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Majorcan Pearls

Anna Nicholas is the author of four books about living in rural Majorca. She and her Scottish husband, Alan, live in Soller with their thirteen year old son, Ollie. In her time Anna has run her own PR agency in Mayfair and been an international adjudicator for the Guinness Book of Records. As a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, she once led an expedition with explorer Col John Blashford-Snell to deliver a grand piano to a remote Amerindian tribe.

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June 21st, 2010 9:36

Be warned, the school holidays have begun

Spanish schools in Majorca broke up last week and island-wide thousands of cheery little souls rushed home in anticipation of the yawning summer ahead filled with fun fuelled days, holiday camps and family activities.

The parents, of course, view things rather differently. In the Spanish system, the summer vacation means three whole months of diary juggling, begging favours of grandparents, neighbours and friends as child minding becomes increasingly complicated, and having to come up with endless enterprising activities to keep offspring fully occupied.

For children-and parents-summer holidays can be a drag

For children-and parents-summer holidays can be a drag

It isn’t easy. When I waved goodbye to a group of young Majorcan children to whom I give a weekly English class, one of the fathers urged me to consider starting an English club for the summer. “Just think, you could make a fortune!”… Read More

June 18th, 2010 8:49

Is dole contributing to Spanish economic crisis?

My Majorcan friend, Catalina, was complaining the other day about the effects of the economic crisis in Spain. She runs a property maintenance company in our valley and has given up trying to find locals to take on cleaning or swimming pool maintenance work, even at 15 euros per hour.

Puzzled, I asked her how that could be when the country was supposedly on its knees. She gave a cynical grunt. The only people willing to work, she maintained, were immigrants from Eastern Europe. “Everyone complains about foreigners taking our jobs and yet they are the only ones prepared to be flexible or to put in the hours.”

Are work shy Spaniards a factor in Spanish crisis?

Are work shy Spaniards a factor in Spanish crisis?

A local civil servant told me that the Spanish unemployed were unwilling to take on any job… Read More

June 15th, 2010 22:35

National ban for the burqa in Spain?

Has Spain really declared war on the Islamic burqa?

It all began in Lerida, a town in the northeast of the country, and now Tarragona, Gerona, Barcelona and Madrid have quickly followed suit. Initially rather coy Spanish councils brushed away their proposals to bar the wearing of Islamic veils in municipal buildings as a small concession to national security. Now though, similarly to Belgium and France, Spanish cities such as Madrid are advocating an all out ban of its use in public places under a proposed new law on religious freedom.

Will Britain follow Spain with burqa ban?

Will Britain follow Spain with burqa ban?

Spain has a population of 47 million of which 5.6 million are immigrants. An estimated one million are Muslim. Creating such a precedent could stir up unwanted resentment and civil unrest and yet Spanish… Read More

June 14th, 2010 8:51

Does every cloud have a silver lining?

Does it? Does every cliché have a silver lining? When an annual conference of UK tour operators and travel agents tries to rally its members with the warming banner of ‘Every cloud has a silver lining’ it’s fairly obvious that things aren’t looking too good for the British travel industry. Or for the Balearic islands for that matter.

Invited to the annual three day shindig of the Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO)  held in the south east of Majorca, I was asked to present some thoughts on the theme of Balearic Opportunities. I pondered that one.

Majorca may be an idyll but will the tourists keep coming?

Majorca may be an idyll but will the tourists keep coming?

Of course the Balearic Islands have an abundance of opportunities for the British traveller if only the regional government would get it… Read More

June 12th, 2010 20:31

Men (and women) behaving badly

What is it about a cancelled flight that brings out the very worst in humankind? At Gatwick airport late in the evening I was more than peeved to learn that my delayed flight to Palma had been summarily cancelled.

Like my fellow travellers, I felt tired, cross and disappointed but when these things happen it seems pointless to make a drama out of a crisis. Perhaps it’s having lived in Majorca for nigh on ten years that gives me a more mañana and relaxed attitude. Whatever the weather, I decided to take it on the chin and do my best to secure a place on the crack-of-dawn flight leaving the next day. Naturally all 160 passengers from the aborted flight had exactly the same idea which is when the problems began.

