THE WEATHER...

By Jason Moore WARMER summers, colder winters. This forecast was made by British scientists for the Mediterranean about five years ago, and they were spot on. The climate in Majorca is changing dramatically and if this state of affairs is not taken into account the future development of this island is going to be seriously affected. Gone are the days when snow was a novelty. It snows here every winter. Unfortunately, many Majorcan homes are not designed for freezing weather. Few have double glazing and until very recently central heating was a luxury item. Okay, the winter in Majorca is relatively short and last week we did enjoy some beautiful sunshine. But that doesn't take away the fact that over the last two days we've had heavy snowfall, roads being closed to traffic and major fears of an electricity blackout because the network can't cope. The weather this week also underlines why all British pensioners living here should be entitled to cold weather payments. We are lucky enough to live on a sun-drenched island but which now appears to be getting colder every year. The stupidity of the system at the moment is that only pensioners who received cold weather payments in the UK are entitled to it here. As it is a relatively new payment then it is unlikely that many OAPs will be able to take advantage of it. If the British government doubts that it is cold in Majorca during the winter then they should just look at the weather forecast for the last three days.