I couldn’t help noticing the quiet, foreign-looking couple sitting a couple of rows behind the driver, trying to act as if nothing was going on around them.
Yes, “brand Malta” indeed!
[Daphne – I would love to see something like that on holiday. It would be a highlight – if I understood the language.]
I lived in the UK 30 years, this is nothing compared to what you get in some areas in the UK. At least the dispute between these passengers on the bus was restricted to verbal insults, in the UK this would have probably ended up in a riot and serious injuries.
Rover, as you can see, the husband of the lady at the front has settled for the minimum wage. He seems quite happy about it too. He has clearly understood that Joseph Muscat’s idea can really cause serious trouble.
I can assure you that “black” people are more modest and polite. In Rome we are swamped with black people but nothing of the sort ever happens – more likely it does with “white” people who could learn a lot from the so-called blacks!
For the benefit of tourists – briefly, one of the ladies was cheated in the Miss Malta Contest and is blaming the winning contestant, who denies ever sleeping with the judges.
Għalija l-patetiċi mhumiex dawn it-tnejn, imma l-passiġġieri l-oħra kollha u fuq kollox ix-xufier, li ma qabdux u niżżluhom mil-bus mal-ewwel għajta. Imbagħad jitla’ xi turist iħallas b’20€ u jagħmel l-arja miegħu.
Edward, I agree that the matter should have been handled as soon as it started, involving the police if necessary.
Any tourist paying Euro 20 on this bus would have taken real value for money, though.
Funny thing is, a few years ago my wife was chucked off a bus by the driver. He dumped her pretty much in the middle of the road in Sliema amid a show of swearing and screaming.
Her unspeakable threat to the social order? Daring to nibble on a snack …
I think my daughter could trump that – she had to get off a bus because, being profoundly deaf from birth (ie never having heard a word in her life), her speech is not that good. Nice one, eh?
You lot have missed the point entirely. We at the Transport Association have taken a lead from Emirates Airline, indeed, we have gone one better, by providing real live in-trip entertainment. Why are we bus drivers so badly misunderstood?
When I lived in Malta I used frequently the buses and believe me there would be very funny moments which I really enjoyed but something like what we’ve seen is disgusting.
The bus was on its way to the South. This can be called Malta’s “deprived” region. I worked here very closely with these people thirty seven years ago for four years. My impressions ?
They have a heart of gold – most of them. Many gravitate from all over Malta and Gozo, usually because they are rebuffed by their own communities, for various reasons.
They cry out for help, advice and education. They appreciate so little a lot.
This is where NGOs and the Catholic Church can do more.
Charity begins at home.
Please do not criticise these poor people. This is not a phenomenon peculiar to Malta.
Try and do something to improve their fate. I have done my stint.
I feel so strongly about this corner of my country that I would consider helping out even now that I am past it.
I would say”xi dwejjaq” but never “jaqq”.
Wherever that line is, there’s yet another line between the South and the Deep South, which is actually to the north of Malta, this being the island of Gozo.
The North-South divide is cultural more than geographical, in my opinion.
The true North is Mellieha, Ghadira, Bugibba, Saint Paul’s Bay, Manikata and Gozo (if you consider that as part of Malta).
The areas considered “South” i.e. Fgura, Zabbar, Bormla, Birgu, Kalkara, Isla are closer East than South. At a push even Qormi would be considered South.
[Daphne – I think the ‘south’ thing is just ridiculous. Bormla, Valletta and Sliema are all adjacent to each other across the harbour and the creek, but Bormla is ‘south’. What a joke.]
Am I right in saying that the south is mainly the harbour area?
In any case, the south is predominantly Labour and you can see this from the voting pattern by district in general elections (and referenda).
[Daphne – Sliema, St Julian’s, Valletta, Msida, Pieta and Floriana are all part of the harbour area, and nobody calls them ‘south’. ‘South’ just means the urban working class, from what I can gather.]
It is good, enlighting and entertaining to see how different people define the north and the south here. It is very much like the definition of “afternoon” and “evening”, I think.
Daphne you said that you think that ‘south’ is another word for urban working class. Isn’t that tautological? Aren’t rural working class people called farmers/peasants and wouldn’t that make them an entirely different social group?
[Daphne – I used urban as distinct from village. There are working-class people in villages who are not peasants, because those villages have grown. The real urban working-class are those concentrated round the Grand Harbour area – the original ‘hamallli’, literally, in the original meaning of the word.]
I am from the South and I honestly do not allow you to call us deprived. In my 23 years of life I was never deprived of anything.
Having said this, there was a time that the hamalli used to be in the south biss ta, but take a little bit of a trip to the Lazy Corner in Sliema, or Kappara and San Gwann and see a bit what there is there (especially in the Housing Estates area).
