The Calvia police conducted an operation against "vendedores ambulantes" a couple of nights ago. These vendedores are, of course, better known as "looky-looky" or "lucky-lucky" men. According to a report in "Ultima Hora", the number of luckies heading for Magaluf of an evening has recently increased, as has the number of complaints. Cue plod.
The luckies are a part of the local scene, in whatever resort. Mostly they are harmless, but like anyone who does some street "selling" - and these can include legitimate PRs where they are permitted outside their own establishments and the scratch-card wretches - they can be a damn nuisance. Apart from the fact that they are selling shit (and sometimes they are selling a type of shit that comes in small wrapped packages), the biggest beef with them concerns the fact that they take away business from shops or others and pay not a cent of tax or social security. None are legal.
That the police in the different resorts often turn a blind eye to them has to do with the sheer numbers, lack of police resources and the fact that even if they get hauled in there isn't much that can be done with them. The police in Magaluf let all of its 41 catch of luckies go, save for one who'd got stroppy. As was once pointed out by an Alcúdia policeman, take one lucky in and another will replace him. There is a production line that never seems to run out of resources.
By coincidence, "The Diario" had a report on different types of vendedores in Playa de Palma on Sunday. To the luckies can be added the beach vendors selling if not necessarily shit, then highly overpriced fruit or drinks. As one shopowner pointed out, they go to a shop, buy some cans and then go and flog them at four or five times the proper price. Another example of the tourist being ripped-off. Doubly if the shop was already charging over the odds.
The simple solution would lie with tourists not encouraging any of the street sellers by not buying their wares or not being hauled off for a hard-sell pitch for holidays they don't want or need. The latter can be more difficult to shake off as there are more silver tongues, ones that speak the language well. The luckies can be fobbed off, and many do fob them off. But many do not. Kids are especially susceptible, and so therefore are their parents, because the kids often find the luckies funny and enjoy the game of bartering.
But should we really be so sanctimonious? Who has never bought some shit from a lucky or another seller? Who has never bought a dodgy CD or DVD? There are some, including bar-owners, who are good customers for the luckies and for those who don't bother with luckies and sell direct their packaged, pirated DVDs by the hold-all load.
The luckies and their nuisance and illegal value are an annual theme. Every year's the same. Despite the efforts of the police, and the Magaluf operation will probably prove to be isolated, and despite local laws that make it illegal to not only sell but also buy hooky gear (as is the case in Alcúdia), the luckies are not going away. Like the poor, they will always be with us. And there will be some who, strange to report, will be quite happy that they are.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Showing posts with label Lucky-lucky men. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lucky-lucky men. Show all posts
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Monday, March 02, 2009
Pipes Of Peace
As tweeted on Twitter, and I'm coming to realise that if it serves any purpose then the Twitter thing is as a breaking-news or advance-notice facility, Muro's mayor is still blowing a whistle in favour of the Sa Pobla train extension; he being all aboard for a trip to end at the Es Foguero ruin. There is only one reason why: it would almost be in Muro, and he wouldn't have to drive as far to catch the 9.30 to Palma. Despite admitting that it doesn't really have a lot directly to do with him (actually, it doesn't have anything to do with him), he has raised a motion for the train to run by the side of Albufera and finish up by the ruin and therefore close to the Muro hospital; so says "The Bulletin". Not even Alcúdia's mayor supports this idea any longer. At one point he was in favour, but the governmental technical bods have closed the line on this one. This route was one considered under the so-called southern option. No-one now, apart from the mayor of Muro, is even talking about this. So the question has to be: why has he brought it up? The train extension would not pass through Muro, which means it really is not a matter on which Muro's opinion counts; all the environmentalists are against this option and pretty much all the rest of Muro council is in fact against it, so why go on about it? As is pointed out, this same mayor is the one who is in favour of the golf course on the Son Bosc finca. Maybe he just likes to antagonise the enviro lobby. Nothing wrong with that, but he's wrong on both counts, and not for environmental reasons. There is no need for the golf course, and the northern route for the train alongside the main road from Sa Pobla has been staring everyone in the face as the obvious choice ever since President Antich announced his age of the train. No, I really don't understand what the mayor is hoping to achieve, other than to perhaps make people realise that he's still there.
