Waqt li l-Belġjum qed jikkollassa...

Ilbieraħ reġa' waqa' l-gvern tal-Belġjum. L-estremisti Fjammingi, li jridu l-Flanders jinfired mill-Belġjum u jsir pajjiż indipendenti, fil-parlament kantaw l-innu tagħhom il-Vlaams Leeuw (l-iljun Fjamming), waħedhom fil-kamra tal-parlament federali Belġjan. Kienet l-ikbar sfida s'issa għall-istat Belġjan. Ħadd ma waqqafhom, u xxandret diretta fuq it-television. Tant ilhom jitqanżħu biex ikollhom gvern li jirrappreżenta l-pajjiż kollu, u tant ilhom dawn il-gvernijiet ta' ftit xhur ħajja jfallu, li ħabtu bdew jaqtgħu qalbhom. Issa aktar minn qatt qabel qed jistaqsu fil-miftuħ - imma worth it dal-inkwiet u t-taħbit kollu? X'inhu l-iskop? Teżisti xi identità Belġjana wara kollox?

Donnu l-ħsieb li qed jikber fil-pajjiż hu li: la jridu jagħmlu pajjiż għal rashom, jagħmluh u naqtgħuha darba għal dejjem. Igawduh il-Flanders tagħhom.

U waqt li l-pajjiż jinsab fix-xifer ta' kollass, fil-periklu li ma jibqax jeżisti... il-ġirien tagħna hawnhekk f'Hoeilaart qed jagħmlu barbikju f'lejla ta' temp mill-isbaħ, jixorbu l-inbid u jiċċaċċraw. X'jiġu jaqgħu u jqumu mill-Belġjum u r-Re Albertu u l-Prim Ministru u l-Vlaams Belang.

Dak hu l-kobor ta' dal-pajjiż u n-nies tiegħu. Jekk irid il-pajjiż jista' jisfaxxa. Il-ħaxix tal-ġnien ittrimjat, is-sema ċar, it-temp sabiħ, u l-inbid nieżel għasel. Dik l-importanti!

Għajn Tuffieħa u l-Ġnejna

Nieħdu r-ruħ tiġi r-rebbiegħa. Daqs kemm kont nistenna t-tmiem tas-sajf f'Malta sirt nistenna t-tmiem tax-xitwa issa li qiegħed il-Belġjum. It-tmienja ta' filgħaxija u x-xemx għadha qed iddawwal il-kamra. Fil-ġnien tista' toħroġ liberament, mingħajr ma tinġazza wara ħames sekondi. Mhux biss, hemm diġà arja verament pjaċevoli.

L-istess arja pjaċevoli kienet tinħass fil-bajja ta' Għajn Tuffieħa meta morna s'hemm waqt il-vaganzi tal-Għid, għal darba darbtejn, u bassart li forsi tkun l-aħħar bastjun ta' ambjent naturali f'Malta, wara li l-bqija tal-pajjiż ikun inkesa fil-ġebel u bil-konkos. Allaħares, imma tant hu miżmum tajjeb u mid-dehra protett minn għaqda ambjentalista, il-Gaia, li tieħu r-ruħ u tgħid, ejja, hawn post f'Malta li mhux mhedded mill-għedewwa tal-ambjent.

Wisq sabiħ Għajn Tuffieħa. L-ewwel darba poġġejna bil-qiegħda fuq ir-ramel, tliet koppji ħbieb antiki, u qgħadna npaċpċu għal sigħat sħaħ hemmhekk, taħt xemx qawwija mhux ħażin, imma b'żiffa friska tpatti għaliha. Dakinhar osservajt lil xi nies jixxabbtu fuq għadd ta' passaġġi fuq it-tafal aktar 'il ġewwa, fil-parti bejn Għajn Tuffieħa u bajja ta' maġenbha, il-Ġnejna, u tħajjart li l-ewwel ċans li jkolli darb'oħra mmur nittawwal s'hemm. B'hekk ġiet it-tieni okkażjoni fi żmien ftit ġranet li morna Għajn Tuffieħa, did-darba naqra aktar 'avventuruża' għax tlaqna jien u Sue nimirħu fuq it-tafal ta' bejn iż-żewġ bajjiet.

