Whereas the autumn fair comes with an in-built ominousness, the spring fair arrives only with the air of optimism: a spring in its step, rather than the arthritic creak of encroaching winter. It's the name of the season that does it of course, but in combination with fair, there is an abundance of vitality and expectation that attaches itself to the spring fair in a way that no autumn fair could possibly achieve.
They don't call Puerto Alcúdia's fair a spring fair, but this is what it is. It couldn't really be anything else, given that it is held in spring, but it comes with an alternative moniker, two in fact. It is both boat and cuttlefish. Or rather, boat and sepia. Cuttlefish simply doesn't do it as a name for a fair. Sepia, on the other hand, does. No one much may actually like sepia, but if there has to be a fair devoted to the rubbery cephalopod, far better that it adopts its Latin genus title.
Curiously, despite very few people holding their hands up and saying that they would normally give a cuttlefish the time of culinary day, the fair attracts an astonishing number of people. Any old excuse perhaps, but the boat/sepia fair, version 2012, was busier than it has ever been. All those crammed into the gastronomy marquees weren't eating meat, so either they do genuinely like sepia or are prepared to live with it for a day, especially if it comes at a special-offer low price.
Of the various fairs in the north of Mallorca which typically avoid making overt statements of their springlike quality (they hide behind saints names, farming, wine as well as cuttlefish and boats), the Puerto Alcúdia fair is by some distance the grandest. It was the boats that originally did it. They were spun off from the old town's autumn fair some years ago, shifted a few months and shifted also to where it had always been more appropriate that they should have been - by the sea, rather than by the town's walls. When they made the decision to move the boats, they decided to give the fair some added value, and it came in the form of cuttlefish. Strange, but true.
Were it not for the cuttlefish, it is questionable whether the fair, as a mere nautical exposition event, would be anything like as popular as it is. The boats are nice to look at, but whether any business takes place it is hard to say. It never seems to be, but then maybe this isn't what is meant to happen at a boat show.
So much had the cuttlefish and the market that also forms part of the fair assumed the upper hand over the boats, it had seemed possible that the boats would make a dignified exit. But then Palma decided not to stage its boat show this year, and Palma, for once, came to Alcúdia this weekend; there were more boats than ever before. Where had previously been the knick-knackery of artisanal artefacts, there were boats, boats and more boats. This still didn't stop the hordes heading past the rows of boats and heading for the gastronomy marquees, but as boat shows go, or as Puerto Alcúdia's boat show goes, it would have to be deemed a great success.
There is a great benefit, naturally enough, from the great influx of islanders into Puerto Alcúdia over an April weekend. The fair is a pre-season warm-up for the restaurants, most of which had terraces packed to the gunwales. Not of course that restaurants have gunnels as such - boats do - but terraces jammed pack a week or so prior to the official start of the tourism season is jam on top for the owners.
What bars and restaurants in other parts of Puerto Alcúdia make of the whole event, though, is another matter. So many cars had turned up that parking, by not long after midday on Sunday, meant finding a spot by the Magic roundabout. There was a great deal of activity away from the actual port area, but it was activity that was manoeuvring itself into a parking space, disgorging its inhabitants and allowing them to walk the ten minutes or so into the port, away from and past other restaurants.
The success of the fair is genuinely to be welcomed, but it is a success that merely helps to reinforce the sense of imbalance in Puerto Alcúdia. There do seem to be rumblings, as myself had hinted at, regarding the siting of the new market. Why wasn't it located in the tourist area, an area that receives little or nothing by way of official events, be they for fiestas, fairs or whatever? This imbalance is something that the town hall should address. Whether it will is another matter, but in Alcúdia, unlike towns in which the old towns are very much divorced from their resorts (such as in Pollensa), there is an unmistakable division between the combination of old town and port on the one hand and the tourist centre on the other.
But for now, let's just be satisfied that the spring fair was so successful and that it perhaps puts into people's minds the idea of hope springing eternal, or at least hope springing beyond spring and into summer and to a similarly successful tourism season.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Showing posts with label Cuttlefish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cuttlefish. Show all posts
Monday, April 23, 2012
Friday, March 18, 2011
MALLORCA TODAY - Alcúdia sepia fair agreement
An agreement, of sorts, appears to have been arrived at between the restaurants of Puerto Alcúdia and the sepia (cuttlefish) fishermen of the port who had decided not to participate in this year's sepia fair because the restaurants weren't buying the sepia from them. Though it is being said that there will be sepia from Alcúdia bay at the gastronomy fair, the fishermen will still not be participating in the organisation of the fair, while the main agreement - if indeed it can be called one - seems to refer to next year.