How To Ruin An Otherwise Perfectly Pleasant Sunday Afternoon
March entering as a lamb, how agreeable to take to the terrace and to the late-winter sun, the Sunday papers to hand. Only for it all to be shattered. What is that frightful noise? Oh no, don't let it be. Anything but that. I'm afraid it was though. Two down, the neighbours two down. They'd bought a CD. Giving it a bit of an airing. Outside. Quite loud. You could, unfortunately, imagine yourself at one of the local markets. It was a CD of the Ecuadorean, some say Peruvian, pipe players. Crimes against musicality. That's not what the CD is called; they are the offences, m'lud. Sting's "Fields of Barley", U2's "With Or Without You", Buggles, "Video Killed The Radio Star". How deeply, deeply unpleasant, especially bloody Buggles in a South-American Indian stylie. I really should have done what I said I was going to do with that pipe to that pipe-player at Puerto Pollensa market those years ago. Now, I might have to do it to my neighbour.
Maybe there is a way of getting hold of all the CDs and letting a JCB loose on them. That's what they do with pirated CDs and DVDs and the like. Well, that's what the photo in "The Diario" suggests happens. But what of the chaps that sell them? The street vendors, the looky-looky aka lucky-lucky men. I can tell you. They get let off. The paper reports the case of a gentleman of "sub-Saharan origin", in other words a luckster, who was nabbed in Arenal with 100 CDs and some DVDs and video games. The prosecution had wanted him to be banged up for a year and to be fined. The magistrate disagreed. It was a civil matter and not a criminal one, she said, and the scale - i.e. the number of discs etc involved - did not merit the sanction being called for in respect of the violation of copyright. The magistrate accepted that rights had to be protected, but the real villains were those who produced the pirated stuff on a grand scale. In this, she is absolutely right. Annoying though the lucksters can be (and not everyone finds them so), they are at the bottom of the pirating food chain and just trying to earn a centimo or two. You may recall that there is now a by-law in Alcúdia which makes it an offence to buy from illegal street sellers. So now the possibility would exist to fine a purchaser and not the seller. Meantime, can someone fine the people who make these bloody pipe-player CDs?
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Village People (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS9OO0S5w2k). Hard hat was one of the group (the construction worker), and I suppose Red Indians and indeed cowboys were hunters. Today's title - no, not really.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
How To Ruin An Otherwise Perfectly Pleasant Sunday Afternoon
March entering as a lamb, how agreeable to take to the terrace and to the late-winter sun, the Sunday papers to hand. Only for it all to be shattered. What is that frightful noise? Oh no, don't let it be. Anything but that. I'm afraid it was though. Two down, the neighbours two down. They'd bought a CD. Giving it a bit of an airing. Outside. Quite loud. You could, unfortunately, imagine yourself at one of the local markets. It was a CD of the Ecuadorean, some say Peruvian, pipe players. Crimes against musicality. That's not what the CD is called; they are the offences, m'lud. Sting's "Fields of Barley", U2's "With Or Without You", Buggles, "Video Killed The Radio Star". How deeply, deeply unpleasant, especially bloody Buggles in a South-American Indian stylie. I really should have done what I said I was going to do with that pipe to that pipe-player at Puerto Pollensa market those years ago. Now, I might have to do it to my neighbour.
Maybe there is a way of getting hold of all the CDs and letting a JCB loose on them. That's what they do with pirated CDs and DVDs and the like. Well, that's what the photo in "The Diario" suggests happens. But what of the chaps that sell them? The street vendors, the looky-looky aka lucky-lucky men. I can tell you. They get let off. The paper reports the case of a gentleman of "sub-Saharan origin", in other words a luckster, who was nabbed in Arenal with 100 CDs and some DVDs and video games. The prosecution had wanted him to be banged up for a year and to be fined. The magistrate disagreed. It was a civil matter and not a criminal one, she said, and the scale - i.e. the number of discs etc involved - did not merit the sanction being called for in respect of the violation of copyright. The magistrate accepted that rights had to be protected, but the real villains were those who produced the pirated stuff on a grand scale. In this, she is absolutely right. Annoying though the lucksters can be (and not everyone finds them so), they are at the bottom of the pirating food chain and just trying to earn a centimo or two. You may recall that there is now a by-law in Alcúdia which makes it an offence to buy from illegal street sellers. So now the possibility would exist to fine a purchaser and not the seller. Meantime, can someone fine the people who make these bloody pipe-player CDs?
