Finally, after two and a half years without electricity and three-winter-three in difficult conditions, the inhabitants of La Cañada Real in Madrid have good news: an extra hour of light every afternoon. As you can hear: starting today, the sun will set in your neighborhood at 8:30 p.m. instead of 7:30 p.m., thanks to daylight saving time. A full hour of light every day. Natural light, of course, what did they think. The bad side is that in the morning the sunrise will be an hour later, yes, but you can’t have it all. In return, each day will last a minute longer by June: at the time of the summer solstice, they will have gained an hour and a quarter longer. And wait, the good news (or rather: the “good news”) does not stop there: winter is behind us, the heating problems are over. Enjoy the spring, because with the scorching summer, you won’t even be able to plug in the fan.

No, I’m not kidding about it. Honestly, when this week I heard on the news that old adage “it will be two to three…”, it reminded me of all those families, the sad consolation it will bring them that the night takes a longer time. ‘hour ahead, knowing what sunlight is not only for household and health purposes, but also for the state of mind after more than 900 days of rest. If we manage to leave work today and it is still light, imagine what that means for these people, especially children and teenagers.

Indeed, the only “good news” for the Cañada Real comes from the astronomical side, since there is no news from the government side: all the administrations continue to ignore these 4,000 inhabitants, including 1,800 children. It does not matter if the Ombudsman, the Social Rights Committee of the Council of Europe, human rights organizations and the continuous mobilization of the neighborhoods ask for it. Certainly not. They continue without light, in the hope that they will get fed up and eventually leave, since that is the goal of institutional mistreatment: that they clear an area of ​​high urban value.

Both pass the buck, they do not respect their obligations and the deadline given to them by the Council of Europe to restore the supply “immediately”, and they always end up invoking technical difficulties, as did the Community of Madrid last week , demanded by More Madrid: “technically impossible”. It’s not that they don’t want to, it’s that they can’t, it’s very difficult, impossible, wow.

I don’t know if it’s as impossible as restoring electricity to Ukraine after every bombardment: Spain sent fifty electric generators to the invaded country, donated by companies and by the Spanish army itself, in addition to 163 high voltage equipment to repair the electric substations. All this transported several thousand kilometers in a country at war, which is much easier than having electricity restored by Naturgy in a district fourteen kilometers from Puerta del Sol. I’m not saying stop helping the Ukrainian people, none of that, I applaud. I only point out the obvious lack of political will of those who hide behind “technical” difficulties.

What a shame. Astronomical, that one.