How Antoni Vidal Ferrando was, according to his daughter: "If Barça plays, everything else takes a backseat for him"

PalmaIt is known that he was a friend of the writers Blai Bonet, Bernat Vidal i Tomàs and Jaume Pomar; also of the couple formed by Maria Antònia Oliver and Jaume Fuster – the latter, incidentally, taught him the first notions of computing. He was born in 1945 in Santanyí, a land of writers. And the protagonist of these lines is no exception: Antoni Vidal Ferrando, poet, narrator and historian. His story is told by the writer's eldest daughter, Antònia. He has another son, Andreu.

His mother was an embroiderer and his father, a sailor. He was an only child and, as his father spent long periods at sea, he grew up surrounded by women: his mother, his aunts and the rest of the family. Perhaps it is the fact of having grown up with so many women, says the daughter, that has "given him a very special sensitivity, also very marked by the emotions that were lived at home". And she says that the poet, even now, especially remembers "the longing that the grandmother felt when the sailor grandfather was away".

Of the first memories Antònia has of her father, and the most vivid, was when he told her stories with a little music box: Esclaramunda. When she was older, her image of him is different: that of a man who “always studied or read, locked away in his study.” His look too: with a mustache, plastic-rimmed glasses, and a quiff – although, when Antònia was born, “he was already starting to go bald!”. Vidal Ferrando was a teacher: “He studied teaching and, when I was already born – in 1973 – he still took History. He has always had a huge passion for learning.” The poet felt, according to his daughter, “a true vocation for his work as a teacher.” In fact, both children were his students. “As a teacher, he was very similar to how he has always been as a father: a straightforward person, with very clear principles, with moral sense, empathy, and affection. He was not at all authoritarian, but he was demanding.”

Beyond learning and teaching, and obviously the writing profession, Antoni Vidal Ferrando has had other hobbies throughout his life, such as fishing, ballroom dancing, football, and radio. “He has always loved fishing very much. As a family, we spent some summers in Colònia de Sant Jordi and he had a small boat there. He spent many hours on it. The rest of the family all got seasick on the boat. But we had some dinners on the boat on moonlit nights and it was very nice.”

Another great passion of the poet is ballroom dancing, which he learned from an aunt of his, Marina. “He danced a lot with her when he was little. Even today, if there's dancing at the social club, he doesn't miss it.” And he doesn't miss any Barça match either: “He's a big football fan. When he was young, he used to go to see Ses Salines and Santanyí play, but if Barça is playing, everything else takes a back seat,” says Antònia.

A very clear memory Antònia has is that the writer always had the radio on at home: “He went everywhere with a transistor radio: he took it to his study, to the bathroom when he showered, and even to bed. In fact, it took us quite a while to have a color television,” she says. Besides the news, he listened to stations that played music, and he says he particularly likes “boleros and salsa, although he also listens to classical music and has an important collection.”

As a striking event, she recalls that on the day of the coup d'état of 23-F, in 1981, Vidal Ferrando didn't let go of the transistor radio: “We were with my mother at my grandparents' house and he called us to come home immediately. He didn't know exactly what was happening, but he sensed it was a very serious situation and he got very scared,” narrates the daughter.

Love is the great vital engine of the writer. He never misses an opportunity to praise Rosa, the woman he fell in love with when he saw her walking in Santanyí, where her father, who was a civil guard, retired. "He has always been a very loving man," says Antònia. However, for some years now, his granddaughters have stolen his heart. "He has enjoyed, and still does, being a grandfather. They are his life".