I don’t mean to be rude, but just because two women from Kalkara are fighting on a bus it doesnt mean that all the people from the South do that on a bus.
And I hope that by poor people you were referring to the people in the video, mhux to the people of the South. Qisek xi modern-day Mother Theresa describing the people of the south like a bunch of invalids.
Please find something better to do with your life than to troll around on a blog. If I had to wager a guess as to who is deprived of something in this conversation, I’d hazard to say that it is you.
Ahjar glieda bhal din bejn zewg maltin jitkellmu bil-malti. Mela qatt ma rajtu tnejn tal-pepe jiggieldu?? il-pepe jibqa biss sakemm jitkellmu hazin bil-malti. Biex qed titkazzaw ja qatta ipokriti
Sometimes, there’s a very fine, thin line between certain comments on this blog and the bus scene. Both are equally entertaining and annoying in equal measures.
I was just wondering, if the Akkademja tal-Malti insist on such ridiculous “words” as ‘hendawt’, ‘wejters’, etc, then would they insist on ‘bass’ for a ‘bus’? Somehow, I think that it would probably be one of the few words they would insist on being written in their correct form.
Very amusing indeed. Who said it’s testosterone that triggers aggression? But, perhaps, this is hysteria and we all know what part of the female anatomy that’s supposed to come from (etymologically, at least).
The north/south classification is ridiculous on a pebble as minuscule as this country and it is quite true that the harbour conglomerate cannot be divided by the compass. But I find “tas-south” much less offensive than the now-forgotten “tan-naha l-ohra” which was current in Sliema up to some years ago.
I guess the “sceneggiata” could easily come from a Neapolitan play by Eduardo De Filippo. The husband seems to have learnt by bitter experience to remain impartial. Maybe he feared a Sicilian tragedy in the style of Verga ending with some fatal stabbing as in Cavalleria Rusticana: Hanno ammazzato compare Turiddu, end the opera… The driver takes it all in his stride too. Is this sort of thing at all fequent? I miss riding buses on which, in my youth, I’ve read some of the best modern classics of English and American literature: Ernest Hemingway, Evelyn Waugh, Faulkner, Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye etc etc et
The Nordic couple sitting in front seem half amused. I guess they thought this is what passes for Latin or Mediterranean hot blood.
“Xarabank, o-we-jo, o-we-jo”
Jaqq. Xi dwejjaq.
Brand Malta at its best.
I couldn’t help noticing the quiet, foreign-looking couple sitting a couple of rows behind the driver, trying to act as if nothing was going on around them.
Yes, “brand Malta” indeed!
[Daphne – I would love to see something like that on holiday. It would be a highlight – if I understood the language.]
I lived in the UK 30 years, this is nothing compared to what you get in some areas in the UK. At least the dispute between these passengers on the bus was restricted to verbal insults, in the UK this would have probably ended up in a riot and serious injuries.
Is this the notorious Birzebbugia bus? I thought it was black people that caused all the trouble.
I thought bus drivers did.
It is the Kalkara bus, the “lady” in yellow at one point says “ha nasal l-Karkara ta”.
Has anyone established what this is about?
A wild guess but is the sweet lady at the rear of the bus in favour of the living wage while the one to the front wants a salary at all costs.
Rover, as you can see, the husband of the lady at the front has settled for the minimum wage. He seems quite happy about it too. He has clearly understood that Joseph Muscat’s idea can really cause serious trouble.
I can assure you that “black” people are more modest and polite. In Rome we are swamped with black people but nothing of the sort ever happens – more likely it does with “white” people who could learn a lot from the so-called blacks!
For the benefit of tourists – briefly, one of the ladies was cheated in the Miss Malta Contest and is blaming the winning contestant, who denies ever sleeping with the judges.
It seems trivial when we have a magistrate who sleeps with policemen and the same magistrate hasn’t denied it.
Kev, nice post. So, do you really thing there was a conspiracy going on between the winner and the judges?
Għalija l-patetiċi mhumiex dawn it-tnejn, imma l-passiġġieri l-oħra kollha u fuq kollox ix-xufier, li ma qabdux u niżżluhom mil-bus mal-ewwel għajta. Imbagħad jitla’ xi turist iħallas b’20€ u jagħmel l-arja miegħu.
I agree with Edward that the driver should have stopped the bus and asked them to get off.
Well said. Although to be fair these things happen everywhere. I’ve seen just as bad on buses in Sicily and even worse in the U.S.
Edward, I agree that the matter should have been handled as soon as it started, involving the police if necessary.
Any tourist paying Euro 20 on this bus would have taken real value for money, though.
Why? It’s free entertainment. If it bothers than you should get off the bus and let people be.
