Occasionally, I add links to blogs or other sites that are of real interest. A new one is to Steve Murray's blog dedicated to hiking and walking mainly but not exclusively in the Alcúdia and Pollensa area. An abundance of photos plus some brief descriptions and the odd surprise: http://stevosspanishadventure.blogspot.com.es/
(Thanks to the PuertoPollensa.com forum (here) for this blog coming to my attention).
Saturday, November 17, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Almost half the Balearic population in a "precarious" situation
A report by the Hacienda, entitled "Goodbye to the Middle Classes", suggests that 46% of the population in the Balearics is in a precarious financial situation, the consequence of loss of employment, salary cuts and government measures. The findings of the report indicate that there are over 75,000 adults with no income and just under 440,000 who are "mileuristas", i.e. those who manage to scrape a monthly income of a thousand euros.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 17 November 2012
No Frills Excursions
Morning high (8.45am): 15.5C
Forecast high: 21C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca): East and Southeast 3 to 4.
A cloudy start, due to be some sun this morning before giving way to cloud. Tomorrow looks like being something of a washout.
Afternoon update (17.30): A reasonable morning, not particularly sunny but ok, has given way to ever more grey an afternoon. A high of 18.7C.
PSYCHO-X: Categorising expats
Psychographics are the study of personality, values, attitudes, interests and lifestyles. Psychographics as a concept was invented in order to turn the dross of the bleeding obvious into the gold of a marketing man's dreams. It is one that has spawned new words and new terms - yuppie, baby boomer, Generation X, they are all the product of psychographics.
There are also psychographics which have no particular end-product in mind. They exist in order to categorise and are a staple for magazines and other forms of media as they allow readers or users to score where they stand according to whatever they are attempting to measure or define. To add to this wholly pointless body of work, I present my own contribution. I have yet to flesh out the detail of the survey that would be required, but the results (as and when I get round to the survey) will allow you to see where you rank according to my patented new system of psychographics called PSYCHO-X.
This revolutionary methodology classifies, for the first time, styles of expatriate in Mallorca. PSYCHO-X stands for psychographics of expatriates, and it will enable you to fully understand where you rank in your local community. Are you, for example, extraordinarily important (usually in your own opinion) or are you a complete and utter nobody?
Some key categories are:
Stairway To Heaven. You are the ultimate social climber. Life exists for one purpose and one purpose alone, to have your photo in the "Bulletin" at least once a week. And if it isn't in at least once a week, you fire off an indignant letter to the editor insisting that one is inserted immediately.
All Publicity Is Good Publicity. Really, there is no bad publicity, it is all good because you make it so. Similar to the STH, the APIGP is constantly reminding his or her network to remind everyone else how interesting he or she is. You are, because self-publicity is all you are interested in, inclined to refer to yourself by means of glowing nouns - mover and shaker, award-winner, leading member of the community - just in case anyone has failed to appreciate that you are one of these. As with the STH, the rest of the community considers you to be a complete nob (those who have actually heard of you, and there are far fewer than you might hope).
Girls Around. You aren't necessarily a girl, as you could very much be a woman. In fact you are more likely to be mature, but "boogying" - a word no one under the age of 30 would dream of using - to the latest house music sensation, something which you do at least twice a week, instantly makes you 21. You also aren't necessarily either an STH or APIGP, but you probably have ambitions to be one or the other. You spend your days and nights having lunch or dinner, being invited to all the best functions, spraying yourself with fake tan if the sun hasn't been out for a couple of days and are a regular visitor to the teeth-whitening clinic.
Comfortably Numb. You are well-off, live in a gated paradise and spend all day getting pissed.
Uncomfortably Numb. You aren't well-off, live in a small studio apartment and spend all day getting pissed.
Go Wild In The Country. You have gone totally native. You live on a run-down finca with goats roaming in and out of the house, eat only tumbet and tell anyone you encounter that they should only eat it as well (with some trampo). You speak Mallorquín badly and habitually drop Mallorquín words into conversation with your ignorant, English-newspaper-reading British friends (the few that you still have, if any).
Nowhere Man (Or Woman). No one has the faintest idea who you are. You drift on the periphery of the expat community, never being invited to anything.
The Old Colonial. You appreciate - just - that Empire has gone but you are prone to drone on and on about how great the old country is, the one you no longer live in.
