Son Bosc - The End?

Ever since I've been writing about Mallorca - the starting date, if you must know, was 1 November 2005 - there have been issues that have regularly surfaced. One such is the controversy over the golf course on the Son Bosc finca in Muro. This may be the last time I need to mention the golf course. The Balearic High Court has dismissed an appeal by the developers. It has ratified a previous court decision which ruled that the licence to develop the course, given by Muro town hall, was illegal.

One can never be absolutely certain with the law, certainly not here, but the environmentalists GOB seem pretty sure. The court's ruling "definitively" puts an end to the possibility of developing the course. The decision has gone against the company Golf Platja de Muro, which comprises certain hotel chains, and the environmentalists will be breathing a sigh of relief.

It was at one time unclear to me how much sense there was with building this course. It was the business angle that was my main misgiving, but as the years passed and the drive towards lengthening the tourism season and eating into the winter months became ever greater a theme, I started to see the possibilities. Playa de Muro, for all that it has now acquired late-winter tourism courtesy of cycling, is still pretty much dead in the winter. A golf course might just have brought it to life.

Business, though, was not on the minds of opponents. They weren't only the environmentalists. There were people in Muro who objected as well. This came home to me when there was a protest against what was then the plan to eventually demolish the cottages of Ses Casetes des Capellans. A banner read that Capellans was for the people, a golf course was for the rich.

The environmental argument was strong. It had the backing of the international Ramsar wetlands convention on account of the finca being, more or less, an extension of Albufera. Various species were identified which could be harmed: a rare orchid, bee-eating birds and so on. The argument had political support. This really came to the fore as a result of the upheaval in the 2007-2011 government. The Unió Mallorquina, ejected from the coalition by President Antich because of the numerous corruption cases that had engulfed it, had been in charge of the environment ministry. Clearance work at the finca had started. When the UM was removed, the PSM (Majorcan socialists), now the main component of Més, gained the ministry. Everything changed and pretty much immediately.

Reacting to the ruling, Més say that it defends one of the most sensitive and important natural environments in the Balearics. The appeal to the High Court was the last resort. So, is it all over? Quite probably it is, but if there were thoughts of further appeal, these might in any event be dashed by the government's reform of tourism legislation. The building of new golf courses is to "definitively" be prohibited. But how definitive is definitive?

Son Bosc All Over Again?

Two weeks after highlighting Muro's "model town hall", there is more evidence of good things at the council and also evidence of Muro suddenly having found itself propelled very much into the spotlight. The good housekeeping that has left the town hall with zero debt has not, as mayor Martí Fornes said a fortnight ago, meant that there is no investment, a package of just over two million euros spend having been proposed by Fornés's coalition administration, including 400,000 euros to be spent, subject to agreement from higher authority, on the first phase of the "boulevard" in Playa de Muro. This apart, an issue which has raised itself is one that had appeared to have been forgotten about. And it is one that will be destined to once more kick off all the debate and argument that surrounded it in the past. It is the building of the golf course on the Son Bosc finca next to Albufera.

The town hall's tourism plan, approved thanks to the coalition's majority at the council, mentions the golf course as part of potential development in 2014 to 2015. A report is to be presented in January next year, so there is nothing, as yet, which indicates the restarting of work on the finca that was stopped during the last regional government's administration.

At the heart of the argument over Son Bosc has been the environmental consequences of the course being built. All manner of flora and fauna have in the past been invoked as reasons for it not being built. They include everything from a rare orchid to the mating habits of a bee-eating bird. The construction has been referred to international bodies, such as the Ramsar wetlands secretariat, as well to national and Mallorcan governmental bodies. Experts on this and that have been consulted and have offered opinions. The views of politicians and hoteliers have been made clear, those of the former being pro and con, those of the latter being firmly pro.

The course's promoter is a company which comprises shareholders from hotel companies. The largest shareholder is Grupotel. Fornés used to work for them. But although hotelier interests are to the fore and although Son Bosc would naturally entail transformation of the land, does it automatically follow that those interests would be especially harmful to the environment and eco-system? There is now a great deal more sensitivity applied to the building of golf courses than might once have been the case. Consequently, a course can be created in such a way that it is in harmony with the immediate environment.

Son Bosc has really been a tale of political dogma and fighting as much as it has been an argument over the environment. At one point during the last administration (PSOE-led), it looked as though the course would happen, and indeed work did start. However, the moment that President Antich threw the Unió Mallorquina out of his coalition and installed Gabriel Vicens of the PSM Mallorcan socialists as environment minister, the development was likely to be halted. And so it was. The PSM and the UM hated each other's guts, and Son Bosc was one of their battlegrounds.

Fornés will know that he has a battle on his hands in having the finca's development declared as being in the island's general interest. He might hope for regional government support, but with elections moving closer, would the PP risk any more potentially negative publicity than it already has? Doubtful. The chances of the course ever actually being built must still be considered slim.


Index for May 2014

Bikinis - 15 May 2014
Can Picafort nautical sports and club - 23 May 2014
Complementary offer confederation - 7 May 2014
Eco-tax - 6 May 2014
Education conflict - 25 May 2014
Football and tourism - 14 May 2014
Giants of Mallorca - 22 May 2014
Holiday lets (private apartments) - 5 May 2014
Ironman - 9 May 2014
Jaume Sastre, hunger strike - 28 May 2014
Land law chaos - 20 May 2014
Llorenç Roses Bermejo, Palmanova - 12 May 2014
Magalluf 25 years ago - 21 May 2014
Mallorca land legislation - 13 May 2014
McDonald's Spain Brekkie Wrap ad - 26 May 2014
Microbreweries - 3 May 2014
Muro town hall - 16 May 2014
Museums - 18 May 2014
New tourism policy - 1 May 2014
P2P tourism - 8 May 2014
Partido Popular discount card - 17 May 2014
Partido Popular voting against oil prospecting - 11 May 2014
Podemos and European elections - 27 May 2014
Pollensa wine fair and wine history - 2 May 2014
Primark and Mallorca's retail history - 30 May 2014
Prostitution and violence - 4 May 2014
PSOE: the future - 29 May 2014
Son Bauló dolmen - 19 May 2014
Son Bosc golf - 31 May 2014
Stone fair - 24 May 2014
Wine Days Mallorca - 10 May 2014

MALLORCA TODAY - Brussels to be alerted over Muro golf course

Environmental watchdog GOB says that it intends to bring to the attention of the European Commission what it believes is the plan of the Balearic Government to unblock protection orders relating to the Son Bosc finca in Muro and so permit the development of the long-talked-about golf course.

MALLORCA TODAY - Son Bosc bird protection order

A regional government order that extends an area of special protection for birds from the Albufera nature park into parts of the neighbouring Son Bosc finca in Muro has come into effect. This order means that these parts of the finca cannot be used for the planned golf course.

MALLORCA TODAY - Is this the end for the Son Bosc golf course?

The regional government has today approved the amplification of an order in respect of the protection of birds, applied to the Albufera nature park, so that it also embraces the adjoining Son Bosc finca, site of the controversial Muro golf course, work on which has been suspended for some months. Environment minister Gabriel Vicens believes that, though "everything can be modified", a future Partido Popular-led government (one that is likely to be voted in in May this year) will find it hard to annul this provision. Does this mean the end of Son Bosc? You wouldn't bet on it.

