Catching up on the train saga, my indignation with the "fool's economy" having got in the way of my following it up yesterday ... . The Alcúdia politicos, of differing colours and ideologies, have grouped together to push - again - for an alternative route to that preferred by the Balearic Government's department of mobility and, it should be said, the environmental group GOB. Mayor Ferrer is arguing for the siting of the station to be in Puerto Alcúdia and not in the town of Alcúdia. Those who are in favour of the so-called "southern option", included among whose number are many Alcúdia politicians and the mayor of Muro, had originally proposed that the station be sited by the Es Foguero ruin, but now there seems to be as much of a lobby for it to go by one of the main roundabouts - the Horse or Magic. I apologise for repetition. We have been here several times before, but there are always people coming to this anew, so I have to give a bit of background.
One of the reasons why the government wants the northern option, which would see the station in the town behind the auditorium, is - so it is argued - that this would be closer to a greater centre of population. The opposing view, that being pressed by the mayor, is that a station by, say, the Magic roundabout would in fact be better - to the tune of some 25,000 people or so more people better. This is the number of tourists who, it is said, would benefit from a station a couple of kilometres away from where the government wants it go. It sounds a sensible argument, but is it? Does it really make any difference to tourists where the damn station is? If it's in Alcúdia, wherever in Alcúdia, it would be good enough. And how many would actually use the train, or indeed could use the train? This is not a rail system capable of transporting huge numbers of people, while the most obvious connection for tourists - to the airport - does not exist and is not planned. Other than the fact that the train would be useful, the tourism argument is, frankly, spurious, except also for the fact that financing is linked to tourism. But I make the point again; it hardly matters, to tourists, whether the station is in the old town, by the Magic roundabout or by Es Foguero.
What one has here is a clear case of local versus central conflict. Alcúdia council has been pissed off by the whole train issue because the government did not consult enough, or so it is said. One does also detect the influence of GOB in all this, and it wouldn't be the first time. There does appear to be a degree of closeness between GOB and the mobility department; I have referred to it before in connection with the road plans in Palma and the conversion of the Son Bosc finca in Muro. Such conflict 'twas ever thus. But the more this all drags on, the more the chances of someone having second thoughts and scrapping the whole project - and the way it's going, you wouldn't bet against this. Oh, and we now find that the sensible part of the whole thing - running the track alongside the main road from Sa Pobla isn't sensible; indeed it is unsafe, or so says some authority in Madrid. That'll be unsafe as in rail lines parallel to roads in England, Germany and Holland. It's never going to be built is it.
Incidentally, on a map in "The Bulletin" which shows the proposed routes, there is reference to "The Albufera Natural Park in Alcúdia". What is wrong with this? Apart from "nature park" being preferable, in which municipality is Albufera? The answer is that it is not in Alcúdia. It is in Muro. Poor old Muro. As ever, it is confused with Alcúdia. Maybe they should just merge it with Alcúdia and have done with it.
And while on Albufera, a follow-up on Albufereta, the "little" Albufera that lies by the coast road between Alcúdia and Puerto Pollensa. I mentioned the other day that there is alleged to be a bit of an E. coli problem there. Driving past a couple of days ago, I noticed that someone had helpfully covered a sign with a sheet of paper with "contaminada" written on it. Well, it was there; probably isn't now. (Actually, it is; I checked this morning.)
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Stone Roses (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4bHMVAKDao). Today's title - Homer and Madge's song.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Showing posts with label Sa Pobla-to-Alcúdia railway. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sa Pobla-to-Alcúdia railway. Show all posts
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
Memories We've Been Sharing
What's in a name, as in a bar or restaurant name, or even a sandwich bar name? I bring this up as in front of me I have a card for Sandwich and Moments. This is a sandwich place by the yacht club roundabout in Puerto Pollensa, and "sandwich place" may actually be instructive. What is a moment in the context of a sandwich? The card does say that if you call them, they will prepare your moment. Which is extremely good of them, but what on earth does it mean? Does one really have a sandwich moment, a somewhat orgasmic occurrence or something, the consequence of roast loin in a baguette, or how does it work? "Oooh, ooh, I'm having a sandwich moment." I've got to say that I'm struggling with this one. Anyway, whatever it means, I'm sure that it's very good, and so are the sandwiches which, incidentally, seem all to be named after names, as in male or female names. But I am rather uncertain about "roast beef and cheese to the thin grasses (herbs)", which goes under the title of "dudu". Anyway, bon appetit or bon profit, as they say here, and enjoy your moment.
