"In summer we allow ourselves to stop and become more aware of living"

For Dídac Romagós, the alma mater of Ràdio Vilablareix, there are three ingredients that make a summer night unforgettable: “Being surrounded by the people I love, having health, and having peace of mind”. “I am a simple person, and as I get older, I become even more so. Our problems always come from wanting more,” reflects Romagós. In summer, he says, people allow themselves a break and “it is then that we become more aware of living”. “We live too busy lives, and many times it is in these moments of rest, of idleness and observation, when great ideas appear,” he asserts.

Therefore, one of the summer nights he remembers most fondly was a simple one, full of questions, the only way to arrive, perhaps one day, at some answer “about the mystery of being in the world: what are we doing here and what is the meaning of it all”. “I had lunch with my partner in Llançà and at night we went to dinner at the Fabra Observatory, with Barcelona illuminated at our feet,” recalls Romagós. That night we were able to observe the star Albireo, “which is not really one star, but two of different colors. Those stars made me think about us, humans, and how we are light and darkness, and I had the feeling that we live between incomplete answers and that perhaps the beauty of the universe is not in understanding everything, but in accepting that there are things that surpass us and that they all form part of the same mystery. Or, as Oques Grasses says in La Gent Que Estimo, the miracle and the disaster is where we live”. 

Romagós explains that his experience of summers has changed a lot over the years. When he was a teenager, it was his favorite season, but now he can’t stand the heat. “The summers when I was little were different. We went out to play with friends, and if we came back later than eleven, we felt like transgressors and rebels,” he recalls. “Now, if it were up to me, we would skip summer and go straight from Sant Joan to September,” he adds. 

Even so, he acknowledges that, as a good music lover – at Ràdio Vilablareix only music in Catalan is played – he enjoys the explosion of festivals and concerts that happen in the summer, and “he is happy with an orxata in his hand”. Also, of course, with a good book, one of those thick ones that can sometimes only be tackled when summer arrives. “This summer I will be immersed in Abans més que ara (Editorial Navona), by Miquel de Palol, a friend and literary reference,” with whom, he assures, any conversation could turn into the best summer night.