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Village People (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS9OO0S5w2k). Hard hat was one of the group (the construction worker), and I suppose Red Indians and indeed cowboys were hunters. Today's title - no, not really.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Friday, September 26, 2008
Did You Have To Pay That Fine?
And so, as I referred to briefly yesterday, there is a whole raft of street activities in Alcúdia that are to be outlawed, restricted and subject to fines. Much of this, one suspects, comes as a consequence of the complaints that were submitted to the town hall in respect of illegal street selling by legitimate traders along The Mile. But not all.
The headline targets of the new by-law (and I'm not sure when it applies from, but I guess it takes immediate effect) are the unauthorised street sellers. The report on all this from "The Diario" says that the unauthorised sale of food, drink and "other products" by the sellers will be subject to fines to 500 euros. As importantly, purchasers of these various products will also be liable to the same fine. Where do we start with this?
By other products, they mean this as a catch-all for the different things available from the lucky-lucky men and others who operate without any licences; this may well also include the women doing the hair braiding, though strictly speaking they are selling a service as opposed to a product. Whatever. But the really important bit of all this is that you, be you tourist or resident, can be fined for buying the stuff. Notwithstanding the question as to how well all this may be policed, if some poor tourist - ignorant of the by-law - forks out for a pair of dodgy sunglasses, he is likely to have his collar felt. Then what? Does he pay on the spot? Is he taken to court? How is this going to work? Will he even have 500 euros?
Do these other products include the crack? I imagine there are rather stricter sanctions than a 500 euro fine for this. And when the by-law refers to the "via pública" (public highway), does this mean that sales which occur in bars or on terraces or on the beach are exempt? The report refers also to "public space", so perhaps this does indeed mean all these non-street locations. There is no mention of bar owners being fined for allowing the trade, which is probably just as well. Any number of these bar owners already tell the lucksters to bugger off, but they can't necessarily be constantly vigilant or spend all their time haranguing them.
There are various other things covered by this by-law. Street prostitution, its offer and acceptance, begging, windscreen cleaners, loud music from cars are all subject to fines; restrictions, whatever they are, will be imposed on the likes of street painting and skateboarding. (No mention, note, of other potential street and indeed road hazards, such as Segways or trikes.) Then there is the drinking of alcohol in the streets. This is now banned. Mainly, this is to tackle what has been a growing problem of "botellón" parties whereby youngsters (mainly youngsters) get rat-arsed in the street at the weekend. Go to the area around the Magic Roundabout on a Friday or Saturday night, and you can begin to appreciate the problem. Getting cheap booze from a shop and then gathering with your mates in the street to the accompaniment of that loud music in cars is a cheap way of getting off your face prior to heading off to the clubs. And then there is the mess.
But street drinking has a tourist dimension. Here's an example. The other day, walking past the all-inclusive Piscis hotel in the port, I saw a group, each with a plastic glass of beer, coming out of the hotel and wandering off in the direction of the marina. It may have lacked class, but I doubt they were about to go and raise hell. Would the same group now know they are breaking the law? Going all-inclusive would no longer be the cheap option if a group of four got a collective fine of perhaps a couple of grand, and that could be higher if there happened to be a "minor" present. What is the public highway and public space in this regard? Go down to Bellevue at night and all manner of people are meandering about with drinks, such as on the "boulevard" that cuts between the two parts of the complex. But the boulevard is public highway. Does the "public space" mean that if one cracks open a can of Saint Mick on the beach, the long arm of the law will be stretched out clasping a ticket for a fine of a few hundred euros? The report does emphasise the botellón element, which is what the town hall is really keen to stamp out, so there may well be some discretion in all of this, but it says that "alcohol is not to be consumed in the street". Give plod half a chance ...
Much of what the town hall is introducing is perfectly understandable, but I wonder if they've thought it through. Apart from anything else, they are going to have to make it pretty damn clear to tourists - and tour operators and reps and hotels are going to have to be party to this as well - that things like buying illegal goods or quaffing a cold drink of alcoholic content in the streets (and possibly on the beach) are liable to cop them a fine.
