Public Holiday Titbits

It's the annual public holiday here in Luxembourg. Last night the town went wild celebrating the Duke's Day (Duke and Duchess in picture). I did not stay out long, having experience the "pleasures" of crowded streets and partying luxembourgers last year. Which means that I woke up at 12 and I have time for a little public holiday roundup. So here it goes:

1. The Cheek, The Absolute Cheek
Both baldu and david have flagged this article in l-orizzont by the Dame of Grammatical Incorrectness. I cannot believe her. I cannot believe her. I cannot believe her. Not only does she grace the pages of the Times of Malta with the greatest linguistic bloopers this side of Apu the corner shop salesman in the Simpsons, no, she has now shifted to berating all those shoddy journalists and editors out there who are destroying the language - be it Italian, English or Maltese.

"Però dan l-ahhar qed jispikkaw ukoll zbalji bl-ilsien Ingliz. Fuq l-istazzjonijiet televizivi kollha malli l-gurnalisti flok ma jintervistaw membri tal-pubbliku Maltin, jintervistaw lnglizi, jew xi turisti bl-Ingliz, tinduna kemm l-espressjonijiet uzati huma dghajfin. Jidher car li l-gurnalisti Maltin ghandhom livell baxx hafna fejn jidhol l-Ingliz. Hafna mill-ftit espressjonijiet li fil-fatt jigu trasmessi huma totalment Maltin fil-hsieb u sahansitra bi zbalji grammatikali."

Sahansitra? Gimme an effing break.

2. European Draw
Even though the great Valletta FC and newly formed Mdina Knights will not be featuring in this year's UEFA Champion's League draw, tension was high among the Maltese community in Luxembourg in the hope that Birkirkara get to play FC Dudelenge (read diddeling). Unfortunately the luck of the draw meant that ir-Rahal get a coolet fixture, having been paired with B36 of the Far Oer (insert umlauts at your pleasure). The draw for the UEFA cup preliminaries is under way as I type. No chance for hoping there since the Wanderers are in the Southern-Mediterranean draw and the closest I can hope for is Roeselare in Belgium. On the other hand a nice game in Sarajevo or Rijeka might provide an excuse for a quick visit via Ryanair. As an aside, the letzeburg teams in this competitions don't have much for any elite games. Both Jeunesse Esch and Etzella Ettelbruck risk facing any of the Scandinavian/Baltic teams qualified for this competition. Bah. Not so interesting either.

3. Ronaldo Rinato
And for those who thought that my enthusiasm for the Selecao had been fading at the speed of Cicinho's sprints... try again. Yesterday Brasil sounded a beautiful wake up samba and notwithstanding the concession of a goal - I loved it. Ronaldo would still not rank highly in the Local Pensioner's Marathon but what he lacks in pace he gains in power and trickery. I loved his fake turn of the head as he passed the ball low to Juninho (Pernambucano) to let fly a bombshell shot saved by the miraculous keeper (later to transform into butterfingers). My man of the match is Cicinho. He ran all over the place. At one point he ran 40 yards to kick an extra ball out of the pitch and return to the field fo play. His only defect is the accuracy of his crosses. He reminds me of the first versions of Roberto Carlos and Cafu - energy, pace and overenthusiastic kicks across the field at the end of a run. There is sufficient time to adjust that. Bring on the Black Stars.

4. Calciopoli
The real court work has begun. Juve risk heavily. As do Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio. We will definitely have a Serie A without Juventus. I am glad. Glad that we can spend this year (or two - possibly) in purgatory while all those vilificators contend a scudetto that is half-baked. half-baked because unfortunately for them a scudetto won next year will always carry the mark of "Scudetto senza la Juve". It's a bit like playing FIFA at the EASY level on playstation. You can do that blindfolded. But then that is the only way some teams can win (or maybe not). I will rout for Palermo and many other teams who have either not ever won a league or have not won one for ages... like Torino. An Inter win will not be painful. They deserve it simply for having nurtured Ronaldo for so long. Obviously I am convinced that Rigetta, the team graced by the latest scandal (miraculously so) will still turn out to be whingers and will invent another conspiracy theory about why there team were, are and will remain... a bunch of losers.

5. Salomone
I read that Salomone of ANR has been charged with incitement to racial hatred. Apparently he was taken by surprise. Meantime Miss Micallef wants stricter tests for the immigrants. She believes we should have some kind of test like in Holland where she claims that they show immigrants videos of "topless women", "gays kissing" etc to check whether they are revolted by "our culture". I wonder whether Miss Micallef is aware that such videos would possibly cause a procession and protest in the streets of Malta in a Da Vinci Code/Baptism of Christ fashion. Which culture then?