Author: somethingforyourmallorcaweekend

I've lived and worked in Mallorca since 1990. I've worked at Pirates Adventure & Radio One Mallorca. I now work at Wave Mallorca Radio and have my own Concierge service called Prioritymallorca.com. This blog will give you my news, views and my life on our island in the sun.

4 Ways to Improve Mallorca in 2024

So here we are in 2024, planning for the new tourist season here in Mallorca. With a new Government in place on the island it will be interesting to see what impact they have on the islands biggest industry. There are a lot of things that need sorting as we are by no means a perfect holiday destination.

What will happen to the ‘Tourism of Excesses’ which was a flagship policy of the previous administration and in particular the red zones that were created in the resorts of Magaluf, Arenal, Playa de Palma and San Antonio in Ibiza. We’ve talked about this before but the biggest problem was it should have been the whole of the resorts and not a map drawn that conveniently left out certain establishments. The new Government has said it will change the policy but we are yet to find out exactly what that will be.

The Tourist Tax has been a political hot potato since its introduction in 2016. Its aim was to fund projects encouraging a sustainable, responsible and high-quality tourism model, particularly projects that boost the preservation of the environment (nature, country life, agriculture and sea life), off-season tourism, historical sites and cultural heritage, research and development. In some cases this was true but there have been questions as to where some of the money has gone. A perfect example this week, a story broke that of the 53 municipalities in Majorca 9 do not have water fit for human consumption. Remember the advert ‘the water in Majorca don’t taste like what it oughta?’ Well surely that’s a project that should have funds given to it. 

The taxi situation in July and August is an absolute joke. Despite the introduction of Uber there are not enough taxis to meet the demand particularly in high season. I’ve checked out the cost of obtaining a licence and it can vary but you are looking north of 100,000€ and in some cases you can double or triple that. You don’t hear many complaints about the buses, trains or even the airlines, so surely someone can come up with a taxi plan? Something needs to be done as it’s not helping the tourists and likewise the residents that live here. 

I touched on this subject a couple of weeks ago but the graffiti situation seems to be getting worse. I’m all for controlled graffiti in certain areas but the situation right now is getting out of control. More importantly it creates a negative impression for tourists arriving on the island. My suggestion was to set up cameras to catch the people and make them clean it up. Some Cities have set up designated graffiti areas, Miami is a very good example of this. All graffiti is illegal in Miami-Dade County. If convicted, the vandal will be fined, may face jail time, may have to pay restitution, and will have to complete community service hours. Parents of offenders may be liable for damages. Graffiti once was considered a sign of urban decay, the sort of thing that might keep tourists away from a neighborhood. Now, not only is it an accepted art form, but it’s also the subject of a new tour in one of Miami’s trendiest neighborhoods, Wynwood, where legal outdoor murals by graffiti artists cover the walls near art galleries and restaurants.

The two-hour tour — which has participants riding Vespas — is offered by a company called Roam Rides. It starts with a 15-minute ride from Miami Beach over the Venetian Causeway to the Wynwood Arts District, considered the mecca of Miami’s emerging arts scene, and includes four or five stops to survey the area’s best graffiti. The tour ends with lunch at a happening Wynwood restaurant.

Now there’s an idea for Palma City Council.

I’ve touched on the negatives here which is something I wouldn’t normally do but let’s remember nothing is perfect and by tackling these issues we will become better. 

Mallorca is a beautiful island of contrast. From the beautiful beaches in the North, to the mountains of the West, the caves and coves of the East and the bustling busy nightlife of the South. There is something for absolutely everyone. 

If ever there is a destination built for tourism it is our island. It hasn’t been one of the most popular destinations in the World for the last 50 years for nothing. It is in my opinion still one of the best holiday destinations, an island with turquoise blue waters, secret coves, soft golden sands, lush green foliage, rugged mountains, picturesque villages, amazing cuisine, an up and coming wine industry, bustling nightlife and a vibrant capital city. We’re also an island in the Med only a couple of hours flight from most European cities. 

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

It’s a Public Vote

I grew up watching Sports Personality of the Year. It was one of the programmes I always looked forward to at the end of the year. Now I’m showing my age here as this was before satellite tv was invented. So you could watch most sporting events on terrestrial tv. My earliest memory of a winner was probably John Curry the ice skater who won in 1976. By the way I was 10 years old for those asking. 

Since the invention of Sky it became harder for the BBC to show highlights of sport that they didn’t televise. This meant the programme wasn’t as good as it used to be and as I’ve got older I’ve tended not to watch it so much.

