Derby-Claris-Barcelona

As every year: eight in the evening, Claris with Valencia, Besòs mountain side, queue at the elevators, Jordi Clos wondering whether to go up to the terrace already or wait for some authority. A few years ago, those at Derby decided to move the season's inauguration to September, given that everyone else did it before summer: it's not so much about opening the rooftop to summer excesses as opening the hotel season, it's understood, and in any case, the Clos (Jordi, Joaquim) didn't want to be just another chain. Nor would they ever be, even if they wanted to. Fortunately, it didn't rain or get cold, but in the air, September cannot avoid septembering because we are no longer facing the vacation takeoff but the return to what they call "the real world." It is appreciated, in this landing, that your spirits are still lifted a bit and they do so by going up to one of the most classic terraces in the city.

The Claris hotel, near the Egyptian Museum, has a semi-covered terrace with a pool, where you are welcomed by a spectacular stone mural by Subirachs that reinterprets the Barcelona coat of arms. Derby hotels rely heavily on art and heritage, as is well known, not only because of Mr. Clos's archaeological obsession but also because of an inclination towards collecting and patronage that is often found in the hallways and also inside the rooms. The event relies, as always, more on champagne than cava and on a catering service that fortunately repeats the foie gras balls but I'm not sure if it repeats anything else this year. In any case, good entertainment, good caviar toasts, a good table for in situ preparation of steak tartar pieces, good chocolate desserts. Just as a note that I cannot keep to myself, on the ground floor of the hotel is the Japanese restaurant Oskuro which is advisable not to miss. Nor its varieties of sake, one of which I have to get a bottle of someday. I promise.

Civil society, journalists, businessmen, friends. Lluís Canut, discreet, on the sidelines. Ortas, omnipresent, from Intermèdia. Sonia Recasens, from Atrevia. Gabriel Martínez, from Roman. The beloved Sergi Saborit, now at El Periódico naming Barcelonians of the year, but also Guillem Carol and Cristina Martín, from this house. All this regarding the communicative aspect, and assuming that I am leaving someone out. As for politicians, even if I wanted to, I cannot leave out the Minister of the Presidency Albert Dalmau, stolen by President Illa from Mayor Collboni, also present, as well as the faithful attendee Xavier Trias, whom I certainly do not want to forget. In terms of civil society, Urbano di Gropello, from the Invest for Children foundation, or Mateu Hernández, from Turisme de Barcelona, quite hooked on the also faithful Roger Guasch, recently appointed managing director of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce. The inescapable smile of Maria Cabré, general director of the Fundació Aura. Anna Marquès, from Barcelona Global, was making her debut. Manel Casals, from the hotel guild, eager to explain to me why they are tired of some people painting them as the villains of the movie. We will do it over coffee. Enric Canet, as always, dishing out blows against false interlocutors with God. The endearing and enlightened Ramon Forn, from the Ship2B foundation. We would not finish, but we already have an idea, those who had to be there and those who could be there were present. Adding some friends and acquaintances of yours truly who are taken for granted and are not relevant now.

It doesn't rain, but controversies rain. Days of contrasting arguments about the housing problem, what hotels have to do with it, what tourist apartments have to do with it, what seasonal rental laws have to do with it. As we suspect and know that everything is intimately related, especially in a city-village where almost all relationships seem intimate, between champagne and champagne it seems evident that it would be worthwhile to reach more agreements than impositions. I am sure that hoteliers will defend, with some reason, that they are precisely the antidote against the excess of tourist apartments. As would be, also surely, the flexibilization of the famous 30% reserve for protected housing. I think about it while I swallow some canapés and prepare my arguments for coffee with Manel Casals, who seems truly concerned about the issue. I am glad he is, even if it indirectly involves hoteliers: it cannot be that we have dedicated ourselves to talking so much about superblocks while, around us, the real drama is already seriously affecting too many people within the city.

Today we inaugurate a rooftop and season, and it is a day of celebration: the next day, all civil, business, and political society will have to find an acceptable solution at all costs. Tourists come to the Claris hotel, but in September, Barcelonians go to the terrace. And it is these, those of us who live there every day and from our diverse positions, who must end up understanding each other at any price. A meeting like this helps. Some smiles and an unbeatable atmosphere never hurt. But, if it really is September and it is the landing in the "real world," from now on it is up to us to work to improve this city, this big village, among all of us.