U hallina, jahasra
The People take tea at Villa Bologna before a painting session in plein air to raise funds for FAA - and no, I am not joking
As the entire nation (well, such as it is) debates the pros and cons of the Renzo Piano project, those who turn to Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Ahjar’s website for elucidation will find, on the main page, a photograph of the sort of people I wrote about today, with the caption that they are taking tea at Villa Bologna before a painting session en plein air to raise funds for FAA’s cause.
And the main news item, while everyone is talking about Valletta?
LATEST ADDITIONS
Donations for the Astrid Vella Libel Fund should be posted to
143/5 Tower Road Sliema or
Direct bank transfer to: Bank of Valletta A/c 400-1564-7670 or HSBC A/c 006-145437-001.
Receipts will be sent to all those who include contact information with their donation.
We thank you for your support!
U hallina, jahasra.
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See for yourselves: http://www.ambjentahjar.org/
The actual caption to the photo on their website says:
“Plein air painting session at Villa Bologna: Some of the artists enjoying tea before their in appreciation for their participation in FAA art exhibitions.”
Apparently, the next session is going to be about writing correct English.
‘Plein air’ means plain air in French. Just thought you would like to know. That is not bad English, just a French saying – albeit written incorrectly. The correct way of saying that phrase is ‘en plein air’
[Daphne – I think all those of us over the age of 30 who went to school in Malta are aware of that, amrio. French was a compulsory part of the curriculum, remember?]
If they have kannolli, can I go for tea? Ara vera m’ghandhomx jaghmlu.
I wonder if they start off proceedings by singing Blake’s ‘Jerusalem’, for this motley crew reminds me of the Women’s Institute. Do you think they’ll pose for a nude calendar with their paintings tastefully placed in strategic areas a’ la Calendar Girls?
Oh, horror of horrors!
u le Tonio, itellghu naqra fondi ghal-libell
http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=90383
The most important thing is to make themselves heard even if by that they show how much they don’t know what they are talking about.
Some of the ‘ladies’ in the photo are neither artists nor FAA committee members.
Qisa xi laqgha tad-dojoq (il-poplu jikkumenta).
The pussies are in ascendancy.
They’re just a pathetic bunch of fools. Remember the mobile phone base station issue and their proposal for mobile phone carriers to share base station antennae ‘as is the case abroad’?
They should have at the very least have consulted somebody at the Malta Communications Authority, who in turn would have indicated that their Googling took them completely off track as it’s absolutely impossible to share mobile phone base station antennae and related equipment.
All three operators in Malta operate on three different frequencies:
Vodafone 900 Mhz Band
GO 1800 Mhz Band
Melita 3500 Mhz Band
There is no way a base station could operate on two different frequency bands. Astrid and Co. state that operators ‘abroad’ share antennae. That’s absolutely not the case. Operators only ‘share’ their base stations with MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operators), which are essentially a rebranded version of the carrier’s own service, as is the case with Bay Mobile and Red Touch Phone. Basically, such companies are just resellers.
I urge Astrid and Co. to prove me wrong and name two carriers that share antennae anywhere around the world. And guess what, she also added that shared usage reduces costs for carriers. U hallina, Astrid! Imbaghad trid tbellalna li l-base stations imarrdu n-nies, jew li l-katidral ha jaqa!
In the event that the FAA are in possession of some Alien Technology that allows carriers on different bands to share base stations, I’d be more than pleased to turn up at their hideout with a EUR 5 million cheque for the blueprints within an hour of their call, and I’m not kidding.
What’s your name?
Why do you need to know, are you an FAA member? ;-)
You call people a pathetic bunch of fools, you might be right in this case, and then you hide behind a pseudonym. Very brave. Are you scared of the pathetic bunch or what? This is not North Korea.
The concept is very simple, Astrid. Have you ever managed to listen to two radio stations on the FM band and AM band concurrently? Same thing applies for GSM antennae.
Apologies to all for going slightly off topic.
Frank, pseudonym or not, fools remain fools. I might be a fool myself for all I know, but thankfully I’m not as foolish as the people who gobble Astrid’s senseless, sophist, pathetic arguments, or her campaign based on false facts and fantasy. To the contrary, what I wrote is based on undisputed scientific evidence.