Ara xi ġmiel hemm:

Ħasra li meta tħares lura tara dik il-monstrożità ta' bini qed jiġġarraf, dak li (mingħalija) kien xi darba r-Riviera Martinique. Mamma mija xi kruha, x'kuntrast ikrah għall-ġmiel li hemm madwaru. Imma, proprja proprja, x'inhuma jistennew l-'awtoritajiet' (in)kompetenti biex iwaqqgħuh darba għal dejjem? Hemm xi ostakoli legali? Jew sempliċi inerzja infinita? Nispera li immaġinazzjoni żbaljata tiegħi, imma jien u tiela' lura mit-taraġ maġenb ir-rovini stħajjilt li l-arkati qishom qed jiġu rranġati. Ma jmurx se jirrestawrawh hu? Anqas naf ikunx aħjar jew agħar. Kif inhu ikrah, imma limitat u mill-bogħod ma tantx tagħti kasu. Jekk jerġa' jinbena min jaf kemm jespandi? X'biża', tgħid ġej xi Golden Sands Hotel ieħor? Xejn m'hu sagru f'Malta? Lanqas l-aħħar roqgħa ta' ġmiel naturali?

Komplejna għal għonq it-triq u malajr insejnih it-tiġrif. Wasalna sal-promontorju tafli ta' bejn Għajn Tuffieħa u l-Ġnejna. Infexxejt niġbed ir-ritratti u Sue tistennieni aktar 'il quddiem, imma ma ddejqitx. Mhux it-tip ta' post li tiddejjaq tistenna fih! Is-sett sħiħ ta' ritratti ħarġu tajbin ħafna u tfajthom fuq il-Picasa. Hemm wisq biex inġibhom kollha hawn. Dan ta' hawn taħt juri l-bajja ta' Għajn Tuffieħa min-naħa l-oħra li s-soltu mdorrijin narawha. Il-bini monstru jidher fit-tarf ħdejn it-taraġ. Mill-bogħod kemm kemm m'għandux ċertu faxxinu, qisu xi rovini ta' minn żmien l-antik.

Dorna mal-promontorju, ixxabbatna xi ftit minn fuq partijiet goffi bi blat imwaqqa', sa ma nżilna qrib l-ilma fejn hemm skoss blat li min jaf kemm ilu li tgerbeb 'l hemm isfel. Erġajna tlajna u komplejna d-dawra minn fuq passaġġ dejjaq maġenb żurżieqa twila tat-tafal li tibqa' nieżla l-baħar, in-naħa ta' barra tal-Ġnejna fejn jintlaħaq biss mill-baħar... jew miż-żurżieqa.

Għidna kos, kieku dat-tip ta' pajsaġġ naraw bħalu f'xi Ċipru jew l-Iżrael, ngħidu oooh kemm għandhom sabiħ. Imma dal-pajsaġġ qiegħed f'Malta, u qatt ma naraw dat-tip ta' ritratti li jirreklamaw lil Malta, dejjem l-istess xeni tal-katidral tal-Imdina, it-tieqa tad-Dwejra, u xi ritratt ta' xi festa. Sbieħ, imma fejnha l-varjetà? Għandna mijiet ta' postijiet sbieħ biex nistgħu niftaħru f'din naqra ta' ġebla li għandna. Mijiet. U safrattant anki ta' Għajn Tuffieħa, dawn l-inħawi meraviljużi, affaxxinanti, juru dejjem l-istess ritratt li xbajna naraw. Forsi għax tista' tiġbdu minn erba' passi 'l bogħod mill-karozza...

Daqshekk, iddeċidejt issa. Ir-ritratt tal-bini mġarraf se nneħħih, u minfloku npoġġi wieħed sura! Hekk aħjar, lanqas ħaqq kien se jħassarli l-paġna jaħasra. Ara xi ġmiel minflok. Din dik ir-ramla żgħira n-naħa ta' barra tal-Ġnejna, li tintlaħaq biss mill-baħar jew miż-żurżieqa tat-tafal:

U din il-veduta li stajna napprezzaw b'ħarsa 'l fuq mill-birra u l-Kinnie li ħadna wara l-mixja:

X'ċuċ huma s-Sejxells u l-Kanarji?

