Especially For You

With no small amount of predictability, Alcúdia town hall has not exactly greeted the no-to-Es-Foguero decision with great enthusiasm, but at least it does appear to accept the decision as the emphasis now seems to be to find a way of locating the terminal anywhere that isn't behind the auditorium. It needs to be stressed that all that has actually been decided regarding the route of the train is that it will follow the so-called northern "corridor" and not the southern.

We are still no nearer to knowing the exact location. The area by both roundabouts - Horse and Magic - are in the town hall's sights, but the government is pretty much excluding them without any further consideration because of the wetlands. Doubtless there is some environmental significance, which is lost on me, but these wetlands are not things of some wonder as is the case with Albufera; they are basically also wasteland and things of a complete lack of wonder. A spurious environmental objection should be discounted; dig them up and shove the bloody railway station on them. From the point of view of the landscape, this would be an improvement; the area around the Horse and Magic roundabouts that isn't already built on is an eyesore, and the fact is that much of it has been built on - the swimming-pool, the sports centre, etc, these were all on what were once wetlands, so why should there be any sentiment stopping the railway line? Environmental group GOB, who see the no-to-Es-Foguero decision as a result, would presumably object to more wetlands becoming dry, but for once the politicos should show some independence and not be driven by making common cause with the enviros for some potential political gain.


Wetlands and wetness of different sorts - the sea and water sports. There are in Spain a number of "estaciones náuticas" which best translate as water-sport centres. These cover all manner of things that happen on water and very often things that don't, all in the name of sport and activities. While there are "estaciones" on the mainland and also elsewhere in the Balearics, there is not one in Mallorca, but this may be about to change as Alcúdia could become one such and a part of the association of water sport centres. There are to be meetings this coming week about all this. What actually it would all mean, I don't quite know, which is why I have been trying to find out, and hopefully the chap who deals with the media (if I can call myself the media, and I think I probably can) and is currently away on business will be kind enough to get in touch. Meantime, you can see something about these centres here - http://www.estacionesnauticas.info.


You may recall that Alcúdia town hall put together a chill-out CD with which to enchant visitors at its stand at the Fitur trade fair in Madrid. I happened to notice a copy of this knocking around town hall HQ the other day with a post-it note on the box with five euros written on it. Probably they produced far too many and are now hoping to flog them off through the season. Someone, from the town hall, said to me that it wasn't much good, and so impressed by what was included on the CD was I, that I have completely forgotten. Anyway, if you can't get it through official town hall channels, I daresay a pirated copy or several will have fallen into the clutches of the luckies come April, and you'll be able to get a fake one at a knockdown price of, say, five euros.


And today of course is Valentine's Day, and I should just mention that among the bars offering an event in celebration will be Vamps with a karaoke Valentine and some grand, computer-generated bingo do. But this raises the question as to what would be karaoke Valentine favourites, and my guess would be "Saving All My Love For You" (Whitney) and as a duet - Kylie and Jason's peerless "Especially For You", which is today's title. Incidentally, the Spanish do Valentine's, though it should be noted that the Catalans have another day - Sant Jordi (George) when they give each other a rose or a book.

And while on bars and things that could help attract the masses at this time of difficulty, I note that the Indians are to produce a soft drink based on cow's urine, which should be rather less than gnat's or indeed cow's piss I should have thought if it were a cocktail with Red Bull.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - David Bowie. It was not one of his best, but from the album came something that was ok - "Golden Years" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd2clb5T8JA). Today's title - already mentioned; a Valentine's special.

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