ATTAKK VILI U BLA SKRUPLI FUQ KELLIEM EWLIENI TAL-PARTIT BLA ISEM U L-FAMILJA TIEGHU
Ha ninzel niekol pizza fil-post preciz fejn trabbiet is-Sahhara tal-Bidnija, forsi hemm cans li nsir daqxejn tal-pepe bhala.
Former Super One reporter and current Labour MP and Opposition spokesman for broadcasting, Gino Cauchi, descended with his “familja” (harighom naqa) on my home turf last night.
This doesn’t mean Bidnija, of course, but the Preluna hotel area in Sliema. Bad mistake, Gino – that’s extreme Daphne territory, where my extensive worldwide network of spies are at their most diverse and numerous.
Within seconds I had a text message.
Vera hawn l-ghaqx! U Gino Cauchi gie Tas-Sliema bil-familja biex jara b’ghajnejh. He is at Cardini. It’s jam-packed like everywhere else from St Julian’s to the Ferries.
And then an email this morning:
Gino Cauchi nizel Tas-Sliema ghal harga tas-Sibt, hej. He was at the ex Tex Mex with his fammily. I looked in the through the window when walking past and saw them there. All the restaurants from Spinola to the Ferries were packed, ghidlu lil Muscat.
I’m sorry, but I’m not feeling especially democratic this morning. Even the thought of people like Gino Cauchi swarming over my home town in droves brings me out in hives, let alone the sight of them doing it. Sliema used to be a safe haven. You could venture out into the wilds occasionally to observe the Gino Cauchi species in its natural habitat, then rush back gasping in relief to civilisation. Now, there is absolutely no respite, anywhere, except in an isolated house on the tip of a valley-ridge.
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The people who send you these messages are a bit sad.
[Daphne – No, Charles, the people who send me messages like yours are a bit sad. They hang about here in disapproval, but meanwhile they’re at a loss because there’s nowhere Labour they can feel comfortable, despite being Labour themselves.]
Come on, that’s a weak retort. You can do better. I am not Labour by any stretch of the imagination. I hang around here because you often have sensible things to say. But rushing to SMS Big Sis whenever one of the Others is around is sad. Sorry.
[Daphne -“I am not Labour by any stretch of the imagination.” No, you’re just anti-Nationalist. I’ve just run a search on your comments (bewcause I like to be thorough) and it’s amazing the way a common theme comes through when they’re lined up one after the other. You hang around because Labour/AD company is BORING and generally wholly unintelligent and unentertaining. In normal people, that would be a sign of something important – that you have more in common with my views and attitudes than you do with theirs, for instance. But in pig-headed people, it’s just…well, sad. I have no Big Sis. You, on the other hand, do – and by an astonishing coincidence, she was at Cardini when I was there last Monday.]
I like how I’ve gone from Labour to merely anti-Nationalist so quickly (of course you make these statements without knowing where my vote has gone in the past). Most of your retort is fairly irrelevant to the argument. Fact remains, messaging Big Sis when you see a member of the other party going about perfectly harmless and mundane things is sad. Imagine the opposite scenario, you’d be all ‘marelli these labourites kemm m’ghandhomx x’jaghmlu.’ Anyway I won’t argue about this ad eternum, since I think the point is clear, good day.
[Daphne – Messaging Bis Sis? What are you talking about, Edward? And do grow up and stop using false names. That’s so….sad.]
Apologies for this Daphne, but, LOL. There’s really nothing else to say. Au revoir.
[Daphne – That’s right, next time don’t bother with a fake identity, Edward. You know I’m not a Labour voter.]
Kemm taf taqrahom tajjeb lin-nies Daphne :)
Daphne, ghidilna wahda: x’se jkun l-ezitu tal-elezzjonijiet generali li gejjin? La darba kulhadd taf x’inhu, tista’ tanticipalna r-rizultat? Qas haqq l-istennija!
By the way, if you’re uncomfortable with the strange foregoing concoction of characters (aka Maltese language) I am ready to translate it for you.
