Blowing out a lot of candles on the birthday cake has bad things, but among the good things, being able to let yourself be carried away by the wind to unknown hobbies stands out. In practice, many of these wind blowers transport to similar places, regardless of the country in question. For example, to use public transport to explore new places, interact with other people and, ultimately, as an excuse to leave home.
Some take a nap, others read, there are those who socialize or travel aimlessly along all the subway lines until it is time to return home. But, whatever the objective of the trip, they declare that traveling is good for them because it encourages them to get ready and get out of the house for a while. This is what Concha Aparisi Furió, a 74-year-old Valencian woman, occasionally does, for example, who occasionally gets on the bus until the end of the journey and takes the opportunity to walk through areas that she does not frequent.
“The number 9 bus that passes by my street ends in Sedaví and sometimes I walk there. Some days I connect with another line and end up having a coffee in Nazaret or Malvarrosa, very close to the beach," says this woman who lives on Gaspar Aguilar Avenue in Valencia and who has the Bono Oro (a transportation card for people over 65 years of age which costs 20 euros per year and allows travel for 12 months).
“Sometimes I have surprised myself on the bus talking to people I didn't know,” she reveals. “At the very least, when I return home it got me windy and distracted me a little,” she says.
Just as to rest you have to get tired beforehand, elderly people also report enjoying their homes more when they have to be away from them for a few hours.
Luis Mayor Navarro, for example, at 85 years of age, takes the bus that passes near Llobregós Street, in Horta, to travel randomly to different points in Barcelona.
“I have proven that to be physically well I have to walk at least five kilometers a day,” he explains. “Then what I do is take the bus to the Horta Velodrome, as I did today, and then walk back. But I can also do it the other way around: go somewhere walking and then return sitting,” he explains about his modus operandi. “Indisputably, it is an excuse to leave the house,” he confirms.
The habit of taking the bus or the subway with the same spirit as when going to the cinema seems to have taken root among some elderly people, at least according to what those responsible for several associations that help those who are in the fall indicate. or the winter of their lives. “We know that there are older people who regularly spend a morning or afternoon taking a bus route several times to entertain themselves and meet other people,” says Albert Quiles, the director of the Fundació Amics de la Gent Gran. .
According to Quiles, “the free and accessible public transportation allows many older people who suffer from loneliness to use the bus and the subway as a relational channel that helps them alleviate their suffering.” And many times the simple act of saying hello, saying good morning and talking about the weather is enough to start a conversation that takes you out of isolation.
Mau Blancafort, coordinator of Som Base, an association that claims the right of older people to have emotional support, believes the same. “Public transportation is therapeutic, as it allows older people to connect with other people and also relate to the city in which they live,” he says.
“Inside the bus or the metro it is warm in winter and cool in summer,” recalls Blancafort, a few minutes before communicating electronically with the Social Affairs Commission of the Eusko Legebiltzara or Basque Parliament, which must debate a non-law proposal that guarantee the right to emotional support, especially for older people.
Blancafort says she knows several older people who have a great time going up and down the bus, such as Marisa Flores, a woman who uses public transportation “as if it were a tourist bus, but without being one,” she jokes.
In the end, the important thing is to feel comfortable in the vehicle, feel the human warmth of the people and go one step beyond the mandatory walk around the neighborhood to buy the day's groceries and sunbathe a little.
This is what, for example, Mercedes Zubiburu, a 75-year-old girl who lives on Brusi Street in Barcelona, does. “Instead of staying at home watching TV, what I do is take the bus and be with all kinds of people, old and old,” she says. “The bus gives me a lot of energy,” she adds.
Like other people consulted in this article, Zubiburu loves to ride the bus to observe, for example, the Christmas lights, as well as the crowds milling in the streets. One of his favorite buses is the V15 that passes through Plaza Molina and ends in Barceloneta.
“On Saturdays and Sundays, since my children have things to do with friends, what I do,” he says, “is get on bus number 7 and get off at Palau Real. Sometimes he also takes the Trambaix in Plaza Francesc Macià and walks near the Polo Club.”
Lately, Mrs. Mercé, when she does not have to go pick up her granddaughters, usually rides the bus with a friend who is also widowed. Recently they were looking at the breakwater and then her friend took the 22 bus to return to where she lives, near the Vallcarca bridge.
It is practiced in many places, but in some countries it is already a hobby. The New York Times recently published that although traveling by subway is for millions of people a way to get from point A to point B with relative ease and at a reasonable price, in South Korea it is also entertainment. In total, 15% of the passengers who transit through the 76 stations in Seoul, the capital, are over 65 years of age and travel for free.
Thanks to these bus rides or the conversations they have in the local stores where they get supplies, some social orphans (as Mau Blancafort calls them) stop listening to the silence and share their human wisdom with everyone at every opportunity. those passengers willing to listen to their vital adventures and their conviction that life is a journey where the most important thing is to enjoy the journey.
