As Pollensa town hall says, the most important act for the Sant Antoni Fiestas is the trip to the Ternelles finca in order to collect the pine tree for the famous climb on January 17. "This is demonstrated every year through very significant participation."
The collection of the tree involves a bit of a party. A bit of? It was suggested that rather too much drink may have played a part in one of the collectors losing a finger some years ago when the tree's carriage went out of control. Mishaps and incidents, the pine of Ternelles (a different one, obviously) is well used to them. There was, for instance, the occasion in 2018 when it was discovered that the tree was too long to get into Plaça Vella, the location for the climb. The struggle to bend it round the corner resulted in two injuries; the tree snapped.
Last year there was a similar issue with the length of the tree. It was finally taken into the square, which was when further mishaps occurred. The angle of the tree, when raised, made the climb more precarious than ever. If this wasn't enough, there was heavy rain plus hail, while it came to be realised that whoever had been in charge of larding the tree up had gone over the top. The tree was proving to be impossible; some attempting the climb suffered slight injuries when they fell.
After midnight, by which time attempts to climb the tree had been going on for around three hours and most people had gone home, the town hall considered pulling the plug on the whole event. For the IB3 broadcaster, which transmits the climb live, its scheduling was all over the place. But then, and just as if it had looked as if the climb would be called off, Sergi Gómez gave it one more go. It was 12.34am when he reached the top and released the confetti.
The incidents can therefore occur with the transporting of the tree and with the climb. But then there are also possible incidents when it comes to going to Ternelles to choose the tree and to cut it down. This was on Wednesday. The town hall had taken the decision to limit the number of people who could go. Under the previous administration, it was stated, there had been a lack of control. A hundred or so people were going, and the cutting had been turning into a party, not on the scale of when the tree is collected, but party nevertheless. Apart from anything else, if you cut a 21-metre tree down, there is a health and safety angle to consider.
Rather than a hundred, the number was trimmed to around forty. Which still sounds like quite a lot of people, but not when you have to add in the likes of bagpipers and whistlers who accompany the whole event plus members of the media. For the media, the Ternelles pine may not be the most important act, but it's important nonetheless. IB3 will be hoping that the pine doesn't play havoc with its schedules again this year.
Converting local mills for electricity to power a green hydrogen plant in Alcudia
A year ago, the director of the Alcudia Tech Mar initiative, Bartomeu Rosselló, announced the building of a ship of some forty metres length out of marine grade aluminium that is non-toxic and 100% recyclable. It will be, he explained, a sailboat but with electric and hydrogen motorisation that will act as electrical generators when the ship sails. Therefore, there will be zero emissions and an energy balance of zero consumption.
Alcudia Tech Mar, on a grand scale, is the project that will transform the old power station into a centre for addressing the challenges of climate change and decarbonisation of the sea in particular. With the site now owned by the Council of Mallorca, European funds are supposed to realise this ambition. But when this might be is unknown.
Meanwhile, Rosselló is pursuing a project that will be both beneficial for island heritage and for supplying green fuel. Mallorca has one of the highest densities of windmills anywhere in the world, but they represent a heritage that has not been well preserved. The plan is to recycle electric motors from Audi vehicles so that windmills can start producing electricity. This, in turn, will be used to power a green hydrogen plant which, so it is envisaged, will supply fuel to the shipping fleet in Alcudia. "We are talking about electricity generation applied to mills and about circularity. In the process, we can recover historical heritage. On the island there are some 3,000 windmills that were used to extract water. We have the technology and the participation of Audi, who are fully involved."
The aim is to eventually have one hundred mills to generate the energy for the proposed green hydrogen plant in the area of the port. For now, Rosselló is looking for ten mills in nearby municipalities - Buger, Muro and Sa Pobla. He says that this won't be a restoration project, as the windmills need to be in decent condition for conversion and have good access. The hope is that these initial ten mills will start producing electricity some time this year.
The graffiti aliens of Cala Boquer
Defacing the natural landscape of Mallorca is sadly an all-too-often occurrence. Rockfaces are a favoured target for graffiti vandals, their 'works' - it is said - having been influenced by social media, both the nature of the graffiti and the desire to show it off.
Cala Boquer, popular with hikers, is the latest place to suffer from this. Some four kilometres from Puerto Pollensa, the cove has attracted a particular style of graffiti - puppet-like alien figures, accompanied by a UFO. A group dedicated to hiking and mountain activities, Sa Fita Perduda, has denounced the graffiti and the fact that individuals appear to be encouraged by social networks to achieve some notoriety.