High street troubles

By Jason Moore WHERE is all the Christmas spirit in Palma this year? With just six shopping days left until Christmas the capital looks grey and even rather depressed. Despite what the council says I am sure that fewer city centre streets have Christmas light this year; the Paseo Maritimo, one of Palma's premier streets hardly has any Christmas light at all. The shop opening hours this year are a real joke. If Palma had been open for business on Sunday I am sure that shopkeepers would have made a mint but as a result of stupid government legislation they weren't allowed to open. An oppotunity missed and it could be a very costly one, as the majority of people were paid their Christmas bonus last week. But probably more worrying still is the number of shops that appeared to be closing down, even on the premier Jaime III. Until very recently I had never seen a closing down sale on the Jaime III; the shops there had remained unchanged for decades. Across Palma shops are closing down which makes me think that all is not well in Majorca. With higher mortgages and a rather lacklustre year for tourism I sincerely doubt that the local economy is in such a good condition as the politicians try to make out. To make matters worse shopkeepers do not appear to be getting any sort of support from the council. A rather sad state of affairs.