An isolated house in the countryside. Middle of the afternoon. Two youths break in to the house. They pistol-whip a man in his sixties who is there alone. They hightail it with a third person, clutching 300 euros. One hundred each. Just for knocking someone semi-conscious.
Where did this occur? Off the main road between Can Picafort and Santa Margalida. I know the road well. Along it there isn't a great deal. The Santa Eulália rural hotel apart, there is virtually nothing until you get to the Es Turó / S'Alqueria restaurant and then, a kilometre or more further along, come into Santa Margalida. All that you find are one bar and tracks off for a few houses and fincas, isolated, in the country; idyllic in their quietness until, that is, a couple of thugs destroy that idyll. It's ideal, I guess, if you want to do a bit of thieving and burglarising.
An isolated house and maybe an isolated incident. One can but hope. But bad times lead to bad things. And it is not just the villas of the rich that are the targets. When someone had his flat in Puerto Alcúdia burgled, the Guardia remarked that anyone is a target now. There used to be a sort-of Robin Hood code, but not any longer. The Guardia are anticipating that there will be an increase in this sort of crime. It's hardly a surprising, if depressing, conclusion.
One can of course get carried away and start imagining households under siege from non-existent gangs of burglars, but anyone with an image of Mallorca as a place of open doors and exclusively happy-go-lucky people having fun is sadly deluding him or herself. Why do you suppose there is all that security fronting properties that I mentioned yesterday? The island may once have been largely crime-free, but its very success (for which read also wealth), its population increase and its social disparities (to say nothing of drugs) have fomented crime.
When I was speaking the other day with Jim and Ray from the association of British businesses and residents, one thing that came up was policing. Jim is a former policeman, and he was talking about a need for community policing. It is just one approach. Locally, one is aware of the local police doing the rounds in a car a couple of times a day and one also sees them at night. The Guardia also put in a drive-by appearance. I'm not sure how much of a deterrent this all is. Perhaps with the growth in unemployment and a willingness to splash public money, the government and the town halls could create job opportunities for more policing - policing aimed at patrolling the local neighbourhoods.
Alcúdia is apparently aiming to make itself the island's number one "leisure-craft resort" (reports "The Bulletin") and is among the marinas promoted by the Spanish Turespaña marketing body. Good news perhaps, though where they will find the space for more moorings, other than floating ones, I'm not sure. There is also the idea that the redevelopment of the commercial port and the building of the terminal will attract leisure cruisers, something that one considers with a degree of scepticism. But it may happen, and again would be no bad thing.
All this activity, if one can call it such, among the waterworldists comes at a time when a production company is seeking a commission from a UK television network for a drama series, set in a "luxury yachting marina" (again as mentioned by "The Bulletin"). Going under the working title of "Skippers", it would, apparently, feature "racy storylines", glamorous and hunky actresses and actors and be a boon to Mallorca's tourism. The likelihood is that, were it to be made, it would be based in the south. Portals springs to mind. It sounds a bit like "Howards' Way" with more money and sun and Pamela Anderson and David Hasselhoff chests. One wonders just how representative it would be. A series with the shallower but upper echelons of the expat food chain of the waterworld would, I would suggest, be fairly unrepresentative. There is scope for an altogether grittier drama about real life in Mallorca, but they probably wouldn't make that, preferring instead some reality docuTV about some poor saps for whom it's all gone wrong. And I think they may have done that already.
But a real-life drama, not one of intrigue featuring contemporary-day slimeball Ken Masters's or Charles Freres in waterworld, would be more compelling. They could show how it is, not how it is imagined. It could start with a man in his sixties being pistol-whipped. Now I think of it, wasn't one of the first ever storylines in "Eastenders" about an old man being robbed?
