A few minutes to noon and the gate of the gardens of the Torre de les Aigües, on Roger de Llúria street between Consell de Cent and Diputació, appears closed, as it has been since last March 14, when all the parks in the city were closed, with the population beginning a confinement that is now beginning to sponge. That of the Aigües is a considerable gate that according to the consistory should already be open. To the touch it does not move: it was necessary to have more breakfast. Not a soul in the area. Well, to the next park.
At Pau Claris between Roselló and Provença, the gate of the gardens of Laura Albéniz if it is open. It’s 12 o’clock. This Saturday will be relevant: the time slot in which children, up to 14 years old, will be able to go for a walk is from 12 to 7 p.m. this Friday, the first day of reopening of 70 of the 146 green areas of the Catalan capital, the rule still did not apply: If desired, one could have taken the children to the green areas at 9 in the morning, or early in the morning. Abandon them there, no. Although some feel like it.
Not a soul
But the fact is that the reopened parks have experienced their return to a relative normality almost empty, despite the fact that the temperature and the sun invited, and in what way, to go outside. In Laura Albéniz’s gardens there is not a single person at noon. The children’s play area is closed, as in the rest of the facilities that are already accessible. The city council reported yesterday of the measure and He specified that citizens could walk through the parks but not park in them.
Either no one found out that they could return to those spaces, or people prefer to choose prudence, after a week ago, when children were first tolerated, allegations proliferated that all precautions were being broken, that irresponsibility was the norm, and that this could have dire consequences in the fight against the pandemic.
The cut of 44 city streets, decreed to allow people to have space to walk two meters from fellow citizens with whom they meet, nor has it altered the population: How could I do it with so few people traveling by car and motorcycle? Those who do run into many controls, in which they must use a motive that proves that they have a motive to circulate, that they do not just wander.
“I didn’t know you could enter & rdquor;
Maybe people are afraid. Perhaps after so much time at home it makes it difficult to step on shared areas again. That would explain the reaction of a mother with her daughter, a four or five-year-old girl who rides a bicycle without pedals, one of which is powered by the child’s feet, when asked if they go to the Laura Albéniz park: “No, no, we are going to buy bread & rdquor ;, she replies almost offended, as if indicating that she does not want to get into troubleAs if she was being invited to commit a crime. Suddenly, two souls in the gardens. A man and a woman, neighbors of the street, look with suspicion for a few seconds: “You can enter? I didn’t know & rdquor ;, he says almost apologizing.
In Gràcia, in the street of Sant Salvador, the Mestre Balcells gardens are most desirable for a visit, but only four people are there when it is close to one in the afternoon. One is Marc, with his dog Tec: “I didn’t know it was opening today. I’ve seen it in passing & rdquor ;.
Father, daughter, dog
It could be taken for granted that in a large park such as Joan Miró’s, at the end of Calle de Aragó, there would indeed be a considerable number of people. But no. As in the case of the Pau Claris street, people wear prudence by flag: “No, we are not going to the park & rdquor ;, says a man who goes with his daughter and the dog very seriously. A few minutes later, a father who goes with a child and the dog dares a little more when they come across the open park: “Today we will go inside & rdquor ;, he says to his offspring with a spark of contained illusion.
Far from increasing, the influx has decreased in the afternoon. Now, yes, the door of the Torre de les Aigües opens. It feels bad to admit it, but you had to push harder. Inside, the absolute emptiness. Nobody. A dystopian film or series setting, when it seemed that all this could only happen in a film or series. The desolate atmosphere does not invite to stay, frankly. It is five in the afternoon.
In the Joan Miró park, fewer people than in the morning. Another father passes by with a daughter and a dog who was also not clear that they could already go to the park. Moreover, he denies it: “They open tomorrow & rdquor ;. In the end he accepts that it is already open, but with evident distrust.
Snack in peace
In Laura Albéniz’s gardens there are no users shortly before six in the afternoon. A municipal cleaning employee is alone, and calm, in the park. “It’s my snack time,” he explains, before being surprised: “Oh, could people come today?”
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