This is all a roundabout way of getting to names, and how effective they can be, or not. Sandwich place is, I feel, instructive, because my guess is that few people say "oh, let's go to Sandwich and Moments" but do in fact say "oh, let's go to the sandwich place", which may be why sandwich places have, in the past, been called The Sandwich Place. It's not, incidentally, as though the name is particularly meaningful for Spaniards either. There are, it seems to me, types of establishment that, regardless of what name is used, are known by a generic, and to the sandwich place, one can add Indian and Chinese restaurants and even the likes of tex-mex. Who actually calls Dakota, Dakota? It's always the tex-mex in rather sneering tones. To back up what I'm saying about Chinese places, there has been an exchange on the puertopollensa.com forum about the Chinese next to Sandwich and Moments - maybe it's something about that particular roundabout. In that exchange, the actual name has not been used, unless I've overlooked it. It is in fact Luna de Miel, but the name itself is largely beside the point. Further evidence of this lack of name recognition comes in the form, for example, of mentions of Taste of India off The Mile; it is only ever referred to, on the internet anyway, as the Indian, as it was when it was previously Agra.
How important are names, the names of restaurants or bars, or indeed sandwich places? (See, I can't stop using sandwich "place".) I can feel a series coming on. Are local or international names preferable? Are name changes always desirable, as in when a new owner takes over? Is enough attention paid to any implications for different nationalities in terms of names used? So, watch this space. I'm sure you can't wait.
A name that has a good deal of currency, certainly in the boating world, is Fairline. Given something of an interest in the boat fair that takes place in Puerto Alcúdia at the start of April, I had a chat with the Fairline folk yesterday, and found out that there will be a Fairline as it were fair of its own the weekend following that of the boat fair, i.e. 10-12 April. So, there you are. Dates for your diary. Boat (and cuttlefish) fair, 4-5 April; Fairline, a week later - in the Alcudiamar marina.
And ever more about the train
There we were thinking that the route of the train from Sa Pobla and the location of the station in Alcúdia was getting towards some settlement, when along comes a pact of Alcúdia local politicos - the mayor and the main opposition - to present a case against the siting in the town itself, with a preference by the Linkin' Donuts Roundabout, otherwise known as the Magic Roundabout. Apparently the location in the town would ago against some plan or other, while a station in the port would be far better for tourists. The argument goes that the main reason for financial support for the train extension is that it would be as a further aid to tourism. Anyway, more on this tomorrow I think, as there are all sorts of figures which may or may not be of interest.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Who else would give you a steam engine live? The Thompson Twins (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y_91nGEDYw). Today's title - a line from a 1957 song about "moments". If it doesn't get better than Lily Allen now, it didn't get better than (whom) back then. Not that I personally remember, I would just add.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
This is all a roundabout way of getting to names, and how effective they can be, or not. Sandwich place is, I feel, instructive, because my guess is that few people say "oh, let's go to Sandwich and Moments" but do in fact say "oh, let's go to the sandwich place", which may be why sandwich places have, in the past, been called The Sandwich Place. It's not, incidentally, as though the name is particularly meaningful for Spaniards either. There are, it seems to me, types of establishment that, regardless of what name is used, are known by a generic, and to the sandwich place, one can add Indian and Chinese restaurants and even the likes of tex-mex. Who actually calls Dakota, Dakota? It's always the tex-mex in rather sneering tones. To back up what I'm saying about Chinese places, there has been an exchange on the puertopollensa.com forum about the Chinese next to Sandwich and Moments - maybe it's something about that particular roundabout. In that exchange, the actual name has not been used, unless I've overlooked it. It is in fact Luna de Miel, but the name itself is largely beside the point. Further evidence of this lack of name recognition comes in the form, for example, of mentions of Taste of India off The Mile; it is only ever referred to, on the internet anyway, as the Indian, as it was when it was previously Agra.
