Puerta del Sol 11.00 / 33 degrees
The hottest spot in Madrid is under Chucky’s suit, the evil doll Carlos dressed up as this morning. A 55-year-old Peruvian lives there every day, with whom he tries to get some coins by “scaring” the tourists who walk through the Puerta del Sol. A few coins “to put something in my mouth,” he explains. The drama multiplies from the throat up. The hellish costume is complemented by a felt mask and a red wig that resembles the popular movie doll. Underneath, Carlos wears a shawl over his head and a surgical mask to keep sweat from soaking the costume and leaving a bad smell. From all the possible disguises, Carlos has chosen one that would suit him in January when he started looking for a life, but which would suffocate a Berber in August. Beside him are about twenty workers, most of them South American emigrants, busy paving the square, taking turns with the pitcher and the bottle of water. No shade around on the newly designed square. The new stone of the Puerta del Sol is particularly heat-resistant and the only trees nearby look like ceramics.
Two workers cool off at Puerta del Sol in Madrid. Alvaro García
Getafe 13.00 / 35 degrees
Two workers, Jose and Amador, are laying the paving slabs next to the Felipe Calleja street in Getafe. Jose, 55, pauses under a tree and his partner Amador, 49, sweats, kneels between the sand, gravel and cement to align the tiles. Both, workers at a Ferrovial subsidiary, have brought the entrance to the plant forward to 7:00 am to avoid being exposed to the hours when the sun shines more intensely. “You’re at work and you don’t remember how hot it is until you stop and realize how hot you are,” says Jose. At this time of the afternoon, the thermometers are marking the highs of a heat wave that is hitting the communities in the south of the Autonomous Community of Madrid hardest. “Every summer is more or less the same. I’ve been working on the street for 25 years and in August you suffer more and more,” explains his partner. Amador speaks about the heat with a certain indifference, having previously worked asphalting roads near Móstoles, “and it was really scary,” he recalls.
A person protects himself from the sun with an umbrella on a street in Getafe. Alvaro Garcia
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Parla 14.00 / 39 degrees
El País data and analysis expert Kiko Llaneras quoted on Wednesday in the SER chain a study by Esteban Moro that analyzed millions of messages on Twitter and Facebook that matched the current temperature and were accordingly Hot Offend Today we more and are more irascible. Above 30 degrees, the attacks on the networks multiplied and above 40 degrees, they skyrocketed. This is not the case for Jose, who is happily dismantling the Parla market stall where he sells cucumbers and dried fruit, despite the fact that there were far fewer people than usual this Wednesday. “It’s better to shop there,” he says, pointing to the air-conditioned Carrefour across the street. Born in Extremadura, Jose is used to the heat. This year he is much hotter than in previous years. “The heat is unbearable and there are fewer people and we can’t display much of the product because it gets damaged,” he explains. “Anything that’s olives and Valencian onions, we have to keep them cold in the truck because they go off immediately,” he explains. Jose is able to pause to speak as he waits for the iron in his post to cool and now they burn as he tries to take his post down. Tomorrow, in similar heat, he will repeat the setup of his street vendor in Plaza Elíptica, then in Leganés and finally in Horcasitas.
Two operators pick up their street stall at Parla market. Alvaro Garcia
I paint 15.00 / 40 degrees
Last year, the death of José Antonio González, a 60-year-old garbage collector who died of heat stroke in Vallecas, helped change legislation to prevent public workers from having to be on the streets during the hottest hours. His death is known to almost all workers interviewed but was particularly commented on by garbage collectors such as José, 46, hanging in the back of Pinto’s garbage truck, and Silvia, 42, who drives the vehicle while looking after her partner in the rearview mirror. “Yes, of course the case was discussed. We understand that if you’re having a drink or going somewhere cool, you have to be careful and take a break every now and then,” he explains. For the garbage man, “this year’s heat feels more aggressive than previous years,” he says, holding a bucket about to dump it into the truck. “I should wear a helmet during the working day, but in this heat it’s impossible,” he adds resignedly. One of his company’s measures is that “a truck cannot drive if its air conditioning is not in perfect condition,” he explains. At the wheel, Silvia shows us the remedy that works best for her: the portable cool box with water that she carries with her in the truck and from which they both get a bottle of water every few buckets.
A thermometer shows the temperature this Wednesday in Pinto. Alvaro Garcia
Puerta del Sol 16.00 / 40 degrees
Back in central Madrid, the study on irascibility cited by Kiko Llaneras makes sense. Three of the five kiosks that opened their doors a month and a half ago in the recently renovated Puerta del Sol with a modern design in iron and methacrylate are at this time on Wednesday afternoon a crematorium oven where the employee is roasted. Between fans, keyrings, magnets, guidebooks and all kinds of souvenirs, 27-year-old José Gil survives under a tiny air-conditioning hose in search of oxygen. He can only go near the box from time to time, “because the air can’t get there and the heat is unbearable,” he explains. Due to the way the kiosks are built, the sun enters the premises like a lightsaber and burns everything in its way, so they had to cover the windows with car sunshades. While the clientele is falling and no longer comes and cannot stay in the bar for more than two minutes, he heroically perseveres next to the vending machine. The tobacconist next door confirms the collective anger when the temperature tops 40 degrees and rants about the design of the new kiosks they have to work in and the duration of a job “that never ends”.
One of the kiosks opened in Puerta del Sol a month and a half ago. Alvaro Garcia
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