SO I’M a cheat.
I couldn’t cope with Ballarat’s first ‘‘real’’ winter in years, so I’ve jumped on a Boeing to flee to the other side of the world.
No, I’m not rich. I’ve just got a very flexible home loan. And a very understanding boss (thanks Angela).
Besides, it’s kind of like a field trip for the Rant. Heading to a place like Barcelona is a great way to reflect on one’s own home town and philosophies. At least that’s what I’ll be telling the tax office next year.
Ballarat and Barcelona have stuff in common. Like the same first two letters and—um— that’s about it really. One is a vibrant metropolis considered one of the most progressive cities in the world, and the other is in Catalonia.
Gotcha!
Still, there is a lot we can learn from Barcelona, and vice versa, about how things can work differently, if not better. Right now, the number one thing I would love to have learned was how to speak Spanish. I’ve been
clueless in Catalonia and it’s most unnerving.
As a bastion of progressive thought, there a host of ideas in practise—with varying degrees of success—that a lot of Australians would love to see put in place at home.
The police seems to largely turn a blind eye to the sale and consumption of illicit drugs, for example. A lot of leftists in Australia reckon legalising drugs will reduce crime. Well, I’m not sure. There seems to be little of
the Underbelly-type murders we’ve seen in Melbourne and few reported cases of violent crime here. But petty crime, like theft, is absolutely rampant. If you never want to see your ex-wife, ex-husband, ex-boyfriend again just put them in a wallet and place it in your back pocket.
That’s the last you will ever see of them.
So the jury is out on that drugs-crime link for me at least.
Street prostitution is also very much an out-in-the-open
affair. Whether that’s good, bad or indifferent for the women concerned, I couldn’t say. But personally, it’s not a great look, and not something I’d really want to see along Lydiard St.
This paper’s deputy editor would love to see more bicycles in Ballarat and he would be excited to learn Barcelona boasts it is one of the most bike-friendly cities on the planet. From a legal point of view that’s certainly the case.
Bicycle riders are free to risk life and limb in any way they
please, without being burdened by helmets, road rules,
requirements to stay off the footpath or even a sense of
survival.
To be fair, I didn’t see or hear of a single incident where a rider came to grief the whole time I was in Barcelona
although, while riding around the Old City myself I thought my time on the planet was quite temporary. Cars are scary enough but never before have I had to respect, let alone fear, mopeds.
Politically, Barcelona has discovered a great way to
streamline protest and official response. The Catalan state government building and the Barcelona city council are on immediate opposite sides of a plaza. So protesters can turn up and camp outside the city
council to demand action on some issue. The council
spokesman will then come out and explain that the council sympathises but the issue is the responsibility of the state government. The protesters then just turn 180 degrees and continue their protest until a state official comes out to explain the government sympathises but is an issue for the city council.
The city of Barcelona could learn a little about road signs
and planning laws from us. And the art of parking a motor car without banging into the cars parked behind and in front is completely lost on the native population.
Personally, I’m loving the Bohemian rhapsody that is
Barcelona. But there’s a lot to like about conservative,
understated Ballarat and Melbourne too. And, as much
fun as Barcelona is, it will be nice to come home eventually.
You know I’m right about this.
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