Match Of The Day: Floods and Match Point

First the volcano, then the floods. What next? Plague of locusts, anyone?

To say that the first working day of the season was a damp squib would be an understatement. It was horrific. The coast road from Puerto Pollensa to Alcudia was bad enough, but the bypass at the back of Bellevue. Man alive. Waterfalls cascading like giant bathroom overflows down the side of the Sant Marti mountain, bringing with them detritus, mud and water, water and more water. When finally I reached the haven of close to home, I abandoned the car because my road was impassable, and trudged back with what felt like several inches of water inside my shoes, past the poor suckers who have garages below ground. They must now appreciate that such garages are in the class of being a completely crap idea.

Here are some photos and vids from Ben:
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/mallorcaben/FloodsAlcudiaMay2010


And so to why I had been in Puerto Pollensa. Well, one port of call was a place that has, open for barely a couple of days, already shot to the top of the local controversy charts. It's called Match Point. Pub and sports bar. Raul from Eolo. Nice chap. Very enthusiastic. Why the controversy? It's hard to understand, to be honest, but it has gone in with a bullet at number one, toppling Bony and the entire Boulevard Group from their normal positions, which takes some doing.

The pub is on two floors, it will have an inner terrace once the debris is removed and it will boast multi-screens for different sports. The upper floor in particular is impressive, and will be even more so once everything is installed. The pub looks towards the nautical club and is thus in a great location. But it is this which seems, as much as anything, to have caused the unrest, as in it shouldn't be there. And what the place looks like. Which is? A pub. Heaven forbid. Around the old resort of Puerto Pollensa, the jungle drums of discontent were beating yesterday.

Look, one has to be sensitive to cherished impressions and memories of Puerto Pollensa. It would be fantastic had the place had a preservation order slapped onto it and had it been kept in some quaint time-warp of the Illa D'Or and Sis Pins (which is rather charmingly of course boarded up). I would have applauded such a move. But it has not been subject to any such preservation. Witness the mish-mash of architectural styles dotted around the resort. Unlike the old town, which has this sort of order (not that this is to everyone's liking), the resort is an altogether different beast. It is a commercial centre, and the fact is that it has changed. To the physical change can be added shifting demographics, both tourist and local.

Into this change come new businesses. Some people don't like them, and they have every right not to. Yet these businesses demonstrate at least the application of ideas, and Raul is not short of them. Some would rather they kept their ideas to themselves. This is not going to happen.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.