We are at the end of October, the time will soon change. It gets cool in the morning, it’s hot during the day and in that heat is where the article frustrates me. With the heat I ruin more pages than I write, they all go to the trash can. The sun blocks my ideas and pushes me outside. I’m on my way out. I’m going to El Corte Inglés. At El Corte Inglés it is always the perfect temperature, neither hot nor cold. Now they have celebrated 25 years since their inauguration.
When they opened for the first time, children went to go up the escalators as if it were a free fair attraction, and in Badajoz we already knew the escalators at Galerías Preciados, but the ones at Corte Inglés were better, they had more travel, more floors. Before, children had fun going up and down escalators, now they sit watching videos on their mobile phones, and before and now children still like the ball and playing soccer, there are things that technology does not change.
Playing football for children is like eating ham for adults, something that is enjoyed at all times although each generation has its tastes, just as each retirement has its own. Among the last generations of retirees, it has become fashionable to enroll in senior university. Retirees no longer go to see the new constructions, you barely see pensioners with their hands behind them watching the works. Furthermore, there is little construction. Now pensioners fill the university classrooms. Time passes so quickly that one day we are working and the next we are waiting at the bus stop to go to history class, or take a guided excursion to Fort San Cristóbal.
Inside the Cortes Inglés it always smells good, you never see cleaners or cleaners and it is always clean. Twenty-five years ago, the place where El Corte Inglés is located was an undeveloped piece of land known as ‘eljío de los chinatos’ that was used as a parking lot, especially on weekends. On Friday and Saturday nights it was filled with cars since the nightclubs that were in fashion were the pubs located at the back of Saavedra Palmeiro Avenue: the Luna, the Cochera, El Punto I, the Pyramid, the Other Light of the jazz… Places where some couples were formed, but above all where they fell apart, because the night, the alcohol and the fieryness of youth, is treacherous with fidelity.
In front of ONCE
Today, when I left El Corte Inglés, I saw a line of people in front of an ONCE worker who was selling coupons for the blind. On the opposite sidewalk there is an optician on the corner, a boutique, an ice cream parlor and a place where they sell ham and cheese. I don’t get used to seeing the Cine Conquistadores transformed into a bingo hall. I went to the cinema many times to see the movies that were showing then. The premieres always arrived late in Badajoz, they said it was because there was only one company, Sánchez Ramade, dedicated to bringing the films and they brought them months after the premiere and thus they were cheaper for the businessmen. Once I dared to do ‘Gone with the Wind’, which seemed too long for me in those red seats. I also saw some by Woody Allen, I think ‘Manhattan’; ‘Carmen’, by Saura and even Agent 007 when Sean Connery starred. I also saw the essential youth film ‘Flashdance’ and ‘Saturday Night Fever’. The place where Jon Travolta used to dance and the Bee Gees played with that wonderful falsetto, now you can hear throats singing bingos and lines. I have never been to bingo so I keep in my memory the sloping cinema room with the red armchairs and a huge white screen.
Next to the cinema was the José Luis cafeteria. The José Luis bar had a booth on the upper floor with some skay armchairs where wedding couples would go looking for the intimacy of a dim light. Today it is an optician.
At the door of El Corte Inglés that faces Enrique Segura Otaño street there is a lot of movement of people, it is a bustling corner, also musical. To the right of the door young boys usually stand to play and sing, on the corner of Avenida de Huelva there was also a man with an accordion, although I haven’t seen him in a while.
El Corte Inglés in Badajoz was inaugurated on October 20, 1999. / LCB
The main photograph
Photography has been present in this event with the call by La AFE (Extremeña Photographic Association) of the photography contest of the Corte Inglés façade. The exhibition ‘The Year Zero of Civilization’, by the photographer Isabel Muñoz, national photography award in 2017, has also been presented, which can be seen in the window of the shopping center.
This shopping complex was inaugurated 25 years ago by Rodríguez Ibarra, Celdrán and the owner Isidoro Álvarez, the man who never missed congratulating us on Christmas. As I said before, I leave through the door of El Corte Inglés that faces Enrique Segura Otaño Street, a crossroads full of life and color, a busy area where it is easy to bump into someone I know.
In front is Huelva Avenue. I don’t remember what this avenue was like 25 years ago, nor when or why they placed the anchor that served as a meeting point for those from the walking club. It was the place where they met every Sunday at 8 or 9 in the morning to start their routes when Manuel Mayorga directed it.
At the beginning of Huelva Avenue I miss the smell of the Ansorena candy store. Now there is another bakery called ‘Revive’, I think they are from Nogales. At the beginning of the avenue is where they put the finish line of the Elvas-Badajoz half marathon, where from time to time those from a political party get to distribute their propaganda, where the Marist School Choir sings for Christmas, which coincides with the illuminated by the lights on the façade of El Corte Inglés, and soon, when the cold arrives, the sellers of roasted chestnuts will set up shop, giving warmth, color and smell to this corner of Badajoz.
The Lighthouse
El Corte Inglés has turned 25 years old and is still there with its uniformed workers, its card to buy in installments, its offers in each of the seasons of the year. It has a cultural room on the top floor where exhibitions of photography, painting, and sculptures are held, where books are presented and conferences are given. A Corte Inglés that has not been affected by the opening of the Lighthouse. I’m still at the door, near the coupon lady, the musician who now plays a harmonica, and dodging people who keep coming and going. I am the same as I was 25 years ago when I don’t know whether to continue along Huelva Avenue, passing by the statue of Menacho, leaving on the right my institute, the Zurbarán, and, on the left, the SES Management, which when I started working was the UNHEALTH, although today I don’t want to talk about my work either.
I don’t know if I want to take this route and get to San Francisco, or go along Avenida de Santa Marina and pass by the Castúos bar, the Colón bookstore, the teachers’ houses, the Aneja, the Josefinas, the former teaching school, the CB exhibition hall I think is now exhibiting Oliver Sáenz portraits of musicians; go through the Jungla bar, through Venero and get to the river.
I am just as undecided as I was 25 years ago. Then I see my friend Carmen and she tells me: “let’s go have a beer at Miniatura,” and I go with her just like I did 25 years ago.