Il-Bojler Numru 7

Għal min jgħid li aħna l-Maltin nieħdu lilna nfusna wisq bis-serjetà, u li m'għandniex sens ta' umoriżmu jew ta' ironija, issa għandna l-prova li dan mhux veru.

Wara li nqata' d-dawl f'Malta kollha għal bosta drabi, kaġun ta' ħsara f'dak li ġie identifikat bħala l-Bojler Numru 7 fl-impjant tal-enerġija tal-Marsa, mid-dehra antik u ma jiflaħx għal iktar strapazz, eluf ta' Maltin iffurmaw fan club fil-Facebook, li l-membri tiegħu jgħidu li huma "ammiraturi" tal-Bojler Numru 7. Il-bojler li għandu personalità. L-uniku bojler fid-dinja, skond Daphne Caruana Galizia, li jinsab "on first name terms" mal-popolazzjoni.

Fir-realtà din mhix xi ħaġa taċ-ċajt. Dal-bojler difettuż qed jikkawża ħsara sostanzjali lill-ekonomija ta' Malta kull darba li kaġun tiegħu l-pajjiż jintefa' f'kaos meta jinqata' d-dawl, bl-inkonvenjenza enormi għal kulħadd marbuta ma' dan.

Imma, wara kollox, aħna l-Maltin ukoll għandna sens ta' awtoironija, u dan jispjega għaliex eluf minna ddikjaraw li huma "ammiraturi" ta' xi ħaġa li ma taħdimx sew. Inħossni kburi ngħid li malli sirt naf b'dal-grupp isseħibt miegħu jien ukoll.

Kemm paroli fil-vojt

"POWER AND EASTER", qalulna fit-titlu tal-artiklu minn Dottor Jason Azzopardi, parliamentary secretary in the Finance Ministry.

http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=104013

Dehrli li kien f'waqtu, l-għada li mar id-dawl f'Malta kollha, għat-tieni darba f'inqas minn ġimagħtejn, li jirreferi għas-sitwazzjoni tal-biki tal-provvista tal-elettriku f'Malta fil-21 seklu. Speċi ta', fil-Ġimgħa l-Kbira ma kellniex dawl, imma għallinqas (nisperaw...) fl-Għid il-Kbir se jkollna provvista normali.

Bdejt naqra, imma mill-ewwel intbaħt li Dottor Azzopardi kien moħħu kompletament fis-sħab, u miljun mil 'il bogħod mir-realtà tal-ħajja hawn isfel. Silta mill-għerf tal-ħabib tagħna Jason:

"Power is the search for the truth. A temporal and existential truth. The transcendental truth that one reaches with a well formed and well informed conscience."

Eh? Jew, kif iħobb jgħid iż-żgħir, WHAT? X'il-mamma mija qed igedwed? Ħeqq, sori, nammetti naqra gażżu u injurant jien, imma dal-intellettwaliżmu finta ma nifhmux. Ngħid għalija power tfisser li nagħfas is-swiċċ u jixgħel id-dawl, mingħajr ma jkolli bżonn immur infittex ix-xemgħat u s-sulfarini bl-għajnuna tad-dawl mill-monitor tal-laptop, li jkun baqa' jaħdem fuq il-batterija...

Ċerti nies tajjeb kieku jinżlu xi ftit 'l isfel mill-istratosfera u jħarsu aktar fil-livell tagħna l-baxxi hawn isfel.

It was not to be

My twelfth marathon was planned for 9 May, the Maas Marathon that goes from Vise in eastern Belgium, crosses the border into The Netherlands, goes into Maastricht and returns to Vise, all the way along the Meuse (hence "Maas") river banks.

It was not to be.

In the beginning of the year I received an email promoting the Antwerp marathon and 10 mile races, at the very end of which it was mentioned that on exactly the same date, i.e. 9 May, there was another marathon, in Prague. Now I've been wanting to visit this city since a long time, so I thought this would be an excellent occasion to combine my marathon with a short holiday there. Within a couple of days we had booked the hotel room and I registered and paid for the Prague marathon.

