night, check three things, and brief anyone who needs to know.

This week has three snags that will derail your calendar if you're not expecting them.

Eugenio Gross closure (30 months, Metro expansion)

The stretch between Martínez de la Rosa and Martínez Maldonado is closed for Hospital Civil Metro works. Your default detour: Las Chapas roundabout → Doctor Escassi → Morales Villarrubia.

This matters if you're conducting client meetings near Bailén-Miraflores, arranging airport transfers, or making supplier drop-offs. Add ten minutes to journey times. If you're hosting clients this week, pre-select a backup meeting location east or west of the works and add it to calendar invites now. Rain makes this worse.

EMASA and ACOSOL water windows

Empresa Municipal de Aguas de Málaga — Málaga city water company — and Mancomunidad de Municipios de la Costa del Sol Occidental — western Costa water authority — are running rolling low-pressure windows this week.

Check your street before scheduling property handovers, deep cleans, or laundry. If you have contractors on-site, brief them on Sunday night. Stage bottled water if you're doing handovers—learned that the hard way.

AEMET yellow rain alerts

Agencia Estatal de Meteorología — Spanish Met Office — has 20mm/hour spikes possible mid-week. If you're conducting site visits, schedule them for off-peak hours. If you're hosting clients, move parking instructions above the fold in your calendar invitation—rain doubles the time from the car park to the meeting room.

Open three tabs. Check EMASA street list for my zone, scan AEMET for yellow alerts, verify if Eugenio Gross detours affect my week. Takes 12 minutes. Put a single line in every meeting invite: "Weather/water/works checked—backup plan set."

If something changes mid-week, I've got a paste-ready WhatsApp message: "Streets slow near Gross closure, moving to backup room. Same link, seven-minute delay." Sounds small. It's the difference between looking competent and looking scattered.

On yellow-alert days, pull school pickup forward by ten minutes. Pre-book an indoor backup—such as a library corner, climbing gym, or covered play area—so late meetings don't strand children in the weather. Worth having two early-dinner spots (18:30 actual seating, not 19:00 "Spanish time") on your shortlist for traffic-delayed evenings.

¿Hay desvíos por obras hoy? — Are there detours for roadworks today?
(Pronounced: eye day-VEE-ohs por OH-brass oy)

¿Habrá corte de agua en esta calle? — Will there be a water cut on this street?
(Pronounced: ah-BRA cor-tay day AH-gwah en ES-tah KAH-yay)

If you want the Eugenio Gross detour map with alternative entry points (shareable PDF), reply MAP.

If you need this week's street-level water-cut list with scheduling guidance, reply WATER.

If you want the one-page Monday ops checklist template (for briefing drivers, vendors, teams), reply with OPS.

I'll send them within 24 hours. All formatted so you can use them without worrying about the rest of your week.

Not bad for a Monday — A. and the slightly sober WaypointSur team

With WaypointSur, you can always expect plain-English guidance to land, settle, and thrive on Spain's Costa del Sol—homes, schools, healthcare, visas, taxes, work, and daily life. 💛

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