Thursday, March 03, 2011
Through Sepia-Tinted Spectacles: Alcúdia's cuttlefish fair
Sepia, in English, is the fluid secreted by cuttlefish. The word is more commonly associated with sepia tint, the brownish colour utilised by designers, film-makers and others to provide a nostalgic, clichéd effect that represents "old". Though the inky fluid itself might not be used any longer, it was this that first gave us sepia tint.
In Puerto Alcúdia, the Confraria de Pescadors (literally, the fishermen's brotherhood) has its own building. It is on the old pier in the port. In it, there are ancient photos, some of them with sepia tint. These photos have, on the occasion of past spring fairs in Puerto Alcúdia, formed exhibitions of the local fishing history. This year, the building and the Confraria will not be taking part in the spring fair.
Sepia, or sipia, depending on your linguistic preference, is Spanish and Catalan not only for the tint but also the cuttlefish itself. The sepia fair, combined with a nautical fair, has become an established, early-spring event in the port. The boat bit was spun out from the autumn fair in the old town as a way of addressing the fact that the port was missing out in not having its own fair. Locating it in the port also made greater sense. And so it was that when the idea for the boat fair was hit upon, they decided to invent another one to celebrate the local fishing industry, its heritage, its skills and its different major catches, of which sepia is one.
Devoting an entire fair to what for most Brits is something to do with keeping budgerigars happy and to what is like stuffing an inner tube into your mouth seemed, to this Brit anyway, a weird pretext for a celebration. Unless it is cut into small pieces, fried with herb and spice and served with rice and some mayo, cuttlefish is rotten, to the point of being inedible. But then who am I to deny a culinary tradition, even if it is no good?
The first sepia and boat fair in 2006 was a huge success. Blessed by perfect April weather, warm, blue skies brought out vast numbers of visitors in giving the port a pre-season boost. Terraces were jammed, so much so that some restaurants could barely cope with the demand.
Since 2006, the fair has hit some difficulties. The crowds still come, but there have been rumblings from some restaurants that they have been overlooked when it comes to participation, while others have moaned about demands placed upon them for paying for town hall promotion.
The boat fair has also not escaped some backlash. Though it is the island's largest outside of Palma, it is small by comparison. Some nautical-related businesses in Alcúdia itself, those situated close by in the Alcudiamar marina, have ceased to have their own stands, either on the grounds of cost or because they can't afford to have personnel at both a stand and at their units in the marina. The most popular stands during the weekend event are not those with boats, jet-skis and the like, but the craft stalls of the market that was a later addition to the fair's mix.
There is now a further difficulty. The Confraria, the fishermen themselves, are going to withdraw their support and participation. While the sepia fair was partly intended to be a celebration of the fishermen's work and of their cuttlefish catch, this hasn't proven to be the case. Restaurants, rather than buying their sepia from the local fishermen, get it from wholesalers at prices half or more than those that they have to pay the fishermen. It is for this reason that the fishermen are planning to down nets and take them home over the weekend of 9-10 April.
Alcúdia's mayor, Miguel Llompart, has been attempting to arbitrate in what has become a real old spat between the restaurant owners and the fishermen. He concedes that the negative responses from the fishermen in respect of, for example, lowering their prices a tad will mean that neither the Confraria building nor the old pier will be part of this year's fair. The pier is in fact loaned out for the event, and on it, were it once more to be made available, would be a marquee in which restaurants would sell tasters of sepia that has not been bought locally.
Though it seems perverse that the fair should not feature the local catch, one can have sympathy for the restaurant owners. Why should they pay up to 12 euros a kilo when they can get away with paying as little as four euros? An answer might be that they should be prepared to pay the higher rate; they do, after all, reap some benefit from the event and they are part of the same local economy as the fishermen. But needs and economic times must, you have to suppose.
