American Pie

Having rather despaired of Playa de Muro last time, some good news. The town hall has produced its document for its annual fiestas in four langauges, including English and German. So, good on them. The Playa de Muro gigs dont compare with the scale of those in Alcúdia and Pollensa, but then Playa de Muro doesn’t have the size or the history. Go back 40 years or so, and there was pretty much nothing there other than sand, dunes, scrub and Albufera. I must do a proper history of the place, especially as I have a neighbour with photos from that era, but that’s for another time and probably place.

Also on fiestas or events at least, I should have mentioned that the annual Sa Pobla Jazz festival started yesterday. There is a gig each week during August. Information for both Sa Pobla and Playa de Muro is on the WHAT’S ON BLOG.

GOD BLESS AMERICA
A few days ago, the executive-chairman of the airline BMI, Sir Michael Bishop, was interviewed by “The Bulletin”. Given BMI’s membership of the Star Alliance, alongside the likes of Air Canada, United Airlines and US Airways, one could argue that he was being a tad self-serving when it came to suggesting that the USA and Canada could become a “good market” for Mallorca. But his views are worth considering.

North America is a negligible market at present. It is rare to hear an American accent here. But with a network operating through Heathrow as a hub, there may indeed be merit in promoting the island (and the Balearics as a whole) to this market. The anticipation might be that it would bring in a more “quality” form of tourism. For quality, read doshed-up. It is not a market that should be ignored.

But it is not as if it has been totally ignored. For some years now, Michael Douglas has been beaming out of leaflets for Valldemossa and the Costa Nord. His attraction may not have proved to be fatal, but nor has it exactly given life to a market that, while it “does” Europe, does it in daily doses, and for which a detour to an island is only worthwhile if it comes with a guardsman wearing a bearskin. There again, maybe I’m wrong. But I can’t somehow see Gary from Indiana and his family treading the Greasy Mile of an evening in search of a karaoke bar.

QUIZ - Well, last time’s answer was The Cure. Geoff offered what would have been an excellent alternative (which would have made him the second Guest Titlist) in Sam Cooke’s “Another Saturday Night”. Today - oh too easy, but what were those good old boys drinking?

INDEX FOR JULY 2007
Airlines - 31 July 2007
Alcúdia marina - 12 July 2007
American market - 31 July 2007
Balaixa - 23 July 2007
Balearic Government - 18 July 2007
Bars - 10 July 2007, 11 July 2007
Beach umbrellas - 6 July 2007, 15 July 2007
Beaches - 24 July 2007
BMI - 31 July 2007
Can Picafort - 15 July 2007
Carabela Apartments - 26 July 2007
Carretera Artà - 14 July 2007
Climate change - 20 July 2007
Council of Mallorca - 8 July 2007
Euro Weekly - 17 July 2007, 27 July 2007
Fiestas - 10 July 2007, 17 July 2007, 21 July 2007, 24 July 2007, 31 July 2007
Foxes Arms - 10 July 2007
Hotels - 23 July 2007, 25 July 2007
Hurricanes - 20 July 2007
Jellyfish - 14 July 2007, 26 July 2007
JKs Bar - 11 July 2007
Kites - 24 July 2007
Leapy Lee - 17 July 2007
Lynham, Jane and Mike - 12 July 2007, 21 July 2007
Markets - 12 July 2007, 14 July 2007
Menu of the day - 23 July 2007
Mosquitoes - 26 July 2007
Motorways - 8 July 2007
Nadal, Rafael - 8 July 2007
No Frills Excursions - 17 July 2007
Patrona - 24 July 2007
Personal names - 20 July 2007
Playa de Muro - 15 July 2007, 29 July 2007, 31 July 2007
Politics - 8 July 2007
Pollensa - 23 July 2007, 24 July 2007
Pricing - 4 July 2007
Puddle Duck Elite Collectables - 12 July 2007
Puerto Pollensa - 10 July 2007
Railways - 18 July 2007
Restaurants - 23 July 2007, 27 July 2007, 29 July 2007
Road accidents - 6 July 2007, 14 July 2007, 27 July 2007
Roads - 8 July 2007
Sa Pobla Jazz - 31 July 2007
Sant Crist fiesta - 17 July 2007, 21 July 2007
Sant Jaume fiesta - 17 July 2007
Steak House Carabela - 27 July 2007
Sunbeds - 15 July 2007
Sunwing - 25 July 2007
Tipping - 10 July 2007
Tourism economics - 5 July 2007
Tourist spend - 29 July 2007
Virgen del Carmen fiesta - 10 July 2007
Weather - 23 July 2007, 24 July 2007
Websites - 23 July 2007, 25 July 2007
Weever fish -27 July 2007
www.thealcudiaguide.com - 25 July 2007
www.thepollensaguide.com - 23 July 2007, 25 July 2007

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