Being With You

BEING SPANISH - PART SEVEN (THE VERB "TO BE")

Catching up on the "being Spanish" series, I have had an email which does rather echo what I said about the Spanish "look" or rather its absence. John, damningly, characterises flats in both Alcúdia and Puerto Pollensa as looking "not unlike Soviet post-war architecture". Whatever one thinks of developments such as Taylor Woodrow's in Puerto Pollensa, at least it has a certain style. It may be wrong for the port; indeed it almost certainly is wrong in terms of being out of place, but there again, what is "in place". I'm damned if I know. And that just emphasises the lack of a coherent architectural story, which is at least partly the fault of planning with no theme. There is certainly nothing obviously "Spanish" about any of it. However, I come back to the starting-point of where actually one derives a perception of being Spanish from, and John seems to agree with me that it is, in part at any rate, one lifted from Hollywood. As such, it is not Spanish at all, but American Western or Mexican. The association is one of language made physical in the form of buildings. We attempt to translate this language into the local setting - in Mallorca - and find that it doesn't in fact translate.

There is another, very different notion of being Spanish, and that is one which would doubtless escape the attention of many holidaymakers and indeed some of those who have moved here from the UK. It is one of describing, if you like, one's or another's existence or that of a thing. Which all sounds deeply profound, but it is not. It is actually very simple, if you can call a basic of both Castilian and Catalan differentiating between types of "being" simple. The piece I wrote the other day about Ramón Socias (8 December: We're Only In It For The Money) had as its source an article from the "Diario de Mallorca" newspaper. Perhaps it goes to show how useful it can be to read local Spanish papers as there was a usage there that, as such, I had never seen expressed before. It was this: "La cuestión está en estar o ser, ser o estar". Ok, maybe it doesn't make initial sense, but this is not a "to be or not to be" soliloquy, it is a "to be or to be" question. How can that make sense? Perfectly well, when one appreciates that there are two states of "being" - one permanent (ser) and one temporary (estar). It's why one asks "cómo estás" and not cómo eres. You are not how you are all the time, therefore the temporary form applies. The context in which Socias was speaking was that of politicians and of their holding posts for finite periods. When one states one's profession or job, "ser" is used, as in, for instance, "soy profesor" (I'm a teacher - and, incidentally - you don't use the article for "a" in Spanish for this sort of thing). Socias is challenging not just the permanence of a political appointment but also the rule of language in that he would rather it were "estoy político" (as opposed to "estoy de político" as the "de" is used when a temporary assignment is referred to, as in, possibly, I'm working as a politician at the moment in Spain). English makes no such explicit a distinction, but the mere presence - in Spanish - of different meanings for the most fundamental of verbs creates a conflict between the static and the fluid; a conflict and therefore a nuance in the way of thinking and of being. Being Spanish, therefore, could be ser or estar. Perhaps it is the latter in some instances, and this might explain the elusiveness of being able to define this state of "being Spanish".

Highly philosophical, you'll no doubt agree, and probably complete bollocks, but I, for one, find it intriguing as to the way in which language can determine how different cultures perceive things.


Anyway, to matters less cerebral and to hoteliers in Palma who are hacked off with the tourist authorities and the town hall for not doing more to promote the city. Bookings are down, and so someone has to carry the can. It's an old and familiar theme, and could apply to other towns, but Palma is a special case because it is the capital, it is big and it does have a lot to commend it, except for the likes of its shopping hours. I am still to be convinced that people would make Palma a weekend-break destination for the purposes of doing some shopping, but it cannot help the city if everything pretty much closes down by Saturday lunchtime. It may not assist the rest of the island, certainly not the north, for a sizeable chunk of the tourism promotional budget to be spent on the capital, but one has to be realistic, especially when it comes to the winter. Palma is open (well until Saturday lunchtime) in a way that other places are not. At least, that is how it is argued. But it is inaccurate. Alcúdia and Pollensa may be quiet in winter, but they are far from closed down. Special case it may be, but winter promotion should be for the whole island and not just the capital. But on specific international promotion of Palma - and that for its excellent San Sebastian celebrations in January - I wonder what they are doing. After last January's event, there was an admission that more needed to be done to attract overseas visitors to something that is deserving of greater foreign interest. So, is it?

PUERTO POLLENSA - YET MORE PEDESTRIANISATION
And for the latest ... Now it's to be just the bit between the Calles Elcano (the road opposite the pier with restaurant Stay) and Temple Fielding (on the corner of which is Sail & Surf). Heavy traffic is going to all be diverted along the new road. Does this include coaches? Is Temple Fielding to be two-way traffic? Don't know. Meantime, the annual let's-rip-up-Puerto Pollensa scheme is to start in January, with the promenade (that part from the roundabout to the pinewalk which is of course pedestrianised) being dug up for drainage works. It will be finished by the middle of March. Oh no it won't. Oh yes it will. Oh no it won't. What a pantomime. But at least this may prevent that other annual event, namely the outpouring of sewage into the sea.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Fine Young Cannibals with Jimmy Somerville (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRyAD9dMQ64). Today's title - boy oh boy, does this bring back memories; one of the smoochiest and most romantic of all Motown songs. But I'm not telling.

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