It was not to be.

Training was going well, in spite of heavy snow making training much more difficult through most of winter. I did an excellent 'Hivernales de Boitsfort 20k' in the beginning of February, but that was to be my last hurrah for a good while. A few days after that, the trouble started.

My right achilles tendon and my left hamstring began to hurt while running. The achilles was probably due to running long distances on slippery snow; the hamstring strain may have been caused by the strong effort in the 20k, combined with the snowy long runs. Whatever the reasons, I had to stop training to allow the pain to ease away. One week of rest later the pain wasn't so bad, but it hadn't gone away altogether either. I managed a couple more long runs of 2h45m each, then I caught a cold.

Actually it was a throat infection, quite nasty, that stopped me for another week, and just when it looked I was going to resume training... gastric flu, and a further week of stoppage.

Now it was clear that, with just 6 weeks to go, after so many stoppages in training it would be quite impossible to aim for a normal marathon on 9 May, and the best I could hope for was a 'very long training run' of 42.2 km, similar to my memorable 8th marathon that I ran in Brussels in 2007. Then I had a crazy idea. I would use this 'very long run' (maybe it would also count as my 12th marathon if I managed to go all the way) in preparation for a postponed marathon, which would then be my 13th, in Bruges in July. That would really be a case of turning adversity into opportunity, achieving two marathons in just two months!

Alas, it was not to be.

If there was one positive outcome in the forced stoppage due to throat infection followed by the flu, it was that my achilles tendon and the hamstring injuries had ample time to rest and recover completely. That's what I thought, so imagine how disappointed I felt, after a full two weeks without any running at all, to discover during a short 30 minute comeback run that both the achilles tendon and the hamstring were still hurting a little bit.

This morning, one week later, I've had to resign myself to the inevitable as it became clear that, far from getting any better, my thigh was hurting with every pace. Running has become a painful, rather than enjoyable, experience, and quite simply this will not do. If I want to enjoy running again I'll need to take a long break to allow enough time to recover completely from this injury.

It's a bitter disappointment for me. I was so looking forward to the Prague marathon and the joys of running in spring after the awful winter that we have just endured. For a good while, now, there isn't any target or event, to which to look forward. So I need to make one up, one that doesn't involve running, and that preferably uses up large amounts of calories...

Ir-ritratt tax-xahar - April 2010

Kull filgħaxija kienu jiġu jinnamraw, dejjem fuq l-istess fergħa fil-ġnien tagħna. Ġiet ix-xitwa u ma rajnihomx aktar. Issa x-xitwa spiċċat, u reġgħu tfaċċaw. Kemm huma ħelwin! Sabiħa wisq ir-rebbiegħa.

Moviment tad-Dilettanti Moderati u Progressivi

Mela llejla malli xgħelt il-kompjuter nilmaħ email mhux solleċitata - spam - mingħand "The Maltastar Team". Dal-aħħar bdew jimmiraw għalija, qed jaraw fija materjal potenzjali tajjeb biex ningħaqad mal-Moviment ta' Moderati u Progressivi li Saru Jistħu Jgħidu li Huma Laburisti.

"BLACKOUT MONDAY". Anzi t-titlu spellewh sew, ma nafx kif.

Kont se l-aħħar nittikkjah u nassenjah fil-gadget tar-"report spam", ġentilment offrut lili mill-gmail. Imma fettilli ġietni l-kurżità u ddeċidejt li naqrah. Mela ma temminx li kkonvenċewni ningħaqad mal-Moviment! Mela, veru ta!

Le, mhux proprja.

Tal-biki fil-fatt. Biex iħaddmu websajt li suppost trid tikkonvinċi lin-nies jivvutawlhom, l-organu uffiċjali elettroniku tal-"Moviment" li m'għadux partit iqabbdu nies li bilkemm kapaċi jiktbu sentenza li hi waħda sew. Tliet snin oħra dawn iridu jibdew imexxu, mhux websajt, imma lil Malta.

