Where's Astrid?
Ahna ma nifilhux izjed! (hold your nose and say it through a megaphone)
Astrid and the FAA are probably holed up at the 143/5 Tower Road war-rooms trying to come to terms with the dawning realisation that – oh my god – The People like Renzo Piano’s project, give or take a bit of this and that.
Because Astrid and the FAA think of The People as theirs, this poses a conundrum.
Do they do the noble thing, swallow their pride and go with The People, or do they stay behind with the motley crowd of nitpickers and I-know-better-than-Pianos who are embarrassing themselves all over the timesofmalta.com comments board?
Within a few hours of the plans being unveiled, Din L-Art Helwa had issued a press release making its views known. That’s what I call professional.
Meanwhile, Megaphone Miss and her FAA storm-troopers, always so quick to rush into print and to churn out press releases, have maintained a heavy silence.
Well, it’s Sunday. They’re not in the war-rooms after all, but at their summer HQ at Tigne Beach, playing rummy.
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Astrid Vella can come up with a petition with a few hundred signatures to show that she still represents what she calls ‘the people’.
But that would give it all away, wouldn’t it. Her usual few hundred signatures do not ‘the people’ make.
I was accused of being unpatriotic for liking Piano’s plans, because after all they are by a Frenchman. When I patiently pointed out that he is Italian, she said that he has an office in France. Her Facebook status is an indignant cry of the level of blindness of some Maltese to local talent. Maybe she is Astrid’s secret spawn.
Kemm int bla pacenza! The people’s representatives and the guardians of All That Is Maltese are in session. At the moment they are plucking off the petals of many a daisy…shall we, or shall we not, shall we, or shall we not.
Piano has taken the wind out of their sails big time. So have her much vaunted People, although many of her supporters have been commenting away on timesofmalta.com.
Wait, wait. Could it be that they don’t have any money to send a fax, or maybe their internet connection has been disconnected for non-payment? Or maybe they don’t have enough money to rent a minibus to go and protest? Or maybe Piano is a distant relative?
Or maybe they feel so honoured by being invited for their opinions that they support the government straight away on this one? Or could it be that they can’t find Piano’s 1989 PN party membership card, or evidence that he is president of the PN’s Genoa or Paris committee?
Or maybe it’s Sunday and they don’t come out on Sundays to protest because it is the Lord’s day? Or maybe they are enjoying themselves cooking an organically-reared fenek under the trees of Buskett, listening to wonderful ghana?
[Daphne – No, Mario, believe me: I wasn’t kidding around when I said they’re all at Tigne Beach playing rummy. I’m not from Zurrieq.]
Me being ignorant and not from round these parts, my good friend JoJo (who lives here) has just chastised me for calling it Tigne Beach. He is rabbiting on about what I thought to be me giving him a beach, until it dawned on me that that’s how Sliema people pronounce it.
[Daphne – Sorry, I should have spelled it phonetically for the benefit of people from Zurrieq: Teeny Beach. The various members of the FAA would have spent the day at Teeny Beach, playing rummy and eating taht it-tinda (no, not Gonzi’s).]
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So Tigne is actually pronounced ‘teeny’ or am i missing something?
[Daphne – Only by people who received the pronunciation from the British troops who lived there. Otherwise it’s Tin-Yeah.]
I think it’s quite clear that Astrid and the FAA aren’t protesting because there’s nothing to protest about. What is your problem with that? Damn her if she protests and damn her if she doesn’t. That’s hardly what I would call fair. Let’s keep a sense of perspective here, please.
[Daphne – Tim, I am wondering about her silence, and not about the absence of protest. She can do something other than protest if she likes what she sees: she can say that she likes what she sees. Now THAT would be fair.]
And yes, for your readers’ benefit, Astrid is a friend of mine.
And no, as you know, I don’t give a monkey’s about the FAA. I refused to join the organisation when it was founded since I can’t abide the idea of others telling me what to do with my property. I still can’t, so I still won’t join, but I still want to see fair play.
Isn’t she entitled to keep quiet without you pestering her?
[Daphne – No. See above. She would have been entitled to keep her mouth shut hadn’t she spent the last few months opening it to criticise a project she hadn’t yet seen. Now that she’s seen it, some kind of statement is called for: against, for, or ambivalent. But silence is clearly not an option in her situation. If she wants credibility, she can’t only bring out her megaphone to criticise. She has to bring it out to praise, too – at least, if she believes there is something to praise.]
