Anna Nicholas

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Praise for Cat on a Hot Tiled Roof
“Witty, evocative and heartwarming. Another Mallorcan pearl from Anna Nicholas.”
Peter Kerr, best selling Scottish travel writer & author of Snowball Oranges
(See the Books page for more information.)

See the Events page for latest news!

Should Spain be digging up its past?

It is almost inconceivable to imagine the terror felt by poet and playwright, Federico Garcia Lorca, as he was led stumbling to his death at the hands of a right wing Nationalist death squad during the Spanish Civil War. The date was August 1936, shortly after the hostilities began, and it is believed that he was shot and dumped...

It's never just been about Maddie

When I popped into the local newsagent for my papers, the woman behind the counter began clucking when she saw a front cover image of little Madeleine McCann accompanied by a report on the latest episode in the whole sorry affair.
‘Terrible, isn’t it?’ I muttered in Spanish, fumbling for my euros. She nodded. ‘Absolutely. How could...

Is Spain right to cut off health care scroungers?

Think about it. You need a hip replacement but the NHS is overloaded, advising that it could be many months before you can ever hope of admission. Then you learn about healthcare in sunny Spain with its sumptuous public hospitals that offer excellent patient care and treatments virtually on the spot. What do you do, wait in the

Are sickly Brits asking too much of Spain?

About 200 disgruntled British expats have just taken to the streets of Alicante in protest at the Valencia regional government’s plan to withdraw free healthcare to British early retirees living there.

There are now an estimated one million Brits living in Spain although fewer than 400,000 have declared residency and if we’re to believe the Institute of Public Policy Research...

Whatever is wrong with Britain's troubled youth?

An oompah band was playing in the cavernous marquee set up in the town’s plaça to celebrate New Year’s Eve, attracting an enormous crowd of big hipped señoras, swarthy young men and hopeful señoritas. Children, grandparents, mothers, fathers, aunts and uncles sashayed around the makeshift dance floor, laughing and enjoying the free hospitality provided by the town hall.

It was then...

A Good Ferret

A strange phenomenon in Majorca is the profusion of ferreterias in nearly every town and village. When I first set foot on the island I pondered whether the locals were in fact committed ferret fanciers but I was mistaken because, as I soon discovered, the ferreteria is a common or garden ironmongers.

Now, it’s easy to tut and dismiss the...

Have Fireworks Lost their Fizz?

Had Marco Polo been able to predict, nearly 800 years after his triumphant return to Europe with a stache of gunpowder, that there would be an almighty brouhaha about its use in public firework displays, he might have left it back in China.

While in the UK fireworks are dusted down once a year for Bonfire Night, it’s a very...

Should We Ban Kissing?

It’s a bit of a swine this HIN1 pandemic. Until now the Spanish kiss, el beso, equivalent to the French la bise, was happily infusing every aspect of daily life but now Trinidad Jimenez, Spain’s Health Minister, has reluctantly conceded that it might pose a health risk while ‘Gripe A’ as it is known, is on the rampage. Addressing the...

Airlines Leave Mallorca High and Dry

Come the Winter, expats in Majorca often warn of island-it-is, a common affliction best cured by hopping on the nearest plane for a complete change of scene. With fewer visitors and the onset of cold, dark nights drawing in, it is easy for some expat residents to feel isolated and bored in resorts that transform into little more than ghost...

A Stamp of Approval

Waiting in the queue at our local post office, the correos, I was approached by Miguel, one of the staff, who asked in confidential tones about the British postal strike. When I told him it was being called off, he touched his heart as if I’d just delivered life saving news and joyously announced the decision to the other counter...

Hola!

Thank you for popping by my website. Aside from giving you the latest news about my two Mallorca book titles, A Lizard in my Luggage and the forthcoming Cat on a Hot Tiled Roof, I shall be uploading my regular Saturday columns in the Majorca Daily Bulletin newspaper (known to friends as the Weekly Rant) and also other travel and miscellaneous articles.

You will find updated information about forthcoming talks and events and are invited to join up for my monthly free e-newsletter which includes a competition to win a copy of either of my titles (as well as other treats!) and news about forthcoming book projects and items of general interest.

Please do drop me a line if you would like to make comment about anything on this site.

Hasta pronto!

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© Anna Nicholas