Today is 23-F

Not too long ago I was reading about a man from Wisconsin, I believe it was, who given a date could tell you what happened on that day. Sometimes it would be an event from his own life, for example, he would remember on a certain date having Kentucky Fried Chicken. I don't claim to have a memory like this person or anyone else like him. If you ask me the last time I've had chocolate, I can truthfully answer about a minute ago, but ask me what I had for lunch last Saturday or 10 years ago, and I can't tell you. However, I, like most people I hope, remember dates that are very important to us. Today is such a date.

I'm going back in time to this exact hour (6 p.m. my time 12 p.m. New York time) on 23rd of February 1981. I'm in class and in this particular class I have a student who was absolutely, positively odious. Not too long into the class, there's a knock on my door and probably on other doors as well. Parents have come to the institute to pick up their children. We're told,although we don't believe it, that there has been a golpe de estado (military coup). By the end of the class, out of the 10 kids I started with, I'm left with nasty Carlos - probably his father, if he wasn't part of the coup, was out in the street  jumping for joy. Please note  that Spain  was still under the influence of it's dead 'caudillo,'  the dictator  Francisco Franco. It was also a time when there was  lots of activity and  numerous murders  carried out by the Basque TERRORIST group  E.T.A., which is always referred to in English news sources as the Basque SEPARATIST group. Anyway, by the time I got home that evening all communication was cut off. I tried to telephone my family to let them know that I was okay but there was a total blackout that is until the King, dressed in his military finest, finally denounced the takeover at about 1 a.m. I think it was. Then I knew that it was safe to go to bed.

Yes, I went to bed and slept because I had to be at work at 8 the next morning. Here's where the story gets funny. I lived, and still live, very near where I used to work until the institute closed in 2004. Guess how many people showed up for work the morning after the failed coup? Three! A boy who worked in the office, another teacher who had to take a bus and then the underground to get to work and myself - no students and no bosses. One of the bosses had even left Madrid and was heading for Valencia where there were tanks in the streets (the tanks never actually invaded Madrid). The three of us were there because we knew the big boss would expect us to. Well, about 10 a.m. we decided to close the institute and go to a bar to celebrate Jose Antonio's birthday (the office boy). By that time, the people who were still being held captive in the Parliament were being released - a lot of them jumping out the windows. The three of us were laughing until our stomachs hurt, not out of relief that the coup was over so much as the fact that the broadcaster who was reporting the scene was a famous sportscaster and the way he was reporting what was happening was exactly the same way that he reported the football matches. As a matter of fact, we were expecting to hear goooool! Goal, goal, goal!

Now everyone knows why I admire the King of Spain so much and why I support the Royal Family. He could have fled the country and left the Spanish people to their luck. If you understand Spanish, there's a good video on You Tube (where else?) that was uploaded by someone called 'Multitudes'. Search for 'El 23-F según TVE, TVE which is Spanish TV. And if you're ever in Madrid when the Parliament is open to the public, do go and see the bullet holes in its ceiling - a  constant reminder of what could have been.