How important are names, the names of restaurants or bars, or indeed sandwich places? (See, I can't stop using sandwich "place".) I can feel a series coming on. Are local or international names preferable? Are name changes always desirable, as in when a new owner takes over? Is enough attention paid to any implications for different nationalities in terms of names used? So, watch this space. I'm sure you can't wait.
A name that has a good deal of currency, certainly in the boating world, is Fairline. Given something of an interest in the boat fair that takes place in Puerto Alcúdia at the start of April, I had a chat with the Fairline folk yesterday, and found out that there will be a Fairline as it were fair of its own the weekend following that of the boat fair, i.e. 10-12 April. So, there you are. Dates for your diary. Boat (and cuttlefish) fair, 4-5 April; Fairline, a week later - in the Alcudiamar marina.
And ever more about the train
There we were thinking that the route of the train from Sa Pobla and the location of the station in Alcúdia was getting towards some settlement, when along comes a pact of Alcúdia local politicos - the mayor and the main opposition - to present a case against the siting in the town itself, with a preference by the Linkin' Donuts Roundabout, otherwise known as the Magic Roundabout. Apparently the location in the town would ago against some plan or other, while a station in the port would be far better for tourists. The argument goes that the main reason for financial support for the train extension is that it would be as a further aid to tourism. Anyway, more on this tomorrow I think, as there are all sorts of figures which may or may not be of interest.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Who else would give you a steam engine live? The Thompson Twins (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y_91nGEDYw). Today's title - a line from a 1957 song about "moments". If it doesn't get better than Lily Allen now, it didn't get better than (whom) back then. Not that I personally remember, I would just add.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Thursday, March 05, 2009
1-2-3
The Mallorca triathlon. And no, don't get excited, I'm not telling you about an actual Mallorca triathlon. One, two, three. There are triathlons, iron man's (or men I guess) and other acts of insanity. Not so long ago I got an enquiry from someone who organises the Scottish junior triathlon team. They were going to be staying in Puerto Pollensa and wanted a swimming-pool. Go to Alcúdia. For God's sake don't try Puerto Pollensa's; they'll probably have drained it by the end of next week.
Anyway, I saw this towel yesterday - Mallorca triathlon it said. This was a towel as in beach towel. You wonder why anyone would think to buy a beach towel with the grey skies and the gathering wind of what is meant to become severe gusts. Maybe some do. The towel itself was a grey and black mix. Hardly the colours of the beach you would have thought. There again, tasteful in its contrast perhaps. Some grey tones; rather sophisticated amidst the garishness of yellows, blues and reds. But not really that tasteful when you studied what was written on it. The towel was the first one on the rack, hanging outside the sports shop by Eroski. That was how I came to notice it. Mallorca triathlon it said. And that is? One, two, three. Drinking, Eating and ... Fucking. Replete with little pictures; well, like cartoons. How are your sensibilities? Mine? I really don't give a damn. You can swear as you want. Be as gross as you want. Anything can go, but there is rudeness and then there is funny rudeness, and this towel does not come anywhere near drying off some funny rudeness; it is stupid, blatant and without any semblance of humour. So why does someone bother to produce it? I have no idea.
Much as there may be something of a counter PR effort to suggest that that Virgin hospital programme was anything other than the usual let's see how stupid some people who go to Mallorca are, you cannot escape the fact that many people who go to Mallorca are stupid. Stupid enough to want to buy a stupid beach towel with a stupid thing on it about triathlon and the gerund form of the f-word.
It's a month or so before the annual boat and sepia fairs in Puerto Alcúdia; the dates are in fact 4 and 5 April. Not everyone knows that. Like restaurants that might stand to benefit from being open and participating. I said to one such restaurant owner, who enjoyed a packed terrace on the Sunday of the event last year, that I presumed he was looking forward to benefiting this year. Not as such. Wasn't planning on opening until 6 April. When were the fairs again, he asked. 4th and 5th. I suspect he might rethink.
Last year some 10,000 people came to Alcúdia for these fairs. The boat fair is the only one on the island other than Palma's. It's a month away, and yet who is aware of it? Not every restaurant owner, that's for sure.
