‘Blue Monday’ is how the third Monday of January has been designated for the past 15 years.

Holiday dreams?

This all came about because of some ‘research’ done on behalf of a British holiday company called Sky Travel. Of course, this was designed to make us lust after sea, sand, and sunshine (or whatever other type of vacation Sky Travel was offering) and book ourselves a holiday. If only. Did they not read the memo that said we’re all broke in January?

I do remember January in the UK being rather a flat month: the weather; fading memories of the Christmas and New Year festivities (if not the expanded waistline), and a depleted bank balance, all made January feel like the longest and least appealing month of the year.

Party on, people

In Mallorca, however, it’s non-stop festivities for most of the month: after New Year, it’s Tres Reis (Three Kings), with January 6th being a public holiday. Ten days later, we’re back in fiesta mode (read about Sant Antoni here).

Edible celebrations for Sant Antoni (made by Manacor bakery/cafe Dulce de Leche)

The weather for much of this January has been quite pleasant, with blue skies and sunshine. The arrival of Storm Gloria – after Sant Antoni – was a blow for the capital, Palma de Mallorca. The city was gearing up for its biggest party of the year – the Revetla – in honour of Sant Sebastià (Palma’s patron saint).

On Sunday night, the eve of the saint’s day (the 20th is a public holiday in Palma), the city’s main squares each have a huge stage for live music that has thousands of people dancing under the stars, and cooking food over open fires dotted around the city. In the past, we too have danced into the wee small hours at the Revetla and (foolishly) attempted to BBQ food without the aid of appropriate tongs.

Grey, not Blue

Storm Gloria – Spain’s unwanted guest

By the time all these fiestas are over, January’s been a blast and the end of the month is in sight. Rather than ‘Blue Monday’, we’d have described yesterday in Mallorca as ‘Grey, Wet, and Wild Monday’: Storm Gloria is lashing Spain with a fury we haven’t witnessed for a long time. It’s a good thing the fiestas are now over…until Carnival in February.

Jan Edwards ©2019