“It's shocking but it hasn't changed our minds about island...”

PALMA
MAJORCAN resident, Jackie Pardon, was lunching with family and friends at the Nassau Beach restaurant when one of the bombs exploded in La Rigoletta just across the street.

She said: “I was with my husband, my son and a few of his friends from the UK who were about to fly home. “Suddenly we saw a bunch of Guardia Civil officers evacuating the cycle path just in front of the restaurant. Then they began clearing off the entire beach, which was vacated within minutes,” she went on. “They were really very efficient.” “At first we didn't understand what was happening. After 20 minutes or so, they told us to evacuate the restaurant as well. We never heard any explanations, everything happened very quickly,” she said. “It didn't really sink in until we got home in the evening. I started thinking about what could have happened that day. We were so close and I had my one-year-old son with me so it's quite worrying,” she confessed. “We were under the impression things had died down a bit but clearly ETA is still here. “I suppose we just have to get on with normal life, although I did think twice about coming into Palma today,” she continued. “It's a terrible blast to the tourist industry. When my friends got home they called me saying they would probably think twice about returning to the island because they were so shocked. “It hasn't changed our minds about the island of course, although I am a lot more vigilant. If I had seen a backpack in a bathroom two days ago for example, I wouldn't have thought twice about it. I'm a lot more wary now. “My husband lived in London for 20 years while the IRA was causing trouble there, so he's more accustomed to this. “It's just shocking that it happened so close to home. We aren't used to this kind of thing here,” she concluded.