Sunday post

Of divorce and all that
Suddenly, apparently out of the blue (though I wouldn't bet on it, I'm sure it was planned, right up to its timing), there is an official divorce debate in Malta. Catholic Malta is now discussing what it used to conveniently put away under the carpet. The aspect which most attracted my attention was the fact that it took a private member of parliament to present a motion, rather than one of the parties. This, in an island dominated by religion and politics. I will be very curious to follow the debate and subsequent developments. I will also try to find answers, amongst other matters, to these questions:

Why a proposal now? Why a proposal through a private motion and not by government? What will be the position of the parties and the church?

Censorship
Not really anything to add to that which has already been said, both for and against. But I do find it counterproductive to try to hide silence people. In fact the more one tries to do that, the more he ends up giving whatever it is he wants to silence more attention than it deserves. Remember the "Da Vinci Code"?

Football
It's over (nearly). Shall we make our considerations? Right:
1. The cup remains in Europe (good for our common European identity).
2. There will be a first time winner (the 5 th from Europe,for whatever it can mean).
3. For all the marketing and sponsorships, the playing surfaces were not of the expected standard.
4. Finally, the world cup as an event will not have the appeal it used to have, because we are far too much fed with televised football (though I'm not really complaining).

Customer service
First it was Melita Cable, then came Enemalta, and then Go Mobile. In these three cases, I have regularly paid my dues through Internet banking. In all of these three cases, my payment has regularly not been registered. The results are (in random order of appearance):
1. Hundreds of overseas calls trying to explain my life story to uninterested customer service officials (hello, I have an account with you...no I live abroad....no, I paid the bill...What? you haven't a record of the transaction?... No, No, I paid.... please take down this reference number...);
2. Hundreds of hours trying to understand with my wife why a simple transaction which works fine in all civilised countries does not work in Malta,
3. A general sense of insatisfaction which does not let me feel comfortable at all whenever I return to my home country;
4. Anger, frustration and all other unpleasant feelings at having to fix meetings, visits to try to restore service which has been unlawfully cut off.

In case you think it's excessive, I 've been going through this for the last 15 years. Malta, we need to improve on this.

Enjoy your world cup final

It's hot!!

Too hot for my liking. And this is Luxembourg!! I'm still not relishing the thought of going to Malta in July/August.

After yesterday's street fest, we had the most convenient excuse for lazing around the whole day, though I did manage to watch a football match(Germany-Argentina), finish a book (Do you think you're clever?) and start another (Like bees to honey), and watch a film (Angels and demons).

After yesterday's and today's world cup matches (I have still the Spain Paraguay match to see tonight), a couple of considerations are in order. Players like Sneider and Robben, so superficially dumped by Real Madrid at the beginning of the season to make way for superstars Kaka and Ronaldo, have not only won at club level (outstripping and outplaying more fancied teams like Real Madrid in terms of success), but have also progressed more than them at world cup level. This means that the world cup is reflecting, give or take, the form of some players at club level (vide Melo, Italy, France and England).

At the moment, I would say that the better teams are going through. So, despite the surprises caused by the elimination of the big guns, the world cup could be reflecting some changes in the new football world order.

In truth, this world cup has failed to impress me. There were some memorable matches, of course, but in terms of new tactical developments and new world class talents, I haven't really seen any. It was like seeing the hundreds of matches we have seen during the season. Could it be that too much football in TV is making it too much of a standardised game all over the world?

Phew, it's still too hot. I have still some serious lazing around to catch up with.

My first historic words. Historic for me, that is. Well, long journeys begin with a small step. This is mine. It does give me a sense of being watched, writing this. All eyes will be on me (dream on boy).

I will start writing on various topics. Hopefully interesting, thought provoking, and worthy of attracting the attention of other internet users. My contributions will be most probably be erratic and irregular at first. It does take time to adjust one's timetable.

Here's to a safe trip!