That most humble of cities, the city built by gentlemen, for gentlemen and Malta’s incumbent capital city has apparently been spared the disgrace of having its only McDonald’s outlet closed – a move which threatened its status as capital for reasons outlined elsewhere on this blog.

As someone who has the capital at heart, having been partly raised there, I welcome this “last minute development” (read: €€€), and suggest that the fast-food chain’s presence in the capital be reinforced, ideally by one or more outlets.

Know of a possible location? Suggestions below.

Despite the Maltese government’s best efforts – think City Gate, re-paving and V2018 –it is now time the country faced up to a truth which has been staring it right in the face for the last 20 years – Valletta is no longer fit to be Malta’s capital.

The shrinking population, the non-existent nightlife and its inaccessibility by car during the day have all contributed to its slow death , but the final nail in our capital’s coffin is one that no superstar architect can ply out. McDonald’s – a real testament to a country’s economic success – will close its outlet in the capital after a lengthy legal battle with the landlord on Sunday. This, coupled with the conspicuous absence of that other certificate to a country’s success – Starbucks – means that football victories and all, Valletta is now doomed for relegation.

There is only one other capital with no McDonald’s – and that’s Reykjavik, in Iceland. Hands up anyone who’s ever been to Iceland – see, that’s what happens when your capital city does not have the golden arches somewhere other than in the collective imagination.

As a replacement, I’d suggest Sliema. People actually go there out of no sense of duty towards it, and, if the news report is to be believed, it will soon have the “largest McDonald’s and McCafe on the island”. That’s regeneration for you.

a valley of darkness
in between

we call it a butt,

bum,

derrière,

posterior,

sorm.

And once every 5 years, we call it politics,

or in an elegant twist on the vernacular,

Elezzjoni Ġenerali.

Happy voting, everyone.

(Don’t forget to flush).

Contrary to popular belief, I am still alive and trying to kick, and have finally started writing on a rag again, which happens to be Manic! magazine. For those of you who aren’t in possession of the papery type, click here and check out “Losing our Religion?”.

After a long period of just thinking about doing it, I am currently trying to redesign the layout for the blog, after which I will resume posting. The thing is that I don’t have as much free time as I used to have last year when I started blogging, and the free time I have I’m using out in the non-virtual world (aka “The Real World”).

So, the issue is, what do the readers want?

Do they want a lot of pictures?

Some weird martian aardvark singing the Maltese national anthem in reverse?

Diagrams from an anatomy textbook?

etc..

Answers via comments please.

Re: The title- does “sex” work better as an attention grabber?

Kidding. I’m just lazy.

Sorry liz.

I’m in the middle of my exams. Should be reading Wuthering Heights, but I just spent the last 3 hours online. That would’ve been 5 posts at the very least.

A small update- I still am reading books, but I can’t be bothered to write about them, yet.

I really should be updating this thing more often.

But then again, the difference between “should” and “is” is why stuff is rarely done the way it should be, and most of the problems in the world.

Think about it, will you?

And post your replies here.

….

My sincerest apologies go to you, faithful disciple of debris ™, who has been deprived of my semi-regular mental meanderings.

About the books.

I read a book called Clowning in Rome; it’s very good, I should’ve mentioned it long ago but haven’t. Work has been getting to me, so I couldn’t really take time off and read.

I also happen to have acquired a motor scooter, which is making reading on the bus a tad impossible.

So at the moment I’m reading nineteen eighty-four, which is sounding incredibly naive and optimistic, in hindsight.

I have also made the move back to a Windows Xp machine after 4 sad months on a 17″ iMac loaded with OS X 10.4. If you ask me, Apple should’ve stuck to fruit.

Happy 1st of April!