Cadix

Pull up, pull up, man! Go back now, come on! Move,move!

With a hoarse voice issue of centurys of non-filtered cigarettes
smoking that perfectly fit the ordered mesh of Cadix, a weird cutted
man shout us from the centre of the traffic jamed avenue.A friend of
mine, who drives, smiles remarking the surprise expressed on my tourist
face that displays a delighting crabe colour. Still grumbling for
leaving the air-conditioned car, I stand up under a midday spanish
sun.The man, like walking out from a mirage, keeps talking to us waving
a folded newspaper on his right hand. I bet he stole the cap he wears
from the dressing room of 'The African Queen'.

I?m a parkerman, bobby as they call us in Andalusia. I see you are
staring at my cap. It was an old fisherman who gave it to me the first
time that I took a boat to go fishing. I was fourteen. I still like to
feel it on my head, although I was forced to give up fish. Now I
concentrate on humains. So you want to know what is this work about.
Easy pal. First of all I look for a parking place, then you park your
car in this place and finally, if you dont want anybody to damage your
car, you just have to give me something and I?ll keep it safe.

He smiles proudly showing his teeths. Very few, by the way. My loyal
companion tells me that if you dont give them some money, the amount is
up to you and depends on your courage, you may risk to find a scratch
on the side or a broken window. It is no wonder that the extent of the
damage would be proportional to the driver's meanness. Fifty penny
equal to a twenty inch scratch;twenty is a bursted tyre.What can happen
if you bare not to say goodmorning!
You know, there is not enough staff available to do this kind of work
and considering that we do it properly, seven days a week and without
any social charge the town council don't say a thing. They save a good
money thanks to us.

A new confidence comes out to explain how seriously they take what
they call work, to the point of no hesitation if violence is required
to defend their territory.

One of my colleagues,'el Rogelio', was almost killed last year right
there, behind the footbal stadium when he faced a couple of young men
,who actually are drug addicts, started parking cars where my friend
had been doing it for years.He faced the guys and as a concequence he
was stabbed and beaten by the whole pack.

At this stage of the conversation it becomes a little bit blurred for
me but my sharpwitted friend, who apparently translate faster than I do
my own face expressions, is about to clears up everyone's roll in this
story. Reality shows that despite people's complaints for being forced
to pay or to feel worry if they don't, the authoritys consent, remember
that sometimes you pay parking plus protection, since they keep
collecting money and the employment office remains calm and quiet.
Besides, we should'nt mesh the one side, people that do its work with
dignity because is the only way they have to feed their familys and
will never bare to touch your car, with the other side, rogue going
people, most of them heroine addicts, dangerous or not depending on how
they feel, weakest victims of the economic depression that suffers this
region, so hasty if this is about parking a few cars as it means a few
grammes.

'El Rogelio' left the hospital a few days later but he never came back
to the streets.It's rough staff, you know.However, things happen time
by time that cheer you up.I remember that day when this very nice car
arrived and once it was parked I realized that Antonio Banderas, the
spanish actor was driving.His wife, 'the blonde one', gave me ten
pounds! Not bad.Or when the city mayor, a georgous middle age woman
came to inaugurate a new medical centre right in front of the beach
called 'LaCaleta'.You would like her, man. But the time that I really
laugh was when this lady, I guess she was a german tourist, thinking
that I was flirting with her, smiled and instead of money I found
myself dated in an hotel, room 101.I can't avoid to be
irresistible!

Indeed he has this charm that flows out from southern people, who have
no fear to face the sun.People that smile if their heart says so or if
the joke is worthy. To whom touch an stranger's arm is not an agression
but a welcome sign. People able to reinvent themselves and raise their
new job to the level of science.
Once we've shake hands I turn my head back towards the car wondering
how this man, who likes to be called 'Sailor', has manage to convince
us that this was the only parking place available when ten metters away
there was enough space to anchor the 'Queen Elizabeth I and II'! If the
english bobbys were as sly as the andalusian ones the Empire's cash-box
would overflow again.