A breakfast-time surprise
Published:
January 9, 2009 at 8:19am
I woke up to a cup of tea and a video on www.timesofmalta.com showing government-mandated contractors, guarded by police officers, beginning to dismantle Magic Kiosk in Sliema at the crack of dawn today.
I think I’ll drive past at some point to make sure it’s really happening. I just hope the new little kiosk doesn’t go to someone else’s pampalun or to anyone with poor taste and no idea of service (high hopes).
Does anyone know where the word pampalun comes from? I could consult my dictionaries, but each time I do so I find something else to upset me.
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Hi Daphne, there is no plan for ANY kiosk in the new square. Just a gazebo and benches.
[Daphne – That’s good. I saw the plan and the mistook the gazebo for a traditional wooden kiosk.]
Pamplona? – The individuals participating in the running of the bulls? Show-offs?
On another matter – re the Valletta opera house site. Just read Astrid Vella’s letter in The Times, about her proposals for parliament at the Mediterranean Conference Centre’s lower level. Can you imagine parliament being in an underground chamber? Besides it is completely inadequate in its layout, meeting-rooms etc. This she says “would generate employment in that part of depressed Valletta”?
Then she proposes “to send the theatrical activities to the national theatre, on the site of the old opera house”. Frankly, it’s a very muddled proposal.
A point which has always intrigued me: why is the Mediterranean Conference Centre’s Republic Hall not suitable to stage opera? I am no opera lover, so am ignorant on the subject. Is it the stage, backstage, acoustics? Can someone enlighten me?
[Daphne – The common factor among many of these insistent proposals for yet another theatre on the opera house site is that their proponents come across as au fait with what is required for performances, but have no idea at all of the organisational requirements of a purpose-built house of parliament. They have apparently never visited a parliament building and imagine that all it is is a large space with seats.]
Dear Daphne, I read the article in the Times and its accompanying comments about the kiosk, it seems very few people know the history behind it. If my memory serves me well, you once wrote a piece in your column on The Independent, explaining the events. Without being impudent, may I suggest posting it in The Times as a comment?
[Daphne – I can’t for the life of me remember when that piece was published, but if one of the Bonellos is reading this, they might have the cutting or reference.]
pampalugo: a self conceited person in Goldoni Venetian…
[Daphne – Thanks.]
Just another case of an eye for an eye by the Nationalist government. What was wrongfully done to the Bonello kiosk by hardliner Lorry Sant is not justifiable in this case either. Why doesn’t Jason turn his energies to the infamous Ghadira slum-cum-beachouses in horrid green instead? But those are apparently legal aren’t they? Only in malta.com insomma.
[Daphne – I agree with you 100% about the Ghadira slum, but you apparently haven’t a clue about the Bonello/Patrick Holland (not Lorry Sant) saga. It was Patrick Holland who controlled Sliema, not Lorry Sant. And it was from Patrick Holland that a deathbed apology and request for forgiveness was conveyed anonymously by telephone, or so I am told, to the Bonello family. And do I read you right? Are you suggesting that Joe Pace should be allowed to squat in St Ann Square for as long as he likes, though one lease was up four years ago and the other lease last month?]
Re PAMPALUN, Prof. Guze’ Aquilina quotes Goldoni’s character “sior Pampaluga” – baccellone, uomo sciocco. Erin Serracino Inglott suggests the old Italian “a pampana” – alla grande.
Patrick Holland and Lorry Sant both died at a relatively young age. I wonder whether Karma ‘took care’ of their destiny.
[Daphne – Well, I wouldn’t say that because several of my contemporaries have died already as a result of cancer or tragedy and they were nice people who never caused anyone harm; indeed, some were at the receiving end of quite a bit of harm themselves. That said, I do believe that what goes round comes around, and that anything obtained by illicit or illegal means, or by harming or cheating others, seems to carry a blight or a curse. It’s just my observation, that’s all. Early death isn’t necessarily the worst punishment. There’s a worse one: being kept alive to deal with the consequences of your actions.]
Just heard on the 8 o’clock TVM News that there is going to be a concession for a wooden kiosk on St.Anne’s square and not a gazebo. But on the artist impression I saw, it looks more like a typical gazebo to me.
[Daphne – So I wasn’t wrong, after all. I did remember reading about a kiosk in a newspaper report. It looks like a typical gazebo because that’s the shape the old traditional kiosk was. All 19th-century and early 20th-century European kiosks are that shape and made of wood, some with elaborate carving on the top. That they look like gazebos is entirely natural, because the word ‘kiosk’ comes from the Turkish for a garden summer-house, or gazebo. So there you go.]
[Daphne – I can’t for the life of me remember when that piece was published, but if one of the Bonellos is reading this, they might have the cutting or reference.]
I mentioned the same article to one of the Bonellos’ daughters this morning. Next time I meet one of them I’ll see if they have the cutting, and will pass it on.
I trust that justice is done with the Bonello family, especially as their original lease was arbitrarily terminated. And to be quite honest the Nationalist government should never have let Pace get away with it for so long. They actually owe government thousands in VAT dues etc. I owed Lm200 and I was nearly hanged, drawn and quartered. So Mr Pace, do get a life and do not be so ridiculous in claiming political discrimination. I hope your case comes up in front of Judge Galea Debono. He’ll know exactly what to do with you……..
Hey, by the way Magic Kiosk Pace family is not remotely related to me :)
On a lighter note, I think I read somewhere that the plan is to have the original St Anne Square statue of Daphne (or at least a replica of it) re-installed in the square.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080725/local/magic-kiosk-owner-complains-of-unfair-treatment-discrimination
It is amazing that persons like Gerald are still around who consider justice being done (or rather an injustice undone) as an eye for an eye political action. The Magic Kiosk was only one of a myriad scandals which were commonplace in the early eighties. I only wish such justice could be extended to take back the riches of friends of the ex-Ministers, which they made from acquiring land in green areas and instantly got the building scheme amended to include their land. It is undeniable that some of Malta’s richest people made their money that way, and everybody knows who they are.
Eros – the Magic Kiosk might have been just one of the scandals but to a whole generation of Sliema youths I hazard to say it`s the most remembered. Can anyone remember if there were the same countless newspaper articles, TV programmes etc in those days protesting against the Magic Kiosk as there have been with JPO`s MEPA application ? I doubt it.
[Daphne – People had no concept of their rights in those days. And many still don’t.]
May i remind GERALD that those ‘ FAMOUS GHADIRA SLUMS-CUM BEACHHOUSES IN HORRID GREEN ‘ were also the work of PATRICK HOLLAND They got them free and now sell them for thousands
@David S
I was told that Republic Hall in MCC does not have the right acoustics as it was originally the courtyard of the Sacra Infermeria and hence was not planned to be a theatre.
Of course I’m not condoning Patrick Holland or Lorry Sant in this matter. I’m just saying that an eye for an eye method will not solve problems. As for the comments on dying at an early age – it is rather pathetic to say the least.
[Daphne – Gerald, it’s not an eye for an eye. The man’s lease had expired.]
It would obviously be interesting to see who acquires the lease to the kiosk.