Scientists say that jellyfish in the Mediterranean are more abundant and larger than in the previous three years but that concentrations are primarily off the coasts of Valencia and Catalonia rather than around the Balearics. However, they add that the Portuguese man o' war has been seen already this summer around the islands. There was a "plague" of one species of jellyfish that affected Can Picafort early in May, while there were reports of jellyfish in Cala San Vicente as well.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Showing posts with label Jellyfish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jellyfish. Show all posts
Sunday, June 02, 2013
Saturday, May 04, 2013
MALLORCA TODAY - Jellyfish "invade" Can Picafort beaches
Early in the summer it is for a jellyfish invasion, but this is what has happened in Can Picafort, thousands of a certain species having been washed up on beaches in the resort, leading to the town hall to have to use bulldozers to remove them.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
You Have A Cup Of Coffee
Oh no, here we go again. Hot on the heels of the piece of two days, another letter complaining about prices. One grows tired of this litany of expensive woe, especially when it's so skewed. Up pops someone else in "The Bulletin", this time using the price of a coffee as the stick with which to beat the cost of Mallorca. How much? 3.50 euros. 3.50 euros? Where the hell have they been taking a coffee? It can be the case that some restaurants will charge excessive amounts for the likes of a coffee, but they are usually expensive restaurants anyway. The solution is to go somewhere else, or take a post-prandial stroll to a café or bar where the coffee will be, typically, 1.50 (you can indeed pay less). Or maybe this was a special type of coffee, who knows? And that's just the problem, you never know. You never know which restaurant or bar, you don't necessarily know where it is. I daresay that in the high- and well-heeled boutique bars of Deía or Portals you can cop a big'n for one with milk. Doesn't mean to say that you pay it everywhere, and you don't. Of course you don't. So why say it? You know, I might write a letter, say I was charged five euros for a coffee. No, make that a tenner. And then I'll demand that the authorities do something about it all before the tourism apocalypse occurs. And of course I won't say where this tenner was charged, because it was all a fabrication. Can we please just give this all a rest, as it is, yes really is, rather tiresome.
Not the year of the jellyfish
Been stung by a jellyfish this year? Chances are you haven't been. According to the "Cruz Roja", its lifeguards and staff have had to attend to a mere 3,221 bathers in the Balearics who have been on the wrong end of a jellyfish tentacle. Sounds a lot? Not really. In 2008 the number was 13,767, while in 2006 - the year of the plague - it was almost double that figure at over 26 thousand. Ibiza is the place you need to go to be more likely to be stung; the number of victims there is not far off a half of that 3000 plus total for this year. Given that more people go to Mallorca than to Ibiza or Menorca, it is perhaps surprising that the fewest numbers of stings are recorded on the biggest of the islands. Or maybe the Cruz Roja doesn't patrol that many beaches in Mallorca. Anyway, it's all rather encouraging. Perhaps the winds have just been in the wrong direction and have blown the sea and the devils away. But don't get too complacent, there have, in Mallorca, been nearly 270 people stung by fishes, most obviously the weever fish. My neighbour for example. "Merde", said he when his foot expanded and he had to head off to Muro General. Well, he is French, so he would say that.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - "Farmer's Song", Neil Young, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxBgWTi4zIY. Today's title - the first line of a song by one of the best of the West Coast rock bands emanating from the '60s. Abracadabra.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Not the year of the jellyfish
Been stung by a jellyfish this year? Chances are you haven't been. According to the "Cruz Roja", its lifeguards and staff have had to attend to a mere 3,221 bathers in the Balearics who have been on the wrong end of a jellyfish tentacle. Sounds a lot? Not really. In 2008 the number was 13,767, while in 2006 - the year of the plague - it was almost double that figure at over 26 thousand. Ibiza is the place you need to go to be more likely to be stung; the number of victims there is not far off a half of that 3000 plus total for this year. Given that more people go to Mallorca than to Ibiza or Menorca, it is perhaps surprising that the fewest numbers of stings are recorded on the biggest of the islands. Or maybe the Cruz Roja doesn't patrol that many beaches in Mallorca. Anyway, it's all rather encouraging. Perhaps the winds have just been in the wrong direction and have blown the sea and the devils away. But don't get too complacent, there have, in Mallorca, been nearly 270 people stung by fishes, most obviously the weever fish. My neighbour for example. "Merde", said he when his foot expanded and he had to head off to Muro General. Well, he is French, so he would say that.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - "Farmer's Song", Neil Young, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxBgWTi4zIY. Today's title - the first line of a song by one of the best of the West Coast rock bands emanating from the '60s. Abracadabra.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Friday, April 18, 2008
The Great Smell Of Fish
Jesus, where did this wind come from? And what is it with the wind that it can blow in different directions at once, or seem to. This morning, going along the road into Puerto Alcudia, there was what looked like mist ahead. In fact it was a sort of mini sand-storm. In the afternoon, the wind turned round and started blowing a gale from the south. April is probably the most damn contrary and obstreperous month of all. The weather can never seem to let it lie. Always up to some trick or other. There's me wanting to take some lovely photos across the pinewalk, and the wind blows the equivalent of the Sahara straight at me. Actually, I made that up. I postponed the appointment because of the Sahara, though it wouldn't have been the Sahara as that's in the other direction, but you know what I mean, or maybe you don't.