Suck It And See: The golf course in Muro

Never think that matters in Mallorca draw to a simple conclusion. If you are inclined to think this, then consider the matter of the Muro golf course. Yes, the arguments are of course still going on. What appeared as though it might have been a conclusion, when a bird protection order was made to cover the site of the course, is nothing of the sort, and now the Balearic parliament, thanks to block voting by the centre-right parties (Partido Popular and Unió Mallorquina), has effectively given the development the green light again, the right arguing that the course is in the interest of the island. The left say it is all about private interests, while the enviro lobby group GOB reckons the decision will bring "shame" to the people of Mallorca. The protection order might still hold sway, but if so it will, in all likelihood, need the matter to be booted upstairs, all the way to Brussels. Some 14 years after the project was first talked about, a definitive agreement and indeed conclusion is still to be made.

Something interesting has been happening with the press coverage of the golf development. There have recently been two interviews with the head of the Grupotel hotel chain, one of the main shareholders in the golf course, as well as one with the director of the development company. This has been interesting as the coverage suggests a shift away from what has seemed like press favouritism towards the environmental case. Or perhaps it is just a case of greater balance being applied. The arguments set out by Grupotel and its fellow hotel groups are well known: the course will help to reduce tourism seasonality and to add dynamism to tourism in the area; the development has received favourable environmental reports, and potentially harmful environmental issues have been addressed.

Despite the endless environmental points raised by GOB and the left, the environment is not, for many, the most important issue. What is, is whether the damn course is necessary or can be justified in terms of "adding dynamism". The pronouncements in the interviews have been vague, as has always been the case where the real value of the course is concerned. The PR problem for the developers is two-fold: the environment and a persuasive business argument. They have singularly failed to be persuasive. No assessment is ever made, at least publicly, as to how many additional tourists the course will generate or as to how much value it will bring to the local economy, except in creating a small number of jobs.

There is an inherent lack of logic to the business case. Firstly, the developers cannot count on a return from the sale of real estate, which is often a core feature of golf developments; there will be no residential construction. Secondly, while making his case for the course, the director of the company pointed out that the Muro course will have advantages over other local courses - unlike Pollensa, it will have eighteen holes, and unlike Alcanada, it will not be a luxury course. However, though this hints at a course for everyone, is a "luxury" aspect not part of a course's attraction, especially to hotel groups with four- and five-star hotels in their portfolio? Moreover, whatever might be designed in Muro can surely not benefit from the landscapes of Pollensa and Alcanada or the demanding links-style nature of the latter course. Thirdly, there are several hotel groups represented in Playa de Muro which are involved in the development. How can they all benefit, especially as there is seemingly an unknown, and a very important one - the number of tourists?

The course would add to the intangibility of the "quality" of Playa de Muro as a resort. This shouldn't be underestimated, but it is - once again - a somewhat vague concept, just as the real benefits of the course remain vague. Rather like the so-called "active well-being" branding of the area that is now to be initiated seems like an exercise in sucking it and seeing, with no hard numbers being given and any number of hotels which would be most unlikely to gain any benefit, so it is with the golf course. In business terms, the Muro course has all the feel of being product-led. Here's a course, now here come the tourists. It doesn't work like that.

As ever though, the business case for the course might still be redundant if GOB and the left were to finally have their way, and given the tortuous nature of the arguments and challenges over the years, one really shouldn't rule that out.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Porn-(ge)-ography: Muro's golf course stopped

Well, what a surprise. The change in regional government that has created the "super" ministry of environment, planning and transport under the control of a single minister, the PSM Mallorcan socialist "Two Jags" Vicens, has indeed had ramifications for the golf course in Muro - as anticipated (20 February: Mallorca's Two Jags - Muro and the golf course). The ministry, and therefore government, has approved the extension of a planning restriction order involving the Albufera nature park and much of its surroundings, such as the rustic beach of Es Comú in Playa de Muro and the area of Son Bosc, the finca designated for the building of the golf course; an order aimed at stopping changes to the Playa de Muro geography. This order, known as a "Plan de Ordenación de los Recursos Naturales" (PORN), has been welcomed by the enviro pressurists, GOB. They really ought to do something about their acronyms.

The ramifications of this extension are that work on the course has to be suspended, for at least two years, while studies are undertaken into the area's natural riches and into its preservation. This comes hard on the heels of the publication by GOB of a letter from the leading British botanist, Richard Bateman, which expressed his "incredulity" as to the "destruction" of the finca and which also drew attention to the existence of a fungus that is vital to the maintenance of the rare orchid, which has been the subject of most of the environmental debate related to the golf development.

Incredulity indeed. Incredulity that further studies are needed. It is debatable whether they are needed, other than as a convenience of politics. The PSM, and Two Jags, don't want the course to go ahead. It's as simple as that.

Initial clearance work had begun on Son Bosc. The developers (and also the town hall) don't necessarily see the ministry's intervention as definitive, and they are probably right. Hanging over this decision is the possibility of an early election for the regional government. It would have to take place next year in any event. Were there to be a change in governmental complexion (with the Partido Popular restored as leaders, which is quite possible), then there is every chance that this latest delay could be reversed. It was the PP which, back in 2003, effectively removed protection for Son Bosc.

So you see, it is all a matter of politics. The new studies are a red herring. The development comes down to the wishes of the PP (and the Unió Mallorquina) against those on the left, the PSM most notably and what has become almost its provisional wing, GOB.

At the same time as the town hall and mayor Fornés were arguing that work on the course should proceed, as reports from the environment ministry had given the development the all-clear, the local authority was also announcing that it has formalised the purchase of the bull-ring in Muro from the entertainment company, Grup Balañà. It will cost 450,000 euros, and the decision to purchase the site has caused consternation among opposition politicians, aghast at such an investment, given the town hall's supposedly parlous financial situation.

Why is the town hall doing this? There is an argument that the bull-ring is part of the local heritage and so deserves to be preserved. Fair enough, it dates back to 1922. But how often is it used, and for what? There is a bull-fight during the Sant Joan fiesta in June each year, but otherwise the stadium is largely redundant. The town hall insists that there will be more events, such as concerts, but then it would say that. The town hall also believes that it is a tourist attraction and one that would be added to a "tourist route" in Muro. Who are they kidding? Muro does have some attractions, but it barely features on the tourist list of places to visit as those attractions - the church, the museum for example - are poorly promoted. Maybe the town hall reckons that the golfers would make a trip into the town (some ten kilometres from Playa de Muro). That would be wishful thinking. And moreover, no-one has ever actually stated what sort of numbers would be generated by this damn course.

The bull-ring, the golf course, they are both symptomatic of a tendency to conjure up fantasy tourism, maybe-tourism. And in the case of the bull-ring, it is also representative of something - the bull-fight - that is being rejected by increasing numbers of Spaniards and that is abhorrent to many overseas tourists. Heritage, yep, fine, but the ring also occupies some not invaluable real estate near to the centre of Muro. Of course, if the town hall were to acquire it now, then maybe it might become more valuable in the future. Now there's a thought. Or, if you were a town hall that needs to raise loans, then it is always useful to have some assets on the balance sheet. And which town hall needs to raise loans - allegedly?