:)
[Daphne – Qalbi, nies li gejjin minn familji bhal tieghi (Stricklandjani tal-pepe jew mill-Belt) jitkelmu bil-Malti hafna ahjar minn nies li gejjin minn familji bhal tieghek. Hemm l-edukazzjoni u l-grammatika fin-nofs. U anke l-kwistjoni tal-lingwa fil-kuntest tal-politika. Turiex l-injoranza tieghek.]
You bastard Charles we’ve been friends for 12 years and you never told me your real name was Edward!
I’m sorry Daphne I’m a big fan (I really am) of yours but this is hilarious!
[Daphne -Oh hello again, Edward. What a pathetic ruse. Might I remind you, once again, that I am not a Labour voter. If you are going to pop back with a cunning plan, at least make sure that it’s so cunning that Charles Cassar and Ernest Baldacchino do not have the exact same UK IP number.]
hahaha this is priceless, Daphne I know you are thorough but this time you haven’t considered that we might be in the same building.
[Daphne – Indeed. Two Maltese people from Milner Street in the same building in Britain. Bit of a boring day at the office, is it? Maa, xi dwejjaq ta’ ragel. Il-vera insibhom, jahasra.]
It’s actually Hurstwood Road in London, you can come over for coffee if you’re ever around and we’ll show you our ID cards and proof of address.
Good day Daphne and keep up the good work, I wasn’t joking about being a fan.
[Daphne – I’m often around, actually: London, though not Hurstwood Road. But no, thank you. I’m very selective about the company I keep nowadays.]
Charles/Edward/Ernest: You have been watching far too many Batman films. This is real life and you cannot hide behind the mask here.
Just be honest about the fact that you are the same person, the IP address test is infallible.
Dear Uncertain Weener, is the IP test a new type of DNA test?
Daphne, I can vouch that at Hurstwood road, Ernest and Charles (sorry, no Edward there) have a good coffee machine, so coffee is good! The guys are also not too bad if you give them a chance.
I can vouch for Charles Cassar living in London as he is a close family friend and my father knows both him and Ernest, who work in the same building.
PS (Apologies Daphne, this was supposed to be in my first post):
It is not who we are underneath (the IP address) but what we do that defines us.
We know you are the same person.
Your post could be considered racist. It’s like saying, as many Maltese do, that “Before there were no Africans in Malta but now we are full of them”.
[Daphne – Oh really, Albert? The last time I considered the matter, Gino Cauchi and I belonged to the same race. Racism involves different races, or perhaps you’re a little confused. Prejudiced, undemocratic, intolerant, yes – but racist? No. The fewer Gino Cauchis I have around me in a restaurant or other public place, the happier I am. If you’d rather I pretended otherwise, tough. I’m not going to. And most people I know are like me, so don’t believe them if they claim otherwise. It’s the reason bars and clubs are either fashionable or unfashionable. When they are ranked as unfashionable, it doesn’t mean that nobody goes. It means that the wrong sort of people go – like Gino Cauchi and his equivalent. Ask the right sort of party promoters what sort of crowd they’d rather have.]
But, of course, your comment is meant in jest.
[Daphne – No, Albert, it isn’t. At all.]
So, yes, it provoked quite a chuckle in me. To continue the joke, well, we people of “the Sawt” have long established our foothold in the “Nort”, and that is how it will stay, sorry! And, as your spies said, reporting about full restaurants, we are doing quite a contribution to the “economy” of the Nort!
[Daphne – You have your geography knickers in a twist, Albert. Sliema is just across the water from Valletta and Bormla, and geographically and in terms of urban development, they are part of the same area. Sliema is not ‘north’. Mellieha is.]
How come PN have not come up with the idea of sending the OBU to various locations every Saturday evening and broadcasting direct parking areas, roads, restaurants, beaches, Gozo ferry etc., showing the ‘hunger’ that the Maltese are experiencing?
He was testing the waters.
Maybe they shared a pizza. That’s all a working man can afford according to the great leader.
