Revisiting Traditional Permits?

I am writing this close to midnight, a mere ten minutes after petards have stopped blasting this tiny insignificant town out of its lethargy.

It’s hot, it’s muggy, and my ears are still ringing from the onslaught these ‘devout christian traditions’ pour on us to make us happy and remember our lord or madonnas… or some dead ass saint.

Anyway, I need to search for my fillings, and take care of our pets even as the intense smell of cordite fills our corridor.

Penny is still ruffling her feathers at the shock, Sandy is cowering in a corner, while little Tikka is hanging on bravely to a top cupboard.

And all this is happening, presumably, with the benediction of the law makers in this country. WHY is this shambles allowed to go on?

Is it because of traditions? What traditions are there in a country where kid attended school in the 50s and 60s wearing just one shoe? Where is the tradition when hundreds of thousands of Euros are spent in petards… money which would have been unavailable back then.

And correct me if I’m wrong, but as a 52 year old, I can plainly remember ‘festi’ (only dumb people say feast… a festa is a celebration, not a feast!) being far less noisy! And it used to be a weekend celebration, where it was perhaps permitted and acceptable. But festi these days have become huge money spinners, and a 15 celebratory period is an obligation. Add to this another spin-off festa in Tarxien, and suddenly it has become a whole month of these ungodly inconveniences. It is no more, ‘U iva, ta darba f’sena’.

Yes to the spectacle of the churches being decorated, Yes to statues being carried around by non-church going louts, Yes to mid-day marches where scantily clad women are shoulder-borne by hairy-chested youths. Yes to the immensely beautiful colourful aerial displays. Yes to… paganism?.

Because these are not traditions. Because these are not prayers in the name of some long-deceased uncaring saint. This is pure paganism and ‘ghandna flus iktar minnkhom’ (we have more money than you). This is because we need to teach the other band club that our petards are bigger, stronger, smellier, noisier.

I am not going to add the church into the equation. They lost their plot ages ago. Add to this an insanely egocentric Local Council who think it quite ok to put pedestals on pavements (!!!) and you’ll see where this is taking us.

A private message sent to me implied, in a most christian way ‘You moan too fucking much man… who the hell is asleep at midnight on a Saturday evening?’ (Ostja kemm teqred man, min izzobb hu rieqed f’nofs il lejl is Sibt?)

Well, most of Tarxien was. The old, the infirm, the sick, those who worked to bring bread to their table, and those who just maybe, at that time, needed to take their much earned rest.

This is not tradition. This is pique, savagery, ignorance, and law-breaking.

And the majority local population suffers these louts.

Never have the needs of the few prevailed over the wishes of many in such a lawless fashion.

All in the name of religion.

 

 

 

 

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To book or not to book?

It is that time of year again when the heat starts to make it’s way up the thermometer, pushing the numbers higher and higher. It is that time of year when leaving home for a trip somewhere, after ten or eleven, is considered as madness.

I must admit. I don’t do too well with the heat. Maybe it is because of this AS and RA I suffer with. But most probably it is up to my increasing weight as I grow older and medications take their toll. The fact is I don’t eat that much to justify this growth, but there you have it.

Anyway, back to our subject. The heat. It makes people do crazy decisions. Some take to the beach, fling off their clothes, flash us their hairy chests or cheeky bums, and soak it all in. Others take to cooler countries for a while.

Those, like me, who have neither hairy chests and bums, nor money to burn, take an easier route.

We stay inside and increase our reading. Now I know that voracious readers do not need the heat to indulge in their fantasies, but it is a dead cert that more books are opened in these months than in winter (or what passes as that season here).

As my friends know, I prefer the Kindle e-reader over printed matter. The reader is light, front-lit, can hold hundreds of books, and of course, for every aging guy with precarious eyesight, re-sizable fonts.

For what use is a dead-tree book for me if I can’t see the words? And Kindle books are, of course cheaper. And on any given day, there are hundreds of free books on Amazon. All for the Kindle of course.

And who doesn’t like free books?

Needless to say, books increase one’s knowledge. And knowledge is power.

Live Long and Prosper! \\//