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Chestnuts Roasting - Street cleaning and golf

A couple of old local chestnuts are being given a further roasting: one that has been long on the brazier and remains so, the other we all thought had been thoroughly cooked and eaten. They are - the street cleaning of Pollensa and the golf course in Muro. Yep, one more time for both of them. Here we go ...


Pollensa's street cleaning goes hi-tech
Pollensa town hall is to double its investment on street cleaning, bringing the annual spend up to 800,000 euros. For a cash-strapped and indebted town hall this represents a far from insignificant increase. The latest round of tendering for the cleaning gig is in progress, and so presumably there will be a contractor in place before long that does actually have a contract.

In return for this increased spend, the good people of Pollensa can now expect to be asked their opinions as to the levels of service. Dependent upon satisfaction findings, the new contractor will be subject to variable payments. Low satisfaction and they don't get so much. Performance payments in other words. How novel. Moreover, the town hall is to introduce a system of real-time monitoring, via satellite positioning technology, of worker activity and frequency of cleaning. And there I was, mentioning the other day the apparently questionable privacy legal issues with webcams. Someone's going to be watching you, fellas! Now, there's an idea, add a webcam to the satellite monitoring, and everyone can watch the dog mess being swept up. They could integrate the opinion surveys and make those function in real time as well. Vote now for the chap doing the pinewalk - marks out of ten! One could then also watch the amounts being paid - or not - to the contractor, like a Comic Relief running total, but bearing in mind that investments can go down as well as up.


And finally ... finally they're building the golf course in Muro
Work on the golf course in Muro is due to now start in the next couple of weeks. You might be forgiven for having thought that it had already started and that all the final impediments to the course's creation had been overcome. Indeed it had been reported, as long ago as 3 September last year, that work was set to begin during September. The delay seems to have had nothing to do with the endless debates about rare orchids and other environmental matters that had so taxed many, mainly the enviro pressure group GOB, but with the payment of a tax, some 170 grand to the town hall. This money, to be coughed up by the developers, was, we were led to believe, meant to have found its way into the emptying coffers of Muro town hall all those months ago, but has only now been handed over. Which does make one ask why there has been such a delay. There again, the debate regarding the building of the course has gone on for that long that a few months more won't make much of a difference. And no-one will actually be teeing-off in Muro for some time yet. At least two years, possibly longer. Doubtless we can now anticipate beardies prostrating themselves in front of bulldozers in order to protect the orchids. Not that they need to, as the protection of rare flora on the Son Bosc finca is a condition of the development, and the developers have - for the duration of the work - engaged a firm of environmental consultants who will presumably ensure that the environmental conditions are indeed adhered to.


Hiper in administration
On a different tack ... The car-hire sector, the one that has caused and is still causing much heat because of increased rental charges, has received a bit of a shock. Hiper, considered the leading Mallorcan car-rental company, has gone into administration (the meaning, effectively, of "concurso voluntario de acreedores"). Resolution with banks is hoped for - within two weeks - and the company is continuing to operate. One to watch.


QUIZ
Yesterday: Obvious, it was The Association, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJFHLmTz4RI.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Grantchester Meadows

In Cambridgeshire there is a golf course which is completely organic. You'll have to forgive me, I missed the name of the course, but there was a report about it on Five Live the other day. I emailed the station to ask if they could send me the name, but ... . Anyway, the point about this is that it demonstrates the extent to which golf developments are being planned in a way that they have strong environmental elements. The course itself has separate meadows for flowers and birds, while a river attracts numerous types of wild fowl. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has been involved in the planning of the course, and the representative from the RSPB said that, though golf courses can be harmful to the environment, managed correctly there is no reason why courses cannot co-exist happily with nature.

Instinctively, I'm inclined to believe this. A development that just ploughs up habitats unthinkingly is no good, and this may well have been the case in the past: one thinks of all the conversion of unproductive agricultural land in Britain that was turned over to golfers. Yet, why shouldn't the two make for environmental bedfellows? In the Cambridgeshire case, the golfers themselves are said to be all in favour because of the ambience created, while apparently the Royal and Ancient now have firm environmental management policies.

One says all this in connection with courses in Mallorca, especially those in the planning or to be developed, such as the one in Muro about which there has been such a protracted environmental hoo-hah. Things have gone pretty quiet on the Son Bosc development front, but the Gobby lobby have had its latest objection rejected, one that centred on a less-than-favourable report by its own people being ignored by the environment ministry.

I have never understood why there has been such a fuss, other than the fact that the course might turn out to be a white elephant. From an environmental point of view, it surely can be made to work. Perhaps the Muro developers should be talking to those in Cambridgeshire who are making it work.


Continuing Columbus
And ever more on the Columbus story, and once again thanks to Dom for his feedback on this. There is a blog site - http://www.medievalnews.blogspot.com - which would be good for any of you who might have a general interest in history, but specifically it ran a thing on 26 October entitled "Scholar casts doubt on claims that Columbus was a Catalan". This reports views of a Dr. Diana Gilliland Wright who questions the significance of a particular form of punctuation used by Columbus and said to be indicative of Catalan of the time. She says that this was used elsewhere, for instance by the Venetians who were of course Italian, even if Venice is some distance from Genoa. Moreover, she says that spelling at that time was "fluid", which does to a degree support my own view that Columbus could very easily have acquired a "polyglot tongue" especially if his written works were grafted onto what was effectively a blank canvas as native Genoese did not have a written language as such.


Light Up The Sky
'Tis that time of the year. There is even a Bonfire Night tomorrow night at the Mallorca Cricket Club ("the island's premier ex-pat community family event , it says: why do they spell expat with a hyphen; it's one word). But note that it is Bonfire Night, not Guy Fawkes. We've stopped having guys. We don't burn effigies. Or do we? Somewhere in Surrey, they put Jordan to the flame yesterday. What a splendid idea, all that silicone exploding, while a touch of satire, rather like the giant heads in Mallorca at fiesta time, are often satirical representations of local politicians and others. Makes me think. Who would I burn? A couple of clients I can think of could do with a good dousing. Who would you burn? Step forward - probably - Gordon and any number of MPs, but otherwise ... ?


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - The Police, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYZQYui8Svc. Today's title - well, don't know that it is Grantchester, but it'll do. Two questions - who was the poet who wrote about Grantchester - "stands the church clock at ten to three" - and which band did something with this title?

(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)

Meet The New Boss

Muro has a new mayor. You're forgiven if you are underwhelmed by the news. Bear with me. The change follows the retirement of the previous incumbent, Jaume Perelló (Unió Mallorquina - UM). His replacement comes from the Partido Popular and Convergencia Democrática Murera (CDM) which garnered the support of the UM at Muro town hall in order to vote in the new mayor. His name is Martí Fornés. I wouldn't necessarily normally bring such news to your attention, and wouldn't have had it not been for the opaqueness of the reporting of his ascendancy to the mayoral office. This opaqueness was summed up by "The Diario" which merely said that Sr. Fornés is (was) an "experienced manager" with an "important hotel chain". The hotel chain was not named, nor was it in any other report I came across. I did some research. Among other things, I found a forum in Catalan and Castellano in which someone asks "where does he work?". The question posed was a while ago, but it was in connection with the planned golf course in Muro. After nine or ten pages of googling, there was an entry for the El Mundo Eldia website from 5 March 2007. There was the answer. Sr. Fornés was the finance director of Grupotel, the chain based in Muro and with four hotels in Playa de Muro - Alcúdia Suite, Amapola, Los Principes and the five-star Parc Natural.