Can your spies confirm if meat was on the table? I will tell him where he can go and impale himself when he comes for a home visit. And it won’t be short and smooth, Sur Cauchi.
“Sliema used to be a safe haven”
It’s not Sliema any more, it’s ‘Tas-Sliema’!
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120729/local/New-Maltese-road-signs-that-are-lost-in-translation.430509
[Daphne – It always was Tas-Sliema, Johann.]
Tal-partit tal-Haddemin mejtin bil-guh, imsieken.
Kienet sabiha tant il-Bidnija.
[Daphne – And it still is, Claudette. Practically no Laburisti to be seen or heard.]
Hemm inti ssemmihom il-hin kollu imma Daphne :)
[Daphne – Claudette, hanini, jekk insemmi il-George Clooney, jigifieri he’s to be seen and heard in Bidnija? No wonder it’s so easy for Labour to whip up support, God bless.]
Dan iz-zmien kulhadd imur tas-Sliema u jkollkhom titqannaw b’kulhadd. Allahares ma jkunx hekk ghal tal-businesses ghax kieku jkollhom jaghlqu kieku jkollhom jghixu bin-nies ta’ Tas-Sliema biss.
U iktar ma jifthu businesses iktar in-nies tigi attratta minn tas-Sliema.
Hafna mir-residenti ta’ tas-Sliema jaghtu impressjoni li huma well off imma fir-realta flus ma’ghandhomx. Ghadek issib min jghix go propjeta bil-LM50 lira fis-sena jekk mhux LM45 ta’ dar daqsiex bhal kaz li naf jiena personali. Ghalhekk jaffordjaw joqghodu hemm. Propjeta taghhom qatt ma kellhom.
U tifimha meta tara li l-parti l-kbira tar-residenti Slimizi huma anzjani. Dawk il-baxxi li kellhom il-flus biex jigu joqghodu tas-Sliema gew ukoll. U dawk iz-zaghzagh Slimisi tal-pepe’ li ma kellhomx flus bizzejjed biex jixtru propjeta’ tas-Sliema kellhom jitilqu, avolja naf min ukoll li ma riedx joqghod tas-Sliema minhabba l-zvantaggi taghha wkoll mhux ghal raguni ta’ flus biss.
Dan il-gvern ukoll gab aktar nies tas-Sliema ghax il-parks il-godda ta’ Tigne qed jattiraw hafna nies.
Ghalkemm jiena nahseb li l-parks kienu iktar immirati ghan-nies tal-lokal meta tara li parking huwa problema esagerata u l-working class mhux ser imorru jipparkjaw The Point kuljum. Ghax nassigurak tara familji li jmorru aktar minn darba fil-gimgha fl-istess parks.
Illum karozza kulhadd ghandu u min m’ghandux jasal bil-bus u tista tghid li kulhadd ghandu l-flus x’jonfoq. Jigifieri kulhadd jista jasal tas-Sliema.
Tiggeneralizzax.
Nies fi propjeta ta’ LM50 fis-sena ftit hemm. In-nies ta’ tas-Sliema huma well-off hafna u iktar milli tahseb.
Id-differenza f’dawn hi li ma tarhomx jahslu l-BMW jew sports car f’wicc in-nies kuljum, bhalma jaghmlu f’irhula.
Izommuha fil-garaxx u jahsluha hemm. Ma tarhomx fuq il-facebook jiddiskutu fejn kienu, fejn marru u fejn sejrin. Lanqas tarhom f’xi group photo go xi restaurant lussuz gharqanin xraba biex juru d-dinja kemm qed jiehdu gost.
In-nies ta’ Tas-Sliema generalment huma nies sew hafna, ma jurux kemm huma show-off u social climbers. Izommu ‘low-profile’ u ‘cool head’. Ghalhekk huma sinjuri hafna.
Int bis-serjeta, man?
M’ghandhomx flus in-nies ta’ tas-Sliema? Hello? Anybody there?
