- Do you live where you want to live?
- Definitely! I spent my childhood between Nou Barris and Horta. I lived in the Plaça del Virrei Amat "Prepeinetas" and studied in the Salesianos in Horta. I have been living in Horta for years, and I am very happy.
- Would you like to move? Why and where to?
- The truth is no. I haven't wanted to.
- 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)?
- I work at home, which means that I spend a lot of time in my neighbourhood. I often go for a walk, so I know it well. I do my shopping and go out for lunch or dinner, often. I find all I need here, and since the arrival of Opencor and Mercadona, even more so.
- As well as doing your daily shopping (if you do it) do you have places and services for all your needs?
- I do my daily shopping, and virtually all, in shops in my neighbourhood. What I want for my leisure time, logically, takes me to other neighbourhoods in the city, and further afield, but in general I would say that I have what I need here.
- Do you stroll around your own neighbourhood for pleasure or do you go elsewhere?
- Walking around, basically I stroll around my neighbourhood, but I am never still, and I move around the whole city.
- Which are your favourite cinemas, theatres and clubs?
- In the neighbourhood there are only the Lauren Horta screens, which are in the old Horta cinema. And thankfully still there. The old Venecia is now a religious temple, and others have become bingo halls. When it comes to theatres, there are only those of the aficionado. Basically the Foment Hortenc and that of the Lluïsos. In that of the Foment, yes, I have been quite often. When it comes to night clubs or venues, I usually go to other neighbourhoods, although in the Louis Se Va, good, small concerts are organised, and in the A Mitges restaurant they also have good performances at night, at the weekend. The disco Bio is a different story. It encourages you more to escape.
- And which are your favourite restaurants, bars and cafés?
- I have breakfast every morning in the Vitamínica, which is a fantastic place next to the Lauren Horta cinemas. For lunch there are many options: La Taverna Grega in the Carrer de Horta, for example, or Casa Joanet, or Casa Xus, or the A Mitges. Those well-known country houses such as Can Travi and Can Cortada are for people from outside the area who go by car, or for a big celebration. The Puerto Rico is the bar which is open late at night, and now others with a Latin atmosphere have opened in the Passeig de Maragall, which have got a certain something. Those in the Plaça de Bacardí are always good.
- Is there any public area where you like to go, to sit and chat?
- Anywhere is good. Maybe the Plaça de Bacardí. Or the terrace in the library of Juan Marsé, in Carmel.
- When you have to act as a guide for visitors, where do you take them?
- The old wash houses of Horta, behind my house, and if we have time and feel like getting the car, I take them to the Parc del Laberint. This is a real luxury which few people know. Being left outside the wall after the construction of the ring roads has definitely contributed to this, but the zone of the Velódromo and the park is a marvel.
- What is the most appropriate, funny or surprising adjective you have heard to describe Barcelona? Which one would you use?
- People have said all sorts of things. I prefer not to use adjectives, but to mix the letters until you find that from "Barcelona" you can get "balconera" (balcony). From Carmel this is very clearly seen.
- Of where, between the sea and Tibidabo, do you have the most memories?
- The Forat del Vent, on the road to Cerdanyola, and other viewpoints from Tibidabo as well. People in my neighbourhood, when we had our first cars, often went up for sentimental anatomy exploration.
- 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?
- With the noise contamination we suffer from, it's better to always speak in someone's ear, wherever you are. Nonetheless; lost in the Parç del Laberint, and when I say lost I mean lost, among the holly trees.
- What colours or smells, when you see or smell them anywhere in the world, remind you immediately of Barcelona?
- The colour of "azulgrana", naturally.
- When you have had to leave the city for a while, what have you missed most?
- The classic corner bars, with or without terrace, which proliferate in the Eixample. And also some streets and small squares in Ciutat Vella which still maintain the labyrinth idea of urban planning.
- Which of the changes that have been made in the city recently are you happiest with?
- The so-called boulevards in Nou Barris. I had my doubts, and the "Peinetas" in the Plaça del Virrei Amat, and others, I still don't like, but the centres of Fabra i Puig and that of Pi i Molist have improved accessibility, a lot, for those who move around with difficulty or in a wheelchair.
- What don't you like, and what would you do to change it?
- The slapdash renovation of the Raval and, in general, the constant bad treatment of Ciutat Vella. I don't like the excess in the tourist sector that we are living through. I don't like it.
- Add anything you would like to say, and that we haven't asked.
- I have had opportunities to live in other cities and countries, but I have never thought of changing my city. It is a decision, not without a certain degree of masochism, but it is a very definite decision.