Here come the holidays…
Written by Shirley Roberts
Published in the Majorca Daily Bulletin on
Tuesday 25th July 2017
Photographs by Rachel Fox
The end of July has come round all too quickly. We are all feeling the heat and humidity and the reservoirs are depleting. The water that washes us and our streets comes from the reservoirs high in the mountains above us. They are currently at 62% and we are all being urged to have showers and not baths for the rest of the summer. This is normal advice for this time of year and not, so far, the worrying words that were around last summer. In July 2016 we were at the point of water rationing because it had been such a dry year. The autumn brought us mega rain and that is why the situation isn’t quite so bad this summer.
As the month of August beckons it is the tradition that local companies take their holidays and shut up shop for a couple of weeks. They also tend to work reduced hours for the days they remain open. The nurseries and child care provisions also have holidays this month which has the knock on effect of making the users have holidays too as they have to look after their babies. The Soller Fiesta of St Bartholomew is the focus of August and so everything converges. Holiday time for local businesses, parents at home with children, high season family tourist visitors mean that the Soller Valley is full of people. This is one of the reasons that this local fiesta is such a big event in our year. The Nit of Art leads into many celebrations all culminating with the Devils Fire Run on Sunday 27th August 2017.
Our local politicians at the Town Hall approach the holiday month of August with their own list. They have things that must be done by the end of July cut off date. They know that August is a huge showcase for the Soller Valley. If things aren’t finished and promises are not kept then the electorate will have something to say about it. So they have a list and they breathe a sigh of relief if the ticks can be made in this final week before the all seeing eyes of the complainers can be on their case.
The road asphalting to the main route into Soller has been completed together with one of the side roads leading to the Victoria cultural centre. All this was promised months ago but problems were found with underground electric cables which had to be fixed first. This delayed the road surfacing work and created criticisms that the works was being done when it was too hot. This was said to be detrimental to the work and would mean that the road would soon need repair again. At present all this has a tick in the right box, it is finished.
The Filadura Park as been completed with a new set of swings and play equipment. This is a welcome addition to a dense residential part of Soller. Another tick in the box for the Town Hall to the delight of local families.
Lighting for Soller and Fornalutx is work in progress and the switch to thousands of LED bulbs is almost complete. The rumblings about this one is that glass had to be taken out of the lampposts for this change and the panes will not be replaced. This has got many saying that weather and vandalism will be a consequence. For now, the job is well on its way to being completed and another tick in the box is likely.
The issue that simply will not go away for the summer is the cleaning of the beach and the general rubbish collection. This has been a big problem this year and of all the jobs in the Town Council this is the poisoned chalice. Powerful lobbies of interested groups such as the Hotels and Restaurants Associations are on the case every day. They are the ones that listen to guests using the beach who say that it is not good enough. New machines have come and gone and the latest was an agricultural machine not suited to sifting through sand. This machine has problems every time it is switched on. The deck chair staff on the beaches do all they can to clean round their beach but the machinery is simply not there. Of all the problems that remain before the holidays for all begin this is the one that needs the magic wand.
Seven days left to this month for the remaining jobs on the list to be done. In September, when everyone is back from their holidays a new list will be started. Life in all its forms goes on here year round and make it the place that so many want to visit. Let’s hope that the August holidays are fun for all…