Without the local catch, however, the whole event becomes a bit of a charade. The sepia angle becomes a commercial excuse rather than a cultural justification. The fair, when it started, was a very good idea, but the best of ideas can become mired in local battles. And so, in years to come, there will be photos of the first, glorious spectacle, a reminder of what it once was, tinted with sepia.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
In Puerto Alcúdia, the Confraria de Pescadors (literally, the fishermen's brotherhood) has its own building. It is on the old pier in the port. In it, there are ancient photos, some of them with sepia tint. These photos have, on the occasion of past spring fairs in Puerto Alcúdia, formed exhibitions of the local fishing history. This year, the building and the Confraria will not be taking part in the spring fair.
Sepia, or sipia, depending on your linguistic preference, is Spanish and Catalan not only for the tint but also the cuttlefish itself. The sepia fair, combined with a nautical fair, has become an established, early-spring event in the port. The boat bit was spun out from the autumn fair in the old town as a way of addressing the fact that the port was missing out in not having its own fair. Locating it in the port also made greater sense. And so it was that when the idea for the boat fair was hit upon, they decided to invent another one to celebrate the local fishing industry, its heritage, its skills and its different major catches, of which sepia is one.
Devoting an entire fair to what for most Brits is something to do with keeping budgerigars happy and to what is like stuffing an inner tube into your mouth seemed, to this Brit anyway, a weird pretext for a celebration. Unless it is cut into small pieces, fried with herb and spice and served with rice and some mayo, cuttlefish is rotten, to the point of being inedible. But then who am I to deny a culinary tradition, even if it is no good?
The first sepia and boat fair in 2006 was a huge success. Blessed by perfect April weather, warm, blue skies brought out vast numbers of visitors in giving the port a pre-season boost. Terraces were jammed, so much so that some restaurants could barely cope with the demand.
Since 2006, the fair has hit some difficulties. The crowds still come, but there have been rumblings from some restaurants that they have been overlooked when it comes to participation, while others have moaned about demands placed upon them for paying for town hall promotion.
The boat fair has also not escaped some backlash. Though it is the island's largest outside of Palma, it is small by comparison. Some nautical-related businesses in Alcúdia itself, those situated close by in the Alcudiamar marina, have ceased to have their own stands, either on the grounds of cost or because they can't afford to have personnel at both a stand and at their units in the marina. The most popular stands during the weekend event are not those with boats, jet-skis and the like, but the craft stalls of the market that was a later addition to the fair's mix.
There is now a further difficulty. The Confraria, the fishermen themselves, are going to withdraw their support and participation. While the sepia fair was partly intended to be a celebration of the fishermen's work and of their cuttlefish catch, this hasn't proven to be the case. Restaurants, rather than buying their sepia from the local fishermen, get it from wholesalers at prices half or more than those that they have to pay the fishermen. It is for this reason that the fishermen are planning to down nets and take them home over the weekend of 9-10 April.
Alcúdia's mayor, Miguel Llompart, has been attempting to arbitrate in what has become a real old spat between the restaurant owners and the fishermen. He concedes that the negative responses from the fishermen in respect of, for example, lowering their prices a tad will mean that neither the Confraria building nor the old pier will be part of this year's fair. The pier is in fact loaned out for the event, and on it, were it once more to be made available, would be a marquee in which restaurants would sell tasters of sepia that has not been bought locally.
Though it seems perverse that the fair should not feature the local catch, one can have sympathy for the restaurant owners. Why should they pay up to 12 euros a kilo when they can get away with paying as little as four euros? An answer might be that they should be prepared to pay the higher rate; they do, after all, reap some benefit from the event and they are part of the same local economy as the fishermen. But needs and economic times must, you have to suppose.
Without the local catch, however, the whole event becomes a bit of a charade. The sepia angle becomes a commercial excuse rather than a cultural justification. The fair, when it started, was a very good idea, but the best of ideas can become mired in local battles. And so, in years to come, there will be photos of the first, glorious spectacle, a reminder of what it once was, tinted with sepia.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Wednesday, March 02, 2011
MALLORCA TODAY - Alcúdia's fishermen snub annual cuttlefish fair
The annual sepia (cuttlefish) fair that takes place alongside the boat fair in Puerto Alcúdia, and which is scheduled for the weekend of 9 to 10 April, looks as though it will not involve the local fishermen who capture the sepia, or indeed their sepia. The fishermen's association has said that it will not participate or assist in any fashion as it gets no support from local restaurants which, rather than buying sepia from the Alcúdia fishermen, acquire it from wholesalers. The restaurants argue that they can get high-quality sepia at around half the price than that which it costs from the local fishermen.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Kisses For Me, Save All Your Kisses For Me
It felt a bit like a school prize-giving ceremony, except that many of the prize-winners failed to turn up. This was the press launch for Puerto Alcúdia's annual cuttlefish feast of a fiesta, at which representatives of some of the restaurants taking part were in attendance in order to collect their tin cuttlefish: or maybe they weren't made of tin, just that they seemed to ping a bit.