Coming back to Muro's mayor and his wish to see the train ending up close to the Muro boundary. One of his reasons - well the reason as far as I can make out - is that having the station by Es Foguero will benefit "murers" (those from Muro). Let's just think about this though. Firstly, people from Muro would actually have to want to use the train in the first place, and people from Muro, like people from the whole of Mallorca, have their lives dominated by cars - several of them in some cases. Secondly, it is not unusual to have to travel to a train station. And the people of Muro would actually have a fairly long journey. Some ten kilometres or so, if they live in the town of Muro, and the majority of residents of Muro do live in the town of Muro. What, for the people of the town, would be closer? A station by Es Foguero or the current end-of-the-line station in Sa Pobla? I think you may find that it is in fact Sa Pobla. Which would leave those who live in Playa de Muro, the majority of whom, whether it was sited by Es Foguero or by, for example, the Horse Roundabout in Puerto Alcúdia, would need to make some sort of journey (probably by car) to get to it. Were there a bus that went past Es Foguero, then this might make a difference. But there isn't. The Muro argument is a non-argument. The train will not be stopping at Es Foguero.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - U2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWPosB-nTns). Today's title - sort of white soul from the mid '60s.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Anyway, I saw this towel yesterday - Mallorca triathlon it said. This was a towel as in beach towel. You wonder why anyone would think to buy a beach towel with the grey skies and the gathering wind of what is meant to become severe gusts. Maybe some do. The towel itself was a grey and black mix. Hardly the colours of the beach you would have thought. There again, tasteful in its contrast perhaps. Some grey tones; rather sophisticated amidst the garishness of yellows, blues and reds. But not really that tasteful when you studied what was written on it. The towel was the first one on the rack, hanging outside the sports shop by Eroski. That was how I came to notice it. Mallorca triathlon it said. And that is? One, two, three. Drinking, Eating and ... Fucking. Replete with little pictures; well, like cartoons. How are your sensibilities? Mine? I really don't give a damn. You can swear as you want. Be as gross as you want. Anything can go, but there is rudeness and then there is funny rudeness, and this towel does not come anywhere near drying off some funny rudeness; it is stupid, blatant and without any semblance of humour. So why does someone bother to produce it? I have no idea.
Much as there may be something of a counter PR effort to suggest that that Virgin hospital programme was anything other than the usual let's see how stupid some people who go to Mallorca are, you cannot escape the fact that many people who go to Mallorca are stupid. Stupid enough to want to buy a stupid beach towel with a stupid thing on it about triathlon and the gerund form of the f-word.
It's a month or so before the annual boat and sepia fairs in Puerto Alcúdia; the dates are in fact 4 and 5 April. Not everyone knows that. Like restaurants that might stand to benefit from being open and participating. I said to one such restaurant owner, who enjoyed a packed terrace on the Sunday of the event last year, that I presumed he was looking forward to benefiting this year. Not as such. Wasn't planning on opening until 6 April. When were the fairs again, he asked. 4th and 5th. I suspect he might rethink.
Last year some 10,000 people came to Alcúdia for these fairs. The boat fair is the only one on the island other than Palma's. It's a month away, and yet who is aware of it? Not every restaurant owner, that's for sure.
Coming back to Muro's mayor and his wish to see the train ending up close to the Muro boundary. One of his reasons - well the reason as far as I can make out - is that having the station by Es Foguero will benefit "murers" (those from Muro). Let's just think about this though. Firstly, people from Muro would actually have to want to use the train in the first place, and people from Muro, like people from the whole of Mallorca, have their lives dominated by cars - several of them in some cases. Secondly, it is not unusual to have to travel to a train station. And the people of Muro would actually have a fairly long journey. Some ten kilometres or so, if they live in the town of Muro, and the majority of residents of Muro do live in the town of Muro. What, for the people of the town, would be closer? A station by Es Foguero or the current end-of-the-line station in Sa Pobla? I think you may find that it is in fact Sa Pobla. Which would leave those who live in Playa de Muro, the majority of whom, whether it was sited by Es Foguero or by, for example, the Horse Roundabout in Puerto Alcúdia, would need to make some sort of journey (probably by car) to get to it. Were there a bus that went past Es Foguero, then this might make a difference. But there isn't. The Muro argument is a non-argument. The train will not be stopping at Es Foguero.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - U2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWPosB-nTns). Today's title - sort of white soul from the mid '60s.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
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.)
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