And then there are the things that don't seem to be covered. Well one. Scratch cards. These may well be touted with licences, but when the town hall can invoke the "nuisance" of other practices now deemed punishable by a fine, have they not overlooked the nuisance factor of the scratch-cardists? One other point, the sale of illegal goods by the likes of the lucky-lucky men has always been subject to punishment. The mere nature of the goods, pirated goods, makes their sale illegal, as does the absence of a licence, the absence of a tax number, the absence of a permission to engage in a business activity. And where has all that got us up to now?
The new measures to rid the streets of Alcúdia of the various problems they seek to tackle could all be good news. But if they result in the occasional purge without sufficient information, the danger is that Alcúdia will not benefit from what it might hope will be good publicity for cleaning its act up but from the negative publicity of numbers of poor tourists being handed large fines. I hope the town hall and the police tread warily.
For those who understand Spanish, I link here the full article from "The Diario":
http://www.diariodemallorca.es/secciones/noticia.jsp?pRef=2008092500_3_395402__PART-FORANA-Comprar-vendedor-ambulante-sancionara-multas-hasta-euros
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - The Asteroids Galaxy Tour: http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=UTuAXV8WyuI or http://www.theasteroidsgalaxytour.com/. Today's title - from a song with a girl's name; girl, big hair.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
The headline targets of the new by-law (and I'm not sure when it applies from, but I guess it takes immediate effect) are the unauthorised street sellers. The report on all this from "The Diario" says that the unauthorised sale of food, drink and "other products" by the sellers will be subject to fines to 500 euros. As importantly, purchasers of these various products will also be liable to the same fine. Where do we start with this?
By other products, they mean this as a catch-all for the different things available from the lucky-lucky men and others who operate without any licences; this may well also include the women doing the hair braiding, though strictly speaking they are selling a service as opposed to a product. Whatever. But the really important bit of all this is that you, be you tourist or resident, can be fined for buying the stuff. Notwithstanding the question as to how well all this may be policed, if some poor tourist - ignorant of the by-law - forks out for a pair of dodgy sunglasses, he is likely to have his collar felt. Then what? Does he pay on the spot? Is he taken to court? How is this going to work? Will he even have 500 euros?
Do these other products include the crack? I imagine there are rather stricter sanctions than a 500 euro fine for this. And when the by-law refers to the "via pública" (public highway), does this mean that sales which occur in bars or on terraces or on the beach are exempt? The report refers also to "public space", so perhaps this does indeed mean all these non-street locations. There is no mention of bar owners being fined for allowing the trade, which is probably just as well. Any number of these bar owners already tell the lucksters to bugger off, but they can't necessarily be constantly vigilant or spend all their time haranguing them.
There are various other things covered by this by-law. Street prostitution, its offer and acceptance, begging, windscreen cleaners, loud music from cars are all subject to fines; restrictions, whatever they are, will be imposed on the likes of street painting and skateboarding. (No mention, note, of other potential street and indeed road hazards, such as Segways or trikes.) Then there is the drinking of alcohol in the streets. This is now banned. Mainly, this is to tackle what has been a growing problem of "botellón" parties whereby youngsters (mainly youngsters) get rat-arsed in the street at the weekend. Go to the area around the Magic Roundabout on a Friday or Saturday night, and you can begin to appreciate the problem. Getting cheap booze from a shop and then gathering with your mates in the street to the accompaniment of that loud music in cars is a cheap way of getting off your face prior to heading off to the clubs. And then there is the mess.
But street drinking has a tourist dimension. Here's an example. The other day, walking past the all-inclusive Piscis hotel in the port, I saw a group, each with a plastic glass of beer, coming out of the hotel and wandering off in the direction of the marina. It may have lacked class, but I doubt they were about to go and raise hell. Would the same group now know they are breaking the law? Going all-inclusive would no longer be the cheap option if a group of four got a collective fine of perhaps a couple of grand, and that could be higher if there happened to be a "minor" present. What is the public highway and public space in this regard? Go down to Bellevue at night and all manner of people are meandering about with drinks, such as on the "boulevard" that cuts between the two parts of the complex. But the boulevard is public highway. Does the "public space" mean that if one cracks open a can of Saint Mick on the beach, the long arm of the law will be stretched out clasping a ticket for a fine of a few hundred euros? The report does emphasise the botellón element, which is what the town hall is really keen to stamp out, so there may well be some discretion in all of this, but it says that "alcohol is not to be consumed in the street". Give plod half a chance ...
