AVE from 20.30 on June 17. Exit Madrid Atocha to the Lérida Pirineos station . On two occasions I had to tell my seat neighbor to put on the mask. Going from phase zero to phase two involves risks. Above all, on the AVE.
A month ago I took the train on Monday at 7.05, which stops at the Lérida station and heads to Madrid. We had just entered phase zero. At the Illedan station we were barely four people waiting for the train. The usual morning bustle the AVE was waiting for had disappeared. This time, silence and masks. The allocation of seats was made at the station according to demand and to control social safety distance. There were barely five people in the car assigned to me. Widely distributed. Absolute feeling of security.
The gradual phase change has changed the scenario completely. Yesterday both populations were still in Phase Two. On Monday the 15th, in Lérida, there were already about twenty people waiting in line to catch the train. We were back to the assigned seat.
However, the main change occurred on the return from Atocha. For the first time on my last trips, there were no police officers in the waiting room before boarding. No one asked for the relevant safe-conduct anymore . I remember three weeks ago the scene of a police officer fuming on a medical student who had no proof. In the end, he let her board. In the queues to go down to the tracks, in phase zero, there were barely a dozen people. In phase one there were already twenty. Among them, agricultural seasonal workers who went to work in the Lleida countryside. I remember a lady who kept applying hygienic liquid to her hands.
The queues of yesterday were already the usual Before Before. They do not allow anyone to enter Atocha who does not wear fashionable attire. The relevant safety distance lengthens the lines from one end of the station to the other. Everyone masked. I wonder if all the passengers are going with the relevant pass. As far as I know, it is still forbidden to move between phases two from one province to another. I greet some congressman who returns to Barcelona. We comment on the inconsistency of the regulations at this point in the pandemic. Long live Zapata.
I return to my assigned seat in the false wagon of silence that I always ask for. False because not everyone respects the instructions to keep quiet and put your mobile phone in silence.
At full volume
I'm going to take place 4-A, window. Someone is listening to music at full volume. Several people speak via mobile in an unintelligible language. In the seat next to me, a man with the mask hanging from his neck. On top of the seat's recliner, there is a pack of Winston tobacco, a can of Mahou beer, a mobile and a bottle of liquid that, I suppose, is hygienic. I ask the gentleman if he will let me pass and before the astonished look of appreciation of the person who is across the hall, I ask him to put on the mask. He does so reluctantly, grumbles, coughs, and begins to speak to himself. We have the trip insured.
The wagon is full. I sense that the train must go to maximum capacity. In round numbers, about 400 people. We get going. A reviewer passes in a hurry. Ask a person of foreign nationality not to speak, who is in the wagon of silence. My tablemate has opened his beer can. Part of the liquid spreads over your table. You try to clean it. He complains that the train is very slow. The public address continues to warn that a mask must be worn, that a cafeteria service is not provided and that headphones will not be distributed. The train is reported to be disinfected to prevent all possible transmission of the virus.
At 8:58 pm, after the Guadalajara stop, trying to read, I observed out of the corner of my eye that my traveling companion had taken off his mask again. From across the hall, the man from before watches me with worried eyes. I ask you again to my neighbor put the mask, the situation forces him ... I replied saying you're drinking, it puts it back and release some expletive I do not reproduce. Again I hide behind reading.
Before stopping in Calatayud, at 21:28, they call him on the phone. The mask is removed again. He says to Lola -the person who calls him- that he cannot speak, that he is in the wagon of silence. Hanging. Keep talking to yourself. Already past Calatayud he gets up with his things and goes to the intermediate area of wagons muttering. We have not heard from the reviewer again.
In Zaragoza a dozen people go down. Neither respects the instructions to get down in an orderly manner and more than a dozen people rush towards the exit. I never see my next-door neighbor again.
Halfway between Zaragoza and Lérida, through the Monegros, another passenger sits next to me. Fortunately, this one wears a mask.
At 10:35 pm we arrived in Lleida. I breathe with the feeling of being convinced that the AVE is not exactly the safest place in Spain. Rather, after what happened, it can become one of the most dangerous. Starting next week, once the alarm state as we have known it has ended, the frequencies of the trains will increase. That this occurs should be welcome. But, are we guaranteed security? Absolutely. Cases like the one we suffered yesterday can always be repeated.
I'm going to take the car. I have an hour of freeway left to get home. Now it's time to dodge and overtake infinite trucks that return to circulate like Before. I think if I will return to Madrid by car next time. I tune in to Rock FM.
In accordance with the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more- Coronavirus
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