Photograph by Rachel Fox
At this time of year our thoughts and bodies are usually turned towards the beach. It is tempting to take a chair and sit with the gentle waves lapping your feet and the sounds of children playing. The overwhelming sense of fiestas and celebrations are making off with our plans and picnics and arrangements are made. But with this backdrop there is no doubt that the City of Soller is still in work mode and this week the evidence of a hard working place are very much to the fore.
The announcement that stunned the week was the claim that Soller is the second place on the Island of Majorca to have Optical Fibre broadband installed. Palma first and now Soller second. This has taken the majority of internet users in Soller by surprise used as they are to intermittent loss of the internet. We pace ourselves on the funny internet access and go on to do other things while the system closes down for awhile before it restarts. But all that is about to change and technicians have been seen and photographed all over Soller pulling fibre optic things through the system You can tell by that statement that I am not terribly technically minded. People that know about these things say that this is all very good news for the Soller Valley and when the installations are complete Soller will be cutting edge in Majorcan terms for the internet. El Gas is the company to contact here if you want more information.
This is very good news for the new companies that have recently taken space on the new Industrial Estate in Soller. Two new buildings are under construction which will bring 2,550 sq metres of space into use. This gentle industrial estate has taken time to swing into action but these days it does house a few companies and the state of the art swimming pool and sports complex. The planners of Soller definitely thought this estate was going to be the Tamuntana’s Silicone Valley and are encouraging ecologically minded technical people to look at the facilities. A ‘high end’ Business Centre is what the local people want and this would be the best location. The parking is perfect and if the internet is really going to be sorted the entrepreneurs of the valley would queue up to subscribe. A business centre they could use for meetings, conferences and as office space with a multilingual reception and mail drop service would be the answer to the
prayers of the commuters to the Valley. There are many people who would not have to make that weekly flight to other European destinations if the video conferencing and fast broadband was really in existence here.
Maybe it all is really on the way …
Meanwhile back to the thorny subject of the Rocamar Hotel who has been waiting for beaurocracy to rumble on to decide its fate. The latest in this soap opera is that Central Government have completed their interest in the demolition and handed it back to the City Council of Soller to arrange the logistics. Money does not appear to be the problem anymore it’s all a case of when the touch paper will be lit for the explosion. Cathy Pomar on behalf of the Hoteliers Association had a meeting with the Mayor and the City Council and told them that her members want the job done now. The eyesore has gone on for long enough and as the site is away from the beach there is no harm in this happening immediately. The feeling from HQ in Soller is that with the tourist season underway this should wait till the autumn. ‘No’ say the Hoteliers that would be a disaster as the autumn walkers use the area around the derelict hotel to start many of their mountain
walks. So the debate continues and hot air continues to rise about this and many other local issues. Frequent visitors to this area have been watching this story over its ten year history. They would just love to be here when the building comes tumbling down – perhaps some of them will get their wish.
We celebrate St John and St Peter this week with fiestas and fireworks and maybe the Rocomar will join the explosions and be reduced to rubble at the same time. In the meantime we washed away the past year and welcomed the new in the midnight swim as part of the Fiesta of St John. The beach was packed with friends all in white sitting around their candles. Everything seemed possible at midnight on that lovely evening and promises for the next year looked easy to keep.
