May-2026.
Arrival on a Thursday expecting a horror of an Entry Exit System EES, but nothing of the sort. Straight through to the A32 bus to Alcudia and 322 bus to PdeP – Total £7.50 each.
Mallorca’s weather wasn’t ideal but our first Sunday did reward us with bright sunshine and a chance for a now truly well travelled grandson to try out a splash in The Med as well as on his grandma. The taxi with mallorcab.com proved very efficient from PdeP to Font de sa Cala, approx e80
The hotel check-in with the new owners Fergus (€61e pppn) was a disaster, and corporate ‘this is what you can eat’ wristbands were mandatory with the staff looking non-plussed in their uniform of braces..Still the cowboy bedecked ‘Mallorca dance week’ folk cheered everyone up before their week’s Zumba on the astro pitch behind the courts.
The medieval market at Capdepera was in full swing on Saturday, with the free bus at 13:25 ideally timed for an afternoon exploring the stalls and eating courts, with the ‘potato in the bucket’ game a true hit.
The various ways of sitting out and moving between courts proved the herding cats idiom more than accurate, with Caroline restoring some semblance of order although inevitably almost instantly troubling the groups ability to adjust to drop outs. Well done to her and Sue for giving it a good shot. Terry’s friday quiz included a ‘name that girl song’ round, won by the more than appropriately named “Beach Club Babes”, whilst having a decent guess at the 93 (pedestal 46, statue 47) m height of the Statue of Liberty saw the “Twiglets on Tour” team win a 3-way tie-break for second place.
The padel booking app playtomic proved troublesome, but 4 more Padel courts were located at the Hotel Aguait in addition to the 3 we knew already at La Taconera.
Although missing some past stalwarts and John & Noel along both out injured, this years new faces included Lesley’s sister Jill from Stirling, Annie & Max from Canterbury and Caroline (finally) and husband John, plus Andy, with the once obligatory group photo on the courts reduced to ‘anyone you can find at the bar’.
A final 36 hours in Palma saw a proteinitious paella dinner at Simbad, tarts at the Santa Clara convent, some excelent museums and drinks at the wonderfully bohemian Abaco bar
Back home Trump was visited Xi and pronounced on ballrooms and more threats to Iran, but in reality little had changed. Thursday was local election polling day in the UK, and we’ll be returning to a Reform councillor and a Tory/Reform majority council. Are people really that short-sighted ! Between them that’s the shower that spent over a decade getting us in to this mess. Proof of rational thought should be a prerequisite for the right to vote.
