Nobody Does It Better

Of the local town halls, only Alcúdia might be said to function adequately, notwithstanding the Can Ramis fiasco. One can probably add Muro, now that the PP-CDM have carved up the mayoral office and put an end to the slight inconvenience of a rival party having that office. In Pollensa, the administration stumbles from debt-ridden crisis to another, assaulted from all political sides for creating, for instance, “science fiction” in respect of its latest attempt to draw up a budget; at least the local police no longer deem it necessary to work to rule, which they did last year. Sa Pobla gives us near acts of fisticuffs in the open session, but nowhere does it better – or worse – than Santa Margalida. 

 

Santa Margalida town hall is the gift that has been giving and keeps on giving, though one might also say that it is the cup that regularly overflows. From the potty notion that Son Real might have been turned into a golf course (and unlike the Son Bosc finca in Muro, there were very strong reasons for it not to have been, such as the ancient burial sites) through the spats over contracts for works in Can Picafort and fiesta expenditure to the current lunacy surrounding cups for a football tournament. Yep, this is politics, local-style, in Can Pic and at the town hall some kilometres away. This is the town hall where the opposition groups have walked out of meetings – as happened with a dispute about invoices – and have even set up an alternative open session, protesting at a change to the time of the regular one. Over the past week, it emerged that there was a plan under which establishments currently operating on a commercial basis, such as restaurants, would no longer have been classified as being for commercial use. This was before it was admitted that there had been an error, one laid at the door of the previous administration and, naturally enough, batted back across the net and laid at the current one’s door.

 

Then we come to this football tournament. This was part of a fiesta for immigrants in Can Picafort. Five seven-a-side teams made up of players from South America took part in this tournament, itself all in the name of the process of social integration. When it came to the giving out of trophies, however, the mayoral delegate in Can Picafort vetoed the handing over of two trophies donated by the Unió Mallorquina party, one of the parties in opposition to the Partido Popular, of which the mayor is a member. 

 

Now this may all sound very petty, and it almost certainly is, but there’s a bit more to it. On the previous day, the UM published the latest issue of its local news-sheet. On the front cover of this were mocked-up 500 euro notes bearing an image of the mayor; this was a protest at the alleged squandering of public money. On the back cover was the reproduction of an invoice said to support this allegation. So, come the day of the tournament, the PP would appear to have sought its retaliation – by not delivering the trophies to players completely uninvolved in the argument.

 

“The Diario” styled this as part of the “never-ending row” between the ruling body and the opposition. One can probably style it differently. Kindergartens, asylums, breweries, there must be some analogy, the problem is trying to choose between them all.

 

Animal Quackers

And so they came again, they saw and they let loose some live ducks – more than on other occasions during this time of prohibition. Therein lies a story. If you know not of what I speak, get yourselves down to Can Picafort next year for the traditional duck liberation farce. Where there should be only rubber ducks are a few real ones – a dozen in all this year. The problem is you can’t get a good view. So many people came this year, perhaps because it was a holiday and a Saturday, but also because they want to see live ducks being let go in contravention of this mad denial of an old ritual; they want people to be naughty. Whether the masked men who were responsible for the live fowl came on jet-ski or boat is immaterial, the fact is they came, and no-one in Can Picafort is inclined to let on who they might be; they still like their traditions live and with breathing animals in Can Picafort. Plod were apparently unable to use launches because they were all being used to protect the royals down in the south. It would be same next year as well. Unless they form some sort of exclusion zone with helicopters, launches, submarines, the masked miscreants will prevail. But to create an overwhelming police presence would be insane. We are talking about ducks here. This is of course now all a cause célèbre, and there will be a desire for more audacious cocking-a-snook at authority; expect whole flocks of ducks in 2010. And even more people willing them on.

 

 

Oh so expensive – or not?

Yet another letter to “The Bulletin” about over-pricing and low standards. Yet another letter choosing Puerto Pollensa, or one restaurant (unnamed) in Puerto Pollensa, to justify the argument. To be fair, the letter-writer(s) praised restaurants in the resort but picked on one where the menu of the day was less than good. So what? We can all point to bad experiences wherever we go. One example does not make a case for anything, other than not returning to a particular restaurant. ‘Twas ever thus. Yet the conclusion, in the letter, is that tourists will not come back if they are expected to pay the prices that are being asked. Something isn’t quite right – yesterday I cited that research which made price a key issue for coming to Mallorca. Maybe it is just coincidence, maybe it is just a case of letter-writers following a leader, but the paper seems intent on ramming this theme down everyone’s throats and using it as a means of beating the tourism industry in general and bars and restaurants specifically, but with little balance or explanation as to why prices may be as they are or as to how one can actually holiday in Mallorca pretty cheaply. The letters are generally left unchallenged, creating a false impression; it’s the same principle as that to which I referred yesterday.