The Couldn't Care Less. You just carry on your life not in completely blissful ignorance of anything to do with Mallorca but with little interest in anything to do with Mallorca, except that the sun shines, the Sky card is working ok and they haven't totally stopped all winter flights. You have certainly never heard of anyone in the STH, APIGP and GA categories and have no interest in hearing about them.
Well, there we are. In fact, these are just a few of the PSYCHO-X categories. There are many more, and you can probably think of your own. So please let me know and I'll gladly nick your ideas.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
There are also psychographics which have no particular end-product in mind. They exist in order to categorise and are a staple for magazines and other forms of media as they allow readers or users to score where they stand according to whatever they are attempting to measure or define. To add to this wholly pointless body of work, I present my own contribution. I have yet to flesh out the detail of the survey that would be required, but the results (as and when I get round to the survey) will allow you to see where you rank according to my patented new system of psychographics called PSYCHO-X.
This revolutionary methodology classifies, for the first time, styles of expatriate in Mallorca. PSYCHO-X stands for psychographics of expatriates, and it will enable you to fully understand where you rank in your local community. Are you, for example, extraordinarily important (usually in your own opinion) or are you a complete and utter nobody?
Some key categories are:
Stairway To Heaven. You are the ultimate social climber. Life exists for one purpose and one purpose alone, to have your photo in the "Bulletin" at least once a week. And if it isn't in at least once a week, you fire off an indignant letter to the editor insisting that one is inserted immediately.
All Publicity Is Good Publicity. Really, there is no bad publicity, it is all good because you make it so. Similar to the STH, the APIGP is constantly reminding his or her network to remind everyone else how interesting he or she is. You are, because self-publicity is all you are interested in, inclined to refer to yourself by means of glowing nouns - mover and shaker, award-winner, leading member of the community - just in case anyone has failed to appreciate that you are one of these. As with the STH, the rest of the community considers you to be a complete nob (those who have actually heard of you, and there are far fewer than you might hope).
Girls Around. You aren't necessarily a girl, as you could very much be a woman. In fact you are more likely to be mature, but "boogying" - a word no one under the age of 30 would dream of using - to the latest house music sensation, something which you do at least twice a week, instantly makes you 21. You also aren't necessarily either an STH or APIGP, but you probably have ambitions to be one or the other. You spend your days and nights having lunch or dinner, being invited to all the best functions, spraying yourself with fake tan if the sun hasn't been out for a couple of days and are a regular visitor to the teeth-whitening clinic.
Comfortably Numb. You are well-off, live in a gated paradise and spend all day getting pissed.
Uncomfortably Numb. You aren't well-off, live in a small studio apartment and spend all day getting pissed.
Go Wild In The Country. You have gone totally native. You live on a run-down finca with goats roaming in and out of the house, eat only tumbet and tell anyone you encounter that they should only eat it as well (with some trampo). You speak Mallorquín badly and habitually drop Mallorquín words into conversation with your ignorant, English-newspaper-reading British friends (the few that you still have, if any).
Nowhere Man (Or Woman). No one has the faintest idea who you are. You drift on the periphery of the expat community, never being invited to anything.
The Old Colonial. You appreciate - just - that Empire has gone but you are prone to drone on and on about how great the old country is, the one you no longer live in.
The Couldn't Care Less. You just carry on your life not in completely blissful ignorance of anything to do with Mallorca but with little interest in anything to do with Mallorca, except that the sun shines, the Sky card is working ok and they haven't totally stopped all winter flights. You have certainly never heard of anyone in the STH, APIGP and GA categories and have no interest in hearing about them.
