Damp December. | Rachel Fox

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The week of greyness burst into sunshine on Sunday and life immediately cheered up. Later in the day the early news came of Tier 4 lockdowns and a complete change of focus. Excuse me where is my knitting? Jigsaw or Cookery book? Lockdown in most of its manifestations is back on the horizon. Go to school and to work, go to a doctor’s appointment but apart from that ‘home sweet home’.

NO comment from me apart from sympathy with the lawmakers. All the financial, emotional and mental angst that accompany restrictions are well catalogued now. Amazon are building a barn big enough for Santa to collect all the presents from, if you can afford to buy any. The world has gone ‘take away’ and delivery mad.

A part from life going on behind closed doors the Farmers are out again. These were the guys in early lockdown who brought all their farm machinery on to the streets of Soller and the Port. They attached them to disinfectant sprays and cleaned all our streets. Hopefully killing any Covid bugs hanging about at street level.

face to the sun

Zoom is back on the map and on Friday Sollerics are the lynchpin of ‘It’s Christmas.’ A time of year for families and giving… A time of festive gatherings and Christmas concerts… But as we all know, 2020 is anything but a normal year!
So please join ISLA at Palma Music Studios online on the 18th of December at 7pm, for a night of Christmas music and stories, from some of the cultures that make this island so special.

All proceeds from the tickets will be donated to several Food Bank charities in Mallorca including our own local Soller Food bank.

They say ‘Help us to bring the Christmas spirit to the tables of families in need, and get yourselves some Christmas cheer.I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.” Scrooge, A Christmas Carol

The hosts are Emma Bernbach, Jenny Whiffen, Andrea Helene and Alex Tejedor. To sign up to join the concert look online at the following site https://palmamusicstudios.ticketco.events/

So many events and fund raising going on in spite of all the difficulties. The heart of our community is doing all they can to make sure people are fed and have a Christmas cheer experience this year.

We have new faces in Soller now as the families return home for Christmas. Universities have sent our young people home to finish their work online and get out of the complicated spaces of University life. All travellers have reported big problems with the PCR testing needed to get them home with 72 hours of taking the test. This is all such a great scheme but does not take into account Monday flights and no testing done on Sundays. A fortune is being made on these tests and the system creaked before the first million was in the bank.

Home cooking

There are many who have paid the 150 pounds for a test and then the result did not arrive before the flight times. This has been a financial and administrative disaster. From next week different testing will be available and another learning curve will be gone through and another shed load of money lost by travellers and gained by large corporations.

When the families arrive home they find the Soller Valley alternative Christmas being played out. No large gatherings but just low key family life Christmas. Most people are just so grateful that their tribe are all well and have survived the last nine months. They know that parties and mayhem will happen soon enough but right now it’s pass the Quality Street and snuggle up on the sofa for the TV and films our systems offer.

Christmas Film favourites so far this year have included “Last Christmas’ with the music of George Michael and a great cast including Emma Thompson. Then the latest favourite is ‘Christmas on the Square’ from Dolly Parton on Netflix. Both just right for those nights on the sofa with the chocolates. Of course that doesn’t include the two in our ‘forever’ memory box which have to be played ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ and ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ are high on my list.

As the countdown begins of semi lockdown days and Christmas anticipation my wish for all is keep healthy and keep safe