Precisely this Monday – the time forecast in Madrid was about 21º degrees – the 20 tables of the terrace were completely. They were happy because the day painted well: they had the well -assorted refrigeration cameras of gender and the reserves were almost completely. “We had everything prepared, seafood, meats, chuletones, salad, many things. And, suddenly, everything has come down,” says Juan Fernández, co -owner of the restaurant La Tasquita de Manuel Becerra, with the capacity to almost a hundred people. “We have served the people who were sitting on the terrace and we will have billed about 60 euros in the half hour in which we have been open.” At 13 hours they decided to close. They are about six in the afternoon, with the middle closure and his brother Alfonso next door, he waits for the miracle. “Let’s see if the light comes, but as we have heard on the radio this looks bad. People have not been able to contact us to cancel the reserves, nor with them. It has been a lost day, which has been able to cost us about 20 or 25,000 euros, because tonight we will not be able to open. A tragedy. This seems like a third world country. If we are as competent as they say we are not to happen,” Tasquita de Salamanca and another that will open shortly in Diego de León, who expect not everything to be lost and that the merchandise they keep in the industrial cameras hold up to the morning.
A few meters away, already on Alcalá Street, but looks dark. Inside, an employee says they are closed from 12.30. “We have not attended to any client. We are here in case the light comes.” Everything is calm in that stretch of the street. Some walk aimlessly, others rush to see if they hook a bus in the crammed Plaza de Manuel Becerra. Upon reaching Montesa Street, the scene changes: next to a lot of garbage bags accumulated on the sidewalk, due to the cleaning strike, there is a busy terrace in number four, that of the cafeteria that bears the same name as the road. Outside the premises, people drink bottles.
Inside, and the light of a bar with several sustained candles as a candlestick in the brown glass of third beer, the staff prepares some ration and some snack sandwich for the dozen clients that kill time and hunger waiting for the miracle to arrive. ”, Because I will not be able to keep it open longer. At noon we have given about one hundred meals because I have a gas kitchen, there was clarity and because I have gone to buy some flashlights in the store in front, but they have already finished the battery. I have agreed that I had a dozen candles and now we are with them, but as soon as they end I have to close,” Moisés López, owner of the Montesa cafe, 1967. “We have scrubbed them by hand. Luckily we have a committed personnel, who are to what is needed,” he continues, also proud of the clientele, “many are common and have adapted to what there was. We have not been able to collect everything because they did not carry effective, but we know that they will pay again.”
The terraces of Felipe II square were completely. “People are looking for a company and at home there is nothing to do,” summarized Celia Monrós, at the head of Alboraya Horchatria, the business that her parents opened in 1980, which did not supply to serve glasses of this drink of chufas. The ice cream has had to give them. They have been melting “and they were not even to collect.” The day has spent dispatching Horcata – see about 80 liters every day – and soft drinks. In spite of this, “people have not stopped coming many we have been trusted because they did not carry money,” he says behind the counter, then closes. “There are things against which we cannot do anything, we are very dependent on technology,” he says with resignation, given the idea of having to guard at the premises because the closure is electronic and given the uncertainty of being able to have merchandise to dispatch the next day. “The process of ice cream has been about eight hours and for the horchata you need about two,” he explains.
Crusade the street of O’Donnell, in the bustling neighborhood of Retiro, well nourished by bars and restaurants, there is some calm. At noon they have served cold dishes –Jamón, empanada, octopus in vinaigrette, oysters, raw clam …— and have served some 20 clients, when normal, says the owner, Adolfo Escobar, is to feed about 150 people. 45 people work in the restaurant. “The worst is the genre. We have the nursery and the showcase where we have the seafood off. We can lose more than 10,000 euros. Today it is easy that in losses we reach 20,000 euros,” he said at the door, while detailing the fattening of having had to collect in cash. “We have had to trust several clients. I pray that the light comes soon and we can keep everything and tomorrow is another day,” says the man, that this morning he promised them very happy. “It was going to be a good day, at 10 in the morning some new tables for the terrace was unpacking, but the day has been chanted. It reminded me of Filomena.” If something is satisfied, it is to have been able to attend to the clientele, “who has been happy.” On the Parallel Street, in Dr. Castelo, almost overlooking the Retiro Park, at the incarnate door of the pens, there is a bustling crowd that does not care that next to the side some smelling bags of garbage are piled up – for here the cleaning service has not yet passed. Glass or bottle in hand, someone comments that this is “a bit roll, like a filomestic, but with heat.”
Very close, in Menéndez Pelayo, the Marisquería Sanchís bar is open. The interior is in gloom, and in the window glass there is a stuck paper, which says: “We sell food prepared to carry. (Only effective).” They had the showcases with food trays – bacalao and beautiful with tomato, potato tortilla, Russian salad …—, to offer the first service of the day when at 13.30 they have had to close. “Our kitchen is homemade and prepare it on the day, so we have decided to get it on sale so that people who return home after working or those who cannot cook have something to eat,” comment Sara Baquero and José María Galván, at the head of this family business, which in cooking attends her mother. “In the showcases we would have about 800 euros in gender and today we will have stopped invoicing about 2,500 euros,” says this couple, which will guard until last night. “We want to serve the people in the area.” And tomorrow, hopefully, it’s another day.
