A few days ago, the results of the 2020 Municipal Services Survey were made public and, of all the data, the one that has received the most attention in the media is the following: 30% of respondents say that, if they could afford it, they would move to live outside Barcelona. Or, in other words, one out of every three Barcelona residents does not live in the city by choice but by obligation.
The survey was conducted in the autumn of last year and, evidently, the city council has been quick to point out, I think correctly, that behind the desire to leave the big city expressed by many Barcelona residents is the coronavirus and the harsh confinement that we had to endure to stop its advance for a good part of last year.
I can imagine that the respondents, when answering, had very much in mind the weeks we had to stay completely locked up at home and could only go out to the supermarket, with fear in our bodies in case another shopper infected us. Also the dead hours we spent locked in our little flats in the Eixample looking at Instagram where it seemed that in Sant Cugat del Vallès, Terrassa or Sabadell everyone lived in chalets with sunny gardens where they could do yoga on the lawn or drink Aperol Spritz lying on a sun lounger.
I have always thought that, despite the abusive prices of flats, the poor air quality, the noise, the constant traffic jams or the avalanche of tourists when there was no pandemic, living in Barcelona is very much worth it.I have always thought that, despite the abusive prices of flats, the poor air quality, the noise, the constant traffic jams or the avalanche of tourists when there was no pandemic, living in Barcelona is very much worth it. For the enormous cultural and leisure offer, for the thousand and one restaurants, for the beach, because it is a city for walking, because I have my friends here, because there are always interesting people to meet...The problem is that the pandemic forced us, and in large part still forces us, to give up almost everything that makes life in the city attractive.
It seemed to us that perhaps we would be happier in a small, quiet town, instead of walking these streets that Ada Colau has ordered painted with whimsical colors and shapes as if Carlinhos Brown had to dance samba through them.That is, when instead of going all day from here to there meeting this person and that, we had to stay locked in our cramped little apartments paid for at a golden price, it seemed to us that perhaps we would be happier in a small, quiet town where, for the same price or half, we would find a house with a garden and would have a stone's throw away an environment where we could take long walks on paths where almost no one ever passes, instead of walking these streets that Ada Colau has ordered painted with whimsical colors and shapes as if Carlinhos Brown had to dance samba through them.
Look, years ago, I did a route through Finland in the middle of August. That is, kilometers and kilometers of pleasant winding roads, surrounded by dense forests, with the only company of some reindeer herd that forced me to stop to give way to them. Starry nights in wooden cabins on the shore of idyllic lakes of those that freeze in winter and you can skate. Peace, nature, silence, tranquility...
I remember that, in one of the restaurants where I had the obligatory Poronkäristys or reindeer stew, accompanied by mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce, a young blonde waitress asked me where I was from and when I told her I was from Barcelona she exclaimed scandalized: How is it that you have come here, being able to be in Barcelona?
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