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Prince, but because his stuff is barred from youtube, here is the Simple Minds version (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDTruFjP57s). Today's title - this was a film for which the "lager, lager" people were partly responsible for the soundtrack. Who were they and what was the lager track?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Showing posts with label Marinas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marinas. Show all posts
Monday, November 03, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
The Story Of The Blues
Another day, another promotional tag. Mallorca is awash with branding, its seas are alive with the sound of slogans. And from the sea comes the latest - "IB-Blau", standing for Illes Balears Blau. One of the advantages of Catalan can be its closer proximity to English - blau is blue, and is also but one change of vowel from the French. IB-Blau is the rallying regatta call of Balearic yacht and boating tourism; into the blue and into, very much, the black of a profit and loss account that seeks ever more buoyant figures to add to the 520 million euros of income that floated in during 2007 on the hulls of seafaring. As "The Bulletin" points out, the Waterworldist wallet is a thing of some lucrativeness - a daily spend of 140 plus euros per day per head. At an average stay of 15 days, that represents a couple of grand of watering and feeding and the rest.
IBATUR, the Balearic Government's tourism promotional wing and they of the "much more than ... " sloganising, are well aware of the treasures that the Waterworldists bring in, but, in good eco-consciously correct fashion, say that the nautical-tourism promotion of the blue Balearic motif will not be supported by anything environmentally detrimental. In other words, there will not be a major development of the marinas save for floating moorings. Much more than nautical tourism, in IBATUR terms, but not much more by way of marinas. The good ship IB-Blau can sail into port with "The Ecology Song" blaring from its tannoy system and with its hold full of nautical-tourism bounty. Yet a regular annual increase of some 14% in terms of income demands more marina space unless the charges rise and are accommodated by that bulging Waterworldist wallet.
Despite the restrictions in terms of further physical moorings, here is a part of the tourism industry that does offer riches. It is the familiar argument of wealth generating more wealth, in the secondary sense to the restaurants and establishments near to the marinas. Which does raise the question of how diffuse that wealth generation is and would be in the whole of somewhere like Puerto Alcúdia. And the same might also be said for the new port terminal which is now under construction and which promises further riches from cruise ships using it as an alternative to Palma. It's good news for the port, in fact potentially very good news, but for all ...?
QUIZ
Chain - Van Morrison did a track called "Whatever Happened to P.J. Proby?", a question many of us will have asked. What's the link between Van the Man and "I Will Survive". Yesterday's title - "Come Fly With Me", Frank Sinatra. Today's title - which Liverpool band did this?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
IBATUR, the Balearic Government's tourism promotional wing and they of the "much more than ... " sloganising, are well aware of the treasures that the Waterworldists bring in, but, in good eco-consciously correct fashion, say that the nautical-tourism promotion of the blue Balearic motif will not be supported by anything environmentally detrimental. In other words, there will not be a major development of the marinas save for floating moorings. Much more than nautical tourism, in IBATUR terms, but not much more by way of marinas. The good ship IB-Blau can sail into port with "The Ecology Song" blaring from its tannoy system and with its hold full of nautical-tourism bounty. Yet a regular annual increase of some 14% in terms of income demands more marina space unless the charges rise and are accommodated by that bulging Waterworldist wallet.
Despite the restrictions in terms of further physical moorings, here is a part of the tourism industry that does offer riches. It is the familiar argument of wealth generating more wealth, in the secondary sense to the restaurants and establishments near to the marinas. Which does raise the question of how diffuse that wealth generation is and would be in the whole of somewhere like Puerto Alcúdia. And the same might also be said for the new port terminal which is now under construction and which promises further riches from cruise ships using it as an alternative to Palma. It's good news for the port, in fact potentially very good news, but for all ...?
QUIZ
Chain - Van Morrison did a track called "Whatever Happened to P.J. Proby?", a question many of us will have asked. What's the link between Van the Man and "I Will Survive". Yesterday's title - "Come Fly With Me", Frank Sinatra. Today's title - which Liverpool band did this?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Ship To Shore
Just not enough space. Familiar problem, but this is not a land issue, rather a sea one. Moorings. The Balearic Government, as reported in “Ultima Hora", recognises that there needs to be a doubling in the number of moorings around the Balearics to cope with demand.
