Palma heat - "It's impossible to lead a normal life"

For people working outside and for bar and restaurant terraces, business can take a dive when it is particularly hot. Street musician Alex says that there are fewer people out and about. For him, spending the day in temperatures getting close to 40C is intolerable.

There are times when he gets into his bathers and jumps into the S'Hort del Rei pond in order to cool off. His partner Stella suffered heat stroke on Sunday afternoon when they were playing in front of the Cathedral. "I suddenly became very tired and had cramps."

Robert entertains tourists and children in Plaça Major. He wears a costume from the Transformers films. "The costume is very hot and I spend most of the day and part of the night here. I have to drink a lot of water and take breaks."

Pablo, a trader at the summer market in Plaça Major, says: "When the weather is extreme, it shows at the till. People go to the beach. Today, for example, only 20% of the people who come on a normal day have come."

Pauline, a tour guide in the city for the past 20 years, explains that it has been so hot that she has had to re-route her tours. "We have to make more stops to drink water and refresh ourselves. I've had to shorten the itinerary, prioritising places indoors."

Not all businesses are suffering. Ice-cream parlours are enjoying decent trade. Four British tourists with strawberry ice-creams are on a cruise. They left the ship early in the morning, but after a brief tour around the Cathedral the heat began to take its toll. "It's so muggy, we'll have to go back to the ship," says one of them, who regrets not being able to take more advantage of the stopover. "We are trying to cool off, but it becomes unbearable in these conditions."

Meanwhile, for a resident, Olimpia, the heat makes it "impossible to lead a normal life". She fears that this is just the start of a particularly hot summer: "Let's hope it passes as soon as possible and doesn't stay with us for as long as last year."