 Changing Places Week 168 W/C 31st May 2009
The Georgie Insull singers are preparing for their annual European tour in the easiest way possible. Not for us the airport, flights and coaches from our destination but one small journey to the Port in Palma. This year Ocean Village takes the strain of the choir and entourage as we sing in destinations in France. From next Tuesday the rehearsals will come from the middle of the Med and not the Anglican Church in Palma. `Why we sing' is one of the songs we are practising and the words tell us that we are doing it to bring friendship and build bridges - lets hope our European audiences share the sentiment not to mention the other 1200 passengers on board next week.
The poster on the door said that `the party is here' and our youngest granddaughters 5th birthday party was underway. A fully bi lingual event with the birthday girl at ease in English and Majorcan. The language debate runs on and on, for the participants in schooling here it is academic. While the purists debate, the children are taught in Majorcan in the local schools and that's all there is to it. The local parents are very sympathetic to incomers and their need to overcome the language before being fully integrated in school life. But before long those same parents are anxious that our little one talks English to their children as the benefits of having a native English speaker in their midst is not underestimated.
The season has begun at last - that is if the crowded beaches and half term visitors are anything to go by. The sun shone all week and our visiting family decided that this was a great time to be here compared with the heat and stickiness of August. We agree that this really is a glorious time of year with the clear light and day time temperatures which cool nicely in the evening. After the interesting wet and cold winter the days of endless blue skies are very welcome. I know it is very English to take such an interest in the weather, but I am sure it is what the Majorcans and the English have in common - a total preoccupation with weather. A comment often heard on the beach last week between visitors was `turned out nice again' - this is acceptable if you normally live in Manchester but can also be heard from locals. Island weather and all its variations is an easy talking point and link us all especially if you were in Bournemouth on May Bank Holiday Monday. The Met Office got the forecast for the area so badly wrong that there is weather rebellion and requests that national forecasts be abolished. The technology is such that weather channels can give you hourly forecasts for your immediate location which are far more accurate or maybe we could just look out of the window!
What is the difference between an `issue' and a `dilemma'? This was the back of the car conversation between 8 year olds heading for school today. I was doing the school run to Palma and trying not to laugh at the chatter in the back seat. We switched from word definition ready for today's English exam to the merits of country music. Kate has discovered my music collection and was on the verge of joining the universal sarcasm there is for my country music leanings. Mary Chapin Carpenter seems to have changed all that because Kate can't get enough of the `intellectual country' that she represents. Very loud `new country' could be heard on the back lanes via Valldemossa and the sheep didn't seem to mind a bit. Maybe country leanings are best defined as an `issue' or admitting you like it as a `dilemma'. This debate could run and run as I have a lot more music for the kids to discover - how about the Robert Plant and Alison Kraus combination - now we really are talking.
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