I have to be honest and look up who won last year’s event and it was England women’s footballer Beth Mead. She was the player of the tournament and top scorer at Euro 2022, where the Lionesses defeated Germany in the final at Wembley to win England’s first major women’s football trophy.

The 27-year-old also became the first women’s footballer to win the award.

This year another England women’s footballer won, their goalkeeper Mary Earps. Leading to a few people criticising why she won if she and England didn’t actually win the World Cup after losing to Spain in the final. 

Before we look at whether she was deserving or not let’s look at the criteria and the panel who drew up the shortlist as it’s something I had to look up.

The criteria of the shortlist should be that they,

• Reflect UK sporting achievements on the national and/or international stage;
• Represent the breadth and depth of UK sports; 
• Take into account the ‘impact’ of the person’s sporting achievement beyond the sport in question.

The industry panel for this year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year included former Lioness and Euro 2022 winner Ellen White, ex-Olympian Colin Jackson, Paralympian Ellie Simmonds and former Scotland rugby union international Chris Paterson.

Sports journalists David Coverdale (Daily Mail), Rob Maul (The Sun) and Charlotte Harpur (The Athletic) were on the panel alongside Olympian Katherine Grainger, now Chair of UK Sport.

Representing the BBC were director of sport Barbara Slater, head of sport content Philip Bernie and Sports Personality of the Year executive producer Gabby Cook.

The Panel were given an extensive list of the top sportspeople from 2023 Including information on their achievements, provided by the production team of Sports Personality of the Year. The Panel were also able to consider other potential candidates who were not on the list. 

They chose, Stuart Broad (cricket), Frankie Dettori (horse racing), Alfie Hewett (wheelchair tennis), Katarina Johnson-Thompson (athletics) Rory Mcllroy (golf) and Mary Earps (Football)

On the night itself the award goes to the sportsperson whose sporting actions have most captured the UK public’s imagination during 2023. There’s an important word in that last sentence “public”. Let’s not forget it’s a public vote and they decide who wins. It’s a bit like a general election if you feel so passionately about something then use your vote. Two of the people who’ve been so critical of the winner have been Journalist Piers Morgan and former footballer Joey Barton. I wasn’t surprised about Barton as his views on pretty much everything are left field but I was surprised about Piers. Everyone as always is entitled to their opinion as long as you don’t get personal, which Barton in particular did. Interestingly though when asked, neither did vote so that sums it up for me. 

Back to the winner Mary, she also won the World Cup tournament’s Golden Glove, the Best Women’s Goalkeeper at FIFA’s The Best awards and was named England Women’s Player of the Year. She stood up against Nike who wouldn’t release a replica shirt with her name on and when they eventually bowed to pressure she sold out twice in both October and December.

A thoroughly deserving winner in my eyes. 

Take care everybody and can I take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy New Year. 

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

The Road to Hell

I have a love-hate relationship with the Via de Cintura. For those reading this who are asking who or what? It’s the ring road around the capital city of Palma here in Mallorca. Now I’m not called Dad Taxi for nothing, I drive that road more or less once a day 7 days a week and sometimes twice. It might be for work but usually it’s to get my two sons either to and from football training or a match. I have done the journey from Santa Ponsa to Son Fusteret where the boys train in 15 minutes on a good day and 1 hour and 30 minutes on a bad day. 

A decision in February 2021 made by the then Government to reduce its speed limit from 120 kilometers an hour to 80 kilometers an hour caused an outcry at the time. They claimed it was with the aim of combating pollution, reducing emissions and unclogging a road on which traffic jams formed every day. Antoni Cànovas, who at the time was one of the most respected Road Safety Experts in the country said that there were other options. “It is not logical that on roads with 2 lanes the speed limit is 100 kilometers per hour and on a highway that’s lit up, with three lanes in each direction and no roundabouts it’s 80 kilometers an hour.” He added “The speed limit could be reduced to 100 kilometers an hour during the day and increased to 120 kilometres an hour from 21:00, they should consult the professionals before making decisions like this.”

Despite this the policy was brought in. Remember the words “combating pollution, reducing emissions and unclogging a road on which traffic jams formed every day.” Did anyone see any change? No me neither. In fact I’d say the traffic has got worse and the emissions greater by being stationary for so long. 

Now there’s a new Government in town and since Monday the new limit is 100 kilometers an hour. I had to laugh though that no expense had been spared to cover up the 80 kilometers an hour signs. They did it with bin liners! 

