Dear Islander,
Did you spot the small editorial piece in the local Spanish press that ´Fires i Congressos’, the mob that run the local Palma boat show, proudly announced that they were setting off to ´promote´ the show at the Southampton Boat Show last month.
The organisers of the Southampton Show knew nothing of their trip nor did a number of my personal spies who I asked to keep an eye out for them- there was probably more chance of spotting them in the local Marks & Sparks!
They were there however as they visited at least one stand of a Palma exhibitor- they are obviously only interested in one thing- to sell exhibition space and completely ignored the opportunity of ´pushing´ the Palma show to potential visitors.
They just don’t seem to be interested in promoting the show outside Catalunya. They will claim all sorts of (unaudited) attendance figures and say that they promote outside. In effect they run a few half pages in trade magazines which are read by potential exhibitors but have very little potential visitor market penetration.
As you will see in the features section I have received another letter from Mike Wood who is locked up in a Greek prison.
It appears that despite the fact that nothing seems to be going right for him he’s still in good spirits but it’s frightening that it looks like the charity organisation, Fair Trials Abroad, seemed to have got a very negative report on him from the British Embassy which seems to be doing nothing- including not visiting him!
I understand that an appeal in Greece is by way of a re-trial and that all and any evidence can be introduced.
There are two vital people who could speak up for him.
One is the illegal immigrant who understands English and recognised Mike’s reluctance to take part in the smuggling, the other, the yacht owner who helped Mike tie-up in Agia marina and from whom Mike asked for directions to the police station.
I doubt if the former is still available to be a witness and probably has been repatriated by now.
The second was ´not able to be found´ by the police for the first trial (although they had interviewed him re. the arrival of the illegal immigrants´ yacht); so what chance now?
According to Mike both ´Yannis´ and ´George´, who are responsible for everything and who are known to the police, are still at large- what about them? This all seems very crooked and frustrating and one cannot help feeling that Mike’s conspiracy theory enabling the police and judicial system to ´get a result´ is not too far fetched- I can´t imagine what it´s like to be in Mike´s shoes!
24 metres or more? Take a look at the story in the news section re. the MCA- it cannot be too long before they tip up, knocking on gangways, here!
Well, how was the summer?
I don’t think it will be remembered by the local service industry as a whole as a particularly booming period but perhaps the hangover of the 9/11 event has now passed- although of course we now face Saddam!
Word on the dockside about the most recent boat shows, Southampton and Monaco however seem to bode well for the future, perhaps after the negative vibes of war and stock slumps the philosophy of ´live now - this ain´t a rehearsal´ may be the order of the day.
Let’s hope so.
Regards
John Rule