Elves, Demons And Clichés

I have an aversion to the cliché, to lexicological laziness, to the presumption of a jocular shared value inherent to the oft-repeated “bon mot”. One such has assumed diffusion and usage that is so widespread, it might deserve a place in the Oxford English collection of idioms.

Yet I despair of the pixiated fracturing of “health”. Its elfin corruption into “elf”, with its postfixation of “and safety”, is meant as a whimsy of word play. It succeeds insofar as it has passed into common usage as a means of encapsulating a collective appreciation of excessive or unnecessary resort to legislation or jobsworthing intervention. But when usage becomes common, the joke, such as it ever was, loses any force it may once have been able to lay claim to. It becomes tired, worn-out: enervated expressionism.

“Elf and safety”, and its lifeless fellow-travelling quasi-maxims of “the whole world’s gone made” and “you couldn’t make it up, could you”, are designed to create maximum indignation with a minimum of originality. And no, you couldn’t make it up, because someone else did. A long, long time ago.

For all this, however, invoking the “elf” expression has a certain appositeness of otherworldliness when applied to demons, beasties and other semi-beings that go bump and bang in the night. It is one limited to an association of the mythological and mysterious. Or should be. Inevitably, though, it is limply spirited into the real world as the flat little gag that contrasts Anglo-Saxon and Brusselian obsession with corporeal protection with a Mallorcan disregard for life, limb and being lit up.

Two years ago, almost to the day, 150 assorted mayors, other politicians, businesspeople, artists and union representatives all had an away day or two or three to Brussels paid for by the local government. Their mission: to stop any interference with the tradition of the fire-run and with the birthright of every Mallorcan child to be set fire to during such a run.

Europe duly ignored them and passed its directive on pyrotechnics. I say ignored, but this directive, all-embracing in covering issues such as the transportation of fireworks as well as events that featured pyrotechnics, was quite clear in recognising that local traditions which might require someone suffering third-degree burns should be allowed to continue.

The main implication for the fire fiestas, as covered by the directive, was the participation of minors. It was never the intention that the fire-runs should be outlawed, and yet this was how it was portrayed, a Palma councillor threatening legal action at the whole world (well, Brussels) going mad. The elfin propaganda-ists failed to even bother reading the directive (understandable enough, admittedly; have you ever tried reading one?), but they should have known that, regardless of the directive being adopted by the Spanish Government (which it was), no one would take a blind bit of notice (which they didn’t).

If you had, for example, attended the Sant Antoni fire-runs, you would have seen minors being showered by firefalls. Remarkable it may be that A&E and burns units are not packed out on the nights of fire fiestas, but they aren’t. Accidents, despite all the fire-related events in Mallorca, are uncommon. There was the poor chap, one of the island’s leading fireworks display organisers, who blew himself up during the Petra fiestas last summer, but if you must do such organising for a living, you have to expect the possibility of not living.

The vague threat that children’s involvement in the fire-runs might actually be stopped has now been addressed by the regional government. It has agreed to recognise the “correfocs” as something of religious, cultural and traditional character (which is pretty much what the directive allowed for). It comes with certain conditions attached, but the tradition has been secured along with the youthful exuberance that sees kids jumping around with maniacal and pagan abandon under the demons’ trident wands of fire.

There will be those who consider this a triumph of risk-taking over the risk-aversion of the compliance-choked legislation of Europe that is typically and slavishly adhered to in the UK. There will be those who will continue, on witnessing the fire-runs, to resort to the elf expression in suggesting that the elf movement will put a stop to the demons. But they will neglect the fact that the matter has been dealt with and that Europe did not and does not obsess about the fire-runs. There will continue to be those who say that the elf movement would never allow such things in the UK, and they’d be right up to a point. The difference, though, is that, unlike the UK, Mallorca has never forgotten that there are such things as traditions. It is collective forgetfulness which allows mischievously compulsive, law-amending elves to flourish as the sprites of statute-making, but not in Mallorca, where the elves will not stop the demons.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Killing Them Softly

