Barcelona, Heat Friday 2021.
At this precise moment, the disgraced neighbor hears “reguetón” in the rod, humming (muy mal) as if he is swinging with a thousand asses in my head. Resigned, I bring the fan closer to my muzzle, listening to music to concentrate and fantasizing that I play five-fingered fillet * with the little paring knife while grinding my teeth maliciously.
I have already come from a sleepless night. Yesterday evening, the xovens gathered in the square in front of the house until the early hours of the morning to make “botellón” (as we call here improvised street parties washed down with alcohol and whatever else), and drink more putz putz modernim delicate.
At such times, I always turn to my roommate and say, “Take Grandpa’s shotgun.”
***
Looks like prosaic scenes, but nothing is quite prosaic in post-pandemic Barcelona, aka Condal City In Polvorosa Because it’s almost summer, baby.
For starters, the post-pandemic festive atmosphere.
European summer officially kicks off next week, June 21, but the Spaniards and their respective provinces have already spent at least two weeks warming up their engines – too much, in the modest opinion of this sweating profusely in Brazil. a summer apartment in Barcelona. . You can smell it around the corner, in the news and in your neighbors.
Even with the restrictions on the arrival of the English and others or the setbacks due to the Delta Beta Gama variant, which is currently expanding in Spain, the mass vaccination, backed by positive government propaganda, added to the atmosphere of joy-joy. – already won.
So far, more than half of the population over 16 has received at least one dose (and 32%, the full schedule). It is expected that 70% of Spaniards will be fully immunized by the end of the summer. The campaign is moving forward by counting the age groups – for the moment, the target is the collective between 40 and 59 years.
Square in the historic center of Tarragona, tourist town on the Mediterranean coast, June 2021 (Susana Bragatto / Folhapress)
***
Since the end of the state of emergency on May 9, and in view not only of the summer holidays, but also of the reopening of international tourism, the Spanish provinces are gradually relaxing the rules of collective entertainment.
Andalusia, in southern Spain, was one of the first to reopen clubs, after a year behind closed doors. In total, the seats and the controlled dance floors open only to the outside, with the wearing of the compulsory mask.
In the emblematic and already very touristy Ibiza and the other Balearic Islands, the redemption of nightlife takes an important step this Saturday (18), with the opening of cafes, bars and restaurants until 2 a.m. The only thing though: you still can’t dance (!) – which, considering this is such a hotspot in club life, indicates that normalcy is still not so normal.
Signs in a store in Ibiza, Spain (Reproduction)
I am the account of a popular ibicenca clothing store on Instagram. Located in the capital Eivissa, in one of the liveliest streets of Dalt Vila (the historic part, surrounded by walls dating from the 16th century), it is surrounded by a sea of restaurants and bars. Lately, every “story” in front of the store reminds me of Olinda’s Carnival where, once, I was lifted off the ground and passively carried away by the swaying crowd, with so many people.
At dusk, passers-by also gather in a sort of ecstatic scene: they get up from the tables in their white, Ibizan clothes, and dance, shout, bang and be tim tim. Such is the uncontrollable joy of sun-tanned Europeans this summer 2021.
The predictable herd effect, the catharsis effect, the f *** – up effect, it seems, is everywhere. On the beaches of Barcelona, it is slowly becoming difficult to find a place in the sand – for a selfish and unreal moment, I had hoped that we could have left it in 2019.
Even more worrying: the languages heard are still predominantly local. This means, scales and changes, that many “guiris” (foreign) tourists have yet to arrive and join the procession looking for a place in the sun, myself included.
The neighbor was silent. I hope he’s dead. No: I hope you have realized that we are one and that, even with the summer and the vaccine, mutual respect, solidarity and prudence in the face of uncertainty about the future are still essential. news. Oh, I miss a distant winter …
* no excuses for knives or machetes here, let alone self-harm. Fingers and neighbors were not injured while making this item
(Follow Normalitas on Instagram)