I’ve had plenty of opportunities to sit and watch the world go by listening to Chris Rea’s road to hell and noticing some weird and not so wonderful things.

On the road to Santa Ponsa you go underneath the roundabout at the Magaluf turn off and on the right hand side there’s a random bush growing out of the wall. 

The graffiti is a massive problem all the way around the ring road. Actually an island problem if I’m honest but that’s for another day. I can’t believe that someone hasn’t invented a graffiti free concrete or metal yet. Why don’t they put up cameras in the hotspots and when you catch the people doing it make them clean it off. I’m not against graffiti if it’s in a controlled area like the wall in Magaluf but it doesn’t create a good first impression for tourists arriving on the island. I’m hearing that they’re planning to put up more acoustic screens to reduce the noise for residents. No offence but if you’ve bought a property near the islands busiest road surely you’ll expect noise? Also how long do you give them before they’re covered in graffiti too?

Does anyone else use the feeder lane at the Bendinat turn off to speed past the waiting traffic? Or is it just me? 

Why are there no entry signs on the opposite side of the road in certain places where it is totally impossible to drive up anyway?

Luckily there are no roundabouts until you get off but don’t get me talking about how the Spanish navigate them. It’s not normal!

That Chris Rea song has just changed to “I’m driving home for Christmas”.

Take care everybody and can I take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

Shop Locally and Give to Charity this Christmas

Christmas shopping is not something us boys look forward to. Me in particular, so much so I prefer to ask people to give me an idea of what they would like to receive. I do though love the food and drink shopping at this time of year. I do believe in helping local businesses and I’ve picked out a couple that I’ve bought from in the past. These people would always be one of the first to help when charity was calling in my old job on the radio and I now count them as friends. But more importantly they are very good at what they do. I caught up with them all this past week to find out what they’re doing leading up to Christmas. 

Simon at Bespoke Provisioning studied for 3 years training at Chefs school which included becoming a fully fledged butcher and fishmonger. 

You may remember him from the Escape bar in Palma which he ran for 16 years. When he left the bar he started The Meat & Fish Society which has now become Bespoke Provisioning. They specialise in the highest quality meat and fish, fully  trimmed, cut, filleted, vacuum packed and labelled and delivered on time. They deliver to Mallorca, Ibiza and Menorca (fixed rates to Ibiza and Menorca so no surprises) Simon has cheffed for Queen drummer Roger Taylor on his new yacht ‘Rock n Roll’ and has cooked at countless events. 

As the yacht provisioning is a little quieter at this time of year he is offering for Christmas, Whole organic Turkeys, boned and rolled organic turkeys and gammon joints in various sizes. 

For more information please call or whatsapp Simon on 619 593 387. Facebook 

“the meat and fish society” for pictures, videos and general information. 

And you can Email him on sales@mn2v.co

Since 2005 Elisa and Mikey from the World of Wine have been building relationships with the industry’s most acclaimed vineyards and winemakers from ‘Old World’ to ‘New World’, Spain to New Zealand and France to Australia. They source exceptional wines made from the highest quality grapes and deliver them personally to your doorstep or superyacht quayside.

You can indulge in the spirit of Christmas with their curated selection of wines, exquisite champagnes and a festive array of drinks. Why not have a pre-dinner bottle of champagne Vueve Cliquot and Moët Chandon are always the classic favourites. This year Blanc de Blanc and Pol Roger Brut Reserve are very popular too.

Every year they are finding more wines from Mallorca, such as Ses Rotes, Es Verger, Son Mayol Rose and Castel Miguel. They also have a full selection from the mainland of Spain, Italy, France, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Argentina. 

If you’re looking for a wine to pair with your turkey then they recommend a Pinot Noir, Chardonnay or Albariño. Don’t be fooled by the name World of Wine as they can supply beers and spirits including, Port, Brandy, Whiskey and even Tequila! And remember all these are not just for drinking, they are for gifting too. 

For more information please call;

Elisa Llewellyn: +34 669 075 466

Miguel Perez: +34 636 188 598

In years gone by I would be heavily involved in a Christmas charity campaign. I feel a little guilty that not working on the radio has limited my ability to do the charity work. However I had a coffee with Nick from Yachting Gives Back this week who we helped on a number of occasions and asked what help they could do with this Christmas.