Further to yesterday. There is some disquiet that there was not a cohesive message coming from the various political parties in Muro against the Costas demolition plan. Only the Unió Mallorquina got involved, something for which it was criticised as it appeared to make Ses Casetes the party’s own issue. Maybe that’s why others stayed away. Something else that came out was that, while Ses Casetes is threatened by the definition as to what is public domain or land, a hotel next to the area is excluded. One presumes that this means the Hotel Platja Daurada, a hotel operated by the EIX group, which so happens to have its offices next to the hotel.

 

Even if this not the right hotel – and there is no other hotel that joins onto Ses Casetes – it is hard not to get the impression that maybe Ses Casetes is something of a soft target. For the very reasons that it is not a hotel and is not an urbanisation of expensive real estate or of the fabulously wealthy, perhaps it is a convenient fall-guy in the Costas wish to do some cleaning up of public land along the shorelines of Mallorca. Killing the small houses softly. 

 

Yet for all this, if one takes a stroll around Ses Casetes, and the photo** from yesterday does give an impression of the place – unmade tracks as roads for instance – then one does wonder as to the legitimacy of the development. It does seem hugely anachronistic, which is of course part of the charm. That it has not been developed in terms, say, of roads, does not mean that it does not have legitimacy, but there is also something that is not quite right there. The original or oldest small houses around the parking area and just off are one thing, but some tracks go into the forest, and next to some tracks are houses that are not like the small houses. They are in fact new; certainly by comparison. 

 

** To be found on the main blog site – http://www.alcudiapollensa.blogspot.com.

 

 

The land itself was ceded to the town many years ago. A question may well be what that land actually was. Some of the buildings would certainly appear to be in possible conflict with what is meant to be the wider nature park of Albufera. 

 

Whatever the real legal situation, the people of Ses Casetes deserve support. One thing that came across vividly during the demonstration was the strength of the community that is Ses Casetes, of the vast age ranges that tell of the history of ownership and of the generations who have summered (and also wintered at holiday times) in the small houses. It is definitely a place worth preserving.

 

 

Some hours after the Muro demo, there was the other one – in Sa Pobla. This was a gathering of “demons” in a defiant act of fire-running against the European directive that would limit the participation of children and general interactivity during fire-runs at Mallorcan fiestas. 3,000 people are estimated to have attended. Further to what I said on 23 October (“Feel The Fire”) when I wondered about the safety of fire-runs and of bonfires, I was told by Kevin at JKs about how the Santander bank in Puerto Pollensa nearly once copped for it, while John MacLean has sent an email specifically about fires in Sa Pobla during Sant Antoni. I quote: “We were absolutely gobsmacked to see a roaring fire, surrounded by the usual crowd of partygoers, slap bang on the forecourt of the Repsol filling station”. (Yep, that’s right, filling station as in petrol station.) “It could not have been more than ten feet from the pumps. At that point, I realised that the Mallorcans and the ‘poblers’ (as the folk of Sa Pobla are called) are not only a different breed but totally off their heads. Needless to say, we didn’t hang about!”

 

And they’re complaining about a bit of European health and safety that might stop kids setting fire to themselves during fire-runs. Tradition is one thing, but madness is another.

Feel The Fire

Another day, another demo. Actually, the same day as the demo against the demolition of Ses Casetes, just a different town – Sa Pobla – and a different matter of concern. And this is? Fire. Fire and fire-runs. One of the most traditional aspects of the Mallorcan fiesta is threatened (allegedly) by the European Union and its directive 2007/23/EC which comes into force at the start of next year – just in time, of course, before one of the biggest “fire” occasions in Mallorca, the Sant Antoni devils night of 16 January. And which town has the biggest of these occasions? Sa Pobla of course.

