OH what joy! After an understandably slow start to the festive season, it finally happened, the Christmas spirit broke out in Palma on Christmas Eve. The shops were busy and the bars and restaurants enjoyed a bumper festive lunchtime session before eventually closing up so that owners and staff could spend the evening with their families.
And, people flocked into the city from across the island. I bumped in to friends and the odd columnist I rarely see in town and all were enjoying the festive party. It was so heartwarming to see, especially for friends of mine in my neighbourhood who own bars and restaurants and have had a stop-start year with restrictions being introduced, lifted and then reintroduced.
I do, however, also know of many establishments which stocked up on extra produce only to have to handle a host of cancellations but no one saw this new wave of the virus coming in Spain or anywhere else for that matter.
No doubt, as is the nature of this beast, there will be a post festive season spike in cases, but I am no longer going to touch on vaccinations. Enough has been said and people should be adult enough to be able to reach their own conclusions and make their own judgements by now.
None of this is going to change dramatically overnight, Covid is something we are going to have to live with, I just hope we can go about it in a responsible and sensible way and try to cause no further damage to the currently fragile fabric of society. So keep that festive spirit buzzing, don’t let it beat you.