Blaugrana in Song
Blue and deep red, blaugrana, the colours of the near-religious Barcelona FC football team.
Little kids as young as two are taught the team’s chant, an attractive ditty - and most certainly they come to recognise it before the airs of the national anthem, which isn’t necessarily revered in Catalunya.
So, with great pleasure, on the way back from the bakery this morning, buttered-croissant and barra-de-pan in hand, I heard the tune bounce up along one of the local alleyways, this at 10 in the morning, no drunken fan, this.
Ten-seconds later appeared, an old lady, plastic bags in both hands, though one hand also held a walking stick. The blaugrana lady she has become known, for every day she passes this way, and every day she sings the same song, and once she finishes, she starts again. She has a special thing for younger men, for she feels it’s from them she’ll get the most animated reaction, and she does. She gave me the eye today, her 65 year old eye, and I smiled back. Long may she sing!