But to matters of greater weight. The season is not even started and there is more fretting about jellyfish. Some eminent Spanish scientist is arguing that the Med is going to become like "jellyfish soup" (whatever that's like) because of over-fishing and the consequent abundance of the tentacled monsters. In fact, we may get a chance to find out what jellyfish soup is like as there won't be any other fish left apart from jellyfish. That's if Spain carries on its fishing policies, and the Government keeps handing over subsidised folding notes to the fishermen to go out and decimate the stocks of tuna etc. Haven't we been here before with the Spanish and fishing? Didn't the British have a run in over quotas and all that malarkey? There does seem a bit of imbalance in some European governments' approaches. Like the French and the farmers, ditto the Spanish and the fishermen. Anyway, this eminent scientist is calling for a 50% reduction in catches. Fat chance. They'll merrily go on fishing until the last sardine's been barbecued and then the fishermen will ask for some further hefty subsidy so that they can go and do something else, like building golf courses no one wants.
It is part of the local culture that regulations are there to be ignored, and fishing is a good example. Now, the tourist coming along with his rod is hardly deep-sea fishing and a great threat to the tuna stocks, but there is many a tourist who comes here to enjoy some angling past-time. And plenty of tourists ask about fishing on the Internet. "Where's best to go?" etc etc. I've given up letting people know that, officially, you are meant to have a licence, because all you get back is some reply that goes along the lines of "I've been fishing in Mallorca since Nelson was a lad, and never etc, etc ..." And of course that's the case. The plod don't bother, or seemingly they don't bother to check up on licences. The fact is that it is actually very cheap to get a licence - around 11 or 12 euros for a year if memory serves. But the problem is getting a licence. The nearest office is in Sa Pobla, and the form requires typical all manner of local bureaucratic nonsense. As a consequence, no one bothers. Yet if, say, there were to be fishing stamps that could be bought at the tabacs and other places, might this not bring in a bit of income? A euro for a fortnight's permission. That wouldn't be too bad. The trouble is though no one would buy them unless there were dirty great notices up saying that anyone found without a licence will be fed to the fishes. Even then, the police still wouldn't bother.
I suppose if the national government is quite happy to let fishermen trouser taxpayers' money to go and empty the sea of its fish life, then that's a good enough lead to say that actually we don't really care if you do go fishing, with a licence or not; regulation or no regulation. And finally ... I really hope we don't end up having to eat jellyfish. Doubtless there are Chinese and Pacific Islanders who swear by them, but if you've ever seen a purple stinger beached and pulsing its final moments, it's the last thing you'd want to take down your neck.