On the old pier in the port is a building which is that of the brotherhood of fishermen, a collective, the mention of which, in certain quarters, inspires, if that's the right word, a musical outburst of a Eurovision nature. I've no idea why. It was here that the launch took place, and also lunch. There was a lot of cuttlefish (sepia) in different styles. The chap from the Pane y Vino restaurant seemed to be the one who had been handed responsibility for overseeing it all.
It wouldn't of course be an official Alcúdia event if the mayor wasn't dragged along. Poor chap seemed to be suffering a bit of a cold. Normally, you don't have flash and TV cameras pointing at you when it comes to that awful how do I cope with the result of my chesty cough moment. There can be few worse things; realising your flies are open being one of them. And no, they weren't.
The government, the Balearic one that is, had sent its own emissary, in the form of the minister for agriculture and fisheries. There was a lot of stuff about quality. She went on a bit. The audience, none of them seated, were beginning to shuffle their feet and take a greater interest in the photos on the wall. Actually, some of the photos are fascinating as they show the history of the port area and will be an exhibition at this weekend's boat fair, which coincides with the cuttlefish do. I recommend you go and have a look.
The audience, though, may have been getting agitated as they were anticipating receiving their tin cuttlefish. What a fine souvenir for the participating restaurants. A flat brown thing shaped like a cuttlefish, well sort of, if you can imagine a cuttlefish having been squashed, but looking more like a painter might hold it in one hand. There were words about the fair of 2009 scratched onto it. I'm not sure what the restaurants are meant to do with them. That's probably why so few of them had bothered to turn up to collect them. That's where the prize-giving came in. Caty, who runs fairs and markets, for the town hall, and who some of you may recognise as also running the flower shop-cum-supermarket next to Little Britain, read out a list of restaurants and cafés. It was as though she was going through the register. The names of the naughty ones who had nicked off were duly noted; well by me at any rate. Bodega d'es Port, Jardín, La Traviata, Nova Marina, Piero Rossi and many more. None of them had turned up. Was it a coincidence that those who had were probably all less well known? Or perhaps they just hadn't got a tin cuttlefish.
Being a prize-giving here, there was a whole load of kissing going on when the restaurants' representatives walked forward to claim their painter's palette. Caty, the minister, the chap from the brotherhood of fishermen, the mayor; all had to be kissed, both cheeks. Clearly, no-one else had noticed the mayor's earlier phlegmatic dilemma.
The sepia and boat fairs take place in Puerto Alcúdia on 4 and 5 April. See the WHAT'S ON BLOG (http://www.wotzupnorth.blogspot.com) for information.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gskAeWgEExk). Today's title - I'm going to put the video up tomorrow, unless you pay me a lot a money.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Index for March 2009
Advertising - 14 March 2009
Albufereta - 9 March 2009
Balearic Government - 19 March 2009
Beach towels - 5 March 2009
Boat and sepia fairs, Puerto Alcúdia - 5 March 2009, 27 March 2009, 31 March 2009
Café Bony - 6 March 2008
Can Ramis building collapse - 11 March 2009, 12 March 2009
Catalan and promotion - 24 March 2009
Copyright - 29 March 2009
Corruption - 23 March 2009
Cyclists - 22 March 2009, 24 March 2009
Driving test - 7 March 2009
E. coli - 9 March 2009
Economic crisis - 14 March 2009
Eroski - 24 March 2009
Expatriates - 19 March 2009, 30 March 2009
Fairline - 13 March 2009
Fira Nàutica Mostra Sípia 2009, 27 March 2009, 31 March 2009
Google maps - 18 March 2009
