There is one place, however, where people do tend to idle and converse. On an otherwise busy corner Lee Ray, a 37-year-old New Zealander from the North Island, runs a newspaper kiosk providing a loyal clientele with their daily periódico, revista or occasional packet of cigarettes. He engages in dialogue both in Spanish and English, as people discuss the day’s news and events, and update him on their lives, both good and bad.
Ray has been in this spot for six years. “I had done a bit of travelling, and ended up in London, like many New Zealanders and Australians do,” he told Metropolitan. “That’s where I met my Catalan wife, who I’ve been married to now for nine years. I came over here seven years ago and spent the first year learning Spanish, doing odd jobs and trying to settle in. Then a friend mentioned that the kiosk’s previous owner was looking for some part-time help, and the rest is history.”
In the past six years, Ray estimates he has had conversations with hundreds of people, some famous, most not, but all with something to say. “My wife has lived here all her life, but I know far more people than she does, which is a bit strange for her. It sounds funny, but I walk around Gràcia and nearly every five minutes I get someone saying hello, or stopping for a chat. I’ve met a few celebrities and a couple are regulars. [Catalan film director] Isabel Coixet who lives nearby tells me all about her latest projects, and why she recently turned down working with Spielberg. You become a regular part of peoples’ lives.”
The person in a Barcelona newspaper kiosk sometimes fulfils the same confessional purpose as a bartender or a cab driver, someone to whom people feel they can unburden themselves. “Some people never really get beyond small talk, whereas others tell you their problems, things that have happened to them and so on. But also I find that a lot of Spanish people, especially Catalans, keep themselves to themselves. I have made a couple of good friends through the job, friends that I see outside of work, as well as when they buy their paper.”
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