QUIZ: Yesterday - Big Country, and I can report that Geoff mailed to say he once bought a Big Country record in Cala Millor, which in itself should inspire me to a piece about record shops or the lack thereof. Watch this space. Today's title? And like the weather, I'm feeling a tad contrary myself. So, where the hell does this come from? Not a song. Radio. Think a DJ and posse.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
But to matters of greater weight. The season is not even started and there is more fretting about jellyfish. Some eminent Spanish scientist is arguing that the Med is going to become like "jellyfish soup" (whatever that's like) because of over-fishing and the consequent abundance of the tentacled monsters. In fact, we may get a chance to find out what jellyfish soup is like as there won't be any other fish left apart from jellyfish. That's if Spain carries on its fishing policies, and the Government keeps handing over subsidised folding notes to the fishermen to go out and decimate the stocks of tuna etc. Haven't we been here before with the Spanish and fishing? Didn't the British have a run in over quotas and all that malarkey? There does seem a bit of imbalance in some European governments' approaches. Like the French and the farmers, ditto the Spanish and the fishermen. Anyway, this eminent scientist is calling for a 50% reduction in catches. Fat chance. They'll merrily go on fishing until the last sardine's been barbecued and then the fishermen will ask for some further hefty subsidy so that they can go and do something else, like building golf courses no one wants.
It is part of the local culture that regulations are there to be ignored, and fishing is a good example. Now, the tourist coming along with his rod is hardly deep-sea fishing and a great threat to the tuna stocks, but there is many a tourist who comes here to enjoy some angling past-time. And plenty of tourists ask about fishing on the Internet. "Where's best to go?" etc etc. I've given up letting people know that, officially, you are meant to have a licence, because all you get back is some reply that goes along the lines of "I've been fishing in Mallorca since Nelson was a lad, and never etc, etc ..." And of course that's the case. The plod don't bother, or seemingly they don't bother to check up on licences. The fact is that it is actually very cheap to get a licence - around 11 or 12 euros for a year if memory serves. But the problem is getting a licence. The nearest office is in Sa Pobla, and the form requires typical all manner of local bureaucratic nonsense. As a consequence, no one bothers. Yet if, say, there were to be fishing stamps that could be bought at the tabacs and other places, might this not bring in a bit of income? A euro for a fortnight's permission. That wouldn't be too bad. The trouble is though no one would buy them unless there were dirty great notices up saying that anyone found without a licence will be fed to the fishes. Even then, the police still wouldn't bother.
I suppose if the national government is quite happy to let fishermen trouser taxpayers' money to go and empty the sea of its fish life, then that's a good enough lead to say that actually we don't really care if you do go fishing, with a licence or not; regulation or no regulation. And finally ... I really hope we don't end up having to eat jellyfish. Doubtless there are Chinese and Pacific Islanders who swear by them, but if you've ever seen a purple stinger beached and pulsing its final moments, it's the last thing you'd want to take down your neck.
QUIZ: Yesterday - Big Country, and I can report that Geoff mailed to say he once bought a Big Country record in Cala Millor, which in itself should inspire me to a piece about record shops or the lack thereof. Watch this space. Today's title? And like the weather, I'm feeling a tad contrary myself. So, where the hell does this come from? Not a song. Radio. Think a DJ and posse.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Monday, August 06, 2007
This Is The Sea
Today’s leader in “Ultima Hora” refers to the fact that 2007 “is going to be a record year”. Elsewhere, it reports that turnover among businesses situated in Mallorca’s tourist areas will increase by 2.7% over last year (also a record year, you may remember).
Here we go again. Congratulatory statistics, but what do they mean? If, for instance, the turnover figure includes revenue for hotels then there should be some disquiet when it comes to tourist spend. This is because many hotels increased their prices this season by around 4%. Put that into the equation, and things don’t sound so great. But as ever, getting any real sense out of these stats is a pretty forlorn task.
THE SEA
This is an island. A small island. The wind is a constant. A constant change. A north-easterly four days ago and then Friday a full-on northerly. The roar of the sea was so great it woke me, making me wonder if the fans were still on downstairs. The waves were not that high, but there were red flags anyway. And so of course people ignore the flags and the lifeguards. If there is one thing you don’t mess with, it is the sea.
I have seen people hauled from the sea. I have known people taken away by currents and undertow. You live by the sea, and you know the sea. Not everyone does. The sea says: you want to fuck with me, go ahead, and I’ll fuck you up. They don’t come back unless tangled with seaweed. But they keep on trying to take on the sea, and failing. And they will always fail, because the sea will always win.