Well, there we are. In fact, these are just a few of the PSYCHO-X categories. There are many more, and you can probably think of your own. So please let me know and I'll gladly nick your ideas.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Friday, November 16, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Legal uncertainty surrounding fincas on Lluc walk
The Council of Mallorca having said that barriers on the Pollensa-Lluc walk will be taken down before 25 November now finds itself having to clarify the situation regarding the barriers, owners saying there has been no written communication. To the fore in seeking clarification is Pollensa's mayor whose family owns one of the fincas on the walk that has erected barriers.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
MALLORCA TODAY - Zones for tiqueteros in Calvià proposed
Business associations in Calvià have proposed that there be seven zones for tiqueteros (PRs) to operate in the main tourist centres of the town, e.g. Magalluf and Santa Ponsa. These would only be for PRs from clubs and not small bars. PRs for the latter can only operate in front of their establishments.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Es Trenc apartments will have to be demolished
A legal argument that has raged for almost 20 years appears as though it may have come to an end, the Balearics Supreme Court insisting that apartments built in Ses Covetes by Es Trenc beach in the town of Campos must be demolished by the middle of May next year. Work on the development was stopped in 1995 following a legal challenge. The court's decision may not, though, be the final word as there is a suggestion that the new Coasts Law may have a bearing.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 16 November 2012
No Frills Excursions
Morning high (8.00am): 13C
Forecast high: 20C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca): East 3 veering Southeast by the afternoon. Risk of swells from the Northeast of one metre diminishing.
A bright and chillier morning, sunny through the day becoming cloudier in the evening. Tomorrow a mix of sun and cloud and Saturday a rainy day. Highs remaining constant at around 20 degrees.
Strictly Themed: Hotels
P&O Cruises are to offer seven "Strictly Come Dancing"-themed voyages in 2013. One might just turn up in Palma. What an appalling prospect. It is bad enough that the local expatriate community appears to have forgotten that it isn't living in the UK and has turned Mallorca into Little Brucie Land, without Strictly groupies becoming orgasmic at the possibility of sighting Craig Revel Horwood on board a P&O, dickie round the neck, being terminally lovey while simultaneously spitting superficial venom.
Strictly has so consumed the every waking moment of expat lives that there is now no other topic of conversation, that there are now Strictly contests cropping up left, right and centre and that even a non-British-owned restaurant in Puerto Pollensa wishes to cash in on this obsession by staging its own Strictly evenings. Is there no end to this madness?
Sadly, I suspect that there isn't. P&O showing the way, how soon before a hotel or two on the island decides to become Strictly-themed?
Theming is likely to assume epidemic proportions. Hotels have realised that they can nick popular ideas or themes, dress themselves up to look the part, re-name themselves and, Brucie's your uncle, they've got themselves a themed hotel and a whole marketing opportunity. If it isn't Brucie, then it is Captain Jack or Long John Silver. The hotel that had been threatening to become pirates-themed is to carry out its threat. The Gran Santa Ponsa is now the Gran Santa Ponsa Pirates Village and will open its doors, or possibly its gangplanks, for the first time next year.
The saving grace with Pirates Village is that it is all-inclusive, which hopefully therefore means that its piratical inmates won't be taking themselves to the streets and so permit insufferable eight-year-olds to inflict on the rest of Mallorca an interminable stream of jokes that aren't jokes but which are lifted straight from a Robert Newton pirate pastiche that is now almost 60 years old. While children might be excused issuing a constant volley of "aaarhh" alleged gags, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, which excuses adults from doing the same. Any adult who does so should be forced to walk the plank, preferably in the deepest part of the Mediterranean where a commune of extremely hungry Great White Sharks has been gathered. That'll learn 'em.
The thing with theming, however, is that it has to be accurate. And Pirates Village isn't totally. For one thing, it will have a Mobby Dick section. Not Moby but Mobby. Someone should really tell them. They might also mention that Moby Dick doesn't really have an awful lot to do with pirates (though maybe Mobby Dick does; I really couldn't say). There is also the Francis Drake Palace. Some of you may know that Drake was a great English sea captain and vice-admiral who specialised in giving the Spanish regular thrashings. This is the English/British version of history. The Spanish, on the other hand, thought him to be a thoroughly disreputable sort; a pirate in fact. Pirates Village, from a Spanish perspective, may be accurate in affording Drake pirate status, but there may have to be some explaining going on to the British guests who consider him to have been anything but a pirate.
The Pirates Village does, nevertheless, represent some commitment in the form of hard cash for turning a previously unremarkable hotel into the stuff of the Caribbean. As such, there should be some congratulation. A Strictly theme is rather different. Yes, as far as P&O are concerned, there is an investment in Revel Horwood and whoever else they can haul on board, but the theme is very much self-liquidating; it is the punter who provides the theme.
From a business point of view, this isn't such a bad idea, and so other hotels might consider other themes: "X Factor", "Britain's Got Talent (in Mallorca)", for example. It would be no more than a massive karaoke, but if you get the paying customer to be the theme, then you win both ways; establish a theme and don't actually pay anything for it, save for a possible monetary prize or a cheap bottle of cava.
