Spain (Mallorca) in increased restrictions!

So.....the current restrictions have been extended to 14th February to the surprise of absolutely no-one (sadness, and in some cases disappointment, yes....but surprise, no).  The net result is that we all continue, where possible, to support local businesses providing takeaway food and drink.  Luckily the weather has improved for the most part which means it is possible to have a takeaway coffee sitting on a wall or bench and we're getting quite used to it now.  But it will be so nice to get back to sitting on a terrace for a coffee in a proper cup and even nicer still to have a menu del dia or maybe an evening meal somewhere.  In any event we're determined to make sure we still celebrate Valentine's Day 💘 by having a nice meal at home (maybe we'll splash out on a takeaway).

We've done quite a bit of walking lately, often with the dogs and enjoying the sunshine.  The weather on Thursday was particularly glorious, with temperatures elsewhere in Spain reaching record temperatures for the time of year apparently.

The improved weather certainly lifts the spirits and seeing the Port's famous 'seaplane' makes us all smile 😄

You may have seen on Facebook recently that there's a bit of a spat going on between the Coastal Authorities and Pollensa municipality.  The former have refused to renew the licence of the latter to have play areas for children on the beaches; the latter are unsurprisingly contesting this.  Gloves on....ding, ding....round one 🥊 Watch this space!

Sadly in the wee small hours of Saturday morning there was a fire in a top flat in C/Roger de Flor above the Chinese shop and attended by a great many firefighters and other emergency services.  Tragically a 63 year old man died reportedly of smoke inhalation although thankfully his wife and son escaped.  Reports suggest that the fire was started by a household appliance.  This tragedy has certainly had a sobering effect locally, and to see the charred shutters and tattered, blackened remains of the balcony blinds fluttering forlornly in the breeze is beyond poignant.  Whoever he is - RIP 😢

Anyhow, let's brighten the mood a bit by saying that apparently the numbers of coronavirus cases in Pollensa municipality has decreased recently which is wonderful news.  Long may it continue!  

No updates from previously with regard to local businesses but I have noticed that the popular Bisanyes bakery on the corner near the fuel station on the main road from the seaplane roundabout to the marina has signs up that it is available for 'se traspasa' (to take over a commercial property as a going concern) due to impending retirement.  I do hope someone is able to take it over as they make lovely bread and cakes and it's a good place to sit with a coffee (although not currently!) and watch the world go by.  

In domestic news, I've returned to jigsaw puzzles.  I nailed a 1,000 piece one the other day in a record time of under 3 days and am now tackling a 1,500 piece one which is not only so much larger but also MUCH more complicated in terms of the picture, colours etc.  But I find it very therapeutic - let's face it, so much of life is outside our control right now so to create order out of chaos with a puzzle and just lose yourself in creating a picture is wonderful 😍  Another bright spot is our current guilty pleasure of 'The Crown' - we have just started Series 4 and Prince Charles is about to propose to Diana.  Don't know what her reply will be, guess we'll have to watch Episode 3 to find out....... 😂

Next week a new series of "The Mallorca Files" starts again on BBC1.   The previous series was notable in a bad way for its dreadful acting and plots 😆 but in a good way for the wonderful views of the island including local areas; we spent much of the last series recognising or trying to recognise the different locations.  Mind you it's probably a good thing that the story lines are so dire as I don't think we could cope with trying to follow a good story AND location spotting! 

And finally..... recently we've had some wonderful sunsets so I'll leave you with these:

Stay safe and hasta el próximo domingo!

Spain (Mallorca) in increased restrictions!

Another week, same restrictions...but although it's been pretty windy here of late, the sun is shining which always raises the spirits 😎  So today we decided to take a walk up the mountain behind El Vila between Pollensa and the Port with the dogs and a flask of tea.  The views of the Port were glorious:

Although there was a reasonable amount of cloud about, we could see right over to the Bay of Alcudia:

We also had a great view towards the Boquer Valley:

It was much darker towards Pollensa so we focused on looking the other way!  And one of the best parts of all was that we could do the whole walk without masks which was incredibly liberating.  It's the little things......

