“Be careful what you wish for” is a phrase often heard...
The winds of change are here for the exam season of the year. The young people deciding where the next part of their future will be based is occupying lots of family chatter. The University choices of the UIB work for some. Others know they will leave these shores and head for Spanish Universities, or the more campus based European options. Academia in the UK seems off the radar now for most. Our island life means that young people leaving is accepted and understood as a rite of passage. Even with acceptance the family dynamics change. No longer children but fine young people with their future ahead of them.
Every Island has the same discussions about the brain drain and young people finding more opportunities in other countries. We all know Mallorca has many job vacancies to fill and relies heavily on the young from Italy and other European neighbours. There is constant discussion on how to accommodate those arriving to fill the many available jobs. The big divide between rent and average wage appears insurmountable. So many businesses in the Soller Valley have unfilled vacancies and cannot work at their maximum.
Soller moves into this late spring zone with lots of unresolved issues relevant to the upcoming peak holiday season. Visitors will be inconvenienced by the vacancies in hotels and restaurants. All businesses will be organising their rotas carefully but there is a limit to what can be done. This may mean some restaurants closing for two days a week. It is being increasingly common to find shops opening for one shift a day and not the two shifts, which allow all day and evening shopping.
‘Be careful what you wish for’ is a phrase often heard. So much debate about the volume of tourists and the overload on the infrastructure. Mass meetings being called to raise this with the Consell of Mallorca all gives a very mixed message to those on holiday here right now. Every visitor to Mallorca has made a choice, its one in the future they can decide not to make.
The visitors to Soller are a very faithful group. Many have history with the area going back generations. Some enjoy inherited houses to have their summer visits in. They will return whatever the current situation is. Those who might not repeat the experience are those arriving for the first time and experiencing negative vibes.
It is the sun which does it every time! When the weather is a bit changeable and the heat hasn’t settled, the complaints about other issues are always the loudest. When we reach the mid-June point, with wall-to-wall endless sunshine, the mood completely changes for a few months. This is largely what the summer traveller wants – sunshine. They want to relax into their beach days and balmy nights enjoying the great restaurants and bars around the perfect horseshoe bay of Puerto Soller. The love the idea of the sunset cruises around the coast and all the great boating, diving, and snorkelling opportunities that summer gives them. Summer sunshine is the biggest factor in our tourism world and one we have no control over at all. Nature always has the last laugh over all who believe they have influence over everything.
The late May and early June glooms are partially weather related as friends are so anxious to be guaranteed the sun will shine on them. For those of us who enjoyed a great winter of sunshine and acceptable heat, we move into the least appreciated months. We all love the fun and events of the summer, but most residents tend to keep out of the burning heat and emerge early morning and then from about 7pm onwards.
So summer is coming, exams will be over and decisions to make. Holidaymakers will arrive knowing that as far as anything is certain, the sun will beat endlessly down on them. From mid-June to October with the occasional September and October blips, that is. From November onwards for six months it returns to my favourite weather world of Mallorca.