new top green

topp röd soffa

Priscilla, queen of Fornalutx

HOUSE: CEILING FANS
I check out ceiling fans for the house (since we’re not installing air condition). Need something that can move slowly and silently, for when you sleep. Can’t find anything in Sóller but I’m told to go to a big store by Polígono. More info when I’ve been there.

ISLAND: GOOD HOTEL, BEST BEACH, MADMAN ON STAGE
Take a morning swim in Port Sóller and a half-decent breakfast buffet (€10 with coffee) on Hotel Geranium on the beach. Need to work online for a few hours, so I drive down to Hotel Portixol in Palma and lounge with my computer in their bar. The staff is always great and coffee is good. Since I’m half-way to Es Trenc (still the best beach on Mallorca) there’s no reason not to go. I always choose to park by the western side of the beach (by Ses Covetes) for several reasons: the food shop for water and snacks, the relaxed chiringuito on the beach (less hip and more friendly than Ultimo Paradiso at the eastern end) the shower in the parking lot (they close it when they close the ticket office, but if you give it a good shake you can still get a decent shower). Drive back to Sóller and end up with Alvaro at the last night of the fiesta in Fornalutx. Pa Amb Oli is playing, of course (why do people never get tired of them?) but the big surprise of the evening is a madly dressed 15-man band with two singers and two dancers that keep changing from one hideous outfit to another. The singer is a tall guy with glasses, belly amazingly limp wrists and absolutely no sense of shame. He’s hilarious. I’ll try to find out what they’re called, it’s an experience to see them. We stand with the dueña of Can Gato (Sóller) and laugh till our stomachs hurt.

Progress!

HOUSE: BAD TRAFFIC NOISE, GOOD PAINTING, LESS CONCRETE, MORE TILES
I get up at 7 before the workers arrive. The room where I sleep is facing the street and I realise that we need to do something about the traffic noise in the room (those fucking trimmed mopeds), probably isolating the window and putting in new silencing glass.
I drive to Halifax in Santa Ponsa after breakfast for a chat with our banker about the forthcoming mortgage extension. At purchase, they lend up to 70% of the estimated value. For extensions, they lower the level to 60%, which of course is a bit of a problem for us. We agree on the need to find someone that values the house highly (Spanish people can be very practical).
I meet Damián in the house at 2 PM. There must be ten people working there today. I arrive a bit early and check up on how the painters are doing. The walls look really nice in daylight, but one can see where we made drawings on the walls earlier. The electricity cables need another layer of paint too. I point it out to them, they’re really nice about it and start fixing it right away.
Damian arrives and we talk our way through the house. The concrete floor on the 3rd floor looks great. We’ll leave it raw for now, maybe we put a wax on it later. However, we start debating on whether we should still do the concrete floor in the passage on the ground floor as well. We agree that we HAVE bought too many tiles (WAY too many) and we can just as well use them as try to get the shop to take them back. Damian agrees to make some pattern designs. For the kitchen, however, we stick to the concrete to get the visual link with the concrete in the garden.
Things are looking good, I’m very happy.

ISLAND: FREE SOLLER WLAN, GOOD BEACH LUNCH, MINI-RETREAT AT ESPLENDIDO
I can’t shower in the house, but washing myself in the garden with the water hose is nice, feels like camping. I go to the square for breakfast and work (there’s still a good open wireless at the south end of the square). After the bank, I drive to Port Soller for a swim and a great 3-course lunch (€9) at Es Passeig on the beach. After meeting Damian, I go back down to the beach to spend the afternoon at the shady deck of Hotel Esplendido. I enjoy everything here: the style, the setting, the view, the service, the food – and the WLAN, of course. Like a mini-retreat. In the evening, we get pizza at the place beside the church (Pizzeria Mon on c/ Luna is far better).

Screaming kids and raging bulls

HOUSE: LOOKING GREAT, DECIDING ON LOGO
I arrive at the house just before dusk. I’m excited to see what’s been done in the two weeks that I’ve been away. It looks great. Mum’s bedroom and bathroom floor has been tiled really nicely, they’ve finished most of the plumbing, even to the garden house, and the two top floors have been painted. For the first time, it becomes clear what the house will feel like inside. It’ll be perfect. I pop by Leandro’s tea shop (Pocapoc) to chat about the logo for the house and drink some mate. We choose the blue one.

ISLAND: CHEAP LONDON FLIGHT, CLEVER CAR-RENTAL, FIESTA IN FORNALUTX WITH BULL
I fly from Gatwick to Palma with First Choice. 61 GBP is cheap, but the flight is a bit of a nightmare - the cabin freezing cold and full of screaming kids and shouting parents (nobody can be as uncivilised as Brits…). Since the carry-on limit is 5 kg, I have to check in my luggage. No more First Choice. WE arrive before time, though. I get the keys for my Centauro rental car before picking up my luggage. (Why doesn’t every airport let you deal with the rental car while you wait for luggage? It’s so clever…) In Sóller, Leandro and Alvaro wants me to come to the fiesta in Fornalutx. The village parties all night, and at 7 AM a bull is let loose in the streets for the annual chase. I’m too tired from flying to go. I sleep in the house for the first time, in the finished attic room. I could have stayed with some friend, but I wanted to try it, even if the toilets and showers aren’t working yet.