In local news part of what was Maxims (which has closed for good) had a new sign put up before Christmas "Cardamom City Indian Restaurant" so I guess at some point we will have an additional place to Himalaya to have a curry.  Disconcertingly, part of the the Maxims Bistro signage remains 🤔  We also noticed that in the past week the Dakota Tex Mex opposite Bar Bonys was having some painting done;  it is now a smart grey and currently looks as below:   

Last week I mentioned some work on the terrace of Celler La Parra - this has now been completed and the walls below the terrace 'roof' have all been painted white so it all looks spick and span.  The restaurant hasn't re-opened even for take-away yet, but then again they always have some time off around this time of year and there are some well spaced tables on the terrace so I assume they're just waiting for the current restrictions to ease.  And El Pozo (cafe/bar down near Portofino, opposite the small Eroski) has closed permanently due to the retirement of the owner but still.....it's another place that won't be opening again 😥  But at least, as mentioned last week, we have a good selection of take-away opportunities in the Port and for that we must be grateful for now.  

In further local news they have made good progress on the enlarged Tourist Information Centre which will return to it's original site by the marina (where the old bus station used to be).  They are building to the left of the original small building right along to the side road to the boat slipways so it will be much larger.  

The temporary premises in C/Juan XXIII more or less opposite the small Eroski was completely cleared out some weeks ago and we did wonder whether they would start with the rumoured enlargement of the previous premises and it seems this is indeed the case 👍

In Mallorca they are due to revise the current restrictions but the various autonomous regions in Spain are, in general, facing ever increasing numbers of coronavirus cases and are implementing ever tougher measures so at the very least the current restrictions here are likely to be renewed.  The Balearics, along with some other regions, did ask the national government to allow implementation of a curfew of 8pm but this was turned down on Wednesday.  

In Spain we are currently in Phase 1 of the vaccination programme which includes care home residents, healthcare workers, and people with severe disabilities and not in care facilities.  At the current pace of delivery the next phase of vaccination delivery will begin in March to the over 70s although this is subject to change depending on delivery of the vaccine and also approval of new vaccines.  Certainly it does seem that the UK is further ahead than here in delivery to people and there is not really any definitive information here yet but....patience is a virtue!

Finally (and although in the past I've posted a similar picture before) I thought I'd leave you with a wonderful piece of Spanish parking that I noticed this evening during whilst walking the dogs.  Not sure a piece of paper would fit between them - only in Spain! 😂😂

Stay safe and hasta el próximo domingo!

Spain (Mallorca) in increased restrictions!

It's been a strange and rather unsociable week as we are unable to meet any friends either in our home or outside.  Mind you, there's nowhere to meet anyway as all the cafes, bars and restaurants are shut (apart from take away) and have been since Wednesday - it was eventually delayed for 24 hours from the Tuesday.  Even more frustrating is that finally the sun has got his hat on (albeit often accompanied by a fairly chilly breeze) and it would now be lovely to sit on a terrace with a coffee, a wine or a lovely menu del dia - but I guess that's you know who's law 😫  However that's nothing to the frustration I think the bar and restaurant owners must feel!  Apart from the fact that we can walk wherever and also go into local shops unlike the first lockdown, the streets are definitely looking pretty empty and not dissimilar to back last spring.  Here is Cafe 1919:

And the road round the corner that goes to the square with Bar Tecun, Arux, Nostalgia and Centric:

In terms of what establishments remain open for take away beverages and food the ones I'm currently aware of are: Luna de Miel, Himalaya, Pascalino, La Vall, Liberty Kitchen, Can Josep, Bodeguita, Nawab Istanbull, Toni's, Dolc Sa Pobla and Bella Roma.  Celler La Parra was open but they've had some work done on their front terrace (plumbing? heating? - not sure but long trenches were dug in the concrete) this past week.  I suspect they'll open again for take away shortly but will soon find out as the work appears to have been finished now.  On Friday evening - and purely in the interests of take away research you understand 😜 - we had a wonderful take away curry from Himalaya complete with onion bhajis, popadums and naan bread - delicious!  Anyway, overall we can hardly complain with such a great selection of places to choose from now can we?!

