MALLORCA TODAY - Pollensa continues its spat with the ports authority

First it was the sheds or whatever they are that were put up without consultation by the ports authority by Puerto Pollensa's marina parking area, now it's the bits of garden that the authority is meant to look after that is getting Pollensa town hall in a tizz. The town hall has taken on the garden maintenance because the authority isn't doing what it should.

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Invasion Of The Garden Snatchers

Let's say that you are a property owner and that your property lies next to a main road. Between the garden of your property and the road, there is a public area which is grassed, i.e. it is garden-like. Generally speaking, it is understood where the boundaries of a property owner's land and therefore garden are. Understood, but sometimes ignored. And sometimes even given official sanction.

A complaint made by the Alternativa Party in Pollensa in respect of the fencing off of garden in Puerto Pollensa has led to a response from the Council of Mallorca's highways division. This in turn has provoked a response from the Alternativa that describes the highways division's decision as "surreal" and that leads it to suggest that any property owner with gardens as are described above can just grab a bit more garden if they so wish.

What this all refers to is the fact that the gardens of the Habitat Apartments in Puerto Pollensa have in effect been extended by taking in land next to the main road and then fencing it off. The highways division rejects any charge of appropriation of public land, as it says that it was sanctioned in order to safeguard the existing garden area and on grounds of security and preservation of the public area.

This latter part of the explanation is where the surrealism creeps in. The public areas may be being preserved, but they are no longer public areas as they have been fenced off and now form part of the Habitat gardens. It is a very curious piece of logic, and one that has given rise to the logic of the precedent; if public land can be incorporated into private land in such a way in this case, then why shouldn't other owners chance their arm and do something similar. The precedent having been set for main roads, what is there to stop the precedent being used as justification for properties alongside other types of road and for public space that isn't grassed but paved?

Does the fact that the land has been fenced off really matter? In one respect, it doesn't. Given the location, near to the roundabout into the Gotmar urbanisation and by the main road, this is not exactly a bit of land that people would consciously wish to "enjoy". There is some sense to the security and preservation argument, as it applies to the security of the apartments themselves, but it is, as ever, the principle that is at stake. Security or no security, preservation or no preservation, it is still public land (some of it at any rate) that is now behind a fence.

The Alternativa goes on to say that the decision is an insult to those property owners who do respect what is public land, but the trouble is, as has often been the case, there are plenty who do not or who, not necessarily through any fault of their own but because of the labyrinthine nature of regulations and demarcations, get caught out. The party is basically saying, though, that there is one rule for one and one rule for another.

Normally, examples of what may or may not be invasion of public land never make it into the public arena, but one did in September 2010. It had to do with a villa in Barcarès belonging to the minister for culture at Inca town hall. Green land next to the villa had been built on, i.e. a terrace and some steps had been created. Alcúdia town hall intended to issue a fine, the Costas Authority opened an investigation.

The Barcarès case, and as far as I am aware it has not been resolved, revolved around whether the land was green or not and around confrontations with kitesurfers who use the beach at Barcarès. The councillor didn't at the time admit to whether the land was her property or not, but she did suggest that Alcúdia town hall had never bothered to contact her before, implying that the case had all blown up because of problems with the surfers. So maybe she had a security defence.

In Barcarès though, the relevant authorities were different to those in the Habitat case, and it just goes to show how confusing the labyrinth of regulations and regulators can be; not the island council in this instance, but the local town hall and national government in the form of the Costas.

The invasion of the garden by the Habitat Apartments is unlikely to be reversed, despite the Alternativa's promise to pursue the matter further. But there is one final point, and that is that for some years there has been a proposal, not acted upon, to lay pipes for water supply to Puerto Pollensa that would go by the apartments. One rule for one and one rule for another, and one provision (more garden) for one and one lack of provision (water) for another.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Raining In My Heart

So there was I saying that the weather had been benign, and what does it go and do? You guessed it. A madre-and-padre of a downpour, though the accompanying storm was a pussy-cat compared to last October when there was the lion of the tornado or hurricane, or whatever it was, and then something close to it a couple of weeks later. Actually, it was more like a bloody great elephant, trampling everything in its path and sitting on top of you and blowing vast oceans out of its trunk. Anyway, as usual the road out front flooded yesterday, letting 4x4 racers hare through the water and belch a tsunami over the garden gate. You do wonder quite why they can't get round to sorting it out; the drains can't cope. Oh, and sorting out the 4x4 racers.

