Bini And The Jets

In the Riki Lash column in "The Bulletin" on Sunday was a piece about driving while using a mobile. It said that if caught three times, this would result in the confiscation of one's licence (as opposed to "license"; well, he is American). What it also said was that it didn't matter whether that licence was foreign, it would still be taken away. Now, it would be highly unlikely, I would suggest, that a tourist would be stopped three times for using a mobile during a short stint in Mallorca, so this has to refer more to those who live here. The fact is that there is a whole other issue here, and it is one that I wonder if all expats are fully aware of. If a resident, one must have - by law - a Spanish driving licence. A UK/European one is not deemed valid. At the start of this year, a law was enacted which elevated the lack of a licence to the status more of a criminal offence, as opposed to an administrative oversight, which it had previously been. A non-Spanish licence is embraced under this law, and contravention can potentially result in a huge fine or worse.

This law is a complete nonsense of course. It sounds more like a way of extracting some 18 euros for the process of converting the licence. But whatever the thinking, the fact is that there may well be many here who are driving without a valid licence. If so, then don't go too close to Trafico's controls; rather, get yourself down to the Trafico building sharpish and get the licence changed.

Whilst on "The Bulletin", is it not possible for someone to run an eye over the copy in the form of a proof? It had stuff about the Vermar in Binissalem. On each occasion, it spelt the town with two n's and one s. Small matter it may seem, but this is a town in Mallorca, famous as a wine centre, and it should be simple enough to get its spelling right, while the Arabic prefix "bini" is not unique to Binissalem. There is, for example, the village of Biniali, not that far from Binissalem. By contrast, in the same edition the excellent "Rural Life" column by George Giri - excellent for its informativeness - got the spelling right.


Mention of the Alcúdia Fair the other day brings me to the coincidence in respect of what I spoke about on 15 September regarding "show cooking". At the fair there will be its own show cooking, that by Juanjo of the revered Genestar restaurant. For those who do not know, Genestar is by the Auditorium in the old town. At one time it was called El Pequeño Gourmet before it was gutted, given a complete makeover and made to look as though it's a high-class kitchen shop. When it was first completed I went in expecting to find Santos or Xoane model kitchen installations. To that end I was disappointed. It was, and is, a restaurant.


A different form of cuisine is currently being given a "run" or circuit around Alcúdia. It's a ham run. This is not a case of jetting around the town with a ham in tow or something like that; it's very much more sedate. Basically, a bunch of restaurants serve up some Iberian ham on given days. Seemingly, the scoffing of some ham is free so long as you buy a beer or something else. Quite why they have this "circuito de jamón" I'm not entirely sure; it's not as if you can't get Iberian ham in many an establishment. Moreover, it's more likely to be locals who go for some freebies, and they are already familiar with the ham. Anyway, whatever the point of it all, if you fancy some ham from superior black pig stock, the next stop on the run is at the fine Cerveceria Gambrinus in Puerto Alcúdia on 26 September (Gambrinus is next to Sandra's bar) and then the equally fine Malanga (formerly the Mestizo restaurant) on 3 October. I've put a list of participating restaurants on the WHAT'S ON BLOG.


As the season begins to wind down, word comes that it's going to end rather earlier than normal for some hotels. Notably, the Lagomonte will not be limping on beyond the first weekend of October. From what I can make out, it's not been the greatest of seasons for the hotel. Whatever, they're calling it quits early. The Mac hotels are apparently also closing before the end-October half-term period. There is a commonality here - Lagomonte and the Macs are full-on all-inclusives. Some while ago I drew attention to the fact that self-catering or half-board places such as the Alcúdia Beach and Delfín Azul were doing just fine compared to the all-inclusives. Perhaps it is the ultra-economical AI that is bearing the brunt of the economic downturn.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - U2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEflc7YXo10). Today's title - a corruption of what and by whom?

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