 Changing Places Week 143 W/C 16th November 2008
Join the queue at the La Caixa building in Palma for tickets for the performance of The Messiah on December 12th in the Cathedral. That was the instruction that Trev and his fellow choir members were given at their last rehearsal. We are getting used to Majorcan bureaucracy now but this one has been a big surprise. The fact that the choir members gather for nine hours a week together practising their contribution to this performance and could be given the tickets then was not allowed. They had to join the queue like everyone else. The tickets were given out for two hours per day on three consecutive days this week. Four tickets were allowed per person and they were free. The queue stretched around the building and one lady and a computer earned her money. No cash changed hands but the NIE number of the person in the queue and the names of the four people that would be attending were diligently typed into the computer. Everyone was asking for four tickets whether they wanted them or not to pass on to friends. I am sure that the names of Mickey Mouse and L:Pavarotti appeared in the list. It was the most ridiculous waste of time ever. There is probably some good reason for all this but try as I might I can't think of one.
One business overlaps another here in Majorca and everyone relocating and buying a business needs somewhere to live. So it makes sense for us for Sun Search to be able to point them in the direction of a good letting agent. A conversation about rentals led to a discussion about the surname of the agent and the coincidence that it was the same as my maiden name. The stories of the same area of North London - just streets apart, the extended family that had lost touch with each other and the cousins in common. My phone call had found relations here in Majorca that I never knew I had. Cousins with parallel lives that had landed on this small Island and now linked through business. It certainly is a small world. I am glad I wasn't chasing him for money when I made the initial call - that would have been a little embarrassing.
Winter walks and the collection of pine cones for spraying and making into Christmas decorations is what I am doing with Reg - the dog right now. We need our simple distractions and I was happy to find acorns for the collection too. I used to describe my winter walks over Hampstead Heath in North London to my niece and nephews in letters to California where they live. The children were anxious to see acorns and I gathered some up and sent them in a jiffy bag to Los Angeles for them to see - acorns being in short supply in Southern California. The postman delivered the package which had obviously been opened by customs for checking. Whatever did they make of travelling acorns - the things some people put in the post……
My story last week about non payment of bills really touched a nerve. I have been inundated with emails telling me of similar experiences. We even had one client telling us that they would not use our services anymore if we kept insisting on being paid! There is some fuzzy logic going on with the larger, high profile companies being particularly arrogant - just because they think they can. The majority of small businesses in Majorca need clients to pay their bills so that they in turn can pay their staff wages. It really is as simple as that - if you don't pay your bill there is a chance that an innocent, hard working employee will not be paid at the end of the month. I hope they can live with that on their conscience. In the meantime we small businesses hope that the banks will continue their support while we all work harder than we ever thought possible to survive the next few months. At least from your messages I know that Sun Search is not alone. A little solidarity and an orderly queue at the small claims court might be our next step.
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