More exotic - if exotic is the right word, which it isn't - would be to borrow further from British telly. A "Coronation Street" or "Eastenders" themed hotel perhaps. As many British soap stars appear to spend most of their spare time in Mallorca, then they could be put to good use for once. And as Real Madrid have their own themed hotel in the Middle East and Barcelona appear to be going to get one of their own, why not a Man U or Chelsea themed hotel in Mallorca? All those replica kits need somewhere to go, so why not a hotel where all the wearers can compare shirts?
If none of these ideas are for you, then what about just going back to basics and having a Mallorca-themed hotel? A radical notion, I agree, but then Mallorca is Mallorca. The trouble would be knowing what a Mallorca-themed hotel would contain. Sadly, where most of Brit expat land is concerned, it would be Strictly.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Strictly has so consumed the every waking moment of expat lives that there is now no other topic of conversation, that there are now Strictly contests cropping up left, right and centre and that even a non-British-owned restaurant in Puerto Pollensa wishes to cash in on this obsession by staging its own Strictly evenings. Is there no end to this madness?
Sadly, I suspect that there isn't. P&O showing the way, how soon before a hotel or two on the island decides to become Strictly-themed?
Theming is likely to assume epidemic proportions. Hotels have realised that they can nick popular ideas or themes, dress themselves up to look the part, re-name themselves and, Brucie's your uncle, they've got themselves a themed hotel and a whole marketing opportunity. If it isn't Brucie, then it is Captain Jack or Long John Silver. The hotel that had been threatening to become pirates-themed is to carry out its threat. The Gran Santa Ponsa is now the Gran Santa Ponsa Pirates Village and will open its doors, or possibly its gangplanks, for the first time next year.
The saving grace with Pirates Village is that it is all-inclusive, which hopefully therefore means that its piratical inmates won't be taking themselves to the streets and so permit insufferable eight-year-olds to inflict on the rest of Mallorca an interminable stream of jokes that aren't jokes but which are lifted straight from a Robert Newton pirate pastiche that is now almost 60 years old. While children might be excused issuing a constant volley of "aaarhh" alleged gags, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, which excuses adults from doing the same. Any adult who does so should be forced to walk the plank, preferably in the deepest part of the Mediterranean where a commune of extremely hungry Great White Sharks has been gathered. That'll learn 'em.
The thing with theming, however, is that it has to be accurate. And Pirates Village isn't totally. For one thing, it will have a Mobby Dick section. Not Moby but Mobby. Someone should really tell them. They might also mention that Moby Dick doesn't really have an awful lot to do with pirates (though maybe Mobby Dick does; I really couldn't say). There is also the Francis Drake Palace. Some of you may know that Drake was a great English sea captain and vice-admiral who specialised in giving the Spanish regular thrashings. This is the English/British version of history. The Spanish, on the other hand, thought him to be a thoroughly disreputable sort; a pirate in fact. Pirates Village, from a Spanish perspective, may be accurate in affording Drake pirate status, but there may have to be some explaining going on to the British guests who consider him to have been anything but a pirate.
The Pirates Village does, nevertheless, represent some commitment in the form of hard cash for turning a previously unremarkable hotel into the stuff of the Caribbean. As such, there should be some congratulation. A Strictly theme is rather different. Yes, as far as P&O are concerned, there is an investment in Revel Horwood and whoever else they can haul on board, but the theme is very much self-liquidating; it is the punter who provides the theme.
From a business point of view, this isn't such a bad idea, and so other hotels might consider other themes: "X Factor", "Britain's Got Talent (in Mallorca)", for example. It would be no more than a massive karaoke, but if you get the paying customer to be the theme, then you win both ways; establish a theme and don't actually pay anything for it, save for a possible monetary prize or a cheap bottle of cava.
More exotic - if exotic is the right word, which it isn't - would be to borrow further from British telly. A "Coronation Street" or "Eastenders" themed hotel perhaps. As many British soap stars appear to spend most of their spare time in Mallorca, then they could be put to good use for once. And as Real Madrid have their own themed hotel in the Middle East and Barcelona appear to be going to get one of their own, why not a Man U or Chelsea themed hotel in Mallorca? All those replica kits need somewhere to go, so why not a hotel where all the wearers can compare shirts?