Yachting Gives Back are a registered charity through which the yachting industry – both yachts and service companies – are helping to alleviate the problems of poverty and hunger in Mallorca. They collect non-perishable foodstuffs & hygiene products and they then deliver to those in need on the island. The main charities the help are;

Associacio Tardar is a food bank & Soup Kitchen in Palma. They provide simple, balanced meals daily to hundreds of people in the centre of Palma. The operation relies totally on volunteers and donations and they collaborate with Social Services to reach the people most in need of help.

Mallorca Sense Fam is a food bank and charity shop in Palma. Mallorca Without Hunger is a local food bank providing regular supplies of basic foodstuffs to the most vulnerable families in Palma. It is run by a network of volunteers and supported by donations from private individuals & entities, as well as public food banks. MSF has its own application process and conducts initial interviews with people seeking help. 

Es  Refugi is a non-profit association working in collaboration with the Social Services to meet the basic needs of those who, due to different circumstances, are at risk of social exclusion. Over the years Es Refugi has worked with people with addiction problems and currently focuses on the long term unemployed, who may have ended up defaulting on their mortgage payments, lost their unemployment benefit and in the process also lost family contact. Es Refugi runs a shelter and social kitchen for 50 people in the finca Ca l´Ardiaca II in the outskirts of Palma.

Can Gaza is a rustic finca in Secar de la Real is a home for about 25 men who suffer from serious consequences of past drug and alcohol addictions. Despite their weak physical condition, they all contribute in the daily chores of the finca. Those in better health restore furniture and other household items in Taller Marginalia, a treasure trove of second hand wares in Can Valero. Through daily work, each member of the community contributes to their own wellbeing as well as that of their “extended family”, thus helping to build up their self confidence and sense of dignity.

Asociación Siloé is a non-profit entity of public interest under the umbrella of the Mallorcan Institute of Social Services, providing care and a family-like environment for terminally ill AIDS sufferers in a vulnerable situation, without financial resources or family support. 

SOS Mamas was set up by two former colleagues and friends who created a Facebook page where people could offer equipment no longer needed, and families with children lacking resources could ask for what they require, in total anonymity. This humble initiative has grown into an organisation that attends to the basic needs of thousands of regulars in various areas on the island.

It was great to catch up with Nick again and he mentioned that if you want to donate anything then milk,  any cooking oil and hygiene products are always needed. 

For more information please Email: nick@yachtinggivesback.com or call +34 619 117 937.
Take care everybody and enjoy your weekend!

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

A Sneaky Airline Scam?

December the 6th is a holiday here in Spain and is known as Constitution Day. Celebrating the anniversary of the country’s current democratic constitution that was installed in 1978 after the fall of the Franco dictatorship. With the present problems in Spanish politics you might be forgiven to think, is there a possibility we’re going return to those dark days? Now I could carry on but politics really isn’t my bag and I thought it why bore you any more than I already do. 

As it’s a public holiday it was standard to find out that the flight prices for this week were horrendous, so I decided to go back to the UK last week for a couple of days to see my family. Why is it in the winter they make you walk miles to the gate at the airport when the rest of the gates that are closer are closed?  I wrote in October that the age of the No-Frills airline had ceased to be and they are doing their best to rip you for whatever they can get. More about that later! As I was only going for a couple of days I decided on the airlines ‘small bag policy’. I watched with great interest one staff member at Palma airport who was like a hawk stalking his prey trying to catch anybody he could with the wrong sized bag. I’m sure these people get off on causing misery to others and I’m sure they’re probably on a commission to catch as many people out as possible. That stand they have at the check-in desk has definitely got smaller, you’re lucky if you can get a Lidl paper bag in one of those things. But I was fine with my little Nike bag that I’d borrowed from my Son and had used on countless occasions throughout the Summer.

I had been offered a ticket to see the Arsenal in the Championship League that night but I was worried that if I landed at 17.00 which I was due to do, I’d be hard pushed to make it to the theatre of dreams by 20.00. Well if ‘London Stansted’ was actually in London and not in deepest Essex then maybe I could have done. As I left the plane I was greeted by a Siberian temperature of minus something. When you’ve been used to 20 degrees and above all year in Mallorca, this was quite a shock. Having picked up my hire car and safely negotiated the first roundabout which is always a nightmare when driving on the other side of the road, I was on my way up the M11 to Cambridgeshire. Or so I thought. All of a sudden we ground to a halt and we didn’t actually move again for a whole hour. I managed to listen to the whole Arsenal game on the radio before I reached my destination. Visiting and spending some time with my Mum aka the Duchess,  my Sister and friends is always great but never long enough. 