And the other thing with the change in wind. Blows jellyfish in. There they were, beached. There was this little girl hollering. And still people challenge the sea.
MORE 1967
Jefferson Airplane “Somebody To Love”, The Beach Boys “Heroes And Villains”, The Moody Blues “Nights In White Satin”, Spencer Davis Group “I’m A Man”, The Kinks “Waterloo Sunset”, Traffic “Paper Sun”. Also The Beatles “All You Need Is Love”. Does anyone else remember the broadcast that featured this? Was it the Earlybird satellite? The Beatles were one thing. Wasn’t there a thing with a woman giving birth in Sydney, too? Forty years ago. It was cutting edge. The broadcast that is, not the giving birth.
QUIZ
Last time. The Move’s “Flowers In The Rain” was the first record played on Radio One on 30 September 1967. Thanks to Geoff for finding that The Bee Gees “Massachusetts” was the second. Today. This is an album title, the best-known track from which has the lyric: “You came like a comet, blazing your trail. Too high, too far, too soon. You saw ...” Who?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Here we go again. Congratulatory statistics, but what do they mean? If, for instance, the turnover figure includes revenue for hotels then there should be some disquiet when it comes to tourist spend. This is because many hotels increased their prices this season by around 4%. Put that into the equation, and things don’t sound so great. But as ever, getting any real sense out of these stats is a pretty forlorn task.
THE SEA
This is an island. A small island. The wind is a constant. A constant change. A north-easterly four days ago and then Friday a full-on northerly. The roar of the sea was so great it woke me, making me wonder if the fans were still on downstairs. The waves were not that high, but there were red flags anyway. And so of course people ignore the flags and the lifeguards. If there is one thing you don’t mess with, it is the sea.
I have seen people hauled from the sea. I have known people taken away by currents and undertow. You live by the sea, and you know the sea. Not everyone does. The sea says: you want to fuck with me, go ahead, and I’ll fuck you up. They don’t come back unless tangled with seaweed. But they keep on trying to take on the sea, and failing. And they will always fail, because the sea will always win.
And the other thing with the change in wind. Blows jellyfish in. There they were, beached. There was this little girl hollering. And still people challenge the sea.
MORE 1967
Jefferson Airplane “Somebody To Love”, The Beach Boys “Heroes And Villains”, The Moody Blues “Nights In White Satin”, Spencer Davis Group “I’m A Man”, The Kinks “Waterloo Sunset”, Traffic “Paper Sun”. Also The Beatles “All You Need Is Love”. Does anyone else remember the broadcast that featured this? Was it the Earlybird satellite? The Beatles were one thing. Wasn’t there a thing with a woman giving birth in Sydney, too? Forty years ago. It was cutting edge. The broadcast that is, not the giving birth.
QUIZ
Last time. The Move’s “Flowers In The Rain” was the first record played on Radio One on 30 September 1967. Thanks to Geoff for finding that The Bee Gees “Massachusetts” was the second. Today. This is an album title, the best-known track from which has the lyric: “You came like a comet, blazing your trail. Too high, too far, too soon. You saw ...” Who?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
One of the satisfactions of doing this blog is when folk email me. Very often this is with quiz answers, but not always. I prefer that people email, rather than put comments on the individual posts for two reasons: a) these comments can be anonymous, which can also mean someone with an agenda, and b) if the email contains something of note I can then use this in the post itself, thus giving it more prominence. And it so happens I have received such an email. It comes from James who picks me up on yesterday’s reference to the Carabela Apartments. I quote:
“To put someone off the Carabelas due to the reasons you stated are fairly short-sighted. Firstly the rubbish area is three bins with some recycling banks, limited if ANY pungent smells come from this area and you will know that they are emptied regularly. Secondly "refurb" - yes I agree the outside of the buildings are in need of a re-paint, although these where professionally re-painted three years ago they are again due to be done. But surely the inside of the apartments which by and large are of a VERY high standard and the location should count more as to whether or not the exterior needs refreshing or there are a few bins outside on the main road.