If none of these ideas are for you, then what about just going back to basics and having a Mallorca-themed hotel? A radical notion, I agree, but then Mallorca is Mallorca. The trouble would be knowing what a Mallorca-themed hotel would contain. Sadly, where most of Brit expat land is concerned, it would be Strictly.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Thousands protest in Palma at end of general strike
The unions say 60,000, the government 50,000, the police between 35,000 and 40,000. Whatever the actual figure, there were more people protesting in Palma yesterday evening than during a similar protest to mark the last general strike in March. The day passed with little by way of incident other than a couple of arrests during an earlier protest and some charges into demonstrators by police.
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 15 November 2012
No Frills Excursions
Morning high (9.00am): 19C
Forecast high: 21C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca): Northeast 4 and 5 easing to 3 in the afternoon.
A cloudy morning with some sun, the wind has eased and will ease more during the day. Remaining mostly cloudy today, tomorrow should be much brighter. Saturday ok, but Sunday looks wet.
Evening update (22.00): The odd spot of rain, but only very light, some occasionally heavy cloud but also a good deal of sun on quite a warm day. High of 22C.
It's A Trust Thing: Spain's political parties
It must come as a blow to Uncle Alfredo that he is not trusted by 91% of Spaniards. As leader of PSOE, Rubalcaba should be making some inroads into the void that is known as Rajoy. Yet even Mariano can count on seven per cent more Spaniards trusting him.
Rubalcaba's rating reinforces the feeling that PSOE made a mistake in not consigning their Solzhenitsyn doppelgänger to the Gulag of political wilderness after Mariano meandered all but unopposed to the finishing-line twelve months ago. When only nine per cent of the population trusts you, the chances of your ever gaining sufficient support to be gainfully employed as Spanish prime minister are remote in the extreme. Word has it that PSOE grandees are seeking an alternative, now finally convinced that Ruby, Ruby, Ruby will not be socking it to anyone, least of all the electorate. Rubalcaba can't even convince his own supporters; 80% of PSOE voters don't trust him.
The appalling and plunging polling of both Rajoy and Rubalcaba is matched only by the slump in support for their respective parties; the Partido Popular has lost 13 points and PSOE six since the election in November last year. Had the PP not experienced a decline in popularity, something would be very wrong, but its slump can be attributed only partly to its handling of the economy. The trust thing is just as important, and trust has all but evaporated in Rajoy, in Rubalcaba and in two-party politics.
Between elections is not the best time to draw firm conclusions, but the inability of either of the main parties to inspire confidence - at a time when Spain is crying out for someone, anyone to do so - is opening the door to other options. Gains by local parties in regional elections this year and the likelihood of Artur Mas's CiU winning the forthcoming Catalonia election place regionalism very much to the fore. Neither the PP nor PSOE, both committed to the "state", is proving capable of holding back the tide of regionalist sentiment.
There has been no test of this sentiment in Mallorca and there won't be one until 2015 (unless something odd happens), but with trust in the Balearics PP eroding and PSOE locally in total disarray, might there be an opportunity for a third party?
The only obvious gain in popularity since the regional elections in 2011 has been for the PSM, the Mallorcan socialists, a party with a firmly pro-nationalist (Mallorcan nationalist) agenda. Now, however, there is El Pi, "autonomist" by mission statement, so therefore regionalist if not nationalist. But how much trust could it call upon? A new name, but there is still the hangover from the corrupt ways of the Unió Mallorquina and even the archived case against Jaume Font from his days with the PP.
There is hope that the UPyD, a genuinely new party when it was formed five years ago, might come to greater prominence. Devoid of any of the baggage associated with other parties, representative of a different style of centrist politics, it would be refreshing to see it make headway. But how could it? Without selling its soul, it is unlikely to ever have a machine sufficiently well-oiled to make a significant impact. It also doesn't deal in the populist, and it is this - populism - that is the real fear that lurks behind the collapse of trust in the two main parties.