Nautical tourism is often overlooked in the grand scheme of things. This seems rather odd. In the immediate northern area, each of the main centres - Can Picafort, Puerto Alcúdia and Puerto Pollensa - has a marina, and there are others in Bonaire and Son Serra. Sailing is no small minority leisure activity. According to research for the Royal Yachting Association, some 2.5 million people took part in some sailing activity in 2006. (“The Times”, January 2007.)
Boat and yacht ownership is a rich man’s game. The cost of buying the vessel is one thing; the costs of mooring and maintenance are others. The high demand for moorings places them at a premium and at a price. Of course you don’t necessarily need a Bavaria 37 yacht, a small second-hand speedboat could be enough, but there are still those add-on costs.
The use of the boat is another thing entirely. There are few boatowners who actually use their boat for any longer than a few weeks a year, if that. I know people here with boats who complain that they have not been able to get out at all during the summer. What’s the point of having one then?
A growth area is that of co-ownership. In Puerto Alcúdia, for instance, both Challenger and Slice allow groups of owners to share a boat and to be able to use it for a set number of weeks. This spreads the cost of ownership and gets rid of many of the attendant hassles, not least of which are those dealing with the local port authorities and marina operators. Even so, it is not exactly cheap, but it does overcome the faintly absurd situation by which an expensive boat is tied up for weeks on end unused.
Nautical tourism has another side to it. The typical boatowner or yachtie and his chums are seen as, and often are, high net worth consumers. The higher the net worth, the higher the tourist spend; or so the theory goes. And the actual numbers are far from insignificant. At present, the annual value of Balearic nautical tourism is estimated to be 544 million euros; the number of nautical tourists nearly 300,000. The expansion of marina facilities, the increase in the number of moorings and the need for more dry-dock maintenance areas all come with an environmental price attached. What doesn’t? But my guess is that the government will find a way around this. Just think - 2.5 million people, or even a fraction of that number - loadsamoney.
QUIZ
Yesterday - The Who. Today’s title - song by an Irish chap; had one really big hit.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Nautical tourism is often overlooked in the grand scheme of things. This seems rather odd. In the immediate northern area, each of the main centres - Can Picafort, Puerto Alcúdia and Puerto Pollensa - has a marina, and there are others in Bonaire and Son Serra. Sailing is no small minority leisure activity. According to research for the Royal Yachting Association, some 2.5 million people took part in some sailing activity in 2006. (“The Times”, January 2007.)
Boat and yacht ownership is a rich man’s game. The cost of buying the vessel is one thing; the costs of mooring and maintenance are others. The high demand for moorings places them at a premium and at a price. Of course you don’t necessarily need a Bavaria 37 yacht, a small second-hand speedboat could be enough, but there are still those add-on costs.
The use of the boat is another thing entirely. There are few boatowners who actually use their boat for any longer than a few weeks a year, if that. I know people here with boats who complain that they have not been able to get out at all during the summer. What’s the point of having one then?
A growth area is that of co-ownership. In Puerto Alcúdia, for instance, both Challenger and Slice allow groups of owners to share a boat and to be able to use it for a set number of weeks. This spreads the cost of ownership and gets rid of many of the attendant hassles, not least of which are those dealing with the local port authorities and marina operators. Even so, it is not exactly cheap, but it does overcome the faintly absurd situation by which an expensive boat is tied up for weeks on end unused.
Nautical tourism has another side to it. The typical boatowner or yachtie and his chums are seen as, and often are, high net worth consumers. The higher the net worth, the higher the tourist spend; or so the theory goes. And the actual numbers are far from insignificant. At present, the annual value of Balearic nautical tourism is estimated to be 544 million euros; the number of nautical tourists nearly 300,000. The expansion of marina facilities, the increase in the number of moorings and the need for more dry-dock maintenance areas all come with an environmental price attached. What doesn’t? But my guess is that the government will find a way around this. Just think - 2.5 million people, or even a fraction of that number - loadsamoney.
QUIZ
Yesterday - The Who. Today’s title - song by an Irish chap; had one really big hit.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
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