One by one they came out, a procession of horrible and grotesque creatures. Their minders, holders and protectors were armed with sacks of fireworks and were prepared to stop without any notice, fix new petards into their launchers and let them loose on the unsuspecting and excitable crowd. The procession was to end at Passeig de Colom, and at nine o’clock the last big display of fireworks would be shot into the air at the statue of Columbus to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the parade. This parade had begun in 1979, just as the city was getting on its feet again after the long rule of the old dictator.

When all the monsters had emerged we walked down and met the parade again at Passeig de Colom. Here the youth of the city came into their own; groups of them stood under buildings imploring people on the balconies to throw water down on them. ‘Aigua! Aigua!’ they roared in Catalan and shouted with joy as bucketfuls of water were flung all over them. Others ran over to join the lucky ones who had found a willing balcony and they all revelled in the showers of cold water.

They were now attacking the devils and dragons with greater ferocity, and trying to impede the progress of those who carried the fireworks. But the parade was still making its way towards the statue at the bottom of the Rambla without much trouble, until they started to sit down in front of it shouting in Catalan ‘no passareu, no passareu’, meaning ‘you will not pass’. The torchbearers attacked them with their sparks and battles broke out, but these were mock battles: not once did anyone lose his temper or hit an opponent. Eventually, they were moved in time for the demons to get through to the statue of Columbus and see the fireworks shoot over the city