Such a populist voice or presence hasn't emerged, but this doesn't mean that it couldn't. The loss of trust in the political parties has very strong echoes of the past, the 1930s, and placed in combination with the international humiliation that Spain is most likely to face when (not if) it finally bows to the inevitable bailout, the savaging of economic crisis, the need to seek scapegoats and the threat to nationhood posed by Mas and possibly others, the lack of the trust thing creates a potentially volatile situation. And this volatility may draw energy from the force within a black-hole vacuum of leadership that requires filling.
The measures taken to tackle economic crisis are bound to provoke a fall in popularity, but the loss of trust stems only partially from a feeling that politicians (including Rubalcaba) are incapable of truly tackling the crisis. It comes also from a belief that this incapability is linked with vested interests that create constraints. It is an acknowledgement of the inherent corruption of the political system, one that could be overlooked when times were good but cannot be now that times are bad.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Rubalcaba's rating reinforces the feeling that PSOE made a mistake in not consigning their Solzhenitsyn doppelgänger to the Gulag of political wilderness after Mariano meandered all but unopposed to the finishing-line twelve months ago. When only nine per cent of the population trusts you, the chances of your ever gaining sufficient support to be gainfully employed as Spanish prime minister are remote in the extreme. Word has it that PSOE grandees are seeking an alternative, now finally convinced that Ruby, Ruby, Ruby will not be socking it to anyone, least of all the electorate. Rubalcaba can't even convince his own supporters; 80% of PSOE voters don't trust him.
The appalling and plunging polling of both Rajoy and Rubalcaba is matched only by the slump in support for their respective parties; the Partido Popular has lost 13 points and PSOE six since the election in November last year. Had the PP not experienced a decline in popularity, something would be very wrong, but its slump can be attributed only partly to its handling of the economy. The trust thing is just as important, and trust has all but evaporated in Rajoy, in Rubalcaba and in two-party politics.
Between elections is not the best time to draw firm conclusions, but the inability of either of the main parties to inspire confidence - at a time when Spain is crying out for someone, anyone to do so - is opening the door to other options. Gains by local parties in regional elections this year and the likelihood of Artur Mas's CiU winning the forthcoming Catalonia election place regionalism very much to the fore. Neither the PP nor PSOE, both committed to the "state", is proving capable of holding back the tide of regionalist sentiment.
There has been no test of this sentiment in Mallorca and there won't be one until 2015 (unless something odd happens), but with trust in the Balearics PP eroding and PSOE locally in total disarray, might there be an opportunity for a third party?
The only obvious gain in popularity since the regional elections in 2011 has been for the PSM, the Mallorcan socialists, a party with a firmly pro-nationalist (Mallorcan nationalist) agenda. Now, however, there is El Pi, "autonomist" by mission statement, so therefore regionalist if not nationalist. But how much trust could it call upon? A new name, but there is still the hangover from the corrupt ways of the Unió Mallorquina and even the archived case against Jaume Font from his days with the PP.
There is hope that the UPyD, a genuinely new party when it was formed five years ago, might come to greater prominence. Devoid of any of the baggage associated with other parties, representative of a different style of centrist politics, it would be refreshing to see it make headway. But how could it? Without selling its soul, it is unlikely to ever have a machine sufficiently well-oiled to make a significant impact. It also doesn't deal in the populist, and it is this - populism - that is the real fear that lurks behind the collapse of trust in the two main parties.
Such a populist voice or presence hasn't emerged, but this doesn't mean that it couldn't. The loss of trust in the political parties has very strong echoes of the past, the 1930s, and placed in combination with the international humiliation that Spain is most likely to face when (not if) it finally bows to the inevitable bailout, the savaging of economic crisis, the need to seek scapegoats and the threat to nationhood posed by Mas and possibly others, the lack of the trust thing creates a potentially volatile situation. And this volatility may draw energy from the force within a black-hole vacuum of leadership that requires filling.
The measures taken to tackle economic crisis are bound to provoke a fall in popularity, but the loss of trust stems only partially from a feeling that politicians (including Rubalcaba) are incapable of truly tackling the crisis. It comes also from a belief that this incapability is linked with vested interests that create constraints. It is an acknowledgement of the inherent corruption of the political system, one that could be overlooked when times were good but cannot be now that times are bad.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - General strike provokes few problems in Mallorca
Though there has been some disruption to services, the general strike has led to few incidents in Mallorca. Two arrests have been made during a protest in Palma, one of them being the spokesperson for a pro-Catalan group. The main unions have put the figure of support at 73%, the regional government at 12.7%.
