Running On Empty

Tried buying petrol or diesel lately? There's no shortage, nothing like that, but what there is, is falling demand for fuel - to the tune of nearly 12% for petrol across the islands. A combination of factors has, according to a report on 5 May in "The Diario", led to this fall - the cuts in construction and associated businesses, the cuts to car-rental fleets and simply a cutting back. It is reckoned that around 10% of petrol stations are at risk of closure. In Puerto Alcúdia, the Campsa station by the Platja d'Or is closed certainly for fuel sales, and has been closed for some while. It seems slightly surprising. One business one might think would be largely immune to economic difficulties is petrol, and given the scale of vehicle ownership in Mallorca, it is doubly surprising. But the sheer volume a station has to turn over annually to be commercially is enormous - 3 million litres. In Alcúdia and Playa de Muro, there are five stations, and I'm told that the Campsa one was always a bit more expensive. Don't know if that was so or not. Personally, I never take much notice; give us twenty euros worth, and that's it.


The annual threat from the sea, your friendly jellyfish, always gets an airing around this time. Will there be a plague, won't there be, what are they doing to prevent one, etc. etc. Well, we can add something else to the threat, something rather more ominous - the "carabela portuguesa". A carabela was the style of ship fancied by the likes of Columbus; the shape of its sails were not dissimilar, apparently, to the thing in the water, the devil of component parts - run for your lives, or swim for your lives, the Portuguese Man o' War. Oh no, it's coming, it's coming.

The Ibizan version of the Diario has reported on the appearance of the Man o' War heading into the Mediterranean; normally, it stays out in the Atlantic. But no, the rotten thing has decided to float into calmer waters. Damn its tentacles. Hopefully, it stays well put out in deeper waters. Don't want that bloody thing hanging around when going for a paddle. Inicidentally, it isn't strictly speaking a jellyfish, which I suppose is some comfort; it all has to do with it not being one thing but four. Damn weird if you ask me - four bits of malevolence flopping around and looking out for some likely limb and skin to have a go at.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - "Laid So Low", Tears For Fears (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F32vL71LTw). Today's title - ageing American rocker/folkist.

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