Anyhow keep up the good work with the blog - I do enjoy reading it.”
As I said to James in reply to his email, I am delighted to be corrected. And I happen to agree with everything he says. The location of the Carabelas is excellent and the overall standard of the apartments themselves is very high. I know for a fact that they are in high demand, both from visitors and potential purchasers. So, yep, it’s a fair cop, and thanks to James for his helpful comments.
Summer would not be the same here without malevolent little creatures whose main purpose for their existence seems to be to cause harm to humans. Jellyfish and mosquitoes. “The Bulletin” goes with a front cover headline today “Jellyfish Alert”. Except, there isn’t really an alert. Any plague has yet to materialise, partly perhaps because of attempts to scoop the jellyfish up before they get too close to the shores. So, I’m not quite sure what the fuss is about, although the piece does say that chemists have run out of the jellyfish protective creams, which I think I had already alluded to on 14 July (“The Bitter Sting Of Tears”). As for the mosquitoes; it’s hard to fathom them out. Back in May and much of June, they were a damn nuisance. But for some three weeks or so, there’s been hardly sight nor buzz of them. What is more of a problem this summer is flies. Their peak period has always been from September till December. Not this year.
And your starter for ten ... What is, or was, a carabela? In view of the Carabela exchange, today’s title. Who sang it? Yesterday - The Greaseband.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
“To put someone off the Carabelas due to the reasons you stated are fairly short-sighted. Firstly the rubbish area is three bins with some recycling banks, limited if ANY pungent smells come from this area and you will know that they are emptied regularly. Secondly "refurb" - yes I agree the outside of the buildings are in need of a re-paint, although these where professionally re-painted three years ago they are again due to be done. But surely the inside of the apartments which by and large are of a VERY high standard and the location should count more as to whether or not the exterior needs refreshing or there are a few bins outside on the main road.
Anyhow keep up the good work with the blog - I do enjoy reading it.”
As I said to James in reply to his email, I am delighted to be corrected. And I happen to agree with everything he says. The location of the Carabelas is excellent and the overall standard of the apartments themselves is very high. I know for a fact that they are in high demand, both from visitors and potential purchasers. So, yep, it’s a fair cop, and thanks to James for his helpful comments.
Summer would not be the same here without malevolent little creatures whose main purpose for their existence seems to be to cause harm to humans. Jellyfish and mosquitoes. “The Bulletin” goes with a front cover headline today “Jellyfish Alert”. Except, there isn’t really an alert. Any plague has yet to materialise, partly perhaps because of attempts to scoop the jellyfish up before they get too close to the shores. So, I’m not quite sure what the fuss is about, although the piece does say that chemists have run out of the jellyfish protective creams, which I think I had already alluded to on 14 July (“The Bitter Sting Of Tears”). As for the mosquitoes; it’s hard to fathom them out. Back in May and much of June, they were a damn nuisance. But for some three weeks or so, there’s been hardly sight nor buzz of them. What is more of a problem this summer is flies. Their peak period has always been from September till December. Not this year.
And your starter for ten ... What is, or was, a carabela? In view of the Carabela exchange, today’s title. Who sang it? Yesterday - The Greaseband.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Saturday, July 14, 2007
The Bitter Sting Of Tears
So there was this really useful article in “The Bulletin”. Spoke about a cream that protects against jellyfish stings; before you go in the water. Great, one thinks. Then one reads it again. There’s something missing. Something quite important. The name of the cream. Nowhere to be found.
Anyway, I went to the friendly chemists in Playa de Muro. Said I’d read this article. Ah yes, but it’s “cortada” (finished) for this summer. Demand presumably. Have a look. Oh no, there is some. So I got a bottle. It is from the ISDIN range of sun protectors. Comes as a sun cream, factor 25. Protects against jellyfish, it states, though it also says to avoid going into waters infested with jellyfish. So, it’s ok for the odd jellyfish, not a plague. But at least it’s something. If this is not the cream mentioned in the article, maybe someone can let me know, and I shall put the information up here. Email, as always, to the address below.
