Circus tents

Have you ever been to the circus in Barcelona? I have, but just to one of those big and "modern" circuses focused more to attract adult audiences. The truth is that I would have liked to go to a circus as a child, one of those traditional ones, those who assemble and remove their tents in the few open spaces left in the city.

Those circus in which artists arrive in trucks and vans, the ones that exercise a fascination among those of us who do not live on the road, the ones that make us wonder what it is like to live in a special community, a nomadic family.

The truth is that circuses have changed a lot since I was little. Luckily, they still visit us. For the record, I like that they are adapting to changing times. And by the way, there is a circus school working in the Parc del Forum. It is called La Central del Circ, and is meant to be a space for developing circus activities that the City Council prompted, and where training courses are held, in case if anyone is thinking about it!

Encants Vells market

It had been a while since I had last been around the market of Fira de Bellcaire, also known as the Encants Vells market, and I have to admit I was surprised by its vitality, especially considering it was a weekday morning. The market was full of visitors, buyers, onlookers and vendors. I have to say, though, that the idea I had in my mind was slightly more romantic than  what I found there.
Anyway, the point is that the market of Encants Vells is still as alive as ever, and the idea is to continue this way when the new Encants Nous is open during this year. This new market will have doubled the area of ​​the fair and will facilitate the access to traders and visitors, and the loading and unloading of goods.
Anyway, the Fira de Bellcaire, which is held since the fourteenth century, is one of the oldest markets in Europe, so there are few things that can be considered more "Barcelonian". 
And by the way...who does not have or had any object from Encants Vells? I remember I bught a foam mattress a few years ago, and for the record, I still have it. I do not intend to change it: when I have guests who sleep at home on it they tell me that it is extremely comfortable!

Barcelona Taxis

When I was a little boy I thought that taxis could only be yellow and black. Later I discovered that in most cities they are white, and many of them have a colored stripe so you can detect them. Even later I learned that there are other cities where taxis share colors with ours, as Buenos Aires, Montevideo and Mumbai, but they are an rare.

In 1906 the first motorized taxis appeared in Barcelona, with one single station in La Rambla, and they coexisted with the old horse carriages. Motorized vehicles finally prevailes and at one point it was decided that they should show a yellow, blue or red strip in the back, depending on the rate they charged. In 1934, though, it was necessary to organize the sector, and rates and colors were unified, so yellow was adopted as a common hallmark. this is the origin of the color of our taxis, with yellow doors while the rest is basically black.

As a curiosity, let me tell you that the person who took all this measures was Jaume Vachier, a municipal councilor, who tried to arrange the chaotic traffic of Barcelona in the 1920's, and planned underground car parks, promoted the first crosswalk of the city (at Balmes-Provença) and also the first traffic light at the same intersection.

Currently there is an EU directive that suggests that taxis should be painted in ecru color, as they are in Germany. For the time being noone is paying attention to it. Can you imagine the disappearance of the yellow and black taxis of Barcelona?

Eixample Porter's lodges

"Hello, good morning", "Hi", "Looks like it's hot again!", "Goodbye, and have a good day".

I have never lived in a building with a doorman, but I was imagining what it's like to have one. I guess it must be something you get used to and then you miss when you stop having it. It must be nice to get to the hall of your house and find a familiar face that greets you at that special moment when you leave the private sphere and go to the street, or vice versa.

Many will say, and they are probably right, that doormen and porters are known to be very nosy and gossip, but... I guess it's perfectly normal to know the lives of all residents of the building! They see them come and go, they know with whom and at what time, what they carry in their hands and if they arrive by taxi or bus, and even the mail they receive.

And we must admit that some of the porter's lodges of Barcelona, many of which are in the buildings of the Eixample, are magnificent. They make you want to stay a while there to watch how people come and go!

The knife grinder

Some weeks ago I heard on the radio that some traditional trades that were disappearing are now coming back because of the economical crisis. The main reason is that, in hard times, we prioritize fixing things before replacing them with new ones.
Among those trades that are surviving there is one that is very related to our streets, a mobile profession associated with a repetitive melody of flute: the knife grinder.
If we have to judge me by the number of times I've sharpened my knives, knife grinders would already have disappeared, but luckily there are people who still do it, and some grinders still survive on the streets of Barcelona. The photo of this post, for example, was taken a couple of weeksago in the Rambla del Poble Nou.
In a city subject to all kinds of loud noises, there are some sounds that do not go unnoticed and that currently resist: that of "Butanoooooo" for example, is one of them. The knife grinder's "Tiruriroriroriro" is another very typical one. Hopefully, after the crisis, there will still be knife grinders circulating with their old mopeds on the streets of Barcelona.

An additional curiosity: Dani Cortijo explains in his blog altresbarcelones, that after the defeat of Barcelona in 1714, it was forbidden to have more than one kitchen knife per family at home, to prevent possible uprings or riots against Spanish troops.
Moreover, this single family knife had to be tied with a string to the kitchen table, and people who didn't obey this law could be punished even with the death penalty. Thus, the grinders did their work moving through the houses of Barcelona, and specifically working in their kitchens!

Butaaano!

The city is also defined by its sounds, and Barcelona is full of them. We keep in our emotional memory those men delivering the orange gas cylinders, making loud noises with metal objects, telling us that they are here: those of you who need butane just tell us now! we take it to your house! Butaaaaaaaaano!
A very hard work, strolling through the city streets with their trucks, and weekly delivering the tanks, picking afterwards the ones that are already empty. By the way, often climbing narrow staircases to upper floors, loading a cylinder weighing about 35 kilograms when full!
The city gas and electricity, much easier to use and distribute, have been gaining ground, which is totally understandable. But we must not forget that the butane has given heat, light and energy to a city, a whole country which have not always had so easy the fact of turning on a light or a heat source. An everyday object that has come to define a color, and has contributed to the welfare of many of Barcelonians.

Open for vacation

In August, Barcelona suffers a curious duality. I wouldn't say that the city is empty, and just take a walk through the center to check it, full of tourists. But what we call "els barris, the neighborhoods" are left strangely empty, sleepy, silent. The sign"Closed for Vacation" is repeated on the doors of shops, telling us that the shopkeeper has fled, like almost everyone, and that until September there is no rush.
I feel that this was much more evident a few years ago, when the city's beaches were not a reasonable alternative and holidays for workers were more concentrated during the two central months of summer. Today, first day of September, to take I open this space in which I will try to make a collection of things that the locals recognize as their own, beyond the typical tourist sights. What we do, what we love, what we are.