Much of what the town hall is introducing is perfectly understandable, but I wonder if they've thought it through. Apart from anything else, they are going to have to make it pretty damn clear to tourists - and tour operators and reps and hotels are going to have to be party to this as well - that things like buying illegal goods or quaffing a cold drink of alcoholic content in the streets (and possibly on the beach) are liable to cop them a fine.
And then there are the things that don't seem to be covered. Well one. Scratch cards. These may well be touted with licences, but when the town hall can invoke the "nuisance" of other practices now deemed punishable by a fine, have they not overlooked the nuisance factor of the scratch-cardists? One other point, the sale of illegal goods by the likes of the lucky-lucky men has always been subject to punishment. The mere nature of the goods, pirated goods, makes their sale illegal, as does the absence of a licence, the absence of a tax number, the absence of a permission to engage in a business activity. And where has all that got us up to now?
The new measures to rid the streets of Alcúdia of the various problems they seek to tackle could all be good news. But if they result in the occasional purge without sufficient information, the danger is that Alcúdia will not benefit from what it might hope will be good publicity for cleaning its act up but from the negative publicity of numbers of poor tourists being handed large fines. I hope the town hall and the police tread warily.
For those who understand Spanish, I link here the full article from "The Diario":
http://www.diariodemallorca.es/secciones/noticia.jsp?pRef=2008092500_3_395402__PART-FORANA-Comprar-vendedor-ambulante-sancionara-multas-hasta-euros
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - The Asteroids Galaxy Tour: http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=UTuAXV8WyuI or http://www.theasteroidsgalaxytour.com/. Today's title - from a song with a girl's name; girl, big hair.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Papa's Got A Brand New (Lucky) Bag
There was, it would seem, a slight oversight in the "Diario" report about the lucky-lucky men (see yesterday). What's in the lucky bag exactly, Mr Lucky? If you're really lucky and one prone to certain forms of experimentation, Mr Lucky may well have more than just a genuine fake Rolex with which to persuade you to hand over some folded euros.
Now what do you think might be in Mr Lucky's lucky bag, children? Because Mr Lucky is quite a happy chappy; a happy chappy who will stop daddy and let him looky-looky into his lucky bag. And what's this that daddy's found, children? Isn't Mr Lucky a funny man. That's not a Rolex, is it. Look here, see what Mr Lucky has. Some crack.
I was given this story about a luckster who stopped a tourist (with his family) along The Mile and who was nearly given a bath in the canal by the tourist, who happened to be a police officer. The not-so-lucky luckster had offered him some crack. Seemingly, the Rolex and Gucci glasses business is in fact in something of a recession, so the lucksters have diversified.
It would also seem that there is some form of lucky-lucky cloning going on. For every luckster that might have his collar felt, there is another one ready to take his place. A limitless supply of luckies. Lock one up, and up pops another.
There is stuff going down on the streets that they really need to get a hold of. ACOTUR's complaints (see also yesterday) are one thing, but there are things that you shouldn't have to expect, not in a family holiday resort anyway. I was once strolling along Bourbon Street in New Orleans and a guy sidled up to me and asked if I wanted anything. You sort of expect that in a place like New Orleans. Not in Alcúdia, you don't. Or rather, you would hope not. It's naïve to think this doesn't go on here, as it does in other parts of Mallorca. That doesn't make it any more acceptable though.
But much more pleasant news. This blog can claim many a success in its way over 500 entries these past couple of years or so. Successes like ... er ... . Anyway, the time has come to celebrate as, ladies and gentlemen, the Dimplester has shot over the 400 views mark. An almost 33% increase in Runaway Train traffic since he first appeared here, only a few days ago. For those of you who have yet to pay homage, here it is. For one more day only, I give you Dimple Diamond from Derby - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84DmeutIAr4
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Kylie. The youtube is the great and very different version she did with Jools Holland (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeChtm8aafg). Today's title - who did this (minus the lucky)?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Now what do you think might be in Mr Lucky's lucky bag, children? Because Mr Lucky is quite a happy chappy; a happy chappy who will stop daddy and let him looky-looky into his lucky bag. And what's this that daddy's found, children? Isn't Mr Lucky a funny man. That's not a Rolex, is it. Look here, see what Mr Lucky has. Some crack.
