English version below

Quants Xavier Pons hi deu haver a Menorca? Uns quants, oi? Doncs de Xavier Pons, a Gibraltar, que jo sàpiga només n’hi havia un. Un d’únic i irrepetible, això sí. El vaig conèixer l’octubre del 2013, quan vaig anar a fer una conferència a la Garrison Library sobre els menorquins del penyal. I al final de la sessió, quan ja érem fora de l’imponent edifici al centre de la ciutat, se’m va presentar.

Ja us podeu imaginar l’efecte que em va causar: un exemple vivent dels minorkeens del segle XVIII i XIX que van emigrar cap a l’extrem sud de la península Ibèrica i que tanta feina i plaer m’han donat aquestes dues últimes dècades! De seguida, i crec que puc parlar per tots dos, es va establir un vincle d’interès i de confiança, que es va anar teixint lentament, des de la distància (ell a Gibraltar, jo a Barcelona), al voltant de la recerca i el reconeixement dels menorquins com un dels elements essencials de la comunitat gibraltarenca actual.

Em va explicar que ja havia fet investigacions a Menorca sobre els seus possibles avantpassats, sense gaire èxit. I, íntimament, em vaig imposar d’ajudar-lo a trobar el fil que el lligava amb l’illa, d’una banda, i a aprofitar-me de la seva persona com a exemple contemporani d’una emigració extingida fa dos segles, però amb traces ben presents encara ara al penyal. Per això, en el meu somni (compartit amb en Manel Gausachs) de fer algun dia un documentari sobre els menorquins a Gibraltar, evidentment en Xavier Pons era el pal de paller. El pont entre el passat i el present.

Però just quan començava a posar fil a l’agulla a la idea, l’abril del 2019, em va anunciar que tota la seva vida quedava suspesa per una maleïda malaltia… que se l’ha endut massa d’hora aquest gener de 2022.

Xavier, amic: aquest humil bloc vol ser, a partir d’ara, un homenatge a la teva persona, plena de bonhomia i amabilitat.

PS: Una abraçada ben forta, Christine.

Goodbye, friend

How many Xavier Pons must there be in Menorca? A few, right? Well, from Xavier Pons, in Gibraltar, I know there was only one. One who is unique and unrepeatable. I met him in October 2013, when I went to lecture at the Garrison Library on the Menorcans on the Rock. And at the end of the session, when we were already outside the imposing building in the centre of the city, I was introduced.

You can already imagine the effect it had on me: a living example of the 18th and 19th century Minorkeens who emigrated to the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula and who have given me so much work and pleasure over the last two decades! Immediately, and I think I can speak for both of us, a bond of interest and trust was established, which was slowly woven, from a distance (him in Gibraltar, me in Barcelona), around the search and the recognition of Menorcans as one of the essential elements of the current Gibraltar community.

He explained to me that he had already done research in Menorca on his possible ancestors, without much success. I set out to help him find the thread that bound him to the island, on the one hand, and to take advantage of his person as a contemporary example of an extinct emigration two centuries ago, but with traces still present on the Rock. That’s why, in my dream (shared with Manel Gausachs) to one day make a documentary about Menorcans in Gibraltar, Xavier Pons was obviously the key character. The connection between the past and the present.

But just as I was starting to get the hang of the idea, in April 2019, he announced to me that his whole life was suspended due to a damn illness that has taken him too early this January 2022. Xavier, friend: this humble blog will be, from now on, a tribute to your person, full of bonhomie and kindness.

Article publicat l’11 de gener de 2022

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