 

I have tried to read this directive. Have you ever tried reading European directives? As a cure to insomnia, they probably have some merit. Anyway, this one is all about fireworks and other pyrotechnics. At its heart is the free movement of pyrotechnic articles which, being European legislation, is anything but. Possibly; I did rather get lost at that point. But also being European legislation, it would not be doing its job if it didn’t draw up volumes of law in respect of health and safety. It is this aspect, fundamentally, that could change the fire-run tradition. One says could. I actually doubt it.

 

Much as traditions should be preserved, I have long wondered about the whole fire-run and bonfire-lighting malarkey in Mallorca. In towns such as Puerto Pollensa, bonfires are lit in close proximity to houses and bars. There may not have been major conflagrations, but it’s not hard to imagine that the fires might get out of hand. Then there are the fire-runs themselves. Advice is always issued as to the wearing of the right clothing and the like, but once again you do wonder. 

 

In the directive, there is this thing about the observance of “festivities” in member states. It has not been drafted without acknowledgement of these traditions or indeed permissions issued by member-state governments. The fire-run itself does not appear to be endangered, but there are rules being set out about the handling of fire and fireworks and the ages of those doing so.

 

In May, the fire-run tradition was taken to the streets of Manchester as part of the attempt to drum up Mancunian business for the beaches of Mallorca. I’m sure that Manchester was impressed. Or maybe it wasn’t. But it should have been. The fire-run is a spectacle. It should be left to continue. Also earlier this year, a delegation of mayors and others trotted off to Brussels to lobby against the directive and to also ask for more European money. There was some talk of legal action if the directive did actually impinge on the fire-run to the extent of it being outlawed. This, the outlawing, I cannot see happening. Apart from anything else, who – locally – would enforce the ruling? And, as I point out, there is this mention in the directive of observing local traditions.

 

The Sa Pobla demo may be a bit of an over-reaction. There seems to be an admission that the definitive ruling on the fire-run is missing, which maybe how Brussels wants it. Thataway, it can let the local traditions carry on while at the same time insisting that there is adequate safety, to which the locals would respond that there already is. But where kids of certain ages are concerned, the fact that the directive might lead them to handling nothing more incendiary than a sparkler may actually be sensible. 

 

Don’t let’s get too worked up, though. The fire-runs will continue. And so will the devils.

The Bellevue Interview

As trailed on here, below is the result of the interview with the assistant director of Bellevue. This has now been published in “Talk Of The North”, so as an additional archive, here it is. The first part is the feature itself and this is followed by some history and facts.

 

 

Realism At Bellevue

“Every day we think of how we can improve our product.” To read some of the criticisms levelled at the Bellevue hotel complex, one might find that hard to believe, but listening to assistant director Syb Sijbertsma one does believe it. “Ridiculous,” is his assessment of some of the things that are trotted out on the internet. 

 

The web consumes much of our discussion time. “There is a danger with the internet. It creates too high a level of expectation.” This is expectation not just of what Bellevue might have to offer but of what any hotel or destination can provide. “It used to be an adventure,” the holiday that is. “But not now.” Accordingly, hotels are compared with others, and in the case of Bellevue a false impression can be created through inaccuracies or through unreal expectations. 

 

At Bellevue they are clear as to what their product is, but often it becomes distorted, not least by some tour operators who do not inform their customers correctly. The holidaymaker needs to “experience things for himself” and be realistic. As an example, we touch on a familiar criticism as to length of queues. The main restaurant can cater for 1000 at a sitting. If everyone comes at the same time, then there are bound to be queues. At Bellevue they know this, but the message does not always get across. 

 

We have to take a step back. Back to why I felt it important to hear the Bellevue story. There were a number of factors, not least the criticisms that one read on the internet, the rumours that one constantly heard and the apparent lack of communication by the hotel in addressing these. Then there was the sheer scale of Bellevue – it is the largest holiday complex in Spain – its importance to the economy of Alcúdia and its almost iconic status. Moreover, what occurs at Bellevue is not wholly unique as it is indicative of what is occurring in the mass tourism holiday market across Mallorca and not just in the north of the island. 