Tempers run high when planes are cancelled

Read More

June 8th, 2010 11:49

Orange aid in Majorca

The Majorcans have a problem with oranges and lemons. There are simply too many. In the rural areas such as Sóller, famed for its abundant orchards, one can’t even give them away.

Turning up at a dinner party with a rucksack full of citrus fruits smacks of coals to Newcastle and will not impress the host unless the event takes place in a decidedly urban zone.

A sufeit of oranges in Sóller, Majorca

A sufeit of oranges in Sóller, Majorca

At the farmer’s cooperative in Sóller which accepts only high quality locally grown oranges and lemons, the prices offered are derisory simply because the valley is awash with unwanted produce. In days gone by whole families would harvest crops but few people now have time to pick their fruit manually. Buying in manpower for the task is costly and hardly worth the effort which i… Read More

June 7th, 2010 8:26

Rafa Nadal, the expat's hero?

One of the oddest conundrums of expat life is deciding where one’s true affinities lie.

Take tennis, for example. There I was the other afternoon along with a bunch of Majorcan friends avidly watching Rafael Nadal romping home to victory in the French Open. As Robin Soderling succumbed to the Majorcan’s final master stroke, my friends jumped up from their seats, tears in their eyes and began singing the island’s anthem.

Did I join in? You bet your bottom dollar I did. After all I’m a Mallorquina. Of sorts. I felt tears sting my eyes as Nadal jogged over to accept a kiss from Queen Sofia of Spain before clamping a towel over his eyes and succumbing to deep sobs of a Mediterranean kind. My heart stopped and I clapped and whooped along with the others, proud that he would now resume his position as the world’s number one tennis player. Proud… Read More

June 4th, 2010 9:33

Pickpockets in Majorca take a wrong turn

Once again it’s the season of the pickpockets, those wily fellows who lurk around supermarkets across Majorca awaiting the arrival of cheery and unsuspecting tourists whose cars and wallets are bulging with goodies, ripe for the picking.

Now hang on a minute. Did I say tourists? Well as it happens, so-called experienced expats can also come croppers at this time of the year as my husband found to his cost here in Sóller.

One minute he was reaching for some olive oil from a supermarket shelf, the next he was pushed by a swarthy man whose accomplice effortlessly lifted the wallet from the pocket of his shorts. They were both gone in a flash along with his credit cards, driving licence and his cash.

Keep an eye on that wallet this summer

Keep an eye on that wallet this summer

The story doesn’t end there…. Read More

June 1st, 2010 22:10

It's true: women love José Mourinho

A Spanish friend rang me last week. She wanted to know if I’d heard the news. José Mourinho, that smouldering Latino God and king of the pitch was going to be joining Real Madrid as coach. My ears pricked up. This was indeed fantastic news.

Do I love football? Do I heck, but for José Mourinho I could become a willing convert. In fact for someone who dislikes the sport intensely, I’ve taken a surprising interest in the fortunes of Inter Milan ever since the maestro moved there, and yes, oh guilty pleasure, I even tracked the performance of Chelsea when Mourinho was its star coach. True he has triumphed in Portugal, England and Italy, even winning the Champion’s League twice for two different clubs, and then there’s his Premier League success with Chelsea but this is nothing to me. All I want to see is the Portuguese deity strutting hi… Read More

May 31st, 2010 8:26

Why young Britons are leaping to their deaths

Another drink. Another balcony. Another fall from grace.

Last week in Ibiza, a young inebriated Briton leapt 40 feet from a restaurant balcony hoping to land in to a swimming pool. He didn’t. Instead he hit concrete and is now fighting for his life in a Majorcan hospital. I don’t want to sound callous but this is par for the course when the summer season arrives here in Spain.

Drink fuelled Britons are heading for a fall

Drink fuelled Britons are heading for a fall

In its most recent British Behaviour Abroad Report, the Foreign Office stated that in 2008 there were 741 hospitalisations of Britons in Spain, the highest of any country. It concluded that many accidents were “balcony falls” and were drink related, highlighting that in a government survey 33 per cent of Britons admitted to drinking more… Read More

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