Josh Freed: I’d love to take a little bit from Madrid to Montreal

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As winter makes an unwelcome early appearance, our city has quickly changed its mood after a summer of outdoor celebration.

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In recent weeks, our once-occupied terraces have been closed and our streets have been quickly cleared of people, as Montréal’s head to the nearest café, gym, or mall.

It’s the official start of the indoor season folks, but does winter have to be like this? I recently came back from a city that embraces the outdoors in a way that we don’t, Madrid, and it seems so much more Canadian than we do.

In this city in northern Spain, nighttime temperatures routinely dropped to 5C during my stay, but it was amazing to see how the locals flooded its streets.

Armies of tens of thousands roamed Madrid on weekends, chatting, eating and drinking on outdoor terraces that never seem to close. I’m a night owl who often gets up after 2 a.m. M., But in Madrid I felt like an early riser, and taxi drivers tell me that the streets are busy until 5 a.m. M.

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God knows how it works, naps are old-fashioned.

Half of Madrid’s outdoor patios have propane heaters to snuggle in, like much of Europe, but even the unheated tables had queues. As a Spanish friend said: “We Madrilenians love being outdoors, whatever the weather: rain, wind, cold, we’ll be out all winter. That is what we are “.

To be fair, Madrid temperatures never drop to Montreal’s arctic lows, but they are colder than we tolerate here. Montréal residents largely abandoned our terraces weeks ago when temperatures dropped to just 10C.

But the people of Madrid will remain outside from now until February, although the mercury regularly drops to zero many nights.

Canadians have a global image as winter warriors, but in reality we are a somewhat weak nation, addicted to our excellent central heating. Perhaps that’s why Quebec is no longer producing many good NHL hockey players, much to the chagrin of Premier François Legault. We just don’t like the cold.

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I mentioned earlier that I’ve sat outside in minus -20 in Norway, Sweden, and Finland, where people also crowd on propane-heated terraces during the winter, though not in crowds like Madrid.

To be fair, this past winter we Montréal changed our routines and discovered our inner Canadian. Many of us ride our bikes in the winter, others jog, skate, or take long walks and talks.

But we had no other choice as cafes, restaurants and other places were closed. But now that they’re open again, will we still be winter warriors or will we go back to movies, bars, and shopping malls, like mall rats?

On a related topic, Madrid residents also use their parks in ways that I wish Montreal could learn. The largest park, El Retiro, is a huge, flat version of Mount Royal, but what a difference in mood!

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Mount Royal is a beautiful, but strictly controlled nature reserve, with little entertainment or food sales allowed. The parks of Madrid are an endless carnival.

There are wandering musicians who play classical or jazz music, many of them extremely talented. There are street performers from a Jolly Green Giant, to a “Human Car” and a Balloon Man like the one Montreal once had until it floated away.

The festivities are joined by numerous outdoor cafes, all overflowing with people. They offer meals, tacos, chips, popcorn, and cotton candy so everyone is walking around and chewing.

It’s a joyous scene that I would love to see here.

Part of the park space is reserved for another innovation: dozens of city-run classes that teach various activities. More than 50 five-year-olds were taking their first skating lesson, while older children were learning tricks.

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There were many other Segway Scooters and hoverboards classes, also bike repair courses, largely filled by young women dismantling bikes upside down.

What a good idea! I can imagine Mount Royal with ice skating courses, snowshoeing, and jumping in puddles of slush. How about some motorist courses on how to get around winter potholes and learn to recognize and even stop at pedestrian crossings.

Oh, bring a little bit of Madrid to Montreal.

The only question everyone asks when they hear I was out is what about COVID behavior? Like much of Europe, Spain does not enforce vaccine passports, and it is somewhat creepy not knowing who is vaccinated or not, especially indoors.

But to compensate, all of Madrid wears masks everywhere, even outdoors. On busy streets or flea markets, the police insist that you mask yourself, but even on quiet streets, unmasked faces are rare.

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Personally, I find vaccine passports to be more secure. But Spain has one of the lowest COVID rates in Europe and one of the highest vaccination rates, to 90 percent of those eligible .

So I guess it’s different COVID hits for different people. Still, I was relieved that Canada required me to pass a negative COVID test 72 hours before flying home.

Overall, I’m glad to be back, but looking out the window I miss the crowds, festivities, and climate warriors of Madrid.

If someone here opens an outdoor winter deck with heaters, I’m ready to chill.

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Josh Freed performs with Terry Mosher and Bowser & Blue at Westmount’s Victoria Hall at The Four Anglos Surviving the Covid Apocalypse. from Friday, December 17 to Sunday, December 19. View reviews or get tickets at: www.fouranglos.ca.