It's Fun To Stay At

Put your hard hats on, chaps. And not just those of you who will be working on building sites into June and throughout October. Oh no, protect yourselves from the falling masonry of indignation in Puerto Pollensa; from the bricks and mortar of outrage; from the scaffolding of it's not what it used to be. Ah, the sweet sound of a Kango drill drifting across the prom-prom-prom-tiddley-om-pom-pom; the hammering of summer lawns; the summer breeze of brick dust and cement. Well, there you go, and just think yourself lucky that building work will stop in the middle of June and not resume until the first of October.

These are exciting times if you happen to be in Puerto Pollensa. Celebration of abnormal seasonal construction coincides with the re-opening of the great construction success that is/was the public swimming-pool. There was duly a "fiesta" to mark the occasion yesterday and which continues today. I wonder if there will be another one when it gets closed down - again. Rather curiously, given that we are at the start of March, there has been a poster doing the rounds which shows children happily engaged in water activities in what, unless I am very much mistaken, appears to be summertime - and in the open. Maybe they've decided to do away with the roof altogether.

And next weekend there will be something else to celebrate, though this will involve going to the old town. The hunters' fair descends on Pollensa for its ninth annual occurrence. Huntin', shootin' and fishin'. I can well imagine that there are, among the ranks of the Pollensa be-expated, those with an inclination to donning Barbours and flat caps, to looking like Prince Edward and to blowing small animals to smithereens. One trusts that they might not do so on the streets of Pollensa; indeed one might hope that they would give the whole gig a wide berth as the hunting class of Mallorca is not a class thing - it is very much more egalitarian.

The hunters' fair takes place in different towns each year. Last year's event was in Campos and it was in Alcúdia in, I think, 2005. According to reports, some 60,000 people turned up in Campos last year, so it is a little odd that they are forecasting only a third of that number to put in an appearance in Pollensa. Still, 20,000 is a fair number, and there will be restaurants offering hunting-based cuisine in the feeding of the 20,000 which will presumably do very well thank you. Not sure what this hunting-based food is as pretty much anything involving dead animals could, I suppose, be described as having been hunted. Perhaps you get to pick the shot out or something, so that you know it has been authentically blasted. Restaurants and other businesses that might gain from the weekend's festivities can thank the Council of Mallorca. A hundred and twenty grand is what it pays for this shindig.


Following on from the news that tourism in January was up by nearly 6% comes the perhaps even more surprising revelation that tourism spend for that month was up by almost 25 per cent. Unclear though it is as to how these figures are derived, a leap of this magnitude goes against all other current economic indicators. Polish and Hungarian pensioners can't be responsible, one would have to assume. It is largely all down to German tourists, despite Germany having to contend with similar economic woes to everyone else. Maybe there is something in that cash boom after all, even if it is island-wide as opposed to just Pollensa. Or maybe it is just one of those rather inexplicable blips. But if it were to be a blip that were to continue, I don't know that there would be many complaining. That said, this February, according to one restaurant owner in Puerto Alcúdia, was the worst he had known. However, one owner does not represent a whole resort.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Musical Youth (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFtLONl4cNc). Today's title - well various I imagine if there is still building work going on, and what other relevance does this have today (in the first line for example)?

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