The chronicler, whose memory fails and has not yet digested a recent diagnosis of AD/HD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), needed both hands this Tuesday to write down in her notebook the sequences that most appealed to her. the attention of the day. What a bad decision! I can’t think of anything worse than walking on Sant Jordi among the crowds without a rose. The book can be kept in the bag. But if you walk without proudly displaying your rose, it means that you have not done something right in this life. It’s not cool to pass yourself off as a foreigner. You can tell from afar that you were born and raised on the other side of the Besòs, where they also celebrate Sant Jordi and exchange their books and roses.
There is no day more beautiful than Sant Jordi. It doesn’t matter that the dawn is cold and lazy after the blessed downpour the night before that cleaned the streets, which were filled with books and roses exchanged with a multitude of kisses and hugs.
Barcelona celebrated another year one of its best days, filling the literary superblock of Eixample and La Rambla with happy walkers, little by little recovered for the occasion.
And if they were not happy, for a while they pretended to be happy. Not even to pose in the photographs and self-portraits that were taken in every corner of the city, juggling authentically with the hands that held roses, books and the telephone that immortalized an exchange sealed with a long kiss.
The world of roses evolves. Who was going to say it. That or it’s not easy to keep up with trends in floral art. One of the stalls with the most curious people crowded in front of the counter advertised that it had the secret of the eternal flower. “For life,” read the little sign that, out of caution, avoided adding “like love.” The two women manning the stall excitedly explained that their roses had been treated until they were dissected. Like one who embalms a dead person, then in flower. “Preserved rose” was the technical term. The invention works. The flower seemed alive and had been wrapped in paper, also stuffed, with the pictures of the bread bags from our parents’ houses. The floral eternity cost 35 euros. Not so bad thinking about the possibility of giving it as a gift for several years.
The day woke up cold, unpleasantly cold and with temperatures more autumnal than spring. Early in the morning, meteorologist Mònica Usort recommended on RAC1 to leave the house warm and with an umbrella, “just in case.”
There is neither the patio nor the swamps to complain about the rain. Not even out of solidarity with the booksellers and florists who centralize a good part of their prayers for a day that traditionally cushions the unpleasantness of everyday life.
In the end, at least in the city of Barcelona, ??the day held out without rain. Around four in the afternoon a black cloud settled for a while on the Rambla and, after four drops that fell badly and were counted, it stopped. Since the pandemic, the central promenade of Ciutat Vella has ceased to be the heart of Sant Jordi, although this year almost a hundred flower and book stops allowed the splendor of other years to be recovered at some points in the afternoon.
At noon it was difficult to find a table in any restaurant around Passeig de Gràcia, while in the bars of the Boquería market there was room without waiting for a couple of oysters and a portion of fried eggs with potatoes, prawns and a little truffle striped of the big holidays.
In Sant Jordi, anyone who doesn’t sell roses is because they don’t want to. That is precisely what the Catalan florists’ union complained bitterly about once again. They had not yet closed the day and they already estimated the losses suffered due to the intrusion during this special day at ten million euros.
In Barcelona alone, the City Council signed 1,700 authorizations for entities, associations or even individuals to set up a stand and sell roses. To which we had to add another 2,000 stalls that also sold, but without any type of permit. Stalls run in a very high percentage by gypsy families who take advantage of any corner to set up their stall, like those who go to the beach on a Sunday. Folding table, a couple of chairs and another couple of buckets with water and roses that first thing they sold for five euros and at seven in the afternoon they were already offering two and one euro if you took more than three.
Throughout the afternoon, a couple from the Zona Franca set up and dismantled their beach bar on Passeig de Gràcia in no time. At five in the afternoon they practically deployed the camping table and the two buckets at the doors of Massimo Dutti. One with the red rose and the spike wrapped in transparent cellophane, pragmatic packaging and enough for the three euros that the flower cost. And another more risky one in which the rose literally went through a seated teddy bear, blue or pink, to choose from, with a disturbing appearance.
Another trend to take into account. In some of the stalls on Passeig de Gràcia of some of the most exclusive florists in the city, the rose gave way to some half-meter stuffed animals. For 38 euros you could choose between a dragon, green or purple, or a Sant Jordi dressed in his smiling warrior’s breastplate.
There was so much desire for Sant Jordi in the city that at eight in the afternoon, the scheduled time to start collecting, those at the rose and book stalls decided to hold out a little longer. The streets of the center, despite the cold without rain, were still crowded at that hour. With the rush of those with last-minute roses and those who couldn’t find the book they were looking for because they left everything until the last minute.
It is one thing to dare to walk without a rose, another is to close a chronicle without taking a look at security. Among the crowd, this veteran reporter of bad life discovered plainclothes police officers and urban guards capable of detecting pickpockets within meters. Mysteriously, and it is neither legend nor metaphor, this Tuesday they disappeared. Really. It must have been the spirit of Sant Jordi and the dragon, but no sign of the bad guys.
