It's currently Karnival time, but unfortunately I am missing the festivities in Valletta :-(
I just watched some of it on TV - there was this spectracular float based on The Little Mermaid, with Neptune out in front, then the wicked Ursula and Sebatian the crab behind her. Besides Neptune's arms moving, Sebatian's claws then opened up and out, and up rose Ariel from within the float!
Now there's a feat of structural engineering for you!
The next float was based on traditional Maltese elements, and was accompanied by satirical songs like "Pajjiż tal-Mickey Mouse" and "Viva l-miżbla" heheheheh.
I stopped watching when the next float came on, because it wasn't up to much, and I need to study, aaagggrrrrhhhhh.
Annalise was presenting on TVM along with a girl who I recognised from "Dejjem Tiegħek Becky" but I can't find her name on the Net (can't find a Dejjem Tiegħek Becky website, ack).
Here's a photo I took during Carnival 2000:
Continuing with a brief news roundup, it's nice to see that FINALLY Maltacom gets some competition, who knows, the local rates might go down. Maltacom is the only phone company in Malta, it's a Government company and therefore the entire infrastructure of phone lines belongs to them. Recently because of VOIP, people could make international calls very cheaply (for instance 1 cent a minute instead of Maltacom's 42 cents a minute to the USA).
So what did Maltacom do?
They lowered their international rates (where they had competition) and RAISED THE LOCAL RATES where there is no other option for us.
Hah, nice one guys.
I guess that the new phone company, MaltaTel, will have to pay Maltacom for using the existing infrastructure and I'm sure that Maltacom will charge a hefty sum to make sure that MaltaTel can't undercut them.
The joys of living on a small island.
Oh lol, I was right, listen to this (taken from the Times):
When contacted, MaltaTel Ltd general manager Mario Gatt said the company was in a position to offer cheaper phone calls across the board. But he expressed his frustration that he was not being allowed to operate in what was meant to be a liberalised market, despite having all the knowledge and infrastructure in place.Mr Gatt claimed that Maltacom was selling a three-minute call during the night to its customers at a retail price of 5c3 while the wholesale price offered to other operators was 39c. emphasis mine
Typical... *sigh*
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