 Changing Places Week 158 W/C 1st March 2009
Love is in the air - it is spring after all. We live in a Spanish street on the edge of Soller town and are the odd ones out. The community round here has known each other since they were born. They went to school together, do business together and in our street the same family run the local bar and shop. The teenager from the shop loves his bike, his football and his girl in that order and he shares his experiences with Trev each morning when he goes to buy the bread. The latest this week is of the famous footballer that has moved into our valley causing great interest among the local boys. It is an English footballer currently playing in the England squad so our football mad locals are all very impressed. I digress, it was love that started this page and when he has finished polishing his bike and chatting to his friends about successful football formations then our boy's fancies turn to love and all its complications. When you live in Soller and the girl that has captured your heart lives in Calvia village what do you do?
Trev found him at the bus stop one day this week starting the epic journey that takes him first into Palma to change busses and then eventually down to Calvia village. The bus timetables mean that this whole journey takes three hours but it's all worth it when you are sixteen and in love. No wonder that his parent's generation found it easier to fall in love with the girl next door. Of course when he has saved enough to buy a car the problem will disappear but for now how many hours serving in his family shop will it take to earn the money for that? The path of love never did run smooth but falling for a girl at the other end of the Tramontana mountain range has caused the local ladies to cluck away at the inadvisability of it all - it will all end in tears you know….
A family lunch with a difference this week to celebrate a birthday - we took ourselves off to the Hippodrom for their huge Sunday buffet followed by horse racing. We can tell stories of other race days at Ascot and Huntingdon and Boxing Day picnics by the racecourse but they were a completely different experience. The sign, opposite Palma prison, to the menu of the day buffet takes you into waste ground outside the race track. Follow the crowds of people into the restaurant because you would never know it was there by looking. The place is packed and the noise level reaches an unheard of volume. Families and horse racing experts are all there to enjoy lunch before the serious business of the day begins. Horse and carriage racing to me means a vision of the Duke of Edinburgh and the trotting races of Windsor Park. It was just a little like that but with a lot of enthusiasm and a complicated betting procedure that we didn't quite get to grips with. - I am sure we will do better next time. There will definitely be a next time - the whole family had a great time - who needs Ascot!
I have exchanged Majorca for Liverpool and London for a few days to interview Kids Reps for a Spanish hotel chain. These lovely people are essential to the happy holidays of the families that use their facilities. They are young, enthusiastic and have smiles on their faces plus a wealth of qualifications and that most essential piece of paper of all - the CRB. The CRB check is done on anyone that works with children in the UK and involves identity checks plus matching them against criminal records and the paedophile register to make sure that they are not on the list. Interviews are only part of the procedure and the process takes weeks. These young people are keen to be part of the holidays of the children that come to Majorca and Minorca this summer but they only get through if they are CRB checked and pass the interview and selection procedure - exactly as it should be.
  |
||
Copyright © Sun Search Acquisitions 2008
|
||