I agree she’s fair game when she comes up with statements you don’t agree with but when she shuts up let her do so in peace.
Let sleeping dogs lie. Leave the lady alone. Her intentions are good but she is not street-wise like you are, Daphne. She could have been right in joining the protest against the big hole near St John’s, but after listening to Piano’s lecture/presentation who would dare shoot down this project?
One can see the enthusiasm in his eyes when he was explaining the concepts of the project. He looked like an antiques expert holding a vase, explaining to someone that the umbrella-holder inherited from grandma is a priceless Ming dynasty vase.
“who would dare shoot down this project?” – read the comments on timesofmalta.com
@ NGT : Fools rush in where angels fear to thread.
I read the comments on the Times and one of the commentators who is against this project once said on radio:
“If presumptuousness can be exported we wouldn’t have a fiscal deficit in Malta.”
How do you expect Astrid to pronounce herself without first consulting Jason Micallef and/or Joseph Muscat? As you know, Jason is very difficult to find on a Sunday, now that he is wearing sandals and no white socks. Unless of course she invited him for a game of rummy at Teeny Beach.
Another one who thinks he is “the people” is Kenneth Zammit Tabone. I came across his article on Valletta in the June edition of Economic Update. Apart from claiming his views are those of “the people”, he makes a disgusting comparison between the actions of government and those of a caged gorilla. KZT is nothing but a pathetic non-entity with inflated perceptions of his own importance. He does not represent anyone other than a couple of whackos who believe that they can impose their views and values on everyone else.
Who probably voted for Louis Grech ”imma mhux ghall Labour you know, ghax issa sirna progressive, you know, u dawk tal-middle class maghna, you know, u issa nraraw x’se jghid Joey ghax dak jifhem f’kollox, you know.”
Incredible the reactions being posted on timesofmalta.com – a display of complete ignorance: they will be missing the open space in Pjazza Helsien, as if there should have been an open space near the main gate. They won’t have parking space for their cars – as if squares in a city were ever meant to be parking areas. Carnival has lost is place – as if one should keep the space for the annual three-day stunt or for the occasional political meeting. They still ask for the ‘teatru rjal’ – as if one should have a fake recreation of a theatre that cannot accommodate modern big productions.
I hope that the PL do not come out against this project! They will regret it! Remember how against the public/private partnership in the planting of trees and flowers in roundabouts they were. All Maltese have good comments about the areas transformed into such colour and beauty. They were against local councils, which are a success on the whole. They were against privatisation and liberalisation of telecommunications and now everybody can afford the prices and can call their loved ones overseas. But all those things were ‘lussu’ for Labour. It is now time to rid the Valletta entrance of its ugliness. Stop talking and start the project. The unsightly flats have to remain there. I have a little suggestion: cannot the balconies be changed and re-built in some nice architectural way? Thank you.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090629/local/ad-supports-pianos-plans-for-valletta
This insistence on hounding the FAA strikes me as a little dogmatic. To read the post above, one might conclude that the author was no less a self-appointed one-person council of Pharisees than the organization to which she presumes to ascribe all manner of evil intentions.
[Daphne – The author, unlike the cat’s mother, has a name. I am not a self-appointed campaigner within a self-constructed organisation. I am a newspaper columnist – in the employment of a newspaper. I am employed to write about my opinions. It’s my job. I am paid to do this because other people appear to find my opinions worth reading. There is no comparison between what I do and what Astrid Vella does, but because we are both women, men feel the driving need to compare us, a driving need they appear not to feel when I write about, for example, Joseph Muscat or Jason Micallef.]
If the woeful comments-board of timesofmalta.com is where we are supposed to go these days to gauge the popular mood (which is apparently conditioned largely by the semi-literate and completely crazed), then the FAA could have quite serenely issued a press release fulminating Renzo Piano for his proposed desecration.
Many, if not most, of the comments there are essentially gibberish-laden exercises in architectural critique that should hearten those resistant to any development in Valletta.
I for one, however, would like to give FAA and anyone who requires it the benefit of the doubt when it comes top expressing some kind of verdict, which really requires a little more than a cursory glance at some plastic models and corporate presentation handouts.
