Peace in the shade

Rafal is an area of Palma I know quite well I realised. I don't find it rough at all. A healthy mix of all types. And with my quest this season in the search for the best empanadas, with or without peas, it rates quite highly. Sitting just beside the Via Centura (ring road) most people are familiar with the air the buildings leave you with as you whizz by, but within I find nothing shocking. Just the types you get in a City the world over. There were a few altercations, mostly started by an older guy intent on setting his ideas plainly to a darker guy (only slightly, just a different Continent) whilst the former had been enjoying his morning beer intake. Maybe a bit too much by the yard arm stakes.

These guys had sensibly nabbed the best of the shade. I hid in the cast of one of the floodlights. Poor Ben reappeared roasted and annoyed he hadn't nabbed the ball after a save was shoved in off side. Our lads don't get the rough and tumble of City life. They get shoved about by boys with no more skill, just a desire to win that the Valley doesn't give them. Coming out of Soller into Palma, it feels like we are immigrants along with the Nigerians and South Americans. Just looking for a game and some peace in the shade.

Afterwards, we deposited little Agu back into the peace of the mountains for a birthday party, Ben and I said goodbye to a fridge with some much needed help and then got on with things. in our own peaceful way.