Mela nsejt kemm kuntratturi, bennejja, plumbers, electricians, hadmu ghandhom biex bnewlhom il-postijiet lussuzi li ghandhom?
ATTAKK FAHXI FUQ ID-DRESS SENSE:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/43/toniabelacoleiropreca.jpg/
Was this another episode of Teletubi, with the rubber puppets?
This is not a partit bla isem. The name is Socialist in different shades to suit their inefficiencies and envy.
If in power they adopt the form of socialist ideology that quenches their appetite of hatred.
This is our experience of the so called Labour Party of Malta so far.
Let Joseph Muscat condemn its past unequivocally but what’s more important also declare it will never resort to their obnoxious performance.
Hemm tlett tipi ta’ nies li jivvutaw Labour.
L-ewwel dak li jivvota Labour ghax hekk qalulu jaghmel. It-tieni dak li jivvota Labour ghax in-Nazzjonalisti ma tawhx li ried u siehbu it-tielet votant li jivvota Labour ghax bhal qabel se jerga jpappijha, staghna taht in-Nazzjonalisti fl-ahhar ghoxrin sena imma taht il-Labour jaf li se jgawdi iktar.
L-ebda professjonist hawn Malta ma jista jghid li baghta dawn l-ahhar ghoxrin sena, imma xorta ssib min jipprova jbellahielek li hu verament jemmen li taht it-tmexija ta’ Joseph Muscat dan il-pajjiz se jaghmel il-mirakli.
Ghal-bwiet taghhom forsi, il-bqija, zommu sew.
Please, at least, keep these yahoos out of Switzerland, where peace and quiet reign supreme. I sympathize with Sleima, my first abode in Malta.
@Harry I live in Suisse Romande. You have obviously missed the gypsy saga in Muraz Valais which ended yesterday.
Fanny, I have a place in Fribourg, Yes, I followed the saga. However that is an annual problem. Nothing that the Swiss authorities can’t (and do) handle.
While on a visit to Malta some weeks ago I was really impressed with what I saw in Marsaxlokk.
The little bay at the far end of the shore is literally occupied by some Maltese who decided to go camping. One tent next to the other. No privacy at all and people are living there for days.
It’s a disgusting situation.
The bay is very small and the tents reach almost to the sea, so if someone wants to use the beach as a swimmer it becomes impossible.
As far as I know tent-pitching on the beaches is against the law.
These people do not have any sense of dignity.
@cat
If you really want to break your heart, just go to Blue Lagoon on any day of the week.
It is not only impossible to lie down on the shore, it is even difficult to find a spot where to put down your bag (and I mean bag not bags).
The whole place is occupied by umbrellas and deckchairs for hire, and you are expected to pay just for the privilege of spending a couple of hours on THEIR beach.
“You could venture out into the wilds occasionally to observe the Gino Cauchi species in its natural habitat, then rush back gasping in relief to civilisation.” — Haha, so typical ‘Sliema-Girls’ speak. Though normally by 6th Form they realise that there is life beyond Sliema ;)
But I get your point.
[Daphne – I hate to break it to you, Ian, but no, there wasn’t life beyond Sliema until very recently. Of course there was life, but who wanted to live it? Dwejjaq u swied il-qalb. And no, it’s not tupical ‘Sliema girls’ speak. The only people who speak about ‘typical Sliema girls’ are those who have never know any, or who mistake arriviste chavs for the real thing. But it’s amazing, isn’t it, the way all the chips come out to play at the sight and sound of a ‘Sliema girl’.]
“[Daphne – I hate to break it to you, Ian, but no, there wasn’t life beyond Sliema until very recently. Of course there was life, but who wanted to live it? Dwejjaq u swied il-qalb.”
Ahhhhh yes, you are so right. I mean lets face it, why would anyone who is right in the head shun Sliema (the crammed, dirty, filthy, disgusting side streets, the impossibility of parking, the FRONT – as if its the only place in Malta with some sea in it etc) in favour of the views and freshER air in Madliena, Lija, Mellieha, Zurrieq, Pembroke etc.
