You have to ask yourself if you were going to decide on where to go on holiday right now, Mallorca must rank high on the list. Why? Well with all the trouble going on in Ukraine I imagine most people will want to be as far away from the trouble as possible. The Western Med will definitely look more appealing than the Eastern Med right now. With only three weeks to go until Easter the island is slowly but surely waking up again. Remember though this for most isn’t after a winter off but two whole years off. Last Wednesday which was March 23rd was the day two years ago that Boris Johnson announced a full UK lockdown basically sounding the death knell of travel at that time. In Mallorca we were already in lockdown, at the time still thinking that it wouldn’t be for too long. However the announcement in the UK started to make a lot of people think that this actually be more serious than we had previously thought.
Now we are coming out on the other side it’s important that we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot by Unions calling strike action here, there and everywhere. Yes I understand it’s tough right now with fuel prices, electricity prices and rises in food costs. But we’ve now got an opportunity to work and I’m sure nobody wants to go back to a lockdown. We must be encouraging people to come and visit our beautiful island again. The information I’m seeing and hearing is very positive and it seems that we will have a busy season on the island. It’s up to all of us to grab that opportunity and get back to what we are all good at. Last week I spoke to all our returning artists at Pirates. It was so positive to see the crew back on stage and excited to start performing again. Slowly but surely we are re-employing people and I’m really pleased to see so many returning despite us being closed for 2 years. Our loyal customer base too has sent us loads of messages of support and their congratulations on us returning. I can’t wait to see that opening in show in three weeks on a day that couldn’t be any better, Good Friday.
There was positive news yesterday that the planned transport strike has been averted which will hopefully now mean no food shortages which I started to see this week. It was good to hear though that some businesses were looking at local suppliers to provide them with what they needed rather than imports. That I’m sure is a godsend to those suppliers and long may it continue.
One thing we can’t control is the weather. What’s going on? When I was a Rep, one of the questions you used to get was “what have you done to the weather?” As if it was my fault it was bucketing with rain. It’s funny how so many people that listen to the radio in the UK have been texting and saying how nice their weather is right now there. Well all I can say is enjoy it while it lasts as one thing for sure is Mallorca will be hot, sunny and busy this summer.
I interviewed a couple of Ukrainian refugees this week on the radio. These people have been kindly taken in by people here on the island. My feeling was that although they were hugely grateful for that help, they really would prefer to be back in their own country. I do hope that will be the case in the weeks and months to come. A huge shout out to the guys at OmniAccess on Parc Bit in Palma who also came into the studio with Nick from Yachting Gives Back. They have very generously given 12,000€ to Nick to buy essential food and medical supplies on a monthly basis. Nick does tremendous work for the needy on the island and he has thrown his support behind helping the refugees too. Next week I will announce details of our Radiothon which will be including help for Ukraine as part of our fundraising this year.
Real Mallorca sadly sacked their coach Luis Garcia Plaza this week. A run of six games without a win was the final straw for the owners. His love for the club and especially its supporters was undeniable and that showed in his emotional last press conference. His finest moment was undoubtedly getting promotion back to La Liga and I hope the new man Javier Aguirre who started training on Thursday can get a tune out of the players in the last nine games.
Don’t forget the clocks go forward on Sunday. I certainly won’t my son has a game in Manacor kicking off at 09.30. Meaning he has to be there at 08.15! Dad Taxi certainly earning his money this weekend. Also remember it’s Mothering Sunday too!
Take care everyone and enjoy your Weekend!
Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday 07.00-10am 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
Dad Taxi Mallorca 