Changing Places No 127 W\C 20th July 2008

I sit in my office watching the yachties working on the boats getting them ready for their owners to claim the vessel for a couple of summer weeks. All around us people vacate their houses and let them to summer visitors. In London in the tennis season half of Wimbledon’s residents come here while they let their houses at excellent rates to the tennis players and their entourage. The summer in Soller is similar it is a high and often only earning time of the year so people do what they have to do. The view from my window tells its own story with holidaymakers on the beach and on the boats. The air conditioner goes into overdrive and thoughts of beaches and holidays occupy us at Sun Search too.

In Cork they have a different story to tell, their summer was over before it started and an Irish migration is gathering momentum. Every other enquiry we get for Business Sales is from people from Cork. They are selling up and heading here. I have heard that story fifteen times already this week and I’m beginning to wonder if the good people of Cork are leading a revolution or they know something the rest of the UK doesn’t. The stories have a familiar ring to them –‘find me a bar to rent – sure I don’t want to be taking a risk by buying do I?’ We take our new friends by the hand and explain how it all works and they look at us with sad eyes because we have just burst their bubble. ‘You mean I have to take a lease and keep accounts and register everything with the tax office?’ That’s only the half of what I mean my friend – Majorca is as organised and beaurocratic as anywhere else and you would be foolish to think otherwise. For every one of those people there are the ones who have researched everything and know exactly what they are doing. Business plans and self funding until the start of the season and more than capable of hard work and you just know its going to work for them.

There are some summer’s moments that only happen once and we had one of those this week in our garden. Emma our four year old granddaughter discarded the arm bands and swum a length of our small pool unaided. You had to have been there to see the beaming smile of satisfaction now that she was not a baby anymore and could swim like her sister. The milestones of childhood and we were all there proudly watching. Children are just so clever aren’t they and us Grandparents are up there as their biggest fans.

Holiday time beckons and the family are cruising together for a week with Trev marshalling three generations of women and being the token man. His wife, his daughters and his granddaughters are escorting him to the delights of Casablanca via a Thomson cruise from Palma. It seemed like a good idea at the time and as long as it’s his credit card picking up the tab at the end of the week we’ll be just fine. Our daughters are only just forgiving us for allowing the granddaughters age 8 and 4 on the cruise too. They have waited a long time for their first experience and find it a little unfair that these little ones get this treat so early in their lives. I don’t know what they are moaning about when they were that age we took them camping to the South of France – very exotic at the time!

Matthew is contemplating a true conversion to the Majorcan way. He can’t go on holiday with the family because he is committed to the tennis bookings and his two other tourism roles. No time off for him in the summer – that is just a fact of life. Thoughts are wandering to the possibility of a weekend away with Jay to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary or maybe the ultimate – A sunshine holiday after Christmas! That’s what they do round here and it would be nice to follow the example of our Majorcan neighbours – money permitting of course.
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