Mallorca’s little bubble of exclusivity is soon coming to an end. Once the light is set at Amber the rest of Spain opens up, as do many other destinations. The prices will tumble and the customer, for a short while, will be king. The decisions then are placed at the feet of the host countries to decide if any local rules need apply. Curfews, social distancing and masks are still big topics of conversation round our way.
In the meantime, the sun continues to shine, and everyone is happy to be here. The ‘Theatre of the Earth’, known locally as ‘The Hay Bale Theatre’ has opened and is a great addition to our lives. The war about whose idea this was, is still rumbling on, but music, book launches and more have been our experiences so far.
The stories of the week have been of the ‘summer variety’. The Estrella beer van which crashed spectacularly into the Tram line occupied us for an afternoon. Fortunately, no-one was hurt so social media erupted with beer puns and jokes.
The Football matches had their place with some glued to the sets and others resolutely not. Tennis came and went and now we are supposedly looking forward to the ‘ghost town’ Olympics.
Lucky ones from Soller, go off to the Olympics and are among the Executive Chef team. This year is going to be a very quiet one for them without any crowds. They won’t even be able to use their time to go sightseeing while the state of emergency over Covid exists. The sailing team from Majorca and other local athletes left for Tokyo last Friday to have their empty stadium games.
We are slipping into the inertia of hot weather and beach life which is summer for some. Others are finding it hard to get their mojo back as they are now into serious work mode. You can’t work from home if you are running a hotel or restaurant.
I had a serious tech problem this week with the computer. Fortunately, Tracey my computer whizz, business partner, came to my rescue. I use the computer without any real looking after it. I ignore messages for updates thinking I will get around to them in time. Then of course, I don’t. This week the computer fought back and wouldn’t let me edit anything.
For me ,who spends half a day, every day, writing, this was the end of my little world. It took a total of three hours, but we got there in the end. For all you out there who wonder why computer technology, to enable you to do your job. costs money – think again. I hope you never ask me that question. I am extremely bored with those who think all IT skills and writing prowess should be given for free.
W here do you stand on Podcasts? Have they taken over your world? A few years ago, I was in the Podcast world and did a series of interviews for Boat Radio. I still get correspondence from people who continue to access them. Podcast popularity has grown even more in the last 18 months of Lockdown, as people could switch on and still get on with other things. They were sick of spending every available moment looking at a screen. A Podcast on a phone is great company and you can plug it in the car and even listen on the move.
A survey out this week says that most Podcasts are listened to between 9 am and 12 noon. The favourite subject is History storytelling. Obviously, the list is huge to cater for the Oprah’s of this world and the wonderful Ted Talks. My personal favourite is Louis Theroux and his odd way of chatting to people. His lockdown interviews were great with no-one actually being in the same room. There was something about that which really made people open up in a unique way. It was as if they thought no-one was actually listening. Great chats with Boy George, Rylan Clark Neal and Miriam Margolyes were ones I have gone back to.
This week brings more decisions and changes and the vaccination targets for Mallorca are exceeded. We wish all who are unwell this week a speedy recovery and hope you are among the many with minor symptoms.