Still life in light park

My local. Used to be a den of vice and criminality, notably drugs, prostitution and mugging. The sex trade is still very much on display, but in I suppose a Brazilian way: obvious but low-key. The park's inhabitants are either painted ladies of a certain age (past their prime, if they ever had one) or their punters, or other assorted simple folk, all a bit raggedy. But the most salient feature of Parque da luz is ... the quiet. It's almost still life, hypnotic in it's calmness.

A degree of gentrification is underway, with an exercise area, a free newspaper and magazine reading area, and a lovely new fish pond complete with subterranean observation tunnel where you can pretend that the large fish are sharks (they really are, if you're only eight months old). Then there's the funky art installations from neighboring museum Pinacoteca.

All in all a much preferable place to the Hyde Park of Sao Paolo, Ibirapuera, which I found dreary and uninspired. By contrast, there is an unbearable Luzness of being in my local park, a place caught between different worlds. On some days you see men playing and singing Forro, with a small but appreciative audience. Usually men only. A far cry from buskers, it's more like a group of mates at the pub.

The only question is: why the hell does the park have to be closed on Mondays ?! I know some Catholic countries, including France, seem to shift their weekend to Sunday and Monday, since Saturday is for commerce. I notice that here, eg the hairdressers who close on Mondays. But even so, why would a park be closed ? I don't see too many personnel patrolling it and anyway surely they could get shift workers to replace the regulars ?

Oh well, perhaps this is all part of the mystique, the shadow thrown by the park of light.