 

But let’s get back to that apparent lack of communication. On Syb’s computer screen are comments from the review site “Trip Advisor”. Contrary to what I had believed, these are taken very seriously. However, there is frustration. While he can respond with information, that is all he can do: no opinion, no sense of criticising a poster. “If you sit with people who have a problem, you can explain and then they are normally happy. The internet is not the same.” “There is always something to pick on at Bellevue,” be it cleanliness, the queues, safety or even mosquitoes.

 

We take a walk around the complex. Five thousand people and you have to expect some litter. Yet the impression is far from unfavourable despite the lack of consideration that leads to Syb picking up discarded plastic cups or wrappers. He is, as he puts it, “manic” about collecting litter. In the middle of the afternoon, pool sides are full of guests with cups and plates. It is not just the assistant director who cleans up, there are staff everywhere in a constant battle with abandoned containers. Behaviour is an issue. He admits that it has got worse. And not just where litter is concerned. He relates stories, none of them repeatable, but they all add up to making his job far broader than just that of a manager or a strategist. He is also social worker, family counsellor, mediator. A background as a physical education instructor is perhaps useful in being able to deal with certain situations. 

 

 

The fires

We take a look at the burnt-out lift in Minerva 2. The health and safety criticism is one that annoys him. It was one bandied about after the two fires. I study the specification for the hotel, note the ticks for items such as smoke detectors and alarms. “The tour operators come every year and see for themselves. They are always happy.” Were they not, they wouldn’t send their clients to Bellevue. He doesn’t wish to go into the issue, but the TUI decision to pull out of Bellevue was not related to health and safety. “There weren’t any fires for years, then two. Similar circumstances surrounding both.” He cites theories as to possible origins of the fires, but they are a police matter so I am not about to repeat them. 

 

The fires, however, were indicative of how the internet can inflame, as it were, the situation. He is critical of those whose first impulse is to go onto a review site and disseminate what is not wholly accurate. “The fires were dealt with in a perfect way,” he says. The first fire, in Minerva 1, attracted more attention than the second, partly because the alarms did not sound. He explains that if there is a fire or smoke – and there was a lot of smoke and very little by way of flames with the first fire – an alarm goes off at reception. There is a five-minute delay before the alarms go off, enabling staff to investigate the nature of the fire. In the case of Minerva 1, it was under control. To have sounded the alarms would have made the situation worse by causing more panic. The Minerva 2 fire involved more flames, and the alarms were set off in this instance. One has to understand, Syb explains, that there are over 15 false alarms every week, which is why they have the system they do. 

 

To see what was said on the internet, it was easy to form an impression as to a lack of information, but an office was set aside for four days after the fires to handle guests’ queries or concerns, while there was also a press relations facility established. In terms of both safety and communications, he is satisfied that the incidents were handled well. 

 

 

Responsibilities and all-inclusive

Back in Minerva 2, from a room on the eighth floor you get an impression not just of the size of the complex but also the setting. It is extraordinary. One can see the length of the Lago Esperanza and appreciate just how big that is. Across the sea and bay of Alcúdia are the mountains of Artà. I wanted to talk about responsibility, the responsibility that Bellevue has to the local community. It is the physical splendour of the immediate surroundings that informs this responsibility, the hotel’s part in maintaining the beauty of the environment and in the plans to upgrade the lake area. There are other responsibilities, I suggest, and so we come to the local community and businesses. 

 

What of all the rumours that fly around? Bellevue is being sold, Bellevue is closing, Bellevue this and Bellevue that. Is there a responsibility to respond to them? Not really, he says. Alcúdia is a small town, one in which all sorts of rumour spread quickly. To make statements might simply make matters worse, as though they would imply that there was some truth to the rumours when there never is. 

