Owain was up bright and early this morning, getting ready to leave, and by eight fifteen we were at the bus stop outside waiting for the number three to estacion Maria Zambrano. I accompanied him as far as there, and we parted company at the metro entrance gates. I walked back to the apartment and collected a copy of the free '20 minutos' newspaper on the Alameda.
It's the same simple tabloid format as the equivalent distributed in Switzerland, albeit with different language and local content. Designed for consumers whose average reading age is below the level required for 'quality' news reading, grammar constructions are somewhat simpler. That means I can now read the Spanish version with almost as much ease as the French, although I needed to look up half a dozen recurrent words I didn't recognise, mostly with dramatic or violent connotation, which goes with attention grabbing bad news items.
There were the usual domestic tasks and some shopping to occupy the morning, including clearing the detritus of the pigeon's nest from the air conditioner enclosure on the balcony, a job I've been putting off since this year's offspring flew the net over a month ago. Pigeons are still roosting in the canopy above the balcony, which isn't totally closed, its mechanism needs overhaul, so the sound of billing and cooing continues, as does the occasion deposit of nest twigs and droppings, but that job is a bit beyond me. But at least it looks pretty clean now.
I spent much of the rest of the day writing, including preparing a farewell sermon for next Sunday. The evening's paseo revealed no new cruise ships in port, and the Old Town wasn't as crowded, but Monday tends to be a quiet day anyway, with some establishments having a closed day. Talking of which, a visit to La Casa Invisible over the weekend revealed that the bar and kitchen are currently closed, the Ajuntamiento having withdrawn its license, though it's still open as a meeting place, and you're invited to bring your own food and drink with you for the time being.
As a counter cultural community arts and action centre it's been fighting for its life, with protest rallies and a publicity campaign for the past few years, as regeneration plans for the barrio propose other things for this site and its buildings. The latest news is that community organisers are trying to raise €150,000 from crowdfunding to pursue their own alternative regeneration plan, which I believe is a compromise aiming to solve the problems of a pretty decrepit building which in many ways isn't fit for purpose, although it carries a vigorous programme of events despite this.
It reminds me of my early involvement with starting the St Paul's Area Community Association, as it took over redundant school and church buildings on the former St Barnabas Parish Church Bristol site in the early 1980s. It's great to find such collaborative ventures still persist, outside the range of established politics and institutions. Living communities cannot really be themselves and develop in pursuit of their best interests without tensions with the established order whose primary aim is preservation of the status quo. Dialogue between the establishment and its critics is never easy, and usually seems to require some kind of confrontation before constructive listening occurs. Let's hope there's a successful outcome in this case.
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