Why this reticence to disclose the hotel chain? It is a Muro business, a successful one, an employer of people. Let's put it down to a media determination to not publicise the company. Perhaps. Or is naming the hotel chain somehow breaking a confidence? Surely not. It's a matter of record. It's information in the public domain. The reticence only adds to a certain intrigue. And why? Go back to that forum thread about the golf course.

In "The Diario" Sr. Fornés was open about his views as to the development on the Son Bosc finca. To sum them up, he's in favour of the golf course and believes that it will create employment and will meet environmental requirements. Fair enough; everyone knows where he stands. But the hotel connection does raise some issues, such as the fact that the largest shareholder (with 43%) in Golf Playa de Muro SA, the company behind the development, is Grupotel. (22 December 2008: That's Just The Way It Is.) Not really that it is anything unusual to have a mayor from this hotel chain; its president, Miquel Ramis, is a one-time incumbent.

It doesn't bother me in the slightest that one hotel chain or another might stand to benefit from the development. Experienced businesspeople are probably just what a place like Muro needs. Otherwise you might end up with some old farmer whose idea of a tourist attraction is to boil a goat and hand out lumps of bread to scoop up the broth. And if they are experienced businesspeople from within the community who have played a role in generating wealth for the town, then I see no problem, especially those with a tourism background. It may sound inappropriate as one has to assume at least some vested interest, but is it really?

I am not opposed to the golf development, certainly not on environmental grounds. What I have yet to be convinced as to is the business case for the development. Presumably one exists, and Sr. Fornés says that it will create more employment. But it would be nice to have it spelt out. Sr. Fornés was a finance director. Maybe he's the person who can do just that, always bearing in mind that 43% of any business case is Grupotel's.


In case you were wondering ... Mayors are actually selected by councillors, which is how Sr. Fornés comes to now be mayor.


And still down Muro way, a curious thing in "The Bulletin". It had its "beach of the day" yesterday. Platja de Muro (platja being the Catalan for playa). One could sense that something was not quite right about this, apart from calling it Platja as opposed to Playa as one might expect or the fact that the beach length was stated as being 430 metres; a zero seemed to have been missed. But it read a little oddly, for instance describing Can Picafort (in the directions to the beach) as a "village". No native speaker would call it that. It's not so difficult to find the answer - much of this came from the illesbalears site.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Laura Veirs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcIz2iZXJFs. Today's title - had this before.

(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)

Wheel's On Fire

When talking about the train, be it the extension to Alcúdia or its history (as was the case on 14 May), it might also be appropriate to bring into the equation the safety and emergency procedures. Well, it might be - is - appropriate if the train operator and the staff were talking about them. One of the trains that runs between Sa Pobla and Palma caught fire the other day at the Verge de Lluc station coming into Palma. It didn't seem like much of an incident, so I didn't bother mentioning it, until a report appeared in "The Diario" yesterday which suggested that there are deficiencies in the emergency procedures. It could, say could, have been a more serious incident. As it was, all the 200 or so passengers were evacuated unharmed and without having inhaled anything toxic. But apparently it took ten minutes from the time the fire was detected to the fire service being notified.

"The Diario" has been kind enough to post a short video of the incident to the Daily Motion site. Here is the link - http://www.dailymotion.com/diariodemallorca/video/x9abg2_incendio-en-el-tren-de-inca_news. In the clip, someone shouts out to go, that it could explode; another, on the phone, says that they had intended to put the fire out with extinguishers, but ... . Perhaps most troublingly, workers are quoted as saying, since the incident, that "no protocol exists to deal with such situations".


More on the orchid and the finca
And of course in the aftermath of the environment ministry having made its announcement about the orchid on the Son Bosc finca (yesterday), up pops the oppostion on Muro town hall to say that the finca should be deemed as land covered by the law on the coasts and therefore protected and considered as part of the nature park (of Albufera). The reasoning behind this is that the finca, so the opposition say, forms a second line of dunes and that therefore there should be a reclassification of what constitutes - in this case - public coastal land which cannot be built on.

Oh God, on it goes, and on and on, and for all the environmental discussion and argument, we never seem to be presented with a really good case as to why the wretched course should be built.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - White Stripes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKntY8WkNYQ). Today's title - best known by? But who did it first?

(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)

Blue Orchid

Once and for all, but probably not, we seem to be heading towards something like a definitive ruling on the most sensitive aspect of the planned golf course on the Son Bosc finca near Playa de Muro. The environment ministry has made it clear that the rare orchid on the finca should be protected by an area of 150 metres around where it grows. By coming up with this restriction, the ministry has, in effect, given its blessing to the project, though it has also stated that the eighth hole of the course cannot be sited where it was originally intended as it would interfere with the orchid's natural habitat. The ruling, if one can call it that, is now being presented to the various interested parties, one of which - the environmental pressure group GOB - will doubtless have a finca-full of objections. Others, like the hoteliers' association in Playa de Muro, which has backed the project from the off, will probably be only too happy to spin the whole thing as their being environmentally conscientious - a golf course that preserves the natural rarity of a species. One can almost read the literature now. Presumably, the eighth hole will go somewhere else, unless the course is to have a unique selling point in being the only one on Mallorca with seventeen holes.


Clear blue water (or maybe not) - Puerto Pollensa
Pollensa's mayor may not have been flavour of the past several months in Puerto Pollensa, but the other day he was able to appear in more favourable light and to announce that the long-lasting problems with water - of different types - have pretty much been solved, up to 60 million euros having been spent over the last eight years to arrive at the solution: four pumping stations have cost 40 million alone. This upgrading of "sanitation" is, according to the mayor, more important than the general beautifying of the port, though there is some suggestion that the frontline and the church square will be given a facelift - at some point. However, projects for doing so will have to await financing, which suggests that there may be a bit of a wait. Having spent 60 million on getting the water right, there may not be a lot of spare cash sloshing around, albeit "The Bulletin" is indicating that the flower beds in the square might be for the chop. Strange, I should have thought that flower beds, kept tidily, would make the place quite appealing. And unlike drainage systems, they wouldn't cost a shedload.


Scratch cards
The scratch-cardists are back. There we were thinking that that "for rent" sign on the office in Puerto Alcúdia's Calle Maristany opposite the small parking area meant that they might be no more. But no.

I don't really wish to go into all of this, well not yet anyway. The point to make, though, apart from the hassle and sometimes verbal abuse that those in the street subject tourists to, is that anyone approached should be very, very wary. It's best to just say no and walk away. Don't be taken in by what is usually a nice manner. The company involved is called To Holiday, which appears to also be Real Liberty; both names are on the office.

For the time being, here are a couple of links, one from Holiday Watchdog, the other from "The Independent":

http://forum.holidaywatchdog.com/Timeshare-&-Holiday-Clubs-To-HolidayElite-Holiday-Roya-Travel-Real-Liberty-1-Holiday-Clubs-Thread-12203.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/house-and-home/property/if-the-holiday-club-rep-drops-by-your-sunkissed-resort-be-on-your-guard-883613.html


QUIZ
Today's title - husband-and-wife but claimed to be brother-and-sister duo.

