- Do you live where you want to live?
- Yes, frankly. Until a year ago, I lived in Caldes, where you know everybody and everybody knows you (which is worse). But, in my line of work, the hours are long and odd, and in the end I moved to the middle of the Eixample in Barcelona.
- Would you like to move? Why and where to?
- I would move to the Ronda Sant Antoni, which is a very normal area full of people, the way I like it, and it's between two fantastic markets: that of Sant Antoni and the Boqueria.
- Do you spend time in your neighbourhood and with your neighbours? Do you have the shops you need nearby (baker's, grocer's, dry cleaner's)?
- Yes, it's easy to find everything, except a parking space. However, we are seeing the sad disappearance of the small shop, and now you can only find a small grocer's, a baker's or a dry-cleaner's. This is getting worse, it's a real shame, horrible, there are neighbourhoods such as Poble-sec where all the little shops, of less than 50 metres, have already disappeared.
- As well as doing your daily shopping (if you do it) do you have places and services for all your needs?
- Yes, there is even a sex-shop, so even los rodríguez can be happy.
- Do you stroll around your own neighbourhood for pleasure or do you go elsewhere?
- My professional area is the whole city, and I go everywhere. But the neighbourhoods are increasingly more thematic. At the weekend, for example, further up than the Diagonal, it is impossible to find a tourist, but then it is difficult to find anybody.
- Which are your favourite cinemas, theatres and clubs?
- I don't go out drinking much, and when I do I go to the Gimlet, the Dry Martini or the Luz de Gas, because they are relatively near. I like going round the jazz and classical music circuits. When it comes to cinemas, I particularly go to the Coliseum, and the Verdi sometimes. But very near my house there is a video club with films from all over the world in DVD, and I like to watch them, relaxed, stretched out on my sofa.
- And which are your favourite restaurants, bars and cafés?
- I like the big restaurants such as the Drolma, the Abac and the Jean Luc Figueras, and their service philosophy, but overall, I like good and popular places, such as Ponsa, in Enric Granados; Can Martí, in Consell de Cent on the corner with Príncep Felip; Can Roca, in Carrer Gran in Sant Andreu, and El Vaso de Oro, in Carrer de Balboa in Barceloneta.
- Is there any public area where you like to go, to sit and chat?
- The round seats on the corners of the Passeig de Gràcia.
- When you have to act as a guide for visitors, where do you take them?
- The markets, particularly since the rise of commerce. They say that prostitution is the oldest job in the world, but I don't think so: the markets came first. And in Barcelona we have the marvellous Boqueria, and now Santa Caterina, but I stay with the one in Sant Antoni, which keeps the old spirit of the markets: they sell everything, not only food, but also clothes, shoes, plates, saucepans, etc, all you could possibly need at home. Like the markets in Istanbul, and not the spirit of the big markets.
- What is the most appropriate, funny or surprising adjective you have heard to describe Barcelona? Which one would you use?
- Outsiders value the climate, very much, and that it is a small city, human-sized. But I will tell you something: when there was the great migration of people from Andalucia and Extremadura they said: "Child, liven up, you are in Barcelona!". I liked the phrase very much and I often repeat it to those young people starting out. For my part, I find the city full of warmth.
- Of where, between the sea and Tibidabo, do you have the most memories?
- The Rambla. When I was young, my parents brought me to Barcelona, and then, when I came alone, it was always an obligatory place to visit.
- Which is the best place (a park, a café, a seat in the city) to have a romantic date, or to be able to whisper sweet nothings to a loved one?
- The breakwaters (I assume you know why).
- What colours or smells, when you see or smell them anywhere in the world, remind you immediately of Barcelona?
- I am a man who likes smells, I always have my nose full of smells, and smells easily bring back memories, but it is difficult to generalise. On the other hand, with colour I have no doubt: blue in all its shades, Barcelona is predominantly blue.
- When you have had to leave the city for a while, what have you missed most?
- More than places, the people, particularly my people.
- Which of the changes that have been made in the city recently are you happiest with?
- To know that we have sea, and opening everything up.
- What don't you like, and what would you do to change it?
- The price of housing, and land speculation. A board should be set up to allow the use of empty housing for those without a roof over their heads, like they do in countries such as Belgium and Holland, where they have contingency plans for squatters. I think that land and housing speculation should be made illegal.
- Add anything you would like to say, and that we haven't asked.
- I think that a city should not only be measured by its commercial push, but also for its culture and the promotion of this culture. I think that the offer in Barcelona is good, but there is little advertising of cultural venues outside specialised circles. This information doesn't reach the masses. I am ashamed to see how many very important concerts have almost no audience!