I was given this story about a luckster who stopped a tourist (with his family) along The Mile and who was nearly given a bath in the canal by the tourist, who happened to be a police officer. The not-so-lucky luckster had offered him some crack. Seemingly, the Rolex and Gucci glasses business is in fact in something of a recession, so the lucksters have diversified.
It would also seem that there is some form of lucky-lucky cloning going on. For every luckster that might have his collar felt, there is another one ready to take his place. A limitless supply of luckies. Lock one up, and up pops another.
There is stuff going down on the streets that they really need to get a hold of. ACOTUR's complaints (see also yesterday) are one thing, but there are things that you shouldn't have to expect, not in a family holiday resort anyway. I was once strolling along Bourbon Street in New Orleans and a guy sidled up to me and asked if I wanted anything. You sort of expect that in a place like New Orleans. Not in Alcúdia, you don't. Or rather, you would hope not. It's naïve to think this doesn't go on here, as it does in other parts of Mallorca. That doesn't make it any more acceptable though.
But much more pleasant news. This blog can claim many a success in its way over 500 entries these past couple of years or so. Successes like ... er ... . Anyway, the time has come to celebrate as, ladies and gentlemen, the Dimplester has shot over the 400 views mark. An almost 33% increase in Runaway Train traffic since he first appeared here, only a few days ago. For those of you who have yet to pay homage, here it is. For one more day only, I give you Dimple Diamond from Derby - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84DmeutIAr4
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Kylie. The youtube is the great and very different version she did with Jools Holland (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeChtm8aafg). Today's title - who did this (minus the lucky)?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Lucky, Lucky, Lucky
They should be so unlucky. Unlucky, unlucky, unlucky. Ah yes, the power of the bottom-line, kick-ass self-interest. When all else fails, or more aptly, when nothing else has actually really been done, one can rely on commercial motives to rouse the slumbering leviathan of the Alcúdia town hall from its summer stupor.
ACOTUR is an organisation that represents Mallorca's tourist businesses. It has been sending letters, two of them in fact, both to the Alcúdia ayuntamiento, complaining about the "invasion" of what are formally here called "vendedores ambulantes" but more commonly are known as lucky-lucky men. (Why, by the way, are there no lucky-lucky women? Whatever.) Every season an invasion of some sort; usually it's jellyfish, but this year the sting is taking place on the streets, and especially along and around one street - Pedro Mas y Reus - which the "Diario" insists on saying is referred to as the dollar mile, when we know better. ACOTUR seems not to be saying that its members are being harmed commercially, but one can assume that the fact that they say that each of the lucksters can trouser 2,500 euros or more a month is a roundabout way of saying that these 2,500 euros are not being spent elsewhere. And I thought tourism spend was meant to be down. No accounting for taste or good sense I suppose. If a tourist wants to part with hard cash for crap, that's his outlook.
But ACOTUR is not solely taking the commercial line. It points out, rightly, that the street sellers give the place a bad name and that they are the cause for many a complaint. Just as important are the facts that the watches, the sunglasses, the CDs, the things that glow and spin and the jewellery are all fake and that the street sellers are plying their trade illegally and paying nary a centimo in taxes. The lucksters will indeed be unlucky, unlucky, unlucky if ACOTUR's protests are met with the sound of heavy boots in pursuit of a collaring.
This is not the first time that the local businesses have tried to gang up. Three years ago, the businesses along The Mile started issuing leaflets telling tourists to say "no" to the street sellers and pointing out that the business was illegal. It didn't do much good. And one does wonder quite what the town hall and therefore also the local police have been doing all this time. Step forward Miquel Ferrer, mayor of Alcúdia, who says that the plod haven't been sitting on their backsides and do represent a significant presence around The Mile. Of course they do. Last night I was in The Mile. Late on, I was down by the canal where there is a row of five or so bars. If the police had a mind, they could hang around in the shadows there and await their prey. They wouldn't have to wait long.
For all that ACOTUR do rightly point to the fact that many tourists do get hacked off with the street sellers, there is - for every pissed-off holidaymaker - another who will happily engage in the banter and the transaction. And then, one has to ask, why do the bar and restaurant owners tolerate the lucksters coming onto their premises? If they were to all tell them to piss off, the trade would not be stopped in its tracks but would be undermined.