History, Alcúdia - 3 March 2009
Holes - 18 March 2009
Holiday lets - 9 March 2009, 10 March 2009
Homelessness - 8 March 2009
Hunters' fair, Pollensa - 1 March 2009, 9 March 2009
Inca - 7 March 2009
Jeremy Clarkson - 30 March 2009
JK's Bar - 6 March 2009
Landscapes - 17 March 2009
Lucky-lucky men - 2 March 2009
Mike Oldfield - 28 March 2009
Names - 13 March 2009
Pirated goods - 2 March 2009
Publishing - 25 March 2009
Puerto Pollensa building work - 1 March 2009, 21 March 2009
Puerto Pollensa market square - 20 March 2009
Puerto Pollensa swimming pool - 1 March 2009
Roundabouts - 11 March 2009, 12 March 2009, 20 March 2009, 21 March 2009
Sa Pobla-to-Alcúdia railway - 2 March 2009, 5 March 2009, 13 March 2009, 15 March 2009
Sandwich and Moments - 13 March 2009
Scandal - 19 March 2009
Selling in bars - 29 March 2009
Sleeplessness - 26 March 2009
Supermarkets - 24 March 2009
Tourism promotion- 16 March 2009
Tourism spend - 1 March 2009
Tourist offices - 23 March 2009
Vora Mar Restaurant, Cala San Vicente - 28 March 2009
Water - 4 March 2009
On the old pier in the port is a building which is that of the brotherhood of fishermen, a collective, the mention of which, in certain quarters, inspires, if that's the right word, a musical outburst of a Eurovision nature. I've no idea why. It was here that the launch took place, and also lunch. There was a lot of cuttlefish (sepia) in different styles. The chap from the Pane y Vino restaurant seemed to be the one who had been handed responsibility for overseeing it all.
It wouldn't of course be an official Alcúdia event if the mayor wasn't dragged along. Poor chap seemed to be suffering a bit of a cold. Normally, you don't have flash and TV cameras pointing at you when it comes to that awful how do I cope with the result of my chesty cough moment. There can be few worse things; realising your flies are open being one of them. And no, they weren't.
The government, the Balearic one that is, had sent its own emissary, in the form of the minister for agriculture and fisheries. There was a lot of stuff about quality. She went on a bit. The audience, none of them seated, were beginning to shuffle their feet and take a greater interest in the photos on the wall. Actually, some of the photos are fascinating as they show the history of the port area and will be an exhibition at this weekend's boat fair, which coincides with the cuttlefish do. I recommend you go and have a look.
The audience, though, may have been getting agitated as they were anticipating receiving their tin cuttlefish. What a fine souvenir for the participating restaurants. A flat brown thing shaped like a cuttlefish, well sort of, if you can imagine a cuttlefish having been squashed, but looking more like a painter might hold it in one hand. There were words about the fair of 2009 scratched onto it. I'm not sure what the restaurants are meant to do with them. That's probably why so few of them had bothered to turn up to collect them. That's where the prize-giving came in. Caty, who runs fairs and markets, for the town hall, and who some of you may recognise as also running the flower shop-cum-supermarket next to Little Britain, read out a list of restaurants and cafés. It was as though she was going through the register. The names of the naughty ones who had nicked off were duly noted; well by me at any rate. Bodega d'es Port, Jardín, La Traviata, Nova Marina, Piero Rossi and many more. None of them had turned up. Was it a coincidence that those who had were probably all less well known? Or perhaps they just hadn't got a tin cuttlefish.
Being a prize-giving here, there was a whole load of kissing going on when the restaurants' representatives walked forward to claim their painter's palette. Caty, the minister, the chap from the brotherhood of fishermen, the mayor; all had to be kissed, both cheeks. Clearly, no-one else had noticed the mayor's earlier phlegmatic dilemma.