If nothing else, that degree of patience and tolerance would help to take some of the poison out of a debate that has taken on ridiculously partisan qualities. As for carping and crowing about where someone or other may or may not choose to spend their Sundays; well, that is too childish for words.
[Daphne – Tsk, tsk, no sense of humour, I’m afraid. Women love a man with a sense of humour. Try cultivating one.]
What a peculiar argument. It is apparently dreadfully misogynistic to refer to two women in the same breath, lest it be assumed it is their gender that is under scrutiny.
Anyhow, true enough you are paid for your opinions, of which you are certainly in no short supply. But I would aver that there is a line to be drawn between holier-than-thou, feebly sarcastic, knee-jerk sanctimony and fact-based disquisition on the given subject at hand. I am no personal acquaintance of Astrid Vella, but I am fairly confident the poor woman doesn’t deserve quite the litany of opprobrium you have chosen to shower her with.
[Daphne – Again, a typically male perception: if a woman is tiny and speaks in a whispery voice, then she is harmless. Believe you me, sir, it’s those you have to watch out for.]
Let her have her say; if it’s stupid, or even malicious, then disassemble whatever it is at your pleasure. Otherwise, in my unpaid opinion, the whole exercise comes off as petty, personal and vindictive.
[Daphne -Because we’re women.]
I’ll see what I can do about the sense of humour, although I can’t say I have ever had any complaints. It is perhaps one of my great shortcomings that I fail to see the devastating Shavian wit in the fishwife tittle-tattle that often passes for satirical observation on this site.
[Daphne – Fishwives, eh? Women again.]
Ho-hum
Maybe Astrid is getting ready to oppose the underground part that is going to be dug in Freedom Square. Shades of St. John’s Square.
Can somebody answer this – I was in an argument with somebody who claims that Gonzi at some point promised to rebuild that damn opera house. He was convinced of this. Can somebody definitely confirm/refute this? Thanks.
[Daphne – What he promised was to do something about the site, certainly not to rebuild Barry’s opera house.]
mc – I’ve realised that here in Malta we have people who become “personalities” and they feel that this gives them the automatic right to pronounce themselves on anything and everything. They then declare that they represent “the people” (another catch phrase).
I accept that Richard England’s opinion should carry more weight than mine but, quite honestly, I don’t think Kenneth Zammit Tabona’s opinion is any better than mine. Anyway, I’m not one of the people he claims he is talking about.
It is childish to ridicule people because their opinion is different from yours. Valletta is the city of everyone so whatever plans are, it is healthy for nationals to express and voice their opinion, no matter what. I am very happy about Piano’s plan. It is good for our city to have great cultural diversity.
Just as the knights of Malta left us their grand auberges, by this new project we will be also leaving our stamp to future generations. In my humble opinion, the entrance to the city is a great idea with the narrow bridge, lift and gardens below. The theatre in the opera ruins, too, will be a welcoming venue for different performances.
However, I am a little disappointed that it will not have some kind of glass dome, so that it can be enjoyed throughout the year. I am not so keen about the parliament taking over Freedom Square. It is only because the area might end up too congested with this huge building. Valletta is a big city, and the Parliament House although well planned, should be elsewhere.
The way Renzo Piano presented his work was just wonderful – it was the presentation of a vision that makes me want to walk across the bridge through the majesty of great walls into a historical city that will be seen through an entrance worthy of it. At long last the horrible entrance will be no more. Thank you Mr. Piano.
Coming down to more mundane levels Mr. Piano’s work will be an attraction in itself and will probably have a positive effect on tourism.
Is it true that some days ago Astrid Vella was interviewed on Favourite Channel and said that FAA’s primary objection to the cathedral project was the sum of money being spent and not ‘THE HOLE’?
ok ok anke jien ghogbuni l-pjanijiet ta Piano imma nahseb qed tixorbuha daqsxejn izzejjed ukoll. Thank you mr.Piano!! Hanin Alla!!! L-isbah thank you Dr.Gonzi imma. Min jaf x’sens estetiku ghandhom hu u Austin Gatt eh!!! Giethom tajba imma. Iffizzjaw perit fost l-aqwa u qajla setgh imorru hazin le?