Magaluf

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Thursday - Stag Weekend.

So when I left work making the vague statement that I was going to “go travelling” I’m sure I will have conjured up the stereotype of a Baby Boomer backpacker, disappearing off into the Third World in search of different and unusual cultures. Well, if it’s strange cultures you’re looking for, they don’t come much stranger than Magaluf!
Brits will know all about Magaluf. They affectionately refer to it as “Shagaluf”. It is a holiday resort in Mallorca, one of the Balearic Islands. It is often described as “catering for young parties” and the “party resort”. Unfortunately large “young parties” of British tourists have a reputation for binge drinking and violence. Whilst writing this I’m reading a news story about a British tourist being in a coma after a brawl in Magaluf. Is it only British tourists who have this reputation for going on holiday to drink, shag and fight? Is it something we deserve? I have to say it’s not something I’ve noticed outside Europe. I’ve seen large same-sex groups of young Americans “vacationing” in Las Vegas, for example, and being perfectly well behaved.
Not only am I going to Magaluf but I’m going for a stag weekend. I think the concept of the stag weekend is fairly universal and doesn’t need any description here! Everyone will know the rituals associated with a stag “do”. The groom has tried to arrange the stag weekend some time before the wedding in the hope that his eyebrows will grow back in time for the big day.
Maybe I watch the news too much! The local television news is giving a lot of publicity to two local men who are currently in prison in Riga having gone over for a stag weekend. Still, one of our group is an ex-policeman, so hopefully a dodgy handshake should be good enough to keep us out of trouble. Do they have Masons in Spain?

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