MALLORCA TODAY - Alcúdia and Muro among the most profitable Spanish resorts
According to figures released by Exceltur (the alliance for touristic excellence), Muro and Alcúdia are respectively third and fourth in the ranking for the whole of Spain in terms of the increase in the profitability of hotel rooms for the third quarter of 2012 (as against the same period in 2011). Muro is fourth in actual profitability terms for the whole of Spain; Alcúdia is thirteenth.
MALLORCA TODAY - Lluc walk barriers will come down before 25 November
A threat by pro-ramblers to remove barriers along the old Pollensa-Lluc walk on 25 November should be avoided, the Council of Mallorca announcing that it will ensure that they are removed by 23 November. The Council's order that owners must take the barriers away has not as yet been complied with. A walk that reclaims the old road by ramblers will take place on 25 November.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 14 November 2012
No Frills Excursions
Morning high (7.45am): 20C
Forecast high: 21C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca): East 6, locally 7 easing Northeast 4 and 5 in the afternoon. Rough seas with swells to two metres becoming calmer later.
Again some rain overnight but nothing to correspond with the amber alert that was in place. The morning is windy once more and damp but more because of the extremely high humidity than rain. An improvement by tomorrow with sun. Remaining quite windy though and rain likely to return by Sunday.
Afternoon update (17.45): Not a bad day once the cloud went and the wind died down. A fair amount of sun and a high of 21.3C. It would appear that the bad weather that had been predicted for yesterday and into today mainly affected areas in the south of the island.
Improving Fairs' Fare
It has been suggested to me that I was rather dismissive about Pollensa's fair in a piece I penned for the "Bulletin" this Sunday just gone. "So there will be lots of old pots on show if you happen along" was quoted as having been representative of this dismissiveness. Smugly, I have to say I feel vindicated.
I should point out that this piece was written before the fair started. I had no prior knowledge, therefore, of what transpired at the fair over the weekend. Not that a great deal did transpire, which may be part of the problem, but of stuff on display, the most symbolic were suggestion boxes. The town hall wanted to know how it could make the fair better.
I am not criticising the use of the suggestion boxes. Quite the opposite. It is encouraging to find a town hall actively engaging José Public punter for once. The suggestion boxes were there because the town hall has finally cottoned on to the fact that the fair needs an injection of new ideas. It requires greater originality, and this was precisely the point I had made. The fair is much the same each year, and the impression is that you are looking at the same old pots year on year out.
A counter argument to this is that there is comfort to be drawn from the familiar, but this is a lame justification, one that inhibits a different approach or some different thinking. It is the easy option to simply replicate previous events but it is not a great option if the fair loses its credibility and its popularity.
The number of visitors at this year's fair was lower than before. Economic hard times are said to be partly to blame, though I am not sure this is the case. Even in good times people have gone to fairs just for something to do. They haven't necessarily gone to buy something; there are, after all, events going on that don't demand parting with cash, and window-shopping, so to speak, is all part of the day out at the fair.
Competition is also said to be affecting numbers, but competition there has long been. Inca's interminable series of fairs culminates on Thursday with Dijous Bo, Muro's fair was last weekend as well. The timing of these is nothing new, so one is left with the impression that people are just a bit bored with the repetitiousness of the fair.
Pollensa's isn't the only fair to suffer. Alcúdia's fair in early October also received fewer visitors than normal. The town hall introduced a new aspect this year in that there was a so-called mediaeval fair. With hindsight, given the reduced number of the usual exhibitors, this was probably an innovation designed to compensate for their absence. It wasn't much of an innovation in any event, as the idea was borrowed from other mediaeval fairs that have been in existence for a number of years; Capdepera, for example, has one in spring and it is very much more vibrant than what was on offer in Alcúdia.
But an historical flavour may just be a way of reinvigorating fairs. Not mediaeval but through theming fairs according to a specific time in the past. Recapturing an element of a previous era has worked quite well in Santa Margalida where they revived the old tradition of the hay harvest festival last year and repeated it again during this year's La Beata celebrations. With this, everyone is expected to dress up in gear associated with an old farming culture.
While this is an example of an event specific to local tradition, might fairs be like fairs would have been in, for instance, the 1970s or the 1920s or earlier (had they existed)? Or perhaps with Pollensa, the fair might be shifted to much closer to Christmas and become a proper Christmas fair, one that might even be multi-cultural. Get the Brits involved, for example, with groups of carol singers.