[Daphne – Very young, are you, or just very stupid? I’m not talking about the present. Sliema was, in fact, one of the most pleasant and convenient places to live when I was growing up, and my friends who lived in Madliena were DESPERATE to get out because it made their life hell being so cut off. Lija was a village – NOBODY I knew lived there except the kind of people who certainly never went out. Mellieha? FFS. The back of beyond. Zurrieq in the 1980s? Oh God. PEMBROKE? For crying out loud. It was a Mintoffian housing estate.]
Well ok, you could get plastered and make a complete fool of yourself in Sliema very easily (and expensively – you know, to feel classy . . . paying a complete decent meal’s worth for a flashy named cocktail – with no more than two units of alcohol in it, and drinking it in the company of ‘people’ most concerned about who got the biggest or most expensive car, and how are they going to manage the stress of choosing between going on a boat party or a pool party) if that is what you call LIVING.
[Daphne – Please refer to my remark above. That is what the 21st-century arrivistes do. The real thing look on in utter contempt. You clearly have no sense of time, and think that Sliema was always like this. It certainly was not. Apart from the hideousness of the Labour-government induced water deprivation, it was a civilised and quiet seaside town for a proper community right until the 1980s.]
Personally I find that to be an excellent way of HIDING (with not much success) one’s lack of life rather than helping one to live life to the full. Making myself clear, I love the occasional drink or party but LIVING for me generally involves family, sports, bbqs and picnics (the full potential of both not really fulfilled by mighty Sliema) etc as much (or indeed more) than having to lick the pavement on my way home due to drink every time I go out to have ‘FUN’.
[Daphne – bbqs. Brrrr. Says it all. Careful what you reveal. Do you have those bbqs on the roof? On a public beach? Spare me, please.]
P.S. no disrespect for people living in Sliema, every location has its good things, but to say there was no life until recently apart from Sliema is so lame I just had to point out the bad things for Ms. DCG! :)
[Daphne – Look, I suggest that if you can’t read and interpret simple English, then you should stay away from this website, because you’re going to get needlessly irate, and I’m going to get fed-up of you. You have missed the point completely, failed to understand the argument, and marched in here all prejudices blazing. Now run off to Maltastar. They need the hits and views.]
Well I have to hand one thing to you
You are one heck of an entertainer! :) You mentioned zoo in a reply to my posts earlier . . . I understand your distaste . . . after all you both are competing in the same industry! :)
Well I had my fill for today . . . thanks! :)
[Daphne – Bye, now. Enjoy the bbq. And make sure you don’t fall off that roof after one too many Jack Cokes.]
And one last thing . . .
Given you sent me off to Maltastar and what have you
“ATTAKK VILI U BLA SKRUPLI FUQ KELLIEM EWLIENI TAL-PARTIT . . . ”
Now THAT is just like something out of Maltastar! :) :) :)
[Daphne – Ah, I see you missed the irony. What a surprise.]
“The back of beyond. Zurrieq in the 1980s”
Thank God Zurrieq was not Sliema in the 1980s. Il-Guy Karmenu Vella resurfaced all the roads in Zurrieq, his hometown, and redid the pavements too when he became minister.
And in Zurrieq water reached our rooftop tanks during the night and we had 190 volts while in Sliema you had 180 volts and no water.
In those days Valletta Road was unlit, bumpy and used to flood when it rained, while in Sliema half of your street lights were disconnected and you had a big kiosk instead of an open space.
When compared with Sliema, Zurrieq was more comfortable and less expensive to live in than Sliema. It still is. We have shops mushrooming everywhere and we’ve got choice at a very good price.
Now Zurrieq’s villas are being converted into forty-unit villages like you experienced on the Sliema sea front. Thankfully we at Zurrieq still enjoy sea views, but like Sliema we have a dust problem.
Nowadays strolling on the Sliema front isn’t as pleasant as a walk along the promenade from Wied Babu to Hagar Qim.