Gyms and sports facilities are also closed here now unless for federated sports, so Simply Pilates Studio where I do my gym classes has returned to online classes which are not quite the same but I'm still more than grateful that I can keep the fitness levels up.  The first one  online last week really reminded me of last year's full scale lockdown which wasn't necessarily the best of recollections but it is what it is and we must make the best of it 💪

Yesterday and Friday we should have been celebrating San Antoni with the wonderful fires and barbecues on the Friday evening and the climbing of the pine yesterday.  But of course this year none of this could take place which has been sad and frustrating in equal measure.  But the focus is on making it a really good one next year so hang on to your hats for that! 🥳

In local Covid news, we apparently have 75 active cases according to the PAC in Pollensa.  Slightly further afield, Son Espases Hospital has announced 16 cases in Mallorca of the Covid-19 variant currently affecting the UK so badly 😢  Speaking of which, up until very recently we personally knew of next to no friends or family with coronavirus in the UK; now sadly they seem to be going down like skittles although mercifully the vast majority have not needed hospitalisation.  It really emphasises how contagious the new variant is and the importance of vaccinations in order to allow us to return to a normal life.  It seems to us that the scheme for vaccinations is moving along at a reasonable pace in the UK; unfortunately it's a lot slower here, partly due to a shortage of planes with the necessary freezer facilities to transport the Pfizer vaccine and partly to delays in delivery caused by Storm Filomena which brought record low temperatures and all that snow to a huge part of Spain including Madrid.  This meant that planes were grounded so it seems the vaccination rollout here has been set back by some days.  Hoteliers and others in the hospitality sector are obviously very anxious, not only by the recent closures but also by the need to get the vaccinations quickly if there is to be any kind of a 2021 season here.  On the bright side, the Spanish NHS is really wonderful and I'm pinning my hopes on the fact that once they get into their stride, it'll be all systems go 🤞

Today we had such lovely weather despite a stiff breeze, that we took the dogs for our favourite walk in the woods at Cala san Vicente.  It was, as ever, glorious although the normally bone dry torrent had a decent amount of crystal clear water from the mountains in it today which given the amount of rain we've had recently is hardly surprising!

But as you can see, the views were spectacular and we felt very lucky indeed 😍

So.....the days roll around and we're a third of the way into the new restrictions.  We've started watching The Crown for our sins - yes I know, late to the party and all that 😂 - but we decided we needed something to entertain us and my goodness it really is!  We've nearly finished Series 2 so with another 21 hours to go, but hey....that'll keep us out of mischief......

Stay safe and hasta el próximo domingo!

Spain (Mallorca) in increased restrictions!

And so it came to pass as most of us here predicted - further Covid restrictions are in place with effect from Tuesday which mean that all bars/cafes/restaurants will be closed (although they can provide a takeaway service).  Gyms and sports facilities will also be closed (apart from federated sports) as well as all non-essential shops and larger shopping centres.  Government buildings and schools will remain open.  The former is good news for those still processing official paperwork such as TIE (the post-Brexit residence) cards.  In any event, I'm very much looking forward to the vaccination rollout here; my youngest daughter who works in a care home in the UK, received her first vaccination last Sunday with her second dose booked in already.  One day.......🙏

This past week saw the Three Kings fiesta although of course it was a shadow of its former self this year.  Nevertheless, here and indeed all over Spain, heroic volunteers turned out in their costumes 👑 on an absolutely freezing cold evening to drive round just about every road in town (standing on small flat bed trucks or jeeps) so that children could see them from their balconies 👏👏   This big child (ahem!) also enjoyed it - they went past 3 times due to living on a main junction - but the street and shop lights made it difficult to get reasonable photos, this is as good as it got:

From what we saw of local children the next day (the Three Kings bank holiday) out playing with their new toys, it seemed that somehow parents and the local Three Kings organisers ensured that the children had as good an experience as possible - bravo!! 👏

The weather here really has been dreadful in the last week or so - cold, grey, windy and VERY wet!  This has made sitting outside to eat or drink a bit of a trial and I've taken to bringing an extra scarf with me to lie across my lap.  Mind you, as of next week I won't have the need to do that for a while so every cloud and all that!  It's been so cold that sitting on the loo seat makes me squeal 😱😂 and leaving a nice warm bed to go to the loo in the middle of the night is something that you put off until you absolutely have to, a bit like I used to do when a scout leader (which I was for many, many years in the UK) when at winter camps.  Mind you, at least here I don't have to clamber out of a sleeping bag, put on a coat, put on boots and unzip a frosted tent flap to walk to a freezing loo block so maybe I exaggerate, but you get the idea!