The sepia and boat fairs take place in Puerto Alcúdia on 4 and 5 April. See the WHAT'S ON BLOG (http://www.wotzupnorth.blogspot.com) for information.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gskAeWgEExk). Today's title - I'm going to put the video up tomorrow, unless you pay me a lot a money.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Index for March 2009
Advertising - 14 March 2009
Albufereta - 9 March 2009
Balearic Government - 19 March 2009
Beach towels - 5 March 2009
Boat and sepia fairs, Puerto Alcúdia - 5 March 2009, 27 March 2009, 31 March 2009
Café Bony - 6 March 2008
Can Ramis building collapse - 11 March 2009, 12 March 2009
Catalan and promotion - 24 March 2009
Copyright - 29 March 2009
Corruption - 23 March 2009
Cyclists - 22 March 2009, 24 March 2009
Driving test - 7 March 2009
E. coli - 9 March 2009
Economic crisis - 14 March 2009
Eroski - 24 March 2009
Expatriates - 19 March 2009, 30 March 2009
Fairline - 13 March 2009
Fira Nàutica Mostra Sípia 2009, 27 March 2009, 31 March 2009
Google maps - 18 March 2009
History, Alcúdia - 3 March 2009
Holes - 18 March 2009
Holiday lets - 9 March 2009, 10 March 2009
Homelessness - 8 March 2009
Hunters' fair, Pollensa - 1 March 2009, 9 March 2009
Inca - 7 March 2009
Jeremy Clarkson - 30 March 2009
JK's Bar - 6 March 2009
Landscapes - 17 March 2009
Lucky-lucky men - 2 March 2009
Mike Oldfield - 28 March 2009
Names - 13 March 2009
Pirated goods - 2 March 2009
Publishing - 25 March 2009
Puerto Pollensa building work - 1 March 2009, 21 March 2009
Puerto Pollensa market square - 20 March 2009
Puerto Pollensa swimming pool - 1 March 2009
Roundabouts - 11 March 2009, 12 March 2009, 20 March 2009, 21 March 2009
Sa Pobla-to-Alcúdia railway - 2 March 2009, 5 March 2009, 13 March 2009, 15 March 2009
Sandwich and Moments - 13 March 2009
Scandal - 19 March 2009
Selling in bars - 29 March 2009
Sleeplessness - 26 March 2009
Supermarkets - 24 March 2009
Tourism promotion- 16 March 2009
Tourism spend - 1 March 2009
Tourist offices - 23 March 2009
Vora Mar Restaurant, Cala San Vicente - 28 March 2009
Water - 4 March 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
We Are The Moles
Town and port. "Poble" and "moll". The "frontier" between Alcúdia town and port is the cemetery road that leads down to the horse roundabout. Those who live and work down in the port area are the "moll" people*. The distance between Alcúdia's port and town may be negligible compared to that which exists between the towns and ports (pobles and molls) of its close neighbours - Pollensa, Muro, Santa Margalida - but distance there still is and has been in terms of centres of power and the annual demonstrations of local pride, the fairs. So, deprived of their own fair and obliged to undertake the arduous journey to the old town, the "moll" people asked, why can't we have our own fair? They asked, and quite remarkably they got. Land and sea. Town and port. The mayor, the current incumbent, Miquel Ferrer, seemed to think it was a pretty good idea, and it was therefore decided that the October Alcúdia Fair in the old town would be reserved for crafts, for agriculture, for machines, for the land in other words; the new fair - that combining boats and one of the fruits of the local Mediterranean - would be for the sea.
This year sees the staging of the fourth annual joint nautical and cuttlefish fair. It was the fishermen of the port who helped to create the event, the nautical element of the October fair being spun out and joined with the sepia (or at least the cooking thereof) which, in March and April, is at its most abundant. The fishermen's calendar is determined by what proliferates in the local waters, and it was the sepia that won the rights to its own gig, together with the re-located boats.
Sepia, it has to be said, is not everyone's cup of tea or indeed plate of cod. And that would be because it isn't anything like cod. It is, of course, like squid. Indeed many will insist that it is squid. The Brits for example. Show them a photo of a cuttlefish and they'll say "calamari", which is not correct but which may not be completely inaccurate either, if that doesn't sound all rather Mallorquín. It all has to do with definitions, and the cuttlefish, which is not a fish in any event but a mollusc, falls into the same overall family as the squid. But to call a cuttlefish a calamari would be to risk that a cuttlefish might be riled enough to spray ink all over you. It is not calamari, as we know it. It is the thing that, in its dead and dried form, budgies peck at. So there. (Incidentally, on youtube, if you google, you can see a video of an "angry cuttlefish", which isn't particularly angry; in fact I don't think it's at all angry, but it's a quite good short vid.)
Anyway, you should know that on April 4 and 5, the boat and cuttlefish fairs will be taking place in Alcúdia, i.e. in Port d'Alcúdia, because this is an event of the "moll" people, not of the non-moll, aka the poble, further known as the "pueblo" people. And a jolly good event it always is, too. I shall doubtless be adding to the sum of knowledge regarding this whole shindig over the next few days, but I'm wondering if I should keep my powder dry, or my dead cuttlefish dry, as there is more fax 'n' info to be imparted (possibly) on Monday when members of the press, such of course as myself, are brought before the great and good of the town hall. But I will let you know about that.