Zurrieq is connected with the rest of Malta and on equal footing with Sliema, dust and all.
I saw Gino as well at Cardini, on a Saturday, about two weeks ago.
Was he there with that group of chavs, one of whom kept their baseball cap on throughout the meal?
You may wish to update the post as while Gino was at Cardini, Alex Sceberras Trigona was at Barracuda restaurant. Ghax ma xtrawx burger mill-kiosks tal-festa tal-Balluta jekk hawn daqshekk ghaqx.
Exactly.
A trip down to Sliema, will show everyone or specifically those who are speculating, that the economy is very strong.
News flash: After a boozy holiday in Italy, trivial pursuit game reveals little Joey lacks social skills.
Daphne, I am a great fan of your work when it exposes Labour for what they truly are, i.e. not fit for purpose. However, I think this item isn’t worthy of your normally captivating blog. I know you will disagree.
[Daphne – That’s right, I don’t. Without wishing to sound rude or anything, as for what’s worthy of my website or not, I’ll thank you (and everyone else) to let me be the judge of that. The results speak for themselves. Anything else would be like the Biblical parable about the man, his wife, his goods and the donkey. Or whatever it was.]
Niehu qata’ jkolli mmur qadja Tas-Sliema. Biex tipparkja weghda, traffic hafna drabi iggamjat u parking spaces limitati hafna.
Minkejja dan kollu, Sliema tattira hafna Maltin li sahansitra jmorru hemm just biex jiehdu cafe.
Jien wiehed minnhom.
Fix-xitwa sabiha mod u fis-sajf sabiha hafna mod iehor. Nappella ghar-rispett lejn ir-residenti.
Thammgux u tipparkjawx addocc. Naf Slimizi li sahansitra kellhom jitilqu minn Sliema ghaliex parking problema. Daphne, nistghu naghmlu kampanja ta’ pressjoni sabiex jaghmlu hafna aktar parking spaces u jgawdi minnhom kulhadd?
Minkejja li minix Slimiz xorta wahda jinteressani minn dan id-distrett li dejjem habb lil PN.
[Daphne – Jekk joghgbok, Tas-Sliema meta titkellem jew tikteb bil-Malti u mhux ‘Sliema’. Ma tghidx (nispera) ‘illum se mmur Belt’ jew ‘se mmur Lija’. U bl-istess mod…]
Il-parking problema kullimkien, siehbi. Hawn wisq karozzi.
Hawn wisq flus u sahansitra in-nies xtraw hafna karozzi, tant li faqghu il-parking ghax m’ghandhomx fejn iqieghdu l-karozzi l-kbar l-ghandhom.
Fejn trid taghmel aktar parking spaces f’Tas-Sliema? Kieku tajjeb.
Issa Alla ipprovdilhom li jnizzlu l-BMW mill-UK, b’nofs il-prezz, halli iktar jixtru.
Il-Maltin u l-Karozzi ekwivalenti bhax-xirja ghand il-Lidl. Ghandna kollox imma xorta nibqghu nixtru ha nithanzru.
“Fatta!”, Tas-Sliema sar daqshekk ikrah u impossibbli biex tipparkja fih ghaliex gie invazat b’nies bhalek u bhal “Nobody in particular”, li kitbet hawn fuq.
Qabel, Tas-Sliema kien post kwiet, sabih, fejn kulhadd kien jaf lil kulhadd.
The restaurants were packed yesterday. The most expensive ones of course. So I had to leave Sliema and venture off to Valletta where I bumped into a Super One TV presenter driving around in his posh new car.
Jekk hawn l-ghaks, plijs uruni fejn qieghed.
Sigh, political discrimination at it’s best. Sliema is for everyone to enjoy be it, Labour, Nationalists, all races and all creeds. No need to spread this sort of hate.
[Daphne – How did Sliema become somewhere for eveyrone to enjoy, and exactly how would you feel if the whole of Malta descended on your home town – say, H’Attard – every day and night of the week from June to September and every Saturday and Sunday through the other months? The shops might be pleased, but nobody else is, I can assure you. It was a perfectly civilised place to live and now it is hideous and intolerable.]