As to my braveness, if it entails being somewhat like Astrid, I’d rather be a coward. After all, if Astrid and Co. think that what I said is in any way slanderous, they could go back to the public and ask to raise further funds, in order to take action against me.
You never know, if she’s lucky, it might be a worthwhile investment. The action against me could help her offset her legal fees and the eventual tip she’d be paying Robert Musumeci (after the case is decided in his favour). It won’t be much of an issue to track me down via my IP address anyway.
And believe me, I am scared. Who wouldn’t be scared at the thought of having to endure Astrid’s squeaky voice for more than five seconds?
Oh, North Korea. Wasn’t it the party she’s backing which had links with North Korea and deployed North Korean tactics against people gathered peacefully? Don’t get me going, Frank.
And by the way, ‘Frank’ doesn’t reveal much does it? So much for the pseudonym.
I told you that there is much more to FAA than meets the eye. If you look at my previous post, you will see that I said that FAA is made up of bored housewives who go to villas and paint. So I suppose this NGO is an educational NGO as well. So much so, that they consider it their sacred duty to educate one and all. They elected themselves to speak for the people, because they are the people, and they are guardians of the people’s treasures and heritage.
But it seems the real people suddenly have found a voice. Yesterday I went to Piano’s exhibition. I saw young and old marvel at what has been presented. For the first time in many years, I felt people were proud to be Maltese and share in this vision. I was completely taken by an elderly couple who I helped up the stairs. The man, poor guy, had a missing arm but wanted to see the exhibition. The wife was suffering from arthritis. But they struggled up those stairs in the heat with an enthusiasm not common today. When the man saw the plans, the models, and the whole setup, he had tears in his eyes.
“Dan mhux perit, dan artist ” he said. These two chatted and pointed excitedly like two teenagers. It was clear that they really liked the project. I asked him if he remembered the old opera house, and what he thinks of the new use of the site. He said one simple thing. The Germans bombed it. It’s gone. “Kemm ser indumu ikakkmati ma dak li kien? Kieku kellhom jibnuha kif kienet, kienet tkun daghwa kbira, ghax li kien ma jistax ikun. Hekk ahjar. Piano nehha l-hwienet qishom garaxxijiet taht kolonnata bla gost. Kollox ahjar minnhom. Tghid mhux qed innehhu il-kolonnata ta’ Bernini?”
People didn’t want to leave that exhibition. They wanted to stay and make it their own. They were a proud bunch.
What a contrast to the No-No-Let’s-Build-Barry’s-Opera-House-Like-It-was brigade. I love opera. But I find myself in a minority, and an ever-dwindling one at that. People nowadays want something different, and we have to respect that. Malta fought a war, and the opera house was its casualty. You can bring it back as much as you can raise the wreck of the Ohio, stick it back together and start using it as a tanker on the high seas again.
The ruins remind us that we Maltese fought a war, and helped win, but paid for it. The ruins of the opera house are our glory, not our shame, because they remind us of what others have given so that we may have this life of ours, with our houses and pools, our children and schools, and all the blessings in our life.
Piano gave those ruins the dignity they deserve. He is telling us to remember with dignity and yes, why not, pride, the pride Mintoff and Labour worked so hard to belittle, but we also have to move on as a nation.
So please, FAA, the people have spoken. Instead of filling up the comments-boards of timesofmalta.com with ineffectual barbs, I invite you to really hear their voice. As someone said, it’s time to wake up and smell the coffee. And the aroma is definitely Piano. We are lucky that we have this man.
Not everything is perfect however.
There are many in the business community who are worried that Valletta will lose its shopping appeal. I think they have a point. Valletta will be losing around 2500 parking spaces with this Palace square, and the ever encroaching residents parking areas all over Valletta, and that will have a great impact on business. The minister pushing this is not interested in the business community, but in making sure the residents are well served to the detriment of everyone else. This has to be addressed. We can do this project, and mitigate the suffering. We have to.
Mario Debono: How did you arrive at the figure of 2500 car spaces? It looks more like a few hundred to me.
Careful – Daphne dos not look kindly on those who refer to the opinions of “The People”.
In any case, there is no doubt that there is a majority of “The People” who are against the project. Just look at the opinion poll on The Times.