 

And what of the impact of changes at Bellevue, most obviously all-inclusive (AI) packages? It is Syb’s turn to want to take a step back. From the time Bellevue really took off as a holiday complex in the early ’80s, its clientele would leave the site and patronise the bars, restaurants and shops that grew up along and off The Mile. Syb is unequivocal. “Some people got really rich on it.” But things have changed. He sees no responsibility for this change. “A hotel is a hotel. We do what we do.” 

 

The AI side of the Bellevue product has grown significantly. From trialling it in 2005, it has grown to the extent that it now comprises over half the number of guests. Of a maximum occupancy this year just shy of 5100 guests, around 2800 are staying on an AI basis. “We’re being pushed into it,” he concedes. The crisis, as much as anything, has contributed to a rise this year from a maximum of 2000 AI guests in 2008. Despite this, he is not particularly in favour of AI, and the reasoning for this is based on the service that can be offered. “AI is like a basic family car, when you would really like to be offering a Mercedes. It’s impossible on a 3-star basis.” He draws a comparison with the Caribbean where costs are that much lower, allowing branded products to form part of the AI offer and far greater levels of staffing. Spain is that much more expensive. You come back to that level of expectation. Bellevue is at the limits as to what it can achieve in terms of providing AI in its restaurants, and there is an acknowledgement that some re-organisation and development will need to occur in order to comply with the diktats of the tourism ministry in terms of the space per guest. So, AI could grow more, I ask. Yes. Might Bellevue become totally AI? Maybe, he replies, but counters this by suggesting that AI could be cyclical and that it could fade away as tourist needs and demands change. 

 

I return to the local businesses. “It was all so easy in the past,” he explains. Syb constantly refers to product, and he is critical of some who have paid too little attention to their product or quality. “Other businesses will still come in,” he believes in answer to the question about the impact along The Mile. “They will offer products that people want.” The hotel itself has had to adapt to a changing market; this is all a part of that thinking every day as to how they can improve. He sees some evidence of businesses doing this as well. It is necessary that they do. Despite the possibility that AI is indeed cyclical, Syb says starkly that “it is AI or nothing”.

 

 

Bellevue history and facts

The Bellevue complex was built between 1972 and 1974 by the same German developer behind what are now the Club Mac hotels. The Siesta apartments were sold off separately in 1974 and the Bellevue apartments were put on the market as a form of time-share option. That was the plan, but it didn’t work. Between 1974 and 1983 there was little activity at Bellevue, the complex being in the hands of the bank Banesto. In 1983 the first hotel company was formed, effectively creating the complex as it now is. But there were several years of changes in the actual running of the complex until 2000 when Hotetur in partnership with My Travel took over and Banesto finally left the scene. For five years the arrangement with My Travel gave the hotel guaranteed places, but in 2005 Hotetur bought out My Travel’s stake which had amounted to a minority holding of 49%. 

 

Bellevue comprises 17 separate accommodation blocks which stand on an area of 200,000 square metres. There is facility to house over 6000 guests, but the maximum occupation in 2009 is around 5100, down on the 5500 of 2007. This can be explained partially by economic conditions but also by smaller family units. There are five different types of board category, the most popular being self-catering and all-inclusive. Around 400 staff are employed at the complex.

 

While the buildings are now quite old, the apartments themselves are maintained to good standards. I saw an example of each category. While they might be cramped for larger groups, they generally have ample space with kitchen units, bathrooms and toilets; the actual sizes are, respectively, 25, 35 and 45 square metres for studios and one and two-bedroomed apartments. In total there are 1468 apartments. The impression is that they are clean, functional and safe.

 

The breakdown of nationalities has changed this year. The main market is British at around 65 to 70%, down around 20%, but compensated for by an increase in other groups – Scandinavian, German, French and Dutch. Internet bookings are a vital part of the hotel’s operations, and these can rise as high as 80%.