How many years have I been banging on about why don’t we have a winter season here in Mallorca? Well I’ve lost count to be honest. If we had a winter programme it would be a great opportunity to slowly but surely reactivate the tourist industry, particularly in the all important UK market. But right now the season is pretty much done and there’s no plans for it to restart until at least April next year. Maybe nobody could have predicted this pandemic and the devastating effect it has had on the island but the more you rely on being a one trick pony the worse the outcome. So it is proving.
You have to say that right now the season is pretty much done. It’s only August 22nd but scores of hotels are closing their doors. It’s a great shame but we need to think of ideas to help business and people get through what’s going to be a very long and hard winter.
Firstly we need to get control of the virus as there has been an increase in cases. As I said last week you can’t be surprised with the spike with visitors arriving from all over Europe. Also there is more testing happening meaning more cases are being diagnosed but a lot of those are asymptomatic meaning they are showing no symptoms despite being positive. With the children going back to school we need to get it under control and to be honest if there’s a little pain for a couple of weeks due to stricter controls then I’m all for it. Ask any parent and they want their kids to go back to school not for their own sanity(although it helps!) but we’re now looking at 6 months of no proper education for most kids. That can’t go on. Nobody wants to go back into lockdown but there may be local lockdowns in certain areas. There are always shocking headlines about the virus but we must always look into the numbers properly. For instance I read somewhere that over three quarters of the Balearics municipalities have Covid. The number is 51 out of 67. That is true but of the 1519(as of 20/08/20) cases, 1005 are in Palma. The next highest is Marratxi with 73 and Calvia with 68. Thirty one municipalities have less than 10 cases. Although the winter will be long and tough it will be made a lot easier if we are Covid free.
This week we sorted out our TIE cards. We got all the information from the International Community of Calvia Facebook page. You can also send an email to internacional@calvia.com and they will send you all the information.
The following was taken from the UK Government website www.gov.uk/livinginSpain If you are legally resident in Spain before the transition period ends on the 31st December 2020, you will be able to stay. You must register as a Spanish resident if you want to stay in Spain for more than 3 months.
If you are living in Spain before 1st January 2021 and register as a resident after 6 July 2020, you will be issued with a biometric residence card called a Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero (TIE). This card will prove your rights under the Withdrawal Agreement.
If you registered as a resident before the 6th July 2020, you will have a green A4 certificate or credit card-sized piece of paper from Extranjeria or the police. This is still a valid document and will prove your rights under the Withdrawal Agreement, including after the transition period ends. You can exchange your paper residence document for the new TIE but you do not need to.
The green paper residence certificate and the new biometric TIE card are equally valid in proving your residence status and rights in Spain.
We did everything that was explained on the International Calvia page, asking for an appointment, getting photos done and pre-paying the tax of 12€pp.
The office is directly behind the Melia convention center hotel in Palma. Whilst queueing a lady came out and shouted “BREXIT!” and we were led to the front. I have to say this lady was so helpful and within half an hour all four of us were done. We now have to wait 30-40 days for the cards to be processed and we can make another appointment to pick them up.
I interviewed Sky Sports touchline Football reporter Geoff Shreeves this week. He has been with the channel since it started in 1992 and had some great stories about Sir Alex Ferguson, Jurgen Klopp and that famous Kevin Keegan interview when he lost it. He gave me his views on VAR, referees and games without crowds. Plus he opened up about his own battle with mental health. You can watch it on You Tube if you search Radio News Hub.
Take care everyone and enjoy your weekend!
Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online at www.radioonemallorca.com on mobile through their free App for IPhone & Android, The Tunein Radio App, iTunes, the Spanish TDT TV service and all smart speakers. If you can’t hear him on the radio then you’ll find him working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again he may make an understudy appearance!
Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com
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