Update on a previous item. I quote from 28 March:
“Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, the Carretera Arta. Well, no it’s a crap idea - the red track I mentioned last time. Karen from Foxes was giving the situation a good once-over and was muttering darkly about drivers using it rather than cyclists, which begs the question - what is the point of it?”
Well, Karen was going on about this again today. And absolutely rightly. Just to give you a picture. As you come from the Magic Roundabout going towards Playa de Muro, there is a red lane which is clearly marked “bicicletes”. This lane then cuts down from the main carretera. The point is that cars and coaches are using this, and then hammering along the side road that runs in front of Foxes, the chemists and Epcot. And I stress “hammering”.
The problem seems to be that no-one is absolutely sure what is and isn’t allowed. The sign suggests cycles only, but there is nothing to say that vehicles are prohibited. Whatever the situation, this cut-through is seriously dangerous if it is used by vehicles going at high speed, which is often the case. We need to find out more, because it’s going to end in tears as there will be a serious accident here before long. For anyone who is staying at the Delfin Azul and other nearby hotels, or just walking on that side road or across it, please take great care. It seems obscene that right at the spot - on the main road - where one of last year’s worst accidents took place, the side road could become a death-trap.
Re markets. I mentioned the other day that Playa de Muro now has two markets a week. Sorry, I got that wrong. The Saturday market has now moved to Mondays. And weather word ... could be hitting 40 degrees this weekend.
Quiz: Congratulations to Anne Marie in Dublin who not only got Stingray but also got Gary Miller: “What are these strange enchantments that start whenever you’re near”. What a cracking record that was. Additional quiz question: which actor was Troy Tempest modelled on? And today’s title - from what famous song does this come?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Anyway, I went to the friendly chemists in Playa de Muro. Said I’d read this article. Ah yes, but it’s “cortada” (finished) for this summer. Demand presumably. Have a look. Oh no, there is some. So I got a bottle. It is from the ISDIN range of sun protectors. Comes as a sun cream, factor 25. Protects against jellyfish, it states, though it also says to avoid going into waters infested with jellyfish. So, it’s ok for the odd jellyfish, not a plague. But at least it’s something. If this is not the cream mentioned in the article, maybe someone can let me know, and I shall put the information up here. Email, as always, to the address below.
Update on a previous item. I quote from 28 March:
“Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, the Carretera Arta. Well, no it’s a crap idea - the red track I mentioned last time. Karen from Foxes was giving the situation a good once-over and was muttering darkly about drivers using it rather than cyclists, which begs the question - what is the point of it?”
Well, Karen was going on about this again today. And absolutely rightly. Just to give you a picture. As you come from the Magic Roundabout going towards Playa de Muro, there is a red lane which is clearly marked “bicicletes”. This lane then cuts down from the main carretera. The point is that cars and coaches are using this, and then hammering along the side road that runs in front of Foxes, the chemists and Epcot. And I stress “hammering”.
The problem seems to be that no-one is absolutely sure what is and isn’t allowed. The sign suggests cycles only, but there is nothing to say that vehicles are prohibited. Whatever the situation, this cut-through is seriously dangerous if it is used by vehicles going at high speed, which is often the case. We need to find out more, because it’s going to end in tears as there will be a serious accident here before long. For anyone who is staying at the Delfin Azul and other nearby hotels, or just walking on that side road or across it, please take great care. It seems obscene that right at the spot - on the main road - where one of last year’s worst accidents took place, the side road could become a death-trap.
Re markets. I mentioned the other day that Playa de Muro now has two markets a week. Sorry, I got that wrong. The Saturday market has now moved to Mondays. And weather word ... could be hitting 40 degrees this weekend.
Quiz: Congratulations to Anne Marie in Dublin who not only got Stingray but also got Gary Miller: “What are these strange enchantments that start whenever you’re near”. What a cracking record that was. Additional quiz question: which actor was Troy Tempest modelled on? And today’s title - from what famous song does this come?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Thursday, May 24, 2007
A Horse, Of Course
Look away now, if you are easily offended. I am going to talk about shit. Or rather I am going to get to this via a typically circuitous route.