[Daphne – 1. Public opinion is not gauged by means of an on-line poll on a newspaper website. 2. Major architectural projects should not be subjected to whims of public opinion, because what you are most likely to get is the Dresden Bridge, which was voted for in a referendum and which led to Dresden being stripped of its UNESCO World Heritage Site status. ‘The people’ voted for Dom Mintoff and Alfred Sant to become prime minister, and more interestingly still, almost half the people of this country voted for the return of KMB as prime minister – in 1992. And let’s not forget the 140,000 or so of The People who voted for this bleeding rock to stay out of the European Union.]
John II: That opinion poll shows that fewer than 50% don’t like the project at all.
So the bottom line is that you don’t believe in democracy?
Daphne, I think you’re wrong on “almost half the people of this country voted for the return of KMB as prime minister – in 1992”. As far as I can remember that was a resounding PN victory, leading to KMB’s final exit as leader of the opposition and replacement by Alfred Sant.
[Daphne – Wasn’t it something like 45% of the electorate who voted for his return?]
censu tal grtu tkellem….
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090702/local/shop-owners-want-to-be-heard
Mela ma jitkellimx! Anzi tkellimt jien ukoll. Ghandek xi problema ?
And who’s going to take him seriously now? He lost all credibility as an independent and impartial union activist when he decided to contest the MEP elections with a particular party. So did the GRTU, actually. Vince Farrugia is just another politician now (nothing wrong in that), and his utterances have to be taken as such.
Vince Farrigia is not the GRTU. He has very little to do with this issue.
What about the tourists? Do they not have a ‘voice’? ‘We’ want to be heard as well, jawoll.
U ejja Andrea, ara din (schau Dir mal dies an):
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090701/opinion/todays-investment-tomorrows-income
[….. We are also advertising heavily on the internet. The MTA has also just brought over to Malta 1,000 German travel agents, conscious of the fact that, despite the trend towards independent travel, the relationship with tour operators and travel agents remains a critical factor as they still account for nearly half our source of tourists. ……]
Andrea, have you ever considered working as a travel agent? You would then enjoy the chance to visit Malta more often at special prices, with or without Renzo Piano.
Moreover, I wonder whether one knows that 72,4 % of Germans wish to spend their holidays in Germany. A special link for your good self, Andrea:
http://www.openpr.de/news/221901/Die-Deutschen-verbringen-ihren-Urlaub-am-liebsten-in-Deutschland.html
Leo, I am not quite sure if Malta likes me, workwise. I used to work in a film production company on the rock and I threw in the towel, when a client came up with a ‘dancing beans cartoon’ proposal, when we were discussing a commercial for baked beans.We were poles apart.
Also I am not an ardent fan of Germany’s placid landscape, I am afraid. All that German ‘Gemütlichkeit’ drives me crazy.
In my grandmother’s house hung a Tito picture. And now deduce where I would rather spend my holidays.
It seems many people have a problem with the city gate design, particularly since it has no bridge. I had this reaction too. A gate with no bridge, or arch, is not what we usually understand by a ‘city gate’, other than the fact that the road above would cease to exist.
Yet there is aesthetic value in doing away with the bridge or arch (and having a narrower gate entrance with a narrower bridge leading to it). Without an arch, the eye follows the sky seamlessly to Republic Street, giving it a new dimension. Now, I don’t remember whether most of Republic Street would be seen from outside the gate, and I don’t think the sea is actually visible from that point, but Republic Street would definitely appear more majestic.
If people only listened attentively to Renzo Piano they would support his plan for the opera house ruins. Rebuilding the opera house would (1) be fake, (2) cost a great deal of money, (3) it would be unsustainable because the site is not big enough to attract foreign performers and obviously foreign patrons. Without substantial numbers of foreign patrons, foreign performers would not be interested. A rebuilt replica of the opera house would never be part of the European opera circuit. So what advocates of the replica are really saying is let’s waste money on a building that will not be fully utilised because there is only a handful of local opera aficionados. The numbers just don’t add up.
They just don’t get it, do they?
Hmm… Isn’t the address where the donations are to be sent ironic? A flat on Tower Road, where so many houses were demolished to the screams of Astrid’s ‘ma nifilhux izjed’?