Sixteen Military Wives

This is where it starts. The season. Except where it starts on 15, 16 May or even 1 June. The season is more stuttering into action rather than bursting out all over. Typically, everything would be open today and all staff would have been taken on. But not everything is open and those hoofing the streets asking for work may be luckier in June, but even then they will only get four months work. Welcome, season 2009, wherever you are. And some pretty bad news - they're predicting a hot summer in the UK. No, no, no, it will rain. Heavily and often. And it will be cold, very cold. Forget it, ignore it, these forecasts are never right.


The opening to the general public of the military area of Cap des Pinar in Alcúdia has been agreed between the town hall and the ministry of defence. This area, on the northern tip of the town past La Victoria, has been a no-go area for some years. It will still be off-limits from the sea, but access by land will be allowed during the months of June to September, though the numbers allowed in at any one time will be restricted; the environment ministry is also party to the agreement. A commission of the Balearic parliament is addressing the issue as to the civil use of both Cap des Pinar and the military base in Puerto Pollensa.

These two military zones are quite different. Cap des Pinar is remote. Any civil use would be limited by its sheer inaccessibility and so would, presumably, be confined to ramblers and the like. The Puerto Pollensa base, on the other hand, sits on the bay of Pollensa at the far end of the pinewalk. Apart from the Canadair fire-fighting planes, it might not immediately be apparent that there was some sort of installation there, military or civilian. But it represents a sizeable chunk of real estate, and has a history stretching back to the 1930s. One imagines that many a developer would drool at the prospect of getting hold of it. Not that this is likely to happen. Or is it?

What civil use could it be put to? I'm unclear as to how a military base can become some sort of civilian-military hybrid. By definition, a military base is for the military, with all that this entails. If the public were to be permitted to use it, for reasons as yet unspecified, then why keep it as a military base? Yet, how military actually is it? From what I can make out, and I found a piece dating back years from the newspaper "El País" which confirmed this, the base is essentially a centre for schooling in rescue and for housing (if that's the correct word) the Canadairs. And it is also a summer retreat for Spanish military and for those from other countries. All in all, it doesn't sound like it is a particularly sensitive base. There again, if the military believe that it is important, then it may well be. When the King's son, Crown-Prince Felipe, came to the base a couple of weeks ago, there was a great deal more aerial activity than would be normal. One view was that this was all intended as a sort of demonstration of the base's importance. I couldn't comment either way, except to note that even an essentially non-sensitive base, as Pollensa appears to be, could be activated for something rather more serious were the need to ever arise. And that, I suppose, would be the military view.

The context of all this is, as mentioned back on 25 February, that there was a political agreement in 2007 that Spanish military bases would be open to civilian use. Now, the Partido Popular is proposing that there be a study of all military bases in the Balearics and their ongoing "strategic interest". There may not be any strategic interest in having a military holiday camp, but personally it doesn't bother me that military personnel have somewhere to take a pleasant holiday. But they may have to get used to sharing their holiday space with those from Civvy Street, though what these civilians would actually do once they were there I haven't a clue. And ultimately, they may have to get used to taking a holiday somewhere else.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Living In A Box (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHt_GzOgjvA). Today's title - rather more than 16, but they all like holidaying in Puerto Pollensa. Who is this? The band is named after an attempted revolution. And the song ... La-di-dah ...

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