The Plaza de la Constitución during Holy Week. SUR

Fair and square

Easter will be well-organised mayhem as usual, although it still baffles me how the throngs and thrones which conspire to provide such a stunning spectacle don't provoke more problems than they actually do

Peter Edgerton / www.peteredgerton.com

Friday, 24 March 2023, 13:41

Malaga's city centre's main square, La Plaza de la Constitución, has been a hive of activity in recent weeks with the assembling and dismantling of the corresponding structures for, first, the carnival, then the film festival and, now, Holy Week. A varied selection of blokes in hard hats have made the plaza their home for a good while now, and the incessant clanking of metal on metal, lightly peppered with bellowed rejoinders for Pepe and Paco to get a shift on, has been the soundtrack to our lives for quite some considerable time.

On the one hand, it's a delight to witness such hustle and bustle so soon after the eerie, empty silences that Covid brought to town. On the other, for the dwindling, valiant few who still live in the city centre on a permanent basis, there does come a certain longing for a lull in proceedings and for the Plaza de Constitución to return to its brilliant best i.e. with nothing at all in it, except for its permanent features, including that lovely fountain which I, for one, could happily stroll past ten times a day for the rest of eternity.

Easter will be well-organised mayhem as usual, although it still baffles me how the throngs and thrones which conspire to provide such a stunning spectacle don't provoke more problems than they actually do. It's a little miracle in itself, I suppose, and only made possible by the exemplary behaviour of all concerned which, on the whole, is a constant. So, instead of getting grumpy because I have to make a five-thousand-mile detour to get back to my flat after work, I should, instead, simply stand and gaze in awe and wonder at the sheer magnificence of proceedings. Still, that's much easier said than done after a twelve-hour shift, I'm sure you'll agree.

Anyway, by the end of April, the huge viewing gallery in the main square will have been duly disassembled and a certain, reassuring calm will return to the city. The unforgiving summer heat won't yet have reared its oh-so-cruel head and thus we can relax and enjoy what is, without doubt, one of the most pleasant times of year to be in Malaga.

So, if you happen to spot a chap wandering aimlessly around the plaza, gazing lovingly at its fountain with a mildly soporific grin on his face, just leave him to it, he's fine.

And, whatever you do, don't mention the fair.