And so to my return. Now most airlines encourage you to download their apps so you can do everything on it but they are different when it comes to checking in. With some you can check-in when you want but with one particular one if you choose not to buy a seat they won’t let you check-in until 24 hours before. At that point i’d been asked a thousand times whether i’d prefer to pay for a seat which I politely declined. But this time something new occurred which hasn’t happened to me before and is obviously another one of their stealth taxes. A message came up on my phone which read ‘This is not a mobile boarding pass, you must collect your boarding pass at the airport check-in desk.’ Another message popped up which read, ‘Get your boarding pass now and avoid queueing at the airport by adding a seat’. Or otherwise known as, we know you’ve declined to pay for a seat a thousand times so we’re going to stitch you up and make you wait at the airport for a boarding pass. Which I dually did but what was the point and  what happened to us beginning to become a paperless society? This was a story that was picked up the mainstream media, the Sunday Mail had a story at the weekend and BBC news contacted me for a similar story they were running. 

It didn’t end there. That trusty Nike bag which I’d travelled with all summer with no problems all of a sudden wasn’t the right size for Mrs Jobsworth at the check-in desk. There are other names I could call her but she wasn’t having any of it. I asked why she hadn’t stopped the guy in front of me, ‘ oh he’s priority’ she snootily replied. It was pay £46 or start walking so I had no choice. That £46 was in fact more than I paid for my flight and I’m sure that when I scanned my boarding card a message came up on her computer saying. ‘Passenger refused to buy a seat even after we made him wait to get his boarding pass so feel free to stitch him up!’ 

In a week when Shane McGowan sadly passed away ‘Happy Christmas your arse’ was a perfect riposte when handed my receipt. 

It might be Christmas season but goodwill to all men isn’t a message that this airline is sending. Oh and just for the record the airline in question? It might not surprise you to know was Ryanair and because it’s winter time other airlines were not available. 

Take care everybody and enjoy your weekend!

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

Omid Who?

If I was to mention the name Omid Scobie, would you know who I was talking about? Well to me and probably most of you out there we only began to hear about him after he co-wrote the book ‘Finding Freedom’. A biography about Harry and Meghans life together. Now if that wasn’t enough rubbish for you he’s just released another book on the Royal family called ‘Endgame.’

Apparently you will find both books in the non-fiction section of most good book shops and some bad ones as well. But when I looked at the meaning of a non fiction book I am seriously doubting whether they should be there. ‘Non-fiction is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to convey information only about the real world, rather than being grounded in imagination.’ 

Remember last week I talked about footballers using their parents as their mouth pieces to get their message out there if they are upset about something? Well Harry and Meghan have gone a similar way and used two books written by someone else to try and trash the Royal family. Well two books written by this leech Scobie and another one that Harry did with another author J R Moehringer called ‘Spare’. The first book Meghan said they had nothing to do with but under oath she then apologised in court for failing to remember authorising a senior aide to brief the authors of her and Harry’s unofficial biography.

The release of this new book is another excuse Scobie to have another pop at the Royal Family. I can’t believe that Harry and Meghan weren’t involved in some way in this bilge too.

These are two people who had every right to quit Royal life and in their own  words go and live a quiet life away from public life and more particularly the media. However all they’ve done ever since is to try and court the limelight. From Oprah, three books, a Netflix documentary and podcasts they’ve done all they can to keep themselves famous but try and trash the very thing that got them there in the first place. 

Back to Scobie, who you might have gathered I’m not a fan of. He once claimed he was 33 years old and in fact he was 38 and he also said that he’d never flown in a private jet and was pictured on Instagram the week before travelling on one. So we’ve all told a few porkies right? But when you’re writing books on the Royal family surely you want the information to be correct don’t you? 

The racism claims on Oprah on the possible colour of Archie’s skin have up to now never been corroborated. In fact two years later after all the damning speculation, Harry said in an interview with Tom Bradby that the claims of racism were by the media and not as a consequence of what was said in the interview. Utter rubbish. 

This story took an interesting twist this week as in a Dutch version of Scobie’s book the names of the two Royals who allegedly said something were printed. Why in the Dutch version and nowhere else? Of course there was the usual social media pile on and the books were removed by the publisher who said there’d been a mistake. By who and why?  Piers Morgan took it upon himself to name them on his talk show on Wednesday night. 

Believe what you want but remember this guy is out to sell his book and as for the other two I’d prefer if they’d go and do what they said they were going to do and live a private life. I fear that won’t be the case. 

Take care everybody and enjoy your weekend!