The other day I asked for nominations for the weird. Let´s go big here, well relatively big. Forget the mere restaurant or bar, I hereby nominate Son Serra de Marina as not just the weirdest place in northern Mallorca, but in the whole of Mallorca.
Son Serra is a ghost town even in summer. You can fully imagine tumbleweed rolling along the empty streets, and a toothless old gummer manning a one-pump garage that doubles as a bar (with no drink of course).
Can anyone tell me what the point of Son Serra is? It's as though it was developed as a mini Can Picafort and then someone forgot it was there. Unlike Can Pic, there is nothing save for less than a handful of restaurants and a nautical club that always seems shut.
Well, there is one point to Son Serra. Its beach. I’m not talking the beach where the houses end, which is constantly chocker with sea detritus, I’m talking the one further along where the Germans get their kit off.
And now I start to get to the point. Ok, I admit I have been to this beach too. It’s a very nice beach. But you can be lying there, minding your own business and suddenly be aware of a rumbling. A rumbling of hooves coming ever closer. You look up and there’s this posse of cowboys galloping towards you. It’s the Rancho Grande boys taking dobbin for a spin.
Now there is something extremely liberating and thrilling about riding horseback on a beach. But.
Horses have this tendency to crap when you least expect them to. Indeed horses are remarkable in being able to produce a motion whilst in motion. Humans can only do this trick with the aid of a dodgy curry.
So, my point is, you get these horses coming along and having a dump on the sand. Why is this seemingly ok? Dogs are meant to be banned from beaches as they too are less than decorous and choosy when at their toilet. Maybe it’s because of the volume. At least with a horse you can see only too clearly what it’s produced, and steer an avoiding course. A dog. Bit trickier. So, I suppose that’s the reason why horses can go on beaches and dogs can’t.
Enjoy the beach.
At the same time as a minor oil slick caused beaches around Magalluf to be closed for a short while, word comes of worries among Balearic hoteliers as to the jellyfish problem. Specifically, they are calling for measures to eliminate the pesky little monsters. But to suggest that jellyfish may cause tourists not to come to the islands is probably stretching a point.
Pop Quiz time: Come on down, Mark Draper. “Red Rain” was of course Peter Gabriel. Mark, you get the hour’s point-duty as no-one´s got the Crusaders’ line-up. It was: Joe Sample, Wilton Felder, Wayne Henderson and Stix Hooper.
No prizes for knowing that Peter Gabriel was an original member of Genesis, but which disgraced music entrepreneur was instrumental, as it were, in the development of Genesis’s early career?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
The other day I asked for nominations for the weird. Let´s go big here, well relatively big. Forget the mere restaurant or bar, I hereby nominate Son Serra de Marina as not just the weirdest place in northern Mallorca, but in the whole of Mallorca.
Son Serra is a ghost town even in summer. You can fully imagine tumbleweed rolling along the empty streets, and a toothless old gummer manning a one-pump garage that doubles as a bar (with no drink of course).
Can anyone tell me what the point of Son Serra is? It's as though it was developed as a mini Can Picafort and then someone forgot it was there. Unlike Can Pic, there is nothing save for less than a handful of restaurants and a nautical club that always seems shut.
Well, there is one point to Son Serra. Its beach. I’m not talking the beach where the houses end, which is constantly chocker with sea detritus, I’m talking the one further along where the Germans get their kit off.
And now I start to get to the point. Ok, I admit I have been to this beach too. It’s a very nice beach. But you can be lying there, minding your own business and suddenly be aware of a rumbling. A rumbling of hooves coming ever closer. You look up and there’s this posse of cowboys galloping towards you. It’s the Rancho Grande boys taking dobbin for a spin.
Now there is something extremely liberating and thrilling about riding horseback on a beach. But.
Horses have this tendency to crap when you least expect them to. Indeed horses are remarkable in being able to produce a motion whilst in motion. Humans can only do this trick with the aid of a dodgy curry.
So, my point is, you get these horses coming along and having a dump on the sand. Why is this seemingly ok? Dogs are meant to be banned from beaches as they too are less than decorous and choosy when at their toilet. Maybe it’s because of the volume. At least with a horse you can see only too clearly what it’s produced, and steer an avoiding course. A dog. Bit trickier. So, I suppose that’s the reason why horses can go on beaches and dogs can’t.