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I Want The Truth To Be Said

What was I saying about the gift that keeps on giving? And indeed about GOB keeping quiet? Although I am running the risk of this blog becoming a Son Bosc golf/GOB benefit gig, the carry-on over the mooted course is just too absurd to ignore. GOB may be keeping mum (or mum-ish) where the "Nadal Decree" is concerned, but it has its mouth wide open when it comes to the Playa de Muro golf course that isn't. And this is just the point. GOB has taken umbrage at the fact that it has been promoted as though it were in existence and has issued a "denuncia", which I presume to mean a denuncia as in a complaint to plod that plod is therefore obliged to act on. This same report - from "The Diario" - uses the adjective "engañosa" to describe the publicity for the golf course that has emerged at the Fitur trade fair. This means deceitful. I guess in the UK we would talk of misrepresentation. As there is no golf course as such, GOB may have a point, though personally I applaud those who have produced the publicity for having such brass neck and giving us all a bit of a laugh. Apparently also in this publicity material, a parking area in the Albufera nature park is shown, which will come as a great surprise since no vehicles are allowed into it. Cracking stuff.


There was this thing on Five Live a couple of days ago about a pub landlord who has banned swearing. The chap sounded like a fairly dour Scotsman, who reckoned that swearing is actually illegal because it's a breach of the peace, though it might take a bit of persuading m'lud that the odd "bloody" or even an "f-word" was a breach of the peace when the language is so much a part of everyday communication. But be that as it may. What if, though, bars here - Brit bars, that is - were to do the same? Ban swearing. Most of them would be empty. Sorry, all of them would be empty.

As one who is not unknown to utter the occasional oath, the notion of trying to eliminate from a place of drink a degree of uncouthness would be as likely as GOB not being gobby about Son Bosc. But show some respect. Every other word a swear word. No, not me, but there are plenty whose vocabulary is that limited that every other word is. However, there are those who like it - swearing, that is; they like it that much that they even celebrate it, as in the Brit bar in Puerto Pollensa that used to have one night a week as a swearing night. What the f***'s the f****** point of that f****** b*******?


And just coming back to the disaster that was last Saturday's winds ... I included a photo from the Laberinto maze in Playa de Muro the other day. Yesterday, I went there. Disaster is apt. Jake, who is a pretty good mate of mine, told me that he was practically reduced to tears. I can understand. Anyone who knows the maze will know that there are loads of pines there. Most still are. But almost all have been affected. What a mess. And then cutting all the fallen branches of pine trees at this time of year brings another problem. The caterpillars. Very, very nasty.


Dropping like flies. John Martyn one day, Bill Frindall, the Test Match Special scorer, the next. Another shock.


QUIZ
Today's title - where's this from? Clue is with "truth".

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Index for January 2009

Alcúdia beach - 18 January 2009
Alcúdia in January - 27 January 2009
All-inclusives - 9 January 2009
Building licences - 7 January 2009, 11 January 2009, 30 January 2009
Cala San Vicente - 11 January 2009
Catalan - 17 January 2009, 18 January 2009
Charities - 6 January 2009
Clementines - 13 January 2009
Economic crisis - 13 January 2009, 19 January 2009, 23 January 2009
Fiestas - 14 January 2009, 15 January 2009, 18 January 2009, 20 January 2009, 21 January 2009
Fire runs - 14 January 2009
Franco - 10 January 2009
GOB - 16 January 2009, 30 January 2009, 31 January 2009
Golf - 16 January 2009, 24 January 2009, 29 January 2009, 31 January 2009
Heart attack - 3 January 2009
Hotel Formentor - 7 January 2009
Hotels - 7 January 2009, 30 January 2009
Language - 17 January 2009, 18 January 2009
Mallorca brand - 19 January 2009
Minigolf - 6 January 2009
Movistar - 29 January 2009
Nationalities - 23 January 2009
Palma airport - 22 January 2009
Pi de Ternelles - 15 January 2009
Playa de Muro - 6 January 2009, 16 January 2009, 24 January 2009
Pollentia museum - 24 January 2009
Processionary caterpillars - 23 January 2009
Rafael Nadal - 30 January 2009
Real Mallorca - 15 January 2009
Review of 2008 - 4 January 2009
Rubbish tips - 12 January 2009
Sa Pobla - 14 January 2009
Sant Antoni - 14 January 2009, 15 January 2009, 18 January 2009
Sant Sebastià - 20 January 2009, 21 January 2009
Season 2009 - 22 January 2009
Smoking - 28 January 2009
Snow - 10 January 2009
Son Bosc - 16 January 2009, 24 January 2009, 29 January 2009
State funding - 25 January 2009
Swearing - 31 January 2009
Telefonica - 29 January 2009
Tour operators - 8 January 2009
Tourism - 17 January 2009, 19 January 2009, 22 January 2009
Tourism promotion - 24 January 2009, 25 January 2009, 30 January 2009
Town halls - 28 January 2009
Wind - 25 January 2009, 26 January 2009
Year 2009 - 5 January 2009

Telephone Line

1485. Some of you will recall that I lay claim to being a history scholar. Scholar is perhaps an over-exaggeration, but one I can live with. As a result though, show me certain numbers in combination and I am likely to be suddenly transformed into a weird beard with leather-patched sports jackets, i.e. a history tutor. 1485? Come on, you must know it as well. Kingdom for a horse and all that. Yes, you know it, of course you do. War of the Roses - Battle of Bosworth Field, 22 August 1485 to be precise, and Richard III begging for a horse while his crown hung on a thorn bush, or so said a certain playwright. 1485. It was also the year of birth of the unfortunate Catherine, she of Aragon and later the first missus of the lunatic Henry VIII. Well, I have to give some sort of a Spanish twist, do I not? There is another Spanish twist. 1485. The war of the mobile phone companies. How many times have I received a call from 1485 in the past week or so? I contacted Vodafone. Not because I hadn't anything better to do, but because they are the ones to whom I pay good money for the privilege of some twat pestering me with calls I don't want. "I've been getting this call from 1485," says I. "1485? Must be costing the caller a fortune." (Actually, they didn't say that.) "Do you know who it is?" asks I. "Is it a scam, a hack or what?" "None of them," comes the reply. "It's Movistar," they say with the hint of a laugh. "Marketing", they add; marketing being a word the Spanish (and not just the Spanish) tend to use, erroneously, to mean selling. "Movistar!?" "Movistar," they repeat.

For those of you who don't know, Movistar is the mobile wing of Telefonica, the national phone company. Movistar is making unsolicited calls to my mobile and to many others, if what I'm now seeing on the internet is anything to go by. There are many here who will have nothing to do with anything that is vaguely to do with Telefonica, and that includes Movistar. I am not one of them. I don't get upset by all-powerful organisations, though there are those, including the European Commission, who do: Telefonica is not unfamiliar with huge fines for uncompetitive, anti-trust activity. But I don't want them being a damn nuisance and calling my mobile with their automated system that repeats its call after half an hour, every day, when you don't bother answering, which is every time the number rings. Consequently, and very politely, do you mind sodding off?