What one doesn't wish to see happen is that fairs just die out through lack of interest, but for too long the fairs - and one can say the same about much of what happens during fiestas - have been staged with little thought given to originality. Ultimately, whatever is decided, the starting-point for any decision should have in mind precisely why there is a fair. Just because there has been one in previous years is no answer.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
I should point out that this piece was written before the fair started. I had no prior knowledge, therefore, of what transpired at the fair over the weekend. Not that a great deal did transpire, which may be part of the problem, but of stuff on display, the most symbolic were suggestion boxes. The town hall wanted to know how it could make the fair better.
I am not criticising the use of the suggestion boxes. Quite the opposite. It is encouraging to find a town hall actively engaging José Public punter for once. The suggestion boxes were there because the town hall has finally cottoned on to the fact that the fair needs an injection of new ideas. It requires greater originality, and this was precisely the point I had made. The fair is much the same each year, and the impression is that you are looking at the same old pots year on year out.
A counter argument to this is that there is comfort to be drawn from the familiar, but this is a lame justification, one that inhibits a different approach or some different thinking. It is the easy option to simply replicate previous events but it is not a great option if the fair loses its credibility and its popularity.
The number of visitors at this year's fair was lower than before. Economic hard times are said to be partly to blame, though I am not sure this is the case. Even in good times people have gone to fairs just for something to do. They haven't necessarily gone to buy something; there are, after all, events going on that don't demand parting with cash, and window-shopping, so to speak, is all part of the day out at the fair.
Competition is also said to be affecting numbers, but competition there has long been. Inca's interminable series of fairs culminates on Thursday with Dijous Bo, Muro's fair was last weekend as well. The timing of these is nothing new, so one is left with the impression that people are just a bit bored with the repetitiousness of the fair.
Pollensa's isn't the only fair to suffer. Alcúdia's fair in early October also received fewer visitors than normal. The town hall introduced a new aspect this year in that there was a so-called mediaeval fair. With hindsight, given the reduced number of the usual exhibitors, this was probably an innovation designed to compensate for their absence. It wasn't much of an innovation in any event, as the idea was borrowed from other mediaeval fairs that have been in existence for a number of years; Capdepera, for example, has one in spring and it is very much more vibrant than what was on offer in Alcúdia.
But an historical flavour may just be a way of reinvigorating fairs. Not mediaeval but through theming fairs according to a specific time in the past. Recapturing an element of a previous era has worked quite well in Santa Margalida where they revived the old tradition of the hay harvest festival last year and repeated it again during this year's La Beata celebrations. With this, everyone is expected to dress up in gear associated with an old farming culture.
While this is an example of an event specific to local tradition, might fairs be like fairs would have been in, for instance, the 1970s or the 1920s or earlier (had they existed)? Or perhaps with Pollensa, the fair might be shifted to much closer to Christmas and become a proper Christmas fair, one that might even be multi-cultural. Get the Brits involved, for example, with groups of carol singers.
What one doesn't wish to see happen is that fairs just die out through lack of interest, but for too long the fairs - and one can say the same about much of what happens during fiestas - have been staged with little thought given to originality. Ultimately, whatever is decided, the starting-point for any decision should have in mind precisely why there is a fair. Just because there has been one in previous years is no answer.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Pollensa social services councillor faces censure
The Alternativa Party is threatening to move a motion of censure against Pollensa's councillor for social services Miquel Llobeta for having failed to convene a meeting to address the impact of economic crisis on citizens of the town (bankruptcies, hardships, possible evictions etc.). Such a meeting and the establishment of a commission to deal with these social matters were agreed in April, but to date nothing has happened.
MALLORCA TODAY - Palma Boat Show to go ahead in 2013
Having been cancelled this year because of lack of funding, the Palma Boat Show is to return in 2013 bolstered by self-financing through public and private sector collaboration. The show is scheduled to take place from 1 to 5 May.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Santa Margalida warns banks over evictions
Though the announcement may have been overtaken by the national government decision to try and halt evictions, Santa Margalida town hall has warned banks that it will cancel contracts it has with any bank that enforces eviction orders. Local police have been instructed not to assist in evictions.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
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