This Used To Be My Playground

How are you feeling? Got swine flu yet? A couple had been admitted to the main national health hospital, Son Dureta, suspected of having contracted it; it turned out not to be. Any old sniffle - sorry, can't come into work today, got pig flu. Seemingly though, everyone in whatever country who has it - outside Mexico - has only a mild form of flu. No-one is exactly panicking, but to read the papers and hear the radio one would think that we are in a state of terminal pandemic. Mind you, if not swine flu, then what about malaria? It came as something of a surprise to learn that there were eight cases of malaria in the Balearics in 2008, a reduction of 16 from 2007. It was a surprise to learn that there were any. Immediately, one jumps to the conclusion that this is caused by local mosquitoes. But there was nothing in the report I saw to confirm this. Indeed I would be hugely surprised if these were not all cases of malaria having been caught in other countries.


Parques infantiles. Children's playgrounds. They are all over the place. Some are wooded and shaded, such as by the Laberinto in Playa de Muro or by the Sunwing Resort in Puerto Alcúdia; some have forgiving all-weather surfaces like the one opposite Sea Club; some are by car parks, as in Puerto Pollensa. And some are an absolute mess. Like the one next to the Coral de Mar. At least it was on Sunday afternoon. Let's be charitable and say that the boys couldn't get out to tidy up at the weekend. There again, it looked as though it had been a while since anyone had turned up with a mower or strimmer. The one advantage of some long, straggly grass was that it partially obscured the bottles, the plastic bags and all the other rubbish that had accumulated. The remarkable thing was that there were people using it. A father was lying on his back on a bench, flicking a cigarette while junior hared around. Maybe he, the father, was oblivious to the debris and was inclined merely to add to it.

Perhaps someone can tell me, as I don't know, but can you be fined for littering in Mallorca? They seem to have fines for everything else. Not that those, or indeed the rules, stop the flouting thereof. Don't jaywalk, do jaywalk. Don't drink alcohol in the streets, do drink alcohol in the streets. Don't let the dog foul the pavement without scooping it up, do ... . The casualness with which things emerge from cars as they are cruising along suggests that there is at least a relaxed attitude to imposing any sanctions, if they indeed exist. Ditto the casualness with which orange peel is discarded, and ditto the truly disgusting - the emptying of the car ashtray. How big are some of these ashtrays? Still, it's only a side road, the council will be round in a couple of weeks, tell you what, let's also go and chuck some bottles in that kiddies' play area and, while we're at it, let's drag Rover along and he can drop his lunch next to those swings.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Sinead O'Connor (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO8JWbG6bVw). Today's title - what a great song this was. Forgotten all about it until thinking "playground".

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