 

You have to, or should always strive for some perspective and some balance, and these one-off letters simply don’t do that. In “The Diario” they have been talking to tourists and finding that they are looking for ways to spend less, but they quote one British holidaymaker who says that everything is much cheaper than in the UK. So make of that what you will.

 

 

Car-hire shortage – old news

Still with “The Bulletin”, on Saturday it front-paged about the lack of hire cars on the island and their price. It was basically a thing doing the rounds of other media – the BBC’s website had something very similar. It’s fair enough and at least it does point out that the situation has been caused in large part by a lack of financing that saw hire-car fleets reduced. But why now? On 14 April (You Got A Fast Car), there was a piece on just this subject. The shortage was heralded before the main season started, but only now is it being given much attention. It’s actually old news, old news that should have been given more prominent treatment as car hire is a not unimportant aspect of the island’s tourism. Don’t understand.

Going To A Go-Go

Any scam will do. Any way of extracting some moolah. The Unió Mallorquina in Santa Margalida, reports “The Diario”, has denounced what it says is an illegal excursion that takes tourists in Can Picafort to two discos in Cala Rajada for the princely sum of 50 euros a pop. Those who are mad enough to fork this out (there are, after all, perfectly decent discos in Can Picafort and Puerto Alcúdia) get no receipts or guarantees from an operation that changes its departure point and coach company, meaning that it is difficult to track down. The whole thing smacks of a scam. There has been something similar cracking off in Puerto Alcúdia, involving transport to Magalluf, which may be legit but seems to rely on “ticketeros” doing the beaches and selling the trips, which almost certainly isn’t.

 

 

Meantime, the Palma bombs continue to be a talking-point and a fantasy-point. There was meant to have been a bomb in Puerto Alcúdia the day before yesterday, but of course there wasn’t. Understandable though it is that people start seeing bombs where none exist, there is also a fantasy element on behalf of those who want there to be bombs. It’s a curious psychology, but one predicated on the fact that some see themselves somehow as police or potential heroes, imagining the reports in the press of how they saved etc, etc. It is a psychology also that actually wants the unusual. Any bag has a bomb, anyone getting up from a table, even for a moment, and leaving a carrier-bag is a bomber. Of course they are. Bombers do usually just walk in to a bar, order a beer and then ask if they can leave a bomb behind. And here it is: a black ball with two wires sticking out and bomb written on it in big white letters. 

 

“The Bulletin”, bless ’em, had its four or five pages of reporting and tourist vox-pop. The bombs are a godsend, at least it’s news for once rather than front pages devoted to Top Gear or to Michael Douglas. You would hardly expect them to not devote a fair amount of space to them. But this just adds a certain tension and a sense of unreality and of disproportion. No-one was hurt, the devices themselves were not powerful, warnings were issued, even if one relating to the Italian restaurant in Portixol was misinterpreted as the voice was disguised. The bomb there did go off with people still in the restaurant. That wasn’t the intention. Reporting may just fuel the publicity that it is the intention, but to be fair the media would be damned if it didn’t as much as it is damned for doing so.   

 

The police seem nowhere nearer to having a definitive idea as to time frames. The bomb in the Plaça Major in Palma may have been planted on the Saturday or even the Sunday morning; the security cameras seem not to have been working. But there is a counter-theory that all four bombs, and the fourth has now been confirmed, were left some time in advance before perhaps the Palmanova ones. Though given that there is no definitive statement as to when they (the Palmanova ones) were planted, one doesn’t really know. 

 

A poll conducted by Euronews reveals that 32% would change their plans to visit Mallorca following the bombs. No they won’t.

Ten Years After

So finally it would seem that the golf course in Muro is going ahead. It’s only been a decade or so. These things do tend to take some time, especially when there is so much environmental squabbling. But now the overseers of flora and fauna have said that the protection of the orchid seems guaranteed, and the environment ministry has effectively given the green light. The new mayor of Muro, Martí Fornes, has confirmed that, environmentally, everything is in order. Indeed his remarks have been reported in rather perfunctory fashion, as though he is saying that enough is enough. Good for him. Despite his connection to Grupotel, a key shareholder in the development, he is right to take a firm stance. If the development is to go ahead, then let’s get on with it. GOB, the environmental pressure group, is presumably rather green, suitably so you might say, around its organic gills.

 

Though I remain unconvinced as to the necessity of another golf course, there is nevertheless an argument in favour of the course as a potential generator of more tourism in Muro, and also in favour of a less tangible aspect – that of a general upgrading in the appeal of Muro and Playa de Muro. The latter already benefits from the sophistication of much of its hotel stock and from a more up-market style than some other places; the golf course can only enhance this.

