Neighbors, councillors, relatives, friends and the mayor pose with Ángela in her greengrocer./gcShe went to live in the 'Pisos del Marqués' at the age of 7 when her parents bought one of those houses in the San José neighborhood.Attached to them, her father opened a small neighborhood store that soon became the center where students from nearby institutes passed by for the daily sandwich, but also hundreds of neighbors.When her father, Pedro Bote, retired, she decided to leave sewing as a professional to run the second greengrocer in Almendralejo together with her husband, Paulino Barrio.She has been there for thirty years until last June when she retired.During that time she has been a privileged witness of the changes that have taken place in the neighborhood and in its people, a focus from which to observe the future that the city has also experienced at the same time.Perhaps for this reason, the City Council, the San José neighborhood association, friends and neighbors have paid tribute to her during her last working day at her store.–Does she remember when she came to the neighborhood?-Perfectly, I went to live in the flats when I was 7 years old and my father opened the first store in that block of the neighborhood.He also had the first telephone there was.I remember when the Marquis arrived with his wife the first day and he gave us the keys to the flats.I studied at the old Suárez Somonte school for the fourteen years that I had the certificate of studies.But even before I finished, I was helping my father in the store, because I liked him a lot.My brothers studied, one is a chemist and the youngest is a doctor, but in the past parents did not force their daughters to study, they had to dedicate themselves to things around the house and they put me to learn in a dressmaker's workshop.But I helped my father with the sandwich and then I sewed baptism and communion suits for the English Court.I remember that the people who lived in the flats were humble people, hard-working people, but great entrepreneurs have come from there.When my father retired, I was sad to close the store, so I talked about it with my husband, who had a fruit store, and we decided to open a greengrocer, it was the second one in the town.How has the neighborhood changed?-I would say that it has been in the last ten, maybe five years.Many longtime neighbors have left because they prospered.Some have died, others have gone to nursing homes, and others are living with their daughters.Some have gone to bigger houses, keep in mind that those flats are 40 square meters and we have lived five people.But now it is different.The problem is that the owners have not rented the houses to people in good conditions.Nobody has put money into these houses and it is always necessary to paint and prepare and nobody has put money into them, so everything is worse, the deterioration.But the problem is in that block of the neighborhood, because the neighborhood is quiet and beautiful, as it has always been.-More than that I don't think anyone has fought, but there comes a time when you get tired.These immigrants are not bad, I have not had problems with any of them, but they are people who come late and like many do.And the dirt they have is great.I would have continued working for a year or two more, because I really liked the stores, but I'm already psychologically exhausted.I needed to rest.People came to the store from all over Almendralejo.This year I have sold more than 200 traditional cheeses, from the Marquis.They weren't clients, they were friends.In these years there have been bad things, but very few.The problem with this area is that everything is outdated and the owners of the flats themselves have been to blame, because they wanted to speculate.-Has coexistence been easy?- Nothing has ever been taken from me.I've always had a good relationship.Also with the neighborhood association, with Fausti.She always collaborated with the food of the elderly and donated things to them.I have been in love with my work.And I have tried to do all the favors, but I have not asked for them.I don't know how to get into the town hall, but I talked to the mayor and he showed it to him.The situation, the houses with broken windows and how bad many are.I hope that even if they take ten years or more, but I hope to know that they restore them.-I've already put it up for sale, but since they don't pay me what I want, I won't sell it, because I'm sorry.When I get back from the beach, maybe I'll take down the for sale sign.I still have the flat where I grew up.I have rented it to a Spanish guy who lives alone.And I'm sorry to go out there.-How do you see the future?-I feel angry at times, because many people come here who come to the institutes, to the clinic, to the courts, to the bus station, but there are people who are afraid to come here because of the immigrants.It doesn't scare me because I know them all.-A few years ago a local police office was opened, but it was closed shortly after.-Yes, I would like them to open that police station again.Now there are other people, social workers, but I don't really know what they do.Before, Romerales, the policeman, stood at the door and just by seeing him, they respected him.But not now.Think that twenty people enter a flat and during the day they have to be in the corner, because they can't be in the flats and there in the street they are eating pipes and if they drink beer, then they leave it on the floor.It's what they're used to.Now the area is very quiet, but in August when they come from the garlic in Albacete, it gets tremendous.And it is true that last year some patrol from the Local and National Police came at night and it was noticeable.-But is it insecurity or dirt?- Above all, there is a lot of dirt.When it comes to throwing away the rubbish, they don't care about putting it in the containers or throwing it out.And the same thing they take out a mattress or whatever and there it stays.And when you tell them something, they respect you.It is true that there are people more rebellious than the Romanians, who listen when told, but we cannot be behind them all day.I feel sorry for the neighbors of a lifetime who can't leave.They are the least.