Last Saturday, there was an event to raise funds to repair the stained glass rose window at Sa Pobla's Sant Antoni Abat Church. There was a meal, the food having been prepared by parishioners, there was a concert featuring the Sa Pobla Band of Music, and there was a raffle of paintings. Some 3,000 euros were raised for repairing damage that was caused by Storm Gloria in January 2020. The total cost of the repair will be between 60,000 and 70,000 euros, so every bit counts. Or would do if it hadn't been stolen.
The Guardia Civil are heading the investigation to trace the robber. They have taken fingerprints and have been examining security camera images. However, the camera is located some distance away from the entrance to the parish office, which was where the robber smashed a blind in order to gain access. The images aren't that great.
The rector, Felip Salvador Díez, says that it "leaves you cold" to think that someone would steal the money but adds that there will now be even more enthusiasm for raising the necessary funds. He also explains how he managed to miss the robber. He was still in the church when the robbery happened. It was only by chance that an "urgent" call of nature meant that he had gone to the bathroom and left the brass box containing the money on a piece of furniture rather than hiding it away. It was while he was in the bathroom that the robber entered and then exited through another window. As the rector adds, the robber "knew what it was he was after".
The mayor of Sa Pobla, Biel Ferragut, has expressed his dismay at what happened and trusts that the perpetrator will be found. The robbery came a week after the front of the church was defaced with graffiti. When the case goes to court, the town hall will present its own prosecution as well as that of the Prosecutor's Office, just as it will with the graffiti, which was on a listed building and so therefore a criminal act.
Watch out! New speed camera readers coming to Pollensa
The Council of Mallorca has responded to demands for greater control of excessive speed and noise in the Tramuntana by announcing that it will be installing 38 speed cameras equipped with licence-plate readers and sound-level meters.
This has come about largely because of residents' complaints about illegal motorbike races. These principally affect the MA-10 main road in the mountains, the northern end of which is at the Can Berenguer roundabout in Pollensa. The cameras and meters will, however, be on various other roads as well. Four will be in Pollensa.
One will be at the Cala San Vicente junction; another along the road between Pollensa and Puerto Pollensa; a third at the exit to the Fumat tunnel on the Formentor road between the car park and lighthouse. The fourth, according to the Council's report, will be the MA-2220 and the MA-2202 between Puerto Pollensa and Alcudia. Well, it can't be both roads, so one assumes that the Council means the junction on the coast road (the MA-2220). The MA-2202 is the old (and dodgy) road from Pollensa to the coast.
The Council hasn't said when these cameras will be installed, only that they will appear over the "coming months".
When choosing the best barman can go badly wrong
Many years ago, one heck of a stink was caused by the old Talk of the North magazine when there was a piece about the 'best barmen' in Alcudia. This appeared in the John Nelson column. The name was a pseudonym, and such was the fuss that there were people going around who were determined to try and find out who John Nelson was. A Facebook page devoted to this was set up. It started to get nasty.
Why was there the fuss? Involved as I was with Talk of the North at the time, I could see both sides. On the one hand, it had been an innocent enough piece with no intention to cause offence. On the other, there were people who took great exception. I knew some of these best barmen and some of those who, by implication, were not, and so sought to try and calm things down. Which in the end they did.
This anecdote from times past serves as an introduction to the selection of not just the best barman in Pollensa but the best in the Balearics. Admittedly this was rather more scientific (if this is the correct word) than John Nelson had been, as it was the Bartenders Championship organised by the Balearic Islands School of Hospitality. So, it's hard for anyone to take offence. Rather, it should act as motivation, one guesses.
The winning barman was Biel Ramón of the Terraza 360 bar at the yacht club in Puerto Pollensa, who won the regional cocktail tournament and now progresses to the national championship.
The Alcudia beach bars' demolition process has started
Alcudia town hall has finally started the administrative procedures to first demolish the six balnearios (beach bars) and then reconstruct them. Once all these are formalised, the work can actually begin.
With any luck, the demolition will be before the main tourism season kicks off on the first of May. Building the replacement balnearios will be after the season starts, and this has raised a question. Isn't building work of this type normally prohibited during the season? It is, but not where the town hall is concerned if the work is deemed to be urgent. And this work is, as the Costas Authority has issued a deadline of November 30 for it to be completed.
Mayor Fina Linares hopes that it will be finished much earlier. But in the meantime, beachgoers will find no balnearios, just tarpaulins with "beautiful images" (the mayor's words) concealing the building work.