Elevator rides in Sliema seem so bland and mundane in comparison.
Miskien ir-ragel taghha….jekk tista tghidlu ragel.
Funny thing is, a few years ago my wife was chucked off a bus by the driver. He dumped her pretty much in the middle of the road in Sliema amid a show of swearing and screaming.
Her unspeakable threat to the social order? Daring to nibble on a snack …
I think my daughter could trump that – she had to get off a bus because, being profoundly deaf from birth (ie never having heard a word in her life), her speech is not that good. Nice one, eh?
You lot have missed the point entirely. We at the Transport Association have taken a lead from Emirates Airline, indeed, we have gone one better, by providing real live in-trip entertainment. Why are we bus drivers so badly misunderstood?
Ghidli inti li kieku qabdu lil min kien qed jigbed il-film, x’kien isir minnu?
Quite unlikely to happen…
“Dak x’ghandu hemm Lew? Telecell?”
Actually I think that they made more of a show because they had attention. As usual they were fighting about inheritance, ‘wirt’.
The more people know how innocent they are in these types of situations, the better they feel about themselves.
Spoil sports all of you. If I was on that bus, I wouldn’t want to driver to do anything. Good, live and realistic theatre is hard to find.
When I lived in Malta I used frequently the buses and believe me there would be very funny moments which I really enjoyed but something like what we’ve seen is disgusting.
No wonder bus drivers are bad tempered.
The driver should have stopped the bus and called the police. Incredible – Arriva indeed.
At some point there was the hat of a policeman through the window.. maybe he got scared too?
Is the one with the ‘issa daqshekk’ face Tony Zarb’s brother?
X’cuc huma l-comedy theatres. Sewwa jghidu, the best things in life are free.
I’m disappointed by the ending. I was hoping for a lethal-handbag duel.
So sad!
Watch Toni Abela in his radically trimmed ‘tache. So Ms. Micallef has had her way.
[Daphne – OH, you mean Marisa! I got a little confused there. I think of Jason as Miss Micallef, you see.]
Well spotted. Now he looks even more like a 1930s version of Zorro.
He could be Malta’s next top model.
You mean yob model.
You’re verging on the slanderous yet again Daphne!
Imagine Jason’s lawyer having to cross-examine you and asking for intimate details about Jason’s errr package.
Different subject
How do you evict a shop?
From the experts at the Times:
“The shops were evicted earlier this year”
[Daphne – I saw that. There was another clanger in the same issue: ‘dropped the argument’/waqqa l-argument’]
JA MARA HAZINA! JA MARA MAHMUGA!
Apparently the bickering was over some inheritance – that is what I heard anyway. The tourists on the left seem to be enjoying the show.
Ma fhimtx kelma wahda, li hi wahda.
I wish it had subtitles.
The bus was on its way to the South. This can be called Malta’s “deprived” region. I worked here very closely with these people thirty seven years ago for four years. My impressions ?
They have a heart of gold – most of them. Many gravitate from all over Malta and Gozo, usually because they are rebuffed by their own communities, for various reasons.
They cry out for help, advice and education. They appreciate so little a lot.
This is where NGOs and the Catholic Church can do more.
Charity begins at home.
Please do not criticise these poor people. This is not a phenomenon peculiar to Malta.
Try and do something to improve their fate. I have done my stint.
I feel so strongly about this corner of my country that I would consider helping out even now that I am past it.
I would say”xi dwejjaq” but never “jaqq”.
Please excuse my little outburst.
Where is the dividing line between north and south in Malta?
Wherever that line is, there’s yet another line between the South and the Deep South, which is actually to the north of Malta, this being the island of Gozo.
Woops, I’ve done it now…
The North-South divide is cultural more than geographical, in my opinion.
The true North is Mellieha, Ghadira, Bugibba, Saint Paul’s Bay, Manikata and Gozo (if you consider that as part of Malta).
The areas considered “South” i.e. Fgura, Zabbar, Bormla, Birgu, Kalkara, Isla are closer East than South. At a push even Qormi would be considered South.
[Daphne – I think the ‘south’ thing is just ridiculous. Bormla, Valletta and Sliema are all adjacent to each other across the harbour and the creek, but Bormla is ‘south’. What a joke.]
Am I right in saying that the south is mainly the harbour area?
In any case, the south is predominantly Labour and you can see this from the voting pattern by district in general elections (and referenda).
[Daphne – Sliema, St Julian’s, Valletta, Msida, Pieta and Floriana are all part of the harbour area, and nobody calls them ‘south’. ‘South’ just means the urban working class, from what I can gather.]
It is good, enlighting and entertaining to see how different people define the north and the south here. It is very much like the definition of “afternoon” and “evening”, I think.