Of course some bright spark with nothing more intelligent to say will observe that it's good for the garden. Which is true, but it can do without too much assistance to damn well grow at this time of the year. Bushes, bloody bushes; they need no help from mother nature, or don't appear to. Hacked down, amidst wiping the sweat away from the eyes in August, they've put on a spurt, and now there's another round of cutting. I could always use a chain-saw, but where's the fun in that? All over in a couple of minutes. No, some long scissors and a hand saw are preferable; and that way I can keep on moaning. These bushes. It's not even as if I know what they're called - other than bushes. I'm entrapped by a year-round entanglement of bush, and no comments, please, about other forms of bush, notably of the anatomical variety.

But when it does decide to deposit a Mediterranean's worth of water from the skies, I guess I can be grateful for the high kerbstones, the raised terrace and the very accommodating if, during summer, parched lawn. You get these flyers for artificial grass and you can of course always just concrete it all over and save yourself a mowing job, but lawn, real lawn, is a decent-enough soaker-up of apocalyptic deluges. I never feel threatened by flooding encroaching into the house, except when the rains bring forth biblical quantities and are borne on a horizontal wind at the speeds of a Formula One driver and then decide to enter the house via the gaps under the doors on the top terrace and thus down the stairs. That I can do without, especially after the boiler blew its gasket last weekend.

All this stuff that grows though. Take palm trees. Mercifully, I have none. They may add this all-well-and-good Mediterranean, tropical appearance, but they are a pain in the backside to maintain. The tornado may be the elephant of the meteorological world, but the palm tree is its close horticultural cousin. Not only does it take up vast amounts of space, get close to one that's not been cut back during a high wind, and you'll receive a firm slap. The fronds are whipped up at great velocity; they are nature's dominatrix of a Max Mosley fantasy.

My neighbour has palms, one of which hangs itself over into my garden. It doesn't bother me, in the same way that I trust my neighbour is none too bothered by my ivy growing into his garden. But now and then a chap comes along to cut it back, and we engage in what has become a sort of annual conversation comparing his job to a hairdresser's. "Giving the palm a short back and sides, Joan." That sort of thing. Ho-ho. What I do have though is these plants that are from the pineapple family. I was once told their name, and promptly forgot it. But these things are taking over. There are five of them now, and the leaves are like knives. Get too close and you'll be scythed to pieces; they are garden machete. Do any work in their proximity, and it's best to approach them wearing full armour. There again, one of them, the most mature one, flowers for a brief while; an astonishing white-pink-purple waxy type of curlicue flower that shoots skyward. When the flowers die off, which they have, what is left is this withered twig. I guess you are meant to cut it down, but there's no way I'm going near it. I don't own a full suit of armour.

Anyway, the storm has passed, and the dawn is fine, and so I shall probably be forced to tackle more damn bushes. The tourists that remain will, with yesterday's storm, have been given an answer to that endless refrain of a question - "what's the weather like in October?". No month attracts more questions of this variety than October. I can understand it, as I can understand people asking the same question of any month, especially if they have never been here. October can be anything you want it to be. It can be the serenity of the days before the storm or the riled animal of the storm or just indifferent drizzle and showers, and when it is as yesterday, the tourist morale and hearts sink. What's it like in October? Whatever you like.


CAMINO DE TERNELLES
Following the attempt by the rambling militants to take over the camino in Pollensa in defence of loving to go a-wandering, the mayor of Pollensa has now said that he will sign a decree that allows the camino to be opened to the public. This, of course, has nothing to do with the pressure from political opponents, at least that's how it's being presented. The public way may soon, therefore, be open, and I'm sure we can all sleep easier knowing this.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - The Style Council (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJeP3mipHQY). Today's title - speccy.

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