Corona update from Mallorca

When the lockdown started in Spain on March 14 we were here on Mallorca - as we are most of the time. We had no intention of leaving the island, where would we go to? We have rented out our home in Zutphen temporarily and going to Sweden was not allowed. Who would take care of Borre and the chickens? Who would prepare the vegetable garden for this year?

We were not sure if we were allowed to stay here as we are not residents of the island or Spain and all tourist were asked to leave the island. We stayed put for a few days on our finca. On Wednesday March 18 we had to go out as we needed to bring Wim and Willy to the airport (brother of Ans and his wife). In Inca the Guardia Civil had a road block checking all cars on where they were going to. With more than 2 persons in a car we should have worn sanitary masks which we did not have. We explained that we all lived in the same house in Selva and that I had to bring our guests to the airport and we could drive on.

I dropped Wim and Willy at the airport but picked up a volunteer from Holland who was kind of stuck in a small apartment in Palma. She joined Hovos as a volunteer and I offered her to stay with us for as long as the lockdown would last without any obligation to help/work. We quickly loaded Susan's suitcases in the car and drove off. To avoid the roadblock in Inca I drove to Selva using another route through small roads. We arrived at the finca without any problems.

Susan stayed with us a week and then went to Petra where a friend of her from France stayed in a larger house. We put her suitcases outside the gate and waited for the taxi to arrive. Just at that moment the Guardia Civil came in an under cover car and asked what was going on. Before we even could answer the taxi arrived and for the officers it was clear that she was leaving for the airport and drove off.

It proved that we are allowed to stay here as being 'long term tourist' having our our second home on Mallorca. Apart from this the same rules apply for us, so we are only allowed to walk the dog outside the gate and for going to the supermarket or urgent reasons.

We did stay home most of the time during the past weeks and we have been surprisingly productive. Normally I go to Inca or Palma every second day at least for buying something I need for the projects I am working on. Which in most cases is far from making economic sense as it takes a lot of time. Being stuck at home I switch to other projects if I really cannot continue and write down the stuff I need for after the lockdown.

And I am taking on projects which are not really fun to do or which lack my expertise. Like trying to fix the Merlo telescopic crane. This 14,000 kg machine is dead in the water and in the way for over half a year. Everything is working like the boom and the outriggers and rotating the machine, but it does not want to drive; not forward not backward. It's an old issue which occurred the first time about 5 years ago. The problem always seemed to resolve itself in a few days, but not this time. In total we spent hundreds of hours trying to fix the issue, checked everything, followed the wiring, checked all security switches, relays, solenoids ... everything.

I did have great support from a mechanic of a Merlo distributor in Holland with whom I communicated extensively through Whatsapp. Without him I would not have been able to fix it. So thank you Arno from Verreikercentrum Midden Nederland in Wekerom !

Guess what the cause of the problem was ? There was nothing wrong with the machine. It proved to be the battery, giving not enough volts to the electronic drive control computer, a black box hidden under the dashboard. It really needs 12V DC and not 11.5V as it will not turn on, so it cannot give the signal to the forward or backward solenoid to shift the machine in drive mode. Unbelievable but true.

While the Corona virus will cause a catastrophic economic collapse which is bad for everyone, there are good things coming from it. Not only we, but also friends of us are more relaxed, life has become less hectic for many of us, people sleep better, no rush hours anymore, no traffic frustrations and healthier air. People who are forced to work home experience that their productivity might be higher. Tele-working has been on the agenda for many years but has never really taking off. Maybe after the Corona lockdown it finally will.

Included are some photos of the projects we are working on. Next week I will address specific projects with more details. To all our followers we would like to say: stay healthy !

Ans, Borre and Mark