There is another worry for the business organisation, another worry that is giving rise to complaints and a bad image - and that is the operation of tiqueteros (PRs as they are known). Now I am not sure what the "Diario" report is referring to when it speaks of the forceful way in which tourists are approached. Might they be talking about our friends the scratch-cardists?
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Culture Club (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgJq5QPkpKQ). Today's title - can anyone not know this?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
ACOTUR is an organisation that represents Mallorca's tourist businesses. It has been sending letters, two of them in fact, both to the Alcúdia ayuntamiento, complaining about the "invasion" of what are formally here called "vendedores ambulantes" but more commonly are known as lucky-lucky men. (Why, by the way, are there no lucky-lucky women? Whatever.) Every season an invasion of some sort; usually it's jellyfish, but this year the sting is taking place on the streets, and especially along and around one street - Pedro Mas y Reus - which the "Diario" insists on saying is referred to as the dollar mile, when we know better. ACOTUR seems not to be saying that its members are being harmed commercially, but one can assume that the fact that they say that each of the lucksters can trouser 2,500 euros or more a month is a roundabout way of saying that these 2,500 euros are not being spent elsewhere. And I thought tourism spend was meant to be down. No accounting for taste or good sense I suppose. If a tourist wants to part with hard cash for crap, that's his outlook.
But ACOTUR is not solely taking the commercial line. It points out, rightly, that the street sellers give the place a bad name and that they are the cause for many a complaint. Just as important are the facts that the watches, the sunglasses, the CDs, the things that glow and spin and the jewellery are all fake and that the street sellers are plying their trade illegally and paying nary a centimo in taxes. The lucksters will indeed be unlucky, unlucky, unlucky if ACOTUR's protests are met with the sound of heavy boots in pursuit of a collaring.
This is not the first time that the local businesses have tried to gang up. Three years ago, the businesses along The Mile started issuing leaflets telling tourists to say "no" to the street sellers and pointing out that the business was illegal. It didn't do much good. And one does wonder quite what the town hall and therefore also the local police have been doing all this time. Step forward Miquel Ferrer, mayor of Alcúdia, who says that the plod haven't been sitting on their backsides and do represent a significant presence around The Mile. Of course they do. Last night I was in The Mile. Late on, I was down by the canal where there is a row of five or so bars. If the police had a mind, they could hang around in the shadows there and await their prey. They wouldn't have to wait long.
For all that ACOTUR do rightly point to the fact that many tourists do get hacked off with the street sellers, there is - for every pissed-off holidaymaker - another who will happily engage in the banter and the transaction. And then, one has to ask, why do the bar and restaurant owners tolerate the lucksters coming onto their premises? If they were to all tell them to piss off, the trade would not be stopped in its tracks but would be undermined.
There is another worry for the business organisation, another worry that is giving rise to complaints and a bad image - and that is the operation of tiqueteros (PRs as they are known). Now I am not sure what the "Diario" report is referring to when it speaks of the forceful way in which tourists are approached. Might they be talking about our friends the scratch-cardists?
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Culture Club (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgJq5QPkpKQ). Today's title - can anyone not know this?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Monday, April 21, 2008
My Boy Lollipop
So where was I? Ah yes. Record shops. A subject that cropped up the other day. A surfeit there may be of fashion shops and shoe shops, but the record shop is pretty thin on the ground. Unless someone can tell me otherwise, I know of only one shop that sells records (or to be more accurate CDs and DVDs) in Alcúdia and Pollensa, and that is the German Müller store next to Alcúdia's Auditorium.
A few years back, there used to be at least one record shop in both Puerto Pollensa and Puerto Alcúdia. The former never seemed to be open and finally gave up the ghost, the latter struggled on until maybe five years ago. This was called Lollipop, and it was in the same street as The Highlander Bar; it is now, I think, a locutorio. Lollipop was run by a German woman. I used to give her challenging assignments as to CDs I wanted to buy (this was before downloading came into real vogue). One of them was by Catherine Denby, an artist no one else in the world seems to have heard of other than myself and a presenter on the national radio station, RNE3. The CD in question never did turn up, and when I went one day to enquire I found that it was unlikely to ever turn up as the shop had gone.
