Where A Hole Don’t Belong

Holes. Holes that we have known and loved and, in certain cases, still do. Puerto Pollensa would not be the same without its annual hole-making competition that rips the place up. Fine sport. But sadly of course Puerto Pollensa no longer has the gloriously holed strip that used to be the splendid Calle Bot, now reduced to a smooth thoroughfare, or the magnificent Garbi hole of fond remembrance - raw sewage and filthy water now removed and filled in as Taylor Woodrow build, as they have built (or rather build in their own words) since 1958.

So one searches for other fine examples of the hole-making art. Eroski Syp in Puerto Alcúdia (the one opposite the Campsa garage) has been trying hard for some weeks now. As one exits the car park, the pavement has collapsed, the stonework undone and broken. Water floods in of course allowing the unwary driver to drop a back wheel into the unseen void. Small beer though this hole. Needs some work on it. A rather finer example of a hole with danger is on a pavement near to the Eden Center in Playa de Muro. As the street lights are not working in its vicinity, it is superbly positioned (and concealed unless one has the eyes of a cat) to trap someone wandering home after dark. Well done!

And I speak with some authority on this second one, though I managed to avoid spraining an ankle when returning from the Pins i Mates restaurant. Now this is not pins and mates, mate, it is pines and bushes - all very confusing - but, albeit in a roundabout way, this lets me report on what is not a bad and economic place for some nosh. Brilliant it ain’t, but it’s ok. A whopping great bit of breaded cod with chips and salad, and for two of us with various drinks etc and an enormous shared additional salad - 26 euros. Not bad, and the service was top-notch.


QUIZ
Yesterday - The Steve Miller Band, which finally allows me to use a gag that Alastair sent. Who is the rock-musician sibling of the two brothers in Gordon Brown’s Cabinet, David and Ed? Answer: Steve Miliband. It’s how you tell it. Today’s title? It’s a line from a great novelty song of the early ‘60s.

(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)

Supermarket Sweep

Locally there are three supermarkets that matter. Mercadona, Eroski Syp and Caprabo. Well now Eroski (I still refer to it simply as Syp, which is what it used to be here) has bought Caprabo - it has a 75% stake. The general impression, one that you get from people you talk to and which, frankly, I have no way of verifying, is that Mercadona is the best-priced, Caprabo is the most expensive.

With the market having now been reduced by 33%, the competition becomes smaller. And this is really the point I want to make. Although the UK has seen a rationalisation of the supermarket market, there is a generally higher level of competition. Here, there is less, not least from foreign chains. Carrefour had been in for Caprabo, but it missed out. Lidl, the German chain, has a supermarket in Inca and has been rumoured to be building a store on the area currently occupied by Karting Magic by Alcúdia’s Magic Roundabout. But otherwise, foreign chains are little in evidence. In other retail sectors the German Schlecker and Müller stores have a presence (Müller in Alcúdia is a cracking shop), but this part of Mallorca at any rate has been largely ignored by the free market that is meant to be the European Union.

What continues to bug me is that the local supermarkets seem immune to or unprepared to offer foreign goods. Wine is the most obvious case in point, one I have made before. Mallorcan, Spanish, Spanish, Mallorcan. French, Australian, Californian, Chilean? Forget it. Some of the tourist supermarkets are better in this regard. Colber along the Greasy Mile is a good example, but the main supermarkets? Free market? Nah!

Still, and coming back to the Basque issue, a Basque-based company - Eroski - has now expanded its interests further. Despite the foregoing, a better advert for matters Basque than ETA’s arsing around.

Quiz time: Here I quote today’s winner.

“Andrew. The answer to 'which team did J.Iglesias play football for?' I think is Real Madrid. Wasn't he a goalie? Haven't looked at your blog for a few weeks, but thought I'd better catch up on the goss as I'm coming over on 23rd June. Thanks for keeping us 'Alcudia exiles' up to date! Jan.”

Thanks a lot, Jan. And you’re right. It was only the junior team, but Real it was, and the Julioster was indeed a goalie.

Ok. Here is a monster question. On the supermarket theme. Name the lead singer of which punkish band from the late 70s whose “surname” was that of a well-known UK supermarket chain. (I have mentioned this band quite recently.)

(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)