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

Right or Wrong?

Those that know me know I’m very passionate about my football. I’m an Arsenal fan and despite living in Mallorca I’ll always try to catch a game when I can. I’m a Real Mallorca season ticket holder and I have two boys that play football for CD San Francisco in Palma. I’ve said before that when I’m saying anything on the sidelines watching the boys I mostly do it English as not many people can understand me. I have to be honest and say that I’ve said things at times I probably shouldn’t but as the boys have got older I’ve definitely mellowed. Parents here and back in the UK are told to behave themselves whilst watching games but at times that doesn’t happen. 

Interestingly I’ve noticed something creeping into the professional game and particularly in the Premier League in the last year. Parents of professional players have come out and defended their own sons in the media. Now these are two high profile players, who are also England Internationals. I am talking about Harry Maguire and Aaron Ramsdale. The circumstances are different though for these two. Harry’s was in relation to how he was playing and Aaron’s was the fact that he had been replaced by another player. 

Harry’s Mother said, “As a mum seeing the level of negative and abusive comments which my son is receiving from some fans, pundits and the media is disgraceful and totally unacceptable to any walk of life, never mind someone who works his socks off for club and country.”

Aaron’s Father said, “Aaron’s lost that smile to when he was holding onto that ball at this moment in time. It really is difficult to see him there and we all keep saying you need to keep smiling.

“Aaron is going to be the cup goalkeeper, and David Raya is going to be the main man unless something happens, an injury or a sending-off. Aaron’s got to live with that and he is living with that even though he’s not been told it. By anybody.

“Even though the way it’s been done, in my eyes, it’s been wrong and we can talk about that but it’s the decision. Really and truly we’ve got to get behind David Raya. He’s part of the family now. Whether it’s only until May-June of next year. It won’t be, it’ll be longer in my eyes, but that’s by the by.”

Now I’m split on whether this is right or wrong. We live in a society where everyone rightly has an opinion, the problem is now there are a lot more ways to express that opinion. Back when I grew up you read about these things in the newspapers. But the saying used to be, ‘todays headline tomorrow’s chip paper’. Meaning it was forgotten about normally the following day. TV didn’t have its own dedicated football channels like they do now, newspapers had to be bought but now you can read them online and probably the worst of all where abuse is concerned is social media. The abuse of players is not a new thing. If you’ve watched the very good David Beckham documentary you would have seen the awful abuse that he got after getting sent-off for England in the 1998 World Cup. But almost all of it was in the newspapers. Interestingly Harry Maguire has commented that Beckham reached out to him after the abuse he got.

Being an Arsenal fan I was more interested in the Aaron Ramsdale story. I have a Son who is a goalkeeper and he idolises him. I personally think that Ramsdale has been unlucky in what has happened. Most of the big teams around Europe you will find two quality players for every position, but it’s unusual to have two top class goalkeepers. When we went to watch Arsenal in Seville we made sure that we were in the ground to watch the goalkeepers warm up. David Raya the new keeper spent most of his time practicing his kicking which is what Arteta the Arsenal manager has brought him in for. I made a point of looking at what Ramsdale was doing and he practiced as hard as he would have if he was playing. 

I asked my Son how he would feel that if he was a professional footballer and I said something to the media to defend him. He said he probably wouldn’t be too happy and then thought about it for a moment and said maybe they asked their parents to do it. He may not be wrong you know as neither have actually commented about it themselves and maybe this was a way of airing their frustrations. 

Some might say that the industry they’re in, the money they get paid, they should expect it, they’re grown men and should stick up for themselves. 

Others will point to their mental health and the effect it also has on their families. I will sit on the fence for this one and let you debate it amongst yourselves. 

Take care everybody and enjoy your weekend!

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Last week I was talking about winter here in Mallorca but thoughts are already turning now to next Summer. Easter falls early next year at the end of March so there’s not too much time to relax. At Pirates we’re already making plans and we have some great offers coming up for next weeks Black Friday. If you’ve got friends or family coming over next Summer you should keep your eyes out for those. Now, dare I say it? Well it’s only 39 sleeps until Christmas! In fact I’m a little late to the party because as soon as Halloween was over the slow drip of Christmas ads had started. The shops started stocking Christmas goodies and Mariah Carey was already warming up her vocal cords.

We’re not halfway through November, but already the widely agreed upon pair of greatest modern Christmas classics, Wham!’s Last Christmas and Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You, have entered the chart at No 37 and No 40 respectively. Last year, it took until the third week of November for a Christmas song to appear, namely All I Want for Christmas Is You. Each song will now almost certainly remain in the chart for the rest of the year, and possibly into early 2024.