Since then, with the exception of Müller (and stalls at markets), the area has been devoid of record stores. Whatever one thinks of downloading, there is little to compare with the satisfaction of thumbing through racks of CDs, though even this is nought as compared with the ancient ritual of the record shop (when vinyl was all there was and there were listening boothes). That there are no record shops is no real surprise. Lollipop struggled for several reasons - the emergence of downloading (even if it was in relative infancy), lack of stock (itself a factor of lack of business success), physical theft of CDs, and pirated copies. At the time, this latter factor was probably the most significant, and it is of course still a factor.
The guys who sell the pirated goods around the bars and on the streets (so-called "lucky-lucky" or "looky-looky" men) have a limited range of products - sunglasses, watches, jewellery and CDs and DVDs. It should appal, but somehow it doesn't as the whole "business" of pirated goods is so widespread.
I was once in Singapore, and a taxi-driver asked if I wanted some good products at good prices. He took me to a shop that had its windows taped over. Inside were Gucci this, Lacoste that. The Singaporean authorities took a dim view, especially as theirs was a country aspiring to total legitimacy in the global economy. The next day, I picked up the local English paper. It was called "The Straits Times" I think. On the front cover was a story about a raid against a shop selling pirated goods. It was the one I had been taken to only a few hours before.
I say all this because, although the Spanish police do have periodic actions against pirated goods, the selling of them goes on unabated. Spain and Mallorca are not the only places in Europe where this happens, but unlike Singapore which made a concerted effort to stop the practice, here it just carries on.
The sale of pirated CDs is one of the main reasons for there being an almost total absence of record stores. The added ease of the Internet has been the real killer though for such stores. While they have ceased to be, there are still plenty of places where you can buy sunglasses, watches and jewellery, despite the fakes that are available.
QUIZ: Yesterday - Dionne Warwick, penned by Bacharach and David. Today's title - who sang this?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
A few years back, there used to be at least one record shop in both Puerto Pollensa and Puerto Alcúdia. The former never seemed to be open and finally gave up the ghost, the latter struggled on until maybe five years ago. This was called Lollipop, and it was in the same street as The Highlander Bar; it is now, I think, a locutorio. Lollipop was run by a German woman. I used to give her challenging assignments as to CDs I wanted to buy (this was before downloading came into real vogue). One of them was by Catherine Denby, an artist no one else in the world seems to have heard of other than myself and a presenter on the national radio station, RNE3. The CD in question never did turn up, and when I went one day to enquire I found that it was unlikely to ever turn up as the shop had gone.
Since then, with the exception of Müller (and stalls at markets), the area has been devoid of record stores. Whatever one thinks of downloading, there is little to compare with the satisfaction of thumbing through racks of CDs, though even this is nought as compared with the ancient ritual of the record shop (when vinyl was all there was and there were listening boothes). That there are no record shops is no real surprise. Lollipop struggled for several reasons - the emergence of downloading (even if it was in relative infancy), lack of stock (itself a factor of lack of business success), physical theft of CDs, and pirated copies. At the time, this latter factor was probably the most significant, and it is of course still a factor.
The guys who sell the pirated goods around the bars and on the streets (so-called "lucky-lucky" or "looky-looky" men) have a limited range of products - sunglasses, watches, jewellery and CDs and DVDs. It should appal, but somehow it doesn't as the whole "business" of pirated goods is so widespread.
I was once in Singapore, and a taxi-driver asked if I wanted some good products at good prices. He took me to a shop that had its windows taped over. Inside were Gucci this, Lacoste that. The Singaporean authorities took a dim view, especially as theirs was a country aspiring to total legitimacy in the global economy. The next day, I picked up the local English paper. It was called "The Straits Times" I think. On the front cover was a story about a raid against a shop selling pirated goods. It was the one I had been taken to only a few hours before.
I say all this because, although the Spanish police do have periodic actions against pirated goods, the selling of them goes on unabated. Spain and Mallorca are not the only places in Europe where this happens, but unlike Singapore which made a concerted effort to stop the practice, here it just carries on.
The sale of pirated CDs is one of the main reasons for there being an almost total absence of record stores. The added ease of the Internet has been the real killer though for such stores. While they have ceased to be, there are still plenty of places where you can buy sunglasses, watches and jewellery, despite the fakes that are available.
QUIZ: Yesterday - Dionne Warwick, penned by Bacharach and David. Today's title - who sang this?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
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