The day I made a promise to a policeman
I have become a girl on a bicycle that stops at a red light and pedals when she turns green, even if she is in a hurry and there is no car in sight. While the other bikes pull forward, I wait with discipline, until I feel some shame for not resisting the temptation, and then remember that promise I made a sunny morning to a policeman of the Carrefour Avenue Diagonal Paseo de Gracia .
That man caught me, with his yellow vest, and asked me what we are going to do to him. Why did he keep moving while everyone else was standing? It was not worth answering that riding a bike gives you wings and that if the street is clear, you fly. Nor to tell him that I am careful, that everyone does it and that I take charge of my actions. No, I have no explanation, I told him. I looked into his eyes after an agonizing silence and made a promise. I promised to stop.
Since then, there is not a single bike ride that does not remember that policeman who gave me the quarrel. I'm even thinking about buying a helmet. I no longer think about keeping a record of time or looking for this rush of adrenaline that gives the simple fact of getting where it does not touch. Whatever happens, I prefer to walk, and for that I have an explanation.
Lifting my foot allows me to catch my breath, dry the sweat running down my neck, look up and spy on Barcelona, identify new stores and places, take an Instagram photo, sunbathe one more minute to perfect my Nordic tan, and Eventually, demonstrate to pedestrians that a person on a bike is not Daltonian and knows how to recognize the red of the green. And above all, it allows you to be unconcerned, leave your mind blank, put reflections at rest, remember that not everything is immediate and that you have to know how to wait.