* A point on pronunciation. "Moll" is like "moy", as in Chris Moyles, but without the "les" part. The "moll people", therefore, sounds a bit KLF-ish, which was the answer to yesterday's quiz (see below). Justified Ancients of Moy-Moy and all that.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - The KLF (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXEOESuiYcA). Today's title - not quite "molls", but this was by The Moles, who were a mystery band from the '60s, but who were they really?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
This year sees the staging of the fourth annual joint nautical and cuttlefish fair. It was the fishermen of the port who helped to create the event, the nautical element of the October fair being spun out and joined with the sepia (or at least the cooking thereof) which, in March and April, is at its most abundant. The fishermen's calendar is determined by what proliferates in the local waters, and it was the sepia that won the rights to its own gig, together with the re-located boats.
Sepia, it has to be said, is not everyone's cup of tea or indeed plate of cod. And that would be because it isn't anything like cod. It is, of course, like squid. Indeed many will insist that it is squid. The Brits for example. Show them a photo of a cuttlefish and they'll say "calamari", which is not correct but which may not be completely inaccurate either, if that doesn't sound all rather Mallorquín. It all has to do with definitions, and the cuttlefish, which is not a fish in any event but a mollusc, falls into the same overall family as the squid. But to call a cuttlefish a calamari would be to risk that a cuttlefish might be riled enough to spray ink all over you. It is not calamari, as we know it. It is the thing that, in its dead and dried form, budgies peck at. So there. (Incidentally, on youtube, if you google, you can see a video of an "angry cuttlefish", which isn't particularly angry; in fact I don't think it's at all angry, but it's a quite good short vid.)
Anyway, you should know that on April 4 and 5, the boat and cuttlefish fairs will be taking place in Alcúdia, i.e. in Port d'Alcúdia, because this is an event of the "moll" people, not of the non-moll, aka the poble, further known as the "pueblo" people. And a jolly good event it always is, too. I shall doubtless be adding to the sum of knowledge regarding this whole shindig over the next few days, but I'm wondering if I should keep my powder dry, or my dead cuttlefish dry, as there is more fax 'n' info to be imparted (possibly) on Monday when members of the press, such of course as myself, are brought before the great and good of the town hall. But I will let you know about that.
* A point on pronunciation. "Moll" is like "moy", as in Chris Moyles, but without the "les" part. The "moll people", therefore, sounds a bit KLF-ish, which was the answer to yesterday's quiz (see below). Justified Ancients of Moy-Moy and all that.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - The KLF (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXEOESuiYcA). Today's title - not quite "molls", but this was by The Moles, who were a mystery band from the '60s, but who were they really?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Sunday, April 06, 2008
So
You get days like today and think, it really isn't too bad is it? So ok, the weather's rocking, but there's more to it. Like in Pollensa in the morning. You walk through the back streets in that town, and the times you stop and listen. Piano being played. Sometimes it's a violin. You look up, and the shutters are open to a small terrace with terracotta pots on a tiny balcony fronted by wrought-iron warped to a wave, and the piano plays. And you mill with the market-goers and stop and talk, and then find a cafe and stop and talk with someone you just bump into, this time with Toni Torrens who's gone in with Nacho Rios in a new property business. And you take a small coffee and speak of the football - Mallorca drew with Madrid - and how "todo" is "bien", and whatever, but nothing much more; and so it is.
Later the transformation is total. You leave behind the pianist and the enchantment of the quiet back streets of Pollensa, and the port of Alcúdia is alive. The whole island has descended on the place. Not a parking place to be had. It's a chaos of cars, people, shouting, talking, laughter, boats, mime, balloons, kids, families, cuttlefish, bursting terraces, and more boats. The nautical and sepia fair weekend, blessed - as it was in its inaugural year - by perfect blue skies. And you take a tapita of sepia, and bump into someone else. All the journalists and photographers you know are wandering about, and you stop and swap mobile numbers, such as with Diego who used to be with Radio Balear and is doing stuff for the German "Mallorca Zeitung". And the talk moves towards projects, and who's doing what, and maybe we should talk more. The island has come to Alcúdia and you don't want to miss it; and so it is.
One Sunday in Pollensa and Alcúdia.
QUIZ: Yesterday - Pulp. Today's title - album by?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
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