4,000 Holes

Every year it's the same. Rather than start the building work on 1 November, there is always a delay. A theory that has been advanced is that the frenzy of digging up roads in February and March is that there are enough people around to see that some work is actually being done, whereas earlier in the winter there would not be. Not much of a theory, in my opinion. But quite why this time of the year is the season for attacking roads with Kango Wolf drills and heavy diggers who knows.

Take Puerto Alcúdia and Puerto Pollensa. The latter is one great hole for much of the off-season. Every year it is one great hole to add to the many other holes that scar the roads of the town on an all-year basis. For a resort, it must take pride of place in having the worst roads on the island, which takes some doing. At present, they are working on a bit of the Carretera Formentor behind the main promenade. Again. How many times can one bit of road be dug up before it finally sinks or falls in on itself? To make things really ducky for those who have come for some early sun, both the Tango and Es Casinet restaurants are building sites. Fabulous timing. More or less next to each other. Add in the roadworks, and it all makes for a potent mix of tourist dissatisfaction. Apparently quite a few people have jumped ship from the Daina hotel and gone elsewhere. If the noise kicks off before 8 in the morning, it's not that surprising.

In Puerto Alcúdia, the attempt to beautify the strip of the main road leading into the port area has been ongoing for weeks. Because it has lasted for so long, one kind of thought they might have it all done for Easter. Fat chance it would seem. And to add to the chaos, the road off the main road is now also a hole. Why, no one seems quite sure, but it probably has to do with installing utility pipes and cables for the new apartments that are due to be built.

Once the season is truly under way, all this will have finished, but when so many bang on about how difficult things are in winter, given the lack of tourism, it does make one wonder why this work cannot be undertaken and finished earlier so as to make the resorts more agreeable for those who do brave Majorca out of season. But come next year, it will probably be just the same old mess.

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