Spain (Mallorca) in increased restrictions!

Hola!  Current restrictions here remain in place, to be reviewed again next weekend.  Numbers of Covid cases continue to go down in the Pollensa municipality and in Mallorca in general which is great news, but whether they will want to relax any restrictions remains to be seen; currently there is a shortage of vaccinations in Spain so they may play it safe......we will see....🤔

A very current issue in the Port is the refusal by the coastal authority to renew the council's licence to have children's play areas, wooden decking for wheelchair access, toilet facilities or the family picnic area and dog beach out Llenaire way.  Apparently the council applies each year as a matter of course but this year....  Unsurprisingly this has enraged local parents who today held a protest rally - every family in their car with banners etc and plenty of horn hooting.  The guardia and policia were aware and directed traffic, headed the convoy etc.  The stream of hooting cars went noisily past our home and just went on....and on.....and on..... goodness knows how many there were!  None of my photos were as good as this one from friend Kristine who has given permission for me to reproduce it here:

One car had a wheelchair on the roof as well as a banner making a very important point that the licence refusal will prevent any wheelchair users from accessing the sea with any degree of ease.  I should emphasise that the council want to keep the facilities, it's the coastal authority that doesn't.  A number of people have made the point that the beach here is manmade so there is no logical environmental reason for the refusal and certainly the parents and other protesters were keen to make their displeasure very clear indeed!  I really hope they are successful 👏

We've had a mixed bag of weather this week ranging from blue skies and warm sunshine with temperatures just into the 20s to cold and VERY foggy for a couple of days.  I took this photo from our roof terrace where we can normally see across to Bonaire 😳:

As well as fog we've had quite a bit of wind and those who know the Port well will know that it can be extremely windy here.  In fact the wind left some of those attractive external black electrical cables doing a sort of freestyle drape in the road just down from the Hostal Bellaverde 😳:

The wind also started to blow some of the facade off the building above the tabac in C/Juan XXIII which would have been more than unfortunate if you were hit by the flying debris but luckily the police taped it off in time.  The builders came out pretty quickly to redo the facade to the joy of the elderly lady living in the first floor apartment who lost no time in coming out onto her balcony to have a good old natter to those nice young builders 😉 

In non-weather related local news, the Ubeda family who lost a husband/father and everything they owned in the recent apartment fire have been supported by the local Catholic church who have donated all this weekend's collections in Pollensa and the Port to the family, and there has been lots of community support with a gofund.me page set up for them too at: 

https://gofund.me/2c18bb60

In other local news Celler La Parra re-opened on Friday for takeaway food which is a welcome addition to the local takeaway options.  We have tried a number of places for takeaway coffee and although we love it at the cafe at Eroski, currently our favourite takeaway coffee taste wise has been provided by La Vall.  The only downside is that there are no obvious places nearby such as a wall, to sit on so the kerb at the bus station has had to do!

Has anyone been watching The Mallorca Files?!  It really is completely terrible in terms of plot line and acting but my goodness isn't it fun to look out for the locations?! 🥳  The other day a chase started here in the Port, continued in Pollensa and then culminated in the Port again - that was quite some chase! 😂

This week also saw a little triumph at the PAC (health centre).  The receptionists there are not exactly renown for their customer service skills and smiling, helpful demeanour (is there a special training school for doctors' receptionists, it does seem to be an internationally unfortunate common trait?).  Our Spanish health cards needing renewing as they lapsed at the end of December.  I had tried to renew them in early December when I was attending for my flu jab but......computer (or to be more exact, the receptionist) say no......come back in February/March.  I pointed out that our cards would have expired by then but..... computer still say no.  You have to know when you're flogging a dead horse and so I smiled in the face of adversity (not that anyone saw due to the mask, but hey..!) and left.  Receptionists 1 - Sarah 0. This week, I was feeling particularly upbeat and time for Round 2 beckoned.  Back I went, clutching the same folder of paperwork including our last school reports, a detailed analysis of our two little dogs' favourite toys and an old library card.  I jest, but you probably know what Spanish bureaucracy is like.  In any event, both receptionists were there but with perfect timing the - shall we say more challenging - of the two went off for her merienda (morning snack) and I waited patiently whilst the remaining one completely ignored me  - I think it was some sort of test to see if I snapped but I channelled my inner Zen.  My big moment came and I schmoozed, well more of a grovel actually, in Spanish to the remaining one who must have already partaken of her merienda because she not only renewed our cards but did so whilst juggling an increasingly long and impatient queue outside (someone tried to queue jump and all Spanish hell broke loose) and multiple phone calls; I was pretty impressed if I'm honest.  Anyhow, Receptionists 1 - Sarah 1 and our health cards are good for another four years 👌

Stay safe and hasta el próximo domingo!