… and they’re mostly people from the ‘sawt’. You recognise them from their socialist mentality.
They come to Sliema at 4pm to find parking place for which they don’t have to pay, sit on the benches till 6pm, eat at Cardini’s at 8pm, leave the place at 11pm and go down to Cara’s for cake and ice-cream.
When I was a kid, it was much worse.
They’d come to the beach at 8.30am on Sundays, fill the place up with umbrellas, lilos, large water tanks (ghax jaqbdu r-rizzi kollha li hemm fil-bahar) and leave at 5pm.
Tas-Sawt iridu jitkellmu?
Tas-Sawt jghixu tas-Sliema. Jghidlek ‘ma naffurdjax nghix hemm, imma nehdilhom kollox’.
Typical Labour mentality.
[Daphne – And might I add: they spend their summer nights and their winter weekend days ‘just jiehdu coffee il-Ferries’ or ‘ninzlu niehdu pizza Sliema’ or ‘immorru il-gnien’ and then, come election victory time or after a mass meeting at the St Andrew’s Parade Ground, they come in their normal guise of screaming, shouting, red-bedecked hodor shouting hdura and lanzit through the windows of their trucks and cars, jghajru n-nies tas-Sliema. Unbelievable. A really good field of psychiatric research.]
Oh come on!
I’m from the south and I come over to ‘your beloved Sliema’ twice a year, if that.
Don’t put everyone in the same basket.
Not all people from the ‘sawt’ have socialist mentalities.
I get this kind of crap whenever I meet someone new and they ask where I’m from – Zejtun (gasp! horror!)
If they’re Nationalist, they shut up and sometimes I can just tell what’s going through their minds.
If they’re Labour, they feel pretty confident that I’ll agree with what a mess GonziPN has made out of everything (maybe not the first day they’ve met me, but definitely somewhere down the line the subject will come up). Until I set the record straight, as it were, and burst their bubble.
The point of all this is generalisations and sweeping statements are so lame.
North, South, Gozo…. on a 14-mile island. How ridiculous can we get?
What Daffers is saying, and I agree with great bells on, is that Malta is knee-deep in hamalli.
Before 1987 and the onset of affluence, there were islands of civilisation where one could take refuge. Not any longer. Now the floodgates have been blasted open and the cesspit has disgorged its filthy contents everywhere.
Malta’s version of social mobility: racing and revving around the place taking your vulgar social mores along with you, unchanged.
To Lilla:
Problem is almost everyone is the same basket.
…and how are you able to conclude that it was the Laborites who made Sliema “hideous and intolerable”?
[Daphne – Because they all want to live there, my dear, and so created a demand for ‘fletsijiet’. And also because they flock to the place on weekend days and summer nights and turn the general atmosphere into that of one of those OTHER seaside towns. You forget that Sliema was basically a seaside village until the 1980s and that the people who lived there liked it that way. Let’s say you live in Zejtun. How would you feel if people like me moved in in their thousands and began knocking down houses, building flats, taking over, driving around yakking in tal-pepe voices and pushing everyone else out? How would you feel if you walked down the street without seeing a single face you recognised? If your community was destroyed? Well, that’s how Slimizi feel (the real ones) but of course, they’re not human and they had no right to expect better given that everyone wanted what they had.]
Daphne, it creates good economy for the island which is what’s needed right now in a time of recession.
[Daphne – I see you don’t even have an O-level in economics and are a little confused about the dynamics of demand and supply.]
It’s a free world, what do you suggest we do then? Put signs outside shops saying “No Labourites allowed”? I don’t need to remind you which state did something similar in the 1930s. As for my home town (Birkirkara) I’ll be happy to see anyone from any part of the world as long as their intentions are good.
