Animal Quackers

And so they came again, they saw and they let loose some live ducks - more than on other occasions during this time of prohibition. Therein lies a story. If you know not of what I speak, get yourselves down to Can Picafort next year for the traditional duck liberation farce. Where there should be only rubber ducks are a few real ones - a dozen in all this year. The problem is you can't get a good view. So many people came this year, perhaps because it was a holiday and a Saturday, but also because they want to see live ducks being let go in contravention of this mad denial of an old ritual; they want people to be naughty. Whether the masked men who were responsible for the live fowl came on jet-ski or boat is immaterial, the fact is they came, and no-one in Can Picafort is inclined to let on who they might be; they still like their traditions live and with breathing animals in Can Picafort. Plod were apparently unable to use launches because they were all being used to protect the royals down in the south. It would be same next year as well. Unless they form some sort of exclusion zone with helicopters, launches, submarines, the masked miscreants will prevail. But to create an overwhelming police presence would be insane. We are talking about ducks here. This is of course now all a cause célèbre, and there will be a desire for more audacious cocking-a-snook at authority; expect whole flocks of ducks in 2010. And even more people willing them on.


Oh so expensive - or not?
Yet another letter to "The Bulletin" about over-pricing and low standards. Yet another letter choosing Puerto Pollensa, or one restaurant (unnamed) in Puerto Pollensa, to justify the argument. To be fair, the letter-writer(s) praised restaurants in the resort but picked on one where the menu of the day was less than good. So what? We can all point to bad experiences wherever we go. One example does not make a case for anything, other than not returning to a particular restaurant. 'Twas ever thus. Yet the conclusion, in the letter, is that tourists will not come back if they are expected to pay the prices that are being asked. Something isn't quite right - yesterday I cited that research which made price a key issue for coming to Mallorca. Maybe it is just coincidence, maybe it is just a case of letter-writers following a leader, but the paper seems intent on ramming this theme down everyone's throats and using it as a means of beating the tourism industry in general and bars and restaurants specifically, but with little balance or explanation as to why prices may be as they are or as to how one can actually holiday in Mallorca pretty cheaply. The letters are generally left unchallenged, creating a false impression; it's the same principle as that to which I referred yesterday.

You have to, or should always strive for some perspective and some balance, and these one-off letters simply don't do that. In "The Diario" they have been talking to tourists and finding that they are looking for ways to spend less, but they quote one British holidaymaker who says that everything is much cheaper than in the UK. So make of that what you will.


Car-hire shortage - old news
Still with "The Bulletin", on Saturday it front-paged about the lack of hire cars on the island and their price. It was basically a thing doing the rounds of other media - the BBC's website had something very similar. It's fair enough and at least it does point out that the situation has been caused in large part by a lack of financing that saw hire-car fleets reduced. But why now? On 14 April (You Got A Fast Car), there was a piece on just this subject. The shortage was heralded before the main season started, but only now is it being given much attention. It's actually old news, old news that should have been given more prominent treatment as car hire is a not unimportant aspect of the island's tourism. Don't understand.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Rolling Stones, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulVDM0a49Lw. Today's title - as last year's blogging on the Can Picafort ducks was entitled "Duck Soup", what is the connection with today's title, albeit that one word has been changed a bit?

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