Without doubt if you can write a good Christmas song or in some cases a not very good Christmas song then it could well give you a good income for the rest of your life. The Performing Rights Society or PRS as it’s known don’t tend to divulge this information easily to protect their artists privacy. But it’s a well known fact that the following artists make substantial amounts per year from just one song.

  1. “Merry Xmas Everybody” by Slade £1m 
  2. “Fairytale of New York” by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl £400,000
  3. “All I Want for Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey £400,000 
  4. “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby £328,000
  5. “Last Christmas” by Wham! £300,000
  6. “Wonderful Christmastime” by Paul McCartney £260,000
  7.  “Stop the Cavalry” by Jona Lewie £120,000
  8. “2000 Miles” by The Pretenders £102,000
  9. “Mistletoe and Wine” by Cliff Richard £100,000
  10. “Stay Another Day” by East 17 £97,000

That’s royalty money but in the new era of listening to music, Spotify also pays out a pretty tidy sum too. Mariah Carey it probably won’t surprise you to know tops that list with a mind blowing 1,206,753,171 streams, yes that’s over a billion. Which will net Mariah a cool £2,968,613.00. 

If you’re looking for somewhere to spend a midweek or weekend Christmas shopping then for me Palma has it all. In fact if I was where I used to live in Hertfordshire it would take me longer to get to Lakeside which is a popular Christmas shopping centre than it would to fly to Palma. What Palma can offer that Lakeside can’t is a full array of shops in picturesque streets, 3 shopping centres in Porto Pi, Fan and Mallorca Outlets, history, hotels and unbelievable gastronomy. The lights in the Paseo del Borne rival anything you’ll see in Oxford Street and there are lots of great Christmas markets in close proximity. 

In my opinion no Christmas is complete until you get yourself a tree. Not a fake one for me, it has to be real. Last year I met a guy called Quentin who was bringing Christmas trees over to Mallorca from his families farm in Denmark. 

Their arborists (aka tree surgeons to you and I) have been growing and selling the highest quality, most sustainable and durable Normann fir Christmas Trees since the industry commenced in Denmark in the early 70´s. Their philosophy has always been to produce quality over quantity, whereby the ethical treatment of the workers, the earth and the clients is always respected and maintained, these are the values which are essential to their organisation. For every 8 trees they cut, they replant 10. We had one in our house last year and the tree he gave to the radio station we gave to the charity Es Refugi through our friends at Yachting Gives Back.

I can’t recommend their trees highly enough and it adds to the good feeling of Christmas. 

For more details please go to https://www.mallorcachristmastrees.com or call Quentin 658 342 941. 

Take care everybody and enjoy your weekend!

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

WTM

This week has been the World Travel Market in London. It’s one of the three biggest tourist fairs that are important for tourism here in Mallorca. The other two are Fitur in Madrid from the 24th to the 28th of January and ATB in Berlin from the 5th to the 7th of March. All three cover the three main source markets to the island, Germany, the UK and of course Spain. 

2024 will see us enter our third year after the Covid pandemic and it seems that tourism numbers are not only as good as they were in 2019 but increasing which is good news for our islands biggest industry. It also seems that although the the three main source markets mentioned above are still doing well, we are seeing more and more visitors from other countries. 

This was the first travel market for our new Government here in the Balearics and from what I’ve seen and heard so far, this administration seem to be more tourist friendly than the last one. They haven’t has a lot of time to prepare fully as they only took over in July but I like what I’m hearing. I know that sound bites are all well and good and the proof in the pudding is in the eating. But at least they’re making the right noises. 

You may remember last year the then head of tourism Lucia Escribano allegedly said at the World Travel Market “We are not interested in having the budget tourists from the UK, we don’t care if they go elsewhere to Greece and Turkey,” She said she was misquoted and that she was talking about the fact that they wanted more people in the low season and not in the high season. But it was a fact that they said “we are not interested in promoting Mallorca in the Summer”.

This of course was seized upon by the UK tabloids and it turned into a very negative story. If tourism is your number one industry then you must be promoting it as much as you can and all year round. Responsible Tourism and relieving saturation in the high season seems to be the plan going forward but as I’ve said before next season will be the first test.