[Daphne – You miss the point. Whether they are Laburisti or not is almost irrelevant. They just happen to be that. It’s the horrible mass of people, turning Sliema into the Naxxar trade fair every night of the summer week, that’s awful. You forget that people actually live there, and they hate it. It was one of the main reasons I left, and that was 22 years ago. I figured that if the Sliema in which I grew up had gone, then I might as well go too. What was the point of staying. This is something too many people just don’t understand: the very things that made Sliema so desirable to people who didn’t live there originally were destroyed by those people cramming in where they didn’t fit, in a sudden push. The different communities that made up that extended village, and which grew organically, were destroyed overnight. Oh, and another thing: it’s not the politics. Stella Maris parish, where I grew up, had practically no Nationalists living there: it was chokka with Stricklandjani and Labour families. Most of Milner Street, where I lived for the first 20 years of my life, was Labour now that I think about it. But we all came from roughly the same background and nobody cared.]
Wake up – write a blog
Do ‘the business’ in the bathroom – write a blog
Make coffee – write a blog
Go out to meet ‘friends’ – guess what? write a blog
Go home, do housework (not) – write a blog
Husband/partner/whatever comes home (don’t know and don’t care of the status) – ok . . . write a blog
Go to sleep . . . oh wait wait – write a blog
Very productive life . . . truly the envy of all.
Oh P.S. . . . I like to consider myself as completely free of any political ties with any local party . . . I, unlike some, have a life. Just saying . . . before you upload one of your templates of me being a labour supporter or whatever.
[Daphne – Witches don’t go to the bathroom.]
And that was supposed to be a witty comment?
Plain stupid in my opinion! :)
[Daphne – Real wit is lost on people like you. You come from a totally different culture. Stick with Zoo.]
You are completely right (thank God) in saying that I come from a totally different culture. On that we fully agree!
[Daphne – One agrees on opinions, not facts. Learn the difference. That you come from a different culture is a fact. There is no scope for agreement or disagreement. It is anot a matter of opinion.]
Daphne, I think you’re confusing political affiliation with the middle-class’s desperate attempt to climb the social strata ladder.
I believe the two are separate and distinct.
You are going to disagree because you equate Laborites with ‘hamalli u ordinarji’. Personally I don’t feel a ‘hamallu u ordinarju’ even though I am laborite.
And no, I do not live in Sliema. And no, I don’t wish to either.
[Daphne – Please read my most recent comment. I think it was in reply to one of yours. I grew up in a neighbourhood, now that I think about it, full of Labour families. It made no difference, because everyone had roughly the same code of behaviour and background and it was a community. As for my equating Labour supporters with a certain kind of person, I don’t – precisely for this reason. However, the facts are what the facts are, and survey upon survey shows that the bulk of Labour’s support comes from socio-economic groups C2 and DE, the vast majority of which vote Labour.]
Apologies, I had to reply on the previous comment… oh well…
P.S. Always remember: it was the very Slimizi who “lost” what they had because most of them decided to or rent out or otherwise transfer what they had to the ‘new’ “non-real” Slimizi.
[Daphne – Possibly, yes.]
‘In a time of recession’.
Sorry, what recession?
Yes there are chavs everywhere, seriously there are loads in Malta. Sliema has nothing to do with it.
The less ‘serious’ your blog posts are, the more controversy they create (bit like the ricotta one).
My my, how easily offended some people are.
I’m not from Sliema and I don’t believe I’d want to live there. It’s far too busy, noisy and inconvenient for my taste. I couldn’t care less about having a “status symbol” flat there.
I do understand what Daphne is saying about outsiders invading your hometown. However while Sliema is an extreme example, the same type of thing happened in all localities on the island.
I would hazard a guess that the Bormla residents got a far worse deal than the Sliemizi actually. Cospicua (I hate the Bormla name) was regarded as a high prestige town before it was razed during the war.
There are still a few good families there but they had to see their hometown get turned into a ghetto of the dispossessed and a repository for the worst Lowlife human garbage from all over the island – thanks to Mintoff’s third rate rebuilding efforts out of which, of course, he made millions.