There are many gifts that keep on giving here, as in being basically daft and continuing to be so. One such is, of course, the gloriously ridiculous projected golf course in Playa de Muro. My, what fun it has given us over the months and now years. What will we all do when they've actually built the damn thing? Not play golf on it, that's for sure. Anyway, as noted recently, Muro has managed to publicise the course as an attraction, despite it still being no more than a series of bunkers on an architect's plan and the winsome look of an endangered species on an environmentalist's sentimental propaganda. Mere bagatelle, implies the mayor, when it is pointed out that the course has neither been built nor fully approved. Bagatelle. Now that's a game where small balls are struck into numbered holes, is it not? A bit like golf, and just as pointless, or certainly just as pointless as the course in Muro.

One of the many problems for the golf course is that there is an apparently endless supply of environmentalists who emerge from the undergrowth and are willing to keep the whole debacle being debated. Step forth, therefore, the advisors on flora and fauna to the Balearic Government's environment department. They reckon that not enough is being done to protect the rare orchid on the Son Bosc finca; the rare orchid that has been the main subject of the environmental objection to the conversion of the finca. Now, given that this orchid is so rare and apparently so damn important, might it not have been an idea to ask these advisors before? Maybe. However, even had they been, what they have to say is not "binding". In other words, it doesn't count. So, why did they bother asking them? The point is that the course design has already been changed to accommodate this orchid. The eighth hole has been shifted as, originally, it would have meant some high handicappers trampling through the rough and hacking the orchid to pieces as they tried to get back on the fairway. Now, the enviro champions, GOB, have found that there's a problem with the seventh hole, too. Well, what a surprise. I wonder how long it will be before someone reckons there is a rare ant (or dec) breeding on the site of the green of the sixth hole. This can just go on and on, can't it. And it probably will. Maybe they could just build the first 16-hole golf course and have done with it. Or 15-hole. The gift that keeps on giving.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDgq10Rsb-0). Today's title - perms and probably the alleged cello scrotum.

(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)

Physical Attraction

Well over a year after the announcement of the new museum for Pollentia in Alcúdia (27 August 2007, "It's Build A House Where We Can Stay"), they're finally getting round to drawing up a draft plan. Well, not quite yet; don't let's get too excited, it'll be another three months or so. But they're working on it. These things take time, you know. They don't happen overnight. Like the power station conversion; that's only - what - getting on for two years since they set that all in motion. The fact that they haven't got the finance sorted out - or hadn't when they made a presentation a month or so back at the Auditorium - is a mere trifle. No, no, these things must take time, especially as so many need to have their say-so. In the case of the new Pollentia museum, the consortium overseeing it involves the town hall, central Mallorcan bods and also Madrid, and it is Madrid which is actually paying for the museum, so I suppose they have an interest to make sure it goes according to plan, unlike other local developments, such as Can Ramis.

And talking of consortia ... The new tourism promotion consortium in Muro - to which I referred on 2 December ("And There's A Message That I'm Sending Out") - has been active. Know what it's gone and done? It's produced a leaflet. Know what's included in this leaflet, one that's to be available at the Fitur tourism fair in Madrid next week? Included is the fact that the golf course on the Son Bosc finca near to Playa de Muro is one of the "main tourist attractions" in the northern area (quote taken in translation from "The Diario"). There is one slight drawback. There is no golf course. Well, not yet, there isn't. And there are still various hoops to pass through, to say nothing of militant enviros strapping themselves to rare orchids in defiance of bulldozers, which may yet prevent the course ever seeing the light of an early-morning tee-off. The piece in The Diario mentions the fact that the website of one of the main parties in the consortium - the hotel association - says that a golf course is being planned. I had pointed this out myself in the article of 2 December. But note that it is being planned. There is a fair difference, I would say, between planned and being one of the main tourist attractions.

I'm no expert but something tells me that, unless something actually physically exists, it is stretching a point to suggest that it is an attraction. The mayor of Muro doesn't seem to have too much difficulty with all this, given that the only thing holding the golf development back is a modification to the project - that to avoid the rare orchid where the eighth hole was originally meant to have gone. It may well be the case that everything else is more or less tickety-boo, but only the other day we had the minister for mobility giving the course the thumbs-down, albeit that he seemed to have placed himself firmly in the enviros' camp (16 January: "Land Of Confusion").

It's good, though, that the Muro consortium has got its arse in gear and is heading off to Madrid to do some promotion. There is nothing wrong with that at all. However, if someone books a holiday on the basis of a golf course, are they not going to be slightly disappointed? Or. I can imagine at the Fitur fair someone approaching a Muro representative, clutching the relevant promotional literature and asking about the golf course. "Ah yes," would come the reply. "It isn't actually built yet." "But it says here that it is one of the area's main tourist attractions." "Yes, well, it will be. But not just yet." "When is it likely to be?" "Erm, well, erm, can you wait there a minute, I just need to have a word with my colleague..." Actually it would be worth taking a flight to Madrid just so that one could go to the Muro stand and ask them about their golf course. Priceless.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - "Robert De Niro's Waiting", Bananarama (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N7fZ1UiacI). Today's title - it's included in what was an enormous reggae hit for an American-Jamaican who, so it is claimed, takes his name from a Scooby-Doo character.

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Land Of Confusion

Now, you might be under the impression that the long drawn-out, utterly tedious and indeed utterly pointless controversy surrounding the projected golf course near Playa de Muro had finally come to some conclusion. You might be under this impression if you had read that the environment minister had "vetoed" it. You would, though, have needed to have read a bit more closely in order to discover that it wasn't the environment minister and that what the not-the-environment minister actually said was that it was a matter for the Mallorca Council, though he did also say that there were enough golf courses (well, more or less he said that) and that the current government was against expansion of different types (including "touristic" and "sporting" ones) if they did not have full government approval.

As far as the argument about there being enough golf courses, he - and he is in fact the minister for mobility and "ordenación" (whatever that is) - is absolutely right. I have said it time and time again on this blog that the conversion of the Son Bosc finca is not appropriate because another golf course is simply not needed. To hell with the environmental issues, important though they also are, the straightforward business case for the course is completely unproven. Right, so good, the minister seems to get that much, and the reporting suggests that this is all a victory for enviro agitators GOB. It may well indeed be, but what exactly does this have to do with this particular minister? Not a great deal, one imagines, if the actions of the equivalent here of the Ombudsman are anything to go by. Following a complaint by GOB, the Ombudsman is investigating whether there has been a lack of objectivity in the case of the Son Bosc golf development by ... the environment ministry, which is a different ministry to that of the mobility chap but is still part of the same Balearic Government. And yet, according to the minister, it should all be a matter for the Mallorca Council, which has nevertheless not prevented him from "vetoing" the development.

And there is something else which is a matter for the Mallorca Council, about which the minister is having his say. Following a meeting with GOB, he cast doubts as to plans advanced, by the Mallorca Council, for new ring roads around Palma.

So, hang on, let's just try and get this straight if we can, or try and make a bit of a sense of it. The minister, whose government is under investigation from the Ombudsman, has a meeting with those who registered the complaint that has led to the Ombudsman's investigation, at which he says no to the subject of that investigation, and passes the buck to the Mallorca Council against whose plans for the ring roads he is also now not in agreement with, a point he makes following a meeting with those who registered the Son Bosc complaint that led to the Ombudsman's investigation. Right, well that's all clear then.

But if it is indeed down to the Mallorca Council to decide on Son Bosc and for the Council to draw up plans for new roads, one asks the question again of local politics: who actually is responsible and why does one need so many tiers of government? Can a regional government not sort out roads and other environmental matters? They have their say on the matters, so why not just let them get on with dealing with them? Then there is the question of possible overlap and turf wars. Where is the line between the environment ministry and the mobility ministry? It gets dreadfully confusing. And maybe there is just one other aspect to all this. The environment minister is from the UM (Unió Mallorquina) party and the mobility minister is from the Mallorcan socialists.

You have probably lost the plot. Don't worry, so have I.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Queen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpys1c3jCNs). Today's title - again, yes, once again.

(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)

That's Just The Way It Is

There was a very revealing report in "The Diario" yesterday. The paper had spoken with mayors around the island and discovered a universal admission that works related to hotel renovations occur without licences having been granted. The typical period of time needed to go through the licensing process is six months - at least. The mayor of Alcúdia was one who admitted that this happened. The reasons for this revolve around the lack of qualified personnel to hurry along the process and the necessity of dealing with other agencies, most notably the ministries for the environment and the coasts. Miquel Ferrer, Alcúdia's mayor, emphasised that, regardless of the licence situation, works had to be undertaken with the correct levels of safety.

This is the context, therefore, of the Son Moll hotel collapse in Cala Ratjada. The town hall of Capdepera, that under which Cala Ratjada falls, is by no means the only administration that "allows" (inverted commas stressed) these works to go ahead. The admission by the mayors, which will come as absolutely no surprise but is nevertheless extremely significant, throws into relief the background to the tragedy of the deaths of the workers at Son Moll. The point is that it is pretty much accepted practice that work happens without licences being in place. It may not be right, but virtually it is the de facto state of affairs - the way it is. The Son Moll case has merely acted to highlight what has been going on and does go on.

One has to ask the question. Was the absence of a licence the cause of the accident? This is obviously one for the investigators. But if all other procedures were in order, as is being claimed, can the lack of a licence really be held as a contributory or crucial factor, especially when such a lack is known to be a fact of building works for hotels? The general workers union has been arguing that the mayor of Capdepera should be indicted for not preventing the renovation at Son Moll. Maybe it has a point, but the union will know, as well as anyone else, what the system is.

We're getting into deep legal water, so I don't intend to go far, but the licence issue may just be, if not an irrelevance, then a less-than-crucial factor. I said the other day that the case reflects a societal failure - one of accepting that certain rules have to be, how can I put it, massaged. But it demonstrates also an administrative failure. When the Balearic Government announced that it would seek to reduce bureaucracy in order to facilitate the zero- or low-interest-financed modernisations of hotels, one hotelier expressed his doubts that the town halls would be quite so amenable. Yet, it isn't just the town halls. This appears to be a multi-agency failure, and one possibly with a degree of turf wars amongst the various bodies and their organisational cultures.

If one takes Alcúdia as an example - and remember that it was in Alcúdia that Sunwing went ahead with a modernisation and received a hefty fine for doing so - imagine what would happen if all the hotels applied for a licence to undertake works? Total logjam. Consider just how many hotels there are, not just in Alcúdia, but across the island. Their renovations are a part of the wider construction industry, one upon which the island's economy is so dependent. Yet, the administrative system behind the industry cannot cope. It's small wonder that work goes ahead without all the relevant permissions. And everyone appears to know that this is so. How many other modernisations are currently in progress across the island that are similar to Son Moll? If indeed it is the case that the owners filed their application in August, one might say that they should have waited till the end of the 2009 season before proceeding - by which time, one presumes, the licence would have been effected. But that would lengthen even further an already drawn-out process. Businesses and indeed the whole economy cannot be stalled or held hostage by the inadequacy of the administrative system.

It has taken the deaths of the men at Son Moll to bring the whole licence issue to the fore. It should now be down to the Balearic Government to resolve how the system of licensing can be made more efficient. I wish them luck.


Yesterday was a day for revealing stories. "The Diario" has also turned up something in respect of the projected golf development on the Son Bosc finca in Muro. And that is ... The mayor of Muro, who has supported the development, has a business association with the head of the Garden hotels group, which in turn is one of the companies that has a major shareholding in another company - Golf Playa de Muro. Another local hotel chain - Grupotel - is also a shareholder.

The mayor says that he has "no relation to or direct interest in the golf course". The exact business association is that he is a member of a further company, one in the name of the head of Garden hotels, with the same Inca address, but one established for activities on the mainland. In this respect, he doesn't. The connection to the golf development is, therefore, rather distant in terms of the companies involved, but the mere fact of any association is bound to raise questions. And that is what the paper has done. No-one is suggesting anything untoward, but the mayor's independence when it comes to what is a controversial development may appear to have been compromised.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Madonna, "La Isla Bonita". Today's title - American best known, well only really known, for this.

(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)

I've Been Driving In My Car

I was driving along the Carretera Artà through Puerto Alcúdia yesterday. As I do most days. Unlike the summer when there is much traffic and tourists wandering all over the road, it is quite a pleasant drive in winter. I don't mind speed restrictions. They let you drive with less stress. The restriction along the carretera is 50. It is probably unnecessary during winter; in summer it is essential. But yesterday, enjoying the quietness of the road, I was sticking to the limit, just about. Not everyone was. There was someone wanting to go a good deal faster. The car behind came right up my rear and then overtook. There is meant to be no overtaking along this road and because of the regular crossing islands it is a hazardous manoeuvre. So what, you may be thinking. Happens all the time. Well, sometimes. Much as I panned the layout of the road when it was re-done, it has at least cut speed and more reckless driving. Praise where it is due. The point about yesterday, though, was not the car behind but the one behind it - the Guardia. They would have been aware of his speed, of his overtaking and of the fact that he had been tailgating. Exceeding the speed limit is one thing that can get you points on your licence, tailgating is another. But nothing. Happens all the time.

I have, on numerous occasions, witnessed cars overtaking a Guardia vehicle and sometimes it has been a Trafico vehicle; Trafico that polices the main roads and motorways. They have overtaken at speeds clearly in excess of the limit. Nothing. Happens all the time.

Someone who was new to the island told me, with some astonishment, of having been in a bar in Can Picafort where two members of the Guardia, having had a couple of beers, then got into their Trafico vehicle.

These anecdotes are all symptomatic of what can often be a laissez-faire attitude to driving misdemeanours and also of setting the wrong example. Those cops having their beers. They may not have been over the drink limit, but if you are going to have a couple of drinks and then get in your car, what message does it send out?

Mallorca has a shocking record of road accidents, but my impression is that things have got a lot better. There was once a time when you went out on the road fearful of being involved in an accident, because any journey would seem to involve passing one that had happened, was in the process of happening or about to happen. Not now. It does seem to have improved. But it could be better still. And a touch more intervention when there is an obvious infraction occurring under the noses of the police might help to make it so.

And moving along the carretera, into Playa de Muro, there is a fair amount of work being done to the road. Not before time. They have laid new tarmac on those parts of the road which had basically fallen to pieces. It's something. They should re-lay the whole thing, as was done on the stretch between the Albufera reception and Can Picafort. They are also in the process of constructing pedestrian crossing-points and small roundabouts to replace the currently non-functioning system of the traffic lights at which drivers are supposed to turn right in order to turn left. Most do, but many do not, and that many do not because they don't see the sign or understand how they are meant to proceed. So the roundabouts should be a blessing. I say should be, but, as we all know here, roundabout etiquette is something that doesn't seem to be taught at driving school, and if it is it gets immediately forgotten.

If you go further along the carretera, as far as the roundabout coming into Can Picafort, you can head off towards Muro town. To your right is the Son Bosc finca, about which so much has been said in respect of the projected golf course. Its realisation edges ever closer. One of the environmental objections was the existence of a species of orchid to be found on the finca. The Balearic Government's environment department has pronounced. An area of some 6,000 square metres will remain protected in order to safeguard the orchid. This will mean that the hole, which would have swallowed up the orchid, will have to re-sited. Not a problem it would seem, as the whole project covers an area of 540,000 square meters. This intervention by the government does, however, means that the project cannot actually get under way. It has to be re-submitted in order to take account of the required change. So, on and on we go to the day when finally the diggers will move in, which they probably will, despite so many voices opposing it and also questioning its necessity. I guess I'll keep saying it. Forget the golf. Stick up a theme park or an all-year tourist development. Anyone for a Nadal centre?


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Fontella Bass, not Aretha Franklin (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXSocE_M1G4). Today's title - "it's not quite a Jaguar".

(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)

Concrete And Clay

The condohotel concept seems to be the latest “big idea” (see previous – 22 November). Already operating in southern Spain, it looks set to be a feature in the Balearics as well. In today’s “Ultima Hora”, there is an interview with the central government’s tourism secretary-general. One never gets much information form these interviews, only ever headlines and rather vague ideas, but the condohotel does seem to be one on the agenda, and it could give a boost in the winter. Say could.

Otherwise, the secretary-general reckons that it would not be a bad idea if the “oferta complementaria” were to make an effort to stay open in the winter. By “oferta complementaria”, what is meant is, essentially, the bar-restaurant sector. The problem is she does not identify why except as part of some notion of market leadership. Responding to the fact that, although tourist number are up, the tourist spend is not, she believes that alternative and new niche markets that add value should be sought and that a tourist marketing vision is required as the competition is going to get stronger.

It would be harsh to be too harsh on her; the interview is hardly in-depth. But it would be instructive to ever get beyond the obvious and the nebulous. The condohotel idea seems potentially sound, though how widespread it would be and where it would be are other questions. When I hear that term “add value”, I always get somewhat twitchy. What and how much value being added to what precisely, and again where?

If the condohotels go ahead, I trust that their winter clientele can be assured of good heating. It is distinctly cold here at present.


Meanwhile, our old friends GOB, the environmental pressure group, has been handing out its annual gongs. A British naturalist, Nick Riddoford, has collected one for his work in Albufera, while among the recipients of the equivalent of the rotten tomatoes is – no surprises – the mayor of Muro in recognition of Son Bosc. This prize is actually named premio “Ciment”, which I take to be ciment as in the Catalan for cement. What jolly fun.


QUIZ
Yesterday – Dennis Brown. Today’s title – concrete may not be the same as cement, but with the condo angle, it’s as good as you’ll get. Who from the ‘60s?

(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)

Straight Down The Middle

Yet more on the Son Bosc golf development in Muro. A spokesperson for the GOB environmental pressure group is quoted in the “Diario” as saying that 99.9% of local people do not know what they have: it falls to “many foreigners” to come and enjoy the natural world of the Son Bosc finca. He goes on to say that the finca is home to 121 species of bird, while a naturalist from Albufera speaks of the plants, insects and animals to be found there. From the battleground of one particular orchid, the artillery of the environmentalists is now lined up behind a whole battalion of flora and fauna.

That local people may be unaware of what Son Bosc has to offer (they surely cannot be now) would not be a justification for creating a golf course instead, but when GOB refer to “many” foreigners, just how many is many? Knowledge, lack of knowledge, and some overseas naturalists, none of these is especially relevant. What is, is whether Son Bosc is a protected area of natural importance, which it would seem to be. End of story, one would think. It would be were it not for the interests of the developers, some politicians and some hotels.

The Albufera representative talks also about the number of golf courses that already exist on the island, some of them quite close by. This is not an invalid argument. What has been lost in the debate, or at least is not being widely discussed, is the economic argument in favour of the Son Bosc development: that, and the exact nature of the planned course. Both Alcúdia and Pollensa have golf courses. Alcanada is thought to be the more challenging because of its links nature. Pollensa’s course is – I am told as I don’t play – a bit easy, a park course but set in superb countryside and with undulations. A course in Son Bosc would be a park course, on the flat, without the sea and cliffs of Alcanada or the scenic splendour of Pollensa.

But more fundamentally, what is the reality of golf tourism to Mallorca and specifically to the north? Golf tourism is a concept bandied about as part of the solution to winter tourism and as an element of the vaguely defined “quality” tourism. There may be figures which show the numbers of golf tourists, but I am not aware of them. Are there great numbers coming to play at Alcanada? Maybe there are, but were there then perhaps more hotels might be open to accommodate a mass of Titleist-tagged and Wilson-wielding chippers and pitchers. The hotel and the apartments in Alcanada are not exactly thronged with winter golfers: they are not exactly open either.

To what extent are these courses sustained by their local populations? The total population of Muro (Playa de Muro) and Santa Margalida (Can Picafort) combined equates to that of either Alcúdia or Pollensa alone. The expat “market” is widely perceived as being a strong golfing one. The percentages of British-German expatriates for Alcúdia and Pollensa are 7 and 9 per cent respectively: for Muro and Santa Margalida together, the figure is less than 6%. Of course, not only expats play golf and by no means all expats play golf, but however you look at the figures, they are not that great. The total number of British-German expats in the four towns together is a bit over 3,500, and how many actually play golf? Consequently, would another golf course be justifiable, one that might not enjoy, ironically, the natural benefits of Alcanada and Pollensa? Would current Muro or Can Picafort golfers with memberships for the nearby courses stop those in favour of a course merely because it happens to be closer? I have not heard of the Son Bosc development being positioned as satisfying a local need or demand. If it were, then the support of the hotels would be irrelevant.

The Playa de Muro hoteliers may be backing Son Bosc, but where is the evidence that they would get significant business? Neither Alcúdia nor Pollensa have many hotel beds in winter, and what is open is either very small (such as the interior hotels) or smallish (like the Estrella de Mar). Playa de Muro’s hotels are mostly all medium to big. Is it not the case that winter golf tourism to Mallorca is rather overplayed? There are not the complexes of Portugal or mainland Spain, to say nothing of other golfing destinations, including Florida.

The environmental (and legal) case against the Son Bosc development is strong. Although I think that the likes of GOB are making something of a meal out of it, it might help the cause of the pro-course lobby if an equally strong economic and business case could be presented. So … ?


QUIZ
Yesterday – “Dreams”, Fleetwood Mac (The Corrs did the cover). Today’s title – old, old song by a golfing crooner. His good mate had a classic named after him: indeed I think he did too.

(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)