Recently we had cause to go to Palma with appointments at the tax office to obtain certificates to say we were fiscal residents in Spain.  And as ever, nothing is easy!  My appointment was first which was a good thing as my Spanish is reasonable and it soon became clear that the reason 'computer says no' was because apparently I live in the UK! 😳  The staff were very sympathetic and actually the nicest government officials we've yet encountered, but had no real answer as to who I'd been paying my tax to ever since I moved here and started working but hey! this is Spain 😂 If we were able to prove, same day, that we had lived here for at least 6 months then all was well.  The fact that we live almost an hour's drive away and they close at 2pm elicited sympathy but when I enquired if we could make an appointment for another day...... you've guessed it.....'computer says no'.  Brainwave!  Cue a brisk trot to the nearest branch of our bank to get copies of at least 6 months of bank statements to prove we live here, back to the tax office and one of the sympathetic staff members produced the goods.    Only in Spain! 😂

In local news, the owner of La Fortaleza (the beautiful estate in the bay where The Night Manager was filmed) has donated 400 food hampers which the local social welfare department will be distributing amongst needy local families - good news indeed in these very difficult times.  This is a very welcome addition to the great work of the local food bank 👏

Today, or at least mainly this morning, the weather was much improved and so we took the opportunity to walk along to Llenaire and back with the dogs whilst the sun shone:

The bay looked as beautiful as ever and we felt very lucky to be able to be in the great outdoors in such lovely surroundings 💕

Stay safe and hasta el próximo domingo!

Spain (Mallorca) in revised level 4 restrictions!

Well we made it to the other side - Happy New Year! 🎉  It's definitely turned wintery here in the Pollensa area - daytime temperatures at around 9 degrees and at night around 4 degrees.  And of course in the mountainous areas it's a lot colder and there has been snow on the peaks down to 600m 🏔  Given that houses and apartments here are designed to keep the heat out and most of us don't have central heating and lovely warm carpets, the weather is even more of a topic of conversation here than it is in the UK!  

The weather has been generally so gloomy that it's wonderful to see Jose's (Bar Bonys) balcony display of geraniums which, although naturally nothing like the enormous display of earlier in the year when it featured in this blog, is still providing a very pretty sight as I walk past to and from the gym a couple of times a week.  To have geraniums looking like that at this cold time of year he really must have green fingers! 

The above mentioned weather has meant that eating or drinking out (literally!) means wrapping up well in quite a few layers.  And the coveted seats by the terrace heaters are soon gone!  I've taken to bringing a warm, wide scarf with me, not to wear but to put on my lap.  It works very well but it feels even chillier when you remove it to walk home though!  We are still only able to eat outside, and cafes/bars/restaurants have to close at 6pm so the last thing those local hospitality businesses still open needed was really cold wet weather 😢  It is of course possible that people will just stay at home thus helping prevent the spread of coronavirus, but so far the figures still aren't looking that great here and the restrictions are not due to be reviewed until 11 January.  In the meantime we just need to keep going.  Vaccinations have started not only in Spain but here in the Pollensa area - the care home in Pollensa started vaccinations on 30 Dec with this gentleman 👏

Of course it's going to take time in 2021 for the vaccinations to be given and to take effect insofar as preventing the spread of coronavirus, but it brings to mind the Yazz song "The Only Way is Up"! 🎶

We did have really good weather for one day this week - New Year's Eve.  This was rather lovely for me as it was my birthday 🎂  I started the day with a video call with my children in the UK and then we had a lovely dog walk in Cala san Vicente with views like this:

The afternoon was spent sitting in the lovely sunshine having a birthday meal at Centric.  Due to the weather, lots of people were keen to eat and drink so Tecun, Bar Arux, Nostalgia and Centric - all of which I could see at a glance - were all kept busy which was lovely for all concerned 😎  We spent a quiet evening in and, for the first time in living memory were all tucked up in bed way before midnight but hey, the whole year has been different so....

Next week is the Three Kings fiesta here and an important time for Spanish children who traditionally receive their presents not from Father Christmas but from the Three Kings who parade through the streets on the night of 5th January showering the crowds with sweets and then handing out presents to the children in the square.  This year is of course going to be different.  Mailboxes have been installed in 4 locations in Pollensa and in the square in PP:

The Kings also put out a message on social media to all children in the area that they would be parading through every street and that children should stay indoors, watch from their homes and stay safe 👑🎁

So as we take our first steps into 2021 let's hope we can turn the woes of 2020 around and make this a year to remember but this time for all the RIGHT reasons! 💪

Stay safe and hasta el próximo domingo!