Laid Out For All To See

Road works. Roads work. When there are road works, do roads work? On and off, according to the stop and go. There is a view that all public work is compressed into the weeks before the season starts. This is a view based on the idea that to do such work earlier would impress too few people; because there are too few people around. So, this view continues, do it all in March and April and there will be folk about who can admire the effort being made. This is probably garbage, but not without some substance. Why, for example, is the road in Playa de Muro being laid now? Again. Over the bridge. How often does one stretch of road need to be laid and then relaid. Several times, it would seem.

As the season hoves into view, traffic gets heavier, ever more cyclists are veering all over the place, foot-based tourists are wandering in the middle of the road, dogs and cats get in on the act and, to cap it all, there are ruddy great tarmac-laying machines massively lumbering along the local roads. This is not a criticism of road works per se; indeed, I am all in favour. Just - why do they happen now? And please don't give me the road-laying-needs-heat argument, because I don't buy it, especially given that some road laying does occur in colder winter weather. I have long thought that Mallorca is inherently non-productive in just about everything it does, so add in road works and all the rest and the resultant delays and that non-productivity is increased severalfold.

Anyway, moan over. As for all those cyclists, of which there are seemingly thousands at the moment, where do they go? I am back in that territory widely and incorrectly known as cyclists contribute nothing to the local bars and restaurants and only buy bananas, Ritter Sport and water from the nearest Eroski. This is simply not so. I have mentioned this before, but it is worth repeating. Boy, Restaurant Boy, Playa de Muro, half past five in the afternoon. Packed. Jam-packed. How many? 60? 70? 80? Nearly all cyclists. Drinking, mainly large glasses of Weizen, and eating. Eating the great lumps of meat that Boy serves up. (And that is great as in size and quality.) The reason why there are so many? The restaurant works closely with Max Hürzeler. I've said this all before, but its repetition is needed to counter this utterly fallacious view of cycling tourists. They don't spend. You'd better believe that they do.


Time share, sorry holiday club, touts. Anyone know exactly what's happening? This was a big story last year, with complaints posted to me as well as to "The Bulletin". The office that was their base has been for rent, and there is no sign - as yet - of our favourite street vendors.


Someone asked something surprising of me yesterday. Actually, the someone was Marshall at the karts in Bellevue. Had I changed my look? That was the question. I confess to having been taken aback, not that I was affronted, just that I had never considered that I had a look. Anyway, this is by way of warning you that whatever this look might be will be on display in the island's leading daily this Friday. Long have I eschewed revealing the true me via this blog - no vanity here - only for "The Bulletin" to come along and break the visual silence.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - "Radio", The Corrs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS8w0hNpJ2w). Today's title - this comes from a song by the group whose name came from William Burroughs.

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