Daphne you said that you think that ‘south’ is another word for urban working class. Isn’t that tautological? Aren’t rural working class people called farmers/peasants and wouldn’t that make them an entirely different social group?
[Daphne – I used urban as distinct from village. There are working-class people in villages who are not peasants, because those villages have grown. The real urban working-class are those concentrated round the Grand Harbour area – the original ‘hamallli’, literally, in the original meaning of the word.]
Dear anthony
I am from the South and I honestly do not allow you to call us deprived. In my 23 years of life I was never deprived of anything.
Having said this, there was a time that the hamalli used to be in the south biss ta, but take a little bit of a trip to the Lazy Corner in Sliema, or Kappara and San Gwann and see a bit what there is there (especially in the Housing Estates area).
I don’t mean to be rude, but just because two women from Kalkara are fighting on a bus it doesnt mean that all the people from the South do that on a bus.
And I hope that by poor people you were referring to the people in the video, mhux to the people of the South. Qisek xi modern-day Mother Theresa describing the people of the south like a bunch of invalids.
I’m sorry I don’t accept it.
Please excuse MY little outburst
Anthony,
Please find something better to do with your life than to troll around on a blog. If I had to wager a guess as to who is deprived of something in this conversation, I’d hazard to say that it is you.
Ahjar glieda bhal din bejn zewg maltin jitkellmu bil-malti. Mela qatt ma rajtu tnejn tal-pepe jiggieldu?? il-pepe jibqa biss sakemm jitkellmu hazin bil-malti. Biex qed titkazzaw ja qatta ipokriti
Sometimes, there’s a very fine, thin line between certain comments on this blog and the bus scene. Both are equally entertaining and annoying in equal measures.
I was just wondering, if the Akkademja tal-Malti insist on such ridiculous “words” as ‘hendawt’, ‘wejters’, etc, then would they insist on ‘bass’ for a ‘bus’? Somehow, I think that it would probably be one of the few words they would insist on being written in their correct form.
Malta’s answer to the infamous Epic Beard Man video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4OnhnvczTk
There’s a repeat of Kalamita on One TV right now. In the introduction, it announces “fil-programm magħna llum, l-opinjonista Jason Micallef.”
Since when has he rebranded himself an ‘opinionist’?
Ir-ragel `sitting pretty` hdejha, ehh. U hin minnhom taghtu il-basktijiet ha jzommhomla u tkompli titghajjar.
Kieku id-driver ra wicc dawk iz-zewg turisti li kien hemm bil-qeghda warajhom, zgur li kien iwaqqaf il-bus.
Ghax hekk kien dmiru jaghmel. Xi gmiel ta’ riklam naghmlu lil Malta. Veru tal-misthijja.
U ghadhom bil-kemm bdew, diga se jehlu Arriva. Tghid mhux se jibdlu il-mentalita` ta’ hafna Maltin l-Arriva!
Jekk minghalihom hekk, se jgharralhom bl-ikrah.
Ma nahsibx li ghandhom bzonn il-Whistleblowers Act dawn it-tnejn.
Xarabank uejjaaaaa….ujjjjoooooh . No Difference.
(and everyone thinks it’s only the bus drivers who are unruly)
Yesterday One was showing promos “Labour Connect” with a clean-shaven-baby-face Joseph Muscat. He’s been shaved, too.
I am sure they have an A class certificate.
Very amusing indeed. Who said it’s testosterone that triggers aggression? But, perhaps, this is hysteria and we all know what part of the female anatomy that’s supposed to come from (etymologically, at least).
The north/south classification is ridiculous on a pebble as minuscule as this country and it is quite true that the harbour conglomerate cannot be divided by the compass. But I find “tas-south” much less offensive than the now-forgotten “tan-naha l-ohra” which was current in Sliema up to some years ago.
I guess the “sceneggiata” could easily come from a Neapolitan play by Eduardo De Filippo. The husband seems to have learnt by bitter experience to remain impartial. Maybe he feared a Sicilian tragedy in the style of Verga ending with some fatal stabbing as in Cavalleria Rusticana: Hanno ammazzato compare Turiddu, end the opera… The driver takes it all in his stride too. Is this sort of thing at all fequent? I miss riding buses on which, in my youth, I’ve read some of the best modern classics of English and American literature: Ernest Hemingway, Evelyn Waugh, Faulkner, Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye etc etc et
The Nordic couple sitting in front seem half amused. I guess they thought this is what passes for Latin or Mediterranean hot blood.
The Times must read your blog – They’ve posted this link on their online version this morning. How’s that for originality?
It’s been doing the rounds and probably all newspapers knew about it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeUHgmgjQiQ