Guardia Civil / Beach tents / Civil War

Someone I know, visiting Alcúdia, was stopped the other day in the port by two Guardia. They wanted to check a bag he was carrying; it contained cartons of cigarettes just purchased. On Pere Más i Reus (aka the Greasy Mile), I have seen the Guardia. In Playa de Muro, I saw two more on the beat.

I can’t remember seeing the Guardia on beat duties before, except at events or the likes of markets. I don’t know what is causing this apparent burst of activity. Maybe something to do with the illegal street selling (along the Greasy Mile at any rate). But I guess we should be happy that they are in evidence. Crime may not be a major problem here, but good if they are becoming more visible in preventing it.


Now then, beach furniture.

I have long been mystified that some folk can require a pantechnicon to shift all the gear that they haul on to a beach. And then there’s the time it takes to erect it all. A beach umbrella, well, pretty simple, but once you’re into the beach tent area you’re talking a whole load of faffing around. And for what? It’s not as if they afford the sun protection you might expect. No, sir, no better than a 20 factor lotion, sir. Then, damn me, having spent so long putting the thing up, they either piss off to a beach-bar or not so long after uproot and go home. But, the greatest pisser with beach tents is that you can have found yourself a nice speck; a good viewing-the-girlies (or boyies, if you prefer) speck, and some dork comes along and puts up a bloody great bivouac in your sightline. Ban them, now.


A more serious subject. Today’s “The Times” devotes a double-page to the Spanish Civil War. Tuesday (18 July) marks the 70th anniversary of the start of the Civil War. It says that “the pact of forgetting” that has existed since the fall of Franco was swept away by the current Socialist Government. Some fear that the “fragile balance” between right and left, neo-Falangists and leftist Republicans will break. But some feel that the debate (rarely aired till now) that is now being aired gives the Spanish the chance to lance a boil that has festered for too long.