 Changing Places Week 136 W/C 28th September 2008
The Sun Search world is our day to day life. Jay and I go to the office each day and look out on to the boats in the harbour in the Port of Soller. Candidates come to us daily for interviews and register their desire to find work or change their jobs. When we tell them they must come to the Port of Soller and then walk as far as they can round the Marina and find us above the Bar Albatros you can hear them take a sharp intake of breath on the phone. You would think we are asking them to come to the end of the world. Some of our candidates have never been out of Magaluf since they arrived here! Of course it's all very easy - a regular hourly bus service from Palma bus station and the end of the line is two minutes from our office. For minimum cost they have a thirty-five minute journey in wonderful scenery to arrive at the centre of our universe. They are always delighted with themselves when they arrive - they have personally discovered a part of the Island that they had no idea about. The tram that trundles its way under our window is a particular delight to them - it's all a very long way from Magaluf.
The tourist season is in wind down mode and staff that were planning to go back to the UK at the end of October come and see us to find work to enable them to stay here. We hear great stories of the summer they have had working as reps and how they can't bear to leave. They join the army of new incomers who have arrived here in time to settle their children into schools as the term begins. A whole new group doing what we did just a short time ago - learning what to do and how the Island works. Discovering paperwork and bureaucracy that make their eyes water and for those settling in Soller - a sting in their tails - the tunnel. The Soller tunnel costs four euros to enter and leave by car, in other words an eight euro round trip. If you are a registered resident on the Island after completing many forms and waiting an interminably long time for your application to be processed this fee is reduced to one euro. This money is then returned to you from the local council subsidy on completion of more forms and another delay. So in the fullness of time the tunnel is free for those with their Residencia and a document issued by the local council to say that you are a resident of the town. This means that a newcomer will pay the full fee for as long as it takes to follow the procedures. Many of the new arrivals work in Palma and take their children to schools there too so the premium for them of living in Soller is forty euros a week. It is always a great relief when the paperwork with all its pretty stamps is authorised and then another sting - there is no backdating. The date your subsidy starts is the date the paperwork is completed, often this means that people have paid a year or more tunnel fees which will not be re imbursed. All this does not dampen the enthusiasm for living in this idyllic corner of the Island but many people wish they had known this information in advance.
Sun Search joined other small and medium sized businesses last week for a networking meeting sponsored by a mobile phone company. It was great to meet like minded people and be impressed by the wealth of talent and innovative ideas that abound here in Majorca. As the lecture drew to a close a draw of business cards took place with the prize being a state of the art mobile phone. Sun Search was the winner! A box containing a phone that can send emails, become an MP3 player, and connect to Mars or at the very least the Moon sits looking at me on my desk. Thankfully help is at hand and the young brains of CMM are coming to show me how to work it- maybe it will increase my productivity or at least let me send emails while sitting on the beach.
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