Ara x'kitbuli The Maltastar Team [il-kummenti bil-bold żidthom jien]:

On Blackout Monday we all found out how the 2438 who had their electricity supply cut off in 2009 feel [what's Blackout Monday, and 2438 what?]. This figure is a national disgrace, as was Blackout Monday. How dare the PM boast that the recession is lifting with this appalling human statistic [as opposed I suppose to an animal statistic]? No wonder Joseph Muscat talks so rightly of this human recession [What quality makes a recession human? Maybe it's because it's human that Joseph isn't talking wrongly about it ]. That is not lifting at all [Eh? What? WHAT?].

It is not only this country that was blacked out yesterday. It seems the entire government is, and has been, suffering from a collective blackout as to what is really happening on the ground, how expensive life is, how unsustainable our water and electricity bills are, and how impossibly expensive a trip to the pharmacy has become? [Is this last sentence a question or a statement?]

And it's not just families and individuals who are suffering [no, it's also us recipients of insipid, badly written spam from The Maltastar Team]. A not so grand total [so it's not a lot then?] of 10,657 businesses are more than 45 days late in paying their bills. They owe around 44,000,000 euros to this country, but cannot pay [The fact that they haven't paid doesn't mean that they cannot pay, it's just that they thought the rates would be revised. And by the way, in the plural "euro" remains the same].

This is a government in denial of the collapse of basic services which it has brought about through weak management, or management that has the most blatant conflict of interest. The name Alex Tranter illustrates this [What's so conflicting in the name Alex Tranter? Seems quite a sensible name to have]. He must be glad he is leaving [Why? Maybe he received a hefty electricity bill himself?]. Having improved little of substance. Having overseen a contract given to his boss of 200 million euros? Having to stand near another Minister to explain away another blackout? [Hey, Maltastar Team, a sentence by default ends with a fullstop NOT with a question mark]

Let's now look at how people are reacting to the government's handling of key and essential services to this country. Let's look at the true track record which comes out so clearly in answers to questions tabled in Parliament? [Another question mark. Perhaps they're a bit unsure of themselves...]

A grand total of 51,500 complaints have been received by ARMS, the company which processes water and electricity bills, since its inception last January. [They seem to like the word "grand". Maybe they think it gives the write-up a grandiose aura. Instead, it creates further confusion. Here it feels as if it's used in sarcasm, as if a larger number was expected. If they can't write properly in English, why don't they stick to Maltese? Or can't they do that, either?] Worse around a hundred people a month are now, in 2010 also having their supply cut off [ignorance of punctuation rules renders this sentence into perfect nonsense]. This is before we all get the higher bills! These presumably didn't notice the blackout yesterday. Almost two thousand are trying to pay off their bills in installments. [Logical sequence? What's that?]

Not surprisingly, amidst all this, Gonzi PN chose to tell us this last week that the recession is lifting. How ironic. Instead of this kind of spin which is all about playing with numbers, and does not reflect in any way how bad things are, why doesn't Gonzi PN concentrate on what the people are so worried about?

For such a huge percentage of the population to complain something must be terribly, terribly wrong. [What? Where? Which huge percentage? None have been quoted]

Nobody's salary has gone up to take account of these bills, unless perhaps you are one of the senior executives at the Lotto and Gaming Authority, who we hear, have been awarded bill cushioning increases lately, or you are one of these newly appointed Parliamentary Assistants who are getting an allowance which they can, if they wish use to help them to pay these bills at least.

Mind you since they all voted in favour of the increased bills they probably didn't need this allowance ! [In fact, they also enjoy paying taxes, which is why they haven't outlawed them]

This government is past it's sell by date. Blackout Monday brought this home to even some PN diehards. [It should be "its" without an apostrophe, meaning "belonging to it". With an apostrophe it means "it is". Zero for grammar. Zero for clarity of expression. Go back to school and learn how to write properly, maybe you'll rise above primary school level. By the way, I do agree with you about the sell by date. The only problem is that the alternative would be you - UTTER AMATEURS!]

Ara naqra wkoll min għandna alternattiva biex imexxi 'l Malta minflok l-Arċisqof Gonzi...