 Changing Places No 117 W/C 11th May 2008
An English radio station gives us a taste of home. Lunar radio FM 100.3 keeps us in touch with the English community and we can hear it as soon as we come out of the tunnel from Soller. The mountains get in the way of our reception in town but the crackles disappear the nearer we get to the centre of the Island. The adverts in English are comforting and relevant. The trouble with our sky systems on television is that the adverts are for things in Wigan or Macclesfield, our sky card seems to have had its origins in the Manchester area which isn’t a lot of use to us here in Majorca. We are a spoilt lot us ex-pats, the satellites mean we can have the same radio and television that we enjoyed in England and the local radio initiative means that we can have our Majorcan English radio too. The next thing there will be is English television station broadcasting from here and those friendly voices from the radio could become the presenters unless they only have ‘radio’ faces!
The local grapevine is the one that matters most. We can be interested in Boris Johnson for Mayor of London and that Gordon Brown is having a tough time with that thankless job but local Majorcan life takes over. We have often criticised our American friends for having a too parochial view of news – assuming that nothing happens unless it is happening there. We have to stop ourselves being the same here. The disruption of the tram timetable for essential building work trackside assumes great importance alongside the local political arguments about how money should be spent in town. It seems to be an accepted fact that Majorcans think this is the centre of the world and all of import happens here. They are entitled to feel like that – their roots are here after all but it’s beginning to get to us too.
The local outcry about school expansion nearly had us marching in the street with our banners. The school in the Port of Soller was due to have an additional building to give more space for new activities. The details of the works to be carried out on all local schools were published and this little school appeared to have been forgotten. This for the local parents was as important as Boris becoming Mayor of London and the meeting was swiftly arranged with the Mayor of Soller. He was reminded of his election promises to do with that school and loud words were exchanged. The outcome is now with the ‘working party’ and I am sure it will all be resolved satisfactorily – eventually.
Another local issue occupying the gardeners of town is the quality of the apricot crop this year. Last year our apricot trees had no fruit at all and we took it personally until we were informed of the apricot growing cycle by our market gardener neighbours. Apparently it is good that barren years happen because that strengthens the crops for the next two years. Our tree is just about to be climbed on by our German friends who always holiday with their family at this time of year. They pick all the apricots, leave us a few and then take the rest away to make jams and compotes with. We then get a few jars back and our friends and their six children eat the rest. Our apricots are eagerly anticipated so it was with great pleasure we watched them form knowing that they will soon be back to us in jars.
The firecrackers and cannon fire took place underneath our office window in the Port of Soller. The Moors and Christians battle was warming up and thousands had flocked in to Soller to watch. The rain of the weekend blown away and everyone in town in party mode. A very influential client in Dubai wanted a conference call to discuss the vacancies he wants Sun Search to fill. We talked of a fantastic opportunities for relocation for experienced real estate personnel for a ‘once in a lifetime’ career move. At the same time the battle was hotting up and the conference call was rescheduled. I am sure he is sitting in his ultra modern, sound proofed offices in Dubai wondering if he was talking to us in a war zone. Sorry sir – get used to it - we live in the centre of our own universe here, anything can happen in Soller.
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