On one of our brilliant days on the cycle trip, I recently had in Mallorca with my friends, Alex and I got the bus down to the tip of the island on the southwest at Port d'Andratx. There, we sat and had a bowl of porridge in a cafe called Cappuccino.
The idea was to cycle the length of the island up the West Coast, up and down the mountains, on a crazy ride all the way to the lighthouse at Formentor.
In the end, my legs gave out about 10 miles from Formentor. It was still a really big ride, though still a wonderful adventure.
As we sat at Cappuccino in Port d'Andratx, getting ready to start our ride, we looked out onto the marina and the bay. I was struck by the fact that all the world was there.
There were two enormous 10 to 20-million-pound boats quite close to us, close enough to see the guys working on deck polishing rails, generally working for their masters and then much closer to where we were the cheapest of the boats, the tiny ones, the one and two-person boats, the ones at the other end of society at the other end of the spectrum.
I guess even having a small, tiny boat in Port d'Andratx is beyond many people's ability, but you understand the metaphor.
I wondered whether the guy who has the 20 million pound boat and the people cleaning the rails was happier than the guy who had the one person boat right in front of me, I doubted it.
Blog Post Number - 3941