 

Unconvinced as I have been as to the business case, I have never been particularly convinced by the environmental counter-argument. So long as certain species are protected, a golf course does not have to be environmentally harmful; indeed it can be the opposite. Habitats can remain unmolested alongside an environmental landscape change that, one hopes, has aesthetic appeal and style. 

 

Work on the course could begin as soon as September, assuming, that is, the enviro lobby doesn’t drag up even more objections. Yep, just get on with it.

 

Meanwhile, the hotel association of Playa de Muro’s website, the one that has been talking of the creation of a golf course for some while now, has yet to update the good news. But in its absence, there is something else that is a bit of an oddity. Welcoming all to Playa de Muro and to the “congresses” that can be enjoyed, it mentions that also at one’s disposal is the “recently built Alcúdia Auditorium”. How recent is recent? What is the year of the auditorium’s inauguration? About as long as they have been talking about the golf course. 1999.

 

 

Can Picafort’s frontline

And another green light. One in Can Picafort. A while back I mentioned the opening of the walkway from Son Bauló and remarked that rather more pressing was an upgrade of the frontline in Can Picafort. What do you know – three and a half million euros or so are to be spent doing just that. Work is due to start on 1 November and finish before May. There is some debate as to whether cyclists will be able to use the paseo; the plan seems to be exclusively for pedestrians. The bulk of the dosh is being stumped up by the environment ministry. Ah yes, now we know why the environment minister it was who cut the ribbon to open the Son Bauló phase.

 

 

Swine flu

Well sad to say that the first death has been recorded; a Nigerian woman in Palma. She had gone to emergency and been sent home with a prescription for paracetamol. Wasn’t quite enough it would seem.

Too Much To Ask

“We’re doing a survey. We’d like your views about …” It’s the oldest trick in the book. Stop someone with an apparently innocent request to ask if you might do some seemingly legitimate market research, and use it as a means to something else. It’s a trick that the scratch-cardists are using. They want to know if people are satisfied with things in Puerto Alcúdia. How dare they? Without wishing to sound like “disgusted of Tunbridge Wells”, it is an absolute disgrace – at different levels. It is the thing that the market research industry has fought against for years, and for the scratch-cardists to even vaguely suggest that they might be doing something that is a) market research or b) has Alcúdia’s interests at heart is little short of scandalous. They are not conducting market research and they care not one iota about Alcúdia. If they did, they would not be helping to harm the resort’s reputation.

Can Picafort and its frontline
Can Picafort’s hoteliers had a meeting with tourism minister Nadal the other day. Top of the agenda, as reported by “The Diario”, was the state of the frontline, a project for the improvement of which has been on the cards for five years, but which has yet to come to fruition. This project started to take on greater urgency last year when the German newspaper “Bild” laid into Can Picafort beach, the frontline included, and went so far as to recommend that tourists go to Playa de Muro beach instead. It was exaggerating the state of the frontline and the beach area, but the paper had a point, and some local politicos appeared to take the report’s sentiments to heart. Yet still no plans are concrete – so to speak.

Can Picafort, despite the over-abundance of hotels, is not an unpleasant place. Lacking in character perhaps but appealing in a let’s not pretend this is anything but a holiday resort way. The paseo marítimo (promenade) is one of its main drawbacks. There may be some gripes about parts of Puerto Pollensa’s frontline looking a tad tacky nowadays, but it is a thing of beauty compared with the in-parts ramshackle appearance of Can Picafort’s. One has to admire how Puerto Alcúdia transformed its main prom, in order to appreciate what some TLC can achieve.

The hoteliers were also interested in the minister creating a Nordic walking area. Oh, here we go. Alcúdia’s got one, so we’d better have one as well. That said, Can Picafort is holiday home to a large German contingent and so it may well make sense for there to indeed be a Nordic walking zone. No reason why not. However, this request does once again highlight the degree to which there is a “follow-the-leader” mentality; golf courses being the prime example. It also highlights the apparent lack of some, what one might call, lateral thought in terms of doing something different. In defence of Nordic walking, however, if a special “park” is established, it would in all likelihood reside in a natural environment – forest land, rather as it does in Alcúdia. It would be essentially environmentally neutral and healthy; it would not be something which should raise any great objection. They should do it.

Alcúdia Nordic walking event
And while on Nordic walking, this weekend will see something of a stick-in or pole-in, however you call it, of Nordic walkers in Alcúdia. On Saturday afternoon, a grand trek will start in the old town and then, from 18:00, one to Barcares. On Sunday, there will be a second go, with – from 11:15 – a walk from the old town to Sunwing via the beach. This is all part of the “Alcúdia Living Sport” summer programme of healthy activities.