I have been lucky enough to interview two of the people who will be heavily involved in this. Maria Frontera Is the President of the Mallorca hotels federation  and comes from a tourist background. She worked for Tui and I first met her when she was running her family’s hotel in the Port of Soller. I personally think she’d make a great Tourism Minister but I’m not sure of her political ambitions and I’m sure the hotel Federation wouldn’t like to lose her. 

Juan Antonio Amengual is the new Mayor of Calvia and as a former director of hotels he has an extensive history in the World of tourism. He has said he wants change the law of excesses and wants to promote Calvia as a year round destination. 

As I said above it is a little early to judge right now and next year will be the gauge but the plans are good. I did speak to the hotel association of Magaluf and Palma Nova to find out how many hotels were remaining open during this  winter. Of the 86 hotels they have listed, disappointingly only 4 remain open. They are the Fergus Style Palma Nova, the Elba Sunset Mallorca, the Aparthotel Vistasol and the apartments Roc Portonova. Magaluf has become a ghost town but there is a little more life in Palma Nova. When I first arrived in Mallorca in 1990 both resorts were thriving in the winter and it’s sad to see it like this. Friends of mine were in Benidorm last weekend and of course it was rocking. There’s no reason why that can’t be the same here. 

I looked at the flight situation and that will also need improving. The north of the UK has always struggled but even down south the service isn’t great. There’s a daily Easyjet flight from Gatwick and a daily Ryanair flight from Stansted. Easyjet have a flight from Luton 3 times a week and BA have a daily service that seems to change between Gatwick, Heathrow and London City depending on the day. 

Lots of work ahead but hopefully we’re moving in the right direction. 

Take care everybody and enjoy your weekend!

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

Stunning Seville

As soon as my team the Arsenal qualified for the Champions League I said to my two boys that if we draw a Spanish team then we will definitely go to an away game. When the draw was made I knew we had a pretty good chance because there were five Spanish teams in it. Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, Real Sociedad and Sevilla were all in the hat and any one of those would have been a great day out. I’d already seen Arsenal before at the two Madrid teams and at Barcelona so although they would have been great again a trip to Sevilla in the South or Sociedad in the North would be something different. We ended up drawing Sevilla and so the hunt was on for tickets, hotel and flights. 

I was moaning last week about the lack of low fares from the low cost airlines but we are lucky here on the islands as we get discounted travel. That’s only if we’re travelling around Spain and its islands. The Spanish government subsidises 75% of the fares of scheduled air transport for all EU citizens who are residents of the Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Ceuta or Melilla. For us Brits living in Mallorca it means to qualify for the discount, you must be a permanent resident, either with the green NIE stating ‘permanente’ or with the TIE card. You also need to get a resident certificate from the municipal council where you are registered. I got ours from one of the tourist information offices. So our return tickets to Sevilla were 75€, not each that was for all three! Now the airlines have been accused of putting up their prices to compensate for the discount especially around the holidays so you need to shop around or book as early as you can. 

The hotel I got was called the Torre Sevilla and it came on recommendation from a friend. It is the tallest building in Andalusia and in Seville and provides a panoramic view on all of city. 

Seville is the capital of Andalusia, the city has the world’s biggest gothic cathedral, which is the resting place of the World famous explorer Christopher Columbus who we celebrate in Spain on October 12th commemorating the first time that Columbus sailed for America in 1492.

If you’re interested in experiencing Spanish tapas culture, then there is arguably no better place to do this than Seville. Going on a tapas crawl can lead you from historic old bars serving up traditional Sevillano dishes to hip new eateries putting modern spins on old classics. We went to another recommendation called Bar Pelayo which I can pass on as a great place to go. 

I am really grateful to a friend called Jeff who sorted our tickets for us. To be honest we couldn’t have been any closer to the pitch. We had the Arsenal technical team in front of us and the academy team a few rows behind us. Also just two rows behind us was Arsenal legend Ian Wright who was happy to pose for photos with anyone who asked. 

The atmosphere inside the stadium was amazing and the Sevilla fans didn’t stop singing from the start of the game until the finish. Arsenal played well for 60 minutes and were cruising at 2-0 up. But the home side pulled one back and the last half hour was very nerve wracking but we held on for a 2-1 win. We all slept well that night and flew back to Mallorca the next morning. A great experience for all of us and hopefully we’ll be able to repeat it again soon. I said to my Wife we really must make more of the residents discount and see more of the mainland. Galicia, the Basque region and Rioja are three places that are on my list. Maybe we could tie it in with a Real Mallorca away game? Or maybe I shouldn’t mention that?

Take care everybody and enjoy your weekend!

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com