[This entry is
out of sequence because of the vagaries of my ‘vintage’ laptop where the
program froze and nothing worked. After
forcing a ‘quit’ the day afterwards, I discovered that most of the entry had been lost when I
eventually started the program up again and tried to find the writing that I had
done.
I am going to
leave this as I found it, as an example of the tyranny of locking your writing
to a machine!]
The day was punctured by explosions as we are reminded
that we are working our way towards San Juan when the setting off of petados is
encouraged, with kiosks springing up along the paseo selling explosives. This day and the days around it are the
equivalent of Guy Fawkes Day, though with more loud noises than flamboyant fiery
inscriptions in the sky. It is, of
course, a nightmare for dogs, though I am (callously) open to the more
spindly-legged rat dogs suffering terminal shock as one way of stopping their
endlessly squeaky pseudo-barks.
In previous
years the most worrying aspect of the festivities are kids setting off
penny-bangers, the sort of things that have long been banned in the UK, but
here are probably regarded as a hallowed tradition that some right-wingers will
probably urge should be regarded as part of the Patrimony of Humanity – the
sort of designation that PP wants connected to bull fighting and other
grotesque practices.
It will be
revealing to see just how many people turn up on the beach of Castelldefels as
there is a tradition of staying up all night drinking around a camp fire that
has been progressively modified over the past few years. It is now illegal to light fires on the beach
and public drinking is always frowned upon in this country. During a pandemic what sort of physical
distancing should be taking place. What
will the police be doing during the festival?
How desperate are people to get back to what they know and love? It all waits to be seen.
The app for booking my swim seems to have gone a
little haywire. A previous booking for
tomorrow has disappeared though the booking procedures for next week still seem
to be in place, but with double or even more places available, but I was told
that all restrictions had been removed.
This does not seem to be the case, but I am sure that things will be
made a little plainer when I go to my swim in the morning. Or not of course!
Today has not been as productive a day as yesterday
and I even found myself dozing off after lunch!
But I have managed to get some of the more basic tasks done, even though
the place is still looking a little dishevelled as I have not tidied up my
tidying up, if you see what I mean.
I am re-reading some of Steven Saylor’s Mysteries of
Ancient Rome on my Kindle and thoroughly enjoying them.