Enjoy the beach.
At the same time as a minor oil slick caused beaches around Magalluf to be closed for a short while, word comes of worries among Balearic hoteliers as to the jellyfish problem. Specifically, they are calling for measures to eliminate the pesky little monsters. But to suggest that jellyfish may cause tourists not to come to the islands is probably stretching a point.
Pop Quiz time: Come on down, Mark Draper. “Red Rain” was of course Peter Gabriel. Mark, you get the hour’s point-duty as no-one´s got the Crusaders’ line-up. It was: Joe Sample, Wilton Felder, Wayne Henderson and Stix Hooper.
No prizes for knowing that Peter Gabriel was an original member of Genesis, but which disgraced music entrepreneur was instrumental, as it were, in the development of Genesis’s early career?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
All The Time In The World
I thought to say that the Spanish don’t understand time. But I have reconsidered. They understand it only too well. They take the abstract and extend it to its extremes. How else can one explain the – literal – moveable feast that is midday and hence lunchtime?
Perhaps it’s a trait of Spanish culture that they can treat the abstract with such regard. Picasso was but mere canvas to a national pastime, as it were.
The mañana ethos is too facile a description of the Spanish ambivalent adoration of time. It implies a tomorrow, when that tomorrow rarely, if ever, comes. Except when it suits.
To the northern European expat conditioned – variously – by WASPish or Prussian punctiliousness and punctuality, the void that is Spanish time can be hard to fathom.
And so is the Spanish attitude to communication. This is especially unfathomable, given that the Spanish nation has had a mobile phone surgically grafted onto to one of its collective ears. Yet, they don’t phone. They never phone.
I say all this from experience. I still don’t get Spanish time or Spanish communication. How long have I been here? I can’t say. To do so would be to seek to make tangible the abstract. Perhaps I should go native.
To other matters … Here we go again. Summer’s barely on us and the papers are screaming about jellyfish. Unlike last year’s plague, which didn’t happen, it might be a tad more likely this year. Apparently the little blighters have been loitering with intent in the waters around the Balearics during the winter rather than pissing off elsewhere, as is normally the case.
Some of you may know that the Spanish for jellyfish is “medusa”. I have an awful confession to make. I was once in a rock band that was called Medusa. Wasn’t my idea, honest. It was a lousy name especially as we were part of what was the at-the-time south-west Surrey music scene that spawned Graham Parker, The Jam and The Members. Medusa. How embarrassing.
(PLEASE REPLY TO info@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE. TA.)
Perhaps it’s a trait of Spanish culture that they can treat the abstract with such regard. Picasso was but mere canvas to a national pastime, as it were.
The mañana ethos is too facile a description of the Spanish ambivalent adoration of time. It implies a tomorrow, when that tomorrow rarely, if ever, comes. Except when it suits.
To the northern European expat conditioned – variously – by WASPish or Prussian punctiliousness and punctuality, the void that is Spanish time can be hard to fathom.
And so is the Spanish attitude to communication. This is especially unfathomable, given that the Spanish nation has had a mobile phone surgically grafted onto to one of its collective ears. Yet, they don’t phone. They never phone.
I say all this from experience. I still don’t get Spanish time or Spanish communication. How long have I been here? I can’t say. To do so would be to seek to make tangible the abstract. Perhaps I should go native.
To other matters … Here we go again. Summer’s barely on us and the papers are screaming about jellyfish. Unlike last year’s plague, which didn’t happen, it might be a tad more likely this year. Apparently the little blighters have been loitering with intent in the waters around the Balearics during the winter rather than pissing off elsewhere, as is normally the case.
Some of you may know that the Spanish for jellyfish is “medusa”. I have an awful confession to make. I was once in a rock band that was called Medusa. Wasn’t my idea, honest. It was a lousy name especially as we were part of what was the at-the-time south-west Surrey music scene that spawned Graham Parker, The Jam and The Members. Medusa. How embarrassing.
(PLEASE REPLY TO info@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE. TA.)
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